Chapter 206

A figure appeared out of nowhere.

Aaron frowned at Omega’s unexpected behavior.

The moment the creature was freed from the experimental pod, it tore Benedict’s head from his body with its bare hands.

And then—its next act was grotesque.

It began to eat Benedict’s head raw. With strong, white teeth, it ripped off the skin of Benedict’s face, chewing noisily as blood smeared across its mouth.

“……!”

After savoring the flesh like a beast for quite some time, it seemed to lose interest and tossed the now-skeletal head aside. Then, rubbing its belly, it looked around as if searching for more to eat.

“…….”

Our eyes met.

Even though we were at least a kilometer apart, the creature clearly recognized Aaron’s presence—meaning it possessed eyesight similar to his own.

Black hair, golden eyes.

The eyes were sharp, yet they carried no true keenness—just the shape of it. No trace of intellect could be found in its expression.

However—

There was something about it.

Aaron had never felt such a thing before.

From that ignorant, mindless face radiated a strange divinity. A face drenched in human blood looked as pure and innocent as that of a baby suckling on milk.

The creature stirred something deep within the instincts. If one didn’t maintain full awareness, they might kneel before it—unconsciously compelled to worship.

Could it be…

Perhaps this was the prototype of the “Mythic Human” targeted in the first phase of the [Paradise Verification Project].

That thing… is dangerous…

Even Aaron, who felt this way, could only imagine how much stronger its influence would be on others.

If that monster ever reached New Valhalla City, or the Stingray Group—

That was as far as he got when—

“Uu?”

Before his eyes—

—it was there.

“!!”

Omega had closed the kilometer-long distance in an instant. Its speed clearly surpassed the speed of sound, yet its skin neither burned nor bore a scratch.

Aaron was tall, nearly 190cm, but the creature stood even taller. He had to slightly look up to meet its gaze.

“……Uh?”

It seemed incapable of speech.

With curious eyes, it slowly reached a hand toward Aaron’s head—much like when it had attacked Benedict moments earlier.

Sensing the threat, Aaron instantly fired out threads to sever its arm—

—or so he intended.

The razor-sharp wires, capable of slicing through steel, left only a faint scratch on Omega’s arm.

“What? [Cloud Spider] isn’t working—?”

“UuAAAH!?”

Both recoiled in surprise—Aaron, because his attack hadn’t worked; Omega, because of the sudden pain it had never felt before.

‘Looks like only [Techblade] might be effective.’

Aaron drew the sword he had momentarily sheathed.

Meanwhile, realizing Aaron had attacked it, Omega began to stomp its feet in fury.

BOOM! BOOM!

The tantrum was childlike—but the results were catastrophic. With every stomp, the ground split apart like in an earthquake.

‘What ridiculous strength…’

Powerful—and pure.

It was said that mankind gained the intelligence to discern good and evil only after eating the forbidden fruit that Yahweh had prohibited.

In that sense, Omega truly felt like a re-creation of Adam from the Garden of Eden.

Well, still just a savage.

Module Online—[Techblade].

Aaron instantly deployed his sword and charged forward.

Amazingly, Omega caught the blade with its bare hand and swung with the other, aiming at Aaron.

Shockingly, its counterattack nearly succeeded—the sword, capable of slicing alloy steel like tofu, halted for an instant against its bones.

But only for an instant. The [Techblade]’s edge proved sharper than Omega had calculated.

As Aaron applied more force, the blade cut through Omega’s hand and drove toward its carotid artery.

“UaaAAAaah!!”

The creature ducked desperately, narrowly avoiding the strike. Its movements betrayed a complete lack of training; only its extraordinary reflexes and speed kept it alive.

“Click!”

Clicking his tongue, Aaron withdrew two steps after the failed strike—just as Omega’s fist slammed down where he had been standing.

KWAAAAAANG!

The ground exploded into a crater.

Aaron extended his wires to brace against the gust and pressed the assault once more.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

With his highest-grade weapon modules active, Aaron’s swordsmanship was a work of art—sometimes slow, sometimes swift, advancing and retreating fluidly as he drove Omega back.

Blood and bone shards flew. Severed nerves and vessels reconnected and tore again.

Even Omega’s regeneration couldn’t keep up with Aaron’s relentless attacks.

No matter how “Mythic” or “Perfect” a human it was, it was only natural for it to fall behind a man honed as a weapon for decades.

In fact, it was astonishing that Omega could hold out at all—never landing a clean hit, yet surviving so long.

Aaron, on the other hand, began to grow impatient that even at full power, he hadn’t yet ended the fight.

“UAAAaah! AAAARGH!”

Omega screamed with each slash. It tried to counterattack, but every attempt was crushed by Aaron’s precision.

Arms were sliced, muscles cut.

The longer the battle dragged, the more fear appeared on Omega’s face—a confusion that asked why such pain was being inflicted upon it.

“UAAaAAAAAH!!”

Panicked, it began swinging its fists wildly. Each punch leveled entire sections of the facility.

Barely three minutes into the battle, their surroundings had turned to ruin—and Omega was being cornered.

Then—

“אלי אלי למה עזבתני (My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?)”

The first human words that came from Omega’s mouth.

At that moment, an unknown light enveloped its body.

Behind it, Aaron saw what seemed like an entirely different world unfold.

The next instant—

—–

[Mana Battery Module – Automatic Activation!]

[Converting Mana into Energy!]

[Warning! Total Energy Exceeds Safe Limit!]

—–

A torrent of light poured toward Aaron. In the next moment, uncontrollable sparks burst from his body.

“Mana, you say?”

Having succeeded in converting the vast flow of mana into his own power, Aaron felt an indescribable exhilaration. His body was overflowing with strength—almost to a dangerous degree.

Without the [Mana Battery], that could’ve killed me.

Without it, he might have died instantly from mana intoxication.

But the relief was short-lived.

A second surge of light began to form.

Power was good—but too much of it could destroy him.

What was filled had to be emptied.

Aaron quickly activated [Techblade: True].

Swoooosh—!

He swung the invisible blade, slashing toward Omega at the center of the light.

But even that wasn’t enough to drain the overflowing [Mana Battery].

If once isn’t enough, then again—!

Aaron swung his sword several more times.

Each slash, kilometers wide, tore through Omega’s body mercilessly.

The aftermath shredded the wall that separated Honeycomb City from the outer zone, but he had no time to care.

The second light rained down.

The [Mana Battery], which he had barely managed to empty, overflowed once more.

For the first time in his life, Aaron swung until he was out of breath.

This isn’t working!

The [Techblade] alone couldn’t exhaust such overwhelming energy.

He immediately deployed [Cloud Spider] as well.

Thousands—no, tens of thousands—of wires spread out in an instant.

They lashed Omega’s body like whips, but only left cuts. They didn’t kill.

To make matters worse—

[Warning!]

[Overload at 128%!]

[Vital Signs Critical!]

[Forcibly shutting down mo—]

“Shut up!”

Module Online — [Black Out]!

Aaron drew forth the anti-electronic shroud and hacked into his own body.

Settings that would normally require delicate tuning by a Modular were forcibly torn open.

He hacked himself, manually removing all limiters related to “Overload Rate.”

But even with massive energy consumption, the [Mana Battery] continued to fill faster than it could be drained—like water endlessly overflowing from a cup.

Faster!

Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!

Sword strikes that could have cut through the world itself followed one after another.

Omega’s body was shredded and healed in cycles, while Aaron’s energy fluctuated between overload and normal levels as he continued his assault.

It was a battle to see who would reach their limit first.

My body’s burning up…!

Steam poured from Aaron’s body, already deep into overload.

The heat alone was enough to melt the ground beneath him.

Meanwhile, Omega endured the relentless slashes, chanting ceaselessly—like a prayer for the world’s end.

Each syllable birthed another blast of incomprehensible light that he hurled at Aaron.

One thing was certain—

Aaron was losing ground.

No! If I only had one second—no, half a second more…!

If he could use that, he could turn the battle instantly.

But he had no time to activate it. He had to keep burning the excess energy himself.

Half a second.

Just half a second…!

Even if he couldn’t defeat Omega, Aaron tried to buy that half second by pushing the [Techblade]’s output to its limit—

—but still failed to land a killing blow.

“Damn it…!”

[Energy Capacity Reaching Limit!]

[Battery Explosion in 5… 4… 3…!]

At that final moment—

A voice of salvation spoke.

[You’ve done well, Aaron Stingray.]

“Vladimir?”

[Debt repaid.]

From somewhere, Vladimir’s figure appeared beside him.

He stood shoulder to shoulder with Aaron, raised his hand to the sky, and shouted—

“Module Online — [Aegis]!”

The seventh surge of light descended, captured—so it seemed—inside the energy shield Vladimir had created.

Crash!

“What—!?”

Vladimir’s shield shattered in less than a second, pierced by the descending light.

His attempt to trap the light itself had failed.

But that mistake—

—bought Aaron the time he desperately needed.

Just before the seventh radiance struck, Aaron reached into his coat and drew out an item.

A Module Output Level Up Ticket.

Without hesitation, he tore two of them at once.

A system message immediately appeared in his vision.

—–

【New Devices Detected.】

【Mystic】 [Lv.6 Cloud Spider]

【Mystic】 [Lv.6 Corpse Eater]

—–

The birth of the very first Lv.6 Mystic Modules in history.

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