Merlin landed and rolled, then crouched on the ground. He glanced back at his Ducati, now reduced to a pile of wreckage, and a flicker of heartache crossed his eyes.
My beloved bike...
"Merlin Shaw! Come with me obediently, and I won't hurt you." A hoarse, low voice came from the Lizardman's mouth. As he spoke, he took heavy steps toward Merlin.
Merlin rose to his feet and turned around with a helpless sigh. "Couldn't you wait a little longer? I'm not even ready yet."
Peter, whose mind had gradually descended into madness, froze at once. "What do you mean?"
"Peter, I know it's you, and I know why you came looking for me. But now isn't the time."
Peter stared blankly as his cold vertical pupils suddenly contracted.
"You knew about this all along?" He instinctively took a step back and asked in shock.
"I guessed it from the experimental data you sent me."
Actually, Merlin had known from the very beginning.
Peter looked down at Merlin. The other boy still wore that harmless expression; anyone who saw him would instinctively think he was an innocent, immature high school student.
But at that moment, an unfamiliar feeling rose uncontrollably from the depths of Peter's heart.
It was as if every step he had taken had been woven into an invisible spiderweb by the other boy.
But the influence of the genes in his body quickly made him cast the matter aside. His resolve hardened again as he stepped forward, his burly body pressing down as he looked at Merlin from above.
"Then you should know what I want. Join us. We'll become humanity's first evolved beings. Thousands of years have passed, yet humanity is still standing still. The fragile human body needs an evolution!"
"From now on, humanity will no longer suffer from disease or the pain of severed limbs!" Peter spread his arms, muttering in a crazed tone.
"Uh... I don't want to turn out like you. You're kind of ugly." Merlin's eye twitched as he looked at Peter's vicious Lizard face and green, keratinized skin.
Compared to becoming a Lizardman, he still preferred Individual Combat Armor and mechs.
"You don't get to decide that!" Peter seemed to have expected this, so he was not especially angry. He believed that once Merlin injected the Regeneration Potion, he would definitely change his mind.
Only his current body was the perfect one.
As he spoke, his enormous claw reached for Merlin.
"You're pretty disgusting. Don't touch me." Merlin complained with disgust, then drew the Atomic Gun from his waist.
"Useless! That's nothing but a toy gun to me." Mockery flashed in Peter's eyes. He had already witnessed this gun's power at the previous Tech Expo. It had failed to stop him then, let alone now, after he had evolved so greatly.
Even those special Incendiary Rounds could not hurt him.
"This time, it's not a prototype." Merlin tilted his head and pulled the trigger.
Bzzzt! Atomic energy erupted through the air in an instant, setting off a dazzling burst of electrical arcs.
Peter, who had been about to touch Merlin, was blasted backward like a cannonball.
Bang! Peter's massive body drew an arc through the air before crashing sprawled across the street.
After knocking Peter back, Merlin did not continue using the Atomic Gun. Instead, he drew a heavy revolver.
"Come try my newly developed big baby!"
The MK2 Heavy Revolver had a body unlike that of ordinary handguns, brimming with a metallic texture.
In the game, it could take down a person in two shots.
"Hmph..." Peter got to his feet and shook his slightly dazed head before looking at Merlin across from him.
As he stared at the dark muzzle of the heavy revolver in Merlin's hand, a sense of danger suddenly rose in his heart.
"Woo-woo-woo..." A dense chorus of sirens sounded in the distance, drawing closer and closer.
The police were coming!
The Manhattan District police had been searching for traces of the Lizardman during this period and patrolling every day.
So when Peter appeared, and in the Queens Central District at that, they reacted swiftly.
The sound of the sirens instantly made Peter anxious.
"Roar! Merlin!" Peter bellowed and casually grabbed the Fire Hydrant beside him.
Pshht! The red hydrant snapped apart, and water burst from the pipes under immense pressure.
Peter held the hydrant as though preparing to throw it, but in the next instant, an earth-shaking blast rang out.
Merlin pulled the trigger, and tremendous recoil surged through his hand.
Bang!
The hydrant in Peter's hand exploded along with his palm.
"Mm... Not bad luck." Merlin grinned at the sight. The revolver was powerful and would never jam, but accordingly, its recoil was immense and its accuracy suffered.
Especially with the upgraded MK2 Heavy Revolver.
Peter stared blankly at his severed hand, but the wound rapidly regenerated at a rate visible to the naked eye.
The sirens were getting closer. Peter had no time to be shocked. His legs exploded with force as he charged at Merlin again.
Merlin lowered the barrel and pulled the trigger once more.
Bang! Peter's right foot exploded on the spot. Missing his step, he stumbled and fell, sliding forward along the ground.
Bang! The bullet whistled past, but this time it missed.
Peter began crawling on all fours like a giant Lizard, becoming vastly more agile.
"Hisss..." His scarlet tongue flicked repeatedly from his mouth. He crawled across the ground, twisting his body forward, his cold vertical pupils fixed on Merlin as he closed in.
But in the next moment, as if he had seen something, his body suddenly stiffened.
At some point, Merlin had drawn another heavy revolver. He pointed both guns at Peter.
What an unfair move!
"Just how many guns is this guy carrying?"
One gun was already hard enough to handle. With two at once, he would definitely get wrecked.
The sirens were closing in, and he was already thinking of retreating.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! But just then, black arrows suddenly screamed in from the distance and struck his body.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Red lights flashed on the alloy arrowheads. In the next instant, Peter's massive body was engulfed by balls of fire.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
As the flames gradually faded, another arrow whistled over and exploded into a large net in midair, which descended toward Peter.
But as the black smoke dispersed, there was nothing beneath the net. It had caught nothing but air.
Peter, who had been engulfed by the flames, had vanished from the spot at some point.
"Damn, you're playing the rules with me, huh?"
When a monster was engulfed by an explosion, it had probably escaped.
As Merlin spoke, he spun both revolvers around his fingers like a cowboy and smoothly holstered them at his waist. Then he looked toward the person who had suddenly entered the battlefield.
Before you continue