36-40

*Chapter 36: I’ll Piss on Your Gravestone*

“No way. We leave together. No one’s getting left behind,” Riku said, shaking his head with a resolute look. He wasn’t about to grab the goods and bolt, like some mercenary in a Cowboy Bebop heist gone wrong.

Sasha froze, clearly caught off guard. By all logic, with the target data in hand, Riku and the others had no reason to stick around. The client only cared about the data, not the process or who delivered it. Hand over the goods, get the eddies—simple as that. She and Riku’s crew were just temporary allies, ships passing in the night. Sasha was staying behind for her own personal business, and she didn’t want to drag anyone else into it.

“Sorry, I messed up. The biotech company’s system will probably notice something’s off soon. You guys need to go—now—or it’ll be too late,” Sasha admitted without hesitation. Her focus had slipped for a moment, causing a glitch in her control over the security system. It was brief, but enough to expose their presence.

“…” Riku went quiet for a second, then turned without a word, bag in hand, and started walking away.

“Phew~” Sasha let out a relieved breath. She didn’t want her personal mess dragging down someone she’d only teamed up with for a hot minute. That was her line in the sand.

Unplugging the data cable from her palm, Sasha jacked into the biotech company’s computer and started the file transfer. Her pink pupils shifted to green as she locked the office door remotely, buying them a bit of time.

But before the door fully closed, a figure slipped through.

“? Devil? Why the hell are you back?!” Sasha’s voice spiked with urgency. Time was running out.

“Don’t worry, I sent the other two ahead with the stuff,” Riku said with a grin, holding up empty hands to show he’d passed the bag to V.

“And what about you? What’s your plan?!” Sasha snapped, her cat-like face visibly annoyed, like an exasperated Nausicaä facing a reckless ally.

“Obviously, I’m leaving with you,” Riku said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Funnily enough, he’d just had a nearly identical argument with V moments ago.

“You’re screwing with me, right?!” V had exploded when Riku handed her the bag and told her to go. Her reaction was way more intense than Sasha’s.

“No way we’re leaving you behind! We go together!” V shouted, reaching to grab Riku, refusing to accept him staying back.

“There’s no time, V!” Riku dodged her hand, starting to lose his cool. Great, everyone’s a damn hero today, huh?

V’s loyalty touched him, but this was not the time. If it was just Sasha, he could maybe keep her alive. But with V staying too? No way he could protect both.

“Hurry up and go! Where’s Sasha? Tell her to come too!” V insisted, finally remembering their temporary teammate. Compared to Sasha, who she barely knew, V clearly cared more about Riku. If she were in Riku’s shoes, facing a teammate staying behind for personal reasons post-mission, she’d have left without a second thought. The job was done—why stick around to die for someone else’s baggage?

That logic applied to Riku too, but V saw him as a friend, a real choom. She wasn’t about to ditch him.

“My leg’s busted. I’ll only slow you down, and then none of us—me, you, or Jack—will make it!” Riku pulled out the classic excuse, ready for this moment. In every shonen anime and novel, someone’s leg conveniently “gives out” during an escape. Today, he was playing that role, the wounded sand emperor.

“I’ll carry your ass out if I have to!” V shot back, true to her stubborn street-kid nature. She was ready to hoist him over her shoulder like a Demon Slayer rescue mission.

“Don’t make me do this, V,” Riku said, out of options. He raised his gun to his head—the final play.

“You leave with the stuff now, and I might live long enough to take a few of them with me. If you stay, I’ll have to pull the trigger,” Riku said, delivering the cheesiest line he’d ever spoken, cringing internally.

“You—Riku, you bastard!” V’s face turned beet red, practically steaming with rage. She’d never met anyone this insane.

“Go! 32!” Riku growled, starting a countdown, his finger tightening on the trigger.

“Fuck! You fucking—!” V cursed, her trembling finger pointing at him. But seeing the look in his eyes, she didn’t dare push further. Riku was a madman—she’d seen it in combat. Jack had told her about the guy getting cyberware installed without anesthesia. If she said one more word, she was sure he’d pull the trigger.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!” V vented her frustration, finally turning to run downstairs.

“Don’t you dare die, or I’ll piss on your gravestone!” she yelled back, her heartfelt street-style blessing ringing out as she left.

“Ugh…” Riku shivered at the mental image of V squatting over his grave. Way too hardcore, even for Night City.

“We’ve been made. Get ready,” Sasha said, her expression softening. She wasn’t thrilled Riku stayed, but he was here to help. She couldn’t keep giving him the cold shoulder.

“Let ‘em come,” Riku replied, blasting the security cameras with two shots—mostly to protect his secrets. Getting on a corp’s radar wasn’t on his to-do list, and he wasn’t invincible. Why two shots? Because he missed the first one. Gotta work on that aim.

“Jack and V have linked up. The mech guards are heading up, so they should be able to slip out,” Sasha said, her green pupils flickering as she struggled to maintain control over the security system.

“Now we just need to figure out how we’re getting out,” Riku said, glancing at the computer. The data transfer was moving fast—they might still have a shot.

“Jump,” Sasha said bluntly. It was the simplest plan, though the survival odds were about as good as a Gantz mission.

Riku peeked out the floor-to-ceiling window. He hadn’t noticed how high up they were on the way in. Looking down, the height hit him like a Mobile Suit Gundam drop from orbit.

“Jumping from this height is basically suicide,” Riku said, nixing the idea. Even if he sacrificed himself to cushion Sasha’s fall, she’d still be toast at this height. He wasn’t exactly a crash pad.

*Chapter 37: Fighting Side by Side*

Click.

Sasha planted a bomb under the computer desk, a little insurance for whatever might come next.

If things went south and they had to make a break for it—maybe even jump out a window—this bomb could do some damage. One extra enemy taken out was better than none.

“They’re right outside,” Sasha whispered.

She crouched behind the desk, using it as cover. The desk was sturdy, not some flimsy wooden thing—perfect for a makeshift shield.

Meanwhile, Riku stood pressed against the wall by the door, tucked into the shadows. With his sharpshooting skills, staying close meant a better chance of hitting vital spots.

BOOM!

An explosion rocked the room as the office door was blasted open. Smoke filled the air, and mechanical guards stormed in, guns blazing. Their target was clear: the desk.

The three mechanical guards unleashed a torrent of gunfire. Their oversized machine guns roared with a relentless tat-tat-tat that echoed through the room.

But these guards? They looked like something out of a low-budget mecha anime. Just a bunch of clunky steel frames slapped together, with intelligence levels that screamed “budget cuts.” No wonder—they weren’t exactly high-spec.

See, research into intelligent AI, especially combat AI, was strictly forbidden. The NetWatch folks kept a tight leash on that. Thanks to Rachi Bātosu, who’d blown the internet to kingdom come, rogue combat AIs were still prowling the digital wilds, attacking anyone who dared log in.

NetWatch had clawed back some control, building a “Black Wall” to keep those rogue AIs out. Since then, anything related to smart AI or combat AI inside the Black Wall was under heavy scrutiny. NetWatch was like the cyber-police of Europe and the Americas, headquartered in London, tasked with keeping the networks safe.

They’d started as a private cybersecurity firm but had grown into a juggernaut with official backing. Even megacorps like the biotech companies didn’t dare mess with them. That’s why these green-painted mechanical guards looked like they were running on outdated firmware—dumb as a box of hammers.

Ping!

Sasha tossed a grenade from behind the desk. It exploded midair, flashing a blinding light.

Riku wasn’t sure what to make of it. A flashbang? On robots? Did that even work?

But then he remembered—most people these days had cybernetic eyes. Flashbangs probably still existed for a reason. Maybe these were special ones, designed to mess with cyber-eyes’ visual processing.

Riku squeezed his eyes shut, not eager to test the theory. When he opened them, the three guards were even dumber than before, standing there firing aimlessly like malfunctioning turrets.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Riku let loose a quick burst of gunfire, not even checking the results before tossing his gun aside and charging the guards.

Sasha sprang from behind the desk, crouching low like a predator from a shōnen anime. Steel claws extended from her right hand with a shink.

Crack!

With the ease of slicing through tofu, Sasha’s claws cleaved through one guard’s neck.

Riku wasn’t far behind. He rushed another, his own claws flashing as he cleanly severed its neck.

Sasha’s eyes changed color, glowing faintly as she locked onto the last guard. It froze, as if under a spell, and stopped firing.

Crack.

Before Sasha could move, Riku was already there, driving a claw through the guard’s neck.

“Nice claws,” Riku said, eyeing Sasha’s gleaming, razor-sharp weapons.

“Not bad yourself,” Sasha replied with a smirk. She hadn’t expected Riku to be rocking the same kind of gear.

The only difference? Her steel claws were sleeker, more refined, while Riku’s were thicker, more brutal.

“Comes with the territory,” Riku said with a bitter chuckle. After becoming a “ghost,” these retractable claws were the one part of his body he was actually proud of.

Since his transformation, he’d relied on them in every fight. They weren’t quite on par with Sasha’s, but they got the job done.

Unlike Wolverine’s iconic three-pronged claws that shot out from the back of his hand, Riku and Sasha’s came from their fingertips, like razor-sharp nails. Riku’s weren’t just nails, though—his entire fingers extended, tipped with black, pointed tips.

“Heads up, more incoming!” Sasha warned.

They’d barely exchanged a few words when she sensed four or five more of those green-painted guards closing in.

Riku’s nose didn’t pick up mechanical constructs, but he knew danger was still out there. The experience point notification hadn’t popped up yet, which meant the fight wasn’t over.

“We need to move. Can’t get pinned down in here,” Riku said calmly.

He noticed Sasha’s left hand was still jacked into the computer with a data cable. She’d been fighting one-handed, dragging that long cable behind her.

Now it clicked. Sasha was strong—way stronger than this situation should’ve allowed. She’d died here because that cable had held her back. Without it, those three guards wouldn’t have stood a chance.

“Just a sec, almost done,” Sasha said, biting her lip. She wanted to rush out with Riku, but the data transfer wasn’t complete. She couldn’t give up now, not after everything.

“Alright, let’s take out one more wave,” Riku said, ditching the idea of picking up a gun. His aim was more “sunset glow” than sharpshooter—best not to embarrass himself.

Sasha, tethered by the cable, ducked back behind the desk. Riku sidled up to the door, ready to pounce.

Four green guards burst into the office, same old routine—guns up, spraying bullets at the desk. Oddly considerate, they didn’t touch the computer, letting Sasha’s transfer continue uninterrupted. Some kind of system setting, maybe?

Riku darted out, sinking a claw into the nearest guard’s neck. Then, with a grunt, he hoisted the guard’s “corpse” and hurled it at the other three, sending them into disarray.

Sasha’s eyes glowed again, and one guard turned on its allies, spraying bullets at its own kind.

With her help, Riku made quick work of the other two, coming out unscathed.

“Done!” Sasha shouted, her voice brimming with relief. She leapt from behind the desk, driving a claw through the controlled guard’s neck.

“Could’ve kept that one as a shield,” Riku said, a little wistful. If she could control it, why waste it?

He’d taken out one earlier, not realizing it was under her control.

“Can’t keep ‘em controlled forever—just a temporary hack,” Sasha explained. If she could’ve held it longer, she wouldn’t have killed it.

“Got it. Let’s move,” Riku said, nodding. He took point, charging out of the room. Finally, they weren’t trapped anymore.

*Chapter 38: Yet I Don’t Deserve a Name*

Riku and Sasha bolted out of the room, but at that moment, three shiny green mecha guards came charging around the corner of the hallway.

The second they spotted the duo, the mecha guards opened fire. Bullets tore through the air, streaking lines of gunfire down the corridor.

With no choice, the two dove back into the room. The hallway was a straight shot with zero cover—stepping out there was like begging to be a living target in a shmup anime.

“Damn it! Just how many of these things are in this building?!”

Riku couldn’t help but rant. Wave after wave after wave—were they stuck in some kind of infinite boss rush mode?

“At least a few hundred!” Sasha shot back.

On their way up, they’d already run into a ton of mecha guards, not to mention the drones.

“Crap!”

The thought of drones made Sasha whip her head around. Outside the massive floor-to-ceiling window, a swarm of drones was already gathering.

“Get down, Devil!”

No time to explain—Sasha shoved Riku, signaling him to hit the deck.

Riku didn’t hesitate. He dropped flat to the floor, hugging the ground like a seasoned mecha pilot dodging a missile barrage.

The second they hit the deck, bullets screamed in from behind, whizzing over their heads.

Glass shards sprayed everywhere as the windows shattered, the room filled with the deafening roar of gunfire.

“We’ve gotta get out of here!”

Riku doubled down on the obvious. Staying in this room, caught between drones and mecha guards, was a one-way ticket to a game-over screen.

Lucky for them, the drones’ gunfire was aimed right at the doorway, so the mecha guards couldn’t coordinate a pincer attack.

“We need to take out those drones first!” Sasha nodded, her voice firm.

They scrambled back under the computer desk, this time on the opposite side. The desk was already riddled with bullet holes, looking like it had been through a climactic battle in a cyberpunk anime.

Thank kami for whatever crazy material this desk was made of—without it, they’d both be Swiss cheese by now.

Riku gripped a gun he’d snatched off the floor while diving. Peeking out from the desk’s edge, he didn’t even aim—just unloaded a wild burst toward the window.

A full clip later, the room fell silent. The drones’ gunfire outside stopped too.

“...”

Riku froze. Even Sasha, the battle-hardened veteran, was stunned.

The two drones outside wobbled and crashed to the ground. Riku’s blind shots had somehow nailed them like a lucky critical hit in a mecha anime.

“You’ve got that kind of skill?”

Sasha’s eyes curved into a grin, nearly laughing despite the chaos. For a moment, she looked like a mischievous anime sidekick.

But the mecha guards weren’t about to let them have a breather. The second the drones’ gunfire stopped, they stormed in.

No time to think—Riku, relying on his sheer bulk, charged forward and slammed into the three mecha guards like a berserk shounen protagonist.

Bang! Bang!

Two shots rang out. Blood sprayed everywhere as Riku bowled the guards over.

Crack!

His claws snapped out, shredding the necks of two mecha guards in one swift move. Then, he smashed his head down, crushing the third guard’s skull with a brutal headbutt.

The impact left Riku’s forehead a bloody mess, crimson streaming down his face like a dramatic anime injury.

The mecha guard’s head was crumpled, its system glitching out from the hit, its glowing eyes flickering like a dying robot in a sci-fi OVA.

Crack!

Riku didn’t hesitate. One final claw strike finished off the dazed mecha guard, still reeling from the stun effect.

“Devil! You okay?!”

Sasha rushed over, her face full of worry. She’d seen Riku take a hit.

“I’m fine. Just a scratch. Let’s move!”

Riku waved her off and got to his feet, grabbing Sasha’s arm.

No time to fuss over injuries—they had to seize this chance to escape this death trap.

“But—!”

Sasha started to protest, but a buzzing sound cut her off.

Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt!

More drones poured in through the shattered window, with even more trailing behind.

“Blast it!”

Riku glanced at Sasha. The neko-head lady didn’t hesitate—she triggered the bomb she’d set up earlier.

BOOM!

A massive explosion rocked the room. The trusty computer desk, their faithful companion through this fight, finally met its end in a blaze of glory.

The bomb’s power was no joke. Every drone in the room was obliterated, and even the ones outside waiting to swoop in got caught in the blast.

Flames roared out through the window, smoke filling the air. The whole building seemed to shake, like the climactic explosion in a mecha anime’s final episode.

“What the hell’s going on in there?!”

Outside the biotech company’s building, V and Jack Wells were waiting anxiously.

The swarm of drones buzzing around outside told them Riku and Sasha were still fighting, but they were powerless to help.

“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!”

V cursed nonstop, whether at Riku or herself, she wasn’t sure.

The explosion caught their attention, spiking their anxiety even higher.

The longer this dragged on, the louder the chaos got, and the harder it was for them to stay put.

The company plaza’s guards and the NCPD might be lazy, but even they couldn’t ignore a ruckus this big while standing around like oblivious NPCs in a slice-of-life anime.

Plus, the growing swarm of drones made hiding tougher. No matter how well you hid, those drones had biometric scanners—one sweep, and you were done.

“V, we gotta get out of here!”

Jack Wells made the call, grabbing V’s arm to pull her away.

“But Riku—!”

V resisted, wanting to rush back in, at least to draw some heat off them.

“V! Think about what he said! You’ve gotta survive! Otherwise, his sacrifice is for nothing!”

Jack roared, his voice heavy with frustration. He felt useless, stuck down here, only learning what was happening through V.

The three of them had come in hyped, and yeah, they got what they came for—but at the cost of leaving one behind. Jack felt worse than V did.

Riku was the one he’d dragged into this life, the guy he’d picked up at the Wild Wolf Bar.

But they couldn’t let emotions take over. Going back now would only make Riku’s sacrifice meaningless.

“Besides, he’s an alien. He might not even die.”

Dragging a shaken V, Jack Wells bolted from the biotech building.

At the same time, he sent Riku a message:

“Stay alive, my alien brother! We’re waiting in the car, ready to pick you up anytime!”

Jack had a gut feeling there was still hope—that Riku would come back, blood-soaked but alive, like the hero of a gritty cyberpunk anime.

If Sasha overheard their conversation, she’d probably be touched. It was a four-person movie, but somehow, she didn’t even get a name in the credits.

No helping it—loyalty was one thing, but V and Jack didn’t exactly have a deep bond with some random stranger they barely knew.

At least with Riku, they’d fought side by side.

*Chapter 39: Blood Demon Art · Shadow*

“Move!”

In the chaos of the building, amidst the firelight and smoke from the explosion, Riku and Sasha sprinted through the hallway.

The elevator was in the opposite direction, where most of the mechanical guards were coming from. The explosion had cut off that route, leaving them no choice but to head the other way—toward the stairwell, their ticket out.

“Stay behind me,” Riku said to Sasha as they ran, his tone making it clear: he was ready to be her human shield.

“…”

Sasha pursed her lips, staying silent. Her neko-like face was all business, her mind racing to recalculate their escape route.

They reached the stairwell but froze. The heavy clank-clank-clank of footsteps was too close for comfort—mechanical guards were coming up the stairs.

Bang!

The stairwell door flew open, and the guards stormed out, guns raised. But the narrow doorway bottlenecked them, letting only two through at a time.

Shink!

Riku and Sasha were ready. Each took one guard, their claws slicing through with brutal efficiency, dropping the pair like scrap metal.

Without hesitation, they charged through the doorway, straight into the remaining guards.

At a distance, the guards’ guns could pin Riku and Sasha down. But up close? These tin cans were as flimsy as origami. They couldn’t handle the duo in melee.

The guards came in squads of three or four. This time, eight of them showed up, split into two groups of four.

After taking out the first two, Riku and Sasha dove into the fray.

Both wielded claws, but their fighting styles were like night and day.

Sasha moved like a cat—graceful, precise, no wasted motion. She stabbed one guard clean through the neck, then used its body as a pivot, spinning low to face another. Her claws flashed upward, piercing the square head of the next guard.

Her eyes glowed faintly, locking onto the farthest guard. It froze, as if hacked, and she dispatched it with a single, effortless claw strike.

Riku, on the other hand, was a charging bull. He barreled into three guards, sending them tumbling down the stairs in a chaotic heap of metal and man.

In the mess, Riku’s claws slashed left and right, shredding the trio into scrap.

Ding! Experience bar full. Level up to Lv3. Current EXP: 2/300.

Gained 1 attribute point.

Gained 1 skill point.

Even after cutting down all the guards, the experience settlement prompt didn’t appear. But the level-up notification did.

With the level-up came one attribute point and a skill point—something he hadn’t gotten from the last level.

It clicked for Riku. The system didn’t always show the EXP gain in real-time, but kills were automatically tallied. Once the bar filled, the level-up was instant.

This was handy. In the heat of battle, he could allocate points on the fly.

“Limit System, add points,” Riku muttered in his mind, dumping the attribute point into Constitution, sticking to his plan.

His goal: get Constitution to 24, enough to sustain his undead state for 48 hours.

As for the skill point, he didn’t hold back, tossing it into his only skill: Onika.

No point saving it now. From what he could tell, skill points came every two levels—not too hard to come by.

By extension, skill optimization points probably followed a similar rule, though he wasn’t sure how many levels it’d take to earn one.

Onika Lv3: Transformed into a demon by the Demon King’s blood. Strength, Agility, Constitution +7, Charisma -9. Gains Blood Demon Art and Constitution Altered State.

Blood Demon Art · Shadow activated.

After dumping the skill point into Onika, two prompts popped up. Riku’s jaw dropped.

That one skill point was worth its weight in gold!

Not only did it boost Strength, Agility, and Constitution by 1 each, but it also reduced the Charisma penalty by 1—basically a free point.

Most importantly, the Blood Demon Art · Shadow, which had been grayed out and unusable, was now active!

“Blood Demon Art · Shadow…”

The system panel offered no further details. Clearly, Riku would have to figure out what this Blood Demon Art did on his own.

But now wasn’t the time to experiment. He had to get Sasha out of here.

“You okay, Devil? Is it your wounds?” Sasha asked, leaning in with concern.

She’d noticed Riku pause for a moment and thought his injuries might be acting up.

“Nah, I’m fine. Look at this frame—bullet wounds are nothing to me,” Riku said with a grin, flexing his arm to show off his muscles. Even under his clothes, they looked intimidating.

“Good. Let’s move. I’ve got a new route planned,” Sasha said, smiling with a nod. She seemed to buy his confidence.

She’d noticed his wounds weren’t bleeding anymore, which helped sell it.

“Move out!” Riku said, taking point.

He’d deliberately let Sasha see his wounds, not healing them instantly but letting them close slowly to seem more natural.

Sure, it meant enduring the pain longer, but a gradual recovery was way less suspicious than instant regeneration.

In this world, bio-components like “self-healing muscles” existed. While groups like the Animal Gang—nuts about body mods—weren’t common, research into bio-components (as opposed to cybernetic ones) never stopped.

That’s why V thought Riku might be an escaped lab experiment from some megacorp. No background, weird body, inhuman structure—it all added up. Riku didn’t even need to mislead anyone; V had come up with the theory himself.

This world was full of bizarre stuff. People were used to it. As long as Riku didn’t act too outlandish, he’d be fine.

*Chapter 40: Forget Science, Embrace the Occult*

“Something feels off.”

As they raced down the stairs, Riku sensed something strange.

“There’s way too few mecha guards and drones.”

Sasha’s expression was just as grim. She’d noticed it too.

They’d only run into four or five mecha guards and drones across the last few floors. That number was way too low.

By her calculations, this building should be crawling with hundreds, if not thousands, of mecha guards and drones—not to mention reinforcements from outside.

“Damn it… don’t tell me they’re all waiting for us downstairs?”

Riku’s mouth twitched. The thought hit him hard. The lower floors might already be packed with mecha guards and drones, ready to ambush them like a final boss encounter in a cyberpunk anime.

After sending wave after wave to get mowed down for experience points, it seemed like the mecha guards and drones had wised up, no longer coming in small, manageable squads.

“It’s not that they got smarter. Someone’s taken control of them.”

Sasha’s eyes flickered with a green glow, her brows furrowing tightly. Trouble was brewing.

“You okay?”

Riku’s voice carried a hint of worry. Sasha’s expression was making him nervous—hoping she hadn’t fried her brain.

Physical attacks? He could tank those. But this kind of hacker nonsense? He was totally out of his depth.

“As expected, they reacted fast. Someone’s taken over.”

Sasha’s eyes dimmed, her voice bitter.

Her hacking skills were solid, no question. She’d just tried slipping into the surveillance system but got hit with resistance. Lucky for her, she’d prepared for it and pulled out in time.

Going up against Biotech’s hackers on their home turf was suicide. Her rig—a neural interface and cortical implants—was no match for their supercomputers and servers. It’d be like challenging a Gundam with a basic Zaku. She’d get her brain fried.

“This is bad.”

Riku peered out the stairwell window. No guards were posted below, but that was because they were still way too high up. Jumping from here? You’d need maxed-out luck stats to survive that fall, like some chosen-one shounen protagonist.

It made sense. Biotech wasn’t stupid. Any floor low enough to jump from was probably crawling with mecha guards and drones, just waiting to collect their corpses.

“They’re probably sweeping up floor by floor, closing in on us.”

Riku’s face darkened. This strategy was a checkmate.

Biotech had the numbers advantage. If they stopped splitting up and started advancing as a single, overwhelming force, it was game over.

Even Riku, who could tank like a berserker from a battle anime, didn’t stand a chance. Sure, he was hard to kill, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be pinned down.

And against a hail of bullets? He’d be riddled with holes, unable to move, let alone fight.

“Sorry, Devil. I dragged you into this mess.”

Sasha’s voice was heavy with guilt. From the look on her face, she’d already accepted their fate.

Fighting this far was already more than she’d hoped for. She’d come in ready to die, but dragging Riku down with her weighed on her.

“Don’t say that. It’s not your fault. I came back on my own.”

Riku shook his head, refusing to let her take the blame. Sasha had told him to leave, but he’d chosen to stay.

“Besides, it’s not time for last words yet. Save that for when we’re out of here, sipping ramune and chilling.”

Riku flashed a toothy grin, his sharp fangs glinting ominously—a bit creepy, like a demon from a shounen anime.

But for some reason, despite his unchanged appearance, Sasha found him… oddly more likable.

Maybe that +1 to Charisma was kicking in. Add to that the +1 to Strength, +1 to Agility, and +2 to Constitution he’d gained—his stats were climbing like an overpowered isekai hero.

On their way down, they’d faced six mecha guards and four drones. Riku had taken out seven of them single-handedly.

If his aim wasn’t so terrible, he wouldn’t have left those three drones for Sasha. But when it came to shooting, he was about as accurate as a stormtrooper in a mecha anime.

“You’ve got a plan?”

Sasha’s curiosity was piqued. To her, escape seemed impossible unless some anime-style miracle happened.

“Just do exactly what I say, and we’ll get out of here. Guaranteed.”

Riku’s voice was brimming with confidence, though his real focus was on getting Sasha out alive.

If she escaped, it was as good as both of them making it. Dawn was still hours away, and he couldn’t die anyway.

“Alright, I’m in.”

Sasha gave a small smile and nodded obediently. Guilt made her follow his lead without question.

Besides, if they were doomed either way, why not let Riku try? She was ready to go out fighting, no matter how it ended.

“Okay, first, close your eyes.”

Riku raised his hand, gently brushing it downward in front of Sasha’s face.

“Closed.”

Sasha complied, shutting her eyes and standing still, waiting for his next move.

Inhale… exhale…

Riku took a deep breath, then turned his gaze to his shadow.

His last resort was banking on his Kekkijutsu: Kage (Blood Demon Art: Shadow).

He’d considered other options—like using himself as a human cushion if they jumped or tossing Sasha to safety before they hit the ground.

But his high school physics knowledge screamed that those ideas were nonsense. The results wouldn’t be pretty.

Maybe Superman from a manga could pull it off, but not him. Their bodies just weren’t built for that.

So, if science wasn’t going to cut it, it was time to lean into the occult!

Riku’s eyes widened, glowing a vivid blood-red as he tapped into the power of Kekkijutsu: Kage.

The shadows around him quivered faintly. But in the end, only his own shadow responded.

Hiss… hiss…

His shadow trembled, emitting an eerie sound.

Riku opened his mouth. Crimson blood mist poured from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, pooling into the shadow at his feet.

HISSS!

The shadow reacted like it had just devoured some legendary elixir, surging with energy and rippling violently.

“Out!”

Riku’s face twisted with effort, blood mist drifting from his body. He raised his clawed hand sharply.

HISS!

His shadow let out a piercing cry, then launched into the air, transforming into a jet-black shadow wolf.