Now that I can use Celestial Energy… I can finally escape this place.
Lucy stared at her hands, faint energy still humming around her fingers. Her breathing was steady, but her heart was racing.
Then she noticed it.
Her hair—its color had changed.
"…What?" Lucy muttered under her breath.
She reached up, pulling a strand forward, eyes widening slightly.
Right… I remember now.
In the novel, anyone who surpassed fifty percent had their hair change color—a visible sign that their energy had crossed a critical threshold.
"So that means…" Lucy exhaled slowly. "It worked."
She clenched her fist.
Let's try it.
She focused, following instinct more than logic. The energy responded almost immediately, gathering above her palm. A small sphere formed—unstable at first, trembling like it might collapse at any second.
"If I follow what I saw in Lena's memory…" she whispered.
The sphere stabilized.
Her eyes sharpened.
"This was the technique I imagined back then."
She could've copied the spear techniques from the memories she inherited—but weapon manifestation would take too long. Instead, she had chosen something simpler. Something brutal.
Raw energy. Compressed. Controlled.
"I've only been in this world for a few hours," Lucy murmured, a crooked smile forming. "And I'm already about to fight."
Her thoughts drifted—briefly—to her old world.
Back then, fights were normal. School. Streets. Even after graduation. Teachers were probably relieved when she left.
She snorted softly.
"I even punched one before I went."
Lucy inhaled deeply.
Same thing as before. Breathe. Calm down.
Without realizing it, her senses expanded.
The walls, the air, the faint vibrations beyond the room—
They're coming.
"…Not bad," she thought. "First time using detection and I didn't mess it up."
A timid voice came from the containment next to hers.
"Miss Lucy… are you going to be okay?"
Lucy turned slightly. "Don't worry," she said calmly. "I've got this."
Footsteps echoed.
"Distribute the food," a man in a white coat ordered.
Security personnel in black uniforms approached the containment chambers, sliding trays through a small opening.
Lucy glanced at the food.
Green sludge. Barely recognizable as something edible.
"…Wow," she said flatly. "I thought I'd let you feed them before I left—but if this is what you call food, that's disappointing."
"Subject D6 is talking more than usual today," the man in white muttered.
Then he froze.
"H—her hair… it changed."
His eyes lit up with excitement.
"The experiment worked! Incredible—so it just needed more time!"
Lucy's gaze turned cold.
"This isn't your achievement," she said. "It's mine. Not your trash experiments."
"Shut up, D6!" the man snapped. "This is the result of the project. I just need to report it and—"
He stopped.
Lucy raised her hand.
A massive energy sphere formed instantly—far larger than before, dense and humming with pressure.
"This should be enough," she said softly. "To break this glass."
The man turned just in time to see it.
"…Huh—"
The blast tore through the containment wall.
Glass, steel, bodies—everything exploded outward. Blood and broken limbs scattered across the corridor as screams were cut short.
Silence followed.
Lucy stepped out of the shattered containment, energy still fading from her palm.
"…As expected," she said quietly. "I still don't feel anything when I see blood."
The children stared at her in frozen terror.
She blinked.
"…Ah. Right. That probably wasn't the best thing to do in front of kids."
Slowly, the other children approached their containment doors.
"Miss Lucy… you're going to save us, right?" a girl asked.
"Yes," Lucy replied without hesitation.
A boy nodded eagerly. "Then we don't have to be scared!"
Lucy smiled.
With a flick of her hand, energy blasted outward, destroying the remaining containment walls.
The children rushed out.
"Alright," Lucy said. "Let's get out of here."
Suddenly, her detection flared.
Too many presences.
"…So they're coming from both sides."
She formed another large energy sphere and fired it down the corridor. Screams echoed, followed by an explosion that tore a hole through the building wall. Sunlight poured in.
"That way's clear," Lucy muttered. "The other side is the problem."
She turned to the children.
"Go toward the light. I'll meet you there. Don't stop."
"Yes, Miss Lucy!" they shouted, running.
Lucy exhaled slowly.
"This might get ugly."
Security forces rushed in.
"Is there a silent alarm?" she muttered. "There's too many."
"Subject D6! Return to your cell—"
"Or what?" Lucy interrupted calmly. "I don't think you're in any position to threaten me."
Multiple energy spheres formed around her.
They fired.
Heads disappeared. Bodies dropped.
Shock filled the remaining guards.
"She—she wasn't this strong before!"
Lucy stepped forward.
"That thing I did earlier," she said, forming another sphere, "compressing a large amount of energy into a smaller form…"
She released it.
The explosion erased the hallway.
Dust settled.
Lucy stood alone.
"I still have something to do," Lucy said quietly.
Inside the inner laboratory, several men in white coats stood frozen as alarms blared around them.
"The subjects are escaping!" one of them shouted. "How did they break reinforced steel glass?!"
"It doesn't matter," the man overseeing Lucy's experiment said, his voice trembling with excitement rather than fear. "This only proves the experiment is working."
Before anyone could respond—
BOOM.
The explosion shook the room violently. The door at the far end warped inward, metal screeching as it was torn from its frame. Smoke flooded in.
"What—what was that?!" someone yelled.
Screams echoed from the corridor.
Then silence.
A second later, the door was blown completely off its hinges.
Lucy stood there.
"So this is where you were hiding," she said calmly.
One of the scientists slowly reached for a taser beneath the table—
Lucy flicked her wrist.
A condensed blast of energy tore through his arm.
"AHHH!" He collapsed, screaming.
"You shouldn't try anything funny," Lucy said, her voice flat. "Just answer my questions."
"Why should we answer you?!" another shouted desperately.
Lucy turned her head.
"Okay."
The man's head disappeared in a flash of light.
Blood sprayed the wall.
"You little brat—once security gets here—" another screamed.
His head exploded before he finished.
"Where is the security?!" one of the remaining men cried.
"There isn't any," Lucy replied. "I killed them all."
Only three scientists remained now, shaking uncontrollably.
"Now," Lucy said, stepping forward, eyes cold. "Answer my questions."
They nodded frantically.
"What experiment were you conducting here?" she asked.
"We—we were trying to artificially create someone with Celestial Element," one of them said.
"What do you mean?" Lucy asked.
"It's too complex for your little—"
His head vanished.
"Continue," Lucy said.
"When people are born, their limit is fixed," the scientist continued in terror. "Our experiment expands that limit. Someone stuck at fifty percent could reach seventy… even higher."
"And me?" Lucy asked.
"You… you were raised from fifty-nine percent to seventy-five. You survived when others didn't."
Lucy's eyes narrowed. "What about the other children?"
"They died," the man whispered. "After a certain point, the body can't handle it. But you surpassed it. You became our hope."
"So Celestial Element is at one hundred percent?" Lucy asked.
"Yes. Those above ninety-two percent are like demigods. One hundred percent would be a god. If we created one… we could rule the world."
Lucy stared at him.
"Well," she said. "That's cliché."
She raised her hand.
"But you answered."
The man smiled weakly. "Then… you'll spare us?"
Lucy tilted her head. "I never said that."
A flash.
Silence.
Lucy stepped out of the ruined laboratory and into the open air.
A forest stretched endlessly around the facility.
"…They really built this place in the middle of nowhere," she muttered.
Then—
"You seem to have done quite a lot of work in there, little girl."
Lucy froze.
Her instincts screamed.
She turned slowly.
A man stood a short distance away—white hair, calm green uniform, hands in his pockets.
She hadn't sensed him at all.
He's dangerous.
"Who are you?" Lucy asked.
"That's rude," the man replied casually. "But I'll answer."
"My name is Smith."
He smiled faintly.
"Smith Jova."