Abdu twisted away from Yukio’s blade, his eyes wide with the glint of death staring back. Sweat beaded on his brow as he parried and dodged, each of Yukio’s strikes a heartbeat from ending him. The tide had turned—Abdu, the relentless hunter, now scrambled to survive, his movents frantic under Yukio’s blazing assault.
But Abdu was no easy prey. Years as an international rcenary had forged him into a weapon, his defense as sharp as his offense. Crystal blades clashed with Yukio’s radiant sword, sparks erupting in a deadly dance.
They wove through the battlefield, a blur of evade and attack, neither yielding an inch.
Then, Yukio faltered.
His strikes slowed, the glow of his blade dimming as the absorbed energy bled away. His breaths grew ragged, each swing heavier than the last.
Abdu’s lips curled into a predator’s grin. He saw his opening and pivoted, his crystal sword flashing toward Captain Agatha to stop her energy blasts from fueling Yukio.
I launched forward, heart pounding, the twins and Sane at my heels. We pushed our bodies to the limit, feet tearing into the earth, but Abdu was a streak—too fast, too precise. His blade arced for the captain’s heart.
A shockwave of desperation rippled through the air. Yukio’s eyes blazed, as if the need to protect Agatha forced his power to evolve. With a guttural cry, he thrust his sword skyward, and a do of negative energy erupted—a 100-ter radius sphere of oppressive force that swallowed the battlefield.
Inside, the air thickened, heavy and suffocating, draining strength from every muscle. Abdu staggered, his speed and power dulled, his blade faltering mid-strike. Yukio surged forward, the only one unaffected, a lone cot in the do’s grasp, intercepting Abdu’s attack with a ringing clash.
Abdu leapt back, eyes darting as he assessed the trap. Yukio stood tall, but blood trickled from his mouth, his body trembling under the strain. The do was his, but it was tearing him apart.
{
‘Interesting’, 2.0’s voice suddenly humd in my skull.
“2.0!”
‘My na’s Cipher 2.0.’
“I’m Cipher! You said you’re not !”
‘Yeah, but soone called Cipher once. That’s my na.’
He sounded distracted, like he was unraveling a puzzle.
‘Forget it.’ He continued, ‘That guy, Yukio—His do’s energy is affecting us too. Not even Hira pulled that off.’
“Is that Good or bad for us?”
‘Theoretically, I could tweak your body to shield your energy, treat the do like external pressure to...’
“...keep my power from leaking!” I finished, adrenaline spiking. “You can boost my power to take down Abdu!”
‘Don’t get cocky. Best case, a 2% bump. You’re still not touching his speed. And your friend’s burning out fast. This is it.’
A display ca forth:
[
> Consciousness Sync: 0.5%
> Internal Override: Active
Core Potential: 0.5%
Physical Attributes:
o Power: Novice – Level > 1 (≈1% base 4% buff = 5%)
o Speed: 0.0001% Light‐Speed Equivalent (≈1% base 4% buff)
o Endurance: Fragile (0.1% base 4% buff = no net change)
Extra Ability: Internal Atomic Manipulation
o Integration Level: 15% (no net change after buff)
]
The numbers stung. A 4% boost should’ve made five tis stronger, not this.
“Your math’s off. Why is there no gain in endurance or atomic manipulation?”
‘The Math is solid’, 2.0 shot back. ‘Half the boost keeps your body from collapsing. We’re not bulking muscle here—endurance is up to you. You’re the one who insisted on fighting this guy, and he’s clearly out of your league! So find a way to work with what you have. This is it! And atomic manipulation is my thing; I’m the one who patches your wounds, but it’s limited. Trust , this is good enough, considering you’re trying to cheat death.’
}
“Cipher!”
Captain Agatha’s voice cut through the chaos, sharp and urgent, snapping my focus back to the fight.
“Get your head in the ga!” she roared. “Yukio’s at his breaking point! This isn’t over—we’ve got to bring this lunatic down!”
Her gaze blazed with iron resolve, a fierce contrast to the tremor in her stance. She’d poured every ounce of energy into the fight, leaving her too drained to face Abdu head-on. Now she stood apart, a solitary figure, slowly absorbing energy, clawing back her strength, breath by ragged breath.
I flicked a signal to 2.0, and the response was instantaneous—a 4% power boost that slamd into like a tsunami. My body rebelled, a strange, crushing heaviness radiating from within. It felt as if my bones were grinding against an unseen force, the weight of a collapsing star pressing down.
The power was a living thing, wild and terrifying, pulsing through . Then 2.0’s calm voice cut through the chaos: even with this surge, my speed and strength had only tripled.
Not enough to rival Abdu.
Not yet!
My friends were a whirlwind of defiance—William’s fists crashed like thunder, Yukio’s blade glead with desperate precision, Sane darted like a shadow. And so did the twins and Dmitry.
I couldn’t just stand there. Snatching another sword from the dirt, I hurled myself back into the fray.
Abdu lood ahead, his movents jagged, off-kilter—remnants of Yukio’s negative do throwing him into chaos. My strikes weren’t as fast as his, but they landed, each clash reverberating through my arms.
William leapt in, shirtless and roaring, his fists a diminished but lethal storm. Together, we sward Abdu, blades and punches hamring from every angle. His crystal skin glead, unpierced, but the impacts shuddered through him—internal cracks forming beneath that flawless surface.
We had him pinned, victory within reach—until the do flickered out.
Yukio hit the ground, a lifeless heap, his energy spent. In an instant, Abdu’s power surged back, a predator unshackled. My Solid State tir blinked out, and the boost drained away, leaving powerless. Abdu was weakened, yes, but still a blur of deadly grace, outpacing us all.
Dmitry and the twins flanked William, their movents a synchronized dance of survival. They kept Abdu at bay, dodging his relentless strikes. One clean hit from William’s fist—that’s all it would take. But Abdu was a phantom, weaving through their onslaught with maddening speed.
I needed five minutes. Five minutes to reignite the Solid State and carve a path to victory.
“2.0,” I whispered, “shut it all out.”
The world muted, the clash of steel and shouts fading into a void.
I sank inward, chasing the faint pulse I’d felt during the boost—a hidden spark buried in my cells.
Deeper I went, guided by 2.0’s steady presence. Past the molecular, into the atomic, where energy churned in a ceaseless storm of subatomic particles. At the core of my atoms, I glimpsed it: a force, an entity, nestled in the nucleus, radiating power. 2.0 wasn’t just amplifying —he was a dam, holding back an explosion that could shred apart.
“Incrent the power by 1%,” I commanded 2.0, activating a partial Solid State.
The spark flared brighter, and I pushed harder, tracing the energy’s flow. Then it hit —I could pull energy from the world itself, like the captain and Hira no.125, drinking in the ambient life to fuel my own.
Speed, strength, all of it could surge beyond the serum’s limits.
This was it—my final gambit to topple Abdu.
A desperate, reckless plunge into uncharted power, with my team’s lives teetering on the edge. It demanded everything: complete focus, will, and a sacrifice I wasn’t sure I could make.
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