The wind howled fiercely across the rooftop of the unfinished skyscraper. Xero pulled his eye away from the sniper scope. The black beast—Abir's **H2R**—had just screeched to a halt at the base of the building after tearing down the highway at 300 km/h. Calmly, Xero set his sniper rifle aside and drew two tactical combat knives from his belt. He knew Abir Khan was no ordinary street fighter.
Exactly two minutes later, the heavy iron rooftop door shattered inward from a brutal kick. Abir stood in the doorway, his helmet visor flipped up, his eyes burning with lethal intent.
"You're fast, Abir Khan," Xero said, his voice terrifyingly steady. "I admire your timing. Too bad this is the final ride of your life."
"I sent a message to Draco through Luke," Abir replied, stepping onto the concrete roof. "He clearly forgot to mention that anyone who enters my city with a weapon leaves in a body bag."
In a flash of movement, Xero lunged forward, his blade slashing directly toward Abir's throat. Abir dodged by a mere millimeter, countering instantly with a devastating right hook to Xero's jaw. The assassin stumbled back a few paces, but his expression remained completely blank. He wiped a drop of blood from his lip and smirked.
What followed was a brutal dance of death under the night sky—a clash between Xero's military martial arts and Abir's lethal street-fighting style. Xero's blade managed to slice through the sleeve of Abir's leather jacket, drawing blood. Ignoring the pain, Abir caught Xero in a devastating arm-lock and slammed him violently against the rooftop's concrete ledge.
The tactical knife slipped from Xero's grip, clattering into the darkness below. Pinned against the ledge, Xero breathed heavily but showed no fear. Abir drew his sidearm, pressing the cold barrel directly between Xero's eyes.
"Game over, Xero," Abir growled.
Instead of begging, Xero let out a sickening laugh. He slipped his free hand into his trench coat, pulling out a small remote detonator with a blinking red light.
"The game is just beginning, Abir," Xero whispered, his eyes gleaming. "While you were busy hunting me, my proximity C4 charges were armed in your estate's basement. Arisa is trapped inside. Now choose—do you end me, or do you run back to save your Queen?"
Abir's heart stopped for a fraction of a second. Seizing the momentary distraction, Xero delivered a brutal kick to Abir's chest, throwing him backward. In a fluid motion, Xero clipped himself onto a pre-installed zipline and slid down into the dark abyss of the city skyline, shouting back: "See you next time, Abir!"
---