Lifting the mace, Andromeda braced himself—just in time to block the colossal fist crashing down on him.
The impact thundered through his platinum body, hurling him like a comet through the corner of a crumbling building. Concrete and glass shattered in his wake before he smashed face-first into the river's edge, crashing through the bank wall and plunging into the water below.
Eight feet deep.
The splash shook the shoreline.
Cetus followed like a meteor. Launching from the roadside, the massive whale-like knight landed in the river with a deafening crash. A tidal wave surged outward, swallowing the bridge in a heartbeat—ripping the fragile structure free and dragging it into the current like driftwood.
Now it was just the two of them—mech against mech. Knight against beast. Fairy versus leviathan.
And both wanted it over.
I felt the tension burning inside Andromeda as he rose from the river, clutching both mace and spear—trophies torn from the wreckage of his fallen enemies.
[You should have stayed asleep,] Cetus hissed. Its grotesque tail rose from the river, segmented and blooming open like a mechanical bloom. Compartments flared. A swarm of drones poured out—each armed with crackling electric blasters.
[You wouldn't have to relive this nightmare, Andromeda.]
They descended like wasps. But with a low hum, Andromeda activated his magnetic shield—pulling the drones into a dense metal sphere above his head. Then, with a single swing, he obliterated them—smashed flat by the mace before they could fire.
[History will not repeat itself today, Cetus.]
Cetus barely waited. More drones spilled from his tail like parasites.
[What was it your original knight always said before fighting someone stronger?] the whale sneered. [My creator always found it unbearably obnoxious.]
[Take the star's silence.] Andromeda stepped forward, blue flames gathering at his thrusters. [Ignite courage with every breath.]
[So pretentious!] Cetus roared. [*All that matters is power. I crushed you once, and I'll do it again! You can't hurt me, bug! You can't even matter!]
Water surged as Cetus swiped with a massive hand, sending up a curtain of spray. Blinded, Andromeda darted backward, just in time to see Cetus surge through the veil—its chest-mouth wide open—ready to devour him whole.
But Andromeda was faster.
Blue fire erupted from his chest-mounted thrusters—down Cetus' throat—before he shot upward, narrowly avoiding the maw.
Then came the moment no one could prepare for.
Cetus turned. And released the inferno from the opposite end.
A gout of flaming pressure vented out his tail, boiling the river beneath him.
"...What... what did he just do?" I asked, stunned.
[Their trait is devouring,] Andromeda answered flatly. [Anything. Their chest maw is a grinder—capable of breaking down irradiated waste without damage. If we're caught in it, our only option is to eject the limb and retreat.]
Cetus charged again.
Lifting an arm high, he slammed it down—only for Andromeda to sidestep and lunge, driving the spear upward into the joint between Cetus' shoulder and chest.
[GRAAH!]
Cetus roared, thrashing, slamming his arm into buildings and water in a frenzy to shake the spear loose. Andromeda held on, skidding across the water, refusing to let go.
With a twist of the handle, the spear expanded—venting steam as its shaft transformed into a pile-driver. It punched through, exploding out Cetus' back before Andromeda yanked it free and rocketed away.
Furious now, Cetus released another swarm of drones—this time raining orbs of paralyzing electricity.
Andromeda danced across the river, using thruster bursts and fire to skate and evade, but one orb connected—just one—striking his leg. Movement systems faltered for a fraction of a second.
It was all Cetus needed.
Mouth open wide again, Cetus surged forward. But Andromeda, catching the rhythm, slammed the mace into the lower jaw, knocking it upward—only to be rammed in the chest a second later and smashed through a stone bridge in a geyser of river water.
Steam hissed across the river as Andromeda rolled, exhaling fire, then rose again—thrusters blazing. He charged, bringing the mace down across Cetus' skull.
Again. Again.
Sparks erupted.
But Cetus answered every blow with raw mass. Tossing Andromeda across the river like a rag doll, each hit crushing more of his armour. One moment, he was a streak of blue light. The next, he was bouncing like debris across the water.
Andromeda burned, but Cetus crushed.
"End this already and claim her!" came a sharp command—Freyt's voice, leaking through the airwaves. Andromeda's systems flagged a transmission spike.
It was a signal—a beacon.
He turned in time to see Cetus' tail swing toward him. It slammed into his back, knocking him hard into the bank wall.
[Escaping now,] Andromeda snapped, launching himself away before the drones could catch up. [Following enemy signal.]
Down the river.
And there—waiting like sentries—stood a line of enemy knights. Dozens. Armed. Waiting.
[Seven active opponents in immediate radius, Pilot Firefly,] Andromeda warned, locking onto the nearest one. A knight with a massive Gatling gun. [Target the weakest first. Magnetic arming system online.]
He surged forward—pile-driver spear leading—and rammed it through the gunner. Then ascended sharply, tossing the mace like a meteor back at Cetus, forcing the whale to veer off.
Burning over the riverbank, Andromeda became a blur. Blue fire and magnetic energy swirling as he carved through the line of enemy knights like falling dominos.
Then—impact.
A newly arrived knight tackled him mid-air. Both crashed into the river again.
Spinning, Andromeda ripped the knight's head off, regained balance, then activated his magnetic shield.
All the weapons of the destroyed knights came flying toward him.
He caught the Gatling gun mid-air. Locked it. Swung around.
And opened fire.
Explosive rounds tore across the river, hammering into Cetus, who kept charging—unbothered at first. The rounds bounced off his armour, splashed harmlessly in the water.
But then—
Andromeda dodged under a massive swipe. Closed the gap to just three meters.
Fired again.
This time, the rounds punched through. Armor ruptured. Fire and metal scattered.
[URGH! DEFENSIVE PROCEDURES!] Cetus shrieked, stumbling as his arm was torn apart by the close-range bombardment.
Three drones rushed forward—creating an electric barrier between Cetus and the onslaught.
It held.
Barely.
Cetus looked down at the shredded wreckage of his limb. At the blue star still burning across the river. [Bug... cunt.]
Spending all the Gatling gun's ammunition Andromeda tossed it at the shield knocking the drones back a little before he exploded flames down the river incinerating the three drones and engulfing Cetus.
Sucking the blue fire into his maw Cetus filled his stomach before then firing the swaths of blue flame right back at Andromeda. Only for Andromeda to shrug it off while dragging his legs through the boiling river water.
Ambushing Andromeda from the side Cetus grabbed hold of Andromeda's arm trying to tug it into the shredding teeth of his grinder maw. Fighting back Andromeda blazed the thrusters in his arm trying to pull it free.
Giving a mental command Andromeda followed suite. [ejecting lefts arms protective armour.] Andromeda's unprotected arm slipped out of Cetus' hold and the whale tossed the arm guards into its maw sparking and cracking before being flattened and forced through the grinder and pooped out Cetus' tail as useless lumps of heat resistant metal.
Using the magnetic shield again Andromeda attached a cannon to his back before Cetus rammed right into him with its mouth. [get in already!] Cetus howled as water splashed and sprayed around us.
Holding the mouth open with both arms Andromeda's joints creaked and groaned while being pushed down the river. Resisting long enough for the cannon to properly join onto Andromeda's back and rotate over his shoulder before firing an explosive tank shell point blank into Cetus' twisting teeth.
Recoiling back the whale knight seemingly choked and gasped as fire erupted out its chest mouth before brokenly hanging open.
Reloading the shoulder mounted knight cannon immediately. Andromeda wasted no time putting shot after shot in and blasting Cetus away with powerful fiery blue explosion from the cannon.
Looking above Cetus as Andromeda continued to use all the shoulder cannons ammo from the deceased knight onto Cetus. I saw we had somehow made our way towards the palace while fighting along the river. This is where Sam and Marshal Excav should be, we can corner Cetus!
[raghh!! Enough!] spitting out the broken parts in his mouth Cetus repaired the damage rapidly. [engaging Constellation Drive!]
Immediately alerted Andromeda warned, [get out of their view, pilot!]
It was too late however. Cetus opened its mouth and a vacuum of sucking force drained the river and everything in it into Cetus' rapidly spinning maw including Andromeda even as he attempted to fly away with his burning teal wings.
The ruined knights, their weaponry, even the fishes in the lake all got shredded in Cetus' expanded mouth before flying out in the air from his tail as ribbons. The bricks of the river bank, the lampposts, there was no material that Cetus could not eat.
"Come on!!" Feeding Andromeda more spirit energy his thrusters blazed at their max capacity to try and fly out of the pull but it was like a blackhole was sucking us in with no escape.
Panic set in as we slowly got drawn in. Releasing all the nitrogen bombs? Only got devoured. Shooting the flamethrowers? Only got eaten. Having an idea I pulled out the railgun from Andromeda's shoulder and immediately started charging its chamber at full capacity. Something I had never done before.
[pilot, the railgun will detonate in a small nuclear blast if we do this!] Andromeda warned as the tug of the air around him got stronger. [redirecting power to do this is ill-advised! We will be caught in Cetus' grinder before it can charge enough to be effective!]
"Any other ideas then?!" I yelled back, barely able to hear him through the violent water and winds as well as the deafening thrust of Andromeda's own thrusters as the city got pulled past us.
[just one.] Andromeda reported. [I will briefly remove the limiter on our neural connection designed to keep you safe. It will rapidly drain you of all your spirit energy but we will escape. It will not be pleasant.]
Surprised to learn of this secret limiter I decided not to dwell on it. "Alright!" Disengaging the railgun's charge i aimed it backwards firing the freezing shots into Cetus' winding grinder trying to freeze it over but failing as each chilling shot got consumed along with the river water and wind. "I'm ready whenever you are!"
[affirmative. Disabling safety locks. Engaging emergency sequencing. Sequencing accepted. Removing pilot's energy sustainability safety limiter in 3... 2... 1!]
An invisible hand reached into my gut and i could feel the spirit energy not get drained out of me in streams from Andromeda like always, but in massive waves that sucked me of almost all the strength i had in mere seconds.
As a result Andromeda's teal thrusters increased in strength ten times, breaking the sound barrier instantly as we jetted down the river in a blur leaving a cascading trail of wind explosions that blew Cetus away before crashing through five glass buildings and fiercely sliding through half of a zoo's grounds before breaking through a final wall and crash landing in the butterfly exhibit.
Tinnitus screamed in my ears so violently I had to rip off my helmet, jamming both hands over my eardrums. The soundproofing inside Andromeda was usually excellent—military-grade even—but whatever we'd just done had been so loud it punched right through, deafening me instantly.
If that blast could break through this cockpit, it must've sounded like a nuclear bomb hit the city to everyone else.
Hell, maybe it had.
I was point-blank to the detonation and could still barely comprehend it.
[...lot! Pil...! Pilot, are you alright?!]
Andromeda's voice flickered back to life in fragments, leaking through the ringing silence. My hearing returned slowly—like rising out of a black ocean. Agony pulsed through my skull.
"No." I groaned, voice thin and shaking. I pulled my palms from my ears—slick and red. Blood. "My head feels like it's about to split in half."
[The medical nanobots are already repairing your ear canals,] Andromeda reported, calm despite the damage. [My apologies, Pilot. The cockpit's soundproofing appears to have been compromised during the battle with Cetus. The situation was critical. It had to be done. Requesting automatic control while you recover.]
"Granted," I croaked.
Andromeda slowly rose from the broken floor of the butterfly garden.
His joints trembled. The left leg rattled with each shift, twisted from multiple crashes. One arm was entirely gone. He glanced down.
[Running diagnostic... Two limbs inoperable. One missing, the other beyond emergency repair. Armor integrity at 16%. All thrusters cracked. System functionality holding at nominal capacity. Weapons check... only flamethrowers available. Low fuel. Suboptimal. Pilot, we are out of this fight. Safer to remain hidden until the conflict ends.]
Tinnitus still flared like a siren in my skull, but I forced a breath through the pain. "Get us to the castle. We can find repairs there."
"You wouldn't make it halfway in that condition," said a voice.
Andromeda twisted, slow and cautious, to see the familiar patched-together frame of a knight—weather-worn, agricultural armour modified into something battle-hardened.
Yarrick Kastimo.
"Even a guy with a rocket launcher could take you out right now," he said, brushing away a few butterflies perched on his shoulders. He wasn't here to fight. "That bang across the city... I thought I'd missed one. Then I saw you crash here after crawling out from the underground. Surprised the hell out of me."
[Missed one of what?] Andromeda asked for me. My voice was still shaking from the concussion.
"Bombs."
Yarrick's knight stepped aside and kicked over a metal bin. The clang echoed, and five dormant, disarmed nuclear warheads rolled into the open.
Andromeda scanned them—confirmed. Real. Deadly.
"My cousin likes the food here," Yarrick said, as if that explained it. "There's a kebab place on Swetin Street. Real hole-in-the-wall. Couldn't have the Nightmare Cult or Freyt blowing it—and the whole city—just to send a message."
My chest tightened. I already knew the message.
"War."
Yarrick's knight nodded once. "Just in case anyone still thought Freiheit wasn't serious. Even after what happened on the palace-world."
He turned to leave.
[Wait. What message are we supposed to give?]
"If anyone asks, I was never here," Yarrick called back. "But the boss has a message for you. 'You owe him one now. He expects a return on his investment.' Think of this as goodwill from a future employer."
"Wait—!" I called out, trying to make sense of it.
But Yarrick's knight shimmered. Cloaking engaged. He vanished from sight, his heavy footsteps fading fast.
"Why did you help..."
[His knight's signal is gone. I cannot track him,] Andromeda said.
I stared at the five warheads lying in the dirt of the butterfly garden. Just lying there like forgotten trash. "How the hell do we explain those?"
Andromeda answered quickly, detailing a plan. Scandalous. Risky. But with how bad our condition was, and the debt we now owed, there wasn't much choice. We'd make it seem like we just stumbled on them.
It was dirty, but survivable.
I slumped back, groaning. "Guess we just sit tight until the fighting's over."
Andromeda opened the cockpit, and for the first time I felt how hot it had gotten inside. The sudden rush of cold air was shocking—welcome.
The butterfly garden, untouched by all the chaos outside, was still cool. Peaceful. Quiet, save for the distant rumbles of war far away. A surreal contrast to everything we'd just been through.
I let my head rest back against the seat. For a moment, it felt like everything could just stop. The soft flutter of wings brushed the air.
"Maybe... just for a minute... I could sleep."