And with it, the energy on the battlefield changed.
Grax's sharp eyes caught movement far ahead, three figures, calmly walking toward them through the haze of dust and smoke. His heart sank, not from fear, but instinct. Something powerful was coming.
"Bears," he rumbled, voice carrying over the army. "Prepare yourselves. The enemy is approaching."
Grinex strapped poped off due to their earlier battle, he grabbed a strap of his fallen bear comrad and strapped it on He closed the eyes of his fellow soldier and the scar on his eye shifted. Hripped his axe, the weight of it comforting in his hands. "We must not let our friends die for nothing" he growled.
"They're here," the Monkey King said, planting his power pole into the ground. "Steady yourselves!"
"Spears up!" Nyte Fang commanded, katana drawn, her warriors snapping into formation.
Kellix rolled his shoulders, clay swirling up his arms and condensing into a heavy cleaver. "Alright," he muttered, "no more playing around. Anyone who gets in my way is getting put down."
"HOOOHAAA! HOOOHAAA! HOOOHAAA!" the Monkey soldiers roared, their war cry shaking the air.
And yet, amid the shouts and stomping feet, Hielo stood still, trembling. Her breath came shallow and quick. In her mind, a memory replayed on a loop:
"Hielo... please. Protect my son."
Her hands shook uncontrollably. I'm trying, she thought. I'm trying...
The Calm Before the Storm
"Three fighters?" Releyanda scoffed, leaning on her spear. "They really are stupid."
Hidikai flexed her cyber arm, watching the once-glitching fingers respond perfectly. "Back to normal," she said with a dangerous smirk. "Good. Now I can tear something apart."
Tondo lumbered beside Singway as Gibbons hummed overhead. "I heard there's only three of them," he said. "You think they're strong?"
Singway smiled, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "Maybe. But there's thousands of us. It probably won't matter."
The ground quivered. Once. Twice. Harder.
And then they emerged from the haze.
The Three
Three figures walked slowly and deliberately across the battlefield. No banners, no armies, no fanfare. Just three.
The first was Maegan, the AI Converter, a tall, imposing humanoid of gleaming black alloy, his eyes burning like twin embers of logic and hate.
To his left strode Debora, the Parasite, her body rippling and shifting with every step, flesh alive and eager to change.
And to the right, Edgar, the Bacteria, a massive, round creature pulsing with boiling fluid beneath translucent skin, steam rising off him in waves.
They stopped. They stared at the endless army before them.
No one spoke. No threats. No boasts.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Maegan raised one hand and said coldly, "No speeches."
Debora's lips curled into a slow, hungry smile. "Then let's paint the ground red."
Edgar let out a bubbling laugh, deep and wet. "Faces to melt... bellies to fill."
"Good," Maegan said, his voice low and certain. "Let them see what three can do."
And then they moved.
Chaos Unleashed
Maegan blurred forward, his body shifting mid-stride. Metallic plates twisted and folded until his frame erupted into a massive Camazotz beast, a mechanical nightmare with blades for wings and burning red eyes.
"FIRE!" Lord Sunscales shouted.
Arrows, spears, and Abi blasts rained down, and did nothing. Maegan tore through them with ease, his armored hide deflecting the barrage. With a single flap of his wings, he launched skyward, then crashed into the Monkey Tribe's front line like a meteor.
The impact was catastrophic. Warriors screamed as shockwaves blasted them off their feet. Dozens were ripped apart by his claws, their bodies flung like rag dolls through the air.
"Fall back! FALL BACK!" someone screamed.
But there was nowhere to fall back to.
Debora lunged, her body blooming into monstrous, writhing limbs.
Tentacles tore through armor and bone alike, skewering warriors in mid-scream.
One soldier swung a spear, she caught it, laughed, and bit his head off with a sudden, grotesque mouth splitting across her forearm.
"Mmm..." she hummed, licking blood from her lips. "Still warm."
A blast of electro shot past her, Hidikai, fists sparking as she punched through a lunging tentacle. "Get back!" Hidikai shouted.
Debora turned, grinning. "Ooh. A fighter."
And then Edgar roared.
His bloated form convulsed, and in an instant, a flood of acid exploded outward. Soldiers screamed as their weapons disintegrated in their hands, armor melted into sludge, and flesh sizzled away into smoke and bone.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
"Stay back!" Releyanda yelled. "The acid, don't touch the acid!"
Too late. Dozens collapsed in agony, their bodies melting into formless pools on the earth. Even weapons forged from the strongest materials hissed and dissolved if they touched Edgar's corrosive bile.
Grinex charged with his axe raised, and the weapon melted the moment it touched Edgar's body.
"DAMN IT!" he roared, stumbling back, watching his blade dissolve into molten shards.
"Melt... melt... MELT!" Edgar screamed, each step leaving behind boiling craters of death.
The Army Crumbles
"Hold the line!" the Monkey King roared. "DO NOT BREAK!"
But the line was already collapsing.
The Monkey soldiers' proud chants had become screams.
The Deer Tribe stumbled back in chaos.
The Coyotes' spears dissolved before they struck.
The Bears were forced apart, unable to land a blow.
And above them, Maegan, still in his Camazotz form, swooped and slammed into the ground again, each impact shattering formations and sending waves of bodies flying.
"Is this... three people?" one warrior gasped, crawling backward, blood pouring from a wound. "Just three?"
Releyanda slashed a parasite limb away from her face. Hidikai crushed another, sparks flying from her electro-fists. Still, the tide would not stop.
"They're monsters!" Releyanda hissed. "Absolute monsters!"
Breaking Point
Hielo stood in the rear ranks, frozen as the nightmare unfolded. Her breaths came sharp and ragged, every scream in front of her digging deeper into her chest. Again the memory whispered:
"Hielo... please. Protect my son."
Her eyes locked onto Kellix in the chaos, clay cleaver swinging as he fought like a man possessed. Still standing. Still fighting.
How long could he last?
Devastation
The battlefield dissolved into madness.
Maegan soared overhead, unleashing screeching shockwaves that burst eardrums and shattered stone.
Debora skewered lines of warriors and devoured them whole.
Edgar rolled forward in a tide of acid, everything he touched melting into nothing.
The Animal Tribes had marched with thousands.
Now, hundreds lay dead.
And the three stood untouched, laughing, calm, and unrelenting.
The tide of war had turned in mere minutes.
To Be Continued...