Crack… crack…
The ground beneath the tip of the closed umbrella split until the earth gave way with a brittle snap. Yet, the umbrella remained intact, and the two figures remained unfazed.
"Oh?" the blindfolded woman mused, tilting her head as the back of her hand rose to her lips. "I didn't think the Janitor would make an appearance tonight. Zone Zero actually sent their mutt out? Thought they buried you after the incident in the Noxhelm Quarantine."
The Janitor—also known as the Dog of Zone Zero—Stefan, barely glanced at the woman who was keeping his umbrella still. His gaze cut past them, sharp and unbothered, as if the Type Xs weren't even worth acknowledging.
He turned his head to the side, setting his focus on the true threat in this place.
That kid.
Mikel Graves.
Stefan blinked slowly, his gaze falling on the boy's arms—coated in black, smoking liquid. The scent of burnt flesh tainted the air. Scriptures had seared themselves into his face and limbs, blood soaking his ripped clothes as proof that he was bleeding both inside and out.
Each time Mikel panted, a fog escaped his mouth—not because it was cold, but because he was burning from within.
This kid is going to die.
No—he should've already been dead in that wretched state. Yet there he was, standing. Eyes glowing, locked on them as if Stefan was just another thing to burn.
Stefan's mouth drew into a thin line.
But before he could speak—even if he didn't plan to—another figure appeared behind him.
The man in the tank top clapped his hands together, arms raised, aiming to crush Stefan's skull from above. Yet Stefan remained unmoved. He stood still, silver eyes never leaving Mikel.
"Try cleaning up your own shattered skull, dog!"
Unfazed by the mockery or the incoming strike, Stefan raised a finger and pointed at Mikel.
"Do not move—" he began, but Mikel had already vanished, reappearing at the tank top man's side.
The man's ribs rippled as Mikel's foot slammed into him, black scripture flaring beneath the sole of his shoe before launching the man across the field.
BOOGSH!
A low gust rolled past Stefan and the blindfolded woman, both utterly unfazed by the clash unfolding inches away.
She chuckled. "Aren't they interesting?"
Stefan glanced at her, disinterested. On his next breath, the woman leapt away from him.
"I'm not done with you," Mikel panted, standing meters away with his back to them. His eyes stayed on the man he'd just launched. "Don't you dare look away while I'm still standing."
The man rose from the crater he'd made. A large chunk of his side was gone, but unlike his melting head, it regenerated, returning whole. A vein bulged on his forehead as he glared between Stefan behind Mikel, and the brat who refused to die.
He spat black molten fluid, melting the ground where it landed, then stomped forward just as Mikel charged again.
"That little puppy is quite precious, isn't he?" the blindfolded woman mused, watching Mikel and the man go at it like the two of them were just background noise. "Oh, youth. So loud, so stubborn. They never know when—"
Tak.
The faint tap of Stefan's umbrella hitting the ground echoed. The air went still, and the woman's words cut off.
"The next time…" Stefan whispered, "it'll be your real bodies I'm cleaning up."
As his cold voice faded, countless thin slices appeared across the woman's face and body.
After a second, she shattered like glass.
Where she once stood, only a small straw doll remained, pinned with a red needle and a black talisman.
"Hey!"
Mikel's voice cut through the moment. "Over here!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, he landed another brutal strike to the man's chest. He gripped the man's shoulder, drove his foot into his stomach, and pressed a cursed black palm against him until energy burst between them.
The shockwave knocked Mikel back while the man stumbled.
"Ugh…" The man touched the hole in his chest and looked down.
Cracks formed from the edges of his large wound, crawling out across his body.
Mikel, rising back to his feet again, kept his eyes on the man. The hole gave him a clear view of the background beyond, but he only cared about the spreading cracks. His brows crinkled slightly and then—
The man shattered.
"What—" Mikel breathed, fog still forming at his nose as he watched the pieces fall.
What hit the ground wasn't flesh or blood.
It was a straw doll, with a black talisman and red pin embedded in it.
What the—
"The ones you're fighting to the death…" Stefan's cold voice came from behind, "... aren't even here. They're just dolls — effigies with fragments of the real Type Xs' power."
Dolls?
A fraction of their power?
Type… X?
Mikel stared blankly at the straw doll. That… was what he'd been fighting?
The very things that had nearly killed him — the very reason he was burning from the inside out—were just dolls?
"Dolls?"
His teeth clenched. His fists trembled as he turned slowly toward Stefan, eyes wild with rage.
"You…" he growled, his voice trembling.
Stefan remained impassive, though he noticed the aura around Mikel twisted darker. It reeked of rot. The kid was alive, but he was already decomposing.
The fire in Mikel's eyes flared. In that moment, Stefan had become his enemy.
How dare this guy just come here and ruin Mikel's only chance of believing he wasn't going to die a meaningless death?
"I've been… pushing my limits," he said through gritted teeth, "... and you're telling me I couldn't even beat a goddamn doll?!"
He launched forward.
One last retaliation.
One last push before death.
He knew it was futile, knew it was wrong. Knew he wouldn't win.
But he charged anyway.
Before he could reach Stefan, the man appeared at his side.
"You don't win by burning…" he whispered. "... but surviving."
He tapped Mikel's neck with the base of his palm — just a gentle motion, but Mikel's red eyes turned white as consciousness slipped away.
Thud!
Mikel landed face-first with a loud thud while Stefan's feet hit the ground without a sound.
Stefan slowly turned, eyes falling on the kid's burned back. He shook his head mildly and muttered,
"How inconvenient."
---
Meanwhile, in a quiet forest clearing, the blindfolded woman sat on a thick tree branch.
"Oh, you're back?" she greeted the floating eyeball, smiling as it landed in her palm. "I thought that janitor would catch you…"
Her voice trailed off at the sound of deep coughing.
Below, the man in the tank top leaned against a tree, hacking up black fluid.
"What's wrong with you?" she asked, tilting her head.
He didn't respond. He touched his side, winced, then pulled up his tank top to reveal a deep burn, matching the damage he inflicted from his doll.
A burn slowly seared on his chest, right where Mikel burned his illusion.
He looked at it past his sunglasses as a small piece of flesh fell on his lenses… and then he touched his cheek.
"You're melting," the blindfolded woman said flatly, her smile fading as she watched his face begin to dissolve like ice cream. "Huh… The mutt's already a problem, but that kid from Zone Zero..."
The man coughed again. "You made a mistake."
He looked up, eyes serious. The woman frowned, displeased by his remarks.
"You might regret just sending a doll to deal with him and not killing him the first time."