The heavily shielded cyborg didn't hesitate. It didn't possess enough human logic left in its rotting brain to question why a man in a tailored suit just put away his only weapon. It just followed its prime directive. Erase the intruder.
"BZZZT!"
The cyborg lunged forward. It swung the massive, glowing plasma mace in a brutal, horizontal sweep aimed directly at Arthur's ribs. The weapon moved with terrifying speed, leaving a trail of superheated air in its wake.
Arthur didn't dodge backward. He dropped his center of gravity and stepped perfectly inside the creature's guard. The heavy mace sailed inches over his head, the heat instantly singing a few strands of his dark hair.
Arthur planted his left foot and drove his right fist forward in a flawless, textbook straight punch. He aimed dead center for the cyborg's chest plate.
"BANG!"
The impact sounded like a gunshot. But it didn't hit metal.
Arthur's fist slammed directly into the thick, humming blue energy shield. The barrier violently rippled outward like water dropping into a pond.
Pain instantly shot up Arthur's arm. The kinetic force of his own punch was perfectly reflected right back into his knuckles. It felt like he had just punched a solid block of reinforced titanium. He gritted his teeth, swallowing a grunt of pain.
Ninety-nine percent physical resistance. The system wasn't joking.
"Ha... ha... ha..." the cyborg buzzed, its broken voice box spitting out a mechanical laugh.
It brought the mace back around for a backhand swing.
Arthur ducked under the heavy weapon again. He didn't retreat. He unleashed a rapid, blurring flurry of strikes. Left hook. Right cross. A devastating elbow aimed at the throat. A heavy kick aimed at the knee joint.
"BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!"
Every single strike hit the blue energy shield. Every single strike bounced off harmlessly, sending jarring, agonizing shockwaves back into Arthur's limbs. The barrier didn't even flicker. It just absorbed the kinetic force and perfectly dispersed it.
Arthur wasn't fighting like a brawler. He wasn't swinging blindly in a panic. He was fighting like a corporate liquidator running a stress test on a new product.
He was counting.
He was analyzing the exact refresh rate of the energy shield. Every time his fist hit the barrier, the blue light rippled. The shield had to briefly drop its density in that specific sector to redistribute the kinetic energy, before instantly snapping back to full strength.
He just needed to find the lag.
Over on the left flank, Cassia was putting on a lethal showcase of rogue acrobatics.
She vaulted off the wall, flipping cleanly over the charging, bone-plated brute. In mid-air, she drew her customized stun pistols and fired three rapid shots directly into the back of the creature's knees.
"Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!"
The brute roared as its leg joints melted together. It crashed face-first into the carpet.
Cassia landed gracefully in a crouch. She glanced over at Arthur, who was currently dodging another massive swing from the plasma mace and throwing a useless punch at the blue shield.
"You're getting slow, suit!" Cassia yelled over the din of battle, a wide grin on her face. She flipped a pistol in her hand and shot another mutant in the shoulder. "Stop knocking on the door and break it down!"
"I'm working on it!" Arthur snapped back.
He ducked under a sweeping strike that shattered a nearby mahogany desk. Wood splinters rained down on him.
"CLANG!"
To his right, Vane was engaged in a brutal, desperate clash with the four-bladed mutant. The frontiersman blocked two bone-blades with his heavy broadsword, his boots sliding backward on the floor.
"Arthur, whatever you are doing, do it faster!" Vane roared, violently kicking the mutant to gain some space. "I cannot hold this thing off forever!"
Arthur ignored them. His entire world narrowed down to the glowing blue shield and the mechanical whirring of the cyborg in front of him.
He watched the energy ripple as he threw a feint at the creature's head. The shield density shifted upward to compensate. He watched the light momentarily dim around the creature's lower back.
There it was.
The microsecond lag in the shield's code.
The cyborg raised the plasma mace high above its head for a devastating, two-handed overhead smash. It left its entire torso exposed.
Arthur didn't pull back. He pulled up his system interface.
"System," Arthur commanded, his dark eyes locking onto a tiny, unshielded exhaust port on the back of the cyborg's right knee. "Cash out. Give me the ten seconds."
[Ding!]
[Cosmic Debt Restriction partially lifted.]
[2x Multiplier Activated!]
[Duration: 10 Seconds.]
The change was violently instantaneous.
The world around Arthur didn't just slow down. It practically froze. The chaotic noise of the office faded into a dull, drawn-out hum. The falling wood splinters from the broken desk hung motionless in mid-air. The descending plasma mace looked like it was moving through thick, heavy mud.
Arthur felt his physical stats violently double. His muscles tore and instantly healed, expanding with explosive, unnatural power. The deep ache in his knuckles from punching the shield vanished. He felt light. He felt terrifyingly fast.
Nine seconds.
Arthur blurred forward. He didn't just step inside the cyborg's guard; he completely bypassed its visual tracking algorithms. He moved twice as fast as reality allowed.
He slid perfectly under the descending plasma mace. He dropped to one knee, his polished boot sliding smoothly across the carpet.
He was now positioned directly behind the massive cyborg.
Seven seconds.
He didn't aim for the head. He didn't aim for the chest. He aimed for the tiny, two-inch gap in the blue energy shield where the mechanical exhaust port vented heat.
Arthur pulled his right arm back. He formed his hand into a rigid, flat palm. He channeled every single ounce of his doubled kinetic strength, backing it with the flawless muscle memory of ten million perfect strikes.
Four seconds.
"You're fired," Arthur whispered.
He drove his elbow straight upward in a brutal, devastating strike.
"CRUNCH!"
The blow bypassed the energy shield entirely. Arthur's elbow smashed directly into the unarmored exhaust port. The sheer, unadulterated physical force of the 2x multiplier shattered the metal plating and tunneled straight into the cyborg's central processing core.
Two seconds.
The massive machine violently seized up. The blue energy shield instantly flickered and died.
Zero seconds.
[Multiplier Deactivated.]
Time snapped back to normal.
"BZZZZZZT-POP!"
The cyborg shrieked, a horrible sound of grinding gears and failing hydraulics. Thick, black smoke erupted from its back. Its red optic sensors flickered wildly before going completely dark.
The towering, twelve-foot machine collapsed forward. It hit the floor like a massive sack of scrap metal, completely dead.
Arthur stood up slowly. He dusted off his knees and adjusted his tie. He looked down at the smoking heap of metal.
"System," Arthur muttered. "Mark that asset as liquidated."
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