Chapter 13

What was the reason of our existence? In the freedom that felt beyond the bounds of nature, there was no pain and no worry. All problems could be solved with the snap of a finger. This place seemed like Nirvana in Buddhism, a place so free and peaceful.
Yet, was it true to what he was feeling?

Zheng finally realized why the gap between him and his clone was so wide. It was a gap that was more than just strength. There was a difference in mindset and in perseverance. He was far, far behind his clone in these aspects.

The hibernating genes from the ancient times were awaken at the beginning of the fourth stage in order to optimize one’s body. These awakened genes would inevitably affect the person’s mind, or even seize control of it. The enormous killing intent that filled Zheng’s mind was one of such cases.

This influence only grew more intense as one advanced further into the fourth stage. Then once it reached the point where the person was on the brink of crossing over to the intermediate fourth stage, the condition that Zheng was experience would struck him. It was an opportunity. Because if he could overcome this condition, his will and mind would be tempered to the degree where he could easily suppress the negative effect from the fourth stage.

However, if he were to fail, then his mind might perhaps fall into a bottomless abyss. There, he would keep fighting until death took him, or he would go insane and slaughter everything in sight, or his personality becoming totally different, and maybe even trigger a chaos of the energy inside his body, leading to an explosion. This condition was similar to the Heart’s Devil that was mentioned in legends and literatures, and similar to the path of Cultivation. Every major breakthrough would be accompanied by illusions, whether they were of women, killings, pleasure, or freedom.

Zheng was experiencing that utmost freedom. Freed of all boundaries and omnipotent.

Perhaps when a mortal ascended from the peak of the fourth stage to the energy manipulation of the fifth stage, the chain effect generated by the rebound of energy was what a Heavenly Tribulation was.

Zheng only pondered up to this point. He had even given up his body control in this freedom. It felt as though all he wanted was freedom. Fortunately, the consciousness that governed his body seemed like one born for combat and killing. Its combat intuition was much stronger than his. Every movement and every genetic adjustment brought forth immense power. His body had killed over a thousand high level robots and yet, it hadn’t even entered Explosion. This power was way beyond what Zheng possessed.

However, if this were to continue, he didn’t know how much longer would his consciousness persist. It might merge into nature and then disappear… just like his clone.

The bat wings spread open as countless bullets blasted him in the air. Red flames rose from the wings just like the ability he exchanged, although in a deeper color and more concentrated. If this color were a little deeper and concentrated, it would become dark red, or even black. The flame enveloped around the dargonshard barrier. The seemingly intense explosions did not cause any damage to him, although people were not able to see it from outside.

Back to Xuan who disappeared in front of Gando after he pressed his glasses. His speed exceeded the visual detection from the Valkyrie’s system. It was on par with Zheng’s Soru. Gando was shocked for a moment because it was impossible for Xuan to possess such power.

Xuan was over fifty meters away on the boarder of the open space the next second. Even the robots were not able to catch his movements. He flicked his hands then two Gauss pistols appeared in his palms. The pistols glowed as he crossed the pistols in front. A peculiar wave enveloped his whole person.

Several heavily armored robots carrying large barreled cannons were the first to notice Xuan. They quickly turned around and aimed their cannons toward Xuan’s direction.

Once Xuan crossed his arms, he sprinted forward. The pistols fired at every direction without him looking. His hands moved so fast that they seemed to leave behind a trail of afterimages. Clanking sounds came from the robots without rhythm. The front most one suddenly felt its legs trembled. The legs started to break apart from the joints. The break down moved to its hip, arms, head and chest. Needle sized holes filled its body. And then it exploded.

The other robots near Xuan fell in the same fate. They did not even get to fire their weapons. As Xuan ran past the robots, they were all pierced with countless needles then exploded. He approached a hundred meters to the AllSpark in just a few seconds.

“Stop him! Thundercracker!” Megatron roared from next to the AllSpark. Xuan was still far away but it was only a matter of minutes if he were to continue at this pace. The power of his pistols struck fear into Megatron. The robot that had been destroyed by them so far did not possess phase shift armor but if such power hit the AllSpark, the outcome was destructive.

A huge multi-barreled tank turned around. Its armor was vibrant, obvious to the eye that it possessed the phase shift armor. The shots through its barrels were not physical bullets but energy beams.

Xuan was surrounded by robots. Endless bullets were firing at him. The path that he ran past was filled with craters from the explosions which never paused for even an instant. The physical shells, energy bullets, anti-tank missiles, and now the energy beams cut off all possible paths of escape. The tiny amount of energy within the dragonshard had no way of defending them.

Under the vision of all the robots, Xuan jumped before the energy beams hit. He stepped onto the beams, causing waves of ripples. Yet, there was no explosion. Xuan leaped again from the energy beams as if they were physical objects. He dived into a group of robots. Gun-kata using the Gauss pistols shredded these robots in one round.

“No! Impossible!” Megatron and over a dozen robots possessing phase shift armors cried. Their scientific knowledge could not explain this phenomenon that broke the laws of physics. A physical object did not melt or cause any explosion when it stepped on energy.

(I can leap through!) Xuan activated the hypnotizing device when he pressed on his glasses. Its effect did not reach his expectation but it could still allowed him to enter a hypnotized state for five minutes. The hypnosis was confidence, unparalleled confidence! The belief that he could overcome any difficulty in front of him.

Xuan could only come up with a hypothesis behind the theory that operated Lambda Driver. The process and application impossible to realize. But that was enough. When this belief pierced through the law of cause and effect, it could definitely achieve the outcome!

(I can make the jump!) Xuan jumped over twenty meters high, beyond what his body would have allowed. He aimed the pistols at Thundercracker, who also turned its barrels at him.

(I can pierce through it!) The two parties fired their weapons simultaneous. The needle bullets collided with the energy beam. A rainbow of colors burst from the point of collision. There was a peculiar field covering the the needle bullets. Time felt as though it slowed to a halt. All the robots turned their vision to the center of the collision. The needle bullets pushed through the energy beam bit by bit. As the energy beam scattered, the needles hit the main body of the tank.

The needles ignited sparks on the vibrant phase shift armor, but that was only the beginning. They then drilled through the armor and pierced into the tank. Thundercracker exploded the same time Xuan landed on the floor.

The unexpected display of power by Xuan was the final push Gando needed to make his decision. While Zheng and Xuan attracted the attention of the robots in front, and those chasing from behind were getting near, he finally charged out of the corridor. He felt rather remorseful. If he knew the situation would turn out this way, he would not have come down. Although Xuan said only a small number of robots survived underneath, but could you call this a small number?
Either path was a difficult decision for Gando. There were only around a hundred robots coming from behind, but if those possess same strength as the ones in the open area, it would only require ten to take Gando down. He didn’t have the claws, teeth, and sword of Zheng nor did he have the schemes of Xuan to bury the human and robot armies at once, plus Xuan’s strength was progressing toward an insane level. Gando was only a hooligan who drove in underground racing. He never wanted to fight the Transformers.

“Ah!” Gando roared as he stepped into the area, or rather, it was a cry of fright. He entered the unlocked mode at the same time. The plasma jet system of the Valkyrie was activated to its full potential. Then it charged toward the AllSpark.

Some of the Decepticons kept their attention to the exit of the corridor due to the fact two inhumanly powerful humans had already came out. These two from a lower tier species possessed powers beyond their imagination.

Gando’s Valkyrie wasn’t as powerful as the original Valkyrie depicted in the anime. The original could fall from outer space onto the ground in Earth, smash through a bridge in the process, and still come out intact. His Valkyrie was obviously not as tough.

Over ten energy bullets flew toward the Valkyrie as soon as it entered the area. Despite the speed of the plasma jet system, five bullets still managed to hit the Valkyrie’s barrier. The intense explosions dropped its energy reserver bar a big notch. Before the Valkyrie flew through a hundred meters in the explosions, Gando felt an abrupt vibration. A robot grabbed the Valkyrie’s leg. It was five meters big but extremely agile. It then swung the Valkyrie toward the floor.

While the Valkyrie was being smashed to the floor, Gando used the plasma jet system to push it into a spin. A crackling sound followed. The force exerted by the jet system torn the robot’s arm off. Gando did not dare to follow up with an attack though. He was neither Xuan nor Zheng. A volley from the thousands of robots could make him history. As soon as he freed the Valkyrie from the robot, it lunged forward. The jet system was activated once again and pushed the Valkyrie ahead.

“I DON’T WANT TO DIE!”

Redness overtook Gando’s eyes. The extreme speed allowed him to dodge most of the energy bullets but the Valkyrie’s energy reserve continued to drop fiercely. Yet, he was past the point of no return. There was only the AllSpark in his eyes, and nothing else.

Pah! The Valkyrie’s leg was grabbed again. Gando instinctively attempted to spin again. However, it was ineffective as the Valkyrie was smashed onto the ground. The Valkyrie did not break down but he was almost knocked out from the impact. Gando looked through the screen but the sight terrified him. It was Zheng roaring and stepping on top of the Valkyrie.

Zheng came down while Xuan drew away the Decepticons. His figure looked more striking than before. The bat wings were burning with a dark flame, only one step away from turning completely black. It appeared as though he was carrying a sea of fire on his back. Black markings covered his body. They seemed like rune words or similar type of symbols. His eyes were completely red. Two tiny horns grew out from the sides of his head. Zheng did not look like a human anymore.

“Zheng? Zheng?” Gando was shocked. But the reply was a punch.

Zheng punched the Valkyrie’s head. A muffled clank followed. He did not punch through the robot, only denting the armor, which almost squeezed into the cockpit. The Valkyrie lived up to its Extra Over Technology for sustaining a hit from Zheng.

Seeing that he failed to destroy the robot, Zheng roared to the sky. Suddenly, dozens of energy bullets hit his body before he could continue to attack. The dragonshard barrier was shattered at once. All its energy was depleted. Berserk Zheng did not have the thought to recharge the dragonshard. Thus, the following bullets all came near his body and then blocked off by the dark flame.

“Aouh!” Zheng turned his head abruptly. He didn’t finish his roar before he approached the robots using Soru the next second. He clawed with one hand while swung Tiger’s Soul with the other. He seemed closer to a maniac than fighting an actual battle. A few seconds of explosions later, the floor was covered with metal remains. Zheng stabbed Tiger’s Soul into the floor then pried off a piece of steel seventy meter squares big. He entered Destruction, grabbed the steel with his hand then slapped it on the robots as if he was swatting a fly. All the robots underneath exploded. He marched forward while holding the steel with one hand and slapping it on the robots in the way.

Gando was dumfounded. He never knew you could fight the Transformers this way. It really depicted the saying that those with power would not want to touch the crazy, especially crazies who didn’t care for their own lives. As Gando was thinking, he saw Zheng slapping the steel piece at him. His mind immediately turned blank.

Zheng’s consciousness was still awake despite having no control over his body. He knew he was attacking his own team. Yet, he had no concern over the act. He became indifferent to everything including surviving, going against his heart, and feeling helplessness over fate. There was nothing he needed to care about in this state. Not even his own life, so why care about other people’s lives? This hit would be the death of Gando. There was no more revival for him.

The gap between human and demon was merely a thought away. (I have to wake him!)

“Zheng! Do you still remember you said everyone will live on?”

An incredibly loud voice came from the other end. The voice was so loud it created a shock wave. Several robots close to its origin immediately collapsed as the sound shattered their parts.

The steel piece was only two meters away from the Valkyrie when the voice reached his ears. Zheng trembled violently. The state of nature his mind exploded and he halted his hand.

Zheng vomited a mouthful of blood. His blood was burning with the dark flame and evaporated as soon as it left his body. It was obvious his mind was waking up. The black markings on his body turned into tiny scales as he regained control over his body. Scales were also forming on his wings. The horns on his head disappeared. The dark flame also dissipated after the transformation finished on his wings.

“You said you will lead everyone to live on. Do you still want to meet your clone again? Or do you choose to run away?” Xuan’s voice came through again, though not as loud as before.

Zheng took a deep breath then howled. He threw the steel piece to a group of robots. Before the next round of fire came, he sprinted over to the Valkyrie, grabbed its leg, and threw it toward the AllSpark. At the same time, he charged at Megatron using Soru.

“Live on together! I still remember it! But how come you became so strong?” Zheng shouted then slashed Tiger’s Soul at Megatron.