System Breaker: Surviving Apocalypse with Nine-Tailed Kitsune-Chapter 30: Best Friends

"What the hell is going on, Kade?!" Damon shouted, his eyes locked onto his best friend, who had his usual sly smirk on his face.

"Step away from that woman. She killed many of our men-" Kade began, but Damon left him no room for nonsense.

"And what about you? How many did you kill?"

The question wiped the smirk off Kade’s face. He frowned as he studied Damon for a couple of moments before speaking.

"Things have changed, Damon. We no longer have to feel like second-tier citizens. We can kill those who looked down on us and rise to the very top." Kade’s eyes suddenly lit up, and when they did, everyone in the Central Station except Damon, Victor and Ivy stiffened.

"Look at them, Damon! They are under my command! I can make them beg for me to kill them just so I can level up! Come, let’s kill this woman together."

Damon remained silent for a moment. His fists clenched at his sides as he watched his best friend, the only person in this world whom he considered family, turn into someone he barely recognised.

In truth, he always knew that Kade silently hated everyone who was better off than him. Perhaps that’s why he and Damon were friends in the first place. Two orphans with nothing to their name. But he would’ve never expected for a little bit of power to corrupt him this much.

"No," Damon finally responded.

Kade frowned. "What?"

"I refuse." Despite the calmness in his words, Damon’s arms trembled slightly as he tightened the grip on his tachi.

Kade’s mouth twitched, emotions that had not been seen before flashed across his face, before his sly smirk returned. "I knew you were going to be a problem ever since my ability didn’t work on you. Very well, Damon. I will grant you your wish."

The moment Kade finished his sentence, he put his greathelm on, which covered his entire face.

Then, he turned toward the two men beside him. "Leave him to me. Kill the girl."

Casper’s face flashed with a grin before he suddenly vanished, certainly heading for the girl he had been itching to kill this whole time.

But before he could even reach her, Ivy had already moved. Flames coiled around her like a barrier made of fire.

At the same moment, Damon dashed forward to meet Kade, who was already moving toward him.

Kade’s chained mace whipped through the air at a terrifying speed. Damon raised his tachi to block the strike, but the chain simply wrapped around his blade before the mace struck him right in the shoulder.

’He’s fast!’ Damon cursed as he slammed into the ground, hot white pain shooting through his entire shoulder.

He barely scrambled back to his feet in time to avoid another swing of Kade’s mace, which landed right where he had been a second ago.

Damon didn’t waste a second before he raised his left arm up, sending two shards of black ice forward.

Both connected, catching Kade off guard and causing him to stumble back a few steps. But it was far less than enough. Each impact left nothing but a small dent in his steel armour.

On the other side of the floor, Casper, alongside a few more of Kade’s men, already surrounded Ivy, who shot flames in every direction.

Unfortunately for her, one of them had a water-based ability, one that allowed him to push her back enough for Casper’s strikes to reach her.

"To think you’d walk in here," Casper laughed as his blade thrust from behind. The girl sidestepped just in time for the sword to barely graze her arm, but the moment she turned, he was already gone, vanishing and reappearing from every direction, all while the water-based ability user was pushing her flames back.

CRACK!

At the same moment, during one of the exchanges, Kade’s mace found its way toward Damon’s ribs.

The impact sent Damon hurtling through the air.

The world spun violently as his body slammed against the floor. A sickening crunch echoed through his chest. Damon didn’t need an X-ray to know that the strike had shattered most of his ribs.

Blood escaped his mouth as his eyes swayed across the floor, before snapping back into focus and locking onto Kade, who was walking casually toward him.

"Give up, Damon. Drop the sword, and I will let you come work under me."

"To do what? Kill innocent people?" Damon rose to his feet as he spoke. "You have lost your mind, Kade."

"Innocent? They are the ones who looked at us with pity, the ones who treated us as if we were nothing!"

As Damon stared at his best friend, the recognition he once had seemed to have faded.

"Power changes people," Kitsune’s voice suddenly cut through Damon’s mind, "He’s no longer the person you once knew."

Her voice carried a hint of worry which Damon had never heard before. Perhaps that’s why, despite the harshness of her words, he did not retort. It was the realisation that had been gnawing on him ever since he found him.

His best friend was not the same person he once knew.

Damon gritted his teeth as he adjusted his stance, lifting his tachi high.

"Tskk," Kade hissed at the sight, before shifting his own laid-back stance into a battle-ready position. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

A silent understanding passed between two best friends before they charged forward.

But before their weapons could clash once more, a sudden yell cut through the entire floor.

"No!!"

Victor’s broken voice made everyone’s attention snap to where Ivy’s duel was taking place.

Damon turned just in time to see Ivy’s flames flicker away as Casper stood behind her.

His eyes widened in realisation as he saw the blade come in from the girl’s back and exit from her chest. Blood sprayed all around her as Casper pulled the weapon out.

For a brief moment, confusion flashed across her face. Then, just as quickly, her eyes lost all their focus, and her body slammed to the ground with a heavy thud.