7:46am.

Desperate times calls for desperate measures, and at this moment, Leon was desperate. Heck, he was beyond desperate.

BANG!

Cell's twin Jian once again cut at him from an unconventional angle, slipping past his guard but once again, his reinforced tarpaulin and aluminum-armored cloak came to the rescue, preventing him from suffering an injury.

Leon grimaced. 'This can't go on'.

The past 8 minutes were undoubtedly the crowned most dangerous 8 minutes of his life since his awakening.

Not the siege of the cargo trailer, not his first days in this world, absolutely nothing that he'd experienced since awakening in this world could compare to the feeling of going band for band against Parasite's right hand man.

No amount of preparation could have truly prepared him for this.

Fighting Cell was not like fighting a regular Geneform at all. He felt like he was fighting against a shadow, a whole torrent of it instead of fighting against a man of blood and flesh like himself.

It was eerie, it was dangerous, and it was driving him crazy.

For the past few minutes, the only thing that kept him alive and protected him from being overwhelmed by the clearly more skilled fighter was simply because he was prepared for it from the beginning.

When Cell closed the distance to him almost a dozen minutes ago, Leon didn't even think of his dagger or his pistols one bit, all he thought of was the Flux Crystal Spear.

And that was what saved him and was still saving him.

Anytime Cell got too close, Leon did not hesitate to show him exactly why Mechanists were not the best combatants but were absolutely the trickiest Ascended to face in battle.

Energy Detonation!

Anytime Cell got too close, Leon did not hesitate to detonate an energy cell at him. This was why he was uninjured and Cell was also uninjured.

Afterall, though the first time Cell was almost caught off-guard, the elusive Geneform still managed to react on time, transforming into a torrent of shadows to dodge the explosive impact of the detonated energy cell.

And anytime Cell dodged, Leon was this close to crashing out.

'F*ck you and that Shadow DNA racial trait of yours!'

His heart was beating fast, his whole body was in a state of adrenaline, he was desperate, and yet as if things weren't bad enough already, Leon suddenly heard the sound of footsteps charging in his direction.

Thud… thud… thud…

Hearing those sounds, Leon's heart skipped a bit as he nearly froze and let Cell's Jian cut him.

He reacted on time but he didn't just dodge. Instead, Leon followed his instincts and rolled backward so that he wouldn't just dodge but would also be able to see the identity of the person charging towards him.

Of course, he hoped it was an ally but when did things ever go right for him in this battle?

'F*CK!'

The veins in Leon's forehead surfaced and squirmed angrily as he identified the person charging towards him.

'Why does it have to be him?' He snarled in his head.

In the buildup to this showdown, Parasite outsmarted them in a lot of ways and this was one of them.

They thought Brad, Cell, and Alexander Cain were the only Ascended of the Zmer gang. And when they took Brad, they thought they crippled the gang's Ascended combat power.

And yet, when Parasite appeared to reinforce his dealer, he once again shoved the middle finger at them by bringing an extra Ascended along.

And unlike Brad, this guy was actually a combatant.

Leon's brain whirred as he saw this dangerous enemy charging at him, but he wasn't given the time to think.

Orange-colored ADE flared in the periphery of his vision as he saw Cell turn parts of his body into shadows, then take a step forward before rotating his arms in a downward cutting crescent as shadow and orange ADE covered his swords even as they descended towards Leon's head.

'F*ck!'

BOOM!

Leon rolled backward again, barely dodging the powerful attack even as his grayish white ADE flowed around his body, converging on his spear.

Then Swain finally arrived.

The Gene Augur arrived and jumped, swinging his heavy War Hammer with both hands straight at Leon's head.

Leon's eyes narrowed as his grayish white ADE flared.

He moved, once again rolling backward.

BAM!

Leon dodged in the last moment as the ground in front of him cracked open by the force of the attack and the weight of the Hammer, throwing dust and debris into the air.

He barely regained his footing when he saw the sharp tip of a sword rapidly stabbing towards the left side of his chest, aiming straight at his heart!

His eyes narrowed and his muscles strained as he forcefully reacted.

Leon moved his spear to intercept.

CLANG!

His hands became numb from the impact but he intercepted the attack.

The barrage still wasn't over though as with his heavy War Hammer on the ground, knowing that he could not immediately swing it again for another attack, Swain directly left it and threw himself at Leon with a powerful front kick.

In that moment, Leon entered the flow state.

Ba-dump! Ba-dump!

Suddenly, his heartbeat slowed down. He could hear every rhythm of it, every beat, he could feel his blood flowing through his body, he could feel his synchronization with the ADE flowing through his veins.

He had no business reacting after already dodging so many combos from the deadly duo who were both physically stronger than him, but he did.

Leon rapidly took two steps back, barely escaping the range of the kick but with a cold look in his eyes, Swain didn't give up.

From a normal front kick, he suddenly switched to a devastating Roundhouse Kick!

Leon's brain whirred, his brain tracked the new attack but his body's reaction was slower than his brain and the kick connected with his jaw.

BAM!

Leon felt his brain go blank.

He crashed into the ground, rolling more than 5 meters away from Swain even as he coughed bright red blood.

He regained consciousness almost immediately before the duo could pursue as he rolled and stood back up on one knee.

Cell and Swain were clearly not in a rush to finish him as they walked towards him, or maybe it was because they were wary of his counterattack.

Despite his sorry state, both of them were clearly not in a state to engage in a conversation with him as they just stared at him menacingly while approaching.

Leon stared at them, they stared at him.

Feeling a metallic taste in his mouth, he twisted his tongue inside his mouth and two teeth loosened up with it. He spat two of his teeth out.

Leon's mouth was bloody, his jaw ached and he had a migraine.

Still, his brain whirred as he stared at these two stone-cold killers walking towards him. For some reason, he no longer felt fear, he no longer felt his heart beating extremely fast in panic.

At this moment, he felt a serene calm like he was detached from the world.

He was in the zone.

He calmly stared at the approaching duo, then he boldly averted his gaze from them and observed Talia's battlefield, then he shifted his gaze again and also observed Kain and Rex's battlefield.

His eyes immediately constricted.

With more than a dozen thugs joining Alexander Cain to take care of the Mechanist duo, the situation turned for the worse for them.

Both already became injured with bullet wounds, Rex especially bleeding heavily from his torso area.

Leon's eyes narrowed even further, then he made a decision.

With the Flux Crystal Spear, he supported himself back up like he was about to make his final desperate stand against the duo of Gene Augurs, but then he suddenly turned around and ran.

Leon bolted off!

"…!" Cell and Swain stared in a daze.

Aesthetics doesn't matter in war, style doesn't matter, all that matters is life or death, survival.

This was Leon's belief; he had no qualms with running from a battle if that saved his life.

He didn't just run though, he had a plan.

As he ran, he picked up the Air Gun Rifle with his other free hand on the way, then he turned his head in the direction where Rex and Kain fought a losing battle against Alexander Cain and yelled. "RUN!"

His loud voice cut through the desert like a blade.

"RUN TOWARDS TALIA!" He yelled again.

Only then did Rex and Kain realize that they were the ones being talked to. Against Alexander Cain, they were on their toes and so tense that they didn't even have the luxury to observe the battle situation around them.

But when they heard Leon's voice, they immediately reacted and ran towards him. The reaction was instinctive, afterall, for the past few days, they were already used to taking orders from Leon in the mechanic workshop.

That ingrained reaction triggered at this moment.

Leon's plan was crazy, but it was also simple. In the end, no matter how outnumbered and outclassed they were, Talia was still the crew's strongest champion and greatest hope for a comeback.

Her battle against Parasite and the A.I Construct was by far the most dangerous and harrowing, but it was also the most chaotic.

And in a situation where Leon already analyzed and saw only death waiting for him, Rex, and Kain in the next few minutes at most or even within just a few seconds, he decisively decided to embrace chaos.

Afterall, chaos meant nobody was in control. And in a situation when nobody was in control, anything could happen.

Leon would rather die struggling in chaos than be slaughtered like a lamb.

It took Cell and Swain a moment to react to Leon's sudden and unexpected action but then they reacted, going in pursuit.

Fortunately for Leon, Cell and Swain were entirely reliant on their Gene Augur powers and their main weapons. They didn't have a backup weapon, they didn't have a sidearm meaning Leon would not be shot at as he ran.

Rex and Kain didn't have this privilege though.

Just like Cell and Swain, Alexander Cain also didn't have a backup weapon, but the 13 thugs who assaulted the Mechanists with him all had equipped guns.

They opened fire immediately after Rex and Kain started running.

Tututututututu…!

As soon as the sound of gunfire erupted, Kain didn't think as he immediately placed his body behind Rex, shielding the young Geneform from the gunfire even as his mechanical body shuddered a few times while he ran.

From behind Kain's grayish white mechanical body, synthetic oil began flowing out as a few bullets found their way into his body!

Kain could feel his legs growing weak but he didn't stop.

"Don't stop!" He growled in his mechanical voice behind Rex and the boy listened as he ran even faster.

They charged towards Talia's battleground.

Kain ate a few more bullets in the way, but once they converged with Leon, Leon detonated another energy cell in his spear by stabbing it on the ground.

The explosion triggered a storm of dust, obscuring their figures as they continued running, and then they arrived at the biggest battlefield.

They got a welcome gift instantly.

BOOM!

The air shook, the sound reverberating like thunder as Parasite's Zweihander cut through the air again, directly scraping out parts of Daren's left gauntlet even as the giant sword cut into the ground with the force of a mountain.

That sound made Rex, Kain, and even Leon shudder, but it was not the welcome gift. The welcome gift came after.

Data Lash!

BUZZ!

Leon's brain went blank, overwhelmed by pain as he felt like dozens of nails were being hammered into his head, damaging his soul.

For the first time since he learned about the E Rank NetRunner ability, he directly experienced a Data Lash!

Despite the fact that the damage from the attack was spread between the 3 of them, it still left Leon feeling weak and lethargic like he just suffered a headshot from a Sniper Rifle.

Blood flowed from his nose, eyes, and mouth as he staggered, but his eyes stayed calm and composed.

'It's here'. He thought, and they arrived.

Swain, Cell, Alexander Cain, and 13 thugs of the Zmer gang finally arrived, and the situation instantly turned into an 18v6!

It was a literal gang-bang.

But it was also chaos.

And in chaos, there is opportunity.

BOOM!

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