"Mister...?"
Rox called out, barely louder than a breath, clutching Zarus under his arm as she tried to drag his half-conscious body away.
A groan escaped his lips.
Lev paused, ears twitching. He heard it. But it wasn't enough to distract him. Instead—
"Oh my, oh my!" Lev pressed a hand to his face, laughing like he just heard the punchline of the best joke in the world. "Did I kick him that hard? Rattled his brain loose!"
He couldn't get enough of this.
"This is rich, little Roxy! Rich, I tell you!"
Rox's grip tightened around Zarus. Her breath trembled. The hallway ahead was a dead end.
No escape routes, no time, and that maniac wouldn't give them a second to find one even if they existed.
Lev's voice cut through the tension like a knife.
"Y'know, I'm actually grateful you brought along another one of your kind. Another stain. Makes cleaning up so much easier."
He opened his arms wide, basking in his own twisted glory like the sun was shining just for him.
SWOONG!
Another crimson orb shot toward them.
It barely missed—grazed her cheek, leaving a stinging line of heat.
She hadn't even reacted in time.
"Oh?" Lev tilted his head. "Bit off today." A mock pout touched his lips.
Her legs refused to move. Her body screamed to run—but how?
Was surviving even possible at this point?
"Nothing a little adjustment won't fix~"
With a sickly-sweet lilt, he raised his hand—and twelve more of those crimson spheres blinked into existence, swirling slowly around him like the petals of a bloody flower.
Rox's breath hitched.
Any hope she clung to cracked right then and there.
"Let me hear your screams, my dear little Roxy!" Lev screamed before launching the barrage of crimson orbs at high speed.
Rox closed her eyes and held Zarus tightly.
[Ding!]
Zarus opened his eyes.
[System Functions Recalibration Progress: 51.9% Complete.]
[Initializing Connection to ▇▇▇▇▇▇...]
[Access Denied...]
[Error: Host's body is unstable...]
[Error: Host's body is unable to sustain full Connection to ▇▇▇▇...]
[Compromisation Protocol Autheticated.]
[Compromisation Protocol: Success.]
[Using 20% of spare energy to stabilize.]
Zarus slipped into a trance.
Time slowed to a crawl, every detail unfolding in perfect clarity as his mind surged into overdrive.
But the clarity came at a price.
His head throbbed violently, veins pulsing as overlapping voices echoed in his skull — layered, discordant, endless.
He winced, the strain burning behind his eyes like his brain was tearing itself apart just to keep up.
[Host: Zarus is authorized to use temporarily 5% of ▇▇▇▇▇▇ for 10 minutes.]
[Warning: Vital Threshold exceeded, body will shut down and enter rehabilitation for 24:00:00 after Compromisation Protocol.]
Rox felt something shift—
But before she could process it, and before Lev could even react, Zarus was already on his feet, swatting the crimson orbs aside.
"Eh?" A confused sound came from Lev, like a deer in headlights.
Rox slowly opened her eyes to see Zarus's frail body towering over her yet it exudes an aura of confidence and strength.
But how?
He deflected those things with that weak body?
She also noticed that his bandage was off.
And this time, the massive mark on his torso she thought was a wound is now glowing.
It wasn't pulsing anymore.
"M-Mister, is that you..?" Rox called out softly in sheer awe and confusion.
But she heard no replies.
Zarus doesn't intend to, for even with the lack of knowledge of this power—he knows his time is limited.
Lev on the other hand seemed to be giggling.
"Oi! Oi! I never thought you're hiding something—"
But he was immediately cut off by a powerful punch.
This time—Lev instinctively blocked it with his left palm, otherwise it would've landed completely on his face.
What's this? I'm defending myself from a stain's punch?
Lev thought before noticing a shift in his opponent.
Zarus followed up with an immediate uppercut not intending on giving Lev a time to use his crimson orbs.
Unfortunately, Lev blocked that in time as well.
"I don't know what happened to you mutt—but you're asking for it." Lev growled.
Zarus clicked his tongue as he jumped in advance.
Lev on the other hand watched at Zarus effortlessly dodged his attempt on delivering a left kick.
This effectively broke them both apart creating a distance.
His breaths came faster now, shallow and sharp as he staggered beside Rox.
So this is what I'll get. I wouldn't last long against this guy in a prolonged fight... I have to get away with Miss Rox immediately— Zarus thought.
Rox was utterly speechless on what she's witnessing, she couldn't even process as to where all this strength of Zarus coming from.
So many questions yet—
"Scarlet Pentagon." Lev uttered, his eyes were serious this time.
Almost a hundred of those crimson spheres appear around Lev forming a star-like shape.
Shit!
Zarus grabbed Rox the moment Lev unleashed another volley of crimson orbs.
He weaved through them with sharp precision, but the gash in his leg and the strain on his body slowed him down.
"Tch. How the hell is this mutt this fast? It can't be..." Lev muttered, eyes narrowing as he launched another barrage—faster this time.
SWOOSH!
Zarus dodged most, but a few clipped him—red lines blooming across his skin.
Rox noticed that his once glowing wound is starting to flicker but something else caught her eye—
[System Warning: Excessive bodily damage detected. Additional energy allocated to emergency recovery.]
[Penalty: 2 minutes deducted from Compromisation Protocol duration.]
Zarus cursed under his breath the moment he heard that warning limiting his time under this power.
"Mister! Look out!" Rox screamed, eyes locking on a sphere aimed straight for his head.
"Bullseye." Lev whispered with a twisted smile, firing—confident that this will end them for good.
It's impossible for Zarus to even attempt to dodge this.
So instead he tried to deflect it away.
Unfortunately for him—Lev already anticipated that.
"Idiot."
SHLUKK!
A sickening sound followed as the crimson sphere punched clean through his palm, spraying blood in an arc behind him.
Splurt!
"Mister!" Rox cried, her voice cracking as she saw blood dripping from Zarus's ruined hand. Helplessness clouded her eyes—she couldn't do anything to stop it.
[System Warning: Additional damage detected.]
Zarus gritted his teeth.
He thought he'd reached Lev's level—maybe even surpassed it—but he'd overestimated himself. Power meant nothing if you didn't know how to wield it.
[System Warning: Compromisation Protocol — 4 minutes and 23 seconds remaining.]
Worse, he could barely remember if this power was even his to begin with—let alone how to control it.
He couldn't keep this up.
Not with Rox here.
"Just for a moment, I thought you might actually be something," Lev said, voice lazy, stretching into a yawn. "But I guess a Null is just a Null after all."
Lev noticed the silence.
No anger. No fear. No response at all.
It irked him.
He'd been taunting Zarus, hoping to draw something out—anything—but there was nothing. Just a blank slate. A hollow vessel acting on instinct, throwing itself in front of something equally worthless.
A husk protecting another husk.
Lev sighed and casually stretched his arms, as if bored by the whole affair.
"That's why I keep telling you…"
Zarus lunged forward, pain ignored, blood trailing behind him as he threw everything—all of it—into a single punch.
"A Null is a Null." Lev's grin twisted back into place as his hand shot up to intercept the blow—just in time.
It almost reached him.
Almost.
But not enough.
"You honestly had me thinking you're an Edict bastard but those f**kers aren't just punches." Lev clicked his tongue.
But something was wrong.
Lev's instincts screamed danger—but from him?
No… he never doubted his gut. Not once. And this man—this thing—was unpredictable. He had to end it now.
But it was already too late.
SWOONG.
Time seemed to freeze.
"What the f**k?" Lev hissed—just before vomiting blood.
His eyes snapped downward, locking onto Zarus's glare—fierce, sharp, alive. And then he noticed something at his side.
Blood?
No—his blood.
Lev's thoughts spun. That sensation... it was foreign.
The pain was real.
He glanced down again—staring at the clean, circular hole seared into his ribs.
It hadn't pierced through, but it burned.
Lev couldn't mistake this damage for anything else.
Rox, on the other hand, couldn't believe what she was seeing.
Lev… was hurt?
That alone shattered everything she thought she knew. But there was no time to stay frozen in awe.
She had to help Zarus—somehow—and not just sit there uselessly.
While Lev reeled in shock, she slipped away, rushing toward the scrap house.
"H-How did you—!?" Lev stammered, eyes wide, disbelief twisting into rage. He wasn't about to let Zarus land another hit.
He tried to summon his crimson spheres again—
But Zarus swiped the forming orb out of the air.
Lev snarled and threw a punch. It connected. Zarus flinched, pain flashing across his face.
But he didn't falter.
He raised his hand—and another orb materialized. Flickering. Unstable.
But unmistakably his.
Lev's breath hitched.
This Null copied him. Just like that.
[System Notice: Emergency Adaptation activated.]
[Passive Function "Battle Retention" temporarily unlocked.]
[System Warning: Imitation exceeds host's current comprehension. Stability not guaranteed.]
[System Warning: "Battle Retention" will decrease the duration of Compromisation Protocol by 2 minutes and 30 seconds as penalty.]
With that, Zarus just shortened his time by just using this ability—he couldn't afford to lose now.
Lev's eye twitched.
He didn't understand a single bit of it—but he felt the shift.
This wasn't talent. This wasn't training.
It was something else.
Something unnatural.
Even while bleeding, Lev seethed with rage and spite.
A Null wounded him?
A nobody—appearing out of nowhere?
An empty, soulless husk?
"I'LL BURY YOU ALONG WITH THE CORPSES IN THIS DUMPSTER!" he roared, voice laced with venom.
This time, he held nothing back.
With no hesitation—no restraint—
Thousands of crimson spheres bloomed into the air.
And then—
a storm began.
A relentless hail of bloody rain, each orb screaming through the air with lethal velocity, all aimed at one man. Zarus.
Even faced with the overwhelming gap in power, Zarus didn't falter.
An unmistakable confidence surrounding him.
He wasn't intending for a win.
He charged toward Lev, dodging most attacks, though some still sliced across his flesh.
Graze parts of his body.
He kept that unstable crimson orb of his protected while Lev frantically shot more crimson orbs towards him.
[System Warning: Multiple damages detected.]
[System Warning: 20 seconds remaining.]
Zarus felt his breath hitch.
The glow from his chest dimmed, and the crimson orb in his palm flickered violently—on the verge of collapse.
He lunged forward again mustering every strength left within him to drag his battered body through the storm.
Each orb grazed skin or tore through muscle, but he didn't stop.
Lev's eyes widened.
But gritted his teeth, unable to deal with the fact that this Null managed to reach him even after all that.
"YOU PERSISTENT LITTLE—" But before could finish his sentence and retaliate—
BOOM.
A sudden shockwave burst from Zarus as he slammed the unstable crimson orb into the ground.
"SH*T!" It was too late for Lev to react.
The sheer force kicked up dust, scraps and metal, sending Lev skidding back, shielding his face from the blast.
But the blast was too powerful as it sent Lev and Zarus flying away from each other.
Lev was sent through multiple piles of scrap and buried.
While Zarus sent tumbling away until a tree stopped him.
[System Alert: Compromisation Protocol terminated.]
Lev finally stopped laughing.
[System Notice: Energy Reserves depleted.]
"Mister!" Rox had come back, but Zarus could barely hear her voice.
His hands were trembling until they weren't.
[Initiating Emergency Shutdown.]
Rox saw a very faint pulse of that thing on Zarus's torso, giving her a sign that he hasn't died yet.
Steeling her resolve, even with Lev defeated—she knew more of them will arrive out of suspicion.
They have to escape this place now.
[System Lockdown Initiated: Host will enter forced hibernation for 24:00:00.]
She carried the wounded Zarus back to the scrap house, taking every important thing with her.
Then she pushed aside the mattress where Zarus rested—exposing a hatch underneath.