In the heart of the vast desert, a tremor began to ripple through the barren landscape. The sound of echoing clanks grew louder and more insistent, like a metallic heartbeat pulsing through the air. A wave of black swept across the terrain, an army of massive battle droids moving in unison. Their sharp, scythe-like legs moved in a mechanical rhythm, crushing rocks and debris under their sheer weight and volume.

 

Clank-clank-clank.

 

The rhythmic clanking grew louder, the approaching wave of the army drawing closer to the mining operations in the remnants of an old city. Hamza and Jack watched from afar, their fortified mining operation braced for a siege. Traps were set, defenses were up, and anticipation hung heavy in the air.

 

As the droids approached, Hamza’s gaze was drawn to an observer who seemed far too nonchalant about the impending battle. She was covered from head to toe in a chain mail armor of crimson rubies that she had crafted herself. She toyed with additional rubies using her telekinesis, an amazing sight that highlighted both her beauty and her craftiness. Yet something about her casual demeanor bothered Hamza. With a hint of frustration creeping into his voice, he spoke into his walkie-talkie.

 

She’s far too casual about this, It’s as if she doesn’t even care.

 

He thought he should get her to concentrate

 

“Hey, stop playing observer and get ready. They’ll be here any minute now—over,” Hamza said, his voice crackling through the walkie-talkie.

 

“Wait, you were watching me? How do I look? –over,” she responded, her attention abruptly shifting as the ruby she had been levitating fell to the ground. She looked towards Hamza, who was perched on a distant sand-dune pillar, observing her like a hawk with a mix of sternness and confusion. With a sly grin, she struck a series of poses, each one more seductive than the last.

 

“Enough! You look good. Just be ready… No more games, okay? –over,” Hamza said, his voice firm. She responded with a simple “fine” and blew him a kiss.

 

A chuckle escaped from Jack as he listened to their exchange over the walkie-talkie. The light-hearted banter lifted some of the tension that hung heavy in the air ahead of the impending battle. He held the walkie-talkie tighter, a small smile playing on his lips. Just a day ago, he had been alone, battling the immortal demon Aku. The fact that these people were willing to stand by him now when he had been sure he would die from his injuries, was comforting. But it also instilled in him a sense of responsibility.

 

I will not fail them Jack thought to himself. I must live up to their trust and hopes.

 

Jack’s contemplation of his circumstances was abruptly interrupted by the ground shaking beneath him and the ominous sound of the approaching battle droid army. They were just a few meters away from entering the city. Jack quickly relayed his final instructions over the walkie-talkie.

 

“Hamza, Observer, take your positions. Everyone else, take cover,” Jack commanded, his voice steady despite the impending chaos. He vaulted over a dog that had been watching the impending siege from a nearby corner and sprinted towards the battlefield. The dog, along with others, retreated to the safety of the central building as planned.

 

Jack mounted his armored six-legged steed and sped off like the wind.

 

The beetle battle droids surged through the dilapidated city streets like a relentless flood, obliterating everything in their path. They moved over every terrain like an unstoppable tidal wave, their path splitting into three roads leading to the mining operation. Each road led to a different path that would eventually converge. Jack, Hamza, and Observer held the three lines of defense.

“I’m glad I used my ability. I just hope I don’t run out of time,” Hamza mused aloud, glancing at his abilities and stat sheet. He pondered whether to invest his attribute points now or save them for later to multiply his GP.

 

 

With a total of 90 GP and 5 attribute points left, Hamza made a hasty decision not to waste any points and to focus.

 

No more distractions or I might lose my life

 

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Hamza tried to steady his nerves as the final seconds approached. He had concluded the previous battle with the demonic dogs that his copy ability was irrelevant in the Samurai Jack universe. Jack might be superior in agility and strength, but his greatest strength lay in his unmatched skill and experience—something Hamza felt he couldn’t compete with. He thought about what led to the decision

 

The only skill I can rely on is archery. I had a knack for it in my previous life. It’s the one thing I could pride myself on after winning competitions. I can help him… I can do this…

 

In a split second, Hamza swiftly retrieved his bow from its quiver, notching an arrow adorned with a crimson ruby tip. He aimed at the oil barrels stationed a kilometer away, strategically placed across the battlefield. The relentless beetle battle droid army sprinted across the road, unknowingly heading straight for the traps set in their path.

 

Sensing the opportune moment, Hamza focused, fixing his aim on the flint rock prepared to ignite the open-combustion oil barrels. He deftly pulled back on the bowstring, its metallic strips requiring all his strength to draw. The bow was no ordinary weapon—it resonated with an odd resilience, producing tingling sounds as the string was loaded.

 

Squinting his eyes, Hamza whispered to himself, “I can see it. Skill utilizing strength. I’ve got that in spades with archery. Let’s rumble, you heaps of metal scraps.”

 

Hamza had already covered his ears, having tested this bow before the battle. This was no ordinary bow—it could launch arrows at near-supersonic speeds. It was different from Jack’s bow; Hamza had crafted it using the sturdiest cord he could find in the mining operation area.

 

Swoosh

With a swoosh, the arrow cut through the air, its sharp sound akin to a miniature jet zooming past. The arrow traveled at blistering speed, and as the army crossed the barrels, it struck the tip of a flint rock, creating a spark.

 

Ching.

 

That was all it took to ignite the oil barrels.

 

Boom.

 

The explosion caught more than a few dozen droids in its shockwave and blast radius, creating a massive cloud of smoke and fire across the terrain. From his vantage point, Hamza watched with a stern look. Yet, the beetle battle droid army did not stop. They emerged from the fire, sprinting towards his location without slowing down. The clanking of their metallic appendages grew ever louder.

 

“One down, four more traps to go. I need to make each one count,” Hamza muttered to himself.

 

[You have killed a beetle battle droid 100GP points]

[You have killed X–beetle battle droid 28]

[Level up]

[2800 GP Points]

 

Before the system could display anything more, Hamza quickly interjected,

 

“Oye, system. Just give me the kill notifications for now. Unless it’s serious.” He didn’t even bother looking at the system screen as he swiftly moved to change his position. There was no time to waste.

 

[Understood. I won’t bother you with unnecessary updates. Rip and tear until it’s done] the system responded.

 

With a sly grin, Hamza remarked as he jumped and skidded from the arched pillar to the ground, “Huh! No condescending behavior. Now you’re speaking my language.”

 

The system retorted, “You do realize that I exist to assist you, right? Although being a dick comes with the territory. In times like these, I must admit, I do enjoy the carnage.”

 

What a peculiar and sadistic system Hamza thought to himself.

 

Hamza quickly started climbing an oddly shaped crane for his second position. It was a challenging climb that took 30 seconds. He was late; the army was swift and had already passed the second checkpoint of the trap.

 

Standing atop the crane, he felt the air current stronger than he had anticipated. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he prepared himself not to miss. He didn’t have the luxury to repeat this; he had to make haste for the next checkpoint. Each attempt had to land for him to thin out some numbers.

 

“A calm and calculating mind is a deadly mind,” he reminded himself.

 

Loading his bow with an arrow tipped with ruby, he launched it after aiming at the second set of combustion oil barrels—this one was farther than the first one.

 

With a swoosh, the arrow hurtled through the air, its sharp, cutting sound slicing through the silence. It was a sensation Hamza had experienced before. The arrow, with its unrivaled speed and power, streaked across the distance at an electrifying pace, perfectly timed with the army’s movement toward the barrels. As it made contact with the flint rock, a lively spark ignited.

 

Hamza struck a quick victory pose, mimicking a gun firing with his hand for a touch of flair.

 

“Boom.”

 

[You have killed X–beetle battle droid 45]

 

“Haha! Scored!” Hamza exclaimed.

 

He quickly jumped from the crane, using the protruding poles to maneuver and descend as swiftly as possible.

 

“I knew Jack’s stats would come in handy. And who would’ve thought that the gymnastics classes I took in college would prove useful after all these years? On to the next,” Hamza thought to himself.

 

He quickly detoured to the next vantage point. He had planned with Jack that as soon as he thinned out some droids from his positions, he would join him. He knew that each vantage point was critical. The strafing was just a few barrels, but at the end of the last two traps were more than 50 or 100 barrels.

 

In the original events, Jack was just one man trying to do everything. But now it’s a bit different with stakes even higher. I made use of that and told the dogs and Jack to trust me. To empty all the reserves the mining operation had,” Hamza reflected as he ran towards another crane that was even higher than the previous one.

 

“Every shot must count,” he declared with a voice full of determination. He needed to bolster his confidence, even if it meant speaking the words aloud to convince himself.

 

Speaking into his walkie-talkie, he said, “Observer, I’m heading your way. Let me know if you need sharpshooting support. I can make one shot if I get there early.”

 

 

Meanwhile, Observer’s battle had also begun. Her solitude was making her moody; she didn’t enjoy being alone.

 

“Damn it! I told them I wanted to be with my darling, but they wouldn’t listen,” Observer grumbled aloud. She was perched atop a pile of beetle battle droid corpses, their metallic bodies gleaming with shards of crimson rubies. The battlefield echoed with the clanking of robotic limbs and the sizzle of destroyed circuits.

A few hundred battle droids that had been trailing behind the main force began to swarm Observer’s location. They halted at the sight of the mountain of corpses, their linked minds processing the data of what had transpired.

 

At the start of the siege, the droids were crushed and pierced by massive ruby shards. As more droids fell, they began to fill the trenches. The remaining swarm marched over their fallen comrades, but as they advanced, shards from below rose in an instant and destroyed them.

 

Boom.

 

“This is hard. I’m getting overwhelmed,” Observer admitted, her hands raised as if force-choking with her telekinesis. She was holding the line by blocking and destroying the droids with massive shards of rubies, but their numbers seemed endless.

 

Suddenly, an idea sparked in her mind. She had been practicing with shards; her crimson ruby armor was made of them and held together by her telekinesis.

 

What if I use smaller shards instead of big ones? They require less power and cause less exhaustion. These crimson rubies are so sharp and sturdy; with some force, they could pierce anything she thought.

 

A notification popped up as she pondered this while barely holding the line of defense with a shard barrier.

 

 

 

[Hamza has killed 28 battle droids. Level up with this ability]

[Constant usage of ability evolved. From T1 to T3…  T mean Tier]

 

 

 

Laughter bubbled up within her as she read the message. She didn’t possess the same statistics as Hamza, but her strength grew in tandem with his.

 

“Madam Overlord Observer, it appears he has advanced a level. Your stats distribute the power evenly, making you stronger,” the system message chimed in.

 

“Ahahaha… I’m aware. My love, always my savior at the perfect moment.”

 

The memory logs ended with each battle droid being torn apart by an unseen force. As the memory catalog closed, droids swiftly converged on the mountain of fallen comrades, attempting to scale it in a desperate bid to reach Observer, who had maintained her distance from the previous battlefield.

 

Sigh.

 

With a sigh slipping from her lips, Observer leaped from the mountain of battle droid remains to the ground. Crimson ruby shards orbited her body on various axes, some spinning horizontally, others on different planes. It was as if she commanded their gravity.

 

“I’m growing impatient. My love is taking too long to arrive.”

 

[Hamza has leveled up killing X–beetle battle droid 45. Sync with lover effects apply]

 

“I can feel my power surge. Shall we put it to the test?” she mused, crushing a circuit board she had been toying with after extracting it from one of the droids. Her gaze turned icy as she stared at the shards orbiting her, their speed increasing until they whipped up a windstorm.