destruction

The first scream of the night barely had time to echo before it was cut short. A headless body collapsed to the ground, blood painting the cold steel walls of the laboratory as Ethan stepped over it, eyes glowing with a merciless light.

"Ah, the sweet sound of justice," he mused, flicking the blood off his glowing blade of pure light.

The room was in chaos. Scientists and guards scrambled, their once orderly facility turned into a living nightmare. The sterile white corridors were now smeared with crimson, the scent of fear thick in the air.

Ethan moved like a specter of death, his light-formed sword slashing through throats, torsos, and limbs with deadly precision. A guard raised his rifle, only for Ethan to blink out of existence, reforming behind him in a burst of golden light. Before the man could react, Ethan grabbed his head and—

CRACK!

The sound of his neck snapping was drowned by another set of screams. Ethan turned toward a scientist trying to crawl away, his white coat now soaked in someone else's blood.

"P-please! I was just following orders!" he whimpered.

Ethan crouched next to him, tilting his head. "Oh? Is that so?" He suddenly grabbed the man's hand and crushed it, fingers breaking like twigs. The scientist howled in agony.

"Funny," Ethan continued, his tone conversational. "Because that's the same excuse every cowardly bastard like you gives before they die."

Then he grabbed the man by the throat and shoved his hand through his chest, gripping his still-beating heart. With a wicked grin, he squeezed. Blood exploded from the man's mouth as his body convulsed violently before going limp.

"Oops," Ethan muttered, dropping the corpse. "Looks like my hand slipped."

Across the lab, another scientist tried to run, but Ethan flicked a finger and a beam of concentrated light blew his leg clean off. The man collapsed, wailing, only for Ethan to walk up and stomp his skull into paste.

The remaining guards fired wildly, bullets passing through his light-formed body uselessly. Ethan reappeared behind them, grabbing one by the hair and slamming his face into the metal wall repeatedly until his skull cracked open like an overripe melon. The last guard dropped his gun, trembling.

"M-monster!"

Ethan smirked, raising his palm. A thin beam of light shot forward, boring a clean hole through the man's forehead.

"Nah," Ethan muttered as the body hit the floor. "Just a guy who hates scumbags."

With the lab now a blood-soaked graveyard, Ethan pulled out a burner phone and dialed a number he had memorized long ago.

The phone barely rang before a voice answered. "This is the X-Men helpline. Who is—"

"Thirty more bodies for you to clean up," Ethan interrupted. "You're welcome. The kids are still alive. Better hurry."

A pause. Then, "Who is this?"

"Just your friendly neighborhood exterminator." Click.

He pocketed the phone and vanished in a burst of light.

The week that followed was a massacre.

Ethan tore through thirty more mutant research facilities across the country, each raid bloodier than the last. He made sure every execution was brutal, every victim felt the pain they inflicted on mutants before they died. Heads rolled, limbs flew, bodies burned. He ripped men apart with his bare hands, impaled them with light constructs, and drowned them in their own blood.

And each time, he called the X-Men, ensuring the children imprisoned in these hellholes were rescued.

He imagined their frustration, arriving only to find the aftermath of his carnage, the scent of death lingering in the air. He knew they would start looking for him soon, but he didn't care.

With each base he destroyed, he grew stronger.

His Light Fruit abilities became second nature. He could move at light-speed, fire blinding energy blasts, and form weapons from pure light with effortless ease. His Weapon Mastery evolved, making him lethal with swords, spears, and daggers. His reaction time, combat prowess, and durability increased dramatically.

He was ten times stronger than he had been when he first left the old couple's house.

The only disappointment? Seven days, and not a single good Sign-In reward.

"Figures," Ethan muttered, standing on the charred ruins of the latest destroyed lab, watching the flames dance. "Guess the system wants me to work for it."

But he wasn't worried.

Every step he took, he was getting closer to becoming something unstoppable.

And when the time came, not even gods would stand in his way.