The boss's eyes drowned in an animalistic red. No reason. No strategy. Only the raw instinct of a predator.
"Kid, it's over for you."
Remedy tightened his grip on the handle. His fingers no longer trembled.
He's losing his mind too…?
Distance: 11 meters.
The boss pushed off the ground.
0.5 seconds. He vanished. Literally. A black gap in space—and suddenly, there. In front of Remedy. A descending punch, ready to drive his skull into his spine.
Caught off guard, Remedy reacted on instinct. Vertical slice. The handle split the air before him.
With 0.05-second reflexes, the boss twisted. The dodge was so tight the thread brushed his torso without cutting it. A simple shift of the hips. Fluid. Lethal.
Then the uppercut.
Remedy's jaw exploded under the impact. Lifted clean off the ground, he flew backward like a broken puppet, smashing into the ceiling with a dull sound of flesh against concrete.
[Remedy — Health: 48% → 23%]
I'm going to throw up. Pain sprayed through his skull like acid.
And already the boss leapt after him, suspended in midair, a predator's shadow closing in.
System. Injection. Feather Weight.
[BOSS LEVEL (25) > CONCEPT LEVEL (11). INJECTION IMPOSSIBLE.]
[RP REQUIRED TO RAISE CONCEPT TO LEVEL 25: 245,000 RP.]
[CURRENT RP: 209,000. INSUFFICIENT.]
Damn it. I used too much RP.
The bullets stopped. The grenades suspended.
Regret pierced his mind like an arrow.
Then—
He changed tactics. As he fell, head downward, he charged a slice—not toward the boss—but toward himself.
[EARTH'S GRAVITY LINKED TO HOST'S CONCEPT.]
If I can't freeze you… I can freeze myself.
His fall stopped instantly. He floated, suspended three meters above the ground.
The boss, committed to his charge, saw his prey suddenly immobilize. His strike passed a few centimeters below where Remedy's skull should have been.
He got me. Too late to adjust.
The handle cut diagonally through his torso, from sternum to clavicle. A surgical, perfectly clean slice.
[Baraka Leader — Health: 70% → 20%]
Blood erupted in a violent spray. The boss crashed down, landing seated, his single hand desperately pressed against his torn throat, trying to contain the crimson flood spilling between his fingers.
[DING! GRAVITY UNLINKED.]
Remedy landed before him, the handle pointed at his throat.
"It's over. Surrender."
The boss lifted his eyes. The animal red remained—but something else flickered within. Amusement. Almost pride.
Surrender? For a man like him, with the enemies he had accumulated, prison would be a slow and humiliating death. And the Sullen Guild…
He stood.
No defense. No dodge. He lunged forward directly onto the blade.
Remedy flinched. His arm moved on its own—pure reflex. The handle passed through the boss's neck.
The head tilted back, then rolled across the floor, stopping against a piece of broken concrete. The lips of the corpse were still frozen in that strange, almost serene smile.
The body collapsed.
Remedy remained still. The hand holding the handle trembled. Not slightly. Violently. As if every fiber of his being rejected what he had just done.
He wiped the blood that had splashed onto his lips with the back of his hand. Mechanical.
A breath. Slow. Deep.
His eyes lit up.
It wasn't a glow—it was brilliance. Green. Vivid. Almost liquid. An intensity that felt nothing like human.
Seraphina, one eye barely open in her feigned unconsciousness, saw that light.
Her body reacted before her mind. Her eyelids slammed shut on pure survival instinct, so violently that sparks danced behind her eyes.
I'm going to die.
The thought cut through her soul like a scythe.
His eyes? I'm not afraid. But my body reacted on its own?
It wasn't fear. It was something more primal. A visceral response to something that should not be looked at. A bottomless abyss. The threshold of the void.
Remedy walked toward her, the handle dangling from his arm, his green pupils still incandescent.
Seraphina felt her ribcage tighten.
---
Two black cars sped through the city streets, sirens off but urgency palpable in every sharp turn.
The manager sat in the passenger seat, nails digging into the armrest.
"Hurry up! Drive faster!"
"Y-Yes, boss!"
The driver was drenched in sweat, hands trembling on the wheel.
Not fast enough. Not nearly. Impatience twisted in her stomach. Her feet tapped against the floor in a nervous rhythm.
Young lady…
Then an idea. A single one.
"Pull over."
"What?"
"Pull over immediately."
The driver obeyed, swerving sharply. The car stopped violently along the curb.
The manager opened her door before the vehicle had fully halted.
"I'll go on foot. It'll be faster."
"But the law forbids—"
"There are no buts. Contact headquarters. Inform them of my decision. They'll understand."
"Y-Yes, boss!"
She glanced at the Map. Not even a full second. Just an instant. The route engraved itself into her memory like a military supercomputer.
Then she vanished.
The shockwave of her departure nearly tore the door from its hinges. Thrown back by the gust, the driver saw her cross the street like a comet.
250 km/h.
Inside a speeding car, a child pressed his nose to the window.
"Honey, slow down."
"Mom, look! That lady runs really fast!"
"What lady…?"
The mother turned. Her eyes widened.
270 km/h.
The manager weaved between vehicles, her silhouette reduced to a streak. A hurried phantom.
Young lady… stay safe. Wait for me. I'm coming.
---
On the rooftop, the clone had witnessed the entire fight.
Her ice-cold eyes, devoid of warmth, had recorded every movement, every skill, every weakness.
Analysis complete. Strategy established.
She disappeared.
No delay. No transition. A void—and suddenly, there.
Beside Remedy. Hand raised above his head, fingers already rimmed with frost.
"Wha—?"
A layer of ice engulfed his body.
Then a second. A third.
If she wants to capture him, she must not give him time to activate his abilities.
Fourth layer—
No.
A sword cut through the air, targeting not the clone—but her hand. The trajectory was perfect, preemptive, as if Seraphina had known exactly when and where she would strike.
The attack forced her to withdraw. She leapt back, breaking the imprisonment cycle.
At the same instant, the ice around Remedy shattered. Cut from the outside without ever touching him.
He dropped to his knees, coughing, lungs burning from the cold.
"What… were you… what—?"
"I'll explain later."
Seraphina's voice was perfectly calm. Glacial. Her eyes never left the clone.
"For now, stay focused. Or we'll die."
Remedy followed her gaze.
He saw the clone.
And everything—thoughts, questions, pain, the blood on his lips—everything vanished.
There was only that silhouette. That presence.
The aura emanating from her wasn't merely threatening. It was crushing. As if the air itself refused to approach her. As if the space around her were an anomaly—an error in the fabric of reality.
Remedy stood. His combat stance was flawless. Automatic. His body understood before his mind did.
Seraphina drove a syringe into his arm. The liquid entered his bloodstream, and his body shone.
[Health: 23% → 100%]
"Let's try to last one minute," she said.
For the first time, her voice revealed something.
Fear.
Last one minute? We should first try to survive the first second.
The clone stood before them. Motionless. Perfect. Her gaze betrayed nothing—no haste, no anger, no pleasure. Only absolute certainty.
She was ready.
She would hand each of them a ticket.
A one-way ticket to death.
Chapter 29 — End.