Celeste smiled as she turned toward the next weak point.
It was not a sensible smile.
It was the kind of smile someone got when they had spotted a glowing boss crystal and their entire childhood of video games suddenly became useful.
Ray saw it and felt three emotions at once.
Embarrassment, because she had been wrong.
Fury, because Celeste had absolutely not listened to her.
And, worst of all, pride, because somehow the daft little cat was making them look competent.
“Don’t get cocky!” Ray shouted.
Celeste was already halfway up the Golem’s side again. “I’m not cocky! I’m terrified but enthusiastic!”
“That’s worse!”
C.H.I.P., still in combat mode, planted his metal feet into the cracked concrete and locked both arms around the Golem’s waist, trying to hold the giant steady as it thrashed.
“Status update,” C.H.I.P. said, voice strained. “I am hugging a cathedral made of murder.”
Arcade pointed upward. “Celeste! Left arm crystal! It’s pulsing faster!”
“I see it!”
The Golem swung violently, but Celeste kicked off one jagged shoulder plate, spun in the air, and slashed down. Her katanas struck the second crystal in a burst of blue-white light.
Crack.
The crystal shattered.
The Golem’s left arm dropped limp, dragging sparks across the arena floor.
The watching mythics erupted into murmurs.
Mezzo struck a victorious riff. “That’s it, lass! Go on! Smash the shiny bits!”
Ray shot him a glare. “Do not encourage her like she’s climbing shelves for biscuits.”
“She basically is!”
Celeste landed on the Golem’s back, scrambled for a handhold, and yelped as the creature bucked beneath her. “This biscuit shelf is trying to kill me!”
Pitch fired Lady Luck at the Golem’s legs, keeping its attention split. Hughes drove Everstill into the ground again, sending another ripple of slowed time crawling around the giant’s feet.
Ray rushed in and slammed Heartbreaker into the damaged knee joint.
The Golem staggered.
Celeste used the tilt to reach the third crystal, this one glowing green near the hip. She drove one katana into the plating, swung around it, and struck hard with the second.
The crystal burst.
A shockwave of green sparks threw her sideways.
She caught the edge of the Golem’s shoulder with both paws and dangled there, legs kicking over open air.
“Oh! Oh, I hate this bit!”
Mezzo cupped his paws around his mouth. “You’re doing grand!”
“I’m doing awful!”
“You’re doing awful very stylishly!”
Below, C.H.I.P. strained harder as the Golem tried to straighten.
“Encouragement noted,” C.H.I.P. said. “Now requesting fewer compliments and more structural sabotage.”
Arcade snapped together another emitter. “Working on it!”
Only one limb crystal remained.
Celeste hauled herself up, cheeks flushed, tail puffed, eyes bright with panic and determination. The final crystal glowed blue near the Golem’s remaining leg. She looked down.
It was very far.
She swallowed.
Then she slid.
Using one katana as a brake, Celeste scraped down the Golem’s side in a shower of sparks, boots skidding over hot metal. The Golem roared and twisted, but Pitch fired a burst into its chest while Ray hammered its shin from below.
“Now!” Ray shouted.
Celeste dropped, twisted, and struck the last limb crystal with both blades.
The blue crystal shattered.
The Golem lurched.
Its knees buckled.
For one glorious moment, everyone thought it was over.
Then the crystal on its head flared.
The Golem’s whole body locked upright again.
Celeste, who had somehow ended up clinging to the side of its head, wrapped both arms around one metal horn and squeaked.
“Oh no.”
Mezzo pointed dramatically. “Final crystal! Top floor! Luxury suite!”
Celeste glared down at him. “I’m not on holiday!”
“Could’ve fooled me! Lovely view up there!”
The Golem shook its head violently.
Celeste clung on for dear life, ears flattened, tail whipping behind her like a distressed ribbon.
C.H.I.P. lunged again, catching the giant around the torso from below.
“Warning,” C.H.I.P. said. “Grip stability declining. Also, I dislike this activity.”
Arcade yelled, “Hold it for ten more seconds!”
“Counteroffer: five seconds and a complaint.”
Pitch, breathing hard, raised Lady Luck toward the weakened chest panel. “Then let’s make it count.”
Hughes slammed the base of Everstill into the ground.
A ripple of distortion flared outward. Time thickened around the Golem, dragging its movements into molasses. The huge creature slowed mid-roar, one fist lifted, molten gears grinding sluggishly beneath its cracked plating.
Pitch stepped into the opening.
At the peak of his motion, he twisted Lady Luck and fanned the chamber.
Five glowing cards snapped out in a rapid spread.
“Shadow Flush.”
They cut across the air in streaks of crimson and black. Four cards slammed into the Golem’s chestplate, each strike widening the cracked seal. The fifth card curved midair, homing in on the weakest point as though it could smell fear.
It shot straight into the rune.
The blast detonated in a flash of shadowfire.
The Golem reeled, smoke pouring from its chest as the control seal split wide.
Celeste gasped as the head crystal flickered.
The chestplate buckled and burst open, molten gears grinding loose as the steel giant let out a roar of collapsing machinery.
The vulnerable core glowed inside.
Hughes lifted Everstill, teeth gritted, and released one final pulse of energy.
The blast struck true.
The exposed core cracked.
Time snapped back to normal.
The titan groaned, gears grinding in agony as it crumbled to one knee.
Then it fell still.
For one heartbeat, nobody moved.
Then the arena erupted into stunned cheers.
The crowd of mythics behind the mana barrier hollered in praise, horns, claws, feathers, and scales gleaming beneath the flickering factory lights. Several began to chant:
“Y tîm undod! Y tîm undod!”
The unity team.
Plum, half-hidden behind a broken crate, scribbled so fast her pencil nearly snapped. “False outsider group defeats ancient soulbound trial guardian. Possible headline: Local Hedgehog Furious About Winning.”
Arcade, covered in soot, pointed at her. “I heard that.”
Mezzo threw both arms up. “That’s what I call a finish!”
Ray lowered Heartbreaker, breathing hard. Despite herself, she smiled.
Celeste slowly slid down from the Golem’s head and dropped onto C.H.I.P.’s waiting hand. She stared at the fallen giant, chest rising and falling.
“I can’t believe that worked.”
Brassmane clapped once.
The sound echoed through the arena.
His golden mechanical mane rattled, but his glowing eyes did not leave Celeste.
Saff stood still, eyes narrowed.
Kirrin shifted uneasily, wings half-spread.
Then the Golem’s corpse twitched.
Celeste’s smile vanished.
“I can’t believe it’s still going.”
Ray’s jaw tightened. “I told you it wasn’t that easy.”
The Golem’s shattered chest began to weld itself back together. Molten steel flowed like liquid fire, sealing cracked plates, reforging twisted limbs, and dragging broken gears back into place. The ancient runes flared with renewed intensity, pulsing in a furious rhythm as the titan rose once more.
Bigger.
Stronger.
Angrier.
Arcade stared. “That is cheating.”
The Golem lunged.
Its massive foot came down toward Arcade.
Mezzo reacted first. He struck a violent riff, the sound blasting forward in a shimmering wave that slammed into the Golem’s chest and shoved it back just enough for Arcade to scramble clear.
Arcade rolled behind a scrap wall. “I take back one insult about your music!”
“One?” Mezzo yelled.
“Do not push your luck!”
The Golem roared and swung both fists down, smashing the arena floor and sending shockwaves racing outward.
The group scattered.
Celeste darted across the battlefield, her twin katanas flashing into her hands again. She gathered mana, channeling it into one blade until it blazed with holy light.
With a cry, she slashed downward in a radiant arc.
“Radiant Slice!”
The glowing cut carved across the Golem’s leg, brilliance searing against corrupted metal. Smoke hissed from the wound as holy light clung to it, leaving behind a burn like sunlight biting into shadow.
The giant staggered.
Then its fury turned fully toward her.
Pitch moved first, his silver bandana scarf whipping behind him as he slipped through the shadows cast by the molten glow. Lady Luck sang in his hands, firing razor-edged cards that carved glowing streaks across the Golem’s armour.
The Golem swung a massive fist.
Pitch flipped backward just in time as the blow shattered the ground where he had stood.
He landed low, shadows curling around his boots, and swept his hand in a wide arc.
“Royal Sweep!”
The cards tore across the Golem’s torso in a radiant fan of steel and shadow, sparks bursting as metal shrieked under the assault. Before the titan could retaliate, Pitch vanished into the dark trail he had left behind, reappearing a safe distance away with another card already between his fingers.
“Not bad, wolf-boy,” Ray muttered, eyes scanning for another angle.
Ray slammed Heartbreaker into the molten floor.
“Hammer Pulse!”
The impact exploded outward in a blinding radial wave of phoenix mana. Flames rippled across the battlefield, washing over her allies in a fierce, searing warmth that sharpened their strikes and filled their tired limbs with renewed force.
Ray charged through the fading glow.
Heartbreaker smashed into the Golem’s knee joint, bursting molten sparks across the arena.
The titan faltered.
But only for a second.
It retaliated with a sweeping arm, catching Ray and sending her crashing into a stack of metal crates. She grunted, rolled with the impact, and shook molten dust from her fur.
Pitch fired several quick shots into the Golem’s chestplate, buying her time.
From the flank, Hughes darted in, Everstill in hand. The runes along the crook flickered like starlight caught in glass. He jabbed forward, quick and precise.
“Chrono Jab!”
The crook’s tip tapped the Golem’s plated side.
Nothing happened.
Then, a heartbeat later, the true impact slammed into its frame.
The delay twisted the titan’s rhythm. Its massive head snapped toward Hughes a split second too late, runes flickering erratically as though its awareness had been knocked loose.
Hughes leapt back, crook spinning to guard. “That should scramble its timing for a moment—make it count!”
“We need to hit the core again,” Ray growled, wiping soot from her brow. “It’s the only way.”
Pitch nodded. “I’ll keep it busy. You get in close.”
The Golem reared back, fists raised to crush them both.
Pitch snapped his fingers, a sly grin flashing.
“Dealer’s Distraction!”
A cascade of glowing cards burst from his hands, swirling like enchanted confetti through the smoky haze. They fluttered around the Golem’s head in dazzling patterns, warping its sightlines and making its massive swings clumsy and wide.
The titan bellowed, smashing uselessly into the illusion.
“Try hitting the right target, big guy,” Pitch quipped, vanishing back into shadow.
From the cover of the distraction, Ray shot forward. Phoenix fire built in her chest as she drew Heartbreaker back.
“Skyhook Uppercut!”
She drove the hammer upward in a sudden, explosive strike, catching the Golem square beneath the jaw. The force rattled through its frame, launching lighter fragments of steel skyward in a spray of molten shards.
Phoenix embers burst around the impact and rained down like burning snow.
The Golem staggered.
But it wasn’t done.
Its molten fists trembled, then clenched tighter, pulling the embers into its chest like fuel.
From the shadows beyond the arena, Brassmane’s eyes narrowed, reflecting the shimmer of the runes. He leaned against a support beam, voice low and unreadable.
“They’re powerful,” Kirrin whispered beside him, her lilting accent rolling like wind over heather. “See? I told ye. Maybe they can defeat the zombie generals… maybe even save the others.”
Brassmane didn’t answer at once.
His gaze lingered on Celeste, twin katanas glimmering in her hands, her aura glitching faintly as if two worlds were fighting for space inside her.
“I’ve seen weapons like those before,” he said at last, the words heavy as falling stones.
Kirrin’s tufted ears twitched. “Where?”
Brassmane’s jaw worked, reluctant.
“An alicorn. A summoner. She came to our clan once, searching for an artifact. She could summon her weapons too. Same shimmer. Same weight in the air.”
His eyes shifted back to Celeste as she lunged into the fight again, light sparking from her blades.
“That ragdoll,” he muttered, almost to himself, “reminds me of her.”
