Due to the memory strike leaving him disoriented, Leon was distracted, and he was ambushed!
He didn't see them, but his sharpened instincts after his rank Awakening amplified all his senses. He noticed their shadows and he immediately reacted.
"Who?!"
Leon was already moving when he snarled, and that saved his life.
BAM!
A fiery spark of friction was followed by a bullet as it flew with incredible velocity, surging past the previous location of his head before embedding itself into the server monolith as electric sparks erupted from it.
Leon felt cold sweat gather in his back.
'If that hit, I would have died'. It was a fact, and he knew it.
That realization flipped a switch in his head, as instantly, curiosity and excitement made way for pragmatism and focus.
His life was in danger!
Another realization also settled in his head. 'I dodged a bullet!'
Since when did humans become capable of dodging bullets? Once again, it told him that he was no longer a regular human.
That Class and Rank Awakening, it did more to his body than he expected. He was superhuman now, and in this state of calm focus, his brain took all these realizations as data as he entered a state of overdrive.
He moved like flowing water.
Bam! Bam!
Two more bullets were shot but Leon already rolled away.
He didn't roll away from his attackers though.
Instead, knowing that there was no place to hide in this corridor, and that he was still in the dark about the identity of his attackers, he took the gamble and rolled forward, closing the distance to the enemy.
Leon didn't know the number of his attackers, but from the shadows that he noticed, he knew that they were more than one.
WHOOSH!
He rolled so fast that the enemy only got time to shoot one more bullet that missed like the others, and before he knew it, Leon was already upon him.
Leon unfurled from the ground like Pandora's box, emerging before his enemy like a dark shadow rising from the ground even as he laid eyes on him for the first time. Dull gray eyes reflected back to him, eyes that were clearly startled by his unconventional maneuver.
This guy did not expect him to roll forward so boldly.
Taking advantage of his enemy's startled state, Leon tightened his grip on his spear and thrust- but it was blocked!
CLANG!
Sparks erupted as the spear made contact with another weapon.
It was not the gray-eyed man that blocked the spear thrust though, it was the second attacker, a female.
Leon's eyes traced the weapon that blocked his attack immediately. It was a compact plasma knife with a fiery hot-red energy field around its edge.
As soon as the plasma knife made contact with Leon's spear, Leon could tell that he had more raw strength than his opponent, but also at that moment the fiery hot-red energy field around the knife's edge suddenly pulsed and Leon briefly focused on it.
The female attacker noticed his eyes focus on the red field around the knife for a brief moment, and immediately, she did something as her ADE in the form of green wisps of energy flowed into the weapon.
BZZZ!
The knife erupted, letting out a short burst of phase-heat that almost scorched Leon's eyes as he quickly closed his eyes to protect them, instinctively taking a step backward.
It was in that moment that she slid her right arm into her sidearm holster, pulling out a modified rail-pistol.
Before Leon could react, she pulled the trigger.
Bam… bam…
Leon staggered back as the impact hit him directly on the chest area, but he didn't bleed, because…
DING!
~----~
[WARNING! The integrity of your cloak "Leon's Cloak" has dropped by 20%]
[Repair needed.]
~----~
The aluminum armor of his cloak held, for now.
Leon's black eyes darkened even further as soon as he saw this. And without thinking, he lunged forward again before the female could pull the trigger again.
She was clearly more competent than the first guy though as the moment that he moved, she also took two rapid steps back, retreating.
Watching her move, Leon was startled as his eyes narrowed. He did the math immediately. 'She's faster than me'.
Her movements were sharp and efficient like someone always on alert for betrayal and Leon could tell immediately that he was not fast enough to keep up.
And so, instead of blindly pursuing her, he improvised mid-movement as he pivoted, thrusting the Flux Crystal Spear again but this time he didn't try to aim at her. Rather, he aimed at the ground just in front of her.
His actions startled her, but her eyes widened the next moment as her danger instincts screamed, but it was already too late.
Just before the tip of the spear hit the ground, the gravity of Leon's presence seemed to increase for a moment as he channeled his ADE as willowy gray magnetic energy appeared from his hand, entering the spear, then it hit.
~----~
[Weapon Special Ability Triggered: Energy Detonation!]
~----~
BOOM!
Due to the manner in which Leon thrust the spear's tip, the explosion only surged forward as he who was behind it was protected. But she was not.
But just before the explosion could consume her, she snarled and flicked her left arm that held the plasma knife at the last moment, revealing a tattered long coat that was reinforced with metal thread and fiber cabling.
As she flicked it, a blue energy shield quickly materialized to life.
It saved her life, absorbing the force and heat of the explosion but the energy of the shield was exhausted as her face contorted into a deep scowl.
Without hesitation, she raised her right arm again while Leon was yet to recover, about to pull the trigger again when a voice stopped her.
"Stop!" The other guy shouted.
She didn't pull the trigger, but she also didn't look back at her companion as she waited for his explanation with an irritated expression on her face.
"He's not a Neon Beast," he quickly explained. "He's a Mechanist!"
"Huh?"
And just like that, the tense and fast-paced battle stopped half-way, giving way for calm and rationality as she took a clearer look at him for the first time.
Leon also stopped as he observed them back. The moment that he engaged them in battle, he discovered that they were two. On one hand, he was relieved that his attackers were not more.
But on another hand… 2 against 1, he knew that he was disadvantaged since he could also tell that both were Ascendants.
That female especially was troublesome.
Stopping also gave him a chance to look at them properly for the first time, and what he saw left him stunned.
The woman stood directly opposite him, her rail-pistol still pointed at him, while the man stood directly behind her, warily staring at him. The more her fiery violet eyes stared at him, the deeper the scowl on her face became.
Leon's face was unreadable, but he understand how she felt. 'What the hell!' He felt the same way as he stared at these two humanoids.
Yes, humanoids, not humans.
She wore a tattered long coat reinforced with metal thread and fiber cabling. A layered leather harness was strapped across her shoulder carrying magnetic coils and uplink discs, and her right wrist was encased in an interface bracer that constantly glowed a faint cyan.
She had a certain presence to her.
When still, she seemed like she is listening to something others can't hear… the low hum of the network around her.
Behind her tattered long coat is a pale bronze skin with bio-luminescent veins crawling along her neck and forearms, pulsing at intervals.
Her hair is ash-black with blue streaks.
Of her two eyes, only one is human, gray-green, but the other eye is biotic with a violet iris that flickered every few seconds almost like she was scanning him. It was eerie.
Leon also noticed something else that caught his attention. Attached to her shoulder strap was a certain badge that he was familiar with... The Broken Circuit.
Staring at her, Leon froze even as he felt his innards churn.
The HUD screen of the System lit up again the next moment to save him.
DING!
~----~
[You have encountered a Geneform!]
[You have encountered a Synth Lifeform!]
…
[You have unlocked hidden System Function: Snoop]
Name: Talia Venn
Faction: Freegrid Collective – Wraith Cell-9
Race: Geneform
Class: NetRunner (Proto NetRunner)
Rank: F (Initiate)
[Attributes:]
STR – 34; AGI – 38; END – 37; INT – 45; WIL – 52; ADE – 43
[Derived Stats:]
ATK – 82; DEF – 111; SPD – 76
{HP – 1,840/2,190}
{EP – 2,040/2,395}
[Traits:]
>Neural Empathy (Passive): A natural deep understanding of emotions, and at times an understanding of the thoughts that come with certain emotions.
[Racial Trait- Geneform:] Bio-Enhanced Physiology (Passive): +15% END, +10% STR, -10% INT.
[Abilities:]
>Ping Scan: Detects nearby neural devices when activated.
>Ghost Line: When activated, it grants temporary invisibility on digital sensors.
>Firewall Bypass lv. 1: Brute force low-tier cyberwall security.
~----~
Leon blinked. 'Geneform? Synth? The hell?!'
Before he could say a word though, she interrupted the silence first as she spoke in a calm voice that hid a depth of ruthlessness behind it.
"What are you?" She asked coldly.
Despite the crazy thoughts in his head, it didn't show on Leon's face as he stared back at her with an impassive look on his face.
He didn't answer immediately, and that clearly unsettled her as she shifted from one foot to the next. Her gray-green eyes squinted.
"You are… a human?"