Combustion Squared

"Meh! My smoke's almost gone!" Esarin reloaded his rocket launcher.

The group prepared their weapons, watching Dosigma and the royalmechs line up on the other side.

"Hey," Shien elbowed the worried Mivangeline. "We have a good plan. Everything will be alright."

"I-I hope I don't mess it up."

"You won't. You got this. You're our Commander, Mivange. We look up to you, and we will do all we can to help you succeed. Okay? Have confidence in yourself!"

She nodded to Shien before Esarin's smoke barrier faded.

"Ampyria!" Mivangeline told her droid squadron. "Attack them from above!"

Ampyria and the police droids bombarded the royalmechs from the ceiling. With the droids out of range, the walkers had no choice but to fly on their jet shoes to pursue them. Naivern played a song to counter Dosigma's traits as the rest occupied Dosigma for Ritom and Enshiron. Ritom activated his high-tech goggles while Enshiron awaited his instructions.

"How does it look, Ritom?" Enshiron fired a salvo of wind arrows at Dosigma.

Ritom observed the royalmechs that chased the police droids in the air. "Give me a second."

In deep focus on his experience as a mechanic, Ritom's goggles zoomed in on every detail of the royalmechs' mechanical anatomy. "Maybe there's a power source. If they need high power to operate, they need an exhaust to vent off the heat. That's a possible weakness. Hey, what's that?"

He analyzed the royalmech blasting a moonbeam at Ampyria. Ritom's goggles picked up a nearly undetectable blur drifting from the pincer cannon. He zoomed in to examine the armament. A small rectangular flap opened to release heat. As the huge laser faded, the panel was sealed tight, blending in perfectly with the rest of the armor.

Ritom elbowed Enshiron. "I got it!"

"I say, music to my ears!" Enshiron wagged his tail.

"You see those pincer arms? When they shoot the pink laser, that cannon will open an exhaust vent for a short time. That's your target!"

"Dear me, that's quite a sophisticated weakness that requires timing."

"That one at 2 o'clock! Quickly, before the laser stops!"

Enshiron aimed a royalmech. He held his bow and narrowed his right eye at the small exhaust vent behind the cannon that released steam. He took a deep breath, breathing halfway as he let go of the arrow. The arrow darted past the exploding dogfight and pierced inside the small panel. The royalmech's cannon sputtered with pink plasma energy. Everyone gasped as the royalmech exploded into blue hexagons with its one HP dropping to zero.

Cubic Royalmech

Level 150

HP: [0/1]

"He figured it out," Mivangeline smiled.

"Yes!" Shien jumped. "I knew he would- Waah!"

Dosigma interrupted Shien's joy by slapping him onto Elysia.

"Ouch!" Elysia kicked him off. "One dumb walker goes boom. Yay, whatever. Keep focused, little runt!"

"You did not just call me that!"

"Once a pipsqueak, always a pipsqueak!" Elysia dragged Shien away from Dosigma's flaming fist.

"This would not be the optimal time for such frivolous banter, you two!" Phoenicia punched Dosigma's knee.

"Enshiron! There's the next one!" Ritom pointed at a royalmech chasing Ampyria with its death ray.

Enshiron turned his bow away from Dosigma and concentrated on the walker's exhaust vent. He aimed a few feet in front of the walker's flight path toward Ampyria and released his arrow. Enshiron timed the shot perfectly, for the wind arrow collided with the target, making the royalmech squirm with pink explosions before disintegrating into blue hexagons.

"Another one!" Ritom swung his index finger at another royalmech firing its pink laser at the droids. "Quickly!"

Enshiron jerked his bow towards the next walker, firing another arrow at its moonbeam exhaust. But the royalmech finished its attack, closing its exhaust flap. The arrow bounced off its armor.

"Argh! You almost had it!" Ritom shook his head.

The two royalmechs stopped fighting Ampyria's droids, staring at Enshiron.

"Oh, dear," Enshiron's Vulpi ears drooped. "They don't seem very happy."

The walkers landed and fired grenades at Enshiron, but Ritom deflected the explosives with his flaming sword as Ruddigus and Esarin pushed them back with their artillery. A royalmech trampled through Ritom's fire, slashing him with its pincer.

"No!" Mivangeline ducked under Dosigma's fist. "We need to-"

Dosigma held a giant fireball and smashed it down. Mivangeline's team was sent flying and knocked unconscious, taking massive damage. The Commander awoke to see Ruddigus and Esarin knocked out cold with Ritom being too injured to fight. Enshiron wailed in pain as a royalmech cut his Vulpi tail off with its pincer. Naivern, Ampyria, and ten droids were left to protect the group.

"W-what should I do?" Mivangeline saw Dosigma grab the unconscious Elysia and squeeze her to death. "U-unless..."

She swiped her tab to find her Paladin's Aegis available to use. Mivangeline wanted to press the button to activate her trait, but her finger trembled. She knew that she only had a sliver of HP remaining.

"I won't last long against the royalmechs and Dosigma alone..." Mivangeline shook her head. "But... there's no other way... I-I can't fail my party!"

Mivangeline forced her finger onto the button to activate her trait. As her defense spiked, the royalmechs and Dosigma stopped tormenting her friends.

"Dear God," Mivangeline prayed, clutching her kunai. "Please help me."

"What's happening?" Ritom shook his head awake.

The rest of the back group found the boss and the walkers charging at Mivangeline altogether. She clashed her kunai with the royalmech pincers.

Enshiron winced in pain from his severed tail. "She's protecting us..."

"But alone?" Naivern picked up her guitar to help everyone recover their stats. "We got to help!"

"Ugh, how?" Ritom crawled up. "Our health is almost zero!"

"Hmm..." Enshiron picked up his violin, taking his last arrow from his back quiver. "If I can make this hit."

"Your Vampiric Zephyr trait finished its cooldown time," Ritom looked at Enshiron's profile. "That would help!"

"Enshiron, your tail... Can you do it?" Naivern worried.

The Vulpi boy smiled and drew his bow. "I say... It will take far more to vanquish... Enshiron Kiiros..."

"Dude, if that's your last arrow, make it count! If you miss, we can't help Mivangeline!"

"M-Mivange?" Shien woke up, seeing Mivangeline dodge Dosigma's antlers. "I need to help her! Where's my clarinet? Phoenicia? Elysia?"

He saw his clarinet shattered into pieces, for Dosigma stomped on it. Shien checked on Phoenicia and Elysia, unconscious with little HP left.

"I still got Kung-Fu," Shien clenched his fist. "My crush needs help! I'm coming, Mivange!"

Mivangeline clashed her kunai with the royalmech pincers and dodged the deadly moonbeams. She jumped away from Dosigma's fire fist until a royalmech grenade explosion made her trip. The Cubic boss lifted its rectangular foot, ready to step on her. Mivangeline closed her eyes and covered her face, knowing that she wouldn't survive the blow.

"Avian Form: Blackhawk Missile!" Shien jumped and spun his body in a cyclone that drilled Dosigma's foot. "Avian Form: Woodpecker Beak Strikes!"

Mivangeline saw Shien repel Dosigma's fiery fists with a rapid volley of palm strikes. Shien and Dosigma shook their hands into the air, hurt by each other's attack.

"S-Shien! Behind you!" Mivangeline warned Shien of the two royalmechs.

"Watch out!" Shien rolled onto Mivangeline.

The two rolled away from the walkers' two death rays. Dosigma chased them with aimed antlers to finish the two off. Shien carried a tired Mivangeline in his arms, running as fast as he could from Dosigma's antlers. He panted, turning his tired face back to see the boss behind him, swinging his head to prick them with his horns like a mad bull. That was until a blood-red typhoon arrow from Enshiron exploded onto Dosigma, making the boss trample onto the royalmechs.

"Our health!" Shien helped Mivangeline stand on her feet.

Their HP rose to 75% with Enshiron's trait combo.

"Thank you, Enshiron!" Shien saw his Vulpi friend holding his bow. "E-Enshiron?"

"I-I say... That's all I can muster..." Enshiron fainted.

"Good job, buddy," Ritom patted his head. "Take it easy."

"This is it!" Ampyria roared, flying towards Dosigma with the last ten droids. "We're finishing this now!"

"I'll stay here to keep everyone's stats up," Naivern jammed a melody on her guitar.

"S-Shien?" Mivangeline looked at him. "Um, thanks for saving me..."

"No problem!" Shien hugged her tightly, making Mivangeline blush heavily. "What's the word?"

The Commander noticed Ampyria and the droids attacking the royalmechs. "We'll hold Dosigma while they deal with the walkers! Ritom, sight for the droids!"

"You got it!" Ritom saw a royalmech fire a moonbeam at the droids. "Ampyria! Hit your dice at that exhaust vent!"

The android girl flew behind the walker, flicking her fingers to command her dice to hit the target. Most of her dice exploded on the walker's impenetrable armor until one of them hit the exhaust vent. The walker exploded into blue hexagons as its health dropped from one to zero.

"Your aim sucks!" Ritom slashed against the last royalmech's pincer. "I told you it's a bad idea for dice to spin on their own!"

"Insulting me is a code violation 26951!" Ampyria spat.

While Shien and Mivangeline kept Dosigma at bay, the last royalmech fired its moonbeam at Ritom.

"I don't trust Ampyria with accuracy," He rolled away from the death ray and turned to the police droids. "Fire at the exhaust vent!"

The droids fired their rifles at the walker, concentrating on the small target. The last royalmech was finally destroyed, exploding into blue hexagon particles.

"Thank you all very much!" Ritom hugged the police droids. "Wow, Ampyria. The droids shoot better than you!"

Ampyria rolled her eyes before attacking Dosigma with her dice.

"Good job, everyone! We're almost there," Mivangeline dragged Shien away from getting squished by Dosigma's foot. "Let's finish the boss. Ampyria, you and the droids attack from a distance. Ritom, you're with me and Shien!"

Macrocube Dosigma

Level 200

HP: [29,927/200,000]

The last three tank players surrounded the boss, attacking Dosigma's feet in all directions as they dodged fire breaths and fists. Ampyria and the last droids supported the three from afar, firing at the boss with their dice and rockets.

"We can try to finish the boss off quickly if we attack its eye!" Mivangeline dodged Dosigma's kick.

"Okie!" Shien pummeled Dosigma's knee with rolling punches. "We just need to climb onto Dosigma!"

Dosigma summoned another fireball in his hands, ready to smash it onto Shien, Mivangeline, and Ritom.

"That attack will kill us!" Shien yelled.

"Hey, brat!" Ritom turned to Ampyria. "Please hit that big ball of fire. You can't possibly miss it!"

Ampyria rolled her eyes, commanding her dice to attack Dosigma's fire orb. Her salvo collided with the fireball, causing it to explode in Dosigma's face. The Cubic boss felt dizzy and trampled on its back.

"Quickly, this is our only chance!" Mivangeline jumped onto Dosigma's foot and ran for the head.

Shien and Ritom scurried on top of Dosigma's huge body. Mivangeline pounced on Dosigma's head, slashing the boss's red-eye with her kunai. Dosigma roared, releasing a fire breath into the air.

"Ritom! Switch!" Mivangeline was swatted by Dosigma's hand.

"Alright!" Ritom jumped from Dosigma's neck to the face.

Ritom sliced his blade into Dosigma's eye, dealing massive damage as the eye sputtered with flames. Dosigma slammed his hands on the ground, slowly lifting his body. The boss swung its antlers to send Ritom flying across the room.

"Shien!" Ritom fell. "Finish him off! Quick, before he gets up!"

"Got it!" Shien climbed on Dosigma's body.

Shien jumped from Dosigma's flailing fists. He landed on Dosigma's chin but hopped to avoid Dosigma's bite. He landed on the boss's eye and chain-punched it.

11,756... 8,293... 5,841... 2,099...

"Avian Form: Shoebill Thunderforce!"

The boss roared in fury as Shien threw one last hard knuckle into the eye. A loud crack sounded across the stadium as Shien's fist crushed Dosigma's eye. The Cubic boss lay on the ground, disintegrating into blue hexagons as its HP finally reached zero. A tab declaring the group's victory and rewards appeared.

Macrocube Dosigma

Level 200

HP: [0/200,000]

!Congratulations!

!The Cubic Regime has been destroyed!

Netium Reward: 2,000,000

EXP: 2,000,000

"W-we did it..." Shien fell through the blue particles.

"G-great job, everyone..." Mivangeline closed her eyes, letting her weary body drop onto the floor. "T-thanks be to God."

Ritom, Ampyria, Naivern, and the last droids shut their eyes with relief. It was a tiring battle, but it was won. This was the first time in Syanic Earth that players defeated one of the three factions. One step closer to beating the game meant one step closer to freedom.

End of Cubic Arc