The power armour spurred to life, operated by the fast learner One, it didn't take long for him adjust to the controls. It could be said that it was his first time using this thing since getting it from Marco. He toggled the weapons control system and other crucial operating modules to his liking while making his way out of the vehicle and then onto the lonely wasteland.
Steven didn't follow. Not because he didn't want to, but because One already subtly denied his assistance via the previous hints. He sighed, making the decision to stay on the outskirts of the wasteland, waiting for One.
He remained at the mouth of the narrow passage, leaning against fractured concrete, arms folded loosely — but nothing about him was relaxed.
The sanctuary streets were restless. Eyes lingered. Whispers spread. A hunt always stirred the malicious and greedy nature of these unstable mutants. It was a world of survival of fittest. Stalking, robbing and killing were not new here.
He wasn't there to assist but to prevent interference.
If anyone attempted to sabotage One's hunt, If anyone thought the "little kid" was easy prey, he'll make an example out of that bold ant. They will experience something even more terrifying than death. In the worst case scenario where he gets attacked by multiple strong ones, he'll just have to go on a rampage. Unleashing a bloody slaughter wasn't out of the question.
Far in the distance—
A thunderous metallic detonation rolled across the sanctuary edge.
Steven lifted his gaze.
"It's started."
The air grew heavier near the boundary.
The Armament's influence weakened here. Pollution thickened into visible currents, drifting like oily mist.
The Warframe absorbed it greedily. Intake vents along its spine glowed faintly as energy converted and circulated.
Each of One's steps cracked the asphalt beneath reinforced feet.
Sensors swept. Silence.
Then—
A flash.
A colossal dark-red Lazer like beam tore through the haze.
Impact.
The laser struck the core center of the Warframe.
The world detonated in heat.
The Warframe screamed as armor plating flared white-hot. The force hurled One backward, carving a trench through broken ground before slamming him into a collapsed transport hull.
Warnings exploded across his visor.
Thermal spike.
Armor compromise: 11%. Structural strain detected.
The smell of ionized air filled the cockpit.
One exhaled once.
He's still alive. He rose through smoke.
The abomination stood fifty meters ahead.
Dwarfish and fat, compact with dense muscle beneath greyed flesh.
Its face was a flat circular disk, humming violently with swirling pollution particles — no eyes, no mouth.
Just a furnace.
The disk brightened.
A high-pitched hum drilled into the air.
One moved.
Five razor-thin beams erupted outward in a radial sweep.
He rolled left.
Two of which sliced through where he had previously stood with one managing to graze his shoulder, melting outer plating instantly.
Signals flared.
Armor compromise: 19%.
He raised his rifle left arm and fired some rounds continuously.
Thermal rounds exploded against the creature's torso with brutal precition. Flesh blackened with black blood exploding at the moment of contact. The injury rapidly crystallized with black stripes of flesh falling off, then regenerating.
Pollution crawled like liquid veins, sealing damage in seconds.
"It has rapid regenerative traits. Really troublesome", One thought.
The hum spiked from the creature's revolving face plates again but this time, it was louder and the beam released was a single destructive crimson energy.
One braced for impact. The laser strike was too fast, not giving him any time to even react. He could only raise his right gunner arm to release a red energy shield.
The blast struck his raised forearm shield. The ground cracked and caved in when stuck by the concentrated energy beam followed by a terrifying vibration and blinding red light.
Metal softened under sustained contact.
Armor compromise: 34%.
Heat bled inward.
He disengaged and countered immediately with his mounted shoulder cannon. It locked on the monster's figure, obscured by the thick smoke released by the energy explosions.
Charged, then released a compressed sphere of thermal force. It erupted outward, warping the air as it struck the abomination's face and detonated.
The creature was hurled through skeletal building frames, debris raining down in waves.
But even with such a sure hit, One did not advance. He just patiently waiting with the cannon still locked on it's target.
The rubble and wrecked remains of destroyed equipments were violently pushed away and the gravely injured creature rose.
Half its facial disk was gone.
Pollution swarmed violently, rebuilding it in grotesque spirals.
It emitted a low-frequency vibration that rattled the ground.
It's next charge of the energy beam was different. It was larger, Denser and more concentrated. It was as if the creature knew of it's inevitable demise, thereby overcharging itself with more pollution energy to deal more damage without caring about its life or death.
If that attack were to hit directly, the core of his armour would be breached.
One diverted some energy to the propulsion system of the armour.
The Warframe roared forward, asphalt exploding beneath its feet.
The beam fired, point blank.
He twisted mid-lunge with his terrifying armour controlling ability and the push from the propulsion systems.
The laser grazed his right torso instead of the center mass containing the core.
Armor components liquefied and peeled away in glowing fragments.
Lights flared inside the cockpit.
Armor compromise: 48%.
But it was still within the minimum threshold of damage for the Warframe.
The creature was already within his range of attack.
Both rifle-arms reconfigured, locking into sustained output mode.
He unleashed a relentless barrage directly into the creature's facial core.
Recoil hammered through the cockpit with smoke and loud sounds of the ongoing barrage of attacks exploding outwards.
The creature's disk shaped face destabilized.
Pollution spiraled chaotically.
The abomination convulsed.
One drove the shoulder cannon forward and released an overcharged blast straight into the center.
The explosion swallowed them both in white light.
Shockwave, crater and then silent.
Smoke drifted slowly across a twenty-meter scar in the earth.
The abomination lay broken, its facial disk shattered and unstable.
It's regeneration flickered, desperately trying to mend its numerous injuries together, but its broken body couldn't absorb more pollution energy to complete the process. It was much more weaker now, it's regeneration stuttering.
One made it's way towards it.
The Warframe hissed.
Metal cracked softly as cooling systems fought thermal overload.
Armor pollution resistance: 52%. The ink energy Corrosion was already increasing, slowly eating away at the armour.
The creature twitched, trying to gather more pollution energy for absorbtion and regeneration but it wasn't fast enough.
One flexed his suited right arm.
The rifle assembly retracted inward with a grinding mechanical shift. Plates rotated. Internal segments extended.
Energy conduits realigned.
The arm elongated, compressed thermal energy condensed along its edge.
With a sharp mechanical snap—
The arm morphed into a massive energy saber.
A blade of dense, vibrating light erupted outward, humming with barely contained fury.
The air around it shimmered from heat distortion.
The abomination attempted one final pulse.
But it was too weak and too late.
One stepped forward and brought the saber down in a single brutal arc.
The blade passed cleanly through the creature's neck.
Resistance lasted less than a second.
Then separation.
The head fell, still faintly glowing, rolling across fractured earth before splattering black corrupted blood violently.
The body collapsed.
But this time, no amount of energy will be enough to regenerate it's head.
Pollution dispersed aimlessly into the air.
One deactivated the blade.
The saber retracted, armor plates sealing back into rifle configuration.
He bent and gripped the severed head while observing the body with a regretfully expression. He really wanted to take the body with him, but he knew it was impossible for now. It would be very weird if he returned with both the head and the body of the slain creature since the body was basically useless to the sanctuary mutants. He sighed at such waste while admiring his trophy.
The plates were still humming and rotating faintly.
This was his proof of kill.
He turned toward the sanctuary.
Behind him, the crater smoked under a red-stained sky.
One down, one more to go.
And deeper in the wasteland—
Something had felt that explosion.