[03:45 AM. Battlefield Situation: Critical Deterioration]

  The crash of the Leviathan didn't signal the Guild's retreat as John had hoped. Instead, it was like a slap in the face that thoroughly enraged the colossal war machine.

  "Air support compromised. Confirmed. Requesting activation of 'Destroyer' Protocol."

  Inside the Guild's frontline command post, a tactical officer expressionlessly cut the comms with the crashed airship. His fingers slid rapidly across the holographic sand table, reconfiguring the red tactical markers.

  "Abandon all aerial drops. Since the sky is closed, we crush them from the ground."

  "Deploy the 'Sledgehammer' Siege Beast. Target: B-7 Defense Node. That's their only medical center and command post. Smash it, and the rats are finished."

  [B-7 Defense Node · Clinic Frontline]

  The battlefield's calm lasted less than five minutes.

  BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—

  The earth began to tremble rhythmically, a resonance caused by something immense marching forward. Through the distant smoke, a gigantic monster, ten meters tall, emerged.

  It was a [Stitched Corpse Abomination · Sledgehammer Type]. Forcefully pieced together from dozens of Ogre corpses, crude suture lines were visible on its skin. Its left arm had been replaced by a hydraulic-driven siege hammer, and its right arm was a dripping, spiked iron chain.

  Behind it, two heavy Titan Mechs flanked it like guards, forming a standard Infantry-Tank (or Monster-Tank) advance formation.

  "Damn it! They changed tactics!" Miller lay behind a half-destroyed wall, watching in despair as the monster smashed his carefully placed barricades with a single swing. "That thing's skin is too thick! Molotovs aren't working!"

  "Fall back! Retreat!" John shouted over the channel. He knew this level of siege unit couldn't be stopped by homemade weapons.

  "Grace! Are you done yet?! The server?!"

  "Almost! Almost! Master just connected the signal! Handshaking now!" Grace sounded on the verge of tears.

  Just then, the corpse abomination reached the street where the clinic stood.

  Its target was clear—the fragile container building filled with the wounded and elderly.

  "ROAR—!"

  The abomination let out an inhuman bellow, raising the siege hammer high.

  Its shadow engulfed the entire clinic.

  "Mom..."

  John wanted to rush over, but he was too far. His stamina had long been exhausted in the previous battles; he could barely stand. He stumbled forward two steps, his legs gave way, and he fell heavily into the rubble, the scalpel flying from his hand.

  He looked up, his eyes filled with helplessness and despair.

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  Bone, hiding in the shadows of the ruins, saw this.

  Bone didn't have many good bones left. Three ribs were broken, his left leg bone was cracked, and his once-sharp suit had long been burned into rags.

  He looked at the skinny young man who had fallen in the mud, face covered in blood, still struggling to get up.

  He remembered that rainy night.

  Back then, he was just a pile of waste bones on an auction block, about to be ground into powder. Everyone laughed at him. Only this young man took out all his savings, even borrowed from loan sharks, to buy him back.

  "Why save a pile of trash?" Bone had asked.

  "Because I think you haven't lost yet," John had said.

  Then, this young man gave him a home. Even though the home was broken, leaky, and drafty.

  But he gave him a name.

  Gave him a suit that didn't fit but was decent.

  Even bought him a toothbrush (even though he had no gums) just to make him feel "human."

  Is this what living feels like... Bone looked down at his hand, which was just finger bones.

  Woken up by the alarm every morning, serving soup to the quiet but gentle old lady, listening to Grace chatter, and being forced to walk that grumpy turtle.

  These days were really nice.

  "Boss, you're too tired."

  A low grinding sound came from Bone's vocal-less throat.

  "This time, let me protect this home."

  Bone didn't look back.

  He rushed out. Faster than ever before.

  "Boss! Take care of Mom!"

  He charged to the feet of the corpse abomination. Compared to the ten-meter giant, he was as small as an ant.

  But he didn't dodge, nor did he use a weapon.

  He jumped.

  CRACK—!

  Bone literally jammed his own skull—tempered by spirit fire and incredibly hard—directly into the transmission bearing of the abomination's hydraulic siege hammer!

  Using his own head to jam a high-speed machine.

  SCREEECH—!!!

  A tooth-aching sound of metal grinding against bone.

  The siege hammer's descent paused abruptly. The massive kinetic energy didn't stop completely, but being forcibly jammed by this ridiculously hard skull caused the entire hydraulic system to overload instantly.

  "STOP... NOW!!!"

  Bone's body hung in mid-air, hands gripping the abomination's armor plates tightly.

  His cervical vertebrae made cracking sounds.

  BANG!

  The abomination furiously swung the iron chain with its right arm, whipping Bone.

  SNAP!

  Bone's right arm broke.

  BANG!

  Another hit.

  Bone's left leg shattered into powder.

  But he didn't let go (or rather, didn't pull his head out). Like a nail, he was driven firmly into the most critical part of this killing machine.

  "You bought me for dignity..."

  Bone's consciousness began to blur, but he clenched his jaw tight.

  "I was just a pile of rotten bones... You gave me a name... gave me a suit... even let me be a lawyer..."

  "This life... I give it back!"

  BOOM—!

  The abomination's siege hammer finally couldn't withstand the internal jam. The hydraulic cylinder exploded completely. Scalding hydraulic oil sprayed out, drenching Bone.

  The giant hand capable of destroying the clinic dropped limply.

  The abomination howled in pain, its massive body losing balance and falling backward.

  And on its chest, that broken skeleton still hung there like a pendant, holding on for dear life.

  "BONE!!!"

  John fell to his knees, tears bursting from his eyes.

  "He did it..." Grace's voice choked with sobs, her data stream trembling. "That is the spirit of a knight... even if his body is broken, he protects his oath."

  At the same time.

  ZZZT—

  The iPad in John's hand finally lit up with a stable green light.

  Daoist Singularity's soot-covered face appeared on the screen, background noise filled with the hum of massive currents.

  "Connection successful! Server reboot complete! Disciple! The reinforcements you wanted..."

  Singularity stopped mid-sentence as he saw the tragic scene on the other side of the screen.

  The skeleton, with only half a body left, his skull still jammed inside the machine.

  Singularity fell silent.

  He took off his cracked sunglasses, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes.

  "A scholar dies for his bosom friend."

  Singularity whispered, his voice carrying an ancient respect.

  "That pile of bones... wasn't a waste of money."

  "Disciple." Singularity looked up at John, who was now a tearful mess. "Stop crying."

  "Your brother risked everything to buy you these few seconds."

  "Now, it's your turn."

  John wiped his tears.

  His eyes were red, as if they were about to bleed. He looked at the abomination struggling to get up, and at the broken figure hanging on it.

  An unprecedented rage, like a volcano, exploded in his chest.

  "You..."

  John gripped the iPad tight, knuckles white.

  "PAY FOR MY SKELETON!!!"

  [Message from Singularity]

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