The katana stopped at Shore's throat. The edge kissed his skin lightly.
Sharp enough that he could already feel the sting where it pressed against his jugular. If the blade moved even slightly deeper, it would open his neck instantly.
Shore went completely still.
Every muscle in his body locked into place while his breathing slowed deliberately. His pulse remained controlled despite the danger resting against his throat.
Internally though...
He cursed himself.
He had been careless.
After several sleepless nights intercepting shipments, tracking suspects and investigating Aetherion leads across Mountain Glenn, fatigue had finally started affecting him.
And tonight's confrontation with the Hybrid supplier had drained more focus than he initially realized.
His judgment had dulled and his situational awareness had slipped.
That was unacceptable.
Shore slowly raised his eyes toward the attacker.
She was tall with an athletic build.
Combat trousers tucked into black reinforced boots. Her hands were covered by specialized combat gloves made from some kind of armored tech-wear material extending all the way to her elbows.
The lower half of her face was hidden behind a black cloth mask.
Long blonde hair tied back tightly into a ponytail.
The katana itself looked unusual too. Clearly not decorative but functional. The metal carried faint metallic lines running along the blade like integrated circuitry.
The woman pushed the apartment door shut behind herself using her leg while never removing the blade from Shore's throat.
Click.
The lock engaged. Then her eyes slowly traveled downward. She studied the gauntlet secured around Shore's arm first.
Afterward, her gaze traced the well defines contours of his exposed upper body carefully before drifting lower toward the towel wrapped around his waist.
Currently the only thing preserving his dignity. Her eyes lingered there for a brief second before returning upward again.
Shore remained motionless even as the the woman tilted her head slightly.
"Who are you, and which organization are you from?"
Shore narrowed his eyes. His tired mind rapidly processed possibilities. He did not recognize her. Which immediately eliminated several concerns. None of his old target enemies should have been capable of tracking him here.
Mostly because almost all of them were.... dead.
Which meant only one realistic possibility.
Aetherion.
Given the timing, the surveillance, and the way she infiltrated his apartment directly after tonight's operation, there was an extremely high probability she possessed some connection to the compound.
Supplier? Enforcer? Research affiliate? Internal security? Mercenary?
Too many possibilities and too little information.
The woman pressed the blade slightly deeper against his neck. A thin line of pain spread instantly across his skin. Shore felt warmth trickle downward as blood stained the katana's edge.
"Your silence, will not help you here."
Shore flinched very slightly from the sting.
Not from fear but calculation. If she intended to kill him immediately, she would have already done it. Which meant she wanted information first.
That gave him time and time meant options.
Shore carefully resisted the urge to glance toward his gauntlet. If he could activate the emergency alarm function discreetly enough, LUCID would dispatch backup immediately.
Unfortunately...
That would require movement and right now even breathing too aggressively felt dangerous. He cursed himself again internally.
He had been sloppy.
The woman continued watching him patiently.
Then she tilted her head again.
"You seem to have many thoughts," she observed. "But I do not see your lips flapping to save your life."
Her voice remained oddly composed. Cold, but not emotional.
"I am not going to ask again," she continued. "Who are you and which organization are you from?"
Shore answered slowly.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Her eyes narrowed immediately.
"I would be a fool, if I believed you had no organization backing you," she replied.
The blade shifted slightly against his throat.
"So who are you?"
Her gaze sharpened further.
"Special Forces? KBI?"
Interesting.
The fact she mentioned the KBI specifically meant she was familiar with government investigative divisions.
Shore kept his expression controlled. "What makes you so certain, that I'm not just a police officer?"
The woman stared at him for several seconds.
Then:
"Because no police officer is that competent in hand to hand combat."
Shore remained silent but the implication of her words didn't go over his head. She had clearly been tailing him and... it seemed that she had seen his fight with the Hybrid.
Possibly more.
The question was... how?
How had he not noticed her tailing him?
She continued calmly.
"Your equipment is highly advanced and your movements are trained. You also apparently have access to personnel capable of rapidly cleaning biological incidents."
Her eyes studied him carefully.
"There were no police cruisers or perimeter tape—no officers."
A small pause followed, with the katana still remaining perfectly steady.
"You are not law enforcement. So who are you, and why are you investigating Aetherion?" She asked again.
The moment she said the word, Shore's thoughts sharpened instantly.
Aetherion.
Not Titansblood.
Every distributor and user he had encountered so far only knew the street name. The fact that she knew the actual designation meant her connection ran far deeper than ordinary trafficking channels.
Research level knowledge or possibly operational knowledge. Shore's eyes narrowed further.
"You know its official term..."
"Indeed and it seems my suspicions were correct after all."
The blade eased very slightly.
"Meaning?"
"You are not affiliated with the manufacturing organization."
Shore said nothing.
The blonde woman continued studying him carefully. "You are part of some kind of investigative force working against them."
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Shore's mind churned rapidly beneath his otherwise calm exterior. This encounter might not be entirely disadvantageous after all.
If she believed he opposed the manufacturers, then there was a possibility she did too. Which meant this confrontation could potentially become cooperation instead of assassination.
Potentially.
That did not mean he trusted her.
Not remotely.
For all he knew, this entire exchange could simply be another method of extracting information.
Still...
The fact she had not killed him yet mattered.
Shore slowly exhaled through his nose.
"You broke into my apartment," he said evenly. "Held a sword to my throat and now you sound disappointed that I'm not your enemy."
A faint silence followed.
Then unexpectedly...
The woman gave a tiny snort beneath her mask.
Not amusement exactly.
But close.
"You are surprisingly calm for someone one millimeter away from decapitation."
"Panic seems unproductive in this situation."
"Quite a reasonable answer. You must have truly been trained quite well."
The katana still did not move but Shore's eyes drifted subtly across the room. Distance to the kitchen counter, distance to the couch, her footing, weight distribution and dominant hand.
The way she angled the blade suggested extensive formal training. Likely not self-taught. Her posture remained disciplined too without wasted movement.
Which meant that she was clearly not amateur.
Possibly awakened?
Shore didn't know. Being an unawakened himself, he couldn't really sense her aura if she had any.
If she was an awakened, then she would have to be at Rank 0 category who couldn't yet manifest their stats into the real world.
It was all a maybe. Hard to tell.
However, if she really was an awakened, there was distinct possibility of her being a part of Sleepless. But... Sleepless was resourceful. It wouldn't make sense for them to show up out of nowhere and start questioning an unawakened like him that didn't really belong at that level of power. Shore also didn't think that Sleepless had anyone that was unawakened. And from the looks of it this lady didn't even know what LUCID was.
There was speculation that the existence of Aetherion was one of Sleepless schemes but... from the evidence so far it didn't seem likely. Which was unusual, considering that schemes involving grimm were supposed to be right up their alley.
In any case, that alone was concerning.
The woman's eyes remained locked onto him.
"You still haven't answered my question."
Shore considered his options carefully. Lying completely would likely fail but telling the truth outright was unacceptable. However, he still didn't want to die.
So instead...
He chose the middle ground.
"I investigate dangerous substances and... Aetherion happens to be one of them." Shore said carefully.
The woman watched him closely.
"Government?"
"...Sort of."
"Mercenary?"
"No."
"Then what?"
Shore remained silent again. This time she sighed quietly.
"You are very irritating."
"I've heard that before."
Another brief silence followed.
Then finally... the pressure of the blade against his throat eased slightly but it wasn't removed.
Progress.
The blonde woman studied him for several more seconds before speaking again.
"If you truly are investigating Aetherion," she said quietly, "then we may have a mutual problem."
Shore's eyes sharpened immediately.
There it was.
"Mutual problem, huh?" Shore said carefully. His voice remained calm despite the katana still resting against his throat.
"Enlighten me please, because I'm afraid to say that I'm a little in the dark here."
His eyes flicked briefly toward the blade before returning to her face.
"And since we've apparently established I'm not your enemy... why don't you stow that thing away and let me up?"
The blonde woman stared at him for a second as if contemplating it.
"And risk you calling for backup?" Her eyes narrowed slightly above the cloth mask. "I might be blonde, but I'm no ditz."
Despite the situation, Shore gave a tired grin. "What if I pinky promise?"
"No deal."
"Cruel."
"You'll survive."
Shore exhaled quietly through his nose. The sting at his neck had started becoming irritating.
"Fine," he said. "Then tell me what you know about Aetherion. You clearly have outside information that differs from my own investigation."
The woman remained silent briefly before answering. "There are two things I can tell you."
Her tone shifted slightly more serious. "I've been following you long enough to realize you still don't know where the actual supply chain is."
A cold feeling crept into Shore's spine at those words.
Following him long enough?
That should not have been possible.
Shore had extensive training in infiltration and counter-surveillance. He knew how to identify tails, how to monitor environmental repetition and how to detect lingering observers across operational zones.
Yet somehow... He had noticed nothing. Not a single anomaly. Which either meant exhaustion had damaged his awareness far worse than he realized...
Or this woman was extremely dangerous.
He kept those thoughts internal.
Irrelevant for now.
"Go on," Shore said evenly.
"The people you've been dealing with are bottom feeders," she continued. "Distributors and disposable ones."
Her eyes sharpened slightly.
"The man your Hybrid supplier mentioned, his full name is Thomas Baldwin."
Shore's attention sharpened immediately. "Thomas Baldwin?" he repeated.
"One of the major distributors for the V1 Aetherion product."
Shore instantly caught the phrasing.
V1.
Version One.
Before he could question her further, the blonde woman finally moved the katana away from his throat and stepped backward.
The pressure vanished instantly.
Shore paused for less than half a second, then he attacked. His leg snapped outward toward her supporting knee in a low sweeping kick meant to trip her balance immediately.
But the woman reacted almost casually. Her leg lifted smoothly over the sweep as though she had expected it from the beginning.
Shore's eyes narrowed.
His missed kick transitioned instantly into a rotational breakdance sweep. His other leg whipped upward toward her chin with enough force to crack bone.
The woman caught his ankle one-handed. Just like that. Her grip clamped around his leg with shocking strength.
Then she attempted to throw him. Just that exchange was enough that Shore immediately realized something was wrong. No normal human should have been able to generate that much force one-handed.
Shore twisted midair before impact and hooked his body around her arm instead. His momentum reversed into an arm-bar attempt while he drove downward sharply, losing his towel in the process.
Neither of them acknowledged it. The blonde woman simply lifted him bodily off the ground despite the compromised arm position.
Then slammed him hard into the floor.
BOOM.
Pain rattled through Shore's spine. The katana descended immediately afterward, towards his abdomen. Shore rolled sideways just before the blade pierced the hardwood floor where his chest had been.
The woman ripped the sword free instantly. Shore grabbed his discarded towel while rising and snapped it outward like a whip.
The cloth wrapped around her sword wrist briefly. Shore yanked sharply while stepping inward simultaneously.
The maneuver disrupted her grip just enough and the katana clattered across the apartment floor.
Then the fight truly started.
The blonde woman drove a punch toward Shore's jaw immediately. Shore slipped sideways and countered with an elbow toward her ribs.
She blocked it with her forearm but the impact vibrated painfully through Shore's arm.
The woman's body was too durable.
Way too durable.
Her knee shot upward toward his stomach. Shore caught it partially and redirected her momentum aside before counterpunching toward her throat.
She twisted away narrowly. The woman launched forward again and Shore immediately realized something deeply irritating.
She was physically stronger than him by a ridiculous margin.
Not just slightly but massively. Every blocked strike felt like absorbing impact from compressed steel springs.
Yet at the same time...
She didn't move like an awakened Rank 1.
There was no overwhelming pressure or rune skills. Which meant she occupied some strange middle ground.
Faster and stronger than peak human limits but not fully supernatural.
Shore ducked beneath another strike and countered with three rapid body shots aimed toward nerve clusters beneath her ribs.
This time she grunted softly.
Good.
That confirmed it.
Skill still mattered.
Shore's combat training vastly exceeded hers in technical precision. He could see small inefficiencies in her movement chains and moments where brute force compensated for imperfect transitions.
Unfortunately...
Skill did not magically compensate for being physically overpowered inside a cramped apartment. The blonde woman grabbed Shore's wrist during another exchange and nearly ripped him off balance entirely.
Shore twisted sharply and redirected her momentum into the kitchen counter instead.
CRACK.
Wood splintered. She barely seemed bothered.
"You're quite slippery," she muttered.
"Have to be, when a person like you broke into my apartment with a sword."
"And somehow you're still offended even when I'm trying to work with you."
Shore drove a kick toward her abdomen. She caught his shin again and then tackled him directly into the wall.
BOOM.
The drywall cracked behind Shore's back. Air blasted from his lungs instantly. The blonde woman pinned him hard against the floor before wrapping one arm around his neck.
A chokehold.
Shore immediately tried activating his gauntlet. If he could trigger the emergency beacon...
The woman reacted instantly.
Her legs hooked over both his arms simultaneously in a disturbingly flexible movement that trapped his limbs before his fingers could touch the activation points.
Shore's eyes widened slightly and the choke tightened. Blood flow began dropping rapidly.
"You fool," the blonde woman muttered above him.
Her breathing remained surprisingly steady despite the fight.
"And here I was trying to have an actual conversation with you."
Shore tried wrenching free again but her grip tightened further. Spots of darkness started creeping into the edges of his vision.
The woman sighed softly.
"Anyway," she continued, "before you so rudely interrupted me..."
Her voice sounded increasingly distant. "The Aetherion on the streets is only the first version of the drug. There are other versions out there as well. And I consumed one of them."
Shore's struggling slowed slightly and his vision went black.