Zaen didn't bother replying, he only turned the blade in his hands into a crowbar. The second it appeared, Nemesis's face lost all color. The terrifying memory of what happened in that alley flashed before him.

Nemesis snarled, his swagger long forgotten. However, he didn't back down. His upgrades were designed specifically to counter Zaen's erratic moves.

After he had seen his teammates explode into bits of flesh, he knew he absolutely had to evade the crowbar, or at least block it. However, Zaen's unpredictability made it difficult to do so.

That's why the upgrades to his hair blades made them act on their own, neutralizing any attacks that Nemesis couldn't see or couldn't react to.

The confidence returned in him when he remembered that.

This won't work, huh?

Zaen clicked his tongue before storing the crowbar in his inventory. He had a feeling the upgrades would be a pain in the ass to deal with. That's why he hoped that seeing the crowbar would trigger some trauma for him.

Unfortunately, that window was too small for Zaen to react.

However, Nemesis's defense wasn't as impregnable as he thought.

With a sigh, Zaen dropped his guard, as if he was giving up.

"Ha! You gave up—"

As soon as the words left Nemesis's mouth, strange cuts and rashes covered his body. At the same time, the hair blades began swinging in random directions, trying to counter invisible attacks.

[Ring of Thorns dealt 186 HP damage to the target.]

[Mark of Aceso healed 3.5 HP.]

Zaen smirked, wondering how long it would be before the hair blades found the source of the trouble?

Before the blades, Nemesis realized it had to be Zaen's doing. He was terrified for a moment, as no matter what, he just couldn't catch up to the blind bastard.

The upgrade was supposed to be his ace, but Zaen had him beat yet again.

[Ring of Thorns dealt 186 HP damage to the target.]

He charged at Zaen, who made no moves to dodge. Just when a blade was about to hit him, there was a loud clank with sparks flying out.

"Get out of the way!" he snarled at Mimi, but that was all he could do with the hair blades rendered useless.

"Ben!" Mimi yelled, kicking Nemesis away.

"On it!"

He took out a bunch of childish stickers and ran after Nemesis. He wasn't fast, but Nemesis was in too much pain to care about the running football headed his way. His focus remained on Zaen, which gave Ben the opportunity to slap the stickers onto the cultist's body.

"Phew!" Ben sighed, wiping the sweat off his forehead. "And you're done."

The next moment, Nemesis froze in place, unable to move a muscle.

"Slayer Accessory: 008, Himastra (replica). Cho Family specialty," Ben smugly said, fixing his suit, but the black and white suit only made him look like an overfed penguin.

Nemesis wanted to yell for backup, only for his vision to tilt upside down. Everything was falling before him.

No… they're not falling… I am…

The thoughts left his mind as his severed head fell to the ground. Mimi swung her blade, removing his filthy blood from her sword.

"Sheesh…" Ben mumbled, looking away. "This sight will never not be terrifying."

"Seal him away," Mimi instructed Ben. "Those hair blades of his would prove useful if the research department managed to replicate them as well."

"On it, sis!"

Ben took out a massive urn from his seemingly infinite pocket, and Nemesis's corpse was gobbled up by it.

Zaen looked surprised by it, since to him it seemed even Ben had an inventory just like him.

"And so he remained useless till the very end…" a voice called out.

Everyone's focus immediately turned to the woman dressed in the cult's cloak. A man, also in robes, towered over her, furiously jotting down every word the woman spoke.

The woman looked at the spot where Nemesis's corpse had been a moment ago, before looking at Mimi and Ben.

"The Chos… It's a pleasure seeing your kind here."

"Your kind? Aren't we all human?" Hina scoffed from the side.

"Human? Perhaps I am, but they," the woman pointed at the Cho siblings. "They are far from human."

"Do normal people go around collecting corpses to experiment on? Do they harm the living with their strange experiments? Or do they…" She continued, slowly lifting the hood, revealing her scarred face. "Try to kill their own kin just to replicate their 'ability'."

Zaen didn't react because he couldn't see the woman's face, but Hina let out a loud gasp. Apart from the scars, the woman's face was an exact copy of Mimi's.

"What's wrong?" Zaen asked Hina.

"T-That woman… she looks just like Mimi."

Only after Hina mentioned it, Zaen realized their silhouettes looked eerily similar.

It was difficult to explain, but in his vision, no two people had similar silhouettes, much like fingerprints. That's how he was about to tell them apart.

However, the moment the cult woman took off her hoodie, her silhouette changed, matching Mimi's silhouette as if she were syncing with her.

"You!" Ben gritted his teeth. "How dare you show your face—hm!!!"

"You're too loud, cousin," the woman said emotionlessly as a strange goo shot out of her hands, sealing Ben's mouth shut.

Ben's eyes widened. He clawed at his face, fingers digging into the slick, rubbery substance, but the more he struggled, the deeper it went into his mouth.

A muffled sound escaped his throat as he tried to inhale, as the goo blocked his nostrils on top of his mouth. His hands trembled as he pulled, tore, and scraped, smearing the goo across his skin, but no matter how hard he struggled, it refused to come off.

Seconds later, his eyes rolled into his head before he collapsed. His body went limp, but, surprisingly, he wasn't dead.

"Surprised why I didn't kill him?" the woman smiled, staring at Mimi. "It wouldn't make sense to kill my brother's present, would it?"

With that, she walked over to Ben, caressing his face. "Your loving grandfather skinned my brother alive. It's only right for you to pay for his mistakes… right?"

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