"Steven?" Brant's voice, cautious.
But Steven didn't respond. He was still calculating.
He raised his right hand, palm up, and flexed. The bicep contracted, and he felt the force potential, the capacity of the muscle fiber, the dark energy reserves embedded in each cell. He didn't need to test it to know.
His base form, one arm, full punch: approximately 900 tons.
He filed the number away. Moved to the next calculation.
Peak potential. If he absorbed dark energy to maximum capacity, the previous limit had been 3 meters, the point where his body destabilized. Now, he felt it.
3.5 meters.
At that height, with the proportional increase in muscle density, bone reinforcement, energy channeling capacity,
His arm strength: approximately 2,500 tons.
The numbers settled into his mind with mechanical precision. Six times his previous base. Six times the foundation upon which all further enhancement was built. The serum hadn't merely healed him, it had reconstructed his baseline, elevated his floor to a height most mutants never reached at their ceiling.
He finally looked at the group.
His expression was the same. Empty. But a little more relaxed than before. Like something in the set of his shoulders, the angle of his jaw, suggested a subtle shift.
"Everything okay?" Veronica asked, still neutral as always.
"Yes, it's good. But I'm currently still in the emotionless state. It'll take a little more time for the remnant dark energy to wear off." Steven said.
His voice was now deeper. It wasn't dramatic, but the resonance had changed, carrying more weight, and more substance. The vocal cords were thicker, more efficient, capable of producing greater volume with less strain.
He stepped forward, testing his gait. The alley floor, already cracked, crunched underfoot, not from excessive force, but from the simple mass of his movement. He was heavier and more denser now. The dark energy had compressed his cellular structure, making him more durable by default.
"You're taller," Alice observed, still hiding partially behind Veronica.
"Yes," Steven confirmed. "My base form is now taller due to the serum strengthening. My previously baseline was 1.82 meters, now 2.1 meters. It's 15.4 percent line approximately 600 percent volumetric muscle density enhancement."
One who had been observing Steven had a gleam of excitement flash through his eyes.
"The serum worked again. The dark energy integrated it. Your peak —tell me your peak—"
"3.5 meters," Steven said. "Arm strength at peak: 2,500 tons. Base punch force: 900 tons."
The numbers hung in the air. Brant whistled, low and soft. Veronica's eyebrow rose, a veritable explosion of emotion from her.
"That's..." One trailed off, calculating. "That's enough to level a city block with a single strike and punch through battleship armor before the pollution."
"Enough," Steven interrupted.
He didn't need to hear the applications. He was already filing and integrating them into his combat algorithms, his threat assessment matrices. The numbers weren't impressive, they were data. Tools to be used when necessary.
He looked down at himself. The wounds were gone. The shattered arm, the cratered side, the missing eye, the failed liver, the damaged kidneys, the microtears in his heart—all repaired. Not merely healed, but upgraded, replaced with structures that could handle greater stress, output, and pain.
The pain was still there. It was always there. But now it was... different. Deeper, more diffuse, like a background radiation rather than a localized fire. His nerves had been rewired, their sensitivity adjusted, their capacity for signal transmission expanded.
He could endure more now. Would endure more. And when the day came that even this enhanced form failed, he would simply... continue. Because that was what he did.
"What about the house?... Did he escape?." he asked.
Brant blinked. "House?..Steven, you just came out of a cocoon. You were dead for all intents and—"
"Did he escape?," Steven repeated.
Silence, then Veronica answered, because she understood him better than the others. "Nocthar is terminated. The house's secure. Your condition is..." she paused, "acceptable."
"Then we move."
He began walking toward the alley exit, each step precise, controlled, the new proportions already integrated into his motor patterns. The others watched him go, then exchanged glances and followed.
Behind them, the last fragments of the cocoon dissolved into mist, and the alley was left empty. As if nothing had happened.
As if a man hadn't just been reborn.
After an unknown amount of time a tall figure emerged from the corner of the ruined district. He was a broad shouldered muscular man with ash coloured spiky hair. Large larva like veins pulsing with shimmering energy that distorted the air around both his arms. Following behind him was another figure. This time, a female, with slender and almost delicate physique with long flowing dark black hair and a fierce but beautiful facial features.
She wore thin but clean semi transparent layered fabric, revealing the smooth outline of her figure with a sense of vulgarity.
They were Talon and Vanya.
They've arrived ever since the fight for the resident ownership began but refrained from revealing themselves as a form of caution. Guess their cautious nature was what saved them this time. They were very sure that if they've revealed themselves earlier then caught the attention of that Emotionless war machine, the result were not something they could bear. Talon even tried imagining himself again that thing from earlier, and he guessed that his chances of winning were drastically low. He wasn't even sure he could beat Nocthar, so facing a beast like Steven was totally out of the question. He looked around at the devastating caused by the earlier battle with an unreadable expression.
"Even with all the noise and destruction from the earlier fight, none of the residents here came out to observe. It would have been perfect if someone else came out to attack that monster from earlier when he was weakened. We would have been able to reap the final harvest ourselves when both of them suffered mutual destruction".
Vanya seeing Talon's expression thought he was feeling regret because he had offended them without really know how strong they were previously. So she hurridly spoke to redirect his attention from thinking in a negative direction.
Talon, not really understanding her intentions spoke
"Of course, who'll dare come out after hearing the level of destruction carried out here. Everyone living here are strong mutants with excellent hearing and vision. So, even if they don't come, i think they've basically figured out the entire situation. Why would they then show themselves after knowing what caused and why this destruction was caused. No one wanted to offend neither that monster from earlier, nor Nocthar regardless of whether their stronger than them or not. It wasn't worth the meager gains they'll get if they show up."
He continued "I guess we're the only foolish ones here. And we were pretty lucky we weren't caught or else the situation would have turned for the worse. That monster's strength, speed, reaction and energy release are more significantly stronger than both of us combined. So, even if i engage him, landing a clean punch on him will basically be impossible unless he just stood there and allowed me to attack, which is basically foolishness that after observing from the earlier battle, he doesn't seem to possess."
He looked at Vanya, then with a greedy expression he spoke "I'm just thinking about that green liquid from earlier than strengthed the monster. Where did they get it from. We've got to investigate this. How can they hoard such precious resources by themselves. Resources for strengthening mutant are pretty non existent. The only known ones are Armaments and bloody coins. So, where did they get such precious liquid?."