The experience of being torn apart suppressed everything Rob went through by far. The blast from the sudden decompression of the battleship’s cockpit was already strong enough to almost knock him out. However, the worst was the destructive nature of the local hyperdimension. It was simply disintegrating his body into nothingness, starting from the outer layer. Going from one cell to another, it was steadily wiping him from existence. Robert wished to say it was happening slowly, but no, the speed of his body’s crumbling was so fast that he barely managed to keep up with it, reconstructing himself again and again.
This was the moment when he felt how each of the pain before paled to this awful experience. And Rob lived through a lot, being burned, cut, eaten, melted in stomach toxins, struck with lighting, broken… His list was so long and various, that it could be easily turned into a tutorial book for beginner torturers to show the real extent of pain. The forceful addition to his soul from the fake God, traveling through a broken link, falling from an enormous height – he had a lot on his plate during the past years. However, this was much worse. It felt like he was disappearing from the universe, being sucked dry by the surroundings. Even the tiniest particle from his body produced an awful sensation, overwhelming him from the sheer pain. There was no specific feeling as it was too strong for his mind to identify what was happening.
Focusing on his reactor, Robert pushed it into motion, accelerating the output to the maximum. He completely disregarded any safety measures, squeezing everything from his energy source. Simultaneously, he connected to Aether, clearly understanding he had no time. There was no specific formulation where he wanted to get, except a single criterion – it had to be fast. Such a distraction almost cost him dearly as the loss of control led to the collapse of his body. For an instant everything that was left from Rob was a single reactor core. Being protected by a force shield, it managed to fight off the hostile environment. A moment later Robert rebuilt himself from scratch, reappearing once again.
Given time, he could find an explanation why he wasn’t dead. His soul was so tightly merged with the body that at this point his consciousness wasn’t located inside the brain. Everything crucial to his existence was gathered at one point – the reactor mana core. Moreover, recreating his metallic flesh multiple times, Robert wasn’t even sure if there was anything human left inside him. It was the cloned body after several modifications and changes in the first place, leaving nothing from the soldier who died long ago at that fateful bunker. Only his memory and crushed dreams. However, it wasn’t a time, so Rob just had a single thought before he once again repeated his plead to Aether.
I am not a human anymore…
Finally, the all-might being answered his call, sending Robert somewhere. He felt a pull, and then an unknown force enveloped him from all sides, dragging him through space. The hostile environment was still present, making him focus on “healing” himself from the damage. Maybe it was why Rob failed to react in time when his body was pushed out from the portal. Falling on the hard surface, he noted an odd haze around himself that was quickly dispersing. Raising from what appeared to be a concrete floor from the touch, Robert tried to quickly regenerate in case of danger as at this point, he missed at least half of his body. His eyes were last to recover, so when he opened them, his body was already battle-ready. Except, it appeared there was no need for that.
The scene in front of him showed a group of scientists, who were observing him with unhidden interest as he was some kind of unexpected result of their ongoing project. That immediately brought bad memories of his meeting with another scientist. Only their bloody last meeting compensated partly for the deeds that the ordinary-looking guy did to Robert, being “just an employer” of the maniac. Still, Rob suppressed the feeling of anger that attempted to rise from inside. He still felt how his face made a wild grimace involuntary. Looking around at the complex laboratory machines, he turned his attention to himself after noting another fact.
Damn, they are all tiny… Or, better to say, I am huge. Way too huge to even pretend normal…
His hand shoved another change of his skin’s tone, turning him into a dusty albino. Moreover, the structure even from sight didn’t look anything normal, being more like metal. Or, precisely speaking, steel. It was another confirmation that Rob made a big step away from humanity. Still, the remnants of it were in him, and finding that he was nude, Robert quickly created clothes. Or better to say, tried but got nothing in return. His ability to conjure steel once again didn’t respond, so he had to rely on obsidian steel. Pushing it right through his body, Rob sensed how the material simply dived inside him, making its way directly through his inner organs.
Well, I am not sure if I need one at this point. Even the air just feels tasty, but not a necessity. So, yeah…
Creating a plate to cover his groin, Rob found he had more to spare. Not wanting to be seen as an aggressive monster, but in the meantime not wishing for any obstruction in his motion, Robert used more steel to create knee and elbow pads, which still left him with some material. Something inside told him that weird black steel, which was constantly crawling all over his body and periodically diving inside, wasn’t the nicest thing to watch. Therefore, he wanted to use everything, while keeping his hands empty. He wanted to leave his mobility on maximum level… if it even could be used toward his heavy frame.
A breastplate while I don’t have even pants? Nope, that would look stupid. Helmet? Maybe, but it can obstruct the vision and still would make me a moron. I don’t want to cosplay an anime-like perverter with panties on his head. I need something cool… Okay, let’s go with horns. Because why not?... Now, how do I start?
“Hello, fellow humans! My name is Robert…,” he tried to speak, but was immediately interrupted by a young-looking scientist.
“I told you it’s copying us… Even using my name.”
Hey, I don’t think you are the single Robert in the universe! Coincidence happens, right? Namesake, yes? Does this term ring a bell to you?
“Could it be from the same realm as the Demonologist’s source of powers? He has horns like a typical demon,” another comment followed, this time from the older man. Still, Robert was puzzled by such behavior in front of a potential alien.
What the fuck is going on? Why are they speaking as if it’s nothing? I admit making horns look cooler might be stupid and greeting everyone in such a way wasn’t the best choice of words, but what the hell? Like really, what the hell?
Still, Robert had to stop himself from messing up the first impression with unknowns. At least the senior scientist showed an expression of irritation and displeasure with the comments coming from his subordinates. The man even tried to stop them, opening his mouth for a potential angry yell. However, he was cut short by a loud explosion from above. Immediately raising his head toward the ceiling, he followed the example of all others, carefully observing what would happen next. It took around half a minute before multiple trembles came shaking the building. As if it wasn’t enough, the primordial roar resounded, somehow piercing through concrete and finally putting a huge point on any hesitations the scientists had.
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Surprisingly, despite the hast run from the room, the group barely showed any real panic. It looked more like an agitation of not being late to react to incoming danger. Obviously, there was no order in their escape as not falling into panic mode didn’t mean they weren’t scared. Knocking some devices from the tables, or pushing others, they still ran for their life. However, it wasn’t to the point of completely abandoning humanity. Two even stopped to help the fallen colleague. The last one to leave Robert behind was the scientist with clear exhaustion visible on his face.
Again the same shit. Why can’t everything be normal? What the heck?
“I fucking hate my luck…,” Rob muttered while following the back of the last man in the laboratory suit with his gaze. Glancing around to confirm that no one was left, he took the first step only to bump into something invisible. Immediately acknowledging the force shield that captured him in another cage, Robert’s emotions simply exploded. He was again in the cage, shoved inside by pitiful humans. Trapped and left behind without a single explanation. There was the same treatment toward him again as if he wasn’t a living being, but just a thing. The “demon”, using their own words.
I will fucking show how demonic I can be!
Inwardly screaming from rage, Robert clenched his fist before throwing it forward with all available force. Simultaneously, it was the moment when the ceiling collapsed, dropping the huge debris from above right on the equipment and machines around. Feeling emptiness, his fist continued his way, almost throwing Rob out of balance. It pushed him forward, which in return helped to avoid a huge piece of concrete block that smashed the spot where he was just an instant before. Still, there was no panic in his mind as there was simply no place left for it – everything was occupied with anger. And the latter demanded to be released, which Robert didn’t hesitate to do.
Launching from his spot, he sprinted away from the laboratory through the massive door left open. The walls of the wide and surprisingly high corridor were already covered with thousands of small cracks. Spreading like an infection, they were quickly capturing territory, marking their influence over the surroundings. The periodic trembling decreased their frequency, but never lowered their strength as if trying to check the toughness of the building. Seeing it, Robert tried to be as fast as he could, but it appeared that despite all gained might, he was just too heavy. Leaving noticeable dents on the floor with each step, he was too slow to sprint through the corridor before the ceiling in front of him collapsed.
Reacting to instincts, Rob simply jumped to the side, not even checking the direction of his dodge. His mind was too occupied with the desire to leave the place, squeezing everything from his metallic body. Crashing into the wall, he tore it apart in one swift motion, barely noticing the obstacle. Failing to register it in time, Robert smashed onto the floor with a loud sound, causing another tremble across the already damaged structure.
What? How?
Slowly standing up, Robert tried to process what had happened. He knew that he had become much stronger after turning into this abomination of life but never had a chance to check it properly.
I guess that glass wasn’t so easy to break in the end… Explains why they went through the warp just to get rid of me…
He snapped from this thought process when a huge block fell onto his head. Using all weight and the force of gravity, it tried to smash him… only to fail miserably. Robert didn’t even move, finally acknowledging that he was tougher than before and there was no need to run. Breathing in and out with, and feeling how the dust was entering his lungs, Rob noted the absence of any reaction from his body. The dust filled his lungs, failing to cause anything. There was no instinctive cough or heavy breathing. Nothing. Glancing on his hands again, he sighed and started to move, this time choosing to go upward.
However, just after a few steps, Robert had to stop, noticing how his bare foot was crushing the blocks under his enormous weight. That made him pause and once again turn his attention to the reactor core. Lowering the output with a mental command, Rob simultaneously tried to use additional energy to decrease his weight. It took almost an entire minute to achieve it, burying him under the rubble of a periodically shaking building. Moreover, another effect was an overwhelming weakness that tried to embrace him. Robert barely stopped himself from returning the energy output to the previous level. The downgrade was quite noticeable. On the other hand, it helped to move outside of the concrete trap.
Pushing the rubbles to the side, which immediately led to the collapse of the whole unstable structure, Robert started to dig out himself. Steadily, without a single sign of panic, he was making his way through the debris. The heavy dust that was floating in the air was like a dense haze, limiting his visibility to the minimum. Still, he was non-surprisingly calm as it was just a matter of time before he would free himself. It reminded him of his experience of escaping from the giant lizard, but this time he wasn’t worried about being stuck.
Just another confirmation that power is an answer to many problems…
It took another minute to get to the similar corridor a few levels higher. Pulling himself through a huge hole with a single hand, Robert clumsily rolled onto the floor to avoid breaking the edge. Looking at his dirty body with all the dust masking his skin tone, Robert leisurely stood up. Turning around, he was met with a group of agents who walked out from the nearest door, already pointing guns at him. Dressed in formal almost black suits and even wearing dark glasses, they all had automatic rifles in their hands and were just waiting for the command. The sole exception was a bigger guy with a comically huge device directly from the workshop in a landfill. A wide barrel, multiple exposed wires, a battery – the agent was struggling even to hold the thing. Still, it was what he was doing at the moment, sparing only a single glance at the leader.
The latter appeared to be quite a tall woman with a pretty face that was ruined by a cold expression. She bore a resemblance to the owner of the Recruiting Center in this regard, causing an anticipation of the unavoidable troubles coming from her. This type was just too pragmatic and ruthless on her way to the set goal, ready to sacrifice anyone for it. The next moment brought confirmation of this suspicion as before Robert found the correct words to introduce himself, she spoke shortly.
“Not registered. Shoot.”
There wasn’t a single delay in the execution of the command. Sending multiple bursts of bullets right into Robert’s face, they continued to pour a rain of projectiles onto him. The first Rob’s reaction was to cover himself with a shield. Hastily raising his hand, he tried to conjure a thick plate only to fail miserably. The obsidian steel obediently moved, but it was too slow and had no near enough volume for the assigned task. Therefore, tens of tiny bullets met Robert’s skin and face before he managed to understand the situation. The result was pathetic.
Smashing against the surface, they simply bounced back, causing a wave of ricochets. It took Rob another second to process what was happening, lowering his hands and grinning madly. However, the steel didn’t stop moving, concentrating on his right hand. Only forming a short, spiked mace, it froze, obediently keeping its structure. This was the moment when the weird device finally charged, glowing with a sinister violet light. Not wishing to test the borders of his newly acquired toughness, Robert stepped to the side, but the arc was too wide to avoid in the narrow corridor. Washing over his body, it tried to sip inside, sending a strange sensation all over his large frame.
“It… tickles?”
Muttering in disbelief, Robert raised his eyes only to meet the same wide-open eyes of the shooter. Now wasting more time and finally accepting that he wasn’t greeted here, Rob stepped forward. His left palm was already in motion, flying through the air. Hitting the barrel of the odd weapon, it crushed the metal, simultaneously pushing it backward right into the chest of the agent. And the force of the hit appeared to be so strong that not only did it break the ribs but partly went inside the chest, instantly killing the man. The corpse was still in the midst of the flight when Rob turned his attention to the next target.
Stupid bastards, never heard about the FAFO principle?