Three Blades Against Bronze

4E 201 | Early Sun's Dusk | Sixty Days Since Arrival

They survived the first strike because all three chose different directions.

Mei froze exposed conduits. Katana detonated weak points. Tsukihana moved through openings too narrow for the machines to defend. The alliance had no trust, but it developed rhythm.

They cracked the hammer Colossus's furnace with sudden cold. The rupture should have destroyed it.

Instead, the machine absorbed the frost.

Blue-white fire filled its chest. Ice armored the hammer.

"You made it stronger," Katana shouted.

"I improved it," Mei replied.

The workshop awakened around them. Dwarven spiders dropped from wall compartments. Spheres rolled from alcoves and unfolded into soldiers.

Katana climbed toward a control bridge while Tsukihana and Mei drew the Colossi away.

"Can you disable the smaller machines?" Tsukihana called.

"Probably!"

Mei glanced upward. "She uses that word too often."

The four-armed Colossus turned its crossbow toward Katana.

The bolt destroyed the control panel.

Every automaton froze.

Then their eyes flared brighter.

Aggression protocols took the workshop.

Katana looked down through the smoke. "I may have made it worse."