My Life Changed with the Unlimited System

Kaida let out a sharp breath and slammed both palms into the fractured ground.

The earth responded like a beast unleashed. Too many jagged pillars and boulders tore free from the floor in a ripple of violent tremors, hurling forward with deadly speed toward Steve.

At the same time, Verran launched himself into the air.

"Take this!" His body spun mid-flight, wind coiling around him in tight spirals before bursting outward as razor-thin gusts.

Blades of compressed air, nearly invisible, hissed through the air like curved knives aimed at Steve's head and chest.

It was a pincer attack with earth from below, wind from above.

'They've decided to join in... But the two of them are nothing,' Steve thought but he didn't flinch.

He stepped forward into the storm.

His axe moved like an extension of his breath, each swing deliberate and efficient. The first boulder shattered against the glowing blade, stone fragments scattering like glass.

A gust of wind slashed toward his throat, but he pivoted, his axe sweeping up to catch it and redirect the flow. Another wave of rock followed but he smashed it apart mid-air. A gust grazed past his shoulder, slicing his jacket, but not his skin.

Each movement was measured. Controlled.

But even as he deflected blow after blow, his mind was still calculating.

'What is Lucien waiting for?'

He swept his gaze through the room between parries. Nothing. No Mike. No Taison. No telltale glimmer of hidden aura or shifting shadows.

Just Lucien, standing at the edge of it all like a ghost untouched by war.

'They're not hiding. He's alone.'

That should've been a relief. But it wasn't. If anything, it made Steve even warier.

Across the warehouse, the floor trembled and dust rained from above. Jessica and Jordan remained near the edge, partially shielded by broken crates and support beams. The chaos around them only deepened the helplessness that clawed at Jessica's chest.

She held tightly to Jordan's arm, her knuckles white. Her eyes flicked constantly between her injured father, still tied and unmoving near Donald, and the battlefield, where Steve stood against Kaida and Verran without flinching.

"Can we really save him?" she whispered. Her voice cracked.

Jordan's hand pressed against the wound in his side, blood soaking through the shirt, but his gaze remained locked on the clash of powers. His eyes, wide with pain, also held a strange sense of wonder. Fear and fascination mixed together.

"I don't know," he muttered, his voice hoarse. "But if we get a chance, we'll take it."

Jessica's brow furrowed. "You can barely stand."

"I don't need to stand to try."

He gave a faint grin, but it quickly faded as another pulse of pain wracked his body. Still, he didn't take his eyes off the battle. Something about it... about the sheer intensity, the elemental power, and the clash of the people in front of him had stirred something inside him.

Jessica turned toward Lucien, standing still in the distance. Her breath caught.

He hadn't moved. Not a step. Not a flicker of energy. It was unnatural.

"Jordan… Lucien hasn't done anything. Doesn't that bother you?"

Jordan's eyes narrowed. "It bothers me a lot."

Neither of them said it out loud, but they both felt it.

Lucien wasn't just watching.

He was waiting.

Donald stood near the edge of the warehouse, his hands clenched and jaw tight.

The battlefield was unraveling. Dravik, his so-called strongest hire, was down.

Kaida and Verran, even when they worked together, weren't enough. Their combined attacks barely slowed Steve.

'Damn it. This isn't going as planned.'

His gaze slid toward Lucien, the only one he could hope to help him.

But Lucien were standing still with his arms folded, leaning against a crooked steel beam, watching the chaos with an amused smile. While Donald's pulse raced with panic, Lucien looked like he was enjoying a private joke.

Donald's lips curled with frustration. He stepped closer, voice low and urgent. "Lucien. Do something!"

Lucien didn't look at him.

The smile just widened.

"Watch your tone," Lucien said, pulling a small silver capsule from his pocket. "You keep forgetting who's really in charge."

Donald went still.

That pill. He recognized it. It was one of the pill that Alexander had shown him, a reward if he could complete a few more shady business of the LaRues in their stead. A pill of power.

"Wait a minute..." His eyes widened, blood draining from his face. "You're not seriously—"

Lucien popped the pill into his mouth and swallowed without hesitation.

The effect was immediate.

A pulse of energy erupted from his body, silent at first, then thunderous. The ground vibrated. The air thickened. Donald stumbled back a step, eyes wide with disbelief as Lucien's aura exploded outward.

It was dark, coiled, and unnatural. It wasn't just powerful. It was wrong.

Lucien rolled his shoulders, slow and loose. The sinister grin never left his face.

"Perfect," he muttered. "This feels so good."

"How... how is that possible?" Donald barely found his voice. "I thought it is not perfected yet."

Lucien turned his head just slightly, just enough to give Donald a sidelong stare that made his blood run cold.

"Let's call it a… family enhancement," Lucien replied. "Be grateful since you get to witness them."

On the battlefield, Steve felt the shift. His arms tensed, instincts screaming. The pressure flooding the warehouse didn't come from Kaida or Verran.

He knew it right away that it came from Lucien.

He looked over just as Lucien stepped forward, each step slow and measured like a predator ready to strike. His aura rolled across the space like smoke laced with static, bending the light and pulling the air thin.

"This must be one of the LaRue wicked experiments," Steve muttered, adjusting his stance.

Kaida and Verran weren't letting up, but Steve knew he had no time left to waste.

He planted his feet, tightened his grip on the axe, and forced the remaining energy in his core to surge upward. The ground beneath him buckled and rose, debris lifting as if gravity no longer obeyed.

"Crushing Divide!"

The warehouse roared.

His axe swept out in a wide horizontal arc. A shockwave burst from the blade. It was dense, heavy, and raw. It tore through concrete like paper, splintered steel, and reached Kaida and Verran in seconds.

"Take cover!" Verran shouted.

"On it!" Kaida responded.

Still, they couldn't react fast enough.

Kaida was hurled into a support pillar. Her earth armor shattered, plates cracking off like stone shells.

Verran was caught midair, flung backward into a tower of crates that exploded on impact. Both of them went down hard, groaning.

Jessica clutched Jordan's arm tighter, her knuckles white.

Jordan, pale and still bleeding, could only whisper, "That… was insane."

But even as he said it, his eyes tracked Lucien.

Steve exhaled sharply. His breath came heavier now. That move had cost him.

'Two more,' he thought grimly. 'No mistakes from here on out.'

His Ascendant Energy was depleting crazily. He knew that he could only unleash the same attack two more times and he would be done.

Across the room, Kaida stirred, coughing as she tried to rise. Verran sat slumped against a wall, face bruised, blood seeping from above his brow.

Donald stared in dismay. "Lucien, do something! They're losing—"

Lucien moved.

He didn't walk. He glided. Silent, sharp, full of presence.

He didn't even raise his voice.

"Be quiet," Lucien said, gaze cutting like a blade. "I hate repeating myself."

Steve's eyes locked on him. The threat was clear now. The danger had shape and form.

Lucien was no longer just a bystander.

"What the hell are you on?" Steve said, lowering his stance, eyes narrowed. "That's not normal."

Lucien stopped a few paces away. His aura swirled around him like a second skin, casting flickers of unnatural shadow across the walls.

"You're right," Lucien said. "It's not. But neither are you."

He grinned. "Still, I know you're running low. Two more big moves and you're dry."

Steve didn't answer.

Lucien's smile widened, sharp as a blade. "Your silence says everything."

"You trust your family's poison too much," Steve replied, circling slightly, keeping distance. "It won't save you when your bones break."

Lucien tilted his head. His silver eyes gleamed with that strange, impossible light.

"Then break them," he whispered.

The air turned heavy again.

The real fight hadn't even started yet.