NOVEL NEXT Subject #246(II)
(Third Person POV)
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The floor he resided on was a hidden level in the facility—one known only to a select few. Shielded from nearly all eyes, it held secrets only some of the highest-ranking officials were aware of.
This floor was almost twice the size of the one above it, a space dedicated to monitoring subjects handpicked for their resilience and drive. Here, Kazuma watched over them, observing their every move and granting them a single, unavoidable opportunity at freedom: defeat the shinobi the facility head Akio had specifically chosen as their opponent.
Among those chosen was Koji, a captive from Kumogakure. He was dragging himself down a hallway that stretched off to the left, seemingly swallowed by the darkness. Even without realizing it, he emitted an aura of killing intent that clung to the air around him, a silent warning to any who might cross his path.
The curse mark that had been placed on him was slowly gnawing away at his sanity, eroding his mind and will. His body writhed in constant pain, yet, ironically, it brimmed with a level of vitality he’d never known—thanks to the raw, unyielding power of the sage that now flowed through him.
The dark curse marks sprawled across his skin, the inky shapes creeping and expanding, completely overtaking the left side of his body. The transformation had even begun to alter his physical form, making that side bulkier, uneven. The imbalance forced him to lean against the wall on his right side, every step made awkward by the asymmetry.
He hovered at an intermediate stage of transformation, struggling to hold on to himself, straining against the encroaching madness. The only thing keeping him from slipping into full transformation was the fragment of a Gelel stone embedded in his back—a stone powerful enough to hold the curse at bay, but only barely. If not for this fragment, Koji would likely have succumbed to the mark's full effect, losing all consciousness and the last shreds of memory of those he cherished.
Though it was a crude means of accessing Senjutsu, this method provided a far more attainable path for those willing to meet its demands. Unlike traditional methods, nearly anyone could undergo this transformation, though it is another thing to use it to the fullest.
As he kept moving, a sudden chill prickled through his body, creeping in slowly but unmistakably. At first, he dismissed it, figuring it must be the curse marks flaring up again. After all, it was hardly more than a whisper compared to the stabbing pain and the maddening voice that had been looping in his head for the past minute.
But as seconds ticked by, that chill sank deeper, colder, until his new heightened senses sharpened. There was someone here.
Though the darkness swallowed everything, he could make out the steady rhythm of breathing, the faint heartbeat of someone nearby. He took a slow, controlled breath, pushing away the numbness, and focused. Forming hand signs felt awkward; his fingers weren’t matching up quite right due to imperfection in his curse mark transformation. Still, he pressed on, gathering lightning chakra in his mouth, feeling it charge and buzz, hungry to be unleashed.
“Lightning Release: Shower of Arrows!”
The chakra burst forward, forming a large, single projectile, but it quickly splintered, snapping into multiple streams of blue lightning that arced outward like scattered arrows.
CRUNCH!!!
Sharp, crackling impacts echoed through the dark as the arrows burst against surfaces or bored through obstacles in their path. Then, from the opposite direction of his attack, a low, feminine voice sliced through the silence, cold and unimpressed.
“Too wasteful.”
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(Koji POV)
How did she suddenly show up from the opposite direction?!
Kill
Damn it—she’s fast. Too fast.
Kill
“Water Release: A Thousand Needles of Death!”
A sudden surge of projectiles whistled through the air, each aimed with deadly intent. My mind raced, calculating moves, trying to pin down where I might strike this woman and make my way out of this nightmare. But instinct took over—I had to lean on what I knew best.
“Lightning Release: Overdrive!”
Electricity burst from my body, charging my senses as I moved, darting out of my position and launching myself mid-air to strike. I only had one target in mind.
Kill
“Agh!”
A jolt of pain ripped through me as some of them hit me. It hurt like hell, but the wound wasn’t my focus. Within seconds, the bleeding had slowed, almost like my body knew it had no choice but to keep moving. I swung my left hand, every fiber locked on that troublesome woman in front of me, trusting my senses to guide my strike.
“Lariat!”
CRUNCH.
“Fuck!”
The impact shattered the transparent barrier placed in front of her, which I didn't expect him to be there, scattering debris that tore into my skin, while she was nowhere to be seen.
Each shard cut deeper than those needles, yet somehow, my body withstand the damage and began to heal at a visible rate. (Must be because of the serum.)
As I shifted my focus to my surroundings, I noticed something was odd.
Why is the debris so damn cold?
Kill
Maybe it was nothing, a trick of the mind. But curiosity tugged at me, and I reached out, letting my fingers brush the remnants. The coldness hit hard and it was undeniable.
‘Ice?’
“Don’t daydream in the middle of a fight,” she murmured, so close behind me that every hair on my neck stood up where she pressed her palm on my back.
How the hell did she move that fast?
Kill
Without thinking, I drove my elbow back into her—but she shattered, scattering as crushed ice that cascaded down, freezing my skin it touched.
‘Too cold!’
I surged my lightning’s intensity, letting the crackling energy push away the ice coating my body before focusing on finding her. But as I scanned the area, my senses scrambled—she wasn’t in one place anymore. Her presence flitted around, everywhere and nowhere, blending into the dark, too elusive to track.
Most unsettling of all, she made no sound, no footsteps to give away her location..
For a moment, I thought about going on the offensive, but something shifted. My mind cleared, though I felt an ache, the pain radiating through every part of my body, I felt my mind was no longer tainted , that I had control again.
Finally, that damn voice had faded.
Thank god.
My body felt weakened, maybe from the beating it had just taken, but it was my own once more. I took a second to breathe, to move with a bit more ease, though that hideous tattoo still stretched across my skin, a grim reminder of everything I’d endured.
As for the bitch I am up against, she had to be from the Yuki clan—the ice she conjured was proof enough. She was likely trapped here in the same miserable situation I was…
‘Should I try to reason with her?’
Even if we came from different villages, there was no question she'd want out of this hellhole as much as I did.
Konoha is an enemy to everyone, greedily sitting on the world’s best land like it was their birthright. That gives us a little common ground, if nothing else.
But…would Konoha really be careless enough to let us work together and attempt an escape?
They’re always propped up by an endless number of shinobi, thanks to their obscenely fertile land that feeds a booming force. No doubt there are shinobi crawling all over this place, outside this place.
So, instead of risking it, she’d probably kill me the first chance she got if it meant a better shot at her own survival.
And then there was the tattoo—the one that kept trying to claw its way into my mind, bending me under its weight. But she handled it like she was born with it, her movements calm and fluid, wielding control I could barely hold onto until now. Still, she kept her distance, throwing attacks but never coming close to take me down.
Is she toying with me? (Unlikely, she's not from Konoha and should be in the same situation as me.)
That only leaves one possibility: she was frail.
Without a moment to lose, I lunged forward, channeling lightning into both of my arms.
“Lightning Release: Double Lariat!”
A fierce, crackling aura of lightning chakra engulfed my arms as I surged forward, spinning with intense momentum. The light from the chakra lit up the icy barrier ahead, glinting off its surface, but strangely, the barrier took on a dark, almost black hue under the lightning’s glow.
Was this some kind of side-effect from using this tattoo?
CRUNCH
CRUNCH
CRUNCH
CRUNCH
CRUNCH
Each barrier shattered one by one under the pressure of my strike, my speed building with every impact. Just as I was pushing through, I caught sight of an ice sword arcing toward me. I dodged, slipping just out of its path, and threw an uppercut at her as I spotted her descending from above, mid-air.
My punch missed by a hair’s breadth, and in an instant, she landed on my left shoulder. Her heel, encased in ice, slammed into the back of my head in swift fashion, leaving me dazed. Before I could react, her hand wrapped around my neck, setting me up for a reverse cutter.
Slam!
I slammed my left fist to the ground, generating just enough force to disrupt her grip, and she backed off, quickly creating distance between us.
Not giving her a chance to strike again, I charged forward again, lightning surging into my right arm.
“Lightning Release: Lariat!”
“Ice Release: Snow Frost!”
Just before my lariat could connect with her skull, a burst of snow erupted around me, filling my vision and blinding me with a cold, stinging sensation. The freezing mist irritated my eyes, making me incapacitated for a split second. She seized the opening, striking me with an ice-coated kick right on my face, then grabbed my left arm, pulling me closer to follow up with a spinning ice heel kick that hammered into my jaw.
“Lightning Release: Double Lariat!”
“Ice Release: Crystal Ice Mirrors!”
Using the momentum from her kick, I launched myself at her again, my arms spinning with lightning as she conjured an ice barrier just in time to intercept the attack. This mirror was sturdier than the previous ones, halting my momentum for an instant before shattering into pieces.
As she faded into the shadows, I strained to sense her, but her presence seemed to drift through the thickening mist that appeared out of nowhere, making it impossible to pinpoint. It was as if she had dissolved into the freezing air itself.