Aoyama #2 pulled at his hair as if it were putty.
The strand stretched between his fingers before hardening into a bullet.
Click.
He loaded it into the rifle protruding from his arm.
Carl froze for a moment.
The kid had switched from energy attacks to physical ammunition.
Pew!
The bullet sliced through the air.
Carl jerked sideways, his mechanical limbs throwing his body out of the line of fire.
[(Quirk: Rifle + Hair Bullets (Emitter-Type) + Mana Amplification (Beginner))]
The rifle suddenly glowed.
Bang!
A concentrated beam of blue mana erupted from the barrel, streaking directly toward Carl's remaining legs.
Carl reacted instantly.
One of his damaged tentacles rose.
HUUUUUUM—!!!
A Ghost Ray burst from the broken limb, colliding with the mana beam.
The two attacks detonated against each other and vanished.
"That move is going to be a problem," Aoyama #2 muttered as he charged forward.
Carl tore a floor tile free and hurled it at him.
"I could say the same about all your tricks."
The tile spun through the air.
Aoyama calmly pulled another strand of hair and reloaded.
Shatter!
The projectile exploded into fragments as he shot it apart.
Carl immediately ripped up another tile.
Bang!
Another mana beam fired.
The slab disintegrated on impact, but the attack continued through the debris and grazed one of Carl's tentacles.
Metal peeled apart.
Wires sparked.
"Shit!"
Carl jumped backward.
He hurled two more chunks of flooring while rapidly analyzing the pattern.
Physical bullet.
Then mana beam.
Every shot followed the same sequence.
Zzzzt—crrrk...
The damaged limb twitched as its joints began malfunctioning.
Did he hit something important?
Carl gritted his teeth.
He raised the injured tentacle and poured ghost energy into it.
A Ghost Ray erupted outward, forcing Aoyama #2 to halt his advance.
Then Carl glanced toward the sealed window.
Blocked.
His gaze shifted toward the opposite side of the apartment.
An escape route.
Without hesitation, he charged.
CRACK!!!
His heavy drone body smashed through the living room wall and into a bedroom.
He didn't stop.
Another turn.
Another impact.
CRASH!
The exterior wall exploded apart.
SWOOOSH!
Carl plummeted from the third floor like a wrecking ball.
BOOM!
The drone slammed into the ground below, sending cracks through the pavement.
He pushed himself upright immediately.
"Where did they go?!"
His optics scanned the area frantically.
"They couldn't have gotten far."
"I need to find that woman!"
He had barely taken a step when a familiar voice shouted from above.
"Where do you think you're going?!"
"I'm not done with you yet!"
Carl looked up.
Three figures leapt from the shattered apartment.
"This kid..."
His patience finally snapped.
"CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?!"
The clones descended rapidly.
Aoyama #3 created a solid blue platform beneath them as they fell directly toward Carl.
At the same time, Aoyama #1 rolled up his sleeves.
Black-and-white biomass surged over his arm.
Anti-Venom.
BOOOOOM!!
The symbiote-coated fist struck the platform at the exact moment it collided with Carl's drone.
The impact shattered the construct and punched straight through the Ock-drone's outer shell.
Metal buckled inward.
Armor plating tore apart.
Aoyama's arm plunged deep into the machine.
Then his fingers found something.
The machinery embedded around Carl's spectral head.
"AAAHHHHHHHH!!"
Carl screamed.
For the first time, someone had touched the devices anchoring him to the drone.
Aoyama grunted as he pulled.
The ectoplasmic restraints groaned.
"LET GO OF ME!!"
Carl unleashed everything.
A tidal wave of ghost energy erupted from his body.
The explosion blasted outward in all directions.
BOOOOOOOM!!!
Windows shattered.
Walls cracked.
The lower levels of the parking structure collapsed.
The ground shook violently.
The shockwave hurled Aoyama and his clones away.
Aoyama gritted his teeth as two of the clones dispersed.
Their clone-light flooded back into him.
The unfamiliar backlash made his head pound.
Far below, smoke and debris drifted through the air.
Carl slowly rose from the crater.
But something had changed.
The top half of the Ock-drone had been ripped apart.
Twisted metal hung from the damaged frame.
Exposed wiring sparked.
And for the first time—
Carl himself became visible.
Not just a floating head.
His spectral torso emerged from the machine.
One ectoplasmic arm extended from his body.
Ghostly green flames flowed upward from his head like burning hair.
His lower half remained fused to the drone's remaining legs.
Ghost and machine.
Merged into a single damaged monstrosity.
Above him, Aoyama fired a strand of webbing from the Anti-Venom glove.
The line attached to a nearby beam.
He pulled himself higher and stared down at Carl.
The battle had just entered its second phase.