The ground near a landfill just outside Jump City suddenly split open. A charred White Zetsu burst out of the earth along with two wooden cocoons, coughing violently as smoke rose from his scorched back.

“-ACK! HOT! HOT! HOT, HOT!” he shrieked, rolling across the trash-strewn ground for a few seconds before scrambling to his feet. He reached back and scratched at the burned patch on his back, hissing.

“What kind of psycho-maniac wants to blow up kids with a bomb that powerful anyway?” he grumbled. “Even I’m not that heartless!”

“Like… couldn’t the person have just taken out who they wanted and been done with it instead of this?” Zetsu muttered as he walked toward the first cocoon. “I get why Max hates madmen now.”

He pried the wooden shell open with his hands and peered inside.

Terra lay unconscious, her breathing steady. A few minor burns marked her skin, but she was otherwise unharmed.

“Alive and intact. Okay, good,” Zetsu said with a nod.

He carefully lifted her out of the cocoon and gently placed her on the ground, making sure she was stable before turning to the second cocoon.

The moment he split it open.

A fist flew at his face.

Zetsu yelped and barely dodged the sloppy punch as Thena, barely conscious, stumbled out of the cocoon. She swayed on her feet, eyes unfocused, chakra flickering weakly.

She stared at him, squinting.

“Who… are… you…?” she asked in a weak, slurred voice.

Then she collapsed face-first into the dirt.

Zetsu rushed forward. “Whoa,easy! You’re not supposed to be punching people yet!”

He was just about to reach her.

BOOM!

A sonic boom cracked the air.

The ground shook as Nina landed beside him, chakra flaring and Sage markings glowing faintly across her face.

Zetsu froze.

“…Oh.”

Before Zetsu could say another word, Nina punched him straight in the face.

He went flying, skipping across the ground several times before tumbling to a rough stop among the trash.

“Idiot,” Nina muttered coldly.

She immediately turned away from him and knelt beside Thena, checking her breathing, pulse, and chakra flow. After a brief scan, Nina exhaled in relief ,a little battered, but alive.

She then moved to Terra.

Her jaw tightened as she took in Terra’s condition. The burns weren’t severe but the thought of how close she’d come to losing her made Nina’s blood boil with quiet rage.

She was pulled from her thoughts by a groan.

Zetsu staggered back to his feet, speaking through a slur as his jaw hung awkwardly to one side.

“Whah did I do…?” he mumbled, clearly offended.

With a sharp crack, he relocated his jaw and spoke properly again.

“What did I do?” Zetsu repeated.

“Why didn’t you catch her?” Nina asked without looking at him.

“And get punched?” Zetsu shot back. “No thanks. Besides, she’s fine no thanks to you.”

Nina glanced at him sharply. “I punched you anyway. And I’ll punch you again if you keep talking.”

“…Still, why?” Zetsu asked.

Nina’s hands began to glow green as she started healing Terra, chakra flowing steadily.

“This is too much for me,” Zetsu sighed. “Can Max assign someone else to watch over them? I won’t survive next time.”

“No,” Nina replied flatly. “There’s no one more suitable than you. And besides,Max only trusts you with this.”

Zetsu blinked. “What about you?”

“I just said he only trusts you,” Nina replied dryly.

“…This sounds like false praise to rope me into continuing,” Zetsu muttered. “But I also know I don’t have a choice, so… I’ll take it.”

By then, Thena had pushed herself upright. She carefully lifted Terra and slung her over her shoulder, then turned to Nina.

Nina stepped forward, took Thena as well, and hoisted her up effortlessly.

She glanced back at Zetsu.

“You’re relieved for the day. Go do whatever you want,” Nina said. “Consider it a token of appreciation for your services.”

With that, she vanished in a blur.

Zetsu stood there for a moment,then a slow, devious smile spread across his face.

“Anything, huh?” he chuckled. “Hehe… I’m really gonna enjoy this.”

He sank back into the ground, disappearing beneath the ground.

MEANWHILE IN HELL

Max hovered above the battlefield within the crown of his perfect Susanoo, its colossal form bathed in blood. Even he himself was drenched in it.

He had started the fight using only his fists and raw ki blasts, hoping the demons might prove challenging,hoping they would make it worth his time so that he could increase his template’s sync rate. For a brief exchange, he tested them.

It didn’t take long to notice the problem.

They couldn’t even withstand three punches because he was simply too strong for them .

Max had abandoned hand-to-hand combat. Constantly being splashed with blood had lost its appeal.

At his silent command, the Susanoo raised its blade, coating it in dense Armament Haki, the edge darkening. With a sharp twist, the giant swung the sword in a full 360-degree arc.

Every demon within several hundred meters was reduced to a bloody mist.

The shockwave didn’t stop there.

It surged outward, crushing demons in its path and detonating a volcano nearly a kilometer away, sending lava and shattered rock blasting into the sky.

Silence followed.

For a moment, the surviving demons froze,then one by one, they turned to dust, evaporating into the scorched ground. Others disintegrated into ash and drifted away on the infernal wind. Some vanished entirely in columns of flame. High above, the hellbats screeched and fled.

They were all retreating.

After what they had just witnessed, it was obvious they weren’t getting his soul.

The demons weren’t very intelligent, but even they could recognize a threat they couldn’t beat…

After the demons’ departure, the puddles of blood soaking the ground,along with the blood coating him and his Susanoo,began to evaporate. It rose as a crimson mist, swirling upward before being drawn into the Gedo Statue’s open mouth. With a heavy snap, its jaws shut as the last remnants of the mist were absorbed.

One of its eyes, previously only half-open, snapped fully wide. A second eye twitched… then opened slightly. The statue shuddered, its massive form trembling for a brief moment, before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

“Well… that was unexpected,” Max muttered.

His Susanoo dispersed, leaving him floating alone in the sky. He closed his eyes and activated his Observation Haki. For several seconds, he searched the surroundings—

Then his eyes snapped open.

“No way,” he muttered in disbelief.

Turning toward the west or where he assumed west was,Max shot forward at high speed. He flew for a while before finally sensing what he was looking for. He couldn’t see it… but he could feel it.

An invisible barrier.

Through his Observation Haki, its presence was unmistakable. He reached out cautiously, extending his hand forward. It passed through without resistance and vanished from sight. He pulled it back instantly, staring at it.

Nothing felt wrong.

Frowning, Max stepped forward and passed through the barrier himself.

The moment he did, an immense weight crashed down on him. His chakra and ki were violently suppressed, and he plummeted from the sky. He stabilized himself just in time, slamming feet-first into the ground with a thunderous bang.

He took several deep breaths as the crushing pressure slowly faded. Trying to fly again, he found nothing responded,his chakra and ki were still heavily suppressed, completely inaccessible.

“This… is not good,” he muttered.

Standing upright, he finally looked ahead.

A city stretched out before him.

A city bathed in red light.

“…Wow,” Max said.

—

The camera feed flickered,static crawling across the screen before stabilizing.

Vicki Vale stood in the foreground, her expression grave. Behind her loomed a massive display filled with devastation: aerial shots of Jump City, reduced to a smoking ruin.

“This is Vicki Vale, reporting live,” she began.

“Earlier today, Jump City suffered what officials are calling the single deadliest attack on American soil in recorded history.”

She paused, allowing the words to settle.

“Preliminary estimates confirm five point seven million casualties, with countless more still missing. Emergency services fear the final death toll may rise significantly as rescue teams continue to search beneath collapsed infrastructure and heavily irradiated zones.”

The screen behind her shifted.

Footage showed survivors being pulled from rubble,burned, bloodied, and shaking. Some were barely conscious. Others sat wrapped in emergency blankets, staring blankly into the distance.

“Radiation levels at ground zero remain lethal,” Vicki continued, her voice steady but strained. “As a result, large sections of the city are currently inaccessible to conventional rescue crews. Officials have confirmed that many victims may never be recovered in time.”

She took a breath.

“In a controversial move, LexCorp has deployed hundreds of autonomous units into Jump City.”

The footage changed again.

Sleek, silver robots moved with mechanical precision through the wreckage,lifting collapsed beams, stabilizing damaged structures, and carefully extracting survivors. Others knelt at the heart of the crater itself, their cores glowing a harsh blue-white as they absorbed and neutralized radiation.

“Despite public skepticism,” Vicki said, her tone sharpening slightly, “officials confirm that LexCorp’s intervention has already saved thousands of lives.”

The camera returned to her face.

“Rescue efforts are ongoing. The Titans, members of the Justice League, and international aid teams remain on-site. But as the scale of this tragedy becomes clearer, so too does a growing question being asked across the nation…”

She looked directly into the camera.

“How did this happen,and who will be held accountable?”

End of Chapter

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