"If at first you don’t succeed, hit it harder." — My drunk uncle.
Micah felt the blade make contact with something hard. It was the Nexus Core. It was right there.
But the Stone-Ape’s threat-detection protocols fired before he could push the blade any deeper.
The construct’s optical sensors flared from red to blinding white. Its internal systems flagged the knife entering the chest cavity as a critical breach, and in that fraction of a second, the Stone-Ape did something Micah didn’t see coming.
It abandoned the overhead smash, stopping both fists mid-swing.
Its left arm dropped and swung toward him with incredible speed, far too fast for something made of solid rock.
Through Beast Analysis, Micah saw the trajectory a heartbeat too late.
He was attacking in mid-air when the creature’s left arm came straight toward his ribs. He tried to dodge, but his body was fully extended mid-air, leaving him with very little room to escape.
There was nowhere to go.
"Oh shi—"
The forearm caught him in the ribs, again! It wasn’t a graze but a full clean devastating connection.
CRACK!
The sound was so loud, that somethings also vibrated in the vault.
Two ribs didn’t fracture this time, they broke completely. Micah felt them go, felt the sharp fragments shift inside his chest like broken glass sliding under his skin.
Then he was flying.
The force of the hit launched him sideways through the air like he’d been shot by a catapult. His body tumbled once, twice, arms and legs flailing with zero control.
The titanium wall came up fast.
He hit it back-first.
BOOM!
The wall dented inward. The impact drove every scrap of air from his lungs.
He slammed into the metal and dropped to the floor, his knife spinning away into the darkness with a metallic clang.
For three full seconds, Micah couldn’t move, breathe, or think.
His chest was on fire. Every time he tried to inhale, the broken ribs shifted and sent a surge of pure agony through his upper body.
He tasted blood. He’d bitten clean through his own tongue.
The Stone-Ape was already turning toward him. Its optical sensors locked on with that same cold, mechanical precision.
The chest plates had sealed shut again, hiding the Nexus Core behind thirty centimeters of reinforced stone.
The construct took a step forward,then another. Each footfall sent vibrations straight up through Micah’s knees into his shattered ribs.
"Get up. GET UP!"
Then the system spoke.
[Ding!]
[Physical injury detected.
Source: Stone-Ape Construct, Mark IV.]
[Injury severity: CRITICAL. Two rib fractures. Internal bruising. Concussion detected.]
[Enemy strength exceeds host baseline by 300%.]
[CRITICAL-TIER GACHA PULL GRANTED.]
"Finally! Where the hell were you when my ribs were still inside my body?!"
The golden roulette wheel materialized in his mind. It spun faster than ever before, the colors blending into a single streak of white.
The wheel spun through cycle after cycle, gold and crimson bleeding together until the colors became almost blinding. Then it locked.
A crimson orb hovered at the center, pulsing once, then twice, before exploding.
[Talent Acquired: Kinetic Disruption (Active, Critical-Tier)]
[Kinetic Disruption: Allows host to calculate and replicate the exact vibrational frequency of any physical material. By channeling Flux Energy through physical contact, host can shatter atomic bonds of dense materials, bypassing external armor entirely.]
[Range: Physical contact required.]
[Flux Cost: HIGH.]
The knowledge suddenly became a part of Micah. It wasn’t something he learned or had to figure out. It was simply there, as natural as knowing where to put food.
He suddenly knew how vibrations worked at the molecular level. He could see the frequencies in his mind, each material singing its own unique song.
He didn’t need to cut through the Stone-Ape’s armor. He needed to make the armor tear itself apart.
The Stone-Ape was close now. The red veins across its body pulsed faster, feeding more energy into its limbs.
Micah looked at his knife lying on the floor a few meters away. The blade was bent at an ugly angle from where it had hit the wall.
Useless now, even if he could reach it. He left it there.
He planted one foot on the ground, then the other. His ribs screamed so loud he almost dropped back to his knees. Something inside his chest shifted wrong, and a fresh wave of pain rolled through him so hard his vision swam.
’Breathe. Shallow breaths. Don’t move the ribs.’
He straightened up. Dropped his arms to his sides. Assumed a low boxing stance. Feet shoulder-width apart. Knees bent. Weight centered. Hands loose and open at his sides.
No weapon. No armor. No plan B.
Just his body and whatever the system had just stuffed into his brain.
The Stone-Ape stopped three meters away. It studied him for a fraction of a second, optical sensors flickering as it recalculated his threat level. A broken, bleeding human standing in a boxing stance against a four-meter stone guardian.
If the construct had a sense of humor, it probably would have laughed.
Instead, it lunged.
The right fist came straight at his head. A direct, overhead hammer blow meant to crush his skull like a rotten melon. The air howled around the strike. The stone fist was so close that Micah could see individual cracks in its surface.
Through Beast Analysis, he read the trajectory. The fist was coming in slightly off-center. The construct had rushed the strike, and its weight distribution was wrong. Too much forward momentum. Not enough lateral stability.
’If I just move my head, the fist misses. But that doesn’t help me. I need it to miss badly. Badly enough that it gets stuck.’
Micah waited.
The fist filled his vision. Close enough to feel the heat radiating off the stone. Close enough to count the dust particles on its knuckles.
He shifted his weight onto his back foot and leaned left. Not a full dodge. Just enough.
The Shadow Step Boots fired. A short, sharp burst that snapped his upper body six inches to the side.
The stone fist grazed his ear. Literally grazed it. He felt the rough stone surface drag across the cartilage, and his ear burned hot. If he’d been half a second slower, his head would be paste right now.
But the fist kept going.
It buried itself into the titanium wall directly behind him.
KRAKOOM!