After confirming that Royce would be fine, Jayden headed back for New Winston.
The helicopter blades cut through the evening sky as Jayden stood near the open side door, staring down at what remained of Cloudbridge City.
From above, the city no longer looked like the proud capital of innovation and strength that it once was. Smoke rose in thick spirals from shattered skyscrapers. Streets were torn apart by impact craters. Entire blocks flickered with unstable power grids. Fires burned unchecked in so districts while ergency sirens wailed helplessly in others. The once brilliant skyline now felt like a battlefield carved by wrath.
Yet sothing had changed.
Through the haze, Jayden could see aircraft that were not Sovereign Protocol vessels. These were different in shape and formation, moving in disciplined patterns. They intercepted incoming attacks, fired coordinated counterstrikes, and shielded evacuation corridors below.
Royce’s soldiers.
They were holding the line.
Jayden’s eyes sharpened.
He watched as one of Royce’s fighter units maneuvered aggressively around a Sovereign warcraft, drawing its fire while two others flanked it from behind and blasted its propulsion core. The enemy ship spiraled out of control and crashed into an abandoned comrcial tower instead of a populated residential district.
That single maneuver saved thousands.
The helicopter descended rapidly, shaking with turbulence as stray energy blasts streaked across the sky. The pilot glanced back briefly.
"Landing zone is unstable, Mister President," he shouted over the roar.
"Set down," Jayden replied calmly.
The helicopter dropped toward a partially cleared plaza where Royce’s ground units had established a temporary command point. The mont the skids touched the cracked pavent, Jayden stepped out before the blades even slowed.
The heat hit him imdiately.
Explosions thundered in the distance. Shockwaves rolled through the streets. Debris rained from above.
A squad of Royce’s soldiers turned at once when they saw him.
"Mister President," one of them said, saluting instinctively despite the chaos.
Jayden gave a brief nod, his gaze sweeping across the battlefield.
"How are we holding?" he asked.
"We are pushing them back in sectors three and five," the soldier replied quickly. "But their reinforcents keep coming from the eastern air corridor."
Jayden looked up toward the eastern skyline.
More enemy aircraft were erging from the smoke like chanical predators.
His jaw tightened.
Then the system’s presence stirred within him, not with alerts this ti, but with a quiet, powerful hum. Every attribute that had manifested earlier now felt alive inside him. It was no longer numbers on a scale. It was strength in his muscles. Clarity in his mind. Speed coiled in his nerves like electricity waiting to be released.
He exhaled slowly.
"Fall back to defensive formations," Jayden ordered. "Protect civilians and coordinate with Royce’s air units. I will handle the eastern corridor."
The soldiers hesitated for half a second.
"Alone, Mister President?"
Jayden’s eyes remained fixed on the approaching fleet.
"Yes."
And then he moved.
At first, it was simply a step forward.
But that step cracked the pavent beneath his foot.
The next instant, he launched himself into the air.
The ground exploded where he had stood as his body surged upward with terrifying speed. The rush of wind roared in his ears as buildings blurred past him. He felt no strain. No resistance. Only power.
One of the Sovereign aircraft locked onto him imdiately, its targeting system recalibrating to identify the fast approaching anomaly.
Energy cannons flared.
Blasts shot toward him in rapid succession.
Jayden twisted mid air with impossible precision. Every projectile felt slower to him, as if ti itself had slightly loosened its grip. He angled his body, letting the blasts pass within inches without touching him.
His eyes burned with focus.
Then he drove his fist forward.
The impact was catastrophic.
His knuckles collided with the armored hull of the aircraft, and for a fraction of a second there was silence.
Then the tal caved inward like fragile glass.
The entire craft buckled around the point of impact, shockwaves rippling across its surface before its core detonated violently. The explosion hurled fragnts outward in a blazing sphere of fire.
Jayden did not fall.
He propelled himself through the explosion, flas parting around him.
He looked at his hand.
He had just destroyed a warship with a single strike.
A stunned breath escaped him.
"So this is..." he murmured quietly.
Another aircraft accelerated toward him, cannons charging.
Jayden did not hesitate this ti.
He vanished.
To the human eye below, it looked as though he had teleported. In truth, his speed had surpassed what the battlefield could properly register. He reappeared above the second craft and drove both hands downward onto its top plating.
The ship plumted like a teor.
It crashed through three floors of an already evacuated office tower before exploding inside it.
Jayden hovered for a brief second, his chest rising and falling steadily.
He could feel it clearly now.
His strength had multiplied beyond conventional asurent.
He descended slightly, landing atop a damaged skyscraper.
Below, Royce’s ground forces were staring upward.
One of them whispered under his breath, barely audible even to himself.
"That is the President..."
More enemy units converged toward Jayden, recognizing him as a primary threat.
Six aircraft surrounded him in a tightening circle.
Energy cannons charged simultaneously.
Jayden closed his eyes for a brief mont.
He felt every muscle in his body align.
He bent his knees slightly.
Then he leaped.
He moved through them like a force of nature.
He tore through the first craft with a shoulder charge, splitting it in half. He grabbed onto the wing of the second and swung himself around it, ripping the propulsion system free before hurling the entire engine into a third ship. He caught a fourth vessel by its landing strut mid flight and spun with it before slamming it into a fifth.
The sky erupted in chain reactions of fire and collapsing tal.
The final aircraft attempted to retreat.
Jayden accelerated after it.
He grabbed onto its rear plating and held firm as it surged forward desperately. The engines roared at maximum output, trying to shake him loose.
Jayden tightened his grip.
With a single roar of exertion, he tore the entire back half of the aircraft away.
The front section spiraled helplessly before crashing into an empty boulevard.
He hovered in the smoke, staring at the destruction around him.
He was not tired.
He was not injured.
He felt unstoppable.
Below, soldiers and civilians alike had begun to notice.
In the middle of collapsing streets and falling debris, there was one figure carving a path through the invasion.
Jayden.
He landed again at street level this ti, directly in front of a formation of Sovereign ground troops advancing through armored carriers.
They opened fire instantly.
Projectiles slamd into him.
But they did not penetrate.
He looked down at his suit, faint scorch marks fading almost imdiately.
He stepped forward.
Each step cracked the asphalt.
The ground troops hesitated.
Jayden moved faster than they could track. He dismantled the first carrier by ripping its door off and crushing its interior machinery. He swept through the infantry line with controlled but devastating strikes, knocking armored enemies into walls with force that shattered concrete.
Yet for all the power he displayed, there was precision in every movent.
He avoided unnecessary collateral damage.
He redirected falling debris away from civilians.
He shielded an evacuation truck from incoming fire by physically standing between it and an energy barrage, absorbing the blast with crossed arms before launching himself toward the attacker.
The battle raged on.
Entire blocks trembled from the ongoing aerial war above.
But gradually, sothing shifted.
The Sovereign forces began retreating from the eastern corridor.
Royce’s aircraft pressed their advantage from above while Jayden dismantled threats below.
It beca clear to everyone watching.
One man had changed the montum.
A group of Royce’s soldiers regrouped near a damaged fountain plaza. They watched as Jayden brought down yet another enemy craft, this ti by launching a broken piece of streetlight like a spear straight through its cockpit.
The explosion illuminated his silhouette against the smoke filled sky.
"Mister President," one of the soldiers breathed, this ti louder, filled with disbelief and awe.
Jayden heard it.
He turned slightly toward them.
For a brief mont, their eyes t.
There was no arrogance in his expression. No celebration.
Only resolve...
"This city stands," he said calmly, his voice carrying across the battlefield despite the noise. "As long as I stand."
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