Chapter 443: Battle of Eden Island |
"Vzz—vzz—vzz—"
A red light, the universal symbol of danger, flashed as a piercing alarm blared across Eden Island.
Hundreds of Ascendants living on the island were roused. They poured out from the terraced villas in the residential area and watched in shock as several watchtowers on the island collapsed with thunderous crashes, as if struck by some violent assault.
"What’s going on?!"
"Could it be a cult attack?"
"Impossible. How would they even find this island?"
The Ascendants were baffled. This island was top secret in Suroma; it was hard for enemies to discover. Besides, the Fire Thief Worship Cult had been crippled after being bombed by the Human Consortium and lacked the strength to carry out such an attack.
At that moment, someone spotted a figure approaching from a distance. Although the mask he wore hid his face, his tall frame and long golden hair billowing in the night wind were conspicuous enough for everyone to recognize him.
"Adam!"
This man who had always acted lazy on the island suddenly exuded a shocking contrast: an unabashed aura of killing intent, completely unlike his usual self.
Adam strode toward the crowd and asked, "Mattie, Claire, Alisha, and Little Apple. Where are they?"
Mattie, Claire, and Alisha were his three wives besides Amanda. "Little Apple" was the name he had given to the daughter he shared with Claire.
He felt that, in this world, giving a child a normal name would be abnormal. He would never forget the first time he saw his daughter’s rosy cheeks; she looked like a little apple.
"Adam, you're crazy!" An Ascendant charged forward in shock. "Did you destroy the watchtowers? Do you know what you're doing?"
"I'll ask again. Where are they? If you know and don't tell me, I'll treat you as accomplices."
"You bastard, you're so arrogant. Do you think you're invincible?!" The previously ignored Ascendant snapped. He lunged, hurling a spear that glowed red at Adam.
The spear cut through the air and suddenly halted in front of Adam. The next moment it blasted back, drilling through the attacker's calf!
"Kent!"
"Are you stupid? Don't you know his ability manipulates fields? An attack like that will have its trajectory reversed!" Kent being knocked down terrified the others. They dared not attack Adam. One trembled as he pleaded, "Adam, don't slaughter the innocent. His Majesty had our wives and daughter taken away before, they're not on the island. Threatening us is pointless."
Others chimed in agreeing.
Adam nodded. "So that's how it is."
He had already suspected the people had been moved when he couldn't contact several of them through his items. He had come just to confirm.
Seeing him act like he already knew, the crowd felt perplexed.
If everyone already knew, why make the trip?
Adam then turned and looked at a nearby streetlight. A surveillance camera fixed on his face.
Adam addressed it. "Bruce, I know you're watching. If you're trying to threaten me with my wife and daughter, then I can tell you this now."
He raised his hand and pointed at the hundreds of high-potential Ascendants participating in the Eden Project. His tone was calm: "From now on, everyone on this island is my hostage. If I don't have my wife and daughter back within one hour, I'll kill everyone on the island and destroy the whole island."
The hundreds of Ascendants present were stunned, then erupted into curses a few seconds later.
"What are you saying, you lunatic!"
"Adam, are you out of control? Even if you're powerful, do you think you can take on hundreds of us?!"
"Don't forget we were participants in the Eden Project. We weren't inferior during selection. You're just a bit different in ability!"
"You expect to hold a hundred-plus people hostage by yourself? Dream on!"
There was no doubt the Suroma Ascendants had no intention of cooperating. Many, furious, drew weapons and prepared to use their powers.
One-on-one, none could match Adam, but together they were different. The total Mind Power alone put them on another level.
That belief was soon mercilessly shattered.
Adam gave them a cold glance, then raised his right hand.
Suddenly, everyone felt an overwhelming gravity press down on them! Many went pale and collapsed to the ground, crushed by the force. Those who did not fall trembled all over, barely holding themselves up, with no strength left to attack.
"This… impossible…"
A person in the crowd who could still withstand the gravity managed to speak, staring incredulously at Adam.
"You can manipulate such a large-area, high-magnitude gravity field… how… your Mind Power…"
Adam withdrew the gravity field. Everyone gasped for breath, staring at him with a mix of terror and disbelief, unable to comprehend when he had become so strong.
A low voice came over the island's loudspeakers.
"Adam, you disappoint me."
At that sound, those Adam had taken hostage felt a savior had arrived.
"It's His Majesty the King!"
"Your Majesty, Adam is going to kill us, please stop him!"
Their shouts did not earn a reply from King Bruce. He ignored the pleas and spoke only to Adam.
"From the moment you disobeyed my order and came to this island, you became a traitor. The note I left was your last chance, and you squandered it."
Bruce's low voice was devoid of emotion, like a dry statement.
"I, Igno Bruce, King of the Suroma Empire, will not negotiate with a traitor."
When Bruce's words ended, everyone was stunned, even Adam looked taken aback.
He had assumed the Ascendants painstakingly cultivated here had value enough to exchange for his wife and daughter. He had not expected this result.
Adam could not restrain himself and accused, "Are you going to abandon all the Eden Project seeds?!"
Those who had regained their senses broke down emotionally. Bruce's choice was an utter disdain for their worth. They shouted hoarsely at the king.
"Your Majesty, what are you saying? We're Ascendants with extremely high initial Mind Power upper limits, the most gifted batch. How can you abandon us!"
"Are those women worth more than a hundred of us? What are you thinking, Your Majesty!"
No one could understand Bruce's reasoning. It seemed like a foolish decision.
Then another voice sounded—an old voice, trembling with barely contained excitement.
"We already have the fruit. Why bother with the seeds? But Adam, you're still too naive if you think such tactics can threaten His Majesty."
"Who are you?" Adam asked. He did not know whose voice it was. Whoever could stand with Bruce had to be someone of great standing.
"Me? Heh, you are the seeds; I am the gardener. I prepare the scissors to trim those who grow unruly. Now the 'scissors' take the stage. Enjoy the show."
After the old voice fell, Adam felt a violent tremor under his feet.
Rumble rumble…
Someone whispered, "What's happening, is it an earthquake?!"
Rumble rumble rumble…
The shaking intensified. Adam looked toward the island center and saw the terraced villas collapse in rows, as if something underneath was forcing its way up.
A sinister intuition rose in his chest. The next moment, a new type of mech, over ten meters tall and never before revealed, emerged from beneath the residential grounds.
Its entire frame bore a crimson paint job and was bristling with weapons. As it rose it pulverized the villas, leaving everyone gaping in disbelief.
"There are war machines under the houses we live in…"
"Why did the king never tell us? Could this be for…"
"To prevent traitors from appearing among us… that must be it."
Those whom Adam threatened should have cheered at the arrival of rescue. Instead, their expressions were complicated; the destroyed villas were the places they slept every day. Bruce's actions might imply he could one day kill them.
Combine Bruce's earlier cold dismissal with the old voice's line—once there's fruit, seeds aren't needed—and the brutal truth drained any optimism.
"Vzz!"
The crimson mech's eyes lit up—it had completed activation. Adam sensed imminent danger and shouted, "Get clear!"
Zzzz—!
With the crackle of ionized air, two red beams shot from its eyes straight at Adam! Those Ascendants who still stood in the center and ignored his warning were pierced the instant the beams touched them, their bodies burned through and they died instantly.
Adam hastily used his field to shield himself from the lasers' assault.
The others realized how deadly this battle had become and scattered in all directions.
The crimson mech maintained its laser barrage while driving its heavy treads, crushing the ground as it closed in on Adam.
Adam altered the gravity field to make his body float back rapidly, but the war machine's lasers locked onto his body and tracked him.
"Try it yourself then."
Adam expended Mind Power to flip the field’s energy.
The lasers fired at him were reflected back by his field!
When the red beams struck its surface, the impact rippled like concentric waves across the armor. Adam's pupils constricted, baffled by this effect.
In the laboratory, watching the battle in real time via monitors, Dr. Haisen sneered. "Ha! This 'Red Demon' was designed with you, Adam, in mind. I specially gave it full-mirror armor. Even if you can reflect energy with your field, so what?"
King Bruce, leaning on a cane beside him, watched the screen expressionlessly. "Dr. Haisen, you must have put a lot of thought into this."
"Of course. The Red Demon is the product of nearly a year of my effort," Dr. Haisen said, then added, "But mainly it’s because His Majesty foresaw that these arrogant Ascendants would one day betray the state. He had me develop weapons specifically to counter Ascendants. Now it sees use."
Bruce remained silent. Dr. Haisen continued, "Your Majesty need not worry. This Red Demon is extremely counter to Adam's abilities. No matter how much Mind Power he has, he won't prevail!"
On the screen, Adam had indeed fallen into an absolute disadvantage.
Although he could use his field to defend and reflect the Red Demon's energy and non-energy attacks, the reflected attacks did not damage the Red Demon itself.
He tried his signature gravity field, attempting to crush the Red Demon with massive gravitational collapse, but failed.
Dr. Haisen, triumphant, watched the Red Demon shatter the gravity’s constraint and launch a jarring heavy-punch that almost pulverized Adam. He crowed:
"I designed a superconducting magnetic system inside the mech to use magnetic levitation to counteract Adam's gravity collapse. Unless he can maintain dozens or hundreds of times gravity indefinitely, he simply can't restrain the Red Demon!"
Bruce nodded; he was satisfied with the Red Demon's battlefield performance.
He could see Adam had no way to win. Adam's current resistance was only temporary. Once his Mind Power ran out, he would be dead.
Bruce lost interest and turned to leave. "Dr. Haisen, do not let him leave alive."
"Rest assured. The Red Demon's maiden sortie must draw blood."
After Bruce left, Dr. Haisen poured himself a cup of coffee, eager to watch the Red Demon finish Adam off.
He took one sip, but then the screen suddenly went black.
What was happening?
He set the coffee down and switched to other Eden Island surveillance feeds, only to find they were all inaccessible.
"Electromagnetic interference? From where?"
Dr. Haisen immediately sat at the satellite terminal to pull satellite data.
On Eden Island, Adam felt his defensive field fracturing under the Red Demon's barrage and a sliver of despair crept in.
Against a creation built specifically to counter him, his abilities were completely constrained. He could not destroy it. In a prolonged war of attrition, even with far greater Mind Power than other Ascendants, he couldn't outlast a building-sized war machine.
He recalled a private message from Shadow and thought the Moon Key's prophecy might be right—this operation's result might have been predetermined… but predetermined to what?
Adam caught several streaks of blue light flashing from the horizon toward various points on the island. A shadow swooped in from a great distance and hovered in the air.
The Red Demon detected the anomaly and paused its attack, seemingly making an intelligent assessment.
"Good, I'm not late." The outer layer of the shadow faded away to reveal Guan Tong clad in Shadow Armor. "Adam, looks like this big guy gave you a hard time."
Adam blinked. He hadn't expected Shadow to appear so suddenly—how did he find them?
It didn't matter. Adam said, "Shadow, help me deal with this iron bastard. I owe you one."
"You don't owe me anything. I'm here to fulfill an agreement with Moon Key," Guan Tong said, his gaze settling on the Red Demon. "Also… this mech looks technologically advanced. I have a friend who'll be interested. I've decided to tear it down and take it back to her."