From Nobody to God Doctor

Chapter 5. Breath on the of Needle's Edge

Chapter 5: Breath on the Needle’s Edge

...let this darkness swallow whatever’s left of that cheap arrogance of yours!” Sakti, the executive of the Medical Shadow Sect in the golden robe, swung his dark purple needle with impossible speed. The wind on the ruined apartment balcony suddenly howled, as if nature itself was terrified of the deadly aura radiating from him.

Zolda collapsed, his chest heaving wildly. Fresh blood trickled from the corner of his mouth; it felt like thousands of fire ants were gnawing at his blood vessels from the inside. This energy rebound was a total bitch. His Kunao Inner Eye seemed to be rebelling, refusing to be forced into overdrive within such a fragile body.

Spit!

“You… you think I’m scared of some granny’s sewing needle?” Zolda spat a mouthful of blood right onto Sakti’s golden boots.

“Hahaha! You still got a mouth on you, huh? I admit, you got balls, monkey. But in front of my Spirit-Severing Needle, you’re just meat waiting to be butchered!” Sakti stepped forward, the needle in his hand vibrating, emitting a high-frequency hum that made Zolda’s ears scream in pain.

“Spirit-Severing Needle? What kinda name is that? Tacky as hell, sounds like an 80s horror flick! Come get some if you got the guts, don’t just show off your cheap accessories!” Zolda tried to stand, his knees shaking violently, but his eyes still glinted gold, even if dim.

“You really are an ungrateful brat. I give you the honor of dying by my hand, and you insult me. Fine, I’ll gouge your eyes out first, then let you die slowly while listening to your own heart stop beating!” Sakti lunged.

Clang!

Zolda parried the strike with the last dregs of his strength. He used the Kunao Shadow Step technique to shift his body a hair's breadth away from the deadly needle's path. “Slow, asshole! You got cataracts or something?”

“Son of a bitch! How can you still move in that rebound state?!” Sakti was shocked, his eyes bulging behind the golden mask in disbelief. “Medically speaking, your nerves should be totally paralyzed by now!”

“That’s only if the medicine you studied was clown school medicine! In front of the Divine Healer’s arts, your garbage theories don’t apply!” Zolda caught Sakti’s wrist, then pressed the Hegu point on the back of the man’s hand with full force.

“AAAAHHH! My hand! What… what did you do to my hand?!” Sakti screamed, his purple needle nearly dropping.

“Just clogged your blood flow a bit. How’s that feel? Like your whole body’s got pins and needles, right?” Zolda smirked, but a second later he coughed up blood again. His strength was truly at its limit.

“Don’t get cocky, hobo! You think you’re the only one with tricks?” Sakti kicked Zolda in the gut, sending the kid flying into the remains of a sofa. “Guards! Finish him! Don’t let him breathe!”

Suddenly, from the remaining hovering helicopters, dozens of men in tactical black gear rappelled down, fully armed with automatic weapons. They immediately formed a circle, aiming their muzzles straight at the prone Zolda.

“Yo, pretty crowded! We having a brawl or a prayer meeting?!” Zolda yelled while trying to sit up. “Bringing guns and everything, you guys are lame! Come at me one by one if you’re actually men!”

“Zolda, Zolda… in this world, there’s no such thing as fair. There’s only who holds control. And right now, I’m holding the remote to your life!” Sakti stood up again, his hand still stiff but his aura darkening.

“Remote to my life? You think I’m a CRT TV?” Zolda laughed cynically, even though his chest felt like it was going to explode. Damn, I gotta find a way to hold back this rebound or I’m gonna end up as a skewer here.

“Shoot his legs! Don’t kill him, I need him alive for the eye transplant ritual!” ordered Sakti with a cold tone.

RATATATATATA!

Hot lead started raining down on the apartment floor. Zolda rolled amidst the debris, his movements no longer as fast as before. One bullet grazed his shoulder, spraying blood and tearing his grungy jacket even more.

“ARGH! Damn it! Stings like a bitch, monkey!” Zolda grimaced, taking cover behind a cracked concrete pillar.

“What’s wrong? You were so arrogant earlier, now you’re whimpering like a cat with its tail caught in the door!” Sakti laughed in satisfaction, walking closer casually. “Just give up, Zolda. Hand over the Kunao Inner Eye, and I promise to make your death not too torturous.”

“Give up? In my dictionary, there’s no ‘give up,’ only ‘you all are gonna die’!” Zolda closed his eyes. He started feeling the energy flow within his body. He didn't try to fight the rebound anymore; instead, he tried to ‘dance’ with the pain.

Sky-Supporting God’s Breath… Stage One: Marrow Purification!

Suddenly, the temperature in the room dropped drastically. Steam began to rise from Zolda’s wounds. His dim golden eyes suddenly blazed again, this time not just gold, but with streaks of terrifying silver.

“Hey, why did it suddenly get cold?” one of Sakti’s guards looked around, his gun-holding hand starting to tremble.

“Don’t stop shooting, idiot! Finish him fast!” Sakti barked, but he himself started feeling something wrong. Zolda’s aura suddenly changed to something incredibly oppressive, like a giant mountain crashing down on their shoulders.

Zolda stood calmly amidst the bullet rain. Strangely, the bullets suddenly slowed down once they reached a one-meter radius around his body, then dropped to the floor like spilled peanuts.

“What the hell is this?! Our bullets aren’t working?!” the guard shouted in panic.

“That’s called a Meridian Magnetic Field. Go back to elementary school, you morons!” Zolda stepped forward. Every step cracked the concrete floor into pieces.

“Sakti, you said you wanted my eyes earlier, right? Come take 'em if you can touch my shadow!” Zolda vanished. This time not like lightning, but truly like a ghost.

Thud! Crash! Boom!

In an instant, ten guards flew in all directions with their bones completely shattered. Zolda didn’t use heavy punches; he just touched their nerve points with his fingertips, but the effect was like getting hit by a freight truck.

“Crazy… you truly are a monster!” Sakti retreated, his face pale behind the mask. “How can you recover from rebound this fast?! That’s medically impossible!”

“Impossible for you, for me this is just a warm-up! Now, your turn to feel what it’s like to be my patient!” Zolda was already in front of Sakti, his hand gripping the golden-robed man’s throat.

“Ghk… l-let… go…!” Sakti gasped, his strength completely vanishing the moment Zolda touched his neck.

“Let go? Earlier you wanted to gouge my eyes out, now you ask to let go? Life must be nice!” Zolda lifted Sakti high. “Tell your boss, whoever that is, if he wants to play with Zolda, he better be ready to bury every member of his sect!”

“You… you don’t know who you’re fighting… Shadow Sect… has thousands like me…” Sakti tried to threaten even though his voice was raspy.

“Thousands like you? Good, means I’ll have plenty of material to practice my deadly acupuncture!” Zolda was about to throw Sakti out the window, but suddenly a voice from the radio in Sakti’s pocket crackled to life.

“Zolda, don’t kill him if you still want to see Navi in one piece.”

Zolda froze. The voice was heavy, commanding, and filled with a threat that genuinely made his skin crawl. “Who are you?! Where’s Navi?!”

“Call me ‘Grandmaster’. Navi is in our hands now. Siska, that foolish woman you trusted, is actually one of our double agents. She brought her straight to our underground headquarters.”

“DAMN IT! SISKA BETRAYED ME?!” Zolda screamed, his voice shaking the entire room. His anger exploded, shattering the remaining glass in the apartment into dust.

“Hahaha… I told you, never trust anyone in this city, especially a doctor with a dark past,” the voice on the radio chuckled. “Now, release Sakti. Follow the coordinates sent to your phone. Come alone, no weapons, no tricks. Or else, every ten minutes, we will cut off one of Navi’s pretty fingers.”

“You bastard! If Navi gets even a scratch, I’ll crush your place into dust!” Zolda crushed the radio until it broke.

He threw Sakti to the floor roughly. Sakti coughed, trying to find oxygen while laughing cynically. “How does it feel, Medical Emperor? Betrayal tastes good, right? Now you have no one.”

“Shut up before I sew your mouth with barbed wire!” Zolda kicked Sakti’s face, knocking him out cold.

Zolda stood on the balcony edge, staring at Jakarta’s sky, which was starting to cloud over again. His mind was in turmoil. Siska, the doctor he thought he could trust, was just a tool to trap him. And Navi… that arrogant but smart girl was in big trouble because of him.

“Nav… wait for me. I’ll come get you, even if I have to flatten this entire city!” Zolda muttered, his eyes flashing deep gold again, sharper than before.

He grabbed Reno’s phone he pocketed earlier; sure enough, a message came in with GPS coordinates pointing to an old industrial area on the outskirts of Jakarta. The place was famous for being haunted and long abandoned.

Zolda jumped straight off the top-floor balcony! No parachute, just using air pressure under his feet to break his fall, landing smoothly on the hood of the red sports car still parked below.

“Okay, time for the real party to start!” Zolda got into the car, the engine roaring loudly as he floored the gas pedal.

The car tore through the night streets, smashing anything in its way. Zolda didn’t care about traffic laws or cops anymore. Only one thing was on his mind: Navi had to survive.

While speeding on the toll road, three big black motorcycles started chasing him. The riders wore black robes like the guys earlier. They carried iron chains tipped with serrated blades.

“More annoyances? You guys never run out, do you, like cockroaches!” Zolda rolled down the window, then flicked a few coins from the car dashboard.

Cling! Cling! Cling!

The coins shot out like bullets, hitting the tires of the chasing bikes until they exploded. The bikes tumbled on the asphalt, creating sparks before finally blowing up together.

Zolda didn’t stop; he kept driving until he reached the gate of the target industrial area. The gate was high, rusty, and guarded by two giant men wielding sledgehammers.

“Yo, move aside you two! I’m in a hurry!” Zolda got out of the car, walking casually but radiating heat that made the surrounding air feel scorching.

“No one enters without the Grandmaster’s permission! Leave, kid, if you wanna live!” one of the giants raised his hammer.

“Permission? I don’t need permission to enter a bandits’ den like this!” Zolda dashed forward, catching the swinging sledgehammer with just one hand.

Crash!

The asphalt floor beneath Zolda’s feet cracked, but his hand didn’t budge an inch. The giant guard glared, trying to pull his hammer back, but couldn’t, as if the hammer had become one with Zolda’s hand.

“Now, let me teach you how to use a hammer properly!” Zolda spun the hammer along with the man, then threw them at the iron gate.

BOOM!

The thick iron gate shattered, and the two guards flew inside with it. Zolda stepped through the dust cloud. Inside, he saw hundreds of people waiting for him, forming a long line leading to a main building that looked like an ancient temple.

In the middle of that line, an old man sat in a wheelchair, wearing a pure white robe. Beside him, Siska stood with a flat expression, holding a scalpel to Navi’s neck, who was tied to a chair.

“Zolda… you finally came. Welcome to the end of your journey as a healer,” said the old man in the wheelchair, his voice hoarse but authoritative.

“Grandmaster? You look more like a malnourished geezer,” Zolda mocked, his eyes glaring hatefully at Siska. “And you, Siska… I’m truly disappointed. Your doctor title was just a cover to be a lackey for this crazy sect?”

Siska remained silent, her eyes avoiding Zolda’s gaze. “I’m sorry, Zolda. There are things you will never understand about the Shadow Sect. They hold my family’s lives.”

“Classic excuse! All traitors always have a sob story!” Zolda snapped. “Now, let Navi go, or I’ll turn this place into a mass grave for all of you!”

“Calm down, Young Man. We will release her, but after the ritual to unify the Kunao Inner Eye is complete. You know, that eye is actually the heart of our organization, stolen thousands of years ago by your ancestors,” the Grandmaster coughed slightly. “And now, it is time to return what is ours.”

“Yours? This eye chose me because I have a heart, not like you with only rotten ambitions!” Zolda prepared his stance. All his energy gathered at his fingertips, ready to explode anytime.

“Heart is useless in the highest medical arts, Zolda. Only results matter. Siska, begin the operation now!” ordered the Grandmaster.

Siska raised her scalpel high, her hand trembling as the blade tip touched the corner of Navi’s eye. Navi could only sob, gagged so she couldn’t scream.

“ZOLDAAAA! DON’T MOVE! TRAP BELOW YOU!” Navi yelled through the gag.

Zolda was shocked; he just realized the floor he stood on suddenly turned bright red. Before he could jump, thousands of micro-needles shot out from the floor cracks, piercing his soles and injecting a high-dose nerve-paralyzing fluid.

“Ugh! Damn… sneaky old man!” Zolda fell to his knees, his whole body suddenly stiff as a statue.

“Hahaha! That is the Qi-Freezing Poison. No matter how great your martial arts, without energy flow, you are just a normal human,” the Grandmaster laughed satisfied. “Siska, what are you waiting for? Take his eyes!”

Siska stepped closer to the immobile Zolda. She held her scalpel with increasingly trembling hands. When she stood right in front of Zolda, she whispered something only Zolda could hear.

“I’m sorry… this is the only way to…”

Suddenly, Siska stabbed her scalpel not into Zolda’s eye, but into...