by Ryan Tang
Lonely knew from his past battles that he could hold off The Tooth Man by himself for at least twenty minutes. Although the enemy ace pilot was too strong to fall entirely under Drowsy's fall, the timid man's Finisher would slow the indigo Paragon even further. Drowsy's poor reputation was an even more significant asset than his Finisher. An injury from Drowsy would weaken The Tooth Man's Pride, which in turn would diminish his Familiar's power. It would all lead up to Forever's final assault.
Scry True was a pedestrian pilot, so Lonely planned on keeping him in reserve. But he knew the peculiar man would fight if needed. Scry True was just like Lonely - a weak heir who had to protect someone with better prospects. It made Lonely like him a little despite his strangeness.
"The first Castle is opening."
They didn't need Scry True to tell them that. They could see it with their own eyes. The thin man was always stating the obvious.
Scry True suddenly gasped.
"There's something else. Wait. Wait. Let me see. Let me see."
Lonely ignored him for the moment. Scry True always thought there was something more to see, but the results were usually inane. They already knew that the first Castle was now planning to fight.
The Tooth Man's machine floated in front of the first Castle. He jerked his banner up and down.
"Battle for ransoms! Battle for ransoms!"
Every Castlecraft was an elegant showpiece that emphasized the Aspect, Familiar, and individual traits of its Nobles. This Castle was decorated appropriately. Two massive masks floated back to back against each other. The eyes were sapphires, and the tangled golden hairs that bound them together shone like stars. The two-faced Castle was a perfect fit for the twin brothers who lived inside.
Lonely would never consider allying with Deep Cuts and Strong Strokes. They took the individualism of the Lost Lords to the worst extreme. They only cared about each other and backstabbed everyone else at the first possible opportunity. Their real problem was stupidity, although of a different kind that The Tooth Man's. They didn't know how to take the long view. The most cunning Lords knew when cooperating would help them and only betrayed their peers at the best possible time.
Lonely grimaced. He'd once been fond of them. After all, they were siblings, just like he and Gallant were. Gallant was a stupid name too, but at least she had a sweet reason for it. She said she'd picked it to remind herself to be honorable.
The mouth opened. A coiling snake's tongue emerged, and then two Paragons flew out of the bridge.
The machines were royal blue from head to toe with gold highlights around the edges of the armor and the joints. Deep Cuts carried an enormous sword. Strong Strokes wielded a brutish ax. They'd given themselves earnest names and weapons to hide the whirlpool of lies beneath the surface.
The two machines carried a giant crate. The top portion contained raw Eternium, which eagerly obeyed its master's wishes. The Tooth Man could forge it into new Sinsworn or additional parts for his Paragon. The bottom portion held red mealy food for The Tooth Man's Familiar.
Lonely's heart tightened at the sight of the ransom crate. He was sick of seeing them and even sicker of filling them. It was Gallant who deserved the biggest Sinsworn army and Gallant's Familiar which deserved the most food.
The Tooth Man's laugh continued. He waved the banner faster and faster. He was always laughing whenever someone surrendered.
"Oh yes! Oh yes! Another House that knows their place!"
Lonely grimaced.
Knows their place.
That's what The Tooth Man always said. That was how this disaster had all started. The Tooth Man thought Lonely didn't know his place.
"Come on! Come on and show old Toothy Boy how much you know your place!"
He was jovial now, but once he saw that the box didn't have enough, his laughter would be replaced by anger. The blows would come immediately after. Lonely knew how it went. The masked pilot had tried fighting The Tooth Man six times before, and he'd try as many times as he needed.
The two blue machines bowed deeply. Without solid ground, it was hard for them to truly bend their knees, but they came as close to it was possible in the void of space.
"The Tooth Man."
It took a while for The Tooth Man to reply. Lonely sneered. He was no doubt looking up their names. The Tooth Man was an idiot through and through.
"Strong Cuts."
"Deep Strokes."
Then he giggled and brought the banner down hard. The ceremonial attack of the banner symbolically destroyed the machines. The ritual preserved as many fighting forces as possible for the Conquest.
The Tooth Man laughed.
"Oops! Not hard enough!"
He brought the banner all the way back, and then swung again, knocking both machines down.
"There we go! That's how we do it! So it seems like I've won again! Now. What have you brought for me?"
The crate opened. It was facing away from Lonely and very far away, but he had Scry True by his side.
"Like I said before, it's not enough. It's only one Sinsworn instead of two. I heard the brothers' discussion. They are going to try to tell The Tooth Man they are gifting him as one House. They know it won't work, but think it might be worth a try."
His typically flat voice suddenly quivered.
"Oh no. Oh no. How. How could they?"
Lonely turned.
"What's wrong?"
"They can't. They can't possibly be thinking of doing that. I can't believe it. What's even going to happen? What are they going to do about the Namers?"
"The twin...I can't believe it..."
"The twins...that Eternium is rigged to explode."
What?
Lonely thought he'd misheard, but then Scry True repeated himself.
"If The Tooth Man refuses their offer, they are going to return to their Castlecraft and detonate the Eternium inside from afar."
Lonely gasped, all thoughts of Eternium Wit's stoicism wholly forgotten.
Lonely knew the brothers prized treachery above everything else. But this was the ultimate taboo. They were destroying private property - the future materials of the Conquest. Nobody used the Sinsworn anymore, but they were still technically Paragons.
What the hell were the two of them thinking?
Scry True whimpered.
"It's not going to work. And he's going to get mad. He's going to be so mad when we fight him."
But Lonely couldn't listen to him. He stared transfixed at the screen.
There was no way Scry True had seen the right thing.
What did Deep Cuts and Strong Strokes think the Namers would do? Even if their plan succeeded, they'd be dead men walking. There was no escaping the Namers.
"Not enough."
The gray and blue machine stood over the two kneeling ones and lifted the banner again.
"That's not enough. It should have been two Sinsworn. One for each of you. There's only enough Eternium here for one. And I don't think that's enough chum either. There should have been more chum."
The Tooth Man didn't even bother disguising the excitement in his voice. The brutish pilot relished a fight.
Lonely tried to listen for a hint of deceit in the brothers' voice, but he could not hear any. They were always good at that.
"We've had a hard time at the farms. Our Castlecraft orbited farther than we realized."
"No good. My Familiar hungers. If you don't have enough for him, you must give yours less. And besides. That's no excuse for the lack of Eternium. What are you going to say to that? That your Sinsworn farm wasn't working?"
The Tooth Man sniggered at his wit.
The brothers stammered together, and again Lonely couldn't tell if they were genuinely frightened.
"No, ah, you see. We are running short of Eternium. Too many losses."
The Tooth Man growled.
"And why is this raw metal? I like my Ransoms already built!"
Technically, a House could provide either ra
w material or a completed machine, but The Tooth Man was within his rights to ask for a completed unit.
"We haven't had the time to forge a new one."
"Didn't have the time to make a new one? I told you I was coming here a week ago! How could you not have had time to make a new one? Or did you think you had a chance to win? Was that it? Did you think you had a chance to win? Did you not know your place?"
He brought the banner back and slammed the blue machine to his right backward with it. Lonely winced. The strike wouldn't damage a Paragon, but it would violently jerk the pilot in the cockpit. The Tooth Man was good at gestures like that - attacks that weren't technically attacks. Striking an enemy out of combat was illegal, but if Strong Strokes took that to the Namers, he'd get laughed out of court.
The Tooth Man grabbed the crate.
"I'll be taking this. You gave this to me out of kindness! It wasn't a ransom. There wasn't enough inside. It's mine now! That's what you get for not knowing your place! For trying to cheat Toothy Boy!"
The burly machine raised its fists.
"Now it's time to fight! And if I win, I want fresh ransoms! And completed machines too! None of this raw Eternium crap!"
The blue machine raised its hands.
"No! No! I don't want to fight. You know what, there's a machine we've partially forged that I'm sure we've got laying around somewhere. We'll complete it for you. Why don't we go back for a look?"
The Tooth Man thought for a moment then nodded.
"Fine. But only because you remembered your place so quickly."
The gate opened, and the two blue machines entered.
The Tooth Man cackled.
"Just make sure you remember! Toothy can't be cheated! You're worthless compared to me! Worthless!"
The gate closed silently behind them, and for a moment, all eyes were frozen on the dark two-faced fortress and the burly machine standing outside it with a box in its hands.
It was over in moments.
There was a tremendous explosion, so loud that Lonely let out a cry of surprise even though he sort of knew it was coming. The Tooth Man's Paragon was engulfed in a plume of red flame.
The Tooth Man roared in shock and anger.
"How dare you? Place! Place! Place! How dare you?"
The flames swirled and swirled around him. The Paragon was burning and damaged, but the explosion hadn't broken it. The Eternium rippled and bubbled as if it were boiling. The Tooth Man roared louder and louder, and indigo steam burst out of the joints as the metal heated and heated. He'd been caught by surprise, but there was nothing a bomb could do against Liquid State Eternium. The coiling metal twisted in his massive arms and legs, forming into shapes that looked like muscles.
White teeth grew across the gaps the explosion had blown in his armor. Although The Tooth Man's typically focused on accentuating his fists, his Familiar could be used for defensive purposes as well. Back when sharks terrorized the seas of Old Earth, they were known for their regenerative abilities. As soon as a shark lost a tooth, it would start growing a new one right away. The blue and gray machine was virtually unbeatable so long as his Familiar was active - the mass of sprouting teeth exceeded the powers of even Liquid State Eternium.
The Tooth Man soared forwards, and the dreaded ace pilot's words echoed through space.
"Thousand Teeth: Punch Supreme!"
The Finisher was The Tooth Man's strongest attack, and the only one he needed.
Teeth sprouted along his Paragon's massive fists, from the tips of its fingers down to the wrists. In just a single moment, the fists went from gray to spiny white. Then the two enormous mitts locked together. The shark Paragon spun through the air. There was a wrenching scream as the giant machine slammed into the Gate of the two-sided Castlecraft.
The brothers' home rocked and rocked.
There was the sound of teeth shattering and regrowing, shattering and regrowing.
And then it was the gate's turn to shatter.
The entire Castlecraft trembled, and for a moment, Lonely thought The Tooth Man meant to destroy the whole thing.
Lonely thought there'd be a bitter fight to the death. It wouldn't make sense otherwise. The Tooth Man was howling in rage. He was sure to report this incident to the Namers, and that meant the brothers' death. The Namers knew everyone's true name, and could use it to kill with a single spell.
Guile was fine among the Lords, but destroying another person's private property outside of a battle was not. The Namers were utterly ruthless when it came to enforcing the laws of property.
Surely the brothers would fight desperately. They had nothing else to live for. But the twins surrendered at once, and the battle was over.
The Tooth Man laughed and laughed as he crushed their once-proud machines to shreds.
"The Namers will have you for that. I'm going to have your entire Castlecraft by the end of today! Then you'll know your place!"
He chortled.
"Your place is in the grave!"
The brothers were strangely silent. Lonely wondered if they had another betrayal planned, but he just didn't see what they could do. The Tooth Man had taken an explosion right to the face and survived it.
He roughly tore all the parts off of their machines, leaving them as useless pods. Without limbs, engines, and weapons, the cockpit of a Paragon was nothing more than a lonely prison. He gathered the broken machines together then started waving his banner again.
"Alright. Let's see who's next."
The other two Castlecrafts had no more interest in fighting after that display of herculean strength.
"He's going to kill us!"
"He's going to kill us!"
His teammates nearly broke. Part of Lonely understood. He'd never seen such strength before. A Paragon that could punch through a Castlecraft.
But The Tooth Man couldn't kill them. This was only a Ransom battle. So long as they approached The Tooth Man fairly, the Namers' laws limited what he could do.
But still.
A Paragon strong enough to destroy an entire Castlecraft.
Lonely shook his head.
He could feel his allies quavering around them, all of them but Forever. The squat lady was almost ready now. She giggled with anticipation. She sounded almost a little like The Tooth Man.
"We can do this. We can do this. We can do this. I've never felt so strong in my life! He's going to pay! He's going to pay for all those comments."
He clapped his hands together and rallied his allies.
"Come on. We've planned this out already. And this is a fair Ransom battle. What's he going to do? He can't kill us. All he can do is make things difficult."
Lonely had already fought The Tooth Man six times before. He'd lost each time, but The Tooth Man never tried to kill him. That might provide his companions some comfort, but he couldn't tell them that. If he did, they'd know who he was, and if they knew who he was, they'd abandon him in an instant.
He whirled the ax around and pointed at them, a reminder that he could make things difficult for them too. If only he had a Familiar, even a pathetically weak one that offered no Aspect. There was no such thing, but it was only a technicality why he couldn't challenge lesser Nobles like these. It was stupid. He was stronger than these lesser Lords, but the Constellation's customs forced him to create these convoluted alliances. A Noble without a Familiar would always be ranked at the bottom of the standings, and a bottom-feeder had no right to challenge anybody else.
"We've seen what Forever can do when she's ready. She can destroy a Castlecraft too. Come on! Let's fight!"
The Tooth Man waved his banner outside Drowsy's Castlecraft, the spacious, almost asteroid-like starship with all those nooks and crannies.
"Battle for ransoms! Battle for ransoms!"
Drowsy went outside to greet him.
At the push of a button, the Eternium pilot suit formed around him, fitting snugly around his mask.
It was time to fight.
&nb
sp; It was time to win.
CHAPTER 2: LONELY
By now, The Tooth Man had gathered a vast bundle behind his machine. The three chests contained the ransoms from the Castlecrafts he'd ceremonially defeated. The two broken cockpits held his strangely serene captives.
Lonely's nemesis cackled and cackled.
"What a haul! What a haul! A whole Castlecraft! Oh my, what a haul for Toothy Boy!"
The Tooth Man reached Drowsy's asteroid-like Castlecraft then repeated himself.
"Battle for ransoms? Battle for ransoms?
By now, he'd completely repaired his machine. Eternium always bent to the will of its master. After claiming the raw metal from the last three Castlecraft, The Tooth Man had simply melded the metal onto his own shark-like Paragon.
Drowsy stepped out. The colors of his House were yellow and black, and his Familiar was a sea snake, a lively, thin, and diligent creature that was almost the exact opposite of her lazy master.
A trio of yellow serpents surrounded the Paragon's hooded head. Their mouths were opened wide, and their fangs were bared. The handsome head itself was narrow with a gleaming black eye at the very center. Black paint was dashed all around the yellow machine. The colors seemed to shift before Lonely's eyes, the black winking in and out like the flicker of a snake's tongue. The machine carried a single weapon - a scepter with a snake at the head and a gleaming spike at the base.
Unlike any other machine Lonely had seen before, Drowsy's Paragon wore a cape fastened to the shoulders by two enormous cobras. He'd drawn his insignia on it, a coiling snake sleeping with a single yellow eye open.
To Lonely's surprise, Drowsy spoke without stammering.
"I accept your challenge."
The Tooth Man had already been preparing for the ceremonial tap. He dropped his banner in surprise and hooted.
"You? You? You think you can fight? I guess you don't know your place! Well, it's a chance for me to show it to you!"