"I can't feel my legs," Yoana added, smiling contentedly.Desmond looked up at the sky. He felt calm. His energy had stabilized. He was ready for the next war.However, that calm did not last long."Ahem."A dry cough sounded from the dark corner of the room.Desmond froze. Nova and Yoana immediately grabbed whatever was nearby to cover their naked bodies.Desmond sat up slowly. He turned toward the sound.His father was awake. The old man was sitting against the wall, staring at the three of them with a flat expression that was hard to read. His face was still pale, but his eyes... his eyes were sharp."Sorry to interrupt your recharging ritual," his father said, his voice raspy but clear. "But I think you should put your pants on now, Son.""Dad..." Desmond wasn't ashamed, but he felt incredibly awkward. "You've been awake this whole time?""Long enough to know that your taste in women is as complicated as mine," his father tried to stand, leaning against the wall.Desmond immediate

"DELETE."Three cosmic voices sounded in unison. Three pillars of Null light shot from the eyes of the giant Arbiters. The beams erased the air they passed through, creating a terrifying vacuum path straight to Desmond's heart.Desmond didn't move. He didn't dodge. He simply raised his left hand lazily."Who do you think I am? Trash file?"Desmond stomped his foot on the Wasteland mud.[SKILL: PRIMAL SANDSTORM (MODIFIED) - METAL GRAVEYARD]The ground around Desmond exploded. But it wasn't sand rising. Thousands of tons of scrap metal, car wrecks, building skeletons, plane remnants, lifted into the air, spinning into a dense tornado of iron.BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!The erasure beams slammed into the metal storm. Steel of any thickness evaporated instantly upon contact, but the volume of trash was overwhelming. Desmond used the entire contents of this landfill as an eternal shield."Your turn, Egypt," Desmond whispered.He clenched his left fist. The iron tornado stopped spinning, then solidi

"Don't play the hero, Dad! You couldn't even stand straight five minutes ago!"Desmond tried to swat his father's hand away, but strangely, the astral projection's grip felt as hard as steel. In front of them, the damaged Grand Arbiter's Core grew larger, shifting from white to an unstable blood-red. The sound of dimensional fractures screamed like thousands of glass panes shattering at once."Warning! Critical! Core Meltdown in 10 seconds! Blast radius: ONE DIMENSION! Boss, if that goes off here, Neo-Eden, Earth, and all the history you wrote will return a 'Not Found' error!""Move!" Desmond shoved his father, his Void wings flapping hard, preparing to dive into the apocalyptic sphere. "I'm the only one with Black Hole energy! I can swallow it!""You can swallow it," his Father's voice was calm, too calm amidst the storm of armageddon. "But you will die, Desmond. Your body is at its limit. Swallowing an explosion of that magnitude will shred your soul until there is nothing left to r

"Coordinates locked. Earth. Home."Desmond's voice echoed softly before being swallowed by a deafening sonic boom. The rainbow light wrapping his body slowly faded, replaced by a familiar sensation of falling. Not falling into the Void, but falling into heavy, humid gravity that smelled of exhaust fumes.SPLASH!Desmond landed on both feet on wet asphalt. Dirty water sprayed in all directions.Rain.Heavy, torrential rain, accompanied by lightning tearing across the gray sky."Cough..." Desmond hacked, inhaling air thick with carbon pollution.He looked at his hands. The obsidian skin and golden veins slowly faded, retreating into his pores, leaving behind the tanned skin of an ordinary human. The horns on his head vanished. His wings sank back into his back.He had returned to being Edi."Sabrun, status?" Desmond whispered internally."Stealth Mode: Active. All Admin powers are hidden in the background. Physically, you are now just an ordinary 25-year-old human with the stamina of an

"This is the end of the line, Sir. I don't dare go any deeper."The automated taxi driver stopped his vehicle at the district border. Ahead, a giant neon gate reading [THE ZONE: ANOMALY SECTOR] flickered in the rain. Beyond that gate, ordinary human laws did not apply. It was the territory of creatures whose DNA was mixed with beasts or other elements."Thanks for the ride," Desmond tossed a digital credit chip onto the dashboard. He opened the door, letting the noise of heavy bass music and the scent of wild pheromones welcome him."Be careful, Sir," the driver warned before quickly rolling up the window. "In there, pure humans are on the dinner menu."Desmond smiled thinly, adjusting the collar of his expensive suit."I'm not a pure human, driver," Desmond murmured as the taxi sped away. "And I'm hungry."Desmond walked casually through the gate. The atmosphere inside The Zone was vastly different from the quiet outskirts earlier. Here, the streets were packed. Strange creatures pas