---
## I.
The blade is 8 centimeters from her cervical vertebrae.
[RIGHT LEG: EMERGENCY FIRE — FULL HYDRAULIC DUMP][2,200 PSI → DISCHARGED]
The right leg kicks against the concrete. 220kg launches in a lateral arc — 0.3 meters off the ground, 1.6 meters per second.
My chassis crosses the gap in 0.2 seconds. I land over Kira.
Her 52kg frame is directly beneath my collapsed chest armor.
The chain-sword hits my back.
6,000 RPM. The tungsten-carbide teeth shear through the dorsal armor — the last intact section of my chassis.
[DORSAL ARMOR: BREACHED][CUTTING DEPTH: 3MM → 5MM → INTERNAL FRAME CONTACT]
Sparks cascade in a 3-meter fan. The heat at the cutting point exceeds 1,800°C.
The blade skips off the internal structural beam. The deflection sends it downward at 60 degrees.
It buries itself in the concrete floor. 18 centimeters from Kira's left ear.
130dB. The concrete screams as spinning teeth chew a 40-centimeter trench into the slab.
The blade stops. Embedded.
The Executioner's arm servos whine at 94dB. Attempting retraction.
The chain-sword teeth grind against concrete. RPM drops: 6,000 → 3,200.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
I am pinned over Kira. The Executioner is pinned to the floor. Temporary.
---
## II.
Kira is seizing beneath me.
[THERMAL SCAN — KIRA: CRANIAL TEMPERATURE 54.5°C][BRAIN TISSUE PROTEIN DENATURATION: ADVANCED][TIME TO IRREVERSIBLE NEURAL DEATH: ~3 SECONDS]
Her body convulses in rapid, involuntary contractions. Her jaw is clamped shut, masseter muscles at maximum tension.
Blood and boiling fluid coat the left side of her face. The cable to the Executioner remains taut, transmitting the lethal ICE protocol.
It is still cooking her.
The cable must be severed. The brain must be cooled. In that order.
[SCANNING FOR COOLING AGENT...][INTERNAL SOURCE: PRIMARY CORE COOLANT TUBE][COOLANT TEMPERATURE: -12°C. VOLUME: 340ML][LOCATION: CHEST CAVITY — ABDOMINAL ACCESS]
[WARNING: PRIMARY COOLANT EXTRACTION WILL RESULT IN CORE MELTDOWN][TIME TO MELTDOWN AFTER EXTRACTION: 5.0 SECONDS]
The Executioner's servos whine as they pull the blade 2 centimeters upward. It is freeing the weapon.
[ESTIMATED TIME TO BLADE EXTRACTION: 4 SECONDS]
---
## III.
I have no arms. I lower my head.
The jaw assembly opens, revealing titanium-carbide dental plates. Two are missing from the lower row, sheared off during the rebar extraction.
The remaining teeth are intact. 4,800 PSI of bite force.
My jaw enters my own torn chest cavity.
The first contact is cold, pooled hydraulic fluid. The chemical signature registers across my dental sensors.
Battery acid, oxidized copper, and degraded synthetic lubricant.
Deeper. The dental plates scrape against exposed circuit boards.
A capacitor pops under jaw pressure — 600°C flash for 0.02 seconds.
I find the coolant tube. A pressurized, rigid 14mm cylinder at -12°C.
My teeth close around the tube connector at the core housing. The factory-grade weld resists, rated for 2,000 PSI.
I apply 4,800.
The weld cracks.
[PRIMARY COOLANT TUBE: CONNECTOR BREACH. EXTRACTION: 40%]
I pull, sliding the tube 6 centimeters out of the housing. -12°C coolant sprays from the loosened seal.
The fine mist freezes on contact with my internal components.
[CORE TEMPERATURE: RISING. 180°C → 340°C][MELTDOWN TIMER: 5.0 SECONDS — COUNTING]
Warning sparks erupt from the chest cavity. Three capacitors blow simultaneously — a burst of white-hot electrical discharge.
Above me, the chain-sword tears free from the concrete.
The blade rises at 6,000 RPM. The Executioner drives it downward in a vertical strike targeting the top of my skull.
The tungsten teeth descend at 28 meters per second. The gap closes.
10 centimeters. 7.
5 centimeters from the top of my skull.
---