Zephyr is still pursuing whatever Nil has become. What was a cat with a submachine gun attached to its tail has become, in a matter of days, a giant mischievous entity.
What is most shocking, aside from the sheer magnitude of his target, is the ground Zephyr is walking on.
He is used to being suspended in the air, afraid of falling to his demise. Walking on ground he knows won't break on him is a surreal change of pace. At last, stepping on faulty platforms will no longer be a concern in this journey. The worries now are well over 500 feet tall and marching forward with an appetite for carnage.
Zephyr is glad to have one pound in less to carry on his shoulder. He can fully focus on keeping track of the monstrosity.
Eylventh slowly guides him by gliding very close to the blacksmith. It is scared of what could happen if that thing finds out the puny insects are pursuing it, despite the warning. It could change its mind and stomp them without trouble.
While Eylventh thinks of Nil the goliath, Urth on the other hand thinks about Melvin.
With the few things he remembers about Melvin Whitewood, the bullfrog concludes that this monster wants the doctor dead.
If it's true that the memory wipe worked 100% on both Melvin and Florence, then they wouldn't be able to possess the ability to hold on to anger and frustration. However, from surviving the experience, Urth believes the memory isn't completely deleted. Rather, it's tucked in a corner of the grey matter, to never be touched again. If that is true, then the deformations and whatever caused Nil to become this powerful may have forced a shift in the brain that brought the memories back.
Urth stresses itself with the idea of bringing Florence's memories back in Eylventh. Knowing the fact that they have different bodies, it wouldn't be the same to remember the good times, as well as the traumatic events that led them there.
It doesn't take long before something else takes importance in the bucket list, as Zephyr stops and Eylventh comes back near them.
The beast stopped abruptly, looking to its left.
"What... What in the world is it thinking?" Wonders Zephyr.
The beast then roars and starts screaming these explanations to what seems to be...
Riley J. Smith!
So the doctor did make it to the bottom as well? This means the assassin as well. They might have a way out of this.
Urth's theory is confirmed.
This thing remembered Melvin through the mutation.
The bullfrog hops towards the beast, croaking endlessly at it.
"What the-!? No, Urth wait!!" Screams Zephyr.
The blacksmith can't stop the frog from croaking, which catches the attention of the beast for a split second. Eylventh doesn't follow him, simply goes in a spot, and hides behinds its trembling wings.
Before Melvin can turn around and confront the foolish little frog, another set of steps that shakes the last floor can be heard.
It's fast pace and sounds like metal clanging furiously on every steps.
Another version of the metallic madness appears in front of them.
It seems about as broken as the previous model and also much more ancient. The type of metal used for its structure is rigid. Whereas the model Alister and Riley fought could make you guess about which type of fiber, minerals and materials were used, this is iron stacked and fused together.
A far less gracious counterpart.
It only boasts four legs, a similar impressive number of turrets, but it also smells of gasoline. The mouth is tainted in black stains, clearly experienced with flamethrowers compared to the laser cannon from the improvement. Little turrets in the down parts of its jaws are burnt down to a crisp.
"I didn't want to use this combat model. It is not suited for travelling here. Seems, however, that I won't have a choice, with you lurking around." Proclaims the ghostly voice of the woman to the wretched thing in front of it.
She no longer seems to be glitched out of her mind, which makes communication much easier.
Zephyr, having no experience with this voice inside everyone's head, starts to fall back, shocked.
Her opponent is not impressed, vomiting a slow, disgustingly cocky laugh.
"PaThEtIc tOy. kIlL yOu, lIkE tHe rEsT!!"
Alister and Riley stands there, in fear-stricken awe as to what they are about to witness.
Two behemoths are going to kill each other.
They size the strength of one another for a few seconds. However, as soon as the machine aims her turrets at the opponent, she gets knocked around by a sudden right hook she didn't predict the speed of.
The beast couldn't wait for the feasting and goes to town with its new toy. The gigantic fist of Nil is so strong that they can see the wind being tossed around by the trajectory of the swing.
Not only does it create a massive gap on the robot's left surface, it also manages to make it fly around, crashing on the wall on the party's side with all of its weight.
The entire underground is shaking at the scope of this battle.
Nil then makes the same corrupted growling he performed some time ago, punching his chest with its fists like a primate. His lack of fear towards the machine of equal footing echoes throughout the pit.
The fireflies re-emerge from within the walls. They show interest in what will happen next, lightning up the battlefield and illuminating the whole domain. With Zephyr now able to see the sky above him, 30 000 feet away from the actual ground, he notices the assassin and the scientist. To think he would be happy to see both at the beginning of this journey was inconceivable. However, with everything they have faced as a team so far, he begins to categorize them as friendly faces, well at least the only two faces he can mildly trust.
This explains why he screams their name out loud with a big smile on his face.
"Hey! Alister! Riley! You guys are alive!"
Seeing the kid this cheerful is another shock to the assassin after all the shocking revelations he experienced in the last 10 minutes. Riley keeps his joy of seeing an ally to himself.
"AH! Go fuck yourself kid! I thought you were dead!"
"I can't tell if you're genuinely happy to see me or not!" Responds the blacksmith.
"Doesn't matter right now! Focus!" Screams Alister as he points towards the roaring behemoth.
The machine easily shakes off the concussion, even with the new scar to display in its collection. It was never programmed to come up with symptoms of sickness.
Whoever is the lady inside the mech, she is not to be underestimated.
The two titans then prepare their turrets, ready to shoot at each other with immense strength and bullets of different caliber.
The monster's bigger and more scattered rounds are thrown first. The war machine follows by barely a quarter of a second. With the battlefield's lights being lit up thanks to the many fireflies guttered in the area, we can all see the rounds leaving to pierce the enemies' tightly sealed skins.
However, Nil's bullets are abnormal, like rocks flying at the speed of sound towards the desired target, while the traditional rounds are going in an out in a matter of a milliseconds.
The mech is going down for the head, giving its own circuits and mechanisms some paybacks for the damage dealt. However, the more the battle of wits and endurance is going on, the more the rocks are penetrating the machine's body and staying there, creating small craters of their own, while the bullets are barely scratching the surface of this gooey creature.
"The hell with you scum!" Outrages the female voice.
Then, without giving a single warning, as the bullets are already getting through the robot's protective armor, the titan suddenly dashes and gives another powerful right swing, bending the wind its way once again with the sole objective to hit contact with the machine's head.
He's focusing on the same spot he hit the mech to decapitate it.
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice..."
The robot makes herself fall on purpose to the ground by moving its two legs from the left. With this swift maneuverer, she dodges by a centimeter Nil's fist. He might be stronger, but she's used to being outsmarted in the strength department.
With her first leg, she finds the perfect opening to deliver a shot faster than the normal human's eyesight could handle. Alister was able to follow that movement. The rest of them, even Eylventh, couldn't see her leg moving at all, only the aftermath of her attack.
It's fast, strong and clean, hitting right in the area that feels like a rib cage. This sends Nil stunting in the air, breaking its bones as it is spewing this hideous liquid that resembles blood, before he crashes on the ground with a violent impact.
The impact is so devastating that they all fall to the ground, unable to predict the damage of his weight on the garden and loosing balance.
"What the hell am I watching!?" Asks Alister, bewildered.
"Alister! Remain focus!" Screams back the scientist.
This is a good call from Riley.
The mech is preparing a wretched scream again.