Around him, clockwork monstrosities whirred and clanked, their metal limbs flailing with surprising agility.
One moment she was here, the next there, a living embodiment of the "teleport behind you" meme.
Honestly, saving the world was so inconvenient.
But as another robot lunged, its gears grinding ominously, he felt a familiar warmth spreading through his limbs.
The System, bless its lazy, automated heart, was doing its thing.
A notification flashed before his eyes: Assimilated: Enhanced Targeting Systems.
Suddenly, the world seemed to slow.
The robot's movements, previously a blur, became predictable, almost sluggish.
He sidestepped with an ease that surprised even him, yawned, and flicked a finger.
A pulse of pure energy erupted from his fingertips, vaporizing the machine in a shower of sparks.
Nice, he thought.
Maybe this won't be so bad after all.
They fought their way through the mechanical horde, a chaotic ballet of laziness and lethal efficiency.
Finally, they burst into the Assembly Hall, the grand doors swinging open with a dramatic WHOOSH that felt decidedly over-the-top.
Inside, representatives from the various races of the land sat in stunned silence, the remnants of shattered illusions scattered around them.
Elion and Avril had meticulously gathered evidence of Renault Ironheart Ironheart's machinations, his whispers of dissent and carefully orchestrated acts of sabotage that fueled the growing tension between the races.
"Dude's a total jerk." Avril, ever the professional, laid out their findings, presenting a meticulously crafted case against Ironheart. But Renault Ironheart, ever the prepared supervillain, had a counter-narrative ready.
He spun a tale of Elven treachery and human manipulation, twisting their evidence to his advantage.
Some of the representatives, swayed by his rhetoric or perhaps just intimidated by his giant robot looming outside, began to waver.
Just as the tide seemed to be turning against them, Renault Ironheart activated his trump card.
The Source Annihilation Mech, previously dormant, hummed to life, its metallic shell glowing with an ominous purple light.
A wave of raw power washed over the hall, silencing the murmurs of dissent.
Others huddled beneath their tables, muttering prayers to whichever deity they thought might be listening.
Elion, however, simply yawned.
"Really? This again?" he mumbled, then mentally nudged his System. Do something, will ya?
The System, ever obedient, sprang into action.
A shimmering portal opened beside Elion, and a creature unlike any seen before stepped out.
It was… a cat.
A very large, very fluffy, very void-like cat.
Simultaneously, other defenses materialized: shimmering energy shields, floating cannons that hummed with latent power, and a frankly excessive number of laser pointers that danced playfully across the mech's surface.
Avril, seizing the opportunity, unleashed a volley of teleporting arrows, each one aimed at a critical joint or vulnerable system on the colossal machine.
The mech shuddered, sparks flying from its newly acquired punctures.
The battle had begun.
" Renault Ironheart shrieked, his voice distorted by the mech"s speakers. Elion, scratching the Void Cat behind the ears, shrugged.
"We'll see." The Void Cat purred, a low rumble that shook the very foundations of the hall. Its eyes, two swirling galaxies of nothingness, fixed on the mech, and it opened its mouth…
It was ancient, sacred, and stuffily humid.
Elion hated it on sight.
He shuffled in behind Avril, hood half-drawn over his silver-flecked eyes, hands stuffed lazily into the sleeves of his robe.
His system pinged politely in his mind.
System Notification: Daily Task Completed: — Show Up Where Dramatic Things Are Happening.
+200 EXP.
Nice.
The hall was already a chaos smoothie.
Elves in gleaming moonsteel cloaks argued with dwarves bristling with piston-axes.
Beastkin emissaries growled about treaty violations while human warlords tried to sell "peak innovation opportunities. " Typical continental diplomacy. And in the middle of it all stood Reynault Ironheart, in his full absurd overkill.
Twelve feet tall in his servo-enhanced exosuit, smoke puffing from every joint like a particularly dramatic kettle, he looked like someone had poured a warcrime into a meat blender made of chrome.
His mechanical eye rotated with a hiss as Elion approached, scanning.
Calculating.
For a heartbeat, time held its breath.
Ironheart unleashed a blast of null-energy from his arm-cannon—designed to erase magic, matter, even memories.
Elion blinked, and his system went full drama mode.
New Skill Unlocked: Contravoid Skin
Temporary passive—immune to anti-source energy for 12 seconds.
Like a boss.
Use it wisely, slacker.
With zero enthusiasm and maximum style, Elion raised one hand.
The beam splashed off him like lukewarm dishwater.
"Rude," he muttered. While the rest of the delegates screamed and scattered, Elion lazily stepped forward.
His system devoured the residual energy, converting it to a trickle of source-level juice.
Delicious.
He lifted a finger.
but forgot something important. "And what"s that, you glitch-born puppet? Elion grinned.
"That some of us were designed to win. With a flick of his hand, he released the accumulated devour-talent—summoned a jagged glyph made from pure anti-tech sigils, a direct counter to Ironheart"s mech-systems. The titan shrieked as his armor twitched—froze—overheated.
Avril fired.
One teleport-arrow.
One.
It hit the exposed weak point Elion had casually revealed by leaning, yes leaning to one side during their chat.
Flash.
Boom.
Impact like a thunder god faceplanting.
Ironheart's suit detonated in a cascade of pretty blue sparks, smoke rising like a defeated god's final prayer.
He collapsed hard enough to crack the crystalline floor.
Silence.
Smoke curling skyward.
Delegates stared.
Someone coughed.
Elion dusted off his robes, casually sidestepping a sizzling arm cable.
"So…" he said to the Stunned Continental Council™, "Anyone else wanna vote for automated tyranny or can we, like, wrap this up? I skipped my nap for this. Avril snickered. "And they said politics wasn"t exciting." As the terrified delegates tripped over themselves to re-align allegiances, Elion's system pinged again. Boss Defeated: Reynault Ironheart
Absorbed Trait: Overdrive Planning (Passive)
Trait Modified: Lazy Schemer (now with 23% more actual scheming)
Elion grimaced. "Ugh. Work." But his eyes gleamed under the hood.
The Lazy Archon had made his move.
And destiny?
Well… it just got officially outmaneuvered.