Chapter 59: Bottle And Fist

Golden light washed across the salvage yard, burning every useful shadow beneath Hancock while the surrounding cameras adjusted their lenses.

Leo kept moving between container rows, feeling the hero’s pressure following him like sunlight focused through a merciless lens.

[ Survival Timer: 01 Minute 56 Seconds ]

"Kage secured the fragment, but Association squads are entering through the eastern road," Sierra reported.

"Let them enter, because Hancock needs witnesses when his employers try changing the story afterward," Leo replied while sprinting.

Hancock descended without touching the ground, carrying a sphere of radiance that erased shade wherever his gaze settled.

"You wanted me sober, kid, so congratulations on receiving the worst possible version of your request," the hero said.

He swept one glowing hand sideways, sending a pressure wall through the containers and peeling their doors away from every frame.

Leo vaulted over the wave, hooking his blade around a cable and swinging underneath again.

The third wave climbed with him, forcing Leo to release early and twist between spinning panels above the wreckage.

[ Apex Movement Analysis: 37% ]

"Your system is studying him while he studies your routes, and only one of you can afford mistakes," Sierra warned.

"Then keep counting his breathing pattern, because the bottle slowed his judgment before it slowed his fists," Leo answered.

Hancock appeared beside him during the landing, smiling without humor while drawing his fist back through gathering golden fire.

Leo planted the Null Razor against a wall, letting gravity wrench him beyond the strike.

The fist missed his cheek by two fingers, yet the passing heat blistered his skin and shattered nearby camera windows.

[ Survival Timer: 01 Minute 31 Seconds ]

"That trick was almost clever enough to impress me, although clever bones still break like ordinary ones," Hancock said.

"You keep describing broken bones because speaking about your broken conscience takes more courage than punching downward," Leo replied.

The watching workers fell silent, and several recovery agents lowered their weapons while pretending to examine the scattered cargo.

Hancock’s expression tightened, revealing the man beneath his uniform before radiance swallowed everything around him.

He clapped both hands together, releasing a circular shockwave that raced through every remaining pocket of darkness around Leo.

Leo ran toward the expanding wall instead of retreating, using its rising edge like a ramp beneath his feet.

He launched over Hancock’s shoulder and dragged the Null Razor through the hero’s pressure field during the crossing.

Gravity bent around the blade, opening a narrow seam that closed before Leo could reach the body inside.

[ Null Razor Gravity Matrix: Barrier Resistance Mapped ]

"You nearly touched me, making you gifted or magnificently determined to die young," Hancock observed.

"I crossed your barrier because part of you wanted proof that somebody could still reach the man inside," Leo said.

Hancock turned slowly, allowing Leo several precious breaths while cameras transmitted their tense exchange across the entire district.

"My handlers told me you manipulate people, but they forgot mentioning how annoyingly accurate your guesses become," he replied.

The lead recovery agent raised his radio and ordered Hancock to end the engagement before the broadcast damaged Association confidence.

Hancock crushed the radio beneath his heel, watching Leo while the timer continued falling steadily.

[ Survival Timer: 00 Minutes 58 Seconds ]

"Nobody tells me when to finish my drink, my fight, or another man’s final mistake," the hero said calmly.

He blurred forward with renewed speed, throwing six measured strikes that sealed every route Leo previously used for escape.

Leo leaned beneath the first, pivoted around the second, and let the third tear his damaged coat without touching skin.

The fourth caught his blade, sending a numbing vibration through both arms while pushing him toward the fifth strike.

His shadow opened beneath one foot, letting him drop sideways as the fifth and sixth punches collided above him.

Their collision flattened scrap, giving Leo moving darkness beneath debris thrown across the surrounding yard.

[ Spatial Phase-Glance Synchronization: 72% ]

He followed that darkness around Hancock, sensing brief distortions where the hero’s aura responded slower than his physical movement.

"I found your rhythm, and every drunken correction leaves the same opening beneath your right shoulder," Leo said.

"Finding an opening and surviving long enough to use it are very different accomplishments," Hancock answered while turning.

The hero drove his aura outward, lifting every loose object and holding the entire yard beneath a golden suspension field.

With nothing falling, shadows shrank beneath debris while Leo stood exposed beside the ruined transport.

[ Survival Timer: 00 Minutes 27 Seconds ]

"Twenty-seven seconds remain, but his field is blocking the sewer route and compressing your shadow access," Sierra said.

"Then I stop searching for an exit and give him one reason to hesitate," Leo answered, raising Phase-Edge.

Hancock charged, crossing the suspended yard while his fist gathered enough radiance to bleach every shadow across the yard.

Leo waited through every warning pulse, watching the right shoulder and counting the uneven breaths beneath Hancock’s burning aura.

Hancock corrected his balance during the final breath, opening the narrow seam Leo mapped earlier.

Leo triggered Phase-Edge, sliding through the barrier while twisting safely beyond the fist that passed beside his ribs.

The Null Razor kissed Hancock’s cheek, drawing one golden bead that shone brighter than the field surrounding them.

Every camera zoomed closer as Hancock touched the blood, staring at his fingers with sudden and unmistakable wonder.

[ Survival Timer: 00 Minutes 00 Seconds ]

[ Quest Completed: The Titan’s Slipstream ]

[ Reward: 40,000 EXP ]

[ Banked Crisis EXP Released: +100,000 ]

[ LEVEL UP: Level 28 -> Level 29 ]

[ LEVEL UP: Level 29 -> Level 30 ]

[ Trait Unlocked: Apex Evasion ]

[ Effect: Sub-Second Spatial Reflexes ]

[ Bounty Auto-Wired: +50,000 Credits ]

[ New Balance: 1,053,500 Credits ]

New awareness spread through Leo’s nerves, revealing tiny spatial shifts before Hancock’s powerful muscles completed their next movement.

Hancock swung from instinct, but Leo turned through the opening and vanished beneath his elbow.

"Three minutes ended, and your handlers never told you an alien fleet is following the object inside me," Leo said.

He opened the Shadow Domain across the yard, swallowing cameras, agents, and suspended wreckage inside rolling black mist.

Kage surfaced beside him carrying the fragment, while Sierra marked an unlocked drainage shaft beneath the western fence.

"The black box contains a repeating stellar coordinate and something counting downward, so your warning is probably generous," Sierra reported.

Leo moved toward the shaft, but Hancock’s voice rolled through darkness without another attack following.

"If you are lying, I will find you after the hangover, and next time three minutes will not save you," Hancock called.

"When you learn I spoke truth, find the people who kept pouring drinks while selling your strength," Leo answered.

He dropped into the drainage shaft with Kage, closing the Shadow Domain before the Association squads surrounded Hancock.

Reporters demanded explanations while the hero remained beside the transport, holding golden blood against his thumb like forgotten proof.

"The Ghost wounded you live, so does the Association call him minor?" a reporter shouted.

Hancock looked toward the open sky above District Nine, ignoring agents who signaled desperately from beyond the cameras.

"The Ghost is the only fighter in this city who remembered to keep watching the sky," Hancock answered.