Apocalypse: Every Woman I Invest In Makes Me Stronger

Debbie was quietly and methodically wiping Rose’s pale, sweat-slicked forehead when Ethan materialized out of thin air inside the secure perimeter of the Survival Space. She instantly spotted the nasty, blistering burns across his shoulder and the dark, congealed blood staining the fabric of his torn sleeve.

”What on earth happened to you out there?” she asked, her voice laced with deep, genuine concern as she dropped the cloth.

”I need your Healing Essence, quickly,” Ethan replied briskly, his jaw tight. Without waiting for a second invitation, he guided her away from the bed into an adjacent private recovery room.

Debbie understood the grim gravity of the situation and wasted zero time activating her specialized Healing Ability. A thick, warm, golden liquid materialized around her palms and flowed directly into his mouth, spreading through his throat and chest to revitalize his traumatized tissues. His torn muscle fibers began repairing themselves at a rapid pace, the agonizing burning pain subsiding into a dull ache, while the profound spiritual energy he had expended in combat was partially restored.

Half an hour later, Ethan stepped back out of the room looking entirely renewed, his posture straight and his energy peaking once more.

Tessa, who had just woken up from her own exhaustion on a nearby cot, glanced up at his refreshed appearance and then toward Debbie as she stepped out right behind him, quietly adjusting the collar of her shirt. Tessa’s eyes narrowed slightly with a complex, unreadable look, though Ethan was far too distracted to notice. His mind was entirely fixated on the monster waiting outside.

With a flick of his wrist, he teleported straight back to the desolate slaughterhouse yard.

The Hyena King was still prowling the perimeter, violently sniffing the concrete and glaring toward the exact spot where Ethan had previously vanished. Its supernatural blue mane burned brightly, casting harsh, flickering shadows across the ruined carcasses scattered around the yard.

This time, Ethan wasn’t going to let the beast dictate the tempo or trap him in another war of attrition.

He deliberately exposed his left side, leaving the area that had been burned earlier looking slightly less guarded. The tissue was completely healed, but his loose posture feigned lingering weakness. The Hyena King’s twitching ears caught the movement; it instantly lowered its massive body and charged.

Massive, clawed paws slammed into the concrete as it raced forward, its terrifying jaws parting wide to release a pillar of white-hot fire twice as large as before, accompanied by a fresh volley of lethal bone spikes screaming from its tailbone.

Ethan waited until the absolute, final microsecond. Just as the beast’s front paws struck the earth and its intense forward momentum locked its attack trajectory, his eyes flashed sharp.

”Now!”

He activated Time Stop.

Everything in the yard froze instantly into absolute silence. The roaring wall of flames hung completely motionless in midair. The razor-sharp bone spikes stopped dead just inches from his chest, suspended like icicles. The Hyena King was locked rigidly in place with its massive jaws gaping wide.

One second. That was all the time he had.

Gathering every ounce of his remaining spatial reserves, Ethan unleashed a point-blank Spatial Cut directly at the partially healed wound on the beast’s thick neck. A thin, distortion blade swept forward with devastating precision, tearing through tough muscle and shattering the underlying spine.

Time resumed.

The Hyena King’s eyes widened in sudden, helpless horror. ”Awooooo!” Its dying, choked shriek echoed across the yard as its colossal, two-ton body crashed heavily onto the concrete. The blue flames flickered wildly for a moment before extinguishing into thin wisps of gray smoke.

Ethan staggered back a step, breathing heavily, before stepping up to the dead carcass. He split open the thick skull with his blade and retrieved a brilliant, diamond-shaped Core radiating intense, steady heat—a rare leader-grade Core. He stored it safely in his inventory for future system returns.

Finding an abandoned teaching building several streets away as twilight deepened, Ethan cleared a dusty classroom on the second floor, checked all the access points, and brought Daisy and the rest of the group out of the Survival Space to rest and train their abilities while conserving precious oxygen.

As night settled heavily over the ruined city like a shroud, the women arranged a makeshift bed across several pushed-together wooden desks and drifted off to exhausted sleep. Ethan stood alone by the broken classroom window, silently watching the dark, menacing street below.

Suddenly, a pair of soft arms slipped gently around his waist from behind. He stiffened slightly out of pure reflex as a familiar, comforting scent washed over him.

”Daisy?”

She pressed her soft cheek against his back, her breath warm against his coat. ”When we were back at the Underground Casino, you promised me something,” she murmured softly, a hint of genuine vulnerability and longing in her tone. ”You said that when we finally met again...”

Ethan fell silent. He remembered every word. But he still possessed only one SSS-Rank Ability, the Breath of Corrosion, and hadn’t met the complex system requirements for another deep fusion.

Before he could formulate an answer, several dark shapes swept silently past the window pane, cutting through the moonlight.

Ethan’s sharp attention snapped instantly toward the glass. A swarm of Mutant Bats crossed the night sky in near-perfect unison. Among them, one stood out distinctly—a large, agile specimen marked by a tuft of pure white fur right on top of its head.

Ethan’s eyes widened in sudden recognition. *It’s that one!*

The elusive mental-tracking bat he had first encountered while rescuing Aria from the Museum. If he secured its Core tonight, he might finally unlock a viable method to track down and cure Rose.

He quickly whispered the plan over his shoulder to Daisy. Any trace of disappointment instantly vanished from her expression, replaced by fierce resolve. ”Then what are you waiting for? Bats only fly at night. If we lose track of it now, we might never find it again.”

Ethan smiled warmly, turning to gently ruffle her hair. ”Once this is all over, I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”

”Stop talking and just go!” Daisy urged with a small, fond smile, nudging him forward.

Ethan laughed softly, activated Teleportation, and vanished directly into the dark night to hunt down the white-marked bat.