Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 565: Water Fight. (Part Five)
Dante wasn’t sure whether Ahab had been hiding in the shark this entire time, or if he had snuck into it at some point. Either way, his presence was difficult to discern, and Dante would never have found him if not for his resident AI.
’This is it!’
Not satisfied with the first strike, Dante thrust the spear in his hand, intending to deal another blow. He felt the sensation of flesh being pierced and watched blood color his weapon, but the blow was far from the fatal one he had imagined. Having aimed for the old man’s heart, Dante was taken aback when he shifted ever so slightly to save himself from death. A tentacle came swinging just then, swatting Dante for the umpteenth time. The harpoons followed right after, and he was forced to put some distance between himself and the target.
No longer satisfied with hurling their weapons at him, the sailors rushed Dante. The speed with which they moved showed how much they had enhanced their physical attributes using Sorcery.
Dante decided to meet their challenge, switching to use his martial arts to parry their blows and break their bones. He tried to keep his eyes on the Captain, using only Absolute Awareness for the cannon fodder throwing themselves at him. Unfortunately, he quickly realized that he didn’t have enough practice to make it work.
His head shifted to the right as he saw a man spread his mouth beyond what’s humanly possible. The tattoo on the side of his face showed he was a Black Skull, which would mean he was one of their pseudo-Genomes.
’Fuck that...’
Having a pretty good guess what kind of power big mouth had rubbed Dante the wrong way, and with both his perception and reflexes accelerated, he slapped two Sorcerers out of the way and zoomed in on the mutant. First, he forced his mouth shut, causing the man’s ears to explode from the air he had attempted to release. Before he could make sense of the situation, Dante grabbed him by the neck and sent a wave of cold through his body, turning him into an ice statue that shattered an instant later.
From that point, no one dared to get close. They just saw him pulverize someone with a single touch, and no one wanted to be the next. Their mistake was thinking they were safe if they kept their distance, so Dante decided to give them a taste of their own medicine and created another ice spear. Just as he was about to throw it, he remembered that his target was the old man.
Ahab failed to hide himself in the seconds his subordinates bought him. Instead, he had used it to perform some first aid while preparing another one of his white beasts. This one was looking to be much larger than the others, going by the size of the water sphere and the amount of smoke the old sailor was putting into it.
Tired of interruptions, Dante commanded the surrounding water with Hydrokinesis and used it to wash away the small fry. Those who stood their ground were subsequently frozen, although not to the point where their lives came to an end. Cryokinesis consumed quite a bit of energy, and 2-4 was already running low.
"I... I take it you won’t let us go..." The old man said as Dante approached him. When he got no reply, his eyes shifted to a corner of the dock where the remains of a semi-truck lay. "We were never your main target, right?"
His guess was both right and wrong. While Dante’s main objective was the capture of Krueger, who was currently hiding behind the wreckage, eliminating White Whale was close to it in terms of importance. After all, Black Skull wasn’t the Sorcerer Clan’s only client. Viktor had warned him that crushing it would earn him more enemies than he was looking for, but Dante wasn’t someone who would let that stop him.
"C’mon, neither of us wants this," Ahab continued his attempt at buying time. "I’m ready to overlook that you destroyed my beloved ship. Hm? How about that?"
Holding his hand out, Dante created another ice spear.
"Well, figures..."
With a sigh, Ahab released the last wisps of smoke from his lungs, and the white sphere, which was as tall as he was, began floating upward.
"You know, you have killed more than enough of my boys." As he spoke, the sphere grew unstable, its surface sinking in places and bulging in others. "I would have loved to make a deal with you, but... well, I wouldn’t forgive myself if I don’t even try getting back at you."
The large sphere morphed, its shape changing into that of yet another aquatic beast. This one dwarfed anything created by the seafarer thus far, and as its form became clear, Dante understood why the captain’s clan was called the White Whale.
The creature was several times the size of a white whale, which had long since gone extinct. It swam in the air above the Captain, casting gusts of wind with each movement of its tail while releasing a loud cry that rattled everything in the area. If he had internal organs, Dante would have surely been affected by the sound alone, but his bionics made him entirely immune.
"Sorry, young one," Still holding onto his wound, Ahab bit on his pipe as he grinned. "I’m taking you down here." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚
The whale cried louder, twisting its massive body as it shot to the sky. The barrier around the dock prevented it from going too far. What it would do next was easy to guess, and Dante could already tell what the old man intended to do to ensure it was a success.
Every aquatic monster that had yet to be destroyed rushed Dante at the same time. The small fish bit into his armor, and the serpents coiled their long bodies around him. Each one applied quite a bit of force, and 2-4 groaned as they did their best to keep him in place. Freeing himself didn’t require much effort, which is why the Captain wasted no effort commanding his largest creation to attack.
A loud cry shook the dock once more. Looking up, Dante saw the gigantic mass of the white whale plunging straight at him, and an instant later, it crashed into the dock with all the velocity it could gather, exploding into a white cloud that spread out like the dust kicked by a meteor.
