The moment Dorio stood tall, unfazed by the savage barrage of blows, a chill ran down the spine of every Beast Gang member watching.
His presence radiated a mechanical calm, a precision engineered not just into his limbs—but into his very spirit.
The Savage King, still breathing heavily from the failed assault, stared at Dorio in disbelief. Her expression twisted between rage, humiliation, and something she rarely experienced—fear.
"You... You bastard! Are you playing with me!?"
She roared in fury, and without hesitation, reached behind her back. Her massive palm stretched out—and with a sharp, vacuum-like pull, the warhammer resting idle by the wall ripped through the air into her hand.
It landed with a heavy impact in her palm, vibrating with raw power.
The hammer wasn't just any weapon.
It was a customized beast of destruction—equipped with an integrated high-voltage electric rotor that could release deadly arcs of lightning with every swing. It had earned its nickname in the slums: "The Thunder Verdict."
And right now, it was singing.
Sparks danced across the hammer's alloy head, coiling and crackling in the dim air. Blue-white lightning snaked along the handle and pulsed against the floor, casting brief flashes over the cracked ring.
With a single-handed twirl, the Savage King whipped the hammer through the air.
The weapon whirled like a storm.
The voltage surging through it could drop a reinforced Night City merc like a sack of meat in seconds. One hit was all it would take to fry internal circuits, overheat neural jacks, and force a prosthetic shutdown.
The Savage King bared her teeth.
"Damn you, David's errand dog... You think you're tough? I'll smash your fancy armor into scrap!"
With a guttural roar, she brought the warhammer over her shoulder and swung it down with full force.
The hammer carried a deafening rush of air, trailing arcs of lightning like the wrath of a god.
The blow was aimed straight at Dorio's skull.
It should've flattened him.
It should've turned his reinforced implants into fried circuits.
The hammer stopped mid-swing.
Dorio raised a single palm and caught the full momentum of the Savage King's warhammer—without flinching, without stepping back, without even blinking.
His arm didn't shudder.
His expression didn't change.
Lightning sparked harmlessly against his armor as if it were tickling metal.
The audience went silent.
The Savage King's eyes widened, panic slowly blooming behind them.
Dorio looked down at the hammer calmly, then up at her with a flicker of contempt in his eyes.
The faint hum of his armor changed pitch as a passive defense mechanism activated.
[Source Plan: Judgment] Armor – System Notice: [Explosive Shield] Triggered.
No matter how high the hammer's voltage climbed, no matter how much kinetic energy was packed into that swing—it wouldn't leave so much as a scratch on Dorio now.
The armor's internal energy conversion system absorbed the charge like it was nothing more than a static shock.
The Savage King staggered backward, her confidence visibly cracking.
"This... This is impossible!" she cried, hands trembling.
"This can't be happening—!"
She yanked on the hammer, trying to pull it free. Dorio's fingers were wrapped around the head like a hydraulic press. It didn't move an inch.
Dorio let out a low grunt—and squeezed.
Hairline fractures snaked across the hammer's titanium shell like spiderwebs. The thick alloy groaned under the force. Electric sparks sprayed from the rotor core.
"No! No, NO!" she screamed, voice rising in disbelief.
"This hammer cost me everything! It was custom-made! It's unbreakable—!"
Dorio raised his head, eyes glowing faintly with an internal HUD interface, and said in a cold, final tone:
"Then you paid too much."
With a sharp clench of his cybernetic hand, the hammer shattered.
The warhammer exploded into pieces, the rotor bursting in a shower of sparks and molten metal. Shards of alloy scattered across the ring, some skidding to a stop near the feet of stunned gang members.
All that remained in Dorio's hand was the handle—scorched, warped, and utterly useless.
The Savage King stared in horror.
Her greatest weapon... gone. Destroyed. Reduced to scrap right before her eyes.
Her voice trembled with disbelief and anger. She let the ruined handle clatter to the ground and immediately switched tactics.
"Then I'll crush you with my own fists!"
She howled and activated her Bio-Oil Type B prosthetic system. A wave of hydraulic pressure surged through her body, and her right arm bulged with power.
She threw a punch directly at Dorio's chest, all her weight and fury behind it.
Dorio's steel hand caught her punch mid-air—effortlessly.
Her enhanced fist—designed for armor-piercing—was frozen in his grip.
The look on her face morphed from rage to terror.
Dorio's voice came down like a judgment:
"I came here to negotiate. You turned it into a war. Now let me show you the cost of testing a monster."
He twisted her arm with a calculated motion. Her shoulder let out a disturbing pop, and she screamed.
Before she could recover, Dorio's left hand shot forward, grabbing her by the throat.
He lifted her off the ground like a sack of flesh and wires.
Savage King's legs kicked, flailing uselessly. Her fingers clawed at Dorio's forearm, but her grip was fading.
Her systems were overloaded. Her strength was gone. Her confidence was shattered.
The once-feared Beast Gang leader now dangled helplessly.
"You think I'm here just to show off?" Dorio asked, tightening his grip slightly. "I'm here to fulfill requirements. And your requirement—was to learn who's really in control."
He slammed her down onto the metal floor.
The impact left a dent in the ring.
And Savage King didn't get back up.
She wheezed, barely conscious, synthetic fluids leaking from her damaged arm sockets. Her mouth moved, but no words came out—only a hoarse breath.
His coat billowed in the aftershock of the fight, catching the dying wind from her destroyed hammer's charge. The air stank of scorched plastic and burnt alloy.
He turned his head to the stunned gang members watching from the sidelines.
"Your boss made a choice."
He swept his gaze across their faces.
"You can follow her down... or rise up and join David's vision."
And slowly, heads began to nod.
No one dared challenge him.
Because in that moment, it was clear:
Dorio wasn't just another envoy. He was a monster—but one on a mission.
A mission far bigger than the ego of a gang leader.
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