Death, Devotion, Dissonance

Evin was starting to feel shameful, as the fight was completely out of his control now. He could sometimes hear the golem's footsteps running towards him, which would immediately be met with a loud bang from the Voice's accelerator. It really was shameful of him to think that he was the one who was in combat. If he couldn't even see past the dust, how was he even supposed to say he was fighting?

But eventually, the dust settled down, revealing the golem's figure ten steps away from him. Its body was riddled with damages, both big and small, with the most noticeable one being its left hand, which was missing two fingers and a thumb.

"You are… not right…" its speech had gotten slower. "So young… yet so strong… A Blessed… of the Princess?"

"What are you talking about?" Evin asked.

"A Servant… of the Princess of Denial… of the kingdom Von…" the golem continued to speak nonsense.

In the history of Alvox, there wasn't a single country named Von, and there was no one named the Princess of Denial as far as Evin was aware of. Even if there was a princess like that, Evin should've been aware of it, since it also mentioned Von massacring the rest of the world.

"You're saying nonsense!"

"It's not nonsense… Why does… no one remember? … The world once stood at the beck of the Princess… The supreme Hex, who can defy death… and create life… on the palm of her hands… Why does no one remember? … Even those rats… remember the Princess…"

<Don't worry about its words,> the Voice said. <We have different things to worry about. I'll be honest with you. I don't think I'll be able to defeat this one so easily. I understand now that when the king mentioned that the humanoids' strength lies in their adaptability and their ability to predict the future; he meant that the golem would gradually become stronger during the fight. I managed to destroy its hand when it got close the first time, but since then, it's been getting harder and harder to hit it successfully.>

<Should we run then?>

<Let's try one thing, and then we can give up. But I need you to maintain one spell on the golem, and I'll need to borrow your body for it to work, is that alright? Oh also, I won't be able to block its attacks using the accelerator or an explosion, so it might be a bit dangerous.>

Evin was unwilling, but he was also unwilling to give up yet. This was his chance to prove to himself that he wasn't completely useless. <What spell do you need me to maintain?>

<Don't worry, it's nothing complicated. When I run in, increase the golems weight by however many times as you can. I can trust you with this much, right?>

<Yes. Be careful of letting the ketricite robe touch the accelerator.>

<I won't be using it. It's too hard to worry about it brushing against the accelerator when I'm trying to move the accelerator around.>

Evin nodded inside his head and ceded control to the Voice. He was always afraid of doing this, but he knew that he could retake control at any moment, so he wasn't that worried. It was, after all, his body.

The Voice did not waste time and immediately ran towards the golem. It didn't use any Apdenul energies, so Evin's movements did not look so mind-blowing, but it still wasn't something that could be replicated by just anyone. The way it dodged the golem's spells demanded respect and awe, making Evin wonder if it really was his body or not.

And as the Voice got close to the golem, it shot bullets at it nonstop, not even bothering to be frugal with the metal it had carved up. Evin expected to focus fire on its neck, to maybe end the battle sooner, but the Voice was aiming at anything that looked easy enough to destroy, such as the thinner parts of the golem's joints, forcing the enemy to focus on the defense of its whole body, instead of only its neck.

With this, Evin understood that it planned to settle the fight as soon as possible.

'I need to use the World of Weight spell in the most crucial moment,' Evin decided.

It would've been fine if he even used it now, but Evin knew that the golem's surroundings would begin disrupting the Qanatohm energies after a minute, so Evin needed to provide assistance in a timely manner… but he couldn't just stand still and do nothing, as the accelerator must also be under the threat of getting destroyed.

Putting his mind to it, Evin began observing the battle in earnest, searching for something that he could use to his advantage. Currently, the golem was mostly using spells to protect its body, while using its body to try and hit Evin; while the Voice was mostly using its dexterity to dodge out on the golem's attacks, while using magic to try to damage its body.

'The golem's managing to protect its whole body well enough, but its definitely most focused on its neck. Even if it has to take the shot using its hands, if it meant protecting the neck, it would do it…' Evin realized, and then expectantly waited for a moment where the golem needed to raise its hands to defend against the Voice's attacks.

Then, as the golem tried to swing a punch at Evin's body, the Voice, who always dodged its attacks previously, suddenly grabbed the arm, put Evin's back to the golem's chest, and pulled over the golem using its inertia of its punch. Evin realized that this was his chance.

As the golem fell on its back, with its hands dangling uselessly above its head, the Voice's accelerator was already aimed at its neck. And when the golem tried to bring its hands down to block the bullet, Evin used the all the mana available to him to make the golem's hands as heavy as possible.

The sudden change in weight made it impossible for the golem to move according to its wishes, allowing the bullet to it its neck at almost point-blank range.

But a piece of rock materializing at the last second to reduce the bullet's strength allowed the golem a final chance at life. But it was still in a precarious state, with Evin holding its hands above its neck, and the Voice preparing another bullet to finish the job.

In a desperate struggle, the golem suddenly grabbed at Evin's knee, and using all its power, crushed Evin's knees.

"AAAGGH!" A bloodcurdling scream came from Evin's mouth as he felt his bones shattering under the metal hands. "MY LEGS!"

<Keep the spell working! You must keep the spell working or we'll both die!> the Voice's panicked words resounded in his head.

A breeze of calmness came through Evin's mind and in a split second, he was able to know that the accelerator was about to shoot its bullet in one and a half seconds, and that the golem's hands were about to overpower Evin's fading spell to block the bullet. If it survived this shot, Evin's chances of surviving would immediately become zero.

Right after the thoughts appeared in Evin's head, they were replaced by the endless pain his shattered bones were sending to his head. But even with pain filling the entirety of his brain, somehow, Evin was able to restrengthen the weight increasing spell on the golem's body, not allowing it to block the final shot the Voice had prepared for it.

A loud bang erupted inside the room the next second, and a metal head rolled on the ground, clanking against the floor. It murmured something before it finally died, but Evin didn't have the luxury of listening to its last words.

"Ah… Shit… it hurts so fucking much… Ahhh…"

Sweat soaking his whole body, Evin holding his feet right above the crushed part, but not daring to touch the wound with his hands or even look at it directly. Something told him that if he looked at it, he'd faint from the sight and die inside this room because of the shock, the pain, and the blood loss.

<Take a deep breath! You're right to not look at your feet for now. Just keep taking deep breaths!> the Voice was saying in the back of his mind.

Evin did his best to obey its instructions, feeling hopeful that it was just joking about the part of not looking at his legs. "I-it's not that bad, r-right?!" he shouted out, not even bothering to talk through his mind.

<It isn't. It isn't. You just need to keep breathing. Deep, loong breaths. It helps with the pain. Trust me.>

But an unfamiliar voice interrupted his desperate moment. "It looks pretty fucked, but you'll probably live. I don't know how well you'll be walking after this, though…"

Evin looked at the source of the Voice and saw an Easterner coming from the door that the golem was guarding.