The thug who had taken the girl hostage activated his Sandevistan, plunging into the same time-dilated realm as Lin Mo. A sneer twisted across his lips, confident that this kid had no chance. Lin Mo may have been quick, but Brutus was faster, stronger, and armored in top-tier subdermal plating. To him, bullets were nothing more than harmless pebbles.
As Lin Mo raised his gun, Brutus made a cold decision. The moment time snapped back to normal, he would crush the girl's skull as a lesson. He imagined it—an audience of just the two of them, the boy and his prey, witnessing the gruesome act in the quiet stillness of altered time.
But Lin Mo didn't aim for him.
Instead, the bullets found their target in the girl's limbs. Blood sprayed from her arm and leg, her body collapsing like a marionette with its strings cut. Brutus froze in shock as the girl went limp in his grasp.
In the eerie silence of their frozen world, Brutus let out a low chuckle.
"A madman… just like me," he muttered, tossing the girl aside with a careless flick. The excitement in his eyes grew—he hadn't expected to find such a kindred spirit.
"If we'd met under different circumstances, I think we could've been friends," he said, flexing his alloy-clawed fingers as they extended from his left hand.
Lin Mo remained silent, his gaze cold beneath the curtain of his dark hair.
"Brutus, right?" Lin Mo's voice was devoid of emotion.
Brutus gave a mocking bow, relishing in the tension. "Indeed."
"Your name's not worth remembering. How about I give you a new one?" Lin Mo's eyes burned with lethal intent. "Scum. Beast. Maybe a maggot crawling through the gutter?"
Lin Mo's katana, the Black Unicorn, shimmered as it was drawn from its sheath, its edge gleaming with an ethereal glow, like the crescent moon cutting through the night sky. His grip tightened, his muscles coiling with the tension of a predator about to strike.
Sandevistan—8th activation.
Once again, Lin Mo slipped into the time-slowing field, his body moving at blinding speed. The world stretched out in slow motion as he launched forward like a falcon diving for the kill. His katana sliced through the air, leaving a trail of silver arcs behind, cutting through the dim light like lethal strokes of moonlight.
Brutus reacted, his cybernetic reflexes firing. A concealed firearm erupted from his shoulder, spitting a torrent of bullets at Lin Mo. In this slowed-time realm, bullets still held their danger—they were among the few things fast enough to keep up. But Lin Mo moved with precision, each step calculated, each swing of his blade timed perfectly.
The bullets zipped past him, grazing the air just inches away, but none hit their mark. Lin Mo's movements were fluid, graceful even, as if he could read Brutus' every move before it happened.
Brutus' confidence began to falter. How could this boy be faster? More precise?
The answer hit him like a freight train—third-level Sandevistan.
Brutus' mind spiraled. The realization that Lin Mo's implant far outclassed his own filled him with dread. How was this possible? How could a kid barely out of his teens possess such power? Worse yet, how could he handle so many activations without collapsing from the strain?
But there was no time to dwell on it. Lin Mo was already upon him.
Brutus raised his alloy claws to block the incoming strike, but the force behind Lin Mo's blade was immense—too much for him to withstand. Sparks flew as the katana clashed against the claws, but Lin Mo shifted his attack, transitioning from a slash to a thrust. The blade sped toward Brutus' mouth.
Brutus barely reacted in time. The katana pierced his lips, shattering teeth as it drove into his throat.
Desperation flooded Brutus' system as he mustered every ounce of strength, shoving Lin Mo back just enough to escape death by inches. He staggered, blood pouring from his mouth, his speech garbled and slurred.
"You should've died from that," Lin Mo said coldly, shaking the blood from his blade. He could see it now—Brutus' jaw was cybernetic, reinforced with high-end augmentations. That was the only thing that had saved him.
Brutus spat blood, his voice pitiful. "W-wait! We can talk this out..."
But Lin Mo's eyes told him everything. There would be no negotiating. The boy took another step forward, raising his katana once more.
Sandevistan—9th activation.
Panic surged through Brutus as he reactivated his Sandevistan, his mind clouded with fear. He knew he was outmatched. His cyberware was meant for ranged combat, not for facing a katana-wielding demon like Lin Mo. Every strike, every slash from the boy's blade reminded him of the Arasaka ninjas—deadly and precise, silent executioners that no one could escape.
Brutus made a desperate gamble, deploying a hidden Mantis Blade from his knee, hoping to catch Lin Mo off guard. But Lin Mo didn't even flinch. With a single, effortless motion, he deflected the attack, severing the blade in half. Now all that remained was a useless stump of metal sticking out of Brutus' knee.
Nothing could stop Lin Mo's katana.
The final blow came swift and brutal. Lin Mo slashed through Brutus' left arm, severing it clean at the shoulder. The alloy claws clattered to the ground, useless.
Brutus, now weaponless and broken, let out a guttural roar of defiance. But it was the roar of a cornered beast with no hope left.
In one final act of desperation, he lunged forward, powered by jets of white gas from his legs, hoping to escape.
But Lin Mo had already anticipated the move.
"Do you really think you can run?" Lin Mo's voice was low, cold as steel.
Brutus' charge was cut short by a single, devastating kick to the gut. The force sent him flying backward, suspended in the slowed-time world of Sandevistan, his body twisting helplessly through the air.
Lin Mo walked up to him, calm and deliberate, savoring the fear that now filled Brutus' eyes.
Their gazes locked for a moment, and Lin Mo raised his katana high, poised for the final strike.
With a swift, deadly swing, the blade descended.
The cut was perfect. A flawless bisection.
Brutus' body fell to the ground, split in two, lifeless.
In the silence that followed, Lin Mo flicked his katana once more, casting off the blood that clung to its edge.
The fight was over.
Brutus was dead.
And Lin Mo? He was just getting started.