Before the laughter could even fade, the Steel General slammed his Greatblade {The Forgotten} into the pavement, his four hooves anchoring into the earth like ancient, gnarled roots. The jumping red electrical arcs around him suddenly retracted into a deathly stillness, replaced by a layer of dull, matte metal luster that spread across his body like black diamonds.
"— [STEEL FRAME]!!!"
The moment that dull luster hit her eyes, Katie's cerebral cortex felt as if it had been struck by a billion-volt lightning bolt. A buried memory surged back—the legendary "0.7-Second Logic Blind Spot" from the old-world bug-killing guides!
"It's coming! NOW—!"
Katie's scream tore through the comms. "George, move! At the exact moment he triggers [Steel Frame] and the core switches to defense mode—PIERCE HIM!!!"
"I've been waiting for you... your fatal system flaw." George's voice was as deep as an abyss. Unlike Katie and the others, he hadn't been charging recklessly; he had maintained a state of eerie stillness. The tip of his halberd-staff dragged against the ground, trailing a shower of golden sparks like a falling star.
At the exact instant the General roared the name of his skill—the moment his armor plates vibrated frantically during the mode switch—the air of the entire battlefield froze.
It was a split-second that only a top-tier predator could catch.
"— [WOOD SEAL: MAGE-LOCK CHAIN · TYPE ZERO-SEVEN]!"
{Mage Heart}'s figure evaporated from his spot, transcending the laws of causality to appear directly above the General like a ghost. Within that unique 0.7-second window, the tip of his halberd became a streak of emerald light, striking precisely into the fissure where the General's cores intersected.
That point was the origin of two conflicting high-level commands.
CRACK—!
The sound of shattering echoed through the silent street like breaking ice. The supposedly impregnable [Steel Frame] collapsed instantly. At the core, emerald vine-chains erupted, forcibly piercing and locking the mechanism!
The dark red arcs were no longer majestic; they turned into a chaotic slurry of light, exploding outward. The agony of the energy backflow forced a shriek of scalding exhaust from the General's joints.
"Wh... What?!" The General's visor emitted a tremor of true fear. "A buried logic exploit like this... how could anyone still remember it!"
George looked down at the trembling beast, pressing his halberd down firmly as the emerald chains tightened their grip to the limit.
"You can thank the 'ten-year piece of trash' who farmed you 9,999 times for that."
As the command conflict was forced into a loop, a terrifying internal implosion occurred within the General's massive frame. "The Forgotten" lost its magnetic grip and slammed heavily into the asphalt.
Just then, Lawson "arrived" on the scene, huffing and puffing as he pushed a black-smoke-belching, abandoned hoverboard he'd scavenged from some ruins. Wiping the sweat from his face, he stared at the paralyzed boss with a look of mad cunning.
"Beautifully done, George! While he's suffering from 'system lag,' ALL TEAMS—DUMP EVERY BIT OF DAMAGE YOU HAVE INTO HIM!!!"
The battlefield ignited. Edith and Katie's blue and green afterimages intertwined once more, while a rejuvenated Dodge let out a world-shaking roar.
"ROAR—!"
{Tiger Soul} unleashed a brilliant golden light from his shattered armor. He pulverized the ground beneath him, his hydraulic pistons venting white steam from the overload. He clenched his fist, condensing the primal power of the earth, and slammed it into the General's fractured chest plate.
"—QUAKE TIGER: EARTH-SHATTERING PUNCH!"
The dull impact vibrated through everyone's souls as the General's alloy plating peeled away like dry bark. Immediately after, {Moon Swift} flickered over the General's head. She crossed her twin blades, her frost aura sealing the surrounding ruins in permafrost. She descended in a high-speed spin, two ice-blue arcs embedding themselves into the General's visor gaps.
"—FROZEN WHEEL: SKYFALL BLOOM!"
With a sickening crunch, the visor shattered, and the General's crimson eyes flickered out in the ice. But the true Reaper had already taken her final stance behind him.
"All things in nature return to the dust."
Edith's deep green {Wood Strike} armor pulsed with life energy. She snatched the folding boomerang from her back. With a swipe of her fingers, the blades unfolded; the metallic edges instantly sprouted serrated emerald leaf-blades, crackling with ghost-green sparks of annihilation.
"—WOOD STRIKE ULTIMATE: TEN THOUSAND DESOLATION CYCLONE!"
With a sharp cry, Edith pulled her body back like a full moon and hurled the massive boomerang into the sky! It became a jade-green wheel of light, several meters in diameter, slicing through the General's cracked core with invincible cutting force. The leaf-blades spun frantically inside the core, performing thousands of micro-cuts per second.
"WAAAAAAAGH—!"
The Steel General gave one final, unwilling wail. Emerald energy erupted from his body—the ultimate life force purifying the tainted mechanical core.
BOOM—!!
With a cataclysmic explosion, the massive centaur frame disintegrated into countless charred parts under the baptism of the jade wheel.
The blood-stained boomerang traced an elegant arc through the metallic rain, returning steadily to Edith's hand. She folded it away, leaving only the Greatblade "The Forgotten" slumped awkwardly in the ruins, signaling the end of the nightmare.
Edith closed her eyes. For a moment, the weight that had crushed her heart finally shattered. For the first time, the girl driven by revenge felt the sensation of a long-lost, peaceful breath.
The silence returned. Lawson stepped through the charred remains, picking up a strange crystal from the loot. He attempted an [Eye of Identification], but the light was swallowed by the crystal, returning only a heart-stopping blank.
"This thing is the only 'variable' in the loot," Lawson said, looking at the dark crystal. "Its tier exceeds system logic. Whatever is behind this... isn't going to be simple."
With a hiss of depressurization, the four warriors disengaged their armor simultaneously.
"Come on, stop being so paranoid," Dodge grumbled, waving a hand dismissively. "It looks like a piece of scrap ballast. Instead of worrying about its origin, let's find some real loot!"
He marched over to the wreck to scavenge, but soon returned empty-handed. "Total jank... my Vault is already full of this industrial trash!"
Edith stepped forward silently. She picked up a single, pulsing red core from the blackened remains and tucked it into her bag.
"I only want this core. You can split the rest," she said coldly, turning to disappear into the shadows.
"The Steel General is dealt with. Your grudge is settled," Lawson called out. "What's next for you?"
Edith paused, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm going back to Sunrise Town to offer this core as a tribute to them. As for the future... perhaps I'll come back one day."
Lawson nodded solemnly. "Take care. If you ever need it, there will always be a place for you here."
George stepped up, his tone teasing. "Leaving so soon? I wanted to catch up with my 'Star Manager'."
Edith smirked and flicked George's forehead. "George, the one you need to catch up with is your sister. Why pester a 'Devil Manager' like me? Unless... you want to taste my 'Invincible Flying Kick' again?"
George turned pale and bolted toward the scrap heap with legendary speed. The "fear of being dominated" was clearly still effective.
Katie watched her "number one rival" prepare to leave. "Um... take care," she stammered. "If you're in trouble, remember to find us at the base."
Edith saw right through her. "Don't worry, the 'offering myself to him' thing was just to tease you. Lawson's 'exclusive ownership' still belongs to you." She paused, offering a look of respect. "But the teamwork just now wasn't bad. I look forward to the next time."
Dodge, seeing his goddess leaving, wailed dramatically. "Miss Edith! Is it really goodbye?!"
Edith stopped and glanced back. "Actually, I don't hate muscular men. Maybe one day, I'll want to see those muscles again."
Dodge's hormones spiked to a 1,000% overload. "DOES THAT MEAN?! I STILL HAVE A CHANCE?!"
Edith winked mischievously. "I said 'muscular men.' Could be Richie or Cagie from the next town over. Not necessarily someone named Dodge."
Dodge turned into a statue of pure despair. Without a final glance, Edith vanished into the blurring lines of the town horizon, trailing away like a stray wisp of smoke. Lawson watched her go and let out a long sigh of regret. "If she stayed, our team's combat power would have doubled. What a waste..."
"A waste for your 'Harem Construction Plan'?" Katie squinted at him, the scent of vinegar thick in the air.
"Harem? Please!" Lawson's survival instincts kicked in. "With my weak body? If I actually started a harem war, I'd be getting funeral invitations! I'd like to live for another few years!"
In a dizzying blur, they'd speed-ran a gauntlet of tropes: The Kidnapping Horror Arc, The Brother-Sister Reunion Drama, and the nightmare-tier 'Raid on the Steel General.' It was a back-to-back marathon of misery—the ultimate crunch of Hell Mode.
(The author must have stolen the script from a black-hearted sweatshop manager, surely?)
At this very moment, grand ambitions of saving the world and the enigmatic puzzles of the mysterious crystal were unceremoniously tossed into the mental trash bin. In their bloodshot eyes, there was only one holy grail: the soft, cloud-like beds in the base's dormitory and a protein-heavy feast in the canteen that could revive a soul from the brink of death.
If a god descended from the heavens right now, they would likely only receive one response:
"Move aside, you're blocking the way to my nap."