"So, you're Leon Black? Captain of Seventeen Squad?" Hess Weis glanced at the missiles streaking across the sky and chuckled. "Aren't you afraid of dying?"
"They're just standard ballistic missiles," Leon replied with a faint smile. "They won't kill anyone. Especially not this model—they're remotely detonated."
He looked skyward. "If your hacking skills are sharp enough to breach the OS in under ten seconds, you can blow them early. For example… like this."
He raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
In that instant, the orange trails of the incoming missiles flickered and died. The blue-white flash that followed painted the night like a second sun. Their metallic bodies peeled away in the air like brittle petals, each layer disintegrating into cascading sparks.
The resulting shockwave roared across the ruined district, vaporizing what remained of the nearest buildings. Glass panels shattered by the sonic force rained down like razors.
The remnants fell like meteorites, exploding into violet-blue fireballs upon impact. Scorching fragments spun violently through the haze, carving glowing gashes across walls and pavement.
The dazzling light faded quickly, leaving behind an ashen sky. What had just been a devastating threat was now nothing more than a breathtaking pyrotechnic show.
Hess fanned the pungent sulfurous smoke with one hand. "Impressive. Clean execution."
"Just a little parlor trick," Leon said modestly. "In an age like this, brute force alone doesn't matter anymore. People like you and me? You can't kill us with basic missiles unless it's a direct hit."
Even without detonating them early, Leon estimated Hess would have just needed a week in recovery—two, tops.
Hess tilted his head, his eyes scanning Leon. "Fascinating. Our intel said your unit was bottom-tier within Arasaka's forces. But this? Your team's performance, your combat level—it's not even close to what I expected."
At least Gold-tier, maybe even Platinum.
And Platinum-tier operatives were rare. Even in Biotech, a megacorp built on genetic warfare, you'd be lucky to count ten across the globe.
"Lord Hess," Leon said, waving a hand to erect a localized force field around them, "I have a proposal—though I don't know if you'll want to hear it."
Hess felt the pressure in the air change, noted the defensive dome, then folded his arms. "You stole something from us. Return it, and then we'll talk."
Leon shook his head. "Unfortunately, I can't. It's not with me."
"No excuses. Either hand it over, or you're coming with me for interrogation." Hess's voice dropped cold. "Or are you relying on Arasaka's protection?"
Leon laughed softly. "Come on. You know Arasaka's current state better than I do. It's a crumbling empire. I wouldn't use it as a shield."
"Then what are you getting at?" Hess narrowed his eyes.
"There are three names in Biotech who really matter: Hess Weis, Kik Mir, and Lori Olivia," Leon said, calmly pacing. "Kik's locked in a power war at European HQ, Lori's gone off the grid, retired from the world… and you?"
Leon paused, smiling with genuine pity.
"You were sent to this desolate dump like an unwanted stray. A glorified vice-section chief… from someone who used to stand among titans."
A glint of rage flashed in Hess's eyes. Before Leon could blink, the giant was in front of him. A fist, thick like a steel beam, slammed toward Leon's face.
Mike Taylor, who stood nearby, couldn't react fast enough. His operating system failed to process the motion in time.
But Leon had already moved.
He twisted sideways with perfect fluidity, engaging the full thrust of his cybernetic arm's repulsion engine. The sonic boom shattered the ground beneath him. A storm of wind tore through the air, flinging Mike back dozens of steps.
He staggered, systems howling, eyes wide. He'd seen Leon in action before—but never like this.
Leon was cloaked in an azure glow. One hand gripped Hess's arm mid-punch like a vice, unmoved by the giant's strength.
His eyes swirled with a yin-yang pattern—half machine, half madness. His posture, his grin, even the tilt of his head radiated one thing:
Supremacy.
Absolute confidence. Born not of arrogance, but of survival.
Hess felt it too—the heat from Leon's grip, the pressure building from his aura. For the first time in a long while, he felt a fight.
"You stopped my full-force punch," Hess said, both surprised and excited. "Fine then. If you want to talk, prove you're worth listening to."
He yanked his arm back and roared.
His body bulged grotesquely as muscle fiber expanded, veins glowing with toxic crimson light. His height shot up to nearly seven meters. His eyes burned violet, and a guttural roar erupted from his throat.
Beast Mode: Engaged.
"Leon Black! Let's see if you can handle this!" he screamed.
He raised both fists, red-hot from friction, and brought them down like twin meteors. The surrounding air warped from heat and pressure. Leon could feel his limbs seize up under the gravitational stress.
His repulsion engines fired at full blast—but even that wasn't enough to escape.
And yet… in that moment, Leon smiled.
"It's really been... a long time."
---
[Flashback: The Rise of Leon Black]
"I won't die! I'll never die!!"
A younger Leon Black dragged his broken legs into a rusted survival pod in a forgotten slum. His right arm dangled, mangled beyond repair. Blood soaked the floor.
He had been beaten half to death by gang members.
He was armed with nothing but cheap cybernetics, discount adrenaline packs, and black-market healing serums. Crude stimulants coursed through his veins. Painkillers? He stopped using those after the first injury.
He had no system. No stats. No magical interface or godlike destiny.
Just pain. And survival.
He started as a nobody. An average man with average skills, trying not to get beaten down.
But this world didn't allow passivity.
In the cyber age, if you didn't want to be crushed, you had to become inhuman. You needed to be ruthless, unbreakable, and cold. Power wasn't earned—it was taken.
And Leon did just that.
He injected himself with untested genetic agents, embedded illegal implants, and upgraded himself in back-alley cyberdoc clinics. He forced his body to adapt. He let pain become his guide.
At some point, something noticed him—whether it was fate, or sheer survival instinct awakening.
He lived. Again and again.
He didn't just survive—he evolved.
When Nina said he was born to be a legend, she never saw the number of times his body had been torn open.
When Lena Fox crumbled under pressure, it was because she had seen his true form. The one no one else had—the monster forged through endless suffering.
In video games, there are countless build types—gunslingers, netrunners, swordsmen, tanks.
But real life isn't like that.
You don't get to respec. Your cybernetics are limited by your genetics, your psychology, your body's pain tolerance. Once you choose a path, you're stuck with it.
But Leon? He broke that rule.
He pushed past human limits. He changed.
Not once.
But again. And again. And again.
Because he wasn't meant to be part of this world..
But he damn well made sure the world couldn't forget him.
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