Steel and Mana

Chapter 157 – Bonehead

It was a gloomy day, with constant heavy snowing, making Kalash overly excited for some reason. He had been patrolling the walls since morning, making his wife sigh when she brought him a cup of hot tea to warm him up a little. 

"You should come in... even your soldiers do it in rotation!"

"I can feel it..." He whispered, taking the mug and sipping on it, "Today is going to be the day! I am sure of it."

"..."

Louise didn't question his husband's words, looking towards the snow-covered valley. He may not be the best when it comes to acting diplomatically or be someone who would understand the complex economic consequences of edicts coming from the capital city, but when it came to war, he had a knack for it. Whenever he was this agitated, like a guardian dog sniffing out a predator who was stalking his flock, it was a sure sign there would be a fight.

True enough, right before nightfall, the balloon, hovering about a hundred meters above the castle, rang the alarms before the people could notice the approaching enemy. It was another massive beast, slowly heading along the Pass, sometimes releasing a low, reverberating grunt, letting its hot breath linger in the air for a long time.

Climbing into the Lion, Kalash quickly activated its core and was excited to examine his first prey in his new armored 'suit.' Focusing and zooming in, he could see that it was a four-legged creature just as big as the first ones, if not bigger. It was cautiously sauntering, taking one step at a time, looking heavy and also giving the impression he knew about the mines, which was... alarming.

If his son would be present, Kalash was sure he would immediately give it a weird name, and he wasn't wrong about it. The 'thing' coming through was similar to an ankylosaurus, which would most likely be a word nobody else could understand but Leon. The only difference was that this version was way bigger. Much, much more powerful and covered with more bone-plated armor like a massive knight.

"Watch out, okay?" Louise shouted while the booming voice of the Lion echoed within the Pass in answer.

"I'll be fine. For Avalon!" He roared as the machine began taking its strides, heading into battle. It was equipped with its newest weapons, giving Kalash confidence, and his departure was accompanied by the rallying cries of the soldiers staying on the walls.

On his right, he had the giant sword attached, while on his left, the finished, massive tower shield was ready for its first sortie, donning the emblem of Avalon in the Lion's chosen blue and golden colors. The approaching monster quickly noticed him and stopped in place. Standing up on its hind legs, it was watching the other lumbering monster coming towards him, giving out some low growls as if it was trying to communicate with Kalash without receiving an answer.

When its attempts at calling towards Kalash were left unanswered, with a deep roar, it shook its massive head, stomping down, getting ready to fight. The beast's head was covered by a shiny, bone helmet that was originally growing from the top of its skull, covering all of its head down to its neck. His whole body, be it its back or its stomach, had multiple bone-white natural armors growing around its vital organs, while its scales, those which could be seen, were faded and dark brown, betraying the old age of the creature. Smelling the air and the weirdness of its opponent, it began swinging its tail, hitting the ground with the giant wrecking ball attached to it, throwing snow and earth everywhere. For all intents and purposes, it was trying to warn the approaching walker to stop and get back, but Kalash ignored it, deciding that anything coming to endanger his castle must die.

"Stupid bastard." He chuckled, slowing down his steps and finally stopping at mid-range, activating the cannons that were previously folded down, resting on his back. As the mechanisms came to life, they were lifted right up to his shoulder, locking in place while he focused his eyes on his prey. When the formations activated, following his will, the monster felt the power gathering and, with its head kept low, began charging Kalash, stopping to try and scare his enemy. "Too late!"

With his eyes kept on its target, feeling the machine as feeling his own body, he could naturally adapt to the change, firing his cannons in tandem. The first burning fireball whistled through the air like a rocket, hitting the beast on its back, making it grow and moan, stumbling in its steps. It gave enough time for the second one to arrive and blast it again, this time making the monster cry out in pain.

From his cockpit, Kalash could see that the spells hurt him despite its armored body. Even though it wasn't yet cracked like the very first monster's shell, the beast for sure had to suffer internal injuries from the shockwave and the heat.

"There is more!" He fired again, this time simultaneously, forcing the beast to drop down, groaning and moaning. "Huh?"

Before he could fire again, he suddenly noticed the second one was approaching him, already rushing forward at a great speed. Was it the first one's mate? Well, it didn't matter. That thing was like an enraged bull, trampling through the snow, its head being kept down, aiming to rush down Kalash, headbutting his Lion, wanting to force him to its back.

"Come, you big bastard!" He roared, "This is how I like it, face-to-face!"

Slamming the shield down before him, he made his mech dig its heels in, prepared for the impact that came only a moment later. Despite its size, the second monster was surprisingly fast, jumping over the last few meters and headbutting the middle of the shield. The resulting gong was like the sound of an ancient bell, ringing for the first time in eons as the force made Kalash groan, accompanied by the Lion's frame being pushed backward by multiple meters. Looking on from the walls, it seemed like a brawl between a man and a bull and not a fight of ten-meter-tall monsters, making Kalash's men cheer and shout, calling for their commander.

"It hurt, didn't it?" Kalash laughed, his right hand already raised as the Lion brought its weapon down, cracking it against the neck of the beast, making it roar in pain, but he was unable to decapitate it. Still, its hot, red blood sprayed out while its bones cracked and multiple scales on it split open from the impact. "Stay where you are!" Kalash shouted, not missing the fact the first one was getting back to its feet, wanting to run at him and tag-team their sturdy enemy.

The shoulder-mounted cannons turned, aiming at the monster and firing again, hitting it, hammering it back to the ground with blood spraying everywhere as one of its front legs got blown off by the amplified explosion.

"Want to break through my wall? Thought you could do it? Well, think again!" 

The mech's mechanical voice was like the roar of an otherworldy executioner as he brought down the sword, perfectly hitting the same spot as before. This time, there was a loud crack and a deep growl before the beast fell to its belly, dead. Looking down, its head was half-off, hanging on by the lower part of its muscles while the spine itself was shattered, giving it a painful death.

"Now, go, follow your... whatever!" Kalash grinned as he walked forward, stepping on the corpse of the fresh kill, raising his shield as the other tried smashing him with its bony tail, shooting it off like a rocket as a last resort. The way it detached its own tail surprised Kalash, but his reflexes were still just as sharp as ever. When it made the impact, he could feel searing pain travel through his left hand, just as if he had been hit by a hammer in real life. Still, it didn't have enough force to make him falter or consider the pain he was feeling, so he struck down the already injured second beast. He had to do it two times with his massive sword before it finally breathed its last, his head almost cut off just like the other one. "Aaaah, yes! This does feel awesome!"

...

....

......

"You ruined a shield and a sword..." I mumbled back in the castle, watching the stupid, grinning face of my dad while I tried not to twitch my eyelids.

"I offed two bastards! Look at them and all those juicy raw materials!" He said it again, pointing towards the two corpses that were being harvested by my people before the castle's walls, right next to the powered-down Lion. "It was pretty easy to drag them back with this machine; you should be thanking me!"

"I can see that." I grunted, looking towards the Pass and seeing the trail of blood he had left behind slowly being covered by the fresh snow.

I was simply a bit unhappy because we would have to make repairs so soon... but I couldn't fault him. These two were tough, although their scales or bones were not as tough as the ice-breathing 'Godzilla' we faced. This means Dad could have bombarded them with the cannons long enough to break them and keep the shield and sword intact.

"Fuck it." I mumbled, smiling, "It is good data. Both the shield and the sword are going to be scrapped and rebuilt from scratch; the dents on the former almost cracked it into two, so there is no way to fix it!"

"The sword doesn't hold up any better." He added, and sure enough, it had multiple chips and cracks running through it. "We need better materials, son! Tougher and stronger alloys."

"Yeah, we do. We will install two cannon hands on the Lion while we take these and replace them. Poor Merlin is going to be annoyed... he just finished this shield, equipping it with our anti-magic formation, and you used it..."

"As a shield!" He laughed, making me chuckle because he was a hundred percent right.

"Anyway, for now, don't rush out to meet the enemy and use the cannons, okay? How's the energy of the Lion?"

"Fine. I didn't feel tired at all." He nodded, crossing his arms, looking at the mech with pride, "I like this. Very much so, my son. This was the best gift you could have given me throughout your life!"

"Really now? Better than your grandkids?" I asked, teasing him, making Dad look around, scanning the walls before leaning in and whispering.

"Don't tell your mother!"

"Pfft... idiot..." I grunted, rolling my eyes and making both of us laugh.