"Ah! This is the part where I should make a scared face!" Ken screamed. He instantly struck a ridiculous, highly exaggerated pose, leaning all the way back on one leg and pointing both of his index fingers directly at the charging thug like tiny guns.
"Prepare yourself for my ultimate, super-secret, mega-destructive technique!" Ken shouted, trying to sound as cool as a hero in an anime. "Super Mega Ultimate Fire Spark!"
Ken squinted one eye, stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth, and fired.
Pew!
A tiny, absolutely pathetic spark of blue magic floated out of his fingertip. It drifted lazily through the air and hit the charging thug right on the shoulder of his dirty coat.
Sizzle.
It barely even left a scorch mark. It was basically just a tiny static shock.
The thug stopped running. He looked down at his coat, then looked up at Ken. The thug looked incredibly confused, and then he just looked deeply insulted.
"Are you making fun of me?" the thug growled, gripping his wooden club tighter.
"Timeout! Timeout!" Ken yelled, making a 'T' shape with his hands. He started walking backward as fast as he could. "My magic is buffering! The Wi-Fi in this tower is terrible! Give me five minutes to recharge!"
"Get over here!" the thug yelled, chasing after him.
"Help! Stranger danger!" Ken screamed, running in a wide, frantic circle around the lobby. He made sure to run exactly in a path that led the thug straight into one of Zinia's earth pillars. The thug slammed face-first into the solid rock and knocked himself out cold.
"Phew! That was a close one," Ken mumbled to himself, dusting off his hands. "My Super Mega Spark was highly effective. I am basically carrying this team right now."
But the jokes quickly faded as the reality of the situation set in.
Sayma pushed her glasses up, looking around the room. Her golden barrier was blocking a barrage of crude magic spells, but the sheer volume of enemies was becoming a massive problem. For every thug Naomi kicked away, three more stepped over him to take his place. The 13th Unit was strong, but they were vastly outnumbered.
"There are too many of them!" Sayma called out, her voice straining slightly. "They are trying to trap us in the center of the lobby! We need to break through to the stairs if we want to reach Vane!"
"I'm trying!" Naomi yelled back. She dashed forward, her daggers flashing in the red emergency light. She cut through a group of swordsmen, but a thick wall of big, muscular gang members immediately stepped in to block the stairwell.
Just as Naomi was preparing to use a high-powered wind blast to clear the path, a terrifying noise echoed from above.
CRASH!
The heavy concrete balcony on the second floor completely shattered. Dust, rocks, and twisted metal rained down on the lobby floor. Everyone—the 13th Unit and the mob of thugs—stopped fighting for a split second and looked up.
A massive, hulking figure leaped down from the broken balcony. He landed right in the middle of the lobby with a booming, heavy thud that cracked the floor tiles.
The dust slowly cleared.
Standing there was Blight, one of Vane's top lieutenants. He was the close-combat specialist who managed the lower floors.
But he did not look normal.
Blight was massive. His muscles were bulging to a grotesque, unnatural size, tearing the seams of his leather vest. His skin was glowing with a sickly, pulsating green light, and his eyes were completely rolled back in his head, glowing with the exact same terrible green energy as the machine.
He let out a loud, terrifying, animal-like roar that shook the very walls of the Doom Tower.
Ken, who was currently hiding behind a tipped-over desk, blinked his sleepy eyes in genuine surprise.
"Wait a second," Ken thought to himself, completely dropping his goofy act inside his own mind. "I know that guy. I literally shattered his shoulder, broke his arm, and snapped his knee in half last night. He shouldn't even be able to stand up, let alone jump off a balcony like a superhero."
Ken looked closely at Blight's glowing green skin and his bulging, unnatural muscles. Ken's sharp, analytical mind pieced the puzzle together in less than a second.
"Ah, I see," Ken deduced silently. "He didn't get healed. He cheated. He went to the machine and injected himself with a massive, unfiltered dose of that stolen life force. He is using a pure Curse drug to totally override his broken bones and deaden his nervous system. He is basically a walking, glowing zombie running on stolen time."
Ken let out a long, silent sigh. "Gross. That is going to leave a terrible headache when the drug wears off."
Blight turned his glowing, empty eyes toward the 13th Unit. He cracked his knuckles, the broken bones in his hands popping loudly with a sickening crunch. He was feeling absolutely zero pain, and he was completely ready to tear the Royal team apart with his bare hands.
The battle in the lobby had just gone from chaotic to incredibly deadly.
----
Blight did not waste any time talking. He didn't even pick up a weapon. Pumped completely full of stolen, raw life force, his own body was the most dangerous weapon in the room.
He let out another beastly roar and charged directly toward Princess Iris. With his heavily enhanced, mutated muscles, he moved with terrifying, unnatural speed. He crossed the large lobby in the blink of an eye, completely ignoring the other thugs who had to scramble out of his way.
"Target incoming! Protect the Princess!" Sayma commanded loudly.
Naomi dashed forward instantly. She was the fastest member of the team. Her green wind magic wrapped tightly around her body as she stepped right into Blight's path. She pulled both of her daggers back, ready to deliver a lightning-fast, cross-shaped slash across his chest.
But Blight didn't even try to dodge. He just pulled his massive, glowing green fist back and threw a punch straight into the air in front of Naomi.
He didn't even hit her. He punched the empty air so incredibly hard that the sheer physical shockwave of the blow hit Naomi like a solid brick wall.
"Gah!" Naomi gasped, the breath completely knocked out of her lungs. The force of the shockwave threw her backward. Her boots slid violently across the tile floor, completely stopping her attack.
Zinia stepped up immediately to cover for Naomi. She slammed her hands down onto the floor. "Solid Wall!"
A thick, heavy slab of hardened earth shot up from the ground, creating a protective barrier between the Princess and the charging lieutenant. It was the same type of wall that had easily blocked the sniper fire earlier.
But Blight did not slow down. He lowered his shoulder and slammed his massive body right into the stone.
CRASH!
The solid earth wall exploded into a thousand pieces of flying rubble. Blight smashed right through it as if it were made of cheap cardboard. He barely even blinked.
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