Mid-fight
Glauderia's eyes flicked toward the crater.
"…Hm."
She felt it.
A severance.
Clean.
Precise.
Then she ducked as a synchronized blast of red cores detonated in her direction.
"Eyes forward," she muttered.
Across the district,
Rovan pressed Zach harder.
Black lightning cracked violently around them.
Zach's smile was gone.
He was breathing heavier now.
Rovan's linked-core enhancement boosted his speed unnaturally.
Every strike heavier than the last.
Their swords collided—
And Rovan's blade slipped past, slicing Zach's shoulder.
Zach skidded back.
Blood dripped.
He looked down at it.
Then up.
"…Alright."
The playful tone vanished.
Lightning around him flickered.
Shifted.
Deep black turned,
White.
Pure.
Blinding.
His iris burned white.
Veins of lightning crawled across his skin like living circuits.
His stance changed.
The air around him screamed.
Glauderia glanced over—
And smirked slightly.
"So you're using it."
Zach exhaled.
"Thunder God technique."
White lightning detonated outward, obliterating the surrounding rubble.
His hair lifted, crackling.
His speed—
Disappeared.
Rovan's eyes widened for the first time—
Zach was suddenly behind him.
A kick.
Rovan flew through two buildings before he could react.
Before he even hit the ground—
Zach was above him.
Blade raised.
White lightning condensed into a pillar.
"Don't copy my lightning if you can't handle it."
He brought it down.
BOOM.
The city block shattered under the impact.
The two other hooded figures tried to assist—
Lucius' wings flared fully.
Golden pressure descended like divine judgment.
"You will not interfere."
A massive radiant blade formed above him again.
Not as large as before.
But sharper.
More condensed.
He pointed downward—
And it crashed.
The fusion of the three linked cores destabilized under simultaneous divine and thunder pressure.
Cracks spread across their bodies.
Rovan roared—
But Zach didn't stop.
White lightning wrapped around his arm.
He drove forward—
Piercing through Rovan's chest.
The linked synchronization snapped violently.
A shockwave erupted across Stonehaven.
Underground
Rubble rained down.
Owen moved through falling debris effortlessly now.
The Experiment burst through dust, claws flashing.
Too fast to see.
Or so it thought.
Its claws passed through—
Smudged.
Distorted.
Afterimage.
Owen appeared behind it.
Eyes glowing purple.
"MANA ART."
"SPATIAL PALM."
His hand slammed into its back.
Reality dented inward.
His vision locked onto the glowing core inside its chest.
He clenched.
Crushed.
The creature screeched— a sound that split stone.
It staggered.
Seishi spun mid-air—
Owen caught it.
Calm.
Steady.
"Equinox Thrust."
He stepped forward.
One clean thrust.
The world blinked.
The top half of the creature—
Erased.
Not cut.
Gone.
Silence.
Rubble settled.
Dust floated.
The body collapsed.
Owen stood still.
Breathing even.
Above him—
Slow clapping echoed.
Cyrus floated mid-air, untouched by debris.
"Well done."
Owen lifted his head slowly.
Before he takes his life—
He needed answers.
"Tell me," Owen said quietly, blade lowered slightly. "Where is your commander?"
Cyrus smiled faintly.
"Commander?"
He tilted his head.
"Who said you were taking my life?"
Owen's pupils narrowed—
Cyrus vanished.
Reappeared directly in front of him.
A fist shot forward—
Too fast.
Too precise.
Too clean.
It pierced through the center of Owen's chest.
Blood sprayed behind him.
Cyrus' arm was buried to the wrist.
Owen's eyes widened slightly.
Cyrus leaned closer.
"You're not the only successful experiment."
The chapter ends—
With Owen standing there.
Cyrus' fist through his chest.
Seishi slipping from his fingers.
And above—
On the surface—
Zach's white lightning flickers violently as he suddenly feels something—
Drop.
Hard.