The trio got out of the car and headed towards the gates of the workshop. Nervousness was dripping off of Nicole's face. She, America's strongest warrior, was feeling so agitated just by the thought of meeting her brother.

Nina wrapped her arm around Nicole. She felt the same way. Both of them knew about his anger, the anger which drove him to confront an entire armada of lizardmen all by himself. unlike Nicole, Nina was more worried about her boyfriend's well-being than the resentment he must've been feeling.

​​

"Talos here." Talos received a call from someone just as they were about to enter the workshop, "I see. No, hold them there. I'm on my way."

He ended the call and continued, "I'm sorry Lady Nina, Lady Nicole. An emergency came up which requires my immediate attention. You see the ogres we have been keeping captive have caused a scene so I'll have to leave now. But please go inside, Master would be there soon."

"Wait wait wait, you have been keeping ogres as captives? What was Arnold even thinking!?" Nina immediately snapped back.

"The rules of the wastelands are much different than the ones on the other side. Survival is the only thing that matters here. Both for humans as well as the monsters." Saying that Talos jumped into the Humvee wasn't zoomed towards the prison cells where the ogres were being kept. Leaving Nicole and Nina behind in a trail of dust.

"Well he has a point... anyways let's go in." Nina pushed the doors and stepped in. Not expecting to get attacked.

The moment she stepped inside, the sentry's AI detected her presence and executed the action like it was supposed to. Eliminate the target.

"Target confirmed. Initializing attack to eliminate the threat."

All of a sudden, the barrels of the sentry started rotating, faster than before. Soon the workshop was lit up by the barrage of bullets.

"Oh, Shit!" Nina pushed Nicole backwards and jumped sideways to dodge the bullets. Unfortunately, she got hit in the abdomen.

The bullet brought hellish pain with it. The bullet was stuck in her guts. Her blood was draining all over her shirt, running warm through her battle-hardened skin. Her stomach lurched with pain.

"GODDAMMIT! ARRGH!!!" Nina gritted her teeth so hard she could even shatter a diamond in between them.

The bullet wound looked nothing like one would have expected from frequently watching the dramas and TV shows. Instead of a neat reddened hole, it was oozing with dark congealing blood and the putrid smell was enough to initiate a gag reflex. She raised her hand to her face and wiped one sweat off her head.

The entry wound was small the exit was a gaping mess as if he'd been hit with two different kinds of weapon at once. There was the usual dark red hole that oozed thickly, but also hundreds of different tiny wounds – like shrapnel. She had been hit by a fifty calibre bullet. It wasn't an ordinary bullet either. It was Arnold's special fiery bullets which exploded upon contact with someone or something. Even the lizardman's thick skin was no match for this bullet, Nina's skin was... more delicate than that.

She had taken cover under a workbench but it was already filled with holes because of Arnold's early experiments. The Sentry didn't stop shooting either. A concentrated barrage of bullets rained upon her. The concrete wall in front of her was shattered into bits and pieces.

"I swear I'm gonna kill that idiot!" She roared in pain and just then the doors of the workshop turned into dust.

Nicole entered the room, gave a glance over her friend. Her eyes filled with rage.

"How. Dare. YOU!" Nicole screamed in rage and at that moment everything around her turned into dust.

The forge, the workbenches, everything in that area was destroyed in an instant. The sentry immediately recognized the new threat and targeted Nicole. But Nicole wasn't as weak as Nina. The bullets disintegrated into fine powder upon reaching a certain distance from her. She was about to destroy the sentry when someone kicked it over and destroyed it in a few punches.

"What the hell happened here!?" Arnold asked Nicole after confirming that the sentry was destroyed for good.

"..."

Nicole didn't reply so Arnold didn't force her. He looked around the wrecked workshop. It was nearly empty, if not for a few obsolete pieces of destroyed equipment that laid here and there. Just as it had been outside, the inside looked like something out of a movie's apocalyptic scene. The strong walls of the workshop had turned into something as useless as the equipment they now housed. Beams stretched high overhead and sunlight shone brightly through cracks in the ceiling. The workshop in which Arnold had made so many memories was utterly destroyed in a matter of a few seconds.

"Arggh..." Nina groaned in pain. She tried to pull herself up but couldn't. She had lost too much blood.

"NINA!" Arnold rushed towards her, only to be stopped by Nicole.

"Don't you dare go near her!" Nicole pushed him back.

Arnold was confused and shocked by his sister's behaviour, but before he could say or do anything Nicole pointed her arms in his direction.

"You wanted to kill me, didn't you?" Nicole mumbled, "You did this all because I'm a paladin too, didn't you?"

"I don't give a crap about you being a paladin or not. Now get out of the way!" He tried to push him aside but...

___

passive skill : [Devil's Advocate] has been activated.

You're immune to true damage-causing abilities.

You're immune to Shadow Paladin's [Ghoul's Stare] attack.

___

"... are you kidding me?" Arnold stared at the woman who was supposed to be his sister, "Did you just try to kill me?"

"It... didn't work... how is it even possible!" Nicole stared at him as if she had seen a ghost.

"Whatever, I don't have the time to deal with you or your childish delusions." Arnold pushed her aside and went ahead to check on Nina, "This is bad."