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

The man was easily eight feet tall. His organic body was completely swallowed by a colossal suit of heavy cybernetic armor. The plating was thick unpainted gunmetal grey, scored with deep gashes from previous battles.

Thick glowing yellow hydraulic cables snaked across his arms and legs, pumping highly

pressurized synthetic fluid to power his movements.

He did not carry a gun. He did not carry a sword. His hands were simply massive

oversized mechanical crushers designed to turn human bones into powder.

[Entity Identified: Drax - Level 65] [Class: Heavy-Borg Juggernaut] [Status:

Kinetic Dampening Shield Active]

”Trent!” Drax’s voice was a booming synthesized roar that physically vibrated

the ground. ”I watched you on the monitors! You shoot well, little man! But

bullets do not work on me!”

Drax slammed his massive mechanical fists together.

CLANG!

Sparks showered down onto the concrete.

”I am going to grab you by your scrawny little legs,” Drax laughed, taking a

heavy thudding step forward. ”And I am going to rip you in half like a

wishbone!”

Sebastian let out a long tired sigh. ”Always with the dramatic threats. Do you guys rehearse these in the mirror?”

Sebastian did not wait for a response. He smoothly pulled his kinetic rifle from

his shoulder, aimed directly at Drax’s massive chest plate, and squeezed the

trigger.

TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!

He emptied half the magazine in a perfectly tight grouping. The heavy tungsten

slugs flew across the gap at incredible speed.

They hit Drax’s chest.

PING! PING! PING! PING!

The bullets did not even scratch the paint. They hit the heavy cybernetic armor

and instantly flattened into useless metal discs. They bounced harmlessly off

his chest and clattered to the floor.

[Attack Resisted. Target possesses Absolute Kinetic Dampening.]

Drax threw his head back and let out a grating mechanical laugh.

”Did you not hear me, you stupid grunt?!” Drax roared. ”My armor absorbs all

kinetic impact! Your guns are useless! Your punches are useless! You are nothing

but meat waiting to be tenderized!”

Drax charged.

For a guy weighing over a ton, he moved with insane speed. The heavy hydraulic

cables on his legs whined and hissed, propelling the massive cyborg forward like

a runaway freight train. The ground literally shook with every step.

Sebastian stood his ground. He looked at the charging behemoth. He looked at his

kinetic rifle.

”Yeah, you are right,” Sebastian muttered. ”Guns are useless.”

He casually tossed the rifle aside. It clattered onto the concrete.

Up in the VIP box, Commander Sterling leaped out of his seat. His pale blue eyes

were wide with panic. ”What is he doing?! Do not drop your weapon, you idiot!

Run!”

Sebastian did not run. He just rolled his shoulders, feeling the immense hyper

dense biological steel of his own muscles coiling tight beneath his black

tactical suit.

Drax closed the distance in seconds. The towering cyborg raised his right arm,

and the massive mechanical crusher swung down in a brutal sweeping arc aimed

directly at Sebastian’s head. The force behind the blow was enough to instantly

flatten a tank.

”DIE!” Drax screamed.

Sebastian did not use a dash skill. He did not cast a magical shield.

He just moved.

With his thirty percent physical synchronization, Sebastian’s baseline agility

was entirely off the charts. His brain processed the exact trajectory, speed,

and arc of the massive fist.

Sebastian stepped forward and smoothly ducked.

WHOOSH!

The heavy metal crusher sailed mere millimeters over his featureless black

helmet. The sheer wind pressure from the swing ruffled his collar, but Sebastian

was already inside Drax’s guard.

”What!” Drax grunted, his momentum carrying his arm wildly off balance.

Sebastian did not try to punch the armor. He knew the kinetic dampening would

absorb the blow. To beat hydraulics, you did not hit them. You broke the joints.

Sebastian reached up and grabbed the thick yellow hydraulic cables connecting

Drax’s right shoulder to his neck.

He planted his boots firmly onto the concrete, anchoring himself with his

absurdly high physical weight, and pulled.

”Get off me!” Drax roared. He twisted his body and swung his left arm in a

desperate backhand to swat Sebastian away like a fly.

Sebastian ignored the incoming fist. He ducked under it with ease and stepped

completely behind the massive cyborg. Like a shadow, he smoothly scaled Drax’s

back and wrapped his legs securely around the cyborg’s waist.

Before Drax could even process the movement, Sebastian wrapped both of his arms

around the thick reinforced steel collar protecting the cyborg’s neck.

He locked his hands together in a flawless inescapable sleeper hold.

”You think a chokehold is going to work on me?!” Drax laughed hysterically. He violently thrashed his massive body from side to side to shake Sebastian off. ”I do not need to breathe, you idiot! My brain runs on an internal oxygen scrubber!

And my collar is made of reinforced durasteel!

You cannot crush it!”

”I do not need you to stop breathing,” Sebastian whispered directly into Drax’s

audio receptors. His voice was a cold hum. ”I need your fluid pressure to fail.”

Sebastian squeezed.

He did not use magic. He just applied the raw physical strength of a Demigod who

had just consumed the condensed souls of thousands of players and two World

Bosses.

The muscles in Sebastian’s arms bulged. The black tactical suit groaned under

the tension. The dark violet pulsing veins of his glitched biology flared

beneath his skin, generating a sheer torque that defied all mechanical logic.

CREEEAAAAK.

The sound was horrifying. It was the sound of industrial grade durasteel

physically screaming in protest.

Drax stopped laughing. The cyborg’s red optical lenses widened in absolute

panic.

”Warning! Structural integrity failing!” the cyborg’s internal automated voice

blared out of his external speakers. ”Collar pressure at critical limits!”

”How... how are you doing this?!” Drax gasped. His massive hands reached up and

frantically clawed at Sebastian’s arms. But his thick mechanical crushers could

not find purchase on the sleek polymer suit.

”Armor is just metal, Drax,” Sebastian gritted out, tightening his grip by

another fraction of an inch. ”And metal bends.”

CRUNCH!

The heavy steel collar buckled inward. The thick metal crumpled like a crushed

soda can. It violently snapped the delicate internal wiring and severed the

primary hydraulic fluid lines running up into the cyborg’s brain.

PSSSHHHHH!

A massive geyser of highly pressurized glowing yellow hydraulic fluid erupted

from the broken seal. It sprayed wildly into the air and rained down over the

concrete.

Drax’s entire body violently seized.

Without the fluid pressure to run his cybernetics, the massive nine foot tall

monster became instantly paralyzed. His red optical lenses flickered rapidly and

sparked with electrical shorts.

”Error... Error...” Drax’s synthesized voice gurgled as his internal systems

catastrophically crashed. ”System... failing...”

Sebastian did not let go. He held the crushed collar and applied steady pressure

as the massive cyborg slowly tipped backward.

THUD.

Drax crashed heavily onto his back and sent a cloud of dust into the air.

Sebastian rode him down to the ground. He kept his arms perfectly locked around

the ruined neck.

The cyborg twitched once. Twice.

Then, the red light in his eyes completely faded to black. His massive health

bar instantly zeroed out.

[Target Eliminated. Match Concluded.] [Winner: Trent]

Sebastian slowly unclasped his hands. He rolled off the massive leaking

mechanical corpse and stood up. He casually wiped a smear of yellow hydraulic

fluid off his black visor.

The arena was dead silent.