2023 - Round 4 Champion @NovelistOfReverence

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The Limbless Lineage by NovelistOfReverence

The Limbless Lineage by NovelistOfReverence

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"Now is our time to shine, boss. Let's take everything, and get outta here before the Constabulary Force arrives." Stelan remarks as he taps onto my shoulder.

He rushes ahead first, bursting with excitement, it seems. We stand in front of what used to be an artificially enhanced safe, protected by all kinds of security. What we stand in front of now, is a safe with an open door, and a vulnerable holder of credits. '

I-I did it . . . I could finally bypass the door's security. Now, to do what we came here for.' I ponder in delight, picking up my large and heavy suitcase. 

Stelan rushes into the very back of the safe, grabbing onto a handful – no – an armful of credits. I place my suitcase onto an empty desk, and to my command, it opens wide. A glowing hue of blue light derives from the case, indicating the readiness of its specialty. 

"Toss everything into the case. It works as a teleportation entryway. I placed the receiver suitcase on a deserted island. We'll find our credits there." I say, heading into a different corner that displays a heap of credits. The electronically lustrous pieces of thin, materialized optic fibre valuables feel light and nifty in my arms as I grab onto as many as I can.

Hastily so, I make trips up to the suitcase and back to where the credits lay. Mirroring me, Stelan still manages to snip in a few silver and gold bars, demonstrating his drive to continue doing what he loves the most: stealing. I had met the optimistic man a while back, looking for a partner to work with. It was until I showed him my prominence that our roles altered a bit. He began calling me his boss, since my brilliance brought him great income. 

"That seems to be everything, boss." He says.

Disclosing the island's detail and location are yet to be revealed for Stelan. Something told me that telling him would jeopardize me in some way or another. Perhaps it is my instinct as a professional thief, or the genuine lack of trust. 

Certainly, we both roam with bourns that would be considered worthy – he needs this so that he can pay for his wife's nanorobotic medicine, while I can finally fund my new project. Yet, according to some hero-wannabe, my project is considered highly illegal. 

But I'm Alexander Bardot for heaven's sake. This world's greatest inventor! 

"Boss, let us hurry up. She might get here at any time—" 

"And who y'all talking 'bout over there?" a firm yet playful voice speaks from behind us, at the entrance of the safe. That voice . . . I would know that voice from anywhere. 

The tall woman, short Neptune-blue hair that accompanies her light, coral coloured eyes, and her intimidating smile – the hero-wannabe woman who so supposedly 'protects' this city. 

Her voice is so well-known that I could not mistake it: the same voice that killed the entirety of my family about a year ago. The same voice that lied about it, and got me in prison after pointing all the evidence to me. 

The same voice that reported me to her higher-ups after she had overheard me talking about my time machine project. The same damned voice that belongs to the woman who despises me with her heart and soul: Jessica. The city's Constabulary Force's chief. 

"Listen, Stelan. I need you to listen to me right now. Listen to your boss, and don't you dare defy his words." I whisper to him, as we both slowly turn around to face the devil herself. "She's too fast for the both of us to simultaneously jump into the teleportation device. You go first and I'll follow you. Go now." I abruptly push Stelan towards the desk that holds up the suitcase. 

"I have been waiting for this day, Jess." My voice intensifies as I reel out my pocket knife. 

My plasmatic blade's notorious for easily cutting through human skin. 'Human skin' I so humbly emphasise – she deserves such an inhumane weapon, for she lost her humanity the moment she injected the Progressive Ability Fluid into her. One specially made to monstrously enhance the human body's abilities on an exponential level. Literally every corner of the body becomes a living weapon. 

Thankfully, I came prepared for her. 

I throw the knife towards her, aiming straight for her forehead. She evades the projectile and catches it with ease; her movements, fluid and smooth. She glares at me once she sees a smile on my lips as I hold a phone up to my face. "You shouldn't have caught it, Jess." I tap a button on the screen, ensued by a small explosion that transpires in her hand. 

She grunts aloud from the slight pain, blinded by the smoke. I quickly look back to the case, and it appears that Stelan has made it through completely. Hurriedly, I close the case and deactivate it, facing the foe before me. Now, there is nothing holding me back from killing this demon. Good

"I must say, you got me there." She smiles, her enthusiasm far more invigorating than ever before. "Even though it barely made a scratch." she rushes head-on towards me, seemingly intact. 

Her speed is daunting, for she nears me in a matter of seconds. I tap onto the side of my neck, activating one of my best inventions yet . . . an enhancer. My arms rise up in immediacy, preparing to block her incoming punch. 

She lands her fist in, the impact sending me back by a few meters. I violently flop onto my back, but I rapidly get to my feet before her next attack. The distance between us closes in due to her powerful leaps towards me, and she raises her fist for another blow. 

"Most people's bones break to my punches. How come you just fly back, remaining unfazed by them?" her curiosity surfaces at an unusual time. 

'Why did I fear her before? Her form is so flimsy, and her style is so basic.' I evade her straight hit, countering with a left jab. She loses her balance, and I follow with a right jab. The powerful punches from my enhancer seem to throw her off her peaked form. 

I subdue her with a series of swipes and digs, each one far more powerful than the previous. Her body has become powerful from the injection, so it seems that she utilizes brute force to win in fights. Which is why she cannot counter my fists. Fists that are powerfully enhanced by the system I installed into my body that not only speeds up my recovery time, but makes my arm's thrust ten times stronger than the absorbed exterior force. That is why I let her throw the first punch. 

Passionately so, I raise my pair of fists to her. She flinches to my actions, hoping that it would be over once I saw her blood – but I'm only getting started. 

'Once I'm done with that time machine . . . I'm visiting my bastard ancestors. 'The limbless lineage', they call us. Not until I help them.'

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