Maxwell realized there was no talking Chris out of it, so he had no choice but to back off.

But in his heart, he’d already made the decision.

If it came to that... even if he had to burn through the lives of the entire city—hundreds of millions—he would still do everything possible to keep Chris and his people alive.

The giant bird was fast beyond reason. In just a little over twenty minutes, it had crossed from the border all the way to Atlas City’s area.

Every Enhanced had already braced themselves to fight to the last.

This time, there was clearly no "stalling" like last time.

The enemy had mobilized that many people—this was a punishment expedition, plain and simple. They must’ve already confirmed those dozen-plus Winged Clan experts had been killed.

Maxwell didn’t hide.

He stepped to the front of the formation.

He was the Commanding General of the Atlas Federation. If this was the final battle, then he would lead the Atlas Federation’s soldiers through it himself.

Behind him, the soldiers’ eyes held no fear—only the fierce calm of people who’d already accepted death.

They were Atlas Federation military. Even knowing the gap in strength. Even knowing this was almost certainly unwinnable.

None of them backed down.

Chris stood off to the side, and behind him were twenty thousand Fallen Star Guard.

Their presence hit like a wall—battle intent pouring off them, eyes burning with the same ruthless readiness.

A fight?

Fallen Star Guard had never been afraid of one.

Maybe their numbers didn’t look impressive here. But that aura... it still forced people to take a second look.

Everyone stared up at the sky, faces tight, waiting for the first strike.

Then—

The massive bird in front didn’t turn toward the compound at all.

It skimmed past a mountaintop about seven miles away and shot straight on.

Minutes later, the two thousand Winged Clan experts followed—also streaking past, not even glancing toward Atlas City.

"???"

"What the hell just happened?!" People stared at each other, completely lost.

They’d been ready to die here.

And the enemy just... flew right past?

It was like they’d gotten themselves all worked up, hands on their belts—

and the other side didn’t even show up for the date.

Everyone looked around, dumbfounded.

Then Chris’s eyes narrowed, gears turning. "I don’t think their target is us," he said slowly. "It’s that giant bird."

Maxwell froze. "They’re... chasing it?"

Chris’s gaze sharpened, a flash of light passing through it. "An enemy’s enemy is a friend. Maybe we can use this."

Maxwell walked over to him, voice low. "From the look of it, they aren’t coming for Atlas City. They’re after the bird."

"Yeah." Chris nodded. "That’s what it looks like."

Maxwell exhaled through his nose, then made the call. "General Kane—have the Satellite Operations Control Center track them. Full priority."

"Understood," Maxwell said, already reading the implication in Chris’s tone.

They all returned to the command center, eyes on the massive live feed across the wall of screens.

Right then, Chris’s satellite phone started ringing.

He glanced down.

Ethan.

Chris’s face lit up. He grabbed it immediately. "Ethan."

"Chris," Ethan’s voice came through the line. "Atlas City’s okay, right? Nothing happened?"

"You’re out?" Chris said fast. "I was just about to try you."

Ethan’s tone tightened. "What—something happened?"

"Yeah. Something big. Listen." Chris didn’t waste a second. "I’ll tell you exactly what just went down..."

And he relayed everything—how the Satellite Operations Control Center had spotted a massive bird entering Windora State, how a swarm of Winged Clan had followed, two thousand-plus at minimum, and how they’d swept right past Atlas City without engaging—like they were in a hurry to hunt that bird down.

On the other end of the line, Ethan’s expression turned strange as he listened to Chris’s report.

"This is... an unexpected gift, isn’t it?"

"Ethan, they’re heading toward Louisiana right now," Chris said. "You think we should do something?"

"We absolutely should," Ethan said without hesitation. "Have General Kane send the live satellite feed to my phone."

"Got it."

He hung up and started thinking.

For the Winged Clan to mobilize over two thousand experts to hunt something down... that mutant beast had to be insane.

But it also couldn’t be Stage SS. If it were truly Stage SS, there was no way this many Winged Clan would be chasing it like this.

So the bird’s strength was probably somewhere between Stage S and Stage SS—likely a bit stronger than that Aeralon guy.

Which meant...

Yeah. This was usable.

Not long after, the Atlas City side pushed the live satellite feed to Ethan’s phone. The moment he saw the flight path, he pivoted midair and changed direction, angling to intercept.

He needed to get ahead of them and see what he was dealing with.

Soon, Ethan reached a mountain ridge. He slipped into the canopy of a massive tree, burying himself in thick leaves to break his outline.

If their route stayed true, they’d pass right over him. All he had to do was wait.

And sure enough—ten minutes later, a gigantic bird tore across the sky above him with a howling rush of wind.

Ethan kept True Sight active the entire time. The instant it crossed his view, he caught the details.

The crystal core in the roc’s head was a deep orange.

Before Stage D, mutant beasts had red crystal cores. The color deepened slightly as they climbed each Tier.

After reaching Stage D, the core turned purple. Stage C became blue. Stage B was green.

Ethan had never seen a Stage A mutant beast or zombie, so he didn’t know what color those cores were supposed to be.

But this bird clearly wasn’t Stage A.

By Ethan’s read, it was Stage S.

And judging by the depth of that orange... it was around Tier 36.

His mind jumped immediately to what they’d seen back in the Rus Federation—the massive Glacial Behemoth.

A yellow crystal core...

That thing was very likely Stage SS.

No wonder it could just sit there and the entire region turned into a frozen wasteland. No wonder one roar from that far away had nearly knocked them unconscious.

Thank god they’d run.

If they’d been even a little slower, they would’ve all died there.

Just thinking about a Stage SS mutant beast existing on Earth made Ethan’s heartbeat kick up.

Please stay asleep.

If it had to ruin someone’s life, it could keep ruining the Rus Federation’s. It absolutely could not come wandering into the Atlas Federation—because they could not handle that.

Then Ethan’s thoughts slid, uninvited, to the black crystal core sitting in his spatial storage ring.

The one from the very first Void Realm they’d entered.

He still didn’t know what level it was, and he’d never dared to touch it.

By now, he’d seen most of the core colors... but he’d never seen black.

The only ones he hadn’t confirmed were Stage A cores—and anything above Stage SS.

And deep down, Ethan didn’t believe that black core was Stage A.

Which meant, if it wasn’t...

Then the answer was terrifying.

He replayed that first Void Realm in his head and realized, again, how different it had been.

Most Void Realms left something behind.

That one hadn’t. Everything inside it had crumbled into dust, like it had been dead for ages—far longer than the others.

And he’d gotten a spatial storage ring there.

After that, he’d been through plenty of Void Realms and never saw another one.

It made his skin prickle.

Maybe the first Void Realm hadn’t been "first" at all.

Maybe it had been something else entirely.

Ethan shook his head hard, forcing the spiral to stop. That wasn’t today’s problem.

Today’s problem was the sky in front of him.

And he’d already spotted the key detail.

That giant bird was badly injured.

If there was going to be a way to crack this situation open... it was probably right there.