Two massive fireballs blasted from the cannons on his shoulders, one left and one right, sealing off Iron Valiant's avenues of escape.
Facing the howling fireballs, Iron Valiant stayed cool. Its body blurred into an afterimage—rather than retreat, it surged forward, slipping cleanly through the gap between the two shots.
Armarouge's pupils tightened. He hadn't expected that kind of speed!
He instantly switched moves, shoving both hands forward and hurling a burst of Psychic.
The invisible shockwave was on Iron Valiant in a heartbeat. This time, Iron Valiant didn't bull through; it cut a sharp turn midair, tapped lightly off the rock wall with both feet, and vaulted up, easily dodging the attack.
Boom!
The Psychic slammed into empty ground, punching a small crater into the floor.
Armarouge missed and snapped his head up to reacquire the target—only to see a figure dropping from above with a ripping whistle through the air.
Iron Valiant!
Using the jump height, it had seized the superior angle. Its right lightblade rose high and then came scything down at Armarouge below.
Armarouge blanched. In a panic, he could only cross his forearms to guard while flooding his armor with energy.
Clang!
A crash louder than any previous impact cracked across the cavern. Iron Valiant's blade landed square on Armarouge's armored arms.
A brute force he couldn't resist hammered down. It felt like a mountain had smashed his forearms—his bones groaned. The ground beneath his feet fissured, and he dropped to one knee, completely out of his own control.
H–he couldn't even take a single move!
Terror flooded Armarouge's chest. Mustering everything he had, he barely kept from being felled outright.
Iron Valiant didn't stop after the hit. Its left blade, silent and sly, darted in at Armarouge's flank from a wicked angle—if it landed, he'd be crippled if not killed.
At the brink, survival instinct erupted. Armarouge bellowed, his armor flaring as he blasted out a burst of energy that shoved Iron Valiant half a step back. Using that sliver of space, he tumbled and scrambled away to open distance.
He staggered to his feet, panting, staring at the deep gouge carved into his arm plates. All the swagger drained from his face, leaving only the shock of narrowly surviving.
Too strong…
This guy was way too strong!
He… wasn't a match at all!
Once the thought surfaced, it wouldn't go away. His fighting spirit collapsed. He didn't want to keep going—he wanted to live.
He whipped around to the two bosses who'd been spectating the whole time and cried out with everything he had:
"Boss! Second! Help me!"
His plea rang raw and loud, echoing in the cavern. He cut a sorry figure—half-kneeling, armor scored with a stark slash, all his former menace gone.
But even then, the two "bosses" didn't move right away. Iron Crown and Iron Leaves glanced at each other, an odd glint in both their eyes.
"So weak," Iron Leaves said blandly—whether mockery or simple fact was hard to tell.
Iron Crown nodded agreement.
Hearing that, Armarouge's heart lurched. He nearly fainted on the spot, afraid they'd deem him useless and discard him. He was overthinking. They looked down on his strength, sure—but they still chose to step in. Weak as he was, he was handy: with him around, recruiting flunkies and other errands could be delegated. Keeping him was more useful than tossing him.
"Disobey, and die."
Iron Crown finally moved. Its body rose into a hover, locking onto Iron Valiant. Power began to gather, heavy and sharp.
Seeing the opponent at last about to act, Iron Valiant snapped into a guarded stance. It shook off the sting in its arms from the earlier block and muttered under its breath, "Why does this feel familiar…"
It remembered a similar dogpile back in Area Zero—everyone trying to "recruit" it.
No time to reminisce. Iron Crown fired.
A thick silver-white beam lanced out from the center of its body, screaming straight at Iron Valiant.
Cannon Beam!
Too fast—and far stronger than any lackey's attack. Iron Valiant crossed both lightblades to guard.
Boom!
The beam hammered the blades dead-on. The impact shattered the stone at Iron Valiant's feet by inches; it skated backward several meters, gouging two deep tracks across the rock floor.
When the beam faded, Iron Valiant was down on one knee, breathing hard. The glow on its blades had dimmed noticeably, and scorch marks marred its frame.
Injured—off a single move.
Its foe, Iron Crown, was on a different level.
"Boss is mighty!"
Revived by the sight, Armarouge scrambled to a safer spot and started hollering. The other underlings cheered too—so the new boss was this strong! That arrogant swordsman hadn't even withstood one strike!
Iron Crown ignored the flattery. The assault continued. Its body flickered out and reappeared at Iron Valiant's flank, conjuring two blades of pure energy out of thin air.
Photon Blades!
Sirens blared in Iron Valiant's head. It forced its battered body up and whipped its blades to meet them.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
A torrent of metallic clashes rattled the cavern. Iron Crown's speed was astonishing; the twin Photon Blades became a storm of afterimages, slashing from all directions. Iron Valiant could only turtle up and defend.
Already injured, it buckled under the ferocity, movements slowing—several times it nearly took a killing stroke. It was completely suppressed. The scales had tipped hard to Iron Crown's side.
As the openings on Iron Valiant grew and it was about to give, Armarouge and the rest craned their necks, eager to witness the takedown.
Bound to the floor, Tinkaton grew frantic. She didn't know this rescuer, but he was in danger for her sake; she couldn't watch her lifeline get cut down. She strained against the psychic bands—no use. The telekinetic restraints were rock-solid.
At that knife-edge moment, the situation flipped again.
A sword-arc wreathed in violet flame streaked out of a side tunnel without warning—not at the beleaguered Iron Valiant, but straight for Iron Crown.
Its barrage halted for an instant. The energy in that slash prickled on its sensors—if it didn't dodge, even felling Iron Valiant would mean taking a hit itself. In a snap decision, it abandoned the chase and vaulted back, letting the strike pass.
Remorse Blade!
The purple sword-light carved a charred line in the stone. Iron Valiant used the gap to leap away and open distance—precious breathing room.
"Who now?"
Armarouge's voice cracked. What was today, rescue day?
All eyes swung to the passage. A figure stepped from the dark, twin swords in hand, violet fire crawling over its frame. Humanoid lines, fitted armor, arm guards unfurling into two blades burning with grudge-flame—
Ceruledge.
Of course, it was Jason in a new form. Seeing Iron Valiant take a beating, he'd stopped spectating and picked a fast, hard-hitting shape to break in and save him.
Tinkaton stared, even more baffled. What day was this? First a strange "robot," now a flaming swordsman—both here to save her? She didn't know either of them.
Iron Crown looked from Ceruledge to Iron Valiant, a flicker of surprise in its eyes. "Another one," it said, as flat as ever. "Popular day."
Iron Leaves stepped forward to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with it—ready to team up.
Jason, as Ceruledge, didn't speak. He crossed both swords over his chest; the violet fire roared higher. He could feel it—these two were strong.
Across the way, Iron Valiant steadied and raised its blades again. Hurt, but unbowed.
A two-on-two was about to explode. The air went taut.
At that exact moment, Armarouge—who had been cowering in the back—got a bright idea. With Iron Crown and Iron Leaves together, nobody was walking out with Tinkaton today. Perfect time to show his worth: grab the hostage and force surrender. Two birds with one stone—earn credit with the bosses and avoid those terrifying foes.
He spun and charged the bound Tinkaton, an evil grin spreading. "Heh. Think if I use you to threaten them they'll stand still and let me hit them?"
Tinkaton blinked, wrong-footed by the sudden move. "But… I don't even know them," she said honestly.
Armarouge chuckled, not buying it. "Tell that to a fool. They'd risk their lives for a stranger?"
Convinced she was just being stubborn, he cut the chatter and raised a hand for a chopping blow to knock her out for easy leverage—
—and froze as a chill crawled up his back. The feeling of being marked—ice from spine to skin.
He turned on reflex. A grinning Gengar had appeared behind him at some point, half-melted into the shadows, blood-red eyes boring in. The instant he looked, Gengar moved—its body snapped into a black bolt, a blistering sneak attack straight for the center of his back.
A shout came with the strike, sharp and urgent: "Don't you dare touch Big Sis!"
Gast's voice.
Armarouge felt the murderous wind at his back and had no time to mount a real defense—only a desperate twist on instinct.
Rip!
The strike missed his heart, but still raked a deep claw mark across his backplate. Inky Ghost-type energy seeped in through the wound, sending a shiver through him.
"What the hell—!"
Shocked and furious, Armarouge whipped a Fire Punch backward. But Gast was faster. After landing the blow, it refused to stick around—its body melted into the ground's shadow, and the punch swished empty air, leaving only a charred fist-print in the stone.
A heartbeat later, Gast erupted from the shadow at Armarouge's left, mouth already spitting a fully-formed Shadow Ball. Armarouge gasped and yanked up an arm to block.
Boom!
The Shadow Ball burst against his armor, the impact blasting him back step after stumbling step.
This thing…!
Armarouge's heart lurched. The Gengar that had popped out of nowhere wasn't just tricky—it was absurdly strong. And his pride—fire—barely seemed to faze it at all.
~~~
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