Minutes later…

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The Doom Rover v0.1 made the grand square burn!

With its wheeled mobility system, the towering 10-feet tall black humanoid robot moved around the burning battlefield with speed, kiting the terrorists around as its myriad weapon compartments unleashed hell in retaliation.

The entire body of the robot was built for war.

From the head compartment, the Terra Nova 71 Rifle installed there pulsed as electromagnetic and laser blasts in 2 distinct blue and red forms illuminated the battlefield with devastating blasts.

The Air Gun Rifles on both hands of the robot unleashed fire non-stop.

The Air Gun Rifles compared to other weapons of the robot drained very little energy, allowing them to continue shooting non-stop for hours if needed and Davis completely abused this advantage against the robots.

From the chest compartment of the robot, the Flamethrower muzzle unleashed thick torrents of flames, making the world burn!

This compartment enabled the robot to control the recklessness of the terrorists, keeping them at bay when they got too close.

But this was not the only compartment for crowd control.

From the crotch compartment of the robot, it threw out different types of grenades at intervals to control and always keep the terrorists on their toes even as they tried to overwhelm it.

Davis controlled the robot like a seasoned war veteran.

Different areas of this battlefield were filled with flames on one side, thick black smoke on another side, and terrorists pursuing the rapidly moving robot on another side.

The battle was intense.

Above them all, Leon oversaw the epic clash from above like a supervisor, keeping himself afloat through the modified sword drone even as he fought with a marauding style, swooping whenever the terrorists revealed an opening.

He already gave Ramirez a few more nasty gashes on the back with his Flux Crystal Spear, keeping the Gene Augur on his toes.

With his harassment, though Ramirez didn't die due to his heavy injuries and the subsequent ones, he never got to fully heal his legs either.

Leon made sure that his ADE was always working.

And the terrorists simply couldn't retaliate because unlike him, none of them could fly at E Rank.

Unable to get Leon in the sky, Lucian diverted his attention to the robot full-time but even with Blake and Jake supporting him, with Leon harassing them from the sky, they failed to go through all the energy shields of the robot.

Afterall, they were not fighting against a stationery target, they were fighting against a heavily armed robot that could kill them if they made the wrong move.

Leon came prepared.

As for Lucian, he became more desperate with each minute that passed.

Tututututututututu!

Bullets flew like rain from the robot.

It was a violent display between Ascended of all 5 Classes in Neo-Tokara but in the end, it was a 1v5 and Leon, an E Rank Mechanist survived for over 10 minutes against 5 E Rank enemies with Cyber Gladiators, Gene Augurs, a NetRunner and a Quantum Shaper!

Despite all his preparations for this battle, and despite ceaselessly taunting the terrorists, Leon was pushed to the very limits of his ingenuity and adaptation but he didn't fumble.

When pushed by the pressure, he valiantly stood up to the challenge.

He fought smart, he fought hard, and he took the terrorists to deep waters where he was slowly drowning them both mentally and physically.

Only Xena could deal damage to Leon with Data Lash while he was in the sky but his high WIL gave him higher resistance to it than Ascended from other Classes.

Despite his high WIL, it was more on Leon's cautious approach to her abilities that enabled him to shrug them off every time.

With the Doom Rover v0.1 seamlessly cooperating with him, Leon managed to sustain this battle with the terrorists for over 10 minutes!

In that morning, on July 11th Year 714 A.G, in the grand square in Kendall District, Leon showed the penultimate form of E Rank Combat!

Lucian was one of the strongest E Rank Ascended in history with 10 racial traits, an unprecedented figure and yet, Leon diminished all his strengths, treating him like any other Ascended alongside his Holy Champions as he toyed with them.

The terrorists wasted their ADE, burning it like fuel to no avail.

They simply couldn't overpower the robot equipped with energy shields so easily, and they couldn't touch Leon who flew in the sky either.

Maybe they could do it with time, but time was not on their side.

This was not just a battle against an E Rank Mechanist, this was a battle against money and wealth and Leon was not stingy.

He neutralized the power of the terrorists completely with money and his ingenuity.

What is the use of an ability if you can't even use it?

With his Komodo Dragon DNA, Lucian had the means to attack an opponent and instantly leave him in a critical state, draining 50% HP instantly but this racial ability required him to bite his enemy and trigger the Death Bite.

With the endless array of R9 energy shields that Leon prepared for this confrontation, Lucian couldn't even see flesh or metal to bite on.

He was neutralized.

All he managed to bite on was the energy shield, and there was always another one to replace it.

Lucian was hopelessly desperate, and time was not on his side!

The more he exerted his body and used his ADE in this violent battle, the less time was on his side as he threw closer to his limit.

As for escaping, they dared not recklessly try to escape. Ramirez's state was a testament to the price of recklessly trying to escape.

Leon rigged everywhere with jury-rigged bombs.

The terrorists were frustrated, they were desperate.

And finally, after the 11th minute of this intense battle that left the grand square in a state of complete ruin, it kicked in.

BADUMP! BADUMP!

Lucian's heartbeat accelerated, slowly at first then faster and faster.

With his Boneless Cat DNA, Lucian still moved with the agility and flexibility of a Cat, attacking relentlessly. He still struck with the power of a Bear, but changes were beginning to kick in.

Slowly, Lucian, an E Rank Ascended began panting heavily like a mundane Geneform who just ran a marathon.

For each attack that he unleashed, his body screamed for reprieve and rest.

He was beginning to feel mundane again, and this familiar feeling filled Lucian with a sense of dread, fear, and it triggered his PTSD.

Lucian's eyes turned blood-red as he glared at Leon. "Come down let's fight!"

"COWARD! COME DOWN!"

Leon chuckled coldly. "Do you take me for a fool? Come up if you can".

By the 12th minute of this battle, Lucian's facial and body hair started falling off his body, even his beards shed.

His vision blurred and fatigue began seeping in.

His ADE began draining! ADE emerged out of his body as gold and white dust, seeping into the atmosphere.

And soon, his body started shrinking, his muscles drying up as Lucian began vividly aging.

Seeing this, Xena Rousey's eyes widened in her desperation as she glanced at her comrades and shrieked. "WE NEED MORE OZEMPIC!"

"We need to get his medication! He's going to die!"

Floating in the sky, Leon watched it all happen with a ruthless gleam in his eyes. His plan was finally approaching its grand finale.

He was no E Rank Gene Augur, Leon didn't have endless ADE and this was why instead of fighting the enemies directly, he instead decided to keep his distance with his sword drone, rationing his ADE as much as possible.

This was the reason why he also didn't use Drone Control Matrix to personally control the Doom Rover v0.1

Experience already taught him that the bigger the target, the more ADE was needed to use Drone Control Matrix to control it.

This was why he left the robot's control to his A.I, simply staying alert for Xena's assault but after what happened at the beginning of this battle, she no longer had the courage to try it again.

And now, 12 minutes later, Leon still had more than enough ADE to fight for a dozen more minutes. His plan worked.

After the 13th minute since this battle started, Lucian's body's deterioration rapidly accelerated like a barrier was hit.

Instantly, he became a shell of his once frightening and imposing self as he became skinny and weak.

His legs wobbled, he began to stagger as the power in his attacks diminished significantly.

All his facial hair was gone, leaving his face barren and wrinkled like a horrific combination of an old man and a teenager.

His ADE was almost drained completely, and the fatigue ramped up, making his eyes blurry and unfocused.

He looked thin and emaciated like he had not eaten in days, and he seemed to have aged 20 years in a single minute.

Even his brain faculties started deteriorating.

Lucian was dying!

"Arghh…!" He groaned, trying to keep his mental faculties intact.

Seeing him like this, Leon finally realized how much abuse and how much damage Lucian's body was subjected to in that laboratory but currently, he showed no sympathy as he pressed his attacks even more.

This was his chance, this was the opportunity that he'd been fighting for!

The terrorists were tied in a hopeless loop.

Their leader was dying, they were fighting a losing battle, and yet they couldn't even escape because they may trigger a bomb and die a meaningless death.

They were out of ideas and they were desperate.

This was checkmate.

During this period, Leon confirmed that Xena Rousey was secretly in love with Lucian because even with her life in danger, still heavily injured from his earlier assault, she still showed the most concern for Lucian.

When Lucian's body deteriorated, even with her heavy injuries, she irrationally joined the fruitless assault to destroy the robot even though the sight of the massive robot gave her PTSD and she was desperate to survive.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

As the battle raged on, Xena felt like she was losing her mind.

She felt like she was going crazy the longer the battle dragged on as Lucian's body kept on deteriorating. Seeing him like this, before she knew it, she burst into tears as her PTSD triggered.

Memories flashed through her mind like a movie.

A few years ago, before she met Lucian she was a sex slave who served a millionaire in Sprawl Delta.

All her life, she was used to men ignoring her suffering for their own pleasure.

At the tender age of 9, her own uncle took her virginity.

Her father knew and refused to take any action about it. Xena grew up with that stigma, endlessly mocked by people who knew of it.

She was scarred for life.

At the age of 11, her mother died due to abuse from her father but nobody saw it as that. They buried her normally, treating it like a normal death.

At the age of 13, her own father started having sex with her with her mother no longer there and by 15, her father willingly sold her into slavery for 50 Neo Credits.

After that day, Xena's life became a blank dark slate.

She lost her purpose of living.

She was used as a sex slave for years, a pleasure tool for her owner and for her owner's guests.

Everyone ignored her, afterall, nobody wanted to be on the bad books of a millionaire. She was used to everybody ignoring her suffering due to the identity of her owner, and at some point she thought it was normal, until him.

When she met Lucian, Lucian didn't give a damn about the rules once he understood her circumstances.

In a fit of rage, Lucian murdered the millionaire in cold blood!

He willingly became a fugitive in Sprawl Delta and escaped with her.

That night, Xena was saved. That night, she became a fugitive but she also found purpose in her life in supporting Lucian's calling and that night, she also secretly fell in love.

Lucian saved her life and she always believed that her life belonged to him.

This was why pushed by the pressure of the situation, she became the first to succumb to the pressure of inevitability that was enforced by the Mechanist as she finally decided 'f*ck the world! If I die, I die'.

'No matter what, I'll get Lucian's medication!'

She had a simple thought, hoping that Leon only planted between 1 to 2 bombs in each direction around the grand square.

Since Ramirez already triggered one of the bombs in the Eastern direction leading out of the grand square, if she was lucky, maybe there was no other bomb in that direction and the Mechanist was just bluffing.

Maybe he planted just 1 bomb in each direction.

And as she ran, maybe if she was lucky, with Ping Scan, she'll find a neural node to hop into using Neural Projection to directly bypass the net of bombs and locate a clinic.

Xena made up her mind that even if it cost her life, she was going to try her best to get Lucian's medication.

While the battle raged, she suddenly disengaged and charged towards where the first bomb detonated.

She passed the crater left on the ground by the first bomb, and she ran for 2 meters, 3 meters, 5 meters, 8 meters then…

KABOOOM!

Xena Rousey was torn apart and roasted alive!

She was the first terrorist to die to the tyranny of the Mechanist, and immediately after Leon's ChronoSystem lit up with a notification.

DING!

~----~

[Congratulations! You have killed your first E Rank Ascended!]

[You have been rewarded with +250 Data Points!]

[Current Data Points: 312]

…

[You have gained Ascended Essence!]

~----~

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