Chapter 118: The Plan

Remedy stared straight at Adam.

“The artificial mutant rifts in the hundred sectors of the Outer Zone,” she said evenly, “including Sector 418, those weren’t the first time the Family did something like this.”

Adam’s killing intent surged.

The ground beneath his feet creaked as pressure radiated from him, yet Remedy didn’t flinch. His eyes widened a fraction as she met his gaze directly, a trace of pity in her eyes.

​”The rift disaster nine years ago,” she said, “was caused by the Family as well.”

The killing intent suddenly vanished. Adam stared into empty space for a moment before the memories detonated, and he clutched his head in pain.

That night…

Sirens screaming. Monsters ripping through the streets. People running, tripping, dying. The smell of blood. The sound of bones snapping.

Pain lanced through his skull as the memory shifted.

His mother.

Tears streaking down her face.

A kitchen knife shaking in her hand, her lips moving, saying something he never heard.

Then the steel tore through flesh and her body collapsed, as her life ended.

Adam dropped to his knees.

The pain was fresh and raw. As if it had just happened. The trauma, the hatred, the reason he had kept moving forward…

All of it was manufactured.

Part of a plan.

For reasons he didn’t even understand.

The pain slowly receded, leaving something colder behind.

“I’ll kill them,” Adam whispered.

“I’ll kill every last one of them.”

Adam stood and started walking out of the cemetery, but Remedy stepped in front of him, blocking his path.

Adam stopped and looked at her calmly.

“Please get out of my way.”

She didn’t. Instead, she looked him straight in the eyes.

“I know what you’re planning,” she said. “You’re going home. You’re going to confront whoever the Family sent to kill you.”

Adam said nothing.

“But if you do that,” Remedy continued, “you will die.”

“So you’re going to stop me?” Adam asked quietly.

But surprisingly Remedy smiled. It was not a gentle or kind smile; it was the smile of someone insane.

“I know I can’t stop you,” she said, smile widening. “So instead, let’s squeeze the most benefit out of your stubbornness.”

Her eyes gleamed.

“But it’s going to hurt like hell,” she added. “And you might end up dead.”

Back in the present.

Adam lay broken on the ground.

The profound lord stood over him, staring down in disbelief.

All this death… plus his condition… and he’s still smiling?

A chill crawled up the man’s spine.

What kind of madman did we create?

Adam didn’t waste time.

His panel hovered before his eyes and he made his choice.

[Equip — Reawakening Selected]

As the talent began to reawaken, Adam’s thoughts snapped back to the cemetery.

To Remedy.

“When you go back home,” she said calmly, “it’s most likely going to be a Lord that welcomes you.”

Adam had been slightly shocked.

Remedy had continued without pause.

“I know it sounds strange. The higher the rank, the more places like the Outer Zone, with its meager essence, become irritating to them.”

“But this is you. So they’ll compromise and send one of their best.”

Her eyes gleamed then.

“And that’s what we’ll take advantage of.”

Adam had listened carefully.

“Remember what I told you about reawakening your special talent? They can help with that, by beating you to the brink of death.”

Back in the present, Adam’s chest burned.

It was not a normal sensation but a strange, sharp and focused sensation pulsing outward from his core.

So this is it…

The memory continued.

“How do you even know this will work?” Adam asked but Remedy’s answer had been almost casual.

“Because I reawakened my special talent the same way.”

Notifications flooded his vision.

Adam ignored most of them and focused only on what mattered.

[Your talent Equip has reawakened]

[Analyze has been awakened]

[Fuse has been awakened]

The air shifted.

The profound lord felt it.

Something was wrong.

Danger prickled at the edge of his instincts as Remedy’s last words echoed in Adam’s mind.

“Due to your condition at that moment, you won’t be able to do anything. You’ll be like a pig to the slaughter.”

The profound lord moved.

“That’s why,” Remedy’s voice whispered, “I’ll give you a gift… for our Lord.”

Adam’s lips curled.

He raised his hand weakly and extended his middle finger.

Then…

BOOM!

****

The explosion was massive and there was no time to react, as the profound lord was swallowed whole the moment the blast detonated and sound ripped outward and echoed through the entire district. The ground convulsed violently, buildings rattling as if some god had pronounced final judgment.

A towering mushroom cloud rose into the night sky as if frozen in place.

Then…

A body flew out of it.

It slammed into the dirt with a sickening impact, carving a shallow crater as it skidded to a stop. The man’s body was charred black, skin burned away to reveal pink gums and exposed teeth. His eyes bulged grotesquely from their sockets, hair scorched into brittle ash.

He stared at the mushroom cloud.

Barely alive.

Sixth-degree burns ravaged him, skin, muscle, nerves, even bone had been incinerated in the blast. There was no pain due to the burnt nerves. Just emptiness and shock.

Then his body began to shake.

Violently.

Bones cracked and reset. Muscles reknit. Nerves regenerated.

And the pain hit.

A scream tore from his ruined throat, raw and animal, as sensation slammed back into his body all at once. He writhed as flesh rebuilt itself layer by layer, sweat pouring off him as the regeneration finished.

Silence followed.

The profound lord lay there, chest heaving, eyes wild, drenched in sweat.

The pain was gone, but rage replaced it.

​”That bastard,” he snarled. He was ready to vent, but he stopped abruptly as something landed beside him.

The lord’s eyes shifted. Then widened.

It was Adam.

Or rather…

Only Adam’s head.

Burnt but severed cleanly, eyes still open, face twisted into a calm, almost mocking expression as it stared up at the towering mushroom cloud.

The lord’s breath caught.

“What?”

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