Awakening a 10,000x Skill Proficiency Multiplier in the Apocalypse

Sebastian let out a long heavy exhale that ruffled the collar of his ruined leather coat. He stood in the center of the Iron Wraiths’ boardroom surrounded by the absolute carnage he had just caused.

The heavy steel blast doors were twisted wreckage. The meat cube that used to be four elite Syndicate mages was slowly dripping onto the expensive mahogany table.

But for the first time since he had forcefully yanked himself out of the Ethereal Plane, Sebastian actually felt good.

The Premium Server Filter had done its job. The suffocating terrifying Void Toxicity that had been literally un-rendering his left arm into a mess of green static was completely gone. His physical body had stabilized at a solid thirty percent synchronization.

He clenched his fists. His knuckles popped with the sound of cracking stone. He didn’t feel like a ragged dying drifter anymore. He felt like he had a nuclear reactor strapped to his chest purring with infinite perfectly contained energy. His muscles were as dense as biological titanium.

”Holy shit,” Sebastian muttered while rolling his shoulders. ”I feel like I could bench-press a fvcking freight train right now. That pill was a lifesaver Seattle.”

Gwen slowly holstered her smoking kinetic pistols. She stared at him. Her eyes were wide and completely blown away.

She had just watched a man bend the rules of the universe and casually compress four high-tier mages into a bloody microwave-sized box. And then he drank a glowing vial of data like it was a protein shake!

”You’re welcome,” Gwen managed to say with a tight voice. ”But we can’t just stand around celebrating. You just murdered my uncle and the Onyx Syndicate’s top security detail. Silas is going to know.”

”Silas?” Sebastian asked as he casually picked up a pristine glass from the wreckage of a nearby liquor cabinet. He wiped a smudge of blood off the rim with his thumb. ”Let me guess. The big boss? The try-hard edgelord running this whole black-market operation?”

”Yes,” Gwen snapped. She marched over to the heavy vault and secured the remaining Server Filters into her distressed trench coat. ”Silas is the head of the Syndicate. And he monitors the life-signs of every single executive under his banner. The moment Jared’s health bar hit zero, an alarm went off on his desk.”

She paused and looked at him seriously. ”He’s not going to send more mages Sebastian. He’s going to send the heavy hardware.”

”Good,” Sebastian said. He poured a splash of expensive amber liquid into his glass and took a sip. ”I hate chasing people. Let them come to me. Saves me the cardio.”

”You don’t understand,” Gwen warned with a dead serious tone. ”He’s going to send an enforcer. A Cyber-Berserker. They don’t cast spells. They don’t use magic shields that you can just glitch out. They are walking mechanized slaughterhouses.”

Before Sebastian could offer a sarcastic reply, the entire boardroom violently shuddered.

BOOM!

The sound didn’t come from the hallway. It came from directly above them.

The heavy reinforced concrete ceiling of the bunker groaned. Dust and chunks of plaster rained down onto the mahogany table. It coated the bloody meat cube in a fine layer of grey powder.

”Well, that was fast,” Sebastian sighed and set his glass down. ”Guess the landlord is here for the noise complaint.”

CRACK!

The ceiling utterly gave way. A massive terrifying silhouette dropped through the jagged hole. It landed on the boardroom table with an impact so heavy it snapped the solid wood cleanly in half.

The entire room shook. The floating starlight chandeliers flickered wildly before shorting out. The room was plunged into a dim emergency-red glow.

”Target located,” a deep synthesized and utterly demonic voice growled through the dust.

Sebastian squinted through the settling debris. He didn’t even flinch. He just shoved his hands into the pockets of his torn coat.

Standing amidst the splintered wood was a monster. It was easily nine feet tall. Its organic body was almost entirely replaced by heavy industrial cybernetics.

Thick rusted steel plates covered its chest and legs. Its arms were massive hydraulic pistons currently humming with a sickening high-voltage whine.

The most terrifying part wasn’t the armor. It was the absolute lack of humanity. Thick glowing green tubes of combat-stims pumped directly into the creature’s exposed bald scalp. Its eyes were replaced by targeting lenses that glowed an angry blinding red.

[Entity Identified: Syndicate Enforcer (Cyber-Berserker)]

[Level: 90]

[Status: Pain Receptors Deleted. Combat Stims Active.]

In each of its massive mechanical hands, the Berserker held a heavy plasma axe. The blades weren’t made of steel. They were crackling arcs of super-heated blue-white plasma that instantly scorched the carpet beneath its feet.

”You’re the glitch,” the Berserker sneered and stepped off the broken table. The heavy metallic thud of its boots echoed in the room. ”Silas sends his regards. And his bill.”

Gwen raised both of her kinetic pistols. Her hands were trembling slightly.

”Sebastian! That thing is Level 90! Its entire nervous system is replaced with combat-stims! It literally cannot feel pain, and it won’t stop until you’re dead!”

”Pain is a crutch anyway,” Sebastian muttered. He looked up at the towering cyborg. ”So you’re the big bad enforcer? You look like a blender that grew legs and developed a bad attitude.”

The Berserker let out a harsh grinding laugh that sounded like gears stripping.

”You talk a lot of shit for a squishy magic user,” the cyborg mocked. It raised its plasma axes. The heat radiating off the weapons was incredibly intense. ”I saw the security logs. You used a localized reality hack to compress the mages. You rely on admin codes and software edits. You’re a backline caster.”

The Berserker rolled its mechanical neck. The servos whined loudly.

”But I’m not a firewall Anomaly. I’m pure unadulterated hardware. Your magic tricks won’t stop a plasma blade from separating your head from your shoulders.”

”Squishy magic user?” Sebastian repeated. A genuinely amused smirk spread across his face.

He pulled his hands out of his pockets and slowly cracked his knuckles. ”Buddy, I’m wearing a leather coat and standing five feet away from you. What part of this screams ’backline caster’ to you?”

”The part where you die!” the Berserker roared.

The creature’s heavy hydraulic legs contracted. It launched itself forward with a terrifying explosive burst of speed. The massive plasma axes were raised high and ready to cleave the annoying human directly down the middle.

”Let’s see if your hardware can handle my software,” Sebastian whispered. His pitch-black eyes locked onto the descending blades.