"Boss! That guy in the stairwell has taken out six of our men by himself!"
The squad leader rushed over to the commander, his expression grim.
"According to Hyena's surveillance footage, ordinary automatic weapons are completely useless against him. Even high-explosive grenades can't injure him!"
Hearing the report, the armed leader frowned deeply.
"I didn't expect Luthor to have someone like that at his side," he said coldly.
"Go—have your men bring out the heavy gear and deal with him."
"But boss," the squad leader hesitated,
"aren't those meant for the SWAT teams?"
"Fuck!" the leader snapped.
"If you don't want to use them, why don't you go upstairs and stop that thing yourself?"
"I understand, boss!"
The squad leader immediately gathered eight men and ran to a large box truck. They threw open the rear doors and climbed inside.
Moments later, four of them emerged holding weapons with bizarre designs—straight out of a science-fiction film.
The weapons were silver-gray throughout, resembling enlarged, reinforced automatic rifles.
At the front was a thick barrel made of transparent material, revealing intricate internal components. Rings of special metallic filaments coiled inside, layered one over another.
Two thick conduits extended from each weapon, connecting to a rectangular power unit carried by another armed man.
Once fully equipped, the squad leader led the eight men straight into the building.
---
At the same time, the commander pulled out his phone and quickly dialed a number.
When the call connected, he said bluntly,
"The mission has changed. It may fail."
"Are you joking with me?" an irritated voice snapped from the other end.
"I even provided that thing to you, and now you're telling me the mission might fail?"
"You didn't tell me the target would have a bodyguard capable of wiping out a special-forces squad by himself," the commander shot back.
"No matter what," the voice said coldly,
"the mission must be completed."
"Do whatever it takes. As long as Luthor dies, I'll clean up everything else for you."
"…Understood."
The commander hung up and glanced toward the building, his eyes flickering with calculation.
A few seconds later, he turned and entered the truck as well.
---
Meanwhile, the squad leader and his men rushed up the stairwell.
Between the second and third floors, they finally spotted Lucas Reed.
The four strange weapons had already begun charging. Blue particles raced and collided inside the transparent barrels.
As the particles intensified, the metallic rings sparked with thin, hair-like arcs of electricity.
Seeing the unusual firearms, curiosity flashed across Lucas's face.
"Fire!" the squad leader ordered without hesitation.
The four gunners raised the fist-sized muzzles, aimed at Lucas above them, and pressed the triggers.
As the weapons vibrated violently, brilliant blue-white light erupted from the barrels.
Four beams of energy shot forth instantly.
Humm—
Lucas raised his palm, colliding head-on with one beam.
The other three slammed directly into his body.
The moment all four beams hit, searing energy reactions erupted simultaneously.
The entire stairwell was engulfed in blinding light, followed by scorching heat and shockwaves sweeping outward.
The violent air currents sent all nine armed men flying, tumbling down the stairs along with their weapons.
The energy reaction faded as quickly as it had erupted.
Dazed, the squad leader staggered back to his feet.
Looking up, he saw that the stairwell between the second and third floors had been completely destroyed by the blast.
As the scorching light dissipated, a single figure hovered calmly in the superheated air.
"T-This… this is impossible!" the squad leader cried in disbelief.
He knew exactly how powerful those weapons were—
a single beam could punch straight through the frontal armor of a main battle tank.
Yet this man had taken four head-on—
and emerged completely unscathed.
For the first time, the squad leader truly understood what fear was.
Lucas looked down at the nine men with cold, glacial eyes, like a prison of eternal frost.
He raised his left hand. The light gathering in his palm flashed once—
An energy blast fired.
BOOM!
Outside the building, a deafening explosion tore open a massive hole in the exterior wall.
Moments later, Lucas walked calmly out through the main entrance.
---
"Who the hell are you?"
A distorted, amplified voice echoed from the box truck nearby, sounding like it came from a cheap speaker.
"Just an ordinary person," Lucas replied indifferently.
"Since you won't talk," the voice snarled,
"then go to hell and explain yourself to the demons!"
With a thunderous roar, the truck was ripped apart by an overwhelming force, metal tearing in all directions.
From within, a massive armored figure leapt out and landed about a meter in front of Lucas.
The machine stood over three meters tall—nearly four.
The commander's head sat embedded at the center of the torso.
Calling it a mech was inaccurate.
It was more precisely a large mechanical exoskeleton.
Its overall appearance resembled the Rhino armor from The Amazing Spider-Man, but bulkier, thicker, and far more powerful.
Heavy armor plating covered the surface, while exposed cables and mechanisms at the joints gave it a brutally industrial aesthetic.
"Now," the commander growled, eyes gleaming with bloodlust,
"are you ready to go to hell?"
"Don't you know villains die because they talk too much?" Lucas raised an eyebrow.
Enraged, the commander activated the exoskeleton.
A fist the size of a watermelon shot forward, propelled by jets, smashing toward Lucas with overwhelming force.
In his mind, he could already see Lucas's head exploding like a crushed melon.
Bang!
The unstoppable punch was caught—
by a single hand.
"…That's it?" Lucas asked, tilting his head.
"Bastard—shut your damn mouth!"
Furious, the commander tried to pull his arm back.
It wouldn't budge—no matter how hard he tried.
Gritting his teeth, he launched his other massive fist, roaring forward with explosive momentum.
Lucas simply twisted his body and stepped aside.
In the next instant, the hand gripping the exoskeleton's fist tightened.
The eight-millimeter-thick alloy armor crumpled instantly.
With a light tug, Lucas yanked backward—
The exoskeleton, weighing over a ton, lost its balance and staggered violently, nearly crashing to the ground.
Lucas raised his right hand, clenched it into a fist, and blew gently across his knuckles.
"Careful now," he said with a cheerful smile.
That single sentence sent a chill through the commander's entire body.
He immediately went all out, trying desperately to wrench his arm free.
But Lucas stood there like a nail driven into the earth—completely unmoving.
The scene looked exactly like a child whose arm had been seized by an adult, struggling in vain to escape.