“Cyclone, I’m not playing around!” Princess Relena growled, jabbing a finger into the windscreen of the larger bot.

“Sorry Highness, your brother was very adamant. We were expressly told not to tell you that we were leaving early, nor where we were going,” Cyclone apologized.

“All I could get out of Professor Rechts was that Prime took the GodBomber for a test flight, but he’s been gone too long. Since when do you follow orders from Milli?! Do I look like a leak?!” she demanded, as the secret lift returned them to the top floor of the AutoFoundry.

“No your highness,” Cyclone replied, hanging his head.

Lena grabbed the top edge of Cyclone’s windscreen and pulled him downward until she was looking eye to eye with him.

“I know you’re seeing me Prime. I swear to... which god is it you always call on? Primus. I swear to Primus that if you don’t tell me what is going on, I’m going to be very put out. You wouldn’t like me when I’m put out.”

Cyclone sighed and looked away for a moment before looking back at her.

“He’s busy at the moment ma’am...”

“Doing. What?”

“Fighting ma’am.”

“Fighting. And what, pray tell, is he fighting?”

“An elemental golem, your highness... er... actually, three of them...” Cyclone admitted, though he tried looking away again.

Lena immediately let go of Cyclone and stumbled back.

“By the three sisters, why on Arpigea is he fighting elemental golems?! Where?! Those are weapons of Jamnasia!”

Lena looked fit to burst and waved away the footman of her coach, choosing to stomp her way back toward the castle. Her illusion began to glitch out, but thankfully it was dark out. She stopped suddenly, nearly causing Cyclone to trip over her, and she spun around pointing a finger in the air.

“Transform. Now. We’re going to the guard barracks. If you won’t talk then I’ll get answers from Captain Sunni.”

Cyclone did as ordered and carried the Princess through the city, heading for the barracks of the Royal Guard.

“Your highness, it’s not that Prime wants to keep it from you. He feels really badly about not being able to tell you what is going on. He’s been given a particularly dangerous mission and the chances of success and survival are not absolute. I think that your brother didn’t want you to worry needlessly.”

“There’s another one that won’t get an easy go of it when they return! No point telling little Lena! She’ll just worry at home like an idiot!”

“I don’t think that wa—” Cyclone tried.

“Just stop talking,” she fumed, her body shaking and vibrating.

As they approached the barracks, soldiers were running around and organizing into armed squads. Lena hopped off of Cyclone and he converted back into bot mode. She grabbed Lance Corporal Dash, who was standing nearby, looking agitated. Dash had an arm in a sling and thick bandaging wrapped around one of her haunches. Clearly, she hadn’t gotten through the dragon attack unharmed.

“Corporal, what is going on?” Lena demanded.

Dash attempted to take a knee, though it was evident that it pained her to do so. Lena grabbed her by the shoulder, pulling her back up.

“Never mind that! Just explain!”

“Yes your highness! Soldiers from Jamnasia are in the castle, my lady. The duty squad is engaging with them right now and we are mobilizing to assist them. I understand the Jamnasians have a paladin with them.”

“Jamnasians?! How did they get in?”

“Unknown, my lady, but it’s likely they have a high ranked summoner with them.”

“Frell,” Lena cursed. “Well, they’re just in time for me to vent.”

Without waiting for further information, or for the guards to finish forming up, Lena took off running for the castle. Cyclone dutifully chased after her until she split the cobblestones pushing off and jumping high into the air, clearing the castle’s outer wall.

“Princess!!” Dash yelled after her, looking stricken.

“Wonderful girl,” Cyclone started. “Either I’m going to kill her or I’m beginning to like her.”

Dash looked helplessly at Cyclone, but he converted into motorcycle mode and tore off for the nearest castle gate. The port cutlass had been dropped, blocking his path. Who dropped it? Wouldn’t that just keep the guard reinforcements from getting in?

Beyond the gate, he could see armored soldiers wearing the gold and crimson of Jamnasia engaged in battle with the Royal Guards that had been inside the castle on duty. All of the Jamnasians appeared to be spell swords with one of them in heavier armor than the others, swinging a flaming hero sword and carrying a massive shield.

The Royal Guards didn’t look like they were doing so well against the invaders until fireballs started hitting the enemy and knocking them back. Lena flung herself into the midst of the battle, blocking sword strikes with what should be dainty princess arms and flinging enemy knights like they were rag dolls.

The paladin took a big sword swing at her, but she ducked out of the way, grabbing another enemy by the collar and hurling them like a missile. The paladin blocked his comrade—turned missile — on the shield, deflecting them but getting hit by chantless fireballs.

The Princess was doing a decent job of engaging the paladin, however, the difference in experience was evident. Cyclone glanced around for a way to get past the gate. The company of guards had mobilized but they were just as stuck as he was.

“Your highness! Don’t worry, we’re coming!” a squad leader, a burly and armored naga, called out.

“She’s amazing, who knew she was so strong?” a guard wondered.

“As expected of royalty. They’re on another level than us regular folks,” another responded.

Cyclone tested the gate but it was a geared system that couldn’t be manually lifted without destroying the gate. He thumped a fist against the metal and backed up looking for another way in. High above them, on the parapet, an arrow shot down, striking an ursine soldier in the shoulder.

“Shields up!” the squad leader yelled. “Archers! We need cover support! Bring out the grappling lines!”

Cyclone did some quick math and thanks to the new MCU inside him, he had enough mana to be able to [Blink] twice. He turned and grabbed the squad leader by the front armor.

“Can you stand on the tip of your tail?” Cyclone demanded of the naga.

“What? No, that’s not really how it WOOORKS!!” the squad leader started before screaming as he was bodily thrown up at the archer above.

“You’ve got four hands! Hold on tight!” Cyclone yelled up after him.

The archer above was shocked but took aim at the equally shocked naga. Cyclone jumped up after him, using both [Blink]s to get him on level with the parapet. He grabbed the archer and pulled him off, throwing him to the royal guards below. There was a second archer on the other side of the gate, but she went down and tumbled over the wall when hit in the helmet by a steel round.

“Okay, I’ll go help the princess! You do something about the gate!” Cyclone ordered.

“What?! How? Gah!” the naga yelled as he was tugged on from below.

“Go! Keep our girl safe!” the goblin lieutenant, Toadwart, yelled from below, using the naga as a ladder. “We got this!”

Cyclone nodded and threw himself over the edge of the outer wall and into the inner courtyard. Lena was having a hard time dealing with multiple assailants and getting battered by a magic hit every time she turned her back on one of them.

“You’re stronger than I expected, but at the end of the day, you’re still just a demon,” the paladin spat. “The lord spaketh suffer not the inferior and purge them from our lands.”

He pulled back his flaming sword, readying himself no doubt to launch some large magic attack when he stumbled forward and fell on his face with a large dent in the back of his helmet.

“Took you long enough, a princess is not accustomed to waiting you know,” Lena jabbed at Cyclone.

The paladin threw off their helmet and shook their head, clearing the stars they must have been seeing.

“Honestly, I thought you would have done better here,” Cyclone dead panned.

Lena grabbed one of the soldiers and smashed her fist into their face, splitting their nose but not their skull, she then flung the dazed soldier several meters into one of their mates.

“In my defense, they are using body enhancing magic!” she argued. She flung her arms out and flames snaked around them as she built up a fireball in each hand and flung them at the paladin.

The paladin took the fireballs to the chest and just laughed. “It’s impressive that a demon like you can use chantless magic, but those weak fireballs will never get through my layers of heat resistance!”

Again she flung her arms to the sides, but this time seams opened up and panels opened up. The fire crystals stored in her arms ejected and hit the ground as the paladin looked stupefied.

“Cyclone. Ice crystals,” she ordered.

Cyclone did as asked and retrieved the ice crystals from Lena’s storage and placed them into the crystal ports in her arms. The panels closed back up and Lena swirled her arms around her, frost and cold trailing in their wake. The paladin suddenly looked panicked and fumbled for their sword.

A soldier lunged at her with sword held high, but received Cyclone’s fist to his chest. The armor caved in, as his body lifted off the ground, flipping end over end until he smacked into the castle wall.

“Good thing you guys are enhanced, right?” Cyclone chuckled.

“Cyclone, be a good knight and fetch that sword for me,” Lena ordered, gesturing with her chin as her hands were busy building up a large ice attack.

“Yes’m,” he replied.

The paladin shifted targets to Cyclone and looked angry. Maybe he thought he at least had a chance against an armored brute. He stabbed the sword into the ground and flames erupted from it, engulfing him. A large fireball began forming in his hands as his face twisted in rage.

“Yeah, I’ll pass thanks,” Cyclone quipped, bringing up an arm cannon and putting a round into the armored chest of the paladin.

The round sent the knight flying back, landing with a heavy thud and knocking the air out of him. “What? How? I have magic resistant armor...” he wheezed.

“Sorry,” Cyclone offered, pulling the flaming sword from the ground. “These rounds aren’t magic. Just good old fashioned iron. Good against magic types, right?”

“How could a heathen like you possibly know that?” the paladin demanded, incredulously.

Instead of replying, Cyclone just put his hands to the sides in an exaggerated shrug and stepped back away. The paladin looked confused for a moment before whipping around to look at the princess.

A torrent of arctic wind howled in his direction. His armor, hot from the flames of his sword and his magic, exploded from the sudden shock in temperature drop. He slumped and fell to his knees, his body cut to ribbons as the blast of freezing magic continued to assault him. Large chunks of ice formed around his legs and grew until most of his body was encased.

His head lulled, but he smiled, and laughed as above the castle, the sky flashed green for a moment as the shield covering the castle began to dissolve.

“So you guys were the suicide squad, eh? I thought it odd that such small numbers would push their luck against the whole of the castle.”

“Our noble sacrifice shall be found worthy in the eyes of the lord!” the paladin yelled through chattering teeth. “My brethren pouring into this cursed city are but the vanguard! Soon a mighty force composed of soul golems will descend upon it and you shall know fear!”

“Uh huh.”

“It is said that but a single soul golem can lay waste to a hundred men and that magic has little effect on them!”

“You don’t say?”

“Er... an army, entirely of soul golems, four hundred strong... is ravaging your country on their way here right now. And your shield is down while the bulk of your army is away. Some cowering would be appropriate. AH! And they are accompanied by mobile artillery! The walking magic cannons! You... you don’t seem terribly put out by this news. It should be devastating.”

“You’re referring to the several companies of Automata soldiers—”

“Soul golems.”

“...right. Soul golems... with some escorts, marching this way from Trone, yeah? And the titans— tch, no. They’re called titans. Shut your face. The titans are all piloted by little kids, right?”

“Little kids indeed,” the paladin scoffed. “They are but the elite corps of maiden riders! Only the finest of noble young ladies could DARE to dream of becoming a maiden rider. They are not just some LITTLE KIDS. They are god’s chosen!”

“They’re god's dead. I think a couple managed to run away or survive but the rest are all dead, I think.”

“What?” the paladin asked, mouth hanging agape and the color draining from his face.

“Gotta say, that’s pretty messed up. Whipping up little kids with fantasies of being chosen by some dirtbag god, brainwashing them into thinking they are the elite among the elite, so they can leave their homes and families to go die in foreign lands.”

“This is a HOLY CRUSADE!” the paladin shrieked, the ashen white face turning red. “They are noble sacrifices! It is their HONOR to die for the ideals of the church!”

“Well whatever it is, your reinforcements aren’t coming. All four hundred, as well as the titans, have been neutralized. Granted there was an extra-fancy in the group that brought some elemental golems to the party but I’m sure that’ll get sorted sooner or later.”

His face went ashen again. “No one can deal with elemental golems, you’re lying.”

“Suit yourself. Highness, what now?”

Cyclone turned to see Lena slumped on the ground, her head hanging and her [Cloak] deactivated.

“We’ve wasted enough time playing with this fool. We need to get to the shield control room. They must have sent a covert party there while this idiot played the distraction.”

“You okay?”

“I’ve... I’ve used up all of my mana. It’s taking everything I have just to remain... conscious? Online, I think you called it?”

“Gotcha, lead the way,” he said, scooping her up in one arm and racing off for the castle interior.

They navigated the hallways, leading into the depths of the castle, finding occasional signs of combat and picking up interior guards as they went. By the time they reached the shield control room, they had a force of twenty-four palace guards trailing them. Thankfully, Lena had recovered enough to power her [Cloak] back up before anyone caught her in her true form.

The guards outside of the control room had been killed and the doors were blasted open. Inside was a scene of carnage as the control mages had been killed along with five Jamnasian assassins. The massive orb that powered the castle shields had been cracked and an exhausted Captain Sunni kneeled on the floor, bleeding and breathing heavily; leaning on her sword.

Lena lept from Cyclone’s arms and rushed over to the captain.

“Sunni!” she called. “What’s happened?”

“Your highness,” Sunni responded slowly. “I’m so sorry, I was too late.”

She looked in the direction of the shield orb, then down at the floor before passing out.

“Bring a healer! And you, go fetch Lady Rook,” Lena ordered the palace guards.

“Your highness,” a young imp spoke up, “the head of palace security is conducting sweeps of the interior. We’re looking for additional invaders m’lady.”

“Contact her and have her bring in the off-duty control mages. I want this orb repaired and back up and running.”

“Yes your highness!” several guards shouted before taking off running.

“Is this thing even repairable?” Cyclone whispered.

“No idea,” Lena confided, “but they need the impression that someone is in charge and doing something.”

“Your highness!” a new guard shouted, rushing into the room and falling to a knee. “Hundreds of Jamnasian soldiers are gathering just outside of the city. Lady Rook requests your audience on the south west wall.”

Once again, they rushed through the halls until they reached the upper floors that lead out to the top of the castle walls. From there, they could see several large formations of soldiers grouping up.

A woman in the purple armor of the royal guard with a raven’s head and long, black claws, approached the princess and took a knee. It was hard to determine her age given my limited knowledge of her species, but I got the impression that she was older and a veteran of many battles.

“Lady Rook,” the princess acknowledged. “What is our situation?”

“Six hundred soldiers so far, your highness. We don’t know yet if they are performing a mass summoning ritual or if they have set up a transference gate, but more are appearing.”

“The anti-summoning wards are still in place?” she asked.

“Yes m’lady, though they do not extend outside of the city.”

“They’re not attacking. I expect they are still martialling their forces. We know from that paladin that they are expecting Automata reinforcements that won’t come. Do we have sufficient forces to repel them?”

“We can hold them off for a time from the castle, but we won’t be able to protect the city.”

“Evacuate all the citizens into the castle. We’ll just have to do our best.”

“It shall be done.”

“To the eastern sky!” an Automata sniper yelled out.

Rook stood up and pulled a telescope from her hip pouch and put it to her eye.

“My lady...” she said, handing the telescope to Lena. “It’s still a long way off... but that’s a dragon.”