Chapter 404
2-in-1-chapter
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Leo had already killed him once. If he were still human, his gaze upon seeing Leo should have burned with hatred and rage.
But Smasher's eyes held none of that. They were as void of feeling as the cold steel inside him.
After landing on the ground, Smasher's mechanical eyes, glowing red, swept across the room, scanning everyone. Once he confirmed his targets, he raised both arms.
His arms were fully cybernetic.
But these were nothing like Maine's augmentations—Smasher's mechanical limbs were bulkier, built for brutality. The ends didn't even resemble hands. Instead, each arm ended in a cluster of three smaller mechanical claws.
At the center of each arm assembly, a red circular light flared to life—an unmistakable warning of danger.
Flash!
The red glow pulsed once, and immediately Leo, standing directly in front of Smasher, felt a powerful suction force pulling at him.
His feet, planted on the ground, involuntarily dragged forward, carving twin tracks across the floor under the pressure of that immense force.
Leo rammed the butt of his weapon hard into the ground, anchoring it like a brace, while throwing his weight backward to resist.
Only then did he manage to barely hold his position against the pull.
But the suction didn't only target him. All the guards standing within the same firing arc were also affected.
Their weapons tore free from their hands, yanked into the air and pulled straight toward Smasher's waiting claws.
Now, the six mechanical hands—three on each arm—gripped six different firearms, each one snatched from the guards by magnetic force.
All six barrels turned to aim directly at Leo.
In the next instant, a hail of bullets tore through the air.
Leo weaved through the storm of gunfire, with rounds trailing his movement, striking the ground, artificial rocks, and courtyard walls, kicking up bursts of smoke with every impact.
While evading in the middle of the crossfire, he returned fire using a confiscated security rifle.
But every shot that struck Smasher's body only sparked against the armor, leaving nothing but flashes of light.
Though Smasher's human form was embedded into the torso of the massive exosuit, the entire structure had been layered with extensive protective plating.
The head, in particular, was encased in a cockpit-like chamber—a reinforced enclosure sealed off with hardened ballistic glass, designed to fully shield the only remaining human part of Smasher's body: his brain.
Eventually, both Leo's weapon and Smasher's own guns ran dry, with neither achieving any significant damage on the other.
Smasher discarded all six firearms without hesitation.
The boosters on his back flared to life, spewing intense blue flames as the colossal exosuit launched into the air.
His arms spread wide.
But this time, no suction force followed.
Instead, a large red circle materialized on the ground with Leo at its center.
Though unsure what it meant, Leo reacted instantly, flashing out of the marked zone with a single leap.
Just as he escaped, a crushing pressure seemed to descend from the sky.
The ground within the red circle cracked and collapsed inward, sinking several meters as if stomped by an invisible giant.
Seeing that the gravity field had failed to contain Leo, Smasher's rear thrusters ignited with even greater intensity. The entire exosuit blurred into a black streak and shot down like a missile, hurtling toward Leo with terrifying speed.
Leo didn't face him head-on. Instead, he circled and observed, maintaining mobility while keeping distance.
"So that's the power of Arasaka's classified cybernetic development…"
It was capable of resisting small-arms fire, flying despite its massive weight, and came equipped with an onboard magnetic field generator to pull in surrounding metal—especially weapons.
The gravity field allowed for wide-area suppression, collapsing structures or bodies with sheer force.
But the real threat lay in the boosters. Once fully engaged, the unit's speed became monstrous.
Those two boosters defined the machine—not just as a stationary weapons platform, but as a highly mobile battlefield executioner.
Once deployed in combat, this kind of suit would far outclass a main battle tank.
Still, one unknown remained: the physical strain on the pilot.
Smasher appeared to handle it without issue, but he was a special case. His physiology wasn't normal in the first place.
Even so, while the exosuit had many advantages, Leo had already identified its critical weakness.
Throughout the chase, Smasher's mechanical legs had seen almost no use.
All movement came from the rear boosters—not from the legs.
Those legs weren't really for locomotion. They were more like table legs—only there for structural support.
In other words, this wasn't running. It was flight.
So if the boosters were destroyed, Smasher would lose all mobility.
Realizing this, Leo dodged another high-speed charge, then launched himself forward like a shell from a cannon.
Simultaneously, the boosters on Smasher's back surged with energy, propelling him to intercept Leo at breakneck speed.
To onlookers, the clash was nothing more than a flash—an afterimage streaking past in an instant.
Smasher slammed both arms down toward Leo. If those hands landed, even Leo's exosuit-enhanced frame would be caught and crushed by the sheer force.
But Leo reacted with lightning speed, ducking low under the strike, sliding behind Smasher in a single fluid motion.
He grabbed hold of one of the rear boosters with both arms and wrenched it violently.
A sharp metallic screech rang out as the entire unit was torn free by brute force.
Unbalanced by the loss, Smasher stumbled. His stability shattered. He couldn't even stay upright.
Leo pressed the advantage, tossing aside the severed booster and slipping around to the other side, dodging a wild counterstrike.
In another swift maneuver, he latched onto the second booster and ripped it away just as violently.
With both propulsion units destroyed, Adam Smasher was crushed under his own weight, collapsing to his knees.
Leo had overestimated him.
Those mechanical legs weren't even functional supports—without the boosters, he couldn't move, he couldn't even stand.
Leo shook his head.
No wonder Arasaka hadn't fielded these suits on a wide scale.
Clearly, they were still in the testing phase.
Just then, a familiar voice rang out in his mind.
"You seem to believe this humanoid exosuit has further potential for development."
"Would you like to spend 3,000 Potential Points to unlock upgrade schematics—Warbringer Exosuit?"
Upgrade schematics? Warbringer Exosuit?
Just hearing the name suggested value.
But Leo didn't claim the reward immediately.
Instead, he grabbed one of Smasher's legs and swiftly retreated from the estate grounds.
After escaping from Hanako Arasaka's residence, Leo hauled Smasher into the waiting transport truck outside.
The vehicle accelerated at full speed, heading toward the ocean.
Hanako's estate wasn't far from the coast—Tokyo itself was a seaside city.
Before long, they reached the shoreline.
They didn't wait long.
A submarine surfaced through the crashing waves.
Leo dragged the Smasher behind him as he climbed aboard the submarine along with the others from the truck.
However, he had no intention of taking the Smasher into the submarine, nor did the sub have an access hatch large enough to accommodate it.
He drew his Muramasa and effortlessly sliced through the bullet-resistant reinforced glass.
With a single thrust, the blade pierced straight through the Smasher's skull.
Only then did Leo raise his foot and kick the Smasher into the sea, watching as the immense weight of its body pulled it down into the ocean's depths.
Adam "Smasher" was as good as dead.
Even if the stab to the head hadn't killed him outright, he would never survive the crushing pressure of the deep sea.
Leo had already removed both of the unit's propulsion modules. Without them, how was it going to swim back up?
Even a normal person would struggle to swim while wearing a full suit of armor—let alone a walking tank like that, with armor far heavier than standard combat plating.
Once everyone had boarded the submarine, it began to slowly submerge.
Then it quickly departed from the area.
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