Chapter 203

“You more or less understand, right?

From now on, kill each other.”

At Benedict’s declaration, Vladimir couldn’t hide his bewilderment. He had no grasp of what was happening or how it had come to this.

Five years.

It had already been five years.

He had married Linda, and Sasha had been born—she had grown enough to chatter endlessly like this. But why were Aaron and that android standing here, looking exactly as they had five years ago?

It felt as if he had stepped into a time machine and traveled to the past. Or perhaps Honeycomb City existed on a completely different timeline.

No—wait.

“Time…”

Vladimir felt his head clearing. The drug concentration in his blood was rapidly decreasing under the nanomachines’ detoxification process.

With that, the ‘discomfort’ that had tormented him for the past five years began to shed its veil of hypnosis and suggestion, slowly revealing its true nature.

“Ah… Aaaah…!!”

“D-Dad…?”

“Dear…!”

The hand that gripped his daughter began to tremble uncontrollably. He had sworn to remain steadfast as the head of the family, but the truth before him mercilessly shook his heart.

It hadn’t been five years.

It had all been an illusion.

Everything was nothing more than a daydream.

The woman he believed he had gradually fallen in love with over years of companionship—he hadn’t even known her for twenty-four hours. The child born between them shouldn’t have even properly implanted in the womb yet.

Fake. Fake. Fake.

A false relationship. A twisted love.

A fabricated world. A distorted belief.

In that instant, Linda and Sasha felt utterly unfamiliar. Just moments ago, he had thought he could give his life for them, but now… he wasn’t sure anymore.

He had fallen into the Stingray bastards’ trap. The sensation of his life being completely twisted was enough to send his mind into chaos.

Vladimir covered his face with his hands, barely managing to steady his staggering body. He even felt as if his entire being might melt away, turn to dust, and scatter.

But then—

Someone tugged on the hem of his clothes. When he opened his eyes, a tiny trembling hand came into view.

“……”

The turmoil in his heart began to subside.

Yes, what did it matter?

Even if it had been no more than a brief dream, it couldn’t have been false. Unlike an empty daydream, here stood the proof that he had given his heart completely.

“Phew…”

Vladimir exhaled deeply and turned his gaze.

Within arm’s reach lay a Combat Module.

Come to think of it, the reason he had followed Aaron to this facility in the first place was to obtain a new Combat Module. Ironically, he could only reach it now, when his sense of purpose had nearly faded away.

“Vladimir.”

At that moment, Aaron spoke, warning him.

The threads he extended blocked Vladimir’s path.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

“Aaron Stingray…”

“Think carefully before you decide.”

“As you know, I’ve hated you for a long time—but not anymore. That’s why this situation truly saddens me.”

Ha-ha.

With a bitter laugh, Vladimir grasped the new Combat Module.

Aaron could have easily stopped him, but chose not to. He only sighed deeply and spoke.

“Ciel.”

“Yes~”

“I trust you know what you must do.”

Without hesitation, he drew back his fist—

—and struck the wall behind him with full force.

KWAANG—!

The metallic wall crumpled instantly, leaving a gaping hole. From beyond the speaker came a startled voice.

[What the hell! How did you do that!?]

“Go, Ciel.”

“Got it~!”

Ciel slipped through the hole in the wall with quick, graceful movements.

[Damn it! Catch her before she does anything stupid! No—forget it, I’ll handle this myself! And Mr. Vladimir, as you already know, if you try anything foolish, your family will not be safe. Do your best to stop Aaron Stingray. Understood?]

Click.

The speaker shut off after spewing its one-sided demand. Vladimir bit his lip.

Stop Aaron Stingray.

Benedict hadn’t said “kill him,” but “stop him.” In other words, stall for time—no matter what it took.

That could only mean one thing.

“…You know it too, don’t you?”

Aaron declared,

“You can’t defeat me.”

“You never know until you try.”

“If you follow his orders, the end will only be ruin.”

“I know. But I don’t have a choice, do I?”

“In absolute terms of time, it hasn’t even been a day since you met those you call ‘family.’”

“Time is relative.”

“…Is that so.”

Aaron didn’t try to stop him any further.

He, too, understood that time and relationships did not move in proportion. Aaron quietly withdrew his threads and waited for Vladimir.

Vladimir equipped the modules one by one.

—–

[New device detected]

[Common: Lv.4 High-Performance Energy Battery]

[Common: Lv.4 .50 Caliber Plasma Pistol]

[Arcane: Lv.5 Bullet Time]

—–

“……!”

Two Lv.4 Common Modules—

And… a new Game Changer-class one.

Vladimir recalled the confidential intel he had once heard from the Militech Intelligence Division.

Now that he thought about it, Stingray had supposedly been developing a new Lv.5 Arcane Module.

‘So it was already completed…!’

But why was he able to equip such a thing without issue? The explanation was written in the module’s detailed information.

—–

Description: Temporarily accelerates the body’s internal time to activate Bullet Time.

Note: Since the module was adjusted to match Vladimir Kharitonov, its performance has been reduced by approximately 30%.

—–

As expected.

So this was the level of Stingray’s technology.

People might consider Militech almost equal to Stingray, but in reality, the difference was this vast.

No, this wasn’t the time to be thinking such things.

While the nanomachines in his body read the module’s data and began restructuring his cells, Vladimir moved Linda and Sasha to a corner.

Then he cast an energy shield around them and warned them in a low voice.

“Both of you—don’t move from here until I say it’s okay. Understood?”

“Yes…”

“Okay, Daddy…”

Aaron waited silently until Vladimir finished all his preparations. Was that composure simply arrogance, or perhaps a gesture of respect toward him?

There was no way to know for sure.

Clack.

—–

[Module installation complete.]

[Warning: Replacement rate approaching the limit!]

—–

Vladimir and Aaron glared at each other—

—and muttered simultaneously.

“Module Online, [Techblade]!”

“Module Online, [Bullet Time]!”

They both drew their strongest weapons.

However, Vladimir’s module activated just a bit faster. Before the strongest sword in existence could fully manifest at Aaron’s fingertips, Vladimir’s field of vision slowed and inverted.

—–

[Warning: Overload increasing!]

[Bullet Time duration: 10 seconds]

—–

A burning heat surged from near his heart.

As expected of a Game Changer. Just deploying it consumed a massive amount of the energy he had stored.

“……!”

To Vladimir’s eyes, Aaron looked completely frozen.

But upon closer observation, he was still moving—slowly, yet undeniably. Aaron’s posture was gradually shifting into a sword-swinging motion.

“…Unbelievable performance.”

Muttering so, Vladimir stepped forward. He intended to circle behind Aaron. But his body didn’t move as freely as he thought it would.

“Ghhrrrk—!?”

It felt as though he were forcing his way through a wall made of water. Each step forward was an immense struggle. And that wasn’t the only problem.

‘It’s hot…!’

Every time he moved a part of his body, that area rapidly grew hotter.

It was only natural.

Even if the world appeared to move slowly, his actual speed was faster than a bullet. Air friction alone would inevitably burn his skin.

His skin began to sting, but he ignored it. The Skin Armor Module he had equipped could handle a fair amount of heat resistance anyway.

[Bullet Time ending in 5 seconds]

Moving as though swimming through the air, he finally reached Aaron’s back. If he just extended his hand, he could strike a vital point.

He raised his hand like a blade and thrust toward the heart. At this speed, he thought he could easily pierce through Aaron’s Skin Armor.

But that was a mistake.

“Urgh!?”

His hand only tore Aaron’s suit slightly—it couldn’t penetrate beneath the skin. That armor possessed absurd durability. Instead, it was Vladimir’s own hand that began to split open from the impact.

‘What a monster…!’

Too naive.

So, this level of attack couldn’t even leave a scratch. Half of his precious Bullet Time had already been wasted.

To pierce Aaron’s thick Skin Armor, he would need another weapon.

Even though his overload rate had already reached its limit, Vladimir forcibly activated a new module.

“Module Online, [Plasma Pistol]!”

Another one of Benedict’s gifts.

A massive weapon materialized in his grasp, so large it was hard to tell whether it was a pistol or a submachine gun. In sheer weight, it could rival a sniper rifle.

Clack. Clack.

The weapon loaded itself automatically. Vladimir aimed it at Aaron’s head and slowly pulled the trigger. As it fired, a highly condensed plasma round streaked out of the barrel.

‘This is the end, Aaron Stingray.’

—–

[Bullet Time ended]

[Cooldown in effect.]

—–

With the system message, the slowed world returned to its normal pace. The bullet fired from Vladimir’s hand, and a sonic boom followed the trajectory of his charge.

Countless phenomena erupted all at once.

The air tore apart, and the plasma round exploded.

The chaos was so overwhelming that, even though he had caused it himself, Vladimir couldn’t fully grasp what was happening.

BOOM! KRAK-KA-KA-KA-BOOM!

The overlapping sonic booms even made him lose his balance and fall. The raging winds forced him to squint.

Roughly 0.2 seconds.

That brief flinch narrowed his field of vision for just an instant. Aaron’s back slipped out of his sight.

And that was the problem.

Because of that—he couldn’t see what had happened next.

Crack.

A snapping sound mixed with the explosions. At first, he didn’t understand what it was.

But the searing pain that shot up his arm told him everything.

Even if he didn’t want to know, he had no choice but to realize it.

His arm was broken.

‘What the hell…!?’

The Pain-Block Module activated automatically, preventing him from falling into panic. Vladimir quickly retreated, opening his eyes wide as he cooled his overheated body and assessed the situation.

But he couldn’t figure it out.

It was impossible to understand what had happened. At least, not for someone like him.

All that remained—was the result.

“Th-This is impossible…!”

Aaron Stingray was still alive.

Even after taking a combined assault of Bullet Time and Plasma Pistol, not only was he unscathed, he had counterattacked and shattered Vladimir’s arm.

“Phew…”

Aaron Stingray exhaled softly.

His black hair fluttered, and his golden, razor-sharp eyes locked onto his opponent.

Ah, this feeling was familiar.

To Vladimir’s eyes, the man called Aaron Stingray no longer existed.

What stood before him—

—was a monster.

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