And the waves come crashing

All enemies defeated!
Boss will spawn in 60 seconds (time limit will be paused)

Enemies Remaining: 1
Time Left: 6:35 (Paused for 60 seconds)
John N.: 100
Brunhilde G.:99
Astrid G.: 1

Time seemed to stop around John as he looked at this new form of Astrid. Even if she did look different in that skimpy blue and white suit of armor and those metallic wings, John could immediately recognize her face. The facial expression, however, was nothing like Astrid; a maniacal grin and wide open eyes full of glee. The clawed hand still holding the cat bot closed around the neck and immediately crushed it, tearing the head off of its shoulders. 'Astrid' then started to giggle madly until she erupted into full-blown insane laughter.

This couldn't be the same Astrid he knew for a day now, everything he had seen about her was the exact opposite up until now. Kind, peaceful, shy... John apparently wasn't the only one that couldn't believe what was happening here, as Brun found her voice again, "A-Asti? Is that you? What happened to you?"

The mechanical angel in the sky stopped her laughter and stared down at the Valkyrie with a disinterested look, "So much has happened, sister. So much has happened in the last years. So much I can't remember, but also so much I can. And nowhere in these memories were YOU. None of you! Not mother, not father, not even our 'Oh so great god'! You had all forsaken me. The only thing that I know is to destroy; it is the purpose I have been made for."

Made? Does that mean this form of Astrid had been created? Was it even the real Astrid? But that didn't matter to John as he spoke up, "How can you know that they forsake you? Maybe they were always trying to find you? You can't think like that about your own family! And you can't just think that destroying is your only purpose..."

At that comment did Astrid look at him, disgust in her own eyes, "Because I know what that monster of a human told me. And you're not one to talk, Newman. You barely know your own destiny, your own past, your own purpose. You reek of the people creating me, the same mana. Do not lecture me. I will show you how little I care about you by destroying this little bubble you have created," and the angel took off with those words, but not before John could cast a last Observe on her:

Titania Gjoskenholm
Promethean Lv.27
<Angel of Destruction>
Relationship: -150
Sexual Interests: Gore

This doesn't make any sense! This wasn't even Astrid anymore! And what the hell was a Promethean? These were the thoughts going through John's head as he tried to comprehend what he just had seen. Also, the title of Angel of Destruction seemed to be well earned as a building close to them crumpled in on itself before violently exploding. But John didn't notice a lot of that; he was just too lost in his thoughts. Next to him, Brun seemed to be in a similar state of devastation, but where he was more confused about what Astrid, or Titania, said, Brun was hurt, clearly apparent in the tears rolling down her face. "How... how can she say that... we looked for her, all those years, we followed every trail we found... How can she say that... and what the hell does she mean that YOU reek of the people that did things to her? Are you actually something different than you let on, you fucker? I trusted you! Did my powers lie to me? Answer me!"

Brunhilde's pain about her sister quickly transformed into rage towards John, and he could do nothing but slowly step back, raising his hands and his weapon in a non-threatening way, "Hey, I have no idea what she's talking about! She said so herself; I have no idea about anything, I'm basically Jon Snow!" That joke seemed to pull Brun out of her rage.

There was no time to talk anymore though, as it apparently was time to fight against the boss, as a giant bipedal robot rose from somewhere in the depths of the flooded streets (was there some kind of underground facility down there? Or did it simply spawn?) and for the second time in the last two minutes, John's heart stopped for a second.

This time, not because of dread about his own life though, but because of the thing that was standing down there now. Standing on two legs was a bulky and giant robot, colored in camouflage, walking along the water-filled streets. It didn't have actual arms, only something that looked like a laser cannon on one shoulder and some kind of cylindrical thing on the other.

John knew what it was. He was also pretty sure that Brunhilde would know what it was as well.

Standing below them in the streets was Metal Gear Rex, a bipedal tank from the Metal Gear series. Was that thing the boss? But that was supposed to be a tank driven by something... Using Observe gave him a kind of answer:

Soo... the thing was basically a replica that changed itself? Well, with the ability to control the Service Bots that had been running around, it was no wonder that it was capable of that.

Now that John saw the stats of this thing, though, he was not sure if he could deal with that, or even if he wanted to deal with that right now, since there was still the problem with Astrid/Titania flying around and blowing up half of the city.

Speaking of which, more and more houses tumbled in on themselves and erupted into explosions, taking down the adjacent houses with them. The Master Unit seemingly did not notice that, at all, as it just strolled along the bigger streets, seemingly patroling the area, probably to find them.

The mechanized angel in the air noticed the new robot as well and deemed it a good target for a single blast of concentrated energy, ripping parts of its body right off. The robot then apparently howled in agony as it charged up its own laser, completely missing the airborne target that was already gone, but squarely hitting the glass dome and melting a big hole in it.

This thing did not make any sense in this scenario, seeing as how it would mostly bury itself with its own arsenal... Now the water was coming in even quicker, resulting in the time limit being reduced as well...

Time Left: 2:30

This was bad; they now had to kill that robot in two minutes... Hopefully, the time limit would stop afterward... The boss was at least down to 1700/2500 HP thanks to Astrid's attack. He still didn't know how to deal with her, but for now, he had to prioritize surviving first, then he could deal with the other mess! Also, in that sheet for the Boss was something that allured to him: This was the first enemy/boss that had some legendary item. John really wanted that thing, whatever it was...A Nexus already sounded like something interesting (or it could be an okay smartphone...), so, hopefully, it would be useful to him. John had an idea he wanted to try, and with a bit of timing, he could probably use it to damage the enemy.

Next to him, Brun was awestruck by the display of power her former twin sister showed. With a slight nudge to the side John broke her out of the awe while shouting over the by now deafening sounds of the waves and the robot, "We gotta take that thing down, then we can deal with your sister!" Brunhilde nodded absent-mindedly but took her sword into her hands and took off into the air.

John meanwhile used Magic Rope to pull himself onto the robot and used the momentum to Charge, Mana Charge, and Vault. However, a second before the attack, he also used Theft on the giant boss and used a point of Edge to try and make that one hit critically.

Vault applied! 2x Damage and Bonus Damage added!
Enemy Unaware! 2x Damage!
**** Area! 1.5x Damage!
Enemy Crippled! 1.5x Damage!
Physical Damage Multiplier: 9x
171 DMG + 41 DMG (Vault) + 59 DMG when pulling out + 27 DMG (Mana Charge)
Damage reduced by 200 DMG due to armor

Theft Successful! Critical Success!
Please select the item you want to steal:
-1000$
-Electric Scrap
-Essence of Machine
-Essence of Energy
-Smart Missle [50% Loot if selected]
-Nexus [No other loot drops if selected]

Nexus selected, Enemy will not drop other loot for you (First kill bonus excluded)

Nexus acquired!

Well, at least the Theft was a success, while the attack was fucking useless, and John had to admit that it infuriated him to no limit that it was. Something made the robot tumble a second after his attack, forcing John to move. Using Magic Rope didn't work because of this message:

Insufficient Mana: Do you want to use a point of Edge to refill part of your MP-pool? (Y/N)

Not having enough time to hit Yes, John fell into the waters below headfirst. Acting quickly, he swam to the nearest car that apparently was light enough and filled with enough air so that it actually floated on the surface of the water.

Now below the gigantic robot, John could see what made the thing tumble like it did: Half of the robot was missing, sliced off and still glowing with intense heat. The rubble of the falling parts rained down around John as he looked up to the carnage. Who did that? Astrid, or Brun? His question was quickly answered as the blue and white figure of Astrid gripped onto the toppling part of the robot and threw it into the water below.

That apparently killed the boss, because in an instant all the water was gone and John was back on the ground with the car, and a pop-up appeared in front of him.

Time Trial cleared! Barrier restored to initial state. Please leave the Barrier to receive your rewards

Well, now that was at least done with...

Now there was just the problem of the mechanical angel of destruction looming over him...