The toe of Calvin’s boot pushed against the stone, his fingers felt a brief sensation of the stonework as he clawed his way forward, moving faster than his mind could keep up with.

He felt like he was watching his limbs move from a long tunnel, detatched from the image moving in front of him.

Wait, why are you moving towards it!? A distant voice echoed in his ears, but he was already passing it by, mentally and physically.

It wasn’t about his country. It wasn’t about saving the soldiers on the wall. Those things were there too, but the core of the thing that seemed to be drawing him forward was one simple concept that Cal couldn’t imagine living without.

Winning.

Running away was losing, letting all the soldiers on the wall die was losing, dying was losing, and not killing the monster was losing, and Cal didn’t want any of part of that.

As he ran, he reached down for his belt, fumbling for a fraction of a second as the cube of steel on his belt wobbled a bit on the end of its chain.

It killed two more men in that fraction of a second, coming five feet closer to impaling Cal’s face.

Calvin focused on the cube, mentally isolating a tiny, 1 inch by 1 inch cage following the contours of the cube itself.

Shaping.

8/11 Bent remaining.

The tiny cage had one hundred and forty-four pounds of mass injected in it, becoming three feet wide, and coming into existence around the creature, its claws sticking awkwardly out of the squares.

The creature instantly began thrashing inside the cage, its claws biting into the steel and shaving off large pieces. The cage itself began tumbling forward, a rapidly disintegrating mass of iron bars rolling toward him like a runaway barrel of hot steel shavings.

It wouldn’t even need to break free to kill him. It was going to do that just by rolling forward, blade-arms sticking out at odd angles, ready to impale him.

Cal put his left hand forward and lifted up his right foot, focusing on the steel cube in his hand.

Shaping.

7/11 Bent remaining.

A solid steel trident sprung into existence at an angle, dropping into his hand. It was far too heavy for use by someone with only six strength, but he didn’t intend to be swinging it around. The handle manifested just above his left palm, the bottom just under his foot.

Calvin put his foot down.

The tumbling cage hit the oversized trident with the shriek of tortured steel, the pressure shoving him backward violently. The spiked bottom of the trident dug a furrow through the solid stone of the top of the wall. They kept sliding a few feet until the trident’s bottom fell into a small crack and wedged itself deep into the stone, bringing the slide to a sudden halt.

The stone cracked, the haft bent a little, then for a single instant, everything stopped.

The extreme noise and flurry of motion attracted the soldier’s attention away from the battle going on far below them, and they jumped in surprise and revulsion at the shiny, silver, insect-like thing and the wake of chunked soldier behind it.

The monster recovered first, slamming its razor sharp legs against the bars in the exact same spot, chewing through them faster than an expert logger through a young pine.

The second to breathe allowed Cal to come back to himself, and suddenly the waving claws that had seemed like they were going to eviscerate someone else were waving violently back and forth, only a couple feet away, rapidly compromising the integrity of his cage.

Maybe I could use a little help.

Hi, welcome back, Elliot said congenially, but Cal could sense a deep undercurrent of sarcasm. Calvin ignored him.

“Get off your asses and tear this thing apart!” He shouted to anyone listening as the slightly warped polearm bucked underneath him, cracking the stone it was embedded in further.

Everyone jumped, springing into action. The smart soldiers drew back, looking for a similar polearm, or fixing their bows on the creature.

The brave ones charged forward with their swords, the Gadveran blades denting against the silvery skin of the monster before they received wicked gashes on their arms and legs, forcing them to stumble back in agony.

An instant later an arrow ricocheted off the creatures’ single, massive black eye, whirring past Calvin’s left shoulder.

What in the abyss is this thing made of?

Jerrytanium. Don’t look at me, I didn’t name it. Anyway, the chances of getting through it with regular steel are pretty slim. We didn’t manage to copy the Harbinger’s Supremacy Field, but I think for most purposes, this stuff worked better anyway. Ah man, the freaking supremacy field. They could simulate a living creature well enough for it to spend Bent on decreasing the effectiveness of everything else relative to itself. Their robots weren’t particularly tough, or good, they just made everything else fold like a wet noodle, including high command’s spines, apparently. I swear to god, when I get off this planet, I’m going to shove my fist so far up-

Calvin tuned the rambling out, focusing on the creature trying to squirm between two severed bars.

“Use your Bent!” Cal shouted.

“Penetrating Shot!” One of the archers cried out as he shot. It was military discipline to shout out the name of your attack, apparently, so your teammates would know when it was time to get out of the way.

The arrow dented the armor near one of the joints, making the leg have an unnatural hitch in it as it scrambled out of the steel cage. In another fraction of a second, the creature wormed its way out of the cage, its side dipping the tiniest amount before it leaped straight at Calvin’s face. He tried to reach for his steel cube, but his hand was too slow, the creature was too close already.

Cal’s life flashed in front of his eyes as the four bladed limbs began closing down around him. Most of it was him getting thrashed by Karen, and not a single one was of getting laid. What about my empire of big-boobied women that like me a lot? If I had known I was gonna die here, I would’ve mounted the everloving Abyss out of–

Ella jumped in front him, slamming into the creature and pulling its bladed legs away from him. The monster’s blindingly fast legs shredded her armor, and covered her silvered body in shallow scratches.

She delivered a punch laced with the strange green paralytic spell to the creature’s underside, and its limbs slowed down for a brief instant, allowing her to drag it close to the edge of the wall.

Interesting. I guess the spell doesn’t care if the target is alive or even has nerves. I wonder if it’s simply a kinetic dampener? But wouldn’t that stop the heart? There were scratching noises inside Calvin’s head, pen on paper.

Do you have some kind of office in my head? Calvin thought as Ella let out a shout of effort and twisted, her muscles glinting in the sunlight as she shoved the creature over the parapet. It instantly retracted its bladed limbs, forming a graceful looking silver wing on its right side.

The dent just above the joint of its rear left leg prevented the creature from forming a perfect wing, causing it to tumble madly in the air, until it hit the ground with an explosion of dust.

“You wanna take a break with me after this?” Calvin asked, leaning over the parapet beside Ella, eyeing the monster.

“What kind of break?”

“I think you know.”

Calvin, I need you to bring up her paralysis spell in casual conversation. Oh, yeah, and it’s probably not dead.

I’m aware.

Cal focused on the single silver limb he could see sticking out of the dirt. He needed to do something while it was still. He brought the limb into his mental space and isolated a tiny, arrow shaped section of its skin. He was going to use its armor against itself.

Shaping

Mass splitting.

6/11 Bent Remaining.

Dozens of Jerrytanium arrows appeared, leaning against the parapet in a line.

Tsk. I still hate that name.

Calvin picked up the one in front of him and held it out.

“Listen up!” He shouted at the top of his lungs. “Grab one of these, and use every Ability you’ve got to put it through that thing!”

The sound of arrows clattering to the ground rang along the wall as the archers ditched their current arrows to picked up the heavy silver ones that had appeared in front of them, nocking them on their heavy gadveran war bows and taking careful aim.

They didn’t fire. Instead it seemed like they were waiting for something.

By the gods, they’re waiting for me.

“Fuck’em up!” Cal shouted, bruising his throat as he pointed at the silver monster pulling itself out of the ground.

“Penetrating shot!”

“Homing Arrow!”

“Burst Fire!”

Voices echoed along the wall to either side of him, and a volley of the creature’s duplicated armor rained down on it, Enhanced with bent. The arrows homed in on it, created miniature explosions, and passed through anything that got in the arrow’s way.

The volley made another cloud of dust that hid the creature’s profile, twenty feet wide and slowly rising up the side of the wall. Cal and the others scanned the edges of the cloud, praying that the last attack had done the creature in.

Nothing moved in the slowly drifting cloud of grey, and they gradually relaxed. Cal kept his fist tight around the silver arrow in his hand, staring at the edges of the edges of the cloud. He’d relax when he saw its dead body.

The cloud was being drawn south by the ocean wind, if the creature was following the cloud, it would intersect – Shit!

The creature burst out of the top of cloud, only ten feet below them, climbing the solid stone wall with three of its bladed legs, dangling the fourth behind it. Its armor was covered in gigantic rents, revealing strange innards full of tensing tubes that looked almost like black muscles, colorful strands of brightly colored…yarn that made sparks, and a slowly oozing, black goop that reminded Cal of the stuff that was draining from the ceiling of the Freezer.

Half a dozen arrows were sticking out of it as it raced up the side of the wall, its awkward skittering movements causing the panicked volley of arrows to miss.

Aww, it’s recognized you as a high value target to kill before it’s destroyed. What a cutie.

I’d be right to assume the insides aren’t as tough?

That you would.

“Aim for the holes!” Cal shouted.

“Every day of every week!” One of the soldiers howled at the top of his lungs, causing the others to break into gales of laughter as the death machine approached.

Fucking madness! Cal thought, readying himself.

This is war.

“Ella, can you – “ Cal glanced over his shoulder and stopped when he spotted her slumped over against the parapet, sweat beading on her forehead. Her Iron Skin was gone, leaving her vulnerable and unconscious on the side of the besieged wall. She was experiencing a Break.

That’s right, she was only a second Break.

Damnit! Cal thought, hefting the silvery arrow and backing away from the wall.

As the creature came over the edge of the wall, it staggered sideways as an arrow rammed itself home, through one of the gaps in its armor. The creature ignored the man who’d fired it and a dozen other arrows that missed their mark. It’s attention was solely focused on Calvin.

“Come on you piece of shit!” Calvin said, holding the silver arrow in front of himself. When it attacks, I’ll make a Jerrytanium war-pick and put a big ass hole through it.

Wait. I can do better. The adrenaline and buzzing excitement gave him a sudden idea to maximize the sheer impact, more than he could ever do with a war pick.

Cal held the silver arrow by the fletching, focusing his attention on the arrowhead, singling out a tiny section of space at the very tip in the shape of another arrow, perpendicular to the arrow itself.

He held the arrow high above his head, and when the creature jumped toward him, he whipped the arrowhead downward as quickly as he could, tweaking the muscles in his arm and wrist, triggering the spell mid-swing.

Shaping

5/11 Bent remaining.

A one hundred and forty-four pound silver arrow manifested above the creature like a bolt from Sirfren himself, Coming down at the same speed as the blurred arrowhead, punching a massive hole through the creature’s back and pinning it to the stone floor in an explosion of sound and rock shards.

Nicely done.

When the dust faded, the creature was clawing ineffectually at the stone and the silver arrow driven through its center of mass. The creature gradually slowed, then came to a stop.

Maybe I should get a wand, Cal thought as he inspected the arrow in his hand. With extra flick from his wrist, he could get the tip moving at rather high speeds.

A cheer rose around them, and one particularly foolhardy soldier kicked the monster that was curled up around the giant stake. Calvin half expected it to come back to life to exact one final casualty, but the man was unharmed.

“Whew,” Cal let out a breath he didn’t even know he’d been holding. He idly itched his ribs, and spotted a stone shard driven through his breastplate, and a quarter inch into his skin.

Cal pulled it out with a grunt of pain and studied the shard. It would have been a lot deeper without armor. A lot deeper.

His arms and legs began to demand attention as minor scrapes and punctures made their presence known.

“Well done, lieutenant!” someone shouted as people began to crowd around, slapping Cal on the shoulder and back, aggravating his wounds even as they congratulated him on a job well done.

“Well, you can’t lead from the back,” Cal said with a shrug, quoting Karen.

That’s a really short-lived ideology.

It seemed to resonate with the others, though, whose enthusiasm grew even higher. Even some of the men with minor injuries joined the celebration.

Cal glanced over at the line of mutilated corpses to the north and sobered immediately.

“Get the wounded to the medics!” He shouted, causing the others to flinch. “I don’t want anyone dying during a celebratory circle-jerk!”

The Sergeants were the first on task and started the job wrangling the enlisted into identifying and hauling away the wounded, ending the celebration in a matter of seconds with an impressive series of curses and cuffs. The sudden activity cleared Cal’s line of sight of the battlefield.

Andra and her company of Veterans were surrounded by the Ilethan army, using the LineHog as a kind of mobile fort, turning the machine toward the south to prevent themselves from being totally surrounded.

But, Andra’s elites retreating to the south, along with the north side of the wall being exterminated, meant there was a glaring hole in the city’s defences.

The Ilethans weren’t kind enough to leave it alone.

While a third of their army harried Andra, the rest pushed a dozen siege towers toward the now-empty walls.

Cal could only slime six of them. He patted the vial in his vest pocket. Still unbroken despite the combat.

Make that nine. Maybe if I use the wasps, I can target more than one tower at a time. Damn, this is going to get rough, they only last sixteen minutes each.

Damnation. I don’t care, I’ll send each and every one of those bastards to meet Ishra. Cal shrugged in his dust covered armor and walked along the bloody wall to go meet them.

***Kala***

Aua, means men… Kala thumbed through the simple Genosian to Gadveran dictionary.

And women… Kala felt her face begin to heat up as she scribbled the words down.

When she got to the last word, she left it untranslated, tossed the book across the room and buried her face in the pillow, screaming and kicking her feet until she felt up to the task of being dignified again.

A knocking at her door brought her out of her shame-stupor. Kala lifted her head with a gasp of air and composed herself before going to open the door. Standing on the other side of the rich wood was uncle Bekvah, shifting from foot to foot nervously.

“Time for me to earn my keep, I guess,” The owlish man said with a grin behind his bottlecap spectacles, fiddling with a strange red-painted piece of steel shaped like a bone. His face was pale. “I just wanted to say hi in case-“

Kala gave her uncle a hug.

“Oh, Okay. I’ll see you when I get back.” Bekvah said, patting her back.

“I don’t mean to sound selfish but can you –“

“Make sure your friends are okay? I’d be happy to.”

Kala shook her head.

“Erase memories?”