Chapter 129: The Blood-Stained Confession
The world seemed to slow down, the ambient noise of the city fading into a dull hum. Ren stood frozen, his hand still resting on Mina's cheek, his sapphire eye wide with a rare, unfiltered shock. The girl in front of him, with her short silver hair shimmering like moonlight and her eyes brimming with tears, had just uttered the words he never expected to hear in this life of shadows and blood.
"Ren... I... I love you."
The confession hung in the air, heavy and visceral. Before Ren could process the weight of those three words, Mina leaned forward and wrapped her arms tightly around him. She buried her face in his chest, her body trembling with the release of a secret that had been suffocating her since the Frost-Spire.
Ren's mind was a whirlwind. He was the Butcher, a man forged in the fires of betrayal and exile. He knew how to kill, how to lead, and how to survive—but he didn't know how to respond to love. Slowly, almost hesitantly, he began to move his hand to comfort her, to give her some semblance of the peace she was desperately seeking.
High on the rooftop of the adjacent building, Kim watched the scene through his high-powered scope. Seeing Ren's subtle signal—a slight tilt of the head—Kim slowly eased his finger off the trigger. He began to lower the barrel of his sniper rifle, assuming the meeting was reaching a peaceful, albeit emotional, conclusion.
But Kim was a professional. Even as he lowered his weapon, his eyes didn't stop scanning the environment. His gaze drifted toward the perimeter wall of the park, where the shadows were thickest.
Suddenly, his blood ran cold.
Near the stone wall, partially hidden by the overgrown grass and the darkness, six figures moved with practiced, military precision. They were police tactical units, but they weren't wearing standard patrol gear. These were specialized hunters. Their leader, a man with a jagged scar across his chin, lay prone in the grass, his rifle already leveled. The barrel was aimed directly at the back of Ren's head.
"Contacts!" Kim hissed into his comms, though he knew there was no time for a verbal warning.
Kim snapped his rifle back into his shoulder. His heart rate slowed to a crawl as he centered his crosshairs on the leader's temple. He didn't have time to calculate the wind or the drop. He had to fire now.
CRACK.
Kim's rifle barked, a flash of orange lighting up the rooftop. At the exact same microsecond, the police leader pulled his own trigger.
The sniper's bullet found its mark, shattering the officer's skull and ending his life instantly. However, the officer's dying reflex had already sent a high-velocity round screaming toward the bench.
Ren didn't see the muzzle flash, but he felt the sudden, violent shift in the air. But it was Mina who reacted first. Her instincts, sharpened by years of training under General Kimo, sensed the incoming lethality before her brain could even register it.
While still clutching Ren in a hug, she caught a glimpse of the movement in the grass. With a desperate, guttural cry, she twisted her body, using all her strength to yank Ren off the bench and toward the ground.
The bullet whizzed through the space where Ren's head had been a millisecond ago. It didn't miss entirely. The projectile grazed the side of Mina's left arm, tearing through her suit and skin with a hot, searing hiss of lead.
"MINA!" Ren roared as they tumbled into the dirt.
The silence of the park was obliterated. From the parking lot across the street, the sound of pressurized steam and heavy footsteps erupted. Steve burst out of the garage, his mechanical suit's internal lights glowing a fierce red. Beside him, Mack followed, a submachine gun in his hands, his eyes fixed on the data stream on his HUD.
"Suppressive fire! Go! Go! Go!" Steve shouted, his arm-mounted cannons opening up on the remaining five police officers.
Mack didn't hesitate, unleashing a hail of bullets toward the wall, forcing the officers to dive for cover. The "Rangers" had arrived, but the park had already become a kill zone.
Ren scrambled to his feet in the dirt, his hands immediately going to Mina. He pulled her upright, his eyes frantically searching for the source of the blood. He saw the jagged tear in her sleeve and the crimson stain spreading rapidly down her silver-tinted suit.
"Mina... Mina! Are you okay? Talk to me!" Ren's voice was no longer cold. It was laced with a frantic, protective rage.
He looked over his shoulder, seeing the five remaining officers regrouping behind a stone fountain. They weren't retreating; they were intensifying their fire. A barrage of bullets chewed into the wooden bench they had just been sitting on, splinters flying like shrapnel.
"They're here for both of us," Ren growled, realizing this wasn't just a mission for Mina. The police had been sent to ensure neither of them left that park alive.
Ren grabbed Mina by her good arm and lunged toward a heavy decorative stone table a few feet away. He threw her behind the cold marble structure just as a line of bullets stitched across the ground behind them.
They were pinned. Steve and Mack were providing cover, but the officers had the high ground near the wall and were calling for reinforcements.
"Ren..." Mina gasped, her face pale as she clutched her bleeding arm. The pain was visible in the way her eyes clouded over, but she gripped Ren's tactical vest with her right hand, her voice urgent.
"Ren, you have to... you have to go. Don't worry about me. They want you... they want the Butcher. If you stay here, you'll die. Just leave me and get out with the others!"
Ren looked at her—at the girl who had just confessed her love, took a bullet meant for him, and was now telling him to abandon her. His sapphire eye turned a deep, obsidian black, the 'X' spinning with a violent, murderous intent.
"Shut up, Mina," Ren whispered, his voice vibrating with a terrifying power. "I don't leave my people behind. And I definitely don't leave you."
He looked toward the police line, his grip tightening on the knife in his belt. The Rangers were moving in, and the Butcher was about to remind the world why he was feared.
"Don't worry about me" Mina pleaded again, her voice weakening as the adrenaline began to fade. "You go from here..."