Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 600: Black Skull. (Part Thirty Two)

"Damn it, Rose! Why did you!"

In his enhanced perception, Dante took in the state of his purple-haired friend, using Absolute Awareness to feel the true extent of the damage she had suffered. His Red Oni helmet was gone, unequipped by a careless thought. Not caring anymore, he brought out his Storage screen and quickly took out a Nanomed pen, flicking the cap off before stabbing it into her shoulder.

Rose winced, the pain snapping her out of that momentary daze. Her eyes returned to him right away, slowly widening with disbelief. Her lips parted, uttering a silent word.

"SHUT UP!"

Dante snapped at her, shocking himself more than he shocked her. Gritting his teeth, he earnestly tried to drill holes through her with his gaze alone. He wanted nothing more than to grill her right then and there, but words allied themselves against him.

"Why do you… why…"

"Dante… I…"

"Well, well, well,"

Just as she was about to say something, Rose lost her voice once more. The two gazed at the dust that had yet to settle, catching sight of a silhouette emerging from behind it. A gust of wind blew from the entrance, and the lights flickered back on, casting a fluorescent glow on the skull face's form. Watching him dust off his clothes, seemingly unperturbed, shock struck both Dante and Rose like a lightning bolt.

Looking up, Jason regarded them with a smirk that warped the ink covering his face, rendering it all the more terrifying.

"If it isn't the infamous Red Demon. I guess the rumors that reached me weren't exaggerated."

Crashing into the warehouse, Dante took in its interior and immediately followed with an attack, holding nothing back as he struck to kill. The fist he swung was enhanced by both the Force and Impact Amplification of his 4-3's Module, as well as the Instant Acceleration of 5-3'. It contained enough power to split an entire skyscraper in half, and yet the bastard who took it was entirely unharmed. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"C'mon now, don't look so surprised. Did you think you were the only one who got powers?"

Confusion rampaged through Dante's mind like a storm, and its source wasn't how unscathed the skull-faced bastard appeared to be. The reason he had rushed over was Volcan informing him that they lost track of Rose, which led to them finding out about the EMP weapon she used, as well as who she used it against.

With his resident AI informing him that she was fighting two Level 4 Ascended Cyborgs, Dante failed to notice that the one he charged at wasn't the Black Skull Lieutenant Harry.

"Jason…"

"What now? You don't look too happy to see me," the bastard chuckled. "Am I not your main target? I was sure you went on this entire rampage just to smoke me out, didn't you?"

"Dante,"

Rose's trembling hand grasped at his jacket, spilling icy water on the rage burning its way out of him. She coughed a mouthful of blood, causing him momentary panic. Thankfully, that was only excess blood trapped in her lungs. The Nanomed were doing their work, and most of her life-threatening wounds had already closed.

"Listen… you need… to get out of here…" A coughing fit cut her off, but she fought through it, anxious to inform him of something she considered very important. "You can't… fight him… he…"

Narrowing his eyes at her, Dante reached under her legs and lifted her up. The two vanished from the warehouse, leaving Jason to stare at the spot where they had been. Barely a second later, Dante appeared again, bringing the mocking grin back to Jason's face.

"Oh, you ain't going to escape?"

"You said it yourself, didn't you?" Dante replied, tapping the cracked asphalt with the claws of his bionic feet. Looking up, he gave the command to equip the red oni mask. "You are our main target.

His calm eyes disappeared behind the furious glare of the red demon, and an instant later, he was gone. Jason lowered his posture into what can barely be called a fighting stance, and his eyes shot from one corner to the other. The way his hands were raised made it seem like he was preparing to swat a particularly fast fly off the air, and in his mind, he believed that he was about to do exactly that. Dante's leg was already heading for his face by the time his perception caught up.

TAANGG

A shower of orange sparks accompanied the high-pitched clang.

"Tsk…"

Vanishing once more, Dante appeared at a different spot, this time launching a punch. He did the same from a different direction, then another. Clicking his tongue one more time, he put some distance between himself and the skull-faced bastard. A strange power was preventing his blows from reaching their target, and as things are now, he couldn't see a way to get around it.

"What's wrong!?" Jason jeered. "Getting tired already!!?"

Dante paid him no heed and turned his voice inward.

'Volcan?'

[I do not have enough data.] His resident AI replied. [I can ascertain that he is an Intermediate Genome, likely a Catalyst user. As for his threat Level...]

'An Intermediate?'

With how many Ascended foes he had fought lately, it was getting a little difficult to keep in mind that there is no real correlation between how low on human cells someone is and the amount of power they can wield. The right ability could push an Intermediate Genome all the way to Level 4, and the same went for cyborgs. The fact that he could block a blow from a peak Level 4 proved that the skull-faced bastard wasn't someone who could easily be shrugged so Dante had to quickly find a strategy.

While he was analyzing the clash from a moment ago, his opponent continued his attempts at taunting.

"What's wrong!!? Did the cat get your tongue!? You are good with your fists, right? C'mon! Try to land a punch on me! Do it just once! Let's see if you can!"