abcnovels
Chapter 241 The Zenith
Chapter 241 The Zenith
[Affirmative | N.E.T V4 Shot loaded | Ready to fire.]
As he ran across the ceiling while upside down, like an adhesive insect, Ajax laughed out, releasing pollen-sized volatile spheres that exploded, but managed to be contained by the protective barrier around the arena.
"Ha-ha! You're good!" Ajax grinned.
Jumping down with his katana held in his vice grip, a small cannon protruded from between two cybernetic plates on his shoulder, shooting out an array of pellets. Each pellet separated at a fixed distance, propelling towards Ajax, who glanced around, unknowing of what to watch out for with a curious expression.
Connecting each pellet, threads of lightning formed a net that swooped in, ensnaring the adolescent in its abrasive hold.
"Gah!" Ajax let out.
The obsidian anchors of the net stuck to the back wall, trapping the goggle-wearing eccentric against it as the electric bands wrapped tightly around his body, feeding voltage directly into him.
"...This…stings…!" Ajax groaned, fidgeting as the current caused his muscles to spasm.
Yakeru moved towards him wielding his blade as he finally responded, "Ten million volts, maximum amperage. An elephant would find itself dead in an instant within that net, but we're not so normal anymore, are we?"
Though the constant surge seemed to ignite an anger within Ajax as his frivolous smile finally contorted with a radiant energy bubbling up from within him.
[High increase in energy detected.]
"Yeah, I can see that," he mumbled, "Give me a flash–maximum strength; concussive mode."
[Affirmative.]
Just as Ajax was groaning out and gritting his teeth, managing to raise his left arm while spasming from the electric hold with that fearsome, nuclear power bubbling at his hand, the cybernetic fighter had a compartment on his left forearm open.
Popping out of the compartment, a clear-white grenade was caught in his hand that he immediately tossed out.
FLASH.
"Ngh…!" Ajax winced, flinching.
The concussive flare of light caused his hand to move just as he emitted the destructive release of energy, hitting the ceiling as the arena rumbled; the shock wave alone managed to dislodge the net, freeing the unstable adolescent.
"...Just great," he mumbled, rushing in with his vibrating katana while his enemy was still concussed.
He immediately stopped as a warning signal emitted, originating from the rumble of energy that was being produced from the annoyed Nuclear System wielder.
It came in a flash; formless strands, wielded like whips, contorted in the air and moved at a speed that surpassed physical matter–slamming against him harshly. The explosive impact knocked him back, shattering pieces of his armor in the process as he spit out an oil-like liquid in place of blood.
It cut through my plating like butter, he thought, not good.
? "Force fields up," he said, wiping his chin, "pronto."
A sphere of cyan energy constructed around him just as the tendrils of unstable energy lashed out from Ajax's body; whipping around the room, the limbs of nuclear energy, devoid of physical matter, ignited the air and shook the arena.
Each time an energy whip slammed against the barrier it sparked in retaliation, eventually beginning to crack.
Ajax looked towards him, huffing as he caught his breath, "...That really stung, you bastard!"
The bright-orange, plasma whips extended from the young man's forearms, which he swung around to ruthlessly guide the tools of destruction.
He stood within the barrier as it continued cracking from the pressure of the volatile tendrils, but stayed calm while swiftly typing something onto the digital screen emitted from his wrist.
[Mode Shift: Recognized]
[...Reconfiguring suit…10%....30%...50%...]
Nanomachines crawled out from the grooves of his highly-advanced suit, adding more armor and constructing new devices.
"I've got you–!" Ajax smiled.
[100% | Complete: [Paladin Shift] engaged.]
It shifted just as the forcefield was broken, but the tendrils were halted by something wielded by the shifted, cyber-user.
From the newly-altered gauntlets, multi-layered force fields in the shape of bucklers were constructed from his wrists, blocking the nuclear whips.
The mode shift brought on a more bulky armor rather than the skintight, sleek default, adding broad gauntlets and boots for stability, and engaging thick pauldrons as well as a durable, sleek visor over his face.
"Oh?" Ajax said, "You're a walking tank! Like a transf–"
Before the goggle-possessing man with swirling irises could finish his giddy observation, he was forced to jump back as Yakeru shot an explosive round directly at him.
That was close, Ajax thought.
The shot was fired from a barrel embedded in the man's palm, which smoke trailed from in the aftermath of the missed firing.
Ajax smirked, holding his palms together as a light shined between before parting them to reveal a miniature sphere of unstable, nuclear energy, condensed and energized as it shifted hues from orange to blue like the sky from noon to the advent of dusk.
"You're fun," Ajax said, "It's not often I meet somebody who can survive blows from me. I like a good toy that doesn't break so–don't shatter now!"
As if attempting to test the limits on the barriers placed around the perimeter of the vast arena, Ajax tossed the sphere forward as its size rapidly increased, giving off enough heat to begin melting the metal flooring in its path that it sparsely touched.
There's no dodging that one, he realized.
It was as if it were the very scorn of a god; such power into a singular ball, compact with wild energy that sought only to destroy. A heat was given off of it unlike any other, ushering in its own season of fire just by its very existence.
"Bring out the 'Zenith'," Yakeru muttered to his internal system.
In response, as the ball of nuclear energy sailed towards his position, a single handle popped out from the compartment in his chest, but the moment all five fingers wrapped around the obsidian handle–it manifested.
[Time since the nuclear sphere launched; 1 second.]
It was a blade made completely out of hyper-focused energy; glowing crimson with the width of a greatsword, it hummed as he lifted it up, going into a stance to set himself up for a precise cut.
The 'Zenith' uses hyper-accelerated annihilation matter, intertwined and stratified, to break down whatever it comes into contact with on a subatomic level. Beyond that, it can siphon energy, but this…is a lot of it. I'll have to land a slash at the perfect angle, Yakeru thought.