With the Feilian Beringal, the Thundering Mephis, and the Tempest Mephis all defeated, only three combat-capable Echoes remained in the legion.
"Not looking good. The remaining three are all at a disadvantage too."
"We'll need to drill team coordination with the Echoes after this."
Neither Rover showed any frustration watching the battle deteriorate. The more problems that surfaced now, the better. That was the whole point: find out what needed fixing.
Of the three survivors, the Lampylumen Myriad had already slipped into stealth. This Overlord Class Echo was a born assassin, capable of turning invisible, generating extreme cold, low-altitude flight, and fighting with forelimbs permanently sheathed in razor-sharp ice blades. Taking it down in the first place had required a bit of strategy.
One Rover played bait. The other handled the time-stop.
Freeze it in place, then burst it down in a single combo.
Against the Geochelone, though, the Lampylumen Myriad couldn't find purchase. It circled behind the Calamity Class using stealth, but its strikes couldn't breach those defenses.
The moment the Geochelone sensed an assassin lurking nearby...
"GRROOOOOOH!!"
Extreme cold gathered around its ice-clad limbs, blue light pulsing once before all that frigid energy poured into the earth. Ice spikes erupted from the ground in every direction, a forest of frozen barbs covering the entire area.
"SHREEEEE!!"
The invisible assassin screamed.
The Lampylumen Myriad was invisible, not intangible.
Massive area-of-effect attacks were its fatal weakness.
And assassin-type Echoes were glass cannons by nature. Multiple ice spikes punched through its body, and it was done.
But right on cue, purple fire rained from the sky.
"SCRAAAAW!!" x3
The Overlord Class Impermanence Heron shrieked, all three heads unleashing torrents of violet flame toward the Geochelone like a bomber dropping incendiaries. The ground turned to hellscape.
It had held back earlier because the Lampylumen Myriad was in the blast zone and it hadn't wanted to hit a friendly.
But now the friendly was dead.
Open season.
Impermanence Heron: "Sacrifice your teammates, ascend to godhood! I just sacrificed four of them, so I'm definitely taking down this overgrown turtle!"
Bell-Borne Geochelone: "Youth. So naive."
Both Rovers: "Yeah... that bird doesn't stand a chance."
Harsh as it sounded, the Impermanence Heron had drawn the worst possible matchup. It was completely outclassed with zero room for an upset.
Every point in the Heron's build was sunk into ranged offense.
The Geochelone also happened to be the most ranged-focused Tacet Discord around.
The difference was that one had also maximized its defenses.
While the other traded durability for flight and mobility.
So...
Wow. Ground turret versus fighter jet.
The spectacle was magnificent, at least. Both combatants kept their distance and traded volleys of ranged devastation. Purple flame collided with blue ice, painting the sky in bruised violet and glacial blue.
But as an Overlord Class, the Heron's stats fell short across the board. Its purple fire landed on the Geochelone and managed to melt some surface ice. That was it.
Every single one of the Geochelone's shots, on the other hand, packed enough force to blow the bird out of the sky.
At first the Heron's superior mobility kept it alive, weaving between attacks. But the Geochelone's ranged arsenal wasn't limited to raw power per shot. The volume was nightmarish. His earlier comparison needed a correction.
The Bell-Borne Geochelone wasn't a ground turret.
It was a fortress. A bristling war-citadel with cannon barrels sprouting from every surface and armor thick enough to shrug off anything thrown at it. No single fighter jet was ever going to take that down.
One ice lance found its mark, and the doomed bird spiraled out of the sky.
The sole Echo left standing on the battlefield was the Lightcrusher, a half-step Overlord at best.
"No point continuing."
"We've got enough data."
Neither Rover was cruel enough to send their own Echo on a suicide run for nothing. A crimson portal tore open in front of the Lightcrusher, ready to pull it back.
But...
"ROAR!"
The Lightcrusher dodged the portal entirely.
"Huh? Big guy, what are you doing?! Get back here!" Abby blinked, then shouted at the beast.
A low, resolute growl was the only answer.
"What? You... you..."
"Abby, what did it say?" Both Rovers spoke in unison.
"It says it's fighting to the end."
Abby's gaze drifted back toward the battlefield.
There stood the Lightcrusher, alone. The entire Echo legion had fallen. Before it loomed a Calamity Class Tacet Discord two full tiers above it, a gap so vast it might as well have been infinite.
And the Lightcrusher let loose the fiercest roar it had.
"ROAAAAAAAR!!"
"?!!"
For one electric moment, the Bell-Borne Geochelone, a Calamity Class titan, felt something rolling off this mere Elite Class beast. A pressure that defied its rank. The bearing of something proud beyond measure, regal beyond question.
The Lightcrusher was nowhere near its equal in strength.
But it would never run.
That pride was woven into the creature's very bones.
The Geochelone answered with a rumble of its own.
"GRROOOH!!"
As if to say: Come, then.
Golden light blazed across the Lightcrusher's four paws. It roared and charged head-on, but it didn't run across the ground, which was a ruin of ice spikes that would only slow it down.
It ran on hardened light, bounding through midair.
Those tiger-like claws burned incandescent.
This wasn't the charge of a creature seeking death against an unbeatable foe.
This was the charge of a creature that knew it was outmatched and chose to fight anyway.
Not a death wish. An attack. A challenge.
The Geochelone accepted.
The twin ice fangs jutting from its jaw like frozen sabers gathered the most terrifying cold they'd produced all battle.
For the first time since the fight began, the Bell-Borne Geochelone moved from its position and charged to meet the Lightcrusher head-on.
"GROAAAAR!!"
"ROAAAAR!!"
The instant they collided...
Golden claws met frozen fangs.
Crack. Shhk.
The Lightcrusher's body was run clean through.
One of the Geochelone's ice fangs shattered.
Then the Lightcrusher dissolved, its form breaking apart into Frequency that streamed back into both Rovers' terminals. It would need to sleep for a while.
"Well fought. You were incredible out there."
"Leave the rest to us."
They inspected the Lightcrusher's Frequency signature in their terminals with care, and only after confirming there was no irreversible damage did they let out a breath of relief. Then, in perfect synchrony, twin blades sang free of their sheaths. Originite: Type II, drawn and ready.
"Our turn."
And from within the terminals, the battered remnants of the Echo legion roared as one: "Go get 'em! Wreck that thing!"