Chapter 17:

Let There be Blood II

Memory 262


was unimaginable. We weren’t able to contact any officials who could handle or evacuate the area before we could reach there. We feared it was part of Dan’s plan to keep everyone in the dark, but that was true. Even at our fastest we still needed at least 14 minutes to reach there, we required help but no one was there to help us.

Fourteen minutes later when we reached there, it had already started. It wasn’t a blast this time, but rather attacks by the same robots we fought in the north.

Everyone was trying to run away from there. We never expected them to launch an attack on City Square. Some civilians were found dead and some were injured. We were trying our best to help as many people as we could, and in the meantime, we also had to fight those robots.

There were more than 20 robots this time and if they worked together, they could easily obliterate us. It was time to test our training.

Xiba and I were ready to fight the enemy but our previous encounter had taught us to never let our guard down and always destroy their minds before ending the fight. We Informed Gravast and Aja about our encounter and how we managed to tackle them before. This helped them fight efficiently.

“Let's destroy them and send that bastard a message, that we shouldn’t be the ones worried but instead, he will be the one in fear as to why he chose to do this,” Uttered Gravast.

“Let’s do this then,” Xiba went ahead.

My only concern now was that we could get seriously hurt if we didn’t work smartly.

“Hey, Xiba! Wait for me!” I rushed toward her, we had to end this quick.

I joined Xiba and as well as Soya, we three were handling six robots, and Gravast and Aja were handling the remaining four. Everyone had to deal with two opponents at a time but in an open battleground, it was much easier to handle.

“Soya, Edra! We only need to focus on disabling one at a time, the rest can be evaded until then. Just don’t let them hit you,” Xiba suggested as we were advancing. It was a simple strategy to divide and conquer.

“We hear ya!” Replied Soya in agreement.

“So, who is going to start this? We need to land a blow, evade and then land another blow, back-to-back in order to prevail. It sure won’t be easy as it sounds,” I proposed while looking at Xiba as we were running.

Xiba was the closest to the robots but instead of engaging in the fight she tried confusing them, Xiba looked over me and winked. I knew it was time to implement our move, which was to pretend we are trying to hit them by jumping forward and letting the person behind hit them instead. As the robots try to evade and block the former opponent it gives us the opening to land a solid blow.

Xiba jumped, and the robot started moving toward her, but when she reached close to the punching range as she could of her opponent, she went the other way. The robot was confused as we predicted and it gave me a clear opening to land my punch.

“Haa-ya,” I screamed as I punched into its head. The robot was now wobbling and couldn’t stand properly. Soya finished it off by landing another blow and we had only five more enemies left. It looked like this fight was in our favour but they all noticed and regrouped. We expected it to happen, they re-joined each other when they got defeated the last time we fought as well. They had an advantage this time. It can be much more difficult to beat five merged robots than three.

“Oh, shit here we go again,” I uttered as they were transforming.

“They are not transforming into a human-like thing this time around, I guess,” said Xiba shockingly, observing them transform.

“Can see, so how are we gonna fight this big blend of robots?” Responded Soya.

Xiba closed her eyes and started concentrating for a minute. She had an intense look on her face, she was breathing slowly, and it seemed she was contemplating some sort of plan to defeat the big robot.

“Xiba are you with us?” I checked. She wasn’t responding, so I gave her a few seconds and after that, she opened her eyes.

“We destroy it by brute force,” she proposed.

Soya’s eyes widened “Un… By the way, that thing is coming at us,” she said.

We turned our heads and there it was, a fifteen-metre-tall giant robot rushing at us with great speed. Xiba took the spotlight by jumping right in front of it, she slid underneath it and used a steel pipe she found fallen on the ground to hit the motor on its leg.

Soya and I were amazed to see her perform so well; she was technically one of the weakest among the five of us if we compared brute force. She knew how to handle her body in a way that could defeat any opponent with more strength than her and use whatever she had efficiently.

She is a great fighter indeed, had to give her that, I thought.

She yelled, “Do, I need to invite you two.” As both Soya and I were just getting swayed by her fighting charm. Xiba was an important member of our team, both of us recognised that during that fight, especially Soya. Moreover, Xiba was a driving force, she was unstoppable. She motivated me in more than one way to do as much as I could in any situation I was thrown into. It was my time to prove that I was also capable of handling big messes like this.

Soya and I, also grabbed whatever we could from our surroundings and started launching our attack on the giant robot. We managed to hit it effectively at first, but as the fight progressed, the robot started adapting according to our fighting style. It predicted and evaded many of our attacks even when we did some chain attacks. We all were getting frustrated because of the unusual behaviour of the robot, which seemed to learn from the experience as we were fighting.

“Guy, we need to change our plans or use some different methods be—” The robot’s left arm hit Xiba's arm which threw her to the ground.

“Xiba!” I yelled worryingly. I need to protect her before that robot crushes her, is what I was thinking.

I rushed as fast as I could towards Xiba, I used all my strength in this run, and I managed to reach before the robot’s leg could. I was covering her body with my own and then she noticed.

“Edra, your arm…”

My arm was transformed completely and my hands were looking more like a claw, I knew I was going to lose some crucial memory of mine after this transformation but I thought it was worth taking the risk.

“What the hell just happened.” Soya was spectating from the side.

“No point regretting it when you are going to die anyway.” I beamed at Xiba.

It was an amazing opportunity to test what this body was capable of achieving if we were put under extreme circumstances. I was burning my energy faster because of the transformation, so I needed to be quick and effective as I could.

“Stay back you two, I am going to do it myself. Destruction is what I seek now!” I roared after saying that. “Come at me you piece of junk,” I whispered as I pointed my hand toward it.

The robot made a jump and it was coming closer to me, but I wasn’t concerned. I jumped towards it as well before it can even land. I was looking straight up, the robot was growing closer and closer, and then we clashed in the air. The robot landed first and later I landed on top of it, I had taken down both of its arms and the only thing that remained of it were its body and legs on which it was standing.

“That was quite impressive! I have never seen him in that form.” Soya gazed at Edra.

“Well, I wish I never would’ve seen him transform again. Even though his strength is helping us defeat this robot, we still need him to be himself. A body without a conscious is just a hollow shell,” Xiba responded to Soya, giving her insight into Edra’s truth.

“You guys did make some progress with Arren, right? I wasn’t present that day,” Soya was looking puzzled.

“It only helped him use his strength more efficiently without transformation and disable nanobots present in his blood, nothing related to his memory was fixable. I fear we might lose him if we kept fighting like this in future as well.” Xiba was concerned and thought it was her fault as she was involved in Edra’s parent’s death.

“That’s a bummer, what a horrible way to go down, you guys at Hope are actually crazy.” Soya looked at Xiba.

“I don’t— I am not a part of it now!” Xiba glowered at Soya.

“I know, I know,” look at him though, he is going all out. Looks like he doesn’t need us now, the fight will be over in no time.

As Soya was saying that, Edra was sent flying toward her. “Aaah!” Edra landed on Soya.

“What the heck, I thought I had this fight in my hands,” When I looked down, I was on top of Soya, her cheeks were turned red like a cherry, but she wasn’t saying anything. “Are you okay?” I asked.

“Hmm,” she nodded.

“Lookout, Ed-” Xiba was trying to warn me that the robot was trying to crush us by stepping on us, but I managed to get up and evade that with Soya in my arms.

“Someone is enjoying themselves too much in a situation like this,” Xiba was pulling Soya’s leg.

I put her down immediately and jumped back into the action. It was time I finish him off properly.

I recalled that when I concentrated my energy on a single punch during my first encounter with Bright, I was able to easily cut through his sword, so I thought the robot shouldn’t be that difficult with my improved powers and training.

“Hey, you two, stop verbally fighting with each other and try distracting him for a minute if you can.” I notified Xiba and Soya about it and started relaxing my body.

“Does he really think we can do that?” Soya said hesitatingly.

“The robot's movements are too fast now, so it might be difficult, but we can at least distract it for one minute working together.” Xiba was confident that even with its ridiculous speed, they could still handle it for one minute before Edra delivers his final blow.

I was still focussing on relaxing, I felt calm and I could hear the voices from my childhood. My mom, was it? She always tried teaching me lessons through small tasks and choices. I wonder how she would’ve reacted if she saw me like this. It’s weird, I am in a life-threatening situation right now but I am feeling relaxed and better than ever. Maybe I should’ve tried meditating long before, I thought.

“Hey! How much time is he gonna take?!” Soya asked.

“I don’t know! Just keep evading and running. I am pretty sure he will be done anytime soon,” answered Xiba.

It was time to hit it, I gathered all my emotions and strength to this last punch. It was going to be the final blow that will decide the outcome of this battle here. They have already destroyed enough public space and I don’t want to let them turn the city into a battlefield anymore.

“Xiba! Soya! Move aside!!!” I screamed.

I started running towards the robot, I knew this was enough to take down this piece of junk.

“Here I come!!!” I jumped high above the robot, came flying down on it and landed my punch straight onto its main body. I knew I could do this.