About fifteen heavily armed men fanned out across the atrium.

"GET DOWN! EVERYBODY ON YOUR KNEES!" they roared, firing warning shots into the ceiling that showered sparks down on the crowd. "NOBODY MOVES!"

A terrified businessman in a suit panicked and tried to sprint toward a side exit.

ZAP!

A streak of red plasma cut through the air, taking the man directly in the back of the head. He dropped dead mid-sprint, his body sliding across the polished marble floor.

The screams intensified to a hysterical pitch as the crowd immediately dropped to their knees, sobbing and covering their heads.

Tasha was trembling, her eyes wide with fear. "Jayden... what is happening? Who are these people?"

Jayden’s eyes were icy cold. "They’re a group of dead men who picked the wrong night to attack this mall." He looked at the three girls, his tone brokering no argument. "Get down. Do exactly as they say and blend in with the crowd. Stay here. I will handle this."

"Wait, Jayden, what are you going to do?" Cassandra started, her voice shaking. "There’s too many..." Before she could finish the sentence, Jayden was gone. He’d vanished into thin air, activating his invisibility and slipping silently out of the panicked crowd.

The syndicate thugs began aggressively moving the hostages, herding them toward the center of the atrium to consolidate them into a single, massive group.

One of the thugs, a massive brute with a scar over his eye, stomped over to the girls. "Get moving, sweethearts!" he barked, reaching out to roughly grab Jessica by the shoulder.

Jessica’s eyes flashed with anger and disgust. Without hesitating, she pivoted and delivered a brutal, right hook directly to the man’s jaw.

The thug stumbled back, spitting blood. Enraged, he raised his rifle to strike her with the butt of the gun. Instantly, Tasha stepped in front of Jessica, arcs of blue lightning crackling violently around her fists. On Jessica’s other side, Cassandra raised her hands, her palms igniting with fierce, roaring flames.

The brute took a hesitant step back, intimidated by the sudden display of raw elemental power.

"Are you seriously afraid of a bunch of little girls, Marco?" a cold voice mocked from across the room. The leader of the group stepped forward. He was a lean man holding a high-end energy pistol. He didn’t even aim. He just casually raised the pistol and fired a shot straight at Jessica’s head.

The shot was unbelievably fast. The girls didn’t even have time to blink.

The plasma bolt sliced cleanly through the air, missing Jessica’s ear by a fraction of a millimeter and slicing off a single strand of her hair before blowing a fist-sized crater into the storefront wall behind her. It was a terrifying display of absolute precision; he had missed intentionally just to show them he couldn’t miss if he tried.

"Quit being bitches and get in the center," the leader ordered coldly. "Or next time, I won’t miss."

The girls gritted their teeth, their fists trembling with rage. They were strong, but they were greatly outnumbered. They couldn’t protect a crowd of civilians from fifteen assault rifles at once. Reluctantly, they extinguished their powers and complied.

Marco, emboldened, shoved the girls forward aggressively. "Move it!" He pushed them.

"That is no way to treat a lady."

A voice suddenly reverberated across the cavernous mall atrium. It didn’t seem to come from anywhere; it echoed everywhere at once, deep, metallic, and heavily distorted.

The leader immediately raised his pistol, scanning the balconies. "Who said that? Show yourself!"

"If you insist."

Out of absolutely nowhere, an invisible force struck Marco in the face with the force of a freight train. The thug’s jaw shattered with a sickening crunch. He flew horizontally across the mall, crashing violently into a marble pillar and slumping to the floor, completely unconscious.

From the exact spot Marco had just been standing, a figure suddenly materialized.

He was clad in a matte-black tactical suit, a dark jacket, and a terrifying metallic mask with glowing white eye-slits.

It was Jayden.

The hostages gasped. Whispers immediately broke out among the terrified crowd.

"It’s him! The vigilante!"

"I heard he killed a Black Cobra Pioneer!"

"We’re saved!"

Every single Black Cobra thug instantly went on maximum alert, raising their rifles and aiming directly at the masked figure.

Jayden ignored them. He stood between the armed men and the girls. He looked at Tasha, Cassandra, and Jessica, his glowing white eyes scanning them quickly.

"Are you hurt?" the distorted voice asked.

They all shook their heads, staring at him in utter fascination.

Tasha took a brave step forward, peering closely at the mask. "Jayden... is that you?" She asked, staring deeply into his slits.

The figure looked into her eyes for a long second, but said absolutely nothing. He slowly turned his back to them, facing the heavily armed syndicate members.

Underneath the mask, Jayden’s Dragon Eye activated. He rapidly analyzed the room. Fourteen men left. Most of them were low-level grunts... Levels 15 through 25.

Standard human fodder.

The only real threat was the leader who was at Level 40 with an ability based on trajectory tracking and absolute Precision.

He was basically a sniper with aimbot.

The leader scoffed, twirling his pistol. "So. The little vigilante decides to play hero, huh? You really think you can take all of us out at once before we fill these people with holes?"

Jayden tilted his masked head. He didn’t care about playing hero. He didn’t care about saving the mall. He was here for two reasons: he wanted to eliminate every trace of the Black Cobra syndicate... and they had just ruined his date.

That offense alone demanded a death sentence.

"Light him up!" the leader roared.

But before they could react, Jayden instantly vanished.

The thugs panicked, spraying fire wildly. The leader’s eyes darted frantically. His tracking ability locked onto a subtle displacement in the air.

"Got you," he smirked.

He fired a lethal, perfectly aimed plasma bolt directly at the invisible space where Jayden’s head was about to be.

Jayden materialized exactly where the leader predicted. But to the leader’s absolute horror, the plasma bolt simply passed straight through Jayden’s skull as if he were made of smoke, striking the wall behind him.

The leader’s eyes bulged. "What the hell...?" He murmured in disbelief. Then he turned to his men. "Don’t just stand there! FIRE ALREADY!"

All thirteen remaining thugs opened fire. Bullets, plasma bolts, fireballs, and ice spikes rained down on Jayden in a massive, concentrated barrage.

Jayden calmly walked forward.

Every single attack phased harmlessly through his intangible body. The floor around him shattered, the walls crumbled, but Jayden remained entirely untouched.

The thugs stopped firing, their weapons clicking empty, their faces pale with pure terror. The hostages stared in stunned silence. The girls were utterly speechless, their jaws hanging open. When had Jayden gotten this ability? He was a living ghost. He was basically untouchable.

Then, Jayden struck.

He moved with blinding speed. He dropped his intangibility for a microsecond at a time, just long enough to deliver devastating, bone-breaking blows. He was a blur of black motion. Knees shattered, ribs cracked, and men were launched through the air. Precision, speed, and overwhelming force.

In less than ten seconds, thirteen men were unconscious and bleeding out on the polished marble.

Only the leader remained.

He was hyperventilating, backing away frantically and firing shot after shot. The bolts continued to phase harmlessly through Jayden’s chest as he slowly, menacingly walked toward the man.

The leader turned to run. Jayden instantly materialized in front of him, grabbing the man’s right arm. With a brutal twist, he snapped it at the elbow.

"Aaaaahh!" The leader screamed in agony, dropping his pistol.

Jayden grabbed his left arm and crushed the wrist, crippling his second hand to ensure he couldn’t use his ability. The man shrieked, falling to his knees.

Jayden hoisted him up by the collar of his tactical vest, lifting him off the ground. "Why are you here?" the distorted voice demanded.

The leader, breathing heavily and fighting through the blinding pain, forced a defiant sneer. "We’re the Black Cobra syndicate. We go wherever the hell we please."

Jayden casually backhanded him across the face. The sickening smack echoed through the mall, and a bloody tooth clattered onto the floor.

"I’ll ask you one more time," Jayden said coldly. "What are you doing here?"

He had been highly suspicious since the explosion. Black Cobra was a massive, high-tier syndicate. They dealt in smuggling, human trafficking, and deep-level political corruption. They didn’t do petty mall robberies or random hostage situations. It was beneath them.

There had to be a different motive to tonight’s attack.

The leader spat a wad of blood onto the floor and let out a wet, rattling laugh. "I’ll tell you. Because it doesn’t matter anymore. The plan already worked."

Jayden’s eyes narrowed. "What plan?"

The man grinned, exposing his bloodied gums. "Did you really think the Black Cobra syndicate would take a bunch of random hostages without having an ulterior agenda? We didn’t come here for them. We came here to make a loud enough noise to draw out the vigilante. We came here... for you."

Jayden’s blood ran cold. It was a trap.

Suddenly, his Danger Sense screamed. A horrible, crawling sensation shot up his spine. The hair on his arms stood straight up, and the air in the mall instantly tasted like pure ozone. A blinding, searing white light illuminated the atrium.

Without a second thought, Jayden dropped the leader and triggered his speed, leaping backward twenty feet in a single bound.

A millisecond later, a massive, deafening pillar of blue-white lightning crashed through the glass ceiling, striking the exact spot Jayden had just been standing.

The marble floor violently exploded. The concussive shockwave sent Jayden skidding backward.

When the blinding light cleared and the smoke parted, a massive, blackened crater remained. The leader had been caught dead-center in the blast, entirely incinerated.

Jayden scowled behind his mask, his muscles coiled tight. He felt a massive, oppressive presence entering the mall. He slowly turned his head toward the ruined entrance.

Walking through the smoke, completely unbothered by the chaos, was a man. He was wearing a high-tech, dark blue tactical suit. He had spiky black hair, piercing blue eyes, and a confident, predatory grin plastered across his face. Arcs of deadly blue electricity danced casually across his knuckles.

Jayden recognized him instantly from the blurry photo he’d seen and accessed just yesternight.

It was the same person that was next on his hit list.

Tazer.