Despite King Ivan's declaration, the streets of Edenia burned with unrest. Across the kingdom, protests ignited like wildfire, spreading from the towering cities to the most remote villages. Some were filled with mourning and grief, others with rage and destruction. And in each, the Capitol Patrol Guard (CPG) stood silent, their orders clear—hold the line, but do not fire.
It was started in the grand capitol itself, the Iron Plaza was unrecognizable. The square, once a center of trade and diplomacy, now stood flooded with furious citizens. The grand statue of King Ivan's ancestor, King Eldric the Unifier, had been vandalized, his face defaced, his sword broken in half.
Banners and signs rose above the crowd, each a desperate cry:
"WYNDMOOR WAS A SACRIFICE. WE DEMAND ANSWERS!"
"NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE—DOWN WITH CPG!"
"IVAN HIDES BEHIND HIS WALLS WHILE WE BURN!"
The CPG soldiers stood motionless, armor gleaming beneath the city lights. Protesters screamed at them, their faces twisted with desperation and fury.
One woman, broke through the barricade, slamming her fists against a CPG officer's chestplate.
"SAY SOMETHING!" she sobbed. "TELL US WHY! TELL US WHO DID THIS!"
The officer didn't move. His visor reflected only her grief. And so, the crowd grew louder. More desperate. More unstable.
Moving to the industrial province of Velhendor, a different war raged. Factories that once produced airships and military gear had gone dark, their workers on strike. Protesters had taken to the Sky Rail, blocking Edenia's main transport lines. Fires burned in the lower districts, while looters raided supply depots.
The Royal Knights, elite enforcers of the throne, formed a wall of shields outside the Governor's Palace, their silver-plated armor illuminated by the flickering flames of the riots. A protest leader, standing atop a derailed Sky Rail car, raised his fist.
"VELHENDOR STANDS AGAINST TYRANNY!" he bellowed. "IF WYNDMOOR CAN FALL, SO CAN WE!"
The crowd roared in agreement. But the Royal Knights did not move. They did not charge, did not retaliate. They simply stood, their presence alone a warning.
Then, in the northern province of Ostervale, where mountains scraped the sky, the town of Gilderholt became a refuge for mutants and outcasts fleeing the chaos. But even here, there was no escape from the flames of Wyndmoor.
Townspeople gathered in the old stone square, their torches reflecting off the dusted rooftops. They weren't here to riot—they were here to prepare. A hooded figure—an exiled CPG officer turned revolutionary—stood before them.
"The King's words are empty," he declared, his voice carrying through the night. "The CPG will never protect us. We must protect ourselves."
A murmur of agreement rippled through the crowd. Weapons—old muskets, blades, and salvaged tech—were distributed among them.
Last, in the southern province of Kaelor's Reach, known for its great temples and holy sites, the clergy of Aureth's Light stood before the gates of the Grand Cathedral, trying to calm the sea of believers. But faith was crumbling. Priests held banners that read:
"ONLY THE GODS MAY JUDGE"
"BLOOD MUST NOT BE ANSWERED WITH BLOOD"
But the crowd had already lost faith in their words. A man threw a bottle of oil against the cathedral doors. Flames erupted. The sacred oak doors—carved with centuries of prayers and blessings—began to burn.
A priest fell to his knees, his hands raised. "Please, my children—"
A voice from the crowd cut him off. "We are not your children. We are the forsaken."
The flickering glow of holo-screens bathed the room in cold blue light. News feeds from across Edenia displayed chaos—burning streets, riots, shattered glass, and citizens screaming for answers. The once-unshakable kingdom now stood on the brink of collapse.
Barry sat with his arms crossed, his expression dark as he watched the footage. He could hear the tension buzzing in the room like static electricity.
The Professor stood at the head of the table, eyes narrowed behind his glasses. Seraphina, Kai, Rick, Kevin, and Hana were scattered around, watching the same live feeds in silence. Then Barry finally spoke. "Something's wrong." The others turned toward him.
"CPG doesn't do silence." Barry's voice was gruff, his golden eyes sharp. "They either control the situation or they crush it. But right now, they're just… watching."
The Professor let out a slow breath, rubbing his temples. "You're not wrong. But they could just be calculating their next move. Perhaps they want the people to see Wyndmoor as… necessary."
"Necessary?" Seraphina scoffed, crossing her arms. "They turned a whole town into dust. That's not a necessity, that's a message."
"Or a test." Barry leaned forward, his fingers digging into the metal table. "What if this is all just them seeing how far they can go? How much control they really have?"
Kai, sitting with his legs propped up on the table, smirked slightly. "If that's true, then they're doing a damn good job. The whole kingdom's on fire, and no one's doing anything about it."
Hana shook her head. "They're waiting."
"For what?" Rick muttered, his glowing veins pulsing as he clenched his fists.
No one had an answer. The silence felt suffocating. Until the alarms blared. BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Everyone turned as the main radar screen flashed red, a blinking warning signal pulsing like a heartbeat. Professor rushed forward, fingers flying over the console. "Mutosterone levels spiking at—" His voice caught as the location came up. "Jinhwa Power Plant."
The name sent a shockwave through the room. Jinhwa—the Lotus City. A thriving metropolis built around an ancient river, known for its fusion of tradition and cutting-edge technology. The power plant there provided energy to nearly one-third of Edenia. And now, it's about to turn into a time bomb.
Professor's hands clenched into fists. "This isn't normal. Mutosterone doesn't spike randomly. Someone did this."
Barry rose from his seat, his entire body tensed like a coiled spring. "It's a trap."
Seraphina's silver eyes narrowed. "Or a distraction."
Professor turned to the team. "We move now."
Barry's claws flexed. "Then let's end this before it begins."
Portal tore through reality, a spiraling vortex of blue and white light crackling with energy. As it stabilized, Barry stepped forward first, his golden eyes scanning their destination.
The Jinhwa Power Plant loomed ahead, its towering metal structures silhouetted against the stormy night sky. Neon lights flickered erratically across the industrial zone, and the hum of unstable energy vibrated in the air.
Behind Barry, Seraphina, Rick, and the Professor emerged. The portal closed with a sharp snap, leaving them standing on the cracked pavement outside the facility. Everything was silent. Too silent. Then they saw him.
A lone figure stood in the heart of the destruction—an Alben man, tall and lean, with a sharp, almost ethereal presence. His pale skin glowed faintly in the darkness, black hair whipping in the wind. But it was his hands that held their attention. With a slow, deliberate motion, his fingers twisted through the air—and metal obeyed.
The entire structure of the power plant shifted and groaned, its metallic framework bending unnaturally, collapsing in on itself like a crumpled piece of paper. Sparks rained down as electrical conduits snapped, and then—BLACKOUT.
The entire city of Jinhwa went dark. The sky, once tainted by the glow of neon and streetlights, turned into an abyssal void.
A few seconds later, the emergency sirens howled, their eerie wails cutting through the suffocating silence.
Professor exhaled sharply. "...That's not good."
Barry's claws flexed. "Who the hell is that?"
The Alben man slowly turned toward them, his luminous eyes piercing through the darkness like a predator spotting prey. A smirk curled on his lips. "You're too late."
The Alben man moved first. No hesitation. No wasted motion. Just pure, surgical violence. One moment, he stood amidst the wreckage—the next, he was a blur of pale light, launching toward them like a bullet.
Barry snarled and charged, claws digging into the pavement as he propelled himself forward. He swung wide with a savage right hook, aiming to take the bastard's head clean off—CRASH!
A car lifted off the ground and slammed into him mid-air. The impact was like a sledgehammer to the gut. Barry barely had time to register what happened before he was sent flying through a concrete barrier, the force shaking the ground as he disappeared in a cloud of debris.
The Alben man didn't stop. His silver eyes gleamed like molten mercury as he turned to his next targets—Seraphina and the Professor. "Your turn."
He flicked his wrist, and a chunk of twisted metal—a mangled streetlamp, still crackling with dying electricity—ripped from the ground and speared toward them like a harpoon. BOOM!
It shattered against an invisible barrier, sparks flaring wildly before fizzling into darkness. Seraphina stood firm, hands raised, her force field shimmering like a translucent wall of starlight. The impact sent a shockwave through her shield, pushing her back a step, but she held.
The Professor didn't flinch. Instead, he spoke. "Seraphina, Barry—listen to me. This isn't just random mutant."
Seraphina's teeth clenched as she reinforced her barrier, the sheer force of their enemy's power making it ripple. "Yeah, no shit."
The Professor's voice remained steady, but his eyes were sharp. "He's a Level Five."
A beat of silence. Barry—pulling himself out of the rubble, shaking off broken concrete—froze at the words.
Seraphina's breath caught. "…Higher than us."
The Alben man's smirk widened as he rolled his shoulders, the steel around him shifting and coiling like living creatures. "Now you understand."
Then he moved again. The Alben man surged forward, and the world followed his command.
Barry barely had time to shake off the last attack before a row of jagged metal spears ripped from the asphalt, aiming straight for his gut. He twisted, barely dodging, but one of the spikes sliced across his ribs, drawing blackened blood. "Shit—!"
Before he could recover, the enemy was already on him. A steel beam shot like a battering ram, catching Barry in the stomach and launching him through another wrecked vehicle. He crashed hard, flipping end over end before slamming into the pavement, coughing as he struggled to rise.
The Alben man turned. Seraphina's force field blazed like a silver sun, repelling the debris hurled toward them. She gritted her teeth, sweat beading on her brow. "He's fast," she growled. "And strong."
"That's the problem," the Professor muttered, eyes scanning the battlefield. "He's not just strong—he's precise."
The mutant flicked his wrist, and the air howled. A dozen razor-sharp wires, woven from molten steel, screamed toward Seraphina. She barely had time to react. SLASH!
The force field caught most of them, but one slipped through, cutting a line across her shoulder. She gasped, stumbling back, the pain sharp and hot.
The Alben man's smirk widened. "Getting tired?"
Barry roared, claws gleaming, diving in from the side. This time, he was faster. He dodged the incoming steel barrage, closing the gap—his claws a blur of slashing fury.
One hit.Just one hit. But it never landed. The mutant caught Barry's wrist mid-strike. For a moment, everything froze.
Barry's eyes widened. "What—?"
Then the world twisted. The Alben man pivoted, using Barry's own momentum against him, and slammed him headfirst into the pavement with bone-shattering force.
CRACK! The ground split on impact, a crater forming where Barry's body hit. Seraphina gasped, raising a hand—but too late.
A steel column lashed out, slamming into her ribs. The force field absorbed most of it, but the sheer impact sent her crashing into a nearby wreckage. She coughed, struggling to breathe.
Rick tried to intervene, but a wave of debris crashed into him, burying him beneath twisted metal.
One by one, they fell. The Alben man sighed, rolling his neck, looking down at the battlefield. Then he smiled. "And here I thought Level Fours were supposed to be strong." His silver eyes gleamed. "Guess I was wrong."