Limitless Detective
Episode 2 — The Professional
The arrest spread like wildfire.
Whispers rolled across the endless corridors of the multiverse—a new detective, young, brutal, unstoppable, had taken down the Hooked Butcher of Vorenth Prime.
Some laughed it off. Others grew afraid. But the professionals, the true killers, the ones who had evaded law for centuries… they listened.
And one of them decided to test him.
⸻
The New Case
Zane was standing under a flickering neon sign, cigarette between his lips, smoke curling up into the endless rain. His hood shadowed his face, his hands buried in his coat pockets.
He didn't look like someone who had just solved a case that made headlines across three galaxies. He looked bored.
The Black Ledger pulsed in his chest, the scar faintly glowing through the fabric of his shirt.
[Current Level: 2]
[Strength: Moderate]
[Agility: Moderate]
[Insight: Enhanced]
[Added Faculty: Pulse Read — ability to track heartbeat and micro-movements.]
The Ledger whispered—its voice like pages turning inside bone.
"New file. Target: The Marionette. Location: Sector Nine, Gravemarket. Method: Professional. Arrest alive."
Zane exhaled smoke. He didn't ask for details. He didn't need to. The name alone told him enough.
The Marionette was infamous—a contract killer who turned victims into unwilling puppets, slicing tendons and wiring flesh so they could dance before death. A performer. Efficient. Cruel. Untouchable.
Perfect.
Gravemarket
Sector Nine's Gravemarket wasn't a city—it was a graveyard built into a trading hub. Bone towers rose into the smog, and merchants sold relics ripped from corpses as though they were trinkets. Everything stank of death and currency.
Zane walked through the crowd with a slow, steady pace, every step echoing with a quiet authority. His dead stare slid over mercenaries, thieves, and smugglers. Most looked away. A few spat at his boots. None dared stand in his way.
The Ledger pulsed. He felt the tug, a string pulling his ribs toward the northern quarter. His Pulse Read picked up an irregular beat nearby—faster than the crowd, steady like a metronome.
A heartbeat rehearsed for killing.
Zane's lips moved, whispering flat words to himself. "Found you."
⸻
The Encounter
Inside a derelict theater at the market's edge, broken curtains swayed in stale air. The stage lights flickered weakly, throwing shadows across ruined seats.
And on the stage—six figures danced.
Their arms jerked in impossible angles, heads twitching, legs trembling like broken strings. Their eyes were open, wide with silent screams. Flesh had been cut and rewired with steel cables, forcing their movements into a twisted waltz.
Zane stood in the doorway, his cigarette burning low. His expression didn't change.
"You're disgusting," he said.
A figure stepped out from behind the curtain. Tall, dressed in black silk, porcelain mask painted with a smile. His hands were delicate, gloved, holding thin silver strings that shimmered in the stage light.
"The audience speaks," the Marionette purred. His voice was velvet and venom. "You must be the one they call the Limitless Detective."
Zane tilted his head. "Zane."
The Marionette bowed dramatically. "A pleasure. I've wanted to meet you. You caught the Butcher, yes? A child compared to me. Let's see how long you dance."
⸻
The Clash Begins
The Marionette flicked his wrist.
The six broken dancers turned as one, metal cables pulling them upright, arms jerking forward like weapons. Their movements weren't clumsy—they were precise, sharp, like trained assassins driven by pain and strings.
They rushed Zane.
Zane didn't move until the first one lunged. Then he stepped forward, grabbed the puppet's wrist, and snapped it in half with one brutal twist. The body collapsed, screaming, but still dragged by the strings.
Zane's cigarette fell from his mouth as his fist smashed into another puppet's chest. Ribs shattered. The man crumpled.
The Ledger burned inside him, power thundering through his veins. Level 2 strength. Faster. Sharper. Brutal.
But still—these were just victims. Tools. He couldn't kill them. He had to break them without ending their lives.
The Marionette laughed behind his mask, strings flashing through the air. "Good! Show me more!"
Two puppets slashed at Zane with blades tied to their hands. He ducked one, kicked the other across the stage, then surged forward, ripping the steel cords from their flesh with a single yank. Blood sprayed, bodies fell free, groaning in agony.
"Not good enough," Zane muttered, voice flat.
The Marionette's Trap
The killer leapt down from the stage, landing gracefully. Strings stretched from his fingers, dozens of them, slicing the air like threads of light.
"You think you can arrest me?" he asked, tilting his head. "You're nothing more than another piece for my show."
He flicked his hands, and suddenly the strings lashed around Zane, snapping tight across his arms and chest. The threads cut into his coat, biting skin. His muscles strained. The Marionette pulled, trying to force Zane into a kneeling position.
The Ledger pulsed hard.
Zane's dead stare locked onto him. "You made one mistake."
The Marionette chuckled. "And what's that?"
"You thought I dance."
Zane's body exploded with force. His muscles bulged, tendons snapping against the strings. He ripped his arms outward, the cords slicing skin but breaking under sheer brute strength. His eyes never blinked. His hands shot forward, grabbing the Marionette's wrist mid-flick.
The porcelain mask tilted, a sudden pause in the killer's poise.
Zane's voice was ice. "Arrest."
⸻
The Fight to Submission
The Marionette slashed with hidden blades, but Zane was faster now—Level 2 reflexes catching every twitch of his heartbeat. His hand crushed the killer's arm, wrenching it sideways until the joint screamed.
The strings lashed wildly, cutting across Zane's cheek, drawing blood. He didn't flinch. He drove a knee into the Marionette's gut, folding him.
The killer gasped, struggling, elegance breaking into panic. "Impossible—!"
Zane headbutted him. Porcelain cracked. Blood seeped through.
"You're not impossible to catch," Zane muttered, dragging him down by the arm. "You're just another case file."
He twisted, forcing the man's arm behind his back, locking him to the ground. His cuffs clicked into place, sharp and final.
The Marionette screamed, struggling against the chains. "You can't cage me! I am art! I am eternal!"
Zane's expression was unchanged, eyes cold as stone. "You're under arrest. That's all you are."
The Level Up
The Bailiff drones swarmed into the theater, blue light flashing across the bloodstained stage.
"Subject Captured. Case Closed."
The Ledger ignited in Zane's chest.
[Case Solved.]
[Arrest Completed.]
[+1 Level Acquired.]
His body surged with new power. His strength tightened, his senses expanded, his perception sharpened like a blade.
[Level: 3]
[Strength: High]
[Agility: High]
[Insight: Advanced]
[New Faculty: Motion Trace — ability to predict enemy movements seconds ahead.]
Zane wiped the blood from his cheek, lit another cigarette, and exhaled into the fog.
⸻
Epilogue
The drones dragged the screaming Marionette into the void. The broken puppets lay scattered, alive but free from their strings.
Zane didn't look at them. Didn't comfort them. He turned and walked back into the rain.
Another case closed. Another page turned.
The whispers of the multiverse grew louder.
The Limitless Detective was no longer just a rumor.
He was coming for them all.