Fritz Todt was laughing out loud; there was a laugh accompanying Leonardo's every step, and he continued to enjoy life until his old friend came to his side.
"You should have accepted defeat without being battered this much, but seeing the expression on your face is priceless. Just for the sake of you coming with your head bowed, I will spare the experiment remnant you call your apprentice, but I cannot say the same for the others."
The man, drunk on victory, was proud while atop the robot he commanded; the others were no different from ants before him, but it wouldn't take long for him to remember that he had forgotten some things.
"I don't recall giving you an answer, my old friend!"
Leonardo raised his head; it was impossible for the short man to see Fritz Todt, but the person he called out to could see him clearly.
"You, you, how is this possible?"
Fifty shades of astonishment came to life in his voice; the robot's right foot took action and darted forward rapidly to step on Leonardo. When the speed and dimensions of the foot resembling a metal giant combined with Master Leonardo's physical attributes, the old man's death was guaranteed, but a few seconds later, this prediction turned out to be wrong.
"Have you enjoyed the fame that came after stealing my thesis enough, Fritz?"
The Master, who disappeared from under the foot descending upon him, appeared behind the other foot; he raised his right hand and, using the wind energy that took the shape of a claw, shattered the metal component that served as the robot's Achilles tendon.
To keep the robot, which faltered as a result of the blow it received, in balance and to hunt Leonardo down, Fritz used an Air Element attack where his foot was. The propulsive force coming from behind indeed allowed the robot to gather itself, and the damaged component caught the chance to regenerate itself in the meantime.
"Actually, you wouldn't have wanted to make your robot this way, would you? Who knows how much you tried so it wouldn't be in human or orc form?"
Leonardo's voice was heard once again; the Master was running along the robot's back. His feet were on the metal shell, and using the energy claws, one green and the other red, concentrated in his two hands, he was advancing upward.
While continuing his movement contrary to the laws of physics, he narrowly escaped being the target of the energy cannons Fritz Todt fired. During his run starting from the robot's tailbone and ending at the base of its neck, he slashed open both sides of the thick metallic structure that could be described as the spinal cord from end to end.
The robot lost its balance once more; this time, Fritz Todt extended the two arms of his invention forward and organized a wind element attack toward the others. He used such a great power that due to the recoil, the giant robot was tossed and crashed its back into the energy barrier surrounding the area.
His aim was both to eliminate those likely wandering underfoot and to crush Leonardo on his back like a bug with the impact of the collision. The plan was reasonable; if it could be applied, it provided the chance to kill two birds with one stone, but when some things were put into practice, getting the desired result was very difficult.
It was Alis who stepped forward from the group facing the wind attack; the young man crossed his two swords in front of his torso and used his difference-making skill.
"Wind Domain - Absolute Dominion!"
When the black sphere spread from the tiny point where the swords began to spin and took on a structure covering the whole group, the robot's large-scale attack descended upon it. Under normal conditions, in element attacks, especially in attacks where two elements of the same kind clashed, determining the result was very simple.
The stronger attack would consume the smaller one and continue on its way. It was an accepted result that it would reach its target decreasing by the amount it consumed, but what was happening right now showed more than falsifying this. Alis's domain was growing by incorporating all the attacks falling upon it. This time, the small fish was managing to swallow the big fish.
"You might have saved your skin because the feature of my attacks is based on speed and you have superior healing ability, but if the matter turns into a struggle over elemental comprehension, you have no chance, you piece of trash!"
This was exactly what was happening; Fritz Todt's robot could only use the Elemental Energy it could store due to its organic parts in the form of attacks with destructive power, but Alis had gained the ability to manipulate Wind Energy after being trained by the Third Sheikh of the Holy Blood Cult.
For Fritz Todt, who couldn't get what he wanted on one front, things were not going as he wished on the other front either. Leonardo, jumping the moment he arrived at the base of its neck, was standing on the energy barrier surrounding the area at the head of the robot.
"You are under my feet as usual, my old friend. How does it feel, that I have achieved the thing you adopted as your life's purpose?"
Seeing the soles of the feet of the person he wanted to crush with the giant foot of his invention just a moment ago was enough for Fritz Todt to go crazy. Accompanied by his eyes opened as wide as they could go and his teeth clicking together, he was watching Leonardo.
The Master was not in the form he usually knew him. Even though he stood on two feet, his feet and hands had turned into claws. His body was surrounded by matte black metallic components, and there were constantly rotating parts at his joints.
"Perfect compatibility, this is what you wanted, isn't it? You don't desire this robot, which you made in giant dimensions just so it could store more Elemental Energy and which you control through an interface, but you desire my ultimate transformation, don't you?"
The Master finished his words with claw attacks carried out one after another. His feet were fixed, but he was trying to melt the shield with the heat they radiated, and his hands accelerated enough to create afterimages with the power of the wind.
"Get out of my sight, you freak!"
Two hands met in the middle to crush the fly that landed on its head, but unfortunately, the target was no longer there. Landing on the ground by doing somersaults in the air, Leonardo was smiling, showing all his teeth.
The places on his body not covered with matte black components were his claws and his head. When the mechanisms at his joints stopped moving, they paused, but the Master's jaw began to work.
"No matter what you do, no matter who you experiment on, it won't work! Even if you bring together the flesh, blood, and life essence of different races within the same structure, you won't achieve what you want! Even this state of mine is incomplete, but still one step ahead of your invention; at least it is exempt from many of the weaknesses belonging to the human structure and more adept at using Elemental Energies.
While you used the means of the Machine Empire, I didn't stay idle either. I examined, I researched, and the universe gave me the reward for my efforts through the orcs. How does the Second Level of my Power Animal look?"
Fritz Todt couldn't understand what was happening, but two of those behind Leonardo knew the meaning of the words spoken. One of them was Alis, who came to life directly as the reflection of Nafız's human side, and the other was Michelangelo, who could shatter all mechanical devices with his bare hands.
They knew that the work, the efforts the Master sustained until his hair turned gray, had borne fruit. The Power Animal was shaped from the person's soul, it existed with the feedback it received from there, and now Leonardo had transformed into the thing he wanted to be real for many long years.
"Come on, let's finish the business we've postponed for years. Let's put an end here to our relationship that began the moment we were seated at the same desk when we were two kids just three years old, Fritz!"
A state of absolute silence occurred in the hangar underground for an unshort period of time. Even though they were parties to the war, Michelangelo, Alis, and the father-son could not make a sound. They had fallen into the middle of a showdown whose past went back quite a long way; they had no option but to watch what would happen.
"Let it be as you say! On one side me, creating wonders in the light of science, on the other side you, cooperating with powers of unknown origin! Let's see, which of us is the best of our generation? Let what we have transformed into answer this, not our words!"