The Chimerian soldier emerging from the mech debris was standing over eight feet tall, its crystalline carapace shimmered under the sunlight, exuding an aura of menace with bat-like wings on its back. Its weapon is a double-edged energy give, crackled with arcs of psma that carved scorch marks into the ground as it moved.

  ‘Analyze’ Arthur used Analyze on the soldier.

  //--------------------//

  [STATUS]

  Name: Torkem Makhh

  Designation: Elite Chimerian Soldier

  Age: 127

  Height: 8’1"

  Strength: 2317.8 Tons

  Speed: 178.2 m/s

  //--------------------//

  “Great,” Arthur muttered under his breath, his fingers tightening around the hilt of his psma sword. His team members were locked in fierce firefights, their focus entirely on holding the line against the relentless waves of Chimerians.

  Arthur gnced at Leo, Elena, and Samir, who were pinned down but managing to fend off advancing enemies. Lt. Nakamura barked orders, his voice steady even amidst the chaos. None of them noticed Arthur slipping away from his position.

  “Alright,” Arthur whispered to himself, putting some force behind his legs and closing the gap between him and the elite Chimerian. “Let’s see what you are capable of.”

  The Chimerian turned its glowing, segmented eyes toward him, letting out a guttural roar that reverberated through the battlefield. It raised its give, pointing it directly at Arthur.

  “So you want a duel,” Arthur said, his voice low. “Fine by me.”

  Arthur unched himself forward, psma sword igniting with a hiss. He aimed for the Chimerian’s midsection, but the elite commander reacted fast.

  The give swung in a wide arc, forcing Arthur to twist mid-air and activate his thrusters to avoid a direct hit.

  The ground where the give struck erupted in a violent explosion of energy, sending shards of rock and dirt flying. Arthur nded a few feet away, sliding into a defensive stance.

  “Not bad,” he muttered, eyes narrowing.

  With a mental command, Arthur extended his technopathy to the elite commander’s give. He could feel the weapon’s energy signatures. He attempted to disrupt its power flow, the Chimerian was confused at first, but with a snarl it threw the give and took out a crystalline sword like weapon, and lunged at him.

  “Okay, so you’re smarter than the average grunt,” Arthur muttered, dodging another strike. Arthur was at least three times stronger and two times faster than the Chimerian soldier. But he wants to rely only on his techniques in this fight he learned during his training.

  …

  Torkem Makhh lunged first, his crystalline sword arcing down with the force of a freight train. Arthur sidestepped at the st possible moment, the bde smashing into the ground and sending a shockwave rippling outward. Rocks and dirt exploded into the air, obscuring vision, but Arthur used the momentary cover to circle behind the Chimerian.

  Arthur sshed at the back of the Chimerian, where the carapace ptes overpped, but the psma bde only left a faint scorch mark. The soldier whirled around, its sword sweeping horizontally. Arthur ducked, the bde whistling over his head, then thrust his psma sword toward the Chimerian’s exposed midsection.

  The strike nded, but the crystalline armor deflected most of the blow, sending a spray of sparks into the air. Arthur flipped backward, putting some distance between them.

  “Alright,” he muttered, adjusting his strategy. “The armor’s too tough for direct hits. I’ll have to aim for the weak spots.”

  Arthur feinted to the left, drawing the Chimerian into overcommitting its swing. Torkem Makhh’s sword struck empty air, and Arthur darted to its right side, slicing at the elbow joint. This time, the psma sword found its mark, melting through part of the exposed joint.

  The Chimerian roared, spinning around with surprising agility and aiming a powerful backhand at Arthur. The blow connected with his armor, sending him skidding several meters across the battlefield. Arthur’s HUD fshed warnings about the impact force, but his armor held steady.

  “Alright, big guy,” Arthur said, rising to his feet. “Let’s see how you handle this.”

  The two cshed again, their movements a blur of speed and precision. The Chimerian’s crystalline sword smashed into the ground, leaving deep gouges, while Arthur’s psma bde hissed and crackled against the air.

  Arthur darted in and out of Torkem’s reach, his attacks focusing on the joints at the shoulders, knees, and elbows. The Chimerian fought back with relentless ferocity, its strikes powerful enough to shatter boulders and send shockwaves rippling through the ground.

  Arthur’s thrusters fired intermittently, allowing him to maneuver around the battlefield with impossible agility. He leaped over one of Torkem’s horizontal swings, flipping mid-air and bringing his psma sword down toward the back of the Chimerian’s neck.

  The strike gnced off the thick armor, but Arthur adjusted mid-movement, twisting his wrist to angle the bde toward the base of the neck joint. A burst of sparks and an angry roar from Torkem confirmed he’d nded a meaningful blow.

  …

  Arthur nded, breathing slightly and focused. He used Analyze to map the weak points of the Chimerian’s armor, identifying the most vulnerable areas: The base of the neck, back of the knees, underarms

  He exploited these weaknesses with calcuted precision, his psma sword dancing in quick, controlled strikes. Each hit chipped away at the crystalline armor, exposing small patches of flesh beneath.

  Torkem Makhh, sensing its disadvantage, switched tactics. It activated a secondary function of its crystalline sword, causing it to splinter into smaller, jagged shards that hovered in the air around it. The shards unched toward Arthur in rapid succession, forcing him to go on the defensive.

  Arthur spun his psma sword in a tight arc, deflecting the incoming shards with precise movements. One shard grazed his shoulder, sparking against his armor, but he ignored the damage and focused on closing the distance.

  Arthur saw his opening when Torkem overextended during a particurly powerful swing. The Chimerian stumbled slightly, its bance compromised. Arthur lunged forward and activated his thrusters, unching himself forward in a blur of motion.

  He drove his psma sword into the exposed underarm, the bde sinking deep into the Chimerian’s body. Sparks and energy crackled violently as the sword cauterized its wound and damaging his organs.

  Torkem roared, dropping its crystalline weapon and thrashing wildly. Arthur held his ground, twisting the bde to maximize the damage. Finally, with a spasm, the Chimerian colpsed, its crystalline armor having suffered damages all over it.

  …

  Arthur stood over the fallen Chimerian, his chest heaving. His psma sword flickered, its energy reserves nearly depleted.

  Behind him, the battle continued to rage, Leo’s voice crackled over the comms. “Arthur! Are you okay? That looked intense!”

  Arthur nodded, sweeping his eyes around the battlefield. “Yeah. One down, a lot more to go.”

  Elena chimed in, her tone both impressed and worried. “You took that thing out on your own? Remind me never to get on your bad side.”

  Arthur chuckled weakly, his gaze shifting to the horizon where more Chimerian forces were gathering. “This fight isn’t over yet. Let’s finish the job.”

  As the ECHO team regrouped, Arthur couldn’t help but feel a lingering unease. Torkem Makhh was strong, but he was only one soldier. How many more like him were waiting out there?

  …

  The battlefield seethed with chaos. The ECHO soldiers fought valiantly against the relentless onsught of Chimerians, their weapons lighting up the battlefield in bursts of psma and kinetic force. But as the enemy’s numbers swelled, the tide began to shift.

  Arthur’s gaze swept over the carnage, lingering on the fresh wave of Chimerian soldiers now numbering in the hundreds. Each one was a towering menace, their crystalline armor gleaming like faceted death as they closed the distance. The team’s once-strong line was faltering under the pressure.

  He tightened his grip on his psma sword, his mind racing. ‘Should I reveal my strength? If I go all out, I can crush them. But what happens when the others realize what I am capable of?’

  Arthur’s hesitation was shattered by a piercing scream. His head snapped toward the source, his heart plummeting as he watched an ECHO soldier, one of their own, fall. The soldier had been locked in combat with a Chimerian but hadn’t seen the second one approaching from behind. The crystalline bde had pierced clean through his back, its jagged edge coated in blood.

  Time seemed to slow. The fallen soldier’s weapon cttered to the ground, the sound muffled by the roar of battle. Arthur’s HUD automatically tagged the soldier as KIA. He froze, his breath catching in his throat.

  ‘This is my fault,’ he thought, his grip on his psma sword faltering. ‘If I’d gone all out from the start, if I hadn’t held back, he’d still be alive.’

  His mind repyed the moment in agonizing detail. The soldier’s desperate struggle, the Chimerian’s calcuted strike, and the way his body crumpled as life left it. Arthur felt a cold knot of guilt tightening in his chest.

  ‘How many more lives will be lost because I’m too afraid to show them who I am.’

  “ARTHUR!” Lt. Nakamura’s voice cut through the haze. “Get behind a cover! Two incoming!”

  Arthur snapped out of his reverie, his HUD lighting up with two Chimerian soldiers barreling toward him. His psma sword suddenly felt heavy in his hand, the weight of his indecision pressing down on him.

  But something inside him shifted. The knot of guilt transformed into a searing rage.

  “Alright…” he growled, his voice low and dangerous. He dropped the psma sword, letting it ctter to the ground. His fists clenched, and he felt the familiar hum of energy coursing through his body. “No more hiding.”

  Lt. Nakamura’s voice crackled over the comms, confused and armed. “Arthur, what are you doing? Pick up your weapon!”

  Arthur ignored the order. His thrusters activated, propelling him forward with a burst of speed that left the ground beneath him scorched. The first Chimerian barely had time to react before Arthur’s fist collided with its chest, shattering the crystalline carapace and sending it flying backward like a missile.

  The second Chimerian lunged at him, its bde aimed for his head. Arthur caught the bde mid-swing, the energy crackling against his armored hand. With a guttural roar, he wrenched the weapon free and drove it into the Chimerian’s midsection, the crystalline armor exploding under the force.

  The battlefield seemed to pause as soldiers, both ECHO and Chimerian, turned to witness Arthur’s sudden transformation. His eyes burned with a fierce light, his movements blurring with inhuman speed and precision.

  Arthur stood over the crumpled remains of the two Chimerians, his breath heavy, his fists glowing faintly with residual energy. He gnced at the fallen ECHO soldier one st time, a silent vow forming in his mind.

  ‘No more holding back. Not until this is over.’ Arthur swore to himself.

  The battle raged on, but for Arthur, something had irrevocably changed.

  ***

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