Knight’s eyes settled after he said it, the hesitation fading as he turned toward the exit and started moving, and I followed without another word as we slipped out of the storage room and into the open streets.

The city wasn’t chaotic, just occupied, with patrols moving along the main paths and between the houses, and we kept our distance from them, cutting through side lanes and broken passages while keeping a steady pace toward the center.

Whenever a group crossed too close, we adjusted without slowing too much, slipping past their line of sight and continuing forward until the density of the buildings began to shift and the central structure came into view.

The mayor’s building stood apart from the rest. We stopped just short of its outer range, using the edge of a damaged building as partial cover, and in that brief pause I checked my status.

[Overdrive Charge - 200%]

Knight stepped closer, his attention still on the building as he spoke, explaining the next steps. He told me he could take me fully into phase, removing any presence or interaction for a short window, and when I asked how long, he answered three seconds.

For me that was enough.

He added that once it started there would be no adjustment, that perception would shift and the world would lose its normal form, and that whatever needed to be done had to be executed in one continuous motion, and I nodded once, tightening my grip on the axe as we moved again, closing the remaining distance without rushing until we reached the rear side of the house.

Knight stopped there and turned slightly, placing his hand on my shoulder, and the moment he activated his ability the world changed as color drained out of everything at once, leaving only a flat grey space where shapes existed without depth and sound faded into something distant.

The ground beneath my feet no longer felt solid, and the air offered no resistance, leaving only direction to follow.

I moved the moment it settled, activating Radiant Drive and driving forward in a straight line as the wall in front of us ceased to matter, the structure offering no resistance as we passed through it, and the interior formed around us in the same motion without interruption.

The second step carried us fully inside, the room resolving ahead within that greyed perception, and at its center Ubai Hefu the commander sat, cross-legged, a scroll resting in his hands.

I stopped directly behind him as the last fraction of those three seconds began to collapse, the phase already thinning as sensation returned, and I shifted Overdrive into Berserk in the same motion, letting the stored force surge through my body as I invoked Limitless and drew everything into a single point.

The world snapped back into place all at once, color and weight returning without transition, and in that exact instant his awareness turned, energy beginning to rise around him as his body reacted to the presence behind him.

The axe was already descending.

It struck before that response could complete, and the impact didn’t remain contained as the stored energy discharged all at once, lightning tearing through him and the space around him in a single release that erased any resistance.

BOOM!

His body broke under the force, the room following immediately as the energy expanded outward, shattering the house from the point of impact and tearing through the walls in a violent surge that carried through the building before settling into silence.

When the debris settled and the dust thinned enough to see through, what remained of the room no longer resembled a space meant for anything living, the stone fractured and split apart while the center was reduced to blood spread across the ground and scattered pieces of what had once been a body.

"Is he dead?" Knight’s voice came from behind me.

I let out a short chuckle as I looked over the mess once more before turning. "Looks dead to me."

The words barely left my mouth before I saw him, already down on one knee, his breathing uneven as blood slipped past his lips while his skin showed thin cracks running across his arms and neck like something inside him had pushed too far against its limits.

"What the hell," I said. I moved toward him and pulled up the system, purchasing a health potion without wasting another second before pressing it into his hand.

He drank it in one motion, and the effect was just as fast, the cracks along his skin sealing as the strain eased out of his body and his breathing steadied, though the exhaustion didn’t fully leave his expression.

"This was my first time taking someone else into full phasing," he said after a moment, pushing himself back up slowly. "It’s worse than I thought. I’ll need to get a lot stronger before I can use it like that again."

"I thought you knew the risk," I replied, watching him closely.

He gave a small shrug, wiping the remaining blood from his mouth. "Clearly I didn’t."

"Anyway," he said, "do we fight or run?"

"One minute," I replied, bringing up the notification that had been waiting.

[Level Up!]

[Level 61 -> Level 82]

[Combat Points +700]

[Influence Points +400]

A smile pulled at my face as the change settled into my body, the increase in strength immediate and noticeable, like something had shifted into a higher state all at once.

"Damn," I muttered, "twenty-one levels straight."

"Oh," Knight said under his breath as he checked his own. "I got ten."

"That’s good," I replied, closing the screen as I rolled my shoulders once, feeling the difference in every movement. "Now that I’ve crossed into the eighties, we’re not leaving."

I lifted the axe and rested it across my shoulder, turning toward the opening without hesitation as I stepped out of what remained of the building, no longer bothering to stay hidden as I moved into the open.

I checked my status once.

[Status] 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

—-----------------------------------

Name: Ryan Heavens

Level: 82

Class: Radiant Annihilator

Talent: Overdrive

Designation: Defier

Combat Points (CP): 1110

Influence Points (IP): 3260

Stats:

Vitality: 233

Strength: 369

Dexterity: 276

Intelligence: 154

Endurance: 154

—-----------------------------------

The numbers were looking good and with my passive already active there was no doubt in my mind that anything short of a coordinated force would fold the moment I pushed forward.

"Beware of the corruption energy," Knight said as he stepped out beside me, his voice steadier now but still carrying the aftereffects of the strain. "If it builds up too much, it’ll start affecting you."

I glanced at him briefly, taking in the state he was in before asking, "Where’s your weapon?"

"Lost," he replied without hesitation, as if it didn’t matter.

I slowed just enough to look at him properly. "Then how are you planning to fight?"

"I’m not," he said with a shrug, the simplicity of it almost irritating. "I’ll just watch you handle it. I don’t have anything left after that phasing."

"Then stay behind me," I said as I started walking, "and try not to die while you’re watching."

"Aye Aye captain. I will take your orders to the grave."