It's a cruel thing—watching opportunity slit its own throat right before your eyes.
One moment, the world holds its breath, brimming with possibility. The next… it bleeds.
Like fate reaching out a hand, only to sever its own fingers mid-reach.
That's exactly what Cruxius felt.
Darithi's mouth opened—but no sound came. Blood sprayed from her lips as her hands twitched, fingers curling like dying leaves.
Her body was yanked—violently, unnaturally—twisting mid-air before crashing into jagged rocks with a sickening thud.
Time slowed.
Her limbs snapped into impossible angles.
Her eyes rolled back, white and frozen. And in that hollow pause, a man stood still, staring at her, thinking—I need to change this habit of yours, Darithi.
Cruxius kept his eyes on Darithi—her body limp like a ragdoll, twisted grotesquely despite her strength and rank—as she collapsed before Ryken.
Their collision had been like a speeding train hitting a bicycle.
That was the gap between an A-rank and a C-rank.
But instead of grief, Cruxius felt only one emotion:
Just... disappointment.
He muttered, "Sigh. Woman. Again?"
He'd grown far too used to Darithi throwing herself in front of him like a living shield—something he didn't need, but had come to begrudgingly accept. It showed her devotion, how she'd willingly die for him…
But what about his consent?
Every damn time she died for him, he had to die too—just to rewind the outcome.
What a waste.
If he simply let himself die first, he wouldn't have to watch her shatter over and over again just to set things right.
"DARITHI!!!" Volta screamed, her voice cracking under the weight of horror.
Swish—
She unleashed it all—stored kinetic energy breaking like a dam. Her fist, a comet, slammed into Ryken's side.
BANG!
The sheer force ripped through flesh, shredding him mid-air and hurling his body like trash flung by the gods.
He bounced off the earth with a sickening crack, blood spraying from each impact, until he finally lay still—unconscious, mangled, his clothes in tatters, muscles ruptured, skin gone—just a small, bloodied titan.
Volta stood frozen.
Shock and heartbreak warped her face as she staggered to Darithi. Her hands trembled. Her breath caught. Her eyes shone wet. She couldn't even speak.
Cruxius barely blinked.
Unbothered, he approached a guard who stood paralyzed with fear. Without hesitation, he snatched the man's gun and pressed it to his own head.
'Hope you still have feelings for me, Volta. Otherwise... I'm dying twice today.'
Click.
Bang!
The world fractured.
Time snapped like glass under pressure.
And then—
The moment rewound.
The wind was the same. The scent. The tension. Even the way Volta's breath hitched—it was all exactly where it had been seconds ago.
He was back.
Same words. Same place. Same mistake about to unfold.
"Just go away," he said this time, voice quieter. Eyes colder. "Don't ever meet me again, Volta."
"…I will take my leave—" Volta muttered with a tight jaw, that same bitter expression on her face. But the words didn't feel victorious anymore.
There was discomfort there—quiet and sharp—lodging itself in her chest like a splinter. Her heart thudded for reasons she couldn't admit. Not yet.
She turned with a bitter taste in her mouth—
And then his hand caught her shoulder.
Firm. Abrupt.
He yanked her body back with a force that caught her off guard.
"Huh?" she gasped, stumbling slightly, completely off balance.
Before she could understand anything, before a single word could rise to her lips, Cruxius pulled her close—just long enough to shove her back with force.
Her body flew backward with a startled cry.
"VOLTA!"
His voice rang out—a raw, cracked yell.
It echoed strangely. Late. Like the world itself lagged behind reality.
Her eyes widened in slow motion as her body collided into Darithi, sending both of them skidding across the ground, landing in a crouched stumble.
Dust clouded the air. Rubble scraped their arms. But their enhanced reflexes stopped them from flattening to the ground, and their agility kicked in fast.
Both turned sharply, blinking through the dust.
What they saw next was something neither would ever forget.
Ryken's fist. Cruxius's chest.
Impact.
BOOM.
The whole scenario seemed to shatter with a sharp, concussive sound that carried a shockwave and a burst of wind, sweeping dust and debris in every direction.
"—KHURGGGHH!!"
It wasn't just a hit.
It was annihilation.
Cruxius's body lifted from the ground, spine arching unnaturally mid-air. The force of the punch shot through him—every rib bending, every nerve flaring with unimaginable pain.
He was about to turn into blood mist. The same strike had killed a C-Rank heroine with C+ strength. Then what about him?
He was destined to turn into blood pulp.
And yet—
DING!
[System Notification]
Minimum Infatuation Achieved from Target Volta Siren—Ability Bestowed: [Kinocontrol = Rank: S]
A faint smile formed on Cruxius's bloodied lips. The pain surging through his body—shattering bones into powder, tearing muscles as if by claws—converted into something else.
A different kind of power. It stored within his body, absorbed in a space that felt like an energy core awakening deep within.
Even as his vision flickered. Even as bones cracked and his muscles screamed in revolt. Even as something sharp tore through his lungs—
'Sigh, Volta... you really loved me back then, didn't you.'
That single line drifted through his mind like a warm lie.
Then—
Crash.
His body slammed into a heap of broken stone—rubble from the earlier chaos. The sound was sickening. Wet. Final.
Even though he absorbed the force, the recoil hurled his body backward like a ragdoll shot from a cannon.
"CRUXIUS!!!" Volta's scream was the first.
"MASTER!!" Darithi's followed a heartbeat later.
They moved before their minds caught up—legs launching, arms trembling with fear-driven adrenaline.
Volta's breath hitched, her eyes ablaze. She didn't care about stored kinetic energy. She punched Ryken with everything she had.
The force was raw—like a rocket slamming into a train.
The difference in power was too vast for Ryken's body to withstand—even though their strength stats were quite similar, the boost of kinetic energy which converts into strength stats just made this unfair.
The moment her fist connected, his cells trembled under the sudden transfer of shock. Skin prickled and burst. Clothes shredded. Muscles tore violently.
His entire body convulsed—tissues liquefying, bones grinding under the kinetic overload.
Skin and fabric tore together as he was flung through the air, a blur of flesh and blood.
Boom!
But Volta ignored everything.
She turned in a single breath, literally throwing herself toward the pile of rubble where a moment ago Cruxius got buried.
Darithi, her fangs gritted, followed close, muscles burning with wild urgency.
Volta crashed to her knees, hands clawing through the debris.
"No no no no—CRUXIUS!!"
She tossed aside stones, one after another, her body shaking. Blood welled on her palms as she used the last brink of kinetic energy stored within her body for the first time, letting the transfer even affect her own body, but she didn't stop.
Darithi roared, heaving a jagged slab off to the side with a strength born of rage and terror.
"Haah.....MASTER!"