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Vitro rushed to the gate winch, slammed the lock, and the thick iron gate came down with a heavy bang and loud rattle of chains. He leaned back against the winch. 'I doubt this'll really help in any way though.'

Ulric turned to him. 'There's no other way out of this castle?'

Vitro shook his head. 'Not that I know of.'

'Then he knows we're trapped here. He'll probably wait at first, thinking we're panicking.'

'Even if we aren't, how can we fight against those golems?'

Ulric smirked slightly. 'We? You're with us now?'

Vitro opened his mouth and was silent for a moment. He chuckled. 'Yeah, I guess I am. I was never very convinced that this was the best way to protect the country.'

'All right. We'll be counting on your help.' Ulric said and looked at the others. 'We have to somehow evade the golems and capture Malovick to take his rings away.'

Valdys gestured at Vitro's amulet. 'You might want to get rid of that, it's used to drain your mana to power those golems.'

He looked down at it. 'Oh?' He took it off and held it up. 'Shouldn't we remove them from the others as well to prevent the mana drain?'

'That would increase the drain from the other people wearing similar amulets and might become dangerous. These guys are asleep right now, so it won't make a lot of difference to them.'

Elzbieta gestured to the gate with her head. 'How are we going to handle this?'

Ulric looked at Kaui and Conchim. 'I'd like to see if he can defend himself from an attack from the air. Can you make a few light grenades, Kaui? Enough to knock him out without fatally wounding him? And can you drop them on him from a safe distance, Conchim?'

'I can make some, Master.' said Kaui. 'Give me a little time.'

'No problem dropping those.' said Conchim. 'I don't want to get within reach of those things in any case.'

Ulric smiled. 'Good.' he turned to the others. 'Maybe we can do something to slow them down. Vitro, are there long, strong ropes stored here?'

***

Malovick's triumphant mood faded slowly when he realised things were more quiet than he'd expected. His anger rose when he began to suspect the enemy was mocking him in secret. He steered his golem back and forth, stomping behind the first line of his golems. 'Just give yourselves up! You have nowhere to run!' The castle gate rose and he grinned, convinced the intruders walking out subdued with their hands behind their back and a guard behind them, had realised resisting his force was futile. Their sudden bolt towards the golems at the side startled him.

Iphigenia and Elzbieta split up, as did Ulric and Vitro, and each pair stormed towards one golem, holding a rope between them. Before Malovick reacted through the golems, the four had circled the legs of two of them and pulled the coils of rope tight. The golems dropped as they tried to take a step.

'Stomp them!' shouted Malovick. 'Kill them!'

The four retreated at once under cover of an exploding cloud.

Malovick gritted his teeth, watching his golems slashing and stomping uselessly in the cloud, then cried out in shock when an explosion went off above his head.

He looked up at the harpy flying over him and two of his golem's hands covering him with smoke drifting from the top.

'That thing protected him!' said Conchim as she passed the four overhead. 'I'll try again!'

Although she didn't succeed on hitting Malovick directly when the golem he rode was too quick at blocking the grenades, the distraction was enough for the four to take down three more golems.

'Master! I'm out of grenades!' said Kaui. 'We haven't hit Malovick!'

'Try to keep them busy!' said Ulric and bolted to the side. 'I'll try to reach him!' He jumped in between two golems, who collided against each other, and ducked and jumped more in evasion as he skirted the golems in front of Malovick. The amount of golems and their arms were too much of an advantage though, when Ulric avoided one swing directed at him, and he found himself cornered by two swings from a hammer and an axe directed at him.

The loud crack of the weapons landing on his armoured body was followed by him flying through the air and landing a short distance away. 'Wolfie! Are you all right!?' asked Iphigenia while she dodged an attack.

Ulric shook his head to clear his mind and looked at Malovick redirecting his golems to attack them again. One of them hacked the rope around another one's legs in pieces. 'Crap! We can't win like this. We need something powerful to take these golems apart.'

'Isazea's big golem!' said Valdys while she cast a shield protecting Vitro from a hit. 'You have a strong source of mana, my love. You might be able to power and control it.'

'That's right!' said Kaui. 'She did say it needed a lot of mana, but I'm sure you can do it, Master.'

Ulric hesitated for a moment. 'Even when my tallies are zero?'

'Darling, go!' said Elzbieta. 'We don't have much time so you need to try.'

'All right, I'll try.' Ulric said and rushed back into the castle through the gate. 'Stay safe!'

Isazea jumped into the air and disappeared in a flash into her bed chamber when Ulric rushed inside. 'Isazea!' he said while holding back her golem by its wrists. 'I need your golem to fight the others!'

She peeked out from behind the door post and blinked. 'But my golem's too small.'

Ulric lifted the golem over his head. 'The big one.'

'But that one needs too much mana.'

He grinned. 'Let me try. The girls think I can do it.'

Isazea had to ponder about it for a moment. 'Oh.' she said. 'But it might knock you out if you can't.'

Ulric held the wriggling golem steady. 'If I don't try, Malovick will kill everyone standing against him. I have to do this!'

She nodded. 'Okay then.' she said and shuffled to one of her work benches, and opened a small chest on it. She held up an amulet of heavy, dark chains and one oblong black stone. 'You'll have to wear this.'

Ulric looked up at the still wriggling golem. 'No problem. After I can put him down again.'

Isazea sent the golem back to its corner and Ulric put the amulet around his neck. She led him to the big golem in the work area and laid one hand on the amulet while chanting a spell softly.

Ulric gasped at the sudden sense of vacuum inside his chest, and grasped the heavy work bench for support. The golem stirred and Isazea stepped back in surprise. 'You did it..' she muttered. 'You have the power.'

Ulric took a few breaths while the sensation subdued, and flexed his shoulders. 'All right, how do I control it?'

***

Malovick laughed at Iphigenia and Elzbieta's futile attacks on the golems, and Vitro trying to keep clear from the one chasing him. 'Jump and scatter all you want! It's useless!' He directed his golems to surround the three and chase after Kaui, Valdys, Conchim, and Susi, who ran back into the castle. Grinning and puffing up his fat chest, he was certain of his victory when a loud crash from inside the castle startled him.

He sensed through his rings that something had happened to the couple of golems he had sent there. They were no longer reacting to him. Scraping of stone on stone and iron came from the castle entrance, and in less than a moment, a larger golem emerged from the gate, rushing out on all four limbs with Ulric running after it. 'Surprise! You fucking bastard!' he growled.

Malovick panicked and pulled back his golems to form a shield between the large golem and himself. His numbers recovered some of his bravado. 'I don't know how you got that thing to work, but you won't last against mine!'

'We'll see.' growled Ulric and directed the golem with his mind towards the others, and made it punch the closest one's head in.

The girls and Vitro retreated from the brawl between the golems, where shards of materials sprayed around at each hit, and Valdys called up a shield to protect Ulric. 'They're going to destroy each other.'

Kaui noticed Isazea behind them, looking at the rock carnage and clutching the front of her robes. 'What's wrong?'

Isazea glanced nervously at her, then back at the fight. 'Too much mana. The golem will burn out.'

Kaui turned to her. 'What do you mean?'

'That wolf doesn't just have a lot of mana, he can overload the golem by providing it more than it uses.' Isazea looked again at Kaui. 'It will destroy the golem soon.'

Kaui looked back quickly at Ulric and the amount of enemy golems. 'Can he limit it?'

Isazea shook her head. 'Only a limit on the golem could, but I didn't add one because I never expected it to get a powerful source.'

'Master! You need to get to Malovick fast!' said Kaui. 'Your golem won't last!'

Ulric already noticed the golem seemed to swing its arms and punch with too much ease. 'I'll try!' he said, and the golem took a step back, bent forward, and charged head-first into the group in front of it. Splinters of rock shot out everywhere in the cacophony of grating, breaking, and cracking noise as the golem pushed the group back by the force of Ulric's will. The strain of the effort tensed his entire body and he gritted his teeth at the resistance he sensed through the link with the golem. He glared at Malovick, not with his own eyes, but through the non-existing ones of the golem.

A crevice behind him prevented Malovick from stepping back more than a few steps from the approaching backs of his golems and the unexpectedly power of his attacker. He concentrated as much as he could on focussing mana towards his golems, but he also sensed the strain on the flow from the people he used as a source.

Ulric sensed twitches in his muscles, as if they gave up for a second, then heard more cracks snapping from his golem. They increased all over its stony body and limbs. 'Shit!' he grunted while one arm of the golem cracked harder, and broke into pieces.

Malovick laughed out loud. 'You can't win!'

Kaui turned back to Isazea. 'Is there nothing we can do!?'

She shook her head. 'Feed too much mana into the golems, and they break.'

One leg of the golem broke off and Ulric stumbled forward from the feedback. 'Dammit!' he growled. 'I won't make it!'

Kaui stepped towards Isazea. 'Is there nothing we can do to those other golems!?'

Another shock hit Ulric when the other arm of the golem broke, and the following barrage of hits inside his guts as his golem crashed under the pounding from the enemy brought him to his knees. He gritted his teeth at the group of damaged golems and Malovick sitting on top of his at the rear, grinning wide at his victory. He removed the heavy and useless amulet from his neck and dropped it on the ground. 'We have to retreat.' he said to the others.

'Wait, Master!' said Kaui as she ran towards him with Isazea at her side. 'Maybe you can still destroy those golems!' The two hung several amulets around his neck. 'Isazea will help you channel your mana at the golems to overload them.'

The lizard glanced at him briefly, then focussed her gaze on the amulets hanging from Ulric's heaving chest, and laid her hands on his fur. 'Imagine forcing your mana into them.' He closed his eyes and imagined a river bursting forth from inside him, and splitting into raging streams towards each of the golems still standing while Isazea muttered her control spells.

Malovick's anger grew when he saw his golem builder side with his enemy, then rocked when a shock went through his golem. His fingers tingled with the power flowing through his rings, and he laughed. 'So you're going to provide my golems with your own mana to kill you? Perfect!' he said, but his laugh was cut short by another shock through his golem. 'What the?'

Trembling ran through his golem and he noticed the others moving erratically. The tingling in his fingers grew and goosebumps crawled over his skin. 'Hey! What are you doing!?' he said and tried to steer the golems towards his enemy, but they rocked and stumbled forward at most, and crackling sounds emerged from them.

Isazea strained to guide Ulric's mana in the correct manner to the golems, and muttered her spells louder. A stream of warmth rushed through Ulric's chest and he breathed harder to keep cool while his head began to hurt.

'Stop that!' shouted Malovick while his golem swayed and cracks appeared throughout its body. 'Stop what you're doing!' He gripped his chair tight when his golem collapsed on its knees and the shock slammed his teeth together. Bewildered, he watched every golem crack into lifeless chunks, and cried out in pain at the sudden heat of his rings. Desperate to pull them off, he pulled hard and nearly tore the flesh from his fingers before screaming in terror when the rings burned into his skin and he collapsed with his chair into the rubble that used to be his golem.

Isazea jerked back from Ulric, and he stumbled backwards onto the ground, breathing hard while the pressure faded from his senses. 'Master! Are you all right?'

He looked at Kaui kneeling down next to him and gave her a tired smile. 'I'm fine, cutie.' he said and cupped her cheek.

Valdys and Conchim rushed over to him while Iphigenia, Elzbieta, Susi, and Vitro hurried towards Malovick. The deposed lord whimpered as he clutched his wounded hand.

***

'So, what're you going to do with them?' asked Elzbieta of Vitro.

Vitro led the party to the main hall in the castle, where a group of chosen people were setting up a new government. 'Most likely, we'll sentence Malovick and his cronies to work in the fields, like they did to others. Some of the staff like me, are happy to get to work on actually protecting the country and our people.'

Iphigenia poked the shoulder epaulette of his uniform. 'I'll bet you're happy about your promotion to captain as well.' she said and chuckled.

He blushed a little and nodded. 'But I still have to learn a lot to become an effective captain. I've asked some of the elders who used to be adventurers to give me a hand.'

The party received a standing ovation when they entered the hall and everyone went around to shake their hands, and paw in Ulric's case. When Vitro presented a large amount of gold, Iphigenia refused on behalf of everyone. 'You'll need it to rebuild what was lost.' she said.

Vitro smiled. 'We found all the gold Malovick had hoarded for years, and we have more than enough to pay for everything we need.' He pushed the bag into her hands. 'You all deserve this.'

She returned the smile and sighed. 'All right. But if we ever find out you could've put it to better use.'

He laughed. 'Of course.' He gestured at the door for the party to go to the dining hall.

'I wished you'd stay though.' he said to Iphigenia while they walked through the castle.

She chuckled. 'I noticed. But I already belong to someone.'

He chuckled as well. 'Yeah, first time I've seen someone bonded with a demon though. Or even several women.'

'Oh? You knew?'

Vitro grinned a little. 'Hard to miss when he received all that attention from you lately.'

Iphigenia giggled. 'Yeah, I guess it shows.' she said and nudged him. 'But with your charms you'll catch the attention of one or more fair maidens here yourself.'

He grinned. 'I do have a lot of charm indeed.'

'What of Isazea?'

Vitro frowned a little. 'We don't know yet. We understand she'd been lied to, but we don't want to deal with any kind of golem for a long time. She has retreated to her chambers and hasn't come out since the fight.'

'If you don't mind, I'll have a talk with her.' said Ulric. 'I know more people like her, who feel better on their own.'

Vitro nodded. 'Please. It would be a shame if she'd wither away because there was nothing for her to do.

***

Ulric took Isazea's meal with him when he went to her chambers, and found her cleaning up her workbenches since they had no purpose any longer. He put the tray on the bench she sat at. 'You know, I didn't have the chance to properly thank you for what you did.' he said. 'So, thank you.'

She glanced up at him and fiddled with her fingers in her lap. 'I never meant for my creations to hurt people.'

Ulric pulled a stool closer, and sat down next to Isazea. 'In my old world, I never created something that could be abused, but I think I understand how you feel, finding out someone used something you poured your effort in for bad purposes. It's why I feel bad about breaking your last golem.'

She shook her head. 'I already had no hope it could be used. I'm glad it was used for good in its brief life.'

Ulric nodded. 'Maybe that's the sort of thing we could use on our travels. It seemed fast enough to use as transport in this world without highways and trains.'

Isazea blinked at him. 'You said old world. You're not from here?'

'Yeah. I was summoned into this body a while ago. Long story, but now I'm part of our party and we're travelling all over. That's why I miss transport options from my world since we could travel much faster.'

'Can you tell me something about that?'

Ulric smiled and was glad she forgot about her situation for a while. 'Sure.'

***

Ulric and the girls had stayed for a few days helping out with advice and training the new guard, when Isazea called out to Valdys. She cleared her throat. 'There's something I made, and I thought maybe you could use your magic to enhance it?'

'Sure?' said Valdys, curious to see what the inventive lizard had built.

She followed her into the large shed at the back of the castle, and held her breath at the large construction inside it.