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Chapter 4: Rescue Before the Disaster
The first thing that came to mind was a name that remained etched in his memory like a cold stab in his back...
Iris Crown.
His little sister... the child he had always tried to protect, and whom he had let down at the worst possible time.
In his previous life, he had been nothing but a pale shadow of a man, a mere obedient slave within a corrupt system called the Steps to the Future Organization. He could do nothing when they took her before his eyes. He was helpless, bound, and broken.
He saw the tears welling in her eyes, he saw her trembling gaze when they kidnapped her, and then later... he saw what she had become.
Cold, impassive, not even acknowledging his existence.
One day, she had said to him:
> "I see you as nothing more than a B-rank slave."
At that moment, his heart felt like it had burned from within... but he swallowed his pain silently, like someone accustomed to being buried alive in shame.
But that was in the past. Now... Now, he is Ethan Crown, returned from the abyss, bearing powers never before possessed by a human. Now, he is the Lord of Space, returning from the ruins, and he will never allow anyone... I repeat, anyone, to touch a hair on his sister's head again.
---
The world was still enjoying a false calm, as if heaven were laughing at the coming hell.
But Ethan was not naive enough to be fooled by this calm.
He alone knew what would happen in a few hours.
That damned virus... would spread like wildfire through civilization, tearing through streets and schools, turning humans into rabid creatures... mindless monstrosities.
Starlight High Academy, where Iris studies, would be one of the first places to be turned into a massacre.
"Damn it... I don't have time!"
Ethan shouted, focusing his energy.
He raised his right hand, the energy of space igniting around him like a whirlpool, and then the dimensions themselves split apart around him.
He tore through time with a single movement...
and opened a portal directly into the school.
He leaped through without hesitation, but what he saw on the other side was a living nightmare.
---
The sky was covered in dark gray clouds, as if the world itself were dying.
The screams of students tore through the air.
The smell of blood, the smell of fear... the smell of the end.
The students were trapped in the schoolyard. The protective walls had collapsed, and the sounds of devouring and tearing were deafening.
Zombies and mutated mutants were spawning on all sides, their faces torn apart, their eyes lifeless, their bodies pulsing with terrifying mutations.
One of the students screamed:
> "They're coming! We're going to die here!!"
"Damn it... It's already starting!"
Ethan whispered as he looked at the scene, his fists trembling with rage.
Then someone saw... a massive monster, its skin as dark as coal, its eyes ablaze with red energy, and its right arm swollen to resemble a battering ram.
It ran toward the students, raising its arm in preparation for a strike.
But before it could strike...
The ground beneath it exploded!
A thunderous explosion ripped through the air.
The ground froze around the monster, its feet turning into two ice statues.
Then she appeared...
Iris.
Standing in the center of the arena, her body trembling with power, her eyes shining like stars, and an aura of frozen blue energy enveloping her.
She extended her right hand forward.
"Step back..." she said, her voice faint, but it was enough to make the air itself stop.
Then she clicked her fingers.
Boom!
A massive explosion of ice covered the arena.
All the zombies... all the monstrosities... froze.
Time stopped in an instant, and the monsters transformed into snow statues.
Even Ethan, who had witnessed the greatest battles in his past life, was shocked.
> "What... what is this power?! Iris... she's never been this powerful! Not this time...!"
Has time changed?
Has something moved the future?
Or is this the true version of Iris... the one he's never seen before?
He stood stunned, but he didn't let the surprise distract him.
He ran towards her, stood in front of her, and said, "Iris, we have to get out of here now!"
But she just looked at him coldly, with that face he both hated and loved.
She said, her tone devoid of emotion:
> "And who are you? Another slave?"
But he didn't smile this time.
He took a step closer, and looked straight into her eyes.
"I'm your brother, idiot... I came to save you before history repeats itself, and I won't let you be taken again, not even over my dead body."
For a moment... something in her eyes trembled.
Maybe a memory.
Maybe a faint sensation.
Maybe a warmth she'd forgotten years ago.
But she didn't answer.
Just then, they heard another voice...
A loud scream from beyond the eastern wall.
A new monster was emerging, different from the rest... This wasn't just a zombie.
This... was an early development, one that wasn't supposed to appear for weeks!
Ethan recognized it immediately.
"Damn... the timeline is starting to collapse... This return isn't what I expected!"
He suddenly grabbed Iris's hand and pulled her toward the portal he'd created earlier.
"Now is not the time for talk. I'm going to take you somewhere safe... and I'm going to train you, I'm going to make you stronger than anyone, so no one can touch you again."
She said to him angrily, trying to pull her hand away:
> "Leave me, I don't know you!"
But he tightened his grip on her hand and looked into her eyes again, his voice like thunder.
"You will know me... I swear, this time, I will be the brother you've always needed!"
---
And the moment the mutants exploded behind them, the portal swallowed them up in a flash...
And that was the beginning of the true turning point in the path of destruction.
Because Iris wasn't just a girl to be saved...
She was the most important weapon in the coming war.
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