The Industrialist

Salt Caravan, North Mountain route, 40 miles North of Axe Central City

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***

He could not deliver instructions anymore for a retreat as all of his comrades were overwhelmed with the skirmish.

Nathan decided to engage himself in the fight. He ran down steeply from where he perched, sped up fast, and jumped high above the obstructing boulders, covering 200 meters distance for only three heartbeats.

He was fast, racing towards death. He had never run that fast before. Even before he was free. Even before he was not human anymore.

As his feet reached the road, he jumped high, above the lasers hitting random directions. He hung for a moment at the top of the chaos. It was weird for him as if the wind was pushing against his descent.

Then he realized, in between his fingers were Chiroptera and it explained his slow descent. Not only that, he discovered that he could maneuver to angles. Luckily for Nathan, the wind blew strong from above.

Leveraging his flight, Nathan decided to land on the third carrier where the surprise party settled in a dump box that groundlings could hardly reach.

The Rhino was pushing the second carrier hard but it was slowed down by dozens of laser firepower concentrating his flanks.

Then he landed. He felt the solid metallic ground dented below his feet as he landed.

About 15 policemen and Robotic police humanoids were startled upon his landing, his feet shook the carrier gently enough to create a stir.

"Enemy on board!" One policeman noticed and alerted his comrades.

"What’s that, hideous!" The other said.

"Kill it!" They screamed behind their sophisticated masks.

They turned their weapons towards him, however, he managed to evade their aims. The lasers missed their mark, others hitting on friendlies. He caught one humanoid robot to its head with his fingers clasping to its metallic face.

Then he squeezed hard and the metallic head was crushed, oil dripping towards his arms.

He felt invincible.

The policemen had their sophisticated armor, strapped weapons on their suits, and coveralls that protected their skins from the harsh environment. Their robotic counterparts were humanoid forms, powered by an AI operating system. They were much heavier than the humans and a lot stronger.

Their armaments were intimidating to ponder for other human beings. However, it felt no difference for him.

A surge of dark power emerging from his core heightened his senses, and encouraged him to push further his physical capabilities.

It was not easy but he was shocked by his strength. Then he ducked again, his moves feigning left and right, confusing the aiming weapons. He caught one policemen’s crotch and threw the human overboard, effortlessly. The other one, he bumped it with his shoulder and the enemy’s body crashed against the other policemen.

He could not read his movements too, as if the fighting was innate and utterly muscle reflex. Animal instincts took over his being, and his thoughts and the noise in his head were silenced.

Only peace.

His movements almost seemed involuntary, but effective. His senses were heightened, nearly knowing the future. He felt the vibrations of the coming dangers, triggering his senses, and the dangers never touched him.

Then after five heartbeats, all the policemen in the dump box of the carrier were either dead or incapacitated.

After the skirmish, he inspected the dumb box and was shocked by the blood that painted the floor. Limbs were detached, innards were thrown out, and heads rolled on the ground.

This is power.

A hovercraft passed by and it evaded his reach. It circled back and fired at him and one laser had charred his thigh. He decided not to evade the shot. His body told him that he could take it.

Testing the laser’s power.

It was painful, though. The burning sensation dug deep into his skin, to his muscles, and invaded his bone. The ooze came out, his blood, jet black and thick. The miasma came after but he ignored it.

Then the hovercraft came nearing, his lasers were coming too. He evaded them, especially to where his uncovered parts would be.

His wound would intervene in his jumping strength. He could not reach the enemy again with his condition.

But he felt the charred tissues turned cold, he felt his fibers were rejoining again. Healing. The pain dissipated to an accelerated state.

Then he screamed to the hovercraft, his essence told him so. His esophagus released a sharp noise, voiceless, his neck strained to have accommodate such power. The sound waves came forth distorting the circuitry of the board. Electricity surging from its rotors, burning the equipment at the same time.

The policeman crashed from behind and it exploded.

Rhino managed to destroy the second carrier. It did not tip it over to its side, however, it crushed the carrier, metal against exoskeleton, until the carrier imploded from the leaking fuel tanks.

The explosion burned nearby enemies in the process. The screams came, even one survivor ran with flames at his back. He took out his mask, regaining his breath from the fumes he ingested inside his suit. But the contaminated air suffocated his lungs and died right after.

The fumes were tasty. The blow had caressed his face.

Its salt load wasted to the atmosphere and into the ground. Another success.

No more salt for tonight. Such importance of the mined salt gave no meaning to them. But the Instructions were absolute. Such questions and doubts will not be entertained.

He saw Johnny finishing off a few remaining robotic policemen at the rear. His flaccid arms sprayed poison, a mist of green fog, onto his enemies and killed them instantly. Their skins seemed to accelerate the aging for a tremendously short time, disintegrating flesh and muscles beneath their skins.

However, robotic police won’t be affected by poison. He choked them instead and pulled their heads off from their bodies. His flaccid arms somehow turned to constrictive Boas that would lock the prey to perfect immobility.

If Johnny would infiltrate a city, he could kill hundreds of human beings for a second.

He admired his brother and was glad that Johnny was his Adjutant Overlord.

The Battalion Overlord was happy to witness Johnny harnessing his power. It was new to him too. Thanks to the Entity, they were given additional powers and strength, harnessing their full potential.

These gifts forced them to leave all human essence behind them, killing every wisp of human rational thinking.

There was silence, only the flames had sung together with the whistling wind. The growls of the survivors were faint and exhausted.

’Pity my brothers,’ He saw them regaining themselves.

If he had not intervened in the fight, they could have been defeated.

Two of the hovercraft policemen managed to escape. They could not catch up to them. Even the groundlings, couldn’t. His speed was way slower compared to the hovering machines.

Rhino seemed to succeed his wounds, and the yellow accents of his fur and skin subsided turning to black again.

’Easy there, Rhino,’ It had no name. But he had the authority to give names as their Overlord.

’Our brethren fell,’ Johnny said from where he stood. ’May their essence be guided by the Entity.’

’The Entity will guide the fallen to eternal rest,’ Nathan responded.

Some groundlings had survived and flocked towards him. The Carrier dump box served as his pedestal. Some groundlings were licking their wounds, a few of them licked the wounds of Rhino.

’Do we need to go after the escapees?’ Johnny asked.

’No need,’ Nathan responded. ’They would tell the tale. Inject fear unto them. To tell them, that we are coming.’