Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 599: Black Skull. (Part Thirty One)

Shards fell to the ground, turning to dust upon impact like clumps of dust failing to hold their shape. Rose felt her thoughts halting, her mind failing to understand what happened right in front of her eyes. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Like a sand castle that lost whatever was holding it together, Harry collapsed into a pile of ash. The bastard was a Level 4 Ascended Cyborg, stuffed to the ears with military-grade bionics. He was a one-man army capable of bringing ruin to entire cities, and yet he was gone, just like that.

"I guess it is shocking."

The voice pulled Rose out of her daze, forcing her to look up at the skull-faced man responsible for the other's death.

"It's like roulette, really," The skull faced man, Jason, took a step forward while gazing at his palm. "Once you toss the ball, the color it lands on is completely random, and so is the number. You get what you get, and there is no way around it. The parameters are screwed, too, so it's not like getting something weak will leave you unscathed. You can end up with no bones in your body just because the useless slime you transformed into couldn't keep them inside. A bad power with an even worse drawback." Letting out a snort, he raised his gaze and met Rose's, the smirk on his face still the same. "But, if luck is on your side-"

BLAM

CLANK

"You might strike gold."

A golden case hit the floor with a faint clang. With her arm outstretched, gun aimed, Rose wore a piercing glare. She pulled the trigger again, and again and again, shooting one pullet after the other. Once a click announced the last one's departure, Rose reached into her belt and pulled another clip, tossing it in the air in front of her before pressing the ejection button. As the empty clip fell, Rose inserted the new one in its place, snatching it midair with a single motion using only one hand.

The slider snapped back into place as she took aim once more, and without hesitation, she emptied another clip at the monster facing her. She had heard every word he said, yet she ignored all of them. The trigger grew heavy under her finger, but she kept on pulling, again, and again, and again.

When the echo of the last shot faded, its cartridge resting on the gray, cold ground, the anger suddenly disappeared from Rose's face. Her enemy was there, entirely unperturbed, with his hand held up as if politely telling her to stop.

None of the bullets had reached him. Each one struck the exact same spot, yet every last one ended up in a different part of the warehouse. Rose did not see. She could not see it, but there couldn't have been any other explanation for what happened right in front of her. The bullets had ricocheted off something where there was nothing, as though an invisible, indestructible wall stood in their path.

"You really don't listen." Lowering his hand, Jason glanced at his palm before turning his gaze to her. "That much hasn't changed, has it, Rose?"

At the sound of her name leaving his mouth, a chill washed over Rose, bringing with it a moment of weakness.

"To think you would return one day. Not only that, but you also caused us this much trouble. I'm starting to regret letting you go that time."

The skull-faced bastard took another step, the invisible wall before him seemingly gone.

"Well, not really. It's a little difficult to keep a grudge for twenty years, but I guess that's not the case for you."

The last string he pulled was the right one, forcing Rose back to her senses once more. She went about reloading her pistol, but her shaking hand couldn't replicate the same smooth actions.

"Say, Rose, was it really worth it?"

The clip fell to the ground, and she went after it, frantically reaching with the only arm she had.

"He was just another pedophile. Did you really think things would have turned any differently had you escaped with him?"

Blinding pain shot up from her broken left arm, but Rose fought through it, forcing herself to use her incapacitated hand to grab the clip she dropped and load it into the pistol. The scream she had been restraining behind her gritted teeth began to leak out along with the tears flowing down her cheeks.

She whipped her right arm, aiming her weapon once more, but a hand slapped away. That same hand swung back to her face. The stinging pain that followed was all too familiar. The way it banished every thought from her mind, leaving nothing but a blank whiteness, it was the same as that first time, back when she faced the betrayal of the people she thought had reached out to her with a helping hand.

"In the end, you are still the same stupid bitch," As he spoke, the mocking grin disappeared from Jason's face, returning it to the natural image of the skull of a charred corpse. "All you ever did was cause me trouble, and after all this time, you just came back to do more of the same." Reaching down, he clasped a clump of her hair, pulling on it to force her gaze to meet his. "Say, Rose. Couldn't you have just pretended to be dead?"

His question received no answer, even if one had been born in the blankness of Rose's mind. Ever since that day, ever since she was forced to watch as the man she adored was tortured right in front of her eyes, Rose had wished for death more times than she could ever count.

That wish came to her whenever she held a weapon in her hand, urging her to point it at her head, the same way it urged her to bring every knife down on her wrists back when she still resided with her mother. The same wish visited her just moments ago, screaming for her to end it all, denying the bastard the triumph of claiming his revenge, yet she refused to accept it. She refused to let him savor the taste of victory ever again.

'Sirius… Monica…'

The effects of the Sun Flare had faded, and her NIM booted once more. Without hesitation, she immediately reached for the command, intent on using the last weapon she brought. Focus returned to her eyes, and she glared up at the monster. As her lips moved to curse him for the last time, she saw him look away, his head jerking up as if something snatched his attention.

The next instant, the warehouse rumbled as though struck by a falling meteor. Something had smashed straight through the ceiling, crashing into the ground with enough force to shatter the reinforced concrete, blasting everything in the air.

As the hold on her hair loosened, Rose found herself looking at the point of impact. The only thing her eyes caught was red, and by the time the image cleared in her mind, the visage of a wrathful demon engraved itself in her thoughts, erasing every trace of the wish that haunted her since the day she became aware.

Before the force of the crash could finish spreading, the demon vanished, creating another shock. A third one followed, manifesting as she appeared right in front of her, his outstretched fist sinking into the skull-faced monster. The impact came with a powerful blast of air, and before she knew it, Rose found herself flying away.

Her eyes closed, Rose felt her back slam into something solid. The pain that should have caused her never reached her, and she realized her body hadn't stopped moving as it was gently lowered a moment later. The tension drained from her body only to return when she opened her eyes, seeing the wrathful demon gazing at her from above. She was left frozen for a moment, then the horns disappeared, and she found herself gazing into a pair of vibrant blue irises, concern overflowing from them as they gazed back at her.