"What thing?" 24 raised their gun again, searching the surroundings. Cold sweat unknowingly slid down their face.
"It's not a thing, it's perfect art!" A beautiful blonde, blue-eyed girl walked out from behind Black Dragon's tall high-backed sofa.
She was Annie, the highest US combat commander stationed in Taiwan.
24 didn't hesitate, madly pulling the trigger at her and Black Dragon, but something strange happened. All the bullets changed course midway, hitting the floor and ceiling, as if there was an invisible steel wall in between.
24 held the gun, looking blankly at the sneering Black Dragon and the girl.
"Don't just stand there!" 13 rushed in front of 24, holding COOL-FIRE horizontally, tone stern. Just as 24 was about to say something, 13 flew sideways.
Suppressing the metallic taste in their mouth, 13 flipped in mid-air, drew the combat knife from their back, and plunged it deep into the floor, sliding a full two meters before stopping.
24 finally snapped back to reality, rapidly strafing backward to a corner of the room, crouching low, replacing the magazines in both guns, remaining cautiously vigilant.
24 knew what had attacked. An invisible mech!
"Baby was right, you really can sense the presence of 'Elf'!" Annie said, looking with surprise at 13 getting up from the ground.
"She flatters me. I only barely knew of its existence because I sensed its hostility," 13 hid the knife behind their back, wrapping the Titan metal wire from their right arm armor around the hilt.
"Not flattering at all. If my superiors hadn't ordered your death, I'd still want you to join us right now," Annie sat down in the seat Black Dragon had vacated.
The mech moved again, silently arriving in front of 13. A powerful right straight punch, carrying the wind of its passage, aimed at 13's unhealed chest. Still only a faint sensation, but it was enough. 13 dodged sideways, the knife in hand flying out horizontally. Having already flashed behind the mech, 13 pulled back. The metal wire in the air seemed to hit an invisible pillar, causing the knife to spin several times, wrapping around it.
The mech ignored the annoying thing around its neck and continued attacking, while 13 simply circled left and right.
By the time 13 stopped, the invisible mech was bound and unable to move.
"24! Do it!" 13 shouted, raising COOL-FIRE and aiming at the invisible but "clear" target.
24 understood and aimed as well.
Bullets poured onto the mech's body. An entire magazine was emptied, replaced with a special one. High-temperature incendiary rounds and freeze rounds constantly changed colors in the transparent air. Then came high-speed armor-piercing rounds to test the limits of the metal.
"It's useless. What do you think Elf is?" Annie said contemptuously.
The immobile mech flickered with metallic luster, then suddenly snapped the toughest Titan wire...
"Woo..." After a unique low hum, it revealed its true form. Looking at the mech's surface, the frantic shooting had only caused some scratches. 13 and 24 stopped their futile resistance.
"A black mech! The weapon that killed Zheng Yu!" 24 was shocked to find the monster before them was the culprit that attacked the Political Department's secret section and killed Zheng Yu.
"It seems Elf's weakness is still exposed," Annie sighed regretfully. "Although it's strong, it reveals itself whenever it uses large amounts of energy."
"How on earth did you create this monster?" 13 looked straight at their strongest opponent. "It can ignore the limits of metal; its armor thickness exceeds 30 millimeters. Covered entirely in Titan metal of this thickness, it definitely weighs no less than 3 tons. Yet it can move silently? I didn't expect your technology to have advanced this far. If I'm not mistaken, it should have an anti-gravity device..."
24 trembled. 13's casual sentence proved a leap forward in the technological era.
"What a clever 'weapon'," the girl smiled strangely. "Looks like that old fellow Nie Yun has also produced powerful weapons! Do you think I'm right? No. 13 Gene Synthesis Infant? I heard the one 'pregnant' with you was just a glass test tube..."
13 said nothing, standing motionless...
"I wonder if your 'mother' can talk?" Annie looked at Black Dragon, and the two started laughing mockingly.
"I have plenty of crystal products here. Take one, it's much better than glass. You can call it father too," Although Black Dragon didn't know why Annie wanted to provoke 13, he cooperated in mocking 13.
Heart... pounding violently, beat by beat
Breath... losing its rhythm
Body... trembling involuntarily
Eyes... seeing nothing but the mocking Annie and Black Dragon
Beside them, 24 sensed 13's abnormality. It was a familiar feeling. Like "Emotion," yet not "Emotion." More terrifying than "Emotion," because at least "Emotion" could still control its own power.
"You touched something you shouldn't have touched!" 13's tone could freeze the world.
"So what can you do? Kill me? You're not capable yet..." Annie looked at 13's terrifying eyes.
The afterimage that had helped 13 several times appeared again, a speed of 50 meters per second, beyond human capabilities. But their opponent wasn't human either.
Just as 13, fingers already formed into a blade, was about to slit the woman's throat, immense force gripped 13's hands. The source of the force was Elf!
24 couldn't even utter a word. Now was the time for the monster duel...
"Hiyah!" 13 leaped off the ground, spinning. Their outstretched arms couldn't break free from the mech's grip. The intended spinning side kick seemed impossible, but with two soft pops, their arms dislocated. The armored right leg struck the mech's head squarely. The 3-ton mech swayed and released 13. Landing on the ground, 13 ignored their limp arms, propped their hands on the floor, swayed left and right, and with two more soft pops, the arms were perfectly fine again.
"Woo..." The mech steadied itself and mimicked 13's spinning side kick. Although clumsy, with the help of the anti-gravity device, the mech felt almost weightless. The spinning side kick was so fast it was nearly invisible to the naked eye. Its body spun, the leg shot straight out. 13 used the afterimage again, crouching low as the leg flew over their head. Just as they were about to counterattack, the one-eyed man's specialty—rapid feint—appeared, a downward chop follow-up impossible for a human body. No angle to counterattack, 13 strafed left. The thick floor where they had just stood shattered completely.
Even 24 felt the ground shake.
13, having dodged the fatal blow, felt no relief. Standing up, a straight punch hit the mech's face. A second punch followed but was caught mid-air by the mech's hand. With a squeeze, 13's body was forced downward. As their knees were about to hit the ground, their feet suddenly accelerated, spinning upward from below. 13 was almost "lying" on the ground as they kicked upward with both feet. The mech's jaw became the target.
The powerful impact forced the mech to release 13 again.
The subsequent attacks went back and forth, but any discerning eye could see that if the mech were a real person, it would have died countless times already, while the fatal attacks aimed at 13 were mostly skillfully neutralized.
For the first time, unease stirred in Black Dragon's heart. But Annie, who hadn't moved an inch, still wore a smile, as if 13 was the one at a disadvantage.
Suddenly, in the midst of attacking, 13 rapidly retreated 20 meters, creating distance from the mech.
Losing its opponent, the mech stared at the distant 13 and growled.
13 lightly tapped their heel. The afterimage appeared, but unlike previous movements, three consecutive loud bangs—*pah, pah, pah*—echoed from the floor. 24 understood what 13 was about to do.
The one-eyed man's ultimate technique: 3 Steps—Kill!
The same move, employed by 13 now, combined with the speed of the afterimage, made the final simple side kick seem terrifying enough to make one's whole body tingle just thinking about it.
The afterimage wasn't invisible to Elf's sensors. With its high-speed computer and anti-gravity chassis, it had ample reaction time.
The mech raised its hands, palms overlapped, to receive 13's kick. But after the 3-stage acceleration, 13's stats underwent a qualitative change.
The foot contacted the mech's palms. Something terrifying happened. The 3-ton mech not only flew off the ground but soared 10 meters, crashed heavily onto the floor, bounced three times, and then stopped. Imagine if an ordinary human took that hit—they might not fly, but there would surely be a gaping hole in their chest.
After the victory, 13 showed no joy. Instead, they sprayed a large amount of blood towards the sky, eyes glazed over, and collapsed to the ground.
24 cried out, rushing towards 13, holding them in their arms, continuously stroking 13's deathly pale face.
"Looks like this is the limit of 13's power..." Annie stood up from the sofa. "If it's just this, then the performance shouldn't have any problems. Elf, Lift 85% capability restriction command! You can get up now..."
The mech, previously unresponsive, its eyes lit up. It stood up from the ground as if nothing had happened, though the palms of both hands were completely ruined.
"Why didn't you kill us?" 24 looked at the mech and Annie, knowing she was just treating it as a game.
"Not yet. 13 can't die yet. Their death has already been arranged. It's a grand performance, one that will allow America to truly ascend the throne. Just wait and see," Annie said excitedly. In 24's eyes, the woman before them was a demon, but in Black Dragon's eyes, she was just someone who made life more interesting...