The road stretched endlessly ahead.
Cracked asphalt. Shattered trees. Hollow cities broken by time and silence.
Reo, Yua, and Doraemon walked quietly through the wasteland, the stolen fragment of the Broken Arsenal hidden safely in Reo's pouch. Every footstep kicked up ash — thick, gray, choking. Like the world itself had burned and never healed.
No birds. No cars.
Only wind and ghosts.
"How far to the next Scar?" Yua asked, her voice muffled by the scarf wrapped around her mouth.
Doraemon pulled out a battered scanner, its screen flickering weakly.
"Approximately eighty kilometers," he said. "Assuming no...interference."
Reo chuckled dryly. "There's always interference."
The path ahead sloped downward, leading into the shattered ruins of what had once been a great city. Twisted metal skeletons of skyscrapers clawed at the sky. Rivers of debris flowed through the broken streets. Every alley whispered promises of ambush.
"Stay sharp," Reo said.
They entered the dead city.
---
A New Enemy
High above, perched on the twisted bones of a collapsed tower, a figure watched them.
It was not human.
It had once been human.
Once.
Now, it was something else.
A patchwork monster stitched from the corpses of fallen warriors, wrapped in tattered flags and broken armor. One eye glowed with sickly green fire; the other was a hollow pit. Its hands were jagged, reshaped into brutal weapons—blades, chains, claws.
It was called Executor.
And it had been sent by Caius himself.
The thing crouched, mechanical tendons creaking, analyzing the trio below.
Its orders were simple.
Track. Kill. Dissect. Extract the Arsenal Fragments.
It launched itself into the air with an ear-splitting shriek.
---
Streets of Death
Reo stiffened instantly.
"Move!" he barked, shoving Yua and Doraemon into cover behind a crumbling wall.
A split second later, Executor slammed into the street where they had been standing, sending a shockwave of debris in every direction. Cracks spiderwebbed through the asphalt.
"Incoming!" Doraemon squeaked, yanking out a small spherical gadget — a Magnet Repulsor.
He hurled it at Executor.
The device detonated with a magnetic pulse, sending shards of metal screaming through the air toward the monster. Executor barely flinched. It raised one clawed arm, generating a field of whirling energy that shredded the incoming shrapnel like tissue paper.
Reo gritted his teeth.
"He's way tougher than the last enemies."
Executor lunged.
It moved faster than anything its size had any right to.
Reo barely dodged, dragging Yua with him. Claws gouged massive trenches through the ground where they'd stood a moment before.
"Split up!" Reo shouted. "It can't chase all of us!"
They scattered.
Executor hesitated—then locked onto Reo and charged after him.
Smart, Reo thought grimly. It's targeting the strongest first.
He turned down a narrow alley, luring the monster away from Yua and Doraemon.
---
Dead End
Reo sprinted around a corner—
—and swore.
A dead end.
He spun, weapon already raised.
Executor thundered toward him, every step sending tremors through the ground.
Reo fired a Plasma Bolt from one of Doraemon's modified gadgets. The searing blue shot struck Executor squarely in the chest—
—and barely scorched its armor.
"Tch!" Reo grunted.
Executor swung its massive arm.
Reo ducked.
The wall beside him exploded in a cloud of dust and rubble.
Think! Think! Reo's mind raced.
This wasn't a normal enemy. This was a weapon designed specifically to kill people like him — survivors carrying fragments of the Arsenal.
Outmuscling it wasn't an option.
Outsmart it.
Reo grinned grimly.
"Alright, monster," he muttered. "Let's play."
---
Setting the Trap
Meanwhile, Yua and Doraemon weren't idle.
Yua scanned the battle with narrowed eyes. "He's baiting it," she said.
Doraemon nodded. "We need to help him — but not by charging in."
He rummaged desperately in his pocket and pulled out a tiny silver cube.
"This," Doraemon said proudly, "is the Collapse Trigger."
He tapped it once.
Tiny legs sprouted from the cube, and it scurried off into the ruins, planting itself in a critical support beam.
"One good hit," Doraemon said, "and this whole block will come down."
Yua's eyes gleamed.
A risky plan.
A dangerous one.
But Reo could pull it off.
If he survived long enough.
---
The Collapse
Reo ducked another swipe from Executor, panting hard now.
"Hey, ugly!" he taunted, backing toward the crumbling tower where Doraemon's trap waited.
Executor roared, charging.
Reo planted his feet.
Waited.
Waited—
Now!
"Yua!" he shouted.
Yua raised a Pulse Gun and fired at the hidden cube.
The Collapse Trigger detonated.
The entire building groaned—
—and then fell.
Thousands of tons of rubble, steel, and broken glass thundered down onto Executor.
The monster let out a strangled, mechanical shriek as it was buried under the avalanche.
Dust blotted out the sun.
Silence fell.
---
Aftermath
For a long moment, no one moved.
Then Reo stumbled out of the cloud, coughing, his clothes torn and bloody but his grin wide.
"That," he rasped, "was awesome."
Yua rushed to him, grabbing his arm to steady him.
Doraemon bounded up, eyes wide with amazement.
"You...you crushed it," he stammered.
Reo chuckled weakly. "I crushed it with a building. That's a new one for me."
But even as they laughed, Reo's instincts stayed sharp.
He could feel it.
The fight wasn't over.
Deep under the rubble, something moved.
A claw burst free.
The crushed, broken shape of Executor dragged itself up from the ruins.
Its body was mangled — half its limbs missing — but its eye still burned with mindless, mechanical rage.
And now, it wasn't following orders anymore.
Now, it wanted revenge.
---