What was Dimitri applauded in front of his face, and both hands merged into a dragon's head whose jaws expelled miasma. Again, Garland moved in an arc, circling the battlefield knowing he had to keep his distance until reinforcements arrived, in a blink, the huge demon appeared in front of him, kicking straight to his abdomen, ripping him off the ground. Before he could react, he was grabbed by the calf, pulled to receive a punch in the face, and finally slammed to the ground; recovering as he responded with a kick to the forearm of the grip, which helped him to be released.

Garland tackled the giant, grabbing him by the leg, barely managing to move him a few inches, and began blocking a series of punches with crossed arms. From the remains of the cocoon emerged constructs of leftover biomass, a mix of Grendel, Dimitri, and the Ghouls: a pair of hellish hounds, twice the size of a lion. Green skins of grotesque proportions, tentacle manes, four slit eyes, and mouths that opened in four parts.

The dogs jumped into the battle, Garland cushioned the bite of one by placing his arm behind it, after repelling the other with a punch to the snout, to Dimitri's mockery; taunts silenced by shots to their backs. Troops led by Tudor came to support them, evidence that part of their army was decimated.

"Shoot him in the legs!" Tudor roared, and projectiles connected to knees, causing minor wounds that slightly slowed down the being who began defending himself by using his wings as a shield mantle.

"Who wants to die first?" He accepted the challenge, psychically ordering one of his hounds to leave the battle, escaping between the lines of trees to seek out the king.

He didn't need eyes, or even use those of his pawns. Grendel's echolocation allowed him to sense all presence within a thirty-meter radius. The roles changed, Dimitri advanced, tearing apart every artisan with lashings from his twin razor tails, cutting heads and limbs with his blades.

From among the living nearby, Dimitri sensed the presence of another powerful being. Lawrence enveloped in a golden aura. Removing his cloak, he ran at superhuman speed on the walls propelled by glyphed boots and firm fists coated with gauntlets emitting a blazing glow.

The sprinter jumped from his platform away from a thrust of the lower tail, and ran around the legs causing Dimitri to lose balance; spear shots connected on his left flank, a swipe broke the position of the troops, among them Tudor who was thrown to the ground with four broken ribs; knocked out, saved from mortal harm by his battered technological armor.

In Vlad's position, he hesitated to pull the trigger again, fearing to harm the soldiers surrounding Dimitri. Agatha was still recovering, fearing for Garland's life as he continued to fight against the hellhound.

The vampire's roars resonated, frustrated that he couldn't match Lawrence's speed. In an instant, he threw a series of punches at the leg, and the next at the knee. When he tried to counter with a swipe, he touched pure air, losing his balance from a barrage of interlocked arms on his back that brought him to his knees.

Dimitri applauded projecting his barrier, turning part of it after absorbing it, bouncing the sprinter back and part of the soldiers recovered, taking position after the time gained. He could feel his strength diminishing rapidly, he had to act fast, if he went airborne Vlad would kill him with a shot.

He was too big a target and being near so many soldiers marked two important points: flesh shields at the cost of constant attacks. His safety did not make him oblivious to his capabilities, he knew that this new form had limits he still didn't know and the wear was considerable.

In Vlad's position, a growl alarmed him, the infernal hellhound emerged from the threshold drooling, and in its bite, it held the last larva otherwise it would kill him. His only impediment was the panting elf who stood defensively.

He invoked the wind in conjunction with forces, without realizing that the beast would jump away from the range and upon searching for it with his gaze it reappeared flying again with a pair of wings landing on the turret.

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Facing the creature awakened Vlad's survival instinct, hastily descending from the command, and taking his spear from his back the creature broke the seat and part of the command; vulnerable to an electric shot in the face that stunned it. In a scream, he threw it, penetrating its eye, and Agatha removed it from the platform by calling the wind lifting it into the air and sending it far away.

"Are you okay?" asked the elf still carrying the shock.

"I-I will be," said Vlad, still unable to believe he had looked death in the eyes.

In the courtyard, Garland struggled to subdue the enraged hellhound by the neck. He applied a hold with both arms, no matter how many bites he applied, he couldn't hurt it; so using his own weight, he slammed the monster's head, enough to stun it. He got on top of it, and broke its neck by twisting it suddenly, killing it.

Exhausted, the armored one fell to his knees, before his vision he saw the golden trail turned into a voracious whirlwind. In its core was the demon with arms and wings outstretched desperately searching for a ghost. Garland decided he would leave the battle in the hands of his lord commander; everything would be decided in that confrontation.

"Face me, Lawrence!" He challenged inhuman, guttural, and furious, "Or are you really the commander of cowards?"

The trail extinguished before the red glow of a blood lightning bolt, coming from the left thigh of the vampire in agonizing pain to the sky. Two spears embedded in his body, and with the electric blade ignited the current penetrated his flesh.

"This is the fury of my fallen brothers!"

Lawrence picked up the discarded spears, and impaled one by one the legs of the giant. Activating them once the flesh was impaled, however, the giant did not fall. He spread his wings, flapping them, a wind that pushed Lawrence and he had to slow down after burying more than ten long stakes into the legs.

At the second flap, one of the wings burst into a wide hole, the result of a precise shot from the high-caliber cannon that had become Alejandra's arm, positioned behind one of the trees; her sniper skills had not diminished over the years as she continued her training and leadership even more.

With an order, the soldiers followed the queen forming ranks. Four groups of ten surrounded the giant, firing their spears and bayonets. Five attacked, allowing half to reload.

Riddled with holes, he activated the barrier in his hands. The torso, arms, and wings were dripping from the holes, he couldn't feel his legs. The regeneration factor struggled to keep him standing, the time his protection lasted served to remove the steels in sheer despair. He sought support in his ghouls, blinking in his mind's eye he discovered with horror how his creations were obliterated by the arrival of an equivalent horror, in the service of Artisan.

Directed and summoned by Frankenstein, a horde of armored automatons, vaguely humanoid; of grotesque proportions mixed with machines of considerable size resembling crustaceans and floating insects that fired bullets from implanted cannons and cut using sharp tentacles. The massacre, once dominated by Valaquia, changed in the blink of an eye, returning him once again to his fused body.

The red barrier lost color with each burst, shattering like glass. He endured the pain for every steel removed, able to seal the wound at the cost of the energy of the behemoth. Close to halfway through his feat, the shots suddenly stopped; a sign of impending danger instead of comfort.

His heart wavered, all vision became slow-motion as he detected from the corner of his eye Lawrence's return at maximum speed, in an ambush that halted just inches away, without his feet touching the ground after leaping, assuming a fighting stance.

The movements of the body left residual images as if it had multiple limbs, something seen only by a superhuman being, a mere mortal would see a mere golden blur.

The long hair swayed, on a serene face with closed eyes, he opened them again with a determined expression, delivering a punch three inches away, with multiplied force that completely destroyed the defense in a shockwave that ended up knocking the giant onto its back.

The hands stopped before falling completely, Dimitri opened his jaws from which emerged a projectile of enraged biomass, dodged by Lawrence as he moved aside, and that object hit the stairs leading to the entrance of the panic room.

Electric flashes emanated from Lawrence, once again turned into the golden will-o'-the-wisp hovering over the giant. One by one, the spears were buried again, passing through Dimitri's claws and tails. Thighs, arms, torso, and stopped upon entering two at once, still in Lawrence's hands with a knee placed on the back, dulled by four more spears, opening streams of blood into a growing pool under the trembling claws supported on the ground.

"Burn!" Lawrence roared as he leaped backward, a signal for the floating Frankstein to take part by raising the staff hammer.

Channeling a powerful bluish discharge, which enveloped the undulating masses and a storm-like sound silenced the terrain. All artisans sought cover, covering their eyes blinded by the powerful ray invoked by the spell on the beast, obscured by the concentrated glow in the skull bursting into pieces like half of the torso. Arms and wings were sent flying, crashing into the grass tinting it red.