The Collapse
Dozens of violet spears cut through the air, one after another, in relentless succession.
With a tremendous roar, the second floor collapsed.
The spears pierced through walls and floors, embedding themselves deep into the ground like the quills of a porcupine. Amidst the rising dust, the area where Luke had been, along with the entire third floor, was reduced to a ruin.
Seeing this, the nightclub manager, who was on the phone, was instantly dumbfounded. He was terrified and inwardly prayed to Jesus with the luck of his ancestors that Young Master Shaw was safe, or else he was finished.
Star Sapphire's barrage intensified the chaos in the main hall. The girls who had still been watching were now forced to join the stampede. Gossip was fun, but it wasn't worth their lives.
Thankfully, the club's main entrance was wide enough, or a massive trampling accident would have certainly occurred.
Within the ruins, Luke, now clad in his Phantom Unit 2 armor, pushed the rubble off himself, his face grim as he stared at Star Sapphire hovering in the air.
This woman is serious! Even if love has turned to hatred, she doesn't need to be this brutal!
"Ava, how much longer?"
"One minute and thirty-five seconds. I suggest you move outside. Fighting here risks exposing your identity."
"Help me plot an escape route."
"The quickest route is directly behind you. Three spears have pierced the wall. You only need to deliver a light punch to the center of those punctures to break the wall open."
Luke turned and ran toward the back. When he saw the three spears Ava mentioned, he delivered a flying kick. With a loud CRASH, a large hole appeared in the cracked wall. The fissures rapidly expanded, and the entire section of the wall collapsed.
The wall seemed to be made of foam.
Luke glanced at the dust of crushed stone on the ground, silently cursing the greedy construction company, then rushed out of the hole. He ran headlong down the road to the west without looking back.
Star Sapphire was right behind him, her fingers moving to continuously shoot purple spears that left craters both large and small in the road surface.
The Pursuer and the Observer
At a nearby intersection, a woman wearing peculiar clothes and a crescent moon tattoo on her forehead watched the chase with a blank expression.
The woman hovered just above the ground in the midst of the crowd. Oddly, passing pedestrians didn't seem to notice her. Even if they walked right past, they wouldn't turn their heads, as if she didn't exist.
The violet spears crisscrossed, carrying immense power—enough to pierce a concrete road. Yet, the woman shook her head, her brow furrowed with dissatisfaction.
"The Queen is too unfamiliar with this. She doesn't know how to use the power of the Star Sapphire at all."
"That man is also interesting. He possesses a battlesuit forged using mass-energy conversion technology. However, even with the armor protecting him, he won't last long."
"Ah, Your Majesty! Kill him! Kill the one you love! Show no mercy! Only then can you truly become our Queen."
"A Queen has no need for love!"
Coast City's nightlife ranked number one in America.
Even at 10:00 PM, the streets were still bright with activity. Luke didn't want to cause too big a scene, so he activated his armor's stealth mode, which required significant energy.
However, this visual disappearance had no effect on Star Sapphire. As a result, drivers and late-night revelers witnessed a strange sight: A scantily clad, sexy woman flying through the air, her hands raised, continuously shooting purple spears at empty patches of ground.
After a while, a question popped up in everyone's minds: Is this woman escaping from a mental institution?
After being hit by dozens of spears, the battlesuit analyzed the spear's flight speed and trajectory, using that data to construct a nearly perfect set of dodging maneuvers.
The purple spears, which had made Luke scramble initially, became ineffective. He could dodge them even with his eyes closed.
He also noticed a few strange things. The entire time, "Carol" hadn't said a single word, which made no sense. They had been in a relationship for over three years, sleeping together scores of times. Even casual acquaintances harbor some goodwill; after all these years, even if she hated him for cheating and wanted to kill him for revenge, she shouldn't be completely silent.
Besides the silence, there was her method of attack. The Star Sapphire's core power is similar to that of the Green Lantern Ring, perhaps even stronger. Different colored Lantern Rings grant the user different abilities, but six are universal: flight, regeneration, energy manipulation, force field projection, mental defense, and energy constructs for physical attacks.
Theoretically, Carol, with the Star Sapphire, should have thousands of offensive options. Yet, she had only used the energy spear construct the entire time. Granted, she was a javelin thrower in school, but even so, why stick to only one move?
The more Luke thought, the more convinced he was that something was wrong. He spoke gravely,
"I need a close-up analysis of her face."
A short video showing Carol's facial features immediately appeared on his inner screen. In the fifteen-second clip, the beautiful face showed no emotion other than cold indifference, like a Terminator executing a kill order.
Luke clenched his fist, his eyes turning icy.
Manipulating my woman to kill me!
Very well!
Just great!
Killing intent boiled inside him, yet his expression grew even calmer.
"Ava, search for all suspicious targets within a 1,500-meter radius, especially fast-moving individuals."
"Understood, Young Master."
"Phantom Unit 1 will arrive in twenty seconds. I suggest you find a concealed location."
The coordinates for Phantom Unit 1 appeared on the inner screen, about ten miles to the southwest.
Luke felt slightly reassured. He scanned his surroundings and found a trash-filled alleyway. He rushed into it. The alley was quiet, a stark contrast to the noisy street. Aside from a few scavenging stray cats, there were no other living creatures.
Luke stopped in the depths of the alley, turned, and looked up at the pursuing Star Sapphire.
Star Sapphire raised her hand, and two spears shot out. Luke evaded them by sidestepping, then looked at the nearby purple energy spears and smiled.
"After all these years, you still haven't changed. You always aim for distance, never for accuracy."
"Carol" remained silent, her eyes utterly cold and vacant. She raised her right hand high. Violet light flashed, and hundreds of energy spears—dense and numerous—hovered behind her.
There were so many spears they completely blocked the mouth of the alley.
A quantitative change leads to a qualitative change. If this barrage came down, not only would a person be impaled, but even a fly would be turned into a honeycomb.
Luke's mouth twitched violently, his expression one of utter helplessness.
"Cut it out, okay? People are going to die if this keeps up! Even if you hate me, you can't abandon all our past affection and just watch me get slaughtered right here."
A flicker of struggle crossed "Carol's" eyes, but the cold indifference returned the next second. She pointed her finger forward, and hundreds of spears launched simultaneously, covering every angle of the narrow alley.
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