Moments ago, as Noah entered the grounds of the second test, he realized that he had been transported to a jungle once more. The exact nature of their location eluded his understanding.

“Can you still feel the pull?”

— Yes. It’s far stronger in this place.

The knowledge gave him the realization of all he desired to confirm. Everything was indeed real, no form of virtual reality engine was in play here. That… or their minds were being warped so vigorously, their perception thrown completely off, that they were unable to distinguish reality from mental simulation. A possible prospect, as it was the workings of an advanced civilization beyond anything he had ever encountered.

Then let’s go kill ’em all.

The mission was quite simple, all things considered.

Kill and Devour.

Once he had enough energy, he would finally complete the goal that had been haunting him for so many years.

At least this should have been the case but—

Shit!

He felt more than he saw. A chilling sensation went down his spine, a warning of incoming danger.

All his senses seemed to sublimate at this moment, his perception increasing in such a way that he had the feeling that time seemed to slow down for him.

His muscles tightened and thousands of Dark Tendrils immediately came out of his armor before forming a semi-circular shield in front of him.

Dammit!

Deafening sounds and multiple explosions followed the shock that went through his body as Noah found himself propelled more than a dozen meters away. His bones rattled from the shockwave but he was otherwise safe. The small wounds he received were already healing.

Not bothering to turn to look behind him, Noah immediately started to run while making sure to not keep a straight line in his course. Meanwhile, two creepy red eyes opened on his back and his vision immediately changed as a screen appeared in front of him, allowing him to see what the Parasite was seeing.

This was when he understood what had attacked him and immediately cursed out.

“A Knightframe.”

Over the horizon, he could see one giant of steel of around five meters. This was one of the mecha belongings to the pirates.

The test was not some man vs man fight but one where everything was allowed.

Noah immediately assessed his chances of victory and determined that they were minimal at this distance.

The saving grace was that this Mecha was not designed for ground warfare. Much less one in a forest filled with so many obstacles.

He doubted he would have been able to outrun a Mecha on even ground.

.

.

.

Back to normal time, Noah continued to curse as another missile missed him by an inch.

He was sure that he could triumph, but this fight was becoming a pain to deal with.

But Noah wasn't just running aimlessly. Whenever he moved, he would make sure to barrel straight into any outcrops of trees that were in his path.

This barely slowed him down but it was a nightmare for the Mecha.

Furthermore, he had another goal. The Mecha was nothing more than a hunting hound. Herding him in a certain direction.

A trap was most likely awaiting him.

But it was alright. It was also what he wanted.

—Do you truly want to gamble?

“Life is always a gamble.”

The only thing that confused him was that the one chasing him seemed pretty unskilled.

***

On Omid's side, things were silent. The mood was somber.

“Captain…The prey is approaching. Do we move?”

Nineteen.

Out of the nineteen, the majority who survived were foot soldiers rather than Mecha pilots.

This did not come as a surprise for Omid as after inquiring he realized that all the tests for the Mecha pilots had been more deadly.

Even so, this was a huge blow and at any other time he would have been devastated but now…Omid clutched the small core with glee, holding it up to his face while sitting in his Mecha.

The death of his soldiers? Nothing more than an afterthought.

Once he came out of this gate, he would be stronger and he might even be able to stand as a hegemon of this part of the galaxy.

“All of you guys. Surround him and put him down. Be careful. I do not know who we are facing but it ultimately does not matter.”

His voice was calm, hiding his excitement, “As for me, I will digest the reward in preparation for the next phase. Whatever you guys obtained, I will not take. You just have to do your job.”

The pirates, who had been worried all released sighs of relief. None of them had managed to obtain a core but even so, they had been rewarded with small condensed essence pills.

Those essences were useless to people like Omid who could use Dark Matter but in the Market, it could sell for hundreds of thousands of credits.

The reason?

It allowed those who swallowed them to open their minds to the cosmos and finally observe Dark Matter.

Of course, the reason such things “only” sold for hundreds of thousands rather than millions was because such an opening was filled with impurities and the one doing so would never amount to much.

The pills were also a kind of psychedelic drugs and the chances of one losing their mind as they entered in contact with what was theorized to be a higher dimension was quite high.

Unsafe, risk of brain death, limited potential.

So many faulty points, and yet the pirates were holding them like they were the greatest treasure.

“Don't take those pills now as it will make you helpless for a short time. Those who received mecha training can choose one of the empty ones. As for the last frame, leave them here. We will find a way when we go back. I already disabled the navigation system so they are unusable.”

There were twenty-one Mecha and only nineteen pirates. Even then, not all of them could pilot one.

“Understood!”

Once he finished giving all the orders, Scorched, his Knightframe, started moving away from the groups.

For one, while he wanted to completely assimilate the core to his mecha now, such a thing could not be done simply because he wanted to. The only thing he could do now was change the core and let his frame adjust itself slightly while he also did the same and attuned himself to the power.

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He would need to find people he could trust and a skilled mechanic to rework his frame in its entirety so that it could truly become suitable to the core and bring the greatest amount of power.

Should I contact Geppetto through Cassim?

Omid shuddered, he was sure that Cassim would not develop greed for his gain. His other fellow pirates had higher chances of backstabbing him.

But Geppetto…

Omid discarded the thoughts and focused on the situation at hand. The reason why he was not following his subordinates and wanted to power himself up as fast as possible was simple.

Omid was feeling threatened.

He realized this through the last trial but those trials were fair and in fact, gave only a slight handicap that could theoretically be overcome.

If the mission was nineteen vs one then…He couldn’t even imagine what kind of monster they would have to face.

Please, guys. Die for my sake and send me the information I need.

His eyes were cold. He was too close now. Too close to simply give up and gamble on his life. To succeed, he would sacrifice everything.

He could always create a new pirate group.

***

As he accelerated through the world, he could see his surroundings zip through his vision like a blur. Noah had been too busy outmaneuvering the Mecha, so he was too late to realize that the number had steadily increased from one to three. And that led to the realization that his margin of escape was shrinking further and further— a clear trap laid out to corner him.

His head spun as his eyes tracked the movements and trails of the Mechas, analyzing and deciphering hidden meanings behind their actions and their clear intentions. It seemed that he was paying no heed to where he was going as he got lost in his analysis of his enemies’ patterns.

But Noah was aware. He was not headless, much less lost in this vast landscape. He knew where he was going and he knew what he was trying so hard to find.

— Southwest, I have finally acquired a response.

Immediately, Noah’s eyes changed colors, a beautiful shade of majestic gold, as he changed directions and went straight for the pinpointed location.

The sudden swivel in his forward motion was so powerful and impactful that he felt like his bones began rattling inside his body. Pain shot through his mind like bolts of lightning chasing through the clouds but Noah did not flinch, focusing all of his attention on the sprint.

The sound of an explosion echoed as he pushed his muscles hard, accelerating faster than ever before, and shot through the terrain like a cannonball. He was moving so fast that even his own perception was able to barely keep up through the sprint. It was incredible, gaining such momentum and speed for the first time in all his life, but he was not given the time to marvel at his greatness as his ears caught the deafening echoes of something charging his way.

— Shield?

No need.

———

#15. He was one of the pilots of the Mechas of Omid’s crew. Previously nothing more than a mere foot soldier, he was now piloting the Mecha to go up against Noah and was busy lining up his shot towards their target.

#15 did not quite understand why the boss was so hesitant about this target of theirs. They were a strong group of nineteen against a measly single person, all alone, trying their best to survive against a Mecha. Had they properly attacked him, the target would have already been finished, deader than dead from the get-go. But now here they were, chasing him like a cat after a mouse and bringing him to the ambush point.

｢#15, what the hell are you doing!? Don’t mind me, I’m just taking things into my own hands here.｣

The damn target was moving so fast that it was hard to calibrate his attack to the target and fire the cannons of his Mecha. A task that became far more hellish due to the obstruction of the forest surrounding them.

He was tired of chasing some midget when they could simply off him easily and reap the rewards of this test. More than anything else, the reason why he was being impatient was simple in its entirety. He was greedy. He was wondering… would the one to kill the target get a special reward?

It was quite an important thought. Since most of them did not even have access to Dark Matter, they couldn't bring out the full prowess of a Mecha and utilize it to its maximum potential. They neither had the training nor the means to accomplish something like that.

But no one would be happy to remain stagnant in a particular state. He was a pirate and of course, he was greedy by definition alone. He didn’t need to hide it. And like most others in his crew, he was not happy with simply getting some shitty pill that would give him some mediocre boost. But, he was willing to go the extra mile to change his lot.

Stop moving bitch! Just one second. Only one second.

For the first time in his life, the pirate was praying to the gods even though he knew that gods were nothing but powerful existences. It was just a reflex, nothing more. But for the first time once again— it seemed like the gods listened to him.

On his monitor, he could see that the target they had been painstakingly chasing had suddenly slowed down significantly, bringing their hands forward and shooting two tentacle-esque ropes from the protrusions of their power armor. The ropes shot forward at incredible speed and caught one of the high branches of a tall tree, and using the rope, the target propelled itself up into the tree.

His action led to him jumping high in the air, which momentarily put him in a spot that was easy for anyone to target. A gap for number #15 to exploit.

This was impressive. Truly impressive. But at the same time, “Stupid bastard!”

Pilot #15 laughed out loud, not caring as to why the man who had been running around all this time made the stupid decision of becoming an easy target for his enemies. The only thing that the Mecha pilot cared about was the fact that he had a full view of his target and they were unable to flee any longer.

“Die!”

Immediately pushing the button once he had calibrated the cannon to the target, he blasted the manual rocket missiles embedded into the Mecha.

His face was filled with utter glee, eyes gleaming with joy, mouth opened wide in excitement as his brain had already conjured all the pictures of his success and the death of the target. Not even an eventual punishment by Omid scared him any longer as he was sure of his success and eventual payout.

But what followed was something he simply could not understand.

[Warning! Projectile incoming]

[Tentative to deploy the shield]

[Tentative failed. Energy insufficient]

“Wha—”

One moment he was laughing, the next moment, he screamed as red alarms and warning bells blared one after another throughout the Mecha.

Everything happened in less than a fraction of a second. For many, this was an eternity, for others, this was but an instant. But as always on the battlefield, this was the difference between life and death.

Boom!

The cockpit of the Mecha vanished in an explosion of fire and smoke and the last things all the other pilots heard were the desperate cries of #15 as he was lost to them forever.

They were able to watch the replay of this scene and even then, it still did not make sense to them in the slightest.

The very moment #15 had launched the missile, the target had been high in the air. He was all but an open target, ready to be blown into oblivion by the missile, but the target had managed to react in less than a second.

Using the same tentacle he had deployed earlier, wrapping it around the missile and then, moving it like a pendulum by using the inertia. He made a complete 180 in the air before immediately sending back the missile to the one who sent it.

“What the fuck?”

One of the pirates trembled as he watched the scene play out. What he was seeing made absolutely no sense. While it was true that the missiles they were using were inertia type missiles, they were all moving at a speed close to ten times the speed of sound itself.

How in the hell did this person even manage to accomplish such a feat with such a meager amount of Dark Matter?

｢He is moving again!｣

The pilots all reacted, noticing that the target immediately changed his direction once again and this time was rushing towards them. In a split second, they were left wondering who was the prey and who was the predator.

｢#10: Blow him up! Blow him up! Argh!｣

｢#10! Answer!｣

They kept calling but all they received was static, bringing chills to their spines. A few who were able to see what was happening were once again astonished as this time the target launched their whole body like a missile and reached the cockpit of the Mecha head first.

Since they were unable to activate the special shield, the cockpit was extremely vulnerable, and clearly the target had caught on to this fact. But the way they headbutted the metal-reinforced exterior of the Mecha without a care for their own life seemed like something only someone crazy would do.

｢#10: Help! He is breaking through! He is fucking eating the armor of my Mecha! What the Fuck!?｣

#10 couldn't retaliate without risking blowing themselves up.

｢#11: What do we do?｣

｢#12: Do we help?｣

A few messages like this came but #1, the only true pilot who had managed to survive the first trial knew that this would be foolish.

｢#1: You know the drill｣

｢#10: Guys…You wouldn’t…｣

｢#1: Use small rounds, we don’t want a repeat of what happened.｣

Sadly for him, #1 did not let fear and surprise cloud his judgment again this time, and following his order, all of those who had managed to come closer pointed the end of their rifles toward the target.

More than eight Mechas all fired instantly at the same time. The roar of the rifles filled the air as a rain of bullets was sent with no care about the survival of the one who was once their companion.

All for the goal of destroying the threat.

Metal clashed with metal and it only took a few seconds for the cries and curses of #10 to completely vanish as well as the signal of his Mecha.

｢#7: Is it done this time?｣

They stopped firing and looked with worry at what was now nothing but a husk of a Mecha.

｢#5: What are you smoking? I don’t think even the boss could survive such an attack if he was outside of his Mecha.｣

｢#11: Of course, I am pretty sure that —｣

｢#1: Spread out immediately!｣

The warning of #1 came too late and all they could was once again watch as one of their own was put down.

This time it was even easier as a five meter spear split apart the smoke coming from the Mecha of #10 and flew at a speed five times that of sound before piercing the exact place where the head of #11 was, slicing through the frame-like it was made out of paper before striking the head of the pilot, instantly killing him.

#1 could not understand.

They had been in control of the situation for so long but only one mistake was all that was necessary for everything to spiral out of control.

In a few seconds, less than a minute, three pilots were down and it was done with such ease that it seemed like a joke.

#1’s hands were trembling.

Looking at the fire in the distance and the small shadow slowly walking out of the debris, limping and wounded, he did not think that this was somehow a chance to attack.

All he could think was that the one they were fighting could not be normal. This was not something that should be possible.

It had taken him longer than Omid but now. He understood why this was a one vs many scenarios.

In this place, they were not predators.

They were the prey.