Chapter 528

Jake could feel his limbs being pulled in different directions with increasing force. Every passing moment, the invisible grip tightened, threatening to tear him apart. If he had been a regular human, he would have already been torn limb from limb.

But his obsidian-like body was far more resilient than that. Still, he could tell he wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer. The strain was becoming unbearable, every fiber of his body screaming under the relentless force. Something needed to be done, and fast.

He no longer felt a mental connection to the creatures that had previously been in the corridor, fighting Owen. One by one, the faint presences that had occupied the back of his mind had gone silent until none remained. Which meant his counterpart had dealt with them all. Moreover, he could no longer sense the Transfer Maw he had created earlier, which also indicated that Owen had destroyed it as well.

That wasn’t exactly unexpected. Those creatures had never been meant to stop Owen outright, only to buy Jake a little more time. But the creatures that had poured onto the bridge alongside him were still there. They hadn’t participated in his battle with the crab-things, and he hadn’t even tried to sic them on the Grafter, as he was sure they wouldn’t be able to so much as scratch the power barrier surrounding the captain of the bio-ship. Sending them in would have accomplished nothing except wasting what few forces he still had at his disposal.

His creatures, the wasps and blastfiends, were still there on the bridge. Moments ago, he had ordered them to gather on the opposite side of the bridge from the door, well away from the fighting, and that was where they had remained throughout the battle. They stood perfectly still, patiently waiting for further instructions from him.

If Owen or the crab-things noticed his creatures, they paid them no attention. The synths were just puppets, carrying out the Grafter’s every command without question. And the captain of the bio-ship didn’t seem to consider the wasps and blastfiends a threat, so it didn’t bother sending its minions after them. Or perhaps, in the chaos of the battle, it had simply forgotten they were even there, at least for the time being.

While that might have seemed like an advantage, Jake knew his creatures would hardly be any help in his current situation. They couldn’t deal with the group of crab-things on their own, and they definitely wouldn’t be able to shatter the Grafter’s power shield.

If he ordered them to attack the larva-like creature, it would immediately remember their existence and most likely instruct Owen to deal with them. Their sacrifice wouldn’t accomplish anything beyond buying him a few meaningless seconds, so for now, Jake refrained from sending them against the Grafter or its synths, keeping them in reserve for the moment they might actually prove useful.

Another agonizing minute passed. Jake could feel his body on the verge of being pulled apart. The invisible force stretching him in every direction grew stronger with each passing second, pushing his obsidian-like body closer and closer to its limit.

Just as he felt it was about to give in to the tremendous strain tearing at it, his mind finally broke through the final defensive layer of the Grafter’s brain chip. The last barrier shattered beneath his relentless assault. Now that he had full control over the chip, he wasted no time deactivating the Grafter’s telekinetic ability, along with its power shield.

The crushing force vanished instantly. Jake dropped to the floor, landing on one knee. For a brief moment, he remained still. He could feel confusion and disbelief emanating from the Grafter as the captain of the bio-ship suddenly lost access to its powers.

To its credit, the captain recovered from the initial astonishment surprisingly quickly. Barely a heartbeat later, it had already begun reacting to the sudden shift in the battle. Just as Jake leaped back to his feet, the captain of the bio-ship ordered its army of synths to attack him. At the same time, Jake sent his blastfiends and wasps charging at the monsters, filling the bridge with the clicking of insectoid feet and the buzz of beating wings.

He himself barreled toward the Grafter. Now that it was defenseless, he needed to take full advantage of the opportunity. It wouldn’t remain vulnerable for long. He could already tell the captain of the bio-ship was desperately trying to regain control of its brain chip, relentlessly pushing back against his hack. Every second that passed brought it closer to reclaiming its powers. Jake knew he had to reach the Grafter before that happened.

He quickly crossed the distance separating them, his heavy footsteps thundering across the bridge. The Grafter’s grotesque, sagging body loomed larger with every stride. He was just about to slam into the enormous creature when something crashed into him from the right with tremendous force.

Of course, it was Owen. Jake barely had time to register his counterpart’s arrival before the impact sent him hurtling through the air. He shot across the bridge like a projectile, helpless to stop himself, before slamming into the far wall with bone-jarring force. The entire structure shuddered from the collision.

He collapsed onto the floor but immediately jumped back to his feet. As he did so, Owen was already upon him again. He didn’t give Jake even a moment to recover. Two scythe-blades erupted from his shoulders, slicing through the air as they lashed out at him with blinding speed. Jake darted to the side, barely evading one of them. He could feel the blade whistle past his face.

But the other caught him across the shoulder, carving a long, deep furrow through his armored body. The impact nearly spun him off balance. The gash was deep enough to let glowing streams of mana seep out, hissing faintly as they escaped into the air.

Jake morphed one hand into a drill and immediately drove the spinning bit into the center of Owen’s breastplate.

During the battle with his creatures in the corridor, Owen had been splattered with acid from the blastfiends, which had significantly weakened his armor, making it softer and easier to penetrate. Although his body had already recovered somewhat, his armor still hadn’t fully regained its rigidity. Thanks to that, Jake’s drill punched through Owen’s breastplate almost immediately, the spinning bit chewing through the compromised armor with a shower of sparks and shredded black fragments.

However, his counterpart didn’t let him exploit the opening. Before Jake could do that, Owen threw a lightning-fast punch straight at his face. It came in so quickly Jake didn’t even have time to properly register it. The moment Owen’s huge fist connected with his head, Jake was hurled backward again. The impact rattled through his entire body as he crashed against the wall and slid down it.

This time, he didn’t immediately get up. Owen didn’t attack him right away, either. He simply stood there, towering over him, watching. Almost as if he was allowing Jake a moment to recover before continuing the fight, confident that it wouldn’t matter either way.

Jake could see that the crab-things were currently focused on the blastfiends and the wasps, which was a good thing. However, he quickly realized the battle wasn’t going in his creatures’ favor. So far, they had managed to take down only two crab-things, while the latter were cutting them down in droves. By that point, only a handful of his creatures remained, their numbers dwindling fast.

Which wasn’t all that surprising. After all, those small creatures weren’t his main combat units. They had been designed to weaken or slow down his enemies, not defeat them on their own. At best, they were meant to weaken his enemies. While a large swarm of them could certainly overwhelm weaker types of mutants, those synthetic crab monsters were simply too powerful.

Jake could already tell that within another minute, the remainder of his creatures would be wiped out as well. And after that, the crab-monsters would turn their full attention to him.

But even worse was the fact that the Grafter was steadily reclaiming control of its brain chip. When Owen had punched him in the face, Jake had almost lost control of the device entirely. The connection had flickered, destabilized for a terrifying instant. Only through sheer willpower, forcing his focus through the shock and disorientation, had he managed to keep the Grafter from reclaiming it.

However, Jake could feel his grip on the chip loosening. His hack was being steadily overridden. He could tell that within another minute or so, the Grafter would have full control of its brain chip again, and once that happened, he would lose his only real leverage in this fight.

Jake knew he had to deal with the captain of the bio-ship before it regained its abilities because he knew for certain his opponent would do everything in its power to prevent him from hacking the chip again, likely reinforcing its defenses beyond his reach.

He leaped to his feet and dodged the punch Owen immediately threw at him. The strike cut through the air where he had been a moment earlier. Darting around his counterpart, he charged at the Grafter. As he barreled toward the larva-like monster, he fired several rotary saw blades in quick succession, the spinning discs slicing through the air.

The monster screeched in agony as the blades struck home, its massive body convulsing in response.

Then Jake felt something crash into him from behind, sending him sprawling across the floor. He tried to get up, but Owen was on him like a mountain, pinning him down. Jake strained, but he couldn’t throw his opponent off. Every time he twisted, Owen’s stance pushed him down harder. 

Sprouting numerous bladed tentacles, Jake lashed out at his counterpart in a desperate, violent burst. The tentacles unfolded like living knives, each one propelled forward with enough force to slice through flesh and bone alike. He felt them punch through and stab Owen’s sides, slicing open his counterpart’s weakened armor. For a heartbeat, it looked like he might turn the tide.

But Owen didn’t give him the chance. Even as the tentacles struck, Owen leaned down and brought his scythe-blades up in a tight arc. The blades then easily shredded the tentacles into writhing fragments.

Jake looked forward. Up ahead, the crab-monsters had just finished off the last of his creatures. The crabs now stood in a semicircle, legs braced wide for stability, and their energy weapons were raised and charging, small pulses of light building inside the barrels.

They didn’t rush. They waited, pointing their weapons directly at him. Jake knew he was in big trouble now. There was no denying it anymore.

He couldn’t throw Owen off, no matter how much force he poured into it.

He wouldn’t be able to dodge the barrage of fire the crab-things were about to unleash on him, not pinned down like this, not with the angle they had on him.

And he could tell the Grafter was only moments away from regaining control of its brain chip.

Jake knew he was royally screwed.

A thought occurred to him, uninvited and unwelcome. Maybe Mick had been right. For the first time in his life as an overpowered mutant, it definitely looked like he had found himself in a battle he couldn’t win.