[Infinite Overload · Potential Unleashed]
[Strength: 13,400 tons ⬆]
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[Infinite Overload · Potential Unleashed]
[Strength: 15,800 tons ⬆]
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[Infinite Overload · Potential Unleashed]
[Strength: 18,200 tons ⬆]
The battlefield was a graveyard of mangled steel, tanks crushed into scrap or completely dismantled into a sea of spare parts. Dark streaks of blood leaked from the interiors of the ruined hulls, staining the dirt below.
In just five minutes, Hyuk had purged every tank division attempting an assault on this sector, along with their crews and the supporting infantry.
Her strength had surged to 18,200 tons. Although killing an average soldier only granted a one-ton increase, the sheer numbers made the difference.
Hyuk's power was skyrocketing like a runaway freight train. It was a growth spurt so violent and uncontrollable that it was almost frightening. She was evolving into something truly monstrous.
Adding the air squadron she'd just erased, Hyuk had dealt the Emerald faction a blow so heavy it was suffocating.
The fighting here had stopped.
The Navy-blue soldiers stood in silence, staring up at the figure in the sky. Even though she hadn't formally identified herself, they all knew she was on their side.
Shock.
Exhilaration.
Awe.
They looked at her as if she were a deity descending to save them. There were no cheers, only a heavy, reverent silence as they watched her. Yet, beneath that quiet surface, their emotions were churning like a storm.
While this specific sector was clear, Hyuk's mission was far from over. She intended to tear through the entire 500-kilometer front in a single day.
A thunderous sonic BOOM! cracked across the sky, and Hyuk vanished into the clouds before the soldiers on the ground could even blink.
"Do you think... she's a god?" one soldier whispered.
"Maybe."
"If someone that powerful is leading us, I'd follow her to the ends of the earth."
...
It didn't take long.
Hyuk reached the next flashpoint on the front. A massive Emerald tank column and a sea of infantry were surging forward under the cover of mortar fire, advancing like an unstoppable tide.
"Charge!"
The fanatical Emerald troops surged forward behind their tanks. Some were already leaping into the trenches, bayonets ready for a bloodbath with the Navy-blue defenders, when they were suddenly detonated into a mist of red.
Only a second later did the soldiers in the trenches hear the screeching roar of a sonic BOOM! The deafening crack was so intense it felt like their eardrums were being shredded.
A Navy-blue soldier wiped a spray of fresh blood from his face, looking around in a daze.
"What... what was that?"
Hyuk had entered the fray with the ultimate show of force. Maintaining Mach 2, she streaked across the battlefield, sweeping through the lines with the speed of a lightning bolt.
Every obstacle in her path was instantly reduced to blood mist or scrap metal.
She continued to accelerate, a living meteor tearing through the chaos. The shockwaves alone burst the eardrums of nearby Emerald soldiers, leaving them writhing in agony.
Hyuk accepted no surrenders.
She was there for one reason, elimination.
No one should mistake her alliance with the Navy-blue coalition for a soft-hearted pursuit of "love and peace." She could have flown straight to the Emerald capital to end the war instantly, but she chose the hard way.
She wanted the kills. She wanted the power.
[Infinite Overload · Potential Unleashed]
[Strength: 19,760 tons ⬆]
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[Infinite Overload · Potential Unleashed]
[Strength: 22,600 tons ⬆]
A literal personification of storm and thunder, she ravaged the battlefield at speeds that would make even death itself recoil, reaping the lives of the Emerald soldiers.
Wherever she passed, she left only silence.
One battlefield after another.
Hyuk's arrival was the herald of extinction. On this day, words like "powerful" or "war god" felt pathetic and hollow in her presence.
She had broken a 500-kilometer front by herself. From infantry and tanks to entire fighter and bomber wings, she had erased them all.
The high-speed flight prevented blood from clinging to her skin, the wind whipped it away before it could settle. But her Navy-blue uniform? It was soaked through, dyed a shade of crimson as deep as the abyss.
On this day, Hyuk had lost count of her victims. By the time she reached the end of the front, she had become completely numb to the slaughter.
She looked back, and the entire line lay broken behind her.
[Infinite Overload · Potential Unleashed]
[Strength: 651,402 tons ⬆]
Over six hundred and fifty thousand tons of force!
A terrifying, bone-chilling power surged through Hyuk's veins. This massive spike in strength forced her physique to adapt, granting her even greater muscle density and reinforced bone structure.
Her senses sharpened to an even more acute degree.
In terms of speed, Hyuk's instantaneous burst could now reach Mach 5, and with sustained acceleration, she could hit a staggering Mach 10. She was blindingly fast.
Throughout her systematic eradication of the Emerald forces, she had gradually acclimated to this skyrocketing power, reaching a point of perfect control.
Now, Hyuk could deliver a punch with the crushing weight of an entire skyscraper behind it.
Whatever the case, this battle was finally over.
...
Navy-blue Supreme Command.
Ring, ring, ring!
General Whis answered the phone, then fell into a long, heavy silence.
"Well?" someone asked.
After a long pause, Whis finally spoke.
"She really did it. She wiped out every single Emerald unit on that front. One person, in less than a day, annihilated an army of eight hundred thousand."
The room fell into a stunned silence.
As they recalled that young face, an icy chill crept down their spines. The dread and sense of utter helplessness they felt toward her far outweighed the joy of defeating the Emerald faction.
After a long while, Whis said, "Regardless, this is a monumental victory for the Navy-blue coalition. Losing eight hundred thousand troops is a blow the Emeralds won't easily recover from."
Yet, compared to them, the Emeralds were likely far more terrified of a being who possessed the kind of power Hyuk wielded.
As telegrams flashed across all the Allied nations of the Navy-blue faction, the soldiers on the front lines learned of the soul-stirring victory. Hyuk had become the ultimate hero of the Navy-blues.
...
Navy-blue Faction, Lotus City.
Two Mergers had taken on the appearance of two fallen soldiers. Under this disguise, they successfully infiltrated the Navy-blue ranks. The air was filled with the blare of trumpets, announcing the glorious victory to the entire coalition.
The two swapped a look.
"Powerful?"
"It must be her."
Having confirmed the intel on Hyuk, the Mergers slipped away from the ranks and headed straight for the Navy-blue Supreme Command, hoping for a chance to make closer contact with her.
Clearly, they hadn't succumbed to despair just yet.
At the same time, they were evaluating the planet's potential. If Planao proved suitable for their species, they would find a way to colonize and thrive here.
To them, this was the true purpose of the Door. Far from their original home, the Mergers were desperate to secure a new world to call their own.
Meanwhile, other superhumans drawn by the Door's resonance were beginning to trickle in from Earth. Due to the time differential between the two sides, even those who entered the Door back-to-back appeared on this side at wildly different intervals.
A man stepped out of a dilapidated wooden door.
He possessed distinct South Asian features with a deep, dark complexion and was dressed in a sharp business suit. He took a moment to survey the war-torn ruins surrounding him.
"Well, the local atmosphere leaves much to be desired."
...
Ranada City.
This was the heart of the Navy-blue Supreme Command, the most populous metropolis among the Allied nations, and their crowning economic jewel.
Today, Ranada City was drowned in a sea of joy. Celebrations erupted in every corner, it had been a long time since the Navy-blue coalition had tasted a victory this monumental.
And it was all thanks to one person, their hero.
"Excellency Hyuk has arrived!"
The citizens spotted a streak of light screaming across the horizon. A thunderous, ecstatic cheer erupted, wave after wave of voices joining in a chaotic, joyful roar.
"Play the anthem!"
The commander gave the order, and the honor guard struck up a powerful melody. Amidst the roaring crowd, they extended the highest level of military protocol and solemnity to welcome Hyuk.
Hyuk gradually bled off her speed, hovering over the crowd before descending with perfect stability. Flanked by the military brass, she marched into the headquarters.
In the midst of the crowd, a youth who looked like a student scoffed with clear disdain. "Tch, typical elitism at its finest."
Standing beside him was a middle-aged man wearing glasses. This was Hilton, a biologist with profound academic prestige and the youth's mentor.
Hilton chuckled. "Now, now. Excellency Hyuk is our greatest hero. I know you youngsters enjoy being cynical, but her achievements on the battlefield warrant every bit of this fanfare."
The youth remained skeptical. "Professor Hilton, the coalition claims she single-handedly crushed a massive Emerald offensive and wiped out 800,000 men. Do you actually believe that?"
Unlike the cynical youth who questioned everything and rebelled against authority, Hilton was a firm believer. He had long moved past that rebellious phase of life.
A flicker of intense longing flashed in his eyes. "I believe it with every fiber of my being. I've always maintained that human potential is limitless. After witnessing such an impossible feat with my own eyes, why would I doubt it? My only prayer is that the military grants me an opportunity, a chance to truly study her."
As a biologist dedicated to unlocking human potential through genetics, Hyuk's existence was nothing short of a divine gift to his research.
His student thought the chances of that were slim. Even if the military agreed, Hyuk could simply say no, no one could force her. Although she hadn't yet shown any desire to place herself above the law, everyone knew that social order was now nothing more than a fragile piece of parchment.
She possessed the power to tear through that parchment whenever she pleased.
No one could resist her.
...
Inside Supreme Command.
Several individuals exuding the natural authority of high-ranking leaders were waiting. These were the heads of state from the primary nations within the Navy-blue coalition.
Hyuk's emergence had forced them to meet her in person, first, to show proper respect, and second, because there were certain matters they needed to clarify.
Despite their calm, composed exteriors, they were all trembling inwardly. they were facing a monster who had annihilated nearly 800,000 men in a single day, all by herself.
If she wanted to, she could easily kill everyone in this room and level Ranada City into a pile of rubble.
Footsteps echoed through the hall.
Hyuk entered the conference room and took a seat immediately.
Though this was a meeting with world leaders, the seating was arranged on a level playing field. They had no intention of making Hyuk feel subordinate.
This was a meeting between equals.
The leaders spoke first.
"Excellency Hyuk, first and foremost, we wish to extend our deepest gratitude for your contributions to the Navy-blue Alliance. Your presence has infused our cause with unprecedented strength."
Hyuk spoke bluntly. "Skip the pleasantries. Get straight to the point."
The leaders nodded, no longer hiding their apprehension.
"Excellency Hyuk, from our perspective, you possess the power to end this war single-handedly, perhaps even to rule the world. We honestly don't understand why you've chosen to help us."
"It's simple. I want all wars on this planet to stop. I'm not talking about minor skirmishes for now, but a global conflict like this cannot continue. Ruling is a massive headache, and I'm certainly not cut out to be a monarch. Helping one side win is just the fastest way to achieve peace. And compared to the fanatical Emeralds, I'd much rather work with the Navy-blues."
It was a very direct answer.
Hyuk had no ambition or interest in governing.
"To put it even more bluntly, stop trying to psychoanalyze or test me. If I truly wanted to rule the world, no one could stop me. And I wouldn't waste my time explaining myself to any of you."
Brutal honesty.
Reality was just that harsh.
"And your reason for wanting the war to end?"
Hyuk replied simply, "I'm a fan of peace."
The conversation was going well.
Hyuk's bluntness caused the leaders' collective anxiety to skyrocket. Her personality was far too dominant, far too overbearing.
She seemed completely self-absorbed.
Today she was a "fan of peace," but who knew if a bad mood tomorrow might lead her to destroy the world? At least, that was the risk the old men perceived.
Thankfully, for now, their goals aligned.
Hyuk wasn't their enemy yet.
Regardless of whether Hyuk craved wealth or political power, the leaders agreed to grant her a title, hoping it would make her more stable.
"Excellency Hyuk, after deliberation among the heads of the Allied nations, we have decided to bestow upon you the rank of Sovereign Archduke of the Navy-blues. In our monarchies, your authority will be second only to the King; in our constitutional states, second only to the Prime Minister; and in our republics, second only to the President..."
"Whatever makes you happy."
Hyuk didn't care.
She truly had no interest in power or riches. In the face of pure, absolute strength, such things were nothing but fleeting illusions.
After the dull and tedious formal talk ended, a world map was spread out before them. Hyuk finally sharpened her focus. "Now, tell me about the current state of this world war."
Strategic planning was the next priority.
Hyuk was about to deploy to battlefields across the globe to bring this war to a definitive end. To prevent the conflict from reigniting, she needed the Navy-blue Alliance to restructure the postwar world and take control of global governance.
First,
She needed to utterly dismantle the Emerald faction, not just their armies, but their very will to fight. It was going to be another incredibly bloody campaign.
Hyuk identified the various fronts the Emeralds were pushing. Her movements were decisive and startlingly fast. She stood up, ready to strike immediately.
"In three days, I'll shatter every single one of their lines. Every soldier on the Emerald front will be eliminated. You lot handle the strategic fallout and the occupation details however you see fit."
With that,
Hyuk took her leave.
"Eliminate every soldier on the Emerald front?"
That was over eighteen million men!
The world leaders and top brass at Navy-blue Supreme Command finally realized that Hyuk was a bit too extreme. She didn't believe in taking prisoners; her battlefield was a one-way trip to the grave.
...
"Eight hundred thousand men!"
"That's 800,000 soldiers, not 800,000 pigs! How could they be wiped out in a single day? Even if they were lined up for execution, it wouldn't happen that fast!"
"Tell me! What the hell happened at the front?!"
Hyuk's intervention was a fatal blow to the Emerald faction. The loss of an 800,000-strong army and the collapse of a 500-kilometer front in a single day was unprecedented.
It was too fast.
So fast that their headquarters couldn't even process the reports.
When the urgent dispatch from the front was placed before the Emerald leaders, their expressions turned grim. A youth in a military uniform entered their line of sight.
An iron body.
Flight capabilities.
A level of power that suggested a god walking among men.
"Is this some secret weapon the Navy-blues built using body modification technology?"
"We have zero intel on such a project."
"She appeared out of nowhere. No prior records, no background info. We've searched the Navy-blue intelligence files, and there's absolutely nothing on her prior existence."
"This has to be the crown jewel of the Navy-blues' human experimentation program!"
Beyond that, the Emerald leaders couldn't find a single logical explanation. They immediately ordered a massive surge in funding and resources for their own human trials, desperate to create a super-soldier capable of going toe-to-toe with Hyuk.
The researchers assigned to these projects were at their wits' end. It wasn't that they lacked the drive; they simply lacked the fundamental scientific capability to replicate such a miracle of biology.
"Supreme Leader, urgent dispatch from the front!"
"That woman has appeared on our eastern front!"
Panic was spreading through the Emerald ranks like a plague, quickly spiraling into a total systemic collapse. Hyuk was an unstoppable force of nature, and the sheer psychological pressure she exerted was more than their soldiers could bear.
Desperate reports from the front lines poured in like a blizzard. The Emerald High Command sat paralyzed, watching helplessly as their armies were erased at a terrifying speed.
Two days.
In just forty-eight hours, Hyuk had eliminated nearly five million Emerald troops. Countless soldiers were so traumatized by her lightning strikes that they abandoned their posts in mass, scattering in every direction.
[Infinite Overload · Potential Unleashed]
[Strength: 4.502 million tons ⬆]
Four and a half million tons of force!
After only a few days in the field, Hyuk's strength was surging at a rate that defied comprehension. To the Emerald troops, she was something far more primordial and terrifying than the Grim Reaper.
"She... she stopped! I have a visual!"
"Quick, open fire! Fire the heavy artillery!"
The Emerald soldiers allowed themselves a shred of hope, thinking Hyuk was finally exhausted. After all, even if she was a demon, she had killed so many of their comrades that she had to be reaching her limit. Surely, she was still made of flesh and blood.
Perhaps luck was on their side.
The Emerald faction had stationed a specialized human experimentation unit behind this sector. Their primary focus was the development of horrific biochemical weapons, lethal gases and engineered pathogens designed for total theater saturation.
Now, they finally had their chance to shine.
With the thunderous roar of cannons, shells packed with toxins and pathogens rained down around Hyuk. Upon impact, they burst into thick clouds of swirling, sickly-colored gas that rapidly blanketed the area.
"Hahaha! Direct hit!" the Emerald troops cheered.
But their joy was short-lived.
They were about to witness the true meaning of despair.
Hyuk stood in the epicenter of the toxic cloud, completely unfazed. She even took a deep breath, casually inhaling the lethal mixture as if it were a cigarette before exhaling it back into the air with a look of utter boredom.
She had survived the most extreme environments nature could offer and had even spent months exposed to the raw vacuum and cosmic radiation of deep space. To her, these man-made toxins were nothing more than a mild nuisance.
Her cells and genetic structure were more stable and resilient than the most fortified bunker on the planet. Man-made pathogens couldn't even scratch her.
In fact, Hyuk almost wished these bioweapons would work on her. She craved the pain because she knew that through struggle and damage, she would evolve into something even more formidable.
She had actually held out a shred of expectation.
But these toys were utterly useless.
"How disappointing."
Hyuk's figure blurred. The resulting sonic boom and the localized gale scoured the artillery position clean. The Emerald soldiers were instantly shredded into a spray of gore and bone.
...
The Next Day.
Hyuk hovered over the vast ocean, looking down at a fleet of menacing steel leviathans. The warships were bristling with gun turrets and cannons, looking like iron hedgehogs.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Emerald "Invincible Armada" opened fire with everything they had. Shells and black smoke filled the air, yet within thirty seconds, the entire fleet was sent to the bottom of the sea.
Three top-tier Dreadnoughts were reduced to scrap and sent straight to the abyss. The remaining cruisers and support ships were completely decimated.
With that,
Hyuk had achieved a total sweep, Air, Land, and Sea. A triple-crown ace. She found herself amusing her mind with such thoughts to find some entertainment in the monotony of the slaughter.
She had said three days, and she meant three days.
Hyuk didn't waste a single second.
...
Three Days Later.
The Navy-blue Supreme Command received the final compilation of front-line reports. The Emerald lines had collapsed globally. Their soldiers were scattering in a rout, their will to fight utterly extinguished.
General Whis sat in a daze as he read the telegrams.
It felt surreal.
After a long pause, he addressed his colleagues. "Gentlemen, the Emerald fronts have disintegrated. Our troops are advancing into enemy territory unopposed, reclaiming every inch of lost land. We are marching straight for the Emerald capital."
His colleagues felt a shiver of excitement.
"You mean..."
"The war is over? We won?"
"Yes. We won."
On that day,
Hyuk personally descended upon the Emerald High Command. With a display of absolute, unrivaled power, she crushed their final shred of hope. She drifted through the air, closing in slowly, and personally ended their Supreme Leader.
The war was over.
Or rather, the war between the Navy-blues and Emeralds had reached its conclusion. Yet, shadows of conflict still lingered in the Far East, threatening to drag the behemoth known as the Argent Federation into the fray.
That was a problem for another day.
By crushing the Emeralds, Hyuk had watched her own power skyrocket. She hadn't actually wiped out all eighteen million soldiers; many had deserted or fled before reaching the front, and she wasn't about to waste her time hunting them down one by one.
In the end,
[Infinite Overload · Potential Unleashed]
[Strength: 8.24 million tons ⬆]
From the start of the campaign to the finish, she had personally ended over eight million Emerald lives. These weren't collective military statistics, every single one of those deaths had occurred by her hand alone.
Hyuk's hands were stained with what could only be described as an ocean of blood. To the Navy-blue civilians, she was the legendary hero who saved the world; to the survivors of the Emerald nations, she was the most brutal, unprecedented butcher in human history.
She didn't care.
Whether they worshipped her or cursed her name, it was all the same to her.
If she possessed telekinesis, she could probably use five-hundred-meter skyscrapers as dumbbells. But in reality, she was more like an indestructible, high-velocity projectile. She was a creature born purely for combat and slaughter.
In terms of speed, Hyuk's instantaneous burst was now Mach 10. With sustained acceleration, her top speed reached Mach 20, a massive qualitative leap.
The only disappointment was that the Emerald army had failed to inflict even a single scratch on her. As a result, her Evolution Rate hadn't budged an inch; it remained stuck at 55%.