"AHHHHH—!"
The moment the massive, scaled head forced its way through the library entrance, screams erupted.
Students scattered in every direction, panic tearing through the room as the Lizard pushed inside, its eyes sweeping over the crowd like a predator searching for prey.
"Where is Peter Parker?"
Its voice rumbled, low and dangerous.
No answer.
The Lizard's gaze sharpened.
In the next instant, it moved.
Like a battering ram, it smashed through a section of the wall and lunged forward, grabbing a fleeing student mid-stride.
"LET ME GO—!"
The student screamed—but even without trying, the Lizard's grip crushed bone. The sound of cracking echoed before the student went limp, unconscious from the pain.
The Lizard dropped him without a second thought and snatched another.
"I'll ask again," it growled. "Where is Peter Parker?"
"I—I don't know! I don't know who that is!" the student cried, barely able to breathe under the pressure.
The library had only one exit.
And it was blocked.
No one dared to move.
No one dared to speak.
Far away, Noah was already on his way.
Through the phone, he could hear everything.
"He's inside the library?" Noah asked calmly as the wind howled past him. "Hold on. I'm almost there."
"How long is 'almost'?" a girl near Gwen whispered urgently. "That thing's asking about Peter Parker—who even is that? Why is it hunting him?"
Noah let out a short laugh, even as he moved at full speed.
"Good question," he said lightly.
Behind a bookshelf, Gwen gripped her phone tightly, watching the Lizard tear through the room.
"It's coming this way," she said, her voice tense. "How much longer?"
"How long?" Noah replied, his tone suddenly serious.
A pause.
"…Three."
The students around Gwen stiffened.
Three minutes?
They didn't have that long.
"…Two."
A few of them exchanged looks, panic rising.
Now was not the time for a countdown.
"…One."
BOOM!
The southern wall of the library exploded inward.
Concrete shattered as a figure burst through, carving a three-meter hole straight into the building.
Noah stepped through the debris, already lowering his phone as he ended the call.
"I told you," he said, glancing toward Gwen with a faint smile. "I'm always on time."
The Lizard turned.
Recognition flashed in its eyes.
"It's you."
Unlike the others, it had seen the footage. It knew exactly who this was.
"Oh?" Noah walked forward casually. "Then you should also know this is my school."
The Lizard hesitated.
"I'm not here for anyone else," it said, forcing its tone to steady. "I only want Peter Parker."
The shift in attitude was immediate—and noticeable.
Moments ago, it had been a rampaging monster.
Now, it sounded almost… reasonable.
The students watching couldn't reconcile the two.
Noah stopped a few steps away.
"Then you can explain that to a judge," he said flatly. "Preferably from a prison cell."
His relaxed posture, his tone—everything about him was infuriatingly casual.
The Lizard's eyes darkened.
"Don't push me."
"Push you?" Noah raised an eyebrow. "You broke into a school and started grabbing students. That's already way past 'pushed,' man."
That did it.
The Lizard roared and swung its massive claw down.
It never landed.
A flash—
And the arm was gone.
Severed cleanly at the shoulder.
For a brief second, the Lizard didn't react.
Then the pain hit.
A guttural scream tore from its throat as it staggered back, blood pouring from the stump.
Noah didn't even look at it.
Instead, he glanced briefly to the side.
"Everyone saw that, right?" he said casually. "He swung first."
The Lizard snapped.
Pain and rage swallowed whatever control it had left.
It lunged forward, jaws wide—
Only for Noah's fist to arrive first.
The impact was brutal.
A single punch drove upward into its jaw, snapping its roar into silence as bone shattered under the force.
The Lizard's body lifted off the ground like it had been hit by a speeding truck.
It flew—
And crashed.
Hard.
The wooden floor cracked beneath it as it hit, shockwaves rippling outward.
For a moment, everything was still.
Then the Lizard moved.
Barely.
Instinct screamed at it.
Run.
If it stayed, it would die.
It forced itself upright, staggering toward the exit—
And froze.
Noah was already there.
Blocking the way.
One foot planted, the other drawing back.
Coiled.
Ready.
In that instant, something primal took over.
The Lizard's pupils shrank.
Every instinct it had screamed the same thing.
Death.
"Wait—!"
Too late.
Noah's leg moved.
The kick landed square in the Lizard's abdomen.
The force was overwhelming—hundreds of tons behind a single strike.
The air itself detonated.
Books were blasted off shelves, pages scattering as the shockwave tore through the library.
The Lizard's body folded around the impact—
And then it was gone.
Launched.
It smashed through the wall in an instant, tearing straight out of the building.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Three impacts echoed in rapid succession as it tore through structures outside before finally crashing into the ground.
A crater formed where it landed, cracks spiderwebbing outward.
At the center—
The Lizard lay motionless.
A massive hole had been blasted clean through its torso.
Anything inside… was gone.
Back in the library, silence fell.
Noah lowered his leg slowly.
"…Guess you get the idea now," he said calmly, glancing toward the wreckage outside.
At his ankle, his pant leg had been torn apart by the force of his own kick—another reminder of the strain his body was still adapting to.
But he didn't seem to care.
To him—
That fight hadn't even been a challenge.