Chapter 393: Ambush

As Silas stood suspended in air, preparing to unleash his laser assault, Jayden was pondering strategies. He knew he couldn't risk using intangibility right now; he needed his stamina to recover completely. He had to change tactics.

Just then. Silas unleashed a relentless barrage of laser fire from above. Beams of superheated light rained down in a rapid, chaotic pattern. Jayden moved from the spot, transforming into a blur of pure motion. He cut hard to the left, a laser melting a crater into the concrete exactly where his boot had been a millisecond prior. He launched himself off a broken piece of rebar, twisting his body mid-air as a crimson beam singed the trailing edge of his grey jacket.

Silas tracked his movements with terrifying precision, his eyes firing continuous, sweeping arcs of energy that sliced through concrete slabs like butter. But Jayden's evasion was flawless. He weaved, ducked, and slid across the ruined floor, his heightened perception allowing him to stay a hair's breadth ahead of the lethal heat. Then after a while of evading, he decided to attack. It was time to ground the flying bird.

Jayden exploded into a maximum-speed sprint, cutting through the crossfire. He utilized a long, collapsed steel girder as a ramp, sprinting up its length at blinding velocity before vaulting high into the air, launching himself directly at Silas's altitude.

Silas flinched, firing a panic shot straight at the airborne hunter. Jayden forcefully twisted his torso mid-air, letting the beam pass beneath his armpit. Then he reached out with his right hand, grabbing Silas's left rocket boot.

Silas instantly lost his aerial stability, his equilibrium shattering as he began to tilt wildly in the air. "Get off me!" He roared, bringing his right boot up in a vicious, desperate kick aimed straight at Jayden's face.

Jayden shifted his weight, evading the incoming boot. Then he channeled his strength into his right hand and squeezed.

Crack.

The heavy metal casing of the rocket boot buckled and crushed like an aluminum can under his grip. The internal fuel lines ruptured, and the miniature propeller mechanism shattered into a violent spray of sparks and dark smoke.

The sudden loss of the left thruster sent Silas into a chaotic, unguided spin.

Jayden released his grip, dropping lightly back down to the concrete floor, landing in a perfect three-point stance. He looked up just in time to see Silas careen wildly across the ceiling before slamming hard into a massive stack of rusted storage crates, burying himself in a cloud of splinters and debris.

A few moments later, the crates shifted. Silas staggered out of the wreckage, coughing violently and brushing layers of thick dust off his expensive jacket. He looked down at his smoking, completely ruined left boot, letting out a sigh. "Do you have any idea how much those kicks cost me?"

He looked up at Jayden, his avian eyes narrowing with a mixture of irritation and cold calculation. "You know, rumor says the Hunter possesses a terrifying cocktail of abilities. Telekinesis, pyrokinesis, even toxin secretion. Yet so far, you've only used invisibility, intangibility, and speed against me. You're holding back."

Jayden scoffed beneath his mask, his posture dripping with cold arrogance. "You haven't been taking this fight seriously either," he retorted. "You've been playing around since the moment I got here like this is some kind of game. You're acting like a man who's here to assess an asset, rather than fight for his life."

Silas opened his mouth to respond, but before a single word could leave his lips, a sharp, digital beep emitted from the metallic wristband on his left arm. He paused, his eyes darting down to the flashing green light on his console. A dark, deeply knowing smile slowly spread across his face.

He looked back up at Jayden, his demeanor completely shifting into something cold and triumphant. "You're right. I was holding back. But congratulations... the wait is officially over. I'll give you a real fight now. But first, you have to catch me."

Without a single fraction of warning, Silas's eyes flared with an intensity tenfold greater than before.

He unleashed a single, concentrated pulse of laser fire. This shot was entirely different from the previous barrages—it traveled at a blistering, near-instantaneous velocity that completely bypassed Jayden's physical reaction time. Before Jayden could even register the threat, the beam slammed into the center of his chest.

BOOM!

Jayden was launched backward across the length of the hall, his body turning over in the air before he crashed violently into the back wall of the facility. The impact shattered the concrete, spider-webbing the structure.

Silas didn't follow up. Instead, he chuckled darkly, turned around, and fired a sustained beam that instantly liquefied the exterior wall in front of him. Without looking back, he bolted through the smoking hole, escaping into the night.

Jayden dropped to his feet, rubbing his chest. His tactical suit had absorbed the brunt of the laser attack, preventing his flesh from scorching, but the impact had left his sternum throbbing. He gritted his teeth, his eyes locking onto the molten exit Silas had just created. He had completely miscalculated the Pioneer's true offensive capabilities.

"You're not getting away," Jayden growled.

He activated his speed, transforming into a streak of dark light. He tore through the first molten hole, tracked the heavy scuff marks through an inner corridor, blasted through a second structural barrier Silas had breached, and finally erupted through the outer wall, lunging into the open night air.

The moment his boots hit the dirt outside, Jayden skids to a violent halt. His breath caught in his throat.

The desolate, industrial perimeter was no longer empty. It was a completely locked-down combat zone.

Dozens of armored tactical transport vehicles were idling in a massive perimeter, their floodlights cutting through the darkness and pinning Jayden in a blinding crossbeam of white light. Surrounding the facility exit was an entire troop of two dozen heavily armed, black-armored strike operatives. They were perfectly coordinated, wielding advanced kinetic suppression rifles, heavy energy shields, and high-frequency net launchers—all aimed directly at him.

But these weren't black cobra's men. Every single piece of armor, shield, and transport vehicle bore a glaring, polished insignia:

EVA.

Jayden stood frozen beneath his mask, his mind short-circuiting for a split second. He had anticipated a trap from the very beginning, but he had been entirely certain it would be a secondary Black Cobra ambush designed to catch him off guard. Seeing the military force of the EVA standing here didn't make any sense.

His gaze snapped toward the center of the armored formation. Standing comfortably behind a line of heavy ballistic shields was Silas, a massive, mocking grin plastered across his face.

The pieces instantly fell into place.

The realization hit Jayden like a physical blow. Silas hadn't been testing him. He hadn't been playing a game. The Pioneer had been intentionally stalling him, keeping him occupied inside the facility for the exact duration of time required for the EVA to deploy their heavy containment grid and enclose the entire sector.

Jayden let out a harsh, bitter scoff. "So much for a solitary, one-on-one fight." He said.

Silas laughed, leaning casually against an armored transport. "Oh, we did have a one-on-one. And for the record, Hunter, I was fighting you with everything I had. I just knew from the very start that I stood no chance of beating you by myself. I'm a pragmatist."

Jayden's voice darkened, his

eyes flashing with dangerous intent. "You're an S-rank Pioneer. You belong to the highest echelon of the Black Cobra command. And you betrayed your entire syndicate just to become a lapdog for the government?" he scoffed.

Silas's face contorted, his casual demeanor vanishing into a mask of bitter, defensive rage. "The Syndicate is a rotting corpse! They're useless! They sat back and watched while you slaughtered Duke, Tazer, and Frost. They didn't lift a single finger to protect them, and they wouldn't lift a finger to protect me! Black Cobra doesn't care about the lives of their Pioneers. But the EVA... they offered me a full conditional pardon. They're erasing my entire criminal record, and they promised me round-the-clock, maximum-security protection for the rest of my life. All I had to do was act as the worm on the hook to reel you in."

Jayden frowned in disgust. He felt a profound, burning anger igniting deep within his chest. He had actually respected Silas during their martial arts exchange, genuinely believing the man was a brilliant, tactical battle expert who possessed a warrior's code. He had purposefully held back his lethal attributes—his fire, his claws, his poison—because he wanted to understand the man's motivations, holding out hope that he could spare his life just like he had done with Frost.

But Silas wasn't an expert. He wasn't a warrior. He was just a pathetic, terrified wimp hiding behind more pathetic wimps.

Jayden gritted his teeth, his voice dropping into a guttural, terrifying register that made the nearest EVA operatives tighten their grips on their rifles. "I am going to kill you, Silas. I promise you, there is no amount of armor in this city that will save you from me."

Silas chuckled, though he instinctively took a step back into the shadow of the shields. "I highly doubt that. Look around you. You're completely surrounded. And besides... I did warn you that I play incredibly dirty." He turned, stepping toward an open transport truck door. "Good luck, Hunter. My advice? Just surrender. It'll save us all a lot of trouble."

The transport door slammed shut and drove out of the perimeter, taking Silas out of the area and out of his reach.

Jayden stood alone in the center of the blinding floodlights. He activated Dragon Eye, scanning the line of twenty-four men surrounding him. Every single operative was locked at Level 50 or higher, their optimized loadouts designed specifically for high-tier mutant suppression.

But surrender wasn't an option. His family was waiting for him at home. And he would never let himself be dragged into an EVA containment cell.

Jayden dropped into a lethal combat stance. With a sharp, metallic click, his knuckle claws slid out from his gauntlets, gleaming dangerously under the floodlights. He began running complex calculations, mapping out trajectories to blitz the front line.

And if the suppression grid proved too tough, he would throw away the restrictions entirely. He would go full Lycan right here, tearing this entire sector to pieces before he let them touch him.

But before the EVA line could advance, the heavy ballistic shields at the front of the formation suddenly parted down the middle, allowing a single figure to step through the gap as they walked calmly into the empty space of the clearing.

It was a woman.

She stopped just ten feet away from Jayden, her boots planting firmly on the cracked asphalt. She was dressed in a customized EVA commander's suit that tightly hugged her athletic, lethal frame. Her vibrant pink hair was tied back into a sharp, flawless ponytail that shifted slightly in the night wind. Her face was an unreadable, dead-serious mask of authority.

Jayden recognized her instantly.

It was Jenny.