Author's Note: Have you ever been on stage with multiple eyes on you? That's what Null feels like now, only he has to fight everything.

--------

Everyone is looking at Null with wide eyes, as if he were some sort of weird looking creature. He starts to fidget a little under the gazes as he hates the attention. All of his instincts are telling him to run away and be alone somewhere, but he knows that now is not the time for that.

How was Null able to take out one of the giant robots alone even though the warriors, who have higher stats than him and the same tech, could not? How was Null able to defeat a creature who is equivalent to the mid 300's in one blow when even someone in the 300 range would find that very difficult to do? 

It's because of Null's high degree of control over mana. The mana electricity moves quickly around his body and has the ability to pull around mana that's close to it.

This means that when Null controls the mana electricity inside the armor, it also has the added benefit of turbo charging his own mana, massively boosting his stats. The mana electricity that Null is able to control at will is also the robot's weakness. It's like Null was specifically designed to counter Winford.

Winford looks on in astonishment at Null.

'To think he is already capable of this, and he hasn't even started training in using transmutation circles yet! There's no telling what his end path will be like if he is allowed to grow! I need to end him now.

Hmmm. He's a foreigner isn't he? That means he can't die. However, he can lose levels. I'll just keep killing him until he's no longer a threat to me. You will suffer the same fate as Emmanuel.' Winford thinks darkly.

All the robots that were randomly attacking the Gnosia soldiers suddenly stop and head towards Null's location. Null notices all the robots coming towards him and sighs.

'See? This is why I don't like to do things in front of other people. Damn you Ptah! Quit making me do stuff!' Null thinks annoyed.

The robots surround Null so as to prevent escape. They take out their weaponry and aim at Null. Gun sounds are heard as Null rapidly moves out the way of the bullets to the best of his ability. His ability isn't enough though, as a few bullets manage to hit him.

He runs towards the closest robot which happens to be a bear model. Null pulls his fist back as green electricity is emitted from his fist. Null punches the robot where he sees the mana most concentrated at inside that robot. The bear robot dies in one hit. The robots aim at Null again and attack. Null grabs the mana stones that the bear robot had just dropped and does a somersault before the robots had time to hit him. He had planned his somersault to land above a humanoid robot. While in the air, he raises his foot above his head as green electricity flows out from the heel of his foot.

Null does an ax kick and slams that robot into the ground. While that robot is disappearing, Null grabs the mana stones before they even reach the ground. Null notices that the energy inside his armor is running low. He drops the old mana stone from his armor, then places a new one in, all in one swift motion.

No robot there is able to stop Null. Everywhere he goes is a new path of robot devestation. The robot do not have feelings and therefore don't care that Null is taking them out in huge numbers. Null is doing well fighting the robots, but for every robot he destroys, two take their place. Null is starting to get tired.

While Null was surrounded, a robot's claw swipes at Null's back, knocking him against a wall. The robots' number quickly swell. Soon, thousands of robots start to swarm towards Null's location. If looked at from afar, they would look like an ant or locus swarm.

“He's starting to get overwhelmed. This is the same thing that happened to Emmanuel.” A mage says looking on not knowing what to do.

“Should we help him? I'm just afraid we would only be in the way.”

“Let's do it! If our fate is the same, I would rather do something than do nothing!” A warrior yells out holding his sword.

“Turn off your weapons!” Null yells out.

“Huh?”

“What are you talking about?”

“This guy is losing it...”

“How are we supposed to help you if we turn our weapons off?”

Null shakes his head. A robot then releases bombs towards Null. He crosses his arms and jumps out of the way the best he could. Singes, claw marks, and bullet holes are all seen on Null's cloak. His breathing becomes labored due to fatigue.

“You guys are too weak. You think you could actually help me? You'll only run to your deaths. Turn off your weapons now!” Null yells out. “Just fight the rebels and know your place!”

They then see Null winking at them. They then notice. Winford is behind Null, and can't see his expressions. Null must have some sort of plan. They all go along with it.

“This arrogant guy! Fine! If you want to die, so be it.” That guy says turning off his sword.

“We were wrong about him. He's just an idiot.” That person also turns off his weapon.

All the warriors are turning off their weapons.

Winford shakes his head. 'This fellow thinks that he's invincible just because he managed to take out a few of my robots. Doesn't matter now. Now that nobody else is interfering, I can now fully focus on killing you!'

There are thousands of robots swarming in. The same thing happened to Emmanuel as he was defeated.  Null starts to run away from the robot swarm.

“You think you can run?” Winford says smiling darkly.

Null is barely hanging on. He has to repeatedly drink health potions just to survive. Null starts heading towards higher and higher ground. 

“Hahaha! You idiot! You think you're safe if you're not on the ground?! Have you forgotten that some of my robots can fly?” Winford laughs at Null predicament. 

Null starts to get swarmed in the air as well. The bombers that were on standby in the air start to fly towards Null and fires their weaponry. The robots don't even mind sacrificing a few other robots in the way as long as Null dies. 

“I hope Null knows what he's doing.” Someone says whispering.

When Null can't reach any higher, he jumps in the air. All the bomber robots above Null are about to release their payload. Null then does something strange. He also turns off his own armor. Winford finds that odd.

'What is he up to?' Winford wonders. 

Null then takes something out of his inventory. The people looked at the device Null takes out baffled, wondering what that thing was. It was mechanical in nature, and about the size of Null himself. It looked useless if it was supposed to be a melee, as you couldn't swing it like a sword. Was this a bomb? But not even their most powerful bombs could take out all the robots without massive casualties. Null wouldn't be desperate enough to kill the robots to the point of killing everything else, right?

'What is that? Unless... Oh no.' Winford gets a sense of foreboding. He's about to control his robots to turn off but...

'Too late!' Null thinks slightly smiling.

He activates that strange looking device. A huge bluish green surge of what looks like electricity is released from it. Any robots caught inside that energy surge short circuits and breaks down. It's like a light show was going on with all the robots emitting electricity. All of the robots in the air fall like rain, as if they have been unplugged.

Null had destroyed thousands of robots in one moment.

*********

Flashback:

Null and the others are working on building the weapons to deal with the robots.

“Hey Aldan.” Null says to him, pausing in what he's doing.

“Yes?”

“Do you know what an electromagnetic pulse is?”

“Yes I do. It overloads appliances and makes them burn out and crash.”

“Okay. Now do you think you make a device that can emit a huge electromagnetic pulse, but with electric mana instead of electricity?”

“Hmmm... So far, the mana electricity has been shown to be remarkably similar to electricity, but I'm not too sure if we will be able to pull it off.” Aldan says with a frown.

“We will have to.” Null says. “I heard from one of the assassins how that librarian fell. He was overwhelmed by the robots attacking him. If this device is not able to be built, we will lose. It's as simple as that.”

Aldan nods. “Okay Null. I'll do my best.”

Flashback end:

*********

'Huh. Looks like the mana electromagnetic pulse, or MEMP worked. Good work Aldan. I've gained like 10 levels from using this thing. Too bad this thing is a one time deal. This thing takes way too many mana crystals. 90% of the mana crystals we had went into the MEMP.'

Now, most of the robots in the surrounding area have been taken out. The few robots that survived the mana electric surge are in no condition to fight. Everyone looks on with mouths agape.

“....”

No one can even say anything. This is just too surprising. That seemingly invincible swarm had just been swatted.

“What... Is he?” Someone managed to finally speak.

“Is this real life?” Another person says.

“I bet Winford is super pissed off right now.” Someone says smiling.

Null has a satisfied look on his face. It was then that he hears footsteps running towards him. Null somersaults out of the way of a tentacle that was about to behead him. He lands on a robot's body, and sees Winford not too far away from him. His fists are balled up. His teeth are clenched, and his face is red.

'This guys looks kinda upset. I wonder why.' Null thinks to himself sarcastically.

“All my work! All the resources I put into make these! My ten years of work destroyed in an instant!” Winford says enraged.

His previous calm attitude is gone. That everything is going as planned air he had about him has completely evaporated. He prepares to fight Null.

“Tell it to someone who cares.” Null says apathetically, completely brushing off what Winford said.

This enrages Winford even more. Wheels grow under his feet. Winford prepares to blitz Null to not give him time to prepare for him. He charges towards Null as all the tentacles show flurried and furious movement. The stabs mostly miss. The swipes are dodged. Null being so hard to hit makes Winford even angrier.

Null pulls out the blades from his arms. The speed that those tentacles are attacking with is starting to get scary to Null. Every swipe that Winford sends out, Null blocks it. Nulls is steadily being pushed back trying to get used to Winford's fighting style. Winford throws in some punches and kicks along with the tentacles attacking.

Null is at a disadvantage, as Winford has six of those tentacles along with his arms and legs, giving him a total of ten ways he could attack. Null only has his two arms and two legs to help him.

Winford then combines two of the tentacles into one, trying to pierce through Null. This combined tentacle didn't give much room for Null to dodge, so he breathes and focuses. The tentacle stabs forward. Null catches that tentacle blade with his two hands by clasping them together like he's praying. Null emits mana electricity from his palms trying to destroy Winford's armor.

Winford was one step ahead and detaches that tentacle before Null could do any damage.

While this is going on, Winford raises his leg and does a rocket booster powered round house kick. Winford knew Null was going to catch the blade, so he prepared beforehand. That kick hits Null right in the middle of his ribs, sending Null skidding along the ground.

Null digs his hand into the ground trying to stop himself. While this is going on, Winford changes his arm into a rocket launcher. He fires at Null while he's trying to stop himself from skidding. Null finds his bearings and starts running from the rockets that were following him. Null makes his way through obstacles so as to make the rockets explode on other things before they hit him.

Winford follows after Null. He puts away his rocket launcher and puts the wheels back on his feet. Once again, he uses his tentacles to attack at Null. Null once again parries all of his blows coming his way. When Null sees an opening, he does an electric mana charged kick to Winford's side, trying to give Winford a taste of his own medicine. Winford turns off that part of his armor in the nick of time, but is still sent skidding along the ground.

“Urgh.” Winford groans.

He gets back up, and pulls out the sword he used on Emmanuel out of his inventory. Null sees how huge the sword is, being around the same size as Winford himself.

'Such a huge blade. There's no way he will be able to use it swiftly.' Null thinks to himself.

Wheels once again appear on Winford's feet as he rushes and swings down at Null. Null uses the blades on both his arms to block it. Winford's sword then gets tiny blades sticking out. The blades start moving around the sword like a chainsaw.

Null clenches his teeth and uses all of his strength to push the sword off of him. Winford then once again swings his sword down. Null does a quick dash backwards and dodges it.

The sword makes a huge dent in the ground. Rocks and dirt are scattered in the air from the impact of the chain saw sword. Winford picks up his sword and chases after Null, aiming for a horizontal strike. Null takes this brief opportunity to exchange mana stones in his armor, as blocking that huge sword drained a lot of the mana that was present in the mana stone.

Winford keeps swinging his sword, but cannot get a good shot on Null. He then attacks with his tentacles while swinging his sword, trying to make a weak spot. Null has to constantly dash backwards to avoid his attacks.

'I wish I had my needle launchers or my crossbow right about now.' Null thinks frowning.

Seeing as how his sword wasn't doing much damage, Winford puts it away. He then rushes towards Null with his fist behind him. Suddenly, a giant robotic arm gets attached to Winford's arm as he punches towards Null. This is the fist of the titan that had once caught Emmanuel off guard.

Null times his somersault perfectly. Then, with an mana electric charged foot, he slams his ax kick

on Winford's giant fist. The charge destroys Winford's robotic fist, but due to the resistance of the fist, the charge doesn't make it through the rest of Winford's robotic armor. However, it caused enough damage to where Winford couldn't detonate the giant fists.

The people on the sidelines watching the battle between these two are in awe in what they are seeing.

“He's... Actually fighting Winford to a standstill!”

“I thought our situation was hopeless, but it looks like we actually do have a chance to win!”

“Go Null, go!”

After fighting for a long while, Null and Winford then pause their fighting. Their breathing is labored and they are both putting their hands on their knees. This battle is taking a toll on both of them.

Null was rolling his shoulders and stretching his arms.

“Okay. I think I got the hang of this.” Null says.

Winford frowns. “Got the hang of what? You got some lucky shots in and suddenly you got the hang of this?” Winford mocks.

Null shakes his head. “What I'm saying is, as you are now, you are no longer a match for me.”

Just then, Null does a straight charge at Winford. When he gets close enough, he does a kick aimed straight at the center of Winford's chest. Winford's face shows shock as he was not at all prepared. He is sent flying. While airborne, Winford changes his arm into a gun turret. Winford finds out to his surprise that none of the bullets were hitting. Null was gone from that area before Winford even aimed there.

Winford starts trying to look for Null. His face then shows shock once again as he suddenly feels a sharp pain on his side. Winford was once again kicked away. This time though, he didn't have time to turn off his armor. That electric mana current wrecked havoc upon Winford's circuitry.

Null chases after him. Even though Winford's armor was damaged, Null did not let up. He did a flurry of punches on Winford, then sends a kick to his chest, making him fly straight into the air. When he is airborne, Null jumps high into the air and kicks Winford again.

Like if Winford was a football, he was constantly kicked away with Null following closely from behind. With every kick that Null landed, bits and pieces of the armor that Winford was proud of slowly chipped away. This scene causes excitement among the populace.

“He's winning! He's winning!”

“Just a little more!”

“We will win this war!”

******

In the defense system control center, the people there are watching events unfold. Archum had taken Emmanuel and the other prisoners here for safety. As they were watching Null on the moniter beating Winford, their faces show astonishment.

“I can't believe Null has the upper hand!” Claris says out loud.

Winford was seemingly invincible in her eyes. Even Emmanuel fell before him, even though it was Winford's robots that beat him.

“I only said that Null could win just to encourage him. I didn't think he would actually do it.” Archum says watching the monitor with rapt interest.

Emmanuel was just silently watching the monitor with a stoic face.

“So sir Emmanuel, Null is a librarian just like you. What do you think of him?” Claris asks Emmanuel respectfully.

“...That young man... Is odd.” Emmanuel says.

“Agreed.” Archum says.

“Biggest weirdo I've ever met.” Claris says agreeing while shaking her head.

“But... Even I can't see how he will end up in terms of power.” Emmanuel says.

This causes Archum, Claris, and everyone in the room to be shocked even more. Who is Emmanuel? The most powerful person in Gnosia, and not even he can see Null's end potential?

*******

Winford is currently in a small crater, dazed from being put there by one of Null's kicks. Null rushes towards him again, preparing to send him off with another kick.

Winford quickly comes to his senses. Having enough of being treated like a football, he slashed forward with all his working tentacles to stop Null's charge. Null jumps in the air to dodge them, and lands several steps away.

There was madness in Winford's eyes. He points at Null and yells out, “No more holding back! You will take the full brunt of my rage!” Winford crosses his arms in front of him.

'You think I'm just going to stand here and let you get more powerful?' Null thinks insulted. 'I'm not one of those battle maniacs. I'm also not stupid. Well... Most of the time.'

Null runs towards Winford intending to finish him once and for all. He pours all the available mana from the mana stone inside his fist. The green electricity coming off his fists looks reminiscent of the Chidori from Naruto. When Null charges forward, Winford then tosses a bunch of flash and stun grenades. Null had no choice but to close his eyes and cover his ears. The surprise attack had temporarily rendered two of his senses disabled.

Winford then sheds the old armor that was breaking off and puts on new armor. This armor is the most powerful armor he possesses.

“Count yourself lucky Null. You are the first to see this armor.” Winford says to Null with a smirk.

This armor was sleeker and had even more glowing lines all throughout it. Other than that, there was nothing distinguishable about this new armor.

“Upgrade!” Winford yells out.

A surge of mana starts to surround Winford. The armor starts to buzz and glow in activity. There's so much power going through it that green electricity starts pouring out and surrounding him. People have to cover their ears because of the sound that the suit emits.

In this form, Winford's suit is designed for him to be able to withstand the extreme g-forces that act upon him. The metallic tentacles from before have doubled in length and look even more powerful. From the way they are moving on Winford's back, they appear far faster than before. On parts of his back are boosters that further increase his linear speed.

Null's vision starts to clear from Winford's surprise attack. When he sees Winford's new armor and the green electricity surrounding him....

'Shit...' Null then sighs to himself.

Null then feels a sudden pain on his face. Winford wasn't in his original position. He had moved so fast, that he had caught Null off guard. There was a green flash from where he was before. Null is rammed through several buildings before Winford stops charging. Even with Winford's stopped charged, the momentum from how Null was struck kept him going until he hit a car, causing a dent on it.

'...Shit!' Null thinks to himself.

Null sees Winford coming towards him again. He tries to strike Winford down with an electric mana charged open palm, but Winford dodges it as if that open palm was moving in slow motion. One of the tentacles slashes at Null. Null attempts to block it with an extendable blade, but the extendable blade on his hand snaps due to the sheer power Winford's tentacle is exhibiting.

'I feel like I'm fighting Ludis!' Null thinks to himself.

He is having a rough time trying to keep up with Winford's newfound speed and power. Even the onlookers feel like Null's chances of winning just plummeted.

“How did he get so powerful?”

“Now I remember. He used that upgrade technique before. I forgot he could do that.” Someone remembers deadpanned.

“Don't give up Null! You can do it!”

*********

Meanwhile, as this fight is going on, Aldan, Ferron, and the others attempt to find the supposed factory that reproduces the robots. One of the assassins comes back from another sector and shakes his head.

Aldan frowns. “We've pretty much checked everywhere. Where could this factory be?”

Ferron frowns in thought. He then hears thunder as a lightning bolt striking the tallest building in Gnosia. It looks as if it's about to storm again. Seeing this sight, he remembers something.

Ferron then points at the building and says, “How about that one?”

“Oh? That's the building that the founder stayed in. You think it could be there?” Aldan asks.

Ferron nods. “That building suffers from repeated lightning strikes. There's a lot of power that could be generated from that.”

“But people are forbidden from entering that building. How could the factory be there?”

“...That, actually makes it more likely that the factory is there. You tinkerers I swear.” Ferron says shaking his head.

They quickly make it to the building. Due to the situation in Gnosia, there are no guards around here like there usually are. They make it inside. Aldan hesitates to enter the building, but is pretty much dragged in by Ferron.

They found where the first librarian slept, where he ate, and where he even showered. It had gotten to the point where some of them had forgotten their original objective and had gone sight seeing. Soon Ferron sets them back straight so they could continue their search. Room after room they entered, but they had not found anything. It

“Still not finding anything.” Ferron says disgruntled.

“Let's get out of here! I don't want to get in trouble!” Aldan says trembling.

“*sigh* Pathetic.” Ferron says to Aldan.

Just when they enter a new room, a sounds of machinary turning on is heard. The lights come on in orderly fashion on the ceiling. Giant mechanical arms are suspended from the ceiling, on the walls, and on the ground. One huge conveyor belt is seen snaking itself through the entire large room. Ferron and Aldan look at each other to verify that they are both seeing the same thing.

Seeing the surprised look on each other's faces, they both knew that they found what they were looking for. Suddenly, something that looks like a ball starts floating in the air. It's the sensor robots that have constantly gotten in their way. Aldan, Ferron, and the others ready their weapons. The ball then shines a laser that scans all the people in the room.

When that happens, an alarm rings. Red lights flash throughout the room. Robots that were deactivated soon start to activate. This is the security robots in this room. They're ordered to kill any unauthorized personnel who enters no matter who they are.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Aldan uses his wrench to smash the robot that had scanned them. Due to the mana magnet located inside the wrench, the robot was disoriented, and could not escape. The security robots heading towards them have the appearance of gigantic robotic insects. Thanks to the tech than Aldan, Null, and Ferron made, the robots were quickly dealt with.

“We found the place, so let's destroy it!” Ferron says.

“Destroy it!? But-But-But we can't destroy it! This place is a historical site!” Aldan says appalled that Ferron would even think of such a thing.

“It's either this building or Gnosia's people. Choose one.” Ferron says.

“Oh, fine.” Aldan replies despondent.

Just when they were about to head into areas to destroy the room, a roar is heard. A door is opened. Massive mechanical claws are seen breaking though the gate. Every step this creature made made the room shake. This creature had glowing red eyes, humongous wings, and long serrated teeth.

“A robot dragon. It just had to be a robot dragon.” Ferron said sarcastically.

“Can we be it?” Aldan asks frightened.

An assassin says, “It's not a true dragon, so it shouldn't be as powerful as them.”

“Right. Let's go!” Ferron yells out.

They all ready their weapons. Aldan was the first to charge. His weapon was best for jamming robot sensors and wrecking havoc on circuitry. The dragon opened its mouth. Energy was gathering in its mouth.

Aldan's eyes open wide while stopped in his tracks, and then started bolting in the opposite direction. The dragon shoots out a powerful energy beam. Aldan does a barrel roll to the side evading that beam in just the nick of time.

“I almost died I almost died!” Aldan yells out in panic.

“Well don't count yourself lucky yet. It's firing again.” Ferron tells Aldan.

“Aaaah!” Aldan transforms his wrench into a boomerang shape, and throws his wrench with all his might. The robotic dragon was about to fire its breath again, but the wrench hit the dragon's chin, making it fire at the ceiling.

The boomerang then returned to Aldan's hand.

“You could do that!?” Ferron asks Aldan surprised.

“Oh? Yeah.”

“Why didn't you do that in the first place then!?”

“I forgot.”

“You tinkerer's I swear!” Aldan sighs to himself.

Thanks to Aldan, the dragon was firing its breath randomly everywhere due to its sensors being interfered with by Aldan's wrench. Next, Ferron ran towards the dragon with his hammer. Green electricity was buzzing from one of the hammer's faces.

While Ferron was running, Aldan also charged forward. Ferron jumped in the air ready to strike down thinking the dragon was now an easy target. Unfortunately, the dragon was at least aware enough that it realized something was aiming for its head.

The dragon blocked the blow to its head, but at the cost of losing its arm. Green electricity was causing its entire arm to short circuit. However, that dragon's body was too big for that mana electric charge to take out its entire body.

Though the dragon couldn't see Ferron, it had accurately judged that the person who did that mana charged strike should still be there airborne. The dragon prepares another charged blast with its mouth.

Ferron couldn't dodge while airborne, and looked like he was about to perish, but Aldan used his wrench boomerang to make the dragon's head once again miss. Now the dragon was missing an arm, and was bonked in the head two times. If that dragon could feel emotions, it would be understandably pissed, but luckily it was just an unfeeling robot.

“Good! Now it will be easier to kill it now that it's missing an arm.” Ferron says smirking.

The dragon did a mighty roar and spread its wings, taking flight. The mechanical dragon started firing energy blasts out its mouth while doing figure eights in the air, firing down at the intruders.

“What do we do now!?” Aldan asks in a panic. “My boomerang can't reach up there, and I'm not good with moving targets!”

“I don't know. I can't jump up to there.” Ferron says furrowing his brows in frustration.

An archer says next to them, “You know, you guys aren't the only two people here. Why do you not ever include anybody else in your plans?”

A warrior says, “I know right? They never include us in any of their conversations! I bet you don't even know our names!”

“That's not important! We need need to find a way to reach that dragon!” Ferron yells out.

“Hello? Archer? I shoot arrows far away!” The archer says disgruntled.

“Then shoot them!” Ferron yells out.

The archer mumbles something under his breath, then aims his arrow at the airborne dragon. The arrow shoots through the dragon's wing. As the arrow contained mana electricity as well, that arrow also damaged part of the wing. The dragon fell while emitting an ear piercing roar. It crashes to the ground, looking worse for wear. The dragon groans as if it could feel pain while laid out.

Ferron moves to finish off the dragon. While Ferron jumped in the air, he then notices the dragon's plot. The dragon had secretly been charging its attack and was just about to launch it, knowing that Ferron would rush up to it. Aldan and the others show shock as none of their weapons would be able to save Ferron in time.

Just as the attack was about to be released, something slams in from the outside wall and crashes into the dragon, utterly destroying it. The dragon's parts scatter from the impact. The glowing red eyes of the dragon that were lodged out of its head from the impact grow dim before it turns dark. Aldan and the others are relieved that the dragon was destroyed, but they wonder what sort of object slammed into it.

“Ow.” The object in question said rubbing his shoulder.

The others are surprised when they see who it is.

“Null?”

“What are you doing here?”

Null looks and notices that the others are here.

'I would like to know that myself.' Thought Null as he was hurriedly drinking health potions.

When he finishes drinking, Null tells the others, “You guys should run. Far away from here.”

“Why?” Aldan asks.

A sound is heard that makes everyone in the room cover their ears. The wall crashes open. Winford steps in the room with green electricity surrounding him, emulating power.

Null points at Winford with his thumb and says, “That's why.”

“That's a pretty good reason.” Aldan nods.

Winford looks around and sees Null, along with Aldan and the others inside his secret room. He also sees how damaged this place is.

“So you weren't satisfied with just taking out my robots. You also want destroy my base of operations. From the looks of things, it looks like you partially succeeded.” Winford says calmly.

“...You just made a giant hole coming in head first in this building. Two if you count the hole when you slammed me in here.” Null says pointing out the obvious.

“Since your whole gang's here, why don't I start by killing them first?” Winford says facing the others.

Null frowns and hurriedly steps in front of them.

“They have nothing to do with this.” Null says.

“Oh but they have everything to do with this. Didn't you say it was Aldan who had rediscovered this technology?”

“That was a lie. It was all me. Everything was done by me. They're all just incompetents who can't do anything right.”

“Oh? Well I'll just kill them anyway because I feel like it then.”

Null rushes towards Winford. He tries to give an mana electrically charged sidekick to Winford's gut. Winford effortlessly dodges the kick and goes after the others.

'No!' Null thinks frantic.

Null rushes towards the others to the best of his ability. Winford's tentacle chops down towards Aldan. Null attempts to move him out the way. Despite Null's best efforts though, he didn't make it in time.

The blade chops down at Aldan. The clothes on his chest were ripped apart. His chest is exposed. A huge amount of blood rushes out.

“Aldan!”

“No!”

“You monster!”

The people there were shocked at what they saw. They had figured they had something like main character immunity since none of them had died yet, but that had turned out to be false.

*Cough*

Aldan coughs out a mouthful of blood.

“N-Null...”

“Stop talking.” Null says to Aldan.

“I didn't think he would go down so easy. Next, you.”

Winford once again charges. This time his blades were pointed at Ferron. Null looks on as this time, Winford has his blade pointed at Ferron's heart. Null had forgotten about everything right now. He doesn't even notice that Aldan has his hand pointed at Null.

“Up-grade.” Was what Aldan had said before he closed his eyes.

Something changes on Null. The suit he's wearing changes. The mana electricity starts to move even faster. The plating becomes bulkier. His gauntlets become bulky like a gorillas. The armor that was only partially covering his body started to connect and become a full body armor.

Strength Null has never felt before starts to surge throughout his body. In a flash, Null grabs the tentacle that was about to stab through Ferron. It was only an inch away from killing him. Ferron seeing as he was only an inch away from death sweats heavily.

Winford is surprised that Null was actually able to catch him. He then sees that Null's suit had changed. Winford clenches his teeth in frustration. Null doesn't say anything. He is lucky that no one can now see his face, as everyone would've been able to see his pissed off expression. It takes a whole lot to make Null angry since he decided to discard humanity.

However, once he gets angry, it's difficult to get him to stop. Null grabs Winford's tentacle and swings him around. He spins him around faster and faster. Null spins him around so fast, it looks like a miniature tornado is materializing around them. Null then releases Winford and he slams into the wall.

Blood comes out of Winford's mouth. The impact was just too much. Null waits for Winford to come out of the hole he made.

“You think just because you made a lucky shot you have the right to be arrogant!?” Winford yells out.

Null doesn't say anything. He does a straight charge towards Winford. Winford tries to time when Null when arrive and stabs at that direction with his tentacles. Null then suddenly speeds up and punches Winford with an electric mana charged punch. Even after the suit shorts out, Null still keeps punching.

The suit starts falling apart. The dent in the wall which Winford is stuck in gets deeper and deeper. Winford realizes that he will truly die if he doesn't activate his trump card.

'I will kill you and everyone in Gnosia!' Winford vows.

The arms all over the wall suddenly start to attack Null. Null was not expecting that. Null punches the arms on the wall, but more keep coming. Some doors on the ceiling open, and a huge flood of robots come into the room.

“Tch.” Null gets annoyed.

There are even more robots than before. They come in like a tsunami. Null doesn't have another MEMP, so he realizes that he has no choice. He pulls out a scroll that has a picture of the MEMP on it.

Due to the use of Art Materialization, you will lose levels. The number of levels you lose will depend on the rarity of the materials brought to be real. The picture that you used has cost you 34 levels. You can gain these levels back. The structure created using Art Materialization is unstable, and will turn back into paint depending on how high leveled the object is. The time until stability collapse of this object or objects is within 10 minutes.

As this MEMP is made with a lot of mana crystals, mithril, and other hard to find materials, the amount of levels Null lost was not small. Null feels himself getting weaker from the lost of levels.

Null activates the MEMP. When the robots once again fall like rain, Null looks on to his horror. A robot he has not seen before him.

The robot that was just constructed activates. This robot is colossal. Is has to bend down to fit in the huge room they're in. There are countless gun turrets and cannons all over this robot. There are wings on this robot with boosters that give it the ability to fly. Winford is in the center of the robot, looking to be protected. This looks to be Winford's final trump card.

“This is my greatest work! All of my research from day one went into this robot! You along with everyone in this city will die!” Winford says with madness.

Null does Identify on the robot.

Murderthon 9000Winford's greatest work. As its name suggests, it's really good at what it does.Level402 Health ???Mana ??? Strength ??? Dexterity ??? Vitality???Charisma???Intelligence???Wisdom???Luck???Attack???Defense???

Winford doesn't even deal with Null. He breaks a hole inside the building and makes his way outside. The robot flies towards the top of the building. The defense network located outside the building focuses all its firepower on stopping Winford.

Null notices that the defense system is really trying hard to not let Winford reach the top of the building, and he doesn't know why. There are nets, bombs, and gun turrets all aimed at Winford's collasal robot. Though they manage to slow him down, Winford breaks through it all, and refuses to stop.

Null noticed that the defense system was doing a good job of delaying Winford, so he decided to wait until the robot ran out of power before going to destroy Winford himself. He stands there waiting while looking up at the defense system.

A few minutes later, someone arrives at where Null is. It's a cleric. Null is secretly relieved that a cleric is here. Now they don't have to worry about Aldan's condition anymore. The cleric is breathing heavily. It looks like he ran all the way here.

'How do they know about Aldan?' Null thinks unaware that the building they are located in is the place with the heaviest surveillance.

“I have a message from Claris and Emmanuel.” The cleric says.

Null is surprised. He thought he was just here to help Aldan. Claris and Emmanuel? It must be pretty important.

“What?”

“Do not let Winford reach the top of this building.”

Null noticed something was off how Emmanuel was steadily trying to reach the top.

“Why?” Null asks.

The cleric didn't want to discuss, seeing as they didn't have time, but he was warned of Null's temperament from Claris, so he decided to be patient.

“Have you ever heard of an elemental crystal?”

Null shakes his head.

“Elemental crystal are created from terrifying scale elemental forces. They may take up to thousands of years to form. There has to be perfect conditions for the object to be formed.”

Null stands there blankly.

The cleric continues. “The elemental crystals are very beneficial if you are a mage that want to train in that element, but hardly anyone ever uses them to train. Do you know why?”

Null shakes his head.

“It's because the elemental crystals are inherently unstable. There is a unfathomably large amount of the element concentrated down into a small crystal. If a large pulse of mana comes in contact with the elemental crystal, it will unravel the elemental crystal turning it back into its base form.

That unraveling... Is equivalent to one of your world's nuclear bombs.”

Null gets a sinking feeling.

“Don't tell me...”

The cleric nods. “Yes. What lies on top of this building is a lightning elemental crystal. That crystal is what powers our city. All of Gnosia's teleportation relay points are on grounds rich with lightning elemental energy. Only certain personnel are qualified to know this information. As Winford was once our head tinkerer, he also knows. If he sets that crystal off, an uncountable amount of lives will be lost.”

“Tch.” Null gets irritated.

“Take care of Aldan.” Null says to the cleric.

He nods and goes down inside. Null then starts jumping on platforms along the walls reaching quickly towards Winford. Winford sees Null coming towards him. He knows that this robot is slow, and although the robot can take quite a few hits from Null, it will slow him down enough that the defense system would probably start to overwhelm him.

All the cannons that Winford has on him are activated. Null notices that the guns aren't just aimed at him. They're aimed at everywhere! They fire. The missiles and cannons shoot up buildings even far away. Buildings collapse, and lives are lost. This amount devastation was something Null didn't expect to happen. He never expected Winford to reach this level was madness.

Null can't help but feel guilty to what's going on around him. He doesn't like it when others get drawn into his battles.

'If I never came here, maybe this wouldn't have happened.' Null thinks solemn.

However, he knows that now is not the time to be feeling sad. He rushes on the robot that's above him. He tries to strike, but the gunfire is too thick. The robot is too powerful. Null can't even get close to the robot. Null doesn't know what he's going to do.

'I really don't want to lose so many levels again with Art Materialization. Will I have no choice?' Null thinks to himself.

It was then that other warriors came from below trying to get to Winford.

'That annoying lady must have sent them.' Thought Null.

The mages fired their elemental blasts, the archers fired their arrows, and the warriors were rushing up the wall jumping from platform to platform.

The health Winford lost from the mage attacks and arrows was like a drop in the bucket. All the warriors who approached were gunned down. Minutes go by. Even though the mages and archers along with the defense system didn't let up, his health didn't fall by that much.

Winford finally makes it to the top of the building after having been fired at by everything, but he had only lost a third of his health in total.

When Winford makes it up there, he sees a pillar surrounded by some of the hardest materials in New Reality. Black iron, titanite, and unobtanium surround this pillar. Winford knows that this is where the lightning stone is located.

In order to reach it requires a 100 digit code and five authorizations from different departments. Winford knew to get them to open this would be impossible, so he does the next best thing: He aims all his weapons at the pillar and starts blasting, hitting at the pole for several seconds.

A cloud of smoke rises. When the smoke clears, Winford sees that the surroundings have been decimated, but the pillar still stands strong. This was within Winford's calculations. He keeps firing his weapons at the pillar. He was so focused on the pillar that he didn't notice someone was running towards him from behind.

Null throws all the remaining power in the mana crystal into that punch, but to Null's dismay, that attack only took off about 5% from Winford's maximum health. It should be known that mana electricity is this robot's weakness, and yet Null was only able to drop Winford's health from around 60% to around 55% using full power.

Null reloads mana crystals as he heads for cover. Null calculates he would have to hit Winford at least ten more times with full power like before. He knows that Winford won't give him that luxury of standing still like that.

Winford frowns he turns some of his weapons towards Null. He knows that Null can't die, but it will take Null a while to revive. By the time Null revives, Gnosia would have already been destroyed. The pillar Null hides behind doesn't last long. Null runs and finds a new hiding spot behind some fallen rubble.

The others are finally able to make it to the top. Seeing the heavy firepower, they also hide behind rubble.

“Null, what do you think we should do?” Someone asks.

Null says, “I need to attack him at full power at least ten more times. I don't think he'll let me attack again.”

“We'll block so you can get close enough.”

Null shakes his head. “You will not get involved in my battles.”

In actuality, Null knows if they were to block for him, they will most likely die.

“Null, don't worry about us!”

A new voice is heard. When Null looks, he surprised. It's Aldan, an he's already walking around like he wasn't even hurt. His clothes are damaged, and he has a scar from where Winford cut him, but otherwise he looks fine.

“Go back Aldan. This is my battle.”

“No Null, this is Gnosia's battle! We will win or fall together!” Aldan tells Null.

Null shakes his head. He knows there's no stopping Aldan when he's like this. If he wants to die, then so be it.

“Fine.”

“My research! My research will not end here! I will be recognized by the gods!” Winford yells out madly. He prepares his full powered attack again.

“It's now or never!” A warrior yells out.

The warriors rush out in front. Aldan stays behind Null. They prepare for one final charge. Winford showers the place with bullets and missiles. The warriors all fall one by one.

'How are we going to make it!?' Null thinks.

Just then, Null suits starts to glow again.

“Null, put all the mana stones in your suit! Don't look back, just keep running forward!” Aldan tells Null.

Null nods and does just that. The suit Null is wearing upgrades again. The power flowing through the suit is phenomenal. The suit looks like it cannot handle the strain for long. Null puts all the electricity inside his fists and runs forward.

“My research will not end!” Winford yells out.

Winford fires out the maximum output of firepower the suit possesses. Null's suit is getting chipped away slowly from the massive amounts of gun fire. Even Aldan who is hiding behind Null keeps getting grazed. Null's face mask is now destroyed. Now it's just Null in front. He puts all he has into this last attack.

Null impacts the armor. He puts so much into this attack, that Winford is knocked out of the building. His robot is falling apart. Winford falls from the top of the building. When the suit falls apart, Winford is finally exposed. He still has a sliver of health left. Null then sees something that surprises him.

The cannon from Big Bertha is aimed at Winford. It fires. Null looks on in awe at the firepower Big Bertha possesses.

'I want one.' Null thinks to himself.

The people look on in awe.

“It's...”

“He's....”

“Winford has been defeated!”

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Author's Note: And so, Winford is down. Next chapter, the aftermath of everything that happened. Oh, and a flashback.