The chaos inside the Palace continued.
Gunfire, blows, screams, and blood blended into a single mass of noise. But in the middle of it all, the dance floor seemed to empty out for Aiden. In front of him wasn't a man, but a wall.
That's how he perceived it.
The Exterminator stood there, motionless, watching him.
Aiden's fists trembled. He swallowed.
If I don't face him now, he thought, this is going to haunt me for the rest of my life.
He planted his back foot hard. He felt tension surge through his body, concentrating in his leg. And then he released everything.
He jumped.
The movement was identical to his first fight: the same frontal attack, loaded with momentum. In the air, Aiden moved in a straight line.
The Exterminator saw him coming and barely tilted his head.
This idiot didn't learn anything, he thought.
He rotated his torso with precision, ready to repeat his counterattack. He waited for the exact moment to use Aiden's own inertia against him.
But then… something changed.
The noise vanished.
In the middle of the shootout, the screams, and metal crashing, the air grew heavy, silent. The Exterminator felt it before he understood it.
He saw it.
Aiden's gaze shifted mid-jump. His eyes turned, locking with his. And for a fraction of a second, barely perceptible, a green flash ran along the edge of his iris.
A fleeting ring. Unsettling.
Aiden brought his foot forward. He set the tip down just before impact, using that tiny adjustment to rotate his body. The Exterminator's strike grazed past him, missing by centimeters.
The Exterminator's eyes widened, surprised.
In the same motion, Aiden planted his other foot behind him. He unloaded all his weight, all his rotation, all the stored energy.
And threw the punch.
An uppercut straight to the chin.
The impact was clean, brutal. The Exterminator stumbled back a couple of steps before regaining his balance. He shook his head, disbelieving, as the noise of the Palace snapped back into place.
"What was that…?" he murmured.
Aiden also stepped back. His chest rose and fell violently. Adrenaline flooded him completely.
Who would've thought… he thought. It works? Thinking before attacking.
He raised his guard, still trembling.
The Exterminator stayed still for a moment, assessing what had happened. Then he slowly turned toward Aiden, who still looked surprised by his own result.
"Tell me something, kid," he said at last. "How did you do that?"
Aiden let out a crooked, almost nervous smile, like what he was about to say sounded even stupider than it already did in his head. He took a breath.
"I understood your message. I followed your advice.
Since our last encounter I trained… I pushed myself to get stronger.
Every day I watched fighting tutorials on YouTube."
For a few seconds, the Exterminator didn't respond. Then he frowned.
"This has to be a joke."
His voice hardened, loaded with anger.
"You know what enrages me most about you? That you're a kid playing at being a hero. You think strength comes without paying anything… as if there are no consequences."
He started walking toward Aiden, slow, steady.
Aiden tensed, but he didn't back away.
"Maybe I don't need to lose everything to be strong," he replied, voice firm despite the tremor in his hands.
The Exterminator clenched his fist and took another step.
"You still think you get to choose how much you lose," he said. "The world doesn't work like that."
He lunged, closing the distance in a blink.
"And you might find that out soon."
While chaos kept devouring the inside of the Palace, outside the violence didn't lag behind.
Between concrete walls and massive columns of the underground parking structure, gunshots thundered like trapped storms. The echo multiplied, bouncing through the corridors, making it impossible to tell where each shot came from.
Kael moved with determination, cutting the distance between himself and the Accountant, who was being escorted by two guards. Each step was a race against time.
The Accountant raised a hand and pointed at one of them. The order was clear.
The guard peeled off from the group and opened fire immediately, forcing Kael to throw himself against a concrete wall. Bullets struck centimeters from his head, ripping out dust and gravel. To his side, a fire extinguisher hanging from the pillar vibrated with each impact, swinging violently as the whistle of gunfire filled the garage.
Kael stayed in cover, breathing with forced calm. He waited. Counted in his head.
Then the fire stopped.
Silence.
The guard, convinced Kael had run out of ammo, began advancing cautiously, step by step, lifting the weapon, sure of his advantage.
Kael smiled faintly.
When he got close enough, Kael slid his gun past the edge of the wall and fired without hesitation. The shots were accurate, fast, precise. The guard's body dropped before he could react.
Kael walked up and finished him without stopping.
Then he moved again.
The Accountant was still ahead, and Kael had no intention of letting him slip away.
In the middle of the dance floor chaos, the detonations cut through like lightning, standing out even above the shootout and the screams. Aiden barely had time to process it: the Exterminator's attacks came one after another, precise, sharp, like spears.
Aiden backed up under the pressure. He forced his body to loosen.
Think.
Several blows landed cleanly. One knocked the air out of his lungs, bending him for an instant. The next was already on its way.
In a fraction of a second, Aiden calculated the speed. The trajectory. The impact point.
He raised his forearm.
The strike slammed into his guard with a dry crack. The impact ran through his arm into his shoulder, but he didn't drop.
Now… he thought.
He tried to counter, twisting his body with force, but he overcommitted. The Exterminator wasn't there anymore. His punch cut air.
Aiden frowned and unleashed a flurry, one after another. None connected.
Still too many…
He breathed in hard.
Reduce. Focus.
He slowed his rhythm. Adjusted his movement. The last punch barely grazed the Exterminator's cheek, carving a red line into his skin.
The Exterminator clicked his tongue.
Without warning, he drove a punch straight into Aiden's chest.
The impact was brutal. Aiden flew several meters, crashing into overturned tables and bodies fighting without noticing him fall. He rolled and pushed himself up immediately, shaking off dust.
No rest.
The Exterminator advanced, and his gaze had changed, and he only said:
"Rhythm break."
His body became unpredictable. He hopped sideways, loading his weight onto one leg to launch himself to the other side, landing on the opposite leg and repeating the motion in a violent sway. He wasn't running. He wasn't attacking yet.
He was moving.
Each hop shortened the distance.
Aiden loosened his shoulders. Focused his eyes.
And reacted.
His body moved before he could think. He hopped side to side, copying the displacement almost on instinct. The weight shifted, the momentum aligned.
The edge of his iris lit again with a green flash.
They both advanced.
And collided.
Their fists met in midair, releasing a violent burst that shook the space between them.
The Exterminator stepped back.
Just one.
That movement…
He watched Aiden with cold attention.
He doesn't even realize it.
He's imitating combat styles without perceiving it.
The Exterminator moved again and, without giving him time to react, landed a punch straight into Aiden's face. The impact slammed him to the ground.
I have to end this fast, he thought.
If I let him keep going… he could become a problem.
In front of a dark car, the Accountant and the last guard finally arrived. The man pulled out the keys and leaned to open the door when something metallic clattered on the concrete, rolling toward them.
The sound was unmistakable.
The Accountant turned, eyes wide.
"That son of a bitch…"
Kael emerged from the shadows. Without stopping, he raised his weapon and fired straight at the fire extinguisher he'd kicked seconds earlier. The shot made it burst into a thick cloud of white powder that flooded the garage. The cylinder shot away, spinning across the floor like an uncontrolled projectile.
Visibility vanished.
"Shoot!" the guard shouted, firing blindly.
The shots disappeared into the cloud.
Kael advanced without hesitation. He burst out of the white curtain and caught the guard's armed arm before he could react. He twisted it with brutal force, making him drop the weapon, and slammed him into the ground. One blow with the butt of the gun to the face was enough to knock him out.
Everything happened in seconds.
The Accountant lunged for the fallen gun. His fingers barely brushed the metal when a shot stopped him cold.
The impact tore through his forearm.
He screamed.
A second shot shattered his foot, dropping him to his knees against the side of the car.
"You're not going anywhere like that," Kael said, advancing with the barrel still smoking.
He grabbed him by the collar and smashed him against the vehicle. The metal vibrated with the impact.
"Listen to me," he growled. "A lot of people died because of those explosions. And the only one who can give me answers is Cobra. Where do I find him?"
He pressed the wound in his arm without mercy while the gun barrel dug into his face.
The Accountant let out a choked laugh.
"I don't even know where he is," he spat, blood in his mouth. "But I'll tell you something."
Kael didn't ease up.
"There are other warehouses. One on Atlas Avenue. Another on South Ring Road. Like the one you blew to pieces."
"Every Tuesday a shipment arrives. Always."
"If you follow the routes… maybe you'll find out where it all comes from."
He lifted his gaze, eyes shining with something close to pride.
"And when you do… Cobra will find you first. And he'll destroy you."
Kael clenched his jaw.
"Don't think you're getting out of this unpunished."
The Accountant smiled.
"I'm already a dead man," he whispered. "When he finds out I talked, he won't just come for me… but for everyone who was ever connected to me."
Suddenly, he grabbed Kael's wrist with unexpected strength. Before Kael could react, he yanked the gun toward himself.
A dry shot cracked the air.
The Accountant's body slumped against the car, inert.
Kael took a step back. Then another, trying to process what had just happened. He lowered the weapon slowly.
"I never thought you'd choose this…" he murmured.
He looked at the body one last time.
"But I guess it was the consequence of the road you took."
Without another word, he disappeared toward the parking exit, leaving behind the echo of the shot… and everything that had just been set in motion.
Up in the Palace, the clash continued.
Aiden managed to land another blow to the Exterminator's side. The impact was clean, precise. But it didn't last: the response came instantly.
A fast, brutal combination forced him back. Aiden staggered, barely keeping his balance as hits rained down one after another. The Exterminator advanced nonstop, closing space with a calculated sequence of attacks.
Aiden breathed in deep. Relaxed his shoulders.
And reacted.
He imitated the movements.
Fist to fist. Strike after strike. His arms moved almost on instinct, copying the rhythm, the angle, the intent. For an instant, the exchange seemed even.
But it was only an illusion.
On the last clash, the Exterminator made a tiny adjustment: a slight wrist turn, barely a deviation.
Aiden's punch sailed past.
And the counter hit him square in the face.
The blow launched him through the air. His body flew into the third level, crashing hard, rolling violently before coming to rest among shattered glass and bent metal.
The Exterminator walked toward him with absolute calm.
"Did you really think that by copying my movements you could beat me?" he said, looking down at him.
"The techniques you're trying to use were born from hunger… from war… from watching the people I cared about die."
Aiden tried to sit up. Another hit forced him back, pinning him to the floor.
"I've spent years perfecting them," the Exterminator continued. "You've had moments… and still you think you're worthy of using them."
Aiden managed to straighten a little. He spat blood. Wiped his face with the back of his hand and lifted his eyes.
"I don't care about being worthy," he replied.
The Exterminator watched him coldly.
"You fight only for yourself," he added. "You fight so you don't feel small in this world."
Aiden didn't respond.
Inside, he knew it: he couldn't win. If this continued, the Exterminator would kill him.
The Exterminator lunged again.
Aiden tried to hold through the next exchange. Their strikes collided again, but this time he was completely overwhelmed. A brutal hit lifted him off the ground.
The Exterminator jumped after him.
The finisher came down in the air.
Aiden's body slammed into the floor violently, face down. Pain tore through him. He could barely breathe.
Something pressed against his side.
Confused, he felt for it with difficulty.
Cylindrical.
The Exterminator stepped closer, confident of victory.
"Real strength is born when you have nothing left to fight for… and you still decide to get up."
Then Aiden remembered.
The grenade.
Maybe… he thought, this is my only chance.
Still face down, he fumbled it out. His fingers trembled.
"How the hell do you activate this…?" he murmured.
The Exterminator raised his arm for the final blow.
"When that day comes," he declared, "you'll remember my words."
Aiden rolled with effort. His fingers found the pin.
"Maybe…" he whispered. "But not today."
He pulled the trigger.
A violent flash exploded through the air.
The light blinded everyone. The Exterminator recoiled on instinct, covering his face.
Aiden didn't waste time. He forced himself upright and ran. He smashed through one of the third-floor windows without slowing down. The glass burst into a thousand fragments as he spread his wings.
"Shit… I didn't think this through!" he shouted.
He glided for only a few seconds.
Then he lost control.
His body slammed into several cars on the street, rolling until he ended up sprawled among dented metal and broken glass.
With a groan, he got to his feet.
"Not yet…" he said, limping. "I still don't have this under control."
He stumbled away as best he could.
From the destroyed window, the Exterminator watched the scene in silence.
That kid… he thought, is full of surprises.
He turned away.
"Next time we meet," he murmured, "will be the last."