So she did something Malachar could not predict.
"Forty-five seconds," Flint said softly. Panzer Paladin
"You deleted my squad," she said through the external speakers, her voice crackling with static and grief. So she did something Malachar could not predict
Ariane unlatched the cockpit hatch and climbed out onto the Paladin’s shoulder pauldron. The air smelled of smoke, ozone, and something fragile—grass. Ariane unlatched the cockpit hatch and climbed out
The warlock-engineer stood at the rear of the Phalanx, surrounded by a rotating shield of hexed plates. He wasn’t fighting. He was observing . Recording. Ariane realized with cold horror that this wasn’t a battle—it was a field test. He was learning how the Paladin fought.
"Do it."
She looked past him. The Black Phalanx was already crumbling without his signal. Demons stumbled, froze, collapsed into heaps of inert alloy. On the horizon, the first true dawn in weeks bled over the mountains.