Hours passed by, reaching too far into the night. David had never been this far away from civilization since he woke up 4 years ago. Sure, riding into the night is dangerous, but hey. The faster he reach Berton, the faster he could get away from the wild.

It wasn’t until he saw a small glow flash by in the small forest on his right that he stopped abruptly. A curious look showing it to be…some sort of artificial signal. His curiosity turned to cautiousness as he squinted, trying hard to find out what it is that was sending that signal, what could it possibly be?

Soon the answer revealed itself, what he saw was a humanoid figure, but mechanical in movement, its purple optics observing every movement David had expressed. Its once shiny metallic appearance had turned brown and red from rust, its head had no facial expression, only an empty plate with 2 eyes, watching his every move.

This was once an android, corrupted by the ambient Mana. A nightmare to all living things, whether human or beast. It quickly breaks into a sprint, reaching out both of its hands as multiple voices began wailing out of its head plate.

“Wa…wAit, PleASe COme baCK.”

“StoP, RUn aWay.”

“RUN”

“HELP US”

A cacophony of voices screamed out at the same time from the chasing android. Causing David’s scalp to tingle, he swore he might go bald from stress at this rate. Driving the bike to get as far away from that thing as he could, revving the bike to full speed. He could feel the thing gaining behind him.

Damn the bastards who designed those blasted things.

Gazing at his rearview mirrors, and indeed, the damned thing was still chasing him. All he could do now was let out a chain of profanities, and drive as fast as he could, without crashing this time.

Turning his eyes at the mirror, something was moving between the hands of the android, a pair of tendrils phased into existence around each arm. Their tips opened like flowers and revealed a purple eye in each, both were glaring at him and his bike.

Something bad was gonna happen if he didn’t do anything, damn it, Damn these things to hell. Pushing his bike to go even faster, he could feel the handles shake and swirl, trying his best to keep it straight, the bumpy old road definitely wasn’t making it easy.

How is that android still gaining speed, how?!

David looked back at the horrid sight, the tendrils, still steady as they kept their gaze on them, swirling around the android’s arms and hands like snakes. One of them began glowing as illusory words and symbols were formed and swirling around it.

“Fucking shit.”

A panicked David could only yell out, there was nothing he could do. If he let go of even one hand, the bike would crash, if he doesn’t do anything he would be struck by whatever the android was doing.

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Looking back at the rearview mirror, a grim determination was echoing in his mind. With both hands, he grasped hard onto the brakes. Better to crash and have a chance of survival than dying to whatever the android was doing.

With a loud crash, both he and the android collided hard against one another, flinging both of them forward. He could feel himself being launched into the air, everything else was a blur of sounds and sights.

Nearly blacking out from the impact, his body wracked with pain, and his mind disoriented. Blinking a few times from the rush of adrenaline, he could see in the corner of his eyes the state of the android. It was bisected from the lower half, yet the two tendrils were still there, raising high and looking at him. At least, the weird symbols and runes on the other one were gone. The crash must have disrupted whatever the hell it was planning on doing.

A mechanical whirring, however, redirected his and the tendril’s attention. As multiple lights shined down the road ahead of him, the rumbling of wheels through the ground. The android now bisected, jumped using its two remaining arms, and quickly fled the scene, leaving him behind.

David, now ‘safe’, lets out a relieved sigh. Thankfully, from what he took note of, that damn thing seemed rather weak. Though, more than enough strength to rip him in half. And the fact it’s an android makes it very difficult to kill, as demonstrated by its ability to escape with half of its body gone.

Damned machines, if he could go back in time. He would beat up the guy who designed those things. The lights were getting closer and closer, all he could do now was yell out for help.

They could be the ones Asha warned him about, trying to interrupt his delivery. But damn, anything would be better at this point.

With his right hand barely functioning, he pulled out another syringe with the label [Lift] and slammed it into his heart. Feeling the pain of his cells being forced to replicate and regenerate, he lets out a gratified sigh. These lift medicines are really something else, capable of healing just about any kind of physical wound one could imagine.

That is, if you were willing to deal with the increased risk of cancer that comes along with it, and even that was something a Bio-mancer could fix easily. And with the support of E-wild corp at his back, he could easily find people to help him out. He was really lucky to find himself mingling with the son of the CEO.

The lights down the road quickly came to view, a convoy of 4 vehicles. 2 combat vehicles and 2 transports. Quickly he found himself at the gun barrel of one of those vehicles.

“Identification and purpose,” a voice rang out from the speaker, a slew of soldiers pour out from the 2 transports at the center. Forming a formation around the perimeters, three of them aimed their barrels at him.

Letting out a defeated sigh, David could only raise his hands. Catching the face of the man who stepped out of the front transport. Long wavy hair that fell to his shoulders, and a pair of cold blue eyes. Donning a regal black suit with gold at the rims. Standing almost a head above everyone else, smiling at David as he looked down at him.

“So, Mr. David. May I know what is your purpose for coming here in the middle of the night?”