Bad Born Blood-Chapter 146

Chapter 146

Srrrk.

The Emperor’s Shadow moved. He pulled back his hood and took off his coat. As the heavy garment fell to the floor, his form was revealed.

Kiiing, kiing.

A raw mechanical sound spread through the silence. It felt as if I was facing a fully armored prosthetic body.

"You..."

I couldn’t finish my sentence.

The Shadow’s body didn’t belong to any known category, neither a fully armored prosthetic nor a full-body prosthetic. Still, he was too human-like to be considered a fully armored prosthetic. But at the same time, he wasn’t human enough to be called a full-body prosthetic either.

"I think I get why you’re stuttering. Do you even recognize yourself as human?"

A full-body prosthetic mimics every minor detail of human flesh. That’s the only way we can maintain our sense of self as humans.

But the Shadow looked like a scaled-down version of a fully armored prosthetic. The exoskeleton was exposed without any artificial skin, making him appear eerie. Even the exoskeleton itself resembled an android’s frame more than a human’s bones.

Chzzzt, chzzzzk.

The Shadow had no mouth. The voice I had heard until now had come from a speaker embedded in his face.

‘He doesn’t have a digestive system, just like a fully armored prosthetic.’

His prosthetic body lacked any means of expressing emotions, eating, or excreting—any human-like functions. Over time, his brain must have adapted to this inhuman body, gradually losing its humanity piece by piece.

The wide range of emotions, joys, and even pain that humans experience—one by one, he would have ceased to feel them, until eventually, he forgot them altogether.

All that remained for his brain was a single function: combat cognition. A "combat brain," leaving nothing but that sole purpose behind.

‘The reason his language skills have deteriorated is...’

Because the majority of his brain’s capacity was allocated to combat. That was how our neural structure worked. If one function was enhanced beyond normal, another would inevitably decline.

The name Shadow Imperial Guard wasn’t inaccurate.

"You were an Imperial Guard once, weren’t you?"

The ultimate fate of an Imperial Guard consumed by a Legion—that was what the Emperor’s Shadow had become.

Kirik!

The Shadow drew his weapon without a word. It was a long, curved greatsword.

"Hah... haha. With such a diluted sense of self, you’d never disobey an order. And your combat skills must be exceptional! Truly magnificent! Damn it all!"

A bitter laugh escaped me.

The Legion wasn’t the final stage of an Imperial Guard’s downfall. The real nightmare was something else entirely—a being born as a human but turned into a machine.

The Shadow didn’t react to my lament. He had long since lost any concept of emotional exchange with others. With his ability to feel stripped away, nothing I said would elicit a response from him.

Of course, it was impossible for them to operate publicly. If they communicated with others, their humanity might resurface. They were tools, only to be taken out and used when necessary.

‘If humanity is an obstacle, then simply remove humanity.’

What a brilliant solution. Truly admirable. I almost wanted to track down the bastard who came up with this idea and bash his skull in.

But I couldn’t deny that it was effective.

The Shadows were the strongest combat unit in the Empire. They were the embodiment of the perfect soldier the Empire sought to create. Even the fully armored prosthetic Legions were nothing more than an intermediate step.

‘We undergo full-body prosthetic procedures gradually. It starts with the limbs, engraving the use of prosthetics into the brain.’

The fully armored prosthetic Legions followed the same principle. A well-trained Imperial Guard’s brain would be installed into a combat machine, slowly degrading their human functions over time.

And now, the ultimate combat machine, perfected through that process, stood before my eyes.

Step. Step.

The Shadow walked toward me.

Kick, kirik.

He lowered his stance. Then, a forceful shockwave exploded beneath his feet. It was an instantaneous leap, using the blast for propulsion.

‘Ah.’

I couldn’t even scream. The Shadow had already closed the distance.

‘What... is this monster?’

Even my intuition, sharpened through Akies Victima, was struggling to comprehend.

He was neither human nor machine. In combat, he was a hybrid that took only the best traits of both. For a moment, my mind went completely blank. It was the first time since training in Akies Victima that I had experienced such a lapse in thought.

Danger. His attack would go beyond my expectations and perception.

Whoosh!

His first strike was simple. He swung his greatsword in a wide horizontal arc, aiming to cleave me in half.

I leaped back. Despite the size of the blade, it moved at an incredible speed, cutting through the air with enough force for me to feel the vibrations.

This wouldn’t be the end of it. An unpredictable attack would follow. I focused, ready to respond to every possible variable.

Kirik, kick!

His wrist and elbow rotated. Then, his arm and shoulder twisted in an unnatural, impossible direction. His movements defied the natural biomechanics of the human body. His joints spun freely in all directions, unrestricted.

A normal human’s joints would have reached their movement limits, but his circular joints smoothly redirected the force of his strikes.

‘This is cheating!’

Most fights had an inherent set of rules. If an attack failed, it created an opening, forcing the attacker to defend.

But his attacks had no openings. The rotation of his circular joints allowed him to maintain acceleration and power, chaining relentless slashes that continued to chase me down.

I couldn’t keep dodging forever.

Ka-ang!

Gripping Crucis in a reverse hold, I blocked the greatsword aiming for my lower body. Overpowered by sheer force, I was sent flying toward a pillar.

Kick, bang!

The Shadow twisted his body sharply and used another instantaneous leap to pursue me. At some point, his legs had bent into the form of a feline beast. His speed as he closed in was terrifying.

I tried to strategize mid-flight. There wasn’t much time to think.

In terms of combat ability alone, he surpassed me in every aspect. Even my much-vaunted ability to calculate variables fell short when restricted to battle scenarios.

‘Power gained at the cost of abandoning humanity.’

Fine. I had to acknowledge it.

‘He’s overwhelming.’

A normal brain couldn’t properly control a prosthetic body that deviated from human biomechanics. Even if one managed to use it, efficiency would drop significantly, making such modifications undesirable.

The more advanced the prosthetic’s output and performance, the more beneficial it was to maintain a human form for optimal responsiveness. That was why high-ranking soldiers had prosthetics resembling human limbs, while lower-class citizens and foot soldiers often resorted to unnatural modifications.

‘But the Shadows can maintain responsiveness even with inhuman, unnatural prosthetics.’

They could afford to modify themselves purely for efficiency. The rotating joints and beast-like legs were just some of those modifications.

Boom!

Lost in thought, I crashed into the pillar. Bits of stone crumbled and fell around me.

‘Well, damn. I didn’t expect to use this here, but...’

I leaned against the pillar, catching my breath. Resilience in the face of adversity was one of my strengths.

‘A plan is just a plan.’

I could count on one hand the number of times things had gone according to my plans. If I had despaired each time, I’d have died long ago.

I’d thought about it many times before, but I hadn’t come this far out of desperation or a death wish.

Honestly, I wasn’t even sure why I was fighting so desperately. I had made several irrational decisions. If I were the person I used to be, those careless choices would have already gotten me killed.

But now, I had grown strong enough to survive, even when making irrational choices. That was something to be proud of.

‘...And because of those choices, I have people by my side.’

If I had been nothing more than a rigid combat machine, if I had been a selfish man who prioritized only my own survival...

I wouldn’t have met Giselle. I wouldn’t have seen Grace’s smile. I wouldn’t have received Gilda’s help or learned about Gabriel’s past. My relationship with Ilay would have ended as nothing more than childhood camaraderie.

‘Obeying without resisting the great flow.’

‘Letting Hemillas die in agony.’

‘Living as a member of the Empire while carrying its dark secrets.’

But I don’t want to live like that. One shameful act in my life was enough—crossdressing once was plenty.

I pulled out the injector gun and pressed it to my temple. To anyone watching, it would look like I was about to commit suicide. In a way, they wouldn’t be wrong.

Click.

I pulled the trigger.

Thunk!

A thick needle shot out, piercing straight through my skull.

Squish.

The pressurized liquid was forcefully injected into my brain.

Drip.

A strange fluid leaked from my ears and nose. Not blood—something clear. The technical term for it was cerebrospinal fluid. I chose not to dwell on why it was already flowing out. Knowing wouldn’t change anything.

The liquid entering my brain was a synthetic drug developed exclusively by Jin Gaw. To put it simply, it chemically altered my cerebrospinal fluid, turning it into a coolant. It also contained a few additional components that induced a heightened state of awareness.

The reason human focus and thought have limits is simple: the brain, acting as a biological computer, can’t withstand excessive heat. Once it reaches 42 degrees Celsius, it starts to scream. At 43 degrees, physical destruction begins. Compared to machines, human heat resistance is pitiful.

But if cerebrospinal fluid could be chemically modified into a coolant to regulate overheating, then brain function could be pushed even further.

However, there’s a key difference between a human brain and a computer—biological tissue suffers damage at low temperatures as well. From this point on, if I stop concentrating or thinking, my brain will begin to deteriorate from the cold. If I fall asleep or lose consciousness while the drug is active, I’ll die instantly.

...From this moment forward, I’m stepping into a realm no one else has experienced. Not even Kinuan would know what lies beyond this point.

Clatter.

The empty injector gun fell to the floor.

Kiiiiiii...

And with that, the world became utterly silent. It felt as if time had stopped.

Wuuuuuuung.

Sounds were distorted.

I saw the Shadow lunging at me. His greatsword, aimed at my neck, was closing in at an impossibly slow pace.

I had more than enough time to think about my next move. The world, which had once flowed in real-time, now felt like an extended turn-based board game where I could deliberate every decision.

But just because my thoughts had accelerated didn’t mean my body could move any faster. That was why I hadn’t considered using the injector gun in my fight against Iskan. Back then, even if I had taken the shot, my brain and body wouldn’t have been able to withstand it—I would have died instantly.

Even after indulging in all these stray thoughts, I still had plenty of room for contemplation.

‘My mind is terrifyingly clear.’

It must feel something like pulling my brain out of my skull and washing it in ice water. Not that I’d ever actually try it.

‘How severe will the consequences be?’

The world was cruel. Especially to me. Some people were born with everything in their grasp. But I had always been forced to lose something in order to gain something else.

That was enough sentimentality for now.

Time to move.

KAAAAANG!

I deflected the greatsword effortlessly with Crucis. With my heightened focus, I could strike at the perfect angle, as if everything were frozen in place.

KAANG!

I gripped Crucis tightly and met the Shadow’s greatsword head-on. A deafening clash of metal rang out again and again.

My hypersensitive hearing made the metallic sounds unbearable. Normally, I would have endured it. But now? I just vomited.

A bloody mixture of bile splattered toward the Shadow. Yet neither of us stopped. Our limbs kept moving relentlessly.

KIIIIIIIING!

I slid Crucis along the greatsword, redirecting the force away.

BANG!

Then, I raised my left foot and aimed for the Shadow’s head. He blocked my kick with his right hand, then immediately tried to grab my ankle.

Swish!

I bent my knee sharply, avoiding his grip.

I wanted to laugh. I couldn’t believe I was pulling this off! My decision-making was absurdly fast. I felt like I could do anything—almost omnipotent.

My prosthetic body’s output and performance were vastly inferior to the Shadow’s. Normally, I wouldn’t stand a chance in a direct confrontation.

‘This is pretty damn underhanded, even by my standards.’

I could delay my decisions until the very last moment. I was practically reacting after fully observing my enemy’s actions.

‘I don’t have to fight using probability and prediction. I can just watch until the enemy’s movement is finalized and respond accordingly.’

The situation was far too favorable for me. Realizing that made my excitement wane. A fight was only fun when both sides were somewhat evenly matched. Of course, the very thought itself was messed up.

Snap.

I heard something inside my head break. And then—my vision cut out.

Even my cybernetic eyes stopped transmitting data and signals.

...It seemed the optic nerves connected to my artificial eyes had just failed.

I was blind now.

Well. Now things were finally getting interesting. Fucking hell.