Nile looked around, making sure no one was watching the scene. The blue screen was still hovering beside him, pulsing faintly at the edge of his vision.
He swallowed hard.
Fuck me... I think I'm going to have to choose option two.
Option three felt like a death sentence. That operation—Rize's organs being transplanted into him—he didn't know if it would work a second time. Kaneki surviving it had been one in a thousand. Maybe worse.
He placed his palms over his face, dragging them down slowly as he let out a deep, exhausted sigh. The kind that sounded like it carried every ounce of stress in his body.
He inhaled sharply through his teeth. "I'll deal with the emotional shit later. Right now, I've got a problem to fix."
He looked at Rize's broken body, still pinned. His throat tightened.
"I'm really gonna have to fucking feed her, aren't I?" he muttered.
If I want her to regenerate again—and make sure she doesn't die—I need to give her something. My flesh... maybe even my blood.
He clenched his jaw and stared at his arm.
God, I don't want to do this.
His fingers squeezed his forearm. A fresh wave of pain seared through him as he pulled away. His breath hitched, his whole body trembling.
His vision pulsed. His eyes burned.
I can't fucking bear this...
He'd done MMA before. He could take a punch, a break, a knockdown. But this—this was different. This was intentional. Ripping open his own body, no adrenaline, .
But still, he looked back at Rize.
Then he looked at the skyline.
And he resolved himself.
He grabbed his arm again, squeezed the open wound until blood welled up and dripped freely.
Fuck me. The things I do to get back to my family...
Somewhere in his heart, he believed—hoped—that if he reached 100% fusion, this nightmare would end. That the system would send him home. That he'd see Mia again. Dom. His siblings.
He didn't know if it was a dream, or something worse.
But this was all he had.
The blood dripped from his arm into Rize's mouth. At first, nothing happened.
Then her regeneration twitched—picked up.
The broken pieces of her began knitting together, slow but visible.
She was still unconscious. But he knew Rize. She healed fast. She wouldn't be out for long.
And if he passed out from blood loss before she was fully restrained—or if he bled out altogether...
I'm either going to die, he thought, or I'll be taken to the hospital, and that bastard Kanou will turn me into some stitched-up monster with her organs in my chest.
He bit down hard, forcing himself upright. That shit worked once. It won't work again. I'm not taking that risk.
He turned to the glowing panel still floating nearby.
Nile focused on it.
Use all my fusion points, he thought.
Instantly, a searing pain erupted in his back. It felt like something digging into him from the inside, twisting, merging, corrupting.
He screamed. Loud.
He grabbed the back of his neck and ears, wailing through gritted teeth. His body rocked back and forth, spasming. He bit his lip hard enough to draw more blood as he slammed into the rooftop wall.
"FUCK—fuck—fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck—!"
For half a second, his pupils went completely black.
Then, just as suddenly, they returned to normal.
He gasped for air.
His entire body ached, but when he looked at his arm, something new was happening.
Black tendrils—thin, slick, and alive—were slowly creeping across his wound, weaving it shut like stitches. It wasn't fast. It was slow. Painfully slow. Slower than even the weakest ghoul's regeneration from what he remembered in the manga.
But it was still faster than any normal human.
And it wasn't just the tendrils. His body itself was regenerating—barely, but noticeably. Like something inside him had just... kicked on.
The system screen updated:
Fusion Level: 3%
Fusion Points to Next Level: 0 / 300
Current Missions: None
Underneath, new stat indicators glowed dimly:
Strength: Slightly above average human. Weaker than the lowest-tier ghouls—comparable to the old man Rize used to toy with.
Speed: Human-level. Just fast enough to dodge slow attacks if he's lucky.
Regeneration: Activated. Minor cuts and wounds will heal over time. Accelerated by symbiote fusion.
Symbiote Mass Available: Enough to coat his pinky finger.
Pathetic. But it was something.
That tiny sliver of black tendril might not be enough to fight—but it could help him heal. Maybe block a strike. Maybe delay death by seconds.
Right now, that was more than he had an hour ago.
And that had to be enough.