Chapter 252 Adrian slammed his bare palm flat against the flat side of the alien blade. He didn't touch the edge. He injected a massive, localized surge of kinetic force directly into the metal.The blade didn't cut him, but the sheer physical force of Adrian's parry hit Genesis's grafted arm like a freight train. The super-soldier’s radius bone audibly cracked under the strain, the necrotic flesh tearing.Genesis didn't scream. He used the momentum of the parry to spin, launching a devastating roundhouse kick aimed at Adrian’s ribs.Adrian caught the kick with his left hand, his boots skidding backward across the cracked marble floor from the raw physical impact."You're fighting a computer, Adrian!" Genesis rasped, twisting his leg to break the grip. "I have mapped every martial art, every kinetic trajectory, every biological limitation of the human form! You cannot out-fight me!""I don't have to out-fight you," Adrian grinned, the golden-crimson-silver light finally erupting in h

Chapter 254The new, armored black Range Rover glided through the streets of Aethelgard with the smooth, silent purr of a predator."Okay, I admit it," Joe said, gripping the leather-wrapped steering wheel. He adjusted the climate control and sighed happily. "The Bentley was a classic, but this? This is peak tactical luxury. The suspension is absorbing the potholes in Sector 3 like they don't even exist. And the seat warmers? Boss, my lower back has never felt so respected.""I told you, Joe. We are upgrading the aesthetic," Adrian Black said from the passenger seat. He was checking his datapad, still wearing his black shirt and gray trousers. "We need to project quiet, modern authority. Nothing says 'I own the city' quite like a convoy of tinted Range Rovers rolling through a blockade."Behind them, a line of nine identical black Range Rovers followed in perfect formation, carrying Captain Graves and a detachment of heavily armed Iron Guard officers.They approached the Sector 3 ship

Chapter 256"Surrender the city," Joe repeated, standing next to Adrian on the concrete pier. Joe looked at the armored European man, then looked at the floating mountain of shipping containers hovering in the sky above them. "Buddy, did you just wake up from a nap, or are you just functionally blind? Because the guy you are talking to is currently juggling a hundred thousand tons of steel."Arthur Pendelton did not look intimidated. He stepped entirely out of the freezing shipping container. His silver-and-white power armor adjusted to his movements with a soft, mechanical whine. He looked up at the floating cargo containers, his ice-blue eyes scanning the physics on display."Very impressive," Arthur said. He tapped a sleek device on his armored wrist. "Macro-kinetic levitation. A massive, localized manipulation of the gravitational constant. We detected the energy spikes from Europa. It is the primary reason the Crown sent me.""The Crown," Adrian said. He did not drop the containe