I always loved robots. For as long as I can remember, I always liked the concept of machines able to walk, reflect and act by themselves. Right now I was not so sure to like them so much.

At least half an hour has passed from the beginning of the fight and the only thing I did with those in front of me was protect myself against them. Leslie who has taken flight followed by half of our enemies left me on the ground. As a result, I was alone against dozens of iron bastards. 

However, I've never been so grateful toward Leslie for all these training sessions where she mistreated me. Compared to her, these pseudo-terminators were pretty friendly. At first. But things just got worse when some of them started to turn their arms into canons and shoot light bolts. Luckily, the sword Leslie gave me was not just a decoration accessory. The blade was not just able to cut the metal these guys were made of, she was solid enough to block their blows and their projectiles. Before realizing it, I was starting to have fun in this fight. The more I was beating them, the less I wished to end this fight.

I was beheading my 14th victim when three robots got into position right in front of me perfectly aligned and aimed at me with their cannons. I held my sword the same way we hold a baseball bat and at the moment they shouted, I repelled their light bullets with a perfect swing. The big guy in the middle and the one to his left received one of their own bullets in their heads that exploded and the last, in his right shoulder. This one aimed his canon toward me again, so I have prepared myself, ready to «play» again. Terrible mistake. 

This time it was not one of these yellow light energy projectiles he shot but a black netting from which blue sparks emanated. The second it touched me, a horrible pain passed through my whole body. Screaming in agony, I fell to my knees, unable to move while the scrap bastards slowly began to surround me.

One of them came in front of me and his chest opened on both sides to reveal what seemed to be a pair of black handcuffs for the hands and the neck with strange symbols on it. He took his tool in his hands but suddenly, his whole body started to burn. Literally. A few seconds later, all the other robots close to me began to melt like snow in the sun.

«Don't let your guard down little wolf, and stay focused! This battle is not over!» Leslie cried.

I raised my head to see her in the sky, red fire in each hand. I guessed she was the one who did this to these robots, even if it was the first time she showed me this kind of power. With her shining purple spread wings, her scarlet flames, and the full moon behind her, Leslie looked like one of these heroes of the stories she told me about when I was a little boy.

Putting that thought aside, I overcame my pain, strengthened my grab on my sword, and cut the mesh of the net. Leslie was right. The battle was over. And we didn't have any intention to lose.

Once freed of my trammel, I pointed my sword toward the remaining enemies.

«Come on! Let us show you how we treat unwanted guests here.»

)++++++++(

Leslie POV

Leslie looked at her protege reaffirm his will to fight and take back his fight. Despite her motivating speech before the battle, she still had a few doubts about the choice she made. Asking a 12 years old boy to fight by her side was a thing she would never have done usually, but this sight relieved her of her worries, this was meaning she did the right thing. In other words, she was now able to focus on her job. The Manhunters surrounded her with their canons locked on her.

«You have been declared guilty. Do not attempt to resist. Surrender or be terminated» One of them said.

«Don't you know it's bad to harass a girl? Are you in need of friends so much?» She mocked.

The only answer she got was a barrage of golden light bullets. She easily dodged every shot with grace as she danced under the moonlight.

Despite her amused look, a part of Leslie's mind was thoughtful. This was not the first time she was fighting the Manhunters and the way they tried to deal with Jesse and her was not their usual style.

 Among the many things she knew of in this universe, only a few were able to scare Leslie. And fighting a bunch of big robot killers was not one of them.

 Although she was not alone to deal with them. What bothered her was the fact it was obvious these enemies were not trying to kill them but to capture them. 

 In the first place anybody who, as Leslie had the misfortune to come across the Manhunters knew their only purpose was to erase any living being of the universe.

 The way they have done things from the start of the fight was odd. It would have been simpler to just destroy the castle with everyone within it and terminate any survivors. But they instead tried to enter inside by force and even ordered them to surrender. 

 She felt something bad was hiding behind all of this. Something or someone. But this was a thought for later. Her priorities were to protect her family and to punish those who dared attack her home.

                  )++++++++(

 Jesse Pov

My whole body was aching, I must have taken as many hits as I had given. I felt like I had been fighting for hours. And I felt more alive than ever. Leslie had burned almost all of his opponents to ashes and I only had one last opponent to be cut down. He was standing about 15 meters from me, his cannon arm pointed at me. 

I took a deep breath and then rushed towards him. He fired three bolts I blocked with the flat of my blade. When I got close enough to hit him with my sword, he tried to give me a powerful right hook but I dodged it by sliding on my knees until I found myself behind him.

 Before he could turn around I sliced the back of his knees, forcing him to kneel, and then stabbed him, pushing the whole blade of my sword through his body. He tried in vain to withdraw the blade coming out of his chest, then finally his hands stopped moving.

"No man escapes..."

These were the last sounds he made. I removed the sword from its body and shook the blade to rid it of the oil-like substance that had spilled on it. Looking around, I saw only dozens of sliced, pierced, or melted bodies. I couldn't believe that I and Leslie had done this on our own.

 But what I found most shocking was that despite the time I spent waving my sword, dodging cannon fire, and taking hits, I was absolutely not tired. 

I felt capable of fighting indefinitely. Leslie was going to end up on her own soon anyway. I sheathed my sword when I was suddenly seized with a terrible feeling. A real and cruel killing intent.

 But without understanding how, I knew this emotion was not mine. It was emanating from someone else. And I felt his presence behind me. 

I turned around as quickly as I could but it was too late. A red light dazzled me and a burning pain hit my chest as I was thrown 20 meters away against the wall. The impact got the air knocked out of my lungs and I fell to the ground trying to catch my breath.

 "Awesome, kid." An inhuman voice spoke.

I raised my head to see the one from the terrible urge to murder emanated. Dressed in what appeared to be both an all-black wetsuit and armor, he stood about 2 meters tall and wore a disproportionate diving helmet on his head where two large, smoldering red lenses were located at eye level. He quietly drew two short swords from his back.

"But you are but a child. At least you fought like a man, so you will die like a man."