A couple hours after the battle with Distortion Zone, Kiara was casually lying on her bed as Evander was pacing around her bedroom.
"Kiara. Did you feel a strange feeling when you fought that Elusive?" Evander inquires, sliding his hands into his pockets.
"Yeah it felt like my body was on fire," Kiara casually utters, stretching her hands back on the mattress below her. "Everything felt so much clearer and vivid."
"That power you tapped into was called the Zone," Evander explains, leaning his head forward.
"The Zone?" Kiara furrows her brow.
"It is where a warrior enters a state of pure awareness of his surroundings and opponent," Evander explains, his tone cold and husky. "Think of it as a spiritual adrenaline boost. Increased strength, speed, agility, etc."
"How can you tap into this power?" Kiara raises her hand acting like she is in a classroom.
"At first, the Zone is a reflection of a person's emotions," Evander waves his hand around, exaggerating his words. "As you get more used and train with the Zone, you can activate it at will."
As time catches back up, it pulls Kiara back into the present. The world around her seemed to hold its breath for just a moment.
This is her Zone? What's with the sudden change in pace? Hanger thinks to himself, trying to maintain his composure. Kiara's stance wobbles before stabilizing– straight and defiant. She extends her hands forward while keeping them close to her body, her hands flat as a board.
"Doesn't matter I'll cut you in half," Hanger screams out, swinging his cleaver down with a powerful force. Kiara's eyes dart around rapidly trying to comprehend the attack then in a flash–she disappears in a smeary blur.
Kiara appears in front of Hanger, his eyes widening as his face is smacked with a hard knee. She moved with an eerie fluid ease. Hanger's head tilts back, crashing into the unforgiving wall. Before Hanger can regain consciousness, Kiara grabs and pulls his short silver hair and smacks him back into the wall.
She clenches her fist around Hanger's hair, pulling his head down onto the floor. His body replicates a bowing motion as Kiara lifts her leg, kicking him in the face.
Hanger's vision blurs and various colors of red and orange hues overwhelm his senses. His body aches as lashes of lightning keep striking him in his body. Kiara's expression is a cold neutral gaze. Her eyes glowed a bright swirly pink color with fragments of purple and red dissipating in the air.
Her vision starts to blur as her body demands rest. Each movement burned as it required a lot for her muscles. Despite the exhaustion, she couldn't lose the battle.
Pulling out his steak knife, Hanger tries to slice Kiara in the stomach but her body disappears into a smear before the attack lands. Looking at his surroundings, Hanger tries to find Kiara, his gaze darting everywhere.
How can she move so fast? She should be lightheaded and intoxicated. Hanger's thoughts race like a stampede. Is the Zone diluting the effects of Harvest? Impossible!
Stepping a couple steps back, the assassin tries to maintain a sense of control over the battle. Sound bent in a deep hum as the world's colors bled into each other. Kiara appears in front of Hanger in a whirlwind of speed. She pulls her arms back in a coil, her fist curling around her daggers.
Reacting in time, Hanger swings his knife in front of him, successfully blocking Kiara's attack. A shockwave blows out onto the battlefield, shaking the ground below them as pieces of garbage fall onto the ground. Kiara's eyes widened, surprised by the durability of the steak knife.
"I told you, remember a knife like this can be just as valuable as a sword," Hanger remarks, mocking Kiara's effort. With a wrist twist, he forces her off balance, knocking her to the side. His raw power alone made it impossible to land a clear hit.
With a neutral expression, Kiara lowers herself down onto the floor with her foot extended outward. Her leg winds up in a sharp arc as Hanger's head tilts back from the impact.
I can't hit her, Hanger spits out blood, and a metallic taste lingers in his mouth. Does she now have a lightning-fast reaction? Wait. She's not reacting to my strikes but–
Hanger appears behind Kiara, frantically throwing his cleaver trying to prove his theory. Kiara's eyes move violently in different directions, scanning her surrounding area and the twitching in Hanger's body. In Kiara's POV– everything is in negative colors. Every movement that Hanger makes slows down dramatically, moving at a snail's pace. His body is distorted and warped as he swings his cleaver down towards her. He left his left side wide open.
She didn't just react–she anticipated. Ducking her head, Kiara coils her arm back, building up momentum in her strike. Her heart pounded like a trapped bird, failing to escape the fleeting body. Every breath is ragged and the blood no longer surged in currents.
Fighting through the pain, Kiara's punch lands with a sickening crack. Hanger's sweat sprayed out like shrapnel. His knees buckled as he tried to regain balance. Retaliating Hanger throws a powerful punch toward Kiara.
Everything around the assassin blurred in a haze. The air hummed as time stretched unnaturally. Hanger's body twitched, dragging on in a sickening crawl. It felt like an eternity for Kiara, visualizing the attack.
As her perception slowed and became fuzzy, her body couldn't react in time as Hanger's fist landed a heavy blow to her face. She's stunned for just a moment leaving Hanger to capitalize on the moment, grabbing her by the neck.
He slams her body with an intense determination. His muscles tensed with power as he propelled his adversary into the wall with a bone-shattering thud. Kiara's limbs jerk back from the shock as her head snapped back. Her spine felt like it was being eviscerated with each strike. Dust scatters as Hanger maintains his grip.
Kiara's Zone slowly dissipates into the air as Hanger tightens his grip around Kiara's throat. The force of his fingers press against her airways.
"That was good action. I'll give you that," Hanger says proudly, smiling unnaturally at an injured Kiara, He slowly licks Kiara's cheek intently making her instantly squirm out in disgust.
"Ah. Get off of me you freak." Kiara says hysterically. She tries to kick and punch Hanger to let go of her with all her might but he does not budge. It felt like she started to lose consciousness, her vision started to blur and her lips turned blue.
"See, just because you activated the Zone doesn't mean you're stronger," Hanger mockingly recites. "That's not how it works—" A sharp sensation suddenly shot out from his foot.
The assassin looks down to see Anby's body lying flat on the ground with a bloodied knife in her hand. Hanger looks down to see both of his Achilles tendons sliced and bleeding profusely.
Anby flicks her leg at the assassin's injured tendons, the impact of her foot causes a searing pain to shoot up his leg. The sharp almost electric pain throbbed with every heartbeat, leaving him gasping for air. Hanger's body collapses onto the ground with a massive thud.
If Kiara is willing this hard for me then I'm going to do the same, Anby thinks to herself, seeing Hanger clutch tightly on his injured tendons.
"Why you little–" Hanger screams out. Flicking his wrists, Hanger swings his fist at Anby at a speed. Anby frightened, sheepishly raises her arms trying to protect herself.
"Inferno's song," Anby says frighteningly. A spell ring appears in her outstretched hands and a burst of flames quickly engulfs Hanger's arm.
Hanger's eyes widen as a wave of yellow and orange quickly surrounds him, launching him away from the two. He crashes into the dirt floor, rolling violently before coming to a sudden stop.
He slowly gets up fighting through the pain that is reverberating around his body. Hanger moves his hands through his textured hair making sure none of the flames incinerated his hair. He quickly pats down the flame burning on his right shoulder and arm with a quick motion.
His eyes burned with a fiery intensity, refusing to let the pain stop him from his victory.
"No. I'm not done yet," Hanger mutters to himself, clutching his injured arm. "I'm not going to die. I want to keep satiating my hunger."
Kiara clenches her neck, her finger gently pressing against her tender area. She rubs the injury in smooth circles trying to soothe the aching pain. Her lips pressed tight as she tried to maintain her composure but Kiara couldn't help but chuckle.
"You know Hanger, at least someone finds joy in life," Kiara raises her hands in mock praise. Her voice is airy and rough but dripping with sass. "Unlike your mother."
Hanger's face still plasters a cocky grin as his large figure looms over the two girls in front of him.
"Kiara. Aim for his other Achilles tendon," Anby explains, her voice shaky yet determined as she raises her glasses, "If you take that out, it will put us at an advantage." Despite her fear, her voice carried a level of resilience.
"Do you know any heal spells, Anby?" Kiara inquires, summoning her daggers.
"Sort of…it's very unrefined," Anby utters, raising her hands forward. A golden spell circle spins around and forms in the palm of her hands.
"That's…all I need," Kiara smirks, her voice dry and airy. Pushing her foot back, Kiara leaps towards Hanger with a fiery intensity.
She quickly dodges and jumps around Hanger as he is unable to catch wind of her speed– a lingering after-effect of her Zone. Her body is screaming with pain as it is going past its breaking point but a golden energy engulfs Kiara–slowly healing her wounds.
Kiara slowly slices Hanger's body, her arms swinging at a quick speed. Kiara stabs the hit man with her daggers in Hanger's gut causing him to wince from the pain. Kiara uppercuts Hanger with a great force causing him to stumble on his feet. The Achilles tendon that has been cut from Anby earlier starts to sting with pain as Hanger stumbles back.
She doesn't stop. As Hanger stumbles, she swings her legs in an arc, smacking his injured tendons with a powerful smack. She had to keep building on the pressure, making sure he didn't get back up. As Hanger tries to move, the more it hurts, throwing off his concentration.
"Nnnngh. It hurts," Hanger screams out trying to gain a sense of sympathy from Kiara. He sees her momentarily stopping to build up force–a misstep. The assassin grins with a manic expression with a sudden vicious triumph. Pulling a secret knife under his sleeve, Hanger lunges forward, his muscles coiling like a spring.
Suddenly.
A wave of heat overwhelms his senses. Anby's hands singed with ash and smoke. The spell ring circles slowly spinning around her palms, a small smoke cloud dissipating into the sky. Kiara smiles to herself and continues building the pressure. As Kiara kicked into Hanger's leg pushing him back, Anby landed with a fire spell.
They didn't stop.
Kiara's fists blurred, hammering into his chest and face unrelentlessly–left, right, and left again–each impact left Hanger snapping back like a puppet. The barrage is merciless, a whirlwind of fists and kicks crashing into him at every angle.
Anby seizing the moment kept the pressure mounting. Hanger had no time to defend and block himself from the fire spells as his body was constantly being barraged by Kiara. His vision blurs from the heat and light.
I'm going to lose? Hanger's mind races as Kiara's elbow drives into the side of his skull. This is not how this is supposed to end. A strike to the ribs removes the air from his lungs.
"Don't worry we'll keep you half conscious so we can interrogate you back at the temple," Kiara smirks, driving her knee into Hanger's face. His skull cracks from the impact, spewing blood everywhere.
"Why you–" Hanger yells out, his anger dripping through his tone.
"Boy. Respect those younger than you," Kiara jokes, her voice high-pitched and casual. "Let me instruct you first." She grabs his collar and roughly pats his cheek like she is scolding a child. Suddenly with a quick spin, she kicks Hanger onto the ground.
"Tsk.Tsk.Tsk. Now stay down or we'll put you in timeout." Kiara chirps, her eyes gleaming with mischievous intent. "Now should we tell your mother or anything. Oh wait she's probably proud due to how much of a disappointment you are."
A sense of palpable exhaustion suddenly draws over Kiara. Her muscles once filled with adrenaline, now scream in protest. Lightheadedness settles in like a descending fog.
"Ow my head," Kiara casually holds her forehead, trying to hold herself together. "This has been a very tiring fight–" Hanger suddenly throws the hidden knife that he dropped and it lodges into Kiara's thigh.
"Ahh!" Kiara screams out as the cold metal embeds deep in her fiery muscles. Her suit pants were stained with crimson splotches. Hanger taking advantage of the situation runs off. Kiara pulls out the serrated knife and Anby immediately starts healing Kiara's wound.
"I was just caught off guard…that's all," Hanger spits out blood, leaving a disgusting metallic taste stuck to the back of his throat. "I'm not done. I'm still hungry for some dessert."
His stride is still arrogant as he winces from each step. His pride refuses to acknowledge his failure. His eyes flare with a sense of defiance and rage. As he makes his way to the entrance of the alleyway, he tries to leave but the veil halts his escape.
"Oh right. I forgot to release the veil," Hanger remarks, annoyed by his forgetfulness. He raises his hand sign and the translucent spiral dome dissipates into the air, leaving only the charm spell left intact.
"After I escape…I'll just relax in the hotel for a bit before continuing killing." Hanger chuckles, wiping away the blood from his lips. Before he could heave the alleyway, a fire spell exploded in front of him. His eyes narrow like an angry bear, glaring over his shoulders, he sees Anby and Kiara standing behind him.
"I heard that," Kiara mutters, her words dripping with defiance and a cold resolve. She charges directly toward Hanger, her body coils with raw energy before launching forward with a sudden burst of energy.
Kiara kicks Hanger in the stomach at a great speed. Unable to block quickly, Hanger stumbles into the busy road. As he falls down onto the road, he turns his head to see a semi-truck rushing towards him at high speed. He tried to move, try to scramble but his body didn't respond in time. His mouth screamed but it was drowned out by the screech of the tires.
The driver, noticing too late, is unable to slow down as Hanger collides directly with the speeding vehicle, instantly launching him further down the road.
As the semi-truck slows down to a screeching halt, the tires roll over Hanger's head instantly crushing it like a watermelon. The many cars unaware of what just happened run over Hanger's mangled corpse.
Kiara eye's widen as she covers her mouth as she watches what just happened. Anby looks on at Kiara with fear in her eyes as she sees Hanger's body continue being run over by more cars driving on the road.
"I mean…uh…He was going to eat us," Kiara reassures. She grabs Anby and they quickly leave out of the alleyway managing to escape the scene before too many people show up. Many civilians slowly get out of their cars to see Hanger's mushed-up body on the road.
"Did any of you guys see that?" the truck driver says, stepping out of his semi in horror, "I. I...uh. I just killed someone."
A mother walking nearby covers her son's eyes as they both hurryingly run away from the crime scene, "Oh my god. Don't look behind sweetie," she says worryingly, her voice uneasy and trembling.
Assassin: Hanger.
Status: Dead.
Cause of death: Vehicular manslaughter.