Down on the stone floor, Izuno sat paralyzed on the cold stone, his eyes locked in sheer terror with Susie’s unblinking chilling gaze.
Footsteps slammed against the ground as Asaki closed the remaining distance, his face twisted in pure rage. He lunged forward, grabbing Izuno violently by the collar and hauling him upward.
"You absolute bastard!" Asaki screamed, his voice echoing off the cavern walls as he reared back his fist. "HOW DARE YOU PULL THIS SHIT?! YOU TRAITOROUS PIECE OF TRASH!"
Izuno squeezed his eyes shut, sweating profusely as he braced himself for the beating, taking every harsh word without a sound.
"You sold us out to the enemy! Didn't you?! After all we've been through from the start!
Just as Asaki finished screaming, Susie stepped smoothly into their space.
Asaki snapped his eyes upward toward her and instantly caught a devastating, open-handed blow straight to the face.
Crack.
The force him tumbled backward, sprawling onto the stone as blood sprayed from his nose. Groaning in shock, he clutched his bleeding face, struggling to swallow his rage and keep his composure under her gaze.
Susie’s voice cut through the air like ice, flat and terrifying. "Compose yourself."
Asaki gasped, biting back his fury and pinching his bloody nose as he forced his rational emotions back into check.
Susie turned her piercing glare back to Izuno, who was still shaking like a leaf. "On your feet." Her voice commanded obedience. Izuno scrambled clumsily to his feet, trembling like a leaf. Before he could stabilize, she grabbed the front of his shirt, yanking him violently close.
"Where are they?" Susie demanded, her voice cutting through the air.
Izuno stammered, his eyes darting frantically. "W-what... what do you mean?"
Susie slowly turned her head, casting a side-long glance down at Bobo, who was still sitting frozen on the stone floor. A cold realization dawned in her eyes. "They came for their friend. This means they've already infiltrated territory."
Around them, the remaining Harumachi boys began tightening the circle, gathering in close.
Susie tightened her grip on Izuno’s collar. "I'll ask again, Where...are...they?"
Izuno’s mental walls completely shattered. He threw his hands up, tears pooling in his eyes as he broke down. "I don't know what you're talking about! I swear! I swear I don't know!"
"Fine then," Susie whispered, a dangerous edge sharpening her voice. "Guess I'll make you talk."
Immediately, a brilliant, luminous light green began to pulse and flow visibly through the veins of her arm the unmistakable signal of active seikon energy. With a chilling rasp, her fingernails elongated and rapidly morphed into razor-sharp, lethal claws.
Izuno let out a high-pitched shriek. Bobo watched in absolute horror from the corner. Just as Susie raised her hand to strike, a small, wrapped paper cylinder dropped right in between them.
Clink.
Everyone froze. A dead silence blanketed the group as their eyes dropped to the object.
Susie blinked. "What the hell?"
FWOOSH!
The smoke bomb detonated instantly, billowing a massive, blinding cloud of thick white smoke that choked the chamber in seconds amid a chorus of coughing.
"THEY'RE HERE!" Susie shouted through the haze. "STAY ON YOUR GUARD!"
From the high balcony above, a dark figure dropped fast, rappelling down on a rope straight into the chaos.
One of the Harumachi enforcers whirled around blindly. "Over here!"
Before he could finish, a brutal, direct blow smashed into his face, sending him flying backward.
Two more guards rushed toward the sound, charging into the fog. But the figure slipped ghost-like right between them. As the guard on the left turned, a powerful punch caught him square in the jaw. The guard on the right instinctively spun around, bringing a heavy tactical axe sweeping through the air.
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The figure ducked low, letting the weapon sail overhead, and drove a vicious uppercut from below. The guard’s feet left the ground as he crashed backward with a heavy thud.
Off to the side, a terrified whimper cut through the haze.
The figure pivoted sharply toward the sound, rushing through the rolling smoke until he dropped down beside the trembling figure huddled on the ground.
"Hey, Bobo! Bobo!"
Bobo blinked through the stinging smoke, his terrified face suddenly catching sight of the familiar features staring back at him. His eyes brightened in utter shock. "Kairo.. wait is that...?!"
"Yeah, it's me!" Kairo panted, grabbing Bobo by the arm. "Come on, get up! Let's get out of here!"
"Wait, what's going on?!"
"No time to explain, we gotta make a run for it!" He yelled.
Even as Kairo pulled him up, Bobo’s eyes suddenly widened in horror. Through the swirling white haze, he caught the lethal silhouette of a figure lunging from behind.
"KAIRO! WATCH OUT, BEHIND YOU!" Bobo screamed.
Kairo whipped his head around, but it was already too late. A flash of razor-sharp claws tore through the smoke, moving with lethal speed. With no time to counter, Kairo instinctively threw both hands up to shield his face.
Slash!
The kinetic impact of the claw strike caught him dead-on, sending him violently hurtling sideways through the air. He slammed hard against a massive stone pillar with a sickening thud, a fresh spray of blood bursting from his mouth as he crumpled to the floor.
.................................
A sharp, agonized gasp tore from Kairo’s throat as his spine connected with the stone.
As the thick white cloud of smoke slowly began to thin and drift away, a single figure stepped out from the haze. Susie moved with cold, predatory grace, one hand casually gripping her opposite wrist as she looked down at him.
"So..." she murmured, her voice laced with chilling amusement. "You're the Kairo he's been so fond of!"
Gritting his teeth against the searing pain in his shoulder, Kairo slowly forced his head up, his glare locking onto her. "S-sorry," he wheezed, tasting copper on his tongue. "No idea what you're talking about."
Before he could blink, Susie closed the distance. With a swift, brutal shove, she slammed his body back against the pillar, pressing him hard into the stone as she leaned in close, her eyes narrowing into dangerous slits.
"Tell me," she whispered, her voice dropping to a lethal hum. "I know you're not alone. Where are the rest of you?"
Kairo screamed as her razor-sharp nails dug deep into his collar and shoulder, the pain radiating like fire through his chest. Gritting his teeth until his jaw ached, he slowly, imperceptibly raised one hand keeping his movements sluggish so she wouldn't suspect a thing.
Susie’s eyes tracked his trembling hand as it inched closer to her, unaware of what he was planning.
Suddenly, Kairo’s fingers clenched into the fabric of her collar. With a sharp, desperate wrench, he yanked her violently toward him. Before she could process the movement, Kairo drove his forehead straight forward, smashing his skull directly into her face.
Crack.
Taken completely off guard, Susie stumbled backward, releasing her grip. She pressed a hand to her nose, hissing sharply as a curse slipped past her lips. "Son of a..." She pulled her hand away, glaring down at her fingers to check for blood.
Down on the stone floor, Kairo hunched over, gasping for air as his chest burned.
Heavy footsteps echoed through the chamber as Asaki and one of the surviving guards rushed over, breathless and panicked. "Miss. Susie... ARE YOU OKAY?!"
Without even turning her head to look at them, Susie raised a hand, waving them off. "I'm fine. Leave this one to me." She pointed a sharp finger toward the back. "Take the new recruits to another chamber, send the alarm, and deploy the scout team out. I'm certain the rest of his little group is still hiding somewhere in this territory."
The two guys nodded quickly and scrambled away.
Susie’s eyes snapped back down to Kairo, who was clutching his bleeding shoulder as he forced himself up onto shaking legs. His eyes darted frantically across the floor, searching for anything any weapon to level the playing field.
A few yards away, the tactical axe from the fallen guard lay half-hidden in the dust.
Susie watched the desperate calculation in his eyes, the cold tone on her lips. "You know... you and your little group have cost us a massive headache. Your little reputation got in the way of everything."
Kairo panted, pressing a hand against his ribs as he forced his weight onto his feet. "What... what are you talking about?"
"The faction," she continued smoothly, her seikon energy beginning to pulse faintly along her skin. "We were supposed to move forward without a hitch. Whatever personal grudges you have against Harumachi... it became an active hindrance to our primary objective."
Kairo's eyes widened slightly as the pieces clicked together. "You mean... claiming all the territories."
"That's right," Susie spat, her expression turning vicious. "And bringing you to an end right here will serve as the ultimate purge for the faction."
Instantly, light green seikon energy flared violently across her veins. Her fingernails elongated into jagged, steel-like claws. She dropped low, coiling her muscles into a predatory tiger stance, ready to spring.
Knowing he had a split second, Kairo didn't hesitate. He burst forward, legs pumping as he sprinted hard toward the axe lying on the ground.
He lunged, his hand stretching out desperately toward the handle
Thud-shatter.
With two powerful leaps off the stone floor, Susie exploded into the air, kicking off the dust in a blinding burst of speed. She vaulted directly over Kairo’s head mid-stride.
Before Kairo's fingers could even graze the handle of the axe on the ground, a hand shot down from above. Susie’s razor-sharp claws locked firmly into his ponytail.
Using his own momentum against him, her body dipped into a fluid, front-flipping somersault in mid-air. As she rolled forward, she yanked upward with terrifying strength, hoisting Kairo completely off his feet and spinning him head-over-heels into a violent, high-speed somersault of his own.
A terrified scream tore from Kairo’s throat as she threw his body forward like a missile.
CRASH!
He smashed violently through the stone wall, shattering the rock face and sending shockwaves rippling through the supporting pillars as he dropped to the ground, broken and drowning in agonizing pain.