Gunfire and smashing walls were heard from inside the hotel building.
The police outside were hesitating to enter because the Yakuza terrorists had announced earlier about the pounds of remotely-detonated dynamite inside the building.
Strapped inside the duffel bag where the large amounts of explosives and a phone attached to it. Once the phone would receive a message from the head bosses, they would all explode at the same time, killing hundreds of people.
They planned to use this as leverage for the government to release their men and allow them to leave the country.
"Master, there appears to be a Magitek user inside the building," the child said.
"What?" Yuri said. As he spoke, the front door of the hotel is smashed open leaving the front wall with a huge hole revealing the hotel's lobby. "The Yakuza are fighting each other. They're shooting at the guy with the hammer."
The police still chose not to shoot. "Hold your fire!" says the police captain. "They're still holding the hostages, if you shoot they may retaliate!"
"I have to help out. If we don't do anything, the bomb will explode and it will kill everyone in the area," Yuri said. He opened the truck door, but before he could step out, the child grabbed the back of his pants.
"Master, you have no clothes or any armor to protect you from bullets. Even with E-tier Agility, you might still get his by rogue bullets and explosions," the child insisted.
"What do you suppose I do?" Yuri asked.
"Merge with me, Master," the AI responded. More gunfire is heard from inside. The man with the hammer is pinned down in a corner by the other Yakuza.
"What merge? What does that mean?" Yuri asked in frustration.
The child took off its seat belt and kneeled in front of Akira. It put its hand on the Lesser Magitek Boots and scanned it with red beams coming out of its eyes.
"Reverse Engineering Successful. Artificial Intelligence can now take the form of Lesser Magitek Items."
"Whaaaa? Is it supposed to do that? But don't you need Mana to use recreate Magitek Technology?" Yuri asked. He closed the truck door and sat on the seat again.
The AI child looked at Yuri. Although the AI was not human, Yuri could sense something different from it, that wasn't noticeable before.
"Master, I can use your health points to gather enough Mana and recreate Magitek Gear. Health points and mana points are substantially made of the same elements, and health points do not require the Magitek fusion reactor to produce mana points."
"How much of my health points do you need?"
"Master currently has 10/10 HP. I will need 9/10 health points to recreate sufficient Magitek gear to protect the Master from harm and ensure maximal self-defense."
Yuri couldn't believe his eyes. The AI seemed to be evolving from a convenient assistant to an independent being with its initiative.
There was no time to think. Yuri thought that the bomb was going to explode soon if he didn't do anything. So he patted the child's head and said, "Alright, do it. Take my life. Or at least most of it."
The AI transformed into a morphable object and wrapped itself around Yuri.
For the first two seconds, he could only feel it crawling on the surface area of its whole body. Only his eyes weren't covered. In the next several seconds, he screamed. "Aaaaaaaaaghh!"
His health points started getting drained away.
[Status]
[HP: 10/10 -> 8/10 -> 5/10]
He felt his cells being drained of life, and the whole leech was stabbing every inch of his skin with vaccine needles. Painful but necessary, he thought.
[HP: 2/10 -> 1/10]
When the last health point needed by the AI was drained out of him, the whole object covering him solidified into a flexible and indestructible, Magitek Exosuit. It was black with dragon-like scales and on the edges had red rims to allow for free movement.
His mouth and nose were covered by a mask that imitated the vicious teeth of a wild beast. His black hair remained free to flow and it glossed similarly to the mysterious metal elements that the Exosuit was made of.
Yuri opened his eyes and he automatically analyzed his surroundings with lines and numbers, with precise calculations. He had finally fully realized what Artificial Intelligence means by merging. He wasn't just wearing the AI Exosuit. He was the AI Exosuit.
"Master, Merging is now complete," he could hear the child's voice from inside his own mind.
"Inventory"
[Inventory]
[Lesser Magitek Sword]
He pulled out his sword from the Inventory and said, "Status."
[Status]
[User: Yuri]
[Dexterity: E ]
[Finesse: E]
[Brawn: E ]
[Endurance: F]
"So the Exosuit can only imitate the Grade of Amplifiers of the Magitek weapon it recently reverses engineered... I see," Yuri said. "This will prove useful as I continue to level up."
A stray bullet coming from the hotel went straight into Yuri's chest.
"I've wasted so much time already," he said then wiped the bullet's dust off of his chest. "I need to go! Now!" He braced himself to run, and he leaped from behind the police and into the scene.
The police bent their necks upward to see what was passing above them. And they saw a human-like figure, in some sort of black ironman suit with a medieval sword.
Yuri ran straight inside the hotel and nothing could stop him. When he arrived inside the hotel, he stuck to the side of the walls and used the AI's data analysis to scan the vicinity.
It revealed gunfire coming to a room deeper into the building. He moved forward slowly to detect any sound and held his sword in front of him.
"Ummm... AI..." he said nervously. "I have to tell you something... My sword skills aren't that good. See, I was never that athletic growing up." Yuri tilted his head in embarrassment.
"It's okay, Master. I will provide you assistance in times of emergency," the child said.
"Oh yeah? How exactly?" Yuri walked closer to open the door where he detected human presence.
A huge Mjolnir-like hammer smashed in the direction of Yuri's head coming from behind him. The blow was so strong it destroyed the wall right next to him, as it missed his head due to a sudden reflex movement.
"Autonomous Driving Initiated: Self Defence Protocol," the AI said. "Sword fighting skills downloading." Yuri rolled over to the other side, to move away from the Hammer wielder.
"Sword fighting skills downloaded successfully. Self Defence Protocol Online."
The Exosuit seemed to have a life of its own. It automatically corrected Yuri but only served as a guide, and he still had control of his movement.
"Who are you?" Reiji said as he raised his hammer to prepare for his opponent's retaliation. He had minor wounds, but he managed to avoid any direct hit from the gunfights earlier. His tattoos had been stained red by his own blood. "Did the bosses send you to stop me? I never wanted this!" He pointed the hammer at Yuri and shoot it."
Yuri analyzed the Yakuza with the hammer and determined that hostage-takers had an internal dispute, and though he could use this to his advantage. "I'm only here to help," Yuri said.
"Help? You're not a cop? Fucking lies-" Reiji swung his hammer at Yuri with immense speed, but they had similar levels of Dexterity, and Yuri managed to evade. "You, the bosses, the cops... You're all fucking liars!" Reiji shouted.