Frank exited a building that was quite close to the palace, one of the exits of the underground laboratory.

Frank took a deep breath of Madripoor's clean air as he looked around.

The city had changed a lot since he arrived; now it was more futuristic, with both regular cars and levitating cars on the streets.

Regular cars were gradually being replaced.

A very good public transportation system had been implemented, with white buses that levitated and passed by every 5 minutes. There were hundreds of them throughout the city, which led to fewer people using their cars and opting for the bus since it was free.

After waiting for about 2 minutes, a bus arrived and stopped in front of Frank.

Frank got on and casually nodded to the driver before taking a seat.

The driver didn't actually drive the bus; it followed an automatic route, and the driver was only responsible for moving it forward or stopping it. Although they could activate the manual mode, it was rarely necessary.

Frank looked out the window as the bus moved. With fewer cars on the road, the traffic wasn't as heavy, considering that Madripoor was a huge city with around 12 million people.

After 15 minutes, Frank pressed the bell and waited for the bus to stop so he could get off.

He arrived in front of a beautiful two-story house that Frank had been able to buy with Ophelia's help, gradually paying it off with his salary.

Frank rang the doorbell and waited for someone to open it.

A young woman opened the door and inevitably looked up in surprise at the person's stature.

She was even more surprised when she saw her husband's face.

"What... what happened?" Maria asked, very surprised.

Frank smiled at his wife's astonished face before crouching slightly and lifting her from the waist as he entered the house, closing the door with his foot.

"Forgive me for not telling you. I didn't want you to worry," Frank said, gently kissing Maria.

"Explain yourself now," Maria said, with an angry expression.

"I became a super soldier like Captain America," Frank joked.

"You said the treatment was still pending," Maria said, lightly hitting him on the chest, looking annoyed.

"I'm sorry," Frank said, kissing his wife.

"Don't think...that...will...convince me," Maria said, speaking between kisses while also hugging Frank and returning the kiss.

"Wait, wait, explain to me why you grew. Ophelia didn't mention that last time she came," Maria said, stopping Frank and looking at him.

"The treatment made us grow. I'm a little over 2 meters tall now, and my physical abilities have increased a lot," Frank said, caressing his wife's cheek.

"How cool," Maria said, her eyes shining.

"Let's see you lift the sofa," Maria said with a giggle, pointing to the sofa and sitting down.

Frank, with an expression of helplessness, lifted the sofa with one hand on the armrest and another underneath, lifting it relatively easily.

Maria exclaimed in astonishment while laughing.

"My husband is a superhero," Maria said, laughing.

Frank just gave a slight smile at seeing his wife's happy expression, knowing that her smile made everything worthwhile.

...

Three days passed quickly and Damian carefully got out of bed so as not to wake anyone.

He looked at his wives with a slight smile before he got dressed and went to his daughters' room.

As usual, he watched them for a while with a smile, wondering what mischief they would get up to that day.

After kissing each of them, Damian went downstairs before walking into the living room and saying hello to Sophia.

"Hello, Mom," Damian said, kissing Sophia on the cheek before sitting next to her.

"Darling, you've become quite industrious lately. Before, months could pass without you leaving the house," Sophia joked, hugging Damian.

"You're the one who hardly ever goes out," Damian laughed.

"I still have many books to read," Sophia laughed.

"Good luck with that. I'll be out for a while. Not sure when I'll be back," Damian said, standing up and bidding farewell to Sophia before disappearing.

Damian reappeared in the underground laboratory where the 100 soldiers had already gathered and were lined up.

There was a certain tension in the air as they knew they would be competing to obtain the armor.

With Damian's arrival, many eyes turned towards him.

Damian nodded to the scientist standing next to him.

They had already agreed to settle it one way: through combat.

Even someone who didn't receive such great physical enhancements, if they were skilled enough in fighting, could still secure the armor.

Damian glanced at all the soldiers lined up before he began to speak.

"Good morning. I hope you enjoyed your rest because it's time to work. We will have a tournament to determine the top 10 fighters. You can use any weapon or method to win," Damian said with a slight smile.

Damian nodded to the scientist, who nodded back and pressed a button, causing several walls to rise behind them.

There were also shelves with various weapons and tools.

"Your number will appear on the screen, and you can choose whatever you want to fight with. The weapons are non-lethal; they shoot small projectiles that deliver an electric shock. One of those should be enough to take down an elephant, so good luck," Damian said with a slight smile as the numbers scrolled on the screen, eventually stopping at two.

The two soldiers approached the shelves with weapons, selected their choices, and entered the miniature battlefield from opposite sides.

A screen hovered above the field, displaying everything happening below.

The two soldiers began to advance slowly, keeping their weapons aimed forward.

They moved stealthily, peeking around the corners of the walls.

Internally, Damian shook his head, realizing they hadn't adapted to their newfound strength. They could easily jump over the walls if they wanted to. Now, as superhumans, they should think outside the box.

The two continued to advance without encountering each other until one of them finally looked up at the walls without a roof.

Calculating the distance, they jumped and landed on the wall. Quickly crouching down, they began searching for their opponent. After a few seconds, they spotted each other, but at the same time, they were also spotted.

The other soldier was slightly surprised to see their opponent standing on the wall, so after stepping back, they jumped onto a slightly farther wall before starting to shoot.

The two swiftly moved, jumping from side to side while continuing to shoot at each other. With their reflexes and agility, they easily dodged the shots.

After playing cat and mouse for a while, one of the soldiers managed to land several shots in the chest of their opponent, ending the battle.

Quickly, the winner picked up his electrocuted teammate and carried him out of the arena.

The ceiling screen displayed the winner before selecting two new contenders who quickly grabbed their preferred weapons and went to fight.

Everyone fell silent as they watched the battles, witnessing their comrades unveil new tricks to secure victory.

Some fights caught Damian's attention, like the one involving a soldier named Laura. As she approached the weapons, she grabbed a sword and a revolver.

Damian couldn't help but marvel as Laura clumsily deflected bullets with her sword at the beginning.

They fought for several minutes, during which she improved her skills and eventually won by approaching her opponent, damaging their weapon, and placing the sword at their neck.

The scientist approached and scolded her for damaging the weapon, as it was only meant for testing and they didn't have many.

Laura simply laughed and apologized.

Another person who caught Damian's attention even before the fight was a tall black man measuring 2.1 meters. He was the tallest among them, and his name was John, according to the data.

His style was truly wild as he grabbed a SWAT shield in one hand and a high-caliber shotgun in the other, charging wildly at his opponent, blocking and ramming with his shield while finishing with his shotgun.

His unfortunate opponent would surely wake up in pain after the blow they received.

Finally, it was Frank's turn, and Damian was quite curious to see how Punisher would fight.

Frank advanced, casually picking up an assault rifle and entering the arena. He moved slowly while circling the central area.

Once he reached a spot close to where his opponent entered, Frank jumped over the wall, ready to shoot.

To Frank's surprise, there was no one there. With even more caution than before, he proceeded to advance slowly, jumping from one wall to another in the opposite direction of his entry point.

He assumed that his opponent had also thought of flanking.

When he arrived in the area, a smoke grenade suddenly exploded, obscuring visibility.

Frank quickly tried to retreat from the smoke when he saw an armed silhouette. Without hesitation, he fired several shots, only to be bewildered as they had no effect.

At that moment, he received a blow to his weapon from behind, causing it to fly out of his hand.

Frank took a step back before looking at his attacker.

They had shed almost all their clothes and used them as a decoy, which was clever for close-quarters combat where grappling was not allowed.

"You must have a lot of confidence in your close-quarters skills," Frank said, raising his fists with no intention of reaching for his weapon.

"I'm a native of Madripoor. It wasn't as peaceful there before, and if you weren't good at fighting, you'd die," said the young-looking soldier as he also assumed a stance.

"Let's go," Frank said before lunging at his opponent.

His opponent was the youngest recruit in the project, only 19 years old and a native of Madripoor. His name was Ryan, and from a young age, he had to learn to fend for himself.

Ryan saw Frank charging at him and crouched to dodge Frank's hook before countering with a punch to Frank's face.

Frank rotated his body, avoiding the punch, and struck Ryan's face.

Ryan staggered back a bit before taking a few steps back and looking at Frank.

They locked eyes for a few seconds before Ryan advanced and exchanged blows with Frank.

The sound of their punches resounded loudly as they landed on flesh.

If their blows landed on an ordinary human, they would surely die.

After several minutes, Ryan was quite beaten up, his face covered in blood, while Frank only had a few bruises on his face.

Frank relentlessly continued to pummel Ryan while inwardly praising Ryan's skills and resilience at such a young age.

Ryan received a powerful blow to the jaw before staggering back, reaching the end of the corridor, and placing a hand against a corner of the wall to steady himself.

"You've got guts, kid," Frank said, raising his fists.

"Guts aren't always enough," Ryan said with a smile, wiping the blood from his lips with one hand while pulling a thin rope with the other.

Before Frank arrived and their fight began, he had set up this trap.

There were all kinds of weapons and tools to grab, so he was prepared.

The puppet with its equipment had been left far behind, and Frank had already forgotten about it.

Ryan had taken a beating to lower Frank's guard and position himself.

The rope would pull the trigger of his gun, firing a few bullets before the makeshift puppet collapsed.

After pulling the rope, Ryan pounced on Frank, giving it his all. If his trap didn't work, he would only lose.

The sound of multiple shots rang out, and Ryan saw Frank's face contort in pain.

Even with genetic enhancements, the pain caused by the shots immobilized even the best in the group for several seconds. With confidence, Ryan prepared to deliver a direct blow to Frank's chin, putting all his body weight and momentum into it.

In his pain, Frank still saw Ryan lunging at him and responded with a punch to his face, sending him crashing to the ground unconscious.

Frank saw Ryan's face shift from disbelief to unconsciousness before he fell.

Ryan wondered how it was possible that Frank was still fine after two shots.

The force behind Frank's blow, combined with Ryan's momentum, caused the latter to be unable to withstand the impact and remain on the ground, not getting up again.

Frank breathed heavily, gritting his teeth due to the pain in his body. He couldn't help but curse the overly cunning brat in his mind. He walked away slowly as the pain gradually subsided in his body.

At the exit, he encountered Laura and John, the closest ones to him in the group, who were looking at him with glee.

"Did it feel good?" Laura asked, laughing.

"When we train, I'll make sure to show you how it feels," Frank said, passing by them with a grim expression.

----

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