The battlefield was a spectacle of blood and gore. But just then, they appeared. The one in black and gold arrived in the sky above the harbor, quick as the wind, the Holy Shroud fluttering at their back. It was Devicer Three.
Ein, of course, knew that “they” was actually “he,” and she cried out, “Yu!”
She also knew what had happened. The words he’d spoken at Central Tower. The path he’d chosen. She’d heard it all via commlink.
She began to chant the droids’ Gospel Code.
—Witness the truth. Envision vajra.
—See, says the Enlightened One, true strength in tathata.
—Give form to invincible serenity, flawless as the full moon.
Upon receipt of the command words, English text began to scroll across the Mark III’s HMD.
[Mantra Server Startup Complete. All PRAJNA running.]
[System Now Booting Spellbook VAJRA-SEKHARA SUTRA...]
No words were necessary between the two fated partners.
“Thanks, Ein!” Yu said. “Let’s start with the one we used last time!”
“Understood!”
Yu hovered motionlessly over the fighting, but not as himself. As Devicer Three. Arms crossed as if he were above it all metaphorically, just as he was physically.
Particles of light glittered from his body, the nano-sized machines cultivating themselves into auxiliary droids with fiendishly long talons—MUV Crow Gauntlets. Yu had used two on himself in Full-Armor mode before, but that wouldn’t be enough this time. In the blink of an eye, 3,696 robotic arms formed around the Mark III.
“Am I looking at the thousand-armed Kannon right now?!” Ijuin hollered over the commlink.
His exaggerated amazement was warranted for once. The arms arrayed themselves around the nonchalant Devicer in an enormous, intimidating circle as rays of light descended from gaps in the clouds, illuminating the black Asura Frame and all its minions in a golden luster.
From the center of the awesome sight, Yu bellowed in a clear and strong voice, both masculine and feminine, “Guns will not avail us against the trolls. They’re yours!”
The arms moved at once, shimmering like the edges of three thousand swords as they struck down with the speed of a falcon honing in on a measly field mouse. And just as mercilessly did they slice the troll’s throats and crush their heads with keen talons—five on each droid, which they brandished as dexterously as one might a sword. The fae fell dead one after the other, sliced and gored in dramatic fashion.
Such a display couldn’t possibly go unnoticed. The humans were overrun, and there were many who were saved from a raised axe just in time. Fighters trembling behind barricades did a double take when they saw the glinting metal in the sky. Once they finally realized the source of their disembodied reinforcements, the fires of their courage were reignited.
“Is that...Three?”
“He’s here! He’s back! He’s really back!”
“That’s the Mark III’s droid division! We can win this!”
And there were others joining the fight as well. Rushing to the front lines in trucks, cars, and armored military vehicles was the Defense Force, returned from the coup attempt that Devicer Three had put a stop to. Their solution to the trolls’ immunity to bullets was simple—they simply ran them over. And the merfolks’ scales might as well have been papier-mâché against their heavy machine guns. The same could be said for the goblins’ balloons.
Yu watched the tide of war change as the Defense Force’s elite squads, equipped with assault rifles and N-Type Exo-Frames, took to the field. That’s when he noticed something.
“I’m not even close to max power yet,” he murmured.
The Prayer Wheel embedded in his waist was whirring as it spun, generating immense amounts of energy, both electrical and magical. But controlling the legion of over three thousand auxiliary droid arms was, to the Frame, as effortless as wiggling one’s toe inside a cramped boot.
“Yu! The Frame’s nanofactors have been replenished to full strength!” Ein transmitted.
“You’re right. That’s...a lot of zeros! Seven trillion?!”
“It seems you’ve returned to form. And more! You’re twice the warrior you were before, Yu! I’m proud of you!”
“It’s all the Asura Frame, really,” Yu replied sheepishly.
The artificial god of destruction was a machine given the form of a man—a hybrid of device and organism. It was what allowed the suit to harmonize with its Devicer, to dynamically change with its user’s mental state. Yu finally understood that it was his indecision that had caused the Frame’s constant instability.
“The time has come to unleash Pandemonium in all its glory!” Ein declared. “The King of the Storm and all his legions are yours to command!”
“You mean the fifty thousand. That complete droid complement Ijuin’s always going on about,” Yu said. “All right, let’s do it!”
“Are we doing the thing?!” Ijuin chimed in.
Yu locked onto his position. A lab in Central Tower. Perfect.
“But I don’t know if I’ll be able to control them all at once,” Yu added. “Ijuin, I’ll need your help. Like before.”
“M-Me?”
“I need to be Devicer Three. I want you to lead the Pandemonium droids.”
“Every general needs a lieutenant...” Ijuin murmured. He seemed to finally understand something. “Leave it to me! You do your thing, and I’ll do mine!”
“Yu— I mean, Three,” Aliya interjected. “We have eight white dragons on us at Central Tower! I think they’re coming right for our throat!”
“I’m on my way,” Yu said at once.
“Are we slaying dragons now?” Natsuki joined in. “Nice! Leave one for me!”
“I’ll see what I can do on my end,” said Aliya.
“By the way, Yu, I like your new act. If we all make it out of this, I’ve got another noogie ready just for you!” Natsuki added.
“And you will have to enlighten me as to what this ‘noogie’ is,” Ein said pointedly.
Listening to his friends, Yu realized something. He was a weak, small man, and he needed a mask to become anything more than that. But weak though he may be, the people he cared about were with him. Supporting him.
Devicer Three wasn’t just one person anymore. It was all of them. As long as they were together, as weak as he was, he knew...
“I can do this!” Devicer Three cried. “Mark III, by the name of Rudra, release your armies!”