Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 564: Water Fight. (Part Four)
The blades made from Aqua Edge were strong enough to cut through the sturdiest of metals, so it wasn’t that storage for one to split an entire human apart. But as he looked at the Captain’s chopped corpse, blood slowly drawing lines in his accelerated perception, Dante felt that something was very off about what just happened.
It didn’t take him long to find an answer to his confusion. His blade had cut through people before, so he knew the sensation of splitting flesh and bone. That sensation wasn’t present this time.
’Shi-’
The old man’s two halves lost their color, then their shape, countless bumps bulging on their surface until they turned into unrecognizable lumps. An instant later, they exploded, releasing a cloud of smoke that spread out and swallowed Dante before he could retreat.
Knowing he couldn’t have escaped it, Dante set an Aqua Prison around himself, desperate to avoid the released smoke l. He was right to do so, as the surface of the sphere surrounding him was immediately pierced by countless spikes as soon as it formed.
Dante’s mind was clouded with confusion, and all he could do was retreat to avoid the attacks sent his way. Harpoons rained down on him once more, and he no longer had the leisure to think about what had just happened.
A pink beam struck his left arm, leaving an orange spot on the alloy of his armor. The ground shifted under his feet just as he turned to check his arm, and his balance was gone before he knew it, leaving him falling to his back.
One of the large tentacles refused to just let him fall, swatting him before he hit the ground and shattering the water shield around him. As he went flying, Dante grabbed at his nerves and tried to react. He crossed his arms just as another enemy attacked, busy without ground under his feet. The kick that muscular bastard threw sent him flying.
Smashing into a wall, Dante got only one moment to catch his breath before four more appeared, sealing him inside a box. As the small space began to compress, Dante returned to the problem from earlier. Absolute Awareness was active the entire time, and nothing seemed off about the Captain. Nothing was off until the blade was done cutting through him. Dante had failed to sense anything until it was far too late.
The entire time, the captain was nothing more than a puppet made from water and smoke. Dante had no idea how he managed to deceive Volcan’s senses, but after giving it some more thought, he realized something important.
’Volcan...’
[Yes?]
’Focus on sensing the captain. Tell me if another decoy is used.’
[Understood.]
Dante recalled that Absolute Awareness wasn’t so absolute. When it’s active, Dante would usually be aware of the position of things in his surroundings, their weight, density, temperature, and velocity. Besides those, there were a great many things his human mind wasn’t equipped to handle, so Volcan had to filter them out to spare him the strain.
Dante didn’t have to have access to those inputs to make use of them. His resident AI could more easily analyse them and give him the answer, and though that would come with some lag, it was far better than nothing.
Translucent blades expanded from his blue armor and then moved along its surface, cutting through the concrete coffin encasing him. Dante flexed his limps and shattered its walls, emerging from it to search for his target right away.
The thought of switching to another armor crossed his mind. He was up against a bunch of Sorcerers, so Type 9 would have given him an advantage. What made him toss the idea was how eerily similar the situation was to what happened in Heavenly Bliss. Though he doubted they were as prepared, he didn’t want to risk the same thing happening again, so he stuck to 2-4.
His head snapped to the right and he caught sight of a swarm of monstrous fish flying at him. Those were the last of his concerns as the debris from the walls he shattered didn’t hit the ground, instead shooting at him from every direction as something flashed in the distance.
Jumping up to evade the pink beam, Dante formed two scythe-like blades along his arms and activated Cryokinesis. The wave of cold spreading from his body collided with the swarm, freezing it midair. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺
Sliding past them, Dante followed one of the tentacles swinging at him, freezing it while searching for its source. He was quick to find the Captain, but he didn’t rush to attack him, waiting for his resident AI’s evaluation. That paid right away as the info he received prompted him to shift his attention to the massive shark floating a short distance away, as if keeping its distance.
Pivoting at the last moment, he shot toward the monstrous creature. He noticed the momentary hesitation that held it in place before it rushed to meet him. As the distance between them disappeared, Dante activated Cryokinesis once more. This time, he didn’t release a wave of cold. His right foot slammed into the ground, and from its tip, an icicle shot out.
The shark was forced to a sudden halt, its body twisting to avoid the sharp point threatening to pierce it. Dante was already above the creature, having used the icicle as footing to launch himself into the air. In his hand, water coalesced into a long spear, and a wave of cold transformed it into ice.
The shark used the one opening it had, trying to escape the spear thrust at its guts, but it fell straight into Dante’s trap. A second icicle shot out of the ground, rising from an angle the monster couldn’t perceive. It pierced straight through it, as if facing no resistance.
The cold spread out and covered it entirely in a mere instant, but before it could turn into a statue, the shark suddenly exploded, scattering like a cloud of smoke. At it’s center, the form of an old man was revealed, his guts pierced by the long ice spear.
