Ari is sleeplessly standing in the rain by a crosswalk, waiting for the cars to pass in the central part of Roxanne.
'Man, this is boring me.' He thinks as a lady accidentally bumps into him
"Oh, sorry about that." She says nervously.
"It's nothing." Ari smiles back casually.
The light turns green and Ari continues walking back to his dorm.
'A week has passed since my latest clue. The killings have stopped but bodies are still being recovered. It's like I'm hardstuck.' Ari thinks as he walks alongside the crowd of people.
Suddenly his phone rings, it's Sixx.
Ari sighs, then slides the button to answer.
"Sixx? What's up?"
The line stays quiet even though it's answered.
"Hello?"
The line keeps being quiet,
Ari's frowns slightly.
Without hesitation, he tosses his phone up into the air.
The phone instantly explodes in the air.
"My phone?!"
The crowd of people all start yelling in a panic.
Ari starts scanning the place, to find whoever bugged his phone.
The crowd of people push past him, all running for their lives.
Suddenly, he notices a green laser on his chest.
Ari's eyes widen,
'My chest, he's in front of me! Should I take a look from where or dodge?!" Ari thinks in a split second before instinctively jumping high up in the air.
From above, he catches a glimpse of a man standing in the shadows of an alley, barely visible under the coat he's wearing.
"Caught youuuuuuu." The man says in a monotone voice.
Before Ari can react, two cars from the front and back shoot at a rapid pace in the air towards him.
"What the hell?!"
The man closes his fist, and the cars slam together.
Ari manages to twist midair and barely slip out before getting crushed.
He lands hard and immediately moves, sprinting toward a nearby construction site.
'Who the hell is that?'
He ducks behind a stack of wooden planks,
'The Roxanne Killer? No, no way."
Ari continues thinking.
'The killer wouldn't reveal himself or bring attention to himself.'
Ari's eyes widen as he realizes.
'My phone, cars…'
'Can the attacker control metal?'
He glances around.
'A construction site. Nice.' Ari thinks sarcastically.
Before he can think further, a steel pipe drops straight toward him from above.
"Shit!" Ari dodges out of the way just in time. The steel pipe slams into the wooden planks.
"He's not letting me figure him out."
Ari turns mid dodge and sees the attacker waiting for him, fist loaded up.
'He anticipated where I was going to jump?!"
The attacker punches Ari in the liver, he manages to block at the last second, but the impact still sends him flying through a wall.
He crashes through wood and debris before hitting the ground outside the construction site.
Ari coughs up blood but still forces himself back up onto his knees.
'How do I beat him? I'm in the city, surrounded by metal, he's using his power perfectly. Clearly a veteran. I need to see him to beat him, fuck.'
Ari gets up again and scans the outside of the construction site.
His eyes widen as he gets an idea.
'What if I activate my technique? Would Viper Pulse be able to track him?'
Ari's mind wanders rapidly as he comes up and adapts to different ways to get out of this mess.
'I'm gonna use Mana traces from his earlier liver punch. I got you now.'
He closes his eyes.
"Scorpio Style: Viper Pulse!!"
Ari's hands erupt strongly in purple Mana.
He senses the attacker hiding behind a stone pillar.
"Fucker."
Ari lunges forward and strikes through the pillar.
The attacker rolls out of the way just in time and springs himself back up, throwing a quick jab toward Ari's neck.
Ari manages to slip left, he counters with a palm strike to the core, knocking the air out of him.
The attacker recovers and swings right, Ari dodges back and sends a right of his own that connects cleanly.
The attacker jumps back, he puts his palm forward and steel pipes come flying at Ari.
Ari steps in and knocks each one aside with precise strikes.
"Don't get cocky!!" The man yells.
Ari closes the distance again and throws a right hook, the man evades by ducking down.
Ari's eyes widen.
'He dodged down?!'
The attacker throws an uppercut, but Ari leans back to avoid it.
Ari throws a left body kick but the man unnaturally ducks down again.
'I see!' Ari thinks before cracking a smile.
"Don't mess with me kid!!" The man yells as he lunges forward again.
Ari focuses and prepares to throw a counter right hook.
The man notices Ari revving up.
'Heh. I caught you this time kid, too reliant on your ability.' The man thinks.
He dodges down-
"Scorpio Style: Viper Pulse!!"
The man gets caught cleanly with a powered up knee to the chin!!
"Checkmate." Ari says cocky.
His jaw cracks as his head flies back violently, the impact was immensely powered up by Ari's ability.
The man falls to the ground knocked out and defeated
"I noticed you had a tendency to always dodge downwards, I had to time it perfectly and you fell for it, old timer." Ari explains.
Ari crouches down in front of the man.
"He's not waking up anytime soon…"
Ari looks inside the man's trenchcoat, he finds an ID.
"Therewolf, solo agent?"
'He was investigating the same case as me? What's this about? Did he think I was the Roxanne Killer?'
Ari sighs and carelessly throws away the ID.
He gets back up and calmly starts walking back to his dorm.
"Done and dusted."
…