The Undying Transmigrator

Chapter 12: Powerful Enemy

Vanessa watched as the mercenaries retreated into the distance.

Rather than forcibly confiscating their equipment to aid in the coming battle, she had used her own savings to transform this ruined city along their necessary route into a deadly trap capable of swallowing her enemies whole.

She had no certainty of victory.

Even judging by surface-level intelligence - with her being a military-grade augmented soldier facing ordinary humans - her emotional regulation systems kept malfunctioning.

Fear that should have been eliminated, hatred and disgust that should have been suppressed, all suddenly surfaced, pulsing through her consciousness.

Though she'd never met them before, she felt these were mortal enemies she couldn't coexist with. Even if she were merely passing by, completely uninvolved, she couldn't help wanting to break protocol and eliminate them preemptively.

Perhaps this was what they called "a psychic's intuition."

Despite Dreamweaver Entertainment being second only to the Corporation in psychic research, they'd chosen not to eliminate these sworn enemies - which could only mean they had some vile scheme in mind.

No matter. She would correct their mistake.

Time ticked by as the ruined city grew increasingly lethal under her preparations, until finally the convoy appeared within her observation range.She harbored no arrogance, carefully reviewing all gathered intelligence and planning how to utterly annihilate her target.

But...was it truly necessary to kill the ordinary mercenaries who knew nothing, merely deceived by their target?

No. Believing she could surgically eliminate only the target would be the height of arrogance. Faced with such evil, no cost was too great. She couldn't allow his continued existence.

Letting him live would undoubtedly lead to catastrophic consequences!

Vanessa waited silently for her target to reach the optimal ambush point.

Mo Wen felt a chill in his heart.

This ruined city along their necessary route was practically designed for ambushes. He could easily imagine it filled with enemy traps, yet the scout drones showed nothing but an abandoned city with minimal heat signatures.

While the enemy might have chosen another location, it was more likely they'd concealed their preparations.

What would it be? Explosives at key points to collapse surrounding structures? Heavy artillery positioned on high ground for direct bombardment? Stealth drones hidden in corners, swarming on command?

More crucially - how would the enemy deal with him next?

His death sense wasn't infallible - even native creatures of other worlds had occasionally killed him. Would the enemy bypass him to eliminate the others first, or focus fire on him immediately?

"Wait, gang leader," Mo Wen said. "Take the rear armored vehicle. Leave this one to me - I'll go first."

The gang leader considered briefly, understanding Mo Wen intended to act as bait, but couldn't devise a better strategy.

As he moved toward the rear vehicle, he warned over team comms: "Be careful. You're valuable - but dead is dead."

Vanessa felt a spark of satisfaction seeing her target advance alone into the kill zone.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

A chain of explosions detonated as towering structures collapsed around Mo Wen, hundreds of thousands of tons of debris crashing earthward under gravity's pull.

The sky above Mo Wen vanished beneath the shadow of falling wreckage - though not completely dark, flickering with explosive flames.

Stealth drones hidden within the structures weaved through the debris, maintaining evasion while saturating the target area with fire. From elevated positions, artillery nearly indistinguishable from the ruins launched heavy shells and plasma bursts.

The entire city seemed to erupt in violence around Mo Wen.

Vanessa's objective was clear - she would ensure her mortal enemy stayed dead.

Even if it emptied her accounts! Even if it meant being misunderstood and ruining her future!

Should she fall here, nuclear strike drones carrying 100-kiloton warheads would descend upon the battlefield.

In the distance, the gang leader and others who'd expected at most sniper fire or hails of bullets stared in shock.

What the actual fuck! Since when did proper mercenaries field this kind of firepower! This was full goddamn saturation bombing!

This wasn't proxy warfare anymore!

"Fuck!" The gang leader roared. "Alert Dreamweaver Entertainment! These animals aren't playing by the rules - they're fucking seal-clubbing!"

But why hadn't they been targeted as well?

No time for such questions now. The gang leader immediately redirected scout drones toward Mo Wen's last position.

The overwhelming debris blocked visibility; heat signatures couldn't distinguish human forms amidst explosions and flames. Yet surely no one could survive such an ambush.

Still, the bombardment continued unabated, as if determined to erase the area completely.

Vanessa's intuition insisted her target still lived.

Why won't you die? She couldn't comprehend it.

Realizing indiscriminate bombardment was ineffective, she prepared for precision strikes.

As artillery fire tapered off, she linked her vision to a stealth drone - only for it to be destroyed instantly. She burned through five drones and depleted their ammunition before finally relocating her target.

Mo Wen still lived.

His exoskeleton was ruined, combat suit nearly destroyed, over half his skin severely burned, abdomen punctured clean through.

Yet his limbs remained functional enough to wield his firearm and use previously concealed grappling hooks to maneuver rapidly through the ruins.

Still combat capable after this? He's not human!

To Mo Wen, this wasn't even his worst condition. He'd avoided all lethal hits, only taking unavoidable glancing blows while retaining counterattack capability. His Dreamweaver Mk.I ocular implants suffered mere scratches, still maintaining comms.

Unfortunately, survival remained unlikely. At best he'd last slightly longer before returning to the Revival Point.

Misfortune had arrived faster than expected - he'd thought this a simple mission, not this nightmare. Just how valuable was this shipment to warrant such overwhelming force?

Regardless, before dying completely, he had to eliminate his attacker.

The gang leader, having all but confirmed Mo Wen's death, saw the message appear on team comms:

"Still alive. Preparing counterattack. This time, I'm the bait."

The gang leader nearly laughed in frustration.

You fucking idiot! Counterattack what? Look at their firepower! Can't you see how screwed we are?

He and his men should flee.

But he remembered Mo Wen's silent compassion from earlier.

At least hear him out.

The gang leader steadied himself. "What's the plan? I'm not dying for this - I've got kids to feed."