The entire neighborhood was chaos—gunfire echoing like thunder, explosions tearing through the silence. The war zone between the rival gangs was fully ablaze.
At first, the Sixth Street Gang's automatic firepower kept the Vanodia Gang suppressed. But once Ogul and his elite bruisers joined in, the tides began to turn.
"Try my XHN grenade, you punks!" one of Ogul's boys screamed, hurling the smoking cylinder with mad laughter.
"You came for insurance? I'll cover your funeral instead!" another shouted, revving up a golden cyber-Gatling, its barrels spinning with a metallic shriek.
In moments, Vanodia's brutal counterattack crushed Sixth Street's advance. Blood sprayed, bullets rained, and the street was painted in flashing red light and black smoke.
"Boss! They're too strong!" one of Kliman's men yelled. "We can't hold the line!"
"Use the serum," another cried out. "The biotech stuff—we didn't pay for it to sit on a shelf!"
Kliman, the cold-eyed leader of the Sixth Street Gang, clenched his jaw. "Enough," he growled. "Time to show these freaks what real terror looks like."
From inside his coat, he pulled out a glowing green vial—a combat serum bought from a rogue biotech company. "Anilikra!" he bellowed.
A tall, broad-shouldered man emerged from behind the broken neon signs. "Right here, boss!"
Kliman tossed him the vial. "Your body's built for this. Time to show Vanodia why the streets still fear us."
With a grin that was more beast than man, Anilikra jammed the syringe into his arm and injected the entire serum.
SSSHHHTTTT!
The liquid disappeared into his veins—and a heartbeat later, he screamed.
"ROOOOOAAAR!!!"
The sound shook the windows. It wasn't human. It was a beast's roar, low and guttural, vibrating through the bones of everyone nearby.
Across the street, Vanodia Gang cheered, unaware of what was coming.
"Looks like they're outta juice!" one shouted.
"Yeah! Keep pushing! Make them remember who owns this block!"
But just as the laughter rose, a massive boom exploded across the battlefield.
BOOOOOOM—!!!
Everyone froze. The Vanodia boys stared across the smoke-filled street.
"What the hell was that?" someone asked.
"Did they blow themselves up?"
The chuckles hadn't even faded when the truth stepped out of the smoke.
"Wait… what the hell is that?"
From the dust, a figure emerged—tall, hulking, nearly three meters high, coated in dark green muscle that pulsed like it was alive. Its eyes were misaligned, drool slid down its chin. It looked less like a man and more like a mutated troll from a nightmare.
"Is… is that Anilikra?" someone whispered.
It was. But not the Anilikra they knew.
The serum had worked—but with a side effect: it wrecked his mind. He was now a mindless brute with insane power.
The Vanodia members were stunned.
"What the f* IS that?!"**
"He's a monster!"
"Fall back! Fall back now!!"
Before they could even react, Anilikra crouched low, then launched into the air like a missile.
The ground cracked under his leap, and his massive form soared in an arc.
"EVERYONE GET OUT OF THERE!!!" Ogul screamed.
But it was too late.
Like a wrecking ball dropped from the sky, Anilikra slammed into Vanodia's base floor.
BAAAAANG!!
The impact was nuclear. A shockwave blasted outward, blowing windows apart, cracking pavement, rattling buildings three blocks away.
A mushroom cloud of dust erupted, swallowing the entire area in gray fog.
Mrs. Wells, standing nearby, clutched her chest. "No… Jack is still inside!"
She fell to her knees as the street trembled. "Please… no..."
"Jack! Jack!!" she cried out again and again, her voice barely audible beneath the deafening wind and settling debris.
The building was leveled.
The Sixth Street Gang, watching from across, erupted in laughter.
"Hahahaha!! That's what happens when you mess with us!"
"That serum made him a goddamn tank!"
Kliman grinned. "Worth every eddie."
But then… it got quiet. Too quiet.
CRACK.
CLICK—CLACK.
The sound came from the rubble. The laughter stopped cold.
"Uh… boss? You hear that?" one gang member asked.
Then—a flash of white light pierced through the dust.
"BAPTISM OF HOLY LIGHT!!"
WHOOSH—!!!
A blinding burst shot from the wreckage like a spear, its brilliance tearing through the haze.
Kliman's eyes widened. "What… is that?"
From within the ruin rose a figure bathed in glowing radiance, holding what looked like a cybernetic halberd crackling with light.
A voice echoed from the smoke. "You want to use monsters? Fine. I'll become your nightmare."
The figure stepped forward—Jack.
Burned, bruised, armor cracked… but standing.
He had survived Anilikra's impact.
How?
Because beneath his skin pulsed a secret legacy—Project Source, a program that aimed to blend cybernetic faith technology with military biology, creating warriors powered by neural sanctity.
It had activated in that moment of life and death.
Behind Jack, more white lights began to emerge.
David, now fully armored and standing tall, stepped out from the rubble as well.
"Sorry I'm late," he said. "But I don't like bullies."
The two survivors—one a saint of the Source, the other his son, both awakened by battle—now stood ready to finish the wa
r.
The true fight had only just begun.
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