The fireball detonated first, followed immediately by the eight concussive booms of the rockets, the overlapping explosions shaking the sand beneath their feet and throwing up a towering wall of smoke and debris.
Ethan did not slow down.
These were cyborgs. If they had enough confidence to fire their own ordnance at point-blank range, then they almost certainly had countermeasures built in. If that was the extent of their firepower, then they were no different from ordinary soldiers with better toys.
He covered the final hundred meters in the blink of an eye, plunging straight into the roiling smoke.
Two white-hot beams suddenly lanced out from within the chaos.
'Lasers?'
The thought barely had time to form.
The beams were already upon him. Light-speed attacks offered no warning, no buildup. Ethan had no time to dodge, not even enough to activate a defensive skill.
Twin lines of condensed energy struck his chest head-on.
And then… nothing happened.
