[You have drawn the lottery for the 23rd time.]

The words hung in the air, and for a moment, Derek's breath caught. He could feel the weight of the moment, the sting of desperation, the sheer chaos building up around him. His heart was pounding.

And then the system spoke, almost as if it were teasing him:

[You received a...]

Derek's eyes widened, his pulse racing. This is it. This was the one thing that could change everything.

He looked towards the swarm of monsters approaching, his lips slowly curled into a smile.

" Suit Me Up "

___________________________

Elsewhere in the Subway station

The Genesis were fighting against a small horde of E and D rank Bugs.

" We need to retreat...the monsters here are too strong and there might be a possibility that there are more powerful monsters in here ", Andrew said, punching down on the chitin of the D rank cockroach he was fighting.

The others said nothing, but they were already forming a formation to retreat.

Suddenly, the tactical commlink in Andrew's ears buzzed, and a low voice came out.

Andrew listened for a while while the others covered him.

" They are sending a Special Grade Warrior here, He will arrive by tonight. Our job is to assist him in whatever way we can, " Andrew relayed the message to his team.

" Well, with the situation here, it is indeed appropriate to send one of those powerful frea...."

" BOOOOM! " A loud explosion resounded as the entire subway—no, the entire Paleview City—shook as if hit by an Earthquake.

" What's happening? " Evelyn asked, tension and fear registering on her face as she struggled to stabilise her footing.

Then the sound of the explosion and the walls breaking resounded through the subway.

" Move out ", Andrew commanded as they carved a way out of the subway, punching through the falling debris, and shuttling out at inhuman speed.

Evelyn was the first to step out, She let out a scream immediately

" Oh my...Is that a...?

The others did not hear the last part of her sentence because of the loud booming sounds coming from the distance.

One by one, they got out, then froze. Andrew was the last one out. he wiped his face with the back of his hand and stared in the direction everyone was staring in, and then his mouth dropped open, forming an 'O' shape.

Hundreds of meters away from them, the ground had ruptured, as if some ancient god had punched its way from the underworld.

A jagged canyon of torn asphalt and twisted metal led up to the epicentre—a yawning chasm where the subway had once been. But that was not what had frozen the Genesis Squad in place.

Standing amidst the carnage, head brushing against the edge of a nearby high-rise, was a black-clad mecha, silhouetted against the smoke and fire, its form bathed in a hellish glow from the fires burning below.

Every surface was plated in matte obsidian armour, segmented like insect chitin, with faint red lines pulsing beneath it like veins.

The thing didn't move. It simply stood there, arms at its sides.

If one were close enough, one would see that in its chest area, a small cockpit of glass was embedded.

A yellow-haired youth with gleaming blue eyes was sitting in the cockpit, his expression mighty and valiant as he stared down at the Bug Monsters below him. These bug monsters could easily dwarf buses, and some of the C Rank Bugs were the height of buildings, but now in Derek's eyes, they had become what they truly were....Bugs. Not that they were not bugs at first, but now...ahem, you get what I mean.

Derek's expression was truly valiant and mighty, until he stared down at the layers of glowing and holographic controls, the valiant expression was washed away by a flood of confusion.

"System, what am I supposed to do with this... I can't pilot this thing," Derek said, his face warped in grief.

It felt like a kid being handed the keys to a spaceship on Christmas morning—

All wide-eyed wonder, only to realise he didn't even know how to turn it on, let alone fly it straight without crash-landing into the neighbour's house.

[ Mecha Detected, Would the host like to spend 100,000 Credit Points to learn how to pilot the mecha?]

The system's voice rang in his ear.

" 100,000 to pilot this baby...doesn't sound bad " Derek said lightly, but he could not hide the bitter expression on his face.

"My hard-earned credits" He sighed internally.

[ 100,000 System Credits deducted] The system's voice rang, as if mocking him.

Just then, a robotic voice rang inside the cockpit, [ Pilot Detected...Establishing Neural Link ]

[Initializing Neural Link...]

A cold jolt surged through Derek's spine, like ice water running through his nervous system. His eyes dilated, breath caught mid-exhale.

The world around him warped for a second—then snapped back into focus, sharper than ever. His vision expanded. He could see more. No—he could feel more. The breeze fluttering past the mecha's shoulders, the vibrations from the monsters' movements, even the growing tension in the cracked earth below.

His hands, still trembling, shifted slightly—and the mecha mirrored the motion with eerie precision.

Inside the cockpit, Derek watched in awe as the mecha obliterated a wave of bugs with a single sweeping arm, guided by nothing more than the slight twitch of his thought.

His grin faltered.

"Wait a minute…"

Another bug lunged. Derek thought about dodging, and the mecha weaved aside like a dancer. He barely blinked before his fist slammed into the creature's thorax, turning it into airborne meat confetti.

His grin vanished.

"Wait… Wait. If I can control this thing with my mind—" he paused as the mecha's arm effortlessly impaled another monster— "then why the hell did you charge me 100,000 credits to 'learn how to pilot it,' you credit-sucking, loot-box-hustling scam of a system?!"

The system remained, as always, smugly silent.

"Oh, don't you dare play the quiet game now," Derek growled, slamming a mental command that sent the mecha leaping into the air and crashing down with an explosion that liquefied a ten-meter radius of bugs.

[Your proficiency has increased by 72%. Neural Synchronisation: 48%]

"Oh wow, thanks for the update, capitalist AI clown !" Derek snapped. "Next time, just ask for my kidney upfront. Would've hurt less!"

Though Derek was annoyed, the sound of the notification alleviated this annoyance slightly

[ You've killed a D-rank Chitonous Bug..]

[ You've killed a D-rank.....]

[ You've killed a C-rank.....]

[ You've killed a D-rank.....]

" This is what I am talking about, with every step, the bugs were squished beneath his feet.

"Oh hell," he muttered. "I just became Optimus Gundam Evangelion Prime."

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