"How's Test Subject 7 doing? What about the gear?"
"Startup complete. The subject is waking up. Ready to gear up anytime!"
Inside a basement lab of the Shiro Psychic Research Center, a chamber slowly opened under the control of nearby researchers.
But instead of the expected Yuriko or her clone, a tall man with spiky blond hair appeared.
After all, Shiro was the most important research center of the Rising Sun Empire, and it had many human enhancement projects—not just Yuriko's.
The boy in the chamber was one of the key test subjects from another plan called "Son of Descent." His code name was No. 7, real name: Cloud.
"It's great that you're awake, Cloud. A powerful enemy is invading Earth without mercy. W
"Where am I?" Cloud asked, still a bit confused after waking up.e need your help!"
While Cloud was still trying to understand what was going on, a girl dressed in a school uniform and looking sweet and innocent stepped forward. She pointed at a set of gear on the lab table and asked him to help.
But despite her cute looks, Cloud—who had sharp senses thanks to his enhancements—felt a strange and unpleasant energy from her.
Before he could think further, alarms rang loudly through the lab, followed by gunfire and explosions shaking the ground.
Still dazed, Cloud put on his gear under the girl's direction and got ready to fight.
As soon as he finished putting on his slightly punk-styled combat suit and picked up a sword bigger than a door, the lab door exploded with a loud bang.
A tall man in a high-collared priest outfit walked in, followed by four heavily armed robots that looked very dangerous.
He was a priest from the Grammaton Clerics, and four elite Destroyer Bots.
"Hmm… another weird test subject. A white guy this time, that's unexpected." The man tilted his head and looked at Cloud, ignoring everyone else in the room.
Test subject? Me? Why…?
Cloud looked around at the lab equipment, a confused look in his eyes.
"Cloud, take them out now!"
The girl next to him suddenly shouted with a twisted expression, pointing crazily at the man.
Cloud's mind tensed up, and before he knew it, he charged at the priest with amazing speed, swinging his huge sword.
At the same time, some Shiro guards around the lab also pulled out energy swords and launched a suicide attack, something unique to the Rising Sun Empire.
But the man didn't flinch at all, even while being surrounded.
To a battle-hardened warrior like him, this was nothing.
Only when he saw Cloud rushing at him through the air did his eyes show a trace of surprise.
Compared to the other test subjects he had crushed on the way here, this one was clearly much stronger—just judging from the speed alone.
—But it still wasn't enough!
In the next moment, the four robots around the man ignored the Shiro soldiers' charge completely. They simply raised their large rotating machine guns and started firing wildly.
The soldiers were just regular Rising Sun Empire troops. Even with some armor, they stood no chance against such heavy firepower. Within seconds, they were all gunned down.
At the same time, the man drew a long sword to face Cloud and his huge blade.
The thin blade clashing against a massive sword the size of a door created a striking visual contrast.
But the result shocked everyone.
The man's sword was completely fine. Cloud's sword, on the other hand, was sliced cleanly in two.
Cloud stared at the broken hilt in his hand, stunned.
The scientists in the lab were also frozen in disbelief.
That massive sword was made with the Empire's best alloy and energy blade tech—it was supposed to cut through warship armor. And yet, it was broken by such a thin blade?
"Looks cool, but totally useless," the man mocked calmly.
Then, in a blink, he rushed toward Cloud and hit the back of his head with the sword's hilt before Cloud could react.
Cloud passed out instantly without making a sound.
"Useless piece of trash! I knew American men were all just pretty but weak!" The girl who had seemed sweet before now had a twisted, angry look. She glared at the man with hatred.
"…Tch. Sounds like you're not too happy," the man said, turning to her.
"Go to hell, Yankee scum!"
The girl sneered and threw a smoke bomb to the ground, vanishing in a puff of smoke.
The man felt something was wrong. His instincts screamed danger.
He leaned back just in time—but still too slow.
A dark, dull-looking dagger lightly sliced across his chest.
And… nothing happened.
"Damn… I got hit… Oh wait, I'm wearing a Vibranium battle suit. I'm fine!"
The man relaxed after the brief panic, realizing his outfit was made from Vibranium, provided by the Cleric Order. The surprise attack hadn't even scratched it.
"What the hell is that blade made of?" A few meters away, the girl reappeared—but now she looked completely different.
Gone was the school uniform. Now she wore a revealing, tight ninja outfit, her eyes filled with suspicion and shock.
Honestly, someone who didn't know better might think she came straight out of an S&M club—it showed more than it covered.
"What are you supposed to be? A ninja?"
The man frowned at her, confused.
As a member of the Cleric Order, even though they could marry and have children, he had been given drugs since childhood to suppress emotions.
He'd also gone through extreme training to destroy any human feelings.
So even when faced with such a seductive sight, he barely reacted.
"Hmph. Go ask your Satan in hell!"
The female ninja snorted coldly and was about to throw another smoke bomb.
But this time, the priest wasn't just going to let her escape.
A glowing energy shield rose around him, and the bodies of the four Destroyer Bots around him lit up with a bright blue glow.
A wave of powerful energy swept through the entire lab. Everyone except the priest was overwhelmed and defeated by it—including the female ninja, who was forced to reveal herself a few meters away from him.
The moment she appeared, the priest's Vibranium sword flashed across her neck, instantly beheading her.
He glanced at the shocked expression frozen on her face and felt nothing but disdain.
"Gather all useful intel and leave no survivors except the test subject," the priest ordered once he confirmed there was no more resistance left in the lab.
Yuri was somewhat interested in the Rising Sun Empire's bioengineering and human experiments.
After all, unlike normal tech, human enhancements often brought unexpected surprises. So before setting out, he had already given the order to collect experimental data.
But all he wanted were the records and the subjects—scientists were irrelevant. He was already the top-tier expert himself.
Following his command, the four Destroyer Bots started gathering data, finishing off the wounded, and cleaning up.
Cloud was the only one kept alive—carried away like a sack of potatoes.
And similar scenes were happening all across the Shiro Psychic Research Center at that very moment.
"Commander, what do we do now? The entire building is basically lost, and reinforcements are gone too!"
In a hidden safe room, a female officer anxiously asked Dr. Shinji Shimada.
When the attack started, the higher-ups quickly escaped into this secret floor, hidden between regular levels.
At first, they hoped the center's powerful weapons and enhanced soldiers could hold out long enough for the empire's backup to arrive.
But the reality was a bitter disappointment.
Across the Shiro Center, all the elite enhancement projects they had pinned their hopes on were crushed by the invaders.
Those strange-looking robots were unbelievably strong—powerful energy shields, ultra-durable metal bodies, and immunity to nearly every attack.
Even Dr. Shimada's most prized creation—ten clones of Yuriko—were completely useless.
Yuriko was powerful, with abilities like levitation, telepathy, mind-reading, hyper awareness, and psychic blasts.
But when facing Destroyer Bots made of Vibranium, her powers were meaningless.
Well… not totally meaningless. Her psychic powers could throw the robots around a bit.
But the problem was—they were made of Vibranium. And thanks to Josh's tip, Yuri had added an energy-absorption feature just like the Black Panther suit from the movies.
All of Yuriko's attacks did nothing but charge up the Destroyers.
And at the end of the day, even though Yuriko's abilities were strong, her body wasn't that different from a regular enhanced soldier. The clones were even worse, full of flaws.
Their psychic energy was limited. After a single burst, they needed a long time to recover. Sometimes, they even risked going berserk.
So in the beginning, Yuriko could hold off the Destroyers a little, but as time passed, she was easily captured by those nearly indestructible machines.
Still, the brief delay in the enemy's advance had, unintentionally, bought them some time.
But right now, Shinji Shimada would rather it hadn't.
Why? Because the news coming in from other regions was even more devastating.
Yuri's assault wasn't limited to Nagasaki—it covered the very heart of the Rising Sun Empire.
And with the military force he now commanded, taking over the entire country was almost laughably easy.
His legion, forged from the combined technologies of multiple universes, was steamrolling the Rising Sun Empire like it was child's play.
Nagasaki only became a key target because of the unique importance of the Shiro Psychic Research Center.
Yeah, what truly crushed Shimada's hope… was exactly that.
With a world-shaking mushroom cloud, Josh's dream of an empire was effortlessly obliterated by Yuri.
Their "great and mighty" Emperor? Gone.
The local forces in Nagasaki? Not even worth mentioning.
Even their ultimate war machine, the King Oni, didn't make it more than a hundred meters out of base before getting blasted into molten slag by a single particle cannon shot from Yuri's warship.
And the ace up their sleeve, the Shogun Executioner, only took fifty steps more before getting wrecked.
"You forced my hand... Now, I'll have to unleash that devil!"
After a long silence, Shimada's expression twisted in rage. He pulled out a hidden remote and pressed the button he'd kept untouched until now.
In the deepest level of the Shiro Psychic Research Center—long shrouded in darkness—the lights of a sealed lab suddenly lit up.
Within a special containment pod, a figure slowly opened her eyes.
Brilliant blue light flared in her gaze.
The very next moment, the entire reinforced Shiro building exploded outward in a massive, unseen shockwave!
The sheer force of it immediately caught Yuri's attention aboard his flagship, where he had been calmly monitoring the battlefield.
"…Shit! My Clerics!"
Yuri's expression darkened as he watched the building blow apart.
The Destroyer Bots were no big deal—worst case, they can be rebuilt.
But the Clerics?
They might not survive a blast like that, even with Vibranium suits.
"Status of the Clerics?" Yuri demanded.
"Most of them have completed their missions and returned. There were about fifteen still in the building," came the report.
Yuri's tense expression eased a little. Losing fifteen was acceptable.
Then, his gaze turned back to the smoldering ruins of the Shiro complex.
That power… was it from the original Yuriko?
Incredible.
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