69. Continued
"Jack, work with me."
After sending Johnson a message telling him to order his men to cease fire, Carl stepped forward.
James's Sandevistan time had already run out.
He was now ten meters away from Carl.
"He avoided the grenade, the one thing that posed the greatest threat, and kept closing in?"
Carl tossed the Kenshin, its ammunition spent during the suppressing fire, aside. His hands lifted slightly from his sides, and two Monomolecular Wires emerged from them.
"Looks like I still have to get up close and finish you with the Monomolecular Wires I paid a fortune to upgrade."
Subdermal Armor could lessen the impact of bullets, but it was far less effective against Monomolecular Wire.
There had been one last gun strapped to James's back, but it too had been blasted to pieces during the suppressing fire. Facing Carl as he slowly approached, James instinctively raised the Projectile Launch System on his left arm. Yet when he tried to fire, his arm answered with nothing but the hollow clack-clack of an empty chamber.
"Still trying to pull that 'the times have changed' stunt?"
Carl's steps were steady. He had no intention of slipping on the wet ground. "Show me your Mantis Blades. I'd be happy to play some close combat with you."
Carl did not need to say more. Mantis Blades flashed out from James's right arm, their edges gleaming coldly as he charged straight at Carl.
Just as expected.
Carl's data stream, carrying the daemon, reached James's right arm.
Cyberware Malfunction.
The operating components of the Mantis Blades in James's arm suddenly began to overclock. The scorching heat they gave off directly cooked what flesh remained in his arm, making the arm he had been about to swing stall for an instant.
But a tough