Chapter 130: The Sound of Silence
The park was a chaotic symphony of gunfire and screams, but amidst the violence, Mina's voice was the only thing Ren focused on. She was clutching her bleeding arm, her silver hair matted with sweat and dirt. Her purple eyes were wide with a frantic, desperate need for him to understand.
"Ren... please, believe me," Mina gasped, her breath hitching in her throat. "I didn't call them. I didn't know they were following me. I would never... I would never set a trap for you."
Ren looked down at her, his expression a mask of cold granite. For a second, the suspicion in his mind flared, but as he looked into her tear-filled eyes, the doubt vanished. He reached out with his uninjured hand and gripped her shoulder.
"This isn't the time for explanations, Mina," Ren said, his voice low and grounding. "Don't stress yourself over it. I believe you. But first, we need to stop this bleeding."
Without hesitating, Ren grabbed the hem of his black tactical shirt and ripped a long, wide strip of fabric from the bottom. He moved with clinical efficiency, wrapping the makeshift bandage tightly around the bullet graze on Mina's left arm. He knotted it firmly, ignoring the way she winced in pain.
Once the wound was secure, Ren stood up. The air around him seemed to thicken, a dark, oppressive energy radiating from his body. Mina watched him from the ground, trying to reach out to stop him, but the sheer pressure of his presence made her hand freeze in mid-air.
Ren's sapphire eye began to pulse with a terrifying, rhythmic light. He turned toward the fountain where the five remaining police officers were reloading their weapons.
"Stop."
Ren didn't shout. He didn't scream. He spoke the word with the weight of a god delivering a final judgment.
The effect was instantaneous. The five officers, who were about to leap out and fire, froze mid-motion. One by one, their eyes began to glow with a dull, hypnotic red light. Their fingers locked on their triggers, their legs refused to move, and their breath hitched in their lungs. They were prisoners in their own bodies, paralyzed by a command that bypassed their brains and spoke directly to their souls.
The silence that followed was deafening. Steve and Mack, who had been preparing for another exchange of gunfire, lowered their weapons in absolute shock. They stared at the frozen officers, then back at Ren.
Mina, still sitting in the dirt, felt a chilling wave of déjà vu. Her mind flashed back to the snowy wasteland of the Frost-Spire—the moment Ren had faced a towering Giant and ended its life with a single, whispered word.
"This power..." Mina whispered to herself, her heart hammering against her ribs. "It's not human."
Across the street, Mack and Steve didn't waste a second. They sprinted toward the paralyzed officers, kicking the rifles out of their frozen hands and pinning them to the ground.
High above, on the rooftop, Kim's eyes were narrowed behind his scope. Unlike the others, he wasn't impressed; he was suspicious. He saw Mina on the ground, and in his mind, she was still the catalyst for this ambush. He shifted his aim, the crosshairs of his sniper rifle settling right between Mina's eyes.
"Kim, stand down."
Ren didn't even look up at the building, yet his voice carried perfectly to the rooftop. "Come down here. Now."
Kim hesitated for a fraction of a second before pulling back from the ledge. He stood up, and the mechanical wings on his back hissed as they unfolded to their full span. He leapt from the roof, the metal wings catching the air and slowing his descent. He landed in the center of the park with a heavy metallic thud, his long hair swaying in the wind.
"Boss, she's a liability," Kim growled, his metal arm sparking slightly. "This was her meeting. They followed her here."
"Mina didn't do anything," Ren stated, his voice final. "She came here to talk. They were tracking her without her knowledge. Steve, can we trust her?"
Ren turned his gaze toward Steve, who was busy binding the wrists of one of the officers. Steve looked at the bleeding girl with the silver hair, then at the blood on Ren's hands. He let out a sharp exhale.
"Fine," Steve muttered. "If she saved your life by taking that bullet, I guess she's earned a seat at the table."
Ren didn't offer a thank you. He had more pressing matters. He walked toward the one officer who had survived Kim's initial sniper shot—the man who seemed to be second-in-command now that their leader was dead.
Ren reached into his pocket and pulled out his pistol, but he didn't aim it. He tucked it into the back of his waistband and knelt in front of the officer. The red glow in the man's eyes was fading, replaced by a look of pure, unadulterated terror.
"There were five of you left," Ren said, his voice as sharp as a razor. "Your captain is already dead. So, you're going to talk. Tell me who sent you and why you were ordered to kill us both."
The officer, a man in his thirties with a buzz cut, gritted his teeth. Even though he was terrified, he managed to pull a defiant smile across his face. "Do you really think I'm going to tell you anything, Butcher? Go to hell."
Ren didn't blink. He didn't even change his expression. He reached out and grabbed the officer's hand, pinning it against the stone fountain. With a sudden, violent twist, Ren snapped the man's index finger.
The sound of the bone snapping was like a dry twig breaking in the silence. The officer let out a piercing, guttural scream that echoed through the empty park.
"Talk," Ren commanded.
Mina reflexively covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes wide. She had seen Ren fight, but she had never seen him torture someone with such cold, detached cruelty.
The officer gasped for air, tears streaming down his face, but he shook his head. "Never... I'll never talk..."
Ren didn't wait for him to finish. He grabbed the man's forearm and, using his raw strength and a precise application of Vane energy, snapped the bone clean in half. The officer's arm folded in a way that was never intended by nature. Another scream tore through the night, weaker this time, as the man began to drift toward shock.
Ren stood up and pulled the pistol from his waistband. He didn't aim for the head. He aimed for the man's stomach and pulled the trigger.
BANG.
The bullet tore through the man's gut and exited through his back, splattering the stone fountain with blood. The officer slumped forward, his mouth filling with crimson as he coughed, his breathing becoming shallow and wet.
Ren stepped forward and grabbed a handful of the man's hair, yanking his head back so their eyes met. He pressed the cold barrel of the pistol against the man's temple, the metal clicking against his skull.
"Last chance," Ren whispered, his sapphire eye glowing with a predatory intensity. "Tell me everything, or I'll make the next ten minutes the longest years of your life."
The officer looked into Ren's eyes and saw no mercy. He saw only a void—a darkness that was far worse than the death that awaited him.