Chapter 33: An Imposter
Fwoo...
For a moment, the entire SUV went silent.
Cassian didn't react immediately.
Then—
"Hahaha....!"
He started laughing.
Amused.
"…That's a very good question."
He adjusted his red glasses slowly.
Then answered.
"War."
The word came out simply.
"I fought wars where entire battalions of Savages slaughtered civilians like livestock."
His smile faded slightly.
"I watched cities burn because monsters believed power gave them the right to rule."
He looked around the vehicle.
At the chained prisoners.
"Now I run prisons full of those same monsters."
He leaned closer to Daito.
"So tell me."
"After seeing that…"
His voice dropped.
"…should I be kind?"
Daito stared at him.
Then answered.
"…No."
Cassian nodded.
"Correct."
Then his smile returned.
"But that wasn't part of the game."
Tap...tap
He tapped the metal floor lightly.
"You didn't answer the real question."
Daito's eyes narrowed slightly.
Cassian's voice softened.
"You didn't ask why I'm an asshole."
"But what made me one."
He leaned back comfortably.
"So technically…"
He smiled again.
"…you lose."
Monday sighed slowly.
"…Yeah."
Cassian clapped once.
"Well then."
He looked directly at Daito.
"Your turn to follow the rule."
Daito stayed still.
Cassian pointed at his helmet.
"Remove it."
Silence filled the vehicle.
Monday whispered urgently.
"…Don't."
Cassian's smile remained calm, but his eyes turned cold.
He leaned slightly closer.
"I'll rephrase."
His voice became flat.
"Remove the helmet…"
"…or die."
The soldiers around them shifted uneasily....Daito hesitated for a moment.
Then, slowly reached up his fingers gripped the helmet and removed it.
The metal mask came off revealing his face, Cassian stared at him for a second.
Then smiled wider.
"Well well…"
His voice sounded almost delighted.
"Now that is interesting."
Monday stared at Daito.
"…You're really him."
Cassian stood up slowly.
Stretching his neck.
"Ladies and gentlemen…"
He gestured casually.
"We have an impostor."
Then....Without warning, Cassian moved.
GRAB!
His hand shot forward grabbing Daito by the face, the speed was terrifying.
Before anyone could react—
BOOOOOOM!
Cassian slammed Daito sideways through the armored wall of the SUV.
Metal exploded outward.
SWOOSH!
Daito's body blasted through the vehicle—
CRASH!
SWOOSH!
Then through another SUV beside it—
CRASH!
And another—
SWOOSH!
Crashed across the road in a trail of shattered steel and sparks.
SKREETCH!
The convoy screeched to a halt.
ZWIING! ZWIING!
Alarms blared.
Daito lay across the pavement, bleeding heavily.
Fwoosh.....
Smoke rising from the destroyed vehicles.
Inside the broken transport…Cassian adjusted his coat calmly.
Then looked at Monday, his smile returning.
"…Well."
Tap...tap
He tapped his fingers against the shattered door.
"That was fun."
* * *
The wrecked convoy smoldered beneath the dim tunnel lights outside Gregor Naught.
Metal doors hung loose, SUV roofs had been ripped open, one vehicle leaned sideways against a broken wall.
The explosion from Director Cassian Vanderbi's attack had turned half the convoy into twisted scrap.
Daito's body lay across the pavement several meters away.
Blood dripped slowly from his forehead.
Cassian stepped out of the destroyed SUV as casually as someone leaving a café.
Behind him, the remaining soldiers scrambled out of the damaged vehicles.
One officer looked around in disbelief.
"Sir…"
He gestured to the convoy.
"The SUVs are half destroyed."
He hesitated.
"…They're basically convertibles now."
Cassian glanced at the vehicles.
Then, at the broken metal roofs.
"…Hmm."
He looked mildly unimpressed.
Then, he asked calmly,
"Did the engines die?"
The soldiers checked quickly.
"No sir."
Cassian waved his hand dismissively.
"Then move."
The officer hesitated.
"But sir… the prisoners—"
He glanced nervously at the transport compartments.
"What if they see a chance to escape?"
Cassian slowly turned his head.
His eyes met the soldier's.
Fwoo...
The look alone carried enough pressure to crush the question.
The message was clear, they wouldn't dare.
The soldier immediately straightened.
"YES SIR."
Within seconds, engines roared again.
VRRMM!
The damaged convoy pulled away.
SKREETCH!
Metal scraping against asphalt as the battered SUVs drove off.
Inside them, the restrained Savages sat silently, none of them dared moved nor spoke.
Even Monday Valhalla simply watched through the broken vehicle door as the convoy disappeared into the distance.
Leaving only two figures behind.
Cassian.
And Daito Greyhell.
Cassian walked slowly toward the bleeding Daito.
STEP.....
STEP.....
STEP.....
His shoes echoed softly against the cracked pavement.
He stopped a few feet away and looked around the tunnel.
Cars were scattered everywhere, broken debris filled the road and concrete chunks blocked parts of the lane.
Cassian sighed.
"Look at this mess."
He gestured lazily around them.
"Behold this beloved city."
He pointed down the long tunnel road.
"Cars."
"Rubble."
"Destroyed vehicles."
He shook his head slowly.
"All of this will need to be cleaned."
Then he glanced down at Daito.
"Do you know how much paperwork that causes?"
Daito slowly pushed himself up from the ground.
His mind was racing, but this was the opening.
Cassian continued speaking.
"…And the traffic it will cause tomorrow morning…"
He shook his head again.
"Unacceptable."
Daito's muscles suddenly tightened.
He moved.
SPEED BLITZ!
SWOOSH!
His body exploded forward like a bullet.
In one instant, he vanished from the pavement—
FWIISH!
And appeared behind Cassian.
SHING!
His sword flashed through the air.
A perfect arc, clean, fast, and precise.
Daito spoke sharply.
"You talk too much."
The blade cut straight through Cassian's neck.
Daito felt it,the resistance, the connection.
Steel slicing flesh, it was a perfect strike.
But then—
Fwoo...
Cassian slowly turned his head.
Alive.
Perfectly intact.
No wound, blood, not even a scratch.
He stared directly into Daito's eyes.
Angry.
"What did you just do?"
Daito froze.
His eyes widened.
His brain struggled to process what he was seeing.
Impossible.
I felt the blade connect.
I cut his head off.
Cassian's voice turned colder.
"I asked you something."
He stepped closer.
"I don't like repeating myself."
Daito stepped back instinctively.
His mind spinning.
Cassian tilted his head slightly.
Then casually added,
"Oh."
"By the way."
He pointed toward the broken street below the tunnel.
"Your friends are in trouble."
Daito's eyes snapped toward him.
Cassian sighed.
"Really."
"What's the point of having an invisibility power…"
"…if you're going to wear cologne?"
He smirked.
"It defeats the whole purpose."
Daito's heart skipped.
Cassian tapped his nose.
"I could smell all three of them."
Down below them...Hidden near the tunnel entrance, the camouflaged figures of Avenor, Wei-Wan, and Zachia froze in absolute silence.
Cassian continued calmly.
"Sweet perfume."
"Metal oil."
"And… citrus."
He smiled.
"Very distinctive."
Daito's mind exploded with panic.
"He knows."
He knows exactly where they are.
Cassian stretched his neck slowly.
"Honestly…"
He glanced up toward the tunnel roof.
"…I'm impressed they stayed still this long."
Daito's heart pounded violently.
He had to warn them.
Immediately.
Before Cassian decided to move.
Before—
SWOOSH!
Cassian suddenly vanished.
And Daito realized one terrifying thing.
The real fight had just begun.
* * *
The air inside the broken tunnel was still vibrating from the last impact.
Smoke drifted lazily through the cracked ceiling lights.
For a brief second, Daito Greyhell stood frozen, trying to process what he had just witnessed.
Then—
SWOOSH!
Director Cassian Vanderbi moved.
BOOM!
His fist slammed upward into Daito's guard with monstrous force.
Daito crossed his arms instantly to block—
Fwoo...
But the impact was catastrophic.
SWOOSH!
The punch launched him straight upward like a missile.
BRRRRMM!
CRACK!
The concrete ceiling exploded as his body tore through it.
Chunks of tunnel collapsed inward.
SKREETCH!
BOOOOOOM!
Metal beams snapped.
Daito burst through the roof—
FWOOSH!
And suddenly found himself high above the city.
He crashed onto a massive bridge stretching across the southern district of Gregor Naught.
FWOOSH!
Wind rushed across the open highway.
Below the bridge the city lights flickered in the darkness like a field of distant stars.
SLIDE!
SKKRR!
Daito skidded across the asphalt, carving a deep trench through the road.
Before he could recover, Cassian's voice echoed calmly from below.
"Don't run away."
The rubble beneath the destroyed tunnel shifted.
Cassian slowly stepped out from the shattered opening like a demon walking out of the earth.
"I prefer my prey…"
He stretched his neck lazily.
"…close."
"…and comfortable."
He raised his left hand slowly.
Then—
SWOOSH!
Dragged it downward through the air.
The moment he did the air bent.
FWOOSH!
Daito's body suddenly jerked violently forward.
An invisible force grabbed him, his stomach dropped, the air around him warped and a gravitational pull slammed into his entire body.
Daito's eyes widened.
"—WHAT?!"
The force intensified instantly.
His body accelerated across the bridge.
Faster.....Faster.....Faster.
Like a cannonball fired from a warship—
SWIIISH!
SWOOOOOSH!
Daito was dragged violently through the air toward Cassian.
The impact was brutal.
CRASH!
The asphalt shattered as Daito slammed directly in front of him.
BOOOM!
Dust exploded outward.
Daito coughed violently as he struggled to stand.
His mind raced.
What the hell is this power…?
Gravity manipulation…?
Space distortion…?
What am I fighting?!
Cassian stood over him calmly completely relaxed.
Almost bored.
Daito's hand instinctively reached toward his waist.
Toward his weapon.
The Traditional Blade.
"If I activate the loop…I might buy enough time to think."
His fingers barely touched the hilt—
SWOOSH!
When Cassian vanished.
And reappeared directly in front of him.
FWOOSH!
The speed was absolute.
Cassian leaned down slightly, smiling.
"You know…"
He spoke casually.
"I actually prepared a little surprise for you."
Daito froze.
Cassian's eyes gleamed behind the red lenses.
"At the South Side."
Daito's heart dropped.
The team…
Before the thought could finish...Cassian's leg moved.
One single kick.
It connected with Daito's face.
And the world shattered.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The shockwave erupted across the bridge, Concrete rippled outward like ocean waves, and cars lifted off the ground as if gravity had disappeared.
Metal wreckage flew through the air, street lights snapped, guard rails twisted like paper, and Daito's body blasted across the bridge like a meteor.
Everything in the tunnel and his path followed, Cars, Concrete, Rubble even Steel.
The entire bridge looked like a hurricane had just passed through.
Then...Silence.
Back near the tunnel entrance—
Fwoo...
The road was completely empty.
No cars, debris, not even rubble.
Just smooth asphalt, perfectly clean.
Cassian looked around slowly.
CLAP!
Then, clapped his hands once.
"Beautiful."
He nodded proudly.
"Cleanup complete."
He reached into his coat pocket, pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and took a slow drag.
Smoke drifted lazily into the night air.
Cassian exhaled calmly.
"…Now then."
His red glasses reflected the distant glow of the South Side district.
Where Daito's friends were hidden.
His smile widened slightly.
"Let's see how the others are doing."
To be continued...