MTLNOVEL Chapter 25: Chapter 24: The War in the Black Market
Chapter 24: The War in the Black Market
The moment the Leviathan-class warship appeared overhead, the marketplace turned into a battlefield.
A deep, droning alarm shook the station as warlords shouted orders, bounty hunters scrambled for cover, and mercenaries primed their weapons. The station's artificial sky flickered under the distortion fields of the warships above. This wasn't just about a bounty anymore.
This was a hunt.
Baldur stood in the center of it all, light bending subtly around his body, making his form shimmer like a mirage. His golden energy reserve pulsed beneath his skin, feeding his ability to manipulate light, to see, move, and react faster than any being here could comprehend.
They didn't understand what they were dealing with.
The first wave of attackers came fast. A squad of elite bounty hunters—clearly professionals—descended from the rooftops using thrusters lined with refractive camouflage, their bodies flickering as they phased between visibility and near-invisibility. Each carried specialized anti-speed weapons: scatter-pulse rifles, concussive photon disruptors, and destabilizing nets.
They knew what he was.
They had prepared for him.
Baldur smirked. "Let's see if that helps."
The first sniper shot rang out. He was already gone before the bolt left the barrel.
Light exploded outward as he moved, his body dissolving into photons and reappearing behind the closest hunter in an instant. The man barely had time to react before Baldur's foot connected with his ribs. The impact sent him spiraling backward, crashing into a weapons stall.
The remaining hunters adjusted immediately.
Good. He didn't want them to be boring.
They spread out, firing in a precise, crossfire formation. Plasma bolts crisscrossed toward him, set to detonate mid-air, cutting off potential escape routes. A smart plan—for a normal opponent.
Baldur vanished in a flicker of golden light, rematerializing above them. Before they could react, he raised a hand and curved a hard-light construct into existence—a spear of compressed photons, brighter than a star.
He hurled it downward.
The moment it touched the ground, a blinding explosion of light engulfed the area.
The bounty hunters screamed, their visors overloading, their senses overwhelmed by the sudden burst of pure radiance. Some staggered back, clutching their helmets, while others collapsed entirely, blinded beyond recovery.
Baldur descended slowly, his body glowing faintly as the residual light energy absorbed into his form.
"You guys are well-trained," he admitted. "But you don't fight light itself."
From the side, Rylos the Butcher watched, arms crossed.
He had seen warriors with speed, strength, and power. But this?
Baldur wasn't just fast. He was untouchable.
There was no tell, no wind-up, no wasted motion. He moved at the speed of light itself, with reactions beyond even the most enhanced warriors in the galaxy.
This was why the warlords had taken an interest.
Not just because he was Asgardian.
Because he was something completely different.
A warlord nearby barked an order, and a new wave of attackers surged forward.
Some had electromagnetic disruptors, others carried hard-light weapons, calibrated to function against energy-based entities.
Baldur sighed, rolling his shoulders.
"You guys never learn, do you?"
A burst of light.
He was already behind them.
The first fighter barely registered the movement before a precise palm strike to the back of the head sent him unconscious. The second managed to react faster, slashing with a plasma blade enhanced with anti-speed distortions—but Baldur simply phased into light, letting the blade pass harmlessly through his body before reforming a foot away.
His counterattack was instant.
He tapped the side of the mercenary's helmet, flooding his visor with an overload of starlight. The man screamed, clutching his face, dropping his blade as he collapsed.
One by one, Baldur systematically dismantled them.
• A Kree commando activated a gravity pulse grenade—Baldur blinked out of its range before it even detonated.
• A cybernetic bounty hunter tried to predict his movements, calculating based on previous patterns—Baldur changed his rhythm instantly, appearing beside him and disarming him before he could adjust.
• A towering brute, enhanced with liquid-metal armor, swung at him—Baldur shifted into photons mid-strike, passing through his body before solidifying behind him.
Every movement, every attack, was effortless.
This wasn't a brawl anymore.
It was a demonstration.
From above, the Leviathan dreadnought repositioned, its hangars opening to deploy war drones built specifically for high-speed combat.
Dozens of hunter-class droids descended, their red optics locking onto him. A single unified sound echoed from them:
"Target: Designation Baldur Odinson. Immediate elimination authorized."
They fired.
The entire market erupted in an inferno of plasma blasts, heat-seeking photon missiles, and disintegration beams.
Baldur didn't move.
The first wave of energy never touched him. The moment it reached his body, it bent, distorted, scattered.
Light didn't just travel.
Light could be manipulated.
A beam of concentrated plasma hurtled toward his chest—he caught it mid-air, holding it in his palm like it was nothing.
He twisted his wrist. The bolt reversed direction, slamming into the nearest drone and sending it spiraling out of control.
Before the rest could adjust, Baldur vanished again.
In a flicker, he was above the battlefield. His body hovered in midair, golden energy radiating outward as he prepared his next move.
Below, the droids turned, recalibrating.
Too slow.
Baldur raised his hand, and for a moment, everything was silent.
Then, light consumed the station.
A flash—brighter than a collapsing star, faster than anything mortal eyes could track.
By the time it faded, half the droids were nothing but charred remains.
The remaining forces hesitated. Their processing units ran through calculations, reevaluating the situation. They had been designed to counter fast-moving targets, enhanced warriors, and high-speed energy-based threats.
But this?
This was beyond them.
Rylos, still watching, exhaled slowly. He had fought gods before. He had seen the limits of what "unstoppable" looked like.
This wasn't that.
Baldur wasn't just strong. He wasn't just fast.
He was fighting like a being who had already surpassed the battlefield itself.
And he was still getting stronger.
The warlord exhaled, watching as Baldur prepared his final attack.
"Alright," Rylos muttered. "This might be worth watching."
Baldur looked up at the Leviathan warship still hovering overhead.
"Okay," he murmured to himself. "Let's take this to them."
The ground beneath him shattered as he launched himself into the sky—a streak of pure light, heading straight for the enemy's command center.
The hunt wasn't over.