2025-12-10 04:18:52One Second.
Victor’s fist was a cannonball, aimed directly at Zane’s temple. The force behind the punch was enough to cause a concussion, perhaps worse, and Zane’s mortal body was too weak to absorb the impact.
He didn't need to see the System's screen anymore; the data had already been uploaded directly into his combat instincts. The Iron Fist (Lv. 1) was not a power boost—it was a precision amplifier, optimizing his weak physical structure to deliver maximum calculated force with minimum energy expenditure. It was the difference between a clumsy strike and a physicist’s equation in motion.
As Victor’s knuckles scraped past his ear, Zane shifted his weight, rotating his torso by a mere two centimeters—a move impossible for the mortal Zane, but flawless for the Commander's mind now guided by the System’s parameters. His left elbow snapped up, intercepting Victor's forearm at the radius bone, a sensitive, brittle point.
The impact was sharp, not heavy. A wet crack echoed through the silent lounge.
Victor’s roar was immediate and guttural, louder than his earlier laughter. His massive arm dropped, his face contorted in a mixture of confusion and intense agony. He hadn't just hit a wall; he'd hit a perfectly placed wedge of steel.
[Mission Complete: Defeat Campus Bully.]
[Reward Applied: Containment Stable (100%). Skill Acquired: Iron Fist (Lv. 1).]
[Status: Hostile Environment Escalating. Initiate Passive Defense Mode.]
The screens vanished. The divine pressure in Zane's chest instantly eased, pulling back from the brink. He felt the cold control return, along with the dull ache of the mortal body.
Anya Chen, who had been frozen in place, watching the confrontation with amusement, shrieked. "Victor! What happened? Get up!"
Victor was staggering back, cradling his wrist against his chest. His eyes were wide with shock and pain. "He—he broke it! The zero broke my arm!"
Zane pushed off the wall, his composure perfect. He looked down at the jade pendant, which Victor had dropped when the pain hit. He picked it up and calmly tucked it into his pocket.
"You slipped on the wet floor, Victor," Zane said, his voice flat, emotionless. "You were too clumsy to see the hazard I was cleaning. Perhaps you should stick to the field and away from campus politics."
His explanation was audacious, instantly plausible, and insulting—it hit Victor where it hurt most: his pride.
"I didn't slip, you filthy..." Victor started, but Zane had already turned to Anya.
"The floor is now clean, Anya. You should call an ambulance for your friend before the Dean arrives. If there’s blood, I won't have time to clean that up, too."
Anya stared at him, her usual sneer replaced by confusion. Zane had never fought back before, and the quiet authority in his voice was terrifyingly foreign. She quickly reverted to anger, the safer emotion.
"You insolent dog! You'll pay for this!" she screamed, rushing to Victor's side. "I'll make sure father triples your debt!"
Zane simply nodded, accepting the threat calmly. "Noted. I'll continue cleaning the hallway now. The Dean is due in fifteen minutes."
He retrieved his pail and sponge and walked out of the lounge, leaving behind the screaming linebacker and the furious sister-in-law. The humiliation had bought him power; the revenge had stabilized his containment. It was a transactional existence, and he had just profited.
The Price of a Skill
Zane moved down the long, empty hallway, the smell of Pine-Sol replacing the stale beer. He was alone, and he could finally access the System's functions.
He glanced at his internal interface.
[Host: Zane]
[Containment: Stable (100%)]
[Core Power: Sealed]
[Acquired Skills: Iron Fist (Lv. 1) - 5/100 EXP]
[Status: Passive Defense Mode Active. Analyzing local energy signatures...]
Iron Fist (Lv. 1). He mentally reviewed the data package. It had granted him a basic level of kinetic control, perfect for delivering mortal damage without risking the destructive output of his true self. He had leveled up his survival.
The System’s passive defense mode was interesting. It meant the containment was now scanning the environment for threats related to his divine heritage.
As he continued cleaning near a back stairwell, his focus was absolute. He thought about his wife, Liya Chen, the powerful and aloof Student Council President. She was the only reason he endured this pathetic life. She was the one who insisted he stay, claiming his presence was necessary for her own complicated political standing. She had never been cruel, only distant. She was his protector and, ironically, his jailer.
Suddenly, the System flashed a new, urgent notification.
[ALERT! High-Grade Forbidden Energy Signature Detected.]
[Signature Origin: Campus Grounds, Sector Gamma (Administration Tower).]
[Warning: Signature Matches Known Enemy Faction: The Scions of Chaos.]
Zane's blood ran cold. The Scions of Chaos—the ancient, dark cult that had betrayed him and caused his exile millennia ago—were on campus. His heart pounded, not from fear, but from the raw, elemental rage of a god scenting his prey.
His purpose was no longer just survival. It was war.
He abandoned his cleaning supplies and sprinted for the back stairs. The Dean’s reception was an hour away, but the threat was immediate. He was the worthless Son-in-Law, but he was also the exiled Commander.
He burst onto the Administration Tower rooftop, the evening wind whipping his clothes. The roof was empty, save for a small, metallic object resting near the antenna—a strange, bronze amulet humming with a sickly green energy.
Zane recognized the sigil immediately: The Mark of the Serpent.
He approached the amulet, his hands shaking slightly, and kicked it. It slid across the concrete.
"Amateurs," he muttered, recognizing the poor energy channeling. This wasn't a powerful Scion; it was a scout, a rookie trying to plant a listening device.
But then, a new voice cut through the wind—smooth, cultured, and laced with genuine menace.
"I see you found my little toy, Zane Chen. Or should I call you... Ares?"
A man in a perfectly tailored dark suit stepped out from behind the ventilation unit. He was young, handsome, and impeccably groomed, with a malicious smile that belonged to someone who hadn't endured a day of hardship. He held a small, silver pistol aimed casually at Zane's chest.
"I haven't the slightest idea what you are talking about," Zane stated, his mind racing. This man was not part of the Chen family’s petty politics. This was genuine, divine-level danger.
"Oh, you lie so well," the man chuckled, slowly raising the pistol. "My name is Caius, and I’m here to clean up the residual contamination your exile left behind. Your little family here—the Chens—they're just pawns."
Caius paused, his finger resting lightly on the trigger. "And your wife, Liya? She's not your jailer, Ares. She's the key to permanently terminating your divine spark. Did you really think they let a 'zero' like you live just because of a petty debt?"
The plot twist hit Zane harder than any physical blow: the Chens weren't his antagonists; they were merely the servants of a far greater threat, and his wife, the one person he was grateful to, was the means of his final destruction.
[ALERT! Hostile Entity Confirmed. Power Output Required for Survival: 55%. System Override Initiated.]
Zane felt the System forcibly begin to pump raw, destabilized power into his mortal limbs. He had less than three seconds before his body fried itself, but it was enough power to tear Caius apart.
"You have two seconds to drop that weapon," Zane commanded, his voice now layered with the deep, resonant authority of a god, and his mortal eyes blazing with true, blue divine fire.
Caius's smile faltered for the first time. "Too late."
He pulled the trigger.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 87
The Solar Shield was a masterpiece of golden geometry, a shimmering web of Syntax-fire that made Earth look like a jewel in a cage. But as the team celebrated the "Syringe’s" success near the orbit of Mercury, a cold realization struck the Apex-Prime’s sensor suite."The Reapers aren't hitting the shield," Rix whispered, his face illuminated by a frantic red pulse on his console. "They’ve bypassed the inner system entirely. They’re folding in behind the shadow of Saturn. They’re going for the source, Liya. They’re going for Titan."The "Emerald Seed" in Liya’s chest throbbed in sympathetic agony. She could feel Sola’s fear through the bio-network. The Reapers weren't just attacking a moon; they were attempting to lobotomize the "Green Code" at its root.The Methane StormThe Apex-Prime arrived at Titan to find a world of orange nightmares. The Reapers had dropped three Atmospheric Siphons into the methane clouds, churning the moon's weather into a hyper-velocity hurricane of free
Chapter 86
If Saturn was a cathedral of ice and silence, Mercury was an industrial furnace where the laws of physics went to melt.The Apex-Prime couldn't descend. Even with the Unbound fleet’s advanced shielding, the solar radiation this close to the Sun’s corona threatened to strip the ship's outer hull like paint. They hovered in the "Umbra," the long, frozen shadow cast by the planet itself, while the Solar Syringe—a needle of heat-resistant obsidian—was prepared for the drop."The surface temperature on the sunward side is 430°C," Rix said, his sweat-soaked hair sticking to his forehead despite the ship's internal cooling. "But it’s not the heat that’ll kill you. It’s the Solar Wind. The particles are moving at 400 kilometers per second. It’s like being sandblasted by a hurricane made of knives.""The Shield needs the juice, Rix," Kael said, slamming a new set of thermal-regulators into his titanium legs. "Unless you want to try powering the Syntax Spire with a bunch of AA batteries."
Chapter 85
The transformation of the Reaper-Prime into a flowering statue was meant to be a symbol of hope. Instead, it became a trigger for a mass exodus.Within the neural corridors of the Apex-Prime, the trillion souls of the Unbound were screaming. To them, the "Void-Chrome" of the Vanguard wasn't just metal—it was the color of their extinction. They didn't see Liya’s victory; they saw the inevitable return of the Reapers."The fleet is breaking formation," Rix reported, his voice cracking with exhaustion. He was slumped over the Command Table in Berlin, watching as hundreds of prismatic Ghost-ships ignited their folding drives in the upper atmosphere. "They’re not moving to defensive positions. They’re... they’re pointing their prows away from the Sun."The Schism of the SoulsLiya stood in the center of the Sanctuary, her emerald eyes pulsing with the rhythm of the planet. She could feel the fleet’s terror. It was a cold, sharp vibration that tasted like ozone and old grief."Rix, ge
Chapter 84
The "Nine-Year Vigil" began not with a prayer, but with a puncture.Six months after the Saturn Siege, the Earth had begun to transform. Under Sola’s guidance and Rix’s engineering, "Syntax Spires" were being grown from the soil of every continent—massive, bio-organic towers that acted as planetary lungs, scrubbing the last of the Scion soot from the atmosphere.But the peace was a thin glass skin.Liya sat in the heart of the Berlin Sanctuary, a cathedral grown from living willow and silver-glass. The Emerald Seed had moved from her arm to her chest, a pulsing heart of ivy that sat just above her collarbone. She spent sixteen hours a day in a "Data-Trance," her mind weaving the complex bio-mathematical shields that would eventually protect the sun."Liya, break the link," Rix’s voice crackled through the sanctuary’s spores. "We have a Ghost-Point in the upper thermosphere. It’s small. It’s fast. And it didn't come through the Breach."The Shadow in the SkyLiya opened her eyes
Chapter 83
The peace of the Observer’s Citadel lasted only as long as it took for the Emerald Seed to recognize Liya’s DNA. The moment her hand hovered over the pedestal, the green light flared, and the "Ghost Point" in the rings lit up like a beacon—a flare that called out to every hostile sensor remaining in the solar system."We have incoming!" Rix’s voice cut through the pine-scented air, sharp and frantic. "Three... no, five Obsidian Shards. They’re folding into the Gap! The Keepers didn't go into hibernation—they were hunting us!""They seek the Syntax," Sola said, her vine-hair rustling in a sudden, artificial wind. "They cannot allow the Source to be Re-Wilded. If they can’t have the Seed, they will shatter this moonlet to ensure no one does."The Zero-G ForestThe first strike hit the Citadel’s gravity generators.With a sickening groan of metal and crystal, the world tilted. The massive, glowing pine-trees of the biosphere were uprooted, drifting into the air as the centrifugal f
Chapter 82
The nine-year countdown had begun, but the atmosphere aboard the Apex-Prime wasn't one of panic. It was one of cold, mechanical focus."The Reaper Scout's data-core is a goldmine," Rix said, his eyes reflecting the pale amber light of the holographic solar system. "But it's mostly logs of their hunger. However, there’s a persistent ping—a 'backdoor' signal—hidden in the scout's tertiary navigation sub-routine. It’s not coming from the Source. It’s coming from the Cassinni Gap in Saturn’s rings."Liya stood at the prow of the ship, her silver armor smoothed into a reflective sheen that mirrored the stars. "Aethel mentioned others. He said the First Born were fractured. If there’s someone at Saturn who didn't call the Reapers, we need to know why.""It’s a long jump," Kael said, crossing his massive arms. "Even with the Ghost Fleet’s folding drives, Saturn is a different beast. We’ll be out of range of Earth’s defense grid. If it’s a trap, we’re on our own.""We’ve been on our own
You may also like
The Hidden Successor In Disguise
SHIROE77.8K viewsUnderestimated Son In Law
Raishico307.2K viewsThe rejected Son-in-law
Hunni96.2K viewsTRILLIONAIRE IN DISGUISE
Lyonlee326.0K viewsThe Rise Of Nicholas Hensaw
Ellen820 viewsLEGACY RECLAIMED
Clara435 viewsThe Lost Ricci: Heir Back from the Dead
Musically 361 viewsRETURN OF THE LEGENDARY NORTHERN DRAGON
MoonLeap295 views