Cross-Century Showdown

The Giant Ancient Dragon Turtle remained deep within the Atlantic, sinking into a long slumber and completely transforming into an island.

By the time Kyle and Howard, who had measured out and drafted the preliminary base plans, returned to the New York estate by helicopter, night had already fallen.

As the helicopter landed in the open space before the estate, Kyle stepped out of the cabin just as a military jeep drove down the forest path. Its two bright beams shone directly onto him.

Who would come visiting so late at night?

Under Kyle’s puzzled gaze, the jeep stopped in the clearing beside the helicopter. A one-eyed, dark-skinned bald young man—whose skin was so dark he practically came with natural nighttime camouflage—was the first to get out.

He wore a trench coat, dusty from travel, and smiled, revealing a row of clean white teeth.

"Fury." Kyle shook his head with a laugh. So it was this guy. After Fury’s relentless pestering of Howard these past few days, he had finally wheedled out the location of the estate where Kyle was currently living in seclusion.

"Kyle, it’s been a few days…" Fury walked over with a smile, but soon gritted his teeth and pulled a long face. Changing his tone, he said indignantly, "You had it easy retiring. Do you know how many troublesome affairs I had to handle for you?"

"The capable work harder. I’m giving you a stage to show off your talent." Kyle blinked and patted Fury’s shoulder reassuringly.

"Cut it out. Anyway, you have to give me extra pay this time." Fury glared at Kyle.

Kyle did not know whether to laugh or cry. He nodded in agreement. "No problem. Double pay, plus Employee of the Month."

"Look who else I brought along." Fury smiled and stepped aside. From the jeep behind him, a rugged, powerfully built officer nearing middle age strode forward.

"Joseph." Kyle smiled and gave the big man a bear hug, patting his back with some force.

Joseph and Fury were both friends who had given him tremendous help during World War II, as well as military personnel who still kept in touch with him now.

"Fury and I both quit, but your rank just keeps rising." Kyle teased.

Joseph, wearing a major’s insignia on his shoulder, shrugged and said with a bitter smile, "That’s all thanks to you, the ‘Symbol of Peace.’ You probably don’t know this, but General Chester resigned from his position as Five-Star General. Before that, though, he promoted all the officers who had fought alongside you."

"He said that if you were willing to return, he would apply for a Five-Star General position for you!" Joseph looked at Kyle with a somewhat solemn, earnest expression as he spoke.

"I’ll pass. I couldn’t even handle a major general’s duties properly, much less those of a Five-Star General. Wouldn’t I just be making more trouble for Fury?"

Kyle calmly refused, showing no attachment whatsoever to the so-called position of Five-Star General.

Fury nodded in deep agreement and smiled at Joseph. "I told you. Kyle would never agree to return to the military."

"Anyway, I’m just delivering the message. I’m not planning to plead General Chester’s case." Joseph said bluntly and carelessly.

"Since you all came from so far away, come inside and sit down." Kyle suggested, looking at Howard, Fury, and Joseph in turn. Tonight, several old acquaintances had gathered together.

After the three guests nodded in agreement, Kyle, as the host, took the lead and led them toward the estate’s main entrance.

"Patriarch." The two maids in the first-floor hall hurriedly lowered their heads in greeting when they saw Kyle return. One of the young girls approached with an anxious look and informed him, "Wolf King and Crimson Eyes are competing in the backyard."

"Oh, they’re fighting?" Kyle clicked his tongue in surprise. Venom, which had transformed into leather clothing over his body, also grew excited and restless.

‘Wolf King.’ ‘Crimson Eyes.’

Those were Logan and Yutong’s family codenames. When outsiders were present, they were generally addressed that way.

"Come on, let’s go take a look." Kyle waved his hand and led the three toward the estate’s backyard.

Logan was combative by nature, while Yutong was young and proud. Kyle had expected these two to fight sooner or later; he just had not expected it to happen so soon.

"Only after fighting can people be worthy of entrusting their backs to each other." Kyle murmured to himself, recalling that showdown with Steve at the base back then.

That was his long-gone youth…

In the estate’s backyard, on the open lawn.

Illuminated by vintage lamp posts around the perimeter, Lucy and thirty or forty children sat scattered across the grass in a circle. This was the estate family’s much-watched "competition ground."

Within the circular arena, a weathered middle-aged man in a leather jacket and jeans faced off against an adorable hooded girl carrying a sword on her back.

Judging by their ages, this was undoubtedly a "cross-century" showdown between an old man in his sixties and an infant barely fifty days old.

"I’m making my move." Logan gave a verbal warning. From the ends of his hands, crossed before his chest, three pale bone claws extended from each fist.

The sight made the children beside them cry out in surprise.

Just as Logan was about to launch his attack, Yutong suddenly stopped him in a soft voice. "Wait a moment!"

"Hm?" Logan looked up in confusion and saw Yutong backing away several steps on her little legs.

"The boss said you’re positioned as a warrior, while I’m positioned as a mage. There should be a certain distance between us when we fight." As Yutong spoke, she walked until she was ten meters away from Logan before finally stopping.

Imitating one of Kyle’s usual movements, Yutong lightly waved her little hand. Murasame, which was slung diagonally across her back and stood more than half a head taller than her, slipped from its leather sheath under Mind Control and hovered above her head, gleaming with cold light.

"Sodium-Carbon Steel." Logan eyed Murasame with some wariness. Thanks to Kyle’s daily lessons, he knew that cold weapons made from this material specifically countered his Healing Factor.

But wary or not, a battle-hardened veteran like him had no reason to surrender the initiative!

Logan gave a low shout, raised his claws, and kicked off the ground to charge forward. His methods of attack were undoubtedly his powerful, inhuman beast-like body and his pair of sharp, blade-like bone claws.

The instant Logan accelerated toward her, Yutong narrowed her eyes seriously. Superman’s Mind Control empowered Murasame above her head, and it immediately shot through the night sky with a sharp whoosh.

Clang! Clang!

Murasame forced Logan to halt, repeatedly clashing with his claws as it carried out slashing attacks, producing a series of crisp sounds.

From a third-person perspective, it was an exceptionally bizarre supernatural sight—Logan, wielding Wolf-like Claws, was locked in close combat with a Japanese sword moving through the air on its own.

"What a nuisance." Logan grew slightly irritated as he watched Murasame get knocked away by him only to come winding back. His peripheral vision flicked toward Yutong, five meters ahead.

At that moment, he suddenly understood a little better what Kyle meant by the distinction between warriors and mages.