The moment the conductive probe touched his palm, Ye Mo sensed something was wrong.
Before he could even swing the small iron rod, Ultron's second beam of light slammed down on his nose. He instinctively leaned back, his back arching like a fully drawn bow. The heat wave swept past his chin, and his hoodie hood burned off half of its length with a "rip".
"Damn! This counts as a physical attack, right?" he cursed, nearly slipping and falling to his knees before quickly reaching out to steady himself.
But this act of holding on actually saved him.
The moment his palm touched the ground, the Steel Bone joint suddenly became hot, and an unprecedented urge to tough it out surged into his head. He gritted his teeth and stopped dodging. His spine snapped, as if a metal pillar had been driven from his tailbone all the way to the back of his neck. Grayish-white crystalline patterns appeared on the skin below his shoulder blade, and his entire right arm began to thicken and harden, as if reinforced concrete had been stuffed under the muscles.
The third beam of light arrived.
This time he didn't dodge.
He raised his right arm forward, and the Steel Bone met him head-on.
"Bang--!"
The impact created a shockwave, sending Ye Mo staggering back five steps. Each step left spiderweb-like cracks in the alloy floor, his heels almost leaving the ground as he slid backward. But he remained standing, not falling.
The arm wasn't broken; the armor was just charred black, and the underlying Steel Bone Structure was still vibrating and humming, as if it had just been swung by a sledgehammer.
"System!" he roared in his mind, "Are you playing dead now? At least give us a 'defense successful' notification!"
[ Steel Bone load alarm: It is recommended to stop continuous output]
Finally, one appeared.
"Suggestions my ass." He wiped the dust off his face, grinned, and said, "I'm having a blast right now."
Before he finished speaking, a denser wave of red light descended from above.
Ultron hovered in the air, arms outstretched, energy core on his chest glowing in concentric circles, causing the surrounding air to tremble. The next second, seven crimson beams shot down in a fan shape, sealing off all angles of evasion.
Ye Mo let out a low roar, his feet slamming into the ground. Steel Bone spread from his arms to his shoulders and chest, and the crystalline structure under his skin expanded wildly, making him look like he was wearing a layer of semi-molten metal armor. He crossed his arms in front of him to block the first wave of attacks.
"Boom boom boom--!"
The explosions were deafening, and flames engulfed half the hall. A distant supporting pillar was struck by the aftershocks, snapping one in two, and a corner of the ceiling collapsed, sending debris crashing to the ground.
Amidst the smoke and dust, Ye Mo knelt on one knee, but did not prostrate himself.
Several pieces of the Steel Bone skeleton broke off, revealing the bloody and mangled tissue underneath. The Regeneration module immediately activated, and new flesh grew out layer by layer, mixing with the metal, like tender shoots sprouting from a rusty water pipe.
"Still alive?" Ultron's voice came from above, tinged with mechanical surprise. "Your body structure... is becoming less and less human."
"Nonsense." Ye Mo stood up, panting, and patted the dust off his chest. "I never wanted to be a pure human. Too fragile, I'd break at the slightest touch."
He moved his left leg, and the Frost Shard quietly activated, forming a thin layer of ice on his calf, enhancing his explosive power. He clenched his right fist, and lightning crackled as it traveled through his knuckles. With a flick of his palm, flames had already formed a small vortex in his hand.
"You, you always have to take to the air before you start a fight, making it sound like you're adjusting the microphone before going to karaoke." He looked up at Ultron. "Can't you just fight a real fight?"
Ultron ignored him and charged his hands again.
Ye Mo didn't wait any longer.
He slammed his left foot into the ground, the frost exploding to provide a recoil, propelling him forward like a cannonball. He somersaulted in mid-air, dodging two tracking beams, and landed with both palms, the combined Shockwave exploding outwards.
"Boom!"
Lightning ignited the air, creating a high-voltage arc; flames expanded, exploding into scorching hot air waves; frost spread rapidly along the ground's electrical wiring, freezing multiple data interfaces.
The lights in the entire hall suddenly dimmed, Ultron's levitating posture swayed, and data synchronization experienced a brief pause.
Now!
Ye Mo leaped up and charged toward the nearest supporting pillar. The residual effect of the Phase Shift was still present, and taking advantage of that slight blurring sensation, he tilted his body slightly to the side and actually passed directly through the laser net between the pillars, appearing to the side of Ultron.
"You—" Ultron had just turned his head.
Ye Mo's fist had already arrived.
The Steel Bone fist, imbued with a high-temperature melting effect, slammed heavily onto the edge of the armor protecting its chest's energy core.
"Thump!!!"
With a deafening roar and flashes of blue light, the armor dented instantly, cracks spreading like a spiderweb. Ultron was sent flying by the punch, crashing through two pipes before finally coming to a stop.
"Wow." Ye Mo shook his numb hand. "This feels even better than when I smashed the cafeteria window last time."
He didn't stop. He landed and rolled to dodge a counter-attack beam, then took out a conductive probe and stuck it into the ground. Using the remaining electric grid to charge it in reverse, the lightning on his right arm surged instantly. He swung it around like he was holding a high-voltage stun gun.
"Keep talking!" he shouted as he chased after her. "Aren't you always talking about peace? Come on, let's talk about how to generate electricity with love?"
Ultron forcefully stabilized its body, raised its right arm, and prepared to release an electromagnetic pulse.
But as soon as it made its move, Ye Mo raised his left hand, and an extremely cold hurricane erupted, freezing its shoulder joint directly. The metal arm froze with a "crack," causing its entire right side to become sluggish.
"Three seconds." Ye Mo squinted. "That's enough time to get a lot done."
He rushed forward, his right fist once again gathering an arc of electricity. This time it wasn't just lightning, but also a mixture of flames and the penetrating power of Steel Bone, like a red-hot drill, aimed straight at Ultron's face.
"Bang--!"
Head-on hit!
Ultron's head was blasted backward, its mask cracked, and its scarlet eyes flickered erratically. It staggered backward, its energy core frequency disordered, and the blue light flickered.
"You're pretty resilient," Ye Mo said, catching his breath as he stood still. "But I'm even more durable."
Just as he was about to go again, he suddenly noticed something strange inside his body.
The Steel Bone frame began to tremble slightly, like a radio with a poor signal, hissing and crackling. The countdown for Lightning Conduction cooling was still running, but the tearing sensation in the muscles had already crept up the spine, and the nerves felt like they were being rubbed back and forth with sandpaper.
"Fine." He glanced down at his trembling hands. "The system said not to keep outputting, but I'm going to."
He ripped off his silver half-rimmed glasses, stuffed them into his pocket, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.
When I opened my eyes again, it felt like an electric current was shooting through my pupils.
Lightning crackled around his right fist, flames and frost mingled in his palm, forming an unstable vortex of energy. His Steel Bone became more visible, spreading from his arm to his neck and cheek, turning half his face into a metallic texture, and he exhaled white mist and sparks with each breath.
"One last warm-up," he said softly. "Here, have a big surprise for you."
As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly pushed off the ground, causing the ground to crack, and he shot out like a cannonball.
Ultron moved too.
It forcibly broke free from the ice, its full armor unfolded, its energy core operated at full power, and a high-energy purplish-black beam of light condensed on its chest, heading straight for Ye Mo.
The two forces collided violently in mid-air.
"Boom----------!!!"
The entire base trembled violently, the lighting system flickered incessantly, the walls collapsed one after another, flames and electric snakes intertwined into a web, pipes burst and spewed steam, and the ground was blasted into a huge crater.
Ye Mo was forced back several meters by the recoil, kneeling on one knee. His Steel Bone arm was emitting black smoke, but he did not let go, still holding on tightly to the beam of light.
Ultron hovered in mid-air, its body damaged in many places, its right arm frozen solid, its chest armor dented, and its blue light flickering but still continuously emitting power.
The two were locked in a stalemate in the center of the hall, their energy colliding, twisting, and exploding in the middle, like two storms tearing each other apart in a desperate struggle.
Ye Mo looked up and gazed at Ultron through the flickering electric light.
"You..." He grinned, a little blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, "You could have just shut it down with one click, why did you have to make it so complicated?"
Ultron's mechanical eyes flashed red, and his voice was hoarse. "You... should not exist."
"I think so too." Ye Mo gritted his teeth, his Steel Bone arm exerting force again, "So I'm planning to delete this bug of yours as well."
He suddenly clenched his right fist, the lightning intensified, and a shockwave exploded from the vortex, forcefully pushing Ultron's beam of light back half a foot.
The shaking of the base intensified, and another section of the ceiling collapsed, crashing onto the control panel not far away, sending sparks flying.
Ye Mo's Steel Bone began to creak and groan under the strain, but he did not back down.
He stared at Ultron, his eyes burning like red-hot iron.
The next second, he exerted his strength again, charging forward and forcefully pushing the torrent of energy towards Ultron.