Pinnacle of Evolution (2)

"You talk a lot for someone about to be torn to shreds by a piece of metal," the man laughed menacingly. 

With a swift motion, he ripped away the rest of his trenchcoat, revealing his heavily modified bare skin.

His skin was fake, his whole body was artificial, more machine than man.

"What do you see, Jin?"

Thirteen asked, still typing away at his keyboard, sending out signals to block while attempting to trace the source that the signal was originally trying to reach.

"This... freak—" Jin started to respond, but before he could finish, iron claws were flying toward his face.

Enhancing himself with electricity, Jin accelerated as the world seemed to slow down around him. 

This allowed him to evade the strike hurtling toward him, the iron claws barely missing his eyes.

Staring at the iron claw within the slowed-down world, Jin's right eye tracked its sharp trajectory. It was mere moments away from tearing into his eyes with a simple touch.

Just the sound of their movement showcased their speed as Jin felt and heard the air currents rushing past his face.

Immediately after evading, he delivered a lightning-charged punch at his opponent. 

The punch connected with the body of the man-like machine before him, and Jin instantly felt the resistance of the being's formidable strength.

It was like striking iron with his bare fists.

'This is not going to work like this,' thought Jin, jumping back and switching up his strategy. Taking on a natural swordsman posture, he silently gazed at the machine.

"If you're not telling me why you began to tail me, I'll tear the information out of your hardware, or wherever the fuck you store it, machine!" Jin spat, his voice dripping with venom.

He lunged forward, his blade dancing in the air. Jin slashed and sliced with precision, aiming to cut through the machine's defenses. His footwork was swift and fluid, sparks flying each time his blade made contact with the metal exterior.

Jin was far from being good with the blade, but the moment he got it, he wasted no time to wield and train with the blade.

He alternated between swift stabs and calculated slashes, aiming for vulnerable spots in his opponent's mechanical body. 

Still, he couldn't quite figure out where they were as his opponent wasn't exactly human anymore.

He lacked the weak points that humans had.

His footwork was agile and dynamic, evading the machine-like cybernetic man's counterattacks while maintaining relentless pressure.

The machine-like man, however, proved to be a formidable opponent.

With robotic precision and inhuman reflexes, he parried Jin's strikes and launched his own counterattacks with deadly accuracy. 

His metallic claws gleamed in the dim light of the alleyway as they clashed with Jin's blade, creating a symphony of metal on metal while Sparks continued to fly as they traded blows.

Jin delivered another destructive slash with his blade, the sword cracking with electricity that he indicated it with, but to his shock, this time, his opponent did not attempt to evade, block, or parry his strike.

()

Taking on the full force of the strike, the machine began to walk towards Jin without a care in the world.

The blade of the katana was logged into the side of the machine, a mixture of oil, sparks and blood leaped out of his side, yet he felt no pain.

Something such as pain would only hold a machine back, it wasn't necessary to them.

'This is getting nowhere, it's best if I finish him fast… maybe it's the best for him as well.' Reflected Jin, his gun already aimed at the machine before him.

With another three pull on the trigger, three electric bullets left the gun, Jin felt his connection to the currents as they were traveling at the speed of the bullets.

Reaching out and manipulating them in a split second, Jin managed to unleash three more electric explosions just in the face of the machine.

It barely spoke anything, it was only hurtled back by the explosion as it slowly fixed its gaze on Jin.

Jin was walking toward it, hearing the voice of thirteen in his ears.

"Jin, I found the source of the signals, we were right, it's coming from the building that we wanted to infiltrate, this smells fishy, I don't think that we should continue with this, get out of there and we can come back later." Instructed him Thirteen.

Jin even considered turning away and running back as he heard what Thirteen told him, but he was shocked to look once again at the machine-like man before him.

The machine was smiling.

"Truely remarkable." Said the machine, it's voice was completee different as it was nothing ekse then a microphone, transmitting another person's voice from afar.

"Jin, listen to me, get the fuck out of there, right now!" Shouted Thirteen in his ears, yet Jin did not move a simple step as he continued to stare at the machine.

"What is?" Asked back Jin after a small while, trying tho hide his shock and maintain an air of confidence.

'WHo the hell is this bastard?' He hid it well behind a stone-cold expression, but his mind was racing, questions came up after one another without answers.

"It's not jsut that you two managed to hide for all these years, but to still think that you maintianed your sanity, truly remarkable." Said the machine, it's tone was playful.

It wasn't the machine that spoke, it was someone from another place, only using the machine as a puppet.

Jin almost audible gulped the moment he heard the words of the machine, electricity crackling around his body even more intensely.

"To think that you are still sane… four four five, fascinating." Said the machine, it's voice clearr then ever, with authority, mockery, and a hint of genuine fascination.

Jin froze up instantly hearing the three numbers that he was reffered as, his vision faltered and his head ached.

He could barely move.

Cold sweat was pouring down off of his back.

"Is there a problem, four four five?" Asked the robotic voice once again, sounding openly mocking.

"Jin, I said get the fuck out of there!" Screamed Thirteen, his voice was strained, tired but mostly, worried and panicked.

Yet Jin idd not move a single milimeter, he was forzen in place.

No thoughts were present in his head.

Everythign was completely numb.

Then…

He began to see something that wasn't really before him, the calming greens cenery, the playing children.

Laughter…

Sirens…

Screams…

A dead body…

Blood…

Jin's appearance began to change, it was shifting.

His hair was growing at a rapid pace.

Normally, it wasn't even neck length, but now it reached his waist.

Even his hair was covered with underlying electric currents.

It was just covering him a bit, underlying, but now, it was growing increasingly more intense.

The color of the lighting began to get brighter as well.

"Jin!

"Ji—"

THirteens voice completely cur off from Jin, and the earpiece got destroyed by the intense lighting.

The watch on his hand began to sizzle as well.

The currents covered it fully, destroying the watch in a simple moment.

"Oh?" 

The machine was incapable of doing so, but it gave the feeling of a mocking smirk.

Jin's eyes were empty as he gazed at the machine in front of him.

Lightning covers his body.

He held the blade of the katana albeit barely, hanging by his side as he dragged the blade on the ground.

Walking closer and closer to the machine.

"Oh, is this what It took to make you a bit crazy?" 

Asked the machine, his mechanic laughter echoed in the narrow and dark alleyways.

But his laughter was short lived.

The upper body of the machine completely dissapeared.

A simpel swipe of Jin's hand, lightning all around.