The rate of the explosions began to increase in frequency the closer he got.
It may be a different place in more ways than one but combat is still combat.
His first action would have been to camouflage himself and get close as possible without raising any suspicion but his optical camp gear was non functional.
He should have discarded it long ago but he held onto it for some reason. Perhaps the human notion of using it for some act in the future could be the reason.
So he did the next best thing, use his environment to his advantage. Making his way to a dilapidated building he was met with two options.
The first would be to try and maneuver through the already crumbling structure with the mech suit which would draw attention sooner or later.
The second was to get out of the suit and explore on foot. Granted it would allow him to move more swiftly but his defenses would be reduced drastically. Not to mention if the air had any residue created by the detonation.
' Too much of a risk to step outside unless I have no other choice,' he noted.
He looked around, maybe there was something he could use to make the mech much harder to spot.
With nothing of value on the outside perhaps there was something that was functional that he could use.
He found somewhere much more hidden and begun his search. Bringing up the overview screen showed that he had about 25% power left and that power saver mode would automatically activate at 20%.
Half of the things on the screen were damaged components and malfunctioning gear.
Scrolling through he came across the utility section and opened it. It showed nothing of use so he decided to make due with what he had.
Turning a corner Larnos came upon a scene with absurdity like no other. Raptures were battling what seemed to be civilian clothed women with various forms of weapons.
The rapture nearest to him focused its attention on him. This, and the others he could see were different. Its carapace like armor looked much thicker than he remembered and it looked bigger.
It charged at him without a second thought with speed it should not have, ignoring its now former opponent who seemed to not have noticed Larnos. Sidestepping a charge at the last moment, Larnos plunged his blade into an exposed area between its joints, the force he needed was much greater than he anticipated. It wobbled for a moment before slapping him away.
Weaponless and confused he could only evade most of the strikes delivered by this new form of Rapture whose speed was equal to that of the Exterminator class Raptures that required literal armies as effective counters.
The rapture ripped out his blade and tossed it at him. It gestured with one of its forelimbs for him to pick it up. He picked a piece of debris and hurled it as a means of distraction.
The rapture deflected the incoming projectile with relative ease, catching him off guard. It charged at him but instead of doing so in a straight line it darted from side, drastically altering its speed as it did so.
Having nothing to defend himself with, he met the charger head on. With nothing but sheer human will, determination and a healthy dose of madness he intercepted it and forced it into the ground causing a cloud of debris to erupt from where it made contact with the ground.
Spikes erupted from where Larnos held the creature. It easily pierced his already weakened armor and impaled his left leg.
The pain was immense but he held it down as it struggled to escape his grip. His sword was a few feet away but he could not reach it without letting the rapture go.
It squirming made matters worse as the impaled spike moved as it moved. He loosened his grip while positioning himself in a better position to reach his blade.
He stepped on it and launched himself at his blade. The pain from his wound whitened his vision for a moment but the combat stims that somehow worked kept him conscious.
He cursed as he felt the handle of the blade in his armored hand slip for a moment. Outer lenses showed the rapture simply standing there. It seemed to treat him like how a predator would treat a prey it has captured.
"I refuse to die like this," he told his adversary and it seemed to acknowledge that by taking a step back.
It seemed the commotion had drawn the attention of the others as the fighting between the scantily clothed women and the seemingly evolved raptures had stopped.
Now he was the center of attention for both parties. To add salt to the wound the the suit's power system was all but drained.
"Five percent," he muttered as the flashing triangle had the number five followed by a percent sign. " Better make this count."
Slowly he made his way towards the rapture, making sure to appear weak and defeated as possible. It stayed motionless, crimson eyes watching as he got closer.
' If this thing sees me to be weak then it should let its guard down,' he thought as he got closer.
The right forelimb of the rapture began to move and that was his cue. With all the remaining power left in his suit he lunged at it, ducked to reach its underbelly and thrust up. Most grunts have their underbellies exposed so that would deal some kind of damage.
Only it didn't. The blade bounced off due to the presence of a hardened structure. It had armor protecting its weak spot.
"Like hell you are!" he roared before readjusting and taking another shot. "I refuse to fucking die to the likes of you!"
He struck it again and again with so much ferocity that it actually began to raise the creature, until the blade shattered. The rapture struck him from the back with a whip like appendage not only sending him flying but using the momentum generated to change its stance.
The bleeding in his left leg had been taken care of by the inbuilt medic system. Unfortunately it had used up all the remaining power to restore his leg. His suit was now without power and he was quite literally a sitting duck.
His eyes landed on the assault rifle case that hang on the right side of his cockpit. Each battle suit had a predetermined human sized weapon with some pilots opting to either customize the weapon to their liking or completely change it.
When a pilot decided to equip their personal rifle it was for one of two reasons; either they were about to explore a place too small for their suit to enter or that was the start of their final stand of which many if not all never returned from.
He kept the predetermined assault rifle body but changed all the components resulting in what was known as a 'Thesesus paradox' whether an object that had all of its components changed could be considered to be the same object.
He had always opted for armor piercing ammo and it seemed that decision finally paid off. He was determined to kill that thing, suit or no suit.
The cockpit slowly began to open and light slowly then quickly filled his darkened space.
Without taking his eyes of his intended target he turned off the safety on his rifle and got out.
"Round two you multi limbed bastard."
It charged at him and he responded by firing at a specific spot on what he assumed to be the head while letting it get close. He ran towards it and slid underneath it, missing a swipe by a millimeter.
Using the nearby debris as a platform he baited it into charging him once again and fired into the exact same spot as before.
The rapture seemed to realize his plan and began to shield that spot as it moved closer. It took a blind swipe at him and missed him but not the piece of debris he was standing on.
He threw himself onto it and began pummeling it with the butt of his rifle, hurling curses as he did so. It responded by throwing itself into anything it could find.
Larnos took the brunt of the hits but wouldn't let go until it exposed the spot he was after. With one final swing it threw him into the wall of a ruined building causing him to lose grip of his rifle and it fell out of his hand while his ears rung.
Without hesitation he switched to his sidearm and began unloading the entire magazine into his pursuer but that did nothing to throw it off from trying to ram him.
He moved to the side and the gaze of the two met. His brown eyes saw its bright red orbs up close as it missed him once more.
He slid out the empty magazine and fed the pistol a fresh one, all the while trying to find where his rifle landed. The dust cloud made it harder than it should have been while he fired into it but would ultimately ran out of ammo and discarded the pistol without doing any significant damage to the rapture.
"Fucking hell," he cursed under his breath as he braced himself as the creature closed in once more and made sure he couldn't slip away by simultaneously expanding its body and bringing itself closer to the ground.
" Guess we are doing this then," he told himself as he prepared to trade blows with the rapture.
Luckily for him his combat mech was not the last line of defense as each pilot wore a combat suit which made them much more durable than a normal human but not invincible.
It swung the whip appendage once more, seemingly aiming for his torso but changed the arc of the swing mid way throwing Larnos off. He swung his head to the side as it grazed his cheek and embedded itself into the wall behind him.
He now charged, blocking a strike with his right arm and grabbed the horn protruding from its head and forced it to look down, exposing the flesh underneath the armor which gave him an idea.
It attempted to impale him from below but he anticipated it and sacrificed his right foot in order to use the momentum to propel himself up and wrench his impaled foot out and drive the heel into the exposed flesh.
The pain was beyond excruciating but he could not stop or else it would kill him. With a war cry he begun driving his fists into the flesh repeatedly.
The rapture let out a screech as its limbs tried to pierce him from behind but he evaded and forced them into its own skin while continuing his onslaught.
"Die!" he repeated over and over again as he drove his fists deeper and deeper into it, each hit making a sickening squelching sound.
It tried to roll onto its side but he grabbed a handful of flesh and wrenched in the opposite direction completely stopping it.
He was now drenched in its blue blood as he tore out multiple pieces of flesh all the while it screeched in agonizing pain.
"Fuck you!" he yelled as his ferocity and intensity began to increase as pent up frustration, anger and adrenaline fueled him.
By the time fatigue set in he had practically beheaded the creature through brute force alone and sat in the space between its body and head.
He idly looked around and found his rifle. He waded out of its entrails and limped towards it. Out of the corner of his eye he saw one of those women from earlier but ignored her.
Picking up the rifle he made his way back to the creature that spasmed and weakly tried to take a swipe at him. He easily evaded it and placed the barrel onto one of its eye.
It let out a weak screech of defiance and he opened fire. The rounds tore through its eye and entered where its brain would most likely be. He emptied the clip and pulled out a new one from his pouch which had miraculously not fallen off and continued once more.
He pulled the trigger until he heard a click. He stepped back and observed the mutilated corpse. He limped out of the building and noticed that the other raptors had been taken care of by the women.
Chuckling he made his way over to his suit and saw the damage that had been inflicted onto it.
"Thanks," he said before sitting by it.
"Guess we lost," he said to his mech as he gazed idly at his bleeding foot. " Adrenaline is one hell of a boost."
A pair of legs appeared in his vision. Then another and another. He looked up to see the women had gathered around him.
'Freedom fighters,' he thought as he looked. ' With high end fashion and fancy weapons it seems.'
Looking at them once more he noticed something. They were all extremely beautiful. Like something out of one of those fashion magazines that had women with beauty standards that were not natural.
"Are you alright?" A feminine voice asked. It was soothing to the ear and had a caring tone to it.
'Am I?' he thought as he gazed at his foot then mech. ' Am I even alive?'
"We are NIKKE," the voice continued. "We would like to know your name."
"Larnos," he answered. "What's today's date?"
"Date?" the voice responded. " It is Monday, the 26th of April 2340."
'2340? That was not right', he thought. Last he checked it was 2140 and humanity was on the brink of total defeat.
"2340, You're kidding right?" he asked, looking at the group once more.
"I am not." The voice belonged to a blue haired woman who wore a tight fitting office themed blouse with a skirt and had a futuristic assault rifle hanging from the side.
The pain paired with fatigue and blood loss finally got to him and he blacked out.