# Chapter 21: Strength and Arrogance 6200
Clang!
A deafening roar echoed through the atmosphere, as if two massive iron blocks had collided at high speed, producing a tremendous crashing sound that instinctively signaled danger.
The girl named Iron Wall stood behind War Chariot, quietly watching as this old man with snow-white hair but an incredibly robust physique dismantled all the surrounding Soul Puppets into scattered parts with one punch after another.
In the garden area, not all Soul Puppets had gone to the front lines to block them, the invaders. Within certain important facilities, some independent guardian puppets remained stationed, just like the warehouse district they were currently in.
After a rather lengthy trek, the Siberia Squad had passed through the vast farming zone and arrived at the garden area. This process was familiar to them, something they had done many times before. However, back then, they would still encounter attacks from combat Soul Puppets along the way, and they would also try to kill as many nearby labor puppets as possible.
Labor puppets were what the resistance called those ordinary, soulless, superpowerless, and mindless Siberians. Their combat ability was extremely low, but their numbers were immense, responsible for providing material support to the puppets. Generally speaking, when the resistance breached a Soul Puppet plantation, they would kill all the labor puppets to prevent other Soul Puppets from reusing them and quickly rebuilding after they left. Even if they didn't breach it, the resistance would still try to kill large numbers of labor puppets to reduce the plantation's production.
But this time, it was a bit different. When the beam in "Magic Arrow's" hand began to condense, "War Chariot," as the team leader, interrupted her ability release. Recalling the figure of that youth sitting on the giant superpowered puppet, Magic Arrow obediently stopped her routine cleansing behavior. The group ignored the laborers still numbly working around them and directly arrived inside the garden area.
What happened next needed no further discussion. The Siberia resistance squad quickly discovered the superpowered child collapsed in the center of the garden. After leaving behind "Unlocker," "Pegasus," and "Invisible," the remaining four superhumans began to patrol all the buildings in the garden area, clearing out the guardian puppets stationed individually within.
"Captain, there's one that slipped through the net here!"
Not far away, Magic Arrow's voice rang out, followed by the low hum of a beam being fired. Soon after, a somewhat apologetic voice sounded again: "Ah, I've dealt with it, Captain. You don't need to come over."
"Magic Arrow's ability is growing stronger and stronger."
Having dealt with the surrounding guardian puppets, War Chariot, who had been about to move, stopped in place upon hearing this. He nodded slightly and said with some emotion: "She has the highest potential among us. In a few seasons, I'll be surpassed by her."
"Perhaps one day, she can cross that barrier and become a powerful superhuman like the leader."
Then, the old man noticed Iron Wall silently behind him, ready to provide defense. He smiled and patted the girl's head: "Good child, your defensive ability is the most precious. In terms of value alone, only Unlocker in the entire squad can compare to you."
"Mm."
The girl responded softly. Then, she looked at the boxes in the surrounding warehouse area and said quietly: "Do we need to notify the 'leader' and the others to come pick up these weapons and equipment?"
In the warehouse area behind the medical zone, the main door had been smashed open by brute force. The remains of several Soul Puppets were scattered around, oil spilled all over the floor. Inside the warehouse, rows of rectangular metal boxes were neatly arranged on shelves, marked with clear weapon icons.
Swords, spears, halberds, axes, hammers, flails, shields... Melt Ray Generators, Frost Ray Generators, Disintegration Ray Generators, High-Energy Arc Generators... A large number of weapons stored here for use by Soul Puppets.
"No need. The military still has enough weapons. Too many would just make movement difficult. We only need to destroy these weapons."
In response to Iron Wall's words, War Chariot shook his head. He strode with the girl toward the depths of the warehouse area, explaining as he went: "Of course, if there's any high-value weapon—like that 'superpowered weapon' the leader found when we breached the 'Seventh Mine Plantation' last time—it would be worth taking back... That would be a great achievement."
The two arrived at the center of the warehouse area, a small room that seemed to be an office. After destroying two guardian puppets, War Chariot searched this heavily guarded room thoroughly but found nothing. Clearly, a small plantation didn't have any superpowered weapon reserves. The old man had mentally prepared for this. He shrugged, then took a hexagonal prism glowing with silver-blue light from a cylindrical electronic platform at the front of the room and tucked it into his arms.
"The leader always wants us to take back this 'storage unit,' but what exactly is it for?"
The old man muttered to himself in complaint, but he was long accustomed to this kind of work. After confirming that he hadn't missed any spot, War Chariot led Iron Wall to regroup with Magic Arrow and Explosion, preparing to completely destroy this Soul Puppet warehouse.
Meanwhile, in the garden, Unlocker, whose hair was already half white, wiped the sweat dripping from her forehead. Through her soul ability, she had calmed the minds of all the superpowered children in the garden, making these children—who seemed like broken puppets—close their eyes and fall asleep peacefully. Beside her, two superhumans with invisibility and flight abilities stood guard. If anything went wrong, they would activate their abilities and safely take Unlocker away.
But just then, all members of the Siberia superhuman squad felt a chilling sense of crisis.
"It's the Soul Radar!"
An intensely powerful soul signal came from afar, sweeping across the surrounding area for hundreds of miles. Sensing this, Unlocker stood up in terror, trembling as she said: "The Hunter Army... they're coming!"
"How can that be?!"
Beside her, Pegasus and Invisible both exclaimed in disbelief. They said incredulously: "Weren't they lured north?! The last communication said there would be at least three months of peace..."
"When did they come back?"
At the same time, heavy footsteps sounded behind the three. War Chariot arrived with Iron Wall and the others to regroup. No one spoke much, not just out of tacit understanding, but because the situation was so tense that everyone found it hard to speak.
"Let's go see the situation."
As the team leader, War Chariot spoke first. He signaled to Pegasus to activate his ability. The thin superhuman had no intention of conserving energy now. With a faint green light enveloping everyone, the squad of seven flew rapidly toward the edge of the plantation.
Soon, at five times their previous speed, they arrived at the breach in the city wall caused by the explosion. It was roughly here that all members of the resistance superhuman squad could vaguely see the dust rising on the distant horizon, and beneath the smoke, the cold glint of metal.
It was a smoke screen that blotted out the sky, as if supporting heaven and earth, along with countless puppet armies raising dust. An entire puppet army was marching swiftly across the wasteland, trampling over rocks and soil, crushing everything in their path, heading straight for their destination. At that moment, a portion of the army split off, charging rapidly toward the plantation. Watching this scene, everyone floating in midair fell silent. Their faces and eyes were filled with disbelief and panic. After a long moment, Magic Arrow's voice could be heard, hoarse: "God... this number..."
"In the past few years combined, there haven't been this many..."
"And the direction."
The old man at the front clenched his teeth. He had been through hundreds of battles and decades of life on the run, but even so, his voice trembled slightly: "They're heading toward the Great Hills region... That's where headquarters is currently stationed!"
The others had nothing to say... The Soul Hunter Army was the force used by the Soul Puppets to wipe out fugitives like them. Ever since the last time the resistance stormed the Spiral Tower at the World Center and suffered heavy losses, losing countless high-level ability users, they had found it difficult to directly resist the Hunter Army's attacks. Nowadays, the resistance generally used various means to lure the Hunters in the opposite direction, seizing the chance to recuperate.
But now, the lure seemed to have failed, and even those monitoring the Hunter Army's movements had lost contact... Moreover, this time, the scale of the Hunter Army deployed by the Soul Puppets was enormous, and the direction they were searching was so accurate that it seemed they had truly found the resistance's headquarters!
"No, we need to return to headquarters quickly!"
War Chariot suddenly turned around. He looked at the thin youth, who was so frightened he was about to bite through his lip, and said in a deep voice: "Pegasus, take Magic Arrow, Unlocker, and Iron Wall and leave. Overload your ability if you have to, speed back to headquarters, and notify the leader!"
"Explosion, Invisible, we'll stay behind. We can't add to Pegasus's burden!"
"...Yes!"
Uniform responses came. The resistance was, after all, a military organization. Although War Chariot didn't seem imposing, when the old man as the team leader gave a serious order, no one dared to refute. They accepted it readily, even Explosion and Invisible, who were ordered to stay behind—almost certainly a death sentence.
Having made this series of decisions as a matter of course, War Chariot watched as Pegasus lifted the three most promising and valuable ability users into the sky, flying rapidly toward the Great Hills region. The old man felt a slight relief in his heart and couldn't help but sigh.
The Hunter Army wouldn't let any fugitive superhuman escape. A detachment had already separated from the main force to hunt down their squad... This was the only solution.
At least, he couldn't let an old man like himself hinder the survival chances of others more valuable... Invisible and Explosion would have to rely on luck. With invisibility abilities, they should be able to escape the Hunters' pursuit.
Thinking this, War Chariot couldn't help but look up at the sky. Today's sun was still dim, but that didn't lessen the heat in the air in the slightest... But soon, the old man froze, because he saw a familiar figure.
A massive metal ring slowly rotated. On the shoulders of the burly puppet sat a black-haired youth. That child, who had probably awakened his superpower on his own, coldly watched the distant Hunter Army, showing no intention of fleeing.
"Hey, run!"
Having landed because Pegasus had left, the old man immediately shouted loudly at the sky: "Get out of here quickly! That's the Hunter Army, specially sent to hunt awakened superhumans like us!"
"Since you can fly, don't stay! Run as far as you can!"
But neither the youth nor the puppet paid him any attention. They hovered high in the sky, waiting quietly, as if lost in thought and memory.
Through the murky, hot air, Joshua gazed into the distance from high above, watching the puppet army charging rapidly. He could see the observation lenses on the puppet bodies focusing, while the youth's eyes grew deep and distant.
Familiar air, familiar environment. It was as if time had rewound, and he was back in those days long ago, when he was still on Earth, still on the battlefield of World War III.
How many years ago was that? Joshua asked himself. The time in a full-immersion game wasn't synchronized with real time, and combined with the memory fusion from his crossing over, he couldn't be sure how long had passed. But no matter how long, it didn't matter. He would never forget what he had seen and experienced back then.
Fragments of memory, as if buried deep in the wind and sand, surfaced. Joshua silently recalled them.
That was the darkest period for humanity since modern times. Ruthless war swept across the entire world; no country could escape. Humans casually hurled the weapons they had created into others' homes, destroying cities and villages, leveling farmland and pastures. Roaring missiles, even nuclear bombs, streaked by. Most were intercepted by defense systems, but some still reached their destinations—and then smoke filled the air, mushroom clouds slowly rose, and millions perished.
At that time, scorching winds swept across the land, murky dust and smoke drifted with the clouds, haze shrouded the earth. Alternating cold and heat occurred in a small planet's alternating climate. Disrupted military formations clashed with equally chaotic enemies on the battlefield. The rampant use of superweapons caused severe electromagnetic interference, making command systems work intermittently. The overly powerful transport capabilities created chaotic battles where everything became a tangled mess. You could fight enemies from three different countries in Asia in one day, or encounter a fleeing squad of civilians from five countries in Europa.
The air then was just like that of the current Siberia world: murky, hot, filled with filthy dust.
A boy grew up in such an environment. He followed his military parents, moving with the army from place to place. During this time, he saw everything beautiful: refugees in the apocalypse helping each other, establishing self-sufficient settlements in the mountains; patriotic civilians voluntarily providing supplies, wanting to contribute to the army; even enemies worthy of praise, maintaining order, calling for a ceasefire, trying to stop the insane higher-ups from this meaningless mutual slaughter.
But he also saw everything ugly: to fight for resources, friends of many years turned against each other; through the chaos of lawless times, bullies and thugs controlled large groups of civilians, venting their desires on them at will—raping, beating, even torturing and cannibalizing... In the lawless wartime of the apocalypse, kindness became precious, while malice was magnified a hundredfold. Especially on foreign soil, in the enemy's homeland, once ugliness was magnified, it became incurable.
Massacring civilians was one such thing.
The enemy army marched through, leaving no survivors in the villages along the way. The boy of the past followed the army, and amidst the suppressed rage of the soldiers around him, he saw corpses everywhere, blood spilling into every corner. He saw the soil blackened by blood, saw severed limbs and shredded flesh hanging on the ruins of houses. He saw bullet holes riddling the bodies of men and women, strange-colored organs spilling from the wounds, emitting a nauseating stench.
Wild dogs and carrion birds gnawed at the mutilated corpses. There were no survivors, no living people. Maggots writhed in the foul water, pus festered in rotting tissue. A pregnant woman about to give birth had her belly slashed open, and the fully formed infant fell out, its body crushed flat, as if someone had casually stepped on it.
He had never opened his eyes to see this world—that was truly a blessing.
The memories dissipated like smoke. Joshua's eyes refocused.
He heard the voices of the Siberia resistance squad behind him, knew their actions, but the warrior paid them no mind. He gazed at the Siberia world before him, at the rapidly approaching puppet army. Joshua's heart was calm, and he only let out a soft sigh.
He didn't like the act of massacring civilians. He would never agree to it, never accept it. This was a disgust etched into his soul. He didn't like the strong bullying the weak, didn't like violence against the defenseless. As long as he could, he would never allow such things to happen.
Joshua loathed all of this and would never change.
This was a personal subjective stance, not to be altered by any conditions. Even knowing the difficulties of the Siberia resistance, he wouldn't change his opinion or assist them in this regard. In his anger, Joshua had even considered using his own power to forcibly impose his values on the Siberia resistance. He planned to use his strength to achieve his goals, to spread his ideas.
But he wouldn't do that—or rather, he wouldn't do it so crudely. After calming down, Joshua had already thought of a series of countermeasures... He would teach the resistance the correct methods of training superpowers. He would enhance their strength, open up a future path. Joshua would make them strong, make everyone into powerful beings who didn't need to be constrained by "conditions," giving them a way to grow stronger without killing puppets, by awakening them instead.
"Only when the granary is full do people know etiquette; only when clothing and food are sufficient do people know honor and disgrace." With enough food to survive, people could discuss rules of conduct. With enough strength to sustain life, people would understand the use of morality. The reason the Siberia resistance was so struggling was precisely because their strength was insufficient to block the puppet army and establish a stable base. They could only occasionally plunder resources from Soul Puppet plantations and then wander everywhere.
In such a situation, it was impossible to develop a "civilization." The fugitives would always remain fugitives, with no possibility of advancement.
But Joshua could give them that possibility.
On the ground, Invisible and Explosion, who had been about to hide according to War Chariot's orders, stopped in their tracks. They watched the old man stride toward the flying puppet master, wanting to warn him to leave quickly. Helpless, the two could only follow.
All members of this Siberia superhuman squad had been rescued by War Chariot from various plantations and raised by him... War Chariot was like family to them, like a father. They could abandon anyone to flee, but not him. The two were about to stride forward to catch up with the old man and help him remind the puppet master to run.
But halfway there, they stopped, staring blankly at the sky.
Not only Explosion and Invisible, but ahead, War Chariot, who had been shouting loudly, also stared dumbfounded at the sky.
Even in the distance, Magic Arrow, who was rapidly departing under Pegasus's ability, let out a soft exclamation. She turned her head, looking back at the plantation growing smaller and farther away. On her worried and irritated face, a trace of uncontrollable surprise appeared.
Because they saw it—the incredibly brilliant colors.
Jingle... Accompanied by the crisp sound of metal colliding, like bells ringing, large patches of multicolored particles overflowed from various parts of the burly puppet. Red, blue, yellow, green, black, white, silver, gold—countless complex and dazzling colored particles floated beside the puppet, orbiting along trajectories in the air.
"Superpower Units!"
After a brief stunned silence, War Chariot exclaimed. He knew these were the superpower units used by superpowered puppets. As for these objects of unknown material, the resistance couldn't destroy them, couldn't use them, couldn't even touch them, so they had to ignore them. After all, the production of superpowered puppets wasn't large, and each could only load one unit at a time, so there was no need to pay too much attention.
But now, they saw thousands upon thousands of superpower units floating around the giant puppet. They rotated in a highly regular trajectory with a natural aesthetic, like bright stars.
They saw the tall, sturdy puppet move. It stepped through the air, slowly walking forward. Countless superpower units—Steel Particles—began to collide with each other, combine, and finally form six octahedral gems shimmering with strange colors. Their surfaces flowed with marvelous radiance, and one by one, they flew toward the steel ring behind the warrior.
"I always can't help doing this kind of thing... I can never just stand by."
Under the incredulous gazes of War Chariot and the others, Joshua strolled toward the direction of the Hunter Army. He closed his eyes, then opened them again. The structures on the puppet body deformed under the power of Steel Force, becoming smoother and more ferocious.
The warrior gazed at the world before him—the smoke and atmosphere, the hot wind and the army. He smelled the bloody scent of evaporated human blood, and also the metallic smell of iron.
"Arrogance, then. I admit it."
The six octahedral gems, condensed from countless Steel Particles, slowly embedded themselves into the rotating disk. A powerful authority was unified by a force from a higher level. As Steel Force poured in, the rotating Steel Wheel released an incredibly terrifying energy fluctuation. This fluctuation even shook the atmosphere, pushing away all the smoke and dust within thousands of meters, forming a vast, dust-free space.
"Superpower Unit loading... Loading successful!" An imperceptible electromagnetic signal mixed with soul fluctuations transmitted through the atmosphere, but no one except the warrior could hear it.
Come on.