Guardians of The Damned-Chapter 48: It’s getting closer

Will cloned himself without stopping, making his clones take the attack while he sneakily got closer to me. However, due to Calvin's mecha, his clone only lasted three seconds before they melted, gradually losing their human features and becoming a puddle of wax.

I spotted him and immediately rushed towards him. We engaged in hand in hand combat. I punched his right rib, he blocked it with his right arm and grabbed my arm.

He pull me closer and hit my chin with his knee cap. My face flung upward. My vision blurred for a bit and I felt intense pain from my chin. I walked back a few steps as my thoughts were in disarray.

He gets closer and punched my face from the left, but it seems he has forgotten the fact I'm as capable as he was, or a bit better.

Even though I couldn't think of a single thought, my instinct guided me. I quickly headbutt him. It came out unexpectedly as his pupils were shrinking.

Thud!

After that, I grabbed his head and kept headbutting him. Blood spilled to the floor. I cried out for each time our head hit. Then I give him one powerful headbut before letting him go from my grasp.

He fell with a groan. He quickly cloned himself as a distraction but his clone only lasted a second before turning into wax.

Powerless, he crawled back. His breathing was heavy. He looked up at me and slowly rose to his feet.

"You'll regret this."

He took a deep breath and assumed a fighting stance. His eyes sharpened with renewed focus.

I mirrored his stance and replied coldly, "Even if you defeat me, you won't get through us. Where is the device?"

"You must be delusional if you thought I'd tell you!" He lunged forward with a sharp right hook.

I tilted my head back just in time, his fist grazing past. I grabbed his wrist and twisted, pulling him forward into a knee strike. He grunted, staggering, but twisted mid-fall and swept low, trying to take out my legs.

I jumped, but his elbow caught my ribs as I landed. Pain bloomed, but I didn't let it stop me. I launched a quick jab to his jaw—he blocked it, but I followed with a spinning elbow to his temple.

He stumbled back, breathing heavier now, blood trailing from his mouth.

"You hit harder than I expected," he muttered.

"You're stalling," I replied, rushing him again.

We traded blows—punches, elbows, grapples—each move faster and more desperate than the last. He was losing ground, every step he took pushing him closer to the wall. I could tell—his movements were slowing, his defense cracking.

He reached for something in his coat.

Big mistake.

I slammed my palm into his chest, pinning him back.

"Where. Is. The. Device?"

He coughed violently, panting between his words.

"It'll take more than that to make me talk." A crooked grin curled on his lips.

"Then we'll just kill you," I replied coldly.

"And let my corpse do the talking? You think I'm that stupid?"

He pulled down the collar of his shirt, revealing a green jade necklace hanging around his neck.

"This jade absorbs my soul and memories the moment I die. Not even your telepath could dig through that."

I sighed, already tired of his games, and turned to Eve.

"He's yours."

When a mission had to be completed—no room for errors—Eve never failed.

Will scoffed. "Letting a woman fight your battles? What a coward."

"Scared of a woman, are you?" I shot back, moving beside Calvin.

Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freewebnσvel.cøm.

I took a slow puff, letting the smoke trail forward. It swirled through the air, reshaping itself into a dozen razor-sharp daggers before reaching Eve's open palms.

She caught them without missing a beat—and without hesitation, launched herself forward.

The wind howled in her wake.

"God damn it, Eve! I looked after you when you first joined Synth, and this is how you repay me?" Will's voice cracked with anger as he ducked under her swing. The dagger missed his head by inches. He countered with an uppercut.

"The past is the past, Will," Eve said coolly, tilting her head back, narrowly dodging the punch. "You're not the person I used to admire."

The dodge exposed an opening. She drove a dagger into his abdomen, then delivered a powerful kick to his chest.

His body slammed into the wall. The entire building trembled from the impact.

Maybe it was Eve's ability—how she always made things go exactly her way—but the building didn't stop shaking. Cracks spiderwebbed across the walls, and then the structure groaned.

The whole thing collapsed.

As debris came crashing down, I exhaled deeply and formed a dome of smoke around us. Dust and broken wood filled the air as the two-story building crumbled into a heap.

Then... silence.

The dust slowly began to settle, sunbeams breaking through the haze.

"You guys good?" I asked, taking another puff and letting the dome fade.

"We're good," Yin Hee replied.

"Same here." Calvin raised a hand.

"Kinda cold, don't you think?" Eve's voice came from outside the dome. She looked irritated.

"Oh, I figured you'd be fine," I shrugged. "We can do it again if you want."

"Never mind." She rolled her eyes and dropped into a chair that somehow survived the collapse. "So, what do we do with him?"

I turned to Yin Hee. "Can you dig into his head and find what we need?"

"I can," she said, "but only if he consents."

I paused, then looked at Eve. "Is he still alive? You stabbed him."

"I avoided anything vital. Hit the paralyzed side. He's alive."

With that confirmation, we dug through the rubble. Will lay among the debris, blood seeping from his gut but no longer flowing. He was weak—barely conscious.

"How do we get him to consent?" I muttered, stroking my chin. Then a smirk formed. "I've got an idea."

I knelt beside him. "You look terrible—like a newborn that lost the fight to be born."

"Kill... me..." he wheezed.

Instead, I jammed my fingers into his wound and twisted.

He howled in pain.

"We'll let you go if you let Yin Hee into your head," I said calmly.

"Over... my... dead body."

"Not yet," I muttered. I dug into the wound again, harder this time, then drove a kick into his abdomen.

His whole body tensed. He let out a ragged, broken scream.

"Sunny, you're going to kill him," Eve warned.

"I won't," I said with a sigh, pulling my hand back. I glanced at Yin Hee. "Got any tricks?"

"I'll try." She stepped forward and touched a smear of blood near his side. Purple flames erupted from her fingers, curling around the blood.

It bubbled. Boiled. Then evaporated, leaving only flickering violet light. And then—silence.

"That was flashy," I said. "Learn anything?"

Yin Hee nodded slowly. "Before I answer, you should know what I did. I searched for people or objects with strong emotional or spiritual ties to him. I found a few."

"Yeah?" I tilted my head. "Where?"

"One's deep underground. The others... at Synth's HQ."

I frowned. "Underground?"