At the same instant, the spear in Zeus' hand had already left his grasp.
Zzzzzzt!
The spear of lightning tore through the sky.
Yet, just as it was about to strike the despairing Bat and the Enderman—
Shhhhk!
An indescribable spatial ripple erupted without warning in front of the Enderman.
Space itself seemed torn apart by an invisible hand.
A titanic black silhouette thirty metres tall descended out of nowhere, reeking of slaughter and Frost.
Boom!
The spear slammed into the suddenly-appeared shadow.
All it did was raise a puny spark on the creature's hard green scales before vanishing.
"What?"
Zeus, about to call it a day, jolted to a halt. His pupils shrank as he stared in shock; though the strike had only been a casual Tier-2 level blow, something had blocked it.
The dust dispersed.
A thirty-metre horror stood before him—jagged bone wings on its back, an aura so oppressive it suffocated.
Behind the giant, the Bat and the Enderman stood unscathed in the shadows.
"Tier 4?"
Zeus' brows knitted; waves of shock surged in him. How had this thing arrived?
The stench was unmistakably the sickening rot of a zombie, yet that monstrous frame, those power-chiselled muscles, those eyes gleaming with intelligence and mockery… could this really be a zombie?
"Exactly what Tahlako reported—this kind of monster."
Zeus glared at Steve's Super zombie, lightning crackling over his body, but he made no rash move.
The colossus merely stood there, yet its mere presence pressed down like a weight—useless against him, but palpable.
"What… are you?"
Zeus demanded, voice low.
Steve, controlling the Super zombie, slowly lowered its head, grinned a savage grin at the tiny lightning man below.
Without a word it raised a titanic hand and, facing Zeus, crooked a finger.
Provocation!
Naked provocation!
Hovering mid-air, Zeus looked down at the green monster daring to beckon him, disbelief flashing in his eyes.
"Interesting…"
Fury twisted into a smile; lightning dyed even his hair violet.
"A mere Tier-4 monster dares provoke me? Has this era fooled you into thinking four can rival five?"
"Since you want to die so much, I'll oblige."
Before the words faded he flicked his wrist—no serious effort at all.
Zzzzzzt!
Ambient charge converged, forging a ten-metre spear of living lightning in a breath.
The energy it radiated dwarfed the previous by several times.
A true casual strike of a Tier-5 powerhouse—enough to erase any ordinary Tier 4.
"Go."
The spear became a violet aurora, arriving in an instant.
Against the mountain-piercing blow, Steve's Super zombie showed no hint of carelessness.
"Frost—freeze."
At Steve's thought, the ice ability of his real body burst through the soul-link into the zombie shell.
A torrent of absolute cold gushed from the giant's core.
In moments thick Frost sheathed the towering frame, forming a translucent, glinting armour of chilling ice.
His right fist, in particular, was cocooned in metres of crystal-hard ice.
"Shatter!"
Instead of retreating he advanced, the Frost-caked Iron Fist smashing head-on into the lightning spear.
Boom!
Ice shards and lightning sprayed across the sky.
The blast uprooted every tree for kilometres.
When the dust settled the Super zombie had staggered back several steps, each foot gouging a Deep Pit.
It raised its right hand: the Frost gauntlet had been pierced clean through, revealing scorched flesh beneath, ice still crumbling away.
"Worthy of Tier 5…"
Steve shook the hand, secretly shaken.
"A casual blow carries such ruin; an ordinary Tier-4, even that former Corpse King, would've been crippled or killed outright."
The Fortress, Command Center.
The sudden bloom of Frost on the monitors froze every staff officer.
"I-it's an ice ability? When did this zombie evolve that? Our files never showed it."
When Director George controlled it, it relied purely on brute flesh—no elemental moves at all."
A sharp-eyed analyst adjusted his glasses, enlightenment flickering in his gaze.
"Must be the Chief Commander—this is Director Steve's own ability. Did Director Steve awaken it himself?"
Understanding dawned on everyone; admiration shone brighter in their eyes.
If it was Steve, nothing was surprising.
Battlefield.
Steve steadied himself and slowly straightened.
He did not counter-attack at once; instead he raised his uninjured left hand.
Seeing this, Zeus frowned, lightning gathering anew around him.
"Still resisting? Futile. The gulf between Tier 4 and 5 is an abyss; you've tasted your insignificance."
But the next instant Steve's move left the seasoned Tier-5 powerhouse utterly dumbstruck.
The raised left hand, fingers pressed blade-flat, did not aim at Zeus—instead it stabbed toward his own heart.
Thud.
He drove it in mercilessly.
Blood spattered.
The vicious blow punched straight through his own chest.
"???"
Zeus' pupils quaked; his mind blanked.
What was this?
Losing so he commits suicide?
Some sacrificial rite?
Yet the instant the hand pierced the heart—
Crack!
A dazzling golden pillar exploded from Steve's body.
Mysterious motes danced in the air.
**Totem of Undying – Activated**
Under the rule-bound power, the ghastly hole in Steve's chest closed in the blink of an eye.
A golden film coated him; regeneration and damage-absorption buffs stacked full.
"This…"
Zeus was frozen. Decades in the wasteland, countless kills—never had he seen anyone stab their own vitals just to respawn at full health with buffs.