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This wasn't a fortress cube, though. Those were all gone, and he'd given up trying to bring them back. No, this was the cube that was orbiting around him. The one holding that freaky little creature that he'd picked up underground. The Ceese.

Hector let it finish its orbit around him until it slowly bumped into Sermung, and right before it actually hit, Hector dematerialized the cube, letting the creature free.

It still remained totally limp, though. It flopped against the Titan's armor, and its tail brushed against his face, leaving behind a sticky residue as the creature slid down the full length the man's body.

Hector caught it in another box before it fell too far, but his attention remained focused on Sermung's squinting expression.

He looked Hector in the eye. "Was that a Ceese?" The revulsion in his face and voice could not have been more obvious.

"...I didn't know it would slime you like that," said Hector, suddenly feeling like he might need to apologize.

"It's a fear response." Sermung quickly annihilated then rematerializd his own armor, which made it pristine again. That didn't stop him from still needing to wipe his face down, though. "They excrete bodily fluids when panicking or playing dead."

Oof. "See, this is why my armor has a face guard," said Hector.

There was only a split second to react before the Titan karate chopped Hector straight downward.

The young Lord Darksteel managed to raise the Amir-22 just enough to take most of the blow, but he still went plummeting to the ground. He did not hit it, however. Instead, he crashed into a crystal platform, which did not budge or soften his landing at all.

Disorienting. No wind in his lungs. But he could deal with it. He had spare thought processes.

The Amir-22. It was visibly bent. Hector could almost see a full imprint of the man's arm in it.

And the crystal platform shifted rapidly beneath him, extending around into a cage. Hector tried to leap out but was too slow and bashed against the ceiling.

Plenty of light was still getting through the crystal, but how the fuck was he supposed to break out of this? This guy's crystals might've well been the strongest material in the entire world.

Then he started feeling the temperature rise, too.

Holy shit, that wasn't even necessary, was it? He really must've succeeded in pissing the guy off.