The starfighter hovering above Attilan saw a swarm of small interceptors charging toward it with murderous intent. Terrified, it immediately accelerated, trying to pivot and flee.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
A dozen beams erupted from the interceptors' laser cannons, scoring a precise hit on the fighter.
BOOM—!
The grey-hulled craft exploded into a ball of flame, tumbling down onto the energy shield above the city, where it was instantly vaporized.
The Inhumans in the city broke out in cheers at the sight of the enemy being shot down.
Such a massive commotion naturally drew Harvey's attention.
He reluctantly withdrew his hand from a pair of crystal mountain peaks; the warm, soft sensation of Crystal's breasts was truly worth savoring.
Stepping out of the bath, he first cast a Scourgify on himself to dry his body instantly.
With a wave of his hand, he summoned his clothes from the changing room, dressing himself in a few swift motions.
He then projected his telepathy outward as he strode out of the Spring Hall.
Invisible psionic ripples enveloped the entire city of Attilan, extending even to a 500-kilometer radius.
Every living being within this range was laid bare to Harvey's senses.
"Democ, as a telepath, your power may be weak, but you are likely the only one immune to the mental suggestions inside."
"This mission is vital. Remember: once you enter the palace, find the intruder's exact location and fire a signal flare! Do you understand?"
"Understood, sir!"
"Based on our deductions, the enemy is likely in either the Queen's or the Princess's bedchamber. Search those areas first."
"If you succeed, your son will be granted a spot for the Terrigenesis ceremony. Go now, you lucky bastard!"
Harvey "saw" a middle-aged man walking resolutely into the palace. Remarkably, the man was indeed unaffected by the Muggle-Repelling Charm.
"Interesting. Inhuman abilities really are a mixed bag; they even have a specialized mental defender like this."
Harvey noted that the man's mental strength was entirely focused on defense; he couldn't project it to scout or attack.
Clearly, he was a specialist brought in to counter the pervasive mental suggestions of the palace.
However, the deeper one went, the stronger the effect of the Muggle-Repelling Charm became.
The middle-aged man's power was clearly insufficient. After only a few hundred meters, his nose began to bleed, and his steps grew unsteady.
If the man had possessed a truly unbreakable will, he might have actually reached Harvey.
But Harvey had no desire for the cruel hobby of playing with people's lives.
He gathered his psionic power into a needle-like point and drove it ruthlessly into the man's mind.
A squad leader perched on the palace wall saw Democ, who had only made it three hundred meters, suddenly let out a scream and fall stiffly to the ground.
He shouted in shock and rage: "Democ? Get up! Use your willpower, get up!"
There was no response.
The disappointed Inhuman leader looked grim.
The Inhuman population numbered over 200,000.
But the vast majority were low-tier civilians with weak, messy powers; some were even physically deformed.
Telepaths were extremely rare.
Democ had been one of the better ones.
If even he only made it three hundred meters, the leader couldn't imagine who else could penetrate three kilometers into the palace to find the enemy.
"Unless Prince Maximus acts, we can only stare. What now? Do we report our incompetence to Black Bolt?"
Stuck in a stalemate, the leader refused to slink back and beg for forgiveness.
He decided to throw everything at the wall to see what stuck, deploying all five remaining telepaths under his command at once.
"My brothers, your families have been provided for. For the future of our race, this mission rests on you."
"Do not hesitate! Advance as fast as possible! The moment you see a living soul, fire the flare! Understood?"
"Understood...!"
Harvey "saw" that the trash outside refused to give up, insisting on sending more probes.
While these probes posed zero threat to him, a swarm of flies buzzing around was still annoying.
To completely extinguish their desire to test him, Harvey acted again, unleashing a targeted, small-scale psionic shockwave.
He turned the five telepaths into mindless vegetables and, for good measure, left the hundred-odd Inhumans outside the gates with splitting headaches.
The perimeter guards felt as though an invisible sledgehammer had slammed into their brains.
Their consciousness blurred, and they collapsed one by one into a state of deep unconsciousness.
Harvey followed up with a Version 3.0 Incendio.
A streak of red light shot from the depths of the palace, clearing the gates in a heartbeat.
One became a hundred!
Hundreds of thumb-thick red lines, possessing a self-tracking function, struck the unconscious Inhumans.
WHOOSH—!
Flames with the intensity of Fiendfyre erupted out of thin air, consuming the fainted guards instantly.
To vanish from the world while unconscious—these Inhumans had died a peaceful death.
There wasn't even ash left on the ground.
Harvey, ever thick-skinned, thought to himself: "I even scattered their ashes for them. The Inhumans should be thanking me."
After all, he'd saved them over a hundred burial plots. If they were smart, they'd give him an environmental award.
Too bad the Inhumans were destined to misunderstand his "pains."
"After losing this many people, Black Bolt should have calmed down by now."
If the man insisted on continuing his death-wish, Harvey wouldn't care about family ties.
As a "cheap son-in-law," he had no intention of helping. Black Bolt's ambition didn't match his strength, and his arrogance was bone-deep.
If he didn't beat some sense into the man, disaster would eventually strike.
And Harvey hated trouble, and he hated having a "pig teammate" dragging him down even more.
Thus, he cast the Fidelius Charm, hiding the entire Royal Palace.
This should provide him with peace for a long time.
Even with their diverse powers, they wouldn't find a home hidden in a spatial rift.
In a great mood, Harvey hummed a tune as he headed back to the Spring Hall.
He needed to spend some quality time "bonding" with the newly joined Mariko and Yukio.
The chaos of the outside world had nothing to do with him.
In Harvey's view, relying on others was inferior to relying on oneself. He believed he would eventually be able to destroy a mass-heavy dwarf planet like Cybertron.
To achieve that dream and end Earth's disasters...
He decided to take two hours out of his daily "entertainment" schedule to focus on increasing his power.
"Sigh, wine and women truly ruin a man. Starting today: I quit drinking!"