In the sun-bleached world of Maine's broken mind, everything had faded into a soft, hazy blur. Only the figures of Dorio and David remained sharp and real, tethering him to a reality that no longer welcomed him.
Akane, staring at the pages, felt a profound weight in her chest. She understood now. Maine hadn't just "lost it." He'd reached a point of absolute, soul-crushing exhaustion.
Dorio had died trying to save his sanity. Even though it wasn't his bullet that had killed her, her blood was on his hands. He'd spent his entire life trying to be the "big brother," the shield that protected everyone. And in the end, that desire to protect had been the very thing that destroyed him.
As Aoyama had explained in his recent interview, cyberpsychosis wasn't just a physical reaction to chrome; it was the result of the world's relentless pressure grinding against a soul that was already at its breaking point.
The golden wasteland in Maine's eyes was the only place left for him. It was a place where there was no more pressure, no more corporate hits, and no more friends to fail.
But David didn't see the wasteland. He only saw the man he worshipped as a god falling apart.
"Maine! We have to leave! Right now!"
David reached out toward him, his voice cracking with a desperate, child-like sincerity. "If you stay here, you'll die!"
Maine turned to him, his eyes clear for the first time in weeks. "I'm not running anymore, kid. The Reaper has finally caught up."
"What are you talking about?!"
At that moment, the high-pitched whine of heavy turbine engines filled the air. Through the shattered windows, the armored AVs of MAXTac descended through the rain like angels of death. Their target was clear: the complete and total neutralization of the cyberpsychotic known as Maine.
David saw them coming. He'd heard the stories. MAXTac was the end of the line for everyone in the underground. Even the most powerful solos in Night City wouldn't dare trade leads with them.
But David wasn't a solo yet. He was just a boy who wouldn't let go of his friend. He leveled his gun at the doorway, his muscles tensing for the fight of his life.
"I get it! I'll fight with you!"
He was sweating, his eyes wide with a terror he couldn't hide. He knew what Lucy had told him. MAXTac was the pinnacle of corporate violence. They specialized in one thing: killing people like them. Even more terrifying was the fact that most MAXTac members were reformed cyberpsychotics themselves, "monsters" hired to hunt other monsters.
"David..." Maine's voice was soft, almost a whisper.
"I'm not leaving! I'm coming to get you out of here, Maine!"
David was trying to convince himself as much as Maine. He was terrified, but the guilt and the bond of brotherhood were stronger than his fear. He blamed himself for everything: the delay with Tanaka, Dorio's death, and Maine's collapse. If he had to die here to pay that debt, then so be it.
But as David prepared to face the elite hunters, his hand began to tremble. The weight of the gun felt like a mountain of lead.
"Damn it! Stop shaking!"
He bit his lip, trying to force his body to obey. "Come on, you corporate bastards! Come and get some!"
He shouted into the smoke, trying to dredge up a scrap of courage.
Maine, meanwhile, looked down at him. The once-mighty leader was gone. His face was a mask of grey, withered shadow. He looked like a man who was already dead, just waiting for his body to catch up.
"Maine! Together, we can take them!" David shouted, his voice rising in a desperate plea. "We just have to hold out, and then..."
Before he could finish, a MAXTac warning siren wailed. The red light of a laser sight swept across the room, settling on Maine's chest. The hunters were here.
Next, Maine's massive hand landed on David's shoulder.
Aoyama hadn't spent multiple panels on David's fear; he didn't need to. The silence of the manga spoke volumes. The tension was absolute.
"You can't do this yet, David."
Maine's voice was as steady as a rock.
David felt a single tear trace a path through the grime on his face. "Why? Why, Maine...?"
"Why...?"
David's hand, still clutching the gun, slipped from Maine's grip. The weapon clattered to the floor, echoing in the silence of the hideout.
Outside, the MAXTac operatives were signaling for a tactical breach. Their silhouette against the rain was cold, mechanical, and utterly lethal.
Maine and David stood in the center of the room, their contrasted sizes emphasizing the tragic nature of the moment. The giant and the child.
"David..."
David looked up to find Maine smiling at him.
Then, Maine's hand moved from David's shoulder and delivered a final, light slap to his cheek.
It was nothing like the violent strikes of the past. It was gentle, almost a caress. But for David,and for the fans watching,it was the most impactful blow of the entire series. It was the passing of the torch.
"This is where my road ends," Maine said, his eyes locking onto David's. "But you... you have to keep moving."
David's eyes were wide with a silent, heart-shattering grief.
"You were always the fastest runner, weren't you?"
Next, the manga showed Maine's face in a terrifying close-up. One half of his expression was the warm, gentle brother David knew; the other half was the twisted, agonized mask of a man whose brain was being devoured by the chrome.
"Now... run..."
Looking at that face, everyone reading felt a shock that vibrated in their very souls. It was a level of emotional intensity that couldn't be described, only felt.
Akane's vision blurred as the tears finally spilled over. She'd known this was coming, but seeing it rendered with such raw, visceral power was more than she could handle. She felt a lump in her throat so large it was painful.
At that moment, the MAXTac team breached the perimeter.
Maine's heavy cannons shifted, the metal screaming as they transformed into their final, lethal configuration. He didn't fire at the hunters. He fired directly into the pile of explosives and Dorio's body beneath him.
An explosion of white light filled the room.
In a fraction of a second, the fireball consumed Maine, Dorio, and the first wave of MAXTac operatives.
David, acting on some primal instinct, triggered the Sandevistan. The world slowed to a crawl, turning into a sea of emerald green.
He could hear the MAXTac leader's voice, a slow, distorted roar: "EX... PLO... SIVE... HA... ZARD... FALL... BACK..."
"Ah..."
David could only open his mouth in a silent scream. His face was a mask of pure agony. Through the emerald fog of the Sandevistan, he watched as the fire tore Maine's body apart, the heat stripping the carbon-fiber skin from his bones until only the glint of his cybernetic eyes remained.
The scene cut back to the golden wasteland. A younger, "un-chromed" Maine was standing there, his eyes distant and peaceful. He was watching a figure disappear into the distance.
David was running.
Maine's road had ended.
The hideout vanished in a vertical pillar of flame that lit up the rainy Night City sky.
In the van outside, Lucy sat clutching the steering wheel, her knuckles white with fear. She'd heard the explosion. She'd lost the signal. The silence from the hideout was deafening.
"David... please..."
But then, the passenger door was kicked open. A shadow lunged inside, collapsing onto the seat beside her.
It was David.
He was trembling, his clothes scorched and bloodied. In his arms, he was clutching a single, massive piece of machinery.
Maine's cybernetic arm.
Akane remembered then. Earlier in the series, Maine had made a promise: "If I ever kick the bucket, this arm is yours, kid."
Seeing that promise fulfilled in such a horrific way was almost too much to bear. Akane's tears fell onto the page, staining the paper.
Maine... the "big brother" who had seen something special in a street kid... was dead.
And even in death, his final act had been to protect David and give him the tools to survive.
The final panels showed the van driving away from the fire, the city of Night City shrinking in the distance as the first light of dawn began to break through the clouds.
As the sun's rays fell across the interior of the car, they illuminated the massive, cold chrome of Maine's arm lying in David's lap.
David sat there, his face a map of fresh scars and deeper, invisible pain. In a single night, he'd lost his family.
Maine and Dorio.
David stared ahead into the rising sun, a single tear tracing a line down his face.
It was just one tear. But the grief behind it was an ocean.
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]