From the bottom of my heart, thank you to my p4tr0ns: Morpheaus, and RTB <3 <3 <3
Become a p4tr0n too and read up to FOUR chapters ahead!:
h t t p s : / / w w w . p a t r e o n . c o m / t r a s h w i t h g l a s s e s
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"Behind you!"
The metal man opened its jaw with many sharp silvery teeth, and hissed, not impaling Ike only because the swordsman listened to my cry, and leaped forward, avoiding the attack.
Meanwhile, one of us dashed toward the enemy.
"Gyaah!", The little person shouted, getting closer to the metal-man, and raised his fist "DIE!", he tried to conjure a spell.
"Spruce!", I reached out for my friend. And then he fell on his knee, eyes turned to inside his skull, as his nose bleed a constant stream of red.
In the end, his failure in conjuring a spell was what saved his life, as when Spruce lost his foot, the metal-man only removed the skin over all of his left side ribs, and broke his left arm, throwing the little person three meters away with its huge claws.
"Shit, Ike! Take care of Spruce, I'll take care of things here", I put myself between the awkward swordsman and Spruce, and the metal-man, who fearlessly walked towards me. Then I raised both hands, and shot two explosions right against the enemy's chest, fully expecting to see him being thrown a dozen meters away.
"Swush!", a clawed metal hand made it through the smoke of the explosion, and hit me on the face with such a might, my mandible was almost torn off, dislocated, and I spilled blood everywhere while spinning away from the enemy.
"Uurgl, glugh!", my mandible hang loose in my face, and I stumbled backward, my eyes immediately filling up with tears as I felt my brain being squeezed for as much pain as it could produce, so much so that I could barely control my body and fell on my back.
Unable to think through the veil of pain, I conjured a shield between me and the metal-man who hadn't given up on its pursuit yet, and revealed its body to be completely unscratched from the explosions I conjured point-blank on him. He pulled his long metal claws back, and when he thrusted them again, to my surprise, his long sharp silvery fingers actually made it through my shield.
He squeezed his hand and put cracks onto the floating semitransparent blue shield, and cracking sounds mixed with a thrumming that came from the metal-man's chest filled the tight corridor, and my heart was equally filled with despair.
My barrier was about to break! My face hurt so much! My friends were about to die! The pain!
*
"You fool, you could have condemned us all!", an old and white-bearded little person screamed at another one, equally old, but shaved.
"Do you have any idea what you brought us?!", a third old little person looked down at me, and with much, much care, pushed me away. And, by myself, departed from that place, and the people discussing about me.
*
With my jaw and flesh healed, I screamed through the sound of cracking ice, and the fast thrumming of what seemed to be a drum, and conjured another spell I remembered from the unlocked memories and power, and a whip of lightning hit the metal-man and froze stunned it, causing it to shiver and twitch in the same place.
I got back on my feet, and shot two continuous arcs of electricity at the metal-man, sparks flying everywhere, until the surface of that being started to glow red hot and smoke came from every orifice and nook of the being.
When I finally stopped, breathing heavily with all the anxiety and despair still coursing through my veins and still feeling pain where my jaw should have been hanging onto, I waited for a moment, staring at the being that attacked us out of nowhere. Was that a person? If so, I hoped I hadn't killed it… But if not, it'd better be dead!
"Are you ok-", I turned around to check on Ike and Spruce, but a loud scratching sound interrupted me: the heat expanded metal brushing against itself, the metal-man was moving still, and even while glowing red hot it didn't stop to come after us.
I jumped back, avoiding the scorching grip of the being only because its bloated self couldn't move with the same agility as before, and I tried to fry it with my lightning once more, but to my surprise the being raised one hand, and a semitransparent blue sphere involved its body, and my attack couldn't even make through the barrier.
The metal-man stepped forward, closer.
"Shit!", I shouted, sweat sprouting from my every pore. Then I reached for another link, and broke it.
*
"Hey, guys! Look what I found in the forest: it's weird, and it keeps changing its form", the same shaved old little person from before approached a ludic garden filled with butterflies and flowerbeds, and slim trees tens of meters tall.
"S- Stay away!", the bearded little person jumped up from a tree trunk.
"Don't bring that thing any closer, you idiot", an old little person with a big mustache pointed at the one that was carrying me.
*
"You won't have us!", I shouted, and jumped against the enemy, and he prepared to slash me in half, opening his shield just enough to allow for his blow.
We exchanged attacks at the same time. And mine was a stream of freezing cold water.
An explosion of steam filled the entire corridor and the hissing sound was deafening. But this time, clawed hands didn't cut through the mist, but my own, and I revealed a motionless metal carcass full of cracks, and icicles growing from it.
I huffed, my heart beating faster than after any other fight I ever had, and I made sure to get far away from the being before turning to Ike and Spruce: "…How is he?", I asked without taking my eyes off the metal man. If it was dead, I didn't care, for it clearly was trying to kill me too.
"Coyote…", Ike called with a concerned voice. When I finally spared the duo a glance, I saw a trembling Ike trying to stop the bleeding from Spruce's side with his own cape. "He won't make it… We need to take get him proper healing!"