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The Lighthouse possesses three major institutions of force:
The Marauders, the Light and Shadow Society, and the City Defense Army.
The Marauders operate externally; they are responsible for combating the Phage Beasts and gathering the vital resources required by the Lighthouse.
The Light and Shadow Society operates internally; they punish anyone who dares to defy the Lighthouse's rules and laws, while simultaneously indoctrinating the populace and establishing a system of religious faith.
The City Defense Army is a force directly subordinate to the City Lord; boasting the largest numbers and the most formidable weaponry, it represents the strongest military power within the Lighthouse and serves to oversee both the Marauders and the Light and Shadow Society.
Mark and his two companions—by resisting the "Reproduction Mission" and launching attacks against the Dawn Clergy and the City Defense Army—have committed grave violations of the Lighthouse's rules.
Consequently, his decision to dispatch the Light and Shadow Society's enforcers to execute them on the spot was entirely in accordance with established enforcement protocols.
Even if his father were to be angered by the incident after the fact...
He had already killed someone—what else could they possibly do to him?
Although he understood that ascending to the Lighthouse meant severing all ties of kinship from the Old World—a rule openly enforced as a necessary measure to better govern the Lighthouse—privately, he remained the old City Lord's only son.
The bond between father and son still endured.
Therefore, the worst he would face was a reprimand; afterward, the position of City Lord would still be passed down to him.
As for that monstrous child?
He was indeed formidable.
Yet, no matter how powerful he was, he could never withstand the combined force of every Enforcer in the Order of Light and Shadow.
The Order's enforcement division possessed its own corps of heavy mechs—Reapers—and their weaponry was in no way inferior to that of the Hunters.
In his view, the reason Captain Senge's City Guard squad had been defeated so easily was primarily that they had underestimated their enemy. Had they simply identified the target and immediately concentrated their fire upon him...
...under the covering fire of heavy armaments—such as reinforced Vulcan cannons, sniper rifles, and electromagnetic railguns capable of blasting apart even giant Rijibeasts...
...that mutated boy wouldn't have had the chance to get close enough to launch a melee attack; he would have been reduced to nothing more than a mangled, broken doll.
"Move!"
Upon seeing Goku instantly wipe out an entire squad of City Guards, Mark did not let his guard down. Snapping back to action, he continued to lead Ran Bing and Goku in a sprint toward the flight platform.
He shared Charles's line of thought: Goku was indeed incredibly powerful, but if they were to be truly surrounded and subjected to concentrated fire by the Lighthouse's heavy mechs...
...it would still be an extremely perilous situation.
Therefore, pressing on toward the flight platform—and escaping the Lighthouse entirely—remained their best course of action.
Although the heavy mechs possessed flight capabilities of their own, they were limited to short-range sorties; they would not be able to pursue them all the way down to the surface.
Once they were clear of the Lighthouse, they would be safe.
However, this time, Goku did not follow. Instead, he stepped in front of Mark and said:
"If you intend to head down to the surface right now, you actually don't need to go to that flight platform."
Initially, he had tagged along because Mark and his companions were planning to meet with the City Lord; his intention was to wait until that meeting had concluded before leaving the Lighthouse.
But given the current turn of events, Mark no longer intended to meet with the City Lord; instead, he planned to head to the flight platform, hijack an aircraft, and make a direct escape from the Lighthouse.
If the goal was simply to leave the Lighthouse, then there was absolutely no need to go to the platform to fight for a spacecraft; couldn't he have just taken the two of them and instantly Apparated away?
"What?"
Mark and Ran Bing clearly didn't understand what Goku meant.
Goku stepped forward, grabbing Mark with one hand and Ran Bing with the other; silently incanting a spell, he vanished instantly from the spot.
When they reappeared, they were hovering directly above the wreckage of the spaceship they had visited earlier that day.
"See? It's just like this. If you guys want to leave the Lighthouse, I can teleport you away anytime."
"This... is this some kind of spatial jump technology? I can't believe such a thing actually exists!"
Mark and Ran Bing gazed at the familiar scene surrounding them, their faces etched with expressions of utter disbelief.
Such spatial jump technology was rumored to be something only spaceships from the "Old World" era were capable of achieving.
They never imagined that Goku, relying solely on his own personal abilities, could also perform it.
Could it be that this world truly harbored magic—
something completely unscientific?
"Watch out!"
Mark's pupils constricted as he looked behind Goku, shouting a loud warning.
It turned out that the area around the spaceship wreckage—due to the fierce battle they had fought there earlier that day—had attracted a massive horde of Phage Beasts.
Now, the ground below was a dense, black mass of them—
at least ten times more numerous than the ones they had encountered that afternoon.
The moment they appeared, they caught the attention of the Phage Beasts below; the nearest one—a colossal beast— lunged at Goku from behind.
"Don't worry; these Phage Beasts are actually quite weak."
Goku casually flicked his hand upward; the Phage Beast—which had been baring its massive, blood-stained maw, intending to swallow him whole—was sent rocketing into the sky like a missile, shrinking into a black speck before vanishing completely.
Upon witnessing this, the remaining Phage Beasts paused for less than a second before charging madly toward the trio.
Hunting humans, harvesting their "Life Source"—their vital essence—and offering it up to the "Flower of Mana": this was the mission for which they were born, and the very purpose of their existence.
They could sense that the boy standing before them possessed an incredibly vast reservoir of Life Source within his body—
something they simply had to capture, no matter the cost.
"Goku, let's get out of here first!"
Seeing the swarming, frenzied Phage Beasts rushing toward them, Mark's expression changed instantly.
His heavy-duty mech suit wasn't currently at his side, and relying solely on Goku might not be enough to hold them off.
Since Goku possessed spatial warping capabilities, the sensible move was to leave this place immediately and find a safe haven before doing anything else.
"Breath of Ki: Second Form!"
Facing the Phage Beasts as they lunged through the air, Goku raised his hand, and countless blades of pure Ki shot forth.
The Phage Beasts—creatures impervious even to bullets—were reduced to mere paper-thin shells in the face of Goku's Ki blades.
In an instant, every single Phage Beast was reduced to a pile of shredded flesh, raining down upon the ground.
"I told you—they're really weak."
Goku flashed a simple, innocent smile.
Meanwhile, Mark and Ran Bing stood utterly dumbfounded.
They had always known Goku was powerful—they realized it the moment he obliterated a giant Phage Beast with a single punch, and that conviction was only reinforced when he later smashed through four heavy-duty mech suits.
But now, they realized just how vastly they had underestimated him.
He wasn't merely "powerful"; his strength was absolutely boundless.
What kind of phenomenon was it to conjure countless Ki blades with a mere wave of the hand?
To instantly slice a horde of Phage Beasts into bloody chunks with a single gesture—wasn't that just a little too exaggerated?
If he were to combine this power with his spatial warping abilities, he would be utterly fearless—even if besieged by an army of Phage Beasts, he would be virtually invincible.
With that thought, a bold idea suddenly surged within Mark's mind.
Perhaps... just perhaps, if the Lighthouse were to dedicate its full resources to assisting Goku in purging the Phage Beasts—leveraging his terrifying power—
It might actually be possible to clear the entire surface world of Phage Beasts, uncover the true cause of the catastrophe, and resolve this disaster once and for all.
If that were to happen, everyone aboard the Lighthouse could return to living on the surface—never again having to abide by those damn, nonsensical "Three Laws of the Lighthouse."
"Goku, there's something I'd like to discuss with you." With a grave expression, Mark solemnly shared his thoughts with Goku.
And Goku agreed without a second thought.
"Sure!"
He had, in fact, already intended to help the humans of this world clear out the Phage Beasts.
Seeing that Goku had agreed so readily, Mark was momentarily taken aback; he then turned his gaze toward Ran Bing.
Ran Bing gripped Mark's hand tightly, and before he could even speak, she declared firmly:
"I support you!"
"It seems I have no choice but to become the City Lord!"
With the support of Goku and Ran Bing, Mark finally steeled his resolve.
He would have a proper talk with the Old City Lord; if that failed, his only option would be to seize control of the Lighthouse regime by force.
He intended to overhaul the Lighthouse's conservative combat strategies and devote his full efforts to assisting Goku in clearing out the Phage Beasts—thereby resolving this apocalyptic disaster.
He wanted to ensure that everyone on the Lighthouse could return to the surface and live the kind of happy lives that humans enjoyed in the "Old World."
There would be no more tragedies like the one that befell his sister.
"Goku, take us back to the Lighthouse!"
"No problem!"
Goku took Mark and Ran Bing by the hand; with a sudden flash, their figures vanished—only to reappear moments later right at the entrance to the Lighthouse dormitories.