Kenta nodded, clearly pleased.
"Exactly. That's why Rocky didn't see it coming. He was watching for muscle cues looking for a whined-up, the usual prep before a strike."
"But the attack had already started buried deep in the tendons, under the skin. By the time the muscle moved, it was already too late."
Rocky staggered back, ribs screaming. "What the hell, how did you move like that?! That didn't even make any mechanical sense!"
His hand pressed against his side, a sharp throb radiating with each breath.
Gabriel stepped forward, smooth as oil on stone. "Confused? Let me enlighten you." His violet eyes locked onto Rocky, unblinking. "Ever heard of tendons?"
Rocky gritted his teeth, forcing defiance into his voice despite the fire in his side. "Yeah? What about 'em?"
Keep talking, freak.
Every word buys me time.
Just a few more seconds. Let the burn fade. Then amma come at you full force.
Gabriel smirked, reading the desperation like an open book. "Ah, suddenly interested? Or just buying time?" He took another effortless step closer, then sank into a posture that looked deceptively relaxed, yet coiled. "Fine. I'll play."
He lifted one foot, rolling his ankle with unnerving precision. Tendons shifted under his skin like cables beneath taut leather. Click. Click.
Gabriel:
"Well, let's start with the facts ... .Did you know there are over a hundred tendons in the human legs alone."
Rocky (rolling his eyes):
"Oh great, the science lecture. You know anatomy. Boo-f*cking-hoo. Why should I care?"
Gabriel (smirking):
"You really don't know how little you understand."
"Let's take the animal kingdom. Cheetahs the envy of speed. You think they're fast because of strong muscles? No."
"They're fast because their tendons are efficient."
"When a cheetah runs, its spine flexes like a bow, storing and releasing energy with every stride. That explosive speed? It's not brute force it's biomechanics."
"Yes, cheetahs are packed with Type II fast-twitch muscle fibers the kind that contracts fast and hits hard. The more of those you have, the more power you can generate… for a moment."
"But here's the catch fast-twitch muscles fatigue quickly. That's why cheetahs can only maintain top speed for 20 to 30 seconds before burning out."
He tilted his head, voice tinged with mock pity.
"Sad, really. All that muscle, and still… limited."
"That alone should tell you more muscle doesn't mean more efficiency. It just means more to waste when you're using the wrong system."
Gabriel (circling slowly):
"Frogs?"
He chuckled, low and sharp.
"Their leg muscles are laughable compared to a human's. You've got more muscle in your thigh than their entire body could dream of."
"But here's what you're missing…"
He pointed to the floor, as if drawing attention to something unseen.
"Frogs have something special a plantaris tendon in their ankle. Doesn't look like much… until it's loaded."
"They've evolved a mechanical delay system. Their muscles contract, not to move but to build tension. Then comes the release sudden, explosive. The power isn't in the muscle. It's in the timing."
He gave a slow nod.
And that was what you just experienced a few minutes ago.
Gabriel shifted his stance, now gesturing to his own leg.
"And then there's us humans."
"Take a good look at the human leg. A long femur. Upright posture. A massive heel for impact."
"A biomechanical miracle, wrapped in tension cables."
"But no one uses it right."
"They walk. They run. They jump. But they do it inefficiently clumsy, heavy, wasteful."
His voice dropped. Cold. Sure.
"Because no one controls their tendons like I do."
Gabriel (low, deliberate):
"Prey…"
"Prey animals use tendons to escape.
Predators? They use tendons to hunt."
He stepped forward slow, surgical.
"But I've gone beyond both."
"I'm not prey.
I'm not predator."
He smiled. Cold. Certain.
"I am the convergence. The mutation. The next law."
"Because I've already chosen my weapon to survive in this world…
It's my instincts — my beliefs — that have shaped my Pulse."
He raised his hand, fingers flexing like a conductor calling on strings.
"Now… imagine a human who could do what no animal ever evolved to do."
"Not just use tendons"
Gabriel's eyes flicked to the VIP section. For the briefest moment, his gaze locked onto a single man. Unmoving. Unimpressed.
Rocky followed the glance, but saw only another face in the crowds.
He didn't know who he was looking at.
Didn't understand why it mattered.
But Gabriel did.
And the fire behind his next words burned just a little deeper.
"—but control them."
He paced, voice rising like coiled pressure.
— Tighten until they hum with stored energy
— Layer where one would suffice
— Grow new ones, anchoring muscles in unnatural, lethal angles
"This isn't biology.
This isn't anatomy.
This is supremacy."
Gabriel's voice turned quiet reverent, almost cruel.
"And nature has no defense…
against its own secrets being stolen… and mastered."
Rocky felt a chill crawl down his spine.
Gabriel's leg shifted subtly not bulking with muscle, but reshaping.
The mass condensed. Tightened.
Tendons slid beneath the skin. His calf and thigh now lean, taut… inhuman.
Less like flesh.
More like machinery.
Rocky muttered, barely audible:
"This guy is… crazy."
He backed up instinctively, breath shallow.
Gabriel stepped forward.
The air thumped beneath his heel.
The tiles cracked tiny fractures spiderwebbing outward from his foot.
Gabriel (flat, almost casual):
"That little kick that bruised your ribs?"
"That was twelve percent… of the tension I can release."
Rocky's eyes widened.
His fists clenched. Blood rushed to his arms, muscles twitching with pre-fight pressure.
Gabriel (low, cold):
"Now imagine what happens…
when I hit seventy."
Rocky's blood ran cold.
His knuckles cracked as they clenched air pressure built in his fists like a storm trying to form.
Twelve percent? And I'm already hurting?
He straightened. Rolled his neck. The crack echoed.
I haven't even seen his Eye ability the one they warned me about.
And I'm already struggling… with just his legs.
Rocky exhaled sharply. Then
Damm…"Ahem… not gonna let this rookie intimidate me."
Gabriel didn't move.
Didn't blink.
Didn't need to.
He simply raised one hand. Four fingers extended, palm inward.
Then, with a smooth, almost contemptuous flick of the wrist he beckoned.
A ghost of a smile tugged at his lips razor-edged, composed, confident.
Gabriel (quiet and lethal):
"The pain should be gone by now."
"No more excuses…Rocky."
"Show me… the extent of your evolution."