Arcing out forward from Gondo’s position came a jagged blue power wave that extended as high as the Golem. It smacked directly into the creature and melted off layers of the formerly unbreakable Plastic 3. The great monster took a few steps back as the wave blanketed it, the force too strong to withstand. It fell to one knee.

  “True power...” the beast declared.

  Gondo himself was floating slightly above the ground. The power coursing through his veins was like nothing he had ever encountered in all his experimentation. Somehow the drug had unlocked a hidden vault of psychic might. The incremental changes he had noticed after using the Moonshield during research were nothing compared to this. He felt like a god.

  His gaze leveled on the Golem. He zoomed forward under it leaving a trail of energy, then came rocketing upwards under its jaw with an uppercut, spinning and laughing as he did.

  Smashing his fist at that velocity into a solid hunk of Plastic 3 would normally end the life of said fist, and most of the arm behind it. Instead, it connected and lifted the Golem slightly off the ground. It collapsed backwards and landed onto the large excavator, still busily carving into the surface. As its body crushed the machine it triggered an explosion that shrouded the monster in smoke and flame.

  Gondo floated there, filled to the brim with reckless abandon. He felt like he could do anything. Like he should do anything.

  He dove into the smoke to find the Golem attempting to stand. The plastic that formed its body parts was melted backwards and its jaw was completely crushed.

  “That shut you up.” Gondo quipped.

  He swooped over its body, landed, and began to unleash a punishing series of blows, each leaving a huge dent in the plastic. His fists left blazing blue trails of light; his unchained focus bent on annihilating his prey.

  Faster and faster the punches landed, lost in exulting fury Gondo began tunneling into the monster with his attack. He reared back his arm to deliver a power blow that would blast its way entirely through the Golem and just before he released, he felt the world drop underneath him.

  As if falling from a great bright height into a deep and senseless void. He splashed into the bottom of the hole, liquid plastic burning onto his body.

  The creature began to sit up and gurgle with a slow laugh. It drew Gondo from its body as it stood and held him by a leg, dangled in front of its melted indented face. His cloak hung down lank from his neck and his eyes were rolled back in his head, lifeless.

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  “Nice try boy, but this is the end of the road for you.” Krueger gleefully burbled from the creature.

  Suddenly the Golem froze. The psychic bond between its body and its legs broke, thunking its torso down on top of them, then sliding forward. The connections within the arms were next, and the damaged right arm pieces began falling to the ground from the hand upwards.

  “No, this can’t be happening!?” the panicked creature said as its body broke away from its left arm, psychic energy straining to maintain control. The last bonds to break were amongst the two flexed talons of its left hand. A hollow “Noooo...” echoed from the monster as Gondo began to fall along with the dead chunks of plastic.

  Gondo neared the ground when lo and behold, the Glaive appeared in a blur, whipping around in a tight U-turn underneath him. He fell into the opened roof of the jet and it decelerated rapidly to the ground, landing near Ignasius ruin. The robot gave up its vehicle and unsocketed, then floated speedily to the now unfurled ramp of the jet.

  Lowell had already secured Gondo to a hovering cot. Medical robots busied themselves burning off the dried plastic that coated much of his neck and had scorched through areas of his clothing. The connected equipment showed low vitals.

  Ignasius didn’t need to ask what had happened to the Golem. He already knew.

  After dropping the two warriors onto the battle field Lowell had gone hunting the source of the psychic energy that was powering the monster. Knowing a force that strong would need to be housed close by narrowed the search, as well as the size of building needed for such an operation. Lowell coupled their mainframe with Ignasius remaining latent system memory, and they conducted the search together, the Glaive zooming around to further scan any likely candidates.

  Eventually it hovered over an area that sheltered a huge underground bunker. The hacker couldn’t read psychic energy, but they knew the telltale grid of a Casting matrix. Thermography showed hundreds of people in tight rows inside the bunker. Casters locked into a dull slumber as their full power was exuded and collected into one individual at the end of the chain.

  The Glaive was equipped with a myriad of weaponry and deterrents. With a simple command Lowell deployed a burrower. The device hit the ground spinning and hurriedly dug itself into the ground. Once in place atop the bunker it activated, sending a psychic dampener through the chain.

  Lowell quickly set the Glaive to return to the battle site at full speed, arriving just in time for its internal nav computer to route a path under Gondo.

  Now as the medical droids whirred about him, Gondo regained consciousness. He sat up to view the surrounding carnage through the Glaives 360-degree simulated windows.

  The Ourobouros forces had suffered heavy casualties. Jasper limped amongst the dead and dying, supported by the hulking frame of a militia mech, giving aid where possible. Medical drones skittered about saving countless lives.

  The Golem lay in ruin behind the Glaive, its mangled body deprived of animation. The devastation it had left was immense. The entire area around it was decimated and burning. Already a retrieval truck had come for the Plastic 3, inputting the correct building code to make it inert and then slurping up the liquid byproduct into a tank on its back.

  Ignasius and Lowell were solid thankfully, but the former’s Gundam lay a wreck not far away.

  “I need a drink.” Gondo stuttered and collapsed back onto the gurney.