Chapter 278 - Reclaiming The Swamps (2)

Thud... Thud... Thud... 

Arnold's steps echoed through Devon's abandoned hideout. Behind him came the sunshine into the freshly abandoned building. He looked and looked, but there wasn't a single soul in sight. Arnold wasn't surprised, after all, he had played a significant role in the occupant's extinction from the face of the earth. Still, the fact he wasn't able to find Devon yet stroked his anger. 

"If only I didn't want to save this building..." Arnold felt a bit conflicted now. 

He could either destroy the building and turn it into Devon's grave and then live in the doubt that Devon had somehow managed to escape, for the rest of his life. Or he could partially destroy the building, forcing the rat to come out in the open and then hunt him down. These were the two options at the top of his head, but even though he had these options, he had opted to go with the third option: hunt him down in a game of hide and seek. 

He never thought Devon would come out and face him like a man, but neither did he think Devon would turn out to be such a coward. Regardless of how Arnold felt about Devon's crimes, he had a weird kind of respect for him.

The two of them were similar in many aspects. One of them was that they both were creationists. Each of them was capable of creating weapons strong enough to topple the world's balance. Another similarity being, both of them were lone wolves and preferred to do their work alone. Once they had a goal in mind, none of them would stop before achieving it. No matter the cost.

"Maybe I have overestimated my foe." Arnold shook his head.

Although Devon was a capable man, he didn't have the edge over Arnold because as far as Arnold knew, Devon was in the end just an ordinary man. A man without a 'system'. But Devon had the potential and knowledge to subdue any crisis at hand. 

The flamethrowers, machine guns and the rest of the defence mechanism Arnold encountered till now, were enough to prove that. Had it been anyone apart from him to cluelessly walk through the doors, they would've visited the afterlife more than once. Even Johnny wouldn't be able to resist all the attacks. 

"WHY DON'T YOU COME OUT AND FACE ME LIKE A MAN!?" At his wit's end, Arnold yelled at the top of his lungs. 

"Only a fool would come out to face a monster, thinking he's a man." Devon's voice echoes through the speakers placed in the metallic corridors. Despite facing death, his voice was pretty calm, "And as you know, Mister Ling, I ain't no fool."

"Hahahaha..." Arnold laughed like a maniac to Devon's comments, "Nice recording, Devon. You could've easily fooled me if it wasn't for the constant beeping sound of the recorder. It's faint. Normally no human can hear it but it's always there. But as you said, I'm not a human. So stop the charade and come out to play."

It was true. Since his ascension, all of his sense had been reconditioned. As for the part where he said, he wasn't human, that was true as well. As his organs too had been reformed to give him a better metabolism. Essentially, Arnold was no longer a human being and he didn't care about disclosing it to Devon as he was going to kill him soon either way. 

Clap...clap... clap... 

"Aa expected from someone like you," Devon's voice once again echoed through the speakers, "I knew you would eventually catch up to the trick but I never thought you'd do it the moment I speak. Well done. You, sir, have my respect-"

"Sorry to interrupt, but I don't need your respect. I'd rather have your head if that's not much to ask." Arnold stopped Devon in his tracks, "So, I think it's enough of side and seek now, don't you think so?"

Inside the control room... 

Devon didn't reply to Arnold anymore. Instead, he enacted his plan. It wasn't a plan to kill Arnold. It was impossible for Devon to do so. Rather it was a plan to cripple Arnold even if it meant dying in the process. He might've been ready to die, but he doubted his death would be a painless one. Arnold might even shred him into pieces just to satisfy his sadistic self. The creepy part about it? Devon knew he deserved it all. 

Devon shook his head. It wasn't right to be getting lost in his thoughts. He had to think two steps ahead of his opponent now. If his plan worked, he'll die. Even if his plan didn't work, he'll still die. No matter what, he would die at the end of the day. 

It would appear like he was hiding from Arnold, but in reality, he was simply buying time. Time for Gary to escape. Just then, his communicator rang. Devon picked it up, briefly glanced at the caller ID before crushing the communicator. 

The call was from Alex. In the instructions Devon left for him in the helicopter, he had instructed him to call him once the helicopter had pulled-out of the swamps.

"It's time..." He briefly shed a tear or two before waking out of the room, to court his death. 

****

A few minutes later... 

Arnold on the other hand was getting agitated. He was on his toes, waiting for Devon to spring his next trap. But when nothing happened, he decided to take matters into his own hands. He summoned all of the undead he had along with lava hounds to look for Devon. But as he did, he felt something approaching him from behind. 

Arnold instinctively ducked. Moments later, a missile whistled past his head. It wasn't like the missile would've killed him, thanks to his gears, but still had he not dodge it in time, he wouldn't be unscathed. After all, even the titanium walls couldn't contain the following explosion within themselves. 

Rather than losing his calm to anger, Arnold remained quiet. He felt strange because he was relieved as his enemy had finally shown up. 

"My apologies for keeping you waiting." Devon's voice boomed through his armour, "I had some final preparations to take care of. Either way, let's get this over with, shall we, Mr Ling?"