The absolute silence shattered as Rina dropped from the ceiling to execute her lethal ambush.
The rotting concrete corner instantly pulverized under the violent takeoff of her boots. Propelled downward by the sheer, terrifying strength of her mana-enhanced muscles, she used the gravitational momentum to deliver a devastating strike. Her right heel slammed directly into the side of the assassin's head. The raw kinetic impact launched his body across the pitch-black room, sending him crashing heavily into the far wall.
Rina landed on the cracked tiles, her chest heaving as she gasped for air. Her biological circuits were practically melting, and every muscle fiber screamed in protest. She did not care. The localized agony flooding her limbs was nothing new to her. She swallowed the pain, forcing her human limits to bend entirely to her will.
Across the room, the shifting of broken rubble echoed in the dark. The assassin was not dead. Relying on his phenomenal agility, he launched himself straight out of the debris in a fraction of a second. He closed the distance with terrifying speed, leading with his light-absorbing void dagger aimed with perfect, lethal accuracy right at her chest.
He was impossibly fast. Yet, as he crossed the final meter between them, Rina fluidly slipped to the side.
Incredible. How did she react so fast?
The assassin was completely taken aback. His eyes locked onto Rina's face in the dark. The veins around her eyes were violently swelling, protruding against her pale skin and emitting a brilliant, luminescent blue glow.
Rina had pushed the throttle to the absolute maximum. She was not shifting the power away from her limbs. While actively maintaining the brutal enhancement that was already tearing her muscles apart, she simultaneously poured raw, hyper-compressed mana directly into her entire central nervous system. She was maintaining both at the exact same time. The volatile energy supercharged her synapses alongside her burning muscles, drastically altering her perception of reality and slowing the world around her to a crawling, microscopic timeframe.
A twisted, fanatic smile spread across the assassin's bruised face. He was utterly amazed by the terrifying creativity of the woman known as Morozov's Fang. He was completely convinced of her legendary status in that exact moment.
"You are going to destroy your own body, Fang!" he shouted, his raspy voice filled with absolute awe.
The assassin launched his onslaught. He became a blur of lethal motion, his void dagger slashing in a chaotic, high-speed tempest of strikes aimed at her vitals. Left, right, high, low. Yet, Rina moved through the deadly storm with terrifying precision.
As the violent exchange progressed, a chilling realization dawned on the assassin. Her reaction time was not just fast. It was mathematically approaching absolute zero. She was slipping past his blade by mere millimeters and seamlessly weaving brutal counter-punches into his offensive rhythm. For a brief, violent window, they were perfectly, evenly matched.
But time was a luxury Rina did not possess.
The biological toll of the dual-load enhancement finally reached a critical threshold. The absolute agony caused a violent overload in her nervous system. Her right arm locked in a sudden, uncontrollable spasm, and her right eye twitched violently as a shockwave of sheer pain paralyzed her for a fraction of a second.
It was a microscopic opening, but it was enough. The assassin instantly seized the opportunity.
"Shadow Strike!" he roared.
The void dagger became a streak of absolute darkness. He thrust the blade forward with terrifying velocity, aiming directly for the center of her forehead.
Rina did not try to dodge. She simply raised her left hand, forcing her open palm directly into the path of the incoming strike.
The dark blade violently pierced right through the center of her hand, tearing through flesh and grating against the bones, but the dense layer of hyper-compressed mana in her muscles ultimately clamped down and halted the weapon just inches from her skull.
She had intentionally sacrificed her own hand. She was waiting for this exact opening.
Their eyes locked in the dark. The assassin saw nothing but cold, deadpan calculation in her glowing blue gaze. Before he could pull his weapon back, Rina lunged forward. She forced the blade deeper into her own palm to close the gap, grabbing his wrist with her bleeding hand and crushing his bones with the grip of an absolute madman.
He was completely trapped.
Planting her left foot firmly into the shattered concrete, she generated raw momentum from the ground up. She violently pulled his trapped arm toward her, twisting her hips and unleashing all the volatile energy stored in her right shoulder. The assassin could only widen his eyes and brace for the inevitable.
Her right fist connected squarely with his face. The kinetic transfer of the mana-enhanced strike was utterly devastating. A sickening crunch of shattering bone rang out, and the concussive impact was so violently strong that the thunderous echo shook the entire concrete floor.
Without a single moment to breathe, the thick concrete ceiling directly above her began to fracture. A deafening crack split the air as the massive Executive plummeted through the floorboards. He landed with the sheer, crushing weight of a falling boulder, instantly pulverizing the remaining tiles beneath his boots.
Before the dust could even settle, the giant lunged. He charged at Rina like a runaway locomotive, throwing a sweeping, devastating punch. However, his overwhelming size was a severe disadvantage against an opponent whose perception of time was practically frozen. Rina effortlessly tilted her head to the right, letting the colossal fist glide harmlessly past her ear. Within that microscopic time window, she pivoted and delivered a brutal counterpunch directly into his exposed ribs.
Her simultaneous mana enhancement was terrifyingly effective. The behemoth roared, throwing a relentless barrage of wild attacks. Rina slipped through the storm of fists with clinical precision. She did not waste energy trying to match his raw physical strength. Instead, she surgically dismantled his foundation. Every time she dodged, she planted a highly compressed strike into his vital junctions. She targeted his hips, calves, forearms, biceps, and finally his temple.
The accumulated kinetic damage was too much even for his monstrous biology. With a heavy groan, the giant's right knee completely gave out, forcing him to drop heavily onto the broken concrete.
Seeing her opening, Rina channeled all her remaining momentum into a devastating downward tomahawk kick aimed squarely at his neck. But as her leg arced through the air, a flicker of pure black caught her dilated pupils.
The assassin. His face was a ruined, bloody mess from her previous punch, but his fanatic loyalty was absolute. He had dragged his broken body forward through the debris, thrusting his void dagger directly toward the joint of her descending knee.
Because her leg was already in violent motion, she could not entirely halt her momentum. She forcefully twisted her body to adjust, but her reaction was a fraction of a second too late. The dark blade sliced deep into her lower leg, severing muscle tissue and drawing a fresh spray of crimson blood.
Rina landed awkwardly on her injured limb. Her left eye twitched violently as the sharp agony of the blade blended with the absolute meltdown of her overloaded nervous system.
"Now, Malkov!" the bloodied assassin screamed, his raspy voice echoing through the ruins.
At the sound of his name, the kneeling giant ignored his ruined joints. Using his massive legs, Malkov launched his entire colossal frame forward, initiating a terrifying, full force tackle aimed directly at her crippled body.
The colossal frame of Malkov slammed into her with the unstoppable kinetic force of a runaway bulldozer.
There was absolutely no time to brace. Rina was launched backward through the pitch black air, her body acting as a fragile human projectile. She collided violently with the thick concrete pillar behind her. The sheer concussive impact pulverized the solid stone, sending a massive shockwave of dust and debris exploding outward into the dark.
Her ruined body rebounded off the shattered concrete and crashed heavily onto the ruined floorboards. A sickening, wet cough ripped through her throat. Thick, warm blood spilled past her lips, pooling onto the cracked tiles beneath her face.
This is bad, she calculated through the blinding haze of absolute agony. My body is actively breaking apart.
Relying on pure, suicidal willpower, she planted her trembling hands on the ground and tried to push herself up.
A sudden, deafening gunshot echoed throughout the entire floor.
A high caliber bullet tore directly through her left shoulder, shattering bone and ripping through her enhanced muscle tissue. Rina let out a ragged groan as an intense, burning pain flared through the fresh wound. The kinetic force of the shot dropped her right back onto the cold stone. The brutal efficiency of the syndicate executives working in perfect tandem was proving terrifyingly effective against her isolated position.
"My, my, my. How do you like it, Fang?"
A sharp, elegant voice cut through the settling dust.
"My first gift at our meeting, and it will also be your last."
Rina gritted her teeth. Refusing to die on her stomach, she dragged her broken frame backward, slowly forcing her bleeding shoulders up against the ruined concrete wall to remain upright. Her glowing blue eyes pierced the darkness, searching for the source of the voice.
From the impenetrable shadows of the stairwell, a rhythmic, agonizingly slow sound began to approach. The sharp, methodical click of expensive heels echoed against the concrete with terrifying clarity.
The Secretary finally stepped into the faint streams of moonlight filtering down from the ruined ceiling above. She possessed stark, pale skin that contrasted sharply against her cropped, pitch-black hair. Her eyes were completely devoid of human warmth, featuring chilling, monochromatic black irises that methodically scanned the devastated surroundings.
"Looks like she did quite a number on you, Malkov. And you too, Anatoly," she noted.
She let out a soft, echoing laugh, casually resting the heated barrel of her pistol against her own chin in a display of absolute, mocking arrogance.
"Do not say another word, Dina, or I will cut you up myself," the bloodied assassin threatened, his voice a raspy snarl of fanatic rage.
Shrugging off Anatoly with total indifference, Dina turned her cold gaze back to the bleeding woman slumped against the concrete pillar.
"Are you entirely out of tricks, then? Is this the pathetic end of the renowned Morozov's Fang?" she mocked, her elegant voice dripping with lethal amusement.
Rina did not waste energy on a verbal response. Her breathing was shallow, and her internal biological circuits were practically melted into slag. Slowly, with agonizing, trembling deliberation, she raised her right arm toward the ceiling. She held her open, bloodied palm out into the cold air as if she were a desperate beggar pleading for alms.
Dina narrowed her black eyes in confusion. Then, a single beam of pale moonlight caught the object resting in Rina's hand.
It was a handful of shattered, crimson gemstones.
A heavy, suffocating silence fell over the room. The Antimagic necklace. During the chaotic flurry of close-quarters combat, Rina had not just been dismantling the giant's joints to survive. She had used the brutal physical exchange as a cover to surgically target and crush the artifact restricting her true power.
The oppressive, invisible weight that had been sealing the ambient mana on the floor was completely gone. The air itself began to vibrate with volatile, unrestrained energy.
Rina looked up, her swelling veins throbbing as her blue eyes pierced through the dark with terrifying, deadpan calculation. Her dry, bloodied lips parted.
"Formula Construct."