The silence over the destroyed highway didn't last long. The magnitude of the energy anomaly and the sudden loss of contact with the first group of National-Level Hunters prompted an even more urgent response. From the command centers, contingency protocols were activated, mobilizing the few remaining operatives capable of handling a threat of this magnitude. If the first wave of response had failed so quickly and strangely, whatever was at the insertion point was of an unknown quality.
Cid, standing among the unconscious bodies of the first Hunters, felt the second wave approaching. These power signatures were even more intense than the previous ones. The heavyweights. Those whose reputation transcended borders in this reality. The true elite.
Cid thought: The second wave. The sector's highest-priority assets. I was hoping my initial demonstration would provoke this. It's necessary. To secure the Designated Shadow Asset's attention, the impact must be... undeniable. Controlled chaos is a tool of the Level 7 Agent.
They arrived with less caution than the first, driven by urgency and the knowledge that their comrades had been neutralized. One was a master of pure energy, capable of firing beams of destruction that vaporized everything in their path. Another seemed to control gravity, distorting space around him. A third was a psychic of immense power, seeking to paralyze Cid's mind. And perhaps the most formidable, a martial artist whose body was a living weapon, moving with lethal precision.
The master of energy fired first, a bolt so powerful that the mere reverberation shook the ground. Cid didn't dodge it completely this time. He simply extended a gloved hand and... absorbed the bolt. Not with his body, but with a micro-singularity of energy that opened and closed in an instant in front of his palm. The vast destructive energy of the bolt simply... disappeared.
Cid thought: Strategic absorption of hostile energy. Level 5. A basic defense for a Level 7 Agent against direct energy attacks. Efficient. Causes no damage to the surroundings. Subtle.
Before the energy master could recover from his shock, Cid appeared before him. The psychic attempted to project a paralyzing nightmare into his mind. It had no effect. Cid's mind, with its peculiar structure of functional delusions and its connection to the System, was impervious to that kind of manipulation. Ignoring the psychic assault, Cid performed a movement that seemed almost gentle, a flick of a finger at the speed of thought toward the energy master's chest. Once again, a wave of controlled energy knocked the Hunter unconscious.
The one controlling gravity reacted, attempting to crush Cid with a gravitational pressure that deformed the nearby metal. Cid felt the immense force, but to him, it was only a slight resistance. He continued moving through the distorted gravitational field as if walking on normal air, his own fundamental energy effortlessly countering the manipulation of space.
The martial artist, the most cunning of the group, didn't use a ranged attack. He ran, trying to use his speed and skill for close combat. He was incredibly fast; his blows could shatter reinforced steel. But against Cid, he was like a child fighting a storm.
Cid thought: High-speed close combat. Interesting. Requires a proportional response. Level 7 Agent masters all forms of combat. Use of 'Reverse Sonic Deflection' and 'Energy Pressure Points'.
As the warrior approached, Cid resembled a specter. He dodged each blow not through simple speed, but through instinctive precognition and the ability to move his body in impossible ways. Each time the warrior tried to land a blow, Cid was a millisecond ahead, knocking him off balance with minimal touches or blocking impacts with an immovable palm. Then, with movements so swift the other Hunters couldn't process, Cid applied energy pressure to key points on the warrior's body. He didn't hit him; he disabled him. Joints locked, muscles refused to respond, his breathing became erratic. Within seconds, the warrior collapsed, conscious but totally unable to move, his mind struggling to comprehend what had happened to him. Cid delivered the final touch, a brief, non-lethal burst of energy, and he too joined the unconscious.
The psychic, seeing her companions fall so quickly and without apparent harm, tried a different tactic. She didn't attack Cid's mind, but rather the minds of the unconscious, attempting to revive them or control their bodies like puppets.
Cid thought: Reanimation of neutralized assets detected. An attempt to prolong resistance. Not permitted. The containment field must be total. Activating 'Proximity Psychic Silencer' Level 2.
An invisible bubble of subtle energy emanated from Cid, covering all the unconscious Hunters. The psychic felt her connection to them abruptly severed, as if an impenetrable wall of emptiness had been lifted. Her psychic attack bounced harmlessly off the "wall" around Cid. Despair and mental exhaustion washed over her. She was the last to fall, not from a touch, but from the sheer weight of her energetic and mental failure in the face of Cid's immovable presence.
The highway was now littered with the lifeless bodies of America's elite Hunters. Nearby buildings had been damaged by the Hunters' failed attacks. The cityscape in the distance showed signs of evacuation and panic. The chaos was visible, undeniable.
But Cid Kagenou stood at the center of it all, unblemished, his posture as calm as when he arrived. He'd held off an entire nation's elite without a single violent blow, without a single serious injury. He'd just... disabled them. A display of overwhelming power, but executed with a precision and control that screamed a level of being beyond his comprehension.
Cid thought: The sector has been... temporarily pacified. All high-level defense assets neutralized. The impact on local detection systems must be... significant. The signal has been sent. A singular operative has arrived and overcome all conventional resistance. This will force a high-level investigation. An investigation that will inevitably... draw in the Designated Shadow Asset. The controlled chaos has served its purpose. Now for the waiting.
The "chaos" he'd generated wasn't random; it was a beacon. A disruption of such magnitude that it couldn't be ignored by anyone with the ability to sense it, especially not by someone whose own energy resonated with the unusual. Cid knew that, somewhere in this reality or even beyond, Jinwoo would feel the tremor. He would feel the disruption. And, if he was the "asset" The System claimed he was, he would come to investigate. The subtle trap was set.
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