The Only Powerless is the Apex Predator

Shattering the Absolute

The air hissed as volcanic embers clashed with decaying ash.

Riaz didn't wait. With a heavy, explosive thud, his scaled tail slammed the concrete, launching his massive frame forward. His right fist, wrapped in roaring molten lava, ripped through the Extinction Mist, aimed straight for Zuraiz’s head. The sheer heat waves distorted the space around him.

He’s fast for an Ankylosaurus, but his upper shoulders shift slightly to the left before a heavy swing, Zuraiz’s overclocked senses analyzed instantly.

With the cool, stabilizing energy of Amaya's White Phoenix balancing the cracking cells in his body, Zuraiz didn’t dodge backward. He dropped low, his body sliding under Riaz’s flaming fist. The intense heat singed the ends of Zuraiz's messy black hair, but his focus didn't waver for a millisecond.

Now.

Zuraiz’s right arm shot upward. His fingers, coated in obsidian-like Deinonychus talons, crackled violently with a dense concentration of Black-Gold Primordial Cracks. With geometric precision, he drove his fingertips directly into the small, unarmored soft tissue right under Riaz’s jaw—the only gap in the Volcanic Ankylosaurus’s absolute defense.

BOOM!

A shockwave of petrified soil and volcanic sparks erupted through the staging area.

"AGH!" Riaz roared in agony. The black-gold cracks tore through his molten scales like paper, fracturing his jaw bone and sending a violent shockwave of fossil energy straight into his nervous system. The absolute defense was breached. Riaz staggered backward, coughing up dark, smoking blood, his tailored white suit torn to shreds.

"You... you monster!" Riaz hissed, his face twisted in pure rage. His eyes burned with desperate fury as he forced the volcanic armor around his body to combust completely, preparing for a self-destructive, area-of-effect explosion that would level the entire station.

Zuraiz cold expression remained unchanged. He braced his legs, ready to unleash the final extraction of his Deinonychus speed to rip Riaz's throat out before the detonation.

Crack. Shatter.

Suddenly, the reinforced glass ceiling of the transit station shattered into a million pieces.

Before the glass shards could even hit the ground, three flash-bang capsules detonate mid-air, flooding the room with a blinding, high-frequency white light that instantly suppressed Riaz’s combusting volcanic energy.

Tactical suppression modules? The High Alliance Enforcers? Zuraiz thought, his instincts screaming danger as he instantly retreated back toward Amaya’s containment pod, pulling his hood low to hide his glowing golden eyes.

Through the shattered roof, four figures descended smoothly using mechanical ziplines. They wore the high-tech, matte-black armor of the First District Enforcer Corps, their weapons raised with absolute discipline.

But it was the person leading them that made the entire room freeze.

She unclipped her zipline, her combat boots landing silently on the concrete. She wasn't an ordinary enforcer. Her long, crimson-red hair was tied into a sharp, military high-ponytail, and her cold, piercing emerald eyes scanned the room with the calculated authority of a seasoned apex commander. A sleek, high-frequency obsidian blade hung at her waist, humming with high-tier primordial energy.

Evelyn Vance. The youngest elite captain of the First District Tactical Division, known in the upper districts as the "Iron Vanguard."

She didn't look at the slums' notorious syndicate boss, nor did she look at the blood splattered on the walls. Her emerald eyes locked instantly onto Zuraiz, who stood defensively in front of the containment pod, the faint wisps of his Extinction Mist still evaporating around his boots.

"Stand down," Evelyn’s voice cut through the damp air, cold, sharp, and entirely unbothered by the tense atmosphere.

Riaz, clutching his shattered jaw, tried to step forward. "Captain Vance... you're early. The specimen is secured inside the pod... This slum trash tried to sabotage the transfer—"

"Silence, Riaz," Evelyn interrupted without even looking at him. She took a slow, deliberate step toward Zuraiz, her gloved hand resting lightly on the hilt of her blade. Her presence alone brought a heavy, suffocating pressure that was entirely different from the wild, chaotic energy of the slums. It was refined, terrifyingly high-rank power.

"Sector 9 registry shows no awakened B-Rank speed profiles fitting your description," Evelyn said, her emerald eyes narrowing as she inspected the faint black-gold fractures still healing on Zuraiz’s forearms. "Who are you?"

Zuraiz didn't answer. His mind was rapidly scanning her posture, her weapon placement, and the tactical formation of the enforcers behind her. Four D-Rank elite guards, and one A-Rank core user. If I fight now, with my current Mortal Core, the survival probability is less than twelve percent.

"Brother..." Amaya’s weak voice echoed from inside the pod, her white plasma fire slowly dimming under the automated suppression of the transport truck.

Evelyn's gaze flicked to the pod, then back to Zuraiz. A brief, almost unnoticeable flash of recognition passed through her cold eyes as she looked at Zuraiz's facial structure, but her expression instantly returned to an unreadable mask of stone.

"The Calamity-Class specimen belongs to the High Alliance now," Evelyn stated firmly, her hand tightening slightly on her sword hilt. "Move away from the pod, or you will be neutralized as a tier-one threat to continental security."

Zuraiz stood his ground, his fingers twitching as the Deinonychus claws threatened to burst through his skin again. He was trapped between a heavily injured syndicate boss and the absolute authority of the First District.