A normal bomb was not going to kill a D Rank Gene Augur, not to talk of a jury-rigged one.

But still, when the Beastframe saw the bomb tumbling towards him through the air, his eyes gleamed, showing urgency.

He didn't show panic, just urgency.

This was because he was still fighting with the remnant soul imprint of the psychopathic Warlord that was left in his body. Even in death, Parasite's soul was still defiant, psychotic, and causing trouble.

He feared that if that bomb directly detonated on him, even with his Bio-Armor active, he feared that his consciousness would lose connection with the body.

And once it did, the body would mutate with the ADE left in the Beastframe turning corrupt as it would turn into a wild Neon Beast.

He wanted to prevent this by all means because he wanted to be in control, but his body still couldn't move.

He could only glare at the bomb tumbling towards him.

In that moment, time seemed to slow down.

Rex looked at his bestfriend, Daren one last time even as tears freely flowed down his hollow eyes.

When Daren saw that gaze, his heart skipped a beat.

The Cyber Gladiator suddenly felt like crying, he suddenly felt like he was about to lose something that was extremely important to him.

"No…," he barely whispered when the bomb detonated.

KABOOM!

For a third time since this battle in the wasteland started, a third bomb was detonated on a being!

Rex's body evaporated immediately.

As for the Beastframe, the thick dark brown carapace covering his gigantic body and protecting him restrained the flames at first, but as the temperature rapidly climbed up, the Bio-Armor combusted!

BOOM!

The flames surged into the body of the gigantic target, tearing underneath the skin of the Beastframe through its pores, boring into its brain!

In that moment, the Beastframe lost it.

ROARRRRRRRRRRRR!

A mighty, unhinged, corrupted, and utterly mad roar reverberated from the heart of the explosion, a roar that directly tore apart the remaining sanity that the Tiger was originally clinging to.

The sentient consciousness inside the Beast was extinguished!

Then the Beastframe became corrupted.

Tyrannical orange ADE flared wildly in the flames even as the Tiger's already gigantic body bulged even more, deforming as bony outgrowths spurted out of different parts of its body, turning it into a frightening Frankensteinish monster.

ROARRRRRR!

It roared again, its parched vocal cords sounding in a frightening manner.

The flames dealt terrifying damage to the Beastframe for a few seconds, and finally, the flames started dying down.

Within the dying flames, they finally saw the aftermath.

Rex was nowhere to be found, he was dead.

The ADE Nullification Shackles were also nowhere to be found. After tanking the flames of 3 different bombs, the chains finally gave out, melting as they were completely destroyed this time.

In that moment, the whole crew fell into a sudden sorrowful and somber mood as they stared in a daze at where Rex stood a moment ago, then they focused on the Beastframe.

The Beastframe was still alive!

It didn't die inside the flames, but the bomb dealt devastating damage to it, directly restricting its regeneration. This was only possible because this Beastframe was now a wild Neon Beast and could no longer actively use its abilities like a sentient being.

Its body was heavily damaged, most of its flesh melting from the high temperature flames as bits of flesh flowed down from its body in a bloody puddle.

Its limbs were weak and unstable as it bared its fangs hungrily.

Its eyes were now blood-red and filled with nothing but deranged madness.

Those eyes scanned the battlefield in a rabid manner, then they stopped on the puny existence that caused it so much pain… Leon.

'F*ck!'

Leon's eyes quickly darted around, then his eyes stopped on one of the Karaki CT-3X super bikes that was lying by the corner of the battlefield.

His brain whirred as he analyzed the current situation. '…it's eyes no longer gleam with that sign of intelligence… it's just a wild Neon Beast right now… and from the look in its eyes, it clearly has a grudge against me…'

'If I run, there's a high likelihood that it'll pursue just me… at least that'll buy a chance for the others to survive'.

Leon knew that this was the exact reason why Rex made such a sacrifice, to make sure that his crewmates survived to live another day.

When he threw the bomb, though he prayed for it to kill the D Rank Beast, he wasn't optimistic of his chances, and this was what enabled his brain to react so fast and cook up a plan on the spot to complete Rex's sacrifice.

With a solemn look on his face, Leon let go of Talia and moved.

Whoosh!

The moment he moved, the Beastframe also moved as it charged towards him. This confirmed his analysis that the Beast had a grudge against him.

Leon's heartbeat picked up and accelerated as he quickly arrived in front of the super bike.

He raised it up, climbed it, and quickly kicked it to life, then…

VROOOM!

Leon kicked up a hurricane of dust as he accelerated into the distance.

The gigantic deformed Tiger pursued him.

The time was 8:34am.

…

8:35am.

[POV of Talia's Wraith Cell-9 Crew…]

In the blink of an eye, Leon was gone with the gigantic D Rank Beast.

All that was left in their wake was the dust swirling in the air, the distant reeving of an engine, and the rabid roars of the corrupted Neon Beast.

They all stared in a daze.

Thud!

Kain collapsed to the ground as he stared at the location where he last saw Rex. His mechanical lips quivered. "R-Rex…"

Talia pursed her lips as her tired gray-green eyes turned watery, they all witnessed Rex's sudden sacrifice.

Ghostwire and Brick stood motionlessly but their gray eyes showed an upsurge of emotions as they silently stared at the last place where Rex stood.

Just like Talia, Gary and Mary also finally collapsed to the ground to rest after such a grueling battle. They panted heavily as they also stayed at the last spot where Rex stood before the explosion took him.

They didn't know the boy who sacrificed himself to heavily injure the Beast unlike the others, but having fought such an intense and unforgettable battle alongside him, they could not help but also be infected by the sorrow in the air.

Click! Thud!

Daren unequipped his VX-09 Emberfist gauntlets as they fell to the ground with a loud thud, then he took a step forward.

His whole body was battered, injured and bleeding.

Yet, at this moment, none of that physical pain affected him. What truly affected him was the pain in his heart that felt like a stake was ruthlessly drilled into his heart and then being twisted repeatedly.

Tears flowed freely down Daren's face as he continued moving forward.

He staggered and fell, then crawled, then rose up again, his weak limbs shaking and shuddering as he stubbornly moved forward.

Soon, he arrived at the vicinity of the latest bomb as the remnant flames and high temperature affected him, exacerbating his injuries yet Daren didn't stop.

Daren walked into the flames till he was right where Rex stood beside the Beastframe. His lips quivered. "Why?" He whispered then he collapsed to his knees as tears flowed freely down his eyes like a river.

He pounded the ground heavily in rage and then screamed, but his voice was barely a whisper because his throat was burnt and parched.

He wept.

His tears flowed non-stop as he expressed his grief.

About two minutes later, he picked up the ashes that gathered in front of him then he hugged them tightly to his chest as if doing that would bring Rex back to life.

His lips quivered again like he was about to say something, but he kept quiet.

A few seconds later though, he whispered. "Idiot".

They all felt it.

Rex had only been in the crew for a year but it felt like he'd always been in the crew. He was quiet most of the time, only extremely vocal and stubborn when he was around Daren as they engaged in their silly arguments.

Ghostwire didn't have much of an impression of the Mechanist, but he was a crewmate, and that was all he needed to respect and care for him.

Now, Rex was gone and he felt it.

His emotions were erratic as he pursed his mechanical lips in silence.

Brick stood like a statue, his mechanical body battered and weak, his brain tired, yet he stood straight as he paid his final respects to the Mechanist.

Talia finally staggered up to her feet as she took a look at the battlefield.

She observed all the corpses around her, both Ascended and mundane thugs and even the rebels that followed her here, she observed the destruction that the battle caused, then she observed the buses in the distance where frightened faces quietly looked at them in fear.

She took a deep breath and savored the silence because it meant one thing. 'The battle is finally over'.

'We won,' she thought as tears flowed down her eyes. 'Rex, we won'.

He looked at the buses. 'Rex, they're free'.

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