✨ CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO — PHASE TWO: OVERCLOCKED ANNIHILATION MODE ✨
The three damaged SSS enforcers staggered, sparks trailing from cracked armor.
Aiden, Maya, and Dara stood together—bloodied, exhausted, and barely upright.
Then the rooftop fell silent.
Too silent.
Aiden's heartbeat thudded in his ears as the coordinator enforcer rose, its fractured mask glowing with a deep, ominous crimson.
"PHASE TWO: OVERCLOCKED ANNIHILATION MODE… NOW INITIALIZING."
A metallic pulse spread across the battlefield like a shockwave.
The other two enforcers lifted violently—like puppets on invisible strings.
Their broken limbs straightened.
Their armor reshaped itself.
Their energy output tripled in an instant.
Maya's voice shook.
"No… no, no—we never faced this in training manuals. They weren't supposed to access Phase Two without Dominion approval!"
Dara's jaw dropped.
"They're getting STRONGER?! They were already built different! Who designed these things—MECHA SATAN!?"
Aiden swallowed hard, aura tightening around him like a blazing cloak.
"Maya… can you still support me?"
She wiped her lips, silver blood dripping.
"For you… always."
The coordinator tilted its head at the sight of them still standing, still fighting.
"Recalculating persistence threshold.
Target morale: excessive.
Solution: total extermination."
All three enforcers THRUST their hands outward.
---
TRI-FORCE CANNON — FIRING.
A massive beam of energy roared toward Aiden's group—
A fusion of speed, force, and precision.
Everything it touched evaporated.
Aiden shoved Dara aside and stepped forward, planting his feet.
"MAYA—BARRIER MAX!"
She screamed, pushing her trembling arms outward.
A brilliant silver dome snapped into place—
The beam hit.
KAAAAA-THOOOOOM!!!
The world became white fire.
Concrete liquefied.
Steel vaporized.
Aiden felt his soul tear at the edges.
Maya's scream cut through the burning light.
"AIDEN—!!"
He roared, golden aura exploding outward, reinforcing the silver barrier.
The two auras—gold and silver—spiraled into each other, bending the beam.
For a moment that stretched forever—
They held it.
One second.
Two.
Three.
Then—
CRACK!
The barrier shattered like glass.
The shockwave threw all three backward. Maya crashed into a destroyed pillar. Dara tumbled across rubble, coughing blood. Aiden skidded across molten concrete, his arms scorched and steaming.
The rooftop was now a volcanic warzone—red-hot, cratered, glowing with raw plasma.
Aiden could barely hear his own breathing.
---
The enforcers stepped forward through the smoke.
They were faster now.
Quicker than the eye could blink.
Their movements… inhuman.
The speed enforcer vanished and reappeared behind Aiden—
SLASH—!!
A streak of burning energy sliced across Aiden's side. Blood sprayed.
The force enforcer struck next—
A hammerfist to the chest—
BOOOOM—!!
Aiden was launched across the roof, smashing through a wall.
Dara screamed.
"AIDEN!! BRO, THEY'RE TRYNA DELETE YOU FROM REALITY—!!"
He charged forward with a bent pipe again, throwing himself between Maya and the force enforcer.
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING BUT—YOU'RE NOT TOUCHING THEM!"
The force enforcer paused—just for a fraction—at the bizarre display of suicidal bravery.
That moment was everything Aiden needed.
---
Aiden exploded from the rubble.
His aura burned brighter than ever—gold blazing into white, then into a blue-tinted superflare. His eyes glowed like twin suns.
Maya whispered in awe,
"He's pushing into… a pseudo-ascension state…"
Aiden's voice echoed across the rooftop, deeper, resonant:
"I'M NOT LOSING.
NOT TO YOU."
He shot forward, leaving behind a shockwave crater.
His punch collided with the speed enforcer's head—
BOOOOOMMM!!!
Its mask shattered completely. The machine's head spun off its body, sparks erupting like fireworks.
The force enforcer charged—
Aiden grabbed its entire arm—
And ripped it off with one brutal twist.
The machine staggered.
Aiden slammed his glowing knee into its torso—
CRACK—!!
Then a final white-gold blast erupted from his palm—
THUUUUM—!!!
The force enforcer split in half, collapsing in a rain of metal fragments.
Only the coordinator remained.
It stepped back, systems glitching.
"Alert. Survival odds below operational threshold.
Emergency Phase Three recommended."
Aiden's expression darkened.
"There's a Phase THREE?"
Maya answered weakly from behind him.
"Aiden… Phase Three means… nuclear-level output."
Dara screamed again:
"NUCLEAR?! BRO I CAN'T SURVIVE TAXES, LET ALONE NUKES—!!!"
The coordinator's body shifted—panels opening, core glowing white-hot.
Aiden clenched his fists.
"Maya… one last time."
She stood up on shaking legs.
"I'm with you…"
Aiden stepped forward, aura burning like a second sun.
"Then let's end this—before it ends us."