The Search for the Eoz Potion

33. The Battle for the Eoz Potion

A group of five devils approached the General. As they did, a larger group of Human Robots moved to protect him. They stood in front of Drawde and held out their batons. There was a quiet tension as they stared each other down until finally the Prince commanded the devils to attack. They had no weapons. Their hands were enough. They easily overtook the soldiers protecting Drawde. One slashed his sharp claw like hands across a Human Robot who fell to the ground. Another picked one up and threw him into a wall. The Human Robots tried to shock the devils with their batons, but they were not strong enough to make an impact. As his soldiers fell, Drawde drew his own baton from his belt and retreated to the protection of another group of Human Robots. The Prince's deep laugh filled the room as fighting broke out.

The Human Robots that were helping to guard Claire, Hailey, and Tellis joined their batons together in one large group in order to create a stronger blast. A small purple light formed where the tips came together. It grew steadily bigger until it exploded in a large blast and hit one of the devils. The continued blasts knocked the devils lifelessly to the floor, but a small group of them quickly approached to try to disarm the Human Robots. The other soldiers who were still keeping the handcuffs on Hailey and Claire were forced to release their hold in order to protect their fellow soldiers, but the two holding Tellis used their batons to again restrain her with handcuffs as they moved to a safer part of the chamber.

On the other side of the room, General Drawde was shocking devils one at a time with his baton. His weapon delivered a more powerful shock than those of his soldiers. It was still not strong enough to stop them completely, but it hit the devils hard enough that they quickly became more apprehensive about approaching him. As he held them off, Drawde stepped back slowly until he ran into one of the brick walls. He thought for a moment about how to get out of the predicament, then grabbed a second baton that had fallen to the floor. He held them together and shot at the devils and took out a few making the others even more nervous about coming toward him. At that moment, a blast from one of the other HRA soldiers hit the wall next to Drawde. The shot sent cracks heading up the wall all the way toward the ceiling. Small pieces of rock began to fall down hitting some of the devils and allowing Drawde to slip around the others and shock them from behind.

The wall continued cracking, not enough to collapse it, but enough that several splits in the brick began to form. One was long enough to reach almost up to the glass covered shelf where the Eoz Potion was being kept. The brick walls were strong, but they were not built to withstand such an assault. As the fighting continued, the walls kept taking stray blasts from the Human Robots' batons and the cracks became wider and more plentiful.

Meanwhile, Claire crawled across the floor toward Zack who was fighting nobly alongside the other Human Robots. He had gotten a baton from one of the fallen soldiers and was partnered up with another sending purple blasts throughout the Prince's throne room. Claire was able to sneak up behind the other soldier and put her shoulder firmly into his back. He stumbled toward Zack as they both fell to the floor, Zack trapped under the weight of the collapsed soldier. While Zack was covered, and before the other soldier could come to, Claire tried desperately to get the bracelet off of his wrist. She pulled on it as hard as she could, but she couldn't figure out how it came off. Finally, she grabbed the baton that Zack had dropped when he hit the ground and held it to the bracelet. She didn't know how they worked, but she had to try something. When the tip of the baton touched the bracelet, it began to spark. The spark quickly turned to a small blast and the bracelet burst off of him. It left a burn on Zack's arm as he shouted out in pain.

Claire pushed the other soldier off of him and checked to make sure that Zack was okay. His eyes were closed but he was breathing. She shook him awake and shouted his name. Slowly, his eyes began to open and he recoiled in terror at the fighting he realized had broken out. When she saw that he was okay, Claire looked down at the baton and the bracelet on the floor. She briefly contemplated trying to free the other robots, but she realized she needed them to keep fighting the devils in order to keep them busy.