The main gate of the castle lasted no longer than its predecessor. With a concentrated push of Aeron's strength, the black wood and obsidian shattered inward, revealing a vast, cavernous entry hall. Purple tapestries depicting Nyxra's conquests hung from the high walls, and the polished marble floor reflected the ghostly light of arcane torches like a dark mirror.
The sound of destruction alerted the rest of the castle. From the shadows and side corridors, dozens of elite soldiers from the Umbraclaw Clan emerged, their armor more ornate, their claws sharper. And at the front of them, blocking the way to the grand staircase leading to the throne room, stood an imposing figure.
It wasn't Nyxra.It was a humanoid panther, larger and more muscular than the others, with scars marking her face and black armor accented with silver. In her hands, she held a pair of serrated battle axes that hummed with dark energy."I am Kaelen, the Queen's Right Claw," she growled, her voice a restrained thunder. "You will go no further. Your invasion ends here.""A sub-sub-boss! I love it!" Kaien exclaimed, cracking his neck.
Aeron analyzed the commander.[THREAT ANALYSIS: KAELEN, UMBRACLAW CHAMPION. THREAT LEVEL: HIGH. RECOMMENDATION: GROUP COMBAT.]He prepared for battle, but Zaya's voice stopped him."Aeron, no."He turned to her."The target is Nyxra," she said, eyes focused and serious. "She's the anchor. Every second we waste here is another second she has to prepare, lay traps, or worse. We handle the kitty with the axes. You go.""She's strong. You might not—" Aeron began, hesitation in his voice."Hey, big guy," Mika chimed in, giving a light punch to his metal leg. "We're not those amateurs you found in the forest anymore. We can handle this. Trust us."Lyren nodded, already with an arrow drawn. "Go. Complete the mission. We'll hold the line."
Aeron looked at his team. The determination in their faces was unwavering. They were no longer his protégés—they were his partners. Trusting them was the tactically correct decision. He nodded. "Don't die.""You too!" Kaien winked.
Without another word, Aeron surged forward. He ran along the edge of the hall, using his speed and mass to plow through the lesser soldiers. Kaelen, the commander, roared in fury and tried to intercept him, but Lyren fired an arrow that exploded into a net of energy, ensnaring her at a crucial moment."Your fight is with us!" Zaya shouted, launching her drone and firing a beam of energy.
Aeron didn't look back. He heard the clash of metal on metal, his friends' battle cries, and the commander's enraged snarls. He trusted them. He charged up the grand staircase, two steps at a time, his metal body an unstoppable battering ram against any soldier foolish enough to block his path.
He burst through the throne room doors at the top of the staircase.
The room was vast, its vaulted ceiling seeming to swallow the light. Dark stained-glass windows depicted a panther devouring the moon. In the center, on a throne carved from a single block of obsidian, sat her.
Nyxra Vellshade.
She was exactly as the images described, but infinitely more intimidating in person. The humanoid panther was slender, but every muscle in her body was drawn tight like a bowstring. Her armor of black leather and metal clung to her like a second skin, and the purple runes across her body glowed with latent power. She didn't look surprised. Merely… bored.
She rose from the throne, a fluid and silent movement. In her hands, two curved, dark daggers materialized from thin air."So the noisy golem finally arrives," she said, her voice a silky, dangerous purr. "I must admit, your entrance was more dramatic than most. Most die at the gates.""Your reign of terror ends today, Nyxra," Aeron declared, his metal sword forming from his arm.
Nyxra laughed, a low, guttural sound."Reign? Terror? Darling, I call it order. Efficiency. The strong survive. It's the law of nature—the law of shadows. A law that you, with all your clanking metal, clearly fail to comprehend."She began to circle him, her movements hypnotic."Tell me, machine. Why come to die on my throne? What do you gain? Glory? Riches? Or are you just the lapdog of some pathetic god of light?"
"I fight for those who cannot fight. To free this world from Neth'Rakul's grip," Aeron replied, holding his stance."Ah, the great Devourer," Nyxra sighed, as if speaking of an inconvenient relative. "He gave me power. Power to build an empire where the weak are culled and the strong thrive. You'd destroy that for… sentiment? What a waste of a good chassis."
Without further warning, she attacked.
She didn't run; she simply vanished and reappeared right in front of Aeron, a blur of shadow and fury. Her daggers flashed, striking from multiple angles at once. Aeron raised his sword to block, but the strikes were too fast, too many.
A dagger scratched across his chestplate, leaving a deep groove that sparked. Another struck the joint of his shoulder, causing a jarring creak. He counterattacked with a heavy swing of his sword, but Nyxra flowed around the strike like smoke—his massive blade cutting nothing but air.
She was everywhere. Her blows weren't strong enough to pierce his main armor, but she was a master at targeting weak points: joints, sensors, the seams between metal plates. For every heavy blow Aeron swung and missed, he received a dozen precise, frustrating slashes in return.
"You're slow, machine!" she mocked, leaping back from a strike that shattered the marble floor. "Strong, sure. Durable, absolutely. But slow and predictable. You're a hammer trying to hit a fly."
A notification flashed in Aeron's HUD.[DAMAGE TO JOINTS: 12%. COMBAT EFFICIENCY REDUCED.]
He was being taken apart—piece by piece. Brute force wasn't working. He needed a new strategy, and fast…Or his first clash with a Commander would also be his last.