The damp air of the central water distribution hub hung heavy with the smell of rust, chlorine, and ozone.
Towering industrial pipes—thick enough to swallow a truck—rumbled rhythmically as they pumped grey, recycled water through the veins of Sector 9’s lower rings.
At the far end of the cavernous concrete chamber, a massive steel bulkhead served as the primary access gate to the high-pressure filtration valves.
Standing directly in front of it was District Overseer Gault.
Gault was a man shaped by corporate luxury and brutal efficiency.
Unlike the low-tier thugs who wore rags and scrap metal, Gault sported an immaculate, slate-gray trench coat over tailored ballistic fabric.
His face was sharp, clean-shaven, and utterly devoid of empathy, framed by slicked-back silver hair.
In his right hand, he casually held a heavy, cylindrical device that hummed with a low, bone-rattling frequency—a corporate-grade spatial suppressor.
Surrounding him were two dozen elite Iron Syndicate enforcers, their heavy armor reinforced with stolen industrial plating and armed with high-frequency plasma rifles.
”Let this be a lesson to the stray rats of this district,” Gault spoke, his voice echoing cleanly off the damp concrete walls.
He tapped the humming cylinder in his hand.
“This suppressor locks down all local spatial-kinetic anomalies within a hundred meters. Any punk thinking they can warp through our lines or punch through bulkheads is about to find out what it feels like to be ordinary, helpless meat.”
A harsh murmur of approval rippled through the syndicate enforcers.
They had heard tales of the slime-covered high schooler who had dismantled Barok, but Gault’s technology was absolute.
In a zone stripped of spatial anomalies, brute strength was just a target for plasma fire.
Footsteps echoed from the main entrance tunnel.
Slow, measured, and unhurried.
Gault turned his cold gaze toward the dark corridor.
The enforcers raised their rifles, their sights locked onto the entrance.
Out from the shadows stepped Deku Kwanoh.
His tattered high school uniform was still stained with the sludge and grime of the slums, his tie knotted with military precision beneath a collar buttoned to the top.
”District Overseer Gault, I presume?” Deku’s voice cut smoothly through the humid air, carrying an effortless authority that made the nearest enforcers instinctively tense up.
Gault sneered, lifting the cylindrical suppressor higher.
The device flared with a harsh, violet light, pulsing an invisible wave of anti-spatial frequency across the entire chamber.
”Ah, the legendary stray rat,” Gault mocked, stepping forward.
“You broke Barok’s ego and played games with minor guards. But your little parlor tricks—your micro-warps, your spatial-kinetic shortcuts—they’re dead in the water right now. You are standing inside a total spatial vacuum. You can’t jump, you can’t bend space, and you can’t run.”
Deku stopped twenty paces away.
He didn’t look panicked.
He didn’t even blink.
He simply raised his right hand, curling his fingers into a loose fist, testing the heavy, dense weight of the air around him.
The spatial suppressor was indeed effective.
The familiar, comforting hum of Tier 3 spatial distortion beneath his skin had gone silent, compressed and locked down by Gault’s high-tech gadgetry.
Without his spatial shortcuts, an ordinary person would have been left vulnerable, stripped of their supernatural edge.
But Deku Kwanoh was never just an anomaly relying on spatial tricks.
[Bully System]
Host: Deku Kwanoh
Status: Spatial Suppression Detected
System Adjustment: Shifting from Spatial-Kinetic to Pure Physical Overclocking
A sharp, digital chime rang in Deku’s mind, followed instantly by a surge of pure, liquid heat flooding through his veins.
The system adapted in real-time, channeling the suppressed spatial energy directly back into his muscle fibers, bones, and core density.
Gault saw the teenager standing still and grinned, raising his hand to give the order.
“Open fire. Cut him down.”
Before the enforcers could pull their triggers, Deku moved.
He didn’t warp.
He didn’t bend space.
He simply pushed off the concrete floor with sheer, raw, unadulterated human muscle power.
The ground beneath his ruined shoes exploded into a crater of pulverized gravel and shattered stone with the force of a falling meteor.
In a fraction of a second, before human eyes could even track the trajectory, Deku crossed the twenty paces and materialized directly in front of Gault.
Gault’s eyes widened in genuine, unadulterated horror.
“What—?”
Deku didn’t aim for the Overseer’s face.
He drove his fist straight into the center of the humming spatial suppressor.
CRACK-BOOM!
The impact was catastrophic.
The high-tech corporate device shattered instantly into a million shards of smoking plastic and fried circuitry, the shockwave of the blow blowing out the windows of the water hub and sending Gault and the front row of enforcers flying backward.
Deku stood amidst the settling dust, his knuckles dusted with ash, his posture immaculate as he casually adjusted his tie.
He looked down at the paralyzed, trembling syndicate enforcers, his dark eyes burning with absolute dominion.
”Class is back in session,” Deku whispered coldly, the system humming a victorious tune in his mind.
“And the suppression has been lifted.”