Imagination System: I Can Build Anything - Chapter 43: Burn it to the ground

Sairi nodded in assent and began to perform some warm-up exercises, while the black metal flowed around Ivanov’s body, sparking terror and whispers among the prisoners. He paid them no mind. He stood at the door, looked at Sairi, and gave him a slight nod. Then he shattered the door with his foot and charged into the corridor, roaring like an enraged bull, with Sairi right behind him. Ares stood stunned, at a loss for words.

In the hallway, ten robots were aiming their weapons at the door—five kneeling, and five standing behind them. As soon as the door was broken and the unknown black form charged through, they fired a volley of plasma bolts at the figure, but the shots passed by it without contact, a testament to Sairi’s power.

As Ivanov charged toward them, Sairi followed, his hands raised in the air to keep the plasma bolts away from Ivanov. He deflected them, causing them to strike the wall, which vaporized on impact. He knew it was best for Ivanov to avoid them, as they did not yet know the effect the bolts would have on his armored body.

Ivanov continued his relentless charge while Sairi matched his pace, protecting him.

Ivanov closed in on the robots, which began to retreat before this unstoppable, destructive force. But he was faster. He caught up to them and punched one with such force that it flew backward, colliding with another robot. He kicked another, smashing it into the wall, then pivoted with his fist to shatter another. Meanwhile, Sairi emerged from behind him with his energy sword, swinging it to dismember the robots, all while avoiding Ivanov’s own indiscriminate blows that did not differentiate between friend and foe. Sairi would levitate robots into the air with his left hand, then smash them into the walls. He would pull one toward him, impale it on his sword, and clench his fist, energy surging from it to crush their heads.

Ares stared, astonished, sensing they were a single entity, though it was not something one could see at first glance. Ivanov grabbed a robot and hurled it high into the air. The robot flew up, then came down only to be met by a sword that had sliced it in half. As the two companions artfully dismembered and destroyed the robots, Ares signaled for the prisoners to advance. They surged through the metal doorway into the corridor like a swarm of rats invading a house, intent on destroying everything. Ares ordered them to destroy the human experimentation labs that filled the corridor. They flooded into them and began to kill the robots in lab coats. Terror was visible on their faces, and their forms and features were varied, just as Ares had told them—as if they were alive. After they had mercilessly slaughtered them all, they destroyed the test samples and the equipment.

Some of the prisoners felt horror and disgust upon seeing the grotesque experiments performed on their own kind, while others vomited in the corners of the labs. These sights only fueled their hatred and rage toward the machines. They burned and destroyed everything, then charged furiously into the corridors filled with combat robots, screaming and shaking the entire facility, firing their weapons nonstop. Ivanov and Sairi led the charge, providing them with cover. They were nearly hit themselves by the prisoners’ random shots, but Sairi’s power would stop the projectiles in mid-air. Instead of only protecting Ivanov from the front, he now had to protect him from the front and the back, while the other charged forward, destroying everything in his path.

The human crowds began to run behind him, following his lead, destroying every room and laboratory in their way. The machines fell back and tried to call for support, but they were relentlessly crushed before they could. Ares ran at the head of the crowd, leading them. They followed him with enthusiasm, cheering and cursing the robots in every possible language. Adrenaline was their main fuel tonight; they had never felt such a rush for killing and destruction in their lives, especially since they were killing metal things without life—or so they thought. This made it easier for them to kill without mercy.

Ivanov and Sairi, with the prisoners behind them, turned left and right through the facility’s corridors, destroying everything in their sight until they reached the main gate. Ivanov smashed it open with a few punches. He saw a long bridge before them, surrounded by water on all sides, with strange types of fish Ivanov had never seen in his life swimming around it. He would have stood and watched them all day, had he been on a tourist trip.

At the end of the bridge was the large elevator that Ares had taken down into the facility, with a capacity of ten people. He motioned for the prisoners to follow him. They all ran across the bridge until they reached the elevator, where they stopped, panting heavily, sweat pouring from the immense effort they had expended, while the facility burned behind them. Ares emerged from among them.

“This elevator leads to a large chamber that appears to contain the main power source for these machines,” he announced. “If we destroy it, it will disable them, giving us the opportunity to escape. Now, we will take the elevator in groups, as it obviously cannot accommodate these large numbers. We may find hordes of machines waiting for us when we reach the top, so I, Ivanov, and Sairi will go first. Anyone who wants to risk their life can ride with us. Anyone who wants to wait until we reach the top and then follow is free to do so. And I want the last group that ascends to destroy this bridge and flood this entire damned facility.”