As the NWO 'Valkyrie' gunship tore through the blood-red clouds, a man-made storm erupted within the ruins. The roar of its massive engines sent dust and shards of ancient concrete swirling like a cyclone. Intense blue searchlights locked onto Ethan, pinning him down like a predator tracking its prey from the heavens.
Ethan didn't move. He simply looked up, his burning eyes visible beneath the shadow of his hood. A cynical smirk played on his lips. The old woman and the child he had fed cowered inside the rusted ambulance. Ethan could feel the Anti-Matter within him—it was no longer calm; it was boiling like molten lava, demanding release.
The heavy hydraulic doors of the gunship hissed open, and a squad of NWO elite strike teams rappelled down. Clad in black carbon armor with thermal goggles and high-tech plasma rifles, they formed a perimeter. Finally, Captain Erik Denver stepped onto the debris.
Erik carried no weapon, but his gaze was a weapon in itself. He stopped twenty feet from Ethan. "I didn't expect to find someone like you in this 2050 hellscape," Erik said, his voice deep and commanding. "I know what's inside you. You're not just a man; you're a cosmic key. Come with us, Ethan. With your power, we can restore the world to what it once was."
Ethan let out a dry, hollow laugh. His voice sounded like an echo from a deep abyss. "You don't want to save the world, Erik. You just want to build your throne higher on these ruins. What lies within me is not something you can tame."
Erik's jaw tightened. He signaled with a flick of his wrist. "Stun him! Take no risks."
The soldiers fired high-voltage electric nets from their plasma shockers. But Ethan didn't stand still this time. He raised his right hand toward the sky and gave a sharp twist. Instantly, the density of the air around him surged. The electric nets froze mid-air, inches from his skin—as if time itself had ground to a halt.
"Your era is over, Erik!" Ethan roared. "Now, witness mine!"
Pitch-black smoke, darker than any shadow, began to erupt from Ethan's pores. He extended his arms, and the dark mist lunged toward the soldiers like hungry vipers. Plasma bolts fired at him simply disintegrated into soot before they could touch his skin. One soldier tried to retreat, but the black mist touched him first. There was no scream, no sound—only his armor and flesh turning into ash and vanishing into the wind in a heartbeat.
Seeing his men erased, Erik retreated toward the gunship. "Fire! All weapons on him!" he screamed into his radio.
Two heavy-duty missile launchers deployed from the belly of the Valkyrie. Whoosh! With a trail of fire, two missiles streaked toward Ethan.
Ethan showed no fear. He pressed his palms together, forming a miniature, ultra-dense singularity—a micro black hole—between his hands. When the missiles were barely five feet away, he thrust his palms open. The singularity sucked the missiles in like a magnet. There was no explosion; the massive destructive force was simply consumed by the void in Ethan's hands.
The entire sector fell into a terrifying silence. Erik's eyes were wide with disbelief. Ethan began to hover a few inches off the ground, his pupils now swirling voids that seemed to challenge the very heavens.
Ethan reached out and locked his gaze on the gunship. With a slight tug of his hand, the massive engine of the Valkyrie began to buckle and groan. The reinforced steel plates crumpled like paper, being pulled toward Ethan by an invisible, titanic force.
"Erik..." Ethan said calmly, "today is indeed the last sunset you will ever see."