Chairs, monitors, and office equipment suddenly tore away from the floor, suspended in a chaotic dance of gravity-defying debris.
Telekinesis? Just like Lia, Carter thought, his eyes narrowing.
The swordsman thrust his palm toward Carter, and the whirlwind of furniture hurtled forward like a localized hurricane. Carter didn't hesitate; he leaped into the fray, using the floating desks and monitors as stepping stones to close the distance. He reached the swordsman in seconds, but as their eyes met, he saw a predatory grin.
It was a trap.
With a flick of the swordsman's finger, his discarded blade flew from the floor. It whistled through the air, returning to his grip in a blur of steel. He spun with the momentum, delivering a savage horizontal slash that tore across Carter's chest.
Blood sprayed. Before Carter could counter, the swordsman gestured with his other hand. Several heavy tables slammed into Carter like battering rams, catapulting him through the glass and out of the skyscraper.
Carter plummeted through the freezing night air. He oriented himself like a skydiver, watching the pavement rush up to meet him. Seconds before impact, he murmured, "Dark Faith!"
A pulse of obsidian energy erupted from his core. He hit the asphalt with enough force to crater the street, yet landed perfectly on his feet. High above, the swordsman stood framed in the jagged hole of the broken window, looking down. Carter scanned the street—his men were scattered, broken and unmoving.
"I'm sorry, brothers," Carter whispered, his voice cracking. "I should've saved you."
Then, his eyes flared with a lethal, violet light. With a thunderous push, Carter launched himself back toward the building. The swordsman met him halfway, jumping from the ledge. When their fists collided, the world screamed. A massive shockwave rippled outward, shattering every window, plate, and glass within a twenty-kilometer radius. Houses groaned and car alarms wailed as the pressure wave leveled the surrounding blocks.
Pushed back by the sheer force of the impact, Carter skidded across the pavement while the swordsman slammed into a neighboring wall, clinging to the bricks. Carter thrust his hand forward, manifesting a massive, purplish fist of energy that smashed into the swordsman's face.
The swordsman snarled, gesturing with both hands. Dozens of parked cars rose into the air, raining down on Carter like iron meteors. In response, a violet glow enveloped Carter's arm, morphing into a gargantuan, roaring purple chainsaw. He swung the weapon in a manic arc, cleaving through the falling vehicles as if they were made of paper.
Mid-swing, the swordsman appeared through the smoke, driving his blade toward Carter's throat. Carter ducked, his free hand manifesting a jagged energy blade that buried itself deep into the man's left lung. The swordsman coughed a spray of crimson. Carter moved to finish him, aiming a second blade at the man's neck, but the swordsman spat a mouthful of blood directly into Carter's eyes.
Blinded for a split second, Carter recoiled. The swordsman didn't miss his chance, swinging his steel vertically at Carter's head. Carter dodged by a hair's breadth and countered with a punch so powerful the resulting sonic boom tossed the halved car frames and nearby bodies miles away. The swordsman took the hit, spun with the force of it, and cracked a heavy fist across Carter's jaw.
As they traded blows, Carter shifted his fist into a blade at the last millisecond. The swordsman saw the shimmer of energy and jerked back, but the blade still caught him, tearing the skin from the right side of his face.
The swordsman lunged again, but the ground suddenly erupted. A massive, spectral bear claw of Dark Faith tore through the concrete, mangling the swordsman's side. Before he could recover, Carter conjured a barrage of energy missiles.
The swordsman desperately manipulated the surrounding architecture, pulling houses and debris up to form a makeshift shield, but the missiles were not made of metal—they were pure Dark Faith. They bypassed his magnetic grip and slammed into his defenses. Carter formed a massive energy circle around the man, trapping him in a kill zone. For ten agonizing minutes, the missiles rained down until the shield shattered, and the nearby Space Department buildings collapsed into dust.
Finally, the swordsman fell. He tried to push himself up, but Carter was there, driving a blade of solid energy through the man's heart.
The swordsman coughed more blood, looking up at Carter with a terrifying, serene smile.
Why is he smiling? Carter's heart hammered against his ribs. What does he have left?
"你杀了我...你杀了我...真厉害." (You killed me... impressive,) the man wheezed, his voice bubbling with fluid. "但我还有最后一份礼物."(But I have one last gift.)
Carter sensed the shift in the air and leaped back, but it was too late.
"人体含有铁" (The human body contains iron,) the swordsman whispered.
"我可以改变这些粒子的组成...把它们变成一种病毒.它会从内而外地吞噬你的白细胞" (I can change the composition of the particles... turn them into a viral strain. It will devour your white blood cells from the inside out.)
Carter's knees buckled. He coughed, and his own blood tasted like copper and rot.
"问题是...我还没有完全掌握转换方法." (The problem is... I haven't perfected the conversion,) the swordsman laughed, a wet, rattling sound.
"情况会变得更糟." (It will turn into something... much worse.)
With that final boast, the life faded from his eyes.
Carter felt his consciousness slipping. The world went gray. Blood began to seep from his eyes, his ears, and even his fingertips. As his hearing faded into a dull hum, he saw a pair of white heels clicking toward him across the rubble.
A woman, wearing a black hoodie, with hair as black as night stood over him. She glanced at the dead swordsman and smiled. Slowly, she knelt, pulling a gleaming knife from her pocket. Carter's body was numb, his nerves screaming like someone was pulling them out of him.