Lanni tightened her grip around the hilt of her silver moon sword, its pale glow trembling like lunar light in her hands. Across from her, the forest-green frame of Sedmo Green stared back, eyes pulsing faintly with artificial life.
"Lanni," the machine spoke, its voice soft and androgynous, almost gentle, and yet unmistakably robotic. "First leader of the Zoner Knights."
"Sedmo." Lanni's voice was steady, her stance unyielding.
"Yes. I am Sedmo Green, serial number 774798. Amongst the newest generation of Sedmo units."
"I couldn't care less," Lanni snapped, her eyes narrowing. "The last Sedmo that stood across from me ended up as scrap metal."
"That was before the latest upgrade," the machine replied, almost proudly. "I am highly more advanced now, calibrated for superior combat."
Moonlight glimmered across the edge of Lanni's blade as she raised it. "Tell me, Sedmo... who is stronger? Woman or machine?"
"According to my vast database, machine"
Before the sentence could finish, Lanni was already moving, a blur of silver and fury. Her blade arced toward Sedmo's torso, but the robot twisted and bent backward, its body folding unnaturally as it limboed beneath the swing.
A split second later, Sedmo's fist slammed into Lanni's guard. She blocked, but the sheer force behind the blow sent her crashing through the wooden walls of a nearby home.
Civilians screamed and scattered. Sedmo advanced slowly, casually, like a predator that knew the outcome was already written. As it walked, beams of searing green electro light burst from its fingertips, carving through fleeing Zoners as if swatting insects.
"Stop it!" Lanni roared, pulling herself from the wreckage. Rage flared in her chest. She charged forward again, blade singing with silver light.
Sedmo Green released a canon from its stomach.
It unleashed a massive electro beam. Lanni limboed evading the beam but its damaged ripped through several civilian homes.
Her strikes came fast, furious crescents aimed at Sedmo's joints, its core, its neck. Yet the machine flowed around each one with precision beyond human reflex, twisting and weaving as if time itself bent for it.
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Then, in one swift motion, Sedmo caught a fistful of Lanni's hair and yanked her down, its metallic leg smashing into her chest. The impact hurled her across the ground, her boots digging furrows in the street as she stabbed her sword into the earth to halt her momentum.
The stabbed her sword toward Sedmo green releasing yellow Abi. Howevre, Sedmo green created a shield blocking the attack.
"I am a far more efficient model than any Sedmo before me," the robot intoned as it stalked closer. "I require no guns, no blades. Only pure strength."
Lanni's breathing steadied. Her eyes glowed silver.
"Then I'll show you strength that no machine could ever replicate."
The air rippled around her as Silver Moon Armor ignited, a radiant shell of lunar energy wrapping her form in celestial plating. The ground cracked beneath her feet as she vanished in a flash of light.
Sedmo Green attempted to charge its canno
But it barely registered the movement before the fight was over.
A single silver arc cleaved the air, and Sedmo froze mid-step. For a heartbeat, silence ruled the district. Then its body split cleanly in half, metallic viscera spilling onto the street before erupting in a roaring explosion.
When the smoke cleared, Lanni stood in the center of the street, moon armor shimmering, sword ready for the next battle.
And then... the air changed.
A presence far greater, far colder pressed against her soul. Lanni's breath caught as her eyes darted across the street. Nothing. Empty.
"Why are you confused?" a calm voice whispered behind her. "I am right here."
Lanni spun, blade flashing, but a hand was already resting gently on her shoulder.
Elder Sephiss.
Lanni didn't hesitate, she swung for his neck.
"Life," Sephiss whispered, "is too heavy to be carrying that sword."
In an instant, the silver moon blade in her hands grew impossibly heavy. Her arms buckled under its weight as the weapon crashed into the ground like a fallen star.
"What the hell..." Lanni grunted, struggling against the weight. "Why is my sword... so heavy?"
Sephiss raised his hand, and a black-bound book materialized before him, its pages etched with ancient script that shimmered with ominous light.
"This," he said softly, "is Damon's Penalty."
The book opened on its own. Power, pure, suffocating, philosophical power, erupted outward, rippling through the air and bending the world itself.
"Lanni," Sephiss said, his many-wired body flickering with monstrous shape, "In the name of King Mr. Green today is the day you will be executed. I will show you the true power of Abi. I am neither Artimancer nor Artist..."
He smiled faintly, wires tightening around the pages of his book.
"...I am a Philo."
The sky split with violet light as Damon's Penalty roared to life. Lanni shielded her eyes, heart pounding.
And just as the ground beneath her feet began to twist and warp, the chapter ended.
To be continued...