Benjamin set the coordinates. The Ark of Liberation—his impossible, self-created vessel—left the remote island and sliced through the New World, silent and swift. For a mind that processed existence as data, the journey was effortless. His goal wasn't just to extract the remaining slaves; it was to perform a surgical removal that left the World Government no credible narrative of conspiracy or mole involvement. This had to look like a supernatural theft.
However, the World Government was paranoid, and the waters around the Red Line were now a coiled fist of military vigilance.
The Ark's stealth was absolute, but the sheer volume of Marine forces meant inevitable proximity. Benjamin's Extended Chronal Field registered the danger hours before it was visible: a three-ship Marine squadron led by a high-ranking Vice Admiral, waiting near a strategic choke point disguised by heavy fog. They weren't hunting pirates; they were hunting anomalies.
Benjamin didn't deviate. He needed to test the Ark and his 3% capability against a legitimate threat.
The squadron materialized from the fog, led by Vice Admiral "Iron" Bastille, identifiable by his large, horned helmet and his famous sword. Bastille, having received intelligence of an "unknown, fast-moving vessel," didn't issue a warning. He ordered immediate fire.
Three ships unleashed a coordinated barrage of cannonballs and heavy artillery—a crushing weight of iron and steel designed to shatter anything in its path.
Benjamin remained impassive on the deck of the Ark, the incoming projectiles a slow-motion study in the Chronal Field of his mind. He saw the precise trajectory, the kinetic energy, and the exact moment each shell would impact the ship's hull.
He didn't rely on the Ark's hull. This was a demonstration.
With a cold, precise focus, Benjamin extended his hand. He used Sustained Energy Projection to create a single, massive force field—not a bubble, but a perfectly smooth, planar wall of shimmering blue light that materialized fifty feet ahead of the Ark.
The force of the barrage was enormous. When the cannonballs struck the field, they didn't penetrate; they liquefied. The kinetic energy was instantly converted into heat, and the solid iron payloads exploded into harmless clouds of superheated steam.
The force field held, unyielding.
Bastille was stunned. "It's an invisible barrier! It neutralized the artillery! Prepare the cutters!"
As the Marines prepared specialized armor-piercing shells, Benjamin initiated his counter-measure, designed not to kill, but to incapacitate and demoralize.
Benjamin calculated the exact amount of power needed to disable all three Marine ships permanently without loss of life.
He focused his Precise Energy Manipulation into three pinprick beams that pierced the water. The beams traveled to the engine rooms of each vessel and, with molecular precision, instantaneously fused the central crankshafts and transmission systems into solid, immobile blocks of metal. The fusion was so clean that the engine casings didn't even crack; they simply seized, silent and dead.
Next, using Effortless Matter Transmutation, he targeted the ships' rudders. He didn't destroy them; he performed an instantaneous elemental swap, turning the metal rudder hinges into highly brittle carbon fiber. The next time the ships tried to steer, the rudders would snap uselessly away.
Finally, Benjamin used his Stable Matter Construction to transform a hundred gallons of seawater beside Bastille's ship into a single, perfectly formed cube of lead, imprinted with a single, clear message in the Common Tongue: "WITHDRAW." The cube was left to bob silently on the waves as the Ark resumed speed.
Bastille's squadron was crippled. Their engines were dead, their rudders were useless, and they were left floating, utterly disabled, by an attack that had involved no visible weapon and inflicted no casualties. The Vice Admiral stared at the impossible lead cube, his large frame trembling with a fear he couldn't name.
They were defeated by physics.
The Ark sailed past the floating squadron and continued its silent, unstoppable approach to the Red Line.
Benjamin's eyes glowed with the blue light of total concentration. The destruction of the defense batteries in the last mission meant the immediate area was dangerously exposed, but the remaining defenses were now hyper-concentrated. He needed to get inside the mountain without leaving any trace of his passage.
He saw the weakness: a massive, subterranean aqueduct system originally built to divert rainwater. It was heavily shielded, but the materials were simple granite and reinforced steel.
The Chronos-Child piloted the Ark of Liberation toward the base of the Red Line. He used his Precise Energy Manipulation to gently cut a temporary, molecule-thin aperture into the aqueduct's outer seal, creating a silent, liquid-smooth entrance.
The Ark slipped into the darkness. Benjamin was now deep beneath the Holy Land of Mariejoa, ready to execute the second, clean surgical extraction and complete the mass liberation that would shatter the foundation of the World Government forever.