The Incinerator's chest and abdomen were split by this fierce sword strike, skin and muscle peeled back, revealing the frosty blue electronic flow within. These thick, glowing liquids, flickering with numbers, made the Incinerator appear incredibly unreal, like a ghost draped in human skin.
Simon hesitated for a moment, then horizontally swung his sword, severing the hairy-legged man's head.
The massive head flew into the air, spinning and laughing wildly, while the Incinerator's body slumped to the ground. A hoarse whisper emanated from its chest, "Interesting! A successor to an Eastern legendary assassin! Wait for me... zzzt..." The voice gradually faded, like a machine running out of power, finally ending with a few glitchy sounds.
The surrounding Temple Soldiers raised their guns and fired. A torrent of metal bullets, like a thunderous storm, rained down. Simon ducked, appearing like a ghost among the soldiers, his sharp sword sweeping, straight and true, unyielding. His swordplay grew faster and faster, from a trickling stream to a mighty river, finally forming a continuous onslaught, pushing through the hail of bullets and charging the army.
A torrent surged into the mountain forest, trees breaking, and the Temple Soldiers' armor tearing, revealing their inner ethereal blue forms. Transparent, viscous coolant flowed from severed limbs, spreading on the ground, diluted by the rain, and flowing into the sewers, like a pardoned sin.
An endless stream of soldiers was appearing from the city's streets and alleys, armed with elite firearms or various exaggerated cold weapons. Their armor rumbled like rolling rocks down a hillside, advancing with a booming sound.
"You can't kill them all! Retreat!" Skerry shouted.
Simon stopped his swordplay, dodged a falling sledgehammer, and ran close to the ground, pulling Skerry by his hood as they fled. He occasionally swung his sword to deflect stray bullets. After a few leaps and bounds, they scaled a courtyard wall and vanished into an alley.
The Temple Soldiers' helmet crosshairs glowed blue, and they began to systematically encircle Simon and Skerry.
Skerry was yanked into the air and swung like a flag. He shouted, "Running like this is useless!"
Simon looked up and saw the figures of soldiers emerging between the buildings. They showed no signs of losing their trail. "Then what should we do?"
"Eden, Temple Corporation's main AI, has been tracking us. We can't escape its surveillance here!"
"Isn't that a dead end?"
"Go to the safe house, contact Dr. Anseya, she'll help us clear our access records."
Simon didn't know what Eden was, nor did he recognize Dr. Anseya, and he couldn't comprehend what 'clearing access records' meant. In his mind, there was a graceful assassin dancing with a sword, then an electronic ghost moving through the city's steel jungle, the glowing liquid flowing from the Incinerator's body, the blue-glowing helmets of the Temple Soldiers... This world felt a bit too unreal.
He glanced back, and blue liquid also seeped from Skerry's lips, sparkling with unnatural starlight, like blue ink mixed with glitter, or nuclear waste solution.
"Where's the safe house?" He vigorously shook his head, trying to banish the unsettling feeling in his heart.
Skerry complained, "How could you forget that? Alright... first, find a quiet corner, then press the Assassin's Seal in your pocket onto any flat surface."
Boom!
Simon had barely uttered "Alright" when he was overwhelmed by a massive explosion. A shockwave surged from several blocks away, raising a gust of hot air.
Skerry shouted, "Hales! You have to save Antino! His situation isn't looking good!"
In a distant block, a giant virtual screen displayed cool animations, and two human figures flashed past like black dots, leaving trails.
The black-robed assassin, with a pulse propulsion device on his back, fled ahead, while Guillotine, standing on a manta ray-like aircraft, indiscriminately unleashed firepower with a rocket launcher, explosions roaring continuously.
Simon's face almost turned green. "How am I supposed to save him?"
Skerry calmly said, "Send him a signal. He'll try his best to shake off his pursuers, then we'll all go into the safe house together!"
"Okay!"
...
The black-robed assassin suddenly dove, descending rapidly along the cold, brittle glass facade of a skyscraper. The crisp reflections mirrored the night scene. A cyan firework, sparkling brightly, caught his eye. Antino abruptly looked up, seeing a dark blue figure moving against the crowd, carrying a red-robed assassin like a flag.
He chuckled, then glanced back at the relentlessly pursuing Guillotine. He raised his right hand, a virtual screen lighting up. He operated the options with his gaze, selected delayed explosives, then flicked his wrist, and several black metallic spheres flew from his sleeve.
The bombs flew into the air and even deployed small parachutes, drifting like dandelions, carried by the airflow of the manta ray-like aircraft.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Flames shot skyward. The manta ray-like aircraft emerged through the blasts, its surface protected by a light golden spherical energy shield, completely unharmed.
Antino spat, a hint of jealousy in his expression.
He brought his legs together and plunged straight down, diving into large openings in the city streets. These vertical shafts led to the lower residential areas.
Unlike the developed surface, the underground buildings were as cramped as a beehive.
Old houses were stacked like bricks and tiles, illuminated by huge floating sun lamps. The balconies of every household connected to form narrow corridors. Layer upon layer, they extended downwards into unseen depths, and even the sun lamps along the way couldn't penetrate the deepest darkness.
The residents here drank, used LSD, wore VR glasses, and lived like mud. They lay sprawled in their rooms, on balconies, air conditioner units, utility poles, on vomit, on excrement, in all sorts of places, emaciated and indifferent to the outside world.
Antino plunged into this giant labyrinth, moving through the corridors and stairwells of the buildings.
Guillotine tapped his temple with his metal arm, his left eye turning silver, data streams surging.
The world transformed into transparent wireframe structures. Everything seemed inanimate, only the assassin was moving.
Guillotine hummed a metallic tune, like a half-dead duck run over by a truck was stuck in his throat. He raised his laser rifle, gently activated the mechanism, and the rifle transformed, a focuser appearing on the barrel.
He pulled the trigger, energy focused, and a dazzling blue light spilled from the muzzle, but it was still contained.
"Zzz—"
The laser shot out, hissing as it burned the air, penetrating the buildings like an iron shovel piercing through mist, vaporizing concrete and rebar. The muzzle moved, chasing the escaping target, like a terrifying paintbrush, leaving colossal scars on the previously dilapidated world.
Guillotine laughed heartily, watching the moving human figure in his sight being annihilated.
"Ah, that feels good!" He vented, shaking the rifle a few more times until it overloaded and shut down forcibly.
The number of residents who died during this process was uncountable.
A few woke up to find half their bodies, along with their home's floor, gone. They let out a few hoarse, tragic laughs before passing away.
Guillotine surveyed his work with satisfaction, turned to leave, and looked up. At the top of the sinkhole, a black-robed assassin flipped onto the ground, turned back, and gave him a brilliant smile.
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Thank you for following the story this far.
If you want to read the later chapters in advance, I've uploaded more chapters to Patreon.
You can find them here: [patreon.com/Greyhounds]