The hooded man vanished.
In the same instant, a violent lightning strike exploded from the sky, the flash so bright it swallowed the yard in white.
Damian barely had time to react—his instincts kicked in and he threw his arm up to block his face.
BOOM!!
The hooded man reappeared right in front of him, fist already mid-swing. His punch crashed into Damian's guard, the blow reinforced with crackling blue lightning. Up close, Damian could see the attacker's hand—charred black, as if burned by his own power.
The impact sent a shockwave ripping across the ground.
"Tch—!" Damian grit his teeth, forcing his footing.
He stomped his feet into the earth with full strength.
KRAKK!!
The ground exploded upward. Wild rocks and jagged stone pillars erupted around Damian, responding to his will. He surged forward through the debris and slammed his fist straight into the hooded man's gut, the force bending the stranger's cloak inward like it had been hit with a sledgehammer.
The air trembled.
Lightning and earth clashed, sparks and dust filling the space between them.
Leo, who was about to jump into the fight to support Damian, suddenly halted.
Someone stepped in front of him.
A man—completely unhidden—stood casually with his hands in his pockets. He had bright green hair that looked almost fluorescent under the fading light, and purple eyes that stared at Leo with an unsettling calmness.
Unlike the hooded attacker, this man didn't bother covering his face.
And he didn't need to.
Every part of him radiated strength—raw, confident, and terrifyingly controlled. The kind of strength you feel before you even see it.
The man smiled, a cheerful, almost playful expression.
Then—
CRASH!
An invisible force slammed down on Leo's shoulders, forcing him straight to his knees. His bones creaked. The ground beneath him cracked.
"Gravity Anchor," the man said lightly, as if introducing himself at a party. His voice was bright, almost friendly—but the power behind it wasn't.
In an instant, the entire battlefield grew heavy.
Overwhelmingly heavy.
The air thickened. The dirt caved. Rocks sank deeper into the earth. Damian and the hooded man's clash slowed for a moment under the sudden increase in weight.
Leo gritted his teeth, struggling to breathe as gravity itself pinned him down like an unbreakable chain.
The green-haired man tilted his head.
"No need to get up," he said with a grin. "You won't be able to anyway."
BOOM!!
The sound tore through the yard like thunder.
The room Seth was supposed to be in exploded outward—or more accurately, the wall blew apart as if something had slammed straight through it at full force.
Shattered wood and fragments of brick scattered everywhere.
The blur…
it had reached Seth.
"No!!" Leo shouted, eyes widening in pure panic.
Then—unexpectedly—he exhaled.
A slow, resigned sigh.
"I'm sorry," Leo said quietly, looking up at the green-haired man. "But this is going to be painful."
The cheerful-faced man blinked, confused for half a second—
And then Leo disappeared.
Completely vanished.
The gravity around him collapsed, dust lifting off the ground as the crushing weight instantly vanished. The earth cracked from where his knees had been pinned only moments earlier.
Under the Gravity Anchor, Leo shouldn't have been able to move at all.
It should have been impossible.
The green-haired man's smile faded into something sharper.
"…What was that?"
"Phantom Force," Leo said calmly from behind the green-haired man.
Before the man could even turn—
CRACK!!
Leo's foot smashed into his back with a violent, explosive force. The impact released a shockwave strong enough to tear through the air like a bomb.
The man's body didn't just fall.
It split in half.
Instantly. Cleanly.
Both halves collapsing lifelessly into the dirt.
Leo didn't even glance at the corpse.
"Now to deal with the hooded one," he muttered.
He vanished again.
**
The hooded man was just about to finish Damian off. Blue lightning spiraled around his hands, forming chains that whipped toward Damian's neck, ready to bind—and burn.
"Argh!" Damian roared, veins bulging as he slammed his palms together.
KRAKK!!
A massive stone slab erupted from the ground, clamping down on the hooded man's legs, trapping him in place.
The hooded man jerked forward, lightning sputtering in surprise.
Then—
Leo appeared beside him.
BAAAM!!
Leo's fist collided with the hooded man's head.
For a split second, everything froze—
And then the hood exploded into minced flesh and shattered bone, scattering like paint across the ground.
The remaining body toppled.
The lightning went silent.
Damian caught his breath, hands shaking from exertion.
Leo didn't waste a second.
His eyes turned immediately toward the destroyed room.
Toward Seth.
"Are you all right?" Leo asked, wiping blood from his face with the back of his hand.
"I'm fine," Damian responded—casually, but still a bit angry, his jaw tight.
"Good. Let's go."
The two of them dashed toward the house. The air was still filled with dust and lingering sparks from the earlier explosions. They jumped through the broken wall and landed inside the room—
—and immediately froze at what they saw.
Seth was lying on the ground, unconscious but unharmed, his chest rising and falling steadily. His clothes were ripped, but there were no fresh wounds. Whatever attacked him hadn't gotten the chance to finish the job.
On the bed sat Sophie, her breathing fast and shaky, hands trembling as she clutched her knees. Her bodysuit was torn and her hair was messy, clear signs she had been fighting.
And at the door stood Walter, tense, sweat on his forehead, his stance defensive.
From the looks of the room—the overturned chair, the broken side table, the scattered shards of glass—it was obvious.
"It seems," Damian said slowly, scanning the scene, "there was a fight between sophie and Walter."
Walter didn't speak. He just looked between Seth and Sophie, chest rising and falling heavily.
Sophie kept her eyes down, still shaking slightly.
Leo knelt beside Seth, checking his pulse and lifting his head carefully.
"He's fine," Leo said with relief. "Just unconscious."
Damian exhaled, rubbing his temples.
"Good… that's good."