Inside the confinement room, the cold metal walls reflected a piercing light.
Marc sat alone, leaning against the wall.
The wound on his arm, pierced by the Spinebug, throbbed with waves of searing heat, as if a living creature were drilling beneath his flesh.
But he felt no pain.
Only two voices echoed repeatedly in his mind.
One was his own, stiff and cold: "We are just ordinary teammates."
The other was Charles's, smug and cruel: "Captain Marc, do you... have any objections?"
Then came the image of Ran Bing's eyes, instantly losing all their light.
The "laws" he had always believed in, the "big picture" he had fought for, all felt like a ridiculous, cold joke in this moment.
He could not protect the person he cared about; he could not protect anyone.
He could not even utter a single "I object."
He recalled every moment of fighting side by side with Ran Bing in the wasteland, her absolute resolve when shielding him from attacks, and that warm embrace she had just given him.
An emotion he had forcibly suppressed, one he had not even dared to acknowledge, finally erupted violently in this moment of silence.
He slammed his fist into the wall.
The sturdy alloy wall was actually dented into a clear, shallow pit by his strike!
The so-called laws were completely thrown to the back of his mind.
If he did nothing today, he would lose the most important person in his life.
Marc rammed his body into the confinement room door with brute force.
Boom!
The door deformed.
Boom! Boom! A few more strikes, and the lock shattered.
Before the two guards stationed outside could react, they were sent flying by a tremendous force, instantly losing consciousness.
Piercing alarms blared, startling the entire upper level of the Lighthouse.
Like a maddened beast with bloodshot eyes, Marc sprinted wildly toward the Dawn Hall.
Along the way, Law Enforcement Guards and Light and Shadow Church guards constantly tried to intercept him.
"Halt! Marc!"
"Hands on your head! Don't move!"
However, Marc turned a deaf ear to them. Right now, he only had one thought—save Ran Bing!
...
Meanwhile, escorted by two Adjudicators, Ran Bing walked through the freezing metal corridors toward the deepest part of the Lighthouse, the Dawn Hall.
Her steps were mechanical, her eyes hollow, like a walking corpse.
In a hidden observation room next to the Dawn Hall, Charles was leisurely watching the surveillance monitors with a glass of red wine in hand.
One screen showed Marc's blood-soaked figure fighting his way through, while the other showed Ran Bing, who had already arrived at the entrance of the Dawn Hall.
He took a sip of red wine, a cruel curve forming at the corner of his mouth.
"What a spectacular performance, Captain Marc. Let me see the hero's final despair."
"You all better watch closely. Don't make things too difficult for Captain Marc, but don't let him arrive too quickly either!"
He reveled in the thrill of playing the Lighthouse's hero in the palm of his hand.
He looked forward to the devastated expression on Marc's face when he arrived to find the deed already done.
...
Ran Bing was brought into the Dawn Hall.
The interior of the hall was not as cold as she had imagined. Instead, it was decorated with extraordinary sanctity. Incense smoke curled upward, and the room was resplendent and magnificent, truly resembling a rising dawn.
In the very center stood several fanatical Adjudicators and an unusually burly man wearing a golden metal mask.
The masked man exuded a powerful, oppressive aura. He stepped toward Ran Bing, his voice hoarse.
"Submit to the Lord's will. This is your honor."
Ran Bing backed away in despair, her right hand quietly reaching toward her waist, where a concealed dagger was hidden.
She would rather die than submit.
In the observation room, Charles raised his wine glass, offering a distant toast to the screen.
"Begin."
In the next instant, Ran Bing sprang into action. She kicked the masked man down, then stabbed an adjacent Adjudicator with her blade.
Charles frowned as he watched. He pulled the Head Adjudicator over and snapped, "Don't tell me you have so many Adjudicators under your command and you can't even take down one woman!"
The Head Adjudicator took the order and hastily dispatched more Adjudicators to subdue Ran Bing.
Ultimately, Ran Bing was humiliatingly pinned to the floor. She struggled endlessly until she lost all her strength.
Then, the masked man stepped forward, preparing to carry out the Breeding Mission with Ran Bing.
Just as the masked man was about to grab Ran Bing's arm, an indescribable pressure suddenly descended.
The lighting in the entire Dawn Hall seemed to be manipulated by an invisible hand, converging at the center of the room.
Before anyone could react, a figure appeared out of thin air between Ran Bing and the masked man.
Half of his body was bathed in a gentle, holy light, while the other half was concealed in profound darkness. Light and shadow perfectly converged upon him, forming an eerie yet sacred spectacle.
An Adjudicator was the first to recover his wits. Looking at this mysterious intruder, he mustered his courage and shouted sternly.
"Who are you? How dare you trespass into the Dawn Hall!"
The figure ignored him, but the Adjudicator's voice abruptly ceased.
Then, his body seemed to be instantly drained of all moisture and vitality by an invisible force. Under everyone's horrified gazes, he turned into a handful of ash and scattered across the floor.
In the observation room, the wine glass in Charles's hand shattered against the floor with a clatter, splashing red wine everywhere.
His pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks as he stared fixedly at that familiar yet unfamiliar figure on the screen!
'How is this so similar to the photograph of the human taken when the Monarch-class Pola Beast died? Could he be...'
Fear instantly overwhelmed his lust for power. Without a moment's hesitation, Charles turned and fled.
'Watch the show? What a joke! With such a powerful entity personally arriving, if I don't run now, I'll lose my life!'
As he sprinted madly, he frantically pressed the alarm, raising it to the highest level.
"Enemy attack! Maximum level enemy attack! All armed forces, proceed to the Dawn Hall immediately!"
Inside the hall, the remaining Adjudicators and the masked man backed away in terror.
The masked man let out a beast-like roar. Instead of retreating, he lunged fiercely at the figure.
But before he could even get close, his body began to twist and disintegrate unnaturally, just like the previous Adjudicator. Finally, along with his sturdy golden mask, he turned to dust.
The figure slowly turned around, facing the terrified Ran Bing.
His face, shrouded in light and shadow, could not be seen clearly, but a gentle yet majestic voice echoed directly in her mind.
"Do not fear, child."
The doors of the Dawn Hall were violently smashed open.
A blood-soaked Marc, radiating killing intent, finally arrived, followed by a large number of Lighthouse guards who had rushed over upon hearing the alarm.
Everyone instantly froze in place.
What they saw was an unharmed but visibly shocked Ran Bing, ashes scattered all over the floor, and the mysterious figure standing in the center of the hall, bathed in light and shadow like a descending god.
Marc stared fixedly at the figure, his heart pounding wildly.
'Ran Bing is safe?'
'He saved Ran Bing?'
'Did he invade the Dawn Hall?'
'Is this the source of all the chaos?'
'Who is he? Friend or foe?'