“Get….the hell back, you assholes! Just leave us alone already!” No.5 screamed.

  “Hyahahaha! Or what?! You’re battered and beaten!” A familiar voice yelled with an obnoxiously loud megaphone in the crowd of facilitators.

  Wearing a combat suit with spiky red hair, No.8 emerged in full glory from the crowd while taunting them.

  “No.8?! What the hell are you doing here? Didn’t you run after No.4, and No.7 got killed?”

  “I-I didn’t run, it was a tactical retreat! I don’t stand a chance against that freak of nature, but against you guys, I do! Once I put you back inside, Sir Zagra will have to acknowledge my achievements, and I’ll be set! Once these guys heard the explosion outside, I explained everything that had happened, and they followed me without hesitation. You guys are the villains here! Hyahahaha!”

  “Tch! Goddamn bastard.”

  “Urgh…”

  “You ok, No.9?”

  “I’m sorry….if only I could use my ability. You also aren’t close to being healed, yet you’re forced to protect me.”

  “Don’t worry about it! If I'm going to be the strongest, I have to be at least able to protect one little girl!” He yelled as he pointed to himself with his thumb.

  “Little girl….? I’m pretty sure I’m older–”

  “Enough! Hurry up and get them!” No.8 screamed.

  Right as they charged forward, I dove and landed between the two parties.

  “963!”

  “963…..you look different. And your injuries….they healed?! How? You were missing an eye and your legs were–!”

  “Now’s not the time. I don’t have long before he comes back, so stay still.”

  “What are you doing, fire!”

  The facilitators all let loose as I raised my hand to create a barrier between us.

  “I can’t waste energy or time fighting all of them, so I’ll leave it to you two. Here.”

  I placed my hands on both of their heads, and small nexuses appeared over their heads.

  “You fool, what are you doing?! You just gave 30% of your energy over to them with that move, look at your source!”

  The main nexus floated down to my hand, and it was noticeably smaller, but this was for the best.

  Let’s say I wipe them out and head back over to the fight. What if I lose? They’ll be next and are too weakened to leave, let alone defend themselves. I’m thinking about the future.

  “Don’t concern yourself with them! Just—!”

  Shut up, you unwanted parasite. Instead of complaining, you should be constantly informing me how much time I have left so I can fight efficiently.

  “…..Your lifespan started to decrease the second you amplified their energy using their own.”

  How fast?

  “I won’t know until you cancel the nexus, but as I said before, I know your absolute maximum is 2 more minutes.”

  “You’re fighting Zagra, right? How’s the fight looking?” No.5 asked.

  “In terms of strength and speed, he outclasses me, but I trump him in durability. Unfortunately, I’m burdened by a time limit.”

  “But you’re gonna win, right?”

  I glanced at him as I prepared to take off.

  “Of course.”

  “Wait, 963! What about Zero?” No.9 yelled as she grabbed my wrist.

  “She….died protecting me.”

  She let go of my hand and was about to say something, but I took off to the sky before she could.

  I made my way back to the battlefield only to hear the sound of rushing flames approaching me from my left. I quickly turned and launched a blast at the spiral of flame quickly coming my way.

  From the smoke of the collision, a tall man emerged.

  “Cheap trick, you cheeky brat.”

  “It amazed me more that a veteran such as yourself fell for such an obvious ploy.”

  “Can you even afford to be making snarky little quips right now? I had thought you turned immortal for a moment, but it seems your body can’t handle your own power.” He pointed with a smirk.

  I looked down at my arms and noticed blue cracks all over them.

  I don’t have long.

  “You’re right, I’m on a time limit. But….so what?!”

  I tensed my muscles as energy flared all around me, spewing forth like a gushing fountain.

  “I’ve always been told not to let emotions get the better of me. To win a fight, I must think rationally and logically, no matter what. But suppressing my emotions to think logically is constraining me… It’s suffocating! Especially with all of this rage, all of these violent emotions swirling inside of me!”

  My energy surged even higher as it started coating me like a suit. Linen skin weaved by ethereal threads formed over my limbs, with what looked like intense circuitry outlining each part. I grabbed the nexus above my head and thrust it inside my chest, and it acted as a core for the newly formed suit.

  “For my mother! For my father! For Dawn! Leaving you alive to kill the people I’ve formed a bond with would be my greatest sin!”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  I unsheathed her blade and held it with both hands. Placing one hand near the hilt and the other lower along the handle, the long katana shone in the moonlight, wrapped by thorns of burning darkness. A mask closed over my face as I narrowed my sight at the target of my ire.

  “I swear it on my very life. I will kill you if it’s the last thing I do. And when you die and pass on, take solace in the fact that you will never see your wife and daughter again! For they went to a place you will never reach!”

  “Be silent, No.963!”

  He materialized his sword and flew, with me meeting him for a clash of blades. The sound of metal ringing echoed across the horizon as we pushed against each other. Our muscles strained as if it had turned into a contest of raw strength, our faces an inch apart.

  This suit… It’s almost doubled my power and speed. I’m in peak fighting condition!

  Amid the clash, I formed a spider-like limb on my back and used it to attack him from above. Grunting loudly, he pushed me back right before it reached him and parried the attack. He lunged forward, his sword arching in a downward strike aimed at my shoulder, but right before it hit, I caught the blow with the flat of my blade, using the momentum to deflect it to the side. Undeterred, he retaliated instantly, attacking with a sharp thrust to my stomach. I dropped the sword and dislocated my upper torso to avoid the stab as I put my hands together and blasted him point-blank.

  He went flying, and I picked up the sword and gave chase. Before I was able to capitalize, he recovered and launched a ranged attack to halt my approach, and I held the sword out to block it. However, right before the flaming projectile reached me, it split into multiple and curved behind me. Instead of turning and blocking, I flew forward at maximum speed and appeared before him in an instant. We were face-to-face for a brief moment before I flashed behind him, revealing the fact that his own attack was coming this way.

  “Did you believe my own flames would affect me?”

  He turned to face me as the flames collided with his back and exploded in a puff of smoke. I jumped backwards, and we circled each other, eyes steady, looking for any opening or weakness in the other’s actions. Suddenly, he boosted forward and feinted to the right, causing me to take up a defensive stance. He quickly switched his blade to his left hand and went for a low sweep aimed at my legs, but I formed two energy blades on my calves to dampen the blow.

  “40 seconds left.”

  I sent a burst of energy in every direction to push him back, as I willed another clone to be formed right in front of me. I sent it forward, following it close behind before bursting with speed behind Zagra. He parried and stabbed the clone, and I slashed my sword in a straight line across his exposed back. Right before it made contact, he whirled and parried the blade with immense force, the impact creating tremors across my whole body.

  “Agh…”

  The collision caused me to weaken for a brief moment, and he slid his sword past my guard and sliced me across my forearm.

  “His blows are made of raw energy as well; you can’t heal those in the time you have left!”

  I know that, shut up!

  Letting my rage fuel me, I grabbed his flaming sword with my free hand, causing it to burn my palm fiercely. Then, before he could make a decision, I formed energy on my forehead and headbutted him with full force. He stumbled, and I didn’t waste the opportunity to attack. I dashed forward, slashing my sword in various directions with utmost precision. Like water, my movements were fluid, and I left no opening for a counterattack as I danced forward endlessly.

  He blocked and parried each of the blows, but was forced on the defensive, unable to muster any of his explosive firepower to escape the situation. After a couple more seconds, I shifted my grip and sliced in a way that wrenched his sword off to the side, and then, in one quick motion, stabbed him in the chest. The explosive force with which I stabbed him sent a burst of energy through the other side of his body.

  “Zagra! I’m going to tear your heart out!”

  “You’re 20 years too young for that, No.963!” He yelled as blood poured from his mouth.

  Clenching his sword, he brought it down on my left shoulder, as flames emerged from all around us. It had turned from a battle to a clash of wills; it was whoever could deal the fatal blow first in this last, desperate struggle from the both of us.

  “Gagh…..”

  “A…ck!”

  I let go of my sword with one hand and charged a blast in my palm, and, seeing this, he did the same, and our energy whirred and merged, creating a grand explosion that sent us flying apart.

  When the smoke cleared, he was there staring at me, with multiple slash wounds and gashes radiating with blue energy. His stamina was depleting due to being unable to cauterize his wounds. His breathing was ragged and labored, his body marked with the blood of our battle. I looked down at my free hand. It was shaking, blood streamed down my arms into my palms, and my vision was getting blurry. I could feel my lifespan leaving my body. Like an eldritch presence behind me was wrapping me forcefully, draining my will to move and live.

  The suit around me was fading as the mask on my face fell apart. Liquid welled up in my throat as I coughed up blood that had a strange tint of purple. The cracks in my skin that the suit was hiding had opened up even more now, with a sickly blue light emanating from within.

  I can’t last like this….I need to end this now.

  “Grrrrrrrr…….GRAGGGGGH!”

  I mustered up all of my strength and flew straight up into the sky. Zagra, too tired to move, chose to take this time and observe me rather than follow me up in a pointless chase.

  “You have 15 seconds left before your life fades completely.”

  Above the clouds, everything was serene and peaceful. The moon shone on me as if it were watching my every move, and the clouds went by as if witnesses to my burning lifeforce, drifting to the pale beyond. I extended my arm upward, and a faint shimmer of light flickered at my fingertips. It continued to flicker until pure energy began to spiral outward with such a force that the clouds swirled around me like a tornado. The energy spun and gathered into vibrant strands that wove together into a spear of crackling blue.

  It glowed, with trails of energy flaring on its side like wings, and a pointed tip that I inherently knew wouldn’t lose to anything. Then, I saw it. A hand hovering over mine, as if it helped me guide the spear into existence. The hand formed into a figure I knew all too well, as Dawn smiled at me with a confident grin, her hand intertwined with mine.

  “Need a hand?”

  “Need a hand?”

  Whether it was a hallucination, or because I was walking the line of death. I felt her support and turned it into a flare of power. Hand in hand, we gripped the spear as we felt its weightless power resonate between us. As if it were the only thing linking us together, the spear pulsed in the same pace as my heartbeat, like it was alive and ready to be cast down onto its target.

  “ZAGRAAAAAAAA! I told you, didn't I? I will kill you if it’s the last thing I do! Your flames cannot consume my life, for I am already dead! Beaten and destroyed by you and this accursed world! Burn my limbs, cremate my body, and I’ll rise again with newfound power! I cannot, no—I REFUSE to stop! Every brain cell, muscle, vein, and bone. Every memory, experience, and emotion. Every thought! Of the past, present, and future! Are all dedicated in this moment to eradicate your very being! I am NO CHILD! I am a mirror of humanity! An embodiment of hatred set to plague this world with its death throes! So in your last moments, lament the fact that your goal gave birth to a vile monster such as myself!”

  “I can tell, BOY! This attack you're about to do is your last hurrah, isn’t it?! No matter how powerful or fast your attack is, if I see it coming, I can avoid it! You’re a FOOL!”

  “Gae....Bolg!”

  Together, Dawn and I threw the spear, and it shot through the sky like a graceful arrow from heaven, aimed to give its target eternal damnation.

  I can’t change the direction of the spear. The last of my energy was spent throwing it. I can only hope....it hits its target.

  I saw flames spurt from his feet as he visibly strained to muster up the energy to summon them.

  “You gave it your all, but even with my low energy, I can avoid this before it hits me! It’s over!”

  With a wide smile that I could see even from up above, he began to dart to the left before a voice rang out from across the sky.

  “YOU CANNOT MOVE!”

  As I fell from the sky, I looked down to see No.9 with No.8’s loudspeaker, tears streaming down her face as the nexus above her head radiated with energy.

  Zagra stopped in his tracks as he gave it his all to move, but failed to do so.

  “No…no way! No.9, you little–!”

  The spear pierced through his body and continued to hit the back end of the facility, creating a large explosion that sent gusts of wind that I could even feel from my height. Zagra held his midsection as he looked down at his hand, covered with blood. He fell out of the sky just like me, and hit the ground with a thud far before I did.

  I spiraled through the sky, unable to keep myself afloat due to all of the energy leaving my body. I had nothing up my sleeve to prevent the damage I would take from this unfortunate freefall.

  Damn...it.