The largest puppet Ike had ever seen stomped inside, its eyes blazing. Three times as tall as the other puppets, it perfectly captured a familiar set of features. The shiny metal version of Roderick stomped inside, bright red eyes burning. He looked left, then right. The wreckage of the meat grinder stood to the left. The hammer tilted further and further to his left. Abruptly, it fell, clattering onto the ground. Ruined.

Roderick’s big glowing eyes narrowed. He charged in, grabbing the hammer and putting it back upright. It no longer moved, its main pole shattered and its inner mechanics dead. He turned to the meat grinder. A new set of bodies dropped down onto its gears. The gears no longer turned, so they simply flopped atop it, reeking away.

He turned to the little puppets. “What happened? Answer me!”

The puppets backed away. They looked amongst themselves, as if asking one another what had happened.

Ike tilted his head. Huh? Earlier, I thought they were just like ants. Autonomous beings, moving on instinct. But they can reply to Roderick. Answer him. React. Are they more like Rosamund, then? Are there other human—not souls, but minds inside of them? Minds simpler than Rosamund’s, but still minds.

I don’t at all understand how that works. I need to know more, so I know how to react to them. I can handle them inanimate, but I’ve never handled them animate, except for Rosamund.

He patted his pack. That’s right, Rosamund! I can always study Rosamund. Though I should probably study the black armors, too. Just for diversity’s sake.

Roderick swiped at the black armors. Despite the huge size of his arm, it moved with lightning speed. He snatched one of the puppets and lifted it to his face.

“What happened? Tell me.”

The black armor’s helm clanged. Nothing that sounded like language emerged from the metal, but Roderick nodded. His brows furrowed, and he nodded again. “A boy, huh? A boy. Hmmm.”

Ike took a deep breath. We’re going to lose the element of surprise. We need to act now. Before he gets the full story. He threw off the wolfskin and charged Roderick from behind. He drew his sword and sliced at the man’s exposed ankle, putting all his lightning-enhanced strength into it. Ike tensed, preparing for the shockwave from the blade.

The blade cut through the metal with surprising ease. A shockwave jittered up Ike’s arms, but he held on easily. He frowned, then turned back.

A gash opened in the back of Roderick’s ankle. He staggered forward. Turning back, big red eyes glared at Ike.

Ike sprinted away.

Roderick raised his foot. He stomped at Ike. Ike threw himself to the side. Toes scraped against his back. The floor shook. Thrown into the air, Ike ran on, throwing himself behind the remains of the hammer.

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“There he is. Come out, come out, where ever you are! So much for being a passerby, hmm?”

A big silver arm swept the hammer aside. Ike jumped back, barely dodging the fingertips. Despite the metal puppet’s large size and metal construction, it moved with surprising speed. Speed, and flexibility. Ike eyed it. He looked at his sword. And I cut it easily. That metal isn’t especially tough, unlike the armors. I bet it’s optimized for mobility.

He turned, looking across the room. A thought came to him, and he laughed. “Wisp! That metal’s soft.”

From just behind his ear, her voice whispered, “Yeah, so? Still can’t bite it.”

“You can definitely bite it. That’s not the point. The point is, soft metal also melts easily.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“I think I am.”

A foot hurtled toward him. Ike knelt, preparing to dash. “Get some spider thread on standby. I’m going to lure him over, but I’ll need you for the last mile.”

“You got it.”

Wind blew as Wisp dashed away. The foot dropped. As the shadow fell over him, Ike blasted away. Roderick smashed the floor behind him, but he darted away, unharmed.

For all that Roderick’s puppet was agile, his overall motions were slow. He was just too large. Too much momentum to build up to make a move. Ike frowned, looking at Roderick from behind. Why build tough, small puppets and large, agile puppets? That doesn’t make any sense. Well, the tough, small ones does, but not the big agile one. It almost smacks of… for example, if Roderick didn’t actually know how to make the puppets, and he asked someone else to make one for him. He asked for a big puppet that moves well, which is a reasonable thing to request, but only if you don’t understand the forces at play here. The puppet maker did as he asked, but he ended up with an inferior product because he asked for something stupid.

“Another cut-rate puppet!” Ike shouted. Whether he’d guessed correctly or not, he wasn’t about to let it keep him from mocking the man.

“Silence! A little bug gets no say.” Roderick kicked a chunk of scrap metal. It flew toward Ike.

Ike dropped to the floor. The metal soared over him. He raced in, toward Roderick’s ankles. Roderick hopped backward on instinct, the way he would if he saw a mouse running at him. Ike kept charging. As Roderick landed, he slashed at the front of the man’s ankle with the horizontal slash of River-Splitting Sword. Roderick kicked at him, standing on his sliced leg to kick. Ike hopped back. The kick struck him, too close for him to fully dodge. Pain rushed through him, and he spat blood. He hit the ground and threw himself with the motion, rolling with it.

He slammed into a lump of heat and metal. Ike hissed. He jerked away, then froze and laid still. From the corner of his eye, he watched Roderick. Biding his time.

Roderick stomped over. He lifted his foot.

Ike rolled out of the way. He raced away, running in an arc toward Roderick. “Now!”

White thread shot from behind him. Wisp yanked, pulling Roderick’s foot forward in midair. Off balance, Roderick had no way to answer it. His foot flew forward. And down, toward the thing Ike had slammed into. The forge, burning bright as fire.

His foot slammed into the ashes. Red ash flew up. Wisp threw aside her wolf pelt and jumped forward. She opened her mouth. Fire blazed out, adding to the heat of the forge.

“What the—” Roderick went to yank his foot out.

Ike closed in. He charged Roderick’s other leg and punched it with all his strength. Shockwaves slammed into it. Without hesitation, Ike loosed punch after punch, hammering his foot with shockwaves. Roderick’s balance shifted as his off-leg lifted off the ground, forcing him to put his weight on the foot in the forge.

“You goddamn—” Roderick retracted the foot Ike was hammering and stomped down at Ike.

Ike hopped away, then darted back in to continue hammering Roderick’s heel. Even if Roderick stomped at him, he still won. As long as Roderick kept his foot in the forge, he was winning.

Frustrated, Roderick growled. He slammed is palms down, trying to catch Ike in his hands. Ike stared. Between them and the feet… I don’t know how long I can do this. He gritted his teeth, prepared to try.

“He’s cooked! Let him go!”