Inside Fallen Star City Compound...

After hearing the report, Miles’ eyes narrowed with confusion.

At this point, who the hell would come looking for trouble in Fallen Star City? 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Did Ethan piss someone off out there? And now that they can’t touch him, they’re coming after Fallen Star City instead?

Miles let out a cold laugh.

"So they think Fallen Star City is easy to bully?"

"Doesn’t matter who it is. If they dare set their sights on Fallen Star City, they better be ready to get ground into dust."

He flexed his fingers, already imagining how this would end.

"Goldie and those white-furred apes wiped out most of the mutant beasts on the nearby mountains. They’ve been bored out of their minds ever since." Miles’ grin turned sharp. "Perfect. Let them loosen up a little."

He stood. "Come on. Let’s go take a look."

"Tell someone to notify Goldie and the others to come to the front gate."

"Understood!"

By the time Andrew’s group rushed up toward the main entrance, Miles had already come out with his people.

The two sides faced each other across open ground.

Andrew looked Miles up and down. "You’re the one in charge of Fallen Star City?"

Then he frowned slightly, like something tugged at his memory. "Fallen Star... that name sounds kind of familiar."

He didn’t dwell on it.

Miles nodded once. "I am."

"Good." Andrew’s gaze sharpened. "Then I’ll confirm something with you."

"There’s a twenty-thousand-man team causing chaos in Stonebridge City, killing however they want. Did they come from your Fallen Star City?"

"So you’re from Stonebridge City Compound," Miles said, understanding snapping into place.

Andrew’s voice went cold. "Just answer. Are they from your compound or not?"

"Yes," Miles said plainly.

"Good." Andrew’s mouth curled. "They killed our people. So tell me—how are you going to settle this?"

"Settle it?" Miles repeated, like the word amused him.

Then his smile turned into a sneer. "Let me guess. You failed to recruit them, got desperate, and now you’re here to grab hostages—so you can threaten their families and force them to join Stonebridge City Compound. Right?"

"Bullshit!" Andrew barked.

"They killed our people. Naturally, we’ll take your lives to pay for it!"

Miles shook his head slowly. "Sure. Keep acting."

Then his expression dropped, all warmth disappearing in an instant.

"You really think Fallen Star City is the kind of place any random stray dog can come bite?"

Andrew’s face darkened. "You—!" He pointed sharply. "Stonebridge City Compound is a government-aligned large compound. What is Fallen Star City, huh? What do you think you are?"

"Is that so?" Miles snorted.

Then he snapped the order like he’d been waiting for it.

"Wipe them out."

The moment the words left his mouth, a few deep, savage roars rolled out from inside the city walls.

A heartbeat later, eight massive white-furred apes came charging out of the compound.

Each one was huge—towering, thick with muscle, white fur bristling—and every single one carried a heavy club in its hands. Their faces were practically gleeful as they barreled straight toward Andrew’s team.

Andrew’s side jolted in shock.

Nobody expected this guy to go straight to violence without even a warning.

And the instant Andrew felt the terrifying pressure coming off those eight apes, his expression warped.

His blood ran cold.

"Focus fire!" he shouted.

The thousands behind him moved instantly. Abilities detonated across the line—fire, ice, blades of wind, surging lightning, waves of force—everything converging in a dense storm and slamming into the oncoming apes.

But when the attacks hit...

Nothing.

Not even a stagger.

The skills didn’t leave wounds. They didn’t even leave marks. If anything, the apes looked more excited, roaring louder as they charged through the barrage like it was a warm-up.

"This..." Andrew’s throat went tight.

The same heavy dread sank into everyone’s chest.

What Tier are these mutant beasts?

They’d just thrown thousands of attacks at them—among them, dozens of Tier 9 Enhanced.

Dozens of Tier 9s focusing fire... even a Tier 10 mutant beast should’ve been mangled. At minimum, it should’ve been badly injured.

But these white-furred apes?

They looked completely fine. Not a scratch. Not a wobble. Like the whole thing had been a joke.

Soon, the eight white-furred apes slammed straight into the crowd.

Their clubs became blurs.

Wherever a club passed, blood mist exploded into the air. Forget bodies—there wasn’t even a chunk of flesh the size of a thumb left behind.

Those clubs had been personally outfitted by Miles, all weapons pulled from the Void Realm.

And honestly? White-furred apes were absurdly suited to using them. Their combat power already far exceeded other mutant beasts of the same Tier. Now that they had real weapons in hand, they were downright horrifying.

Goldie and the others had been about to rush in too, but when they saw what was happening, they forcibly halted—afraid of getting caught in the swing.

The apes were whipping those clubs around like maniacs. At this point, it was hard to believe they even knew the difference between friend and foe.

Meanwhile, Andrew stood frozen in place, shaking uncontrollably.

He was genuinely scared stupid by what he was seeing.

"Tier 11...?"

"No... more than Tier 11..."

"Fuck. Stage C!" Andrew’s mind turned into mush.

At the Atlas City conference, Maxwell had standardized the Tier system using Ethan’s classification, so pretty much everyone in the major compounds now knew: Tier 12 was Stage C.

"How can there be Stage C mutant beasts...?" Andrew muttered, numb.

He watched his compound’s core fighters get butchered like ants under those apes’ clubs, and his heart trembled so hard it felt like it might stop.

Then—suddenly—Andrew dropped to his knees in front of Miles.

"I’m sorry! We were wrong! Please—please, let us go!"

He was truly terrified now. If he’d known Fallen Star City had mutant beasts this monstrous inside its walls, he wouldn’t have dared target that twenty-thousand-man team even if he had ten thousand lives.

But Miles’ face didn’t change at all.

He lifted a hand casually.

A ripple of light flashed from his palm and pierced straight into Andrew’s chest.

Andrew’s eyes bulged. Shock froze on his face.

"Tier 11..."

"I... I get it now..." His lips trembled as the realization finally hit. "Fallen Star City... Fallen Star Squad... I should’ve known they were connected..."

Blood leaked from the corner of his mouth. Then he crashed to the ground.

By then, the several thousand Enhanced from Stonebridge City Compound had already been cut down by more than half in the span of moments. The survivors scattered, fleeing in every direction.

But it didn’t take long.

From all sides, a large group of Enhanced appeared, blocking every escape route.

The Fallen Star Guard’s main force might have been out sweeping zombies, but there were still several hundred Tier 9 Enhanced left in the compound to maintain order.

So even without the white-furred apes, trying to attack Fallen Star City would’ve been a fantasy.

Not to mention the massive laser cannon at the gate—one that could threaten even a Stage C powerhouse.

Realizing there was no way out, the remaining Stonebridge City Enhanced collapsed to their knees.

"Please! Let us go! This wasn’t our decision—we were following orders!"

In front of Stage C-level white-furred apes, they didn’t even have the courage to resist.

But Miles still gave them nothing. No expression. No hesitation.

In the end, it wasn’t until the thousands had been slaughtered down to only a few hundred survivors that Miles finally spoke.

"Stop."

Under the command of the white-furred ape leader, the apes reluctantly lowered their clubs, looking almost disappointed.

The remaining few hundred were already limp on the ground, minds shattered. This battle would haunt them for the rest of their lives—assuming they even got to have a "rest of their lives."

Miles’ eyes swept over them like they were inventory.

"Bring them inside," he said calmly. "And notify the Fallen Star Guard—wipe out Stonebridge City’s upper ranks. After that, I’ll send people over to take control of Stonebridge City Compound."

"Yes!"