Chapter 42: Unrelenting Powers

Lightning arced and wind howled as Sen and Josar fought back-to-back in the shattered streets of Krutone. Sen moved like a phantom, slicing through Zagons with blades of light and smothering them in waves of crushing shadow. Beside him, Josar twisted between robots and monsters, his fists crackling with electric fury, deflecting metal limbs and carving arcs of wind through the chaos. Intergy blasts scorched the air, sparks rained like fire, and roars echoed between collapsing buildings. With one final surge, Josar vaulted off a broken column, spun midair, and drove a lightning-charged fist straight through the core of the last robot. Its body shuddered, burst in a spray of shattered steel, and collapsed in a heap. Then he landed next to Sen, both exhausted from their long battle.

Josar: All the robots should be done with hopefully. I don’t know why they were targeting us.

Around them, dozens of Zagons crawled from the shadows snarling, steaming, their yellow eyes gleaming with bloodlust. Sen readied a blade of light and a blade of darkness while Josar raised his fists.

Josar: But we still have these Zagons to deal with.

Zarnem, Kyto and Shera were passing through Krutone, and as they turned a corner, Zarnem’s eyes widened. Up ahead, through smoke and fire, were Sen and Josar, surrounded and bracing for another wave of Zagons.

Zarnem: Stop!

Before the wheels fully screeched to a halt, he leapt out, slamming both palms to the ground. A massive slab of stone erupted from the earth and launched forward like a catapult, crushing several Zagons mid-charge into a spray of bone and brown mist. Shera followed, landing beside him, sending a roaring wave of water crashing through a second horde, hurling snarling beasts against the buildings. Zarnem moved with her, summoning more jagged stone pillars that shot up from beneath the scattered Zagons, skewering them with brutal precision. Behind them, Kyto stepped out of the vehicle, calm and composed, his eyes locking on Sen and Josar as the battlefield twisted around them.

Zarnem: Sen!

Sen heard Zarnem’s voice but made no movement.

Zarnem: What’s the situation?

No answer from Sen.

Josar: I was being attacked by Zagons and Krutone’s robots. Sen got here and gave me a hand.

Kyto looked to Sen, still eyes kept on the Zagons waiting far ahead, crawling slowly. Then he looked around seeing the destroyed robots in their pieces.

Kyto: Krutone’s machines were aiming for you?

Josar: Yeah. I’m probably still marked as an enemy or something, but I’m fine now.

Kyto paused, pretending to know nothing.

Kyto: Apologies.

Kyto moves Intergy into his wristband.

Kyto (into wristband): Remove Josar from list of enemies.

Zagons closed in, but Sen was already on the move, sending a powerful wave of light that burned through the Zagons. The heat was heavy enough to completely scorch through the beasts.

Shera: Are you ok, Sen?

Sen doesn’t answer, and Josar notices his silence is still carrying through.

Zarnem: What’s the move now, President?

Kyto: We still must take the airship at the Communications Center.

Zarnem: Are we… leaving Krutone?

Kyto: For now.

Josar looked to Kyto surprised.

Josar: Why are you leaving?

Kyto pauses and looks around at more Zagons lurking around the corners.

Kyto: We must reposition for now and come at this at a different angle.

Zarnem: And everyone else? Queen Lessa? Emperor Osin?

Kyto (lying): They are safe. They’ve already left Krutone. Right now, we are reducing the number of Zagons with our machines. We will lose soldiers, but we will return our attack.

Zarnem: Where are we repositioning?

The Zagons jump in, attempting to sneak in an attack, but Josar blasts them with a shockwaves of lightning that instantly kills them.

Zarnem: President Kyto?

Kyto: Clyden would be the best option.

Shera: We’re going back?

Kyto: Virem still manages the military there, yes?

Zarnem: He does.

Kyto: Then we’ll have to use his aid.

Zarnem: But how would we get there without being hunted?

Josar: Mayzen will be able to sense us.

Kyto: Mayzen is being dealt with. He’s not to be worried about. Mayzen will regret being our enemy.

Zarnem: There’s only so much we can do traveling by vehicle. We’ll be spotted regardless.

Sen casted a thin layer of shadow that wrapped around them. Everything felt cold. Empty.

Zarnem: What is this?

Kyto: Is this?... Are you able to hide us?

Zarnem: Since when, Sen?

Sen still doesn’t answer. He only glances at Zarnem once.

Kyto: Is this how Aku hid himself for so long?

Josar looked to Sen again, seeing the darkness flowing out of him.

Zarnem: So, will we travel by feet then?

Kyto: To hide ourselves, yes. We cannot follow the path the vehicle will take us. It wouldn’t take much to spot us.

Zarnem: But there are still Zagons watching us now.

Josar: I will handle these Zagons. It won’t be much. I can catch up later.

Zarnem: Are you sure, Josar? You don’t have to. I know you’re not one of us.

Sen tilted his head slightly, his eyes narrowing just a fraction at Zarnem’s words. The air around him darkened faintly not with rage, but with a quiet, biting disappointment. Josar still being treated like an outsider, even after everything, left a bitter taste he couldn’t ignore.

Josar: I’ll be fine. Zagons aren’t really hard to deal with… It’s only a damn hassle because of how many keep showing up.

Kyto: Then it’s settled. Sen will hide our presence as we head to the Communications Center. You’ll arrive later, Josar?

Josar: Yeah. I’m somewhat fast. I should be able to catch up.

Josar turned to Sen.

Josar: Thanks for all the help.

No reply.

Zarnem, Kyto, and Shera were the first to leave. Sen hesitated at first, but then followed, keeping a thin layer of shadow over them as they escaped. Zagons attempted to stop them, but Josar jumped in immediately, killing them one by one. After a short moment, Josar was alone with the remaining Zagons. More turned the corner. More than before.

Josar (thinking): Alright. I guess I’m pushing harder now. 

Josar cracked his neck once, exhaled slowly, and clenched both fists. A low buzz of static gathered around his body, humming louder with each breath. Then, with a sudden burst, he vanished into a streak of lightning with no footsteps or warning. He moved with just raw electric velocity. He reappeared midair, above the heads of a dozen charging Zagons, riding a glowing bolt of his own lightning on his feet like a coiled serpent of pure energy. He twisted downward in a spiraling dive, feet first, smashing into the ground and triggering a pulse that incinerated everything within a five-meter radius. Zagons screamed and burst into boiling piles of brown mist. The ground itself cracked beneath the force, and before the next wave could even blink, Josar was gone again. He was a blur of electric afterimage lancing through the horde.

A second pack of Zagons lunged from rooftops and alleyways, but Josar launched himself back into the sky with a burst of wind, floating weightless for a split second. His raised his fingers, and arcs of lightning danced between them before he hurled spears of electricity into the shadows. Each bolt struck with surgical precision, one to the throat, one to the heart, one straight through the skull, evaporating Zagons mid-leap. Then, mid-air, Josar twisted sharply, riding a sudden jet of compressed wind that launched him horizontally. He flipped sideways, dodging a claw swipe, landing behind his attacker and crushing its spine with an upward elbow. Without pausing, he spun with a backfist that shattered another Zagon’s jaw, lightning pulsing from his knuckles on contact.

Now fully unleashed, Josar blurred across the battlefield like a storm. He combined wind-aided dashes and vertical vaults with brutal precision strikes, fists colliding with ribs, knees crushing snouts, elbows smashing skulls. Each motion was fluid and exact, like a choreographed dance of destruction. He bounced off walls, used crumbling debris as launch pads, and created wind vortexes that flung enemies into the air where he met them mid-fall with bone-breaking force. His hands were a blur of strikes, lightning-infused jabs, spinning kicks wrapped in gusts, roundhouse slams that dismembered Zagons like paper. The creatures had little to no time to react.

Finally, the last Zagon shrieked and charged, teeth foaming, eyes wild. Josar waited, then vanished in a crack of thunder appearing behind it and driving both fists into its back, unleashing a final explosive surge that ruptured the monster into brown vapor. Silence fell. The street was soaked in mist and littered with twitching limbs already melting into puddles. Dozens of dead Zagons lay sprawled, torn apart by the sheer speed and precision of Josar’s onslaught. Lightning flickered over his skin, wind still spiraling faintly around his body. He stood there alone in the aftermath, breath heavy, surrounded by a cloud of steam from a battlefield purged by a one-man storm.

As the final threads of mist curled away into the broken wind, Josar straightened, his chest rising and falling in deep, controlled breaths, but something caught his eye. High above the ruined skyline, atop a jagged skyscraper cracked down its center, the air shimmered unnaturally. It twisted like boiling glass, then split, an enormous spiral of darkness opening like an eye in space itself. A portal, but this one was massive. It was larger than anything he’d seen before. Then he saw him.

Josar: Mayzen?

Zan stepped forward at the edge of Krutone’s Intergy Power Plant. Before him rose a vast fortress of steel and humming energy, towers crowned in pulsing blue light, cables thick as tree trunks stretching between glowing reactors. The air crackled with raw Intergy, vibrating through the concrete beneath his feet. Waiting for him at the entrance were rows of Krutone guards, soldiers, and towering defense robots, each aimed forward in tense formation. Then, with a slow tilt of his head, Zan smiled.

Zan: Heyo! Wow! The power plant sure has been through a lot of change since the last time I was here. Seems like a lot more funding was put into fucking unborn children.

Some soldiers prepared Intergy in their hands.

Zan: And of course there’s you guys, the ones who will die for a company who could give two shits about you. I suppose you need that petty paycheck.

Soldier 1: Kill him!

The soldiers charged with shouts of defiance, unleashing a flurry of elemental attacks. Blades of lightning cracked through the air, walls of stone launched forward, torrents of water spiraled from palms, and pillars of flame surged toward Zan’s position. The robots joined in, firing concentrated blasts of Intergy that exploded on impact, but Zan didn’t move. He let the fire hit first. His body melted into acid with a sickening hiss. As stone shattered where his chest had been, he reformed behind the front line, spewing a sweeping torrent of acid in a wide arc that dissolved skin, armor, and screams into bubbling mush. He spun midair, limbs flickering between solid and liquid as he tore through soldiers with clawed strikes that liquefied their bones on contact. One lightning user struck him dead in the chest and Zan’s torso melted, the bolt arcing through him with no effect, then reformed instantly as he drove his hand through the man’s skull. Robots fired again, but he dove into the ground as a pool, slid beneath them, and burst upward, his entire body erupting into acidic spikes that skewered them from below. One soldier tried to retreat. Zan snapped his fingers, sending a pressurized jet of acid that carved through the man's spine like air through silk. In under a minute, the brave soldiers who attempted to attack first were already killed.

Guard 1: Engage all robots first!

The robots charged as one, a synchronized wall of metal and energy thundering forward. Their limbs rotated and locked into assault mode, arms splitting into cannons, whirring blades, and crushing gauntlets. They moved faster this time, far more coordinated, their programming tuned to counter elemental threats. One robot slammed a titanium fist directly through Zan’s head, shattering it in a burst of acidic mist. But instead of collapsing, Zan's body merely convulsed with a wet ripple. The acid that once formed his skull surged upward, clinging to the robot’s arm, corroding it in seconds.

Zan didn’t bother to re-solidify. Where his head once was, now slithered an unholy bloom of acid tendrils, dozens of serpent-like lashes whipping in all directions. They cut through robot armor like wet paper, wrapping around joints and sawing limbs off in showers of sparks. With each tendril strike, Zan’s form grew more alien, his torso stretching and warping, half-solid, half-fluid, grotesquely beautiful in its brutality. Blasts of Intergy struck his body, but every impact only turned parts of him to acid that splashed back with lethal force. He ducked low, tendrils slicing a row of robots at the waist, then lunged upward in a spiraling geyser of corrosive fluid, dragging three machines with him, melting them into a rain of twisted metal. Then, he reformed into himself.

Zan: Ooo. The robots are faster. We have some magnet users here don’t we?

Zan looked across and noticed some of the soldiers releasing a small trail of Intergy.

Zan: Ahhh, I see. Magnet users moving around the robots to give them speed. Cute. What happens when I’m faster though?

Zan suddenly vanished in a blur of corrosive steam. One second he was taunting them, the next, he was inside their ranks. Soldiers didn’t have time to scream. A blur of acid carved through their bodies with impossible speed, melting flesh and armor mid-step.. He wasn’t just running. He was flowing, a streak of viscous destruction that danced through the battlefield. Limbs evaporated. Helmets dissolved. Screams ended in gurgles. He spun through a tight formation of six soldiers, reformed mid-air with claws stretched wide, and tore through their torsos in a sweeping arc that reduced their lungs and ribs to brown sludge. In a heartbeat, he was on the other side, twenty meters away, leaving only puddles and steam in his wake.

Zan spotted the magnet users coordinating robot movement, their Intergy trails still pulsing faintly across the ground. Metal pillars ripped from the sides of the plant flew toward him like spears, striking with the speed of missiles, but every impact was useless. His body burst into acid on contact, the poles sliding through empty liquid, only to be devoured in sizzling green heat. A second later, he was whole again already in front of the guards. One tried to retreat, another screamed for support, but it was too late. Zan’s hand passed through all of them in a blur, each chest, head, or neck liquefying into an open cavity.

Zan (grinning): You're all so fragile up close.

Blood, steam, and screams swirled together as Zan stood over the corpses, the magnet field severed. The robots behind them stuttered only for Zan to turn around and finish them next.

Guard 2: Please! Stay back!

Zan: Oh? I love it. Please? You’re begging me? The last prayer I remember hearing was to Yeshma. Maybe pray to him?

The guard sent a pillar of metal towards Zan, but Zan didn’t bother moving. It passed his head.

Zan: You missed!? Hahahaha! I was standing still! And you magnet users are supposed to be the mutation that came out correct!? Not me!? Literal joke.

Zan spat a fast spew of acid directly through the forehead of the guard that missed, instantly killing him. The rest of the soldiers and guards stood defensively, fearing what Zan might do next.

Zan: I’m not going to be the typical one that says ‘run now or I’ll kill you.’ I’m going to kill you anyways.

Zan’s Intergy began to rise, and he summoned a wave of acid into the air, then making it fall ike rain. The soldiers tried to defend, but before they could do anything, Zan was already amongst them and began killing them one by one. Eventually, the rain of acid covered all the soldiers and guards that remained. Zan stood in the middle of the carnage, amused by his slaughter.

Cayten: Welcome back, Zan.

Zan turned around to find Cayten standing calmly.

Zan: Oh, hey fetus fucker. I was wondering if you’d hide or show up to save your factory.

Cayten: It’s the Intergy Power Plant.

Zan: Yes, with your experiments that happen underground. Don’t act like I don’t know shit. You made me here.

Cayten: Why do you return? I heard you killed your father. Didn’t you get what you already wanted?

Zan: I did. But I suppose I wanted break this place down, maybe to kill you for some extra credit.

Cayten: Me? I’m not family though. You killed your mother, your sister, and now your father. Unless you consider me family too? I’d totally understand if that were the case. I did make you after all.

Zan: Haha. Too bad you couldn’t make another one of me. After all these years, you still couldn’t figure out what went wrong with my mutation.

Cayten: No, I couldn’t. You were just a dirty mistake.

Zan: Fuck you. I was no mistake. I just had a different ability was all. Penim and Mayzen were unique in their own ways too, but for some damn reason I’m the mistake.

Cayten: Did I hit a nerve calling you a dirty mistake?

Zan: No, not really.

Cayten: You have nothing inside you Zan. Only acid. Penim and Mayzen at least have human body parts, in and out. You? You’re a hazardous liquid attempting to be human. No heart, no kidneys, no lungs, no liver. Nothing. You were indeed born different, and your difference is a disease.

Zan’s facial expression changed. His eyes focused in on Cayten.

Zan: Boy, am I glad you showed up. You’re going to wish ever making me your dirty mistake.

Cayten: You know, Yeshma might’ve been able to correct you if you prayed hard enough.

Zan: Ah, yes. Religious gaslighting. Because I totally created myself, right? It wasn’t you who caused this shit to happen in the first place?

Cayten shrugs.

Cayten: Well, I’m here now. And I’m going to get rid—

Zan launched forward like a demon unleashed, his body a blur of steam and snapping muscle, streaking toward Cayten with a corrosive howl. His right fist, gleaming and dripping with concentrated acid, was aimed straight for Cayten’s chest with no pretense, just pure violent intent. But Cayten reacted instantly, thrusting his palms forward. A towering wall of snow surged up from the concrete slamming up between them just in time. Zan’s acid-coated fist collided with the snowy barrier, hissing violently as steam billowed into the air, but it didn’t break through. With barely a pause, Zan opened his mouth wide, and a gush of sizzling acid erupted from his throat. The snow wall began to melt on contact, sloughing away in thick chunks, but Cayten was already on the move. He kicked off the ground and slid back, conjuring a smooth path of ice beneath him with practiced precision. His hands guided the frost, forming a curved slide that launched him in a graceful arc. He landed firmly several meters away, frost spiraling at his feet, posture controlled, and eyes locked onto Zan with surgical calm.

Zan didn’t speak this time. He simply charged again, slower now. His body shimmered between solid and liquid, limbs dragging wetly across the steaming ground. But Cayten was ready. With a single forward sweep of his arm, he unleashed a violent burst of snow, a rolling wave of thick white force that barreled across the ground like a tsunami of frost. It slammed into Zan mid-sprint, halting him in place and forcing him to slide back, acid sizzling across the snowpack.

Cayten: Interesting way to see how you use your acid. You’ve seem to understand yourself more.

Zan prepared to attack again.

Cayten: You burn acid from your skin to propel you. That’s how you get your speed.

Zan went in again, but this time even slower. More snow came and tackled down Zan.

Cayten: But I’m your worst nightmare. You’re liquid after all.

The area was obviously a lot colder.

Zan: You’re freezing me.

Cayten: Good boy. You understand now. I’m Krutone’s strongest ice user. I can freeze the battlefield. You see, Zan. I may not be able to kill you, but I can at least freeze you and store you away. Like I said, I’m your worst nightmare.

Zan smiled.

Cayten: Not sure why you’re smiling. I suppose you’re just trying to cope so your defeat feels less painful.

Zan attacked again, but with speed closer to his original state. Cayten jumped back, but Zan was able to cut off Cayten’s right hand fingers.

Cayten: AHHH FUCK!

Cayten quickly sealed his wound by freezing it.

Cayten: How!?

Zan: You think that shit will stop me? Seriously?

Steam was coming from Zan’s body.

Zan: I can burn myself… enough to maintain my temperature. Maybe not to my fullest, but enough to chase you down!

Zan charged in again, but Cayten sent forth snow once more. Zan’s body propelled over the snow, and he came down onto Cayten with an arm made as an acid scythe. Cayten jumped away, just barely dodging the attack. Zan took out a shard from his pocket, sent Intergy into it and threw it into the air. From there, a portal opened above.

Zan: Here’s a little something I’ve been saving. Did a little test on Yumitra, and now I can see how this place handles it.

A mist of acid began to spill out of the portal. It poured slowly, then began to accelerate.

Cayten: Obviously, it was you who melted down Yumitra, but don’t think I’m going to let you get away with that here!

Cayten thrust his left hand skyward, and the temperature dropped in an instant. From his palm erupted a spiraling surge of frost that twisted high above the battlefield before exploding outward into a whirling blizzard. Snow and ice howled across the air like razors, colliding with the thick green mist pouring from Zan’s portal. The clash of elements created an eerie, hissing storm as freezing wind compressed the acid downward, forcing it to the concrete and halting its spread.

Zan: You’re so damn annoying.

Zan dove like a missile through the blizzard, steam trailing behind him as his body surged with corrosive heat to defy the cold. His right arm morphed mid-air into a pulsing, viscous fist of pure acid, gleaming with malicious intent. He closed the gap in a heartbeat. Cayten barely had time to throw his body aside, the acid blow missing his chest by inches, but not his arm. The corrosive strike struck clean through his right shoulder, instantly melting his entire arm into bubbling flesh and splattered ice.

Cayten: AHHH!!!

Cayten screamed, falling back and freezing the wound with instinctive desperation, sealing the gory stump in jagged frost. But Zan gave him no pause. In a flash, he was already there again, crouched low and lunging. His hands lashed out in twin sweeps across the ground, melting through Cayten’s ankles in an instant. With a wet crack, Cayten collapsed, howling as his feet dissolved beneath him, flailing in blind panic as acid hissed across the stone.

Cayten: AHHH SHIT! ZAN YOU BASTARD!!! DAMN IT!!!!

Zan calmly approached Cayten who was on his knees. The blizzard slowed.

Zan: Awww. Don’t be scared.

Zan dropped to his knees to meet Cayten.

Zan: Here, let me give you a hug. I’ll be here for you.

Cayten: Get the fuck away from me!!!

Zan reached out his arms and held Cayten.

Zan: There, there. Don’t be scared. I’m here for you.

Cayten tried to freeze Zan, but Zan’s acid heat countered.

Cayten: Get off of me!

Zan: Ice is such a perfect ability for you. It matches your cold heart… You experiment with the unborn for your own immoral discoveries.

Cayten: I swear, get the hell off of me, damn it!

Zan: So, so cold… but now, you melt.

Zan pulled Cayten tighter into his embrace, locking him in a grotesque parody of comfort as the blizzard died into stillness. Cayten thrashed, screamed, tried to summon frost, but it was too late. Zan’s body liquefied. Acid cascaded down over Cayten’s back, shoulders, and neck like molten death, seeping into every crevice, clothing, and flesh. The reaction was immediate. Cayten's skin blistered and split, muscle and sinew unraveling in ribbons, bones hissing and snapping as they dissolved into brown sludges. He shrieked once, high and broken, before his throat collapsed into bubbling ruin. The acid poured through him like an executioner's flood, eating him from the inside out, until only a half-melted skull and a blackened heap of liquefied tissue remained. Steam rose in thick waves, the scent of seared human stench filling the air. Zan stood from the puddle, body reforming in the haze, his expression cold.

The acid mist continued to pour relentlessly from the portal above, blanketing the Intergy Powerplant in a thick, corrosive fog. Pipes burst, reactors hissed and buckled under the chemical onslaught, and the glowing towers of blue Intergy flickered violently before exploding in waves of molten circuitry and shrieking metal. One by one, the lights across Krutone dimmed, then died. The energy veins, once powered by the heart of the plant, were severed. The once-humming metropolis fell silent, blanketed in shadow as the last rays of sun dipped below the horizon. Darkness swept through the skyline like a shroud.

But the acid didn’t stop there. It kept pouring, thicker and heavier, spilling from the portal. Rivers of hissing mist oozed down streets, seeping into cracks, devouring buildings, vehicles, and bodies alike. Entire districts began to warp and dissolve, foundations melting into bubbling pits of sludge. The screams had long ceased. There was only the haunting sound of decay, a city groaning under the weight of its own collapse. And through it all, Zan stood still. Silent. Watching. His expression showed detachment as the world he despised began to dissolve into a formless sea of acid.

Zan: I’m not a mistake. I’m a beautiful creation.

Sicrus stood alone on the edge of a tower, his silhouette barely visible against the gray sky. Below him stretched the Krutone Military Base, its sleek metallic walls humming with latent energy. Streams of soldiers marched in formation through the gates, their armored suits glinting with Intergy traces as they filed into the open city streets. Behind them, robotic units emerged with rhythmic precision, their mechanical limbs locking into place, their sensors scanning the war-torn horizon for threats. From this height, the base looked less like a stronghold and more like a hive.

Sicrus narrowed his eyes, watching the next battalion assemble. The wind tugged at his coat, catching the faint shimmer of Intergy that pulsed through his veins. He knew the orders had already been given. These were not civilians caught in crossfire. These were executioners with a national cause. A force crafted for absolute suppression. Their weapons were charged. Their purpose clear. And in the stillness before his descent, Sicrus knew he had become the obstruction they were not prepared for.

With a surge of power, Sicrus launched himself from the tower. His body cut through the air like a bolt loosed from the sky itself. He descended in a blur, crashing into the street with thunderous force. The shockwave of his impact cracked the concrete beneath his feet and sent ripples through the earth. Dust erupted outward. Vehicles tipped. The formation of soldiers stumbled back instinctively. The robots whirred in confusion, recalibrating their target priorities. As the cloud of debris settled, Sicrus stood tall in the center of the street. He raised his finger and Intergy concentrated at his fingertip.

General 1: It’s the enemy! Attack—

The general was shot dead. Intergy fired from Sicrus’s finger like a bullet and pierced straight through the general’s forehead. Sicrus stared forward, silent, unmoved. His body hummed with quiet violence. He had been waiting for this moment.

General 2: What the hell was—

The next died. Sicrus made no words. He immediately went into action. Sicrus didn’t speak. He simply raised his right hand.

His fingers flexed briefly, then stilled, until only the index remained, extended like the barrel of a weapon. At its tip, a pinprick of Intergy formed, humming with a high-frequency whine like static being pulled taut. The air tightened around it. The soldier standing ahead blinked, confused for a breath too long. Then Sicrus fired. The Intergy beam left his finger faster than sound. It didn’t explode or flare. It punctured like a silent thread of death. The soldier’s skull snapped backward with a clean hole burned between his eyes. He dropped without a sound, a weapon still gripped in his limp hand.

The other soldiers shouted, but they barely had time to react before the base's outer gates hissed open behind them. Robotic units poured into the street, moving in synchronized bursts of metal limbs and mechanical efficiency. Their sensors immediately locked onto Sicrus. Red lines traced across his torso and head, tracking his vitals, analyzing his threat level. The verdict came back: lethal. Sicrus moved before they did.

Three robots fired blasts of Intergy, beams screaming through the air in a tight spread. But Sicrus was already gone. He flipped sideways as he narrowly twisted between the beams. Another robot leapt from a rooftop above, its blade-arm extended in a downward arc, fast and brutal. Sicrus ducked, rolled forward, and spun on his heel. He brought his hand up like a snap reflex, index finger leveled. A point of Intergy charged and fired instantly. The robot’s head burst into white-hot fragments.

He slid beneath a second machine mid-swing and planted a blast into its chest cavity, ripping through its core. Sparks vomited from its chassis as it collapsed backward. A third unit tried to flank him, but Sicrus pivoted, ducked, and fired more. This time he fired through the robot’s eye socket, piercing out the back in a streak of blue-white heat. They came faster now. Five more. Seven. Dozens.

But Sicrus didn’t slow. He dodged with inhuman calm, weaving through volleys of Intergy blasts and mechanical limbs with impossible finesse. Every motion was economic. No wasted energy. His arm snapped to each new target like a marksman built of nerve and instinct, Intergy charging in quick bursts at his fingertip, his body pivoting smoothly between kills. One robot tried to flank him from behind, but Sicrus didn’t look. He simply turned his finger back and fired, blowing its head clean off without even breaking stride. His eyes were cold. Focused. Absolute.

General 3: Keep on attacking! He’s only one man!

The soldiers at the far end of the base scrambled for the emergency switch. A massive metal gate groaned open, its locks releasing with a deep mechanical howl. From the darkness beyond, hundreds of robots emerged in coordinated waves, shoulder to shoulder, wall after wall of reinforced steel and high-caliber Intergy weaponry. Their footsteps made the ground hum like a living drum.

Sicrus didn’t move. Didn’t speak. Didn’t blink. He raised his hand again, but this time, the Intergy at his fingertip began to change. The charge wasn’t a tight thread of piercing death. It expanded, swelled, pulsed with heat and density. It whined louder. As the beam formed, the air around his hand shimmered like a mirage, vibrating with barely-contained destruction. Then he fired. The first shot struck the front row of advancing robots. They didn’t fall. They vanished. The explosion bloomed outward in a brilliant sphere of concussive light, obliterating two dozen units instantly. Limbs, heads, and armor fragments spiraled into the sky in a fiery cloud of metal and smoke. The shockwave shook the walls of the base itself, knocking soldiers off their feet.

Sicrus fired again. And again. Each shot became a detonation, precision-guided bombs launched from his fingertip. Robots exploded in synchronized waves, entire lines torn before they could get close. Scorch marks burned into the concrete in wide arcs, and the thick fog of smoke filled the streets with the scent of seared circuitry and ozone. A few soldiers, panicked but desperate, charged him directly. Blades drawn, Intergy blades humming.

Sicrus turned toward them with no change in expression. He simply raised his fingers. A wave of raw Intergy bullets lashed across the air, slicing through them like silk. Each of the soldiers were shot down in a flurry of bullets. Sicrus was a machine. A machine gun.

Silence returned but only for a second.

General 4: Release the last file! We must finish him now!

Klaxons screamed louder. More steel gates groaned open, one after another, lining the horizon like the jaws of a mechanical beast. Hundreds more robots poured out in regimented waves, smoke pouring from their engines, Intergy cores pulsing violently in their chests, and weaponized arms raised toward the lone intruder who had already torn through half their base.

Sicrus stood still. For the first time, his jaw clenched. A breath. A shift. Then, in a single blur of motion, he launched himself into the sky with no flight gear or wings, just raw Intergy burning beneath his feet. The wind howled as he climbed, soaring above the city ruins until the military base shrank beneath him like an anthill. Below him, the robotic masses were assembling, repositioning, preparing for synchronized retaliation.

But he had already decided. Up there, suspended midair, Sicrus stretched out his arms and opened his hands. Fingers splayed wide. His fingers lit up, glowing white-hot with streaming Intergy. Each fingertip charged, trembling with overwhelming density, his entire body vibrating under the strain.

Then, he fired. From every finger, Intergy bullets erupted like thunder, machine-gunning the earth below in a relentless barrage. The sky lit up like a supernova. Each shot that landed exploded on impact, vaporizing metal and earth alike. Shockwaves burst outward in all directions. Robots were torn apart before they could even raise a weapon. Roads buckled. Guard towers collapsed. The entire arena where the robots had emerged transformed into a furnace of white fire and disintegrating steel.

From the ground, it looked like the heavens were punishing the earth. Sicrus kept firing, his body trembling under the weight of his own power, sweat streaking down his face as the Intergy tore through him in pulses.

And then, silence. He dropped slowly, hitting the cracked stone of the base. He stood among the ruins of what had once been Krutone’s most fortified command center. Now, it was a graveyard of twisted metal, ruptured walls, and burnt-out robot cores still hissing as they cooled.

Sicrus exhaled, his chest rising and falling with quiet exhaustion. He didn’t smile. He didn’t speak. He had dismantled an army.