From Bullets To Billions Chapter 617: The Unyielding Giant

Stephen unleashed the full, concentrated hydraulic power of his armored fist, smashing it directly into the middle of Jett’s face without holding back even the slightest bit of his strength.

He vividly recalled the excruciating agony he’d been made to suffer in his prior humiliating clash with the massive executive. During that brutal past fight, there were horrifying instants when Stephen genuinely believed his life was finished forever, his body totally demolished by Jett’s superior might. That grim recollection now stoked the raging inferno blazing in his chest.

After thoroughly testing the elite exoskeleton and driving its mechanical limits to the max throughout this raid, Stephen was utterly confident he could strike with far greater power now, no longer fretting over snapping the delicate bones in his arms. The suit soaked up the crushing recoil that would otherwise pulverize a normal human hand.

A thunderous boom resonated through the wrecked facility as his armored fist collided with flesh and bone. The immense downward kinetic force even split the sturdy concrete floor beneath Jett’s head, forming a web of profound cracks. Jett’s nose and facial bones appeared to collapse under the crushing force, his jaw going slack while his eyes flipped entirely back into his skull.

"You damn, oversized freak!" Stephen bellowed, his voice raspy as he retracted his weighty fist, the servos in his white lab coat screeching sharply. "You caused us so much unnecessary trouble and made this entire operation infinitely harder... and you’ve made me nearly tire myself out just dealing with you."

Stephen released a prolonged, uneven breath and gradually pivoted, his boots grinding over the broken concrete. He swiftly evaluated his body’s state internally. Even after the intense effort, he retained solid reserves of power and endurance. Instead of idling or charging blindly into the next hallway to aid the other Syndicate heads, he saw the best use for his leftover energy. He could now circle around the foes and shift the grueling battle in the front courtyard.

After fully securing this defensive zone and locking down the perimeter, they’d be able to strike the Billion Bloodline troops from behind, trapping them in a deadly pincer. This key tactic formed a vital piece of Vivian’s sweeping master strategy.

Naturally, that whole chain of strategic moves hinged completely on Stephen decisively triumphing in his assigned duel right here. He felt the enormous weight of expectation pressing down on his armored frame.

"LOOK OUT!" a panicked cry erupted from the side.

At those urgent words, Stephen’s sharpened battle reflexes snapped into action. Without glancing behind, he leaped forcefully aside. Mere moments later, a massive, battering fist hammered savagely into the concrete exactly where he’d stood, hurling shards of jagged debris everywhere.

Whirling about, Stephen dropped into a low stance and brought up his defenses. Jett was somehow rising again, against all odds. Yet the eerie emptiness in the brute’s gaze chilled Stephen to the core. Jett’s eyes were fully vacant, stripped of any awareness or spark, proving the colossus remained deeply unconscious. His nervous system drove him solely on raw, primal survival mode.

"I absolutely cannot believe this guy," Stephen clenched his teeth, cold sweat trickling down his brow. "Even now, totally out cold but still on his feet, does he really plan to give me this much grief?!"

Like a malfunctioning automaton, Jett launched a broad, arcing punch. Stephen sidestepped it with ease, slipping under the ponderous limb. But this round, Stephen held back his Vow and skipped his enhanced otherworldly speed. No need. The attack was wildly off-target, missing Jett’s typical sharp accuracy, and far sluggier than the prior frantic exchanges.

"You’re just barely standing on your own two feet!" Stephen yelled.

He nimbly evaded yet another lumbering, obvious swing. Gliding within the titan’s loose guard, Stephen closed in tight. He whipped his armored fist in a compact curve, pounding it dead-center into Jett’s gut. He intentionally held back his personal muscle force, depending purely on the exoskeleton’s brutal hydraulic thrust for the gut-wrenching hit.

What was truly disturbing was how the solid blow barely fazed Jett. The behemoth didn’t gasp, didn’t fold, didn’t even flinch. He just hoisted both enormous hands overhead, locked them firm, and smashed them down like a plummeting hammer.

Stephen barely vaulted back in time, the twin fists cratering the ground deeply once more.

"That mechanical punch didn’t even phase him. He didn’t feel a thing. Now he’s acting almost exactly like a giant, unconscious zombie," Stephen assessed, thoughts whirling as he eyed the shambling colossus. "If standard blunt-force hits with this exoskeleton aren’t going to work against his dense muscle density while he’s numb to pain, then there is only one definitive way to actually damage him and shut his body down."

Stephen smoothly evaded another plodding blow. Now he dug in his rear foot, twisted his hips for peak power, and unleashed a crushing hook straight into Jett’s belly. But this strike blended more than the exoskeleton’s shove. He activated his core, invoked his Vow, compelling his arm’s cells to surge at impossible speeds.

The lethal mix of supernatural quickness and mechanical mass produced a cataclysmic blow. The armored fist burrowed mercilessly through Jett’s thick abs, plunging so far in that it hoisted the giant clean off the ground by his torso. Yet with Stephen rooted firm and not lunging wildly as before, Jett didn’t fly away; he took the full, focused kinetic blast right there.

As Jett’s boots slammed back down, even more bizarre—and outright horrifying—was how the brute stayed defiantly erect.

"Alright, fine! If you want to be stubborn about dying!" Stephen roared, fury erupting at last. "I really didn’t want it to end the long, agonizing way it did last time anyway!"

Stephen dove into the savage grind. He kept dancing around the ponderous, sluggish assaults, ducking under flailing arms and circling sloppy kicks. Each chance he got, he hammered his boosted, armored fists viciously into Jett’s gut, targeting the battered spot repeatedly with machine-like accuracy.

Sometimes, Stephen ripped off a furious combo, firing two Vow-powered haymakers before spinning away from Jett’s frantic, wide sweeps.

Yet nonstop Vow activation exacted a brutal price. Stephen’s breaths grew harsh and labored, lungs searing for air, his once-lightning reflexes dulling progressively. The mystical exertion ripped at his flesh.

"Feel the exact same agonizing pain that we felt!" Stephen thundered, slamming another rib-cracking hook home. "Remember! You and your arrogant boss were the ones that started this entire crap by coming after us first!"

At last, after soaking up countless ferocious, pinpoint strikes to his demolished midsection, the titan’s legs gave way. Jett teetered like a toppled tree and crashed to his knees, arms dangling uselessly.

Wise from the bitter mistake of presuming victory too soon last time, Stephen chose to end it utterly, leaving no room for another impossible comeback.

He advanced tight, anchoring his boots on the fractured floor. He coiled his hips, channeling all leftover hydraulic force and bodily might into his right arm, then rocketed a pulverizing uppercut into the underside of Jett’s sturdy jaw.

Stephen sensed Jett’s hefty jawbone grinding against his glove’s hardened metal knuckles. Jett’s skull jerked violently rearward from the colossal force, his whole massive frame finally airborne backward, crashing supine and still. No movement followed.

"You were already passed out before, so are you finally going to stay down now...?" Stephen gasped, looming over the downed behemoth. He heaved and panted fiercely, chest rising and falling wildly. He’d planned to conserve ample stamina to swiftly aid the courtyard fighters and then reinforce the other Syndicate chiefs. But eyeing his shaking hands, he’d clearly need a breather to recover first.

Suddenly, his legs buckled. He dropped hard onto one knee, suit servos groaning under his drained bulk.

"Everyone, form up! Protect the Ranger!" Rick yelled, his command piercing Stephen’s tinnitus.

Rick surged ahead, interposing himself as a human barrier before Stephen. The remaining armed Syndicate vanguard survivors hustled over, clustering in a compact shield wall around their spent commander, guns up to repel any lingering threats.

"Ah, crap..." Stephen muttered, gazing at the devoted squad encircling him. A weary, wry grin twisted his battered features. "And here I honestly thought I was the one that was specifically meant to be protecting you guys today. I just really hope the others upstairs are doing okay on their own."