"No time left! Attack!" shouted Claus as he began generating dozens of clones of himself, all charging toward the robo-sharks with determination.
The clones advanced bravely, though some were devoured by the metallic jaws of the sharks during their assault. Despite the losses, Claus kept creating more, strategically dividing his forces.
"Protect the civilians!" Claus ordered a group of his copies, who responded in unison with enthusiasm:
"Yes!"
Meanwhile, Renzo summoned a gigantic copper hammer, its surface glowing with electric sparks. He slammed it against the ground with force, releasing streams of lightning that snaked across the terrain and struck several robots, rendering them inactive.
"Not bad," commented Sonia as she dodged the attacks of the metallic sharks with fluid movements. She wielded her blood-manipulation ability like a sharp saw, cleanly slicing through anything it touched.
"Ever heard this phrase? Blood is harder than rock," she said sarcastically with a grin as she pierced one of the robots. Obviously, no one was going to respond to her.
The three young fighters battled tirelessly, defending the citizens from the relentless assault of the robotic sharks emerging from the sea in waves. Claus erected a barricade composed of dozens of his clones, forming a living wall ready to face the mechanical swarm.
"Watch out!" shouted Renzo as he fired copper electric darts at a robot shark dangerously approaching a group of people near the shore.
"Move! Get out of here!" Renzo ordered, positioning himself in front of the civilians to shield them.
Sonia, on the other hand, created a trident made of solidified blood. With precise movements, she hurled it at her targets, piercing several robots before retrieving it telekinetically. The battle seemed to reach a stalemate: the three teens fought with everything they had, but the enemies just wouldn't stop coming.
Suddenly, an earsplitting roar echoed throughout the city, momentarily deafening everyone. The ground trembled beneath their feet, and the windows of nearby buildings vibrated until they shattered.
"What was that?" asked one of Claus's clones, covering his ears with both hands.
"I don't know," replied Renzo, adjusting his gloves to transform them into electric cannons.
A colossal shadow began moving toward them. The three youngsters were left speechless when they saw an enormous castle walking on metallic legs. Its windows glowed like burning eyes, and its main door opened as if it were a giant mouth. With a thunderous scream, the castle began to rampage, destroying everything in its path, smashing buildings and sending chunks of stone flying through the air. Even the robo-sharks were mercilessly crushed under its devastating steps.
"And what's with that castle?" stammered Claus, incredulous.
"I don't know, but it looks angry," muttered Sonia, nervously swallowing.
Renzo surveyed the scene with concern as he hovered over the area, trying to come up with a solution. He quickly thought about how they could save the civilians while facing this new threat.
"Even my nanobots won't be able to do anything against that thing… What the hell were those people at Radar Corporation thinking when they built it?" Renzo wondered aloud, frustrated.
"I don't know, you're the brainiac!" Sonia shot back, crossing her arms.
The castle continued its relentless advance as the three young fighters exchanged uncertain glances. They knew they had to act quickly, but facing an abomination of such magnitude seemed almost impossible.
The giant castle groaned again, its roar thundering like a storm that shook the air. With every step, it demolished ancient structures, reducing them to rubble as it advanced implacably toward the trio. The sheer scale of the problem was overwhelming, and none of them knew how to stop it.
"We should bring in a super-evolved lizard to face it," suggested Claus with a half-joking tone, though his eyes betrayed concern.
"This isn't a sci-fi movie; this is reality itself," Sonia retorted sarcastically as she dodged attacks from the robotic sharks and counterattacked with her blood ability, cleanly slicing through one of them.
"Tell that to the angry giant robot castle," Claus replied, pointing at the colossal enemy that kept advancing without pause.
Renzo surveyed the surrounding chaos, trying to find a solution. His hands trembled slightly as he adjusted his robotic arms, transforming them into cannons.
"Let's see if you can handle this," he muttered to himself before firing copper spheres charged with electricity at the castle.
The explosions impacted its structure, destroying some towers and fragments of walls, but the robot barely seemed to notice. It continued its devastating advance, ignoring any minor damage.
"Come on, guys! Let's stop it!" shouted Claus, determined.
With that, he began generating dozens of clones of himself. All his duplicates glanced at each other before starting to touch hands, forming rows and human pyramids until they fused into a gigantic colossus made entirely of Claus. The original climbed up to the shoulder of the combined titan and yelled:
"Alright! Let's go beat that thing!"
All the copies responded in unison:
"Yes, boss!"
"Not bad, kid," Sonia commented with a half-smile, impressed by Claus's creativity.
Claus's giant marched toward the metallic castle, ready to confront it. However, when it threw a punch directly at the structure, a collective cry of pain echoed through the air. The colossus's arm trembled, and the copies that formed it groaned simultaneously.
"What happened?" asked the original Claus from his elevated position.
"It's too hard… It hurts a lot. It's like punching a block of cement," the copies replied, visibly in pain.
"You idiot! Is that what you did all that for?" Sonia exclaimed in frustration.
Before she could continue, the castle struck the clone giant in the stomach with devastating force. The impact caused all the copies to disassemble and collapse to the ground, vanishing in the process. Only the original Claus survived, thanks to other replicas shielding him as they fell.
"Watch out!" Sonia shouted, launching a thread of blood that caught Claus like a fishing line just before the enormous foot of the monstrous castle crushed him.
Meanwhile, Renzo continued firing copper electric bombs at the castle. Though he managed to destroy more parts of its structure, he couldn't stop or even slow its advance.
"Hey!" interrupted Sonia, turning toward Claus. "Do your clones… have blood?"
"Well, theoretically, I can make them as simple clones or as if they were human… But why are you asking?" replied the boy, confused.
Sonia revealed her sharp fangs, staring at him with her bright red eyes.
"Are you some kind of… vampire!?" Claus asked, backing away in fear.
"No, of course not. I'm not going to turn you into a vampire or anything like that; my power doesn't work that way. Stop asking stupid questions. Just answer me: yes or no," Sonia said seriously, locking her gaze on him.
Claus swallowed nervously.
"Y-yes… How many do you need?"
"Good. Make a lot—we don't have time," she responded with a chilling smile that left the boy even more uneasy.
"Alright…" murmured Claus, still confused as he thought about Sonia's fangs and his initial assumption that she might turn him into a vampire.
"But it's strange… A vampire can't go out in the sunlight, they'd die. Isn't that how it works?" the boy reflected to himself, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.
"Well, I'll figure that out later. First, we need to get the people to safety," he finally said to himself, making a decision.
Claus began generating a hundred human copies, this time with completely realistic characteristics: warm skin, circulating blood, and even unique small details in each one.
"I can only keep them human for a short time," the boy noted, looking at Sonia seriously.
"That's fine, I'll be quick," she replied with a sinister smile before opening her mouth, revealing her large fangs.
With agile movements, Sonia approached the neck of each clone, draining their blood without hesitation. Once she finished, she walked up to the real Claus, wiping her lips with the back of her hand.
"No, not me. I'm the original," Claus said, backing away in fear.
"Relax, I know you're the original," Sonia responded calmly.
"How do you know?" he asked, curiously.
"By your scent. Plus, your clones have white hair on their foreheads," she explained matter-of-factly.
"Oh!" exclaimed Claus, relieved, though he still planned to ask her more about her vampiric nature when she interrupted him.
"I'm not exactly a vampire, but I gain energy and strength like one. That's why the sun doesn't affect me—if that's what you were worried about. And no, I can't turn people into beings like them," Sonia said, noticing the confusion in the boy's eyes.
"Oh! I understand," Claus replied, though unanswered questions still lingered in his mind.
In parallel, Renzo observed the scene from afar, firing missiles at the robotic castle.
"What are those two doing? I think they've gone crazy, and here I am trying to stop this thing…" he thought, shaking his head.
"Hey! Why did you need to drink the blood of my clones?" Claus asked, regaining his composure.
"It's because I need a large amount of blood to do this," Sonia replied, gesturing elegantly but firmly toward the battlefield in front of them. "And I saw that you can create many copies with blood. I think from now on we'll get along well, Claus, as long as you're by my side," she added with an enigmatic smile that conveyed both confidence and a touch of mystery.
"I'll explain it better later," she promised before leaping into battle with feline agility, disappearing among the rubble and explosions.
Claus stood frozen for a moment, feeling his cheeks flush a faint crimson. His heart raced—not just from the adrenaline of the fight, but also from the unexpected closeness Sonia had shown him. However, his blush soon gave way to a mix of nervousness and confusion. Despite Sonia's explanations, he couldn't help but think about what he'd seen: her sharp fangs, her thirst for blood… Was he really safe? What if one day she decided to turn him into a vampire or something worse?
"Why does she have to be so intimidating?" Claus thought, scratching the back of his neck as he looked toward where Sonia had disappeared. "Although… it's not like she's completely terrified. She's more… intriguing."
He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Now wasn't the time to worry about that. There was a battle to win and lives to save. But still, he couldn't help feeling a little uneasy at the idea of working side by side with someone so unpredictable.
Using all the blood she had absorbed, Sonia extended her arms toward one of the walking castle's legs, halting its advance with superhuman strength.
"Incredible!" exclaimed Renzo, amazed as he watched Sonia restrain the gigantic robot.
Claus observed the scene, quickly processing what he had just witnessed.
"I think I understand… If she drinks blood, she gets stronger, like vampires," he thought, impressed by the girl's abilities.
The robot castle glared down at Sonia, annoyed at being stopped. It tried to let out a devastating roar, but Sonia countered by creating an enormous needle and thread made of blood. With precise movements, she sewed the monster's mouth shut as if weaving fabric.
The robot, furious, attempted to swat her with its massive hand, but Renzo intervened, launching missiles to distract it.
"Alright, it's time to finish this," Sonia declared, summoning a large scythe made of blood. With a fluid motion, she sliced the castle in half and, using a fine thread of blood, destroyed its central chip.
The colossal robot slowly collapsed, falling like a mountain of inert metal.
"You're amazing," commented Renzo, impressed.
"I know," Sonia replied with an arrogant smile.
Renzo and Claus took care of eliminating the last remaining robo-sharks. Once the area was secured, both young fighters regrouped with Sonia.
"You were holding out on us, huh!" remarked Renzo, pointing at Sonia with a mix of astonishment and amusement.
"Hey, Sonia, I…" started Claus, wanting to clarify something.
"Sure, I told you I'm not a vampire," interrupted Sonia, crossing her arms.
Renzo looked surprised upon hearing this revelation.
"That's not what I meant…" responded Claus, somewhat uncomfortably.
"Oh, you mean my powers? Well, you see, I feed on blood, and yes, that gives me abilities similar to vampiric creatures, but I'm not one of them," Sonia explained as she turned toward them with a serious expression. "Also, it helps strengthen my creations: the more blood I consume, the stronger my attacks become."
"Hey… You're not going to turn us into vampires, are you?" asked Renzo, visibly nervous.
Sonia shot him a threatening glare that made the boy quickly lower his head.
"If you make me mad, maybe I'll consider it," she responded with a teasing yet warning tone.
Then, her expression suddenly shifted to a flirtatious smile as she looked at Claus.
"But from now on, you'll always be by my side," Sonia said with a wink.
Claus blushed violently and muttered to himself:
"Great… The crazy girl likes me."
"What are you waiting for? We need to defeat more robots that have gone rogue," Sonia instructed, resuming her determined attitude as she pointed toward the horizon.
The other two exchanged quick glances before following her without hesitation.
Auckland, New Zealand. The train moved calmly along the tracks, its passengers lost in their thoughts or engaged in everyday conversations. However, suddenly, the rails began to crumble beneath the weight of the convoy. The metallic sound of the collapsing tracks echoed like a warning, freezing the blood of everyone on board.
"Sir, sir! Look!" shouted a man from the front carriage, pointing ahead with panic in his voice.
The conductor noticed it was too late. Ahead of them, the path of the tracks simply… ended. The end of the line was in sight, and beyond it lay nothing but a dark, deep abyss.
The train continued its relentless advance, drawing closer and closer to the edge of the precipice. Passengers screamed as the conductor desperately tried to break, but the momentum of the train was too great. They were already dangerously close to the brink of their final destination.