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Asad raged in place. He struggled, wanting to thrash his way to freedom, at least, but even with undead strength, the mechanical tendrils held him fast, preventing all but the smallest movements.

The thought occurred to him that they might be better off if Qorvass tried to use this opportunity to flee, while the Mad Demon was possibly too distracted.

But neither of them really believed that he would be able to slip away. Morgunov had more tricks up his sleeve, no doubt.

And indeed, they soon saw another one.

The hellish winds ceased.

All at once and without warning.

They just stopped. The four tornadoes each burst apart like popped balloons, and within seconds, there was no wind at all anymore.

Asad searched for some explanation, utterly confused until he saw Miles in the sky with a machine wrapped around him like a spider that had just caught a fly.

Or at least, it looked like Miles from this distance. It was made more confounding by the fact that Asad noticed another figure that could have been Miles, too. And then a third. And a fourth. He could only make out their vague shapes, but each one could have been the captain general.

Regardless, they'd all been caught, seemingly in unison. One machine each.

Morgunov, meanwhile, also reappeared in his view, on the ground. He was in the middle of where the four tornadoes had been just a few moments ago, and he was staring up at his captives. He crouched down briefly, then leapt up into the sky with enough force to explode the sand beneath him. The nearest robot released a captive just as the Mad Demon passed by and skewered the figure through the chest with his face.

And when the figure vanished, leaving no trace behind, Asad understood that Morgunov had just obliterated a clone made in pan-rozum. Morgunov landed on a distant dune with a booming thud, then leapt back up to do the same thing again, leaving only two.