143: Claws and Iron Shield

The metallic ground of the D-7 Port Area trembled.

Reno's charge was like a maddened beast, slamming headlong into a web of death woven from pulse fire.

"Target spotted! Fire!"

"Suppress him! Don't let him get close!"

The Agents' roars mingled with the gunfire, sharp and piercing.

Almost instantly, the two warriors at Reno's side—his last two brothers—were turned into tattered sieves of flesh and blood by the dense blue beams. They didn't even have time to scream before their lives were evaporated.

"No!" Reno let out a roar that sounded inhuman.

But he didn't stop.

He grabbed the warm, disintegrating body of a comrade and pulled it in front of him, using it as a shield of flesh and blood to continue his charge against fire intense enough to melt steel.

The flames of revenge had already incinerated his sanity, leaving only the most primal, all-destroying instinct.

Just then, a dark shadow as swift as a ghost shot out from the gloom of the shipping containers.

A cold gleam flashed past.

Fan-shaped mists of blood sprayed simultaneously from the throats of several Alliance Agents who were focusing their fire on Reno; they clutched their necks and collapsed silently, eyes filled with ultimate terror.

The shadow stopped in the middle of their corpses; it was a lanky cyborg. His hands had been replaced by two alloy claws shimmering with faint blue electric arcs.

He stuck out a scarlet tongue and lightly licked the hot blood from his claw blades, his inhuman electronic eyes locking onto the still-charging Reno.

"A fine prey," the Clawed Cyborg rasped in a voice like grinding metal. "Let me see how tough your bones are, low-dimensional insect."

"Die!" Reno roared, emptying his rifle's magazine toward him.

The cyborg's figure instantly blurred, and the bullets all missed. He zipped back and forth between the containers at high speed, defying physical common sense; with every flash, he left a claw mark deep enough to see bone on Reno's Power Armor.

"Too slow, too slow!" the cyborg's mocking voice came from all directions. "Your rage is as weak as an old man's cough!"

Sparks flew as pieces of Reno's armor were stripped away, and blood stained his combat suit. Yet he seemed unable to feel the pain, relying on beast-like instincts honed through thousands of battles to continuously trade injuries for better positioning.

He slammed into a container, using the massive vibration to force the other to reveal himself, or detonated nearby explosive wreckage to block the other's evasion space with fire and shockwaves.

"Click!"

The rifle's energy was exhausted after the final shot, and it was kicked away by the cyborg.

"Game over, insect." The cyborg stepped out of the shadows, his claws aiming straight for Reno's heart.

Reno rolled with the momentum and drew his last weapon—the High-carbon steel combat knife that had been with him for many years.

"Clang!"

With a crisp snap, the knife broke the moment it collided with the alloy claws.

Despair, like cold seawater, submerged Reno's last shred of hope.

Just as a cruel smile appeared on the Clawed Cyborg's face and he prepared to deliver the fatal blow—

BOOM—!!!

In the distance, the No. 3 Energy Regulator of the D-7 Port Area exploded.

A dazzling blue electric arc soared into the sky like a dragon, and intense light and a violent electromagnetic pulse instantly swept across the battlefield.

Zzzt...

The Clawed Cyborg's electronic eyes filled with static under the intense light, his visual sensors instantly overloading.

Now!

This half-second of stagnation was both heaven and hell.

Reno abandoned all defense and technique, slamming into the cyborg's embrace like a cornered bull.

"What?!" The cyborg was startled and instinctively swung his claws.

Splat!

The sharp alloy blades easily tore through Reno's abdomen and chest, sinking deep into his body. The agonizing pain of ruptured internal organs swallowed him like a tide.

But Reno's arms, like a pair of iron pincers, locked onto the other's body, rendering him immobile.

"You..." The cyborg looked in shock at the man in his arms who should have been dead.

Reno raised his head, a gruesome and gratified smile blooming on his blood-soaked face. Amidst the agony, he used all his strength to hiss and roar at the shocked face:

"You should taste it too... the feeling of losing everything!"

"You're crazy!"

"Crazy?!" Reno laughed maniacally, his helmet slamming hard against the other's forehead. "I'm taking you to see my brothers!"

With his last bit of strength, he hissed the command: "Helmet! Overload Shock!"

This was a single-use function built into the Tactical Helmet, originally intended for destroying electronic door locks at close range.

Zzzzt—!!!

A massive, destructive current used Reno's body as a conductor, frantically pouring into the Clawed Cyborg's entire frame. The cyborg convulsed violently, falling into a brief, fatal paralysis.

Reno opened his mouth and bit down on the other's exposed carotid artery.

In the most primal, barbaric way possible, he vented the endless hatred and sorrow in his heart.

Ugh...

The light in the Clawed Cyborg's eyes quickly faded, and his tall frame collapsed to the ground.

He had won... Reno's consciousness began to blur, and his body slumped to the ground due to excessive blood loss. He felt his life slipping away at an unprecedented speed.

Before completely losing consciousness, his falling palm accidentally pressed against a cold, hard metal plate at the cyborg's waist.

The instinct to survive made him use his last shred of strength to grip it tightly—very, very tightly.

In the distance, Shadow Chaser-J's cold gaze had already locked onto the "beast" who had killed his Adjutant.

"Target the ruins of the D-7 Port Area gate! Kill that survivor! No, take him alive!"

More Alliance Agents closed in from all directions, their footsteps becoming the drumbeats of death in Reno's slowly fading world.