Drawing our weapons, we stood poised, every muscle tensed, facing down the sinister android and its winding tail.
Vex unsheathed his twin swords in one fluid motion. Sifo Ren powered up his arm cannons, their energy coils humming with escalating heat. I manifested a navy-blue bow from the air, pulling back its gleaming string as a black, spiralling arrow formed at its centre—dripping faintly with cursed water. Falice, trembling, hid behind Vex's leg, clutching his coat like it was armour.
"Careful, you three," the android rasped, its voice metallic and taunting. "Flesh necks are so fragile."
It held Quinella and Dante aloft, one in each hand. The blade of its tail hovered just inches from their throats, thin lines of blood already drawn across their skin. Both mercenaries kicked helplessly, their breaths shallow and wheezing.
Vex narrowed his eyes, voice low with contempt. "Would you even spare them if we asked?"
The android tilted its head slightly, the glow in its eyes flickering with mirth. "They're alive. For now. What happens next... depends entirely on you."
I whispered into my earpiece, connecting to the hidden comms line. "Clara. We've got company. Tied to the secret funders. It's taken two of ours hostage."
"What?! How did it bypass my web alarm?" Clara hissed, rapidly pulling security feeds into her end. "Wait... that model... That's an Arquebex-V6—Tritas war-tech. My teacher said they were extinct!"
"Yeah, well, it's not," I growled. "It's standing ten feet from me. Get in touch with Sathuna. Now. She had to know something like this was coming."
Before Clara could respond, a deep tremor shook the ground beneath our feet. From somewhere far across the complex, a monstrous howl echoed like a siren, shaking dust from the rafters.
"What the hell was that?" I muttered, instinctively bracing.
"Wukong," Clara replied breathlessly. "He's engaged with the Guardian Beast of Idaten-II's gods. Listen to me. That android? You cannot win in melee. Buy me some time. I've got an idea."
I gulped hard as the android's gaze latched onto me again. Its presence felt heavier now—like it was reading us, weighing who to kill first.
Sifo Ren's cannons thrummed louder, heat distorting the air around them. The android chuckled, eyes narrowing. "Are you trying to hack me, unknown machine? Adorable. My firewalls chew through threats like you."
Sifo Ren remained calm. "Just like the logs predicted. State your conditions. What guarantees their safety?"
The android's tail flicked lazily. "The captain of this squad. His [Aspect]. It interests my masters."
"Ben's... aspect?" Quinella wheezed, blood trailing from the corner of her mouth. "You're a soul thief?"
[Aspects]—the essence of a soul, awakened under great stress or saturation of cosmic energy. Some manifested as enhancements, others as godlike absurdities. Their rules were unknowable. Their potential, infinite.
My own? [Aspect: Bouncing Shadows]. Useless for offense—at least compared to most. I could make shadows behave like trampolines, nothing more. The title of Hell King wasn't earned through raw power, but rather, through cursed precision.
"Why do you care about Ben's aspect?" Vex asked, eyes tracking the android's every twitch. "All he can do is change his fire magic's colour. It's an [Obscure Aspect]."
The android's expression darkened. "And yet in six months, your captain ascended from nothing to galactic fame. That speaks volumes."
I scoffed bitterly. "He's in custody now. With the First Lady of . No one knows where she's taken him."
The machine paused. A strange hum echoed from its core as it parsed that information.
"Damn that Kralscell whore!" it growled. In a fit of rage, it flung Quinella and Dante to the floor, their limp bodies skidding toward us as the android's tail split the stone in a violent arc. "I shouldn't have let that parasite interfere!"
[Skill: Blood Magnet — Activates!]
Falice threw out her hands, fingers trembling. The two wounded mercenaries slid backward across the floor toward us, pulled by threads of blood trailing from their open wounds.
The android turned back with a hiss. "Then I'll take my due—in flesh!"
Blades sprang from its arms. In an instant, it lunged, wind screaming around its form.
[Skill: Voodoo Water Arrow — Fires!]
[Skill: Laser Barrage — Engaged!]
I loosed my black arrow, and it screamed into the android's chest, corroding the alloy in a splash of toxic vapor. A beat later, Sifo Ren unleashed a hailstorm of searing red beams that exploded across the android's form, sending it hurtling back across the chamber.
It landed hard, metal screeching against stone, but recovered instantly. With a feral snarl, it drove its tail and blades into the ground to halt its momentum.
"So," it growled, rising, "the infamous [Platinum Star] and [Hell-King: Trivium Voodoo] of the ." Its eyes blazed as it drew three swords, each glowing with a different spectral light. "I expected someone... different."
Then it spat another name, soaked in venom: "Your friend, the [Traveler on a Journey], owes me flesh. He interrupted my last feast. I'll take yours in his place."
The floor beneath us trembled as the android lunged once more—faster this time. A blur of dark metal and death.
Sifo Ren and I fired again, launching arrows and beams through the narrowing space. But the android danced through them, its mantis-like blades slashing even light from the air. Nothing could touch it.
It hadn't even used its [skills] yet.
Within arm's reach, the android's blades flashed toward my throat.
But Vex was there.
Steel shrieked as his katanas met the strike midair. Sparks burst between them.
The android snarled and swung with tail and off-hand, but Vex parried again—though the shockwave hurled Sifo Ren and me backward.
The android stopped. Stared. Its gaze locked onto Vex now.
"...Those swords..." it said slowly, voice lowering. "Why do I feel like I know you, boy?"
Grunting beneath the pressure, Vex clenched his teeth. "The feeling's mutual. Who are you? There's only one person who should know the Three Sword King-Mantis Technique. You're not them."
The android's optics scanned him slowly, almost reverently. Then, for the briefest moment, it hesitated—stunned. "You're the disciple of that swordsman I devoured on Shalfalar." Its blades pressed down harder, forcing Vex to one knee. "You should know my name. Say it."
A surge of black water and crimson lasers tore across the room, blasting the android back. Vex seized the opening—his swords flashed in a flurry, carving deep into Ramirtec's corroded chest. But before he could strike again, the tail snapped around and whipped him into me. We slammed into the wall with bone-jarring force.
Across the room, a searing plasma bolt slammed into Sifo Ren's chest, sending the knight-like machine crashing headlong into the reinforced steel bulkhead.
"You know this thing, Vex?" I gasped, staggering to my feet.
Vex pulled away from me, one hand clutching his shoulder, blood seeping through his fingers. "Yeah. My home world, Shalfalar, is famed for its martial masters. Over a decade ago, a machine came hunting for them. Challenged each one to a duel. Every instructor it defeated... was devoured. My master was the last to fall. We called it Ramirtec, the Gluttonous Three Swords."
"Hehehe~!" The android cackled, its tail wrapping snug around its own chest like a perverse embrace. "So long since anyone has spat my name with such hate. Shalfalar was... delicious. But seeing you here makes it all worth it."
[Skill: Glutton's Edge - Hungry Blades!]
Orange light burst from the seams of Ramirtec's frame. Its three plasma-blades surged forth, tips leveled straight at Vex's heart.
Sifo Ren stepped in, shielding Vex with his own body. The three burning swords pierced through his metal chest in a burst of sparks and molten slag.
"Sifo Ren!!!" My scream cracked the air, raw and panicked.
The android grimaced in disgust, clearly offended by the act of self-sacrifice. Sifo Ren's head lifted with mechanical groans, his eye sensors flickering. "Engage... Niflheim adaptation."
[Skill: Realm Shift: Mode Niflheim!]
A cold mist poured from Sifo Ren's frame. Frost bloomed instantly across the blades lodged in him. With a violent wrench, he shattered the swords and tore himself free.
Ramirtec recoiled in panic, ejecting his arms and tearing off his own tail to escape the encroaching ice. "You're Asgardian tech?! No—no, you let them upgrade you, didn't you?!"
Several black arrows slammed into Ramirtec's side, pinning him briefly. But before I could react, he twisted—striking Vex with a punch so brutal it launched him into the ceiling. A split second later, he kicked him straight through a wall.
[Skill: Realm Shift: Mode Muspelheim!]
Sifo Ren's damaged body flared brilliant orange. The ground beneath him fractured with every step as he charged.
Ramirtec raised his fists. "Stay back, unknown model!" But Sifo Ren met his blow with a burning strike, branding Ramirtec's metal shell with superheated dents.
Strike after blazing strike, Sifo Ren drove the android backward, deeper into the adjoining room. The walls shuddered under the assault—each blow like the footstep of a titan. Chunks of the ceiling began to fall.
[Skill: Glutton's Edge - Thick Stomach!]
"ENOUGH!" Ramirtec roared. His entire frame surged with a plasma shield, deflecting the next punch with explosive force back into Sifo Ren. "I didn't want to waste this ability on an insignificant scrapheap. But you—"
"Kimaris—" Clara's voice cut through the static in my earpiece. "Activate—your—aspect—now!"
"What?!" I barked. "Speak up!"
Chunks of debris rained down, the facility quaking. I dodged a collapsing support beam, only for a chunk of ceiling to collapse in its wake.
"Your aspect, damn it! Wukong and the Guardian Beast are right on top of you!"
Across the room, Sifo Ren's leg was torn off and Ramirtec stood over him as the mechanical knight collapsed. Victorious, his blade brimming with orange energy once more for the kill.
"Protect them, Kimaris!" Sifo Ren cried. He fired a final barrage of rockets and laser, shattering the plasma aura and forcing Ramirtec back under a crumbling column.
[Skill: Abyssal Water Arrow - Tether Shot!]
"Damn it!" I pulled the bowstring taut, manifesting four black arrows. They launched in perfect formation—each one tethering the unconscious mercenaries to me with watery cords. They slid toward me, groaning as they collided with my side.
I dropped my bow and thrust both hands skyward.
[Aspect: Bouncing Shadows - Black Bubble!]
A translucent bubble formed around us, shadows warping and solidifying into an elastic barrier. Debris ricocheted harmlessly off its surface as the ground quaked beneath us.
"Use my bow! Fire at Sifo Ren!" I shouted.
Falice hesitated, then shoved the weapon into Dante's arms. "Do it!"
[Skill: Abyssal Water Arrow - Tethor Shot!]
Dante steadied himself, drew back the black arrow, and loosed it. The arrow struck Sifo Ren's abdomen. The tether tightened.
"Pull harder!" I yelled.
The mercenaries hauled with everything they had, dragging Sifo Ren's heavy body across the floor toward the protective dome.
Ramirtec loomed behind, his melted face hideous and leaking. "Your body is now mine."
[Skill: Emergency Laser - Acidic Light!]
Sifo Ren's face split open, revealing a hidden laser. The acidic beam surged directly into Ramirtec's optics before he could react. The scream that followed was glitched and inhuman as its voice box melted. "KRAA—ACK—AA—AAHHH!!!
Falice and Dante yanked hard on the rope.
Just as Ramirtec lunged, blade sweeping down onto Sifo Ren. A colossal monkey hand punched through the ceiling, scattering dust and light. Falice shrieked. The hand curled around the black shadow-dome, lifting us effortlessly into the air.
"No!!!" Ramirtec screamed, hurling a boulder with one remaining hand. But it bounced harmlessly off the dome's elastic shadows.
We soared upward, cradled in the hand of a god. Through the translucent shield, two enormous, demonic monkey eyes peered down at us—wreathed in divine fire.
A voice echoed across the sky. "No need to fear! Heaven's Equal, the Great Sage—Sun Wukong—is here!"