_POV: Kunle, then Dele_
The scrapyard was still smoking from last night.
Wosam found me.
20 Iron-Wraith mechs. 3 meters tall. Black armor. Red eyes. They didn't come to arrest me. They came to erase the "Ọ̀gún anomaly."
My iron arm hurt. The core in my chest was still new, still raw from breaking into Awakened Realm yesterday.
But the person in front of me didn't seem to be in a better condition than me
Descendants of sango(huh)i found him because of the natural connection between the paths
Thunder cracked,a faint blue glow going in a yin-yang formation on his back
"Then let's see if you're worth saving."
The first mech charged.
But i didn't feel fear only excitement coursing through my vein,how can i the inheritor of ogun get scared 9f this little obstacle's
I didn't think. I forged
The hammer in my hand screamed and grew. 50kg of rebar and plating ripped from the ground and slammed into its head.
CLANG
The mech stumbled. Destructive power coursed through my arm. The core was hungry. It wanted more.a sense of excitement ran through my whole,with a great roar i screamed at the heavens.
Beside me, Dele moved.
He didn't swing. He conducted
His axe touched a mech's arm and lightning ran up the metal. The pilot inside turned to ash in 1 second.
"They use humans?" Dele spat. "Pandora's are cowards."
"Welcome to ago-iwoye,I said, and rolled as 4 railguns fired where I stood.
Scrap flew. We ended up back to back.
More mechs keep coming,we had to do something and leave here in time
"Can you aim that?" I shouted, pointing at the sky.
"Can you catch it?" Dele shouted back, lightning already building in his palms.
I understood. This was what Ọ̀gún meant,Make weapons for others.
I slammed my hammer down. The earth cracked.
Iron filings, car doors, pipes — everything metal in 100 meters ripped free. I spun it. A shield. A tornado of junk.
"NOW!"
Dele roared and drove Oshogbo into the sky.
A bolt of blue-white lightning, thicker than a building, came down and hit my spinning shield.
It didn't stop. It channeled
I screamed and threw it.
The ball of superheated metal and lightning shot forward like a railgun round.
First 5 mechs: vaporized.
Next 5: melted into slag.
The shockwave threw the last 10 back.
Silence. For one second.
Then the ground shook.
The 10 remaining mechs locked together. Armor fused. Became one 15-meter Iron Titan. Pandora's logo burning on the chest.
"That's not fair," I said, breathing hard.
Dele grinned. Blood on his teeth,his face showing excitement it was almost creepy,i felt like punching him in the face
He looked at me. Really looked. At my cracked core. "Can you hold it?
"Can you kill it?
"Yes."
"Then hold on."
Then i heard a loud blaring noise
The Titan fired. A beam of condensed plasma.
I jumped. Caught it with both hands. My iron arm began to melt. Pain like being inside a forge.
FORGE-ogún whispered in my subconsciousness. MAKE THE PAIN A WEAPON.
So I did.
I didn't block the beam. I drank it. Pulled it into my arm, into the core.
Conduit Realm Stable,i could feel my core growing stronger
My skin cracked. Red light poured from the lines. I wasn't just Kunle anymore. I was a furnace with legs.
"DELE!" I roared.
He was already moving. Riding his own lightning 50 meters into the air.
The Titan raised its arm to swat him.
Too late.
I grabbed its ankle. And poured everything into it.
Not heat. Not force. _Concept_.
Ọ̀gún's Path: "That which is made by man can be unmade by man."
The Titan's joints seized. Armor flaked off. It became scrap in my hands.
And Dele came down.
Oshogbo split the Titan's head. Lightning erupted and lit up the night sky over mariam
When it was over, we were in a crater. Surrounded by molten metal.
Dele looked at my arm. Half of it was gone. Melted to the elbow. But the core was brighter.
"You're gonna need a new arm," he said.
I looked at the scrap. "I have materials."
Footsteps in the ash.
From the smoke, a girl stepped out. Golden dress. Bare feet. Eyes like river light. She wasn't wet. The air around her was.
Who i you,i said becoming weary
My name is zainab she said
"You made a mess," she said. "Pandora's eastern fleet is 10 minutes out."
Behind her: i could see a man in a janitor outfit
Hi,he smiled at me"my name is emeka"i could feel it he was an inheritor like me
Emeka,The janitor from Peacehaven. He had a cloth bag. Inside,agrey pendant pulsing and glowing faintly.
I saved a new inheritor in peacehaven yesterday,but she didn't seem to be in the right
State of mind and secretly ran away
"She's alive," Emeka said.her name is "Iyanu" But they have her at Peacehaven."
We may have to go save her
Dele picked up the axe. I let my hammer drop and it became scrap again.
The 3 of us. Standing in the ruins.
Well i loved my peace and quiet dele said
Thunder rolled. Not from Dele. From the sky.
"The Path is calling," Dele said. "Time to answer."
Then do you have a clear view for the future,emeka asked
We just have to start planning and figure all this out