The Legendary Junkmaster

Chapter 96: Proving Grounds

Jason dove through a broken window as an ice dagger shattered on its frame. For the past ten minutes, he had forced to retreat by Dani's team, which consisted of Adam, Amy the Cryomancer and Gerald, who could phase through matter. So everyone who had made it from Highrise.

One of the extra spots on the team had been taken by a guy called Harry, a Pyromancer who could create and manipulate fire. The final spot was taken by a girl named Michelle, who could absorb kinetic damage and fire it back as an energy beam from her hands.

After a few exchanges, Jason had weighed up their weaknesses. The most dangerous one among their team for him to face was Gerald. Who happened to be the only one amongst them who could completely ignore Jason's armour. Gerald's weakness, though, was that he could only phase a limited amount of his body at a time.

Jason could essentially ignore Dani. Her ability was annoying in a fight, but she had no means to actually do any harm to him. She could only serve as reconnaissance and try to direct the team's efforts. 

Adam was too flexible with good battle instincts. Hitting him in a fistfight was impossible while using the Infinity. However, Adam could not be too aggressive because if Jason managed to hit him, he would be out of the fight. Not only that, but he suffered the same shortcoming as Dani. With no way to actually damage the Infinity either. 

The Infinity's armour was heat resistant, so that should have counted Harry out of the fight as well. Except he worked with Amy to try a strategy of supercooling then superheating the metal armour to try and make it more brittle.

Amy herself had no real weakness except her stamina. Jason already knew from the tournament that her greatest weakness was how quickly she got tired out if she used flashy moves. Apart from that, she was well rounded in attack and defence.

Michelle was the absolute powerhouse of the team, though. Her ability naturally protected her at all times from kinetic damage. So, using a melee weapon or his dart gun was out of the question while considering her. Especially since she would turn that damage against Jason.

Jason breathed heavily as he hid below the window frame. He had been forced into a passive defensive battle on his side. Meaning that Dani's strategy was most likely to keep him feeling the pressure while they tired him out and slowly cracked his armour open. 

Jason had to admit that it was clever of them, but he already had a plan in mind. Dani's team only knew of his speed burst, the strength of his armour and the fact he could hit like a truck thanks to the Infinity. He had kept the rest of his arsenal hidden as he led them into somewhere more private.

After all, if he defeated them, then he would still have other teams to face. Jason was relatively confident in his belief that the scouts of at least one or two units were following them. However, he had a hunch that they would not get too close. Especially if the fight moved inside of an enclosed space. 

Jason frowned as he noticed the metal on the right side of his chest beginning to crack due to Amy and Harry's combined assault. 'It seems like I have to improve on what materials I'm using. I wonder if there's anything that can protect me against both of them at the same time?'

Naturally, Jason was using this opportunity to figure out the Infinity's weaknesses so that he could improve upon them. Jason waited another few seconds before switching his position to behind a concrete column. He had to wait and see who would attempt to follow him first before deciding on how to handle the situation. 

A few minutes passed before Adam dove through the window and directly into a roll. Jason immediately activated his RDB's to close the distance between them before Adam could get the chance to react. After all, this tactic had proven effective against him during the tournament when he almost got knocked out. 

Adam was ready for this move due to the intelligence that Dani had gathered beforehand. The way he landed allowed him to launch into an acrobatic flip to avoid the sudden charge! Jason grinned when Adam dodged as his left arm spun around to follow his path through the air.

Four darts shot from the knuckles on his gauntlet. These darts would cover a broader range the further they travelled, and with Adam being in mid-air, he was in no position to perform another manoeuvre. Adam grunted as two of the darts found their mark.

One struck his neck while the second managed to pierce his left glove. Each dart carried a chemical that would make its victim become drowsy and entirely pass out within five seconds of being injected. Adam barely managed to land without hurting himself before the chemical took effect.

Michelle dove through the window quickly, followed by Gerald. The pair arrived just in time to see Adam hit the deck. From what they could see, Adam had not taken a hit. The distance between Adam and Jason did not make any sense to them either. From what they knew of this person called Ouroboros, he did not seem to possess any ranged attacks. 

The pair of them frowned as they looked at the menacing figure of the Infinity. Both of them had begun to wonder if Ouroboros had held back against the team he had defeated as well as their's so far. They exchanged a brief glance before revealing determined expressions.

The pair of them took a few steps towards Jason before they halted. The latter had just drawn the Firebrand Blade from its sheath and brandished it at the couple. At first, they felt as if they had nothing to worry about. After all, melee weapons had limited effectiveness on both of them due to their Powers. 

However, what gave them pause was the way the blade of the short sword had begun to glow red hot