The demon moved first.
For something that huge, it should have been slow. Heavy. Predictable.
It was none of those things.
One second it stood in the middle of the shattered airstrip, red energy pulsing through the cracks in its stone-like body. The next, it exploded forward with lightning speed, turning into a blur of red-black force as it charged straight at Steel and Stark.
Stark's eyes widened. "How is something that big able to move this fast and this clean?"
"Worry about it later!" Steel barked.
The two of them threw themselves out of the way just in time. The demon tore through the ground where they had been standing, cracking the airstrip and sending debris flying in every direction.
Steel hit the ground, rolled, and popped back up instantly. He rushed the demon from the side, wrapped both arms around one of its legs, and planted his feet hard.
"Let's see how balanced you are now!"
With a grunt, Steel used all his weight and force to yank the giant creature off-center. The demon actually dropped for half a second, one knee slamming into the cracked concrete.
But only for half a second.
It recovered almost immediately.
Stark came flying in before it could fully rise and drove a brutal punch straight into the side of its face. The impact made the demon stagger, its head jerking sideways as fragments of glowing rock chipped loose.
Steel grinned. "There we go!"
Then the demon answered.
Its leg snapped backward with terrifying force and kicked Steel square in the chest, launching him through the air. Before Stark could press his advantage, the demon leapt and buried a knee into Stark's torso, sending him flying back across the runway.
The shockwave rattled the air.
Before the demon could follow up, Voltron came charging in from the side like a tank with no brakes. His armored shoulder slammed into the creature and drove it into the ground hard enough to crater the airstrip again.
Voltron didn't waste a second.
His energy sword ignited brighter as he started chopping down with heavy, brutal strikes.
The demon rolled, twisted, and dodged more cleanly than something its size should have been able to. It avoided one slash, slipped another, then drove a massive punch into Voltron's torso that sent the giant cyborg skidding backward.
Then it rushed him.
Fast.
Too fast.
The demon got both hands on Voltron, lifted him, and hurled him into a stack of support equipment and fuel drums. Metal twisted. Parts flew loose from Voltron's frame. Warning lights flashed across his armor as he pushed himself back up through the wreckage.
Steel, still catching his breath from the kick, looked over and smirked despite the situation.
"Seems like the Terror of Demons isn't indestructible."
Voltron rose to full height, sparks dripping from one arm. His mechanical voice came out as cold as ever.
"All these parts can be replaced."
"Good answer," Stark muttered, climbing back to his feet.
Voltron launched himself back into the fight. This time his blade landed clean, carving across the demon's side and sending red energy spraying from the glowing cracks in its body.
At the same time, Stark came up from behind with an RPG slung over his shoulder. He fired.
The rocket smashed into the demon's upper body and exploded, forcing it back through smoke and fire.
Steel blinked at him. "Where did you pull that out of?"
Stark lowered the launcher like it was the most normal thing in the world. "They had it lying around."
Steel shook his head. "Of course they did."
Boomer finally reached them again after stabilizing the base interior. He moved through the smoke, sword in hand, battle-worn cap still on his head like the chaos around him was just another workday.
"I got the base under control," he said. "How's it looking?"
Stark kept his eyes on the demon. "We're able to overwhelm him."
"Barely," Steel added.
Around them, soldiers had regrouped and formed a rough perimeter. They stayed behind cover, taking disciplined shots whenever the demon gave them an angle. Tracer fire lit the airstrip from multiple positions as the base itself joined the fight.
For a moment, it looked like the tide might actually be turning.
Then the demon screamed.
It wasn't just a roar of pain.
It sounded wrong.
Deeper. Darker. Like something inside it had opened.
The soldiers' gunfire slowed as they watched the creature hunch over and pull its hands together. A ball of dark, corrupted Kia energy began to form between its palms, spinning faster and faster, growing denser with every second.
The air around it warped.
The red cracks across its body flared black at the edges.
Boomer's expression changed instantly. "That's bad."
The demon suddenly took off, charging straight toward the center of the base with the unstable mass of corrupted energy in its hands.
Steel's eyes widened.
He knew what it was trying to do.
"No,!"
He hurled himself forward, trying to intercept it, but the demon simply ran him over and kept going, trampling through the ruined runway like a living missile.
Steel crashed across the ground, forcing himself back up as panic finally hit his voice.
"This isn't good!"
He turned toward the soldiers, toward the gun crews, toward everyone still exposed on the airstrip and near the support buildings.
"EVERYONE GET DOWN!!!!!"
The entire base moved at once. Soldiers dove for cover. Boomer shouted for the wounded to be dragged behind blast walls. Stark and Voltron both looked toward the center of the base, already realizing what came next.