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

The Cyber-Berserker was fast. Ridiculously and terrifyingly fast!

For a nine-foot-tall mass of rusted iron and hydraulic pistons, it crossed the distance between the broken table and Sebastian in a literal fraction of a second.

The twin plasma axes came crashing down in a brutal crossing X-pattern. The sheer kinetic force behind the swing was enough to cleave a modern skyscraper clean in half.

The super-heated blue-white plasma hissed. It created a localized vacuum that threatened to suck the oxygen right out of Sebastian’s lungs.

”Get out of the way!” Gwen screamed from the corner. She desperately fired her kinetic pistols.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Her heavy armor-piercing slugs hit the side of the Berserker’s head. But they just flattened against the thick steel plating and bounced off like annoying mosquitoes.

The cyborg didn’t even blink. It was entirely focused on turning the ragged Drifter into a smoking pile of ash.

Sebastian didn’t jump back. He didn’t dive for cover. He didn’t even bother summoning his massive concrete-encrusted Earth Sword to block.

He just looked up at the descending axes with absolute deadpan annoyance.

”You guys really need to learn some new tricks,” Sebastian grumbled.

He didn’t cast a magic shield. Magic was for players who still played by the rules. Sebastian was a thirty percent synchronized Demigod running the original world-breaking source code of the Ethereal Plane!

His hybrid green and blue UI flared to life in the corner of his vision. He mentally grabbed the [Code Compiler] tool he had evolved from his 10,000x Nexus Glitch.

He didn’t target the axes. He didn’t target the plasma. He targeted the fundamental mathematical law governing the massive cyborg’s physical movement.

[Action Registered: Access Physics Engine.]

[Target Code: Concept of Inertia.]

”Overwrite,” Sebastian whispered.

He raised his bare left hand. He didn’t ball it into a fist. He just held his palm flat and directly in the path of the massive descending plasma blades.

The Berserker’s mechanical face twisted into a cruel mocking sneer. It fully expected to completely vaporize the human’s arm before slicing right through his torso.

The axes hit Sebastian’s open palm.

CRACK-BOOM!

The sound was absolutely deafening. It wasn’t the sound of flesh burning or bones shattering. It sounded like two massive freight trains colliding head-on at two hundred miles an hour!

A violent visible shockwave of displaced air exploded outward from the point of impact. It shattered the remaining glass in the room and threw Gwen flat onto her back.

But Sebastian didn’t move an inch. His boots were firmly planted on the carpet. His arm didn’t buckle. His skin didn’t burn.

The physics engine of the Juncture violently shrieked as Sebastian’s 10,000x multiplier forcefully injected a new law into reality.

He hadn’t just stopped the axes. He had taken the absolute towering kinetic energy of the Level 90 Berserker’s swing and perfectly reflected it backward without any flaws.

”What the fvck?!” the Berserker gasped. Its glowing red eyes widened in pure unadulterated shock.

The kinetic force had nowhere to go but back into the source.

The heavy hydraulic pistons in the cyborg’s arms couldn’t handle the reflected inertia. They weren’t built to absorb their own maximum output multiplied by a physics glitch!

SCREEECH! SNAP!

The thick steel plating on the Berserker’s forearms violently buckled outward. The heavy metal joints in its elbows and shoulders simply exploded.

”AGGHHH!” the cyborg roared.

Its massive cybernetic arms were completely blown apart into a shower of jagged shrapnel sparking wires and spraying black motor oil. The plasma axes spun wildly out of control. They flew across the room and embedded themselves deep into the concrete walls.

The Berserker stumbled backward. It was completely disarmed. It looked down at the two smoking and sparking stumps where its shoulders used to be.

”My arms! You... you didn’t even cast anything! What the hell did you do to my arms?!” the cyborg panicked. Its combat-stims desperately tried to compensate for the catastrophic hardware failure.

Sebastian slowly lowered his hand. He dusted off his coat and looked completely bored.

”I just returned your swing to sender buddy,” Sebastian said casually. ”I told you I’m not a squishy caster. Now let’s see what kind of processor you’re running under that ugly hood.”

Sebastian stepped forward. He didn’t run. He just moved with that heavy terrifying and frictionless grace.

The Berserker tried to kick him. It threw a massive steel-plated leg forward.

Sebastian casually swatted the leg aside with the back of his hand. The sheer density of his synchronized muscles threw the nine-foot giant entirely off balance.

Before the cyborg could recover, Sebastian stepped directly into its personal space. He pulled his right arm back. The dark violet pulsing veins of his Demigod stats flared brightly beneath his pale skin.

He drove his fist directly into the center of the Berserker’s heavily armored chest.

CRUNCH!

It was like punching through wet cardboard. Sebastian’s fist bypassed the thick steel plating. It shattered the artificial ribcage and plunged deep into the churning mechanical guts of the cyborg.

The Berserker froze and its red optical lenses flickered wildly. It let out a wet gurgling sound as black oil and synthetic blood bubbled up its throat.

”Found it,” Sebastian muttered.

His fingers closed around the rapidly beating and glowing red energy core powering the machine.

”No... wait...” the cyborg choked out.

”Connection terminated,” Sebastian said flatly.

SHLUCK!

He violently ripped his arm backward. He tore the massive glowing core entirely out of the Berserker’s chest cavity.

A geyser of oil and sparks erupted from the gaping wound. The Level 90 enforcer went completely rigid. Without its power source the heavy metal body instantly died. It collapsed backward and hit the floor with a massive resounding THUD that shook the bunker one last time.

[Target Eliminated.]

[Foreign Data Core Acquired.]

Sebastian stood over the dead machine. He casually tossed the heavy pulsing red core in his hand like a baseball. He looked over at Gwen.

The smuggler was slowly pushing herself up from the floor. She stared at the destroyed Level 90 monster and then looked at Sebastian. Her jaw was practically touching the floor.

”You... you just punched a Level 90 heavy-borg to death,” Gwen breathed. Her voice was filled with pure awe. ”You didn’t use a spell. You just broke his arms with physics and ripped his heart out.”

”I’m a very hands-on manager,” Sebastian smirked. He tossed the core into his digital inventory. ”Now grab those filters. We need to leave before Silas realizes his favorite toy is broken.”