"SSSCCCRRREEE!"
CRASH!
The robot's colossal blade ripped through the ground in an arc, forcing Hyde to jump back, shouting an insult and dodging the attack. Simultaneously, the androids fired at the large machine, slowly melting its armor and leaving holes surrounded by scalding molten metal.
The beast used one of its wings as a shield and spun its body, swinging its tail like a whip and striking one of the soldier's chest with a metallic crack, throwing him away with a pained cry.
The remaining fighters glanced at his trajectory and crash site, shouting his name before focusing on the fight again, however, the squad leader ordered two of his men to assist him.
They nodded and ran towards their fallen comrade, crouching and checking him before helping him to his feet. He seemed fine, aside from the dent in his chest, and returned to the fray, staggering slightly before regaining his senses and firing at the winged monstrosity.
However, our enemy did not allow the targeting of its body to continue, so it rose on its hind legs, lifting its massive, animal-like form and crashing into the ceiling's tangled wires.
This was a mistake, as the charged conductors electrocuted its systems, causing it to scream and shudder as if having a seizure. Its voice distorted, alternating between human and animal tones, steam, sparks, and smoke gushed from its body as cables and fragments sprang away.
We momentarily thought it would suffer the same fate as Mars, but the creature resisted and stomped on the ground, shaking the facility and lifting a wave of rock and metal. Pipes, grates, steel, and concrete leaped from the ground, creating a crushing wall of rubble that barreled toward us.
We could have jumped onto a wall without turbines and planted our weapons in it, but we risked electrocution from the unstable equipment around us. In the end, we abandoned the idea of dodging when Zon acted rashly, again.
"Take that, you bastard!" The red book opened, flipping through its pages, accumulating energy, and firing a powerful red beam toward the enemy attack.
BOOM!
CRASH!
Debris rained down amid a smoke cloud as the beam continued forward, but the robotic beast jumped away, tearing the ground apart in a spray of sparks, allowing the attack to graze the generator.
I shouted something to Hyde and asked him to pass it to Zon.
"Zon, stop shooting, you might hit the generator! That thing is loaded with MASO and could explode, killing us all!"
"How bad would the explosion be?!"
I answered the question and asked him to tell the book.
"Do you know what a nuclear bomb is?!"
"Damn it!" The book dissipated its power and closed its pages like a scolded child.
"Remember our lesson on collateral damage, soldier!" Blank spoke next, worsening the grimoire's bad mood.
"What lesson? I was probably asleep at the time!" He scoffed, speaking in an irritated tone.
"Well, let me remind you! Treat this as punishment for your indiscipline!"
Then both books argued as usual, exchanging attacks, insults and bringing back their past feuds, to the admiration of everyone watching.
"Are these the grimoires from the previous installations?!" The squad leader demanded in a mixture of anger, surprise, and disbelief.
"They are mine now and good luck trying to get them back, they were locked away for too long and are enjoying their new freedom." Hyde spoke arrogantly, spreading his arms in defiance.
"Hump! They are property of the project!"
"It's not nice to refer to people that way, they might get angry, especially Zon. He has scores to settle with your superiors."
We ended the conversation as much as we would have liked to argue, because the beast recovered from the shock received and now closed the distance like a truck.
"Time to run!"
"No need to say it twice, Zon, Blank, let's go!"
The books ended their discussion, exchanging one last furious look before floating after us. The soldiers did the same, gathering up and fleeing the way we came while occasionally firing at our pursuer.
The creature wasted no time in ripping off what remained of the generator room's door and squeezing down the hallway, destroying everything in its path and showing how it got there in the first place.
Its body tore through the walls, floor, and ceiling, cutting and crushing its surroundings, creating a high-pitched buzzing sound that sent shivers down our spines.
It got closer and closer, thankfully the same went for the door to the stairs. Hyde and the squad leader stopped by its side, slowing the beast with shots from their weapons and the red book while the remaining soldiers climbed.
"So, any idea what this thing is?!" The leader asked.
"How about you tell me?! Don't you work for the owners of this place?!" Hyde replied, struggling to reload the futuristic weapon, so I controlled his arms and did it for him, returning the domain afterward.
"No one has visited this place for a long time, so the information given to us may be slightly outdated." He spoke with a hint of shame in his voice.
"That's an understatement!" Hyde sighed with obvious sarcasm.
The strategy proved partially effective, all the squad members passed, however, the creature constantly advanced, its erratic behavior preventing a head shot to end the conflict immediately.
As if that wasn't enough, it showed a trace of intelligence, using its large blade as a shield, gradually melting it with our attacks.
Hyde and the leader exchanged a look before running up the stairs. We climbed a few floors until...
CRASH!
A tremor followed by a loud crash shook the area, breaking our balance and nearly felling us our deaths, but Hyde clung to the railing with the soldiers, looking toward the lower floors.
A dust cloud and debris invaded the shaft. Nothing happened for a second, but our breath stopped when we saw a pair of eyes shining in the distance.
The beast flapped its wings, dispelling the dust and leaping towards us, but the narrow passage prevented it from taking off properly, forcing it to dig its claws into the walls, tearing them apart, and descending with its weight before stabilizing itself.
It acted repeatedly, flapping its wings to gain the initial momentum and jump from wall to wall, destroying the stairs in its path. It took half a second for us to leave our shock and climb at full speed, shouting questions and curses.
Despite our efforts, we wouldn't make it to the top in time, so we checked our minimap, seeing an exit a few flights up, a door just like the previous ones, only open and with the floor number erased.
We ran through it with the soldiers right behind, the last one throwing himself to the ground and narrowly escaping the metallic giant that collided with his previous location.
The beast roared furiously, its screeches and frenzy muffling and distancing until they disappeared, leaving a silence as deep as the ocean. Suddenly, noises and tremors came from the upper floor and repetitive impacts crushed the ceiling downwards.
CLANG!
CLANG!
CLANG!
We were already running when we realized it, our minds and bodies accustomed to acting quickly in this type of situation. We abandoned the soldiers with a touch of regret, despite having several reasons why we were not allies. They had a leader, they were not our responsibility, but it still felt wrong.
We heard the squad leader shouting orders and their footsteps moving away, followed by the ceiling giving way, gunshots, and the creature's screams.
However, we moved on, passing through a pair of huge metal doors and slapping the control panel on the way, closing it behind us. We took this moment to calm our nerves and catch our breath.
It was strange, I had no organs, but I still felt things that a full human would feel. Leaving that aside, we saw the squad turning a corner with the beast in tow until the door closed, causing our imagination to complement the sounds we heard.
"Holy shit!" Hyde leaned on his knees, breathing heavily.
"Watch your tongue!" Blank scolded him like an angry mother.
"Let the boy get it all out, I feel the same way!" Zon spoke next.
"You always feel like using that dirty mouth of yours, Zon."
"What can I say? I've had time to practice in my prison, I just need to find the one my creative words are directed at."
"If the couple is already over, would anyone know where the grimoire is?!" Hyde stood up, interrupting the two.
"That's a good question."
"I don't know, I'm not the owner of this place!"
"You are handling this better than before, Hyde."
"Well, they say the third time's the charm, and this is the third installation with an angry AI, nothing new." He shrugged, drawing his swords and walking through the factory corridors.
"I like your enthusiasm, but our adversary's lack of sanity makes him unpredictable. A furious animal can be worse than a person with a plan."
"Now that you brought it up, do you have any idea how the AI ended up like this?"
"It's hard to say, each one had their reason besides isolation."
"So we have to find another terminal to find out?"
"Only if we find one on our way, that's not our goal here."
"Okay, but this place is huge, how will we find the grimoires?"
"We can start by analyzing what we saw so far. Usually, they're in safe places protected by AIs, intentionally or not, but if that's the case, then what was that robot doing in the generator room?"
"It may seem strange, but it seemed damaged and only woke up when you restored the power."
"Do you think it fought someone?"
"I don't know, maybe? The facility was abandoned for a long time, right? Maybe someone strong got in before us and faced the AI."
"Hm… The AI running the Junk Heap facility went berserk and fought someone strong, explaining its damage. It reached a critical low-energy state and retreated to the generator room, connecting to it, but not before discharging completely, deactivating itself. The generator either stopped or was purposefully shut down, preventing the AI from waking up until we reactivated it."
"But what person could have given that thing the fight of its life?"
"Hyde, I don't want to worry you, but I don't think it was a person."
"Do you think it was one or more robots?"
"Probably one that the AI can't control, and there's a chance it or they are still here."
"Great, I hope our new friend doesn't shoot us."
"I highly doubt it, considering our luck."
"I figured."
"Could you tell us what you're talking about?" Blank interrupted our conversation, getting our attention.
We explained our previous dialogue to both books and they nodded, offering their theories about what had happened here, discussing plans and strategies on how we would deal with the AI if we encountered it again and how we would find the grimoire.
We should use the narrow, labyrinthine corridors to our advantage, hiding from the beast and attacking from its blind spots if necessary. Its weapon required space to fight properly, and its wings had shown limited flight; we didn't want to see what they were capable of in open space.
Landing on its back would be advantageous, as we could cut its head off quickly, but who knew if we would get the chance?
As for the grimoires, we followed the logic we saw earlier and tracked the destruction caused by the AI, for if it was here, then the book shouldn't be far away, but there was still the question of where to start.
We could return to the lower floors, but we abandoned that thought when we remembered what our enemy looked like. It had wings, which meant it needed an open space to use them, as it only entered the factory's confines out of desperation.
We needed to go up, so we looked for the nearest elevator or staircase.
Hyde walked through the oppressive corridors with light, cautious steps and a slightly hunched combat stance, resting his back against the wall and glancing at around before turning a corner.
The books followed close behind, with power flowing through their pages, ready to act in case of danger.
The previously silent corridors now hummed and vibrated with life, lights flickered on and off due to the worn material, ventilation, and exhaust fans spun, bringing fresh air to all levels, and automatic doors opened and closed, following its last commands.
However, we could not say whether the new noise sources were better than the uncertain silence of before.
We stopped when we heard repetitive noises coming from a door to our left, and looked at each other seriously before leaning against the wall near the doorframe, with Hyde pressing the panel and opening the door. Then, We peeked into the room before jumping inside with weapons ready.
Hyde rolled across the floor, getting up with swords raised while I left his body with my ax in hand. The books came in the opposite direction, open and with power flowing through the paper, but we relaxed our postures at the sight of an assembly line.
Dozens, if not hundreds of conveyor belts with mechanical arms incessantly building weaponry, advanced firearms, technological blades, ammunition, artillery projectiles, various bombs, tanks, and robots.
The clang of metal against metal filled the air, the hiss of sparks buzzed in our ears, and the repetitive opening and closing of entry and exit doors on both side of the conveyor sounded like a heartbeat, all forming a grand symphony.
"Wait, aren't these the things we saw at the military base? Does this place build weapons?" Hyde asked in a mix of surprise and confusion.
"Yes, but I doubt any of them would work after centuries without maintenance, except for the robots, they were built to outlast everything else."
"Strange, they look different from the others." He frowned, seeing the box-shaped machines with a pair of lights on top, a thank track in the center, and a pair of stubby arms.
"These are old mass-produced models, made more for security than combat."
"Is there a chance they'll attack us?"
"Not these, they're not ready, but we might encounter hostile soon."
"Kid, I would like to introduce you to one of the greatest qualities of human beings, their capacity for destruction! Enough firepower to eliminate armies and level cities, yet we are on the brink of extinction!" Zon floated proudly, probably trying to puff out his chest, if he still had one.
"Wouldn't that be a flaw?" Hyde asked confused.
"Only when humanity uses all that power against itself, but you can't imagine the wonders that a powerful common enemy does for a divided people! When the end is near, no religion or ideology can stop humans from working together, but what a bunch of hypocrites, huh?!" The red book laughed, floating towards the ground below.
The young man looked at the white book, waiting for an answer, but she hesitated to answer.
"As much as I hate to admit it, he's right." Blank sighed, following the red book.
Hyde then turned to me, his helmet hiding his face, but I could imagine his pleading look.
"Hyde, I'll give you a lecture on human history when we return, everything I remember at least, the best and worst of our species."
"I'm looking forward to it." He failed to hide the nervousness and doubt.
"HA! Prepare to be disappointed."
We jumped off the catwalk, following the books to a large hole in the center of the assembly line leading to the lower floors and an equal one above us.
"Do you think the AI came through here?"
"Probably, but this could also be this place falling apart."
I stretched my arm and grabbed the hole's edge with one hand and Hyde with the other, pulling us up from level to level, and into a huge rectangular room that had once been a reunion hall.
There were destroyed robots and signs of struggle, indicating that we were on the right track, then we left through a collapsed wall with a pair of double doors still standing for some reason.
We passed through the factory's administrative department, with abandoned offices and archives, then, looked for another way to go up, stopping only when we smelled smoke.
There was a fire inside one of the rooms, probably due to some exploding defective machine, the flames consumed furniture and papers, reducing everything to ashes.
Suddenly, a metal door opened, and activated versions of the robots from before quickly advanced with flashing lights. We prepared for combat, but to our surprise, the robots ignored us and ran towards the fire, shooting jets of white foam from their arms to put it out.
We shrugged and walked past them, spotting more of their kind performing common tasks such as equipment maintenance and repair, garbage disposal, cleaning up dirt and debris, and more.
A robot beeped towards us, cleaning up Hyde boot's mud trail, only for the young man to drag his foot on the ground, causing the machine to clean up again.
The process repeated itself, with Hyde enjoying the machine's efforts more and more, only to yelp in surprise as a jet of water splashed onto his hidden face, knocking him to the ground.
The robot cleaned up the mess one last time before letting out a sharp whistle, probably an insult, and headed to a different section of the factory.
"Son of a bitch!" Hyde stood up in annoyance, trying to dry his soaked body.
"HAHAHA! No one told you to provoke the poor robot worker!"
"What are these things doing here anyway?"
"They must be following their standard guidelines, so we better move before they reach the part about eliminating intruders."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go before they try to kill us!" He quickened his pace, passing the various busy robots, trying to ignore the laughter and taunts from the books and me.
I returned to Hyde's body when we found a hallway full of broken glass windows, realizing that we stood two floors above the surface, and how big this place was. A sea of decaying buildings and warehouses with tall smoke-blowing chimneys covering the horizon.
This wasn't just a factory, but an industrial hub with gray labyrinthine streets, mountains of worn-out colorful containers, rusty trucks and forklifts, cargo cranes and warehouses. A true maze, impossible to find where we came from, but we had clues as to where to go.
There was a fire escape beside us leading a few floors above before reaching a destroyed part, however, we could jump from it to a covered bridge that connected two buildings.
We did just that, Hyde took distance and ran at full speed, jumping an impossible height upon reaching the edge where I stretched out my arms and grabbed the ladders, pulling us to it.
We went from floor to floor, observing the interior and surroundings with a mixture of admiration and concern, as there was no sign of enemies, but we reached the end of the path where Hyde jumped onto the bridge, landing in a crouch and almost falling when a tremor shook the ground.
Rubble, glass, and steel rained down on the roof and around it. We approached the edge and looked at its source, widening our eyes upon seeing the metallic beast hanging over a large hole with soldiers trying to take it down.
Its hind legs and tail waved dangerously in the air as it clung to the edge, swinging its blade at its enemies, however, its efforts were in vain and it fell towards us. We screamed in surprise and ran away, almost being crushed when the thing hit the bridge with a metallic crash, shaking it and denting our previous position.
We thought everything would collapse with the impact and hugged the railings to avoid falling. Fortunately, nothing of the sort happened and we looked to where the beast had come from, seeing the squad leader and his men staring at us.
We couldn't see their faces, but we did not doubt that they sent us murderous looks. However, the bridge shaking again cut our musings short. The beast's tail, paws, and blade hanging outside disappeared above us, and the leader shouted:
"You better run, traitor! That thing is furious! Consider this payback for running away like a coward!"
The soldiers disappeared into the building and we ran in the opposite direction, towards the adjacent one, but…
SHING!
A gigantic blade pierced the ceiling, getting in our way and almost splitting us in two. One look was all we needed to flee for our lives, but our enemy gave chase.
Its steps dented the ceiling and its blade came dangerously close to impaling us blow after blow, forcing us to stop abruptly or dodge. Fortunately, our exit was close, just a few more meters, that is if everything didn't collapse first.
Relief and anticipation burned in our chests, but they disappeared as soon as the blade approached our heads, time slowed down and we thought it would be the end, but a luminous barrier protected us, stopping the attack.
Blank's pages flipped with power, but the blow's force proved too much, slowly cracking the energy construct, making her scream in effort.
"Hey, why don't you fight someone your size?!" Zon fired a powerful magical beam upwards, boiling the air, melting the ceiling, and hitting the beast squarely.
The thing fell with fire and smoke on its chest, but we wasted no time celebrating, we thanked the books and fled, glimpsing a dark spot blocking the sunlight. The beast flew towards us like a bird of prey, screeching and carrying its blade like a spear with no intention of stopping.
It didn't take a genius to discover what it intended. We intensified our efforts, dodging the attack and ignoring the worrying bangs and creaks that came next. To our despair, the walkway tilted backward, to the point where Hyde's feet slid across the floor.
Moving forward became impossible, but Blank created a barrier behind us, preventing us from falling and pushing us forward. However, our path was about to collapse completely, trapping us in a box of concrete and steel.
Many things happened simultaneously, I stretched my arms, the monstrosity closed the distance, and Zon fired an attack, hitting our enemy's left wing.
The beast missed its attack, falling in a corkscrew motion and leaving a trail of smoke in its wake. Hyde used Blank's barrier as a springboard, giving us an extra boost, and I grabbed the bridge's edge, pulling us up as the structure collapsed around us.
We hanged on the building's entrance, watching as our enemy disappeared midst the sea of concrete constructions, hearing its impact against the ground and its muffled screeches.
However, that wasn't the end of it, as sounds of destruction, smoke clouds, and thrown containers appeared in the distance, slowly approaching us. I pulled us up and we entered the building, running through its passages and looking for the closest climb.
"Is it strange to miss the talking AIs? They at least said what they wanted from us!" Hyde exclaimed, analyzing our surroundings in search of a way.
"The feeling is mutual, this thing is nothing more than a murderous beast!"
"Hump! Let it come! I'll rip its wings off before it even swings its blade!" Zon said arrogantly.
"Do it! We would remove one of his greatest advantages!" Blank spoke next.
"Yes, please! But changing the subject, are you okay, Blank?" The young man asked the white book.
"Yes, that was nothing!"
Hyde nodded and we moved on, the environment took on an industrial appearance full of freight elevators and construction equipment, so we entered one of the elevators and pressed the up button.
We assumed tense battle positions as we heard fighting sounds coming from above, gunshots, and metal clashing against metal. We reached the end and came face to face with a large corridor with a metal door of equal size from where the noises came from.
"Do you think that thing found the soldiers?" Hyde approached, holding a sword in each hand.
"I don't think so, we didn't hear any screams or roars." I drew my ax and stood beside him.
"We only have one way to go now, we would waste too much time going back." He pressed the panel beside the door, opening it and revealing what awaited us on the other side.
Unexpectedly, we saw an unfinished building's floor, with holes in the ground and walls, exposed beams, plumbing and cabling, and piles of materials, revealing that it was still under construction.
Its occupants were more interesting, the smaller robots we had encountered earlier fighting a larger robot resembling a giant toy. It had a circular head with handrails on top, a cobblestone torso, hips, arms, and legs, and machine guns for hands.
Its yellow, light-bulb eyes flashed repeatedly as it opened fire and stomped on the smaller robots that returned the attacks with electric shocks or bursts of red orbs. Blue and red were the colors of its body, but there were letters and numbers written in yellow on its chest, P-33.
"A P unit! I never thought I would see one of these again!" I felt joy and nostalgia burning in my being at the sight of a relic of the past still active.
"These old junk are still around?!" Zon said angrily.
"HA, it was an honor to fight alongside them on the battlefield! I wonder if this is someone is know!" Blank said proudly.
"Do you know what this thing is?!" Hyde pointed one of his swords at the robot in question.
"One of the first robot models made to face The Legion, even before the androids! They are slow, clumsy and only follow simple commands, but they are as tough as a tank and as strong as a train."
"Should we help it?"
"Yes, I think I still remember the correct commands so it won't attack us. It must have valuable information, so I would like to ask it a few questions."
We joined the fight with our next move decided, but I have to admit it was a bit disappointing.
The smaller robots were extremely old and rusty, having difficulty moving and attacking, sparking and falling apart. The AI of this installation neglected its basic duties, unlike the ones we encountered before.
One of them fired a volley of orbs at Hyde, but he simply stepped aside, dodging the attack while the robot followed his movements, sending another attack that the young man easily dodged before splitting it in two with a flaming slash.
Another proved more dangerous, firing lightning and forcing me to slide across the ground to dodge the attacks, but I circled it quickly and stuck my ax in its body's center, deactivating it.
Zon showed less restraint, bombarding drones with magic beams, reducing them to flaming piles on the ground while Blank crushed the rest with her barriers. P-33 noticed our presence but did not deviate from its initial objective, strafing and compacting its assailants, transforming them into deformed metal mountains.
The enemies gradually decreased until we found ourselves in a dirty oily room smelling of smoke, with sparkling clusters scattered around.
We stopped in front of the P-33, who stared at us in silence for a few seconds before aiming its weapons at us and speak in a generic artificial voice.
"Intruder alert! Identify yourself!"
I asked everyone to calm down and not attack the robot, then handed my key card to Hyde and asked him to repeat my words.
"I request the security measure's suspension and full access to the facility according to the code GAMA-137-704-BETA-001/9."
The robot said nothing and stood still as a statue, making old computer noises and processing the command.
"Authority confirmation required! Please confirm your authority!"
Hyde showed my card to the robot, which scanned it with a light coming from its eyes before playing a cheerful melody and lowering its weapons.
"Authority confirmed! Commands accepted! Suspending security measures and granting full access to the facility! Can I help you with anything else?"
I asked Hyde to repeat my questions to P-33.
"How long have you been active?"
"This unit has been active for exactly 869 years, 10 months, 14 days, 4 hours and 43 minutes."
"HOLY SHIT!" Hyde and the books screamed in surprise, I, on the other hand, used this information to estimate my age and how much time had passed.
Hm… P Units didn't exist when I was born, and if what little I remember is correct, then I guess I'm a thousand or more years old, and the same goes for how much time has passed. My God, how did I last so long?
I asked Hyde to ask the next question.
"What happened to Project Gestalt?"
"The initial steps went as planned, The Legion and its leader were exterminated, the Original Gestalt was found, the separation between Gestalt and Replicant was finalized and the giant's MASO was sent to another world. But the final step was not completed by the supervisors."
"What is the final step?"
"UNKNOWN."
"Who are and where are the supervisors?"
"UNKNOWN."
"Who is and where is the Original Gestalt?"
"UNKNOWN."
"What happened to the AI of this facility?"
"M.E.R.C.U.R.Y. abandoned its original directives exactly 200 years, 5 months, 2 days, 1 hour, and 37 seconds ago for unknown reasons, after taking its cargo to the main building's top and leaving a final directive for all units under its control, to protect the cargo at all costs."
"Why didn't Mercury control you too?"
"The P units are not originally from this facility, we were left here before our integration into the local systems was finished."
"Why were you fighting Mercury's robots?"
"M.E.R.C.U.R.Y. has proven to be a threat to the facility's integrity and its surroundings, organic and inorganic, after abandoning its original directives, so we have followed our directives, ensuring its extermination and humanity's safety until Project Gestalt's end. Our battle has placed it in critical condition, forcing it to retreat into the facility, but the damage we have sustained has lowered our capabilities, requiring repairs over the past decades with materials of questionable quality. However, we will conclude our mission with M.E.R.C.U.R.Y. return."
"We, are there more of you here?"
"CORRECT! However, I am the only active unit capable of combat, I will return to my original mission immediately."
"Wait, we can help!"
"NEGATIVE! I must ensure humanity's safety until the project's end, damage to Gestalts and Replicants is unacceptable!"
"We are capable of fighting, we can help you!"
"NEGATIVE!"
"Even if you defeat Mercury, humanity is still in danger!"
"ELABORATE!"
"The Supervisors and the Original Gestalt have abandoned their duties, and the Replicants and Gestalts are dying! If that happens, it will be the end of humanity! The Gestalt and the Grimoires present are part of the project, and we are collecting other Grimoires to ensure its completion! We can help you defeat Mercury, get its grimoire, and protect humanity. We did this before, and we are more than capable!"
"Question: Is this true?"
"Yes!"
P-33's head spun like a top, steam coming out of its mouth as its eyes blinked midst high-pitched popping noises, then it stopped suddenly and spoke:
"Conflict detected! Calculating risks and chances of success! Critical situation detected! Humanity at risk of extinction! Reestablishing guidelines! Help accepted! Please climb up!"
P-33 crouched on one knee and lowered its head, allowing Hyde to climb up with the books floating beside him as I returned to his body. Then the robot abruptly stood up, forcing the young man to grab its handrails while giggling like a child.
"ALERT! HOSTILES DETECTED!"
The robot turned towards the building's interior, seeing more of the smaller robots approaching in a sea of red lights.
"Well, what are we waiting for?! Let's go after Mercury! We'll give you a hand!" Hyde drew his gun and aimed at the robots with difficulty.
"This brings back memories, doesn't it, Zon?! Can you feel it?! Your heart burning with the intensity of the battlefield?!" Blank laughed, floating happily.
"Yes, especially from having to endure people like you!" The red book complained, only to scream as it was slapped by a magical barrier.
"COMMENDING ELIMINATION!"
Then P-33 marched towards the robots with thunderous steps, shaking the ground and grinding the enemies in our path with a hail of bullets while Hyde and the books helped as best they could.
However, we did not let this advantage lower our guard, because we heard the flapping of wings in the distance.
END OF CHAPTER