Warfare Augmented Intelligent Frame Unit

Chapter 114 - Rift Generator

“Nooo! My million dollars!” I shouted, reaching out with exaggerated desperation toward the sky, where Myrrh was already ascending like a comet. She didn’t even glance back. Her Frame Unit whipped in the wind as she rocketed upward, propelled by the roar of her omni-directional thrusters, leaving behind only a fading shimmer and the scent of scorched ozone.

Behind me, Ismail let out a guttural laugh, completely unfazed despite being sandwiched between two KAWAII Agents. Metal handcuffs clicked around his wrists, but he wore them like accessories to his smug grin.

“What’s so funny, you terrorist scum?” I snapped, throwing him a glare that could have melted steel.

Ismail shook his head, tossing his long, wavy black hair out of his eyes with an arrogant flick of his neck. “Did you really think I’d hand over a million dollars like it was candy?” he said, voice dripping with mockery. “You? An investment? Please. That briefcase you clung to so dearly? It was never meant to enrich you. It was a leash. An antimatter bomb disguised with a cash-hologram illusion—insurance, in case you ever got cute.”

“You filthy scammer!” I yelled, my voice cracking with betrayal. “I trusted you!”

“Uh… not to take his side or anything,” Neil chimed in awkwardly from the sidelines, scratching the back of his neck, “but technically, weren’t you the one trying to scam him first? I mean, it was kind of weird that he offered you that much money without blinking, and you ran away with it when bullets started flying.”

Fei crossed her arms and gave me a slow, knowing nod. And just like that, I felt the narrative shift—I was starting to look like the villain instead of the guy who tried to stop one.

“You did what?” Agent Feena’s voice sliced through the moment like a blade of judgment. Her emerald eyes locked onto me with a stare that felt like it could dissect my soul. She planted her hands firmly on her hips, radiating the kind of authority that made me want to shrink into my socks.

“U-uh, nothing,” I stammered, flashing the most awkward, plastic grin I could muster. “I just thought, y’know, maybe I could make a little extra cash swindling the Nazi bastards…”

Agent Feena let out a groan so deep it could’ve cracked granite. She pinched the bridge of her nose, her brows knitting together as if the very idea had given her a hangover from hell. “You shouldn’t be taking dirty money—especially from terrorists. That kind of stupidity gets you arrested too, genius.”

“Y-yeah…” I sniffled, eyes cast downward as guilt gnawed at my insides. “I just learned my lesson today, Miss Feena. I’m really sorry.”

Feena let out a long sigh, the kind that felt like it came from the very depths of her soul. “You’re still an intern, and you’re already as corrupt as a washed-up senator. You’ve got a long way to go, kid.” She gave me a tired, almost affectionate smile—like a teacher who still hadn’t given up hope on her dumbest student.

“A-anyway!” I blurted, desperate to change the topic before I got grounded or sent to bureaucratic hell. My gaze shot to the sky, where Myrrh was now a bright, blazing point—like a sapphire flare slicing through the stratosphere. “What is Myrrh trying to do!?”

Agent Feena tapped her morpher, and a crisp hologram flickered to life in midair, displaying a live feed. Myrrh’s face appeared, wind whipping her hair back as the high-altitude distortion shimmered around her.

“I’m trying to get this thing out of the metropolis!” Myrrh shouted through the feed. “I’ll detonate the bomb in space!”

Agent Feena’s expression twisted with alarm, and she slapped her forehead so hard it echoed. “That was reckless, Myrrh!” she yelled. “First it was Zaft throwing himself into the lion’s den, and now it’s you shouldering an antimatter bomb like it’s some romantic gesture?! My word—you lovebirds are dangerously impetuous!”

“According to my calculations, I can reach the outer atmosphere of Xyraxis in one minute! I’ll throw the bomb out after that!” Myrrh’s voice buzzed through the comms, bold and full of reckless confidence.

“Um, Myrrh? Are you sure about that?” Fei asked, her voice small and trembling. Her puppy-dog eyes sparkled with genuine concern, like a worried little sister watching her sibling attempt something incredibly dumb. “I… think you’re bad at math.”

I quickly ran the numbers, calculating the velocity Myrrh was flying at and the altitude needed to breach the Xyraxis atmosphere. My fingers trembled as the result flashed before my eyes—and just like that, cold dread seeped into my spine. Fei was right all along. Myrrh wasn’t going to make it in time.

“It would take you ten minutes to break through Xyraxis’ upper atmosphere, you idiot!” I shouted, my voice cracking with panic. “How the hell did you get one minute as your answer!?”

“W-WHAAAAT!?” Myrrh’s cry blasted over the feed—part confusion, part horror.

For a moment, silence took hold of us. The kind of silence where everyone mentally facepalms. Sure, it was the kind of dumb mistake we were used to from Myrrh—she’d always flunked Advanced Calculus, after all. Usually, it was funny.

But this time? This time she was flying into the sky with an armed antimatter bomb strapped to her like a ticking badge of martyrdom.

And then, as if fate had to twist the knife a little deeper…

“Since things are going too well, let’s cut the countdown!” Ismail cackled, his laughter jagged like broken glass. His crimson eyes flared with unholy glee, casting an eerie glow that spilled like blood across his pale cheeks.

On the other end of the line, Myrrh let out a gasp that made the air feel colder. “T-the bomb! It just—cut to one minute!”

“HACKING!?” Neil screamed, eyes going wide. “Someone—anyone—cover Ismail’s damn eyes!”

The KAWAII Agents sprang into action, scrambling for their jammer cuffs like soldiers pulling pins from grenades. In a burst of improvised genius, two agents clamped their cuffs together and, with a roll of emergency duct tape, strapped them across Ismail’s face in a makeshift blindfold. It looked ridiculous—like someone put a high-tech gag mask on a deranged fashion model.

“Hahaha!” Ismail cackled through the crude contraption, his laughter muffled but still manic. “It doesn’t matter! At this rate, your precious heroine will be blown to cosmic dust!”

“Why you—!” I clenched my fists, fury bubbling up in my chest. I stepped forward, fully ready to break his smug jaw—until Neil gently tapped my shoulder.

I turned, and there he was—cool-headed and serious for once. He met my glare and gave a quiet shake of the head. “Don’t waste your time on him,” he said, voice low but firm. “Myrrh needs you.”

Then, with a flick of his wrist, he held something out—a familiar smartwatch. My hacked WEEB System.

“I just patched it using my cybernetic implant,” Neil explained. “I isolated and disabled Ismail’s backdoor override. You should be able to use it again.”

My eyes widened as I took it from him. For once tonight, Neil was the MVP. “Thanks,” I muttered, cracking a smile of pure gratitude. “I owe you one.”

I slid the smartwatch back onto my wrist, and instantly, a familiar hum pulsed through my arm. The hologram interface sprang to life in a flurry of crimson light, casting its glow across my face as the System roared back online.

[Weaponry Enhancement Engineering Bios]

[Weapon of Mass Destruction Series Unlocked]

[Level 1 - Particle Cannon]

[Level 2 - Uranium Blade]

[Level 3 - Shadow Curtain]

[Level 4 - Lightning Storm]

[Level 5 - Particle Accelerator]

[Level 6 - Proton Slicer]

[Level 7 - Ion Cannon]

[Level 8 - Timesphere]

[Level 9 - Rift Generator]

“Myrrh! How much time left?!” I shouted into the smartwatch, my voice ragged with panic.

“Thirty seconds!” she screamed back. Her words were laced with strain as her thrusters roared at full capacity, leaving trails of blue fire behind her. She tore through the upper atmosphere, but even at this altitude, it wouldn’t be enough. The antimatter bomb—armed and counting down—would still obliterate everything within a hundred-kilometer radius. And Myrrh… Myrrh would be vaporized, atom by atom, the instant it went off.

I need to get her out of there. Fast.

I slammed my finger into the WEEB System’s holographic interface and roared, “Rift Generator, Activate!”

Instantly, the system pulsed. Myrrh’s right arm transformed as a glowing cybernetic circle materialized, morphing into a sleek, oblong-shaped cannon that radiated with interdimensional energy. With a war cry, she aimed it straight into the sky and fired.

The air rippled as space itself cracked open. A swirling rift tore into the fabric of reality above her—revealing a surreal sight. A massive planet loomed on the other side, swirling in creamy coffee-colored clouds with a giant crimson vortex at its center. Jupiter. That wasn’t just another place—it was another planet in the solar system, another chance.

“Yaaaaaah!!” Myrrh screamed, pouring every ounce of power into her thrusters as she rocketed toward the portal, the very edges of her frame trembling from sheer speed. Then, just before crossing into the rift, she hurled the briefcase with all her strength.

The bomb spun through the void, tumbling in slow motion as it approached the edge of safety—

But it never made it.

A blinding white flash engulfed the scene. The antimatter bomb detonated just before entering the portal.

Time felt like it froze.

A brilliant sphere of light expanded, swallowing the rift, the sky, and everything around in a deafening silence. For a moment, the world was washed in pale, featureless brilliance—like the universe had taken a breath and forgotten to exhale.