The massive energy blade that crashed down through the ceiling was stopped cold by Rina Cortez’s hand.
A torrent of raw power flowed from Hector’s chest, forming a blazing crimson blade—but Rina’s slender fingers held it back without flinching.
A sickly red aura—unstable and writhing with Circle energy—coiled around her hand, echoing the sa energy that fueled Hector’s blade.
“Witch. I’ve finally got you....”
The chanical voice that rasped from Hector’s synthetic vocal cords quivered with unmistakable elation.
He was finally face-to-face with the source of the rot, the foul stench that had poisoned Hexa Core Armory from within. The one who had orchestrated its fracture.
This was the mont he’d staked everything on.
WHRRRRRRR!
The grinding roar of rotating gears and slamming tal rang out as Hector’s chanized body surged to life, rattling the underground chamber.
Every ounce of weight, every ounce of chanical might that his massive steel fra could muster, he hurled at Rina.
The floor cracked. Debris trembled.
The sheer pressure was enough to fracture the walls.
But Rina didn’t move an inch.
Instead, a faint smirk curled at her lips.
“Is that... all?”
She whispered the words with a cool murmur, then flicked her hand lightly.
KWA-BOOM!
Twin surges of volatile Circle energy collided in midair, unleashing a violent explosion.
A scarlet flash burst through the chamber, montarily painting everything in blinding red. The shockwave blasted outward with a deafening roar.
Hector was thrown back several steps by the force, his massive body skidding across the floor and gouging deep footprints into the concrete as he barely caught his balance.
That’s when Rina’s eyes lit up.
She had an opening.
She dropped low and charged forward.
The floor shattered beneath her as red Circle energy spiraled violently around her moving body.
Hector still hadn’t fully regained his footing.
Only ters separated them now.
A cold smile flickered across Rina’s lips.
And then—
BANG!
A gunshot rang out, and Rina was suddenly engulfed in a violent explosion that flung her backward.
In the sa instant, Hector steadied himself again, raising his blade toward her.
As the smoke cleared, Hector’s glowing red cybernetic eyes took in an unexpected sight.
The rcenary he’d encountered earlier in the chamber—Victor.
And soone he hadn’t expected at all.
Them...
The rcenary he could accept. But Ember?
That was a shock.
The massive anti-tank rifle. The signature green shimr of optical camouflage.
Hector’s database had listed “Green Wraith” as confird dead.
A phantom sniper. A legend who twisted the tide of war from the shadows.
Green Wraith is alive...
His gaze shifted back to Victor.
Even before, Hector had sensed Victor’s movent and decision-making exceeded that of an average rcenary.
But now, it all made sense—he was working with Green Wraith.
As Hector advanced slowly, energy blade burning red-hot, standing once again across from Rina—
Victor suddenly charged at her.
He moved like Hector did—bouncing off walls, flanking wide, firing bursts from his hand cannon with precision and speed.
From afar, Ember kept up a rhythm of anti-tank rifle shots, carefully aid at Rina’s head.
A relentless assault, clearly intended to keep her vision locked and obstructed.
Ember approached, shifting the rifle in her arms, and spoke.
“Let’s set the past aside for now. Fight with us.”
Hector gave a silent nod.
There were still too many unanswered questions.
Why had the netwitch revealed Rina’s location through the hacked network?
Why were Green Wraith and her crew targeting Rina now?
But none of it mattered right now.
Rina Cortez had to be eliminated.
Nothing was more important than that.
This wasn’t the ti to dwell on the ancient grudge between Nexus Node and Hexa Core Armory. Personal feelings had no place here.
And besides—this “witch” before him was no longer a re target.
She was garbage that had to be erased.
WHRRRRRRR!
Hector’s motors scread again as his body kicked into high gear.
He charged Rina without a mont’s hesitation.
****
In truth, the mont Hector dropped from the ceiling, Ember’s first instinct had been to retreat.
Against the Heart Drill—or rather, the so-called Circle System energy—her and Victor’s weapons felt utterly aningless.
No matter how powerful her anti-tank rifle was, she couldn’t imagine it piercing that crimson shield.
The sa went for Victor’s hand cannon.
And yet, she couldn’t make herself move.
Two gut feelings pinned her in place.
The first: an ominous premonition that Hector—the massive cyborg who looked like he could overwhelm Rina Cortez—was going to lose.
The sheer difference in physical output between their bodies.
The grizzled veteran of the Great War versus the not-even-thirty-year-old Rina.
No matter how she looked at it, the legend of Babel should’ve had the upper hand. But that feeling wouldn’t go away.
Maybe it was the unnatural, threatening aura Rina Cortez gave off.
The second: a powerful instinct that sowhere in this place, sothing was hidden—sothing A had been desperately chasing. A trace of MK Corporation... or sothing even more important.
The bizarre disappearance of the Steel Juggernauts gang.
The blood-soaked underground chamber.
The horrifying traces ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) of experintation that left only human eyeballs and brains.
And now, the sudden appearance of Rina Cortez—soone who should’ve been too embroiled in civil war to show up here.
None of it could be brushed off as coincidence.
[Ember, shouldn’t you leave this to Hector and check on A? We’ve lost comms!]
Scarlet’s urgent voice buzzed through Ember’s AR interface.
The comms blackout with A was clearly serious—but Ember shook her head.
[A in danger? Doesn’t sound likely. And even if it were... there’s nothing we can do.]
A’s abilities had grown to the point that she could consu the entire Dino Park on her own.
If A was facing a threat she couldn’t handle, then even if Ember and Victor joined in, the outco wouldn’t change.
Ember rapidly sorted through the situation in her head.
What mattered now was eliminating the threat in front of them—and uncovering the secrets buried here.
“Victor. We’re joining in.”
Her voice was low, but her eyes glead with grim resolve.
“Even if we can’t hurt her, we can rob her of freedom of movent.”
Fortunately, both Victor’s hand cannon and her anti-tank rifle could fire not just penetrating rounds but explosive payloads as well.
Even if they couldn’t break through, the concussive blasts and blinding flashes could disrupt Rina’s field of vision and slow her down.
Victor gave a short nod.
Without a second’s hesitation, he launched himself at Rina.
He moved not just along the ground but also along the chamber’s walls and ceiling—using every surface for a three-dinsional assault.
Each ti his massive hand cannon fired, the chamber thundered with booming explosions, flashes erupting to disorient Rina’s sight.
Ember kept her distance, cloaked in optical camouflage, tracking Rina’s movents and waiting for an opening.
And when Victor’s barrage created even the smallest gap, Ember’s anti-tank rifle roared.
Her target was singular: Rina’s head.
Hector didn’t miss the mont.
Whenever Rina flinched under the pressure of explosions and sniper fire, he lunged with a speed that belied his hulking fra, swinging his energy blade.
Each ti the crimson blade clashed with the aura surrounding Rina’s body, sparks exploded violently.
And with every clash, the red light cloaking Rina seed to dim ever so slightly.
Their coordinated assault was working.
Rina was being pushed onto the defensive, her movents noticeably slower than at the start.
Hector’s crimson energy still burned bright—but Rina’s aura flickered like a dying fla, like fuel running dry.
It looked like victory was near.
But Ember felt it more strongly than ever—a chilling tension crawling up her spine.
A storm was about to break. The kind of stillness before sothing terrible happens.
Then it happened.
Rina suddenly stopped moving.
“Heh... hehehe. You clueless little worms.”
Her voice, thick with irritation, slithered low.
Gone was the cold, composed mask. Her face now twisted with snarling madness as she swept her ssy hair back from her eyes.
And slowly, she raised one hand.
From the ground, a murky smoke began to rise, curling toward her palm—where a new kind of fla began to manifest.
It wasn’t red. It wasn’t hot.
It was cold. A ghastly grayish-white fla, eerie and still.
And it cast a shadow so heavy it seed to devour even the light around it.
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