Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 576: Black Skull. (Part Eight) (Reuploaded)

Author note: 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Apparently, I accidentally uploaded the previous Chapter twice. That error has been corrected. I apologize for the delay.

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Dante jokingly referred to the members of the Shirogane clan as ninjas, seeing their sorcery fit the image people have of the ancient eastern spies. Because of that, it was more than a little surprising to see that the invisible man he had just caught was covered in tight black garments, with only a narrow slit through which his eyes were visible.

Actually, Dante wasn’t sure the man’s eyes were supposed to be visible. They were bulging through the mask, as if they had popped out of their sockets. His left shoulder was crushed between Dante’s bionic fingers, and his chest was caved in. He also seemed to have vomited quite a bit of blood. On the ground nearby, a katana lies on the ground. From the looks of it, Dante’s attacks had dealt quite a bit of damage, even if he hadn’t felt it himself.

’... Ah...’

The guy was dead. Though there was no hole through his body, most of his internal organs had been crushed, and nothing could bring him from that. Dante was under the impression that a few punches wouldn’t be enough to finish off the Shirogane Sorcerer, but apparently, he was wrong.

’Well, no mat-’

The moment he thought it was over, the corpse vanished from his grasp. He had relaxed his fingers a little, and by the time he thought to press with them again, he realized that there was nothing between them anymore.

’A second one!?’

As he leaped back into the smoke screen, Dante felt like an idiot for assuming that there was only one of them around. Every time he had fought against one of those bastards, they were always in teams of at least two, which didn’t make much sense, since being imperceptible didn’t seem like it would work well in a team. The alarms in his head rang once more, forcing him to become more alert.

Just then, a powerful wind blasted through the intersection, blowing away the dark green smoke in one go.

Exposed once more, Dante immediately found himself the target of bullets fired from several directions.

The snipers were back, and they wasted no time shooting at him. This time, the silent one joined them, and Dante failed to notice their bullet until it was too late.

If he hadn’t shut his pain receptors earlier, the hole blown through the back of his right leg would have set his brain on fire. The injury was much worse than what he had suffered earlier, and though the Nanomeds he injected earlier might be able to stop the bleeding, his mobility was going to suffer tremendously.

The laser trick was unlikely to succeed a second time, so he had to quickly find a different way to expose the ninjas. He also had to deal with the snipers, seeing as they were getting on his nerves.

’Go get them.’

[Are you sure?] Volcan asked.

’Do it!’

Something flew toward Dante just then, its movement no different from that of a butterfly. The insects had long since gone extinct, and the only place one could see them was in movies. Dante knew right away that something was wrong about it, but by the time he got a look and realized it was made out of paper, an entire swarm entered the corner of his vision. He could barely react as they shot forward all at once, washing over him like a blizzard.

The butterflies were made of paper, and their wings were exceptionally sharp. They could barely put a scratch on his arms, but his legs were a different story, and so was his face.

’Damn it!!!’

The swarm passed, and another silent bullet came for him. Gritting his teeth, Dante took off running, ignoring the warning signs from his injured leg. As expected, the swarm turned around and came after him again. He searched for the Sorcerer controlling them, but the bastard seemed to be hiding well.

"Tsk..."

At that point, Dante knew he had no choice, and so he hid behind a nearby vehicle and sent the text.

[Dante: Alright, big guy. Your turn.]

The truck he pressed his back against belonged to the obsidian cyborgs he had just defeated, and as sturdy as it was, the swarm of paper butterflies still shredded its outer shell. As the sting of another cut came from his left cheek, Dante pushed himself up and looked for another shelter. A loud bang drew his attention just then.

A short distance away, a massive statue made of pure muscle stepped out of a ripped garage, dragging the corpse of a dainty woman by the leg. The scene would have looked horrifying if not for the falling confetti, which told Dante that the swarm used had been eliminated.

"C’mon, boss, you called a little early!" Riot said with a grin.

"Shut it and keep your guard up," Dante replied. "We got some invisible motherfuckers around here."

He sent him another text with more details and turned his attention to the other hunters. By this point, those who remained were reconsidering their life choices or maybe thinking of a different approach. Dante took the chance to inject himself with ankther doze of Nanomeds and prepared for what’s to come.

[Dante, we might have a problem.]

’What is it?’

The pause that followed erased the annoyance he felt, and he immediately took the matter more seriously. Volcan sounding hesitant could only mean bad news, but even though he had guessed that much, he could never have imagined what his resident AI would say next.

[I am unable to connect to the androids stationed at the Sanctuary,] Volcan said. [I am afraid they had been destroyed.]

Dante’s eyes slowly widened, and his perception accelerated to the max once more. Several thoughts ran through his mind, but his body was already on the move, turning away from the battle.

The weakness of his injured legs didn’t even register as he took off running, but before he could make it far, the danger bells rang loudly in his head, and he was forced to raise his arms to block, even when all of his senses told him nothing was there.

"You aren’t going anywhere."

Just as the voice reached his ears, the air in front of him grew hazy, and the form of a man clad in matte black showed itself.