My Life Changed with the Unlimited System

Steve's jaw clenched, and his aura pulsed harder in response. The room felt like it was shrinking. Another wave of pressure surged through the warehouse, rattling light fixtures and shaking dust from the ceiling.

But even in the middle of the chaos, his eyes kept drifting back to Lucien.

Lucien hadn't moved.

He stood at the edge of the warehouse like a man untouched by the storm, hands behind his back, watching the clash unfold with a detached calm. He hadn't flinched once. Not when Dravik unleashed his flames. Not when the shockwaves cracked the ground.

He had walked in without a sound. No energy signature. No pressure. No presence.

It wasn't natural.

'Is it some kind of technique? A cloaking skill?' Steve's thoughts churned. 'Or maybe an advanced stealth technique?'

He scanned the space again.

Something didn't add up.

Lucien was known for never moving without his guards. Mike and Taison were always there, the two deadly shadows that never left his side. Yet now, in the middle of a volatile situation, he was alone.

Or at least, that's what it looked like.

And that was what unsettled Steve the most.

His instincts, sharpened by years of war and survival, screamed at him.

'This is a setup. No one like Lucien walks into this kind of mess alone.'

Whatever was hiding Lucien's presence could just as easily be hiding others.

Mike and Taison could already be here. Invisible. Waiting. Watching. Ready to strike the moment Steve dropped his guard.

This wasn't just a fight against Dravik anymore.

It was a game of patience, positioning, and hidden blades.

Steve's focus narrowed.

He couldn't afford a single mistake. Not now.

Not with predators lurking in plain sight.

"Well, well," Lucien finally said, his voice smooth as silk, slicing through the heavy silence like a knife.

It carried no urgency. Just a casual calm that felt almost insulting, given the violence waiting to erupt.

He stood like a spectator at a show he already knew the ending to.

"A rare sight indeed… this much power gathered in a place like this. But tell me, Steve," he continued, a trace of amusement curling at the edge of his words, "are you really prepared to fight all of us? Right here? Over… sentiment?"

Steve's eyes didn't blink. He stared directly into Lucien's gaze, unflinching.

"I'm prepared to kill anyone who gets in my way," he said, his voice low but packed with lethal weight. "So unless you want to find out firsthand, stay out of it."

The temperature seemed to shift.

Even the air recoiled.

Lucien smiled faintly, but it didn't reach his eyes. "So confident. You speak like a man with no weaknesses."

From behind, Dravik's flames surged higher. Heat rippled across the walls, warping the air as he stepped forward again, slow and deliberate. His body glowed with a dull red light, veins alive with fire.

"You think you're untouchable?" Dravik rumbled. "Let's see how long that confidence lasts… when this place burns."

The pressure of his aura slammed forward.

Steve didn't budge.

Every muscle in his body was like steel, holding firm. Despite the growing threat and overwhelming odds, he never looked away. Jessica and Jordan were still here. Joseph too. Their safety wasn't negotiable.

Backing down wasn't an option.

He could feel the sharp edge of tension in the air. Each breath felt like dragging smoke into his lungs. But his mind stayed clear. He watched. Measured. Calculated. Every twitch of an eye. Every shift in stance.

And even then—his thoughts circled one thing.

What's Lucien really after?

Something didn't fit. The man was too still. Too calm. Mike and Taison were nowhere in sight. And Lucien wasn't one to walk into danger without insurance.

Steve's eyes briefly softened as they flicked toward Jessica and Jordan.

"Get him to the side," he ordered, his voice cutting cleanly through the chaos. "I'll handle this. And I'll get your father."

Jessica hesitated. Her tear-stained face twisted as she looked toward her father, unconscious behind Kaida and Verran, too close to Donald.

"But…" Her voice wavered, her feet refusing to move.

"Jessica." Steve's tone sharpened. Firm. No room for debate.

She looked at him again. For a moment, she saw not a stranger, but someone her brother trusted enough to send in his place. That meant something.

And in Steve's steady eyes, there was no fear.

Only certainty.

He gave her the smallest of nods. "I promise. I'll bring him back."

Jessica blinked through the tears. Then she turned, slipping her arm around Jordan's side and pulling him toward the edge of the warehouse.

Jordan groaned with every step. His face was pale, his skin clammy with sweat, but he didn't stop her. He couldn't. He didn't want to be dead weight.

As they reached the side wall, Jessica stole one last glance over her shoulder.

Her father hadn't moved.

She gripped Jordan tighter.

Inside his spinning mind, Jordan tried to make sense of what was happening. But none of it fit. None of it should have been possible. The pressure. The heat. The way the air cracked just from two men standing.

'What even is this?'

He thought about Ethan. The quiet way Ethan always changed the subject when Jordan asked about how he was able to change drastically. The way he brushed off questions. Jordan used to think it was just modesty. Now… he knew better.

'He knew. He always knew.'

And then a darker thought crept in.

'Has he always been part of this world? This world of superhumans?'

Jordan clenched his jaw. His hand tightened on his phone in his pocket. The text had been sent before they leave for this place.

Now all they could do… was hoping that Ethan would come with the others.

Back in the center of the warehouse, Steve let out a quiet breath. Then, in one smooth motion, he reached over his shoulder.

The hilt of his combat axe slid into his palm.

He drew it slowly. Not with urgency, but with finality.

The blade gleamed despite the dim light, etched with glowing lines that pulsed faintly with earthbound energy—like veins through ancient stone.

He let the weapon hang by his side, relaxed.

"I'll say this once," Steve said.

His voice was no longer just a warning. It was a verdict waiting to fall.

"Let them go."

He met each of their eyes, Lucien's amused smirk, Dravik's burning glare, Kaida's narrowed stare, Verran's barely-hidden worry.

"Or I'll show you," he continued, his grip tightening on the axe, "why my family's art is called Mountain Breaker."

The name dropped like thunder.

Dravik laughed deeply, and the sound felt almost threatening, like the flames on his sword. The fire moved and crackled, creating strange shadows on his heavily tattooed arms.

"Big words," he sneered. "Let's see if you can back them up."

Dravik raised his sword high, flames erupting along the blade like it had been pulled straight from the heart of a volcano. Fire danced hungrily across the metal, flaring with each pulse of his aura.

The heat rolled outward in violent waves, warping the air until everything around him shimmered like a mirage on burning sand.

Every breath became a struggle. The temperature in the warehouse soared.

But Steve didn't flinch.

His smile stayed.

With practiced calm, he raised his axe. The intricate veins along its blade pulsed brighter, earthy energy flowing through it like blood through stone. The weapon came alive in his hands, humming with power that felt ancient and unshakable.

A low rumble spread beneath his feet.

The concrete cracked outward in spiderweb patterns, the floor shifting under the sheer weight of his elemental force. Even the steel beams overhead gave a faint groan, as if the entire warehouse could collapse at any moment.

Off to the side, Jessica clutched Jordan's arm like it was the only thing keeping her grounded. Her wide eyes flicked between the two figures about to collide. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, breath catching in her throat as the pressure in the air grew unbearable.

She looked toward her father, still unmoving, still bound in the middle of the chaos, and her lips parted in a silent plea.

'Please… just stay alive.'

Jordan stood frozen, barely feeling his own injuries now. His pain was real, but his mind couldn't focus on it. Not when two walking calamities were about to level the entire building.

He had never seen anything like this. Not in movies. Not in stories. This was different.

This was real.

And it was terrifying.

Then it began.

Dravik roared. A guttural, bestial sound that echoed off every wall. He surged forward, flame trailing behind him like the tail of a comet. His sword came down in a wide, brutal arc, flames crackling and screeching in the air as they carved through space itself.

Steve didn't move until the last second.

Then his axe came up.

It wasn't flashy. It wasn't loud.

But the moment metal met metal, fire met earth, everything exploded.

A shockwave blasted outward, slamming into the walls. The overhead lights shattered all at once. Dust and broken glass rained from above. The ground quaked as energy tore through the concrete.

Jessica shrieked and stumbled, nearly falling. Jordan instinctively shielded her, his body shaking from the aftershock.

Their ears rang. The air had been ripped apart.

Steve held firm, pushing back against the searing force of Dravik's flames. Sparks burst in every direction as the clash of their weapons escalated, each strike louder than the last.

"Is that all you've got?" Steve asked, his voice low but clear, cutting through the roar like a blade.

His arms didn't tremble. His eyes didn't blink.

Dravik snarled, teeth bared. His flames flared higher, surrounding his entire body in a swirling inferno.

"You talk too much!" he spat, pouring more energy into his next swing.

Steve's axe moved again.

And this time, it wasn't just a block.

It was a counter.

The Mountain Breaker glowed fiercely, then pulsed.

The ground beneath their feet buckled.

A crack split the floor between them like the earth itself recoiling from the strike. Each swing now carried not just strength, but weight. Momentum. Catastrophe.

Dravik's steps grew heavier. Slower. His swings wilder.

Jessica and Jordan couldn't look away. They couldn't move. Their minds struggled to process what they were seeing.

It wasn't just strength. It wasn't just skill.

It was like watching the collision of natural disasters. A hurricane made of fire slamming against an avalanche carved from willpower.

'This… this isn't human,' Jessica thought, her hands trembling around Jordan's arm.

And Jordan, his eyes stayed locked on the two figures in the center of the storm.

'What kind of world did Ethan drag us into?'

But neither said it out loud.

Because neither could breathe long enough to speak.

They could only watch… as the battle between giants raged on.