Something had changed. The masked raider’s sadistic cackle was gone, and so was his conniving grin. In its place was an aura of deadliness. One of grave intent.
A dagger screamed through the air towards Azim. The robot threw his arms up in a guard, hoping to block the blade. What followed was not what he anticipated. Another flash of light like the one from moments ago sparked in front of the android, and in an instant, the raider was in front of him, midair, with the dagger in hand. Azim felt the boot of the raider thump against his chest. He was knocked back with more force than he expected. Regaining his balance, the robot looked up to see another blade flying past him, mere inches from his face. Just as the hilt passed the metal man's field of vision, the raider disappeared once more, appearing again from behind. He swung a backhanded strike again, this time catching the robot off-guard. As the raider spun in the air, his dagger slashed against Azim’s steely back, ripping his shirt and leaving a slight carving in his armor. Once his feet met the ground, the raider fired another kick against the robot's side. For the first time the whole fight, Azim appeared to be outclassed.
The robot spun around to clothesline his attacker but merely swung into another flash of light. Azim quickly scanned the surrounding area but could not locate the raider. He looked up to see the masked man crashing towards him, both daggers pointed downward. In the last moment before the raider made contact, Azim sprung back, letting his opponent slam into the ground. Before he could return an attack, he felt a strong hand on his steely shoulder.
The half-giant swung Azim over his head and behind him with the same force that Azim had launched the dagger-thrower. He hit the ground hard and rolled until he bumped into one of the raiders’ carriages. The rest of the men just watched, afraid to jump in after hearing the words of their superior. As the android got up and saw both the man and half-giant creeping towards him, he turned to look at the nearby grunts. One of them kept, tied to their waist, a glass bottle containing an opaque, green liquid. Ripping the bottle from the man’s waist, he threw it at the approaching enemies. The half-giant swung his lengthy sword and shattered the bottle before it could reach them. Shards of glass littered the roaming fields, and green ooze trickled into the dirt.
“What the- Nothing happened!” the lumbering figure exclaimed. “That was supposed to be an Entanglement spell in that bottle, yeah? But no vines or nothing came out. Why didn’t anything happen?”
The dagger-thrower chimed in, just as confused. “The spell should be active the second the bottle comes into contact with someone’s soul. The magic-”
“Ah, whatever. WHO CARES?!” the half-giant screamed, cutting off his companion’s monologue. “IF THIS LOSER CAN’T USE SPELL BOTTLES, THEN THAT’S ALL THE MORE REASON TO JUST END HIM RIGHT NOW!”
The half-giant lunged at Azim, dragging the large-toothed sword behind him. A second later, he was upon the robot swinging his sword down with the intensity of a meteor breaking through clouds. Azim put up his arms to block the strike but was interrupted. The raider in the full-face mask had appeared low, only a side step away from the android. He swept one of his legs in a full circle, knocking Azim’s feet out from under him. As he hit the ground, Azim was crushed by the force of the half-giant’s sword. The raider slowly lifted the weapon-made tooth to gaze upon his successful kill. The half-giant always reveled in the hunt and never felt satisfied unless he was putting down another traveler, much to the annoyance of the hawkling. He eagerly looked forward to the mess to be found at his feet.
The half-giant was stunned. At his feet was the metallic figure… without even a single drop of blood spilled. Granted, whoever this stranger was wasn’t moving, but that wasn’t good enough. The hulking raider was anticipating a grotesque display, and wouldn’t be satisfied without one. He raised his sword once again to deliver a stronger blow. As the tooth blade came crashing down, Azim made his move, gripping the ground he was lying on. Just before he was struck the robot pulled his arms towards himself, and launched into a forward slide along the dirt, kicking the half-giant’s ankles in the process. The raider shivered intensely as his legs gave out, not only breaking his swing but letting go of his sword entirely. In the same instant, Azim rolled forward into a squat and launched upwards, head-butting his hunched opponent.
As the half-giant fell back, Azim spun around on his pelvis, grabbing hold of the suspended sword in the process. He continued his spin, swinging the giant tooth in a wide arc toward the masked raider. He tried to let loose a dagger to warp away but, for the first time in his life, was not fast enough. Azim slammed the sword into the raider just as he threw his knife, sending him flying across the field once again.
That’s when he heard the scream. “AZIMMM!” Riva’s voice cried.
Dropping the sword, the naive robot turned to their carriage, only to find she wasn’t there. The leader of the pack, the young hawkling, had swooped up Riva and was holding her about 40 meters in the air.
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“Help me, Azim! Save me, please!” Riva yelped with tears in her eyes.
Again, something inside the android clicked. A part of his programming he had not had access to before. An urge, an intent, to be a savior. He started to run, but before making even a single step, he was met with a force pulling him back. The android turned his head to see the half-giant, having gotten up, was grabbing hold of his arm. “Where do you think you’re going?” the raider asked cockily.
Azim shifted his balance to punch the half-giant’s arm with his free one, breaking the brute’s grip. Before he could land the punch, the masked raider appeared next to him, holding back his other arm by the elbow, using his daggers. “Nuh uh uh!” the dagger-thrower taunted.
In seconds, the raiders had gotten Azim in a two-man hold, with the half-giant wrapped around him and the other on Azim’s shoulders. The robot started to loosen the raiders’ grip on him, pushing against the half-giant’s arms. In response, the half-giant cast an enchantment spell to boost his strength. “Bulk! Bulk!” he bellowed, causing a fight red aura to glow around him, before gripping Azim more tightly than before.
The metal man was truly stuck now, and no amount of robo-strength was enough to match the magic power of his opponents. Seeing they had won, the hawkling turned her attention to the other raiders down below. “Hey! Idiots!” she screamed. “Make yourselves useful and finish what we started here. Rip everything valuable out of that cart and burn the rest!
The other raiders fumbled over themselves to reach the carriage in a hurry. None of them wanted to be on the receiving end of their boss’s fury.
“NO! AZIM!” Riva cried once more. “You can’t let them get anything. It's all I have! Please… STOP THEM!”
Click.
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This time had been different. This time there wasn’t just a part of Azim’s brain that was seemingly unlocked. This time there was something else. Something much, much, more.
“Go on. Help her. I’ll help you.”
He didn't know where the voice had come from. It felt like it had come from inside his head. But that was impossible, for he had nothing but code inside just head. There were never voices. But that didn’t matter right now. What mattered were the raiders going for Riva’s carriage. And Riva.
A surge of power washed over Azim. An aura that had not existed before, so intense and pure that it was almost visible. He was not in control of his actions for the next few minutes. They just seemed to flow like instinct. As if every move he made was the most perfect thing the robot could do in each instant. Without processing any possible actions or outcomes, it was as if Azim already knew what he would do and what could come of it.
The robot melted. His entire body liquified to that of mercury and seeped through the hold of the raiders, ending up a few meters behind them. Then, he regained his original composure. Still, thoughtless.
The right and left hands of the group quickly turned around to take a look at their escaped prisoner. But it was too late. Azim made a hand sign, opening his hands so his metallic palms faced himself. His pointer fingers poked one another, his thumbs pointed upwards, and the rest of them interlocked with each other. He then moved his hands so that the fingers of each hand poked through the palms of the other. “Iron Spiketrap,” he spoke with an automated resonance to his voice.
A second later, the raiders had found themselves trapped, stabbed from every angle by long, thin, metal needles that had suddenly popped up out of the ground. The two were utterly immobilized. Not skipping a beat, Azim levitated into the air a good 20 meters above his trapped enemies. Putting his fists together, he spoke another two words, “Maximum Upgrade.”
Dozens of metal pieces and machine parts popped into existence around the robot, though nobody in the surrounding area knew what any of them were. They flew into Azim, slapping onto his body as new pieces manifested and did the same. In seconds, the metal man was covered in a mass of metal and machinery that hid him completely. When the excess parts evaporated due to a lack of need, what remained was Azim, with his arms stretched forward, and a gigantic laser cannon built off of his arms, pointed at the two raiders. The entire cannon was roughly the size of Azim himself, and only increased in size as it got closer to the opening of the weapon. The android took only a moment to charge before firing, sending a stream of firepower down upon his opponents, roughly 5 meters in diameter. As the flow of the laser finally stopped and the smoke slowly cleared, all that was left was a charred, black circle where grass once stood and the two raiders, no longer trapped, but singed beyond recognition. Azim floated back down to the ground, never actually making contact with it, as the two raiders finally fell.
The rest of the raiders just stood there, stunned. None of them were moving anymore, nor were they thinking of their boss’s orders. “Hey!” the hawkling griped. “Take care of him!”
None of the group knew what to do. Some thought they should just follow orders to not be killed. Others thought going after the strange statue-man was what would get them killed. None of it mattered. The second they had to think about their situation made no difference. Repeating that same open-palmed gesture, Azim followed up with a single hand making a rising motion. “Mercury Flood.” He didn't waste any time.
Out of nowhere, a silver sludge erupted from the ground beneath the raiders’ feet, enveloping them all. The men struggled against the thick fluid, but it was no use. They could barely move, and the pressure of the substance crushed the wind out of their lungs. Azim made another hand sign. “Dome.”
Raiders watched in horror as the metallic fluid washed over them, swallowing them whole. A moment later, all that remained was a dome of shining silver, with no evidence of anything, or anyone, inside it.
Azim was unsure what to think. His processors were drawing a blank. He had no frame of reference for what he was feeling. The robot looked up towards the last remaining threat. Despite the danger, Azim was calm. Sure he was often so, but this, he could feel, was different. For one, he could feel. Feeling was not something Azim could normally do. Whatever was happening to him, whatever this was, had touched him in a way that should have been impossible. The aura around him, the mysterious ethereal voice, and the explosion of power. It was all so surreal. It was revitalizing.
It was like magic.