Chapter 77: Exposed backs are my treats
Earl knelt on the cracked marble floor, his gunbai serving as the only thing keeping him upright. Blood trailed down from the corners of his lips, staining his chin in streaks of red. He looked like a man defeated, yet his eyes—those blood red eyes—held a maelstrom of emotion. Joy. Excitement. And something dangerously close to hope.
A few feets away from him, Selene glared at Zephyr, her cheeks flushed. "You’re enjoying this way too much," she huffed in anger.
Zephyr flicked his wrist, slinging blood onto the ground as he locked eyes with her. Thanks to the enhanced vision granted by his transformed right eye, he caught his own reflection mirrored in Selene’s pupils—there was a smirk on his face.
He quickly schooled his expression, shifting into a cold, unreadable mask. "I’m not," he said flatly, his voice sharp and rough.
"Changing your face doesn’t change the fact you’re toying with us," Selene snapped. She’d sensed it throughout the fight—that maddening feeling that he’d been toying with them. From detached indifference to that grin, it all screamed of manipulation.
Zephyr almost smiled again. She was wrong—but only partly. He wasn’t toying with them... not intentionally. He was simply thrilled. Thrilled by the razor-thin edge of life and death he stood on. The rush of battle was intoxicating. He wasn’t like this before, he didn’t know what had changed.
"And y-you!" Selene turned to the crumpled figure nearby. "Look at the mess you made!"
Vida lay dying. As an Eplison, even the destruction of one of her hearts wasn’t fatal—not instantly, anyway. Her second heart hadn’t matured enough to purify or circulate Aether properly. If she were a Delta, she’d already be back on her feet, fighting.
Zephyr stared at her still body. A strange urge had itched at the back of his mind when he was fighting her —to stab her through the back with his hand. Not out of necessity, but inspiration. A favorite anime character of his in his past life loved that move. Now that he had the power, why not try it?
When he’d first awakened and discovered he was an Eplison, joy had surged through him like lightning. Despite Merin’s warnings, he couldn’t help but test his newfound strength. The first thing he explored was the ability etched into his core.
Its name was— Limbo – Hollow Breath Transition.