Chapter 111 It’s Alive

Chapter 111: Chapter 112: It’s Alive

Chapter 112: It’s Alive

The instant everyone froze in shock, Butcher Barlow moved. The floor cracked beneath his feet as his massive body launched toward the masked vigilantes with speed no ordinary man his size should have possessed, and the wolf-masked leader barely registered the attack before Barlow’s enormous fist filled his vision. He had no time to react and could only brace for death.

Before the blow landed, Axel Vance cut between them. He shoved the wolf-masked leader away, forced the nearest vigilantes clear of Barlow’s path, and turned back just in time to meet the giant’s strike with his raised arm. The collision produced a heavy boom that cracked the flooring beneath Axel and drove him backward several feet, but he remained standing.

Axel shook the numbness from his arm while his eyes sharpened with interest. Barlow’s strength was far beyond anything a normal human body should produce, which only made Axel more certain that the man was tied directly to one of the cult’s important experiments. The stronger the enhancement, the more useful Barlow might be as a clue to what the cult had been developing.

Surprise briefly crossed Barlow’s pale face when Axel survived the strike head-on. He flexed his massive hands and grinned, saying, "Interesting. The Great Herald was right about you." Axel rotated his shoulder and replied flatly, "Does your Herald spend all day evaluating people he’s never met?"

The mockery immediately darkened Barlow’s expression. "What right does a mortal like you have to speak about the Great Herald that way?" he roared before launching another furious assault, smashing apart furniture, walls, and sections of the floor whenever Axel slipped away from his blows.

Axel quickly stopped trying to match Barlow’s raw strength directly. The giant possessed terrifying power and recovery, but his movements were stiff, direct, and almost completely dependent on overwhelming force. He fought more like an animal suddenly given an oversized body than someone who had actually learned how to use that body properly.

Within seconds, the luxury suite had been torn apart. The wolf-masked leader dragged himself upright near the wall and watched the battle with a growing sense of helplessness, realizing that his people had entered a fight far beyond anything they had prepared for. Their firearms might frighten ordinary criminals, but against Barlow they had already proven almost useless.

The vigilante leader clenched his fists before making the only reasonable decision. "Fall back. Everybody out," he ordered, and although several of his people hesitated in frustration, they finally understood that remaining would only get them killed or force Axel to keep protecting them. One by one, they retreated through the ruined doorway until their footsteps disappeared down the corridor.

With the last unnecessary burden gone, Axel visibly relaxed. He looked back at Barlow and allowed a faint smile to appear as he said, "Good. Now nobody’s going to interrupt us." Barlow paused to catch his breath, his huge chest rising and falling as even his enhanced body showed signs of strain from the repeated bursts of strength.

"They ran, so why didn’t you?" Barlow demanded. "You actually think you can beat me?" Axel looked at him as though the question itself were stupid and replied, "Why would I care about winning or losing against a mass-produced product like you?"

That insult hit harder than anything else Axel had said. Barlow’s face twisted with rage as he roared and charged again, spreading his arms as though he intended to crush Axel through sheer mass. This time Axel did not retreat, because he had already seen enough of Barlow’s movements to understand exactly what kind of opponent he was facing.

The Chainsaw Sword roared to life as Axel moved through the attack. A violent arc of supernatural steel tore across Barlow’s upper body, and the giant stumbled forward before staring down at the empty space where his right arm had been. Bright red blood poured from the severed shoulder, immediately confirming that Barlow was still biologically alive rather than one of the animated corpses Axel had destroyed downstairs.

The pain registered a second later, and Barlow screamed in rage. He spun around and swung wildly with his remaining arm, but Axel had already shifted away and driven the Chainsaw Sword through his torso from behind. The weapon tore through him and emerged from his chest, cutting off the roar in his throat as disbelief finally replaced arrogance.

Barlow looked down at the weapon protruding from his chest as though he could not comprehend what had happened. The man he had mocked as a weak-looking outsider had dismantled him in moments, and Axel tightened his grip as he prepared to finish the fight before the cult-enhanced body could recover. For a brief instant, the outcome appeared settled.

Then something seized Axel’s ankle with enormous force.

He looked down and saw Barlow’s severed arm moving across the floor like a living creature. The detached hand had wrapped itself tightly around his leg, pulling hard enough to make even Axel’s reinforced bones complain beneath the pressure. The limb was not merely twitching from residual nerves; it was deliberately restraining him and coordinating with the main body.

Axel’s brow furrowed as the implication became clear. The cult’s enhancement had progressed beyond regeneration, because Barlow’s separated body parts could retain independent function even after being removed. Whatever process they had used had turned his entire body into something closer to a collection of cooperating organisms than a normal human being.

Barlow burst into triumphant laughter when he saw Axel’s surprise. "Did you think our technology would stay the same forever? Science never stops just because ordinary people can’t imagine what comes next." His tone carried the same fanatical certainty Axel had heard from other cult members who believed their experiments represented some higher future.

The evidence around Axel made it difficult to dismiss the claim entirely. The black-robed soldiers downstairs had been dead bodies turned into obedient tools, Barlow’s living body could recover from wounds that should cripple a normal person, and now even a severed arm remained active. The cult’s experiments were clearly advancing.

While Axel’s movement was restricted, Barlow reached for the Chainsaw Sword still lodged through his torso. The rotating chain shredded into his remaining hand almost immediately, but the giant showed almost no reaction to the damage and simply tightened his ruined grip around the weapon. Rage completely overwhelmed whatever pain response he still possessed.

"Get this thing out of me!" Barlow roared.

With a violent shove from his mangled hand, he forced the still-running Chainsaw Sword out of his own chest.

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