A FEAR agent in the corner hoisted a shoulder-fired rocket launcher, aiming at Madison—the biggest threat to the team. Madison, unaware, was still focused on shielding Zoe and Maria.
The next second, the rocket screamed through the air, trailing a long plume of smoke toward her.
Madison's eyes widened in horror. The destructive force of an explosive like this was too much for even her telekinesis to fully block.
But Zoe was dragging the injured Maria back into the hotel, and Madison was their only barrier.
So, she closed her eyes, unleashing her telekinetic field at full strength, ready to sacrifice herself to buy Zoe and Maria time.
"Zoe, get down!"
But the expected explosion never came. When Madison opened her eyes, she saw a six-winged angel standing in front of her, holding the rocket in one hand.
"Roy!"
Madison's face lit up with relief. As long as Roy was there, she felt safe.
"You guys okay?"
"Zoe and I are fine, but Maria got shot!"
Hearing that Maria was hit, Roy's expression darkened. He tossed the unconscious, battered Carrie to Madison.
"Take the amulet off Carrie and get her soul back in her body."
"Got it!"
With his hands free, Roy crushed the rocket in his grip.
Boom!
The explosion didn't faze him at all. Thanks to his protective aura, not even dust settled on him.
The FEAR agents were terrified. That rocket was their most powerful weapon.
If it couldn't touch Roy, their only option was a missile strike—but FEAR's armored vehicles didn't have that kind of firepower.
Then, to their horror, the commander barked another order.
"Keep firing!"
Now, not just Roy and Madison, but even the other FEAR agents started wondering if their commander had lost it.
Shooting at a guy like this was suicide, right?
FEAR agents had stronger wills than regular soldiers and had dealt with supernatural events, but that didn't mean they were eager to throw their lives away.
"Who's your commander?"
Roy's icy gaze swept over the FEAR agents, sending a chill down their spines. One look felt like plunging into freezing water.
For a moment, whether from fear or something else, not a single agent answered.
"No one's talking? Fine."
Roy took a step forward, and a wave of darkness flooded the battlefield.
A primal, ancient fear plunged every FEAR agent into blindness. Those with weaker wills went mad, attacking anyone nearby indiscriminately.
In seconds, the FEAR team suffered heavy losses.
This was Roy's first time using his Fear Embodiment ability, and he hadn't expected it to be this effective—wiping out an entire FEAR unit in one go.
The upgraded Fear Embodiment had a terrifying range. With Roy's current power, he could blanket a major city in its effects.
Based on its display, it could easily kill millions.
That kind of power was honestly a little scary.
Roy deactivated the ability and quickly found the commander lying in a pool of blood near an armored vehicle.
His uniform stood out—definitely the commander.
But luck wasn't on his side. It looked like a missile had hit his spine, leaving him sprawled on the ground, barely alive.
FEAR field commanders were usually senior FEA agents. One ending up like this was a big deal.
To keep things from spiraling further, Roy activated his Courage and Vitality Auras.
He couldn't let these FEAR agents die en masse—otherwise, he'd lose the moral high ground.
The Courage Aura dispelled the Fear Embodiment's effects, while the Vitality Aura kept the agents alive.
Then, Roy pulled out his phone to call Gerald.
"Mr. Olin, we've got a situation!"
After a quick rundown, Gerald said he'd report it to FEA headquarters and told Roy to keep a consistent story and avoid acting rashly.
"I hear you, Mr. Olin. But let me be clear—my friend got hurt, and I'm pissed."
He hung up, cutting Gerald off.
Roy needed to make his stance clear, or FEA might think he was a pushover.
But after showing a fraction of his strength today, FEA headquarters probably wouldn't be that dumb.
Plus, Iris was still at FEA's New York headquarters.
"Roy, come quick! Maria's getting weaker!"
"I'm there!"
Roy rushed back into the hotel.
Maria was lying on a couch, with Madison and Zoe hovering over her. Zoe was casting some kind of healing spell.
With Roy's Vitality Aura still active, Maria should have been stable.
"What's wrong with her?"
"A bullet hit her heart. My healing magic's keeping her alive, but as long as that bullet's in there, she's only getting weaker."
Zoe was in tears—Maria had taken those bullets to save her.
Roy's brow furrowed deeply.
A bullet in the heart couldn't be healed naturally. Surgery was the only option, and it had to be fast.
If the bullet kept pressing on her heart, it could stop beating.
But it was the middle of the night—where could they find a surgeon skilled enough to remove a bullet from a heart?
Doctors like that were rare, even in big cities, let alone a small one like this.
Then, Madison spoke up.
"Roy, let me try!"
Roy looked at her, surprised she'd volunteer.
"Madison, are you sure?"
In theory, Madison's telekinesis could remove the bullet, but it was delicate work.
Her telekinesis had always been about brute force, not precision. Roy wasn't sure she could pull it off.
"I will do it! I have to!"
"Alright. Madison, you handle the surgery. Zoe, keep Maria's vitals stable. I'll make sure you've got a quiet space to work."
As for Carrie, Madison had already returned her soul to her body, but she was still unconscious from her earlier rampage.
Madison took a deep breath, psyching herself up.
"I can do this. I will do this!"
Roy quietly amplified his Courage, Guardian, and Vitality Auras to boost Madison's confidence and stabilize Maria's condition.
After mentally preparing, Madison placed her hand on Maria's chest to better sense the bullet in her heart.
Closing her eyes, she entered a state of unprecedented focus.
"I can feel the bullet in her heart!"
"Then pull it out!"
A moment later, Madison frowned.
"But her heart's already healed—I can't find the bullet hole!"
The Vitality Aura, combined with Zoe's healing magic, had closed Maria's wound, which now made the surgery trickier.
Madison would have to force the bullet through her heart again and out of her body.
She hadn't studied medicine and didn't know the safest way to extract it.
"Madison, be decisive! You can't delay!"
Leaving the bullet in could cause a severe rejection response, which could be deadlier.
"I got it!"
Madison gritted her teeth and focused hard.
Thud! The bullet shot out of Maria's chest, hitting the ceiling and falling to the floor.
The exit wound caused heavy bleeding. Zoe scrambled to stop it, but witchcraft wasn't great for hemostasis.
Luckily, Roy placed his hand on Maria's chest. His angel form's healing kicked in, and the wound began to close at a visible rate.
With that, Maria's breathing steadied. She seemed out of danger.
But Roy wasn't a doctor and couldn't be sure of her condition.
"Madison, call an ambulance. Get Maria and Carrie to a hospital for observation!"
"On it!"
While Madison and Zoe tended to Maria and Carrie, Roy stepped outside toward the FEAR team's position.
Seeing Roy approach—angelic in form but terrifying like a demon—some of the recovering FEAR agents fell back into panic.
Even without using Fear Embodiment, his presence alone was enough to terrify the already rattled agents.
"You don't need to be scared. I just want to know why you were here tonight and why you attacked my friends."
The commander, with a spinal injury, wasn't waking up, even with the Vitality Aura. Nerve damage was far more complex than a heart wound, and Roy wasn't sure if the guy would ever walk or talk again.
Fortunately, FEAR units like this always had a backup commander to avoid a total collapse if the primary went down.
"I'm the deputy. You really won't hurt us?"
A FEAR agent stepped forward. His uniform was slightly distinct, marking him as higher-ranking but not by much.
"If I wanted you dead, I'd have done it already."
The deputy fell silent.
He was right—Roy's Fear Embodiment could've wiped them out. Even now, the team's morale was shattered.
Even if their physical injuries healed, the mental scars Roy left would linger. Most would likely fail psych evals and get relegated to desk jobs.
"You're right."
The deputy chose to trust Roy. Honestly, he didn't have much choice.
"Tell me, why was your unit set up here?"
The armored vehicles formed a makeshift perimeter—clearly, FEAR had been lying in wait.
When Roy had flown off after Carrie in angel form, he'd been too focused to notice the ground.
Otherwise, he'd have dealt with FEAR first.
"We got a report from an agent that a dangerous supernatural entity killed mid-level agent Sasha Anderson. HQ sent us to apprehend it."
Roy: ???
That "dangerous supernatural entity" couldn't be him, could it?
Okay, he was pretty dangerous.
Wait a second!
"You said Sasha Anderson's dead? That's impossible! I did clash with her, but I'm certain she was alive! Was the report to the Seattle branch from Jack Schmidt? What did he tell your bureau?"
The deputy blinked at Roy's rapid-fire questions, taking a moment to process before answering.
"We don't get details on reports—that's above our paygrade. But Jack Schmidt, the guy who filed it, was just with the commander. You could ask him yourself."
"Where is he?"
Yeah, where was he?
The deputy searched around the commander but found no sign of Jack Schmidt—not even a body.
Frantic, he rallied the surviving agents to check every injured or dead teammate for Schmidt.
But it was like the guy had vanished into thin air.
Given the commander's sudden contradictory orders earlier, even the deputy—slow as he might be—realized something was off.
"Sir, we can't find Jack Schmidt. Can we treat our wounded?"
Ambulances were piling up near the hotel, but without Roy's okay, the deputy didn't dare move.
Roy had just tried tracking Schmidt with his Hound Ring, but it failed.
Per the deputy, Schmidt couldn't have been gone long enough to escape the Hellhound's tracking range.
Unless his stats rivaled Roy's—or he could fly.
But if Schmidt was that strong, he wouldn't have needed to flee.
The only explanation? The guy wasn't Jack Schmidt at all—someone was impersonating him.
"I'm not stopping you! Look, I'm an FEA agent too, out of the Los Angeles branch."
The deputy looked like he'd been struck by lightning. Roy, one of their own?
"How's that possible?"
Roy shook his head, ignoring the deputy, and returned to the hotel to help get Maria and Carrie onto ambulances.
Then it hit him—where was Jennifer?
Madison