Chapter 698 - The Beast And The Machine

"Atlas! From now on, you will be known as Atlas the Third!"

It's the story of two talented boys who grew up together.

Cousin in blood and rival in spirit, the two grew up in one of the most prominent families in the universe.

Unfortunately, cruel fate changed their bright and brilliant future when one of the boys' fathers fell from the throne of grace, and the whole branch of the family was punished to the severe punishment of death. 

In the blink of an eye, everything crumbled in front of his very eyes.

The young talented boy, being a one in the million talent he was, was the only one who was spared. However, his fate wasn't exactly good either because he was let alive only to be subjected to the clan experiments.

Time passed, and the pitiful boy eventually found himself opening his eyes again.

"The experiment was successful. We shall test it out!"

The two boys met again in the arena like they used to. However, the fight was short; the pitiful boy who had lost his entire family lost terribly. He couldn't even express how he felt at that time. The experiments had changed him. There was a certain image that was attached to his mind. 

His rival's utter disappointment after defeating him.

"How could you call that a success?! He was worse than before!"

"Please, I can make him even better! I promise you with my life! Just give me more time!"

"Disassemble him! Take out and change anything useless!!"

Those were the last few words he heard before he closed his eyes and fell into bottomless darkness again.

"You are so fortunate, boy; The Nephilims are willing to spend so much on you. You shall be loyal to them forever!"

"You are now Atlas the Third!"

[Atlas III]

[Privilege acolytes member ID: 831918560]

[Average stat comparison]

[Battle Power 201 S]

[Strength 188 - S]

[Agility 212 - A]

[Endurance 203 - S]

"The boy has the physical quality of a magus already! It is just his spirit core that was still unable to fully adapt to the reactor."

"Let us see how far he can go!"

[Physical score 9835 - rank 5]

[Mental score 7830 - rank 62]

[Your final test rank is 30]

This was the result he had obtained, after years of being constantly exposed to inhumane experiments that would make the general population shudder when they even heard a glimpse of them.

However, after three years at the academy, he was still unable to chase him; Eshoo Nephilim, the 3rd rank of privileged class, the strongest Nephilim of the current generation 

In addition, instead of a warm welcome one's kin did when they met each other after a long time, he was being treated like an outsider - a slave for the family, to be exact.

This treatment continued even today when he was ordered to kill an unknown kid coming from a lower realm. Even so, he could not disobey such an order. Especially from Jinkan Nephilim, the first order of the Nephilim clan.

Hence the battle started, the objective was the death of his opponent.

Atlas was superior in strength and technique, he has hundreds of battle art techniques stored in his memory and the other devices that enable him to access and counter any moves.  However, the opponent in front of him has something unusual about him.

No matter how overwhelmed, the other party refused to give up and would always rise again; even when he already viciously beat him into a pulp and made him go through an agonizing baptism of fire and lightning. 

However, the abnormality didn't stop there; right now, his opponent was turning into something that was bizarre in his eyes, and for a moment he was at a loss.

[Unusual pattern detected]

[Unable to find a proper solution]

[Warning! Opponent's speed exceeds the norm]

BAM!!

His mechanic eyes shook as he was tackled and pinned down by such monstrous strength. Even stronger than a magus!

He was still trying to understand what had just happened when he heard and saw something he never expected to hear in this battle.

CRACK!!

[Right arm damaged - required immediate solution - system error - danger]

The next thing he saw was a pair of furry arms coming straight towards his face, but he couldn't do anything as his body was restrained by the other party.

BAM! BAM! BAM! Loud consecutive sounds resounded in the air as his face was smashed again and again by his opponent. Soon, another notification appeared in his field of vision.

[Memory damaged - immediate repair required]

The unrelenting damage and pain suddenly brought a feeling that he had been missing for so long. The fire seemed to burn within him once again, illuminating the very darkness residing within his cold mechanic heart.

Now he must survive not for the clan, not for order, but for himself.

"Command: Initiate Reactor Efflux!"

[Warning! The command would overcharge the reactor, leading to severe consequences]

"Do it! confirmed!"

In an instant, his spirit core churned and fluctuated violently as a sudden deluge of power surged throughout his body, providing the necessary power for his arm to break free and catch his opponent's attack.

BAM!!

***

Emery was half-conscious at the time, but he had never been so excited in his life as he is now. A feral grin subconsciously appeared on his face as he saw the prey in front of him was still able to resist, even with only one arm.

Without further ado, he sent another punch at his opponent and when he saw he failed again, he sent another punch until he succeeded.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

The fight suddenly turned into a cutthroat brawl between the two acolytes who tried their hardest to hit and block the other party. 

A showdown between a beast and a machine.

The machine appeared in front of the beast and sent a round of instantaneous blast at the beast. Not only was it unleashed at point-blank distance, the machine was able to get a boost to its powerful spells. 

As a result, the blast instantly burned the latter's arm to the shoulder. But in a matter of seconds, the self regeneration had done its job and mostly healed the severe injury.

The beast howled loudly, and its agility seemed to be increased once again, which was evidenced by the fact that the machine's 200 points of agility couldn't keep up with the relentless barrage of punches the former sent.

The next second, the beast's figure appeared unexpectedly out of the sensor and smashed through his chest, revealing the insides of his core. Gritting his teeth, the machine did consecutive powerful kicks that once more pushed the beast away.

ROAR!

Emery roared again upon seeing the injury he had inflicted. Meanwhile, Atlas was still standing despite the critical situation he got himself in; the half machine acolyte showed no intent to back down. It was as if he couldn't.

Atlas took his fighting stance again, but the black half-wolf was a step faster. 

Bam! Bam!

There were a dozen more punches and kicks being thrown, a sight which was exciting for all the audience to see.

But all of them could see that the ferocious wolf acolyte was the one dominating the fight, especially after the beast managed to grab its opponent leg and smash it continuously to the ground.

At this point, everyone thought that the winner was basically established.

Atlas, however, still struggled to stand up despite multiple broken parts and blood coming all over him. He was still preparing for another battle stance when suddenly an explosion occurred from within him that made him fall to his knee.

Seeing such a scene, Emery still didn't stop. Instead, his primal instinct kicked in to end the fight the most efficient and brutal way possible.

He was in a trance-like state when he unconsciously dashed toward the obviously defeated acolyte. His two beast-like hands had grabbed its opponent's head, cracking it before ready to pull it apart from its body.

But at the last moment, a group of people jumped to the arena and quickly worked together to restrain Emery to the ground.

"Emery Ambrose! Stop! Restrain yourself! You have won!" said a magus who dashed in together with the staff, trying to stop Emery in his transformed state. 

When he realized that the latter was unable to hear him, the magus decided to put him down by force. It took multiple of them to finally stop the beast and with this, the fight was finally over.

Atlas managed to survive from death's clutch, but he had to accept his defeat.

"Emery Ambrose wins!"

[Rank 36 - Emery Ambrose (68)]

***

There were a few more challenges happening that day until the monthly arena event concluded.

However everyone in the audience knew that the highlight was stolen by a newcomer from a lower realm who was able to achieve something that was arguably extraordinary even in this sea of geniuses - jumping straight from the 99th rank to the 36th rank by defeating twelve of his peers in a row.

Once again, the name of Savage Acolyte became known throughout the academy.