On a large vessel in the Pacific Ocean...

A blond and average-looking young man lay on an operating table, where a group of doctors administered a black substance through various needles.

Despite being conscious, the blond man didn't even wince as the black substance entered his veins, as he was too used to the pain by now.

His entire childhood was filled with injecting Ichor into his veins.

From a young age, he was taught that what they were doing to him was good for him. Whenever he questioned it, a friendly woman would come and tell him it was good for him, so he believed it.

Even when his friends vanished, and he wanted to see them again, the woman would come and tell him they went somewhere else.

He would become a god. He was destined to lead humanity to a better future.

That was what was promised to him. That was why he endured to this day.

And yet, that day to become a god never came.

Of course, it wasn't as if he was poorly treated.

On the contrary, he was treated as a darling child.

He got all the toys he wanted. He got good food every day. He got the best education that could be offered. He even later got enchanting women to accompany him at night.

Yet, the promised godhood never came.

Lately, the effects the friendly woman had on him started waning.

His mind, which was obedient until now, started subconsciously resisting.

"Maybe... They are lying to me. Am I perhaps a glorified lab rat or secret weapon? Should I run away?" - Those thoughts echoed in his subconscious for the last two years.

However, this lifestyle and the uncertainty of leaving became his shackles. He was too used to it.

And besides...

"No! I endured too much! Too much! I deserve that godhood! I will endure... I will!" - The man kept telling himself.

While telling himself that, he noticed the doctors brought a new vial.

Unlike the black Ichor, this vial was filled with a water-like substance. He never saw it before.

"What is that?" - The man asked.

"This? It is a new Ichor supplement. It has been tried and tested and should help absorb the Ichor better while reducing the pain." - The doctor kindly explained.

The man subconsciously doubted the doctor's words. To alleviate his doubts, he used his mind-reading abilities on him.

"With this, Ayaan wouldn't need to suffer so much. I wish they gave it sooner." - The doctor thought.

The blond man, Ayaan, relaxed after hearing this.

"I must be overthinking things." - Ayaan thought.

The doctor injected the fluid into a tube, leading to Ayaan's veins.

For the first two minutes, everything was fine. However, soon, Ayaan started feeling drowsy, and the pain was also going away.

"Hey... It works... It... No... Something is... Wrong...!"

Suddenly, Ayaan's survival instincts kicked in as he widened his eyes.

The doctors around him were acting as usual. Their thoughts were friendly and even hopeful. But, for some reason, he felt something wrong was happening to his body.

"I've... Been tricked! They were all lied to! They knew I could read minds, so they lied to them!" - Ayaan suddenly realized.

"Get... AWAY!" - Ayaan screamed, indignant rage at this betrayal fueling a psychic scream.

The next moment, all the doctors and nurses turned into minced meat, the steel walls dented, and the lights broke.

Ayaan ripped out the syringes attached to his body as he unsteadily tried to get up.

Tss*

The air vents silently released gas into the room.

Not only that, but the liquid they injected into him was eating at his consciousness.

"I... Have to... Take that out..." - Ayaan thought.

Looking inside his body, he located the liquid. And then, he attempted something he had never done before.

He isolated the liquid and slowly gathered it to the puncture holes in his arm and chest.

Psh*

A jet of black blood oozed through the holes as the poison left his body.

Only then did he feel somewhat better.

"Cough* Cough*... Nerve gas..." - Ayaan muttered, a trickle of blood oozing from his mouth.

Using his mind powers, he gathered the gas pouring inside the room and shoved it all into the vent before sealing it by crushing the vent entrance.

Ayaan then assessed his situation.

"I am inside a heavily guarded ship, surrounded by dozens of Supers and hundreds of elite soldiers, and they all want to kill me. I am weakened... And I can't fight them now. When I exit through that door, I'm likely dead." - Ayaan thought, his mind swirling.

He then thought of something.

"If I can't go through the door... I'll go down instead!"

With that crazy thought, Ayaan used his mind to rip the floor apart, dropping a floor.

He didn't stop there. He repeated it until he reached a storage chamber. It held a dozen black liquid vials behind reinforced glass.

"Ichor...! The undiluted stuff!" - Ayaan thought.

A single vial of this stuff is enough to create a class 4 Super. He, himself, only gets a vial a month these days.

From reading minds, he heard injecting too much makes you go mad. That was why his friends slowly vanished. All of them became mad except for him.

Of course, he feared going mad, but...

"They left me no choice...!" - Ayaan thought.

With that decision, Ayaan decisively ripped open the reinforced glass and took the vials.

Opening one of the vials, he hesitated before downing it all.

It burned. It was like drinking liquid sulfur.

However, he didn't stop.

He opened vial after vial, and as he did, the pain accumulated along with a rising feeling of power.

Black veins popped under his white skin as his eyes turned bloodshot.

"Yes.... YESSS!!! I feel it!!! I FEEL THE POWER!!!"

Just then...

BANG*

The door was blasted open, shrapnel ripping the room apart. However, Ayaan stopped the shrapnel about to hit him in midair.

Tack* Tack* Tack*

Three grenades entered the room.

Bang* Bang* Bang*

They also exploded in front of him but caused no damage. He blocked it all with a psionic shield.

"Hehehe... Came to play...?" - Ayaan asked with a mad laugh.

"Neutralize him!" - One of the soldiers ordered.

Tratatatatatata*

Tratatatatatata*

Tratatatatatata*

Several soldiers shot at him with specialized depleted uranium bullets but to no effect. All of them were stopped in mid-air.

"Give and receive, eh?" - Ayaan grinned and flicked his finger.

The bullets were shot back, turning the soldiers into sieves.

He then looked up and madly laughed.

"Hahahahah!!! All these years, you lied to me... Time for reve—!"

BADUMP*

"AH..." - Ayaan suddenly widened his eyes, grasping his heart.

BADUMP*

BADUMP*

BADUMP*

"What is... Going on... PFT* Cough* Cough*" - Ayaan suddenly coughed blood, his body feeling weak.

And then he collapsed on the floor, convulsing.

"Ah... Ah... Gah... Why..." - Ayaan muttered, his chest and stomach aching.

It was then that he heard footsteps approaching. When he looked up with his blurry eyes, he saw the friendly woman.

"Ca...Ra..." - Ayaan struggled to speak, blood oozing from his lips.

Cara, the average-looking blond woman accompanying Filip, sadly looked at him as she raised an anti-material sniper rifle.

"I'm sorry... Son." - She muttered and shot at him.

Bang* Splat* Bang* Splat* Bang* Splat* Bang* Splat* Bang* Splat* Bang* Splat*

She shot him six times with depleted uranium shots to the skull to ensure he was dead.

Only when his head turned into minced meat she stopped.

She then pressed her earpiece.

"It's done."

 

...

 

{It's done.}

"Good work, Cara. But you could have had someone else do it. I know how attached you were to him." - Filip sighed.

Ayaan isn't Cara's biological son, but he resembles her dead boy, being the same age and looking similar. That was why, after meeting him, she slowly grew attached to him, raising him as her own for years.

Of course, even then, she planted subconscious suggestions in his mind. One of these suggestions is a failsafe, making him want to escape downward if he is surrounded, and the other is to drink the Ichor which was purposely placed three floors under the operating room. However, since they knew he could read minds, they only let a select few know it wasn't Ichor there, but colored poisoned water with psychedelic stimulants.

{I raised him, I end him.} - Cara coldly replied.

"Your call. Move the body to a contained tank." - Filip ordered.

{Yes, Sir!}

And with that, the call ended.

"Hah... That's three down..." - Filip sighed while pinching his nose bridge.

It burdened him that so many men had to die in vain like this, but he had to do it. They were ticking time bombs.

The first to die was Waseef, originating from Saudi Arabia. He could augment his strength, speed, and defense, becoming a human tank, just a hundred times more dangerous. Even worse, he has a regenerative factor and poison resistance, making him more dangerous.

Luckily, he is also weak to getting electrocuted and drowning, so when he was in his hot tub, they zapped the water and covered him with a steel net, making him drown. They did it for half an hour to make sure he was dead.

The second one is Vajya, originating from India. Vajya is an illusionist with Concealment powers but has a relatively weak body. They only needed to shut his room and flood his cell/room with gas in his sleep.

Only Ayaan was more tricky since he could remotely read minds, so they could only go through this indirect method.

Of course, they also had a plan B, and that was to blow up the entire facility. Two kilotons are enough to evaporate anyone.

Luckily, it didn't come to that, or they would have to suffer significant casualties and explain things to the public. It is difficult to hide such an explosion.

Just as he was thinking about that...

Trr*

Trr*

His phone vibrated. Looking at the number, it was from facility Alpha 117, located on the South Pole. It was where Vajya was kept.

He had a bad premonition.

Answering the call, he asked, "Yes?"

{Sir Filip! Vajya is... He... is gone, Sir.} - The voice said shakily.

"What do you mean, gone?!" - Filip anxiously asked.

{Y-Yes, Sir. After gassing him for half an hour, we came to pick up his body, but when we touched his body... our hands passed through.}

"... Is the base on lockdown?" - Filip asked.

{Yes, Sir! The moment we discovered he was gone, the base was on lockdown... But I am afraid he escaped into the ocean.}

"... But how did he do it? Is there an insider?" - Filip asked.

{I-I am not sure, sir... Perhaps he somehow knew? Maybe he has a power he didn't reveal?}

"It is impossible to have another power. Even if he later had resistance, it was impossible to resist from the start. The only thing I can think of... is that he had a power he was unaware of until he gained sufficient resistance. But that is almost impossible. What power can help him know things in advance and not know about it?" - Filip asked.

{Well... what about danger sensing? Or perhaps some form of foresight? Perhaps it was initially too insignificant but became more obvious as time passed.}

"Those powers are exceedingly rare... To think it was on a candidate... Damn. In any case, have Major Saanvi check everyone and everywhere. Leave no stone unturned!" - Filip ordered.

Major Saanvi is one of the three class 4 detectors and one of the few who can vaguely sense Vajya and see through his illusions. That is also why she is placed in the same base.

{Yes, Sir!}

"Hah... This can't get any worse..." - Filip muttered while pinching his nose bridge.

However, half a minute later...

{S-Sir... Major Saanvi is... Choked to death on her bed... For several hours now... With signs of sexual activity... He took her identification card and one of the lifeboats, along with some supplies from the kitchen...}

"... I stand corrected..." - Filip facepalmed.

The order to terminate them only came an hour ago. Filip already foresaw it, so he sent Cara to handle Ayaan after she begged him to do it herself.

However, he couldn't foresee Major Saanvi having an affair with Vajya. She is 15 years older than him, after all. And he certainly couldn't know he had some form of future foresight and was decisive enough to act on it.

That meant he knew everything hours before the decision and acted accordingly, leaving dummy illusions to cover his tracks. This means he escaped for several hours into the ocean and could end up anywhere.

It should be noted that he can turn invisible with illusions, including the lifeboat. Machine sensors can't detect anything, either. That means satellite footage is useless.

"Hah... Thank you for your hard work. Give Major Saanvi a proper burial. She died an honorable death. Understand?" - Filip sighed and said.

{Yes... I understand.}

And with that, the call ended.

After calming his agitated nerves, Filip made a call.

Trr*

{What is it, Filip? Did you get them all?} - The 1st elder asked.

"The Raging Sun and the Mystical Sun are neutralized, but the Illusory Sun is on the loose, and Major Saanvi is killed in action." - Filip said with no nonsense.

{Shit... Of all the candidates, it just had to be him...} - The 1st elder tiredly said.

"Sundown Protocol failed. We need to decide our next course of action." - Filip said.

{... Arrange the protection program for the True Sun's sister. Nobody but you and the True Sun will be privy to her location. Not even us.} - The 1st elder ordered.

"That's what I thought. I will inform him of the situation now. Hopefully, he will be understanding enough..." - Filip muttered and closed the call.

Taking a deep breath, he made another Email...