Page 53 of Frostforge: Passage Two

The Northern golem pivoted with surprising agility for its size, launching another assault.This time, it swept one massive arm in a horizontal arc, aiming to catch Thalia's construct in the midsection.Again, she dodged, but more narrowly this time, the edge of the blow grazing her golem's shoulder and causing it to stumble slightly.

As she regained control, directing her golem to put more distance between them, Thalia instinctively reached out with her senses.She let her awareness brush against Matthias's golem.

The construct's core resonated with the same dissonant, jangling energy she'd detected in the failed golems.The magical currents weren't flowing smoothly through the alloy; instead, they bunched and knotted, creating dangerous pressure points throughout the construct.This golem wasn't just going to lose the match.It was going to catastrophically fail.

Matthias was preparing for another charge, a confident smile playing at his lips as he misjudged her defensive movements for fear.He had no idea his construct was seconds away from turning into a mindless, destructive force.

"Matthias!"she shouted across the arena, breaking the combatant's code of silent focus."Disengage your golem!The alloy is compromised!"

His brow furrowed, confusion quickly replaced by scorn."Nice try, Southerner.Your distraction tactics won't work on me."

"I'm serious!"she tried again, more urgently this time."Your golem's core is unstable.It's made from the impure alloys.It's going to —"

"Silence during combat!"Maven barked, cutting her off.

Matthias smirked, interpreting her warning as a desperate ploy.He thrust both hands forward, sending his golem charging toward her again — but halfway across the arena, something changed.The construct's movements became jerky, its glowing eyes flickering like candles in a draft.It took one more stumbling step, then froze completely.

The arena fell silent.

For one tense heartbeat, nothing moved.Then, with a grinding shriek of metal on metal, the golem's head slowly rotated a full hundred and eighty degrees — until it was staring directly at its creator.

Matthias's smug expression dissolved into confusion, then dawning horror.

"What are you —" he began, raising his hands to regain control.

The golem's eyes flared blindingly bright.With a sound like tearing metal, it pivoted and lunged toward him with terrifying speed, one hammer-fist raised to crush its own master.

Thalia sprinted across the arena, Falchion moving in perfect synchronization beside her.At the last possible moment, she slammed her body into Matthias, shoving him sideways just as the corrupted golem brought its fist down.The blow missed him by inches, striking the ground with enough force to crack the packed earth and send shock waves rippling across the arena floor.

They tumbled together, rolling several feet before coming to a stop with Thalia half on top of him.She scrambled to her feet, yanking Matthias up by his collar.

"Move!"she shouted, pushing him toward the arena's edge.

The rogue golem was already recovering, its movements more fluid now that it was free from its master's control.The magical currents within it had broken free of constraint, feeding on their own chaotic energy.It turned toward them again, eyes pulsing erratically.

Thalia’s brass construct moved with incredible speed, tackling the larger iron golem from the side before it could reach her and Matthias.The two ice-metal behemoths crashed to the ground in a tangle of limbs, the impact sending clouds of dust billowing around them.

The combat judge was shouting for security, but Thalia knew help would come too late.This was between the golems now.

Her golem was outmatched in terms of raw strength.The iron construct pinned it to the ground with one massive hand, raising the other to deliver a crushing blow to its head.Thalia felt a sympathetic pressure in her own chest, her connection to her creation making its peril viscerally real.

The corrupted golem froze mid-strike, its body shuddering as its internal instabilities compounded.Thalia could feel the currents through the metal casing; within the ice-iron, the natural energy was a tangled mess.Seizing the opportunity, Thalia's brass creation heaved upward with all its strength, breaking free of the iron golem's grip.In one fluid motion, it drove its fist directly into the larger construct's chest — not aiming for brute damage, but for the magical core.

The impact was like a tuning fork striking stone.A high-pitched whine filled the arena as the corrupted golem's chest plate cracked, exposing the glowing, pulsating core within.Thalia's golem struck again, more precisely this time, fingers plunging into the opening to grasp the unstable heart.

With a final wrench, it tore the core free.

The iron golem collapsed instantly, its limbs splaying at unnatural angles as the animating magic fled.What had moments ago been a terrifying force of destruction was now nothing more than an inert heap of flawed metal.

Thalia's golem stood over it, the extracted core still clutched in its hand.The orb's glow faded rapidly, leaving a dull, lifeless sphere of what should have been pure magical alloy but was instead riddled with cheaper substitutes.

The silence that followed was deafening.Then, gradually, murmurs spread through the crowd, rising into a confused mixture of applause, gasps, and accusations.

"Winner: Thalia Greenspire," the judge announced, though her eyes were fixed on the fallen golem with unmistakable concern.

Across the arena, Matthias sat on the ground where he had fallen, his face ashen.His gaze moved from his destroyed creation to Thalia, a riot of emotions playing across his features — shock, relief, suspicion, and most troublingly, a growing anger.

"How did you know?"he demanded, loud enough for those nearby to hear."How did you know it would turn?"

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