Hugo stepped out from his hiding place, his eyes fixed on the golem as it turned around to face them. It's eyes burning bright with the power of the Sarphin soul powering it. Truly it was terrifying. The speed at which it moved could be considered unholy for such a large machine.
An even bigger issue was the damage it left in its trail. The ship wouldn't be able to handle a fight of the level that was brewing. Everyone squared up, readying their blades and fists, in the moment even Alloway didn't matter. They had to survive first.
The golem scanned the room and turned its head to Aya who couldn't help but shudder. This time there was no noise from the machine, only the hum of the core remained, gentler now. Even so the glow of it's eyes burned even brighter and everyone could see what was about to happen.
"Corey! Shut it down now, you'll blow us out of the sky!" Tara yelled at the noble but his eyes were fixed on the golem. He wasn't listening at all, just marveling at the unfolding destruction.
Aya moved out of the way of the heat rays that shot out of the golem's eyes. The rays though followed her and there wasn't much room for her to evade without putting the others at risk. The rays curved a hole in the belly of the ship, hitting important magic conduits and threatening to split the ship in two.
Tara launched multiple ice spells at its head which didn't do much except create a burst if steam that clouded the golem's face. It withdrew the heat rays and and opened up its jaws releasing a stream of gas that was ignited by a spark from within it's mouth and tongues of fire sprung to life. They threatened to consume everything forcing everyone to flee from it.
Tara launched water and ice spells whenever possible but the heat was too intense. The only choice was to abandon ship.
"Retreat!"
They all followed her towards the stairs leading up but before they could reach it a flash of light passed by them like an arrow and their route to escape exploded right in front of their eyes.
Heavy steps thundered behind them and everyone scattered to evade the machine as it came barreling towards them.
The next few minutes may just have been the most hectic of their lives. The ship was completely compromised and on a downward descent, the golem relentlessly attacked with fire, energy blasts like the one that blew up the stairs and heat rays from its eyes, smoke filled the whole place and Alloway Corey might have as well been dead since no one had taken notice of him since the beginning of the attack.
It was just frantic, and even more so when the ship finally gave up holding together under the intense attacks and split clean in half. Ry held his breath as the footing beneath him gave way and in a rush of adrenaline his eyes scanned through the debris for Hugo. He caught sight of him, a few feet from the golem which had its eyes locked on him. However before it could do anything a cloud of fog covered its view. Ry used shadow travel moving over to Hugo and grabbed him a split second before the golem could smash Hugo into paste. The impact of the golem's fist made the ship give in completely to destruction and soon everyone was in a free fall.
Even with the air slapping them across their faces it was as if time had slowed down. Tara looked around, seeing Rose and Aya just above her, flailing their arms in a desperate attempt to not spin out of control. The golem was just to her right with its eyes still fixed on them. For something that could not be considered sentient life it was almost puzzling how it could emit such a murderous aura from its piercing stare. Ry and Hugo were hanging on to a piece metal sheet while fiery debris whizzed past them. They had a clear view of the ground inching closer and closer.
"Armis!" Rose yelled out summoning the gryphon yet again. The spirit did not waste time gathering bot Rose and Aya on it's back and diving over to Tara. However the golem wasn't to keen on letting her go so easily. A flash light, followed by intense beam made its way straight for Tara and she could barely react, conjuring a gust of wind to launch herself downwards while the beam passed just above her. She could feel the heat of it and dreaded the thought of being nothing but a pile of ashes. Still she could feel the machine was not done and her instincts were proven right when heat rays followed up.
Using her wind magic she did her best to dodge and weave while the ground drew ever so near to them . In a last ditch effort she cast a massive ice spell storm front at the golem. It was like the golem was caught in a snow storm as a swirling surge of ice and snow engulfed it.
While the golem did its best not to freeze over Armis swooped over to Tara and Aya grabbed her quick. The gryphon then spread its wings and in one powerful flap lifted itself into the sky right before they hit the ground. The golem however, hit the ground with a resounding boom creating an impact crater and raising up so much dust the whole area was engulfed in it. As it happened the ship was just over the city park and except for the few odd people who happened to be around it was basically empty.
Ry and Hugo were just a few feet away, seeing the impact it created he clenched his teeth gathering all the mana he could muster and cast shadow travel. In an instant they went from free falling to their doom to rolling on the ground with all the dust and bits of dirt still flying about.
Hugo was the first to get up, coughing out all the dust he'd inhaled then turned to help Ry up. Ry was quite pale, wobbling to his feet and needing to hang on to Hugo just to move. Before they could take a step a gust of wind almost knocked them back down making Hugo curse out a bunch, until he turned around and was face to face with the three guardians and the giant gryphon which thankfully disappeared as soon as they got off.
"Hey ladies..." Ry weakly waved at them with a cheeky smile across his face.
A brief explosion from the falling parts of the ship lit up his face showing all the smudges of dirt that caked his face. "What a night huh. Big giant metal man, pretty nice lightshow behind us, and hey...we're all still a live I'd say we all win..." He gave a nervous laugh at the end but looking at the daggered stares he was receiving he ended up coughing over the chuckle.
"So me and my friend here we'll be taking our leave. I bid you all a goodnight, and don't let the bedbugs bite," and as soon as he'd said so he turned around and began to walk away fast with Hugo right behind him. Tara reached out and grabbed him by the collar before he could go to far, pulling him back.
"Where do you think you're goi-" Tara was forced to cut her words short when the now eerily haunting sound of gears grinding and groaning came alive once more. From the ashes of the wreck before them, a hulking figure rose once more, and though no longer whole with its head caved in, one leg bent over and a few fingers missing it was still as menacing as ever.
It's eyes were set on the five of them, almost a vengeful gleam coming from them. It was dead set on ensuring none of them came out alive.
"Hugo, run..."