This outcome was not outside the realm of possibility. The heavy infantry and heavy cavalry had been quick enough to notice and escape the Cracker Grenades AND get their armor on and activate their defensive skills all in under 15 seconds. It was highly likely that they burned through several skills just to pull this feat off and therefore it was likely that they had some other tricks hidden away. Truly, this would be their first real test. The lightly armored infantry and the unarmored creatures in the woods were easy pickings and were completely unqualified to act as worthy adversaries. These knights on the other hand realized the danger of high-velocity, high-density 12 mm rounds and the guns that fired them and had taken the appropriate steps to avoid loss of life.

“Johnny! Back my team up!” The pinkish-red Zaku II Commander yelled to a slightly redder one that had a lightning bolt and two stars decal on it’s right shoulder shield.

“If the Red Comet wants backup, who are we to refuse? Let’s do this, Char!”

“Ortega! Mash! Have your troops launch a Jetstream Attack on those knights!” A black and purple Zaku II Commander barked in a southern accent.

““Glad to!”” cried Ortega and Mash.

As the Named Units and Commanders charged in, the rest of the 900 Zaku II Golems followed suit. While having the titles of ‘Veteran Soldier’ and ‘Ace Soldier’ did boost their fighting prowess, they still had only gained these titles by slaughtering weak monsters and unprepared bandits. They had yet to face a real fight, and they knew this. This battle would either forge them into true assets for their master or reduce them to scrap and slag. To them, this was their baptism by fire.

As the Mobile Suit Golems advanced, the knights prepared for combat as well. They deactivated their defensive buffs and activated their offensive ones. A few of their number had been unlucky enough to not have boosted their defense in time and these small metal pellets had torn them apart as if their Plate Steel armor was a joke. After the barrage of metal pellets had ceased, the knights had just enough time to identify their foes as golems and not heavily armored knights from some unknown land.

“Don’t worry, that attack was likely a one-time thing! They are just golems! Probably came from some new dungeon or something! They are Steel Golems though, so be careful!” One of the Knight Commanders yelled to encourage the rest, neglecting to remember that golems don’t talk, let alone have names.

“They have AXES! Axes against armor? This’ll be easy!”

One of the knights had noticed the large hand-axes the golems were wielding as they charged. Axes were not the best against armor, and golems were slow to begin with. The knights hadn’t fought golems in a while, so they didn’t notice that the golems they were used to never wielded weapons or coordinated their attacks. Truly, they had not faced a golem in so long that they had almost completely forgotten how a golem fought. Although, that was to be expected of people who spent almost 10 hours a month training and the rest of the time acting like billionaire frat-boys with no inhibitions and no respect for anyone or anything else.

As they were relaxing, they saw something that made them switch back to seriousness.

The axe heads began to glow a yellow-orange and the air around the axes began to shimmer with heat.

“Who casted Super-Heat Weapon on them?!” A knight yelled in surprise.

They didn’t have time to figure it out, though, as the two sides collided together with more force than the knights were expecting. It was almost as if some unknown force propelled these golems at the last minute.

The knights had raised their shields to deflect the blows of the Mobile Suit Golems, but without the defensive buffs their shields were only able to withstand a few moments of exposure to the superheated edges of the Heat Hawk Type 5s. Fortunately for the knights, a moment was all they needed as they unleashed a torrent of Sword Type melee skills at the grunt Zaku IIs, causing major damage as their enchanted swords tore through the High Strength Steel armor and chassis of their foes. As Arkhan watched from a distance away, he began to grow more and more concerned as more and more of his Mana Pool was freed up and instantly recovered.

However, while Arkhan was panicking and wondering whether he should kill off the knights with sheer numbers, the knights were also suffering casualties. Their MP and Stamina were being depleted faster than they had expected, and every time they scored a finishing blow against one of the golems it would dive into the mass of knights and explode like a magical bomb had gone off inside of them, throwing shrapnel and scorching heat in all directions. To make matters even more dire, occasionally a golem would get enough kills, shine with a brilliant light and rank up.

As the battle dragged on, the surrounded knights began switching from using offensive skills and buffs to defensive ones as they were being driven closer and closer together. Although the numbers of the golems had diminished substantially, it was only a matchup of 532-35 in the golems favor. As the glowing hot weapons were swung with more and more ferocity and accuracy, it seemed as though the remaining golems were… learning. It was as though the longer they remained in combat the more capable fighters they became, almost as if they were humans. If this had been any normal occasion such a bold and outlandish claim would have been dismissed.

Only the Races were capable of learning tactics and martial discipline and only though rigorous training, something the knights realized they had neglected for too long while under the banner of Prince Edwin. Monsters could rank up to become more capable, but their attack patterns and movements were based on a set pattern built into their race. A Goblin would attack one way, a goblin archer would attack another, and a goblin spearman would attack in another still. If you knew how to fight each different type of goblin or other monster, you could theoretically fight an army of them by yourself as they wouldn’t change their pattern of attack no matter how you tried to teach them. These golems, however, were breaking the mold.

In the end, it was only a matter of time before the few remaining knights were torn apart by the superheated weapons of Arkhan’s Mobile Suit Golems. Ultimately, in a slugging match between those with similar durability but with one having no limit to stamina and a 5-1 advantage in numbers, the winner is the one who can outlast and outnumber the opposition. On this episode of Deadliest Warriors, the victory goes to Arkhan’s Mobile Suit Golems.

As Arkhan walked through the remains of his village, he saw the tattered remains of his life all around him. It was painful, even for a child with the soul and mind of a 36-year-old man to look at this level of inhumanity and avoid losing his grip on his mind. Before he became who he was now, he had never fought in a war, never joined the military and had never seen combat outside of games, anime, manga and the news. He had remained blissfully untouched by the horrors of war and the suffering that people in warzones had to endure. Now, however, he had a taste of that misery. As he walked though the crowd of MSGs he finally laid eyes on Prince Edwin, his terrified pecker still stuck in the headless corpse of…

…

Mom…