“Disruption.” I said calmly, letting loose the energy that built up in my hand. The attack he was about to send out dispersed, causing him to look at his hand in shock. Before he even looked up, I had drawn my gun and fired at his head. However, right when the bullet was within ten feet of him, five knives flew from the left and deflected the bullet elsewhere.

  “Did you forget I was here?” No.3 said, her brown hair waving with power. She swung her hand, and three of the knives curved around No.2 and shot towards me. Taking out my own knife, I parried them before they reached me, when I heard a strange sound. No.2 was holding his hand out again, and this time I couldn’t use disruption to stop him.

  I used Scan to see a small bullet of wind spiraling toward me. I immediately put up my guard with my knife, but right as I was about to deflect it, my hand suddenly moved out of the way.

  “Gah!”

  The bullet hit me right in my chest, and I felt blood welling up in my throat.

  This level of force is incomparable to no.4’s or no.7’s! It broke right through the armor!

  While Scan was still active, I saw multiple bullets flying my way, along with plenty of small objects from above. I sprinted to my right and saw the wind bullets hit the wall behind me, and slid low to avoid the various knives and needles flying at me. I wasn’t left unscathed as two needles scratched my left leg and right arm when the momentum from my slide decreased.

  Quickly positioning myself upright, I felt three more bullets enter my range.

  I rolled to my right to avoid the first one, and it left a hole in the wall. The second one flew at my right shoulder, and I moved to deflect it with my knife once more, but my hand suddenly jerked out of the way, and the bullet hit my shoulder square on.

  “Argh!”

  Due to my decreased movement, the third bullet landed its mark on my stomach, and I threw up blood all over the floor.

  Why can’t I block it? Every time I move to deflect it, something interferes.

  Then I realized something, the knife in my hand is a small object. Meaning no.3 could control it with her telekinesis.

  I glanced over at No.3, and she was grinning at me.

  “Figured it out?”

  I got back up and began running in a zig-zag fashion to avoid No.2’s incoming bullets. If sight was the condition for controlling the objects, I would just need to create a situation where she couldn’t see it coming.

  I threw my knife at her, and quickly pulled out my bow while nocking three arrows on the string. I turned the bow sideways with an arrow aimed at each of their heads, and one aimed in the area between them. I let loose, and all of them went right where I wanted them.

  No.3 had stopped the knife in midair before it reached her and frantically moved her hand to stop the arrow. No.2 swiped his hand aggressively to create a wall of wind, which stopped it in its tracks.

  As they were doing that, I quickly dropped my bow and, in one motion, picked up my gun and aimed with both hands. I fired it where I shot the arrow between them, and aimed it at the head of the arrow that was currently flying at an incline.

  No.3 turned quickly after hearing the gunshot, and began jerking my gun left and right with her telekinesis, but it was too late. No.2 realized this because he saw where I had shot my bullet.

  “No.3, dive!”

  “Wha–?”

  Her question was cut off due to a bullet piercing through her left hand.

  “AAAAAAAAAAAAAH! MY HAND! GAAAGH!”

  She fell to her knees, holding her left hand with her right. Causing all of the small objects, including my weapon, to fall to the ground.

  I knew it, she needs one hand to lock on to the weapons and the other hand to direct them. That pose wasn’t just for show.

  I unsheathed my katana as I sprinted toward No.3, who was kneeling on the ground in tears.

  I was only a couple of feet away and was primed to slice when No.2 jumped in between her and the blade and took the blow. I sliced diagonally down from his left shoulder to his right waist, but because of the suit, the wound was barely past shallow.

  While biting his lip in pain, No.2 put the heels of his palms together, and blood began streaming from his eyes. I activated Scan again and saw an endless number of red and green particles forming between his palms.

  I thrust my hand out in an attempt to use disruption, but it was too late. I could feel the pressure of the air increase as the density exceeded what we could handle.

  “No!”

  “Pressurized Burst!”

  I couldn’t even feel my body fly backward as my back collided with the wall on the other side of the room.

  I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t feel my body. I fell from the wall to the ground, with me not even being able to regain my balance. All I knew was that I was upright and leaning against the base of the wall.

  I moved my shaking hand over to where I was hit and couldn’t feel the armor on my abdomen. I touched it, and it felt numb, but in my dizziness, I could see an excess amount of blood dripping from my fingers.

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  Ah no. I think I’m done for.

  I could hear the shaky sound of footsteps, and barely managed to look up to see No.2 stumbling over to me. His ears and eyes were bleeding, and I saw a piece of rubble stuck in his left leg.

  After a couple more seconds, he finally reached me. He kneeled down while shakily making a finger gun gesture as his hand had come within a foot of my face.

  “This….is…why….hah…. I’m….special!” He barely spat, his glasses falling off his face.

  My right hand lay flat with my palm up on the ground, and with no movement, I released as much energy I could muster at once.

  “Disruption.”

  I then reached into my pocket with my other hand as he attempted to use his wind bullet. I shakily pulled out the head of the arrow that I had kept under my pillow for a long time.

  “Why….isnt it working? You….hah….can disable gifts—!”

  Before he could finish, I leaned forward and used the last of my energy to swing the arrowhead at his neck and sliced it open. Blood gushed out like a fountain as he grabbed his neck and struggled to breathe. He fell backwards but had no energy to move; the only thing he could do was squirm and shed tears of agony as he drowned in his own blood.

  I could barely keep consciousness, but I had to get up. I couldn’t die here. I have to survive. I have to.

  I have to. I can’t die here. I have to. I can’t die here. I have to. I can’t die here. I have to. I can’t die here. I have to. I can’t die here. I have to. I can’t die here. I have to. I can’t die here. I have to. I can’t die here. I have to. I can’t die here. I have to. I can’t die here. I have to. I can’t die here. I have to. I can’t die here.

  I let these words empower me as I repeated them over and over again, until I was miraculously able to stand. Blood was dripping from the back of my head onto my back, and my abdomen had a large circle-shaped wound on it. If it were blood loss, I wouldn’t have been able to get up, but thankfully, it was only the impact of the blast and the impact against the wall that had me groggy. With time, I could recov–

  “YOU!” No.3 yelled from across the room.

  I looked up and saw her back in her usual pose despite the hole in her palm. It seems she had gotten over the pain.

  “I’m not gonna make the same mistake as No.2! I’m not getting anywhere near you! From here, I’ll skewer you with a million knives and needles until you’re begging me to kill you!”

  She raised her hand up, and half of the weapons that she held up before shakily floated back up in the air.

  “DIE!” She screamed as she threw her palm forward, launching at least 6 weapons at me.

  I watched them spiral toward me and closed my eyes.

  I at least hope she escapes. I’ll be going ahead.

  I waited with silent breath for the knives and needles to reach me, but after a couple seconds, I felt no pain. I opened my eyes to see all of them motionless in the air right in front of me.

  “GAGH! What….are you….doing?!” She cried in pain.

  I looked forward and saw a hand coated in red, piercing No.3’s chest from behind.

  “No.5! You…..traitor…..”

  The weapons clattered to the ground as no.5 pulled his hand out of her chest. She stumbled forward, before kneeling on the ground and looking up at the lights on the ceiling.

  “Desdemona….all….for………you.” She weakly gasped with tears streaming down her face.

  After her dying gasp, she fell to the floor with no more signs of movement.

  “963!” No.5 called out as he ran toward me.

  He reached me and lent me his shoulder as he positioned me in an upright position against the wall.

  “You ok?” He asked, genuine worry on his face.

  “....No.”

  “Yeah, that was a dumb question. Sorry.”

  He made a sharp fingernail with his blood and scratched the palm of his other hand. He then placed his hand on the wound that no.2 made, and I was suddenly able to breathe easier.

  “What….did you do?”

  “I can’t control someone else’s blood unless I touch it and focus. It’s pretty useless for a fight, but I can make your blood move faster and help your body get back up. Besides, while the wound may look bad, be grateful it barely pierced your skin. If it weren’t for that armor, it would have blasted a hole through your chest.”

  I shakily stood up once he was done, and he lent me his shoulder once more.

  “You never stop, do you?” He chuckled.

  “I can’t afford to slow down here. I need to get out.” I stated with conviction, moving one step at a time.

  “Usually I would disagree, but you’re right. We don’t have a lot of time.”

  “You know what’s going on, don’t you?”

  He nodded his head yes as he helped me walk while my blood circulation was improving.

  “I’ll explain on the way. But the short version is that you aren’t the only one in danger in this place.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I need you to brace yourself and don’t freak out, ok?”

  “Just say it.”

  “.....They plan to kill Zero in this place.”

  “What? But…..aargh!”

  My agitation caused me to move too much and aggravated my wound.

  “That’s why I said don’t freak out, calm down, and let the blood do its thing.”

  “You said ‘they’ plan to kill Zero in this place. Who is ‘they’?”

  “Dr. Verrat and… No.1. My sister and no.9 are also over on that side as well. No.1 knew about your plan from the very beginning and told Dr. Verrat.”

  “But why? It makes no sense why they would want to kill her. This facility was made for her.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “It’s….a long story. But more importantly, we have to go help Zero.”

  “You aren’t in a position to help anyone! And besides, the way the head researcher divided us, the only way we would be able to see Zero again is if it we make it to the end of the maze. Where we’ll be outside.”

  “So you mean….”

  “Yeah, we can only hope she’s ok.”

  It felt absolutely suffocating that I couldn’t do anything to help her in the state I was in.

  I’m too weak. My weakness might get her killed. If no.5 weren’t here…..I would have definitely…..I would have definitely died.

  However, I remembered her parting words as I cursed my own weakness.

  “I trust you 963! I expect you to do the same for me!”

  I couldn’t help but chuckle at such a vain and pointless statement. Yet after what we’ve been through in this short time, I’ve seen she is by no means a pushover.

  “You good man?”

  I nodded my head and looked forward.

  “She’ll be fine, I know it. That incessant bundle of nuisant energy wouldn’t just die here after all that talk. We’ll see her on the outside.”

  No.5 nodded his head and faced forward.

  “In the meantime, I’ll reveal to you the truth of this place and what I found in the forbidden section of this facility.”

  I began to explain what I witnessed as we continued walking at a slow pace, with Zero’s safety looming ever so slightly in the back of my mind.