Chapter 95: Fight with Alter Shiro

"What is that...?" I, who was peeking through the window, asked. I originally came here to poke around and see if I could discover anything here, and if I get caught, I was just going to use the excuse of finding Shiro to play with. But what I found what far more than what I could handle.

The white-haired girl with a bloodthirsty smile looked exactly like Shiro, but...

Scientists after scientists were being stabbed, mutilated, and killed one after another. And she wasn't stopping at all.

"Hehe...you want to know how strong I was? I'll show you...Hm?" Shiro spoke as she suddenly turned to face me in my direction.

Well, shit.

I dodged to my left as a red tentacle pierced through the entire wall to stab at where I previously was peeking from.

"A little rat is here, huh?"

Who is little? You're smaller than me, goddammit.

I had little time to monologue as I was forced to run from her. There was no way I could find against a monster.

The room was already filled with blood, without a hint of living thing in it. And I don't want to be added to the collection.

"You're not going to run away from me!"

Shiro immediately chased after me, her red tentacles aiming for me from all sorts of angles. By some freaky coincidence, I managed to dodge all of them, and seeing the impact it made on the ground made me thankful that I actually escaped them.

A crater with a hole in the center that reached a few centimeters in on reinforced concrete was something that shouldn't touch me at all.

"Hey! Yo! Relax!" I tried calming the murderous girl down, but it didn't seem to have much of an effect on her. Now, what should I do? I can't run forever. I don't know how long she can control those tentacles or that she even has a limit, but just blindly running around wasn't going to solve the answer.

Relying on those scientists' help was also out of the question. First, they might have locked down this entire section to prevent Shiro from getting out, leaving me to die in here with her. Second, they might instantly try to kill Shiro behind me with guns or weapons, which would probably kill or severely injure me in the process as well.

I'm just a sample; I don't have enough importance in their eyes for them to sacrifice a few lives to save me.

And third, I just don't want Shiro to die. She was my first friend in this world, and regardless of what she becomes, I'll be there with her.

There are very few CCTVs in these areas as only a few people could enter this room, and most experiments conducted in these areas are all top secret. How did you think I managed to sneak in here so many times without getting spotted?

And since there were almost zero CCTVs, I didn't have to worry about my secret leaking out.

Stopping almost instantly, I turned around and leaped at the chasing Shiro, my fox tails and ears popping out at the same time.

"Huh?" Not expecting my sudden change in actions, the tentacles continued on their path to attack forward, and there was nothing to stop me from hitting Shiro.

"Sorry about this..."

WHAM!

Shiro's body flew back as I punched her in her stomach, forcing her back. My four bundles of tails stretched to capture Shiro, but as expected, it wasn't that easy.

Shiro recovered almost instantly and stood back up as though nothing had happened. Not a single speck of dust could be seen on her body.

"Hoho..." The new Shiro was a lot more silent but a lot more sinister as well. If not for my hearing that detected movements behind me just in time, I would have been stabbed straight at my heart.

Even so, I only barely dodged it. A single cut still remained on my arm, and that was when I realized what that red weapon was.

"Oi! What is this?!"

Solidified blood. Shiro's "weapon" is made of blood?

"You already know what this is. More importantly, what are you?" Shiro asked as she eyed my tails curiously.

"Your friend."

"Friend?" Shiro tilted her head, "I guess so?"

So her basic sense is still there, huh? Whoever is taking over her body still listens to Shiro...that is a good thing, I guess. Shiro is really too kind for her own good; perhaps this alternate personality would help her out.

But for now, this was just a danger to him.

"But you were planning on doing something to Shiro, weren't you?" Shiro spoke with a tilt of her head, "No one can harm Shiro. Shiro's pain is mine."

A masochist? Now, that's something new.

BOOM!

An enormous crater appeared where I was before I dodged. At this point, I'm just entirely relying on my instincts to survive this ordeal. That little bit of Taekwondo was useless against a monster like her, and my eyes could barely see her tentacles move.

This was my first fight, and having an opponent aiming to kill you at any possible time wasn't a very good first opponent. Man...I don't think my trial reached 50%, and I already have to fight in a life or death situation?

Still, I don't think I can lose. Maybe because Shiro was still young, her attacks are relatively straightforward. There are hardly any feints in her attacks, and the most sneaky thing she had done was just try to stab me at the back.

My four bundles of tails could even out the fight against her tentacles. It might look soft and harmless, but if I tried, I could bend steel bars with them.

After all, I was still a part mythical fox, which couldn't be measured using common sense.

"Sigh...Please forgive me, Shiro." I muttered as I dashed towards her. I didn't go supersonic speed or anything like that; I just moved faster than an average human would in this situation.

But Shiro had already predicted my movements. Three chains of blood arrived in front of her to protect and counterattack at the same time.

Here's a fun fox fact: The small, slender bodies of foxes are designed for speed and agility. In proportion to other canid species, foxes have longer legs and smaller stomachs — adaptations that allow the animal to run nearly 30 miles per hour.

And this was just a regular fox. What would happen if it was a mythical fox?

My instincts flared as two chains came from my sides and three more from my back. They all aimed at the vulnerable parts of human anatomy - the head, heart, neck, and genitals. This girl sure is cruel; I would have lost the chance to be a father if one of the chains hit me there.

I dodged every chain, albeit with difficulty, and landed on all fours before pouncing on Shiro with my claws out. My four bundles of tails weren't idle and stretched to prevent Shiro from moving anywhere.

Using my tails to further pull me towards her, I aimed for her stomach and limbs - the areas where it wouldn't be too fatal. I wasn't too worried about her safety; she was way too strong for me to worry about her. I should be worrying about myself instead.

WHAM!

My claws did not hit their targets, though it easily destroyed the chains of blood that tried to stop me. It didn't stop me from reaching Shiro, and my claws retracted immediately to land a punch instead of a scratch.

Surprisingly, no blood was spit out or anything, and Shiro stood up as though nothing had happened.

Maybe I should have just scratched her instead. Sigh...and I said I shouldn't be worried about her safety...

I was left with no time to think as more chains of blood stabbed towards me.

<Lowest Hwechook>

Ducking the chains that were aimed at my face, I immediately dashed towards Shiro instead of retreating. My legs stretched out as I ducked to perform a low sweeping kick which aimed to knock the target's balance off.

But before Shiro could fall on her face, I immediately executed my next move.

<Roundhouse Kick>

A roundhouse kick is a kick in which the user swings their leg around in a semi-circular motion, striking the opponent's upper body with the front of the foot.

Basically, a very fancy kick that uses momentum as its main driving force.

Shiro's body was durable, that was undeniable, but it didn't mean that she didn't feel pain, nor was she unmovable. Feeling the impact from my kicks, Shiro flew back and smashed through the window, causing various cuts on her limbs and face from the broken shards of glass.

"Urgh..." Shiro groaned as she tried to stand up in pain. The sharp glass pieces on the ground didn't help at all.

"Sorry, whoever you are, but I prefer the real Shiro," I spoke as I executed my final move to end this meaningless fight, "I don't know what your purpose is for Shiro to have an alternate personality, but you don't protect someone by risking their lives in danger."

<Baek Rok>

Baek Rok is a type of push kick, an upward kick that uses the bottom of the foot as the striking surface. However, unlike typical push kicks, Baek Rok raises the legs high and straight, pushing the target into the air.

"Please wake up with this."

As my legs were raised to the air with Shiro flying above, I closed my eyes and breathed a sigh of relief as Shiro's body landed on the floor with a thud. This time, she didn't get up any further. And just to make sure, I checked her pulse.

She wasn't dead.

With this, the first fight of my life was finally over. It was a short five minutes, but it feels like an entire chapter has already finished. I panted heavily as I flopped back to the ground.

It didn't matter that I had more stamina than ordinary people. A life or death battle will always ensure that you are tired by the end of the fight, no matter how short the fight was.

Leaning against the wall, I looked at the "sleeping" Shiro and prayed that the one who woke up would be Shiro herself and not her alter ego.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

The sound of alarm rang out, and I sighed for the nth time this morning. I have to get back now since I was technically not supposed to be here, much less be able to have the strength to take down Shiro.

If they found me here with Shiro unconscious, nothing good is going to happen to me. Using the rest of my strength, I walked over to Shiro's unconscious body and kissed her on her forehead.

"Good luck for your future, Shiro. I'll always be your friend." I whispered, "Aceman will always be with you."

Placing her body down delicately, I walked in the opposite direction from where the sound of footsteps could be heard.

I had nothing to be attacked to in this place, and knowing that Shiro was strong enough to protect herself, I had nothing to stay for any further. I could also feel that the "medicine" they have been injecting me daily had lower and lower efficiency in whatever it was supposed to help me with, so that was no problem too.

Escaping this place was easy; I had already marked out my escape plan a few days ago, though I never thought I would use it so fast.

The only problem left was...

How do I survive in normal society again?

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A/N: Since the title I originally planned to put was a spoiler, I changed it. But after everything becomes clearer and you guys know what world we are in, I'll put in a better title.

This is a bizarre chapter. I'm not really good at writing fighting scenes, to begin with, so please be patient with me here. Comment down below about my fighting scenes and if there is any way to make it more...realistic. After all, I'm a good boy who doesn't get into fights in real life.

Sigh, I haven't written anything in 3 weeks now. School only opened for 1 week, and I'm already dead tired and swamped with work

If you want to support me or/and want chapters in advance, link:

https://www.patréon.com/spirits_everywhere. We are currently 8 chapters ahead~