When luck turns against you, even drinking cold water can choke you.
That was exactly how Levi felt right now.
No—this wasn't choking.
This was choking on death.
Inside his head, a cold, emotionless voice was counting down.
> "Warning: Life signs collapsing."
"Estimated time until death: 25 seconds."
"Twenty-four…"
"Twenty-three…"
The damn system that usually played dead had suddenly turned into a grim reaper, urging him toward the grave.
"Enjoy yourself, my ass!" Levi roared inside his mind.
He could feel it—his body was completely out of control.
Three different forces were tearing him apart, turning him into a chaotic mess.
The first was the healing factor.
Green life energy surged wildly, repairing shredded cells. But the moment one wound closed, another, larger rupture exploded somewhere else.
The second was the super-soldier serum.
Golden, rule-bound power tried to suppress the rampaging energies, but the instant it wrapped around them, it was shattered into fragments.
The third force—the true culprit—
was the spatial energy copied from the Tesseract.
It rampaged through his body like a wrecking ball, dismantling everything in its path.
And Levi himself was the wreckage.
"Kid! Hang on!"
A hairy face filled his vision—Logan. For the first time, real panic appeared in the old wolf's eyes. He wanted to help, but his claws and regeneration were useless here. All he could do was smell it—
Levi's life force was draining away at terrifying speed.
"Don't give up, Levi!"
Steve rushed over, grabbing Levi's wrist, his face tight with anxiety.
But Levi barely had the strength to respond. His consciousness was like a shattered boat in a storm, seconds away from breaking apart.
> "Fifteen seconds…"
"Fourteen seconds…"
The countdown in his mind grew clearer with every beat.
Was he really going to die?
Die here—in this stinking sewer?
What kind of joke was that?!
He had crawled out of piles of corpses in World War II. He had fought tooth and nail just to survive this far—
And now it all ended here?
No.
Hell no.
A vicious fire exploded deep within his consciousness.
Why?
Why did he have to die just because something else said so?!
His life was something he had clawed back with his own hands!
He decided how it ended!
If you can't save me—
then I'll save myself!
"GET—THE—HELL—BACK—IN—LINE!!!"
Levi let out a silent roar in his mind.
He stopped resisting the pain. He ignored Logan's shouts and Steve's desperate calls. Like a gambler who had already lost everything, he shoved all his remaining willpower deep—deep—into the core of his body.
HUM—!
The world changed.
He saw the battlefield inside himself.
The healing factor appeared as a vast green ocean of life, endless vines growing wildly, repairing damage nonstop.
The super-soldier serum manifested as a golden web of laws spanning the entire space, every node glowing like a miniature star—absolute order.
And the blue spatial energy…
It was a miniature universe.
A newborn cosmos of forming stars and raging nebulae, slowly rotating.
A blue cosmic storm tore through the green ocean and slammed against the golden web of order.
Levi's consciousness, in comparison, was no more than a speck of dust.
At that moment, he finally understood why the system had given up on him.
This wasn't a problem of the same level.
It was a problem of entirely different dimensions.
Despair flooded in.
Just as his awareness was about to fade, he saw something.
At the core of the golden web was Steve's power source—
protection and unyielding will.
Deep within the green ocean lay Logan's power source—
survival and tenacity.
Then… what about him?
What did he represent?
Levi remembered his old life—a miserable office worker buried in overtime.
He remembered cowering in Normandy trenches, scared out of his mind by artillery fire.
He remembered scraping by with cheap tricks, throwing away his dignity just to stay alive.
He represented nothing.
He was just a cowardly, ordinary man who wanted to live.
His only real trait…
was greed.
Kids make choices.
He wanted everything.
If all of this power belonged to him, then why the hell did he have to let it tear his body apart?!
A mad idea sliced through the darkness.
He stopped trying to fight.
He couldn't command them.
What he could do—was guide.
Levi carefully extended his fragile consciousness into the raging blue cosmic storm.
He didn't touch the energy itself.
He felt it.
Its nature was expansion—
the desire to break free from all restraints.
Then let it expand.
Levi's consciousness moved.
He cut off the golden web's suppression of the blue universe.
BOOM!
The blue storm exploded outward with ten times the violence!
In reality, Levi's body convulsed violently—blood sprayed from all seven orifices.
"No!" Steve cried out.
But Levi had gambled correctly.
Once the blue universe was no longer compressed, its violent energy—having room to vent—began to organize itself.
Like lifting the lid off a boiling kettle.
The water still boiled—but it no longer exploded.
An opening!
Levi rode a relatively stable wave of energy like a surfer—
Then guided it straight toward the green ocean of life.
Not a collision.
A union.
Using his understanding of life and regeneration, he forcibly imprinted a life attribute onto that destructive power.
You want to expand? Fine.
Then expand living space.
You want to tear things apart? Fine.
Then tear apart death itself.
HUM—!
A miracle occurred.
Blue energy poured into the green ocean.
The green ocean opened itself and swallowed the blue.
Blue lost its wild rage and gained vitality.
Green stopped being passive and became agile.
A brand-new blue-green energy was born.
It worked!
But Levi knew—it wasn't enough.
This new power still needed structure.
Rules.
He turned to the golden web of order.
You're next.
He guided the blue-green energy gently into the golden network.
Using his understanding of order and protection, he began to define rules.
You can flow—but only along my paths.
You can be powerful—but you stay anchored at the core.
You do nothing without my permission.
The golden web responded, extending countless threads of law, weaving the wild energies into a stable, orderly internal cycle.
Green became the foundation.
Gold became the framework.
Blue became the core engine.
Three conflicting powers formed a perfect balance.
A brand-new energy circulation system began to operate within his body.
Damage vanished, turning into strength.
Space itself felt like an extension of his limbs.
Two new abilities crystallized within him:
[Life Reversion]: Automatically repairs all damage and converts it into energy.
[Spatial Manipulation (Beginner)]: Basic interference with small-scale space.
...
Reality.
Logan and Steve were completely stunned.
They watched Levi's terrifying body temperature drop.
They watched the blood from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth vanish.
They watched the horrifying blue runes on his skin fade away, his body returning to normal.
Finally—
Levi slowly opened his eyes.
They were still clear, but something ancient and calm now lay beneath them—something that made both men's souls tremble.
"I… what the hell?"
Levi blinked, feeling the new power inside him—gentle, obedient, like a well-fed cat—and couldn't help swearing.
Surviving disaster felt damn good.
He looked down at his hands, then casually raised his right hand and snapped his fingers at the air.
Snap.
Nothing happened.
Logan was about to laugh—until Steve grabbed his arm hard.
Steve stared at his own wrist.
The crack in his military watch—damaged in the explosion—
was gone.
Completely gone.
Steve snapped his head up, staring at Levi like he was a monster.
He was certain—at the instant Levi snapped his fingers, a faint but precise spatial fluctuation had enveloped the watch.
It wasn't repair.
It was replacement.
What the hell had this kid become?!
"You…" Steve swallowed, his throat dry.
Before he could finish, hurried footsteps echoed through the tunnel, accompanied by shouted German commands.
"Shit!" Falsworth went pale. "HYDRA reinforcements!"
Every survivor's heart jumped back into their throat. They were wounded, out of ammo, trapped—sitting ducks.
Levi simply glanced toward the darkness where the sounds came from.
Then he turned back to them and smiled brightly.
"Relax," he said.
"Just a few lost rats."
He slowly raised his right hand, fingers spread, aiming at the dark tunnel.
A deep glow quietly ignited in his palm.
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