Iron 27 ignored Lithium 15's words and said, "We have no place to hide on our way to the parental body of the Metal Eaters who's about to turn into a Royal. We've got to fight our way through."
This was exactly what Adam saw with his special radar vision. In front of them, for miles, the Metal Eaters' patrol teams were everywhere, filling up space like a sea of white dots that left no room at all.
"I can't back down now. If I do, Lithium 15 won't make it on his own," Iron 27 signaled Lithium 15 to zip it and then told Adam, "And without me to cover you, even if you tried to get away by yourself, those Metal Eaters would tear you apart."
Adam knew he was speaking the truth. He knew nothing could kill him, but he also knew that he might suffer great damages during this mission. He had known that long before, since he knew what the mission was about.
Right on the frontlines facing their home, Ironburg, there was a level-four Metal Eater, a parental body, on the verge of leveling up to a Royal. That was why the Metal Eaters were so bold in starting a fight. They needed to grab Flames and other stuff to help their boss level up because once it did, it would have super strong babies right off the bat. And Ironburg wouldn't stand a chance against a whole army of these tough level four Metal Eaters.
Nobody could figure out why these high-level Metal Eaters were popping up at the border. In the two years of fighting, the Titans had been giving it their all, blowing themselves up left and right, trying to keep even a spark of the Original Flames from ending up with the Metal Eaters.
But somehow, the Metal Eaters kept managing to scoop up enough Flames from the Titans, so their boss leveling up was just a matter of time.
Once that parental body turned into a Royal, the loss of Ironburg and a huge chunk of land around it would be a massive blow. No Titan could just sit back and watch that happen, which is why this mission was so critical. Ironburg's General Commander, Iron 27, decided to take matters into his own hands. He planned to have Lithium 15 blow up right next to this parental body to take it down with him.
The plan was simple and brute force, but it was all they had against the clock.
A ton of lithium can unleash a massive amount of heat when it goes up in flames. So, with Lithium 15 weighing tons, the blast would be huge enough to turn the Metal Eaters' front line into dust. But for it to work against a nearly transcendent Metal Eater, Lithium 15 had to get right up close.
Lithium 15 was pumping himself up, getting ready to go all out. He found a moment to say, "Who says I can't do this on my own? I'm strong too. I can get to my parental body without Iron 27. It's just too bad I won't be able to pass my Flames to future generations."
Lithium 15 sounded pretty chill about it, but deep down, Lithium 15 knew he was bluffing. As an energy-type Titan, breaking through such heavy security on his own was a no-go. If he blew up too early, his big move would be for nothing.
Adam was straight-up about it, "I'm coming with you. I won't die."
Adam was speaking the truth, but Iron 27 and Lithium 15 had their doubts. Still, Adam sticking around was settled, and the two didn't get all mushy about it. They handed over a bunch of energy blocks to Adam, and then they each took out a delicate external armor and placed it on Adam without saying anything.
Everything went quiet. An hour later, Iron 27 turned into something like a black hole, gobbling up all the light around.
Lithium 15, after chomping down the last energy block, started shining like a lamp. The energy vibes cranked up the heat, grabbing the Metal Eaters' attention upfront.
Suddenly, alarms went off, and the air got filled with buzzing messages from the Metal Eaters. Iron 27 took the lead, blasting through their defenses like a hot knife through butter.
Lithium 15 glanced back at Adam, "Let's hit it. Here's hoping we make it."
Adam thought to himself, 'the luck should be on your side,' as he hopped onto Lithium 15's back. Then he morphed again, turning into a protective layer around Lithium 15.
Lithium 15 felt lighter and zoomed forward, intrigued, "So you're like liquid, huh? You're a really promising Intelligent. Hope you pull through."
Adam ditched the idea of staying invisible and went all-in on powering up a super strong electric field. He used the energy leaking from Lithium 15 to whip up thunder, storms, and rivers of plasma. He fired off beta rays like crazy, blocking the Metal Eaters charging at them.
Iron 27, not too far ahead, was like a magnet for trouble, drawing loads of the smaller Metal Eaters to him. He was taking them down left and right, but for every one he dropped, more jumped in. Every step forward was bought with the fall of hundreds of Metal Eaters.
The smaller Metal Eaters, levels one and two, were wildly brave, while the tougher ones quickly got into battle formations.
The sky was filled with energy blasts, and force fields popped up everywhere. It was like a storm of corrosive liquid was raining down, hitting Iron 27 non-stop.
Iron 27 had a shield up around him and was taking all the hits with just his body's strength. Even though he was getting hit a lot, he didn't back down at all.
Suddenly, two groups of the stronger Metal Eaters dodged Iron 27 and zoomed towards Adam. Their attacks mixed together and started turning solid.
Adam tried to protect Lithium 15 with his Flames and kept boosting the strength of the magnetic field, but it only nudged the attacks off course a bit.
"I can't stop it," Adam said honestly.
Lithium 15 boosted Adam's energy with his own, whispering, "It's all right, Iron 27 has got this."
The solid attack was coming in fast. Just then, Iron 27 let out a huge roar. The sound waves were so strong they turned the Metal Eaters right in front of him into goo. Then, his whole body shook with the sound waves, and iron sand loaded with Flame energy burst out, slicing through everything like blades. At that moment, Iron 27 was like a giant blender.
With tons of iron flying around and his body shaking like crazy, he seemed almost ghost-like. But even like that, his attacks were super strong. Flames shot out behind him, and with a huge burst of speed, he charged right towards where Adam was.
The two groups of Metal Eaters dropped the idea of going after Adam and moved aside for Iron 27. But Adam didn't let them off easy; he cranked up his magnetic field, freezing them in place for a second.
That one second was all Iron 27 needed to crash right into them. Everything seemed to stop for a moment, and then there was the sound of sharp sticks going through meat.
