Kellan burst onto the pavement outside Olympus Tower, the Enhanced Agility buff making his movements fluid and silent. His destination: Nova Prime Central Park, less than ten blocks away. The Apex Core's alarm, a cold, throbbing purple in his peripheral vision, pulsed with urgency.
[Threat Manifestation: Low-level spatial anomaly. Energy signature is Sub-Optimal and highly destructive.]
He ditched the motorcycle, recognizing it as a Sub-Optimal mode of transport that traded speed for visibility. Instead, he darted through the back alleys, his eyes already scanning the city's network like a living algorithm.
[Target: Central Park Approach. Optimal Action: Utilize unused municipal tunnel system (40% faster, 99% stealth efficiency).]
Within minutes, Kellan emerged near the park's central fountain, masked by the deep shadows of the ancient oak trees. The scene was surreal. A low, shimmering purple haze hung near the fountain's basin—the spatial anomaly. It wasn't a gaping portal, but a seam in reality, leaking destructive energy.
A creature was already through the seam. It resembled a massive, segmented insect, its carapace the color of bruised obsidian, its limbs ending in razor-sharp blades. It was tearing apart a marble statue, its movements frantic and chaotic.
[Target: Inter-Dimensional Entity (Class 2 Predator). Threat Level: High. Direct engagement is Sub-Optimal.]
Kellan didn't flinch. His mind raced, not in panic, but in pure calculation. Direct confrontation is Sub-Optimal. What is the Optimal Path for a Level 3 Optimization Engineer?
[Optimal Insight (Level 3) Activated! Target: Park Environment & Creature.]
The familiar blue lines overlaid his vision. The creature's armor glowed faintly, but Kellan's focus was elsewhere: the nearby maintenance access panels, the fountain's complex water pressure system, and the large, unused power junction box supplying the park's main lights.
[Sub-Optimal Point (Creature): Low natural tolerance for organized electromagnetic interference.]
[Sub-Optimal Point (Environment): Main Park Power Junction is protected by a Type-A safety breaker, easily bypassed with 3.2 seconds of focused electric charge.]
[Optimal Synthesis: Overload Park's Main Grid $\rightarrow$ Channel raw energy through fountain's iron piping $\rightarrow$ Create localized Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) centered on the creature.]
"Amateurs," Kellan muttered, his voice cold with disdain. He sprinted toward the junction box, moving not with brute force, but with the perfect, optimized efficiency of a machine. He found the box and used a piece of wire from his Apex toolkit, applying a minimal charge of his residual Optimization Energy to bypass the safety breaker.
CLICK!
The entire park went dark. The only light now came from the shimmering purple haze of the anomaly.
The creature stopped its rampage, its multi-faceted eyes twitching in confusion. Its movements, previously chaotic, were now hampered by the sudden lack of background electromagnetic hum—a dependency Kellan had Optimally deduced.
Kellan moved to the fountain's edge, a small, insulated probe in hand. He jammed the probe into a visible pipe near the basin.
"You relied on the sub-optimal noise of my dimension to mask your presence," Kellan whispered into the silence. "That was your flaw."
He channeled the full, raw current from the now-overloaded power junction into the fountain's water supply. The iron pipes became a massive conductor.
A blinding, violent blue pulse of energy erupted from the fountain, washing over the central area in a calculated EMP shockwave.
The dimensional creature didn't explode. It fizzled. Its obsidian armor cracked, not from impact, but from the sudden, perfectly tuned electrical interference. It collapsed into a pile of smoking, inert chitin. The purple seam, starved of the energy it needed to sustain itself, instantly snapped shut.
Silence returned to the park.
Kellan walked over to the steaming pile of the creature's remains. He pulled out a specialized collection vial.
[Processing Achievement: Optimized Threat Neutralization. Zero Collateral Damage.]
[Target Remains: High concentration of unknown dimensional compounds. Potential for Optimization Synthesis: Very High.]
[Optimal Action: Immediate Extraction and Analysis. Prepare for a rapid counter-offensive before the next anomaly opens.]
He looked up at the dark towers of Nova Prime, a city he now owned and defended. The world was still sleeping, oblivious to the battle fought by its Apex protector.
Marcus Vance, Alistair Finch... you brought this cancer here, Kellan thought, the cold resolve hardening his expression. Now I will use this cancer to synthesize the cure. And I will make sure the Apex is the last thing you—and your hidden masters—ever see.