The Weapon Genius: Anything I Hold Can Kill-Chapter 50: The Calm Before the Next Fight

The silence stretched out like a blanket, heavy and suffocating.

Jin slumped against the wreckage of a display shelf, his chest heaving, every breath scraping through his throat like sandpaper. The staff lay across his lap, streaked with blood and ash, the metal cool against his burning skin.

His body hurt.

Not just the ache of bruises or the sting of torn flesh — but something deeper. A bone-deep exhaustion that made even tilting his head back to rest against the wall feel like a victory.

But they were alive.

Jin closed his eyes, letting out a shaky breath.

They were alive.

Joon sprawled on the cold tile, limbs spread out like he was trying to fuse with the floor. His Magnetron Sphere hovered lazily above his palm, crackling faintly as it spun in slow, aimless circles.

Seul leaned against a broken fridge, her knees pulled up to her chest, her arms draped over them. She stared at her gloves, the dried blood and grime crusted along the seams, absently picking at the fabric.

None of them spoke.

Not at first.

They just sat there, listening to the faint hum of Joon's sphere and the distant groan of the building settling around them.

Finally, Joon broke the quiet.

"...I'm never moving again," he muttered, voice muffled against the floor.

Seul shifted slightly, cracking one swollen eye open to look at him.

"If you're gonna die," she rasped, voice scratchy, "at least stop playing with your balls first."

Joon snorted, the sound sharp and painful. He coughed, wiping blood off his chin.

"You're hilarious," he muttered, wincing.

Seul tried to smirk, but even that took too much energy. She just rested her chin on her knees instead.

Jin wiped his face with a trembling hand, his vision blurry from sweat and fatigue.

"You've been messing with that thing for an hour," he muttered.

Joon let the sphere dip, then flicked his fingers to make it spin faster.

"It's relaxing," he said, voice thin.

Seul snorted.

"Like a fidget toy?" she muttered.

Joon tilted his head, considering.

"A really dangerous fidget toy," he corrected, watching the arcs of lightning crawl across the sphere's surface. "Therapy ball. Electric edition."

Seul rubbed her face, groaning.

"We need real therapy," she muttered.

Jin leaned back against the shelf, the sharp corner digging into his shoulder blade, but he didn't care.

"I don't think therapists survived," he rasped.

Joon groaned, letting the sphere drop onto his chest with a quiet clink.

"Figures," he muttered. "The world ends, and we can't even get a mental health buff."

Seul huffed out a weak laugh, curling into herself.

Jin shifted, gripping the staff tighter, trying to steady his breathing.

It still didn't feel real.

The fight.

The Faces.

The fact they'd actually survived.

Jin swallowed, his throat raw.

"We killed a mythical monster," he muttered.

Joon lifted his head, wincing.

"Yeah," he rasped, rubbing his chest. "We're freakin' legends."

Seul blinked slowly, resting her forehead against her knees.

"...I feel like garbage," she whispered.

Jin exhaled, watching the dust swirl in the faint shafts of light cutting through the broken ceiling.

"I think the garbage feels better than us right now," he muttered.

Joon grinned, even as his face twisted in pain.

"Monster-slaying garbage," he muttered.

Seul shook her head, her fingers twitching against her gloves.

Her voice dropped lower.

"...Do you feel bad?" she whispered.

Jin turned his head to look at her.

"For what?"

Seul licked her cracked lips, her hands trembling slightly.

"For killing the Face of Honor," she whispered.

The words hit harder than they should have.

Jin's chest tightened, his fingers flexing around the staff.

He thought of the way Honor had fought — brutal, relentless, but never cruel. The way he'd healed them. The way he'd smiled when he fell, like he was proud of them.

Joon let out a slow, shaky breath, staring at the sphere resting on his chest.

"...He felt more human than the people we've fought," he muttered.

Jin clenched his jaw.

"He gave us a chance," he muttered, voice rough.

Seul's throat bobbed as she swallowed. freewebnσvel.cѳm

"We wouldn't have made it without him," she whispered.

Joon flipped the sphere in his hand, watching the sparks flicker.

"...I think he knew that," he muttered.

The thought lingered — heavy and cold.

They hadn't just killed something.

They'd killed something that might've let them live.

Jin rubbed his eyes, trying to smother the ache pressing against his skull.

"It was him or us," he muttered, voice barely audible.

Seul wiped her face with the heel of her hand, her shoulders tight.

"Doesn't make it better," she whispered.

Jin didn't answer.

Because she was right.

They sat in silence again, letting the weight of everything settle like lead in their bones.

Eventually, Joon pushed himself up onto his elbows, groaning as he sat up.

"So," he muttered, "what now?"

Jin blinked at the ceiling, exhaling slowly.

"The hospital," he muttered.

Seul lifted her head, blinking at him.

Joon flopped back onto the floor, groaning.

"Bro," he muttered. "I just got comfy."

Jin wiped the blood off his mouth, dragging himself up until he was sitting properly.

"We can't protect the school alone," he muttered. "We need people."

Seul rubbed her swollen wrists, wincing.

"You think those guys are still alive?" she muttered.

Joon stretched out his legs, letting the sphere hover above him again.

"If they ran away from this place, I bet they are," he muttered.

Jin leaned his head back, closing his eyes.

"We rest," he muttered. "Then we go."

Joon twirled the sphere, sparks dancing around his fingers.

"If this turns into another death trial," he muttered, "I'm voting we just live here."

Seul huffed a tired laugh.

Jin just gripped the staff tighter, feeling the weight of it in his hands.

Because he already knew.

The fight wasn't over.

Not yet.

The quiet settled over them like a blanket, heavy and suffocating. The plaza lay in ruins, bits of shattered concrete and blood-stained debris scattered across the ground like remnants of a warzone.

Joon stretched his legs out, wincing as every joint popped.

"...Should we text Echo?" he muttered, his voice raspy. "He might think we died."

Seul groaned, slumping back against a broken shelf.

"Let him think that," she muttered. "I wanna know what he says at our funeral."

Jin sighed, blinking the blood and sweat out of his eyes. His fingers shook as he pulled up the system menu, navigating to the team chat.

The last message glowed faintly.

[Min: Logging off. Later, losers.]

Jin typed with stiff fingers.

[Jin: Alive.]

The reply came almost instantly.

[Min: ew.]

[Min: why tho.]

Joon snorted, clutching his ribs.

"Why tho?" he echoed, voice cracking.

Seul wiped at her face, groaning.

[Jin: How's training?]

A few seconds passed.

[Min: idk. almost died.]

[Min: good times.]

Jin frowned, sitting up slightly.

"...He says he almost died," he muttered.

Seul lifted her head.

"From what?" she rasped.

[Jin: Almost died how?]

[Min: tried something new.]

[Min: worked. kinda.]

Joon blinked, propping himself up on his elbows.

[Jin: What did you try?]

[Min: idk. pushed myself. felt like i was gonna pass out.]

[Min: but then i echoed the feeling.]

Jin's stomach sank.

"What feeling?" he asked out loud, typing the same question into the chat.

Echo's reply popped up, each message hitting like a punch.

[Min: adrenaline.]

[Min: boosted my speed.]

[Min: felt like i was on fire. in a good way.]

[Min: for like 30 seconds.]

Seul rubbed her eyes, sitting up straighter.

"Wait," she muttered. "He... echoed his own adrenaline?"

[Min: yeah.]

[Min: it stacked.]

[Min: ran through the station like a lunatic.]

[Min: almost crashed into a wall.]

Joon stared, wide-eyed.

"He boosted his speed by echoing adrenaline?" he whispered. "Can he do that with other stuff?"

Jin's fingers hovered over the chat, his heart pounding.

[Jin: Can you do it again?]

[Min: maybe.]

[Min: but it burned out fast.]

[Min: felt like I crashed after.]

[Min: worth it tho.]

Jin rubbed his face, dragging his hands down slowly.

"If he learns how to control that..." he muttered.

Joon let out a low whistle.

"He could be the fastest guy in the system," he said. "Like, actually."

Seul tied her hair back, frowning.

"Or he could kill himself," she muttered.

Jin clenched the staff, his jaw tight.

Because Seul was right.

Echo always played things like a joke — but this wasn't something he could afford to screw around with.

Boosting his stats through sheer adrenaline?

What happened if he pushed too far?

What if he echoed something worse?

Pain?

Fear?

What if he echoed someone else?

[Jin: Be careful.]

[Jin: Don't push too hard.]

The reply came immediately.

[Min: nah.]

[Min: gotta catch up to u guys somehow.]

Joon chuckled, tossing one of his metal spheres into the air, letting it hover with a small zap of electricity.

"He's insane," Joon muttered, watching the sphere spin.

Seul sighed, leaning her head back.

"At least he's consistent," she said.

Jin closed the chat, his fingers lingering on the screen.

They were alive.

Echo was getting stronger.

The school was stocked.

But the weight in his chest didn't lift.

They'd survived the trial.

But survival wasn't the same as safety.

Jin dragged himself up, his body screaming in protest, and used the staff to balance himself.

"We head out soon," he muttered, voice low.

Joon groaned, flopping onto his side.

"Soon?" he whined. "Dude, we just survived hell."

Seul cracked her knuckles, slowly pushing herself upright.

"We've got maybe an hour of rest left in us," she said, wincing. "Then we move."

Jin nodded, tightening his grip on the staff.

Because the next fight wasn't far away.

And he had a feeling it wouldn't be the system they had to worry about this time.