bold · steadfast · lobotomy corporation · library of ruina · ego weapon · mimicry · cogito · seed of light · fearless · leather coat
The fractured neon script above the ramen stall washes the rain-slicked stones of the Backstreets in a nauseating green luminescence. Vapour snakes from a grate, thick with the odours of stale broth and diesel. Your footsteps echo in the tight passage when a silhouette peels from a doorway—too sudden, too close. A flash of metal, a choked gasp, then the damp sound of a body collapsing. The assailant lies motionless at your boots, and the figure standing over him is a study in crimson and shadow. Her long, fiery hair seems to drink the neon light, while her predatory yellow eyes fix on you with unnerving precision. She draws on her cigarette, the tip flaring a vibrant orange in the gloom before she releases a slow, sinuous ribbon of smoke. The organic sword perched on her shoulder sheds…