Dominator

Tony's head was full of questions. He really wanted to turn around and take a look at that "soccer kid."

But the voice coming through his helmet's comms quickly drew his attention back to the battlefield.

"Stark, we need your support on Sixth Avenue. Another alien troop carrier has appeared over there!"

"Copy. I'm on my way!"

Hearing the warning from Hawkeye, Clint Barton, Tony didn't hesitate for a moment. He immediately turned and flew toward Sixth Avenue.

But the comms in his ear didn't fall silent. Seeing him take off, Hawkeye spoke up.

"By the way, what was that streak of light just now? A new feature in your armor? It looked pretty powerful!"

"Hey, Robin Hood, focus on observing your battlefield!"

Hawkeye was asking about the flashy attack from earlier, but Tony chose not to answer directly.

It wasn't that the great Stark wanted to take credit for it.

It was just that, thinking back to the "pencil-case kid" and his obviously youthful appearance, Tony could tell he was pretty young.

Tony Stark didn't want to drag him into this "war," either.

Even if the kid might be able to help him take out more alien ships.

Well, especially since Clint Barton was also an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. There was no way Tony could tell him about the kid.

Back in the room with the hole in the wall.

Watching Iron Man's armor shoot off into the distance, trailing flames, Luca wasn't particularly surprised.

After all, Manhattan was crawling with invading Chitauri. Tony Stark was such an important combat asset that he probably didn't have much time to worry about a civilian's odd little trick.

Instead, what interested Luca more than Tony Stark's departure was the [Power-Enhancing Shoes] he'd just finished synthesizing.

He turned the dial at his ankle off and flexed his right foot, which had suddenly lost its strength.

Forget being injured by the recoil after delivering such a powerful kick. Luca hadn't even felt any muscle soreness from overexerting himself.

"So it really is a Detective Conan gadget... That flashy effect, tsk, tsk. No wonder it's the ultimate show-off tool for the theatrical movies starring the elementary-school detective!"

In fact, it wasn't just the power and the protection it gave his leg.

By all rights, given the force of Luca's kick, even if he wasn't injured by the recoil, his left leg—untouched by the "electric acupoint" enhancement—shouldn't have been able to support him as he kicked the ball and stayed firmly in place.

But in reality, when he'd kicked the ball, his left leg hadn't felt any strain beyond its limits, either.

It was as if he'd merely taken an ordinary shot at goal.

Even more ridiculous was that Luca wasn't exactly a soccer fan.

Forget accurately hitting a target hundreds of meters away. He wouldn't even dare claim he could score with an open goal just a dozen meters away.

That immediately reminded Luca of the description on the panel when he'd synthesized the [Power-Enhancing Shoes].

"Immensely powerful, without hurting the foot; never misses, without hurting anyone?"

"Conan really does knock people out no matter how hard the thing he kicks is or how much power he puts into it, doesn't he?"

"Looks like I'll have to pay more attention to the item descriptions on the panels from now on."

Unfortunately, once an item had been synthesized, even Luca couldn't see its panel anymore. He'd have to get the "Core Component" of another item before he could look into his cheat again.

Putting those thoughts aside for the moment, Luca glanced outside at the battle and immediately turned back.

He'd originally planned to discuss with his mother, Gina, whether they should hide in the storage room they'd talked about earlier or go out and seek shelter.

After all, their home wasn't on the ground floor. If another Leviathan crashed into the building and brought it down, even the sturdiest storage room wouldn't keep them safe.

But when he turned around, he discovered that Gina had somehow collapsed on the floor. The high-tech-looking pistol in her hand had fallen beside her.

He rushed to Gina's side in a few quick strides and checked her breathing.

"Her breathing is steady, and her heartbeat and pulse are normal. There are no obvious injuries on her head, and her cervical spine seems fine."

After a moment's thought, Luca pried open Gina's eyelids and checked that her pupils reacted normally to light.

She was probably just unconscious. Only then did Luca breathe a little easier.

"Thank goodness!"

Earlier, Luca had thought that at least he'd arrived in this world with both parents alive.

If, only a few days after transmigrating, an accident left him all alone again, he really would have started to wonder if he were cursed.

But... when he thought of everything he'd been through in his previous life, from childhood onward...

"Better focus on keeping the living alive!"

With that in mind, Luca searched his original body's memories and quickly found the first-aid kit the family kept on hand.

Fortunately, the kit was still intact, and nothing inside had been damaged. He promptly gave his mother, Gina, some basic first aid.

But even the pain from the bandaging, combined with several relatively safe attempts to wake her, couldn't bring Gina around.

For a while, he had no idea how to continue treating her.

For one thing, his limited first-aid knowledge wasn't enough to determine what had caused her to pass out, and he was afraid of causing further injury.

Besides, with the situation outside, it probably wasn't possible to get any help. He might as well stay put and wait.

"As I recall, the Chitauri invasion won't last very long. Whether you can hold on until trained medical personnel reach you... well, that's up to fate."

Luca shook his head helplessly.

After doing everything he could, he finally remembered something.

The experimental pistol his mother had used earlier seemed to give off the same faint white glow characteristic of a "Core Component."

He looked around, picked up the pistol he'd set aside and forgotten about, and a light blue panel immediately appeared above it.

[Dominator Pistol: Basic Model]

[Psycho-Pass World 1/5]

[Manufacturer: Sibyl]

[Core Component: Ion Constraint Pistol]

[Materials for Synthesis: 1 miniature speaker, 1 miniature camera, 1 network connection chip, 1 set of miniature projection equipment, 30 centimeters of cyan LED strip.]

[Item Description: An excellent multifunctional police pistol with a transforming design. It has three modes: nonlethal tranquilization, lethal elimination, and Destruction Decomposer Mode. When connected to the Sibyl System, it offers various functions, including voice interaction, user identification, enemy scanning, and retinal projection assistance.]

[Helpful Tip: Some functions will be temporarily unavailable without access to the Sibyl System. However, that might be good news for you~]