The Mana chest dissolved at Cole's touch, pouring a concentrated stream of crystalline energy into his chest. It felt like a freezing winter wind meeting a furnace. His Qi Level didn't just rise; it pressurized.
---
[MANA CHEST CLAIMED]
[LOOT ACQUIRED: VOID-STARK TUNIC (RANK E)]
* Effect: Regenerates 0.5% Qi per minute. Self-repairing fabric.
[LOOT ACQUIRED: 3x MID-GRADE MANA CRYSTALS]
[QI LEVEL: 28.3% -> 31.5%]
---
Cole didn't hesitate. He pulled the dark, shimmering fabric of the tunic over his scarred torso. It clung to his skin like a second shadow, pulsing with the same rhythm as the rift. He gripped his 42-pound slab, now vibrating with the excess Qi, and walked toward the grand entrance.
As the heavy doors groaned open, the cold air of New Boston rushed in, but it was no longer the clean, sterilized air of the Utopia. It was thick with the scent of ozone and burning plastic.
Outside, the scene was a chaotic masterpiece of the old world's desperation.
Three dozen Peacekeeper chassis stood in a semi-circle, their pulse-rifles leveled. Behind them, two armored transport flyers hovered, their spotlights pinning Cole against the darkness of the Dome. Commander Vance stood at the center, his white Iris glowing with the Sentient ASI's direct override.
"Citizen Turner," Vance's voice boomed, synthesized and flat. "You are holding classified extraterrestrial biological matter. Drop the object and the weapon. The system has calculated a 0% chance of your escape."
Cole stepped into the light. His Sovereign's First Eye flared.
In his vision, the world changed. The soldiers weren't men; they were clusters of low-value biological energy, highlighted in a dull, sickly gray. The Peacekeeper drones were merely stacks of silicon and steel, their weak points—battery casings and joint hydraulics—glowing like neon targets.
"Zero percent?" Cole asked, his voice low and amused. "Sentient ASI, your math is still based on a world that died ten minutes ago."
"The law is absolute," Vance responded.
"The law is a social construct for people who are afraid to lead," Cole retorted. He tightened his grip. "You see a criminal. I see a room full of scrap metal."
---
[SOVEREIGN'S ARROGANCE: ACTIVE]
* Current Potency: 31.5% Qi Saturation
---
Cole didn't wait for a command. He moved.
To the soldiers, he simply vanished. To Cole, the world had slowed to a crawl. He channeled Qi into his legs, the ground beneath his boots cracking as he launched himself forward. He was a blur of dark fabric and glowing green eyes.
He reached the first line of Peacekeeper drones before the AI could even trigger the "Fire" command. He swung the cleaver horizontally. With his Qi-Enhanced Strike and Sovereign's First Eye, he didn't hit the armor, he hit the structural frequency of the alloy.
SHREEEEEE.
Four drones were sheared in half. Sparks and hydraulic fluid sprayed the pavement.
"Target is moving at impossible speeds!" a human soldier screamed, breaking protocol. "Open fire! Open fire!"
The night erupted in blue pulse-fire. But Cole was no longer where the AI predicted him to be. He was weaving through the ranks, a wolf among sheep. Every swing of his slab was a death sentence for a million-dollar piece of government hardware.
He wasn't killing the humans, yet. He was dissecting their defense.
He leapt onto the hood of an armored transport, his boots denting the reinforced steel. He looked down at Commander Vance, who was struggling to maintain the ASI connection amidst the Qi-interference radiating from Cole.
"Tell the Government," Cole said, his voice cutting through the gunfire and sirens, "that New Boston has a new architect. And I don't work for credits."
He drove the cleaver into the transport's engine block.
BOOM.
The explosion sent a shockwave that knocked the surrounding soldiers to the ground. In the smoke and fire, Cole stood tall, his dark tunic untouched, his eyes scanning the horizon.
Far in the distance, he saw the lights of the Turner household. He saw another rift opening near the residential sector.
"Jake. Sean. Mom," Cole whispered, his arrogance momentarily flickering with a cold, pragmatic duty. "Let's see if the 'perfect family' survives the first night of the real world."
He turned and vanished into the shadows of the city, leaving a graveyard of smoking robots behind him.
----------
[Character Status Update]
[Current Rank: E]
[Qi Level: 31.5% (Manifestation Stage Beginning)]
[Reputation: Global Outlaw / First Awakened]