A Desperate Escape

“Hey, hey, hey, are you still alive, uncle?” Titan gently called out, having just unearthed the man from beneath a corner of the ruins, where he lay buried under crumbling walls and debris.

“Cough, cough, cough… What do you want…?” Chongyun asked, his guard instantly rising. He was poised to activate his [Demonic Machine] and transform into [Fafnir] at a moment’s notice.

He hadn’t been merely biding his time, lurking in the shadows. While Vanguard and Titan were locked in their struggle, he had utilized his [Demonic Machine] to mend the majority of his physical injuries. Should Titan harbor any ill intentions, Chongyun was confident he could still fight to the death.

Nevertheless, he preferred to avoid a confrontation with Titan unless it was absolutely unavoidable. If the two of them, already in a precarious position, were to turn on each other, Vanguard would undoubtedly exploit the discord and defeat them individually.

“We share a common enemy. For now, at least, cooperation remains our best option…” Even as Chongyun eyed him with deep suspicion, a surge of warm energy coursed through his body, mending his wounds in an instant.

“You…” Chongyun’s eyes held a complex mix of emotions. He knew precisely what that energy was. Despite their shared adversary, Titan’s unexpected gesture left him utterly astonished.

After all, the compatibility between [Fafnir] and the black-haired girl was dreadfully low; her constantly shifting powers meant he couldn’t even serve as a temporary meat shield.

As a former adversary, he had steeled himself for a fight to the bitter end. Yet, Titan’s actions were… entirely unexpected.

“Consider this my repayment for sparing my life,” a voice, tinged with urgency, resonated from within Titan’s armor. “While that one is still distracted, we must make our escape.”

“Escape…?”

“There’s no point in prolonging this engagement with that woman. Besides… your true target should be me, shouldn’t it?”

Chongyun found himself momentarily speechless. The overwhelming chaos of the situation had nearly caused him to forget his true objective.

“Are you certain we can escape?” he pressed.

Even [Fafnir]’s formidable speed had proven insufficient, as they were overtaken in a matter of seconds. Chongyun simply couldn’t conceive of a way Titan might shake off Vanguard’s relentless pursuit.

“We’ll use [Spatial Leap].”

“Regardless of the outcome, remaining here guarantees our demise,” Titan responded. “We might as well take a chance, a desperate gamble, and see if we can truly escape this predicament.”

With those words, Titan placed his right hand firmly on Chongyun’s shoulder. A moment later, a dizzying sense of weightlessness washed over them, and in the next breath, they found themselves standing on a vast, desolate plain.

“…That skyscraper is no longer in sight.” Chongyun glanced over his shoulder. The towering building, now a ravaged wreck from their battle, had completely disappeared beyond the horizon.

The plan had unfolded smoothly, or so it seemed. Yet, Titan’s brow furrowed with concern.

His initial intention had been to leap directly to The Supervisory Bureau’s defensive perimeter, but instead, they had become stranded midway.

“…You seem quite agitated.” It was painfully obvious; Titan’s current expression might as well have been emblazoned with the word ‘anxiety.’

“The one pursuing us could realize we’ve escaped at any moment,” Titan urged. “If we don’t move faster, we’ll surely be overtaken.”

Though those words left his lips, a different thought churned within Titan’s mind. ‘Through our recent clash, I’ve confirmed one crucial detail: this entity, likely ‘Vanguard,’ is almost certainly the girl I once teleported into the [Artificial Universe Prison].’

‘This means… that during the time Chongyun and I were locked in battle, the girl swiftly bypassed [Crimson Roar]’s defense systems, escaped the [Artificial Universe Prison], returned to Dongchuan, and positioned herself squarely on our escape route.’ That… was an utterly dreadful development.

He was intimately familiar with the current state of [Crimson Roar]. With its energy critically low, engines damaged, and hull ruptured, it lay like a derelict vessel run aground, riddled with countless wounds and teetering on the brink of destruction. Worse still, ravenous beasts prowled the surrounding ‘forest,’ their eyes gleaming with predatory hunger, ready to pounce.

Though he had managed to restore some of its functions using the power of [Divine Blood], allowing [Rebirth Star], [Crimson Roar]’s governing entity, to reactivate and commence repair work, the remaining fleet members, unable to adapt to the harsh external environment, had succumbed to the corrosive influence of [Black Blood], falling one after another.

If the black-haired girl had indeed wreaked havoc within… then what fate awaited the comatose fleet members resting in the [Healing Pods]…?

The thought ignited a fresh surge of anxiety within Titan, and he was consumed by profound regret for his rash decision to teleport her into the [Artificial Universe Prison].

“Is that so?” Chongyun replied noncommittally. While he ought to have been profoundly grateful for being saved, the directives from his superiors incessantly reminded him of his true objective. ‘What a truly vexing situation,’ he mused.

Chongyun sighed inwardly, resolving to prioritize their escape before contemplating their next move. If circumstances proved too dire, he would temporarily set aside his assigned objective.

Another spatial fluctuation rippled through the air, and they reappeared not far from The Supervisory Bureau’s defensive perimeter. Even from this distance, they could discern the ceaselessly shifting black specks along the boundary.

“This is truly… a remarkably unpretentious matryoshka doll,” Titan finally uttered after a long, contemplative silence.

The spatial technology employed by The Supervisory Bureau essentially involved carving out one space and then layering another upon it, much like Russian nesting dolls stacked one within the other. If he were to offer an assessment, he would deem it perfectly aligned with humanity’s current technological prowess: primitive and utterly barbaric.

This same crude level of technology was starkly evident in the small, artificial spaces they had created. Among the dozen or so nested layers, not a single one possessed identical parameters; bizarre bugs would surface sporadically, making his spatial leaps exceedingly troublesome.

Individuals with such paltry skills would not even be considered apprentices in his homeland. Yet, tragically, in this ‘backward’ and ‘peculiar’ corner of the universe, they were regarded as top-tier experts.

Reining in his thoughts, Titan was just about to initiate another spatial leap when the man beside him abruptly called out, stopping him.

“Wait.”

“What is it?”

Chongyun’s face was etched with profound gravity as he pointed behind them. “Haven’t you realized?” he asked. “We’re drawing closer and closer to that skyscraper.”

“What!?”

Titan whirled around, his gaze snapping backward. Indeed, just as Chongyun had stated, the partially ruined building seemed to be steadily drawing closer. No, that wasn’t right at all… “Damn it,” he cursed, “we’re the ones being pulled towards the building!”

A frantic alarm blared in his mind. Titan and Chongyun exchanged a swift, knowing glance. One instantly transformed into [Fafnir], while the other channeled [Divine Blood] to augment his speed. Without uttering a single word, they instinctively, and with perfect synchronicity, bolted towards the outer perimeter.

Yet, just as they sprinted with all their might, their surroundings abruptly warped. A vast, surging torrent of darkness swept in, eclipsing the sky and sun, instantly engulfing them and pulling them into an impenetrable void.

“What is this!?”

Shrouded in the oppressive darkness, all sense of direction was lost. When Titan and Chongyun finally caught sight of light again and surveyed their surroundings, a chilling realization struck them: they had been returned to the immediate vicinity of that very building.

“I told you…” A cool, clear female voice, at first distant then close, finally settled just a short distance from them. There, before the skeletal remains of the collapsed skyscraper, the deep grey-haired girl stood, an imposing figure of defiant pride.

“—You cannot escape.” Twisted, grotesque black tentacles writhed menacingly around her, casting an unsettling shadow that made her otherwise beautiful form appear truly terrifying.

“This is truly…” Both their faces simultaneously hardened, grim and resolute.

Their speed was outmatched, their spatial leap a failure. Only one path remained for them now: a desperate fight to the death.