Thirteen percent of my Knights are instantly destroyed. But as each Knight falls, two more take its place.

The two-meter-tall Knights do resemble their namesake, if you were to squint a little. Humanoid. Armored. Metal plates and sharp angles. Their weaponry hidden within.

In comparison, the strongest anti-personnel golems the empire has are a touch taller, bulkier, and their weapons are proudly displayed. Sharp claws are shattering my drones' energy shields and shredding their superalloys like tin.

Seventy-four.

More concerned with preventing the golems from aiding the emperor, my Knights avoid using their warpdrives to dodge as much as possible, thus having to bear the direct assault of the army of golems. A nice peek into how my arsenal would fare against the magical. A Knight is sheared in two and stomped into scrap.

A continues particle beam attack, supplemented by some railgun shots, finally breaks through a barrier and damages a golem's casing enough to expose the core. The dark sphere is hit by a dart and cracks. Yup, just cracks. Are these golems aware of the force that dart just exerted? Thankfully, damaging the core even so minimally is enough to destabilize the enchantments and disable the golem. Yippee...

One for roughly a thousand. All in the span of eight seconds. At least only a few have managed to teleport inside the inner section so far.

I let my Knights fight the losing battle, while I focus on my observer.

The trio of dwarves teleported deeper in quick succession, skipping some doors and appearing in a spacious hall. Iffir's smiling face greets them, the emperor guarded close by his most trusted. Mara glares at their enemies, the other golems around them already engaging. Something flickers under Iffir's feet. As Tiff raises a hand, the smile is wiped away from the emperor's face.

Sixty-three.

Harrn blurs. A zigzaggy path of demolished golems streaks its way for the emperor. Only a faceted shield stops the fighter's destructive advance, his strike leaving a spiderweb crack. A spike of stone impacts Harrn's head and sends him flying to the side in a vicious spin.

A few rings on Iffir's hands shatter into pieces, his expression growing darker and darker. He points at Tiff and Nilla. A mess of earth spikes pierces the intended targets, only for the two dwarves to melt away into nothingness.

Harrn strikes the shield again, already recovered. Nilla batters away the deluge of golems that try to suppress her father.

Iffir begins to strain with effort.

More and more golems get destroyed by Harrn's powerful strikes. But his attacks fail to damage Mara's barrier enough to destroy it.

Mara is reinforcing their barrier, repairing it after each attack. With a flick of their hands, the golem starts indiscriminately filling the space with spikes made out of stone, hoping to catch the two elusive mages.

Iffir staggers. Mara loses focus for a moment, their gaze shifting to the heaving dwarf. Harrn's fist breaks through the faceted barrier. Mara's gaze lifts. The barrier is dispelled. The golem and Harrn clash with incredible speed. Harrn is blown away, destroying spikes and pushing aside golems with his body, hitting the enchanted wall with a resounding clang.

As Mara brings up their shield again, Harrn rises. His form becomes hazy. As soon as another group of golems jump on him. A deluge of 'Harrn's' start emerging from the original, each identical dwarf streaking for a golem.

While the clones are not as strong as the real deal, they start to visibly damage the golems. Much more effective than my poor Knights.

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When Harrn clashes against Mara's shield again, it shatters into pieces. He passes through the fading magic, heading for the recovering Iffir, only for Mara to grapple him, the two tumbling away.

An immense force drops down on the emperor. A bubble envelops his form, stopping the spell without even getting damaged. Iffir attempts another teleport, but Tiff stops him, leaving the emperor stunned once more.

Iffir snarls a command, his words getting lost in the cacophony.

Fifty-one.

Harrn grabs Mara's arm, his grip crushing the appendage. A violent jerk frees it from their body. Mara appears next to Iffir. A stone cube slams on top of Harrn, getting split into pieces. The unscathed fighter blurs through the dust. He hits Mara's side. The impact sends them right into Iffir's shield. As Mara tries to stabilize and counterattack, Harrn kicks against their knee, breaking the leg. Mara collapses, clawing at Harrn on the way down. Harrn grabs the desperate attack and stomps on their remaining leg. Still holding their arm, the dwarf throws the golem to the side. When they hit the wall, an invisible force presses them against it, restraining them.

Harrn rears back a strike against Iffir's last defense. The emperor struggles to teleport again and again, looking ragged, terrified.

A scream fills the space. Nilla's magic is shrugged away. A whole Mara appears next to Harrn, their missing appendages replaced by smooth stone. They strike down at him. Harrn tries to block. The golem's attack pulverizes the bones in his right arm.

Dwarf and golem are locked in a flurry of strikes. Every attempt at defense damages his body more and more, but not nearly as much as Mara's strongest hit. Every attempt at offense is met by a barrier of faceted magic covering the golem's form. Harrn does not get discouraged, hitting again and again, the broken arm not even an inconvenience, temporarily held together by tempering.

Harrn's attacks start to lose their sharpness. Mara's barrier appears to lose its power.

Twenty-two.

A sharp crack causes Mara to twist their head to an exposed Iffir. The crown atop the emperor's head lifts up and crumples into a ball.

Twenty-one.

Mara kicks Harrn's chest. They appear next to Iffir. They strike at the air. After a bang, something barrels through the debris strewn around the space and hits the wall. Tiff reenters existence at the point of the impact, revealing Nilla hovering near the ceiling of the hall, too.

Mara buries their hand into his head. The fake Tiff unravels into ribbons. The real dwarf dashes away clumsily, trying to escape. Mara rushes after him, destroying Nilla's obstructing constructs without even a moment of delay.

Seven.

Harrn intercepts the charging golem. Tiff flicks his gaze to the emperor. Iffir's spell fails. He collapses to the ground, his expression resigned.

Zero.

Every golem jerks to a stop. Mara's stone appendages lose cohesion, slowly crumbling. They fail to block a strike. Harrn stops his attack just before it hits. The Harrn clones disappear into nothingness.

Mara falls. Their eyes start to search for something, confused.

Harrn turns to the emperor. He starts taking slow steps toward him. Nilla is supporting a slumped Tiff. Both observe their father, unmoving.

When Harrn reaches the kneeling dwarf and looks down at him, Iffir looks up. Harrn's eyes widen, attempting a strike at the other dwarf's jaw. Tiff is too exhausted to react in time.

Iffir folds forward. A small trickle of blood spilling out of a hole near his left eye. A thin spike of stone is piercing his brain.

Harrn stares at the dead dwarf. He kneels down, taking a hold of him. Gently, he lays him down, closing Iffir's eyes. He watches the fallen emperor for a few moments and then rises to his feet.

When a quick glance at his children confirms they are safe, he turns to Mara.

The golem is frantically looking around, soft sounds of distress escaping from their lips. Mara sees Harrn approaching them. There is fright on their face. Their single functioning arm attempts to uselessly push their broken body away from the dwarf. Each ineffectual action twists the fright closer and closer to wild panic.

A final effort slips. Mara looks up at Harrn. Fear and confusion. The dwarf kneels down. His arms embrace the fallen golem into a hug, lifting them up, holding them close.

Mara freezes. As Harrn starts walking, the golem slowly slackens, relaxing their body against Harrn's. A single arm gripping his torn clothing tightly.

The three dwarves reunite. Wordlessly, they follow the way out. Nilla shears the metal door apart. A force spell pushes away a cascade of bent metal barring the only entrance. She exhales and closes her eyes. Harrn squeezes Mara imperceptibly tighter. Tiff begins to run.

The young dwarf sees a pile of golems around me. Their motionless forms riddled with the signs of my struggles. Tiff crashes against one of the metal giants, flinging it away, fully revealing my body. Or what is left of it. It's not enough to recover. Even with his abilities.

Harrn and Nilla join him.

Tears slip from Harrn's eyes.

Tiff continues to stare in shock.

Nilla curses. At me. At the empire. At everything. Her angry screams echo inside the vast chamber.

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