"Discharge: Electromotive Force—!!!"
Sparks of electricity flashed around his hands before discharging in my direction. Time then slowed to a nearing halt for me.
"Shit—!" I jumped to the side, narrowly dodging the strike that absolutely razed the spot where I previously stood.
What the fuck?! Why is his electric discharge so much more powerful now—?
I instantly understood what must have happened.
Did I just witness a Fractal Activation?
He pointed his fingers back at me and charged-up another shot. This time, the discharge was even more accurate, missing me by just a slim margin. I panicked as I noticed he was already adapting to his newly awakened abilities.
"I'm not trying to fight you!" I called out to him. He didn't reply. He was so zoned-in to his awakened state it were as if he couldn't hear me.
It's no use.
I made a dash for the exit, pushing on the door to let me out. But it wouldn't budge. It was locked.
"What!?" I slammed on it as hard as I could, but the glass was reinforced. My instincts suddenly flared violently. I leaned my head back an inch, and narrowly missing my face, a bolt of electricity abruptly struck the door. Sparks from the discharge's impact flew everywhere, with some landing on my skin and bringing about small burns. I fell back, far away from the door, and further away from the barista.
"I'm not going to let myself be killed today…" He grunted under his breath. He was breathing heavily, completely drowned in his self-imposed power.
What the hell am I supposed to do now?
I'd chosen not to kill this man, but I also had no means of escape from his Fractal-Activated state. And with his current state of mind, it would be to no avail to try and make peace with him.
Did I scare him that badly? So much so that he had an actual Fractal Activation?
I looked around me. There were dead bodies everywhere including his own coworker friends. Just moments ago, he also began to speak about his relationship complications as if he were facing his end, a life-or-death scenario.
A fight-or-flight situation.
Suddenly it made sense to me. The conditions for a Fractal Activation that Ian described to me must have been in his favor.
But his original Fractal was so weak. How could it have possibly been High-Potential?
There was no use contemplating anymore. I myself was facing a life-or-death situation if I didn't do anything about the calamity unleashed before me. I had to solve the problem presented to me otherwise I'd perish. Knowing that, I referred back to the moment I'd first awakened my true Fractless potential. Back when I made a promise to myself.
I need to be selfish for my own sake now.
Only recently, I'd finally chosen to start pursuing my own desires. It was why I returned to the apartment last night to speak with Ian. It was why I'd found myself in this current predicament. Everything that's led to this current moment, with all these dead bodies surrounding me at my feet, were a result of my own selfishness. It was proof that I was finally choosing to pursue my own desires, whether the outcomes were good or not.
Right now, I only had one desire raging to be fulfilled—the desire to live.
As the Flow State began to settle in my mind, my heart had unknowingly been tugged towards a foreign place away from my usual moral compass. The logical devil had made its move in silence.
I've already killed 21 to survive. But now, I need to kill 22 to live.
Electricity was suddenly discharged in my direction. I dashed aside to dodge, pivoting around a fallen table, and began a bolt directly towards the barista. He raised one hand at me, his fingers shaped like a gun with the index pointing my way, and shot a bolt. I slid onto my knees, avoiding the shot as it passed over my head. As he brought his other hand around to shoot towards me at the ground, I leapt-up into the air, jumping over his discharge.
"Got you—!" I whipped a kick towards his head and connected with his right temple. The strength from the impact snapped his body in the opposite direction. I fell back on the defense as soon as I landed, noticing that his body began to form a static aura. Electricity crackled from his hands throughout his arms. He looked up at me with rage flooding his eyes, before clasping his hands together and pointing at me with a jointed-gun shape. I watched as he held the form for a few more seconds than usual, until I anticipated the inevitable release.
Crackle—Zap—!!!
An electric bolt as thick as lightning was shot in my direction. I dodged aside as usual, but I didn't anticipate how large the impact of the strike would be. As it struck the wall, the area was completely obliterated, sending chunks of electrified debris everywhere, with some landing on me.
Zzzt—!
I shook with electrocution as the electrons from the debris transferred over to me upon contact. For a moment, I'd lost control over my body and nearly fell to the ground. Luckily, I'd regathered my proper state in time before getting injured.
"Fuck…!" I looked at my right arm. There were burn marks from the electricity discharged to me from the debris. I realized just how much bigger the discharge and impact was when he'd clasped his hands together.
He held his form for longer that time… Was it a charge-up?
The extra space in my mind was being used to coherently come to these conclusions: his discharges were weaker when shot by his hands individually, but were stronger when his hands were joined together, and even stronger when he had time to charge-up the attack.
I need to prevent him from joining his hands together, and I can't give him time to charge-up.
I noticed him beginning to put his hands back together. "No—!" I grabbed a chunk of debris already rid-of its electricity and chucked it in his direction. I missed completely, but it still brought him to falter his position.
Shit! If only I had Celeste's Trajectory, I would have hit him!
Nonetheless, he'd had a momentary lapse in thinking the debris would hit him. I recognized this right away and immediately acted on impulse to take advantage of the moment. In an instantaneous dash forwards, I was suddenly in front of him.
"What—!?" His eyes grew wide. I chucked a punch to his stomach, connecting with perfection as I felt his organs swish around my fist. He was blown backwards, coughing up a mist of blood as he landed on his back. But quicker than before, he got back onto his feet, with his hands already pointed at me.
Zap—! Zap—!
He fired two shots. I dodged the first, while the second grazed my neck. A burning sting brought me pain.
"Ow—! Shit!" I fell back towards the corner of the room. "I can't keep going like this. I need to finish him now!"
I noticed he began to hold his hands together in formation again.
A charge-up!
I grabbed the closest item I could find—a coffee mug—and delayed my throw with a moment of concentration this time. The split-second I took to aim, in combination with my currently-ongoing Flow State, resulted in the perfect accuracy I desired.
I threw it and hoped for the best.
Crackle—!
The coffee mug connected with the barista, shattering upon impact over his joined hands. As the splintered pieces sliced-up his skin, he was forced to disengage the formation and his charge-up. His falter, even if for just a moment, was all I needed to close the gap once again.
In a world like this, there's no time to ponder for airtight decisions.
I'd suddenly had a knife grasped in my hand, having picked it up intuitively from the violent scene on the floor. My eyes were set on a single target: his right hand. Even before I'd found myself close enough to him, my arm already began to swing the knife downwards, accounting for the speed at which I approached and the distance between us.
Slash—!
Although the knife was meant for bread and butter, the momentum in my swing was enough to serrate through his wrist, completely dismembering his entire right hand.
"Aghh—!!!" Blood poured everywhere. The barista screamed with terror as he watched his dominant hand plop onto a red puddle on the floor. Taking advantage of the initial painkilling effect from his adrenaline-shocked state, he pointed his left hand at me, catching me by surprise.
"You're done!" He released a shot, aimed at my face. I weaved aside, but it wasn't soon enough.
Zzzt—!!!
The bolt connected with my left eye.
Half my sight had suddenly gone black. In place of where I used to see through the left eye, was now replaced by an excruciating electrical shocking pain.
"Ah! Agh! Fuck—!!!" The pain was unbearable. All I could do was hold my left eye hopelessly, fearful of the implications behind electrocuting one's sight. I then began to hear an electrical charge-up.
Zap!
I jumped aside far enough this time, avoiding the attack completely. When I tried to regather myself, removing my hand from my eye, I was shocked to find that it hadn't made a difference.
I couldn't see through my left eye anymore.