Zeze now stood where Jinhwan had just been moments before. He turned his head slowly, and his gaze landed on Koko.
Her eyes were wide, frozen in shock. Sweat ran down her temples. She hadn't moved.
Zeze tilted his head.
"What are you doing? At least try to survive."
One of his limbs lashed out with a sickening speed, stabbing into Koko's left side.
The force sent her flying through the air. She hit the ground hard several meters away, rolling once before falling still. Her eyes were closed. Her body is motionless.
"What a weak girl," Zeze muttered coldly, returning to where he had sent Jinhwan flying.
Suddenly, something shot toward him at incredible speed from the thick cloud of dust.
Zeze's eyes flicked up just in time.
One of his limbs snapped in front of him, intercepting the object with a sharp clang.
His gaze dropped to the ground.
It was a piece of broken concrete.
A second later, another chunk flew at him. Then another. And another.
They came one after another, accelerating with each shot, slicing through the air like bullets. Each one targeted with frightening precision.
Zeze's four active limbs worked fast, two on each side moving like a shield wall, blocking every projectile in a blur of motion. Concrete shattered in mid-air, fragments scattering like sparks.
But the two lower limbs, still tucked near his sides, remained motionless.
Then one of his limbs was sliced clean off.
It spiralled into the sky, dark fluid trailing behind it.
Zeze's eyes widened.
Pain bloomed through his side where the limb had been severed. Blood sprayed from the wound, staining the cracked ground below.
In that moment, he saw him, Jinhwan.
He was already in front of Zeze, moving fast and low, hidden behind the chaos of flying debris. Zeze had been so focused on the concrete, he didn't see him coming.
"Damn you!" Zeze roared, his voice shaking with pain. In an instant, three more of his limbs lunged toward Jinhwan.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Jinhwan blocked all three, sparks flashing as his twin daggers met the strikes head-on. Zeze's rhythm was off now, his movements slower, sloppier from the pain. And in that brief opening, Jinhwan could finally match his speed.
Zeze snarled, his spider-like limbs whipping through the air with renewed fury. Despite the pain, despite the blood dripping from his side, his strikes came fast, brutal arcs that could shatter stone.
Jinhwan didn't flinch.
Clang!
A limb slashed downward, and Jinhwan raised both daggers in a cross, catching the blow above his head. The force pushed him a step back, feet skidding against the cracked ground.
Another limb came from the side.
Whoosh, clang!
He pivoted, twisting his body, one dagger catching the limb while the other swept up to deflect a second blow from the right.
Zeze grinned, blood on his teeth.
He sent a third limb low, trying to sweep Jinhwan's legs.
Jinhwan jumped, spun mid-air, and brought one dagger slicing down at the incoming limb.
Slash!
A shallow cut opened on the limb's surface, and Zeze hissed in pain.
As Jinhwan landed, Zeze brought both upper limbs crashing down like twin hammers.
Boom!
Jinhwan rolled aside just in time, the limbs slamming into the ground where he'd stood, cracking the stone beneath them. Dust burst upward.
Through it, Jinhwan lunged forward again, both daggers flashing.
Clang! Clang! Slice!
One dagger struck the base of a limb, metal met chitin, sparks flying. The second dagger curved upward, slicing across another limb's edge. Zeze jerked it back with a hiss, blood spraying once more.
They moved in a deadly rhythm, strike, block, counter, cut.
Zeze's limbs lashed like scythes.
Jinhwan's daggers danced like lightning.
Back and forth. Blow for blow.
Neither side is letting up.
But Jinhwan was gaining ground.
His steps were sharper now, more fluid. His breathing is even. Each deflection smoother than the last, each counterstrike inching closer to breaking through Zeze's monstrous defence.
Suddenly, without warning, the four limbs that had been idle all this time snapped to life.
Before Jinhwan could react, they shot out like striking vipers.
Thwip! Thwip!
Webbing burst from their tips, thick, sticky strands wrapping around his wrists and ankles mid-step.
His eyes widened as his limbs were yanked in opposite directions.
He was pulled into the air like a puppet, suspended helplessly, the daggers slipping slightly in his hands then.
Crash!
Zeze spun his body with brutal force, swinging Jinhwan through the air like a ragdoll and slamming him into the ground.
Crack!
The earth beneath Jinhwan split from the impact. His back arched in pain, and the breath was ripped from his lungs.
Wham! He spun again, another throw.
Jinhwan's body hit the side of a broken vehicle, crumpling the metal like paper.
Wham!
Another spin. This time into a chunk of fallen concrete, splitting it on impact.
Jinhwan's grip slipped, and both daggers dropped, clattering uselessly across the dust and rubble.
Blood sprayed from his mouth as his ribs cracked under the repeated blows.
His arm twisted unnaturally from the last hit, bone shattered.
Zeze's limbs jerked him up once more, dangling him in the air, broken and gasping, web-covered like a caught animal.
Jinhwan's glowing blue eyes were dimming now, flickering like a dying flame. His body hung limp, bleeding from multiple wounds. Cuts across his chest and face, deep bruises already spreading across his arms and torso.
Another slam into the ground.
Then silence.
The dust settled.
Zeze stood still towering over him.
Jinhwan lay in the dirt, arms and legs still bound, twitching faintly. His blood soaked into the cracked earth.
Looks like that's it for me.
Jinhwan's thoughts drifted as he lay there, body broken, breath shallow.
Back then, I had healing potions. I could get back up.
But now. there's nothing. I can barely move my hand.
The webs wrapped tightly around his arms, thick and suffocating, draining what little strength he had left.
Even healing wouldn't help.. These webs, they're layered with something. They're choking off my mana. I can't keep my flow stable... and it's making me weaker by the second.
His glowing eyes faded back to normal, dull, exhausted.
The light in his veins dimmed, his chest rose and fell in slow, ragged intervals.
So this is it..
He stared up at the crimson sky, blinking through blood and dust.
I never really thought about dying. But now I'm wondering… what happens to all of it?
To the wealth I left behind.
To the people around me..
To Sync...
To Se-young....
His vision blurred...
His eyes fluttered shut....
But then something shifted....
A strange warmth stirred deep inside him. The pressure on his nerves lessened. The sharp, biting pain that had wracked his body seconds ago... was fading.
His muscles stopped trembling.
His breathing steadied.
The pain was gone. Bones, he could feel them knitting back together. Torn flesh sealed. Buried strength returning.
In just seconds, he felt whole again.
No he was feeling stronger than before.
Jinhwan's eyes shot open, blazing once more with blue light. His veins lit up with renewed force, mana surging back into him like a flood unleashed.
Zeze blinked. Before he could react, Jinhwan pushed off the ground with raw, explosive strength. He reached down, grabbed the webbing wrapped around his legs, and ripped it clean off.
With a fluid twist, he spun on his heel. CRACK!
His leg whipped around in a full arc, crashing square into Zeze's side.
BOOM!
The hit sent Zeze flying, his body hurtling like a missile through the air. He smashed through the side of a ruined building, stone and steel exploding in a cloud of rubble.
The entire structure groaned, then collapsed in on itself.
Jinhwan stood there, breath slow and steady.
[Episode 40 End]