episode_0072

Even though it was the season where cool air brushed past concrete buildings and neon signs, cold sweat poured down my face like rain.

Seeing Hawkins’s face, filled with terror and despair, made it obvious who had stabbed me, even without looking.

“…So you were here.”

“You are strong. So, fighting you when you’re with someone else is troublesome.”

I wasn’t sure if I should be pleased to be acknowledged by someone who was roughly a Seven High, or if I should just curse them out, but Cerberus’s nerve stimulation processor activated without warning.

I gripped the sword blade that had pierced deeply through my chest and protruded, then spun, aiming an elbow at their jaw.

*Whoosh!* But when I turned, the Shapeshifter, looking just like the one I’d seen at Junk Palace, had already dropped their sword and widened the distance.

‘Severe damage to the spleen and parts of the liver. Initiating rapid healing.’

‘Good thing I left her outside.’

Even as blood endlessly welled up in my mouth, I thought my choice to have her wait outside was excellent, and I picked up the shotgun.

“Did you know I’d come? What… can you foresee the future?”

“Not quite.”

The Shapeshifter slowly walked the perimeter of the dirty room as if indulging my rambling, and I, not letting my guard down, followed, changing direction with them.

“If one of your members is kidnapped and threatened by a mere gang, Rune’s Bar’s honor would be tarnished, even if it’s a fake. Luna Anthony Taylor wouldn’t just stand by and watch; she’d respond to simultaneous, collective hostilities and also to something so trivial. Among them, an acquaintance related to you was captured, so I judged that you, the unidentified person, would come.”

For someone who looked taciturn, as if they’d give no information about their identity, their answer was surprisingly chatty.

“If it weren’t you, that masked person, or Luna Anthony Taylor who came here, I would have left immediately for somewhere else. That’s how much I care about you, so you can be proud.”

“How very full of yourself.”

*Rip!* As I pulled out the sword embedded in my body, blood gushed, gushed out.

Red blood splattered onto the floor, soaking it, and the rough breaths I exhaled carried the metallic scent of blood.

A sudden silence fell between me and the talkative assassin.

A slow, yet deadly time of probing each other’s vital points.

Though hidden by the cloak, their side and spine were exposed, and they held no separate weapon in their hands.

They were probably planning to use an internal weapon arm like a Mantis Blade or Bear Claw.

‘I absolutely have to protect Martina… and if possible, I need to get Hawkins out of harm’s way too.’

For the first exchange, I’ll use Potentialware and engage in a power struggle.

With that thought, *Crash!* The floor where I stepped shattered in a circular, spiderweb pattern, and the entire floor collapsed, shaking as if an earthquake had struck.

“Hmph..!”

“You’ve got quite the strength.”

As the floor became unstable and the Shapeshifter’s stance wobbled and became clumsy, I dashed forward, accurately flicking their sword back at their glabella and firing a directed shot at their leg.

*Bang!* Dozens of shotgun pellets flew through the air, aimed at tearing their leg apart, but their form suddenly scattered.

‘Speedware..!’

My cyber spine’s performance was superior.

With a burning sensation as if all my nerves were aflame and blood gushing from my wounds due to the rapidly accelerated blood flow, even I had entered accelerated time.

I chased after the Shapeshifter, who was running faster than the collapsing foothold to escape the range, kicking the ground with such force that even in the slowed time, I could feel the platform shake.

I instantly caught up and thrust the shotgun stock forward, but they slowly yet smoothly turned, deflecting it, and their arm pulled back.

*Crack!*

“Gah..!”

Immediately afterward, a searing impact turned my internal organs and skeleton into mush.

The culprit was the Mantis Hammer, a mace-shaped weapon loaded in their forearm and fired by spring muscles.

It was a weapon designed to imitate the punching arm of a mantis shrimp; compared to the similarly designed Mantis Blade, its combat sustainability and ease of use were inferior, but its destructive power immediately upon deployment was far superior.

I felt my ribs shatter as I was sent flying in the accelerated time.

*CRASH!*

The room’s floor collapsed, and I flew through several walls, eventually breaking through the outer wall of the abandoned apartment and soaring through the air.

“Khaaaak..!”

My body was pulled toward the ground by gravity.

I forcibly twisted my body in mid-air to change my landing point as much as possible, flinging myself onto the roof of an abandoned car.

*Thud!* The car body caved in under my weight, and the old suspension groaned before completely collapsing, but the thin metal sheet absorbed the impact, thankfully preventing me from being slammed into the hard ground and shattered.

“Ugh… Bleeeaaargh!!!”

*Splatter!* Due to my traumatized insides, I spewed out clots of blood along with the food I’d eaten that morning.

‘Stay hidden.’

‘…’

I wiped my mouth with my sleeve, glanced towards the stairs where Martina was likely hiding, and struggled to stand up.

The Shapeshifter seemed uninterested in Hawkins, who had perfectly served as a decoy, and immediately followed me, lightly leaping down from the apartment and landing.

I couldn’t believe I’d been defeated so easily, even with Cerberus operating.

“You don’t have to make such a disheartened face. I reacted barely in time myself. You handle such a monstrous thing well.”

“Fuck… ‘barely in time’ my ass. You’re practically overflowing with composure.”

“Aren’t you actually not that damaged either? It seems your condition has already fully recovered, and Healing Factor isn’t something just anyone can implant, you know.”

The wound they had stabbed me with had already stopped bleeding, and my broken ribs and crushed internal organs from taking a direct hit from the heavy Mantis Hammer were bearable and would probably recover in a few minutes.

Though I’d probably have to spend the entire day eating.

The recent standoff was merely a feeling-out process to check each other’s condition.

‘JQ’s drone has spotted them. Everyone will be here soon.’

My victory condition wasn’t to defeat the Shapeshifter in a one-on-one fight, but to hold out until backup arrived.

‘Still, against someone who’s roughly a Seven High, just once…’

It was a crazy thought, but I must have gone quite mad, as it suddenly occurred to me.

If I could defeat a Seven High by myself, wouldn’t I be able to join the Seven High?

Like Wade, who wanted to become a legend and leave his name behind, I was starting to wonder if I also harbored a desire for attention, hoping someone would recognize me.

“By the way, how did that idiot go to the gang’s trade point and cause a disturbance? From what I heard, it really seems like they were the one who caused the ruckus.”

“Curious? There’s nothing I can’t tell you.”

“Not a corporate secret, I guess?”

“You’re going to die anyway, so what’s so hard about telling the truth to someone precious?”

It was an unbelievably arrogant answer, as if they couldn’t even imagine losing, but I couldn’t refute it.

It was also true.

The Shapeshifter slowly brought a hand to their mask and clicked something as if manipulating it, and in an instant, their face had transformed into Hawkins’s.

It wasn’t just optical camouflage; their skeleton, physique, height, breathing, and even minor movements resembled Hawkins so perfectly that even I, who had just been fighting them, was confused, wondering if the Shapeshifter had always been like this.

“What the…”

“Haha! John Doe, seeing that annoyed look on your face, it seems I’ve disguised myself well, haven’t I?”

“But we were clearly keeping watch…”

“You don’t think I couldn’t fool those guys’ eyes, do you? If so, then my judgment must be completely wrong!”

“Damn it. Are you even mimicking that annoying speech pattern?”

Indeed, someone of the Shapeshifter’s caliber wouldn’t fail at a mere deception against idiotic gangsters who were completely dealt with by me in less than five minutes.

“And then…”

“Gone..!”

They vanished as if melting into thin air!

*Slash!* The next moment, my abdomen was deeply cut, and as if wearing a cloak whose pattern changed with the viewing angle, Hawkins’s face and part of his upper body suddenly floated there, flicking a blood-soaked knife.

“Huuugh!”

*Crunch!* I immediately stopped the bleeding with Berserkerware’s muscle contraction and tore off the door of the abandoned car I was holding, swinging it.

“!”

Whether surprised or startled, the Shapeshifter flinched, raised an arm, took the *Thwack!* hit, and flew nearly 10 meters away.

I immediately gave chase, ripped off a car hood and threw it, and kicked up shattered asphalt fragments with a stomping foot, sending them flying.

Landing with a breakfall amidst the sudden barrage of debris, I accelerated towards the rapidly rolling Shapeshifter, and they simultaneously accelerated too.

Knowing somehow, they dodged a knife that slashed horizontally precisely at my eye level by tilting their head, and I unleashed a front kick.

The hand already placed on their abdomen absorbed the kick’s impact like a cushion, and as their wrist rotated, my body simultaneously spun. Before falling, I kicked off with my other foot and delivered a spinning kick towards the Shapeshifter’s temple.

*Whoosh!* It was a missed kick, but as I retreated, regained my stance, lowered myself, and tackled, blades shot out from their knee.

My palm was torn by the blades that sprang out via mechanical devices, but I grabbed them and twisted their knee.

*Snap!* Their knee easily twisted 90 degrees due to my strength enhanced by Potentialware, and I took a searing blow to the jaw with a *Thwack!*, my brain flashing, instinctively pushing with both arms to gain maximum distance, and taking a backstep using the recoil.

And acceleration ended.

*Squelch!* *Squelch!*

Gushing streams of blood stained the floor.

Red blood.

While blood is typically red due to oxidized iron, and divers sometimes have their bone marrow modified to produce hemocyanin, a copper-based blood, when needed, the Shapeshifter’s was not like that.

Transparent.

Transparent blood, close to a gel, with a faint pinkish tint.

“So you’re not human after all… Are you some kind of artificial lifeform born in a megacorp’s underground lab?”

“How rude. I’m a pure human.”

The Shapeshifter, whose particles dispersed and reformed into a smooth mask, trembled as if amused.

“Pure humans don’t have *that* flowing through their bodies, do they?”

“They say 70% of a person is water, so maybe the water flowing through my body just looks like this.”

“…You bastard.”

Their form changed once more.

It was a form all too familiar to me.

Healthy brown skin and a large scar running across her face, but also ample breasts that drew the eye, exuding an undeniable femininity.

The Shapeshifter, transformed into the image of my old friend, Luna, provocatively twirled a knife.

“Can you attack this form like you just did?”

The shapeshifter was quite cowardly.