Ruler Of Iron And Flesh

Alaric's head was spinning; the amount of effort he put into building his new nation was suddenly spiraling and collapsing in on itself. His mech and airship pilots didn't have nearly the experience the pilots had from the opposing nations. His automatons were weak compared to the stronger soldiers wearing more powerful exosuits, despite their great numbers.

From his vantage point in the air, he could see his human forces starting to flee from the back of his lines. Their morale dropped after the destruction that devastated them in the first wave and seeing the remaining forces charging forward.

Alaric gritted his teeth, he needed to do something, and he needed to do it quickly. After a quick ȧssessment, he could see that most of his forces were still intact, and their behemoth airship was damaged but still flying.

He needed to tap into that power that he's been accumulating. After the fight with his father, his own power grew exponentially, and he needed to unleash it immediately.

He fought through that growing fear in his heart, knowing that the power of the king corrupted his father, and he didn't want it to corrupt him.

Alaric raced towards the thousands of enemy forces charging towards his army, and he could hear his mother's voice in his head as if she were still here with him, "Alaric, you won't be corrupted, because, unlike your father, you care about hurting those around you. Use your strength; it was the one good gift your father gave you."

He steeled himself and felt the power begin to flow out of him.

Time slowed down, and the forces in front of him ran as if they were running through water.

Alaric flew just above the enemy forces and raised his arms to the sky. The clouds darkened, and thunder could be heard in the distance. The wind picked up and could feel the slow buildup of his rage.

Alaric thought about his father's power, his mother's love, his friends' determination, and his people's hope. Then, with a roar, the entire battlefield rumbled into chaos.

Giant tornadoes roared down from the sky, picking up debris and smaller mechas and airships and tossing them into the enemies. Lightning shot down from the sky, striking any foe in their way.

Alaric felt the pain in his gut, he never has used so much power at once, and it was reaching his limit, but it was destroying and holding off the remaining enemy forces. He needed to hold them as long as possible to give his troops the best chance to finish off the first wave and regroup for the remaining enemies.

Suddenly, a bright gold streak flew from the ground, striking Alaric in the ċhėst, the force of the blow made him cough up blood, and he shot like a cannon towards the ground. He landed hard, forming a crater dozens of meters wide.

"Alaric!" He heard and looked up from the ground he was on.

Flying down was Queen Irigia, in a bright gold exosuit; dozens of bright coins were built into the armor, and Alaric prepped himself for a fight.

"Don't you like this?" The Queen asked, "this is the pinnacle of human technology. Something that comes from the remaining minds of humanity. The forces that fight against the monster threat! That fight against you! This is the primordial exosuit! The machine that will destroy you for good!"

Alaric quickly launched a fireball at her, hoping to catch her off guard before she stopped her spiel.

"Your abilities aren't going to work this time, Alaric; we've constantly studied the reversal technique you used against Inian and have put it in this suit. Not ONE of your powers will work against me!" A blade extended from her arm, crackling with lightning, and she launched herself at Alaric.

He only bȧrėly dodged under the swipe at his head and threw a fist at her ribcage, but the strength and speed in this suit were incomparable to the previous models.

She twisted and backhanded him. He bȧrėly got his arm up in time and was pushed back a dozen meters. .

His mind was a train racing forward. He couldn't use his powers directly against her, but he could manipulate the environment, and he had his physical abilities. He looked up, the storm he caused was dwindling as his focus was on the Queen now, and the enemy forces started recovering from getting battered around.

He needed to finish this quickly, or else his army would be destroyed.

Alaric flew into the air, grabbing large chunks of debris with him, and Irigia followed, her suit quickly catching up.

Alaric was quickly transmuting and making automatons while flying at breakneck speed. Not a task he's done before, but he quickly got a couple ready, and they flew around to flank the Queen.

Irigia stopped in the air, and on her left arm, a gun extended out, and she shot at the two automatons, completely tearing them up.

Alaric smiled; they did their task of distracting the Queen as he dived straight down towards her head. He was about to take her head off as a helmet extended over her head.

The Queen giggled as if she had gone crazy and pointed to one of the coins on her arm, "automatic defense system, reacts more quickly than even I can."

She charged at Alaric as he hastily created a sword from the remaining debris and met her blade head-on.

He could feel the electricity race up his arm, causing severe pain. Alaric winced but pushed through it, knocking the blade aside and stabbing her armor.

Apparently, the sheer force wasn't going to work, and he grimaced from the small scratch that he made. Another coin glowed, it must've been for defense.

The only part of her body left unprotected now was her head, and she knew it. She kept her arms up as she continued slashing with the blade on her arm.

Suddenly the gun retracted, and the second blade appeared, and this one was blazing blue.

Despite Alaric's resistance to the elements, he could feel the heat, and he did NOT want to experience what it was like getting stabbed with that.

He pulled away and Irigia quickly followed taunting him.

"Your father never ran away! Despite being the vilest creature on this planet! All your actions point to you being a coward who hasn't gotten his way Alaric!"

Alaric landed on the ground and faced the charging Irigia, "sometimes falling back is more strategy than cowardice."

Queen Irigia tried to make sense of his words when she heard the sudden roar of the Behemoth airship's cannon.