Ironclad didn't move like a man; he moved like a landslide. Every step of his hydraulic-powered greaves cracked the asphalt of the junkyard. The Rank #15 Hero raised a massive, piston-driven fist, the air around it shimmering with heat.
"Aria, stand down," Ironclad's voice boomed, metallic and cold. "This 'variable' is a threat to city stability. He's going into a containment cell, one way or another."
Aria looked at Kenji, then at the mountain of steel marching toward them. She kicked her staff off the ground, catching it mid-spin as the blue glow reignited. "He's a kid, Ironclad! Since when does the Council authorize lethal force for a student-age unlicensed?"
"Since he hit Mach 1 without a license," Ironclad retorted. "That's not a power. That's a weapon of mass destruction."
The Tag-Team: Blue and Red
Ironclad lunged, his boosters ignited, turning him into a seven-foot-tall battering ram.
"Left side!" Aria shouted.
She moved first, her Blue technique acting as the perfect setup. She dived low, sweeping her staff across Ironclad's ankles. The blue sparks acted like a localized EMP, momentarily jamming the gyroscopes in his boots. He stumbled, his massive frame tilting forward.
"Now, Red! Hit his power core!"
Kenji blurred. He didn't just run; he moved in a jagged zigzag, a lightning bolt made of flesh and bone. He slammed a palm into Ironclad's backplate.
ZZZT!
The red energy hissed against the reinforced plating, but Ironclad didn't even flinch. He spun with impossible speed for his size, backhanding Kenji across the yard. Kenji skipped across the hood of an old sedan like a stone across water, his ribs screaming in protest.
"Physical attacks won't work," Aria panted, sliding back to his side. "His armor is made of a collapse-star alloy. You have to go deeper. You have to hit the Sovereign level."
Tapping the Gene
Kenji stood up, his vision swimming. The "hum" in his chest was no longer a hum—it was a roar. He remembered what Aria said. It's not a power. It's a key.
He closed his eyes, ignoring the mechanical clanking of Ironclad's approach. He searched for that "hollow" feeling he'd felt at the school, but instead of pushing the energy out, he pulled it inward. He imagined every cell in his body as a tiny, spinning turbine.
The air around the junkyard went dead silent. The rain stopped falling, suspended in mid-air by an intense gravitational shift.
"Sovereign... Protocol," Kenji whispered.
His eyes didn't just glow; they turned into twin pools of swirling, liquid crimson. The red lightning didn't arch away from him anymore—it formed a tight, vibrating aura around his body, so dense it looked like solid armor made of static.
The Sovereign Strike
Ironclad paused, his sensors wailing a "Critical Danger" alert. "What is that...?"
Kenji didn't answer. He didn't even seem to run. He simply was in front of Ironclad.
He placed a single finger against the chest plate of the Rank #15 Hero. The red energy didn't explode; it vibrated. At the molecular level, the "collapse-star alloy" began to lose its density. The Sovereign Gene allowed Kenji to match the frequency of the matter he touched and simply... undo it.
CRACK.
A spiderweb of red light fractured the entire chest piece of the Ironclad armor. The shockwave wasn't loud—it was a deep, sub-atomic thud that knocked the oxygen out of everyone's lungs. Ironclad was sent flying backward, not by force, but by a sudden loss of momentum, crashing through three layers of scrap metal before coming to a dead halt.
The Silence
The red aura faded. Kenji fell to his knees, his breath coming in ragged gasps. Blood dripped from his nose, and his skin felt like it was on fire.
Aria stared at him, her staff vibrating in fear. "You did it. You bypassed a Rank 15's defense with a single touch."
But she wasn't smiling. She looked terrified. Because as the dust settled, they realized Ironclad wasn't moving. And the Vanguard Academy drones were already circling overhead, their spotlights locking onto the "Red Blur" standing over the broken body of a National Hero.
"Kenji," Leo's voice came through the earpiece, sounding like he was crying. "You have to run. The Council just upgraded your status. You're not a 'variable' anymore."
"You're a S-Class Threat."