Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System

Chapter 719: The Chopping Board.

Dante was surrounded in a matter of seconds. Of course, he was the one who allowed it to happen, continuing to observe what was clearly enemies clad in white power suits. The quality of their weapons and equipment told him they weren’t just a bunch of bounty hunters. From the looks of it, they belonged to quite the well off military organization—either a nation’s army or a private mercenary group.

[Dante, I believe you should see this.]

As Volcan spoke, a screen appeared, showing footage captured from a different angle. It zoomed in on one of the power suits, showing an engraved emblem made from three gears surrounded by a circle with four needles pointing outward.

’You got to be kidding me...’

[Danete Sokolov. A.k.a the Red Demon. A.k.a the Cyberpunk.]

"You already know who I am. No need to announce it." Dante said.

’Did they really have to use a speaker?’

His annoyed reply didn’t go well with the band of cultists as they all turned their weapons to him.

[You will be coming with us right now. Do not resist.]

-Just look at these clowns.-

"Say," ruffling his spiky hair, Dante clicked his tongue. "Who told you this was a good idea?"

[Target has refused to comply. Initiating protocol.]

And by protocol, they clearly meant shooing him full of bullets. Dante didn’t know what they were expecting from doing so. No sooner did the bullets start raining than he vanished, leaving them to drill a hole in the ground. Doing so while carrying the Raven wasn’t an easy feat, but he still managed in the end.

Before they could locate him and place his beloved bike in danger, he went on the offence, already making his way behind one of the white cultist.

[Dante, there is something you should know.]

Volcan chose the wrong time to speak up, but it wasn’t his fault that another cultist jumped in front of his target, already firing his rifle. Though they weren’t a fast as he was, they could still keep up with him, reacting to his movements at the right moment.

’What is it?’

[An anti-Aether field had been deployed in the surroundings.] Volcan said. [And spatial inhibitor as well.]

’They’re being thorough, huh?’

Were they trying to stop any backup from reaching him? That was a little cute.

’Can you shut them down? The bastards, I mean.’

[It might take a while. Their ports are difficult to access.]

’Don’t worry about it, then.’

Halting at a particular spot, Dante baited one of the white clad to shoot him. A hundred bullets flew out in a single second. Already in in a fighting stance, Dante parried them one after the other while closing the distance between him and the shooter. The plating on his right arm shifted, the gaps expanding as green energy leaked from the gaps. Pushing the rifle aside, he twisted his body and launched his fist, plunging it straight into the cultist’s stomach.

The white power suit glowed for an instant, but the layer of light popped like a balloon, scattering as Dante’s enhanced fist crushed into the cultist’s stomach, bending him around it before blasting him into one of the areal vehicles a short distance away.

’A barrier, huh?’

If they were in a movie, the vehicle would have exploded in that moment, but nothing that dramatic happened. Dante didn’t even get the chance to observe what happened to his first victim as more bullets came flying at him.

’What a shame...’

Though he would have loved nothing more than to get his hands on those power suits, Dante had no choice but to crush them along with whoever was inside. Since they were members of the cut, the likelihood of them being high level cyborgs wasn’t mall. They might even survive his strikes, depending on the level of protection their suits provided, but there was no point in that. Dying from the first stike would have been more merciful.

[Level 4 Ascended Cyborgs. All of them.] Volcan said.

’As expected...’

Maybe because he had his eyes on a bunch of Level 6s, and maybe because h was one himself, but Dante no longer felt anything from fighting opponents at this Level. He was a Level 4 himself, when equipped with a Level 3 Module and no armor, but compared to the his opponents, his speed and agility was on an entirely different realm. He could easily dodge end parry high velocity ammunition, and his opponent barely reacted when he got close, which told him they weren’t good with close combat.

[Formation Three!]

One of the white bastards shouted, and the others immediately jumped away. Eight put quite a distance between them, while three remained close by, tossing their rifles aside while reaching under their arms. Each one took out a small baton, and as soon as they did, line extended from them, glowing with a bright red light.

’Light sabers, huh?’

[They appear to be using the same technology included in the androids we took from them, although these seem to have independent power sourced.]

Just as it had appeared, the bastards were using a classic strategy Dante had went against before. The three that remained close went for a melee while the rest offered ranged support. Dante knew right away that it was going to be a pain in the ass, but it ended up worse. The bastards had superb coordination, and whenever he tried to dodge or distance himself, a bullet would be waiting for him in the spot where his head would be.

The cultist ramped up the attacks, further increasing their speed and frequency. The bastards with the light sabers started using the boosters of their suits to gain sudden burst of speed, messing with Dante’s reaction time.

Six. That was the number of bullets that almost hit him. The cultists were quickly tightening their grip on him, and if things kept going at this pace-

’Damn it!’

Dante accelerated his perception to the maximum, preparing for a major counter. At that moment something pierced the ground right in front of him. It looked like a metalic cylinder, but before he could start to guess what it does, it suddenly snapped open. Tendrils of blue lightning shot out, immediately wrapping around his body. They barely lasted for a second, but that was a second he didn’t move a single inch, and the cultists weren’t about to waste it.

It should have been obvious that the three with the light sabers weren’t planning on hitting him. As they leaped back, the others rained bullets at what they thought was a stationary target.

~[ ]~

"____!!!"

A single glare sent shivers through the White Knights, and the next instant, their target vanished behind a wall of alloy. The bullets they fired returned nothing but the clangs born from striking a solid surface, but the moment the say what those were, confusion froze their minds for a moment.

Four Tortoise tanks manifested out of nowhere, blocking the red haired demon from view. Before they could question what had happened, a message was transmitted through their comms.

[The Spatial Inhibitors had been blocked.]

The only countermeasure they had against Ghost’s teleportation was gone, and as soon as it did, the tanks appeared. The Level 6 villain had just sent his subordinate some back up, and no longer was there anything stopping him from stepping into the fight himself.

[Retreat.]

The command arrived right away, but something else followed.

[Like hell I’m gonna let you!]

As the tanks turned their heads, something flashed from between them. A sharp clang followed, and as all heads turned toward it without a thought, they suddenly froze in horror. One of their allies was floating in the air, his upper half separated from the lower one. He had been sliced in half, the cut so clean it felt as if a part of him had been erased from existence.

Before they could catch sight or the attacker, he vanished, racing a red line through the air. Another one of the melee fighters had his head sliced off, and the third one followed soon after. The old highways shook from the boom of four tanks firing at the same time. Those who knew to move beforehand managed to survive, but their lives would only last a few seconds more.

As another one of their comrades was bisected, the others finally got a look at their opponent. His clothes had been ripped apart, revealing his bionic limbs. Those were a different set from what he had been using before, which told them that his boss has sent him something to turn the fight around.

Unlike the bionic limbs he had before, the new ones were black in color, sleek in design, and clearly geared for speed. The legs had the shape of a rabbit’s hind limbs, while the arms were nothing but long blades.

With a single step, the Cyberpunk reached his next target, his arms already extended to slice through the power suit’s force field, its alloy shell, and the rest of its components, along with the cyborg inside. In a fraction of a second, he incapacitated another member of their squad, and watching it happen, the others knew right away that they were next on the chopping board.