Amid the desolate ruins of concrete and ash, corpses littered the ground, buildings burned, and bullets poured down in torrents—crackle~
The charred gates and walls gave a long, mournful groan as they collapsed, raising clouds of dust.
In the midst of it all—boom! Plasma exploded.
Fragments of construction debris rained down upon a rampaging steel beast—clang! Metal clashed. David and a Militech armored trooper were locked in brutal combat.
Along the way, every combat bot holding the line was violently smashed aside.
Too slow... I can see it clearly, I can keep up.
David skillfully controlled his brand-new "body" without the slightest delay.
The [Oni 4-B Type] power armor's countless surface sensors converted battlefield data into direct neural signals through the brain interface—David sidestepped an oncoming face-shot from a laser cannon, his thermal axe raised to block an assaulting sword. As the opponent's blade slid upward along the axe handle, David twisted the weapon aside.
Zzzzz—high-frequency current crackled. The red-hot blade of the axe glowed like molten iron.
Then—whirr— The drive system roared at full power! High-torque muscle motors howled!
David swung his thermal axe.
Clang—crack! Like a hot knife through butter, with a sharp metallic tear, the Militech trooper's optical-camouflage-coated power armor split in half, cleaved cleanly at the waist.
Sparks spat from the exposed cables, energy fluid dripped and hissed.
A nearby supporting wall collapsed under the force.
"I am reborn," David thought, exhaling lightly as he recovered from the swing—and then, mercilessly, brought the axe down again.
A finishing strike—the essential lesson of every proper soldier on the battlefield.
Crunch! The power armor's head was smashed deep into its chest cavity, shredding components and whatever was in the way. As the thermal axe was drawn free, sparks burst out, spewing foul magenta vapor.
For non-humanoid power armor, head damage didn't mean death—not even incapacitation—but a destroyed torso guaranteed a shutdown. No pilot, no fight.
David leapt back just as—boom!—the ruined armor detonated.
It all happened in a flash.
The nearby Militech troops froze in shock.
"What the hell?! One strike?!"
"Oni? Is that Adam Smasher?!"
"Bullshit! The reports said that chrome freak's down south in Albuquerque!"
"Focus fire! Focus fire! Kill him first!"
...
The skirmish instantly escalated into chaos.
Firepower converged—explosives rained like beads on a string, gray ash and rubble erupting in waves of thunderous noise.
David said nothing, advancing step by step, his heavy thermal axe sweeping wide.
Each swing crushed and shredded the Militech bots and mechs before him—three strokes a second, carving through resistance.
His idle left arm occasionally lifted, firing the mounted autocannon to strike at critical points with precision. Other times, it smashed out to fling exosuit troopers into the air or crush self-destruct drones mid-flight.
Radar and sensors operated at high frequency. Between their charging hum, plasma shoulder cannons and railguns fired in rhythmic bursts—obliterating rooftop gunners or piercing through Wraith tanks hiding behind corners, turning them into geysers of fire.
Within seconds, several buildings had collapsed; dozens lay dead, countless small drones and devices reduced to slag.
At his sides, Kawakami Suneo and four Arasaka troopers in powered armor advanced in formation, covering both flanks and anti-air.
Clang! David felled another Militech trooper, his armor modeled after the standard Army full-scale frame.
Suneo immediately pressed forward, his Oni-type automatic shotgun roaring point-blank. A single high-caliber armor-piercing slug tore open the enemy's chest, freezing him for a second—enough for another trooper to step in and swing his blade down. The iron-and-flesh head burst apart with a heavy thud.
From the opposite side, a thermal cannon roared, its precise aim tracking the movements of the Arasaka soldiers advancing alongside. A power armor soldier carrying a massive black-and-red composite shield stepped forward and slammed it heavily into the ground.
Zzap! The shield couldn't fully block the shot—the scattered high-temperature beam grazed past several men.
Though scorched, the diffused blast couldn't breach the armor. The shield had done its job.
Beside them, the heavy fire-support unit retaliated immediately.
Shoulder-mounted missile pods, twin mortar launchers on the back, arm-mounted laser cannons, and wrist machine guns—all deployed at once. Every micro rocket pod opened, guided by thermal imaging, sonar, and multiple sensor systems that linked shared tactical data. Like a celestial shower, explosions blanketed the frontlines, blasting the Militech troops into mangled ruin.
Taking advantage of the chaos, David surged forward.
Thud! The [Oni]'s immense strength smashed both a Militech heavy-assault armor trooper and his standard-type escort into a wall, cracking and collapsing it in a cloud of dust.
The glowing red blade of his axe slashed across—David cleaved one enemy down instantly.
The other roared, bursting from the rubble without retreating, boosting forward in a desperate tackle to lock David's waist. But a massive metal fist, the size of a pumpkin, swung down with a vicious whistle.
Bang! Metal fragments sprayed—the blow caved in the trooper's chestplate, sending him flying across the street, sparks trailing until his body hit the curb with a final crunch—motionless.
Just as David prepared to fire, a Militech heavy-type power armor, nearly 3.7 meters tall, burst through a wall and charged with a deep metallic roar.
It didn't defend, only attacked—smashing aside an Arasaka trooper in its path, barreling straight for David.
That massive steel frame moved with startling agility—slipping through gunfire like a fish in water, accelerating further, its weapon systems spitting bullets and shells in wild, unrestrained bursts, as if determined to burn through next year's entire budget. Any Arasaka soldier or mech too slow to evade was swatted aside like a stray mutt.
Sandevistan?
Inside the [Oni], David narrowed his eyes—he'd already understood.
Aside from his Alpha-tier cybernetic reconstruction performed by Vela herself, the armor's new [Combat Logic Processor] and the pilot's own reflex-enhancing [Superego Sensor] allowed him to see clearly.
My frame rate is higher than yours!
David lunged.
Boom! The clawed feet of the [Oni] slammed into the ground, propulsion jets flaring as the entire armor launched forward.
Steel met steel in a burst of sparks—thud!!
Boom! A shockwave rippled outward, sending debris flying in all directions.
Both were hurled backward. David crashed onto the wreck of a destroyed quadruped tank, his joints groaning with strain.
Shaking his head, David was the first to rise.
He had won. The opponent had charged with full momentum and mass; David had struck from a standstill.
"Oh, you can keep up with my speed—hahaha! Perfect! Perfect! I love this place!"
The voice blared from the external speakers, manic and deranged.
Brushing off bricks and torn limbs from his armor, the Militech soldier he had just clashed with also stood again.
Though his outer shell was shattered, several internal layers remained intact. Superficially damaged—functionally sound.
"Are you one of my kind? Ahahaha, my brain's trembling! Come on, let's dance! Tear you apart! Rip you open! Split your ass! Snap your circuits—"
"Joder," David muttered—a Spanish curse. A cyberpsycho.
With that thought, he abandoned any idea of talking.
"Get lost. You're nothing like me."
He thought of Vela—her bright, commanding presence. 'When you wake again, you will be reborn.'
He would never forget those words. "Cyberpsycho? What's that? A pathetic mad dog of Myers."
"Ahahahaha! I'm unique too, you bastard!"
Perhaps David's tone of pity had triggered old trauma—PTSD flickered into rage. The man snapped, and moved.
Love might be the highest-grade suppressant—but fury and pain are the strongest catalysts.
"Don't make me laugh."
Clang! Metal cracked. Though his movements were blindingly fast, his chest armor suddenly burst apart.
His eyes widened as he saw smoke rising from the modular electromagnetic railgun mounted on David's shoulder.
"Ahhhhh—!"
Roaring, he overclocked his [Sandevistan], attacking David with frenzied speed, both hands and feet slashing.
But David was faster.
A plasma cannon round struck the Militech trooper's shoulder plate, destroying his thermal cannon module.
"Impossible!"
"..."
David said nothing—he simply pressed the assault.
To the other soldiers watching, the two of them appeared as flickering shadows, colliding again and again at impossible speeds. Explosions thundered, massive weapons clashed, houses trembled, furniture and concrete shattered, walls webbed with cracks.
[Suneo: Don't chase too deep—could be a trap!]
[David: Understood.]
After reading the comm, David silently increased the [Oni 4-B Type]'s output by one level.
"Too slow."
Clang! He swung down his axe, cleaving straight through the Militech heavy armor's head.
By the time Suneo and the others caught up, they saw the aftermath.
David lifted his thermal axe, while the Militech heavy's body knelt not far away—its upper frame split cleanly from head to chest by the ultrasonic vibrating edge, torn in two like a sawed log.
Inside, mangled flesh still steamed.
"A tough bastard. Mad as hell, but he must've been this sector's Militech 'Netwatch enforcer.'"
Suneo mused, "That means their local command post could be close."
"Probably."
As David shook off the scorched grime from his axe—rumble!—his eyes narrowed.
In one motion, he pulled Suneo behind him and grabbed the remains of the Militech armor from the ground.
Whizz-whizz-whizz—clang-clang-clang! Sparks erupted as the nearby derelict building split apart and collapsed.
Across the street—fifty meters away—a massive multi-barrel hovering main battle tank had locked its cannons on him!
Boom! As the muzzle flared, David hurled the armored corpse forward with full force.
Then—[Sandevistan] overclocked!
The anti-gravity load-reduction system and propulsion thrusters—adapted from the Cyber Kong project—fired to life!
Shards of rubble exploded beneath his feet.
The shell hit the corpse mid-air, detonating in a blinding blast of plasma heat.
David followed through like a tank breaking from the line—a blur of acceleration.
"Holy shit—shit shit shit shit shit!"
The tank commander, peeking cautiously from the hatch, shouted, "Turn the turret! Don't aim—fire rockets! Full barrage!!"
David raised his arm shield, deflecting missiles and laser fire while charging through 12.7mm machine gun rounds and 30mm autocannon bursts. Within seconds, he was within ten meters.
Boom! He sidestepped an auxiliary cannon's shot, slammed his elbow into a multi-legged guard drone, shattering it, then crouched and leapt—clang!
"Ahhh!"
The commander screamed as the steel giant vaulted onto the tank.
Without looking, David swung his thermal axe.
External machine guns, autocannons, and rocket pods were severed and melted. The commander's upper body exploded into a mess of blood and metal.
David snatched a high-explosive incendiary bomb from his waist-mounted rack, armed it—beep beep—and tossed it into the tank before the hatch could close.
He jumped clear without looking back.
A second later—BOOM! Fire erupted, blowing the turret hatch sky-high, followed by a chain of secondary explosions that tore the turret completely off.
"This should be it."
Thermal axe in hand, David looked toward a seven-story commercial complex ahead.
"After Norfolk, it's Omaha. Director Rahm is waiting for us there."
Landing beside him, Suneo said, "We'll link up with Death Camp. Katsuo's already moved ahead—critical mission. Under the direct authority of Director Vela Russell."
"Then we'd better hurry. Time to finish post-battle recovery and sweep training."
At those words, David silently glanced at the [Oni 4-B Type]'s HUD display.
[Gravitational Field Control System] — [OFF → ON]