"Open the hatch. Save them."
The simple order carried an undeniable confidence.
For a moment, the Kryptonians inside the ship froze in place. Their minds were still reeling from what they had just witnessed, and none of them had fully processed the scene that unfolded seconds earlier.
Captain Edward was dead.
The thought alone felt unreal.
Kryptonian society had always been rigid beyond comparison. Social hierarchy was not determined by ambition or talent but by genetics itself. Every Kryptonian was artificially born through controlled genetic design, and their future roles were already predetermined before they ever took their first breath.
The child of a general would become a general.
The child of a laborer would remain a laborer.
No one moved beyond the path encoded in their genes.
Rebellion against authority was almost unheard of.
Yet right before their eyes, the captain of the ship—an officer whose authority had once been absolute—had been crushed like a fragile insect.
Ethan Drake had killed him without hesitation.
Hum—
The hatch of the reconnaissance vessel slid open with a metallic hum.
Among the stunned crew, the first to react was the medical officer, Lucini. She rushed to the control panel and opened the airlock without wasting another second.
Whoosh!
Before anyone else could move, Ethan had already launched himself forward. His body shot out of the ship like a storm breaking free, crossing the distance between the vessel and the battlefield in a blur.
"Die!"
The Kree rebels pursuing the crew showed no intention of holding back. Their weapons roared with lethal energy as they continued hunting the fleeing Kryptonians.
The situation had been desperate from the very beginning.
The Kryptonian warriors had been caught off guard during the first exchange of fire, forcing them into a defensive position. If it weren't for the naturally powerful physiology of their species, several of them would have already died under the relentless assault.
Against ordinary criminals, a single Kryptonian soldier could easily fight a hundred opponents.
But these enemies were different.
The attackers were rebels from the Kree Empire, one of the three dominant powers in the galaxy. Their equipment was advanced, their training disciplined, and their combat instincts ruthless.
They were anything but ordinary thugs.
"Heh… so you're Kryptonians?"
One of the Kree soldiers sneered as he looked at the exhausted warrior struggling to stay on his feet.
"That's rare. Your empire's been destroyed for years, yet I still find one of you here."
The rebel sounded almost amused.
The Kryptonian soldier standing before them was already at the end of his strength. His armor was scorched, his breathing heavy, and his body covered in burn marks from earlier attacks.
Just as the Kree soldiers prepared to finish him off, a powerful gust of wind suddenly tore across the battlefield.
The force hit their faces like a shockwave.
"What the hell—"
Before the rebel could even finish speaking, Ethan's body slammed into him.
The impact came without warning.
Like a cannonball fired from a railgun, Ethan shot straight through the air and crashed into the rebel's chest at terrifying speed.
Bang!
The sheer force of the collision launched the unfortunate soldier into the air. His body flew dozens of meters before smashing violently into the ground, bouncing several times before finally sliding to a stop.
By the time the dust settled, the rebel's body was twisted at impossible angles.
Blood spread beneath him.
He was dead.
"You bastard—!"
The remaining Kree soldiers recoiled in shock as they stared at the young man who had suddenly appeared on the battlefield.
Their expressions twisted with rage.
"Ethan… it's you?"
The Kryptonian soldier who had been surrounded earlier wiped the dust from his face in disbelief. Todd stared at Ethan as if he had just witnessed something impossible.
If he had seen what happened on the ship earlier, the shock might have shattered his entire worldview.
Ethan gave him a brief nod before shifting his attention toward the Kree rebels gathering ahead.
Despite their numbers and their weapons, he felt no fear whatsoever.
Ever since the Oracle System began upgrading his abilities, he had been eager to test the limits of his new strength.
Now the opportunity had finally arrived.
Nearby, one of the Kryptonian engineers who had barely escaped the earlier chase wiped sweat from his forehead.
"We should leave immediately," he urged anxiously. "These people claim to be rebels, but everyone knows the truth. They're basically soldiers from the Kree military."
That statement wasn't an exaggeration.
The Kree Empire was notorious for operating through deception. Whenever they wanted to conduct illegal operations without drawing political consequences, they simply disguised their soldiers as defectors or criminals.
Officially, those individuals were "rebels."
In reality, they were still loyal members of the Kree armed forces.
That explained why these men dared to open fire so brazenly on a neutral planet.
"Hmph."
One of the rebels laughed coldly.
"Old man, you know too much. That kind of knowledge can sell for a very good price."
Their malicious intentions were obvious.
The rebel leader raised his hand.
The soldiers behind him immediately lifted their weapons.
Hum—
One trigger after another was pulled.
Unlike the primitive firearms used by humans, the Kree Empire's weapons fired concentrated beams of destructive energy. The high-energy blasts represented some of the most dangerous military technology in the galaxy.
Several blazing beams shot toward Ethan simultaneously.
Ethan merely raised an eyebrow as he watched the incoming attacks.
Then he stood completely still.
From a distance, his motionless posture made it look as though he had frozen in fear, unable to move under the pressure of the incoming fire.
"Not good—!" the engineer shouted in alarm.
But Ethan didn't move.
He allowed the beams to strike him directly.
Hum!
A violent burst of energy exploded against his body, kicking up clouds of dust and smoke that swallowed his figure entirely.
For a brief moment, the battlefield fell silent.
Then a calm voice emerged from the smoke.
"That's it?"
The dust dispersed as Ethan casually waved his hand.
"Your attacks feel like tickling."
His figure stood completely unharmed in the center of the blast zone.
"Impossible!"
"No… he's completely fine!"
The Kree rebels stared at him in disbelief. Their fingers trembled around their weapons as their eyes widened in shock.
They searched desperately for any injury.
Any burn.
Any wound.
But there was nothing.
Ethan Drake stood there as if the attacks had never happened.
"Mosquito bites," Ethan said with a faint smile. "Is that the best you can do? That's honestly embarrassing."
What they didn't know was that Ethan's extraordinary defense had already reached level thirteen. Just like his healing ability, this skill had unlocked its own special techniques.
Damage Save.
Energy Drain.
The first ability allowed his body to automatically negate nearly half of any incoming damage.
The second ability was even more absurd.
Energy Drain absorbed the energy from attacks directed at him and converted it into power for his own body.
Breaking through Ethan's defense had become almost impossible.
Hum—
The beams that struck him moments earlier had already been converted into streams of energy flowing through his cells.
The process resembled the abilities of certain famous energy manipulators across the galaxy.
Every attack aimed at Ethan only made him stronger.
"Refreshing," Ethan murmured.
A playful smile appeared on his face.
If the Kree rebels realized their attacks were literally feeding him energy, their expressions would probably be priceless.
"But it's time to end this."
He slowly raised his hand.
The rebels were still staring at him in confusion, unable to comprehend how their attacks had failed completely.
But Ethan had already made his move.
He stood dozens of meters away.
Then he threw a punch.
"Die."
High-level extraordinary healing and extraordinary defense had unlocked powerful techniques for Ethan.
Naturally, Extraordinary Strength LV14 had unlocked its own devastating ability as well.