“Danang… what’s wrong? Not thrilled to see me again?” Damocles taunted.
“…”
“Don’t go quiet on me, Danang!”
The electromagnetic claws roared through the air, shattering asphalt and blasting rubble away. Amid the crimson flames stealing the oxygen, sweat beaded on Danang’s forehead as he narrowly dodged high-speed debris, parrying the cleaner’s incoming steel stakes with his steel-clad arm.
“Requesting retreat. Withdrawal demanded. We are at an overwhelming disadvantage. Danang, disengagement recommended.”
“—!”
Nephthys’ voice echoed in his mind, but faced with searing killing intent and burning rage, Danang forgot to breathe, dizzy from the storm of violence.
He knew he was outmatched. Individual skill meant nothing against irrational brutality. Facing a madman who defied reason and logic was to trample those very concepts.
“Nephthys!” Danang shouted.
“Yes?”
“How long until the arm’s cooldown?”
“Wave cannon recharge: one hour. Normal arm function: five minutes.”
One hour at most, five minutes at least…? Survive this onslaught with just Heres against Damocles and the cleaner?
Impossible. The word flashed in Danang’s mind as the cleaner’s exoskeleton delivered a concrete-crushing kick to his gut. He bounced across the ground, crashing into a decayed building. Scrambling up, he spotted the cleaner deploying its chain gun.
His bio-fusion metal skin and bones could repel chain gun rounds, but dust and smoke would blind him to Damocles’ attacks. The madman’s overwhelming firepower could be lethal with Lumina dormant. Racing for a shred of resistance, Danang clicked his tongue and gritted his teeth.
“Die, black serpent,” the cleaner hissed.
“Danang’s life is mine! No upper-city cleaner’s stealing it!” Damocles roared.
His claw slashed through the cleaner’s head armor, scattering black iron fragments.
“Gang leader! Have you lost your mind?” the cleaner barked.
“I’m always serious—stone-cold sober!” Damocles retorted.
Beyond the shattered armor was a man with dark, gleaming eyes. Judging the error-spitting main monitor a nuisance, the cleaner shed its headgear, deploying an emergency mask.
This was his chance. Damocles’ intervention was a natural disaster, an accident. Realizing the cleaner and madman had no alliance, Danang spotted a notebook dangling from Damocles’ chest, darted between their clash, and swung Heres.
“Black serpent!” the cleaner snarled.
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“Danang, I’ll kill you!” Damocles bellowed.
“Both of you, die!” Danang roared back.
The battle intensified, gunfire echoing through the ruined buildings. Three killers, each seething with unique murderous intent, locked in a stalemate driven by Damocles’ relentless vitality and mechanoid durability.
“Things are getting fun, Danang! Time to get serious!” Damocles laughed.
His five electromagnetic claws sprouted new blades, shredding everything in their path. Sensing danger, Danang and the cleaner leaped back, witnessing auto-tracking turrets unfold from Damocles’ side and back—high-caliber machine guns, micro-missile launchers, and energy laser cannons locking onto them.
“Go to hell!” Damocles roared.
Beams, bullets, flames, and shockwaves erupted in unison.
Madness. The deafening blast tore Danang’s armor apart and coated the cleaner’s exoskeleton in soot. Deeming it useless, the cleaner ejected from the wrecked exoskeleton, tapped an arm-mounted panel, and selected self-destruct. The runaway reactor sparked a chain reaction of energy bursts and implosions, the exoskeleton glowing with light.
“Exoskeleton runaway confirmed. Forming emergency shield.”
“Any way to stop it?” Danang asked.
“We have none. Brace yourself, Danang. Explosion in five seconds… four, three, two, one.”
His vision burned white as a shield enveloped him. A thunderous roar shook the undercity, a mushroom cloud rising. The ruined buildings were obliterated, leaving only a massive crater with Danang and Damocles standing.
“Enemy mechanoid still operational. Analysis: electromagnetic barrier deployed. Danang, retreat.”
“…”
“Danang.”
“No way.”
“I don’t understand. Victory is impossible. The mechanoid’s components are fully customized one-offs. Retreat demanded.”
“No…! I’ll kill him here! I have to, Nephthys!”
Damocles deactivated his pale blue multi-layered electromagnetic barrier, a twisted grin on his face as he aimed his unscathed arsenal at Danang.
“Danang… the nuisance is gone. Come on, kill me…! And let me kill you! I need to kill you, Danang… so kill me too!”
“Shut up, Damocles…!”
The turrets’ barrels locked onto Danang, unleashing a barrage.
Relying on bio-fusion metal, Danang deflected bullets, advancing with Heres raised, sliding its blade against an oncoming laser.
“You finally got full-body implants?!” Damocles shouted. “No… no! Danang, you’re meant to be a demon! Only humans can save monsters, save the scum who’ve fallen outside! Isn’t that right, Danang?!”
“I am human! I don’t need lectures from a full-body mechanoid!” Danang shot back.
“Is that it?! That thing writhing inside you changed you?! Hold on—I’ll rip open your gut, tear out your heart, and scrub your brain clean! Danang, you kill me as a human! And I kill you as a gangster! What’s the difference?!”
His words were incoherent, a mess even he didn’t understand. Consumed by madness, Damocles surrendered to his role as a gangster and his insatiable bloodlust, pouring endless rage into a cauldron of frenzy.
“Monsters must be killed by humans! Humans must be killed by monsters! The outside is born from the pus of festering wounds! Steel is the lid hiding that pus, the valve stopping its flow! Sin brings punishment, and punishment is the madness of saints trapping humanity…! Oh, God, why are humans so sinful?! Why can’t monsters be forgiven their sins and punishments?! No! There is no God! Life must rely on no one—be a reckless outlaw! Don’t you agree, Danang?!”
“Think you’re a priest now, you madman?!” Danang spat.
“I am me! Damocles, gangster leader—that’s my name!”
The closer Danang got, the fiercer the firepower, sparks flying from his bio-fusion metal.
One of the undercity’s three ruling organizations, led by a madman backed by vast wealth, fortified weapons, and a near-religious zeal, stripped of rationality and half their humanity. Defying them, asserting oneself, meant death.
But—severing one electromagnetic claw, Danang roared, his killing intent burning for Damocles. He gripped Heres, aiming to behead him. If he didn’t kill this man now, or at least burn that notebook on his chest, his life would remain a target.
“Danang.”
“—!”
“Administrator has arrived. Strongly recommend continuing combat. Code transfer confirmed from administrator—Eve. Installing Code Animus into Lumina.”
A flash sliced through the darkness from above. A thunderbolt-like strike pierced Damocles’ electromagnetic barrier. A girl with five silver wings spread wide glanced at Danang.
“Danang, need a hand?”
With a seductive smirk, Eve landed.
