The Vics didn't answer.
The response to Dr. 077's almost inquisitive question about "the taste of death multiplied by eight" was an even more violent, hysterical assault!
Venom's claws tore at armor gaps.
Riot's war hammer smashed deeper dents.
Carnage's scarlet tentacles nearly sheared through metal bones.
Scorn's corrosive bone spikes shot precisely into joint connections.
Intense pain surged like a tide through the seven shared consciousnesses, but their offensive only grew crazier, as if determined to return this shared agony tenfold, a hundredfold!
"Fear? Death?"
Vic in Venom form let out a raspy, maniacal laugh. His voice twisted through the symbiotic substance, carrying a chilling madness.
"In that damn lab, every single day! Every single second! I tasted death! You think I care about this?!"
With a violent swipe, he ripped off a heavy shoulder plate, exposing sparking wires underneath!
"Sorry!"
Another Vic (Riot's host) roared, his war hammer smashing into the robot's chest again, sending sparks flying.
"The taste of death now is bland to me! And I have you all to thank for that!"
"Heh." Dr. 077's synthesized voice remained cold, but it seemed to carry an imperceptible electronic static, as if his system was under some invisible pressure.
"I blocked pain transmission channels long ago. Anti-intrusion systems are fully active. Your attacks are equally... dull to me."
The mechanical arm abruptly parried Carnage's binding, elbow thrusters firing to knock Riot back half a step.
"Before you can truly damage my core, I still have ample opportunity to complete..."
Before he could finish, a sudden anomaly occurred!
Dr. 077's intact mechanical hand suddenly jerked up uncontrollably. The palm energy cannon charged instantly, emitting a piercing hum—
However, the muzzle wasn't aimed at any enemy. It whipped around violently, aiming directly at his own head!
Hummm—BOOM!
A scorching blue energy beam blasted the side of the mechanical head at point-blank range! The massive impact caused the entire body to stagger violently!
The head armor melted and blackened instantly. An optical sensor burst, flickering with unstable red light!
"WARNING! UNIT DAMAGE! ...What is happening?!"
For the first time, Dr. 077's synthesized voice showed clear fluctuations of shock and anger.
"Have I been hacked?! System self-check! No... no traces of external data stream forced entry detected!"
He rapidly scanned his internals, but the results showed all defense systems were intact, with no signs of being breached by hackers.
"That feeling just now... it was like I... wanted to attack myself?"
The remaining optical sensor on the mechanical head flickered wildly, revealing the operator's extreme confusion and disbelief.
"What kind of joke is this!"
Just then, the colorful symbiotes surrounding him, still launching fierce attacks, paused slightly. Their hideous faces grinned in unison, revealing a... nearly delighted, mocking smile.
"Finally..." Venom let out a low roar of satisfaction.
"It worked."
A lazy voice, sounding like it just woke up, drifted over softly. The source was the deep blue-grey symbiote that had been hovering on the edge of the battle—Sleeper.
He slowly raised his head. Those eyes, usually calm as still water, now looked like bottomless vortexes staring at the chaotic Dr. 077.
"If I were facing a pure mechanical consciousness composed only of ones and zeros..."
Sleeper's voice remained unhurried, yet it carried a chill that saw through everything. "I really wouldn't have many options against you."
"But unexpectedly..."
His tone pitched up slightly, carrying a hint of fateful mockery.
"You are a biological consciousness remotely controlling this mechanical shell. Then you are truly out of luck."
"Toying with, influencing, and even... manipulating biological consciousness..."
Sleeper's symbiotic substance rippled slightly, emitting an invisible, palpitating psychic field.
"That happens to be my specialty."
"No matter how many energy shields you wrap around this tin can, or how many anti-intrusion firewalls you install..."
His words were like a final verdict, piercing directly through physical defenses to act upon the distant operator's consciousness itself.
"Against a 'suggestion' initiated directly from the consciousness level... they are useless."
Sleeper floated a step forward. His deep eyes locked onto Dr. 077's remaining sensor. His lazy voice carried undeniable compulsion:
"Now, heed my 'suggestion'."
"Self-destruct your core. Then, kill yourself."
A few simple words seemed to contain reality-warping power, transforming into an irresistible command that travelled along the invisible consciousness link, slamming hard into Dr. 077's main body far away!
The battlefield fell into an eerie silence. Everyone's gaze focused on the frozen mechanical wreckage, waiting for the final outcome.
"Core self-destruct command confirmed! Countdown: Five seconds!"
The cold synthesized voice rang out from Dr. 077's broken mechanical body, carrying a procedural sense of finality.
However, the moment this irreversible destruction program truly initiated, Dr. 077's electronic tone, previously filled with shock and anger, strangely calmed down completely.
It was a calm that came from abandoning all struggle, perhaps even carrying a trace of bizarre relief.
"Victor Black," his voice came through the hum preceding the explosion, disturbingly clear. "Congratulations. You win again."
A brief pause, as if gathering the last of his strength, or performing some hidden operation.
"However," his tone shifted abruptly, taking on a hair-raising, almost gleeful anticipation. "Our game... isn't over."
"If you can survive this... let's continue next time."
"What kind of trick are you pulling now?!"
Several Vics frowned simultaneously, alarm bells ringing in their minds. This calm and foreshadowing before death was definitely not a good sign.
The answer was a very brief, yet bone-chillingly icy chuckle from Dr. 077.
At the same time, a very faint but exceptionally clear sound of a module fusing came from inside the mechanical body—
It was him synchronizing a key system, perhaps the final anti-intrusion defense module, into the self-destruct sequence.
"Five..."
The countdown continued mercilessly.
"Four..."
The Vics backed away subconsciously, symbiotic substances surging over their bodies to form defensive postures.
"Three..."
Dr. 077's remaining optical sensor glowed with a steady red light, as if staring into some future in the void.
"Two..."
"One."
"Zero."
There was no earth-shattering boom. Only a muffled HUM—WHAM! as all energy was instantly compressed in the core and then released.
Blinding white light swallowed the outline of the mechanical body first, followed by scorching flames and a violent shockwave expanding outward! Metal fragments flew like shrapnel!
Smoke and dust from the explosion temporarily obscured the area.
Cough... cough cough!
The Vics waved away the dust in front of them, staring vigilantly at the epicenter.
"Probably just some tough talk before dying, you know," Vic in Riot form shrugged, trying to break the heavy atmosphere with a light tone. "Just pure trash talk to make himself look less pathetic."
However, before his words landed—
Something was wrong.
All symbiotes—Venom's pitch-black, Serum's pearl-white, Riot's grey-black, Carnage's scarlet, Scorn's silver-grey, Phage's purple-black, Scream's dark yellow, and Sleeper's deep blue-grey...
Almost in the same instant, their main bodies felt an indescribable, intense palpitation stemming from instinct!
The sensation wasn't a physical impact, but an invisible, extremely high-frequency wave sweeping across the field from the explosion center like ripples in water!
This wave was silent, yet it seemed to carry a specific interference or... repulsive force targeting symbiotic life forms!
"Wait! Something feels wrong!"
Venom roared first, his massive white eyes widening abruptly.
The other symbiotes sensed the fatal threat simultaneously. They tried to cling tightly to their host Vics—
But it was too late!
The invisible wave penetrated all physical defenses, acting directly upon their core existence!
"MOTHERFU—?!!"
Under the horrified gazes of the Vics, and amidst the synchronized shouts of shock exploding in their own consciousnesses, the symbiotic substances covering their bodies lost cohesion instantly, like sandcastles blown apart by a strong wind!
Pop! Pop! Pop!...
In a series of soft sounds like bubbles bursting, all symbiotes were forcefully ejected from the Vics' bodies by an irresistible force!
Pitch-black Venom, Pearl-white Serum, Grey-black Riot, Scarlet Carnage, Silver-grey Scorn, Purple-black Phage, Dark yellow Scream, Deep blue-grey Sleeper...
Eight blobs of symbiotic matter, varied in color and amorphous in shape, were exposed to the air, appearing exceptionally fragile.
And the eight Vics, having lost their symbiotic covering, simultaneously felt an intense wave of exhaustion and emptiness, as if their souls had been extracted. They stumbled, barely able to stand.
They looked at each other, faces filled with the same shock and confusion.
The battlefield fell into a dead silence. Only the embers of the explosion drifted down gently.
Dr. 077's final "gift" had taken effect.