Chapter 11: Home on the Wastes (V)

The room, despite the darkness, was bursting with lightning and illumination, with all sorts of spells being cast. The place was inhabited by small mamono, infants belonging to magically inclined species, each scampering and playing innocently as they casted those powerful sorceries. But among them all there was one that did not move, a little owl mage that stood apart from the rest, raising her wings high with the intention of manifesting some kind of magic, but being unable to do so. Her wings, despite having a multitude of feathers bathed in mana, were unable to properly handle the flow of magic.

The little girl was noticeably distressed, even more so when she saw other owl mages a short distance away from her being able to cast spells without much trouble. She tried and tried, almost to the point of tears, but the most she managed to do was cause small sparks in front of her face, causing her to be startled and fall to the ground.

The little mamono was ignored by both the other girls and the white-haired baphomet observing the event, so no one noticed her condition. She could do no more than cover her face with her wings, sobbing softly at her failure. However, she could hear someone approaching her, and after looking up, she realized that it was another owl mage, an adult one.

"I-I tried," the child began to explain almost desperately as she awkwardly picked herself up from the floor.

"What a disappointment," the woman stated bluntly, turning around and walking away.

That statement shocked the girl, being even worse when she saw the adult approach the other girls, with her neutral and indifferent expression replaced by one full of pride and affection. No longer able to contain her sorrow, the girl stood up and began to run awkwardly to what appeared to be the door of the room, seeking to flee her failure.

In her race she pushed other girls, but she didn't care, she just longed to get out of that place. But finally when she was able to reach what seemed to be her escape, she noticed that the room had fallen into a spectral silence. The childish laughter and magical shrieks had ceased, and the lights from the spells disappeared, flooding the room in darkness.

"Sofiva."

A terrible feeling of dread flooded her body when she heard her name being announced. With uncertainty she began to turn around, finding now in front of her a pair of piercing yellow eyes, ones painfully similar to her own.

"Truly, what a failure."

The owl mage began to wake up in discomfort, not only from that unpleasant dream, but also from a massive headache. It took her a few seconds to realize where she was, and she was astonished to notice that she was in some kind of cave. The last thing she could remember was that she and Saphirette had been separated from Grognak when they were attacked by that mysterious flying creature, one that although she could not witness well, she could tell that it emanated a massive amount of demonic energy. After that they had been sent flying when the ruins moved on their own, though everything that happened after that remained obscure in her memories.

"What is this place?" she questioned aloud, in the vague hope that she would get some answer.

With difficulty she got up from the cold wall against which she had been leaning, making use of her night-vision to see in the darkness, trying to find some sort of path or exit, but only finding that she was completely enclosed in what appeared to be a subterranean cave. Gradually she began to worry, even going so far as to contemplate the possibility that her companions had abandoned her to her fate, but it took a few deep breaths for her to calm herself down. She could not afford to panic, she had to be collected and wise, only then would she be worthy of calling herself a Bhancri.

She paid attention to her surroundings, and after a quick analysis, she noticed that one of the stone walls was emanating a faint but noticeable amount of spiritual energy. As she approached and looked at it in more detail, she could confirm her suspicions. That was not a natural formation, it had been created with magic.

"An elemental?" she mused with some surprise.

It didn't take her long to put the pieces together and come to the conclusion that it had been Saphirette who had been responsible for placing that elemental. The reason why she had done so escaped her, but hearing distant explosions and feeling slight tremors in the earth made her realize that it was a protective measure. Whatever was going on out there, it was a dangerous situation, and Saphirette had taken the trouble to put her in a safe place.

"That girl..." Sofiva let out a small smile.

Her head still ached, but she was determined that she had had enough rest. She placed her wings on top of the stone wall, reciting a small incantation that ended up forming a luminous rune on the stone, causing the rock formation to succumb and return to earth, clearing the exit.

Again she returned to the white corridors of the ruins, looking to the sides to try to find a clue to the location of her companions. She had to meet Saphirette again to thank her for her kind gesture, not to mention that she had to find Grognak as soon as possible, for she feared that he would unleash the same ferocity he had shown against the orcs in that village, if not worse. He was a man full of mysteries, and she was sure that he was capable of a greater level of destruction, and that was something that if she had the chance she had to prevent.

She concentrated by closing her eyes, trying to trace the essence of one of her human companions, but instead she was able to receive the signal of a powerful demonic energy, the same one that had attacked them before. Not only that, said source of demonic energy was moving fast, almost with a desperate pace, directed to a certain location. Without further hesitation the owl mage began to run, still under her human illusionary disguise, hoping to reach whatever was happening in time.

There were few things in the world capable of making him lose his temper, much less those that could make him lose his mind, but that thing had managed to do one of them: hurt ED-E.

The scene of the little robot lying on the floor, barely responsive, close to a short circuit and the cessation of its functions made him recall a bitter memory. For a few brief moments he was transported back to that painful day in the rocket silo where he was forced to watch the eyebot being scorched alive, sacrificing his life in order to override the encrypted data and prevent the missiles from being launched. The helplessness, the despair, the rage, those feelings came back to him fiercely, and it showed in the way he changed his fighting style.

Normally he was methodical, preferring to fight from a distance or make use of external elements to deal with threats, but his wrathful state drove him to throw himself like a wild beast against that machine, inflicting attack after attack with the protonic inversal axe, delivering impacts of such magnitude that they caused great sparks every time the dark blue-violet blade hit the machine's metallic armor. He moved inhumanly fast, striking with lightning speed despite the sheer size of his war-axe, which he wielded with frightening ease, easily pushing the robot further from where they had originally started fighting, thereby getting her away from ED-E and avoiding putting him in further danger.

"These... These are electromagnetic pulses! How is it that a savage has access to such weaponry?!" the machine spat as it tried to keep the distance between the two, constantly backing away and trying to shoot at the Courier, who easily dodged the shots as he continued to chase it, landing blow after blow.

At one point the Courier raised the protonic inversal axe high, gathering strength to deliver a powerful blow, which was enough time for the robot to raise its arm and point the barrel of its weapon directly at his face.

"Begone, you beast!" the machine screamed as it built up energy in the barrel of its arm-cannon, seeking to fire a direct concentrated shot.

The weapon began to give off small waves of energy accompanied by a powerful light that began to emanate, being the anticipation for a powerful shot. But before it could fire, the blade of the axe came down in a fleeting manner, severing the machine's arm and barrel cleanly and instantly. The robot could do nothing but watch in shock as its arm was severed, with the accumulated energy now looking unstable and about to explode. The Courier reacted quickly, taking the opportunity to deliver a powerful kick aimed at the machine's metallic chest, sending it flying into the distance as the energy was chaotically expelled in powerful shock waves. The Courier took a defensive stance, withstanding the powerful wave that hit him head-on, one so powerful that it did not take long to spread throughout the area.

Soon the corridors were flooded with thick smoke from the explosion, leaving hardly anything in sight. However, through the smoke, the glow of those red lenses could be seen moving slowly, reminiscent of a predator on the prowl.

"I don't know what you did to him, but whatever it was, I swear to God I'll do it to you until you curse the day you were programmed," the Courier began to say as he moved through the smoke, which was slowly beginning to dissipate. "And when I finish, I will reprogram you to forget it all, and make you experience it over and over again."

The robot was lying on the ground, holding its now severed arm with stress, trying to control the situation. Sparks and flashes were coming from its shattered arm, with that mighty purple energy radiating powerfully, giving an air of complete instability.

"You'll never take my memories, you barbarian!" bellowed the machine as it anchored itself to a nearby wall, with a noticeable terror on its particularly human face.

The machine pressed a specific location on the wall, which turned out to be a hidden pressure plate, that when activated caused a wall-mounted terminal to pop out of a secret compartment right in front of the robot, who with frantic speed began to type with its one unbroken hand. Suddenly the other walls of the corridor began to open, revealing numerous secret passages from which hordes of robots and defense machinery began to emerge, some of them even wearing similar appearances to that of the machine, although of a more primitive and crude appearance compared to its own. Soon there was a group of machinery swooping down on top of the Courier, seeking to overpower it through their massive numbers.

"Just what I needed," the Courier said as he pulled two proton throwing axes out from under his duster, quickly throwing them at the first two robots that were launched against him, quickly destroying them on impact and causing a chain effect with the small explosions they caused. "Spare parts."

Following that, the Courier threw himself at the mechanical horde, slashing and shredding the enemy's steel with each attack of his axe. Some managed to land a hit on the Courier in his frenzy, but any damage was quickly ignored by the adrenaline that now consumed him, seeing himself plunged into a spontaneous bloodlust. The man made his way through that last line of defense in a hostile and effective manner, much to the perplexed chagrin of the machine, which again typed frantically on the terminal's portable keyboard before slipping away into one of the passages, passing through it before the metal wall fell behind, closing off the way.

By the time the small robotic army was reduced to numerous piles of scrap metal, the Courier found himself all alone in the corridor, his prey having escaped. He approached the terminal that the robot had used, which upon inspection he could see that it was locked, possibly an act of the robot to prevent him from giving chase. He stared at the terminal for a few seconds, analyzing its design. It was not the typical RobCo Industries model he was used to, as it had a more polished but simplistic appearance. It was a different type of hardware device, one that might not run on the Unified Operating System, which would make it more difficult to hack. It would take time and effort to try to unlock that terminal, not to mention patience, and those were things he lacked at the moment.

Resisting the urge to take it out on that terminal and smash it to pieces with his bare hands, the Courier turned around and went back the way he came, picking up various pieces of the robots he had destroyed along the way. He walked silently for several minutes, carrying with him an exorbitant amount of spare parts, passing by what had previously been the battleground between him and the machine, with numerous cut walls, destroyed columns and multiple bullet holes in the surrounding area.

The Courier finally returned to where ED-E lay, though again having to watch the eyebot barely remain functional was more painful than all the blows the machine had managed to inflict on him combined. The closer he got to him, the more his perception of his surroundings became distorted, even to the point of seeing himself back in the rocket silo. Alarms, rocket engines, explosions, and Ulysses' screams echoed in his eardrums, and when he finally got to where the little robot was, he couldn't help but see instead the scorched hunk of metal he had been forced to abandon so many years ago.

"I'm back, lil' buddy," the man said in a soft manner as he knelt down beside the little robot, setting the massive pile of metal and spare parts aside.

ED-E responded with a faint, faltering beeping.

"I know, I know, you were right. What, do you want me to get 'ED-E was right' tattooed on my forehead or something?" the man asked with some annoyance.

The eyebot remained silent for a few seconds, as if considering that option. He then proceeded to beep with a mischievous tone.

"On my what!?"

Both the human and the eyebot burst out laughing at this horrible possibility, managing to forget for a moment the seriousness of the situation. The laughter continued as the Courier grabbed a piece of scrap metal and a piece of scrap electronics and proceeded to work on the makeshift repair, replacing damaged components and trying to work miracles with what he had on hand. He was now doing the equivalent of surgery on an awake patient with improvised transplants, but it was the best he could do. After all, he always knew how to work miracles when it came to repairing things. He knew certain secrets in the art of repair that no one but him knew, secrets that he would undoubtedly take to his grave.

"As for the thing that did this to you, well, it ran away with its tail between its legs," the Courier explained as he carefully removed a faulty sensor module, taking care not to cause a definite shutdown of the eyebot. "But that would be the least of our problems. I found a few things, and if my theories are correct, it looks like we didn't land in Canada."

ED-E emitted an inquisitive beep.

"The truth is that I don't know," the man replied as he recalibrated one of the eyebot's internal gyroscopes. "I really don't know."

The Courier had lived through all sorts of bizarre and grotesque adventures, even having experienced situations that seemed like something out of a pre-War science fiction movie, but this was completely different. He was in what appeared to be a parallel dimension, on a planet that seemed to have the same habitable conditions as Earth. He could breathe the air, he could drink the water and eat the local food, and the people he had encountered, with the exception of the mutants, seemed to be completely similar to the Homo sapiens.

He couldn't help but think of hundreds of possibilities, so much so that he could even feel anxiety beginning to loom its loathsome presence. The likelihood of viruses and bacteria that his body was not used to, the dubious level of local technology that could easily limit his ability to acquire resources, and above all the eerie scenario that there was possibly no way back home.

In his deep thinking, he incorrectly connected two wires, causing ED-E to shriek in pain.

"Crap! Sorry for that, lil' buddy," he apologized as he quickly corrected the mistake, now connecting the proper wires.

Eventually he completed the repairs, although due to the situation and resources at hand it was not a completely satisfactory one. ED-E was now in acceptable working condition, in no danger of suffering a complete shutdown, but his suspension apparatus had been severely damaged, so he would not be able to float until it was replaced, which, due to the complex situation, seemed unlikely to happen soon.

When he removed his hands from the eyebot, he realized that they were shaking involuntarily. His body was barely able to suppress the stream of emotions that plagued him, with fear being the most prominent and damaging of them. He was afraid that he would be unable to return to his own world, he was terrified that all the sacrifices he had to make to form the Federation would have been for nothing in the case he could not return. Hundreds of thousands of lives on the Mojave depended on him, thousands of men, women, and children relied on him to protect them from the clutches of the predatory neighboring nations and from the Wasteland itself.

He knew that Yes Man and Arcade were capable of keeping the region stable for a time, but without him keeping all the factions together and at peace, there was no doubt that the entire nation would break apart, with Vegas again reduced to a city-state isolated from the rest. He didn't know how long it would take for that to happen, be it years or perhaps mere months, but the uncertainty was agonizing.

"Mr. Grognak! Thank heavens I found you!" shouted a female voice from afar.

He had been so immersed in his thoughts that the sudden shout brought him to alertness, rising quickly and drawing the Ranger Sequoia from the holster, index finger already on the trigger and ready to fire.

"P-please wait! I-it is me, Saphirette!" implored the woman as she stopped abruptly when she saw that she was being targeted.

In front of him stood the black-haired woman with her hands raised, denoting a panicked expression. Her face was dirty, with traces of dust, and her hair was in disarray, no doubt the result of a long and exhaustive run.

"Don't surprise me like that," the Courier said dryly as he put the revolver away, again bending down to check the eyebot.

Saphirette sighed in relief as she saw the gun being set aside. "I-I apologize."

The elementalist walked over to where the Courier was crouched, gasping in surprise at the scene of the eyebot lying on the ground.

"W-what happened? Were you attacked?" she asked worriedly as she clasped her hands to her chest.

The Courier did not reply. His face was hidden behind his gas mask, but the powerful clenching of his fists gave away his reaction to that question, causing some concern in the elementalist.

"I see," she murmured as she stared at ED-E. "Miss Anne is also in serious condition. We had an accident, and she ended up seriously injured. I managed to give her immediate treatment, but it will not be enough for long."

The Courier remained silent, neither responding nor reacting to the news, with his gaze lowered and fixed only on the eyebot, who was now resting after the repair.

"B-but not to worry, we are near the main room of the ruins. That means we are close to the Artifact!" Saphirette said with some enthusiasm as she placed her hand on the Courier's shoulder. "If we use it then not only will we be able to cure Miss Anne, but we will also be able to do something for your golem. Wait for me here, I will go get it and then we can fix it all."

With that said the elementalist began to run to the back room, leaving the two of them alone again. The Courier returned to contemplating his hands, which were still shaking steadily, a fact that was quickly noticed by the eyebot, who emitted a series of dismayed beeps.

The Courier took a deep breath of air, seeking to calm himself. "Don't worry, it's nothing. I guess all that caffeine has started to affect me."

This was not a time when he could afford to lose his composure. The worst decisions were the ones made with a clouded mind, so if he wanted to find a way to solve the problems at hand, he had to calm down.

"You won't be able to float for a while, so I hope you don't mind me carrying you like a baby," Courier mused to the eyebot somewhat playfully as he wrapped his arms around him, lifting him off the ground.

The eyebot replied with an offended beep, a reaction that elicited a small snicker from the man. Given the situation they were in, what he needed most was a reason to laugh.

"What is this?!"

Saphirette's desperate cry echoed through the place, quickly putting the Courier on alert. Without a second thought he carried the weakened ED-E in his left arm while with his right hand he drew the revolver once more, running to where he had heard the scream. When he arrived he could see that everything seemed to be relatively normal, without the presence of any enemy or threat, only the black-haired woman lying on her knees in the middle of the room, hugging herself in fright.

"This... this is wrong, this is inhumane!" Saphirette cried out in terror, denoting nausea in her voice.

The Courier sighed with some annoyance, again putting the gun back in the holster. It looked like she was having a nervous breakdown, and she had picked the worst time to do it.

"The elementals, they are... they are being mutilated, harvested!" Saphirette shrieked as she covered her mouth in horror, as if she were watching a horrifying scene that only she could understand.

"Harvested?" he questioned as he approached, confused but at the same time interested.

Saphirette nodded in dismay. "The life of the land, the elementals, everything is being harvested in this room. I can feel the residues, all being manufactured, turned into something profane!"

The Courier contemplated the surroundings of the site, and paying attention, he could notice a certain type of radiation-like energy in the air, although the silence of his Geiger counter indicated to him that it was not the radiation he knew. His instincts indicated the main source of it, being a desolate marble pedestal, with cables and connections hanging over it.

ED-E proceeded to emit a series of beeps, explaining what he had seen there before confronting the machine that had left him in his current state, making mention of a mysterious object that had previously been in that marble pedestal and connected to the wires, one that had apparently been used by the robot to feed itself with energy. Hearing such a thing caused the Courier to make certain connections in his mind. The current state of Polove's environment, the bizarre technology of the place, the robot's power, and the strange energy processed there. The artifact Saphirette was looking for was not a G.E.C.K. as he had first suspected, although that was more than obvious now that he was aware that this was not his planet. They were looking for something different, something more dangerous, and worse, something that now because of him was in an unstable state.

She had underestimated the savages, a mistake she had been forced to pay dearly for.

Now she moved through the passageways of the facility in a panicked race, holding her severed arm and trying to control the amount of energy being squandered. The Battery had been affected during the fight against the savage, and the loss of her arm had done nothing but ruin the circulation of energy.

She was now turned into a time bomb, one that if left untreated could end up causing a catastrophe of titanic scales. Worse, the effects of those electromagnetic pulses were still reverberating in her systems. Much of her body had been severely affected, with her hardware severely damaged, something the Battery was trying to fix with the influence of the energy, but it was only making her more unstable.

She had hoped that the Battery would make her invincible, but her inexperience and centuries of carelessness only made her susceptible. Now she had become a threat to the facility, the very same thing she had been ordered to repel.

"Master... I can't take it anymore," she groaned as she leaned against one of the walls, raising what was left of her arm, watching the powerful energy surging from the wound begin to eat away at her plating.

The automaton simply stood there, against the wall and with that pure energy flowing freely like water from her wound, resigned and with no idea what to do or how to act. She remained like that for some time, until an abrupt noise surprised her. For a moment she feared that the barbarian had found her, so she quickly got into combat position, but found no one. She was still alone in the huge hidden labyrinth that were those passages, only accompanied by the inoperative machines and turrets.

Suddenly she felt a weight where her right hand had once been, and looking down she could find much to her surprise that the barrel of a turret was attached to her arm, closing the wound. She could do nothing but stare at it in surprise, stunned even. She had no recollection of having made such a repair, or even of having carried out any kind of command, it simply appeared out of nowhere.

The automaton looked around, and to her shock she could see how machines, turrets, and other robots were slowly dragged towards her by streams of pure energy directed at her.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Both intact machinery and scrap metal debris were slowly drawn to her, with some becoming attached to her body, beginning to fuse with her armor. At first she panicked, not understanding what was going on, even trying to run away, but the pieces of steel on her feet prevented her from doing so, causing her to fall to the ground.

Soon she was covered by piles of steel and machinery, which merged with her body, slowly transforming her into an amorphous mechanical tumult. She tried to scream, but could not.

Her body began to lose itself in that metallic malformation, and with it, her mind. In that state she was able to realize what was happening, and that was that the energy was reacting to her need for defense. Her original body would not be enough to handle the full capacity of the Battery, much less use it to its maximum efficiency. Automatically the Battery's energy was catering to her desire for power, and it was doing so through a new body, one capable of annihilating the invaders.

"If our calculations are correct, then this new type of energy will be able to alter the very fabric of reality. But it needs time, so we need you to keep an eye on it until it is functional and operable, understood?"

The words of her creator echoed in her mind. The capabilities of that power were infinite, and after centuries of concentration, it was possible that it had finally reached the level of effectiveness her master had hoped for. Now the Battery's energy was returning the favor after centuries of constant and faithful care, giving her the power she needed to wipe out the savages.

In those moments she no longer thought of her own instability, the state of the facility, or even her own well-being. She craved only more power, greater destructive capacity, the ability to wipe out that barbarian and his lackeys. The more her desire for power grew, the more the speed with which the machinery of ease was drawn to her increased, growing larger and larger.

From within the silent secret passages something could be heard besides the constant shuffling of steel and parts, and it was laughter. A mad, metallic laugh.

"Spell Break!" the dark mage uttered the incantation while pointing her staff at her, formulating the spell so quickly that she barely had time to process it.

The lightning bolt of mana struck directly at Sofiva's body, forcing her illusion spell to be broken and stripping her of her human disguise, leaving her back in her original owl mage appearance.

"My, who knew we would meet a comrade in these parts? And one who likes to play dress-up to top it off," the demoness commented mockingly.

The situation was not going as planned. The owl mage had sought to spy on the group of monsters, even using a specialized stealth spell to hide her scent, but somehow the demon had managed to track her, forcing her to come out of hiding and confront them. She could see that they carried with them the insignia of the Fourth Princess, which meant that they were not just any monsters that had wandered into the ruins. They were agents of the Royal Demon Realm.

"An owl mage? Why is there one in these ruins?" the dark elf asked as she brandished her whip, ready to use it to immobilize her if she tried to escape.

"She is not just any owl mage, I can recognize that specific type of mana anywhere. You notice it too, right, my dear Valeria?" the demoness asked her subordinate while affectionately leaning on her shoulder. "She is a Bhancri."

Sofiva frowned when she heard her family name being pronounced. She had hoped that somehow she could not be recognized, but it seemed that was not to be.

"A Bhancri?!" the dark elf reacted with astonishment

"Only the members of that family have such peculiar mana. Although I have never seen one so far away from the Capital," the dark mage explained while ignoring how her cheek was playfully pinched by the demon. "What is someone of your lineage doing in a place like this?"

Sofiva did not answer the question, preferring to remain silent. Instead she began to look to the sides discreetly, trying to find a possible escape route, devising different possible scenarios to flee.

"Who cares!" the demon pronounced as she raised her arms in the air. "The real question you would have to ask..."

Suddenly, the demon's cheerful, playful expression changed, taking on a disturbingly serious one, almost unbecoming for someone of her species.

"Why are you covered with the stench of my husband?"

That question surprised Sofiva, who barely had an idea what she meant.

"Husband?" Sofiva asked.

The demon began to slowly float towards her, with that fulminating, reddish gaze fixed on her.

"Your whole being is covered in his delicious aroma. That is troublesome for me, you know?"

She could not understand who he was talking about. She had restricted herself from contact with men, always keeping her distance to avoid succumbing to her baser instincts. She had never been in close proximity with anyone.

For a moment she considered that this was a mistake, that perhaps she could use the misunderstanding as a way to distract her to escape, but before she could do so she realized something. She had indeed been spending the last week in close proximity with a man, even going so far as to be carried by him and use his clothing to protect herself from the sun.

"Grognak," the name slipped from her lips, not realizing she had said it aloud until it was too late.

"Is that his name? Grognak?" the demoness asked, amazed at the revelation. "Oh, Grognak! Such a marvelous, manly name!"

The demoness put her hands to her face, letting out a small squeal of excitement, as if knowing that name was an immense step. Her expression was a sickly, ecstatic one, so much so that it was even uncomfortable to watch.

Taking advantage of the brief moment of distraction, Sofiva raised her wings, which flashed as she uttered, "Mana Shot, Feather Blades!"

With those words spoken, several feathers from her wings flew out at extreme speed, filled with mana that made them more powerful than a regular arrow. The attack took the agents of the Fourth Princess by surprise, who tried to defend themselves as much as possible while they moved from side to side trying to dodge the projectiles.

Sofiva quickly turned around, taking flight and seeking to flee the scene as quickly as possible, but much to her horror the first thing she found when she turned around was the face of the demoness right in front of her, having moved at an almost instantaneous speed. The demon was barely affected by the attack, which only seemed to fuel the anger she already felt.

"That was not very gentle, you know?" the demon said crudely as she grabbed the owl mage's face, her strength being such that it was enough to immobilize her in mid-air. "My dear Grognak would be better off without such rude birds at his side."

With that said the demoness began to emit a massive amount of demonic energy, with such a power that not only did it affect Sofiva, but it even managed to get her own subordinates affected, with the dark elf herself forced to her knees. Sofiva felt an enormous pressure throughout her body, feeling invaded by that monstrous energy. Gradually she began to lose consciousness, finding herself on the verge of fainting.

CRASH

One of the walls of the corridor was suddenly destroyed, with such a force of impact that the wind pressure managed to destabilize the demon's flight, causing her to release Sofiva, who fell to the ground.

"What in Lilith's name is that?!" one of the subordinates shouted.

Sofiva was barely conscious, feeling an enormous pressure in her chest due to that discharge of demonic energy. Her vision was distorted, so she was barely able to discern what now occupied the place where the wall used to be. All around her were screams, invocations of magic and collapsing columns. Slowly she began to recover, now finding herself in front of a being that seemed like something out of the legends of old.

There stood what could only be described as a behemoth of steel, with a gigantic body composed of all manner of machinery in a grotesque spectacle. In the center of what appeared to be a face shone a purple light, from which emanated a constant flow of energy that seemed to vitalize that blasphemous form. The creature seemed to say something as it attacked the group of agents of the Fourth Princess, something barely recognizable. Sofiva couldn't decipher what it was saying, but what she was sure of was that the creature spoke with noticeable contempt in its raspy, metallic voice.

"Savages"