At the very moment Tianhong was killed amid the chaos by the commander of the Desert Corps, Morton, who had already been converted into a bionic, likewise fell beneath the gunfire of the Death Corps on the other side of the battlefield.
Both his legs had been blown off, one arm had been severed, and there was not a single intact component left on his body. Damage reports from his master control program kept sounding without pause.
Even so, he did not stop fighting. With his only remaining left hand, he drew his sidearm and tried to aim at the Deathclaw charging straight at him.
"Bang—!"
The bullet left the barrel but grazed past its target.
"Roar!!!"
The Deathclaw let out a furious roar and reached him in an instant. It bit down on his remaining arm and brutally tore it from his shoulder.
Sparks scattered everywhere, and pungent smoke poured from Morton's shoulder.
The Deathclaw planted a foot on his chest, shook the half-arm from its jaws, and opened its vicious, blood-filled maw once again.
Morton stared at it expressionlessly, calmly awaiting death—only to see its open jaws pulled away.
Perhaps worried that his mount would upset its stomach, the cavalryman in exoskeleton armor flipped down from the lizard's back and casually removed the entrenching shovel hanging at its side.
The side of that shovel had been sharpened. It could serve as a bayonet or as an axe for breaching obstacles.
Watching the man approach him, the previously silent Morton suddenly spoke.
"I don't understand..."
Looking at the armless, legless bionic lying on the ground awaiting death, Edge Paddling raised an eyebrow while holding the entrenching shovel.
"Understand what?"
Morton stared into his eyes and spoke in a broken electronic voice.
"How... did you do it? We... had at