The man immediately sensed her presence and spun around, his gun aimed straight at her head.

"Wait...!" Luca shouted, but the gunshot had already rung out, shattering the air.

The gun fired.

The sound tore through the space, but the bullet missed its mark, embedding itself deep into the wall behind. Before the man could react, a dark shadow lunged forward.

In the blink of an eye, a ruthless kick struck his chest, sending his heavy body stumbling backward. Immediately after, a razor-sharp strike—quick, forceful, like a blade slicing through the air—drove straight into his throat. A strangled gurgle escaped. His head snapped back. Then—

SLASH!

His head was severed from his body as if an invisible guillotine had sliced through it. His eyes remained wide open, still frozen in terror.

For a split second, the headless body stood still, as if it hadn't yet realized it was dead. Then blood—a thick, dark crimson torrent—gushed violently from the severed neck, splattering across the ground, the walls, and the woman's legs. A growing pool of blood spread out like an ominous shadow, devouring the pavement.

THUD!

The head fell.

It rolled across the ground, spinning a few times as though it still clung to life before coming to a stop at the woman's feet. His lips were slightly parted, blood trickling from the corners of his mouth.

"AAAAAH!!!"

A piercing scream shattered the suffocating silence. Luca was horrified.

His entire body trembled violently. His breaths came in short, ragged gasps. His eyes were wide open, pupils contracting in sheer terror. His throat was locked tight, and his heartbeat pounded so erratically it felt as if it might burst.

He wanted to look away. To escape this nightmare. But he couldn't.

His gaze was glued to the severed head on the ground, those lifeless eyes staring straight at him. The headless corpse collapsed, hitting the pavement with a sickening, heavy thud—like a sack of raw meat being thrown to the floor. Blood continued to stream out, trickling down the gutter, staining the entire alleyway red.

Luca swallowed hard.

"Murder... a murder..."

His voice came out in broken, barely audible fragments, as if even he couldn't believe what had just happened.

She was still standing there.

The woman's figure loomed, motionless. No fear. No hesitation. Only deathly cold indifference.

Blood was still dripping from her hand.

And at her feet, the severed head remained. Lifeless.

The woman suddenly turned.

Her eyes—icy, hollow, like a blade forged from frost—pierced straight through Luca. His breath hitched. A chilling sensation shot down his spine, the nape of his neck tingling as though he had been cast into an endless abyss.

Before he could process what was happening—

Whoosh!

A terrifying punch came hurtling toward him.

"STOP!"

Luca shouted.

Instinctively, he raised his arms to shield himself, but deep down, he knew—it was useless.

BOOM!

The punch narrowly missed, but the pavement beneath his feet shattered.

Concrete cracked apart like broken glass, fractures spreading out like a spiderweb before caving in, forming a deep, gaping hole beneath him.

No time to think.

The ground beneath him collapsed.

"A-AAH!"

Luca fell backward, his heart leaping into his throat as his body plummeted. The sensation of freefall twisted his stomach into knots. His hands flailed desperately, searching for something—anything—to grasp onto, but all he found was a black void of impending death.

His entire body was trembling. Cold sweat dripped down his temples, his spine frozen as though someone had just dumped a bucket of ice water over him.

His breaths were ragged. His heart pounded wildly against his ribcage.

She wasn't human.

"A monster...?"

The thought barely formed before—

A hand seized his collar.

Cold. Unyielding. Unnaturally strong.

Luca's eyes widened in horror.

She lifted him.

With just one hand.

As if he were nothing more than a helpless rag doll.

There was no effort. No emotion flickering across her face.

"NO! LET ME GO!"

Luca screamed in agony, his legs kicking frantically in the air, his hands desperately clawing at the cold, unyielding fingers around his throat.

Useless.

She didn't budge. Not even an inch.

His breath came in ragged gasps, his mind spinning. His heart pounded so violently it felt like it would burst out of his chest. His lungs constricted, veins straining, every nerve in his body screaming in pure panic.

No escape.

There was no escape!

Fear coiled around his mind, suffocating his sanity, dragging him into the abyss of despair.

"Who... who are you?!"

Luca stammered, his voice choked with terror, each word escaping like it was being strangled out of him. Now, with his vision clearing, he could finally see her face—familiar... too familiar... but his thoughts were in shambles, his fear so overwhelming that his mind refused to piece it together.

There was no time to think.

THUD!

She threw him into the back seat of the car with brutal force, no hesitation, as if discarding something worthless.

"Agh—!"

Luca's back slammed against the seat, pain exploding along his spine, but he barely had time to react. His hands trembled as he tried to steady himself, sweat drenching his palms.

She was already in the driver's seat.

Without a word, she picked up a white cloth and casually wiped the blood from her fingers.

Then—swish!

She tossed the stained cloth out of the window, without a second glance.

Cold. Indifferent.

As if the blood on her hands wasn't from a human life just ended.

Her gaze flickered toward him—chilling, razor-sharp, piercing straight through his soul.

"You have two choices," she spoke, her voice calm, deliberate—each syllable hammering into the suffocating silence.

"One... stay silent."

"Two..."

She tilted her head slightly, lips curling into the faintest hint of a smile—but her voice was as sharp as a knife slicing through flesh.

"Die."

The word lingered—slow, drawn-out—a death sentence spoken by someone who held the power to enforce it.

A shiver shot down Luca's spine.

He knew she wasn't bluffing.

This wasn't a threat. It wasn't reckless bravado.

She would kill him.

He swallowed hard, his throat dry like sand. His body locked in place, heart hammering erratically—but he forced himself to speak.

"But you..."

His voice wavered.

"You murdered someone! You'll go to prison—no, that's impossible! How did you kill him with your bare hands?!"

A mistake.

A terrible mistake.

Before Luca could react, her hand was around his throat.

"U...gh—!"

He choked, eyes wide in terror, his throat crushed so tightly he couldn't breathe.

His hands flailed, clawing desperately at her wrist, but his grip was pathetically weak against the vice-like force strangling him.

The veins in his neck bulged, his heartbeat slammed against his ribs like a war drum, but the air—the air was running out.

Can't... breathe...

The suffocating grip of death wrapped around his entire body, sinking deep into his bones.

His fingertips went numb. His vision blurred. The streetlights outside the car stretched into warped streaks of light.

And his consciousness... began to slip.

"Hhck...! Hhck...!"

Luca gasped, but all that came out were strangled, hopeless, gurgling sounds.

Then, in the suffocating haze, her voice cut through—

"Take the money and keep your mouth shut, or go to prison in my place."

Calm. Detached. Laced with pure impatience.

She yanked him up, wrenching him forward until his body nearly left the seat. His throat was squeezed so tight, his skin was turning blue.

Then—

"Or..."

She leaned in, so close he could feel her breath—cold, devoid of warmth—as she whispered through clenched teeth, her words slithering like a predator who had grown bored of the game.

"You end up like him."

The words stabbed straight into Luca's mind like an ice-cold dagger.

Him...

The severed head on the pavement. The eyes, wide open—unmoving.
The blood, still pooling, dark crimson against the cold concrete.

Luca's heart lurched.

"Not a bad option."

Her smile was glacial—devoid of mercy, devoid of hesitation.

Luca was dying.

His thoughts shattered into a violent storm.

His vision darkened.

His ears rang.

No air. No air left in his lungs.