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Stoker reached Nize, as well as the momentary safety of Hector’s spires. He spat at the ground, making a large ring with his acid, and then jammed his hands into the melted cracks. He yanked a mound of rock and dirt out, bigger than his own torso. He broke it into two pieces, then three, then four, and Hector kept him covered as he started firing them off.

Karkash avoided the rocks simply enough, but it bought Hector the time he needed.

The iron asteroid took form, quicker now, and Karkash was not pleased to see it again, forcing him to stop what he was doing.

Stoker moved below, creating a stream of fog as he ran, readying its white grasp for Karkash.

Hector tried to maintain the shape. He could see giant ripples washing through the metal--waves from Karkash’s magnetism, attempting to tear it apart. It was a competition, Hector trying to fill in the cracks faster than Karkash could make them.

And Hector was winning. It was all Karkash could do to keep the mass afloat.

A rock flew up from the fog, and Karkash had to move. The mass shifted, pushing him down a dozen meters before he could stop it again. Then another rock. Even closer to the fog now, which was also rising up to meet him.

“No!” came Karkash’s hoarse yell. It was the first time Hector had heard the man say a single word, and it cut across the entire battlefield--not with desperation, but with authority. With refusal.

And then, after a terrible moment, it happened.

Sparks flew out of Karkash’s arms in huge clusters, climbing up the metal orb and spreading all the way across it.

‘Oh no!’ said Garovel.

And the asteroid moved up. Cracks formed all along its iron body, shifting the metal, breaking it. Lightning tore across the surface, rending the metal and then leaping off into the sky, making the very air shudder with each thunderous boom.

Hector stared, horrified. ‘What the fuck is happening?!’

‘Emergence,’ Garovel said gravely. ‘Karkash’s ability has grown stronger.’