Redy stared straight at Adam.
"The artificial mutant rifts in the hundred sectors of the Outer Zone," she said evenly, "including Sector 418, those weren’t the first ti the Family did sothing like this."
Adam’s killing intent surged.
The ground beneath his feet creaked as pressure radiated from him, yet Redy didn’t flinch. His eyes widened a fraction as she t his gaze directly, a trace of pity in her eyes.
"The rift disaster nine years ago," she said, "was caused by the Family as well."
The killing intent suddenly vanished. Adam stared into empty space for a mont before the mories detonated, and he clutched his head in pain.
That night...
Sirens screaming. Monsters ripping through the streets. People running, tripping, dying. The sll of blood. The sound of bones snapping.
Pain lanced through his skull as the mory shifted.
His mother.
Tears streaking down her face.
A kitchen knife shaking in her hand, her lips moving, saying sothing he never heard.
Then the steel tore through flesh and her body collapsed, as her life ended.
Adam dropped to his knees.
The pain was fresh and raw. As if it had just happened. The trauma, the hatred, the reason he had kept moving forward...
All of it was manufactured.
Part of a plan.
For reasons he didn’t even understand.
The pain slowly receded, leaving sothing colder behind.
"I’ll kill them," Adam whispered.
"I’ll kill every last one of them."
Adam stood and started walking out of the cetery, but Redy stepped in front of him, blocking his path.
Adam stopped and looked at her calmly.
"Please get out of my way."
She didn’t. Instead, she looked him straight in the eyes.
"I know what you’re planning," she said. "You’re going ho. You’re going to confront whoever the Family sent to kill you."
Adam said nothing.
"But if you do that," Redy continued, "you will die."
"So you’re going to stop ?" Adam asked quietly.
But surprisingly Redy smiled. It was not a gentle or kind smile; it was the smile of soone insane.
"I know I can’t stop you," she said, smile widening. "So instead, let’s squeeze the most benefit out of your stubbornness."
Her eyes glead.
"But it’s going to hurt like hell," she added. "And you might end up dead."
Back in the present.
Adam lay broken on the ground.
The profound lord stood over him, staring down in disbelief.
All this death... plus his condition... and he’s still smiling?
A chill crawled up the man’s spine.
What kind of madman did we create?
Adam didn’t waste ti.
His panel hovered before his eyes and he made his choice.
[Equip — Reawakening Selected]
As the talent began to reawaken, Adam’s thoughts snapped back to the cetery.
To Redy.
"When you go back ho," she said calmly, "it’s most likely going to be a Lord that welcos you."
Adam had been slightly shocked.
Redy had continued without pause.
"I know it sounds strange. The higher the rank, the more places like the Outer Zone, with its ager essence, beco irritating to them."
"But this is you. So they’ll compromise and send one of their best."
Her eyes glead then.
"And that’s what we’ll take advantage of."
Adam had listened carefully.
"Rember what I told you about reawakening your special talent? They can help with that, by beating you to the brink of death."
Back in the present, Adam’s chest burned.
It was not a normal sensation but a strange, sharp and focused sensation pulsing outward from his core.
So this is it...
The mory continued.
"How do you even know this will work?" Adam asked but Redy’s answer had been almost casual.
"Because I reawakened my special talent the sa way."
Notifications flooded his vision.
Adam ignored most of them and focused only on what mattered.
[Your talent Equip has reawakened]
[Analyze has been awakened]
[Fuse has been awakened]
The air shifted.
The profound lord felt it.
Sothing was wrong.
Danger prickled at the edge of his instincts as Redy’s last words echoed in Adam’s mind.
"Due to your condition at that mont, you won’t be able to do anything. You’ll be like a pig to the slaughter."
The profound lord moved.
"That’s why," Redy’s voice whispered, "I’ll give you a gift... for our Lord."
Adam’s lips curled.
He raised his hand weakly and extended his middle finger.
Then...
BOOM!
****
The explosion was massive and there was no ti to react, as the profound lord was swallowed whole the mont the blast detonated and sound ripped outward and echoed through the entire district. The ground convulsed violently, buildings rattling as if so god had pronounced final judgnt.
A towering mushroom cloud rose into the night sky as if frozen in place.
Then...
A body flew out of it.
It slamd into the dirt with a sickening impact, carving a shallow crater as it skidded to a stop. The man’s body was charred black, skin burned away to reveal pink gums and exposed teeth. His eyes bulged grotesquely from their sockets, hair scorched into brittle ash.
He stared at the mushroom cloud.
Barely alive.
Sixth-degree burns ravaged him, skin, muscle, nerves, even bone had been incinerated in the blast. There was no pain due to the burnt nerves. Just emptiness and shock.
Then his body began to shake.
Violently.
Bones cracked and reset. Muscles reknit. Nerves regenerated.
And the pain hit.
A scream tore from his ruined throat, raw and animal, as sensation slamd back into his body all at once. He writhed as flesh rebuilt itself layer by layer, sweat pouring off him as the regeneration finished.
Silence followed.
The profound lord lay there, chest heaving, eyes wild, drenched in sweat.
The pain was gone, but rage replaced it.
"That bastard," he snarled. He was ready to vent, but he stopped abruptly as sothing landed beside him.
The lord’s eyes shifted. Then widened.
It was Adam.
Or rather...
Only Adam’s head.
Burnt but severed cleanly, eyes still open, face twisted into a calm, almost mocking expression as it stared up at the towering mushroom cloud.
The lord’s breath caught.
"What?"
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