"You want me dead?" Shiva laughed. "Have you considered what happens to you?"
"Ryan Knox... only I know the bomb's password..." Morphine's eyes flicked toward me, her voice hoarse. "If I die, you'll all be buried with me..."
She was right. I couldn't let Morphine die.
If she died, no one would ever know the password to defuse the bomb.
Even if we made an emergency landing and brought in the world's top bomb disposal experts—not that we had the time—even they might not be able to defuse a bomb set by Headquarters.
Everyone would be safe, that is, except Selene.
"Sorry, Shiva, but Morphine can't die. Please let her go."
Shiva slowly turned his head toward me, an expression on his face that was half-smile, half-something else. "Twice now, someone has given me orders. No one else in this world would dare. Have I been too lenient with you?"
"I'm just trying to save a life."
"Save a life? Ha—I'm afraid you're past that point!" Shiva raised his right arm, extended his index finger, and drove it straight toward Morphine's forehead!
In that split second, I was already in front of him. I had no other choice—only by attacking what he must defend could I stop him. I threw a knife-hand strike at his throat!
Shiva instinctively brought his arm up to block, deflecting my strike. I immediately drove my right knee toward his ribs. He could only lean his upper body back to dodge the blow—but that was a feint. In the instant he shifted focus, I yanked Morphine free from his grip and flung her far aside.
"Playing the east while attacking the west—able to change your trajectory even at high speed. Your awakening has deepened again." Shiva wasn't angry. He watched me with an amused smile.
Only when he pointed it out did I notice that my own state had changed. White mist, just like his, was rising from my skin. A strange, burning power surged through my body. Yet paradoxically, my five senses had never been so clear and stable—if I wanted, I could even see individual motes of dust floating in the air.
"It's a remarkable state, one that requires gradual understanding," Shiva's smile held deeper meaning. "But be careful—don't let it consume you."
Morphine croaked from the floor, "Ryan Knox, you've awakened too! Kill him!"
I stared at my own hands, uncertain.
"It seems you still can't bring yourself to be ruthless. Very well, let me provide some guidance." Shiva slowly raised his hand toward Selene, shackled by her iron chain. "How about we use her blood?"
I blanched with horror. Selene's face was filled with terror—not knowing what Shiva was about to do to her.
Shiva flipped open his palm, revealing an iron nail pried from a shipping crate. Pinching it between his middle finger and thumb, he flicked it like a bullet. It whistled through the air and punched straight through Selene's left shoulder, leaving a thumb-sized hole of blood and torn flesh!
Selene groaned, nearly fainting from the sudden, agonizing pain.
Shiva pulled another nail from the crate and held it between his fingers. "No need to wait for the bomb to go off. I'll grant her deliverance right now. This time, I'll aim for her head."
"Stop!" I didn't understand why Shiva was using these methods to provoke me, but he was succeeding.
I lunged at him, fists raining down like a storm, my attack arcs covering his entire body. Shiva blocked while laughing aloud: "Good, good, but not enough—far from enough. Like this, you'll never protect your woman!"
His taunting words enraged me completely. I roared, twisted my hips, and threw a devastating sweep kick at his ribs. But he didn't block—he took it on his ribs, then seized my ankle and threw me to the ground, driving a Spearhand strike straight down!
I couldn't dodge in time. I raised my right arm to shield my throat. A brutal force "nailed" into me. I scrambled backward several steps and saw two bloody holes punched into my right forearm, the muscle torn apart.
But oddly, there was no pain—just a tingling numbness.
"Your awakening isn't deep enough, kid." Shiva tightened his core and coiled his legs, loading them like springs. "Now, here I come!"
He plummeted toward me like a diving hawk, trailing the aura of death. His very presence sent a chill through my body.
Shiva's attacks grew increasingly ferocious, overwhelming my defenses. Just then, Morphine rose from the floor. She hadn't been seriously hurt—she'd already recovered, and was circling silently to Shiva's blind side before driving a fist at his temple!
I thought: Got him!
This strike came from Shiva's absolute blind spot, completely outside his field of vision. Even with superhuman senses, he couldn't defy basic visual anatomy. This punch would definitely connect!
But in the next instant, to my utter disbelief, Shiva's left hand caught Morphine's fist rock-steady—while his right hand simultaneously blocked my own attack.
Impossible! I was thunderstruck. He shouldn't have been able to see that!
Then I noticed something uncanny: Shiva's right pupil was locked on me, while his left pupil was angled toward Morphine!
His left and right eyes could look in different directions simultaneously, creating a seamless, 360-degree field of vision!
Was this... still human?
I staggered back several steps, a chill running through me. Shiva's pupils snapped back into alignment, both focusing on me, and he smiled. "What's wrong? Frightened by the Divine Power?"
Suddenly, I understood why he was called "Shiva."
In legend, Shiva was the Hindu god of destruction. According to the Vedas, Shiva had a grotesque appearance—three eyes, four arms—able to freely observe all directions of the world. In other words, for Shiva, there were no blind spots.
Every minute change in the universe escaped his gaze.
This was Divine Power.
This was "Neo-humans."
This was Headquarters' gift to the world.
Morphine was also terrified by what she'd witnessed. She stumbled back, her voice trembling: "You're not human... you're a monster..."
"Monster?" Shiva laughed softly. "Am I not Headquarters' supreme creation? How is it that you're suddenly repulsed by me?"
Morphine screamed at me: "Kill him! Ryan Knox, kill this monster!"
I stared at him, my heart a tangled mess.
"What the hell are you waiting for?" Morphine slapped her hand against Selene's bomb vest. "I order you—right now, this instant—kill this monster! Otherwise I'll detonate the bomb right now, and we all die together!"
"You see? This is how shamelessly Headquarters operates." Shiva looked at me calmly. "Come on, then. Let's see if you can save everyone."
I had no choice. I roared and charged at Shiva, unleashing my strongest combat technique—the X-formation three-dimensional strike!
My primary fighting discipline was kickboxing, an approach with endlessly varied combinations. It chiefly employed X-pattern crossing attacks, using fist-and-kick combinations to launch all-direction three-dimensional assaults on opponents. Unlike Muay Thai or Sanda, it didn't focus on individual strikes but on combination density.
This was the combat technique with the highest attack density ever created by humanity.
Under my all-direction fist and kick coverage, Shiva displayed his Divine Power once more. His dual pupils not only looked left and right simultaneously, but could even track up and down at the same time! With this superhuman vision bolstering him, he precisely blocked every single one of my strikes. Using only his palms for defense, he emerged completely unscathed!
Every attack I launched—sweeps, punches, knee strikes—was utterly transparent to him.
I had finally touched upon the most terrifying aspect of Shiva: before him, an opponent had no secrets whatsoever.
This vast field of vision—fruit that billions of years of evolution had never allowed any creature to taste—now blazed within his twin pupils.
I had no other option. Since everything could be seen through, I had to win by speed alone! I pushed my physical capabilities to the absolute limit, fists and feet cascading like a hurricane, screaming in my heart: "Faster! Even faster! I need to be faster!"
Amidst this nearly frantic assault, I actually landed a punch on his jaw!
Shiva stepped back several paces, rubbing his somewhat deformed chin, and suddenly laughed. "It's finally getting interesting... Headquarters gave each of its gifts a name. It's hidden inside your body, within your genes, waiting to be awakened. My name is 'Shiva,' and your name is 'Yaksha.'"
"Divine Yaksha."