Dust and smoke rose up.
"Bruno..."
Lucci struggled to turn his head, searching for Bruno's figure, as blood continuously trickled from the corner of his mouth.
Even though Bruno had absorbed most of the blow's damage for him, he had been beaten back into his human form, all his bones shattered, and his internal organs seemed to have shifted places.
He quickly spotted Bruno.
The colleague who had just sacrificed himself to save him was now lying just a few meters to the north.
The one who bore the brunt of the impact was in a more miserable state, his body a bloody mess, his breathing weak, clearly at death's door.
"Lu... Lucci..."
Bruno's gaze locked onto his, unsteadily lifting his hand to draw a doorway on the ground:
"While... while I still have a breath, crawl inside and escape quickly, or when I die, the ability will deactivate..."
Escape?
"Cough..." Lucci spat out bloody froth, his eyes listlessly gazing at the doorway.
"Escape...?"
Suddenly, he righted his head, looking up at the night sky, and began to laugh lowly, the laughter hoarse.
"A person can escape... but where can my heart and will escape to?"
Bruno was taken aback.
He had never seen Lucci with this expression before; those eyes that were always cold and confident were now filled with self-loathing and gloom.
"I've lost already... can't you see it, completely and utterly lost..."
Lucci's voice grew quieter.
He lifted his right arm, looking at his trembling hands. The finger Shano had forcibly torn off was bleeding profusely again after he lost the strength to sustain Life Return.
"What a joke, the strongest genius of CP9 in eight hundred years... what pinnacle of Body Techniques... all a joke..."
His voice suddenly rose, breaking into manic laughter, tinged with hysterical madness:
"A joke!!"
Despite using all his secret skills, he couldn't leave a single wound on his opponent!
Yet the opponent's casual punch could push him into an inescapable plight!
And as for age, he would be thirty in a few years, while the opponent was only eighteen... Such a vast chasm, how could it not make one despair to the point of shattering the spirit!
Thud!
A fist suddenly struck his face, cutting off Lucci's wild laughter.
It was Bruno's last revival, forcing himself up with his final breath, crawling with difficulty to his side, gripping his collar tightly, his voice hoarse:
"Lucci! You bastard, don't forget, your life was something I fought for with everything I had, you have no right to decide whether you live or die on your own accord!"
"Facing such a monster, isn't it reasonable? Just pull yourself together, don't take it as an unbearable shame!"
"Quickly leave, as long as you live... there's still a chance in the future!"
Lucci stared blankly at Bruno, the darkness in his eyes not yet cleared.
"A chance?"
He chuckled bitterly, "Against such a monster... how could it be possible..."
"Then just keep getting stronger!"
Bruno coughed up a mouthful of blood, yet his eyes stayed locked on him, "Didn't you always say... weaklings have no right to survive?"
"Then what are you if you give up now?!"
Lucci's body shook violently.
Yes...
The fear of physical weakness was nothing; the fear of a broken will was. If he himself admitted defeat, then what was the difference between him and those "weaklings" he had executed himself?
He gritted his teeth, struggling to prop himself up, his gaze regaining focus.
"Bruno..."
"No more talking... just go!"
Step, step, step.
In the distance, Shano's footsteps approached.
Unhurried, but every step seemed to land between the heartbeats, like the death knell of the Grim Reaper causing panic and fear.
He's coming...
That monstrous man!
Bruno's face was pale, his body suddenly trembling, but he still used his last ounce of strength to push the door towards Lucci:
"If you don't go now, it'll be too late, Lucci! Hurry!"
"I saved you to ask you to find a way to rescue Kaku and Kalifa from those girls' clutches, only you can do it..."
Lucci was finally moved.
He gave Bruno one last deep glance, saying nothing more, dragging his broken body, struggling to crawl towards the doorway.
However.
Just as Lucci was about to crawl through the doorway—
"Wororororo~! Such a strong presence, it must be right! Finally found you, Shano brat!!!!"
A jubilant roaring laughter burst from the night sky.
Boom!!!
The next moment, a colossal shadow descended like a meteor from the sky, enveloped in terrifying force, crashing heavily between the two!
Instantly, the ground cracked and exploded, terrifying shockwaves swept in all directions.
Lucci and Bruno's bodies were crushed into pulp by the immense force before they could even scream.
And that ghostly green doorway, with the death of the Ability User, vanished instantly.
Hiss...
The dust gradually settled.
A towering man, akin to a Demon God, slowly stood up.
The man had shoulder-length black hair, a pair of ferocious long horns atop his head, his bare upper body covered in scars, a massive Wolf Fang Club strapped to his back, and in his right hand, a Wine Gourd, from which he gulped wine.
"Hmm?"
Shano, previously yawning and uninterested in the bonds between CP9 agents, was about to deliver the final blow to Lucci.
But...
A pleasant surprise just showed up!
As he looked at the giant gulping down wine.
"Hey, hey, isn't that..."
His previously indifferent eyes suddenly lit up, burning with intense battle spirit, a slow grin forming, expanding into a full-blown laugh: