Ethan spat a mouthful of crimson onto the shattered floorboards, his breath coming in ragged hitches. "Crul... status report. Give me the damage map," Ethan said.

A translucent holographic display flickered into his vision. His skeletal structure was highlighted in orange in several areas, but his jaw glowed a pulsing, angry red.

Ethan reached out and grabbed a jagged shard of glass from the debris, using it as a mirror. His jaw was visibly misaligned, hanging at a sickening angle. He didn't hesitate; he gripped his chin with both hands and shoved it back into place with a wet crunch. He groaned, a guttural sound of pure agony, as his teeth finally met again.

"Give me a High-Grade Health Potion. Now," Ethan said.

The vial materialized in his inventory, but he hesitated. He felt the Qi circulating through his meridians, already beginning the natural repair process.

"No... not yet. I'll save it for when the real monster shows up," Ethan said.

Outside, the air was suddenly torn apart by the rhythmic thump-thump-thump of high-caliber chain guns. The helicopters had opened fire. Light air-to-ground missiles streaked from the pods, slamming into the tightly packed ranks of the Khriscar.

The explosions were devastating. Limbs were vaporized, and bodies were torn open by the relentless hail of lead. The soldiers were thrown like ragdolls, littering the snow with gore. But as the smoke cleared, an eerie, terrifying silence followed. There were no screams of pain. No cries for medics.

The fallen soldiers lay still for only a moment before their flesh began to knit together. Severed muscle fibers reached out like tentacles, reconnecting limbs; shattered bones fused back into place with audible snaps.

"What the hell... Boss, are you seeing this? They're getting back up! They're regenerating!" Jason said.

"Never seen anything like this. Target the heads! Keep the pressure on!" Falcon 2 said.

A second volley of fire hammered the ground, shredding the soldiers again, but the healing factor was accelerating. Within seconds, the "dead" were standing, their eyes blank and focused on the helicopters above.

Ethan stepped out from the ruins of the shop, his silhouette framed by the dust.

"Fall back, Jason! All Falcons, gain altitude and keep your distance! These things are strange, but they aren't invincible. They're just annoying pests," Ethan said.

The Commander of the Parthenon narrowed his eyes, his gaze fixed on Ethan. He was genuinely surprised to see the young man standing upright and looking completely functional after a direct hit from Leager.

"Tch... it seems the brat is sturdier than he looks," Leager said.

Ethan didn't respond with words. He lowered his center of gravity, and a sudden, violent surge of purple Qi erupted from his core. His eyes shifted from their natural color to a deep, demonic amethyst, and arcs of high-voltage electricity began to dance across his forearms.

"You're going to pay for that, you son of a bitch," Ethan said.

Ethan vanished. He reappeared instantly in front of Leager, his fist trailing a streak of purple lightning. Leager roared and threw a counter-punch, his massive arm looking like a battering ram.

BOOM!

The collision of their fists created a shockwave that shattered every window on the small town. This time, the sound of breaking bone was much louder. Leager's massive fist collapsed, the knuckles shattering into fragments as Ethan's Qi-reinforced strike tore through his genetic defenses.

Leager let out a scream of pure shock and pain as he was forced back, his boots carving deep furrows in the ice. Ethan, however, was also sent flying back by the equal and opposite force, sliding over thirty meters across the square before digging his heels in to stop his momentum.

Ethan shook out his stinging hand, his eyes locked on his opponent. "You're just a larger insect, but your arms aren't as tough as you think. Let's see how much more you can take," Ethan said.

Leager's eyes widened as he looked at his mangled hand. For the first time, the barbarian felt a cold spike of fear. He saw Ethan's purple eyes flare and realized the boy was coming for his head. As Ethan vanished into a blur of motion, Leager tried to scramble back, his instincts screaming at him to dodge, but his massive body felt sluggish compared to Ethan's explosive speed. He was trapped.

Just as Ethan's fist was about to cave in Leager's chest, a shadow flickered.

The white-haired Director of Parthenon appeared between them with impossible grace. He didn't use a weapon; he simply swept his hand through the air. A thick, shimmering frost manifested instantly, forming a swirling wall of snow and ice crystals.

Ethan's fist slammed into the barrier. Instead of the sound of breaking bone, there was only a soft, muffled thud. It was like punching a mountain made of pillows. Ethan felt his kinetic energy vanish, absorbed entirely by the strange, pressurized mist.

"What is this?" Ethan said.

Frustrated by the lack of impact, Ethan pivoted and threw four rapid-fire punches, his fists trailing arcs of purple electricity. Each strike hit the barrier with a dull vibration, but the frost simply rippled, swallowing the force and neutralizing his power.

The Director stood calmly behind the wall of ice, his blue eyes cold and analytical.

"Enough, Leager. You've already shown your incompetence," the Director said.

Leager stepped back, breathing heavily, his shattered hand already beginning to knit back together. "I had him! I just needed a second!" Leager said.

"You were a second away from being a corpse. Stand down," the Director said.

Ethan stared at the white-haired man, feeling a chill that had nothing to do with the weather. This man's Qi was different—stable, vast, and utterly freezing.

"Who the hell are you? You don't look like one of those mindless Scavenger brutes," Ethan said.

The man brushed a stray lock of white hair from his forehead, his blue eyes reflecting the grey Arctic sky with a terrifying lack of emotion. He didn't seem bothered by the helicopters circling above or the carnage littering the square.

"My name is Boris. And weren't you the one looking for us, brat? I am the Commander of this sector, and I serve Parthenon," Boris said.

He stepped forward, the frost barrier dissipating into a fine mist that clung to his coat like a shroud. He looked at Ethan not as an enemy, but as a minor inconvenience that needed to be cleared away.

"It would be prudent if you learned your place and left this frozen rock while you still have legs to carry you. You are interfering with interests far beyond your understanding," Boris said.

Ethan let out a short, sharp bark of a laugh, his fists crackling with residual electricity.

"Parthenon, Scavenger... it's all the same trash to me. You've got my people, you've got this town, and now you've got my attention. I'm not going anywhere until I've torn your little operation apart brick by brick," Ethan said.

Boris sighed, a small puff of white vapor escaping his lips. "A pity. I was hoping to save my energy."

Ethan didn't wait for Boris to finish his sentence. He thrust his palms forward, unleashing jagged bolts of purple lightning that hissed through the freezing air. The electrical arcs struck the space in front of Boris, but they didn't find flesh. Instead, the swirling frost thickened, catching the lightning and grounding it harmlessly into the permafrost.

"Is that there?" Boris said.

Ethan snarled and blurred forward, delivering a flurry of high-speed strikes. Every punch was backed by the weight of a freight train, but the snow-wall moved with it, shifting and flowing to meet its knuckles. It was like fighting a ghost made of diamonds and wool; the defense was both soft and impenetrable.

"Falcon 2, Falcon 3! Level this spot! Everything you've got, now!" Ethan said.

"Copy that, Boss! Going hot!" Falcon 2 said.

The two helicopters banked sharply, their rocket pods erupting in a rhythmic sequence of fire and smoke. Light air-to-ground missiles streaked across the sky, slamming into the ground where Boris stood. At the same time, the high-caliber chain guns opened up, a relentless rain of lead tearing through the air at thousands of rounds per minute.

The village square turned into a hellscape of fire and flying shrapnel. The explosions were so violent that the nearby buildings grew under the pressure, and a massive cloud of black smoke and pulverized snow rose into the air.

Ethan stood back, shielding his eyes from the heat of the blasts. "No one survives that. Not even a 'Commander,'" Ethan said.

But as the wind swept the smoke away, Ethan's heart sank. Boris stood in the exact same spot, completely untouched. He was surrounded by a towering dome of shimmering, crystalline snow that pulsed with a pale blue light. The missiles had exploded against the outer layer, and the bullets remained frozen in mid-air, trapped within the density of the frost like flies in amber.

The sheer power of the defense was staggering. The heat of the explosions hadn't even melted the ground beneath Boris's boots.

"Your toys are loud, but they lack elegance," Boris said.

Ethan stood stunned, his eyes wide as he watched the trapped bullets fall to the ground with a soft clatter. He had never seen a defensive Qi so absolute.

"Crul... analyze that barrier. What the hell am I looking at?" Ethan said.

[Master, it is a high-density Molecular Kinetic Dampening field. He isn't just using ice; he is stopping the vibration of the atoms themselves. Physical projectiles and heat-based explosives will never pierce it,] said Crul.

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