The Figure Wearing a Cloak

"How is this possible? Is this guy even human?"

At this moment, it wasn't just the people on the ground who were stunned by the scene unfolding in the sky.

Those aboard the other helicopters felt the terror of this spectacle most viscerally.

"This guy is a demon!"

Anyone who watched a human being pierce through an armed helicopter with his bare body, tearing the entire aircraft apart right before their eyes, would probably struggle to stay calm.

And if you could, well—now he's coming for you!

"No, he's coming for us! Drop altitude, now!"

At that moment, the pilot of another targeted helicopter watched the "demon" that had just destroyed one aircraft now hurtling straight toward him, his heart flooded with fear.

He frantically wrestled the controls, forcing the helicopter to descend in a desperate attempt to dodge the madman charging at him.

"Whew, that was close!"

Intense terror seemed to unlock an extraordinary piloting skill; the helicopter dropped altitude while twisting in a nearly impossible maneuver, narrowly evading Peter as he shot past.

But then...

As Peter swept overhead, he suddenly shot two streams of webbing down at the helicopter below.

With the webbing's help, Peter instantly overcame the flaw of being unable to change direction mid-leap.

The next moment, using the webbing's pull, he slammed his foot hard into the helicopter.

Clang, clang, clang...

The helicopter's rotor blades, spinning at hundreds of revolutions per minute, would normally slice through ordinary flesh with the force of their speed.

But now, as the blades struck Peter's body, it was like jamming a metal rod into a plastic fan.

Countless rotor blades curled and snapped; the helicopter's main rotor was forcibly halted by Peter in an instant.

The entire aircraft lost control completely, plummeting downward at breakneck speed.

Rat-tat-tat-tat...

Just as Peter, standing atop the helicopter, clenched his fist to finish it off, another helicopter had somehow crept up behind him. Its four-barreled 12.7mm machine gun spat a fierce tongue of flame without hesitation.

Bullets that could tear through armored vehicles slammed into Peter's body, but all they produced were dazzling sparks and the crisp ring of metal striking metal.

Facing the machine-gun fire, Peter didn't dodge or flinch.

His powerful Man of Steel body gave him a physique like a god's.

The bullets hitting him felt no worse than a mosquito bite.

"Hmph."

With a cold sneer in his mind, Peter simply snapped off one of the still-intact rotor blades from the helicopter beneath him.

Then, gripping one end of the blade, he hurled it like a boomerang.

Whoosh...

The immense force gave the blade terrifying power and speed.

"Captain, look out!"

Onboard that helicopter sat Captain George and one of his officers.

The pilot had sensed trouble the moment Peter broke off the blade and had already turned the aircraft, trying to evade the spinning projectile.

But he couldn't dodge it completely.

The rapidly spinning blade became a true razor-sharp knife.

It sliced straight into the helicopter's tail, cleanly severing the cockpit and cabin from the rear fuselage.

A fully intact helicopter—rotor and all—was chopped in two in an instant.

Luckily, their cabin section hadn't been hit, and everyone inside was unharmed.

Unluckily, with the rotor and tail gone, the aircraft had no power left, and they could only watch as it slowly spiraled downward.

Congratulations, host. Mission complete. Rewards are being distributed...

"Huh? Is this... the mission finally done?"

Just as Peter was about to go after the remaining helicopters, he suddenly heard the mission-complete notification.

The moment it finished, he felt an utterly unique sensation surge through his body.

"Is this... the reward for randomly awakening one ability after completing the mission?"

The strange feeling in his body didn't worry Peter at all—instead, it thrilled him.

Every one of Superman's abilities was incredibly powerful. No matter which one the reward granted him, it was a sure win.

"But since the mission's done, it's time to leave."

With his goal achieved, Peter didn't hesitate. He turned to head for a safe place to awaken his new power.

With that thought, Peter, standing atop the helicopter, didn't hesitate for a second. His legs exploded with force, and he shot into the distant darkness like a rocket blasting skyward.

His incredible speed made him vanish in the blink of an eye.

At the same time, the system's voice rang out in Peter's ears again.

Rewards distributed. Congratulations, host, on earning 100 points. The randomly awakened special ability is...

But with Peter gone, the scene on the ground was far from over.

In the mere ten-plus seconds since Peter had left, his actions had completely destroyed three armed helicopters.

Now, the wreckage of those three choppers was plummeting from high above.

Among the debris, a few survivors could only wait in sheer terror for death to claim them.

"Goodbye, Mom. I hope the death benefits will let you live comfortably in your later years."

Falling from hundreds of meters up, they had almost no chance of survival. At this height, parachutes were useless.

Just as they were living out their final seconds, flooded with thoughts of their loved ones—

"Oh yeah, she did it!"

"Nice work, Spider-Woman!"

"Unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable!"

—their thoughts were cut off by a sudden roar of cheers from below.

A few seconds earlier, the wreckage of the first destroyed helicopter, carrying two survivors, was about to hit the ground.

Just when everyone thought the tragedy was unavoidable—

A silver-white web shot down from the sky.

A graceful, beautiful figure emerged from the darkness, like an angel descending from heaven.

She successfully saved the survivors in the wreckage.

Then, the survivors from the second falling helicopter were also rescued by her, narrowly escaping disaster.

At that moment, every police officer on the ground who witnessed it couldn't help but cheer from the bottom of their hearts.

In that instant, in the minds of all the officers, the figure in the torn Spider-Suit was no longer a criminal causing chaos.

She was a hero saving people in their hour of need!

"Dear Gwen and Helen, I'm sorry I couldn't see you one last time, to say I'm sorry..."

With the helicopter only tens of meters from the ground, George Stacy could only silently apologize to his wife and daughter in his heart.

Bang!

Suddenly, a sound jolted George from his thoughts.

He snapped his eyes open and saw a familiar figure.

It was Spider-Woman, the one he'd racked his brain to capture. Somehow, she'd entered the cabin just as it was about to crash.

"Stop right there! Don't move, or I'll shoot!"

Without hesitation, Captain George drew his service pistol and aimed it at the figure before him.

But the figure acted as if she hadn't heard his warning at all.

She smashed the windows on both sides of the cabin, then shot several webs toward the tall buildings on either side.

Then, in a handstand position, she braced her long legs against the cabin ceiling.

Instantly, the cabin, which had been plummeting at high speed, was halted by the immense force, its descent slowed.

It finally came to a complete stop just over ten meters from the ground.

Inside the cabin, the sudden stop threw the few people off balance.

But throughout it all, Captain George never lowered his gun, keeping it trained on Spider-Woman as she struggled to save them.

"Get out of here! I can't hold this much longer!"

Only when the cabin was fully stable did Gwen speak urgently, blood seeping from the tiger's-mouth of her hands from gripping the webs so tightly.

Below, other officers had already gathered soft materials and spread them under the cabin.

"You go first."

"Captain, what about you?"

Everyone in the cabin made it safely to the ground, but Captain George seemed unwilling to leave just yet.

"Today, I'm going to see what face is hiding behind that mask."

With that, George slowly approached Gwen, who couldn't move to stop him, and reached for her mask.

But just as his hand was about to lift the Spider-Woman's mask, he suddenly stopped.

"Hey, looks like you could use some help!"

Just as George seemed to hesitate, a voice came from nearby.

At the same time, Gwen felt the cabin suddenly become weightless. She quickly flipped to the ground, dodging George's hand.

The next moment, both of them looked toward the source of the voice. A figure in a red cape was floating outside the cabin, effortlessly lifting the helicopter with one hand—the same one Gwen had strained with all her might to stop.