The others that were in the demonstration room turned and were looking at the gory scene.
One of their strongest members, one of the higher-ranking ones in the Gilt Rats, had been dealt with, and since it had been done in such a gruesome way, nearly everyone could see it. It stood out too much for anyone to ignore, and because of that, it was hard to avoid looking at it even if they wanted to.
It made a lot of the members that were fighting lose their will, and they weren’t so sure if they wanted the same thing to happen to them.
The confidence they had before, when they thought they had the upper hand because of their numbers and their special equipment, had started to disappear. It wasn’t just fear from seeing someone die. It was the way it had happened. It was the reminder that no matter what gear they were wearing, no matter how strong they thought they were, they could still be taken down.
’The last time I fought, the circumstances were a little different,’ Na thought to himself. ’I was limited to the ring, and I was able to see what that exoskeleton could do already, so I had that advantage as well.’
In some ways, the opponent wasn’t as difficult because of the fight against Evon, who had used several traps.
That fight had been more troublesome in its own way. There had been more to think about, more to watch out for, and more danger hidden in each movement. Compared to that, this person was far simpler.
This person was just too confident in his equipment.
When Na came over, he looked at what he was wearing and then started to take the exoskeleton off from the body.
"The spoils of battle, and with how much you guys outnumber us, we’re going to need every little bit of help we can get."
There was no reason to waste something useful, especially not in a fight like this. They were outnumbered, and every little increase in strength could make a difference. If the enemy had brought these things here, then there was no reason they couldn’t be turned against them.
Eventually, Na had taken both of the exoskeletons off from the man. He thought about using it on himself, but it seemed rather useless.
He was already plenty strong, and it didn’t seem to increase his already powerful strikes.
It might have made him a bit faster, but it was just something that appeared wasted on him.
Na looked over the equipment a little more closely, judging what use it would have in battle. It clearly helped those who relied on it, but for someone like him, whose body and fighting style were already beyond what it was trying to imitate, it didn’t seem to offer much.
’I’ll give these to one of the other members for now, to increase our power, and they can decide what to do with them later, maybe even give them to Joe.’
That was the first thought that came to Na’s mind, but he imagined that Joe himself was going up against someone that was rather spectacular, along with the others.
There was fighting going on in more than just one place. All around them, in different rooms and different parts of the building, others would be facing their own opponents, and if these exoskeleton users were spread out properly, then every one of those encounters was dangerous.
In one of the rooms, there was one person that was faring rather well against the exoskeleton users.
To the point where the exoskeleton user had been hit, and his back crashed into a vending machine, breaking the glass and causing it to fall.
The sound of the glass smashing echoed through the room, mixing in with the heavy footsteps and grunts from the fight. Shards dropped to the floor while the machine shook from the impact.
"Hahaha, I bet you never expected this, right!" Darno said. "You gang members, you should learn how to really fight before you take on a company like ours."
The man pushed himself off from the vending machine and was confused.
His hits were fast, and he had more power than the regular human.
Yet so far, when the two were fighting, even with his fast movement, every single one of the punches had been blocked.
The strangest thing was, they weren’t just blocked with his hands hitting them away, but at times he noticed that the man would use parts of his body like his shoulder, but that didn’t make any sense.
With the strength he was using, the other man’s shoulder should have broken on impact.
The Gilt Rat member couldn’t understand it. He had relied on the exoskeleton for strength and speed, and so far, that had been more than enough against most people. Yet the person in front of him was standing there like some kind of wall, taking what should have been devastating blows and still remaining upright.
Darno stood there as the angry Gilt Rat member charged forward again. He came close and started to throw his hands out, and Darno blocked each one of the attacks.
Each strike came fast, one after another, with no pause between them. There was force in every punch, enough to cave in bone if it landed cleanly. Yet Darno kept defending, reading the timing, shifting only as much as he needed to.
’If I had never had the vow, just blocking these hits alone would have hurt. But to be honest, they really do hurt still. Just because my bones are denser, it means I can take the hits without breaking, but it all still hurts.’
Darno just had to take the hits in.
He had to pretend it didn’t hurt, but he wondered just how long he could do that for.
There was no point showing weakness. The moment the enemy realized his attacks were getting through, even if not enough to take him down, they would start pressing harder. So Darno kept up the act, keeping the same expression on his face, keeping his stance firm.
Despite his own heavy hits, this man had will. That was one thing he had to give him credit for.
Even after being sent into the vending machine, even after seeing the cracks in the fight starting to form against him, the man kept going. There was no fear in the way he moved, only anger and refusal to back down.
"This is really starting to annoy me, and it’s hurting!" Darno said in frustration and timed it perfectly.
He saw where the fist was going to land, and he threw out his own fist, knuckle on knuckle against each other.
As he did that, the outside of the exoskeleton seemed to crack. A crunching sound rang out, and sparks came off it.
A massive amount of power could be felt escaping the Gilt Rat’s hand, but he didn’t give up as he threw out another fist, but Darno did the same.
When both knuckles landed against each other, sparks went off from his arm all the way up to his elbow.
The machine was clearly giving way now. The outer shell that had once looked so reliable was breaking apart under the direct impact. It wasn’t built to handle someone like Darno striking back with that much force.
"It looks like your crappy machine is broken, which is a shame because I wanted to keep it for myself!" Darno shouted as his fist landed right in the man’s face and sent him flying back, crashing into the vending machine.
Only this time, he didn’t get back up.
His body collapsed among the broken glass and dented metal, and the exoskeleton that had once made him look so dangerous now looked like little more than a ruined shell around him.
And even if he did, he would have had no way of defeating the others.
The nearby fighters that had caught sight of what happened could feel the difference immediately. The momentum had shifted. Another one of their stronger members had fallen, and now there were fewer and fewer reasons left for them to believe they could still win.
Darno rolled his shoulder slightly, feeling the lingering pain from taking those hits. He had won, but he wasn’t walking away from it without feeling it. The vow had helped him survive it, but that didn’t mean his body wasn’t paying the price.
Still, he kept that all to himself.
"Well, that should be enough to earn me one of those ranger jackets, right? Since Pink is off the table though, I wonder what colour I should ask for."