The island alarms finally began to scream.

Sharp red lights flashed across the perimeter towers as Kael’s aircraft descended aggressively toward the presidential villa. The ocean beneath reflected the flickering warnings while security personnel rushed into formation with trained precision. Heavy artillery units rotated upward. Automated defense cannons locked onto the incoming target.

"Target approaching fast. Unknown hostile confirmed."

"Fire!"

A storm of bullets and explosive rounds tore through the sky.

The gunfire was relentless, loud enough to shake the palm trees lining the shoreline. Tracer rounds streaked upward in bright lines, colliding against the dark metallic surface of Kael’s aircraft.

Inside the cockpit, Kael barely blinked.

The bullets struck the hull and disintegrated into sparks. Explosive rounds detonated on contact, but the aircraft’s energy shielding absorbed the impact effortlessly, rippling with faint blue distortion before stabilizing again.

Kael exhaled slowly.

"So predictable."

He reached to his side and pulled out a sleek, unfamiliar weapon integrated into the aircraft’s control system. Its core pulsed with bright electric energy, crackling with contained power that hummed violently within its frame.

He grinned.

"Time to bring this beast up."

He pressed forward.

The weapon responded instantly.

From beneath the aircraft, streams of concentrated blue lightning erupted. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

The energy did not behave like ordinary electricity. It bent and twisted through the air with guided precision, slamming directly into security towers and armored vehicles.

The first strike obliterated an entire guard post in a burst of blinding light.

The second tore through a squad of soldiers before they could even react.

The third struck the ground and exploded outward in a violent surge that threw armed men several meters back.

Screams filled the air.

"Fall back!"

"Take cover!"

But there was no real cover.

Each bolt of lightning carried devastating force, splitting concrete, shattering reinforced barriers, and disabling defensive systems one after another.

Kael laughed as he fired continuously.

Blue light danced across the island like judgment.

Within moments, most of the outer defenses had fallen. Survivors scrambled behind whatever structure remained intact, unable to counter the overwhelming power raining down on them.

Satisfied, Kael reduced the barrage and directed the aircraft lower.

The presidential villa stood ahead.

Elegant. Protected. Vulnerable.

Inside the villa, Sabrina stood near the corridor window, her hands trembling as she watched the destruction unfold. The flashes of blue lightning reflected in her wide eyes.

"He is coming here," she whispered, barely able to steady her breathing.

Katie clung to her arm.

"Is that the bad man?"

Sabrina swallowed.

"Yes."

Kael smirked as he advanced toward the main structure.

Then—

A voice thundered from behind him.

"Hey, Kael. Fuck you!"

Before Kael could turn fully, something enormous collided with the side of his aircraft.

A massive decorative iron candlestick, ripped from the grand hall of the villa and now wielded like a war hammer, slammed into the aircraft with overwhelming force.

The impact was catastrophic.

The energy shielding shattered instantly under the raw strength infused into the strike. The aircraft spun violently out of control as metal screamed and twisted.

Kael was thrown from the cockpit.

He crashed across the island lawn, rolling through grass and tearing up earth before skidding to a halt.

The destroyed aircraft exploded moments later in a violent burst of flame behind him.

Jayden landed heavily several meters away, still gripping the twisted remains of the candlestick.

His breathing was rough.

His eyes burned with rage.

He dropped the crushed metal to the ground.

Kael pushed himself up slowly, brushing dirt from his coat as his body regenerated minor injuries from the crash.

He looked up at Jayden.

"You again," Kael muttered.

Jayden did not respond.

He moved first.

The ground beneath his feet shattered as he launched forward with one hundred percent and beyond of his abundant strength activated.

He closed the distance instantly and drove his fist into Kael’s face.

The impact echoed across the island.

Kael flew backward again, smashing into a stone fountain that exploded on contact.

Jayden did not give him space.

He followed through the debris and struck again. And again.

Each blow carried not only immense physical power but the sharp guiding resonance of the Absolute Guide flowing through his system.

Kael tried to counter with a surge of Absolute energy, forming a blade of condensed blue light in his palm.

Jayden caught his wrist mid swing and crushed downward, fracturing the energy construct before it fully stabilized.

"You think brute force wins this?" Kael growled.

Jayden slammed his knee into Kael’s abdomen, sending him upward into the air.

Jayden leapt after him.

They collided midair in a violent exchange of strikes, fists crashing against reinforced bodies, shockwaves rippling outward and disturbing the ocean surface below.

Kael formed twin arcs of Absolute lightning around his arms and swung with deadly precision.

Jayden blocked with reinforced forearms, sparks exploding at the point of impact. He rotated his body and delivered a spinning kick that struck Kael across the jaw.

Kael tumbled through the air before stabilizing himself with an energy burst beneath his feet.

They hovered above the island, facing each other.

Kael’s expression shifted.

"So you are the one with the Absolute Guide," he said coldly. "Damn. No wonder you kicked my father’s ass."

Jayden’s jaw tightened.

Kael’s voice rose with bitterness.

"I should have been king by now. I was supposed to inherit everything. The throne. The power. The empire. You took what belonged to me. Everything!"

His eyes glowed intensely as the Absolute within him surged violently.

"And I will make you pay!"

He thrust both hands forward.

A massive wave of Absolute tech energy blasted toward Jayden, forming an expanding sphere of destructive force.

Jayden activated multiple system enhancements simultaneously.

Defense amplification.

Speed boost.

Power synchronization.

He charged straight into the attack.

The sphere detonated around him in blinding light, but Jayden burst through it, aura blazing, system output peaking beyond standard limits.

He struck Kael with a punch so powerful it cracked the air itself.

Kael retaliated instantly, grabbing Jayden’s collar and driving him downward.

They crashed into the villa courtyard, carving a massive crater into the marble surface.

Stone shattered everywhere.

Kael stood first and unleashed a concentrated beam of Absolute energy downward.

Jayden rolled aside just in time as the beam pierced through the courtyard and into the earth beneath.

Jayden sprang up and tackled Kael through a reinforced wall.

Inside the villa, windows exploded outward from the shockwaves.

Sabrina shielded Katie as debris rattled through the corridors.

Outside again, the fight intensified.

Kael adapted, utilizing advanced Absolute constructs to generate shifting armor around his body. Mechanical wings of energy formed briefly behind him, allowing rapid repositioning as he launched high speed strikes.

Jayden matched him.

Every move Kael made, the Absolute Guide analyzed and countered in real time, feeding Jayden subtle corrections and optimal attack vectors.

They moved too fast for ordinary eyes to follow.

Punches collided.

Kicks cracked ribs.

Energy blasts carved trenches into the island landscape.

Minutes stretched into what felt like hours.

Neither man slowed.

Jayden’s rage fueled him relentlessly. Each memory of Melinda strengthened his resolve. Each image of her lifeless body sharpened his strikes.

Kael’s fury burned just as intensely, driven by resentment and wounded pride.

At last, Jayden gained the upper hand.

He anticipated Kael’s final surge of Absolute energy and redirected it, using a system amplified counterstrike that destabilized Kael’s core.

The backlash exploded outward.

Kael fell hard into the sand near the shoreline.

Jayden descended slowly, landing before him.

Kael struggled to rise, but his regeneration faltered under the accumulated damage and the guiding interference of the Absolute Guide.

Jayden walked forward, step by step.

His fists clenched.

"This ends now," he said coldly.

Kael laughed weakly, blood at the corner of his mouth.

"You think killing me changes anything?"

Jayden raised his hand, energy gathering for a final decisive strike.

And then—

A warm amber light filled the air.

Time seemed to hesitate.

Jayden’s raised hand froze mid motion.

A figure stepped forward from the light as though emerging from another layer of reality itself.

Lydia.

The mysterious Amber Bloom woman.

Her presence was calm, yet commanding beyond measure.

She placed her hand gently against Jayden’s raised arm.

"No," she said softly, yet her voice carried undeniable authority. "His time of extinction is not now."

Jayden’s eyes widened slightly, rage still burning within them.

"He killed her," Jayden said through clenched teeth.

"I know," Lydia replied gently.

Kael lay stunned, staring at her with confusion and faint recognition.

Lydia’s amber eyes remained fixed on Jayden.

"There are threads you cannot see yet," she continued quietly. "If you end him now, you will unravel more than vengeance."

Jayden’s breathing was heavy.

Every instinct demanded he finish it.

But... But somehow, something in her presence restrained him.