3rd Pov
Huffing heavily Aloy deflects a spear attack to the side, parrying her attackers follow up she sees an opportunity and takes it. Receiving a small cut on her arm she is able to stab her spear straight through her attackers stomach.
Coughing blood Dervahl falls to the ground chuckling maniacally, taking a second to recover Aloy rubs her sore ears from where they were bombarded with Dervahl's sound weapon.
Paying attention to her enemy she steps forward and kicks him onto his back. As he falls his hand flies open to reveal a small palm sized metal device, paling Aloy quickly tries to crush the blinking device but realises it's too late when a series if metallic screeches echo from outside the city.
Steadying herself Aloy prepares for combat as a Stormbird and a flock of Glinthawks fly into view. Nocking her bow Aloy begins targeting the smaller machines first to make her fight easier. Soaring through the air the first arrow accurately hits the machine's beak.
Recoiling the impact of the arrow is hard enough to snap off part of the machine's beak and cause it to fall. Firing again Aloy continues to pick off the rapidly approaching machines, diving desperately to the side she barely manages to roll out of the way of a violent frost attack.
Not being perturbed in the slightest Aloy continues her attack, knocking off another Glinthawk she opens her focus. Cursing in her head she realises with a mild bit of annoyance the wyvern is temporarily occupied by three more Stormbirds.
Resolving herself to the fight she quickly scans her available area, spotting the still unconscious guardsman on half of the balcony and a sheer cliff on the other she realises she doesn't have much room to work with.
Flipping to the side Aloy barely dodges a dive attack from a Glinthawk, landing heavily she quickly recovers and nocks another arrow. Wincing she releases the arrow which soars directly through the back of the machines head killing it.
Diving behind cover Aloy quickly bandages the cut across her arm, using the brief respite she also checks up on the wyvern only to find it struggling against the Stormbirds as the lightning attacks travel through its shields.
Breathing deeply Aloy is about to dive out from behind her cover when all the hairs on her head stand on end, realises what's coming she desperately lunges away from the cover as a large ball of lightning crashes into it.
Getting winded by the small blast Aloy is peppered by high speed debris that make small cuts all over her as she slides closer to the edge, gasping for air she desperately attempts to get a hand hold in the stone brick floor.
Stopping herself she doesn't get any respite as one of the three remaining Glinthawks begins to swoop at her, whilst another one begins to carpet bomb the area with frozen projectiles and the last shoots a continuous stream of ice at her.
Having nowhere to dodge Aloy desperately pushes herself back, dodging the first projectile and the carpet bombing she is caught off guard as the diving Glinthawk slams directly into her chest. Flying over the edge time seems to slow as Aloy desperately tries to think.
Winded from the recent blow her weary mind can only focus on how her armour protected her well from that blow, suddenly like a strike of a Oserams hammer she comes up with a plan.
Moving as fast as her injured limbs allow she quickly slams her hand against a button embedded behind the main shield weaver component, a component she had turned off for fear of draining its battery.
Instantly a light blue energy ripples over her body microseconds before her back viciously collides with a hidden walkway ten metres below where she was fighting, lying there on her back Aloy has spots in her vision as she looks at the sky, winded.
Above she can see the wyvern destroying the last Stormbird and bombarding the Glinthawks, breathing a sigh of relief Aloy is about to pass out when she remembers all the unconscious people still up there with the last Stormbird.
Groaning Aloy pushes herself to the side before pulling her legs underneath her and standing up, stumbling forward Aloy weakly grabs a ladder carved into the wall and begins to climb. Reaching the top Aloy has to bend over with her hands on her knees to catch her breath.
Looking up from her resting position she immediately turns deathly pale with fright, there barely ten metres in front of her is the last Stormbird sparking madly but still in a deadly dive towards her. Body rushing with adrenaline Aloy is helpless to protect herself as the massive machine draws closer in slow motion.
Suddenly faster than she can see a projectile accurately pierces the machine's brain mid-flight killing it, still the bird's momentum doesn't cease and it continues to slide along the ground at the same speed. Suddenly another smaller object falls from the sky directly between Aloy and the machine.
Screeching to a halt a cloud of dust and smoke obscures Aloy's view as she stands frozen, recovering Aloy weakly limps forward trying to see through the obstruction. Within the smoke Aloy sees what looks like a thin rope illuminated by the light swirling around as if gravity doesn't exist, freezing she decides it's better to wait for the dust to clear.
Quickly though the dust settles to reveal a large two metre tall human looking woman, the woman looks only vaguely human as obvious machine parts can be seen across her lithe body with sparks coming from the joints on her arms.
Behind her a long thin bladed tail retracts into her back as she turn her reptilian like sensor eyes on to Aloy, stunned Aloy can only watch motionless as the human like machine shows a small look of worry before rapidly approaching her.
Looking up at the mechanical woman Aloy can only admire the long crimson hair cascading across her shoulders as she approaches. Standing in front of her the machine woman's hand folds away as a device extends from her wrist, lighting up red lasers trace the motionless Aloy in quick patterns.
Reaching out the woman without prompting grabs Aloy's arm and shoulder and quickly jerks them, instantly Aloy releases a cry of pain as the arm she didn't realise was dislocated is popped back into its socket.
Sighing the machine woman crouches slightly to look Aloy in the eyes, opening her mouth a familiar synthetic voice speaks to her.
"Sorry about that Aloy I didn't account for such high currents when designing the wyvern's shields, the mistake is solely on my part. The wyvern was meant to protect you, luckily you still had your armour." – Edith
Looking back into the machines eyes Aloy could swear she sees a soul deep within the machine, startling Aloy realises she was staring for a while and tries to recall what Edith said, because she now realises this machine is another part of the friendly Ai.
Looking down at her armour Aloy quickly scampers to detach the ancient tech, which is now smoking, scanning it she sees puncture marks along the edges of the device caused by the Glinthawks beak.
Breathing a sigh of relief Aloy is thankful it wasn't her flesh within the machines jaws, though she quickly has to toss away the device as it begins to rapidly heat up. Stepping forward Edith's mechanical form punts the fallen device off the cliff where it violently explodes barely a few seconds later.
Looking at the charred pieces falling into the canyon around the city Aloy decide to turn her focus back to her digital friend, her friend who is cautiously looking around. Nevertheless, Aloy decides to express her gratitude.
"Thank you for the save Edith, anyway what's with the new look?" – Aloy
"It was no problem Aloy the wyvern was meant to act as your backup but it failed, I'll send you a fixed one later along with a new and improved set of armour. I wasn't expecting the person you were after to make machine lures from scrapped machine locators." – Edith
Saying this Edith quickly walks over the still living terrorist; after spraying the bleeding wound with an unknown material she picks up the machine lure and begins to look it over. Lowering the device she turns her gaze back to Aloy.
"Anyway, this new body is designed based on my original avatar from centuries ago, I decided I needed a more human form when dealing with politics. Though I must say this form is really uncomfortable." – Edith
As if to emphasise her point the machine woman squirms awkwardly like a human trying to get an itch, all the while sporting a ridiculous face that causes Aloy to giggle. Schooling her face Aloy tries to get back to the matter at hand.
"You mentioned something about how the lures were made, could you elaborate for me? And how are you uncomfortable, aren't you a formless digital entity?" – Aloy
Stepping closer to Aloy, Edith begins to spray the same unknown material on Aloy's open wounds, wincing slightly Aloy still looks the machine in the eye as she waits for an answer to her question. Opening her mouth is about to talk when a male voice cuts her off from the back end of the balcony.
"I would also like to know about these lures." - Avad
Scowling the humanoid machine spins quickly and unnaturally to glare at the new visitors. At the same moment, the still stunned guards quickly react and stand in front of the Sun-king Avad, the man who interrupted Edith.
Staring for a few seconds Aloy realises Edith doesn't want to end the stale mate and steps forward to conduct introductions instead.
"Edith this is King Avad, ruler of the humans in this region. Avad this is Edith, the being within the machines that healed Ersa." – Aloy
Sporting a mildly surprised look Avad discreetly looks Edith up and down before apologising.
"I'm sorry about interrupting you, I'm still a bit stunned from Dervahl's attack. Speaking of which…" – Avad
Trailing off his sentence the kind king gestures towards the unconscious man on the ground, instantly two of his guards break away and hoist the man up before dragging him way. Back to Edith she drops her glare as if it never existed and continues what she was saying earlier.
"As I was saying earlier the machine lures are made by repurposing the black box transmitters in every machine that activate when the machine goes offline. These transmitters call in nearby scavenger machines to clean up the destroyed machines the man, Dervahl, appears to of jury rigged a system to delay the activation of the signal till he wants.
And to answer your second question Aloy, I don't know why I'm uncomfortable I'm trying to figure it out." – Edith
Finished Edith turns to assess the humans, flinching slightly under her gaze the kings guard show their wills to be lacking. Snorting at the guards Edith offers a nod to the king and his advisor who didn't flinch.
After a brief exchange, the two parties got down to politics whilst Aloy napped in the wyverns med bay, hours passed as Edith answered any questions asked and recounted her goals to Avad. There were murmurs of discontent when Edith mentioned all humans coming under her rule in the future but they stopped when she explained she still needed representatives to speak for the people.
Concluding the politics the sun begins to set and Edith calls down the wyvern with Aloy, stepping out the fully healed red head stretches for a bit before shaking out her limbs and looking at the watching group.
Walking over Aloy sits close to Edith and looks at Avad, unsure what's been happening she can only tap her focus hoping Edith sent her a catchup. After Aloy catches up Edith makes it known she wants to discuss the next mission.
"Aloy I have a new task for you if you're up for it." – Edith
Nodding Aloy looks up at the Ai.
"Okay. What I want you to do is infiltrate an Eclipse Cultist camp and destroy a Tall neck, destroying it will drastically slow their communications and prevent Hades transferring himself if I destroy the core he's in." – Edith
Nodding again this time Aloy seems to want to ask a question but is cut off again by the living machine.
"Don't worry if you don't want to do it, either way your new equipment will be here soon so you can decide. With your new equipment they won't even be able to see you." – Edith
"I'll do it." – Aloy
Hearing the Nora woman's agreement the large machine smiles before reaching out its hand face up towards the sky. Instantly a long package falls elegantly onto the mechanical hand which is immediately given to Aloy.
Gesturing at the package within the confused warrior's arms the digital being explains.
"That package contains your replacement gear, it consists of a new set of armour with shock absorbing frame and a long life shield, in addition I styled it after your previous armour as I noticed you liked it and made it so in emergencies you can overclock it. It can go invisible as well.
Next in your package I included a modified compound bow that builds up kinetic energy from simple movements such as shaking the bow, in order to deliver shots of increased power, as a bonus this bow has a higher base strength than all your other bows.
Finally, I designed you a new spear capable of forming a larger shield or being used as a glider in emergencies, it also has the sharpest blades you'll ever find and an improved override module." – Edith
Taking out the items one by one Aloy looks at them in awe, each new item glowing in a faint purple and crimson light that emphasises the ebony black metal plating of the items. To the side the other humans look on with varying emotions in their eyes.
Jumping to her feet giddily Aloy quickly runs over to the grounded wyvern and parkours into it, within the cockpit she quickly changes into the new armour. From an outside perspective all the people there turn to watch as the Nora Outcast begins to rise from the back of the large machine in a cloud of steam.
To the side the resident Ai giggles quietly to herself as she watches the dramatic unveiling.
{A/N: Check out my patreon at patreon.com/TheFudgeNPC for bonus chapters}