As Translucent’s fist struck him, Duplication began to activate.
Detected replicable target: Translucent.
Available abilities:
[1.
Super Physique LV2]
[2.
Invisibility LV3]
[3.
Carbon Skin LV5]
“Choose Carbon Skin,” Ian silently thought.
[Duplication initiated: 1%, estimated time: 24 hours]
Just as Ian began the duplication process, Translucent’s fist arrived—thud, thud, thud.
Three consecutive punches.
One struck Ian’s ribs, another slammed into his lower back, and the last was a hook aimed at his chin.
Ian was forced back several steps, the steel pipe in his hand clattering to the ground.
His back hit the wall, shaking dust loose from the shelves.
“Is that all you’ve got?”
Translucent’s mocking laugh echoed through the air.
“Still talking tough.”
The next punch came faster, aimed straight at his face.
The rush of air triggered Ian’s LV1 Super Senses.
Though he still couldn’t see his opponent, he heard the direction of the incoming fist.
He dodged to the side and lunged forward, throwing a right punch toward the source of the sound.
His fist connected with something hard and smooth, like striking bulletproof glass.
The recoil shot back through his knuckles, leaving his fingers numb.
Translucent staggered back half a step, but his Carbon Skin remained unmarked.
“You can’t hurt me, kid.” Translucent’s voice drifted through the store, shifting left and right.
“I’m in The Seven.
And you’re just trash.”
Ian shook out his hand.
He scanned his surroundings—the counter, the shelves, the shattered glass on the floor—until his gaze settled on something in the corner of the counter.
A bottle of water.
A 500ml plastic bottle, unopened, likely left by Hughie for himself.
Ian turned and lunged for the counter, grabbing the bottle, unscrewing the cap, and wildly splashing water in every direction.
Translucent stood two meters in front of the counter and was drenched.
Droplets clung to his Carbon Skin, outlining a blurred human silhouette—head, shoulders, chest, arms—like a sketch drawn in transparent ink, now traced by water. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
“Fuck!” Translucent looked down at the water droplets clinging to him and cursed.
Ian tossed the empty bottle aside, letting it roll across the floor.
He stared at the blurred silhouette and rolled his shoulders.
“Now I can see you.”
He charged forward.
The first punch landed on the watery outline of the abdomen.
Translucent tried to dodge, but Ian’s LV3 Super Physique granted speed and strength far beyond an ordinary person—even surpassing Translucent, a Supe whose enhancements were only skin-deep.
The punch connected solidly, doubling Translucent over as water droplets sprayed from the impact.
He crashed into a shelf behind him, deforming it and sending several monitors tumbling to the floor, their screens shattering.
“You motherf—” Translucent barely straightened up before Ian’s second punch arrived.
This time, it was a wide hook aimed at the watery outline of his head.
Translucent raised his arm to block, scattering the droplets on his forearm, though the silhouette remained.
Ian’s fist struck his forearm, sending a numbing shock through Translucent’s entire arm.
Ian was like a pile driver just starting up, throwing punch after punch at the watery silhouette’s torso and head.
Translucent was driven back step by step, retreating from the counter.
Back to the shelves, then back to the wall.
He tried to fight back, but his invisibility advantage was gone; Ian could see his movements clearly.
Translucent’s fist swung toward him, and Ian tilted his head to dodge, following up with a knee strike to his stomach.
Translucent grunted, his back slamming into the wall, causing a poster to shake loose and fall.
“You can’t hurt me!” Translucent roared, panic creeping into his voice for the first time.
“I have Carbon Skin!
I’m invulnerable!
A piece of trash like you—”
“I know,” Ian said.
He grabbed Translucent’s wrist—the texture felt like gripping a smooth, hard stone.
With a forceful twist, he wrenched Translucent’s entire arm behind his back, drove a knee into his lower spine, and pinned him against the wall.
“That’s why I’m not planning to beat you to death with my fists.”
He freed his other hand, wrapped it around Translucent’s neck, and prepared to apply a rear naked choke.
His arm tightened around the trachea—no matter how hard the Carbon Skin was, suffocation didn’t require breaking through defenses, just time and pressure.
Butcher and Frenchie couldn’t do it because they weren’t strong enough and didn’t dare get close to Translucent.
But now, with someone stronger than Translucent himself, it was possible.
Translucent began to struggle.
He wasn’t as strong as Ian, but his Carbon Skin was too slippery, like an oiled fish.
He thrashed wildly, slamming his head backward into Ian’s nose.
Translucent’s struggles began to weaken, beads of water gathering on his neck like a transparent necklace.
Just then, the roar of an engine came from outside.
It was the growl of a diesel engine.
The screech of tires scraping against the asphalt grew louder, like a runaway beast charging down the street.
Ian’s ears pinpointed the source of the sound.
Straight ahead—the roll-up door.
He released Translucent and leaped backward several steps.
BOOM!!
A black car smashed through the roll-up door, tearing the metal panel apart like tinfoil, sending fragments flying everywhere.
Translucent had just gotten to his feet and hadn’t even registered what was happening before the front of the car slammed into him.
THUD.
Translucent’s body flew backward like a baseball hit by a bat, soaring several meters before crashing heavily into the load-bearing wall at the back of the store.
Several rows of shelves were knocked over by the impact, water droplets scattering across the floor from his body, his human outline now broken and incomplete.
The engine died.
The smell of diesel and burnt rubber filled the store.
The car door opened, and a man stepped out.
He was burly, built like a bulldog chained to a post.
A black trench coat hung past his knees.
Butcher stood in the beam of the headlights, squinting as he scanned the interior.
His gaze fell on Hughie lying on the ground, then on Ian standing by the wall, and finally on the dripping, half-visible translucent figure in the corner.
A faint, almost-smirk tugged at the corner of Butcher’s mouth.
“Oi,” he said, “sorry about the mess, but looks like I’m just in time.”
“You couldn’t have timed it better,” Ian replied.
“Two minutes later, and that transparent bastard would’ve been on the ground.”
Butcher turned his head, looking directly at Ian.
One eyebrow lifted slightly, his scrutinizing gaze like two hooks trying to peel Ian open from the inside out.
He offered a bland, unreadable smile.
“Apologies.
So tell me, who the hell are you?”
“Let’s deal with Translucent first.”
Ian didn’t wait for his reply, turning and charging straight toward Translucent.
Translucent was still plastered against the wall, most of the water droplets on his Carbon Skin having been shaken off by Butcher’s earlier collision—only a few remained clinging to his shoulders and waist.
Butcher chuckled, glancing at Hughie still lying on the ground.
He retrieved a crowbar from the car and gestured toward Ian’s retreating figure.
“What an impatient one.
But I like it.”