Marcus stared at Chen Wei, every part of him screaming to take action, but the agony slicing through his chest rooted him in place. The machine’s pulse matched the rhythm of his heartbeat now, it was louder, faster. His sword trembled in his grip, its glow fading with every second, the jade ring cracked and flickered like it was about to explode.And Isabella, his mother, was dying right in front of him.Another surge of electricity rushed through her body, causing her to scream. Her scream was weaker this time, not because the pain had lessened, but because she was slipping further from consciousness. Her head leaned forward and the lively glow of her skin had dimmed.Marcus closed his eyes.I can’t lose her, not after everything I’ve done and how far I’ve come. He said to himself.He gritted his teeth, then slowly and deliberately let go of his sword. It clattered to the floor softly.Valentina gasped from where she lay, dazed against the wall.Chen Wei arched a brow. “So… you choos

Harold lunged.Marcus barely had time to react. He ducked low, the air splitting as a metal fist soared over his head and crushed into the wall behind him, sending debris flying like shrapnel.“Dad, please—!” Marcus shouted, but another blow came fast and brutal, striking him across the ribs and sending him skidding across the floor.Sophia backed up, eyes wide. “Marcus, he’s not holding back!”Marcus groaned and got to his feet. “That’s the problem. He doesn’t know how.”Harold advanced like a machine of war. His movement was stiff, precise, without pause or hesitation. A cold light pulsed from beneath the metal grafts on his chest and arms. His face remained blank with no emotion, or memory. Just pure programming.Marcus blocked another hit, then another, using divine energy to soften the impact, but each blow still cracked through the air like thunder.“Engaging target,” Harold’s mechanical voice echoed.The ceiling above cracked with the force of their fight. Harold struck again,

The masked figure didn’t speak.He stood perfectly still with arm raised the same way a conductor might before the first note of a symphony but there was no music, only silence so thick it felt like the world had forgotten how to breathe.Then the helmet hissed.Panels slid open with an eerie mechanical sound, and the mask peeled back, revealing a face that didn’t belong to any one time. His features were ageless, his skin too smooth and too flawless. His eyes were black, bottomless and ancient, layered with memories that no single lifetime could hold. His hair was silver but not from age, it shone like mercury, alive with some internal pulse.And when he smiled, Marcus felt it in his bones.“You’ve grown, Marcus,” the Collector said, voice rich and cold, like velvet laced with poison. “More than I expected. I must thank you. All of this has gone precisely as I hoped.”Marcus stepped forward, fists clenched. “You planned this?” He asked with divine understanding.“Every piece,” the Co

A loud thunder across the battlefield.It started low, like a distant storm, but it grew, rising in pitch, and crawling under the skin of every gifted being present. The siphon glowed brighter with each passing second. Pulses of white light shot up its sides, blinking like a heartbeat, as if the machine had come alive.Marcus clenched his fists. His divine senses were screaming now, not just from the tower, but from the entire city around them.Something was being taken.“Marcus…” Alessandro turned sharply. “It’s started.”The siphon released a deep, resonant pulse that echoed across the skyline. Then came the screams, at first they were distant, but the sound rose fast.Sophia, who’d just returned from guiding the last civilians to safety, stared up at the tower with pale, stricken eyes. “It’s already draining them. Every single one of them”Marcus’s vision blurred for a moment as he tapped into the divine current around him. What he felt made his breath catch.Hospitals.Schools.Ap

The dawn after the siphon’s destruction came quietly, almost deceptively gentle. The city felt different, like even the air itself had been reset, vibrating with a new, unsteady life.Marcus stood where the siphon had once towered, the ground felt hot and it shone with residual spiritual light. Debris lay scattered on the ground, but the damage was almost peaceful compared to what might have been. He could still feel Elder Chen’s final lesson inside him, humming like an eternal heartbeat.But there was no time to mourn because people were gathering quickly around him.They came hesitantly at first. The first ones were Syndicate soldiers stripped of their enhancements, confused civilians, children who had felt something awaken in them overnight. One by one, they came out from hiding, drawn to the aura of Elder Chen’s final sacrifice. Some were terrified and confused while some were wild-eyed, drunk on sudden, unstoppable power.Marcus saw a teenage girl accidentally setting the ground