Sophion energy residue erupted violently from Shin's body. The second the shattered reinforced chains clattered to the steel floor, he pivoted, driving all his weight into his pivot leg and swinging a direct strike straight at Lu Quanlin's face.
The fist cut through the air at extreme velocity. Yet, at the exact split second when Shin's fist was barely two centimeters from the Federation leader's nose—
BOOMMMMM!!!!!!
A deafening explosion erupted in the confined space! Blinding photonic energy swallowed all vision. Shin immediately crossed his arms before his face to defend, but the sheer thermal wave pressure blasted his entire body backward, his boots skidding across the metal floor and carving two pitch-black burn marks.
Shin landed, taking a few steps back to keep his balance. He looked down at his arms—the skin had been completely incinerated, charred black flesh emitting a pungent, burnt odor. Without a shred of hesitation, Shin immediately activated the Sophion energy within his body, willingly trading energy reserves to heal the damage.
SZZZT... SZZZT…
Somatic cells roared to life, fresh skin weaving together and replacing the charred flesh within a few short seconds.
Across from him, the cloud of dust slowly cleared, revealing the towering figure of Arthur Pendleton. The middle-aged Four Extremes of Order officer gradually lowered his hand, which wisped with white smoke, his photonic eyes flashing with brutal intensity:
— "You blocked that? Not quite like last time, is it?"
Before Shin could utter a word, Lu Quanlin collapsed onto his rear behind Arthur, his face distorted with panic and rage. Pointing a shaking finger at Shin, he roared like a wounded beast:
— "DAMN IT! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME, YOU LOWLIFE?! ALL OF YOU, KILL HIM! CHOP HIM TO PIECES, TEAR HIM APART FOR MEEEE!"
A squad of heavily armed soldiers immediately formed a wall, frantically escorting Lu Quanlin as he fled the battle zone.
At the same time, Arthur offered no further words, vanishing on the spot like a flash of light.
SWISH!
In a fraction of a second, he materialized directly before Shin, his massive hand clamping hard onto his neck and hoisting him into the air.
BAM! BAM! SHATTER!!!!!
With horrifying photonic speed, Arthur dragged Shin through successive layers of reinforced alloy ceilings, barreling straight out into the mid-air tempest outside the Central Sector tower.
Down in the main hall, total chaos erupted. Siren Sinclair, Damon, and Kim Tae-hyun charged simultaneously toward the remaining three members of Group A.
Roxy Vance marshaled her energy, about to leap forward in support, when she froze. Kim Tae-hyun—the young commander of the Galactic Alliance—appeared like a specter beside her. Reaching out, he grabbed Roxy by the ankle, roared, and hurled her away!
THUD! BAM! BAM! BAM!
Roxy's body was thrown with terrifying momentum, crashing through a series of steel walls and tumbling into the deep chambers inside the outpost.
Tae-hyun smoothed his suit jacket, turning toward Siren with a sly smirk under his Noh mask:
— "Darling, you take the swordsman. I'll handle this little dog-hybrid girl!"
Siren pouted, her face twisted in a petulant huff:
— "Hmph! Don't you dare go flirting with other girls mid-fight!"
— "Rest assured, my love, I only have eyes for you!" Tae-hyun chuckled coquettishly before lunging through the breach in the wall to pursue Roxy.
Right then, a guard burst into the main hall, frantically reporting to Qin Wuhuang:
— "General! The broadcast network server sector is under heavy breach!"
Qin Wuhuang narrowed his dark eyes. Realizing the hall battle was already being handled by the other officers, he immediately turned and rushed toward the server rooms to inspect the breach.
In a corner of the main hall, space split into two distinct battlefields.
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Damon—the sole perfect artificial human—stepped slowly before Kento. Tilting his head, he observed the black-haired young man standing with clenched fists:
— "Pleased to meet you again. I really want to see your true strength!"
Kento let out a long breath, slipped a hand into his pants pocket, and clicked his tongue:
— "I forgot to bring cigarettes today. Got any good ones?"
Damon blinked, answering honestly:
— "It seems I don't, as I do not smoke."
Kento smirked, his eyes turning stone cold:
— "Fair enough then!"
The moment the words left his mouth, without a shred of warning—
WHAM!!!!!!
An energy-wrapped fist slammed straight into the center of Damon's face! The strike carried the velocity and impact of an intercontinental missile smashing into its target.
CRACK! CRACK CRACK!
Damon's nasal bone and jaw were pulverized on the spot, fresh blood and shattered teeth spraying into the air. His entire body launched backward like a cannonball, slamming violently into the load-bearing wall at the end of the hall.
BOOM!!!!!
Stone dust exploded everywhere. Damon's face was severely disfigured, one eye completely dislocated. But right before Kento's eyes, the artificial young man was not so easily brought down.
SZZZT... SQUELCH…
Pulverized muscle tissues automatically contracted, broken bones rejoining themselves with stomach-churning CRACKLE sounds. Within seconds, Damon's face returned to its pristine condition. He raised a hand to rub his chin, curling his lips:
— "That actually hurt a bit!”
Kento watched the display without the slightest surprise:
— "Figures as much!"
TEAR!!!!!
Kento ripped off his outer shirt with raw strength, revealing a chiseled, muscle-bound torso forged to perfection. Right then, his jet-black hair began to transform, turning snow-white from root to tip.
A surging, pure-white aura erupted around Kento like a predatory beast on the prowl.
— "This is merely my semi-perfect state! Call me the White Demon, because the strength I have today exists thanks to that name!"
Damon sneered, a flash of wild excitement in his eyes.
THUD! WHAM! WHAM! THUD!
The two clashed like maddened gladiators! Fists collided with deafening booms that echoed throughout the hall, trading blow for blow without an ounce of restraint.
Meanwhile, on the opposite side, Kamishiro Seijuro unleashed a flurry of sword strikes.
SWISHHH! SWISHHH!
The katana in the young swordsman's hand whistled through the air at blinding speeds, weaving sharp crescent arcs that tore through space. Siren Sinclair struggled immensely, tumbling and leaping to dodge the fatal slashes of sword aura.
— "Not bad technique at all!" Siren landed, smoothing her pink hair, her voice dripping with mockery. "But this much isn't nearly enough!"
Siren immediately concentrated all spatial energy around her.
Velvet Purgatory: Mirror of Dark Desires!
WOOSH!
A dense, captivating expanse of purple-red space exploded, swallowing Seijuro and isolating him completely from the real world.
The moment he entered this realm, Seijuro felt his chest tighten. The air was thick with energy that hyper-stimulated visual and neural pathways. Inside his mind, dark thoughts—jealousy, ambition, lust, and rage—surged wildly, threatening to tear his willpower apart.
SLAP!
Seijuro slapped his own face hard to stay focused. He looked around, but Siren was nowhere to be seen. Her sweet, whispering voice echoed from the surrounding space, continuously digging into and magnifying the dark corners of his heart.
Seijuro gripped his hilt tightly, swinging slashes into empty air to train his mind and disperse the encroaching dark illusions.
Siren smiled maliciously from the void, executing her next technique:
Sinner's Loop: Eternal Reset!
FLARE!
The scenery around Seijuro shifted abruptly. He found himself standing in the middle of a village engulfed in flames. Screams and wails echoed everywhere. Right before him, a woman holding a small child sobbed, begging for mercy from a ruthless murderer brandishing a blade.
His knightly instincts flared. Seijuro lunged forward:
SWISH!
The blade finished the killer, saving mother and child. He continued charging through the village, slaying dozens of bandits to rescue innocent villagers. Yet, just as he reached out to pull an old man from a burning house—
RIP!
Reality tore open! Seijuro was suddenly yanked back to the initial starting moment—where the woman holding her child begged the murderer!
Seijuro was stunned:
— "What is this?!"
Again he charged and cut down the murderer, again he rescued others, and again he was pulled straight back to the starting point. An infinite loop!
Once, ten times, a hundred times... Seijuro spun wildly in a cycle of killing to save, but everything automatically rewound. His face was stained with fresh blood, his katana dripping dark red droplets onto the ground. Madness and helplessness gradually gnawed at his consciousness.
Seijuro clutched his head, roaring crazily into the crimson space:
— "DAMN IT ALL! WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING?! LET ME OUT! RELEASE ME FROM THIS PLACE! THIS ISN'T REAL! THIS IS AN ILLUSION!"
He swung his blade wildly. When he looked down at his blood-soaked hands, Seijuro gasped in horror—the corpses beneath his feet were no longer just the murderer. The woman holding her child had been sliced in half by his blade, the child lay unconscious in a pool of blood, and the old man was pierced through the chest. In his panic, he had inadvertently slaughtered the innocent!
Seijuro collapsed onto his knees, his hands trembling as he clutched his head:
— "What... what the hell have I done?"
Seijuro's mind teetered on the brink of total collapse. Right at that moment, from the deep expanse of his memories, his master's calm yet dignified voice echoed:
"Seijuro, listen closely..."
"Close your eyes and listen. When the lake is agitated, the moon shatters. When the water grows still, the moon is whole again. Keep your mind as flat and clear as a mirror..."
BOOM!
Like cool water pouring into his consciousness, Seijuro snapped awake!
— "This was... nothing more than an illusion created by a spatial domain!"
Seijuro sat cross-legged right in the middle of the hellscape. Closing his eyes, he ignored the wailing and the roaring flames, bringing his mind back into absolute meditation. The storm outside faded away, and the lake of his consciousness smoothed into a mirror without a single ripple.
EYES OPEN!
A deadly stillness flashed in Seijuro's eyes. He stood up, hands gripping the hilt, lowering his center of gravity:
— "Just... this one slash!"
Mugen Kiri: Zetsu! (Infinite Slash: Severance)
SHATTERRRRR!!!!!!
With a single, unadorned slash, a void boundary sliced open, tearing the entire structure of the illusionary space apart! The Velvet Purgatory shattered into thousands of sharp purple glass fragments that ground against the air.
Siren Sinclair, who had been hiding in the void, suddenly materialized and tumbled onto the floor.
Her eyes widened in absolute horror:
— "Impossible! Just a bit more and I would have had him completely manipulated! No... I have to stop him!"
Gritting her teeth, Siren unleashed her final technique:
Whip of Temptation: Desire Lash!
A shimmering pinkish-purple whip condensed from spatial energy lashed out, aiming straight at Seijuro's soul to crush his ambition.
Yet, Seijuro didn't even blink. Executing his footwork:
Senkō Zan: Kien! (Flash Slash: Flame Swallow)
FLASH!
In a blur of light, Seijuro glided past the whip's trajectory, his katana slicing precisely along the structural folds of Siren's spatial energy.
CRACK! BOOM!
Siren's entire spatial shield exploded!
— "NOOOOO!!!!! " Siren shrieked in desperation.
Seijuro stepped back into reality. Siren crashed onto the cold metal floor. Panicking, she scrambled backward, but in an instant, Seijuro reached out, grabbing her neck and lifting her up.
Seeing the ice-cold eyes of the young swordsman, all of Siren's arrogance evaporated. She burst into violent sobs, tears smudging her beautiful face:
— "Please... please spare me... I don't want to die yet...!"
Seijuro paused for a beat. Looking at the trembling young woman, he quietly sheathed his katana.
CLICK!
— "Your abilities are formidable, but unfortunately, you crossed paths with the wrong opponent!”
He dropped Siren down, pulled a nearby reinforced cable to bind her tightly against a wall corner to disable her spatial magic, then turned toward Kento's battlefield.
— "Kento! I'm coming to help!"
Kento—his white hair fluttering, his body drenched in Damon's blood—burst into wild laughter:
— "Haha! Let me gang up and beat the shit out of this stubborn leech!"
(To be continued)