14 : Back To Back, A: Fight To The Death!

Using her momentum, Jace launched himself into the air, driving his knife deep into the Goliath’s sensory array. At the same moment, Kaelen pressed her barrel against the second Goliath's power core. Click-boom.

It was a dance they had practiced a thousand times in the simulation pits, but here, the stakes were flesh and blood. Every time a blade whistled past Jace’s ear, Kaelen was there to deflect it. Every time a club swung toward Kaelen’s ribs, Jace intercepted the blow with a brutal kick. "Two left!" Kaelen shouted over the roar of the rain. "I see 'em!" 14 : Back to Back, A Fight to the Death!

The neon lights of the Neo-Saitama slums pulsed like a failing heart, casting long, jagged shadows against the rain-slicked walls of the Dead End Alley. Kaelen and Jace stood at the center, surrounded. Using her momentum, Jace launched himself into the

"Back to back?" Jace asked, wiping a smear of blood from his lip. It was a dance they had practiced a

"You still got those high-yield rounds?" Jace hissed, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He gripped his combat knife so hard his knuckles were bone-white.

The first wave of scavengers lunged from the dark. They weren't men anymore—just shells of chrome and desperation. Kaelen fired. Crack. The lead scavenger’s head blossomed into sparks and oil. Jace didn't wait; he dived low, his blade finding the soft chinks in the armor of the next two.

Kaelen holstered her empty gun and managed a grim smile. "Always."