For the first phase of the fight, Jayden stuck to pure physical combat. He wanted to test the baseline metrics of a Level 63 Pioneer. It was immediately apparent that Duke was a juggernaut. Every swing of his massive stone fists was like a wrecking ball; wherever he missed and struck the alley walls, bricks shattered and dumpsters crumpled like tin foil.

And his armor was exactly as impenetrable as the EVA file had suggested. Jayden’s knuckle claws skated off it without purchase. A direct strike to the ribs produced a sound like hitting masonry and a return vibration up his forearm that was not pleasant.

Jayden didn’t even try using his abilities. Fire would have done nothing against the stone. And telekinesis would have been pinning an anchor.

But none of that mattered.

Because from the moment he’d read Duke’s file, from the moment he’d seen extreme dermal hardening in the threat assessment column, he’d known exactly what the countermeasure was. The best way to destroy a heavily fortified outer defense was to bypass it and tear it down from the inside.

Which is why when Jayden encountered the Ghost-lynx, it was like the universe had provided the exact weapon he needed to defeat Duke. It why he decided to have the beast’s ability, no matter what it took to get it.

But he didn’t use it yet.

He needed Duke tired first.

So he fought conservatively, using evasion and partial blocks, making it look like frustration, making it look like he was searching for an opening he couldn’t find. He let Duke work. Let him swing and strike and drive forward with the grinding, relentless aggression of someone who had never needed to be subtle because nothing had ever been able to hurt him.

The rain poured down on both of them and the alley was a geography of cracked concrete and dented metal and the particular destruction that followed Duke’s misses.

Minutes passed.

Duke began to slow incrementally. Not dramatically. But the intervals between his strikes lengthened. The resets took slightly longer. His breathing was audible now, coming through the eye apertures in his rock face in steady, measured pulls. Jayden watched with a satisfactory grin.

They both hopped back, taking a brief breather in the pouring rain.

Duke laughed, his chest heaving under his armor. "What’s the matter? You just going to keep running away? Aren’t you going to use that ghost ability you used to drop us out the window?"

"If you insist," Jayden chuckled.

Then, without warning, he became invisible, vanishing entirely into the rain.

Duke immediately went on high alert, spinning around, his fists raised, checking his blind spots. But Jayden didn’t flank him. He materialized directly in front of the Pioneer, already mid-swing. He channeled all of his strength into a devastating uppercut that connected squarely with Duke’s jaw.

BAM!!

The sheer kinetic force lifted the massive Pioneer clean off his feet. He flew backward, slamming hard into the cracked alley floor. A jagged fissure spread across the rock mask covering his face.

He slowly stood up, wiping the rain from his cracked faceplate. He let out a booming laugh. "Not bad! You hit like a truck!"

Then he flexed his arms, and a second, thicker layer of dark, granite-like rock aggressively formed over his existing armor, patching the cracks and making him even bulkier.

He charged again, his footsteps shaking the ground. His body was heavier, his attacks carrying lethal, crushing momentum.

But it was entirely pointless.

Because Jayden had already become intangible.

As Duke threw a devastating right hook aimed at Jayden’s skull, Jayden simply stood his ground. The stone fist passed harmlessly through his intangible head. In the same breath, Jayden allowed his own fist to pass through the outer layer of Duke’s armor, solidified his knuckles just enough to strike the inner structure, and shattered the rock from the inside out.

Duke growled and struck again. His fist came in and passed through Jayden’s chest—and Duke stumbled forward through the space where an obstacle should have been and wasn’t. Jayden pivoted and drove a strike into the back of Duke’s knee. The rock there cracked.

Duke lurched. Jayden delivered another strike to his shoulder joint, causing another crack. Duke swung backward blindly and the arm moved through Jayden’s torso without resistance. Jayden used that opening to deliver a strike to his spine.

Crack.

Then a strike to the ribs.

Crack.

And for the next few minutes, it went on like that.

Duke swung wildly, roaring in frustration as every single attack hit empty air. Jayden danced through the blows, solidifying his fists at the perfect moments to deliver crippling, bone-rattling strikes to Duke’s joints and vitals, cracking the armor everywhere.

The cracks multiplied.

The fractures in the rock material were everywhere now... his arms, his torso, his jaw, the surface of him mapped with damage. While Jayden relentlessly kept striking.

it was a one-sided slaughter.

Duke was panting heavily, his armor littered with deep fissures, his stamina plummeting.

"Is this the best a Pioneer can do?" Jayden taunted, his voice echoing in the alley.

Consumed by absolute rage, Duke roared. He tapped into the very last reserves of his energy, adding a massive, third layer of jagged rock to his body. His eyes, visible through the apertures, were no longer calculating. They had moved past strategy into something rawer.

The rock grew, sealing every crack in a new growth of material that was denser than what had preceded it. When it finished, Duke looked like a golem. He was enormous. Barrel-chested and immovable looking, the heaviest version of himself yet, the armor rebuilt and deepened.

Then he dropped any remaining semblance of technique and charged wildly at Jayden like a runaway train.

Beneath the Mask, Jayden simply smirked.

It was time to end this.

He planted his feet and cocked his right arm back, straightening his fingers into a rigid, spear-like chop.

Duke swung a massive, desperate haymaker. The stone fist phased harmlessly through Jayden’s shoulder, causing Duke to stumble forward. And in the exact same millisecond, Jayden thrust his own intangible palm forward, plunging it directly into the center of Duke’s massive chest.

Shnk!

Instantly, the Pioneer froze.

His momentum died. He let out a short, wet gasp, followed by a violent shudder that wracked his massive frame.

The structural integrity of his power completely failed. The three layers of rock armor rapidly crumbled to dust, washing away in the heavy rain, revealing Duke’s pale, terrified face. Blood began to rapidly trickle from the corners of his mouth.

Trembling, the Pioneer looked down.

Jayden’s hand was buried up to the wrist inside Duke’s chest. Using the absolute precision he had practiced in the park, Jayden had kept his arm intangible, but controlled the very tips of his fingers to turn completely solid the moment they reached the center of Duke’s heart.

Jayden pushed a fraction of an inch deeper.

Shhhhhhnnk.

Duke gasped, a horrible, choking sound of agony. He stared into the glowing white eyes of Jayden’s mask, pure desperation in his gaze. He slowly raised his trembling hands, reaching out to grab Jayden’s jacket. But then, his heart stopped beating. His eyes rolled back, and his heavy arms slumped limply to his sides.

Jayden seamlessly turned his hand completely intangible and pulled it free from the Pioneer’s chest. Duke’s massive, lifeless body swayed for a second before collapsing face-first onto the wet asphalt with a heavy, wet thud.

A silver interface window illuminated the rain in front of Jayden.

[+200 Exp received]

Jayden stood over the dead Pioneer, the rain washing the non-existent blood from his black gloves. He stared at Duke’s lifeless face. He waited to feel a rush of guilt, or nausea, or remorse.

He felt absolutely nothing.

To him, this was just a name being crossed off a list.

This man was an elite assassin who had murdered hundreds of innocent people for a criminal syndicate. If Jayden had been weak or had fumbled during the fight, he would be the one bleeding out and lifeless in the rain.

Suddenly, the sharp sounds of heavy boots splashing in puddles and frantic voices echoed from the front of the alley.

"He’s back here! Come on!"

Jayden instantly became invisible, melting into the rain.

A second later, six Black Cobra lackeys burst into the alleyway, guns drawn.

"There he is!" one shouted, sprinting toward the body. They gathered around Duke’s corpse, shouting in panic, trying to roll him over to find a pulse, wondering what the hell had happened. Within moments, they began to fan out, weapons raised, desperately searching the shadows for the culprit, not knowing he was just three feet away from them.

They were looking right through him.

Jayden silently backed away, slipping out of the opposite end of the alley. He moved several blocks away, putting distance between himself and the club. Once he was safe in an abandoned side street, he dropped his invisibility.

Then with a mental command, he unequipped the mask and the tactical suit, storing them back in his inventory. He was left standing in his damp casual clothes... looking like a civilian who had simply been caught in the rain.

Then he summoned his hoverbike, the machine materializing in front of him. He threw a leg over the seat, revved the silent magnetic engine, and shot up into the sky, merging back onto the highway heading toward Emerald City.

The wind whipped against his face as the neon lights of Ruby City faded into the distance behind him. He looked out at the sprawling, dark horizon.

Tonight was a mission accomplished. But he was just getting started.

One down. Eight to go.

.......

The next day,

The late morning sun streamed through the blinds, casting harsh lines of light across Jayden’s face. He groaned, squeezing his eyes shut as a deep, bone-weary ache radiated through his muscles. He rolled over and checked the digital clock on his nightstand.

11:45 AM.

Jayden blinked, his sleep-fogged brain struggling to process the numbers. This was the absolute latest he had ever slept in since acquiring the System. He tried to sit up, and a wave of intense lethargy washed over him. Last night’s fight—the use of his intangibility—had taken a massive toll on his cellular structure after all. The adrenaline of the fight and the ride home had masked it last night, but now, his body felt like it was made of lead.

Still wearing his pajamas, he forced himself out of bed. He rubbed his face, completely ignoring the bathroom sink—he didn’t even have the energy to brush his teeth or splash water on his face right now.

He just needed food.

He trudged out of his room and headed downstairs.

As he reached the bottom of the steps, he found the entire family gathered in the living room. It was Sunday, so everyone was home.

They were all completely silent, their attention locked onto the massive holographic screen projecting from the center console.

The local news anchor was speaking with a grave, urgent expression.

"...breaking details on the sudden death of Duke Darlington in Ruby City late last night. Darlington was widely known as one of the ten infamous Pioneers of the Black Cobra syndicate, a high-value target that the EVA has been tracking for years. He is now confirmed dead, killed by an unidentified assailant."

Footage of The Neon Serpent cordoned off by heavily armored EVA agents played on the screen.

"Witness reports from the nightclub state that Darlington was attacked by a single individual wearing a tactical suit and a black mask. Sources within the underworld suggest this same ’Masked Person’ has been systematically dismantling Black Cobra operations and assaulting gang members across Emerald City over the past few weeks. While it remains unconfirmed if the incidents are connected, the EVA has officially assembled a specialized, high-priority Task Force to investigate the murders and apprehend this masked vigilante..."

Jayden stepped fully into the living room. The soft thud of his bare feet on the hardwood floor caused everyone to turn. All eyes instantly fell on him.

He paused, looking at them in feigned, sleep-deprived confusion, wondering what the sudden tension was about. He slowly dragged his gaze to the floating news ticker.

[BREAKING: Masked Vigilante Assassinates Black Cobra Pioneer, Duke Darlington]

Jayden let out a long, exhausted sigh. He ignored the screen, walked straight past them into the kitchen, opened the fridge, and pulled out a carton of milk. He poured himself a tall glass and took a long drink.

Jacob was the first to break the silence. He turned to Jayden, his expression a mix of suspicion and caution. "Where were you last night, Jayden?"