Team Kill #063
The shop was so dark that almost no light penetrated except through the shattered sections. Kang Sian, yanked backward, didn't just get thrown—he flew. A sickening crunch and the sound of impact exploded at the same time. The wooden shelf didn't simply break; it collapsed entirely. Porcelain jars and glass bottles shattered, scattering across the floor. The sudden shock drained every ounce of strength from his body. The instant he barely kept himself from collapsing, a shadow swept across the edge of his vision. A woman's leg. A kick was hurtling straight toward his abdomen.
It looked impossible to dodge after taking an ambush with his strength sapped. Any ordinary hunter without superpowers would have been finished. 'This son of a bitch ambushed me?!'
His senses had been cranked to maximum the moment the surprise attack landed. Even swallowed by darkness, he could make out the shadows and shapes clearly enough. Kang Sian channeled magic power into his left arm and snapped his palm up to deflect the kick.
“?!”
Right before contact, the foot pulled back slightly and sliced through empty air. He had only a split second to wonder why it stopped. The leg that had cut through the air planted itself on the ground, and the body spun with blinding speed, twisting like a whirlwind.
'Roundhouse kick?!'
He jerked his head back desperately to avoid it. Instead of hitting him, the heel smashed into the corner of the wall. Extreme pain was guaranteed—he expected the solid wall to shatter his foot.
Crack—!!!
Common sense didn't apply to someone who could punch through solid stone with her bare hands. The corner itself exploded, pulverized on impact. It was threatening, but it also handed him an opening. The brief window created by the collision was short yet decisive. Kang Sian gathered magic power in one fist and drove it straight into the woman's abdomen.
“Penetrate!”
The shockwave concentrated into a single point—her stomach. The fusion of magic power and air detonated. The woman shot backward as if she'd been struck by a cannon.
'Got her… wait, what the hell?'
The power was far below what he'd expected. She spun twice in midair and landed lightly on her feet. This was completely different from every opponent who'd taken that technique before. Normally, they should have been embedded in the wall.
'She concentrated magic power into her abdomen in that split second to dampen the impact?'
It was an unbelievable level of skill. At minimum, Expert rank. Nothing a mere Squire should be capable of. The moment he tried to get a look at her face to figure out what kind of monster he was dealing with, she charged again without giving him time to raise magic power to his eyes.
Her fist was clenched so tightly it looked lethal. Given the physical prowess she'd already displayed, it would absolutely be a fatal blow. But running wasn't an option. Kang Sian set his stance and charged right back at her.
“Kraaaah!!!”
The woman's roar split the air. It was oppressive, the kind of sound that could spread terror in an instant. Still, he couldn't stop. All he could do was meet her head-on.
She threw a punch. He deflected it. He drove his own fist forward. She slipped away. She swung her opposite fist. He redirected it. He tried to plant a strike in her abdomen again. She twisted her body and evaded once more. She launched a kick. He caught the leg and twisted. She slammed into the floor. The instant he moved to stomp on her face, her other foot shot up and smashed into his ribs.
“Keuk?!”
Unbelievable flexibility. Unbelievable destructive power. The impact felt strangely familiar yet overwhelmingly strong, staggering him. In that opening, the woman rose and created some distance. She had retreated toward the broken wall, where faint light revealed her form.
'What the actual fuck?'
Her face looked like the skin had been ripped clean off. Hair so matted and stained its original color was impossible to guess. Clothes caked in human blood and flesh. Bones and muscle lay exposed like a rotting corpse. Yet her body was shockingly perfect—seductive beyond compare, with proportions so flawless that even the most beautiful people alive would feel inferior. In any other situation, it was the kind of figure that could make someone fall hard.
Which was exactly why he had zero intention of falling for it now.
Kang Sian glanced at the faint shadow cast on the broken wall and shouted urgently.
“Shannon!”
“Yes! Water Sphere!!!”
A massive orb of water began swirling into existence behind the woman. What the hell was this? Another ally? Some kind of binding magic? Countless questions raced through his mind.
The woman glanced back, anxiety flaring, and tried to drop away. Naturally, Kang Sian wasn't about to let her. He rushed forward and shoved her straight into the sphere.
“You motherfuc—”
Her voice cracked as she plunged into the water droplet. She thrashed inside as if suffocating. It looked like she would be subdued for good.
Until blood began leaking from one of her arms.
“I-is it done?”
“Yeah, for now. But if she's bleeding that badly, won't she die?”
The moment Shannon entered through the hole and the magic strengthened, everything had gone quiet. Now the leaking blood began clouding the inside of the magical sphere, turning it murky. Kang Sian tilted his head in confusion while Shannon frowned and tried to adjust the spell.
“Blood… control…”
An eerie voice echoed. The giant water droplet, now tinged crimson, suddenly spat the woman back out.
“Haa… huuuu.”
“Wha— what?! Are you insane?!”
But it didn't end there. With a heavy gesture from the woman, the water sphere shot toward Shannon like a missile.
“W-wait, wait… kyaa— glurk—”
Shannon had no time to react before she was trapped inside the droplet. Kang Sian was stunned that control of the magic had been stolen outright. Something had gone very, very wrong.
Soon he saw multiple shadows flickering at the hole where Shannon had entered. This was no time for reinforcements. That woman wasn't someone who could be overwhelmed by numbers.
“Don't come in! Do not come in until I say so!”
The moment Kang Sian shouted that warning, the woman charged with glowing red eyes that evoked a demon. The fact that she was an enemy became crystal clear.
He drew his sword from his waist in a flash. With a weapon, even against an opponent rich in magic power, he could cut her down. Kang Sian prepared to sever her arms and legs.
That was when the sphere trapping Shannon convulsed. A stream of water burst out. The crimson liquid was snatched by the woman in an instant.
'Chaos School magic?! No—blood manipulation?!'
Whatever it was, the ability to control blood remained unchanged. And her proficiency was clearly on another level. The stream of water rapidly reshaped itself into a short spear. The woman spun the liquid weapon and closed in.
Water versus metal. The winner was obvious. Trusting that fact, Kang Sian swung his sword. The sound that rang out, however, was a dull thud.
“Acceleration magic!” the woman said with a smile.
She had successfully blocked the blade with her liquid spear. Water that rivaled metal. Without time to be shocked, Kang Sian pressed the attack relentlessly.
“You know what?!”
“Keuk?!”
“My closest friend is also pretty good at acceleration!”
Something felt eerily familiar. A sense that he was on the verge of remembering. For a split second, the familiarity distracted him.
The woman seized the opening. She knocked his sword aside and slipped behind him like the wind.
“Then let's see if the suppression technique is the same too!!!”
She grabbed his waist with both hands. Using monstrous strength, she slammed him backward into the floor.
Boom!Crunch!
The wooden floor gave way. His body began plummeting into the basement.
“Haha, ahahahat!”
“You bastard!”
Refusing to fall alone, Kang Sian clamped down on the woman's hands still wrapped around his waist. In the end, both of them crashed into the basement level of the potion shop together, landing on the stone floor amid a shower of wooden debris. Kang Sian hit first. The woman landed on top of him.
The silver lining was that his shield was still active, leaving him uninjured. The woman, however, had fallen several meters and was now covered in cuts and bruises. Yet she was still giggling like a lunatic. Calling her the craziest of the crazy wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Kang Sian tried to shove the woman off and stand. Leaving this insane bitch alone would bring nothing but trouble. The moment he struggled to lift his hips—
“……”
Something felt very, very wrong. The woman seemed to sense it too and stayed perfectly still. Five seconds. Ten seconds. Twenty seconds passed.
Kang Sian carefully rolled over. Now they were face to face. In the grip of overwhelming déjà vu, the realization hit him like a truck: this monster was her.
Acting on pure instinct, he gently pulled her into an embrace. It was an absurd thing to do in the middle of a fight, but he needed to confirm. And what he felt confirmed everything. This height. This curve. This proportion.
At the same time, countless memories came rushing back. That fist. That impact. That fighting style. How was this possible? These were sensations he'd felt countless times over the past twelve years of living together.
Kang Sian became certain, as if he'd been slapped awake.
The same realization struck Cheon Mari.
“Sian?!”
“Uh… Mari?”
Two idiots who had fought without even confirming who the other person was. Two idiots who only realized they were childhood friends of the opposite sex after their bodies pressed together.
Kang Sian made a sullen face and shoved the villainess—who was still clinging to him like a stubborn sticker—off to the side. In the desolate silence that followed, both of them stood up at the same time.
Now that the truth was out, there was only one thing left to do.
Kang Sian and Cheon Mari grabbed each other by the hair and started fighting all over again.
“You crazy bitch! I almost died!!!”
“You son of a bitch! Why the hell were you standing there?!”
Anyway, the kind of fight that commonly breaks out between childhood friends of the opposite sex ended in futility. Though not without a fair amount of commotion.
“Glug glug… save meee— heu heu hek……”
Shannon thought to herself that today was the worst day of her nineteen years of life.