That split second lasted for an eternity...
The moment the "crack!" of Owen's Mana Armor, his final barrier, shattered like glass… his entire world was plunged into excruciating pain!
SZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!
The massive amount of static electricity that had been held back now surged from the metal floor into Owen's body with the mad frenzy of a broken dam! His vision went white for a moment. His ears were filled with a high-pitched shriek that almost drowned out all other sound. Every muscle in Owen's body convulsed violently, almost to the point of tearing. Pain shot through every nerve fiber as if a million needles were piercing him at once, nearly causing his consciousness to black out.
Before him… the iron beast, now glowing red-hot like a lump of metal from a furnace, had raised its massive claw to the sky. All its red eyes shone with the full light of destruction. It was about to tear his body to pieces to end this long battle!
But in that moment between life and death… Owen's well-honed primal instincts worked faster than the pain!
'Not yet!... It's not over yet!'
Owen reacted much faster than the iron beast's attack. Even though his body was shaking so violently from the electric current he could barely control it, he used his final ounce of willpower to endure all the pain! He gritted his teeth so hard his jaw almost broke… planted his numb feet on the searing metal floor, and dropped low like a spring compressed to its limit…
BOOM!
The metal floor beneath Owen's feet dented in an instant! He used it as a launchpad, exploding with all the power from both his legs, launching his body straight up like a cannonball! His body tore through the air and the swirling curtain of dust with a fierce and powerful momentum!
In that same instant… the Gauntlets of the Sun God on his right fist, which had accumulated a full 6,000 degrees Celsius of thermal energy, unleashed their true power! From the familiar orange-red, they now transformed into a "brilliant orange" so bright it was blinding, like the surface of the sun, shrunken down onto his fist! An immense heat radiated out until the air around it distorted like a mirage!
And at the moment his body was at its highest point in mid-air… in the instant that fist was about to be thrown… he roared from the deepest part of his soul!
"Fist of the Rising Sun!!!"
Owen threw the blazing fist with all his might… his target was the "blue energy core" pulsing in the center of the iron beast's chest, with full force!
There was no deafening explosion… no violent impact…
Silence fell over the battlefield in a flash… but then, a sight that was both horrifying and beautiful at the same time occurred!
A brilliant orange light exploded from Owen's fist like the sun rising at dawn! Befitting its name, the "Fist of the Rising Sun," the 6,000-degree thermal energy that made contact with the target incinerated the nightmare energy coating the armor, before "melting" the alien steel armor in a single instant!
SZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! FOOM!!!!~
The sound of metal being melted until it boiled rang out violently. White steam from the evaporating metal gushed out, obscuring his vision for a moment.
Owen's fist sank through the iron beast's chest as if he were plunging it into a soft block of butter. He felt no resistance at all… only a slight viscosity from the molten metal that was boiling and splashing around his fist!
All of the iron beast's movements froze in mid-air… The claw that had been raised to the sky remained in that position…
All its red eyes blinked rapidly… like a failing signal light… It was a signal of a machine's confusion, unable to process the damage it had sustained… before all the red lights went out in unison…
The nightmare power that had enveloped its body dissipated in an instant… like smoke blown away by the wind… revealing its true structure for the first time.
Its powerless body… now just the pathetic wreckage of a cargo-moving robot… fell to the ground, lifeless, under the pull of the world's gravity…
TUNG! KRA-BOOOOOOOOM!!!
The sound of the heavy iron body crashing onto the broken floor… In the middle of its chest was a large "hole," its edges still molten and glowing red-hot… Molten silver metal gushed from the wound like blood… dripping onto the floor with a "plink… plink…" forming a small "pool of molten metal" that was bubbling on the warehouse floor… sending a strong, burning smell throughout the area…
All of this happened before Owen's eyes… as his body was falling back to the ground, completely spent…
CRASH!
The pain from the impact and the residual electric current shot through his body, but he didn't even have the strength to cry out. All his exhaustion crashed down on him like a giant wave. His eyelids were as heavy as if weighed down by lead. His consciousness began to fade and was about to sink into darkness…
But then… in the instant the nightmare energy had completely dissipated… another kind of energy, calmer and more profound, flowed gently into his head…
It was the power of the [Essence of Dreams] that had now awakened within him. It was about to show him the "memories" of this place…
Owen's vision, which was about to go dark, suddenly flared bright again… but the image he saw was no longer the ruins of an abandoned warehouse…
…..
…The image that appeared was of a warehouse, still new and grand. The white walls reflected the bright lights until there were almost no shadows. The air inside was clean and pure, filled with the faint smell of metal. The sound of machinery working systematically was a steady rhythm like a grand orchestra.
And at the center of the orderly chaos… was a "cargo-moving robot" of the same model he had just fought… but it was still in a perfect and gleaming state. It was moving actively and precisely, lifting a massive cargo container to arrange on a shelf that soared to the sky, following the commands of its "human" supervisor.
"Excellent! Unit 734! Right there! Set it down gently, my friend!" a middle-aged man in a grey uniform shouted orders energetically, a proud smile on his face.
Unit 734 gently placed the cargo container on the shelf, before turning its clear blue sensor eyes to its supervisor… as if waiting for the next command…
Suddenly!
WEE! WEE! WEE! WEE!
An alarm blared throughout the entire metropolis! The soft white light in the warehouse was replaced by a brilliant red light that flashed rapidly like a throbbing blood vessel!
And on the giant hologram screen in the center of the warehouse… the image of a graceful woman in shining silver armor appeared… the Sentinel of Arcadia… but now her once-beautiful face was filled with panic and despair. Her armor was dented and had several scorch marks.
"[Emergency alert! Detected… (static…) an invasion from another dimension not in the database! Destructive power… (static…) beyond our ability to handle! All citizens… evacuate… immediately… (staaaaaaaaatic…)]"
The image on the screen was cut… becoming just an empty hologram…
And in the next second… the entire world shook violently. The ceiling of the warehouse began to crack and collapse!
KRA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
"Watch out!!!" the supervisor yelled!
Unit 734 reacted instantly! The "Protect Assets and Personnel" program embedded in its core activated at full capacity. It charged in to use its strong body to protect its human supervisor…
But it was too late…
A massive piece of wreckage collapsed and crushed the human's body until it was pulp… Fresh red blood splattered everywhere… staining the once-gleaming silver armor plate of Unit 734.
…..
The last image Owen saw was of the robot, standing motionless amidst the flames and ruins… Its blue sensor eyes stared at the spot where its supervisor had once stood… along with a faulty warning signal that repeated over and over from its damaged speaker…
"[Mission… click… failed...]"
"[Protection… click… unsuccessful...]"
"[Mission… click… failed...]"
"[Protection… click… unsuccessful...]"
…..
The last image of the vision… the faulty warning signal repeating over and over… faded away along with Owen's consciousness, which was about to black out…
The moment the connection to the memory was severed… the adrenaline that had been flooding his body to keep him standing suddenly ran out!
And then… the harsh reality crashed down on him like a giant wave!
"Aaaargh!"
Owen screamed for the first time. The pain from the electric shock he had endured now came back to claim its due. Every muscle in his body trembled violently, almost uncontrollably. The gash on his side, cut by a metal fragment, sent pain shooting through his body. And worst of all… was the exhaustion from using his mana to the very last drop. It was a feeling of emptiness that was eating him from the inside out until he was almost breathless.
His last remaining instinct told him he had to find a hiding place… somewhere safe enough for him to recover…
He dragged his battered and trembling body, slowly crawling across the still-hot metal floor. Every movement brought a pain as if his body would be torn to pieces. Fresh red blood dripped in a trail where he crawled…
His target was the wreckage of a twisted and mangled container not far away… It looked to be the strongest and safest cover in this devastated battlefield…
And finally… he reached it…
Owen used his last ounce of strength to lean his back, drenched in blood and sweat, against the cold steel wall of the container… before slumping down, completely spent…
The last thing he saw was the jagged ceiling of the warehouse, revealing the distorted, purplish-black sky of the nightmare dimension… before his eyelids became too heavy to resist… and all his consciousness blacked out…
…Several hours passed…
The first sensation that returned to Owen's awareness was the throbbing pain in his body… but it was a much-subsided pain, not the excruciating agony from before…
He slowly opened his eyes again…
The dim light from the moon of catastrophe shone down through the hole in the ceiling, just enough for him to vaguely see his surroundings. The air inside the warehouse was frigid and silent.
He tried to move his body… The pain was still there, but it was at a tolerable level… He could feel the "ocean" of mana within his body, which had now recovered until it was almost full again… This feeling of fullness and power made him feel much safer…
But he knew he couldn't stay here long… The nightmare dimension was not a place for rest…
And then… the last memory he had seen came flooding back clearly…
He understood everything now…
That robot… the iron beast he had just fought a life-or-death battle with… it wasn't the "source" of this nightmare… It was just another "victim" of the tragedy… just an echo of the pain and failure that still resounded in this place, over and over…
But the true "source"… the energy that had created this powerful Nightmare Knot… was the final despair of the guardian…
It was that female sentinel…
"...evacuate… immediately…"
Her last, broken words still echoed in Owen's head… It was the sound of the despair of someone who knew they were about to be defeated and could not protect what they loved…
Owen clenched his fists… His once-weary eyes now shone with a renewed determination…
He had to find her… or at least her "echo"… to end this whole story!
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