Chapter 158: Escape
Andrew arrived at the prison before sunrise.
Something felt wrong.
Too quiet.
The guards outside weren't at their posts.
The prison doors stood slightly open.
His smile disappeared.
He stepped inside.
Silence.
Then—
Drip.
Drip.
Blood.
Lots of it.
It coated the stone floor.
Splattered across the walls.
Several guards lay where they had fallen.
Some still held their swords.
Others never even managed to draw them.
Andrew slowly walked deeper inside.
More bodies.
More blood.
No screams.
The fight had ended long ago.
He stopped outside the reinforced cell.
The door hung open.
The chains remained attached to the wall.
Empty.
Andrew's gaze slowly lowered.
The handcuffs.
Broken.
Not snapped.
Opened.
He crouched beside them.
Picked one up.
Looked carefully.
His eyes narrowed.
"..."
"...She dislocated herself."
He imagined it.
Breaking the thumb.
Sliding the hand free.
Resetting the joint afterward.
Andrew clicked his tongue.
"...Crazy bitch."
He stood.
One of the dead guards lay nearby.
A deep slash across the neck.
Another had both hands severed.
A third still clutched a ring of prison keys.
Andrew looked around.
There were no signs of panic.
No prolonged struggle.
Just...
Efficient killing.
His eyes followed the trail of blood.
Straight toward the exit.
He took one deep breath.
Then bolted.
"I'm getting you this time."
The prison doors burst open behind him as he sprinted into the streets.
Elsewhere—
Taai stood alone atop the training grounds.
The morning wind brushed past him.
His fists slowly tightened.
"...Akari..."
His voice barely carried.
"...What happened to you?"
He closed his eyes.
The smiling girl he remembered...
And the silent assassin from yesterday...
They refused to become the same person in his mind.
And somewhere out there, the assassin had already escaped.
Far beneath Muscle City—
Far below the streets—
Past forgotten tunnels.
Past abandoned chambers.
Inside a hidden laboratory—
Rows of restraints lined the walls.
Broken instruments.
Fresh blood.
Mana conduits glowed faintly.
At the center—
A steel operating table.
Upon it...
A body.
Human.
Yet not.
Gray flesh pulsed beneath the skin.
Muscle fibers twitched unnaturally.
Black veins intertwined with faintly glowing Magic Circuits.
Its chest rose.
Then fell.
Slowly.
Then—
Its eyes opened.
Golden pupils.
Vertical.
Not human.
The creature inhaled.
The circuits beneath its skin flickered once.
Dr. Z adjusted his glasses.
Then smiled.
A wide.
Satisfied.
Terrifying smile.
"...Beautiful."
The creature slowly turned its head toward him.
And smiled back.