The Eastern Ridge had become a cauldron of dust, sweat and blood.
The battle against General Vruk had transcended strategy; it was now a raw, desperate brawl for survival. Bronx led the assault, his shouts cracking with exertion as he threw himself against the Titan time and again. Krog was a maniacal blur, cackling as he swung his chain, seeking gaps in the obsidian armor.
But the gap in power was beginning to show.
One by one, the Virefang knights had fallen—not dead, but broken, their armor shattered and their stamina drained to zero. Only Lieutenant Veric remained standing, his rapier chipped, fighting alongside the Ironkongs with the desperation of a man who knew he was the last of his line.
"He's not slowing down!" Veric gasped, barely dodging a clawed swipe that cleared the landscape behind him.
"Then we make him slow down!" Bronx roared. "Krog! The arm! Now!"
Krog didn't need to be told twice. He had already weakened that arm and now seeing another opening—a hairline fracture in the obsidian plating of Vruk's upper right arm, caused by Tag.
Krog leaped from a rock spire, gravity aiding his descent. He didn't swing his scythe; he drove it downward like a spear.
"Reverse Ironkong Blood Art: FANG INSERTION!"
The blade jammed deep into the gap, biting into the violet muscle beneath. Vruk roared, thrashing, but Krog held on to the chain, using his weight to wrench the wound open. A fountain of black blood sprayed the battlefield.
"SKARRIN! TAG!" Bronx commanded.
Skarrin dropped to one knee, interlacing his fingers to form a platform. His aura flared. "IRON LAUNCH!"
Tag sprinted, stepped into Skarrin's hands, and was launched into the air like a cannonball. He curled his body, turning himself into a living projectile, aiming straight for the wound Krog had opened.
"REVERSE IRONKONG BLOOD ART: COMET RAM!"
Tag slammed into the joint.
CRACK-BOOM.
The sound was like a tree snapping in a hurricane. The combined stress—the cut, the weight, the impact was too much. Vruk's massive upper arm tore free from its socket, tumbling through the air in a spray of gore.
Vruk staggered back, howling in shock.
Bronx was waiting. He jumped up, catching the severed, massive arm mid-air. He gripped the wrist, hefting the ton of meat and bone like a club.
"HERE'S YOUR HAND BACK!" Bronx screamed.
He swung Vruk's own arm with everything he had. The obsidian fist connected with Vruk's face.
The Titan was launched. He flew backward, crashing through a line of petrified trees, plowing a trench in the earth before coming to a stop fifty yards away.
Silence fell over the ridge.
"Did... did we get him?" Tag wheezed, landing shakily.
Bronx dropped the severed arm, his chest heaving. "Stay... sharp."
Dust swirled where Vruk had landed. Then, the violet aura flared. It didn't flicker; it exploded upwards, a pillar of rage that turned the sky in the area purple.
Vruk stood up. His face was a ruin of cracked plating and black blood. He looked at his missing shoulder, then at the squad.
"ANNOYING... INSECTS."
The air warped.
"HUH? Where'd he go?" Veric whispered, his eyes darting.
Vruk vanished.
This wasn't teleportation. It was pure, unadulterated speed.
"BRONX!" Skarrin screamed.
Too late.
Bronx looked down and realised he had been punched and launched into the air; before he even realized it. Vruk was there. He caught him. The Titan grabbed Bronx by the leg mid-air, halting his momentum instantly.
Vruk swung Bronx. He used the Ironkong heir as a human flail.
He slammed Bronx into Tag, Skarrin, and Veric.
CRUNCH.
The three knights were swept away like leaves. They flew across the clearing, smashing into the canyon walls with bone-shattering force. They slid down, unmoving.
Bronx was thrown after them, bouncing off the hard ground, groaning, his aura flickering out.
Only Krog remained.
He had moved just in time, rolling to the side. But now he stood alone. His chain-scythe lay ten feet away. He was drained, bloodied, and defenseless.
Vruk loomed over him. The Titan raised his two remaining lower fists, clasping them together into a single, massive hammer.
"DIE."
Krog looked up at the descending doom. He didn't flinch. He didn't beg. A wide, bloody grin spread across his face.
"Hell of a fight," Krog whispered.
The fists came down.
BOOM.
A shockwave blasted the dust away.
Krog blinked. He wasn't dead. He opened his eyes.
Vruk was stumbling back, howling. The Titan was staring at his hands—or rather, the stumps where his hands used to be. They had been obliterated, blown away violently.
Krog looked in front of him.
Standing in the impact crater, resting a massive iron rod casually on his shoulder, was a figure wreathed in steam.
His uniform was gone from the waist up, revealing a torso of tempered iron muscle etched with glowing crimson veins. His wild, messy afro moved gently in the wind of his own aura. He now stood around 6ft tall like most of the Ironkongs, His eyes were no longer just red; they were burning with a white-hot intensity that made it painful to look at him.
Barek Ironkong.
He didn't look back at Krog. He looked straight at the Titan.
"Yo," Barek said, his voice calm, deep, and carrying a terrifying weight. "You tryna leave me outta the fun or sum'n?."
Vruk stared, confused, pain and rage warring in his eyes. "WHO... ARE... YOU?"
Barek smirked. He shifted his grip on the rod.
"The guy who just blew your head off."
Barek moved.
He just appeared in front of Vruk's face, in an instant. He swung skull-crusher, his weapon.
"Original Ironkong Blood Art..."
Vruk opened his mouth to scream.
"...STAR BREAKER."
The rod connected.
There was no resistance. Vruk's head didn't just break; it ceased to exist. It was vaporized instantly, along with his neck and the top of his torso. The shockwave left the nature caught in it all flung about.
The massive, torso-less body of General Twelve stood for a second, then toppled backward with a heavy, final thud.
Barek landed softly. He shook the gore off his rod and looked back at Krog, his white-hot eyes fading back to normal.
"You good, Krog?"
Krog stared at the lifeless Titan, then at Barek. His grin returned, wider than ever.
"Dude, what's up with all that power?"