The woman in the white research coat stood out among the armed soldiers and nervous scientists like a rose growing in a battlefield.
Her presence was quiet—understated, even—but unmistakably different from everyone around her.
Tall and graceful, with neatly braided black hair that somehow remained perfect despite the apocalyptic conditions. Sharp, delicate features softened by stylish oval glasses. That tiny tear-shaped beauty mark near her eye that made her gaze strangely striking, memorable.
Among everyone present at Lakeview Park, she was the only person who could genuinely compare in presence—or sheer beauty—to Olivia herself.
But unlike Olivia's commanding, almost overwhelming intensity, this woman's eyes were different. Calm. Cold. Clinical. Focused entirely on the Ability Tree before her as if it were the only thing in the world worth her attention.
She carefully cut away a sliver of mutated root tissue with a precision scalpel, placed the sample onto her handheld analyzer, and waited.
For the first time since arriving, visible emotion flickered across her face.
Excitement.
Even that expression was quiet, subtle, controlled. But definitely real.
Her lips parted slightly, as if she was about to say something to her research team—
WHOOSH!
Two flaming gas canisters suddenly sailed across the sky in high arcs, tumbling end over end as they crashed toward the armed team's position.
"Incoming projectiles!"
"Shoot them down—now!"
Da-da-da-da-da!
The soldiers reacted with impressive speed, raising their rifles and firing controlled bursts at the aerial threats.
BOOM! BOOM!
Both canisters exploded mid-air in twin fireballs, raining burning debris across the defensive perimeter.
And right on the heels of those explosions—
More than thirty superpowered individuals burst out from behind a low hill about fifty meters away, charging toward the armed team with reckless aggression.
At the head of this chaotic mob stood two figures who were clearly the leaders:
A massive muscular man wielding a conjured warhammer that crackled with energy, his face twisted in battle fury.
A beautiful woman with a princess-cut hairstyle and gentle-looking eyes that completely contradicted the absolutely foul language pouring from her mouth.
This unlikely pair was unmistakable to anyone who knew Chicago's post-apocalypse power structure:
Nina shouted at her followers, her sweet voice delivering crude commands: "Get them! Don't be scared of their pussy-ass guns—WE'RE ability users! We're basically gods now!"
The thirty-plus superpowered attackers charged the armed unit without any real strategy or formation, just raw aggression and overconfidence.
"Defensive formation!" The middle-aged captain of the armed squad barked out commands immediately. "Prioritize protecting the research team! Engage and neutralize threats!"
These weren't disorganized gangsters playing soldier.
This was a genuinely trained, professionally disciplined military unit.
They instantly formed a tight defensive ring around the scientists, weapons raised, and engaged the attackers with coordinated fire—some using guns, others activating their own supernatural abilities.
Yes—this squad included ability users as well. Multiple ones.
And their leader?
A broad-shouldered man with a square, stoic face who looked like he'd been carved from granite. Intelligence suggested he'd consumed three physical-enhancement type fruits over the past weeks.
With military discipline backing his supernatural enhancement, he stepped forward to engage Jack directly—conjured hammer versus enhanced fists, neither man giving an inch of ground.
Meanwhile, the rest of the battle erupted into chaos:
Jack kept conjuring massive sledgehammers from thin air, swinging them with brutal force that could crush concrete.
Nina used her telekinesis to hurl heavy debris—ripping street signs and chunks of pavement from the ground to use as projectiles.
The clash between the two factions was violent, loud, and desperate.
But within minutes, the tide was already becoming clear.
The battle surged violently across the park grounds—
But within just five minutes, the armed team had gained a decisive, almost embarrassing advantage.
Thirty superpowered individuals sounded impressive on paper...
But in brutal reality, most of them were basically amateurs with special abilities:
Basic, low-tier powers. Zero formal training. Absolutely no discipline. No tactical awareness whatsoever.
They'd assumed that simply becoming superpowered made them transcendent beings, above normal humans, unstoppable.
They were catastrophically wrong.
A trained, organized military force—especially one with its own ability users integrated into proper tactical doctrine—was operating on an entirely different level.
Under the captain's leadership, the squad dismantled the attackers methodically and efficiently.
Some ability users were pinned down by suppressing fire. Some were disarmed before they could fully activate their powers. Some were beaten down through coordinated team tactics that exploited their lack of combat experience.
It was less a battle and more a demonstration of why training and discipline mattered.
The research scientists huddled together near the Ability Tree, terrified by the violence erupting around them.
One of the younger professors whispered nervously: "Dean Elizabeth, what should we—should we evacuate? Run?"
The beautiful woman didn't even look up from her sample analysis.
Her name was Elizabeth—Dean of the entire research team despite being younger than most of the professors she commanded. All fifty experts on her team deferred to her authority without question.
Her voice remained perfectly calm, almost bored.
"Continue the analysis. Focus on your work."
She paused briefly, then added with absolute certainty: "We're not in danger."
Even as explosions shook the ground behind her, even with superpowered gangs clashing violently all around her position—
Dr. Elizabeth didn't raise her head from the microscope.
She remained utterly, completely absorbed in studying the Ability Tree's cellular structure.
As if literally nothing else in the entire world mattered more than her research.
The flaming gas canister attack earlier? That had been Nina's telekinesis at work—a decent opening move, actually.
But now, face-to-face with the armed team's captain—a hardened, square-jawed soldier who'd consumed three physical-enhancement fruits and trained for decades—both Nina and Jack finally understood the terrible truth:
They weren't his match. Not even close. Not even together.
Jack gritted his teeth, sweat pouring down his face: "My hammer can't even dent this bastard... this guy's built like a goddamn tank!"
Nina, breathing hard: "We can't beat them. We need to retreat—now!"
But they couldn't escape.
The captain moved with brutal, economical efficiency born from years of combat experience. He dodged another telekinetically-hurled blade from Nina, seized Jack's massive sledgehammer mid-swing with one hand, and used the momentum to slam both superpowered bosses face-first into the ground.
Within minutes, the entire battlefield fell eerily silent.
The armed team had lost four soldiers killed in action and five more wounded—unfortunate but acceptable casualties.
Nearly all thirty attacking ability users were down, either unconscious or too injured to continue fighting.
Jack and Nina were the only survivors among the attackers... and only because the captain had deliberately captured them alive instead of executing them.
The captain straightened up, keeping one boot planted firmly on Jack's back to prevent any escape attempts, and turned respectfully toward the research team.
"Dr. Elizabeth," he called out, his tone formal and deferential despite the violence he'd just committed. "What are your orders? Should we execute the prisoners?"
Dr. Elizabeth—still wearing her pristine white coat, her glasses reflecting golden light from the Ability Tree—cast one brief, completely disinterested glance at the two captured gang bosses.
"No. Our experimental sample size is currently too small for statistically significant results." Her tone didn't rise or fall, remaining perfectly clinical. "Bring them back alive. They'll be useful test subjects."
She was deciding their fates with the same emotional investment someone might use when choosing which brand of test tubes to order.
"Yes, Doctor!" The captain saluted crisply.
Jack swallowed hard, fear finally breaking through his earlier bravado.
Nina, by contrast, went absolutely ballistic with fury:
"You four-eyed lab witch—what the hell makes you think you can use me as a test subject?!" she screamed. "Try fighting fair if you're not just hiding behind your men, you—"
Dr. Elizabeth didn't even blink. Didn't turn her head. Didn't acknowledge the insults at all.
The complete lack of response somehow enraged Nina even more than any comeback would have.
She wanted desperately to leap forward and tear the condescending researcher apart with her bare hands—
But the restraints binding her wrists were reinforced ability-suppressor cuffs. She couldn't even twitch her fingers, let alone use her telekinesis.
Dr. Elizabeth ignored both prisoners completely and turned back toward the Ability Tree, ready to resume her research—
"Woosh—! Woosh—!"
Suddenly, without any warning, the previously calm surface of Lakeview Lake began surging violently.
Ripples spread outward. Small waves became larger ones. The water itself seemed to be boiling.
Then—a massive shadow rose from beneath the murky depths.
SPLASH!
A glowing red crocodile burst explosively from the water, its scales glinting like steel that had been heated in a forge until it radiated heat and light.
Twenty feet long. Maybe thirty. Hard to tell when it was moving so fast.
Its head alone stood taller than a grown man.
The captain's face instantly drained of all color.
"Supernatural creature—massive class threat!" he shouted. "Protect Dr. Elizabeth! Everyone retreat to secondary positions—NOW!"
Too late.
Way too late.
The crocodile lunged up the hillside with terrifying speed and bit down on the three nearest soldiers, crushing them instantly in jaws that could probably bite through tank armor.
Gunfire erupted desperately across the defensive line—
Da-da-da-da-da!
Bullets ricocheted harmlessly off the creature's glowing red scales like pebbles thrown at reinforced steel plating.
The beast's natural defense was simply too high. Even the ability-enhanced attacks from the squad's supernatural soldiers barely scratched its hide, leaving only shallow marks that healed within seconds.
"Fall back—coordinated retreat!"
"It's too fast—we can't establish firing lines!"
"Incoming from the left—!"
One by one, soldiers were knocked aside by the creature's massive tail or swept directly into its jaws.
Within just ten nightmarish minutes—
Nearly the entire armed squad was down, dead or dying.
The terrified research scientists tried to flee in panic, abandoning their equipment and samples, but not a single one made it more than a few desperate steps before being overtaken by the impossibly fast predator.
Seven or eight professors vanished into the monster's mouth before they could even finish screaming.
The captain, bleeding from multiple wounds but still standing, threw himself bodily in front of Dr. Elizabeth.
Using what remained of his superhuman strength, he physically dragged her away from the snapping jaws of the creature, putting his own body between her and certain death.
His breath came in ragged gasps. His uniform was soaked completely through with sweat, dirt, and blood.
"Dr. Elizabeth... this is... the only opening you'll get..." he managed to gasp out. "Run! Get to the extraction point!"
He tightened his fists one final time, blood running down his arms—a soldier's last stand against impossible odds.
For the first time all day, Dr. Elizabeth actually looked up from her research recorder.
Her eyes—cold but steady, intelligent and calculating—met the captain's gaze.
The monstrous red crocodile roared again, a sound like tearing metal and volcanic eruptions combined—
Towering over them both, jaws opening wide, ready to end this.
There is 60 chapter Advance, in my patreon. If you are interested can check it out.
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