Grixie spun in a deadly blur, her axe cutting through parasite after parasite, limbs and ichor raining across the field.
Grinex crushed monsters beneath his feet, swinging his massive weapon in wide arcs that cleaved abominations in two.
Above them, Lionice in the cockpit of Gibbons unleashed a storm of Abi artillery, cannon blasts raining down like thunderbolts, erasing swaths of parasites in explosions of fire and smoke.
"Clear the west line!" Grinex roared.
"Done!" Grixie yelled back, shattering a final parasite with a powerful overhead swing.
"Sector three is clean!" Lionice's voice boomed through Gibbons' speakers. "No movement left on thermal!"
And then... silence.
For the first time since the war began, the battlefield was still. The hordes were gone. The ground was littered with steaming, twitching carcasses. The air was thick with smoke and blood, but there were no more enemies coming.
A wave of exhausted relief swept across the field. Soldiers dropped to their knees, gasping. Some laughed weakly, others wept.
"We did it..." someone whispered.
"We actually did it..."
Kellix wiped blood from his cheek and let out a long, shaky breath. "It's over... for now."
But the quiet didn't last.
"Convert."
Maegan's giant rock Titans body twitched.
Nyte Fang "
A low, mechanical hum filled the air. Sparks crawled across his frame. Then a single word, cold and distorted, rolled from deep within the beast:
The hulking body shuddered and began to melt, folding inward, plates twisting and fusing into new shapes. The ground shook as the monstrous form compressed, and then exploded outward again in a storm of light and data.
Grax shuffled back with urgency.
The fractured data streams snapped back together, reweaving themselves into Maegan's solid form. He materialized without a hint of concern, lifting one hand calmly as if this were routine.
"Convert."
A new figure stood where the rock tiryhad been.
It was humanoid, sleek, and dressed in jagged digital armor that shimmered and flickered. A white button shirt with a black tie. Its hands glowed with creative energy that sparked and fizzled, unstable, incomplete.
BRAXER ROBOT
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Maegan tilted his new head and smirked. "Interesting, isn't it? A conversion of a rather famous artist."
The Monkey King's eyes widened. "What... are you?"
"You should be more concerned with him," Maegan said, voice dripping with arrogance. "Who is he you say, His name is Braxer, a thorn in the side of King Igris and a terror to the Barrakudo. I fought him once. He was... fascinating."
His form shifted, shimmering with unstable shapes. "I collected traces of his power. Now I wield a reflection of it, an imitation of imagination itself."
From his hands burst jagged, digital constructs, wolves of crackling code, swords that pulsed with light, each lasting only seconds before dissolving into static. Even so, they lunged with terrifying speed, forcing the tribal leaders onto the defensive.
"Watch carefully," Maegan sneered. "It's not as pretty as the original... but it kills just the same."
However Grax with his Ax and Nyte Fang with her katana sword cut through the cyber hounds with ease.
Leader Sunscales stood from a far "Nows my chance to strike him while he's not looking."
Lord Sunscales hurled his Wind Spear, it's force moved faster than sound, Maegan sidestepped effortlessly, summoning a flickering blade of light and slicing the weapon in two mid-air.
"Too slow," he taunted.
He appeared before Sunscales in a blur "N Electro blade."
He leaned in whispering to Lord Sunscales "Tell me... how does it feel to be forgotten?"
"No—!" Grax roared, charging forward.
Maegan didn't hesitate. He imapled the lizard. The leader's spear clattered uselessly to the ground.
The battlefield froze again.
"...Sunscales..." Nyte Fang whispered, her voice trembling.
The Monkey King dropped to his knees. "Another one... gone."
Grax's eyes burned with hatred. "You'll pay for that."
Not far from the carnage, Hidikai and Releyanda slumped against a ruined wall, chests heaving.
"I've got... sixty-five percent charge left," Releyanda panted, her arm sparking weakly. "You?"
"Forty..." Hidikai muttered, glancing at the carnage. "We need to recharge."
She looked out over the field, the smoking craters, the rivers of acid, the mountains of bodies. Her voice cracked. "Damn it... only three people did this. How the hell are we supposed to fight the royal family?"
Releyanda stared at the ground, then back at her. "I don't think that's an option anymore. But at this point... we have no choice but to follow through."
A shaky laugh escaped her. "Well... at least we can take a little break."
"Yeah," Hidikai said softly.
Releyanda reached over and took her hand. "Thank you... for being such a good friend to me."
Hidikai managed a small smile. "And lover."
Releyanda chuckled "Yes, and lover".
Hidikai's smile had vanished, replaced by pure, paralyzing horror.
"What's wrong?" Releyanda asked, confusion in her voice.
Hidikai's voice was a whisper. "Releyanda... behind you."
Releyanda turned.
Towering over her was a massive, round silhouette, its surface steaming and pulsing with acid. A grotesque grin split its face, a grin that dripped hunger.
It was Edgar.
And he was smiling.
To Be Continued...