Mechanical whizzing filled the hallway, a click at every step.
Yugo led the way. "The Electrical room is just up ahead. Have you figured out anything yet?" he whispered to me, panicking.
"I don't know anything about this guy. How would I defeat him?" I whispered back, my expression remaining neutral. 'Running out of energy at a time like this…'
"Stop talking." Talos asserted, startling both of us.
To use my ability, I'd have to get electrocuted again. More initial 'energy' gave me a more potent physical boost, as well as longer active time.
When I was struck by lightning, I was sure I had stored a large amount of 'energy', enough to reach maximum potency. At the same time, I was under the impression I had a lot of active time left.
'Is my ability simply inefficient in holding energy or…?'
One after another, I felt parts of my life I never questioned cloud my thoughts.
I had a mysterious ability to boost my physical prowess beyond human limits ever since I could remember. However, I never tried to pry into its origin or details, other than vaguely trying to figure out how it worked.
The reason for that was simply that I didn't want to connect its origin to something greater. I simply wanted to believe what I had was unique and mine.
"Hey!" Yugo whispered. "Stop spacing out!"
I glanced at him and replied. "Do you have any idea why it would want to find the Electrical room?"
"I'm not very sure. But my theory is that it's probably going to shut down the power in the entire South Feather. Maybe it's for a bigger scheme they planned for a full-fledged invasion." Yugo replied in a hushed tone.
We felt two cold metal fingers poking our shoulders, shining brilliant bronze. "I said, stop talking. What's worth whispering about when your life is on the line?" Talos' eyes lit up red.
Yugo flinched and walked faster. I kept up with him.
"Slow down." We heard Talos guard's mechanical voice yell. Yugo and I turned around to see Talos walking at the same slow pace we were at a second ago.
"Mr. Yuuhi, you wanted to know about this guy, right?" Yugo face lit up as he stared at the Talos guard. "I just remembered. These guys have so many weaknesses, it's not even a joke!"
"So, we can defeat it pretty easily?"
"They're mass-produced commercial guards. They're weak to extreme heat and high pressures. It doesn't help them that they're slow while not in active combat, and super energy inefficient!" Yugo explained.
We walked at a faster pace than the Talos. "Still, how would we go about defeating it now?"
Yugo looked over his shoulder. The Talos guard was a knight-like robot made of bronze, along with a bronze sword hilted at its waist. Yugo pointed lower, at the ankle. "Remove one bolt from that ankle, and it's as good as dead."
"I'll murder you both! I said, slow down! What the hell are you murmuring about?!" Talos pointed its finger at us again.
We slowed down and stood beside Talos again. 'For some reason, it's only been threatening us the whole time. Is it because it's lost and desperately needs a guide? No, then there's no reason for it to let me live.'
A thought crossed my mind that immediately washed away my doubts. I glanced at Yugo. 'They're super energy inefficient.'
"Hey, Talos guard, can I ask you something?"
"What?" Talos replied.
"Are you perhaps out of energy?" I asked in a casual, friendly tone.
"Ah. Was it obvious?" Talos replied.
"…"
"…" I quickly slipped behind Talos and held his bronze arms open in a tight grip. "Hurry up!"
Yugo knelt and began unscrewing the bolt on its ankle.
"Let go. Let go, human." Talos struggled, shaking its entire body.
"What an idiotic robot." I tighten my grip on Talos' arms. "Asking enemies for help."
Yugo jumped back as soon as he unscrewed the bolt. "Done!"
A prismatic liquid shot out of the ankle cavity, onto the floor.
As I felt the robot's resistance weaken, I let go of the arms and stepped to the side. "Let's go. We'd better make it to the Commander's office before any other Talos guards show up."
"Yeah. We've been set back quite far from the office." Yugo started to jog. I followed his lead.
As we were about to turn a corner, I felt a chill run down my spine.
"Emergency Neutralisation activated." A robotic voice stated.
Both of us ducked instinctively as the hallway was horizontally cut in half by a hot laser.
The Talos guard's shadow loomed over us. I glanced at its ankle to see that it's still leaking the prismatic blood. In its hand was an unsheathed bronze sword.
'A last stand to take us down with it.'
Yugo pulled out the scalpel from his coat. "What the hell?! Since when could they do that?!"
"Aren't you supposed to know that?" I yell back.
The Talos guard released swift slashes as Yugo and I dodged back, its sword glowing red.
It appeared behind me as a blur. Turning my body, I swung my fist at its chest plate to push it back, only to hit air.
My body froze as I got slammed through multiple walls and finally into a bright room.
"Conscience Release!" Yugo shouted, pointing the scalpel at the Talos guard, a brilliant green beam pierced through its chest plate, exposing a mechanical heart.
I felt my body quiver.
I didn't have enough energy to activate my ability to heal faster either.
Blood spewed from the corners of my mouth as I struggled to stand up.
'Two times in the same day…' I wiped the blood off my chin and spit the excess out.
The Talos guard stood stationary for a second before dashing towards me.
"–?!" I put up my guard, flinching at the tackle.
However, to my dismay, the Talos guard was hurriedly plugging the cords from the mechanical heart on the panel I was standing next to.
Only then did I realise we were standing in the electrical room. In the middle, a massive bright blue core stood rotating with massive cords and wires attached to the glass casing.
"Initialising repairs. Initialising repairs." Talos twitched unnaturally. "Unable to repair. Excessive Vitality loss.
'What the hell?'
Yugo huffed as he held the scalpel, pointing it towards Talos again. "Mr. Yuuhi, please dodge."
I step in front of the Talos guard with my arms wide. "Wait! If you use that attack again, it might pierce through the glass casing and mess with the core!"
Hearing my plea, Yugo let down the scalpel.
"Re-initiating Emergency Neutralisation. Move, Human." Talos swung its fist at my back, but I ducked and tackled it onto the panel.
Its hands grabbed onto my belt and threw me to the side. I crashed into metal boxes and winced.
'Electricity. Energy. How do I get electricity out of that core without doing anything dangerous?!'
The Talos guard picked me up and threw me to the opposite wall like a rag doll. I felt the air rush out of my lungs from impact.
Since the guard was out of Yugo's sight, he rushed to the room in a panic.
"Yugo! Don't come any closer!" I yelled.
I heard the footsteps end abruptly. The Talos guard pointed its sword at me and released another flurry of laser slashes. I pushed myself to dodge them, moving to the diagonal end of the room.
Even then, I ended up with a small scratch on my shoulder. 'Shit. I'm overthinking again! Whatever happens, happens.'
A clean slash and the sound of glass cracking were heard.
The glass casing of the core crumbled.
'The core is still acting normal…' I slowly walked around the core, keeping my hands on the twitching Talos.
Yugo stepped back. "What're you doing?!"
"Thank you, Talos." I plunge my right hand into the core of blinding electricity. White-hot flash filled my eyes, and I let out a piercing scream; however, the sensation was gone as soon as it came.
"Discharge."
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