The battlefield erupted into pure chaos as the Forest Elves clashed against the relentless constructs. The ground shook beneath the weight of tal and hooves, Magic and energy weapons lighting up the sky in violent flashes.
Enchanted swords t reinforced steel, while plasma blasts seared through the air, leaving trails of smoke in their wake.
The Elves fought with precision, agility and fluid movents as they attack at the constructs' weak points they can see like their joints, exposed cores, and exposed circuits. While the tal warriors countered with cold and calculated efficiency just like machine they are.
Despite their skill, the Forest Elves were not invincible. Every fallen construct was replaced by another stepping out of the portals and so Elven warriors fell, their bodies torn apart by energy blasts or crushed under the sheer strength of their foes.
Even King Fairon found himself montarily overwheld. He parrying a series of rapid slashes from a dual-bladed construct that quite fast and just as strong before finally driving his sword deep into its head, a burst of green and silver Magic shattering its core.
But there was no ti to celebrate because more were coming.
In the fron of it all, Laston's crimson glow pulsed violently, the humming from his body now has beco a deafening shriek now.
His plan to escape had failed. The constructs which he had intended to use as his ans of survival had automatically engaged with the Forest Elves, their programming overriding any other priority.
They were locked in combat and he was left vulnerable. His arm was torn and now king Gulben was ready to swing his sword at him.
His mind raced, and then a dark grin ford on his bloodied lips. If he couldn't rely on his army to save him, he would call upon sothing even more absolute, those who had no will to resist him.
Dredge and Veyna.
This wasn't a simple override command, not a re programming directive that could be hacked or undone. Laston had prepared for this scenario long ago.
He had embedded a deep binding spell within them that no machine or mind could reject. A spell that would force them to obey him no matter what.
They wouldn't hesitate or resist. They would co to him and sacrifice themselves without question.
At that very mont, Veyna who had been locked in battle with Eccar, suddenly froze midair.
A high-pitched whirring sound ca from within her ch armor, sending a shiver down Eccar's spine.
He instinctively stepped back as he watched her rigid form tremble.
Then, without warning, she shot through the air like a missile, breaking away from the fight entirely.
"Hey! What the hell?!" Eccar shouted.
He had been gaining the upper hand in their battle but now she ignored him completely. She wasn't retreating or repositioning. She was just flying straight toward a direction.
At the sa ti, another grotesque sight unfolded.
Dredge, or what remained of him, stirred. His body had been torn apart, his lower half separated from his upper torso after his brutal defeat by Erend. He should have been nothing more than a lifeless discarded machine. And yet, the spell forced him to move.
His upper body lifted from the ground, floating unnaturally, his arms hanging limply at his sides. His head tilted up with empty eyes devoid of thought. The once calculating and ruthless Dredge was no longer present.
He was a puppet now.
Slowly, then faster, his broken form drifted through the battlefield toward Laston, just like Veyna.
The two of them, mindless and obedient, now existed for only one purpose. To serve their master.
King Gulben and Saeldir imdiately tensed as the piercing shriek from Laston's body grew louder. The crimson glow pulsated wildly, distorting the air around him.
Saeldir, sensing the danger, poured more Magic into his lightning spell. The crackling energy intensified, turning white-hot as it surged through Laston's body. His tal-plated body began to lt, crimson sparks flaring from the damaged circuits beneath his synthetic flesh.
Laston's body convulsed, his face contorted in pain, but his grin didn't fade.
Saeldir gritted his teeth. "This should be killing him!" he growled, pushing even more power into the spell.
The air slled of burning tal and scorched flesh as the lightning wrapped tighter around Laston, but he endured it.
King Gulben took a brief glance at the battlefield. The Forest Elves were still locked in brutal combat with the constructs, but there was no sign of an imdiate shift in the tide of war. They were holding, but not winning yet.
Then he saw it.
Sothing moving at an unnatural speed toward him.
A half-torn body.
His breath hitched as he recognized one of Laston's warrior, the broken upper torso floating eerily through the battlefield, empty eyes locked onto him.
And then, from the other side, another figure streaked toward him like a spear of blackened steel.
The realization struck him like a hamr.
Laston had done sothing.
Gulben swinging his sword up, ready to finish Laston before his puppets could reach them. But the mont he raised his blade, sothing shot through the air.
A searing red beam struck his arm.
Pain exploded through him as the energy blast tore through his already-weakened wrist. He barely had ti to register it before his fingers spasd and his grip loosening.
His sword slipped from his grasp.
King Gulben let out a scream. His hands, which had barely been functioning, could no longer move.
"Fall back, Your Majesty!" Saeldir shouted.
King Gulben imdiately leaped backward.
anwhile, Dredge and Veyna reached his side. From their bodies, a surge of crimson and black energy poured out, rushing toward Laston.
The flow of energy was imnse, and Laston absorbed it at an alarming rate. His severed left arm reattached itself to his shoulder in an instant.
Dredge and Veyna collapsed to the ground, drained.
anwhile, Laston had gained new power. It wasn't perfect, but it was what he needed.
With ease, he broke free from Saeldir's spell.
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