It was almost morning already.

The ever-present bioluminescent fog that always engulfed the world at night was already dissipating, giving way to the silhouette of the distant neon storms in the heavens as they boiled and slowly took their place in the sky.

Looking out from the wasteland, the scenery was surreal.

The distant shapes of Federation Trucks that were previously tracking Earl Joe’s assassins were nowhere to be found. It seemed that at some point during the night, they finally gave up on the chase and decided to return back to the city.

The wasteland beyond the towering walls of Neo Solace was almost empty except for a Lt. Colonel, an assassin, a Mechanist, his 2 companions, and a figure floating in the sky above them.

’What are they looking at...?’ Leon frowned and looked up.

Up in the sky, what he saw made every blood in his body drain as a freezing chill crawled up his spine, paralyzing his body completely.

"That is... that is...!"

Up in the sky floated a familiar face.

Up in the sky floated a Synth in a red military uniform with black patches, proudly flying the colors of the Omnicore Federation.

This Synth was tall and powerful with broad shoulders and arms beneath his military uniform that were rolling with synthetic muscles. His eyes were cold and gray, and he had short spiky gray hair that were barely discernible from his gray mechanical skin.

From the look on his face alone, it was clear that this was a man of authority. And on the badge of his military uniform was written...

[General]

"...!" Leon’s breath hitched.

His mouth went dry. ’G-General Sylvari Charr!’

For a brief moment, still enduring the agony of his soul injury that was ravaging through his body, he couldn’t think as he stared absentmindedly at the man floating with the help of anti-gravity gear in the sky with a look of horror on his face.

In that moment, his brain short-circuited.

Perhaps, if he was at 100% he would have reacted already but after the harrowing battle in the dream, Leon was not at 100%.

Heck, he was far from 100%.

He felt weak, he felt dizzy and he was heavily injured.

The pain was so acute that he couldn’t even think straight, adrenaline was the only thing that kept him moving. And it was in these circumstances that the General made his appearance!

In that moment, Leon felt small like a grain of sand.

He felt like a cornered dog. He felt like a rat who had been toying with a cat for a long time, but finally landed in the clutches of the ruthless cat.

Still floating in the sky, the General stared at the tiny man beneath him with an aloof and indifferent look on his face.

His gray eyes burned with cold neon green flames.

And then, before Leon could react...

BZZZZZT!

Leon didn’t see the flare of neon green ADE, he didn’t see any change in the Synth floating in the sky. He wasn’t fast enough to notice it.

All he knew was that one moment everything was ok, and the next something suddenly slammed against his consciousness with the force of a sledgehammer and instantly, Leon felt his mind shatter into multiple pieces for the 2nd time in a single night!

CRACK!

There was literally no resistance.

DING!

~----~

[WARNING!] [WARNING!] [WARNING!]

[Your mind has been compromised!]

[You are under the effects of the C Rank NetRunner Ability, Neural Tyrant!]

[WARNING! Host’s mind is being compromised...!]

[Activating Code Troubleshoot...!]

[ERROR!] [ERROR!] [ERROR!]

[Deploying countermeasures...!]

[ERROR!] [ERROR!] [ERROR!]

~----~

For the second time, Leon lost his mind.

The ChronoSystem lit up with so many notifications but he saw nothing, his mind already compromised.

There’s only a tiny thread separating sanity from insanity within the human mind, and twice within a single night, that thread was severed in Leon’s head.

His eyes glazed over, his face still and motionless, his hands twitching violently as he fell under the insidious influence of the C Rank NetRunner.

General Sylvari Charr did not beat around the bush, he struck like iron.

He didn’t try to play with his food, he didn’t try to vent the resentment that had lingered in his mind for over 131 years slowly for maximum pain to his enemy through a physical beat-down immediately.

Even with the hatred burning in the consciousness within his mechanical body, he was cold and rational like the war veteran that he was.

By subjugating the enemy’s mind first, he would eliminate the possibility of resistance completely and cripple the enemy, and then he could deal with the enemy however he wanted.

Afterall, his enemy was a mere D Rank.

From the moment that the news of Earl Joe’s death spread, General Sylvari could have decided to personally take action and kill Leon and his crew immediately in the city, but he was wary of Ren Nora.

The General was one of the few C Ranks that actually struck fear into his heart, and that was because Ren Nora was so mysterious.

No one truly knew the nature of his abilities and powers, he was like a bottomless well that no other C Rank Ascended in Neo-Tokara understood.

Sylvari was wary of the General of the Freegrid Collective, and he was also wary that the freedom-fighting General actually accompanied the crew of assassins to Neo Solace.

This is why he played it safe.

This is why he took his time to observe while staying in the dark.

This is why he exercised extreme patience, sending his assassin instead of going to vent his century-long vendetta immediately.

And this is why he stayed patient and waited all night while Ghostface engaged the enemy in a dream battle.

And it paid off.

Just like he expected, despite being targeted by Ghostface himself, the only D Rank Ascended in the history of Neo-Tokara to have a kill percentage of 100% even against other D Ranks, the bastard refused to die.

Even when his dream was invaded and when he was at his most vulnerable, somehow, he still managed to resist and survive.

At first, when Ghostface failed the assassination mission, he felt contempt and rage for the assassin.

But in hindsight, this was the perfect outcome that he wanted.

Because no matter how much he wanted Leon to die, he wanted even more for the Mechanist to die to his own sword and not another man’s sword.

Besides, in the hours that Ghostface spent in a soul duel with the target, hidden outside the cave and watching, Sylvari didn’t see any sign of Ren Nora despite the fact that the brat’s life was threatened.

This was all that he needed to know; Ren Nora was not in Central!

To him, this was music.

To him, that meant everything. But at the same time, to prevent any mishaps when he eventually revealed himself, within the past few hours he already took his time to create a spatial lock within 100 square kilometers of this cave.

This was to prevent any enemy teleporting in to interrupt him when he started.

Now, even Ren Nora would not be able to teleport inside here easily.

With all these preparations in place, he finally revealed himself just as Ghostface and the Lt. Colonel charged out, who both froze in shock the moment they saw him floating in the sky.

A second passed, then another, and then he finally came out of the cave.

Staring at him from the sky, General Sylvari Charr felt all the hatred and emotions that have been bottled up in his heart for over a century, almost driving him crazy in the process, he felt all of it boil and seethe like a sea.

He felt the bottomless depths of his hatred and let it bubble.

His hatred churned, but despite the strong urge to just charge at him and pummel him with his fists, he still did the needful.

Just like he planned, he decided to subjugate the enemy first.

From the beginning, he decided to overestimate Leon despite the fact that he was a C Rank Ascended going against a D Rank. All of this was on the basis of what the Mechanist managed to achieve 131 years ago.

That dark night was a memory that he would never forget and because of it, he would underestimate the one who orchestrated it.

BZZZZZ!

His ADE erupted like a tsunami, curling around his body and acting like a mini-sun within the wasteland as he used his ability.

Neural Tyrant!

The Mechanist froze immediately as his eyes glazed over. His fingers twitched, his body shuddered in desperate resistance.

But there was no way that a mere D Rank Ascended was going to resist him.

Afterall, this was the core ability of a C Rank NetRunner of the Mindbreaker Specialization, a Neural Tyrant.

BZZZT!

The mere weight of his will pressing on the world, bending reality to his whim as he subjugated the Mechanist was so dense that the 2 companions of the Mechanist who stood with him were knocked out by the shockwaves alone.

While still standing, Daren and Brick became unconscious immediately!

This is the power of a C Rank NetRunner!

This is the power of a Neural Tyrant!

As Leon was affected, trembling and resisting desperately to no avail, Lt. Colonel Umar Farouq just stared.

He didn’t make a move to help his ally.

He was able to bear the pressure of the Neural Tyrant’s presence and ability, but he didn’t move. Just like the assassin, he just stared, waiting for Leon’s fate to be sealed, but it was taking longer than expected.

General Sylvari Charr expected to subjugate a normal D Rank Ascended in just 5 seconds, and for a D Rank Mechanist with high INT and WIL, he expected to subjugate him in 8 seconds, 10 at most.

Yet, 10 seconds passed and Leon was still struggling.

Staring at this from the sky, the General’s mechanical face remained indifferent for a few seconds before being slowly twisted in a frown.

And just then, within the fragmented mind of the Mechanist, the ChronoSystem lit up with a thread of new notifications so bright it illuminated his fractured mind like a beacon of light in darkness.

DING!

The familiar chime acted as an anchor, pulling Leon’s dying mind and consciousness together as suddenly, his hazy mind glowed with focus.

And then he focused on the notifications.

~----~

[WARNING!!!]

[ERROR!] [ERROR!] [ERROR!]

[ChronoSystem Recalibrating...!]

[ERROR!] [ERROR...!]

[Attempting Recalibration...!]

[ERROR!]

[ChronoSystem Recalibrating...!]

[Recalibration complete!] 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

[You have gained a temporary new trait: Stalwart!]

>Stalwart: You are immune to all forms of mind and mental damage and mental manipulation.

...

[WARNING!]

[Due to exceeding limits of operation, the ChronoSystem has been pushed to force-stop and shutdown!]

[#@!*&%...!]

~----~

Leon felt a buzzing sound in his head and suddenly, his eyes regained focus but at the same time he felt a strange sense of loss.

The ChronoSystem... was gone!