Chapter 146: Manhattan Crisis - Part 13
Leonard and the man locked eyes, both wearing the same cold, unblinking expression. Each could feel the weight of danger radiating from the other, like two predators circling before the strike.
Leonard's voice cut through the silence.
"Why?"
The man stared back, unflinching. The air between them seemed to still. Then, in a voice as frigid as steel:
"Because all of my enemies were gathered here. And most importantly, my number one enemy… you."
Leonard's fists tightened, his knuckles whitening.
"You caused the deaths of over a million people… just for that?"
The man didn't hesitate.
"Yes. Exactly."
The air grew colder still, the tension crushing. Leonard's white eyes fixed on him, the light within them like a blade.
"Are you… the Engineer?"
The man's lips curved into the faintest shadow of a smile.
"Yes. It's me, Mr. Administrator."
Leonard said nothing more. In one smooth motion, he seized his lyre, brandishing it like a weapon. The Engineer raised his fists in response, his entire body erupting into writhing black flames that consumed the space around him, their heat clashing with the unnatural chill.
The two men didn't move for a heartbeat. The silence between them was a suffocating weight, broken only by the distant screams and the low groan of the damaged skyscraper. Then, without warning, both unleashed hell.
Léonard struck the first chord on his lyre. The sound didn't just vibrate, it bent. The air warped, the floor twisted under their feet, and the walls themselves seemed to ripple like waves. Reality bled into impossible geometry, angles folding into themselves, fragments of space briefly ceasing to exist before snapping back with concussive force.
The Engineer answered with a roar. Black flames erupted from his body, licking the air like liquid shadows, each flicker devouring light. The fire formed a barrier around him, distorting heatwaves into shimmering death. Every ember carried the weight of annihilation.
Léonard's next chord slammed into the Engineer's shield. Space around the flames fractured like broken glass, momentarily snuffing them out before they reignited with an even greater fury. The Engineer countered by hurling a wave of black fire across the room. It wasn't mere heat, it erased. Anything the fire touched crumbled into nothing, even the air turning to ash.
The impact shredded through the floor. The metal beams below screamed in agony before collapsing, sending chunks of reinforced concrete crashing into the levels below. Two entire floors caved in under the force, swallowing debris into a hurricane of dust and molten rebar.
Hovering above the collapsing space on platforms of distorted reality, Léonard plucked another string. The room bent sideways, gravity shifting, pulling the Engineer toward a twisting wall that stretched and split into hundreds of impossible paths. But the Engineer dug his feet into the fractured floor, black fire erupting in a surge, blasting away the warped geometry before it could consume him.
They clashed again and again, Léonard's melodies slicing the world apart, the Engineer's flames sealing the rifts shut in an infernal counterpoint. Each exchange carried enough force to level a city block.
Then the Engineer closed the distance.
Through the shifting space, through the impossible barriers, he lunged. His flaming fist smashed through a wall of warped reality, burning it to pure void. Before Léonard could play another note, the Engineer's hand clamped around his head.
The black fire surged. It wrapped around Léonard like a living tide, searing through clothing, skin, and bone, burning not with heat, but with an annihilation that chewed at his very essence. The room glowed with the infernal light as the Administrator's body was engulfed, the sound of the lyre dying into silence.
The roar of the battle below faded for a brief moment as the inferno raged through the upper floor. Heat shimmered in the air, flames clinging to the blackened steel beams like serpents of fire.
Then, from within the blaze, a figure emerged, untouched, unburned, eyes blazing with intent.
Léonard stepped forward through the wall of flame, each stride echoing like a war drum. His expression was calm, but his clenched fists radiated lethal promise. In a single motion, he launched upward, his body twisting in perfect precision, and drove an explosive uppercut straight into the jaw of the Engineer.
The impact cracked the air like a cannon blast. The Engineer's body lifted off the ground, slammed back into a fractured steel column, and was hurled through it. Shards of concrete and steel scattered like shrapnel.
Léonard exhaled deeply, his voice low, almost to himself.
"Thank god… the fragment made me survive."
The System's faint hum still resonated in his mind, the Administrator's aura flowing above his skin, sharpening every motion.
From the wreckage, movement.
The Engineer pulled himself from the twisted metal, his face smeared with dust and blood, his eyes locked on Léonard with a cold, surgical hatred. His jaw cracked back into place with a sharp, wet click.
"You should've stayed down."
They moved at the same instant.
The floor between them erupted as they collided. Each strike was a blur, fists meeting forearms, elbows deflecting punches, knees slamming into ribs. Every impact echoed like hammer blows against an anvil. Léonard's movements were a perfect blend of precision and raw force, while the Engineer fought with ruthless efficiency, his every attack aiming for crippling damage.
A whip-crack jab from Léonard split the air; the Engineer ducked, countered with a brutal hook that rattled the reinforced railing behind them. Léonard stepped into the blow, absorbed it, and retaliated with a driving knee to the Engineer's gut, folding him forward. But the Engineer twisted, snatching Léonard's arm, spinning him, and slamming him shoulder-first into a concrete support.
The entire floor trembled.
A distant whoosh cut through the chaos, a rocket, streaking through the shattered window from far below. It wasn't aimed at either fighter, but it detonated nearby, the shockwave showering the room in glass and debris. Both men staggered, but neither broke focus.
"You've got backup," the Engineer spat, wiping blood from his mouth.
"Not for this," Léonard replied coldly.
They lunged again, their fists colliding mid-air with such force that the sound was more felt than heard, a deep, resonating thud that rippled through the structure.
The Engineer caught Léonard's collar, headbutted him with skull-cracking force, then followed with a series of piston-like punches to his ribs. Léonard's breath left him, but he answered with a savage upward elbow, snapping the Engineer's head back, then slammed a straight right into his sternum.
They broke apart, circling, their boots grinding on scorched flooring. Below, other fighters kept the lesser demons and insurgent operatives at bay, gunfire and thaumaturgic blasts flashing in the dim light. A second explosion shook the building, somewhere beneath them.
Both men charged one final time.
Léonard's fist and the Engineer's met in a single, devastating cross-counter, an unbelievable impact that sent both fighters flying in opposite directions. Léonard crashed into a broken wall, cracking it wide open; the Engineer was flung into a pile of rubble on the far side.
For a moment, only the sound of the building groaning under its own wounds filled the air.
Then, they rose and clashed again, a shockwave bursting outward that rattled the warped steel beams and sent clouds of ash spinning into a violent cyclone. The Engineer's boots gouged deep furrows into the scorched concrete as he surged forward, his hands already igniting in writhing coils of black fire. The flames hissed and distorted the air, eating away at the edges of reality itself as if they were alive.
Léonard stepped into the charge, the Administrator's aura swelling around him like an oppressive storm front. His eyes were glowing white, unreadable, and for an instant the entire floor seemed to dim, the remaining lights flickering under an unseen pressure. He drew in a deep breath and activated Demon Mode.
The tattoos surged to life beneath his skin, intricate patterns carved in galactic ink but the overwhelming dominance of the Administrator's aura kept them hidden from sight. Only flashes escaped: jagged arcs of darkness, lightning so black it seemed to drink the light, racing along his arms and across his jawline in erratic pulses. The floor trembled beneath his stance.
The Engineer didn't hesitate. He thrust both hands forward, launching a wave of black fire that roared like a living predator, the temperature plummeting instead of rising. The flames hit Léonard head-on and were met by an explosion of dark lightning, the Administrator's power shredding through the firestorm in crackling, booming detonations. The shock forced them both to skid back, each planting a foot hard into the floor to keep from being thrown entirely.
They reengaged.
Léonard blurred forward, the space between them vanishing in an instant. His fist, wrapped in coiling arcs of black lightning, smashed toward the Engineer's temple but the man twisted, catching the blow on a forearm wreathed in fire. The impact erupted into an expanding wave of darkness and embers that ripped the nearest wall apart, molten fragments raining down.
The Engineer countered, slamming his knee upward toward Léonard's ribs. The strike connected with enough force to dent steel, but Léonard absorbed it, twisting with the blow and driving his elbow toward the side of the Engineer's neck. The Chaos Insurgency leader ducked just in time, his hand snapping up to claw at Léonard's throat.
Léonard caught the wrist, twisted and flung him like a ragdoll through a row of thick support beams. The metal bent and snapped, sending the Engineer crashing into the far wall with bone-jarring force. But instead of staying down, he rebounded instantly, launching himself back with a trail of fire spiraling behind him like a comet's tail.
They collided mid-air.
The clash was thunderous. Sparks of molten metal and flecks of black fire spun away into the shadows. Their blows came faster now, a dizzying storm of fists, elbows, knees, and headbutts, each strike meeting another with enough force to dent the concrete beneath them. Neither yielded an inch.
The Engineer shifted tactics. His left hand ignited again, but this time the flames twisted into jagged, blade-like shapes. He slashed across Léonard's chest, the black fire biting into his jacket and searing at the skin beneath. Léonard didn't flinch, his left hand shot out, grabbed the Engineer by the collar, and drove a fist straight into his sternum.
The Engineer choked, blood flecking his lips but in the same motion, he grinned, catching Léonard's arm and dragging him forward into a vicious headbutt. The crack echoed like a gunshot.
Both men staggered, but neither slowed.
Léonard's lightning intensified, arcs now lashing outward and striking random surfaces, scorching walls, burning through the floor in jagged lines. The Administrator's aura deepened to an almost tangible weight, the air so thick with power it felt hard to breathe.
The Engineer roared, his black flames swelling into an inferno that towered above them both, licking the ceiling and setting the steel supports glowing red. He swept his arm in a wide arc, the fire following like a whip, smashing through walls and obliterating debris in its path. Léonard ducked under the first sweep, only to spring forward, his fist slamming upward into the man's jaw in a brutal uppercut that sent him airborne.
The Engineer twisted mid-flight, landing against a tilted steel beam like a cat, then kicked off, spinning into a downward heel drop aimed at Léonard's skull. Léonard raised both arms, blocking the blow, the impact creating a spiderweb of cracks beneath his feet. He shoved the Engineer back, then immediately launched himself into a spinning roundhouse that clipped the side of the man's head.
The blow sent the Engineer tumbling but before he could recover, Léonard closed in again, his speed now fully unleashed. He struck in a blur: one, two, three, each punch and elbow followed by a snap of black lightning, detonating against the Engineer's defenses.
The Engineer was driven back step by step, until his heels hit the edge of the gaping hole in the floor from the earlier explosion. But instead of falling, he lashed out, one palm open, unleashing a concentrated burst of black fire point-blank into Léonard's chest. The flames didn't just burn; they clawed, tearing at the aura around him.
Léonard gritted his teeth, forcing the attack aside with both arms, the lightning around him shrieking in protest. He grabbed the Engineer's wrist and twisted hard, hearing the pop of a dislocated joint but before he could capitalize, the man kicked him full-force in the gut, breaking his grip and sending him sliding back several meters.
They both stood there for a heartbeat, chests heaving, bodies marked by burns, bruises, and cuts.
Then, without a word, they rushed each other again.
The floor between them shattered from the combined pressure of their footfalls. Their fists collided mid-swing, the resulting blast of force ripping a fresh hole in the side of the building and sending flaming debris spiraling into the night. In that instant, their eyes locked, pure defiance meeting pure hatred and both knew this wasn't going to end quickly.
Overhead, the muffled thud of an explosion sounded, maybe a distant missile or rocket strike from supporting forces but neither man looked away. The faint rain of dust and sparks around them was nothing compared to the storm they were unleashing right here, right now.
The Engineer broke the lock first, snapping his head to the side and swinging with a hook wreathed in spiraling black fire. Léonard ducked low, came up inside his guard, and drove a brutal rising knee into his ribs, the crack of bone unmistakable. The Engineer spat blood but retaliated instantly, smashing both fists down like hammers into Léonard's back, forcing him to one knee.
The moment his foot touched the ground, Léonard surged upward with terrifying speed, headbutting the Engineer hard enough to stagger him backward several steps.
And still, neither showed any sign of stopping.
The battle raged, each strike threatening to bring the entire floor down around them.
The two lunged at each other again, the shock of their fists colliding sending a concussion wave through the ruined floor. Debris rained from the fractured ceiling, metal beams groaning under the impact. They slid back across the scorched marble, boots screeching, each locking eyes with the other, neither willing to yield an inch.
Léonard's gaze flicked instinctively toward the shattered window at his right. Far below, at the foot of the Empire State Building, the war raged in full fury. Smoke plumes spiraled upward as missiles screamed through the air, detonating in bursts of orange and silver light. Trails of tracer fire slashed across the night sky, intersecting with streaks of raw thaumaturgic energy. The Archdemon roared in defiance, its massive silhouette wreathed in a storm of energy blasts and kinetic bombardment, shrugging off punishment that would have reduced a fortress to ash.
Closer to the ground, a nightmarish melee unfolded, forces of the GOC, the Foundation, and the THI locked in desperate combat against a tide of shrieking, blade-limbed demons. Combatants moved in flashes of steel and fire, thaumaturges clashing with infernal horrors in brutal, close-quarter duels. Gunfire and spellfire merged into one deafening symphony, painting the streets with fire and blood.
Léonard's jaw tightened. He turned back toward the Engineer, the flickering shadows of the battle below reflecting in his eyes. "No time to drag this out," he muttered under his breath.
He charged.
In an instant, he was upon the Engineer again, the world reduced to the blur of motion and the violence between them. His fists came in relentless arcs, hooks, uppercuts, and hammer-like blows, each strike laced with the black lightning that crackled faintly across his skin. The Administrator's aura masked the tattoos beneath, leaving only the jagged, onyx sparks dancing along his arms and shoulders like pieces of a storm given flesh.
The Engineer met every strike with brutal precision, his black flames bursting in waves each time their limbs collided. The heat was suffocating—wrong, like it burned not only flesh but the space around it. Every blocked punch sent ripples of warped air across the room, every parry igniting brief explosions of dark fire.
Léonard ducked under a sweeping kick, countering with a driving elbow toward the Engineer's ribs. The impact made the man grunt, but instead of stumbling, he twisted, grabbing Léonard's arm and dragging him into a savage knee strike aimed at his head. Léonard jerked back just in time, feeling the rush of displaced air scorch past his face.
They clashed again, two blurs colliding in the ruined upper floor, each strike echoing like gunfire. Stone cracked, glass shattered, and steel bent under the sheer force of their blows. Léonard's black lightning flared brighter, each spark trailing smoke, each movement faster, sharper. The Engineer's flames roared hotter in response, taking on a sharper hue, as though feeding on the momentum of the fight.
A straight punch from Léonard met a mirrored strike from the Engineer, their fists colliding in a thunderclap that split the floor between them. Both were thrown back, sliding to opposite ends of the ruined space.
The Engineer stood still for a moment, chest rising and falling. Then, slowly, he straightened. "ENOUGH!" The word thundered like a detonation, vibrating through the steel skeleton of the building.
The floor quaked.
Flames erupted from his body, not in a burst, but in a deluge, a tidal wave of black fire flooding outward. Léonard raised an arm to shield his face as the flames crashed over him, heat and darkness wrapping around his frame. The world disappeared in the infernal blaze; for a heartbeat, there was nothing but suffocating fire and the roar of it filling his ears.
Then, nothing.
Léonard's boots struck solid ground. He landed several meters away, shoulders hunched, steam rising from his skin. The flames hadn't burned his flesh, but the sheer force had shoved him back like a blast wave.
He looked up.
The Engineer had changed.
His entire body was now encased in an armor of living black fire, every flicker forming jagged, angular plates that shifted like molten metal in a forge. From his back unfurled two immense wings, each feather a shard of burning darkness that trailed embers into the air. The light they cast wasn't illumination, it was an absence, swallowing the glow of the fires still raging around them.
In his right hand, the Engineer now held a weapon, a long, viciously curved blade forged entirely from that same black flame. It bled smoke and sparks with every movement, the heat distorting the air around it. The weapon didn't hum or whistle, it growled, a low, guttural vibration that promised ruin.
The Engineer's gaze locked on Léonard. "Now," he said, his voice layered with something inhuman, "let's finish this."
Under the storm of fire and shadow, the Engineer vanished from sight, no, not vanished, but moved so fast that even Léonard's sharpened instincts could barely register the blur of motion. A streak of black flame seared across the rooftop, the heat so intense it warped the very air. The next instant, a line of agony tore open Léonard's torso, one clean, brutal slash from that blade of living darkness.
Pain flashed like lightning, but he didn't have time to fall. The Engineer was already on him again, wings flaring with bursts of flame that propelled him forward faster than a bullet. Another cut, a diagonal strike across his chest, then a twist of the wrist, and the burning sword was plunging straight into Léonard's heart.
For a normal man, that would have been the end. For anyone else in this war, death would have been final. But the Administrator's fragment burned within him, rewriting him with every heartbeat. Before the body could even drop to its knees, the wound sealed, bone reformed, flesh knit back together. Léonard inhaled sharply, dragging in a breath as if nothing had happened, though the phantom pain still echoed in his nerves.
The Engineer didn't wait. He was above Léonard now, blade raised overhead, wings flaring like the wrath of a dying star. A downward strike came with such force that the very rooftop buckled. Léonard twisted aside at the last instant, but even the grazing arc tore his left arm clean off in a burst of blackened flesh. The limb disintegrated into ash before the fragment reasserted its control, and in a blink, the arm reformed, whole, functional, and ready to strike.
"You can't kill me," Léonard snarled, sparks of black lightning crackling around him.
"You think I'm trying to kill you?" the Engineer's voice was a deep, resonant growl beneath the roar of his flames. "No… I'm going to break you THEN I will kill you."
He darted forward again. The speed was unreal, beyond anything human. Léonard raised an arm to block, but the black sword cleaved through flesh, muscle, and bone like paper. His head went next, separated from his body in a single, merciless motion. The floor spun in Léonard's vision for half a second before the fragment rewound, pulling him whole again, face-to-face with the Engineer's burning sneer.
They clashed again, steel of flame against fists charged with black lightning. Every punch Léonard threw was met with a slash, each dodge answered by a sudden aerial dive. The Engineer was everywhere, above, behind, at the edge of his vision, each movement leaving trails of scorched heat that shimmered in the cold night air.
A kick to Léonard's ribs cracked them like twigs; before they could heal, the sword punched through his side, carving a molten path out his back. The fragment pulled him back together in an instant, but it wasn't enough to shift the momentum. The Engineer was faster, his strikes a hurricane of precision and brutality, driving Léonard into pure defense.
Far below, the battle raged, a chaos of muzzle flashes, missile trails, and the roars of demons locked in combat with human soldiers. Léonard could hear the distant thunder of artillery, the sharp crack of sniper fire, the guttural screeches of dying fiends. But up here, on the shattered floor, the war was distilled into two figures, one cloaked in living shadow, the other wreathed in a pyre of black flame.
The Engineer feinted low, then twisted upward in a brutal uppercut slash. Léonard's chest opened again, ribs exploding outward before stitching themselves back together. He countered with a punch laced in black lightning, the blow cracking against the Engineer's flaming armor. The impact shattered part of the chest plating, sending embers scattering into the night but the Engineer didn't even flinch.
Instead, he lunged, grabbing Léonard by the throat with a flaming hand. Flesh charred instantly, the smell of burning meat mixing with the acrid scent of scorched tar from the floor. Léonard clawed at the grip, his skin melting and reforming in a nauseating cycle, before he slammed both fists into the Engineer's midsection, forcing the hold to break.
The Engineer took to the sky again, wings exploding with a shockwave of heat that shattered windows on the buildings around them. Léonard barely saw him descend, just a black streak, faster than thought, before the sword carved him in half from shoulder to hip. His body fell in two smoldering halves before the fragment snapped them back together.
It was maddening. No matter how many times he died, the Engineer's speed and reach made it impossible to land a decisive blow. Each "resurrection" brought him back whole but no closer to winning.
"You feel it, don't you?" the Engineer called from above, circling like a predator. "The truth that immortality means nothing… if you can't win."
Léonard's teeth ground together. Black lightning flared harder, faster, erupting from his body in jagged arcs. The air distorted, the rooftop groaning under the pressure of his rising power.
The Engineer grinned and dove again. This time, Léonard moved. Not fast enough to match, but enough to sidestep the killing blow, his fist catching the flaming wing mid-dive. The impact sent a shockwave rolling through the night, knocking debris from the rooftop and sending cracks spiderwebbing through the concrete.
But the Engineer twisted with inhuman grace, his sword snapping around in a backhand slash that took Léonard's head clean off again. The body staggered, reformed, and swung without pause, just in time to block the next strike with an arm that promptly ignited from the contact.
The floor was now an inferno, black flames licking upward, eating through steel and stone, the night sky above choked with smoke. Every breath Léonard took was molten air, every step a fight against the collapsing ground beneath them.
And still, the Engineer pressed the attack, a relentless dance of slashes, dives, and winged feints. Léonard countered when he could, trading blows that sent ripples through the very structure of the building, but the speed gap was brutal. He died and returned a dozen more times in the span of minutes, skull crushed, heart pierced, body split apart, each time rising back into the storm.
Yet with each death, his resolve hardened. The fragment would not let him fall, and he would not let this be the end.
The Engineer hovered just above, sword raised, flames coiling like serpents around his frame. "You're still standing," he said. "Let's see how much longer."
And then he dove again, faster than before, the night splitting apart around him.
The Engineer slashed Leonard once again, forcing him to stagger backward. Leonard's white eyes locked on the Engineer as he thought: "Partner, I need you."
The voice of his demon answered inside his head: "What do you want from me?"
Still in his mind, Leonard asked: "If I wanted to use Phase Two, the half-demon form, how long could I last?"
The Engineer rushed toward Leonard again, attacking and forcing him to defend.
The demon replied: "Are you stupid?"
That remark caused Leonard's movement to falter for a split second, earning him a brutal punch that sent him crashing down one floor below. Looking up, he asked: What do you mean?
The demon answered: "Why is he this stupid?"
Leonard growled: "Explain, damn it!"
The demon said: "You've assimilated the fragment of a Supreme Divinity and its concept. By fusing with it, you've become physically immortal. That means the physical constraints of the three Demon Mode stages have been nullified. Including Stage 3, Full Demon Mode."
The Engineer dove down toward Leonard again, but Leonard rolled to the side to dodge the blade.
He got back to his feet and asked: "So I can use Stage Three?"
The demon replied: "Yes…"
Suddenly, a white grin appeared on the shadowed face of Leonard's body. The Engineer sensed that something was wrong and raised his sword.
All at once, a massive wave of energy burst out from around Leonard, black as himself. Two horns emerged from his forehead, a pair of wings three times his size unfolded from his back, and a tail sprouted at the base of his spine, all of it cloaked by the fragment of the Administrator, giving everything a surface of shadow as dark as the void. Leonard felt an immense surge of power flood his body, and he smiled.
The Engineer's eyes grew even colder, a deadly chill radiating from his gaze. Without hesitation, the two lunged at each other, colliding with the force of a storm unleashed.
Glass shattered as they crashed through a window, sending shards scattering into the night air. The wind howled around them as they soared above the wreckage of the Empire State Building's upper floors, locked in a relentless battle.
Flames of black fire roared from the Engineer's form, his wings of burning darkness beating against the sky with furious power. Léonard's body crackled with shadowy energy, his tattoos pulsing faintly beneath the obsidian aura of the Administrator's fragment.
They exchanged blows mid-air, each strike a clash of titanic force that rippled through the concrete jungle below. Thunderous impacts echoed like cannon fire, and the skyline itself seemed to tremble as their fists collided again and again.
Below them, the battlefield fell silent. The archdemon, sensing the monumental threat above, ceased its assault, its infernal gaze snapping upwards. Lesser demons, once ravenous and chaotic, froze as if grasping the shifting tide of the war.
The allied forces, GOC, Foundation, and THI, paused their desperate fight, their eyes drawn skyward. Towering floodlights suddenly pierced the night, illuminating the two combatants locked in deadly ballet. Their silhouettes danced with violent grace, a storm of shadows and flame silhouetted against the scarred cityscape.
For long minutes, Léonard dominated the aerial duel. His movements flowed with otherworldly speed and precision, the Full-Demon Mode granting him reflexes that rivaled the flames licking at his opponent.
The Engineer responded with brutal ferocity, his attacks relentless and vicious, but Léonard's shadow-imbued fists found their marks again and again.
Then, gathering the dark energy the demon had advised him to channel, Léonard drew it into a single, devastating punch. His entire body surged with power, a sphere of concentrated shadow energy roaring to life around his fist.
With a roar that shattered the silence, he drove the blow into the Engineer's chest. The impact sent the chaos Insurgency leader hurtling backward, crashing hard against the rooftop. Concrete cracked beneath the strike, dust and debris exploding into the air.
The Engineer lay sprawled but unbroken, the black flames around him flickering like a storm's dying embers.
Léonard slowly descended onto the rooftop of the Empire State Building. His gaze fixed on the grotesque cocoon pulsing with a bloody red hue, the juvenile god that had unleashed this chaos. The viscous sac throbbed faintly, alive and aware of the danger Léonard represented.
A low growl echoed behind him. Léonard turned to see the Engineer standing, his face now exposed, his clothes torn and scorched. Hatred burned in his eyes, a deep scar running across his face. Spitting blood, he slowly rose to his feet.
The Engineer spoke, voice cold and venomous:
"Administrator, every second I see you, you disgust me. Fighting with fire and blood to "protect" those who don't even know your name."
Léonard snarled back, furious:
"Shut your mouth, you terrorist scum. You've murdered over a million innocents, women, men, children, and the elderly. You have no right to speak. Killing you is the only way to restore order and peace, and end this nightmare."
The Engineer repeated, voice dripping with contempt:
"Order? Peace?"
Then he laughed, a harsh, bitter sound that echoed across the shattered rooftop.
"Kuh uh uh uh AHAHAHAHAHA!!
Order? Peace? HAHAHAHAHA!
What kind of order and peace are you talking about, Administrator? The kind where the powerful crush the weak beneath their feet? Where over a billion people fight tooth and nail every day just to get a morsel of bread to survive, while the elites throw their food out the windows?
You're a hypocrite, Administrator. You claim to protect humanity from anomalies, but you and your Foundation are no different from them. You capture, imprison, or kill behind concrete walls what you don't understand or can't control. You invade people's privacy, kidnap, and plot in the shadows to gain power and 'facilitate' your so-called protection of humanity.
But let me tell you, you're nothing but hypocrites, justifying your actions by claiming moral superiority, when in truth, you're the same as them: power-hungry monsters crushing others under your boots."
Léonard said nothing.
The Engineer pressed on, his voice colder than ever:
"But we are different. The Chaos Insurgency is different from you. At least we don't hide our thirst behind pretty lies. Protect humanity? Ha! I've read the wiki and seen how the authors can't even agree on what the Chaos Insurgency wants. Some call us madmen who seek to destroy the Foundation at all costs, others call us the average villain.
But thanks to the Chaos System, I finally have the answer. Our goal is to shatter your sweet lies of 'order' and 'peace' and to establish chaos, to bring everyone back to equal footing. That is the Chaos Insurgency's purpose, in this illogical world, we will create logic out of the illogical."
The Engineer locked eyes with Léonard, his voice cold and unyielding as he continued:
"And to succeed, our first target is the SCP Foundation."
He then lifted his gaze to the sky and bellowed with furious conviction:
"PALE EMPEROR, I KNOW YOU ARE WATCHING US. YOU AND I MADE A PACT. I HAVE BROUGHT HIM TO YOU, NOW IT'S YOUR TURN TO FINISH HIM."
Silence fell, thick and heavy. Then, suddenly, the ground beneath them began to tremble. The tremors rippled outward, growing in intensity until the entire city of New York quaked violently.
Léonard felt a crushing pressure descend upon him, like the cold, unblinking gaze of a colossal predator locking onto its prey. His breath hitched, shallow and uneven.
He met the Engineer's gaze again, who simply said:
"The time has finally come for you to die, Administrator."
Then, grotesquely, the Engineer's face twisted in impossible contortions. From his mouth, a black liquid began to spill forth, pooling and rising into the air above his head. Slowly, tendrils of the same inky substance seeped from every part of his body, coalescing into a single, immense orb of impenetrable darkness.
Léonard's knees buckled under the overwhelming force of the pressure. He dropped to one knee, eyes locked on the expanding void. The orb swelled until it reached over thirty meters in diameter, hovering with perfect, terrifying stillness.
His entire body trembled uncontrollably as a voice echoed, ancient and otherworldly, from within the darkness:
"At last."
Within the orb, four glowing white eyes emerged, piercing the shadows as they fixed upon Léonard. Slowly, a sinister grin formed, rows of sharp, triangular teeth gleamed beneath two curved horns crowning the entity's head.
Suddenly, the system issued an urgent alert, its voice sharp and commanding:
[ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! THE HOST HAS DETECTED SCP-001 "THE BLACK MOON"
TYPE: SUPREME DIVINITY
CLASS: KETER
THREAT LEVEL: BLACK]
[ALERT! PREPARE TO FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE!]