The Chapter begins with Adam assigning tasks to everyone in his room.
Pratham and Mikasa’s avatars nod in acknowledgnt before disappearing from Adam’s phone screen to complete their assigned missions.
Before leaving, Pratham looks at Ninja.
"You need to find a suitable location for our base," Pratham says.
Ninja bows deeply. Without a word, he teleports away to begin his search.
Back in Adam’s room, Sona and Tayo remain on the bed, their injuries healing rapidly thanks to Tayo’s Gentle Touch skill. Observing their progress, Adam speaks reassuringly.
"I think you both will recover soon," he says.
Tayo and Sona glance at each other before nodding at Adam.
"As soon as you’re well enough," Adam continues, "I need you to approach the other power holders in the city."
Tayo hesitates. "But, Lord Adam, what if people recognize us? What do we do then?"
Adam smirks faintly. "Don’t worry. I’ve made you both invisible to the public. No one will see you."
Hearing this, they exchange relieved smiles. "We’ll recover quickly and get to work," Sona says confidently.
Suddenly, Tayo glances at Adam. "What about Ninja? Have you also made him invisible?"
Adam nods. "Yes, I’ve hidden him as well. But rember, this invisibility only lasts until he engages in combat. The mont he fights soone or is attacked, the invisibility will deactivate automatically. I’ve tested this thoroughly."
Understanding dawns on Tayo and Sona’s faces, and they smile at Adam.
Adam rises from his chair and looks down at Sona. "For now, you both need to rest fully. But rember, once you’re healed, you must complete your tasks swiftly. We’re already running behind schedule, and we don’t know how far ahead the governnt has progressed."
They nod solemnly, fully grasping the gravity of the situation.
With that, Adam teleports back to the abandoned building, his face concealed by a mask. Atlas, still tied to a chair and visibly weakened, waits anxiously. Hunger gnaws at him, but his desperation to escape grows stronger.
The sound of Adam’s teleportation startles Atlas. Seeing Adam appear before him, he clenches his fists in frustration.
"Are you ever going to let go?" Atlas growls, his voice laced with anger.
Adam’s response is calm but chilling. "It’s in your best interest that I don’t."
Enraged, Atlas begins thrashing against his restraints, his power surging. A blue barrier forms around him in a sphere, and he starts loosening the ropes that bind him. Adam watches silently, unmoved by the display of defiance.
Just as the ropes begin to slip, Adam utters a single word: "Nightmare."
Darkness envelops Atlas as he is plunged into a horrific vision.
He finds himself falling endlessly from a mountain, the ground below shrouded in a thick, impenetrable mist.
His screams echo through the void as the terror consus him.
"Please!" he begs, his voice cracking. "I’ll stop! I won’t fight anymore!"
Hearing this, Adam deactivates his Nightmare skill. Atlas erges from the vision, trembling and drenched in sweat. His barrier fades, and his struggles cease.
Adam observes Atlas’s changed deanor and speaks. "It’s ti for you to leave this place."
Confusion flashes across Atlas’s face. "But... you said you wouldn’t let go."
Adam steps closer, his voice dripping with mockery. "Who said I’d let you go? I’m taking you sowhere else."
Fear and frustration surge through Atlas as he retorts, "I’ll never forgive you! The day I escape, I’ll hunt you to the ends of the earth!"
Adam’s voice turns icy. "Do you want to relive your nightmare?"
Atlas imdiately falls silent, cowed by the mory of his tornt.
Adam places a firm hand on Atlas’s shoulder, and with the word Teleportation, the two vanish, along with the chair Atlas is bound to.
They reappear in a pristine, white-tiled room. The walls are spotless, and the air feels sterile. Atlas’s eyes dart around in confusion.
"Where are we?" he demands.
Adam’s reply is cryptic. "A safe place."
Suddenly, another figure enters the room. His skin is a pale blue, and his eyes gleam with an ethereal light. This is UV2, Pratham’s second creation, an evolved artificial intelligence and a high-ranking mber of the dinsional plane’s council.
UV2 bows respectfully to Adam. "Lord, how may I serve you?"
Adam gestures to Atlas. "Keep this man imprisoned here until further notice."
UV2 bows again. "As you wish."
Adam unties Atlas, who glares at him in bewildernt. Before Atlas can react, Adam mutters softly, Negative Title: Imprison.
A red title reading Imprisoned materializes above Atlas’s head. A blue notification window appears before Adam:
_________________________
You have successfully imprisoned a foreign source in this dinsional plane.
This title ensures the prisoner cannot leave the plane and restricts their abilities at the ruler’s discretion.
__________________________
Satisfied, Adam smirks and addresses Atlas. "From today, you are bound to this place. You can move around freely, but you cannot escape."
Atlas’s confusion morphs into fury. "What nonsense is this?!"
Adam points to UV2. "He will explain the rest to you."
With that, Adam teleports away, leaving Atlas to grapple with his new reality.
Back in his room, Adam paces, his mind racing with plans. The Union is beginning to take shape, but the path ahead is fraught with challenges.
His imdiate goal is to establish a secure base and ensure the safety of power holders across the nation before the governnt’s investigation escalates.
Adam’s determination hardens. The Union’s foundation has been laid, but the real battle is only beginning.
The scene shifts to the mountain range where the governnt’s hideout is located.
Logan strides back into the facility, his deanor radiating confidence and excitent.
The soldiers stationed at the entrance exchange puzzled glances.
Typically, when Logan returned from a hunt, his hands were full with captured power holders, his face reflecting disappointnt from battles too easy to satisfy him.
But today, he carried no prisoners, and his expression was one of satisfaction.
The guards salute and open the gates for Logan. Without a word, he enters, the massive tal doors closing behind him.
Inside, a soldier tasked with managing the hideout greets Logan.
"Welco back, Ranger Logan," he says, studying Logan’s unusual expression. "May I ask you sothing, sir?"
Logan nods, permitting the question.
"Did you... kill the power holders?"
Logan’s face breaks into a smile. "No."
The soldier looks even more puzzled. "Then... where are they?"
"They escaped," Logan replies nonchalantly. "Or, more accurately, soone intervened and saved them."
The soldier’s jaw drops. He stares at Logan in disbelief. The idea of soone capable of challenging Logan, a man renowned for his swordsmanship and sheer power, seed unfathomable.
"Who could have stopped you, sir?" the soldier asks, his curiosity piqued.
Logan’s excitent reignites as he speaks. "I don’t know everything about him, but he’s a power holder nad Ninja, a mber of The Union. He gave the most exhilarating fight I’ve had in years."
Shaken by Logan’s words, the soldier imagines a battle fierce enough to challenge the legendary Ranger. But Logan shifts the topic.
"Tell , has anything gone wrong while I was away?"
The soldier snaps back to attention. "No, sir. We’ve been working tirelessly on the detection device’s mass production, but we’re still far from eting our deadlines."
Logan frowns slightly but continues walking deeper into the central hub of the hideout.
The scene transitions to the hideout’s exterior, where a bird soars above the facility. A closer look reveals its glowing blue eyes—Pratham’s robot. It carries two small black spheres in its talons.
Flying directly over the hideout, the robotic bird drops the spheres near the entrance. As they hit the ground, the spheres crack open, and tiny red and black robotic ants erge, scuttling in two neat lines.
These ants are Adam’s creations, controlled by Pratham through his Parallel Processing skill. Their small size makes them nearly undetectable as they slip past the patrolling soldiers and into the hideout through the main gate.
Once inside, the robotic ants begin dispersing throughout the facility.
Twenty ants, ten red and ten black, traverse walls, floors, and vents. A black ant climbs up a wall and stops just below the ceiling.
It anchors itself to the surface, and a small cara on its head activates, sending a live feed directly to Mikasa in the Internet Dinsion.
"I’ve got the first implant," Mikasa reports to Pratham, who remains in deep concentration, controlling the ants. "Live feed is coming through. Nineteen ants left."
The ants spread further into the base, covering every corner.
The black ants focus on surveillance, anchoring themselves in strategic locations, while the red ants continue moving, capable of active reconnaissance.
The ants infiltrate the central vista, a room bustling with manufacturing activity. Dozens of workers operate large machines, assembling rectangular devices the size of a human hand—power holder detection devices.
Pratham directs a few ants to the lift, ensuring they monitor movent between levels. So ants slip through the lift’s gaps and enter deeper into the base, providing a constant live feed to Mikasa.
However, one section of the central vista proves impenetrable: a chamber with glass walls and ceilings, protected by shielding. Mikasa frowns as she observes this from her dinsion.
"We’re blocked from that chamber," she tells Pratham.
Pratham nods. "I calculated this. Penetrating it would have been too risky and increased the chances of detection. But I stationed an ant just above it to monitor from the outside."
He waves his hand, opening a feed from the ant positioned above the chamber. Through the cara, they see six beds inside, each surrounded by large machines.
On the beds lie six individuals—three vampires and three power holders. Pratham and Mikasa study the prisoners carefully, their expressions growing grim.
Among the power holders are three familiar faces: Zora, Hang, and Gus.
The Chapter ends with Mikasa and Pratham exchanging a determined glance, knowing the stakes have just escalated.
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