Writer’s corner: Greetings friends! This chapter took a lot longer than what I expected, but finally its over!

SO, I had a couple of tests this weeks and the time I wasn’t studying, I had a raid marked on wow, so things got a bit hectic for me as you can imagine. That, coupled with how easily distracted I am (the Den can attest to this), it ended up taking a lot longer than what was needed for me to finish this.

BESIDES(II), on the bright side, long chap with 3.6k words! Hooray!

Beep, and enjoy your story!

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Ruby smiled relieved as she saw the bull making blind charges through the room where they were in. Without his homing ability, the threat he posed visibly decreased. Although he still had more than enough moves at his arsenal that involved the heavy pile-drivers and his sheer weight and kicking power, compared to his charge, they clearly lacked the agility he had displayed earlier, and with more than a bit of ease, even the unexperienced Morfian could easily deal with them.

Meanwhile, Hugger and Gaz were simply staring at the bull that kept trying to approach them, but ended up either overshooting or stopping far too early. And when he tried to attack with his back-kicks and head-butts, the time it took until he turned his massive body around and wide area of the room around them made it extremely easy to avoid the attacks.

Compared to his memory of the real thing, once they took out his charge, the bull couldn’t even be compared to his flesh-and-blood counterpart when it came to sheer agility, due to his heavy weight.

[But this is seriously depressing. I didn’t even get to use the buckshot.] Gaz complained randomly.

[You do know that if he wasn’t damaged, he would have ripped you apart, right?] Ruby said while nonchalantly dodging another blind charge with more than enough room to spare.

[Didn’t he already do that?] Beepy asked with a slightly angry tone. [I have a hole under my leg, my flank armor is history and my beautiful tail is a goner.]

[There’s also… The ear… from the preliminaries.] Ekis added discretely with a weak voice.

[And that.] He nodded in agreement before looking to the bull. [So… He used a sonar to track us?] He asked curious, but to his surprise, the professor shook her head in denial.

[No. Not a sonar. If that was the case, he wouldn’t be able to ‘see’ beyond the walls like he did.] The morfian said with a frown.

[Besides, all his trampling and destruction would have interfered with the reflected soundwaves.] Ekis complemented with a teaching tone. [If my… Our guess is correct, it should be a directional microphone he had in there.]

[Directional…] Gaz said surprised before widening his eyes and saying surprised. [Oh, I see. One of those thingy where you point to a direction and it amplifies what’s there?]

[Yes.] Ruby said while opening some distance once again, trying to lure the bull to charge at her once again. [He probably had a mobile system that allowed him to freely rotate the receptor around. With this he also had the advantage of filtering out the other sounds and simply track what he needed, even if through walls. If there’s a lack of response, it means that the target has stopped.]

[Oh, so he kept tracking us with the thing like that all the time?] Gaz asked surprised and Ruby nodded. [I see… WAIT A MOMENT!] He suddenly shouted while looking back at the girl. [That time with the stones… You were copying our footsteps patterns?]

[…It was a gamble.] She admitted. [I wasn’t sure if I had calculated the weight and trajectory of the stones well enough.]

[…I’m starting to doubt which one of us is the computer-brained here, you know?] The robot complained in an annoyed tone.

[That would be Ekis.] She replied immediately.

[You have a point…]

[Huh…? Me…?] The goddess asked confused. [isn’t that a CPU…? I am a CPU?]

[As much as I would like to fool around with those words and start a deep philosophical debate about the state of ‘being’…] Gaz said in a pompous way. [We really should finalize old Brutus there. The time that Sorius gave us is almost up.]

Upon his suddenly serious words, the two quickly gathered themselves back and agreed in unison. Even if now most of the bull’s attacks had been rendered night useless, It was still in a fairly good shape with little to no damage at all. This also meant that they were without any attack that had a decent effect against it.

They had basically reached an deadlock, where the bull’s wide attacks were unable to land on them, and their own attacks would simply be bounced off by the heavy armor like it was nothing.

While thinking so, Gaz turned towards Ruby with an inquisitive gaze and asked.

[So, how about putting that plan of yours in motion?] He nudged her.

[I’m already trying that.] She complained with a frown. [But first, I need to have him stopped completely. Even for a moment.] She said while dodging another charge and making the bull charge towards the pillar, but the moment it was about to hit the pillar, the bull would stop.

Gaz looked at the situation for a moment and sighed. The idea was basically, if the bull hit the pillar, he would get stuck, then Ruby would put her plan in motion. Looking towards Hugger, who was watching the scene with a disinterested air around him, he understood why he was brought.

His gripping power is no joke, but the bull was too large for him to find a good spot to hold on. But if they managed to get him in one or two legs of Brutus, he would have a small enough target to grapple.

[Ah, I see. That’s why you needed the big guy to use his charges!] Gaz said in an understanding tone.

There was the possibility that the strength behind the bull’s charge could break through even Hugger’s grasp, but since they made him put heavy strain due to repeated usage, even if he somehow managed to break through the lock, the legs would be pretty much destroyed by then.

Of course, there was the case of Hugger’s legs also being broken, but if they were to be honest, his legs are surprisingly simple and shouldn’t take that long to repair at all.

After finally understanding Ruby’s plan, Gaz nodded and turned to the smaller robot besides him. With a couple of beeps he told it to get ready. Looking at him in shock for a moment, Hugger nodded, although Gaz could feel a bit of annoyance in that.

Ruby didn’t miss their short exchange, and although she wanted to ask what was his plan, she gave up on doing so, seeing as her own plan wasn’t working as well as she wanted and it might take some time for him to explain anyway.

Beepy awaited away from the bull for a moment, watching its movements as it tried to stab his horn on Ruby, who had more than enough time to move away before the attack could even become a threat.

Waiting for the moment the Bull’s head was already in motion, Gaz darted forward and put himself right besides the bull. Being in his blind spot, the larger robot didn’t see the wolf robot right at his side, and by the time he actually noticed, the wolf had already grabbed his flank tightly, digging his claws on the small dent between two of them.

Turning his head in confusion, the bull stared at the smaller robot in curiosity before starting to shake his body around, trying to remove the wolf from him. However, as he started to flail and kick around, Gaz used the chance to let go and he dropped to the ground with his head turned towards the front legs of the bull.

Lowering his head, Gaz let out a loud beep, making Hugger dart forward following his order. At the same time he lowered his head, opening space so that the buckshot installed in his shoulders could take aim without risking to hit his own head.

Then, he shot.

The shells all aimed at single leg, and with the two rear legs up in the air as he was flailing, it meant that half of his weight was, temporarily, on that single leg. A loud noised echoed on the room, the echo making all their ears ring as every single buckshot in the container blasted furiously at the leg of the bull.

His body being thrown back by the sudden back knockback from the heavy discharge, the box with the slugs being thrown out due to the shock overwhelming the resistance of the hasty welding. Thankfully, it didn’t seem to affect him with his pain senses, probably because it was a temporary addiction to his body.

But, if the damage was so big to himself, he could be sure that the bull that took the actual shells to his body wasn’t left unscathed either. Lifting his head and feeling his damaged leg giving in for a moment as the gears grinded angrily, he saw a scene that left him shocked for a moment.

Somehow, the bull still stood up, refusing to fall down even as his leg-joint had a large hole in it. Turning towards Gaz with an angry look, he seemed about to charge at the dog once again, but the moment he took his first step, his leg gave in for a moment.

This was the moment that Hugger needed to throw himself on the bull.

Before he had the chance to react, the small spider-like robot grabbed his legs and immediately tightened the grip to the max. The strength behind it managing to surpass what the bigger robot expected, as his two front legs were forcefully pulled together.

Caught by surprise by his sudden lack of footing, his two front feet slipped and he fell face first into the ground, with only his back legs supporting his body. For a moment, both the bull and Gaz looked surprised, but after some time the bull reacted.

He firstly started to spread his front legs, trying to yank himself free, but contrary to what it expected, the small robot easily managed to hold on to his leg without even flinching.

Seeing that, Gaz and Ruby quickly took their chances and approached the bull, the morfian’s fingers changing into their tool forms as she prepared to do her job. She had no intention of destroying his core, to be honest, but she would at the very least make sure that it would be unable to keep working afterward.

However, she wouldn’t let that hold her back. If needed be, she would destroy his core.

As she approached the bull, it seemed to notice something strange on the girl, and for a moment it stared at her as if trying to understand her intention. After a few seconds, it understood and started as it started to shake around while trying to get away from the smaller robot. However, with only his hind-legs free, all it could do was drag its body forward, and his weight along made him unable to make any meaningful movement.

Gaz, noticing that they were in opposing situations at the moment, couldn’t help but make an evil smile in his mind. Even if his body was half destroyed after the battle, he couldn’t help but feel triumphant seeing the one who did all that to him squirming on the ground like that.

With his teeth, he managed to grab on of the legs from the panicky bull and used all the remaining strength to keep the bull from using one of the hind-legs, greatly reducing his already lacking mobility.

Unable to move as it wanted, with his whole body fallen sideways on the ground, Brutus was unable to stop Ruby’s approach.

“It’s time to finish this.” The girl said in a coldly sad voice.

The moment her hand reached for the bull’s neck, they became a blur as she nimbly started to disassemble the beast’s armor with a scary speed. The size and weight being the only thing that made her unable to completely dismantle his head in a few seconds, the bull once again tried to remove his head from her hands, but the moment his head twitched, the girl cut a hose linking its core to the neck motors, leaving it locked in its position.

As the wolf and the goddess watched in awe the girl’s skills as she dismantled the robot’s head, they couldn’t be thankful for the fact that she didn’t do it with them. While seeing the scene, Ekis made a estimative of another twenty seconds before Ruby would completely disconnect the bull.

And for the moment they simply watched as she did her work, the bull laying immobile under their hold.

[Huh? Immobile?] Gaz asked suddenly before turning his attention towards the bull, who had suddenly stopped his movement completely. [Ruby… Did you disconnect his other motors and pumps?] he asked dubious.

[No?] She stopped for a moment to reply before turning back to the robot. [Most of his vital systems are a few layers deeper.]

[Then… Why did he stop?] He asked confused.

His words made Ruby freeze for a moment as she stared at the robot for some time, her mind quickly doing and redoing calculations based on her weight and momentum estimative for the bull and she tried to wrap around what could be causing such odd action.

However, this also made her unaware of her surroundings for a moment, and the only one who noticed the change was Ekis.

[He’s… Bloating?] The goddess asked in a confused tone. Blinking surprised, Gaz changed his attention to the bull under him.

As the goddess said, the bulls body seemed to have bloated a bit, expanding slowly but surely as the time went by. It took him a brief moment for him to understand what was happening, and it was only when the plate armor unhinge itself under pressure that understanding came to them.

[HE’S RELEASING ALL OF HIS STEAM WITHIN THE ARMOR!] Ekis said in shock, her words dawning upon Gaz with a scary meaning as he understood what it meant to build pressure within an enclosed body.

Moving more out of reaction than anything else, Gaz let out a loud beep, which made the hugger let go of the bulls legs just in time before running away. However, Ruby didn’t have the capacity to do so, thanks to her being kneeled down besides the robot. In a half-limp half-jump, Gaz managed to throw himself before Ruby.

Then, the bull’s body exploded in a huge burst of steam and armor pieces.

…

Ruby came back to consciousness with the sound of a female voice echoing within her head. It took her a moment to recognize Ekis voice telling her to wake up immediately.

Opening up her eyes, she felt a heavy weight above her as she tried to move around. Looking down, what she saw left her shocked, as Beepy laid atop of her unconscious, with the lower-half of his body distorted in a weird shape.

In a hurry, she quickly checked up for his core, and couldn’t be more thankful that it was still intact.

[THE BULL! WHAT ABOUT THE BULL?] Ekis shouted in a hurry, her voice sounding urgent.

Ruby snapped out of her state and looked around in a worry, searching for the bull. However, what she saw around her left her shocked, as thick metal plating laid everywhere around the room, within large craters created from the impact of the armor with the stone-ground and walls.

Within the middle of the room, near the half-destroyed pillar, she saw a four legged figure stumble as it stood up. It took her a moment to recognize what it was, as its whole figure had changed a lot from what she had seen earlier.

A scrawny body that looked way too thin and skeleton-like parts to hold the plating in. The legs all had lost a good part of their thickness and now were, at most, as thick as the girl’s arm. The only thing that looked out of place were the two pile-driver systems that stood on its shoulder, as these were way too bulky for its body.

The only thing that made Ruby recognize the robot in front of her as Brutus was the half-dismantled head, that stayed rigidly in place, looking forward and unable to bend it around.

Ruby was sincerely shocked. She did consider the probability of another casing within the thick armor for additional protection, but she didn’t expect it to be fully functional by itself. Nor did she expect that the outer armor could be detonated in case of an emergency.

As she looked at it, the bull also noticed her, and seemed undecided between attacking her and running away, now that his thick armor was gone. However, thankfully the wolf robot had been left half dead while the other one had disappeared, so in the end, the bull decided to finish this for good.

It started a slow charge before picking up speed, although the leg-motors weren’t the same as the ones he had been using before, the lighter body allowed him to keep a reasonable speed as he charged. Unable to lower its head for a horn-hit, it aimed to simply land a heavy blow on the girl, as it should still be enough to kill her.

Understanding that, Ruby desperately tried to move out of the way, but her body complained in pain as she tried to drag Gaz and herself out of the charge.

[People… Coming…] Beepy’s faint voice echoed through the link.

[Huh?] As ruby asked surprised at his sudden words, she heard the footsteps of someone running towards them.

However, she didn’t have the time to worry about the sudden intrusion, seeing that there was a more urgent matter at and. Using all her strength, she managed to push away the smaller robot from above her out of harm’s way.

Stumbling up, she barely managed to get away from the attack, but her trembling legs immediately gave away and fell down once again to the ground. Looking back at the bull, she saw as it stopped its charge and turned back to her with an agility incomparable to his earlier movements.

Once again she tried to get away, but a sharp sting of pain on her leg made her stumble to the ground.

Looking back at the bull, she saw as it charged at her with furious looking eyes.

[RUBY! MOVE AWAY!] Ekis shouted in worry.

[I can’t… Body hurts…] The morfian said with a grimace as she tried to crawl out of the way, but sadly, the speed wasn’t as much as she wished and she could see as the bull approached her. [Damn it…] She cursed in her mind. [If I survive this… I swear I’m going to start training my body…]

As she spoke what looked like her final words, she started to move away even faster while gritting her teeth, but even then she feared that it might not be enough to escape Brutus, who was mere ten meters away.

“DAMN IT!”

[[Huh?]] Ekis and Ruby asked together at the sudden voice.

Turning her head to look, Ruby only managed to see as someone approached from the sides and took aim with a fire weapon. Widening her eyes, she saw as the person discharged a short burst on the bull’s body.

Brutus jerked suddenly, letting out a loud pained sound before falling down to the ground, its body becoming motionless as the unprotected core was shot through the dismantled head.

However, the bull still skidded forward at full speed on the ground with its lifeless body, the speed more than enough to cause severe damage to her should it hit.

Ruby braced herself for impact by curling up her body, but right before the bull managed to hit her, she felt as someone ran towards her and pulled her away in a hurry.

Shocked and still confused by the outcome, Ruby looked around, expecting to see either the lynian or the elves nearby, but what she saw left her confused for a moment, as it was neither of her companions who had saved her.

[Heh… Heh… Heh…] She heard Beepy laughing dryly. [I told you… They were odd…] He said with a proud tone.

“Damn it.” The one with the rifle cursed. “I came here to see what was happening, and I find a half-dead Brutus almost killing the girl.” The man turned to her and crouched down before her as he took out the sunglasses. “You alright little girl?” He asked.

“Yes…” She replied wearily. “I’m fine… But…” She looked around, taking a good look at the other two people who appeared, she had a confused look in her face. “Why did you help me?” She asked.

The person in front of her gave a wry smile at her question before raising himself.

“I’ll explain later. It’s not good for us to stay here with that pillar broken.” He said while pointing towards the large pillar that threatened to collapse.

Ruby nodded weakly before turning towards beepy, seeing as the two others picked his body up and started carrying him with them.

Confused, Ruby decided to leave for later the question that had been roaming through her head.

Not that she could be blamed, though. After all, the head of security and the two odd announcers were the ones who saved her just then, even though she was supposed to be the enemy.