Behind him he could feel Health launching himself into motion his huge armored hands clenched into fists aiming for Hank’s open back Ezekiel just smiled and rolled his eyes offering no warning
A dangerous man Hank finally decided giving himself another half second to peer at Ezekiel Smart but lazy Perceptive but relatively unambitious In terms of actual power it remained to be seen but Hank was betting that the man had an astounding amount of potential There was just something broken about him
Too easy Heath shouted as his attack was mere inches away from landing Hank chortled
Slow
Hank activated Dodge Roll and within a second his body had curled up on the ground he had rolled a meter to the left and he was back up on his feet his pistol drawn Hank’s build didn’t necessarily crown him as the fastest individual in Zone 1 as he mostly relied on Skill Levels to put the edge on his speed His Agility was high sure but it was his second tier of Stats his highest Stats were Perception and the highest of all Focus
Exosuits were divided into three types power speed and energy Power suits were built around crushing things and usually had the highest physical defense They fared relatively well against monsters and they generally invalidated the attempts of speed suits to overwhelm them However the high powered plasma attacks that the energy suits were capable of made them extremely unpopular in the exosuit tournaments that West Providence sponsored every month
As Hank straightened his eyes traced the lines of Heath’s power suit It was definitely a high end model and more top heavy than most A recent trend was to add some of the extra mechanical muscle on the legs giving the suits the ability to bound across long distances at the drop of a hat Heath eschewed that trend and his power suit was built along the lines of the original models rumbling whirrs sounded from the servo motors in his shoulders and elbows while his fingers buzzed with power
Getting grabbed by him was not an option
Hank only drew his left pistol a fine repeater but one loaded with bullets that he hadn’t made himself and infused Instead he relied on Mana Reinforcement to sharpen and strength the four bullets that shot towards Heath’s chest At the last second another function of those large shoulders jumped to life and a thin film of plasma sprung across his chest When the metal slugs passed through it they melted but only partially
In terms of Mana Reinforcement Hank was probably in the top 10 of the Zone with a Skill Level of 84 Still the fact that this powersuit had energysuit technology within it was a surprise and not a welcome one
Even though the bullets lost their edge they were still reinforced and slammed against Heath’s chest with enough force to make him pause mid step and then stumble when he tried to catch himself
You fucking The red mechanical eyes glowing Heath righted himself and began to stalk towards Hank Hank grinned in response
This would be more fun than he had thought
Chapter 488
Hank could see that Heath was becoming incensed and it amused him to no end It was a good way of relieving all the stress he had from dealing with Alan earlier in the day Although the plasma shield could defend against the piercing ability of the reinforced bullets it was pretty simple for Hank to pepper the other man with bullets
The first time that Hank had worked his way through his twelve bullet clip in his repeater Heath had roared triumphantly but Hank had calmly used his Quick Reload Skill and within two seconds his gun was restocked with bullets and firing
In truth Hank could have done it even faster than that But as he could use the Skill while he was Dodge Rolling he saw no need to reload without doing a quick check of the gun’s other mechanisms Even in pleasure Hank was extremely serious about caring for his weapons fastidiously checking every moving part
There were problems with the fight however Hank was burning through his Stamina relatively quickly At the same time Heath was ripping even faster through his Mana flashing the plasma shield on and off to block bullets and using a small amount of Mana to power the suit constantly Heath’s power suit had a slot for an external battery but he had the sense to not use it a bullet there would cause a small plasma explosion and he would likely lose a chunk of flesh from his back for that mistake
They paused in their game of cat and mouse both catching their breath
Are you just going to run Heath demanded
Smiling Hank whistled a tune as he drew his right revolver his father’s He didn’t like to use it when he didn’t need to because the 6 bullets within it took about 4 hours of work to properly infuse Even though Hank had a high Skill Level in the process there were occasional failures and they would leave him with a headache that lasted days
Bang bang Hank whispered for luck Then he rushed forward raising both pistols to point at Heath The other man straightened which was the wrong move
He kept the right pistol trained on Heath’s chest as a decoy but his left pistol flashed once twice five times in quick succession Now the bullets ripped forward towards the knees of the powersuit aiming to dent the sides crunching the delicate machinery there that allowed him to move easily
Although the System improved human Perception and Reaction they were still a hair away from reaching the point where they could truly dodge bullets especially from this close distance However Heath had good instincts and hadn’t been slacking in his training so he was able to throw himself to the side making all but one miss This last bullet slammed into the side of Heath’s knee but it hadn’t hit as hard as Hank would have liked
Although he would be slightly hampered it wouldn’t be enough Hank fired four more bullets but Heath just built on his momentum continuing to run to the side The bullets skittered of Heath’s hand which he had thrown out to protect his knee joints which were already groaning from the earlier damage
Both men reached the same conclusion at the same time
Deadshot Hank said holding the pistol completely still The bullet zipped out of the barrel traveling at least twice as fast as the previous bullets slamming directly into the side of the knee
At the same time Heath roared and the power suit began to glow red He twisted and powered towards Hank with surprising speed even as he was forced to hop somewhat as his knee was now locked into a partially bent position
I reckon’ it’s time to finish this ’ Hank thought as he raised his right pistol towards the red glowing metal man He almost seemed like an incarnate of lava all molten metal and unstoppable momentum But never for a moment did Hank doubt who would be the victor
He pulled the trigger
Things began to happen very quickly Heath tried to dodge but Hank had used Deadshot again and the bullet moved too fast to be dodged But a figure interposed himself between them the Asian man who had drawn his sword Before the man could act however a voice cried out behind Hank
Pierce
A flash of bloom erupted from the Asian man’s shoulder and he faltered in his movements Then he was slammed to the side by the winds gathered around Hank’s powerful shot knocked away like a piece of paper on a windy day
But that had delayed the bullet just slightly and Heath had raised a hand which was glowing with concentrated energy The two forces met
Or rather Hank’s bullet ripped through everything shooting through Heath’s arm and skidding through the rest of the parking lot before it shot into a low field and created a small crater about 1000 meters away
The metal of the power suit around Heath’s arm had been ripped away and a long gash ran up his arm before puncturing his shoulder and eviscerating a large amount of flesh near the wound There was even a small hole visible in the meat of Heath where the bullet had passed completely through
Howling Heath disengaged the powersuit the front opening to allow him to stumble out The Asian man was groaning to the side while Ezekiel advanced on him with a queer malicious grin on his face Hank holstered his pistols and raised his hands to a boxing stance smiling widely