The kitchen doors didn't just open—they exploded outward in a wave of black ink.
Kai stepped into the ballroom, his eyes glowing with a fractured, dark light. Beside him, Vantablack rose from his shadow like a demon made of smoke.
"Kill them," Malice said simply, taking a sip of his champagne.
Pulse, the speedster Sovereign, moved first. To the human eye, he became a blur of blue electricity. He aimed a vibrating palm strike at Kai's heart, intended to liquefy his organs instantly.
But Kai didn't move. He didn't have to.
As Pulse entered Kai's ten-foot radius, the blue electricity vanished. The speedster's momentum didn't stop, but his "Graft" did. Pulse tripped over his own feet, his human nervous system unable to handle the sudden deceleration. He tumbled across the marble floor, slamming into a sculpture.
"My... my legs..." Pulse gasped. The "Speed-Force" in his veins had been replaced by a cold, heavy void.
"You're nothing without the battery, Pulse," Kai growled.
Then came Iron-Cloud. She roared, her skin shimmering into a jagged, organic chrome. She swung a fist that could level a tank.
Kai met the fist with his own. At the moment of impact, his Null-Void flared. He didn't just stop her; he mimicked her. Kai's arm turned into a matte-black, reinforced carbon fiber.
The sound of metal hitting metal shattered the champagne glasses in the room. Kai's fist drove through Iron-Cloud's chrome chest. It wasn't a clean hit. The "Gore" was immediate—metal shards mixed with bone and blood sprayed the front row of the elite guests. Iron-Cloud let out a metallic scream as her "Invincible" skin was peeled back like wet paper.
"Mina! The screens!" Kai yelled.
Mina vaulted onto the DJ booth. She slammed the flash drive into the master port. "Everyone, look at your 'Symbol of Peace'!"
The massive 360-degree holographic screens shifted. The music died.
The footage of the North Sector began to play. The world saw Malice smiling while he crushed a witness's skull. They heard the audio of him calling civilians "acceptable margins."
The ballroom went deathly silent. The elite guests looked at Malice. The millions watching at home looked at their screens.
Malice's smile didn't fade. It grew wider. It became the smile of a man who no longer had to pretend.
"You think they care?" Malice laughed, his voice amplified by the room's speakers. "They don't want the truth, Kaelen. They want to be safe. And I'm the only thing that makes them feel safe."
Malice stepped off the stage. With every step, the air around him began to ignite. The "Null-Pylons" in the room began to melt from the sheer heat of his presence.
"Vantablack!" Kai shouted.
The Shadow Queen lunged. She wrapped her smoky tendrils around Malice's throat, trying to pull him into the abyss. But Malice didn't flinch. He reached into the shadows and grabbed Vantablack by her bandaged neck.
"Darkness is just the absence of me," Malice whispered.
He flared his power. A pillar of white, solar fire erupted from his body. Vantablack screamed—a sound of pure agony—as her smoky form began to evaporate.
"VANTA!" Kai lunged forward, but he was intercepted by a dozen R-nex security guards armed with high-frequency blades.
The Gala had turned into a slaughterhouse. The "Army of Mistakes" had arrived through the vents, and now the ballroom was a chaotic mess of fire, sound-waves, and blood.