The resurrected Serpent once again towered before the puny RT unit. Slithering out of the ground, all the damage which was caused by the Railgun was for nothing. Within minutes it managed to recover.
Jay : I swear, if there is a phase three to this thing, I'm going to destroy it with my own hands.
The Serpent hissed at Jay as it locked in on him.
Jay : AI, how much power do we have left?
AI : Considering the massive energy consumption, about fifteen minutes.
Jay : How about taking mana from outside?
AI : I do not have those capabilities yet. I have not been runified. Runes are implanted on it based on the user's request. Think of it as customization.
Jay : Requesting support from FX unit. If anyone is not engaged, please come for support.
FX-06 : This is FX-06. Heading toward your location. ETA four minutes forty-nine seconds.
When finally Jay was a bit relieved from his worries, the Serpent had managed to get itself together and pounced toward Jay, trying to drag it into the ground once again. Jay jumped to the side and used the thrusters in the leg to get out faster. As it burrowed into the land, Jay took out a grenade and put it in the ground, thus resulting in an underground explosion which collapsed the crevice.
AI : I have analyzed it, and according to my theory, it has a machine which is runified and uses metal magic to fix itself. And it is somewhere the Railgun didn't reach.
Jay : Any tactics?
Before AI could say anything, the ground started shaking again. As Jay shouted to the side, the Serpent once again sprang up high in the air. This time, once it was high up, it generated centrifugal force by spinning its entire body and using it like a whip. It used its tail, which was extended with a huge blade on its back attached to the tail. It slammed the tail where the RT unit's location was. Jay quickly took the sword which was hanging behind him, suspended by the frame, and held it up to take the attack.
The blade crashed into the blade Jay was holding, and due to the sheer power, it even dug a little into the blade before Jay deflected it aside. Jay quickly took the other suspended minigun and started shooting toward its skin. But the bullets couldn't pierce them. Instead, some of the scales lifted themselves, and turrets from the scales came off and started shooting the RT unit itself.
AI : Targeting the turrets with guided missiles.
The RT unit, which was running, still kept running, and through the shoulder it again released another batch of missiles which exploded on the Serpent, disabling seven turrets and exposing a part of the Serpent's body.
AI : It is now confirmed that there is nothing between the tail and the small intestinal region.
The snake lay flat on the ground and once again, like a whip—except the head—it moved horizontally with the intention of striking its blades at the RT unit. But the RT unit jumped in the air and activated thrusters. Thus it could hover in the air until the blades passed from down below.
Jay : I can't believe he was right. It is difficult to fight inside this.
AI : Agreed. But you have not been trained in handling this unit, and still you are carrying yourself well enough—with my help, of course. Statistically, an untrained soldier would only have a 0.01% chance of survival, but you are doing well enough.
Jay : Thanks for the motivation. After this, I want to try that power armor.
AI : I would consider otherwise. Every time you move, the steel frames come close to breaking. Some of the mana supply of the ship is just being used to maintain those steel frames. The moment you take a step in the power armor, it might break an—
AI : Watch out.
The Serpent hissed and opened its mouth, and from it flames emerged and burned its surroundings down to ashes and cinder. The bloody soil was finally being cleansed with fire, but the soil still remained infertile. Scorching the earth, it raised its head in order to burn the RT unit.
Jay : AI, is there any chance you can cloak me and open the hatch?
AI : Yes. But the chance of your identity being discovered will increase.
Jay : Then open the hatch and let me get engulfed by flames.
AI : I cannot allow physical harm or suicidal tendencies. This goes against my ethics.
Jay was running circles around the Serpent. When he was in the front, the flames would target him, and when he was in the back, both the blade and flames would target it.
Jay : Can you survive hot temperatures?
AI : Yes, I do have the capability, but not the power right now.
Jay : How do you generate power?
AI : I have built-in generators, passive solar panels, controlled nuclear fission, and nuclear panels like a small Dyson sphere. Mana generators, user-initiated mana generators.
Jay : What? I can't understand you in this situation.
There was heavy noise just from the Serpent, and the AI was explaining, which caused Jay to lapse in the explanation.
AI : OK, let me explain again. I have built-in gener—
Jay : Stop, dammit. Just upload it to the Learner.
AI : The Learner technology which is very vola—
Jay : You are not helping. Oh shit.
The Serpent, which was only hitting Jay with vertical ground slams, once again swung its tail horizontally, and Jay didn't realize it early enough until the blade had almost completed a 279-degree rotation.
AI : Taking evasive maneuvers.
The joints which were tightly holding the mechanism together dislocated, and the main body touched the ground, just barely avoiding the blade by a few centimeters. Jay also faced this as the substance which was once beneath him slammed him like a wall. As it recreated the soil while the frame rotated, Jay was rotated horizontally.
Jay got up, and so did the RT unit. But this had come with a price, as the Serpent once again lunged toward the RT unit, bearing its fangs, and this time they weren't able to avoid the fangs.
Jay : AI, do something.
AI : Can't do anything. Joints have been locked and low power. Would you like to start the self-destruct sequence?
Jay : Just open the hatch.
AI : Approved.
The RT unit's front hatch opened, and inside was the whirring of machines and many blades. On the walls were circuits and runes. The AI was maintaining its shield to prevent the fangs from cutting the mech down into pieces. But its power was quickly running out.
Jay : Mecha Tempest. You should have just stayed dead.
AI : Please evacuate. I only have twelve seconds left.
Jay : That's good enough.
Jay had recovered a huge chunk of his mana.
Jay : Now die.
From Jay's hands, legs, and torso, huge flames emerged which, like a ferocious volcano, erupted from his body—except his head and reproductive organs—which, like gas, expanded in the open space and scorched the insides of the Mecha Tempest. And with this process, the runes were burned away.
Jay : Gooooood. Sehr gut.
Jay felt the iron and the metal untouched by mana as its insides were ravaged by flames. But it still tried to recover, rewriting the runes on itself to start recovery.
Jay : Time to return to scrap metal.
Jay stomped his leg on the scorched metal surface which was distorted due to the melting, and some of the metal was converted to molten metal. Jay used metal magic by stomping his leg inside the Mecha Tempest, which grounded an airborne Tempest, confining it to the ground.
Jay : You will die slowly for damaging my mech.
Jay : Shatter.
The tail of the Mecha Tempest shattered, and the blade broke off into pieces. The debris was sent flying, and many of the pieces got stuck in the ground. And as there was no one in the area, no one was hurt.
Jay : Collapse.
This command caused the tail region to its middle region to collapse into the ground and completely break off from the body, like high gravity had acted on it. The Tempest had been halved, and it had no power of its own.
The fangs which were clutching the RT unit opened, and the RT unit was thrown on the ground. Jay quickly climbed into the RT unit and asked the AI to back off. But instead of stepping back, it rolled, as its joints had been damaged.
Jay : I see your eyes. You are still alive, trying your very best to regenerate yourself. I could have ground you to dust, but I won't.
Jay fitted himself inside the frames once again.
Jay : The mana generator, quickly.
The same pedestal came up from which he charged the Railgun. Jay poured the remaining mana inside it, and it generated electricity enough to once again fix its joints internally.
AI : Power at 10%.
Jay : AI, how much ammo do we have left?
AI : We have thirty rockets and lots of machine gun ammo. But I would recommend saving them for the next enemy.
Jay : No, launch all the missiles at the Tempest.
AI : Are you sure?
Jay : Yes.
The back of the RT unit opened, and from it the entire stock of missiles it was holding was emptied as the missiles launched themselves into the air, only to drop down and launch themselves at an already dying Mecha Tempest.
The missiles crashed right into the mech and exploded, giving rise to a huge explosion, as each missile which crashed into it just added fuel to the fire. The explosion was so big that it was seen from far away.
Jay : Hahahahahaha. That felt good.
The explosion subsided, and what was left could not even be called a piece of metal anymore. All the metal had melted, and the surviving pieces were deformed to such a degree that it would be better to let it be. The ground had been thoroughly scorched and turned black, and a massive crater had formed which at least spanned a few feet wide and a few feet deep.
Jay : This is heavenly. Truly delightful. This is a very beautiful art piece. Now, who's next?
Suddenly a transmission came.
King : No one. Return back to the base. You've caused enough mayhem.
Jay : No, I can still fight.
AI : Negative. The unit is severely damaged. Any more fighting would lead to destruction. Overriding rider authority. Returning to the base.
Jay : No, I can still fight. AI, turn to the battlefield.
Jay was fueled by adrenaline, and in his mind there was only one thing: fight.
AI : Setting course back home.
Jay : Noooo, I said turn back.
With whatever strength it had left, the RT unit once again took flight. When it took flight, one of its arms which was caught in the fangs fell to the ground, and a loud thud sound was heard. Jay turned back to see that the hand itself had fallen off.
Jay : (sighs) Fine, let's go home.
And with this, Traykor would soon be seeing a mess that Jay had created.