“Is all this fuss really necessary for someone barely scraping a B-grade attribute?”
At the factory’s entrance, a convoy of vehicles emblazoned with the lettuce-shaped emblem of the Demon Suppression Bureau stood in orderly rows.
The evacuated crowd milled about, undergoing inspections by Tina and her team of medics.
Xing Chen, faced with Arden’s request to assist Noi and the others, merely stifled a yawn, brushing it off with practiced indifference.
“Is that so?” Arden said, undeterred.
“Then take a look at this photo.”
He handed over Sano’s battered old phone, its screen displaying a snapshot of Noi and Lyte locked in combat with a grotesque, misshapen alien beast—a photo Simon had taken and sent to Sano.
“What’s going on here?” Xing Chen’s eyes narrowed as he studied the image, his expression growing grave.
“An unconscious alien? Something that slipped out of the Hellgate?”
Arden reclaimed the phone.
“Doesn’t seem like it. If it were from Hellgate, none of us would be standing here, and the commotion would’ve been far louder. More likely, it’s the rumored Mutant Serum.”
“Mutant Serum…” Xing Chen muttered, rising to his feet.
He adjusted his attire, steeling himself to re-enter the factory.
Bishop Pria had once spoken to him of the Sin Domain’s current tactics—exploiting human greed to construct Hellgates, only to have their pawns inject themselves with the Mutant Serum for a suicidal counterstrike.
Those who resisted its effects with deliberate magic could neutralize it.
There was another, darker method: when faced with a genius too powerful to defeat through brute force, they’d resort to poisoning.
The venom, crafted by the Domain Lord himself, was exceedingly rare and ineffective against those with A-grade or higher constitutions.
Once poisoned, only the Saintess could intervene—otherwise, the antidote rested solely in the Domain Lord’s hands.
After all, the poison’s purpose was singular: to kill.
“Stay sharp,” Arden called out.
Xing Chen didn’t reply.
With a flicker of his Limit Break, he shot into the factory like an arrow loosed from a bow.
***
“Talk about rotten luck!”
The spacious office was a chaotic mess—papers strewn everywhere, walls pockmarked with craters, and the collapsed ceiling pinning Simon beneath its weight.
He hadn’t meant to linger on the sidelines, but his newly acquired Speedburst Boots were still unfamiliar.
A misstep had sent him crashing headlong into the debris.
Thankfully, his portable Element Gauntlets 2.0 had saved him, conjuring an earthen wall to prop up the massive ceiling stone.
Now, he waited for someone to lend a hand and shift the rubble.
“ROAR!”
Gris, transformed into a hulking, ape-like unconscious alien, hefted a desk and hurled it at Noi, who seemed the frailest on the battlefield.
He charged toward her on all fours, a beast driven by instinct.
A radiant lightsaber materialized in Noi’s hands.
She assumed a poised stance, fingers interlaced tightly around the hilt.
With a precise, forceful vertical slash, she cleaved the sturdy desk in two.
But Gris was relentless.
His massive arm swung down, the gust of his fist tearing at Noi’s skin.
She twisted her lithe frame, dodging the blow, then launched into the air.
Her lightsaber arced upward, carving a gash across Gris’s chest.
Using a conjured light shield as a springboard, she propelled herself for a decisive strike at his neck.
Yet Gris, enhanced by the Morphing Needle to an A-minus grade, was no lumbering brute.
Despite his size, he moved with uncanny agility.
He spun, his massive hand whipping through the air to swat the petite girl from existence.
As danger closed in, Noi gritted her teeth, ready to pour every ounce of her magic into a protective barrier.
But before she could, a golden sword wave sliced through the air, severing Gris’s palm with a whisper of precision.
“ARGGH!” Gris recoiled, stomping and howling to vent his agony.
“You holding up okay?” Lyte called, vaulting through the shattered window.
He’d been flung outside earlier when Gris, with no regard for honor, had hammered him through the office door.
Only now had he returned.
“I’m fine,” Noi replied, landing gracefully.
Light energy gathered at her fingertips as she cast a protective barrier around Lyte.
Shielded, Lyte charged fearlessly at Gris, who swung his arm in a furious attempt to crush the man who’d maimed him.
But a hero with Limit Break wasn’t so easily felled.
“Clang!”
Lyte’s obsidian blade met Gris’s arm, magic swirling into a vortex that redirected the beast’s force back upon him.
Seizing the moment, Lyte unleashed “Thorned Rose”—a cruciform sword wave that carved deep, bone-revealing gashes across Gris’s chest, blood seeping from the wounds.
“GRAH!” Ignoring the searing pain, Gris lunged, his massive form aiming to crush Lyte under his bulk.
Noi’s earlier protective array activated, spinning counterclockwise to slow Gris’s descent, buying Lyte time to evade.
Then, rotating clockwise, it unleashed a burst of absorbed kinetic energy and light magic, blasting Gris through the wall.
Half his body dangled outside, broken and exposed.
Noi and Lyte exchanged a glance, then advanced shoulder-to-shoulder toward the fallen Gris, intent on pulling him back from the brink of his alien transformation.
But the air grew restless—metal objects quivered, and water from a nearby dispenser inexplicably reversed its flow.
***
On a rooftop not far from the factory office, Hui and Abai wielded their abilities, stalling Lyte and his allies.
“Has Ahei finished destroying the evidence in the lumber mill?” Abai asked, manipulating metal objects to cage Lyte.
“No clue. Left my phone behind today, but he’s probably done,” Hui replied, channeling water into the gaps of the metal prison to reinforce it.
Even Lyte would need nearly half a minute to break free.
“Then let’s get out of here. Getting tangled with that monstrous hero is more trouble than it’s worth. No need to overdo it.”
“What’re you saying, big brother? We’re Lutos’s kids, aren’t we? Doing a little work for him is only right.”
“…Maybe so.”
Satisfied that Lyte was momentarily trapped, Hui and Abai bolted.
***
By the time the Demon Suppression Division arrived, they’d find nothing but echoes.
“Lyte!”
Back in the office, Noi hacked at the metal bindings ensnaring Lyte with her lightsaber.
Reinforced by supernatural powers, they resisted her blade.
She prepared to pour more force into her strikes when Gris, inexplicably, rose again.
Brown, eerie branches sprouted from his mouth and nostrils—his alien transformation deepening.
“Noi, watch out!” Simon, who’d been spectating (or slacking, depending on the perspective), shouted as Gris sprang back to life.
Noi snapped to attention, but the branch-woven arm was already upon her.
She conjured multiple light shields in desperation, barely fending off the assault.
The good news: Gris couldn’t breach the supernatural cage crafted by Hui and Abai, leaving Lyte unharmed.
Lyte, meanwhile, strained to unravel the enchantments with his hero’s power.
Noi’s lightsaber slashed repeatedly, but Gris’s woody defenses held firm.
As she faltered, a crimson sword light, wreathed in blazing flames, streaked forth.
A black blade severed one of Gris’s branches in a single, fiery stroke.
“Well, well, two weeks apart—how’s it going with Lyte?”
Xing Chen, clad in his signature cropped noble’s robe, spoke with the casual familiarity of an old friend meeting after years.
He’d just arrived, effortlessly slicing through the boulder pinning Simon, his blood-sacrificed power amplifying his sealed strength—a perk of his resurrection.
“Brother, you’re late to the party!” Simon grinned, clapping Xing Chen’s shoulder.
Three weeks after their first meeting, the trio stood side by side once more, ready to fight.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.