>>5326134Gearing up for another jump, you make to destroy the last bits of the core for good, the same moment a loud and blaring alarm emits from the guardian itself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBQn3up61Qo
The noise, loud enough to split a normal person’s eardrums, has you seeing stars for a split-second, though there’s no choice at the moment but for you to endure the pain.
Launching yourself up into the air for what you hope is the last time, you can’t help but feel your heart leap into your throat the moment you hear a robotic voice blare out:
<span class="mu-s"><span class="mu-r">TOTAL SYSTEM FAILURE
SELF DESTRUCT SEQUENCE: ACTIVATED</span></span>
Then, the robot begins to glow red-hot, similar to that of the laser beams it fired at you before.
Even before you’re level with the core, there’s an intense heat radiating onto your skin that melts away patches of scaly flesh faster than your body can knit them back together.
Unlike the facade of the core, your fist passes through the inside of the chassis like butter, and you can’t help the surge of triumph that wells up within you amid the pain and melting flesh.
You don’t want to look at your hand– and deep down you know this all isn’t real– but you’re very aware of the sensation of subcutaneous tissue being exposed to the air.
You’re plummeting back towards the earth for what feels like the thousandth time, and the guardian glows so brightly you have to block it out with an arm.
You’re tumbling, rolling, and stumbling as chunks of gigantic metal rain all around you, some of them missing you by a hair’s breadth. But the resulting flash completely blinds you, its heat throwing you off of your feet and flinging you backwards with the metallic debris.
>(1/3)