The Red Machine

Chapter 5: Siege of Arcsin

After nearly being tortured to death by Sholi, Juno chooses to spend her recovery crafting a new weapon and new armor to protect her fragile human form. She may keep some of her natural Crierce abilities, but her human form is much more susceptible to injury. By now, she has taken care of the blood infection. Only the magical brand on her chest remains, and that is something she has no idea how to deal with. What kind of dark magic could've done this to her? She still does not know the full extent of Illixi magic as a whole, let alone that of Echthra.

Echthra... The Illixi Princess...

Using her ever-evolving magic, Juno spends hours dissecting the Illixi vessel she stole and experiments with the extracted materials: valadium, entropic ore, natrisodic alloys, platinum, diamond, chainlace, and spider silk, just to name a few. Illixi ships are quite intricate in their design. Her armor should have that same complexity.

Sitting crisscross on the floor of her bedroom, Juno manipulates the metals and gems into the shapes she wants and then welds them all together with plasma. She's done lots of research on the human body so she could design optimal armor to protect her. Her armor is made of three layers: the base is spider silk, the middle is chainlace, and the rest makes up the uppermost layer.

Of course, she also needs something to enhance her magical abilities, and that's where moon silver comes into play. As the name implies, this highly conductive metal is harvested from lunar bodies. She forges a pair of gauntlets embedded with small, multicolored gemstones. Once finished with her project, she psychically aligns the pieces in the air before her.

Juno gazes at her creation with a profound sense of accomplishment. Her imagination and research have culminated in a beautiful outfit with several key defenses against physical, chemical, and environmental hazards. Of course, Illixi use bioweapons, which are harder to deal with. Her recent research has unveiled the Illixi's most deadly bacteria—clarisma, infetis, and hyceptia—and viruses—Scorplexia, Myphori, and Colirica C. Strains of bioweapons like these can cause horrible damage to the human body, including but not limited to atrophia membranacea (membrane atrophy), accessio cordis (heart seizures), and ictus cerebri (brain trauma). Of course, these are the most deadly conditions that these bioweapons can evoke. Most of the other symptoms of these bacteria and viruses are more moderate.

Still, her human body has no defense against diseases such as these.

Upon completing the new armor, an alert on her phone shocks her.

EMERGENCY ALERT

ILLIXI INVASION THREAT: SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

Juno stares at her phone screen, her heart pounding in her chest.

How did they find me?

Soon, the echoing blare of the emergency alert sound rings through the whole lab.

"JUNO!" Adam suddenly shouts, not in rage, but in sheer terror. Juno hurriedly dons her armor and rushes to meet him and Violet.

"They're here. Oh God, they found us," Violet says, tears springing to her eyes.

"J-Juno, did they track you here?"

"I don't think so. How many are there?"

"I-I'm not sure. Maybe the news is covering the event?"

"Quite likely. We should check. Gather some more information before I deal with the situation."

"Wait, Juno, you're not planning—"

"I have no choice. The Illixi cannot establish a base of operations here. As you can see, I have recently finished crafting a suit of armor and gauntlets. They will protect me."