“Yes, I already know, the minister of defense contacted me,” Prince Milliardo informed me when I contacted him about the attack on the capital. “The Automata force moving to aid them has been removed though, right?”

“That’s correct, your highness. It would seem that my artisanal and upgraded Automata were more than a match for all those off the shelf, mass production, bargain model Automata that Jhaix put out. Of course, the fact that those fighting with me also had plenty of combat experience already was a major factor, I’m sure.”

“Yes, well, that aside, obviously you need to get your team back to the castle now,” he ordered.

“I’m on my way now, but I’m traveling alone this time.”

“But the castle is in danger,” Milliardo reasoned.

“Sir. All due respect but the empire is responsible for these people losing their lives, forcing them against their wills into Automata bodies, locking away even their minds and memories, and chaining them into slavery. It’s unreasonable to think they would volunteer to aid you.”

“Nonsense. They are citizens of the empire and as such they should jump at the honor of serving.”

“Milli,” I growled, “it’s that line of thought that leads to revolts.”

“I don’t recall giving you permission to call me that, Master Artificer,” he grumbled, changing the subject.

“Sorry, what was piiishh -at? You’re fssshhh -king up. I think we have a ba- kksssh -ection. Must be the tunnel.”

The nice thing about not having a mouth and having a vocoder system means that I can inject static noise or manipulate my output however I like and it comes off as perfectly natural. Well, natural for a robot.

“What? What in the sisters are you on about Prime? What tunnel?” Milliardo demanded, confused.

“I kssshhh -ake ou- zzshh -our sa- bzzt shhkkk fsshhhh,” I sputtered before cutting the call.

Prime.Cyclone:// It was a boring conversation anyway

Prime.IronHide:// Heh. `I'm fine, we're all fine here... how are you?`

I shot across the Fangwell countryside, narrowly avoiding a flock of hippogryphs, or possibly a herd, I’m unsure of the correct grouping. Within a bit over half an hour, I’d caught up with Jhaix’s dragon. At the speed it was traveling, it was probably just an hour outside of the city.

The thing was as huge as ever, with massive wings spread out like a jumbo jet. I was really curious about how the thing was moving, how it got airborne, what propelled it... but I could examine it at length when it was dead.

Thanks to the hippogryphs I had moved to a higher altitude and was set to overtake the beast in a matter of seconds. I disconnected from GodBomber’s control harness and engaged a special ejector module that shot me out the top of it as it went into freefall.

“Convoy!” I shouted, summoning the armor around me.

IronHide and Carnivac materialized behind me and came online as we fell through the air.

“Magnum Convoy!”

Again, we went through the transformation sequences and combined to form IronHide’s powered up mode.

Prime.IronHide:// Magnum Convoy Online!

Prime.Carnivac:// All systems are go!

“GOD ARMOR CONVOY!” we screamed.

The GodBomber split apart down the middle and began shifting. The top deck folded in on itself to form massive arms with the auto cannons converting into gun barreled hands. The lower decks clicked and slammed into shape, forming gigantic legs, as the control bridge flipped around to assume the position of the upper torso. The bridge split as the God Armor head lifted into place. The GodBomber’s railgun was now exposed and repositioned to mount at our shoulder, as her four wings shifted to spread out from our back like some titanic fairy or angel.

Magnum Convoy also changed forms. Our legs and arms wrapped around as the head buried itself deeper within the chest. We mostly returned to a state similar to IronHide’s bot mode with the massive turtle shell on the back, though with limbs neatly tucked away.

The God Armor reached out and grabbed us, pulling us in until we docked into the chest. Once seated, surface panel lights shot out across the God Armor like lightning and our eyes flared to life.

Prime.Alfred:// God Armor Convoy transformation complete

Prime.Rom:// Altitude estimated at 1000 meters and falling, terminal velocity achieved

Prime.Ram:// Mana consumption spiking as expected to maintain this form. Currently at 1 Million per second. Mana reserves at 2.039 billion. Estimating operating time of about 34 minutes.

Prime.Sentinel:// Railgun charged and on standby

Prime.IronHide:// Reactive armor powered, aura shields active

Prime.Carnivac:// Thrusters ignited. Velocity is now doubled.

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“ORBITAL APEX METEOR KICK!” we shouted.

Like a flaming comet from the heavens we slammed into the back of the dragon, feet first. The force of our attack smashed the dragon to the ground, the impact sending out a concussion wave that blasted everything but bedrock for several hundred meters.

The vacuum formed from the impact blast collapsed and the atmosphere came rushing back, carrying dirt and debris with it. As it condensed, forming a thick cloud of fine particles, they ignited, sparking off a massive fireball that lit the night sky.

The air was thick with dirt and smoke, leaving most of our sensors blind. In most shows that I had watched, the protocol here was to only escalate force when the enemy did but I wasn’t interested in taking that sort of chance. Our thrusters engaged again, as we jumped off of the impacted dragon. They weren’t strong enough for flight in this configuration but they certainly aided in agility.

We brought up both arms, extending our cannon fingers and opened fire, sending round after round of charged steel into the smoke cloud. I could hear the sounds of rounds striking against something as others were being deflected.

A roar like thousands of steel girders being bent preceded a sudden blast of wind magic that blew away the smoke cloud. One of the dragon’s wings had been crushed to splinters and its shoulder looked like it had taken heavy damage but the other wing was intact and had been used as a shield against our assault.

It shrieked again and a torrent of pure fire energy smashed into us.

Prime.IronHide:// Shields at 32% and falling

Prime.Ram:// Mana reserves at 1.884 Billion

Eventually the fire hose of flame subsided and the dragon shook its head from side to side as both of its wings disconnected and hit the ground, stirring up relatively smaller dust explosions. The thing reared back and charged at us, slamming into our chest and pushing us back several steps. It tried biting at our face but we stepped back again, dodging to the side while throwing a heavy fist towards the side of its head.

At this scale, I felt like I was trying to move through soup. God Armor Convoy was only slightly smaller than the dragon in terms of mass though it was taller than the dragon on all fours at a towering 60 feet. Our punch took ages to connect but the dragon wasn’t able to move out of the way quickly either and the strike smashed into the side of its face. The armor on its face crumpled in a bit as the head rocked around and swung back. Another punch was waiting for it, that pushed it up, knocking the whole dragon back several steps.

The dragon took a clawed swipe at us, crashing through the remains of our shield and tearing a gash in our chest armor. We brought both fists up and slammed them down on top of the dragon in a hit that clacked like thunder.

Prime.IronHide:// Shields are gone! Armor at 86%, reactive systems engaging. I’m focusing on getting the shields back up.

Prime.Ram:// Mana reserves at 1.800 Billion

The dragon shuttered for a moment before pushing back up, throwing us back and rearing up on its hind legs. It exposed its chest to us as massive panels opened up, revealing several magic cannon positions, each operated by a human mage. I almost laughed, I had been expecting batteries of missiles.

The mage gunners opened fire, peppering us with a wide assortment of attack spells. The various themes of the spell differed but they all boiled down to getting smacked by some concussive force that had a bonus of burning or freezing or being a rock. At some places, a little plant started growing. It was all pretty useless on the God Armor given our size.

Prime.Sentinel:// Arm bindings unlocked

“ROCKET PUNCH!” we shouted, as our arm flew off at the elbow.

The detached limb shot like a missile, blade-like wings unfolding along the forearm. The dragon turned away, protecting its mages, but the arm caught it under the forelimb. The blade wings sliced open a long gash along its flank before returning the arm to dock back into place.

The railgun locked onto the open gash and fired. The parallel array of [Blink] stones grabbed the 400mm steel round, each one imparting a bit of that incredible Blink Speed but without setting a slowdown function to kill the inertia. In sequence the round accumulated more and more speed until it left the launch chamber. The round left the barrel more liquid than solid, atomizing everything in its path.

Everything happened within a split second. My shot acted more like a laser, instantly boring a hole through the dragon, out the other side, into the bedrock, and onward to parts unknown. The railgun also exploded. I could almost hear Elita, yelling at me for testing things in the middle of combat and smacking me in the back of the head.

The railgun’s explosion sent Blink stones blinking their way off in all directions, one of which punched a whole through our wing. Lucky it didn’t hit anything vital, I guessed.

We stumbled from the self inflicted damage while the dragon fell onto its side. Rather than pushing itself back up, the lights along its throat built up again and it vomited that stream of energy at us. We fired off thrusters from our right-side wings, causing us to spin, barely dodging the attack. Without our shields up, a hit from that would be catastrophic. The beam did hit one of our left wings though, slicing it in half.

Prime.IronHide:// I got shields back up! We’ll need to pump more mana into it when getting hit though.

Prime.Cyclone:// A little late, eh?

Prime.IronHide:// SHUT UP! Go back to playing with the princess

Prime.Cyclone:// You know I’m offline while the GAC is going

Prime.Rom:// BOTH OF YOU SHUT THE HELL UP! WE’RE TRYING NOT TO DIE HERE

Prime.IronHide:// Sorry big sis... [╥_╥]

Prime.Cyclone:// Sorry...

Prime.Ram:// ... Mana reserves at 1.793 Billion

I had to admit that I didn’t get lonely having these subRoutines in my head, and it was funny when they argued... but yeah, not the best time.

The dragon twisted around on its side, lashing out with its tail. It slammed into our side, threatening to crumple in our armor, but the aura shield flared to life from the impact, absorbing the damage. We caught the tail before it could retract and twisted around, pulling the dragon with us.

“Rookie mistake in a kaiju fight!” I called out.

We were able to get three quarters of a rotation around, pulling the dragon through the air, before releasing it. Its massive form tumbled and crashed, rolling several times before slowing down by crushing a cluster of trees.

We ran forward, determined to press the attack. I made a mental note to think about more weapons, particularly ranged ones, for the God Armor. At kaiju scale, it was no wonder that all the super robots I grew up with used high powered, ranged, finisher attacks. A Blazing Sword would also be a great addition, though I’d have to work out how to make something like that practical at this size. The plasma blade for Magnum Convoy was pushing the limits of technology and my abilities but in the hands of God Armor Convoy it would be like a pocket knife.

We straddled the dragon and rained down blow after blow, trying to target damaged areas. Its armor was dented and bashed in, and it was hemorrhaging a lot of glowing fluid from the hole drilled through it. An eye had shorted out and half of its teeth were missing. It rolled, and brought up a clawed hand, catching our fist.

“Wait! Wait!” I heard it call out. “You’re that little guy from before, right? That design! Those attacks! You’re from Earth, I know it! How do you even power something like that? You’re another hero, right?”

I paused, our other fist waiting in the air.

“I can tell you’re a fellow mecha fan! Me too! I love robots! We should be working together! Just think of all we could make with our combined forces and the backing of the Holy Kingdom!”

“Did you seriously go with the ‘join me and together we will rule this world’ line?” I questioned.

“Okay yeah, maybe, but I’m serious! What’s the point of having giant robots if there’s no war to fight! Come on, this is FUN, right? This is a man’s romance!”

“A man’s romance?”

“Absolutely! Besides, it’s not like anyone cares about some monsters. This way we can have a fun war and no one gets hurt. You’re from Earth, you’re a human, you know how it is!”

“Heh, you almost had me doubting for a moment. I DO think this is fun, and I really love getting to make these amazing toys... but I never once thought of non-humans as non-people.”

“Hold up... are you a furry?”

“Dude. Really? That’s your take away?”

The lights on the dragon’s throat flared up and its jaws opened up. We tried pulling away but the dragon still had our fist trapped. The blast of fire energy erupted from its mouth, hitting us square in the chest.

Prime.IronHide:// Shield at 66%, increasing mana flow to compensate

Prime.Ram:// Consumption for the shield increased from 500K to 1M. Mana reserves at 1.645 Billion.

The flood of hellfire surged against us, but our shield held, though the fluctuations and mana consumption was nerve wracking. With our free hand, we grabbed the dragon by the snout, forcing its head back and redirecting that hell beam upwards. It thrashed around, trying to break free, clawing at the hand holding it.

Once it released our fist, we grabbed the lower jaw and began twisting. The beam attack cut out and its thrashing increased. Straining connection joints snapped and rivets burst. Sparks sprayed as the lower jaw dislocated, breaking off on one side. We continued twisting the head around until, with a horrific sound of screeching metal, the head passed the 180 mark and the neck connections broke.

All the thrashing ceased and the dragon went limp. All of its external lights dimmed as everything went still. We stood up over it and took a step back. I wondered if I should try stuffing it into my [Inventory].

Okay, let’s run some diagnostics. We took some good lumps so what do we need to do to get GodBomber air worthy?

The subRoutines set about checking systems and powering down things that were burning up my mana. I heard a loud clanking sound followed by the pish pish of escaping gasses and could only think ‘of course’.

The dragon split open, along the chest and belly, as giant hoses and tubes flailed out of the opening as they released. A pair of dagger clawed hands emerged from the opening, forcing it open further. We rushed forward to try to catch whatever was coming out as it burst from the dragon’s corpse.

A much smaller dragonoid-type Automata spread its wings and shot out like it had been fired from a cannon. The thing looked to be around the 30 foot mark and looked entirely too much like Elita’s dragonoid design complete with her steel braids and head design.

Seeing a giant form modeled after Elita shocked me and I froze for a few seconds. The seconds that I stalled were all that it took for Jhiax to slip past my guard. Holy energy, like the kind used by the holy swords of the Jamnasian paladin, formed around their hands as they shot through our shoulder, partially severing the joint.

Using our thrusters, we spun, reaching out to try to catch them only to grasp at air. The knock-off Elita pulled away, heading for the sky. We disconnected the arm locks and fired off the rocket punch after her. The disembodied hand grabbed her tail and locked on. It didn’t have the thrust to pull her back, but it was more weight than her wings were capable of flying with and she flopped around in the air, losing altitude.

“You thief!” I yelled. “So that’s how your valkyries learned how to properly fly! You freaking stole my design from the corpse of my best friend!”

When she dropped low enough, we were able to reattach the arm. I noticed that there was what looked like a hatch on the chest and shifted our hold to the other hand, grabbing her in a way that blocked it.

We dragged her over to the dragon corpse and I tried to [Store] it but got the “living souls” error. It was then that I remembered that it was still full of human mages and probably other crew. The fake Elita was probably meant to be an escape for Jhaix alone, though it likely also held the dragon soul core and acted as the power source for the larger Automata body.

Prime.IronHide:// Mana consumption returned to minimal shield levels. Hopefully there’s no more surprises

Prime.Sentinel:// Don’t jinx it buddy

Prime.Rom:// Unable to conduct repairs while maintaining this form or with our mobile workshop. Flight capability is not possible right now for the GodBomber. Transformation back is also not possible given the level of damage.

Prime.Ram:// Mana reserves at 1.516 Billion.

Crap. I couldn’t store these guys, and I wasn’t about to let them go free. I anticipated burning through my mana during the fight in some sort of epic, down-to-the-wire fashion, but instead it looked like I was going to burn it all on walking back to the capital while dragging these losers. How anti-climatic.