Chapter: The Skyscraper Showdown
Smoke still clung to the air from the flurry of duplicates. Gen stood with his back against the elevator doors, his chest rising and falling rapidly as Ito's endless army of clones closed in around him.
"Mind Control."
A shimmer pulsed from Gen's eyes, but nothing seemed to happen. The clones kept marching.
Ito tilted his head. "What was that supposed to be? Parlor tricks?"
Just then—CRACK!
A fist tore through the air, smashing into Ito's face like a freight train. He reeled back, crashing the side of his head into the large wooden desk with a grunt. Blood smeared from his head. He touched his face, disbelief painted in crimson.
"W-What...? You were just over there!" he spat.
Gen stepped forward, fists clenched. "Don't underestimate me, you sick freak. I used mind control—on your clones. You've got mental resistance, so I couldn't use it on you. But they don't."
Ito, now furious, dashed forward with alarming speed. Gen barely dodged as the clone master unleashed a barrage of thunderous punches. Each hit carried terrifying weight, shattering floor tiles and denting steel columns.
Gen backflipped onto the conference table, grabbing a glass water pitcher and hurling it at an oncoming clone. It shattered on impact. Another clone tackled him off the table, but Gen twisted mid-air and landed in a crouch, sweeping the attacker's legs.
"Too slow!" Gen barked.
Ito came from behind with a leaping axe kick, barely missing Gen as it cratered the floor. The clones regrouped.
Gen activated Swift again, zipping between three of them with a flurry of spinning strikes, elbows, and a brutal knee to one's jaw. They collapsed into sparks.
"Augh.. Aahhh," Ito struggled to formed words as his jaw was mangled from the knee. He held out his shakey hands and grabbed his jaw as he shoved it back into it's socket.
Ito snarled and went on the offensive again, using his brute strength to grab Gen mid-motion and slam him into the ground.
"You're nothing! I built this empire from nothing! You can't beat me!"
Gen coughed up blood from the impact. The wind was knocked out of him as he struggled to breathe-gasping for air.
"Tch. You think you're clever?!" Ito bellowed. He slammed both fists into the ground with a roar that shook the glass windows. "RAHHHH! DAMN YOU!"
In blind fury, he charged forward, knocking over his own clones as they scattered.
Gen's eyes narrowed. He activated Swift, slamming a high-speed roundhouse kick into Ito's gut.
CRASH!
Ito flew backwards like a missile, shattering the window and plunging out into the open sky. His body sailed downward before slamming into a black luxury car parked far below.
BOOM.
Glass rained down like deadly snow.
Gen stumbled toward the shattered window, heart pounding. He looked down.
Ito's body lay broken, motionless.
"Oh no... What have I done?"
A sound snapped Gen back to reality—sirens.
Red and blue lights flashed from below. Police officers spilled into the building.
"Shit!"
He bolted toward the elevator, only to remember it had been destroyed earlier during the clone battle. The metal doors were warped and jammed shut.
From above, the whir of helicopter blades approached.
A police helicopter hovered just above the shattered office.
"Put your hands up! Step away from the edge!" came a voice through the megaphone.
Gen hesitated, then raised his hands... reluctantly.
He stepped into the helicopter.
But the moment he was inside—BAM!—he elbowed the officer nearest to him, sending him flying out the open door.
"AHHHHHHH!"
The second officer lunged, baton drawn. Gen ducked under the swing and delivered a swift kick to his chest, knocking him into the side rail.
Without hesitation, Gen looked at the pilot.
"Mind control."
The pilot's expression slackened.
"Fly. Now."
The chopper peeled away from the tower, slicing through the night sky.
Meanwhile, across the city...
Taehyung sat in his taekwondo dojo, arms crossed, eyes glued to the TV mounted in the corner.
"Gen... what the hell have you gotten yourself into?" he muttered.
Keiko sat at home, a blanket clutched around her. The news broadcast showed the wreckage at the base of the Linguang Tower. Her eyes widened in horror as Gen's face appeared on screen.
"Gen Nanami: WANTED – Armed and Dangerous."
She gasped and turned away, covering her mouth. Her hands trembled.
Taehyung reached for the remote, but paused.
Too late.
Every station showed Gen's face. Every channel repeated the same words:
"Public Enemy Number One."
Bounty: ¥1,000,000.
Back in the chopper, Gen sat alone with the unconscious pilot.
He stared at the city skyline, the flashing lights, the growing chaos.
His breath fogged the cold glass.
"There's no going back now..."