Blocking the torrent of bullets that were leaving multiple deep dents on the surface of the dark green steel, Robert was slowly retreating to the Arena. All his bravado about acceptance of killing his former colleagues or anyone else, who would dare to stop him, died after a single glance on the lying corpse of Rayn. The man, who got the hole in his chest from Rob’s Energy Blast still had scared expression. Shy, over responsible, he was the silent type. Never talkative, with his own meal boxes, Rayn didn’t show any strong emotions against Robert and just followed others in an attempt to be a part of the group. The latter seemed to very important to Ryan as his lack of confidence or social skills could leave him forever alone without a single friend, which scared him a lot. At least that what Robert understood about the man.
However, now Ryan was dead. Killed by the reflective shoot, done by the instinct that was cultivated by the circumstances that Rob was forcefully put into. Maybe, if Robert was a true hero, a person with a high morale, or at least much stronger, he would disarm others without hurting them much. Not spilling the blood of innocent guards, who was just doing their paid job. Rob would spare their lives before trying to uncover the truth behind the attack on him, exposing the real villain. The mastermind, who was behind everything. Unfortunately, the real life didn’t like the word “IF”. Robert couldn’t reverse the time to stop him reacting on the shot, preventing Ryan’s death.
Neither I am strong enough to keep an image of a merciful hero, nor I treat the lives of others as something precious. Even now the biggest obstacle that prevents me from killing everyone is the strong sense of meaningless. Their death won’t change anything as they aren’t enemies. Just the police who wants to stop the criminal. But if it continues in the same way, they will become one, not leaving me any real choice, except between my life or their.
The non-stop shooting was constantly damaging the conjured tower shield. Only because of the strengthening his steel the finger-thick construct managed to keep the bullets from piercing his body. Not even from the guards tried to speak with him, while ignoring any Rob’s attempts to negotiate. Moreover, having half of a dozen shooters that refused to line like stupid dummies, it was simply impossible to close the distance to them without getting few additional holes that weren’t created by nature.
“Hey, I ask you one last time to stop! I don’t have a bomb! I don’t want to kill anyone! Let’s stop the pointless violence!”
Making a small hall above his head, Robert shouted once again, not expecting a different result. His assumption was confirmed immediately with the intensified shooting, when it seemed another group of the guards joined. It led to an obvious conclusion – nobody would listen to him at this point. Like the predators who felt blood, the local police aimed to kill him. Maybe Fantasy City had a law about the death sentence to the murderer, which they wanted to execute at once. Maybe it was his fake origin of the Terranoid that caused the bloodthirsty behavior of law enforcers. Maybe there was something else, unknown to him, or, on the contrary, there was no particular reason, except just a simple wish to kill in the situation, where nobody would blame the murderer. Robert didn’t know. Frankly speaking, he also didn’t care about the reasoning. There was just the simple fact that they wanted him dead. It was all that mattered.
This time the acknowledgement of the situation went much faster than in the Tower. Robert long lost the inner stoppers on the killing. The current situation just made sure to wipe clean the surface of the place where they previously were, confirming that there was no trace left. Any hesitations about using violence disappeared, being washed away forever as there was nothing to stop it. It felt like the part of him vanished, influencing his inner being and leaving no regards for human life. However, it also brought a relief of the simplicity as there was no need to justify the killing by branding the enemy as a “bad”. His wish was enough. Making a deep exhale as if marking the change, Robert turned his attention back to the surroundings.
He was retreating through the main corridor that went directly toward the main Arena. Wide to fit an enormous crowd, it wasn’t the best place to get into the fight. Especially, against someone with multiple rifles and what seemed an infinite ammo. The latter was easy to explain as the flying bullets were just basic tiny metal spheres, accelerated by the electromagnetic mechanism inside the rifle. Made not to pierce but to stop by splashing against the tough surface, the bullets were still enough to kill any unarmored person. Considering their size, the clips could fit a lot of them. This fact made Rob to quicken his movement as it was just a matter of time when the penetrative type would be used. Just after a mere minute two groups of the guards got to the place, clearly indicating that the time frame was short. So, Robert acted.
Planting his heavy shield against the surface, Rob opened a small hole to observe the enemies. Barely a size of the coin, it lowered the chance to be hit through it. Following his will the steel started to shift, creating a few spikes. This time he took some time to aim, controlling the construct so it would point at correct direction. With his abilities, neither there was no need to shoot without seeing, nor he need to get out of the cover to open fire. The obedient mana was already fueling the summoning of the dark green metal before the matter would turn into white energy balls.
The guards reacted immediately. Unfortunately for them, even the corner of the corridor couldn’t protect against something that could melt its way through. More and more Energy Blasts were sent flying toward the enemies, finding their targets despite the effort of the latter to dodge. Their speed was deceptively slow, making it easy to track with an average sight, but in reality, they were too fast to react. The result was so devastating and shocking that the last two patrol officers halted their shooting, solely focusing on the scene in front of them. For a moment Rob thought they were concentrating on the evasion, but the sound of running steps that were coming from behind made it obvious that it wasn’t the reason.
In the next instant Robert had to hastily tilt his head to the side, avoiding the fast hack from the fire axe. Striking the steel, the weapon wanted to bounce but was immediately caught by Rob’s construct. He was already in motion, turning around to face the new enemies. Their appearance surprised him as they were not just someone but the Arena’s fighters in their scenic costumes. Dressed in different outfits that shouted about the desire to make an impression, they were all muscular and fit. Preparing for the upcoming matches, the fighters were clearly attracted by the loud commotion. The attitude of combatants made them immediately jump into action, trying to stop the Terranoid, while he was distracted by guards. Unfortunately, they picked the wrong target.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Continuing to support the shield with his right arm to cover himself from bullets, Robert made a quick elbow strike into face of the axe wielder. The steel was already protecting the place of the hit. The bridge of the nose cracked instantly, splashing a blood on Rob’s face. The attacker only started to fall backward when the following strong kick into the knee broke the bone, twisting the leg into wrong direction. Dropping down like a bag, the man tried to scream but overwhelming pain seemed to steal all air from his lungs, making him look like a fish on the ground. However, that didn’t last long as even his fall was interrupted by Rob.
Grabbing the bloodied head of the axe wielder, Robert noted how easy it was to do it. His huge palm was comparable with the head of the muscular man, making everyone others almost like children in front of him. The children that wanted him dead. Therefore, not pausing for a second, Rob pushed the very same head against the flying foot of another fighter. The hit was strong enough to break the jaw of the already injured axe wielder, finally sending him into the darkness. The moment his body followed his mind in a form a forceful throw. Not giving the “jumper” to attack again, Robert swung his arm, simultaneously conjuring a long sabre.
The motion barely paused before continuing with the speed, leaving the beheaded body behind. This was the moment when guards started shooting once again, trying to capitalize the distraction, despite the closeness of the Arena’s fighters. So, Robert just dispersed all his steel before rolling to the side. His size and low agility made the action look clumsy and unbalanced, but the sheer force that was put into the action compensated everything with speed of the act. Moreover, the fast and unexpected motion from the giant made the guards to follow the target without any second thought. However, the disappearance of the obstacle to stop the bullets didn’t make them magically vanish, continuing the previous trajectory and causing the devastating effect on the group of the fighters.
Piercing the bodies with ease, they halved the number of Rob’s potential opponents in a mere second. That halted the shooting, while both guards were trying to decide whether it better to continue shooting or stop to prevent more casualties. A couple of seconds later their hesitation lost any meaning as Energy Blast tore the hole in the chest of the first, while melting the rifle together with the hands of the second. Pushing him upward, Robert still had to deflect the fist of another crazy fighter who thought he could play a hero. The black mask that covered upper half of the face only emphasized the suicidal idea.
Rob’s respond didn’t take even a fraction of the second. His lightning-fast straight punch broke a hand of the opponent, despite the hasty attempt to block it. The force didn’t stop there, pushing the remnants onto the ribs. The loud crack had ended the resistance. Still, Rob grabbed the head of the man before planting it against the wall with all his force. The skull cracked, killing the poor guy, but leaving the mask intact. Not that it mattered as the bloody blobs on the lips were already indicating about puncture of the lungs. Releasing the corpse, Rob made another hit with his huge fist, creating a deep dent on the metal surface of the wall, before finally turning to the fighters, who might have a dumb thought to attack him.
“Anyone else?”
The answer was crystal clear. The visible fear after the demonstration had wiped any ideas to compete with him in terms of strength or close combat skills. At least it was clear for those who saw it as another group emerged from the side corridor. This time all fighters were females, whose dressing room was further. They had the same colorful outfits that were emphasizing their curves or trained physique. Violence and sexualization were quite a good selling point if combined. Fantasy City couldn’t miss such an opportunity.
“Give up or we will make you. We have a numerical adva….” The loud shout from a beauty in the front was cut off with a single Energy Blast. Surprisingly, she was fast enough to react on the incoming projectile, but not in the way she needed. Putting a palm in front herself as if she wanted to stop it with just a flesh, the beauty tried to tilt her head to the side. That didn’t work well.
Touching the palm, the white ball entered it without any pause, starting to melt the stretched arm along its length. However, instead of the meat, it exposed the inners of the cybernetical mechanism, showing where the girl got her confidence. The projectile lost the three-fourth of its charge before diving out from the prosthetic near the shoulder. Unfortunately for her, it was still more than enough to enter her chick, burning a terrifying hole in the head, but failing leave from the other side.
“I am for gender equality… And it seems she was a cheater… Okay, to the point – anyone else wants to test their intellectual level, thinking they have a chance against me? No one? Good. Tell the guards that if they stop shooting at me, we can try to talk... And treat the wounded. Those bullets made quite a mess.”
Violence only leads to more violence, but sometimes even bigger violence is needed to break this constant cycle…
His heavy gaze made them tremble, confirming that they wouldn’t act. That left Rob with his own plans, which he had to think fast. The Arena was crossed out immediately as the place was too easy to block. With cameras everywhere, with trackers in bracelets, it was simply impossible to lose him in this place. Therefore, Robert’s only way out was to get into the dense crowd, preventing the guards to use heavy weaponry. Moreover, it could give him a chance to find a valuable hostage. Rob wasn’t naïve to think that just a random tourist or the hired workers had any cost for the local administration. No, only the huge or money reputation loss could lead to a possibility of negotiations. Otherwise, they would treat him like a brainless wild animal who needed to be shoot at the spot.
So, the central hall it is. I hope I didn’t forget the way there. Go!
Crashing the bracelet and throwing the pieces away, Robert sprinted forward, covering the corridor in no time. The sight of the dead guards, his own colleagues, including Ryan and Abraham, the bodies of the accident casualties in the crowd – this scene squeezed Rob’s heart for a moment, making to skip the beat. However, he just strengthened his resolve, reminding himself his desire to live. There was no time for a regret about the event as he had no chance to prevent it at all, thus making any emotions suffering completely meaningless. Not that he felt anything remotely similar to what the most normal would as his train of thought had been going in a weird way.
Once again, no rest for the wicked. But all those efforts to study appeared to be futile. It’s good that it happened before I managed to put all those enormous books into my head, thus not making it a complete waste. Well, it would be nice if nothing happened at all… I have what I have. Still, I can mark that the first attempt to get a normal life was a failure. At least the coffee was good.
So, he just accelerated even more, leaving the Arena and everything related to this part of the life behind. If had a choice, Robert would leave the world at once, but Aether had a different opinion on this topic. Focusing on his connection with the all-might being and sending the request, Rob didn’t expect anything in return. However, surprisingly, this time, not only the response came without any delays, but for the first time was clear as the day, showing him the previously hidden condition.
The situation isn’t resolved. The travelling between realms is currently forbidden.
The escape is my only option. Well, nothing was easy for me before, yet I am alive. I can do it!