Kei's muscles tensed as he locked eyes with the mysterious figure standing at the edge of the platform. The neon lights of the prison flickered, casting shifting shadows over their faces.
"Who are you?" Kei asked, his voice steady despite the storm raging inside him.
The figure took a step forward, boots clanking against the metal floor. "Not the right question," they replied. "The real question is—how much longer will you pretend to be ordinary?"
Kei's fingers twitched. A spark of energy rippled through his veins, that same eerie pulse from before. He clenched his fists. Neuromancer… The name of the power echoed in his mind, but its full extent remained a mystery.
"You know something about this, don't you?" Kei narrowed his eyes.
The figure let out a low chuckle. "I don't know, Kei. Why don't you show me?"
Without warning, they lunged.
CLANG!
Kei barely had time to dodge as the figure's fist smashed into the metal floor where he had just been standing. Sparks flew. Kei retaliated, swinging his leg up in a sharp kick, but the figure twisted mid-air, dodging effortlessly.
They're fast! Kei thought. But something was different. As he moved, as he fought, his body felt… sharper. The world around him seemed slightly slower, as if his brain was processing movement at an accelerated rate.
His opponent noticed it too. "Ah… there it is."
Kei didn't hesitate. He rushed forward, throwing a punch, but as his fist extended—
BZZZZT!
For a split second, his vision glitched. It was as if the world had broken apart into fragmented pixels, and then—he was standing behind his opponent.
What the—?!
The figure turned, a smirk playing on their lips. "Now we're getting somewhere."
Kei's breathing was uneven. He didn't teleport. It was more like… he had skipped a moment in time, a jump between reality and data.
The Neuromancer power was activating.
And his opponent?
They were just getting started.