Power rolled off him in waves. The air thickened, sticky, suffocating. Axel's vision blurred, his thoughts dragging into quicksand.

"You're… Level Five?" Axel's teeth clenched, fury sparking in his eyes even as dizziness dragged him down.

Relief flickered across Jeremiah's face. Axel's bluffing, sharp little act had rattled him—but no amount of cunning could change the fact: Axel was only a Level Four Awakener.

"It's too late," Jeremiah said flatly. "The gym fight will be over soon. Five minutes at most. That's more than enough time to deal with you."

His aura surged, pressing down on Axel's skull like a vise. "Mind Bind."

Agony lanced through Axel's head. It wasn't just pressure now—it was knives stabbing straight into his brain.

"Ahh!" His scream tore into the air, raw and ragged.

Jeremiah smiled faintly at the sound—then hesitated. Something didn't fit. A true Level Four would've had his brain blown apart instantly under that assault.

But Axel… Axel was still screaming. Almost as if the screaming itself was for Jeremiah's benefit.

"Something's wrong." The warning hit Jeremiah like a lightning bolt. For a Psychic Awakener, the worst moment to be attacked was when channeling their skill—and this was exactly that moment.

"Die!" A sharp, almost childish voice cut through the air as a dagger streaked toward him. Jeremiah's eyes flicked to the weeds a few dozen meters away, where a petite figure crouched low, ready for another strike.

He scoffed. Foolish. With a flick of his will, he batted the dagger aside like it was nothing. Axel really thought a Level 3 Awakener could save him? What a joke.

But in that heartbeat of lowered guard, the ground came alive. What he had thought was just weeds suddenly writhed and surged—thick vines snapped around him like pythons, coiling tighter and tighter until his entire body was wrapped up like a bound mummy.

From the far side of the field, a burly man in coarse work clothes dusted the dirt off his hands and came jogging over.

"Axel, you all right?" Fabian called, worry creasing his face. He crouched, pulling Axel up and shoving two pea-sized pills into his hand. The moment Axel swallowed them, some color returned to his pale face.

The vines thickened relentlessly, piling over each other until Jeremiah was entombed in a massive cocoon of green. Inside, his muffled shouts and furious struggling made no difference.

"Mr. Fabian… if it weren't for you, I don't think I could've taken him down."

Axel exhaled, still rattled, his eyes fixed on the cocoon.

Fabian gave a crooked grin, lighting a cigarette. "Don't thank me too much. I just tied him up. You, on the other hand… you can really take a hit."

Jeremiah's psychic assault had nearly torn his brain apart. Even with his newly awakened skill—Mental Barrier—reducing the damage by twenty percent, it had cost him more than two-thirds of his mental energy to resist. Without it, he would have been unconscious, brain-dead… or worse.

"Still, without you, he'd have slipped away."

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Fabian shrugged, exhaling smoke.

At that moment, Annabelle stepped out from the weeds, her expression clouded with regret. "Brother, I wasn't much help. My sneak attack was useless."

Axel shook his head, managing a faint smile. "You don't have to land a fatal blow to be useful, Anna."

Jeremiah's perceptions had been razor sharp. Annabelle's feint had distracted him at just the right moment, giving Fabian the chance to trap him. That single second had made all the difference.

"Come on," Axel said. "Let's drag him back to the gym. Rosaline and the others must be worried sick."

Inside the gym, the ice was starting to melt. Outside, tourists had gathered, snapping photos and whispering about some bizarre atmospheric phenomenon.

Millers stood watch over four frozen statues—the captured members of the Survey Corps—while Kaia and Phoenix kept guard at the doors, both looking restless.

"I didn't think they'd go down this easy," Millers muttered, rapping his knuckles against one of the ice blocks.

Phoenix glanced at the door. "I'm more worried about Axel. He's up against a Level 5."

They were right to worry. Axel's predictions had been spot-on: the Survey Corps hadn't spoken a word in protest, they had simply attacked—just as he'd said. And their strength had indeed been far less than it seemed on the surface. But Axel had gone after Jeremiah alone.

Just then, a massive green cocoon rolled into the doorway. Rosaline, Vince, Axel, and the others followed behind it.

"Where are they?" Axel asked, pointing toward the chrysalis. He clutched a glowing life crystal, its steady pulse keeping him upright.

"In there," Rosaline confirmed.

Geoffrey pushed forward, his face pale. "What the hell happened?" When he finally reacted, they'd already… already dealt with them.

"I don't understand. How did you know?"

The room fell silent, all eyes turning to Axel. Even with Jeremiah captured, too many questions remained.

Axel gestured instead toward the Dennis brothers, who were cowering in a corner. "Let them go first."

The brothers scrambled to their feet, relief written all over their faces. The last two days had been a nightmare—ambushed out of nowhere, dragged into military conflicts, and now caught in the middle of an ice storm. They were terrified Obsidian might just kill them for convenience.

"Let's go," Derek urged his brother. Spotting Fabian leaning quietly against the wall, he offered a nervous smile. "Hey, brother, come with us?"

Fabian slowly turned his head, deadpan. "Waibi Babu?"

The Dennis brothers froze. A chill shot down their spines. Then, without another word, they bolted, stumbling over themselves to get out of the gym.

"What the fuck is wrong with these people?!" one of them hissed as they vanished.

For a beat, the room was silent. Then laughter broke out.

Tension that had been wound tight for nearly two days finally eased.

"Axel, tell me what happened," Vince asked. He knew that when he reported this later to Team Leader Xander, the man would be floored.

Axel exhaled. "The whole process was long—and honestly, I was gambling." Images of the past few days flashed in his mind.

"Let's start at the east gate. From Connor's spirit, we learned he was killed by one of our own after uncovering a secret." He didn't bother clarifying that by "spirit" he meant a life crystal. It was easier to frame it this way—easier for the others to accept.

"At the time, I kept asking myself, what does 'one of our own' even mean? If Connor had seen a stranger destroy the energy cannon, would he have thought that person was one of us? Of course not. Even if Connor didn't know about the spy, seeing a stranger take down the cannon would've made him think enemy, instantly."

He paused, letting that sink in. "Later, once I learned about Project Spider, I became certain—the spy was among the suspects we'd already narrowed down."

Rosaline frowned. "But according to our earlier deduction, Geoffrey and Fabian were the most likely suspects. How did you rule them out?"

Axel smiled faintly and glanced at Vince. "When the captain and I visited the crime scene, we passed by the corpses of a lot of Level 3 mutants. But here's the thing: there were no traces of energy cannon fire around them. And that trail matched exactly the one Geoffrey took when he was chasing the Level 5 mutants."

He leaned forward. "The spy's goal was to break into the city. If Geoffrey had been the spy, he wouldn't have wasted time killing those mutants.."

Geoffrey's expression shifted, almost imperceptibly.

"As for Fabian, I only ruled him out yesterday," Axel continued.

He briefly recounted the discovery in Fabian's vegetable garden the night before.

Fabian blinked, scratching the back of his head. "So that's why you were poking around in the garden last night…"

"Exactly. By then, I'd eliminated both Geoffrey and Fabian. But that left me with a problem. They were the only ones who could've killed Connor alone. Which meant the truth was even worse: it had been a team operation."

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