"You all think I'm already dead, huh!"
"Heh. Soon enough. In a moment, you’ll be joining the dead," the emo guy sneered.
"Shut it. Your look alone makes me sick!"
"You—! Keep running that mouth. I’ll end you right now!" With a flashy swing, he flung open his guitar case. A silver object glinted in his hand.
At first glance, it was a silver steel blade—but mechanical patterns etched its edge, and its hilt bristled with exposed wires and complex machinery. Beside him, the high school girl crouched, unlatching two violin cases. She pulled out a pair of massive, intimidating high-caliber pistols.
"Perfect. Time to test my new toy—the high-frequency vibroblade." He pointed the silver knife at me, then flicked a switch on its hilt.
Nothing seemed to change outwardly. But my eyes caught it: the blade vibrating at an insane, microscopic frequency—like a chainsaw cranked beyond human sight.
*A vibroblade? That’s straight out of sci-fi TV!*
"Xiao Ai, stay out of this. I’ll take him solo. Gonna slice this punk into eighteen pieces!" The emo guy stepped forward, blade raised.
"Suit yourself. Saves bullets. Money’s money," Xiao Ai replied, though her pistols never left me.
"Don’t do anything stupid! I’m calling the cops!" I yelled.
"Signal’s jammed in this zone," the suited man said flatly.
"Enough talk. *Die!*" The emo guy lunged—a single bound, silver flashing toward my skull!
*Too fast!* His earlier brawling was a joke. Three steps away one second—he was on me the next, steel kissing my forehead.
Instinct kicked in. I twisted aside just as the blade would’ve split my head like a watermelon. It grazed my shoulder, slicing skin.
"Not bad reflexes!" He grinned, pivoting mid-swing into a horizontal slash.
*No room to dodge!* Too close!
***CLANG!***
A black blur shot from behind me—*Spider Spikes* clashing against silver steel! I rolled back, out of range.
"Hmm~ This mutation feels awfully similar to Specimen #5," the homeless man mused, still leaning against my doorframe.
"Xiao Fei, stop playing. Finish him," the suited man ordered.
"Eh? Already? I was having fun," the emo guy chuckled.
*Rage boiled in my veins. They didn’t even see me as a threat.* I stood, wiping blood from my shoulder, glaring ice at them.
"I hate that look in your eyes," the emo guy spat.
His blade shot forward—lightning aimed at my chest! *Faster than before!*
*Screw it!* As his knife thrust, my *Spider Spikes* lashed out like vipers—straight for his heart!
"Ha! Trying to take me down with you?!" His blade *accelerated*—twice as fast!
*Damn it! He can speed up again?!*
"This filth won’t even touch me before I split you in half!" he roared.
*He’s right!* His reach and speed guaranteed he’d cleave me long before my spikes landed.
*Think!* He’s faster—but I don’t need to win clean. *Just survive the first hit. Don’t let him pierce my heart. Don’t let him cut me in two. Survive. Then counter.*
Madness surged as the vibroblade neared my heart.
*Nothing stops it? Then I will.*
I lunged my left hand out—grabbing the blade. The tip pierced my palm like tofu. It didn’t stop. High-frequency steel ripped up my wrist, my forearm—blood spraying my face!
My hand split clean through. But my heart still beat.
"You’re insane!" the emo guy yelled.
*Got you!* Pain didn’t slow me. Blood blinding me only fueled the frenzy. I drove *Spider Spikes* forward.
"Shit!" He tried to retreat.
"Not this time!" I roared, surging forward. My good hand clamped his knife-wrist, locking him in place.
"*DIE!*" Agony blurred my vision to red mist. But I *knew* where his heart was.
"*Your heart is mine!*" My own blood choked me. I couldn’t see—but I *felt* his heartbeat.
"NO! Xiao Ai, SHOOT!" Death at his throat, the emo guy screamed.
***BANG!***
A colossal force slammed my right shoulder backward—a bullet hole bloomed.
*Don’t fall!*
"*DIIIEEEE!*"
I charged *into* the gunshot’s recoil. But that split-second delay let him stumble back.
*Spider Spikes* thrust for his heart—*missed*. I redirected—*stabbing his left cheek, tearing across his nose, bursting his right eye!*
"AAAAAGH!" His shriek ripped the air.
I spat a mouthful of blood I’d held too long. "*Look at you now, piece of trash!*" My voice was raw. But I knew my body: blood gushing from my severed hand, my bullet-riddled shoulder... *This dizzy, fading feeling—I’d felt it days ago. Bleeding out. Brain shutting down.*
"My face! MY FACE!" He collapsed, knees hitting concrete, blood oozing between his fingers.
"*Ruined!* HAHA!" Madness owned me.
Ignoring my wounds, I charged. Leaping. Fist. Knee. *Spider Spikes*. Every weapon I had hammered toward his skull!
***BANG!***
My abdomen exploded. The bullet’s force slammed me down mid-air.
"AAAAH!" I pushed up on trembling arms.
***BANG!***
My thigh erupted. Legs buckled. I crashed face-first.
*Can’t move.* Not even a finger. Body numb. Only my bloodshot eyes burned at them.
"Is... is this guy unkillable?" Xiao Ai breathed, smoke curling from her pistol barrel.
"Check Xiao Fei’s wounds first," the suited man ordered.
"Understood." She pulled bandages and med-kits from her violin case.
"MY FACE!" The emo guy wailed like a stuck pig.
"Hmph. A mere Grade-E *Mimic* with this strength? We underestimated him," the homeless man muttered by my doorway.
"Hold still. Let me patch you," Xiao Ai said, examining his face. "Huh. Your right eye’s... pulp. Gone for good."
"WHERE IS HE?! I’LL TURN HIM TO MUD!" He shoved her away, haphazardly wrapping gauze over his ruined eye. Left hand clamped over the mess, he grabbed his vibroblade and stood.
"Tsk. Gave you top gear, and you can’t even handle a Grade-E *Mimic*. This life isn’t for you," the homeless man said.
"Shut your hole, old man! Or I’ll carve you next!"
"Heh. Youth these days..."
"WASTE! I’LL GRIND YOU TO MEAT SAUCE!" Blood-masked and limping, he stalked toward me.
I watched him come. Body frozen. Blade glinting. *This is it.*
Then—on the sixth-floor balcony railing—a slender, pale hand gripped the edge.
"**Enough.** This one’s ours." A commanding, mature female voice cut through the chaos. A tall figure flipped over the railing, landing smoothly beside me.
*Yeping.*
