The deployment chopper cut through low clouds at 300 km/h, rotors thumping like war drums.
Nova sat near the open side door, legs dangling over the edge, wind whipping his new black-and-silver suit. Below, City Q unfolded like a model set someone had decided to smash: smoke pillars rising from industrial zones, fires licking warehouse roofs, distant silhouettes of kaiju-sized monsters rampaging through steelworks and shipping yards.
Genos sat opposite, incinerator ports already glowing cherry-red.
Metal Bat lounged against the bulkhead, bat resting on his shoulder, grinning like a kid on a field trip.
Tatsumaki floated near the cockpit, arms crossed, staring out the front windshield with an expression that said she'd rather be anywhere else.
"Intel brief," Genos said, voice calm over the headset. "Three confirmed Dragon-level entities. Primary: 'Meltdown Colossus'—approximately 80 meters tall, geothermal core, emits continuous radiation and lava plumes. Secondary: swarm-type organism designated 'Corrosive Swarm Queen,' spawning acid-spitting drones. Tertiary: unidentified high-mobility flyer, sonic shriek capability. Estimated casualties already in the thousands. Evacuation incomplete."
Metal Bat cracked his knuckles. "Sounds like a party. Who's taking point?"
Tatsumaki didn't even glance back. "I'll handle the flyer and the swarm. You meatheads can play with the big one."
Nova looked down at the burning city. His core hummed—still holding the post-test baseline at 15× multiplier, but he could feel the hunger for new impacts stirring.
"I'll take the Colossus," he said quietly.
Genos turned. "You sure? Its surface temperature exceeds 1,200°C. Direct contact will test your absorption limits."
Nova met the cyborg's gaze. "That's the point."
The chopper banked hard and descended toward a makeshift landing zone on the outskirts—a shattered highway overpass now serving as forward command.
They hit the ground running.
Tatsumaki vanished upward in a flash of green light, already tearing into the sonic flyer high above. Explosions of telekinetic force lit the clouds like fireworks.
Metal Bat sprinted ahead, laughing. "Last one there buys ramen!"
Genos ignited his boosters and rocketed toward the swarm queen's spawning ground.
Nova walked—didn't run—straight toward the heart of the inferno.
The Meltdown Colossus dominated the skyline.
Eighty meters of blackened volcanic rock and molten veins, each step melting asphalt into glowing pools. Lava dripped from fissures in its chest, where a pulsing orange core throbbed like a second heart. Every roar sent seismic tremors rolling outward.
It turned its burning gaze toward the approaching figure in black.
Nova stopped thirty meters away.
The monster raised one massive arm—fist the size of a house—and brought it down like a falling mountain.
Nova didn't move.
Impact.
The shockwave alone flattened nearby buildings. A crater thirty meters deep formed beneath them. Molten rock sprayed in all directions.
Nova stood at the center—unmoved.
Heat seared his skin, but the kinetic force… oh, the kinetic force poured in like wildfire into dry grass.
Kinetic Charge +240% (single impact)Output Multiplier: 15.0× → 39.0×Thermal absorption detected – converting to kinetic reserveNew Capacity: 420% (multi-attribute overflow)
Steam hissed off his body as rain from earlier fights mixed with molten spray.
The Colossus seemed confused. Its arm hadn't pulped the tiny human. It hadn't even staggered him.
Nova looked up—eyes glowing steady blue.
"My turn."
He launched.
One leap carried him to chest height.
He drove both fists into the glowing core.
Twin explosions of redirected force cracked the monster's ribcage outward. Molten rock shattered like glass. The core flickered wildly.
The Colossus roared and swung again—this time with both arms in a double hammer blow.
Nova met it head-on, palms open.
Impact ×2
The ground buckled another twenty meters. Nearby warehouses collapsed entirely.
Kinetic Charge surging: 840% → 1,280%Output Multiplier: 78.0× (critical escalation)Warning: Body integrity at 92% – structural reinforcement adapting
Nova's suit smoked, edges fraying, but his body held—muscles denser, bones reinforced by the very energy trying to tear him apart.
He grabbed one of the monster's descending arms, twisted, and yanked.
The limb tore free at the shoulder in a spray of lava and rock.
The Colossus howled.
Nova used the severed arm like a club—swinging it with multiplied force straight into the creature's face.
The head snapped back. Jaw shattered. One glowing eye exploded in a shower of magma.
Then he jumped—higher than should have been possible—and drove both feet into the exposed core.
The impact was cataclysmic.
A white shockwave erupted outward, vaporizing the lava pools, quenching fires for blocks around. The Colossus's torso caved inward, core flickering once… twice… then detonating in a blinding orange supernova.
When the light faded, the monster was gone.
Only a smoking, glass-lined crater remained—hundreds of meters across, edges still glowing.
Nova landed lightly at the rim.
Breathing steady.
Threat neutralized: Meltdown ColossusKinetic Charge stabilized at 2,150% capacityCurrent Output Multiplier: 142× (new ceiling recorded)Body adaptation complete – estimated durability now exceeds previous S-Class benchmarks
In the distance, he saw green flashes—Tatsumaki dismantling the flyer.
Explosions—Genos torching the swarm queen.
Metal Bat's laughter echoing as he beat drones into paste.
Nova cracked his neck.
One down.
Two to go.
But the multiplier kept climbing.
And somewhere, in a quiet apartment far from the chaos, a certain bald man was probably wondering why the monster alerts were so loud today.
End of Chapter 8