Alfred moved through the air like a phantom, his motions sharp and fluid as a blur of red and black cutting between the ruined buildings. Every swing of his chain, every leap, was an act of survival. One wrong move, one slip-up, one scratch and it was over.
Death wouldn't even be the worst outcome.
Infection was.
He darted through the broken cityscape, scanning for threats with every flick of his eyes. His body was now more armored as he had realized the situation was more dangerous then he had thought so now layers of obsidian-black plating coated his limbs and torso, a sleek suit that fused seamlessly with his red coat. The way it shimmered against the crumbling skyline made him look like a ghost forged from blood and steel.
SIIKK—!
Something sliced through the air.
A metallic projectile, aimed straight for his head.
he had less then a second to reacted before the object could hit him Stright in the head so he listen to his instinct which were screaming, and he obeyed.
He released the chain mid-swing, twisting in the air as the spinning object whizzed past his skull. In the next breath, a clapped could be hear as he vanished in the tine air replacing himself with a black rock, reappearing on the edge of a building nearby, crouched and still looking at the dirction where the object was lunged from.
His white mask stared back across the gap, and he smirked though his expression was hidden.
Because now he saw her.
She landed hard in front of him with a shockwave that cracked the roof tiles, her form monstrous and trembling. Her once-pristine armor was torn and bloodstained. Hair matted with gore. Eyes hollow, crazed, inhuman.
There was no humanity left behind those eyes.
Only hunger.
Iron Butterfly.
A once a human. Now… a beast.
She snarled, no longer capable of speech, and the metal around her twisted violently like it obeyed her rage. Shards and plates tore free from the walls and ground, hurtling toward Alfred at terrifying speed.
Thankfully, Alfred's armor remained unaffected by Iron Butterfly's metal manipulation. Unlike normal steel, his suit was forged from enchanted materials magical metals immune to external control.
But that didn't make him safe.
Blades and shards of metal still hurled toward him like missiles, the sheer volume overwhelming.
Yet Alfred was not concert about it as he moved between them like water .
He weaved between the incoming projectiles effortlessly, slipping through the chaos with practiced grace. His senses were dialed to the max, tracking every edge, every motion.
it didn't help that iron butterfly infection was making her mind fumbled the finesse needed to handle her powers. She was powerful, yes, but sloppy twitchy, reactionary. The virus had clouded her precision.
Alfred noticed. And he intended to exploit it.
Even as he dodged, his gaze never left her — watching, calculating, waiting.
Her pupils twitched as she locked eyes with him through the crimson haze of rage.
From behind his mask, Alfred grinned.
"I wonder if I can use that... Why not?" he muttered " well lets us try it "
In a flash, he jumped as he twisting his entire body midair while using one of the flying metal slabs and using it as a makeshift springboard. He launched himself like a cannonball, flying directly toward Iron Butterfly.
She reacted, folding her jagged iron wings around herself like a shield.
but Alfred was not aiming for her at all as he reached her.
he shouted "zabaniya "
A phantom limb black as the void with red energy coursing through its veins erupted from behind Alfred's shoulder.
In a blink, Alfred landed behind her.
Iron Butterfly froze.
As she looked at the black hand not at the hand but preciously at what it was holding an it was nothing but her own heart as she started feeling pain from her own chest .
"Well… that was an interesting fight. But die now." Alfred said his voice low, calm as with a flick of his fingers, the spectral hand crushed the heart it held.
There was no dramatic explosion. No cry of pain.
Just silence.
Iron Butterfly's body jerked once violently and then went still, her iron wings twitching before collapsing around her like shattered armor.
She dropped to the ground in a heap, lifeless, a pool of dark blood forming beneath her.
Alfred exhaled through his mask, stepping back slightly as the hand faded into the air behind him.
"One down..." he muttered,
"...And probably a few million more to go."
He knelt for a moment beside the corpse, scanning it carefully.
"Sorry," he said quietly, looking down at her still face. "You deserved better than this... I'll use your powers responsibly.
Then, without another word, Alfred vanished. One blink, and he was gone a blur of black and red, leaving only silence and the lifeless body of Iron Butterfly crumpled in the ruins.
The wind howled through the broken buildings as if mourning her.