Vexara vanished first.
She blinked through space to an open patch of ground in the distance. The two foreclaws that had just touched Ethan were already being invaded by white lightning, the current crawling in fast.
A red beam shot from behind her mask.
Hiss.
Without hesitation, Vexara severed both small claws at the roots.
The cut-off claws hit the ground, white lightning still snapping and dancing inside them. Almost immediately, metallic fluid poured from her shoulders and reshaped itself, molding into two complete mechanical claws to replace what she’d lost.
Vexara flexed the new claws once.
"This kid’s pretty damn sneaky."
She turned her head toward the flame shield.
"Fine, then my guard can enjoy you first."
The burrowing cannon’s strike skimmed past under Ethan’s arm.
Luckily, most of his body was still inside Ignara’s shield—only the hand he’d extended took the shock. Ethan yanked his arm back in time and retreated into the middle of the group.
A close call, but he was fine.
The mechanical insect swarm immediately launched a full attack on the shield.
Stingers, energy beams, and tiny drill-bits slammed into the fire surface from every direction, the impacts merging into one constant, grinding roar.
But inside the shield, nobody looked especially worried.
Those little mechanical bugs only rippled the surface a bit.
Pure tickle damage.
What really pulled everyone’s attention was the spot where Vexara had been.
An egg had been left behind.
Its shell was flawlessly smooth—no seams, no organic patterns—completely metallic.
A mechanical egg.
Ethan stared at it for a few seconds.
Then the swarm—still attacking—abruptly stopped.
Not a single insect kept pressing the shield.
In perfect unison, they pivoted and retreated back down into the holes they’d come from, vanishing underground until not one remained.
Vexara hovered in the air far away, silently admiring the mechanical egg on the ground.
Her two freshly rebuilt claws stretched toward Ignara’s flame shield, impatient—almost like she was inviting them to come open it themselves.
"Well?" Her voice was thick with anticipation. "Not coming?"
"Don’t make me wait too long."
With that, Vexara stopped paying attention to the surface.
She turned and stepped into the spatial wormhole behind her.
One step later, she was deep beneath the Ironhive Kingdom.
The mechanical armor covering her body melted down fast.
Silver-gray liquid slid up along her skin, all of it threading back into the spines along her back. Vexara returned to her original dinosaur form, spread her short foreclaws, and looked around with satisfaction.
In the underground space, mechanical eggs were lined up in neat rows.
The lines stretched all the way to the edge of sight.
Every egg was moving faintly.
All Vexara had to do was send the signal, and everything sleeping inside would hatch at once.
On the surface, there was no sun or moon to mark time.
The sky remained the same dull gray.
Time itself felt meaningless here.
They waited around the mechanical egg for a while, but no new attack came.
Just as everyone’s patience started to fray, the shell twitched.
Crack.
The mechanical egg rocked gently.
A faint tapping sounded from within, like something inside was about to break free at any moment.
Ethan stood at the front, eyes locked on the egg.
A white energy sphere gradually took shape in his hand.
If anything looked even slightly off, he’d send the attack straight inside.
The egg’s shaking intensified.
It rolled from its base onto its side, then righted itself again. A thin seam split the metal surface, widening slowly.
Under everyone’s curious stares, the mechanical egg opened.
The shell separated to the left and right.
Inside was... empty.
Nothing.
Empty?
Ethan didn’t dismiss the energy sphere.
Vexara wouldn’t do something this pointless.
They’d barely interacted, but Ethan had already confirmed one thing: the Ironhive Queen was smart.
An "empty" egg had to be doing something else.
A sharp cracking sound exploded overhead.
Ka-chk!
Something punched a gap into the top of Ignara’s flame shield.
A miniature Vexara squeezed through the breach and dropped into the middle of the group.
She was only the size of a normal child, almost identical to Vexara in shape, with dense spines along her back.
After landing, the little Vexara kept swiveling her head around.
She looked at Ethan, then Andona, Kaelira, and everyone else nearby. Drool poured from her mouth, quickly pooling on the ground.
But she couldn’t decide who to eat first.
She stood in the center, turning in circles.
That hesitation—she looked like she had a serious case of decision paralysis.
Ethan and the others went rigid.
When had she come out of the egg?
When had she slipped past everyone’s senses, climbed to the top of the shield, and cracked the defense from the outside?
No one saw any of it.
And there was no time to keep thinking.
The sensation of being targeted dropped onto them all at once.
The little Vexara stopped spinning.
Her head snapped between targets, back and forth—like the moment anyone moved first, she’d pounce and hunt them down.
The energy sphere in Ethan’s palm faded, tucked away.
For safety, he’d obviously prepared more than one.
A second white energy sphere had already been shifted to his chest, ready to be fed into his body at any moment.
The little Vexara’s nose twitched.
She’d detected the energy inside Ethan.
Her target was decided instantly.
You. It’s you.
The little Vexara opened her mouth.
As she charged, that mouth expanded grotesquely, rows upon rows of sharp teeth unfolding deeper and deeper inside. Her body vanished from where she’d stood, leaving only dust kicked up by the sudden rush of air.
The air around them changed in the same instant.
Several small War Machines unfolded from different angles, weapon systems locking onto Ethan to help the little Vexara seal off every escape route.
The moment the group saw her disappear, everyone unleashed their power.
Golden holy light, ice, flame, and purple-red energy surged toward Ethan’s side, trying to pull him out before the hit landed.
But the little Vexara was already in front of him.
That huge mouth snapped shut from above.
Even Ethan hadn’t managed to catch her movement in advance.
Thankfully, the energy sphere at his chest had been primed the whole time.
He lifted a hand and pressed the white energy into his body.
Lightning spread.
Before the little Vexara’s teeth could fully close, Ethan’s body broke down completely, dissolving into countless black grains that scattered out from both sides of the jaws.
Crunch!
Her teeth bit into nothing.
Seeing Ethan successfully escape, everyone’s strained expressions started to loosen—
And then the space ahead shifted again.
The little Vexara was gone from where she’d been.
She appeared in front of them without a sound, as if she’d always been there.
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