Frodeon planted its steel feet, earth splitting under the weight. Venku's voice boomed from inside the cockpit:
"Target confirmed. Eliminate the monster."
Skin Daddy shrieked, a sound that wasn't a voice but the tearing of wet flesh and grinding bones. Its arms whipped forward, fingers like hooked blades.
Frodeon raised its forearms, catching the swing. Metal screeched as claws raked deep gouges into the plating. Sparks flew.
"Counterattack!" Venku barked.
Frodeon's boosters roared, the mech surging forward with a piston-strong punch. Its fist slammed into Skin Daddy's chest, snapping bones like dry twigs. Frodeon quickly transformed it's hand into a blade and forced its edge into Skin Daddy torso. The creature knealed down belting a his vibrating screech.
Venku pulled the blade out the creature, created distance believing to have hurt it.
Skin Daddy let out a gargling laugh, bent backward unnaturally, its grin never fading.
Then it snapped forward, jaw unhinging, and bit down on Frodeon's shoulder. Sparks exploded as teeth scraped alloy.
Venku cursed. "Get it off!"
The mech's free hand transformed, unfolding into a rotary cannon. BRAKA BRAKA BRAKA, bullets hammered into Skin Daddy's torso, shredding strips of pale flesh, yet the monster only twitched and laughed, blood and drool splattering against Frodeon's visor.
Levin and Pita watched from the rubble, horrified.
"Damn it," Levin muttered. "That thing... it fights like it's alive, not summoned."
Pita shook his head. "No doubt... it's an Artist's creation. But I've never seen one like this in all my years."
Skin Daddy lunged again, both arms swinging down like cleavers. Frodeon crossed its forearms to block, but the impact cracked the ground, dust and rubble bursting skyward.
"Stabilizers failing," Frodeon's AI warned.
Venku grit his teeth. "Then we go lethal."
Frodeon's digitized a spear, it's metallic frame temporarily changing shape. Energy built at its core, humming dangerously.
Skin Daddy shrieked again and charged. Frodeon's blast fired point-blank, a searing bolt of energy that blew a hole clean through the monster's torso. The hole instantly regenrated.
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But Skin Daddy didn't fall. It staggered, twitching, laughing, its gaping maw leaking glowing Abi mist.
Venku's eyes widened. "This thing doesn't die..."
Then Skin Daddy lunged, hooking its claws around Frodeon's right arm. It pulled. Wires snapped, metal shrieked. Skin Daddy chuckled.
"Brace!" Venku roared.
But it was too late. With a guttural rip, Skin Daddy tore Frodeon's arm clean off.
The mech staggered, sparks raining like blood.
Venku slammed a command, transforming Frodeon's remaining arm into a cannon. He shoved it into Skin Daddy's mouth and fired.
BOOOOM!
The creature's head vaporized into Abi dust, its twisted body collapsing lifelessly.
The smoke rolled thick. And from afar, Braxill stood with arms crossed, grin curling.
But his eyes weren't on Frodeon. He'd spotted Levin and Pita kneeling by the ruins.
He strolled over, Glock dangling in his hand. "Yoo, fools. Looks like I caught you lackin'." He chuckled darkly.
Levin's eyes narrowed. How can he summon a monster like that... and still stand here like he didn't even break a sweat?
Pita's lips quivered. "Levin... no doubt about it. This boy's an Artist. And in my 200 years on this isalnd, I've never seen one like him."
Braxill tilted his head, grin widening. "Cut all that chit chat. Y'all makin' me nervous 'n shit."
Levin growled. "You've got a foul mouth for a kid."
Braxill barked a laugh. "Who is you, my mama? You shouldn't be talkin'. Ya mans here only got one arm. That's an L, for sure."
Pita's face hardened. "We aren't your enemy. We are friends to the Zoners."
Levin gave Pita a slight tilt of the head. Pita answered with a knowing look. Levin sighed. "Yes. We were forced to return with the Royals after they slaughtered our comrades."
Braxill glanced at the fallen bodies, Roberta, Asteroy, his grin faltering. "...These ya homies?"
Levin nodded, voice heavy. "Yeah. Those were our ho-mies."
Braxill's Glock lowered. His tone softened, just for a moment. "Damn. My bad, bru. Rest in peace to ya homies."
He shoved his hands into his pockets, turning away. "Aight, well... y'all better skate while you got the chance. I'm gettin' real bored, so I'm bout to turn up"
He walked off into the smoke.
The haze split.
Frodeon stood tall again. Wires writhed like snakes as the mech's severed arm regenerated, piece by piece. Machinery clicked, micro-bits knitting steel together until the arm reformed.
Venku's voice was low and deadly calm. "So. It's obvious now. You're an Artist. Sephiss was right. The King has every reason to fear your kind."
Braxill's grin faltered, his eyes gleaming "Maan, I can't believe what I'm hearing, openly telling me ya OG is scared of me, bitch why is you snitching?"
Venku slammed a command. "Frodeon, give me my Nuclear Laser."
Braxill registered the severity of Venku's next move.
Panels along the Frodeons mech's spine unfolded. The cannon hummed, glowing bright.
Braxill tilted his head, cracking his neck. "Oh, I see... you takin' it there? Heh. I like when they test my gangsta."
Abi swelled violently around him, warping the air.
His body twisted, reshaping into something colossal.
"Imagine this... I am Machine Daddy."
Metal plates burst across his skin. His chest became iron, his limbs jagged pistons, his face a demon's helm. He grew massive, a heavy-metal monster, black smoke hissing from vents along his back.
Venku's monitors screamed. Frodeon's AI flickered to life.
"Warning: enemy has taken a form radiating nuclear energy of its own."
Venku's eyes widened. "Impossible... how can he just do this?"
"Probability: extraordinary Artist ability," Frodeon responded. "If you fire your Nuclear Blaster... and he fires his own... the result will be a nuclear explosion. Estimated: half the Royal District will be annihilated."
Venku's chest tightened. "...My survival rate?"
"Fifteen percent. With critical body damage."
He swallowed, staring at the boy-turned-monster. "Then this is the cost. Leaving this evil alive would mean the end of the Royals. This is a necessary sacrifice."
His finger hovered over the trigger. His voice shook, softer now. "If I die, Frodeon... make sure all my finances are sent to Milly."
"Affirmative, Master."
Machine Daddy's jaw unhinged, opening wide. Inside his maw, Abi swirled, condensing into a glowing meteorite wrapped in nuclear flame.
Venku shouted, voice cracking. "FRODEON! FIRE!"
The Nuclear Blaster roared.
Machine Daddy launched the meteorite.
Two suns collided in the night sky.