Chương 75: 74: The False End

Sirens began wailing in the distance, still minutes away. Zeinai's HUD marked dozens of emergency vehicles converging on the district. None would arrive before the battle ended. The creature was getting stronger. His HUD flooded with frantic updates. STRENGTH: RAPIDLY ESCALATING. VELOCITY: MACH 52, 000 AND RISING. KINETIC OUTPUT PER STRIKE: 750 KILOTONS. EQUIVALENCY: FIFTY ATOMIC BOMBS AT POINT-BLANK RANGE. PER STRIKE. Zeinai's jaw tightened behind his mask. One clean hit was all it needed.

The poison only had to disrupt his Apis defenses for an instant, and he'd be gone. It was like firing an indestructible needle through a shield built to withstand natural disasters. And it was still climbing. PROJECTED CEILING: UNKNOWN. CONTINUOUS ADAPTATION DETECTED. It was evolving. They had to end this now. Another device left his hand, a small green triangular emitter. A disruptor. It didn't fly.

It teleported onto the creature's torso, latched on like a leech, and flooded its musculature with conflicting frequencies that locked its nervous system. A precision device tuned to the creature's bioelectric signature. It tried to lift an arm; a leg spasmed instead. Tried to roar; its diaphragm locked, reducing the sound to a strangled wheeze. Proprioception collapsed into chaos. Up became down. Forward became back. Attack blurred into retreat. The creature screamed, fighting through the paralysis.

Zeinai blurred forward. He swung. It blocked. It shouldn't have. The disruptor still clung to its torso, scrambling the electrochemical language that turned thought into motion. Its motor cortex screamed. Its sense of balance dissolved into a spinning where am I? Yet its arm moved. How? His HUD answered first. TARGET ADAPTATION: 0. 000003s DISRUPTOR EFFECTIVENESS: 87% → 12% Between the disruptor's first pulse and Zeinai closing the distance, the creature had already adapted.

Its nervous system rewrote itself in real time, rerouting blocked signals through new pathways until its body obeyed again. A true abomination. The arm shattered...... and regenerated instantly. Its remaining arms opened, the mantis-like scythes unfolding with a metallic shriek before carving toward him in intersecting slashes. Zeinai slipped through them with tiny shifts of his body, his eyes tracking each blade independently. Years as a Stepper had left microscopic traces of Apis in his bloodstream.

He could perceive attacks approaching lightspeed despite being nowhere near that fast himself. The centipede wasn't even close. Its rhythm suddenly changed. As though it sensed what he was doing, the scythes accelerated, carving through the air dozens of times faster. Zeinai's eyes narrowed. Every dodge forced it to adapt. Every exchange pushed its body harder. Its speed kept climbing, reaching for his reaction time. Sphinx could've dodged that first punch.

Ninety-nine completed missions placed her reactions close to his. She'd taken the hit on purpose, letting the rippler absorb most of it instead of feeding the creature another leap in speed. Smart. Smarter than him. He learned instantly.... Every reserve of Apis rerouted to defense. Trajectories. Distances. Impact vectors. Calculated. Rain hissed through the poisoned air, each drop dissolving before it reached the crater.

Steam curled from the streets as black clouds churned overhead, thunder rolling across the ruined skyline. A small gravity mine slipped from his hand the instant he folded behind crossed forearms. BLAM! The creature's strike launched him backward as the device detonated beneath it. The street collapsed into a crater. Gravity surged. Ten times. One hundred. Two hundred. The creature buckled, every limb trembling as it fought to rise. Zeinai had personally recalibrated the device long ago.

Instead of jumping straight to a billion times gravity and destroying itself, it climbed steadily, forcing anything trapped inside to endure every stage. He rolled to his feet, recalibrating his bat to maximum output. Five hundred. A thousand. Cracks spread across the creature's crimson hide as its body flattened into the crater. Its muscles convulsed, rewriting themselves once again. It stood. Ten thousand times gravity crushed it back into the earth. Bones splintered. Flesh burst.

Rain exploded into mist the instant it struck the invisible field. Seconds later, the abomination regenerated and forced itself upright again, its four eyes burning with even greater fury. Zeinai deactivated the field. The crushing pressure vanished. The creature lunged to destroy the device. It blinked out of existence, recalled to his belt before its claws could reach it. His plan was already in motion.... It was interrupted. Sphinx appeared from nowhere.

Rain streamed over her frame as she hurtled in from the side, body perfectly horizontal as though she'd been fired from a cannon. THOOM. Both boots crashed into the side of the creature's head, snapping its neck violently sideways. It lashed out instantly, claws carving through where she should've been. She was already gone. A ripple swallowed her, and she reappeared beside Zeinai, yanking him free before the creature's arms could close again.

Using the momentum, Zeinai pivoted, caught her by the arm, and hurled her straight back at it. She grinned beneath her mask. Her hands flowed into serpentine strikes, fingers whipping forward with impossible precision. Both claws pierced its eyes. The creature shrieked. Scythes, claws and hooked arms blurred into a crimson storm, carving through buildings, reducing storefronts to splinters, shearing vehicles clean in half and dicing everything caught within reach into ribbons. It killed them. Again. Again. Again.

The figures it struck dissolved into shimmering light.

"Holograms," Sphinx laughed from somewhere else. BOOM. BOOM. Two more drones slammed into the creature, disorienting it just enough for its mind to stutter. It tried to reach its true speed anyway - less running than being fired from a cannon while blind. It smashed through a building before staggering back to its feet. It dropped into a crouch, convulsing as its shell split apart. Jagged plates peeled away, revealing thicker crimson armor beneath. Something rolled beneath it. The absorber.

Swollen with the energy it had stolen earlier. WHUMP! It detonated point-blank. Poison and compressed force erupted together, vaporizing everything within a hundred meters. Buildings vanished. Streets disappeared. The blast launched the creature a mile into the sky before gravity dragged it back down. A drone intercepted, slamming into its side and knocking it away from a nearby home. BOOM!

It crashed into the commercial district across the boulevard, tearing through office buildings before disappearing between towering high-rises. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. It stood. And ran. Every stride multiplied its speed. Space warped around its body as it accelerated toward light speed, its nervous system evolving with every heartbeat until its reactions surpassed light itself. It didn't get far. CRUNCH. SHINK. They struck together.

Zeinai burst from an invisible wormhole, his bat crushing into its skull as Sphinx blinked through rippling air, her blades cleaving it in half. It could've dodged. They never gave it the chance. Its reactions had reached 1, 575 times light speed. A massive gap between them. They answered by burning Apis. Dream mist flooded their suits, forcing reality harder against the poison's rigid field. Their attacks crossed the gap at over 2, 000 times light speed.

Zeinai burned another ten percent of his reserves, dropping to fifty. Sphinx spent thirty, leaving herself with twenty-seven. Nanites consumed the corpse. One last lump of flesh burst free, trying to escape. A yellow flash burst from Sphinx's wrist. Nothing remained. Silence settled over the ruined street. Zeinai glanced at her wrist.

"You have blasters? Only our Talons carry those." Sphinx grunted, staggering as she clutched her side.

"Shut the hell up. I'm already pissed I can't kick your ass anymore." With a sharp flick of both wrists, her twin swords folded in on themselves. Countless nanites collapsed inward until each blade had become nothing more than a compact, blocky metallic rod. She clipped them neatly onto her utility belt before reaching for a glowing syringe. Poison seeped through the crack in her suit. She drove the syringe into the wound. The serum forced the poisoned cells into temporary stasis. It wouldn't cure the venom.

Only buy her time. Mission One Hundred — Celebration Light rain continued to fall, hissing against the poisoned streets. Sphinx looked at him through her jade lenses, her posture noticeably looser.

"Not bad," she said.

"For a New Zealand Magpie. Antarctica's still better." She suddenly pumped both fists into the air.

"Yes!" She spun once, kicked a puddle, pointed both fingers at the sky, then broke into a ridiculous little victory dance, swaying her shoulders and bouncing from foot to foot.

"One hundred missions!" she shouted.

"Triple digits, baby!" She jabbed a finger at Zeinai.

"Dance." He stared at her.

"…No."

"Oh, come on."

"I don't dance."

"That sounds miserable." Before he could step away, she grabbed both his hands and started waving his arms around for him.

"Woo! We survived! Mission one hundred! Celebrate!" He remained completely expressionless while she bounced him from side to side like an unwilling puppet. After several seconds, she sighed, let go and folded her arms.

"You're hopeless."

"I've been told that." She snorted, the excitement finally settling as the rain continued to fall around them. A mischievous gleam lit up her eyes behind the jade lenses.

"Now I can order Steppers around," she said, rubbing her palms together.

"And do as I, the mighty Sphinx, pleases. Hehehe." Zeinai's expression didn't change.

"Get access to restricted areas," she continued, practically vibrating with glee.

"Pull rank on anyone below me. Make them bring me snacks. Force them to address me properly." She drew herself up to her full height and attempted an imperious tone.

"I am Sphinx. Fear me." Zeinai stared at her for a long moment.

"…People like you shouldn't be allowed to have power." She leaned in, her grin turning predatory.

"Well," she said sweetly, "I do." She patted herself on the backside.

"Kiss my ass." She pressed a switch on her gauntlet. A glowing Apis sphere slid free from her suit, and she tossed it to him.

"Merge it with yours. It'll help clear the poison." Zeinai caught it.

"That's... nice."

"Don't get sentimental." She snorted.

"I just wanted a clean one hundred missions, not a city full of corpses ruining it." She unlatched her helmet and took it off. Bouncy brown curls spilled onto her shoulders. Tan skin, hazel-brown eyes, and a spray of freckles gave her a face that looked almost too innocent for someone who collected teeth. A tiny gap between her front teeth only strengthened the illusion, while a permanently mischievous arch to her brows suggested she was always one bad idea away from acting on it.

A black scorpion tattoo curled up the side of her neck, and mismatched, extravagantly expensive earrings hung from each ear as though she'd stolen them from two different people. Blue-green Apis mist drifted from the seams of her suit, wrapping around her like a living haze as it pushed back the poison saturating the air. Zeinai removed his own helmet. Orange-yellow Apis rolled from his armour in slow waves, surrounding him in a shimmering veil that held the venom at bay. She blinked.

"You've got a fat head. You look like a rhino." A grin spread across her face.

"Handsome, though." Zeinai snorted.

"You've got nice teeth."

"Of course." She nodded proudly.

"I always wanted to be a dentist, so I took proper care of them." He looked at her for another moment.

"…You also look mischievous."

"I am."

"I don't think I'd trust you with... well... anything." She smiled even wider.

"Well." She gave a tiny shrug.

"You shouldn't." Zeinai's eyes drifted to the black scorpion curling up the side of her neck.

"You got more?" She smirked.

"Plenty." Turning around, she tapped a control on her wrist. The rear plating of her Stepper suit split apart with a mechanical hiss, folding outward to expose her back. A chaotic patchwork of tattoos stretched across her skin. A cracked walnut. A cigarette burned down to the filter. Three circling vultures. Random little pieces with no obvious connection, as though she'd collected them on impulse whenever an idea amused her. Zeinai stared.

"That's an odd collection."

"I know." She sounded far too pleased with herself. Only then did he realize something else. She wore the combat suit against bare skin.

"You're not wearing an undershirt." She glanced over her shoulder.

"Nope."

"That's against regulation."

"So?" He blinked. She shrugged without the slightest embarrassment.

"I don't like wearing one."

"You're a strange woman."

"I've been called worse." Her grin widened.

"Besides, I already told you I wanted to be a dentist. You really expected me to be normal?" Zeinai stared. She grinned, clicked the suit shut again, then kicked a pebble down the road. Before he could answer, she stood on her tiptoes and ruffled his short hair.

"Think short hair would suit me?" He shrugged. She jabbed him with an elbow.

"You're supposed to say yes. Learn how to talk to women."

"…Yes?" She scoffed.

"Now it sounds like I forced you. I don't trust your opinion anymore." She glanced toward the ruined city.

"How many people do you think died?" Zeinai frowned.

"I don't want to think about it. The shockwaves alone could've killed thousands." Sphinx snorted.

"Thousands?" A grin spread across her face.

"Way more." Zeinai looked away. — The rain continued to fall, soft enough to blur the ruined street without drowning out their voices. Sphinx stretched with a groan, then glanced sideways at him.

"So... what's your anthem?" Zeinai looked at her.

"Every faction has one."

"I know."

"Well?" He sighed, then recited it from memory.

"At the altar, shadows fall, Listen for the Magpie's call. Where calamity stains the sky, There our silver feathers lie. Build the nest in ruin's wake, Take what's left for Crook's own sake. Mercy feeds the weak to rest, Only thieves deserve the best. Every heartbeat, every breath, Every fortune ends in death. Gold and kingdoms, blood and all, Everything answers the call. When the silence fills the air, Know the Magpies have been there. Hide or flee, it matters less - None who oppose shall know rest."

Sphinx stared for a second.

"…That's it?" He looked at her.

"It's our anthem."

"That's weak."

"You asked." She scoffed, then stood a little straighter.

"Listen to a real one." Her voice dropped into something almost ceremonial.

"In the ice, the corpse lies still, Magpies hunt with patient will. Frozen feathers, sharpened soul, Doctrine is our only goal. Beware the blue blur in the cold, Uphold the words that Crook foretold. Steal the breath, preserve the bone, Every trophy carved in stone. Snow remembers every scream, Life dissolves like winter's dream. Leave no witness, spare no trace, Only silence fills their place. When the blizzard starts to sing, Death has grown another wing.

Kneel before the endless frost - All who cross us shall be lost." Silence lingered beneath the steady rain.

"That sounds dark," Zeinai said.

"No shit, dummy." She snorted.

"What'd you think we were? Some Santa Claus organization?"

"You don't have to be like this." She shot him a look.

"Oh, don't start."

"I'm serious."

"I'm not." She jabbed a finger into his chest.

"I want to be. I like my job. I like collecting teeth. I love terrifying people. I don't need a redemption arc."

"You could change."

"And you could've joined the Boy Scouts if you wanted to walk around handing out cookies."

"…What's the Boy Scouts?" She blinked.

"…Where the hell did you grow up? A village?"

"…Yes." She rolled her eyes.

"Figures. I grew up in the slums of Imbaba, Egypt. Whole family were thieves. Tourists came in with wallets, watches, jewelry... we made sure they left lighter. I was the best pickpocket in the family." She grinned.

"Got caught once when I was seven. Stabbed the guy with a fork and ran." Zeinai stared at her.

"You were seven."

"What? He lived."

"…Your parents?" She barked a laugh.

"My mother was a whore. Cheated on my dad, tried suing him afterward, lost everything, then kidnapped us and ran to Egypt just to spite him. Never saw the old man again." She shrugged.

"My brother got tired of supporting everyone and disappeared. Smartest one in the family. My sister started selling her body. Mum encouraged it, took every bit of the money, then spent it on drugs and sugar boys young enough to be her sons."

"…That's horrible."

"Mum eventually died from an STD," she said, as casually as commenting on the weather.

"After that my sister tried getting her life together. Before then she'd bring different men home, we'd rob them blind, then threaten to tell the cops they were sleeping with kids if they complained." She chuckled.

"She wanted a normal life after Mum died."

"You didn't?"

"Nah." She twirled a knife between her fingers.

"By then I was already too good at stealing. I could nick your nose off your face without you noticing."

"So you just... kept going?"

"Yep. Eventually the Syndicate found me."

"You don't regret it?" She looked at him as though he'd asked the strangest question imaginable.

"Heck no." Another shrug.

"I send money to my sister now. She's doing alright."

"That's enough." Her hazel eyes settled on him.

"What about you?" Zeinai was quiet for a moment.

"I ran away from home."

"…Then Crook recruited me." Sphinx froze.

"…Hold on. You actually met Crook?" He nodded once.

"Yes." Sphinx looked genuinely surprised. Then she rolled her eyes.

"Big deal. I met her too." She scratched the back of her head.

"Scary woman. Didn't talk much. Mostly just stood around watching experiments like she already knew how they'd end." She frowned thoughtfully.

"Our Commander, Kestrel, is apparently her best friend. Grew up together, or something." A laugh escaped her.

"That's the weird part. The thought of Crook as a little girl just doesn't stick." She shook her head.

"It feels like she was born an adult." Silence settled between them.... Sphinx stole a glance at him. Another. She shifted her weight, tapped one boot against the pavement, scratched the back of her neck and looked away again. It was the first time Zeinai had seen her fidget without trying to be irritating.

"So." He waited.

"You got a girlfriend?" His eyes slid toward her.

"…Why?"

"I'm just asking." She waved him off immediately.

"Not like I care or anything. I'm just wondering what kind of woman would voluntarily date someone that dumb."

"Yes." The answer came so simply she couldn't hide it. For the smallest fraction of a second, her face fell. It disappeared almost instantly.

"Well," she scoffed, "good luck to her. She must be blind." Zeinai's lips twitched. She blinked. Her jaw dropped theatrically.

"You're joking." She slapped both cheeks.

"Zeinai actually made a joke." She looked toward the sky.

"Holy smokes. Call me a donkey and flog my ass." His lips twitched again.

"You know…"

"What?"

"The way you speak feels patched together." She frowned.

"Patched together?"

"Like your words and accent were stolen from different people." She shrugged.

"English isn't my first language." A finger jabbed into his chest.

"Get off my meat."

"It isn't mine either."

"I could tell." She snorted before rocking back on her heels.

"So…" She looked at him sideways.

"If I hypothetically asked whether you wanted to go sightseeing with me in…" she named a country, "would you hypothetically say yes?"

"I'm not going on a date with someone who kills children and takes their teeth." She let out the longest sigh imaginable and threw both hands into the air.

"Oh my God, bruh. Stop policing me. You're making me feel claustrophobic. We're literally the bad guys for crying out loud. Are the New Zealand niggas all this soft?"

"I don't think you should say that word." She folded her arms.

"Who's gonna stop me?"

"Me." She rolled her eyes so dramatically he was surprised they remained in their sockets.

"Okay, party pooper." Looking down at the wet pavement, she muttered something under her breath that he couldn't quite catch. Zeinai watched her for a moment. Without warning, he stepped forward and rested a hand on her shoulder. She looked up.

"I understand." She frowned.

"What?"

"The need to feel stronger than everyone else. His voice stayed calm.

"Considering your childhood… I understand why." Her usual grin faded.

"But ruining the lives of innocent people doesn't make you strong."

"It makes you pathetic. You aren't proving anything by hurting children or torturing people who never wronged you." He sighed.

"There are plenty of genuinely evil people in this world. If you truly need somewhere to direct that anger…choose them." She opened her mouth. Closed it. For once, nothing sarcastic came out.

"…Okay." It was barely above a whisper. The first calm thing she'd said to him all day. Zeinai stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. She stiffened instinctively. After a few seconds, the tension drained from her small frame, and she quietly leaned into the embrace with a tired sigh.

"I'll stop." A pause.

"Only kids."

"That's a start." He released her. She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly.

"You got one of those contact things?" He nodded. A moment later, they exchanged contact information before continuing their conversation.