Chapter 28: Fire, Wind, and Claws

10:46PM.

Night had settled over Century Skyline Villa District, leaving the streets buried in darkness.

In the first basement of Villa 8, Ethan stood before a surveillance monitor. His fingers rested lightly against the body of his assault rifle as he watched several figures moving through the darkness outside.

Daisy stood nearby with her eyes closed. Her Mental Ability had spread across the area, forming an invisible net around every living creature within thirty meters. Emotions surged through her mind in a chaotic mess.

Behind the wall of Villa 2, fifteen hostile presences moved alongside flickering flames. Their emotions were filled with violence, anticipation, and bloodlust. To the west, near Villa 9, ten cold and vicious auras spread through the darkness. The stench of corpses hung heavily in the air. One of those presences was especially disturbing. Beneath its cruelty was a fanatical desire for power.

Daisy opened her eyes.

"The group near Villa 9 just came from Villa 18," she said. "They’re looking for something."

Ethan glanced at the surveillance screen. He remembered the young men and women he had encountered in Villa 18, along with the mess they had left behind. That explained why someone had come searching the place. His gaze shifted to the middle-aged man standing near Villa 9. The man held a bone flute in one hand.

"Max Cole?"

Ethan remembered the group of raiders he had encountered when he went into the city center to rescue Daisy. The middle-aged man looked remarkably similar to the description of the man they had captured as Max’s double. Whether he was the real Max or not, one thing was obvious. They had not come here with peaceful intentions.

Ethan turned away from the monitor and walked toward the corner of the third basement level. He lifted a steel plate from the floor, revealing a dark tunnel beneath it. He had dug the passage earlier that afternoon. It stretched thirty meters underground and connected directly to the basement of Villa 9.

"Stay here and guard the door," he told Debbie and Daisy. "No matter what you hear, don’t open it."

Debbie grabbed his arm. A soft white glow spread from her palm and passed over his back. "The wound hasn’t fully healed yet. Don’t push yourself too hard."

"Don’t worry." Ethan squeezed her hand, then turned and lowered himself into the tunnel.

As he moved through the passage, his Earth Manipulation automatically compressed and hardened the soil and stone around him. The tunnel remained stable as he advanced. A few minutes later, he reached Villa 9.

---

11:01 PM.

Talon crouched in the shadows outside Villa 2. Beside him, Blaze held a Molotov cocktail and glanced toward the fortified walls surrounding Villa 8.

"The bottles are ready," Blaze said. "We’ll throw them all at once."

Talon grinned. "Once the wall catches fire, that bastard won’t have anywhere to hide."

Before he could say anything else, a sharp, piercing screech ripped through the night. A dark figure suddenly plunged from the roof of Villa 2. Its dark-green eyes glowed beneath the moonless sky.

The Winged Zombie had returned.

The wounds on her wings had almost completely healed, and she was even faster than the night before. Her claws cut through the air as she dove toward the nearest man beside Talon. The man barely had time to look up.

Pfft!

Her claws tore through his chest. Blood sprayed across Talon’s face as the man was thrown aside.

Talon wiped the blood from his cheek and roared. "That bastard Ethan set us up! Burn his damn fortress down!"

He hurled his Molotov cocktail toward Villa 8. The others followed. Twenty bottles flew through the darkness and smashed against the alloy wall. A wave of fire erupted along the structure, flames rising nearly three meters into the air.

At the same time, Max stood near Villa 9 and watched the chaos unfold.

"Boss," one of his men whispered, "the ones attacking Villa 8 are led by Talon. He’s a local gang leader from this area."

Max ignored him. He was preparing to play his bone flute and draw the nearby zombies toward the villa district when the Winged Zombie suddenly attacked Talon’s group. His eyes lit up with interest. The creature had clearly awakened a flight-related ability after consuming the Cores of mutated animals. If he could control it, the Winged Zombie would become an incredibly powerful weapon. And if he killed it and obtained its Core, his Zombie Summoning might grow even stronger. Either outcome would benefit him.

Max was about to give an order when several bullets suddenly tore through the air. One round passed dangerously close to his head. He ducked behind a concrete pillar.

"Those idiots are shooting at us?"

He immediately raised his weapon. "Return fire!"

His men opened fire. The two groups exchanged bullets across the twenty-meter gap between the villas. Muzzle flashes illuminated the darkness as both sides fired wildly at one another.

Meanwhile, Ethan watched the scene through a narrow ventilation opening in Villa 9’s basement. A cold smile touched his lips. The two groups had already started fighting each other. He only needed to give them a little push.

He slipped out of the basement and activated his Metal Manipulation. Fifteen meters away, the pistol in one raider’s hand suddenly jammed.

"What the fuck?"

The man looked down at his weapon. A split second later, a sword flew out of the darkness and struck him against the wall. The blade pierced his chest, pinning him in place.

At almost the same moment, Ethan raised one hand. A thin distortion flashed through the air. Spatial Cut. Two of Max’s men suddenly collapsed, clutching their throats. Blood spilled between their fingers.

Ethan moved through the shadows between the villas. With a thought, he manipulated the earth beneath the charging raiders. The ground suddenly collapsed, sending several men tumbling into a shallow trench. Before they could recover, Ethan twisted the barrels of their guns. The metal bent sharply. The next shots fired backward into their own ranks. Screams rose from both sides.

In less than five minutes, both groups had lost nearly half their men.

Talon finally realized something was wrong. "Who the hell is attacking us?"

He turned toward the darkness. That was when the Winged Zombie suddenly stopped tearing into one of his men. Her head snapped toward the shadows. Her dark-green eyes locked onto Ethan. The pain from having her wings torn apart the previous night was still fresh in her mind. The moment she recognized him, she released a furious screech and abandoned her prey. With a powerful flap of her wings, she launched herself toward him.

"It’s you!" Talon spotted Ethan and immediately recognized him. His expression twisted with rage. "You piece of trash! Kill him!"

Max narrowed his eyes. "So it’s you, kid. We really do keep running into each other."

The two men exchanged a quick look. They had been enemies a moment earlier, but Ethan was a far more dangerous target. Without needing to say much, Talon and Max formed a temporary alliance.

Bullets and wind blades flew toward Ethan at the same time. Talon raised his hand, and a wall of fire erupted twenty meters away, cutting off one of Ethan’s escape routes. Blaze moved so quickly that only a series of blurred afterimages remained behind him. Wind blades spun around his body as he charged. Behind them, Max lifted his bone flute to his lips. A low, eerie melody drifted through the night. From the surrounding streets came the first distant roars. The zombies were responding.

Ethan reacted immediately. The ground beneath his feet shook. Three earthen walls surged upward in front of him, blocking the incoming bullets and wind blades. He then turned and sprinted toward Villa 9. As he ran, he swung his hand sideways. A Spatial Cut tore across the ground. A two-meter-wide trench split the earth, forcing Blaze to halt and leap backward. The attack temporarily cut him off.

But the Winged Zombie was not slowed. With another furious screech, she crossed the trench in a single leap. Her claws swept toward the back of Ethan’s neck.

Ethan spun around. His Metal Manipulation activated instantly. An abandoned bicycle frame lying near the roadside twisted violently and flew into his hands. He raised it just as the claws struck.

Clang!

The impact sent a harsh metallic crash through the night. Three deep gouges appeared across the bicycle frame. Ethan used the force of the collision to retreat several steps. At the same time, he manipulated the ground beneath the Winged Zombie. The soil softened and collapsed into a thick, unstable pit. The creature’s legs sank into the earth, slowing her for a moment.

That brief delay was enough for Talon and Max to catch up.

"Die!" Talon shouted. A fireball formed in his palm. Max raised his bone flute, green light swirling deep within his eyes.

Neither of them noticed the change in the Winged Zombie’s gaze. Her dark-green pupils had grown brighter. In her mind, Ethan was her prey. No one else was allowed to touch him. The moment Talon stepped within reach, she turned and lunged at him. Her claws dragged trails of black mist through the air.

"What the hell?"

Talon hurriedly raised both hands and released a burst of fire. The flames collided with the black mist, but the mist spread across his face. He screamed as his skin blistered almost instantly.

Blaze reacted quickly and launched a wind blade at the creature. The attack struck the Winged Zombie, but she twisted aside and countered with one claw. The blow tore through Blaze’s shoulder, leaving a deep wound that exposed white bone.

"Ah!" He staggered backward, clutching the injury.

Max’s expression changed. "Retreat!" He made the decision without hesitation. Although his eyes remained fixed on the Winged Zombie, he understood that fighting her head-on was too risky. The bone flute rose to his lips again. This time the melody was sharp and urgent. Zombies began pouring from the surrounding streets. They rushed toward the Winged Zombie in a roaring tide, forcing her to turn her attention away from Max’s group. The distraction gave them a chance to escape.

Talon no longer cared about Ethan. He covered his blistered face and ran after Blaze, fleeing the villa district.

Ethan took advantage of the opening and rushed into Villa 9’s basement. He activated his Earth Manipulation. The entrance sealed itself in an instant as soil and stone surged upward, forming a solid barrier. A violent crash echoed from behind him. The Winged Zombie had slammed into the newly sealed entrance. The basement shook. Outside, zombies screamed as the creature tore through them.

Ethan didn’t stop. He sprinted through the underground tunnel toward Villa 8. By the time he reached the third basement level, his breathing had grown heavy. He leaned against a steel pillar. The wound on his back had reopened, and blood was already soaking through his shirt.

Debbie rushed toward him. "What happened?" She pressed her glowing palm against his back, and healing energy immediately spread through the wound.

"I’m fine," Ethan said. He looked toward the surveillance monitor. The battlefield outside had fallen strangely quiet.

Daisy stood beside him, her face pale. "The way Max looked at that Winged Zombie..." she murmured. "It was like he wasn’t looking at a living creature. He was looking at something he could consume." She swallowed. "It was terrifying."

Ethan’s expression darkened. Max had awakened an Ability. An Ability that allowed him to control zombies. In a world overrun by the undead, that kind of power was far more dangerous than ordinary strength. If Max managed to control the Winged Zombie, the trouble he caused in the future would be almost impossible to predict.

---

Meanwhile, inside Villa 18, Max sat on the floor while the bone flute rested across his knees. He played a low, soothing melody. The zombies gathered around him gradually quieted. Green light pulsed between his fingers. It was the energy he had extracted from the zombie Cores collected during the battle.

Max stared toward the darkness outside. "That flying zombie..." He licked his lips, greed burning in his eyes. "Once I refine a few more Zombie Essences, I’ll turn you into my weapon."

The men standing behind him watched the green light flickering around his hand. Their throats moved nervously. None of them dared to speak.

Max glanced back at them. Then he raised the bone flute once more. The next melody was sharper and far more urgent. From deep within the villa district, more roars began to rise. The sound grew louder with every passing second. Soon, the ground itself began to tremble.

Back in Villa 8, Daisy suddenly staggered. Her eyes widened in alarm.

"Ethan!"

He turned toward her. "What is it?"

"A huge amount of hunger and violent emotion just appeared underground!" she shouted. "It’s spreading fast!"

Ethan’s expression changed. "Everyone, move." He grabbed his rifle and led the women toward the stairs. "Get to the third floor. Now!"

As they rushed upstairs, the trembling beneath Villa 8 grew stronger.

Something enormous was moving beneath the villa district.

And it was coming closer.