Athanasia: My Hacker System

Chapter 298: Killing Cyborgs

The world shook violently, a localised earthquake that knocked the primitive fire pits sideways.

In the heart of the oppressive fog, in the middle of a dark, cold night, a pillar of terrifying purple fire erupted, reaching toward the sky and illuminating the territory for miles.

The few thousand humans scrambled to their feet, clutching their swords and weapons, their eyes wide with a mixture of terror and awe.

As the purple light faded, the fog didn’t return. It was pushed back by a few cores John threw to clear a spacious area at once, revealing a mighty, high-tech fortress where only fog and darkness had been seconds before.

"A... A human?!!!"

The cry went up from the nearest camp and spread like wildfire. The sight of a fortress appearing out of thin air was more shocking than a lightning strike. The thirty groups, usually so protective of their independence, began to converge.

They moved in unison, drawn by a pull they couldn’t resist. Thousands of eyes locked onto the single silhouette standing atop the highest rampart: a youngster, clearly human, draped in the aura of a conqueror.

"My name is John," he said, his voice loud, strong, and clear. He looked down at the sea of faces. "I’m here to save you from the depths of the abyss you’ve been living in."

For a moment, there was a deafening silence. Then, a cacophony of voices erupted.

"You... Who are you?"

"What paragon do you serve? Is this a gift from them?"

"How come you have such power? Where did that purple fire come from?"

"How did you clear the fog?! We’ve been trying for weeks!"

"Is that a pulse cannon? It looks fierce!! Is it real metal?"

The exclamations came one by one, then, as a dam bursting, a flood of questions and desperate cries followed. John stood there, watching them, and felt a sudden, unexpected pang in his chest.

Seeing so many humans gathered in one place, hearing the familiar cadence of their voices and the shared desperation of his kin, sparked a dormant melancholy within him.

’Damn,’ he thought, a tight feeling forming in his throat. ’How much did I miss being with people?’

He never thought such a part would exist in himself, the craving to be with his kin, more of his kin, not with Bulltors, not with other races.

It felt priceless being surrounded by his own kind again. The familiar murmur of human voices, even in their confusion and fear, was a balm to the isolation John had endured while leading the Bulltors and battling cold, unfeeling machines.

And yet, there was still something he needed to do first. The air was thick with questions, but before he could build a future for these people, he had to burn away the rot hidden in their ranks.

"First of all, I’m not following any paragon," John stated, his voice cutting through the noise like a blade. He needed to distance himself from the entities that treated this world as a chessboard.

Seeing how fixated the crowd was on that single point made him realise exactly why they remained divided into thirty petty factions; they were looking for masters to serve rather than strength within themselves.

"I’m a sole human who came here like the rest of you, dragged by force and against my will into this shitty pocket trial."

"Pocket trial?" One man whispered.

"What does that even mean?!" Another shouted from the back.

As John expected, even the simplest facts regarding the nature of their situation were unknown to them. They were living in a dark room, unaware that the walls were closing in. However, he could tell from the silence of a few individuals in the crowd that some had already harboured their own grim doubts.

"Before we go any further, there are traitors among you," John said. He wasn’t just wasting time; as he allowed them to ask their frantic questions, his eyes were moving, scanning every single one of them using his ability.

Many of them possessed genuine abilities; he spotted a few who were almost as intimidating as Nikolas from the academy. Yet, among the sea of high-potential humans, many weren’t human at all. His Frame picked out the anomalies.

After spotting every last one of them, he finally added, "Let me first clear the weeds before we can progress any further..."

Without adding a single extra word, John acted. He activated his Speed Lock ability. He dashed toward the clustered groups. His scan had revealed a startling truth: two of the thirty groups were composed entirely of cyborgs, over two hundred. The rest were scattered as spies within the other groups, r to keep the humans in a state of perpetual, manageable weakness.

The moment John moved, he turned into a blur, vanishing from the eyesight of every person present. The air cracked with a sonic boom. The next moment he appeared, he was in the dead centre of the two cyborg-heavy groups, unleashing a barrage of the Lightning Dance special effect.

"You..." one of the traitors began to shout.

"He isn’t human! He’s trying to kill us all!" a spy in another group screamed, pointing a shaky finger at John. "Let’s kill him before he murders everyone!"

As John launched his assault, the infiltrators grew panicked. They screamed and shouted, trying to incite a riot, but the reality of the situation was far beyond the comprehension of the humans present.

John didn’t look human right now; that was a terrifying fact for the onlookers. In the eyes of the shivering survivors, he was a war god, a monster with no equal. The opening clash was a show of violence that ended in seconds, leaving over two hundred dead on the ground.

Those who tried to flee were instantly devastated by his inhuman speed, caught and crushed before they could take ten steps. And that wasn’t the end of it.

John turned his eyes toward the other scattered spies hidden amidst the innocent groups. Meeting his cold gaze drove a shiver down their spines. The traitors realised the game was up; they turned and ran as fast as their legs could carry them, running as far away as possible from the death reaper.