"..Fine. I'll do it."

"...So...I have no choice but to accept. "

Isiea immediately turns to face Lise. "I think he only needs one."

And Ash was there. How he could even stand, let alone move, was a mystery. But he shoved them aside, his face feral, as Machina's eyebrows rose in surprise. The cables flared, stabbing toward Ash as the prince lunged forward and slammed his blade into Machina's chest.

Machina staggered back, his face contorted with agony. Lightning crackled around the blade in his chest. His cables thrashed wildly, striking Ash and hurling him into a metal tree with a sickening crunch. Ash collapsed against the trunk as Machina straightened, giving him a look of white rage.

Reaching down, the Iron King grasped the hilt and pulled, sliding the blade out of his chest. Lightning sizzled, melting the ice around the hole, and thin wires wove themselves around the wound, knitting it together. Machina tossed the sword away and looked at the girls, his black eyes sparking with fury.

"I am losing patience with you, my dears." One of his cables shot forward, coiling around Ash's throat and lifting him off his feet. Ash choked and struggled weakly as Machina dangled him several feet overhead. Ethan wailed in his cage.

"I said I'll do it!" Isiea snaps, tired of keeping calm.

" if you need both of us, ill...do it too. "

"Lise, don't." She lowers her voice to a hissy whisper, audibly frustrated. "It's much riskier for you than it is for me, so don't."

" if we both don't agree, Ash and Ethan die. " She whispered to her.

"He didn't say that. Only one of us needs to do it. That should be me, not the sister who's fully stable and hence more corruptible."

The ground pulsed under the girls' feet. If they bothered to use or even remember their glamour, they would find that spark of life.