065 Under Attack - Part 3 - Mirai’s POV

  “So you’re not the enemy?” Karl asked, his voice tight, his flames twitching in the air like nervous fingers.

  Ivan shrugged, loose and almost lazy. “I don’t know. Maybe. Not today, at least.”

  Helpful. Really reassuring.

  Ash hovered closer to us, her entire body tense like she wanted to sink into the floor and disappear. She wouldn’t look directly at Ivan, but the way she kept shifting her weight, the way her fingers twitched at her sleeves… she was deeply uncomfortable.

  I crossed my arms. “Then what do you want?”

  He smiled wide, showing a hint of sharp canines. “To protect my cherished person, of course.”

  He actually said it like that. Cherished person. I wanted to gag.

  Elena, somehow keeping a straighter face than me, muttered, “We should hear him out.”

  Ivan glanced at her, snorted, and then said, “I don’t owe explanations to a bunch of brats.”

  The casual contempt in his voice wasn’t even disguised. I felt Karl bristle beside me, his flames flickering hotter.

  But then… suddenly… Ivan’s entire demeanor shifted.

  His smile dropped.

  His eyes sharpened into something feral and ancient. Something real. There was no blast of ESP, no obvious ripple in the air—nothing showy. But the pressure changed. The world changed. An invisible weight pressed on my chest, making it harder to breathe.

  Something’s wrong.

  From the staircase, from the open hallways behind us, someone appeared.

  A man.

  Youngish, dark-haired, wearing a pristine black suit that looked absurdly clean for this chaos.

  In his right hand, he carried a long saber, the kind of weapon you only saw in museums or hanging on walls of supervillain lairs. Ornate carvings shimmered along the blade’s flat, catching the weak afternoon light.

  He moved casually, almost leisurely, but there was a coiled danger in every step. Like a dancer pretending not to be a killer.

  Ivan’s voice dropped low and serious. “Stay with Ash. Don’t leave my sight. I’ll finish this.”

  I opened my mouth, because wait, maybe he was jumping to conclusions…

  “Maybe he’s a friendly?” I suggested, half-raising a hand. “I mean, attacking someone without explanation kinda sounds like a criminal offense, right?”

  Ivan barked a short laugh, a sound full of old bitterness. “Oh, little miss,” he said, “your senses are dulled by youth and everything mundane. That man is dangerous.”

  And when he said it, I believed it.

  Ash added tightly, “Ivan possesses supernatural instinct. His ESP’s rooted in the primal side of humanity. The animal side. He can sense threats better than anyone alive.”

  Elena was shifting nervously beside me now, calculating. “If he’s so dangerous,” she said, “why not just run?”

  Ivan cracked his knuckles, his smile dark. “Because I got a little tip. About a mysterious someone who find it in there best interest for my sweetie pie’s continued survival… or something like that.”

  Ash gagged audibly. “I am NOT your sweetie pie!” she shrieked from behind us.

  Ivan ignored her completely.

  There was nothing more uncool than a guy who would force themselves to another person.

  Meanwhile, the suited man stopped a few paces away. He leveled a gaze so cold it might as well have been a blade.

  “What’s your name?” Ivan asked, his voice all grit and suspicion.

  The man smiled then, a slow, easy thing that didn’t reach his eyes.

  “The name’s Ark.”

  Something about the way he said it, like it was a punchline, made my stomach flip.

  Ark tilted his head at Ivan, his smile widening just enough to show a little too much tooth.

  “I can’t believe this. Did Evelyn send you?”

  The name hit the air like a slap. I felt my breath catch without knowing why. Why am I hearing ‘her’ name from this person?

  Ivan’s aura, invisible until now, suddenly bled into the world. Swirls of deep, pulsing red seeped from him like ink in water, dyeing the very air between us.

  His ESP was waking up. No... exploding!

  Ivan cracked his neck casually. “Never heard of a chick named Evelyn,” he said, rolling his shoulders like he was warming up. “But I did get a warning about a certain danger falling on my sweetie pie.”

  “I. Am. Not. Your. Sweetie. Pie!” Ash screamed again, near tears from rage.

  Ark just chuckled, resting the blade against his shoulder with one gloved hand, as if he had all the time in the world.

  It was unbelievable. Truly, genuinely unbelievable. One second, we were standing there, tense and braced for something awful but still breathing, still whole. Then in the blink of an eye, faster than thought, there was a thud that echoed through the vast halls like a sick joke. Something wet and hot splattered across my face, warm and metallic. For a moment, I didn’t understand. Then I looked down and nearly screamed.

  Lady Ash Enoch’s severed head rolled to a stop at my foot, her wide, petulant eyes staring up at me, frozen in the same look of annoyance she had been giving Ivan seconds ago. My breath stuck somewhere between my lungs and my mouth, too horrified to even make a sound.

  Ark stood in front of us, unmoving, his saber slick with blood, his dull gray eyes staring through me like I wasn’t even worth his attention. It wasn’t rage or hatred I saw there… it was worse. It was complete indifference.

  Beside me, Ivan let out a low whistle, as if we hadn’t just witnessed someone get decapitated in front of us. His voice was almost admiring as he drawled, “Incredible. Really. Is it teleportation? No… it’s too fast, even for teleportation.”

  Ark, meanwhile, tilted his head slightly, almost disappointed. “A disappointment,” he said, in a voice as flat as stone. “To think I’ve been outplayed so badly…”

  At the same moment, instinct or sheer terror kicked in, because me, Elena, and Karl all jumped back like our lives depended on it… which, judging by the head on the floor, they absolutely did. I scrambled away from the body or what was left of it, my heart hammering against my ribs, blood still dripping down my cheek.

  And then I saw it… the face. The face that had been Ash’s... was unraveling. The skin peeled away, too smooth, too fast, the features collapsing into a blank, faceless head. Like melting wax. I choked on my breath.

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  “It’s a Skin Walker,” Elena said sharply, her voice edged with both fear and revulsion.

  Ivan grinned, and it wasn’t the grin of a man who had lost someone important. It was the grin of a wolf that had seen the trap snap shut on a rival’s neck. “My sweetie pie,” he said with savage glee, “is no longer with us. She was relocated a long time ago already.”

  The trap hadn’t been set for Ash. It had been set for Ark.

  Ark’s mouth pressed into a thin line as he absorbed that information, his grip tightening subtly on the hilt of his saber. “A trap, then,” he said, his voice colder than ever.

  Ivan’s grin widened, and his red ESP aura flared hotter, thick enough now that it painted the walls a sinister crimson. He pointed straight at Ark, no hesitation, no mercy. “For daring to even think about laying your hands on her,” he said, his voice dropping into something primal and terrifying, “I will slaughter you.”

  For a moment, nobody moved. The tension was so sharp it practically sliced the air between us. Ark stood calmly with his saber lowered, his dark eyes calculating. Then, in a voice that sounded almost like a casual musing, he said, “There are few ESPers capable of controlling cryptids. The Fausts must be involved.” His gaze slid toward Elena, cool and probing, like he was connecting puzzle pieces in his mind.

  I saw Elena stiffen. “Faust,” she repeated, wary. “That’s my family name. What’s my family gotta do with this?”

  Ark didn’t answer immediately. He simply tilted his head slightly, considering her like a curious specimen. Before he could open his mouth, Ivan growled, “Enough yapping,” and then he was moving, blurring forward with a force that made the floor crack beneath his feet.

  I couldn’t even perceive the motion properly… it was too fast and too chaotic. But somehow, Ark was faster.

  In one horrifying instant, Ivan’s right arm was severed from his body.

  I gasped, stepping back instinctively as Ivan stumbled, his posture buckling awkwardly. His head drooped low, almost beneath his waist, his one remaining arm flailing out to balance him while blood splattered in thick, violent arcs across the floor. It should have been a death blow. For anyone else, it would have been.

  Ark, completely calm, appeared just a few paces away, regarding Ivan with detached admiration. “Incredible instinct,” Ark said softly. “I was aiming for your head. But in the end, you only lost an arm. Alas, it is useless.”

  Before I could even process that horror, Ark moved again… this time appearing directly before Elena.

  She reacted instantly, summoning her Shadow Demon in a burst of dark ESP, the creature clawing into existence between her and Ark with a bone-chilling screech. But it didn’t matter.

  Ark’s saber flashed, almost too fast for the eye to follow, and the Shadow Demon was cut apart into so many neat pieces that it disintegrated right there, fragments of dark mist shredding like wet paper.

  I stood frozen, heart hammering against my ribs like it was trying to escape my chest. How were we supposed to fight someone like this?

  Ark lowered his saber with lazy grace and spoke again, almost casually. “As long as the other one isn’t here, I am invincible. Thankfully, I managed to make preparations in time. It’s a bit nuclear…” He smiled, a thin and joyless thing. “But it will have to do, I guess.”

  His words sent an ice-cold shiver down my spine.

  Other one? Nuclear? Preparations? None of this sounded remotely survivable.

  And worse than the fear, worse than the helplessness, was the terrible thought blooming in the back of my mind like a poisonous flower… where the hell were Mark and Greg and Professor Merrick!?

  We needed them. Badly.

  Ark grabbed Elena’s throat and lifted her a bit from the ground, causing Elena to cry in pain. “This is what’s going to happen. I will ask you a question… and then you will answer.”

  Karl appeared behind Ark without warning, his body glowing fiercely as he summoned a ball of flame between his palms, pressing one hand over the other like he was molding a miniature sun.

  But then the sun exploded in his hands.

  Heat blasted the air, swallowing him in a violent burst of fire. Karl screamed, the sound raw and childlike, as he dropped to the ground, flailing in agony. Tears streamed down his face while he clutched at his burnt right arm, his skin scorched and smoking.

  Ark didn’t even glance back. He simply said, as if offering a casual critique, “You’re not at the level yet to use a technique like that so recklessly. You are not the Sun King.”

  And then he strengthened his grip on Elena’s throat.

  Elena struggled, hands clawing at Ark’s wrist, her face turning an ugly shade of red. Ark’s expression was calm, almost bored, as he demanded, “Tell me, what is the position of the Faust House in all of this?”

  “I don’t know!” Elena choked out, her legs kicking uselessly beneath her. “I swear… I don’t know anything!”

  I stood frozen, utterly useless, terror pinning me to the ground. My whole body felt slick with sweat, cold and sticky against my back. I had never seen someone so completely untouchable before. No hesitation. No weakness. Ark was a force of nature, and we were nothing but leaves in a hurricane.

  Ivan, still slumped with blood pouring freely from the stump of his severed arm, let out a low, throaty laugh. He sounded almost impressed, like he was enjoying this twisted humiliation. “Haven’t been beaten this bad in a long time,” he rasped.

  And then, oh god, he stood up.

  Ivan picked up his severed arm from the floor like it was just a dropped glove. Without a second thought, he brought it to his mouth and devoured it, tearing into the flesh and bone with grotesque, crunching sounds that made my stomach flip inside out.

  I watched, horrified, as the impossible happened: his flesh knotted itself back together, his bones crackling and regrowing in full view. Within seconds, his arm had regenerated, whole and functional.

  Ark watched the regeneration process without much emotion. Then he turned his attention back to Elena. “I can’t kill you yet,” Ark said to her quietly. And then his eyes slid back to Ivan. “But I will kill you.”

  He let go of Elena with a casual toss, dropping her like discarded trash.

  Relief surged through me… but it didn’t last.

  Because in the very next heartbeat, Elena screamed, her eyes exploding in bloody fireworks. Thick streams of red burst from her eye sockets, painting her cheeks and falling in hot splashes onto the floor. Her voice was pure agony, a sound that twisted something deep and primal inside me.

  I fell to my knees, unable to even pretend to keep standing. I didn’t know why this was happening… I didn’t understand it, couldn’t fight it, and couldn’t stop it. I wanted to move, fight, and help… But my body refused to cooperate.

  When things like this happened to me, things without explanation, it was because of my luck. And my luck was screaming at me now. Not whispering. Not hinting. Screaming.

  Don’t interfere. Don’t move. Don’t even breathe. Or you’ll suffer too.

  I clutched the fabric of my dress tightly, nails digging into my palms, my heart hammering against my ribs as I watched Elena writhe in unimaginable pain, while Ark loomed above us like the end of the world.

  "Kill me?" Ivan barked a laugh, loud and savage. "You’re welcome to try, but good luck with that."

  I stared at the two of them, fear tightening my chest like iron chains. No. I couldn’t let this end like this. If we just stood here, we were all going to die. I clenched my fists and summoned my ESP — Heroine’s Heart — dragging up every shred of luck I could muster. I felt it pour into me, tingling down to my fingertips, an electric pulse that made the world slow down just a little.

  Before Ark could notice, I bolted toward Elena.

  Ark merely glanced sideways at me, a detached flick of the eyes that said he didn’t even consider me a threat. Maybe he was right. But I didn’t care.

  I reached Elena, my hand slapping against her bloodied arm. I pushed all the luck I had into her, willing her to move, to fight, and to survive. Her body shuddered under my touch. I begged her, whispered desperately, "Reform your Shadow Demon... please."

  Her lips trembled. Darkness began to pool around her, slow and sluggish, like tar being dragged up from the earth.

  There was a deafening crack behind me, an explosion of sound, as Ivan launched himself at Ark, moving faster than even my enhanced senses could follow. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Karl lunge as well, grabbing onto Ark’s ankle with both hands, his burnt arms trembling with the effort.

  "Get him!" Elena gasped hoarsely, touching my shoulder with her bloody fingers.

  Her Shadow Demon flared alive and surged over me like a cloak, wrapping me in cold darkness. It felt freezing to the touch, and dizzying, like falling through black water, but at the same time, I felt her power surge through my body, strengthening my every nerve and muscle.

  I grabbed Elena, lifting her in my arms. My heart hammered against my ribs, screaming at me to run, run, run.

  "No," I said under my breath. "We have to run."

  I had to save her. I had to save all of us.

  But as I tried to sprint, something gave out under me. I stumbled forward and collapsed onto the marble floor, my body twisting awkwardly. A sharp, stabbing pain shot through my mind.

  I stared in horror at my right leg… it was gone, severed clean down at the knee, blood pooling out in a horrifying red circle.

  Karl’s scream tore through the air. His arms, both of them, were sliced clean off, lying at odd angles beside him.

  I couldn’t even process it.

  Everything was falling apart.

  But then, through my blurred vision, I saw it… Ivan’s fist crashing into Ark’s face with a roar like a thunderclap.

  The impact was so brutal that it severed Ark’s head clean from his body, sending it spinning across the floor. For a single breathless second, there was silence. We won. They won.

  But we didn’t.

  In the blink of an eye, Ark’s body flickered. His severed head disappeared and then reappeared attached to his neck a few paces away, as if nothing had happened.

  Ark casually cracked his neck, rotating it in a lazy circle. His dull eyes swept over us, empty of anything remotely human. Then he smiled faintly, a small, mocking gesture.

  "It was a good try," Ark remarked. His voice was almost bored. "But you’ll have to try harder than that if you want to kill me."

  I stared, wide-eyed, as my severed leg and Karl’s severed arms suddenly reappeared, fully intact where they belonged. It wasn’t healing. It wasn’t magic.

  It was as if time itself had reset, erasing our injuries like they had never happened.

  But the terror didn’t go away.

  It only grew.