[North's PoV]

"Found them," he said softly, his eyes locking onto mine.

Before I could respond, the world blurred into streaks of color.

I realized he was moving at tremendous speed, yet not a single breeze touched my face. The air around us stayed still, completely under his control. I tightened my arms slightly to feel the steady warmth of his body against mine.

Then, as suddenly as it began, the world came back into focus.

He landed gently, almost silently, in the middle of a dense forest. No sign of civilization, just endless trees and the faint hum of life beneath the earth.

"Just a second," he murmured, tapping his foot lightly against the ground.

A ripple spread outward, subtle at first, then powerful. The land itself responded to his will. I watched, wordless, as trees began to dissolve into fine particles, their roots breaking down into dust. The grass, the rocks, even the loose soil, all disintegrated in waves until a wide clearing stretched around us.

He glanced back at me and winked, the hint of a smile on his lips.

"Wait here for me. I'll be back."

And then he vanished, gone so quickly it was as if the world had blinked.

I exhaled slowly and closed my eyes.

I knew there was a massive gap between us. There always had been. He was something else entirely, an anomaly who broke every rule that existed. But I had accepted that long ago.

I lifted my hand, calling to the Essence in the air. The wind stirred, circling around me, carrying the faint hum of power. My twin blades materialized in my grasp.

I looked at them quietly. Their edges gleamed, sharp enough to split the air. That was what I wanted, to be like them. Precise. Relentless. Unyielding.

To cut through everything in my path. Even my own hesitation. Even my own weakness.

I took a breath and stepped forward, letting the sound of the forest fill the silence around me. The blades hummed softly in my hands, a faint green glow tracing their edges. I began to move, slow at first, then faster.

The rhythm came naturally. Step, pivot, slash, breathe. Again and again. Shadows flickered with every motion, following the trails of my blades as if the world itself bent to their path.

I thought about what had happened back in Peanu's capital. The capital had been a sea of screams and light for a few short hours, and then… silence. Millions of lives gone in an instant. They didn't even have the strength to defend themselves, or to complain about what had been done to them.

Some died fighting. Most didn't even understand what was happening.

I swung my blades again, faster, the motion cutting through the images in my mind.It showed the truth that no one in this universe was ever safe, no matter how powerful they were.

The ground cracked under my foot as I spun and slashed through the air, the wind howling with my movements.

That was the world we lived in. The strong fought, and everyone else paid the price.

And that was what I wanted to change.

Not by pleading. Not by hoping someone stronger would protect me. But by becoming so powerful that I would be the player myself in such wars.

Maybe that's why I wanted power. I wanted the freedom to say no when the big games started, to walk away if I chose, and to be strong enough that if I did step in, my choice would matter.

I looked down at my hands. The green blades caught the light and my reflection wavered on the metal.

I remembered the way Billion had struck the Transcendent Phantom, that single blow that sent the creature flying like a meteor, that shock of violet light that cracked the sky. I had watched it and thought: that could be me. To be the kind of person whose action changed the game.

He hadn't waited for permission. He'd stepped in and bent the rules. That image had burned into me.

I tightened my grip and moved again, the blades humming in my hands. Time passed in beats and breaths. After almost ten minutes, Billion landed in front of me again.

He wasn't alone. Behind him, nearly forty people hung in the air like frozen statues, men and women locked in blocks of ice.

"Who are they?" I asked, eyes narrowing.

He smiled a little. "They're all level 199. And don't worry, I picked the worst of the worst on Peanu. If it helps, call them abominations." His tone was half-joke, half-business.

I let out a short laugh. "Thanks for going to such lengths. But I can handle a little guilt. I'm not that weak."

He shrugged and shook his head. "I don't want my woman carrying it if she doesn't have to. Anyway, let's start. How do you want to do this?"

I looked over the frozen figures, then at the open clearing. I already had four of the twelve done; eight more to go. Forty targets to pick from. It felt like a luxury and a responsibility at once. I didn't want to waste the chance he'd given me.

"Divide them into five groups of eight," I said, mapping it out in my head. "Place each group at a fair distance from the others. I want space to move, to build momentum. The first four groups are practice, get the rhythm, refine the strike. The fifth group is the real run. If I don't finish in the first four, I finish on the fifth."

Billion nodded and snapped his fingers.

The ice blocks slid apart and reformed on the ground, each cluster settling into position like soldiers taking formation. The cold bit the air, but the clearing felt ordered now, shaped to my plan.

I breathed in. Each strike had to be clean, no collateral, no doubt. I would chain the attacks, step into the hyperzone, slice the heart, move on. Precision, speed, control. That was the only way.

"Are you not gonna release them?" I asked.

"Nope. Your quest didn't say they had to be moving," he said. "If they're encased in ice, you'll need to pierce the shell and hit the heart cleanly without shattering anything else. You've got the skill for that. Ready?"

I stared at the nearest cluster, felt the calm tighten in my chest, and answered, "Ready."

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