Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 470: A Bright Future.
Dante’s face twitched, and his eyes narrowed. Shifting his body, he placed a hand on the giant’s swinging arm, letting it pass under him as he spun once more. Nothing blocked the kick he followed with, and the force he put into it caused the giant’s head to tilt, his entire body following it.
Dante didn’t let up, kicking with his other leg before backflipping away. Regaining his footing before the giant fixed his posture, he activated the 4-3 Module’s abilities with his hands on the floor. As he took a starting stance as if preparing to run, light spread through his arms. Riot turned to face him at that moment, but it was already too late.
Appearing right in front of the wall of muscle, Dante parried its arms as they came down at him. As they spread out, leaving their owner wide open, Dante shifted his body to the side and lined the fingers of his left hand, pointing them forward. Time seemed to stop as he exhaled, his eyes relaxing. Focus returned instantly, and Dante’s arms turned into a green blur, shooting back and forth at such a speed it appeared as if he had more than two.
A series of explosions echoed in the underground arena, each one so close to the others that it appeared they went off at the same time. As his skin dented inward from each blow, Riot’s cheeks bulged, and his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
The blows kept coming, going from his stomach and chest to his shoulders, arms, and legs. His arms were parried whenever he tried to counter, leaving him locked in a state where he could only take everything thrown at him head-on.
Dante was able to keep the combo going for a while, thanks to his now bionic body. Nevertheless, he was bound to run out of steam sooner or later. The openings began to show, and the counters came, but he didn’t back away.
Before long, Dante began taking one blow with each two he landed. His opponent acted as if he were unaffected. He stood his ground, absorbing each of the strikes and launching his own. His fist kept bouncing back as if he were hitting a wall.
The complex exchange turned into nothing more than a blow as neither bothered to dodge or block. Feeling that they were about to reach a stalemate, Dante activated his abilities one more time, intending to end things with his next attack, or at least put a stop to that exchange to allow himself a moment to rethink his approach.
"What... a waste..." Riot forced out. "You... could have had... a bright future..."
"Tsk!" Dante launched three consecutive blows before bouncing away from the wall of muscles, "Keep-" pulling his clenched right fist back at the same time, "talking shit!"
Drawing force from the ground, his body twisted, and his fist shot forward. Riot brought his arms together, forming a shield intended to block, but the shield broke, and the fist continued past it, plunging straight into his stomach. Dante pushed, driving it deeper before the force of the strike caught on, blasting the wall of muscle away.
Riot went flying, kicking away until his back hit the metal cage. Still, that last blow seemed to have done quite a number on him, to the point that he fell to one knee, bending over as he wrapped his arm around his stomach.
"Haha...hahaha..." Riot trembled, looking like he was about to keel over. "D-damn... to thin-"
Before he could say the words he was struggling to get out, two cold, metallic hands grasped his head, and a knee shot up, smashing into his face. As his head shot back and his arms unfolded, the same cold hands grabbed him by the wrist and pulled, drawing his entire body and slamming it into the floor. As he bounced off it, a kick came for his left flank, and although it was lighter, it landed so close to his stomach magnified the damage from that previous punch.
Dante’s attacks grew more vicious, fueled by the rage he had lost to the confusion that clouded his mind earlier. He wasn’t here for a martial arts challenge. He was here to answer questions or figure out the secret to his opponent’s strength. He was here to make the bastards pay. To make them regret what they did to Jonah and what they did to Nobara’s place.
His fists rained blows on the giant gang boss. He brought them down like a sledgehammer hammer then swung up. Before his opponent could fly away, he grabbed him by the wrist and then slammed him into the ground once more, this time face-first. Still holding on to that wrist, Dante brought down his free hand on Riot’s elbow. The amplified force and impact broke through any resistance the giant might have had, snapping his bones and bending his arm in an unnatural direction.
"GHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
Though each of his moves carried as much force as before, the fight seemed to have slowed down to a point where normal people could follow it with their own eyes. The crowd, made mostly from Red Rage members, watched as their boss got pummeled in the arena he claimed to rule, his bones breaking one after another.
Paying them no mind, Dante went on with crushing his opponent. Instead of going for a finishing blow, he seemed to be purposefully going with nonlethal attacks, as if to extend the fight for as long as possible, and he would have kept going if not for the voice in his head working to bring back his rationality.
[Dante! You have to stop!] Volcan said. [We need him alive!]
’No,’ Dante continued, delivering his fury. ’He needs to die.’
[You have already defeated him. I doubt he can heal from this right away.]
’He still needs to die.’
[He needs to answer our questions first! Don’t you want to understand what everything said meant!?]
Riot’s words echoed in Dante’s mind, and his curiosity returned. Soon after, his anger seemed to vanish, and he looked down to find a battered man almost three times his size. With his fist still raised, Dante stood still for a moment, then straightened up, looking at the crowd watching from behind the iron cage. Unfortunately, his apparent victory wasn’t met with cheers. Only a heavy silence, and the sound of his own rugged breath.
