Ruler Of Iron And Flesh

Burt drove faster than he's ever driven before, "I've bet getting radio calls from Irigia that they couldn't wait any longer. The Trostan Kingdom moved much faster than expected, and war has already broken out for about a week now. I wanted to wake you up, and I tried, but you were so deep in meditation. You were heavy too; I couldn't move ya."

"That's okay; I ended up breaking through, although, I don't feel any stronger or tougher physically."

They ran over a huge bump and bounced out of their seats.

Burt shrugged, "maybe moving into the behemoth level doesn't change you physically so much as it does with an ability or power? Do you notice anything different?"

Inian looked down at his hand, 'Death's hand.'

"I guess I'll find out when we get to the front lines. It should only take us a day, right?"

Burt nodded, "the Ranid forces are allied to us to try and repel the Trostan Kingdom. If we lose, the Trostan Kingdom will have more power than the current Kotus Empire."

"Alright, let's do this then!"

They zipped along the open plains. Their goal was to go towards the center of the Ranid Kingdom because that's where the bulk of the fighting was.

The pair ended up driving by Tulum. It looked like a ghost town compared to when they were last there.

Inian looked down at the vehicle's floor, Tulum was the first time that he really let his wild side take over him a little bit.

Burt looked over at Inian, "what's done in the past is done. Leave it buried there."

Inian nodded but couldn't bring himself to look at Tulum.

Once they got past Tulum, they noticed traces of different battles. Bodies littered the edges of the road, and many craters and holes were around.

If there were any buildings, they looked like they were shot up. Even a few mechas were lying around, entirely out of commission.

They drove on and began to hear the sounds of battle raging on. Nearly as soon as they heard the sounds, they could see soldiers in exosuits flying around in the sky. A few of Ranid's coin users had wings and were fighting hand to hand up in the sky. There were even a few of Irigia's model one automatons up in the air.

The Trostan Kingdom's colors reflected off the exosuit soldiers. They outnumbered Irigia's and Ranid's forces at least two to one.

"This doesn't look too good," Burt said. Inian nodded in agreeance.

Burt drove a long way behind Irigia's line as to not get caught in the fighting, and he made his way to where the command tent would be.

They were stopped by numerous version three exosuit soldiers when they were by the tent.

"Stand down; it's Burt...and Inian." Said one of the guards. He spat out Inian's name with a bit of disgust.

Burt nodded his thanks, and Inian tried to ignore the guard. They got out of the vehicle and moved into the tent. Queen Irigia was debating with several commanders.

"Your majesty, the Western side is falling apart. The Ranid Kingdom has been trying to hold it, but their military is extremely weak, they will soon fall."

The Queen pounded her fist on the table, "we don't HAVE any more forces to spare. All our men are fighting in the middle and Eastern fronts."

She looked up and noticed Inian and Burt standing there.

Her brow furrowed together, "did you do it Inian? Did you breakthrough?"

He nodded, and she sighed as a great weight was taken off her shoulders, "good. I need you to go and aid the Ranid Kingdom's forces on the Western front. They are falling apart and could use your help."

"I'll go help them, but first tell me, is Janae safe? The Trostan Kingdom is her home nation after all, so is she okay?"

The Queen looked off to the side, "she is safe...she is a little sick, so she is staying back in Preah. There is no need for you to worry Inian."

Inian heaved a sigh of relief, "thank you. Now, I'm going."

He ran out of the tent and sprouted his wings. It barely took him a moment to reach the Western Front of the fighting, and only then could he see how bad the Ranid Kingdom had it.

They had a few bright coin users, but other than that, they had no mechas or exosuits — just regular soldiers.

The Trostan Kingdom's forces were plowing through their lines, with their gigantic mechas and many exosuits.

Inian dived down towards one of the mechas and extended his arm.

He shot straight through it, and the force of his movement wrecked the mecha beyond repair. It fell to the ground in an enormous *CRASH*

The numerous soldiers near him all turned their attention towards him. Exosuit soldiers began to fly up to meet Inian in the air.

They fired their weapons but did no damage to him.

Inian grabbed one of the soldiers to toss him to the ground but felt something strange shoot through him.

The soldier he grabbed was already dead in his hands. 'How? He was alive just a second ago?'

Inian looked around him, and it wasn't just that soldier. But any exosuit soldier in the sky within one hundred meters of him fell to the ground.

Every single human on the ground or in the air felt cold when they looked at Inian. They felt as if their own throats were trying to strangle them.

A mecha fired a rocket towards Inian. Inian created a wall of ice and stopped it in its tracks. He launched a lava ball, and it melted as soon as it landed on it.

A retreat call sounded from the Trostan Kingdom's forces. They decided to flee after witnessing Inian's actions on the battlefield.

However, there was no cheering on the Ranid Kingdom's side when Inian landed on the ground.

"It's the demon!" One screamed, and all of Ranid's forces ran away as well.

Inian looked at his hand, 'I didn't even need to touch them, but I killed them?'