**Volume 2: Upper World**

  **Chapter 86: Vein of Mercy**

  February 10th, 4:12 p.m. – Vein Clan House (Vault Room)

  Kira opened her eyes.

  The yellow aura around her exploded — bright, blinding — like a star igniting in the dim room. The guards froze for half a heartbeat — 100+ men in black uniforms, swords drawn, white aura flaring in unison — but it was already too late.

  She moved.

  Fast.

  Faster than any of them could track.

  Her katana was out in a blur — red threads pulsing along the blade like living veins. She sliced — one clean horizontal arc — and two guards dropped instantly, throats opened, blood spraying in perfect twin arcs that caught the blue gem’s light like rubies.

  She didn’t stop.

  She threw the sword — spinning, whistling — and it stabbed through another guard’s head — clean through the skull — pinning him to the wall. The body twitched once, then sagged.

  Kira closed the gap — fists blurring — started boxing them up.

  Punch to the throat — cartilage crunched. Elbow to the temple — skull cracked. Knee to the gut — ribs snapped. Guards fell around her — screaming, choking, dying — but more kept coming.

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  One got through — fist slamming into her ribs. Kira flew back — hit the stone — slid — blood in her mouth.

  She pushed up — fast — just as a sword came down toward her neck.

  She moved — dodged — grabbed the man’s wrist — twisted — took his sword. Sliced his hand off at the wrist — blood fountaining — then swung upward — head rolling clean off his shoulders. Before the body hit the ground she stabbed through his chest — took the heart in one clean motion — ripped it out — tossed it aside like trash.

  She slid across the floor — blood mixing with water from a busted pipe overhead — salt from tears she didn’t realize she was crying. The sword in her hand glowed — red threads wrapping tighter — and she cut.

  Fast.

  Delayed.

  One swing — forty men fell at once. Invisible cuts arrived half a second later — bodies opening in perfect lines, blood misting the air like red rain.

  She threw the sword upward — it spun — hit a guard hanging from the rafters — pinned him through the chest.

  Then she activated her afterimages — 500 fps — yellow copies of herself flickering in and out. Fifty guards died in seconds — throats slit, hearts pierced, heads rolling — all while Kira stood still, breathing hard.

  Only one man left.

  He dropped to his knees — sword clattering away — hands up.

  “Please… mercy…”

  Kira walked forward — slow — blood dripping from her blade.

  She stopped in front of him.

  Stabbed — clean through the throat — pulled the sword out.

  The body slumped.

  Kira laughed — short, broken — then fell to her knees.

  Blood pooled around her — her own, theirs, the guards’. No one left to help. No one left to love. Mei’s body lay nearby — stabbed through the chest, white aura gone. The gem floated in the case — blue, steady — waiting.

  Kira stared at it — chest heaving — tears mixing with blood on her face.

  She was about to break — completely — when Mei’s body twitched.

  Mei stood — slow — wound closing — white aura flaring again.

  Kira’s eyes snapped up.

  Mei lunged — sword aimed for Kira’s heart.

  Kira kicked — boot to Mei’s face — Mei staggered. Kira kicked again — harder — Mei flew back — hit the wall.

  Kira grabbed the blue gem — yanked it from the case — tucked it inside her jacket.

  She ran — fast — out of the vault room — down the hall — toward the exit.

  She burst outside — the Vein Clan courtyard — and froze.

  Three figures waited.

  Jin — the strongest of the clan — tall, silver hair loose, sword at his hip, white aura calm but heavy. Jason — second strongest — sitting in a chair 50 feet away, sandals on, white socks, grin wide and lazy. Nimb — fourth strongest — lean, hooded, twin blades crossed on his back, eyes hidden.

  Kira looked at them — gem heavy against her chest.

  Jin laughed — low, amused.

  Nimb laughed too — quiet, cold.

  Kira tightened her grip on her katana.

  She said — voice steady despite the blood and tears.

  “Let’s fight.”

  The chapter ended.

  To be continued…