20 You piece of junk

The robot aims its gun at Sylvester and fires in his direction.

Sylvester easily dodges the attack, with a single swipe of his hand creating a barrier that deflects the bullets.

A series of crash sounds were made as deflected bullets hit various items in the hall.

Picking up a shard of a jade vase that dropped beside his leg, Fernandez lets out a sigh of disappointment as he mumbles. "My restaurant is in ruins."

"That's an understatement," Rai comments.

Covering their ears due to the loud explosions, Rai and Fernandez hoped they would be spared from all the chaos.

Casually walking over to the robot, he ducks under its arm without giving it a second glance.

The robot swings its arm but to no avail as Sylvester easily evades the attack.

"Is this all you can do?" Sylvester taunts before charging full speed at the robot, ready to pounce.

Boom!

A deafening explosion erupts as the two collide.

Grabbing a hold of one of its mechanical arms, Sylvester flips the robot around and slams its back against the wall with just his brute strength, punching right through its head.

The robot tries to regain balance but ends up hitting the ground, unable to stand on its own.

Pulling out his bloodied hand, he removes the shards of glass that had lodged into his skin. A twisted smirk appears on his face as he stares at his rapidly healing skin, looking back at the robot as it slowly regenerates its head.

Peering above the counter, Rai and Fernandez witness Sylvester striking the robot several times, damaging it repeatedly as it tries to regenerate.

They slowly recede to their hiding spots. Their eyes are wide in disbelief at how easy the fight looked when Sylvester engaged.

Leaning to his right, Fernandez says in a whisper, "I thought you said that thing is dangerous."

Stiffly turning his head to face Fernandez, Rai narrows his eyes, refusing to respond.

Bam!

Bam!

"Hahahaha!" Sylvester's maniacal laughter rings out, sounding similar to an innocent kid playing with his favourite toy.

With each strike, the robot's head would slowly crack open before it could process its regeneration, revealing the wires inside powering a glowing red orb of accumulated energy as its heart.

'Could this be the reason you can regenerate?' Sylvester wonders.

He squats on the robot's neck, grabbing hold of the wires with his bare hands before ripping it out with ease.

"I don't care how long since you've been created or why you were sent to capture or kill me, but you're nothing more than a machine without the ability of an awakener. It doesn't matter if you have a skewed version of our healing capabilities, you'll still be a piece of junk," Sylvester says, staring straight into the robot's flickering glowing eye.

Sylvester releases the wire and smiles with satisfaction, watching as the robot's head crumbles apart.

The energy stored within the orb bursts upwards, shooting through the ceiling.

He pulls the robot's arms off before throwing it aside as if it were nothing, staring at it for a while to confirm his suspicions about the glowing orb.

When no form of regeneration happens, he gets off the robot and dusts his hands while sneering. "I overestimated you."

Crouching down to look under the robot, Sylvester picks up three bullet casings that were lying on the ground.

Observing the faint glow on its body, a wicked thought crosses his mind.

'Let's see if you have any other surprises.'

Sylvester swiftly stands up and takes a few steps back before throwing the casings straight toward the robot's torso.

The casings explode like a bomb, sending debris from its metal body everywhere.

The floor and walls were covered in glass shards, corpses, and metal pieces from the explosion.

"What the hell was that?!" Rai asks in a rush, covering his mouth to block the dust that came flying at them.

Knocking on the counter, Sylvester stares at the duo hiding behind it.

They look up at him and watch as Sylvester deactivates his ability, but a cold stare still focuses on them.

"What was that thing on its regeneration you said I should be cautious of?" Sylvester asks with a mocking tone.

"I didn't say anything," Rai quickly answers, clearing his throat and looking anywhere but at Sylvester.

Tilting his head, Sylvester's warm smile is cast on a fully recovered but still unconscious Lila.

Leaping across the counter, Sylvester lands in front of Lila and scoops her in his arms.

She turns and adjusts her position in his arms as soft snores escape her lips.

Looking down at her, he assures her in a whisper. "Anyone who dares try to harm you will receive a fate worse than death."

Rai clears his throat again, breaking up the silence that followed and hoping to get a positive result before Sylvester could leave.

"We need you–"

"What's going on here?" Fernandez cut in, switching his gaze from Sylvester to Rai.

"I accept the offer, but he comes with us," Sylvester replies while pointing at Fernandez.

Fernandez looks at him with a confused expression before turning his attention to Rai.

"What the heck are you two talking about? And where are we going?" He questions, suspicious of their motives.

Facepalming, Rai could already picture the distraught faces of his team, the death glares and punishment he would receive for not just bringing a dangerous awakener, but also a non-awakener to their base.

Sylvester nods in the direction of the destruction that had been made. "It wasn't my intention to cause this much damage to your restaurant..."

'That's a lie and we all know it!' Rai counters in his thoughts.

Sylvester narrows his eyes, showing he heard Rai's thoughts, but chooses to ignore them.

Instead, he continues, "... but it seems Lila has grown fond of your cooking, since you don't have an establishment, given the fact that bad publicity will follow."

Fernandez gave it a thought, getting to his feet and inspecting the level of damage and casualties.

His shoulders droop as he shakes his head, turning his attention back to Sylvester.

Rai shakes his head, hoping to convince him to turn down the offer as he says, "this is merely a silly suggestion from my friend…"

"I am not your friend!" Sylvester snarls through grit teeth.

Flashing a grin and giving a thumbs up, Rai continues, "... you don't need to come along, my friends might not be as approachable as Sylvester and the little one."

"What could be more dangerous than this kiddo? No, can they defeat him?" Fernandez counters with a raised brow.

'Why the hell did you bring that up?!' Rai yells in his thoughts, but is visibly left speechless by Fernandez's question and looks to Sylvester who's still holding Lila in his arms.

"He asked a question, and it needs an answer. Do I need to be concerned about any of your teammates challenging me?" Sylvester asks, noticing the slight change in Rai's facial expression.

Rai blinks and forces a grin before replying. "They couldn't even if they tried."

"Thought as much." Sylvester laughs as if he's happy with his answer.

"If you are insisting that much then I'll take your offer…" Fernandez says while laughing cheekily.

"Who the fuck is even insisting, you geezer?!" Rai rages.

"Shut it, Rai." Sylvester snaps before Rai can retort.

Rai glares daggers at Sylvester, but he doesn't bother to argue further.

"... but I do have one condition." Fernandez finishes as a wicked grin spreads across his face.

"What else do you want now?!" Rai says while looking like he's on the verge of losing it.

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Author's note

¶ Thank you [SoManyAngels] for your constant support on my book

¶ Do check out the weekly auxiliary chapter[Bonus chapter task] to know how you can participate.