The fury inside Tiflos erupted like a long-slumbering volcano finally given permission to awaken.
"You stole the eyes of the innocent… you ripped away their light!"
His voice cracked with a sharp whistle, shaking the barn's wooden frame.
Nathan answered with a smug, metallic thud on his chest, the sound echoing like a war drum.
"Arrogant kids. Do you think you're the first to try stopping me?"
Noor didn't wait for orders. She exploded forward in a blur, summoning thick spectral layers around her arms as ghostly phantom-hands extended like serpents. Her ability—Spectral Phantoms—allowed her creations to shift between intangible forms and semi-solid force.
She unleashed a swarm of phantom serpents to scramble Nathan's vision, exploiting her flexibility against his weight. Meanwhile, Tiflos advanced from the front, firing precision shots from his Visual Pistol and maintaining distance. Nathan dodged and deflected the shots as best as his heavy body allowed, sparks flying from every impact.
Using the moving shadows of her phantoms, Noor slipped behind Nathan. She struck his back with a reinforced spectral punch—
but her glove slid across his metal plating without leaving a mark.
"No use!" she shouted. "His metal is tougher than anything I've fought!"
Tiflos' eyes sharpened from above.
"Nothing is perfect. The harder the metal, the weaker the joints. His weak points have to be at the joints."
Nathan charged like a steel missile, ignoring Noor and aiming straight for Tiflos.
"You first! Your eyes will be a problem for me!"
Tiflos flipped backward and thrust his palm forward. A shrill sonic burst rippled through the air, slowing Nathan's momentum.
"Take that, you rusted piece of junk!"
"Damn you!" Nathan roared, smashing a wooden pillar into splinters with a punch.
"Silver Eyes are worth their weight in gold on the black market! I'll take yours myself!"
But Tiflos and Noor were already syncing their movements like trained predators. Cain's intense drills had paid off—they barely needed words.
"Distort his vision!" Tiflos commanded.
Noor released a rapid sequence of phantoms, each flickering between illusion and matter. Nathan swung wildly, unsure which were harmless and which were about to knock him off balance. Even weak phantoms could change the direction of a battle if the opponent failed to notice them.
Tiflos focused, reading the frequencies vibrating through Nathan's metal frame.
"There's a pattern! Every time he moves, microscopic cracks appear at the joints!"
Nathan answered with a barking laugh as he fired a volley of metal spikes from his arms.
"Try all you want! My body is forged from a special alloy. You can't break it!"
While dodging, Tiflos noticed something—
Nathan kept guarding his back.
Every movement protected a single point.
"He's hiding something! On his back!"
Noor's eyes burned.
"The spine—the connection point between the metal body and his human core!"
Their strategy shifted instantly.
Noor pushed her visual capacity to the limit, creating more complex and forceful phantoms. Tiflos unleashed a barrage of visual bullets and high-frequency sonic waves—all aimed at the middle of Nathan's back.
Nathan stumbled for the first time.
"Stop—STOP!" he roared, agony twisting his face.
"You don't understand! I'm just one part! The Organization knows everything—they hide it from the state!"
Tiflos froze for a second.
"What do you mean?"
Nathan laughed hysterically.
"Do you think I keep all these stolen eyes for myself? The Organization collects them! And the rich outside the nation buy them—for power! Every stolen eye becomes fuel for weak-sighted elites!"
Noor's rage exploded.
"You monsters!"
She launched a vicious assault, every phantom hitting with full force. But Nathan suddenly leapt—fast, too fast. Before Noor could react, he grabbed her by the neck and lifted her high.
"Your eyes… are priceless."
"NO!" Tiflos shouted.
In that split second, everything slowed.
He saw the world in waves—
frequencies, lines, fractures, all revealed to him.
He saw the exact point where metal fused with flesh.
The precise location where Nathan's power system connected.
"NOOR! The point at the lower spine! Hit it—NOW!"
With the last spark of her power, Noor launched a final spectral strike.
Tiflos focused every ounce of sonic force onto the same point.
Nathan screamed—a raw, tearing scream—
as his metal plating peeled away, collapsing into flesh.
"Impossible! HOW DID YOU—?"
Tiflos didn't answer.
He descended with his red blade at sonic speed, releasing a whistle so sharp Noor herself winced.
BOOOOOOM—
Nathan crashed to his knees, body reverting to its human form.
Breathing raggedly, he muttered:
"I lost… but Cain won't stop.
The Organization will send others…
They need the eyes…
for the threat… co…ming…"
And he collapsed.
Noor, shaking, pointed toward the fallen captives.
Tiflos hurried to free them.
As they worked, Tiflos whispered:
"If what Nathan said is true… the Organization is rotten. And we don't know if the state is with them or not."
Noor lowered her head, pain filling her voice.
"And maybe… Cain knew all along."
Tiflos clenched his fists.
"Let's ask Saeed—if he wakes up."
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