[Central Fortress - Production Room]

The directors fell quickly.

Volkov lunged first and clawed appendages extended, demonic snout split wide.

"Switch!"

Alice met her mid-air and a single Frost pillar erupted from the ground, caught Volkov by the torso, and sealed her inside before she could scream.

"AH-"

"Volkov!"

Throne seeing his director get defeated knew how it was going to end.

"You can’t stop what’s already coming."

BOOOM!

His massive fists cratered the floor where Bazz had stood a second earlier.

"Too slow old man."

"...!"

Bazz had already stepped inside his reach.

BOOM!

With swoop of his arm he used a earth-infused gauntlet to Throne’s jaw. Then another. And another until Throne was stuck into the celling.

THWAK!

His body reverted as it hit the ground.

And finally he turned human again.

"Production room clear," Alice said.

Jan was already moving toward the inner corridor.

"Then let’s finish this."

***

[Central Fortress - The Grand Chamber]

The central chamber sat at the heart of the fortress.

Screens lined every wall. Data streams scrolled across them in real-time and the footage of every region they’d conquered, every battle they’d fought, every ability they’d used.

It was clear on the idea here.

Richard had the drones tracked them across the territories with all their algorithms adapted along with counters developed for everyone.

Valencia’s lightning patterns. Bazz’s earth gauntlet ranges. Jae’s arrow trajectories. Alice’s casting speeds. Camila’s movements. Lyra’s wind pressure.

One by one, the screens displayed their weaknesses.

All except Jan.

The man himself stood at the center of the room.

Richard.

He was lean where they’d expected bulk. Calm where they’d expected panic.

His hands rested behind his back as he watched them enter.

"Welcome," he said.

Jan stopped ten paces from him. The others spread out behind. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"It’s over," Jan said.

"Your directors are down. Your machines are scrap. Give up and we can all leave this place peacefully."

Richard tilted his head.

"Leave peacefully?"

He smiled. Thin. Pitying.

"You still think this is about escape."

He raised his hand. A translucent screen flickered into view above his palm, the same system interface they’d all received when they first entered the orb.

[System Directive: Ascension Protocol]

[Primary Objective: Defeat all opposing world heroes.]

[Secondary Objective: Secure the Demonic Serum developed by the Soul Forger.]

[Reward: Exit Authorization — Permanent.]

The screen vanished.

"That’s my job," Richard said. "Same system. Different mission."

His hand dipped into his coat and emerged with a shard.

It glowed with a dark, oily light—similar to theirs, but wrong at the edges.

"So no. I won’t be giving up."

He swallowed it.

FWANG!

A notification as clear as day appeared.

A declaration of war.

[Richard has consumed the Shard of Foresight — Crafted by the Soul Forger.]

[Ability Gained: Future Sight (LV.???) — Short-burst precognition. Limited duration.]

"Stop him!"

Valencia moved first. Her katana traced a crescent through the air as lightning gathered along the blade.

"Valencia, wait—!"

She released. A projectile slash of lightning shot toward Richard at close range.

Alice followed. Her hands snapped together and a Frost pillar erupted beneath Richard’s feet, jagged and fast.

Jae loosed three arrows in quick succession.

Bazz kicked off the ground with Jan beside him—earth gauntlets drawn back, sword already swinging.

They converged on Richard from every angle.

The explosion swallowed the center of the room.

Smoke billowed. Screens shattered. The floor cracked outward in a spiderweb pattern from the impact point.

For a moment, nothing moved.

Then the smoke cleared.

Richard stood in the exact center of the blast radius.

The lightning had missed his shoulder by inches.

The Frost pillar had risen to his left, not beneath him. Jae’s arrows were embedded in the wall behind where he’d been. Bazz’s fist hung in the air, caught at the wrist by a hand that now dwarfed his own.

Jan’s sword was buried in the floor where Richard’s shadow had been. Not Richard.

He had moved to the only spot in the room where nothing touched him.

Future sight.

Richard’s form had changed.

He stood a head taller now. His body had elongated—lean muscle stretched over a frame built for speed.

Fur the color of rust and gold covered his arms and shoulders.

A single horn curved back from his forehead, black and smooth. His hands had become claws. Each finger tapered to a point that extended and retracted with a wet sound.

His eyes—still human, still Richard—locked onto Jan.

"That was your one free shot," he said.

"EUUK!"

"You won’t get another."

Richard’s grip tightened around Bazz’s wrist.

"You’re first."

Crack.

The wrist broke clean. Bazz’s mouth opened but no sound came out.

His earth gauntlets flickered and dimmed as his concentration shattered with the bone.

Then the punches came.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

One. Sternum.

Two. Ribs.

Three. Solar plexus.

Three hits. Nearly simultaneous. Bazz left his feet and hit the back wall with a sound like a sack of stone.

He didn’t get up.

"Bazz!"

Without wasting time Jae was already shooting.

"Artillery Trifecta!"

Three arrows. Tight spread. All aimed at Richard’s new center mass.

The speed was unlike anything Jae had shot before.

"...!"

But he wasn’t there.

Her arrows struck the wall where he’d been a half-second ago.

Richard reappeared at her flank, low to the ground, claws raked upward across her bow arm.

THAWK!

Then her weapon split and Jae stumbled.

A second claw caught her across the temple—blunt side, not the edge—and she crumpled to the floor.

"He’s seeing them," Valencia said, katana up, eyes tracking.

"Every attack. He knows where we’re going before we go."

"Then we don’t give him time."

Jan ripped his sword from the floor and closed the distance. Three steps. A horizontal slash aimed at Richard’s midsection.

Richard ducked under it.

Not fast. Early. He’d started moving before Jan’s swing began.

Jan adjusted mid-swing, redirecting into a downward cut. Richard was already stepping sideways. The blade split air.

"He’s too fast," Valencia said, circling opposite Jan. "I can’t find an opening."

"There has to be one."

Richard straightened between them. Relaxed. Claws retracted.

"There isn’t."

Lyra’s fans snapped open. A compressed gust of wind shot toward Richard’s spine.

He tilted his head two degrees. The wind passed over his shoulder and shattered a screen behind him.

"I’ve seen everything you can do," Richard said.

"Months of footage. Thousands of data points. Every technique you’ve ever used. Every habit you don’t know you have."

He turned toward Lyra. She was already repositioning.

"Your wind needs a quarter-second to compress before release. You drop your left shoulder when you’re about to feint."

He looked at Camila, who had been circling toward Bazz’s body.

"You heal from a distance of two metres or less. You hold your breath when you’re about to move."

Camila stopped.

"Alice." His eyes shifted.

"Your Frost pillar requires a full two seconds of uninterrupted casting. You angle your left foot toward your target before you begin."

Alice’s jaw tightened.

"And even if you show me something new," Richard said, rolling his shoulders, "I’ll see through it in seconds. That’s the nature of this gift. Adapt. Overcome. Win."

I can’t let his words get to me...

Alice’s hands were already moving.

The Frost pillar spell.

Richard didn’t look at her.

"Left foot. Angled toward me. Two seconds."

She finished the cast. The pillar erupted.

Richard stepped sideways. The ice exploded through empty air.

"You’re too slow," he said.

He closed the gap before she could exhale.

One clawed hand clamped around her throat—not enough to crush, just enough to lift. Her feet left the ground.

"And now you can’t cast at all."

He threw her into the nearest console. Screens shattered. Sparks showered.

Alice slumped and didn’t move.

Camila was already running toward her.

Richard’s eyes flicked to her.

"You heal from two metres or less. You hold your breath when you’re about to move."

Camila froze mid-step.

"Don’t bother."

Jan moved.

His sword carved an upward diagonal—fast, committed, all his weight behind it. Richard swayed back by a hair. The blade missed.

Valencia struck from behind. Lightning trailed her katana in a bright arc.

Richard ducked and spun. Her blade cut through the space his head had occupied a moment ago. His claws extended and caught her across the ribs.

She gasped. Stumbled. Blood spotted her tunic.

"Valencia—"

Jan’s attention fractured. Half a second. It was enough.

Richard’s claw raked across Jan’s shoulder. Then his other hand drove forward, open-palmed, into Jan’s chest. Jan skidded backward, boots grinding against the floor.

"See?" Richard said. "Even the variable becomes predictable with enough data."

Valencia pushed herself up. Her side was wet. Her grip on the katana was steady.

"I’m still standing."

Richard glanced at her.

"You are. That’s surprising."

He moved.

Valencia saw the blur and swung. Lightning arced wide. Richard was already inside her reach. His knee drove into her stomach. Her breath left her. His elbow came down between her shoulder blades. She hit the floor.

"Valencia!"

Jan surged forward but Richard intercepted him—claws locked against Jan’s greatsword, strength against strength. Sparks showered between them.

"She’s alive," Richard said. "I’m not wasteful."

Jan pushed harder. Richard didn’t budge.

"You’re wondering why you can’t hit me," Richard said. "You’re also wondering if now is the time to use it. That technique. The one you’ve been holding since you walked in."

Jan’s eyes flickered.

"I don’t know what it is," Richard continued. "Your data was always incomplete. But I can see the hesitation. The calculation. You’re weighing whether it’s worth the cost."

He shoved Jan backward.

"Use it. I’ll see it coming. And even if I didn’t—"

His claws extended fully. Ten points. Each one gleaming.

"—you’re not facing a man anymore. You’re facing something else."

Jan’s grip tightened.

He’s right.

In his other life the one before this orb, before the academy, before any of it he’d fought things like this. Creatures that moved faster than sight. Beings that read intention from muscle and breath. Monsters in forms that almost passed for human.

Richard was one of them now.

If I use it here...

He knew the consequence. His ultimate skill would end the fight. One way or another. But it would end him too. He’d be useless after. Unconscious at best.

And the others were already down.

Lyra. Jae. Camila. Alice. Bazz. Valencia.

All of them.

Jan stood alone in the center of the room. Richard waited opposite him. Unharmed. Unhurried.

"No trump card?" Richard asked.

Jan raised his sword.

"Not yet."