Inside that metal safe, Isaac found a stack of papers. Knowing Zou Mei and her Zhanghai soldiers would arrive any minute now, he only skimmed through them to see if anything immediately stood out. After briefly leafing through the pages, Isaac could only frown in response. The vast majority of the Dederick twins' writings consisted of numbers, numbers, and more numbers. From the negatives into the millions, from lone digits to multi-page equations. When Isaac activated the Knyzosis Art, he found something at least slightly useful within the encrypted writing he read.

ZHANGHAI HAS NO KNOWLEDGE OF THE KNYZOSIS ART. ONLY OUR RESTORATIONIST COMRADES DO. IT'S HOW WE COULD COMMUNICATE AND MODIFY THE WEAPON WITHOUT ZHANGHAI KNOWING.

Isaac scratched his temple. So the Restorationists know the Knyzosis Art. Greg mentioned he got help from the Restorationists while writing his journal - that must be why his writing was hidden with Knyzosis. As to why the Restorationists use it, I'll have to figure that out a different time.

The numbers felt a bit clearer to Isaac now. So all these numbers relate to a weapon…

He looked at the numbers more closely. His classroom training required him to learn the basics of modern mathematics - including the symbols for various units of measurement. Every so often, the numbers would have little tick marks or other symbols next to them. Isaac’s eyes widened.

These must be the dimensions of that weapon. And perhaps how they modified it, too.

Isaac only had time for one more revelation, but this one threw him for a loop. Amid those supernatural yellow symbols and phrases floating out of the pages, Isaac came across an utterly strange one.

THE HEART CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO EXIST. THE HEART CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO BE REVIVED. WE COULD NO LONGER WORK ON MODIFYING THE WEAPON UPON LEARNING THE TRUTH BEHIND THE HEART.

The rain picked up outside, with the droplets striking the balcony and the mattresses like fat bullets. The heart…that’s what the bartender told me about. Isaac then tugged at his collar.

Project Patmos. The Heart. The Mind. The Soul.

But before Isaac could further elaborate on that train of thought, he knew he needed to get out of there. He quickly ran a hand along the concrete walls - no hidden exits appeared. Same thing for the floor - the only way in or out would be through the balcony. The rain pummeled Isaac as he stepped outside. He jumped down from the statue at a higher elevation; he wouldn’t be able to jump back up there, and the buildings on the other side of the gap angled themselves away, their balconies and sheet metal roofs just barely out of reach.

Isaac glanced at his surroundings. A solid wall of wood formed one side of the balcony; on the other, he found an opening down towards ground level. He estimated he was currently ten stories up; a jump down would kill him. The neighboring balcony was also just out of reach.

Am I stuck here? Isaac rubbed his chin. Well, if I am, at least it will take a while for Zhanghai to get here-

The sound of boots landing against metal echoed upwards from below. Isaac peered over the edge of the balcony; through the maze of shacks and shanties, he saw a squadron of Zhanghai corporate samurai regrouping on a shanty roof. Each of them wore grass capes, indicating their superior status to foot soldiers. They also wore goggles; Isaac couldn’t understand why, especially in the rain.

And then he understood why - these samurai could fly. Red lights appeared along their arms as they generated their own wind and lifted themselves upwards. Babs could use her cultivation ability to glide herself around; these samurai worked in a similar manner. They couldn’t fly directly up to Isaac’s balcony; they had to launch themselves upward story-by-story.

Only one samurai moved in a different manner. Despite the rain, she wore a yellow qipao - that traditional Zhanghai dress that exposed much of the arms. She would punch the air, and as red lights sparked along her skin, she would somehow move into the air. She followed the samurai from below, and despite the distance, Isaac realized this was Zou Mei herself.

Time was running out. Isaac took a deep breath and examined his options. Along the wall between his own balcony and the neighboring one, Isaac spotted a rusted pipe. When he followed it downwards, he saw that it eventually veered right into a window covered in iron bars two stories below. Isaac took a step back and supposed he now knew how the Dederick twins got out of here.

Isaac held up his arm, placing a finger along one of the two charms he had remaining. Both created bright explosions when activated. He loosened his legs, letting the tension fall from them. He’d have to move quickly. He could hear the samurai moving about directly one story below.

Through the rain, he heard rooftop metal groan as the samurai propelled themselves upwards. Right as the first samurai hauled himself over the edge of the balcony, Isaac made his move. With a flick of the wrist, he activated the charm, flames trailing behind his fingertips. Behind his goggles, the samurai's eyes widened in surprise as Isaac slammed his exploding fist right into the samurai’s chest.

Rain and blood splattered against concrete as the explosion created a bright ball of light. With the other samurai disorientated, Isaac leapt over the balcony and grabbed the rusted pipe. Grateful for his military-provided tetanus shot, he slid downwards; his wounded shoulder from the earlier fight winced in pain. Around him, the samurai regrouped and dove toward him, the wind picking up as they glided downwards. Keeping one hand on the pipe, Isaac fired off a |Fist of Anji|; the sudden blast of energy knocked away one samurai, while the other samurai glided away to safety.

Isaac reached the end of the pipe and grasped onto the window covered in iron bars. Now two stories lower, he found a balcony he could jump down onto. And just in time; right as he jumped, Zou Mei appeared out of the shadows. In his earlier fights - with Panama, Jackson, Harburg, even Sam - there was always some pre-combat dialogue.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Not so with Zou Mei. A deep gong echoed out of her fist once it struck the iron bars; had Isaac stayed there a second longer, he would’ve received a direct hit. He instead landed on the balcony, nearly slipping from the layer of rainwater. Zou Mei ran a hand along the iron bar; it instantly snapped. Now heavily armed, she jumped after Isaac, slamming down the iron bar with all her might. Isaac jumped out of the way, landing in a puddle; Zou Mei struck the balcony with so much force that it literally cracked in two.

While her side collapsed, she jumped onto Isaac’s side. Isaac wasn’t about to give her a soft landing and fired off an electric charge; it struck her square in the stomach. She dropped the iron bar and fell backwards, landing on a metal roof a story down. While she wiped her mouth, her samurai glided down toward Isaac’s balcony. One of the men dual-wielded the Zhanghai Type 9 machine pistols, forcing Isaac to flee the balcony by kicking down a metal door and seeking refuge inside.

While the bullets ricocheted outside, Isaac found himself inside what must’ve been a seafood market. All around him, fish swam and crustaceans walked around in dimly-lit tanks. Isaac took cover behind one when several samurai entered. With a quiet apology, he fired right through the tank, the electric charge knocking out one samurai while the explosion of glass shards ran through another; water spilled onto the floor, taking crabs along with it.

The submachine pistol fired through the doorway. Isaac sent another explosion of glass that way and then retreated through a side window. He arrived in a narrow sheet metal walkway hemmed in by shacks on either side. With no sense of direction or destination beyond “get the hell out of here”, Isaac could only move forward. Rain fell through a series of wooden pallets forming a makeshift roof overhead; shadows danced as Zou Mei nimbly followed from above. Isaac sent a blast upwards, but Zou Mei simply propelled herself forward before the blast could reach her.

She landed right as the walkway merged into open rooftop. Zou Mei’s hand brushed against metal pipes lining a shack, sending an explosion of metal bullets Isaac’s way. He launched an electric charge to block them, but with Zou Mei blocking the way out, he could do little but go into a slide afterwards.

Isaac succeeded in taking out her legs, but the two ended up landing in a heap. The thin cloak and military fatigues beneath tangled with qipao and bare skin; Isaac rolled away before Zou Mei drove an iron spike into his head. Taller buildings towered a few stories up above the concrete rooftop; ventilation shafts, barrels, and utility poles stood before Isaac. He shifted behind a ventilation shaft, but a fierce kick from Zou Mei simply sent it careening through a concrete wall. Red lights flowed through a hand; metal spikes on the utility pole careened toward them, sharpening as they wrapped themselves around her fingers to form makeshift claws. Isaac narrowly dodged her first strike, but her second strike hit home.

Zou Mei made contact right where Isaac had been wounded earlier. He grimaced in pain as blood flowed down his right arm. And even worse than that - he could no longer move it. The arm had been completely paralyzed. And since he could only fire the Fist of Anji from that arm, and had all his charms on that hand, and considering that this whole area was essentially an urban jungle gym that might require two working arms…

Isaac just cracked his neck. It meant he would have to get creative. Zou Mei landed a kick against his jaw; he stumbled backwards, but when she went for the killing blow, he spat blood on her face. Though utterly harmless, it did make her pause for just the briefest of seconds. Isaac immediately made a run for it. Samurai, waiting on the adjacent rooftops, fired down at him, but he already escaped down a metal staircase that took himself back inside a building.

Zou Mei’s flats pattered across metal from behind him. Isaac found a giant pipe running along a concrete wall; one punch resulted in a huge burst of steam flooding the hallway. Hoping that would temporarily disorientate her, Isaac found that the hallway split into two and chose one of the paths at random. There was a bend at the end of this hallway, so Isaac decided to unveil the ace up his sleeve just in case.

The bend brought nothing but more concrete hallway. Doorways and boarded up windows gazed on at Isaac as he rushed down through it. At the end of this hallway, a samurai appeared, his sword wet with rain. He smiled in victory as he rushed Isaac, but it’s not like Isaac would’ve gone on this mission unarmed. Though it was awkward motion, he unveiled the pistol from its holster and shot with his left hand. The bullets flew hot, though all of them missed (Isaac shot right-handed, after all), but they provided just enough a distraction for the samurai to stumble in hesitation. Isaac leveled his good shoulder into the samurai, sending him slamming right through a wooden wall.

Bright lights greeted Isaac. He flipped the gun in his hand and pistol-whipped the samurai into unconsciousness, but the sudden screams and cries, combined with those lights and all that blood loss, made his head swim and spin and feel all sorts of dizzy. He stumbled back to his feet; only now he realized he had plunged right into a bar.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the Crusty Calydon. As the customers fled, the bartender aimed a shotgun right at Isaac. “We don’t want any trouble-”

A bullet slammed right through his temple. Isaac dove over the counter while bullets sprayed above; dozens of bottles standing on several shelves exploded into a fine mist of glass and alcohol. Isaac scooped up the shotgun and eyed one of the remaining glass bottles. The reflection of dual-wielding machine pistol samurai standing in the front door, a wicked smirk on his face, appeared thin on the bottle.

Isaac cradled the shotgun. I saw a guy do this in a toothpaste ad once.

Using the reflection as a guide, Isaac angled the shotgun backwards, slamming it right onto the counter before firing. The recoil sent the gun spiraling out of his hands, but he heard a satisfying cry from the doorway when the slug slammed into its target. He peeked over the counter; the submachine guns now laid in a pool of blood.

With a brief moment to spare, Isaac poured some alcohol onto his shoulder wound. It might’ve saved him from infection, but it didn’t spark any life into the arm like he hoped it would. He stripped off his remaining explosion charm from his right arm; using his teeth, he wrapped it around his left wrist. Since charms needed to be struck like a match, he would have to find another way to activate it - the fingers on his left hand couldn’t reach his left wrist. Without any opened meridians like the one on his right hand, he needed to place the charm as close as possible to his left palm and its closed meridian in order for it to work with his superpowered punch.

As he tossed alcohol bottles out towards the seating area of the bar, Isaac mulled his options. He could go back the way he came, but he heard footsteps rapidly approaching from that direction. There was a wooden wall on the other side he could potentially punch his way through. And he could also go through the front door, but Zou Mei now stood there, her reflection in that glass bottle appearing visibly annoyed.

She looked down on her fallen samurai with disdain, her flats getting stained in crimson as she stepped over him. Corporate samurai, armed with pistols and swords, fanned out behind her.

“We both know I have to kill you,” she called out, her voice sounding like a songbird perpetually on edge. “Let’s not waste any more time.”