A procession of over two hundred stoneborn were marching towards what they believed to be home base of the Nemesis. They had found its location by revisiting the same mining depot that Fizzy, Kragiel and Kadam first encountered her new high-powered energy weapons. The otherworldly menace had packed up her bags and moved almost all of the equipment, likely because its position had been compromised.

However, she had failed to completely remove the buried power lines. Kadam’s dowsing skills had located a cable she had missed. And now that they knew what they were looking for, the Stonesinger and his fellow Dowsers were able to trace them through the underground and get a fix on her location. Fizzy had originally intended to use her Metallopathy to do the job, but there was a limit to how far she could stretch her metallic senses. Granted, the stoneborn had a finite range as well, but theirs extended to a few kilometers whereas the golem’s was only a hundred meters at most.

As for that chaotic Paladin herself, she was not among these two hundred. Nor was she among any of the other five similarly sized platoons that were simultaneously converging on Novyy Dragunov. Fizzy was leading the last and largest contingent of stoneborn troops, which clocked in at five hundred able-bodied soldiers.

Although not even two thousand strong, this force was the most the subterranean dwellers could muster on such short notice. The grace of the Gods would only last for twenty days, fifteen of which had already passed. It was now or never, and if the divine helping hand that Fizzy had been given was not enough to make a difference, then the stoneborn were doomed from the start.

But make a difference it did. Each of the five grand blessings the newly appointed High Templar had been loaned held the potential to completely turn conventional warfare on its head. They were superbly powerful, lasted for an entire day, and could be used on entire armies at once. All with basically no chant and with a cost of 0 MP. This was because those Spells were not born of Fizzy’s magic, but rather of the authority given to her by the gods to wield their power as she deemed necessary.

It was a great responsibility, and one that the golem showed admirable restraint with. After all, blessing the entire city of Deephollow for shits and giggles was entirely possible, but her benefactors would probably not take kindly to that. Which was why she limited herself to using those gifts only when it was necessary to expedite the preparations for the crusade proper.

For example, Zephyra the Goddess of Rain had given the Paladin the Boundless Reserves grand blessing. Those affected by it would gain near-infinite stamina, their bodies would not crave food or water, and their minds would remain sharp and clear without the need to sleep. These effects were practically useless to Fizzy herself due to her being a golem, but it eliminated almost all of the logistical difficulties involved in this crusade. Not only could laborers work around the clock to make preparations, but the expeditionary force could march non-stop without worrying about supplies.

That wasn’t the only Spell that was useful outside of combat, though. War’s Righteous Might amplified the effectiveness of the STR, AGI and DEX Attributes by a mind-boggling 50%. Although obviously intended to bolster an army’s martial prowess, it wouldn’t be much use in the upcoming battle. It was still extremely useful though, as it allowed the stoneborn artisans to perform at a level far beyond what they were capable of. Which was good, because Fizzy was still as unimpressed as ever with the quality of the items they produced.

At the very least the magmite shell armor they prepared for her had turned out nicely. Although the golem hated covering her beautiful hide with it, the extra layer of smooth crimson padding would go a long way towards repelling Katya’s heat-based arsenal. It wouldn’t stand up to her bullets and bombs if the Paladin took a lot of direct hits, but the only way that would happen was if one of those projectiles slipped past her Geomagnetic Grip. A highly unlikely scenario considering that she had two versions of herself on standby to help secure her personal safety.

She wasn’t the only one to get a snazzy new set of armor, though. Kragiel and about twenty more of her fellow Armsmasters were given full sets as well, while over two hundred shields made of the stuff were distributed along the men. Not all of that raw material came from those four shells Fizzy had brought with her on her first visit to Deephollow, though. Ever since her appointment as High Templar, she’d hunted down another thirty six of the beasts, both to help outfit the fodder and to advance her War Golem Job to Level 10.

However, although she had successfully gained another Skill point, the dynamo golem was not all too happy with it. Mostly because she had convinced herself to make a compromise regarding which ability she acquired.

Physical Augmentation Module

Description: The golem willfully alters its own construction, amplifying certain aspects of it at the expense of others.

Requirements: Level 10 War Golem, Level 25 Artificer

Type: Active

Activation Time: 2 seconds

Cost: 300 MP

Range: Self

Effects: Permanently transforms the user into a different form upon activation.

Grants access to a new transformation at Level 1, 4, 7 and 10 of this Skill.

This was the Skill she initially wanted to get. It was a Skill that required the golem to also be an Artificer in order to obtain. Of course she wanted it. The need to know what sort of fantastical functions such a thing could offer her was almost overpowering. So much so that she actively hated herself for passing it over.

At the same time though, the fact she didn’t know anything about this thing was also the main reason she avoided it. The Skill’s details were so cryptic and bare-bones that she had no idea whether it would actually be useful in the upcoming fight. Her need to face down Katya and her upgraded arsenal made it a really stupid idea to gamble on such an unknown. There was no way of telling whether this Skill would help in any way against those laser weapons, unlike the other Skill she ultimately went with.

However, once that cocky foreign bitch had been dealt with, she would obtain this Physical Augmentation Module no matter what.

“What are you getting suddenly pumped up for?” asked Minus.

“She’s probably just remembering that Skill we convinced her to give up on,” said Plus.

“Still? C’mon, Fizzy! You already spent like two days moping about it! How many times do we need to go over how useless that thing is!?”

What I don’t understand is how come you two can’t see the potential in it, replied the original. It’s a transformation! Transforming machinery! It’s an Artificer’s wet dream, you know!

Fizzy definitely cared for her alternate selves, but the fact that they weren’t gearheads like her despite being born of her own thoughts was infuriating, not to mention mind boggling. Which was why she secretly wished the third one would be a personality she could actually talk shop with, though it would be some time before the next Parallel appeared.

“We don’t get wet anymore, though,” pointed out Minus.

“That’s not technically accurate. Fizzy’s never been outright ‘wet’ in her life, so-”

“Hey! No meatbag reminiscing! We talked about this!”

The golem had gotten a bit over excited and accidentally made that remark out loud, at full volume, and while surrounded on all sides by now-confused stoneborn.

“… Whoops. Uh, nevermind. Focus on the road ahead, everyone!”

The soldiers quickly averted their eyes and did as instructed. They were all more or less used to weird outbursts from her, so they really didn’t pay her too much mind. The fact they didn’t even slow their marching speed was already quite indicative of how familiar they were with her eccentricities.

“Another internal dispute?” asked Kadam jokingly.

“Yeah,” said Fizzy with a tired tone. “Frankly I’m starting to worry. It feels like we keep having more and more arguments as time goes on.”

“Well, it’s natural for siblings to fight, so I wouldn’t worry too much over it if I were you.”

“Oh really? Then I suppose you have two alternate versions of yourself living in your head?”

“… I’m told I turn into an emotional crybaby when I get blackout drunk. Does that count?”

“Just shut up and get me a status report.”

“Aye, ma’am!”

The diamond-headed pre-dwarf reached into one of the satchels hanging off his torso and pulled out an egg-shaped stone object with a glowing white rune on it. He rubbed the arcane sigil with his thumb to activate the item, brought it up to his mouth and then spoke into it.

“All points, this is Hammer. Report your status. Over.”

“This is Anvil,” replied the stone in Kragiel’s voice. “We’re making progress as scheduled. No enemy contact. Over.”

“This is Copperhead,” said a different voice. “Same here. Over.”

“Team Silver here. We encountered a small swarm of migrating shardlings,” reported a third. “No casualties, but they slowed us down. Might be a bit late to the party. Over.”

“Team- Haaaah…” sighed the fourth one. “Team Bucket, proceeding as planned. Over.”

“Muffins. Ditto. Over,” was the curt fifth one.

“All quiet on the Fish front. Over.”

Kadam rolled his eyes in Fizzy’s general direction. He really regretted leaving the callsigns up to that looney bin. He thought it would be a nice gesture, but he wouldn’t have even said anything if he knew she was going to be like that. It was like she got bored halfway through and just said whatever random thing popped up into her head. Or rather, that was precisely what she had done. Then again, he did spring this on her out of nowhere just as the main force was about to splinter up into smaller groups, so it was partly his own fault for putting her on the spot like that.

“Understood,” said the Dowser. “Report immediately if you make enemy contact. Over and out.”

He then put the oval runestone back in the small pouch hanging from his chest.

“Those Resonator Charms of yours seem pretty handy,” noted the golem. “Stonesinger magic?”

“Something like that. Why do you ask? Do the surfacers not have items like these?”

“No, we do. They just… work differently is all.”

The Comm-crystals used by both Republic and Imperial forces during the recent war were by far the more advanced means of long range communication. They relayed images in addition to sounds, were password-locked for extra security and had a much longer range. At the same time, however, one could attune any number of Resonator Charms to the same frequency, or channel, or whatever it was they used.

“There would be a lot of people interested in these things where I come from.”

She wasn’t talking about the military, though. Those guys would probably stick to the more secure Comm-crystals no matter what. However, these enchanted pebbles would be perfect for adventurers that had to coordinate their actions from afar when tackling monsters or dungeons. Especially since they wouldn’t break as easily as one of those crystal cube.

“Yeah, you said that about the Plagueward Totems too,” said Kadam while stroking his beard. “You really think our people should reconnect with the surface?”

“I do. I don’t care how much you like it down here, but you need to link up with the rest of the world if you know what’s good for you.”

“That’s debatable. My kind doesn’t fare too well if we’re separated from the Realmstone’s glow for too long. Any envoys we send to the surface would need to be rotated out every few months.”

“The surface is full of all kinds of specialists though. I’m sure someone will figure out a fix for your condition, but that’s not what I was talking about. From what I understand, you guys keep facing one catastrophe after the other down here, and you’ve had to deal with each one by your lonesome. You need to get over yourselves and seek help from your fellow enlightened, otherwise the next crisis you can’t beat on your own will be your last.”

Fizzy had said as much to the old geezers over at the senate. They were obviously quite stubborn and uneasy about the whole thing. One of them even had the gall to point out that the Nemesis was a surfacer, and that nothing good would come from ‘fraternizing with those greedy bastards.’ Thankfully he very quickly changed his tune once Fizzy pointed out their current situation would’ve been avoided if they weren’t hidden away down here to begin with. Well, it was either that or the well-placed Magitech Cannon shot that singed his beard.

Regardless of the methods involved, her God had asked a favor of her, and she would do everything in her power to fulfil it. She would drag these ass-backwards hermits into the wide open world, regardless of how much they kicked or screamed. Their outdated government would be reformed and their overall quality of life would likely go up once they started trading goods and services with the surface.

“Yeah, well, let’s get this one done and over with first and then we’ll see, shall we?” said Kadam.

“Right… By the way, kind of a stupid question, but does your country have a name?” asked Fizzy in a low voice.

“… You serious? You’re only asking this now?”

“Look, politics isn’t really on the forefront of my priorities, okay? Besides, it didn’t really come up in conversation.”

“…”

“Well? Are you going to tell me or do I have to beat it out of you?”

“Fine. It’s Understone.”

“Ugh,” grimaced the golem. “That’s so lame.”

“Hey, at least ours isn’t named after genitalia.”

“Wait, what?”

“You said the kingdom of our ‘descendants’ was called ‘Horkensaft,’ right? That means ‘worm dick’ in our ancient tongue.”

“… You’re sure?”

“Very.”

Kadam’s face was dead serious, although the men and women marching besides him were struggling to contain their laughter. The infectious snickering combined with Fizzy’s puzzled face got to him a few moments later, prompting him to let out a bemused chuckle.

“Almost had you going there, didn’t I?”

“Almost, yeah.”

Team Hammer continued its trek forward unabated, only stopping every fifteen minutes or so to let their Dowsers check for enemy presence. Reports started coming in from the other groups within the hour, saying they’ve began detecting enemy patrols. Kadam also said they were getting closer and closer to open combat, and Fizzy ordered everyone to prepare for battle. Weapons were unsheathed, Rockfist Guardians were summoned and various magical enhancements were applied. As for the High Templar’s array of blessings, she had already applied them to the entire army before they split up eleven hours ago, so those were still in full effect.

The first stoneborn unit to make contact with the enemy was Bucket, who were spotted by one of Katya’s flying Bishop drones. Her forces spread out throughout the area immediately began maneuvering to intercept them, according to the various Dowsers. The other groups stepped up their pace, moving to counter-intercept whatever Nemesis forces they could, lest the enemy all converge on Bucket.

What followed was a series of skirmishes that broke out almost simultaneously throughout the perimeter. Neither side could bring their full military strength to bear in those tight tunnels, but this was definitely a good thing for the stoneborn since they were at a numerical disadvantage. They pushed back the mechanical forces with relative ease, though nobody reported encountering anything other than the regular array of bullet-slinging ‘clankers.’

Katya soon realized she was being surrounded on all sides and pulled most of her forces back to her main base. It was in the middle of a colossal cavern akin to the one where the Realmstone and Deephollow were, except that this one had been dug out by her automata. It was a wide open space where she could spread out her firepower and smother any invading force with bullets and mortar fire from hundreds of meters away.

Those were not Fizzy’s biggest concerns, though, as it would appear that Katya had been very busy in her absence.

“Hammer, this is Muffins. We have eyes on the enemy stronghold. Hard to tell, but there must be thousands of clankers- er, I mean ‘Pawns.’ We also count no less than a hundred of those ‘Knights.’ There are another twenty similar-looking contraptions mounted on top of the walls and buildings as turrets. Really big ones, too. Over.”

The automated defenses took pot shots at the splintered stoneborn forces as they maneuvered into position. They were trying to melt their way through the walls of the Nemesis’s hidey-hole and into the various tunnels her attackers were using as cover. Thankfully the stoneborn had brought Stonesingers in force. The scores of earth magic users were able to fortify and repair the sheer rock. They couldn’t hold it off forever, but it was enough to buy some extra time for their comrades.

Once everyone reported they were in position, Fizzy gave the go-ahead to Kadam.

“All points, this is Hammer,” he spoke into the Resonance Charm. “We will now begin phase one of the operation. Remember - stick to cover and wait for your turn. Over and out.”

Over six hundred Rockfist Guardians poured out of the gaping tunnel and into the stupidly large cavern. Katya’s base, which was more like a steel castle, immediately opened fire on them. Bullets, bombs and lasers rained down on the advancing force. The area was immediately filled with shrapnel and smoke, much to the Original Artificer’s delight. Some part of Katya always enjoyed watching the destruction wrought by her creations, especially since she could do so from the safety of her monitors.

Was it because she liked seeing her work in action? Or maybe it was because she was one of those people that just wanted to see the world burn? Whatever the case, she was quite confident this desperate invasion of her property would be crushed in due time. Her new laser weaponry still had a few kinks to work out, but her projections said they’d be more than enough to beat those primitives back. And once the stoneborn’s forces were routed, she would push into their strongholds and wipe them all out.

What was it they used to call it? Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy?

*KHHRRRRRUUUMMM*

“Shto za huynya?!”

Katya let out a curse in her native language after her base was suddenly rocked by an explosion. She immediately pulled up a damage report and saw that one of her stationary turret arrays had been disabled. This wasn’t supposed to happen, though. She knew for a fact those savages had no means of attack - be it magical or otherwise - that could match hers when it came to combat at this extreme range. She used her countless mechanical eyes to peer into the smoke-covered battlefield, and what she saw defied explanation.

A quarter of her vaunted Iron Curtain's firepower failed to hit anything, but not because her robotic servants’ aim was off. Bullets drastically changed course mid-flight. Mortar shells and missiles suddenly decided to hit the ceiling instead of the floor. The high-energy laser beams she had put so much faith into bent their path in impossible ways to make detours around their targets. And worst of all - every now and then, every once in awhile, those attacks bounced back right where they came from.

It was a superbly bizarre scene the likes of which had never been seen before, because this was the debut of Maureen’s latest creation. It was a blessing that went under the questionable name of Physics Be Damned, which was inspired by a certain animate jewelry box that her Hero came across quite fittingly by chance. This divine gift of the Goddess of Change made it so 25% of ranged attacks that would normally hit the affected individual, wouldn’t. There was also an additional 40% chance that any shots deflected in this way would bounce right back towards their source.

And since it was the work of a deity, this logic-breaking magic would display its effects on any and all attacks, regardless of how magical or scientific they were in nature. Fizzy had bestowed it upon the contingent of Rockfist Guardians prior to their assault, but it wasn’t the only one. She also gave them God of Earth’s Divine Protection, which reduced any damage they took by 35% so long as they remained in contact with the ground.

Then there was the Sun God’s Lifebinder’s Seal, which was the main reason why the stoneborn had suffered so few casualties in the earlier skirmishes. It increased their maximum HP by a flat 600 while also placing an anti-death ward on them. This effect would instantly heal them up to 25% of their HP should it fall to zero, giving them a second lease on life. Granted, it could only happen once per day per individual, but it was a simple enough matter to rotate anyone who was ‘popped’ to the rear of the line. This, when combined with God of Earth’s Divine Protection and Physics Be Damned, made each soldier roughly three times more resilient to Katya’s weapons.

So then what would happen if a small army of extremely expendable Rockfist Guardians were given all those absurd holy boons and sent into the line of fire?

*KAHKHRRUUUUUUM*

Why, they would keep taking Katya’s punishment until they inevitably sent some of it flying right back at her, of course. The otherworlder’s forces immediately ceased fire when she realized that. She had no idea what exactly was going on, but a fifth of her fielded forces had already blown themselves up. Especially the laser-armed Knights. Those things had a lot more firepower than they did armor, so it didn’t take much of their own medicine to disable them.

Her Pawns and Rooks were still fine, though. Their shells were quite thick, so they would not fall to their own ordnance. Not to mention she had nearly four thousand more of them stored away in her warehouses. She therefore ordered those older units to resume the attack while she pondered what to do next. If push came to shove, she could have the standard troops just keep up their barrage until the enemy tired themselves out. This was the site of her primary munitions production, so she wouldn’t be running out of ammo anytime soon.

However, this was exactly the thing Fizzy had been waiting for.

“Kadam! Begin phase two!”

“Right! Attention Anvil, this is Hammer! Bring in the Nail, over!”

“On the way, Hammer!” responded Kragiel.

Stoneborn Wizards from both teams coordinated to link their locations with a portal, courtesy of a Gate Spell. The soldiers in team Nail then began pushing the cargo they’d been protecting all this time through it, bringing it to the front lines. It was a massive metal contraption so large it barely even fit through the three-meter wide circular portal.

Admittedly its height and girth weren’t all that impressive by themselves, but its length clocked in at a rather ridiculous thirteen meters. Over three quarters of that was a thick circular barrel with an array of copper coils coming out of it, which was attached to a mechanical contraption with a number of switches and dials on it. Its undercarriage consisted of a robust six-wheeled suspension system to facilitate easier transport, although the awkward center of gravity made it tricky to move around. Unflattering statements such as ‘FUK U’ and ‘OPEN WIDE’ were scrawled all over it by the rank and file, who had poured all of their resentment of the Nemesis into this thing.

Once the extremely long cannon and its munitions and crew had been safely relocated, the Gate closed and Fizzy immediately flew into a frenzy. She used Geomagnetic Grip to lift one of the steel shells which were almost as big as she was, then slid it into the unrifled barrel. She then directed a pair of stoneborn and their Rockfist Guardians to lift the barrel up ‘by hand’ and point it in the general direction of Novyy Dragunov. It was a crude way to aim, but it would be pretty hard to miss a target that big.

With the weapon loaded and pointed squarely in the enemy’s direction, Fizzy went over to the back and placed her hands on the specially prepared handlebars. Katya had figured out the meatbags were up to something as evidenced by this point and was focusing her fire on the tunnel’s opening. However, the Stonesingers were easily repelling her metallic projectiles. It would be another story entirely if she unleashed her energy-based weapons, but she clearly didn’t want to do that for fear of having them self-destruct.

“Alright, meatbags!” shouted the golem. “Grab hold of the Nail and keep it steady, because it’s going to kick like a felsteed that’s been stabbed in the balls!”

The stoneborn had no idea what she was talking about, but they got the jist of it. Any Rockfist Guardians that were on hand immediately piled behind the massive weapon and grabbed hold of it.

“Uh, Fizzy?” called out Kragiel, who had arrived through the portal. “Not for nothing, but I don’t recall you testing this thing with live ammo before. Are you sure it will work?”

“Have a little faith, will ya?”

The dynamo golem then displayed her species’ name wasn’t just for show as she kicked her Static Field Skill into high gear. Arcs of lightning danced in the air as the powerful electric current coursed through her hands and into her latest creation’s capacitors. The thing buzzed, rattled and sparkled for a few seconds until the dial right next to Fizzy showed it was completely charged.

The golem then reached for the button that was the trigger with a huge smile on her face.

“Brace!”

*Click*

*Ka-THUNK*

The Fizzy-sized slug was magnetically propelled to five times the speed of sound by the time it left the barrel. It struck Katya’s base less than a blink of an eye later, exploding violently as its payload of ground up magmite spikes ignited. The substance in question was rather crude compared to the high quality blast powder Fizzy was used to working with, but it got the job done.

As for the rail cannon that fired it, it had been wrecked from the recoil. The barrel was bent and split open, and much of the machinery in the back was mangled. It would’ve been far worse of it wasn’t for the Rockfist Guardians absorbing much of that energy, though. Almost all them were either missing limbs or reduced to rubble, with quite a few stoneborn getting injured in the blowback.

“Hah! HAHAHAHA!” laughed Fizzy as she dug herself out of the debris. “How’s that for a warning shot, ya old bitch?!”

“WOAAAAAAAH!”

A loud cheer echoed throughout the cavern as the soldiers gave voice to their delight. They had seen Fizzy fire duds during dry runs back in Deephollow, but this was the first time they’d seen live ammunition being used. The thundering roar and plumes of smoke and flames it produced was an awe-inspiring sight that none of them were going to forget anytime soon.

“Damn,” said Minus. “Okay, I admit. That was something else.”

“… I was expecting a bit more though,” added Plus. “I mean we put a hole in the base, but it’s still standing, isn’t it?”

“I’m not done yet!” shouted the golem. “Come on meatbags, we have more presents to give our visitor from another world!”

She strode up to the ruined weapon and gripped its broken frame with both hands.

“Holy Light!”

A bright light enveloped the rail cannon, making it creak and groan as it steadily straightened itself out. A single cast of a healing Spell proved insufficient to repair the damage, however, so Fizzy kept piling on her holy magic. The weapon was back to its prior condition by the fifth Holy Light, which gave the stoneborn enough time to reconstitute their shattered Rockfist Guardians. This put a huge strain on their MP reserves, but it was necessary in order to operate that makeshift magnetic slug thrower.

However, the Paladin had now shown her hand. Katya retaliated by focusing whatever laser weaponry she had left on Fizzy’s creation. It wasn’t a living thing, so she couldn’t bless it with the Gods’ gifts. She didn’t have to though, as the stoneborn formed a wall of magmite greatshields to block the onslaught by piling up on top of one another. Their defenses would only last several seconds, but it was more than enough time to prepare the next shot.

Once everything was in place, Fizzy once again charged the weapon and, after telling her meatbag defenders to get clear, fired it before the incoming beams could melt the barrel. The slug drew a perfectly straight line through the air and struck another of Katya’s facilities. That one seemed to have been a rather important one, as it made all the lights and energy beams coming off her fortress sputter and die out. That didn’t last long, though. What must have been backup generators or some kind of redundant power supply activated several seconds later, bringing the compound and its defenses back to life.

It was too little too late though, as the third shot was already primed and ready. However, Fizzy wasn’t too keen on firing it just yet. After confirming the flight path of her first two attacks, she decided to fine-tune her aim a little bit.

“Aim higher!” she directed. “Higher! Higher! … Stop! Now a little to the left and… There!”

Eyeballing it like this seemed like a bad idea to the ones helping her out, but they really should’ve known better than to underestimate a Level 60 Artificer’s eyesight.

“Alright, brace!”

*Click*

*Ka-THUNK*

The third shot flew true and plowed straight into the extra-tall spire on the left side of Katya’s compound. It fell over while covered in smoke and flames, almost as if it were a tree struck by lightning. It crashed into the base below, producing yet more explosions of dust and flame. Fizzy wasn’t entirely sure what that structure’s purpose was, though. She just knew it must have been important considering Katya didn’t want her anywhere near it.

Her guess had been spot on, as what she had taken out was actually a communications tower used to boost the otherworlder’s radio signals in order to penetrate all the rock and stone around. Taking it out had not only eliminated her ability to call for reinforcements from her outposts, but also scrambled her hold on the automata that were already present. Having lost their connection to the central mainframe, the mechanical soldiers reverted to a completely autonomous sentry mode, firing blindly on anything they judged to be ‘an outsider.’

Katya’s laser-wielding knights were also affected, in that they dropped their ceasefire directive and resumed attacking the thrice-blessed Rockfist Guardians. About half of them were already smashed up or molten through already, but there were more than enough to keep their attention while the stoneborn prepared their next move. However, that wouldn’t come in the form of another artillery shot, as the last one had totalled the cannon. Fizzy had to rush the preparations for that third attack, and in doing so failed to completely fortify her creation. As a result, the gun’s recoil had caused a huge part of the barrel to snap clean off from the rest of it, rather than just bending or warping it out of shape.

It was an ‘injury’ that she could not ‘heal,’ but the golem was not discouraged in the slightest.

“You did well, big guy,” she said quietly while patting the rail cannon’s remains. “I’ll come back for you later, and I promise not to do such a rushed job rebuilding you. So hang tight, okay?”

Strictly speaking, this was the first time Fizzy had ever built one of these. She couldn’t devote nearly enough time to forging the thing as she wanted to. The fact that it held out for three shots was already two more than what she was honestly expecting. It might have lasted longer if she let the stoneborn Enchanters and Blacksmiths help, but her pride would not let her. The gun was her declaration to Katya that she picked a fight with the wrong golem, so there would be no meaning to it unless she built it all by herself.

But now that Fizzy was done fighting as an Artificer, it was time to finish off the mecha-twat the old fashioned way.

“Alright, you meatbags!” she spoke in a loud voice. “Get your butts in gear, because we’re beginning phase three! Kadam - give the word!”

“Aye, ma’am!” responded the Dowser in high spirits. “Hammer to all points! Move in and occupy that base!”

Namely by bashing her brains out.