The state he was in right now left him no room for hesitation. He had already caught momentum, his entire body surging forward like an arrow loosed from the bow, locked onto a single collision course with the myriad abyssal fist looming above him.

If he stopped here, even for an instant, everything would collapse.

The momentum would shatter. The flow he had painstakingly aligned would scatter. To gather it again, to reconverge all that power back into his fists, would take more than six full seconds.

That was time he did not have.

Since that was the case, there was only one path left.

A breakthrough at 400%.

The construct behind him had already attached itself to his body. Once that connection was formed, there was no undoing it now.

His original plan had been to use 400% regardless.

Then there was no reason to hesitate.

He would break through with 400%.

The slowness in his vision snapped back to normal.

WHRRRMMM!

With a shout tearing out of his chest, he forced everything forward, burning every remaining fragment of momentum.

There was no restraint left.

His fists clenched as the circuits along his body sharpened and multiplied, spreading across his flesh until he no longer resembled a human at all, but a living conduit of energy and golden ratio logic made manifest.

Luminous lines crawled over his skin.

Circuitry carved itself into muscle and bone, sinking deep, pulsing in absolute synchronization. His eyes ignited with rotating patterns, layered circuits overlapping within his pupils as power roared through his system without resistance.

VMMMMMMMM!

NEXUS OVERCLOCK - 400%

The world reacted a heartbeat too late.

Power converged fully into his hands as his body vanished from its original position. His momentum spiked violently, so extreme that consecutive sonic booms detonated behind him, tearing open the air as he hurled himself toward the descending myriad abyssal fist.

BOOM! BOOM!

The sky quaked.

The land screamed.

"Break."

Grey's fist expanded mid-thrust, pressure condensing around it as it collided head on with the abyssal fist that blotted out the heavens.

BOOOOM! WHRRRMMM! WHRRRMMM!

For a single, impossible instant, everything went silent.

Then the ground ceased to exist.

Vegetation was erased. Mountains collapsed into dust before they could even fall. The land itself was wiped clean as raging energies crashed together, carving a vast chasm into the world as if reality had been cleaved open.

DOOOOOM!

The disparity was laughable.

One fist was so small it could only be likened to an ant.The other spanned several mountain ranges.

Yet there was no suspense.

THE VICTORIOUS FIST WAS THE SMALLER ONE.

KRRRNNNG!

Like fragile glass, the massive abyssal fist shattered apart. Fractures raced across its surface as violent vibrations surged outward, rolling across the land and slamming into the spatial dimension itself.

Space convulsed.

Spatial nodes trembled violently, bending and distorting under the authority of the collision.

And it did not stop there.

The shockwave carried far beyond the battlefield.

The entire southern region felt it.

…

"Hey, what was that?"

Alissa and Lia, who were inside the mansion, suddenly stood up.

They felt it clearly. The energy flow across the entire southern region fluctuated violently for a split second.

Even the ground shook.

The very next moment, two streaks of light shot into the mansion at immense speed.

Valeria and Werner.

"Did you feel that?" Valeria said sharply. "What was that? For a moment, it felt like the energy went completely out of control."

"It looks like something has emerged in the southern region, something the normal flow of energy cannot withstand. The ambient cosmic energy was forcibly overwhelmed, to the point that the local structure completely collapsed." Werner ascertained calmly, though a faint crease appeared between his brows.

"But what exactly is it?" Lia asked, her expression tightening.

Grey was still in seclusion and had not contacted them yet. Under such uncertain circumstances, waiting any longer was dangerous. She should inform him immediately.

Just as Lia was about to move, the door to the side room slowly opened.

Little Hong walked out, hugging a teddy bear plushie to her chest. Her steps were light, her eyes half-closed as if she had just been woken up.

"You're up." Lia immediately turned toward her, the tension in her posture easing as she approached.

After spending so much time with Little Hong, Lia had gradually begun to see her as her own child. Everything she did now was no different from a mother caring for her daughter.

"What happened, guys?" Little Hong asked, tilting her head slightly.

Over the past few months, her speech had improved significantly. She was no longer as quiet as before, her expressions richer, her reactions quicker.

Much of that change came from Valeria, who would visit occasionally and teach her all sorts of things about manners, speech, and how a young dignified lady should behave.

"There was an energy fluctuation in the southern region," Lia replied softly, offering a small reassuring smile.

Among everyone present, Little Hong was undoubtedly stronger than all of them combined. There was no comparison to be made.

Naturally, she was included in the discussion.

Hearing this, Little Hong's steps came to a stop. Her gaze unfocused slightly, as if she were listening to something far away.

A moment later, she nodded.

"It's just Grey," she said calmly. "You don't need to worry."

The room went silent.

Little Hong was bound to the Chaos Seal, and that seal resided within Grey's Mind Palace. Through that connection, she could faintly perceive his situation when she concentrated, something she had only discovered recently while he was in seclusion.

"He's fighting an Abyssal being near the Ice Walls," Little Hong continued, clutching her plushie tighter. "Their attacks collided, and that disrupted the energy flow of the southern region."

Her tone remained simple, almost casual, as if she were describing an ordinary sparring match.

"She's extremely strong. At least second level of the third rank."

The words struck like a hammer.

"What?" Lia, Alissa, Werner, and Valeria stared at her in disbelief.

"He's fighting an Abyssal being?" Werner repeated, his voice low.

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