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The automorph ran to Zenatori on all fours. He dodged its incoming blow and attempted to strike it, but it quickly thrashed its arm at Zenatori, punching him in the face. 

Zenatori flew back from the weight of the strike and skidded across the floor. He felt his body begin to ache, but he rapidly stood up again. The automorph raced at Zenatori again, but he grabbed its arms to stop it.

It widened its mouth to bite Zenatori, and he quickly threw it across the hall. However, its teeth still grazed his skin and caught at his neck. As blood quietly dripped, he felt a sharp sting come from the area. He tumbled back and felt a wave of nervousness hit him.

The automorph seized the opening, but Zenatori rapidly drove his fist into the beast.

It instantly crashed into the wall and created a crater. Zenatori didn't let up and struck it again, pummeling it deeper inside the wall. The framework shuddered, and chunks of concrete crumbled apart. 

The beast quickly jumped from out of the wall and sprawled onto Zenatori's chest. It began to scratch his uniform and pick at his skin. He attempted to pull it off, but its grip was strong. He then ran into the wall and hammered blows at the automorph's sides.

Its grip weakened, and Zenatori grabbed it by its neck and threw it through the hallway doors into the main building. It crashed into the conveyor belts and knocked over a pile of boxes.

Zenatori briefly froze. It was silent.
"Did it die?"

Zenatori felt the wound on his neck, but it had mostly numbed. He gasped for air and grinned. 

"It's time we end this, you thing!" he called out.

But as Zenatori came closer, a quiet shriek let out from the automorph. He felt a sudden vibration through the air. Everything went dark. 

It was like a distortion of sight, something he couldn't fathom. He couldn't see anything anymore. He haphazardly looked around him and awaited an attack. 

Zenatori then thought about how dark the entire scenery was, and he realized that it was something the automorph developed to survive.
"It seemed to have died when I struck it across the hall. The dark area tells me it had adapted to darkness itself."

Right after, he was ambushed.

The strike went deep into his stomach and caused him to cough up blood. The sheer force of the strike caused him to fly into a wall and drive deep into the factory's internal structure.

The automorph chased him into the wall, but Zenatori quickly punched a hole in the other side and crawled out. 

He then saw three deep cuts formed on his arm. The burning sensation instantly hit him when he noticed it, which caused him to shake in pain. He grabbed his wrist in desperation to try to lessen the pain.

The vibrations stopped, and his vision was finally restored. 

"W-what's going on?" he murmured.

The automorph rushed at him again, but Zenatori had predicted it. He used his other arm and sent a powerful backfist across its skull. The air blew across the room as the force of the strike sent the beast flying to the other side. 

Zenatori finally ran to it and pinned it against the ground. He squeezed its neck, and it attempted to break free, biting at his wrist, but Zenatori lifted it by its neck and slammed it into the floor.

The automorph's movement didn't slow, and it grabbed Zenatori's index finger and bit it with all its might. Zenatori panicked, and his heart rate elevated. 

He rammed it into the ground again and hurled it into a wall, but it was unwavering. He finally balled his fist and pounded it into its skull. 

He heard a slight crack, but its teeth clenched tighter on his finger, and blood seeped out. He banged his fist into its head again, again, and again. 

Its face caved in on itself, and its jaw opened. Zenatori finally slipped his hand out and continued to pound its face. Purple blood oozed from its head, and Zenatori sent a blow to its jaw and split it open.

He finally sent one last blow and hammered both of his fists into its face. Blood dripped from his knuckles as Zenatori's vision blurred. He quickly gasped for air and saw the mangled face of the automorph.

Its skull had cracked open, and Zenatori could see some of its internal anatomy. He panted one last time before he rubbed the blood off his hands and glanced at its mangled corpse.

A drop of sweat fell down his nose, and he stared at the blood on his hands. They were shaking.

"I have to tell 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 cuts on his arm, and it sent an instant sting through his body.
"How long will this take you, Akari?" 

He heard a crash.

He quickly jumped back up and suddenly felt uneasy.

The beast stood back up, and the bone structure of his cranium remended back together. Zenatori could only witness live as its skin grafted itself back together and its wounds patched back up. 

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

It seemed unkillable. But even with that considered, Zenatori didn't back down.