I chased after Marshoo, through the castle and out onto the ramparts. A huge green aura shield covered the castle, blocking energy blasts from getting through, though the impact caused shock waves to vibrate through the building.

The dragon Automata that I had seen partially completed in The Factory had descended on the city. Buildings were crushed and people were screaming. I could see the charred remains of what appeared to be a heavy assault squad of Automata Royal Guards.

“How? How did Yliasi get something like that?!” Marshoo screamed.

The dragon was accented in red and gold and bore a shield emblem that I didn’t recognise. I assumed these were the colors of the neighboring country that was supposed to be stirring up trouble on the eastern border. The thing was massive, easily 80 to 90 meters from nose to tail with ridiculous wings that cast shade over several city blocks. How in Primus’ name was that thing powered?!

The royal guard were forming a line of mages along the wall and pelting the thing with spells but it didn’t look like it was taking any damage. I could see Captain Sunni barking orders a ways away, and Marshoo took off to join the shield bearers that were providing cover to the exposed mages outside of the aura shield.

The dragon reared back as lights along its mouth and throat started glowing. It lurched forward, throwing open its jaws and spewing out a torrent of energy that slammed into the aura shield. Everything inside of the shield vibrated and shook until the shield itself winked out. I thought those things shattered when they failed...

The head and neck of the dragon poured off smoke and steam, the magiSteel around its mouth and throat, glowing a dull orange color. It looked like there was a cooldown period before it could attack like that again, which didn’t give us much time.

Not waiting to fully cool off, the dragon hefted a chunk of building and hurled it at the squad of mages and their defenders.

“[PowerExtreem(CloudBurst)]!” I shouted, as the armor snapped into place.

I shot forward, [Blink]ing into the path of the oncoming projectile.

“[HotSwap(IronHide)]!”

The CloudBurst armor vanished, replaced by IronHide in his bot mode, landing heavily in front of the royal guards and blocking the hit with his shoulder. I grabbed the debri and spun around with it, hurling it back at the dragon. The chunk smashed into the side of its head, knocking it to the side but doing little otherwise.

I pulled out the steam cannon and charged up a steel round, firing it off. The round connected and punched through the steel plating and into the throat of the dragon but it wasn’t heavy or strong enough to more than cause it to stumble back a few steps.

I swapped back to CloudBurst and flew above it, swapped back to IronHide and dropped onto its head with a double fisted hammer blow that forced it to the ground. I hit the ground and went right into a right cross, throwing all of my weight into the punch. The strike smashed into the dragon’s head, denting in the plating and cracking one of its eyes. Finally, I was starting to deal some damage.

The mage group spotted the break and began targeting the damaged eye, forcing the dragon back a step, blocking the spells with a forelimb. As it retreated, it started charging up those lights again. Crap! The shield was still down! Instead of the castle, the dragon targeted the mages. Their shield bearers cast individual aura shields but there was no way they would be able to withstand that onslaught of destructive force.

Again, I threw myself into the path of the attack, trying to absorb as much of it as possible to protect the group. The energy blast hit me like a river forcing me back until I was nearly on top of the cowering group of soldiers. I was continuously casting [IronGrowth], building up the iron plating around IronHide but it seemed like as soon as new growth generated, it was melted off and dripped to the ground as flaming slag.

I couldn’t keep up with the assault and was losing more armor than I could replace, the melted ore solidifying around my feet and fusing my joints. It felt like an eternity under that constant wave of force but eventually it relented. IronHide was trashed, I needed to change out.

“[HotSw——],” I attempted.

IronHide had disconnected and shut down as expected, but before I could swap him out, he was smashed into by something heavy. I could feel him flying back and crashing into the ground, followed by the sounds of screams and crying.

IronHide’s body shook violently and his chest was ripped off. The upper hatch went sailing through the air, spit out by the dragon and I suddenly had the dread anticipation of a stuffed animal turned chew toy.

Around me I could see flames licking up around IronHide’s body and hear screams of people that were trapped under him as well as those that were trying to get close enough to help. From my position I couldn’t see anything though, and IronHide’s lower hatch was fused shut, trapping my legs. If I could put him into [Inventory] though, I should be able to escape as well as free the soldiers.

Error Warning

Living souls can not be put into Inventory space

Living Souls? Did that mean that some of the poor soldiers were stuck to IronHide’s burned and flaming remains? I could hear Captain Sunni rushing over, while trying to keep her distance. The dragon was still on top of me, pinning IronHide down with a metal claw.

“[Water flowing free; drawn to a fixed point in space; gathered for my use;],” she chanted over and over.

A shower of cool water rained down on me, erupting in steam as it hit IronHide, but hopefully it would do some good. The dragon turned its massive head around and glared at me with its good eye.

“You? You’re that little bot from before, right?” a voice boomed out. “To think I’d find you here of all places. I thought you’d be back at that little village of yours but you really do get around.”

Confusion gave way to understanding as I realized that I was, somehow, addressing Jhaix.

“I have to thank you,” Jhaix continued. “When I dissected and inspected the brain module of that wolf bot of yours, I got so many new ideas. Daisy chaining the mana crystals was brilliant, I wouldn’t have been able to solve the plasma breath or flight functions of this dragon without that. I can’t wait to see what I’ll find when I look at your brain. Of course, it’s not like I need your whole body. Just the head will do. What other treasures will you have for me in that little village of yours?”

The dragon chomped down, getting a bite, and ripped me out of IronHide. My legs had become fused and trapped within the cockpit and my lower half tore away. Mana fluid and loose parts gushed out of me as warning messages and alarms threatened to completely take over my HUD and blind me.

Critical Warning

Health at critical levels;

Severe damage to lower extremities;

Massive hemorrhaging of mana fluid;

Total system shut down in 8 seconds;

Override Warning

Parallel processing over-clock engaged;

Sustained action is not recommended;

The dragon tossed me into the air, ready for another chomp, like a dog going for a hunk of meat, but time suddenly slowed down to a crawl. I hung in the air, aware of everything around me but unable to move or do anything about it.

Parallel Processing

Prime.Ratchet:// Blocking mana flow to damaged areas;

Prime.Cyclone:// Converting right arm to blade mode;

Prime.Sentinel:// Converting left arm to cannon mode;

Prime.Rom:// Analyzing inner structure of dragon mouth for optimal target;

Prime.Ratchet:// Redirecting mana flow to cannon;

Prime.Sentinel:// Loading armor piercing rounds into cannon from Inventory;

Prime.Cyclone:// Lodging arm blade between dragon’s teeth for leverage;

Prime.Rom:// Optimal target found, locking on;

Prime.Ratchet:// Removing cannon limiters and maximizing output;

Prime.Sentinel:// Bringing cannon to bare, locked on designated target;

EXECUTE;

Time sped back up and both of my arms converted at the same time. I jammed my arm blade in between the teeth of the dragon as it got its jaws around me, lodging in like a toothpick. My arm cannon powered up and I fired the shot at maximum force at a spot on the roof of the dragon’s mouth.

The force of the shot obliterated the cannon and my arm with it, punching through the steel mouth, through the dragon’s brain module, and into a cockpit that was positioned inside of the head. I could hear the unaltered scream of Jhaix as the shot punched through him as well and out the back of the dragon’s skull.

I flung back, my blade snapping off between the teeth, and bounced against the lower jaw. I could see the top row of teeth crashing down for me, each one at least as thick as my arm.

Suddenly my view was blocked by a metal bat wing, The teeth crushed through the wing like paper as an arm, caked in dried blood, grabbed what was left of me and flung me back. The jaws of the dragon receded and with them I could see Elita. She had thrown herself into its mouth to pull me free and for just an instant, I saw her looking back at me with a warm smile. The next instant she was gone as the jaws snapped shut, crushing her.

I hit the ground, bouncing and flipping over and over, like a box of useless parts. I skidded to a halt and pushed myself up enough to see smoke pouring out of the dragon’s head as the few remaining mages attacked it. A loud droning sound pulled my attention upwards and I saw large, flying ships, pushed along by massive propellers, raining down cannon fire on the dragon as several of those Titan mechs dropped from bomb bay doors.

I looked over at the wreckage of IronHide and could see that half of the group of soldiers I’d tried to protect had been crushed beneath him, many were burned or wounded. I... I couldn’t tell from the angle, but I could see Marshoo’s spear lying nearby. Everyone was screaming and crying, but it looked like the dragon was withdrawing. Did I... Did I do anything to help?

Critical Warning

Entering sleep mode;

Shutting down all non-essential systems;