Renee sat up blinking sleep from her eyes. Even after being ten so many times, defeating the fatigue of her age was nearly impossible. Unaware of what was happening she flopped into Teddy’s lap. When he didn’t react she slowly looked up at his face. His eyes were glued on the person outside.

  “Nate, I heard him. He said that guy killed dad.”

  His tone shot her ram rod straight. Taking his hand into her own she gazed out the window alongside him. It must have been the one who attacked her before. She hadn’t been aware of who it was just from the attack. The door slid back open, Nate entering behind his Teacher. The man opened and jumped out the window shocking everyone.

  The battle kicked into motion. With trepidation she finally locked her gaze onto their enemy. That was enough to make her feel sick. She wanted to scream, throw up, and cry all at once. In any normal situation Teddy would have comforted her immediately. He was still in shock at the transgression that the man had wrought upon his father. Caught up in his own world he did not notice her panic.

  Lurching forward she became unbalanced, just as she was about to tip over a hand caught her shoulder. Thick calloused fingers that were gentle and strong. Looking back Nate stood next to her his own face struggling to hold in his rage. It was uncanny to her how the brothers looked so similar. Teddy had favored his past lives as well. The face he made was no different then that she knew from when she first met Teddy’s soul.

  Fear and misery seemed to choke away at her existence. Seeing his face barely holding back his fury. All signs should have made them quake and rattle. Sending them out away to the hills to hide. Yet, he stood next to her and Teddy sat with his own budding anger. That comfort blessed upon Teddy to develop into himself here and now. Separated him from his past lives, made him stand not just as some pawn but a person. It pulsed out from his brother's body.

  Renee was still afraid but it began to shift. If she had a family such as this would she have ended up killed over and over. Even now witnessing the power of the clash below the two desired to fight. She understood why Teddy never stopped talking about his brother.

  “That man. Teddy, he's the apprentice of the one who cursed me.”

  “What curse?” Nate asked.

  Teddy looked back at her with wide eyes. Her words were able to pull him from his anger filled stupor. Nate saw the fear that was within them, not for his own safety but for hers. The boy took her hand gently reassuring. Seeing all this Nate smiled slightly, his brother might have picked up something good from him.

  “Well, its a long story but…” Teddy spoke apprehensively.

  “Fate keeps killing me and Teddy is my soulmate.” Renee cut him off.

  “Haaa. Well, it's no less crazy then anything else. So we just need to keep you alive right?” Nate asked.

  “Preferably till after I turn eleven.”

  “I think we can do better than that.”

  Renee smiled at the two brothers. It was as if the belief that Teddy carried in Nate was transferring over to her as well. Mandy looked at them in shock. She couldn’t understand how they became so calm all of a sudden. In fact all of the people in the room besides her seemed to be taking things rather well. This made her feel even worse.

  “Nate, what the hell is going on?” Mandy asked.

  “We’re just going to watch my Master kill a fake god.”

  ***

  “A golem user. I thought your master would have picked up someone worth my time.”

  Zeus spoke casually as lightning flickered to life above his head. Each time it did so three small skulls would light up on his staff. These small skulls were all of the same type with horns in the shape of lightning bolts. The arches of lightning did nothing but bolster the speed of the spinning turbine over his enemies head.

  “My master taught me how to focus on the task at hand.”

  Forester Type-12 stepped out swinging down with its axe. Hercules slipped forward, throwing his forearm up to catch just under the axe head. A groaning crack sounded out. It was not good news for the Forester. On their first exchange of blows the shaft of its axe was cracked. Still this did not compute for the oversized robot. Its own height equalling the hulking Hercules.

  Everything had its limitations. When it came to a golem it could only be as smart or reactive as the commands and materials it was made with. Wayne had used the mechanical golem cores to form the two robots. It could be seen as a miracle of golem construction.

  The normal requirement for a golem core to be implanted and then a body formed around it was a huge task. Furthermore, it meant it could not be properly stored within a spirit house. By reducing the scripts for commands to a minimum he was able to make his golems out of whatever he found in the field. Other drawbacks were that it also limited the durability of whatever was being used. Though he’d also prepared for that.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Hercules pushed up forcing the axe to bounce back knocking the forester off balance. Charging forward he tackled the golem to the ground. Every step from this group of giants marred the ground and the tackle was no exception. Concrete and stone blasted to the sides till the two came to a stop.

  Now it was the forester's turn. It knew no pain and the joint work was not so delicate to break that easily. A left hand thrust out as Hercules moved to stand. It caught him on the left side of his head, sending him a step back. With the limited space created there it grabbed at the axe still in one piece despite the crack.The head was positioned just behind its enemies knee. With a full body pull the crook of the axe caught the back of the knee cap.

  Hercules was pulled off the ground, his back slamming into another two previously undamaged vehicles. On the other side the battle was not as balanced. The grotesque abomination charged out rounding the Miner clearly much faster than the giant metal gears could instruct.

  Flicking backwards off its left side legs dodged past the pickaxe. Once the tip made contact a percussive blast rocketed the ground into the air with the force of a stick of dynamite. The gas that had remained within the vehicles were being repurposed to deal damage. A tube allowed gas to flow to the top pressurized and then when making contact with the ground spark and explode.

  Just as the blast subsided Chiron entered range to kick out with its two back legs. The direct hit to the head dented the miners protective face plate shaped like an old gas mask. Windshield glass sprayed out from one eye slot peppering the ground.

  Letting go of the pickaxe it attempted to grasp the abomination but it slipped back to safety. With a groan the servos of the Miner whirled pulling the pickaxe from where it had been heavily buried. Taking up its pickaxe once more the Miner readied itself. This game of attrition was leaving Chiron unharmed and the Miner badly battered.

  The only one not attacking on the battlefield was the Mayor. He was content to not do anything the whole time. Allowing his master and his pets to do what needed to be done. Why should he suffer when he was meant to become a ruler among men. A bureaucrat till the end.

  Wayne was squatting down onto the ground with a piece of chalk from his pocket in his hand. He began to scratch out lines on the ground as the lightning arched around his position. The patterns rapidly formed around him as the magic spell slowly came to form. His opponent did not appear to be interested in working hard which was the best time for him to prepare.

  “So you wish to make this a real battle of Necromancy? How laughable your golems are cheap imitations of the real thing. Even their design tries to copy the military ones. Are you a model maker perhaps? Wish to go play with your doll?”

  *WHAM*

  The forester was thrown backwards into the hospital causing numerous ripples to cascade up the surface. Hercules was now positioned next to where Wayne quickly but confidently kept drawing lines. His golem whirled and wined but did not move.

  Golems were graded in larger brackets of power. This Hercules as it was so called was on the level of a Grade four or five spirit in raw power. It was nothing to underestimate, while these models were only Intermediate grade. Their bracketing meant intermediate grades ran from spirit grade five to seven. With grade two through four spirits equaling standard grade golems. Lastly were the advanced grade scaling from eight and up.

  Their complexity was in the highest of intermediate grades. All other aspects barely reached even within the starting point of a proper Intermediate grade golem. Wayne had abandoned strength, speed, and power for the portability the two possessed.

  Hercules reached out his hand to grab the top of the propeller. As the edge of a blade made contact with a finger it cut clean through. The tip flew off into the air as blood painted the ground outside of its circulating air.

  “AHH. Me finger.”

  “You damn oaf. Use what I have given you, grab something, and split that propeller in half!”

  Hercules looked about as he found the discarded axe. Just the perfect size for him. Enveloped in his large hands a cloud of miasma shot up and around the axe. The wobbliness of the shaft went away and he practiced two swings. Wind pressure blew out with both strokes whipping into the open window. Prepared it took a single step forward. The world spun momentarily as he was sent crashing off to the side.

  Forester was back on its feet, a gaping hole remained in its left side. Reaching down it scooped a half demolished car and stuck it against the hole. The sound of tens of grinding gears rang out as the metal and plastic was eaten up into the body. Within a blink of an eye the golem was back to being brand new. As brand new as such an amalgamation could appear.

  “I must say, did you see that Achilles? What a wonderful ability he gave his golem. Now that’s what I expect in a real Necromancer. Look how pitiful your brother is, poor Hercules. Too stupid to properly destroy a single golem!”

  “Yes, lord Zeus. It truly is remarkable.” The Mayor responded.

  “Shut your trap. Don’t think I haven’t noticed your absence from the battlefield. Do you not think your inside man would be of help now?”

  Zeus was discreet with the end of his words. None could hear him amongst his enemies. Not that his normal voice could even be heard well amongst the clamour of metal and magic. The mayor flipped out his phone and began to dial a number.

  Miner yet again took a hard hit to its pauldron. Its once semi-smooth exterior was now closer to the consistency of a golf ball. Unfortunately for the Miner where as Hercules was ripping or punching holes completely out of the robot, Chiron was not. Its efforts to whittle away at the opponent had been the correct choice. The repair feature is not refined enough to fix the large yet more minor divots and dents.

  “This doesn’t look good.” Nate said.

  Everyone within the room waited with bated breath. All they had was Wayne to protect them and he clearly wasn’t at full power. Whatever preparations he was making needed to happen fast or else they wouldn’t make it out alive. Nate’s body itched to enter the fray but he wasn’t sure he would last that long.

  “Don’t worry Wayne is smart. If it becomes too difficult he’ll retreat and we can fix him back up. Time is on our side. We can do it any number of times needed.” Dr.Mei said.

  Dr.White was still seated in the arm chair by the door. His wife walked forward to observe where Wayne might escape too. She weighed if it would be for the best if she moved down to the first floor and prepared to receive him. Nate turned back to respond to the doctor.

  Standing in the doorway was the nurse. She had been the one to treat Nate this whole time and now she held a gun out. With a single squeeze the round would be sent flying straight into Dr. White’s chest. Nate tried to think of something if anything he could do.

  “Don’t..”

  *BANG*