"You know..." Shin said, standing on top of a half-crushed car, its hood creaking under his weight. "I'm not going to lose a fight to someone who hops from one body to another like she's changing outfits."

Gegee smirked, arms folded, a lazy sway in her hips. "I'm not running away, darling. I'm just... dramatically repositioning to a better version of myself."

Shin scoffed, pacing atop the car, the blade of his dagger tapping rhythmically against his palm. "And you want me dead because I killed... your brother?"

At the mention of her brother, he noticed it again—that twitch in her eye. Like his words were digging knives into her soul.

"That's stupid, if you ask me," Shin boomed, theatrically throwing his arms up. "I get why you're pissed. But chasing revenge in the middle of the goddamn apocalypse? That's just sad. Trust me, it ain't worth it."

Around him, all the Gegee clones clenched their jaws. The one under Slave Leash was still locked in that weird fist exchange with another clone, neither gaining ground. It was more like a mirrored dance than a fight.

"I'll kill you!!" snarled one clone.

"And only then will I feel peace," added another, low and bitter.

Shin chuckled, stepping toward the edge of the car roof. "You know… I lost my grandmother too. Tragic, really. I tracked down the girl I thought killed her. Took her head clean off until I learned she wasn't the one who did it. After that? Guilt. Emptiness. I told myself I'd find the real killer, get real closure. But you know what I realized?"

He paused, letting silence creep in. The clones stared.

"In this world? Revenge is just a chain. One corpse leads to another. The one who killed my grandmother might've already been killed by someone else, and they're dead too. So what am I really doing? Huh? Running in circles while the world burns. And you? All the people you've killed. What if their loved ones came for you, one by one?"

"Easy!" Gegee snapped from one of the bodies. "I'd kill them all."

Shin gave a cold smirk. "Guess I should return the favor, then."

He crouched low on the car, breathing deeply.

This was it.

A real fight with someone who seemed unkillable. Someone who could leap from one body to another like a ghost wearing skins. So far, she'd only hit him once with full power and it had nearly shattered his spine.

Her clone skill was a nightmare. Her consciousness carried all her skills when she jumped, making every clone as deadly as the last. Killing the bodies did nothing. His Soul Harvest didn't bring any MP from soul-less bodies. All he got was just smoke and wasted stamina.

He gritted his teeth—and leapt.

Mid-air, he muttered, "Slide."

The skill he stole from Britt activated instantly.

One clone slipped violently across the ground, losing balance. Before she could recover, Shin landed on top of her, dagger-first, sinking the blade in deep. No hesitation. She vanished into smoke.

He didn't pause. In one fluid motion, he lunged at the two clones still trading blows—targeting the one he hadn't enslaved. If Gegee had jumped bodies again, this might be her.

His dagger struck true.

Another burst of smoke.

Only the enslaved clone remained.

He hesitated for half a heartbeat wondering if he should kill it too… then smirked. He didn't trust it. Not with someone like her.

He stabbed her too.

Gone.

Now the battlefield was silent. Shin stood alone, blood dripping down his temple, chest heaving.

But something felt wrong.

Too quiet.

He looked up.

And there she was, Gegee standing atop a collapsed building, twin uzis in hand. Her expression was unreadable. The wind whipped through her blonde hair like a movie scene gone wrong.

Drrr~~drrr~drrr!

Bullets rained down, shredding the space where Shin had just stood. He dove behind the crumbling wall of a broken building, landing next to a rotting corpse. The stench hit him like a slap, making it hard to breathe as he kicked it away.

From another corner of the ruins, Ado emerged, limping, and gripping tightly onto a stick.

"What the hell, Gegee!" he barked, looking up at her as she held the guns like they were toys. "You promised you wouldn't kill him—not until I got my revenge!"

Shin blinked, then grinned. That voice.

So Ado was still alive.

"Relax!" Gegee shouted down, not even bothering to stop firing. "I wasn't aiming to kill. Just reminding him who's in control. I'm just toying with him a bit. Humiliation first—then agony."

She jumped down from the building, landing with a loud thud on a truck, its shocks groaning under the impact.

"Do whatever," Ado muttered, dragging himself behind cover. "Just let me get a piece before he dies."

From his hiding spot, Shin laughed. "Hey, gay boy—didn't think you'd survive your friend's little suicide stunt!"

Ado flinched. "Gay boy…?"

Shin cocked his head mockingly. "What? Don't tell me you aren't gay. The way you carried yourself around? It screamed rainbow energy."

Ado's eye twitched. "I'm not gay, you insufferable mutt! I'm homo! That means I like both genders, you uneducated little cretin!"

Shin grinned, voice dripping with sarcasm. "So.....doesn't that make you gay?"

Ado hissed, clutching a bottle of baby oil in his hand. "Gegee! Teach that brat a lesson! I'm tired of his foul mouth!"

Gegee jumped off the truck, walking toward the ruins with her signature sway, her breasts bouncing with each step. Her eyes burned with barely contained irritation.

"Don't order me around!" she barked at Ado. "If you weren't my brother's friend, I'd have blown your greasy ass to bits by now. Now get lost and take your damn baby oil with you. You look like a bootleg Diddy!"

She rolled her eyes and conjured two new clones—one disappeared into hiding, the other slipped off in the opposite direction, circling around.

Gegee loaded her uzis and strolled forward.

"You know…" she called out, voice echoing across the broken ruins, "if you keep hiding, I can't promise I won't hurt you."

Her tone turned sweet. Deceptively so.

"But if you come out, let me have my revenge… maybe I'll make your death quick and clean."

Shin shifted positions quietly, sneaking behind cracked pillars and shattered windows. His boots crunched over glass.

"Oh really?" he called out. "That's so generous of you. A real angel, huh?"

"I am a good person at heart," she said, her smile audible. "So come out and let me kill you... like a good person."

Shin leaned against a wall, listening. Every sound. Every movement.

"About that…" he muttered. "I'm not ready to die just yet. I promised someone I'd see this through… so yeah… relax, revenge girl."

Behind him, he heard something shift, and rattle.

His ear twitched.

Was it one of the hidden clones?

"Damn..." he whispered, grinning to himself. "The odds are really stacked against me, huh?"

And instead of fear...

He laughed.

How exciting.

TBC