The Azure-eyed assassin

Mayu felt her breath catch.

Adrenaline burned through her veins, but her body refused to move.

The clashes between Akira and Subject 09 erupted before her.

Their blades whistled through the air.

Metal struck metal, resonating like a funeral knell.

I should move.

I should help Akira.

But her legs remained frozen.

Her fingers trembled around the handle of her knife.

Something about this fight, about her opponent's posture, awakened an echo within her.

A distant memory.

A fragment of the past she had never wanted to revisit.

---

The steel struck brutally.

Akira took a direct hit and stumbled back, breathless.

— He's… too strong… he groaned, his sword trembling under the impact.

Subject 09 gave him no respite.

He advanced without hesitation, his sword cutting through the air with perfect precision.

Akira wasn't going to hold on.

Mayu knew it.

She could see it.

But her muscles remained paralyzed.

Because this wasn't just an enemy.

This wasn't just an assassin.

It was him.

---

A sudden pain.

A flash.

A white room.

Whispering voices.

A chilling blue gaze.

"Two weapons. Two bodies. One will survive."

A strike.

A blade.

Blood on the floor.

A silhouette collapsing.

"The experiment is a success."

The memory exploded in her mind.

Her eyes widened.

Her breath caught.

She remembered.

She knew what had happened that day.

And it wasn't her who had won.

---

The fight before her seemed blurred.

As if she were elsewhere.

She saw Akira barely block a strike, his legs buckling under the force of the impact.

Mayu gritted her teeth.

Her fingers stopped trembling.

Her gaze hardened.

She inhaled a deep, burning breath.

Then, she moved.

With a leap, she propelled herself into the fray.

And this time…

She didn't hesitate.