SDC 71

Slowly, I dropped my phone and summoned a syringe of Venom—one of the ten I'd prepped for emergency dosing. Probably for situations exactly like this. I pulled off the cap and jabbed it into a tear in my pants, aiming for the skin beneath.

"You know what's crazy about your speech?" I said, my voice low as I pressed down on the plunger. "I actually believe you. You do want the best—for some people, at least. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say... kids?"

Her porcelain-white, too-perfect face twitched ever so slightly.

"I'm guessing the reason she's hoarding children is because her Idle Transfiguration still isn't perfect. How many thousands did she butcher for a handful of rejects and abominations?"

Her eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. "She said, bring you in. She never said anything about keeping you intact. You're not the only one who can use Reverse Cursed Technique."

"So she's working with Cadmus. That's useful intel. I'm sure the Justice League would be very interested. They've been keeping tabs on me since Gotham. You know, Batman is as good as they say he is," I smiled, then winced as the Venom hit my system.

It smashed into my brain first. The world dimmed at the edges, my vision sharpening to razor clarity. Then came the wave—pain and pleasure crashing through my body like a thunderclap. My muscles expanded, contracted, rippled, and burned. I'd never felt more alive—or more breakable. My Cursed Energy roared out of control, flaring in pulses. The sorcerer hadn't noticed. Too blinded by fury.

"Where I'm taking you—" she stepped forward, looming, "no one will ever—"

I swung.

The mace appeared mid-motion, humming with Cursed Energy. Her eyes went wide, too late. The mace connected with her forearm like a freight train. It shattered—but not before she did. The blow launched her sideways, blood spraying.

Kathy's tails came crashing down moments later, but I flowed around them like water. A fresh katana slipped into my grip, cloaked in barely-contained Cursed Energy. Inverse Cloak snapped on the blade. My strike came fast, brutal—two tails fell.

Kathy shrieked, and the hairs on my neck bristled, but it wasn't because of her.

I barely brought my blade up in time to block the sorcerer's kick. The force sent me skidding back, boots gouging lines in the dirt. Inverse Cloak held, but barely—my headache returned with a vengeance, and I winced.

Venom was working too well—my body outpaced my mind, and my emotional control was shot, making controlling Curse Energy a fucking misery, but I held on with raw willpower.

I had to. I couldn't afford to lose focus. Not during a fight like this.

I summoned another mace in my free hand, wrapped it in Inverse Extension, and channeled as much Cursed Energy into it as I could manage.

"Whatever you're on," she said coldly, "it won't help. This only ends one way."

"I disagree," I said, nodding toward her arm—fractured, maybe broken. "You're powerful, but you don't strike me as somebody who spends more time at the gym than absolutely necessary. Bet you prefer meditating and recreating mythological horrors."

There was a flicker of something in her eyes. Almost imperceptible, but I caught it.

I was on the money, but that didn't mean much when my opponent had enough Curse Energy to fill a small lake. That kind of power channeled through Reinforcement gotta be potent—First Grade-level potent. Probably even Special Grade, which meant I had a narrow window to shut this down.

Venom wouldn't last long.

"Well," she hissed, "only one way to find out."

She charged.

Her kick dropped like a guillotine. I parried with my katana, twisted, swung my mace—she slipped back with fluid grace and drove forward with a rising knee. I blocked and vaulted off her leg, buying space from Kathy's twitching, severed tails which came thundering down a beat later.

I summoned a grenade mid-air, swapped it for my mace, and popped the pin with my thumb. As I charged it with Cursed Energy, I leaned just enough to dodge a brutal palm thrust aimed straight for my ribs and lashed out with a rising kick.

She vanished with a burst of speed, reappearing behind me.

Her strike came fast, but I flared Overdrive, twisting and slashing. The blade kissed her shin, drawing blood—but it left me wide open.

Kathy's claw slammed down like a falling mountain. I took the hit, blade raised. Inverse Cloak strained—again—but held. Barely. The katana, however, did more than hold—it carved through Kathy's paw, and with a gut-wrenching pull, I slashed out, splitting it in half.

Kathy yelped, screamed, and raged like a real fox wounded, and I pressed my advantage, flinging the grenade at her face.

The sorcerer blurred, trying to intercept, but too late.

Boom.

Shrapnel shredded the space between us. I staggered, buffeted but unharmed. The sorcerer wasn't as lucky, taking a piece in the shoulder and leg, but Kathy got the most of it, bleeding black from several fresh wounds.

Before either could recover, I surged forward, Curse Energy ripping through my legs, pushing them beyond reason. Something ripped and burned, but I ignored it. I needed to be fast enough.

The distance between my blade and Kathy's neck vanished in an instant, and I swung, unloading everything into that strike.

A geyser of black blood burst from her throat as my blade cleaved through and shattered.

Goddammit. That was the last one.

I rode her fading body to the ground, but a scream erupted behind me before we even hit the ground. I turned—

Too slow.

A strike shattered Inverse Cloak, burst through my side, and flung me across the battlefield. The pain was blinding.

Another attack followed. I twisted away by sheer instinct. The third nearly took my leg, but I forced Cursed Energy through it and rolled to a stop, gasping, bleeding out.

"Fuck me," I muttered, limbs shaking and red with burst vessels and blood guzzling out of me by the bucketload.

Maybe I overestimated just how much of an advantage Venom would give me.

The sorcerer was breathing heavily now, eyes wild with fury.

"Kathy was with me since I was a child!" she screamed.

"And so were my fucking guts," I coughed blood. "But you had no problem taking them."

I tried RCT—nothing. My control was shot to hell. My energy bucked like a wild animal.

The League wasn't coming. Not soon enough. I had to finish this.

I summoned two daggers, each coated in cyanide. They gleamed faintly in the flickering light. All it'd take was a decent cut, and it won't matter if she manages to turn them back on me.

I'd spent months building up a resistance through exposure therapy and RCT. I didn't have immunity—but close. Still, I'd never taken a full dose without RCT active. There was also the small matter of me dying. 

It was anyone's guess how it'd turn out.

Then again. What did I have to lose?

I raised the daggers, filled them with Cursed Energy, and gave her a bloody grin.

"Come on then," I said. "Let's end this."

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