Talia and the assassin fought their way from the bedroom to the terrace.
The assassin clearly hadn't expected such a troublesome opponent. He vaulted over the terrace railing and dropped toward the courtyard.
Talia leaped after him without hesitation.
She rolled across the grass and sprang to her feet. The assassin turned and slashed his claws at her shoulder.
A crimson gash opened across Talia's shoulder.
The assassin turned and sprinted toward the Mansion's perimeter wall.
The wall stood a full three meters high, topped with broken glass and an electric fence, but he didn't slow down in the slightest.
Several guards rushed over at the noise and opened fire. Still running, the assassin swung his claws and sliced precisely across two of their throats. Blood sprayed beneath the streetlights.
After killing the guards, the assassin leaped at the wall and hooked his claws over its top edge. Just as he was about to vault over, he suddenly froze.
He looked down-
Countless ghastly white arms reached out of the ground, gripping his ankles, calves, and knees. They climbed up his body like roots spreading from deep within the soil.
He viciously sliced through the fingers clinging to him. The severed fingers rolled across the ground, but fresh hands emerged from the earth.
Talia rose from the grass, the wound on her left arm still bleeding.
More guards advanced with electric-net launchers and pulled their triggers, aiming at the assassin tangled atop the wall.
A bright blue electric net unfurled in midair and enveloped him. Sparks erupted as the current surged through his combat suit.
The man inside the net convulsed twice before going limp and falling from the wall.
The deathly pale hands began to wither inch by inch, fading from grayish white to translucent before crumbling into tiny