Kadence swung her sword, I dodged, she swung again and I dodged again. Her speed matched mine, she swung and I avoided. For a straight minute, I avoided her attack at any cost but gained new cuts along the way as I began to lose stamina. However, she still maintained her speed, I can see the difference in our ability, couldn't expect less from a veteran. Yet, I’m no joke either, I managed to land a couple of blows on her body, small but well-placed hit, I tried aiming for her joints, to make her slow and only now, it had taken effect.

Suddenly, I noticed her blade began to glow pink, and that prove to be a mistake as I was distracted, she had faint an attack and managed to land a long cut on my arm. I took a step back away from her, but her sword had shone brightly, she slashed the empty air in front of me and that swing slung a beam of energy so big and high it overwhelmed my entire body. I couldn't avoid, so I could only block, that beam carried me across the landscape, leaving a trail of destroyed earth behind.

White dust floated above and everywhere. Blood spewed out from my mouth, the heat from the wave of energy had cauterized my wound, but the immense pain only gets intense. At that moment I finally felt despair, I couldn't win, not without a weapon. My sight blurred and my breathe heavied, I lay on that ground, wishing that none of this would've happened in the first place, wishing that I just stayed with my mom that night.

“Is this how it’s going to end?” I asked myself.

And at that moment, he spoke to me, “Do you wish it to be the end?”

“N-No...I want it to be on my terms.”

“If so, what do you need?”

“Right now...Power.”

“I can give you power, but I wouldn't promise that you will be able to come back.”

I glanced at the black veins, “Do I look like that I could come back?”

“Oh, well then, reach in deep and accept it.”

I closed my eyes and said.

“I accept it.”

In an instant, I felt a rush of unbearably cold liquid from my stumped made its way to my head and my right leg. My right eye became black and I could only see black and white. My left eye was unaffected, it was dizzying and nauseating, but intoxicating, I felt power like never before, forbidden power. I stood up and extended my stump in front of me, then watched as the black like tar substance poured out from the skin and formed a blackened hand, like coagulated blood. Afterward, with that same liquid, it started to form a thin sword, almost like a katana, I grabbed hold onto the blade and examined its sharpness, it was thin almost like paper.

A lock of my hair from my right side draped down onto my shoulder, it had turned black, but on my left side, it remained the same color as a brunette. This was what she felt, absolute, addicting power, but I need to focus. I swung the sword and the dust was banished away. Kadence looked at me with newfound concern in her eyes, she knows that this time, it’s different, I had reached a level of power that could hurt a god.

“You succumbed to it? What a foolish act…”

“You gave me no choice.”

“I gave you enough choice! But you never learned to take the right one.”

“Take the right one?” I laughed, “Between what?! Dying?”

“Why fight, when the end is inevitable? It doesn't matter, right? You still going to die.”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Foolish woman…” She launched herself into a run, with no fear in my heart, I charged toward her.

Our swords clashed causing a wave of energy to push the hovering dust away and shook the ground beneath us. I pulled back my sword and she did the same thing, but the blades met again as I aimed for her neck as she aimed for my own. It kept repeating, hit after hit, the ground trembled and cracked while the way the sword swung kept changing. Metal against this unknown material, It finally stopped, when her sword broke in half. I slashed through her chest armor and kicked her away.

She was thrown across the crater, but crashed into the ground and formed of her own. She coughed out blood onto her chest, as she bled. However she still tried to stand up, I rushed toward her and punched her in the face, causing her to lay back down and dug deep into the ground. Kadence’s hand trembled as she tried to reach for her sword, I kicked it away and finally, she gave up moving.

I stood over her and searched her for the teleportation rune. After I found it, she took hold of my ankle, preventing me from leaving.

“Y-You are going to endanger thousands.”

“I won’t.”

“Why are you so stubborn? As I said before, you are still going to die, the others will hunt you down and end you.”

“I know that, but I won't let them, because if I were to die, it’s going to be on my terms.”

I shook her hand off my ankle and walked away.

“Where are you going?”

“To be by her side, on my earth.” The coagulated arm and sword melted back into a puddle and left my stump bare once more.

“Foolish woman,” Kadence spoke before fainted, I gripped the rune tightly and was transported.

…

It was quick, I was transported into some kind of temple on the station, then I make my way to my apartment. People stared at me along the way, but I could care less because I needed to bring something along with me. I reached the front door and found it had been broken from the outside, I heard someone call out to me.

“Andre, where were you...what in the world happened to you? I mean, more importantly, they have taken her.”

“Taken who?” I turned to my landlord.

“Aki, the Skullhead gang broke in and took her. I heard one of them said that she must be the cause of why their guys got attacked at the laundromat last night.”

“Why her?”

“Because she used to lead them before she quit and left. They must have thought that she was trying to take over the gang once more.”

“Where did they take her?”

“To their base, I know where it is.”

“Then show me.”

“No, come with me first, let's get you suited up, you’ll need weapons if you want to take her back.” This old woman surprised me, she spoke like she had been through this before in the past, so I followed her.

The old lady brought me to a hidden garage in the back, she opened the sliding door and revealed a surprising amount of military equipment along with a hoverbike, hidden underneath a black tarp. My landlord headed toward the end of the room while I walked to her old workbench. It's covered in dust, I lifted the small picture frame off the workbench and blew the dust away. 

A group photo of two women and three men. What's striking about the photo was the man in the middle wore an eyepatch along with a crude looking robotic arm. He looks tough, rugged but has a certain charm to him, kinda looks like a playboy badass. The woman beside him, she might be my landlord but when she was young, I will admit that she looks gorgeous back then. Both of them seem close in this picture, there might be something more in their relationship than friends.

"You will need these."

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

I placed the picture back where it was and turned around to face her. My eyes widened, it's the same robotic arm in the picture, a gun, and a skin-tight suit.

"You will need a hand, don't worry. This one doesn't require any surgery, it's a plug and plays if I were to describe it. However, don't get your expectations high, it isn't smooth as robotic limbs nowadays, but it will do the job."

"You're giving me these?"

"It's old junk, I've been meaning to throw it out for ages now."

"Are you sure about that?" I glanced at the picture.

"I'm sure, besides it's not the item that is important," she pointed to her heart, "it's the memories."

I grabbed the arm first and strapped it into my own, then I took the tight skin suit and wore it with a bit of difficulty. I held the gun close to my face and examined it, there's a rotating switch for what it seems to be different types of ammo. I slid in the gun into my chest holster and walked to the tarp-covered hoverbike.

"You don't mind if I?"

"Take all you need."

With a single pull, I revealed the hoverbike, and it caused a small smile to appear. It isn't what you called a standard hoverbike because it looks like a seat and a handlebar strapped onto a jet engine. It doesn't look safe at all by any standard.

"I find it odd that you're not going to stop me, giving my state of being," I said without turning, but I heard her sigh.

"You have those voracious look in your eyes, it would be pointless to stop you now, just make sure she comes back safely."

I turned to look at the old lady, she had her back turned toward me. Something changed in me, my mind becomes floaty and my robotic arm raised by itself. My sight was gravitated toward her neck, for an unknown reason, I wanted...to snap her neck. 

Kill her…

However, I stopped myself and brought back control over my body. The corruption slowly began to take what it wants, control. It wanted only destructions, but I won't let it have any more than I gave it. I need to save her quickly before I am consumed by the power that I wished.

"Where is she?"

"Toward sector 7, there's an abandoned giant apartment complex towering out of the station atmosphere. The Skullhead gang had set their base there, you should find her there." Before I left the garage, I went back to my apartment room and grabbed Daisie's broken sword along with a necklace with two rings attached to it.

People gravitated their stares at me as they walked passed by, who could blame them, there is a freaking rocket in the middle of the street. I vaulted on the seat and turned the key, the engine roared while a large flame shot out of the exhaust. I wore the full-face helmet, then rotated the grip slightly and caused the bike to move forward. The people on the street parted away and gave me a clear straight route to take off. I shot up into the sky leaving a trail of white smoke behind.

It’s weird seeing two types of vision, color, and monochrome. Dizzying, but I'm getting used to it. On my left, I saw the earth, though it may be dark because of the sun that is hiding behind it, it is still illuminated by the cities that stretched across the land. They said it’s beautiful there, that the riches thrived there and developed a technology that harmonizes with nature, so a better clean and livable earth. I don’t really know what it is like there, I’ve only been here since the first time I arrived.

I sighed deeply, I wanted to be home, to be where I was born, where I live, where I was me, before death knock on my door, and forever took me away from everything. However, I think this view alone is enough, I felt it slowly wiggled throughout my body, wanting to take control.

I focused forward once more, in the distance, I saw the dilapidated apartment complex and headed toward there with breakneck speed. I pitched the bike down, aiming for the large metal doors that are closing slowly. I think they know that I’m here, well it's not like I'm planning a sneak attack. Two turrets pop out from the side of the building and began firing energy blasts. I tried my best to dodge, but with a tremendous speed, it became harder to control its course.

A few of those energy blasts managed to hit my hoverbike and caused a few parts to fly off the hoverbike. The bike suddenly lost its power, but the momentum still carried it forward, I slid the bike on the metal pavement, leaving sparkles of burning metal behind. The bike and I barely make it through just before the gate fully closed, but without any brake, I crashed the bike into a fountain in the middle of the complex. The crash caused debris of stone and dust to rise up.

I stood up, cracking my neck.

“You have three choices, leave, or leave and tell me where she is, or death!” My voice echoed throughout the apartment complex, I heard murmurs, I know they are here, pointing their guns at me.

The floor trembled as a big mech, landed from the second floor with two energy-based machine guns attached to its arms. As the dust cleared, I saw clearly what I am up against, a big machine, with a pilot cockpit and two arms and two legs. It wasn't made to be pretty, it looks easily reproduce, look easy to modify and repair, it was made for war, so it must be a military-grade weapon, not that I am an expert of.

“I’m guessing you guys choose the third option.” 

The moment I said those words, It began showering me with an energy blast, enough to tear apart the floor underneath me, but I managed took off into a run. I’m not just under fire from the mech, the first and second floor had begun firing their weapon. I looked around for a quick way to take down the mech, then my sight gravitated to the crashed bike earlier. I ran toward the mech, and slid underneath, getting enough time and cover to reach my bike and start its engines. As the mech waited for its weapon to cool down, I turned the grip and the bike flew toward it along with me on it.

The bike crashed into the cockpit then exploded into a large ball of fire. The force from the explosion thrown me into the second floor, where I am met with a walkway full of enemies. They shouted something at me, but I had already reached my gun and shoved the barrel into one of the gang member’s mouths. 

POP!

His brain splattered onto the ceiling after I squeezed the trigger. Some of his blood sprinkled onto my face. It was so fast and loud that they all had frozen in place, so I took the chances to grab the other gang members and tossed him off the second floor. After the second guy dies, they came back to their senses and started firing their weapons. I ducked down and fired at the guy's leg in front of me. He screamed his pain out and dropped his weapon. I leaned my shoulder against his chest and used him as a meat shield, the energy blast tore his limbs and body bit by bit. I know that this isn't a suitable cover, so I abandoned it after I killed another one then burst into a room right next to me. I fell face-first on top of the door that I smashed through.

A woman screamed caught my attention, I raised my sight and saw her hiding behind the bed, half-naked. An enemy pop out of the walkway and readied to shoot. The woman screamed, I clicked my tongue then grabbed a piece of sharp wood near me and slung it toward the enemy. The sharp wood pieced his head and his body fell to the floor. The woman continued to scream, I glared at her.

"Shut up!" I stood up and took cover behind a large wardrobe. The woman continued to hide behind the bed.

"Asian, black bob hair, where is she?!"

"I don't–Eeek! You need to leave!" An energy blast flew just above her head and hits the wall behind her.

"If I go away if you told me!"

"Ok, ok, penthouse floor." She screamed again as energy blasts flew all over the room.

I turned my sight against the concrete wall beside me, then I glanced at my gun. A plan, no, an idea, I turned the switch to high piercing ammo then backed away from the wall. With a short distance, I rammed my shoulder through the concrete wall and reached the other side into another room and met with another girl.

After I ignored the girls, I charged toward the door and slammed my shoulder against it, and I rammed into a group of enemies in the walkway. They all fall off the second floor, I stopped before I fell myself and used the door as a ramming shield while I charged through hundreds of enemy in that walkway. However, a ramming shield wasn't enough, I emptied out the piercing ammo through the makeshift shield before I slammed into them.

I tossed the door behind me, hitting the enemy chasing after me before I make my way up the stairs. Before we exchanged fire at the stairs, I switched to normal bullets, but when a brute with arm shield attachment blocked the way, I switched to explosive ammo and shot him right between his eyes. His skull pop like a balloon, scattering his brain matters on the wall and railings.

The headless body vaulted over the handrailing and fell straight down. One of the enemies grabbed my metallic arm, he used his own bionic to put me into a headlock, but with ease, I grabbed his other arm and tore it straight out using my strength. He screamed as blood squirted out from his newly torn arm. I grabbed his head and smashed it beside the wall.

I shot and fight up the stairs until I reached the 10th floor. After I kicked a gang member through the door, I was somehow lifted off the ground and tossed through the same broken doorway. I ducked and rolled then faced behind me to see what just threw me across the walkway.

A steroid-induced man with a powered exoskeleton sewn into his bones and skin. The brute broke the wall beside him and lifted a large broken piece then thrown it at me. I dodged the boulder and it blocked the route behind me, but he lifted another one and thrown it at me. A blinking light on my robotic arm caught my attention, I quickly pressed it and it sprouted an umbrella-shaped shield, which I used to smash the boulder into pieces.

The force alone from that one hit vibrated the metal parts of my arm, and it still vibrates as it began to diminish the force that coursed through it. I rushed toward the man and was about to him in his head with the shield, but my attack failed as he grabbed my arm mid-air, and hold it in place with a single hand. I felt the rotors and gear trembling inside my robotic arm. I was about to hit him with the other arm, but he managed to punch me in the chest. My ribs were pushed back against my heart and my back is slammed against the wall beside me.

He kept punching me in the face, not giving me a chance to retaliate. The brute then squished my robotic arm until it became useless and mangle, he then let me go and I slid down the wall until my feet touched the floor again. Just when I thought it was over, he wrapped his hand around my neck and raised me up again while applying immense pressure around my trachea. I tried to reach his head with my other hand, but it’s too far.

“I didn't know it was going to be this easy.” He smirked.

As I lose the ability to breathe, I heard whispers wanting me to let go again, and I felt myself getting closer to fainting, but I hold on. I grabbed my mangled metal arm and tore it from my stump. With a swing, the mangled arm hit the brute in the head and caused him to let me go. I kept hitting him in the head with the arm until blood squirted out from his eyeball, I kept hitting and hitting. Swing after swing and finally the brute dropped down with an unrecognized face of gores and white bone.

“Here, let me give you a hand,” I tossed the mangled arm on top of him.

I turned to face the entrance to the stairs and my eyes widened when I saw the giant repulsor cannon in the walkway. It glowed brightly before a large energy beam shot out from it, I tried to dodge it by jumping into the room right next to me, but it was too late as my entire body was overwhelmed by the tremendous force and heat. It felt like being cooked alive, and I thought I was going to die because I remembered losing consciousness at that very moment.

Maybe I did die.

BOOM!