They stepped back.
There was no more arrogance.
No more mockery.
Only fear.
They weren't underestimating me anymore — they were retreating.
I could taste it.
The taste of the turning point.
The taste of victory... or madness.
I knew I could still pull off one or two more Blood attacks. Maybe three, if I ignored the risk of a complete collapse.
These techniques... they drain energy.
The weapon feeds on the user's strength. It demands sacrifice.
That's why the attacks are red, and why they're called "Blood Techniques."
Aloiném's signature.
"Breathe. Get in position. Fight."
The old motto echoed in my mind like a war bell.
If I was going to win... it had to be now.
"Bloodstorm."
Fifteen strikes.
Fifteen slashes infused with red energy.
Fifteen chances to miss... or to kill.
I charged.
A crimson blur.
I went straight for the most wounded one — he never even saw me coming.
Horizontal slash across his chest.
Vertical cut right after.
The other alien tried to react, tried to shield his brother.
Too late.
The speed of my strikes was beyond control.
The force from my footing, combined with the technique's velocity, was insane.
I sliced off the hand of the one who intervened. Black blood splattered across the floor.
I didn't stop.
Thrust to the chest.
Spinning slash.
The armor cracked open.
The carapace was exposed.
The next five strikes were merciless.
The shell fractured.
Then shattered.
Now, soft flesh lay exposed.
Four diagonal slashes.
One horizontal cut.
I saw something pulsing.
Not a heart, but something vita.
Something essential.
"BROTHER, HELP ME!"
He was begging.
Crying.
Pleading.
I didn't hesitate.
"Claw mode."
The blade shifted, morphing into sharp claws, each blade about ten centimeters long.
I lunged straight into his chest.
I felt the cold steel of the claws hitting bone.
I felt the pulsing stop.
The alien collapsed, lifeless.
His last words escaped in a gurgling whisper:
"N-no... my... core..."
[???, Do you wish to absorb the core?]
"Yes."
I crushed it.
The core exploded in my hand, a thick fluid running down my fingers, seeping through the cracks in the straps.
The dead alien's armor disintegrated into metallic dust, swirling around me.
Absorbed.
Assimilated.
[Update complete. Micidae Armor integrated into arsenal.]
Fragments of his armor began to form over my body.
It wasn't a perfect copy; it had adapted to my human frame — lighter, more flexible, but still carrying the brutal essence of the original.
A new helmet formed, covering my face, and with it, information started flooding back into the visor.
[Injury acquired: Fractured femur.]
[Imminent collapse.]
Just like I feared, I only had one attack left in me.
"Sword mode."
The weapon responded.
An intense glow ran along my blade.
It felt heavier than ever.
As if it could feel my exhaustion.
I lifted my head.
The last alien was kneeling, pressing the bleeding wound with his remaining hand.
But his eyes weren't on me...
They were on his brother's lifeless body.
I got into position.
Eyes locked.
Legs shaking.
Heart pounding.
"Come."
He turned slowly.
Reality hit him like a hammer.
Pain.
Rage.
He stood up, panting, trembling.
And with a scream full of hate:
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"
"Let's see if you can."
He charged at me with everything he had.
His sword came down with brutal, merciless force.
Our blades clashed.
The impact cracked through the air like a thunderclap.
[Injury acquired: Radius fracture.]
I felt my forearm burn, the bone groaning under the pressure.
Trying to overpower him was suicide.
I had to use my head.
I dodged.
Again.
And again.
He didn't stop.
Relentless attacks, no openings.
If he wouldn't give me an opening...
Then I would create one.
I let my knees buckle, faking collapse.
He lunged forward to finish me.
Exactly what I wanted.
I spun my body with every ounce of strength left, my blade carving a perfect arc through the air
And slashed his thigh deep.
Before he could react, I planted my hand on the ground, pushed off, and kicked him in the chest with my good leg.
He was thrown backward.
[Injury acquired: Tricep muscle tear.]
My arm was trembling.
My leg was throbbing.
Everything hurt.
But I couldn't stop.
The alien staggered too, his armor cracking all over.
His chest heaved violently, like every breath was torture.
This was it.
Our final exchange.
The final blow.
I took a deep breath.
Gripped my sword with everything my exhausted muscles had left.
"It's now... or never."
Summoning every last fiber of my body, I sprinted straight at him.
The alien roared.
A desperate, feral scream, throwing everything he had into a single, killing blow.
"BLOODLINE!"
My blade shone a deep red — not the red of energy, but the red of an ending.
And then it vanished...
In a subtle line of light.
Bloodline.
A definitive thrust.
Meant to pierce the enemy before he even realized he'd been struck.
Speed.
Precision.
And a thirst for victory sharpened at the tip of my blade.
The alien tried to counter — his own weapon morphed into a massive claw, slashing down in a vicious arc toward my torso.
The two techniques collided.
Force against necessity.
My sword pierced straight through his chest.
His strike, in turn, tore through my side, ripping upward like a cruel saw.
I locked eyes with him.
On one side, the look of someone who couldn't believe he lost.
On the other, the look of someone who couldn't believe he won.
Two abysses staring each other down.
One full of wounded pride.
The other, pure exhaustion and disbelief.
"Die... inferior creature."
The words slipped from my lips almost on their own—
A cutting whisper, loaded with everything I wanted him to feel in his final seconds.
I needed him to hear it.
I wanted it to be the last thing echoing inside his mind as the void swallowed him.
But...
Fate wasn't kind to me.
[Critical injury acquired: Stomach puncture.]
[Critical injury acquired: Left kidney destroyed.]
[Hemorrhage acquired.]
[Support system activating: Emergency containment protocol.]
—Kh—!
I licked my cheeks, trying to swallow the pain—
Only to spit blood right after.
I looked at the alien, struggling to get out a final response—
His body shaking violently.
A horrible scream gurgled up his throat...
Until it finally died out.
[Combat ended.]
My sword almost disintegrated right there.
I stabbed it into the ground, using it as a crutch.
It was the only thing keeping me from collapsing on the spot.
The alien's core, still glowing inside his open chest, began vibrating wildly.
"I... can't stop now..."
My hand reached for it, as if pulled by something beyond will.
I touched the core.
A wet, sickening sound echoed — Disgusting. Final.
[???, Do you wish to absorb the core?]
I didn't even have the strength to answer.
Breathing alone was already a desperate task.
[I'll take that as a 'yes'.]
Then came the heat.
Brutal.
Overwhelming.
It flooded my veins like liquid fire, trying to hold my broken bones together for just a moment longer.
Trying to give me... more time.
But trying... isn't the same as succeeding.
The armor sensed the fight was over.
It withdrew, almost as if it was tired too.
And all the pressure it had been holding back... Collapsed onto my broken body.
"Argh...!"
I fell to my knees.
Then face-first onto the cold floor.
Blood.
So much blood.
My blood.
The sirens started wailing outside.
The sound cut through the air like razors.
Sharp. Fatal.
"I... I have to get out of here..."
Dragging my body like a dying worm, I forced myself toward the back of the mall.
My vision flickered.
Black spots invaded my sight.
I tried to use the wrist communicator.
Any signal.
Any voice.
"Z... anyone... respond..."
Nothing.
Only static.
The connection was flooded with interference.
Had the Rangers still not finished?
Shit.
I was completely isolated.
With a cold, slicing click, the system declared its sentence:
[Support system: total failure.]
[Remaining life expectancy: 4 minutes.]
[Would you like to record a final message?]
My hands trembled, desperately trying to stop the bleeding with whatever scraps of lucidity I had left.
I opened my mouth.
My throat burned.
Blood ran down the corners of my lips.
But still...
I forced the words out—my final words:
"...Sorry... for being so reckless..."
The world started spinning.
Everything spun.
Like gravity itself decided it hated me, the ground pulled me in.
Swallowed me.
And at last...
Everything went black.