Infinite Wealth System: Crazy Tasks, Insane Rewards!-Chapter 231: Real Sovereign War (XI)

More enemies attempted one final coordinated assault from above, unleashing a barrage meant to overwhelm him through sheer volume.

Jayden inhaled deeply.

Then he launched upward one last time.

He tore through their formation with overwhelming dominance, moving faster and striking harder than anything they had prepared for. Aircraft fell one after another, crashing into empty sectors of the city where Royce’s forces had already cleared civilians.

Flames reflected in Jayden’s eyes as the final enemy vessel retreated into the distant smoke.

Silence did not return immediately.

There were still fires to contain. Wounded to treat. Rubble to clear.

But the invasion’s crushing pressure had broken.

Jayden descended slowly into the center of the ruined boulevard.

His boots touched the ground gently this time.

The wind died down.

Sirens continued in the distance, but no new explosions followed.

Royce’s soldiers approached cautiously, as though unsure whether they were walking toward a man or something far greater.

One of them stepped forward and saluted once more.

"Mister President," he said, his voice steady now but filled with respect that went beyond rank.

Jayden looked around at the battered city.

Buildings stood wounded but not fallen.

Civilians were alive.

The line had held.

He clenched his fists briefly, feeling the immense power still coursing through him.

He had been amazed at first.

Now he understood.

This was not power for spectacle.

It was power for protection.

He turned toward the eastern horizon where the smoke slowly began to thin.

"This is not over," he said quietly.

But in that moment, in the heart of a city that had nearly been lost, one truth stood undeniable.

Against an invasion that threatened to erase everything, it had come down to one man refusing to yield.

And the world had witnessed what that refusal looked like.

The wind had barely settled in Cloudbridge City when Jayden’s communicator vibrated sharply against his wrist.

He stood in the middle of the battered boulevard, smoke drifting around him like the aftermath of a storm. Royce’s soldiers were already spreading out, securing perimeters, helping civilians from collapsed buildings, coordinating clean up efforts. The invasion in that sector had been broken. For the first time since the attack began, there was space to breathe.

The communicator pulsed again.

Jayden glanced down and accepted the call.

Charlotte’s face appeared, her usual composed expression replaced by something far more unsettled.

"Jayden," she said without greeting. "We cannot find Melinda." 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

The words did not register immediately.

"What do you mean you cannot find her?" he asked calmly, though something inside him tightened.

"We have searched the entire villa," Charlotte continued. "Every room, every wing, every security corridor. Cammy and Temi have been looking all day. She is not here."

Jayden’s eyes darkened slightly.

"I brought Royce straight to the Presidential Health Centre," he said quietly. "I did not stop at the villa."

"We know," Charlotte replied. "That is why we assumed she would be there already. But she never arrived."

A faint ringing began in Jayden’s ears, not from the system this time, but from the sudden realization forming in his mind.

"Check the island perimeter," he ordered.

"Already done," Charlotte said. "No record of her departure through official transport."

Jayden’s gaze lifted toward the distant skyline.

"If she is not on the island," he said slowly, "then she never intended to go there."

Silence lingered between them.

"Jayden," Charlotte added softly, "where would she go?"

He did not answer immediately.

His thoughts raced rapidly, replaying the sequence of events since the invasion began. The villa. The chaos. The evacuation orders. The fear in Melinda’s eyes earlier. The way she had looked at him when he told her to stay safe.

Then it struck him.

Melinda’s apartment.

The place she had insisted on keeping despite the island residence. The place tied to her independence, her stubbornness, her need to feel grounded in a world that had spiraled into madness.

Jayden’s jaw tightened.

"I will call you back," he said.

Before Charlotte could respond, the line went dead.

He did not explain himself to the soldiers around him. He did not gather an escort. He did not issue further instructions.

He simply said to the nearest commander, "Secure the city. Maintain defensive formations."

Then he disappeared.

The ground shattered beneath his feet as he launched forward with terrifying speed. He did not take to the sky this time. He dashed through the city streets, moving so fast that the world blurred around him. Buildings streaked past like shadows. Debris and flames parted in his wake.

His mind was no longer calm.

It raced with possibilities.

If she had gone there, why.

If she had left the island, how.

If she had gone anywhere near the battle zone.

His heart pounded once, heavy.

"She would not," he muttered under his breath.

But he knew Melinda.

And he feared she probably could.

The ruined district near her apartment complex came into view ahead, smoke rising from multiple impact points. The Sovereign Protocols forces had passed through here earlier, for sure as the area was unstable.

Dangerous...

Regardless, Jayden moved forward.

******

Meanwhile, back in Dominion City...

Esta stood quietly on a fractured stretch of concrete where the explosion had sent Kael flying moments earlier. Harper stood beside her, rifle still clutched tightly in her hands though her fingers trembled faintly from the force of what had just happened.

A few meters away, Melinda stood with the Bazooka still resting awkwardly against her shoulder, as if she herself could not quite believe she had fired it.

The ground ahead was scarred by the massive blast. Smoke rose thickly from the impact site. Debris lay scattered in a wide circle.

For a long moment, none of them spoke.

Harper turned first.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, her voice sharp but shaken. "You were not supposed to be here. It was not safe."

Melinda lowered the Bazooka slowly, her hands trembling visibly now that the adrenaline had begun to fade.

"And I was supposed to do what?" she asked, her voice unsteady but determined. "Sit back and watch some group of vile aliens destroy our world?"

Her chest rose and fell rapidly.

"I could not stay on the island pretending everything was fine," she continued. "I am not built like that."

Harper stared at her in disbelief.

"How did you even carry that thing?" she asked, glancing at the weapon. "Do you even know how to use it?"

Melinda gave a breath that almost sounded like a laugh.

"I watched the soldiers earlier," she said. "And I guessed."

Even Esta, who had seen countless strange and terrifying things, found herself blinking at that.

"You guessed," Harper repeated.

"I was aiming at the biggest threat," Melinda replied. "That part seemed obvious."

Harper shook her head slightly, stunned by the audacity.

Esta finally spoke, her tone calm but analytical.

"Your timing was precise," she said to Melinda. "If you had fired a second later, he would have reached us."

Melinda swallowed.

"So is he..." she hesitated. "Is he dead?"

All three of them turned their eyes toward the smoke.

Esta did not answer immediately.

"With someone who possesses a high affinity with the power of the Absolute," she said slowly, "death is rarely immediate."

Harper’s grip tightened on her rifle.

"Would he survive?" she asked.

Esta’s eyes narrowed slightly as she studied the smoldering crater.

"At this point I do not..."

She stopped mid sentence.

A sound rose from the smoke.

Not an explosion.

Not debris collapsing.

A slow, deliberate shifting.

The smoke began to thin unnaturally, curling inward as if drawn by invisible force.

Then they saw him.

Kael stood.

His body was battered. His clothes were torn and burned away in places. His skin had been scorched black along one arm. Blood streaked down his forehead.

But even as they watched, the damage began to reverse.

The scorched skin smoothed over. The torn flesh knit itself together seamlessly. The blood evaporated as if it had never existed.

It was not fast in a dramatic sense.

It was calm.

Controlled.

As though the world itself obeyed him.

Melinda’s breath caught in her throat.

Harper took a step back unconsciously.

Esta did not step back, but her eyes sharpened with concern.

"I knew it," she murmured. "His connection is stronger than I calculated."

Kael lifted his head slowly.

His expression was no longer amused.

It was dark.

Cold.

And then his eyes moved.

They did not settle on Harper.

They did not settle on Esta.

They locked directly onto Melinda.

The young woman who had dared to fire the weapon.

For a second, Melinda felt as though the air had vanished from her lungs.

"He is looking at me," she whispered.

"Yes," Esta replied quietly.

Kael began walking toward them.

Not running.

Not charging.

Walking.

Each step deliberate.

Each step echoing faintly against the broken pavement.

Harper lifted her rifle again, though she knew it would not matter.

"Stay behind us," she said to Melinda firmly.

Melinda did not move.

Her hands were still shaking, but she stood her ground.

Esta stepped slightly forward.

"He is angry," she observed calmly. "That is good."

"Good?" Harper repeated sharply.

"Anger clouds judgment," Esta replied. "Even with the Absolute."

Kael stopped several meters away.

"You," he said softly, his voice devoid of warmth as he stared at Melinda. "You dared."

Melinda’s throat tightened, but she forced herself to speak.

"I would do it again," she said, though her voice trembled.

Harper glanced at her sideways, a mixture of shock and admiration flickering in her eyes.

Kael tilted his head slightly, as though studying something fragile.

"You are not a warrior," he said. "You are not enhanced. You are not chosen."

His gaze hardened further.

"And yet you aimed at me."

Melinda swallowed.

"I aimed at the one trying to destroy my world... His own world too," she replied.

There was silence.

Then Kael smiled faintly, but it was not a pleasant smile.

"You are brave," he said. "That will make this more satisfying."

Harper shifted her stance, readying herself.

Esta raised her hands subtly, energy gathering faintly around her palms.

Melinda felt her heartbeat thunder in her ears.

In the distance, faint vibrations began to ripple across the ground and just like that in this fractured stretch of city, the moment stretched thin.

Kael took another step forward.

His eyes never leaving Melinda.

And in that terrifying certainty, one truth stood clear to all of them.

Melinda was in danger.