He wore expensive clothing that blended with elements from another world. His posture radiated confidence and barely contained hostility. And his mana signature, faint but present.

"Hello, bastard," the newcomer said, and the word came out dripping with venom.

"I should have known when I heard about an alien crashing in the mansion grounds. Only you would be arrogant enough to do something like that."

Jorghan studied the figure in the doorway, recognition clicking into place.

"Luke."

His half-brother.

"Don't pretend you're surprised to see me," Luke said, stepping fully into the house, his eyes scanning the bodies scattered around the living room with barely a flicker of concern.

"You must have known I would come for you. And I have been waiting for you and prepared a lot to face you. You are going to die here."

Jorghan replied honestly. "And I don't care about whatever you've been building. I came for Grace. Everything else is irrelevant."

"Mother," Luke said, and something ugly entered his expression.

"How ruthless can you be? You held her locked up in a room and made her a prisoner. You are one devil of a bastard."

"Let me ask you a question."

"Why did you kill Scarlett?"

Luke laughed, the sound harsh.

Luke's laughter faded into a crooked smile.

"Scarlett?" he said lightly.

"She was a burden."

The word landed hard.

"She cried. She begged. She kept asking questions." Luke shrugged.

"People like that slow things down. So we removed her."

Jorghan didn't speak.

For a moment, it looked like he hadn't even heard.

Luke went on, careless.

"She wasn't useful anymore. Weak. Fragile. Always afraid." His eyes flicked toward the hallway. "You know how it is. Some people don't belong in the future."

Jorghan's hands clenched slowly.

"That's why I'm here," he said, voice low. "I came to take Grace."

Luke's smile vanished.

He took out his phone and then pressed a number on it.

"Yes, I'm certain. It's him. Jorghan Sol'vur, my half-brother from the elven realms. He just massacred fifteen Raed Circle soldiers like they were children."

A pause as he listened.

"No, you don't understand. He didn't arrive through a portal. There was no spatial distortion detected, no gate opening, nothing. He just... appeared. Fell from the sky, according to the reports."

Another pause, longer this time.

Luke's expression shifted from angry to shocked.

Jorghan stood there, watching him. His aura was changing slowly; the people around him could tell.

Liz held Lily close, and her parents stood by her.

"What do you mean, that's impossible? I'm looking at the aftermath right now.

He's here. On Earth. And he's stronger than I remembered. Much stronger."

The voice on the other end spoke urgently, and Luke's face went pale.

"You're sending them? All five? Isn't that excessive for—" He stopped, listening.

"Fine. Yes, I understand the stakes. If he interferes with the Moorne partnership or exposes our operations, everything falls apart. I'll keep him contained until they arrive."

Luke ended the call and stared at the house, his mind racing.

How had Jorghan reached Earth without a ship? The portal technology required massive infrastructure, energy sources that took months to establish, and calibration that needed teams of specialists. You couldn't just decide to visit another planet and leave the same day.

But somehow, his arrogant half-brother had done exactly that.

The implications were staggering.

If Jorghan could travel between worlds without technology, what else could he do? What other capabilities had he developed that Luke didn't know about?

Movement in the darkness pulled Luke from his thoughts.

Five figures approached from different directions, converging on the house with synchronized precision that suggested extensive combat experience working together.

The S-Rank awakeners had arrived.

They were the elite.

Not the most powerful individuals—there were a handful of awakeners classified as SS-rank or higher who possessed truly godlike abilities. But S-Rank represented the upper echelon of combat-capable awakeners, individuals who could level city blocks, fight entire military units alone, and survive encounters that would kill anyone less capable.

The Moorne Corporation employed five of them as its ultimate security measure.

The first to reach Luke was a woman in her early thirties named Cassandra May.

She stood six feet tall with an athletic build, her blonde hair cut short in a military style. Her eyes glowed faintly blue even when not actively using her abilities, a side effect of having awakened with power over kinetic energy. She could accelerate or decelerate any object she touched, turning a pebble into a bullet or stopping a missile mid-flight.

"Luke," she said, her voice carrying the clipped efficiency of a career soldier.

"Sitrep."

"Target is inside with four civilians," Luke replied.

"He's already eliminated fifteen hostiles, including three awakened among them. Combat style relies heavily on blood manipulation—he can control circulatory systems remotely, kill from inside out, and use blood as a weapon independent of its host."

The second arrival was Marcus, a massive man who stood seven feet tall and weighed easily three hundred pounds of solid muscle. His skin had a faint grey tint, a result of his earth-based abilities that let him increase his density to tank-like levels. He could also manipulate stone and metal, reshape terrain, and create barriers that could withstand artillery strikes.

"Blood manipulation," Marcus rumbled, his voice deep enough to vibrate in Luke's chest.

"That's a new one. How does he deliver it? Touch-based? Line of sight?"

"Appears to be an area effect within his immediate vicinity," Luke said.

"Maybe twenty to thirty feet in radius. Beyond that, I'm not certain. He was fighting in close quarters."

The third to arrive moved with predatory grace that made Luke instinctively step back.

Yuki was Japanese, appearing to be in her mid-twenties, with black hair tied in a traditional style and eyes that shifted between human and reptilian depending on her mood. She'd awakened with abilities that blended human and serpent characteristics—enhanced speed, venomous touch, and the ability to dislocate her joints and move through impossibly small spaces.

"Is he the one who came from space?" Yuki asked, her accent slight but present.

"The readings our sensors picked up? Atmospheric entry without a vessel?"

"That's what I'm told," Luke confirmed.

"Though I don't understand how it's possible."

"It shouldn't be," said the fourth arrival, a thin man in his forties with prematurely grey hair and eyes that held an unsettling intelligence. Dr. Raymond was a former scientist who'd awakened with the ability to manipulate electromagnetic fields. He could generate lightning, create magnetic shields, disrupt electronics, and fly by manipulating Earth's magnetic field.

"The heat from atmospheric entry alone should have killed any organic being, let alone the lack of oxygen in space, the radiation exposure, the navigation requirements—"

"And yet he did it," interrupted the fifth and final member.

Wei Lin was Chinese, in his fifties, with the serene expression of a Buddhist monk and the deadliest abilities of the group. He'd awakened with power over space itself—limited teleportation, the ability to cut through matter by folding space, and most dangerously, the capacity to create pocket dimensions where he could trap opponents indefinitely.

"We're not here to understand him," Wei Lin continued calmly.

"We're here to eliminate a threat to corporate security. The method of his arrival is academically interesting but tactically irrelevant."

Cassandra nodded.

"Agreed. Luke, you said four civilians inside. Do we need to extract them first?"

"The family isn't the issue," Luke replied.

"They're victims caught in the crossover. The target, my half-brother, used them as an excuse to demonstrate his capabilities. If you can avoid killing the civilians, the corporation would prefer it. But they're not a priority."

"Understood."

Cassandra looked at the house, her tactical mind already planning the assault.

"Marcus, you take point and draw his attention. Dr. Cross, provide ranged support and cut off any technology he might have. Yuki, flanking approach, strike from unexpected angles. Wei Lin, be ready to trap him if he tries to flee. I'll coordinate and adapt as needed."

The five awakeners moved into position with professional efficiency.

They'd worked together for over a year, fought dozens of battles against rival corporations and rogue awakeners. They knew each other's capabilities, trusted each other's judgment, and had never failed a mission.

Jorghan Sol'vur, no matter how powerful, was just another target.

They were about to learn how wrong that assumption was.

Jorghan felt them before he saw them.

His blood essence, still heightened from absorbing the soldiers' mana, detected the approaching signatures like a predator sensing prey entering its territory.

Five of them.

All powerful, their essence signatures burning brighter than the soldiers he'd just killed. These weren't ordinary awakeners. These were something else entirely.

"We have more company," Jorghan said quietly.

Lizbeth looked toward the door, her face going even paler than before.

"No. No, it can't be. He wouldn't have called them. That's insane."

"Called who?" Jorghan asked.

"The S-Rank team," Lizbeth whispered.

"The Moorne Corporation's elite security. They only deploy for existential threats to corporate interests. If they're here, it means someone decided you're dangerous enough to warrant—"

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