Ash studied the five exhausted survivors standing before him, especially their soaked clothing and disheveled appearance.
The industrial waterfront was dangerous enough even for someone with his abilities, and he found it difficult to understand why a group of ordinary people would wander through the area in the middle of the night. "How did all of you end up here? This isn't exactly a sightseeing district. There are gangs around these streets, and you just found that out the hard way."
Even Ash remained careful in places like this. His enhanced body had become far tougher than an ordinary person's, but a bullet through the brain or another vital organ could still kill him. Walking alone through an abandoned port after midnight required vigilance, yet these five had somehow arrived looking as if they had crawled straight out of a disaster.
Rennie was still recovering from the robbery, but she answered the young man who saved her. "We were supposed to take a ship to New York for our graduation trip, but something happened onboard. A masked killer appeared and started murdering everyone. Almost everyone died, and the five of us escaped in a small boat."
Ash's expression changed immediately. "A masked killer?" Before Rennie could describe him further, Ash asked, "Huge guy, torn clothes, old yellow hockey mask?"
Rennie, Sean, Julius, Charles, and Colleen all froze. Julius stepped forward suspiciously and stared at Ash. "How do you know that? Do you know that thing?"
Ash did not answer because his attention had already shifted past them.
A tall figure stood beneath the moonlight several yards away. No one had heard him approach, but water dripped steadily from his torn clothes and formed dark spots across the pavement. The old yellowed hockey mask covering his face made his identity impossible to mistake.
Jason Voorhees had reached Manhattan.
Ash silently lifted one hand and pointed behind the group. The five survivors slowly turned, and the moment they saw Jason standing in the street, their expressions changed from confusion to pure terror.
Ash reacted completely differently. He had spent weeks searching New York for supernatural prey and found nothing more dangerous than stray cats, broken pipes, and shipyard machinery, yet now the monster he failed to finish at Crystal Lake had practically walked back into his hands. A delighted smile appeared on his face as he muttered, "The one that got away came back by itself."
Then another thought occurred to him. Was Jason here because he had somehow tracked Ash all the way from Crystal Lake, or had the Friday the 13th story simply continued into another massacre set in Manhattan? Considering that Jason had already fought a psychic teenager in the previous incident, moving the next slaughter to New York did not seem impossible.
If Jason had actually come looking for him, however, that raised an unpleasant question about everyone else from Crystal Lake. Ash made a mental note to contact Tina and Nick later to confirm they were still alive, but this was not the time to worry about distant possibilities.
He lowered the duffel bag onto the pavement and opened it. Ash pulled out his father's silver greatsword and removed the custom scabbard he had commissioned after returning from the road trip.
The sheath had been made specifically for the unusually large weapon, allowing him to carry it more conveniently without exposing the blade.
The Remington remained inside the bag. Shotgun shells could damage Jason, but they had already proven incapable of killing him, so Ash had no intention of wasting ammunition on something he could simply cut apart.
Julius stared at the massive sword and forgot whatever he had been about to say. Rennie grabbed Ash's arm and urgently warned him, "We have to run. You don't understand what that monster can do."
Ash gently removed her hand. "I understand better than you think. You five get away from here."
He raised the greatsword horizontally, and moonlight slid across the silver blade. Only then did the survivors realize that the stranger who rescued Rennie was not some ordinary passerby carrying a suspiciously large gym bag. Ordinary people did not walk around Manhattan after midnight with a two-handed sword almost as tall as they were.
Their dog growled toward Jason, and Julius finally made the decision for everyone. "Come on. Move."
The five survivors retreated toward a row of abandoned cargo containers. They did not run far enough to completely abandon Ash, but they moved out of the street and watched through gaps between the containers while Jason remained focused on the young man standing before him.
For several seconds, Jason and Ash simply stared at one another. Jason gave no visible reaction behind the mask, but one foot shifted backward before he stopped himself, and Ash noticed the movement immediately. "Don't tell me you actually recognize me."
Jason remained silent, which was hardly surprising considering he could not speak. Whatever dignity the infamous Crystal Lake killer possessed apparently prevented him from retreating, and since none of the five survivors hiding nearby formed an obvious isolated couple, he turned his attention fully toward Ash.
Heavy boots splashed through shallow puddles as Jason advanced.
Ash moved first.
He crossed the distance far faster than Jason and swung the greatsword toward his neck. Jason raised one arm to block, but the blade sliced through more than half of his forearm, exposing black fluid and corrupted tissue that immediately began trying to reconnect.
"Still doing that?" Ash asked.
Jason attempted to close the distance, but Ash stepped aside and struck again. The blade opened Jason's shoulder before another cut tore across his thigh, and Ash continued attacking while talking as though they were old acquaintances. "Come on, Jason. We've met before. Showing up without even saying hello is rude."
Jason answered by swinging an empty fist toward his head. Ash leaned away and drove the greatsword through his side. "That doesn't sound like an apology."
Without his machete, Jason was far less dangerous than he had been inside the Crystal Lake cabin. His strength remained monstrous, but Ash was stronger, faster, and vastly more skilled. Heavy Weapon Mastery allowed him to control the enormous blade with surprising precision, while his footwork kept him just outside Jason's grasp.
Every counterattack targeted vulnerable joints. Ash cut into shoulders, elbows, knees, and hips, repeatedly damaging the places Jason needed to move effectively. His regenerative ability kept repairing smaller wounds, but the damage accumulated faster than the undead body could restore itself.
Ash carved another line across Jason's chest, reversed the sword, and drove the edge into his abdomen. "You're really committed to the silent treatment."
Jason lunged again, and Ash planted a boot squarely against his chest. The impact sent the huge killer backward, giving Ash the opening he wanted.
The first flash of silver severed Jason's right arm. The second removed the left, and before his torso could fully collapse, Ash stepped around him and cut through the right leg above the knee. Another controlled swing separated the remaining leg, leaving Jason's mutilated body sprawled across the pavement.
Ash raised the greatsword once more and brought it down across Jason's neck.
The masked head rolled several feet before striking the curb.
For a moment, the street became quiet.
Then Jason's torso twitched.
Ash stopped and stared as one severed hand clawed against the pavement. The legs shifted, the detached arms slowly changed direction, and every piece began crawling back toward the torso as though invisible strings were pulling the body together.
"You have got to be kidding me."
Ash stepped forward and drove the greatsword through Jason's chest. The point smashed through the heart and struck the pavement beneath him, but the mutilated body continued moving. No enhancement entered Ash's body, no new ability appeared, and nothing indicated that Jason had truly died.
Ash pulled the blade free and frowned. "This isn't like Leatherface."
The Bloodthirsty Demon had been directly sustaining Leatherface's corpse. Once the holy greatsword destroyed the demon, the body became ordinary dead flesh and Ash gained Demonic Power from the kill. Jason's supernatural condition was clearly different, because complete dismemberment, decapitation, and destruction of the heart still accomplished nothing.
Ash suddenly remembered the five people watching from behind the containers and turned toward them. "Go call the police and get as far away from here as possible. Don't stop and don't look back."
They remained frozen for several seconds. They had watched the monster who massacred an entire ship get dismantled almost effortlessly, only to see its severed limbs continue crawling across the pavement. Julius finally grabbed Charles and started running, Sean followed with Rennie, and Colleen hurried after them with the dog.
Ash waited until their footsteps disappeared down the street before turning back toward Jason.
The severed limbs were still crawling toward the torso.
Ash planted one boot firmly against Jason's chest and drove the silver greatsword point-first into the pavement beside him. Holy power had failed, and ordinary physical destruction clearly could not finish the job, which left one other ability worth testing.
He slowly raised his left hand.
Black mist began leaking from his palm as corrosive Demonic Power gathered around his fingers and rolled upward like smoke. Ash looked down at Jason's twitching remains while the surrounding air grew colder.
"Holy power doesn't work on you. Fine."
The black energy thickened around his hand.
"Let's try something less holy."