"Incredible, Jin!" said Oosawa excitedly, the veins on his wrist showing the strength he applied while holding his rope. "You can start your little show!"
I ran, jumping and dodging the flaming ropes coming toward me at an incredibly high speed, managing to hit his shoulder superficially with my sword.
With a single strike, I cut through a large portion of his rope.
Oosawa, extending his left hand forward, pulled the remaining rope from a distance, like in the old superhero movies.
"The moment you need him most, he won't be by your side," he said, hitting me in the stomach with the rope.
"He's the one who saved me after my death!" I responded, piercing part of his rib and making Oosawa spit a bit of blood.
"Do you think he'll save you from the timer?" he asked, staring deeply and pointing to the stopwatch.
Only one second remained.
The sound of the hand reached the end, turning the entire sky red. Below the zero mark was the word "exhausted," followed by the symbol of a crawling animal.
The end of the time granted Oosawa several blessings and completely paralyzed my limbs.
"I thought you'd last longer; apparently, I overestimated you more than I should have," the sin mocked, dragging me across the ground and holding the edge of my jacket. "Let's go to the top floor—it would be a waste to kill you in this room again."
With slow steps, he threw me into the elevator and whistled while waiting, tying his ropes neatly into his pocket and sharpening the same knife he had used to kill me earlier.
We quickly reached the helipad; Kate was helping Ashi and Shizuka recover.
"Jin, it's so good to have you back!" said Kate, still facing away, unaware of the situation.
"No, Kate. He's not alone…" warned Ashi, pointing with a trembling hand toward Oosawa.
The sin kicked me hard enough to send me from the elevator to my friends, a distance of ten meters.
"This guy…" Kate's rage consumed her from the inside out. "Still not satisfied, psychopath?"
"I would've been satisfied if you hadn't looked for me; then I'd leave everyone alive and go to sleep," Oosawa replied, approaching and removing his hood, his blue hair swaying in the wind. "However, my boss wants Jin dead at all costs."
The sky darkened completely; soon, a heavy rain poured from the reddish clouds. The drops felt like bitterness and sadness, the lightning roared like the fear of defeat, and the little sunlight increased the distance to hope.
"I'll handle him," Ashi pulled his revolver and aimed at the head of the sloth.
"Don't talk like it's easy; look at your state," Oosawa mocked with small laughs. "You're scared, never shot a person before."
Ashi's hands trembled more than before; after all, Oosawa was right. That revolver had been found when we were children, in an abandoned house, on our way home from school.
The sweat running down his face revealed the nervousness not only for his life but for his partners' as well. His teeth clenched, and his eyes closed.
The first shot was fired.
The bullet hit the sin's left hand, piercing through it and leaving a hole in his palm. The pain made him drop the rope and make a sour face.
"Bastard! This noise is unbearable!" he exclaimed, covering his ears.
"That was just a warning of what's next!" Ashi tried to escape reality by shooting three more times; however, only one grazed his shin.
My vision slowly closed, hearing only the sound of rain. The ability had activated once again.
All I could see were the four blue walls surrounding me, with a peaceful silence in the room. A bed appeared before me from a black flame; on it lay Oosawa, covered with a yellow blanket, his head resting on a white pillow.
On opposite sides, a door and a window made of dark wood were created, along with two wardrobes and a computer, with keyboard, mouse, and monitor on the desk.
Soon after, someone knocked insistently on the door, shaking the floor, accompanied by construction noises from the window. These disturbances irritated Oosawa's sleep, and he awoke with a bitter expression, placing several rusted metal bars to lock the door.
The metal was under his bed.
He tried to return to his nap, but a bird landed on the window, singing nonstop. The distraction angered him enough to throw a knife at the animal from where he was.
I tried to stop it, but the knife simply passed through my body as if I were a spirit. The blade hit the bird, sending it falling outside.
After this act of cruelty, he smiled, illuminating the dark room. It lasted about a minute until his phone started ringing.
"You again?" he asked as he answered the call. "I already said I'll look for him, but I won't leave the area. The organization promised they'd spare my time."
"Cífero, no need to rush," he said, sitting on the bed, calling the person on the line by a pet name. "I'll sleep to regain my energy. Don't call me again today, understood?"
When he hung up, I returned to the real world.
The sky was gray again. I moved my body, stood up, and saw Oosawa hitting Ashi with his flaming rope, fast enough to do so before I could blink.
"Sorry for the delay, I know you hate waiting if you can't sleep," I said, drawing my sword in the air—a skill I acquired through the voices—and conjuring a strong gust of wind.
"I didn't imagine he'd give you power to bypass the timer," he replied, trying to escape the noise of the wind. "He always had his favorites."
"Jin!" Shizuka shouted joyfully, approaching me.
This time, the battle began.
"Stay behind me and provide cover," I ordered, walking to stand one meter away from the sin.
"Playing the hero?" mocked the sloth.
In less than a second, more fire was added to the tips of the thorns on his rope, swinging it to hit my head. I switched the sword to my other hand and blocked it with my shining arm.
I attacked his neck directly, but before hitting, his rope threw me to the edge of the building.
I saw the high fall ahead.
With just a glance, Oosawa applied a sleepy effect to my friends.
"Take off your jacket and shirt; I need to confirm a hypothesis," the boy asked, dropping the rope. "I won't attack you, trust me."
I did as he asked. His reaction was one of extreme surprise.
"Is this what you wanted to see?" I showed my arm. "It was a gift from Ômega to make me stronger. Hope you liked it."
"Everything to make my job harder," he complained, trying to whip the rope at my leg, but I dodged by running left. "I've seen enough."
The sound of rain and thunder increased, and the fire wouldn't go out. I defended against attacks from all sides, jumping onto the helipad to gain more advantage.
"Admire my new weapon; you'll be honored to be the first to die by it, Jin," said the sloth, crossing his ropes in an X shape and closing his eyes in concentration, turning them into heavy steel chains attached to his wrists.
I jumped, conjuring a new power: a metallic noise from the friction of my wrist against the sword blade, affecting the opponent's nervous system and weighing down his limbs. Loud sounds are Oosawa's weak points.
He groaned, struggling to cover his ears, but the hole in his hand prevented it. With his guard down, I struck his face with my shining arm, making him bleed continuously from the nose.
Distracted, Oosawa hit me on the nape with the chain tip from top to bottom, cracking the ground with the impact. The pain was great but not enough to break my bones.
When he pulled the knife to finish me while I was down, I cut part of his right tendon. This gave me time to flip backward and dodge his attacks.
Even when I thought I was free from his weapons, part of the steel rope hit my back, bringing me close to the sloth again. The iron contained a strong slowing poison. My body grew heavy, and my mind reacted slowly.
Shizuka, waking from Oosawa's ability, grabbed a wooden stake with several nails and, with quick steps, drove it into the sin's back.
"You… will be the first to die!" the boy shouted, turning and punching her in the stomach.
The force of the punch sent her flying off the building.
Instinctively, I ran to save her from the fall. I jumped off the cliff and grabbed her waist mid-air. Extending my shining arm, I developed a new skill: a large spiritual hand that reached out and held the edge of the building.
"Hold tight!" I said, gripping Shizuka firmly. The sensation of floating brought an imminent fear of falling.
Looking up, I could only see Oosawa and his insane aura of murderous instinct; his wrists carried threatening chains ready to strike. His breathing was so intense that you could see his chest expand and contract.
The rain turned into a downpour.
Shizuka closed her eyes, clutching me tightly like a scared child hugging her mother. Ahead of us was a window leading to the penultimate floor, directly into an office filled with Trins of all types.
"Grab something to protect yourself and stay alert; we're going down a bit, Shizuka!" I warned, pushing forward, breaking the window, and falling into the room.
On stable ground, I let go of Shizuka and wielded my sword. The Trins were alert and began rising from their chairs, twenty-eight in total, with marks of different colors, including purple, yellow, black, and blue.
"Are you sure you can handle this?" asked Shizuka, leaning against the wall, sitting.
"Leave it to me. We'll be fast enough to return and defeat Oosawa," I replied confidently, killing the first bluish monster to our left.
With flowing strikes to the Trins' ribs and necks, I eliminated ten in five seconds. My body, once heavy, was now light as a feather; my feet glided across the room, and my blade was precise.
Seventeen remained, all red and thin. Some grabbed chairs and tables, throwing them from a distance; my arm was enough to split the wooden objects in half.
Splinters and fragments fell outside the building.
With just three steps, I crossed the office, over twenty square meters. The sword decapitated each easily, like cutting paper.
When only one remained, the Trin devoured the rest of its partners, growing fat with a small head. Decapitating such a being was impossible; it had no visible neck.
Following me, the creature stayed in the center of the room. I started running around it, ducking and jumping to avoid its throws while creating a large hole.
After one lap, the floor broke, and the Trin fell from the floor, creating a domino effect, killing all the others and the huge being upon hitting the ground floor.
"Much easier, don't you think?" I joked, helping Shizuka up.
"Well, I didn't expect that," she replied, laughing. "Shall we go back? They're waiting."
"Of course, hold my hand," I said. Shizuka did.
Again, I activated the spiritual hand skill and pulled us to the top floor after passing through the broken window.
Oosawa was near Kate, who was still trapped by his ability.
Meanwhile, Ashi had not been affected at all by the sloth's poison, constantly searching in his backpack. When Oosawa began turning toward me, Ashi stood up.
"Returned quickly, haven't you?" said the sin, clashing the chains together and forming a blue flame. "Fast enough to help me reach a new transformation!"
The boy's hair spiked completely, his eyes became blue flames connecting with the lightning in the sky.
Then, as a lightning bolt struck the building, a gunshot rang out.
Ashi coldly hit Oosawa's skull.
The sloth fell; liters of blood poured from his head. His eyes turned white, but his fingers still moved. Ashi breathed through his mouth, terrified, trying to maintain posture.
Only the sound of rain prevailed as I grabbed Oosawa's neck with my shining hand, slowly taking him to the edge where I had dropped Shizuka.
"May Ômega have mercy on your soul, sin of sloth," I said firmly.
Then, I released Oosawa.
The sin was finally dead.