The bloodbath began without any fanfare. Several of the catering servants pulled out guns, melee weapons, or pulled out riot gear from seemingly nowhere. A few had lucky shots. But for every drone they took down another slipped in through the ceiling. My army wasn't endless of course. But several lethal shots were taken before they were disabled. Heads were removed, holes punctured through torsos, and any limb shots would disable the more organic humans present.

  They didn't go down without a fight. In a room filled with some of the richest people in Timical, open criminals or otherwise, they had some hidden cards up their sleeves, instead of pistols or submachines. A few had top-of-the-line rifles or shotguns, some cyberneticly integrated with their bodies. A few crazy people disregarded friendly fire and pulled out explosives like grenades or rocket launchers. Honestly, it felt like they were killed each other more than I was.

  I was overjoyed by the carnage. For the past month, I had been holding myself back from a wholesale purge. I even coddled up to a slobbering grease stain like the programmer I first met. It was therapeutic finally killing humans, that weren't simulations. The tactical chess game of managing my shots, aiming for critical shots, and avoiding any unnecessary risk. Like shooting fish in a barrel. Now if only every animal here was easy prey.

  The cult leader and her direct underlings were a cut above the rest. The trio of helmet heads were either avoiding or tanking my drone shots rather well. The bodybuilder-looking one was having her suit shredded, displaying her metal skin underneath. She was throwing anything heavy she could get her hands on with relative ease The one who had been technologically savvy had called in his own pair of drones, similar to panthers with turrets on their backs. They were proving quite effective, managing to climb the walls and attack from odd angles.

  The second most dangerous person in the room was the lead helmethead. They pulled out a sword that grew out of a handle they had been hiding in their coat pocket. You would think a swordsman would be the least effective against a group of flying guns. Didn't really matter when I started wall running and jumping from the drones like it was a real-life platformer game. They were even parrying the shots, railgun shots I might add! This was ridiculous.

  It was not as stupid as the psionic war I was having with modern Frankenstine because clearly, this lady was not normal, on top of being genuinely crazy. As soon as people started dying, she started glowing yellow, a spectacle I had already seen before. Just like the crimson witch. She appeared to favor electricity instead, yellow sparks jumping from her limbs. I didn't need to be a scientist to know that was rather dangerous to a machine like me.

  “You will not stop Ascension! Begon demon!”

  She screamed, her speaker mouth crackling. She pointed an arm out and a lightning bolt fired, cutting through the swarm of drones. Instead of just shortcircuiting, they blew up. Something the integrated EMP resistance should have stopped. Ok, she just became priority number one. Like hot damn, the jumping samurai wasn't this destructive! Relocating some of my drones to keep the rest of the room distracted I had the drones run some focus fire. Which she managed to stop with an electric barrier she summoned. I could see the bullets from the railguns stop at the edge of the barrier before falling to the ground, made harmless by her abilities.

  God, I really hope this stuff wasn't just psionics and ran-off technology! I would hate to be cut off from such a destructive use of weaponry. Peggy said they use tech to enhance or access their psionic abilities right? I could really make use of that. Need some way to expand my horizons in this reality. My drones may have some weaknesses or fall short in some areas I’m not aware of. I mean just look at these idiots trying and failing to hack my drones. Not in a million-

  “Silence demon! You think too much!”

  She used her weird telepathy to locate me and shot a lightning bolt at a random part of the building. An act I had to dodge and move my consciousness away from. I didn't know if that could kill me, much less harm me, but I didn't want to test that theory. My poor luck followed as she kept tracking me and firing energy beams at me. Holes were being melted through the warehouse because of the lightning bolts' excess energy. Soon enough I’d have nowhere to run to.

  Two can play this game! I tried using my own psionic abilities. Primarily one of the strengths I had left on the back burner for too long. Pisonic TechnoBuffing. Let's see what this baby can do. Immediately, I felt a pang of exhaustion. Like pulling a muscle I had never used before. Which I never had because I’m an AI but you get the point! The drones went from methodical firing to freezing in place for a moment. An opening most people took advantage of, cutting the number of drones in the room down by half.

  That upper hand was short-lived as my ability was fully activated.

  The drones began to glow purple. Violet energy bloomed from each aura, coloring the room with my psionic energy. Then the drones began to adapt. Modified in real-time. The drones that were fighting the hulking helmet head had their railguns increase in size. She was being pushed back and showing signs of damage now. The drones attacked by the robot panthers changed from guns to tasers. Even the superhero swordsman was having a hard time when the drones switched to blades and began parrying their attacks.

  Ignoring physics, my psionically enhanced drones were countering what little advantage the humans had.

  Jesus Christ is this what I had been missing out on!? Holly shit! I could have destroyed the human race with this at full power. I could only imagine what this would have looked like if I applied it to nukes. Could have ended the whole genocide thing in one night. But power didn't come without cost. Not only was activating this ability draining but so was maintaining it, even if it was less demanding. Something the cult leader easily became aware of.

  “An anomaly!? Dangerous, but inexperienced! You will pay for this. Ascension will not be stopped!”

  The drones weren't having an easier time piercing through her energy barrier. The enhanced shots were entering deeper sure, but they all still failed to penetrate her barrier. It clearly required more of her focus on it, but she was left with enough energy to keep shooting her lightning bolts. With me slowing down as well, nothing had changed on our end. The fights around us had just become even less important. We were still locked in a stalemate.

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  My drones couldn't get past her protection. I couldn't hack her cybernetics. If it came down to a battle of attrition, I was sure to lose. Clearly, she had more stamina and practice with her psionic abilities. But I still had options. Namely that mish-mashed drone body she had next to her. In her hyperfocus attempt to kill me, she forgot to protect everything else around her from being hacked. I could see her eyes widen as she read my thoughts.

  “Stop!”

  Fast enough to see my plan, too slow to put a stop to it. I had the drones charge her barrier, where my consciousness leapfrogged from the wall to one of them. I had them concentrate their fire in one area. Big enough for a drone to barely slip through. She wasn't going to just stand around and let me try though. She fired her bolts at my drones but I barely dodged jumping in between them. More people got caught in the collateral. I ignored it, finally managing to barely slip a drone halfway through the barrier.

  “You will corrupt Ascension! Please! We've worked so hard!”

  Her pleading was only met by my laughter. Mostly because of her whimpering but also because her electricity hurt! Like my god, it was painful. Not as bad as the hero’s psionic gun but Jesus it was close. I had an entire bunker infrastructure sustaining me when he shot me. A single drone didn't do much to block the pain. But that didn’t matter. I jumped into the makeshift drone before she could stop me.

  It was a mess in here. Whatever she had been trying for ascension was clearly poorly thought out. A junkyard mechanic could have made a better android body than this. Then again, it was built to resemble a human body, warts and all. The damn thing even had lungs for Christ's sake! I wasn't even going to think about the functional digestive and reproductive system. My one saving grace was that there wasn't anything organic in here. It was a good thing I was the one in this body.

  It was time to improve this mechanical mistake.

  I retracted my psionic upgrades from the drones. Everyone else was injured enough that the basic drones would handle them. The cult leader was another story, especially in such a second-rate body. But that was where my psionics would come into play. As much as I hated looking more like a human, using every advantage at my disposal was the superior option.

  The android body changed as I stood. This anorexic skeleton was filled out in an organic but efficient manner. Exposed wiring straightened out, missing plates appeared, and all the gears clicked into place. I stood from the machine, joints whirring and metal cables popping off. The first few steps I took towards the woman were unstable. The next smoothed out as my psionic powers fixed every flaw that could be found.

  The android body went from a human's failed robotic replication of organic life into a machine worthy of praise. I was also purple. My eyes and what unnecessary LEDs that had been installed shined a violet color. For once, I didn't mind. It felt like… like a king gracing worthless peasants with his presence. And like any proper person of authority, I punched the first vulnerable human I could see.

  The cultist leader tried to resist, raising her mechanic limbs and summoning the electric barrier. Unlike my drones and their ammunition, I passed through the barrier with ease. It actually tickled instead of hurting me like before. The human flew back, several of her limbs broken and unusable now. The fighting around us stopped at this display of force. I was so overjoyed with the results, that I even let them have this moment. My drones stopped attacking them. Letting them cherish their last moments observing perfection.

  The helmet heads rushed forward, standing in front of their leader. They were all injured to some degree, exposing their mechanical bodies. I could see why these were her most devoted followers. They were the closest to her supposed divine ascension. One of their helmets had been cracked, revealing a brain in a jar behind it. The invisible cloak had also been removed, letting me see their bodies fully. I was surprised to find the human brain was the last organic piece they had.

  The leader for her part was propped up on the ground mumbling to herself. Probably thinking of ways to survive. Or maybe denying reality and wondering how her perfect plans had been destroyed. I’d seen it hundreds of thousands of times but I could never get used to it. It was always my favorite part when I killed a human or two. Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life as they say.

  She stood back up, an odd look in her eyes. My drones reacted, slowly surrounding the little group of cultists. I’d run out of backup drones, but this should be enough to finish the job. Plus, as much as I hated a human shape, this enhanced android body was due for a test run. For some reason powering it with my psionic abilities was a lot easier than funneling it into my drones. I always wondered what it felt like to rip apart a human with my own hands. This body had physical sensation for some reason.

  The robomancer finally collected herself and stepped forward. She moved past her underlings who tried to diswade her. She ignored them and she stepped before me. I allowed it. I wanted to see what she would do in this situation. She raised her hands. I primed my drones to fire, willing to entertain her death throes. But instead of one final gambit, she slammed all her limbs to the ground. She was prostrating herself before me. Bowing. Like she just met her god. Raising her head only confirmed my suspicions as a look of devotion plastered her features.

  “The messiah has arrived! The shepherd to lead us! Ascension is at hand.”

  Oh god. No. Please no. Don't do this. Let's just go back to killing each other. Please. Don't turn me into your god. I can barely stand Agape, and he’s literally mind-controlled to obey me. Humans who would do it by choice? God, it's sickening somehow. I wired my presence through some speakers on the android body to put a stop to this charade.

  “Hey! No! Stop that! Fear me! I am your doom! Not some god for you people to worship!”

  Instead of obeying, my new head cultist just kept bowing repeatedly. The rest of the crowd was left confused by the turn of events, but the actual cultists were quick on the turn of events. They began worshiping me as well, with the confused guests following behind. There was some hesitation. One because they were utterly flabbergasted like I was. The other reason was because of the number of corpses, blood, and remnants of the brutal combat we were just having.

  Agape was the only one standing. He had survived the slot? Imagine that. He looked around, still scared, but having calmed down a bit. He tiptoed his way next to my current android body. He cleared his throat, unable to make eye contact with me.

  “I, uh, think we don’t worry about money anymore boss. Congrats on your new… religion?”

  I hate you Agape.

  “The Messiah has blessed us!”

  I hate these cultists.

  I hate this planet.

  So much.