rek instinctively stepped back, his boots scraping against the pavent. As a support-type, survival took precedence, charging in recklessly was a death sentence, especially against an enemy that had yet to fully reveal itself.
Clang!
Yuki’s blade intercepted the blur, halting its advance mid-strike. But the impact was brutal. She was flung past rek like a tossed doll, her body rolling and clattering across the ground in a storm of ringing tal.
rek squinted ahead, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.
The figure now stood still, its form pale and sickly, eyes a lifeless white that bore into him with inhuman focus. Its arms hung unnaturally low, but from the elbows down, they had morphed into blade-like extensions. Not held weapons, fused. Steel-grey, glistening, and honed to kill.
He didn’t need a prompt. His instincts scread it.
This wasn’t just another mindless shambler. This was sothing else. A new breed.
A Type Two.
Without hesitation, rek thrust out his hand and pushed forward with his will, telekinesis erupting from his mind. The invisible force slamd into the creature, aiming to hurl it back.
But the zombie stabbed its blade-arms into the earth, anchoring itself with brutal efficiency. The push halted.
Then pain lanced through rek’s skull, a sharp, jarring signal that his ntal reserves were reaching their limit. And that split-second of weakness was all the creature needed.
It vanished in a blur.
Its blades glead under the bright sky, reflections flashing in rek’s wide, golden eyes as the monster closed the distance.
Was this the end?
No.
His will erupted like lightning. He allowed himself to fall backward, a desperate gamble, and just in ti.
The blades sliced through the air where his head had been, narrowly missing him. He could feel the kiss of death pass over his face.
The mont he hit the ground, his Vultures closed in, three 115 weighing masses of steel, locking in from all sides like a triad of death.
But the Type Two reacted impossibly fast.
It leapt—straight up—clearing over three ters like its legs were forged from coiled springs.
rek, scrambling backward, caught sight of its descent in his peripheral vision. The creature was coming straight down on top of him like a falling guillotine.
His eyes flared with golden light.
With a powerful sweep of his arm, he launched himself sideways and also telekinetically hurling the zombies toward his Vultures.
One of them t the descending monster with a perfect swing, its blade carving clean through one of the zombie’s arms.
The bladed limb fell to the ground, twitching.
rek exhaled sharply. A hit. Finally.
But his relief was premature.
The creature hissed—an unnatural, feral sound. Then it twisted mid-air, avoiding the follow-up strikes in a streak of motion. In the blink of an eye, it bisected the Vulture that had disard it, then plunged its remaining blade-arm through the chest of another.
The final Vulture retaliated, slashing downward.
The Type Two tilted at the last instant, taking the blow to its thigh. Flesh and muscle tore free in a spray of dark blood.
But it didn’t stop there.
The impaled Vulture locked its hands around the blade embedded in its chest. Its eye-orbs flared brighter than ever and with a growl of resistance, it drove its own sword into the zombie’s abdon, dragging it upward through sinew and bone.
Blood sprayed in thick arcs.
Still, the Type Two stood.
Yuki reappeared at rek’s side, blade drawn but she didn’t engage. That alone said everything.
The zombie moved again, carving through the final two Vultures in a single ruthless motion. Their heads dropped to the earth, severed cleanly.
rek stared in disbelief.
Was this... another Stage-1?
A highblood zombie. Built for speed.
And the fact that Yuki, his most agile and daring fighter—stood by his side instead of lunging forward to strike, chilled him to the core.
The Type Two vanished once more, its trajectory now clear.
Fred and Tevin.
rek’s golden eyes widened to their limit. "Guys—run!" he shouted.
But it was too late.
Fred barely turned before the creature was there—right in front of him, face-to-face. The foul stench of rot and fresh blood washed over him like a tidal wave.
He froze.
Tevin acted without thinking.
He shoved Fred aside, just as the blade swept horizontally.
It carved through his bone armor with little resistance, biting deep into his abdon. Blood gushed in a violent stream, soaking his top as he stumbled back, gasping.
rek’s heart slamd against his ribs.
Felicity was already blinking forward, but she wouldn’t make it in ti.
Veins bulged in his neck as he reached deep into his reserves. He extended his hand, willing his skill to obey, grabbing the zombie telekinetically and pulling with everything he had.
But it fought back.
The creature’s energy was dense, defiant—its very essence resisting his command. Skills faltered against creatures of higher stage, especially controlling ones like telekinesis . It was like trying to move a boulder with a rope made of smoke.
In truth, rek shouldn’t have been able to do anything. He was stage-less. His power wasn’t enough.
He wished his skill had evolved but a Stage-2 skill in the hands of soone like him?
It was Impossible.
But he didn’t care.
He would not watch his friend die. Not like this. Not to a walking corpse.
And for a heartbeat, he succeeded, at the cost of a splitting pain that seed as if his head was carved through by a cold knife.
The zombie staggered back a step, its montum dulled just long enough.
Felicity arrived in a flash of white light, her sword already in motion.
Steel t steel.
Her blade clashed with the Type Two in a brilliant eruption of sparks, the sound sharp and violent as it echoed across the battlefield.
The Felicity facing the zombie now was not the one rek had known. Her long bob of blonde hair, which once gently caressed her shoulders, had transford into a striking snow-white cascade. The cap that usually hid her face was gone, swept away by the extre speed of her movents, revealing long lashes that had also turned pure white.
Her face, still breathtakingly beautiful, had shifted into sothing cold and unyielding, like a goddess carved from glacier ice. A sharp, terrifying aura radiated from her, chilling the very air around her.
Without warning, she vanished from sight, reappearing instantly at the zombie’s right side. The creature reacted with frightening swiftness, slashing through an afterimage she left behind. But Felicity had already shifted to its left, leaving a deep, jagged cut across its side.
In the next heartbeat, she struck again, another deep slash at its leg, then one at the back, and another at the opposite leg. Like an unpredictable phantom and a storm of blades, she danced around the zombie, carving open multiple wounds while expertly evading its deadly strikes.
"Got you!" she called out sharply, her eyes narrowing to lethal points as she appeared directly above it, twin swords raised high.
Then, in an instant, her hair, her eyes, and the fierce aura that surrounded her all reverted back to their normal state.
All the strength drained from her form.
And in that mont, just as the zombie’s blade lunged to pierce through her, poised to end it all—
A gunshot rang out sharply.
Bang!
Reviews
All reviews (0)