The next morning, Lawson was a whirlwind inside the Armor Forge—the furious, rhythmic strike of his hammer ringing out like a victory drum. Every blow sparked a new surge of adrenaline, echoing through the rafters as he raced toward his breakthrough.
In the heart of the Command Center, Ester stood before the warriors, her eyes blazing with a fire that outshone the displays.
"Listen up! I know your muscles ache and your breath is short," Ester shouted over the hum of the machinery, her hand sweeping toward the holographic map of Nova Star Town as it pulsed with a vibrant, neon gold.
"But the gears of fate are spinning faster than ever! We aren't just surviving anymore—we are entering the Liberation Phase! This is the moment we've been waiting for!"
"Ugh... my legs are still swollen," Emma groaned, slumping in her seat. "Another mission already? I think my armor is actually fused to my skin. I can't even feel my toes."
"Emma, were you even in the same battle we were?" Valerie shot her a look of pure steel. "You spent most of the defense behind the battleground. I don't think your armor even got dusty. If you're tired, it's from oversleeping."
"That's not true!" Emma yelped, her face flushing. "I wanted to charge! But Master Katie and Victor move like teleporting demons. My basic armor can't keep up with their output!"
"Objection," Phyllis added flatly, her gaze fixed on a distant, singular point on the wall as if she were replaying the entire battle in her head.
"Sister Emma's 'charging' looked remarkably like a light jog in the opposite direction. I specifically remember you spending the middle ten minutes of the breach inspecting a very interesting moss growth on the ground."
"That was tactical reconnaissance!" Emma yelped, her face flushing.
"You were humming," Phyllis countered, finally turning her head to give Emma a deadpan stare. "People who are teleporting like demons do not usually hum 'The Happy Baker' theme song. You chose the 'scenic tour' instead."
Under the weight of their combined sarcasm, Emma's excuses withered.She retreated to a corner, squatting down to draw circles in the dust with a humiliated sniffle.
"Miss Ester," Luther interrupted, his glasses reflecting the holographic map. "What is the emergency? This doesn't look like a standard patrol."
"I appreciate the focus, Mr. Luther," Ester sighed, her pointer highlighting a blackened, pulsating sector of the town.
"This is a B-Rank Area Liberation Mission. To reclaim Nova Star Town, we must systematically eliminate the Domain Lords. This isn't just a quest—it's a war of reclamation."
"And once it's done... is it all over?" George's voice was steady but cold. His deep eyes searched Ester's, trying to peer through the guide's artificial cheer to the final cards of this cruel "game."
"No..." Ester shook her head, her voice dropping to a whisper.
"It is a milestone. If you successfully liberate this town, you warriors will earn the [Choice of Fate]."
The map in the hologram began to glow with a warm, soft light, depicting the town as it once was—clean streets, laughing children, no monsters.
"You can choose to lay down your arms, regain your identity as normal humans, and live out the rest of your lives in peace within the restored town. The system will grant you immunity from the corruption. Or..."
Ester's eyes sharpened. "You can stay in your armor and march deeper into the Corrupted Zones to find the source of this nightmare. Simply put: it is the freedom granted only to the victors. The choice to stop... or the choice to be a God."
The phrase "normal life" made Emma snap her head up with a look of pure, unadulterated longing. To have a warm bed, a hot shower, and no monsters? It was a dream she had forgotten was possible. Valerie and Victor exchanged a glance, their expressions clouded with cautious contemplation.
"The freedom of choice, huh?" George repeated in a low voice, a meaningful curve tugging at the corner of his lips before he fell silent again. Dodge rubbed his chin, responding thoughtfully:
"According to you, that's what they call a 'Destiny Watershed,' right? So, what happens after that?"
Ester murmured softly, a lonely shadow crossing her face:
"Once the sector is liberated, the base will relocate entirely to the next fallen zone, allowing this town to return to its original peace... By then, our mission for Nova Star Town will be over. It will be... the moment of farewell."
Ester hadn't even finished her sentence before her emotions completely derailed. Tears began to fall like broken strings of pearls, patter-patter, against the floor. Clearly, her mind had already fast-forwarded to the tragic, tear-jerking final episode of a grand farewell drama.
"Holy—! Are you a water faucet in human form?" Dodge's eyes widened in sheer disbelief. "The show has barely started, and you're already jumping to the series finale sob story! That's some legendary over-anticipation!"
"Mr. Dodge... please... have some sympathy!"
Ester sobbed, wiping her eyes while desperately clinging to her last shred of dignity, forcing out a "fact" so ridiculous it invited immediate roasting:
"Fundamentally, this Guide is... actually a fragile little fairy at heart... so words like 'farewell' are just..."
"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Dodge erupted into a burst of near-demonic laughter. After all, fitting the phrase "fragile little fairy" onto someone like Ester—who regularly tore through "space portals" with her bare hands—was a level of dissonance that was simply off the charts.
However, a second later, Dodge's laughter came to a screeching halt.
Ester's fist, which was currently roughly the size of a clay pot, had completed its precision navigation.
POW—!
Under the force of that punch, the laws of physics seemed to cease functioning. Dodge was instantly transformed into a brilliant shooting star, launched out of the Command Center in a violent, mathematically perfect parabola. Following a distant and crystal-clear ding!, he vanished at the end of the hallway, leaving behind only the vibrating doors.
Having witnessed the spectacle of Dodge being sent into orbit, George rubbed his temples, impatiently pulling the conversation back on track. "Enough. Where's the location? Who's the target?"
"Here." Ester tapped the holographic screen, displaying the smoldering ruins of the fitness center.
"That's where Master and I were pinned down," Luther noted, his hawk-like eyes narrowing. "Is there something there worse than the Fortress Raider?"
"Yes," Ester's voice dropped. "The creator of that monster… has gone berserk. It's no longer just a machine; it's an infection."
The screen flickered to satellite footage. Blue lightning rays swept through the streets like lethal scythes. The civilians hit by these rays didn't just die—they mutated. Their flesh tore and re-fused into pitch-black lizards with electric claws—Volt-Claws. In the heart of the ozone-choked smoke, a massive humanoid silhouette loomed, six meters tall, wreathed in flickering azure chains.
"The B-Rank Lord Class Shadow Shifters: The Thunder Sovereign," Katie whispered. "It acts like a virus, expanding territory and creating an army. Lord classes are the third tier of the Shadow Pyramid."
Katie began to sketch out the terrifying hierarchy:
Bottom: Trash Mobs (Volt-Claws)
Middle-Lower: Elites (Fortress Raiders)
Middle: Lords (Thunder Sovereign)
Top Three: Shadow Phantoms, Shadow Generals, and the ultimate nightmare—the Shadow King.
"The King," Katie added, her voice trembling, "is said to manipulate causality itself. Only an SSS-Rank Armor could stand against him. For us… he is a myth."
A deathly silence filled the room. The newcomers, especially Emma, looked pale. The gap between their current strength and a "General" or "King" was a chasm they couldn't even visualize.
"Don't scare yourselves!" Ester clapped her hands, breaking the spell.
"The System has calculated this. A 'Phantom' and above would never appear in a backwater town like this.
If you're still scared after the liberation, you're free to leave! But for now…"
DING!
The mission appeared on their phones in a pulse of crimson light.
[B-RANK AREA LIBERATION MISSION: NOVA STAR TOWN, EAST SECTOR 3]
[Objective: Slain The Thunder Sovereign (0/1)]
Rewards:
15,000 LP
Power Core B x10
Enhancement Core B x10
Sovereign's Charged Core x1
Thunder Blade Shards x5
{Shocking Thunder} Armor Blueprint x1
{Flying Bolt} Armor Blueprint x1