Death Is Always A Deadly Beam

"You've really lost your mind, huh?" he spat, his voice dripping with disdain. "So be it. I tried being nice... but you're dead now. DON'T WORRY, I'LL PUT YOU OUT OF YOUR MISERY SOON ENOUGH. Sorry for putting you through this... IS WHAT THE OLD ME WOULD'VE SAID!" His voice erupted into a shout as he broke into a full sprint, his intent clear. He was gonna attempt to kill me with his bare hands.

"You talk too much." I stayed rooted in place, calm as he barreled toward me, my stillness a taunt in itself.

'His movements… they've slowed down,' I observed inwardly, my eyes narrowing as I tracked his approach. It didn't make sense.

It reminded me of that moment falling from my apartment—how time seemed to drag, each detail slowed and clear.

"Since your cyberware is currently superior, he cannot fight on the same wavelength as you. His model... is far from adequate. Earth's technology really is underdeveloped," a familiar female voice explained, her tone clinical and detached.

Cyberware? Model? What system was she talking about? Questions swirled in my mind, but this wasn't the time for answers.

All I knew was that he was moving slowly. And I wasn't.

I waited for him to breach my personal space. His fist slowly charged up and swung forward, aiming straight for my head.

Whoosh!

I tracked his arm's movement with ease and sidestepped to the left.

'I dodged it. That was way too easy.'

A grin tugged at my lips. 'Now the fun part begins.'

Without any real form or technique, I wounded up a punch of my own.

In a flash, my left hook connected. The force unleashed from my arm was inhumanly strong, smashing into the zyber soldier's jaw and shattering it on impact.

The moment my fist made contact, time snapped back to normal.

A loud thud echoed as the zyber-soldier's body was launched ten meters away, hitting the road in a heap.

"Lesson one: Cyber Speed Enhancement," the woman's voice chimed in again. "While it feels like you're slowing down time, it's merely your brain adapting to your enhanced speed. By normal standards, this should be impossible—your skin would peel off mid-enhancement. However, your current cyberware modifies the fibers of your body, allowing this to happen. I should also add that currently, you are capable of lifting around ten thousand pounds."

I rolled my gaze of valor to each side, scanning for the voice's source. "Good to know," I spoke before locking eyes on the dazed soldier struggling to move. My focus sharpened. "But right now, I'm just worried about one thing—killing him."

As I made the decision to speed up again, the world slowed down once more.

The control was mine. That thought alone was a rush, but what thrilled me more was the look on his face.

Lost. Weak. Staring at me with pure disbelief.

He was probably thinking, "A human? How could a mere human without any cyberware defeat me? Was I wrong?"

People like that—I hated them.

And I was about to show him just how much I did.

In one second.

I prepped another strike, and in a blink, I closed the 20-meter gap between us.

Appearing at his side, he was sprawled on the ground. Using all my might while charging up, I brought my fist down in a one-handed smash.

Wet, sickening splush sounds splashed in the proximity. My fist drove deeper into his face. The crunch of metal and flesh gave up under the pressure, collapsing into a grotesque mess. His eyes, his nose—his entire face—were unrecognizable, smashed into something that looked more like a bowl of salsa, if the ingredients were blood, skin, and shattered bone.

My fist sank as deep as it could, stopping at the hard back of his skull. I tore it out in one swift motion. Coated in blood and fragments, I inspected my muscular arm in awe. 

Meanwhile, his body twitched on the ground, seizing in its final, helpless moments.

There's no way he was conscious, but if he was, his ears were left intact.

"You were never better than anyone. None of us are," I said, letting the words drip with mock wisdom, as if I was delivering some profound sermon.

Then… my body returned to normal. But that wasn't what held my focus.

I had killed a man. For the first time in my life, I ended someone's existence. Sure, I could justify it. I wasn't wrong to do it.

But still… I had taken a life.

So why did it feel so good?

My brain lit up like fireworks, every nerve firing as though I'd taken some kind of drug. The hit was overwhelming, addictive even.

And when the power faded, leaving me back in my normal state, I felt something else—a vast greed, a craving.

That's when the addiction began.

Then her voice came again. The woman I couldn't see, but whose words always found me.

"Congratulations on your first confirmed kill," she said, calm and deliberate. "His heart has stopped beating, and you've unlocked level one of the Ordinarily Original Cyber-Implant System."