After safely escorting the family into the fortified safe house, Sophia wasted no ti.
Her figure blurred as she launched herself back into the heart of battle, her heart pounding with urgency.
anwhile, high above the burning skies of the Lancaster Estate, a titanic clash was underway.
Two figures moved like forces of nature:
One was Richard Lancaster, patriarch of the Lancaster family — known across the Main World as the Master of Explosions.
The other...was sothing else. Sothing different. Sothing far more dangerous than the swarming creatures below.
This Sentinel, as it was called, stood out imdiately.
It wasn't a dread beast. It wasn't mindless.
It had two muscular arms, a powerful, almost humanlike fra, and it radiated pure nace.
Where the others were savage, this one was calculated.
Worse yet, it matched Richard blow for blow.
At a distance, standing atop a broken tower, the villain Mireveil watched the clash unfold without lifting a finger.
His voice cut across the chaos, mocking and smug:
"Bring out the boy, and all this ends! Why fight so hard for soone that does not even carry your blood, Lancaster?"
Richard's face tightened with anger.
"Enough."
Without hesitation, he hurled a searing explosion at Mireveil.
But before it could reach him, the Sentinel teleported, appearing instantly between Mireveil and the attack.
The explosion engulfed the creature in smoke and fire—
—only for the Sentinel to erge completely unhard.
Richard clicked his tongue in frustration as Mireveil laughed, his voice like nails dragging across iron.
"How many tis have you tried this tactic?" Mireveil taunted.
"You should know by now... your attacks can't touch as long as the Sentinel breathes. So bring out the boy, Lancaster. End this foolishness."
Richard's mind raced.
The Sentinel wasn't like the others.
It absorbed shock, regenerated wounds, wielded superhuman strength, and worst of all, had a teleportation ability tied directly to Mireveil's safety.
It didn't feel like fighting a beast — it felt like battling another hero.
A soldier, crafted for war.
Why would they deploy sothing like this just for the boy?
It wasn't just revenge for what happened in the Duality Den.
There was sothing bigger at play, sothing Richard hadn't yet pieced together — but he would.
Later.
Right now, he had to survive.
But his hands...
—his hands began to tremble.
He grit his teeth, refusing to acknowledge the creeping weakness gnawing at him.
"I'm running out of ti," Richard thought grimly.
"I need to end this. Now."
ta Essence surged from within him like a violent typhoon.
The ground cracked under the sudden pressure.
The temperature around him spiked sharply as he activated one of his most devastating abilities:
{Dynamight}
In an instant, Richard disappeared — moving at a speed that shattered the sound barrier — reappearing in front of the Sentinel.
With a roar, he delivered a titanic explosive punch to the creature's chest.
The Sentinel absorbed it — but Richard wasn't done.
In the span of a single second, he unleashed a barrage of blows — ten thousand strikes — each one laced with explosive energy.
Blow after blow rained down like a cataclysm.
And with the final, devastating hit, he growled:
"Detonate!"
The Sentinel's chest erupted, a gaping hole blasted through its body.
Without pausing, Richard tackled the creature mid-air, driving it downward, the earth shattering as he slamd the beast into the ground.
Dust and rubble exploded in all directions.
Richard didn't let up.
He descended upon the downed creature with a relentless rain of explosive strikes, each one booming across the battlefield like cannon fire.
The land around them crumbled under the sheer force.
But just as Richard prepared to deliver another blow—
—agony flared through his body.
A white-hot pain he couldn't ignore.
"Not now," he thought desperately.
He pushed through the agony, raising his arm again—
—but the Sentinel caught his wrist.
With inhuman strength, the creature flung Richard through the air like a ragdoll, slamming him into a nearby building, burying him in rubble.
The Sentinel's body shimred — its grievous injuries healing before Richard's eyes.
It let out a terrible roar, shaking the ground, before charging into the ruins where Richard lay.
Richard opened his eyes wide, barely able to react, as the creature ramd into him with brutal force.
It grabbed Richard by the head, dragging him across the shattered ground, tearing up earth and stone in its wake.
It slamd Richard's head into the floor again, and again —
—then raised him high, using him as a battering ram to demolish building after building, shattering stone and steel like paper.
Finally, it slamd Richard into the ground one last ti, pressing its massive foot onto his back.
The Sentinel roared in triumph, its voice shaking the ruins of the estate.
And in that mont—
—another voice cut through the chaos, desperate and fierce:
"Father!!"
It was Sophia.
The Sentinel's head twisted toward her.
Richard, his face pressed against broken stone, forced his battered body to move, his eyes wide with panic.
"No..." he whispered.
Mireveil appeared beside the Sentinel, his grin cruel.
"This is good," Mireveil said darkly.
"If we cannot get the boy from you, Lancaster... perhaps we can get it from her."
He pointed toward Sophia.
"Seize her."
Obeying the command, the Sentinel began marching toward Sophia, its imnse shadow falling over her.
****
There was a ti when Richard Lancaster and his daughter Sophia were inseparable.
Back then, Richard wasn't the cold, distant man he had beco.
He was warm, proud, always smiling whenever Sophia entered a room.
She had been his world, and he her hero.
Whether it was training, working in the family estate, or simply walking through the sprawling gardens, they did everything together.
Laughter had once filled the halls of the Lancaster mansion, father and daughter sharing dreams and plans for the future.
Sophia had adored her father.
And Richard — he had cherished her above all else.
But sothing changed.
It began subtly at first — small monts of distance, words left unsaid, affection withdrawn.
Sophia noticed it imdiately.
At first, she thought she had done sothing wrong.
She tried harder — staying late at etings, excelling in her duties, trying to reclaim the bond they once shared.
But nothing worked.
Then, one day, Richard called her into his office.
She found him seated behind his massive oak desk, a heavy silence weighing over the room.
On the desk lay a marriage agreent.
Sophia picked up the papers, her heart sinking as she read the nas.
Drexel Family.
Johnathan Drexel.
Her hands trembled slightly.
Looking up at her father, she asked, her voice tight with confusion:
"Father, I don't understand. Why would you just agree to a marriage proposal from the Drexel family? If you were forced into it, I'm sure... there would be a way to resolve it."
Richard remained silent for a long, agonizing mont.
Sophia held her breath.
Finally, in a cold, detached voice, he answered:
"I was the one who t them for the marriage."
Sophia blinked, stunned.
"What?" she whispered.
Her voice cracked as she asked again:
"You asked for the marriage yourself?"
Richard's reply was curt.
"Yes."
The weight of the words crushed her.
"But why?" Sophia asked, desperate to understand.
Richard didn't hesitate this ti.
"You are twenty-five and still unmarried.So I decided to give you a hand."
Sophia took a step back, feeling as if the ground beneath her feet was crumbling.
"But I didn't ask for any help!" she cried.
"This should be my decision! You shouldn't be involved!"
Richard's expression was made of stone.
"My decision is final," he said coldly.
"You will be marrying Johnathan Drexel."
Sophia's heart shattered.
Her hands clenched at her sides, trembling with rage, betrayal, and sorrow.
Without another word, she turned, walking away from her father's office.
As she reached the door, a single tear slipped from her eye, falling silently to the polished floor.
She clenched her fists tighter, steeling her heart.
"I'll find a way out of this," she promised herself.
"No matter what it takes."
From that day on, the bond between Sophia and her father was broken.
The arranged dates with Johnathan Drexel were awkward, forced — Sophia would show up late, or not at all.
She didn't care.
Each missed eting sparked another fierce argunt between her and Richard, each one further widening the rift between them.
Until, one night, after a particularly brutal argunt, Sophia stord out of the estate.
---
The neon lights of the city blurred around her as she wandered aimlessly, pain burning in her chest.
Eventually, she stumbled into a small, dimly lit bar.
Collapsing onto a stool, she waved the bartender over and said bitterly:
"Give your strongest drink."
The bartender, used to seeing broken souls, simply nodded, sliding her a glass.
Sophia transferred the credits without another word.
She drank deep, trying to drown the anguish that refused to leave.
And then—
Through the hazy air of the bar, she saw him.
A boy.
Maybe a little older than she was, maybe younger.
He sat slumped at the far end of the bar, golden eyes staring into his drink like it held all the sorrow in the world.
There was pain in those eyes — the sa pain she felt.
The kind that couldn't be hidden.
The kind that tore you apart from the inside.
Sophia didn't know what compelled her.
Maybe it was the alcohol.
Maybe it was the loneliness.
Maybe it was fate.
Before she realized it, she was on her feet, walking toward him.
Leaning slightly against the counter, she offered him a wry, broken smile.
"What's a handso boy like you doing drinking all alone?" she asked.
The boy looked up.
And their eyes t.
And in that instant, sothing shifted — sothing neither of them understood yet.
That night, Sophia t Ethan.
A eting that would forever change the course of her life.
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A/N I will release 3 extra chapters if I get 200 power stones or 100 Golden tickets.
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