With so many controller skeletons unexpectedly finished off with lightning speed, the dwarfen alliance capitalized on the opportunity. The earth mages worked overtime to collect the injured and dead warriors while the other mages focused on helping Helga and her summoned angel Balsker fight against Ritter’s dual wielding mecha.

The molten angel picked his leg up off the ground and placed it back in its socket as his jaw zoomed over and cracked into place. Balsker was better off compared to Ritter, who was constantly being pelted by spells, disrupting the regrowth of his mecha’s lower arms and right leg, causing them to grow twisted and warped But they were still usable.

Within the mecha, Ritter felt exhaustion creep up on him after constantly dodging highly dangerous spells. Sweat poured down his face as he checked his mecha’s damage reports.

Ritter was reaching his limits. and needed to end this battle as soon as possible. With Urist’s flames spreading across the battlefield, devouring the bones his mecha needed to repair itself, and the immense amount of mana required to fully restore his mecha, Ritter couldn’t afford to make complete repairs. Instead, he was forced to utilize what little he could in order to bring this damn angel, it’s summoner, and those pesky mages down.

Helga huffed as blood leaked from her nose and sweat poured down her face. Her brain felt like it was cooking within her skull, yet she still sent her mana and concentration towards her summoned creature, allowing it to remain fighting.

I can’t... last much longer… Need to... finish this…

Helga bit her lip hard enough to draw blood in order to keep focused. Her eyes slowly grew wide and bloodshot as she continued to push herself, not only keeping her summon active but also meticulously studying the dual wielding mecha’s moves.

The mecha barely had any openings, and the closest they came to killing him was when Balisker cut his legs off. Now that the mecha had regenerated its legs, it was able to fight Balisker to a standstill.

As she watched the fast paced combat, time seemed to slow as a memory abruptly rose up within her mind.

Master… How do I win against an opponent who is stronger than I am?

You’re a little slow Helga, but you’re not dumb. Just take the time to figure out a way and you will be fine. Now come, summon our guardian and face me once more.

“I’ll show you… That my master was right…”

Helga waited for the two to take distance from one another before she spoke a spell.

“>Full Control<.”

Helga’s body dropped like her strings were cut the moment the words left her mouth. Thankfully a nearby mage caught her before she hit the ground.

Heat. Blazing hot heat. That’s all Helga felt as she gripped the sword of judgment echoing the song of her people. The melody bolstered her determination, causing her to grip the weapon with strength.

The sword called to her, tempting her with power, but she didn’t lose herself in the desire. Helga took the stance her master had repeatedly drilled into her. Ritter noticed the change when Balskar held its ultra greatsword like a warrior, unlike the madness beast it was before.

Left foot forward, both hands on the sword’s grip, and the blade leaning on the shoulder.

A simple stance that forwent defense and put everything all in on attacking.

Ritter smirked inwardly. I don’t know what changed but such an honest stance… IS NAIVE!

Ritter, seeing an opportunity to destroy this hated foe at last, rushed straight at Helga.

I bet he’s thinking I’m naive...

Time seemed to slow down as Helga waited. Agonizingly waited for the moment he stepped into her range.

The second he did, she threw her ultra greatsword forth with all her might, sending it flying through the air with streaks of golden blood scattering across the sky.

Ritter roared as he moved to the side, dodging the attack with grace, “You think I would die to such an honest attack!?”

But… It’s anything but honest...Helga thought as she used the force of the throw to hide her hands.

“YOU WISH I WAS THAT EASY TO KILL! NOW DIE!”

Ritter aimed his sword to decapitate with a smile on his face. Finally, he was able to kill one of these detested invaders that murdered his brothers and sisters.

As he was about to land the blow, he found that his mecha had stopped. He momentarily wondered why his momentum stopped before he found himself coughing up blood. Ritter felt a burning inferno spread from his back and rush through his chest. He looked down, blood sliding down the side of his mouth, only to see the blasted angel’s ultra greatsword sticking out from right in the middle of his ribcage.

“Wha…” He choked out between bloody coughs as his mecha dropped its swords and staves, fell to its knees and held onto the greatsword’s blade.

Helga stood upright, revealing golden strings flowing along the ground, connecting to the greatsword. With a flick of her finger the greatsword pulled itself out from the back of the mecha.

“Sorry… A warrior like you… Shouldn’t die to such a… Trick.”

Helga held the ultra greatsword up to the sky, and Ritter, instead of feeling rage, hate, or despair, oddly still had a smile on his face.

Helga would never know why, however, as she brought her blade down and cut his cockpit in half.

“>Full Control Release<.”

She whispered and the world around her turned black.

...

“Ritter! No!” Robert cried, seeing his brother-in-arms be cut down.

“Hey, don’t forget about me. You don’t have your annoying army to protect you anymore!”

Shifting from speed mode to iron defense, Snorri sent a sucker punch at the distracted Robert before following up by grabbing the cracked mecha’s face to gain leverage and threw herself upwards to set up an axe kick, smashing the mecha face first into the ground.

She wanted to continue the attack combinations but had to shift back into her speed mode to dodge out of the way of a massive hand that tried to grab her.

“Come on, is that all you got? Is this all that your resolve amounts to? Pathetic!”

Snorri taunted Robert as she smashed his mecha left and right, cracking the bones that it was made of faster than they could heal. Snorri figured it would only take a minute or so before she cracked into his mecha and smashed her opponent’s head apart.

“You don’t know me! You don’t know what we fight for! I’ll show you my resolve, BITCH!”

“>Transform

Aura exploded forth from the black gorilla mecha, launching Snorri away. Snorri, instead of rushing back in, stood with her hands on her hips and a smirk on her lips, “Go on, power up. It won’t be fun if you’re not at full power when I kill you.”

“You're going to regret that decision.” Robert ominously bit back, filled with bloodlust and rage.

The mecha’s large metallic hands partially liquefied and began to flow back along its body, gradually being absorbed into it. The mecha seemed to slim down, stand taller, become more muscular, and its previously gigantic hands sharpened, turning into a pair of deadly blades.

“I’m going, to be honest, this doesn’t seem much of an improvement. Come on, let’s see what you got.” Snorri chuckled as she taunted Robert with a come hither gesture.

“I’ll show you the power of the Norkin race, you insect!”

“Please, I insist.”

Green flames appeared in the air around the black mecha as it made a quick step forward, causing the flames to explode and scatter, hiding the mecha from sight. Snorri’s eyes widened as she activated her speed mode and leaned backwards at a ninety degree angle.

Not even a second later a bladed hand pierced through the spot where her chest used to be.

Snorri moved quickly, pressing off of the ground to create distance before the mecha’s other bladed hand could bisect her.

Even in my Iron defense state, I would’ve been injured by that attack. I can’t exchange blows with this guy like I did before.

Tsk. How annoying. I have to get used to his new speed quickly.

Though Snorri felt that it might be troublesome, anyone could see the wide smile on her face.

“Good. Good! This will finally be some fun!”

...

Nearby, Urist and Mo dashed around Lexie’s mecha, dodging the swings from her great battleaxe and her shots of magnum fire. They aimed for the mecha’s joints, and Urist used his strikes to implant origin flames within the mecha to eat away at the bones.

With the surrounding battlefield basically devoid of bones with origin flame still eating away more of them, it took longer and longer for Lexie’s mecha to recover. Each strike that the pair landed caused Lexia to move slower and made the sticky fire spread further along the mecha.

Despite the damage her mecha was sustaining, Lexie was so enraged that she didn’t even notice the danger.

Nor would she have cared.

As long as she struck down these two insects then she could at least face her brothers and sisters in the next world.

She could tell them that she brought honor to her brothers and sisters, that she killed those that trampled on their dream.

Lexie cried tears of black blood, screaming at the top of her lungs as she slashed, hacked, and shot at the pair of murderous ants whirling around her. Yet she couldn’t land even a single hit as the pair of dwarfs tore into her mecha, dismantling her with their strikes and setting her ablaze to the point that she became a raging inferno. Finally, the two cracked into her chest plate and revealed her figure.

Although she was burning up in a hellstorm of flames and her mecha disabled, Lexie was eerily calm as she stared up at Urist, who stood on her mecha. One of the demons who brought her people down. How she wished she could cast her magic from within her mecha, or use one of the knives in the compartment, but sadly her hands had already been burned to dust.

“My king will avenge me,” She hissed bitterly.

“He’ll join you soon enough,” Urist scoffed.

“Fuck you.”

“Goodbye. Rest in peace.”

Urist drove his spear through Lexie’s forehead, killing her instantly.

“Devour.”

The spear chomped down, consuming Lexie’s body and soul, yet leaving the mecha be.

As the spear swallowed, Urist sucked in the flames on the mecha and turned his gaze towards Snorri’s battle.

“Let’s finish this, Master.”

“I could use a rest after this.”

“Same.”

...

With Urist and Mo joining the battle, the previously balanced fight brought upon Robert’s transformation was broken. While Urist’s flames couldn’t melt the metal, surprisingly its sticky properties worked extremely well on the mechanical gorilla. The flames seeped into the cracks and weakened the black mecha, but it only seemed to cause a minor hindrance.

Robert thought that he could still turn the tides as his speed was only minorly crippled. Until Valkus and Joy joined the battlefield, that is. Valkus’s shocking new form and Joy’s lance skills allowed them to tear Robert apart, cutting away his limbs and leaving him bruised and bloody once he left his cockpit.

The dwarfs stood around him, ready to pounce upon the necromancer.

Black blood leaking from his eyes, bloody dagger in hand, Robert stood stoically as origin flames ate away at his body.

“I will die here today, but my brother will avenge me. Avenge our people. You will all die by his hand. I only wish I could see his rise as he made our dream become reality.”

Robert laughed madly as he took the dagger and repeatedly stabbed his own chest, causing his black blood to scatter through the air and pool at his feet.

The dwarfs didn’t know what was happening and just stood there with wide eyes as the madman killed himself.

It didn’t take more than half a dozen stabs before Robert stopped laughing and fell over, letting the flames consume him.

“Now... to kill the big bad boss, right?” Joy questioned as she looked over to Urist.

Before Urist could even open his mouth to reply an enormous green beam blasted into the heavens from the main castle as an inhuman screech filled with pain shot through the sky.

“ROOOOOOBBBBBEEEEERRRRTTTTT!!!!”