_POV: All Four
Dawn in ago iwoye looked wrong.
The sky was grey. Not from clouds,From drones.
100 warday dropships. Iron-Wraiths rappelling down. Thunder Tanks rolling over the Third Mainland Bridge.
And in the bay, stepping through the water: the 300m God-Machine.
Ogbene Kolawole's masterpiece.
Every screen in the city played the same message:
CITIZENS. STAY INDOORS. WE ARE ELIMINATING TERRORISTS. COMPLIANCE IS SAFETY."
We stood at the center of the bridge. 4 people. Between the city and an army.
"Plan?" Dele asked. Lightning already crawling up Oshogbo.
"Evacuate," Iyanu said. Her hair was floating. The wind was pulling buses and cars away from the waterfront.
"Hold the line," Kunle said. He was kneeling, hands in the bridge. Making it stronger. Turning cars into barricades.
"Lie," Zainab finished. Gold light spread out from her. On the other side of the bridge, it looked like 4,000 soldiers were waiting.
The first wave hit.
20 dropships dove for us.
Iyanu stepped to the edge. No words.
She inhaled. The entire Lagos Lagoon answered.
Water rose 50 meters. Became a wall.
Then she _exhaled_.
The wall shattered into a thousand spears of wind and water.
Dropships fell like rain.
But more came. And behind them: a God-Machine with the Wind face.
"Ọya's echo," it said. "Yield."
Iyanu smiled. Blood on her lip. "Make me."
She jumped. No wings. Just wind holding her up. The sky belonged to her now.
The tanks came.
Kunle didn't punch them. He remade them.
His gauntlet slammed down. Every piece of metal for 200 meters remembered it was once ore.
Streetlights became spears. Cars became shields. A fuel tanker lifted and he threw it into a squadron.
"Ọ̀gún's law," he growled. "What man builds, man breaks."
An Iron Titan charged him. 15 meters.
He met it with a hammer made from the bridge itself.
_DONG. DONG. DONG._
Each hit tore an arm off. On the fifth hit, it was scrap.
Behind him, civilians were running.
"East gate is open!" he roared. "Go!"
12 Thunder Tanks surrounded him in a circle.
"Prince Oyewo," the lead tank broadcast. "Your father sends regards."
Dele planted Oshogbo in the concrete.
"My father is a coward."
He didn't move.
The tanks fired.
And the lightning stopped. 1cm from his skin.
Then he pulled.
Every bolt. Every charge. Into the axe. Into him.
*Peak Awakened.*
His sigils turned white.
He became the storm.
3 seconds. 12 tanks were craters.
4 seconds. He was 2km away, through the command dropship.
Over the radio: "The Storm Prince is unmatched. Send everything."
She wasn't on the bridge.
She was in the network. In the heads.
Wosam soldiers' HUDs flickered:
`YOUR FAMILY IS IN SECTOR 7. IT'S BEING BOMBED. ABANDON POST.`
Lie.
But it felt true. Because Zainab made it true.
Generals heard whispers: _"The Director is sacrificing you."_
Pilots saw knives in their co-pilot's hands. Illusions.
Gold rivers ran through Wosam's comms. Orders broke. Squads turned back.
And she found one truth in the noise.
Location: Wosam Spire. Floor 200.
Ogbene Kolawole. Watching. Drinking tea.
She sent him one message. Private. Just to him.
`We're coming. And we're not alone.`
By noon, the bridge held.
By noon, 30,000 civilians were across the river.
By noon, pandora had lost 40% of its ground force.
And by noon, the sky went dark.
The 300m God-Machine stepped onto land. Water to its knees. Its voice shook windows.
"SURRENDER THE DEMIGODS. OR I ERASE LAGOS."
The 4 of us stood together again.
Behind us: people.
In front of us: a god made by man.
Kunle looked at his gauntlet. 3 ports left.
Dele spun the axe. Still warm from the core.
Iyanu let her hair down. The wind died.
Zainab took off her golden earrings. They became blades.
"Who gets first hit?" Dele asked.
"All of us," Iyanu said.
"On my mark," Zainab said. "We crack the knee. Not to kill it. To get inside."
Kunle nodded. "Then I go in."
The God-Machine raised a foot. The bridge shook.
"MARK," Zainab said.
We moved.
Wind.
Lightning.
Iron.
Gold.
Four paths. One strike.
It hit the God-Machine's knee.
Armor cracked. Sparks poured out.
And the machine screamed.