A small rat near the wall twitched. For a brief moment, its eyes went dull, like something had shut off inside it.

Then its body snapped forward and it shot across the ground at a speed that did not match its size, blurring as it slipped through cracks and broken debris.

By the time Francis reached his destination, the ground had been torn apart beyond recognition.

Craters overlapped, while broken concrete and twisted metal turned every step into a hazard.

Lex had already killed more than seventy soldiers.

’What’s that?’

Lex’s skin was starting to crack apart in places, blue light leaking through the fractures. His skin also looked dried out, as if the moisture inside it was being burned away.

Across from him stood Harry, the only remaining Horseman. He was also covered in blue aura, but it was lighter and far weaker than his opponent’s.

"Let’s end this." Lex inhaled and rushed forward at maximum speed. The ground shattered beneath each step as he closed the distance in an instant.

Then—

He stopped abruptly.

The sudden halt snapped the air around him as he twisted his body and hurled the spear forward.

ZZZZZZZZZ!

A blue beam shot forward, ripping through the air. The ground split along its path as debris and shattered concrete were dragged toward the attack.

Harry saw it coming and twisted his body to avoid a direct hit, but the beam still grazed his side—

—and tore his right arm clean off.

Before he could even scream in pain, Lex appeared and punched him in the face, sending him crashing to the ground.

"Is this what you want?" Lex sneered in contempt. There was no satisfaction in his expression. Only strain and frustration.

Harry tried to push himself up, but his missing arm and the impact made it hard to regain balance.

Lex continued, "You and I are being used. Can’t you see that? Don’t you think it’s strange? They could have sent more people if they wanted to reduce casualties."

"If I die here, so what?" Harry grinned. "As long as I complete my mission, then nothing else matters."

Lex raised his hand and brought it down in a clean chopping arc, aiming to split Harry in two. But just before the strike landed, his arm froze mid-motion, every muscle locking up.

"What..." he couldn’t even finish the words as the paralysis spread, locking even his tongue in place.

Suddenly, dark lines crept across his skin, starting from his fingers and crawling up his arms. The color darkened as they spread. Along his neck, the same pattern formed, branching out like fractures in glass.

Harry started laughing. It sounded rough and twisted, he was enjoying the moment too much.

"You feel it now, don’t you?" he said between breaths. "That’s what happens when you push past your human limit."

"And now you’ll be nothing more than a piece for their experiments," he added. "How does it feel... to stand above everyone, only to end up reduced to this?"

Harry slowly rose to his feet, his grin widening as he watched Lex suffer.

The darkness spread across his body until nothing human remained. His skin lost its texture, turning too smooth, too dense. Light slid across the surface like metal.

"I... I did it." Harry clenched his remaining fist. "I can finally join the Federation Elite Unit."

A few minutes later, another group arrived. There were forty of them in total, but five stood out from the rest.

They carried themselves with more authority, their presence more powerful than the soldiers behind them.

Not just that—the power suit they wore carried the Federation logo on its chest. The black and green pattern stood out under the sunlight, sharp and clean against the broken battlefield.

Its build looked solid, and its quality did not fall behind Lex’s power suit at all.

One of them, a girl with short blue hair and almond eyes, stepped forward and stopped in front of Harry.

"You did a good job. Don’t worry about your arm. Back in the capital, you can get yourself a prosthetic made of Refined Gamma Metals."

"...Noted," he muttered, keeping his voice low and controlled.

As proud as he was, he knew she came from a background he could not even begin to imagine.

She didn’t say anything and turned toward the block of metal that used to be Lex Ryzen.

"Amazing... I can still feel his power even after the crystallization. The doctor will be able to turn this into very powerful equipment."

A man with long black hair stood beside her.

"Do you think it will reach Legendary grade, Aira?" he asked.

"I hope so, Luke. We need more legendary-grade items, especially after the recent reports. Materials like this are hard to come by."

Just as the two were speaking, another voice cut in.

A short man stepped forward, only around 5’4 in height. His hands were clasped behind his back, a posture that didn’t match his plain and unassuming appearance.

"I’m really against using Compound Z on humans with great potential," he said. "We could have sent him on the frontline instead."

Aira glanced at him briefly and shook her head.

"Don’t be too soft, Lance. He’s of common blood. Even if we don’t do anything, he’ll eventually turn into a mindless killing machine once he enters the manifestation phase."

She turned her gaze back to the dark crystal.

"You saw that fight, right? He was too unstable... and that was him without any power suit to control or house his excess energy."

Aira continued, "We made the right choice to secretly make him take Compound Z and push him just enough to force a manifestation."

There was no regret in her voice, only a cold certainty that made it clear she had long stopped seeing this as anything more than a process.

What mattered to her was the result, nothing else.

"How about that Samantha girl?" Lance asked.

She glanced at him, her attention briefly breaking.

"Don’t worry about her. The ones who wanted her dead were those sly old foxes. Let them handle it. Our priority here is to get this thing back to the capital as soon as possible."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Behind her, the team began moving. They secured straps around the dark crystal, locking it tightly in place.

A helicopter descended overhead, its rotors shaking the air. The cables attached tightened, and slowly, the black-metal object was lifted.

VRRRM... VRRRM...

The helicopter strained under the weight, its rotors whining harder as the cables pulled tight. Inch by inch, the load rose off the ground.

After a slow, controlled lift, the helicopter began moving forward—

click!

The cables snapped, and its load dropped straight to the ground.

BOOM!

Dust burst outward in every direction, but the soldiers didn’t panic, thinking it was only an accident.

"Don’t get near it!" Aira shouted, raising her guard quickly. The other four reacted just as fast, falling into formation beside her.

Hidden in the cloud of smoke were two pairs of glowing purple eyes.

’Nice... This body is really on another level,’ Francis chuckled, clearly satisfied with how his gamble had paid off.

’Good thing he was already dying, so corrupting his nervous system became much easier.’

Lex’s fate was tragic, but it gave Francis a huge benefit.

The liver count alone had already passed 1,000. On top of that, Lex’s innate talent—"Momentum Breaker"—was overpowered.

[DING]

[Warning: The body currently in use is at risk of structural failure. Continued operation requires energy.]

Francis quickly checked his energy level.

[Energy: 229 / 50 – Supercharge]

The excess energy likely came from absorbing Lex’s liver at his peak state.

[228]

The energy was dropping fast.

’I could not afford to waste time.’

He adjusted his stance, then turned his focus toward the five high level Federation Agents.

Aira stood at the center, her jaw tight as she bit her lip in annoyance.

"This is impossible. Compound Z should have completely petrified him after reaching the manifestation state. There’s no way a commoner could have survived!"

She wasn’t entirely wrong.

But the person she was referring to was already gone.

What stood before them was something far more dangerous.

And much, much more efficient.

SWOOOSH!

The ground cracked as his body vanished from where he stood, leaving only a burst of dust.

From what he overheard, these five operated on an entirely different level compared to the normal Special Categories of the Defense Force.

Which meant more points. With Supercharge active, letting them go would be a waste. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

He planned to take at least one of them before retreating.

"You think you can beat us?" Aira sneered, then pulled a metallic fan from her waist. "Let me show you what a Diamond-grade weapon can do."

A compressed gale erupted the moment she snapped her fan open, tearing through the air and ripping loose chunks of concrete as it advanced.

Francis didn’t even bat an eye.

Using Trajectory Reading, he predicted the path of the wind, then activated Kinetic Calibration to adjust his body mid-air.

Then, as if he had grown wings, he began moving through the air, mixing his innate talents to generate bursts beneath his feet.

"How can he do that?" Aira was taken aback.

This level of aerial control wasn’t something the old Lex was capable of.

Francis kept accelerating. Shockwaves formed beneath his feet, stacking on one another and driving him faster as he adjusted to the new body.

’I knew it...’ he thought as he changed direction again. ’Having a humanoid body still feels more natural.’

"Take him down!" Luke shouted.

He moved first, stepping forward and slamming his palm against the ground, triggering the special effect built into his gauntlet.

CRACK!

Black metal spikes shot upward, rising at speeds as fast as bullets.