Location: Explosion Site – Baghdad, Iraq
Time: 4:48 PM
Date: January 23, 2023
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Five criminals emerge from the explosion site with complete calm… each holding bags full of money in their hands.
Criminal 1: "Hah… the bank was too easy to break into!"
Criminal 4 (scanning the street carefully): "The police can't catch us… we're way too powerful…"
Suddenly, from within the smoke, a figure appeared—dragging a black cloak across the ground, as if darkness itself was trailing behind him…
Lucas: "If the police had blood-based magical abilities… they would've caught you a long time ago…"
Criminal 3 (in a cold tone): "Then face me… if you can!!"
Lucas grows furious and charges toward Criminal 3...
The roar of the wind pierces the air…
The shattered street beneath their feet pulses with a mysterious dread.
Lucas clenches his teeth, his red eyes gleaming like blood…
One step forward is all it takes for the world to freeze.
[Ability Activated: Time Slow – 15 Seconds]
Everything slows down…
Even the criminals' breathing floats like bubbles in thick, heavy water...
Lucas doesn't walk… he glides like smoke…
Passing by Criminal 1… then Criminal 2...
And then suddenly…
BOOM!!
A single punch crashes into Criminal 3's jaw...
His neck twists at an inhuman angle…
Saliva and blood explode into the air like a fountain,
His body flies five meters and slams into a concrete wall like a ragdoll!
Time resumes...
Criminal 1 (screaming): "W-What did you do to him?! That was too fast!!!"
Criminal 2 raises his weapon and fires at Lucas...
But Lucas doesn't dodge.
The bullet gets so close… it nearly touches his nose…
In a blink—
His hand wraps around the weapon and snaps it in half like a plastic toy!!
Lucas (in a low, terrifying voice): "Your bones are weaker than your weapons…"
Criminal 5 (laughing maniacally): "Heheeeh! Let's turn up the heat!!"
He slams his hand on the ground…
[Explosion!!!]
The ground splits open, cars flip, a heatwave blasts through the area!
But through the smoke…
Soft footsteps echo… and the black cloak moves with steady calm...
Lucas walks out of the explosion, his face slightly burned…
Yet he smiles…
"Hmm… An explosion spell? Weak... compared to what burns inside me."
[Ultimate Strike Activated – Time Breaker]
He vanishes again…
Reappears behind Criminal 5…
Delivers a kick to the back that shatters his spine, launching him three meters forward as he vomits blood!
Criminal 4 (screaming): "I'll heal him!! Wait—"
But Lucas slowly turns to face him…
"You'll be the last one to heal…
Because you'll be the first… whose will I break."
After all the foolish criminals were taken down…
A heavy silence looms over the area.
Smoke rises from the aftermath of the explosion, the ground littered with collapsed bodies and shattered weapons…
Lucas straightens up, exhaling as he adjusts his black cloak.
From the shadows… a young man appears. Black hair, but with a long red sash…
It's… Shiro.
Shiro (clapping with a smile): "As usual… you don't spare anyone, huh, Lucas."
He steps over the rubble, standing beside him, glancing at the bodies with admiration.
Shiro: "Three armed thugs, one who blows stuff up, and a healer… and you made them look like birds trapped in a ceiling fan…"
Lucas (half-smiling): "Not my fault if they're slow."
Suddenly—
The ground shakes.
A strange roar from afar… something's approaching…
At the end of the street…
A concrete wall explodes from a single strike!!!
A boulder the size of a car comes crashing toward them!!
Lucas shoves Shiro aside, both of them retreating just in time!!
The boulder crashes behind them, triggering a massive dust wave!
From the smoke… emerges a man with bulging muscles and a red tattoo on his face…
Wearing a torn coat and a necklace made of human teeth.
Marco Van.
Marco (voice like a bear's growl): "You killed my comrades… like rats!! You think it's over?"
He stomps the ground…
A rock rises beneath him as he stands on it like a lord of hell.
Marco Van: "I'm responsible for 34 deaths... and I'll raise that to 36 today."
Shiro (whispering): "That's him... Marco Van… the most dangerous man in Baghdad…"
Lucas (eyes glowing): "I've been waiting for him."
[The battle begins!]
Marco grabs a boulder the size of a water tank, and hurls it at Lucas!
Lucas dodges swiftly, but the rock crashes into a building, obliterating an entire floor!
Marco stomps again, pulling out a chain of rotating stone shards that spin around him!
He fires them like rocky bullets toward Lucas at insane speed!
Lucas activates Time Slow, dodging them one by one…
But one grazes his shoulder!
Shiro dashes forward, unsheathing his sword,
And with a single swing—slices a rock the size of a fridge in half!!
Shiro (with a smug grin): "Lucas, thanks for the warm-up. Let me take the main stage."
Lucas: "Alright… you're the dancer, I'm the maestro."
Marco (charging at them with shocking speed for his size): "DIEEEE!!"
He swings a magically charged stone block at Lucas,
But Lucas catches it bare-handed… the ground beneath him cracks from the force!
Lucas (pushing forward despite the pressure): "Heavier than I expected… but…"
Shiro leaps behind Marco and slashes—cutting through the stone armor on his back!
Marco turns quickly and punches Shiro, sending him flying!
Shiro crashes to the ground in pain!
Lucas gets furious… unleashing all his power!
Time slows… again…
He leaps toward Marco's face,
Landing five consecutive punches, the final one cracking his jaw!
Marco stumbles back in shock…
But grins, blood dripping from his nose…
Marco: "Now... the real fight begins. Let me show you what a real monster looks like!!"
He slammed both fists into the ground. The street shook violently beneath him, and the earth began to crack open, as if a volcano was being born out of nowhere.
Glowing red rocks erupted from the fissures, orbiting his body like stone moons.
Within seconds, the molten stones fused together, forming a colossal armor around him—until Marco vanished, replaced by a stone beast over three meters tall, with shoulders wider than a car and eyes glowing like burning embers.
Each step shook the earth. Each breath sounded like a distant explosion.
From afar, Shiro wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, staring at the new form.
"This… this isn't a man anymore… Lucas, don't rush in!"
Lucas lowered his head for a second… then raised it again, eyes burning with unshakable resolve.
"No backing down now… If I don't stop him, who will?"
In a flash—he launched forward like a bullet, tearing through the air with sheer velocity!
Marco turned, grabbing a boulder the size of a water tank and hurling it at Lucas with brute force!
The rock shredded the air, but Lucas ducked beneath it at the last moment, leapt over it, and ran across its surface like a floating bridge!
Once he was just meters away from Marco, he launched into the air and threw a direct punch to the face…
But the stone armor absorbed the full impact!
Marco's body shuddered slightly, but he remained unharmed.
The beast—Marco—grinned.
Then he grabbed Lucas with his massive hand like a toy… and hurled him through an abandoned building.
Lucas smashed through the wall, crashing through several floors before his body finally came to a halt among dust and rubble.
Shiro (screaming): "LUCAS!!"
Marco marched toward the ruined building, each step making stones fall from nearby walls. His voice rumbled like thunder:
"It's over… Your little game ends here."
A moment of silence… then something moved in the rubble.
Lucas slowly stood up, bloodied but still on his feet.
His eyes blazed like an unquenchable fire.
Lucas (voice shaky, every breath burning his chest): "I'm… not done yet… don't forget… I still have three seconds of time-slow left…"
Shiro appeared behind Marco, his voice slicing through the chaos: "Now, Lucas! Do it!"
In a single heartbeat… Lucas activated his ability.
The world stopped.
Sound vanished. Dust froze in midair. Even falling leaves became suspended.
Now only Lucas could move…
like a ghost running through a frozen painting.
He ran up Marco's foot, then his leg, jumped to his shoulder, stood for a heartbeat—then leapt high above his head, and finally…
One strike.
A single punch charged with explosive force.
It pierced the stone armor, tore through it from the inside, and connected with Marco's real face.
Time resumed.
A massive explosion shook the entire neighborhood.
Stones flew. Smoke swallowed everything.
When the dust settled…
Marco was lying in the rubble.
His stone armor shattered.
His face bloodied.
His breath shallow.
Eyes half-closed.
Marco (whispering his last words before blacking out): "This… can't be… Marco Van… defeated…?"
Shiro stepped up, placing a hand on Lucas's shoulder, who could barely stand.
"You did it."
Lucas (with a tired smile): "No… we did it."
At that moment, police cars arrived, their red and blue lights coloring the smoke...
A stunned officer stepped out:
Officer: "What the hell happened here?!"
Shiro (turning to him, exhausted but steady): "Justice… got what it came for."