The gray dust hung in the air like a thick, suffocating shroud.
Cain left the corpse of the second Executor in the dirt, moving silently through
the ruins. He kept his breathing shallow, ignoring the sharp, burning ache in
his fractured rib. He didn't have time to rest.
"Unit Two. Report."
The leader's voice echoed through the fog. It was calm, but the command carried
a dense, spatial resonance that vibrated against the shattered stones.
Silence.
"Unit Two. Report."
Nothing.
Through the haze, Cain saw the faint outlines of the remaining three Executors.
They had realized the danger. They weren't fanning out anymore. They were
converging toward the center of the crater, intending to stand back-to-back and
eliminate their blind spots.
If they linked up, Cain's guerrilla tactics would be useless. He couldn't fight
three synchronized divine vessels in close quarters.
He had to intercept one before they formed the perimeter.
Cain locked his eyes on the Executor furthest to the right. The gray-cloaked
figure was moving swiftly over the rubble, his hands glowing with a faint,
localized gravity seal to repel the dust. He was thirty meters away from the
leader.
Quick Step wouldn't be enough.
If Cain used a standard burst, the Executor would sense the displaced air and
manifest a spatial shield before the blade ever reached his neck. Cain needed to
cross the thirty meters faster than human perception. He needed to move so fast
that his own afterimage would be left behind in the dust.
He needed Flash Step.
Cain crouched low behind a jagged slab of slate. He gripped his right long
blade, the leather hilt slick with his own sweat and the golden blood of the
previous Executor.
In the dungeon, the system had executed Flash Step flawlessly, protecting his
joints and ligaments from the sheer, tearing G-force of the acceleration. Doing
it manually was practically suicide.
But survival required sacrifice.
Cain initiated Blood Manipulation. He forced his heart to hammer against his
ribs, driving a violent surge of pressurized blood down into his thighs and
calves. The veins in his legs bulged, hardening the muscle tissue into dense,
biological armor.
Then, he routed the mana.
He felt the agonizing lag. The hollow friction in his core delayed the flow,
forcing him to hold the immense physical pressure for a fraction of a second
longer than his body could comfortably endure. The muscles in his right leg
screamed, micro-tears forming under the strain.
He waited for the mana to reach his boots.
Now.
Cain released the compression.
The stone beneath him didn't just crack; it vaporized into dust.
He exploded forward. The sheer velocity tore the air apart, creating a vacuum
that sucked the gray fog into his wake. To the naked eye, Cain simply vanished,
leaving behind a faint, dark blur where he had been crouching.
The Executor on the right didn't even have time to turn his head.
Cain materialized directly beside him, his momentum carrying him forward with
the force of a falling meteor. He didn't swing his sword. He didn't need to. He
simply held the blade out, letting his terrifying speed do the work.
The steel tore through the Executor's side, severing his spine and slicing
cleanly through his torso.
The divine vessel split in half.
But the cost of the manual Flash Step hit Cain instantly.
The moment he tried to arrest his momentum, the hyper-pressurized muscles in his
right thigh gave out. The fibers tore with a sickening, audible rip.
Cain crashed into the dirt, tumbling violently across the jagged stones. His
sword flew from his grip, clattering away into the fog. He slammed into a
petrified tree trunk, the impact knocking the air from his lungs and sending a
blinding flash of pain through his torn leg.
He gritted his teeth, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from crying out. He
tasted copper.
He forced himself onto his hands and knees, his right leg trembling
uncontrollably. He had secured the kill. Only two remained.
But as he reached out to grab his fallen sword, the air in the crater suddenly
changed.
"Target located."
The leader's voice didn't come from across the ruins.
It came from directly above him.