Hyuk's third-phase Main Mission was finally complete. She had eliminated Pat, destroying the sole remaining Merger on Planao. As for whether more Mergers would arrive in the future, that was no longer her concern.
She was injured.
But with the addition of the mission rewards,
Hyuk's evolution rate surged to 40%, putting her next evolution well within reach. The thermal burns she suffered this time were far less severe than the ones she had sustained in the Gattuso Desert, which meant the evolutionary yield was slightly lower.
After all, there was a massive gulf between one billion and ten billion degrees. One billion degrees was Pat's absolute threshold; he was physically incapable of unleashing ten billion degrees.
Such an extreme nuclear fusion reaction took place directly inside his own body. Long before he could use that power to obliterate Hyuk, he would have vaporized himself into nothingness.
Nearly two months drifted by in a flash.
No one ventured into the void of space to disturb Hyuk's recovery.
Oddly enough, despite achieving such a monstrous level of power, Hyuk still needed to breathe. It was highly likely that this was simply her body's unique method of absorbing energy.
She could hold her breath in the vacuum of space for an immense period, so long that she didn't even know her own limit, without experiencing the slightest discomfort. Yet, the biological necessity to breathe remained.
It was quite fascinating,
considering her body could barely even be classified as human anymore.
Hyuk's clash with the Merger had been nothing short of cataclysmic. The extreme environmental hazards they generated left the surrounding nations powerless to even approach the exclusion zone.
The scorched temperatures and lingering plasma storms created a localized, hyper-hostile environment that left them completely helpless.
Pat had absorbed millions of lives. It was an absolute tragedy, with the casualties consisting entirely of ordinary civilians who were never meant to die on a battlefield.
Fortunately, the existential threat of the Merger had been thoroughly neutralized. The nations, of course, had no idea they had narrowly avoided being devoured as a feast; they only knew that Hyuk had put down an out-of-control superhuman.
Hyuk had saved their planet.
The legendary savior, who had remained silent for over a decade, was suddenly thrust back into the public eye. While the populace deeply mourned the victims, they also chanted Hyuk's name, hailing her as a hero once more.
Suspended in deep space, Hyuk couldn't hear any of it.
Meanwhile, several figures stepped through the door. A faction from Earth crossed over onto Planao, only to discover that the technological advancement here far eclipsed their own.
"What a goldmine!"
They were ecstatic.
They immediately began drafting plans to colonize and exploit the area, intending to harvest its vast resources to expand their influence and establish a breeding ground for their own superhumans.
Right up until they saw Hyuk's face plastered across every street.
"Powerful?"
They froze. When they searched the name online, the results nearly made them wet themselves. Powerful had resided here for eighty-three long years, making her a literal centenarian.
During World War II, she had wiped out over ten million people, single-handedly ending the global conflict and forcing the world's nations into total submission.
The Gattuso Desert nuclear detonation.
The Merger crisis.
...
This wasn't a mere superhuman. She was a living God.
"Quick, quick! Pack our things and get out of here!"
"This place is way too dangerous!"
Coming here to claim territory? They were terrified Hyuk would crush them like sitting ducks. They had finally discovered a door, only to find the land had been claimed by a monster decades ago.
The bitterness in their hearts was indescribable.
The moment the group scrambled to pack up and flee, Hyuk returned from the cosmos. The lack of a fourth phase to her Main Mission indicated that this assignment was officially concluding.
With plenty of time left on the door's countdown, Hyuk was in no hurry to leave. Instead, she decided to utilize Planao's cutting-edge technology and superhuman research to study her own power.
And check her current physical data.
The test results were staggering.
Driven by her baseline strength of forty million tons, her physical density had officially crossed into the realm of a white dwarf star. Before, she was merely comparable to one; now, it was a literal reality.
Her total weight clocked in at 274,000 tons.
To put that into perspective, she weighed as much as four or five fully loaded supercarriers.
Just as Type Zero had warned, if Hyuk dared to disable her flight status, she would plunge into the earth like a massive iron nail within seconds, sinking straight toward the planetary core.
The researchers used everything at their disposal but couldn't even sever a single strand of her hair. At this point, she was essentially a micro-celestial body, absurdly and illogically dense.
"It's absolutely inconceivable. How can you maintain a human shape with this kind of density? How are your cells even preserving their basic structure?"
"What is the science behind this?"
"How are you still exhibiting normal physiological functions?"
It remained an unsolved mystery.
Over the following weeks, Hyuk instructed the research teams to exhaust every available method to stimulate her next evolution or catalyze new abilities.
After a flurry of intense experimentation,
every single attempt ended in failure.
Hyuk gained no new abilities.
"It is truly mind-boggling, Excellency Hyuk. Based on our observations, your biology exhibits extreme biological isolation. None of our chemical compounds or drugs have any effect on you whatsoever."
"For now, we will continue to refer to your structural units as cells, but your genetic code is extraordinarily aggressive and dominant. Any foreign drug or gene-modifying compound that enters your body is immediately annihilated."
"We have every reason to believe that even if you were to reproduce with an extraterrestrial, your inherited genes would completely filter out and overwrite any foreign genetic material."
In other words, regardless of the partner's alien species, Hyuk's offspring would always be a purebred Terran. Her genetic dominance was limitlessly potent.
"Of course, this is merely a working hypothesis, Excellency Hyuk. Would you be willing to provide further cell and gene samples for more advanced research?"
"No."
Hyuk flatly refused.
In truth, Hyuk's "genes" likely only resembled genes on a superficial level. Their actual, fundamental composition was incomprehensible, remaining completely impervious even to high-energy particle bombardment.
No biological genome in existence should have been capable of such sheer indestructibility.
"Logically speaking, given your current mass and density, you should be exerting an immense gravitational pull on surrounding matter, yet we detect absolutely no gravitational anomalies around you."
"It completely defies our understanding."
While the biological modification plans for Hyuk fell through, they didn't represent the entirety of their research. A physicist on the team offered a practical proposal based on Hyuk's combat footage.
"During your last battle, I noticed that several urban surveillance devices didn't fail due to physical impact. Before the shockwaves even reached them, these systems had already ceased operating. It appeared to be the result of a powerful electromagnetic pulse."
"Even though your dense physical form doesn't naturally project a gravitational pull or an external forcefield, you might be capable of consciously projecting a magnetic field from within."
Hyuk hadn't noticed these minute details during the chaos of combat, nor did she currently feel any sort of internal magnetic force waiting to be unleashed.
Still, since the possibility existed, she saw no harm in giving it a try. It was, after all, an opportunity to expand her utility and overall arsenal.
The research team exhausted various diagnostic methods before finally capturing a trace magnetic signal within Hyuk's body, validating the physicist's theory.
An extraordinarily powerful magnetic field lay dormant within her. Under specific conditions, this internal magnetism could be directed outward,
unleashing a devastating electromagnetic pulse upon her surroundings.
That was exactly how the electronic devices had been disabled during her battle with Pat, though the phenomenon was easily overlooked since it caused no physical harm to biological lifeforms.
However,
this type of electromagnetic pulse was exceptionally lethal to mechanical lifeforms, capable of neutralizing them across a massive area in a single sweep.
As key intelligence,
the alliance had managed to gather some of Hyuk's battle metrics during that clash, analyzing them alongside the monitor feeds of her internal magnetic signatures.
The research team quickly identified the mechanism to unlock and direct her internal magnetism.
"The key lies in your emotions," a researcher explained to Hyuk. "Our telemetry shows that whenever you experience a sharp emotional spike, your internal magnetic field intensifies exponentially before radiating outward, generating a massive electromagnetic pulse."
Emotional spikes?
Hyuk understood.
Pat had been babbling incessantly throughout their fight, which had indeed triggered some irritation in her. At the time, however, those emotional shifts were relatively minor.
The researcher suggested, "Perhaps you could visualize something that makes you intensely angry. That should give us a much clearer reading."
Hyuk immediately pictured the Vinespawn that had slaughtered her parents.
Instantly,
HUMMM!!!
An invisible electromagnetic storm erupted. Surrounding electronic instruments went dark in massive waves under the imperceptible magnetic swell, their internal circuitry and microprocessors frying in a fraction of a second.
The sensors captured an overwhelmingly powerful magnetic spike.
"It's a success!"
As they sifted through the fried equipment, they were shocked to discover that the effective radius of her electromagnetic pulse had reached an astonishing two hundred kilometers.
"That is an incredibly vast area of effect!"
The researchers gasped.
Hyuk noted, "So this means I'll have to consciously keep my emotions in check going forward. Otherwise, I might accidentally trigger a massive electromagnetic pulse anywhere, at any time."
"As long as you don't experience a sudden, violent emotional spike, you should be fine. Standard daily emotions like general happiness or mild excitement are highly unlikely to trigger this phenomenon."
Just like that,
Hyuk had successfully developed a new utility: a large-scale electromagnetic pulse.
Their other developmental focus targeted Hyuk's hyper-dense physical makeup. Her body had compacted to a degree identical to a white dwarf star, classifying her as a lifeform composed of degenerate matter.
Standard matter is made of molecules and atoms, which in turn consist of atomic nuclei and orbiting electrons. When an immense external force presses those electrons directly into the nuclei, neutrons are formed.
Matter formed from these microscopically crushed particles is known as degenerate matter, with white dwarfs and neutron stars being the classic celestial examples.
These celestial bodies possess extremely high densities, mirroring Hyuk's current physical state.
To explain further,
An atomic nucleus concentrates more than 99% of an atom's mass, yet it occupies only a few hundred-billionths of the atom's total volume.
From a macroscopic perspective, solid objects seem completely gapless. But microscopically, even tightly packed atoms are not actually solid.
The space within the electron clouds between neighboring atoms is vast enough to practically house an entire universe. Because her body was made of degenerate matter, Hyuk could phase and sink into ordinary matter as smoothly as a knife cutting through warm butter.
It required almost no physical effort.
It was comparable to a normal person sinking into soft mud or a swamp; she would only feel distinct resistance when she encountered materials of exceptionally high density.
To slip seamlessly through these atomic electron clouds without causing damage, she had to master delicate force control. Too little force yielded no effect, while too much would physically shatter the target material.
It took Hyuk two full months of training to find that perfect balance and fine-tune her force, eventually allowing her to step clean through a solid wall without causing a single crack.
This bizarre phenomenon left the researchers completely baffled. Theoretically, because her degenerate physical matter was so unbelievably dense, she shouldn't have been able to bypass the electron clouds of normal matter in this manner.
Nonetheless,
Hyuk's deep development phase reached a successful conclusion. She had unlocked two primary auxiliary utilities: releasing electromagnetic pulses through emotional surges, and the physical technique of matter phasing.
Both served as invaluable utility skills.
...
One day,
Gibson arrived at the door. He wasn't there to report some new crisis, but rather to present Hyuk with a gift, a set of clothes.
"It's a custom-made Alliance uniform. Crafting this outfit took a monumental effort from our design and material teams. After all, your battles tend to get a bit... intense."
"Oh?"
Hyuk picked up the coat and unfolded it. It was a navy-blue Alliance army uniform, the exact same style she used to wear frequently during her days at military headquarters.
Although the military's uniform design had undergone several revisions over the years, the one Hyuk felt most comfortable in was still her original attire, which was precisely this set.
Gibson and his team had clearly put a great deal of thought into this.
She accepted the parting gift.
"Thank you."
Gibson smiled. "You could say it's the pinnacle of the Alliance's collective intellect, woven with the dedication of countless superhumans. It is virtually indestructible. Furthermore, as long as it isn't completely vaporized, it can slowly self-regenerate over time."
Hyuk asked, "If I were to wear this and go for a swim in the sun, would there be anything left of it?"
"It can withstand temperatures up to six thousand degrees Celsius completely unscathed. Just don't swim straight into the sun's core; it cannot handle thermal levels in the millions."
That was indeed highly practical.
Hyuk was genuinely pleased with this farewell gift.
"Ten!"
"Nine!"
"Eight!"
Hearing the crowd chanting the countdown outside, Hyuk remembered that today was the launch date of the navy-blue Alliance's experimental starship.
Its mission was to survey a neighboring planet. To terraform and prepare its environment, the Alliance planned to deposit several organisms and small animal species onto the surface.
"Cockroaches."
"What?"
"We are sending cockroaches spliced with fusion cell gene fragments to alter the planet's atmospheric conditions, paving the way for future colonization."
"..."
Hyuk was utterly speechless. She could only silently wish them luck. Planetary terraforming was an exceptionally long, drawn-out process, and she wouldn't be around to witness the final results.
She took the gift Gibson had presented.
"I'm off."
"I hope we have the honor of meeting again!"
Gibson bowed deeply to Hyuk's retreating back. No one else was aware, but on this very day, the Alliance's greatest hero quietly departed without a single word of farewell.
Hyuk made her way back to Lotus City, guided by the resonant hum of the door. The door's location had shifted, and its appearance had been updated to match the styles of recent decades, she wondered if the original structure had been destroyed at some point.
She pushed open the door and stepped inside.
...
Earth, Nepaneta.
The door on this side remained completely unchanged. It was in the exact same spot, looking just as run-down as before. After all, only eight days had passed on Earth.
"Someone's coming out!"
"Ready!"
As Hyuk stepped out of the door, she was greeted by the sight of military troops and superhumans blocking off the area three layers deep. The local factions who had discovered the door were terrified of some dimensional threat crossing over to wreak havoc on Earth.
"Huh?"
The military high command instantly recognized Hyuk. After all, they had only recently evacuated from the other side, where her face was plastered across every single street. It was impossible to mistake her.
"Excellency Powerful!"
"Hold your fire! Do not shoot!"
The general scrambled to halt a potential engagement that would have undoubtedly resulted in their absolute annihilation. They possessed a fair share of superhumans, but none who could hope to match Hyuk's caliber.
"Excellency Powerful, we apologize for—"
BOOM!
Hyuk had zero interest in dealing with these people. She launched herself directly into the sky and vanished. The general let out a massive sigh of relief; his greatest fear was her losing her temper.
"General, now that Powerful has left, does that mean we can proceed to explore and exploit the world on the other side?"
The general beamed with delight.
"Commence operations immediately."
...
Two days later,
The door automatically closed.
When the general stared at the decaying wooden door that had now lost its spacetime-traversing properties, he silently offered his condolences to the colonizers who remained stranded on the other side.
Deprived of a visible countdown, they knew the door would shut eventually and had simply chosen to gamble. Their strategy relied on shipping gathered resources back home at regular intervals.
The final team that had crossed over, now unable to return, could only blame their incredibly poor luck.
"We will forever remember their contributions and sacrifices,"
the general declared solemnly.
...
Elsewhere,
Hyuk had acquired a phone from somewhere. The pixel-art girl in the sailor uniform popped up on the screen immediately. "How long did you spend on the other side of the door?"
"Eighty-three years."
"That is an exceptionally long time."
Type Zero sighed in amazement.
It was equivalent to the entire lifespan of a normal human.
She asked curiously, "What did it feel like?"
"Very boring."
This was to be expected. Following the onset of peace on Planao, the vast majority of incidents required zero intervention on her part. Fights were rare, averaging only two or three encounters a year.
Type Zero picked up on several subtle changes in Hyuk's demeanor, realizing she had grown stronger, exponentially so. Compared to before she stepped through the door, the difference was like night and day.
"Where to next?"
"Back home."
Hyuk had practically completed a full circuit around the globe. With Nepaneta serving as her final stop, she planned to cross the mountain range to return to her homeland.
Freezing temperatures.
Treacherous terrain.
She brushed off the harsh environmental hazards as if they were nothing. Seeking the shortest distance between two points, Hyuk took a direct shortcut straight over the Hempaeas mountain range.
When onlookers on the other side of the mountains saw a figure blanketed in ice and snow descending from the peaks, they simply assumed she was an ordinary mountaineer. Innumerable climbers visited this range annually, so it was nothing out of the ordinary.
Two locals walked past her.
"A lot of people are coming to climb this year, and they're in incredible shape. Some of them reach the peak and still look bursting with energy."
"I know, right? Especially since some of them don't seem to have any mountaineering experience whatsoever."
As Hyuk reached the foot of the mountain, her path was blocked by a blonde, blue-eyed foreigner dressed in a sharp black suit. He spoke the local language fluently and with boundless enthusiasm.
"Miss, we are truly kindred spirits! This has to be fate bringing us together here. Congratulations, you have been successfully registered for the Hall of Fame Tournament!"
Hyuk flatly refused.
"Not interested."
"Apologies, but this event doesn't offer an opt-out. I select participants at random. Before this, I thought the roster was rather mundane, but meeting you changes everything! Trust me, your entry will absolutely ignite the arena and blow everyone's minds!"
Hyuk ignored him and kept walking.
The foreigner flipped open a notebook, pulled out a pen, and scribbled down a name. He waved cheerfully at Hyuk's retreating figure. "Miss Powerful, correct? I've got you registered!"
"?"
Hyuk blinked in astonishment. She spun around, but the blonde, blue-eyed foreigner was nowhere to be seen. He had completely vanished from her sensory radar as if he had dissolved into thin air.
How on earth did people keep recognizing her in this day and age?
Type Zero replied, "Probably because you're a massive celebrity."
Following the Battle of Jpscan City, Hyuk's reputation had spread among the higher-ups of various nations. However, average citizens shouldn't have been able to recognize her so easily, even back in Jpscan City, very few people had ever gotten a clear look at her face.
She asked, "Does the general public actually know about superhumans now?"
"Not quite to that extent yet," Type Zero explained. "But world governments are fully aware that with the rising population of superhumans, they can't keep it a secret forever. Because of this, they are gradually loosening their tight grip, preparing the public to eventually accept this reality."
To start,
certain specialized departments have already fully accepted it. Various nations are covertly assembling superhuman task forces and tactical response agencies, let alone within the regular military.
Type Zero predicted, "Within five years, superhumans will completely enter the public consciousness and integrate into everyday human society. As for extraterrestrials, to prevent widespread existential panic, I suspect governments will continue to sweep that under the rug."
After all, the emergence of superhumans was still fundamentally an issue concerning Earth's own inhabitants. Aliens, however, were a completely different story. Many alien species were naturally hostile to humanity, presenting conflicts that were entirely irreconcilable.
To maintain social order, world powers would likely keep the existence of extraterrestrials classified for a very long time, as it touched directly on the sensitive nerve of human survival.
You might not mind an unexpected guest in your house, even if they happen to be stronger than you, because at the end of the day, they are still human. But you would absolutely lose your mind if your house was crawling with rats and cockroaches.
Your only instinct would be to exterminate them at all costs.
...
At that exact moment,
Northern Europe.
"Sir, we are truly kindred spirits! This has to be fate bringing us together here. Congratulations, you have been successfully registered for the Hall of Fame Tournament!"
The blonde, blue-eyed man in the suit addressed a passing burly man, delivering his enthusiastic sales pitch word-for-word. Even though the burly man ignored him completely, he didn't seem to mind.
Afterward,
he stopped in his tracks, pulled out his notebook, and began writing.
"Mr. Leviathan, correct? I've got you registered! We have a heavyweight guest participating in tonight's event, so I guarantee it's going to be spectacular. Please look forward to it!"
The burly man's brow furrowed. He spun around, searching the area, but the man in the suit had vanished. His covert identity was supposed to be flawlessly classified, how on earth had a random pedestrian recognized him?
The exact same scenario was playing out simultaneously all over the globe. No matter how classified or tightly kept a superhuman's identity was, the man in the suit would inevitably track them down.
And scribble their names into his notebook.
Initially, most dismissed it as a bizarre joke. The more cautious individuals, however, sensed they were being targeted and grew highly vigilant of their surroundings. This tension lasted right until nightfall.
In the blink of an eye,
their surroundings warped. Hyuk suddenly and inexplicably found herself standing inside a colossal sports stadium, an arena vast enough to accommodate tens of thousands of spectators.
The spectator stands were only sparsely occupied. Unlike the others, Hyuk was highly conspicuous, seated in the prime VIP section. The seats directly to her left and right were occupied as well.
"Good evening, contestants!"