For several long moments, no one in the command room spoke.
It was as if every person present had suddenly lost the ability to use language. They simply stared at the screen, eyes fixed on the unbelievable scene that had just unfolded over Manhattan. The silence was suffocating, thick with disbelief and dread.
Leon had swallowed a nuclear explosion.
That single fact shattered every concept they had relied on to understand power, war, and survival. Their weapons, their strategies, their confidence in human superiority—all of it now seemed laughably fragile.
"I… what are we supposed to do now?" someone finally asked.
The voice trembled noticeably.
Inside the room were the most powerful individuals in the country. High-ranking generals filled several rows, heads of intelligence agencies sat along the conference table, and both the President and Vice President were present. Among them was the director of the nation's most secretive defense organization, Nick Fury.
Yet despite their authority, their influence, and the immense power they represented, their faces all carried the same expression.
Shock.
And on several faces, unmistakable despair.
"We can't just sit here!" someone suddenly shouted. "If nuclear weapons don't work, then we use something else!"
Every head in the room turned toward the speaker.
It was the President.
Under the weight of dozens of strange and almost pitying gazes, the President frowned slightly in confusion.
"What's wrong?" he asked defensively. "Am I wrong?"
A middle-aged man seated across from him sighed and rubbed his temple.
"Mr. President, there are no ordinary citizens in this room. You don't need to give motivational speeches meant for the public. We're all on the same side here, and none of us wants to watch Leon destroy everything."
He paused before continuing with weary honesty.
"But before we talk about action, we should listen to the professionals."
The President fell silent.
He was the most politically successful figure in the country. For decades he had solved crises through speeches, negotiations, and public strategy. Words could restore morale, calm the population, and rally support.
But what he had just witnessed on that screen was not a political problem.
It was something else entirely.
Someone stood up slowly from the conference table.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he said heavily, "the enemy we are facing is unlike anything humanity has ever encountered. His threat level exceeds that of the Axis powers in World War II by a thousand times."
He scanned the silent room.
"So the real question is this… what exactly are we going to do to defeat him?"
No one answered.
The silence stretched on.
Each person sat there, lost in their own thoughts, desperately searching for a solution. Plans and strategies ran through their minds, but every possibility collapsed the moment they imagined Leon standing at the center of it.
He had just devoured a nuclear explosion.
Against that level of power, what plan could possibly work?
Leon had become like a massive mountain pressing down on the hearts of everyone in the room.
After a long time, someone finally spoke again.
"Leon's threat isn't just ours anymore," the man said slowly. "He's a threat to all humanity. This shouldn't be something we handle alone. We should seek help from other countries."
He leaned forward, his expression grim.
"If the United States tries to face him by itself, there's a real chance our country will be destroyed."
Several people nodded.
"He already demonstrated the ability to cripple global financial systems," the man continued. "If he wanted to, he could dismantle the entire world order. None of us even knows what other abilities he might have."
He exhaled slowly.
"And when we finally find out… it might already be too late."
Many people in the room agreed with that assessment.
But another voice quickly raised a concern.
"Even if we decide to cooperate internationally, how exactly do we do that?" the man asked. "Let's be honest—if there's someone like Leon here, other countries probably don't have the strength to intervene at all."
The room quieted again.
Then Nick Fury finally spoke.
"We won't need to beg them," he said calmly. "Once other nations understand how dangerous Leon is, they'll naturally stand with us."
But the President shook his head immediately.
"You don't understand politics," he replied.
Even though the comment sounded blunt, his tone carried the tired certainty of someone who had spent decades inside the system.
"Even if the world faces destruction, politicians will still prioritize their own interests first."
He gestured toward the screen showing Manhattan.
"Leon is inside our country. The damage he causes hits us directly. For other nations, the consequences are indirect at best."
His eyes swept across the room.
"That difference matters."
Several people nodded reluctantly.
No matter how dramatic the situation became, national interests would always come first.
The discussion continued for hours.
Ideas were proposed, rejected, and argued over, but no one managed to produce a viable plan. The deeper they analyzed the situation, the clearer it became that conventional methods were completely useless.
Gradually, a feeling of helplessness spread through the room.
They had built the strongest military in human history.
And now they had discovered an enemy it could not fight.
Finally, someone spoke again with a tired sigh.
"Regardless of the outcome, we should still release the international initiative. If nothing else, we need cooperation to stabilize the situation."
He paused before adding another concern.
"The financial system has already collapsed. If we don't implement effective emergency measures soon, the country might fall apart even without Leon doing anything else."
The room grew quiet again.
While the leaders of the nation struggled to find a solution, Leon himself had no idea what was happening inside that conference room.
At that moment, he was focused on something far more important.
Digesting the energy he had just swallowed.
Although Leon had successfully consumed the nuclear explosion, the massive power inside his body had not yet been fully absorbed. The violent energy continued to surge through him like a restless storm.
From his experience, it would take time to properly digest it.
But Leon wasn't worried.
With the Phoenix Force flowing through his body, processing the energy would take only a few days at most.
He exhaled slowly.
Even that simple breath produced terrifying results.
A wave of scorching air blasted forward from his mouth, forming a fiery gust that tore through the sky for hundreds of meters. The shockwave looked almost like a small explosion.
"Svija," Leon said calmly.
"Yes, sir."
"Tell Jean and Lorna not to disturb me for the next two days."
"Understood."
After giving the order, Leon leaned back in his chair. He closed his eyes and focused his mind inward, mobilizing the Phoenix Force to begin refining the massive nuclear energy within his body.
Before this, he had quietly placed both women into a deep sleep.
Although the nuclear explosion earlier had been unimaginably powerful, the entire training building had been protected by his Phoenix energy shield. On top of that, Leon had frozen the space-time around the explosion before it fully erupted.
As a result, the two women had remained asleep through the entire event.
When they finally woke up later and stepped outside, they found Leon reclining peacefully in his chair.
After Svija explained everything that had happened, both women were stunned.
Jean maintained her usual calm expression, but a trace of complicated emotion lingered in her eyes.
Lorna, however, reacted very differently.
She covered her mouth in shock as she stared at the sleeping Leon.
"God… what kind of person is he?" she whispered.
Her voice was filled with disbelief.
"He can resist a nuclear bomb… and even swallow the energy from the explosion itself. That's completely insane."
Leon was aware of everything happening outside, but he simply ignored it.
Right now, his highest priority was digesting the power he had consumed. If he left the energy uncontrolled for too long, it could become extremely troublesome later.
So he shut out the outside world entirely.
Time passed quietly as he refined the nuclear energy within his body.
Two full days went by in the blink of an eye.
During those two days, the world outside descended into chaos.
Global markets trembled, governments scrambled, and international tensions surged—all because of Leon.
Yet the man responsible for all of it remained completely indifferent.
He paid no attention to the turmoil he had caused.
Meanwhile, the United States formally issued an international proposal calling for joint action against Leon.
But just as their leadership had predicted, the response from other nations was far from enthusiastic.
Several countries simply rejected the proposal outright.
Without clear benefits or immediate threats to their own interests, they had no intention of stepping into a conflict that might provoke a man capable of devouring nuclear explosions.
.....
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