ARGH OH MY GOD I'M BACK. Again. I'm going to finish this story if it kills me. I've pretty much given up on setting time estimates or deadlines, they never turn out to be accurate. Chapters will just be uploaded as they're written.
I do have some good news though, I now have an official beta reader with whom I am good friends. This guy endured the entirety of this ungodly abomination I call a fanfic just so he could help a brother out, and I cannot appreciate him enough for that. Hopefully this will lead to a lot more motivation and inspiration to continue the saga - I know I'm already feeling a lot more confident about this chapter.
Anyway, I'll refrain from going into too much detail. I know why you're here - you just want some action! So let's get right to it, shall we?
CHAPTER 59: The Chopping Block
"It's quiet... too quiet."
"Give it a rest, Blah..."
Blahsadfeguie, Hailstorm, Astra, and Reed found themselves in front of a massive cave entrance on a high mountain. The view from here would have been fantastic if it weren't for the cover of night. Blah insisted on waiting until nightfall to approach the facility, in an attempt to catch their enemy at their most vulnerable. Nobody protested, not even Hail, who had been given plenty of time to rest and was feeling better than he had ever felt since this whole adventure started.
That still didn't make him willing to take Blah's commentary, however.
"Are you sure we'll find this facility of theirs here?" hissed Reed. "This is sacred ground..."
"That's the point," replied Blah. "The Invero were clever enough to realize their pious experiments would never think about defiling a shrine devoted to all three of their gods."
"...Run that by me again?" Reed asked. "Invero? Experiments? What?"
Blah facepalmed loudly. "That was another spoiler, wasn't it."
"Will you forget about the spoiler thing already?" groaned Hail.
"Seriously," added Astra. "We're burning moonlight."
"Right, right..." Blah approached the entrance to the cave. "Let's go."
Hail and Astra began to follow, Reed taking up the rear. "Did you bring a light?" asked Hail.
Blah stopped right at the rocky opening. If he had a mouth, a grin would surely be spreading rapidly across his face. He turned his head back toward Hail and replied, perhaps a bit too eagerly, "No."
Hail was taken aback. "You mean to tell me, in all that technology, you don't have anything that doubles as a flashlight?!"
Blah laughed. "No no I was kidding," he stated. "I was making a reference. The opportunity was too good to pass up." There was silence. "Hotel Mario? Anyone?" More silence. "Ah whatever, you wouldn't find it funny anyways." Facing the cave, a bright beam began to shine from each of his eyes, illuminating the interior. The other three headed inside, each of them trying to forget the last 30 seconds ever happened.
The room certainly looked a lot more vast on the inside than the exterior suggested. Three huge statues, much like the ones in the church, surrounded a stone slab in the center of the room in a triangular formation.
Hail looked around with Blah as he scanned the room. "Isn't this the place where Reed fought that dragon in the other timeline?" Reed perked up, a little anxious.
"I believe so," Blah replied. "And that means his Quest Bed is right here." He placed his lighted gaze onto the central slab, which was a very dark green. The middle of the slab bore a black symbol that resembled a spiked, circular skull.
Reed could not tear his eyes away from this symbol. It carried a deep sense of foreboding, an ominous feeling that reminded him of the inevitability of universal entropy. He suddenly felt very small and helpless against the scathing winds of time.
"Remind me what that is, again?" asked Hail, unaware of the spaced-out fox behind him.
"That's what he used to come back to life and get god powers," the robot explained nonchalantly.
Hail cocked his head. "Could he use it right now, then...?" He looked back at Reed, snapping him back into reality.
"Nah," dismissed Blah. "For one thing, he has to die first. For another, he has to reach the top of his Echeladder, which, since he's a Page, might not happen for-"
"Hey everyone, I found something," interrupted Astra, relieving the others from another one of Blah's long and senseless rants. Blah pointed his lights at Astra, who was fumbling with the giant halberd carried by the Eho statue. It wobbled slightly.
As soon as Reed saw this, he rushed over to Astra and practically dove at her. "Don't touch that!" he cried, colliding with her and bringing both of them to the ground. "We're already on thin ice with the gods as it-"
CLICK. A mechanical whirring began to resound throughout the chamber, originating from the Eho statue. Astra's hand was still tightly clasped around the stone weapon's shaft, causing it to swing down just above the Quest Bed as she fell. Reed jumped off of the human and looked on in horror as lights welled up from each of the statues' eyes and mouths in turn.
"Now we've done it..." lamented the Triff. "We've incurred the wrath of the pantheon..."
"No, check it out," Blah cut him off as the statues receded back toward the wall. "Astra found a secret entrance."
The four onlookers watched as the ground below them shifted, opening up into a large spiral staircase down into the mountain. The light from within was bright, and clearly artificial. Hail, Astra, and especially Reed were in awe at the scene. Blah silently shut off his own eye-lights.
"For the record," Astra stated as she stood up, "I forgive you for knocking me over."
"Well!" exclaimed Hail, retrieving his crossbow. "There's no way that went unnoticed! Now or never, guys!" With that, he flew down the staircase. Blah, Astra, and Reed each drew their weapons and followed in turn. There was no time to think. The raid had already commenced.
The staircase went quite a ways downward. Tension escalated to an exponential degree the further down the heroes went. First the stairs, then the walls transitioned from a dark stone to a light metal plating. Fluorescent lights were lined up along the walls to illuminate the descent. There could be no doubts that this was not a construction of the inhabitants of Moros they had met so far.
Finally, the quartet emerged into a spacious, curved hall that extended farther than anyone could see. The hall lacked any side passages or doors - it was simply one long, continuous chamber.
They didn't have much opportunity to consider the meaning behind that, however, as already they were being greeted by four large stone-brick humanoid automatons, each of which stood ten feet tall and glared down at the intruders with a single, piercing red eye. Together, the four of them all but blocked the passage in front.
"I expected something a bit more... metallic?" commented Astra as she entered a combat-ready stance.
"All the more simple a task for Mr. Hammer here," Blah taunted as he slung his Pwnhammer around confidently.
The golems acted immediately. One of them slammed its fist at Blah, which he managed to block in the nick of time. Hail raised his crossbow and fired a dark thunderbolt at the first striker, visibly chipping off some of the stone around its head. This allowed Blah ample time to back away.
From there, all hell broke loose. The golems plowed forward like a team of linebackers. One of them knocked Reed aside as easily as swatting a fly. Astra dove between the legs of one of them, recovering and turning to face the opposite side, but as she did so, there was an impossibly bright, red flash, causing her to stumble.
Before anyone could question this, the first golem slung its bulky arm around at Blah again. This time he jumped over it and brought his hammer up to perform a swift counter-attack, but the neighboring golem was even swifter and slammed Blah back into the ground. Hail's second shot rang out just moments too late, but the force was enough to send the second golem reeling, its torso cracking.
The golem to the far right stomped toward Reed to smash him again. Hail saw this and interrupted reloading his crossbow to fly into its head, but his bare hooves were ineffective. Meanwhile, the fourth golem took advantage of Astra's blindness to grab her with both hands.
Blah sprang to his feet and drove his hammer into the fourth golem's shoulder with all of his might. The joint was shattered, causing the limb to collapse, but the construct held firmly with the other hand. This did, however, free Astra up to bash the other hand with the shaft of her scythe. Only a few pebbles were knocked loose, but she did succeed in freeing herself. She fell to the ground on one knee, where she regrouped with Blah from the other side.
It was then that Blah and Astra saw what caused the flash. For every golem, there was a tiny hovering robot drone with an eye very similar in appearance to those of the stone giants, as well as a thin antenna. The drones were positioned directly behind the golems' backs, hidden from frontal view.
"I think that might be their control center," Blah assessed.
"I think you might be right," Astra agreed.
Two of the drones, upon hearing this, drifted toward them slightly, their eyes blinking rapidly. Astra instinctively shielded her eyes as Blah stepped forward and slammed both of the drones with one hammer swing, sending tiny bits of metal everywhere. The golems they had been attached to instantly collapsed into piles of rubble.
"Aim for the drones!" Blah cried to Hail and Reed.
"The what?" Hail, who had been keeping the other golems occupied while Reed recovered, looked back at the others for a brief moment. The distraction was just long enough for him to get blindsided by a stony backhand to the face.
As Hail spiraled to the ground, Blah and Astra prepared to lunge at the two remaining golems, but they promptly twisted around to face them, hiding their drones. They attempted to flank them, but they had shifted to a defensive stance, making sure they did not turn their backs to the intruders.
Before they could worry about their approach, Reed had jumped back on his feet and spearheaded one drone from behind with his clarinet. The golem fell shortly after, leaving Astra wide open to slice apart the final drone and secure them the victory.
"Is everyone okay?" asked Astra, while Blah scanned the hall for any more hostiles.
Hail rubbed the side of his face. "That... was painful," he uttered, staring at the blood on his hoof.
"I'll be... ow... fine," promised Reed, clutching his stomach.
"Not until you drink these," Astra said, tossing each of them a potion. Hail downed it like an energy drink, while Reed stared at his apprehensively before taking a gulp.
"We have to keep moving," urged Blah as he began to charge ahead. "It's only going to get worse from here."
At the end of the hall was a set of curved, metal double doors with no visible handle. Beside it was a single button adorned with a glowing red symbol. A soft humming resonated from behind the doors.
"An elevator?" guessed Astra.
"This will lead down into the lower levels," Blah affirmed as he casually walked up to the button. However, as his finger approached it, the doors suddenly opened, revealing a group of three Eho warriors. Each one wore a thick, encompassing set of futuristic power armor and carried a weapon that could only be described as a phase-glaive. Blah jumped back with a jolt as the long, pointed face of the yellow-scaled one in front glared down at him from twice his height. The dragonoids did not seem too friendly.
"Ah, Blahsadfeguie," the yellow Eho greeted in a mocking tone. "It truly is an honor... to cleave you in half!"
In one powerful motion, the well-equipped warrior swung his weapon down at Blah's head. He leaped backward again, causing all of his allies to take a step back as well. The glaive slammed into the floor, creating a massive gash where the robot stood moments before.
"Dragons in power armor with energy weapons..." chimed Blah. "If they weren't trying to kill us, I'd say this is the most freakin' rad thing I've ever seen."
"Shut up and fight!" cried Hail as he loaded his Shadowbolt. As he did so, the green Eho in the back whipped out a laser rifle and blasted his hoof, knocking the crossbow out of it.
The leading Eho charged out of the elevator, slicing horizontally at Blah. Instinctively, he brought his hammer up to parry, but the glaive cut right through the handle of the Pwnhammer, chopping it clean in two! Horrified, Blah was caught completely off-guard - thankfully the hammer did hinder the momentum of the attack enough to prevent it from going on to hit him.
It began to dawn on the invaders that they might have come tragically underprepared.
"Retreat!" shouted Reed as he twisted around to avoid losing his own head, but he was met with the same four golems from before, reassembled and looking particularly vengeful. The way out was totally blocked, and the golems showed no intention of breaking formation.
"Ehehehe!" cackled the third Eho, slightly shorter and with scales of red. "There is no escape for you! Prepare for a swift death!"
The other two Eho had emerged into the much more spacious hall, looking especially eager to dismember their foes.
Blah and Hail, having been separated from their weapons, each took to the air. The red Eho grabbed a rifle of her own and aimed at Blah, while the green one remained trained on Hail. Lasers pierced the walls all around them. It was all the fliers could do to dodge while they thought of a better strategy.
The yellow one, meanwhile, gave his attention to Astra. The girl stood her ground, scythe at the ready, cleansing herself of all fear. With a smirk, Yellow lunged with a mighty diagonal slash, to which Astra jumped forward, kicking off of the glaive's handle and knocking the dragon off-balance. She swung at the long neck of the Eho, pinpointing a joint where the armor was a bit thinner. The scythe cut right through the armor and created a sizable gash in the dragon's scales, infuriating him.
Reed, meanwhile, was focused on finding a way through the golems. They each moved forward in unison. One of them threw a punch at the Triff, who ducked out of the way and stabbed the arm with his clarinet. The damage was negligible. Reed was forced to back away.
Suddenly, Blah dove at the green Eho, punching him in the jaw and staggering him. Hail took the cue and flew for his still-loaded crossbow, snatching it up and firing it at the confused Red. The bolt hit her chestplate with a thunderous boom, sending her flying into the wall. The armor was singed and dented, but not completely pierced through.
Yellow spun backwards, aiming for Astra's legs as she landed, but she easily saw this coming and hopped toward the assailant again, just out of the blade's range. She grabbed the handle and used the weight and trajectory of the weapon to wrench it out of his hands. However, she had underestimated just how heavy it was and failed to gain control over the weapon before she toppled over.
Blah saw this and leap-frogged over to her side. He greedily grabbed the handle of the glaive, and Astra gratefully let go. Blah adjusted his grip on the polearm. It was heavy enough to give the robot trouble, but not so much that he couldn't wield it with some additional effort. While Hail faced the green Eho, Blah hurled his new weapon at the downed red one, penetrating the weakened part of her armor with ease. Red collapsed.
"Blah, look out!" screamed Hail. Blah turned his head toward the green Eho to see his glaive already in mid-swing. Desperately, Blah tried to get his own pilfered weapon in the way of the attack, but it was simply too bulky. There was a shower of sparks as Blah's right arm clattered to the floor, followed closely by the tip of Yellow's glaive.
"Th-that... that was..." Blah twitched as he stared at the robotic limb. "That was my arm!" In a burst of fury, Blah allocated all of his energy to his remaining arm, retrieving the glaive and upper-slashing Green in one fluid motion. His armor split open along the torso, revealing a gash of lethal proportions. Green stumbled backward, crashing against the wall and slumping over.
Yellow growled loudly. His team was falling apart much too quickly. Astra's scythe was pressed harshly against the exposed portion of his neck.
"So you've bested the welcoming party," admitted Yellow. "No matter! There are dozens more of us waiting below, ready to claim still more of your extremities! Go ahead, human. Finish me off. Enjoy it while you-"
SHWING. Yellow's head dropped to the ground with a loud thump.
The room went silent. Reed shuddered, hardly able to take in the carnage that had just ensued.
"Should we turn back?" Hail asked, staring concernedly at the broken, exposed wires in Blah's shoulder.
"We still have these things to deal with..." Reed pointed at the steadily-advancing golems.
"Even if we did," said Blah, picking up his arm and watching the dragons' blood drip from it, "They know we know about this place. We can't give them time to fortify it and send a counterattack. We have to press on."
Astra nodded and headed for the elevator; the emotion had already been drained from her. Hail was not so confident. "But your arm..."
Blah fiddled with his arm, expecting it to simply snap back on, but that didn't seem to be the case. "As long as I can swing a weapon, I'll be fine," he half-shrugged. "I'll just... not get hit again! That's the point, anyway!" With that, he marched shakily into the elevator with Astra, tossing his defunct arm to the side. It would only get in the way.
Hail sighed. "Come on, Reed," he called as he stepped into the crowded enclosure.
Reed backed into the elevator, facing the golems for fear of any sudden moves. They had stopped moving some time ago.
The elevator opened up into a huge chamber. Iron supports lined the walls, curving upward along the dome-shaped ceiling. The quartet stepped out onto a thatched catwalk taking up the entire floor. In the center of the room, peering up through the catwalk, was the tip of a massive glass orb of sorts that glowed a deep green. The majority of it extended downward, likely into the rest of the facility. On the other side of the room, there was a set of stairs leading down.
"What is that..." Reed gasped, staring at the enticing green light.
"The power source of the facility," Blah explained. "The core, as it were."
Hail stepped up to the edge and squinted down into the orb. "There's something that looks like a giant gemstone in the middle..."
Blah's eyes lit up. "Of course...!" he uttered. "The Jewel of Moros! It makes so much sense!" His grasp around his hammer tightened.
"Hey, wait a minute..." Hail interrupted Blah's train of thought as he stared at the fully intact Pwnhammer in his hand. "How'd you put that back together...?"
"I didn't," Blah replied. "I just had the foresight to bring a spare. Weren't you paying attention?" Hail shook his head in bemusement. Blah sighed and turned back toward the core. "Anyway, while we're here we might as well..." He stopped as the realization hit him.
"Smash it?" Astra asked, coming up alongside Hail.
Blah lowered his hammer. "We can't..." he lamented, walking out toward the core as well. "At least, not yet. If we do it now, we won't be able to use any of the equipment here. And there's no telling what it'll do to this corner of the universe..."
As the three were deep in thought, Reed's panicked voice interrupted them. "Uh, don't look now, but... actually, maybe looking now would be a good idea?"
Blah looked up just in time to be blown back by a ball of flames. Another Eho ascended the stairs rapidly... this one sporting scales of a deep black coloration.
Hail's eyes widened as the memories came flooding back in spades. "You..."
Blah recovered to see what the pegasus was going on about, and had a very similar reaction. Decked out in full power armor, a thick smoke wafting around, was the Conqueror himself. Sihok.
The dragon cackled. "So you've come straight to us. How convenient! You've saved us the bother of hunting you down." Sihok smirked as he brandished a pair of metal claws, each blade pulsing with the same energy used by the weapons of his kin.
"Oh my God," Blah responded, readying his Pwnhammer, "can you be any more cliched? Also, do I even need to mention you're outnumbered?"
The robot's commentary only served to strengthen the Conqueror's laugh. "That's what you think, scrap-heap! Allow me to reaquaint you with some long lost friends..."
A pink figure leaped from the stairs and landed next to Sihok with a loud CLANG. "Mail call!" cried Mefirst, twirling his mailbox-hammer with an eager grin.
Astra's jaw clenched in total rage at the sight of the mailman. Blah produced an exasperate sounding sigh. Hail stomped his hoof. "Oh, COME ON!" he shouted. "If I'm going to kill just ONE person in my lifetime, they better STAY DEAD!" Hail's Shadowbolt was pointed directly at Mefirst's heart, moments away from pulling the trigger.
Mefirst was loving every second of this. "But wait! There's more!" he said, with all the charisma of a T.V. salesman. "We have another package for you..." He stepped aside, flourishing with both arms toward the stairs. Silently making his way up was none other than a certain triangle.
"Long time no see, nubs." Trank crossed his arms as he stared across with his eerily blank expression.
It was Blah's turn to be visibly upset. "I exploded you!" he shouted. "There was a big hole in you... and I put a bomb there... how do you even..."
"Get good," he replied. "Then maybe you'll understand."
"Alright, no matter..." Blah steeled himself, gripping his weapon firmly. "This is fine. We get to kill three birds with one stone."
"Don't you mean one ar-GH!" Mefirst's infinitely clever quip was cut short by a well-placed Pwnhammer throw to the face. In that moment, the gloves were off. Hail pulled the trigger in an attempt to end the stunned Mefirst before he could even begin to fight, but Trank was one step ahead and dove in front of the shot. The impact sent him flying backwards, stopping inches in front of the mailman, but otherwise undamaged. As Astra made her way around the catwalk, Sihok made a beeline for Blah by flying over the center at a startling pace.
Blah, weaponless, began to channel his aura. "Fist of the Milky Way!" he cried, getting a running start. "Waning Kick!" With a frontflip, Blah repelled off of his hand, his feet leaving behind a streak of white light as they whipped straight at the Conqueror's muzzle. However, the assailant seemed to be expecting this and outright caught Blah by the foot.
"Only a fool telegraphs their attacks so bluntly!" taunted Sihok as he kept going, holding onto the flailing fox-bot.
"But... Rule of Cool..." protested Blah.
Suddenly, a crash of thunder caused Sihok to drop Blah, howling in pain as he twisted in midair. Hail's bolt had connected with the dragon's exposed tail.
"That bolt pierced the scales of an Eho, but failed to penetrate that triangular construct...?" pondered Reed aloud, clutching his clarinet tightly and trying to work up the courage to enter the fray.
By the time Astra made it over to Mefirst and Trank, the mailman had recovered and seized Blah's hammer, rubbing his nose grumpily.
Trank turned to face Astra. "Go ahead and try to cut through me. Nub."
The girl raced forward, scythe outstretched as though to make a wide slice, but at the last moment, she vaulted over the triangle and came down on Mefirst with a powerful vertical slash. It was all the mailman could do to get the hammer in between himself and the blade, and the force staggered him enough for Astra to perform a swift sweep kick as she landed, knocking him to the ground and causing him to lose hold of the hammer. Trank poised to lunge from behind, but was knocked aside by Hail coming in at mach speed.
Blah made it back onto his feet before Sihok, and he began to back away toward Astra and the others in the hopes of getting his weapon back. The Eho had landed quite close to Reed, but did not seem to notice the unmoving Page. With a deep breath through closed eyes, Reed charged and struck Sihok in the back, burying his bayonet deep into the bolt wound and increasing its severity. However, this only served to make the Conqueror angrier. He spun, wrenching the instrument from Reed's hands, and hacked fiercely at his throat with an outstretched claw.
Reed panicked and hit the deck, avoiding the lethal attack but leaving him exposed on the ground. Blah had to put his own goal on hold; he couldn't leave the inexperienced Triff to fend for himself! Revving up his tails, Blah blasted forth and grabbed Sihok by the wrist on his raised arm. The two wrestled for control of the claw. Reed ducked around Sihok and yanked the clarinet out of his tail, causing enough pain for Blah to pull the claw off of him. The two regrouped a short distance away with their newly acquired equipment.
Hail pounded hoof after hoof into Trank's carapace. He knew it was futile, but he had to keep him busy while Astra dealt with Mefirst. Trank tried to grab him, but Hail's kicks were much too fast.
Astra, meanwhile, had stopped showing any signs of mercy toward the death-cheating courier and went straight for the kill. To her surprise, Mefirst grabbed the encroaching blade with the palm of his hand. He winced as blood ran down his arm, but he maintained his smug grin nonetheless. Astra tried to pull the scythe back, but Mefirst used this to jump to his feet, holding tightly.
"Super Fist of Fee-Mail," Mefirst announced with just the slightest hint of strain in his voice, "Return to Sender!" In an impossible display of strength, Mefirst slung Astra's scythe over his head, with its owner showing no desire to let go as she slammed into the floor behind them in a flurry of fluttering postage stamps.
"Hey, Sihok," Trank suddenly called. "Throw me some fire so I can get this nub off my back."
Without hesitation, Sihok opened his maw and spat a huge glob of flame in Trank and Hail's direction. Hail had plenty of time to get out of the way, letting Trank simply stand there and take the fire. All three of his corners were engulfed in burning flames.
"Was that worth it?" questioned Hail as he watched the fire grow bigger.
Blah, however, knew exactly what the triangle was up to. "Uh... Hail, you might want to-"
"Flaming. Sharp. Attack." In a whirling torrent of heat, Trank suddenly shot forward like some kind of blazing rocket drill straight at the hapless pegasus. Hail was so astonished by this turn of events that he did not have time to try and dodge. Instead, he brought his front hooves forward to catch Trank. The drill grinded against his armor, creating a bright shower of sparks and embers. Hail let loose a scream as his front boots turned visibly red. Using the last of his energy and focus, he kicked downward, sending the drill into - and subsequently through - the catwalk. Hail hastily kicked off his boots before they could burn him any further.
"Go help the others," Blah instructed Reed as he slipped on the claw. "I'll take care of Sihok."
Reed nodded and began to rush over to the other side. Blah wasted no time in charging at the dragon, spinning his clawed arm toward his throat. Sihok parried the strike with his remaining claw, deflecting it and slicing at Blah's midsection. He jumped backward, but the claw still created a deep gash.
While Mefirst tore his sleeve as an improvised bandage for his hand, Astra stood up, clutching her injured hip in one hand and her scythe in the other. Mefirst laughed as he readied the Pwnhammer in one hand and the mailbox hammer in the other. "Ever want to know how it feels to get hammered on a Sunday night?" he asked mockingly, dual-wielding the hammers with little difficulty.
Astra paid the joke no heed - instead she charged, aiming low. Mefirst was ready for this and blocked the scythe with his mailbox, slamming her in the chest with the Pwnhammer and causing her to stumble back.
"Super Fist of Feemail, Seal of Disapproval!" Raising the mailbox high over his head, it transformed into a massive rubber stamp on the end of an oversized mallet. He had to drop the Pwnhammer to hold it, however, and almost immediately after, he found a sudden sharp pain course through his spine, causing him to lose hold of the other.
"The only one... fit for disapproval here... is you!" panted Reed, retrieving the clarinet from Mefirst's back.
"Gahhh..." gurgled Mefirst, stiff and unable to move as he began to fall forward.
Astra's hand tensed around the scythe. With a single step, she slung the blade straight at the mailman's exposed neck before he hit the ground.
It was then that Trank burst up through the ground once again, just under Astra. The girl was thrown harshly onto the mesh behind herself, her leg armor now severely cracked. Hail cut short the nursing of his wounds and fumbled for his crossbow, but the burns made it difficult to hold.
Meanwhile, Blah and Sihok had been locked in a stalemate, with Sihok aggressively approaching and Blah focusing entirely on defense while he pried for an opening. The two of them had worked their way back toward the other side, where the rest of the fight was taking place. Blah had spotted his hammer and was determined to retrieve it again, already regretting not bringing more spares.
The air was once again filled with the crackle of electricity. The bolt had clipped Trank in the arm, blowing away part of it and weakening the joints. Astra, disregarding her own safety and condition, slashed at the damaged arm, completely severing it. Bits of metal scattered across the flooring as Trank struggled to keep his balance in the air.
Convinced that his allies had their situation under control, Blah prepared to duck out and make a run for his weapon. He took a step back after making a wild slash at Sihok's torso. The weapon connected, but not as solidly as he had hoped - and he soon came to regret this decision. Sihok now had enough space to breathe a cone of flame in Blah's face, which threw his sensors for a loop and cut his visibility to zero. Disoriented, Blah had no hope of seeing what would come next or getting away in time.
SHWING. Error after error exploded in Blah's software. He found himself suddenly unable to access any of his peripherals or servos. A loud clatter interrupted everyone's battle focus.
"BLAH!" cried Hail in horror as he watched the head of the robot bounce across the catwalk. Astra's jaw dropped. Reed began to feel faint.
"Oh how the nubish have fallen," remarked Trank, seemingly unfazed by his own loss. Sihok grinned darkly.
"I'm... I'm fine!" exclaimed Blah, hints of static and corruption in his voice. "It's just... just a flesh wound!"
"He's alive..." Astra shakily uttered, barely louder than a whisper.
"You..." Hail, facing Sihok, tightly clutched his crossbow, the pain long since numbed. "You're going to pay for this!" His voice boomed with thunder. The Shadowbolt struck Sihok in the chest, just below the top of his armor. It was enough to send him stumbling back, at which Astra gladly took the opportunity to close the distance between them.
Trank saw her approach and promptly twisted around to retrieve his arm, reeling back to hurl it at her. As he did so, however, a glint of blue light caught Reed's eye. The loss of Trank's arm had left a sizable hole in his side, through which the Triff saw some sort of glowing blue orb.
He knew he had to act fast. Reed jumped forward, chucking his clarinet like a javelin at the unsuspecting triangle. The bayonet hit its mark, piercing the orb just enough to create a flash of blue that illuminated the whole room. Instantly, Trank dropped to the floor, unmoving.
Astra's assault was left uncontested. Sihok barely managed to get his own arm between the scythe and his neck. The Conqueror's focus was not on the girl, however. Before Astra could get another chance to strike, Sihok kicked off of the ground and flew with a high arc toward Blah's head. His legs were braced as though aiming to crush it.
Hail fired another bolt, this time clipping straight through Sihok's wing. To his chagrin, this did not seem to throw the dragon off course - he was already on his way back down. Hail began to panic as he reloaded his crossbow, but he knew it was in vain.
"No!" Reed called out as he broke into a sprint. Taking a deep breath, he dove at Blah's head with both arms outstretched, barely knocking it out of the way in time... but putting himself directly under Sihok's descent.
CRUNCH. Hail and Astra flinched simultaneously as Reed howled in pain, writhing under the feet of the annoyed Sihok.
Sihok scoffed. "So the Triff takes his rightful place beneath the feet of Eho," he taunted. "A fitting demise..."
"Aaargh," cried Blah as he rolled helplessly along, unable to make out what was going on and frustrated beyond sanity at it.
Yet another thunderous explosion rang out. Sihok shifted in anticipation, but the battle had worn him down just enough that he failed to block the shot, and found himself with a new bolt wound in the spine at the base of his tail. His legs gave way, and he toppled over in front of the twitching Reed.
"You dragons seem to have an unhealthy obsession with dismemberment," quipped Astra as she stomped up to her final enemy, raising her scythe. "Let's see how you like it."
SHWING.