The shock hit me again, and my body couldn't handle it this time.
My stomach heaved as blood poured from my mouth.
I spit it out, but it did nothing to stop the pain coursing through me.
The cuts were worse than I'd thought—gashes on my skin, each one more vicious than the last.
They'd torn me apart, and I could feel every raw inch of it.
But I held back.
Healing was easy, too easy. But that would raise suspicion. It would make things worse.
So I had to endure. I had to keep pretending.
The mobsters laughed as they watched me, each of them taking their turn to mock my condition before they finally left.
The door slammed shut behind them, leaving a cold silence in the room.
I coughed up more blood, but I didn't let myself collapse.
I forced myself to look at the woman in front of me—Hoshiguma, the Kinslayer.
A name fitting her , straight from the game of thrones.
She was a force of nature.
Her past was soaked in blood—her family's blood, her clan's blood, her enemies' blood.
Her weapon, Hannya, had been forged in tragedy and death.
But now, here she was, wounded, beaten, and shackled in a way that even her immense strength couldn't break free from.
I couldn't help but ask, "How did you end up here, of all people? You're the last person I would expect to get caught off guard."
She didn't answer, her eyes barely moving as they focused somewhere past me, not meeting mine.
I pressed further, trying to get something, anything, out of her.
"Who did this to you?"
She let out a rasping breath.
"An old friend…"
I couldn't stop the bitterness from creeping into my tone.
"An old friend. I see"
" It's funny, really. The first time we get to speak like this, it's while you're stuck in this hellhole."
There was still no response, just that distant, unreadable gaze.
So I pushed, asking what had been gnawing at me for days.
"Why have you been avoiding me, Hoshiguma? I've tried reaching out. I've wanted to talk."
She didn't answer right away. Her silence hung in the air, heavy, suffocating. I knew what it was.
"You're afraid, aren't you?" I said softly, the realisation hitting me as I watched her stiffen.
"Afraid of what might happen if you let anyone close. Afraid of being left behind again."
"Afraid that I'll take your place at the L.G.D.? No, you know I will leave when the firm is rebuilt."
"Or is it because I am too close to Ch'en? Afraid of what happens if I end up where you are, doing what you do, with her."
For a split second, I saw her hands twitch. She didn't look at me, but I saw it—the briefest confirmation that I was right. I'd nailed it.
I leaned forward, the pain in my body momentarily forgotten.
"You're afraid I'll replace you, aren't you? Afraid I'll take your position beside her, at the L.G.D., in her life…"
She flinched at that last part, and it was enough to confirm everything.
She still didn't speak, but her body language said it all.
She was scared, not of me, but of losing something she thought she had control over. Losing her place in Ch'en's world.
"You're wrong," I said quietly. "You think I'm here to take what's yours, to take Ch'en from you. But that's not it at all."
I let the words settle between us before continuing.
"You've been running from something, Hoshiguma."
"You've been running from the truth, from the reality that you can't hold onto everything forever. That you can't control everything around you."
Her gaze flickered to mine for the briefest moment.
"Liar," she spat, her voice hoarse.
"I've seen people like you before. Clever. Manipulative. You've fooled everyone, but not me."
I smirked, despite the pain.
"You know, it's funny. I am hurt my senior thinks of me like this."
I chuckled, though it was bitter.
"Everyone has their secrets, Hoshiguma. Even you."
Her hands clenched into fists, the muscles in her arms bulging beneath the strain. And then, it happened.
I said it—the name that she has long forgotten. The name that carried so much weight.
"Kinslayer".
I saw her stiffen, her whole body jerking as if I'd struck her with a blow.
Her chair groaned under the force of her reaction.
I knew I'd touched a nerve.
I smiled, though it didn't reach my eyes.
"Don't make any rash moves, Hoshiguma. If you do, those thugs will be back, and it won't end well for either of us."
She growled, low and menacing.
"How dare you…"
I tilted my head, voice steady as I responded,
"I'm just doing my job. I'm a detective, remember? It's my job to see through the lies, to uncover the secrets people want to keep hidden. And you… you're no different than anyone else."
I let the silence linger for a moment before continuing.
"We both know Ch'en. We both want to protect her. But as long as you remain stubborn, we're never going to get anywhere."
She looked at me, the fire in her eyes burning hotter than ever. Finally, she spoke, her voice laced with doubt.
"Why should I trust you?"
I gave her a smile, though it was tinged with sadness.
"You have no choice."
***
Hoshiguma looked down at her broken hands, the wounds still fresh and blood-soaked, trembling from pain and fatigue. Her jaw tightened.
She didn't trust me.
And yet—she also understood. There was no future in staying like this.
No escape.
If both of us died here, if Ch'en had to bury two people she still foolishly trusted…
Hoshiguma clenched her teeth, shame curling in her stomach like a sleeping beast.
She finally spoke, voice low but clear. "...Fine. I'll cooperate."
I closed my eyes, nodding slowly, letting out a breath I didn't realise I was holding.
"Good," I said, letting a thin smile tug at my lips.
"Then I'll show you something I've only ever shown Ch'en."
I stood up from the chair. My bones cracked, and my muscles convulsed. For a moment, Hoshiguma flinched, thinking they'd return to torture me again—but what happened next made her breath catch in her throat.
My body began to twist. Sinew snapped and reknit.
The black feathers that hid under my scalp lengthened, fusing together. My arms grew, swelled.
Black lines of eldritch veins surfaced across my skin like ink in water.
My silhouette warped into something monstrous, unnatural—something not meant to exist in the realm of man.
The restraints screamed under the pressure before snapping apart like rotted thread.
Hoshiguma's eye widened, her breathing shallow. "…You…"
I turned toward her, body still halfway in that beastly form, voice carrying a rumble.
"Don't be scared. I am not going to eat you."
The transformation slowly receded. My bones folded back into shape, and the ink-black blood pulsed back beneath the skin.
I exhaled, taking a knee beside her. She recoiled slightly.
I reached forward and pressed my fingers against the collar on her neck. It was a complex mechanism—a sensor, injector, and tracker.
But everything mechanical shared a weakness.
"Hold still."
From my fingertip, something alien flowed. Not liquid. Not quite smoke either.
Seaborn extract, processed through my cells—corrosive and hungry.
The collar hissed, then cracked. Metal shuddered as if it was afraid before the mechanism simply fell apart, reduced to slag.
Hoshiguma stared at me in stunned silence.
"Still too injured," I muttered.
I coughed, leaned over her, and let a few drops of my blood fall across her open wounds.
It hissed as it touched her skin, and she gritted her teeth—but then, the impossible happened.
Her cuts began to close. The torn muscle and broken skin regenerated. Not perfectly, but enough.
"What… what the hell are you?" She whispered, voice shaking.
"Later", I said. "Right now, we fight."
The heavy metal door creaked open with a slam, echoing through the underground level.
One of the mobs turned, expecting his ally.
Instead, he was met with a fist to the throat.
I moved like a shadow given weight.
The first one fell without even a scream, his body crumpling to the ground.
The others turned—guns drawn, suits rustling, confused cries rising.
Hoshiguma, now standing, cracked her knuckles.
Blood dripped from her knuckles as she smirked. "I needed this."
We moved.
I slid under a barrage of bullets, grabbing a pipe from the floor.
My arts-enhanced strength turned it into a steel whip.
I swung it low, sweeping two off their feet. Before the third could raise his pistol, I buried the pipe in his stomach.
Bone cracked.
A man lunged at me from behind.
I turned and headbutted him. His nose exploded in a splash of red.
Hoshiguma charged forward, grabbing one of their shields and tearing it in half with brute strength.
She flipped it sideways, using it to crush another attacker against the wall. He screamed once—then went silent.
More came. Five. Six. Ten. No end.
"Stay low," I barked. "We'll take the stairwell and funnel them."
I grabbed a loose baton and parried an incoming knife slash, then twisted the attacker's wrist until I heard the satisfying pop of dislocation.
Hoshiguma was already ahead, slamming someone into the wall with a shoulder tackle that shook the building.
"Had enough?!" She shouted, eyes wild.
I ducked under a wild swing, grabbing the attacker's suit and pulling—his momentum flipped him into the air before he crashed into the railing.
Blood stained the concrete.
"They'll keep coming," I muttered. "We need to reach the upper floor. Find the exit."
More black suits were forming up ahead.
I raised my hand.
"We're outnumbered," Hoshiguma growled.
"We always are," I said.