Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 55: Bets.

Once again, Flare the hero and the bronze villain clashed. The former was much faster, but the latter had the durability to withstand everything she threw at him.

The fight was being filmed from every angle, and though the footage was intended to be used in a promotional video, a number of important people were allowed to watch it live.

Epsilon was one of those people. He could have watched it alone in his office or from one of the front seats surrounding the hexagon cage, but instead, he decided to make the experience more interesting by seeing it along with the red-haired youngster they recently captured.

After the first few blows were exchanged, Epsilon glanced beside him, eager to see what kind of expression he would have. The result surpassed his expectations.

The youngster -who calls himself Dante- had turned pale, his mouth quivering as he stared at the screen. Utterly terrified, he turned to Epsilon with furrowed brows.

"Please stop the fight!"

The moment he cried that out, Epsilon couldn’t help but smirk behind his mask. From a list of emoticons displayed on his OAM, he chose a (0_0) to display on his mask.

"And why would I do that?"

The genuine fear and worry on the young man’s face exposed everything. Though the nature of his relationship with Flare was still unclear, it was obvious from the start that the two of them were close, that’s what made exposing the heroine to danger a sure way to break his front.

Glancing at the screen once, the youngster shifted his eyes back to Epsilon.

"You’re still taking bets for this, right? C’mon! Don’t tell me it’s already closed! You should have told me beforehand!"

For a while his words echoed in the chamber without registering in anyone’s mind. Thinking he heard him wrong, Epsilon turned to him with a (☉_☉)

"You... what are you talking about?"

The young man stared back at him, the fear in his expression swapped with confusion.

"This... it’s an underground fighting ring, right?" He asked. "Aren’t you taking bets?" freewebnøvel.com

"You...you want to bet?" Epsilon felt his confusion rising as well. "On your friend?"

"What friend?"

The fight on the screen seemed to enter a new stage. Flare seemed to realize that her fists weren’t going to win her that fight, that’s why she decided to use another one of her powers.

Slamming her fists together, she sent a shower of sparks scattering in her surroundings. The fabric of her gloves changed color, quickly becoming bright orange. The air around shimmered, and the next instant it ignited into brilliant flames.

"Well, The bell already rang." The young man heaved a sigh and faced the screen. "I guess it’s a little late, huh?"

Not saying anything, Epsilon wiped the pixels from his mask and faced the screen as well. Gaining a metallic body doesn’t rid a person of their fear of fire. It’s for that reason that the bronze man lost his ferocity as soon as Flare added flames to her attacks.

"That man just used Catalyst, right?" The youngster asked. "Is that the product you mentioned before?"

"Good job figuring it out," Epsilon replied, using a (¬_¬) to add to his sarcastic tone. "Exactly what you have been looking for this entire time, right?"

"More like what she has been looking for. Though I won’t say I’m not interested."

"It is understandable. Our product is the only way lowlifes like you can get a taste of true power."

"Heeeh... I actually know a guy who got to try it before."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yup. I thought he got high and dreamed it all. I mean, he looked no different from the usual, and he was asking for money so... yeah."

"Hmmm...."

"So... is it true?" The youngster asked.

"What is?"

"They say Catalyst doesn’t last long. A few minutes at most. Is that true?"

"Ah, in a way, yes." Epsilon nodded. "Your friend probably got to try one of the samples. Those don’t last long."

"O~h, so the real product lasts longer?"

"Obviously. About an hour for each pill."

"That... doesn’t sound like a lot..."

The questions kept coming one after the other and Epsilon patiently answered each one. He was aware that the red-haired youngster was trying to gather more intel on the drug and didn’t mind telling him. That said, it got slightly tiresome at some point.

The situation has developed in the opposite direction of what he originally had in mind. Even as Flare began to lose the advantage granted by her flames, the youngster didn’t seem the least bit troubled, continuing to watch as if the whole thing was no different from just another sports match.

Seeing no fun to be gained from letting things play out, Epsilon heaved a long sigh and selected something on his OAM. The screen flashed and the image disappeared, leaving only a dark nothingness.

"Wha- hey! I was watching that!"

Epsilon selected the (-_-) emoticon to appear on his mask and turned to face the youngster.

"Hey, can you cut it out already?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" The youngster replied "C’mon! Turn it back on! Let me finish the match at least!"

"This act you’re putting on, what’s the point of it?" Epsilon asked. "We already know you were looking for us. I know for a fact you are the Diver who had been trying to hack our servers."

"Diver? Me?" The youngster raised an eyebrow. "Do I look like a Diver to you?"

Frowning under his mask, Epsilon picked an emoticon but chose not to use it.

"You certainly don’t look the part, but..." Pausing, he ran a few programs on the only other active NIM in the room then shut them down one after the other. "It takes a lot to shut me out of something with a signal, and you have been doing it for a while now."

In today’s day and age, it is almost impossible to find someone who doesn’t have a computer of some kind on them. The most common were Neural Interface Networks which allow people to interact with electronics using their thoughts, among other things.

NIMs were a type of personal computer, and personal computers are like a fortress that contains one’s data—the digital manifestation of their life. Epsilon prided himself on being capable of breaching most digital strongholds no matter how fortified they were. So long as he has the time and tools, no gates could remain closed for him, and no walls could withstand his siege.

His latest challenge appeared to be nothing more than a wooden shack that would fall at the weakest breeze, but nothing he did allowed him to peek at its interior. He tried sneaking in, breaking its door, smashing its walls, setting it on fire, but nothing worked. He even tried the oldest trick in the book and sent in a Trojan horse, but it was just burnt outside, its ashes left for the wind to blast away.

"I’m impressed, honestly." Said Epsilon. "How are doing it? You can’t exactly run a lot of things on a NIM of that size, and you don’t have a Tool Box on you. This place is cut from the outside world too so it’s clearly not a cloud-based computer or remote helpers."

"Maybe the thing’s just busted." Said the young man. "Did you consider that?"

"Busted as in broken, or busted as in too powerful?"

"Definitely the former."

Silence returned to the chamber, this time accompanied by a tension that quickly rendered the air far too heavy. As his thoughts began to lean toward the less civilized options, Epsilon breathed deeply once more and calmed himself down.

"So it’s busted, huh?" He selected the (^‿^) emoticon to appear on his face. "That’s weird. It was working just fine when you broke into Rechy’s house."

"... Who?"