With heavy thuds, several metallic frames bio-engineered with various animals (dogs, cats, eagles, and more) surrounded Neo.

​"You want to know what I call these creatures?" Dr. Clark cackled with a wide grin. "Hunters. The apex predators of their species... and they all listen to me."

​As soon as he finished cackling, a metal frame with a dog’s head came crushing down on Neo with its metallic paws.

Hiss!

Neo, having already activated his [Titanium Tempest Body], dodged. Though only barely.

​CLANG!

​The impact of its paws against the ship’s mainframe was so loud it could have shattered the eardrums of any ordinary Type-9 Beyonder.

But Neo didn’t fall into that category. He judged their power rank to be Type-8 or above.

​Neo realized he had no choice but to get serious.

​"Atlas, protect my back! Undeads, form a perimeter!" Neo commanded through the mechanical whirring of the "hunters".

​Atlas and six Undead humans did as he told, while his them skin took on a dull, metallic sheen as the Titanium Tempest Body reached full output.

Humm!

The air around him began to hum with heat as he prepared to activate his new evolution’s gifts.

​"You think these scrap heaps can stop an Emperor?" Neo muttered, eyes flashing.

​

​[Cinder Dash]

​In a burst of scorched air and embers, Neo vanished from his position.

He reappeared instantly beneath the dog-headed Hunter. His right arm, coated in the glowing orange of an [Ignited Blade], drove upward into the creature’s exposed neck joint where the biological tissue met the metal.

​"Let’s see how your apex predators handle a little heat," Neo growled as the blade sliced through the wiring and flesh like a hot knife through wax.

"Grrrr.."

​The creature let out a distorted howl before collapsing in a heap of sparking metal and burnt fur.

​Elena, watching from the side with her hollow, creepy smile, didn’t seem bothered at all.

"Impressive, Neo. But Clark has dozens more. You’re just delaying the inevitable."

​Dr. Clark’s face flushed with a mix of rage and excitement.

"Yes! Fight! Let me see more of that power before I harvest your core!"

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

The chamber descended into a chaotic symphony of clashing metal and guttural roars.

Neo was a blur of crimson light as his [Ignited Blades] carved through the mechanical monstrosities, but for every Hunter he disabled, two more emerged from the dark alcoves of the laboratory.

​"Hahaha, Is that all, ’Emperor’?" Dr. Clark laughed over the din. "Awh, but I barely started. My children are endless! You are just fuel for the furnace!"

​"Haaaah.." Neo gasped for air, his lungs burning. The [Cinder Dash] skill was draining his Cosmic Force rapidly, and the cooldown was a death sentence in this confined space.

​Behind him, the situation was even worse.

The six undead mercenaries, being weak, were being torn apart limb from limb.

One was pinned by a metal-winged Eagle-Hunter, its talons shredding the undead’s chest.

Though they tried to use [Undead Regeneration], the Hunters were equipped with high-vibration saws that shredded their flesh faster than it could knit back together.

​Boink!

​Atlas let out a pained cry as a Cat-Hunter, with sharp chrome plating and hydraulic claws, swiped across its gelatinous body.

Clamp!

Naturally, a large chunk of Atlas’s dark-red mass was severed, dissolving into a sizzling puddle of necrotic acid on the floor.

​"Atlas!" Neo yelled, but he couldn’t move to help.

​Because a massive Bear-Hunter, nearly three meters tall and reinforced with thick titanium plating, swiped at Neo.

Clang!

He blocked with his titanium forearms, but the sheer kinetic force sent him flying backward.

BAM!

He slammed into a row of data monitors, and the glass shattered behind his back.

​[ Warning: Vitality Dropping... 14.5... 12.0 ]

​[ Warning: Cosmic Force Low... 5.5/22.0 ]

​Neo coughed up a mouthful of metallic-tasting blood. His [Titanium Tempest Body] was fading as his cosmic energy reseve neared depletion.

​Elena walked slowly toward him, her movements jerky and unnatural. She looked down at him with malice.

​"Look at you. So small, so fragile. You really thought you could build an empire in a graveyard? You’re just another corpse for the collection, Neo. You cannot be free. Never."

​Dr. Clark danced a little jig near his control panel.

"Hey, I think I will keep the slime! I’ve never dissected an undead before! And the boy... oh, the things I’ll find inside that core! The secrets of the ’Supreme’ talent will be mine!"

​Neo looked at his trembling hands. The Hunters were closing in like a wall of cold steel and predatory instinct.

And the six undeads were now nothing more than piles of twitching meat, and Atlas was shrinking, losing too much mass to maintain its form.

​"Hah... hahah..." Neo started to chuckle, the sound raw and desperate.

"Oh, what is this? Have you finally lost your mind, Emperor?" Elena asked, tilting her head mockingly.

​"No," Neo sighed. "I just realized how weak I still am, and that I have no choice but to use my last resort."

​"Last resort?" Elena snorted. "Are you trying to scare us when you’re at the end of your rope? Then I must tell you, it will be futile."

​"Not really!" Neo said, snapping the fingers of his left hand into position.

​Buzz!

​Almost instantaneously, his fingers began to glow with an ethereal radiance so intense that Dr. Clark and Elena both felt something was deeply wrong.

​"Stop him!" Elena ordered the Hunters, simultaneously rushing forward herself.

​But it was too late.

​"Synthesis... Initiate!"

​This time, it wasn’t the small-scale synthesis he usually performed. This was far stronger, using every ounce of his Cosmic Force as fuel to draw the maximum power from the talent.

​"Let’s meet again, 707. Only if you stay alive, that is," Neo said to her one last time.

Then—

​Flash!

​The light burst out like an exploding star, engulfing every object and every creature within its ethereal radiance.

​Hum! Humm! Hummm!

​"Ahhh! What’s happening?! I’m melting..."

​"No! I don’t want to disappear... I will not be consumed!"

​Clark 708’s and Elena 707’s screams faded as the synthesis reached its boiling point. Within a thirty-meter radius, nothing remained except for a massive white globe of spinning mass and matter.

​What the result of this desperate solution will be, no one knows. Not even Neo.