The air thickened between Adam and the golem. For a heartbeat, they glared at each other.

Then, they exploded into motion like beasts tearing at each other.

The golem was faster. Its mechanical arms hummed with enchantments, its silvery broadsword tracing a downward arc.

Adam's mythical eyes flared with sky-blue mana. Trajectory. Strength. Speed. He saw them all. He stomped right, feeling the cold bite of the golem's blade tear his uniform. It brushed his left shoulder, the blade's passage whipping up a hurricane that ruffled his hair. But the golem's guard was now down.

In that fleeting heartbeat between balance and momentum, the veins in his right arm squirmed beneath taut skin. He swung in his unstable position, the crystalline edges of his chronoscar drawing a somber arc that contrasted with the golem's.

Glacial trails formed in its oblique trajectory, and rifts tore across space at the golem's waist.

CLANG

Metal struck metal, the sheer strength of the collision exploding outward in a shrill blast. But the construct didn't recoil. It towered where it had been, the map painted on its armor unscratched. A sharp sound drew Adam's narrowed eyes to its shoulders, where two streams of steam erupted.

'Absorption, transformation, and expulsion of impacts.' He clenched his jaw as this confirmed his predictions from the previous day.

The thought barely flashed through his mind when he moved again. From his unstable position, he twisted and hurled himself sideways. In one fluid motion, he flipped three times, broadening the distance—just as a silver ray crashed with the fury of a hammer where his head had been.

Mid-air, he smirked as the arc from his chronoscar condensed into three shadowy afterimages. Simultaneously, the glacial trails exploded into jagged spears of ice. Together, they rattled against the golem's waist from every angle.

Surrounded by the magical strikes, the golem's red light flickered faster beneath its visor. Yet, no evasive manoeuvres, no parries. Nothing. It simply stood there, raising its blade with deliberate slowness. A blinding pulse erupted from the cities, mountains, and rivers painted across its frame, forcing Adam to squint, then bite his lip at what he saw.

The ice spears, the shadow afterimages, all gone in the light—decomposed into elemental mana that seeped into the construct to fuel it.

'Immune to impact and magic... As expected, but upsetting to be right when predicting the worst.'

Adam landed between the four square pillars, elbow raised, blade pointed at the golem. "Come!" He smirked despite the impossible odds, his eyes locked on its mechanical limbs.

The golem's light pulsed with cold calculation for a heartbeat, the provocation unheard or crashing against its emotionless protocols. One moment still, the next dust blasted from its position. It shot like a flying ship, sword whistling in the same arc used during its first strike.

Snorting, Adam started to dodge with the same motion—then froze mid-step, a furrow cutting his brow as one thought slammed into him.

Ego trap.

With a sharp inhale, he struck the ground with his heel, hurling himself backwards.

After the head-splitting chop, his breath caught in his throat as the construct's right hand exploded from the broadsword's hilt in a backhanded punch. His uniform flapped in the pressurised wind, and his blood chilled as realisation struck as if the mechanical fist had hit him.

And it was terrifying.

'Physical or magical blows ineffective, unburdened by emotions or ego, and... doesn't rely on its strengths. It adapts, learns, counters, and tries to trap me from provocations. Damn it!'

Yet his eyes blazed with more than anger, more than despair, more than defeat as he landed beside Desmond. Three strikes had pushed him back to the door, but he winked at the breathless teenager.

"Still think you could have my back?" Grinning, he lunged at the golem first this time.

He swept his blade horizontally at its legs. With a thought, the straight sword squirmed mid-movement. The hilt elongated into a shaft, and the straight edges arced into a scythe that scraped the rear of the golem's kneecaps.

CLANG

Sparks, two streams of vapor, no damage, and the silvery sword flashing down.

This was what he wanted. He spun against the shaft, pulling to approach faster. The blade crashed behind him when he let go of his weapon. Gravity shifted. Not for the immune golem. For him. Side became down, and his feet stomped onto the golem's legs as if they were a metallic floor.

He ran across its torso, reaching the helmeted head. He crouched, back muscles coiled like enchanted wires, each section of his triceps pressing against his tight shirt, and his fist enveloped in swirling gravity.

"You're not the only one who can use its brain."

Sneering, he undid the spell that lightened the weight of his bones and struck down.

CRASH

His fist collapsed on the helmet, the sound like hammering a stubborn piece of metal, the pain like plunging his hand into the furnace. Blood burst from his knuckles, splashing the dull visor scarlet. The tremor travelled to his shoulder, numbing his entire arm.

Beneath his fist, the golem's eyes simply flickered, ignoring the groaning piece of armor before blinding light erupted to dissolve the mana multiplying the weight of Adam's punch.

"It won't work!" Adam roared through gritted teeth, his voice like brewing lightning.

He pressed harder, the light passing by his fist. The gravity swirling around his hand not only remained but intensified as his qi began to pulse. After all, immunity to mana left him free to use life force, and right now, it was his strongest suit.

Each pulse added to the weight pressing on the groaning visor. It bent at first, before exploding like glass around his fist. Beneath, he saw a single, round eye flicker in a faceless visage. That had to be a weakness—at arms' length.

He had to destroy it!

The desire tugged at his mind, and it took him a muffled growl to give up on this chance and leap up.

BANG

As soon as he inverted gravity to land on the ceiling, the golem's fist crashed into its own face. The collision was deafening enough for Adam to hope it had somehow damaged itself. But when it removed its hand, bright arcs danced between its fingers. The shards of its destroyed visor rose from the ground, reforming the slit hiding its eye.

But he didn't linger during the fast restoration process. He hurled himself down like a comet, slapping the construct's neck, left arm, and torso with his right hand as he reached for the ground.

The eye flashed in response, but his next action confused even this monster of adaptability.

Adam's fingers blazed with the five elements as he sealed his cultivation again and bolted toward the door. He grabbed Desmond on the way and left the golem before it could process his surreal escape.

"We'll settle this in round three!" He promised, smirking as he closed the crudely studded door by pushing it with Desmond's hand.

It was only when the corridors' soft light brightened his face that he slid down the wall. Eyes trembling, he took a handful of deep breaths, but his racing heart continued to pound against his chest. In the comforting silence, he touched it with his left hand through the sweat-drenched fabric of his uniform. But the true reward was in his right hand. He glared at it as if it could turn lead into gold.

Desmond broke the silence first, his voice cracking like igniting wood. "W-what... happened? Are... you? How?"

"Exactly what you've seen. I'm both. A long story I'll perhaps share one day." Adam pushed against his kneecap, rising slowly to his feet. "We're done for today, but the real work only begins." He exhaled loudly. "Desmond."

"Y-Yeah?"

He glared at the teenager, making him stutter. "If you talk..."

"I'm dead..." Desmond completed the sentence for him, a shudder jolting his shoulders.

"Good. Let's get Louis' vials before we head back."

He moved to open the storage door, and Desmond asked. "Does the pipsqueak know?"

"Only she does." Adam shook his head, hand on the handle. "Another man does. I don't know what he has been up to, but I hope you understand I'm not joking like he did."

Desmond fell silent, his grimace mirroring the storm swirling in his mind, and Adam opened the door.

Torches, four square pillars surrounding a red carpet and... the golem staring at him through its visor.

His eyes widened as he slammed the door shut.

"What's wrong?!" Desmond leapt in surprise behind him, clutching his chest and panting.

Frowning, Adam reopened the studded door just enough for them to peek inside. Again, the mysterious room replaced the storage.

"Damn it."

---

AN: Extra long chapter today. :p