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Quote of the Chapter:
"Don't be useful. Be useless. So nobody can use you."
— Sun Tzu.
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One floor above the battlefield, Lady Rose moved swiftly through the corridor with a briefcase in each hand. Her heels clicked rhythmically against the polished floor as she continued toward the rendezvous point.
Everything should still be under control as the Director was more than capable of handling two defective clones, while Ox and Mantis had already moved to intercept them.
All she needed to do now was deliver the Drivers, simple or at least, it should have been as without warning, the floor beneath her exploded.
[CCCRRRAAAASSSSHHHHH!!!]
Concrete and steel erupted upward in a violent blast as a body burst through from the level below. Lady Rose instinctively leaped backward as chunks of debris flew past her face, and dust flooded the hallway almost instantly as she narrowed her eyes. "...Clone #1113."
Lorenzo slowly pulled himself out of the rubble with an exhausted groan. "...Uuuggghhh..." He staggered to his feet, clutching his chest with both hands. "My ribs..." He coughed violently. "...I swear that guy punches harder than my dad's disappointment..."
Lady Rose calmly set both briefcases at her side. "It appears your escape ends here."
The moment Lorenzo heard another voice, his entire body locked up, and his instincts screamed at him to attack, or he might die, and without even looking, he reacted on pure instinct. "...HAAAH!!" He planted one foot forward and threw a full-powered straight punch with absolutely zero restraint.
Lady Rose's eyes widened immediately. "...Wai—"
[BBOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!]
Lorenzo's punch landed squarely in her abdomen, and the impact detonated through the corridor like an explosion. Lady Rose folded around the strike before being launched violently down the hallway. She skipped across the floor twice before she slammed through the wall at the far end of the corridor.
[CRASH!!]
Pieces of concrete burst outward before she bounced off the floor one final time and rolled to a stop before silence filled the corridor once more.
Lorenzo remained frozen, with his fist still extended. "..."
"...Huh?" He slowly looked down at his own hand. "...I..." Then toward the woman lying motionless in the distance. "...I didn't mean to hit her..." A long pause followed. "...Actually..." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "...I didn't even know she was there." His attention finally shifted downward.
The two metallic briefcases had slipped from Lady Rose's hands during the impact and now rested on the floor only a few feet away from him as Lorenzo blinked and bent down to pick them up. "...Oh, and what's this?"
He looked between the two identical cases. "Please don't explode..." After a brief moment of hesitation, he undid the latches.
[CLICK.]
The lid slowly lifted open. Inside was a sleek belt, neatly secured in a molded compartment, its metallic frame resting above several pieces of equipment surrounding it from below.
But Lorenzo barely noticed the belt as his eyes had already locked onto something else resting inside the case, a cellphone.
Its body was silver with black side panels wrapping around its edges, giving it a rugged, industrial appearance. The upper half was dominated by a crimson digital display panel, while the lower half folded open into a numeric keypad like an old flip phone.
On the back sat a circular crimson-and-gold module with a horizontal insertion slot, and just above it was a narrow green indicator strip.
The moment Lorenzo saw it, his entire body froze, and his breath hitched, eyes wide as saucers, before leaning his face closer until it was only inches away. "...There's no fucking way..."
His trembling hand slowly reached into the case, carefully lifting the phone out as though it were a priceless artifact, and flipped it open.
[CLICK.]
The familiar keypad, display, and unmistakable design. Lorenzo's entire body began trembling. "...That's..." He looked back toward the belt, wait, no, the DRIVER, then at the phone again. "...THAT'S THE FAIZ PHONE!"
His voice echoed throughout the hallway. "NO FUCKING WAY!" He nearly dropped it before desperately catching it again. "IT'S THE ACTUAL FAIZ PHONE!"
Still refusing to believe his own eyes, Lorenzo immediately reached for the second briefcase. His hands were shaking so badly that it took him two tries to undo the latch.
[CLICK.]
The second case slowly opened he noticed another belt alongside its corresponding equipment, and like before, Lorenzo's eyes immediately locked onto the phone.
Unlike the silver-and-red Faiz Phone, this one was finished in a darker metallic gray with black side panels. Running down its center was a striking vertical red strip bordered by gold, while a large circular gold frame dominated the lower half of its front. Crossing the circle was a bold Χ emblem.
His body began to vibrate in excitement as he quickly put the Faiz phone in its case and closed it, already deciding that he would take the Kaixa driver since he thought it looked cooler, before he took up his own case and grinned like a lunatic. "I could die happy right now just from holding these cases..."
His eyes were almost sparkling from the joy. "...This...this is peak fiction." He looked toward the ceiling with tears nearly forming in his eyes. "...Thank you, God."
A weak groan suddenly echoed from the other end of the corridor. "...Ugh..."
Lorenzo turned his head and saw Lady Rose slowly push herself onto one elbow, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth as she glared at him with undisguised fury, a single trembling hand stretched toward him. "...Stop..."
She coughed violently. "...You...damn clone..." Her fingers reached out desperately toward the briefcases clutched against Lorenzo's chest. "...Give...those back...at once...!"
Lorenzo looked down at the cases, then back at Lady Rose. "..." Without saying a single word, he slowly raised one hand, still holding the case, and extended his middle finger.
"..." Lady Rose's eye twitched.
Lorenzo kept the expression on his face completely serious. "...Respectfully...no."
Lady Rose's composure finally cracked. "...You..." Veins bulged slightly across her forehead as her hand clenched into a fist. "...Insolent..." She slowly forced herself back onto her feet despite the pain still wracking her body. "...Very well..." Her voice lost all of its previous elegance. "If you insist on making this difficult..." A faint white light began to seep from beneath her skin, and cracks spread across the floor beneath her heels as the air around her grew noticeably heavier.
Lorenzo's smile slowly disappeared. "...Ah...that's probably bad."
The glow intensified, and her silhouette began to distort; the flesh along her arms rippled unnaturally as a violent white radiance swallowed her figure whole.
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Meanwhile...
Back on the lower floors...
"...NIGERUNDAYOOOOOO!!!" His bare feet pounded against the concrete as he clutched one aching arm while sprinting through yet another hallway, his heartbeat pounded in his ears, behind him, however...
[BANG!!]
[BANG!!]
[BANG!!]
Mantis ricocheted between the walls with terrifying precision, every leap carving fresh cracks into the facility as the insectoid Orphnoch relentlessly pursued his prey. "You cannot escape forever!" Mantis's distorted voice echoed throughout the corridor.
Victor didn't even look back. "I'M NOT TRYING TO ESCAPE FOREVER!" He vaulted over a collapsed support beam. "I'M JUST TRYING TO ESCAPE LONG ENOUGH TO THINK OF A PLAN!"
[BBOOOM!!]
Mantis kicked off the ceiling, and his bladed arm carved downward.
Victor barely threw himself into a slide beneath the strike as the blade split an entire support pillar clean in half.
[SHRRRAAAKKK!!]
Chunks of concrete crashed behind Victor as he scrambled back onto his feet. "...WHY ARE YOU SO COMMITTED TO THIS?!"
"You are a defective clone."
[BANG!!]
"You are an anomaly."
[BANG!!]
"You should not exist."
[BANG!!]
"And anomalies like you..." The floor exploded beneath Mantis as he accelerated once again. "...must be erased."
"...Wow." Victor somehow found time to sound offended. "...That's honestly kinda rude."
Mantis answered by swinging both blades.
[SHRRAAKK!!]
Victor ducked beneath one and twisted around the second before immediately turning another corner. "...COME ON!" His eyes darted frantically around the hallway. "There has to be something I can use to get out of this...Anything..."
[BBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!!]
The entire facility shook violently as Victor nearly lost his footing, and dust rained from the ceiling. "...The hell was that?"
Even Mantis paused for the briefest moment as his crimson eyes shifted upward. "...Ox..."
Another explosion echoed somewhere above. Victor slowly blinked. "What the hell is that idiot doing...shit I gotta help him, or he's gonna croak..."
His eyes immediately shot toward the ceiling. "...Think...there has to be a way up..." He scanned the corridor while still sprinting. "A staircase, elevator...something...GHK—!""
Suddenly, Victor's throat was grabbed, and he was immediately lifted off the ground. His eyes widened as Mantis held him effortlessly by the neck with one hand, and the insectoid Orphnoch's crimson eyes glowed brighter than ever before, and somehow, despite his monstrous face...Victor could swear Mantis had a wicked, predatory grin spread across Mantis's armored features.
"...You wish to go up?" His distorted voice carried an unsettling amusement. "...Allow me to help."
Victor's eyes widened. "...Wait...WAIT WAIT WAIT—!"
[BBOOOOOOMMMM!!!]
The floor beneath Mantis exploded as he leapt, still gripping Victor by the throat, and Victor himself barely had time to scream before—
[CCCRRRAAAASSSSHHHHH!!!]
The ceiling exploded apart, and concrete rained downward as the pair blasted into the next floor. Victor's back slammed into the broken concrete first. "...GAAAAAHHHH!!" Yet he didn't even have time to breathe.
[CCCRRRAAAASSSSHHHHH!!!]
Another floor burst apart, and steel beams twisted around them as Mantis continued forcing his way upward like a missile. Victor's body bounced against chunks of concrete with every level they passed. "...UGHH—!"
Then another and another until finally.
[CCCRRRAAAASSSSHHHHH!!!]
Mantis burst through one last floor, and the very instant they cleared it, he twisted his body in midair. "...We've arrived." Then, without any warning, Mantis drove him downward with overwhelming force.
[BBOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!]
Victor slammed into the floor, creating a massive crater beneath him as shockwaves rippled throughout the corridor, and broken concrete launched in every direction. "...GHHAAAAAAAHHHHH!!" He let out a few coughs and groans in pain as his body spasmed from the impact, as every bone in his body screamed in protest from him trying to get back on his feet, but before Victor could even push himself up—
[THOOM!!]
A colossal hand slammed directly onto his chest as the floor beneath him cracked even further. "...GUHHH...!" Victor looked up, and his pupils immediately shrank as Ox towered over him. The Orphnoch looked down with glowing crimson eyes before slowly increasing the pressure on Victor's chest. "...UGHHH...!" Victor immediately tried to push the massive hand of himself, straining every muscle in his body, but it didn't even budge an inch; trying to move his arm felt like trying to lift an entire mountain.
Heavy footsteps echoed behind Ox as Mantis calmly landed beside his partner, folding one bladed arm behind his back."...Thank you, Ox." The massive Orphnoch simply responded with a low growl in response.
Victor forced out a nervous laugh despite wheezing for air. "You wouldn't mind," He coughed, "...Going easy on me..." Another cough. "...I'm fragile, y'know..." He smiled weakly. "...Newborn and all..."
Mantis slowly walked closer until he stood over Victor's head. "The time for mercy has long since passed, boy." Mantis looked toward Ox, and without a single word needing to be exchanged, Ox understood exactly what he wanted,as the giant Orphnoch crouched slightly and grabbed Victor by a leg.
"...Wait..." Victor's eyes widened. "...Hold on..."
Ox looked toward Mantis, who nodded once and in the next second—
[BBOOOOOOMMMM!!!]
Ox leapt into the air while still holding Victor and tossed him as he slammed through the ceiling once more.
[CCCRRRAAAASSSSHHHHH!!!]
However, before gravity could even take hold, Mantis appeared above him and drove a kick into Victor's stomach, sending him straight back down. "...GUHHHHK!!"
[BBOOOOOOMMMM!!!]
"...AAAAAGGGHHH!!" Victor crashed through the floor again, only to be caught by Ox from below. Ox immediately launched Victor upward again and was intercepted by Mantis in midair, who continued to use his body as a ball. At the same time, Victor's vision spun from both pain and being sent flying constantly, while the facility echoed with repeated explosions as the two Orphnochs wordlessly beat him into the ground.
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To be continued in the next chapter of
RIDING THROUGH THE OMNIVERSE!
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