By this point in history, the inhabitants of this planet had already mapped the oceans and continents. Having moved past the colonial era and the first industrial revolution, they were now thirty years into the post-Second Industrial Revolution era.
Concrete high-rises dominated the skyline of the city Hyuk found herself in, but the air was thick with the roar of artillery and gunfire. Soldiers clashed in the streets and narrow alleys while civilians scrambled for cover, desperate to escape the crossfire.
Chaos reigned supreme.
A mission notification flickered onto the system interface.
——
[Main Mission · Phase One: This Quadrant reveres Order and Civilization. End all ongoing conflicts on this planet before the door closes, restoring peace and establishing a new world order.]
[Mission Reward: Evolution Rate · 10%]
——
Hyuk dismissed the screen.
Ending a global war and bringing peace to this planet... considering this was a Quadrant that prioritized Order, she couldn't help but feel like the Quadrant itself was offering her a deal.
Besides,
What exactly was a "Quadrant"?
Hyuk wasn't entirely sure. She speculated it might be similar to the concept of a parallel universe, or perhaps it simply referred to a specific sector within the same universe.
Regardless, this job had found the right person.
Hyuk wasn't a politician; she had zero experience with diplomacy or grand strategy. But she was an expert at demolition and elimination. She could end every war on this planet single-handedly.
She would simply kill anyone who dared to keep fighting.
It was a simple plan.
Plus, it was a perfect opportunity to grind more power for Infinite Overload.
Of course, that was assuming this planet didn't harbor any technology or supernatural powers far beyond this era's level. For the sake of caution, she needed to scout the situation first.
Better to be sure before making a move.
She focused her senses, listening to the rhythm of the battle raging around her.
"Take those navy-blue bastards down with us!"
"We're out of ammo!"
"Hold the line against these emerald demons! Our homes are right behind us: don't let them take a single step further!"
"Go to hell, all of you!!!"
Explosions.
The roar of artillery.
The staccato of gunfire and desperate screams.
Together, they painted a portrait of a living hell.
A stray bullet whistled out of nowhere, grazing past Hyuk. Her gaze swept across the battlefield, systematically taking in the situation.
The humans of Planao were physically indistinguishable from those on Earth. Even their technology mirrored Earth's era following the Second Industrial Revolution.
"Is this their version of World War II?" Hyuk wondered.
If so, this timeline felt like a parallel of Earth in Quadrant 042, just lagging a bit behind in development.
She strolled down the street as if she were the only person there, treating the rain of lead and fire as if it were nothing. The two warring factions were easy to tell apart: one side wore deep navy-blue uniforms, the other wore emerald green.
The Navy-blues called their enemies demons.
The Emeralds called their rivals scum.
Both sides stared in disbelief at this "idiot" who had wandered onto the battlefield, completely exposed. An Emerald sniper didn't care for the mystery; he decisively pulled the trigger to clear the obstacle.
The bullet screeched from the barrel, slicing through the air at supersonic speeds. But just as the sniper's expression shifted to one of pure horror, Hyuk reached out and caught the bullet mid-air. With a casual flick of her finger, the round whistled back, punching a hole straight through the sniper's head.
[Infinite Overload · Potential Unleashed]
[Strength: 9,301 tons ⬆]
Just ordinary humans.
These soldiers didn't possess a shred of supernatural power.
The cacophony of the battlefield pounded against her ears. Hyuk turned her gaze toward a specific coordinate, locking onto the location of a nearby tactical command center.
This was Lotus City, a stronghold for the Navy-blues. Under normal circumstances, a high-level command post would never be positioned so close to the front lines. However, the Emeralds had blitzed the defensive line so effectively that the command center was now trapped. They couldn't retreat; if the commanders fled now, the entire front would collapse into a rout.
Given her proximity, Hyuk could clearly hear the frantic orders and desperate SOS calls radiating from the bunker, just a few hundred meters away.
...
Lotus City Navy-blues Command Post.
"Mayday! Mayday! Headquarters, come in! Lotus City requests immediate extraction and reinforcements! The Emeralds have breached the city limits! We cannot hold the line! I repeat, we cannot hold!"
"This is the 24th Regiment; you're asking us for help? We were about to ask you! Those Emerald Nazis are pouring into the streets! Send support now or Lotus City is lost!"
"Sector 5 has been overrun, Commander!"
"Sector 4 is gone!"
"Hurry! Burn the codebooks! Burn everything: now!"
In the heat of the crisis, the commander of the 24th Navy-blue Regiment stationed in Lotus City was on the brink of despair. He had his subordinates radio headquarters and surrounding units for reinforcements over and over again.
But there were no reinforcements left. Every other front was locked in its own brutal struggle with the Emeralds. The Allied nations of the Navy-blue faction were suffering catastrophic losses; no one was coming to save them.
Amidst the chaos:
BOOM!
A figure plummeted through the command center's skyscraper in a display of raw violence, smashing straight down to the ground floor and leaving gaping holes in the ceilings above.
The deafening roar and the following shockwave plunged the command center into a stunned silence. The soldiers' minds were a total mess, their senses too rattled to even process what was happening.
The commander of the 24th Regiment stared at the young woman who had just dropped from the sky, frozen in place. He didn't know what expression to make or how he was even supposed to react.
His brain had effectively short-circuited.
Hyuk spoke in a tone that brooked no refusal. "Sorry for the unconventional entrance. I have a few questions that need answering."
"..."
The commander knew this was hardly the time to be playing tour guide for a stranger, but looking at the situation, he didn't exactly have the luxury of saying "no."
And so,
The previously erratic and frantic commander suddenly became the picture of calm and cooperation. With immense patience, he began answering the questions posed by the woman who had literally smashed through his headquarters.
"The Emeralds are an ultranationalist, racist Nazi faction."
"The Navy-blues are the anti-war Allied coalition."
"I've never heard of superhumans or magic in this world," the commander continued. "We completed the Second Industrial Revolution and relied entirely on our own technological advancements to reach this stage."
"Rumor has it the Emerald Nazis are conducting some pretty horrific human experiments. They might be dabbling in those fields, but as far as the Navy-blue coalition goes? I haven't seen anything."
"And no, the Emerald faction isn't just one country. Like us, they're an international alliance made up of multiple nations. This war is global; our front line here is just one of many."
Hyuk nodded. "I think I've got the gist of it."
She stood up from her chair.
Since her main mission was to end the war and bring peace, the anti-human, warmongering Emeralds were the obvious enemies. Clearing out trash like them wouldn't weigh on her conscience at all.
The commander looked confused. "Excellency, what do you intend to do?"
"Help you win," Hyuk replied.
...
Rat-tat-tat!
Heavy machine guns roared, spitting lead to pin down the Emerald forces attempting to storm the street corner. Navy-blue soldiers shouted as they dug into their positions at the end of the block.
They were hunkered behind sandbags, lobbing grenades in a desperate bid to push the Emeralds back. But they couldn't hold out much longer.
The Emerald onslaught was simply too overwhelming.
"Ammo! I need more ammo!"
"We're dry! There's nothing left!" the Navy-blue soldiers screamed in despair.
"Dammit! Fix bayonets!"
"Show those demons how a real soldier dies!!"
"Bayonets out!"
Just as the Emerald troops were about to overrun the street, the Navy-blue soldiers, ready to make their final heroic stand, were suddenly interrupted by a deafening, thunderous roar.
In a split second,
A blur, moving far too fast for the human eye to track, swept across the opposite end of the street. In an instant, the Emerald soldiers were obliterated, as if a runaway freight train had plowed through them. They didn't just die; they exploded into clouds of mangled flesh and bone.
The sheer velocity of the impact whipped up a gale-force wind, launching gore and severed limbs into the sky. A gruesome rain of remains began to fall, some of it landing right in the middle of the Navy-blue positions.
Thud.
A severed arm in an emerald-green sleeve landed right in front of the Navy-blue infantry. Terrified, the soldiers scrambled to look around, desperate to understand what was happening.
The thunderous booms continued to echo, sometimes ahead, sometimes behind, relentlessly sweeping through every corner of Lotus City. Everywhere that blur went, nothing but gore remained.
Hyuk didn't need to do anything fancy; she simply kept accelerating. Her body's sheer kinetic impact was enough to rip human flesh to shreds. Sonic booms blended with the wet thuds of exploding bodies. The Emerald Nazis didn't even have time to scream before they were reduced to a red mist.
"What... what is that?"
Emerald soldiers in the distance saw a wall of vapor, a sonic shroud, exploding outward. Just as they began to marvel at the sight, Hyuk's form streaked through them.
Crimson sprayed in her wake.
[Infinite Overload · Potential Unleashed]
[Strength: 9,350 tons ⬆]
——
[Infinite Overload · Potential Unleashed]
[Strength: 9,752 tons ⬆]
——
[Infinite Overload · Potential Unleashed]
[Strength: 10,050 tons ⬆]
The Emerald invaders in Lotus City were being systematically erased at a terrifying speed, snuffed out in the roar of the booms without even feeling the pain.
The Navy-blue soldiers looked at the carnage and felt their stomachs turn. Rather than a secret weapon, they were starting to believe this was divine punishment from the heavens.
Sometimes Hyuk flew so fast she didn't bother avoiding buildings; she simply smashed right through them. Her only priority was the kill count; everything else was irrelevant.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Navy-blue soldiers watched in awe as the cathedral's bell tower was pierced. The massive bronze bell let out a final, resonant chime before flying over a hundred meters and slamming into the pavement.
GONG!
The commander of the 24th Regiment gripped his binoculars, trying to track Hyuk, but her speed was beyond his perception. He could only follow the trail of sonic booms.
Watching the absolute devastation unfold, the battle-hardened veteran couldn't stop his hands from shaking. This power, this entity that transcended humanity, filled him with deep, primal dread.
Fragile human frames were nothing but paper to Hyuk; they shredded at the slightest contact. She didn't even need to throw a punch; simply flying through them at high speeds was enough to pulverize every enemy in her path.
Helplessness.
Fear.
A cocktail of conflicting emotions surged within the commander's heart.
His voice trembled as he whispered a low prayer.
"Please, heavens... let this not be a demon."
If she were a demon, it would be a catastrophe far greater than the Emerald faction could ever hope to be. Humanity would be facing a sovereign with the power of absolute dominion.
"It's a person!"
The Emerald soldiers finally caught a glimpse of her figure when she slowed down. They were paralyzed by the sheer impossibility of seeing a human fly. Once they realized she was an enemy, they swiveled their heavy machine guns toward her.
They pulled the triggers.
The heavy weapons spat a frantic, continuous stream of lead.
Hyuk stabilized her position in mid-air and descended slowly. She allowed the torrential storm of bullets to wash over her; she remained unscathed, the impact failing to shift her stance by even a fraction of an inch.
Suddenly, she accelerated.
Carrying the crushing weight of her descent, she stomped the heavy machine gun into scrap metal. She snatched the gunner by his collar and hurled him like a ragdoll. He flew dozens of meters through the air before slamming into a skyscraper's wall.
"AHHH!!!"
A nearby soldier screamed in terror and opened fire on Hyuk. It was a futile gesture; the bullets ricotech off her skin and struck his own comrades instead.
Flames roared to life.
An Emerald soldier, equipped with a fuel tank and a flamethrower, wore a look of pure malice as he unleashed a searing torrent of fire at Hyuk. He howled, "Hahaha! This has to work! Watch me burn you to ash, you demon!"
His laughter died a quick death.
Hyuk stood perfectly still, letting the inferno engulf her as if it were nothing more than a gentle spring breeze. She walked straight through the roaring flames, her calm silhouette advancing toward the terrified soldier.
...
On the front lines, the Emerald faction had launched an all-out offensive against the Navy-blue Allied nations. Their combined-arms maneuvers and overwhelming firepower pushed the front forward at a relentless pace. The constant drone of fighter plane propellers heralded wave after wave of bombings, forcing the Navy-blue forces into a desperate, chaotic retreat.
The front was screaming for reinforcements.
Meanwhile, Navy-blue Supreme Command was occupied with an emergency high-level briefing. General Whis and his top brass found themselves forced to convene with a single individual.
When they saw it was just a young woman, the officers scoffed. To them, the reports sounded like something out of a fairy tale. One person taking out 3,900 enemy soldiers?
Falsifying military intelligence was a capital offense.
That was, until they watched Hyuk reduce a heavy tank to a pile of junk with a single punch, then hurl the wreckage dozens of kilometers away into the horizon. Only then did the generals at Supreme Command finally believe their eyes.
Fine. Forgive them for having such a narrow understanding of reality.
Suddenly, morale among the brass skyrocketed.
With a powerhouse like this backing the Navy-blue coalition, they could revitalize the troops' spirit and effectively stall the Emerald offensive. She was the ultimate trump card in their struggle for victory.
Upon hearing that the Emeralds had launched a total invasion and that the front was on the verge of collapse, Hyuk traced a nonchalant line across the map with her finger.
"I'll handle this," she said.
General Whis was stunned. "Excellency, we acknowledge your power, but this front stretches over 500 kilometers. The Emeralds have deployed over 800,000 troops. Even with the ability to fly, it's a massive expanse to cover alone."
They still had no clue just how powerful she had become. Hyuk's top flight speed could now hit Mach 4. What did that actually mean in practice?
Roughly 1,360 meters per second.
She could cover a kilometer in a single second. Sweeping the entire front would take her less than ten minutes. She wouldn't even need to throw a punch; the sheer sonic shockwave from her passage alone would be enough to shatter the enemy's formations.
Hyuk had no interest in debating the logistics with them. She took off immediately.
"I'm going to end this war," she stated. "All you need to do is accept that as the new reality."
She didn't need to prove anything to these people. When her power and the inevitable results were laid bare, all Whis and the others could do was accept the truth of her existence.
Without another word, she was gone.
BOOM!
A thunderous sonic boom erupted, rattling their skulls and sending a blast of displaced air that nearly knocked the generals off their feet. They looked up to see Hyuk streaking away, her body a supersonic blur against the sky.
The officers were paralyzed by the display of power. Soldiers across the command base craned their necks, mouths agape. No matter how many times they witnessed it, the sight remained utterly soul-shaking.
How could a human being possibly be this powerful?
"General."
A staff officer turned to Whis. "We still don't understand her motives. I find it hard to trust her completely. If she ever decides to turn against us, what do we do?"
Whis had no answer.
He could only stare at the fading trail in the sky, lost in thought.
...
The Front.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Emerald faction had launched their total offensive along the 500-kilometer front. Shells rained down in a never-ending deluge, relentlessly pounding every building and fortification into dust.
The air was thick with the acrid scent of gunpowder and flying soil. Concrete bunkers were riddled with holes. Inside the crumbling defenses, Navy-blue soldiers gripped their rifles and machine guns, firing back with desperate fury.
"Go to hell, you Emerald bastards!"
"Artillery regiment, standby!"
"Fire!"
Amidst the fierce exchange, the distinct, rhythmic thrum of propellers began to grow louder. Inside the city-based defense lines, the Navy-blue soldiers' faces turned pale.
"Hit the dirt!"
"Take cover!"
"Enemy air raid incoming!!"
Vrrr:
The sound of spinning propellers roared from above as planes bearing the Emerald insignia came into view. A dark swarm materialized, at least twenty bombers and fighters.
It was an undeniable fact: the Emerald faction's military hardware far surpassed that of the Navy-blue coalition. From their tanks and armored divisions to their bombers, fighters, and naval fleets, they held total superiority.
That was exactly why the Navy-blues were in constant retreat.
"Hold the line! Headquarters says reinforcements are on the way!"
"How long is 'immediately' supposed to be?!"
"'Immediately' means right now!!"
The commander's roar was lost in the din of the battlefield.
...
In the Air.
The Emerald pilots glided over the Navy-blue positions, braving the risk of anti-aircraft fire to begin their bombing runs.
"This is the 5th Air Squadron. We have reached the target coordinates. Commencing bombing run now..."
A sudden cry of alarm shattered the comms channel.
"Look out! Something's coming!"
"What?"
"Is it an enemy fighter?"
"Doesn't look like it, it's too fast! Gunner, open fire:"
CRASH!
The target was moving at an impossible speed. The lead plane was struck head-on; there wasn't even time to bank away before the aircraft disintegrated into scrap metal.
The sight sent a wave of panic through the rest of the squadron.
"Scatter! Break formation!"
Planes that couldn't evade were systematically pulverized, exploding into clouds of shrapnel in mid-air. Even those that weren't struck directly were tossed aside by the sheer force of the supersonic shockwave. Several aircraft lost control, spiraling wildly toward the earth, unable to regain their balance before smashing into the ground.
"What the hell is that thing?!"
The pilots were paralyzed with fear.
They looked back, and what they saw was even more terrifying. A person was hovering in mid-air, completely ignoring the laws of inertia and g-force. She came to a dead stop instantly, then pivoted 180 degrees and rocketed straight back toward them.
In that moment,
Nothing could have been more terrifying to a pilot.
"Is that... a person?!"
"She's coming back!"
"Gunners, fire! Open fire now!!"
The pilots screamed in a frenzy, but it did nothing to alter their fate. Every bit of resistance was a desperate, futile struggle, completely meaningless.
Propeller-driven aircraft couldn't even break the sound barrier. Against an aerial predator like Hyuk moving at Mach 4, they were nothing more than target practice. Not a single one could get away.
Hyuk pulled off a Z-pattern flight path that defied the laws of physics and G-force. Every maneuver was a perfect, sharp-angled snap, executed without the slightest curve or deceleration to buffer the momentum.
Plane after plane was annihilated almost simultaneously. Some disintegrated into scrap metal in mid-air, while others spiraled into the earth as burning husks of black smoke.
Hyuk effortlessly chased down a fighter. The pilot watched in horror as the spinning propeller blades struck her body, only to see the heavy metal blades snap and fly off like toothpicks.
"AHHH!"
Amidst the terrified wailing, Hyuk punched a hole straight through the cockpit. After finishing the pilot, she banked upward and shredded another fleeing aircraft into confetti.
In less than thirty seconds, twenty Emerald planes were wiped out. An entire air squadron had been erased; not a single pilot made it out alive.
The Navy-blue soldiers stared upward, their faces blank with shock.
"Is that... our reinforcement?"
"I think so?" The commander replied, his voice uncertain.
Hyuk surveyed the battlefield below. The Emerald tank divisions were rolling forward in a massive, steel wave. She tucked her arms and dove, slamming into a lead tank with the force of a meteor.
BOOM!