NOVEL NEXT Chapter 20: Chapter 20: The Survival Instinct
The impact of her feet on the ground resonated like a war signal.
Subject 09 turned just in time to see Mayu charging at him.
He parried the attack, their blades clashing in a flash of metal.
But this time, something had changed.
Mayu no longer recoiled.
She attacked with a cold fury, her movements faster, more precise.
Every strike aimed to kill.
---
**CLANG!**
**CLANG!**
**CLANG!**
Their duel was a mirage of speed and violence.
The blades sliced through the air in a deadly dance.
But she knew one thing.
She wouldn't win with brute strength.
She had never won that way.
So why am I still alive?
---
A fraction of a second.
A movement too perfect.
Too… predictable.
He's copying me.
Always.
His attacks, his dodges, his posture.
Everything was identical.
Like a reflection.
As if, with every move she made…
He already knew what she would do next.
Mayu understood.
She finally understood.
And she knew how to beat him.
---
The fatal mistake.
She broke her own rhythm.
She dropped her knife.
Her body twisted in an unnatural turn, dodging a strike that no assassin should evade like that.
Subject 09 hesitated.
A hundredth of a second.
A brief, tiny flaw in his perfect mechanics.
And in that flaw, Mayu plunged her fist into his throat.
---
The impact resonated violently.
Subject 09 stumbled back, clutching his throat, choked by the pain.
Mayu didn't wait.
She smoothly picked up her knife and leapt.
Her blade sank into his shoulder, tearing through armor and eliciting a scream.
Blood sprayed onto the floor.
Subject 09 knelt, breathing erratically.
His fingers trembled around the handle of the knife embedded in him.
---
Mayu stopped.
Her breath was short.
Her heart raced to the breaking point.
She looked at him.
Not as an enemy.
But as a brother.
And then, for the first time, he lifted his gaze to her.
His eyes were no longer cold.
They were just…
Tired.
As if, somewhere, he had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
Mayu felt her throat tighten.
But before she could say a word—
A gunshot tore through the air.