Amp stood with his arms folded, looking at Sergei.
"Well?" he said, raising a brow.
Gun now steady, Sergei's grip loosened.
"You're both the same."
Grunting, he turned away and ran toward the flames.
"This is Sergei. I'm on the way," he said, speaking into his wrist—but only crackling static answered back.
As the fires of the battlefield reflected in Amp's eyes, Ian's Holo spoke.
"Did all these people really have to die?"
"Yes," Amp said solemnly.
"This isn't what I wanted. You don't have to do this—not for me."
"This isn't about you," Amp said flatly. "It's about him."
His boots left the ground, and he floated in the air.
"I said it before: I know men like the Baron. The difference between him and them is that I can't touch them—at least not yet.
I may not remember much, but etched into my very being, I know—I exist to bury men like him."
He paused for a beat, whispering to himself, "No matter the cost."
As the sun set, casting an orange hue over the battlefield, Amp looked at Ian.
"Make sure you stay back and… don't blame yourself for what happens next.
This is all on me."
Amp burst into the sky, shredding the air in his wake. As the roar faded, Ian watched silently.
Having read all the files on Amp, he thought he knew what he was dealing with—but he never could've predicted this and so, for the first time in his life, Ian Garrison smiled.
This guy's like me. He's freaking nuts.
He thought as he ran closer to the battlefield.
Meanwhile, behind the caravan, the remaining soldiers took cover, bombarded by fireballs, toxic gas, and acidic attacks.
"When is backup coming?" one shouted.
"I don't know! I thought that's what the Hero was for!"
Suddenly, Sergei jumped in, yelling, "Clear!"
A massive stun grenade went off, temporarily pushing back the rogues.
"How many of us are left?" Sergei asked.
"Including you? Eleven! Eight Irons and two Zeros!"
Only eleven! Sergei thought.
Then he shouted, "Then let's show them the best of what Eisenhelm has to offer! No man is allowed to die before taking out at least one !"
In unison, the remaining men shouted their war cry.
"Helm!"
Standing at the top of a hill, watching his group of rogues descend upon the caravan, the Baron mouthed to himself, "We've taken out most of the soldiers, but where is he? Where is Amp?"
He shouted to his men, "Half of you stay here and finish them off; the other half, come with me!"
Sergei caught the Baron making his escape.
"Suka. Not even worth seeing, huh?"
As the Baron turned away, he heard a faint roar in the distance.
"Speak of the devil—"
He grabbed Sasha, who stood right next to him.
"Hey, what are you?"
Like the hammer of the Son of Thunder himself, Amp crashed upon them, detonating with tremendous force, knocking the group backward.
Amp finished the sentence.
"—And he shall appear."
The Baron and his men ragdolled down the hill, out of control and concussed, with no choice but to submit to the laws of physics.
Sergei's men shouted in relief.
"Finally!"
"He's here!"
"It's Amp!"
The soldiers cheered as Amp marched forward, descending upon the rogues.
Sergei stood in silence, holding his shoulder, blood dripping from his forehead.
Has he actually changed his mind?
Amp said nothing, walking toward the Baron, who was the first to rise.
Amp yelled out, "How cold—using her as a shield despite having the ability to heal."
Standing on top of the unconscious Sasha, the Baron grumbled,
"It still hurts."
He then shouted back, "If you want to talk about cold, what took you so long? You should've been here the moment I escaped."
"You have a kid, remember? I had to prioritize his safety first. Plus, whether I came early or late, it will all end the same."
"Bullshit!"
Suddenly, the Baron narrowed his eyes.
What does he mean by that?
Multiple rogues began getting up all around Amp.
"You wanted to take my head before—well, here I am."
The Baron yelled as the group huddled around, snickering and glaring at Amp.
Just then, walking over with laboured breath, Sergei approached.
"It's a trap. All those rogues are at least Level 2. You can't beat them alone. Work with us and—"
Amp ignored him, stepping toward the group.
The rogues stared in disbelief as the Baron began to step back.
This isn't adding up. He didn't even stop to think about it.
As the group surrounded him, jeering, Amp stood calmly in the middle.
"You all seem to be under a misapprehension, so let me clue you in. You're right to think this way; on average, being a Steel-class Neo puts you a league above most. However—that's only compared to the average Neo."
He looked directly at the Baron.
"But I'm not average. I am the elite of the elite, one of the strongest in the ranks of the strong. I'm not just any Level 2 superhero; I'm a Level 2 in the top fifty of the F.F.H. And that means—"
As his chest began to glow, Amp opened his mouth.
Faintly, as if talking to a sleeping child, he whispered, "Sonic Blast."
Instantly, the Neos around him exploded.
The sound of falling wet paper echoed across the field as human flesh combusted like cannon-fired soda cans.
"—You and your men are nothing to me but ants."
Silence followed.
No one dared move as they realized that almost half their number had been obliterated.
A second passed. Then a head fell from the heavens, breaking the silence with a heavy thump.
"My God," someone whispered.
With his eyes locked fully onto the Baron, he yelled to the rest of the group,
"Running will only make your deaths more painful than they have to be!"
But like roaches in an abandoned building, his words flicked the light on, and the rogues immediately scattered.
"Yeah I figured."
He chased after them, killing them off one by one—tearing them apart, impaling them, and exploding them from the inside out.
One of the soldiers walked up to Sergei.
"Sir, shouldn't we—"
The soldier immediately began to gag as the smell of waste and scorched metal flooded his nose.
"Stand back, soldier," Sergei said. "It's out of our hands now. In fact, it never was."
As the field turned red, the last of the rogues stood in the center.
Amp descended in front of him.
"Not going to run?"
"What would be the point?" the Baron responded.
A breath of air exited Amp's nose.
"Anything you want to say to the boy?"
"Yes. The pin to all my assets is the coordinates of the furthest star in my birth year. He'll know what I mean."
"I'm surprised at how well you're taking this."
"The boy beat me fair and square," the Baron said. "And after what he's seen today… he'll need it."
"You think he'll be like you?"
The Baron coughed with a chuckle.
"Impressive till the end. You actually got me to laugh. No, he won't be like me."
He cleared his throat.
"I, at least, know there's no rhyme or reason to any of this, so I do what I want. But him? He has no wants, nor true desires. He probably told you I was the one who removed his teeth. But I wasn't."
"…"
"At first, I thought it was an accident—that maybe he had some condition that limits his pain. But after today, it's clear. He was simply bored."
"You're lying," Amp said. "You're just a sick monster trying to justify—"
Bang.
The Baron had quickly pulled out a heavy revolver and shot Amp point-blank in the head.
"Must've slipped," the Baron said.
A moment later, the Baron's head rolled next to his body on the ground.
With his hands on his waist, Amp looked down and exhaled.
"And now for the hard part."
Still looking down, he yelled, "Any chance you and your men will agree to keep quiet about what happened today?"
He turned around.
Sergei and all of his soldiers stood there, weapons aimed at him.
"To do so would bring disgrace to all who died today!" Sergei yelled.
A whirring sound began to rise as Amp's chest glowed violently.
He muttered to himself, "So be it."