The tall sandcastle began to collapse back into the beachside. Rheba waved the former prisoners away. Those who had calmed from their panic helped pull away the others who were still unable to process anything. The giantess turned to face her opponent as the humanoid Needaimus shaped the sand from the former castle into a hulking torso. Rheba sidestepped a hammer fist. Everything still seemed slow-moving, but time was running short.

  Rheba burst forward at speeds that would leave a track runner in her dust. New Moon could only lean back as the furred warrior’s hand wrapped around the metallic throat.

  “Like, wha-“ Rheba ripped the Needaimus from its sandy formation. New Moon bounced across the ground three times before rolling to a stop. Before the metallic form could stand, Rheba was above it. She smashed her elbow into New Moon’s back. The Needaimus grunted as its chest slammed into sand.

  The giantess wasn’t about to give a second. She was all too aware of how tough this opponent was. Needamius didn’t crack or break very easily. Grabbing the metallic leg, she pulled New Moon up like she was ripping up a tree root. New Moon’s head twisted in an awkward angle on the ground before Rheba flung the Needaimus over her shoulder.

  It crashed through several picnic tables and bounced across the ground several more times before bursting through the wall of a shack.

  In the corner of Rheba’s vision, she saw the timer hit zero. Time was up, and her elevated state quickly deflated like a balloon. All at once, she felt slow, sluggish, and tired. The combination of overexertion and readjusting to her normal state was worse than she had expected. She hoped her blows were enough to defeat the stupid Needaimus for good.

  A second later, the warrior received the bad news. New Moon appeared in an instant before her. Now that she was the slow one, she would find out how bad it was on the receiving end.

  A blow struck her chin, then her stomach, then her knee.

  “I’m going to like kill you for real!” The Needaimus tone had shifted from pure obnoxious to sheer anger. Each word was accompanied with another blow.“Like I’m going to make every bit of you hurt!” It seemed New Moon was hellbent to tear Rheba apart blow by blow. A kick to her knee twisted it just right to make the giantess drop down, and locked together metal fingers were brought down like a hammer on her head.

  The beach looked shaky, with darkness beginning to invade on every side of Rheba’s vision. Another blow. She may have been lying on the ground, but her senses were so off that she wasn’t sure.

  New Moon let up on its attack and stood in front of Rheba. The movement of the Needaimus suggested heavy breathing typical of a person. That was unusual for the metallic creatures, so the giantess was at least assured that she had delivered several decent blows. Had she not saved the tourists, she was certain she would have been able to finish the job before time ran out, but she regretted nothing.

  It was just the way it was. Her only regret was that she couldn’t show Gwyn how little one had to fear. Her beat-up state was exactly something he would say was worrying. She wasn’t even sure she would make it out of the fight alive at this rate. Once New Moon recovered enough, the killing blow may very well come. Likely with an annoying ‘that’s totes what you deserve’ or something else that made the giant warrior feel sick to her stomach.

  Rheba…

  A voice came to the back of her mind. It was like a distant memory one had just before they died—at least if stories of such things were true.

  Rheba…

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  It came again, this time more clearly. Rheba was sure her face was already in the sand, and her consciousness was fading.

  Rheba. Move your finger if you can hear me.

  The voice was finally coming in clearer. Rheba put two and two together. Her Needaimus, Mini, was speaking to her. It was normally a quiet Needaimus, even by the metal creature's standards, so she wasn’t as familiar with the voice as she would like to have been.

  Rheba wiggled a finger.

  Good. Your life force is low, you will die if you keep letting her beat you.

  Rheba didn’t realize her Needaimus was such a master detective. Had she had the energy, she would have snapped back. She just wiggled her finger again, this time managing to ball her hand into a fist.

  Good. You still have some fight left in you.

  Rheba balled her other hand and punched both into the sand. She shook her head to shake away the encroaching darkness while rising like she was doing a fist pushup.

  New Moon’s reply was weak, “Whoa now, you like shouldn’t be able to get back up, you know?”

  The humanoid Needaimus took a step back, possibly on instinct. Rheba still felt tired, but her speed was back to normal. Had she not been beaten nearly to death seconds before, she was confident she could still tear New Moon a new one. Rheba grunted and slid a leg underneath her so she could remain kneeling.

  “Like, look at you,” the Needaimus laughed and began walking closer with a hip-shaking stride—clearly she wanted to show pure confidence. “You can like barely stand.”

  Rheba grunted through clenched teeth, “I still can beat you, somehow.”

  “What was that? I totes can’t even understand you!” The yellow Needaimus chided. “You know, those people you saved haven’t run all that far. Like, after I’m done with you, maybe I’ll kill them too. Just so you know, all your efforts were a total waste, like for real.”

  Rheba used every ounce of strength she had left to stand up. New Moon seemed to shrink a little as the giantess towered over.

  The people she rescued were still just off to the side. Far enough away not to get caught in the fight by accident, but close enough that a rough Needaimus could easily kill them afterwards. They had been silent for the whole time, but seeing her rise after her beating sparked something in the onlookers.

  “Yeah, she did it!” The first to yell was the bikini-clad Aqueenian Rheba had rescued. An average-looking girl by any standard, nowhere near as regal-looking as Fiona. Her voice was small, but her influence was big. The others joined in instantly.

  “Kick that metal be-hind!”

  “You can do it!”

  “Show her some Bental might!”

  The humanoid Needaimus laughed.

  “Ah, so cute. It’s like the little babies need to cry to their mommy! Well, mommy’s about to die! Then, like you are so going to be next!”

  Rheba clenched her fists along with her teeth. Her ears folded down, and she took a fighting stance. She was about to fall over, but if it meant protecting the people for as long as she could, she would keep fighting. It was what a proper warrior ought to do.

  Rheba. You have been ignoring me. Her Needaimus said. Apparently, it had kept speaking even after she propped herself back up. Part of the giantess wanted to dismiss Mini, but if it was speaking, there must have been something important.

  “Mm,” she grunted as New Moon tilted her head and pointed.

  “Oh, Biaskylo thinks she can still put up a fight!” Sand began to burst all around them, forming into giant spears and swords.

  You went negative in points to save those people, but forgot just how many points saving someone gives. You are positive again. The Needaimus cooly reported.

  Sure enough, 1 point in the positive. It wasn’t a lot, but if she were willing to go negative again, it would make all the difference.

  “I will punch you so hard that metal face cracks open!” Rheba didn’t even see what the cost would be, she accepted without a second thought.

  “Like excuse m-“

  It was over in seconds, a seemingly ordinary furry fist boosted beyond conventional logic, cracked right into where a mouth ought to have been. The shockwave from the blow burst apart the sandy structures and even wobbled the cheering tourists. New Moon cratered into the beach and carved a trench up to several paces away before coming to a stop.

  The Needaimus, limp and defeated, hung in a funny position at the end of the trench—twisted and contorted from becoming a ground knife. Metal bits fell away from the mouth, revealing a soft-looking, feminine chin and mouth underneath. Netzian by Rheba’s estimation, but she wouldn’t have time to find out more. She was at her limit.

  “She… She won!” A tourist yelled. The rest shouted and might have run to her. Rheba could no longer tell; all the voices and sounds were starting to mesh together into one.

  She took a couple of steps forward to check that New Moon was really out cold. Then passed out while remaining standing over the defeated foe.