The Scrap Tamer - Chapter 98

Chapter 98: Damien vs Clara: Final
Clara gritted her teeth as she dangled from the ledge, her fingers digging into the heated rock. The sudden collapse had thrown her off balance, leaving her vulnerable.

Worst of all, she had to send her weapon back to her inventory just to keep herself from falling.

With a quick motion, she swung herself up, rolling onto the ledge and scrambling to her feet.

She barely had time to stabilize herself before another fireball came hurtling toward her.

“At least give me time to recover, you ungentlemanly jackass” Clara cursed as she continued moving to avoid Damien’s attacks.

But even with all the attacks being rained on her, she was still confident in her win.

For one, she still had the high ground, even though her location was revealed and two, both Damien and his forged beast were completely focused on her, completely forgetting about her own forged beast which was hovering above them.

Through its eyes, Clara saw every movement Damien and his forged beast made.

With a whistle, she signalled the falcon to attack and it quickly did.

Activating [Precision strike], the bird’s talons glowed faintly as it tucked its wings and dove. Its trajectory was perfectly calculated, aiming directly for Damien and its was speed almost too fast to react to.

Damien barely had time to raise his arms before the Falcon’s strike connected. The force sent him stumbling back, his health bar dipping another ten percent. More importantly, the impact left him open.

And this was a chance Clara wasn’t willing to miss, with a sudden turn, her rifle reappeared in her hand as he quickly took aim.

Bang!

The sound of her shot being fired echoed as the bullet headed for Damien who knew there was no way he could block or move out of the way in time.

The bullet moved through the air, heading straight for his chest. But just as it was about to connect—

FWOOOSH!

Pyro lunged forward, wrapping itself protectively around Damien. The bullet struck the serpent’s hardened scales, barely making a dent.

But the pain caused it to let out an angry hiss

Damien exhaled in relief “Thanks, Pyro.”

He wasn’t out of this fight yet.

Clara cursed under her breath. “Fine. Let’s see how well you handle this.”

With a reload, she took multiple consecutive shots, each backed with by much more power than the last.

Her falcon used its skill again and again, diving in for an attack and quickly retreating.

But all the attacks were absorbed by the serpent’s scales, with Damien safely wrapped by it.

The Falcon dove again for another attack but before it could connect, a burst of smoke covered the area Damien and his forged beast was, blinding both the falcon and Clara.

Before it could react, the Flacon was struck by a tail sending it spiraling out of the smoke and through the air. It let out a pained screech before flapping its wings wildly to stabilize itself..

Clara’s eyes widened. “Shit!”

Using the cover of the smoke, Damien sprinted toward Clara’s last position. His arm still throbbed from earlier, but he ignored the pain. If he could just close the distance—

Clara was already moving, repositioning yet again. She had learned from the last exchange and refused to be cornered.

But Damien was expecting that.

He suddenly changed direction mid-run, heading toward a different rock formation. Since Clara was tracking his movement through her Falcon, then he needed to throw her off.

“Pyro, now!”

The serpent’s body glowed red hot, and suddenly, it split into three identical images.

[Flame clones] was a skill he recently learnt during commander Ajax’s survival test against one of the seniors.

The clones all moved in different directions, making it impossible for Clara to tell which was the real one since they all emitted heat.

Two of the serpents moved towards her Falcon’s position while the other stuck with Damien as they headed towards Clara.

She hesitated for a fraction of a second, readjusting her aim on the one that was closest to Damien.

And that’s all Damien needed.

He emerged from the smoke, now much closer than before. The serpent wrapped its tail around him and catapulted him upwards before it followed behind with a blast of flames.

Clara barely had time to react before Damien closed the gap entirely, landing very close to her.

She raised her rifle, but Damien was already inside her guard. With a swift movement, he knocked the weapon aside and drove his knee into her stomach.

Clara gasped, stumbling back, but she wasn’t done yet. She swung her arm, trying to create distance.

Damien caught her wrist mid-motion.

With a twist, he threw her off balance, sending her crashing to the ground. The moment her back hit the stone, Pyro coiled around her, its heat radiating dangerously close to her skin.

Clara struggled, but it was over.

“I win,” Damien declared. “Any movement from you, and I’ll order the clone to explode. Sure, this is all virtual, but I bet you don’t want to find out how it feels to go boom.”

As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. Her Falcon was too busy dodging projectiles from his Forged Beast and its clone, while she remained trapped in the coils of a serpent that could detonate at his command.

“Fine, you win” Clara said through gritted teeth.

As soon as that was said, a loud chime echoed through the battlefield.

[Match Complete.]

[Winner: Damien Blackwood.]

The environment around them flickered before dissolving back into the white room they first appeared in.

Their forged beasts had also faded with the environment and every wound, burn or pain they felt disappeared as if it was never there, their health bars returned back to a hundred percent.

The holographic screen popped up in front of them again and with a tap, they were logged out of the game.

With a pssh sound, the pod opened up to release them and they stepped out, feeling a light sense of vertigo due to the slight disparity between their virtual bodies and the real ones.

Lisa and Dean stood close to Clara’s and Damien’s pod respectively as they walked out of it.

They knew the results of the fight since they couldn’t view it on a holographic screen that would pop up on their pods with a tap.

“Took you long enough,” Lisa said.

Clara groaned. “I had him! One more shot, and—”

“And you’d still be wrapped up like a burrito,” Damien cut in.

This caused Clara to glare at him but he didn’t mind, he just responded with a smirk.

“So, judging by her glare, does this mean the match didn’t help settle your differences?” Dean asked.

“She’s just a sore loser” Damien said with a chuckle, only to receive a punch on his arm from Lisa who was glaring at him.

Damien rubbed his arm with a wince. “Geez, Lisa, relax. It’s just a joke.”

Lisa crossed her arms. “Maybe next time, think before running your mouth.”

Clara let out an exaggerated sigh, stretching her arms over her head. “Whatever. You were only able to win due to sheer luck.”

“Sure, keep telling yourself that,” Damien said with a smirk.

Marcus, who was observing the banter, shook his head. “Alright, now that you two are done, can we get back to why we were actually here?”

“Are you sure we’re supposed to mention that in front of them” Clara pointed at Damien, who raised his brow in confusion.

“It’s fine, Reid already allowed us to clue them in on what we’re doing” Lisa was the one who replied.

“I see” Clara answered as they turned to Reid and Ethan who still sat in front of the computer, furiously typing.

Ethan’s fingers moved rapidly across the keyboard, his eyes focused intently on the lines of code flashing on the screen. Reid, standing beside him, was similarly engrossed, his gaze fixed on the data scrolling by.

Clara and Damien approached, their previous fight momentarily forgotten as they took in the serious expressions on their teammates’ faces.

“What’s the status?” Reid asked the concentrated Ethan.

“I’m almost in” he answered “but to avoid being noticed, I have to time the entry of my data just right”.

“Take your time then” Reid said and he turned to the approaching team.

Dean had filled Damien in on what they were doing, so he now understood what was going on.

“Congratulations on your win” Reid said “you’ve gotten even stronger.”

His words caused Damien to freeze as he processed what he just heard.

Praise?

From the one he considered a rival?

More so, someone he kept calling failure just to taunt?

Damien blinked, momentarily stunned by Reid’s words. He had been expecting a dismissive remark, or maybe even nothing at all from Reid. But instead, he got… recognition?

He quickly schooled his expression, crossing his arms with a smirk. “Well, it’s about time you noticed,” he said, though there was no real bite in his tone this time.

Reid just chuckled and said nothing.

But before the moment could stretch, Ethan suddenly spoke up.

“I’m in”