"It's time we end this, you thing!"

Zenatori rushed at the best and felt a sudden vibration through the air. Everything went dark. It was like a distortion of sight, something that didn't evolve isotonic force. He couldn't see anything anymore. He haphazardly looked around him, waiting for an attack. 

Zenatori then thought about how dark the entire scenery was, and he realized that it was something the automorph developed to survive. He instantly thought.

"Did it die and adapt to the darkness in order to survive?!"

Once an automorph adapts to something, it can use it as a power known as an automorphic ability. An attack that uses no isotonic force, something an automorph can purely manifest. Zenatori quickly concluded that what hit him was likely a mental attack.

He is then ambushed and flies through the hallway, crashing through the locked door and slamming right through its wooden frame from the sheer force of the strike. He saw three deep cuts form on his arm. The burning sensation instantly hit him, causing him to shake in pain. He grabbed his wrist in desperation to, at the very least, negate the pain. 

His vision was finally restored, and he could only say.

"W-what's going on..."

The automorph attempts to ambush him, but Zenatori, using his other arm, sends a powerful backfist across his skull. The air blew across the room as the force of the strike sent the beast flying. It crashed through the room and fell through a different set of conveyor belts.  

Zenatori looked at the best and saw its mangled corpse. He gently smiled and thought.
"Wow, I actually killed an automorph!"

Blood leaked on the floor from the wounds, and he thought rapidly.
"I have to notify Akari about this."

He clicked on the syneji regiments app on his phone and went to a contact called "Naoko Akari" on his friends list. He saw two buttons next to it, one said 'notify' and the other said 'emergency.' He clicked the notify button and sat against the wall.

He carefully touched the cut on his arm, and it sent an instant sting through his body. He thought momentarily.
"How long will this take you, Akari?"

Zenatori looked up disgruntly and thought.
"Did it die and adapt? No, I failed to finish it off, and it regenerated. How am I supposed to kill this thing..?"

Zenatori had a brief flashback to when he met Koumiko. That wasn't the first automorph he's seen, but he's never seen them regenerate. But he paid it little heed.

He balled his fists and began to strike for another brawl.

In the building where Akari was, there was a smaller factory than the one Zenatori was in. The floors were cramped in between each other, and ice shards were formed on the body of a dead automorph. Akari walked to its carcass and looked over it in disdain.
"You wretched beasts," she muttered in disgust.

Suddenly, her phone began to fiercely vibrate, and she took it from her pocket. She looked at the notifications and saw.
"SAKATORO ZENATORI."

She thought calmly.

"That must be his signal-"

Suddenly, a being pushed Akari through the wall, and she slid back. She looked up and saw another humanoid beast that had no nose or ears. It had four eyes and white-reddish skin. It had several sets of spikes spread across its body, and its mouth unveiled several rows of teeth. 

She looked at the being and slightly smiled.
"So this must be the source of the weakened barrier. Given the fact that automorphs are graded just like syneji artists, and judging by the force of that strike, it's likely a C-division. This shouldn't be that hard."

The monster jogged to her, but in a slew of speed, Akari flew through the air and struck the beast so hard in the stomach that it instantly flew through the building.

As the beast crashed against the equipment, Akari said.
"Just as weak as I expected. But that won't bring it down."

The beast jumped from the wreckage and sprawled over Akari. She jumped back, flying through the air, and reached her palm out.
"Kaigen Series: Frozen Stalactite!"

Suddenly, six giant spikes of ice manifested from the ground and struck the automorph mid-air, leaving it suspended in the air. Akari raced forward, thinking.
"Cutting the head off an automorph won't kill it, but my Frozen Stalactite left it immobilized. I'll just have to damage it beyond regeneration!"

As the automorph was in its feeble state, Akari flew to it and palmed its stomach.
"Kaigen Series, Absolute: Iceshower Hurricane!"

What followed was the grotesque monster's bones cracking. Its skin crackled under the pressure, and it turned white as the cold began to freeze it. The pressure released, and a frost calm filled the entire area before a powerful wave of force destroyed all the objects in the area. The walls broke open, and the purple blood of the automorph splattered everywhere.

Akari stood and the automorph for a moment in condescension.
"You disgusting creature. As a living organism, you should be wiped from existence, and I shall be your dead end," she said as she wiped the blood off her cheek and left the doors to meet with Zenatori.

Zenatori continues his fight with the automorph, grabbing it and then chokeslamming it into the wall. The force flew across the room, and cracks began forming against the wall as the chunks broke off.

The automorph grabs Zenatori's arm and attempts to rip it off, but Zenatori fights back and slings the automorph across the room.

Zenatori's vision went dark again. He hurriedly looked around but was powerfully struck by the automorph. The automorph used its claws and swiftly struck Zenatori. Zenatori rapidly counters and hurls a strike back, sending the automorph across the room. He then rushed to intercept it, but found himself stumbling to the ground.

"Huh..?" he thought.

He looked down and saw a gaping slash on his abdomen. A red river seeped from Zenatori's stomach, and he felt something painful. Painfully irritating his skin. The automorph caught Zenatori off guard and instantly hurled a blow at Zenatori. He is hit so hard that he crashes into the wall and creates a hole in it. Dust flies from the crash, and the wall itself completely crushes itself on Zenatori.

He then emerges from the sediment and is barely able to move. He is only instinctively shaking and begins coughing up blood. He looks at his stomach and notices a giant thin cut across it. He thought.
"Did it cut me? I didn't come here to die, so I need to get back up!"

He briefly remembers the entire reason he did this in the first place. It was to save his mom from her poverty and become strong enough that they could live well off. But it wasn't enough.

He shookily put one hand on his knee and got himself up again. He stood off against the beast. He forced himself to raise his fist but fell to the ground again. His body couldn't handle the weight. He crashed on the ground and thought to himself.

"What is this feeling..? Am I actually getting scared? I thought I would have a heroic death and be remembered. But now I'm going to die amounting to nothing. This can't be the end! My body won't get up! That's right... I'm still human, and like every human, I have limits. I was useless and weak, and now I will reap the consequences. I should've tried in my life a long time ago, instead, I end up useless, yet again. I feared amounting to nothing, and throughout my life I never took that feeling seriously, until the end came."

 

Zenatori's vision blurred, and his heart rate slowed. He could only see the outline of that monstrous humanoid figure in the distance. It was the incarnation of pure nightmares. The dead end to humanity.

Suddenly, a crash came from the other side of the room, and the force of the wind flew across the area, as the doors swung open. The young girl rushed to the scene and yelled.

"Kaigen Series: Frozen Stalactite!"

The automorph suddenly froze right in its tracks, getting entrapped by the power of Naoko Akari. The girl rushed over, and her eyes were as blue as the ice that formed on the automorph. Zenatori fluttered his eyes one last time.

"A-Akari..?" He said, sallowing the blood, glurging in his mouth before his essence devolved into the dark.