In a large expanse, filled with countless machinations and technologies, a brilliant spark of blue light erupted.
It warped space, forming a swirling hole in the air.
Within this portal emerged a man with long white hair. His handsome face was tainted with sweat, and a worried expression polluted his usually calm demeanor.
This was Chad, and he had successfully escaped from the clutches of the woman who has become his bitter enemy.
"Haa... haaa..." Leaking out heavy breaths, his feet stepped upon the squeaky white tiles.
He looked around him with a tired smile, satisfied to see the products of he and his subordinates' activities as the Shadows of Light.
This was their secret base.
'She'll never find me here...' Chad smiled to himself, making his way past the countless devices that he had stores for various reasons.
His goal was a particular device that was being preserved in a cocoon.
'Even if she does find me, there's no way she'll be able to win against me in here'
This was quite literally his place of power. No one could come in except him, and if they forced themselves in, they were in for a ride awakening.
'Everything in here is under my control.' From the Mechs, to the Special Items, to the security systems in the room.
He could find nowhere safer than this sanctuary.
"And now, I have this..." Chad grinned, finally reaching the cocoon to take out the item he had been thinking of ever since he was in the Grand Symposium—no, even before.
It was a round orb, almost as big as an adult human's head. It shone crimson, oozing an ominous but overwhelmingly powerful aura.
'The SS Class Core the South Korean Hunter Association contributed, along with the ones I had in my grasp before... coupled with the Blood Stone formula... '
Merging all of these to form this single item was the culmination of his scoentifiv.progress, and the epitome of power.
Simply put, he was invincible with this.
'We've wasted a lot of energy creating fissures in our world's dimensional wall so as to suit out purposes, but we no longer need to do that...'
All of that energy now belonged in the orb he held on his grasp.
"With this, I'll reshape the world in my image." Chuckling to himself, he drowned himself in the pleasure that accompanied the possession of ultimate power.
At this point, who could stop him?
"It seems you're enjoying yourself." A familiar feminine voice echoed within the massive hall, causing Chad's skin to jump slightly in shock.
'What?!' His eyes widened and his brows twitched. 'She found me already?'
His heart raced slightly, causing him to clutch the orb in his grasp even tighter. As long as he had that, why did he need to fear a lone woman?
"To think you managed to escape the hall explosion unharmed. The fact that you're here means you let the others die." Chad smiled.
"They all survived. I saved them."
'What?!' Her words and actions kept surprising Chad, but he kept his shock to himself.
Instead, he calmed his breathing and maintained a confident demeanor.
"Oh?"
Turning to face the owner of the voice, his eyes met hers, and just as already suspected, she turned out to be the lasting thorn in his side.
"Aloe Vida..."
"Don't use your filthy mouth to utter my name." Her annoyed tone rang out, sending a chilly feeling coursing through the room.
'Tch. Arrogant bitch!'
Chad's glare intensified as he watched her draw closer to him. In his mind, even though he was completely infuriated with her existence, he was also very cautious.
'I can't let her take another step forward.' He echoed internally.
"[Automatic Defense Activate]."
The moment he said this, the Mechs that littered the room whirred to life, and several drones appeared seemingly out of thin air.
Several weapons, mostly energy&laced guns and even blasters, all popped out of the walls and ceilings.
"You should know better than to attack a dangerous beast in his territory." Chad's grin grew wider, amusement written all over his face.
"Die, bi—."
>WHOOOOOOOOOOSSSHHHH<
In what felt like a gust of wind, Chad felt his vision being obscured, and everything became a blur.
He couldn't tell what happened, since it all took a moment, but once his vision cleared up, the scene before him unfolded.
"—tch... huh...?!"
What greeted his sight wasn't the bloody mess he wanted.
No, instead, he met all his weapons and Mecha completely ruined. Their parts were all damaged, on the ground with no sign of ever being capable of repairs.
Everything was destroyed in a single moment—a moment not even he could have comprehended.
"H-hold on... what?"
Not a single one was spared.
"You were saying?" Aloe's voice echoed once more, and she had closed the distance even more.
With nothing else standing between him and her, Chad understood—despite his current confusion—that his last resort was himself.
'Still... how fast is she?'
She was able to destroy everything in a single moment. What of she did the same to his orb?
"[Zero Null Field]"
Using the power of his Blood Core, he generated a powerful red barrier around himself.
With it, no matter how fast she was, there was no way she would be able to reach him.
He could simply fight her from a distance—his specialty.
'My Authority doesn't work on her, do that limits my option. Oh wait...!'
Sure, it didn't work when he was in his base form, but with the Blood Core in his possession amping all his abilities, surely there was no one in existence who could resist.
"Stop moving." He declared, his voice raised to emulate an intimidating tone.
"What?"
"Huh?"
"Why should I stop moving?"
"Wait... why isn't it—??"
"Your tricks won't work on me." The moment Aloe Vida said this, she was right in front of his barrier.
In the past, he might have considered himself invincible behind the wall of sparkling red. However, with all this woman had shown him...
If there was a slight chance—just a little bit—that she could penetrate his defenses, then all of his confidence slowly began to dissipate.
And then—
"This is in the way."
—Just like clockwork—
>BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!<
—The barrier shattered into pieces upon impact.
"G-gurgh!"
Chad was instantly blown away by the resultant pressure caused by the impact between Aloe's strike and his supposedly barrier.
He crashed upon the ground, his body sore from being knocked down—something that had never happened in all his life.
'Damn it! Damn you!' His glare multiplied infinitely as he captured the standing woman before him.
She seemed unstoppable—like an invincible wall that could never be surpassed.
Why and how? Chad had no idea.
"How... are you... so strong?"
"It wouldn't change anything. This power I have... you can never possess it."
Biting his lip as he felt his muscles ache, Chad's expression fell. He could no longer exchange words in argument with her.
"I see..."
"Now it's your turn to answer my inquisition." Aloe stood above Chad, a condescending expression falling on his pathetic state.
"Why did you do all of this?"
