Yandere Levelling in Her World-Chapter 143 - 144: Breaking point

Melinda stood on the balcony of her high rise apartment, the night wind brushing against her face as the city lights glittered below. She held a cigarette between her fingers and exhaled a slow, tired breath. Her other hand scrolled through her phone.

An email sat open, dated from a few weeks ago. She had read it countless times, yet her expression remained the same quiet deadpan.

Orders from her.

Melinda stared at the cryptic lines again. No explanations. No follow up. Just instructions that made sense only to the one who issued them.

She muttered under her breath in a voice so soft that even the wind almost drowned it out.

"What am I supposed to do, saviour?"

There was no answer. Only the faint hum of the city far below.

She flicked the ash off the balcony and walked back inside. The apartment lights reflected off the polished floor as she stepped into the living room. A man in a dark robe sat on the couch with his legs crossed, lazily sipping wine. When he noticed her entering, he quickly put the glass aside and stood up with a grin.

"You look tired," he said, walking toward her with light steps.

Melinda raised an eyebrow. "What gave it away?"

"Your face of course." He placed his hands on her shoulders with practiced familiarity. "You are stiff. Let me help."

She sighed as his fingers dug into her shoulders, easing some of the tension she did not even realize she was carrying. Her eyelids lowered slightly as she let the massage continue. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"Did you not get any orders from her?" Melinda asked.

The man did not answer immediately. His thumbs slowed for a moment. Then he spoke quietly.

"I got nothing from our saviour. She works in a rather cryptic way, you know that. Not strange for her to leave this to us."

He paused and leaned closer. "You are doing really good, Melinda. I know what you are doing is what she wants. That is why she is silent."

Melinda let out an empty laugh. "I truly hope so."

Before the man could respond, Melinda's phone vibrated sharply. She frowned and pulled it up.

Unknown number.

She answered without thinking. "Hello?"

What came next froze her spine. A heavy, animal-like breathing filled the speaker. Followed by a slow, almost delighted whisper.

"Found you."

Melinda's eyes widened. "What the…"

A deafening explosion tore through the room before she could finish. The walls buckled and a massive shockwave launched both her and the man off their feet as the entire side of the apartment blew outward.

Shards of glass and metal flashed through the air. Melinda threw her arms over her head, rolling across the floor as heat washed over her.

She coughed and forced herself to look up.

A giant hole had replaced the outer wall of her apartment. Smoke poured inside. The night wind howled through the gap.

And standing outside, balanced on thin silver wires stretched between the buildings, were six women she had never seen before.

At the very center stood someone she recognized from rumors alone.

Silver.

An infamous assassin whose name was spoken with dread. Melinda's heart dropped into her stomach.

She scrambled to her feet and grabbed her 9mm pistol from the nearby shelf. She dove behind a fallen piece of furniture and aimed toward the opening.

"Who the fuck are you and what the fuck do you want?" she shouted.

Silver's voice cut through the smoke like a blade. "It does not matter to you. We will take you either dead or alive."

Before Melinda could react further, the woman standing beside Silver raised her hand. Her arm warped into several black missile-like shapes that detached and launched into the apartment.

Melinda's instincts screamed. She rolled across the floor as the projectiles hit, blowing the room apart even further.

"Fuck!" she shouted as a chunk of ceiling crashed down beside her.

Silver and her team walked into the burning wreck of the apartment. Their steps were calm and synchronized. They knew Melinda was trying to escape. They knew she was cornered.

Silver turned to another woman in her group, the one known as Rad.

"Scan the room."

Rad closed her eyes. A faint glow flickered under her skin. After a few seconds she opened them again.

"She is not here."

Silver exhaled sharply, irritation visible even through her cold expression. Threads of silver light unfurled from her fingertips like razor sharp ropes. With one sweep, she sliced apart the remaining walls, ripping them open until only steel beams remained.

The silver threads traced across the floor. Then one of them struck a panel that sank inward.

"A secret door," Silver muttered. "She escaped."

Her eyes narrowed. "Find her."

She clenched her jaw and whispered to herself. "I will not embarrass myself a second time."

Melinda was several floors down, piggy carrying the robed man on her back while her lungs burned from the smoke.

"Why are they after me," she muttered. "How did they even find me."

Her mind raced. Without the hundreds of traitors surrounding her like usual, she was just another powerless woman. No army. No formation. No protection. The only thing she had was a 9mm pistol and bullets designed to neutralize powers. Useful against one target, not six assassins.

If she shot one, the other five would tear her apart before she could reload.

That was not an option.

Especially not now. Not after she obtained the key. Not when her project was finally nearing its end.

She reached the emergency exit door and burst through it, stumbling down the stairs while typing a rapid message to her second in command.

Her thumb tapped the send button.

Backup. Now. Hideout compromised.

She did not wait for a reply. She kicked the door at the bottom of the stairwell open and ran into the underground parking area. Her car was waiting where she left it. She dumped the man into the passenger seat and climbed into the driver's seat.

She slammed her hands on the wheel.

"This is what I get for underestimating the enemies I have," she muttered. "I thought they could never find my hideout. I thought I was off limits to whatever power they have. But assassins like them… damn it, they do not stop. They will do detective work. They will dig. They will hunt."

She stepped on the gas and the tires screeched as the car shot out of the parking area and onto the road.

The city lights blurred past as she sped through traffic.

For a moment she thought she had escaped.

Then she glanced into the mirror.

Three bikes followed her in perfect formation.

Melinda slammed her fist against the wheel.

"Fuck. Where is my backup."

She pushed the car harder, weaving between lanes as horns blared around her. The three bikes behind her did not slow down. Their riders kept perfect distance, their helmets reflecting the city lights like glowing eyes.

The robed man beside her groaned as the car jerked around a sharp turn.

"Melinda… who are they?" he asked, clutching the dashboard.

"I would like to know that too," she replied through gritted teeth.

The man glanced behind them. "Can you shoot them?"

Melinda gave him a side eye. "I can shoot one. Maybe hurt another. Then I die. Do you think that is a smart plan?"

He slowly shook his head.

She tightened her grip on the wheel. Her phone buzzed with a message but she did not dare take her eyes off the road yet.

The middle bike accelerated suddenly and pulled up beside her. The rider raised her arm and the metal plating of her suit shifted, forming a long blade shaped like a crescent.

Melinda swore under her breath.

The assassin swung the blade toward the car.

Melinda jerked the wheel just in time. The blade scraped across the side, tearing off the mirror.

"Are you kidding me!" she yelled.

She thrust her hand out of the window and fired three shots toward the bike. The bullets cracked the air with loud snaps. The rider leaned her body unnaturally, avoiding all three shots with ease.

The rider swung the blade again.

Melinda braked hard. The bike shot ahead, surprised, giving her a second of breathing room.

The robed man braced himself against the seat. "Melinda, where are the traitors?"

"I don't know...hold on,"

The car roared forward again. The other two bikes flanked her on both sides now. One rider raised her hand toward the sky, and the street lights above them flickered violently as if responding to her power.

Melinda's eyes widened.

The lights exploded all at once, raining sparks across the road.

Melinda noticed her car was slowing down.

The robed man shouted, "Drive!"

"I am driving!"

She pressed the gas pedal all the way to the floor, but then she noticed it wasn't just the street lights that were ruined by whatever power that woman used.

"Fuck! My car battery is dying!" Melinda shouted, realizing she was out of options. She was caught, and it was finally time to face them.

The car lurched forward a few more meters before rolling to a dead stop in the middle of the empty road.

The robed man stared at her with wide eyes. "We're… dead, aren't we?"

Melinda inhaled once, slow and steady. "Not yet. Get out when I tell you. Run in whatever direction they're not in."

"That is not reassuring."

"It wasn't meant to be."

She pushed open the door and stepped out into the cold night air, her boots splashing against a small puddle beneath the street lamp, the only one still faintly glowing. She raised her pistol with both hands and aimed it straight ahead.

The bikes had stopped. Engines quieted. The riders stepped off in perfect, eerie synchronization.

Then shadows dropped from above, three more figures landing lightly on the road, surrounding her in a loose semicircle.

Six in total.

All staring at her.

Melinda swallowed hard.

The first to step forward was a girl with short, messy black hair and a half-smirk that looked far too casual for someone who had just blown up an apartment. Her arms gleamed...no, shifted as metal plating split apart and rearranged itself into sleek missile-like shapes along her forearms.

She looked like someone pulled straight out of a magazine with her cute face, explosive vibe, eyes that sparkled with the joy of chaos. Her clothes were torn in stylish ways, as if she didn't care enough to fix them.

Melinda glared at her.

The girl winked.

Next stood a tall woman with long braids and calm brown eyes that never stayed still. Her skin glowed faintly, thin lines of light running under it like circuitry mapping every inch of her body. She wasn't even looking at Melinda, her eyes were darting across the road, the buildings, the sky, the car inside which the robed man trembled.

Her gaze moved like a scanner. Cold. Efficient. Non-human.

Melinda realized she wasn't being watched.

She was being analyzed.

Then there was the woman crackling with energy. Electricity danced over her arms, flickering around her like fireflies made of lightning. Metal studs across her outfit acted like conduits, humming with voltage. Sparks leapt off her fingers every few seconds, burning small holes into the asphalt.

She stepped forward and the streetlamps above them flickered weakly, as if begging her for mercy.

Melinda swallowed.

"That must be the one who killed my car."

The next two stepped forward together.

Twins.

One had a massive scythe slung over her shoulder, the blade shimmering like heated metal. Her expression was blank, but the casual way she held that weapon told Melinda she could swing it fast enough to split a person in half before they screamed.

The other twin had no weapon at all but the moment Melinda looked at her, her heart skipped. The woman cast no shadow under the streetlight. Her eyes were pitch black, and her body seemed to… blur at the edges. Like a glitch in reality wearing human skin.

Melinda's fingers tightened around her pistol.

Then the last of them stepped forward.

Silver.

Brown haired. Fair skinned. A calm, unblinking stare that made Melinda feel like she was already dead. Thin metallic threads drifted behind her like floating wires, she controlled them with the smallest motions of her fingers.

Melinda stepped back instinctively.

Silver stopped just a few meters away, watching her with quiet interest.

"So," Silver murmured, voice cold and sharp, "you're the one she wants us to find."

Melinda raised her gun higher, breath hitching.

"I don't know who the hell you are," she snapped. "But you're not taking me."

Silver's expression didn't change.

"Taking you?" She tilted her head slightly. "No."

The silver threads flared behind her.

"We are here to end you."