The once-chaotic battlefield had stilled, every combatant now caught in the tense silence that followed Archer's arrival.
Range's expression had shifted into a sly, hard smirk, the arrogance he once wore now hardened into something more dangerous.
Hit's demeanor also changed, his grin was still plastered on his face, but his eyes betrayed a glint of unease. Both men were fully aware—they were in for a long fight with Archer Tyrone.
Archer's gaze swept over them, cold and calculating. His sword hummed faintly with residual energy, still glowing from its earlier ignition, casting an eerie red glow along the blade's edge.
He lifted it just slightly, a silent, deadly promise. The air grew thick, suffocating, as the tension between them simmered, teetering on the edge of explosive violence.
Range broke the silence with a sudden grin, his movements quick and precise. His fists clenched, sending a surge of electric energy crackling up his AI-enhanced suit armor's arm.
In an instant, he launched a punch toward Archer. The impact erupted into an explosion of light and sound, a shockwave rippling through the air.
"Archer Tyrone. Nice to finally meet you," Range's voice was low, laced with menace and smug satisfaction.
The air around him sizzled with static energy as he stood, unscathed by the blast.
"But regardless, I'll have that boy," Range added, his tone icy as his gaze flickered toward Hit, who was now moving with unnerving speed toward Layla's wings mecha, intent on retrieving Tomi.
Without missing a beat, Archer's cold voice cut through the chaos.
"Tijona, Griggs, Jean—follow him. Make sure Hit doesn't lay a hand on Layla or the boy." His words were sharp, an order backed by unyielding authority, as he disregarded Range's threat.
Range charged forward with terrifying speed, a blur of electric power and fury, completely unbothered by Archer's previous strike.
His body moved like a force of nature, unrelenting as he bore down on Archer. But Archer was already in motion, his black AI-enhanced armor glowing with streaks of red flame energy.
In an instant, Archer's sword clashed against Range's electrified punch, the collision igniting a burst of fire and electricity.
The sheer force of their clash sent shockwaves rippling outward, the ground beneath them trembling as each strike crackled with deadly intensity.
The battlefield had erupted once more, but this time, it felt like the beginning of something far more dangerous.
Archer stood with an eerie calm, his sharp gaze locked onto Range as another attack came his way—a swift, brutal backflip kick from Range, powered by the force of his AI-enhanced suit armor.
The air around them buzzed with the intensity of the moment, and the sheer speed of Range's attack could have been lethal to anyone else.
But Archer was already a step ahead.
As Range's leg swung toward him with deadly precision, Archer fluidly bent backward, his head slipping under Range's leg with almost impossible grace.
The world seemed to slow as Archer's movements became a blur of calculated speed.
Before Range could react, Archer's fist crashed into his stomach with a sickening thud, the sound of cracking metal and AI components resonating through the air.
The impact sent Range flying backward, a gust of wind trailing in his wake as he skidded across the ground.
Without hesitation, Archer surged forward, catching up to Range mid-air with breathtaking speed. In a split second, Archer's fist hammered down on him like a sledgehammer, sending Range plummeting to the ground.
The force of the blow cracked the earth beneath them, a dense crater forming where Range's body impacted with a thunderous crash.
Dust and debris shot into the air as the ground groaned under the weight of the devastation.
Archer, barely breaking a sweat, stood over Range, his expression cold and unreadable as the battlefield around them quaked from the sheer brutality of their clash.
Range lay on the ground, laughing with a low, menacing chuckle.
Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, but his grin only widened as he wiped it away, the taste of it fueling the thrill coursing through his veins.
He hadn't felt this kind of exhilaration in a long time—not since becoming an S-3 subject.
Pain was a rare sensation for him, one that he welcomed with open arms. The battle had stirred something deep within him, and for the first time in years, he felt alive.
His mind drifted back to the hellish slum he was born into—a prison, a place consumed by darkness and despair.
The dark mechas assaults on humanity safe places in his country had nearly wiped them all out, and only the military had stood in defense. But then came the Night organization, and from the ashes of his life, he was plucked, surviving where others hadn't.
The third rarest S-3 chip implanted in him had changed everything, making him stronger, faster, and more dangerous. And then Eclipse came—wiping out Night completely, leaving nothing behind but him, their prize recruit.
Since then, no opponent has ever pushed him. No one came close to matching his power so far, and it had left him bored, and unsatisfied. Until now.
Snapping back to the present, Range's eyes focused on Archer, the tip of Archer's flaming sword hovering inches from his core, its heat already starting to sear through his AI suit's armor.
The blade was poised to drill through, shattering the core with a single thrust.
"Archer Tyrone..." Range's voice was a low, calm murmur, but there was a dangerous glint in his eyes, a madness. "Please don't disappoint me now."
With a manic gleam, Range's grin stretched wider.
"Chase, activate full Era!" he shouted, his voice vibrating with unrestrained excitement.
[Full Era activation begins!]
Chase's voice, cool and precise, responded as the system's interface dematerialized from its holographic form and integrated into Range's rare S-3. sending pulses through Range's nervous system.
His body tensed, his senses sharpening as his focus intensified. The S-3 chip in his brain whirred to life, connecting him to his unknown mecha that lay hidden, dormant, but now summoned to half awake as its blue eye glowed in the dark in it peach dark domain.
In a flash, dozens of ethereal swords appeared, raining down from the sky in all directions like glowing shards of metal fireworks.
They blazed with light, each one aimed at Archer with deadly precision, forming a lethal storm of blades.
The air crackled with energy, charged with the intensity of the attack as the swords descended with unstoppable force.
Archer, his sword still burning with residual flames from his earlier strikes, narrowed his gaze as the barrage approached, his grip tightening.
The tension between them had reached a breaking point.
"That isn't looking good," Hit said from a distance, his tone casual, though the weight of the situation was clear in his voice. He knew exactly what it meant when Range activated his full Era.
The berserk mode was upon them, and with it, the real mecha attached to Range's S-3 chip would soon fully awake and emerge.
Hit's eyes followed the sky full of blades, knowing that this battle had just escalated to a new level of chaos.
The range was no longer holding back. The battlefield rumbled as the true war between Archer and Range began, and only one of them would leave unscathed.