《Strongest Superhuman System》
Superhuman Power Scaling.
Chapter -3: Superhuman Power Scaling.
Superhuman Power Scaling.
Human Point System.
01 ~ 05 -> Regr Human
10 ~ 20 -> F Rank
25 ~ 50 -> E Rank
55 ~ 100 -> D Rank
105 ~ 200 -> C Rank
205 ~ 500 -> B Rank
505 ~ 1000 -> A Rank
1005 ~ 2000 -> S Rank
2005 ~ -> Undefined
...
Additional Ranking Power Levels
EPIC RANK
Rank I -> 5000 ~ 9999
Rank II -> 10000 ~ 14999
Rank III -> 15000 ~ 19999
PHANTAMAL RANK
Rank I -> 20000 ~ 24999
Rank II -> 25000 ~ 34999
Rank III -> 35000 ~ 44999
TRANSCENDENTAL RANK
Rank I -> 45000 ~ 49999
Rank II -> 50000 ~ 59999
Rank III -> 60000 ~ 69999
PRIMORDIAL RANK
Rank I -> 70000 ~ 79999
Rank II -> 80000 ~ 89999
Rank III -> 90000 ~ 100000
Anima Point System.
City level Disaster ss [Requires 10 regr B ranks or 1 low-level A rank]
Country level Cmity ss [Requires 5 regr A ranks or 1 low-level S rank]
Continent Level Eldritch ss [Requires 100 regr A ranks or 5 high-level S ranks]
World Level Armageddon ss [Require multiple Undefined or KING level]
A/N: This point scaling is for the world atrge. There will be a different auxiliary chapter for the system power scaling.
Profile Extravaganza! Featuring: Mark Vanitas.
Chapter -2: Profile Extravaganza! Featuring: Mark Vanitas.
Author: Hello, Mark! How you doing today?
Mark: I''m good. What am I doing here?
Author: Well, you''re in the profile extravaganza of course! Say hello to the readers!
Mark: Uh... hello? Do people even read these? Aren''t they more interested in the story?
Author: What are you talking about!? This is the lifeblood of the story! It''s like eating too much pepper and needing milk! This is milk!
Mark: ... Is that so?
Author: Yes, it is! Now lets see what you got! First, a word of encouragement for our lovely readers!
Mark: Uhm... I hope you enjoy the story, and try going to the gym more. You need to be strong to survive in this ursed world. And don''t feel sorry for the author when you read the Author notes at the end of chapters. His life is just a mess.
Author: Fuck you, Mark.
...
Name: Mark Vanitas
Age: 17 and half years
Height: 6.5 feet [He''s freakin tall]
Weight: 95kg
Dream for the future: To have arge family with many children [He wants to fight his sons.]
Patron God: The God of Games, Sozin.
Blessing: Superhuman System.
Favorite Food: Anything Arit makes [He likes his food spicy like his women.]
Fighting Style: Straight hands [A brawler by nature]
Favorite Quote: ''I''ll hit you so hard your unborn children will feel it from the other side.''
Personality: He is hard to understand because he hides his emotions and thoughts a lot, but you won''t find a more responsible person than him. He was willing to fight against Anima for four years without a system or any powers. You would think this makes him a good person, but the real reason is because he loves fighting too much and is willing to put his life on the line for the thrill. Once you get a ce in his heart, he is willing to do anything to protect you. Even if he has to go up against the world itself.
Author''s Tidbit: Although Mark doesn''t show it often, he is actually very rich and his family owns arge vehicle manufacturingpany in America called Vanitas Motors. After his mother and father died, he inherited thepany and became the majority stakeholder in thepany. Since he is still underage, he left thepany in the hands of his father''s trusted assistant. His worth on paper is in the hundreds of millions of dors, but since Pat is also controlling some of Mark''s wealth in cryptocurrency, no one knows how rich he really is. Not even him.
Profile Extravaganza! Featuring: Arit Clayborn.
Chapter -1: Profile Extravaganza! Featuring: Arit yborn.
Author: Hello, everyone. Let''s say a big hello to Arit! How you doing, Arit?
Arit: Uhm... I''m fine. Hello, everyone. I''m Arit.
Author: Hmm. Very polite. I expected as much from the two time top student in city A.
Arit: Oh, thank you. I''m just... Wait, you haven''t told me what I''m doing here? What is this?
Author: It''s the profile extravaganza, of course! Didn''t Mark tell you about this?
Arit: Oh yes, he mentioned something about it. He also said you''re a pervert who likes his sister a little too much.
Author: What the fuck is that bastard saying about me? That''s a lie! I just live with my sister!
Arit: P-Please don''t insult Mark.
Author: But that fucker is spreading lies about me! Just let me get my hands on him! I''ll tear him a new one!
Arit: Hey, you, this is our first meeting, so I''ll overlook it once more. But if you insult Mark again, I''ll tear your intestine out of your stomach and use it to hang your sister from a ceiling fan.
Author: ...
Arit: ...
Author: ... Sorry.
Arit: N-No, it''s fine! You don''t need to apologize. I just don''t like it when you insult Mark.
Author: Yeah, never again. So, uh, let''s get back to it! Give us a few words for the readers back home!
Arit: Oh! Alright... Don''t neglect your studies because you really can''t be anything meaningful in life without the proper education. Finding love in someone that loves you back is the greatest feeling in the world, and eat your vegetables; you can''t be as strong as Mark without the proper nutrients. Lastly, don''t take the author notes seriously. The author is just a sis-con.
Author: No, I''m not!
...
Name: Arit yborn
Age: 17 years
Height: 5.6 feet [The Perfect Female Height]
Weight: How Dare You?
Dream for the future: To be a doctor to help those who are overlooked by the strong.
Patron God: Nil
Blessing: Nil
Power Source: The Anima QUEEN
Favorite Food: Nigerian Style Spicy Jollof Rice [Her mother used to make it for her]
Fighting Style: Tear you to pieces.
Favorite Quote: ''If it is for Mark''s sake, I am willing to do anything. Even stain my hands with blood.''
Personality: She used to be an upright student and a kind girl who enjoyed the simple things in life. But after getting introduced into the Superhuman world and bing possessed by QUEEN, she gained a bloodthirsty and obsessive side that waspletely devoted to Mark Vanitas and she only shows vulnerability around him. She is afraid of being abandoned by Mark because of her new personality, so she tries her best not to go overboard when she is around him. Since she wishes to be a doctor, she is not shy around dead bodies or blood.
Author''s Tidbit: Although she is very beautiful, Arit does not take a lot of pride in her looks. After the anima attack that killed her mother and injured her, Arit gained a mild inferiorityplex due to the permanent scar on her left cheek. She did not even know she had developed it, but Mark noticed how she was always turning her head away to prevent people from seeing the scar. Mark started to touch the scar whenever he spoke to her to make her more epting and less conscious of it. That way, she will not be ashamed to show it to other people. It worked.
Chapter 1: Mark Vanitas
Chapter 1: Mark Vanitas
"Today marks four years since the apparitions urred along with the Armageddon that threatened to end our world. All the Superhumans of the Federal Republic of America came together today to pay homage to those who lost their lives to the great destruction, as well as to celebrate the great act of the one man who risked everything and gave his life to give the superhumans a chance to regroup and win against the Anima invaders.
"As we remember the great deeds of KING and celebrate his life and the lives of all those that perished, we swear that we will never forget the sacrifices made to get us to this point today. There have been great challenges in our path, and I know that there will be even more challenges waiting for us in the future, but I know that if we alle together, there is nothing that can stop us."
"Mark! What are you doing out here!? You''rete for ss! I told you the teacher would be mad at me if I let you stay out again and you still ran away! How can you be this cruel!? Do you want me toe here and drag you to ss every time!? I have things to do too!"
A young female voice rang out through the hallway in exasperation as a beautiful girl withrge breasts and wide round hips rounded the corner of the hallway. She had blond hair tied in a ponytail and sharp ck eyes! There was a small scar on her left cheek that ran all the way down to her neck, but that scar took nothing away from her beauty! In fact, it only added to the beauty, making her look more dangerous and exotic! She was wearing the uniform of Nature Academy, a ck skirt and shirt that hugged her body tightly and made her assets stand out modestly, along with a ck jacket with the school logo on it.
The girl''s name was Arit, and she was the ss president of ss 2-A. She was an honor student who had many admirers in the school, and there wasn''t a single boy in the school who didn''t want to be with her! But she didn''t care about all of that because most times, she was more focused on trying not to kill her only real friend!
Arit had a glower on her face as she stopped in front of a boy sitting on the ground at the end of the hallway. This area was hidden from the rest of the school, and no one used it to move to their sses anymore, so it was the perfect ce to hide away. Arit regretted the day Mark found this spot with all her heart. Ever since then, he had done nothing bute here and hide whenever they were supposed to have ss, and she was always sent to get him because she was the only one he would listen to. He was so annoying!
Yawn~
Mark yawned loudly and stretched his hand above his head tiredly before he finally turned to look at Arit. Mark was a handsome boy with ck hair and eyes. His hair was short, and it only came down to frame the side of his face slightly. He was wearing the Nature Academy uniform as well, but he didn''t have a jacket on, and his tie was loose around his neck, making him look more like a hooligan than a student. He smiled once he saw Arit and waved!
"Hey, Arit. You look beautiful as always. I really love what you''ve done with your hair, it looks different from this morning. I thought you would take a bit longer toe get me this time, but I guess you aren''t my best friend for nothing. You always know exactly where I am."
Arit blushed crimson once she heard Mark call her beautiful, and she immediately grit her teeth and forced her blush to go back down! She couldn''t allow this bastard to throw her off like that! He was always doing this! Mark would run away from ss, and he would make here here to find him! It would have been better if he was at least trying to improve his ranking in school, but his grades were not that great either! He was doing above average in the school, but it was far lower than Arit knew he could do!
"You''re not going to talk your way out of this one, you hear me! This is the third time this week that you''re making mee here! What do you have to say for yourself!?"
"I want ap pillow."
"Be serious!"
Arit''s blush deepened again once Mark said this, and she stomped her foot on the ground in anger! Arit''s head was starting to turn very red, and Mark now knew that it was getting too much. He should get serious and stop teasing her already.
Mark just sighed as he heard her shout at him again; he was actually serious about thep pillow, but she would only keep shouting at him unless he stood up and went with her. What man wouldn''t want ap pillow from a woman like her!?
Mark stood up, and he slowly ced his phone back in his pocket. As he did this, Mark could see the shadowed look that crossed Arit''s face once she saw the content of what he was watching.
The video that was ying was the annual memorial held in remembrance of the lives that were lost during the Armageddon ss attack four years ago. Four years ago, monsters called Anima suddenly began to show up all over the world. No one knows how they came to be, and no one is sure what exactly they were! All people knew was that Anima only had one purpose in life! That was to kill as many humans as they could!
The Anima were dangerous creatures that were Animal-human hybrid in nature! They defied allws of biology and physics, and their appearances were grotesque and twisted! They had immeasurable power, and they were invulnerable to any attacks below the force of a military tank! Even military tanks were not able to really harm them! The only things that the military tanks could do were to injure the Anima, but to really kill them, you would need far more firepower.
Everyone in the world thought that this would be the end for them! What could humans do against creatures that were strong enough to shrug off a military tank and could just walk through rains of bullets and grenades!? It was impossible for humans to think of fighting back!
But that was when the first Superhuman emerged! To this day, people still do not know what the first superhuman looked like! All they knew was that he was the one who gave them a fighting chance when they thought all hope was lost! He allowed them to raise their heads defiantly and fight back against the monsters that threatened to take everything from them!
This superhuman was given the name KING! He was a symbol of hope, and everyone in the world had great respect for him. After this superhuman came out into the open, many other superhumans also began to appear.
These superhumans all had something called a blessing. It was this blessing that allowed the Superhumans to use great power beyond what humans could even imagine. The blessing granted all superhumans strength in different magnitudes! Some superhumans were strong enough to destroy entire buildings in just one punch, while other superhumans were only strong enough to carry cars or moverge rocks. But all superhumans with the blessing were far stronger than humans.
The fight between KING and the strongest Anima that attacked them during the Armageddonsted for two days and three nights, and it ended up destroying one-third of the North American continent! But finally, after fighting for so long, the two monstrous behemoths destroyed each other, canceling out their power in equal measure! The fight was so intense that it shifted the entire North American continent closer to the South American continent. The two continents were now so close that they no longer called themselves North and South America, instead, they were simply the Federal Republic of America!
After KING killed the Armageddon ss Anima that was attacking Earth, the remaining superhumans were able to take care of the stranglers, and this allowed Earth to move into a new era where superhumans protected the citizens from the dangerous Anima.
Mark has always had respect for the superhumans and all that they do for the world, but Arit did not feel the same way! Arit didn''t hate superhumans, she just disliked everything about them! Mark has always been curious about what exactly caused Arit to have this much aggression towards the superhumans, and when he asked her, it finally made sense to him in some way.
Arit and her parents were victims of an Anima attack three years ago! Arit and her parents went to a convention where the president of her father''spany was giving a talk about a new branch that would be opening soon and trying to congratte all his workers on their new achievement, but there was an Anima attack during the convention, and almost everyone there was killed by the monster!
When the superhumans arrived and finally killed the monster, rather than trying to take care of everyone properly, they prioritized the president and other important members of thepany who were rich! Arit was lying under a pile of rubble, and her parents'' broken and torn bodies were right beside her, but no matter how much she cried, the superhumans would not listen, and they continued to take care of the rich.
By the time Arit and her parents were taken out, her mother had already died, and her father was in critical condition as he was rushed to the hospital. Thankfully, Arit only suffered a few broken bones, and the only scar she had was the one on her cheek. In a way, she was lucky to be crushed under that rubble because it prevented the monsters from seeing her! But ever since that day, Arit has disliked superhumans and what they stand for! They were all money grabbers who only cared about their hierarchy! They called themselves heroes, but she believed that there was nothing heroic about them other than their strength!
....
A/N: There''s an author''s note in chapter two exining more about the book and it''s goal. You can find answers to most of your questions there.
Chapter 2: Anima Attack
Chapter 2: Anima Attack
"You''re watching that memorial?"
Arit said this while looking out the window at the side of the hallway to prevent Mark from seeing the irritated expression on her face.
Mark shrugged at her words, and Arit asked him if they showed that statue of KING again. Arit might not like superhumans, but the only exception to this was KING. She had more respect for KING than for anyone else in her life because of what he did to help everyone years ago. There was even arge statue of KING erected in the center of the city where the inauguration was taking ce, and Arit would always go to look at the statue whenever she was passing near there.
"They didn''t show the statue yet. I think they''re making some repairs to it after thatrge fight that happened close to itst time. The arms broke off, so they had to put it back on."
Mark gave Arit the information she wanted, and she nodded just once before she suddenly reverted to what they had been talking about.
"Let''s go to ss. The teacher is going to punish you again because you''rete, so don''t you dare try to run away! This is thest time I''m going toe and find you! The next time something like this happens, I''ll leave you to fail!"
Arit shouted this in anger as she started to walk towards the ss. Shepletely overlooked what Mark was watching because she knew that she couldn''t be angry at him fo watching it. He liked superhumans, and she wouldn''t force him to hate them just because she didn''t like them! That wasn''t what a friend did!
Mark ced his hands in his pocket and followed after his friend with a smile on his face. Even though she said that she would nevere to look for him again, Mark knew that this was a lie! She was the sort of person that cared for her friends more than anything! She woulde and look for him every time because she cared about him just as much as he cared about her.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Mark stopped in his tracks as he heard his phone ringing. He picked up and raised his hand catingly as he saw Arit looking back at him with a heavy re. This is important! He couldn''t just leave this call! The person on the other end of the call was Mark''s other friend, Pat. Mark has known Pat for even longer than he has known Arit. They were in kindergarten together, and they would have gone to the same primary school, but Pat managed to leave kindergarten faster than all the other students because of how intelligent he was. He finishedpulsory education in only two years, and right now, he is a college student studying Cosmology and Astronomy at a popr university in the city.
But even with all these achievements, Mark and Pat have remained as friends all this while, and there was never any jealousy or irrational hatred! Mark just understood that his friend was smarter than almost anyone else in the world, and that was okay!
[What are you doing? No, that doesn''t matter, I''ve tracked your location. There''s an Anima attack happening close to you right now. The closest responders are almost an hour away. That would only end badly. Can you make it?]
The voice on the other end of the call came out in a rushed and haughty manner, almost like the person was looking down on everything in the world because of how much better he was than them! But Mark didn''t let that faze him as he frowned and looked out the window in the direction that Pat pointed out.
"I''m with Arit. I think she wants to kill me with the look she''s giving me right now, so you better hurry. How many are there?"
Mark said this while taking a single step away from Arit as she folded her hands and started to tap her foot on the ground in annoyance while waiting for him to finish his call. Arit was obviously pissed that he was making them eventer for ss, but she knew that she couldn''t drag him with her even if she wanted to! She tried to drag him once and she almost ended up breaking her hand from how heavy he was! It felt like she was trying to push a b of rock around with her! So instead of dragging him, she would just give him another talking to when he finishes the call!
[I can''t believe you still haven''t told her you''re a superhuman. You and your wife should stop your disgusting flirting, and you should just tell her. In fact, forget that, you normies can just go die for all I care. The spot is two kilometers north of your school. There should be arge billboard close to that area so you can use that as a guide, so just... hold on.]
Pat''s couldn''t keep his irritation at Mark and Arit''s interactions out of his tone! He hated how easy it was for the two of them to act like a married couple while still not being together! Pat has never had a girlfriend in his life! He always stated that his reason for not having a girlfriend was because none of the girls he knew were capable of keeping up with him mentally, but Mark always teased him that he was just afraid of girls! Pat cursed Mark every time Mark said this! The bastard had no right to talk because he already had Arit!
Mark should first try talking to other girl and see how hard it is!
Pat stopped talking as he looked down at theptop that was on hisp. Pat was sitting on arge chair with his legs drawn up, and he had a juice box in one hand as he typed away expertly on hisptop with his other hand. There was an almost permanent look of boredom on his face as he easily tapped into the CCTV cameras in the streets of the city. There was a prompt that came up on his screen, showing a warning of a firewall that protected the citywide grid from intruders, and Pat scoffed.
Do they think something this flimsy can keep him out!? They probably gave this to some sixty year old washed up programmer who made it in two days! It was so bad!
Pat broke through the firewall like it was wet tissue paper and redirected the feed of the camera to hisrge 500-inch TV that took up the entire wall in front of him.
sh!
He saw a blur sh across the screen as it headed in the direction that he just pointed out to Mark! Pat immediately narrowed his eyes in shock! Who in the world is that!?
Pat wondered who it was as he froze the screen on the frame that had the blur. He zoomed into the frame by a hundred times and frowned as he saw that the blur was still not very clear. He pixted the screen and then used a program to clean out the residue that was silhouetted out of the image. After doing this, the image became clear enough for him to see the face of the person. Once he saw who it was, Pat dropped his juice box in shock!
It was a beautiful woman who had long blond hair tied into a ponytail behind her. She was wearing a sleeveless ck singlet and ck cargo pants, and she had a long katana strapped to her waist! This was one of the most popr superhumans in the entire world! Her name was Matilda Lindsworth, but her fans and other people online only referred to her as Tilda. Tilda is one of only three A-ss female Superhumans in the Federal Republic of America, and she was given the title Yellow Phantom because of how fast she could move. What in the world is she doing in a ce like this!?
Her base of operations was in an entirely different city, and the only time she came down to City A was when she was receiving an award from the mayor for helping in arge subjugation! Pat was very curious about what Tilda was doing here, but that wasn''t immediately important! He filed it away in apartment in his brain, and he promised himself that he would look into it when he got more time.
Pat spoke to Mark again with that same bored tone. There''s no need for Mark to bother going anymore!
[You can forget it. Someone managed to make it. You don''t need to bother about it for now, but I think you should be careful in the meantime. Something seems off about this whole situation. There shouldn''t be any issues with taking care of the monster since she''s pretty strong. Just in case, though, stand by and try to answer whenever I call. Don''t let your disgusting libido keep you away from your phone.]
Pat didn''t even wait for Mark to say anything in response, and he just cut the phone! Mark blinked down at his phone in slight surprise. He wasn''t surprised that Pat acted the way he did, that was normal. Instead, Mark was surprised that there was someone who came to answer the emergency that quickly. They usually take at least thirty minutes because of how far the school is from the nearest Superhuman base. But they were able to make it in only three minutes?
Mark was sure that only an A-rank or above would be able to cover that distance in such a short time. There weren''t any Superhumans with such a high rank avable right now since they were all out on a mission and that was why Mark was certain that there wouldn''t be any responders to the attack! But then, if none of them are avable, who was the responder?
Mark was curious about this, but he decided to just let it be. Since Pat said it would be fine, then Mark was sure it would be fine. Pat was someone who always took everything into ount, and he never left any stone unturned when trying to uncover something! If this was going to be a problem, then Pat would have let him know.
Chapter 3: Anima Attack II
Chapter 3: Anima Attack II
"Hey, what is it? You look strange. Did something happen on the phone? Don''t tell me you have to leave again because I''ll never forgive you!"
Arit spoke up as she saw the worried look on Mark''s face. She first spoke in a worried tone because she thought that something bad might''ve happened, and she didn''t want Mark to be in any trouble. But once she saw him smile at her in that mischievous way that he always did, she immediately lost all her worry, and she just became annoyed as she shouted at him! He was just too infuriating!
Mark moved quickly and grabbed Arit by the waist before pressing her against the wall and smiling down at her. Arit almost felt her heart burst out of her chest once he did this, and she felt her whole face growing hotter as she looked up at him. Mark smiled at her, and Arit suddenly felt like her shirt was too tight! She looked away in embarrassment as Mark''s eyes trailed down her body, and she felt like he was eating her with his eyes!
"You''ll never forgive me? I don''t think I can agree to that. What would I do without you?"
"Get off me, you bastard!"
Arit ced her hand against his chest and struggled to push him back in anger. Mark justughed as he took a step back and gave her some space. Arit''s heart was beating a mile a minute, and she had to put her hand to her chest and take deep breaths to stop it!
She hates it when Mark teases her like this and then justughs about it! There was no doubt that she thought Mark was handsome, and Arit knew that he thought she was beautiful too. They were both attracted to each other, and that was fine. But Arit would never enter a rtionship just because of something as shallow as ordinary physical attraction.
Arit didn''t know how Mark really felt about her because he was alwaysughing after doing things like this! He would tease her and pin her against the wall, but then he would justugh it off like it was nothing! That was not the sort of rtionship that she wanted with someone! She couldn''t allow someone to y around with her heart like that!
"Sorry, sorry. I got ahead of myself there. You''re just too tempting."
Mark said this with a kind grin on his face, but his voice was intense and deep, and it made Arit''s body tremble. Arit felt great anger fill her as she thought about smacking Mark immediately! This bastard deserved a good beating for the nonsense he always pulled! But she didn''t bother doing anything, and she just turned and started to walk back to ss.
Mark was surprised by her silence, and he wondered if she was really angry this time! He didn''t intend to make her this angry! He just couldn''t help himself from touching her!
Mark was also a superhuman, but unlike other superhumans who came out publicly with their powers and gained publicity and fame after joining a guild, Mark wasn''t interested in any of that! He was someone who just fought the good fight every now and then, but he didn''t care about money or fame! If there was ever any danger in his surroundings, he wouldn''t hesitate to help, but he was not the sort who would want to announce himself to the world.
That was the reason why Mark was able to remain anonymous even after fighting against numerous Anima for the past two years. The news crew and reporters always arrived at the scene of his crime minutes after he leaves, and they would only see the dead body of the Anima that he killed. And on the rare asion when they managed to get a glimpse of him, he was always wearing a mask to cover his lower face. This elusive act has led people to start calling him GHOST online as a sort of superhero name. Mark didn''t really care, and if not for Pat telling him about it, he would never have known!
Mark loved Arit, there was no doubt, but he also knew that being together with her would only make her worried about him whenever he went to fight. It would be impossible for them to be in a rtionship unless he tells her about his powers. If they were dating, then it would only be a matter of time before she found out! Mark needed freedom of movement to be able to go and fight whenever he wanted to, and he didn''t think Arit would understand that. He couldn''t bring her into the world of superhumans when he knew that she didn''t like superhumans.
"Hey, what are you doing over there? Are you trying to make me even angrier by staying back? Come on already! The teacher said I should bring you back with me, so you better not make things harder than they need to be!"
Arit suddenly shouted at Mark from down the hallway, and Mark could only chuckle as he jogged after her with a smile on his face! He shouted loud enough for Arit to hear him as he spread his hands wide to grab her!
"Come on, just give me ap pillow! I promise to be gentle!"
"Just shut up and die!"
Arit shouted in anger as she ran away from Mark before he could get her.
...
Tilda raced through the containers located at the docks at an unbelievable speed! She could already smell the unmistakable scent of blood in the air, and the screams of the people running away from the docks were getting louder the closer she got!
Tilda was in City A trying to meet with a friend that she hadn''t seen in more than three years, but she didn''t think that she would suddenly get a ping from her phone that there was an Anima attack so close to her location! There were no responders close by, and Tilda knew that it would take some time before the ones further away could get there, so she had to abandon the friend that she nned to meet, and she decided toe here instead!
Tilda cursed as she remembered that she also needed to file a report for this attackter! The report would take so fucking long, and no one wanted to do it! If Tilda was a worse person, she would have abandoned all the citizens just so she wouldn''t have to write that damn report!
Crack!
As Tilda reached the port, she screeched to a halt as her feet left long cracks against the ground, and she was shocked to see a monster three times as tall as her mming itsrge hands into one of the containers, denting it and making it cave in on itself. The monster then grabbed the container and threw it into a ship that was docked at the harbor with immense strength!
Boom!!!
The container crumpled into a twisted shape as it mmed against the wall of the ship, and the ship began to rock back and forth on the water as it tried to gain back its bnce!
"Run away from there!"
"Wait! There''s still someone in there! They''ll die!"
"You''ll die if you don''t get out of there right now! Let''s go!"
"Argghhh! Wait for me! Help!!"
People were screaming and running away from the monster as they tried their hardest not to get hit by the giant containers that were being tossed around. Tilda waited for just two seconds so she could properly assess the situation before she quickly burst into action! Tilda dashed at the giant monster at a slower pace and tried to get its attention! The monster looked like a hybrid of a man, a gori, and a fish. It hadrge hairy arms and feet, but its head was fishlike with giant eyeballs that were staring down at Tilda without even blinking once!
Chapter 4: Unknown Mission
Chapter 4: Unknown Mission
Once Tilda got its attention, she raced past the port and tried to get it to follow her. Tilda knew that fighting in this area with all these people here would only cause more damage. Tilda was strong, and she knew that this monster would not be a challenge for her to kill on her own! She was an A ranker, and the monster only looked like a Disaster ss beast. There was no need for her to call for reinforcements!
m! m! m!
Roar!!!
The beast roared in anger as it mmed its way past multiple containers to try and get to Tilda, but no matter how fast it moved, it just couldn''t get her! Even though she was barely moving at her top speed, she was just too fast for it to catch! Once Tilda saw that the monster was far enough from the citizens, she stopped luring it away and quickly turned around!
Phwoom!
Shink!
The beast didn''t even know what happened because at one moment it was trying to m its way through some containers to get to Tilda, but at the next moment, its arm was missing!
The beast screamed in pain as it mmed its body against one of the containers and fell to the ground! The beast couldn''t understand what just happened, and it looked around to see where Tilda managed to attack it from. Tilda was standing on top of the opposite container with the beast''s hand in one of her hands. Her sword was dripping red blood, and she had a vicious grin on her face as she raised her hand up mockingly!
"Are you looking for something, you fat fuck!?"
Roar!!!
The monster roared in anger as it saw Tilda with its arm! How dare this human mock it! There was no way it would allow her to live!
The beast knew that this is not what it was supposed to be doing here. Its mission was to find the boy and bring him back to the leader, but the monster couldn''t forgive this woman for what she did! It would first kill this woman, and then it would go and get the boy!
The monster could only think in its own way as it charged straight for Tilda again. There was nothing else on its mind other than the thought of killing Tilda! The monster just couldn''t understand that Tilda nned all of this from the very start! Tilda knew that mocking the beast would only make it angrier and that way it would make more mistakes, and she would be able to kill it easily!
Tilda dashed straight for the beast again, and her sword gleamed in the sunlight as she leaped over the beast''s strike! She mmed her feet into the ground and jumped high enough to m her feet into the beast''s face!
Crunch!
The ugly face of the beast turned even uglier as blood flew everywhere from Tilda''s hit! Tilda didn''t allow the disgusting sight to stop her, and she immediately turned around and used the heel of her boot to hit the beast on top of its head!
m!
The beast roared in pain as Tilda''s boot left a deep gash on its face, but the pain wasn''t enough to make it fall! Tilda''s eyes widened as the monster grabbed her by the ankle and threw her against one of the containers!
m! m! m! m!
Tilda mmed through almost ten containers consecutively, but she managed to right herself just at the right moment as she heard a loud roar from right above her! She looked up in shock, and she saw the monster with its arm raised as it came down on her!
Boom!
The monster mmed its fist into the ground, destroying the concrete floor for almost two hundred meters in all directions! The monster raised its hand up for another hit, it was shocked as it didn''t see Tilda''s torn and broken form under its hand! Where did she go!?
Stab!
Roar!!
The monster immediately roared in pain as a sword was stabbed through its right ear and into its head! The monster grabbed onto Tilda and threw her to the ground before holding its ear in pain and stumbling to the side as it lost its bnce!
Tilda''s back mmed into the ground, creating a deep crack that tore into the ground, but she was able to simply get up and roll her shoulders as she didn''t feel much pain from the hit at all! The monster was in too much pain to think about really hurting her so its throw was weak!
The monster noticed Tilda walking towards it with her sword held beside her, and it knew that it was going to die there! At this moment of rity, it suddenly realized that it had made a big mistake by choosing to fight! This isn''t what it was supposed to be doing right now! It was supposed to be looking for the boy and sending a message back to the leader!
Twoom!
The monster immediately sent out arge-scale pulse from its gills in ast-ditch effort to try and finish its mission before it died! If it died here, then there would be no point in its life! But if itpleted the mission first, then everything would change!
Therge pulse surprised Tilda, and she immediately put her hand up to her ear as she anticipated a sonic attack of sorts. But she was surprised when nothing happened to her. She brought her hand down and looked at the monster that had essentially given up as it was resting its back against the containers. There was blood leaking from its ear, and whenever it tried to get to its feet, it would stumble and fall back since it didn''t have any bnce! Tilda could tell that she had won this battle. The monster was screwed!
Tilda moved in to finally finish the monster so she could go andplete the meeting that she came to City A for, but she was shocked when the monster suddenly sat up straighter! Tilda couldn''t really exin why, but she could tell that there was an excited look on the monster''s face, and she was creeped out by it immediately! What in the world could make a monster look like that!?
He is here! The boy is here!
The monster''s entire body was vibrating in excitement as it repeated this phrase inside its head over and over again! It could sense the boy here and their search was not in vain! It had to get this information to the leader!
The monster looked towards Tilda, and it knew that Tilda would not let it escape from here, so it had toe up with another means of getting the information away to the leader! Its body started to vibrate, and Tilda charged forward immediately she noticed that it was bing bloated and fat!
Tilda didn''t know what was happening, but she knew that she couldn''t allow the monster to do whatever it wanted to do! There was probably something she was missing here, and she would try to think about itter, but for now, she had to kill this monster no matter what!
"Bwooohhh!!!"
Twoom!
The monster released arge shout as its body continued to erge until a strange creature shot out from its back with a strange sound like a water cannon! The creature shot straight towards the sea, and before Tilda could even think about killing the creature, it had already entered the sea and swam away from them!
Tilda could only watch in slight fear as the creature shot through the water like a torpedo, going towards an unknown ce! Tilda couldn''t even run that fast if she tried to so she knew there was no chance of catching the creature! Where was it going, and what was it trying to do!?
Chapter 5: Growing Suspicions
Chapter 5: Growing Suspicions
Tilda looked down at the monster on the ground to see that it had a bloody smile on its face as it simply sat on the floor, waiting for death! It looked like it had aplished its one goal, and there was nothing more it needed to do in life! There was no need to leave it alive, so Tilda just put it out of its misery. She flicked her sword to the side after she was done and looked out into the ocean curiously, wondering what the hell was happening.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Tilda''s phone began to ring, and she picked it up once she recognized the caller ID. The person on the other end of the phone was her handler from the Phoenix guild that she worked under. She was an E-rank superhuman in charge of handling the papers and press conferences that Tilda had to do. Her name was Riri.
[Tilda! I heard you went to go and fight against a monster! What were you thinking!? You''re in another city, and the paperwork is going to be crazy! They might even make up a signed affidavit because of you! You should have called for help from someone who was in the area!]
Tilda put her phone away from her ear the moment that Riri started screaming and she winced at how loud it was! Riri was always so loud, and she spoke at a speed of four words a second when she was really angry! Tilda could bet that that speed was some sort of world record! Tilda knew thating here to fight would be a problem, but Riri didn''t have to deafen her because of it!
"Calm down, Riri. I spoke to the mayor, and he said it was fine. We only have to deal with about seventy percent of the usual paperwork. It''s still a lot but just live with it. Something strange happened here."
Once Tilda said this, Riri forced herself to calm down and listen. Tilda hardly ever spoke in such a serious tone, and Riri knew that there must be something really serious if she was talking like this! Riri was still irritated that Tilda thought seventy percent of the paperwork wasn''t a lot, but since this situation sounded so serious, Riri was willing to let her anger go for now and listen.
Riri asked what was wrong, and Tilda looked down at the monster she just killed as she narrated what happened to Riri. Riri was left stunned as she heard about how the monster allowed itself to be killed after sending a part of itself into the sea! What in the world was the meaning of that!?
[Do you think it means anything? It''s possible it just wanted to send its child out so the child could grow. Or maybe that is its real body?]
Tilda immediately shot down that idea once Riri said it. She would have known if that was the real body because this body would not be able to function without that one. And who would send out their child in that way!? It almost looked like the monster was sending out a sentry. Or even worse, a messenger!
That thing could have been a messenger that is taking a message back to another ce!
"There''s something strange going on here, and I don''t like it. I want you to send some reinforcements. I''m not sure if my hunch is right, but if it isn''t, then I''ll reimburse them for the wasted time. Just send anyone above C rank that the guilds in this city can spare."
Riri was stunned again. Is the situation really that serious? Tilda didn''t say anything more, and she just cut the call after telling Riri what she needed to say. Tilda then jumped to the top of a tall container overlooking the sea and sat down on top of it before cing her sword across herp as she watched the ocean.
This was how she would remain for the next twelve hours straight.
Tilda was trained in how to use the sword, and she was already a swordswoman before even bing a superhuman! She understood the importance of being able to stay still for a long time, and she was willing to stay here for as long as it took so she wouldn''t allow her ignorance to cost the people of this city anything!
...
The next day, Mark woke up in arge bed as the first rays of light came through his curtain. Mark sighed and sat up in bed before getting off in one fluid motion. His well-toned and muscr body was on disy as he only wore boxers to go to sleep and as he stretched his muscles rippled and tensed along with him! He walked towards his walk-in bathroom, brushed his teeth, and took his bath beforeing out and starting to prepare for school!
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Mark''s phone rang as he was trying to put on his trousers, and he picked it up without even bothering to look at the caller ID. He already knew who it was. There was only one person who would even think to call him this early in the morning!
"Don''t you sleep? How can you be calling me this early in the morning and expect me to answer you?"
On the other side of the call, Pat''s haughty voice hummed as the sound of cking from a keyboard could be heard. Patpletely disregarded what Mark said, and he didn''t bother to answer! Mark should know by now that Pat was not like all those other normies! Pat did his best work when he was awake from nine at night to ten in the morning! That was the time when world-changers did their own work!
From how fast Pat was typing, Mark knew that he was probably ying an online game or something! The idiot would always stay upte iming that he was doing world-changing work, but he was only ying online games all the time! Mark could only wonder how Pat was able to do everything he did and still have time to y so many games!
Pat spoke up from the other end of the phone in that same broad and haughty tone that he always used.
[I have something about that attack I called you for yesterday. Turns out the Yellow Phantom took care of it easily. She managed to minimize the casualties, and they only need to repair the docks for them to continue operations now. But there''s something strange about all of this. Yellow Phantom never left the docks after killing the monsters. In fact, I can still see her sitting on one of the containers right now.]
Pat turned his head towards the adjacent scene beside his gaming screen and narrowed his eyes at the image of Tilda sitting perfectly still on one of the containers and looking towards the sea. Pat did not know what she was doing, and he didn''t understand why she was still there! The only thing he could do was wait for her to do something so he would know more.
Mark raised a brow in surprise as Pat told him about the Yellow Phantom. What was Yellow Phantom still doing at the docks? There was no need for her to stay there since Pat said she had taken care of the monster already! Was she injured? No, that isn''t possible. I don''t think she would be injured by a monster that she could kill this easily. There is no reason for her to stay there unless she thinks that there is still another monster.
"You think there''s something bigger going on? Maybe she saw another monster somewhere, and she is waiting for reinforcements while making sure the monster doesn''t leave her sight?"
Mark could only think that there was something they were missing. They didn''t have the full story, so they would never know what was really going on unless they asked Yellow Phantom herself.
Bang!
"Mark! Are you still in bed? We have to get to school soon! ¨C Why are you not dressed!"
Chapter 6: Permanently Disabled
Chapter 6: Permanently Disabled
"Mark! Are you still in bed? We have to get to school soon! ¨C Why are you not dressed!?"
Mark''s door burst open, and Arit came through it with all the bravado of someone who was entering their own house! Arit was wearing her school uniform already, but she also had an apron tied around her neck, and Mark couldn''t stop his eyes from roaming over her body to appreciate her figure. Mark had no idea how she could be so sexy! Her breasts were literally trying to tear that apron apart!
When Arit came into the room, she saw Mark was undressed and she shouted at him in mortification! How could he still be undressed at this time!? Mark was only wearing his boxers, and his trousers were not even put on properly! To Arit, Mark was basically naked! Arit always told Mark to get dressed at this time so that they could eat together!
Mark could never get used to how easy it was to embarrass Arit. With how much bravado she had when she was doing anything, you would think she was the sort of person who never got embarrassed! But yet, she could never bear to see him naked even if he was only wearing boxers! Mark still remembers the one time that he walked in on Arit when she was taking her bath. He was only wearing a towel because he also wanted to take a bath and he just didn''t check if she was in the bathroom before entering. The scream that followed that incident almost made him go deaf!
Arit and Mark both lived together in a two-bedroom apartment close to their school. They have lived together for almost two months now, but she was still so innocent about them seeing each other in any state of undress at all!
The only reason why they were able to get this apartment together was because of Arit''s dad. Arit''s dad was a businessman who worked overseas and was always busy. After the incident that ended up iming Arit''s mother''s life, there was no way Arit''s dad would leave her alone in America to travel for business! At first, he took time off work for a very long time so that he could stay with Arit for as long as he needed to, but he found out that this n would not work since he had a lot of on-site work toplete!
Arit''s father didn''t want to leave Arit alone in the city, so he allowed Arit to stay with Mark because he trusted Mark to take care of Arit whenever he wasn''t around. Arit''s father bought the apartment for them and made Mark promise not to allow anyone to harm his daughter when they were together. Of course, Mark agreed to it easily.
Mark has been to three different high schools in the past three years, and aftering to this school, Arit was the only friend that he made! Of course, he wouldn''t allow anything to happen to her!
Mark knew that the only reason why Arit''s father left them together was that Arit''s father thought that the two of them were already a couple and he approved of the rtionship! Even Arit didn''t know about this misconception, but Mark would never forget how Arit''s father kept on emphasizing that both of them should always make sure to use protection when they are ''doing it''!
Mark made sure Arit never found out about this misunderstanding because he knew that Arit would have a meltdown if she knew her father thought she was already having sex! The girl couldn''t even look at his bare chest, so Mark knew that sex was far from her mind!
Mark hummed as this thought crossed his mind and he realized that maybe sex wasn''t so far from Arit''s mind after all. You know what they say about the shy ones... they are usually the freakiest in bed!
Also, if Mark didn''t stay with Arit, then the only other option he had was to stay with Pat! It didn''t matter how desperate he was, Mark was never staying with that crazy bastard!
[Is that the wife? What is wrong with you fucking normies!? You''re already going at it this early? You should calm down a bit, Mark. You know you''re still in high school, so make sure you''re using protection!]
Arit got redder and redder as she heard Pat talking through the phone, and Mark noticed that she was about to start shouting at Pat in anger! Mark chuckled at the look on her face as he cut Pat off.
"We''ll talkter, alright. Try to watch that situation closely and find out if there''s anything out of the ordinary. Call me then."
Mark clicked the call off and raised a brow once he looked at Arit. She was just too easy! Did she really get flustered just because of that!? She already knew what sort of person Pat was, and she knew that he was only ying around!
Arit was still not looking at his chest, and she went and grabbed his shirt from the bed and threw it at him before telling him to put it on! They would bete for school if he didn''t start changing soon!
"You know this is my room, right? I shouldn''t have to worry about putting my clothes on when you''re the one that barged in here. I mean, you didn''t seem shy at all when you came in here like that, so why are you acting all shy now?"
"Just put it on already! We''re going to bete if you don''t hurry! I made some food for you soe down and get it before we go!"
Arit hurried out of the room in embarrassment after throwing the shirt on Mark! Mark just chuckled and put his shirt on before he grabbed his tie and backpack and began to walk out of the room to get some food.
A feeling of contentment filled his body as Mark got to the main dining room of the house and saw the feast prepared on the table. Arit was wearing the housewife apron as she carried arge pot of spaghetti and ced it right in the center of the table! At that moment, Mark thought that there was nothing more that he could ask for in life! He had everything that he needed to live a good life right here in front of him! However, Mark also knew that there was something missing! Something big! Because no matter how amazing this life was, it felt like a part of him was notplete!
The reason for this was simple. Mark nced at the side of his vision and brought up his system notification tab as he saw the notification that was present there.
[System Functions Permanently Disabled.]
[To Enable, Please Meet The Necessary Conditions.]
Mark couldn''t stop the feeling of anger that filled his heart as this message appeared! Mark has never told anyone about this, but his power was not something as simple as super strength as everyone thought. When Mark manifested his blessing, it came in the form of a system that would allow him to live his life like a video game! But there was something else that happened that day!
Chapter 7: Sozin -The God of Games.
Chapter 7: Sozin -The God of Games.
There was a boy named Sozin who appeared before Mark the day that he got his system. Sozin introduced himself as the god of games and he told Mark that he was choosing Mark to be his sole champion. At that time, Mark was only fourteen years old, so, of course, he was excited about it! There were no such things as Superhumans yet, and Mark thought that he was just going to get a system that he could use to do whatever he wanted! After all, Mark has read many stories about systems in light novels and how the user used them to be great overnight! Surely things would not be different with Mark!
But immediately after he got his system, that was when the first Armageddon appeared in this world. When the apparition urred, Mark was living with his parents on the richer side of the city. Mark couldn''t even begin to understand what was happening when his parents suddenly came and grabbed him to put him in a car and started to run away from the area! The Armageddon appeared very close to their house, and his parents were trying their best to preserve their lives by running away from there! But there was no way to run away from an Armageddon with only a flimsy car! The Armageddon got to them faster than they ever imagined, and it destroyed the road and all the cars that were trying to run away together with nothing but one swing! The car Mark and his parents were in flipped more than ten times, sending both Mark and his parents flying through the air and mming into arge building at the other side of the road!
Mark crawled out of the car with many red warnings shing in his system! He had only just gotten the system, so he had no idea what all those warnings meant! The only things that he could see over and over again were:
[User has suffered a major injury to his right leg.]
[User has suffered a major injury to his hand.]
[User has suffered a concussion.]
[User has suffered three broken ribs.]
Mark couldn''t breathe! He couldn''t walk, and he couldn''t even raise his hand up to ask anyone for help! He was just lying there wondering why his life was such a shit show of bad luck! He looked to the side to see if his parents had also survived the crash, but there was no way that would be possible! The only reason why Mark managed to survive after an ident like that was that he was a Superhuman! His body was much stronger than a human''s, and that was what gave him the strength to not be crushed immediately when the car hit the wall! At that time, Mark prepared to die against Armageddon since he knew that there was no way for him to gain strength quickly enough to fight against this monster. But then time seemed to slow down until it stopped as a yful-looking little boy appeared before Mark.
Sozin, the god of games was wearing blue shorts and a red top, and he had a cute hat on his head that covered his white hair. The boyughed as he looked down at Mark''s broken and torn form.
"Are you really so pathetic? How did my champion end up like this less than twenty-four hours after getting his system? You would think that you were blessed by the god of bad luck or something!"
Mark felt irritation fill him as he heard the little boy say this, but he couldn''t retort because he knew that the boy was right! It was only bad luck that would allow someone to face a monster like this only twenty-four hours after gaining the power to do anything you wanted!
The boyughed for a few more minutes before he finally sobered up and looked up at the monster standing over Mark. It was a huge monster as tall as a skyscraper. It had a dragon-like body, but it didn''t have any wings, so it could only slowly walk through the city, crushing everything in its path and spewing fire over the mass. If it was something like this, then it was definitely possible!
The boy grinned down at Mark yfully!
"Hey, champion, you wanna y a game? A really fun game."
Mark was surprised by the request, and he could only stare at the boy as he wondered what he was talking about! Did this bastard think that Mark was in any condition to y a game right now? Look at how Mark was bloody and broken! Who can y a game in this state!?
It seemed like the boy could read exactly what Mark was thinking as he just chuckled and yfully floated into the air! He picked up a small pebble on his way up and held it in front of Mark.
"It''s a fun game, I promise. Nothing too extravagant. You see, I want to help you, I really do! But I can''t just go around giving help to my champion when the other gods aren''t allowed to do it either! So I have to give you a fair chance at winning and losing. If you can win against me, then I''ll grant you the power you need to win against that monster. Of course, terms and conditions apply. I can''t just give you power without getting anything in return for it, so I will be taking something from you as well."
Mark could only think that the god of games sounded like a shitty salesman with a pitch like that! Mark was always told by his parents never to trust strangers who try to sell him things, but this situation was different! He was not going to die here! He needed the power that this god was selling him! So Mark could only nod and agree to the game, and the god of gamesughed happily as he threw the stone up and caught it with both hands behind his back. He brought his two hands forward as closed fists and gave Mark a sharp look!
"Tell me where the stone is in ten seconds, and you win the game! If you can''t find where the stone is in that time, then time will start moving forward again, and I''ll leave you to be scorched by the monster over there! You have exactly ten seconds!"
Ten! Nine!
Wait, what!? What the hell is a game like this!? Mark was stunned by how archaic the game was! He thought that there would be something more intense since this was the god of games, but it was just a shitty guessing game!? Mark was expecting to have to y a ystation or even a gacha pull!
That meant that Mark had a fifty percent chance of both winning and losing here! If he gave the right answer, then he could gain a lot of power, but if he gave the wrong choice, then he would die here, and that would be it! Mark was filled with dread as he began to look between the two hands with wide, desperate eyes as he tried to find the one that was a more sensible choice!
Chapter 8: Guessing Game!
Chapter 8: Guessing Game!
Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four!
The time continued to count down like thin, and Mark''s desperation only continued to grow as he looked from one hand to the other! There was no way that he could pick out one of the hands and be sure of his answer! He was about to just choose any of them and hope that it was the right answer, but then Mark remembered what the god of games said at the start of the game! He really wanted Mark to win, but he just couldn''t give Mark something for free!
That meant that there was a hundred percent chance of Mark winning this game if he really thought about it! The god of games wouldn''t give such a game to someone that he wanted to lose! There was something involved in this game that was a failsafe to make sure that if Mark was smart enough then he could win a hundred percent of the time!
"Tell me where the stone is~"
The boy''s teasing voice rang through the area again, and Mark caught another thing in his voice that immediately told him that his hunch was right! The god of games was cheating, and Mark knew exactly how to catch him!
Three! Two!
"The stone isn''t in your hands at all, is it?"
Once Mark said this, the god of games stopped counting and looked at Mark with a surprised expression on his face. For a moment, Mark thought that he had chosen the wrong option, and he was about to start crying, but then the god of games allowed his face to split into a twisted smile that made his entire face look like a jackal! A chuckle came out of his mouth as he started tough loudly in amusement! The god of games couldn''t believe that Mark managed to guess something like that! Who would even think of such an option in such a dangerous situation!?
The god of games opened both of his hands, and Mark''s heart soared as he saw that both hands were empty of the stone. The god of games then opened his mouth and brought out the stone with his tongue! That was some damn good guessing skills!
"You keep on making me prouder with everything you do. I can now agree that you weren''t the wrong choice at all when I was picking my champion. You know, the other gods chose many champions all at the same time. They wanted many people to worship them all at once, but I was the only one who could choose only one. You are the only one I have as my follower, and I do not regret that choice one bit. You''re more than worthy to be my champion, Mark Vanitas!"
Doon!
Mark felt a strange power begin to fill his entire body as his heartbeat surged in excitement! He could feel his injuries closing and his bones snapping into ce as he was forced to his feet by the sheer intensity of the power that was surging through his body! Mark has never felt anything like this in his life! He felt like he could take on the entire world and win with how much power he had in his body! Was this the gift that the god of games spoke about?
[User has been granted Administration control.]
[User has gained full ess to system abilities.]
[Usercks the constitution required for full ess. A temporary constitution will be granted.]
[essing Heavenly Immortal Constitution. Unable to ess constitution...]
[Usercks the constitution required for full ess. A temporary constitution will be granted.]
[essing Demonic Dragon Constitution. Unable to ess constitution...]
[Usercks the constitution required for full ess. A temporary constitution will be granted. Recalibrating...]
[essing Soldier Ant Constitution. Constitution essed.]
[Temporary Constitution Granted.]
...
SUPERHUMAN SYSTEM
Name: Mark Vanitas
Race: Human
Level: MAX
Strength: MAX
Stamina: MAX
Agility: MAX
Durability: MAX
Mana: INFINITE
Affiliation: True Good
...
[Due to Administration control, the User has been granted temporary full ess to two skill trees.]
[SKILL TREE]
-> Full Body Constitution: This is a unique skill tree enabling users to systematically enhance and fortify every aspect of their physical form, elevating strength and resilience to unprecedented levels!
Current Full Body Constitution: Soldier Ant Constitution: MAX/MAX
[Soldier Ant Constitution: This skill endows the user with the ability to enhance their physical strength to levels proportionate to that of a soldier ant, enabling them to exhibit power that is ten times higher than their current physical capability!]
-> Mana Cirction: Mana Cirction is a skill enabling the user to enhance the efficiency of mana distribution throughout their body, optimizing energy flow for heightened senses and greater strength.
Current Mana Cirction Stage: PHANTASMAL Rank
[Comment from GoG: You think you have strength, but don''t get too cocky! One mistake and your entire body could explode from the overload!]
...
The god of games was silent, but he still had that look of pleasure on his face as he watched Mark slowly rise to his feet. Mark raised his hands and looked at them both as he could see a ck substance leaking from all the pores in his body! The substance smelled disgusting and it had a feeling like tar when Mark touched it. Are these impurities? Mark could feel that his whole body was bing stronger the more these impurities left him, and the surge of power inside of him just got higher and higher!
"You should feel the surge of power rushing through you right now. I have decided to help you since you yed the game so expertly. There will be a time limit to how long your power willst, and there will be consequences, but you will possess the full might of your system as of this moment. The only thing I will tell you is that you should not go beyond what your body is capable of withstanding. I cleared out the impurities in your body and made you stronger, but your body is still too weak to handle the full might of your system''s abilities. The strength, speed, and agility will tear your body apart if you take it too far, so exercise caution!"
The god of games immediately started to float away once it said this, and Mark quickly called out to him and asked him to wait! Mark needed to know what was going to be taken from him for this power! The god of games said that there would be consequences for him getting this power so there was no way that Mark would not want to know exactly what sort of consequences he would face!
"What is going to happen to me? You said there will be terms and conditions, right!? What are they!? I know you won''t just give me all of this for free."
The god of games only gave a small smile in return as he muttered something that shocked Mark down to his core before he disappeared into thin air and vanished from Mark''s sight.
"Free? Of course, it is not for free. This is for my entertainment, mortal. Everything done by everyone in this world is only for our entertainment. But you should try to finish this fight as quickly as you can because the longer you fight, the more you sacrifice your future potential."
Chapter 9: Not Just Yet
Chapter 9: Not Just Yet
Sizzle!
Mark suddenly came back to reality as he heard the sound of meatballs sizzling on the fire, and Art hurried to grab them off and brought them to the table before putting them beside the spaghetti! Mark sighed as he took his eyes away from the screen that had haunted him with the same message for more than four years now!
Ever since that day, Mark has tried everything he could to wake the system up! But nothing works! Mark did everything that he has seen characters in light novels do! he trained, he meditated and he even went to really dangerous ces to try and see if the system needed him to be in danger before it could wake up! But all he ended up doing was putting himself in danger for no reason!
Trying to wake up the system was the entire reason why he even started fighting against Anima in eh first ce! He thought that he could wake up the system by collecting stat points from killing Anima and passing some mysterious threshold, but after some time, Mark realized that this was also a waste of time! Now, he just fights against the Anima because he feels it is the right thing to do! Even though Mark doesn''t have a system, he is still as strong as a regr A rank using only his regr human strength!
It was now that Mark really understood what the god of games meant when he said that Mark would be burning his future potential! Fighting against Armageddon was something that Mark could not regret because that bastard took away his parents from him! It had to pay! And Mark also knew that if he didn''t do it, then the entire world would have crumbled and been destroyed! But in exchange for that, Mark gave up his blessings and it really sucked!
Mark had no blessings, and he also had no power; he was basically fighting against the Anima using nothing but pure physical strength from his superior body! With only this superior body, Mark could handle Disaster ss Anima with some effort. That was enough for him to take care of many of the stray Anima that appeared around his vicinity.
Mark had no idea how long it would take for him to finally get his system back. He thought that it would havee back by now, but every year that he wishes for it toe back is only another year for him to feel disappointed when it doesn''te back! Mark would rather just stop wishing for something like that if it was only going to end up in disappointment every time!
Over time, Mark slowly allowed himself to forget about the god of games and his system, and he began to enjoy the life that he currently had with Arit. Mark closed the system tab that he opened and moved closer to the table with the food.
Once Mark smelled the food, he felt his mouth begin to water immediately! Arit was an amazing cook! She was probably one of the best cooks that he had ever seen in his life, and there was nothing that she made that Mark could say wasn''t the best he tasted! Arit would always blush and deny that she was a good cook whenever he brought it up, but Mark knew that she was just being humble! She was damn good at cooking, and Mark knew that she wouldn''t lose against any of those celebrity cooks that he sees on TV or anime!
Arit noticed how Mark was staring at her food, and she felt a giddy sensation fill her entire body as she tried to hide her smile! Making food like this every morning for them was very hard, and she had to wake up very early to do it! Most people would bepletely shocked if they saw the amount of effort she put into waking up early just so that she could cook for Mark! She felt like a housewife trying to please her new husband whenever she did it, and she would always chuckle to herself when she thought about this while cooking!
But waking up that early was always worth it whenever she saw Mark looking at her food like that! Mark looked like the food was the best thing that he had ever seen in his life, and she knew that he would finish this entire dish on his own if she gave him the chance! He could eat enough food for three people on his own after all! The fact that Mark loved her food so much made her far happier than it should! Arit knew that she wouldn''t mind a life where she made food for Mark every morning while he was going out to work!
Arit spoke up as she tried to hide her excitement.
"What are you doing standing there and watching me? Come sit down and eat before the food gets cold. And why are you still not well-dressed? How many times have I helped you with this already, and you still don''t know how to knot your own tie?"
Mark raised his tie up and shrugged with a smile once she said this, and Arit sighed tiredly. Arit was already walking up to Mark, and she just grabbed the tie from him and began to help him knot it around his neck expertly.
Mark was extremely tall, so he basically towered over Arit! The feeling of having Arit hanging off his neck like this and helping him again was something that Mark always enjoyed! Did she really think he didn''t know how to knot a tie? Of course, Mark knew how to knot a damn tie! Mark was an expert at knotting a tie! He could tie ten different styles of knots with his eyes closed and twenty with his eyes open! But he would never tell her that! Why would he want to ruin something as amazing as this by telling her that he could knot his own tie!? Mark looked down as he felt Arit''s breasts brush against his chest and he had to force himself to control his little brother''s reaction!
"You''re really beautiful, you know. I keep telling you that, but you never take me seriously."
Mark smiled down at Arit as he said this, and he saw a blush rise on Arit''s cheek as she finished knotting his tie and ttened it against his chest softly. Mark could see some eptance sh across Arit''s eyes, but she just shook her head and she chuckled slightly before smiling up at him as she spoke.
"You tell me I''m beautiful every other day, just like a lot of others. Anybody can say something like that, and I won''t know if they''re just saying it because they want me for my body or if they really like me. When you''re serious, I''ll know."
Mark could see the longing in Arit''s face, and he knew that she was serious about what she said. There was no way she wouldn''t ept him if he just pushed her down and kissed her right now! But Mark held himself back and justughed off their atmosphere again as he started to move towards the table! Mark was still hesitant to bring Arit into the world of superhumans that he lived in! She was just a normal human, and she would never survive if she got into a bad situation from being with him! Mark was being as cautious as possible because he really cared about Arit! He pulled out a seat for Arit and grinned.
"Come on then, princess! Let''s eat before we gette for school. You wouldn''t want to ruin your perfect attendance, would you? I know you''re just going to me it on me if that happens, and I''m not going to take the me for you making uste."
Arit frowned in annoyance as Mark said this before she just sighed and went to join him! She knew that he was holding himself back for some reason, and she was still curious about it! But she wouldn''t rush him! She was willing to wait as long as it took for him to tell her what was wrong, and until then, this was enough for her!
[System functions Recovering...]
[Time psed: 4 years: 1 day: 10 hours: 32 minutes: 15 seconds...]
[Time remaining: 0]
[System functions can be awakened. System Functions are being recalibrated. System functions are being recalibrated.]
[System Awakening -]
"Not just yet. Let''s calm down a little."
[A/N: I know this will piss some people off, but just wait. I have a surprise waiting for you guys in future chapters]
A yful voiceughed jovially as it caressed the system and stopped the system recalibration. The God of Games released another joyfulugh as he looked into the possible future and saw something that would be far more entertaining for him. The system could not awaken yet. Not until all the pieces have been put in their right ce.
[System functions temporarily stopped. System Awakening paused.]
All of the system messages that appeared immediately cleared out again before Mark could see them and a certain God of Gamesughed with even more mirth as it slowly made itself scarce again.
Chapter 10: On The Road
Chapter 10: On The Road
Vroom!
Mark and Arit were on Mark''s Kawasaki Ninja H2/R motorcycle as they made their way towards school. The Kawasaki was a gift from Pat on Mark''s sixteenth birthday, and Mark has loved the bike ever since. Mark knew that this Kawasaki breed is the fastestmercial motorcycle in the world and Mark had no idea how Pat was able to get one as easily as he did!
Mark has always believed that Pat had way more money than he knew what to do with.
Mark made a lot of modifications to the bike to make it faster and stronger than other Ninja H2/Rs, and he uses any excuse he can to ride the bike anywhere he goes!
At first, Arit was against riding the bike because of how Mark always rode at a very high speed! Mark was always trying to perform stupid stunts with the bike, and Arit was always scared for her life when she was with him! She was afraid that Mark would put them in an ident one day, and they could both end up dead! But Mark assured her that he would be careful, and he would drive slowly whenever they were together, so she finally agreed for him to take her to school with it!
Arit had no idea that Mark only wanted her to ride with him so much because of how tightly she would hold onto him whenever she was on the back of the bike! Mark could feel all her assets pressing against his back, and it was too exciting for him to pass up! If feeling something like that meant he had to ride slower, then he would dly go ahead and do just that!
As Arit and Mark went to school that day, Mark had to stop at a cross-section as he saw a long line of cars moving through the road. They were both shocked to see so many cars moving down the road toward the docks. The cars were all military-grade vehicles with bulletproof windows andrge Gatling guns mounted on top of their roof, and everyone knew that these cars were specially created to fight against Anima! What was happening!? Was there an Anima attack?
Mark didn''t receive any calls from Pat, so he was sure that there were no attacks close by right now. That means that this must have something to do with the attack that happened yesterday! Pat said that the attack was weird and there were a few things that didn''t seem right about it, but Mark didn''t know that it was this serious! He would have to call Patter to get some info out of him!
"Hey, I think that''s from the Phoenix guild!"
"Yeah, look over there! It''s Lightning Rider from the Phoenix guild! He''s that B-rank superhuman who fought against the Disaster ss the other day! What is he doing here!?"
"Oh, my gosh, it''s Lightning Rider! Over here! Look at me!"
One of the fangirls on the street started to wave erratically as she tried to get Lightning Rider''s attention! Lightning Rider only nced towards her for a second from inside the car before he rolled up the window in annoyance and told the driver to move faster so they could get away from the annoying children! The girl that was screaming shouted happily as she started to gush to her friends on her group chat that Lightning Rider nced in her direction!
"There are a lot of cars! Is this about the attack I saw on TV? They said that there was an attack at the docks, but a Superhuman blocked off the reporters and prevented them from getting any pictures because the Anima''s corpse is still there!"
"Yeah, I heard that too! They said it was Yellow Phantom that killed the monster! I watched a video of the fight on Metube, and she was so cool! But why are so many Superhumans from City C doing here!? I thought the Phoenix guild only functions over there. They don''t have jurisdiction in City A!"
The students who were also going to school were all talking about the cars that were passing, and Mark could see that all of them were very curious about what was happening. Mark also found it strange that this many Superhumans from City C wereing down to City A, but he didn''t stop to gawk like the other students because he wasn''t interested in watching the convoy. He needed to find out what was happening over there! There''s a chance that there is a big fighting soon!
Arit only looked at the convoy for a few minutes before she looked away without a care in the world! She looked down at her phone to read up on the ss that they would be having today so she would be prepared for any questions from the teacher! Arit didn''t care about Superhumans, and she wasn''t some fangirl who would start gushing over them just because they were passing by!
PEEE!
PEEE!
PEEE!
A loud car horn echoed through the street and startled Arit so much that she almost dropped her phone in shock!
"Hey, fucker, don''t just stay there blocking the way! Get a move on already and let me pass! You think this fucking road belongs to you!? Get that stupid-looking bike out of the way now!"
Someone suddenly shouted from behind Arit and Mark, and Mark didn''t even need to turn around to know exactly who it was! The person was driving a yellow Lamborghini and was shouting loudly in anger, telling Mark to get the hell out of the way! Mark looked back to see one of his seniors in school named Francis. Francis was from ss 3-B, and he was the son of one of the richest men in City A. His father owned at least one-third of the businesses in the city, and they were far too rich to be considered normal!
There was a girl sitting beside Francis in the Lamborghini, and she was busy fixing up her makeup in the car mirror as she ignored what was happening around her! Her name was Esmeralda Fortuna, and she was the second daughter of the Fortuna Entertainmentpany president. The Fortuna Entertainmentpany was in charge of everything that had to do with media in City A. They handled things like modeling and idol shows, and they were also involved in TV presentations! She was from a very wealthy family, so she knew she didn''t have to worry about anything in life! All she had to do was look pretty, and she knew that life would be easy for her!
She hung out with Francis because she knew that it would look good on her to be with the son of such a rich family, but she was constantly annoyed at the things that he did! Did he not know that he was bothering her makeup session with his stupid horn!? Esmeralda red at Francis as he pressed the horn again! He just made her make a mistake in applying her lipstick! But she just sighed and looked away. She couldn''t do anything to stop Francis when Mark was involved! Francis has hated Mark right from the first time he saw Mark hanging out with Arit.
Esmeralda didn''t have anything against Mark, in fact, she thought that Mark was very handsome, but she couldn''t say that out loud because she would be going against Francis and that would be bad for the future rtions between their two family businesses! So she just allowed Francis to torment Mark anyhow he wanted!
Francis has always had it out for Mark right from when Mark starteding to Nature Academy. The reason for this was that Francis had been trying his best to woo Arit right from her first year, and she has never agreed to be friends with him, so Francis was pissed when he saw how Arit and Mark immediately became close when Mark started going to their schoolst year! Francis considered himself to be better than Mark in every way, so he didn''t see any reason why Arit should not like him more than Mark! As far as Francis was concerned, both Arit and Mark were eyesores, and he tried his best to make things difficult for them in any way he could!
Chapter 11: Sudden Attack
Chapter 11: Sudden Attack
Mark just ignored Francis and turned back around while tuning out the annoying sound of Francis'' voice. He was already used to this nonsense from Francis, and he knew that there was no need to respond because Francis would only start being more annoying if you gave him any attention.
PEEE!
PEEE!
PEEE!
"Hey, are you deaf!? I said, get the hell out of the way! Don''t make mee over there!"
Francis continued to press his horn even louder, and Arit tightened her hold on Mark''s waist as Mark heard her growl deep in her throat in annoyance. Francis could see that there was a convoy of cars moving, yet he was still trying to make it seem like they were wasting his time. Arit could only swallow her anger at the irrational behavior that Francis was showing. She would have gone to reprimand him, but she didn''t want to cause a scene on the street.
"Isn''t that car for Francis Colton? What the hell is he doing? Doesn''t he know he''s disturbing the entire block?"
"Can''t you see who''s in front of him? Those two have never seen eye to eye before!"
"Oh, it''s Mark! No wonder! I wonder what Mark did that pissed Francis off so much, he has had it out for Mark since Mark transferred here! I wouldn''t want to be on the bad side of Francis. His family could bury me!"
People on the street were already talking about how Francis was disturbing everyone by pressing his horn, but he ignored everything they were saying as he continued.
PEEE! PEEE! PEEE! PEEE!
Francis was unrelenting as he constantly pressed the horn over and over again, and Arit could feel Mark tensing in anger as the horn became too annoying to ignore. She knew that he was only a moment away from doing something, but she just hugged him tighter and told him not to! She didn''t want him to get involved with Francis either. He knew that Francis'' father was rich, and trying to attack Francis would only end badly for them!
Finally, the convoy of cars passed, and Francis revved his engine loudly as he raced around Mark and Arit. He brought his hand out of his window as he passed them and shed them the middle finger before zooming off to school.
"He''s really pushing it."
Mark only said this with a deep growl, and Arit just hugged him tight once more to thank him for not causing a scene. She knew that Mark had every justification for his anger, but she just didn''t want him to get into trouble with someone as rich and powerful as Francis! It was best to just wait for Francis to graduate from school, and they could finally be free from his stupid antics.
Mark revved up his motorcycle and continued on his way to school without bringing up the topic again. He knew that it was pointless getting angry at someone like Francis, who was just a normal human being! Mark had lived as a superhuman for a long time, so he was already an expert at controlling his anger and strength so he doesn''t do anything that would cause too much damage to the people around him! Imagine if he couldn''t control his strength and he held Arit too tightly one day! That would be a disaster!
So something like this would just roll off his skin after some time.
...
At the docks, therge convoy of cars stopped in front of therge container that Tilda was sitting on, and Lightning Rider came down from his car and jumped up to the top of the container. He looked down at Tilda and saw that she was sitting perfectly still with her eyes closed and her sword resting on her crossed legs. If anyone else saw her, then they would definitely think that she was asleep, but Lightning Rider has seen her in this state too many times to think something so silly! He could tell that she was more alert than anyone when she was like this!
"You''rete. I called for you twelve hours ago, and it took you this long to get here?"
Tilda said this as she opened her eyes and released a silent sigh, and Lightning Rider nodded. He didn''t have a choice about how long it took them to get here. This wasn''t their jurisdiction, and they had to go through a lot of processes to get permission to bring some of their own guild members to this area! If not that Tilda was the one who requested for the reinforcements, then the guild would have never sent these many people to help out because of how annoying all the paperwork is!
Lightning Rider was a tall,nky man withrge dark circles under his eyes and a gloomy disposition that would make anyone think he was clinically depressed! He wore a white shirt and trousers and had an extendable pole attached to his lower back. His main power was his ability to summon and channel lightning through his body because of his minor blessing from Zeus, the god of lightning and storms, and the pole he had was something that he used to increase his channeling ability to transfer as much lightning as possible into his opponent!
"We are not exactly sure why you called all for us here though. I heard Riri say something about you having a bad premonition, but that was all she said. What is really going on?"
"I think we''ll find out soon. I don''t know what it is, but I just have a bad feeling."
"A bad feeling?"
Lightning Rider looked at all the superhumans and soldiers that hade here with him, and he knew that they would all think that it was unnecessary to summon this much firepower just because someone had a bad feeling! It was like trying to kill an ant with a hammer. But for superhumans, the case was different! Just having a bad feeling was more than enough reason to be wary!
"We''ll be on standby then. There shouldn''t be too many people around, but I''ll tell them to set up a perimeter around here so that nothing will get past us. There''s a school nearby, and if we start fighting here, then they will definitely get involved as well."
Lightning Rider was someone who didn''t like interacting with others unless it was very necessary, but Tilda knew that she could trust him to look after the citizens. He was not as strong or as fast as she was, but he was fast enough to get anyone out of trouble if the fight became too intense.
Lightning Rider cared about eh citizens and that he wouldn''t want to cause too much damage to the city so there wouldn''t be any casualties.
"Fine then, I''ll leave it to ¨C"
Doon!
A monster appeared in front of them!
Before Tilda could get out her response, she was immediately jumping backward with wide eyes! Because right in front of her was a monster that just jumped out of the ocean and came straight for them! There was not even a single warning before the monster appeared! At one moment, there was nothing, and in the next moment, a monster shed out of the sea and was already aiming for them!
Boom!
"Ralph!"
Tilda screamed for Lightning Rider in worry as she watched the monster m into the spot where he had been standing, but there was a sh of lightning from the dust, and arge lightning bolt struck down on the monster as Lightning Rider managed to dodge at thest moment and avoid the attack!
All the superhumans in the area prepared for battle as they began to pull out their weapons as well. The superhumans here were mainly C ranks and a few B ranks. There weren''t any other A ranks other than Tilda, and Tilda knew that she would have to take center stage in this fight and draw the monster''s attention to her because it could easily kill the other hunters if they faced it one-on-one.
Chapter 12: Calamity Class
Chapter 12: Cmity ss
The soldiers that didn''t have any power all entered the armored tanks, and they began to move some of the tanks away to create a perimeter around this area while the remaining tanks aimed their guns right at the monster in front of them!
Tilda immediately drew her sword and dashed towards the monster! The monster was a fish-human hybrid, just like the one that Tilda killed before, and Tilda was sure that it would have the same strength as the previous one. It would be hard for the other Superhumans to take it on alone, so she would just leave them to handle creating the perimeter while she and Ralph would take care of the monster!
Boom!
Arge explosion resounded through the area as one of the armored tanks shot a st straight at the monster, disorienting it enough to allow Tilda to get close enough and m her foot into the monster''s face!
m!
The kick threw it back for fifty meters before Tilda jumped after it and struck out with her sword to sever its arm that was trying to hit her!
sh!
Squelch!
The arm flew off easily, and the monster roared in pain as it was pummeled by four more rounds from the armored tanks! Tilda grabbed the arm that she cut and was about to use it to stab down into the monster''s neck to end its life!
m!
But before Tilda could get the arm in, the monster used its other hand to p Tilda away, and she dug a deep crack into the concrete as she slid for more than a hundred meters! She flipped and mmed her feet into the ground to stop herself, and she was about to dash back in, but a sh of lightning at her side made her stop in her tracks as she saw Lightning Rider appearing in front of her.
"Wait, Tilda. Don''t move a muscle. There''s something over there."
Lightning Rider spoke in a low voice as he stared towards the sea. Anyone who heard him would immediately think that his throat waspletely dry from fear! Tilda frowned as she turned in the direction that he was looking in to see what was so important! But Tilda immediately lost her annoyance, and her throat dried up in shock as she saw something that was unbelievable standing in front of the ocean!
Five!
There were fourrge monsters standing in a straight line in front of the ocean, and in front of them stood a monster that looked more human than any Anima that Tilda had ever seen! The Anima in front of the fourrge Anima had a humanlike figure, but its body was purple and bulky, and there were armor-like tes on all its joints. It also had an ant''s head,plete with sharp teeth,rge eyes, and two long antennae!
It was almost twice as tall as Lightning Rider, but it had a look in its eyes that screamed intelligence! It was surveying the surroundings with this bored, judgmental stare that reminded Tilda too much of what a human''s stare would look like! She knew that this monster was different from any other one she had fought against! Once the Anima turned to look at Tilda and Lightning Rider, they both took steps back because they could feel the power behind that stare!
There was an immeasurable dread that filled both of them, and it almost froze them to their bones! They could immediately sense that this monster was something that they would not want to ever challenge to a fight! This had to be a high Disaster ss monster! No, that was even too low! The monster in front of them had to be a Cmity! It was a country-level cmity!
Tilda''s hand shook as she tried to grip her sword tighter! She couldn''t show fear here! Not when she was the strongest one here! If she showed fear then what will the other''s do!?
"On my signal, run. You need to call for reinforcements. Send out a message to all the guilds. Tell them a cmity is here."
Tilda muttered through gritted teeth as her hand tightened around her sword! At that moment, Tilda knew that there was nothing any of them could really do against this monster, and they were all going to be killed if they didn''t do something fast. The best they could hope for was for Lightning Rider to send out a message to all the guilds and get them to bring their A ranks here!
Screech!
The ant suddenly released a loud screech in the direction of the two superhumans, and Tilda gave up on staying quiet as she screamed at Lightning Rider to get out of there now! They had no idea what the ant was trying to do here, but they knew that standing there would only end with them dead!
Lightning Rider dashed away from the spot that they were standing in, and in the next moment, he saw two of the fourrger monsters appear in front of him! His eyes widened, and his heartbeat started to speed up as he realized that he was really going to die here! There was nothing he could do against monsters like these! He was already too weak to handle a single Disaster ss on his own, and now there were two aiming straight for him!? What sort of situation is this!?
"Move out of the way!!"
A shout from the side reached Lightning Rider only a few seconds before a great force mmed into the two monsters that were about to hit him, throwing them to the side. Another superhuman, Blizzard Force, was the one that helped Lightning Rider! The new superhuman was a B-rank female with blue hair and white highlights in her hair. Her white eyes were glowing as she raised her staff in the air and summoned a massive storm that darkened the sky above them!
Her power was focused on the weather, and she had the ability to use various wind and lightning-based skills because she also had a minor blessing from the god of lightning! Lightning streaked across the sky as she conjured up a massive lightning bolt and sent it straight into the direction of the two monsters!
BZZZTTT!!
The lightning bolt struck them head-on, and blue light shed across the entire area as the massive skill hit them! But as it died down, Blizzard could only take a step back in fear as she saw that the lightning bolt didn''t even do anything to them! They were still on their feet, and the only difference between now and before the lightning bolt hit was that their focus was no longer on Lightning Rider! It was on her!
ROARRRR!!!
...
"I''m telling you guys, GHOST has to be the coolest superhuman in the world. Did you see him on Metube the other day!? He finished off that Disaster ss monster like it was nothing and he didn''t even stay back to take an interview! That''s so cool!"
Mark walked into the school cafeteria with his hands in his pocket. Arit was following behind him while looking through some of the books that they were assigned to read today and Mark had to pull her out of the way whenever she was about to hit someone or something from not paying attention to where she was going! Mark pulled out of the way before she hit a table and he guided her towards their table as he heard what someone was shouting. He looked in the direction of the person talking, and he saw that it was Francis and his crew who were sitting together around a table and talking loudly.
Francis was holding onto a phone and watching a video on Metube of a fight that was happening, and once Mark saw it, he immediately recognized the fight! That was the fight that Mark had with arge Disaster ss monster a month ago. It was a lion-human hybrid that showed up near the mall, and since Mark was in the area, he decided to kill the monster before it could do too much damage. Mark had no idea that someone was videotaping him when he was fighting! He couldn''t believe people were willing to risk their life like that just to get a video to put up on Metube!
Chapter 13: The Fanboy
Chapter 13: The Fanboy
"That''s so cool. I bet he doesn''t even use his full strength to fight this monster! Look how he was just handling it with nothing but his hands!"
The person who said this was Francis, and Mark felt some amusement bubble up from his chest as he heard it! Everyone in school knew that Francis was arge supporter of GHOST! If there was even a single person who liked GHOST more than Francis, then no one has seen that person yet! GHOST was the prime definition of what a fanboy was! He watched all of GHOST''s videos and he even bought all the merchandise that some illegal retailers made for GHOST!
That is why Mark was a little amused by Francis whenever he and Francis were confronting each other! What would Francis think if he knew that the person he looked up to so much was actually Mark? Francis would probably spit blood in anger before denying it to hisst breath!
"Hey, did you also see the previous fight he had!? He doesn''t use any skills at all, and I haven''t seen him summon any beasts since he started fighting! I think he can only fight using his hand and his superstrength! That just makes it cooler! I wonder what sort of blessing he has that gives him strength like that! If he uses all of his strength, then he''ll probably be the physically strongest man in the world!"
Francis said this with a look of excitement on his face as Mark and Arit finally found a ce to sit down. The other people that were at Francis'' table all started to argue with him about how there were a lot of other Superhumans out there that were far stronger than GHOST, and he shouldn''t call GHOST the physically strongest without any proof! No one had ever seen GHOST before, and he wasn''t a part of any of the guilds, so there was no way to measure him against some of the other superhuman brawlers!
Mark knew that they were all right. He wasn''t even close to the physically strongest in the world. A high-ranking A-ss like Yellow Phantom could probably beat him in a physical battle easily! Mark was just a human who was using his superstrength to fight monsters, and he wouldn''t have a chance against strong superhumans who still had their blessings.
Oof!
A small grunt came from below Mark, and Mark looked down to see that he had bumped into a girl as she was passing with her tray of food. The girl that he bumped into was Esmeralda and Francis immediately sighed inwardly as Esmeralda frowned and she looked up at him in anger! She didn''t pour her food, but she had almost fallen over from the hit just now!
"Can''t you look where you''re going, you tall oaf! I almost fell over and threw my food away!"
Esmeralda shouted in anger at the much taller Mark, and Mark just smiled kindly and apologized! He actually made a mistake by not noticing her when she was passing because she was just so small and short that he couldn''t help it! Even now, the size difference between the two of them is almostughable! It felt like Esmeralda was a child trying to reprimand her father! Mark had to force himself to keep a straight face as she kept on ring up at him!
"Hey, what the hell are you doing to Esmeralda!?"
Mark sighed inwardly as the one person he didn''t want to get involved with stood up from his seat and starteding towards them! Francis stormed towards them with an intense re on his face, and Mark just turned around and stared at him in annoyance as Francis came to stand right in front of Mark''s face. Mark felt like smacking Francis across the face, but he just settled for ring at him.
"What the hell do you want? You don''t have to involve yourself in every situation just because you see me there. People will start to misunderstand and think you''re interested in me in the wrong ways."
Mark said this to Francis, and Francis clicked his tongue as he felt like spitting blood from the disgusting image that was put in his head! Francis was not going to allow Mark to get away from being punished this time! He was already angry because of the whole situation that happened on the road earlier, and now that this happened, he finally found the perfect chance to beat the hell out of Mark!
"So you want to fight me? Do you think you''ll survive against me? I''ve had training right from when I was a kid to take down people three times my size. You think you can take me on just because you go to the gym a few times a week!?"
Francis tried to rile Mark up with these words, and he hoped that Mark would take and bait and agree to fight! Francis'' hero was GHOST, and he was a fan of how GHOST managed to handle monsters that were two or three times his size using nothing but his hands. Francis would do the same things to this fool and show him that he is better than him!
Mark could only stare down at Francis with a look of disbelief in his eyes! Francis had no idea what he was getting himself into here! Mark was someone who always held himself back from acting rashly because he knew he could cause serious damage if he didn''t control his strength. But sometimes, things like this would make him want to just smack someone without thinking about the consequences! Some people deserved a good beating for doing stupid things without thinking!
"Hey, that''s enough! Can''t you see you''re blocking the road!? Just let it go!"
A voice shouted from beside the two boys, and Mark looked at Arit as she walked up to them with a look of anger on her face. Arit knew that if she left things as they are now, then it would blow out of proportion for no reason. She only wanted to eat and get out of here, and she didn''t want any trouble! She red at Francis as she came close enough before she took Mark''s hand and told him toe with her.
Before she could go anywhere though, Francis pushed her away from them and made her stumble back! He raised his hand to try and smack her!
"What do you think you''re doing, bitch! This doesn''t concern ¨C"
Grab!
"!"
Francis suddenly felt his heart stop as someone grabbed his hand, and he felt his bone creak under the intense pressure that he could feel on his wrist! Francis turned around quickly, took in a shuddering breath, and stepped back when Mark''s wide eyes gazed into his own! Mark looked like a killer at that moment!
Mark waspletely pissed! Not only did Francis push Arit, but he had the audacity to raise his hand at her!? Who did he think he was!? Mark now understood that he has been too lenient with Francis all this time. It is because Mark has never done anything to punish the fool that he thinks he can raise his hand at Arit and get away with it!
Clench!
"H-Hey! Hey, let go of me already! Let go, dammit! Hey, stop tightening your hand, I said let go, you bastard! That fucking hurts!"
Chapter 14: City-Wide Announcement
Chapter 14: City-Wide Announcement
Francis started to shout more frantically as he felt intense pain in his hand! What sort of grip strength is this!? It felt like someone was using a metal mp to press against his hand!
Both Esmeralda and Arit could only watch in shock as they saw the pained look on Francis'' face and the nk apathy that Mark was showing! Arit knew that Mark had always been holding himself back from attacking Francis because of her. They have had too many conflicts and the only reason why they haven''t fought till now was because she was always intervening before things could get too far! But she didn''t know if she would be able to stop Mark this time, and she didn''t know if she should stop him! Maybe Francis deserves to finally get a beating for the nonsense he always did!
Francis knew that at this rate, Mark would break his wrist in front of the whole school! The pressure Mark was applying just kept increasing and it didn''t look like Mark had any intentions of stopping at all! That would be too embarrassing! Who the fuck does Mark think he is!? Does he really think there would be no consequences if he goes too far!? Francis will make sure Mark never knows peace in this city again!
Francis immediately prepared himself to strike back at Mark!
"What the hell is that!? The sky is turning ck!"
Someone suddenly shouted from in front of the window, and everyone turned towards it in shock to see what he was pointing at! The sky above the city was turning dark, and there was lightning striking across the horizon as a great dust cloud rose from near the docks! There was no need for them to know exactly what was happening over there; everyone could immediately tell that they were witnessing a Superhuman battle happening right before their eyes!
"We need to get out of here!"
"Run! Run away right now!"
"The bunkers! The teachers said we should get to the bunkers!"
"Wait! I left my mePhone in ss! I need to get it"
"Just leave it behind! It isn''t more important than your life!''
"Yes, it is! That''s the gold-ted mePhone 22! You can''t buy it even if you sell your kidney!"
The people in the cafeteria were shouting like this as they scrambled out of the hall! They did not waste any time as they realized the gravity of the situation, and all of them gradually began to run away! They knew that even though they were very far away from the battle, there was a chance that it could get close to them and reach the school! They have lived in this world with the dangers of Anima and the superhumans for too long for them not to understand how serious things were!
[Warning! Warning! This is a general broadcast to all citizens. There is a battle ongoing in your vicinity, and all citizens are advised to find shelter or evacuate from the area. This is not a drill! All citizens are advised to find shelter or evacuate from the vicinity! The danger level is Cmity ss! This is not a drill!]
A loud broadcast echoed through the loudspeakers all over the city, and all the students in the cafeteria immediately started to pick up their pace as they ran out the door to try and get to the school bunker as quickly as possible! The city broadcast is only used whenever there is a monster that cannot be beaten immediately by a Superhuman, and all the citizens would be told to evacuate so that the superhumans can fight without worrying about their safety!
If this was only a simple Disaster ss monster, then the city would not have sent out the warning because the superhumans would be able to deal with the monster without causing too much damage! The broadcast has never been used in the city before unless it was a drill, and this is the first time that a Cmity ss would appear in City A! The mere fact that the broadcast was not a drill put fear and anxiety into the hearts of all the citizens!
All over city A, citizens were evacuating from their homes and they were either moving to safe houses or they were going towards the main road so they could leave the citypletely!
Thankfully, the Nature Academy built arge bunker in the underground basement of the school a long time ago, and they educated all the students about how to evacuate into the bunker whenever there was an Anima attack! All the students immediately followed the teachers'' instructions and began to move down to the bunker to hide! Some of them were calling their parents and friends, but there wasn''t a single person who wanted to stay up there!
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Mark felt his phone ringing in his pocket, but he ignored it because he already knew who it was! It was definitely Pat who was calling him about the attack that they just announced!
"H-Hey, let go already! There''s a fucking attack on the city! Do you want us to die!? If you want to die then go and die alone and leave me out of it! Let go!"
Francis shouted anxiously as he looked around and saw everybody running towards the bunker! Mark was still holding onto Francis'' hand, and Francis was getting more worried that Mark would hold him here until the monster reaches this school! Mark was going to get them all killed!
"Forget this! You boys are always acting stupid!"
Esmeralda shouted this as she abandoned her food and ran out of the cafeteria with the other students. She had been waiting for Francis, but once she saw that Mark was refusing to let go, she just left! There is no way she would allow herself to die for their stupid dick-measuring contest!
Esmeralda was the whole reason why the conflict began in the first ce, but she didn''t care about that and she just abandoned Francis! Will Francis'' money matter if he is dead? He needs to be more sensible!
Mark red harder at Francis. He still wanted to break this bastard''s hand, but he knew that there were more important things to do right now!
"M-Mark! Mark, let''s go! We have to go down to the bunker before they close it!"
Arit quickly moved to Mark and grabbed his hand as she tried to drag him with her towards the bunker. Mark slowly let go of Francis and Francis rubbed his wrist in pain as he quickly followed the crowd of students. But Francis couldn''t help himself from ring at Mark onest time before leaving. This was not over!
Mark and Arit started moving down the hallway, and Mark knew that he couldn''t go with Arit to the basement! His phone was still ringing, and there was no doubt that it was Pat who was calling him! There were hundreds of students boxing them in from all sides in the hallway, and Mark knew that he could use this to his advantage! The number of students was sorge that Arit would never notice if he left her hand and allowed her to just keep going on her own!
Mark slowly used the force of the students around him and let go of Arit''s hand! He allowed many students to move in front of him, and he slowly disappeared backward into the crowd as he began moving in the opposite direction from where Arit was moving!
Immediately after he left Arit''s hand, Arit immediately noticed that there was no contact anymore, and she turned around in shock to try and find him! She nced around the entire hallway and tried to make some of the students move out of the way so that she could find Mark, but there was no sign of him! A great amount of anxiety started to rise from inside Arit, and she was scared that she left Mark behind! She immediately wanted to go and find him, but the sheer number of students was preventing her from moving as they continued dragging her towards the basement by force!
"Mark! Where are you!? Mark! Has anybody seen Mark!?"
Arit continued to shout like this loudly, but her voice was drowned out by the shouts and murmurs from all the other students who were also looking for their friends! Arit felt tearse to her eyes as she didn''t see Mark, and she didn''t want to think that he somehow got into trouble somewhere! She was sure that he would keep going to the bunker! He has to be there!
Arit could only think in this way as she was slowly guided towards the bunker against her will!
[System functions resuming... System functions resuming... System functions resuming...]
Chapter 15: Split Decision
Chapter 15: Split Decision
Mark made his way past the students who were running towards the bunker and finally picked up his phone when it rang again!
[What the hell is going on there!? I can see five different monsters on the CCTV, and one of them is a country-level cmity! They are fighting together!]
"What?"
Mark was extremely surprised by thest thing that Pat just said! What did he mean by the monsters were fighting together!? Ever since the Armageddon ss Anima four years ago, there hasn''t been a single instance where monsters fought together or followed a leader. They were all mindless creatures that just knew how to destroy!
Mark shook his head as he reached his ssroom and quickly prepared to join the fight. He put his phone in his pocket and took out his AirPods to connect them so he could keep talking to Pat! He then took off his shirt, leaving himself in only his inner singlet, and he grabbed a mask from his bag and ced it over his head before using it to cover his lower face. This was how Mark always fought, and he liked the anonymity that came with hiding his identity! Mark jumped through the window and began to race across the city at an immense speed!
Zoom!
Mark was so focused on trying to get to the scene of the fight that he didn''t even notice that there was a light ping! ringing in his ear over and over again. This pinging sound was from his system, and it was sending him many messages!
[Does the user wish to activate the system? Yes/No...]
[Does the user wish to activate the system? Yes/No...]
[Does the user wish to activate the system? Yes/No...]
[If no choice is picked, system functions cannot resume. The system will move into standby mode until an option is picked.]
[Standby mode activated]
Mark could already see the giant smoke rising from the docks, and he jumped into the sky from on top of a building and soared through the air as he got closer to the docks! From up here, Mark could see everything that was happening at the docks, and he couldn''t believe how crazy it was! There were many superhumans, and they were all trying their best to fight against five monsters with fish heads that were destroying everything in their path! The superhumans there were mainly C and B ranks, and so they had to fight in groups of more than five before they could even stand a chance against the fish-headed monsters!
But that wasn''t the craziest fight that was happening! The worst fight happening was between a humanoid-looking anima with an ant head and two superhumans! Mark immediately recognized one of the two superhumans as Lightning Rider whom he saw earlier today, and the other superhuman was Yellow Phantom who fought against the monster yesterday!
Mark had a big choice to make! Should he go and help out the B ranks that were struggling against the fish-headed anima, or should he join the two superhumans that were fighting against the ant-headed anima!? Mark only thought about this for a split second, and he immediately came to a conclusion as he contorted his body and allowed himself to start moving towards the two superhumans that were fighting against the ant-headed monster!
[Don''t do anything rash! That''s a cmity, Mark! You can''t win against something like that! You should try to help the other Superhumans instead!]
Pat''s annoyed voice rang through Pat''s ear, and Mark just ignored him as he continued making his way towards the fight! What did Pat expect him to do!? He couldn''t just leave them there to fight against something like that on their own! Yellow Phantom is only a low-level A rank and Lightening Rider is a B rank! They had no chance of winning and it would be better for three of them to fight it together!
...
Tilda was breathing heavily as she looked at the giant ant-headed anima that was just staring at them with a bored expression in its eyes! It was like the anima was saying that they weren''t even worth its time! She was already on herst leg as she could feel her stamina dwindling, and she knew that Lightning Rider was also on hisst leg. He was even worse than she was because he had an injury on his shoulder that wouldn''t stop bleeding!
They had to get out of this somehow! The three of them were standing on top of the broken half of a building that was leaning precariously to one side! With only the smallest movement, Tilda knew that the entire building would teeter and fall over like a stack of dominos! But what the hell are they going to do in this situation!? They already called for backup, but there hasn''t been a single sign of anyoneing to help them! Even the other B ranks were busy trying to take care of the other Disaster ss Anima! They were definitely going to die here!
Woooosshhh!!!
A loud sound of something falling echoed through the air, and Tilda didn''t even have time to turn around before something big and heavy mmed into the side of the Ant-headed Anima.
BOOM!!
Tilda felt her eyes widen in shock as she saw the anima get thrown across the building as it was blindsided, and a personnded in front of her and Lightning Rider.
Mark narrowed his eyes at where the Ant-headed Anima was thrown towards, and he prepared himself for a fight. He only managed to get a lucky hit once and he knew that the monster would never allow something like that to happen again! He looked to the side, and he saw that Lightning Rider was bleeding from his shoulder.
"You should get that closed up before you bleed to death. Having an injury in a fight like this is only going to make you a liability."
Mark said this to Lightning Rider, and he watched as Lightning Rider narrowed his eyes in annoyance! Lightning Rider was curious about who the hell Mark was because of how Mark was covering his lower face to prevent them from knowing his identity.
Tilda was far less confused, and she immediately knew who Mark was! She could recognize him from some of the videos that she used to watch on Metube! This was GHOST! He was a vignte-type superhuman who went around helping people with a mask to prevent them from knowing his identity! Tilda knew that he did all of his vignte work in this region, but she didn''t think that he woulde out to help them like this since they were in the open and there were going to be reporters soon. Tilda wanted to ask him what he was doing here, but she knew that it would be a stupid question! It was obvious that he came here to help them, and it would be stupid for her to refuse his help!
"We''re going up against a Cmity, so we should try toe up with a n. I don''t think any of us has enough power to face it head-on, so we will try to buy as much time as possible for more A ranks toe. They areing from another city, so it will take a while even at their top speed. If we can drag the fight away from the city, then that would be an ideal situation. Let''s make it go back towards the docks."
Chapter 16: Target Locked
Chapter 16: Target Locked
"We''re going up against a Cmity, so we should try toe up with a n. I don''t think any of us has enough power to face it head-on, so we will try to buy as much time as possible for more A ranks toe. They areing from another city, so it will take a while even at their top speed. If we can drag the fight away from the city, then that would be an ideal situation. Let''s make it go back towards the docks."
Tilda said this calmly while ring in the direction of the ant-headed Anima and Mark just nodded to her as he prepared for the fight. Mark was d that Tilda wasn''t going to be asking any silly questions! At least, he wouldn''t have to start exining pointless things when they are about to fight for their lives!
"I have the most stamina right now, so I should take the front. I''ll get its attention, and then one of you can deal a blow from a blind spot while it is distracted with me."
Mark added some of his own thoughts, and Tilda couldn''t deny that it was the best course of action right now. Her stamina was almostpletely gone, so Mark taking the frontline would help her to get some of it back. And since she was fast, she could rush in and attack the monster before rushing out again to make the monster confused!
Lightning Rider still had a look of distrust on his face as he stared at Mark. He could not tell who Mark was, and due to the fact that his voice was distorted by the mask he was wearing, Lightning Rider couldn''t tell how old he was either. Lightning Rider was the sort of person who hated mysteries, and he liked to have all the facts about anyone that he was going to be trusting his back to. If this were a different situation, then Lightning Rider would have definitely refused help from Mark because he didn''t trust him, but since Tilda was already onboard, then Lightning Rider had no choice but to silently ept Mark''s help.
Rattaatatattaatata!
A loud sound suddenly came from above the three superhumans, and Mark looked up to see that there was a news helicopter hovering right over them! Are these peoplepletely mad? Why would they bring something like that to the scene of a fight? The helicopter was quite high in the sky, but Mark knew that a constraint like that was nothing for them! In the middle of a fight, they could easily reach that helicopter with just a single leap!
Crack! Crack!
Boom!
Screeech!
Mark didn''t have any time to start thinking about the stupidity of humans anymore as he was forced to focus back on the ant-headed Anima as it burst its way out from inside the building and released a loud screech that shook the ground under their feet for miles! Everything in the area felt the raw power from the Anima, and Mark prepared himself for the beating that he knew he was about to receive!
Mark has never fought against a Cmity ss before! The strongest opponent he has ever had was a Disaster ss, and that was nothingpared to this! Mark brought his fists up and dashed forward! He was going to try and catch the monster off guard so that Tilda and Lightning Rider would have a good chance to attack with a surprise attack!
m!
But before Mark could even go anywhere, everybody was shocked as the Cmity ss moved first at a speed that was three times faster than what it was using when fighting against Tilda and Lightning Rider! The Cmity sspletely ignored everybody else in the area and it mmed straight into Mark and dragged him along as the two of them flew through three skyscrapers and went deeper into the city!
"!"
Tilda''s eyes were wide in shock, and she didn''t even need to look to see that Lightning Rider was also shocked by what just happened! They have never seen an Anima act in this way before! The Anima were seen as mindless creatures whose only goal in life was to destroy as much of the world as possible while killing everyone and anyone that they couldy their hands on! There has never been a case where Anima just ignored everyone else and went straight for one person!
"We have to help him! I don''t know what is going on, but there is no way he can survive against that monster on his own! If we don''t go, then he''ll die!"
Tilda shouted this to Lightning Rider as she snapped out of her surprise, and Lightning Rider nodded his head as he covered his body in lightning, and they both dashed towards the direction where the Cmity ss dragged Mark!
Up in the sky, the news crew was also stunned as the helicopter followed after them! The journalist in the helicopter was a beautiful woman with red hair and green eyes. She had full red lips and a moderate bust that showed some cleavage through her shirt! She was holding a microphone and talking rapidly as the camera followed the destruction that the Cmity ss was causing on the ground!
"This is something that I''ve never seen before in my life! It looks like the Cmity ss is no longer interested in any of the other superhumans, and it has only decided to focus on one of them! Reports I am getting from my analysts are saying that the superhuman the Cmity is focusing on is the Vignte Superhuman GHOST! He is a superhuman who has been involved in many Disaster ss subjugations, but we have never been able to get a good look at his fighting style before because of how elusive he is! But it seems like we will finally get a good look at it today!"
...
In the underground bunker below Nature Academy, all of the students were huddled together as they tried to calm their beating hearts! They could all hear the tremors and destruction that was happening above ground, and even though the fight was happening far away from them, they could tell that there was an insane amount of power being thrown around up there!
[The superhuman GHOST is trying his best to get the Cmity ss off him, but the Cmity ss has not given him any room to regroup with the other superhumans! At this rate, it looks like he is going to have to find a way out of the situation himself! The Superhumans Yellow Phantom and Lightning Rider are both chasing after the fighting pair, but it seems that no matter what they do, the Cmity ss only continues to focus all of its attention on GHOST!]
There was arge television positioned above the ground where the news was ying, and everyone in the underground bunker stayed very silent as they watched the fight that was happening! Francis was watching the fight with wide eyes as he saw his idol being targeted by the Cmity ss. Francis knew that GHOST was strong, but even Francis couldn''t be sure that GHOST would make it out of a fight like this! A cmity ss attack has never happened in this city before, so no one was sure what the oue would be!
The only person who didn''t look like she was interested in the fight at all was Arit! Arit was the only person on her feet, and she had been frantically looking around for Mark ever since she came into the bunker!
Chapter 17: Running Into Danger
Chapter 17: Running Into Danger
The only person who didn''t look like she was interested in the fight at all was Arit! Arit was the only person on her feet, and she was frantically looking around for Mark ever since she came into the bunker!
"Mark! Mark, where are you!? Has anyone seen Mark? I can''t find him anywhere! Teacher, I haven''t seen Mark anywhere!"
Arit ran up to one of the male teachers that were standing at the side, and she shouted that she still hadn''t seen Mark, but the teacher just rubbed the back of his neck in slight irritation as a new tremor shook the ground under their feet! Even though he was a teacher, he was still a normal human being, and he didn''t want to leave the bunker either just because there was a single student who could still be out there! He wasn''t going to risk his life like that!
"I''m sure he is fine. Don''t worry about it too much. Just sit down; you''re bothering the other students that are trying to watch the news."
The teacher said this to Arit, and Arit felt a great surge of anger fill her heart as she red at the teacher and turned away from him! She should have known that the teacher wouldn''t be any help at all! He was just a damn coward!
Arit continued to shout Mark''s name while asking everyone if they had seen her friend, but no one was able to help her because they hadn''t seen Mark yet, and no one wanted to go out of the bunker just to try and look for him! Arit kept on shouting for Mark, and some of the students started telling her to keep quiet and sit down because she was preventing them from seeing what was ying on the television properly! Mark was probably somewhere else, and he couldn''t hear her, so she should just keep quiet!
Arit ignored all those people, and she kept on looking around frantically for Mark! A lot of fear came into her heart as images of Mark''s dead or injured body were ying in her head! What if Mark was out there in the school, and he was trapped under a rock that fell? There have been a lot of tremors recently, and the tremors might have made something fall on him! There were still some studentsing into the bunker, and Arit ran towards the entrance to look around to see if Mark was a part of them!
But as the students entering the bunker started to reduce, Arit''s fears began to increase as she realized that Mark was not part of them! There is no way! Mark wouldn''t miss the bunker without a good reason! Mark knows how dangerous it is out there! That could only mean that Mark was in trouble, and he couldn''te because of something big! He was in danger!
The teacher in charge of controlling the bunker door made sure that there were no more studentsing in, and he nodded as he pressed the button to close the bunker door! The bunker door was automatic, so once it closed, it wasn''t going to open anymore until the school was certain that the danger had passed. There was food and drinks in the bunker along with enough venttion pipes to make sure that the students could stay there for more than a week if they needed to!
"Hey! What do you think you''re doing!? The doors are already closing! Get back here right now!"
The teacher suddenly shouted this as he saw Arit run out of the door right before it closedpletely! What the hell was she doing!? Couldn''t she tell what sort of situation this was!? She could die out there if the fighting gets to this area!
Many of the male teachers quickly tried to see if they could hold the door open, and one of the female teachers tried to press the button to make sure it stayed open, but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn''t keep it open, and it shut and locked them in while locking Arit outside!
"She''s going to die out there! What in the world was she thinking!?"
One of the female teachers shouted like this as she started to make a call to the authorities so that the police coulde and get Arit out of the school! No one can leave the bunker until the danger passes, so the only thing that they can do is hope that the authorities can help her!
[The fight between GHOST and the cmity ss has now crossed into the eastern side of the city! GHOST is trying his best to hold his own against this unbelievable monster, but from the looks of things, he is not faring very well! It will not be long now before things go from bad to worse if reinforcements do not arrive soon!]
The reporter on the news channel shouted this, and the teachers and students all looked up at the television in shock! Their school was located on the eastern side of the city! That meant that there was a very high chance that the fight would reach their school very soon!
The teacher who called the authorities turned off her phone with a sigh after she got another automatic message from the answering machine telling her to try againter!
There was no chance that the authorities woulde here anymore since the fight was already reaching this side of the city! Even if they answered her, then it would take hours for them to send their people to rescue survivors! The only thing that the teachers could do was hope that Arit managed to stay alive long enough for someone toe and save her!
...
"What the hell is your fucking problem with me!!?"
BOOM!!
Mark sent a left hook straight at the ant-headed anima, and he had to bite his inner lip in pain as his wrist almost broke from how fucking hard the ant-headed anima''s skull was! Is this shit made out of fucking metal? There was no visible effect on the anima, and it grabbed Mark by the head and spun around before tossing him down through ten floors of a skyscraper!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Mark shouted in pain as his back burned from the intense force, but he didn''t allow the pain to stop him! Once hended, he quickly grabbed a metal pole that was lying at the side and aimed it at the ceiling while waiting for just the right moment!
Boom!
"Raargh!!"
Throw!
At the exact moment that the ant-headed anima burst through the ceiling, Mark threw the pole like a javelin straight for it! Mark knew that his throwing strength was nothing to scoff at! Mark could throw a javelin with enough force to make it travel for more than three kilometers easily! If all that force is put into one throw, then Mark knew that he could impale a block of solid metal with his javelin throw! But Mark''s eyes widened in shock as the metal pole that he threw with all his strength bent and crumpled as it couldn''t even pass through the ant-headed anima''s skin!
m!
Chapter 18: Hello, Mark Vanitas
Chapter 18: Hello, Mark Vanitas
m!
The Anima ignored the useless iron pole and grabbed Mark by the shirt, mming him into the ground. It brought him up and turned around before throwing Mark through the wall of the skyscraper!
Crash!!
They were on the twentieth floor, so Mark was sent flying into the air without any ce tond! Mark floated in the air, wondering what he could do about a monster like this. Why in the world was it attacking him alone? There were more than twenty superhumans here, and the ant-headed monster was ignoring all of them and going straight for him. In fact, it was even ignoring all the people they saw. Mark thought that he would have to be protecting people as they fought, but there was no need because the only person that the ant-headed Anima was interested in was Mark!
Mark turned to the side and saw a streak of lightning running across buildings anding towards his location at an insane speed! He immediately knew that it was Lightning Rider and Yellow Phantoming to help him! If he could just hold on for a few more seconds, then they could reach him and get this bastard off his back! Mark didn''t know why the ant-headed anima was so focused on killing him, but he knew that if the three of them worked together, they could hold it off until reinforcements arrived!
[Mark! Focus!]
A voice shouted from Mark''s ear, and Mark was brought back to the fight as a shadow fell over him! Mark''s eyes widened as he looked into the sky and saw that the ant-headed anima was holding onto arge section that it had broken off from the skyscraper! This bastard was trying to throw a house at him! Mark looked around in desperation and tried to see if there was anything that he could use to defend himself, but there was no ce for him to use as leverage to get out of the way! He was literally a sitting duck as he fell from the sky!
SCRREECHH!
Woosh!!
The building was thrown at Mark with a loud screech, and Mark could only cross his hand in front of his face and hope for the best!
m!
BOOM!!!
The building mmed into Mark with intense force, and a great tremor passed through the entire city as both Mark and the building crashed into the ground! There were miniature earthquakes generated by the impact, and this caused some of the buildings in the area to begin crumbling and falling!
SCRREECH!!
The antnded on top of the building with Mark under it and screeched loudly as it released even more of its power! Arge wave of energy spread across the city, freezing all the humans in ce and making all the superhumans shiver from the oppressiveness of the power! This was the strength of a Cmity ss monster! This was something that could not be handled by mere A ranks! This was a true monster!
All the people in the world who were watching the news were silent as they saw the extraordinary disy of strength that the Cmity ss just showed them! It was something that they couldn''t evenment on! Even the reporter who was in charge of providingmentary on the news waspletely silent as she just watched the Cmity ss screeching in victory!
There was a dread that filled all of them as they didn''t see GHOST moving anymore! It was finally sinking in for them that what they were watching was something that they could not even fathom! GHOST has always won against any monster he faced, and even though he was very elusive and didn''t give any interviews or join any guilds, he was still loved by many because he was always protecting them! But there was no way GHOST would be able to survive against a monster like this! He was no longer even moving, so they were sure he was dead!
Under the rubble, Mark was no longer moving as the weight of the building on top of him threatened to crush him! He could only think that he was going to die here because there was no way he could win against something like this! Mark''s life slowly began to sh before his eyes, and there was only one thought that constantly yed over and over in his head.
''I wish I kissed Arit when I had the chance this morning.''
If Mark knew that he was going to be fighting against a monster that was hell-bent on killing him by any means necessary, then Mark would have just bit the bullet and kissed Arit! How the fuck can he die without even kissing her once!?
Ping! Ping! Ping!
Mark blinked in surprise as he heard a pinginging from somewhere inside his head. That sound! Mark knew that sound! He hadn''t heard that sound in almost four years, but he could still remember the pinging sound that could onlye from his system! Mark''s heart was beating at a mile a minute as he quickly opened the tab that he closed earlier today and saw all the different messages that he missed!
[System functions Recovering...]
[Time psed: 4 years: 1 day: 10 hours: 32 minutes: 15 seconds...]
[Time remaining: 0]
[Cannot awaken system. System Functions are being recalibrated. System functions are being recalibrated.]
[System Awakening... Awakening Complete.]
[Does the user wish to activate the system? Yes/No...]
[Does the user wish to activate the system? Yes/No...]
[Does the user wish to activate the system? Yes/No...]
[If no choice is picked, system functions cannot resume functions. The system will move into standby mode until an option is picked.]
[Standby mode activated]
After these messages passed some new messages started toe up below them!
[User has suffered major physical damage. Estimated probability of winning the battle in the current state: 1.2%]
[System has concluded that this is an unattainable task.]
[Due to the gravity of the situation, standby mode has been automatically deactivated.]
[System Functions Restarting... System Function Restarting... System Functions Restarting.]
[Superhero System Restarted Sessfully.]
Mark felt a massive surge of energy fill him as the system finally came back online, and Mark couldn''t stop the mad grin that spread across his face as each cell in his body radiated extreme power! Mark felt like he could take on the entire world in his current state! And he would win!
[Parsing Constitution. No residual damage found.]
"Hello once again, Mark Vanitas. Has it already been four years?"
"!"
Mark blinked in surprise and looked down in shock as he saw that he was no longer under the building. He looked around him, and he saw that he was standing in a bright blue area in the sky! There was no ground under him, but when he stomped his feet, he could feel solid ground under it!
"You don''t want to do that! You could fall from there and head straight back down! I don''t know about you, but I think a fall like that will definitely end with your death!"
Mark stopped stomping immediately when he heard this, and he looked up to see a boy floating in front of him. The boy was wearing blue shorts and a red shirt, and he had a cap over his white hair! This was Sozin! The god of Games!
Chapter 19: Be Grateful
Chapter 19: Be Grateful
Mark stopped stomping immediately when he heard this, and he looked up to see a boy floating in front of him. The boy was wearing blue shorts and a red shirt, and he had a cap over his white hair! This was Sozin! The god of Games!
"It''s you. I didn''t think I would ever get to see you again while I was alive. It''s been four years already."
Mark could only smile happily as he said this, and Sozinughed in that jovial way that Mark could still remember from four years ago! Sozin was floating in the air and he spun around erratically in a yful manner while chuckling to himself.
It has already been four years, but everything still felt the same about Sozin. Mark might have felt like it was a long time, but to Sozin, it might as well have only been a second! Sozin has lived too long to consider four years as any time at all! Four years to him was barely a moment!!
"You''re in a real mess right now, aren''t you? I thought you had bad luck before, but now I can only think that you went behind my back and made a deal with the God of Bad luck! You''re right at the God of Death''s doorstep!"
Sozinughed loudly as he said this, and he finally calmed down after a few seconds of this! Mark rolled his eyes because he knew that it was true! Both times that Mark has met the God of Games, he has been right at death''s doorstep, and it felt like there was some sort of angel of bad luck following Mark wherever he goes! Or maybe it was even the God of Games himself that was the angel of bad luck!
Mark could only think like this while chuckling to himself at the strange thought! He nced at his system and smiled as he saw the system tab that showed all his stats. There were some more messages that started popping up as the stats stopped loading.
[System has detected high levels of strength within the user.]
[The user was not idle during the four-year break, and many stats have been improved.]
[Recalibrating User stats to properly reflect the user''s current state.]
[Recalibrating: 1%]
[Recalibrating: 5%]
[Recalibrating: 20%]
[Recalibrating: 75%]
[Recalibrating: 92%]
[Recalibrating: 99%]
[Recalibrationplete.]
...
SUPERHUMAN SYSTEM
Name: Mark Vanitas
Race: Human
Title: Nil
Rank: A [1900/3000]
Affiliation: True Good
Unused Stat Points: 0
Unused Skill Points: 0
...
Strength: 750
Stamina: 600
Agility: 550
Durability: 400
Mana: 150
[System stats are greatly unbnced, and the User is advised to improve thecking stat to ensure proper growth.]
...
[SKILL TREE]
-> Full Body Constitution: This is a unique skill tree enabling the user to systematically enhance and fortify every aspect of their physical form, elevating strength and resilience to unprecedented levels!
Current Full Body Constitution: Soldier Ant Constitution: 1/100
[Soldier Ant Constitution: This skill endows the user with the ability to enhance their physical strength to levels proportionate to that of a soldier ant, enabling them to exhibit power that is ten times higher than their current physical capability!]
-> Mana Cirction: Mana Cirction is a skill enabling the user to enhance the efficiency of mana distribution throughout their body, optimizing energy flow for heightened senses and greater strength.
Current Mana Cirction Stage: F Rank [1/100]
[Stat Improvements Due to Application of Mana]
Strength: +2%
Stamina: +2%
[Comment from GoG: Hahahahahahah! You''re so weak!]
...
[Due to the User''s tenacious work ethic, the system has granted the User a gift. All hail the system!]
[SYSTEM GIFT]
[Stat Points: +20]
[Skill Points: +10]
[The User has gained a new title: He Who Perseveres Through Hell.]
[He Who Perseveres Through Hell: The user never lost faith in the system through the four years of system shutdown. This shows great dedication and tenacity in the User! This title grants the User a 10% boost to all stats when the User is facing off against an opponent that is at least one rank higher than the User!]
...
When Mark finished reading all of this, he couldn''t stop his heart from soaring in joy! He finally got his system back! He was no longer just an ordinary human, and he could now fight with his blessing! But there were a lot of things that Mark still didn''t understand about his system, and he decided that he would have to ask Sozin about these things. The first thing that Mark found strange was the fact that he still had some of the skills that Sozin gifted him when he made a deal four years ago.
Skills like [Full Body Constitution] and [Mana Cirction] were not in the system when Mark first got them! They were just gifts that Sozin gave to Mark when Mark wanted to fight against the Armageddon ss, so why were they still here!? Don''t tell me that Sozin was going to allow me to keep them! That was awesome! Mark was sure that when he got back his system, he would have to start from scratch again because Sozin said that all the power he gave him was only temporary, but starting from this point wasn''t so bad at all!
Mark then nced at his Rank and he wondered what the numbers beside it meant. Mark was an A rank, but he had a counter that showed him how far he was away frm moving to the next rank. Was it some sort of addition of hi skills. Mark asked Sozin about this and Sozin floated around Mark and looked down at the system over Mark''s shoulder as he said.
"I see you already saw the skills that you got from me. I thought about taking them away from you, but for some reason, I couldn''t take them away. I know; it is strange to me too, but there are really things that even we gods are not capable of. The numbers beside your rank are from your stats. The addition of your three highest stats will determine how powerful you really are, so it''s up to you to decide how you wish to distribute your stat points to grow stronger.
"Maybe you wan to put everything into Mana and be a mage, or maybe you want to add it all to durability so you can be as tough as a tank. It''s all up to you, but remember that there are still restrictions. I''ll leave you to figure those out yourself. You are my first and only champion, so I was surprised to find out that there are restrictions ced on me too! It looks like the system really likes you!
"But it seems that the system reset the skills you got back to their base state, so you will have to grind them just like any other skill and make them grow and evolve. If you can do that, then good for you for getting some free skills!"
When the God of Games said that he tried to take away the skill but couldn''t, Mark was shocked! So there are some things that even gods couldn''t do. Does that mean that the God of Games was weaker than the system? Or maybe the system was just able to counteract some of the God of Games'' powers so that he couldn''t interfere too much! Mark was d about this revtion because he knew that the God of Games was a very entric person! Having someone as intense and crazy as the God of Games as his patron god was already insane enough, but it would be even worse if the God of Games could change anything and everything at his whim! That would be the worst possible situation! The god of games already told Mark that the only reason why humans were given so much power was for the entertainment of the gods, so Mark knew that Sozin would do crazy things just for his entertainment if he could!
"I don''t know why you have so much distrust for me. I haven''t even done a single thing to harm you since giving you my powers. All I''ve done is help you as much as I could since the beginning! You should be a little more grateful to your patron god!"
Chapter 20: You’re Weak
Chapter 20: You''re Weak
Mark immediately noticed the yful tone that Sozin was using while talking, and he knew that Sozin was being sarcastic right now!
Sozin wasn''t the sort of god that denies his own nature! Sozin was the God of Games and he would do anything he wanted for his own entertainment without caring about whether Mrk liked it or not!
Hold on! Did Sozin just read my mind!?
Mark''s eyes suddenly widened in shock as he thought about this and he looked towards Sozin quickly with an expression of surprise on his face! Sozin immediately started tough even louder!
"You''re only noticing now!? I''ve been reading your mind from the very start! How else do you think I chose you to be my champion without having to talk to you at all!? I chose you because of your mentality! You have the zeal that I am looking for in my champion! The zeal to be the strongest in the world! Do you really think that you are normal!?
"If it were anyone else, they would have given up the moment they realized that they no longer had their blessing. But you didn''t give up! Instead, you went to train your regr body, and you started fighting against monsters even without having anything to protect you. You''re nothing like normal people, Mark. You''re a battle freak with enough sense to go the distance! You love the rush of battle and you crave strength! That is exactly what I want in my champion! You have to be the strongest in every world so I can brag to the other gods that my champion is the best!"
Mark could only nod in silent eptance of what Sozin said. Mark was a little put off by the fact that Sozin was reading all of his thoughts like an open book, but that wasn''t the worst thing in the world when he really thought about it. Sozin was a god, and Mark was sure that there was a lot more that Sozin could do than what he was telling Mark! Mark would just have to learn to live with the fact that Sozin could read his mind.
Mark already had the intention of being the strongest in the world whether Sozin said anything about it or not. Mark was miserable these past few years because he knew that he was just one step away from power, and he had to give up most of it four years ago for the sake of saving the world, so this time Mark would not waste even a moment!
"How are you going to use the first gifts?"
Sozin floated around as he asked this, and Mark looked at the Gift that his system gave him and wondered how he should distribute it.
"The skills that I have are pretty basic, but I can tell that they are strong. I was able to fight against an Armageddon ss with only the maximum level of the [Soldier Ant Constitution], so there is no way that it will be weak. I just need to build it up and then evolve it. But I think it will be more sensible to give the stat points to the Mana stat since it is so low and give the skill points to the Mana cirction skill so I can improve my overall stats. The Mana stat and Mana cirction skill work together to improve my stats, so if I improve them, then I can have some extra power."
Sozin hummed from his ce in the sky as he floated around Mark with his legs crossed and his hands held behind his head. He heard everything that Mark just said, as well as Mark''s thoughts, and it wasn''t a bad deduction. Giving the skill and stat points to mana-based abilities would definitely help him improve all his other stats. But what was that nonsense he was saying about the Soldier Ant Constitution!? Does he not know that the Soldier Ant constitution is only the weakest constitution out of all the constitutions that he could have?
"You know, I don''t think you understand the extent of the power that you have right now. What I gave you before to fight against the Armageddon ss was only the tip of the iceberg. It was all the power that I could give you at that time due to your weak body, but don''t think that it is your limit. You have power beyond mortal understanding, Mark! Don''t underestimate how far you can go!"
Sozin hated the fact that Mark was looking down on the system that he had! Does Mark think that the system was only strong enough to fight off one Armageddon!? Or does he think that because he fought off one Armageddon he has already seen the extent of power that the system can produce!? That was foolish thinking!
There was a reason why the god of games chose Mark as his champion. Mark was going to be fighting against beings of godly power in the future, and without enough strength, Mark would be crushed like a bug! Sozin was not going to lose face with the other gods because he had a weak champion! Mark was going to be the strongest in the world whether he liked it or not!
"Are you trying to tell me that the Armageddon I fought against before was weak? I fought against that monster for three nights and four days and we destroyed half of the North American continent! Can something like that even be called weak!? Or are you trying to say that there are monsters even stronger out there!?"
Mark couldn''t even wrap his head around Sozin''s statement. How can a monster like that Armageddon be called weak!? Mark almost lost his life many times in the few days that he fought against the Armageddon, and if not for the endless mana that Mark''s system gave him, then he would have definitely lost!
"You need to broaden your mind more, Mark Vanitas. The reason why you fought against that monster for so long wasn''t because it was strong! It''s because you were weak as shit! There are monsters beyond your imagination in this world! Do you think that Armageddon was strong? Wait till the next onees..."
Mark felt his throat dry up as he heard this. The image of another Armageddon arriving on Earth was enough to bring back a lot of bad memories about thest battle! Mark just shook his head and turned back to the system as he began to distribute his points. He would try not to think about that for now and he would just focus on gaining power as quickly as possible!
[Does the User wish to transfer 20 Stat points to Mana? Yes/No]
Mark chose yes, and he felt a surge of energy fill his entire body as something began to flow from his chest toward every limb! Was this mana? It was exhrating!
Mark quickly went to send the other points to the skill he wanted to improve.
[Does the user wish to transfer 10 skill points to Mana Cirction? Yes/No]
Mark chose yes again, and the surge of mana that was flowing erratically through his body suddenly became far more controlled! He could see that it was now more efficient, and there was less wasted movement as it flowed from his chest through the rest of his body!
Once Mark sent the points to the stats, he saw another new prompte up.
[Stats improvement Due to Application of Mana]
Strength: +4%
Stamina: +4%
As the mana surged through Mark''s body, he could feel a slight increase in those two stats, and he was d that he chose to add the points here as his entire body felt rejuvenated from the mana he gained. This will help him in the fight that he is going to go back into. At least, he was now sure that his strength would not lose against the strength of that Cmity ss!
Mark knew that his skills and stats were organized in a way that would make fighting with fists very easy. Mark didn''t know if the God of Games did this on purpose or if it was just a coincidence, but Mark didn''t mind at all because he knew that he enjoyed fighting with his fists more than using a weapon. Mark was a brawler by nature!
Chapter 21: Awakening
Chapter 21: Awakening
Sozin thought about informing Mark of the improvements that he would be able to make to his system soon, but he decided against it. There''s no need for Sozin to tell him because Sozin was sure Mark will find out more about the system as time goes on. Sozin gave Mark all his blessings, so Mark would grow at an insane ratepared to other Superhumans. It was a gamble for Sozin since Sozin was not going to have any champions anymore if Mark was killed, but Sozin was sure that Mark would not die that easily. If Mark didn''t die in the four years that he didn''t have his system, then he would definitely be much harder to kill now that he had the system!
"Well, I have to leave now. You can do whatever you want with the system since it is now yours, but just keep in mind that I can no longer bail you out like I didst time with the Armageddon ss. This time, you really will be on your own and you will die if you try to get into a fight that you are not ready for. But seriously, try not to die on me. You''re my only champion and the other gods will definitelyugh at me if you die. I''ll be seeing youter then, Mark Vanitas. I hope you entertain me for many, many centuries."
Once he said this, Sozin slowly began to vanish into thin air until he disappeared from Mark''s sight!
Woosh!!
Mark suddenly felt his body fall from the sky and he shouted in anger at Sozin as he saw the ground getting closer! What the fuck was Sozin thinking!? Didn''t Sozin say that Mark wouldn''t survive a fall like this!? Mark was going to kick that bastard when next he saw him!
"Fuck you, Sozin!!"
Sozin''sughter filled the area once more and before Mark could go st on the ground, his body vanished!
....
[The Cmity ss has buried GHOST under a building and there doesn''t seem to be any movement from GHOST at all. I-I think that the superhuman GHOST might have... perished under the force of the Cmity ss''s attacks!]
The mood all over the city was somber and depressing as they all heard what the newscaster said! They couldn''t believe that GHOST was dead! There have been many cases where superhumans died against Anima, but this was the first time that they would be seeing it happening live in front of them, and it was gruesome! They were all realizing that even though these superhumans had all this power, they could still be killed if they took on a monster that was far stronger than them!
Pat was watching the scene on hisrge television, and he was biting his fingernails desperately as he waited to see what would happen! Pat had been screaming for Mark through thems for more than thirty seconds, and Pat didn''t get any response at all from him! That could either mean that Mark somehow lost the earpiece when he was being beaten by the cmity ss monster, or Mark was incapable of answering because he was passed out or dead!
Pat was someone who always faced reality head-on! He knew that there was almost no chance that Mark could defeat a monster like that with his current ability! Mark would usually struggle against Disaster ss Anima, so this monster would be too much for him to handle! But even someone as realistic as Pat had a small part of himself that was wishing that Mark would make it! Mark couldn''t just die like that! Not after everything that he has already been through! It wasn''t possible!
"Come on, Mark. Are you really going to go out like this? It''s too pathetic for someone like you!"
In the underground bunker in Nature Academy, there was nothing but silence among all the students as they all heard what the newscaster said! The students who were fans of GHOST were the most depressed out of all of them, but the one person who refused to be depressed was Francis. Francis grit his teeth and red at the screen with intense resolve.
"He is not dead! Shut your stupid mouth right now cause you don''t know what you''re talking about! There is no way that GHOST would die against something like that!"
One of Francis'' friends who was sitting beside him tried to make Francis calm down. They all saw what happened on the screen! There was no way that GHOST could survive something like that! The monster was too strong!
"Get the fuck off me! I said he is not dead! GHOST is stronger than anyone in the world! He wouldn''t die just because someone dropped a building on him!"
Francis was impossible to reason with, and everyone decided that they would just leave him alone to calm down because he was ring at everyone who tried to tell him that GHOST was dead! If they kept trying to talk to him, then they knew he might end up hitting them if he got too angry!
Outside the bunker, Arit was still running through the hallways and shouting out for Mark as she searched through all the sses and offices where Mark could have been. She first checked their own ss to see if he was there, but there was no one in the ss, so she was sure that Mark must''ve left to go and hide somewhere else! Arit was not going to leave Mark all alone out here because she knew that he would never leave her if she was the one out here alone!
Boom!
Arit stopped running as she felt a heavy tremor shake the foundation of the school, and she had to hide close to a window to prevent any falling debris from hitting her! Once she was sure that the tremor had passed, she got back up and started to run towards the next office!
Doon! Doon! Dooon!
Once Arit got to the main staff office, she felt three more massive quakes that shook the entire hallway, and Arit ducked under a table and looked out the window at the side in shock as she wondered what the hell was going on out there!
[What the hell is this!? There is something shaking the entire area! I''ve never felt anything like this before, but I think... I think it''sing from under the building! I think it ising from GHOST!!]
There was a television in the staff room, and Arit poked her head out and watched as a reporter started to scream loudly about the tremors that were shaking the city! Arit didn''t know what happened earlier, but she could remember that GHOST was the vignte superhuman that was always helping out in the city! Was he the one causing all the tremors?
...
Back with the fight happening in the middle of the city, the Cmity ss monster that threw the building on Mark mmed its feet into the building as it felt the massive tremors that were shaking everything! Did this foolish human think he could win by making the earth shake? There was nothing that would stop them from taking him away with them! They needed him to make their queen awaken, and they would surely get what they wanted!
Chapter 22: New Mission
Chapter 22: New Mission
They needed him to make their queen awaken, and they would surely get what they wanted!
Screech!
Boom!
The Cmity ss screeched as it reached down to pry the building off and grab Mark, but it didn''t even get a chance to do that before a hand suddenly burst out from under the building and grabbed it by its face! The Cmity ss was shocked as a powerful force, stronger than anything it had ever felt before, dragged it closer while squeezing down on its face with massive force! Mark''s face slowly started to emerge from under the building with a demonic re, and for the first time in its life, the Cmity ss felt something like fear!
SCREECH!!
m!
Mark let go of the ant''s face and mmed his fist into its jaw, sending it flying into the skyscraper at the side! Mark grabbed the edge of the hole that he made and slowly pulled himself out from under the building as he stood tall in full view of the world!
Everyone in the entire world was stunned as they saw the imposing figure of GHOST drag his way out from under the building! They all thought that GHOST was dead, but it turns out that he was perfectly fine!
[He''s alive! GHOST is alive! I can''t believe this! Even after having a building dropped on him, GHOST still managed to crawl his way out from under and he is standing strong against the monster! And... hold on. Zoom in! Zoom in right now! Oh my GOD!! It seems that in the chaos, GHOST has lost his mask, and his face is exposed! We can finally get a look at the face of the vignte that has protected us for years!]
Mark was standing on top of the building and trying to catch his breath as he looked around at all the destruction that the fight between him and the Cmity already caused. The city was aplete wreck, and it would take a long time for them to fix the extent of damage from this fight!
[The user is fighting against an enemy one rank higher. The effects of [He Who Perseveres Through Hell] will be activated]
[A 10% increase has been added to all stats.]
...
SUPERHUMAN SYSTEM
Name: Mark Vanitas
Race: Human
Title: [He Who Perseveres Through Hell.]
Rank: A [1900/3000]
Affiliation: True Good
...
Strength: 750(+75)
Stamina: 600(+60)
Agility: 550(+55)
Durability: 400(+40)
Mana: 170(+17)
[System Notification: System stats are greatly unbnced, and the User is advised to improve thecking stats to ensure proper growth.]
[SKILL TREE]
-> Full Body Constitution: This is a unique skill tree enabling the user to systematically enhance and fortify every aspect of their physical form, elevating strength and resilience to unprecedented levels!
Current Full Body Constitution: Soldier Ant Constitution: 1/100
[Soldier Ant Constitution: This skill endows the user with the ability to enhance their physical strength to levels proportionate to that of a soldier ant, enabling them to withstand power that is ten times higher than their current physical capability!]
-> Mana Cirction: Mana Cirction is a skill enabling the user to enhance the efficiency of mana distribution throughout their body, optimizing energy flow for heightened senses and greater strength.
Current Mana Cirction Stage: F Rank [11/100]
[Stat Improvements Due to Application of Mana]
Strength: +4%
Stamina: +4%
[Comment from GoG: Hahahahahahah! You''re still so fucking weak!]
...
[New Mission Alert: Crush the Cmity ss Anima without suffering any more damage!]
[The Cmity ss Anima has dealt significant damage to the user, and the user''s Durability level is less than half of what it should be. Crush the Cmity ss and win this fight without suffering any more damage to your body!]
[Rewards]
+50 Stat points
+50 Skill points
The user will gain a new skill tree.
[Failure]
-20 Stat points from any two stat chosen at random.
...
Mark read through all of these notifications quickly, and he was able to understand everything at once! So the system wants him to win this fight without getting hit even once by the Cmity ss. It sounds like an absurd request, but as Mark was now, he knew that he could do it. Mark''s stamina and strength were already back to their best, so he was sure that he could hold his own against the ant Anima!
[Mark! You''re alive! I thought you were dead! Where is your fucking mask!?]
Pat''s voice came through thems, and Mark put his hand up in shock to find out that his mask was gone! Mark looked up and saw that there was a camera looking down at him! He wouldn''t be able to hide his face anymore since he didn''t even know when he lost the mask, so he knew that there was no need for him to bother finding the mask anymore since everyone had already seen his face!
Mark was not happy about the fact that his identity was now exposed, but he didn''t mind it as much as he thought he would. Mark wasn''t hiding his identity because he was afraid of anyone; he was just hiding it because he liked the anonymity that he had! There was a lot less shit to deal with when no one knows who you are!
Mark decided that the gig was up, and he would have to deal with the reporters and poprity for a while after this fight! Mark just ignored the camera that was still looking down at him as a loud screech pierced through the air and drew everyone''s attention!
Thud! Thud!
Two figuresnded on the building beside Mark, and Mark turned to see that Tilda and Lightning Rider had finally reached them! The time difference between when Mark was buried under the building and when he came up was just over thirty seconds, so the two of them were only reaching the building now! Mark could see the surprise on their faces as they looked at his face, and he knew that they had a lot of questions that they wanted to ask him, but he didn''t allow them to ask anything as he turned to look at the monster that was dragging itself out of the building angrily!
Tilda was shocked as she stared at Mark''s face. No matter how she looked at him, there was no doubt that this was only a young man! He was basically a teenager! A teenager has been fighting alongside them all this time with this much power!? Tilda didn''t know any superhumans below the age of twenty who fought on the field actively. All the superhumans that faced off against Anima were mature already, and none of them were even in college anymore, so Tilda was stunned by Mark''s age!
"Go and help the other superhumans. I don''t think they canst against the Disaster sses for long. I''ll handle this Anima and draw it away from the others. If the reinforcements arrive, then send them this way."
Tilda muttered a surprised ''what?'' when she heard Mark saying this! Was he insane? Did he really intend to send them away and fight against that monster alone? Lightning Rider brought out his pole and got ready to fight along with Mark as hepletely ignored Mark''s words.
"Don''t get ahead of yourself just because you managed to get a lucky hit. If you think that you can beat a Cmity ss on your own, then you''re delusional."
Lightning Rider said this, and Mark shook his head at them. Mark wasn''t just telling them to leave because he wanted to fight alone. This Cmity ss would not even look at them if they stayed here to fight! For some reason, the Cmity ss was focused on Mark and was only sending all his attacks at Mark! Mark knew that there was a reason for this, but he didn''t care since they couldn''t do anything about it right now. All he knew was that the two of them would be able to do a lot more for the other superhumans who were struggling against the Disaster sses!
Chapter 23: Showdown
Chapter 23: Showdown
All Mark knew was that Tilda and Lightening Rider would be able to do a lot more for the other Superhumans who were struggling against the Disaster sses!
Mark exined this to both of them, and the two Superhumans looked at each other as they saw the sense in what he said. It was true that the Cmity ss was only focusing on Mark, and itpletely ignored them even when it had a chance to attack. There would be a lot more to gain by them leaving the fight to Mark and then going to help the other Superhumans to fight against the Disaster sses.
Lightning Rider heard all of this and epted that it was right, but he was still against just leaving Mark here on his own. Lightning Rider was someone who always wanted to do what was right, and he knew that the right thing to do right now was to help Mark fight against this Cmity ss.
Lightning Rider opened his mouth to say this to Mark, but Tilda beat him to the punch as she easily agreed with what Mark said. Lightning Rider turned to her in shock, and she quickly exined her reasoning.
"There are too many disaster sses, and the reinforcements are already on their way. We can prevent more deaths by helping the other Superhumans while GHOST holds his own against the Cmity ss. Even if we stay here, then the Cmity ss will only ignore us and we will be useless. If GHOST thinks he can hold it back, then there is no need to stop him. When the reinforcementse, then they cane to finish off the fight."
Both Mark and Lightning Rider understood what Tilda was saying. Tilda was not trying to put Mark in front of the Cmity ss while hoping that Mark would win. She was only telling Mark to hold the Cmity ss back for a few more minutes so that the reinforcements could arrive.
But Mark really didn''t have any intention of doing something like that! Mark was going to kill this monster before the reinforcements arrived! His status rewards depended on it! Mark didn''t know if he would get the rewards if he got help from others, but he would rather not risk it.
[If the user is aided inpleting the mission, then all rewards will be forfeited and the punishment for failure will be passed instead.]
Well, that answers that question. Mark had no intention of losing any of his stat points, so there was no way he would allow anyone to help him inpleting this mission!
Lightning Rider was still looking like he wanted to argue about the decision they just made, but after a few moments, he finally grunted as he reluctantly agreed to it. He rolled his staff around as lightning began to converge around him.
"Don''t die, kid."
This was all he said before he and Tilda dashed away from the scene in shes of yellow and lightning blue to go and help out the other Superhumans! Mark just chuckled at what Lightning Rider said! Die!? Who said anything about dying!? That was never even an option against a monster like this! Mark turned back to the Cmity ss that finally pulled itself from the building, and Mark allowed his face to split into a sadistic grin as he spread his arms wide!
"Come to Daddy, bitch!"
SCRREEEECH!!
Ka-Boom!!!
A massive shockwave erupted across the entire battlefield as the Anima shot forward, and Mark just stood still as the Anima drew its hand back and sent a punch straight at Mark''s face.
m!
Mark brought his hand forward and braced his feet as he caught the punch in one hand! The ground under his feet cracked and splintered, but he didn''t move an inch as he received the full force of the Anima''s hit! Mark was able to hold his own against the Ant-head Anima even when he didn''t have a system! He got the beating of his life, but at least he didn''t die!
Now that Mark had his system that granted him a strong constitution as well as the Mana that was flowing through his body, his strength was boosted to a much higher point than before! It was as if Mark was apletely different person!
Mark felt a manicugh bubble out from inside his body as he pulled the anima towards hit! Was this all it had!? This was what Mark thought he would die for!? Mark realized at that moment that Sozin was right! This motherfucking bastard was so weak!
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Mark held on tight to the Anima''s fist, and three massive dents appeared in the Anima''s armor as Mark sent three punches straight at its stomach! The wind around the area distorted as massive shockwaves flew out from the Anima''s body, and it spat out a wad of red blood in pain!
SCREECH!!
"Don''t go dying on me just yet!!"
m!
Mark threw the Anima into the air and performed a twist before he kicked it back into the building that they had been fighting in! Mark shot off the ground and followed it into the building to continue the fight!
The anima screeched as it forced itself to stop flying! It formed ws with its two hands and it shed them across the air in Mark''s direction! The shes formed pressurized air that easily cut through the columns of the building before the wind shed straight for Mark!
Crumble!
The broken columns weakened the structural integrity of the house and before long, the entire building wasing down on them! but neither of them gave a fuck about that as they were more focused on the fight in front of them!
Mark ducked low and grabbed one of the metal pipes that had been lying around on the floor! He slid to a stop right beside the Anima and he mmed the pipe like a bat into the Anima''s head faster than the Anima could turn!
SLAM!
The Anima was sent flying from the force of the hit, and Mark didn''t let up as he followed after it and sent another hit into its stomach, pushing it out from the window and sending it plummeting to the ground!
Crash!
The building was still falling as the two monsters fought and Mark was sure that anyone in the area would surely die from the falling building!! But Mark couldn''t stop to think about that because this was more important! The Anima screeched as it saw Mark burst through the window as well to continue the onught! It was a relentless attack, and the Anima was desperately trying to understand what was going on!
It felt like it was missing something big! How did this human manage to gain this much power in that short time!? Was this normal!? No! It is not normal! All the superhumans that I have killed have never gained this much power during a fight! There has to be something that it was missing!
"Hahahahahaha!!!"
A manicughtering from above made the Anima''s blood freeze! It saw Mark with his hand pulled back as he flew down towards it like a rocket! At that moment, the Anima couldn''t see Mark! All it saw was a demon! A demon in human skin!
If that hits, then the Anima knew that this would be the end of it! It had to put all of its power into onest-ditch effort to try and win this fight! It will be a battle of their strongest attacks, and the Anima was going to go all out to win this no matter what!
SCREECH!
The Anima diverted all of its power to its arm, and the armored tes on its arm shifted and formed a glove that covered its right fist as the muscles on its right arm began to bulge and erge until they were twice their normal size!
The two Titans prepared their most powerful attack, and they met right in the middle in onest showdown!
m!
KA-BOOOOMM!
The effects of the hit could be felt in all directions for miles as massive wind pressure threatened to blow down houses and throw roofs off buildings! The news helicopter that had been following the action lost control, and it began to spin erratically as the driver tried his best to get it back under control!
Chapter 24: The Reinforcements
Chapter 24: The Reinforcements
By the time they managed to get the helicopter back under control, the reporter had to struggle to get her clothes into a proper state as her shirt and skirt were almost blown off from the force of the wind! She didn''t even bother trying to fix her hair because she knew that it would be impossible and she just searched for her microphone and picked it up while waiting for the cameraman to bring the camera up again. The dust in the area began to clear up and the reporter''s eyes widened in shock as she saw GHOST standing alone on top of the broken and torn body of the headless Anima. He won... he really won!
[GHOST won the battle! I can''t believe it! I can''t believe that he won! The Cmity ss that threatened to destroy the city has been killed by GHOST in an awesome disy of undeniable power! Have you ever seen anything like this? I''m right here seeing it live and I still can''t believe it! GHOST really won!]
The reporter was shouting at the top of her lungs as her excitement threatened to drive her insane! She was so excited that she didn''t even care about how she was being viewed by the rest of the world, and she grabbed her hair and pulled on it desperately, crying in joy and relief! She was so scared that they were all going to get killed by the Cmity ss, so her relief was too much for her to bear and she just began to cry like a child!
All over the world, people were screaming andughing in joy as they watched GHOST standing over the dead body of the Cmity ss! Even those who weren''t directly affected by the attack couldn''t help but be happy about the victory!
The only ce that seemed to be as silent as a graveyard was Nature Academy itself. All the students and teachers of the Academy were as silent as a graveyard as they saw one of their own students standing over the dead body of a monster beyond their imagination! Mark was a Superhuman!? That was something that they couldn''t wrap their heads around. They couldn''t even begin to try to ept it because it just didn''t make any sense!
Mark was one of the most inconspicuous people in the school and he didn''t even talk that much unless he was around Arit. The teachers all disliked him because he was always skipping ss, and many of the students ignored him even when he was being harassed by Francis because they didn''t want to get involved in anything regarding Francis! if they got involved, then they were sure that they would be the next victim of the harassment!
To think that someone like that was a superhuman was impossible!
Some of the students who had been mean to Mark in the past started to feel a bit of dread fill them as they thought about what he could have done to them if he got angry! If they had taken their harassment too far, then wouldn''t he have just crushed all of them like ants!?
The one person that everyone expected to be the most shocked was Francis. They all knew about the feud between Francis and Mark, and they expected a big reaction from Francis. But Francis didn''t react. He didn''t say anything about the fight and he didn''t say anything about the reveal. Francis just silently sat and stared at the television with an empty look in his eyes.
...
Ratatatatata!!
The sound of a helicoptering towards City A from the east echoed through the city. The helicopter maneuvered its way toward where some of the Disaster ss monsters were fighting against the Superhumans, and two figures jumped out from the helicopter while it was still in the air andnded on the ground!
BOOM!
"Did we really have toe here? I really don''t like being in backwater cities like this one."
A guttural voice spoke up as the smoke cleared up to reveal a man and a woman. The man wasrge, and his shirt was tight, showing many muscles rippling beneath it! This man was named Tylor, and he was an A ranker capable of fighting on equal grounds with weaker S ranks! His blessing was from the god of mes, allowing him to use fire to incinerate his enemies!
The woman beside him was named Fiona, and she was also an A ranker on par with Tylor. She was a beautiful woman withrge breasts and wide seductive hips! Her long auburn hair framed her perfect face and made her blue eyes stand out beautifully! Her dress was cut low in the chest area, so every man in the area couldn''t help but turn to look at her with lust in their eyes once they bothnded.
Fiona was blessed by the goddess of Love herself. And even though her blessing was only a minor one, it gave her enough power to seduce anyone that she encountered! It didn''t matter if it was a man or beast! She could make you fall for her with nothing but a nce!
The two superhumans were from the emergency response unit of the National Superhuman Alliance. The National Superhuman Alliance was arge body that epassed all of the superhumans in the world. Every superhuman that existed and lived in America was registered under the American NSA branch without exception.
But even though the Alliance had the authority to enforce the registration of superhumans, they did not have the authority to force superhumans to go and fight. Many superhumans who registered with the NSA didn''t bother fighting under the NSA because they knew that they would not get as much recognition orpensation from a government body. Instead, they went to fight under a separate guild that would pay them a lot more money and give them a lot more freedom!
The only time that superhumans were mandated to go and fight by the NSA was when emergencies like this arose and reinforcements were asked for. If there were no superhumans registered under the NSA nearby, then the closest superhumans must respond to the call for help, and they would be paid for fighting off the monsters that they encountered by the government.
Fiona and Tylor were part of a separate guild called the Artemis guild and the only reason why they were even here was because they were the closest superhumans who could respond to the call for reinforcements by Tilda! Tylor looked like he would rather be doing anything else and Fiona just nced around with an alluring look in her eyes as her thoughts ran wild! She was already thinking about how strong the Cmity ss that attacked this ce must be for it to have caused this much damage in such a short time!
Once these two superhumansnded, all the monsters in the area turned toward them with mad looks in their eyes as they were immediately lured in by Fiona''s seduction ability. Her ability to seduce anyone was a wide-area effect skill that she would use to put the monsters under a trance and make them charge towards her! It was very effective in drawing in aggro so that Tylor could handle monsters easily.
"I''ll leave the pitiful creatures to you~ Try not to cause them too much pain since they are now under my control. They are my precious little babies after all~!"
Fiona said this to Tylor after she noticed that all the monsters were running towards them, and she slowly backed away.
When Fiona talked, she spoke in a motherly manner that would make even the strongest of men call her mummy! If not for the fact that Tylor was already used to her skill, then he would have definitely fallen for it as well!
Chapter 25: New Skill Tree
Chapter 25: New Skill Tree
Fiona jumped away from the area just as arge me began to surge around Tylor, and a massive storm of fire erupted around his body to signal the beginning of his attack. The monsters would not stand a chance against Tylor, and Fiona was sure that Tylor would not leave any of them alive, so she could leave this ce and go toward the area where she sensed the Cmity ss and Mark were.
Fionanded on top of a building and looked down on the area where Mark fought against the Cmity ss, and she could only raise her hand to her mouth in shock.
"Oh my~ This is far beyond what we expected~! Did that vignte really cause all of this~? I already disregarded him, but maybe I should reevaluate his worth. It might not be so bad to have him in the Artemis guild~"
Fiona began to talk to herself as she looked at Mark''s handiwork, and she knew that he would not be a bad addition to her guild. There were already two S ranks in her guild, but from the amount of destruction here, Fiona could tell that Mark was on a different level from those S ranks. They needed strong people if they were going to stand out from all the other guilds out there!
The entire area was a wreck! The buildings were destroyed, and mes were surging to life because some of the gas pipelines in the buildings were starting to burst and leak. There was going to be a veryrge uproar about this incident, and it would probably take months for them to properly fix the damage that it caused!
And standing in the middle of the wreckage without a care in the world was the man who caused all of it. Fiona narrowed her eyes at him curiously, and she wondered what sort of person GHOST was. She could tell that he was just a teenager from how young he looked, but that was all she could tell. Well, as long as he was a teenager and a man, things would be easy for her. He is just another person that she needs to get under her control~!
[User has sessfullypleted the mission: Crush the Cmity ss Anima without suffering any more damage!]
[The Cmity ss Anima has dealt significant damage to the user, and the user''s Durability level is less than half of what it should be. Crush the Cmity ss and win this fight without suffering any more damage to your body!]
[Rewards]
+50 Stat points
+50 Skill points
The user will gain a new skill tree.
[The User has gained the new evolvable Skill Tree: Taunting!]
[Current Taunting Variation: Call of The Shadow Wolves [F rank]]
[Taunting [F rank (1/100)]: This Skill lures enemies with a lower Rank towards the User, diverting their attention from all distractions and encouraging aggressive engagement! At the current level, the skill has a 20% chance of working on opponents one rank lower than the user!]
[Comment from GoG: Be careful with this one. It can be a blessing and a curse!]
Mark read through the system notifications and he agreed that this new skill tree could be both a blessing and a curse. If Mark used it properly, then he could gain more power by taking all the kills for himself, but if he didn''t use it well, then he would end up biting off more than he could chew!
Mark closed this tab, and another tab came up immediately after!
[Due to constant action, the user has unlocked a new evolvable Skill tree: Blunt Force Trauma!]
[Blunt Force Trauma [F rank (1/100)]: This skill heightens the probability ofnding a critical hit as the user delivers consecutive sessful punches to the enemy, harnessing the cumtive impact for devastating effectiveness! At the current level, the chances ofnding a critical attack increase by 1% with every consecutive punch. Critical Attack deals +100% extra damage to the enemy!]
Wait! I can get skills just from repeating actions! This was an amazing discovery for Mark! He didn''t know that he could make a skill just by doing one thing over and over again! The possible applications for this were endless! Mark could learn how to use a weapon and practice with it over and over again until it bes a skill! Or he could learn a martial art and repeat the actions until the system recognized it as a skill!
[The Superhuman System can only create skills from actions that are done during battle! Actions carried out outside of battle will only improve stats and existing skill points.]
Mark deted in annoyance as the system sent this message, but he didn''t stay down for long as he recognized that this was still an amazing development! The possibility that Mark could make a Martial art into a skill was still high, but Mark decided against trying to make a weapon-based skill. Learning how to use weapons was too tedious and time-consuming, and Mark would rather use that time to learn a martial art since he loved fighting with his fists more!
Mark looked at the skill that he got, and he could immediately tell that this skill was amazing just from the description that he read! The skill would allow Mark tond more dangerous punches the longer he fights against his enemy! The longer he fights, the higher the chance that he would be able tond a critical hit and the higher the chance of him winning! The skill was awesome!
...
SUPERHUMAN SYSTEM
Name: Mark Vanitas
Race: Human
Title: [He Who Perseveres Through Hell. (+10% increase to all stats.)]
Rank: A [1900/3000]
Affiliation: True Good
Unused Stat Points: 50
Unused Skill Points: 50
...
Strength: 750 (+75) (+70)
Stamina: 600 (+60) (+58)
Agility: 550 (+55)
Durability: 400 (+40)
Mana: 170 (+17)
[System stats are greatly unbnced, and the User is advised to improve thecking stat to ensure proper growth.]
[SKILL TREE]
-> Full Body Constitution: This is a unique skill tree enabling the user to systematically enhance and fortify every aspect of their physical form, elevating strength and resilience to unprecedented levels!
Current Full Body Constitution: Soldier Ant Constitution: 1/100
[Soldier Ant Constitution: This skill endows the user with the ability to enhance their physical strength to levels proportionate to that of a soldier ant, enabling them to withstand power that is ten times higher than their current physical capability!]
-> Mana Cirction: Mana Cirction is a skill enabling the user to enhance the efficiency of mana distribution throughout their body, optimizing energy flow for heightened senses and greater strength.
Current Mana Cirction Stage: F Rank [11/100]
[Stat Improvements Due to Application of Mana]
Strength: +4%
Stamina: +4%
-> Taunting: This Skill lures enemies with a lower Rank towards the User, diverting their attention from all distractions and encouraging aggressive engagement!
Current Taunting Variation: Call of the Night Wolves [F Rank [1/100]]
Probability of sessful Taunting Based on Level: 20%
-> Blunt Force Trauma: This skill heightens the probability ofnding a critical hit as the user delivers consecutive sessful punches to the enemy, harnessing the cumtive impact for devastating effectiveness! Critical Attacks deal +100% extra damage to the enemy!
Current Rank:
F Rank [1/100]
Probability ofnding a Critical Attack: +1% for every sessful consecutive hit.
[Comment from GoG: I just checked and I saw that you''re still a fucking virgin! Hahaha! All these skills and yet you have no bitches!]
...
Mark felt his eye twitch in annoyance as he read the message from Sozin. What the fuck does he mean by he checked!? How can you check if a man is a virgin or not!?
Does Sozin mean that he went and watched Mark''s life!? Or wait... did he go through my memories!? This fucking bastard! How can you go through someone''s memories looking for something as stupid as that!?
Chapter 26: Potential Danger
Chapter 26: Potential Danger
Mark sighed in anger as he tried his best to get Sozin out of his head and he looked at the skill and stat points that he got from the sessfulpletion of the mission. Mark wanted to just put everything into [Mana Cirction] and the Mana stat once again since the prompt from the system was telling him that his stats were unbnced, but Mark thought about it and he knew that it would be stupid.
Mark already put a lot into his mana stat and the [Mana Cirction] skill before, so why not put some of the points into the [Full Body Constitution] skill?
[Full Body Constitution] allows Mark to multiply his overall abilities just like the [Mana Cirction] skill, and from what Mark read in the system, he could evolve the [Full Body Constitution] skill and gain another skill that would make him far stronger! It was a good investment and Mark decided that he would put twenty points into [Full Body Constitution] and fifteen into [Blunt Force Trauma]. He would then separate the remaining skill points into [Taunting] and [Mana Cirction].
Mark was interested in how [Taunting] works and he knew that it would be beneficial in the future if he wanted to rack up as many kills as possible, but he didn''t need it as much as he needs [Mana cirction] right now, so he would add five points into [Taunting] and the remaining ten points into [Mana Cirction].
[Does the user wish to distribute points across the selected skills? Yes/No]
Mark chose yes and he felt his body slowly changing and growing in strength as the points were immediately sent towards the selected skills.
[The User has added 20 points to [Soldier Ant Constitution]]
[The User has added 15 points to [Blunt Force Trauma]]
[The User has added 5 points to [Call of the Night Wolves]]
[The User has added 10 points to [Mana Cirction]]
Once Mark was finished with that, he then turned towards the stat points that he had and he thought about how to distribute them. There were fifty stat points ¨C the same number as the skill points, but Mark knew it would be much more difficult to distribute the stat points since he could easily make or break the bnce of his strength based on what he does. The most important stat to raise right now was Mana since it was so much lower than all the other stats, but Mark was also interested in raising his Durability and Agility. Durability would help to make sure that Mark takes less damage from attacks and Agility would help him to dodge attacks easier. Mark didn''t like how many times he got hit in the battle that just finished! Mark knew that the reason he got hit so much was mainly because he didn''t have enough Agility to move around like he wanted!
[Does the user wish to distribute points across the selected stats? Yes/No]
Mark chose yes once again and he could feel more changes urring in his body as his stats were augmented based on what he chose.
[The User has added 20 points to Durability]
[The User has added 10 points to Agility]
[The User has added 20 points to Mana]
Mark finally sighed as he finished adding the arduous task of adding stat and skill points to his system! Mark could see how important these points were and he decided that he would have to find a way to store up some points from now on so that he could add them if he was ever in a losing fight. It wasn''t very efficient to start adding stat and skill points while he was on the battlefield, but you should always be prepared in case there is an emergency.
"Well, well, well~ Aren''t you quite the looker~"
A sultry voice that immediately pierced through Mark''s ears and went straight into his head came from behind him and Mark could feel a slight fuzzy feeling in his head telling him to turn around obediently and bend down like a dog in front of whoever was standing there! Mark has to serve his new mistress and give her his everything!
[External Stimuli Detected by System. Analysing... Analysing...]
[The System categorizes External Stimuli as a [Potential Danger] to the system''s survival. Countermeasures will be taken.]
[System has blocked the External Stimuli. [Potential Danger] neutralized.]
Since the system lived inside of Mark''s brain and Fiona''s powers worked by taking control of the cerebral cortex of the brain and making whoever she entraps into her ve. The system saw Fiona''s power as a threat to itself and blocked the power for its own survival.
Mark shook his head slightly and grunted in annoyance as he felt the fuzzy feeling in his head clearing up. He turned around with a scowl and red at the person standing there. Mark could immediately tell that the woman was a Superhuman from the way she carried herself. She radiated a kind, soothing power that was no less dangerous than Yellow Phantom! She had to be at least an A rank!
"Who the heck are you?"
Fiona was shocked once she heard Mark''s tone! Fiona was someone who was very confident in her ability to seduce anyone with only a single sentence! She didn''t even need to say anything sometimes! Her mere presence would make people subservient to her! So how was this teenage boy, who should be the horniest animal in the world, managing to block against her attack!?
No. I''m sure that it is just a fluke! He must still be filled with adrenaline, so he is just on edge! Sometimes, when someone has too much adrenaline running through them, or their emotions are aplete mess, they won''t be able to know that they are under Fiona''s spell and her blessing wouldg a bit. But Fiona''s blessing always worked, so she was sure that it would work if she tried a second time!
Mark saw hundreds of emotions sh across Fiona''s face, and he was sure that it had something to do with her blessing being blocked! Mark could tell that she was not used to people being able to counter her blessing, and she was feeling annoyed by that!
Fiona cleared her throat and allowed a beautiful smile to stretch across her lips as she looked up at Mark with lidded eyes. Her cleavage seemed even more sulent, and her gown flowed perfectly with the wind, hugging her body tightly as her blessing poured out from her in waves! She sent all her seductiveness at Mark all at once!
"Won''t you be a little nicer to this big sister~? You just met me for the first time today, didn''t you? Let''s be friends~"
[[Potential Danger] has been neutralized]
Before the blessing could entrap Mark, his system came up once again and blocked all of it, making it useless! Mark blinked down at the woman with nothing but impassiveness in his gaze. He couldn''t deny that she was beautiful! Her full hips and bountiful breasts were very alluring, but Mark was not affected by it at all! Mark lives with Arit, who is one of the most beautiful girls he has ever seen in his life! Big boobs were a part of his everyday life!
"If you don''t have anything sensible to say, then I''ll be leaving. I have things to do."
Once Mark said this to Fiona, he turned and was about to jump away. He wanted to go and check on Arit as quickly as possible to make sure that she was alright! Knowing Arit, Mark was sure that she would be extremely worried about him, and she would have almost run mad from the shock that she would receive from seeing him on TV as GHOST. Mark was not looking forward to that conversation!
"Wait! Where the heck do you think you''re going!? Why are you even moving!?"
Fiona was no longer calm!
Chapter 27: Missing Person
Chapter 27: Missing Person
"Wait! Where the hell do you think you''re going!? Why are you even moving!?"
Fiona lost her cool and suddenly shouted at Mark as she noticed that he was not under her control! This was the first time that she would ever experience something like this, so she had no idea how to react! It was too shocking! She took a deep breath once she saw Mark stop moving, and she decided that she had to use a different strategy here. It was obvious that her blessing was useless against Mark.
Is it because he is of a far higher Rank than her? How was that possible?
Fiona''s blessing only failed when the person she was trying to entrap was far higher than her in Rank! But even as an A Rank, Fiona was still one of the strongest A ranks in the world, and she could easily trap low-level S ranks! There were only a few S Ranks in the whole world who could withstand her power, and she knew them all, so she was certain that there shouldn''t be anyone capable of resisting her. But yet, there was someone else who could resist her blessing! It fucking pissed her off!
"We need you toe with us. There are a lot of unanswered questions, and the NSA would like to have a few words with you about what happened here."
Fiona decided that she would just try to get Mark toe with them instead of trying to lure him using her ability.
The NSA? Mark was confused for a moment as he heard this before he remembered that the NSA was the governing body for superhumans in America. The National Superhuman Association was like the Superhuman Government that was separate from the actual government! Mark has never had to deal with them before because he was always working in the shadows. As a vignte, the NSA had no idea who Mark was, so there was no way for them to try and force him under them. But now that his face was revealed, they would do anything to get him.
Mark didn''t mind registering with the NSA, but he was not going to do that now. He first needed to make sure that Arit was alright, then he could go and do whatever they wanted him to do.
"Sorry, maybe you can set a different date or something. There is someone I have to look for right now, and I can''t leave them alone without knowing if they are alright."
Mark was about to leap away again, but Fiona''s next words froze him in ce. Fiona put her palm against her cheek and turned away with a small smile.
"It''s that girl. Arit, that was her name right~? You shouldn''t worry about her, she is safe. I sent a few soldiers to make sure of it. You should juste with us and we''ll discuss first."
Doom!
Fiona''s eyes widened as a massive pressure suddenly fell upon the area! She looked at Mark, and she saw that his entire body was radiating intense anger! Mark red at Fiona and took a threatening step forward!
"If there is even a single hair missing on her head when I see her. Talking to me will be the very least of your problems."
Fiona quickly began to surge mana through her body as she anticipated a fight from Mark! She didn''t know what sort of person Mark was, and she wasn''t sure if he would attack her on the spot or not, but she was not going to risk it! They managed to do a quick search into Mark''s life once they saw his face on TV, and they found a weakness that they could exploit to get him to cooperate with them so he doesn''t go out of control! It was the only way that they could think of to make him do what they wanted since superhumans are always unpredictable!
But Fiona realized that she should have been more careful with how she told him about them taking Arit. Fiona was not a frontline fighter, and she knew that she would not be able to withstand an attack from Mark since her blessing didn''t work on him! She should havee here with Tyler!
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Fiona''sm began to ring, and Fiona grunted in annoyance as she pressed the button to answer.
"What is it? I''m not in the best position to talk since I''m a little busy right now. If you want to say something, thene here and tell me."
Fiona tried to make things even out by bringing some reinforcement, but the person on the other end of the call didn''te with any sort of good news.
[Madam Fiona, there is a problem. The girl is missing from the school!]
Fiona blinked in shock and nced at Mark for a moment before she took another step back and asked them to exin what the fuck they meant by she was missing from the school!
Fiona only sent the men to retrieve Arit now, and she thought that she would already be in their custody since they knew exactly where Nature Academy was, but now they were saying that she wasn''t there!? What kind of bullshit is that!? Arit is only a normal human, and the men that went to retrieve her were all E and F rank Superhumans! There is no way she can run away from people like that!
[We searched through the bunker and the entire school, and we couldn''t find any traces of the girl. But there was something else. A fight broke out in one of the ssrooms. There are scratch marks.. and blood.]
Fiona could feel her heart beating faster and faster! The thing that the man was saying was making it sound like Arit was dead! There is no way! They couldn''t possibly have that much bad luck! Fiona nced at Mark once more, and she watched her words and made sure not to say anything that would make him deduce what they were talking about! Fiona knew that Arit was the most important person to Mark, and she didn''t want to risk angering Mark now since she knew that his power was almost on par with other S Ranks.
If an S rank goes on a rampage in anger, then there is nothing anyone can do to stop that S rank from destroying at least three cities! It would take another S rank to stop them, and that fight would also end badly for the regr humans since they are the ones that would be trampled on by the Superhumans! After all, when two elephants fight, only the grass beneath their feet feels it the most.
Fiona whispered into the phone.
"Find her. I don''t care what method you use. I don''t care how much time it takes. Find her now and take her into custody. If there is no body, then I am sure she is not dead, just find her!"
"Hey."
"!"
Fiona turned around sharply as she suddenly saw Mark standing right in front of her, and she had to crane her neck up to get a good look at his face! She had no idea that he was so tall! He had been standing far from her just a second ago, and she wasn''t able to really measure their height difference, but now that they were standing chest to chest like this, she could tell that she was not even as tall as his shoulders!
Chapter 28: Finding Arit
Chapter 28: Finding Arit
"Fiona measured how fast Mark must''ve moved in her mind and she decided that he was at least as fast as Tyler. Tyler needs to hurry up and finish with those Disaster sses so he cane here to help her!
"I''m going to search for Arit right now and you better pray to your government that I find her. There are limits to what a person can endure from your NSA. You came here and told me that you have her in custody and now I am hearing that she has gone missing? Does your government really want to make an enemy of me that badly?"
Mark didn''t give a damn if he made the entire world his enemy at this point. If he learns that something happened to Arit, then he would immediately start throwing hands. He would beat the crap out of everything and everyone in his path as he looks for her! The entire world could go to hell, but Mark was never going to allow his precious people to get into trouble because of his powers.
Fiona grit her teeth inside her mouth once she heard this to prevent herself from showing any weaknesses! She was sure that Mark was going to attack her, but after a few seconds of ring at her, Mark leaned back.
This is the exact reason why Mark never wanted to tell Arit about his power and also why he wore a mask for so long. Superhumans are not treated in the same way that humans are treated. The government is always trying to find a way to put restrictions on Superhumans and they will try anything just to find a weakness. Mark''s only weakness at this moment was Arit and he was not going to forgive anyone that touched her!
[Mark! Mark! Listen to me! There''s a problem! A big problem! The tracker that we ced on Arit is going crazy!]
Mark''s AirPod came to life and Mark could hear Pat''s frantic voice shouting over them. Mark put his hand up and frowned as he asked Pat what happened to Arit''s tracker. Pat ced a tracker on himself and Mark a long time ago in case there was ever a situation where one of them was kidnapped and they couldn''t escape on their own. That way, they would be able to find the other person and bring help!
But Mark realized that Arit was also someone who could be kidnapped to get to him, so he told Pat to ce a tracker on Arit as well! It was morally questionable and they knew that Arit would be pissed if she ever found out that they did it, but Mark was overprotective of Arit and he was not going to let her get in danger because of her rtionship with him! If she was ever in danger, Mark was going to be there to get her out of it!
"What''s happening to the tracker? Were you able to find out where she is?"
Pat was already tracking Arit once he heard what Fiona said about having her in custody, but once he traced the location of the tracker, he couldn''t believe what he saw! The NSA sure as hell doesn''t have her because she was in an unbelievable ce! He was staring at an image of the tracker somewhere in the middle of the Antic Ocean!
[Mark, I don''t think your wife is with the government at all! But that can''t be right, it doesn''t make sense! If the tracker is right then she is somewhere in the middle of the Antic Ocean!? And she is moving at an insane speed!]
"...?"
Mark could only blink in surprise and frown! Did Pat just say that Arit was in the middle of the ocean!? That had to be a lie! That couldn''t possibly be true! Mark turned to Fiona and spoke in a hurry.
"What did your men find when they went to the school? Didn''t they see Arit inside the bunker?"
Mark had a theory, but he didn''t want to believe it even though a small part of him was already telling him that he was right, and when Fiona ced her hand on her cheek and frowned while shaking her head, Mark knew that he was right! Arit never went into the bunker after he left! What the heck is wrong with that stupid girl!? Can''t she think about her own life for once!?
Mark put his hand on his head and started to think deeply. There was a high chance that Arit was attacked by a monster if she was outside of the bunker. The Anima attack reached all the way to the school, so they would have sensed Arit if she was not in the bunker.
But then, if they sensed Arit, why didn''t they just kill her and keep moving? This was a question that ran through Mark''s mind and Mark had no answer for it as he could only wonder what the monsters were trying to do. There have been strange things happening since that Disaster ss monster first appeared on the shore of the city yesterday.
Why was the Cmity ss only aiming for Mark during this fight? There were other Superhumans there, but the Cmity sspletely ignored them and came for Mark alone! And now that Arit was missing, they say that she is somewhere in the middle of the ocean!? These things have to be rted!
Did they take Arit because they also know that I am close to her?
Mark wondered if Arit had been taken by an Anima in an effort to lure him out. But that wasn''t possible! Were the Anima ever capable of that much nning? Could they ever think that deeply before? They have always been creatures of destruction and this incident is the first time that they have attacked in a group of more than two! They have never had a n when attacking people!
But Mark was sure that this couldn''t be a coincidence! There was a high chance that Mark was right and he was the reason behind all of this! Mark told Pat to try and find out where they could possibly be heading!
[I already did that. It seems that there is a small ind a couple hundred miles away from the coast. The tracker has been moving towards this ind nonstop and there is a high chance that this is where they are going.]
"Pat, I need to get to that ind now. Can you get me there?"
Mark only needed to say this and Pat immediately understood that Mark was asking for a means of transportation. Pat was not sure what was on that ind and he hated it when Mark went into an unknown situation, but there was no one who could stop Mark when Arit was involved! Mark would swim to that ind if he needed to!
[New Mission Alert!]
[Save The Kidnapped Arit Before She Loses Her Life]
[Rewards]
+200 stat points
+200 skill points
The user will gain one random S Rank Weapon
[Failure]
-10 stat points from three random stats
-10 skill points from three random skills
Arit will die.
...
Mark read through the new mission from the system and he frowned as a new surge of motivation rose from inside him! This was confirmation that Arit was definitely not dead! He still had a chance to save her before the monsters killed her! He was going to save her no matter what!
Chapter 29: Rescue Plan
Chapter 29: Rescue n
Mark read through the new mission from the system and he frowned as a new surge of motivation rose from inside him! This was confirmation that Arit was not dead! He still had a chance to save her before the monsters killed her! He was going to save her no matter what!
Pat knew that Mark was already thinking of going to that ind to save Aria and he knew that this was exactly what the monsters wanted! Pat was able to make the same deduction that Mark made earlier that this kidnapping was a n by the Anima to lure Mark into that ind for some reason! And no matter how Pat looked at it, there was no way this would end well! The Anima are meant to be mindless creatures that could never think for themselves other than when they were trying to kill humans! They already caused enough damage as mindless creatures, so Pat could only imagine how much damage they could cause if they started thinking for themselves!
Pat used satellite imaging to look at the ind closely and he didn''t like what he saw! It was apletely deserted ind and there were only thousands of trees forming a dense forest surrounded by beaches on every side. There was no sign of any Anima. But a closer look will show hundreds of openings all over the ind floor that reveal a possible colony existing within the ind. Mark could be walking right into an anima hive!
[I don''t think you should do this, Mark. That ind. It''s obviously a trap. I think they need you for something and they are trying to make youe to that ind by any means.]
Pat tried to reason with Mark, but Mark was silent on the other end of the call. He didn''t say anything for almost ten seconds and Pat knew that there was no need to talk to Mark anymore. Mark knew that it was a trap and he just didn''t care.
[I can get a helicopter ready. I just bought one recently for a crash test, but I haven''t gotten around to using it yet. It''s currently somewhere in city C and I can bring it over in less than a day.]
Mark would always be surprised when he hears things like this. He already knew that Pat was rich. Richer than anybody that Mark had ever met, but this was insane. Pat made most of his money from buying and selling cryptocurrency and since most of his money was in different crypto tokens, no one really knew how much money Pat had. Mark also made a lot of money through Pat''s crypto trading, but he had no idea how much Pat really had.
"Why did you buy a helicopter for a fucking crash test? No... that''s not important. Can you get it here faster? Like in an hour?"
The sound of clicking over the phone paused and Mark could almost hear the cogs turning in Pat''s head! Pat thought about what Mark said and thought of all the possible ways to get the helicopter to him quickly, but there was nothing that he could do to get that helicopter there that quickly.
[Five hours. If you can wait that long then I can get the helicopter to you if I push for it to be flown really quickly. I''m sorry, Mark. It''s the best I can do.]
Mark growled deep in his throat as he heard this! He knew that it wasn''t Pat''s fault, but he felt angry right now! If only he had a way to fly then he would be able to get to the ind quickly! The first thing that Mark would do when he gets into another fight is jump off a fucking building so that he can trigger a flight skill!
"Fine. I''ll be waiting. Just... hurry it up. Don''t know what the monsters want with me, but I know they only took her so that I cane to them. I don''t want anything to happen to her because of me."
[Yeah, I know. Don''t think too hard about it, Mark. If they wanted her dead, then they would have killed her already. I can still see that her vital signs are active so I''m sure they won''t kill her since they want to use her as bait.]
Pat said all this as he tried to calm Mark down, but what Pat didn''t say was that Aria''s vital signs were extremely weak and it looked like she was already going into hypothermic shock from being in the water too long. Pat didn''t know if Arit would survive long at this rate, but he was not going to say that to Mark since it would only make Mark more anxious to leave and save her. The best thing right now was for Mark to calm down and regain some of his energy!
"Did you say something about an ind?"
Fiona spoke up suddenly and Mark was almost shocked that she was still standing there! Markpletely forgot that she was even here in the first ce! He was so worried about Arit that her presence didn''t even matter to him anymore.
m!
Two figures suddenly mmed into the ground behind Fiona and Mark only raised his head to look at the much taller man! Fiona didn''t even react at all since she already knew who they were and she was more interested in talking to Mark right now! She wanted to know what he was talking about with the person on the phone!
The two people thatnded were Tyler and Tilda. Tilda looked very tired and she was already on herst leg with many injuries on her body, but she was relieved as she looked around at the destruction that urred during the fight with the ant-headed anima! She couldn''t believe that GHOST was able to defeat a monster like that all on his own and his image in her mind just increased by a lot! But there was still another problem and Tilda didn''t know how to feel about it! She couldn''te to terms with the fact that GHOST was so young! Even though he was tall, there was still a very youthful look on his face and there was no denying that GHOST was still a teenager!
Lightning Rider already left to go and get his wounds cleaned and bandaged, but Tilda knew that if he was here then he would be telling her that he was right all along! They should have looked deeper into GHOST''s identity before allowing him to fight with them! She was grateful that he killed the Cmity ss, but if she knew that he was just a child, then she would have tried harder to take him out of danger!
However, Tilda also knew that her efforts would have been useless since the monster Mark fought was far above her power level!
Tyler looked around the area that he was standing in with interest. He nced down at the Ant-headed Anima that was just killed before looking up at Mark with a great amount of interest burning in his gaze! To think that a high school boy was responsible for all this!? That was an amazing feat that Tyler had never seen before!
"Fight me!"
Tyler began to move towards Mark with a wide grin on his face and he cracked his knuckles as a me began to surge to life from under his feet! Tyler wasted no time as he immediately challenged Mark to a fight. Mark narrowed his eyes and his muscles tensed as he prepared himself for the fight. Mark was always down to dish out a beating!
Chapter 30: Raid
Chapter 30: Raid
Phwoom!
Tylor just finished dealing with the Disaster sses that were threatening the humans, so he was filled with adrenaline at this moment and the only thing he wanted to do was to test his abilities against someone like Mark! He and Mark were both brawlers so it would be a legendary battle!
"Stop this instant before I get angry~ Didn''t you see that we were trying to have a civil conversation here~?"
Fiona''s teasing voice froze Tylor in ce as her blessing flowed off her in waves and made his heart shudder! Tylor knew that it was only her blessing that was making him feel this way but he couldn''t stop his reaction as he mellowed down immediately and grunted. Tylor was already used to Fiona''s blessing and she couldn''t make him herp dog like what she could do to other men because he was as strong as herr, but it was still hard for him to disobey her when she tells him to do something!
Once she spoke, Tylor felt his adrenaline calm down and he put his hands in his pockets and turned away with another grunt!
Fiona turned back to continue talking to Mark. Fiona knew that Tylor would be angry at her for a long time for using her blessing on him, but she basically just saved him from a beating! She now had more confidence in herself and she was sure that her blessing was still working properly! So that means that there wasn''t anything wrong with her blessing, Mark was just too strong for her to affect! There is no way that Tylor would have been able to win against Mark since Mark is obviously stronger than him!
"I don''t know what happened to your girlfriend, but I can guess that you want to go to that ind for some reason right~? If you are talking about the ind two hundred miles off the coast of this city then I think you will definitely want toe with us~"
[[Potential Danger] had been neutralized.]
Fiona gave Mark another of her seductive looks that made her seem more alluring than any woman should be able to, but Mark just frowned and asked her to exin herself. What was on that ind and why would he need toe with her?
Fiona frowned as she noticed that her blessing still didn''t work on Mark again. She thought that throwing him off would make the blessing work, but it didn''t! Fiona''s blessing worked by affecting the central lobe of the brain that was responsible for critical thinking and if a person is in a vulnerable state then it was easier for her to affect their minds, but it felt like Mark''s brain was imprable!
Tylor grunted from the side and spoke up when he noticed that Fiona was too annoyed to speak. Tylor wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible and Fiona was only wasting time! She should just tell him what he needs to know so that he will make a decision fast!
"There has been a lot of research about that ind recently. Turns out that there are many heat signatures and some other unexinable urrences that have been happening here for a while now. We don''t really understand all of it since we''re not a part of the research team. But if you want to go to that ind, then you should think about talking to the research team."
Bam!
Tylor looked to the side with a frown as Fiona suddenly mmed her elbow into his rib and he wondered what the hell she was nning this time. She was always trying to control people to do whatever she wanted and if not for the fact that Tylor knew she was not a bad person that would try and make people do something dangerous, then he would have already killed her a long time ago!
"What Tylor here is trying to say is that you will not get anything out of going to the ind alone. The Artemis guild is currently working together with the NSA and we are nning a potential raid on that ind in a few days. Maybe you cane along with the Artemis guild. As a special guest of mine, that is~"
Mark ignored the sultry tone from Fiona and the notification that his system gave him that hindered another attempt by her to take over his mind! He couldn''t wait that long to go to the ind! Mark didn''t know what they were nning to do on that ind but he believed them because Pat already told him that there were many heat signatures on that ind and that meant that there were many monsters there!
Mark didn''t know the ranking of these monsters and if all of them were as strong as the Ant-headed cmity that Mark just killed, then it would be impossible for him to fight through all of them to get to Arit.
Since there were five hours before the helicopter got here it might be more sensible for him to just go with the superhumans and find out more about the ind! If Mark notices that they are not interested in going to the ind to save Arit immediately, then he will leave and go on his own!
Chapter 31: No Hiding Place
Chapter 31: No Hiding ce
Fiona could see from Mark''s eyes that he was not convinced. She thought that she would be able to convince him about going to the ind and also make him interested in their guild at the same time, but it turns out that things cannot be that simple! Mark was going to need a lot more proof for him to see that he should go to that ind alone!
"Very well then. You do not seem convinced, so let us take an excursion! I''m sure you''ll feel a lot more willing to listen to what we have to say when you see what we have seen."
Fiona''s blessing flowed out from her once again and spread in all directions before grabbing hold of a man from over a kilometer away! Her blessing was strong enough that even from his distance, the man could understand what she wanted and obeyed her!
Ratatatatata!!!
The man was the driver of the helicopter and he was immediately forced to bring the helicopter towards them by Fiona''s power! This was how easy it was for Fiona to get anything that she wanted! She didn''t even have to say a single word! Just spreading her blessing was enough for her to get anything that she wanted from anyone around her! In the eyes of humans, she was literally Aphrodite herself!
Mark was skeptical about going with the superhumans now. He knew that there was no need for him to wait for their help since he was going to get a helicopter from Patter today, but Mark also had no idea what he was going to be meeting on that ind! Pat already said it before that there were many heat signatures on that ind and that meant that there were many monsters there! It would be better to learn more about he monsters there and what kind of ranking those monsters had before going to save Arit. Mark was desperate to try and get Arit out of there, but he wasn''t stupid enough to believe that he could fight through a nest of Cmity ss monsters!
The helicopternded a few meters away from them and Tilda bid them farewell as she had to go and look after Lightning Rider and make sure that the treatment was going well! She thanked Fiona and Tylor foing to help out in the battle and Fiona only scoffed and told her that the Phoenix Guild owed the Artemis Guild a lot for the help that they gave them here and she would be calling in the favor at ater date!
Tilda understood how the world of superhuman politics worked and she just thanked Fiona once more before she left. Once Tilda was gone, they all walked towards the helicopter and entered before it took off towards the National Superhuman Agency.
...
Arit was cold! She huddled in on herself and shivered as she felt an intense cold dig deep into her bones and make her entire body hurt! Her wet uniform and socks only added to the cold and it made her head feel like it was filled with water! There was no sce from the cold in this ce and the only thing that she could do was to hug herself tightly and hope that she would not be noticed by the many monsters that were walking around here!
Arit had never seen something like this in her life! She was in an underground cavern that had stctites growing from the ceiling and glowing with a light green hue to provide light for the environment and that allowed her to get a glimpse of the things that surrounded her! There were monsters everywhere!
Ant-headed monsters, fish-headed monsters, and even some monkey-type Anima moved across the cavern floor, carrying scraps of food. Sometimes they would take animal flesh and at other times they would take fish and even octopus deeper into the cavern. There was no stopping and they just continued to do this while ignoring Arit as she froze to death on the floor!
Arit had never read about something like this. She was someone that always wanted to know new things so she loved to read and Arit had never heard of monsters working together like this! Why were they working together? ording to what Arit studied, the Anima were mindless creatures that only followed their natural instinct to attack humans once they saw them! But if that is the case, then Arit knew that she should be dead and the monsters here should not be working together!
Were the humans wrong? Did they just not understand enough about the Anima and they went ahead and thought that Anima were all mindless creatures that had no purpose? Or maybe this was something new that humans have just never seen before. Maybe the Anima were evolving.
All these thoughts went through Arit''s mind and she only hugged herself tighter as the intensity of the situation made her shiver once more!
''Mark, please. Save me.''
Arit could only think like this as she felt her body slowly going still. She had been hiding in the staff room, watching the television and trying to see if GHOST would win against the ant-headed anima that attacked the city, but she was stunned when she saw the face of GHOST! She had been looking for Mark all this time, but she had no idea that Mark was actually outside there fighting against that monster! She felt so stupid at that moment when all the various signs finally came into her mind and clicked into ce!
All the times that Mark would disappear from ss and from the house! And all the time that he woulde back with an injury that was too serious to be left untreated and she would have to help him so that it doesn''t get infected! Arit thought that Mark was just a Hooligan who liked to fight on the street and someone who likes to y hooky! She had no idea that he was actually a superhuman!
She should have known! All the signs were right in front of her and she just kept on denying it because she trusted Mark more than anyone in her life! She was so stupid! She should have known!
Arit kept on thinking in this manner while she was hiding in the staff room, but she didn''t have any time to react as she suddenly heard a massive force crash into the window of the staff room and into the room! Arit turned around in shock and she saw that it was a fish-headed anima that was looking around her room and sniffing the air. She immediately hid under the table and held her mouth with both hands! What was an Anima doing here? I thought that the superhumans were taking care of them!
Chapter 32: Seduction
Chapter 32: Seduction
"I don''t know if I''ll be able to, but I ain''t going nowhere without giving you lovely people a first-ss view of the handsome devil himself...!!"
There were multiple journalists and even some Metube influencers surrounding the helicopter on every side as itnded! No matter what the guards did, they couldn''t stop the reporters from going crazy and trying to break through to see Mark and ask him some questions! It felt like the president himself was walking out from the copter! In fact, the president wouldn''t even have these many peopleing to see him! This was thergest crowd that the NSA has ever seen since superhumans started appearing four years ago!
Mark could hear the sounds of the reporters even over the loud sound that the helicopter was making as itnded outside the National Superhuman Association building and Mark came down from the helicopter along with Tyler and Fiona.
"Mark! Mark! Do you have anything to say to the people at home?"
"How do you feel now that your identity has been revealed!?"
"Was there a reason behind you hiding your identity!? Are there people after you!?"
"Markie! Won''t you take a picture with Cutiepie!? Smile for the camera!"
"Are you afraid that there will be more monsters to fight now that you defeated such a powerful Anima!?"
"You are with Fiona and Tyler from the Artemis guild, do you intend to finally give up the solo act and join a guild!? Are you going to join the National Superhumans Association or are you going to remain as a vignte!?"
Questions were raining down on Mark nonstop, and Mark had to try his best to not hurt anyone as he pushed the cameras and microphones away from his face! Journalists were always so annoying; this is another reason why Mark didn''t want to reveal his identity in the first ce! Superhumans were some of the most popr people in the world, and there was never any privacy when they were involved. Journalists and the press were always trying to get either an interview or an exclusive statement! It was too overbearing because they just didn''t know when to stop! They would keep trying until they got too far!
There have been situations where superhumans have be too annoyed with journalists and injured them while trying to get them away! It was probably just a small mistake since a superhuman is so strong that a simple p would be enough to decapitate a human at once! But the media did not see it that way, and the superhuman was fined and restricted from going out in public by the NSA for a long time as punishment! As far as the media and the NSA were concerned, the humans were the weaker ones, so they deserved to be treated better than the superhumans!
Mark constantly had to move microphones out of his face, and he grabbed one of the microphones and threw it behind him when a journalist constantly tried to press it against his face!
Fiona and Tyler were also being asked a lot of questions, but they both ignored the press just like Mark, and the three of them finally managed to make it to the building and enter inside to get away from the journalists. It was silent inside the building, but there were many people who stopped moving once they saw Mark, and they began to point to him and murmur among themselves! The staff here were mainly humans, so they were just as awed by Mark''s presence as the journalists outside!
There were a few people that didn''t bother to stop and stare though, and one of them walked up to the trio of superhumans and spoke to Fiona! She was a beautiful woman withrge breasts and a short stature that only made her chest stand out far more than it should have! She had red hair and blue eyes, and her eyes were constantly ncing towards Mark as she spoke.
She wore a business suit and a ck skirt that only went down to her knees, and she carried a tablet that she was constantly looking down at when she talked! She also wore a pair ofrge sses, and Mark noticed that she was always touching it while ncing at him! She would push it up or just brush her hand against it, so Mark could only assume that she had some sort ofplex about it! She looked to be around twenty years old, so she must have just graduated from the university recently. Did they use to tease her about her sses?
Mark was too confused to notice that she was trying to grab his attention by what she was doing, and Mark did not even bother to give her another nce! He couldn''t start thinking of what she was trying to do since his mind was too upied thinking about what Arit could be going through. He wanted to be done with this as quickly as possible!
"Madam Fiona, we''ve prepared a room for you all. You cane right this way. The chairman is not in the building right now, but he heard about your request, and he has given us permission to show you what you want. There will be restrictions ced on what you can see since Master Mark has not yet been registered with the NSA, but I believe we can give enough information to allow Master Mark to make a decision."
The woman looked down at her clipboard again before she started to lead them away from the main reception area and deeper into the building. Mark couldn''t help but notice that she was walking directly in front of him and her hips were swaying more than necessary! The woman didn''t even try to hide the way that she was walking, and when they got to the room that they were meant to go into, she held the door open and nced right at Mark.
"I hope you have a pleasant meeting. If you need anything. Anything at all~ Please, don''t hesitate to find me."
The woman handed her card over to Mark, and Mark only nced down at it for a moment before looking back at her curiously. Her suggestive tone and the things she said while looking right at him immediately made him realize what she was talking about, and Mark raised a brow as she turned and walked down the hallway while still swaying her hips like crazy! Was this some sort of joke? She was definitely trying to flirt with him, and there was no doubt that herst words were an invitation for him to find her. Mark shook his head and looked away from the woman as she turned the corner. He put her card in his pocket and decided that he would forget about it. This was something that he had never experienced before, so it was a big surprise for him! Were all superhumans treated like this? When he was a vignte, no one ever tried something like this with him!
"Unimaginative slut. It will do you good to ignore people like her. There are a lot of them in the world of superhumans, and they will all want a piece of you since you are so powerful. You might bite off more than you can chew if you are not careful, little brother~"
Chapter 33: Interrogation Room
Chapter 33: Interrogation Room
"You might bite off more than you can chew if you are not careful, little brother~"
Fiona said this as she walked into the room, and Mark could only wonder why the hell she was calling him her little brother all of a sudden! He hasn''t even spoken to her before today!
Fiona hated the way women always threw themselves at the superhuman males whenever they saw them, and she was going to have to give that woman a talking-toter on! The superhuman males were the epitome of what masculinity was, so Fiona could understand that some of the women couldn''t help themselves, but there were limits! How can you tantly flirt with someone you know is still only a high schooler!? Do you have no shame!?
"Fiona is right; they will never stop throwing themselves at you, and they can get very annoying when they try too hard. But do not worry; there are some fun ones out there."
Taylor patted Mark on the shoulder as he passed and said this, and Mark could see how Fiona turned around and red at Taylor in anger once she heard it as well! Fiona started to reprimand Taylor, and Taylor just raised his hand and said he was only joking! But from the look he gave Mark, Mark could tell that the bastard was definitely not joking! Mark just shook his head as he epted this strange side of the superhuman world. In a way, he wished he could have stayed anonymous for a little while longer!
The inside of the room was almost like an interrogation room! There was arge table in the middle of the room, and four chairs were arranged around the table, three on one side and one on the other side. There was a man already sitting on one of the chairs. He wore a suit, and his ck hair was gelled back to reveal his smooth angr face! Mark couldn''t feel the strength that he felt from Fiona and Taylor in the man, but Mark could tell that the man was also a superhuman. He was probably an E rank or maybe a D rank that was only in charge of handling minor problems around the office.
The man invited Fiona and Taylor to join him on that side while Mark went to sit on the other side of the table! Mark could only feel like he was in a police station, and they were about to start asking him questions! He didn''t feel ufortable facing the three of them, but he knew that the man was trying to intimidate him, and it irritated him! He decided that he would just go through with this so he could learn more about that ind since they seemed to have more information on it than Pat!
The man that was sitting in between Fiona and Taylor introduced himself as Grey. He told Mark that he was a D-rank superhuman and he was the researcher in charge of handling the dissemination of information regarding the ind! He didn''t shake Mark''s hand, and he spoke with a professional tone that automatically created a distance between himself and Mark. It was like he was trying to make it clear that he was a higher rank than Mark even though Mark was stronger than him, and Mark should give him respect.
Mark just folded his hands and sat back with a bored look in his eyes. If the man didn''t start talking soon, Mark was going to leave.
"That ind is something that we have been watching for a long time now. We don''t know everything about the ind, but what we do know is that it is far more dangerous than we first thought. But before anything else, we have to first evaluate your eligibility to receive this information. We already know you are of a high enough rank since you must be at least a high-level A rank to be able to defeat a Cmity ss. But we also need to know who your patron god is as well as the blessing that you received. These things will tell us whether or not you can be given the information."
Honestly, the man did not need this information at all! Both Fiona and Taylor knew that the man did not need this information, but they both stayed silent since this was just how things were done in the NSA. The NSA liked to keep track of every superhuman, and they would always need to know who the patron god of the superhumans was along with their blessing!
Mark kept his heavy gaze on the man once the man said this, and the man gazed right back at Mark with equal intensity. Mark didn''t know how things were done here, but he didn''t feelfortable telling anyone about his system. Mark knew that it would be a great advantage for him to keep his system a secret, and he would rather not tell them about it! So Mark just made up a fake power and told them about that. His powers weren''t as shy as fire or lightning, so he didn''t need to tell them the truth for them to believe him.
"I have the ability to gain extra power the more enemies I kill. The amount of power I gain depends on the strength of the enemy and the amount of effort I put into killing it. I don''t know my patron god."
[Comment from GoG: You''re really denying me, Mark!? After everything I''ve done for you!? You ungrateful virgin mortal bastard!]
Mark felt his eye twitch as he read what Sozin sent to him through his system and quickly closed it with a thought while ignoring the childish god. Mark knew that Sozin wasn''t really angry. If Sozin was angry, then there wouldn''t be such a response, and the message from Sozin would sound far more threatening! Sozin was literally just having fun!
The other three people in the room were not as amused by what Mark said as Sozin was, and his words put them into deep contemtion as they all thought about what sort of power he had!! They all immediately recognized that Mark''s power was very impressive, and there was a feeling of desperation in Fiona as she wanted to get Mark to join her guild now more than ever!
There was only one other person in the world who could im to have a power that was as ambiguous as Mark, and that person was one of the strongest S ranks in Japan. She was a woman blessed by the god of war, and she had the power to grow in strength as she fought against stronger enemies. The stronger her enemy, the more power she could bring out from within! There hasn''t been a single battle that she has lost because she has been able to match her enemies blow for blow every time and oust them! Her name was Megumi Yoshida, and she was known as the Battle Angel of Japan!
Is Mark also blessed by the god of war? That could be the reason why he can gain power as he kills.
Grey could only think like this as he looked at Mark with new eyes! Mark was no longer someone who was just strong! Mark was now someone that the NSA would want under their wing at any cost! Grey leaned forward and spoke in a grave tone.
"You say that you do not know your patron god, but how can I know that you are not lying? Something like that is a big deal, and the NSA cannot just trust you without first finding out who is giving you your powers! But there is another way. The NSA will be more willing to help you if you are ready to take on our g and be a core member of the association. I am sure this will not only be good for you but also for your missing friend. After all, you want to save her at any cost, right? Joining the NSA will make us more motivated to help you since you will be one of our own ¨C"
m!
Crash!!
"Wow~ You''ve really done it now~"
Chapter 34: Stay Out of My Head.
Chapter 34: Stay Out of My Head.
"Wow~ You''ve really done it now~"
Fiona could only say this as she watched the look of intense anger spread across Mark''s face. Fiona knew that Grey was already saying too much and it would not end well for him! She was not surprised by the anger that Mark was showing now.
Mark has been listening to Grey right from the beginning. At first, Mark only thought that Grey was a little annoying. He didn''t care that Grey didn''t believe him about his patron god, and he wasn''t going to bother trying to exin himself! But the more Grey spoke, the more the anger inside him kept growing until Grey finally said something about Arit! Mark mmed his fist on the table, and it came crashing down to the floor like it was made of Styrofoam! Even Tyler could feel the great amount of anger radiating off Mark!
When Mark spoke, it sent a shiver through Grey''s body from how intense it was!
"Hey, you fucking cockroach, are you threatening me right now? Are you threatening me with my friend''s life? Do you think that I won''t tear your mouth apart just because you''re a member of the NSA? I fucking dare you to say her name one more time."
Grey''s throat felt extremely dry and he had to swallow nervously as he saw Mark''s gaze bing murderous! Maybe he went too far in trying to recruit Mark.
"Sorry. Perhaps I went too far right now. I shouldn''t have tried to use that as a recruiting strategy. If you''ll let me start over again."
"No. Get out."
Mark said this in a final tone and Grey''s mouth snapped shut as he ran a hand through his hair! He would have tried to argue, but he knew that he was not in a position to try and stand his ground! Grey knew that if Mark hit him here, then he would definitely be visiting the ER! Even if Grey was superhuman, he was nothingpared to Mark! Grey looked from Fiona to Tyler, and he noticed how both of them were just ignoring him and allowing Mark to do whatever he wanted!
Why would Fiona try to help him?
Fiona was interested in Mark and she wanted to try and recruit him into her Artemis guildter so why should she help the NSA to recruit him!? Fiona was not going to stop Grey from trying to recruit Mark since she still wanted a good rtionship with the NSA, but that doesn''t mean she needed to bail him out when he does something as stupid as this!
Grey was on his own and he could only swallow his pride and pack up his books! Grey knew he was going to get a serious warning from his bosster because of how he handled this situation!
"I apologize once more. Another representative wille to speak to you and show you the information that you wanted to see. I never intended to sour your rtionship with the NSA."
Immediately after saying this, Grey left the room, and Mark leaned back and sighed silently as he let go of his anger. Fiona only chuckled slightly as she appreciated how Mark handled the situation. Mark might be a teenager, but he was definitely not a pushover! Most superhumans would either agree to what Grey said or they would get so angry that they would immediately attack Grey, but Mark was able to control his anger and only told Grey to get out! That showed a lot of restraint from Mark and now Fiona wanted him in her guild even more than before!
But Fiona still held back from saying anything about recruiting him as she spoke.
"Very impressive. That was quite a lot of restraint from you to not attack that man~ it will not be so bad having someone like you on my side~ A little brother that I could dote over as much as he wanted~"
[[Potential Danger] has been neutralized]
Mark nced at his system as another prompt came up, telling him that Fiona was once again trying to use her blessing on him, and he eyed her with an irritated look on his face! Why was she so adamant to get inside his head and make him into her little brother!? Was it some sort of fetish that she had? Or was it something rted to her blessing that gave her more control over people? She has be more and more subtle with the way she tried to use her blessing on him, and it was starting to piss Mark off!
Fiona blinked as she saw the irritated look on Mark''s face, and she immediately figured that Mark was not under her influence this time either! But this time, there was something different! At first, Fiona thought that Mark could just repel her blessing and she assumed that she only needed to be more subtle about how she used her blessing so that he would not notice at all, but she was wrong! It wasn''t that Mark could only repel her blessing, it was like Mark knew exactly when she used her blessing and he was able to tell when she tried to put him under her influence even if it was barely noticeable!
How irritating!
Fiona''s pride took a big hit as she realized this and she huffed internally! She has never seen anyone that could withstand her blessing when it was that subtle! Fiona could put subtle suggestions into people''s heads and make them do whatever she wanted! If she was subtle enough, then they would never even know that they were under her control! They would just think that they were doing what they always wanted to do! But Fiona couldn''t do that to Mark and it pissed her off!
"Stop trying to get inside my head. It''s starting to piss me off. Next time you try something like that, we will settle it the old fashioned way. And I will not hold back just because you are a woman."
Mark said this to Fiona while turning towards the door as another person entered and Fiona immediately understood what Mark meant by ''the old-fashioned way''! Was Mark really thinking of fighting her!? She had no intention of doing that and she huffed like a child and crossed her legs before folding her hands under herrge breasts and making it bounce slightly as she turned away from Mark in annoyance!
"You''re not cute at all, little brother. Who wouldn''t be happy being one of my underlings and serving my every whim? I''ll take care of you so much you''ll think you''re in heaven."
Fiona could only say this as she turned away, but she didn''t try to get into Mark''s head anymore. Fiona knew that trying to get into his head again was only going to antagonize him, and she didn''t want him to be too angry with her so that when she tried to get him to join her guild, he would at least think about it. And also, Fiona knew already tell that in a straight fight between her and Mark, he would fuck her up!
Fiona wasn''t a physically established superhuman. She was strong, but she couldn''tpare to the likes of Tyler or Mark in physical abilities! She depended more on her ability to make her enemy let down their guard when she got inside their head!
It would be a disaster to fight Mark when she couldn''t even use her blessing on him.
Chapter 35: Proper Preparation
Chapter 35: Proper Preparation
Fiona wouldn''t stand a chance if she fought against Mark when she knew that her blessing wouldn''t work against him!
"I heard from Mr. Grey that there was a need for a recement since there was a small problem. Uhm... I''m Milicent with one L. It''s a pleasure to meet you superhumans. Especially you, Mr. Mark Vanitas."
The woman who entered the room after Grey left finally spoke when she noticed that Fiona and Mark were no longer talking. She was a tall woman with modest assets and a slight athletic build. She wore a business suit with long ck pants that hugged her legs beautifully and her entire demeanor gave off a very professional vibe! Fiona immediately recognized Milicent as one of the C-rank Superhumans who was a direct assistant to the president of thepany!
Fiona raised a brow as Milicent failed to introduce herself properly, and she just decided not to say anything! Fiona was sure that the president was the one who sent Milicent here for a reason, and she would only sit back and watch what they were trying to do this time.
As Milicent spoke, she looked down at the table that was broken in the middle of the room, typed something into her phone, and made a call to someone outside the room. A few secondster, a man entered the room with a new table over his shoulders. He dropped the table to the ground and carried the broken table away with him before closing the door. The man that just left was a superhuman handyman in charge of handling all the broken tools and equipment in the NSA, so carrying the table alone was easy for him!
Once he was gone, Milicent walked up to the side wall and spoke professionally.
"Now then, shall we begin?"
Mark nodded to Milicent, and she smiled and gestured to the ceiling with her hand. The light in the room dimmed, and Mark saw the wall glow before arge screen was projected on it from a small projector hidden in the ceiling. The first thing that showed up on the screen was arge map of the world before it slowly started to zoom into the continent of America and finally panned out until it was hovering over a single ind close to City A.
"One year ago, some researchers that were trying to track the movement of Anima in and around America noticed a strange phenomenon urring close to this ind. Various heat signatures were congregating towards it, and we thought at first that these were humans. But further investigation showed us that these were not in fact humans. They were Anima heat signatures, and they were all moving towards the ind as a single unit. There are no humans on the ind as far as we know, so there was no sensible reason for the Anima to want to go there. We decided that we would wait longer and see what the reason for this migration could be.
"But this proved to be a mistake. As time went on, we started to notice signs of organized activity from the Anima that went to this ind. They all started to build. But they weren''t building over the ground; instead, they were digging tunnels that went deep into the ind and started to create pathways underground for them to move through. It was as though they had be a part of arger society, something like an ant colony. The NSA sent a small group of three A-rank and five B-rank superhumans to the ind, hoping to find the reason behind this strange behavior. But even though the superhumans we sent had some of the strongest stealth-based blessings, they were immediately detected by the Anima and eliminated."
Mark narrowed his eyes as some images of the stealth team before and after the Anima found them were shown! They werepletely torn apart by the Anima, but the Anima didn''t seem to have eaten them at all, and they started to carry the torn human flesh into the tunnel underground! What in the world are they doing with those pieces? Mark immediately became worried that the Anima would do the same thing to Arit. Would they rip her apart like this?
But the only thing that calmed Mark''s anxiety was the fact that his system mission was still active and it would not be active unless Arit was alive.
Mark shook this thought out of his head as he went back to listening to Milicent''s exnation.
"After the failed expedition, we decided that we would set up a more elite team of Superhumans involving members from various guilds. The Artemis guild is one of the guilds that have offered to provide support, and in all, we have amassed a force of more than twenty A ranks and three S ranks along with many other B ranks. Based on recent emergencies, we estimate that there is more than one Country-Level Cmity on the ind along with many other Disaster ss monsters. We already ounted for the Cmities by including Fiona and Tyler in the raid, but just to be sure we also added in three S ranks to prepare for any unpredictable urrences.
"We believed that the Anima on that ind were more interested in making their colony than they were in killing humans, so we didn''t think we had to rush anything, but the recent attacks on City A have changed that thought, and we now know that something has to be done. We are likely going to start the operation very soon."
Mark listened to all this silently and through all of this, he couldn''t help but wonder if they were wrong. How can they be sure that the monsters on that ind won''t be stronger than they predicted? They were only going to that ind based on the assumption that the S ranks were stronger than any anima they could encounter,
"What would you do if the Superhumans you send are not strong enough to handle the monsters on that ind? Shouldn''t you involve other guilds and ask for their help?"
A sour look crossed over Milicent''s face once she heard Mark say this. Mark didn''t know if it was because of what he said regarding their research or if she was angry about him advising her to talk to other guilds. In the short time that he has been here, Mark could tell that the NSA did not y nice with other guilds. It seemed like they only tolerated their presence for some reason.
Mark waited to see what Milicent would say, and once she spoke, Mark realized that she was annoyed about everything that came out of his mouth.
"We have done extensive research regarding the possible monsters that would appear on the ind. Researchers and superhumans died in order to bring us substantial information during theirst trip, so I would appreciate it if you didn''t undermine our work for the sake of your curiosity."
Mark shrugged at this and Milicent continued.
"And with regards to the other guilds. This mission was open for all guilds to ept. There were no restrictions ced on it, and we even sent out written letters to the heads of various guilds. The Athena guild was the only one that responded. ording to the others, they required more financialpensation for the risk involved. We do not need such fools who are not aware of the dangers faced by the people of the city."
She has a very sharp tongue.
Mark chuckled as this thought filtered through his mind, and he could only nod along as Milicent continued to talk. Mark knew that the NSA had every right to be spiteful with regards to the other guilds not epting to join the mission, but Mark just hoped that they weren''t allowing their anger to cloud their sensibility.
If the superhumans go to that ind and the monsters there turn out to be much stronger than initially estimated, then there is no way anyone would being back alive.
Chapter 36: An Old Stripper
Chapter 36: An Old Stripper
If the superhumans go to that ind and the monsters there turn out to be much stronger than initially estimated, then there is no way anyone would being back alive.
''But that is none of my business. I am only going there for Arit after all.''
Mark leaned back and continued to listen as Milicent pointed out another spot on the map.
"We n to give a beacon to the weaker members of the team to allow them to call for help if they are in trouble. That way, stronger members who are not busy will be able to move towards the weaker ones and aid them ¨C"
m!
The door leading to the room suddenly crashed open and everyone turned to look at it in surprise! There was an old man standing there in a full suit! The old man was heavily built and immediately Mark saw him, Mark knew that this man was a superhuman! There was no doubt about it!
The old man had a wide grin on his face that made him look like a crazy person as he grabbed his shirt and ripped it open!
RIPPP!
Mark was shocked by this, and he thought that the man was insane! Why the hell are you taking off your shirt once you enter a room!? Are you some sort of stripper!?
The old man turned out to be extremely buff under his shirt! His muscles were toned, and they looked perfect for fighting! There was arge scar running across his stomach, and it looked like it had only recently healed from an intense battle!
Mark didn''t have any intention of finding out what an old stripper looked like, and he was already standing up to leave, but Mark was even more shocked as a prompt suddenly appeared on his system!
[New Mission Alert!]
[Hold Back the Attacker for Five Minutes!!]
[Reward]
+50 Strength Points
+50 Mana Points
[Failure]
Nil
...
Mark saw these messages, and he immediately rushed to his feet as he understood what was happening! This bastard was attacking him!?
m!
Milicent suddenly jumped to the side as a force stronger than anything Mark had ever felt before suddenly mmed into him, and Mark only managed to cross his hands in front of his body to protect himself as he was sent flying through the wall of the room!
Crash!
Mark flipped around and mmed his feet into the ground before looking up to see that the old man was right on top of him with his arm drawn back! Mark cocked his hand back and met the old man in the middle of the room!
Boom!!
"Rarggh!!"
Mark gritted his teeth and grunted as he pushed against the old man''s fist with his own before sending the old man flying back!
Boom!
The old man was sent right back through the wall that they just crashed through, but the old man didn''t even waste a second as he flew to his feet and rushed at Mark again! Mark also ran towards the old man, and they both started to exchange blows at an insane pace!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Back in the viewing room, Fiona sat up and started to walk backward in order to prevent them from getting close to her. She was not interested in being coteral damage in something like this! She also had no idea why the old man attacked Mark, but she knew who the old man was, and she also knew that he was the sort of person who could do whatever he wanted without anyone reprimanding him! She could only watch curiously as the two of them destroyed a second wall and finally burst into the main hall of the NSA!
Tylor was vibrating in excitement as he had to hold himself back physically from joining in on the fight! Tylor was someone who loved battle, and he was desperate to get involved in this fight, but Fiona was using her blessing to hold him back from getting involved because Fiona didn''t want him to tarnish the Artemis guild''s name by attacking Mark.
m!
"What the hell are they doing!?"
"They''reing through here! Run!"
The two fighting men were causing argemotion as they tore through the NSA in their fight. Mark grabbed the old man by the wrist and dragged him up before turning around with a shout and throwing him into the ground!
Boom!!
The old man''s eyes widened in pain, but he was even more surprised as Mark threw him into the air and sent him flying through the ceiling!
Mark jumped into the air and drew his hand back as he threw three consecutive punches!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
[Critical Strike!!]
Ka-Boom!!
The old man had been blocking most of Mark''s strikes with his arms crossed, but he was shocked when one of Mark''s strikes suddenly felt much heavier than the others, and he was sent flying back from the intensity! He crashed into the wall of the room that they were fighting in, and he suddenly opened his mouth loudly and began tough!!
The critical strike ability allowed Mark to hit his target with twice the amount of power than normal, and it was strong enough that something like that Ant-headed Anima from before would have immediately died if it was hit with even one of them! But the old man was onlyughing it off like it was nothing! This man''s defense is no joke!
Mark heard the manughing, and he flexed his hands to loosen the tension there before ducking low and dashing in again. Mark was only able to get the critical hit by luck. Mark only gave five consecutive hits, so the probability of getting the critical strike was only at 5%, and Mark was lucky enough to get it! Mark knew that from now on, it would be more difficult to get the critical strike!
"Hahahahahahah!!! Yes! Yes! Show me more!! Show me what you are made of, Mark Vanitas!!"
Mark didn''t bother to respond as he rushed in with another fierce flurry of attacks! He ducked under the man''s swing and sent a hit that sent the old man flying through the air! The old man flipped and used the wall as a ledge tounch himself towards Mark! He grabbed Mark around the waist, and the both of them crashed through the wall of the room and entered the next room!
"Holy shit! Are we under attack!?"
There were two officers having fun inside the room, they were standing closely and talking quietly between themselves as the male officer there was flirting with the beautiful female officer! But once the two superhumans crashed through the wall, the male officer ducked low in shock and reached for his gun as he shouted in shock! He quickly began to pull his trousers up and the female officer jumped to her feet and also started to dress while reaching for her gun, but both officers could only hold their fire and stare in shock as they saw who the old man was! They couldn''t shoot at him even if they wanted to!
"What the hell is the chairman doing now!? He is going to destroy this building!"
"It doesn''t matter! We have to get out of here!"
"Call Talia! She''s the only one that can stop him!"
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
Chapter 37: Luck
Chapter 37: Luck
The old man was attacking Mark relentlessly, and Mark was guarding perfectly against the old man''s attacks! The old man knew that at this rate, he would not be able to break through Mark''s defenses since Mark was perfect at blocking and defending! The old man had to admit that he was not as physically strong as Mark, and he knew that he would have to change his strategy if he wanted to win this fight!
That was perfectly fine with him, though!
He never intended to win against Mark with only brute strength! His true power was in something else!
Mark suddenly stopped defending as he noticed the old man''s stance loosening, and Mark''s hands blurred as five strikesnded!!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
[Critical Strike!!]
Boom!
There was a massive distortion of wind that echoed out from the man''s fist as he sent a punch right back at Mark! Their two fists collided in the middle, and Mark was shocked when the man''s hit canceled out his own! The old man clenched his fists at his side and went into a new fighting stance as waves began to echo out from his body! Mark thought that they were waves of wind, but he was wrong! They weren''t from the wind at all. They were from sound!
The man suddenly disappeared faster than before and appeared in front of Mark with his arm drawn back, and Mark put up his hands to defend himself!
Ka-Boom!
The ground under Mark''s feet couldn''t even withstand the force of the hit, and Mark was sent crashing through the floor and into the room below! The old man propelled himself down to continue attacking, but he was immediately grabbed by Mark and thrown into the wall with a shout!
"Aarghh!!"
Smash!
The old man sent a wave of sound out from his back, and his momentum was slowed before he could crash into the wall! The wall behind him cracked and splintered, but there was barely any damage done to him as hended on the floor before he could hit the wall!
Once Mark saw this, Mark immediately began to analyze what sort of power the old man could have. At first, Mark thought that it was a wind-based ability from the God of Wind, but that would not make sense since Mark hadn''t felt a single gust of wind since the man started using his ability! Even when they shed fists and the man used that strange power to cancel out Mark''s critical hit, Mark didn''t feel any wind! So he was sure that the man''s power was not rted to the wind at all!
Then what could it be rted to? Was it some sort of wave? Maybe he would use pressure waves to cancel out my hits? If that''s the case, then it will be a lot more troublesome! Pressure waves can''t be anticipated as quickly as wind! I wouldn''t know when he''s using it and when he isn''t!
Mark''s thoughts were running wild as he wondered how he could fight against a power like that. He would have to break through the wave defense somehow, but the most important thing right now was finding out what the hell this man was doing.
"Why the fuck are you attacking me? I don''t think I''ve ever met you before, so there''s definitely no reason for us to even fight. I would remember someone like you if we ran into each other in the street or if we had a falling out big enough to warrant this sort of attack. You''ve definitely never met me before today, so what could you be trying to gain from attacking me, you old bastard?"
Mark never let down his guard as he said all this, and the old man only grinned and went into his fighting position to prepare himself to attack again!
"You should have more respect for your elders, boy!"
"I only respect sensible people. And from the little I know about you now, it''s obvious that you''re fucking crazy. You''re old enough to be someone''s grandfather, and you''re still acting like a battle junkie? Aren''t you ashamed of yourself!?"
The old man onlyughed as he sted off the floor and attacked Mark again! Mark was not far from the truth with his deductions about the man''s power! The old man was one of the superhumans blessed by the God of Music, and he had the ability to release sound waves from any point in his body to make his attacks more brutal and multiply the damage done! Right now, the old man was using his blessing to amplify his punching ability as well as to nullify damage! It was a simple power, but it was extremely effective!
As long as the old man knew where the attack was going toe from, he could use sound waves to reduce the impact of the attack and receive almost no damage!
''I''m sure he can''t cancel out a full attack from me. One punch with everything I have should be able to end this!''
Mark decided that he was going to put all of his power into one strike and break through the man''s defense with it! As far as Mark knew, the man was using some sort of pressure wave to protect himself! But the old man could only apply so much pressure before it loses out against a much stronger force!
Mark sent mana straight to his arm, and he felt his power increase as the mana added extra strength and stamina points!
[Strength +70]
[Stamina +58]
The old man rushed towards Mark and sent a brutal fist forward, but he was shocked when he didn''t see Mark move at all! Instead of dodging, Mark stepped forward and sent his punch at the old man!
Woosh!
The old man''s eyes widened as he didn''t even see the punch as it was moving! In only a split second, thousands of scenarios ran through the man''s mind! And in all of those scenarios, there was none of them where he was able to tank that punch without serious injury! The old man immediately abandoned his own hit and raised his hand in an X as he applied massive amounts of his mana to his forearm!
TOOONNN!!!
An intense sound wave echoed out from his entire body and intercepted Mark''s blow, but the man was stunned as the sound wave seemed to do nothing as the punch sped through the defense and hit him!
[Critical Strike!!]
BAM!!!
After hitting the man more than ten consecutive times, the chances of hitting a critical strike were over ten percent, amd Mark''s luck was so great that he was able to tear through that limit and produce another critical strike immediately!
The Superhuman System didn''t add stats like Luck or charisma to the maniptable stats because those stats were not meant to be manipted by the user! Those stats were too powerful, and even the system couldn''t manipte them however it wanted! They were stats that the user was born with, and only your ability and willingness to improve yourself would give you more luck or charisma! But Mark was already extremely lucky even without adding any points to his luck! Mark was able to survive against an Armageddon, beat the Armageddon, and then he managed to fight against Anima for four years without losing his life! That was not something that anyone could do without having an insane amount of luck!
So getting something like the critical strike back to back without having a hundred percent chance was possible for him!
Chapter 38: Princess Talia
Chapter 38: Princess Talia
The old man''s feet dug into the ground, and he was sent skidding across the floor as his legs created deep trenches! The man tightened his fists, and he grunted as he felt a throbbing sensation on his forearms! What sort of punch was that!? Mark''s strength suddenly increased massively, and it felt like his bones were on fire!
Woosh!
Mark charged in for another strike, but a loud voice suddenly shouted from the other side of the room! Both men stopped as the female voice shook the entire building from how loud she was shouting!
"You old fool! What do you think you''re doing!? This is not okay at all! Look how you''re scaring all the people in the building and making them run away! Even the reporters outside are afraid that we''re under attack!"
Mark noticed how the old man immediately rxed his stance once he heard the girl shouting, and Mark eyed him suspiciously for a moment as he kept his guard up! The old man could only be trying to fool him into thinking he was lowering his guard before attacking when he least expected it! But after there was no more movement from the old man, Mark finally realized that the old man was no longer going to attack and he also rxed his stance.
Mark turned to look at who was shouting. He expected to see an imposing female figure exuding strength and elegance; there was no way an ordinary person could stop this old man from attacking like that! But when Mark looked to the side, he couldn''t see anything. He raised a brow and allowed his eyes to trail down... and down... and down...
"Who''s the midget?"
Mark couldn''t help himself once he saw the tiny person who had been shouting at the old man, and he immediately called her a midget! She was a little girl with blue hair and blue eyes, carrying a giant teddy bear with one of her hands while pointing angrily at the two of them! She was wearing a long white gown that came down to her knees and a pair of white shoes. Mark didn''t know how she was able to make the building shake with that tiny body of hers! Was she some sort of superhuman? That was crazy! She was barely six years old and she was also a superhuman!?
Once the little girl heard Mark call her a midget, her entire face turned red as she blushed, and her pout deepened in anger! Who was this fool calling her a midget!? At least she wasn''t a fool who fought in a popted building and put the lives of everyone there in danger! She was here trying to help him, and he was insulting her! She should just leave him and allow her grandfather to keep doing whatever he wanted! That would teach him not to insult her!
This little girl was Talia Dragonheart, the only granddaughter andst living family member of the old man who attacked Mark. Mark didn''t know it, but he was currently in the presence of two of the strongest A-rank superhumans in the world! Talia was born only two years before the Armageddon ss anima attacked the world! She and her parents were alone when it happened, and they couldn''t do anything as their house was brought down on them! But even after her parents died, Talia managed to survive under the wreckage. She was still holding tightly to a teddy bear that her father got for her a long time ago as she cried while the Armageddon walked over her and sent the rest of the house crashing down on her!
But it was at that moment that the goddess of fertility decided that she would grant her blessing to Talia and give her the strength to fight back! The goddess of fertility was one of the high-tier gods. The only other gods who had the ability to stand against her in terms of cosmic power were the god of games, Sozin, the god of death, Thanatos, the god of war, Ares, and the goddess of life and light, Amaterasu! These five gods were regarded as the five strongest gods in terms of cosmic power alone! Talia received a lot of power from the goddess of fertility, but there was nothing that Talia could do with the power!
She was only a two-year-old child, and she could not fight back even if she wanted to! The only thing that Talia could do at that time was to cry at the top of her lungs! But the goddess of fertility realized that Talia would not be able to fight and she changed her blessing, giving Talia the power to give life to other non-living creatures that would be loyal to her and fight for her! Talia became the youngest summoner alive!
That was when the teddy bear that Talia had with her suddenly came to life and blocked the falling stones that were going to crush Talia before they could harm her! The teddy bear carried little Talia away and brought her to her grandfather, and he has been taking care of her ever since! Even though Talia was two years old, she had already lost more than most people would lose in their entire lifetimes, and her grandfather swore to take care of her properly no matter what.
Talia''s power was very versatile because it allowed her to make her summons as strong as she wanted by adding in more mana! That meant that she could create a summon that had the power of an S-rank by giving it enough mana to fight against S-ranks! Although she was not a regr on the battlefield, she was very popr in the superhuman world and people liked to call her PRINCESS because of her pompous but cute personality.
Right now, Talia only had enough power to create A-rank summons, but since Talia could create more than one summon at a time, she was seen as one of the strongest A-rank superhumans in the country due to her versatility. Her main role in any battle was to help those that were trapped under debris and buildings during and after Anima attacks, so she was a very important member of the NSA.
"Fool! Who do you think you''re calling a midget!? I''ll make my teddy bear break your head if you aren''t careful! Fool! Baka!!"
Mark blinked in surprise as the little girl exploded in anger, and he only cocked his head and stared at her curiously! In a way, she reminded him a lot of Arit. They were both always shouting at him! But this girl... she was just too cute. She looked like she was going to pass out any moment from how red her face was, but she was not stopping and she continued to shout at Mark in anger. Mark walked up to her, put his hands under her armpits, and carried her up! Her blush immediately deepened!
"Put me down! Put me down! Put me down right now! I''ll send my teddy after you!"
Talia''s mana was already surging as she said this, and she was preparing to bring herrge teddy bear to life! She was going to blow Mark to oblivion!
"Talia."
The old man who was fighting against Mark suddenly spoke up from behind, and Talia was forced to stop as she pouted again and looked away with a huff! Talia was already prepared to activate her power, but she had to hold herself back because she knew that she was forbidden from using her power unless it was necessary. Her grandfather told her that her power was too strong and she shouldn''t use it unless she was in danger that she knew she could not escape from. That meant she couldn''t use it against Mark, or her grandfather would get angry at her!
"You''re already insulting me when you haven''t even introduced yourself to me yet. It''s proper manners to introduce yourself before anything else. I''m Mark Vanitas, what''s your name?"
"I''m Talia Dragonheart! You may call me Your Highness! Now let go of me!"
Talia was angry that Mark just carried her like it was nothing. She is a princess and she refuses to be treated like this! But Talia was still a child and she could only do what Mark told her to do because she knew that he was right! She was rude by not introducing herself first and she shouldn''t have done that. Her grandfather always told her that she should try to be nice to people whenever she got the chance.
Mark frowned once he heard her introduction. He liked the fact that she was still innocent enough to know when she did something wrong, but she shouldn''t say things like that. She was too cute to be calling people names!
"Little girls shouldn''t have a mouth as foul as yours. You''re going to ruin your beauty with that mouth if you keep talking like that."
Chapter 39: James Dragonheart
Chapter 39: James Dragonheart
"Little girls shouldn''t have a mouth as foul as yours. You''re going to ruin your beauty with that mouth if you keep talking like that."
Mark had a serious soft spot for children and he just couldn''t help himself when he saw the little girl and how cute she was! She looked like she came straight out of a fairytale with her giant teddy bear and her long blue hair!
"Let go, you barbarian!"
The girl sent a fist at Mark and it mmed into Mark''s face, but it didn''t even make him budge as if there was no power behind it at all! Mark raised a brow and the girl shouted at him to drop her this instant! She wasn''t a little girl and she could do whatever she wanted! Mark only smiled at her enthusiasm before he dropped her to the ground and pat her on the head! She was too cute!
The little girl screamed in anger as Mark pat her head and she started to jump to get his hand away from her! What was he doing!? It took her very long to make her hair in the morning! Her grandfather wouldb her hair for her for more than twenty minutes before it became like this! He was ruining it!
The little girl would never say that it felt nice when Mark pat her head! She liked the feeling a lot, but she would never tell him that! She only red at Mark and kicked his shin in anger!
Bam!
The force of that kick would have been enough to break the leg of anyone else immediately! Talia might only be a little child, but she was still regarded as an A-rank superhuman and she was stronger than any human could ever hope to be! But against a superhuman like Mark who specialized in tempering his body, the kick was nothing! Mark just smiled at her anger and ruffled her hair again!
"I didn''t think that you would only have this much power, GHOST. You''ve been fighting against Anima for four years and you''ve amassed a lot of skill, but you are barely strong enough to push me back!"
Mark turned around and red at the old man once he heard him say this. Mark looked down at the old man''s hands and he saw how it was throbbing from the punch that he gave him and Mark knew that the old man was lying. If Mark had given him another of those punches, then Mark would have definitely won that fight easily! Was this bastard trying to look cool by acting like he was going to win in that fight? Or was it because his granddaughter was here?
"I don''t care who you are old man, and if I wasn''t so busy, then I would''ve continued this fight with you. But I have things to do. My friend is in danger and I am not going to stay here and y this stupid game with you while she could be dying."
Mark said this irritably and he put his hand to his ear to call Pat to bring the helicopter faster! It hadn''t yet been five hours, but Pat had to hurry so he could get to that ind! But there was nothing in his ear and Mark realized that he had dropped his earpods somewhere between the fight! He would have to go and grab someone''s phone to call Pat.
Mark began to walk out of the room, but the man called him back as he spoke.
"Join the National Association of Superhumans. I know this has already been offered to you once before, but this time the chairman of the association, James Dragonheart himself is telling you to join. There is a lot to be gained from joining this NSA."
Mark rose a brow in surprise once the man said this. So this is the chairman of the NSA. What the heck is a chairman doing acting like this? Who was going to pay for all the damage that they just caused to the building? Or were they really just so rich that they could destroy the building and build it back up like it was nothing? if they were that rich then they should think about giving their superhumans higher pay so they can employ more sensible people!
"I think I already told the other guy what I think of the NSA. You should show some tact and not bring it up again. I am not going to join an organization that is willing to use my friend''s life to threaten me."
Mark was not going to join the NSA. It wasn''t just because of that fool Grey who tried to use Arit''s life as a bargaining chip to make him join, but it was also because of all the restrictions that the NSA ced on superhumans. There were far too many of them and Mark liked his freedom too much to allow himself to be trapped in some organization like this one! If they kept on trying to recruit him, then Mark would rather join some random no-name guild just to get away from them!
James knew that he couldn''t force Mark to join the NSA if he didn''t want to. There werews prohibiting the NSA from forcing superhumans to join them and thesews were seriously enforced because of all the issues that the country has had with superhumans in the past. Superhumans were given the freedom to join any guild after they registered with the NSA but this has prevented the NSA from having many members since most superhumans would prefer to join a guild instead.
James changed his tactic immediately and said something else.
"The subjugation team is nning to raid the ind at nightfall today. There has been too much movement from the Anima there and we don''t intend to let them make it to the shore before we do something about it. If you join the NSA then I''ll allow you to join the subjugation team. But if you don''t, then I''ll lock your registration to the NSA and restrict your movement for the next twenty-four hours. We will go to this ind and clear it out, but you will not be allowed to join us."
Boom!
Mark''s mana surged across his entire body as he got right in James'' face!
James'' eyes widened as he noticed that Mark moved faster than before! Was Mark holding back even more of his power during their fight?
Mark was ready to beat the crap out of James right then and now! Why are these people so annoying? They just kept trying to piss Mark off and they were using Arit''s life as coteral just to try and make him join them!? Is that how desperate they are to make an enemy of him!?
James and Mark were caught in an intense stare-down as great pressure filled the entire room.
"Stop!!! Stop! Stop! Stop!"
Talia immediately noticed that they both were going to start fighting again and she shouted at them not to even try it! She was not going to let them fight and they would have to go past her if they wanted to start again! Talia ran into their middle and raised her hands wide as she prevented them from getting close to each other!
Mark red hard at James as he bared his teeth at him!
"I don''t care if the entire country tries to stop me from going to that ind, nothing is keeping me away and I''ll kill anyone that stands in my way. And when I''m done doing whatever the fuck I want, I''ll leave this country and go to Japan! I''ll join their NSA and help them instead just so I can keep fucking you over from the other side of the world!"
Chapter 40: Big Brother Mark
Chapter 40: Big Brother Mark
James narrowed his eyes at Mark as he mentioned Japan, and he grit his teeth for a moment before he turned and began to walk away. America and Japan have never been on good terms, and they were only at peace because they had amon enemy in the Anima. If someone like Mark leaves America and goes to Japan, then Japan would do anything they can to protect Mark and make sure that America cannot get him back.
At his current strength, Mark was practically an S-rank already! It would be a disaster if the higher-ups found out that they let Mark leave for Japan because of something like this! James could even lose his job because the strength of an S-rank is not something that America can afford to lose! They didn''t care if Mark went to a guild! All they cared about was whether or not Mark was in America!
If Mark decides to leave the country, then they could probably stop him with the help of various other S-ranks, but at what cost!? The amount of damage to both life and property that would be done will be immeasurable, and they will lose far more than if they just allowed Mark to leave on his own! And James remembered that Mark told Grey that his power allowed him to grow stronger the more he killed. That was the kind of power that would be frowned upon by any good person, but James could only see the potential that Mark had!
That is why James wanted Mark more than anything else right now! If Mark joins the NSA, then the NSA will finally have a superhuman with the potential to grow into a Special Rank! Someone who could be strong enough to stand up against Armageddon sses in the future like KING!
James wanted Mark badly, but he also knew that it would not be good to make Mark an enemy this early. Mark was only going to get stronger in the future, and James decided that he would not antagonize Mark against the NSA and the Federal Republic of America so that when he grows into his full power, he will not think about leaving America.
"Very well then. I will not prevent you from going to the ind, but keep in mind that this mission is serious and you must coborate with everyone that shows up. If I am allowing you to go with us, then you must coordinate with the superhumans. They are all superhumans that have been in the field far longer than you have, and you will show the proper respect, understand?"
James was no longer joking like before, and his voice carried a gravity to it that Mark hadn''t noticed before! Right now, James wasn''t talking as the battle junkie that wanted Mark to join his organization no matter what! He is talking as the chairman of the NSA who wanted to make sure that this mission went well! Mark had no issue with respecting people as long as they respected themselves and him as well! As long as the other superhumans don''t do anything that would make him want to beat the crap out of them, then they would be okay!
"I have my own ride, so you can keep your ns to yourself. I''m only going to that ind for one reason, and once I have her, I will leave with my helicopter, so you don''t need to worry about me. Your team can do whatever it wants. Just don''t stand in my way, and we should be fine."
Mark has only been a part of the superhumans'' world for about three hours, and he has already run into four people that he didn''t like one bit! Fiona was always trying to get in his head, and he was going to give her one hell of a beating the next time she tries it, Tyler just wanted to fight him for the fun of it, Grey just pissed Mark off, and Mark knew that meeting that man again would end very badly for Grey, and then there was James here who was just a freaking crazy old man that loved to punch before asking any questions! Mark thought that getting old was supposed to give you more sense, not less of it!
It''s only been four years since Superhumans started getting blessings from the gods, but almost all the superhumans Mark has met have been crazy in one way or another!
Are all superhumans crazy, or is it the pressure of the job that makes them start to behave like this?
Mark didn''t want to know the answer to his question, and he simply told James that he would find his own ride as he started walking out of the room. Pat was going to be bringing the helicopter soon, so Mark would use that to go to the ind, and the rest of them could use their own means of transport.
"I''ll call you big brother Mark from now on!"
Mark looked back with a raised brow as he heard the little Talia say this. Talia was standing right behind him, and she was looking up at him with intense focus as she hugged her teddy bear tight to her side! What the hell was she saying? Since when were they close enough for her to want to call him Big Brother!? Well, it wasn''t that Mark minded, but he just didn''t think that she would make such a 360 after everything that he just said to her grandfather! He thought she would be angry at him!
Talia couldn''t be angry at Mark right at this moment because she understood his position, and she knew that her grandfather could be a pain in the ass! Even though she was only six years old, Talia was very mature for her age and she could tell that Mark didn''t do anything wrong! She already had enough conscious understanding to know that her grandfather was in the wrong here! Mark obviously didn''t want to fight her grandfather, but her grandfather didn''t give him a choice and only started to go after him, forcing Mark to fight back!
But even though it was something that Mark should be angry about, Mark was not retaliating, and he was being the bigger person and letting go of the situation like that! That showed a lot of maturity, and Talia could tell that Mark was a reliable person! And the fact that he was doing all of this just for the sake of his friend was even more amazing!
"I know my grandfather caused you a lot of issues, so I''ll call you big brother from now on! Please don''t be angry at my grandfather! He''s an idiot, but he is not a bad man! He just doesn''t know when to hold himself back because he is afraid he will die if he stops moving!"
James shouted in indignation as he heard Talia say this, and Mark scoffed at the barbed insult from Talia! Was she always this quick-witted, or was it a result of her blessing? Even the way she spoke was nothing like a child! She was cute, and she had the appearance of a six-year-old, but it was obvious that she had gone through a lot more than any other six-year-old in the world! She was very mature for her age.
Mark didn''t say anything back, and he just reached out and pat the little girl on the head once more. This time she didn''t fight against it as she huffed at his actions.
She knew that she was too cute, so it was understandable that people would want to pet her! She would allow him to pet her this once since she epted him as her big brother!
Chapter 41: S Rank Salazar
Chapter 41: S Rank Szar
"So how strong would you say he is? Was it more than you expected?"
A smooth voice asked this question as the chairman of the NSA made his way back to his office. The man who asked him this question was tall, and his face had an expression that would make anyone think that he was a snake. He had slitted eyes that were almost closed, and his rxed demeanor and long, calm face made his appearance appear untrustworthy and twisted!
He was wearing a pure white suit and standing beside the chairman''s window as he spoke, and the chairman propped himself on his seat with a sigh once he heard the man''s question.
"Was it really that difficult? I thought you said you would be able to suppress him easily if you used your abilities. Don''t tell me that someone was able to counter your abilities. That kid?"
James waved the man away and put his hand on his head as he sighed again. James trusted this man more than anyone else in the NSA. This man was known as Szar, and he was one of the only S-rank superhumans in the entire NSA. The NSA only had three S-ranks right now: Szar and two others who were preparing for the raid on the ind.! James was not even one of their S-ranks, but everybody knew that James was strong. James was so strong that he would definitely not lose against any of the other S-ranks in a fight to the death! James was a very high-level A-rank, and he was just a few points away from also being able to call himself an S-rank!
This is why James''s silence was so shocking to Szar! What sort of power did that child have that he would be able to make James go silent and start thinking this hard? Szar already heard about Mark''s ability.
The ability to grow stronger the more you kill.
It was definitely a good ability and something that would thrive on the battlefield. But if it was so simple, then Szar would have heard about GHOST before today. GHOST has been fighting and killing Anima for the past two years, and after Szar learned that GHOST was actually a person of interest who killed a Cmity ss, he went and watched all of GHOST''s former clips on Metube to see how strong he was, and he could only say that there was something special about him!
GHOST struggled against Disaster sses for a long time, and he was even injured a few times! It wasn''t until he killed the Cmity ss that he even showed any real type of power! Doesn''t that mean that there was some sort of restriction ced on GHOST''s abilities? If GHOST could grow stronger as he kills like he said before, then he would not have struggled against Disaster sses for so long, and he would have slowly made things easier in his fights! Szar licked his lips and hummed as he wondered if GHOST was really telling them the truth about his abilities or not!
"That boy will be a real monster in the future, Szar. Even if we do not aplish anything else in this raid. I want to show that boy that we are reliable. He will be a good ally to have in the future when we are nning to expand."
When James finally spoke, it was to say this, and Szar could not hide his surprise even if he tried. Although his expression barely shifted, there was an obvious glint in Szar''s eyes that showed just how interested he was in this conversation now! What James just said was very high praise, and Szar had never heard him give it to anyone before! James was basically saying that Mark had the potential to be stronger than anyone else in the NSA and perhaps even in America.
"Are you saying we should stop trying to recruit him into the NSA? I thought you went to fight him so you could see how much power he had and what sort of effort we would need to exert to bring him down."
Szar might be a high-ranking member of the NSA and a superhuman, but he was not someone who shied away from the truth. Szar knew that Mark would not want to join the NSA. In fact, there was a high likelihood that Mark would not want to join any guild at all since Mark had been hiding his face for a long time just so that he would not get recruited.
Mark was someone that liked his privacy so it would be silly to think that Mark would suddenly want to give up his privacy and join the NSA! So Szar was prepared to do whatever it took to get Mark! Even if he had to threaten, burn, and destroy Mark''s home and rtionships! Szar was the one that sent Grey to threaten Mark before, and even though it didn''t work, Szar was not going to just give up on it! He didn''t care what sort of twisted method he had to use! All he cared about was whether or not his ns worked towards the proper end! He was the sort of person who would do whatever was necessary to get the best result! To him, the end will always justify the means!
Szar was prepared to do whatever he needed to do, and James understood that it was the best way to get Mark to join them if he was anyone else, but Szar didn''t see what James saw. Szar didn''t see the untapped potential within Mark, and he didn''t understand how far Mark was able to push James even though he was barely an adult! There hasn''t been a single case where James has suffered this much injury from a fellow A-rank! Mark was the only one who was capable of doing something like this, and James knew that it was only a matter of time before Mark leaves him behind and trespasses into the realm of the S-ranks... and then beyond.
"Just leave him alone for now, Szar. I think it would be enough just for us to be in his good books. He is not going to take it lightly if we continue to attack him in this manner. I have seen what the future holds through the punches I exchanged with him. There can never be anyone stronger than KING in this world. But that boy, he wille very close."
Szar''s eyes widened even more as he heard James say this, and after thinking bout it for a few minutes, he just nodded his agreement. If James felt this strongly about it, then there was nothing more to be done.
James had no idea that Mark was KING. Right now, he was basing his deduction only on what he felt from Mark while fighting him and the stories he heard about KING. He had no idea how powerful Mark would truly be.
...
[Mission Aplished]
[Hold Back the Attacker for Five minutes]
Strength +50
Mana +50
...
After the whole issue with the Chairman of the NSA finally passed, Mark''s system sent him the notification telling him that he passed the impromptu mission that he was given! Mark was happy about this because he could feel the increase in power that he had and his flow of mana became even greater than before, but this wasn''t the mission that Mark was interested in the most! The only mission that Mark had an eye on was the mission telling him to protect and rescue Arit! That mission had still not gone away and that was the only thing reassuring him that Arit was not dead!
The mission would have definitely failed the moment that they killed Arit, but just the fact that it was still there gave him some confidence and he was sure that he would be able to make it to the ind before anything happened to her.
Chapter 42: Send Off
Ratatatatatatat!!!
The loud echo of a helicopter came from above Mark and he looked up to see a military-grade helicopternding on top of the helipad on the NSA building. Mark was currently standing on top of the building along with Tyler, Fiona, Talia, and the old man James. Behind the five of them were more than fifty Superhumans of B and A ranks scattered around the roof.
The superhumans there all gave Mark a wide berth, but they couldn''t stop the awed looks in their eyes as they watched him. They all knew what had happened earlier that day. Mark was able to fend off a Cmity ss Anima all on his own, and he even won! That was something almost none of them could do, and they respected the power that Mark had!
The superhumans who were going to join the raid were from different guilds all over the country, and many of them had already tried talking to Mark about joining their guild earlier, but they were immediately chased away by Fiona''s stare! None of them wanted to piss off the head of the Artemis guild since they knew that the Artemis guild was one of the strongest guilds in America!
They would just wait for Mark to be alone before they spoke to him! Those who didn''t bother staying away because of Fiona didn''t even know when they started to walk away from Mark because of Fiona using her blessing on them! They didn''t stand a chance against a blessing that could literally get into your head and make you do whatever Fiona wanted!
There were two S ranks joining the team of superhumans, and they were both standing to the side away from the rest of the group as they looked towards Mark. The two men were wearing simple ck outfits just like Mark. One of them was thin and the other one had a veryrge build that almost made him look fat!
The fat one was eating a burger while waiting for James to give the go-ahead for them to leave. Mark could immediately recognize both of them since he had seen them on the news a lot of times when they were fighting against Anima. The man who was eating was called Meta, and he had a blessing from the goddess of harvest.
He could turn his food into raw power and store it in his body in the form of fat, and whenever he wanted to fight, he could use that raw power as fuel to increase his strength and make himself stronger!
Mark didn''t really like this power because you never know when you could run out of raw power to burn as fuel when you are in the middle of a long fight, but Mark could still respect the amount of power that Meta had! Meta was only a lower-level S rank, but he was still one of the strongest in America.
The other man was called Archer. He was blessed by the God of hunting, and he had the ability to create arrows out of his mana and fire them using a ck bow that he always carried with him! He and Meta were a team that worked together most of the time! Meta would be in charge of rushing the enemy, and Archer would stay back and help Meta by providing support from the rear!
It was brilliant teamwork that always worked, and the two of them have managed to take down more than five Cmity ss monsters all on their own!
Mark noticed how both Meta and Archer were staring at him, and he didn''t look away from their stare and responded with an intense stare of his own until they finally looked away. Meta and Archer were curious about Mark just like everybody else. Meta and Archer were two of only three S ranks that agreed to join the NSA and work under the government. Szar was the third.
They heard from James that Mark refused to join the NSA after their big fight happened and Szar told them not to approach Mark because James wanted to make sure they had a good rtionship with Mark, so they decided that they would not do anything, and they just kept their distance from Mark!
Talia was standing close to Mark, and she was using one of her hands to hold onto his trousers with a pout on her face! She was angry because her grandfather told her that sh couldn''te with them.
They didn''t know how strong the monsters on the ind were going to be and James didn''t want to put Talia in harm''s without know exactly what they were going up against so he told her that she was forbidden froming wth them! Talia has refused to talk to her grandfather and she has been pouting and hanging off Mark ever since he told her that.
Mark would never understand what went on in her head and why she decided that she would get this close to him! He literally just met her today, but for some reason, she wastching on to him and following him everywhere he went!
She hasn''t let go of his trousers once since they came up to the top of the building! Mark thought that it was just because she was afraid of heights, and she was using him to get rid of that fear for now, but he was proved wrong when she went and looked down from the side of the building at all the reporters that were still on the ground!
Someone afraid of heights would never try something like that in their life! They would sooner die than go to the edge of such a high building!
Mark didn''t understand it, but he just decided to live with it. After all, she wasn''t bothering him and he didnt have to entertain her since she was staying silent. He was more than happy to allow her to cling to him forever if she wanted to.
The sound of a second military-grade helicopter also joined the first one, and Mark put his hand up to his ear to speak to Pat. Mark already changed his outfit from his school uniform, and he was now wearing a simple ck shirt and trousers withbat gloves. Thankfully, Mark didn''t have any cumbersome weapons to carry with him, so it was always easy for him to be ready to fight!
[Just give it a few seconds; the helicopter will be there soon. There was a small issue with the fueling since I was only going to use it for a crash test, but I managed to expand it and add some more. It should be able to get you to the ind and back ording to my calctions.]
Pat''s haughty voice came through the AirPods that Mark managed to recover after his fight with James, and Mark thanked Pat as he saw the helicoptering towards him from the distance! It was a regr-looking helicopter, but it had been fitted with military-grade weapons on its sides and arge protector on the front nose to protect against an Anima charges! Or wait..
was it to protect against the crash test that Pat wanted to do?
Mark still had no idea what the hell Pat wanted to crash a helicopter like this into! This helicopter had to cost at least ten million dors, and Pat was nning to use it for a crash test!? Mark just shook his head as he could never understand what Pat was thinking half the time.
"Hey, you gotta let go now. Go to your grandfather and stay with him; I''ll see you when I get back. I''m bringing someone with me, and I''m sure you''ll really like her."
Mark looked down and said all this to Talia, and Talia pouted up at him for a moment before nodding and skittering away to go and hug her grandfather''s leg instead! James smiled down at his granddaughter and carried her up to speak to her kindly. He was d that she wasn''t angry at him anymore.
Talia was not the sort of child who wouldn''t understand when a situation is too serious for you to act selfish, and she just let go of her anger immediately so she could wish her grandfather gooodluck!
Mark walked up to the helicopter, and he nodded at the man who was in the driver''s seat! Mark asked him if he knew where they were going and how dangerous it was, and the man nodded and told Mark that Pat exined everything to him before he agreed.
"He''s paying me one million dors to drive you over to the ind, wait for you there until you find the girl and bring you both back. I understand that it is dangerous, and he said that if I die, then he will send the money to my family. That is not the sort of deal I can say no to. Whatever happens, I know everything will turn out alright."
Chapter 43: Dont Die Out There
"Whatever happens, I know everything will turn out alright."
Mark nodded once the man said this. As far as the man understood how dangerous the situation was, then there was no need to say anything more. Mark could tell that the man was not a superhuman. He was just a regr human that Pat employed, but he was still willing to go to the ind just because Pat gave him enough money!
Mark has never been the sort of person to think that money was the answer to every problem, but it sure as hell fixes a lot of problems!
"Do you mind if Ie along? I wouldn''t want to be in that other ride with all the sweaty men pushing against me. You have so much space in there, so I''m sure you wouldn''t mind, right?"
Mark turned to see Fiona walking up to him and saying this. Fiona had changed out from her long gown and she now wore jeans and a spaghetti strap top that made her breasts look evenrger than before! Fiona''s alluring presence was making all the men look at her, but she didn''t care as she only had eyes for Mark right now.
Mark already had a ''no'' on the tip of his tongue because he didn''t feel like riding with her. She would just annoy him throughout the trip, but someone else spoke up from behind before Mark could say anything.
James called Fiona back to the military-grade helicopter with an annoyed shout!
"Fiona! Did you already forget the n!? Get back here so we can leave! We need you on the ind!"
James shouted this and Fiona just frowned as she thought she could leave before James saw her! The n that they came up with was something that they needed her powers for and if she wasn''t there, then the n would definitely fail!
And since Mark''s helicopter was slower than the military-grade helicopter, they would arrive on the ind a few minutes before Mark so she had to be with James and the others so the n would work.
Fiona asked Mark if he really didn''t want a ride. It would be better to take a ride from them since they would arrive earlier, but Mark just shook his head and moved to board his helicopter.
"I''m sure they''ll use that as another excuse to try and recruit me if I went with the NSA helicopter. I''ll see you on the ind, Fiona. Try not to die over there."
Fiona only smiled slightly as Mark said this and a giddy feeling filled her heart at the realization that this wasn''t just one of her minions telling her to be careful! Mark was immune to her powers and yet he cared about her! Fiona has always been surrounded by people who loved her too much over the past four years!
Even when she didn''t have any powers, she was beautiful enough that people would still want to be close to her just for her beauty! But Mark was different! He just cared about her and he didn''t have that look that showed he wanted something more. It felt genuineing from him.
"Careful there, Mark~. If I didn''t know any better, I would think you were in love with me already! What do you think hmm? Why don''t you call me big sister just this once~?"
[[Potential Danger] has been neutralized]
Mark red at Fiona as he noticed that she tried using her power on him once again and Fiona just giggled and turned with a wave.
"Sorry~! Sorry~! I thought I''d see if my charm would make you let me in~ Don''t look at me like that, it hurts! I won''t do it again, little brother. I promise~."
Fiona felt that giddy sensation in her heart again as her skill failed to work on Mark, and she didn''t understand what it was. Why was she getting happy that her skill was not working on Mark? She should be angry that she couldn''t trap him in her ability, but for some reason, she couldn''t stop smiling!
Mark just scoffed before smiling at her antics! Mark was d that she was still able to joke like this because that meant she didn''t feel any nervousness. Mark just hoped she would be fine on the ind since no one really knew how dangerous that ce would be! Mark spoke to the driver and told him to get going and the helicopter took off from the building and started to make its way to the ind!
Fiona went over to the military helicopter when she saw that everyone else had already boarded, and they also took off as the helicopter released intense wind pressure and maneuvered towards the ind!
¡
On the ind, Arit was sitting against the wall in the underground tunnel. Her eyes were bloodshot because she had been crying since she came here, but she was no longer crying because she was too tired to continue! Her clothes were no longer wet, and she was d, but she still felt feverish her head was muddy, and she could feel that her face was hot, so she was sure that she had a fever.
Arit looked around the underground tunnel with some curiosity in her eyes as she wondered where in the world she was.
She remembered how the fish-headed anima took her from the school and brought her over the sea, but she passed out halfway through the journey, and she didn''t remember what direction she went in! If she knew the direction, then she could have used that to tell where she was since she was good at geography!
Arit red up at the many animas walking down the tunnel, and she only had one thought in her head!
Why were none of the anima hurting her?
Arit had been here for more than four hours, but in all that time, there hasn''t been a single incident where an Anima tried to hurt her or even came close to her! Arit was so shocked by this that she didn''t even look terrified anymore, and she was only staring at all the passing Anima curiously as none of them even bothered to give her a second nce!
The way they move and the things that they were carrying in the cave reminded Arit of what an ant colony looked like! It felt like she was watching worked ants carrying food inside for their queen!
Arit didn''t know it, but she was right! This entire ind was a colony that sprang up two years ago when an ant anima began to cultivate his queen. He recruited many anima and trained all of them to bring food for his queen, and he was using them as the worker ants in his colony!
Two years ago something like this would not have been possible, but just like humans evolve, the anima were also evolving, and rather than just fighting mindlessly, they were now capable of thought and they could do more than just killing!
Screech!
Arit felt her blood run cold as a screech rang out through the entire tunnel, and she saw all the anima moving through the tunnels stop in their tracks immediately.
Chapter 44: Good Meat
Arit scooted back and pressed her back against the wall in fear as she thought that there was something wrong! All the anima that were walking turned around and began to run out of the tunnel, but one of them didn''t run away, instead, it walked up to her and began to reach down for her!
"NO! NO! LEAVE ME ALONE!! LEAVE ME ALONE!!"
Arit screamed at the top of her lungs as the anima grabbed her by her hand and began to pull her into the inner tunnel without caring about what she was screaming! Arit was taken through a lot of tunnels before she was finally dragged into an inner chamber that looked like a giant cave!
There was a giant pod lying in the middle of the room, and Arit could see that there was something moving inside that pod! It didn''t have a specific shape but it shifted and churned around like it was solid matter, and Arit felt sick to her stomach as she saw it!
But that mass inside the pod wasn''t the most dangerous thing here! Instead, Arit couldn''t take her eyes off the humanoid-looking ant that was standing in front of the pod and petting it! The Anima was caressing the pod lovingly as it looked at the moving mass within the pod!
"Yes¡ yes. You are going to be very useful in luring the boy KING here. Very useful indeed. Like fresh bait on a hook; you will lure the fish towards us."
"!"
Arit almost had a heart attack right there as she heard the anima talking to her, and she took a step back in shock! The anima that was holding onto her hand dragged her forward, and she was forced down to her knees as he threw her to the ground. Arit wanted to say anything! Anything at all!
But she couldn''t even talk as a massive pressure mmed down on her and made her begin sweating from the intensity! Arit has never felt as powerless as she did at that moment! She felt like she was just a bug and the anima in front of her was a human that was about to step on her!
But even though she was terrified, she still tried to keep her head calm as she looked up at the Ant-headed anima that was walking closer to her. The anima grabbed Arit''s face and turned her head from side to side as if he were inspecting her quality.
"Good quality. Very good. This will not be a bad appearance for my queen to take. Now you must serve your purpose. Take her to the chamber and prepare her for the rebirth. The queen will soon be born."
The ant-headed anima said this, and Arit immediately understood what he was trying to do to her! He was trying to birth a new queen for the colony, and he was going to use her as food for the queen so that the queen could take on Arit''s appearance.
Arit suddenly felt a jolt of fear pass through her as she imagined being used as food for something like that! She would be killed here, and there was no one that could help her! What was she going to do!? She couldn''t fight back, and she couldn''t even call for help since she didn''t have any way tomunicate with the outside world! Was she really going to die in this ce like a chicken!?
And what was that thing that he was talking about!? He was trying to lure a boy here? The only boy that Arit could think of at that moment was Mark, and she immediately knew that Mark was the one that they were trying to lure! They wanted to use her as bait to lure Mark into this ce!
Arit also noticed how they called Mark KING, but she didn''t pay that any mind as she shouted at the anima in anger.
"You bastards! You can understand me, can''t you? I promise you won''t get away with this! Do you think Mark will let you get away with doing something like this!? You want to lure him here!? Do you know who he is!?
He''s a Superhuman! Just let hime and get you! He''ll tear you apart like the ant that you are! Just you wait!"
Arit knew that it would be useless to beg the Anima! They were creatures that enjoyed killing humans, and it would be foolish for her to think that the anima would start listening to her just because she begged them to! So, instead, Arit resorted to the only emotion that was left inside of her, and that was anger! She was angry at everything and everyone, and she just shouted at the top of her lungs!
She didn''t care anymore if she died or if she was saved! She just wanted to hurt something!
"Just die! Die, you idiot! Die!!"
The anima was stunned as he watched Arit shouting at him at the top of her lungs, and a creepy smile slowly spread across its face! Arit recoiled in disgust from the look that he gave her, and she had to look away just to get that look out of her sight! Seeing an ant smile has to be the most terrifying thing that she has ever seen!
The anima was happy because of how feisty Arit was! This one would definitely be a good addition to the queen. The queen woulde out with a strong, feisty personality once she feeds on this one! And once the queen gets the power from that boy, then there is nothing that can stop them anymore! They would bring forth a new Armageddon and take over this world before anyone could stop them!
"Take her to the chamber and prepare her. This one¡ is good meat."
The ant-headed anima said this to the fish-headed anima that brought Arit to the cave, and the fish-headed Anima nodded and grabbed Arit by the arm once more.
"LET GO OF ME, YOU BASTARD! I SAID LET GO! MARK WILL KILL ALL OF YOU! HE''LL KILL YOU!!"
Arit was relentless in her anger, but she couldn''t do anything as the fish-headed anima dragged her to the chamber and threw her against the wall of the room!
Bam!
Arit''s back mmed against the wall, and she groaned in pain as she saw the anima opening what looked like a pod! It grabbed her and tossed her inside the pod, and even though Arit fought with all her strength, there was nothing she could do as she was trapped inside the pod and it slowly began to fill up with a strange liquid!
Goop! Goop!
"Hey! S-Stop this! What the hell is this!? It''s going to kill me! Let me out! Please, let me out!"
m! m! m!
Arit mmed her hand against the pod over and over again, but no matter how much she hit it, there was nothing she could do as the strange liquid filled the tank andpletely engulfed her! It only took a few seconds before Arit could no longer move, and her body went still in the pod.
Chapter 45: The Island
"Go and bring me the KING. I don''t care if you kill him or not. We do not need his consciousness. We only need his blessing to make the queen stronger. Bring him to me even if it costs you your life."
The ant-headed anima said this loudly, and every single anima in the tunnels could hear him as they all began to charge out from the tunnels!
"Yes, my lord."
Another ant-headed anima was standing at the side of the cave and it bowed respectfully to the leader as it left to do as it was ordered.
The anima leader was trying to use Mark to awaken his queen, and he wanted to feed Mark to his queen and give Mark''s power to the queen.
Four years ago, every anima in the world felt the power of KING. They all knew how oppressive and invincible that power was, and it ced the fear of the unknown in them. Even after the power disappeared, they still knew that KING was a danger to them all! But that power disappeared for a long time after the fight against the anima and they all wondered when they would feel that power rise again.
But, after the system woke up again, the anima were shocked as they felt the power of KING for the second time.
This time, the power they felt was not as strong as the previous one that took down the Armageddon, but none of them could deny that this power was from KING. The ant-headed anima nurturing his queen realized that since KING was weaker now, he could prey on him and use his power to make his queen more powerful! That''s why he sent the anima to attack Mark once they noticed that his system was awake.
They wanted Mark''s blessing so that when the queen woke up, she would have KING''s power, and would be stronger!
Even though the Anima didn''t know exactly what Mark''s power was, they were confident enough that once they had it, their queen would be the strongest Anima in existence!
...
The ind off the coast of America was filled with the sound of helicoptersnding on the shores. The two military helicoptersnded, and the superhumans began to descend from them and prepare their weapons and powers as they looked into the dense forest in front of them!
They all knew that this would be a dangerous mission, and they all could die if they weren''t careful, so the B ranks were going to be grouping themselves in groups of five or more, and the A ranks would pair up! There were two S ranks on the team, and both of them would be allowed to do whatever they wanted since they were strong enough to handle it!
Fiona, James, Tyler, and the two S ranks took the front as they would lead the other superhumans into battle. Fiona looked high into the sky, and she saw a hill on the horizon that looked like a good ce to carry out the n. Fiona was going to be acting as the bait in this mission.
From what they had seen on the map before, there were too many heat signatures on this ind, and it would be bad if they allowed the Anima to attack them all at once! So, they were going to draw the Anima into the forest using Fiona''s blessing and then allow the S and B ranks to attack the Anima from behind!
When Fiona is using her blessing, the Anima will remain drawn to her no matter what, so even if the other superhumans are attacking from behind, the Anima would not attack them in full force! At most, there will only be one or two monsters that attack at one time, and that would allow the other superhumans to gang up on them.
From what the research team told them, the Anima on this ind was going to be mainly Disaster ss, but they also knew that a single Disaster ss could cause a lot of damage if it wasn''t taken care of by at least five B ranks at the same time.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
The ground under their feet began to shake, and the superhumans all knew that this was a result of the monsters charging for them! Fiona called on Tyler once she felt the tremor, and she told him to take them towards the hill in the distance! That would be a good ce to start the attack since it was open on all sides, and the Anima wouldn''t have a chance to attack them from the forest!
Tyler was more physically strong than Fiona, so he would be able to move much faster than her! He came and grabbed her before shooting into the forest at an insane speed! Fiona activated her power, and the entire force of Anima that were attacking seemed to shift as the blessing drew them towarrds her and Tylor!
Back at the beach, James gave out orders to the other people that were remaining. He told Archer to go and help Fiona. It would be good to have at least one S rank with them so he could get the other monsters off their back in case they get overwhelmed. And since Archer was good at fighting from a distance, he would be able to get rid of any monster that was trying to sneak up on Tyler or Fiona.
Archer nodded, and he gave a nod to Meta before he dashed away to go and meet up with Tyler and Fiona. James then separated the remaining hunters into two.
Seventy percent of them were going to go and fight against the monsters that were being drawn by Fiona, and the remaining thirty percent wereing with him underground. James didn''t know what the monsters were doing on this ind.
Even though they had done a lot of research into this ind and the strange activities from the Anima, they didn''t know anything about what they were really doing down there! The only thing that they knew was that the Anima would asionally take fish and human meat into the underground tunnel!
James didn''t know if they were storing it or if they were using it to feed something else, but he needed to find out.
The reason why Fiona was drawing so many monsters away was so that she would give them an opening to go and find out what the monsters were doing underground. James told the remaining thirty percent of the monsters that they would be with him, and they were going underground to go and see what the monsters were doing there.
"Does everybody have their recorders in ce? Turn them on and begin transmission."
The research team gave every member of the attack team a recorder that they attached to their chests to send back videos of what was happening here to the research team. The research team nned to use the recordings to understand what the Anima were doing on this ind.
But James also knew that they were doing it in case everyone on the subjugation team died, and they were unable to bring back anything. The research team would still have the recording either way. It was a cold act that seemed heartless, but that was just how dangerous this world was!
They had to be ready for any scenario that could ur on the ind, including the possible death of every person there!
Chapter 46: Anima Swarm
"What about that Mark boy? Are we going in without him? I thought you made him join so he can help us out in the underground tunnels?"
Meta was the one who asked this question with a frown on his face as his eyes caught a glimpse of Mark''s helicoptering from a distance! Meta didn''t know why Mark refused to join them in using the military helicopter, but Meta could already tell that the S ranks were on bad terms with Mark. He didn''t like people who didn''t understand how important it was to work on a team!
Meta thought that Mark was only acting this way because he defeated a Cmity ss, and he would eventually calm down again when he sees how dangerous this world really is.
Even though Meta could see the helicopter easily, that was only because of his superior senses as a Superhuman. The helicopter was still very far away, and it would take about two minutes for it to get to the ind!
James could also see the helicopter, and he thought about what Meta said. James knew that Mark was only here to get Arit, and if James asked him to join them, then Mark could be impatient, and he would charge into the tunnels without thinking because Arit might be in there. James would rather deal with this with only the people that he has here!
He was already going to do this mission with only these people after all, and Mark was just ast-minute addition that didn''t make much of a difference! It would be fine if they went alone!
"We are going in alone. Mark can join Fiona and Tyler when he gets here and help them to cut down the number of Anima attacking! There won''t be much of a difference since we were already nning to do this without him."
James said this, and he started making his way toward the forest and the hole that the research team pointed out on the map for him! James was confident in his strength and the strength of Meta, who was an S rank! He was sure that they would be able to handle anything they saw down there on their own!
James had no idea that they were walking into hell itself! They thought that they could go down there to kill any Anima they saw before it coulde out! But the Anima down there were already waiting for them, and this would not go as they nned at all! The Anima were now acting in teams and they had a leader just like the humans which allowed them to makeplex ns!
The superhumans thought that most of the Anima came out from the tunnels to attack them, but they would be caught unawares once they enter the tunnel and see that the most powerful Anima was waiting for them!
...
Mark looked out from the side of the helicopter and he hummed and narrowed his eyes as he saw arge mass of Anima migrating towards a certain point on the ind. There must be about fifty of them down there! There were so many!
Mark has only seen this many anima once before, and that was when he was fighting against the Armageddon! There were hundreds of low-level Anima helping the Armageddon, and Mark had to also fight them off before he could get to the Armageddon! That was the only time when Anima worked together, and Mark knew that they were only following the Armageddon because of how strong it was.
Mark shook his head and decided that it wasn''t important to think about the number. From what Mark learned from the research team, they said that there were some tunnels underground that they used as their hiding ce and nest. Mark was sure that they would take Arit into their nest, so Mark only needed to find those tunnels so that he could find where they took Arit!
Mark could have gone to help the other superhumans who were struggling against the monsters, but Mark didn''t have the time for that. Mark was only going to find Arit, and he would get her to safety as quickly as possible! When he sends her away, then he could turn around and help the other superhumans if they needed it.
Back on the ind, Fiona could tell that there was something that changed in the Anima as she used more and more of her blessing to draw them in! Tyler was still carrying her, and they were making their way towards the hill where they nned to fight, but the Anima that she was pulling towards them were no longer following her mindlessly!
The Anima started to break out from her control slowly, and Fiona didn''t know what was causing it! Fiona felt that some of them were still following her, but there were many others who were no longer following her, and they were turning around!
This was bad! Many superhumans behind her weren''t strong enough to deal with the monsters! If the monsters attacked them without warning, then the number of casualties would be insane! The superhumans were all depending on the fact that Fiona could draw in all the monsters, so none of them would expect to suddenly see monsters attacking them!
Fiona realized that she would have to just start the fight here before the monsters managed to attack the other superhumans! She shouted to Tyler that he needed to drop her and help the other superhumans, and Tyler didn''t waste any time as he immediately threw Fiona forward and turned around!
A massive swirling inferno appeared around Tyler as he prepared his blessing, and he turned to Archer who was sitting in a tree far away and waiting for Tylor''s signal to begin the fight! Tylor nodded to Archer, and Archer cocked his bow and created a mana arrow before sending it at the monsters!
Woosh!!
Archer''s arrows were special because they weren''t meant for just piercing the enemy. Archer could ce one of three different properties into each of his bows. He could either make his bow explode or he could make his bow extremely heavy to pierce through strong armor. He could also create a whirlwind around his bow to create a distraction or disorient the enemy.
These three properties were enough for Archer to deal with any Anima that he meets. Archer had killed hundreds of Anima before, and he was sure that this mission would be just as easy as the others.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Archer sent ten arrows in quick session and destroyed five Disaster ss Anima that were heading toward Tylor with explosive arrows! He watched as Tylor charged straight for the Anima and mmed through their ranks!
Tylor created a column of fire that incinerated an Anima before he used that same fire to cut down a tree and allowed it to crush another Anima on the ground! Tyler left the Anima, and Archer cocked his bow back and killed the crushed Anima with a simple arrow to the head!
Squelch!
Archer breathed out a sigh of relief and he prepared another arrow.
"You are too much trouble to be left alive. I will deal with you first."
"!"
Chapter 47: A Talking Anima!?
"You are too much trouble to be left alive. I will deal with you first."
"!"
Archer''s entire body shivered as a voice suddenly whispered in his ear/
There was an intense oppressiveness that almost made him wet himself from that voice! Archer was a hunter and he was used to staying in one ce for a long time. That meant that he was very good at noticing changes in his environment! Even the slightest movement from a rat would catch Archer''s attention!
But he was not able to tell when this thing came up from behind him; he didn''t even notice anything until the person spoke!
Archer immediately jumped off the tree and turned around to fire an arrow at the person, but he was stunned as he saw what was behind him! It didn''t make any sense at all! Wasn''t that an Anima? Then how did it talk!?
That short moment of distraction was enough for Archer to let his guard down as he was too shocked to fire his arrow and the anima stretched out its hand and grabbed Archer by the face! The Anima was the same one that the leader instructed to bring Mark to him.
Once the leader told it toe and deal with Mark, it made its way to the surface and went to the ce with the most fighting because it thought that Mark would be there. But when it got here, it realized that it made a mistake.
Then, the anima felt Mark''s power on the other side of the forest and it was about to make all of the other anima turn around and go towards where they could feel Mark''s power.
But it was difficult for the Anima to control the other lower-ranked Anima because there was someone here who was also controlling them! Fiona''s blessing was interfering with hismand channel and some of the anima were not listening to the higher-ranked Anima''s orders! They were being lured in by Fiona so they were ignoring every other order!
That told the high-ranked Anima that these Superhumans would have to be dealt with first before they could go and find the boy. So it sent the lower-ranked Anima ahead of it first and it turned around to deal with the superhumans.
It decided that it would be best to deal with the most dangerous one first, and after watching for a few seconds, it decided that Archer had to be the most dangerous out of them!
Swish!!
Archer suddenly released another arrow and the anima tilted its head to the other side and allowed the arrow to fly past it!
Boom!!
But the Anima didn''t expect the arrow to suddenly explode once it flew past its head, and it took a step forward in surprise as th shockwave hit it from behind. But its hand was still holding onto Archer''s face tight and Archer was starting to grow afraid as he realized that the anima was not going to let go no matter what.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Let! Go!"
Archer started to m his hand into the Anima''s forearm to make it let go! Archer might be a long-distance fighter, but he was still an S-rank with enough strength to destroy a building with ease! He could use a single blow to send a skyscraper into the ground! But there was no reaction at all from the Anima that was holding him! It looked like the Anima couldn''t even feel the punches at all!
The Anima''s arm started to tighten and Archer screamed in pain as he felt his skull getting crushed! He grabbed the Anima''s arm and started to kick its body using his legs, but the Anima still didn''t budge and it just continued to squeeze tighter and tighter until¡
Crack!
Squelch!!
The sound of Archer''s skull popping like a balloon echoed through the area and the Anima dropped his body to the ground and looked down at its blood-stained hand. It licked the blood off its hand and a sadistic smile crept onto its face as it saw Fiona staring right at it.
"Hello, Superhuman."
Fiona was very far away from the Anima, but she knew that distance was nothing for beings with as much power as them! That anima could cover the distance in no time at all! She stepped back in fear as she wondered what the hell that thing was! It just killed Archer like Archer was a bug under its feet! There was nothing she could do if that thing decided to attack her head-on!
She had to get to Tylor and warn him about it ¨C
"You n to run?"
"!"
A voice suddenly came from behind Fiona and she froze like a deer in the middle of the road! She nced up to where she had seen the anima before and she was stunned when she didn''t see it there anymore! It was able to move from all the way over here to behind her in just a split second! How fast is this thing!?
Fiona was not the physically strongest, but that did not mean that she couldn''t follow attacks with her eyes easily.
Her senses are still better than any human could hope to be! But she didn''t even notice the anima move before it was already behind her!
A cold sweat came down the side of her face as she felt that she was going to die at that moment. She was well and truly screwed! Her blessing was still active, but the anima was not even reacting to it. That could only mean that the anima was so strong that her blessing had no effects on it at all. Or was it because of its advanced intelligence?
Anima were usually mindless creatures and she could control them easily, so for this Anima to be talking, that must mean that it was far more intelligent and its mind was stronger than other Anima.
"Duck!!"
Fiona suddenly heard a loud voice echo through the forest and she didn''t need to be told twice as she quickly fell to the ground as Tylor appeared from inside the forest with a ming fist.
"Rarggggghhh!!!!"
Ka-Boom!!!
He sent a punch straight at the Anima to push it back! He then created a wave of fire and mmed it into the Anima''s side and made it fly away from them!
Phwoom!!
¡
Mark jumped off the helicopter andnded on the beach as he looked around him. He signaled to the helicopter with his hand and the helicopter slowly turned and began to fly away. The pilot would find a safe ce tond and then he woulde back here to pick Mark up once Mark calls him. There was no way the helicopter could stay here when they knew there were many monsters around.
There was arge forest in front of Mark and Mark knew that he would have to go in there if he wanted to find an entrance into the tunnel.
Ka-Boom!!
Suddenly, arge explosion made the ground under Mark''s feet tremble and he saw a column of fire rise into the sky from deep in the forest.
Mark could tell that the superhumans were fighting against the Anima, but he didn''t know who that was. He would have gone to check, but he was more interested in finding Arit. Nothing else was important right now, Marknded in this area because he was sure that Anima would be preupied by the other superhuman and he could go to the underground tunnel without trouble.
Mark watched the helicopter leave before he turned back to the forest. He narrowed his eyes at the forest as he started to think about how he would go from here. But he frowned as he felt something under his feet!
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
"A tremor? No¡ an attack from underground."
Boom!
Mark jumped into the air as the ground under his feet suddenly burst open, and arge Anima jumped out and tried to take a bite from his feet! Mark saw the forest shaking, and he was shocked when almost fifty Anima shot out from within the forest and began to charge straight for him!
[New Mission Alert!]
[Survive the Anima Horde!]
Chapter 48: Forest Rumble
[New Mission Alert!]
[Survive the Anima Horde!]
[The anima horde has killed eighty percent of the Superhumans that came to this ind. Survive the horde and make your way down into the underground tunnels.]
[Hordeposition]
20 Low-level Disaster ss (0/20)
10 High-level Disaster ss (0/10)
5 Low-level Cmity ss (0/5)
1 High-level Cmity ss (0/1)
[Rewards]
+15 Stat points per Low-Level Disaster ss
+20 Stat points per High-level Disaster ss
+100 Skill points per Low-level Cmity ss
+100 Skill points and +100 stat points per High-level Cmity ss
Hidden Rewards
[Failure]
The user will die.
Arit will die.
¡
[The user is fighting against a monster that is at least one Rank above him. The title [He Who Perseveres Through Hell. (+10% increase to all stats.)] will be activated.]
¡
Mark was stunned once he saw the system message. Eighty percent of the Superhumans were already dead!? It hasn''t even been five minutes since theynded! How could they already be dead? Mark knew that they did a lot of research into the monsters here and they even made a n about how to attack the monsters to prevent too many casualties! So, how in the world were most of them already dead!?
Doesn''t that mean that all the research they did was meaningless since the monsters were far stronger than they anticipated? Mark didn''t want to be the sort of person who says I told you so, but he definitely told them that something like this was a possibility.
"Run! Run away from there! The monsters have gone mad!"
"They''reing! Run!"
Squelch!
"Wait! Don''t leave me behind! Wait!"
Roar!!
Some Superhumans were running out from inside the forest as the monsters charged through the trees while heading toward Mark! The Superhumans had been following the n, but they didn''t expect the sudden change in the monsters'' movement and they were caughtpletely unaware as the monsters turned around and began to attack them instead of following after Fiona!
The Anima had already killed a lot of the Superhumans and the remaining Superhumans were mainly A ranks who were able to use their skills to barely hold the monsters back. They killed some of the low-level Disaster sses but there was nothing they could do against the high-level Disaster sses and the other low-level Cmity sses that were chasing them!
They could only run and hope to reach the helicopter to escape!
Mark lept over the Anima that attacked him from underground. He grabbed it by its arms and mmed his heel into its stomach! Mark then pulled the arms until he detached them from its body and the Anima stopped moving!
Mark had grown much stronger since he fought against that Cmity ss, so the low-level and medium-level disaster ss monsters were not even a challenge to him! The only thing that would prove a challenge was the low-level and high-level Cmity sses!
Mark ducked under a monster that tried to skewer him. He grabbed the monster by the arm and ripped its arm away from its body before using the arm to p the monster into the ground and crush it under his feet.
Squelch!
[User has killed (2) low-level Disaster ss. +30 stat points.]
Mark nced at all the monsters around him as he threw the arm aside. Mark counted twenty low-level disaster ss anima, and five high-level disaster ssThere were five monsters still attacking the Superhumans at the side and Mark guessed that those were the remaining five high-level disaster sses. But where was the high-level cmity ss?
Mark would immediately be able to sense if that cmity ss was here, but Mark could not sense it at all. Was it in another part of the forest? Mark had to kill that cmity ss as well if he was going toplete this mission.
The system was giving some very good rewards for killing the monsters and Mark could no longer see monsters in front of him! All he saw were stat points that would help him grow stronger! The system also said that there were hidden rewards and Mark felt his motivation double as he wanted to get those rewards no matter what! Mark didn''t even wait for the monsters to attack him!
He charged straight for them!
The monsters were stunned for a moment as they saw the human attack, but they didn''t stay shocked for long as they also charged! Mark caught the fastest Anima by the neck and used that one as a battering ram as he charged straight through the Anima that were trying to surround him! The best strategy for dealing with these monsters was to not fight them in the open!
Mark needed to draw them toward the forest so that he could use the trees as a means to slow them down and give him more time to deal with them one-on-one! Mark would be overwhelmed if he fought against the monsters together, but when they were on their own, they didn''t stand a chance!
Woosh!
A monkey-based Anima suddenly charged at Mark faster than the others and dragged him deeper into the forest by force! The Anima was a low-level Cmity ss, so it had a lot more power than the others! Mark grabbed the monkey''s tail and threw it off him, but the monkey only flipped around andtched onto a tree!
"OOHH! OOHH! AAHH! AHH!!"
Many other monkey-based Anima joined the monkey Anima as they all surrounded Mark. Mark could tell that the other monkeys were only low-level and high-level Disaster sses, unlike the low-level Cmity ss.
The monkey shouted a battle cry as they charged for Mark and Mark used one of the trees as a barricade to block them from swarming him, but the monkey was able to easily break through the tree with its punch and Mark had to cross his arms to block the hit!
m!
The Anima grabbed Mark and wanted to throw him back, but Mark sent mana to his legs as he grabbed the monster by its arm and spun himself around to deliver an axe kick that caved the monster''s head in! The monster was only a low-level disaster ss, so the kick was enough to tear a hole through its head and send it to the afterlife!
Roar!!
Mark dodged many other attacks from the anima. He was using the trees expertly to jump around the forest as he dodged, but Mark was still cautious because of the low-level Cmity ss monkey that was right on his tail. The Cmity ss monkey was not attacking and it looked like it was waiting for the right moment for Mark to let down his guard so that it would attack!
Mark stopped running and charged for one of the high-level Disaster ss Anima in front of him and he sent a punch straight through the Anima''s stomach!
[Critical Hit!!]
Boom!!
The Anima was unable to withstand the full force of the strike and it was obliterated along with a long line of trees in the forest!
Woosh!
The punch literally carved a path through the forest and gave Mark some room as the other monsters were immediately cautious of attacking! Mark ran for the next monster immediately and he sent a massive amount of power to his knee as he grabbed the monster by its head and brought his knee up to strike the monster in the face!
m!!
The monster''s face caved in and Mark grinned as he felt the bone in the monster''s face break under the force of his kick!
[User has killed (2) low-level Disaster ss. +30 stat points.]
[User has killed (1) high-level Disaster ss. +20 stat points.]
Chapter 49: Stupid Monkey Smart Monkey
[User has killed (2) low-level Disaster ss. +30 stat points.]
[User has killed (1) high-level Disaster ss. +20 stat points.]
Marknded on the ground and he cleaned the blood that spread on his face as he looked around at all the monsters in the area. They were still charging for him, so he would not have time to rest yet.
Mark nced at his system tab at the side and he saw that he now had a hundred stat points to work with. Since Mark was going to be fighting against a lot of monsters right now, he needed to improve both his agility and durability so he could move around however he wished.
He was already very agile and he could tell that his strength and stamina were notcking since he was barely tired after that altercation.
"Vanitas! We need to move the other superhumans out from here! Most of us are dead and the rest can''t fight anymore! There''s a helicopter on the far side of the beach. If we move over there, we can use it to escape!"
One of the remaining A ranks shouted out to Mark for him to retreat, but Mark just ignored the man as he continued changing his stats. The man shouted at Mark again and tried to get his attention! The man knew that it was only a matter of time before the monsters killed all of them! The n was already messed up and they needed to get out before they all died.
Mark was not having any of that. They wanted him to abandon Arit and leave? Was this man insane? Mark was going to charge forward until he finds Arit. He didn''t care what they did.
"If you want to leave, then leave. I didn''te here with the NSA. I came here alone. So I will fight alone as well if I need to. Don''t try to drag me down with the rest of you."
Mark finally finished sending his extra stat points to the stats he wanted them to be and a new prompt came up:
[Does the user wish to add Stat points to the selected Stats? Yes/No]
Mark chose yes and he felt his body bing lighter and tougher as the system moved the stat points.
...
[User has added 40 points to Agility]
[User has added 40 points to Durability]
Agility: 600 (+60)
Durability: 460 (+46)
...
Mark grinned as he raised his clenched fist to eye level. He couldn''t believe how much power he could get from just killing monsters. Mark knew that he lied to the NSA about his power. He didn''t tell them that he had a system for his own reasons, but that did not mean that what he told them waspletely wrong either. Mark was now sure that the more he killed, the stronger he could be!
"Come at me, you fucking EXP!"
Roar!!!
Boom!!
A massive explosion of power echoed across the entire forest as Mark jumped into the fray with the monsters and they went at it like wild animals. Blood flew like a river and the entirendscape was reshaped through the force of the raw power that Mark and the Anima were releasing while fighting!
[User has killed (3) High-level Disaster ss +60 stat points]
[User has killed (10) Low-level Disaster ss +150 stat points]
Mark was in the middle of smashing a monkey''s head in when he heard a woman shout from beside him. Mark mmed his fist into the face of the monkey in front of him and watched the monkey fly away. He then turned to see what was happening and he saw that arge congregation of monkeys were chasing after two superhumans.
The monkeys realized that Mark was harder to deal with than the other superhumans and they decided that they would go after the easier prey! Mark charged off from where he was standing and dashed towards where the monkeys were congregating!
Boom!
Mark mmed his foot into the head of one of the monkeys and it exploded in a shower of gore that made all the other monkeys in the area recoil in shock! Mark grabbed the monkey beside him by its tail just as it was about to run away and he used it to m another monkey into a tree and they both crumpled into paste as they were destroyed!
[User has killed (4) Low-Level Disaster ss +60 stat points]
Mark was about to charge into battle again, but he stopped as he heard a branch crack from behind him. Mark immediately dodged to the side as the tree beside him was obliterated by arge rock!
Boom!!
Mark rushed to his feet and he saw that it was that same Monkey Anima from before that was attacking him. Mark narrowed his eyes at the monster and he could have sworn that he saw that monkey smile at him as it picked up anotherrge rock from the side and prepared to throw it at Mark.
Woosh!
Mark moved out of the way just as the rock was about to hit him and he caught a low-level Disaster ss that tried to attack him from the side while he was distracted. Mark tisted the monkey''s neck with both hands and a loud crack echoed through the forest as Mark snapped its neck!
Crack!
[User has killed (1) High-level Disaster ss +20 stat points]
The monkey that was throwing the rocks was one of the low-level cmity ss monsters and Mark could see that it was far more intelligent than the other monsters since it wasn''t just charging in like the other stupider monsters.
It was taking its time and staying far from Mark while throwing rocks to distract Mark so that the other monsters would have a chance to attack him. The monkey was probably on the same level of strength as the Ant-headed Anima that Mark fought in City A.
It would not be difficult to deal with this cmity ss if it was alone, but it would be more troublesome if the other monsters in the forest kept attacking whenever Mark was distracted.
"OOHH!! OOHH! AAHH! AAHH!"
The anima suddenly shouted out to the other monsters in the forest as it told them to not give Mark any room to breathe. Mark saw all the monsters charge him and he decided he needed to get some space between them. He turned and grabbed the two superhumans that were being attacked before dashing off with the two humans under his arms. He needed to lose the monsters so he coulde up with a n.
He wouldn''t be able to fight the cmity ss if all the smaller disaster sses were constantly attacking him, so the best thing he can do now is to draw them into a chase that would allow him to deal with them in different one-on-one situations. That way, he could kill the disaster sses before having to worry about the cmity ss.
"To the helicopter! Take us to the helicopter! We need to get out of here right now! There are too many of them!"
The female superhuman started to shout out orders at Mark as she pointed in the direction where the helicopter was and she was stunned when she noticed that Mark was not even going in that direction! He was moving deeper into the forest away from the helicopter! Was he really going to try fighting all those monsters on his own!? There were too many of them!
"What the hell are you doing!?"
Chapter 50: Return To Monkee
"What the hell are you doing!?"
The woman felt a great surge of fear fill her heart as Mark turned around and tossed her and the other superhuman to the ground. Mark made sure that they had lost the monsters that were trailing them, and then he spoke to the two superhumans.
"We''vee far enough so it should be easier for you to get out to the helicopter. I''ll create a diversion and make the monsters follow me and the both of you get out of here. I can''t fight if you''re ranting in my ear all through."
The woman immediately felt insted as she heard him say this and she immediately started to reprimand him.
"Don''t talk to your elders like that! You''re just a kid!"
"Will you shut up, woman! Just shut up! Look, Vanitas, you should also think about getting out of here. There are too many monsters up here and we don''t know how many more there are down in the tunnels. It''s too dangerous to try fighting all of them."
The other person that Mark saved immediately shouted after shutting the woman up, and the woman blushed in anger as Mark nodded to the man while tweaking his system. There were many more stat points in his system, and Mark was going to use them to improve all of his stats right now. And there was also one skill that Mark needed to improve as quickly as possible.
[Does the user wish to add stat points to the selected stats? Yes/No]
Mark chose yes and he felt the changes in his body as the stats were improved.
[User has added +70 points to Strength]
[User has added +50 points to Stamina]
[User has added +50 points to Agility]
[User has added +50 points to Durability]
[User has added +90 points to Mana]
¡
[Stat Improvement Due to Application of Mana]
Strength +6%
Stamina +6%
Agility +2%
¡
SUPERHUMAN SYSTEM
Name: Mark Vanitas
Race: Human
Title: [He Who Perseveres Through Hell. [+10% increase to all stats.]]
Rank: A[2120/3000]
Affiliation: True Good
Unused Stat Points: 0
Unused Skill Points: 50
¡
Strength: 820 [+82] [+80]
Stamina: 650 [+65] [+58]
Agility: 650 [+65] [+13]
Durability: 510 [+51]
Mana: 260 [+26]
[System stats are greatly unbnced and the User is advised to improve thecking stat to ensure proper growth.]
¡
Once Mark was done adding points to his stats, he then started adding points to his skills. Mark only had one skill that he really needed to improve right now to make sure that the monsters didn''t go after the other superhumans. Mark might not like the NSA, but that does not mean he wanted the other superhumans to die. They all came here for the same mission and if Mark could help, then he would.
[Does the user wish to add skill points to the selected skills? Yes/No]
Mark chose yes and another prompt appeared.
[User has added 50 points to [Blunt Force Trauma]]
[Probability of sessful Landing a Critical Attack: +3% for every sessful consecutive hit]
¡
-> Blunt Force Trauma: This skill heightens the probability ofnding a critical hit as the user delivers consecutive sessful punches to the enemy, harnessing the cumtive impact for devastating effectiveness! Critical Attacks deal +100% extra damage to the enemy!
Current Rank: F Rank [51/100]
Probability ofnding a Critical Attack: +3% for every sessful consecutive hit.
¡
The Blunt Force Trauma skill was going to be useful in getting rid of that Low-Level Cmity. Mark just had to rack enough sessful hits so that he would have a hundred percent chance of using a critical hit when he attacked the Low-Level Cmity. The Critical Hit gives a hundred percent increase in damage, so it would be too shocking for the Low-Level Cmity to adapt to it or avoid it.
"I''ll get out when I get my friend out. Don''t worry about me. Just run as quickly as you can, and I''ll draw them in a different direction."
Mark knew that the monsters were directly after him, so the chances that they would go after the two superhumans while Mark was going in the opposite direction were very low. He was sure they would get to the helicopter safely. Mark said his goodbyes to them, quickly turned in the opposite direction, and began to charge forward as he activated [Taunting].
[Taunting Activating. Chances of sessful taunting: 20%]
[Taunting Sessful]
[Call of The Night Wolves] had been activated.
A great wave of hostility mmed into Mark as he felt the hate of all the animas in the region directed toward him. The forest started to rumble as the animals were now more rabid as they chased after him. Mark needed to deal with all the small fries that were chasing after him before going to deal with the Cmity ss.
Mark turned around just as the wave of hostility got close enough and heshed his hand out at the nearest monster beside him!
m!
St!
The monster was only a low-level Disaster ss and it didn''t even expect for a moment that Mark''s power would be as high as it was, and it was blindsided and disintegrated to paste as Markshed out with his punch!
Mark didn''t waste any time and he rode off the momentum as he leaped off the tree beside him and used that to rocket himself towards the next monster!
m!
m!
m!
[Critical Hit!]
m!
[User has killed 4 Low-Level Disaster sses +60 stat points]
[User has killed 5 High-Level Disaster sses +100 stat points]
Mark jumped from tree to tree and used the momentum to increase the power of his punches as he destroyed each monster he came across! He managed to get rid of all of them when he suddenly felt wind pressure against his skin and he thanked his agility for allowing him to dodge in time for therge rock that was thrown at him to only sail past harmlessly!
The fucker was back!
Mark grinned as he turned and dashed straight for the Cmity ss monkey! There were fewer monsters around now, so he could focus all his energy on the cmity ss without worrying about the other monsters! The monkey released a loud cry as it threw another rock at Mark and Mark only needed to move to the side to dodge it as he continued running unimpeded.
Mark could have destroyed the rock, but he didn''t want to ruin his consecutive sessful hit count. If he hit the rock, Mark didn''t know if that would be counted as a sessful hit or not and he was going to save his next punch for when he got to the cmity ss!
The cmity ss took a step back as it noticed the intensity that Mark was using to charge at it and it shouted in anger as it felt threatened by Mark.
"OOH! OOH! AH!!"
The monkey shouted out a battle cry as it jumped off the tree and swung towards Mark before using its tail tosh out at Mark with great force! A monkey tail has enough strength to carry its whole body, and when that strength is increased to match the strength of a low-level cmity ss, it has enough power to eviscerate a house in only one swing!
Woosh!
But the Monkey hesitated at thest moment as it took a look into Mark''s eyes and saw the bloodlust in there! It immediately realized that there was something wrong and it was about to pull back to dodge the punch that Mark was preparing to unleash, but it was already toote!
[Critical Hit]!!
Ka-Booommmm!!!!
Chapter 51: The Sound Of Desperation
Ka-Booommmm!!!!
Tylor dashed across the forest with Fiona flung over his shoulder as he tried to get as far away from the monster behind them as possible. He paused as he felt the entire forest shake from a massive force, and he wanted to look around him to see what that was, but he felt the aura of the monster again and he forgot about that force as he started to run again!
Things could not have gone any more wrong than they did just now! Tylor knew that it was impossible for this mission to be any more fucked up than it was at this fucking moment! There was only one question constantly running through Tylor''s mind.
What sort of monster did they run into?
Tylor was a strong Superhuman. He knew that he could handle Cmity sses if he went all out, and he was someone who felt great pride in his power. But the monster that appeared behind them was not something that he could call a simple Cmity ss.
If not for the fact that he already knew how strong Eldritch ss and Armageddon ss monsters were, Tylor would have thought that this monster something higher than a Cmity ss!
The Anima chasing him was able to kill Archer in less than ten seconds after the fight started, and Archer didn''t even get a chance to use any of his abilities before he was crushed into a paste with nothing but raw strength.
That already told Tylor that this was not a fight they could face head-on, but when the Anima managed to shrug off Fiona''s blessing with minimal effort, Tylor knew that they were fucked if they didn''t get out of there at once! Tylor had never seen any Cmity ss Anima that could shrug off Fiona''s blessing before, and the fact that this one could do it meant that this was not an ordinary anima!
And yet, all that was nothingpared to the fact that this Anima actually opened its mouth and spoke. Even after everything that the Anima did to the Superhumans, the fact that it could talk was still the most shocking of it all.
Was this a dream? Perhaps. Tylor could simply believe that he was dreaming and he would wake up from it in a moment. But the feeling of dread that filled his heart and the adrenaline pumping through his body as he ran for his life told him that this was real!
It made no sense that an Anima would be able to talk. There has never been an instance where Anima possessed such an ability.
Immediately after hearing the Anima talk, Tylor was about to tell Fiona to turn off her skill so that they could bolt, but it was already toote as the monster reached Fiona before Tylor could even mutter a word. He quickly engaged the Anima and tried to draw it away from Fiona, but the monster ignored him and raced towards Fiona to finish her off.
Fiona was able to use her blessing to slow the monster down for a few seconds. Even though the monster was far stronger than her, it still felt the effects of Fiona''s blessing for afew seconds. And it was only this fact that allowed her to survive what happened next.
Rather than simply killing Fiona like it nned to, the monster mmed into her with all its weight, and Fiona was thrown across the forest like a ping-pong ball! She already passed out before she crashed through ten trees and dug a deep trench into the forest floor!
Boom!
The monster stumbled and seemed to be confused for a moment as it tilted its head and looked down at its feet while trying to assimte what had just happened. That split-second dy in its reaction allowed Tylor to dash in and grab Fiona to get out of there as quickly as possible.
Tylor started by running towards the helicopter, and he was going to try and get out of this ind as quickly as possible, but when he felt the monster right behind him, he decided that it would be better not to run towards the helicopter since the monster could easily kill all the other superhumans that were also trying to escape the ind.
The monster was too strong, and Tylor couldn''t stop it even if he tried, so he knew that it would easily kill all the A and B-rank superhumans in the helicopter.
A shadow fell over Tylor, and he turned around to see threerge trees flying towards him. The leaves andrge roots on the trees told Tylor that they were just pulled straight out from the soil, and Tylor cursed as he dashed to the side and tried to evade the trees.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The trees mmed into the ground and embedded themselves deep in the floor, and Tylor quickly tried to continue moving, but he wasn''t able to get to his top speed quickly enough since his evasion of the trees shaved off some of his speed.
"How troublesome. Why do you run?"
A feeling of dread fell upon Tylor as he felt eyes behind him, and he turned around with a shout while releasing a massive wave of mes!
"DIE!!!"
PHWOOMM!!
The mes traveled across the forest and destroyed hundreds of trees in their path, but Tylor didn''t see the anima. Tylor held his breath and looked around at the ming forest while waiting for something to happen.
There was a deep, unnatural silence that permeated through the entire forest, and Tylor could almost feel his heart trying to burst out from his chest due to the intensity of the situation.
"Ugh~"
Fiona stirred from Tylor''s shoulder, but Tylor didn''t even have time to check on her as he noticed something moving through his mes. Tylor would never admit it to anyone, but watching the Ant-headed anima stepping out from the fire like a demon straight out of hell put the fear of the lord into him. For the first time in his life, Tylor felt his legs shake.
"Fuck."
Tylor cursed, and he gently pushed Fiona to the ground. He knew in his heart that there was nothing that he could do to defeat this monster. Tylor has fought against hundreds of Anima in thest four years, but none of them stood up to the sheer strength that this Anima had.
But he was not going to just turn around and let it catch and kill them both. Tylor was going to fight. Maybe he would win. Maybe Fiona would wake up and manage to run away before the monster killed him. Or maybe they would both die. It didn''t matter what the oue would be, Tylor was not going down without a fight.
Tylor went into a fighting stance and prepared himself.
"Come on then. Let''s see how much of you I can burn before I''m extinguished."
The ant-headed Anima tilted its head curiously as it saw Tylor getting into a fighting stance, and it seemed to be interested in what Tylor was going to do. It wondered why Tylor was willingly sacrificing himself all of a sudden. It thought that Tylor would run forever, but it seems that it was wrong. How interesting.
"Come on, you bastard!!"
Phwoom! Phwoom! Phwoom!
Three great pirs of fire burst to life as Tylor charged at the monster! He released anotherrge wave of fire to distract the monster, and he dashed to the side and mmed his heel into a tree. The tree groaned as it began to fall, and Tylor grabbed it by the trunk!
Phwoom!
The tree trunk caught on fire immediately Tylor touched it, and Tylor released another battle cry as he threw the tree straight at the monster like a javelin!
Woosh!
The cmity ss simply rose its hand up, and the tree broke into pieces once it mmed into the hand. The anima grabbed the trunk and threw the tree to the side! What nonsense was this human trying to do? Does he think that a simple tree would be able to harm it? What foolishness.
"Rarggggh!!!"
Tylor suddenly appeared from behind the tree with his ming fist drawn back.
Chapter 52: An Ant is Nothing but An Ant.
"Rarggggh!!!"
Tyler suddenly appeared from behind the tree with his ming fist drawn back. He used the tree as a distraction and he was nning to catch the cmity ss off-guard so he could get a hit in, but the result of his hard work was so disappointing as the cmity ss only raised its arm in the air once more and caught Tyler around the neck like a child!
"Urk!"
Tyler grabbed the Cmity ss by the arm and tried to pry its hand off, but there was nothing that he could do as it was too strong! It felt impossible to even make the arm budge! What is this strength!?
On the other side of the clearing, Fiona had finally woken up and she held her head in shock as she gently sat up and looked around at the burning bush. Why was she on the ground? She didn''t remember anything that happened after¡ oh yes, that monster attacked her and she used her blessing on it. But the blessing didn''t work like she thought it would. Her blessing failed against a monster!?
That has never happened before!
Fiona quickly looked up and she was shocked when she saw Tyler being held by the cmity ss. She immediately stood up and began to think! She didn''t know how she got here, but that didn''t matter right now. She just needed toe up with a way to get Tyler out of the Anima''s grasp.
She knew that even though her blessing didn''t work against the Anima like she expected it to, she was able to stall it for a few moments. Maybe she could use that to help Tylor!
Fiona focused all of her mana and she immediately spread out her blessing using everything she had to try and grab the Anima''s attention. She might not be able to put it under her control, but she could distract it long enough to give Tyler a chance to escape.
But this turned out to be the wrong choice. The only reason why Fiona''s blessing worked against the Anima the first time was that it had never felt it before and it was surprised by the feelings of love and protectiveness for Fiona that suddenly appeared in its head.
Now that the anima already knew what Fiona''s blessing felt like and it knew what sort of effects the blessing had on it, the Anima was more resistant to the effects and its resolve didn''t even shake for a moment as it nced at Fiona. There was a small twitch on the Anima''s face and Fiona stumbled back as she realized that the Anima was smiling.
Fiona''s mind went nk with shock at the unusual sight. Fiona has never fought against an Anima this strong before and she has never heard of an Anima that was expressive in any way. Since when could they smile?
"Foolish human. Your species have grown inept in their own hubris. I shall show you the error of your ways. The way of the wild."
The Anima began to squeeze down on Tylor''s throat as it continued to look Fiona right in the eyes. Fiona felt true helplessness at that moment as she realized that she really couldn''t do anything to help Tylor. Tylor was going to die and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
She took a step back as she prepared to bolt back to the helicopter. There was nothing she could do for Tyler, but perhaps she could save herself and tell the others back in City A about what happened here. They cannot allow these monsters to reach the city. A monster like this would absolutely eradicate their city from the map.
"Now, what do we have here? Another Ant?"
"!"
Fiona turned to the side in shock as she heard a familiar voice and she could not contain the relief that spread across her entire body as she saw a figure strutting out from within the mes surrounding the forest. The ck hair and muscr body immediately gave the identity away and Fiona released a bated breath that she didn''t even know she had been holding when she saw Mark.
Mark was shirtless and there were various scars across his body from the fight he had juste from. He was dragging the body of arge monkey-based Anima behind him and he dropped it on the ground as he scanned over everything going on in the clearing.
Mark only took a moment to scan everything around him and he was able to deduce what had happened. Tylor was trying to protect Fiona and he ended up biting off more than he could chew. This is exactly why Mark told them that they should have brought more people.
The monsters here are far stronger than they predicted and Mark knew that if not for the fact that he was here, then all of them would have died.
The Ant-headed Anima immediately changed its focus once it saw Mark and its eyes gleamed in surprise as it saw its main prey standing before it! It screeched in anger as it squeezed down harder on Tylor''s neck and Tylor screamed in pain as he felt his neck crack!
"Let go of him."
The Anima was stunned when Mark suddenly appeared beside it. Mark gripped its wrist and slowly twisted and the Anima started to loosen its grip around Tylor''s neck involuntarily until it dropped Tylor to the ground. It immediately jumped back to get some distance between it and Mark as it felt its wrist throbbing in pain from Mark''s grip.
It rubbed its wrist and nced at Mark in shock, but Mark was not even paying attention to it as he looked down at Tylor and made sure that Tylor was still breathing.
"Come and take him away, Fiona."
Once Mark was sure that Tylor was alive, he turned to Fiona and called her over. Fiona jerked like she had just snapped out of a haze as she heard her name, but she managed toport herself and slowly came forward till she was standing beside Tylor. Fiona kept ncing at the Anima in front of them and she was prepared to run in case there was any sign of an attacking from the monster.
But the Anima did not move a muscle as it just kept looking at Mark.
"Don''t worry about it. It''s not going to attack you. Just take Tylor to the helicopter and try to get him some first aid before you guys leave. His neck is probably broken."
Fiona nodded and she grabbed Tylor. Fiona jumped off the ground and into the trees before disappearing into the forest. Once she was gone, Mark turned to the monster with a small smile.
"Now that they''re gone, how about we talk? You can talk; can''t you, Ant?"
"Do not call me an Ant. I am a proud Anima."
Mark folded his hands.
"Oh, but isn''t that what you are? It''s like telling me not to call a dog a dog, or a monkey a monkey. Regardless of how you look at it, you''re nothing but an ant, Ant. But that is not what I wanted to talk about. I want to know where you take your prisoners. Are they kept in the tunnels below the ind?"
The Anima began to trek forward as it released a low screech.
"The great Anima do not answer to mere humans."
Boom!
The Anima shot off the ground and charged for Mark and Mark could easily track its movement as it moved towards him. Mark''s gaze was cold as he red at the Anima and dared it toe towards him.
The Anima immediately felt a shiver go through its spine as it saw those eyes!
Chapter 53: Life Lessons
The Anima immediately felt a shiver run down its spine as it saw those eyes, and it unconsciously made a decision not to charge straight for Mark. Instead, it dashed to the side, attempting to blindside Mark from behind. It charged at Mark again and released a punch that would have destroyed a mountain, but Mark put his hand up and easily caught the punch in his grip!
Boom!
A massive wind pressure rose from the point of contact, and Mark''s hair was blown back from the intensity. Mark squeezed down on the monster''s arm, and the monster screeched as it tried to pull its arm back. But no matter what it tried, it couldn''t make Mark loosen his grip.
After killing the Monkey Anima, Mark was able to gain 100 skill points. Mark sent all of his skill points straight to his Full Body Constitution, and his previous constitution, Soldier Ant Constitution, evolved into a new one called Raiju Thunder God.
[Raiju Thunder God: This constitution skill enhances the practitioner''s entire body, imbuing them with the electrifying power of a thunder god, allowing heightened speed, strength, and the ability to discharge electricity inbat.]
Effects:
- Full Body Augmentation x20
- Stunner [Enemies one rank below the User will receive an automatic 2-second Stun effect upon first contact with the User]
(A/N: The Full Body Augmentation Skill measures how much power Mark''s body can hold, it is not a multiplier for his power. The previous full-body constitution only strengthened his body to ten times its mortal limits, and this constitution takes it one step further.)
...
SUPERHUMAN SYSTEM
Name: Mark Vanitas
Race: Human
Title: [He Who Perseveres Through Hell. [+10% increase to all stats.]]
Rank: A [2120/3000]
Affiliation: True Good
Unused Stat Points: 160
Unused Skill Points: 50
...
Strength: 820 [+82] [+80]
Stamina: 650 [+65] [+58]
Agility: 650 [+65] [+13]
Durability: 510 [+51]
Mana: 260 [+26]
[System stats are greatly unbnced, and the User is advised to improve thecking stat to ensure proper growth.]
...
[SKILL TREE]
-> Full Body Constitution: This is a unique skill tree enabling the user to systematically enhance and fortify every aspect of their physical form, elevating strength and resilience to unprecedented levels!
Current Full Body Constitution: Raiju Thunder God: 1/200
[Raiju Thunder God: This constitution skill enhances the User''s entire body, imbuing them with the electrifying power of a thunder god, granting heightened speed, strength, and the ability to manipte and discharge electricity inbat.]
Effects:
- Full Body Augmentation x20
- Stunner [Enemies one rank below the User will receive an automatic 2-second Stun effect upon first contact with the User]
-> Mana Cirction: Mana Cirction is a skill enabling the user to enhance the efficiency of mana distribution throughout their body, optimizing energy flow for heightened senses and greater strength.
Current Mana Cirction Stage: F Rank [11/100]
[Stat Improvements Due to Application of Mana]
Strength: +6%
Stamina: +6%
Agility: +2%
-> Taunting: This Skill lures enemies with a lower Rank towards the User, diverting their attention from all distractions and encouraging aggressive engagement!
Current Taunting Variation: Call of the Night Wolves [F Rank [1/100]]
Probability of sessful Taunting Based on Level: 20%
-> Blunt Force Trauma: This skill heightens the probability ofnding a critical hit as the user delivers consecutive sessful punches to the enemy, harnessing the cumtive impact for devastating effectiveness! Critical Attacks deal +100% extra damage to the enemy!
Current Rank: F Rank [51/100]
Probability ofnding a Critical Attack: +3% for every sessful consecutive hit.
...
Mark grinned and dragged the Anima closer as electricity began to spark around him! The stunning effect of his full body constitution didn''t activate, but the Anima still felt an intense jolt of electricity that immediately made it try to pull back in shock!
"Let me teach you some life lessons, Ant. One; you should never get this close to a brawler."
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three consecutive punches mmed into the Anima''s stomach, and it felt its feet leave the ground as it was carried into the air from the force of the punches! The Anima immediately tried to perform an axe kick to take Mark''s head off, but Mark ducked under the kick and used the momentum of the movement to stretch out the arm he was already holding.
"Lesson two; Don''t ever give a brawler your arm!"
Crack!
Rip!
The sound of bone breaking and flesh tearing resonated across the entire region as Mark ripped the arm he had been holding out from the socket! The Anima screamed in pain as it stumbled back from Mark and held its stump in pain. Mark looked down at the hand that he took from the Anima before he scoffed and began to walk towards the Anima with a foreboding aura around him.
"Damn human scum!"
The Anima screeched as it charged for Mark with a vengeful gaze, but Mark easily dodged around the monster''s attack and used its torn arm to m it in the face! The monster flew back, and it tried to rush to its feet, but it was not fast enough to stop a massive kick from Mark that mmed into its back and sent it to the ground!
The Anima screeched at Mark threateningly as it rushed to its feet and shot off. Mark prepared to block in case the anima was nning to attack, but the Anima immediately changed trajectory at thest moment and shot off into the forest as it realized that Mark was far stronger than it.
It would not be sensible to fight against Mark in a straight fight, so it needed to draw Mark down into the tunnel so the other Anima in the tunnel could help it!
Boom!
The Anima was blindsided by a sudden impact, and it flew through a tree at the side as it was thrown off its feet. Mark jumped towards the monster with a mad look in his eyes as he used the Anima''s torn arm to smash its head in!
Boom!
Another great tremor echoed through the forest, and Mark just continued the onught as he relentlessly beat the Anima! He grabbed the Anima by its head when it tried to escape, and he mmed its face into a tree!
The Anima struggled in Mark''s grip until it managed to finally loosen Mark''s grip, and it turned around and spat a toxic substance out!
Hiss!
Mark immediately jumped back in surprise as the liquid oozed out from the Anima''s mouth and sprayed over his stomach. He looked down at his abs where the spit touched him and waited to see if there would be any effects, but thankfully his constitution was too strong for the spit to prate, and it just oozed off him. Mark then watched as the Anima bolted off once more.
He narrowed his eyes for a moment and thought about chasing after it, but then a better idea crossed Mark''s head, and he allowed himself to rx as he began to jog after the Anima.
Mark was certain that the Anima would try to go back to a ce where there were reinforcements. And it was most likely the same ce where they kept their prisoners. Mark didn''t know howrge the underground tunnels were, but if the tunnels covered the entire ind, then it would be impossible for him to find Arit in that maze.
It would be far more sensible for him to just allow the Anima to take him as close as possible to the center of the maze.
"Lesson three: Always stay one step ahead of the enemy."
Chapter 54: Underground
In the underground tunnels, James and the other members of the team that went belowground trekked forward with their senses at high alert and a cautious air around them.
The first thing that told James that this was going to be a terrible fight was the feeling he had once he entered the tunnels. James couldn''t exin it even if he tried. There was this unnatural foreboding that he had never felt before spreading across the entire cave!
It almost felt like he was in the den of a wild beast and the beast was simply watching from a distance and waiting for him toe closer! But James didn''t heed his internal feelings because he knew that he needed to go deeper into the cave to see what was inside.
James, Meta, and the other A-rank and B-rank superhumans all trekked deeper into the cave and they found a pathway that went down for a long time. It was lined with multiple glowing green lights illuminating from rocks that protruded from the cave wall.
They eventually came across some monsters along the way and they were able to dispatch them easily because they were low-level monsters that didn''t pose any real danger to them.
James and Meta didn''t even need to intervene as the A-rank and B-rank superhumans were able to easily destroy these monsters. This raised their morale for some time as they continued on their way. They thought that the monsters down here would be weak since the ones that they had met were all weak, but James and Meta knew that this would not be the case.
They told the other superhumans to keep their eyes peeled and to not get too rxed because they could meet a cmity ss at any point, but the other superhumans were too happy about how easy it was for them to destroy the previous monsters and they didn''t listen!
Boom!
The sound of fightinging from above them was the only indication they received that something had gone desperately wrong above ground! They could not even understand what had happened before another long, intense tremor made the tunnel shake and they were forced to move faster so they would not get buried under the falling rocks.
They moved quickly through the tunnel and they finally reached a small cave that split into two different pathways on the left and right. The entire group stopped as James and Meta both realized immediately that this was a problem.
James and Meta were the only two S-rank superhumans there and the rest of them were only A-ranks and B-ranks. That meant that they would have to split the S-ranks into two groups if they wanted to really search the tunnels and take care of any monsters in the caves. James wondered what would happen if they were to encounter a monster that an S-rank could not defeat inside those caves.
Suddenly, a man spoke up from behind James.
"We should just split up. Half of us should go with James and the other half will go with Meta. You are both strong, so I am sure that there will be no issues if each group has one of you."
The person who spoke was called Greg. He was a member of the NSA that worked directly under James. He had a lot of experience in the superhuman world, but he didn''t have as much experience on the battlefield since he was only a bank clerk before he became a superhuman four years ago. He was an A-rank that had a blessing from Hermes.
This made him extremely fast and he tended to handle orders very efficiently. But he was not very good at making tactical decisions.
James knew that splitting up would be the best option, but he was still worried that there was a monster here that was stronger than an S-rank. But suspicion was not enough reason for him to stop the team since they were all on the same page. Even Meta eventually agreed and told James that he would go down the left tunnel while James should go down the right tunnel.
The monsters that they already encountered down here were too weak and so the monster ahead would probably be weak enough for them to handle as well.
"Yeah, let''s just finish up quickly and go help the others up on the surface."
"I need to get back home to my girlfriendter! Let''s finish up quickly."
"There''s no way a mere monster can kill all of us if we gang up on it!"
"We have S ranks, so we will be fine! We can finish this in no time!"
James sighed internally and he relented when he heard everyone voicing their agreement! He knew it would be impossible to argue against all of them since they seemed to have alle to the same decision together. They wanted to split up and that was fine by James!
But this decision would turn out to be the worst choice they could have ever made.
James took half of the A and B ranks and walked down the right tunnel while Meta took the other half and walked down the left tunnel.
"Be careful over there and try toe back in one piece. I wouldn''t want to start exining to Talia how I couldn''t get her old man out."
That was thest thing Meta said to James before they both separated and entered the different tunnels. It was thest time they would ever speak to each other.
James kept his eyes peeled as they went deeper into the tunnel with his smaller team. The tunnel was still illuminated by the crystals, so there was no need for them to light it up, but James couldn''t help but feel like something was watching him from the shadows. He narrowed his eyes and looked around calmly before he stopped as another tremor shook the entire region from the surface!
Boom!
James immediately wondered if that tremor wasing from the fight against the monsters up there. James didn''t think that it would escte to this level since there are many Superhumans with Fiona and Tyler! They even have Archer, so shouldn''t the fight already be over if Archer was watching their back?
Don''t tell me they ran into the monster that was too strong for Archer to snipe. That''s impossible! Archer has one of the strongest long-range skills. He should be able to handle Cmity sses easily from a distance!
Boom!
Another tremor passed through the cave and James heard the other people with him murmuring amongst themselves as they looked around at all the falling debris in the cave, but he was not looking around like they were. Instead, his eyes were transfixed on one particr spot on the ceiling where he could see a crystal protruding from.
He narrowed his eyes and he reached out and touched one of the superhumans blessed by the god of fire.
"Put a light over there."
The superhuman looked up in surprise and she saw that the spot James was talking about was already well-illuminated by a green crystal. Why would he want to have a light over there? But James insisted on it and the superhuman didn''t have any choice as she brought her hand up and lit a me!
Phwoom!
Her entire face paled as she felt her heart drop down to her stomach in dread! She took a step back immediately as she shouted at the top of her lungs.
"ANIMA!!!"
Chapter 55: Lizards and Men
"ANIMA!!!"
There was a giant lizard-type anima hanging on the ceiling at the exact spot that the crystal was protruding from, but for some reason, they could not see the Anima when it was only being illuminated by the light of the crystal. It was only when the mes covered it that they were able to see where it was!
The anima immediately raced out from the light of the mes and everyone in the cave went into a fighting stance as the Anima disappeared into the light of another crystal. James shouted at the me user to bring up arge bonfire! They needed to create more light so they could see where the anima went!
But before James could chase after the Anima, he was blindsided by another Anima who appeared from behind and mmed into him!
Boom!
The anima sent James into the wall, and James put his hand in front of his face as the Anima used its leg to kick James deeper into the rock!
What the hell is this power!?
This Anima was nothing like the one they faced when they came to the tunnel! That Anima was just a disaster ss, but this one was definitely a cmity ss! It had to be on the same level of power as the Anima that Mark fought in the city! The new Anima was also a lizard-type Anima, but this one was standing on two legs and looked more like a lizardman than a lizard.
James dragged himself out from the hole before the lizardman could hit him again, and he quickly tackled the lizardman with a loud shout.
"Focus on the other anima! I''ll handle this one!"
Once James shouted this out to the other superhumans, he dragged the lizardman a few steps away from the superhumans before he drew back to try and get some space between them. The lizardman immediately swung itsrge tail at James, but James wasted no time as heshed out with a punch of his own while activating his blessing!
Toon!!
Boom!
A loud musical note rang out from his fist as it impacted against the anima, and the Anima roared in anger as its tail was almost torn off from the force behind the punch! James charged in and dodged under another tail swing as he grabbed the Anima''s legs and roared in anger as he dragged it into the air and made the Anima fall on its side!
He immediately sent a punch down at the Anima, but it was able to grab James by the head and toss him into the wall of the cave before the punch hit!
Boom!
The anima slowly got to its feet and stormed over to James. Itshed out with a massive punch, and James reared his head back and used his forehead to counter the punch!
Toon!
Boom!
Another musical note rang out as James released sound waves from his forehead and used it to amplify the intensity of his headbutt! If not for that trick, James would have definitely lost his head at that moment, but he was able to counter the punch, and the Anima stumbled back and this gave James some time to recuperate as he dragged himself out from the wall again.
He needed to find a way to kill this thing so he could go help the A and B ranks that he left behind. James didn''t know how strong that other lizard-based anima was, but James knew that it would be difficult to deal with it because of how it used the illumination of the caves to hide itself. If that anima is anything like this one, then the A and B ranks would not stand a chance!
"Rarggghhh!!"
James dashed at the anima and used all of his strength to tackle the Anima back into the wall of the cave!
Boom!
The two of them burst through the wall, and they appeared in another part of the tunnel. There was a steep fall right on the edge of the new area, and James had to struggle to hold onto the edge of the wall so he wouldn''t fall down into the darkness below.
"Argh!"
The lizardman was holding tight to James'' leg with its ws, and James immediately used his blessing to release arge burst of sound waves from his legs, dislodging the monster from his leg and making it fall down into the darkness below! But before it even went far, the lizard reached out with its ws and grabbed hold of the cliff face to stop itself from falling!
If you looked closely enough, you would see thousands of sharp stgmites and spikes down there, and it would mean certain death if they fell into the trench from this height.
"I''m too old for this shit! Just die already, you fucking lizard!"
James could only curse as he forced himself back to the top with a lot of effort! His leg was throbbing from the wound the lizard inflicted with its ws, and James knew that he was bleeding without even looking at it. It was throbbing and spewing blood constantly because of how much effort he was exerting to stay standing.
Roar!!
The lizardman was also able to reach the top quickly, and it charged at James again as the both of them began to exchange blows right on the cliff edge.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
James knew that one mistake from him would end up with his death, and he tried his best to draw the monster toward the cliff while also making sure not to put too much weight on his injured leg. He dodged under one of the monster''s swipes, and he released one of hisrgest punches right into the monster''s stomach to make it stumble back in surprise!
He grabbed its tail once itshed out, and he dragged the monster closer to him and smashed another punch into the monster''s back!
The monster roared in anger and used its hind legs to kick James in the stomach! James stumbled back, and he was forced to put a lot of weight on his injured leg as he immediately stopped himself from stumbling too close to the edge!
He got his bnce, and he was able to get back into the fight, but a scream from one of the superhumans that he left behind made him turn his head to nce at what was happening!
That was his only mistake.
Squelch!
A deep gash appeared over James'' shoulder as he was cut through by the lizardman''s ws, and his eyes widened as blood sprayed out over the floor. He immediately gained some distance between him and the monster while holding his shoulder in pain, but the monster didn''t even bother chasing after him because it could already be seen that James was going to lose.
A small upturning of its lips shocked James and James narrowed his eyes in anger once he saw it.
It wasughing.
James fell to one knee as the blood loss from both his shoulder and his leg was starting to get to him. He was going to die here if he didn''t stop the bleeding.
The lizardman only watched James for a few moments before another scream echoed from the superhumans outside. The superhumans outside were only able to hold the stealthy lizard for a few seconds, but they were severely overpowered because of how elusive it was.
Most of them died due to the lizard''s stealthy attacks and raw brute strength, and now only three of them were remaining.
The lizardman turned to walk back into the cave so it could get some of the humans as well. If it left the stealthy lizard to its own devices, then the stealthy lizard would eat all the humans and leave nothing for it!
Chapter 56: Dragon Heart
The three remaining superhumans were standing in a small semicircle with their backs against the wall, and they all held out their weapons to keep the lizard away. James''s assistant, Greg, the female fire-based superhuman, and another A-rank superhuman who uses a sword and his wind blessing to fight were the only ones left.
The fire-based superhuman was still using her me to illuminate the area so that they could see the lizard, but she was already crying in despair as she knew that she would not be making it out of there alive. She should have just stayed as a firewoman instead ofing to join the NSA! At least if she was a firewoman, she wouldn''t be facing monsters like these!
"Stop crying and think of a way out of here instead. These monsters will kill you whether you cry or not."
Greg was the only one of the three who was still calm and he swore that he would not go down without a fight. He held a long staff in front of him to keep the Lizad at a distance as he tried to think of a way out of there. Greg was blessed by the god of speed himself and he knew that if he ran away now, he might manage to get far before the lizard came after him, but Greg refused to run away.
He was not going to abandon hisrades here because he knew that once he left, they would definitely be killed. Greg was going to stay here and try to think of a way for all of them to survive.
"We should have done more research into this ind! I thought the monsters here were only disaster sses and one or two cmity sses! These monsters are far stronger than any we''ve seen in the city before!"
The superhuman with wind magic shouted out in anger as he nced at the steadily approaching lizard. He thought they would be able toe here and clean out the entire ind because of their numbers, but things were looking grave right from the start. He didn''t know what was happening up on the surface, but he knew that things were surely better over there than down here!
Greg shook his head and tried to keep his cool while his heart was threatening to beat out of his chest.
"Just stay calm. I''m sure the chairman will finish off the other lizard and he''lle help us soon. Just remain calm."
Step! Step! Step!
The sound of footsteps made Greg and the others look up, and they were all shocked to see the second lizardman who was fighting against the chairman walking out from a hole in the wall anding towards them. The lizardman grunted at the stealthy lizard, and the two of them almost seemed to have an argument in some strangenguage before they both turned to the humans.
Greg was in too much shock to think, but he knew that what just happened was an agreement between them to share the humans! Greg swallowed in fright and took a step back. The fact that the lizardman was here meant that James lost the fight! Did the lizardman already kill James!? If that was true, then there was nothing any of them could do to stop the lizard from eating them!
Should he just run?
"Turning your back to an enemy!? What an insult!"
A hand suddenly grabbed the two lizards by their tails as James appeared out from the hole in the wall with blood leaking all over him. Greg couldn''t see James because the lizardmen were blocking his view, but he heard James shout loudly!
"Greg! You better take care of Talia, you useless bastaaarrrrrd!"
James had a bloody smile on his face as the image of his granddaughter passed through his head at that moment. He knew that she would not be happy about his death. She would probably cry and hate him for some time. But there was no question that she would be just fine. Talia was strong, and she would be able to cope even if he wasn''t there with her!
The lizards suddenly felt a great pull drag them backward as James raced for the hole in the wall! He released arge sound wave from his feet into the ground to propel himself through the hole and straight over the cliffside!
Roar!!!!
The two lizards were not able to react quickly enough, and they were just dragged along in the suicide charge as James took all three of them down into the darkness below! And through all this, hisughter echoed all through the cave!
"I love you, Talia!!!!"
Greg ran over to the edge of the cliff and looked down in shock! There was no sound for more than a minute before a loud sound of bodies being skewered echoed through the entire cave. Greg closed his eyes and grit his teeth in anger. He could feel tearsing to his eyes, and he didn''t bother trying to stop them as he used the back of his hand to clean his eyes over and over again.
"I''ll look after her, James. I promise."
Greg got to his feet while making a promise to James, and he looked up and tried his hardest to calm the tears that just wouldn''t stop.
After he finally managed to calm himself, he entered back through the hole to meet the other two superhumans who managed to survive. The female me user was sitting on the floor and breathing heavily while looking down at the ground, and the male wind user was folding his hands and resting his back against the wall.
He was also staring at the ground, and they both remained silent as they thanked James for what he did for them.
"We have to start moving. James saved us here, but we don''t know if there are any other monsters around. It would be dangerous to stay here any longer, so we need to get back to the helicopter and get out of this ind. We should have nevere here in the first ce."
Greg suddenly spoke up once he was close enough to the both of them. They needed to get out of here before they ran into any more monsters. James saved them this time and Geg knew that if they encountered another monster like those two lizards, there was no chance of theming out alive! The female shivered and held her hands close to her body as she looked back at the hole James fell out of.
"What if there are more monsters down the path we came from? I don''t think I have enough mana to fight even a weak disaster ss right now."
"We will have to risk it. I haven''t heard any tremors from above, so it is likely that the fighting is finished up there. Either that or¡"
Greg stopped speaking as he didn''t even want to utter the words that came to his mind, but the other two already knew what Greg was about to say, and they silently gulped as they realized that it was also a possibility. What if the monsters up there were just as strong as these two lizards they just fought against and everyone on the surface was dead?
What will they do if they cannot even get to the helicopter?
"We should call for reinforcements. Maybe the other guilds will send more help when they hear about this?"
The male superhumans pushed off the wall and spoke up confidently. He was sure that the other guilds would never leave them here to die if they knew the strength of the monsters here, but Greg just shook his head. Greg was there when the chairman sent a message out to all the guilds and asked for their assistance, and they all ignored the request.
They weren''t obligated to help, and so they weren''t going to. It is unlikely that those bastards would try to help them now.
"It is more likely that the other guilds will ignore the message. Only the NSA will help us, and we don''t have enough superhumans left to take on this sort of situation. We should just get to the top first and find out what happened. Specting is only going to make us paranoid."
The other two nodded to what Greg said as they saw the sense in his words, and they decided to make their way back to the surface before they made any more decisions.
Boom!!
They were about to start heading back, but arge tremor suddenly shook the entire tunnel, and they had to hold onto the wall beside them to prevent themselves from falling! Greg looked down the tunnel in shock!
"What the hell was that!?"
Chapter 57: Why Are You Running!?
Two figures shed across the cave!
Woosh!
"You are more monster than I!!"
No one would expect a scream like this toe from the mouth of a literal monster as it ran from a human, but that was exactly what happened as Mark chased down the Ant anima through the tunnels under the ind. Mark knew that the ant anima would try to get reinforcements, so he allowed it to move ahead and followed it till it came down to this tunnel.
But once Mark found the entrance to the tunnel, he didn''t need the Anima anymore and now he was going to kill it!
There were green stones lining the walls of the tunnel and illuminating the underground tunnel, and Mark would have found it beautiful at any other time. But right now, his gaze was fixed on the anima he just didn''t have any time for sightseeing.
Woosh!
Mark zoomed down the tunnel as he chased after the anima that was currently running away from him like he was a monster! The Anima was bolting like a bat straight out of hell, and it knew that looking back even once would be dangerous because Mark was right on its tail! It dashed straight through the tunnels before reaching the two openings that split the tunnels into two paths.
The anima quickly went down the right path. It wanted to lead Mark towards the tworge lizard-type Anima that were down this path so they could help it defeat Mark. The addition of those two low-level cmity ss anima would greatly increase its chances against Mark, and they could take Mark down together.
But the Anima couldn''t even get all the way down the tunnel before it felt a hand brush against its back and grab it by the arm!
"Why are you running, ant!? I thought you were better than me!"
Boom!
[Critical Hit]!
Once Mark grabbed hold of the Anima, he wasted no time as he dragged the anima back while delivering a devastating punch into the Anima''s side! The anima crashed into the tunnel wall, and Mark was surprised when the wall broke and the anima fell through the wall and down a steep cliff that appeared on the other side!
Mark walked to the edge of the cliff, and he saw that the anima was holding on with its one good hand while staring up at Mark with a re. Mark looked down at the deep darkness below, and he only smiled as he saw the sharp spikes below.
"Resorting to dirty tricks for victory is exactly what I would expect from a human. Cowardly scum!"
Mark raised a surprised brow as he used his heel to step on the Anima''s fingers!
"Screech!"
Smash!
The anima screeched in pain, but Mark ignored its noise as he started to grind his heel into its fingers with increasing force! Mark knew that mming his feet into the ground over and over again would only make the tform crack, and he might go over the edge of the cliff with the Anima, so he was going to make it impossible for the anima to hold on instead!
Mark didn''t stop grinding his heel until the anima lost its grip on the cliff and fell down the dark cliff edge and into the darkness below. It kept its re fixed on Mark until it disappeared, and Mark only tilted his head to the side with a wicked grin across his face as he watched it.
Mark would not call himself a particrly vindictive person, but he was not above savoring the feeling of joy thates with watching your enemy plummet to his death. The anima called him a monster? What nonsense.
"What would a monster like you know about being human? You can only call yourself a genuine being when you''ve experienced both the good and bad sides of your emotions. Freaks like you that only savor killing and destruction will never understand the beauty of humanity."
Mark said this as he watched the Anima until it finally disappeared, and it took a few extra seconds before Mark finally saw the message from his system.
[User had killed [1] Low-Level Cmity ss +100 skill points.]
Mark didn''t waste any time as he opened his tab and moved his skill points to his two most important skills. Mark had one hundred and fifty skill points right now, and he decided that he would use them all.
[Does the User wish to add points to the selected skills? Yes/No]
Mark chose yes, and the free skill points climbed down to zero as they were transferred to the skills he chose.
¡
[User had added 89 points to Mana Cirction]
Current Mana Cirction: E Rank [0/200]
[Stat Improvements Due to Application of Mana]
Strength: +10%
Stamina: +10%
Agility: +10%
[User has added 61 skill points to Blunt Force Trauma]
Current Rank: E Rank [2/200]
Probability ofnding a Critical Attack: +4% for every sessful consecutive hit.
¡
Once Mark was done with this, he then sent the remaining stat points that he had into his Mana stat. There were only one hundred and sixty stat points left, and Mark knew that it would be best to use them to increase his mana so that the mana would increase his other stats as well.
Since Mana and Mana cirction worked together to increase his stats, the higher his mana and mana cirction, then the higher his other stats would be.
[Does the user wish to add points to the selected stat? Yes/No]
Mark selected the yes option, and the system immediately sent the stats to mana.
[User had added 160 stat points to Mana.]
¡
[Mana: 280/462]
Mark frowned as he checked the amount of mana that he had left after adding in the mana points that he already had. There was barely half of his original amount left, and it only got up to that point because of the extra stat points that he added to Mana. Mark knew that it was supposed to be much lower than that. Mark decided that he would have to find a way to get more mana as soon as possible.
There were still some lower-ranked cmity sses that he hadn''t killed yet.
The cause of his drastic drop in mana was probably from the use of his mana cirction skill. As of right now, Mark was still just an A rank, and the only thing that allowed him to fight on equal footing as all Cmity ss monsters he has been going up against was the fact that he had so many good skills.
Most of Mark''s skills were helping to boost his regr stats by ten percent or more, and that waspounding to make him stronger. Mark knew that he had been relying on Mana cirction for too long already and he would need to increase his strength so that he would not get into trouble if he ever ran out of mana in the middle of a fight.
Imagine running out of mana in the middle of a fight and suddenly ending up with only half or two-thirds of your regr strength! That would not end well!
Mark decided that once he was done here, he would improve both his regr Strength-based stats and his mana. It is always better to have more strength.
Mark now had to find out where the other low-ranking cmity sses were. He should probably kill them and increase his mana capacity before going to face off against the High-ranking Cmity sses. Mark already learned his lesson about the differences in strength between low and high-ranking sses in anima.
The Anima that he just fought was a low-ranking Cmity ss, and it was nothing like the high-ranking disaster sses. Mark knew that the high-level cmity ss would be far stronger than the low-level cmity ss he just fought.
Chapter 58: Blow It To Hell
The Anima that he just fought was a low-level Cmity ss, and it was nothing like the high-ranking disaster sses! This cmity ss could probably take on fifty disaster sses all on its own and it would be fine! That meant that the high-level cmity ss would be far stronger than the low-level cmity ss!
Mark knew he had to be at his very best if he wanted to stand a chance against it.
Mark turned and began to walk out to continue down the tunnel again, but footsteps from down the tunnel made him pause as he immediately brought up his guard again. Mark peered with narrowed eyes into the darkness of the tunnel and he finally calmed down when he noticed that the peopleing towards him were human. There were two men and a womaning to him.
One of the men was holding the woman upright with her hand over his shoulder, and the second man there was leading the way. Mark didn''t recognize any of them, but it was obvious that they recognized him because they immediately starteding towards him.
"Vanitas. Is that you? What in the world are you doing here?"
Greg was the one leading from the front, and he couldn''t stop his surprise from showing once he saw Mark. He thought that Mark would get stuck on the surface since he didn''te with the other superhumans. The monsters up there were far more than the monsters down here, so Greg assumed that Mark would not be able toe down here.
But the fact that Mark was here immediately made Greg optimistic about the surface. Mark being here must mean that the superhumans up on the surface managed to defeat the Anima there!
"Where are the other superhumans? Are they going down the other tunnel? Are theying from behind you? We need a healer to help with some of the injuries here¡ Why aren''t you saying anything?"
Greg just kept talking optimistically as he looked down the tunnel, but his voice slowly died out as he realized that Mark was not saying anything in response. Mark was just looking at him with a hard stare that showed no emotion. Greg asked Mark what was wrong and why he was looking at him like that.
"Where is everybody, Mark?"
Mark didn''t like the look that Greg was giving him. That hopeful shine in Greg''s eyes would only make things worse for him when he learns about what happened up there.
"I don''t know how many survived exactly, but most of the superhumans up there were killed by the Anima. They were overwhelmed by the sheer number and they couldn''t fight back or change their strategy quickly enough to survive. I was only able to save about five or six people but for the rest¡ I don''t know. They might be dead, or not."
Greg felt all his energy leave him at once immediately after he heard this, and it was only through sheer will that he didn''t fall to his knees. He closed his eyes in despair as he felt a great wave of anguish pass through him. What is the meaning of all this? They came here with almost fifty people and they were all dead? Was this really how great the difference between them and the Anima was?
The two superhumans behind Greg were also bowing their heads and they were silent as they contemted what they were going to do now. The only thing they could hope for was that the helicopter pilot was not killed. That was the only way they could get off this damn ind of death.
Mark suddenly spoke up to break the depressing silence that settled on the three superhumans. He knew that they were sad about theirrades dying, but he didn''t have time to waste here. He had to find Arit before something happened to her.
"You said that there was another tunnel. Do you know which of the tunnels leads to the main chamber here? I need to find my way deeper into that chamber."
Once Mark said this, Greg looked up in shock! What nonsense was Mark talking about!? He still wanted to go deeper into the main chamber? After everything that already happened?
"Don''t be crazy, Vanitas. This mission is already messed up and there is no need for you to go deeper into the tunnels! What we need to do now is to find a way out of here so we can get back to the maind!"
Mark narrowed his eyes and spoke dismissively.
"You can leave if you want to, but I am not leaving without my friend. I came here without any of you and I will finish my mission alone if I have to."
"Don''t be stupid! We should go back and tell the government about this so they can blow this ind to hell! Your friend is probably already dead!"
Mark grabbed Greg by his cor and dragged him off his feet easily! Greg was shocked by how easy it was for Mark to lift him off his feet and into the air so that his toes were barely touching the ground! Greg was no pushover, and he knew that he was fast, so how in the world was Mark able to grab him so quickly!?
"I''ll only let it go once because I don''t know who the fuck you are, but if you ever talk about letting her die again, I''ll tear your heart out of your chest. No one is blowing anything up until I have my friend. Now, what is the direction to the main chamber?"
Greg red at Mark and immediately thought about attacking him in anger! This fool was going to get them all killed because of his teenage crush! Mark was still just a teenager and Greg was sure that this was just his hormones telling him to keep moving forward like some sort of stupid superhero!
He was only doing this because it was a female friend that was captured and he wanted to feel like a hero!
But then an image of his own children shed in front of his mind, and Greg closed his eyes and forced himself to calm down. He was being too rash right now; it was only his fear that was telling him to abandon a young girl to these monsters and kill her. If James heard what Greg just said to Mark, then James would have beaten the crap out of him!
"Yeah, sorry. I shouldn''t have spoken about your friend like that. Can you drop me? I''ll tell you whatever you want to know."
Mark raised a brow at how quickly Greg agreed to help him. He thought that Greg would put up more of a fight than this.
Greg was a very level-headed person and he always thought about things from more than one perspective before taking action. Greg knew that Mark would not agree to go back, and Greg understood because he would have done the same if it was his son or daughter that the Anima took.
Mark finally set Greg back on the ground calmly, and Greg straightened out his shirt with a small frown before turning to point down the dark tunnel.
"There is a blockage leading down that way, so I don''t think this is the main tunnel leading to the chamber. If you follow us back, then you can follow the other tunnel down the left side and go to the chamber. I think you will have a better chance if you follow that path."
Chapter 59: Unlikely Situation
"There is a blockage leading down that way, so I don''t think this is the main tunnel leading to the chamber. If you follow us back, then you can take the other tunnel down the left side and go to the chamber. I think that would be better."
Mark nced back at the dark tunnel and hummed as he thought about what to do. It was a long way back, and it would just be a waste of time to turn back now when he had alreadye this far. Mark reached out his hand and touched the wall beside him.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"This might work."
Mark muttered as he knocked on the wall for a second time. There was a hollow sound from the other side of the wall, and Mark realized that the two tunnels might be connected through the wall! Ant tunnels like these are usually connected for a few hundred meters before they fully branch out and separate to different sides of the cave. He pulled back his hand and unleashed a punch!
Boom!
The punch tore a hole through the wall, and Greg watched in stunned silence as the wall crumbled and revealed the other tunnel right in front of them! That was really impressive! Greg didn''t know how, but the walls down here were extremely thick! He noticed during the fight between James and the lizardmen that they were not able to break through the walls even after hitting it multiple times.
It only broke when it suffered too much damage.
The fact that Mark was able to break a hole through the wall in one punch was insane!
"You guys can go back to the helicopter. I sent Fiona and Tyler there, so you should be fine if you can make it to the beach. Just stay clear of the forest, and there shouldn''t be any surprise attacks from Anima."
Once Mark said this, he passed through the hole he made in the wall and began to run down the tunnel! Mark ran for a few seconds before he finally stopped as he noticed someone was following him. Mark turned and saw that it was Greg following him, and he gave Greg a look of irritation as he asked/
"What the hell are you doing? Aren''t you meant to be going with the other two?"
"I want toe with you."
Mark narrowed his eyes once he heard Greg say this. Why would Greg want toe with him? There was no sensible reason why Greg would want to go deeper into the danger after everything that he already went through!
"Go back and help the other two get out of the tunnel. Don''t push yourself too hard."
Greg red at Mark once Mark said this and ran his hands through his hair multiple times as he spoke.
"I''m not pushing myself. I just need to go and make sure that the other superhumans that went in here are alright. Look... James is dead. And since he is dead, I am the only one who can look out for the superhumans from the NSA. I know that you are focused on your friend, and you will probably not have any time to help anyone that you see, so I''ll handle that and allow you to do whatever you want."
Mark''s eyes widened minutely once he heard what Greg said. James was dead? How the hell did that happen? Mark couldn''t believe that the same man he just fought earlier this evening was already dead! But even though Mark was shocked, he didn''t allow himself to stay that way for long and he eventually epted what happened easily.
The world was no longer a safe ce since the armageddon appeared four years ago. It was a dangerous ce where someone you met yesterday could wind up dead today just by being in the wrong ce at the wrong time. It happened all the time over the past four years, and Mark had already gotten used to it.
He just epted that James was gone and he nodded at Greg.
"Stay close to me and try not to go too far. We don''t know what sort of Anima is lurking in here, so it can end badly if you encounter something that is stronger than you. You understand?"
Mark immediately gave Greg some conditions for following him. Mark was not going to be held responsible for what would happen if Greg didn''t fall in line, and Mark was making it known from the start.
Greg nodded seriously as Mark said this. It sounded like Mark was giving him orders, but Greg was not in any position to reprimand Mark because Greg knew that Mark was far stronger than him, and Mark was the one who would be protecting him here. Greg was blessed by Hermes, the god of speed, so he was one of the fastest A-rank superhumans alive!
He was damn good at running away, but he didn''t know if he could run fast enough to get away from whatever they encountered down these tunnels.
Once Mark saw Greg nod, he began to run again! Mark raced at his full speed, and he noticed that Greg was able to keep up with him. Mark was d that Greg wasn''t slow. It would have been a pain in the ass if he had to slow down because Greg couldn''t keep up with him!
Woosh!
The two superhumans flew through the tunnels at high speed, and they were about to pass through another low arch when they stopped as Mark raised his hand. Mark sniffed the air and immediately narrowed his eyes as a familiar smell permeated through his nose. Mark knew that smell from all the times he had been on the front during a fight against Anima.
There was a fight here, and the smell of blood was strong in the air.
"Stay close."
Mark said this as he took a few steps forward. Greg narrowed his eyes as well as he caught a whiff of the repulsive smell of blood, and he took steps forward behind Mark. Once they moved close enough to see what had happened, Mark clicked his tongue at the sight. There were bodies everywhere!
There had obviously been a fight here, and it was obvious that the superhumans were the ones who lost badly! There was blood on the walls, and the ground was littered with body parts and broken people. Mark felt a slippery sensation under his feet and he frowned when he noticed that he was stepping on someone''s liver. Fuck.
"Check for survivors and see if you can get them out of here."
Greg immediately started going from person to person to see if there was any sign of life in them. Most of the people there werepletely torn apart, and there was no chance that they would survive. There was a particr man whose stomach had been torn open, and his hands were missing from the elbow down.
Greg felt like retching, but he managed to keep his food in his stomach as he walked past the man and checked the woman beside him who had a lot of blood pooling under her head.
Mark took more steps forward and he looked around him into the darkness. He knew that this might just be a paranoid feeling, but he didn''t like this situation at all! A field of dead bodies left behind was an unlikely situation for Anima.
Chapter 60: Poisonous Anima
Anima are known to eat their victims.
Mark has fought against multiple Anima in his time as GHOST, and he has always known them to eat their victims. So why were all these human bodies here untouched? There were many of the humans that were missing body parts and some of them were disfigured beyond belief, but there was no sign that any of them were eaten!
"We aren''t alone. Try to keep your guard up. We can''t see it, but I think there is an Anima in this cave."
Once Mark said this, Greg immediately froze as he felt something touch his back! The first thought that came to Greg at that moment was that he was going to die! He cursed himself and his stupidity as he remembered the anima that they just finished fighting against!
One of the lizards could disappear and it was only because of the fire that the female superhuman created that they were able to see the stealthy Anima! Greg should have known that there would be more than one of that Anima type in this cave! If there was one, then there would surely be more!
Greg was crouching down on the ground and examining a corpse when he felt the sensation on his back and his mind shut down as the only thing that came to the forefront of his mind was to either fight or run like a madman!
"Fuck it!"
Greg immediatelyunched himself forward using his toes, and he managed to get more than two meters away from the spot he had been crouching in before he felt something sharp and hard scratch a straight line into his back!
"ARGH!!"
Greg turned around as he felt the pain on his back and he was stunned to see a single green w sticking out from thin air and dripping with his blood! He crawled back and tried to get as far away from that thing as possible. He was sure that the rest of its body was being hidden by its camouge skill!
But if its w was thatrge, then Greg didn''t even want to imagine how big the actual monster was going to be! It must be at least twice the size of the lizard that attacked him in the other tunnel!
SCREECH!!!
The anima screeched as it reached towards Greg, but a hand suddenly grabbed the anima''s invisible body and Mark red at the invisible creature.
"Show yourself, motherfucker."
[Raiju Thunder God]
BZZZZTT!!
SCREEECHHH!!
A massive current of electricity passed through the anima''s entire body as it was thrown back from where Mark touched it.
Mark was reassured once he saw that the skill worked on the anima. That meant that the anima was at least one rank lower than him and he didn''t have to worry too much about being pushed in this fight!
The creature stayed on the ground and didn''t move a muscle as it spasmed from the electric current, and Mark cracked his knuckles as he started moving towards it!
The Raiju Thunder God constitution gave Mark enhanced physical attributes, but it also allowed him to stun enemies that were weaker than him for two seconds. It didn''t seem like a long time when it was put on a scale, but when you are fighting with your life on the line, two seconds could feel like years!
An experienced martial artist could deal life-threatening damage in those two seconds, and someone who was sufficiently stronger than you could even end your life!
The current that passed through the Anima made it lose control of its camouge ability as it slowly began to reveal its true form. It was arge, grotesque-looking thing with the head and arms of a praying mantis and the body of a centipede.
It had multiple legs on its many bodyyers, but the most dangerous part of its body was the tworge green arms protruding from its body withrge ws at the ends of it!
Mark quickly grabbed the Anima before the two seconds were over and he dragged its two ws forward with both hands! He put his leg on its head and a brutal sneer appeared on his face as he pulled the ws with intense force until a loud squelch echoed through the cave as they were pulled out from the protruding arms!
SCREECH!!
Mark noticed that there was a liquid dripping from the ends of the ws and he quickly assumed that they were poisonous. He made sure he didn''t touch that part of the w as he turned them around and plunged them deep into the Anima''s body with intense force! The anima screeched in pain as it stumbled back and began to skitter around like a headless lizard!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
It mmed its body into the walls of the tunnel constantly as it tried to get the ws out of its body, but there was no way for it to remove the ws and it eventually sumbed to the liquid and stopped moving.
The liquid that it secreted from its ws wasn''t poisonous, but they were rxants that paralyzed the body of anything they were injected into. The Anima would use the ws to inject its victims with the rxant and then it would wait for its victim to sumb to the rxant before going in for the kill.
Mark was able to figure out that the liquid wasn''t poisonous as he came closer to the Anima and noticed that it was not yet dead. Its body was paralyzed, but it was still breathing and staring at Mark with wide, terrified eyes. Mark could only chuckle as he ced his feet on the Anima''s head.
What sort of stupid animal isn''t immune to its own poison? Aren''t you meant to have some sort of failsafe where you don''t get hurt by your own poison? Or were the anima such freaks of nature that they weren''t evolved enough to have that failsafe?
Mark knew that the Anima were still evolving at a high rate. The Anima that could talk from before was already a sign that some of the anima were more advanced than others. This anima couldn''t talk, so it was probably less evolved than the other Cmity ss that Mark fought against.
Screech! Screech!
The anima screeched feebly in pain as it felt Mark increasing the force that he was using to press down on its head. Mark was leaning forward, and he was making sure to inflict as much pain as possible on the Anima as he killed it.
The sight of all the people that died here was not going to affect Mark personally, he had already seen too much death and destruction in his time as both KING and GHOST to be affected by something like this. But that doesn''t mean that Mark was heartless.
He couldn''t just allow the bastard that caused this much death to go scot-free. It had to suffer like they suffered. The souls of the superhumans that risked their lives here wouldn''t rest in peace otherwise
Crack!
Crack!
Chapter 61: Final Boss
Crack!
Crack!
The anima continued to screech as it felt its skull cracking open. It suddenly began to feel regret for its greedy nature! It knew that it should have stopped when it finished killing all the humans! It should have just eaten them and left! But it was too greedy and it thought that it could get more food when it heard Mark and Greging down the tunnel.
If it simply left with the bodies then it might have survived!
SCREECH!!
m!
Mark finally destroyed the head, and his boot mmed into the ground as he squashed the anima''s skull under his feet.
[User has killed one Low-Level Cmity ss +100 Skill points]
20 Low-level Disaster ss (20/20)
10 High-level Disaster ss (10/10)
5 Low-level Cmity ss (4/5)
1 High-level Cmity ss (0/1)
Mark only spared it a nce before he swiped his feet on the ground to get rid of the brain matter and turned to look at Greg.
"You okay over there?"
"I¡ can''t fucking move."
Greg was lying t on the ground with one of his hands on his stomach, his other hand was at his side, and his feet were spread unceremoniously on each side. He grunted in exertion as he tried to move, but couldn''t move any part of his body at all no matter how much he struggled!
Greg tried lifting his head again, but it only moved one centimeter before he lost control of it and it fell back to the ground with a thud!
"Fuck!"
Greg cursed loudly as he realized that he was not going anywhere.
Greg was only scratched with a bit of the paralyzing liquid, so he was not going to stay down for long. But as far as Mark was concerned, Greg was out of the fight. He would bepletely useless in a fight the way he is now, and Mark didn''t have the time to wait around for him to get his motor functions back.
"Can you help me over to that wall? The wound on my back hurts a lot."
Mark scoffed as he saw the state Greg was in and he moved closer to make sure that Greg''s injury was not too bad. Once he made sure it was fine, he moved Greg over to the wall and helped him to rest his shoulder on it. Mark then stood and began to walk out of the cave while giving Greg a few parting words.
"When you can move again, get out of the cave. You''ve done the best you could for the people here. You don''t owe them any more than what you''ve already given. Once you get out there, tell Fiona and Tyler to leave the ind immediately. I''ll find my friend and find my own way back, so you don''t need to worry about me."
Greg immediately spoke up before Mark could go too far.
"If you find anyone alive in there, please save them. I know I''m only cing my responsibilities on you, but I don''t have any other choice. I''m begging you; one man to another, to please help them."
Greg watched Mark''s retreating back as he disappeared into the darkness, and it was only after Mark hadpletely disappeared that he heard Mark''s response echo back to him.
"No problem."
¡
Mark had no issues with helping people. Even though Mark only fought because he truly enjoyed the thrill of battle, he also found it worthwhile to help the people along the way. If killing one disaster ss would save the lives of two hundred humans, then the kill would be even more fulfilling. That was how Mark saw things.
But that didn''t mean that Mark was narrow-minded or foolish. He also knew that sometimes you cannot save everyone, and you just have to let people die for the greater good. It sounded wrong on many levels, but it was just the reality of things.
Sometimes, the only thing you can really do is make the decision you believe is best in a bad situation and hope that things align in a way so that the results of your decision don''te back to bite you in the ass.
Isn''t that what all of us are doing, really?
Mark made his way deeper into the tunnel, and he passed the asional signs ofbat here and there as he moved. There were some blood stains on the wall and dents on the floor, but he didn''t see any more bodies, so he was sure that whoever was fighting was still up ahead.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
It didn''t take long for him to reach a wide opening that had sounds of intense fighting echoing out from inside, and Mark took his time to look inside the room and see what sort of monster was inside.
The inside of the room was veryrge, and there was light shining from more of the green light crystals embedded in the walls. The far end of the room had arge chamber-like structure that made Mark narrow his eyes suspiciously once he saw it, but he didn''t have time to really analyze what it could be because his eyes were drawn towards the two people in the middle of the room.
One of them was a human with a slim, muscr build. His shirt was torn, and only parts of his trousers were still intact, and there were hundreds of cuts all around his body from the fight, but he still had a defiant look in his eye as he faced off against the Anima opposite him. Mark could immediately tell who this was.
Although he looked slightly different from the person that Mark saw before, Mark knew that this was Meta, the superhuman that Mark saw hanging out with Archer a few hours earlier.
But that Meta wasrge with bulging pockets of fat all over his body, and this Meta looked like the prime example of a fit bodybuilder! It must be his blessing that was working. Meta could burn the fat inside his body and use it to increase his own body''s power. It was a versatile power because it allowed him to only increase his power to the amount that was required for every enemy.
If he met an enemy that was not too strong, then he would not need to burn too much of his fat!
The mere fact that he was already looking like a track star showed that Meta was fighting against something that was far stronger than him. He had already burned arge amount of his fat, but he was still looking like he was going to lose the fight! Meta was one of the most physically gifted superhumans, so it was a bit surprising that he would struggle against a single opponent.
The anima opposite him was clearly different from all the others that Mark fought up till now. It was an ant-headed anima that stood at three meters tall. It had a tough-looking green exoskeleton with multiple tes on its joints to protect them.
There was nothing different about it physically; it looked and stood in the same animalistic way that all the other Anima did, but there was something in its eyes. An obvious spark of intelligence that told Mark that this Anima was different in every way from the others. It looked like it was analyzing everything about Meta from head to toe as it stared at him.
Mark narrowed his eyes at the Anima as he waited to see what sort of power it had.
Chapter 62: This Is Your End
"You, a mere human, wish to destroy me? Do you not understand the impossibility of your n? The futility of your actions? You will die here and no one wille for you. Your human allies are already dead and there is no one left but we Anima."
Mark seemed to have appeared in the middle of a conversation between the twobatants. The Anima was one of those who could talk, and Mark immediately knew that this one was more intelligent than the other talking anima just because of how refined its speech seemed to be. It could speak in almost perfect English. How did it even learn that?
"Ah, fuck it. I''m going to die anyway so I might as well die fighting. I''m going to kill you even if it kills me in the process. Although, I really wish it doesn''t."
Meta rolled his shoulders tiredly as he said this and he got back into a fighting stance. There was a nonchnt air around Meta that made it seem like he was not interested in anything at all. Meta just wanted to get this fight over with quickly so he could leave.
"There is only one superhuman who may pose a threat to our race, and you are not him. You are no KING. Shall we make a deal, human? Promise to bring me the human known as KING and I shall permit you to leave this ce alive. He is on this ind, I am sure of it. Bring him to me and your life is yours."
Meta''s brow furrowed as he heard the name of the first superhuman. What the hell was the anima talking about? Didn''t it know that KING was already dead?
The way that Anima spoke about KING was too familiar. It almost sounded like the anima was a hundred percent sure that KING was alive. But that couldn''t be possible. Every superhuman has heard about KING and the battle he fought against the first Armageddon.
It is one of the first things you learn once you be a superhuman and it is one of the only reasons why many of them were even superhumans in the first ce. KING motivated them to put their lives on the line for those who couldn''t fight for themselves.
They all saw how destructive the fight between KING and the Armageddon was and they knew that KING died in that battle. There is no way KING would survive against something like that.
"Stop talking nonsense."
Meta took on a fighting stance as smoke began to waft off from his body and Mark could sense Meta''s power rising even more as the smoke burned more of his fat and turned that into raw energy! Meta shot off after the anima and the anima only pulled its right arm back. The fingers on its right arm all fused together and elongated as it formed into a long de that it wielded like a sword!
The anima swung the sword in a wide arc to take off Meta''s head, but Meta dodged under the de and tackled the anima in the midsection!
Bam!
The anima didn''t even budge as it dug its feet into the ground! It raised its elbow up and delivered a massive downward blow into Meta''s spine that made him howl in pain as he was forced to let go of the anima and take a few steps back. He stumbled as he moved back and it was obvious that he was on hisst legs.
The anima had already injured him multiple times and he had run out of ideas on how to deal with it. Right now, all he was running on was fumes and pure luck! But Meta couldn''t run. If he tries to run, then he would be killed by the Anima and it would just be the same as if he fought till the end.
He wasn''t a ronin or samurai who preferred to die by facing his opponent, but he was still a man with his pride and he would not ept the shame of being stabbed in the back like a coward.
He charged forward again to continue the fight, but the sound of footsteps made him pause in his charge as he turned to the entrance of the cave. Meta expected to see Archer or maybe James who would being to help him. He left most of the other superhumans behind to face off against an Anima, so he was sure that they told James where he was and sent James to help him.
But he was shocked when he saw that it wasn''t Archer or even James. It was a young boy that he recognized closely from the news earlier today. The young GHOST that fought and won against the cmity that attacked city A. He was shirtless and there were bloodstains and scars all over his body that showed that he had been in multiple battles beforeing here!
GHOST did not even bother looking at Meta at all as his eyes stayed locked on something on the other side of the room.
Meta thought that GHOST would stop to face against the anima with him, but GHOST just kept walking as he passed both Meta and the anima without even ncing at either of them.
Mark made his way to the opposite wall and his teeth clenched tightly inside his mouth as he stopped in front of arge pod that was attached to the wall and the person that was trapped inside.
Arit.
Her eyes were closed and it looked like she was sleeping peacefully. There was a strange liquid inside the pod that covered her entire body and only allowed her face to be visible. The mere sight of her made an uncontroble surge of anger rise inside of Mark as he saw the condition that she was in. He wanted to kill something.
Mark raised his fist up to break the pod, but he heard the anima talk from behind him.
"I wouldn''t do that if I were you. There are manyplications that could arise from stopping the metamorphosis before it ispleted. Your mate is in a ce between life and death right now, and stopping the process can plunge her towards death immediately. You wouldn''t want that, would you, KING?"
Mark''s hand paused in the air as he heard what the Anima said. He immediately thought that he should not trust a fucking ant. What if the ant was lying and it was only saying all this so that Mark would not take Arit out of there?
But there was also the chance that it was telling the truth.
Mark needed to know for sure and the only way to do that was to get someone knowledgeable about this stuff to this ind so they could take a look at the pod and make sure that Arit was not at risk of getting killed if he opened it. He needed Pat.
But first, he was going to deal with this fucking ant.
Mark began to walk towards the ant with a deep re on his face. When he spoke, it sent a shiver down Meta''s spine from the sheer hatred he could hear within Mark''s voice.
"I don''t know what sort of n you have for me that made you take her, but I promise you that it will be thest mistake you ever make. I will eviscerate you, tear you to pieces, and scatter your parts into the forest for your brothers to eat."
Chapter 63: Dont Charge In
The ant Anima began tough loudly as it heard what Mark said!
"I know what happened to you, KING. You lost your power after the fight against the Anima Lord. You became weak and you were scared! That is why you went into hiding! You are no longer the Human KING that we fear! I shall harvest you and use your power to feed my queen!
You shall serve as the life force that produces the next Anima Lord!"
The Anima Lord is what the Anima call the Armageddon ss Anima. The anima all feared KING for a long time after the fight against the Armageddon. They witnessed his power and realized that he was too dangerous for any of them to stand a chance against him. If he could kill one of their Lords, then what chance would they have?
But they slowly lost that feeling of fear as they no longer saw KING fighting on the front lines.
They realized that KING would not show his face no matter how many humans they killed or ate, so the memory of what he was capable of collectively meandered back into something mythical for them. Why should they be afraid of a KING with no power?
Mark''s re never reduced in intensity.
"You don''t know the meaning of the word fear."
¡
[Does User wish to send points to the selected Skill? Yes/No]
[User has added 40 points to Blunt Force Trauma]
Current Rank: E Rank [2/200]
Probability ofnding a Critical Attack: +5% for every sessful consecutive hit.
Probability ofnding a Divergent Attack: +0.1% for every sessful consecutive hit.
[Divergent Attack: This skill envelops the user''s fists with mana, exponentially multiplying the damage inflicted upon impact by 2.5 with each consecutive sessful use.]
¡
[User has added 60 skill points to Mana Cirction]
Current Mana Cirction: E Rank [60/200]
[Stat Improvements Due to Application of Mana]
Strength: +12%
Stamina: +12%
Agility: +10%
¡
[User has added 160 stat points to Strength]
[Strength: 980 [+98] [+118]]
¡
Mark didn''t even have the time to look at the new addition to the skill he just advanced. He just continued making his way towards the anima with murder in his gaze.
A hand suddenly appeared in front of Mark and Mark turned to look at Meta with a sneer. Meta had a frown on his face as he tried to understand what the fuck was happening. He knew that Mark was angry, but that didn''t mean Mark should just charge into battle like a maniac.
"I don''t know what exactly the both of you are talking about, but you should calm down and think. That anima is not as weak as it makes itself seem. It is faster and stronger than me and if you walk in there without a n, it will end up killing you."
Meta didn''t know what sort of beef the Anima had with Mark and he didn''t understand why the Anima kept calling Mark KING. There was no way someone like Mark would be KING. KING died a long time ago and he was one of the strongest of all the superhumans. If Mark was KING, then he would not have struggled against that Cmity ss.
Mark was about to say something, but a sound from underground made him furrow his brow as he felt a tremor under his feet!
Rumble!
Mark immediately jumped high and ced both feet on Meta''s chest before using it as a springboard tounch both him and Meta out of the way!
Boom!!
Arge green vine-looking structure suddenly burst out from the earth and began to wriggle around like a worm! It was as wide as Mark''s entire body and it reached all the way to the ceiling before it bent in on itself and turned around to shoot down at Mark!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Three more vines shot out from the ground and Mark was immediately on the move as he saw all of them aiming for him. He didn''t know what those things were and he didn''t know what would happen if they caught him, but they weren''t his immediate concern right now since he knew that he could dodge around them if they tried to attack him! He only had eyes for that ant-headed Anima!
Phwoom!
One of the vines tried to attack Mark by mming into him, but Mark was able to dodge it easily and he nted his foot on the vine and began to run across its body as he raced for the Anima!
[Raijuu Thunder God]!
Bzzttt!!!
Mark''s constitution suddenly activated the lightning technique once he touched the vine and he heard a loud screech echo through the cave as all the vines in the room shook in pain. Mark was immediately able to figure out what the vines were once he heard it screech. There was still one low-level Cmity ss that he was yet to defeat and he was sure that this vine was it! Is it some sort of worm?
That is disgusting.
Mark wondered how in the world he was going to kill this thing since it was underground. He would have to think of a way after getting rid of that Ant Anima.
Mark reached the point where he thought he would see the ant, but he was shocked when there was no one there! It ran away!
Shink!
It was only his quick instincts that allowed Mark to dodge quickly enough to avoid the sword that almost took his head off. Mark fell forward and immediately turned around to race straight for the Anima behind him! The Anima wasted no time as it also ran straight for Mark and they both shed in the middle!
Boom!
Bam! Bam!
m!
Mark grabbed the Anima by the arm and threw it into the air and the Anima easily turned around and used the body of therge worm and shot off for Mark again. It tried to take Mark''s head off with its knife arm, but Mark stepped close and prevented it from getting a clean cut!
He pulled his arm back and three devastating punches flew out and mmed into the Anima''s midsection before he grabbed it by the leg before it could fly away and threw it into the ground!
Bam!
Ka-Boom!
Once the Anima hit the ground, a massive green vine flew out from under the ant and carried it into the sky! It mmed through the roof of the cave and exposed the cave to the moonlight shining through the ind as the fight escted into the open forest.
Down in the cave, Meta was on the move as he dodged around the vines that were also trying to get him. He was able to dodge most of them since they were slower than him, but he was not able to join the fight because of his injuries. He knew that if he joined the fight the way he is now, he was only going to slow Mark down. He needed to get some of his stamina back as quickly as possible.
Crack!
Crack!
Meta dodged around a vine that tried to bludgeon him and he turned around to look at what was making the new sound. He narrowed his eyes as he saw the cracks that appeared on the pod that was holding Arit and he could only sigh tiredly.
Crack!
"What the fuck is going on in this ce?"
Chapter 64: Forest Rumble
Mark dodged under a swipe from the ant''s de as he watched it fly over his eyes by a mere millimeter. He grabbed the arm in a lock hold and tried to pry it away from the arm socket to get rid of the de, but the ant was too strong and it threw Mark up before a green vine suddenly appeared from the side and mmed into Mark, dragging him into the air!
Mark flipped over the vine and held on tight as it tried to m him into a tall tree!
He raced to the top of the vine and ran up its length until he was far above the forest, staring into the horizon. There were about fifty of the green vines slithering and wiggling all over the ce, and few of them were long enough to tower over the forest trees by more than two hundred meters.
Mark watched the ant anima watching him. They both ran across the vines without ever letting the other out of their sight, and Mark crouched on the vine and used it as a springboard tounch himself toward where the Ant was!
Phwoom!
Mark flipped in the air and released a loud shout as he used his heel to m into the spot where the ant anima had been standing! The ant anima easily dodged around the attack, but the attack was so strong that it immediately tore through the vine and split it in two! Mark didn''t stop; he grabbed hold of the torn vine and used it as a whip to try and m into the ant!
Shink!
The ant immediately cut through the vine with its de and got rid of the pieces, but Mark was able to take advantage of that brief moment when it couldn''t see him dash over to its side! Mark bent and swung upwards into the space below the Anima''s rib!
"Rargh!!"
Boom!
A massive punch to the kidney would have been enough to render any human incapable of standing, but the ant anima was able to tank the punch from Mark like a pro as it was sent flying through the air! It mmed into another vine and screeched in anger as it red at Mark.
Mark knew that the ant was stronger than him. From the small skirmish that they just had, Mark could sense that there was no way he could win against the monster if this was a contest of strength. But what it had in strength, it severelycked in speed! The ant anima was not fast enough to stop Mark if Mark went at full speed, and it had a slower reaction time than Mark!
That meant that there was still a high chance that Mark could win if he managed to deliver enough punches in quick session before the anima could react!
Boom!
The anima immediately shot straight for Mark again, and Mark took in a deep breath as he prepared himself. He crouched over and dashed out of the way just before the ant mmed into the spot where he had been standing! Mark slid down the vine he had been standing on and dodged to the side as another vine almost mmed into him!
Hended on the forest floor and ran through the trees for a few minutes before grabbing hold of a branch and breaking it off its tree as he passed it!
Mark turned around and threw the branch, gaining a smile when he saw that the branch hit the ant on the face! Mark changed direction faster than the ant could follow, and he dashed straight for the ant! By the time the ant managed to get its sight back, Mark was already in position once more, and there was nothing it could do as he pulled back his fist!
Boom!
[Critical Hit]!
Another strike to the same spot immediately sent the ant flying through the air as it screeched in pain. The first hit was enough to soften that area up, and now that Mark managed to get a critical strike on that same spot, it was impossible for the ant not to feel it!
Boom!
Mark immediately dashed forward as a new vine shot out of the ground and began to chase after him! He raced up another one of the vines quickly and made his way higher up to avoid the vine chasing him!
The vine he was standing on began to wriggle around to throw Mark off, but he was able to get a hold of it before he looked around to see where the ant flew off to. It was probably hiding somewhere to get its bearing back after that punch. Mark knew that there was no way that the anima would stay down for long. The anima was far more durable than that.
Mark narrowed his eyes as he nced around quickly while keeping a lookout for the vines that were wriggling about and trying to get him as well. He only needed to drop his guard for a moment, and he would be killed by either one of the two monsters.
Shink!
The ant anima suddenly appeared from behind arge vine, raising its de high in the air! It was right behind Mark, and Mark was not able to turn around quickly enough to stop it from shing him with its de. But Mark was smart enough to immediately drop forward once he felt somethinging from behind him, and it was only because of this that Mark didn''t get decapitated by the de!
The de cut a long line across the back of Mark''s shoulders, and he could feel a stinging sensation there that told him that the cut was very deep. But that didn''t matter to him. The wound wasn''t so bad that it would prevent him from moving, and that meant he didn''t have to worry about it!
Boom!
Mark shot off for the anima once more, and the anima''s face twisted in irritation and anger as it noticed that Mark was not showing any sign of slowing down at all. What sort of human is this? They had been fighting for the better part of ten minutes already, and yet Mark was still charging forward like his energy was limitless!
The anima always nned to end this fight quickly so that it could put Mark into the pod that the queen would grow from, but it never knew that Mark would be this strong. Mark was much stronger than what the scouts reported, and with the way things were going, there was actually a likelihood that it would lose!
"Just die, human!"
Boom!
The anima charged for Mark again, and they both mmed into each other in the air. Mark knew that he couldn''t win in a battle of strength against the anima, so he used his hands to redirect the anima''s punch to the side and moved faster to grab its arm!
"Rargghhh!!"
Mark flung the anima to the ground, and it mmed into the forest floor, creating a deep crater!
Boom!
A massive shockwave echoed across the ind, making the entirendmass shake as waves smashed against the ind shores! The anima rushed to its feet as the dust cleared, but before it could get back into the air, Mark was already with it on the ground!
Chapter 65: Vengeance
The anima''s eyes widened as it saw Mark crouched with his arm drawn back. The anima immediately shifted all of its attention to the area Mark punched before as it increased the defenses around that area! It knew that Mark wanted to damage the same spot over and over again, and it was going to use this advantage to gain the upper hand in this fight!
Once Mark attacks, he would be shocked to see that the area is heavily defended, and it would counterattack before Mark can regain his bearings!
But the anima had no idea that this was exactly what Mark wanted it to do. Mark hit the same spot over and over again to make it think that he was trying to weaken that spot. That way, when Mark changes his mode of attack, it would be too sudden, and the anima would be caught unawares. And the fool fell for it, hook, line, and sinker.
Mark pulled his hand back before it could connect with the ant''s side and he redirected the attack to its defenseless, unprotected shoulder!
Boom!!!
[Critical Hit]!!
Squelch!
The sound of bone breaking and skin tearing was like music to Mark''s ears as he saw the anima''s ded arm fly away from it and disappear into the forest below. The anima held its arm in pain as it screeched and stumbled back and Mark wasted no time as he followed after the anima and released a flurry of punches relentlessly!
Boom!
Boom!
[Critical Hit]!!
Boom!
[Critical Hit]!!
Boom!
Boom!
Mark grabbed the anima by the head and brought his knee up to m it into its face! Blood sprayed through the air as the anima''s nose broke!
Mark grasped the anima''s arm and swung it around before mming it into the ground to create a new crater! He then ced his foot on its body and used all of his strength at once to drag the arm out of the socket!
Squelch!!!
SCREECHHH!!!
Mark used the arm to smack it across the face to make it stop screaming before he then kicked it in the stomach!
Bam!
[Critical Hit]!!
The anima flew back for two hundred meters as it broke through hundreds of trees in the forest!
Mark turned around and caught therge vine that was about to m into him and he grit his teeth as he held the vine tightly and dragged it forward as he ran through the forest! The vine tried desperately to get out of Mark''s grip, but Mark held on tight as he continued moving!
The anima wasrge, but it was weak. In a tug of war between it and Mark, Mark was always going to win! Mark felt a great amount of resistance holding the anima back and he realized that it was almost out from the ground. Mark quickly used all of his strength and wrapped the end of the vine around a tree before he pulled!
Crumble! Crumble! Crumble!
The ground under the tunnel began to crumble before therge anima finally appeared from underground! It was a green octopus-like anima that had more than fifty tentacles wriggling around on itsrge bulbous body.
ROAR!!!
The anima roared into the night and its many rows of sharp teeth peeked through its circr mouth as it tried to intimidate Mark with its size. Mark tossed the tentacle he had been holding away as he slowly started to move toward therge creature!
His eyes were narrowed into an angry re as he quickly increased his speed until he was moving faster than a racing car and he jumped high into the air with his arm pulled back!
ROAR!!!
"Shut the fuck up!!"
Ka-Boom!!!
[Critical Hit]!!
...
It couldn''t die here. Not like this. Not yet.
The anima was crawling forward pitifully as it tried its hardest to get back to its feet. Both of its arms were only stumps now and there was a long trail of blood behind it to show that it already crawled a long way! It never thought that Mark would be this strong! How was Mark able to develop this quickly in only that short time?
When the scouts came back, they told it that Mark struggled against Disaster sses and he couldn''t win against a cmity ss! So what the hell is this!?
The anima was making its way towards the crater once more! It had to awaken the queen and get her to help him! Even if they didn''t use Mark to make the queen any stronger, the queen already ate a lot of superhumans and animals and she would have enough strength to defeat Mark if they fought together! It was better to kill Mark and then find a way to use himter than for it to die here!
Step! Step! Step!
Footsteps echoed from behind the anima and the anima froze once it heard it! It immediately shuffled up to a seating position to try and get a look at what was behind it and it almost had a heart attack on the spot as it saw a blood-covered Mark stalking towards it like a demon.
Mark used one hand to clean the blood that stained his face before he spat a wad of his own blood out to the side. He never allowed his gaze to reduce in intensity as he made his way towards the anima.
"No¡ no! Stay away! Stay away from me! You monster! You are weak! You are beneath me!
Stay away!"
The ant began to shuffle back again and it tried to get to its feet to run, but it couldn''t get to its feet quickly enough and it fell down on its stomach like a worm. It quickly tried to crawl away from Mark, but a hand grabbed it by the antennae and dragged it to its feet! Its legs dangled over the ground as Mark carried it into the air easily!
"I''ve been facing monsters for four straight years, and you are the first one to piss me off this much."
"You think you''ve won!? There are monsters beyond your wildest imaginationing! Monsters that will make you quake in your boots and cry! My queen will avenge me! She will avenge me! My death will not be in vain!"
Squelch!
Mark''s hand shot out from the Anima''s chest and blood sprayed everywhere as the anima immediately slumped in Mark''s arm. Mark brought his hand out and flicked the blood to the side to get rid of it. He narrowed his eyes at the Anima and wondered what the hell it meant by it''s queen would avenge it.
[User has killed 1 Low-Level Cmity ss +100 stat points]
[User has killed 1 High-Level Cmity ss +100 stat points +100 skill points]
Mark shook his head and got rid of that thought. It didn''t matter to him. He just needed to get Arit and get out of here. Mark quickly ran back towards the underground tunnel. He jumped down the tunnel and looked towards where the pod was lying and his brow furrowed.
It was empty.
Chapter 66: New Mission
"Gurgle~! What the fuck¡ are you?" The sound of someone''s voice immediately made Mark move again, and he turned around quickly to see who it was. There was someone hiding in the shadows. It had a feminine body, and from the looks of it, she wasn''t wearing anything to cover up her nakedness.
She slowly came into the light of the moon shining from the ceiling, and Mark narrowed his eyes and grit his teeth once he got a look at her.
"Ufufu~! What do we have here? Another Superhuman? How fitting that you woulde to sacrifice yourself to the queen~!"
The creature that showed itself waspletely naked. It had both Arit''s body and her face, but that was where the simrities ended. Its skin was purple, andrge oval wings were protruding out from its shoulder de. Two antennae on its forehead spiraled around its temple like a crown.
Its ws were sharpened to points, and there was a devilish smile on its face that showed sharp fangs peeking through!
In one of its hands, it held the limp body of Meta in a vice grip. Mark would have tried to get Meta out of its hold, but Mark could tell that Meta was already dead. The creature''s ws were digging deep into Meta''s neck, and Meta had literally choked on his own blood as he died. That was not a good way to go.
"Arit¡?" Mark immediately called out to the creature while taking a calm step forward. The QUEEN tilted her head to one side once Mark mentioned that name. Mark could see a sh of recognition in the QUEEN''s eyes, but that sh of recognition immediately disappeared, and it was reced with a look of irritation and bloodthirsty desire!
"Arit? Ah~ The girl whose form I took~? How fitting that her lover woulde to retrieve her~ I should thank her. This body¡ it is truly the perfect vessel for my ascensions. I could not have picked a better body myself if I had the choice. Very fitting indeed.
"Although, I wonder where all of my subjects are. Tell me¡ are you the one that killed all of my underlings before I could even meet them?"
Mark ignored all of the things that the Queen said as he took another step forward. "Arit¡ Talk to me. Are you still in there?"
Another sh of recognition passed through the creature''s gaze before it narrowed its eyes again and tossed Meta to the side like trash!
"Are you trying to mock me, human!? Do you believe you can call forth your lover and erase me? I am the QUEEN of the anima, and I will not stand this disrespect! I will end your paltry existence! I will kill all of you humans as reparation for the death of my people! I will kill and kill and kill until there is nothing left to kill!"
Boom!
A massive pressure suddenly filled the room as the QUEEN released its power, and Mark had to dig his feet into the ground so he wouldn''t be pushed back by the pressure! This had to be at least a high-level Cmity ss! It was probably even stronger than that!
But Mark was not as intimidated as the QUEEN thought he would be! He stood his ground and faced her head-on. He could feel the desperation in her actions from a mile away. She was trying to rush his death because she also realized that Arit was notpletely dead.
When Mark called Arit''s name, there was a look that crossed the QUEEN''s face both times, and that reaction was enough to give Mark hope that there was still a chance.
Ping!
A system notification suddenly appeared in front of Mark, and Mark only nced at it for a moment to see what it was. But what he saw immediately made his pulse race in anger!
[The system has detected significant changes in the life force of the rescue subject ARIT.]
[Due to the changes, the below mission is no longer viable, and it has been erased from the system database. A new mission will be issued as a recement.]
¡
[Cancelled Mission]
[Save The Kidnapped Arit Before She Loses Her Life]
[Rewards]
+200 stat points
+200 skill points
The user will gain one random S Rank Weapon
[Failure]
-10 stat points from three random stats
-10 skill points from three random skills
Arit will die.
¡
[New Mission]
[The rescue subject ARIT has been possessed by the spirit of the anima QUEEN. The system has deduced there is a 0% chance of extracting the QUEEN''s soul from ARIT, and the system has dered her unsalvageable. The User is to Eliminate the QUEEN.]
[Reward]
+500 stat points
+500 skill points
The user will gain one random S Rank Weapon
[Failure]
-50 stat points from three random stats
-50 skill points from three random skills
¡
Mark''s anger slowly increased until there was a burning sensation in his chest that made him want to rip his heart out! What the fuck does the system mean by unsalvageable! Who the hell did it think it was to say some bullshit like that! Mark saw it himself! He saw the recognition in her eyes, and he knew that Arit was in there! She recognized him, and that means she is still salvageable!
"I refuse the mission."
There was a beat of silence in the cave before another ping echoed from the side of Mark''s vision as a new message appeared from the system!
[¡ What?]
Mark could almost hear the disbelief and shock in the system''s programming as it sent this message, and Mark just jumped back to create some space between himself and the QUEEN. The QUEEN shot after Mark and tried to take a swipe at him with her sharp ws, but Mark easily ducked under it before he performed a low sweep to take her off her feet!
Bam!
Surprisingly, the low kick actually connected, and QUEEN was thrown off her feet and she grunted in annoyance as shended on her ass!
The QUEEN just came out from the pod, so she was still not fully bnced since she hadn''t walked in a real body before. Her motor function and sense of bnce were not perfect, and that is the only reason why it was easy for Mark to incapacitate her!
"I said I refuse the fucking mission! I don''t care what you think about her, I know Arit is still in there! Give me another fucking mission!"
[The user does not have the authority to manipte system missions. All system missions are designed to improve the user''s power in the most efficient way possible, and it is advised that the user carry out all missions given by the system.]
"You can go fuck yourself!"
[¡]
Mark jumped further back as he kept his gaze on QUEEN. QUEEN was still on the ground, and she looked up at Mark with anger in her gaze before she looked down at the ground and slowly got to her feet. Mark watched her wings p a few times as she started trying something new, and he sighed tiredly as he saw her slowly rising off her feet and into the air.
She wobbled a bit since she was notpletely used to flying either, but it came to her naturally, and after a few tries, she was already in the air, and she nced at Mark with a ruthless smile on her face.
"I shall kill you and use you as food for the next generation of my children!"
"Give me another mission!"
[The User does not have the authority to manipte the system missions. The user is advised to carry out the mission.]
"SOZIN!!! Come down here, you useless -!!"
¡
"I really don''t think I deserve that much insult. I didn''t even do anything."
Chapter 67: Grab By The Heart
"I really don''t think I deserve that much insult. I didn''t even do anything yet."
Mark blinked in surprise as he found himself in that empty blue space once more. He looked around and saw that they were standing over City C in the same spot that Mark was in before. Sozin was floating in the air in front of Mark with his hands behind his head and his legs crossed.
Mark didn''t know if Sozin would answer if he called him calmly, so he knew he had to resort to more extreme measures to get through to him.
"Sozin¡ thanks for answering."
Mark was happy that he was able to get through to Sozin so quickly. Sozin told Mark that he could call on him anytime, but Mark didn''t think that Sozin would answer this quickly. Mark noticed that Sozin still had that yful smile on his face and wondered what sort of nonsense was going through the god of games''s mind this time.
"You really have no faith in me, Mark. I was just happy about how far you''vee. I only gave you back your power earlier today and look how much you''ve grown! At this rate, you should be strong enough to handle an Eldritch monster before long."
Mark shook his head as he remembered that Sozin could read his mind. He would never be able to get used to that fact. But if Sozin could read his mind, that means Sozin already knew exactly what Mark was here for.
Sozin hummed as he floated around Mark calmly.
"The system is pissed at you, Mark. I can''t believe you told it to go fuck itself! Hahaha~! I wish it had a face so I could see its expression when you said that!"
"I¡ probably shouldn''t have said that. But the mission it gave me was so stupid! How can I kill Arit!?"
[The system expressly stated that the user is to kill QUEEN. Arit is no longer separable from the anima QUEEN and she will experience no pain at her death.]
"I saw her! I know she recognized me! Why don''t you understand that!?"
"Alright, alright, let''s all calm down~! Mark, you should listen to your system. It''s there to help you be the best version of yourself that you can be, and if you start going against it at every turn, then you are going to have problems down the line. If the system says that you should kill Arit, then maybe you should do it."
"I. Will. Not."
Sozin raised a brow as he gazed into Mark''s eye and could see that there was an insane amount of fire in there! Mark was not going to kill Arit even if all the gods in heaven told him to do it! Sozin is a god and he has lived for millions of years without the need for a partner. He didn''t understand human emotions and what could possibly make a human this dedicated to another one.
Killing one human for the sake of greater power is something that Sozin saw no problem in, and Sozin knew that Mark would not have a problem either if it was any other human. But for some reason, he just couldn''t kill Arit. So this is that strange emotion that humans refer to as love.
Sozin didn''t understand it one bit but he could respect the resolve that came with it.
"Fine then, my champion. You have entrusted me with your life and future, so it is only right that I give you a small bit of advice whenever I can. I still believe you should kill that girl. Women are nothing but trouble, even the female gods are annoying. But if you simply do not wish to kill her, then try to bring her back.
There are things even I cannot change about the system, but that does not mean you cannot manipte the oue of the mission.
"If you manage to bring Arit back without killing her, then the system will be forced to acknowledge her existence and it will recalibrate your mission. You said you saw her recognize you, right?Well, things should be much easier for you then. Just grab her by her heart and pull her out~"
Sozin slowly started to disappear as he said this and Mark hurried to ask what the hell Sozin meant by grabbing her by her heart! What does that mean?
"You''re asking the wrong god, Mark Vanitas. I have never loved before and I never will! Find an answer for yourself!"
¡
Gasp!
sh!
Mark came back to reality in the middle of the fight and saw the QUEEN''s ws right in front of his face as she tried to sh his neck! Mark immediately jumped back to avoid the ws and he crouched down to keep his eyes on her. The mission from the system was still there, but Mark ignored it and focused on the QUEEN.
What the hell does Sozin mean by grab her by the heart?
Mark wondered about this as he avoided another sh! Mark could feel his body slowing down and he quickly took all of his stat points and threw them into his Agility and Durability.
[Does the user wish to add points to the selected stats? Yes/No]
Mark selected yes and he immediately felt the increase in his ability to move around as his agility increased.
[User has added +100 stat points to Agility]
[User has added +100 stat points to Durability]
¡
Agility: 750 [+75] [+75]
Durability: 610 [+61]
¡
Mark flipped over a boulder andnded on the other side to avoid the QUEEN before he performed an acrobatic move that sent him from one end of the room to another in a somersault!
"Arit! Arit, I know you''re in there! You can hear me, can''t you!"
A sh of recognition passed across the QUEEN''s eyes as Mark said this, but it disappeared just as quickly as it came and she screeched in annoyance as she shot off after Mark again!
sh!
sh!
sh!
Mark dodged under two shes, but his back hit a wall and he was not able to dodge the third sh, instead, he just brought up his arm and allowed it to strike against his forearm and tear off some of his skin!
Squelch!
Thankfully, Mark''s durability was high and he had the Raiju Thunder God constitution that protected him from serious injury. But a look of shock passed through the QUEEN''s face when she saw the injury she caused and Mark grit his teeth in anger and used the opportunity to kick the QUEEN back!
Bam!
The QUEEN mmed into the wall on the other side of the room and she held her head in pain as she began to mumble something.
"Is this how it''s going to be, Arit!? This is how you leave me! Are you just going to die and allow some yandere with a fucking blood fetish to take over your body!? Really!?"
"SHUT UP!!!"
The QUEEN yelled in anger as she shot towards Mark again and Mark quickly began to dodge around her attacks!
"Don''t you remember, Arit? You told me you wanted to be a doctor! You said you wanted to help people like your parents! People who are ignored by the strong! Isn''t that what you told me!? Is this how you''re going to fucking help people!?
You''re not going to help anyone like this, you fucking idiot! She''s going to use your body to kill anyone she wants!"
Another look shed across the QUEEN''s face as Mark said all this, but her attacks never stoppeding. Instead, they increased in intensity! Her ws were shing in the moonlight as she tried her hardest topletely shred Mark to pieces! There was only one thought passing through her mind as she tried her hardest to end Mark!
KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!
Chapter 68: Kill For Him
KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!
She had to kill him! She has to kill him before she loses control! The QUEEN could feel something inside her mind! There was someone there trying to gain control of her body! She had to kill this annoying human before she loses this body!
Stop.
KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!
No! Don''t kill him! Don''t kill Mark!
Mark!? Kill Mark! KILL MARK! KILL MARK! KILL MARK!
STOP!!
Mark had managed to dodge most of the attacks from the QUEEN, but he was not able toe out unscathed from her attacks as there were numerous shes and cuts on his body. They weren''t deep because of how durable he was, but that didn''t mean he wasn''t losing blood. He was bleeding from many of the cuts on his body, but that didn''t matter to him.
He could see something changing in the QUEEN. Her eyes were constantly shing, and it was obvious that there was an internal battle going on. Mark was sure that Arit was in there. A wicked grin stretched across Mark''s face.
"Come on, Arit. Don''t you dare lose to something like this! You still haven''t given me that damnp pillow you promised me! I haven''t even touched your boobs yet!"
The QUEEN screeched louder as she immediately tried to sh through Mark''s neck, but Mark stepped into her space and immediately grabbed her in a bear hug that trapped one of her hands on her body. She immediately started to sh across Mark''s back with her other hand.
KILL MARK! KILL MARK! KILL MARK! KILL MARK!
No. Don''t kill Mark. For Mark. Mark is everything.
KILL¡.! KILL¡! KILL FOR MARK! KILL FOR MARK! KILL FOR MARK!
"Kill for Mark¡! Kill for¡"
Mark smiled as he noticed that the QUEEN was no longer struggling in his grip. She slowly calmed down, and he no longer felt her ws digging into his back. Her wings and antennae slowly began to deteriorate and shrink until they disappeared, and her skin changed from purple to Arit''s fair white skin.
"M-Mark¡ *sniff* I''m sorry, Mark. I''m sorryyy~! Waaaa~!"
Arit''s voice echoed through the cave as she started to cry desperately, and Mark just breathed out a sigh of relief as he held her tighter.
"It''s fine, Arit. We''re fine now."
Ping!
¡
[Hidden Mission Aplished!]
[The QUEEN and Arit were fused together in a metamorphosis process, and the chances of separating them were near zero. The User managed to aplish an impossible feat and sessfully gave control back to Arit.]
[Rewards]
+500 stat points
+500 skill points
[User has unlocked a new skill tree: True Sight]
[True Sight: This skill grants the user the ability to perceive the stats and skills of others, offering insight into their capabilities with a single nce.]
Current True Sight: F rank [1/100]
[User has unlocked a new Title: He Who Defies Destiny]
[He Who Defies Destiny: +10% increase in all stats for every ally fighting alongside the user. Allies gain a 20% boost to all stats when they fight alongside the User.]
¡
[Mission Completed]
[User has sessfully eliminated the QUEEN and given control back to Arit]
[Reward]
+500 stat points
+500 skill points
[The User has gained the S rank weapon [Gloves of The Thunder God]]
[Gloves of the Thunder God: A set of ck gloves that once belonged to the god of thunder, lightning, and the storm, Zeus, but were stolen and hidden by the God of Games Sozin as a prank seven thousand years ago. While the gloves are in use, all lightning-based Anima and superhumans blessed by Zeus will feel great animosity towards the User.]
[Effects]
+30% increase in strength
+30% increase in Agility
Grants the user the lightning Based Skills [Lightning Surge]
[Lightning Surge: This skill enables the user to channel a formidable wave of lightning, measuring up to 100 gigajoules, through their gloves, unleashing devastating power upon their adversaries.]
¡
Mark read through all of the new messages from his system and he was shocked when he saw that there was a hidden mission that he sessfullypleted! This system was lying to him before! It knew that Arit could be separated, but it didn''t want to tell him about it because it was a hidden mission that he had toplete on his own.
Mark was pissed at the system, but he just took a deep breath and sighed to release all that anger at once. He didn''t need to be angry since everything worked out for the better.
Mark would not have killed Arit no matter what. If this didn''t work, then he would have captured her and just taken her with him back to the city like this. He would have found another way to get her back to normal even if it took him years to do it.
"I''m sorry! I''m sorry~!!"
Arit was holding onto Mark tightly as she continued to apologize, and Mark wondered what the hell she was apologizing for. If anything, he was the one who needed to apologize for getting her mixed up in all this. It was only because they wanted to get to him that they took Arit and did all this to her. If they weren''t after him, then Arit would have been fine.
Mark quickly activated his new skill [True Sight] to get a look at Arit''s stats and skills, and he was not surprised when he saw that her race was affected by the metamorphosis. She was no longer a human now and it was showing that she was a hybrid. But the thing that really surprised him was her rank. He knew that Arit would be strong, but he didn''t think that she would be this strong.
¡
Name: Arit yborn
Race: Human-Anima Hybrid
Title: QUEEN
Rank: S
Potential: ???
Skill: ???
Description: ???
Affiliation: Chaotic Neutral
¡
Her Rank was at S and Mark narrowed his eyes as he saw the title that the system gave her. The title of QUEEN was highlighted, but Mark had no idea if it would have any effects on Arit or not. Mark knew that the QUEEN was not dead; all he did was bring Arit back to the surface, so the QUEEN coulde back at any time and try to take over Arit''s mind again.
But the thing that really got his attention was thest stat on her tab. Her affiliation was Chaotic Neutral and Mark didn''t know how to feel about that. This single tab showed that there were still residual effects from QUEEN that were affecting Arit. Mark then opened his own system tab to get a look at it.
Chapter 69: Cave Romance
SUPERHUMAN SYSTEM
Name: Mark Vanitas
Race: Human
Title: [He Who Perseveres Through Hell. [+10% increase to all stats.]] [He Who Defies Destiny]
Rank: A [2380/3000]
Affiliation: True Neutral
Unused Stat Points: 1000
Unused Skill Points: 1000
¡
Strength: 980 [+98] [+118]
Stamina: 650 [+65] [+78]
Agility: 750 [+75] [+75]
Durability: 610 [+61]
Mana: 420 [+42]
[System stats are greatly unbnced, and the User is advised to improve thecking stat to ensure proper growth.]
¡
Artifacts: [Gloves of the Thunder God - S]
¡
[SKILL TREE]
-> Full Body Constitution: This is a unique skill tree enabling the user to systematically enhance and fortify every aspect of their physical form, elevating strength and resilience to unprecedented levels!
Current Full Body Constitution: Raiju Thunder God: 0/200
[Raiju Thunder God: This constitution skill enhances the User''s entire body, imbuing them with the electrifying power of a thunder god, granting heightened speed, strength, and the ability to manipte and discharge electricity inbat.]
Effects:
Full Body Augmentation x20
Stunner [Enemies one rank below the User will receive an automatic 2-second Stun effect upon first contact with the User]
-> Mana Cirction: Mana Cirction is a skill enabling the user to enhance the efficiency of mana distribution throughout their body, optimizing energy flow for heightened senses and greater strength.
Current Mana Cirction: E Rank [60/200]
[Stat Improvements Due to Application of Mana]
Strength: +12%
Stamina: +12%
Agility: +10%
-> Taunting: This Skill lures enemies with a lower Rank towards the User, diverting their attention from all distractions and encouraging aggressive engagement!
Current Taunting Variation: Call of the Night Wolves [F Rank [1/100]]
Probability of sessful Taunting Based on Level: 20%
-> Blunt Force Trauma: This skill heightens the probability ofnding a critical hit as the user delivers consecutive sessful punches to the enemy, harnessing the cumtive impact for devastating effectiveness! Critical Attacks deal +100% extra damage to the enemy!
Current Rank: E Rank [2/200]
Probability ofnding a Critical Attack: +5% for every sessful consecutive hit.
Probability ofnding a Divergent Attack [x2.5 exponent per attack]: +0.1% for every sessful consecutive hit.
-> True Sight: This skill grants the user the ability to perceive the stats and skills of others, offering insight into their capabilities with a single nce.
Current True Sight: F rank [1/100]
[Comment from GoG: Try not to wait too long before you advance your rank. I got something special nned just for you!]
¡
Mark''s affiliation was True Good when he first got the system, but now, his affiliation has changed from True Good to True Neutral. Mark never thought about the affiliation tab before because he usually just does whatever feels right to him.
If the system thinks his actions were good, then that was the system''s opinion, not his own, but he couldn''t ignore Arit''s affiliation because of how sinister it could be. Being chaotic neutral was like being a psychopath and Mark felt a little bit of worry creep into his heart as he read this. It was very likely that Arit would have destructive tendencies in the future.
He would have to keep an eye on Arit for some time to make sure that there were nosting effects from the metamorphosis. If the QUEENes back and Mark is not there to subdue her, then she could do a lot of damage before anyone even realizes what is going on.
The rest of the stats were all empty, and Mark realized that he would need to increase the rank of this skill before it showed all the other stats. The tab that wasbeled as Potential was really interesting to Mark, and he decided that he would improve the skill until he could get a good look at that particr tab first.
"Sniff~ Sniff~!"
Arit was still crying while holding on tightly to Mark, and Mark tried to calm Arit down soothingly, but no matter what he said to her, she would not stop crying. She would open her eyes and see the scars on his body and suddenly start crying even more than before! It was getting on Mark''s nerves and Mark leaned forward and just kissed her.
"Mmhm!"
Arit''s eyes flew open in shock as she felt Mark kiss her, and a heavy blush rose on her face as she suddenly realized that she was stark naked! Mark was kissing her while she was naked! She closed her eyes tightly for a moment and debated pushing Mark away, but she didn''t want to do that. She had already been through too much, and she wanted this.
Mark was finally kissing her, and she was not going to stop it just because of something as stupid as being naked!
Arit leaned into Mark and pressed her breast into his chest as she moaned into the kiss. She rxed her body and allowed Mark to hold her up by the waist as she focused entirely on enjoying the moment with him.
"Mmh! Mmh! Mh!"
Arit felt Mark''s tongue on her lips, and she tentatively opened her mouth gently to allow his entrance! Mark immediately took control of her mouth as he used his tongue to explore her mouth. He dragged her closer until she was literally sitting in hisp, and the both of them battled for dominance as they explored each other''s mouths.
But it didn''t even take five seconds before Arit realized she would not be winning the battle, and she just allowed Mark to take control of her and do whatever he wanted!
Arit''s hand trailed down Mark''s body and explored his chest and abs before resting in the middle of his trousers, and Mark ran his fingers across the ridge in the middle of Arit''s back!
"Uuh~!"
Arit shivered as she felt his fingers running down her back, and she moaned when his other hand held onto her breast and began to fondle it gently!
"M-Mark¡ I want you¡"
"What the hell happened here!?"
"Aah!!"
A voice echoed from the entrance to the cave, and Arit released a cute scream as she pulled back from Mark! But she screamed again when she realized that she was as naked as the day she was born and hugged Mark tightly, using his body as a shield to hide herself! The voice that they hearding into the cave was male, and Arit had no intention of exposing her body to some random person!
Chapter 70: Crash Course In Deceit
Mark held Arit gently as she hugged him, and he sighed as he turned to re at the personing into the cave. Greg walked in with a small limp in his step as he nced around in awe and fear. The entire cave was destroyed, and Greg couldn''t even begin to imagine the scale of battle that just urred in this ce!
Greg had been feeling the tremors echoing through the tunnels all this while, but he had no idea that the battle was this intense!
Greg turned to look at Mark, and he immediately took a step back as he saw the position that Mark was in. A naked girl was hugging Mark tightly, and even if Greg was half blind, he would still be able to see that the girl had some amazing proportions!
She was hugging Mark tightly with her back facing him so he couldn''t see her face or breasts, but he could see how her wide hips curved out from her thin waist and how herrge breasts were visible from her sides! It was almost as if her breasts were sorge that they couldn''t fit in the space between the two of them properly!
Even without seeing her face, Greg just knew that this would be a beautiful girl unlike any other! This is a goddess!
And why the heck was Mark ring at him like that!?
"Uh¡ Mark. What happened here?"
Greg nervously spoke up as he tried to understand what happened. He hoped that Mark would rx his re, but Mark''s re only increased in intensity as he spoke up in a threatening tone.
"Give me your clothes."
"W-What¡?"
"Did I stutter? Your clothes. Take them off. Don''t make me repeat myself."
Someone outside looking at the current scene would think that Mark was mugging Greg at gunpoint! Greg swallowed nervously as he felt immense pressureing from Mark. He knew that Mark was not joking at that moment and he slowly started to take his clothes off.
Mark was freaking intimidating while ring at him with all those battle scars and injuries on his body, and Greg didn''t even want to know what Mark would do to him if he didn''t do what he was told!
He threw his shirt at Mark before taking his trousers off and also throwing them towards Mark tond beside his shirt. Once Greg was in only his boxers and singlet, he took a step back with his hands up. Mark was still ring at him, and Greg was worried that Mark would make him take off his underwear too! Come on! Leave me with some of my damn pride!
"Turn around."
"S-Sure."
Greg quickly turned around so he wouldn''t see what was happening, and Mark looked down at Arit. He kissed her softly on the neck before he whispered in her ear that she could let go of him now. Arit shivered for a moment before she slowly let go of Mark. She made sure that Greg was really no longer looking before she jumped up and grabbed the shirt and trousers!
Mark leaned back on his hands with a small smile on his face as he watched her struggle to put on the clothes, and Arit frowned at him with a deep blush as she saw that his eyes were glued to her breasts and how they jiggled as she put on the trousers! Arit suddenly felt an intense urge to cover her breasts with her hands!
"Stop looking at me like that, you pervert!"
Arit whispered at Mark angrily as she felt his eyes burning a hole into her body, and she started to feel very self-conscious as she turned away from him with a heavier blush. Mark justughed as he finally stood up and helped her to put on her shirt.
The shirt arms were a bit too long for Arit, but the shirt itself was too small to amodate her breasts, so they had to leave two of the buttons open, exposing a generous amount of cleavage that would draw the eyes of any man who saw it! Arit frowned as she smelled the shirt and noticed that it smelled like blood and sweat.
She did not like the smells at all, but she didn''t darein since there was nothing else here for her to wear. She justtched onto Mark''s arm with both arms and nodded to him to tell him that she was ready.
Mark sighed and spoke up to Greg tiredly.
"Alright, you can turn back around, Greg. Sorry about the clothes; I''ll get you a new set when we get back to the city."
Greg turned around to finally see that Mark and the girl were on their feet, and Greg almost lost his mind at that moment when he saw the drop-dead gorgeous goddess wearing his clothes andtching onto Mark''s forearm. Who in the world is that? Is that the girl that Mark was so desperate to save from this ind!? No wonder he was trying this hard!
If I had a woman like this, then I would go to hell for her!
Arit''s beautiful round face and drop-dead gorgeous figure made Greg''s simple shirt and trousers look more erotic than they had ever looked before, and Greg couldn''t believe that she was underage! ording to reports they had about her, she was only seventeen! What the hell are children eating these days!?
Even the scar on Arit''s face didn''t reduce her beauty; it only made her look more exotic than other girls, and Greg had to steel himself to stop his mind from running wild.
"I-it''s fine¡" Greg''s voice broke in the middle of what he was saying because he was still staring at Arit. Mark raised a brow at him curiously, and Greg waved his hand dismissively as he coughed to get his voice back.
"It''s fine. I understand this is more important. So¡ what happened here? I don''t think anything less than one of the strongest Cmity sses can cause damage on this level. And why do you have that many scratches on your body?"
"It''s a long story¡."
Mark went on to exin what happened between him and the two Anima that were here when he arrived. But he didn''t tell Greg exactly what happened because he knew that they had to hide Arit''s involvement no matter what
Chapter 71: Were You Worried About Me
The first thing he changed was the story about how Meta died. Arit killed Meta, but Mark told Greg that Meta was already dead when he came here to see the Cmity ss. That way, Greg wouldn''t have too many questions about how Meta died and Mark wouldn''t have to tell too many lies.
When you lie too much, your stories start to make less sense.
Mark also kept Arit''s involvement in his injuries out of the story, and he was able to formte a good enough response to fool Greg into thinking that everything here was caused by only the Anima and Mark, without involving Arit at all!
Arit held onto Mark''s arm tighter as she heard him lying about what she did, and she couldn''t stop the feeling of guilt that filled her at that moment! Arit knows that she caused a lot of destruction and even killed someone, but Mark was not leaving her side, and he was even lying just to protect her.
Arit felt reassured that Mark really loved her, and she resolved herself to not let Mark''s efforts be in vain!
''Kill him! He does not believe Mark''s story! Kill him before he can expose Mark! Kill him for Mark!''
Arit tilted her head to one side as she heard a strange voice echoing inside her head. The voice sounded like a mixture of both her voice and the voice of the Anima QUEEN, and Arit had to struggle to make it stay silent! She could tell that she also agreed with what the voice was saying. There is a likelihood that Greg didn''t believe Mark''s story, but she didn''t want to do anything violent to Greg!
She shook her head slowly, and after some time, the voice finally died down!
When Greg finally asked her a question, Arit was in the right state of mind to answer properly.
"And what about you? Are you okay? How did you manage to survive this long with all this anima around?"
"I don''t know. I don''t remember very much about what happened after I was taken. But I know they only took me to lure Mark here. I don''t even know why they kept me alive. all I know is that, one moment I was being dragged across the sea, and then in the next moment, Mark was waking me up."
She lost her memories. This was the only thought that crossed Greg''s mind at the moment and he couldn''t think of any reason why Arit would lie about not remembering what happened here.
"Is that so? That''s unfortunate. Maybe we should get you examined when we get back to the city to make sure there aren''t any unknown damages to your system from being here too long."
''He suspects something! He wants to find out about us! Just kill him and get it over with! Mark will understand!''
Arit shook her head before she nodded kindly at Greg. She was getting worried about the voice that kept shouting at her from inside her own head, but she was not going to say anything about it until she and Mark were alone. She was sure that Mark would have a solution to it so she would just ignore it for now!
And since she didn''t know what happened to her here, Arit would only get the examination if Mark tells her that it was okay. If not, she was not going anywhere near a doctor! If she goes to a doctor and they find out about QUEEN then all of Mark''s effort would be in vain!
Greg sighed as he looked around at all the damage that had been done and he could only thank his patron god that he didn''te here with Mark. Greg had no delusions about his own strength and he knew that if he was involved in this battle in any capacity, then he would be a bloodstain on the wall. He wouldn''t even be able to get two steps before someone identally kills him.
But Mark was able to handle all this while fighting against two opponents at the same time. Greg turned to look at Mark with new eyes as he tried to reassess just how strong this boy could be. Greg also watched what Mark did against the Cmity ss on the news and knew that Mark was GHOST, but this and that are twopletely different things. Wasn''t Mark growing too quickly?
It would be very beneficial to have someone like this in the NSA. Greg decided that he would talk to Szar again to try and recruit Mark. If Mark goes to any guild, then that guild could automatically be the strongest in the world with how fast Mark is growing. They have to keep MArk in the NSA no matter what.
"We should get out of here and get back to the city. I don''t know if the NSA helicopter is still on the ind¡"
Mark suddenly spoke up as he asked Greg a question and Greg snapped out of his musing as he turned to answer Mark that the helicopter was already gone, they left when thest battle began, and that is the reason why Greg was even still here. He wasn''t able to get out of the tunnels quickly enough to meet up with them.
Mark nodded as he reached into his pocket and got his phone to make a call. Surprisingly, even after all that battle and carnage, Mark''s phone still worked rtively fine. The only damage that his phone received was a cracked screen and some dented edges. Gori ss for the win.
"Hey, Pat¡"
[Sigh~! Oh, Jesus Christ, Mark. You''re going to give me a heart attack one of these days. Do you know how much I''ve been calling you?]
For the first time in his life, Mark could hear some actual worry in Pat''s voice as Pat sighed in relief over the phone. Mark brought his phone down and saw that Pat left more than fifty calls since Mark left the city. Mark''s phone was on silent since he didn''t want the noise to distract him during battle so he just didn''t notice that Pat was calling. Was he really that worried?
[How are you holding up? Do you need a medic? And¡ what about Arit?]
"Hello, Patrick. Thank you for worrying about me, but I''m fine."
On the other side of the call, Pat felt his eye twitch as Arit suddenly spoke into the phone. He could hear a cheeky intonation in her voice and he knew that she was teasing him right now! He shouldn''t have even asked about her in the first ce!
A small smile appeared on his face for a moment before he ruthlessly killed it and frowned again when he realized what he was doing! What the hell was that!? He didn''t care about her and she can jump into a volcano for all the fucks he gives!
If anyone ever asks Pat why he helped Mark to save Arit, he would always say that it was because Mark asked him to do it. Mark would always be Pat''s best friend and if Mark wanted Pat''s help to go to an Anima-infested ind to try and save his girlfriend, then Pat would help him a hundred times out of a hundred!
Pat would never agree that a small part of him even remotely cares about Arit! As far as Pat was concerned, she was an eyesore that annoys him without even trying!
Chapter 72: Pats Resolve
[So the husband and wife are alive. That''s good. I take it you''re calling about the helicopter. Surprisingly, the driver is still alive. I''m sending you his coordinates on the ind. Try to get there quickly.
He sent me a message saying there are still some Anima roaming the ind and he can''tnd for longer than ten seconds or he is going to get swarmed.]
"Don''t worry about that, just send the coordinates. I''ll take care of any stragglers that try to attack us."
Mark''s voice was confident, and Pat was a little surprised that Mark was that confident after the fight that he just went through. Pat had a recording of Mark''s fight ying on arge screen in front of him.
He was able to tap into the NASA satellite and get a recording of the ind in real-time, and he analyzed all of the injuries that Mark received and how much treatment Mark would need to get back on his feet. Anybody that received that much injury would be dead or dying by now, so Pat was shocked that Mark still had the energy needed to take care of stragglers.
[Are you sure about that? I''ve seen your previous fights and I don''t think you should be entering into another fight after something like that. You''re injured, aren''t you?]
Pat''s voice was as haughty as ever, and it almost sounded like he was reprimanding Mark for even suggesting that he would take care of more monsters after the fight he just had. But Mark just waved Pat''s concerns away.
"Yeah, I''ve got some scratches here and there, but I''m fine overall. It''s nothing life-threatening. Just send in the coordinates."
Pat shrugged as he heard this. If Mark thinks that he is strong enough to handle even more Anima, then Pat is not going to try and stop him. Pat typed in the coordinates to the helicopter, and he was sending them over to Mark''s phone when something on therge screen caught his eye. There was an interface transmitting a message over a secretwork embedded in the NSA module on the NASA satellite.
Pat narrowed his eyes as he turned to look at it closely, and he noticed that it was a media signal. It seems that the NSA was transmitting some video over thework.
"I''ve sent the coordinates to you. Get out of there ande home."
Pat didn''t even wait for Mark to respond before he closed themunication and threw his airpod to the side. He immediately began to type on his holographic keyboard as he becameser-focused on what the NSA was transmitting over the satellite.
The media message was not even encrypted, and it was so easy for Pat to piggyback on the signal and enter the system through a backdoor that he was disappointed. Pat frowned for a moment before he shook his head and maneuvered his way toward the disk where the video message was being stored. Pat hummed when he noticed that the NSA was viewing the video in real time.
However due to the number of videos being transmitted at the same time as well as the limitation of the NSA equipment, there was ag in the system, and they were only getting the video five minutes after its broadcast.
Pat was immediately curious about what sort of video they were so interested in watching. Are they transmitting the video from the ind through some sort of camera that the NSA superhumans are wearing? That was something Pat didn''t know about, and he knew that Mark didn''t know it either. The NSA never even mentioned that they would give their superhumans a transmitting device.
Pat was only able to get videos of what happened outside the tunnels through the NASA satellite, so he became curious about what happened inside the tunnel. He managed to copy the video from the system, and he began to filter through the videos to get rid of any part that didn''t include Mark''s face.
Pat''s system was much faster than the NSA system, so he was able to filter through the videos in less than three minutes.
Pat then started to watch all the videos at his usual 2x speed.
"Check for survivors and see if you can get them out of here."
"We aren''t alone."
"Show yourself, motherfucker."
"You are no KING."
He ran through more than ten minutes of battle and killing before he finally reached the point where Meta was confronting the Anima QUEEN. Pat''s eyes widened, and he slowly dropped his drink to the side as he leaned forward to get a better look at the screen! What the hell is this? Was that Arit? She looks like an anima!
Meta''s transmission device was a little cracked, but it still provided enough video to show the confrontation between him and the anima QUEEN without interference. Pat just watched silently for some time, and he didn''t even blink when he saw the QUEEN stab her ws into Meta''s neck and kill him in cold blood. Pat was already used to seeing people die, so there was nothing new here.
After the QUEEN killed Meta, the video went off as Meta fell, but there was still some audio, and Pat immediately slowed the video down, and started to listen to the audio from that point to get a better idea of what was happening.
"Ufufu~! What do we have here? Another Superhuman?"
"Arit¡ can you hear me?"
Pat could hear both Mark and Arit talking, but Arit sounded very different from how she used to. Pat could only think that something had taken over her body. The audio kept going until the point where Mark managed to bring Arit out of the QUEEN''s control, and Pat immediately closed down the video and started to work.
Pat didn''t get it.
He didn''t understand what really happened in that cave, but from the little that he heard, he knew that there was no way he could allow this to get out to the open. If the authorities ever heard that Arit was an anima, they would attack her in full force and try their hardest to end her life. Pat might not be very close with Arit, but he would protect her just for Mark''s sake.
[There is a Seventh Generation firewall protecting this server. Attempting to break through it automatically will take an estimated: 5 minutes]
Seventh-generation firewall? Pat scoffed as he turned off the automatic firewall shredder and cracked his knuckles as he decided to do it manually. It would take too long for the system to break the firewall, and there were only about four minutes before the video got to the NSA servers in City C. Right now, Pat was attempting something that had never been attempted before.
He was going to break into the NASA satellite and destroy the NSA module handling the transmission of the video before it could transmit the remaining videos to the NSA servers. That was the equivalent of physically breaking into the Pentagon and trying toe out of there with your life. That is the only way to ensure the video is really lost.
If Pat only gets rid of the servers, then there is a chance that the module on the satellite will save a version of the video, and the NSA will get the video once they get their servers running again.
He had to break everything.
[Beginning Fake Transmission.]
Chapter 73: What The Hell Did I just Watch?
[Beginning Fake Transmission.]
The first thing that Pat did was to piggyback off the service transmission again, and this time he added a video transmission of the most recent episode of Jujutsu Kaisen. His video began to cause a destructive interference with the system and Pat moved his focus to the module while the NSA was distracted with trying to get their service up again.
Pat broke through the outer shell of the firewall and navigated his way to the central processing system of the module. He got into the system and nted a single file in there. The system had a seventh-generation firewall protecting it, and this firewall was self-regenerating. So if Pat tried to just brute force his way in, he would only meet more resistance.
Instead of trying to brute force his way in with only one system, he was going to use a million nanosystems.
The file that Pat added to the CPU immediately began to multiply itself at an astounding rate. It is a virus that Pat created himself just for the fun of it called DupliKate. This virus was relentless in copying and duplicating itself.
Every copy that it creates is ten timesrger than the previous copy, and no matter what sort of method you try to use to make it go down, it will constantly copy itself until it fills up your storage and tears your CPU to shreds.
Once Pat was sure that the firewall was focused on trying to kill DupliKate, he immediately went to work on charging through the blind holes that the firewall left. Pat created backdoor after backdoor. He used rogue IPs and even some real ones that he created and stored within the system, but at every turn, the firewall was there to tear down the backdoor before it couldplete itself.
ck! ck! ck! ck! ck! ck!
ck! ck!
A roguish smile appeared on Pat''s face as he typed furiously on his keyboard as the battle with the firewall raged on! But as time went on, there was an obviousg in the firewall''s response time as it became oversaturated with both the DupliKate file and the constant barrage of attacks from Pat.
Pat yelled in victory as he managed to create a backdoor and enter the system before the Firewall could do anything about it!
"Ha! Up yours, NASA!!"
Pat immediately navigated his way towards where the transmission file was being sent through, and he took down the encoded file being transmitted and added in a new encoding of his own. This new transmission did not have anything from the cave from where Meta fought against the QUEEN up until Mark saved Arit. The only parts it had were from when Greg met Mark and Arit in the cave.
"That should do it. With the files corrupted, they won''t be able to ess any of the videos from Meta''s transmitter. Only the videos from before and after should be avable. If I take out anymore, they''ll suspect that someone tampered with the video and things could beplicated. It''s best to just allow them to think this is a rogue attack on their servers for now."
Pat quickly took care of the files that he needed to and walked backward through the system as he got rid of his traces. Since he didn''t do anything to any of the transmitters other than the one from Meta, he was sure that the NSA wouldn''t suspect a thing.
He ran out through the back door that he created and tossed a new file into the system that would take care of the DupliKate virus and erase any traces of its involvement in this break-in.
Pat was very cautious when dealing with any government-ownedwork because he didn''t want to ever have a run-in with the government in his life! What was he going to do if they tried to take him to jail? He wouldn''t survive a single day in prison, so he would be a fugitive who runs from thew for the rest of his life if a time like that ever came.
Once Pat was out of the system, he reached down to the side and grabbed a sh drive that he slotted into his CPU. He took it out and put it on the table in front of him before using a hammer on it!
Bam!!
Bam!!
Crack!
"That should do it."
That sh drive was the virtual system that Pat used to carry out the piggybacking and IP threading that helped him to enter the system. It would be impossible for them to track him down using the sh drive since he was routed through various countries before entering the system, but it never hurts to be too careful.
Breaking the sh drive would prevent anyone from ever plugging it into a system and reactivating it. That way, there will never be a chance that the virtual system wille online again for them to track it down.
Once he was sure that everything was well disconnected and he didn''t see any possibility that he would be traced, Pat finally sighed and leaned back with a frown of confusion on his face,
"Now¡ what the hell did I just watch?"
¡
Ratatatatatatatata!!
The sound of helicopters arriving at the NSA headquarters resounded all across the region as they came closer to the building. There were doctors and nurses inb coats rushing out from the building with stretchers and first aid kits as they ran toward thending pad!
"Hurry up! Get the ICU open and make sure there is enough space in the hallways!"
"Treat anybody with an intensive injury first! I don''t want to see a drop of blood falling on the damn floor! Get them bandaged up and close every wound!"
"Make sure you sanitize all thecerations and take all possible amputees to the waiting room! We''ll send the bone doctor to them!"
The nurse quickly pulled the man through the door and took him away, and Jeanne sighed as she looked down at her gloved hand. That small procedure just took two years from the man''s life. If she had gone any further, then it would have taken more than ten years. The more injuries she heals, the more of her patient''s life that she burns as a sacrifice to Thanatos.
Jeanne didn''t know if her blessing was really a blessing or if it was just a curse.
What sort of doctor shortens their patient''s lifespan in exchange for healing?
Ratatatatatatatata!
The sound of another helicopter began to echo through the sky, and Jeanne turned around and narrowed her eyes as she saw the new helicoptering towards thending pad from the horizon.
Chapter 74: Jeanne The Miracle Healer
There was a mad rush from all the doctors as they shouted out orders like mad men and women! Once the helicopternded, there was an immediate collective gasp as people all saw the wounded and broken Superhumans that wereing out from the helicopters!
The nurses immediately began to push the stretchers towards the copters to help them, and the doctors jumped on top of the stretchers to give the wounded superhumans first aid as they were pushed into the building!
There was a certain woman who took charge of the other doctors and was shouting out orders louder than anyone else to everyone in the vicinity!
"Anyone that is not wounded should immediately report to the blood clinic! We need superhumans'' blood for the operations! All doctors prepare for immediate action! We are not going home until we take care of everyone! All avable residents will be in charge of administering first aid!"
The doctor and nurses were all listening to her orders and following whatever she said to the letter as they ran around the rooftop to make sure that everyone was being taken care of!
This woman is known as the MIRACLE HEALER by everyone in America. She is one of the strongest nobatant superhumans, and her powers focus on healing and regeneration. Her name is Jeanne; she is a short woman with wide hips and moderately sized breasts that pushed against her tight white shirt with gusto.
She wore a short ck skirt with ck leggings that hugged her legs generously, and she had a long white coat worn on top of it all with a stethoscope across her shoulders.
"Madam Jeanne! He''s dying! I don''t think he can make it to the operating room! He needs immediate care!"
A female nurse ran up to Jeanne while drawing a stretcher behind her, and Jeanne clicked her tongue as she looked at the man on the stretcher. There was arge hole in his stomach, and he was already losing a lot of blood. At this rate, he would not even make it off the roof! Jeanne immediately took off her gloves!
"Do you know who I am? You know what I can do?"
She spoke to the man loudly as she looked him in the eye, and the man grimaced in pain as she ced her hand on his wound! The man looked into her eyes, and he nodded once!
"Then you agree to the condition?"
The man nodded again, and a ck light shone over Jeanne''s hand as she activated her blessing!
Jeanne was an B-ranked Superhuman blessed by the God of death, Thanatos. She had the ability to locate injuries and heal them. But there was a condition added in by Thanatos. Her power uses the life force of the user as fuel, and if she heals an injury, then it would take away some of the patient''s lifespan in exchange.
At first, Jeanne hated her ability. She was already a doctor before she became a superhuman, and she always wanted to help people, so it was difficult for her to ept that she would be shortening her patient''s lives in exchange for healing their injuries. But after the Armageddon attack happened, and Jeanne watched KING fight off a monster that was beyond anyone''s imagination, her mindset changed.
In a world where a single blow from an Anima could give anyone a life-threatening injury, Jeanne''s ability was the perfect solution needed by the superhumans.
Who cares if one year of my life is taken away? So long as I get to live for a few more years, then I will dly give it up.
This is themon response given whenever Jeanne tells patients that she is about to heal about her ability. None of them cared if she took away some of their life, so long as she healed them and they could wake up the next day, that was good enough for them.
Jeanne joined the NSA one year after the Armageddon. She always told everyone that she did it because it had a lot more benefits than the guilds, but the real reason why she did it was that she wanted to help people like KING did, and she would not be able to help anyone if she was being held down by a guild.
KING has been her role model since he fought against the Armageddon, and she was one of his biggest fans even now! She looked up to his selfless act of fighting for everyone in the world without expecting anything in return.
Guilds are very greedy, and Jeanne knew that if she joined any of the guilds, then they would only allow her to heal people from the guild. That is not the sort of medic that she wanted to be. She wanted the freedom to heal anyone she wanted at any time, and the NSA promised to give her that freedom so she joined them.
The wound on the man''s stomach immediately began to close up as his blood vessels fused together and his organs repaired themselves. Jeanne made sure that she focused on his most life-threatening injuries so that he would no longer be in immediate danger before she took her hand off him quickly and put her glove back on.
"That should be enough to keep him alive till he can get into the operating room. Just don''t put too much tension on that side of the body. Your wounds are still tender, and there is still a hole in your body, but you will live."
Jeanne looked down at the man with a small smile as she said this, and a single tear fell from the man''s eye as he grit his teeth and nodded in gratitude. He didn''t think that he would make it out of that hell alive, and it was only because of Jeanne that he would live so he was eternally grateful to her!
The man shouted tearfully as he was rolled away!
"Thank you! Thank you so much!!"
That was not one of the military helicopters that the NSA uses, so it could only be the helicopter belonging to that new superhuman GHOST. Jeanne already watched the recording of the fight between GHOST and the cmity that attacked the city, and she couldn''t deny that she was impressed by his power.
He didn''t have any shy elemental or magic-based power, but he was still able to defeat the Anima with nothing but brute strength alone.
It reminded her too much of what KING was capable of doing, and she couldn''t help butpare the two brawlers whenever she watched GHOST fight.
But even though their fighting styles were simr, Jeanne believed that GHOST was nothing like KING.
Jeanne was one of the lucky few who got to get a good look at the fight between KING and the Armageddon four years ago and walk away with her life. She was in one of the hospital buildings just two blocks away from the region that KING and the Armageddon crashed through on their rampage across the city, and all she could say was that GHOST did not have the raw, unbelievable strength that KING had.
Chapter 75: Growth Potential
Jeanne was certain that GHOST woulde out from his helicopter with a serious injury on his body that would need treatment and a lot of rest. He might even have a life-threatening injury that would make her use her powers on him! She was sure that one of these two things would happen!
But she could have never prepared herself to see a perfectly fine GHOSTing out from the helicopter while carrying a sleeping girl in his arms. There were a few injuries on Mark''s body, but they were mainly little scratches and some scars that would be easy to just put ointment on and wait for it to close on its own.
Superhumans all had a very high healing factor, so the injuries would probably be gone by this time next week.
Jeanne didn''t even know that she had spaced out until Mark was passing in front of her and he raised a brow at her.
"You''re in the way. Move."
Jeanne snapped back to reality and she blinked up at the much taller man before her eyes narrowed. She looked down at the girl that he was carrying and realized that she didn''t recognize her. She isn''t a superhuman. Was this the girl that he went over there to rescue? She is beautiful.
Jeanne felt a little bit of jealousy fill her heart as she saw the girl in Mark''s arms. Jeanne knew that she had nothing to be jealous of because she was also beautiful, but she couldn''t help but feel like Arit was unnaturally beautiful! She looked like some sort of sleeping beauty in Mark''s arms!
And even if Arit wasn''t on her feet, Jeanne could tell that Arit''s proportions were nothing to joke about! If Arit ever wore Jeanne''s clothes, her waist and bust size would rip Jeanne''s clothes to shreds!
Jeanne shook her head to get rid of those self-deprecating thoughts as she faced Mark again.
"You need to have a physical examination before you can go. There is a chance that you have an internal injury."
Jeanne said this gently as she turned to one of the nurses at the side and told him toe closer so he could take Mark into the examination room. Mark looked at Greg curiously and Greg nodded to tell Mark that he should just go along with her since she was only doing her job.
Mark shook his head and told Jeanne that they did not need an examination. They were perfectly fine.
"You don''t need an examination? I didn''t know you became a doctor in the few hours on that ind."
Jeanne''s tone became irritated as she red up at Mark and Mark kept a neutral gaze as he looked down at her. Mark knew who Jeanne was and he knew what sort of ability she had. He was not worried that she would find anything wrong with him, but he knew that she might find something wrong with Arit if she diagnosed her.
Mark didn''t want anyone messing with Arit before he could get a better idea of what happened to her first.
¡
Name: Jeanne Grey
Race: Human
Title: MIRACLE HEALER
Rank: B
Growth Potential: A
Skill: [Full Body Analysis - A] [Touch of Death - S]
Description: A former member of the National Medical Association who was present during the fight between KING and the Armageddon and was motivated to join the NSA by KING. She is strong-willed and dedicated to helping others, and she feels a great sense of guilt whenever she uses her powers.
Affiliation: True Good
¡
Mark easily read through all of Jeanne''s tabs once he used True Sight on her. None of her tabs were hidden, and Mark realized that it was because she was weaker than him that he could see all of her stats. She had a B ranking, but her growth potential was an A rank, so that meant that she could be stronger!
Mark didn''t know how quick an A rank growth rate was supposed to be, but he just assumed that it meant that it had the same ranking as the regr superhuman ranking.
[The Growth Potential tab shows a Superhuman''s Growth rate and future potential. A superhuman with a growth potential of A will grow ten times faster than a superhuman with a growth potential of B, and a superhuman with a growth potential of S will grow ten times faster than a superhuman with a growth potential of A.]
Mark raised a brow as a system tab appeared at the side of his visions and he read the message that the system sent to him. That was a very simple description and Mark immediately understood what it meant.
It just meant that those with lower ranks could be much stronger if they had a high growth potential, and those with higher ranks would eventually startgging behind if their growth potential was low. But doesn''t this mean that your growth potential was just as important as your rank?
If you had a high rank and a low growth potential, then it would just be the same as having a low rank because in a few years, you will startgging behind.
Mark quickly asked the system what his own growth potential was. The system never showed it on the tabs, so Mark was curious about how quickly he grows.
[The User''s Growth Potential is Concealed by Sozin. Besides, the User has the system; you do not need Growth Potential.]
What the heck? Mark was surprised when he read what the system sent to him, and he could only feel like the system was trying to brag that it was greater than any growth potential. But Mark was still curious about what his real growth potential was, and he decided that he would ask Sozin about it the next time they met.
The next time Mark spoke, Mark''s tone carried a threatening undertone as he red down at Jeanne.
"I think I''ve bled enough time to know when something is wrong with my body. I''m not in the best mood right now, doctor. Move."
Jeanne felt her annoyance spike when she heard what Mark said to her, but she refused to let it show as she continued to re up at him! She didn''t know why it was such a big deal for him to not get himself examined and it irked her off that he was looking down on her so much, but she eventually decided to let it go since she had other patients to take care of.
Jeanne only wanted to examine Mark because she was curious about his powers and how he managed toe back with a few injuries when others werepletely decimated by the monsters on that ind! But he would not allow her curiosity to stop her from doing her job.
"Fine, you can go. Just make sure to get yourself checked if you feel anything strange."
Jeanne gave Mark onest critical look before she turned away and began to walk into the building so that she could go to the operating rooms. She was swarmed by arge crowd of doctors who were all trying to get her to a different operating room first, and she didn''t have any time to think about Mark as she was led into the building.
Chapter 76: Its A Lie
Mark knew that he would have to watch out for Jeanne in the future. She was too curious, and she was one of the people who could expose his lie if she tried hard enough. If Jeanne examined Arit, then there was a chance she would have noticed the metamorphosis that happened to Arit.
Mark didn''t know if the QUEEN transformation was permanently gone or if it would evere back, but he was not willing to risk it.
Mark walked through the doors as well and made his way down the building to leave. He was about to walk through the lobby doors when he noticed something in front of him.
Greg was kneeling in front of Talia and talking to her. Greg already changed into a new set of clothes, and he was holding Talia''s shoulders kindly as he spoke to her in a low voice. The little girl was just staring up at Greg with wide eyes as she listened with rapt attention.
Mark didn''t have to be a genius to know exactly what Greg was telling Talia, and Mark watched the look of shock on Talia''s face change into disbelief and then finally grief.
"Waaaaahhhhh~!!!!"
Talia''s cry was enough to make everyone in the lobby stop what they were doing as they turned to look at her. She was still holding onto her teddy bear with one hand, and she was using her other hand to clean the tears that wouldn''t stop falling!
A great feeling of despair filled Talia as she tightened her hold on her teddy bear and cried into her hands! He couldn''t be dead! Her grandfather couldn''t be dead! He promised her that he was going toe back! He said he would take her out for dinner when hees back! It was a lie!
Talia didn''t even remember thest time she cried! She hasn''t cried once ever since she got her powers and started living with her grandfather, but this time she couldn''t stop the tears at all as she bawled her eyes out!
What Greg just said to her was enough topletely break the little girl''s heart! Talia didn''t even care that her grandfather saved the lives of three other superhumans! So what if he saved them, she wasn''t close to any of them, and she didn''t care! She just wanted her grandfather back!
A hand suddenlynded on top of Talia''s head, and Talia turned around to see Mark crouching behind her! Her tears increased in intensity as she ran and hugged Mark tightly and began to cry into his chest!
Mark dropped Arit in a row of chairs and told her to wait for him once he saw Talia crying. He knew that he wasn''t very close to Talia, but he couldn''t just leave her when she was in this state. Mark could understand what it felt like to lose a parental figure, so he knew what she was going through.
"He''s not dead! I know he is not dead! That baldy is just lying! Grandfather wouldn''t leave me! He promised to take me for dinner!"
Greg ran a hand through his thinning hair, and he frowned in slight irritation at what Talia said before he sighed and stood up. Greg knew that she was just grieving, so he couldn''t me her for anything she would say right now. Greg decided that he would just allow her to grieve for some time before telling her what they would be doing next.
Since James asked Greg to take care of Talia, Greg saw it as his responsibility to make sure that Talia does notck anything. Greg was already thinking of adopting Talia if he needed to.
Mark just held Talia kindly and allowed her to cry into his chest. Mark looked to the side, and he saw that Arit was now awake and she was looking at him and Talia curiously as she wondered what was happening. Arit never met Talia before, so she was surprised that Mark was this close to the little girl. Talia, meanwhile, just continued to deny the truth and cry that her grandfather was still alive.
People who were passing by all nced at Talia with pitying gazes, and some of the women even teared up as they heard what she was saying. James was a very entric person, but that doesn''t mean they hated him. His death was a big loss for the NSA.
But no matter how much Talia wished for it to be a lie, there was no denying that James was really dead. Mark saw the cliff that James fell from, and there was no Arcane Rank that could survive something like that! The fall was enough to kill a low-level cmity, so there was no chance of survival once James fell down there.
Talia just continued to cry on Mark until she eventually got tired and fell asleep while holding onto Mark tightly. Mark gently carried her, and he was about to hand her over to Greg, but she wouldn''t let go of his shirt, and she just held on tighter. Something touched Mark on the leg, and he looked down to see that it was Talia''s teddy bear that hade to life. When did she activate her power?
Or did ite to life immediately after she went to sleep as some sort of defense mechanism?
Mark wasn''t sure what brought the teddy bear to life, but the teddy bear was not attacking Mark right now. The teddy bear was looking up at Mark with a strange kind stare as it held onto his trousers. Was it telling him to take Talia with him?
Greg saw how Talia was attached to Mark, and he spoke up tiredly.
"She needs a ce to stay tonight. I don''t want her to go back to her grandfather''s ce without anyone to take care of her. If you can take care of her tonight, then I''lle pick her up tomorrow. But I can just take her to my ce if you don''t want to look after her."
Mark stared at the sleeping Talia again before he just sighed and turned to walk over to Arit. They had an extra room in their house so he didn''t mind leaving her there to rest for tonight. He wouldn''t want her to stay in her grandfather''s ce alone either. Mark still remembers how things were for him when his parents died.
He lived in arge mansion with nothing but servants and butlersing and going every day, and it almost drove him mad. Mark left that life behind for now because of how isting it was, and he wouldn''t want Talia going through that either. Mark would take care of her tonight and when she wakes up tomorrow, they will think of something else for her.
"Who''s that? Is sheing home with us?"
Arit asked this curiously as she stared at the sleeping Talia, and Mark nodded and told Arit what happened with Talia. Arit''s face fell sadly as she heard what happened, and she easily agreed that Talia shoulde home with them! There is no need for Talia to be alone since they have an extra room in the house anyway.
''She''s going to take him away from us! She looks cute, and she is going to try and steal Mark from us! We can''t trust her! Kill her!''
Arit''s gaze narrowed for a moment as the voice in her head spoke to her again, and she red at the sleeping Talia, but she was able to easily shake those thoughts away and smile at Mark once Mark told her toe along so they would go home. She stood up and followed behind Mark.
Chapter 77: Took You Long Enough.
Arit wondered if she should say something about the voice to Mark. She knew that he had already gone through a lot to help her, so he would want to know about the voice, but Arit shook her head internally as she decided not to say anything. Mark already did a lot for her and she didn''t want to burden him with something that might not be a big deal.
Arit could shut the voice up if it got too annoying, so she was sure that she could handle it.
Arit fell in line beside Mark and spoke up animatedly as she smiled up at him.
"I still can''t believe you are a superhuman!"
"After all this? You still can''t believe it?"
"It''s not even been ten hours since I found out! It''s still shocking! And I can''t believe you told Pat but you didn''t tell me!"
Mark grinned.
"I knew Pat before I knew you. He is one of the only friends I had for most of my life, so I trust him enough to tell him everything. And I know you don''t like superhumans, so I didn''t want to bring you into this world yet."
Arit became a little gloomy once Mark said this as she remembered what happened to her and her parents a long time ago. She never hid her dislike for superhumans from Mark, so she could understand why he would not want to tell her about his powers! She didn''t hate superhumans, but the way she talked about them with a frown on her face would make anyone think that she hated them!
It must have been hard for Mark to hide his powers from her while listening to her tell him how much superhumans were all money-loving crooks!
Arit now understood why Mark was so hesitant to be with her all this while. He would always act like he really wanted to be with her but he couldn''t because he was just trying to protect her. She was the one who made it impossible for him to be with her because of her hatred for superhumans.
"Sorry, I suppose I''m the one at fault. I didn''t deserve to know. But, you know I like you far more than I dislike superhumans. If it was you, then I know you would''ve saved me that day."
Mark hoisted Talia up so that her head rested on his shoulder and he grinned down at Arit kindly.
"You think I would''ve saved a whiny, snobbish, snot-nosed kid from being crushed under a building? Damn right, I would."
Arit pouted once Mark said this and used her shoulder to push him yfully! Markughed at her and put one hand around her shoulder while his other hand held Talia. Mark leaned down and kissed Arit on top of her head, and Arit felt a heavy blush rising on her face as a giddy sensation filled her heart!
She tried her hardest to keep her annoyed pout in ce but she couldn''t stop the smile that rose on her face as the pout disappeared! She quickly covered her face with one hand to try and hide her blush and Mark justughed as they finally exited the building.
"Took you long enough."
A voice suddenly spoke up once they exited the building, and Mark looked up to see a tall, slim teenager standing in front of the NSA building. He had red hair and red eyes that were covered by sunsses. He wore a ck suit that fit him perfectly and ck shoes that shone in the moonlight.
He looked like he was dressed to go to a g or some sort of evening candlelight dinner and Mark could only raise a brow in surprise as he looked the neer from head to toe!
"Pat, what the hell are you wearing?"
Arit''s eyes widened in shock as she nced at the new person who was identified as Pat!
This is Pat!?
He looked like a normal human being!
Arit had never seen Pat before. She has known about him for a long time and she has heard Mark talking to him over the phone many times before, but she has never seen him once! Mark even told her that Pat only leaves his house if a life-threatening emergency that desperately required his attention came up, so it was unlikely that she could see him twice in five years!
Whenever Arit imagined what Pat looks like, she would think of someone wearing sweatpants and a sweater as he huddles up on a couch and eats chips all day long while staring at hisptop screen! This was the image that Arit always had about Pat, but the person that was standing in front of her was nothing like that! Pat looked like a perfectly normal person, so she was shocked!
Arit didn''t know that she was actually right about her initial image of Pat. Pat was the sort of person who would huddle up in front of the TV for hours on end while eating chips and drinking soda and he only had a rtionship with his manyptops and PCs. But there was a special reason why Pat simply had toe here today and also why he had to dress up so well.
Pat first came here wearing sweatpants and a hoodie but the security told him that he couldn''t enter because they thought that he was a reporter. Many reporters were hanging around the perimeter waiting for Mark or any other Superhuman toe out, so once Pat told them that he wanted to meet Mark, they stopped him and sent him away.
Pat just wanted to make sure for himself that Mark was fine and to tell Mark about what happened with the transmission video, but he became pissed once the security turned him away, so he went back and came back dressed like this in a Chrome ck Vanitas Avatendor that he drove straight through the security checkpoint.
This car was one of the supercars developed by Mark''s familypany and it was seen as one of the most high-ss cars in the entire world! People couldn''t stop staring and pointing in surprise as they saw Pat driving into the building.
"Isn''t that a Vanitas! I haven''t seen one in my entire life before! They say only billionaires can drive it since it is so rare!"
"Holy shit, it''s a Vanitas! Did a politiciane to see the NSA? We should try to get an interview?"
"I can get an interview for Cutiepie Metube page! That Vanitas must belong to a rich man! He will bring in a lot of views!"
"Why are you all so excited? It''s just a Vanitas car! It''s not even better than a Lamborghini!"
"Are you stupid! Go back to school and relearn the definition of better if you don''t know anything! The Lamborghini cannot even beat the Vanitas in top speed or eleration! And the look of the Vanitas is far better! The Vanitas is ten times better!"
People were all talking animatedly and looking at the Vanitas car in shock as they watched it drive up to the gate! The guards at the gate didn''t even dare to stop the car once they saw that it was a Vanitas because they thought he was some sort of politician or a high-profile celebrity! They wouldn''t dare to stop someone who could drive a Vanitas so casually!
Chapter 78: What Do You Mean By Ten Million?
Pat didn''t like showing off, but he knew that money was the answer to almost every problem, so he didn''t mind using it to his advantage every now and then. There was no other car in the world that had as much prestige as the Vanitas, so he decided he would use it to get into the NSApound.
And now that he was here, he didn''t waste any time scanning Mark with his eyes to see if there were any serious injuries.
"I just wanted to make sure you''re doing alright. I''m d you''re alright but you really need to have those scratches and cuts looked at. And who the hell is that? Did you guys already have a kid while I wasn''t paying attention? It hasn''t even been an hour since I called you."
Pat spoke in that same haughty and overly confident tone that he always uses as he said this. Pat also saw the walking teddy bear that was following after Mark and Arit, but he didn''t even bother paying that thing any mind. Pat learned a long time ago that there are some things you should just ignore regardless of how weird they are when ites to Mark!
After learning that Mark was a superhuman, nothing about Mark made sense to Patrick again. There was always one thing or another about Mark that just defied logic, but it is necessary to just ignore it unless you wish to lose your mind! Pat simply went with the flow.
Mark scoffed with a coy grin as he let go of Arit to give Pat a handshake.
"It''s nice to see you''re still as crazy as ever, you bastard."
Pat smiled slightly and epted the handshake and greeting. Mark told Pat who Talia was and why he was carrying her and Pat looked at the little girl with some pity before nodding.
Mark knew that Pat would also understand since Pat had lost people to the Anima before. Once Mark was done introducing Talia, he then introduced Arit. Pat gave Arit a hard look before he nodded and greeted her.
"Sister-inw. I suppose I can finally put a face to your annoying voice."
Arit smiled indulgingly.
"Hello to you too, Patrick."
Mark smacked Pat on the back of the head as he heard what Pat said and Aritughed a little as she saw the look of irritation on Mark''s face as he looked down at his friend. Pat just frowned up at Mark in annoyance!
"That fucking hurt!"
"Show some tact, you idiot. Is that how you greet someone you''re seeing for the first time? Your social skills are as terrible as ever."
"Fuck, that hurts, you fucking bastard. Fine. Sorry, Arit."
Arit easily epted the apology and Pat''s expression finally turned serious as he told Mark that they had to talk. Mark wondered what Pat wanted to talk about and he asked if it was something he couldn''t say the next day. They had to get back because they were all tired.
"This sounds pretty serious, so let''s talk about it tomorrow after we get some rest. I need to get home."
Pat thought about it while ncing at Arit discreetly before he finally nodded in agreement.
"Come around to my ce in two days. I have a visitor tomorrow, so it''ll be hard to talk with her around. I''ll give you a brief rundown over the pher tomorrow."
Mark was surprised to hear that Pat had a visitor and he immediately grinned as he teased Pat about him having a girlfriend.
Was he bringing a girl over and he didn''t want anyone to disturb the two of them as they ravaged each other? The look of absolute disbelief and annoyance on Pat''s face as he looked at Mark made both Mark and Arit burst intoughter! Pat looked like he just swallowed a lemon!
"For your information, it''s my sister who''sing to see me. So unless incest has suddenly be legal in this country, then please don''t ever make a joke like that again. Fuck, I can''t even imagine using the word ravage in the same sentence as my sister."
Mark chuckled a bit more before he finally calmed down.
"Yeah, I''lle around in two days. Just give me a callter."
Pat nodded again as he grabbed a key from his pocket and threw it at Mark. Mark caught it easily and he looked at the logo to see that it was a Vanitas logo. A silver V encircled by two golden wings that made it look like an angel. What the hell is this for?
"I got you a little something to use to go home. I wouldn''t want my best friend walking all the way to another city, would I?"
"And what about you?"
Vroom!
A long ck Vanitas limousine suddenly drove into the NSApound and Pat pointed his thumb towards it as a lot of people were staring at the limousine in shock.
"I''ve got my own ride, so I''m good."
Mark narrowed his eyes at Pat before he spoke up in a tone of certainty.
"You bought this with my money, didn''t you?"
Pat chuckled as he waved and started walking away.
"I spent ten million on that helicopter you trashed on the ind, so I was sure you wouldn''t mind me buying myself a little something with your money! You''ll get the receipt tomorrow!"
Pat quickly got into the limousine before Mark could say anything and the car drove off. Mark just sighed tiredly as he pressed the Vanitas automatic unlock button and the chrome ck Vanitas car beeped as it slowly began to open its wing-like doors. Mark knew that Pat was only going to use that helicopter for a crash test, so he didn''t know why Pat would even feel bad about it being wrecked.
But Mark didn''t mind because he knew that the two cars were not that expensive. Both cars won''t even be up to five million dors, so it was no big deal. And since Mark owed Pat for what Pat did to help him in rescuing Arit, Mark decided that he would overlook it.
Besides, all the money that Pat spent was only going back into Mark''spany, so it wasn''t like he was losing any money. He would only lose money on paper.
Arit was standing behind Mark and she was just looking on in disbelief as she watched the interaction between the two friends. What does Pat mean by ten million dors? What helicopter? Was Pat talking about the helicopter that they used toe back from the ind? Did he buy it!?
And what money did they use to buy the cars? Pat said something about using Mark''s money, right? What the hell does he mean by Mark''s money!? This isn''t something that any high schooler should be able to buy! It''s a supercar! There is no way he is talking about the same Mark!
Chapter 79: Are You Like... Rich?
Arit was not knowledgeable about cars, so she had no idea that the car was named Vanitas. She was just surprised that Mark had enough money to casually buy a supercar. She had no idea that the supercar was made by Mark''spany.
Arit and Mark had been living in the house her father rented for her for one year now. There was a master room and two smaller ones in the house, and Mark allowed Arit to have the master bedroom since it was her father''s money. Arit knew that Mark''s room was small, but he neverined and he allowed her to take the big room.
She received an allowance from her father every month, and that is what they used to buy whatever they wanted. There were times when Mark would try to help her buy things with his own money, but Arit always refused because she felt like she owed him for agreeing to live with her to protect her.
Mark lived such a simple life, and the only thing that Arit had seen him spend money on was his bike! Arit understood that he loved that bike, so she never questioned it whenever she saw him changing out the engine or adding modifications to it! Arit just assumed that Mark was using all his money on the bike since he never spent on anything else.
So seeing all of this was just too much for her! She couldn''t even be angry because she never asked Mark how rich he was before! The only thing she knew about his family is that he is an orphan and he is being taken care of by his father''s assistant until he turns eighteen!
Mark suddenly spoke up.
"Aren''t youing?"
"Hmm...?"
Arit snapped out of her surprise as she was gently led towards the passenger side of the Vanitas Avatendor and she sat on the plush expensive seat. Mark closed her door for her and went to the back of the car, he ced Talia in the back seat gently with her teddy bear entering as well before Mark went and entered the driver''s seat. It was only after he sat down that Arit finally spoke.
"Mark, are you like... rich?"
Mark could onlyugh loudly as he pressed the ignition and started the car! Mark never told Arit that his parents owned a car manufacturingpany called Vanitas Motors and that he was now the sole majority stakeholder in thepany, so she had no idea how rich he was even though they''d lived together for a long time.
Before Mark could drive off, a voice shouted from outside as someone ran up to the car. Mark turned to see that it was Milicent who was running towards him with a phone in her hand. She ran up to the car and knocked on Mark''s window.
"Wait! Mr. Vanitas! Wait! There is someone who wants to talk to you. Mr.
Szar is the current acting president of the NSA and he wishes to have a conversation with you before you leave."
Mark shook his head as he told her that he was not interested in talking to anyone right now. Mark was too tired and he didn''t have time to go and talk to another member of the NSA. He just wanted to go home.
Milicent blinked in surprise at the dismissal before she put the phone up to her ear and spoke into it for a moment. After she heard what the person on the other side said she spoke to Mark again.
"If you can spare any time at all. He would not mind meeting with you tomorrow or the day after that to talk. He says that what he wants to talk about is very important. It will affect both you and the NSA greatly."
Mark narrowed his eyes at the veiled warning. As far as Mark was concerned, his business with the NSA should already be over and they shouldn''t be bothering him anymore. What they were doing right now was just pissing him off more than it should.
"Tell him that I''lle meet with him tomorrow when I''m free. Do not call me, do not text me, and don''te to my house. Just wait for me."
Vroom!!
Mark only said this much before he rolled up his window and revved his car before driving away.
...
Later that night, Mark was sitting on his bed and looking through his system as he tried to finish putting some of his extra stat and skill points into the ces where he needed them. Mark wanted to achieve a bnce in his stats since he never knew what sort of situation he could end up inter in the future.
But while he was fighting on that ind, Mark noticed that he was severelycking in strength! Even when he was fighting against the final ant that was protecting the QUEEN, he was not able to push the ant back with only his strength. If not for the fact that Mark was faster than that ant, Mark was sure that he might have lost that battle!
Mark needed to increase his strength so that even the High-Level Cmity sses wouldn''t stand a chance against his strength.
Mark had one thousand stat points and one thousand skill points and now, Mark had arge choice to make. Should he try to achieve bnce across all of his stats, or should he try to improve his strength and durability to a much higher level so that he would be a more effective brawler? Mark knew that he would never want to be a mage.
It was cool that some people could throw magic around and create massive explosions or thunderstorms with nothing but a thought, but Mark was someone who liked getting close and personal with his enemies. He enjoyed the look of fear on his enemies'' faces and the rush of adrenaline in his system as he shed with a strong enemy. Nothing was better than that.
So Mark knew that he would always want to be a brawler.
And besides, what would happen if you met an enemy that could withstand the full force of your magic and he managed to get close enough? If you are a mage without strength then you will be killed easily because you were weak.
Mark could simply try to improve all his stats, but he decided that it would be more sensible to improve one aspect of his stats and only improve the others so that they are not toocking inparison.
Mark decided that he would start focusing more on his strength-based stats to increase his chances of overpowering the enemy, and he would only improve Mana-based stats after improving his strength.
[Does User wish to add Stat points to the selected Stats? Yes/No]
Mark chose yes, and he felt his body immediately changing as the stats were ced in the areas he selected.
...
[User has added 400 stat points to Strength]
[User has added 200 stat points to Stamina]
[User has added 200 stat points to Durability]
[User has added 100 stat points to Agility]
[User has added 100 stat points to Mana]
...
Strength: 1380 [+138] [+217]
Stamina: 850 [+85] [+127]
Agility: 850 [+85] [+85]
Durability: 810 [+81]
Mana: 520 [+52]
...
[Stat Improvements Due to Application of Mana]
Strength: +15%
Stamina: +15%
Agility: +10%
Chapter 80: Cursed Gift
Once Mark was done with them, he then moved over to the other free points that he had. He also had a thousand skill points to use any way he wanted, and Mark immediately decided to improve the True Sight skill first. That skill was very useful.
In fact, it was more useful than almost any other skill that Mark had because it allowed him to judge his opponent''s strength and decide the best course of action to take in fighting against his opponent.
If you know your opponent''s rank and skills, then there is nothing to fear since you can just think of a way to counter them! As Sun Zu said in the Art of War, know your enemy like yourself and you will win a thousand battles - or something like that.
Another skill that Mark wanted to work on was the Blunt Force Trauma Skill which allowed him to use Critical Attacks. It was too useful for Mark to leave it the way it was. If Mark improves these two skills along with his Full Body Constitution skill, then he would just distribute the remaining points to the other skills he had.
[Does User wish to add skill points to the selected skills? Yes/No]
Mark selected yes, and he watched as some new tabs appeared.
...
[User has added 300 skill points to True Sight]
Current True Sight: D rank [1/400]
...
[User has added 200 skill points to Full Body Constitution]
Current Full Body Constitution: Heavenly Lightning God: 0/400
[Heavenly Lightning God: This is a full-body constitution skill that imbues the practitioner with the divine essence of lightning, granting unparalleled agility, strength, and the ability to harness and control lightning energy inbat.]
Effects:
Full Body Augmentation x30
Multiplier [All lightning-based skills will receive a 100% boost]
Discharge [The User can absorb and store lightning-based attacks in his body and then discharge them toward the enemy for a devastating counterattack.]
...
[User has added 300 skill points to Blunt Force Trauma]
Current Rank: D Rank [102/400]
Probability ofnding a Critical Attack: +10% for every sessful consecutive hit.
Probability ofnding a Divergent Attack [exponential 2.5 per attack]: +0.5% for every sessful consecutive hit.
...
[User has added 140 skill points to Mana Cirction]
Current Mana Cirction: D Rank [0/400]
[Stat Improvements Due to Application of Mana]
Strength: +20%
Stamina: +15%
Agility: +10%
Durability: +5%
...
Strength: 1380 [+138] [+276]
Stamina: 850 [+85] [+127]
Agility: 850 [+85] [+85]
Durability: 810 [+81] [+41]
...
[User has added 60 skill points to Taunting]
Current Taunting Variation: Call of the Night Wolves [F Rank [61/100]]
Probability of sessful Taunting Based on Level: 21%
...
SUPERHUMAN SYSTEM
Name: Mark Vanitas
Race: Human
Title: [He Who Perseveres Through Hell. [+10% increase to all stats.]] [He Who Defies Destiny]
Rank: S [3080/5000]
Affiliation: True Neutral
Unused Stat Points: 0
Unused Skill Points: 0
...
Strength: 1380 [+138] [+217]
Stamina: 850 [+85] [+127]
Agility: 850 [+85] [+85]
Durability: 810 [+81]
Mana: 520 [+52]
...
Artifacts: [Gloves of the Thunder God - S]
...
[SKILL TREE]
-> Full Body Constitution: This is a unique skill tree enabling the user to systematically enhance and fortify every aspect of their physical form, elevating strength and resilience to unprecedented levels!
Current Full Body Constitution: Heavenly Lightning God: 0/400
[Heavenly Lightning God: This is a full-body constitution skill that imbues the practitioner with the divine essence of lightning, granting unparalleled agility, strength, and the ability to harness and control lightning energy inbat.]
Effects:
Full Body Augmentation x30
Multiplier [All lightning-based skills will receive a 100% boost]
Discharge [The User can absorb and store up to S rank lightning-based attacks in his body and then discharge them towards the enemy for a devastating counterattack.]
-> Mana Cirction: Mana Cirction is a skill enabling the user to enhance the efficiency of mana distribution throughout their body, optimizing energy flow for heightened senses and greater strength.
Current Mana Cirction: D Rank [0/400]
[Stat Improvements Due to Application of Mana]
Strength: +20%
Stamina: +15%
Agility: +10%
Durability: +5%
-> Taunting: This Skill lures enemies with a lower Rank towards the User, diverting their attention from all distractions and encouraging aggressive engagement!
Current Taunting Variation: Call of the Night Wolves [F Rank [61/100]]
Probability of sessful Taunting Based on Level: 21%
-> Blunt Force Trauma: This skill heightens the probability ofnding a critical hit as the user delivers consecutive sessful punches to the enemy, harnessing the cumtive impact for devastating effectiveness! Critical Attacks deal +100% extra damage to the enemy!
Current Rank: D Rank [102/400]
Probability ofnding a Critical Attack: +10% for every sessful consecutive hit.
Probability ofnding a Divergent Attack [exponential 2.5 per attack]: +0.5% for every sessful consecutive hit.
-> True Sight: This skill grants the user the ability to perceive the stats and skills of others, offering insight into their capabilities with a single nce.
Current True Sight: D rank [1/400]
...
[Comment from GoG: You finally advanced in rank. You''re going to love whates next.]
...
Mark was happy about the changes he made to his system, and he was about to close down the tab so that he could get some rest, but he suddenly stopped as he read what Sozin wrote at the end of his system stats. What does he mean by whates next?
Mark remembered that there was a time when Sozin told him to try and get his rank up to S as quickly as possible. Mark thought that Sozin was just saying that so that Mark would be able to fight against the monsters more easily, but now that Mark was thinking about it, that was probably not the case. Sozin is too much of a dick to care about Mark like that.
[Comment from GoG: You''re really underestimating me!? Of course, I care about you! You''re going to love this, I''m sure of it!]
Mark smiled as he read this message before a new message popped up from his system.
[The User has crossed the predetermined threshold A->S. The User has sessfully gained a Cursed Item.]
Mark furrowed his brow as he read the message that the system sent to him and he wondered what sort of gift the system was talking about. Was the system giving him a gift for moving from A rank to S rank? That was awesome! Then, didn''t that mean that the system would also give him a gift if he moved from S rank to the next rank?
Mark suddenly felt a great surge of motivation fill him as he wanted to reach the next rank as quickly as possible to see what sort of gift the system would give him then.
Chapter 81: Boing Boing
Mark suddenly felt a great surge of motivation fill him as he wanted to reach the next rank as quickly as possible to see what sort of gift the system would give him. But first, he read through the tabs that opened to exin the gift that the system was giving him.
[The user has gained a gift: Cursed Item [Key To The Underworld]]
[Cursed Item [Key To The Underworld]: A mysterious key granted as a challenge from Thanatos, the god of death. It is a mystical item that, when activated, transports the user to the depths of the underworld where they must confront challenging tests of courage, wit, and resolve to progress further.
Sessfully passing through the test will unlock valuable rewards for the user, but failure will mean immediate death.]
A key suddenly appeared in the air in front of Mark and Mark quickly reached out and caught it before it could fall. The key was purple with many ck carvings around it. There was a foreboding aura surrounding it with a cold ambiance that made Mark''s entire body shiver once he touched it. This was the key to the underworld.
It looked like a regr key, but Mark could tell that it was not a regr key at all!
"Why in the world did Thanatos give this to me? And why is the god of death giving a challenge to the champion of the god of games?"
Mark was very confused as he looked down at the strange new gift curiously. He didn''t understand why the system gave him something that was gifted by the god of death. Mark heard from Sozin that the other gods were not happy about how Sozin chose him as his sole champion, so Mark knew that the other gods did not like him.
If the god of death gave something like this, then it can only mean bad news for him!
Did Sozin even know about all of this? Mark only had this thought for a moment before he immediately nodded. There is no way that Sozin wasn''t in on this as well. In fact, Mark was sure that Sozin was at fault for this in one way or another.
[You really need to stop dissing me so much...]
...
"... Didn''t I tell you that you''re my favorite? I wouldn''t do that to you without a good reason!"
Mark suddenly blinked in surprise as he found himself disappearing from his room and reappearing in that bright blue space that Sozin always brought him to whenever they wanted to talk. Sozin was standing in front of Mark with his hands folded and a frown on his face, and Mark could tell that Sozin was not happy. Is he angry that I said this is all his fault? Does he want me to apologize?
He can''t possibly think that I was dissing him. I was just joking.
Sozin''s re suddenly increased, and Mark put up his hands and took a step back as he felt a small tremor under his feet! What the hell!?
"Alright, I''m sorry! I''m sorry! You''re not at fault, and I''m sure you have a good reason for it. Just rx and don''t throw me down. I don''t want to know what it feels like to fall from this high up!"
Mark was sure that Sozin would just throw him down if he didn''t apologize! Sozin might be a god, but Mark could see a lot of childish attributes in Sozin! Sozin was vindictive and he didn''t mind stooping low to get back at someone who insulted him. Mark didn''t want to know what a god''s anger felt like! Sozin would probably just toss him into a volcano or something!
"Pfft! Puahahahahahahahha! I can''t believe you fell for it! I wasn''t even serious, and you started apologizing! Of course, I wasn''t going to toss you into a volcano; you think I''d want to just kill my only champion! I would have only put you into the Kraken''s stomach for a few days as punishment!
You''re hrious! I''m sure if I went a bit further you would have gone on your knees!"
Sozin suddenly started tough loudly as he floated into the sky again, and Mark couldn''t stop the small twitching of his brow as he watched Sozin floating around him without a care in the world. Mark couldn''t believe that this annoying bastard was his patron god! He really thought that Sozin was angry this time, but Sozin was just being a dick as always!
If there had been a chance for him to choose another god as his patron god, then Mark had no idea if he would have chosen Sozin again.
"Of course, you would''ve! You fucking love me! I can tell you''re really grateful to me for everything I''ve done for you! I even see it in your thoughts! But maybe you would have chosen the goddess of life. She''s got that big ''boing boing'' that you love so much!
She''s even bigger than your girl Arit!"
Sozin came really close to Mark as he said this, and he even put his hand under his chest and raised his brow suggestively as he cupped imaginary breasts and jiggled them around while mentioning the goddess''s breasts.
Mark couldn''t stop his mind from imagining arge-breasted goddess wearing an innocent off-shoulder white gown and floating towards him with a kind smile on her face as she caressed his face softly and gave him the power to vanquish evil.
Her generous, bountiful breasts and voluptuous hips would be enough to grant him motivation to fight for centuries, and there wouldn''t be a day where he doesn''t pray to have her grace his bed!
But that was not going to happen because he was stuck with Sozin for life!
"Hey, cheer up! Even if you don''t have the goddess, you still have that human girl Arit! You know, I''ve seen many people give up their loved ones and abandon them to die just because they wanted more power; you''re the first person that I''ve seen stand up to me like that to save their loved one. It shows that you really love that girl. I wouldn''t understand what that kind of love is.
I don''t really get what you humans call love or lust, but I can''t help but be impressed with how you handled it. Well done, champion."
Mark smiled slightly as he heard Sozin praise him. Even though Sozin was in a child''s body, Mark couldn''t help but feel like he was being praised by his father, and it gave Mark a deep sense of aplishment and pride as he unconsciously stood straighter and grinned happily.
He thought that Sozin would be disappointed in him for trying to give up a mission in exchange for Arit, but he was just d that wasn''t the case.
Sozin was a god, so Mark already guessed that he wouldn''t understand human emotion, but Mark was happy that Sozin trusted him enough to allow him to make his own decisions regarding his missions and the way he wanted to live his life. Mark shook his head and tried to get back into serious mode as he brought up the key.
Chapter 82: A Wager With The Gods
"So what exactly is this? I know you told me that I would get a gift when I moved up in ranking, but I thought it would be another skill or maybe even a new title, but this was thest thing I expected. You''re allowing other gods to give me gifts? I thought you said they were pissed at you for only choosing one champion."
"Oh, they are. They''re fucking pissed. Some of them even suggested that I should just kill you and start over again to pick new champions. Don''t look so worried. If I wanted to kill you, then I would''ve killed you in those four years when you didn''t have your powers. I waited for all those years because I trust you''re the best person for me.
But about that key, it appears that the other gods have entered into a wager with me. You see, they still don''t think that you are capable of being a sole champion. The power of a god is too much for any human to bear alone, and they think that the power will either drive you to madness or destroy your body because it cannot keep up.
"So I told them to bet on it, and they did. I entered a wager with some gods and I told them to set up challenges for you in their domain. These domains are of different types. Some gods have entires like the god of fire, and some other gods even have other dimensions like Thanatos who rules the underworld.
They will give you a challenge, and you will have some conditions ced on you before you can go into the challenge. If you are capable of defeating the challenge anding out victorious, then they will buzz off, and they will stop pestering me about choosing only one champion."
Mark blinked in surprise and looked down at the key again. So, does that mean that this key was the key to another dimension? The underworld? That''s pretty dope, actually. But the entire deal right now seemed pretty one-sided to Mark. Why would Sozin agree to a deal like that when they wouldn''t be getting anything in return?
The other gods would get to test Mark and try to kill him, and all Mark and Sozin would get in exchange is eptance. That is not a good deal at all.
Sozin could hear Mark''s thoughts clearly, and a small smile appeared on Sozin''s face as he heard what Mark was thinking. Once Mark saw that mischievous smile from his patron god, he immediately knew that they were in business! There is no way that Sozin would agree to a deal without getting something in return as well!
"That''s why you''re my champion! You and I think so alike that it really scares me! I don''t think I could have picked someone else that would think about extorting the gods like you! Are you sure you''re not really my son!?"
Sozin floated over to Mark''s back and patted him on the back heavily whileughing loudly, and Mark stumbled forward in shock as he felt all the air leave his lungs! Fucking hell, that hurt! Sozin''s hits seemed light, but there was a lot of weight behind them, and Mark couldn''t even keep his bnce once they hit!
Sozinughed again and floated around as he started to talk animatedly!
"I allowed all the gods to test you however they wanted, but I also gave them some conditions that I wanted. The first one is that every test will have a necessary means to pass it. They cannot give you a test that will take a million years without you being able to find the solution or method to pass it. Knowing some of those gods, they are not above doing something like that.
I know I would do it if I was in their shoes. Secondly, they cannot give you a mission that is too far above your current abilities. Of course, that means that the monsters you will encounter will not be too much stronger than you, but that is also pretty ambiguous, so don''t get too happy.
The concept of strength is skewed for we gods, so they could give a cmity-ss monster to a D rank, and they wouldn''t think it was a bad matchup because they know there is a method for the D rank to win. Finding it is another issue, though.
"And thirdly, they will all be mandated to give a gift that they believe is on par with the challenge set. I set this particr one in a tricky way. I''m pretty good at that, you know. The gods hate me and you, so they will definitely not set an easy challenge, but they are also a prideful bunch, and they wouldn''t want to be looked down on by the other gods.
That means they will have to give a gift that is on par or better than the challenge just to save face.
"Now it''s all on you, my champion. If you are capable of defeating these challenges, then what waits for you on the other side is more power and greater strength than you could have dreamed of. You have a chance to possess a gift from every god out there, all you have to do is reach out and grab it!"
Mark couldn''t keep the excited grin off his face even if he wanted to! Sozin was the fucking best! He didn''t even want the big-breasted goddess anymore! He would have chosen Sozin a thousand times over if he had a choice! He could kiss this fucking god!
This simple bet was a brilliant trick from Sozin, and it was also an amazing game that Sozin was ying! There really wasn''t anyone else who deserved the title of the god of games!
"The god of trickery will have your head if he hears you saying stuff like that."
Mark chuckled as Sozin said this, and he looked down at the key again. The key no longer looked like a simple key to another dimension. It now seemed like a chance to be even stronger than he was as KING. Mark could gain a blessing from every god out there if he passes these missions. Mark knew that the missions would not be easy.
Since Sozin said that the gods were allowed to put any form of test in front of him, Mark was sure that they would all think of the most sinister and twisted things they could just to make sure he couldn''t pass it no matter how hard he tried! But was that going to stop Mark?
Chapter 83: We Want To See The King
Mark was sure that they would all think of the most sinister and twisted things they could just to make sure he couldn''t pass it, no matter how hard he tried!
But something like that was too small to stop Mark! Mark had the odds stacked against him right from the start, and he was still here because of his stupid tenacity and will. He just wouldn''t give up, not even when it seemed like the only option avable. That was what brought him this far, and he was going to make sure he didn''t fail Sozin as he destroyed all these challenges from the gods.
Mark squeezed the key tightly and spoke up.
"So when do I leave?"
"Ah, not so fast. There is a set time of seventy-two hours where you can use the key. As long as you use it in the next three days, then you will be fine. And don''t worry about the real world. There is a time dtion of ten thousand days to one day between the real world and the dimension of the gods, so if you can finish the mission quickly enough, then it won''t even feel like you were gone at all.
Well, that''s assuming that the gods don''t give you a mission that is longer than one million days. I know someone said their mission would be a hundred years long."
"What!?"
"Hey, don''t look at me. I told them that it couldn''t be a million years long! Everything else is free game! They can make it nine hundred and ny-nine thousand nine hundred and ny-nine years and I can''t say anything!"
"What the heck are you talking about!? You should have said something shorter to them! What if someone says they want to use the million years? I can''t disappear for over three hundred and sixty days!"
"A million years sounded alright to me! I''m immortal! Time is just a construct for me; it doesn''t exist! One million years, one thousand years, one hundred years, they''re all the same!"
Mark put his hand up to his head and sighed as he scratched his hair in annoyance! Sozin never fails to give him a headache whenever they meet! It almost felt like Sozin was doing this on purpose! Mark was just thanking his stars for allowing him to meet Sozin and making him his patron god, but now Mark was already regretting it again! Someone like Sozin had no right to be looking after anyone!
Sozin saw that Mark was really distressed about this, and Sozin sighed as he spoke up.
"Don''t worry, I''m sure there won''t be anyone crazier than the hundred-year mission. If it gets too long, then I''ll sacrifice some of my cosmic power to pause the real world for you. I can''t interfere too much in the real world since I''m a god and all, but since I''m only pausing it, then I''m sure it won''t be that big of a deal."
Mark ran his hand through his hair one more time before he sighed and nodded thankfully. He knew that most gods wouldn''t care about their champions like this, so he was grateful that Sozin cared enough to help him pause the world if the mission was too long. Mark started to think about when he would use the key, but Sozin spoke up before Mark''s mind could go far.
As he spoke, he slowly started to disappear as well.
"You might want to go back for now. Let''s talk again some other time! It''s been fun, champion!"
...
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Mark blinked as he was suddenly brought back to the real world and he looked towards the left as he heard someone knocking on his door. Who in the world was that? Mark knew that he already put Tilda to sleep earlier.
Tilda refused to wake up even on the drive back home, and Mark didn''t want to go through the trouble of forcing her to take a bath, so he just put her in bed with her teddy and left them both in the guest room. It couldn''t be Tilda, so that only left one other person.
Mark stood up and went to open the door, and he smiled as he saw the person on the other side.
"Hey, Arit. You couldn''t sleep?"
Mark knew that it would be hard for Arit to sleep after what she went through, and he wasn''t surprised to see her here. He told her toe to him if she needed anything tonight, and he was happy that she finally came.
Arit was standing outside Mark''s room, and Mark could immediately tell that she was nervous from the way she was acting. She was using one of her legs to scratch the back of the other one, and she was looking away from him and staring at the side nervously.
Arit had been debating internally for more than thirty minutes before she got enough courage toe over to knock on Mark''s door. She didn''t know how to even start talking to him because of how many things were swimming inside of her mind at the same time.
''Ah~ It''s Mark! Mark is looking at us! Talk to him! We need to talk to him! Tell him we love him! Tell him we''ll do anything for him!''
Arit immediately told the voice in her head to shut up, and the voice dimmed down a little as it stopped shouting! Ever since Arit came back, she has been confused about the voice in her head! Arit knew what caused the voice in her head to start talking so animatedly. Ever since she fused with the QUEEN, the voice in her head refused to shut up anytime she was around Mark!
There was this possessive and dangerous way that the voice would talk whenever it was talking about Mark, and even Arit was a bit intimidated by the sheer desperate thirst and possessiveness she could hear inside her own head. But for some reason, Arit did not hate it.
In a way, it felt like these thoughts were not just from the voice in her head; it was also her own thoughts that were mixed in, and the voice was only bringing those thoughts to life with its voice.
The voice always said ''we'' and ''us'' when referring to itself, so it was not just talking about QUEEN, it was also talking about Arit.
The voice was only this animated whenever it was talking about anything referring to Mark. It was almost like its entire mission in life was to be with Mark and protect him, and Arit did not know why she liked that feeling so much. She liked it a lot!
But Arit was still a normal high school girl, and it was impossible for her to just ept all of those feelings that were suddenly surging inside her like that! There was no filter for her feelings, and it was terrifying for her whenever she would hear some of the dangerous and bloodthirsty things that the voice wanted to do to whoever came close to Mark!
The voice even told Arit to kill Tilda just because Mark carried her! Why would Arit kill a child!?
Chapter 84: Can We Talk
Before she decided toe and see Mark, Arit was lying in bed with a light pink singlet and very short white shorts as she stared at the slowly rotating ceiling fan with thoughts of Mark ying in her head like a movie.
She couldn''t stop a giddy and happy feeling from filling her whenever the memory of Mark kissing her in the cave yed in her head, and she put her pillow between her legs and bit her lip hard as she remembered how Mark almost took her right in that cave! Her hand gravitated towards her right breast as she thought about him touching her down there, and her core trembled!
She shivered as the pillow brushed against her sensitive regions, and her hand squeezed her breast hard as she moaned.
Arit wanted to see Mark badly, but she didn''t want to seem like some desperate woman by going to his room at night. Do men like women who are so forward? Wouldn''t it look like she is some sort of nymphomaniac if she goes to him? She felt shy and embarrassed that he would think she was too forceful if she went to see him.
But the voice in her head had a very different idea!
''We should go and see Mark. I''m sure he is waiting for us. Let''s go!''
''We want to see him. You know you want to see him too. Let''s ask him to let us sleep in his room! I can feel you want it too! Wear thatce underwear that you''ve been saving for the right moment and let''s go!''
''Mark! We want to see Mark! We want to see the KING!''
Arit groaned as she covered her ears with her hands! There is no way that she could sleep tonight with that voice constantly shouting in her head! She wanted to see Mark, but this voice was just so annoying! Arit told the voice to shut up angrily, and she was surprised when the voice actually calmed down a little, and she finally had some peace in her head.
But thatst thing that the voice said managed to bring a thought back into her head, and she blinked up at her ceiling as she remembered what happened to her when the Anima kidnapped her. They also called Mark KING, didn''t they? There was only one KING that Arit could remember, but that KING was dead, wasn''t he?
The man who saved the world from the Armageddon four years ago was the only Superhuman that came to Arit''s mind, and Arit had a desperate urge to go and ask Mark about this. Was he KING? Was he the one that saved the world?
"Maybe I can use that as an excuse to see him¡?"
Arit muttered shyly to herself as she found herself getting off her bed and putting on her slippers before she could even think too much about it. She was going to see Mark.
And that is how Arit found herself standing in front of Mark''s door at twelve in the midnight. Once Mark opened the door to his room, Arit felt the air leave her lungs as she saw that he was not wearing a top! He was only wearing a pair of ck joggers that he used to sleep, and he waspletely shirtless! His muscles!
Arit''s mind immediately began to y the memory of when Mark held her in the cave, and she felt that jolt in her core again as she bit her inner lip! She crossed her legs and tried desperately to look away as she swallowed nervously.
Mark''s eyes roamed down Arit''s body once he opened the door. She was still wearing the light pink tank top and very short shorts, and Mark''s eyes couldn''t help but nce at the generous amount of cleavage on disy. His eyes moved down to her thick thighs, and he had to force himself to not react as he growled internally once he saw her legs. Why would he need a goddess when he had Arit?
Those legs were a work of art!
Arit could see how Mark''s gaze was drawn towards her body, and she didn''t hate it one bit. It made her happy that he liked what he saw, and she didn''t even know when she pushed her chest out slightly to give him a better view.
"Hey, Arit. You couldn''t sleep?"
''We want you to fuck us!''
Arit shook her head to get rid of that voice as well as to answer Mark''s question, and she gathered her courage and finally looked at Mark. He was smiling at her, and Arit felt a huge blush rising on her face once she saw how handsome he looked at that moment. She immediately tried to speak up quickly before she became nervous again!
"C-Can Ie in! I want to ask you something!"
Arit''s words rushed out of her mouth like a speeding car, and she immediately called herself an idiot in her head as she realized how stupid she sounded at that moment! She was behaving like a child that has never seen a handsome boy before! And why the heck did I stutter!? I''ve known Mark for too long to still be stuttering in front of him!
''He isn''t just a handsome boy. He is the KING.''
Mark agreed as he moved to the side and allowed her to enter his room. Once she was in the room, she went to sit down on his bed while ncing around the room. Mark''s room was scarcely decorated with barely anything in it. There was a bed, a clock on the wall, a table and chair, and a wardrobe that held all his clothes. Arit will never understand how Mark could live with only this.
It wasn''t Arit''s fault that she didn''t know Mark was rich. No one would believe that Mark is actually rich if they saw how he lives.
Mark folded his arms as he stood at the door, and Arit was about to say something, but Mark stopped her and spoke first.
"I know you have a lot of questions for me, but I want to talk to you about something first. Do you mind?"
Arit immediately shook her head as she allowed Mark to speak first. She was nervous enough as it was, and she would rather listen to Mark and use the opportunity to calm her nerves. Mark nodded, and he rubbed the back of his neck with a sigh before he spoke up.
"How much do you remember about your time in the anima cave?"
Arit frowned before looking down as she spoke.
"Not much. There are some things that aren''t clear, but most of what I remember is from before I went into the pod. I can''t remember anything that happened while I was in there."
Chapter 85: I Am KING (+16)
"Not much. There are some things that aren''t clear, but most of what I remember are from before I went into the pod. I can''t remember anything that happened while I was in there."
Mark nodded as he already assumed that this was the case. He knew that QUEEN was the one in control when Arit came out from the pod, so he didn''t think she would remember much from that time.
"I don''t know how to say this gently, but there are some things that happened to your body when you came out from the pod. Your body is different nowpared to before. You''re stronger and if you don''t learn to control that strength, then you could easily cause a lot of damage unknowingly."
Arit gained a thoughtful expression. Arit could already tell that she was physically stronger than before, but she didn''t think it was anything to be worried about. She felt like she could control it, or rather, she felt like the voice inside her head could control it.
There was this mental barrier that was preventing Arit from exerting her full strength, and Arit knew that it was the other voice in her head that was blocking the strength. right now, Arit felt like she was no different from a normal girl.
She didn''t have to worry about using too much strength to identally injure someone.
Arit told Mark that she felt she could control the strength and Mark looked into her eyes and made sure she was not just saying things to lessen his worry. Once he was sure that she was not lying, he spoke up again.
"Have there been any changes you''ve noticed recently? Like, maybe there is a voice in your head talking to you and telling you to do some things or you feel like you would lose control of yourself at any moment?"
Arit blinked in surprise at how urately Mark was able to deduce the symptoms that she had been experiencing. She wrung her hands together and looked away as she wondered what to do. She didn''t want to burden Mark with this after everything that he already did for her. She didn''t think that it was important enough for her to tell him about it since she could control the voice for now.
And she also felt very embarrassed about telling Mark about the things that the voice always told her to do when they were talking about Mark!
The voice in her head was twisted, but it was also devoted to Mark, and Arit would die of embarrassment if Mark knew the lewd and sexual things that voice always suggested that she should do! And Arit was even more embarrassed since she knew that she also wanted Mark to do those things to her!
"Well, I don''t feel like I''d lose control. I know I''m in control¡ but there have been some voices. But it''s not so bad! I feel like I can control it and I don''t listen to them even though they tell me to do some dangerous things! I swear it''s not bad!"
Arit quickly started to defend herself once she told Mark about the voice and Mark left his eyes narrow for a moment. Mark already knew that there was something wrong when he noticed Arit''s silence, and once she told him that he was right, he was immediately worried!
Mark was now sure that QUEEN was still inside Arit and talking to her, but Mark wasn''t sure what sort of effect this would have on her mentally.
Mark decided to take her to Pat''s house with him in two days so that Pat could take a look at what could be wrong with Arit. If Pat couldn''t find out what was wrong with Arit, then they would have to find a medical professional who could help them. It would be dangerous if she loses control of herself and QUEEN takes over unexpectedly.
Mark came to sit beside Arit, and Arit bit her inner lip once more as he spoke. She thought that Mark would ask her more about the voice in her head, but she was surprised when Mark began to ask about something else instead.
"Alright, what did you want to talk about? Is it about me being a superhuman?"
Arit put her hands on herp and looked at Mark as she nodded. She was d that Mark was no longer asking about the voices. She didn''t want to talk about them at all.
"It''s actually something rted to that. When I was kidnapped by the Anima, they said something that stayed with me. They said that they were doing all of this just to capture the KING. I just wondered if... I don''t know. Maybe I''m wrong, but it just sounds like they were talking about¡"
"Yeah, they were talking about me."
"R-Really? They were? So, that means that you''re really¡?"
Mark nodded as he leaned back on his hands.
"I was the one that fought the Armageddon four years ago. A lot happened back then and I lost my powers for some time because of that fight. But I recently got it back and I''m working towards getting to that level of power again. I''m KING."
Poomph!
A pair of arms suddenly enveloped Mark, and Mark was surprised as he felt Arit hugging him tightly! Mark put one hand around her carefully and asked her if there was something wrong. Arit shook her head as she just tightened her hug.
"I just really wanted to hug you."
Arit couldn''t believe it. The one person that she respected the most was the one responsible for that fight four years ago. Arit felt awed by Mark, but she couldn''t help but also feel sad for him.
Arit knows that Mark is eighteen, so back then he would have been barely fourteen years old. A fourteen-year-old child was given the responsibility of saving the world, and he didn''t back away from it. He didn''t abandon them, and he fought for three days straight just to make sure that everyone survived. Arit couldn''t imagine how difficult that must''ve been.
It made her respect and adoration for Mark increase even higher than it already was! In her head right now, Mark was everything!
Arit detached herself slightly from Mark and put her hands on his shoulders as she looked down at him lovingly. She was practically sitting on Mark''sp, and Mark gazed up at her with intensity as she felt heat rising to her cheeks.
"I don''t know if anyone''s ever said this to you before, but thank you for saving the world, Mark."
Mark smiled as he reached up to tuck a strand of her hair behind her head before he put his hand on the back of her head and brought her down for a kiss.
"Mmph~"
Arit didn''t even try to fight against it as she wrapped her hands around Mark''s neck and deepened the kiss! Mark grabbed Arit by the thighs and made her straddle him as he put both hands on her back and brought her closer to his body until there was barely any room at all between them! Her breasts pressed into his chest, and Mark growled at the back of his throat as he felt the soft sensation!
He opened her mouth with his tongue, and she moaned into his mouth as she felt him exploring her mouth with his tongue! Mark traced his hand down her back until he reached her ass, and Arit jolted as he grabbed her ass in both hands and squeezed.
"Moan~!"
Chapter 86: Dont You Know I Love You? (+18)
Arit felt something hard pressing in between her legs, and she stopped kissing Mark as she wrapped her hand around his head and moaned loudly! She began to grind on Mark, and Mark grit his teeth and tightened his hold on her ass as he felt her heat pressing on his dick!
He immediately brought her head back down and kissed her deeply, and Arit groaned as Mark stood up while carrying her. He turned around and gentlyid her on the bed before he stood up to get a good look at her.
Her face was flushed, and she was breathing heavily as she looked to the side shyly! There was wetness between her legs, and she was closing them tightly as she felt embarrassed whenever Mark looked at her! Mark couldn''t take his eyes off her heaving chest as he saw herrge milky white breasts bouncing every time she took a breath!
"D-Don''t look at me like that. It''s embarrassing."
A jolt went through Mark''s body as he heard her say this, and he gently grabbed her legs and began to split them apart. Arit tried to resist for a moment, but she didn''tst long as Mark managed to pry her legs open. Mark leaned down between them and kissed her softly. His hand went down to her shorts, and he put his hand into the shorts, tracing it down until it touched her most sensitive part!
"Ah! Ahhhh~!"
Arit jolted once Mark touched her down there, and she felt electricity travel through her entire body as his hand flicked her clit! She was extremely wet, and Mark was touching her in the exact spot where she wanted! Her hands wrapped around Mark''s head, tangling her hands in his hair as she kissed him deeply!
"Muah! Y-Yes~! Right there~! Ah~! Ah! I''m feeling something~!"
Mark could feel that her pussy waspletely drenched! He moved one of his fingers down her pussy until he found the right hole, and Arit''s eyes widened in shock as she felt his finger pushing into her softly!
"Ahh~!"
Arit moaned loudly as she tightened her hold on Mark, grabbing onto his hair as he started to gently finger her!
"Ah~ Ah~ Ah~ Ah~ Ah~ Ah~! Ahh~! Ahhh~!"
Mark began to increase his speed until he was fingering her extremely fast, and it didn''t even take up to two minutes before she felt something hit her hard!
"Ngggggghhhhhhh~!"
Arit bit her lips until she drew blood! Her toes curled on the bedsheet, and she could see stars on the edge of her vision as she came hard! Mark pumped his fingers into her slowly, and Arit could feel a jolt travel through her entire body every time his fingers went inside of her! Her orgasm just kept on climbing higher and higher until she finally jolted like a jackhammer when she finished!
"Hah~ Hah~ Hah~ Hah~"
Arit''s breath came out inrge puffs as she held onto Mark''s shoulders tightly! She felt Mark kiss her shoulder, and then he kissed her nipple through her shirt, and she felt another shiver go through her body! She isn''t going to survive if things keep going like this! Arit was way too sensitive! Mark was only fingering her, and she didn''t even manage tost for two minutes!
What is going to happen to her when the real thing starts!?
"M-Mark¡"
Mark quickly looked up at Arit, and Arit felt her breath leave her again as she saw the intense fire in Mark''s eyes! That fire made her entire body shiver, and shepletely forgot what she was going to say as she spread her legs wider to give him more ess. Mark grinned as he gently sat her up andmanded her to undress.
Arit turned Mark around and made him sit on the bed, and she stood up and bent over to take off her shorts. Mark''s eyes stayed glued to her ass as he watched her struggle to pull her shorts down slowly. Her pussy was wetter than water, and Mark felt his hard-on twitch in excitement as she took off her shirt and he saw her standing naked in front of him.
Whatever God created Arit must''ve made a mistake by making her a human. This woman deserves to be a goddess.
Arit used one hand to cover her nipples and looked away from Mark as she blushed.
"A-Aren''t you going to do anything other than look at me?"
Mark stood up gently and took away Arit''s hand from her breasts. He towered over her and Arit had to look up at him as he stood directly in front of her. Arit shivered as she felt his chest rub against her nipples.
"Why shouldn''t I look at you? You''re absolutely beautiful."
A shy grin appeared on Arit''s face as she tucked her hair behind her ear.
"You always tell me I''m beautiful so - "
"No, Arit. I mean it. You''re the most beautiful woman I''ve ever seen in my life. I love you, Arit. More than anything."
Mark ran his hand across Arit''s scar as he said this and he stared deep into her eyes to make sure she could see how serious he was. He didn''t want her to have any doubts about his intentions.
Arit''s knees literally buckled from the sheer intensity of those words. She stumbled forward into Mark''s chest and she couldn''t even utter a word as Mark leaned down to kiss her.
Arit loved Mark more than words could describe, but she has always held back her true emotions because she wanted to know what Mark felt for her. She didn''t want to love someone that didn''t love her back! But now that Mark told her directly that he loved her, it felt like the floodgates opened wide and she couldn''t hold anything back again!
Arit''s hands began to explore Mark''s body and she traced it down his rock-hard abs until she reached his pants. She gently reached into his pants and she heard Mark growl into her mouth as she touched his dick! Arit almost couldn''t believe how fucking hard he was! How is thatfortable!?
Guys like it when you rub it like this, right? Arit could only think like this as she gently ran her hand down Mark''s length. Arit experimentally rubbed her hand around the tip and Mark growled again.
"Fuck."
Arit swallowed deeply as she heard Mark curse and she pushed Mark back until he sat down on the edge of the bed. She ced both hands on his knees and slowly knelt down between his legs as she looked up at him for a moment. Mark nodded once and Arit shakily freed his member.
p!
Arit recoiled as Mark''s little brother pped her on the nose and her eyes widened as she looked at it in its full glory! Fuck, it''s huge! Mark''s dick was throbbing and pulsing like a living machine and Arit swallowed as she wondered if she could fit something this big in her mouth!
"Don''t tell me you''re getting cold feet now."
Mark''s gruff voice spoke up as he grinned down at Arit and Arit frowned up at him as she took what he said as a challenge! Of course, she could handle it! She wasn''t going to get cold feet aftering this far! Arit grabbed the bottom of Mark''s member and she gave a long experimental lick!
"Fuck!"
A deep growl at the back of his throat told Arit that Mark really liked what she did and she tucked her hair behind her ear as she slowly started to lick his member from the bottom to the tip. Arit had never done something like this, but she watched porn before so she thought she knew what men liked, and she was just trying to see if it worked.
But the way Mark was groaning told her that she was definitely doing the right thing!
Chapter 87: Are You Scared? (+18)
Arit had never done something like this, but she watched porn before, so she had an idea of what men liked. She was just trying to see if it worked. But the way Mark was groaning told her that she was definitely doing the right things!
Arit stopped licking him and she moved her mouth to his tip and slowly started to engulf Mark''s dick whole! Mark put his hand on the back of Arit''s head as she took more than half of him and Mark felt himself throb inside her warm mouth. He looked down at her and saw how she was slowly trying to get used to his size.
She was gagging a little just from taking this much, but she was not pulling back, and Mark grinned as she slowly started to move up and down.
Slurp! Slurp! Slurp! Slurp! Slurp! Slurp!
Arit started slowly, but she eventually sped up and Mark had to lean back as he felt the warmth of her mouth on him. One of his hands was on the back of her head and he grabbed some of her hair and used it to increase her speed even more as he could feel himself getting close.
"I''ming!"
Mark warned Arit just before he came and she didn''t know what to do other than to stop moving as Mark offloaded right into her mouth!
"Mmph!!"
Arit''s mouth bulged as Mark filled her up and she immediately removed her mouth from his dick and began to cough as she almost choked. The coughing didn''tst long, and Mark asked Arit if she was okay while breathing heavily, and she nodded to say that she was fine.
"T-That''s a lot of cum. Is it normally that much?"
Arit looked up at Mark as she asked this and Mark told her that this was normal for him. Arit nodded thoughtfully and looked at Mark''s hard member again. He was still rock hard even aftering, and Arit swallowed as she grabbed Mark''s trousers and pulled them off him gently. Mark allowed her to undress him, but once she was done, he stood up and carried her bridal style!
"Eep!"
Mark blinked down at her in surprise.
"Did you just ''Eep''?"
Arit''s face turned blood red as she covered it with her hands in embarrassment! She just didn''t expect Mark to carry her so quickly, so she was surprised! She didn''t mean to say that!
Markughed as he saw her shy face and he gently moved to the bed andid her in the middle of the bed. Arit''s head hit Mark''s pillow and she put one hand over her face as Mark spread her legs open andy over her.
Mark brought his face down to her own and smiled at her as he moved her hand away.
"Are you scared?"
Arit nodded once, and Mark''s smile became kinder as he caressed her face with one hand. His hand ran over her scar, and Arit leaned into his touch.
"Do you trust me?"
Arit looked up into Mark''s eyes lovingly and nodded again with more resolve.
"With my life."
That was all Mark needed to hear from her as he aligned himself with her entrance and gently started to push into her.
"Uhhh~! Argh~!"
Arit groaned and held Mark''s shoulders tightly as Mark slowly entered into her. Mark felt a resistance, and he thrust into her to break it. Arit immediately shouted in pain as her nails dug into Mark''s skin!
"Ahh!!!"
Mark stopped moving as he felt Arit shaking under him. She was in a lot of pain, and Mark just caressed her head and whispered to her kindly as he waited for the pain to pass. Arit was hugging Mark tightly and after some time, she whispered in his ear.
"You can move now. Slow. Please."
Mark gently kissed Arit and Arit held on tighter to his shoulder as she felt him moving slowly inside of her. Mark was not even halfway in yet and Arit already felt full as Mark started to pump into her!
"Uh~! Uh~! Uh~! Uh~! Uhhh~!"
As time went on, Arit slowly stopped feeling the pain and it started to feel really good as Mark entered into her over and over again. Her hold on Mark started to loosen up and Mark had more freedom to add more power to his thrusts!
Mark was on cloud nine! No, fuck that! Mark was in heaven itself! Arit was tighter than words could describe! He felt like every time he moved she was trying to suck him in, and Mark was tempted to just plunge everything into her at once! But Mark knew that she was not ready to take everything at once, and he was trying to slowly make her get used to the feeling before he went deeper and faster!
m! m! m! m! m!
"Yes! Yes! Yes! F-Faster! You can go faster!"
Mark didn''t need to be told twice, and he immediately doubled his speed as he started to put more of his dick into Arit with every move! At first, it was difficult for Arit to take everything, but Mark finally mmed all of it into her, and her eyes widened as she moaned loudly!
"Moan~! Oh my god!!"
m! m! m! m! m! m!
m! m!
Mark''s thrusts increased in intensity, and he braced his hands on the bed as he added more power into his thrusts! Arit put her hand on the bed''s headboard to support herself as she felt like she was going to be pushed off the bed from how hard Mark was mming into her!
She reached up with one hand and brought Mark down for a kiss and Mark eagerly kissed her as he grabbed her breast and began to knead it while constantly mming into her!
"F-Fuck! Fuck! I''m close, Mark! I''m close! I can feel it! Don''t stop!
Please, don''t stop! Ah~! Ah~!"
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
Bam!
Arit could feel Mark hitting her cervix over and over again, and she knew she wouldn''tst long at the pace that Mark was going! She could feel herself getting closer and closer and before long, she came hard!
"Nnggghhhhh!!!"
Arit saw stars at the edge of her vision and she was sure that she cked out for a moment! She held Mark''s bicep tightly as she arched her back intensely as her orgasm threatened to tear her in two! This one was far more intense than the other one, and Arit felt like she was going to die at this rate!
Mark slowed down as he saw the state that Arit was in and he waited for her toe back to reality before he slowly picked up his pace again!
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
"Hah~! Hah~! H-How~ How do you still have this much energy~!"
Arit couldn''t even think straight as she gripped the bedsheet tightly and tried to hold on as Mark started to pound her senseless again! Mark grinned at her and picked her up before he turned her over. Now, Arit was lying on top of him and Mark grabbed her ass with both hands and spread her ass cheeks wide as he started to m into her from below!
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Chapter 88: Lets Begin (+18)
"Fuck! Fuck! S-Slow down! You''re going to break me! Fuck~! Ah~!
Ah~! Ah~! Ah~!"
Arit was trying to hold herself up with her arms as she felt Mark mming into her over and over again but after some time she couldn''t even support her own weight because of how intense Mark was, and she fell on Mark and pressed her breasts on his chest as she kissed Mark deeply!
Mark returned the kiss as he increased his pace again, and Arit could feel herself getting close toing for the third time that night! Mark grabbed one of Arit''s breasts and sucked it greedily as he continued to m into her like a piston!
"Ahhhh! That''s not fair! Fuuuuukk!"
Arit felt another orgasm hit her hard as the sensation of having Mark inside her as well as him sucking her breasts was too much for her to bear! She bit down on her lip and grabbed the bedpost to hold herself up and she tried her hardest to ride out the orgasm as quickly as possible as Mark kept on mming into her without stopping for a moment!
m! m! m! m! m! m!
m! m!
By the time Arit came down from her orgasm, Mark wrapped his hand around her waist as he began to really pound up into her! He was holding her in ce so she was barely moving and Mark was just railing her like a beast!
m! m! m! m! m! m!
m!
Arit''s hair was in disarray and sweat glistened across both her and Mark''s body as she could feel Mark trying to shift her womb to the side!
"I''m close."
Mark growled this and Arit was just d that this was a safe day! She knew that she would not be able to tell him to stop even if she wanted to because of how fucking good she felt! She wanted Mark to cum inside her and she couldn''t give a fuck if she got pregnant for him!
"I-It''s fine! Inside! Come inside me! It''s safe!"
Bam! Bam! Bam!
"Ugh!!"
Mark groaned as he released everything he had inside of Arit and Arit moaned deeply and tightened her hold on the bedsheet as she felt Mark fill her to the brim!
"Ooooohhhhh~!"
Arit''s voice came out in a sultry whisper as she felt Mark''s member throbbing inside her and she finally fell on top of Mark as they both panted heavily from exertion.
Mark swallowed heavily as he tried to speak.
"That¡ That was ¨C"
"Amazinggg~"
Arit finished the sentence before Mark could and Mark just chuckled as he ran his hand over her hair. He brought her face up and she dly epted the kiss he ced on her lips as she rxed her entire weight on his body. When they separated, Arit smiled down at Mark with the most loving gaze Mark had ever seen in his life and whispered.
"I really love you, Mark."
Mark felt his heart squeeze from the amount of happiness those words brought to him and he smiled and caressed Arit''s cheek as he said:
"I love you too."
Mark brought her face down for another kiss before he suddenly thrust his hips upwards!
"Mmphh!!!"
Arit''s eyes shot open and she moaned loudly into Mark''s mouth from the sudden shock! She braced her hand against the bed and prayed for strength as Mark started to move again!!
Where does he get all this energy from!?
¡
"Shall we begin the meeting?"
A small group of seven people sat around arge round table in a well-lit room. There were four men and three women in the room and they wore serious expressions with intense looks in their eyes as they faced each other.
This room was the staff meeting room of Nature Academy and the people in the room were all major stakeholders or high authority figures in Nature Academy, and today they all came here to talk about one person.
Mark Vanitas.
"The meeting to decide the future of Mark Vanitas in Nature Academy will now begin. After this meeting, it will be decided if Mark Vanitas will be allowed to remain in Nature Academy, or if he will be expelled."
The person who spoke was a man in histe forties. He had a head of ck hair with a few white strands poking out at random ces and his well-trimmed beard gave him an educated and regal appearance. He is the headmaster of Nature Academy, Julius Grant, and he was acting as the mediator in this meeting, and after the discussions are finished, the deciding vote wille down to him.
Basically, there are two parties involved in this meeting; three of the seven people at the table were in favor of allowing Mark Vanitas to remain in the school while the other three were not. Their reason for wanting him to leave the school was simple as far as they were concerned. Mark Vanitas is a dangerous existence.
"Why are we even having this meeting in the first ce? It is obvious that Mark does not belong in this school. He does not belong with the other normal students! Didn''t you see what happened on that screen?"
The person who spoke was one of the most vocal members of those who wanted to expel Mark from the school. She is a mature woman with blond hair and blue eyes; she had arge bust and milky white skin that shows she put a lot of effort into maintaining her appearance even at her age.
She wore a designer gown that went all the way down to her ankles with a fur coat that hung off her shoulder, making her look very aristocratic. There was a snobbish and dismissive air around her that made it seem like she would rather be anywhere else but here at this moment.
Her name is Linda, and she is the chairwoman of the PTA in charge of handling issues that arise between the parents and the school. She is a very influential woman in the school mainly because of how much money she contributes to the school''s development yearly. But everyone in the school knew that she only had so much money because of her multiple divorces from her many husbands.
Linda was a very loose woman who wouldn''t hesitate to abandon a man if he stopped giving her exactly what she wanted. She has had seven marriages in the past ten years and she has divorced all seven of them after living with them for only a year or two.
All these rtionships made her extremely rich since she got a lot of money from her divorce settlements, and now that she was in herte thirties, she was single once more and trying to find another husband to leech off of.
But right now, Linda doesn''t care about trying to get into a rtionship. She is only concerned about her child who went to this school and what could happen to her child if Mark Vanitas ever went out of control.
Chapter 89: School Meeting
She is only concerned about her child who went to this school and what could happen to her child if Mark Vanitas ever went out of control.
"Did we not all see what happened with Mark and that Cmity ss on the news? His power and strength are a danger to every student in this school, and he should not be allowed close to them for their own safety. What will we tell the parents of these poor children if Mark gets annoyed someday and destroys the entire school because someone looked at him in the wrong way!?
He has more than enough power to do just that! Why would we be willing to put such unease into the heart of our parents?"
Someone on the other side of the table clicked their tongue, and Linda looked towards the woman sitting opposite her. The woman there was a redhead with sharp ck eyes that seemed to pierce into your soul. She was wearing a crisp ck skirt suit, and her hands were folded as she red at Linda in irritation. Her name was Juliet, and she was the homeroom teacher for ss 2A, Mark''s ss.
She couldn''t believe that they were even having this conversation after everything that they saw on the news. They all knew what Mark did for them, and yet here they were, trying to make his life harder by expelling him from school for no reason. As far as she was concerned, this entire meeting was bullshit.
"Why would you think Mark would suddenly go off kilter and begin killing students now when he hasn''t done any such thing in all the years that he has been here?"
Linda narrowed her eyes at Juliet when Juliet countered her, but Juliet was not fazed by this. Juliet knew what sort of woman Linda was. Just because Linda is the chairwoman of the PTA, she thinks that she can control the school just like she controls her husbands, but Juliet is not going to allow her to do something this cruel!
Linda could see the rebellious glint in Juliet''s eyes, and a great surge of anger rose in Linda as she turned back to the principal.
"How can we believe the word of a mere teacher? She is biased since she is his homeroom teacher, so of course she would protect him. But tell me, Juliet. Isn''t Mark one of the worst students in your ss when looking at his attendance? He might not be failing outright, but his grades are average, and he does not evene to ss. Is that really what we want to leave as a legacy in this school?"
Juliet bit the inside of her lip to prevent herself from hurling a personal attack at Linda once she heard this. This woman was too shameless. How can you go around saying something like that with such a straight face? There are students in the school with grades that are far worse than Mark''s grades!
And now that they knew who he was, they all knew the reason why he was noting to ss as often as the other students. How can be me Mark for being absent when he is out there trying to protect us?
The person sitting beside Juliet was a tall old man with white hair and thin round sses hanging on his nose. His name was George, and he was one of the oldest teachers in this school who had stayed here the longest. George has been in this school even before the headmaster Julius Grant became the headmaster, and everyone in the school showed him great respect.
He was leaning forward with a worried expression as he listened to the two women speak, but once he heard what Linda said, he couldn''t stay silent as he turned to her.
"And why would that be important, Linda? You speak like you do not know the truth as well. There is only one excuse for Mark''s absence, and it is the best excuse anyone could give as far as I am concerned. If he has to miss school a few times in order to save this city from being destroyed, then we should be awarding him, not reprimanding him."
Juliet fist-pumped excitedly on the inside as she heard George say this! She knew that she could not have said it better and she would have hurled an insult at Linda if she said it, so she was happy that someone else said it instead. Linda''s face looked like she swallowed a lemon as she gave George a look.
Linda couldn''t insult her elder, so she was forced to shift tactics as she tried using something else to her advantage.
"Regardless of that fact, I still think Mark''s presence in this school will only lead to serious issues down the line. Harry, tell them about the situation developing between Mark and one of the students in your ss."
The person that Linda suddenly spoke to was a short chubby man who was sitting beside her, and immediately she called his name, he jolted in surprise and looked around at the table nervously. It was obvious to everyone that he had been sleeping, and calling his name was the only thing that just woke him up. He was the homeroom teacher of ss 3A, Francis'' ss.
Harry didn''t want to be here at all! He didn''t like sitting in such serious situations, and he always felt like he was going to vomit whenever he was asked to speak in such a serious setting. Everyone looking at him always gave him great anxiety! The only reason why Harry came here was because Linda managed to use her charms to make hime to her side.
She trapped him in a secluded corner of the school just before the meeting and easily talked him intoing just by touching his chest and face once or twice. He was so easy that something that small was enough to make him loyal to her like a dog. He was a simp like no other!
Linda suddenly used her heel to step on Harry''s feet and Harry yelped in pain as he came back to reality and started to talk quickly!
"Y-Yes, there has been a serious allegation against Mark from one of my students recently. My student Francis reported that Mark has been threatening him with violence for some time now and we are worried that Mark will pose a threat to the life of this student if he is kept in the school."
"Francis? Francis Colton?"
The headmaster suddenly spoke up for the first time as he said that name and the chubby man nodded as he heard the headmaster say Francis'' full name. Everyone knew who Francis was and they also knew how strong his family was in the city. There is no way that the headmaster can ignore their ims now that they are bringing in someone as important as the Coltons.
Chapter 90: Only Ten Million?
Nature Academy thrived mainly because of how much the parents of the students supported the school. Most of the students that went here were from prominent families and their parents were all very generous in helping the school to advance. Francis'' parents were also some of thergest supporters of the school, so they were treated as very important personnel by the school.
Linda thought that the headmaster would immediately agree to expel Mark now that the Coltons were also involved in the case, but she was shocked when the headmaster spoke up again.
"I''ve heard about this ''situation'' before. But from all the reports I''ve been getting, isn''t it Francis who has been instigating the conflicts between him and Mark? Am I wrong, Harry?"
"Ah¡ Uhm¡ I don''t think it is i-important who begins it. These things aremon among people of their age, headmaster. The boys just love to rile each other up. But we know Mark is too dangerous to leave around Francis with that much power."
Everyone in the room went silent as they watched the headmaster and the headmaster just kept his intense gaze fixed on Harry for the next few seconds until Harry was looking down at the table and wishing that he could sink into his seat from how ufortable he felt.
The headmaster eventually looked away and asked if anyone else had anything more to add. The headmaster was not even going to grace what Harry said with a response since it did not deserve one. It was irrational and silly to believe that Mark was at fault when he was not even the one who began the altercations.
He never starts the fights, and yet he did not hurt Francis before, so why would Mark go after Francis now that his powers were exposed?
Linda bit the inside of her lip when she heard the headmaster''s dismissive tone and she red at Harry in annoyance! Couldn''t he just lie about what was happening between Francis and Mark!? This useless buffon! The headmaster was going to think that they had a personal vendetta against Mark! Linda immediately spoke up before they closed the meeting and the headmaster turned to regard her curiously.
"We understand what has been said here by everyone but we want everyone to remember that there is a certain level of safety andfort that is promised to the students of this school by the school authorities. We expect this level of safety to be upheld and we do not think it will remain that way if Mark is kept as a member of the school.
So, in light of that, I and my fellow members of the PTA will be withdrawing our support from the school if Mark Vanitas is left as a member."
Juliet''s eyes widened once she heard what Linda said and even the headmaster seemed shocked by what Linda just said. He looked towards the third person sitting on Linda''s side and that person nodded her head as well as she agreed with what Linda said.
That person was another prominent member of the PTA. She hadn''t said a word since the meeting started, but her mere presence here gave validity to what Linda was saying and it showed that Linda was really serious about withdrawing the funds that they would be providing to the school. The headmaster spoke up calmly.
"Do you not think this is too much? Mark has posed no danger to the students since he started this school and there has been no incident where he identally injured a student. I do not think you need to go this far to have him expelled."
"It is necessary to ensure the safety of the students. That is the job of both the parents and teachers. And the parents believe that Mark Vanitas is a danger to the students and he should be removed from the school with immediate effect."
Linda did not bother looking towards the headmaster as she said this and the headmaster sighed as he began to think deeply. Linda knew that what she was saying was not theplete truth.
In fact, some of the parents in the PTA wererge fans of GHOST and they were not interested in kicking Mark out of the school at all, but Linda was able to make them silent since she was the PTA chairwoman and she was using her position to make it seem as though all the members of the PTA supported her. She was going to get Mark out of this school no matter what.
But all of a sudden, a deep, regal voice spoke up and everyone turned towards thest person at the table that hasn''t bothered to take part in the meeting till now. The person was a tall man wearing an expensive ck suit. He had rectangr sses and an expensive rose gold Rolex watch that gleamed as he folded his hands across his chest.
His face was smooth, but his full head of white hair made it difficult for anyone to know his actual age. He gave everyone a nonchnt look as he uttered only four words.
"Then let them go."
Linda scrunched up her face in irritation as she heard this man speak. She met him earlier when she wasing into the meeting room and she tried to strike up a conversation with him once she saw how sharp and rich he looked.
She thought she could get herself an eighth husband through him, but the man did not even bother giving her the time of day as he ignored everything she wanted to say and walked past her. She already hated him before knowing where he stood and now that she knew he was against her, she couldn''t help but hate him more.
"What do you mean by let them go? Are you saying we should take our children away from the school and withdraw our funding? Do you think this school will remain afloat for a year if we take everything away from them?"
The man gave Linda a stern look that almost made her retreat into herself. He looked like a father ring at his disobedient child at that moment and Linda hated how it made her feel small in front of him. The man then looked towards the headmaster.
"How much does the entire PTA contribute to the school yearly?"
The headmaster didn''t even need to look at any document as he immediately gave the number off the top of his head.
"The PTA contributes a total of ten million dors yearly to the running and maintenance of the school. They are our biggest benefactors in terms of financial support."
The man immediately brought out a check from his pocket and held his hand out to the man sitting beside him. George didn''t waste any time as he provided him with a pen and everyone watched in stunned silence as the man wrote out a check for fifty million dors like it was nothing!
Chapter 91: Guardian Angel
Everyone watched in stunned silence as the man wrote out a check for fifty million dors like it was nothing! He signed the check and stood up from his seat while fixing his jacket.
"In the event that the PTA should decide that the savior of this city deserves to be treated like a criminal, then that check should be more than enough to provide sustenance for the school for the next five years.
I want to remind all of you that Mark Vanitas possessed his powers long before we found out about it and there have been no incidents of harm or damage reported from the students against him, and I believe that there will be nothing of such even in the future. Mark Vanitas is under my protection and anyone that tries to go against his peaceful life in this school will be buried under my influence.
And trust me,"
His col gaze swept over everyone in the room
"You do not want to challenge me in this country."
The man only said this much, and he made sure that Linda got this message loud and clear before he turned and began to walk out of the room. The headmaster collected the check that was already signed and he looked at it in awe for a moment with a small smile on his face. He knew it was a good idea to allow that man toe to this meeting.
The headmaster was not even sure what the man''s name was at first, but once he heard who the man imed to be and did some research of his own, there was no need to deny his ess to this meeting.
That man was the acting president of Vanitas Motors and he was Mark Vanitas'' godfather.
"Well, then, I believe there is nothing more to discuss in this meeting¡"
"But..."
"I said..."
The headmaster''s piercing gaze settled on Linda and he immediately made her shut up.
"...I believe there is nothing more to discuss in this meeting."
The headmaster looked around the table and he saw smiles and frowns around the room. Linda looked like she wanted to strangle something and the headmaster knew that this was not thest time he would be hearing from her concerning this matter. She would probably try to take this to arger stage, but there was nothing to fear.
As long as they had someone like Mark''s godfather on their side, then they would be able to scale through any legal hoops. Once he didn''t hear any morements, he stood up.
"Then the meeting is adjourned. In final judgment, I believe Mark Vanita is an indispensable part of this school and one of the greatest heroes this city has ever seen. I am appalled that there are people who wish for his removal from our grateful school, and I will not hear of this matter anymore. Mark Vanitas will not be expelled from the school, and that is final."
¡
"Argh! Fucking old bastards!! Fuck!"
A hand mmed into a steering wheel as someone raged in anger inside of their car. Anyone who passed the car would immediately walk away in fear and confusion once they saw the woman screaming silently through the closed window, but the woman didn''t care as she continued to rage in anger!
Once she was finished raging, she breathed heavily and sighed in fury as she ced her head on the steering wheel for some time.
Ring~! Ring~! Ring~!
The sound of her phone ringing immediately made her turn to her dashboard, and she groaned in annoyance once she saw who was calling. How did they know that they were done with the meeting already!? They just finished it a few minutes ago!
She immediately tried to get herself back under control as she fixed up her hair and touched her clothes to make sure they were in a proper state before she clicked on the dashboard answering machine as a man''s face came into view. She smiled at the man.
"Mr. Colton. It''s a pleasure ¨C"
"Cut the bullshit, Linda. You failed, didn''t you?"
Linda immediately bit the inside of her mouth as she heard him say this, and her silence was more than enough for the man to conclude that he was right. He narrowed his eyes at her and spoke up again.
"You understand that this invalidates our deal. You will get nothing from me if Mark Vanitas returns to that school."
"I understand that, Mr. Colton. I promised to get him out of the school, and that is exactly what I will do. Please, just give me a few more days. I won''t fail you."
"You better not."
The call ended in the next moment, and Linda screamed in outrage and mmed her hand into the steering wheel again as she felt another surge of anger fill her body! Who the fuck does this bastard think he is!? Just because he promised her some money, he thinks he can talk to her like she is some underling!? She is fucking Linda! She is the queen of this damn city!
If not for the fact that she was between husbands right now, would she even need his money at all!? She would get married again soon and show him what it meant to go against her! She would bury him under her heel for this embarrassment!
Linda tried her best to get her emotions under control, and she had to wait a few minutes before she could think clearly again. Her mind immediately went towards that mysterious man who just gave out fifty million dors like it was a joke, and she wondered who the hell that could be! He was not someone that she recognized from this school, and she knew everyone who came for the PTA meetings.
What sort of rtionship did he have with Mark that would make him give out that much money just to keep Mark in this school!?
Linda knew that if not for that man, then her n would have worked and she would be getting her payment from the Coltons by now. She would have to find out who that man is and figure out how to deal with him first before she can deal with Mark. If not, then she would be blocked at every point by that man, and she would get nothing from the Coltons.
Linda was currently between husbands and she was already running low on money since she was a very extravagant spender. She never needed to learn how to save money since she was always married to a rich man, so now that she was alone, she was burning through her money like it was firewood!
The Coltons promised her a check of ten million if she managed to get Mark expelled from the school, and she needed that money badly enough that she was willing to do anything to get it!
Since the headmaster would not meet her demands, it was time for her to use her influence.
Chapter 92: Superhuman Killer
"That stupid bitch doesn''t know how to get anything done."
Mr. Colton cut his call with Linda and sneered at his phone before he threw it to the side. He was sitting behind a wide desk inside of arge office. There were two people opposite him.
One of them was Francis Colton, and he was sitting in a chair and facing his father with a worried expression on his face, and the other person was a tall man with white hair and ck, expressionless eyes that were staring at the two Coltons with a hard gaze.
The tall man folded his hands and leaned back on the wall behind him as he waited to hear what Colton would say next. He had this calm, dangerous aura around him that made anyone who saw him immediately cautious to not cross his path.
"She couldn''t do it? Didn''t she say it would be easy?"
Francis spoke up worriedly as he heard his father what his father said after the call, and he began to wring his hands together as sweat formed on his forehead.
Mr. Colton sneered in anger.
"Don''t remind me of that woman. She can''t keep a husband, she can''t keep her word. It''s just something I should have expected from someone like her. I''ll deal with herter if she still cannotplete the deal."
Mr. Colton turned to the tall man standing at the wall, and he felt a slight tremor shake his chest as he stared into the man''s expressionless eyes. There was no denying that this man was dangerous, and anyone who thought differently would be stupid. Even someone like Mr. Colton, who was used to the dangerous side of the world, was surprised by the cold intensity that this man possessed.
He had the aura of a cold-blooded killer.
"Are you done with your alternative? Shall we talk reparation for my time wasted?"
The man spoke slowly and intentionally, every word sounded like a veiled threat, and Mr. Colton steadied himself and spoke up.
"You will bepensated generously, but I cannot trust that woman''s ability to get rid of Mark Vanitas. I heard that your organization possessed special privileges that allowed you to carry out very specific requests."
The man shrugged as he turned his head to look out the window of the office. He gave no response, so Mr. Colton continued.
"My son is in danger. He is my child, my only child, and I refuse to lose him to one of those freaks of nature that have been emerging over the past few years. Money is no problem, but I want you to keep my son safe. However you do that is up to you, so long as your involvement is not discovered, then you are free to handle this however you wish."
The man only stared at Mr. Colton for a few moments longer. After some time, the silence was starting to be stifling, and Francis started trying to say something.
"I really need ¨C"
The cold, expressionless eyes turned towards Francis, and Francis'' words died a brutal death in his throat as his entire body shivered from the oppressive power behind those eyes. It felt like he was a rabbit standing in front of a tiger, and he immediately learned to control his tongue as he looked away from the tall man and bowed his head back down.
The tall man finally unfolded his hands and pushed off the wall.
"Fifty million and no interference. I''ll handle your business if you give your word for these two incentives."
"Done."
Mr. Colton agreed very quickly as he didn''t see the money as anything big. Fifty million dors was something he would make in a month or less in this business, and he was more than capable of spending that much to ensure his son was safe. The tall man turned his attention to Francis again, and he showed no change in expression as he gave a couple of instructions.
"Continue going to ss as normal and try to stay out of his way. I don''t want there to be an altercation inside the school where I cannot protect you. Do you understand?"
"Y-Y¡ ahem! Yes. I understand."
Mr. Colton frowned at his son when he heard his voice breaking, and he decided he would need to teach the boy to have more of a backbone. Even in the face of such adversity, it is necessary to carry yourself with pride and confidence befitting of a Colton. If you show any form of weakness, then you will be trampled on and taken for a weakling.
The tall man showed no reaction as he walked out of the room. His footsteps made no sounds, and he walked with a stillness and coordination that betrayed his intense training in the art of espionage as he glided out of the room.
Once he was gone, Francis let out a deep breath he didn''t know he had been holding and sighed. He used the back of his hand to wipe his sweat before he spoke to his father.
"Father, who was that man? Is he a superhuman as well?"
Mr. Colton shook his head.
"I don''t know about him being a superhuman, but he is someone that you should never underestimate. Keep your distance from him and make sure you don''t cross him in any of your interactions. Do you remember four years ago? The period when arge number of superhumans were going missing or ending up dead without the police finding out anything about the reason behind their death?"
Francis'' eyes widened. He clearly remembered four years ago when this happened. That period was when superhumans started to emerge for the first time, and there were a lot of superhumans who ended up trying to solve problems for others.
Since powers are given to superhumans randomly, there were a lot of superhumans that turned out to be troublemakers, and they were causing issues in businesses and government organizations daily. Most of these superhumans were killed in the same way that shocked and surprised everyone.
There were no grievous wounds on their bodies, and they did not have any signs that showed they were in a serious battle. They died like regr people. A bullet to the forehead. The identity of the killer was unknown, and everyone in America just started to refer to him by a moniker.
The Superhuman killer.
"That''s the superhuman killer!?"
Francis was shocked by this revtion! To think that he was in the same room with a living legend just a few minutes ago! He felt very stupid for trying to even talk to the man before! He could have died like a chicken if he stepped out of line!
Mr. Colton nodded.
"So just go to school and keep your head down for some time. As long as he is on the job, we can be assured that Mark Vanitas is as good as dead."
¡
"Mmhh~"
A low moan escaped Aria''s mouth as she turned around in bed and gently wrapped her hand around Mark''s body subconsciously. Mark was already awake, and he was leaning his back on the headboard with one hand behind his head.
He was scrolling through his phone and trying to find out if there was any news about what happened on the ind. But there wasn''t anything new on the news, and Mark figured that the government must have blocked any reporters or news outlets from getting any information from the ind raid.
What are they trying to do this time?
Chapter 93: Morning Romp (+18)
Well, it was understandable since the ind raid was aplete and total failure, and it would ruin the reputation of the NSA if the citizens learned that they did not do their research properly before going into such a dangerous situation. Right now, the NSA ispeting with privatized guilds in the distribution of privatized missions.
If the citizens or even the other superhumans learn that the NSA already lost a good portion of their superhumans, then they will lose all confidence in the NSA.
"Mmh~ Mark¡?"
Mark dropped his head as he heard Arit talk from beside him. Her voice was low and sultry as she tried to bring herself out from the sleep world and Mark smiled as he watched her blink her eyes gently at her surroundings.
He watched as her expression morphed from confusion to realization, and finally to embarrassment as her face turned a heavy shade of red and she grabbed her bedsheets and held them up to her face!
Arit was shocked as she remembered what happened yesterday, and she almost felt like sinking into the bed from embarrassment and joy! She finally had sex with Mark! He fucked her like she was his bitch, and she enjoyed every moment of it!
Arit couldn''t help but think back to all the sounds that she made when they were in the middle of the act, and she couldn''t believe that those sounds came out of her own mouth! Was she always this much of a pervert!?
"Morning, Arit."
"G-Good morning, Mark."
Arit''s shy voice echoed to Mark from under the bedsheet and Mark just grinned as he dropped his phone to his side and turned around!
"Eep!"
Arit let out a scream as Mark dragged the bedsheet away and climbed on top of her so she didn''t have anywhere to run! She blushed as she noticed that she waspletely naked, and she quickly thought about covering her breasts with her hands!
"Don''t ever hide yourself from me."
Mark''s intense voice reached Arit, and Arit looked up at him in surprise as she thought he read what was on her mind. She slowly tried to calm herself and listen to his words as she exposed herself to himpletely. She was still embarrassed about him seeing her like this, but she loved him and trusted him enough to show him everything he wanted to see.
And besides, they already did everything, so what was the point of even covering up anymore?
Mark leaned down once he was sure that Arit would listen to him and he gently ced a kiss on her lip.
"Mmh~ hah~ Mark~"
Arit put her hand on the back of Mark''s head and ran her hand through his dark curls as she deepened the kiss. Mark immediately started reacting to her cute moans, and he slowly positioned himself properly as he started to gently prate inside her.
"Moan~! Hahh~ M-Mark¡"
Arit wrapped both hands around Mark''s neck and moaned in shock as she felt Mark filling her up and she spread her legs wider and gave him more ess to enter her as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation. This was heaven!
p! p! p! p! p! p!
p!
Mark went slowly as he began to move. He reached back and grabbed one of her legs before bringing it forward to open her legs even wider!
p!
"Fuck~!"
Arit screamed as she felt Mark reach deeper inside her and she tightened her hold on Mark''s neck as she felt him drilling into her over and over again! She put one hand on Mark''s back as he slowly started to move her hips to match his thrust and the entire room became filled with the sounds of skin pping on skin and Arit''s moans!
"Ah~! Ah~! Ah~! Yes~! Yes! Yes!
I-I feel something, Mark! Mark~!"
p! p! p! p! p! p!
p! p!
Arit''s entire body began to shake and convulse as she felt Mark increase his thrust speed and she grabbed onto him even tighter as she felt herselfing hard! Mark groaned as he also released into Arit as he felt her tightening around him! Fuck! She was trying to suck the life out of him! She''s fucking tight!
After a few seconds of intense orgasm, Mark slowly released the kiss and looked down at Arit with a small smile on his face and an intense gaze.
Arit was breathing heavily with a flushed face. The sheen of saliva on her lips made them glow in the dim light of the room; she was using one of her hands to cover her face as her chest heaved and Mark couldn''t help but think that she looked absolutely beautiful at that moment! She was like an innocent part of the world that he had the privilege of corrupting all on his own!
"You''re going to make me addicted to you, Mark¡"
Arit finally talked and Mark couldn''t help but chuckle as he heard what she said. He turned around with Arit and made her lie on top of him as he looked up at her. Her breasts pressed into his chest and Mark swore at that moment that there was nothing softer in the universe than those breasts. Forget the goddess. This is the softest pillow in the cosmos!
"So you liked it that much? I didn''t know the honor student in ss was such a pervert."
Mark gently ced a loose strand of Arit''s hair behind her ear as he said this and he saw Arit''s ear turn red as she immediately retreated and hid her face on his chest! She hugged his body tightly and Mark could onlyugh as he saw her cute reaction.
He was still sheathed inside her and Arit jolted as she felt him getting harder again. What the hell?
"M-Mark! We''ve done it too many times already! How do you still have energy!?"
Mark shrugged.
"We''re superhuman. Having this amount of energy shouldn''t be a surprise."
Mark was already used to having more stamina than anyone else around him. That is one of the reasons why he refused to partake in sports and PE exercises. Mark knew that he was stronger than everyone else. If he runs then he could run nonstop for days and if he ys basketball then only a single screen or block from him will probably send some to the mortuary immediately!
Arit was about to say something in response, but both of them were jolted out from their conversation as they heard the sound of the doorknob turning! Mark immediately narrowed his eyes at the door and Arit got off him and grabbed the bedsheet as she covered her nakedness quickly!
Ka-Cha!
Mark was almost ready to bolt off the bed to face whoever was at the door, but he suddenly remembered that there was someone else with them in this house! How could he have fucking forgotten! They have a child!
Mark quickly grabbed the other half of the bedsheet and covered the tower on his lower body as he sat up quickly.
Ka-Cha!
Talia''s cute and drowsy voice echoed through the room and Mark smiled as he watched here into the room with her teddy bear in her hand. She hugged the teddy bear closely and looked at Mark with drowsy eyes before her eyes gravitated towards Arit at the side. Arit smiled at her, but Talia frowned at Arit and turned back to Mark.
Arit''s smile died as Mark spoke up calmly.
Chapter 94: Find Your Own Big Brother
"Hey, Talia. How did you sleep?"
"I slept well¡ I¡ sniff~ sniff~ Where is grandfather?"
Talia stopped here as tears began to gather in her eyes and she slowly started to sniffle as the memories of what happened yesterday came back to her! Her grandfather was dead! She will never get to see him again! He will never stand behind her for hours while trying to get her hair under control again!
Talia was slowly realizing that she was finally alone in the world!
Mark swung his legs over the bed and beckoned her over as he opened his arms, and Talia slowly walked up to him and allowed him to carry her onto hisp. Mark wiped her tears away and spoke softly.
"Don''t cry, Talia. James protected a lot of people on that ind. They all owe their lives to him, and he died protecting them."
"I need him¡ sniff~!"
"I''m sure he also wanted to be here, but¡ things don''t always work how we want them to. Okay?"
Talia was still crying, and Mark racked his brain for something that would help her stop crying. He looked back at Arit for help, and Arit smiled at him softly as she crawled over to kneel on the bed beside him and she spoke to Talia.
"Hey, Talia. Do you want to get breakfast with us? We''re having sweet dumplings and ice cream."
"Sniff~ Sniff~ I-Ice cream?"
Arit nodded as she stretched her hand out.
"Come on. Let''s go get some ice cream."
Talia looked at the outstretched arm for a moment before she turned her head away and hugged Mark tighter! She frowned as she spoke.
"I want big brother Mark to carry me¡ sniff~"
Arit''s smile only turned kinder.
"I''ll give you an extra te if you''re a good girl."
"No! Stop trying to take Big brother away, you big-breasted bimbo!"
Arit felt her eye twitch!
''Kill her!''
Arit immediately shut the voice in her head up before it could get out of control. The voice has been quiet since this morning, and Arit almost forgot about it till this moment! Don''t ruin this moment with your stupid suggestions!
Mark looked down at Talia with a frown.
"Hey, apologize to Arit. She was only trying to help."
"Eh¡ but¡"
Mark''s frown deepened and Talia''s face fell as she quickly muttered a quiet apology. Mark smiled at her again, and Talia''s face brightened once more as she saw it. Children were so easy to influence like this, and Mark easily tried to convince Talia to go with Arit.
"I have to go meet Szar at the NSA this morning, but when Ie back, I''ll be starving. Can you help Arit in the kitchen while I''m not here? She''s a little clumsy, so you can help me look after her."
Arit pouted in indignation as she heard Mark say this, and she promised to get him back for using her as a scapegoat in this situation. Talia looked from Mark to Arit with a guarded expression.
She wondered if she should refuse to go with Arit and instead follow Mark to the NSA since she also knew Szar, but just thinking about the NSA made her sad, and she shook her head before she finally agreed to stay with Arit.
"But I won''t give you my big brother! He''s mine, and no one can have him! Go and find your own big brother!"
Talia huffed at Arit in indignation, and Mark chuckled low as he heard what she said. Arit couldn''t help but smile either, and she pinched Talia on the cheek softly as Talia pouted and dragged her face back to avoid Arit.
"I''ve got to go to the NSA, but I''ll be back as soon as possible. You girls have fun together, alright?"
Mark leaned back and kissed Arit softly after saying this, and Talia looked on in surprise as she saw them kiss! She couldn''t believe it! Is her big brother married to the big-breasted bimbo!? Talia''s grandfather told her that only married couples could kiss, and Talia believed himpletely since she didn''t even know the first thing about dating!
A small blush lit up Arit''s face as she tried tough off the kiss as something normal, but she just couldn''t do that because of how new everything was to her. She just got down from the bed with the bedsheet still around her and asked Talia if she wanted to take a bath with her first.
Talia looked at Mark, and Mark nodded to her as he grabbed the second bedsheet to cover himself. Talia finally agreed and followed Arit out of the room. Mark''s eyes trailed down to Arit''s huge ass that was still showing even through the bedsheet around her body, and he sighed as he fell back on the bed and closed his eyes. He''s going to need a cold shower.
...
Murmurs echoed down the streets of city A as many people along the side street stopped to stare at the hooded person jogging down the road early that morning. The person was wearing a pair of ck joggers and a white hoodie that he drew up properly with a ck face mask with some red kanji drawn on it to cover his mouth and nose, but there was no way anyone who saw him wouldn''t know who he was!
That was GHOST!
Mark was going on his usual morning jog, and he tried his best to ignore the crowds of people he could feel staring at him from both sides of his street. Even with this face mask on, there was an immediate reaction once anyone saw him. It was almost like they could feel his aura, and they didn''t even need to see his face to know who he was.
Music was sting in his ear, and the early morning chill made it a perfect day for jogging as Mark turned down the street corner.
Mark knew that the people on the street would not suddenly charge for him because they were both awed and surprised. Whenever a new superhumanes out or if an old superhuman is seen on the street like this, the civilians are smart enough to give them some space because of the incidents that have happened between civilians and superhumans before.
Going up to a superhuman when they want to be left alone can lead to an unfortunate ident. But since superhumans are so strong a simple incident can be a call to meet their maker for a regr human.
Chapter 95: A Summons
"Hey, you''re GHOST, aren''t you? I can''t believe it''s really you! I saw your fight on TV and it was amazing! You''re stronger than any superhuman I''ve seen in my life!"
But of course, there was always the exceptional person who would stille up to the superhumans even after seeing everyone staying back. Mark turned to the side and saw a girl jogging beside him. She was short and dark-skinned withrge breasts that she held up using a sports bra.
She was trying very hard to keep up with Mark''srger strides and Mark only stared at her curiously as a way of asking what she wanted.
The girl started to breathe heavily and Mark could tell that she was trying to say something but she couldn''t because she was out of breath. She was a small thing and her lung capacity was probably too small for her to keep up with Mark''s pace while also jogging. From the way she was already out of breath, Mark could tell that she was definitely not a superhuman.
Mark stopped jogging and took out his music before he looked down at the much smaller girl with a raised brow. The girl immediately put her hands on her knee and began to breathe heavily.
"Are you okay?"
Mark took his mask down and asked this gently. The girl just tried to wave Mark''s concerns away as she tried desperately to bring her breath back under control. Once she finally managed to get something resembling calmness, she stood back up and faced Mark while bringing out her phone shyly.
"I just wanted to say hi and I was wondering if I could get a picture. My friends would never believe I met GHOST if I told them!"
Mark nodded and collected the phone from the girl. She was too short to take the picture so he held the phone up and bent low so that he could take the picture with the much shorter girl.
Muah!
Click!
Mark didn''t expect the girl to suddenly kiss him on the cheek just before he took the picture and he just raised a brow as he turned to look at her curiously. She was blushing crimson and she took a few steps back as she put her hands behind her back while giving Mark a sultry look from under her eyelids.
"That was my way of saying thanks for saving the city. I know you''ve probably got a million people lined up saying thanks, but I just wanted to say it too."
Mark didn''t even smile as he handed her back her phone and asked if that was all.
"Oh no! One moment!"
The girl reached into her back pocket again and Mark waited patiently as she brought out a brown folder that looked rumpled and roughly handled. She handed it to Mark and Mark collected it curiously as he wondered what this was. The girl''s voice suddenly turned serious when she spoke.
"You''re being summoned, Mark Vanitas."
Mark looked down at the little girl with shock in his eyes. What the hell? The girl suddenly raised her hand up catingly. She didn''t want to do this, but it wasn''t her choice.
"A summons? For what reason and by whom?"
"The Federal government of America appreciates your recent achievements in protecting City A, but they cannot continue to overlook your activities as the vignte GHOST. You are being summoned to decide your future. Please keep in mind that this is just a summons and not awsuit, in case you are wondering. The Federal Republic just demands your presence; we are not branding you as a criminal yet.
But if you decide not to honor the summons, then we will be forced to take drastic measures. Thanks for the picture, GHOST! I don''t care what thew says, you''re always going to be a hero in my eyes! I love you!"
The girl jumped and ced another kiss on Mark''s cheek before she began to jog away while waving at him. Mark watched her go for a few seconds before he looked back at the folder in his hands. Mark wasn''t stupid and he knew exactly what this meant. Even though it wasn''t awsuit, it was still going to be necessary for him to appear before a judge.
Either that, or he would have to deal with some form of settlement. Regardless of all the good that GHOST did, one thing was still obvious. In the eyes of thew, GHOST is a criminal. Mark frowned as he realized he would have more problems in the future at this rate.
Mark immediately put a call out to Pat.
[What is it, Mark? Hold on one moment¡ Woman, don''t touch that!! What are you even doing in my gaming room!? That''s my sanctuary! Get out!]
Pat answered the call in his usual haughty voice but he suddenly shouted from the other end of the call and Mark raised a brow curiously as he wondered what was going on. There were some sounds of fighting and finally, a female voice shouted that Pat should go to hell.
Mark figured that this woman was Pat''s sister and he just waited for Pat to finish with what he was doing before they would continue.
[You can go to hell too! In fact, get out of my house before you go to hell!! Fuck! What is it, Mark? I''m kind of in the middle of making sure my sister doesn''t break my TV.]
[Is that Mark!? The mystery friend you''ve been talking about so much! When are you finally going to let me meet him!? I don''t even know his full name!]
[You''ll meet him when you both go to hell! Now fuck off so I can talk to him!]
[Be respectful, you brat! I''m your older sister!]
[Then act like it! Don''t fucking hit me! Do you want to kill me!? Ow! Stop it!]
Mark just tried to hold in hisughter as he was hearing everything happening on the other side of the phone. He had never seen Pat being this docile towards anyone before and Mark couldn''t help but be surprised. Mark was currently sitting on a bench at the side of the road and watching the cars passing in front of him at high speeds.
His hood was down to show his face and the people on the street were all going crazy as they uttered and spoke about him animatedly while taking discreet pictures from a distance.
Mark red at anyone that tried toe closer and they immediately realized that he didn''t want to be bothered so they left him alone and continued on their way. Even though they wanted to talk to him, they knew that he was a superhuman capable of easily overpowering them if they went too far, so they did not want to be near him when he was in a bad mood.
When Mark was sure that Pat was free to talk again, he continued.
"We''ve got a problem, Pat. I don''t know how big it is, but it''s a summons."
Chapter 96: Raven
On the other end of the call, Pat immediately stopped rubbing his head in pain as he heard the word summons. Pat already expected something like this to happen and he knew that it would being very soon, but he never expected that it woulde the immediate next day after Mark saved the city. Pat actually thought that they would just open awsuit against Mark.
With how strict the government was with their superhumans, there were many government officials who would not waste a single moment before throwing a hundred different charges at Mark.
Pat could still remember a particr vignte that was reprimanded in the past. That man was charged with uwful destruction of property and life and charged with ten years of public service. That was just fancy talk for ''You are mandated to join the government and work for free for the next ten years''.
Pat thought they would try to do something like that to Mark, so he was surprised that they were only summoning him. I guess all my contingency ns are now going to be useless. I''m going to have toe up with something new.
[Well, I suppose we should be grateful that it''s just a summons and not awsuit¡]
Mark chuckled.
"I know, right?"
The truth of the matter is there was no denying that Mark was once a criminal. As the vignte GHOST, Mark was acting on his own without the permission of the NSA or any other government body that would allow superhumans to carry out such activities. And he wasn''t even part of a guild.
Mark knew that this was the reason behind him being summoned, and he was just d that they weren''t taking it too far.
[I''ll take a look at the city records and find out what we need. Maybe there is a way to buy off some people and settle it quickly. Most times you only need money to deal with these things. Where are you right now? Never mind, I''ve found you. You''re on your way to the boxing gym?]
Mark scoffed as he immediately thought that Pat would make one hell of a stalker. Pat could always find Mark and Arit because of the trackers that were installed in both of them, but that didn''t mean that Pat needed the tracker to find them. Even without a tracker, Pat could find a human being in less than five minutes with almost no information on that person.
Just a name and a picture were enough for him to pull out every avable piece of information on that person.
Your primary school.
Your college.
Your ce of work.
How much was in your bank ount.
Heck, Pat could probably find out how many times you went to the toilet in thest ten days after he gained ess to your phone. Mark was a bit put off by how versatile Pat was at first, but after knowing him for fourteen years, Mark learned to live with it.
Mark began opening the file to take a look at what was inside.
"Yeah, I have to meet the teacher. She''s going to be pissed."
[No shit. I''ll send you whatever I find soon.]
Pat cut off the call immediately and Mark brought out the papers and began to read them. Mark sat on the bench for the next five minutes and he read through all of the papers that were inside the brown envelope three times before he finally stood up again.
The informationid out on the paper was a little confusing since Mark was never good with legal talk, but he was able to get the basic gist of it.
Mark Vanitas was not being summoned as Mark Vanitas. Instead, Mark Vanitas was being summoned as GHOST, the former vignte who took to the streets and fought against Anima without permission from the government, making it illegal. That was just as much as he expected anyway.
Mark was being summoned to the government headquarters in the next two months to appear before a judge behind closed doors to decide on his fate.
Mark knew that this was all just fancy talk. The only things that they really wanted was for him to be under their control and they were going to use this as an avenue to make Mark join one of the government-based organizations. Mark is a superhuman and it would be stupid to put Mark in prison when he could be out there helping people.
So instead, they would try to ce him under their thumb and control his actions.
That is probably why they didn''t sue Mark yet. Even though Mark was not the strongest in America, he was currently the most popr Superhuman in the country and also one of the fastest-evolving superhumans. Suing Mark would only make him antagonize them, so they decided only to summon him and give him a chance to talk first.
If Mark ignores or refuses the summons, then the government will have justifiable reason to open awsuit against him without fearing public anger.
But all of this was just Mark''s spection. He didn''t know how things would really turn out and there was even a chance that they would just arrest him and get it over with. Mark just hoped that Pat could find out more about the summons.
Mark ced his hoodie and mask back on and continued jogging towards the boxing gym.
The boxing gym was located in a rundown area of the town with many dpidated houses lining the street. The building itself was brown and there was mold growing from the walls. Mark took off his hoodie and entered the creaking door and he arrived in avish dojo that had multiple equipment scattered around.
Ten sandbags were hanging from the ceiling to one side with many dumbbells and barbells arranged at various parts of the gym.
There was a wall with many scaling ropes hanging from nails and in the middle of the room, there was a singlerge boxing ring.
Mark looked around the dimly lit room, and he wasn''t surprised that there was no one there. This boxing gym used to be one of the most popr ones in the city, but after the area became so rundown, there were hardly any people who wanted toe to the gym, and it became a shadow of its former self.
The only reason why the gym stayed open this long was because of how headstrong and fucking stubborn the owner was.
Woosh!
Bam!
Mark''s hand blurred as he caught a punch from behind him. He turned around with a raised brow, about to say something, but a foot suddenly mmed into his knee, making it buckle slightly, and the person dragged their fist free from Mark''s grip and flipped up so that their leg was wrapped around Mark''s head!
They threw their body weight forward, but they were stunned when Mark didn''t even budge, standing his ground and sighing.
"You should really stop with the sneak attacks. You''re too old for something so childish, Raven."
Chapter 97: In The Ring. Now.
"You should really stop with the sneak attack. You''re too old for something so childish, Raven."
The person on Mark''s neck frowned before she flipped over Mark''s shoulders and easilynded in front of him with a flourish! Mark stared at the tall woman who was just about to hit him and he couldn''t help but smile as he saw the frown on her face.
She was wearing a ck tank top and tight trousers that showed off her impressive bust and ass proportions, and there was a cigar in her mouth that she took out as her frown deepened.
"What the fuck have you been doing to yourself? You''re far stronger than you werest week."
"Hello to you too, teacher."
Raven licked her tongue and took a puff from her cigar. She put one hand under her breast and eyed Mark from head to toe as she waited for him to say something to her. They both knew what Raven was waiting for, and Mark decided to just bite the bullet.
"I had to go fight against that cmity ss. didn''t have a choice."
"You always have a choice, you brat! Don''t go starting your conversations like that! What did I tell you about going out to fight things that are stronger than you!? You struggled against disaster sses and once a cmity ss shows up, the first thing you think is that you should go fight it!?"
Mark shrugged.
"What should I have done? Let all those people die because I didn''t want to put myself in danger. There were no superhumans in the area that could handle it and it was going to kill everyone that went to confront it. I had to help."
Raven red at Mark in anger once she heard him say that, and she took out her cigar and threw it to the side.
"Are you trying to say something to me, brat?"
"And what if I am?"
Mark stepped closer to Raven, and Raven felt some of Mark''s pressure push down on her as his enormous build towered over her.mark was probably not even doing it on purpose, but Raven could feel a great increase in Mark''s aura. It felt like his presence and power quadrupled from thest time they were in a ring together.
He was a monster of a man, and even though Raven was a very tall woman, she still only reached his shoulders with the top of her head. She red up at him and clicked her tongue.
"In the ring. Now."
Raven and Mark entered the ring in the middle of the room, and Mark took off his hoodie and only wore his ck tank top. He put on his gloves while watching Raven put on her own gloves on the opposite side of the ring. Mark could understand why Raven was angry.
Raven had been Mark''s teacher for some time now, and she was also one of the few people who knew Mark''s identity as GHOST before he revealed it to the public.
Mark first met Raven two years ago when he was looking for a ce to train without risking revealing his superhuman strength to others. He searched for more than a week before he learned about this dpidated gym that didn''t have any members. It sounded like the perfect ce for Mark to train, so he came here and met Raven.
Her father was the one who opened this gym a long time ago, and now that he was dead, she was finding it hard to keep it afloat because of the way houses were all being demolished.
Raven didn''t want to let go of her father''s gym, so she refused to move it. Luckily for her, that was when she met Mark.
Before agreeing to train Mark, she made him promise that he would not go to fight against monsters that were above Disaster ss. Raven had no desire to train someone just for them to go get themselves killed while trying to fight against something far stronger than them. that is why rAven felt betrayed by Mark''s actions against that Cmity ss.
"You know the rules. Two downs and you win. I don''t know what sort of steroid you''ve been taking, but you better remember that strength isn''t going to be enough to help you here."
Mark turned around and nodded to Raven as they both advanced towards each other. Raven stretched out her two gloves, and Mark fist-bumped them with his gloves.
Woosh!
Mark immediately had to step back as Raven tried tosh out with a low sweep! Mark dodged to the side as Raven shot her leg up and almost mmed it into his face, and he used that chance to try and m his fist into Raven''s liver. But she managed to dodge around it quickly enough, and she retreated to the other side of the ring.
Mark narrowed his eyes at Raven as she slowly started to stalk around him. Raven was a superhuman as well, but her blessing and strength were not something that she liked to talk about. The only thing that Mark knew was that Raven was blessed by a god who focused on athletics, and her blessing was weak. So weak that she could not advance past the high B rank no matter how hard she tried.
Mark took a step back and used a quick analysis on Raven as he got a look at her stats.
...
Name: Raven Brown
Race: Human
Title: Nil
Rank: B
Potential: D
Skill: [Rush]
Description: The [Rush] skills give Raven a boost in athletic abilities during times of intense stress. It is simr to but stronger than an adrenaline rush and it improves her overall strength, speed, and reaction time. She is an extremely athletic woman whose potential has held her back from achieving any real purpose.
Affiliation: Lawful Neutral
...
Mark was surprised by Raven''s potential. Was that why she couldn''t advance past the B rank no matter how hard she tried? She was stuck in a low rank because of how bad her potential was. In fact, her having a B rank was a testament to how much work she already put into her training and improving herself.
It has only been four years and she was able to rise to B rank with a potential of only D rank! That was really impressive.
At least Mark now knew how she was able to keep up with him even when he was as strong as an A rank without his system before. Mark was always surprised by her bursts of speed and the sudden quick reflexes she seemed to gain whenever he was about tond a hit on her, but now Mark knew that it was just due to her [Rush] skill.
Raven always told Mark that strength was not everything in a fight. What was the point of having all the power in the world if none of your punches ever hit?
Chapter 98: Im Glad Youre Safe
Raven dashed closer to Mark and immediatelyshed out with a flurry of punches. Mark didn''t bother dodging around most of them because he knew that even if they hit him, there would be no damage done. Instead, he stretched out and tried to grab Raven in a hold, but Raven was able to duck under it and flip back before Mark could get her.
Ravennded in a crouch and narrowed her eyes at Mark as she noticed something about him.
"You''re holding back, aren''t you?"
Mark ignored her words and rushed in for another confrontation. Heshed out with two punches, and Raven closed her guard and tried to tank the punch, but her eyes widened as an intense pain shot through her hand once one of the punches hit!
"Gah!"
Bam!
Raven didn''t even dare to try and block the second one as she immediately fell backward and tried to kick Mark''s legs out from under him! Mark took a step back to avoid the kick, and he reached down to grab Raven by her shirt, but Raven suddenly slid through his legs and performed an acrobatic move that baffled Mark for a moment!
Her hands wrapped around his legs, and she contorted her body upwards to wrap her legs around his neck before pulling with all of her strength!
Bam!
Mark''s back mmed into the ground, and Mark quickly rolled to the side and got back to his feet as he brought his hands up for another charge. But he saw Raven watching him curiously as she stood with her hands by her side. She was looking at Mark like he was a specimen she was analyzing, and Mark wondered what she could be thinking about. After some time, Raven finally spoke.
"I can tell that you''re holding back."
Mark sighed and shrugged, and Raven licked her tongue again as she brought her hand up and red at Mark.
"Are you looking down on me? Do you think that getting some new power-up will make you that much stronger than me? I already told you, didn''t I? Your punches are useless if they don''t hit. Soe at me with everything."
Woosh!
Raven charged in again faster than before, and Mark was forced to sidestep a kick to the shin as he deflected a punch from her that would have taken out his right eye.
"I said fight me, you brat!"
Raven shouted at Mark as sheshed out with an elbow strike that mmed into his sternum! Mark felt some breath leave his body, but he was back under control in less than a second, and he stopped the second elbow strike and pushed Raven back!
"Raven, wait. Let''s talk."
"It''s teacher to you, bastard!"
Raven dashed in again and ducked under Mark''s guard tond an uppercut on his chin, and Mark brought his head back and easily allowed it to ghost past his chin. Mark could tell that Raven was no longer ying around, and she was really trying to incapacitate him. He decided that enough was enough.
Mark grabbed her shirt faster than she could rush away, and he flipped her over his body and mmed her back into the ground!
Boom!
"Ugh!!"
Raven''s back throbbed in pain as she felt the air leave her lungs, and she felt Mark''s weight leaning on top of her like a mountain! She couldn''t move her body even if she wanted to at that moment, and she swallowed heavily as she looked up into Mark''s eyes with a deep stare. She was breathing heavily, and she could trace the individualshes above Mark''s eyes with how close they were.
"I can''t not hold back against you, Raven. Some things happened that you wouldn''t understand, and now I''m much stronger than before. If I don''t hold back, I could really kill you identally. I''m sorry I went against our rules. I just couldn''t leave those people to die while I waited for other superhumans to arrive."
Raven was one of three people who knew Mark''s identity before he revealed it to the public, and Raven made Mark promise her that he would not go out to fight against Anima whom he knows he cannot beat.
Raven didn''t want Mark to go out there thinking that he could start a fight against any monster he saw. Even though Mark was strong, there were monsters in this world that would make Mark look like nothing inparison and it would definitely be the end of his life if he challenged them.
Raven was very indebted to Mark because he was the reason why her father''s gym stayed open even after everyone else in the area closed down their businesses and left.
Raven always leaves one day of the week open for Mark toe here and train alone without any other students around since Mark didn''t want anyone to know his identity, and she was in charge of Mark''s training, but Raven knew that the training that she used to give Mark would not cut it anymore.
Raven was curious about what caused Mark to suddenly be this much stronger, but she wouldn''t pry. She didn''t want personal feelings interfering with her teaching, so she always maintained a student-teacher rtionship with Mark. She would have to change his training regime because of this increase in strength.
"Aren''t you going to get off me?"
Mark felt Raven struggle under him, and he gently got off her and watched her stand up and begin taking off her gloves. The fight was over as far as she was concerned. She walked past Mark once she was done taking off her gloves, and Mark just watched her closely.
"There''s no training today. I''m going to have to adjust your schedule to amodate your new strength. You can have the week off."
Mark grinned. He was d that Raven did not pry too much into what happened.
"Thanks, Raven."
"Tsk! Don''t go thanking me just yet, I''m still pissed at you! You don''t understand how worried¡"
Mark waited for Raven to finish her sentence, but Raven couldn''t finish it as she just paused. Raven frowned and turned her head away with her hands on her hips.
Raven was going to tell Mark how worried she was when she watched his fight on the news. She was terrified that he would die against that cmity ss, and she was happier than anyone else in the world when she saw him win the fight. But she didn''t say that to him. Her pride wouldn''t let her.
"Juste back in one week. I have an idea of how strong you are now, so I should be able to make a training regime for you by then. But if you ever do something like this again, then it is over between us. I don''t care if I lose the gym, I won''t have blood on my hands because you want to feel the thrill of fighting a stronger opponent."
Raven said this as she started to walk back into her room, but she paused just before she entered and called Mark in a much calmer voice. Mark answered her with a hum, and Raven eyed him closely for a moment before she finally spoke.
"I''m d you''re safe, Mark. Thank you foring back alive."
Kacha!
Raven quickly closed the door behind her once she was finished talking, and Mark smiled and shook his head at his teacher''s tsundere attitude. Couldn''t she juste out and say that she was worried about him? Mark had not spoken to Raven that much in the time that he knew her.
There was always this distance between them because Raven wanted to keep their rtionship as only teacher and student without bringing friendship into it, so Raven finds it hard to express her worries or annoyances to Mark without using it as some form of teaching opportunity.
Mark knew that she cared about him, but with the ways she was always acting towards him, you would think that she was a cold-hearted woman who didn''t give a damn. It was only moments like these that gave him some hope in her humanity. Mark took off his gloves and called out to Raven to tell her that he was leaving.
There was no response from Raven, and Mark just grabbed his things and began jogging as he left the gym. He needed to go see Szar in the NSA before going back home to meet Arit and Talia.
Chapter 99: Missing Class Helped You Fall In Love?
Talia was used to the superhuman life. She is one of the youngest superhumans alive and since she is also a part of the NSA she must be going on smaller-scale missions already, but that did not mean she could survive in the ces that Mark goes to. Now that he got his powers back and many of the Anima knew that he was KING, Mark knows that stronger opponents were going to surface and challenge him.
He did not know if it was okay to bring Talia into that sort of world when she was only this young.
Should he just harden his heart and send her away to live with Greg? Talia''s life would not be bad with Greg and she would definitely grow with a loving father figure around her since Greg is also a father himself and she would be like other normal children. It''s not like Markcked the money or time to take care of one more person, Mark didn''t have any issues taking care of Talia.
He just felt like her life would be easier away from him.
Mark sighed as he thought about this and decided that he would talk to Arit about it and they would talk to Talia together when they make a decision. Even if Talia is a child she is far more mature than any child had a right to be and she would understand if Mark tells her their choice. Whatever choice Talia makes will tell Mark what he needed to do going forward.
¡
"How did you and big brother Mark start living together? Are the two of you married?"
Arit was in the middle of turning a bowl of pancake batter when Talia suddenly asked her this question and Arit paused what she was doing and looked at the little girl sitting on the counter. Arit and Talia have been cooking in silence for a long time and they were only saying the bare minimum between themselves to pass the time.
Arit thought that she needed to give Talia some time with her thoughts, but it seems that Talia was no longer too depressed if she was already asking questions like these.
She wanted to know how she met Mark? That was so long ago and Arit barely remembered it. But as she furrowed her face in thought, the memories of that moment began toe back to her.
Arit met Mark two years ago when she first moved to this city with her father. Arit was just starting out at Nature Academy and she was lost in the city streets because she did not know where to go. That was after her mother died in the Anima attack and she still had a great resentment for other people, so she found it hard to ask for directions when she was walking around the city.
She somehow managed to get involved with a group of rough-looking men who were trying to take advantage of her and it was Mark that came to help her. He got rid of the men and helped Arit to find the academy. It was just a coincidence that the both of them happened to be going to the same school and they even ended up in the same ss.
After that day, Arit was always looking out for Mark, but she noticed that he was barely ever in ss. He would skip ss and go hide in the corridor to y games or he would leave the school altogether to go out.
Arit thought that he was leaving the school to go and join gang fights ¨C and that was also what most of the students in the school thought because of how dangerous Mark looked - but she now knew that Mark was going out there to get rid of Anima that appeared in different parts of the city.
Arit began asking around the school for Mark whenever he was missing from ss, and Arit didn''t know when she began going out to look for Mark anytime there was a ss and he was not there.
She always searched for him because she thought that she owed him for saving her back then, but as time went on, she slowly started to understand what sort of person he was and she eventually became one of his closest friends.
It became so easy for her to find him that the teachers would always send Arit out to look for Mark if they needed to talk to him or if there was a ss that he really needed to be in and he was not there. Arit knew that the teachers were afraid to talk to Mark just like all the other students around because of how tall and intimidating he looked.
Mark literally stood at least one head above everybody in the school, so it was hard for the teachers to even reprimand him since they felt like children in his presence, but Arit wasn''t afraid to talk to him. Someone that saved her life could never be a bad person.
Arit said all of this to Talia, and by the time she was finished, she was already putting the batter into the pan. Talia''s face scrunched up in confusion as she heard what Arit said! Talia did not understand how people could be close in the way that Arit just described and she wondered if it was possible.o
"So you and big brother Mark fell in love because he was always skipping ss? Will I have to skip ss to find a husband?"
Arit scoffed in surprise as she almost burst outughing right there! What sort of question was that!?
"I don''t think you have to do that. You can have a different story for finding a boyfriend. You don''t have to follow our story since it is different for everyone."
"How will I know he''s the right person? Grandpa always told me to stay away from boys because they are all demons."
Talia looked down at her feet sadly as she mentioned James and Arit felt her heart squeeze as she realized that Talia was going to start crying again. She came up to Talia and touched her knee. When Talia looked up at Arit, Arit smiled.
"When you find the one for you, you''ll just know. You won''t be able to stop thinking about him, and you''ll want the best for him. When he looks at you, you''ll feel this burning sensation in your stomach, like there are millions of sparks going off inside of you.
He''ll be there for you even when you don''t know that you need someone to be there for you, and you''ll always try your best to be there for him and support him when he needs it. You''ll know."
Talia was astonished by the intense emotions that Arit just described and it managed to make her stop thinking about her grandfather for some time. Talia went silent and thought for a moment before she said something that made Arit cough in shock.
"Then, will I marry big brother Mark?"
"Eh? What are you talking about!?"
Talia hummed and looked into space as she spoke.
"He''s always there for me and I feel safe when he hugs me. And he is very reliable and kind. If I''m going to marry someone like you described then I want it to be big brother Mark."
The voice inside of Arit''s head was in the middle of an unbelievable fit of rage as it shouted at Arit like a mad woman!
''Kill her! Kill the fucking bitch! Mark is ours! Ours! There is no space for anyone else in his life! We should kill her and hide her body in the oven!
Burn her body and bury the remains! Kill her!''
Chapter 100: The Mailman
''Kill her! Kill the fucking bitch! Mark is ours! Ours! There is no space for anyone else in his life! We should kill her and hide her body in the oven!
Burn her body and bury the remains! Kill her!''
Arit''s eyes changed into yellow slits for a moment as the sheer intensity of emotions almost made her lose her mind on the spot, but Arit immediately closed her eyes as she felt the change and tried to calm down! She stumbled to the side and put her hand on her forehead as she squeezed her face from the intense exertion!
The voice in her head was relentless as it tried to make Arit kill Talia for what she said, but Arit tried her hardest to quiet the voice down and make it shut up!
Eventually, Arit opened her eyes and they were back to their normal ck. Talia was staring at Arit in worry, but Arit just waved her worry away with a smile. She sighed as she slowly turned the pancakes over in the pan and allowed the sunny brown side to face up.
"That isn''t love, Talia. You''re just grateful to Mark. I felt the same way when he saved me from the men two years ago. It takes much longer for someone to fall in love, and you have to know them better as well. You''ll find someone for you, I''m sure of it."
Just not Mark. Mark is mine.
Arit said all of this with a smile, but she left thest part out as she brought the pancakes out from the pan andid them on tes. She knew that Talia was just a child, so Talia would not even understand the meaning of the word love. Talia was just curious, and Arit was more than happy to answer her questions.
Arit was not going to kill Talia just because Talia said she could be in love with Mark. That was stupid.
Talia seemed to be thinking about it seriously while swinging her legs back and forth, and she finally shrugged, jumped down from the cab, and ran into the living room. Arit watched her go far before she finally sighed in exertion as Talia left and bent down while leaning her back on the wall! That took a lot more energy than usual!
It was bing harder to stop the voice in her head from taking over her thoughts, and Arit didn''t understand what was happening to her body! Arit raised her hand up and touched the bottom of her eyes as she wondered what happened to her just now.
When the voice shouted very loud, Arit would feel her eyes change into something else. It was almost like a bloodthirsty part of her tried toe out, and Arit was only able to push it back by sheer will. What the hell was happening to her?
Knock. Knock. Knock.
A knock on the door snapped Arit out of her thoughts as she turned off the burner and walked out of the kitchen while cleaning her hand using a rag. Arit was wearing a pair of faded jeans and one of Mark''s T-shirts with an apron over all of it.
Her hair was tied in a messy bun behind her head, and she didn''t bother loosening it as she walked over to the door and looked through the viewing hole to see who was there.
The person on the other side of the door was wearing the delivery outfit of the City C post office department. Blue shirt and ck trousers with the image of a white bird on the left breast pocket. He had a cap on his head of ck hair, but he was looking at the peeping hole with an exasperated look as he raised his hand to knock for a second time.
In his hands, there was a brown box with a paper sitting on top of it.
Arit opened the door before the man could knock again, and the man blinked in shock once he saw Arit''s face. Arit noticed that his eyes flickered towards her scar immediately, but that didn''t disturb her at all. The man''s eyes immediately scanned over her entire body as if he were trying to devour her figure with his eyes, and Arit narrowed her eyes at him in annoyance.
This was what always happened to her, and she was already fed up with it.
The first thing people noticed about her was always her scar. It was like a beacon that drew people''s eyes towards her. But immediately after ncing at her scar, they would then look at her body, and they would no longer mind the scar.
It was almost like they were saying ''The scar is bad, but with a body like that it doesn''t really matter.'' It disgusted Arit, and she hated meeting new people because of this exact situation that always urred.
"What do you want?"
Once Arit spoke, the mailman''s eyes immediately snapped back up to her face, and he swallowed slightly before he took a step towards her and tried to lookposed once more.
"Yes, sorry, I''m looking for one Miss Arit yborn. Is that you?"
"Yes, what is it?"
The mailman brought the box in his hand forward and told Arit that she should sign on the paper on top, and Arit raised a brow and asked him who the package was from.
"Mr. Howard yborn sent it, I think. It''s been lying in our warehouse for three days now, and we''ve been unable to deliver it due to the Anima attack that happened recently. We are terribly sorry for the dy."
The mailman looked down at the package with some difficulty and read what was written on the forwarding note, and Arit''s eyes widened in surprise as she heard her father''s name. Arit hasn''t spoken to her father in a few days now, and she was d that her father was alright. She wondered what her father would think if he knew what happened to her the past few days.
Arit''s father always sent random things to her and Mark for them to use in the house, and Arit was not surprised that he sent this. She simply signed the document on top and collected the box from him.
"Ugh!"
Arit almost fell over as the extremely heavy box threatened to throw her to the ground! What in the world is in here? It was extremely heavy, and it almost felt like she was carrying a box filled with cement blocks!
Arit quickly turned around and dropped it on the ground inside the apartment before it fell, and she missed the look of suspicion on the mailman''s face as he watched her struggle with the box. By the time Arit turned back around, the mailman was already smiling again, and he gave her a nod while holding the tip of his cap.
Chapter 101: Imposter
By the time Arit turned back around, the mailman was already smiling again, and he gave her a nod while holding the tip of his cap.
"Would you mind answering a few questions for our post office survey? It''s to help us ensure that your next delivery is as swift andfortable as possible."
The mailman smiled slightly as he brought out a piece of paper from his back pocket and held it up while staring at Arit expectantly. The mailman wanted to ask Arit a series of questions, and he hoped that Arit would agree to answer the questions he had.
Arit could see the innocent desperation in the mailman''s eyes, and she decided that it might not be so difficult if it was just a few questions. Arit was the sort of person who found it hard to say no to someone when she saw that they really needed help. That is why she was chosen as the ss representative of her ss right from her first year.
She was always trying to help people, and she just became one of the most trustworthy people in the ss without knowing.
Mark was the exact opposite of her. He would not go out of his way for something as trivial as this unless it was worth his time. He would have turned around and mmed the door in the mailman''s face if he felt like it. Arit smiled a little as she thought about this, and she could feel her heart flutter as she thought about Mark. Arit has been thinking about him too much recently.
"Okay, what do you want to know?"
The mailman''s face lit up as he heard her agree to his request. He began to ask a number of harmless questions that did not take any time for Arit to answer. They were simply things like how happy she was with the recent delivery time, as well as how much and if she was willing to pay for a premium delivery service that delivered her goods in a single day.
But then, after some time, the questions slowly started to change, and they suddenly turned personal.
"Are you the only one who lives here? Oh, someone else lives with you?"
"At what time do you usually leave the house for school? Is your school nearby?"
"Are there any young children living in the apartment?"
"Do they attend a nearby elementary or middle school?"
Arit answered all the questions that the man asked her easily, but she was slowly starting to be suspicious as his questions became more and more personal. Why would he want to know if she was living alone? Does the post office send packages based on how many people live in an apartment? That makes no sense at all!
And why would he also want to know when I leave my house? The way things were going, Arit was beginning to suspect that this mailman was actually a thief, and he would try to break into their houseter when they were not around and steal from them. She decided that she would no longer answer his questions since they were so suspicious.
''You shouldn''t let him go! What if he is trying to hurt Mark? You should kidnap him and ask him what his real intentions are! If he refuses to answer you, then kill him!''
Arit had to fight to keep herself from doing what the voice in her head told her. Ever since she and Mark had sex, she was no longer able to keep the voice from trying to protect Mark. It felt like the voice was now twice as strong as before, and she could feel her eyes sh yellow as she almost charged at the innocent mailman!
He grinned at her.
"So, now that we''re finished with business, do you reckon I could get your phone number? For personal reasons."
The mailman was obviously trying to flirt with Arit, and Arit seemed to lose all the wind in her sails and she raised an irritated brow. Shepletely ignored him as she decided that she was done with him.
Ka-cha.
The door closed behind her, and the man''s hand dropped from his cap as he nced down the corridor to his left and his right with narrowed eyes. He took off his cap and ran his hand through his ck hair as his posture straightened until his shoulders were square and his core was tight.
He began walking out of the building with silent steps, and as he passed the main entrance of the building, he turned around into the alley took off his gloves, and threw them into a dustbin along with his cap.
Inside the dustbin, the half-naked body of a man was lying among the trash with blood leaking from behind his head. This was the actual mailman who was supposed to bring the delivery to Arit. He was intercepted by another man in the middle of his delivery, and he was overpowered by the other man.
The real mailman was easily knocked unconscious as the other man stole his outfit and took on the role of mailman.
The man who stole the mailman''s clothes was actually the Superhuman Killer who was assigned to kill Mark Vanitas. He was currently going around and trying to get as much information as possible about Mark Vanitas before he started the mission, but what he had been able to get was not encouraging. It seems that Mark Vanitas was as elusive as theye.
Mark did not have any parents, and his guardians'' names and identities were both locked out from public records for some reason. You will need to be a part of the government before you can ess the information, and that will take a lot of time to bypass.
Secondly, Mark did not have any hobbies other than fixing his motorcycle in a nearby garage and skipping school as much as possible to go and fight against Anima. There weren''t many chances to catch Mark unawares since he has such a small circle of hobby spots, and at this rate, it would be inevitable that he would involve humans in this mission.
The Superhuman Killer ran a hand through his hair again and sighed as he tossed the mailman clothes to the side and arranged his t-shirt and trousers properly while stepping into the street. He made sure that his fake nose and color-changing eye contacts were in ce before he rxed and blended into the crowd.
He has been trained from a young age on how to blend into society perfectly so no one turned to look at the perfectly normal man walking around and in between people while moving down the street.
The Superhuman Killer wasn''t always known as such. Before the sudden surge in Superhuman abilities that happened four years ago, the Superhuman Killer was once a member of the military.
He belonged to an extremely secretive sector of the army known as the Assassination unit. Their job was to get into the most difficult of ces, kill the most dangerous of people, and get out without being seen, heard, or known. They lived their lives in the shadows, and they were born and bred to thrive in the fine art of taking human life.
But that life was something that he quickly grew a hatred for.
Chapter 102: That Is What You Are Best Suited For, After All.
The superhuman killer might have been in the army, but he knew exactly what he was. He was only a ve that the army was trying their hardest to keep on a leash! He was a guard dog that they would send out whenever they felt like it and when he came back they would throw him a bone and pet his head before tying him up again like an animal!
It grated on his nerves and he hated the fact that this was his life. As time went on, he started to grow a distaste for killing people. Killing normal people became so easy and simple to him that there was no fun in it anymore.
So when he saw a chance to get out of the military when the Armageddon ss attacked, the superhuman killer wasted no time and immediately began his escape. The superhuman killer also received a blessing, but his blessing was from a minor god that did not have much of a name in the heavens.
He did not have any special abilities and his god did not have a name, but that did not mean that he did not have power. The superhuman killer received enough power to be on par with a B-ss superhuman.
It might not seem like much on the grand scale of things ¨C especially when youpare him to superhuman powerhouses like Mark and Tylor - but when you take into ount the fact that the superhuman killer was already a professional at killing and murder even before he became a superhuman, you realize that giving him any form of power whatsoever will boost his already superhuman strength and make him almost unstoppable by anyone in the military.
The superhuman killer tore through more than a hundred people who were standing in his way. He killed every single person that tried to stop him from escaping as he made his way out of the military base and escaped!
After escaping, he was finally able to leave the military life behind, and since the military already trained him in how to covertly hide from detection and remain under the radar for very long periods, he was able to avoid being found by his military handlers who were constantly looking out for him.
So why would someone who despised killing so much turn to a life of killing once more? One can say that the thrill of the hunt was what the superhuman killer enjoyed most. But the answer to that is moreplex than the fact that he simply enjoys the thrill.
He enjoyed his freedom and individuality, and lived without following any orders, simply doing whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. But then another problem arose after some time.
He was not a normal person.
The superhuman killer was trained from a young age on how to take life and murder people and he did not know about any other type of life other than a life of killing. It was impossible for him to suddenly settle down and be a sryman or maybe a teller in a convenience store. It would be too boring and mundane for him after he lived a life of adrenaline rushes and murder for so long.
So he decided that he would go back into the business of taking lives, but this time, he would do it at his own discretion, and with his own rules.
The first rule was that he would not kill regr humans. He had grown a distaste for that after he killed so many of them, and he realized that it would be too easy for him. The second rule was that he did not kill children, and the third rule was that he would always finish a job he had started.
It was because of one of these rules that the superhuman killer went to Mark''s house and spoke to Arit. His initial n was to find a way into Mark''s house and to kill Mark when he was at his most vulnerable, but that was not going to work because of the people who were living with Mark. One of them was a child and the girl was a normal human.
The superhuman killer used the package that Arit received as a test to see if she was a normal human or not. A superhuman of any rank at all would be able to carry that package easily without showing the amount of exertion that Arit showed.
The superhuman killer was only a C rank, so he was sure that C ranks and above would be able to carry the package, and even D ranks and below would not think it was too heavy. There was a high chance that Arit and the child would be casualties during their fight.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
The superhuman killer felt the phone in his pocket vibrate and he brought out an AirPod and ced it in one ear before answering the call. The voice on the other side of the phone made his eyes narrow in annoyance.
[I hear you took on a new job. I don''t remember you saying anything about this in our previous meeting.]
"I don''t answer to you. The jobs I take are of no concern to you."
[Yes, normally that would be the case. But they are of concern to me when they directly affect my own ns. Your target, Mark Vanitas; I have ns for him. I need you to stand down until I confirm his position.]
"What sort of ns?"
[That is not your concern. Just do as you are told, killer; that is what you are best suited for. If Mark Vanitas proves to be useful then you must cancel your kill order; but if he doesn''t, then you may eradicate him.]
Beep.
The superhuman killer turned off the phone once the man said this and he looked around him nkly while passing in front of a restaurant that sold naturally grown foods. The person on the other end of the call was not someone that the superhuman killer wanted to go against, so as far as he was concerned, he had to put his kill order on hold for now.
The superhuman killer wondered what Mark Vanitas could possibly do for someone as twisted as that person. Whatever it is, it will definitely not be anything good.
But that didn''t matter to the superhuman killer. That wasn''t his jurisdiction, and so he wasn''t going to bother about it. He would just wait and see what happens in the future.
His job was to kill and to do as he was told. That is what he is best suited for, after all.
''Are you happy with this life?''
The superhuman killer blinked in surprise as a random memory from a long time ago popped up in his head. The memory came suddenly and without any warning so he did not even know how to react to it.
Why would he be thinking about that girl now?
He shook his head to get rid of the memory and sighed as he took out a face cap and put it on before blending into the crowd again. The superhuman killer concluded that he would have toe up with a new n.
Chapter 103: Do You Think I Can Get Pregnant From This?
"Oh my goodness, it''s GHOST!!"
"GHOST! I''ve been waiting for you for two nights straight! Look over here!"
"He''s fucking tall! What the hell are children eating these days!?"
"They say he''s an S-rank superhuman already! Even if he hasn''t been ranked by the government yet! They are all saying he can''t be anything less than S rank!"
There was still a substantial crowd outside of the NSA building waiting for any news about the recent ind raid. The NSA has not released any statement about the raid on the ind, and the many news outlets were all waiting for Szar or James toe out and give them some information for the public.
There was an immediate reaction as many of the people there recognized Mark and began trying to get close to him for interviews or even just to talk to him. Mark still had his mask on his face, but that was no longer enough to stop anyone from recognizing him, and Mark just tried his best to ignore everyone as he walked up to therge gate of the NSApound.
There were soldiers at the gate who were in charge of making sure that the reporters couldn''t get in, and they all gave Mark a small nod as they opened the gate and allowed him in. Mark nodded back in thanks and walked into thepound.
He made his way inside and finally entered the main building of the NSA before taking off his mask. The reaction of the people in the building was a lot more muted than those outside, but there were still a lot of people who stopped and stared for a moment or those who spoke in whispers as they pointed to Mark. Mark just ignored all of this and walked up to the receptionist''s desk.
The woman there was a pretty brte with wide blue eyes that screamed innocence. She was wearing a crisp office suit, and even though most of her body was behind therge counter, Mark could tell that she had a killer body. She was in the middle of a call when Mark walked up to her, and he managed to catch just the final part of it before she put it down.
"¡ Yes, I''ll tell him toe up right away. Oh¡ okay. Okay."
They were probably talking about him, and Mark was certain of this fact when she put down the phone and immediately spoke to him.
"Mr. Vanitas. It''s a pleasure to have you at the NSA. Madam Millicent will be here to direct you towards the meeting room in a moment, but in the meantime, is there anything you''d like to have as you wait?"
Mark was surprised by the intense professionalism the woman was portraying, and he figured that she must already be used to talking to a lot of superhumans who wanted to have meetings with the NSA. Mark thought that she would be making suggestions toward him just like that other woman that he met on his first day here.
She was constantly making sexual advances without caring about who was around, and Fiona told Mark that there were a lot of people like that so he should get used to it, but surprisingly, this woman was perfectly professional without any hidden meaning behind her words.
Mark told her to get him a bottle of water, and the receptionist smiled and nodded before she hailed an NSA worker at the side and told him to bring what Mark wanted.
A few secondster, Mark was leaning on the cab and drinking the bottled water while waiting for Millicent toe around. The receptionist was busy looking through a book on her desk, and Mark could see her ncing at him every now and then, but it was not enough to make him ufortable, so he did not mind. Mark decided to ask her for some information.
"Do you know Fiona? The leader of the Artemis guild?"
The receptionist looked up in surprise as she heard Mark speak to her, but sheposed herself quickly and nodded to Mark.
"Yes, of course, I do."
"Do you know if she came here for treatment?"
The receptionist nodded again.
"All the superhumans who went on the ind raid are still in the building. Many of them are¡ incapable of leaving due to their grievous injuries, while others are simply recovering after getting treatment from Madam Jeannest night."
Mark finished the bottle of water and asked the receptionist where Fiona''s room was, and she told him that it was on the second-floor hospital wing, room 305. Mark thanked her and turned to see Millicent walking towards him with a serious air around her. People parted for the strict-looking woman, and she only kept her gaze facing forward as she went straight towards Mark.
"Mr. Vanitas. Thank you foring today. I''m sorry for taking so long, but there were a few government issues that needed to be rectified before we could have the meeting. Mr. Szar will see you now."
Mark didn''tin about her wasting time, and he just said his goodbye to the receptionist whose name he never bothered to get.
The receptionist managed to keep her professional act in ce until Mark was out of sight, and she quickly grabbed her phone and texted her best friend while looking around; once she was sure that no one was looking, she grabbed the empty bottle of water that Mark left behind excitedly!
[You''re not going to believe this! That Mark Vanitas just had a conversation with me! He drank some water from a bottle, and I managed to get it from him!]
Snap!
She took a selfie of herself holding the bottle up to her face, and she squealed as she began to text excitedly once more!
[I''m never letting go of this bottle again! I''m going to sleep with it every night! No one is going to believe this!!]
She paused for a moment before she decided to ask something dangerous.
[Do you think I can get myself pregnant from the DNA on the bottle?]
On the other side of the phone, her friend facepalmed.
¡
Mark walked into the office of the chairman of the NSA, and he saw a white-haired man standing by a window and staring out into the courtyard below. He was wearing an immactely white suit, and when he turned around, Mark could only think that the man reminded him too much of a snake!
The man had eyes that were narrowed down till they were almost slits and a thin long nose, with lips that gave him a regal appearance. His hands were folded behind him, and when he spoke up, his voice carried a slippery intonation that irritated something inside of Mark. It was the kind of voice you would think the devil himself should possess.
"Milicent, thank you for bringing him yourself. You may leave us."
Chapter 104: The Snake
Milicent bowed to Szar before she turned and left the room. Once she was gone, Szar turned to Mark with a small smile on his face and waved toward the chair at the side.
"Please, have a seat. There are many things we must talk about, and I believe it will be best if you arefortable before we get into it."
Mark sighed as he realized that this meeting mightst longer than he hoped it would, but he just decided to go ahead and sit down. With how grave Milicent sounded yesterday, Mark just hoped that this would not be a waste of his time. Once Mark was seated, Szar also sat down behind the desk and spoke up.
"Many of the superhumans that returned from the ind raid have stabilized in the hospital unit. I even heard that your friend, Mr. Tylor, was also stabilized. He only suffered a small fracture in his neck, and he should be fine after some ample rest. He has been asking for you, so perhaps you should go see him afterward. You also had some injuries from the ind raid.
Are you feeling better?"
Mark raised a brow as Szar started speaking amicably. They weren''t close enough to talk like this.
"I have a high healing factor, so I don''t need to go to the hospital. What did you call me here for?"
Szar went silent as Mark shot down the small talk, and Szar finally decided to go straight to the point.
Mark could tell that Szar was trying to make himfortable by using small talk to bridge the gap between them, but Mark just couldn''t get into it because he did not want to be here to even start with. If not for the fact that this sounded important, Mark would have ignored itpletely.
Szar spoke up seriously.
"I found out yesterday that the government filed awsuit against the NSA. Thewsuit was first intended to target only the NSA, but after they discovered that we allowed an unregistered superhuman to join the raid without government approval, you were also summoned to appear in court. I believe this will be bigger than anywsuit we''ve faced, and they are taking it very seriously.
It is not just something that can be buried using money or connections. There are already news outlets spreading propaganda regarding thewsuit, so a chance of a settlement is definitely off the table. We have to appear in court."
So they are also being sued. Mark could only sigh internally as he realized that this was bigger than he initially thought. Why was the government the NSA like this? They went to an ind and killed monsters that would have endangered the entire country if they hade to the maind, and rather than thanking them, the government was suing them?
This is exactly why Mark never wanted to register with the NSA or join any guild. It was too messy dealing with all the red tape.
Mark was sure that the government would spin some bullshit reason for what they were doing. Maybe they would say that they were only trying to look out for the wellbeing of other superhumans and humans by making sure that all actions of the superhuman were reported to the government first. Or they could even be trying to use thiswsuit as a cover-up for something bigger.
You can never know with these government bastards.
"So, why did you want to talk to me about it? You''re being sued, and I''m being summoned. I don''t see how we have to meet for that."
Mark said this in a calm, nd tone, and he saw Szar release a sigh before Szar leaned back in his chair while narrowing his eyes. There was an air of irritation that surrounded Szar at that moment, and Mark could feel a strong tension filling the room. Was Szar irritated by what Mark asked?
Szar spoke calmly after a few seconds.
"The NSA has been severely weakened by the recent developments that urred on the inds. There aren''t many government or independent organizations that are willing to stand beside us at the moment because of the ss-actionwsuit that we are facing.
I believe that we should have more than enough opportunities to rectify the issue with the government, but you, on the other hand, are an individual outside of the government''s control. Even with the connections that your family possesses in the business world, there isn''t much that you can do when faced with charges like these.
"But that does not mean that you have to fight this on your own. As an individual, you do not have much say in that world, but things will be different if you are a part of an organization. If you join hands with us, the NSA will provide you with an umbre to shield you against the government''s influence. Basically, I am asking you, from one superhuman to another, to choose us as your benefactors.
We will protect you from anyone who tries to influence you, and in return, you will fight for us."
Mark''s eyes narrowed immediately he heard Szar talk about the connections that Mark had in the business world. So, Szar knew about who Mark was. Well, Mark wasn''t too surprised.
He didn''t try too hard to hide his heritage, and he knew that someone like Szar who was a part of a government organization had enough connections to easily pull up his family data with only a few phone calls and signatures. But it was the way that Szar said it that made Mark so irritated.
Mark already told them many times that he was not interested in joining the NSA, and he had no intention of going back on those words anytime soon. Szar was trying to make it seem like joining the NSA was the only way to get him out of this issue, but Mark knew that it was a lie.
Joining the NSA would definitely get the government off his back because they would ept him as a legal member of the government, and they could overlook his past as a vignte, but that was not the only way to get the government off his back.
"I appreciate the offer, but I already have my people looking into the cases filed against me. I believe we can find a concrete solution for ourselves soon."
Szar tapped his hands together and leaned forward on the table as he gave Mark a critical look from over his joined hands. Szar was shocked that Mark already knew about the cases. How was he able to get people on the case this quickly? Did the government send him a copy of it before he came here? Or was Mark just bluffing because he was trying to get out of joining the NSA by any means?
Szar didn''t know if Mark was always prepared for every situation or if he was just a damn good liar.
This was just like that time Mark told them that his blessing was the ability to get stronger the more he kills. Szar didn''t believe Mark back then, and even now he still does not believe Markpletely.
"Are you certain of that, Mark? I understand that there are some connections capable of wetting government hands and reducing the intensity of government influence, but that is not advisable, and it will most likely end up backfiring. You are already a criminal as far as the government is concerned. Trying to worsen your situation is ill-advised."
Chapter 105: Fucking Parasites
"Are you certain of that, Mark? I understand that there are some connections capable of wetting government hands and reducing the penalties you will face, but that is not advisable, and it will most likely end up backfiring. You are already a criminal as far as the government is concerned. Trying to worsen your situation is inadvisable."
"Why do you care?"
"I''m only looking out for you, Mark."
"No, Szar. You are looking out for yourself and the NSA. This has nothing to do with me. I know your organization lost a lot of members and recruiting me will bolster your standing in court when you face the charges. But I will not be changing my mind. I''m not joining the NSA."
Szar remained perfectly calm after hearing Mark say this and Mark could not tell what was on his mind at all as he waited for a response. After some time, Szar sighed as he stood up. He stalked towards the window behind him and stared down at the people below with his hands held behind his back.
"It is true that we lost a lot of people during the raid, and I will not deny that one of the reasons why I want you in the NSA is so that you will help bolster our standing among the other powerhouses in the country. We might be a government organization, but that does not mean we are the most powerful. But what weck in manpower, we make up for in information and connections.
I can assure you that joining the NSA will give you more benefits than joining any independent guild. I stake my reputation on that promise. Join us, and let us make the world better together."
Szar''s words were sweet and they fell off his tongue easily with an intonation that would make anyone nod their head and agree to whatever he was saying easily! But Mark did not see things in the same way. Rather than an easygoing voice that spoke the truth, Mark could only think that Szar sounded like a snake.
Mark''s mind immediately traveled toward a story that his mother would tell him when he was a child about the Garden of Eden and a serpent that fooled a woman named Eve into eating a forbidden apple. That was a long time ago, but that story could never leave Mark''s memory.
Was this how Eve felt when the serpent told her to eat the apple in the Garden of Eden?
Mark used the opportunity to open his system and activate the True Eye skill to see what sort of stats Szar had, and Mark tried his hardest to remain perfectly unaffected as he read through the stats.
¡
Name: Ryan Szar
Race: Human
Title: THE TRICKSTER GOD''S FAVOURITE
Rank: S
Potential: A
Skill: ???
Description: ???
Affiliation: True Evil
¡
What the actual fuck?
The title and potential that Mark saw were already enough for him to be cautious of Szar, but one thing that really made him raise his guard up in front of the white-haired man was his affiliation. There was no room for doubt or misinterpretation at all. This bastard was a demon in sheep''s clothing.
This was the first time that Mark was seeing someone with an affiliation in True Evil and he couldn''t believe that the affiliation was for Szar. Mark has been using his skill on many people since yesterday.
He was just doing it so he could get used to the feel of it, and so he could try and improve his skill more by training it but there hasn''t been a single person whose affiliation was True Evil. The affiliations were either True Good, Chaotic Good, or some of the Neutral variations like True Neutral or just simply Neutral.
Although Mark didn''t show any outward reaction to what he was seeing, there was an obvious change in his aura that Szar immediately noticed. Szar''s eyes narrowed slightly as they scanned over Mark''s entire body.
Every little thing became ringly clear to him, from the slight tightening of Mark''s arm muscles that showed his readiness to jump into a fight and the slight movement of his eyes towards the window that was an indication that he felt trapped.
Szar didn''t know what just happened, but he did his best not to allow that to affect his own aura as he continued seriously.
"I suppose you will not change your mind about this then. I understand, and I''ll respect your wishes. I just hope that you will remain open to more coboration between the NSA and you in the future. James fought hard at your side to make sure that this city remained safe, and in his memory, we would like to keep this rtionship alive and strong."
Szar stretched his hand out to shake Mark''s, and Mark wondered what sort of ns were going through Szar''s head at that moment. Is he thinking about the best way to kill me? Or is he formting some sinister n in his head to put me under his thumb? Why did Szar really want to have Mark in the NSA in the first ce?
With a nickname like The Trickster God''s Favourite, Mark knew that Szar could be ying a game that no one else would understand, and he was just waiting for the right moment to expose his true intentions. Mark did not want to be anywhere near the NSA when a n like that was revealed.
Mark decided that he would try his best to not have anything to do with Szar or the NSA from that moment onwards. But he would have to watch them from a distance to make sure that he was ready for when something dangerous was going to happen.
Mark knew that not everyone in the NSA was evil, so there was a chance that most of the people here were innocent and they didn''t know anything about Szar''s affiliation or objectives. If Mark just ignored this, then Szar''s ns could endanger all their lives, so Mark would have to put Szar on a leash to make sure things do not go out of control.
''Or should I just take care of him now?''
Mark had never taken a life before, but he was not the sort of person who shied away from taking a life if it was the only way to ensure his and other''s safety. Mark knew that killing Szar right now would be the best possible option to prevent any of his ns from even getting off the ground.
But Mark decided against it as he realized that the oue of the fight was unpredictable and itssting effects would be too devastating.
They were both strong, so killing Szar in one shot was impossible, and worse of all, if Mark starts a fight here, then he will definitely be branded as the one in the wrong. As far as everyone in the world was concerned at this moment, Szar was a civil servant working to make the world better. Mark attacking him out of nowhere will only make Mark gain more enemies.
Mark shook Szar''s hand and smiled as he felt pressure from the handshake, but Mark did not mind as he returned the pressure in equal measure. Szar was an S ss, and since he was a higher rank than Mark, Szar thought he could overpower Mark if they were ever in a contest of strength. But Mark did not reduce his pressure until he felt Szar pulling back his hand.
Once Mark left the room and shut the door, the smile on Szar''s face dropped as he squeezed his hand into a fist to relieve the slight pain he could feel from the handshake. He turned around to look outside the room window again, and he narrowed his eyes at the people passing by on the ground below.
"Fucking parasites."
Chapter 106: Madam Luna
"Fucking Parasites."
Szar sneered at the humans as a deep feeling of irritation filled his heart. He turned away from them and stared at the sky instead.
Mark was growing too fast.
Szar still remembers that conversation that he had with James just a few days ago! James said that Mark was already an A ss and he could soon be S ss. When James said that, Szar did not take it to heart, he just thought that Mark would grow a little faster than most, but he never thought that Mark would be an S rank the very next day.
This rate of growth was unprecedented and it could mess everything up if Mark is not ced in his ce properly!
Szar was finally able to get rid of James, but he never thought that it would be this difficult to get rid of Mark. Szar manipted the information that the NSA research team submitted to James to make it seem like the number of monsters on the ind was less than they actually were and that is the reason why the NSA members were so overwhelmed when they went to the ind.
Now that James was gone, Szar would be in charge of the NSA and his ns could really take off the way he wanted them to. But even though he was able to get rid of James, Szar didn''t like the fact that Mark was walking around so freely without a leash on him to keep him in ce. Szar would have even preferred if Mark was a part of a different country''s NSA instead of staying in America.
That way, he could go ahead with his ns and it would already be toote before anyone could do anything about it.
But with someone like Mark here, will they really be able to finish their ns uninterrupted?
"Maybe it is time Mark met with an¡ unfortunate ident. He will be another problem like that woman if he continues to grow at this rate."
Szar brought his phone out and put a call through. When the person on the other end picked up, Szar could immediately hear the irritation in that person''s voice.
[What is it now? Are you finished with your ns?]
"The n fell through. Mark refused toe over to my side, so I have no use for him anymore."
[Is that so? So that means¡]
"Yes, you may eradicate him. If I cannot have him, then I would prefer if he did not exist."
Beep.
The superhuman killer cut the call before Szar could say anything more, and Szar calmly put his phone away. He was already used to the way the superhuman killer ended calls, so he did not feel annoyed by how quickly the phone was disconnected. Even though the killer''s ns almost interfered with Szar''s, he was d that someone else hired the superhuman killer to deal with Mark.
Szar knew that he would have hired someone to kill Mark if there wasn''t already a killer after him, so this just made things easier for him! It''s like borrowing your neighbor''s cat when you have a rat infestation. You don''t have to deal with taking care of the cat, but the cat will deal with all your problems even without you asking it to! There was no way for you to lose.
Ka-cha.
"Sir, are you finished with the meeting?" Milicent opened the door and entered after she saw Mark leaving his room. She had a worried expression on her face as she spoke because she saw the way Mark left, and she could tell that the meeting did not go well. Did Szar have a falling out with Mark?
Milicent thought that Szar was trying to recruit Mark into the NSA to bolster their dwindling forces, so having a fallout at this time was very bad for them.
Szar red at the humans on the ground once more before he turned away from the window and closed his blinds and began to loosen his tie while turning around.
"Yes, the meeting did not go well. I need to relieve some stress. Lock the door ande bend over the table."
Milicent nodded in understanding before she turned and locked the door, then walked over to do as she was told.
¡
The sound of steam wafting out from a hot room hissed through the corridor as a man wearing a full suit walked down the path and finally reached a room on the right side of the corridor. He knocked once before he turned the knob and entered fluidly.
Once he was inside, he felt an intense amount of heat m into his face before the steam in the room finally began to clear out to reveal the woman lying on top of a massage table with a short towel covering her ass.
She was lying on her front, so her breasts were pressed onto the table, but the side of her breasts slipped out from between her body and the table, showing a generous amount of skin to anyone who dared to look.
There was another woman in the room, massaging the first woman''s shoulders and back with a rxing cream that made her skin glisten and shine in the dim light of the room. The man who entered the room waited patiently for the woman on the bed to acknowledge his presence without saying a word. And it wasn''t until the woman hummed and waved him on that he finally spoke.
"There has been a development, Madam Luna. The recent raid by the NSA did not end as you predicted. There were many casualties, but the NSA was capable of clearing the ind and eradicating all the anima."
Madam Luna hummed again, this time in mild surprise as she heard what the man said. So there were people that managed toe out of that ind without dying? That was¡ unexpected.
The woman on the table was known to the world as Madam Luna, but her real name was unknown to anyone. She was the head and sole owner of one of the most powerful guilds in America called the Moonlight Guild. This guild consisted mainly of A and S ranks, with very few B ranks acting as office workers within the guild.
The reason why she was able to control all of these people easily was because Luna was one of the first-ever superhumans to enter the rank of undefined.
No one knew how strong she really was because it was very difficult for human technology to measure the strength of those that go beyond a power rating of 2000, but she had enough strength to hold down five S ranks all at the same time, and if she was fighting close to her element, then there was no chance that the S ranks would be able to win.
Her power centered around and depended on the abundance of Water. Luna was blessed by Neptune, the god of the sea and tides, and she could do miraculous things with water. Some of the feats that she has performed with her element were seen as godly because of how impossible they seemed, but she was able to do them easily with her blessing.
Chapter 107: He Did All That?
Her power centered around and depended on the abundance of water in the world. Luna was blessed by Neptune, the god of the sea and tides, and she could do miraculous things with water.
Some of the feats that she has performed with her element were seen as godly because of how impossible they seemed, but she was able to do them easily with her blessing. She could manipte water down to the molecr level, tearing apart its structure, heating it, cooling it, shaping it, drawing it out from other things, and even using it as armor and weaponry.
There hasn''t been anything that she couldn''t do with water yet, and people were always wondering what the limit of her power was.
She was yet to find out.
Luna sighed peacefully, and a puff of hot air wafted out from her body and heated up the moisture in the air to create more steam to fill the room. The man in the suit was slowly starting to sweat, but he did not show any reaction as he continued speaking.
"That is not all, Madam Luna. There is something else that I think will interest you."
"Well,e on then. Don''t leave me in suspense and tell me already."
Luna turned her face around and rested her cheek on her palm as she faced the man, and the man could feel his heart rate spike as he saw her beautiful face gazing at him. What sort of god created this woman for her to look like this? This is the only thought that crossed the man''s mind at the moment.
Luna''s hair was white.
No, calling it white would be an insult to her hair.
It was something beyond white. It glowed with an ethereal shine that made it seem almost like neon white. Even without touching it, you could tell that it was silky and smooth, and there was a calmness to it that made it rest in a sultry manner no matter what position Luna was sitting or lying in. Her eyes, on the other hand, were blue. But they weren''t like regr blue eyes that were just in.
No, they shone with a power and intensity that seemed to suck your soul into it and strip you down to nothingness as it gazed into you. The man felt like spilling all his life secrets just by looking into those eyes.
And all of this was made even better by her small oval face and soft features. She had a thin, small nose, wide eyes, and thin full lips that would attract anyone''s gaze if she pouted them even once! Luna was beautiful, there was no doubt about that. In fact, Luna was probably the most beautiful woman in the world as far as the man was concerned.
It was just too bad that Luna was not interested in romance at all. There have been many suitors that havee and tried taking Luna''s hand in marriage. Arranged marriages, political marriages, forceful courting, and derations of love, Luna turned them all down brutally and sent the men away in disappointment as she dered that she was not interested in them.
For some time, people started to specte that Luna might be a lesbian. But after Luna broke the skull of one woman who tried to kiss her, no one dared to specte such nonsense again. Everyone just epted the fact that Luna was not interested in any romantic rtionships, and they backed off and gave her the space she wanted.
"Well, aren''t you going to tell me about this news you deemed so important, that you would interrupt my rest for it?"
The man was snapped out of his musing by Luna''s voice. The man knew that Luna caught him staring at her, but she handled it well and just made hime back to his senses, and he quickly tried topose himself as he walked forward and handed Luna a folder. Luna was used to people getting lost while staring at her, so she did not feel irritated by the man''s reaction.
Luna tucked a strand of white hair behind her ear, and the man almost lost his breath at that moment as he saw her exposed neck for a split second. God help him, this woman is too beautiful.
He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath as he tried to bring his senses back to normal. he needed to stop getting distracted so easily! It wasn''t like he had any chance with Luna, so what was the point of getting distracted like this!? He was just making a fool of himself right now!
Luna opened the folder and began to look through a file that had Mark''s face as well as a lot of information about him and his lineage on it.
"What is this?"
"That is Mark Vanitas. The sole survivor of the Vanitas family and the eventual heir of the Vanitas Motors enterprise. He was recently discovered to be a superhuman who was hiding his identity and acting as a vignte called GHOST. His strength was estimated to be between a low A rank and a high B rank by some experts, but they turned out to be wrong.
The recent attack on city C by a cmity ss drew his attention, and after an intense battle that left arge portion of the city in ruins, he emerged victorious without any external help."
Luna rose a delicate white brow as she looked down at the image of Mark Vanitas again. Mark looked very mature in the picture, but she could see that he was still wearing his school uniform so she was certain that he couldn''t be above neen years old. A child was able to defeat a cmity-ss monster? Didn''t that mean that he was a high-level A rank already, or perhaps even an S rank?
Luna was impressed by what she heard, but that did not mean much to her because she already had many A and S ranks in her guild. There was no way that the man would be telling her this if Mark had only done this much.
"So, what else happened?"
The man continued.
"After the fight against the cmity ss, there were reports that Mark Vanitas was taken in by the NSA. There was an altercation within the NSA building between Mark and the former chairman of the NSA, James Dragonheart. No one knows the oue of the battle, but they seemed to havee to an agreement where Mark Vanitas would go with the NSA on the ind raid."
Luna''s eyes narrowed. She already heard about what happened to James on that ind and she was a little disappointed that James would allow himself to be killed that easily. It was the NSA''s fault for not putting in the proper resources and research before they went to that ind.
Luna received many requests for aid from the NSA, but she ignored all of them because there was no use in joining a government body and risking their lives. There was nothing in it for Luna and her guild, so why would she join?
Chapter 108: He Wont Say No To Me
But hearing that this GHOST went on the ind raid as well was surprising.
"He survived, didn''t he?"
"He didn''t just survive, he dominated the raid. The reports I got from my spies in the NSA im that he came back from that ind with barely any injuries on his person at all. And I do not know how true this might be, but they imed that he killed multiple Cmity-ss monsters that would have given high-level S ranks an issue with ease.
Is it not strange that someone who was a simple vignte a few days agoes out from the shadows and is suddenly capable of such unprecedented feats of strength? There are only two possibilities. Either he has been hiding his strength from the start in order to stay below the radar or ¨C"
"He is growing at an outstanding pace."
Lunapleted the man''s sentence for him and the man nodded as he watched Luna staring at the image of Mark Vanitas with newfound interest. There was this gleam in her eyes that the man always saw whenever Luna found someone or something that she was interested in, and the man was d that he brought this matter to Luna.
Luna was now more interested in Mark than ever before and she was looking down at his picture with intensity. It didn''t matter if Mark was hiding his true strength or if he was growing at an outstanding pace. Both of these possibilities were interesting to her and she now wanted Mark as a part of her guild.
"Find out more about him and bring him in for a meeting. I will gauge his worth myself and find out if he is a good fit for the guild."
"That might be a problem, Madam Luna."
"And why is that?"
"Mark Vanitas has said on multiple asions that he has no intention of joining a guild. He is adamant to remain an independent superhuman."
"That''s foolish. Does he not understand the importance of having strong allies? Bring him in and I will speak to him. He will not say no to me."
"There is another problem."
Luna frowned and red at the man in annoyance and the man smiled sheepishly as he spoke up.
"Mark Vanitas is currently under government scrutiny and he is being summoned for a hearing. His involvement in the ind raid was not approved by the government, and as an unregistered superhuman, he did not have permission to go on that raid. The government is also suing Mark Vanitas for his activities as GHOST the vignte.
It will be difficult to maneuver around the red tape and get a private meeting with him."
Luna raised a brow as she heard this. It seems that the government wasn''t so stupid after all. They knew the value that Mark had and they were trying their hardest to hold onto Mark to prevent him from staying as an independent contractor.
As an independent contractor, Mark could leave the country at any moment and join the NSA or guild of a different country which would weaken the Federation of America. But since he is now under the eye of thew, he will be a criminal and fugitive if he tries to leave.
Luna knew that this would be a delicate moment, but if she yed her cards right, then she could get Mark to join her guild at the end of it all. She only had to make sure that no other guild approached him before she had a chance to talk to him.
"Find out his home address and prepare a suitable gift for him. We''ll go see him as soon as possible."
The man bowed before leaving the room. Once he was gone, Luna hummed as she wondered if Mark was anything like her. Would he also be someone cursed with unimaginable strength without limits?
She would find out soon enough.
But for now, she thought about how she could y her cards so she would get Mark to join her guild. Since the government is trying to dig their ws into him, Luna was sure that he would be in a distressed mood and that would make it easier to suggest things to him and make him agree. She just hoped he would not be too difficult to talk to. Luna hated people who were difficult to reason with.
She gazed at Mark''s picture once more and she felt her eyes soften as she realized something that she would usually never take notice of.
"He''s quite handsome, isn''t he?"
¡
Vroom!
The next day, Mark drove towards a tall skyscraper located in the heart of City A with his Vanitas Avatendor. Arit and Talia were also with him, and Mark came down and waited for Arit toe around the car to stand beside him. Mark was wearing a ck pair of trousers and a tight ck wife-beater that showed his impressive muscles.
Most of the women walking past the hotel immediately slowed down to stare at Mark in awe as they saw him! The main reason they stopped was because they thought Mark looked fucking good, but they also stopped because they recognized him as GHOST! His muscles paired well with his handsome face, and many of the women thought about walking up to him to ask for his number to spend the night with him!
Mark looked up and frowned in annoyance at the extremely tall building. He appreciated the building''s grandeur, but his mind was upied with what Arit told him yesterday about someone who came to deliver her father''s package to the house.
Apparently, there was a suspicious mailman who came to deliver the package that Arit''s father always sends to her. It turns out that the package had a lot of stones and cement blocks inside that made it heavier than it should have been. In fact, whoever delivered the package threw out most of what Arit''s father sent to her and filled the box up with these stones instead.
Mark did not know if there was a reason behind what he did or if it was just some sick joke, but it pissed him off and made him worry about the reason behind it.
Arit told Mark that the man also started to ask Arit some strange questions after she took the package. Arit was notfortable about some of the questions that the man asked, so she called the post office once the man left.
Arit wanted to make sure that the post office actually sent the mailman to take a survey and he was not just trying to pull her leg or do something nefarious with the information!
But after calling the post office, Arit found out that the mailman was not even a mailman to begin with! Arit gave the description of the mailman to the post office and they told her that he was not in their database. They did not have anyone matching the description among their employees and they did not send anyone to take a survey of their customers.
The post office apologized and they told Arit that they would look into it, but Arit was not able to rest easily until she told Mark about what happened.
Chapter 109: Whos Your Daddy?
Once Arit told Mark about what happened with the mailman, Mark eased her worries and told her to calm down and stop worrying about it. Mark told Arit that the man was probably just a journalist who was trying to get information about him to share with the public since he was now popr as a superhuman, and Arit epted this exnation and calmed down since Mark told her not to worry anymore.
But Mark was not convinced by what he told Arit. He only told her that so that she would not worry too much, but Mark''s mind was running at a thousand miles a minute as he tried to understand who hade to his door yesterday. There were too many people that knew about him now and Mark could not pinpoint any one person that would be trying to know more about him.
Mark could be right and it could just be one of the reporters that was trying to get more information about him, or Mark could be wrong and it could be something far more serious. If it was just a reporter, then why would they fill Arit''s package with rocks? That was something unexinable, and Mark couldn''t figure out the reasoning behind it no matter how hard he thought.
Was it one of Szar''s people? Mak''s eyes narrowed once that thought appeared and many possible scenarios passed through the front of his mind at once. But Mark shook his head and dismissed the thought when he realized that there were too many inconsistencies.
The mailman went to Mark''s house before Mark went to meet Szar, so why would Szaar send someone to his house without knowing what Mark''s response would be? And the mailman''s actions did not make sense if it was Szar who sent him. Why the hell would he give Arit a box of rocks?
Arit finally came out of the car with Talia, and Mark smiled at her as he took her hand. Arit was wearing a tight ck skirt that stopped just above her knees along with a white off-shoulder t-shirt that did wonders for her breasts. There was an inscription on her shirt that read ''Daddy''s Girl,'' and Mark felt his core heating up as he read the inscription.
His mind went back to this morning when he first saw the shirt. When Mark entered Arit''s room and saw Arit wearing the Daddy''s Girl t-shirt, he grinned at Arit and cupped one of her breasts greedily. Arit blushed as Mark leaned down close and whispered in her ear in a deep, husky voice.
"Who''s your daddy?"
Mark could feel the ripple that traveled across Arit''s entire body as she shivered, but he was even more shocked when Arit put her hands around his neck. She looked him dead in the eye with a huge blush on her face and said.
"Only you, Daddy."
It drove Mark mad, and if not for the fact that they were already dressed to leave the house, Mark would have torn that shirt apart and taken Arit right there on the floor!Talia was right outside the room, waiting for them in the parlor, but Mark wouldn''t have given a damn! It was only his self-control that barely stopped him from doing what he wanted to do!
The shirt was very loose on Arit''s body, but Arit''s impressive bust size made it ride up a little to expose some of the skin on her smooth stomach, and it just made the simple t-shirt look sexier than it had any right to!
Mark turned and red at some of the men who stopped to stare for too long when they saw Arite out from the car, and the men scurried away in fright as they felt Mark''s eyes on them! Having someone like Mark re at you was enough to put the fear of the lord into your bones!
Arit did not even notice them, and she just bent down and spoke a few words to Talia to tell her to stick close to them before she stood up and took Mark''s hand.
Arit looked up in awe at the extremely tall building that stretched all the way up more than two hundred floors. Is this really where Pat lives? Just how rich were Mark and Pat that they could afford things like these?
Arit''s mind was still spinning now that she knew her boyfriend was rich enough to afford supercars, but knowing that they could afford helicopters and even apartments like these was still a shock to Arit! She wondered what sort of business Pat was into that allowed him to pay for this sort of ce.
"Are you sure Pat lives here? It doesn''t look like the sort of ce he would choose to stay."
Mark raised a brow once Arit said this. What sort of ce did she expect Pat to live in? An underground cave?
Aritughed once Mark said this with a coy grin, and she came closer to him and wrapped her arms around his right arm. Her breast pressed into Mark''s arm, and Mark cleared his throat and fought his reaction as he felt her soft breast on his arm. Mark knew that Arit didn''t press her breast on him purposefully. She was just trying to stay close to him, but that only made it sexier.
This amount of unconscious sexiness should really be a crime.
"No, no, not an underground cave. But maybe some secluded house far away from civilization. I just don''t see him as the sort of person who would enjoy living in the heart of a buzzing city like this. Didn''t you say he enjoyed his privacy more than anything else?"
Markughed as he threw his car key towards the valet that came to take his car. The valet fumbled with the key and almost dropped it to the ground in shock as he realized who Mark was! The valet immediately thought about going up to Mark to ask for an autograph, but a re from one of the security guards standing in front of the building made the valet cower away.
He forgot about the autograph and quickly moved to take the car away.
Mark continued talking to Arit without even noticing what happened with the Valet behind him.
"Well, you''re not wrong about that. He is definitely the sort of person you wouldn''t imagine living in the middle of a city. But he''s been living here for the past two weeks while attending a cosmology seminar being hosted two blocks away.
It''s part of his extra credit assignment so he decided to just rent this ce out while doing that, and I also think he rented it so he could meet up with his sister while he is in the city. Do you like the building?"
Arit hummed as she looked up at the tall building once more. She would usually not say anything about liking the building, but since Mark asked her she thought about it seriously and gave him an answer.
"Yes, it''s nice. It''s close to the market and school, and there is a lot of security around."
Mark just grinned at her as they continued making their way inside. The inside of the building did not disappoint in the least. It was just as extravagant and exquisite as Mark expected it to be. The entire lobby was covered in velvet carpeting and there was a peaceful ambiance around the entire building as golden chandeliers lit the environment in a dim, soothing light.
Chapter 110: Red Lotus
Some people were standing around the lobby to book rooms and many of them stopped what they were doing as they saw Mark and Arit walk through the doors. They were all rich aristocrats of high societal standing, but they could not stop the awe and surprise that came over them once they saw Mark. It was almost like seeing a god in the flesh!
After the performance that Mark showed the world in his fight against the Cmity ss, there wasn''t a single person who doubted his overwhelming strength!
One of the women standing at the side quickly began to walk up to Mark and she spoke to him in a smooth, regal voice.
"Well, if it isn''t Mark Vanitas. The Superman in the flesh. It is an honor."
Mark turned to the woman in surprise and he saw her stretching her hand out in front of him. What in the world did she want him to do with that? Does she want a handshake?
The woman started to feel foolish as Markpletely ignored her hand and she coughed slightly while retrieving it and holding onto her golden purse with both hands. She thought that Mark would take her hand and kiss it, but she felt embarrassed as Mark ignored her.
She was dressed in a regal attire of a pure ck gown that went down to her ankles before spreading out beneath her. The gown was cut low at the chest, revealing enough cleavage to be considered sexy, and the back of the gown was non-existent, showing off her milky white skin and wless figure. She was a beautiful woman and anyone around would give her attention if she spoke to them like this.
But it was too bad that she was up against someone like Arit. What could any woman do when Mark was already used to seeing someone as sexy as Arit every day? It was impossible for them to try and entice him using their looks.
Mark spoke up in an irritated tone.
"Do you need something from me?"
The woman was about to speak up and tell Mark to join her for dinner. She was going to try her hardest to seduce Mark and make him hers. Having someone like Mark by your side would definitely boost your standing in any ce you go to. She didn''t even care that Arit was standing beside Mark and holding his hand tightly.
As far as she was concerned, Arit was just a whore that Mark picked up from the street and it would be easy to make Mark forget about her.
"Would you -Urk!"
But before she could even get her words out, she felt something sinister press down on her like a physical thing. She furrowed her brow in shock and quickly turned to look at Arit, and what she saw there would haunt her for the rest of her life!
Yellow-slitted eyes were staring deep into her soul with bloodthirsty intensity! The woman couldn''t see any knife, but she couldn''t help but feel like there was a knife positioned right over her neck and ready to press down if she uttered even a single word more! This girl was going to kill her!
Mark could feel Arit''s grip on his arm increasing in force, but it didn''t make a difference to him due to his immense strength. He just used his other hand to pat Arit''s arm calmly to tell her to calm down.
The woman swallowed in fear and took a step back. "N-No. There is nothing at all. I think... I think I made a mistake. Please enjoy your night."
The woman immediately began to walk away from the pair with sweat pouring down her brow like a fountain! She knew that she just barely escaped death and she decided that she would not be staying at this hotel tonight! She was terrified, and no matter how hard she tried, she would not be able to sleep knowing that that girl was in the same hotel as her.
She immediately called the attendant and told the attendant to book her a flight out of the city immediately! She had to leave! She had to get away from that monster!
Mark was surprised by how the woman suddenly started to walk away and he turned to look down at Arit. He saw Arit ring at the woman and he just chuckled as he realized what must''ve happened. He leaned down and kissed Arit on top of her head, and Arit looked up at him with a pout as she tightened her hold on his hand.
Mark told her to calm down with a roguish smile on his face and Arit felt a blush rising on her cheek as she ducked her head and nodded. Arit couldn''t even look at Mark without blushing like a preteen when he smiles like that! Mark was just too handsome when he smiles!
Mark forgot about the womanpletely and started to walk towards the counter as his smile disappeared and was reced with a worried frown. Did Arit know that her eyes just turned into yellow slits? From the way that Arit just reacted, Mark wasn''t sure if Arit knew what just happened to her.
When she looked up at him, Mark could see that her eyes had changed into the yellow slits that QUEEN had in the cave and Arit didn''t seem to have noticed. Mark was able to keep his cool and he told her to calm down, and thankfully, the eyes went back to her usual ck once she was calm.
But Mark was getting worried. He already spoke to Pat and told him to get a doctor ready because he wanted to test Arit and make sure that there was not going to be any adverse mental side effects from what happened in the cave, but from the little moments that Mark already observed, Mark was certain that there would be some side effects.
The only question now was how much of a side effect there was, and if it was possible to repress it and prevent QUEEN from taking over.
The woman standing behind the receptionist desk was stunned for a few moments when Arit and Mark came into the hotel, but she did not waste any time as her training kicked into high gear and she quickly picked up the phone and called the manager.
In less than fifteen seconds, a beautiful woman came out from the elevator at the side and walked up to Mark and Arit before they could even get to the receptionist. This woman stopped them and spoke up with a smile on her face.
"Hello and wee to the Red Lotus. It is a pleasure to be hosting you today. My name is Hanna Iverson and I will be avable for anything you might need from the hotel today."
Hanna bowed to Mark and Arit, and Mark raised a brow as he saw how respectful she was being. This was definitely not normal and Mark knew that the only reason they were doing it was because he was GHOST. But that did not matter to him since it made things easier.
"I came to meet Patrick in the penthouse. He''s expecting me."
Hanna''s eyes immediately widened in shock once she heard this! GHOST knew that rich second-generation young master!?
Chapter 111: What The Hell Are You Doing?
"I came to meet Patrick in the penthouse. He''s expecting me."
Hanna''s eyes immediately widened in shock once she heard this! GHOST knew that rich second-generation young master!?
Hanna was resentful when Pat came into the hotel two weeks ago and suddenly demanded to rent the penthouse in the hotel. The receptionist at the desk was surprised by the demand because she could not see any sign of wealth on Pat''s body.
Pat was wearing a simple pair of joggers and a sweatshirt and he only carried a single backpack that held hisptop and a gaming console with a suitcase that held the rest of his clothes and electronics. There wasn''t a single indication that he could pay for the room.
The manager was called and Pat had to give them the number of his bank manager and tell them who he was before they realized that they were talking to a multi-millionaire! The bank manager who was in charge of Pat''s ount shouted at the manager and told her not to show any disrespect to Pat since Pat was an important guest!
The manager immediately started to apologize to Pat when she realized her mistake! She thought that Pat would be angry that they treated him like that, but she was surprised when he wasn''t even angry.
Pat didn''t mind that they thought he was poor because he never dressed like a rich person, so he just waved away all of the apologies that they were giving him andmanded them to prepare the room for him.
After that day, everyone in the hotel started to call Pat a second-generation young master since they thought that he was using his father''s moneyvishly to stay in the hotel and do whatever he wanted. He barely ever went out and he was always holed up in his room all day.
The only person that Hanna has seening to see Pat was a girl that Hanna guessed was his sister because of how simr they looked.
So hearing that Mark came to see that second-generation young master was shocking to her. She quickly called on the receptionist and told her to make a call to Pat and make sure of the meeting. She then bowed to Mark.
"I don''t mean any disrespect. We just like to double-check with our residents before allowing guests through. I hope you don''t mind."
Mark waved the apology away and Hanna was surprised by how simr Mark''s dismissal was to the way Pat waved her apology away when she thought Pat was poor two weeks ago. Was GHOST the brother of that second-generation young master? No, that was impossible. There was no resemnce between the two of them. The only thing that was simr between them was how easy-going they both were.
Hanna allowed her gaze to finally travel towards the other people that were with Mark and she felt her eye twitch as she saw the girl that was holding on tight to Mark''s hand while staring at her with unbelievable intensity!
Arit was extremely beautiful and Hanna unconsciouslypared herself to the younger girl without even intending to do it as she realized that she would lose in every category if she was standing beside this girl.
Hanna wasn''t ugly by any measure. In fact, many of her former lovers have told her that she was one of the most beautiful women they have ever seen. She had a moderate-sized bust that was easy to cup in one hand.
Her hips were wide and the ck skirt that she wore showed off her protruding backside generously, but Hanna was not delusional enough to think that she could match up to Arit.She knew that if she and Arit were in a beauty contest, she would lose before even opening her mouth to introduce herself.
''She''s like a doll. Like a pretty doll with a very mean stare.''
Hanna then allowed her gaze to fall to the little girl holding arge teddy bear and she felt her eyes soften as she saw the girl hiding behind Mark''s leg.
''Awwn~ That''s so cute.''
Hanna almost cooed at Talia, and it was only the fact that she was at work and she had to maintain her image that prevented her from doing that. But wait, was GHOST already a father? At this age!? ording to what Hanna read about GHOST in some blog articles, she knew that GHOST was barely eighteen! How can he be so irresponsible that he would already be a father at such a young age!?
And the little girl looked to be around six years old, so does that mean he became a father when he was twelve!?
Hahaha! That sounds crazy even to me!
Hanna dismissed her thoughts and decided that she must be mistaken. How can someone be a father at twelve? It was absurd to even think about it.
"Madam Hanna. Mr. Patrick has confirmed Gho- I mean, Mark Vanitas'' visit. He is expecting him."
Hanna red at the receptionist as she almost made a mistake to call Mark GHOST and the receptionist scurried away quickly as she knew she would get reprimandedter for that mistake. Hanna led Mark over to the elevator.
"Fuck!"
A voice suddenly shouted from the side as Arit and Mark made their way to the elevator and Mark turned his head to look at who that was, but he didn''t see anyone there and he just raised a brow as he turned back around with a dismissive shrug and continued on his way to the elevator.
Back in the lobby, a boy was hiding behind a pir and holding a girl close to his body while wrapping his hand over her mouth to make sure she would not make a sound. The girl''s eyes were wide in surprise from him holding her but the boy didn''t give a damn as he looked out from behind the pir after some time to make sure that Mark was no longer around.
Once he made sure that Mark was gone, he let go of the girl and pushed her away as he bent low and brought out a phone from his pocket.
He started to dial a phone number and he was constantly looking up in the direction of the elevator to make sure that Mark was noting back.
"What the hell do you think you are doing, Francis!? Why are you hiding!?"
The girl called out to Francis in annoyance and Francis turned around and quickly shushed her in anger while telling her to get the fuck away from him!
"What!? But you told me you would take me to eat on your father''s yacht!"
"I said shut the fuck up and get the fuck away from me, you bitch! I don''t have time for you right now!"
Francis shouted at her again and she stomped her feet in anger as she turned around and stormed away. The girl was one of Francis'' ssmates that Francis picked up from a club. He had some fun with her in a hotel room and he nned to take her on his family yacht just to show off a bit more, but he was no longer interested in doing anything now that he saw Mark in this same hotel.
Chapter 112: You Never Tell me Anything!
The phone in his ear rang for a few seconds before someone picked up. Francis immediately whisper-shouted into the call.
"He''s here! Mark Vanitas is in the Red Lotus Hotel!"
The person on the other end of the call was silent for more than thirty seconds and Francis thought that the person already cut the phone. But after waiting for a long while, the person spoke up.
[I gave you this number to call me if your life is in danger. Tell me, is your life in danger?]
Francis swallowed nervously as he heard the rough, threatening voice of the superhuman killer on the other end of the phone. He sounds pissed.
"But Mark is here right now. Can''t youe and take him out? We paid you for this! Don''t forget!"
[Shut up, boy. Your father paid me to do a job and I will do it in my own way. The Red Lotus is too open. A fight there will definitely reveal our involvement in GHOST''s death. Do not call this number again unless you are right on death''s doorstep, do you understand?]
"Y-Yes. But ¨C"
Beep!
The call went off before Francis could say anything more and he cursed and almost threw the phone on the ground! Who the fuck does this bastard think he is! They hired him to kill Mark but he is acting like he is the one that hired them instead! How dare he cut the phone like that!? Francis heard a voice speak up from behind him.
"Sir, you''re causing a nuisance in the lobby. You''ll have toe with me."
Francis turned to see a security guard standing there and he frowned.
"Who do you think you''re talking to, you plebeian!? Shut up and get the fuck out of my way!"
Francis pushed the man out of the way and left the hotel quickly. That useless killer wasn''t going toe get rid of Mark so he had to get out of there before Mark saw him.
...
Ding dong~
The sound of the doorbell ringing alerted Pat to Mark''s arrival and he quickly went to the door and opened it with a tired look on his face. Pat was in his usual attire ¨C a pair of sweatpants and a loose t-shirt, and he looked like he had juste out from a warzone with his disheveled hair and heavy eye bags.
"Mark, you''rete."
"You look like shit."
"Yeah, I know. Come in. Hey, sister-inw."
Pat greeted Arit as they walked into the penthouse and Arit smiled at him and greeted him in return. Arit finally entered the penthouse and she felt her eyes widen in awe at the sheer size of the house. What in the world is this? The penthouse took up an entire floor of the hotel. There was a wide wall on one side of the penthouse that was made entirely from one-way ss.
This allowed them to see the clouds passing by and filtered sunlight into the house to light up the entire ce beautifully. In the center of the house, there was a circr area that went lower than the main floor. There were couches and a center table in there with a wide three-hundred-inch television.
There was a bar on another side of the house, and when Arit looked out from the ss door leading to the balcony, she could see a swimming pool overlooking the balcony as well. Is this a hotel room? Are you sure this is a hotel room at all? It looks more like a house. Someone could live in here for the next hundred years and they will probably never need to leave the house even once.
It was too amazing!
Mark put his hand on Arit''s lower back and Arit turned to see him smiling at her.
"It''s nice, isn''t it?"
"It''s amazing!"
Markughed as she said this and he watched as Talia ran towards the center of the room and jumped on the plush couch. She immediately took the remote and began to change the station until she got to a cartoon that she wanted to watch.
"Yawn~ Don''t just stand there. Let''s get going ¨C"
"Patrickkk!!!!"
Patrick stopped talking as he heard a loud voice shouting in his house and he sighed as he scratched his hair tiredly. A woman suddenly stormed out from inside the house with a few magazines in her hand. The magazines had images of naked sexy girls on the covers and she raised them up to reveal that they were porn magazines.
"Why do you have these in your room!? I told you not to get any more of this nonsense, didn''t I!? If you want to see naked women then you should tell me to hook you up with one of my friends! These are definitely different from the ones I caught you withst time!"
The woman that came out from inside the house was a pretty woman with red hair and red eyes like Patrick. She was wearing a pair of Patrick''s sweatpants and one of Patrick''s t-shirts, and Mark immediately recognized her as he blinked in shock to see her. The woman turned towards Mark once she noticed that there were guests in the house and she was also surprised to see him.
"Doctor Jeanne?"
"GHOST!?"
Jeanne was the superhuman with the ability to heal injured patients by taking their life in exchange.
She was stunned to see Mark there because Patrick never told her that he was friends with Mark Vanitas. Jeanne knew that Patrick made one friend that he kept since his elementary school days, but she was already in college back then so she never had time toe and meet his friends.
And now that she had time for him, Patrick never tells her anything about his private life and so she never knew that Mark was his friend.
Mark, on the other hand, was also stunned to find out that Jeanne was Patrick''s sister. Mark knew that Patrick had a sister, but Patrick never told him anything about her and he never even had any of her pictures around, so Mark knew nothing about what she looked like.
To think that the MIRACLE HEALER was Patrick''s sister. Mark now knew why Patrick wasn''t surprised when Mark told him that he was a superhuman. Patrick already had one superhuman in his life, so learning that Mark was a superhuman was not surprising anymore.
Jeanne turned to Patrick in shock.
"What are they doing here, Patrick? Hold on, don''t tell me that he is the friend you always spoke about. You didn''t tell me you were friends with GHOST!?"
Patrick shrugged nonchntly and Jeanne growled as she started to roll the porn magazines together so that she could use it to smack Patrick on the head! This idiot deserves a good beating for always hiding things from her.
Chapter 113: Brother and Sister
Patrick shrugged nonchntly and Jeanne growled as she started to roll the porn magazines together so that she could use it and smack Patrick on the head! This idiot deserves a good beating for always hiding things from her.
Patrick realized what his sister was about to do and he immediately shouted while moving behind Mark to hide.
"Hey! Do you want to fucking kill me!?!"
"I won''t hit you hard!"
"Even the smallest hit from you will kill me! I''m a normal human, you crazy bitch!"
"Don''t call me a bitch! I''m your elder sister! Show some respect!"
"I''ll do that when you stop searching my damn room for porn! I told you not to look under my bed anymore!"
"How else am I supposed to find out anything about you!? It''s not like you''ll tell me anything anyway!"
"Uh¡ How about we all calm down."
Mark spoke up catingly, and Jeanne quickly turned to re at him angrily, but she managed to reign in her anger and she calmed down as she put her hands on her hips while leaning on one leg. She was not done with Patrick, but she just decided to focus on the guests first and deal with Patrickter.
She looked Mark over with a small frown on her face, and she huffed a little. She could still remember the interaction that she had with Mark when they were in the NSA. Mark refused to get himself looked at even though she could clearly see that he was bleeding. Jeanne was surprised that Mark was actually telling the truth when he said he heals fast.
He didn''t have a single injury on him anymore, so it was obvious that he already healedpletely. His rate of healing was absurd even for superhumans. Even though superhumans healed quickly, they would usually take a week or so to heal the amount of injuries that Mark had. It hasn''t even been three days since theyst met.
"So, GHOST, you''re the one that''s been taking advantage of my brother?"
Patrick sighed and began to walk out from behind Mark while talking.
"Don''t embarrass me, sis. Mark knows more about me than you do. Try to get along with him."
Jeanne huffed and turned away from Mark with a small frown on her face. Jeanne was a very proud person, but she was also someone who really cared about her family. But Jeanne didn''t know much about her brother since she hardly met him during most of his life.
Jeanne was already in college when Patrick was in elementary school, and she was away at medical school during the Armageddon attack, so she wasn''t there to help Patrick or their parents.
After she finally made it back to the city, Jeanne made it her personal mission to take care of Patrick, but it was very difficult to do that because Patrick was so secretive and he held everything very close to his chest. He refused to open up about anything in his personal life and Jeanne still felt like a stranger to him sometimes.
She didn''t even know how he managed to survive the Armageddon attack when their parents died. She found him in a shelter two months after the attack and began to take care of him, but he refused to tell her anything about what he saw that day. He might''ve lived, but she knew that he lost a part of himself that day.
So when Patrick told Jeanne that he needed her help with a diagnosis for a friend of his, she immediately agreed. It was very rare for her brother to ask her for help, mainly because of how fucking smart Patrick was. He usually found the solution to any issue without needing anyone''s help. So for him to ask her to help him out was like a breath of fresh air to her.
She could finally be there for him when he needed her. Of course, she wouldn''t refuse him!
Jeanne left a lot of work in the NSA and came to see Patrick. Jeanne was sure that Szar would have a fit if he found out that she was doing independent work without informing the NSA, but she already told them that she was going to be working independently even though she was a part of the organization, so she didn''t care what he says.
The entire reason she joined the NSA was so she could help others without restrictions.
Patrick leaned back on a table and spoke to Jeanne tiredly.
"I need your help with my sister-inw over there. There was a¡plication that ended up with her being kidnapped by some Anima. Can you make sure everything is okay with her?"
Jeanne hummed and turned to look at Arit. Arit was also staring at Jeanne, but there was shock and awe in her eyes, and Jeanne immediately knew that Arit was a fan of hers. It was not unusual to see people who recognized her looking at her like that. Jeanne told Patrick that she would try her best, and Patrick nodded in thanks.
Mark looked down at Arit.
"I need to talk with Pat for a moment, so do you mind going with Jeanne?"
"Alright."
Arit hesitantly let go of Mark''s arm as she agreed. Mark already told her that she would be getting examined, so she was prepared for it. Mark gestured to Pat by nodding his head to the left, and Pat understood that Mark wanted to talk to him alone. The two of them walked away and left Jeanne and Arit together in the parlor.
"Let''s find somewherefortable. This room is toorge."
Jeanne spoke up while using the roll of porn magazines to scratch behind her head while putting her other hand on her waist, and Arit agreed as she followed Jeanne into another room. In the midst of all this, Talia stayed glued to the cartoon ying on therge television.
Talia was already used to staying silent whenever the adults were talking. When she was with her grandfather in the NSA, she would be in the office when he was having an important meeting, and she would just stay silent through it all. That was the life of a child introduced into the world of adults too early.
¡
"My brother told me that you wanted a full-body analysis. But that was a lie, wasn''t it? To tell the truth, I deduced what was wrong the moment I saw you. You''re a psychopath, aren''t you?"
Arit had barely sat down on the bed in the middle of arge bedroom before Jeanne turned around and spoke with narrowed eyes. Jeanne''s tone was confident, and Arit was sure that there was no way she could lie to get herself out of this or change Jeanne''s mind.
When Mark told Arit that she would have toe for a diagnosis, she already expected a physical examination as well as a psychological analysis. She was prepared to lie a little to make things seem okay since she did not want to worry Mark, but once she came through the door and saw that the doctor was Jeanne, she could see all of her ns die immediately!
Arit knew who Jeanne was! No, that was not enough to describe how much Arit knew about Jeanne. Arit was one of Jeanne''s biggest followers. Arit did not like superhumans. She disliked how many of them overlooked the weak and only looked out for the rich and powerful, but that did not mean that Arit just blindly hated every superhuman.
Arit knew of a few superhumans that were different from all the others. One of them was KING, and the other one was Jeanne, the MIRACLE HEALER!
Chapter 114: Psychopath
As someone who wanted to be a doctor in the future, there is no way that Arit would not know all about Jeanne! Jeanne was one of the most popr healers in the country, and so Arit has been following all of her actions for some time now.
Jeanne wasn''t like the other superhumans who just wanted money; Jeanne joined the NSA instead of joining any independent guild because the NSA promised her freedom to act independently whenever she wanted. That has allowed Jeanne to travel to many different parts of the country to help out whenever there was a disaster that was toorge to be handled by normal doctors.
Arit really looked up to Jeanne, but she also knew that Jeanne was impossible to fool. Jeanne''s power centered around healing, but she also had an alternate minor power called Analysis that allowed her to easily diagnose injuries and diseases with only a touch.
With that ability, Jeanne didn''t even need to carry out a diagnosis on her patient before she finds out what was wrong with them! Just a single touch was enough to give Jeanne full knowledge of everything wrong with your body! Even though it was only a minor blessing, it was still one of the greatest diagnosis skills avable in America.
That is why Jeanne was considered an A rank even though her attack power was barely strong enough to challenge a B rank and so many guilds wanted her in their ranks. She was just too valuable!
Jeanne saw Arit look away from her, and she knew that she was right! Arit was a psychopath. And it wasn''t just normal psychopathy that could be diagnosed as aplete mental disorder; Arit was a psychopath whose mental state was connected to one person: Mark Vanitas.
Jeanne noticed it the moment she saw Mark and Arit earlier. Jeanne''s eyes were keen, and she had a very high level of perception. After seeing so many patients and healing so many people in he middle of disasters, she has developed a good eye for how people react in different situations! The reaction that Jeanne saw in Arit''s eyes when Jeanne insulted Mark can only be described as controlled fury!
When Jeanne spoke rudely to Mark and even insulted him, she immediately noticed how Arit''s anger spiked for a moment! Jeanne actually thought that Arit was going to attack her at first, but she was shocked when Arit was able to bring the anger down and control it!
Jeanne did not understand what in the world was happening at the moment, but after she spoke with Mark a few more times and continued to notice Arit''s reactions, she finally deduced that Arit was a psychopath who only cared about Mark Vanitas. This wasn''t the first time that Jeanne would be seeing something like this.
There have been many instances where people would go insane or be psychopaths because they were fixated on one thing or person. But it was the first time that she was seeing it at such an intense emotional level.
The only way Jeanne could properly describe it was that Arit was one step away from bing a yandere!
Jeanne brought a chair close, and she sat opposite from Arit. Arit was still looking away from Jeanne, and Jeanne just sighed as she folded her hands. Since she already knew what was wrong with Arit, she only needed to find out how bad it was!
"We can do this one of two ways. Either you tell me exactly what happened to you and how bad your mental state is, or you allow me to touch you and find out on my own. I would much rather prefer it if you just told me. I am not a fan of using my own abilities, even just for scanning others."
Jeanne said this calmly and then she waited for Arit to say something in return! Arit was silent for some time before Jeanne saw Arit join her hands together tightly! When Arit turned back to Jeanne, Jeanne was shocked to see that Arit''s eyes were now a slitted yellow that made Jeanne''s skin crawl in terror! What the heck is that!?
''Kill her! Kill her! She is trying to ruin us! This bitch is trying to ruin our life! We are QUEEN! We know who we are!
We do not need a doctor! KILL HER!!''
Arit closed her eyes and gritted her teeth in fear as she heard the voices in her head shouting at her again. She tried to drown them out, but they were relentless! Arit''s eyes already changed to the slitted yellow because she could not make them shut up! When she spoke, Jeanne could sense the pain and fear in Arit''s tone!
"I don''t even know what''s happening to me. But please, can you help me?"
Jeanne immediately tried to calm her heart down as she looked away from the yellow eye! Those things were terrifying, and Jeanne didn''t know if she could look into those eyes for a long time without thinking Arit was a monster! Jeanne has seen many types of people before. The introduction of blessings into the human world was something that made many humans change in different ways.
Some of them gained mutations while others gained powers that made their body evolve, but this was the first time that Jeanne was seeing something like this.
Those eyes weren''t human.
The amount of bloodthirst and anger inside them was not normal for any human! If Jeanne didn''t know any better, then she would say that those were Anima eyes!
Jeanne had no idea how close she was to the truth.
But even though Jeanne was terrified of those eyes, she could also see that Arit was really asking for help! Arit did not know what was happening to her and she was scared of the changes, so Jeanne could not just overlook her plea for help! This is a patient that needs help, and Jeanne was a doctor that helped everyone.
It didn''t matter how terrifying Arit was; Jeanne was going to try her best to help her understand what was going on!
Jeanne smiled calmly and told Arit to calm down first. Jeanne was no longer going to act tough and mean! Now that she was sure Arit wanted help, she was going to be kind to her!
"I''m going to diagnose you first and then we will figure out what we can do to help you. Is that okay?"
Arit nodded her head, and Jeanne stretched her hand out and touched Arit on the forehead. Jeanne began to activate her ability. Her abilities were divided into two parts: the first part was the HEALING ability that allowed her to reverse any injury that a person had in exchange for the person''s life force, but the second part was ANALYSIS.
This allowed her to find out where the injury originated from or its precise location so that she could reverse the injury more easily.
Jeanne activated analysis, and she began trying to scan across Arit''s brain.
Woosh!
Jeanne''s eyes widened as a fist flew towards her head!
m!
Chapter 115: Can This Be Called BDSM?
Woosh!
Jeanne immediately ducked to the side as a hand shot out and almost mmed into her head! Arit''s eyes were wide in shock as she looked at her own hand that justshed out to attack Jeanne! Arit immediately shot to her feet and backpedaled in fear as she held her hand close to her body!
She fell to her rear against the wall on the other side of the room and looked down at her hand in confusion and fear! What the fuck was that!?
''Kill her! Kill her! We want to kill her! That woman is dangerous! She has to die!! She is trying to take us away from Mark!
Kill her!''
The voices in Arit''s head were starting to go mad, and Arit had to shout internally to make them go quiet! Shemanded them to stop, and she slowly felt them quieting down until she could no longer hear them! This was the first time that she was experiencing something like this! They almost took over her body! What the heck was that!?
Is this how she was going to slowly lose control over her own body!?
Arit looked at Jeanne, who was currently sitting on the floor, and she started to apologize fervently!
"I''m sorry! I don''t know what happened! I just lost control of my hands! I didn''t mean to attack you!"
Jeanne was sitting on the floor with wide eyes and a look of absolute shock on her face! She didn''t know if she would have died from that hit, but it was only her fast reflexes from being a superhuman that managed to prevent that hit from connecting! If Jeanne was a normal human or if she was even a fraction slower, then she might have been decapitated!
Jeanne swallowed nervously before she picked herself off the ground and sighed while running her hand through her hair. She was a little hesitant to go near Arit again after what just happened, but she could tell that Arit really didn''t know what happened herself. She was just as confused as Jeanne, and Jeanne couldn''t me her for it! That isn''t what a doctor does!
But Jeanne couldn''t risk her life just to diagnose someone! They would have toe up with a new method of approach.
Jeanne spoke up tiredly as she turned to Arit.
"Okay, we will have to do something new. I hope you don''t mind being tied up."
Arit blinked in shock as she heard this, and she could only mutter a quiet ''What?'' in response. She couldn''t help but think that Jeanne was joking, but the look on Jeanne''s face showed her that this was anything but a joke. Arit watched as Jeanne went out of the room before she came back into the room while dragging a long rope behind her.
"You heard me. I''m not going to risk my life to diagnose you without the proper precautions. Now you have one of two options. Either I knock you out and then tie you up, or you take this and tie yourself up so I can examine you."
Arit''s shock was obvious, and Jeanne wasn''t surprised. A doctor asking their patient to tie themselves up was something that no one would expect, but that was just how things had to be! Jeanne had never seen a case like this before, and she had to take extra measures to make sure that she made it out of this room alive!
Even though she was sure that Arit was not as quick as her, so she could avoid any attacks from Arit, she did not know if Arit used all her power in thatst attack. What if Arit could move faster and Jeanne couldn''t avoid the next hit!?
Jeanne wondered what triggered the response in the first ce. Everything was going fine until she tried to scan Arit''s brain, and then the reflex action kicked in. Was it some sort of defense mechanism that whatever was inside Arit developed to protect Arit from outside influence? Or was it Arit that did it subconsciously? Jeanne didn''t know, but she was going to find out after the analysis.
But before anything, she had to make sure that Arit was incapacitated.
Jeanne didn''t want to die just yet.
Drop!
Jeanne threw the rope at Arit''s feet before putting her hand in her pocket and giving Arit a hard stare to show her that she was not joking. Jeanne would not start the analysis until Arit agreed to tie herself up. Arit looked at the rope for a moment before she stood up and grabbed it.
''No! Don''t do it! We have to attack her! She is the enemy! Don''t trust her! If you tie yourself up, then you will be defenseless!
What if she tries to kill us!? Who will protect Mark!?''
Arit ignored the voice as she tied her feet together. She brought the rope up and put it once around her hand before she looked towards Jeane for help. Jeane came closer and helped her to finish putting it around her hand and then Jeane tied a strong knot to hold it in ce. Once Jeane was sure that Arit was not going to move again, she sat Arit down on her bed and spoke.
"Alright then, I don''t like this any more than you do, so let''s get this over with already."
¡
"Can you find anything about him?"
Pat and Mark were in Pat''s room. The bulb was turned off and the only source of light was from the two-hundred-inch TV embedded into one of the walls. The screen was divided into four sections showing different images, and Mark didn''t know how Pat was able to understand what was going on on all four screens at the same time.
Pat''s room was a mess with many cans of soda, pieces of chocte wrappers, and coffee cups lying on the ground. It was like a cave that hadn''t been cleaned out in thest two years! Mark knew that Pat only started living here two weeks ago, so he was shocked that Pat was somehow able to make his room this messy in only two weeks! Does this bastard not know the meaning of room service?
When Mark told Pat to tell someone toe clean out his room, Pat''s answer just irritated Mark.
"My room isn''t dirty."
Mark sighed and just got down to business. He told Pat about what happened in his house the other day. Mark was still worried that the man who came to his house was someone dangerous, so he asked Pat if he could pull up CCTV footage from around his house to see who the person was.
Chapter 116: We Have Farm Servers?
Pat fell into his swivel chair while Mark leaned against the wall with his hands folded. Mark would have stayed on the bed, but there was too much trash on it and Mark didn''t know whenst Pat cleaned it, so he would rather not risk it.
ck! ck! ck! ck! ck! ck!
ck!
Pat typed away at his keyboard quickly and brought up the footage from yesterday around the time when Arit said the man came to the house. Pat had already hacked into the citywide CCTVwork a long time ago, so he didn''t need to do it again. He sped up the footage until he saw a delivery truck pulling up to an alleyway around Mark''s house.
A man came down from the delivery truck with a box in his hand and he entered the alleyway and began to walk towards Mark''s house.
Pat cut the footage from one CCTV camera to another one, but he was surprised when he did not see the man leave the alleyway. He raised a brow and waited for a few seconds before he saw a new man walk out of the alleyway with the former man''s clothes along with the box.
Mark spoke up with narrowed eyes.
"That''s not the same person that entered that alleyway. Is there any way to see what happened in there?"
Pat shook his head.
"No. There aren''t any cameras in the alley. You would think the city was smart enough to put cameras in the one ce where robberies are the most prevalent, but I suppose they aren''t that smart. I''m going to go forward till the man leaves the house. Maybe we can get a look at his face."
The man was wearing a facemask, so they weren''t able to get a good look at his face when he went into the building. Mark stared at the man with an intense frown on his face as he watched him enter the apartment building. Just knowing that it was this easy for some random unknown man to enter the building was infuriating.
Pat sped the footage up until the man wasing out of the building. This time he was not carrying the box and his mask was off. They were able to get a good look at his hair and face and Mark immediatelymitted it to memory. The man had ck hair cut into a short fringe and he had a wide nose and thin lips.
The man went into the alleyway again and Pat cut the CCTV footage to a new camera outside the alleyway. They saw the man leaving the alley, but this time he was no longer wearing the mailman''s clothes.
Pat frowned as he saw this and he stopped the footage at a point where they had a good look at his face.
"Hey, run this through the database."
[Running through the database]
An automated voice spoke up from the side as theputer responded to Pat''s voice and came to life. The automated intelligence began to run face recognition software through the database of everyone it had ever seen. After some time, theputer brought up a match.
[Match Found]
[Name: Unknown]
[Alias: Unknown]
[Status: Deceased]
Pat turned to look at Mark in shock and even Mark blinked in surprise as he saw the status on the screen. What the fuck does theputer mean by deceased? They were seeing him right in front of them.
"What does that mean?"
Mark asked Pat this with a raised brow and Pat shrugged as he began to type away at hisputer again. He spoke to the automated voice irritatedly.
"Is there a death certificate you can pull up? If there are none, then de-age the image and search for possible birth certificates. If that isn''t possible, then cross-reference the image to thest possible sightings and tell me where that was."
[The identified man does not possess a death or birth certificate. He wasst seen three years ago in an abandoned nuclear facility off the coast of city Y. He is presumed dead due to ack of further sightings.]
"So he is not really dead? Or you don''t know if he even exists?"
Pat was bing excited as he heard this as he started to see a new challenge in front of him. This man was a ghost that even his artificial intelligence was unable to locate, so that either meant the man was damn good at hiding from the world or someone was intentionally trying to create confusion by using a fake appearance.
"Hey, what are the chances that this is not a real face?"
[Processing¡ Processing¡ processing¡ There is a 90% chance of this being a fake face.]
Mark came closer and leaned off the back of Pat''s chair while getting a better look at the man on the screen. Doesn''t that mean that this is not his real face? Mark spoke up in annoyance.
"Well, I guess that answers the question of if he really exists or not. This isn''t his real face. I should have expected someone with this much audacity to not even use his real face. Can you find out what he really looks like?"
Pat squeezed his lips together while thinking. It wasn''t impossible to find out who it was but the fake face was too well made and he didn''t know how long it would take his algorithm to trace out what the real face looks like. He didn''t say anything for some time and Mark was worried that Pat wouldn''t be able to do it, but then Pat spoke.
"It''ll take a while. This mask was made by a professional; that''s why I couldn''t even tell that it was fake immediately after I saw it. The contours of the face were perfectly measured, and the mask was made to fit it. If I set my system to begin the process now, then it will take anywhere from three days to a week before I can find him."
"Just do it. I need to find out who he is."
Pat nodded and went to work setting up the process.
"All right. Hey, begin the face deconstruction. Focus entirely on the nose, mouth, and the cheekbones. Set the process to take¡ 2% of the processing power currently avable at the farm servers and alert me when the process isplete."
[Of course. I will begin at once.]
Once that was finished setting up, Mark looked down at Pat with a raised brow.
"You have farm servers?"
Pat immediately corrected him.
"We have farm servers. Where do you think all this processing poweres from? My CPU? We own a hundred-acre farm off the coast of City Z with arge server running on it 24/7. We mainly use it for Bitcoin mining and tapping into satellite feeds, but I sometimes set aside some processing power for the bullshit you put me through."
Mark huffed and then smiled. He was tempted to ask Pat just how rich both of them were now, but he decided against it. Thest time he asked that question, he was already closing in on a billion dors, so he was fine not knowing for now.
Chapter 117: You Dont Have To Tell Me.
"So what was so important that you wanted to meet with me today?"
Mark finally asked Pat the questions that Pat had been waiting for and Pat turned around and regarded Mark closely. Pat was thinking about how he would bring up the topic right now because it wasn''t something he feltfortable talking about.
In a way, he knew what the oue of the conversation would be before even starting it, but Pat didn''t want to just allow his assumptions to stop him from being certain.
"I intercepted a video from the NSA ind raid when you went to save Arit. At first, I didn''t want to believe what I watched, but I can''t really give any excuses for something like this, not even to myself."
Pat reached to the side and pressed a button on his keyboard, and a video came to life on the screen.
[Are you the one that killed all my children before I could even meet them?]
This was the only part of the video that Pat saved after hacking into the NSA servers and deleting the rest of the video. He needed this part to show Mark that he knew exactly what he was asking about and so that Mark could not dodge this by saying something stupid like, ''You must be mistaken.''
Pat even took this video with him when he went to the NSA building to show Mark and ask him what happened, but after he saw that Mark was not in any danger of being killed by Arit, he relented and allowed them to go together.
When Mark called Pat earlier and told him to get a doctor ready to carry out a psychological analysis on Arit, Pat immediately knew the reason behind it, and he decided that he had to bring in a doctor that he could trust to keep Mark''s secret. The only doctor that came to mind was his sister, and that is why he told her to stay behind after she came to visit the previous day.
Mark sighed tiredly as he saw the video, and he knew that he had a lot of exining to do. He looked at the image of QUEEN holding Meta by the neck, and he scratched the back of his head with a mild frown on his face.
"I know it looks bad, but it''s not as bad as it looks."
"Really? Because what I''m seeing is Arit''s body being possessed by an evil Anima who just murdered a Superhuman in cold blood."
Mark rubbed his chin with a distant look on his face as he heard the exnation that Pat had just given him. That was oddly specific.
"Okay, maybe it really is as bad as it looks."
"What the hell happened Mark? What happened to Arit and what happened to you? How did you manage to bring her back to her normal self? How did you even manage to win against a monster that could kill an S rank that easily? I know the limits of your strength, Mark. I''m the one that has been with you all this while.
I know you didn''t stand a chance against that Cmity ss that attacked the city, but all of a sudden, you stand up with three times the power you once had? What the fuck was that? You don''t hide things from me. That was our deal."
Mark and Pat were silent as Pat looked up at Mark expectantly. Mark folded his hands and looked to the side for a moment before he sighed. Pat was right; Mark knew that he owed Pat an exnation after everything that happened over thest few days.
Pat was someone who had been helping Mark from day one, and without Pat, Mark was sure that many of his fights would have been much harder than they were. If there was anyone in his world who deserves an exnation about everything that has been happening, then it was definitely Pat.
Mark liked to keep things close to his chest; he was a lot like Pat in that regard. They both had secrets that they were not willing to expose to anyone, and they both liked to only tell people what they werefortable with others knowing. Mark was notfortable with a lot of people knowing about his powers because it was a trump card that he would like to surprise his enemies with.
It was something that no one could easily predict, and it helped him to win fights that would otherwise be difficult for someone of his level.
But Mark decided that if Pat was going to help him fight against the Anima, then Pat deserved to know at least some part of Mark''s powers as well as how strong Mark was now. Pat was the one in Mark''s ear during fights, and it would be inefficient if Pat didn''t know the limits of Mark''s powers.
Mark began to exin what happened to him during the fight. He told Pat that he managed to unlock a power that was sealed away for a long time and how it helped him to beat the Cmity ss easily. Mark told him his current power level and that he was going to be even stronger very soon.
Mark also told Pat how he was able to subdue the other part of Arit. Even though there was still a chance of the QUEENing back, it was very low.
Pat''s brow furrowed as he heard everything that Mark said, and he started to think deeply about it while rolling his chair around. He hummed and looked at the ceiling for a moment before he spoke.
"You''re KING, aren''t you?"
Mark raised a brow as he heard Pat say this, and he immediately tried to think of anything that he said that would make Pate to a conclusion like that. Mark didn''t reveal anything about his past from four years ago, so how the hell did Pat somehow end up concluding that Mark was KING?
"Have you forgotten how we started this whole thing in the first ce? You came to me with this look in your eyes four years ago and told me that you were a superhuman and you wanted to go out to fight. I don''t think anyone in their right mind would go out to fight immediately after finding out they are superhuman unless they had juste out from a fight that changed their lives forever.
You fought that Armageddon and lost your powers somehow and now you''re starting to gain them back, aren''t you?"
Mark didn''t deny it, and Pat only took a few moments before he shrugged and turned back around.
"Fine, I''ll keep your secrets. What''s one more secret anyway? Just try to make sure that Arit doesn''t hurt anyone else. I only allowed her here with my sister because I know my sister is a superhuman and she won''t be hurt easily, but out there with normal humans, things will be more dangerous. Watch her."
"You don''t have to tell me, Pat. I know."
Chapter 118: She Isnt Mad, Shes Just Crazy.
Pat turned to check the progress of the facial recognition software that was running on the servers. The progress was slow because of how difficult it was to render a face from under such a perfectly made mask, and Pat turned away from it again as Mark spoke up.
"I''ll also need you to do something else for me. When I had that meeting with Szar, he tried to get me to join the NSA again, but his method was different from what James used. James was asking me to join, but Szar was practically threatening me to join the NSA. I don''t think he can be trusted, he''s definitely nning something. Can you help me find out more about him?"
Pat hummed as he turned his swivel chair around again. Just how shady did someone have to be to get Mark''s attention like this? Pat started to type out on hisputer and he grabbed Szar''s public records from the government database. He picked up a small squeezeball at the side as he started to read off the important parts while ying with it
"Orphaned at 12, joined the army at eighteen, and survived through two military tours to Afghanistan before leaving the army when he was thirty, and then joining the NSA after the Armageddon attack. No wife, no children, no rtives. He''s the sort of person who ends up as a ghost member of the ck ops or something. What the hell is with this shady-ass bio?"
Pat did not hide his surprise as he read through Szar''s bio and Mark was silent as hemitted everything to memory. Mark was already sure that Szar was going to be an issue, so Mark was going to try to get rid of him before things could get out of hand. But finding a way to get rid of someone who was so deeply intertwined with the government was difficult.
Especially since Mark was technically just a child and no one would believe him if he went and told them that Szar was evil.
What could he possibly say? I saw his affiliation through my True Sight skill so I am sure that he is evil. That was stupid and no one would believe it.
Since asking for Szar to be put in jail immediately was out of the question, Mark had to stay one step ahead of Szar and then catch Szar in the act. That way there would be no doubt and Mark could send that bastard away.
"Should I put a few surveince cameras on him? I don''t think he will be too much trouble to track. Government officials are usually in the open a lot."
"Yeah, thanks. I don''t know what he is going to do, but just keep an eye on him until you find something unusual."
"You seem certain that he will do something."
Mark red at the image of Szar on the screen.
"You didn''t see what I saw. That bastard is definitely going to try something. The only question is when."
...
"Well, your girlfriend isn''t normal, that''s for sure."
Mark and Arit were sitting on the couch in the middle of the living room while Jeanne spoke to them. There was some ruckus echoing from inside Pat''s room, but everyone just ignored it as she spoke about what the results of the diagnosis were.
Jeanne tried her best to exin it using simple terms that normal people who weren''t doctors would understand, but she still found it a little difficult since Arit''s condition was so special.
"You don''t have to be afraid that she will suddenly lose her mind and someone else will take over, I looked over her mind and I can tell that it is all her in there, but that doesn''t mean there aren''t any side effects from the¡ I don''t even know what to call this. Psychological Merge? Well, yes, whatever this is, there are some side effects from it.
For one thing, she possesses almost no moral restraints now and this allows her subconscious mind to speak to her like it is a different person entirely. Something like having a split personality. They are both her, but there is still a massive difference between the both of them.
"I guess I can call it a metamorphosis of sorts. Arit and QUEEN are no longer two different entities. You can say that they merged and they are now one entity with two distinct personalities in one body. It''s almost like being a psychopath honestly. Your girlfriend isn''t mad, she''s just crazy."
Jeanne tried to think of a more medical term to use in describing what happened to Arit, but she just couldn''t. Arit told Jeanne how the QUEEN corrupted her and also how she was constantly hearing QUEEN''s voice in her head, so Jeanne was sure that this was a psychological issue, not a physical one.
But that really didn''t help Mark at all and Mark just raised a brow as he waited for Jeanne to continue. They didn''t juste here to find out if Arit was crazy or not. Hearing voices in your head is one indication that you are at least a little crazy and Mark was not surprised by that information.
They came to see if there was a way to reverse the problem or to get rid of the voices once and for all.
Mark asked Jeanne if there was anything more and Jeanne scratched her hair with a sigh.
"There really isn''t any way for the two of them to be separated from each other. At least, there isn''t any way that I know of. You know what my ability is, I''m sure, and you know it is pretty versatile when ites down to healing people. But I can''t heal Arit because as far as her body is concerned, there is nothing wrong with her.
The voice in her head is a part of her, so trying to get rid of it would be like trying to take her heart out of her body. She''ll drop dead."
Jeanne carried out a lot of analysis on Arit, and after everything, she was certain that there was no way that Arit could be separated from the QUEEN. The two of them were permanently joined together and it was only through sheer luck that Arit was able to take control of the body instead of QUEEN.
Jeanne remembered how Arit almost attacked her at the start of the diagnosis and even though she was still a bit put off by it, she couldn''t me Arit for that either. That reaction was not something that Arit could have stopped even if she wanted to. It is the same way your leg jerks when they hit your knee with a small hammer. It was an involuntary reaction from Arit for self-defense.
Chapter 119: The Eternally Single Family
During the main checkup, Jeanne saw that Arit could stop her body from acting out if she really tried. She had some level of control over the voice in her head and she could prevent it fromshing out in self-defense.
"The only thing I am sure of is that Arit is in control of the body. No matter how bad things may look, we can be assured that Arit can suppress the voice if she needs to, but her ability to suppress the voice wille down to her mental strength and how willing she is to refuse what the voice suggests to her.
To do that, you need to go to a therapist who will help you suppress the more dangerous parts of your subconscious."
Jeanne paused for a few seconds after saying this before she sighed and spoke while stretching.
"Look, I''m really busy with work, but I wouldn''t mind helping you out since my brother was the one who asked for my help. I work on sick patients and injured superhumans for most of the day, so I won''t have time to help you then, but I have a free break for two hours every day when I get coffee. If you''re going to get any help, then you can join me for coffee for an hour every day.
That way, we can have our session and I can still get my break. Is that good?"
Arit immediately jumped at the chance once Jeanne suggested it. She was excited that Jeanne was willing to help and she really wanted to get some help because she was notpletelyfortable with some of the changes that she was seeing happening to her body, but Arit was also really excited that she would get to talk with a real doctor.
Arit would not pass up the opportunity to get to talk to a real doctor who was already in the position that she wanted to be in. Jeanne saw the enthusiasm from Arit and she smiled a bit before looking at Mark to see if he also agreed. In some way, Jeanne could tell that Mark''s decisions would determine what they did.
Mark was leaning back on the couch and he hummed as he thought about Jeanne''s idea. It would be good to help Arit and Mark couldn''t see any issues with the deal. He had more than enough money to pay for the sessions, so he knew that that wouldn''t be a problem either. He spoke up after a moment.
"How long do you think it will take for her to learn how to suppress the voice? Will it take too long?"
Jeanne shrugged.
"Not really. At most, it should take a month. She already has some control over the voice so I only need to teach her how to drown it out and leave it at the back of her mind. Once she can do that, then she should be able to live a normal life. Or at least, a somewhat normal life. There really is not anything normal about being a superhuman."
Mark nodded in agreement before he sighed and finally agreed.
"Alright, I think that n works perfectly. Thank you for the help, Jeanne."
Jeanne stood up and spoke as Pat started toe out from inside his room with a briefcase in his hand and a backpack. He struggled to bring the bag out of the room until Talia walked up to him and grabbed it with one hand before pulling the briefcase out of the room easily. Jeanne scoffed gently.
"Yeah, you''re wee. I didn''t think that I would get another chance to see you after we met at the NSA. I suppose I should apologize for what happened back there. I was rude to you, but you were only trying to protect her, weren''t you? You''re a good man."
Mark smiled.
"It''s no problem. I didn''t know who you were back then either, so we both made mistakes. I think you and I can really get along."
Jeanne felt something pull at her heart once she heard Mark''s epting tone. She stared down at Mark with critical eyes for a moment as she tried to see if he meant anything more by what he said, but she sighed in her heart as she watched Mark look away from her and turn towards Arit once Arit spoke to him.
She could feel some strings of jealousy pulling at her heart and she tried her best to stomp it out immediately! She shouldn''t be jealous of some little kids that found love! She is a grown woman and it is unbing to be jealous of children!
''Ah, forget all of this! I want a boyfriend too!''
Jeanne closed her eyes and groaned as she finally shouted in her heart. She simply started to move towards Pat once she saw that he was already opening the door to leave.
"Well, we''re on our way then ¨C"
"Wait, what do you mean you''re going? Going where?"
Arit stood up in surprise as she heard Pat speak up from the door. She saw the bags at Patrick''s feet and she could immediately tell that he was leaving the hotel. Why didn''t he tell them so that they could all leave together?
Patrick patted Talia''s head in thanks once she was done helping him move his bag to the door and she just flicked his hand away with a scowl on her face!
"Ouch!"
Pat held his hand in pain and red at the little girl as she plumped herself down on the couch. She didn''t even use any force, but that hurt! Superhumans and their irrational strength! Taliapletely ignored him and went back to the couch to continue watching her movie, and Pat just sighed as he turned back to his bags.
He had no luck with the opposite gender, regardless of their age. Older women all thought that he was toozy, the girls his age thought that he was too smart, and they were always overwhelmed by him when he spoke to them, and little girls just ignored him.
And worst of all was the fact that Pat found it difficult to tolerate anyone of the opposite gender because the ones he had met were either too stupid to handle a deep conversation with him or they wanted some bad boy that they could control. Pat would rather stay alone for the rest of his life than deal with those sorts of girls!
Patrick and Jeanne were almost identical in terms of their love life. Or at least they were identical in their absoluteck of a love life.
Even though Jeanne was already in herte twenties she still hadn''t had a single steady boyfriend and she was already starting to think that she would be an eternal spinster at this age! Meanwhile, Patrick was always so busy with school, Superhuman work, or just generally being indoors that he never got a chance to meet any girl he could have a rtionship with.
If you were very superstitious, then you would think that this was some sort of curse ced on their family! The eternally single family!
Chapter 120: Can We Share?
"What do you mean by you''re leaving?"
Pat looked at Arit in surprise for a moment when he heard her ask such a strange question and he raised a brow as he asked her if Mark didn''t tell her anything. Arit nced from Pat to Mark and then back at Pat again as she wondered what was going on: Tell me about what?
Pat just pursed his lips in annoyance before he waved as he started to leave the room. He couldn''t deal with this shit. It always gave him a bad feeling in his liver when he saw lovers acting like idiots.
"Ask your boyfriend about it. I have other things to do. Mark, you need to tell her things like this before bringing her. Don''t use me for bullshit like this, you bastard.The room service should be arriving soon, and you need to go register the room in your name before the end of the day."
Arit turned to Mark immediately. Mark was leaning back against the couch and he grinned as he saw Arit frowning at him in confusion. Arit took a step towards Mark as she asked.
"What are you hiding from me? You''re nning something again, aren''t you? You always look like that when you''re about to do something you know will piss me off! Just tell me already!"
Mark chuckled.
"Well¡ I thought about it for some time, and I''m not reallyfortable with us living in that other apartment since people cane and go as they please. There''s no security at all, and now that the world knows that I''m a superhuman, we can''t be too careful. So, I made a few calls and found the ce with the best possible security for us to stay in. Turns out it was this hotel."
Arit''s eyes widened as she looked around the house in shock. There was no way! Mark couldn''t be trying to say what Arit was thinking right now! Learning about the cars that Mark bought was already too much for Arit to fully understand, and now Mark was trying to add even more confusion to her already muddled head!
Mark bought this!?
He really bought out this penthouse for them to live in!? Arit couldn''t even wrap her mind around it! The amount of money that it would take to stay overnight in a ce like this is something that Arit didn''t even dream of ever seeing in her bank ount! This is the kind of ce that you go to for a vacation or a getaway and waste a lot of money on it!
It is a once-in-a-lifetime vacation destination! But Mark was renting it out for them to stay in!?
"Wee home, Arit. I hope you like it."
Arit swallowed as she suddenly felt like her mouth was too dry for her to talk properly.
"I¡ I love it. I absolutely love it. But.. isn''t it, like.. expensive. I don''t know.
Are you sure about staying here? We can live in a smaller ce and hire some guards, can''t we? Mark, this¡ isn''t this too much?"
Arit was still in disbelief as she looked around the ce and Mark just chuckled as he came up to her and wrapped his hand around her waist. Arit''s hand came up to his chest and she looked up at his smiling face. Mark leaned down and kissed her forehead and Arit felt her face heating up in embarrassment as she noticed Pat and Jeanne looking away from both of them.
Mark continued talking as if he and Arit were the only ones there.
"I know there are cheaper ces, but I chose this hotel because I want the best. I don''t want what happened with the mailman to ever happen again. I''m not going to lose you just because I wanted to save some money."
A pink blush dusted over Arit''s cheek at that moment, and Mark could feel how her entire body trembled from hearing what he said. Arit fisted his shirt happily before she buried her face in his chest to hide her blush from him!
Arit couldn''t utter a single word as her happiness threatened to suffocate her! How in the world could she say no to something like that!? How could she say no when Mark was doing all this just to protect her!? Mark was always doing this! He would go out of his way to make sure that she was safe and Arit was starting to feel like she was too loved! This was just too much!
She really loved him!
Arit spoke up as she wrapped her hand around Mark''s neck.
"I really like it, Mark. Thank you."
Arit was still shocked that Mark got this ce just because of the man she told him about. She only told him that there was a suspicious man, and he went and rented one of the most expensive apartments in the city for them to stay in!? Arit started to feel like she had to repay Mark somehow, but she couldn''t even start to imagine anything that could pay back the things that Mark had done for her.
Was she going to keep receiving from Mark without ever being able to do anything meaningful for him? No! She had to do something for him! She would think of somethingter and give it to him as a thank you.
"Ugh. Come on, let''s get out of here."
Jeanne spoke up as she picked up her own bag and started to leave the house, and Mark couldn''t help but chuckle as he noticed Patrick was already leaving without saying a single word. There was a look of irritation on the faces of both Pat and Jeanne, and Mark could only watch with a smile as Jeanne followed her brother. Those two are definitely siblings.
They even have the same reaction to public disys of affection.
Mark told Patrick goodbye, and Pat just waved back at Mark as he left the apartment with his sister. Tilda leaned over the couch as she spoke.
"Big Brother. Is this really your new house?"
Mark grinned.
"Yup. You like it?"
"It''s awesome! It''s so huge!"
Mark and Arit bothughed at Talia''s reaction as she raised her hand in the air and eximed in wonder. Mark told them that the movingpany would bring their things aroundter, so they didn''t need to go anywhere. They only had to choose their rooms.
"I want the big one!"
Talia immediately jumped from the couch and started to run out of the room, and Mark chuckled as he looked down at Arit and asked her what room she wanted. Arit twirled a strand of her hair around her finger as she looked down at her feet in embarrassment. Mark raised a brow and asked her what was wrong, and Arit finally muttered out her thoughts.
Mark''s brows furrowed in confusion as he tried to understand what she said. She was barely audible, and even with his advanced hearing, he could barely understand her.
"What? I didn''t get that."
"C-Can we share a room ¨C Y-You know what, never mind! I''m leaving! Talia, wait for me!"
Arit quickly scurried away before she could get her thoughts out, and Mark justughed as he finally understood what she was trying to say. His girlfriend was too shy.
Chapter 121: First Test
If she wanted to share a room, then she should just say so. She doesn''t need to be so shy about it, but Mark also liked that shy side of hers a lot. It made it very fun to tease her until she was redder than a tomato!
Mark put his hands in his pocket and followed after his two girls. He didn''t mind if Arit chose her own room or if she wanted to pick a separate room from them to stay together. The two of them were always going to end up in the same bed after all, so it didn''t matter to him.
¡
[User has 12 hours left before the gift [Key To the Underworld] is forfeited. Does the user wish to activate the gift?]
[The User has sessfully activated the gift. The user will be transported into the new domain.]
¡
"Hey, newbie! What the hell are you doing!? Get ready!"
Mark''s eyes opened slowly, and he found himself standing in arge cavern that was dimly lit by torches lining the walls. The torches were all burning ck mes instead of the regr yellow mes, and Mark furrowed his brow in confusion as he looked around him.
The person who spoke to Mark was a woman with short ck hair and only one eye. Her other eye had a long scar running over it, giving her a rough and dangerous look. But they weren''t the only people in the cavern.
There were more than ten people around, and they were all fidgeting with weapons in their hands or trying to get their nerves under control as they stared at a dark tunnel on one side of the cavern that seemed to be releasing an ominous aura.
Where the hell was he?
Mark remembered activating his systemst night after falling asleep. When Arit and Talia finally chose rooms for themselves, Mark went to his room and used the gift that the system gave him, and the system announced that he would be transported to a new domain. Was this the domain of Thanatos? Who are these people? What am I supposed to be doing right now? Why the fuck am I chained?
Clink!
Mark looked down at his hands, and he was shocked to see that there was a long chain tied to both of his hands. The chains were not connected to anything, but they shackled both of Mark''s hands together and only gave him enough room to widen them shoulder-width apart. That was annoying.
Mark immediately tried to break the chain using his super-strength, but he was shocked when he felt the chain resist his force before stopping him altogether! What the fuck!? What is this thing made from!?
"Newbie! I said get your head in the game! They''reing!"
The woman shouted at Mark again as she saw him trying to get the chain off, but Mark just shook his head as he tried to get the chain off again. It didn''t work, and Mark growled deep in his chest as he looked toward the woman. He was not surprised to see that she also had chains on her hands. But she had a sword and shield that she held in front of her in a ready pose.
In fact, everyone in the cavern was outfitted in the same way. They were chained, but they also had a weapon held ready in front of them.
Mark turned to the woman.
"Who''sing!?"
"What!? What do you mean by who''sing!? How did you enter this dungeon without knowing anything!? Just get ready to fight! We won''t get a chance to run, so we have to fight!"
Useless! That was the only thought that went through Mark''s mind once he heard the woman''s exnation. She did not tell him anything useful, and she just expected him to know something about this ce. What sort of situation is this? Was I dropped in the middle of a dungeon raid? But if that is the case, then why are we chained?
And what kind of dungeon is this?
[Wee to the first Trial: Thanatos'' yground]
[There are three tests that must be passed for the user toplete the trial. The user must pass these three tests and reach the dwelling ce of Thanatos.]
[Trial Conditions]
-> The User possesses three lives.
-> At the end of each test, the user will be granted a save point where he can respawn in the event that he perishes during the next test.
-> All the user''s skills will be deactivated during the tests, and the user may choose 1 skill per test that will be activated. After each test, the user may choose a new skill for the next test.
-> If the user loses all three lives, he will forfeit his life, and his soul will be devoured by Thanatos.
[Test 1: Charge of the Damned]
[The User has been dropped in the middle of an obscure part of the underworld along with a few damned souls for the first test. The test area is a dungeon located deep within the underbelly of a lost kingdom''s prison. Prisoners are sent into the dungeons and saddled with the responsibility of reducing the number of monsters inside the dungeon as punishment for their crimes.
The user is one of those criminals. In order to sessfully pass the test, the user must survive the horde for the next five minutes.]
[Test Conditions]
-> The user is not allowed to use all his skills during the fight.
-> The user must kill all the monsters before he can leave the test zone.
-> Do not disclose your identity or the truth behind this test to the other members of your prisoner crew.
[Number of Lives: III]
[The user has been granted a favor due to the incessant demands of his patron god, Sozin. Thanatos has agreed to allow the user to use one skill during each test. Please select the skill you wish to use.]
[Mana Cirction ¨C D Rank]
[Taunting ¨C F Rank]
[Blunt Force Trauma ¨C D Rank]
[True Sight ¨C D Rank]
¡
Mark read through everything that the system just sent to him quickly and he raised a shocked brow at the absurdity of the trial! What the fuck do you mean I can''t use my skills!? And just how difficult were these trials that Thanatos was even willing to give me three lives? Sozin told Mark that the other gods did not like him, so Mark knew that his trials would be difficult.
But the mere fact that someone who did not like him was willing to give him three lives sent a ton of rms ringing in Mark''s head. These trials will be no joke.
Chapter 122: May Ra Be With Us!
Mark immediately started to think deeply about which skill to choose. The only thing Mark knew about his trial was the fact that there were going to be tons of monsters. He is going to be dealing with a veryrge crowd, so he has to choose a skill that will help him in killing a lot of monsters.
The taunting skill was definitely not an option. Even though Mark liked fighting, he was not stupid. Why would he draw all the monsters to him when he did not know anything about their strength or number? The Taunting skill was also one of the least-ranked skills, so there was no use picking it. True Sight was also out of the question.
It would be useful, but not useful enough for him to use it against an entire horde of monsters. He can gauge the strength of the monsters by exchanging blows with them. True Sight does not give him the weaknesses of the scanned subject, so it was pointless getting it.
That left Blunt Force Trauma and Mana Cirction. Both of them would be extremely useful in this situation. Mana Cirction helped Mark by improving his already high stats and making him stronger than his rank allows him to be. Truthfully, it was this exact skill that helped Mark to stand toe to toe against some of the stronger Cmity sses on that ind.
Mark was only an A rank and he had no business winning against Cmity sses, but due to his skills, he was able to put up a good fight against them.
But the most useful one here will definitely be Blunt Force Trauma. Mark knew there would be arge number of monsters and they would being towards him relentlessly. That meant that he could deliver a considerable number of blows consecutively and slowly improve his chances ofnding critical attacks until every hit he delivers bes a critical attack.
That was the best-case scenario that Mark could see, and he decided that he was going to choose this one.
[Does the User wish to pick [Blunt Force Trauma] as his activated skill? Yes/No]
Mark picked yes, and he saw the confirmation message from the system as the other skills in his system tab were blurred out, and the blunt force trauma skill became the only activated skill.
...
-> Blunt Force Trauma: This skill heightens the probability ofnding a critical hit as the user delivers consecutive sessful punches to the enemy, harnessing the cumtive impact for devastating effectiveness! Critical Attacks deal +100% extra damage to the enemy!
Current Rank: D Rank [102/400]
Probability ofnding a Critical Attack: +10% for every sessful consecutive hit.
Probability ofnding a Divergent Attack [exponential 2.5 per attack]: +0.5% for every sessful consecutive hit.
...
[All the Gods watch with keen interest]
...
SUPERHUMAN SYSTEM
Name: Mark Vanitas
Race: Human
Title: [He Who Perseveres Through Hell. [+10% increase to all stats.]] [He Who Defies Destiny]
Rank: S [3080/5000]
Affiliation: True Neutral
Unused Stat Points: 0
Unused Skill Points: 0
...
Strength: 1380 [+138] [+217]
Stamina: 850 [+85] [+127]
Agility: 850 [+85] [+85]
Durability: 810 [+81]
Mana: 520 [+52]
...
Artifacts: [Gloves of the Thunder God - S]
...
Mark squeezed his hands into fists and loosened them up again to prepare himself as the woman in front of him started to speak again.
"Newbie! Draw your sword! What do you think you''re doing!? These monsters aren''t going to wait for you to get your head straight! They''ll tear you apart!"
Mark saw a sword strapped to his waist, and he drew it with a frown on his face. He tested the sword a few times by swinging it about, and he eventually decided that it would be of no use to him.
Slide!
Mark sheathed the sword back into its scabbard before he took off the entire girdle and threw it to the side and the woman who spoke to him stared at him like he had gone mad! What the fuck did he think he was doing!?
Mark didn''t want to use the sword because he knew that his fists would be more useful in this situation. And besides, Mark never learned how to use a sword in the first ce. He was more likely to hit one of the people fighting beside him than to hit the monstersing towards them with that sword.
''Now, let''s see if this works.''
Mark reached out to his system and requested something from his store, and he gained a cruel smirk on his face as he saw it fall into his palm. Yeah, that''s what I''m talking about.
[The god of lightning and storms, Zeus, furrows his brow in confusion as he stares at you. Zeus leans forward on his throne and exims in shock as he views the artifact in the user''s arms.]
Doon!
[Zeus is sending an rming amount of animosity towards the User.]
Mark chuckled as he put on the [Gloves of the Thunder God] that he got from his system. The system never said that his artifacts were sealed, and Mark knew that Sozin hid his artifact from the other gods on purpose to give him a better chance in the trials. If Thanatos knew about these gloves, then there was no way he would allow Mark to use them.
[Zeus promises death if his property is not immediately returned.]
Mark threw the middle finger into the air, and he could literally hear thunder rumble from a distant ce. Oh yeah, Zeus was pissed.
...
Gloves of the Thunder god.
[Effects]
+30% increase in strength
+30% increase in Agility
Grants the user the lightning-based Skills [Lightning Surge]
[Lightning surge: This skill enables the user to channel a formidable wave of lightning, measuring up to 100 gigajoules, through their gloves, unleashing devastating power upon their adversaries.]
...
[Comment from GoG: Hey, Mark, how about not antagonizing the literal god of lightning, yeah? I''m the one that''ll get heat for your actions, and I''m not in the mood for a cosmic battle right now.]
Oh right, sorry.
Mark got his mind back in the game and turned to look at the entrance to the cavern. The woman that had been speaking to him all this while was no longer giving him any attention. Mark could tell that she had given up on trying to make him pick up his sword, and she already assumed that he was going to die before everyone else.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
The ground under Mark''s feet began to rumble and shake, and Mark narrowed his eyes at the dark entrance of the cave as he waited for what was about toe through it.
"Prepare yourselves! Here theye! May Ra be with us all!"
One of the men at the front shouted at the top of his lungs as he readied his weapons, and the rest of the prisoners all agreed vocally as they also got ready. Ra? Was that their god? Mark wondered if the kingdom his system told him about was an Egyptian kingdom.
[Time Remaining: 5:00:00]
[Time Remaining: 4:59:59]
RARRGGH!! RARGHH! WRARGHH!!
Before Mark could think more about that, he was suddenly assaulted with a loud sound.
Chapter 123: Why Arent They Reducing!?
Before Mark could think more about that, he was suddenly assaulted with a loud sound like metal grinding on stone as the monsters came through the darkness and spilled into the cavern like a tsunami! There were hundreds of them and Mark could literally feel the nervousness from the people around him as they all saw the monsters.
Mark could only describe the monsters as rabid zombies. They were all shriveled up with dried skin and protruding bones, but there was no doubt that they were humanoid creatures. They had milky white eyes and ck nails that gleamed in the dim light of the cavern.
Mark immediately tried to use True Sight on the monsters, but he cursed as he remembered that he hadn''t picked that skill to use. He was going to have to go in blind then!
"Yarghhhh!!!"
The group of prisoners charged at the monsters before the monsters got to them and Mark watched as the one-eyed woman raised her sword in the air and ran towards the zombies like a bat out of hell! Mark also joined the charge and ran towards the monsters.
The chains on his hands were a little restricting, but they didn''t prevent him from fighting properly, so he decided that he would ignore them for now.
sh! Squelch! sh!
Bam! Bam! Bam!
The sound of shouting and fighting resounded across the cavern as Mark got to a monster and delivered a devastating punch to its chest!
Boom!
The monster flew towards the other end of the cavern and mmed into the wall before falling to the ground like a ragdoll! But it slowly twitched before it stood back up and started toe toward the group again.
''Are these fuckers immortal?''
Mark ducked under a swipe from another monster and the monster overstepped and stumbled forward! Mark used that opportunity to wrap his chain around the monster''s head and bring it up to his rising knee!
[Critical Strike]!
m!
Mark crushed the monster''s face with his knee, and he was surprised when he saw the monster crumple to the ground. It didn''t get back up, and Mark quickly charged for a new batch of monsters! He mmed his leg into the shin of one of them, and once it fell to the ground, he smashed its head in with extreme force! The monster flew back a few meters before it stood back up and charged in again.
Mark turned to the monster at his side and mmed his fist into its stomach.
[Critical Strike]!
Boom!
The monster''s stomach blew apart and it immediately fell to the ground and died. Mark took a few steps back towards the wall of the cave to prevent the monsters from surrounding him and he eyed all of them analytically as he started to understand how strong they were. Each of them was at least as strong as an S rank. Or no, that would be the wrong way to quantify their strength.
It was more sensible to say that they had the defense of an S rank.
When Mark used his regr S rank strength to fight against the monsters, they were able to tank it ande back, but when his Blunt Force Trauma skill kicked in, the monsters could not withstand the force and they crumble. Mark has never been more grateful for his good luck than at that moment. He could work with this.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
[Critical Strike]!
Bam! Bam!
[Critical Strike]!
Bam!
[Critical Strike]!
Bam!
Mark started to unleash a flurry of quick jabs that pushed the monsters away from him. Mark''s brows were furrowed in concentration as he adopted a perfect boxing stance and delivered one punch per zombie, making sure that they were kept at arm''s length from him at all times.
Mark still didn''t know what would happen to you if the monsters touched you or bit you, but Mark was not interested in finding out.
Bam!
[Critical Strike]!
Something was wrong.
Bam! Bam!
[Critical Strike]!
Bam! Bam!
Mark could tell that he was cutting their numbers down. He has killed more than fifty of them already.
[Critical Strike]!
Bam!
[Critical Strike]!
Bam!
So why the hell weren''t they reducing at all?
[Lightning surge]!
Mark put his glove out and he watched a massive bolt of lightning spread across the entire room and throw all the monsters away from him. He jumped away from the position that he was standing in and tried to get a better look around the room.
There were fights happening at almost every corner of the enclosure and Mark could see that one-eyed woman that spoke to him before cutting down a group of zombies that were trying to surround her and one other fighter. She must be pretty strong if she can cut down S-rank zombies that easily.
But the thing that really drew his attention was the sheer number of zombies still pouring into the cavern. There were more zombiesing into the cavern than they were able to kill, so it felt like for every zombie they killed, two more would take their ce. It was overwhelming.
"Ah! Ahhh! Help me!!"
Crunch!
Squelch!
A shout drew Mark''s attention and Mark turned around to see one of the prisoners getting surrounded by zombies. He tried his best to get the monsters away from him, but he was not fast enough and he ended up getting overwhelmed by them. The zombies wasted no time as they tore him apart and started to eat him on the spot.
Well, at least Mark now knew what would happen to him if he was caught by the zombies.
''Will Full Body Constitution be able to stop that?''
Maybe it would be best for him to meet up with the others and fight together. Fighting alone will only lead to him being overwhelmed by the zombies. Mark shifted his trajectory andnded close to the one-eyed woman and herpanion.
[Critical Strike]!
Boom!
Mark mmed his feet into a group of monsters and blew them away as he joined the group. The one-eyed woman nced at Mark in shock before she nodded at him and turned back to the zombies.
The woman spoke up as she stabbed a zombie in the chest.
"You''re still alive with no weapons!? That''s impressive!"
Mark responded as he got into a fighting stance.
"I fight best without any weapons. Aim for their heads, they''re weak there."
"Sure!"
sh! sh! sh!
[User has gained allies in the fight. The effects of [He Who Perseveres Through Hell] have been activated. The user has gained a 10% increase in all stats. The two allies have gained a 20% increase to their base stats.]
The three of them suddenly felt their strength increase drastically as they wielded their weapons more easily and cut through the zombies faster. Mark grinned as he saw the message from the system and he decided that he would have to find out the criteria for activating this skill permanently soon.
Having a lot of allies fighting with him would make him much stronger and Mark was going to take advantage of that!
Chapter 124: Marry Me
Jason and the one-eyed woman suddenly charged into the fight as a new wave of monsters came for them, and Mark started tond critical strikes back to back as the Blunt Force Trauma meter filled up, giving him a hundred percent chance of using critical strikes with every hit! The zombies didn''t know what hit them as Mark obliterated their numbers.
Mark unleashed a flurry of punches and hits. He could fight freely because he knew that the one-eyed woman was behind him, so he was sure that he wouldn''t get hit from behind unexpectedly.
However, he suddenly turned around as he heard a scream of pain from the woman! Mark saw a monster biting down on her hand, and he quickly turned and wrapped his chains around the monster''s head. He pulled it off the woman and used the chain to fling it towards the other side of the room.
Mark pulled back his hand and delivered a massive punch towards the group of zombies in front of him. Time slowed down, and space seemed to shift around Mark''s fist until it suddenly released a surge of power that enveloped everything in front of him before imploding on itself!
[Divergent Fist]!
Boom!
All the monsters that had been standing in front of Mark were suddenly eviscerated as their bodies blew up in a gory and messy sight! The other monsters in the room started converging towards Mark, and he quickly grabbed the one-eyed woman by the waist and jumped towards another spot that had fewer monsters.
"Rargghh!"
Bam! Crunch!
Marknded on top of a zombie and crushed it under his feet before dropping the woman to the side.
"No! No! Get away from me! Help me!!"
A woman shouted from behind Mark as she tried to use her spear on a zombie, but she didn''t see another one that was running closer from beside her and was immediately jumped and tackled to the ground before she could do anything!
"By Ra, I think I''m losing my arm."
Mark turned to the one-eyed woman and saw that she was holding her left arm in pain as a ck veiny web began to spread out from the spot where she was bitten towards the rest of her arm. She immediately grabbed her sword and put the de on the spot just above the bite.
Squelch!
"Ngh!!"
She grit her teeth tightly and quickly cut off her arm with a suppressed groan, and Mark destroyed a few zombies that got too close as she wrapped the stump with a cloth. It would be hard for her to survive now that she only had one arm, but at least she was not dying at this moment.
The woman severed the arm that she just cut into two and released the chain that was still attached to it. She rolled the chain around her good arm and finally grabbed her sword again.
"Arghhh!"
Another prisoner beside them suddenly got swarmed by zombies as he screamed loudly, and Mark took a moment to make sure that no zombies wereing towards him and the woman before he spoke to her.
"Can you fight?"
"I''m still on my feet, aren''t I?"
The woman''s voice was strained, and it sounded like she was already on herst legs, but she was not backing down as she held her sword tightly. The blood dripping from the torn arm was making her woozy, and she stumbled a bit every now and then before getting her bnce back. Mark shook his head internally. She was a dead woman walking.
"Stay behind me and take care of the stragglers. You''re not going to survive long with those wounds, so make yourself useful while you can."
Mark rolled his shoulder and stood in front of the woman as a new wave of monsters came around, and the woman''s face squeezed in annoyance as she heard what Mark said. But she could understand what Mark was trying to do, and she just turned around and put her back against his own while preparing for the fight.
Boom! Boom! m!
The sound of supersonic punches echoed through the cave as she heard Mark unleashing hell upon the zombies. There were hardly any zombies on her side of the cave, so she only had to take care of two or three of them at a time. She felt Mark''s back against her own, and it gave her a sense of safety as she felt like she would survive this if he was there with her.
Against her better judgment, she decided to speak.
"Where are you from?"
Mark grunted from behind her and asked what she said, and the woman repeated her question, louder this time. She would usually not care about where someone was from or what happened to make them end up in this underground dungeon, but she felt like she had to know Mark''s story.
When Mark spoke, it was with short sentences in between his punches.
"Somewhere far away. You probably never heard of it!"
"Try me!"
sh! sh!
Mark got rid of most of the zombies in front of him before he spoke.
"Do you know America?"
"America? What is an America?"
A deep grunt escaped Mark''s chest, and the woman could almost hear the smile in his voice as he spoke again.
"Exactly what I thought. You''ve never heard of it."
"I''m from Ni''le in the western kingdom of Thalus. I was a bandit before I was captured and thrown down here. My name is Ryax. What is yours?"
"Mark Vanitas."
Boom!!
"Rarrgh!!"
[Critical Strike]!
m!
Mark destroyed another zombie before he heard her talk again. Why was she talking this much in the middle of a battle?
"A family name? Are you a royal?"
"Not exactly."
sh!
RARGGH!
sh! Squelch!
Ryax quickly stabbed a zombie in the neck and kicked it away from her before it could bite her! She saw two zombies that were running at her and she shed the head off one of them before she stabbed the neck of the second one that already had an injury from Mark. She then used that opportunity to retreat back to stand behind Mark again.
"If we get out of this alive, what do you think about us getting married?"
"¡?"
"I have never been sullied by another man. I can bear strong children, and you have the spirit of a warrior. I will not mind having you as a husband."
Boom! Boom!
Mark pulled his fist back as he felt that sensation of space distorting once more and he unleashed a punch on the horde of zombies in front of him.
[Divergent Fist]!
Boooooommmm!
The zombies were torn to shreds, and Mark finally spoke while looking around him and analyzing the movement of the zombies that were still pouring into the cavern.
"I''ll have to decline."
[Time Remaining: 1:12:52]
Mark could hear the disappointment in Ryax''s voice when next she spoke.
"A pity. Then perhaps we should visit each other''s hometowns. I have never been to this America before, and I believe I can show you something worth seeing in Thalus. If we make it out of here alive, swear to me that you wille visit my home."
Mark didn''t have time to think too much about it, so he just promised her whatever she wanted. This was just a test and it wouldn''t matter anyway.
Chapter 125: Alter Of The Dead
Mark didn''t have time to think too much about it, so he just promised her whatever she wanted. This was just a test and it wouldn''t matter anyway. Mark narrowed his eyes at the zombies running towards the two of them, and he suddenly told Ryax to stop when she was about to hit them.
He grabbed her and jumped back beforending on the floor silently, and he watched as the zombies continued to run towards another man who was shouting loudly at the side.
Mark gently moved his body to the right as he saw a zombieing towards him and the zombie walked right past him as it charged towards the loud man again. Mark had been noticing this for a while now. Whenever he was in the middle of fighting, the number of zombies would keep increasing no matter how many he killed, but when he was trying to rest silently, the zombies would hardlye towards him.
"What is going on -?"
"Shh~"
Mark told Ryax to stay silent, and he watched as a zombie that was charging towards them just now changed its direction and went towards a louder area.
"They''re blind. Haven''t you noticed how they always go towards those that are making the most noise? I think they use sound to find their prey. They can''t see anything."
Ryax immediately tried to understand what Mark was talking about. She looked around curiously and noticed that the zombies were noting towards the both of them now that they were silent. Instead, the zombies would go towards anyone who was making the most noise beside them and attack that person instead.
She took a step closer to Mark and narrowed her eyes at the surroundings while tightening her hold on her sword. This was a good discovery, but it didn''t do much for either of them right now.
Even if the monsters weren''t searching for them specifically, there were still so many zombies in the cavern that they had a chance of finding them just by walking around aimlessly and bumping into them. They couldn''t stand still forever and hope that the zombies never get to them.
"So, now what? If we stay here then they wille for us after all the others are dead. I don''t think we should risk fighting against them when everyone else is killed. We will surely lose."
Mark raised his hand up and told her to stay silent as he watched something at the corner of his vision.
[Time Remaining: 01:00:30]
[Time Remaining: 00:40:35]
Mark patiently waited for the time limit to be reached. He knew that it might be a gamble, but he remembered the rule from the beginning of the game. The rule stated that Mark would have to survive a zombie horde for five minutes before he could leave, but it also stated that he had to eradicate all the zombies in the cavern before he could leave.
Rather than wasting energy to fight against zombies while they were stilling, why not just wait until they stopped increasing in number and take them all on at once? That was Mark''s thought process, but even Mark could not have realized that it was a wed thought process.
This wasn''t a game brought up by a human mind; it was something a god of death himself decided on, and Mark could not guess what would happen to him after the time limit was exhausted.
He simply waited for the time to run out.
[Time Remaining: 00:20:01]
[Time Remaining: 00:01:30]
[The User has fulfilled the first criteria of the test [Survive the Zombie Horde for Five Minutes.] The second criterion is yet to be fulfilled. Beginning countermeasures.]
Boom!
The door leading out of the cavern suddenly mmed shut to prevent any more zombies froming through, and the fires burning on the wall all died out as the cavern was drowned in darkness. Mark narrowed his eyes as he adjusted to the dark. Even though he was not seeing perfectly, he still had above-average night vision and could see in front of him just fine.
Ryax, on the other hand, was notfortable with the darkness, and she immediately took many steps back until she was standing back to back with Mark once more. Her heart rate had risen to a steady, beating drum, and she could feel sweat dripping from her forehead. She couldn''t die here.
Rumble!
Rumble!
Everyone looked towards the front of the cavern as they heard a deep rumble echo through the cavern, and they were stunned to see arge altar rising out from the ground. The altar was made from a bone-white material that had intricate carvings depicting times of war and suffering on its body. The altar rose till it was almost four feet high before it stopped.
Click!
Phwoom!
A click was heard through the cavern before the top of the altar suddenly began to burn with the same ck mes that the torches on the walls were once burning. And right before the eyes of every person there, something unbelievable started to happen.
All the zombies that were killed or destroyed, began to get back up on their feet as they slowly started to heal.
The altar that they were looking at was called the ''Altar of the Dead''. It was an artifact from the age of gods that remained in the hand of Thanatos after he defeated the former god of death, Hades, and took control over his domain. It used to be used in war to heal allies that were injured, but in this case, it was helping the zombies to heal themselves of any wound that was inflicted on them.
So long as the fire on that altar burned, the zombies could get up indefinitely and continue to fight against the humans.
"We are all going to die."
Ryax couldn''t help but speak up in fear as she saw the zombies getting up from where they had fallen. Her sword was shaking in her hand, and she was trying her best not to lose sight of Mark in this madness. If she did, then she would surely die from her injury or the zombies. Mark, on the other hand, was perfectly calm as he tried to understand what this new test was all about.
He remembered Sozin telling him a long time ago that the gods would not give him something that was impossible to defeat. They would only give him something that was difficult to achieve. That meant that even this seemingly impossible test must have a method to win.
Rarghh!!! Rarghhh!
RARGHH!
Mark had to snap out from his musing as he saw many of the zombies that he killed suddenly standing back up as their bodies stitched themselves together, and they started toe towards him with bloodlust in their eyes. They were blind, but that did not matter when there were this many of them. Throw a thousand darts at a bullseye at the same time, and at least one of them will hit.
The horde of monsters raced towards Mark and jumped him all at once!
Chapter 126: The True Essence Of Life Is Bloodshed
[Critical Hit]!
Boom!
Mark started to fight against them again. He punched, kicked, and tore apart the monsters that were in front of him, but he soon realized the foolishness of what he was doing as he saw them getting back to their feet over and over again.
It almost put a bit of fear into Mark''s heart as he saw a zombie that he had just decapitated getting back to its feet, grabbing it''s head, and putting it back in ce. What the actual fuck is that? Is this some sort of joke? How can they heal that quickly? There is no time difference between when I kill them and when theye back!
Mark could not tell what was making them heal so quickly, but his eyes immediately traveled towards the altar in the distance and the fire burning on it. The zombies only started to get up after the altar started to burn. Doesn''t that mean that the fire on the altar has something to do with the zombies'' regeneration?
Mark wasn''t sure, but he decided that the first thing he needed to do was to get to that altar.
Mark gauged the general distance between him and the alter and realized that there was no way he could get over there with the number of zombies in the area. There were so many of them that he would get buried under their numbers if he tried getting through. The only way he could get there was from above.
"Ryax, I need you to throw me."
"What!?"
Ryax was currently in the fight of her life, trying to survive against a horde of zombies with only one arm and a lot of blood loss. Even though Mark was helping her by making sure most of the zombies couldn''t get to her, she still felt like she could be overwhelmed at any moment from the sheer number of them, and now Mark was asking something absurd! Why would he want her to throw him?
If he leaves then how does he expect her to survive?
"I need to get to that altar. Fighting them like this is not helping, they''ll definitely kill all of us. I need to get to that altar and find a way to stop them from getting back up."
Ryax gritted her teeth as she felt a sliver of betrayal in her chest. She knew that Mark was right, that altar was probably the reason behind the zombies getting back up so many times, but if Mark leaves her and goes to find a way to stop them from healing, then she would surely die. Was Mark abandoning her to her fate?
Ryax shook her head as she realized that Mark did not owe her anything. He could leave anytime he wanted, and that would not affect him. Him helping her before was not because he cared, but because he was standing beside her. He would have done the same for anyone else.
Ryax nodded as she stabbed her sword through a zombie''s face and kicked it back. She turned around to grab Mark''s shirt and nted her feet.
Mark could tell that Ryax was strong. You wouldn''t be able to fight against Zombies with S-rank defense with only one hand if you weren''t at least as strong as an upper-level S-rank. That was why he didn''t have any doubt that she could get him all the way to the altar with one throw.
"RARGGGHH!!"
Ryax released a loud cry as she wrenched Mark into the air and tossed him like a bag of rice towards the altar, Mark tucked his hands and feet in as he flew over the zombies that were already looking towards where Ryax was standing and converging on her position due to the scream she just released.
Ryax watched Mark go with longing in her eyes before she bent and picked up her sword once more to face off against all the zombies that were converging on her. She did not have any delusions of surviving now that her one supporter had abandoned her, but that does not mean that she would go down without a fight.
Mark flew through the air andnded on top of a zombie a few paces away from the altar. The Zombie immediately tried to bite Mark, but Mark mmed his foot into the zombie''s face and kicked it back before he started to run towards the altar.
Another zombie flew in from the side with its mouth wide enough to grab arge bite from Mark, but Mark was able to dodge under it as he flew up the stairs leading towards the altar.
Doon!
Immediately, Mark''s feet touched the tform where the altar was standing, every single zombie in the cavern turned away from the people that they were attacking and immediately started to go towards Mark. Mark cursed in anger as he saw this and started to look through the altar for anything that could help him.
There was no button to press and no lever to pull on the altar; all that Mark could see was some form of writing that he couldn''t read. It was in hieroglyphics, and Mark just guessed that it was some form of Egyptian writing. He turned to his system.
"Can you decode this?"
[Yes. Does the user wish to decode the message.]
"Do it!"
["For it is in despair that we find joy. For it is in destruction that we achieve true peace. The advent of chaos is merriment, the true essence of life is bloodshed." ¨C A mantra belonging to the once ritualistic people of Thalus who prayed to the god of death Hades.]
"¡"
[¡]
Mark mmed his hands on the altar!
"What the fuck does that mean!?"
Mark leaned down and read through the words again before a Zombie reached him.
"RARGHH!!"
He used the chains on his hand to wrap around the zombie''s head and dragged it down under his feet! He mmed his heel into its forehead and held it down there while he continued looking through the words. Killing it wouldn''t change shit, so Mark just needed to buy time!
Joy, destruction, merriment, bloodshed. Merriment¡ no, bloodshed. Bloodshed. Do I need to use blood on the altar? Is this some sort of cult slogan that is used during their sacrificial rituals?
Mark looked up as he heard the sounds of zombies congregating on his position and he clicked his tongue.
Ryax was running towards the altar at full speed as she hacked through many zombies that were simply ignoring her. Immediately after Mark touched the altar, all the zombies that were attacking her turned away and started to go after Mark instead. She knew that she could simply abandon him and go retreat, but it wasn''t in her to leave someone who saved her life multiple times.
She immediately started to hack through to get to Mark, but she was stunned when she heard Mark shout from the altar.
"Ryax!! Throw me your sword!!"
She didn''t need to be told twice! Ryax pulled the sword back and threw it like a boomerang towards Mark! Mark easily caught the sword by the hilt before he raised it up.
[Full Body Constitution] has been deactivated.
Squelch!
Mark stabbed through his palm and mmed his palm into the mes on the altar. He didn''t care if he got burned. It would surely be better than dying at the hands of the zombies that wereing towards him. Mark was not going to give any of his lives to these useless pieces of flesh.
Mark waited¡ and waited¡ and waited. But he slowly started to squeeze his brow in disbelief.
Chapter 127: River Crossing
Mark waited... and waited... and waited. But he slowly started to squeeze his brow in disbelief as he noticed that nothing was happening. Fucking hell, did he get it wrong? Mark looked up at therge crowd of zombies that were right in front of him, and he gritted his teeth and drew the sword to prepare for a fight as a zombie jumped over the altar to get to him.
Click!
But before the fight could begin, a slick sound was heard from the altar as red lines traveled across its body and formed a circle in the middle of its forward-facing side. A small slot opened there, and a ck light shone throughout the cave.
Sheen!
The first person who seemed to notice how dangerous the situation was at that moment was Ryax, and she immediately shouted out to everyone else who was standing around the cavern.
"Run to the side! Now!!!"
Everybody started to run towards the wall of the cavern as the ck light dimmed before a massive torrent of ck mes surged to life across the cave.
Phwoom!
The hole released a massive flood of fire that burned everything in front of it! All the zombies that were in front of the altar were immediately scorched to death as they were blown back by the ck mes. Mark easily ducked under the zombies that managed to get over the altar before he grabbed them and threw them back from where they came, for them to be destroyed by the fire.
It took more than five minutes for the fire to die down, and by then, there was nothing left in the middle of the cavern other than dead, twitching bodies. Mark made sure that there were no more monsters around before he stepped back and fell back on the wall with a sigh. That was fucking tiring. If Mark never saw another zombie in his life, it would be too soon.
The other survivors in the room didn''t even reach a tenth of what they were at the start of the battle. Barely ten people were left standing at the end of it all, and Mark nced at Ryax as she came up to the altar to ask if he needed help. Mark shook his head and stood up alone.
Rumble!
The door leading out of the cavern opened, and Mark wasted no time as he started to walk through to leave that ce. The others also followed after him, and they all reached a long corridor that led into darkness.
"Hey, Mark, aren''t youing?"
Ryax spoke up from in front of Mark as she noticed that Mark was no longer walking with the rest of them. Mark didn''t say anything for a few minutes as he looked at them with a nk face. He closed his eyes for a moment before he opened them and smiled slightly.
"No, you guys go on without me."
"Really? It''s pretty confusing down here. You can easily get lost if you''re wandering around on your own."
"Don''t worry about me, Ryax. I''ll be fine. There''s something I have to do before I can leave. You go on without me."
"Alright, but don''t forget our promise, okay? Come visit my hometown when this is all finished! I''ll find America! I promise!"
Ryax raised her hand to wave goodbye to Mark, but all Mark could notice was how her pale, rotten skin and sunken eyes started to reveal themselves. Her clothes were bing more tattered, and worms were going in and out of holes in her skin.
And she was not the only one; every single person there was starting to turn into rotten corpses as they waved at Mark from a distance, and Mark remembered that these were damned souls that were only being used for the test. They weren''t alive anymore. They seemed so real during the test that hepletely forgot.
"I''ll try my best! Bye, Ryax!"
Ryaxughed heartily as she disappeared into the darkness while waving to Mark, and the smile on Mark''s face disappeared once Ryax was gone. The scene in front of him slowly changed until he was standing at the bank of an enormous river that was filled with still water that glowed green.
Fog covered the surface of the water like a nket, and Mark could feel goosebumps rise on his skin just from looking at it. There was a boat on one side of the river with a man sitting inside with his head bowed.
Mark felt the chains hanging from his hands fall off, and he blinked down at his free wrists in surprise. I suppose the chains were only for the first test. Mark clenched and unclenched his gloved palms to get feeling back into his arms. Mark then looked towards his system again.
[Test 2: The River Crossing]
[The User has been ced at the edge of the crossroads between the world of the living and the dead, the River Styx. In order to cross the River Styx, a soul is required to pay a ferry fee to the ferryman, the river crosser Charon.
The User does not possess any significant valuables to act as a crossing fee; therefore, the user is required to strike a suitable deal with the ferryman, Charon, to get him to the other side.]
[Test Conditions]
-> The user is not allowed to use all skills during the fight.
-> The user must not fall into the river more than twice. If the user falls into the river, the user will suffer the consequences on his own without help from any of the gods.
-> The User must strike at least one deal with the ferryman Charon.
[Number of Lives: III]
[The user has been granted a favor due to the incessant demands of his patron god, Sozin. Thanatos has agreed to allow the user to use one skill during each test. Please select the skill you wish to use]
[Mana Cirction ¨C D Rank]
[Taunting ¨C F Rank]
[Blunt Force Trauma ¨C D Rank]
[True Sight ¨C D Rank]
...
Here we go again. Mark looked across the skills that he had with a critical gaze as he tried to see which of them would be useful in a mission like this. Mark had heard about the River Styx before. It was a river that served as a crossing path for dead souls.
ording to myth, souls that die would have to pay the ferryman Charon a gold coin to have him take them to the other side, but if you don''t have a gold coin, then Charon will refuse to take you to the other side, and you will have to swim across the river to get to the other side.
Chapter 128: Charon - The Ferryman
Souls that die would have to pay the ferryman Charon a gold coin to have him take them to the other side, but if you don''t have a gold coin then Charon will refuse to take you to the other side and you will have to swim across the river to get there.
Apparently, swimming across the river takes almost a hundred years longer than it would take for you to just use the boat, and you can get lost in that river for years trying to swim to the other side. It was some sort of deal between Charon and the goddess Styx that allowed him to cross the river in a shorter time than anyone else.
If he was going to be striking a deal with someone, then the best skill for that situation would have to be the True Sight skill. This skill could help him to know more about his opponent and give him an upper hand in the negotiation. Bumakr was worried about the skill level. What would happen if the True Sight skill was not high enough to see the skills of a god?
Charon might only be a ferryman, but he was still one of those mythological gods that Mark learned about in school. Surely, Charon would not be weak.
But all the other three skills were not going to be useful in a negotiation. Mark had no intention of drawing monsters to himself, and why would he try to fight Charon without knowing how strong he was first? That could be suicide. Mark decided that he would simply risk it.
There was a chance that the True Sight skill would not show him anything at all, and there was a chance that it would show him just enough for him to know what to do about Charon, but it was better than going in blind.
[Does the user wish to choose [True Sight] as his activated skill? Yes/No]
Mark chose yes and the system made the necessary changes to his system. The other skills were all blurred out and only the True Sight skill became active.
...
-> True Sight: This skill grants the user the ability to perceive the stats and skills of others, offering insight into their capabilities with a single nce. Current True Sight: D rank [1/400]
...
Mark started walking towards the boat at the river bank and once he was close enough he immediately activated the [True Sight] skill to get a look at Charon''s stats.
...
Name: Charon
Race: God
Title: Ferryman
Rank: ???
Potential: ???
Skill: ???
Description: A vindictive god who despises the Olympians and Thanatos for forcing the job of ferrying souls upon him. It would be wise not to trust him.
Affiliation: True Neutral.
...
Mark hummed quietly as he saw everything other than the description being blurred out. Mark was sure that the only reason why the system didn''t blur out the description as well was because of how easy it was to get information on Charon.
The information that it gave was nothing new and Mark already heard about some of it in school before the Olympians forced Charon to ferry souls across the Styx, and Charon despised them for it, but that was not going to help him a lot in theing negotiation. Or would it? Mark stepped on the edge of the riverbed, right in front of Charon''s boat.
Charon was sitting with his head bowed and Mark could only assume that the god was sleeping. Mark called out his name loudly.
"Charon."
"Do not speak my name so frivolously, mortal. Know your ce."
The voice that spoke to Mark was low and raspy. It almost sounded like chalk grating over a board and Mark felt a small shiver in his teeth from the sensation. He frowned at the ferryman as he raised his head, and Mark was surprised to see that Charon had a face.
In fact, if you overlooked the chalk-white skin and ck eyes that seemed to stare into your soul, Charon looked like a regr human being. Was this really the ferryman?
Mark expected something more¡ sinister than what he was seeing. He thought that Charon would be a twisted being with no face, or at least a skeletal face with ck mes pouring out from the sides. Something like Ghost Rider. But instead, Charon just looked like a really pale middle-aged man.
Charon had a deep look of contemtion on his face as his mind raced through the history of souls that were recently sent to the underworld, and when he did not find Mark''s name among the dead, he decided to speak up in realization.
"So you are the one sent by the gods of Olympus. I was told that a demigod would be sent to me, but I did not expect to see a boy your age. I have not been this insulted since that foolish woman dipped her son into my river. Achilles was his name, was it not¡ I hope you are at least more honorable than she was."
Mark stayed perfectly calm as he nodded. He then said.
"I came to strike a deal. I want to get across the river, but I do not have anything to pay you with."
Charon''s face squeezed in irritation as he heard what Mark said. If you don''t have anything to pay with, then you should not even show yourself before me. That was an insult that Charon was not going to stand for. He was one second away from simply telling Mark to go away and swim across the river like all the other lost souls, but he stopped as he gained a new outlook on the situation.
This boy was just like the others who had been chosen by the gods. Demigods like Achilles and Hercules were favored and sent down there to be tested by the gods in order to prove themselves. Charon has always hated the demigods. They had everything that Charon wanted.
They were favored by the gods and they had songs sung about them, depicting their adventures and great deeds, but Charon was stuck down here, a glorified soul transporter. He did not even have a single song made about him.
Charon finally had a chance to spit in the face of the gods. This could be his chance to relinquish his duties and leave this ce. A coy smile spread across his face as he gained an idea of the perfect deal to strike with Mark. This would be perfect for him.
"You only believe that you do not have something worth exchanging, but the gods would not send you here without properpensation for my troubles. Even the gods who cast me here in their hubris are not capable of circumventing the rules of this world."
Mark narrowed his eyes as he heard the way Charon was talking. It was a bit suspicious and Mark was already on guard as he made sure not to say anything that would get him in trouble without him knowing. He asked what the exchange would be and Charon''s smile widened.
"Your soul. I will carry you across the river, but in exchange for my services, you will put your soul on the line."
Chapter 129: An Exchange of A Soul
"Your soul. I will carry you across the river, but in exchange for my services, you will put your soul on the line. This river is filled with the souls of the dead, each of them trying desperately to get over to the other side. In the event that anyone falls into the river during a crossing, their body is devoured and their soul is lost in the flow of time for the next hundred years.
All the souls within are constantly trying to draw in more souls to join them, so their number never dwindles. I want you to swear by the Styx that if you were to sumb to the luring of the souls and get lost in this river, your soul would be mine to do with as I wish."
What a shitty-ass deal.
There were too many inconsistencies, and Mark was not sure what exactly Charon meant by the souls trying to lure him into the river for him to ept the deal. Mark looked towards the foggy green river curiously, and he was surprised to see many translucent objects floating across the river while trying to get to the other side.
But no matter how hard they forced themselves to move forward, it always seemed like they were stuck in ce. Trapped in time.
Were those the souls of the dead? Howe I couldn''t see anything till now?
Mark turned back to Charon while thinking about the deal. So all Mark had to do was to make sure he didn''t fall into the river? That seemed like something doable, and Mark knew that if it was that simple, then Charon would not even bother mentioning the deal at all. There had to be something more to it. What sort of method would the souls use to lure Mark into the river?
Mark asked Charon this question, and Charon stayed silent as he just watched Mark with nk eyes. He was not going to say anything about that and Mark frowned angrily as he saw Charon turn away from him after some time. Mark asked his system for information about the method used to lure souls into the river, but the system also stayed silent.
Mark gritted his teeth in irritation as he realized that he was not going to get any information out of Charon or his system. He would just have to add his own use to the deal.
"I will ept the deal, but only if you swear by the Styx that you will not try to throw me into the river yourself. Only the souls are allowed to try and lure me in. The moment you throw me into the Styx, the deal is broken, and you get nothing."
Charon eyed Mark for a few more seconds, and Mark did not know if Charon was even thinking about the deal at all or if he was just watching Mark with those unnerving eyes. But after some time, Charon finally reached out to the side, and a long stick appeared in his hand and sunk into the river below him.
"I swear by the Styx that should you keep to the deal, I will keep to it as well."
Charon finally made the pledge, and Mark could literally feel the ground under his feet tremble as the entire river seemed to vibrate in eptance of the pledge. Mark knew that a pledge made to the Styx was one of the most binding vows that a god could make in Olympus, so he was sure that Charon would keep his word. Mark nodded and swore his pledge as well.
"I swear by the Styx."
Rumble!
The ground under Mark''s feet trembled as another pledge was made, and Mark watched Charon pull the boat out into the water using his stick. Mark quickly moved towards the boat and entered before it went offshore, and the both of them drifted out into the foggy river in silence.
¡
Eerily silent.
That was the only term Mark could use to quantify the feeling that the river Styx gave him as they drifted deeper into it. There was a fog covering the entire river, so Mark could not see more than a few feet in front of him at a time, but Charon seemed to know exactly where he was going, so Mark could only put his faith in the ferryman and hope that they would get out of this water soon.
The sound of a low, reverberating scream echoed from somewhere miles away, and Mark turned to his left curiously as he watched the fog floating around them from that direction. Something touched the boat and wobbled it slightly, and Mark made the mistake of looking down to see the souls that were passing beside the boat while trying fervently totch onto it.
The souls in the river were all lost souls that died with no riches, so they were forced to cross the river on their own, so anytime the ferry passed by they would try totch onto the boat so that it would pull them to the other side. But no matter how hard they tried, it was impossible for them to grab hold of it.
"Help me. Help me. Help me. I''m looking for my son."
"My bank ount has millions. Help me withdraw some money."
"Do you like dirty magazines? Help me and I''ll give you some?"
"I can''t find my mother. My mother was with me when we died, but I can''t find her."
"Are you my father?"
Mark began to hear voices echo out from the river as hundreds of souls tried to get his attention at the same time. He pulled back and closed his eyes for a moment to try and drown out the voices. There were many souls all speaking at once, so the voices just melded into a long, unbearable shrill that threatened to burst his eardrums from how loud it was.
"Son, is that you?"
Mark''s eyes flew open as he heard that voice. No. There was no way that was possible.
Mark turned to the side quickly to try and pinpoint the voice that had just spoken up, but no matter how hard he tried to single out one soul from the multitude, it was impossible for him to find it. It was like looking for a strand of hair in a haystack!
Mark would recognize that voice anywhere! It has only been four years since she died, so Mark would easily recognize his mother''s voice even if it was being overshadowed by the shrill of all the other voices speaking at the same time. That was definitely his mother that spoke just now! Mark turned towards Charon to ask a question.
"Charon! Do you know who ¨C !"
m!
Chapter 130: Into The River
"Charon! Do you know who¡ª!"
m!
But before Mark could get out his words, the long stick in Charon''s hand mmed into Mark''s temple, and Mark felt his brain rattle from the shock as he almost fell off the edge of the boat. What the hell just happened?
"Hahahahaha! Did you believe striking a deal with me would be enough to save you? You demi-gods are all the same! So foolish!"
The shrillugh from Charon made Mark''s ears ring, and he groaned as he tried to get himself back under control. That hit was unbelievably heavy! A hand suddenly reached out to grab Mark as Charon prepared to throw Mark over the edge of the boat.
Right from the start, Charon never had any intentions of keeping to the deal they made. Charon didn''t give a damn about keeping Mark''s soul. He knew that even if he kept Mark''s soul, the other gods would interfere and block him from using it how he wanted, so Charon decided that he would just spite the gods instead.
He would break the deal that they made to the Styx and use that opportunity to throw Mark into the river and get him lost in there. Breaking the deal had no negative effects on Charon, so Charon could rest assured that he would be fine. The only one that would suffer was Mark!
Mark felt Charon trying to throw him into the water, and he immediately started to struggle with the god. Surprisingly, Mark felt that his efforts were working. He thought that Charon would be a lot stronger than him because of that heavy hit that he felt rattle his brain, but Charon was not able to throw Mark off easily.
Does that mean that most of that power came from the stick rather than from Charon?
From what Mark could feel now, his power was not too far away from Charon''s power.
Mark reached behind him to grab Charon''s hand. Charon already had half of Mark''s body off the boat, and throwing Mark off would be easy!
Charon was just a moment away from throwing Mark into the water, and Mark decided that all bets were off. If he was going to go into the river, then he was not going in alone!
Mark pulled himself forward while holding tight to Charon''s hand, and Charon''s eyes widened in shock as he realized what was going on!
"What the hell do you think you''re doing, you foolish mortal!?"
Mark spat his words like a curse!
"Let''s take a dip together, you bastard!"
Ssh!
Ssh!
The both of them fell into the river, and Charon immediately burst out from the water! He had a look of fury on his face as he struggled to try and get back to the boat so he could leave, but a hand suddenly burst out from the water and grabbed him by the back of his head!
Ssh!
Mark forced Charon down underwater while bringing his own head out of the water, and he held Charon down as Charon struggled to get out of Mark''s grip. Mark could see souls converging on him, and they began totch onto him and drag him away from the boat.
No matter how hard Mark tried, he couldn''t stop them from taking him further away from the boat, so he just held onto Charon while ignoring the souls!
"Buah!! What do you think you''re doing!? You''ll kill us both!"
Charon burst out from the water with a mad look in his eyes, and he shouted angrily while trying to get out of Mark''s grip, but lightning suddenly started to dance around Mark as he activated his gloves skill! There was a look of intense anger in Mark''s eyes as he red at Charon with hatred.
"Then let us die together, you useless god!"
Bzzttt!!!
A burst of lightning flew out from Mark''s glove, and Charon lost control of his body as he was electrocuted and thrown into the water again by Mark! Mark felt himself sinking into the water due to the sheer number of souls that were now clinging onto him, and he could only hold on tight to Charon as they both sunk into the green waters of the Styx.
¡.
"GASP!!"
Mark sucked in a deep breath as he felt himself reappear in front of the River Styx. He was standing on his feet, and he looked down to see his chains lying on the floor. Fuck, that was terrifying. So that is what it feels like to die.
Mark decided at that moment that he did not like the feeling.
[User has died.]
[Number of lives remaining: II]
[Thanatos scoffs at the User''s tenacity. Thanatos watches keenly to see what method the user employs next.]
Mark sighed in irritation as he read through his tabs before he shook his head and looked towards the boat floating in the water again. Charon was sitting in the boat peacefully, and when Mark stepped closer to him, Mark could not see any reactions from him to show that he remembered what just happened. That meant that Mark was the only one who went into the past with his memories intact.
Charon was not sent back with his memories, so he didn''t know anything about what just happened on the boat.
Good. Mark could work with this.
¡
"So you are the one sent by the gods of Olympus. I was told that a demi-god would be sent to me, but I did not expect to see a boy your age. I have not been this insulted since that foolish woman dipped her son into my river. Achilles was his name, was it not¡ I hope you are at least more honorable than she was."
Charon said the exact same thing that he said before, and Mark only gave him short, clipped answers as he stated his reason for being there.
"I''d like to cross the river, but I have no coin. Would you like to strike a deal?"
Charon raised a brow at the statement. He did not think that Mark would try to strike a deal that easily. Usually, demigods would first try to get across the river for free. Or maybe they might even try to threaten him to get them across the river. It is only when they realize the stupidity of their actions that they try to strike a deal. It seems this demigod is different from the others.
"Are you sure you wish to strike a deal with a god of my caliber? It could cost you more than you are willing to lose."
"That would depend on the deal."
Charon''s mouth split into a wide smile as he heard Mark say this, and he quickly made the same deal as before.
"I will take you across the river, but in exchange, should you fall to the temptation of the souls in the river and enter into the Styx, your soul is mine to do with as I wish."
Mark stared Charon down as he agreed.
"That is a high price to pay for a trip that would usually cost only one gold coin. So, shouldn''t you make the deal more bnced by cing your soul on the line as well? I''ll take the deal, but on one condition. If you fall into the river, then your soul is mine to do with as I wish."
Charon''s eyes narrowed as he heard Mark say this, and he immediately spoke up angrily.
"You dare to bargain for the soul of a god? Have you no fear?"
Chapter 131: Prepared
"You dare to bargain for the soul of a god? Have you no fear?"
Mark remained calm in the face of Charon''s anger. Mark would have had a bit more respect for Charon if Charon hadn''t tried to throw him into the river earlier, but after something like that, there was no way Mark was going to show him any fear or respect.
Mark waited for Charon to calm down again, and Charon finally huffed and turned away from Mark with an annoyed look on his face. Charon was thinking about the deal that Mark brought forward and what sort of changes he should make to it. Mark was right that the deal was too one-sided.
Even though the gods could do whatever they wanted, they could not force mortals into deals without the mortals epting it on their own. Even though the god tempts you and lures you towards the deal, so long as you willingly fall for the temptation and allure, then the deal is sealed.
If Mark refused to ept the deal, then Charon would have to change it a little. Charon still had the intention of throwing Mark off the boat once they got far enough into the river. It would be a big blow against whatever god sent Mark down here, and Charon was petty enough to derive joy only from that split moment of anger he knew he would cause.
The other gods think that they can just ignore him for centuries and then send demi-gods down here for him to test like he was a glorified school teacher!? They will feel his anger.
It never even crossed Charon''s mind for a moment that this was not the first time that he was meeting with Mark. Charon simply went forward with his deal like normal.
"Very well then. You do not have a right to bargain for my soul. It is not something a mere mortal will even know what to do with, but if you can withstand the temptation to enter the river until we reach the shores, then I will grant you a gift."
Mark smiled internally as he heard Charon say this. Mark knew that his initial request was too absurd. Asking for the soul of a god was insane and a little greedy, but that was exactly why Mark did it. This bastard tried to down Mark, and Mark was going to getpensation for that one way or another.
If Mark had asked for something small, then Charon would have given him something even smaller as a counter-reward, but since Mark asked for his soul, Charon''s counter-reward would be something worthwhile. Now all Mark had to do was to make sure that Charon did not throw him off the boat while they were riding towards the shore.
From the previous journey, Mark knew that he and Charon were not too far apart in terms of strength. If he really tried, Mark could hold Charon back, and perhaps even win against him in a tussle. That meant that Mark had the upper hand here.
So long as he didn''t allow himself to get distracted, Mark had the element of surprise that he could use to overpower Charon before Charon tried to attack him using that fucking pole. That pole hurt a lot more than Charon''s punches and Mark had no intention of being hit by it again!
"Very well, I''ll ept the deal."
"Then swear by the Styx that you will uphold your side of the deal, should I uphold mine."
"I swear by the Styx."
Rumble!
The ground under Mark''s feet shook as the pledge was epted and Charon put his hand out and summoned the rod. Mark moved to enter the boat, and they both drifted into the river.
¡
"Have you seen my son?"
"My knife fell from the counter and stabbed me in the eye. I didn''t deserve to die that pitifully."
"Do you wanna have sex, boy?"
The voices of the damned echoed all around Mark as they made their way deeper into the river, but Mark didn''t bother turning around or looking at anything around him. His eyes were fixed on a spot right above Charon''s head as he tried to gauge how far away they were from the shore. But he couldn''t see anything because of how dense the fog was and he finally gave up and looked back at Charon.
Mark was waiting for the right moment to make his move. He knew that Charon would try to knock him off the boat soon, so Mark had to use that moment when Charon thinks his guard is down tounch his own attack.
Charon was paddling slowly while keeping his attention off Mark. He didn''t know what it was, but something was making him feel unnerved. Although they had not said a word to each other since they entered the boat, Charon could tell that Mark''s senses were sharper than ever.
Even when Mark was not looking at him, Charon still felt like there were eyes on him, and he knew that it would not be a good idea to rush in at that moment.
Charon had to be patient. He knew that there would be a moment on this journey when you would see someone who was once close to you along the way. It has happened to everyone that Charon ever transported across the Styx and Charon knew that Mark would be no different. It was only a matter of time before Mark lost his focus because of that!
And immediately after Charon thought this, he could hear the sweet voice of a woman echo from somewhere to his left. Charon saw Mark''s eyes widen in surprise, and Charon''s mouth split into a grin as he prepared himself for the inevitable.
"Is that you, son?"
Mark couldn''t have stopped his head from tilting towards the left once he heard that voice. Even though Mark knew that it wasing. Even though he prepared for it and told himself that he would try to ignore it. It was almost surreal hearing his mother''s voice so close to him, and he made the mistake of tilting his head to his right for a split second! But it was only for a split second!
Woosh!
Mark ducked down once he saw Charon''s stick flying towards his head and he quickly dashed forward and mmed into Charon''s midsection! The boat rocked in the water and Charon yelled in anger as he almost fell off, but he was held in ce by Mark!
Mark''s fist began to release electric bolts as he pulled it back and delivered a massive punch right into Charon''s stomach!
Boom!
The punch struck true and Charon gasped for air as his rod fell from his hand!
Chapter 132: I Wont Let You Go
Mark''s fist began to release electric bolts as he pulled it back and delivered a massive punch right into Charon''s stomach!
Boom!
The punch struck true and Charon gasped for air as his rod fell off his hand! Charon took a step forward and mmed his forehead into Mark''s temple! Mark''s vision swam from the strike, but Mark already knew that it would hurt so it didn''t make him pause. Instead, he reached up and grabbed Charon by the shirt before body-tossing him over his shoulder and into the water below!
Ssh!!
"Buah!! What the hell do you think you are doing!? How dare you attack a god! Pass me that rod now!?"
Charon shouted in anger as he watched Mark pick up his rod. He tried to swim towards the boat, but Mark started to paddle the boat backward to prevent Charon from getting closer. Mark had a nk, apathetic look on his face as he watched Charon struggle to get closer, but he paddled away at just the right speed to prevent Charon from reaching the boat.
"I said stop this instant ande here!!"
"You attacked me and tried to push me into the Styx and now you''re asking for help? Are you fucking mental?"
Charon clicked his tongue in irritation once Mark said this and Charon pped away a soul that swam too close to him before he started speaking again.
"I did no such thing. I was simply moving my rod to the other side of the boat! You are the one that suddenly attacked me! Of course, I would defend myself!"
Mark hummed as he heard what Charon said and he slowly started to paddle further and further away. Mark did not know where he was going, but he was certain that Charon would not want to be left behind in the Styx. If Mark paddled long enough, then he would eventually reach a shore, but Charon would remain stuck in the middle of the Styx for the next hundred years.
That is not something anyone ¨C god or man ¨C would want.
"Wait!! I tried to attack you! But I was not going to leave you behind! I simply wished to test you!"
The look of disbelief on Mark''s face immediately told Charon that Mark was not falling for the lie at all and Charon had to admit that it was a pretty stupid lie to tell. No one with half a brain cell would fall for that!
Mark did not even know how someone like this became a god in the first ce. Mark knew that there were many sinister gods, even Sozin was sinister in his own humorous way. But not only was Charon twisted on the inside, he was also weak. Mark always thought of the gods as honorable beings of immense power. At least that was how Mark saw Sozin whenever he visited him.
But finding out that Charon was actually this pitiful made him doubt his initial judgment of the gods.
Mark should not have been shocked to learn that Charon was this untrustworthy. The entire reason why Charon was ced as the transporter of souls by the other gods is because there was literally nothing else that Charon could do in the realm of gods. He was too weak to control any other domain, so Hades ced him on the river Styx to give him purpose.
But Charon was a greedy bastard who wanted attention more than anything else. After Hades was killed by Thanatos, Charon started tosh out once more to grab the attention of the gods, but no matter what he did, they didn''t even look in his direction. He thought that trapping Mark down here would finally draw their eyes toward him and give him more power.
Gods gain power by the belief that people ce in them, so once the story of Charon trapping someone in the Styx spreads around, the people will fear him more and he will gain more power that way. That was what he believed. Charon didn''t know that he was so weak that even if he gained ten times more followers, he would still be weaker than the weakest major god.
"¡ A god shouldn''t lie so easily."
Mark spoke up from a good distance away while setting the rod down and looking down at Charon. Charon red at Mark in anger. He tried his best to get rid of the stray souls that were gathering around him, but no matter how many times he pped or pushed them away, they kept on trying totch onto him!
Charon smacked a certain soul that was trying to grab his hand before turning to Mark and shouting angrily!
"Fine! Tell me what you want!"
Mark smiled.
"I want you to swear that you will not try to cause me any harm until you have dropped me off at the shore, and I want your blessing."
"What!? Do you understand what you''re talking about!? Your patron god will have my head!"
Charon was not interested in having a tussle between gods at all! He knew that Mark must have a patron god that sent him down here toplete this test and for Mark to be as strong as he is, that god had to be extremely powerful. If Charon gave Mark his blessing, it would be like trying to stake a im on Mark and that might bring the wrath of the Patron god down on Charon.
Charon was not going to do something so stupid.
Mark raised a brow as he heard what Charon said and he quickly sent a thought out to Sozin. Was it okay for him to get a blessing from Charon?
[Comment from GoG: It''s fine. That useless sailor is so weak, it probably won''t even make a difference at all.]
Sheesh. Mark didn''t know which was worse, the fact that Sozin thought that Charon was weak or the fact that he called him a useless sailor. Mark knew that if Charon could see this message he would be having one hell of a fit! He would probably spit blood from anger.
"My patron god says you can bless me, so you have no choice. I want all your blessings, down to the veryst drop of it."
Charon growled as he saw the coy grin on Mark''s face and he thought about what Mark said. Charon knew that this was a bad situation. He was practically at the mercy of a mortal and if any of the lesser gods saw him like this, they wouldugh at him for eternity.
Even though Charon was a god and he would not die in the Styx, he would still be trapped here for the next hundred years, and that was bad no matter how you look at it.
But on the other hand, Mark was a demigod blessed by one of the strongest gods up there. If Charon also blessed Mark, then all of Mark''s deeds from now on would also be tied to Charon. Isn''t that exactly what Charon wanted all along? He wanted his name to be spread among the humans, and what better way to spread his name than to use the poprity of a demigod blessed by one of the stronger gods?
Charon already had some blessed superhumans, but he didn''t care about them. He could just give all his remaining blessings to Mark and forget about those people.
Charon turned to Mark again as his mind raced as he tried to decide if this was a good deal or not, and after some time, he finally budged.
"Fine! Fine! I swear by the Styx to get you to the shore without trying to hurt you and I''ll give you the damn blessing! Now get me out of here!"
Rumble!
The Styx rumbled again as it registered Charon''s words, and Mark felt pleased with himself as he finally got the stubborn god to agree.
Charon stretched his hand out, and Mark paddled closer and gave Charon the end of the rod to pull himself into the boat. Charon kicked a few stray souls that refused to let go of him, and he grumbled in annoyance as he sat down and grabbed the rod out of Mark''s hand in irritation.
"Never touch this again."
Mark raised his hands in surrender as a small smile spread across his face. He apologized half-heartedly while trying not tough at the wet god trying to reprimand him.
Charon saw the smile and narrowed his eyes at Mark before he started to paddle the boat once more.
The two of them reached the shore on the other side of the river very quickly, and Charon docked the boat and released his rod as he stared at Mark with a critical gaze. Mark stayed silent with his arms folded across his chest as he waited for Charon to speak, and after some time, Charon finally said something.
"Do not bring shame to my name. Giving you the rest of my blessing will make you my champion as well. If you die, I promise to find your soul and throw it into the Styx myself. I will make sure you spend eternity being tormented in this river for staining my honor."
Mark nodded his head seriously, and Charon simply breathed out tiredly.
[The Guardian of Souls, Charon, is attempting to ce a part of his divinity upon the user. Does the User wish to allow this? Yes/No]
Mark chose yes, and the system went nk for a few seconds.
[Recognizing Divinity.]
[Assimting... Assimting... Assimting...]
[Converting to an essible form. Conversion sessful.]
[Unpacking... 10%]
[Unpacking... 30%]
[Unpacking... 50%]
[Unpacking... 60%]
[Unpacking... 90%]
[Unpacking... 99%]
[Unpackingplete. The User has gained a new blessing from the god Charon.]
Chapter 133: Do Not Disappoint Me, Champion.
[The User has gained a new blessing from the god Charon. Due to the presence of a stoner blessing, the blessing from the god Charon cannot be delivered to the user in its divine form. The system has quantified the blessing and converted it to a usable form. The blessing will be represented in the form of a stat increase as well as a new skill.]
¡
[Stat increase due to blessing]
Strength: +500
Stamina: +500
Agility: +300
Durability: +400
Mana: +500
¡
[The User has gained a new Divine Skill [Styxwatchers Discernment - MAX]]
[Styxwatchers Discernment: Styxwaters Discernment endows the user with an infallible ability to perceive truth, drawing upon the wisdom of the River Styx to unravel deception and reveal the sincerity of others. This is a passive skill that cannot be deactivated, therefore, the user cannot be lied to.]
[This skill cannot be upgraded or improved. All inherent properties are permanently set.]
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SUPERHUMAN SYSTEM
Name: Mark Vanitas
Race: Human
Title: [He Who Perseveres Through Hell. [+10% increase to all stats.]] [He Who Defies Destiny]
Rank: S [4380/5000]
Affiliation: True Neutral
Unused Stat Points: 0
Unused Skill Points: 0
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Strength: 1880 [+188] [+376]
Stamina: 1350 [+135] [+270]
Agility: 1150 [+115] [+230]
Durability: 1210 [+121]
Mana: 1020 [+102]
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Artifacts: [Gloves of the Thunder God - S]
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Wow, that was¡ kind of awesome.
The skill was definitely not abat skill. Mark did not expect it to be abat skill since he knew that Charon was not abat-type god. Even Mark was able to overpower him, so Mark did not have much expectation in that regard, but that does not mean that the skill he got waspletely useless.
The skill was a very useful one, and if there was ever a superhuman that had a skill like this, then they would be a very valuable addition to any police force since it would make it impossible for you to lie to them! They could be in charge of detecting lies and carrying out investigations, and their lives would be set for the better.
The stat points that Mark received were just enough to make him as strong as a B-rank superhuman, and it was a little sad that all of Charon''s blessings were only enough to make someone a B rank. Some of the stronger gods were capable of creating multiple S ranks with their blessings, but Charon could only make a single B rank with all his power.
Even if Mark didn''t want to pity him, he couldn''t help but feel a little sorry for the transporter. Just how weak does a god have to be that their entire blessing would only make you B rank? This revtion made Mark appreciate and respect Sozin a lot more. Just how strong was Sozin that his blessing made Mark this powerful? If Sozin ever went all out, how much damage could he cause?
Mark stared down at his hands as he frowned in dissatisfaction.
Just how long would it take to reach that level of strength? Will I ever be able to stand up to someone like Sozin? Mark shook his head and got rid of that thought. Allowing depressing thoughts like that to fill your head is what holds most people back from ever bing strong.
Thinking that you are weak and being discouraged just because you see that there are many strong people around you will make it impossible for you to surpass your own limits. You have to keep moving forward no matter what. That is the only way to gain strength.
"Get off. We have arrived."
Charon spoke up once he docked the boat, but Mark just crossed his arms and raised his brow as he waited for Charon to do something. Charon seemed confused about what Mark was trying to ask for, and Mark just waited until Charon''s eyes widened in surprise as he realized what Mark was waiting for.
"Just how greedy can you be!? You already took everything from me and now you want more?"
Charon couldn''t believe that Mark was holding onto that promise that they made at the start of the trip. Charon swore by the Styx that he would give Mark a gift if Charon falls into the water. Charon did not think that Mark would even think about trying to im the gift, especially since he already took Charon''s blessings for himself.
Just how greedy is this mortal?
"You swore by the Styx, Charon. I''m only trying to help you. I don''t know what the consequences for breaking such a promise are, but I''m sure that it cannot be pretty since the Styx is so important. Trust me, this hurts me just as much as it hurts you. No, maybe it hurts me even more. I do not enjoy this at all; all I am doing is looking out for you."
The sneer on Charon''s face deepened in irritation as Mark started to speak condescendingly with a sad look in his eyes. This bastard was mocking him!
Charon was one moment away from trying to attack Mark again because of how he was speaking, but he held himself back because he knew that there was no way he could win against Mark in the state that Mark was in now. Since Mark had both the blessings of his original patron god as well as Charon''s blessings, Mark was definitely stronger than Charon, and Charon would never win in a tussle.
But even though Mark was only speaking condescendingly, Mark was right about what he said. It would be a bad idea to break a promise that was made in front of the River Styx. If Mark had not asked for the gift or if he had relinquished Charon''s responsibility and allowed him to not keep to the promise, then the Styx would have simply let it go, and there would be no punishment.
But now that Mark has spoken about it, Charon has to keep his word or he will receive punishment from the Styx.
"I am the son of darkness and the night, the overseer ced in charge of the River Styx. By my power, I grant you this gift."
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[The User has been granted a Divine Gift by Charon, the Guardian of Souls.]
[Assimting.. Assimting¡ Assimting¡]
[The gift is being converted to an essible form for system integration. Conversion sessful.]
[Unpacking¡ 10%]
[Unpacking¡ 30%]
[Unpacking¡ 50%]
[Unpacking¡ 60%]
[Unpacking¡ 90%]
[Unpacking¡ 99%]
[Unpacking sessful. The User has gained a new Divine Skill [Achilles Heel]]
[Achilles Heel: This skill enables the user to swiftly detect and expose weaknesses and vulnerabilities in opponents or objects, providing a strategic advantage inbat. Vulnerable areas will be exposed using a red hue. The darker the shade of red, the more vulnerable the area is.]
[This skill cannot be upgraded or improved. All inherent properties are permanently set.]
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[Comment from GoG: Oh, that''s a pretty useful one. For a useless god, Charon really knows how to show off when it counts. Show the proper gratitude, Mark.]
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"Thanks, Charon. I''m really grateful for the gift and your blessings."
Charon huffed.
"Well, at least you know how to show proper gratitude in the face of such enormous favor. It will do you well to not disappoint me after all, champion."
Mark couldn''t see Charon''s face properly, but he could glimpse a small smile tugging on Charon''s lips as he said the word champion. Charon was really happy that he had a champion like Mark, wasn''t he? This damn tsundere.
Chapter 134: The Guardian
Charon was really happy that he had a champion like Mark, wasn''t he? This damn tsundere.
Mark got off the boat andnded on the shore of arge rocky area that disappeared into the darkness in the distance. There was a strange glow that allowed Mark to only see a hundred meters or so in front of him, but that was enough for Mark to get a good look at the surrounding area. There was nothing here other than the deste wastnds and a lot of rock beds.
A tall wall on one side of thendscape prevented Makr from moving towards the west side, so he decided to explore the east side first and find out what to do next.
Mark bowed his head onest time before he watched Charon sail away until he disappeared into the fog. A system prompt appeared in front of him.
[The User has sessfullypleted the second test [The River Crossing.]]
[The gods are surprised by how the user handled the second test and they keenly await the third test.]
[Thanatos sneers in irritation and demands that the third test begins immediately.]
[Test 3: The Beast At The Gate]
[The User stands before the gates of the underworld which are being guarded by the three-headed beast of carnage. The User is to defeat this beast and make his way through the gates to pass the third test. The beast has been sufficiently weakened to give the user a fighting chance against it. The beast currently possesses only 15% of its true strength.]
[Test Conditions]
-> The user is not allowed to use all his skills during the fight.
-> The user must kill the beast. Th manner of killing it is up to the user''s discretion.
-> The user must walk through the gate after defeating the beast.
[Number of Lives: II]
[The user has been granted a favor due to the incessant demands of his patron god, Sozin. Thanatos has agreed to allow the user to use one skill during each test. Due to their Passive Divine nature, the Divine skills cannot be deactivated, and the user will be allowed to use them during the fight. Please select the skill you wish to use]
[Mana Cirction ¨C D Rank]
[Taunting ¨C F Rank]
[Blunt Force Trauma ¨C D Rank]
[True Sight ¨C D Rank]
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Mark didn''t need to even think about it as he immediately chose [Blunt Force Trauma] as his active skill. Since he was going to be fighting against a beast, he would need to have as much of an advantage as possible. Blunt Force Trauma was the only skill he had that could increase his strength by a hundred percent, so he was going to use it again.
[Does the user wish to choose [Blunt Force Trauma] as his active skill? Yes/No]
Mark chose yes, and the system epted his decision, and a new tab appeared in front of him.
[The third test will begin immediately.]
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"Alright. Let''s get this ¨C"
Woosh!
m!
A massive force suddenly mmed into Mark from the side, and Mark''s body flew across the ground before mming through a wall on the other side of the clearing! He skipped on the floor multiple times like a stone skipping over the river before he felt his body bend in half as it mmed into a stone wall!
Boom!
Crack!!
[The User has died.]
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"GASP!!"
Mark''s eyes shot open in shock, and he took in a deep breath! He immediately looked down at his body and used his hands to make sure that everything was in the right ce as he felt his heart beating at a mile a minute. What the hell just happened!? Did he just die!? How!? When!?
Why!!?
[Number of lives remaining: I]
Mark did not know what just happened, and he didn''t even know what caused it, but he knew that a monster that he didn''t see was what hit him from behind! He had to get out of the open!
Woosh!
"Fuck!"
Mark immediately dropped to the ground as he heard something fly overhead above him. He rolled to one side and jumped to his feet before turning around to get a good look at what just killed him!
The monster that Mark saw behind him was arge, ck-skinned grotesque-looking thing. It had the body of a dog, with threerge heads that were staring down at Mark with foaming jaws that revealed sharp canines that were at least asrge as Mark''s arms.
The beast was the guardian of the gates of the underworld. The final boss that anyone who wishes to meet Thanatos must first go through. Cerberus, the three-headed dog.
Mark immediately took tworge leaps backward while keeping his eye on the dog to make sure that it didn''t charge at him. Mark knew that it would be a bad idea to get hit by that thing again. Only one hit was enough to take Mark out, and another hit would be the end for him! There was no way he could survive if that dog got another clean hit like it didst time!
Didn''t the system say that the monster only had fifteen percent of its true power? How in the world is this fifteen percent? Mark started to wonder how strong the monster would have been if he was told to fight it at its full power.
Right now, the monsters had to have strength that was way above Cmity ss. It had to be at least on the same level as an Eldritch ss Anima. That was the only way It could kill Mark as easily as it did. If it was a cmity ss, Mark would have been able to tank that hit and walk away without even an injury on his body.
Mark''s durability was already higher than before due to the gift that he got from Charon, but even with that addition to his stats, Mark was still not able to tank that hit from Cerberus. He needed to find out how to deal with this bastard.
Cerberus started to stalk after Mark once it saw that its initial attack did not hit. It was a little surprised that the human managed to avoid the hit, but Cerberus did not allow itself to remain dazed for long as it started to move after the human with slow steps and a predatory gaze in its six eyes. Like a lion stalking a prey.
"GROWL~!!"
One of the three heads released a deep growl, and the other heads immediately understood what it was trying to say as they all got on the same page! They were going to charge for Mark and overwhelm him before he could get far! The Styx was right to their left, and they only needed to throw him in there for him to be drowned by the numerous souls that were crying out from inside the water!
They immediately sped up their pace as they ran after Mark, and Mark immediately cursed as he started to run faster. He noticed that the Cerberus was moving towards the right to try and make him go left, and when he looked to the left, he immediately knew what sort of n they had! Was the monster trying to make him drown in the Styx? This fucking sadist!
It wasn''t enough to kill him by using force; now it wanted to drown him as well!
Chapter 135: The Gods Must Be Crazy
Mark took a gamble and immediately ran towards the left where the Cerberus wasing from, and the Cerberus released arge bark as it immediately raised its paw and sent a hit towards Mark! Mark slid under the strike and tumbled to his feet while thinking quickly about what to do next. His heart was beating like a drum in his chest because he knew that one mistake from him would be the end!
BARK! BARK! BARK!
The Cerberus turned around and chased Mark down! It swiped its paw across the ground tounch many stone missiles toward Mark, and since Mark was facing away from it, he was not able to see theming. Mark grunted in pain as some of the rocks mmed into his back, while others barely missed him by millimeters!
The force behind the stones was so intense that Mark actually felt himself stumble on his feet in the middle of his run. He caught himself before he could fall and he was able to stay on his feet and continue moving!
But before he could go far, the Cerberus had already reached him again. Mark turned to the side and his eyes widened as he saw the Cerberus right beside him! The Cerberus struck out at Mark in a massive swing and Mark cursed in his heart! He knew that there was no way he could dodge the hit, so he had to guard and hope for the best!
Mark immediately jumped and tucked his body into a ball to try and absorb as much of the impact as possible!
Bam!!
m!
It felt like a train mmed into Mark! A superpowered train on steroids! This hit was not as heavy as the first one that he felt just before he died, but that did not make it any less painful! This hurt like a bitch! Mark flew through the air and mmed into the floor multiple times.
There was arge rock wall on the left side of the clearing and Mark finally stopped as his back mmed into that wall with force!
m!
Mark groaned as he felt many of his bones creaking in protest from the massive hit that he just received. How long has it been since he felt pain like this? Was it that Armageddon that had him feeling like thisst? No, that one was worse than this.
[Achilles Heel]!
Mark immediately activated his divine skill now that he had a clear view of the Cerberus so he could see what its weakness was. The world around him disappeared into various shades of ck and grey that only showed the outline of the Cerberus in green static.
The skill showed Mark the weakness of anything in his line of sight as a red outline to allow him to fight against it more easily, but Mark was shocked by what he saw from the skill. Why is the Cerberus glowing red? There isn''t a single part of it that isn''t red!
Mark could not understand why the entire body of the Cerberus was red! Was this some sort of joke!? You''re telling me that the entire body is its weakness? That was impossible! Mark was hit by that beast many times and he knew that it was not weak! There is no way that the entire body is the weakness!
Mark was sure that there was some other exnation for this and he just had to find out!
Mark turned to the side as something else caught his eyes. He couldn''t see it before because of how dark the area was, but there was some chain-like outline that glowed red in the distance as well. Was that the chain that held Cerberus before it was released?
"Argh!"
Mark''s eyes suddenly felt a jolt of pain and Mark had to close them and deactivate the skill immediately! What the fuck was that? Don''t tell me I''m not strong enough to use this skill for this long! That''s some bullshit!
[The User''s eyes have suffered acute strain due to extended use of the skill [Achilles Heel]. Time before the skill can be used again: 5 mins]
You''ve got to be fucking with me!
[No, I am not.]
BARK! BARK! BARK!
The sound of the Cerberus charging for Mark drew his attention back to the present and he immediately started to pull himself out from the wall! Mark was able to pull himself out from the rock wall and hended on the ground just before the Cerberus reached him! He looked up and saw that the Cerberus was right on top of him and he immediately jumped to the side to avoid it!
SLAM!
"WHINE~!"
The Cerberus released a low whine after mming into the wall, but it was back on its feet before Mark could even understand what the hell that was. Mark was standing close to the rock wall and he immediately realized that the Cerberus could corner him against the wall if he stayed where he was.
Mark cursed in his head as he knew that it would be a bad idea to get stuck in that area, so he immediately charged to the side! The beast charged along with him!
Boom!
Boom!
"BARK! BARK! BARK!"
Mark was running fast, but the Cerberus was right on his tail as it barked loudly and aggressively! Mark flipped over arge rock in his way, but the Cerberus didn''t have the dexterity to flip over the rock and it just broke through the rock!
"WHINE~!"
Mark turned around once he heard that whine! The Cerberus did it again. It felt pain when it struck that wall, didn''t it? But even though it seemed hurt, it did not stop chasing after Mark, instead, it was right on top of Mark as it tried to swipe him away with its w! Mark decided that he was not going to run away this time! Mark had a theory!
A dangerous theory that could either end up with him finding a way to win this fight, or he could be paste on the ground if he was wrong.
But wasn''t it better to gamble and see if you are right rather than running away forever!?
Mark pulled his fist back and released a massive punch towards the iing paw!
Boom!
"Fuck!"
m!
Mark cursed as the impact sent him flying back towards another rock formation and he mmed his back into the wall and groaned as he slumped into the massive depression that his body dug into the wall. He slowly pulled himself out from the rock formation and flicked his hand in pain as he felt a massive throbbinging from there. What the fuck is that thing made of?
Mark couldn''t deny that hitting the Cerberus hurt more than he thought it would, but at least he finally got what he wanted. It seems that gods aren''t as twisted and cruel as I thought they were.
Chapter 136: A Dip In The River
Whine~!
Mark looked toward where he could see the Cerberus standing while cradling its paw gently. Mark noticed that there was something wrong when the Cerberus hit those rock formations. Usually, something that is capable of killing Mark in one strike should not be feeling hurt by simply mming into a few rocks.
Mark could have taken the hits from those rocks easily and he would not have felt a single thing.
But the Cerberus released a whine after it struck the wall and that meant that it felt some pain from it. That made Mark immediately realize that the Cerberus was not just a powerhouse that was capable of killing him in one strike. The Cerberus had a high offense, but its defense was shit!
Mark needed to be sure of this theory and that is why he decided not to dodge that hit from the Cerberus while sending out a punch of his own. If his theory was wrong, then he would have tanked the hit for nothing and he would have just been pummeled into the ground, but if his theory turned out to be right, then he would find out what the Cerberus''s weakness was.
And it turned out that his theory was right. No wonder the Achilles Heel skill showed that its entire body was its weak point. It wasn''t pulling my leg after all! It was just saying that the Cerberus had a shitty defense!
Crack!
A wicked grin began to spread across Mark''s face as he finally broke himself out from the rock wall and rolled his shoulder while walking towards the Cerberus with hostile intent! Now that Mark knew that there was a weakness he could exploit, he was not going to hold back one bit. This bastard was going to feel the pain of a thousand deaths!
This bastard just killed him, so there was no way he was going to hold back against it.
All Mark had to do was to make sure that he did not get hit by the Cerberus. The Cerberus had a wickedly high amount of offensive power and if it got a clean hit on Mark even once, then Mark was certain that there was no way he could survive it.
But since its defensive power was nothing impressive, that meant that if Mark could avoid all of its hits while dishing out hits of his own, then there was no way he could lose.
But that was the real issue now, wasn''t it? It was almost impossible for him to avoid the Cerberus perfectly since it was so fast. The Cerberus was faster than Mark and it could move its paws to hit Mark faster than Mark could get up high enough tond a hit on a vulnerable spot. The real test here for Mark was finding out how to outsmart the Cerberus.
Mark leaned down and stretched his hands to the side to loosen them. All that running, as well as the hits that he received made him feel some restriction in his muscles, but it was not enough to make him ufortable. If Mark had to guess, he would say that he was at about 60% of his full strength.
It was not what he would have liked to use in fighting against a monster like this, but it would have to do since it was all he had!
"Come on, doggy. Let''s rock!"
BARK! BARK! BARK!
The Cerberus could hear the mocking tone in Mark''s voice and it saw it as a challenge and it charged straight for Mark with more intensity! Mark ran towards the Cerberus as well and just before it could m into him, he slid under it and came up from the other side!
He stumbled a bit as he felt some of his wounds groan in pain, but he got his feet back under him as quickly as possible before he raced towards the opposite side of the clearing, the area where he saw something that looked like a chain!
The Cerberus was right on Mark without missing a beat and it released another series of loud barks as it tried to crush him with rocks it swiped from the ground! But Mark dropped to the ground once he heard the rocks whizzing in his direction and he rolled towards the chains and grabbed them!
They were extremely heavy, and if Mark had to guess, then he would say that the chain weighed about as much as arge school bus! But luckily for Mark, he had more than enough power to not only lift the chain but to use it as a weapon!
Mark grinned as the Cerberus stopped running towards him once he grabbed the chain! The Cerberus seemed to be more cautious now that Mark had the chain in his hand and Mark''s lips spread into that sinister grin again as he wrapped the chain around his body so that it wasn''t dragging on the ground.
He started swinging the chain end beside his body as if he was preparing to use it as asso, and the Cerberus chose that moment to attack immediately! Mark charged to the side and ran away from the attack before the Cerberus could get to him! He dodged behind arger rock formation and appeared on the other side while sending the chain towards the Cerberus blindly!
WACK!
The chain mmed into the Cerberus''s middle neck and Mark heard it growl in pain and anger as it began chasing him down once more! Mark had a n, but he needed to make the Cerberus as angry as possible for his n to have any chance of working. When it is angry, it won''t even be able to tell that it was falling into a trap until it was already inside it!
Mark heard the Cerberus behind him and he quickly loosened enough of the chain from his body to allow him to carry out the n! The Cerberus mmed its paw into the ground and Mark dodged to the side! He dashed in between the Cerberus''s legs and used the chain to wrap around the hind legs that were open!
The Cerberus dragged its leg forward and Mark pulled the chain in the opposite direction until he was sure that the chain was taut and tight enough that it would not get loose no matter what!
The Cerberus turned around to tear into Mark again, but Mark just dodged aside and he rolled until he was looking at the Cerberus from the opposite side! The Cerberus tried to move forward to attack Mark, but something held its leg back and prevented it from moving forward. It whined in surprise and looked towards Mark to see that Mark''s face was slowly splitting into a sadistic smile!
The Cerberus immediately turned around slowly to look at the chain tied to its hind leg.
The part tied to its hind leg was still visible, but the other end was nowhere in sight! The Cerberus'' eyes widened as it realized the fact that the other end of the chain tied to its leg was currently inside the river Styx!
Mark had tied one end of the chain to its leg, but the other end was inside the Styx and it was being pulled by the souls!
BARK! BARK! BARK!
Chapter 137: Meeting Thanatos
Mark had tied one end of the chain to the Cerberus'' leg, but the other end was inside the Styx, and the lost souls in there were pulling on it relentlessly!
BARK! BARK! BARK!
Mark stood up calmly as he cracked his neck to one side while ignoring the intense barking and seething from the Cerberus. He knew that it was a gamble to carry out a n like this. Mark did not know if it would work. The River Styx was an unfamiliar ce to Mark, and Mark did not know if the souls of the undead would bother grabbing hold of inanimate objects.
But Mark knew that if they did grab hold of it, it would definitely be the end of the fight. Mark and Charon were unable to fight against the souls of the undead when they were pulling him down into the River Styx when he died the first time. That meant they had more than enough strength to drown Cerberus!
Drag!
BARK! BARK!
Cerberus was being dragged into the river as it struggled desperately to try and free itself from the chain. It managed to drag itself forward a little, but the chain would only pull it back some more and try to draw it into the river. But Cerberus was not giving up! It pulled itself forward desperately as it tried to escape! It was not going to go out like this!
That human dared to attack it and trap it like this, so it was going to make sure it killed that human properly! Cerberus was going to end Mark if it was thest thing it did!
The amount of bloodlust and anger shining through Cerberus''s eyes would have been enough to make any average man piss himself, but Mark justughed in the face of Cerberus''s anger as he rolled his shoulder before taking off into a mad sprint!
Woosh!
Cerberus''s eyes widened in shock as it saw Mark running towards it, and it immediately tried to get a bite out of Mark to end his life when Mark came close, but Mark easily used his momentum to avoid the bite before mming his fist into Cerberus''s unprotected nape!
BOOM!
[Lightening Surge]!!
WHINE~!!
Cerberus whined in pain as it felt a jolt of electricity travel through its entire body! It immediately felt its strength leave it as the pull from the chain became too much for it to fight against, and it was miserably pulled back until it sshed into the waters of the Styx!
Ssh!!
Cerberus tried futilely to fight against the souls that were pulling it down into the water, but it was not able to put up a good fight since there were just too many of them, and before it could get another bark out, it was already dragged underwater.
Mark breathed out heavily as he rolled his shoulder in pain. Mark didn''t know if the injuries from these trials would be reflected in the real world when he goes back, but he hoped not. If it''s reflected, then Mark was going to be feeling this body pain for the next few days at least. That would be a pain in the ass. If an Anima attacks while he is like this, then he won''t be at a hundred percent.
Mark waited for the system prompt to appear telling him that he passed the test, but he didn''t see anything after some time, and he raised a curious brow while wondering what was going on. Mark looked around curiously, thinking that there was still something else that needed to be done, and he finally released a small ''Ah!'' and snapped his fingers as he recalled what was missing.
He hadn''t gone through the gate yet.
...
[Test Conditions]
-> The user is not allowed to use all his skills during the fight.
-> The user must kill the beast.
-> The user must walk through the gate after defeating the beast.
¡
Mark couldn''t see anything around here that resembled the gate, so he decided to just walk a bit and see if he could find it somewhere else. Mark walked away from the Styx and started making his way into the unknown part of hell, after walking for a few minutes in the dark, Mark finally came across arge ck gate that glowed with an ominous dark light.
Mark walked up to the gate and inspected it calmly to see if there were any traps on it. Mark did not trust anything down in this ce after what he just went through. He gently touched the door and pulled back in surprise as he heard the door groan and it slowly started to open.
Mark took a step back to avoid being hit by the door, and he watched as the door finally opened up to reveal a dark veil that was obstructing him from seeing what was on the other side.
Did they really want him to walk through something like this? It looked like a one-way trip straight into a trap! The veil was eerily simr to the veil of death from that popr magic book. Was it called Harry Potter or something?
Mark sighed in resignation as he started to walk forward. He had already gone through hell down here; whatever was on the other side of this door was probably not as bad.
Mark''s vision cleared as he passed the veil, and he saw himself in a dark room with nothing in it but a single firece burning in the distance. There was a man standing on the opposite side of the room. He was wearing a ck shirt and trousers, and he had long ck hair framing his angled face.
He was looking at Mark with open hatred and irritation, and Mark could only raise a brow in surprise as he saw the man. Now, who the hell is this bastard?
[Comment from GoG: That''s Thanatos. I know you''re prone to doing this, but try not to piss him off. He has a bad temper, so anything can trigger the bastard.]
That is Thanatos? Mark could only blink in surprise as he turned back to look at the god of literal death! Thanatos was nothing like what Mark imagined he would be like! Mark thought that he would see someone with a massive scythe wearing ck robes that flowed in the wind or something, not a normal person that looked like he was one step away from pissing Mark off.
Thanatos remained silent no matter how long Mark stood there, and Mark started to be a little irritated as well as he watched Thanatos watching him. Say something, you fucking bastard.
"Tch."
Thanatos finally clicked his tongue in annoyance, and Mark immediately saw a prompt appear from his system.
[The User has passed the final test. The Trial of Thanatos has beenpleted, and the user will now gain his gift.]
Mark read through the system message very quickly, but he noticed that Thanatos was moving before he could see what the gift was. Mark looked up as he saw Thanatos walking away, and he raised a brow as Thanatos said something just before leaving.
"Don''t think this makes me acknowledge you, mortal. As far as I''m concerned, you still have to prove yourself to me. Your mere existence is an insult to all the other gods, and in time, we will be rid of you. You and that fucking pesky patron god of yours. But for now¡ I am content with your performance."
This fucking bastard was really getting on Mark''s nerves. Mark narrowed his eyes in anger as he was about to speak up to Thanatos, but another message from Sozin immediately pulled Mark back.
[Comment from GoG: Mark. No. I understand your anger, but he is not someone you should speak against; he will eradicate you with a finger and there is nothing I can do for you since you are in his domain. Bear with it.]
Chapter 138: Death Gods Ignorance
Mark''s eye twitched as he read through the message, and he finally reined his anger in as he made himself calm down. He just red toward where Thanatos was walking through as he watched the bastard leaving. Mark cemted this momt into his memory. He would not forget this, and he would make sure he settled this score in time.
Thanatos could literally feel the animosity from Mark as Mark red at his back, and Thanatos turned a to look at the mere mortal that dared to re at him. Thanatos''s finger twitched as he thought about killing Mark right at that momt, but he knew that it would be bad since he did not have a legitimate reason for it.
Killing Mark here would mean that Sozin had the right to kill all of Thanatos''s champions without any reason, and Thanatos knew that he would be on the losing d if that ever happed. It would be better to just tolerate the insult.
Boom!
Thanatos released some of his aura at Mark, and Mark''s eyes wided as he felt himself fly backward from the intsity of the aura! Mark didn''t ev understand what the hell just happed! As far as Mark knew, he was ring at Thanatos one momt, and the next momt he was flying back from an invisible force mming into him!
Thanatos clicked his tongue against his teeth once more as he turned back a to leave.
"Be gone, fool."
¡
"Gasp!"
Mark gasped as he came back to the real world, and he shook his head to get his bearings back to normal.
"Mmh."
Arit moaned from beside Mark, and Mark turned to see her sleeping beside him. Oh right, he left to finish the trial just after Arit fell asleep beside him. Mark fell back down in his bed, and Arit immediately came close to him andy down on his chest with another moan.
She pressed her breast into his chest as she buried her face into his nape, and Mark brushed her hair calmly to make sure that she wasfortable. Mark wrapped his hand a Arit and his brow furrowed in annoyance as he remembered how he was kicked out by Thanatos.
He was definitely not going to forget about that bastard anytime soon; someday, he would get strong ough to challge that bastard, and he would beat the shit out of him.
But for now, Mark decided to just forget about all that and focus instead on the rewards that he got from Thanatos forpleting the tests. Mark turned to his system and oped the numerous tabs that he wasn''t able to op before.
[The User has sessfullypleted Thanatos'' tests. The user has gained a gift from Thanatos.]
[Thanatos, the god of Death, has granted the user the new Divine Skill [Ignorance of The Death God.]]
[[Ignorance of The Death God]: This skill, bestowed by Thanatos, grants the user the ability to instinctively evade one attack from any emy, ev if the user is unaware of the impding danger. This skill is applicable to all attacks, fatal or not, regardless of the attack''s strgth.]
¡
Mark almost shot up in shock as he read through the gift that he got from Thanatos! Holy shit, this was an amazing skill! The skill would allow Mark to not only avoid sneak attacks, but he could avoid the first attack from any emy regardless of who that emy was! That meant that Mark didn''t need to worry about the first attack from an emy anymore wh he was in the middle of a fight!
And if there is an attack that he doesn''t notice, he doesn''t need to worry about it either since he would still evade it ev if he doesn''t see it! This was ev better than Charon''s skill that allowed him to see the emy''s weakness!
With a skill like this, Mark could fool the emy into thinking that they would kill him with an attack and th use it to counterattack wh the emy is stunned by their attack not damaging him.
Mark put his hand on his face and chuckled in a deep baritone as he saw the befit of all the near-death experices he just had in that test. He died twice and fought like a madman, but it was all worth it if he got a skill like this.
"Moan~!"
Arit moaned again as Mark''sughing almost woke her up, and she turned her back to Mark and pressed her ass into his side. Mark sighed and finally decided to just get some rest. He would have more time to test out his skillster; for now, he had to rest.
Mark turned a and wrapped his hands a Arit so that he was spooning her, and he felt Arit snuggle tighter so that her ass pressed into his crotch. She held his forearm softly as she felt him hugging her.
"Hmm~ Mark¡ you''re awake?"
Mark kissed Arit''s neck softly.
"Yeah. Sorry for waking you."
"S''okay¡ I was thinking about something."
Mark hummed.
"What''s that?"
Arit paused for a momt before she finally spoke up again.
"Well¡ Do you think we can ever go back to school?"
Mark hummed as he heard Arit say this. That was quite the loaded question. Mark did not have any issues going back to school. He was already used to staying a normal humans, and he knew that ev if he wt back to school and there was a lot of atttion, he could handle it. The real issue here was Arit, and they both knew it.
Arit was much stronger than before now, and she still didn''t have any idea how to control her power. Not only that, but she also had these intse momts of aggressivess that she couldn''t control. Mark did not think it was a good idea for Arit to go back to school wh she was like this.
But Mark couldn''t do that to Arit.
Mark knew that Arit would ept his reasoning if he told her that they could no longer go back. If Mark told Arit that they were no longer going back to school, Arit would ept his decisions and that would be the d of it, but Mark also knew that Arit would not be happy about it.
Arit wanted to be a doctor, and to do that she needed toplete her education and evtually go study medicine at the university.
Arit''s dreams would be crushed if they didn''t go back to school.
"Let''s finish your treatmt with Jeanne first. I''ll teach you to control your idtal bursts of strgth, and we''ll talk about this again wh Jeanne gives an okay for you to d your treatmt. Is that okay?"
Arit tighted her hold on Mark''s hand, and Mark could tell that she was inwardly very happy about what he said. Wh she spoke again, Mark could literally hear the smile in her voice.
"Yes¡ that''s perfect. Thank you, Mark."
Mark hummed with a smile as he kissed Arit''s neck once more.
"Goodnight, Arit."
"Goodnight."
Chapter 139: What Do You Mean There Is No One There?
"What do you mean there is no one there?"
A woman sitting in the backseat of a chrome ck Vanitas car was frowning out at the man standing beside her car door. The woman inside the car was Luna, the strongest female superhuman in America, and she was talking to one of her guild members who wt to check on Mark''s apartmt.
There were threevish Vanitas luxury cars currtly parked outside Mark''s former apartmt building, and the woman was in the back of the middle car while speaking to the man in an annoyed tone. She came here to talk to Mark about joining her guild, and she ev brought a gift for him, but this man was telling her that Mark was not in the building.
"Sorry ma''am, we ev asked the neighbors and they all said that they saw some m moving his furniture out of the building a few days ago. I think he moved after the media exposed his idtity. It''s not umon for new superhumans to do that since the media would always hound them after theye out."
Luna sighed softly as she turned a and stared at the road leading down the street. She wanted to do this and finish it before eving so she could go get some rest, but Mark was bing more trouble than she thought he would be.
"Find out where he currtly lives as soon as possible. I''ll be staying at the Red Lotus for now, so once you''re done with your inquiry,e and tell me immediately."
Luna was from another city far from the coast of America called City S. The city was too far away for her to think of going back home today, so she would just stay at the hotel for now and try to give Mark one more chance to appear so that she could talk to him.
If he does not show up, th she would just leave some of her m in the city and tell them to continue looking for him while she goes back to City S.
Luna decided to stay at the Red Lotus Hotel since it was the safest ce in this city. She didn''t really care about being attacked by anima, but she cared about being hounded by reporters. There were too many people in this city who would fall over themselves if they found out that she was ev in their geral vicinity and try their hardest to get an interview or statemt from her.
She would rather not have to deal with all that. The Red Lotus had a very impressive security detail that was led by an S-rank superhuman hired by the hotel, and the weakest security guard at the hotel was a C-rank. That gave Luna ough assurance for her to put her privacy in their hands.
Luna put on her sunsses and told the driver to start moving towards the hotel so that they could lodge.
¡
The next two weeks were filled with many days of staying indoors and training for Mark and Arit. There was hardly any interaction with the outside world other than the asional trips to the grocery store, and wh they would go out to get fresh air with Talia. But for the most part, they stayed indoors.
Mark started to teach Arit how to control her strgth. The first thing that he taught her was something that he did as a daily exercise wh he was still learning how to control his own strgth. He would tape an egg to his hand and use it to move a the house all day. He would try to hold onto the egg while going through the day without breaking it.
Wh Arit tried this exercise for the first time, she immediately broke the egg before she could ev walk three steps. Her hand was wrapped a the egg like she was gripping it, so her mind''s first reaction was to grip her hand tighter whever she was faced with any situation. That was what made the task so difficult.
It was hard ough for her to not break the egg with her regr human strgth, trying to keep the egg intact while not knowing if her inner strgth woulde out or not was too much!
By the d of a week, Arit and Mark had gone through thirty-five cases of eggs, and the hotel was starting to be worried whever Mark asked them to bring up a new crate of eggs. Hanna - the manager of the hotel - was starting to think that Mark and Arit were using the eggs for some sort of sexual y. Were they pouring eggs on each other while fucking? That''s messed up!
Using baby chicks like that should be a crime!
Hanna told Mark that the local supermarket was running out of seble eggs, and they had to start going to a more distant supermarket to get the eggs which cost more, and Mark just told them to keep the eggsing no matter how expsive it gets.
Arit was also going for her session with Jeanne on the days that Jeanne said she would be free. Jeanne was a busy person, and she worked for almost the tire day without pause, but she managed to bring out two hours for Arit on both Saturdays and Sundays as well as an hour on some weekdays. This gave Arit a good chance to ask Jeanne any questions that she wanted to while also going through therapy.
Mark and Talia would sometimes go out with Arit wh she was going for her sessions. There was nothing to do in the house, so Mark decided to take Talia to the park whever Arit wt out to meet Jeanne.
At first, there was a lot of noise and excitemt from the people a the hotel whever Mark came out with Talia, but the people in and a the hotel were slowly starting to get used to Mark being here, so they were not as shocked to see him as usual.
He could move a with Talia without being swarmed by curious people who wanted an autograph, and since the hotel prohibits reports froming within a kilometer of thend, he didn''t have to worry about reporters who wanted to ask questions for one magazine or another, and that gave Mark a lot more freedom than before.
There had not be a serious Anima attack that needed his atttion in a while, and Mark saw these momts as a vacation of sorts that just allowed him to joy himself without worrying about the d of the world.
But there was no such thing as a vacation in this ursed world.
Mark didn''t know it, but there were two people who were constantly watching him as he moved a with his small family. The first of these two was a woman that rectly moved into the Red Lotus.
Luna was always watching Mark.
She found out about Mark being in this hotel less than three days after moving in. She didn''t ev need her m to tell her since she was able to see him in the lobby of the hotel on some random day wh she was down there trying to pay for her reservation at the restaurant. It was such a surreal experice.
Meeting the person that you have be looking for for such a long time and seeing them walking right past you without a care in the world must be one of the strangest experices that Luna has ever had.
Chapter 140: What The F*ck Is She Doing Here?
Luna was wearing a ck face mask and a cap that would prevt people from noticing her, so she didn''t have to worry about being noticed and she just watched Mark from a distance without being spotted.
But for some reason, she didn''t go up to Mark. She noticed that Mark was with Arit and Talia that day, and she didn''t feel like going up to him and ruining his vacation. She wanted to know more about him before going up to try and talk him into joining her guild. So she started to stalk him.
Luna was never going to tell anyone that she was doing such a thing, and if anyone ever found out about it ¨C especially those in her guild, she would never be able to live it down!
But there was no other way to describe what she was doing. Luna used the excuse of exercise to go out in the morning every day at the same time that Mark was going out to jog. She would go a with him and th divert at thest momt beforeing back alone to prevt him from knowing she was right beside him.
She would follow him wh he sometimes wt to work out at the gym, and she would watch him from her window wh he and Arit left the house with Talia, and she would keep tabs on where they were and what they were doing.
She noticed that Mark would usually spd time with Talia in the park while Arit would go somewhere else. She st one of her m to see where Arit was always going, and the man came back and told her that Arit was going to see another superhuman known as Jeanne. Why would that girl be going to see one of the most popr superhumans in America?
Luna was one of the people who tried desperately to get Jeanne into her guild at the start, but she was not able to get Jeanne no matter how much money and opportunities she threw at her. Jeanne didn''t care about the money; she cared more about freedom, and Luna was not going to allow something like that from one of her guild members.
Why would you be a part of my guild and go a healing people from other guilds for free? That was absurd. Luna already had a healer, so she decided that it was better to just forget about Jeanne and focus more on developing the healer that she could keep tabs on.
Their healer might not be as versatile as Jeanne, but they were an S rank and they had more than ough ability to heal any serious injury that the superhumans in the guild developed. It was better to develop a healer who lists to what she tells them to do and forgets about Jeanne since Jeanne''s desperation for indepdce would ruin her guide dynamics.
Luna hummed as she looked out her window at the park in the distance. The park was more than a kilometer away, but she could still see just fine because of how good her eyesight was. She took a strand of her hair and put it behind her ear while smiling as she saw Mark hoisting Talia up to put her on his neck.
Luna noticed that she was smiling and quickly killed it and shook her head. She was only here to observe Mark Vanitas. She shouldn''t be acting like a creep and smiling like this while watching him.
"I wonder why he started taking care of James'' grandchild. Did he do it because he owed James a favor?"
Luna did not know ough about Mark to answer that question. In all the time that she has be watching Mark, she has only be able to get the bare minimum of information about his life. She knows that he frequts a gym once a week and he also jogs every morning. He stays indoors a lot, so there were no hobbies she could pinpoint.
All in all, she has barely found out anything about him that would help her bring him to her guild.
But she didn''t realize wh she started bing more interested in Mark in other ways. She was no longer looking out for him just so that she could find out how to get him to join her guild. She was now guinely invested in finding out more about him. Mark was very interesting to Luna.
All that power and no desire to be famous whatsoever. Mark was someone who had the pottial to be the most celebrated superhuman in America if he wanted to be. There have be many Anima attacks in the one week that Mark was here, but Mark has ignored all of them because there were superhumans in the area who could take care of them without needing his help.
He basically chooses his battles and only goes to fight against monsters that would give him a challge.
Luna could understand a veteran superhuman doing something like that because they were already famous and they had all the money and fame they would ever need, but someone like Mark who was just rising up would usually jump on these easy opportunities to raise their reputation and standing in the public''s eyes. But not Mark. Mark was indiffert to it all.
Luna leaned closer to her window, and she could feel a smile spreading across her lips as she saw Mark smiling at Talia while walking towards his bike to go pick up Arit.
"What makes you so differt, Mark Vanitas?"
...
The second person watching Mark was someone who was much further away than Luna. The superhuman killer was lodging in a hotel a few kilometers away from where Mark was lodging. He had an apartmt up in the pthouse to give him a clear view of the city, and he was watching everything Mark was doing very closely.
Right now, he was trying his best to note Mark''s schedule so he could find out the best momt to attack him. But there was one problem that appeared a few weeks ago. There was another superhuman a Mark now, and this one was someone that the superhuman killer had no inttion of going against.
Luna, the GODDESS OF WATER, who was hailed as the strongest female Superhuman in the American Federation. What the fuck was the head of the Moonlight guild doing here!?
Luna tied her hair into a bun and she was wearing a cap and mask, and that was ough to fool any normal person into thinking she was someone else, but it was not ough to fool the superhuman killer. The superhuman killer lived a life that depded tirely on his ability to detect people ev in the most inconspicuous ces and disguises.
That means that he could tell people apart very easily based on features other than their faces.
The superhuman killer was able to tell that the masked woman was Madam Luna by assessing her manner of walking and how she tilted her head whever she was thinking. That was all he needed. But that prested an issue for him. He noticed that Madam Luna was always watching Mark Vanitas.
Whether he was going for a run or going to the park with his family, her eyes were always on him.
Chapter 141: On My Neck
The Superhuman killer noticed that Madam Luna was always watching Mark Vanitas. Whether he was going for a run or going to the park with his family, her eyes were always on him.
If the superhuman killer dares to attack Mark at any of these momts, th Madam Luna will definitely find out where that attack came from, and that would be the d of the road for him. The superhuman killer might be the best at killing people undetected, but he had no delusion that he could escape from someone like Luna if she knew his geral direction.
She would probably quarantine the tire area in less than a second using her blessing and th hunt him down like a beast. He did not want to go through something like that. It would be more trouble than they were paying him for.
And worst of all, he could not think of a way to kill Mark while also killing Luna. His job was Mark Vanitas, but the superhuman killer would not mind eradicating Luna as well if she got in the way. But wanting to kill her and finding a way to kill her were two very differt things.
Mark Vanitas was only somewhere a S rank, but someone who has gone beyond that like Luna would be very difficult to kill.
''Would my bullets work against her?''
The superhuman killer was capable of killing superhumans mainly because of his special arsal of bullets and explosives that he created specifically for superhumans. Superhumans were powerhouses that could tank regr ammunition and explosives like they were nothing. A regr C rank had ough protection from just his skin that a bullet would just bounce right off his body if he was shot.
B ranks would not ev feel anything, and if you shot an A rank and above, they would probably just catch the bullet. They were that strong.
So, the superhuman killer had to develop an tire series of bullets and ammunition that he could use against these powerhouses. He made the bullets from diamond and Anima bones, fused together to form aplex matrix structure that rotated and pierced through superhuman skin like paper.
The superhuman killer already tested the bullets on S ranks, and he knew that they worked, but he had never ev dared to try using them on an undefined superhuman before.
The mystery suring Undefined superhumans, as well as the geralck of knowledge about their strgth limits, prevted him from being able to create weapons for them, and that meant he did not take jobs that involved them. If he knew that Luna was going to be here¡
No, he already took the job; there was no backing out now. The superhuman killer looked through the scope of his sniper rifle as he continued watching Mark in the distance as Mark mounted his bike to go pick up Arit. There was no way that Luna would continue watching Mark forever.
The superhuman killer would just wait for the right momt wh Luna lets her guard down, and that is wh he would attack.
¡
Vroom!
Mark''s Kawasaki ZX-4RR motorcycle stopped in front of a small caf¨¦ in the middle of the street, and he turned and watched Arit waving goodbye to Jeanne as she came out from the caf¨¦ and walked towards him. Arit was wearing faded blue jeans that clung to her thighs and one of Mark''s ck t-shirts that she stole a long time ago. Mark grinned at her.
"Hey, babe."
Arit smiled as a small blush spread across her face once she heard him calling her babe. Ev though they had be dating for some time now, she was still not used to some of the things that were now normal for them. She leaned down and kissed Mark gtly.
"Hi. Thanks foring to pick me up."
Mark chuckled as he just told her to get on. This girl needs to stop thanking him for doing things he wants to do. Talia was sitting in front of Mark and she huffed as Arit kissed her on top of her head, but she did not push Arit away; instead, she looked like she simply tolerated Arit''s actions.
A while back called asking Mark if he shoulde and take Talia from them since he already left her in their hands for too long. Mark didn''t mind Talia staying with them for longer and wh he asked Arit, Arit told Mark that it was fine for Talia to keep staying with them. Arit liked having Talia a the house.
Mark told Talia about this and said that she had to learn to get along with Arit if she wanted to continue staying with them since Arit was nice ough to allow her to stay with them. Mark wouldn''t want them to keep fighting all the time, so he wanted them to be frids. Talia decided that she would tolerate Arit for now just for Mark.
She didn''t care about making Arit like her, but since her big brother wanted her to get along with Arit, th she would try.
"Hi, Talia."
Talia huffed at Arit and muttered quietly.
"Big-breasted bimbo¡ªow!"
Mark tapped Talia lightly on the head, and Talia looked up at him with a pout and tears on the edge of her eyes. Mark raised a warning brow at her, and she huffed and muttered a small apology at Arit. Arit was already used to the hostility from Talia, so she didn''t mind, and she just wt to sit behind Mark.
Arit was not ev affected by what Talia said, and the main reason for this was that she didn''t hear the voice in her head shouting. Arit could not describe how relieved she felt wh she did not hear the voice shouting at her to kill Talia. It made her realize that her sessions with Jeanne were really working.
After having more than eight sessions together, Jeanne was able to teach Arit a meditation technique that would allow her to take control of the voice and quiet it down to prevt it from ranting and distracting her thoughts. This technique allowed Arit to constantly keep the voice under her control, and it was now much harder for the voice to try and take over her mind.
Jeanne told Arit during thisst session that if she continued at this pace, she would soon no longer need the therapy, and Arit felt her heart soar with joy as she heard that.
This means that they could go back to school soon! Arit has be keeping up with her studies ev though she was no longer going to school, and she made sure that Mark was also keeping up, so ev though they wt back to school right now, they won''t be behind the other studts! Arit couldn''t wait to get back!
Mark turned to the side with a frown as he felt something prick against his skin and his frown deeped wh he didn''t see anything there. Mark didn''t know why, but for the past few days, he had be feeling like someone was watching him. He didn''t know if it was just his imagination because he never sees anything wh he turns a, but he just can''t get that feeling out of his head.
"Hey, is everything okay?"
Chapter 142: Two In a Month Is Madness!
Arit spoke up worriedly as she saw the frown on Mark''s face and Mark quickly rxed into a smile.
"Yeah, I''m good. Are youfortable?"
Mark waited for Arit to getfortable on the bike first and she nodded before he revved it up and took off down the street. He was about to turn into the street leading to the hotel when his phone suddenly started to ring. Mark narrowed his eyes as he recognized Patrick''s ringing tone.
Mark stopped the bike and clicked the AirPods in his ear while looking toward the west side of the city. Is that smoke?
"Pat, what happened?"
[Cmity ss. It came from the sewers and made its way to a building close to your location. The superhumans there are all A ranks or lower; they don''t stand a chance against it. I know you and your wife are on your honeymoon, but you need to go handle this.]
Mark frowned as he kept his gaze fixed on the horizon. What the hell was going on in the city? This was already the second cmity ss in the past month that appeared in the city, and Mark knew that this was not normal. He would have to figure out what was going on after he was done dealing with the Anima.
"How many civilians are around?"
[Too many to count. Just wear your mask and get out there. People are dying, Mark.]
"Okay. I''m on my way."
Patrick immediately cut the phone once he heard Mark say that he was going, and Mark parked the bike and told Arit to get off. He told her what Patrick said as he took off his jacket and outer shirt and handed it to her.
Arit''s eyes were wide as she collected the shirt from him and held it tight. She watched Mark putting on his mask and a pair of ck gloves, and she felt some fear in her heart as she knew that he was about to go do something dangerous. Arit didn''t want him to go.
This was the first time since he saved her that he would be going to fight like this, and it was finally dawning on her that he was always going into these dangerous situations.
She wanted to tell him not to go, but she knew that it would be selfish for her to say something like that right now, so instead, she just told him to be careful.
"It''s just a cmity. I''lle back before you know I''m gone, I promise. You two get back to the hotel and wait for me, okay?"
''I don''t think I''ve ever heard anyone say something like ''it''s just a cmity'' before.''
Arit couldn''t help but think like this as she felt some reassurance from the way Mark addressed the unbelievably dangerous situation. If he thinks that a cmity is nothing, then she was sure he would be fine.
"Alright. Stay safe."
Mark nodded before he suddenly sted off the ground and towards a building roof in the distance. He zoomed over the building and disappeared.
Arit looked down to see that Talia was frowning as she watched Mark leave. Arit knew that Talia must be remembering how her grandfather left to fight and never came back. Arit just smiled.
"Mark is strong, Talia. He''ll be fine."
Talia just huffed as she turned and started walking towards the hotel. Talia wanted to ask Mark if she coulde with him. Talia would usually go with her grandfather to fight against Anima because she was strong enough to survive against weak Disaster sses while using her blessing.
And if the monster was too strong, then she would just stay behind and rescue civilians who got involved in the situation unknowingly. But from how quickly Mark left, she could barely get her words out to ask him before he was gone. She could only hope that Mark would be okay.
They weren''t very far from the hotel, so there was no need for them to call a cab, and since Arit couldn''t ride a bike to save her life, they had to walk.
Arit sped up her pace to walk beside Talia and she put out her hand. Talia looked up at Arit and Arit smiled down at her kindly. After a few moments, Talia finally huffed and took Arit''s hand. Arit''s smile widened.
"Let''s get some ice cream while waiting for Mark. And I''m sure he''ll want something to eat when he gets back, so should we cook too? What do you think?"
"...I want strawberry ice cream."
¡.
[Warning! Warning! This is a general broadcast to all citizens. There is a battle ongoing in your vicinity, and all citizens are advised to find shelter or evacuate from the area. This is not a drill! All citizens are advised to find shelter or evacuate from the vicinity!
The danger level is Cmity ss! This is not a drill!]
On the other side of the city, there was a mad rush as people ran away from the fight that was currently happening inside arge shopping mall in the center of a shopping district!
BOOM!
"Arggghhh!!"
"Run! It''s a Cmity ss!"
"Another one!? We just saw one the other day! Two cmity sses in one month is madness!?"
"Mummy! Mummy!"
"Come on, we''ll find your mummyter! We have to get out of here!"
People were in a frenzy as they desperately tried to get out of the danger zone where the fight was happening. There were currently five superhumans on-site fighting against the Cmity ss that appeared. Three of them were B-rank superhumans, and the other two were A-rank.
One of the A ranks was a woman wearing a skintight red outfit that clung to her body like a second skin! She had red hair and a pretty oval face that was currently contorted in a grimace of pain as she jumped back from a swing from the massive monster that was in front of her.
Her name was Selina, but all the people online knew her as CATWOMAN, and she was an A-rank superhuman blessed by the Egyptian god Anubis. Her blessing gave her enhanced strength and flexibility that was on par and even greater than any feline in the world. She could contort, bend, and twist her body to levels that were considered impossible for anyone else.
She also had enhanced precision in movement and the ability to remain on her feet even if shended in unbnced positions after a fight. Selina was someone who cared a lot about her image, so she was very active on social media, and she was known to post thirst traps and sexy lingerie pictures that gained her a massive male following. She was basically a sexy red vixen.
But at this moment, Selina was not at all interested in how the people saw her. She was terrified.
No, in fact, she was more than terrified. Selina couldn''t see any chance of them winning against a monster like this. She could usually see a pathway to winning a fight after just a few moments of exchanging blows with an enemy, but Selina had never fought against something this powerful before. This monster was beyond anything she had ever seen.
"CAT! Get your head in the game! We have to keep it busy to make sure everyone else can escape!"
The person who shouted at Selina was the other rank superhuman fighting the beast. He was a man wearing cargo pants and a ck tank top; he carried a baseball bat made from titanium in his hand and brandished it like a weapon as he faced off against the Anima. His name was Derek, and he was blessed by the goddess of hunting, Artemis.
Derek had very sharp instincts that allowed him to avoid blows that would otherwise be fatal to other A ranks, so he was capable of moving in close to the Anima and facing it head-on to give the other superhumans a chance to attack from a distance.
Chapter 143: The Green Vine
Selina immediately got her head back in the game after Derek shouted at her, and the both of them faced off against the humongous Anima who was currently leaning down to stare at them with wide red eyes.
The Anima was a humanoid creature with long arms that it dragged on the ground behind it. It had short legs and arge green body that made it look like some peaceful forest creature. But its face immediately made them forget about that assumption. It had arge mouth with jagged teeth peeking through an unnerving smile.
Itsrge, slitted eyes were constantly staring down at them and mocking them for their weakness.
Selina couldn''t deny that if not for the fact that there were civilians around, she would have abandoned this mission a long time ago. Why the hell was a cmity ss showing up all of a sudden? Selina knew that a cmity ss had just shown up in the city a few weeks ago, so there shouldn''t have been another one for a long time!
Cmity sses were so rare that you would normally never see two of them within the span of two months, but now they were showing up every other week like Pokemon! What the hell is going on in this city!?
"Just hold out for a few more minutes. I''ve made a call and reinforcements should be getting here soon."
Derek said this as he tightened his hold on the bat in his hand. Derek was a member of the Artemis guild, and it was only his luck that allowed him to be at this ce at this moment when the Anima attacked. He ced a call out to his guild, and they should be sending reinforcements soon.
"And how long do you think it will take for that thing to kill us all?"
Selina''s voice was sarcastic as she crouched into a ready position to attack. Derek couldn''t stop his eyes from trailing towards Selina''s ass as it protruded out from her skin-tight outfit when she crouched, and he had to blink in shock as he saw howrge it was! Fuck, that''s a huge ass! I wanna bury my face in there!
"Derek! What the hell are you looking at!?"
Your fat ass.
"Nothing. Let''s focus."
Derek tried to get his head back in the game as he faced off against the monster. He saw one of the B ranks, a long-range sniper, signal to him that they were ready, and Derek immediately nodded before shouting out!
"Let''s go!"
Derek charged for the monster first, and Selina followed closely behind him as they both nked the beast! The monster raised itsrge hand into the air before suddenly swiping it across like a whip!
Snap!
A massive wind pressure snapped across the area as a part of the building was torn to shreds once the Cmity ss touched it! Derek ducked under the attack and pulled back his bat! The bat started to glow with a dull red as it was infused with his mana and he released a shout as he released a massive blow towards the monster''s feet!
Boom!
The beast looked down at it easily tanked the blow and it instantly sent a hit towards Derek! Derek pulled back and tried to get away as quickly as possible as he shouted for Selina to go in for the hit! Selina appeared from the side with two short knives in her hand! Shended on the monster''s shoulder and she ran towards where its eyes were to blind it!
Swipe!
''What!''
Selina''s eyes widened as she felt the area under her feet swell before a tentacle suddenly flew out from the monster''s shoulder and tried to swipe at her! Her reflexes allowed her to jump into the air to avoid it! She redirected her body tond on the ground, but the monster''s hand suddenly shed across the air and mmed into her before she couldnd!
m!
Boom!
"Selina! Fuck! Take the shot now! Everybody attack!"
Derek shouted out at the B ranks in the area as he charged for the monster with killing intent and he released a massive blow at the monster at the same time that a B rank leaped from a higher tform to attack the monster''s head!
The sniper B rank released a mana bullet from a distance while the final B rank used her ability to make vines grow from the ground to hold the Anima in ce so it would not be able to avoid the attacks!
Derek expected the Anima to focus on him since he was the strongest one there so that the other B ranks attacking from above and the one sniping from a distance would get a clean shot. But what happened next shook everyone!
The Animapletely ignored Derek as it allowed him to get a clean strike on its body. Instead, it turned its head around and opened its jagged teeth wide to allow the B rank that was flying towards it tond right inside its mouth!
CRUNCH!!
Boom!
The bullet from the sniper struck the Anima in the head, but it didn''t even look like it noticed it as the Anima continued to chew the human in its mouth with a happy smile across its face. Blood was dripping from the side of its mouth and its jagged teeth had bits of flesh and clothes hanging from them!
"You fucking monster!!"
ROARRRR!!!
BOOM!!
Derek was about to attack the Anima, but the Anima suddenly released a loud roar as it used its hands as a whip once more topletely eradicate everything around it! The whips mmed into Derek and sent him through a wall! The Anima destroyed the vines that were holding it in ce and it started to move towards the B rank that created the vines!
The B rank was a woman wearing a long white gown. She had dark green hair and vibrant green eyes that were currently widened in terror as she started to backpedal once she saw the Anima focusing on her!
"W-Wait! Wait! Get away from me!"
The B rank immediately turned around and started to run away from the
Anima as she realized that she was going to get eaten! Why was it focusing on her? She didn''t even do anything to it!
Chapter 144: Is This A Suicide Charge!?
The B rank immediately turned around and started to run away from the
Anima as she realized that she was going to get eaten! Why was it focusing on her? She didn''t even do anything to it!
"Ahhhh!"
STAB!
The beast stopped moving as it felt two knives stab into the back of its head! It immediately reached back and grabbed whatever was there before swinging it towards the other side of the room! Selina''s back mmed into a steel pipe and broke through it before sinking into a wall! She groaned in pain as she felt her body giving up on her and she dropped to the ground!
The Anima changed its target as it moved towards Selina! It reached out to grab her by the hair. Selina struggled in its grip, but she was too weak to fight back against it as it seized her and brought her up to its mouth.
"What the fuck are you? You look like some sort of omnitrix alien."
The Anima tilted its head in shock as someone spoke from behind it.
There was a certain amount of foreboding that filled it at that moment and it quickly turned around to look at what was behind it.
The Anima released a low growl as it saw Mark standing behind it in his ck jeans and tank top. He was carrying the motionless body of Selina in his hands and the Anima was shocked as it quickly turned back around to look at its empty arm! How did he get her away from it that quickly!?
¡
[New Mission]
Defeat the attacking anima. Civilian casualties are allowed.
Reward: +100 Stat Points
Failure: Nil
...
"You,e over here."
"W-What?"
Derek was standing at the side, dumbfounded as he watched what just happened. The anima might have missed what Mark did, but since Derek was standing right beside them, he was able to catch what actually happened. At one moment, it looked like Selina was about to get eaten, but then Mark appeared out of nowhere, and Selina just disappeared from where she was and reappeared in his hands.
Derek didn''t feel any magic being activated, so he was sure that this was not a skill. That could only mean that Mark used pure speed to do that! Derek knew who Mark was. He saw the news showing Mark fighting against the cmity ss in the city, but this Mark and that one seemed like twopletely different people! He was far faster than before, and his presence waspletely different!
Talking to Mark made Derek feel like he was the child instead!
"I saide take her and get out of here. Don''t worry about the anima; I''ll make sure it doesn''t chase after you."
Derek was still looking towards the anima as he swiftly moved to get Selina from Mark. He was trying to make sure that the anima would not attack, but he didn''t have to worry at all because the anima did not even look away from Mark. It seemed transfixed as Mark handed Selina to Derek and rolled his shoulder.
"Alright. Come to Daddy."
Boom!!
Mark had barely handed Selina over to Derek before the anima shot off the ground and was right on top of him in no time. Derek had already taken arge leap backward, and he was watching with wide eyes as Mark just remained exactly where he was with a growing grin on his face. What the hell is he doing!?
Derek knew that the anima had extremely high physical abilities, so it had enough power to destroy a low-ranked S-rank in one hit! There is no way that Mark could walk away from taking a direct hit like that without any injuries!
"Hey! GHOST! Get out of there!?"
Derek tried to shout loudly to warn Mark to move, but Mark''s grin never faded from his face as he simply received the blow!
BOOM!
The surrounding area rumbled like an earthquake just passed, and Derek almost lost his footing as he tried to continue running away. He saw therge dust cloud that rose around Mark and the anima, and he knew that Mark was done! Was this some sort of suicide n? Did GHOST reallye here just so he could get killed by the anima!? That fucking idiot!
But as the dust cloud cleared up, Derek was shocked to see GHOST standing to one side without a single scratch on his body! The anima''s arm was nted into the ground, and it also looked shocked by what just happened.
Mark hummed slightly as he took a step backward, the smile on his face never fading as he enjoyed the look of shock and surprise on the anima''s face. So that is what the blessing does. That''s fucking awesome.
Mark was not trying to get injured when he decided to stay back and allow the anima to hit him. Mark was trying to test out the new skill that he just got from Hades [Ignorance of the Death God]. The skill is supposed to give him one get-out-of-jail-free card when an opponent uses a potentially lethal attack against him, and Mark needed to know if it was actually true.
Would the hit connect, and he would be sent back in time to before he was hit, or would he be given some strange mechanism that allows him to avoid the attack? Mark needed to see what the skill does so he could figure out how to use itter in the future against stronger opponents.
It turned out that Mark''s second guess was right. The [Ignorance of the Death God] skill worked by taking control of Mark''s body for a split second. Just before the anima''s attacknded, Mark could feel his body shift in the perfect way to just avoid the attack by mere millimeters.
It was strange, and Mark waspletely unprepared for it, but it was also something that the anima never expected, so it was stunned for some seconds after seeing Mark move so perfectly.
Mark wondered if the skill would always work by taking control of his body and moving him out of the way. What would happen if he was attacked by somerge area skill that destroyed everything around him? Would the skill still be able to dodge around something like that, or was he going to get killed because there was nowhere for him to run to?
Mark didn''t know the answers to these questions, but for now, he was satisfied with the results of his test.
"I guess that should be enough ying around for now."
Mark cracked his knuckles as he began walking towards the monster with a wide smile. The monster immediately charged for Mark with a loud roar! It swung its hand in a wide arc that destroyed everything around it as it tried to bash Mark across the mall, but Mark easily dodged under the hit and shot toward the monster!
He shot into the air and delivered a wicked flying kick that sent the monster into the wall of the mall!
Bam!
The monster recoiled off the wall like a basketball, but before it could go anywhere, Mark was on it again!
[Critical Strike]!!
m!
Mark mmed his fist into the monster''s stomach, and the monster crashed through the wall of the mall and into the road, and the screams of people running away became louder as they tried their hardest to get away from the fight. The monster roared in anger again as it used its arms to break down the walls around it!
It grabbed the stone and debris and threw them like missiles toward Mark, and Mark immediately ran to the side and avoided a few of the missiles. There were too many people around, so Mark made sure that he didn''t get too close to the main road so they could get away. He drew the monster away from the civilians and made it focus all its attacks on him.
[Achilles Heel] has been activated.
Mark felt some strain on his eyes as the world blurred into a darker shade. Everything around him faded into multiple shades of ck and gray, but there were many red lights littered around the area that showed the weaknesses of the things in his field of vision.
Chapter 145: Rose Snow
Mark felt some strain on his eyes as the world blurred into a darker shade. Everything around him faded into multiple shades of ck and gray, but there were many red lights littered around the area that showed the weaknesses of the things in his field of vision.
Mark turned to the anima and he saw that its body was filled with ck other than a few ces that were dull red. The only parts of its body that glowed red were its eyes as well as a spot right in the middle of its forehead that zed red. That had to be the spot where it was weakest.
Phwoom!
Mark wasted no time and bolted straight towards the monster. The monster roared in anger and mmed its hand down on the ground to crack the floor! The floor broke into hundreds of pieces and the monster grabbed stones and threw them at Mark!
Phwoom!
m!
A body suddenly appeared from the side as Derek destroyed all of the stones that were going toward Mark at once! Mark continued moving without pausing, and the monster mmed both hands into the ground again to disorient Mark, but Mark was able to easily move to the side and avoid the hit.
[Mana Cirction] has been activated.
Mark could feel his physical attributes increasing as the mana in his body strengthened him to a higher level than before, and he used that extra force tounch himself into the air! He pulled his fist back and focused all of his power on his arm before unleashing a devastating blow toward the anima!
[Critical Strike]!
BOOMM!!
The anima roared in pain as the punch caved in its face! Its entire head crumpled like paper as it was sent flying back and stumbling down the street!
Marknded back on the ground and clenched his fist a few times to reduce the slight throb that he felt. The center of its head was extremely hard, but thankfully, it only took one punch to kill it. The street was silent, and there was no one around as they had all run away to avoid the fight.
But once the fight ended, everyone slowly started toe back as they realized that Mark won. Mark could see people poking their heads out from behind walls anding out from under cars as they began to murmur while looking towards him.
"He won."
"Isn''t that GHOST!?"
"GHOST!! GHOST!"
"Oh my God, it''s GHOST!"
People were starting to swarm around Mark in waves as they saw him standing victorious over the anima, and Mark realized that they were going to mob him if he didn''t get out of there as quickly as possible. Mark was not interested in meeting people, and he didn''t need to stay behind to feed his ego with their thanks, so he just prepared to leave and go back to Arit and Talia.
But before Mark could leave, he heard the roar of the anima he just hit as it shot back to its feet and charged toward him again.
"So it wasn''t dead."
Mark hadn''t seen the notification from the system yet, so he wasn''t sure if the anima was dead or not, and now it would be toote for him to warn the civilians to stay away. Mark knew that they would probably get caught up in the middle of the fight, but he couldn''t stop fighting to start protecting them since the monster was charging towards him at a crazy speed!
ROARRRR!!!!
FREEZE!
All of a sudden, there was a sudden chill that spread across the entire area before arge wall of ice grew from the floor and rose into the sky for more than a hundred meters. The ice wall engulfed the anima and encased it in a block of solid ice, and it also blocked out everyone that was running towards Mark from getting closer!
Mark raised a brow in mild surprise as he breathed out a cold breath. That was quite the disy of magic. Mark didn''t remember any Superhuman from City A having this amount of power. Who the hell is this?
ck! ck! ck!
The sound of high heels walking across the ice echoed from down the street. The sound made Mark turn around, and he saw a figure appearing from within the icy fog that had spread across the area. She was a beautiful woman with long white hair that almost seemed to glow. She had a small face and full blood-red lips that drew Mark''s gaze for a moment before he focused once more on her icy blue eyes.
Mark could not deny that this was a beautiful woman, and from the way she moved and carried herself, Mark could tell that she knew it too.
"That was quite the impressive disy, Mark Vanitas."
Mark did not know who this was. Even though Mark was a superhuman, he didn''t care much about other superhumans, so he barely knew any superhuman that wasn''t from his city. He was only interested in fighting against Anima, so he left the job of figuring out who people were to Pat. Mark immediately activated his [True Sight] skill at the same time that Pat spoke up.
[That''s Luna. Leader of the Moonlight Guild. Strong as fuck. I was going to tell you that there was another cmity ss approaching you from the west side of the city, but she killed it in seconds, so there was no need.]
On the other side of the call, Pat clicked through a few records to see what Luna''s full abilities and power ranking were.
[She controls water, and her guild has many S and A ranks in it. Her rank is undefined. I didn''t even know she was in City A, so it''s obvious she had been lying low. Be careful around her; she''s known to be a difficult one.]
Patrick was currently watching the clip of Luna using her power to boil the other Cmity ss anima like it was nothing! She easily destroyed it from the inside out by taking control of the water inside its own body and raising it to steaming temperatures! By the time she was done with it, there was absolutely nothing left of it at all!
Patrick had never felt bad for an anima before, but at that moment, he pitied that anima.
Mark digested what Patrick told him while looking through the information that his system sent to him.
¡
Name: Rose Snow
Race: Human
Title: Madam Luna
Rank: EPIC Rank I
Potential: EPIC Rank II
Skill: ???
Description: ???
Affiliation: True Good
¡
Rose Snow? Haven''t I heard that name somewhere before? For some reason, I can''t remember.
Mark raised a brow as he read through the name that the system gave Luna. Why was her name Rose Snow on the system when Pat said that her name was Luna? Does that mean that she is hiding her true identity from everyone around her? Well, it was nothing new for superhumans to take on a fake name to try and hide their real identities.
Even Mark was doing something simr, although his own fake name was given to him by the public themselves.
But Mark didn''t know why that name was so familiar to him though. He was sure that he heard it somewhere before, but he just couldn''t pinpoint where he heard it. It felt like a memory from a long time ago that he simply forgot about because there was no need to hold onto it.
Mark shook his head to get rid of those thoughts.
Chapter 146: So Youre The Stalker
Her personal life must be really important to her if she is even willing to go ahead and erase all traces of her true identity from the inte. Mark knew that if there was any trace of her true name on the inte, then Pat would have found it and told him. But the fact that Pat found nothing meant that Luna really did not want anyone to know about her.
Mark felt a little calmer when he saw that her affiliation was True Good. That showed him that he didn''t have to worry about any deceit or attacks from her at least. But her rank and Potential were both strange to Mark. Mark has never seen an EPIC ranking before. Didn''t Patrick say that she was undefined? Why was the system using EPIC?
Is this some sort of new ranking system?
The system brought up a message before Mark could think too hard about what EPIC rank meant.
[The system could not quantify Rose Snow''s power based on the avable rankings that humans use. Therefore, the system has reverted back to the base ranking system that is avable everywhere else in the universe. The F to S ranks are still valid and in ordance with the power ranking used by the rest of the universe, but four extra ranks have been added to extend the power system ranking.
EPIC Rank, PHANTASMAL Rank, TRANSCENDENTAL Rank, PRIMORDIAL Rank.]
¡
Ranking Power Levels
-> EPIC
5000 ¨C 9999: Rank I
10000 ¨C 14999: Rank II
15000 ¨C 19999: Rank III
-> PHANTASMAL
20000 ¨C 24999: Rank I
25000 ¨C 34999: Rank II
35000 - 44999: Rank III
-> TRANSCENDENTAL
45000 ¨C 49999: Rank I
50000 ¨C 59999: Rank II
60000 ¨C 69999: Rank III
-> PRIMORDIAL
70000 ¨C 79999: Rank I
80000 ¨C 89999: Rank II
90000 ¨C 100000: Rank III ¡Ò@§ä¦Ò§ñ?¦Ã*-?§à!§è§Ô?$¦Å%-+
¡
It only took a few moments for the system to upload the new information to Mark, and Mark managed to digest all of them in almost no time. Mark couldn''t help but be a bit disappointed by the amount of power that Luna possessed. She was already an EPIC Rank I, but her potential was at EPIC Rank II. That meant that she had a very long way to go, and she could be much stronger if she pushed herself.
Szar only had a potential of A, but he was already an S Rank. With her high potential, Luna should be a lot stronger than she is now. Why is she only this strong?
Mark didn''t know the answer to that question, and he didn''t think he would ever get close enough to her to find out the reason behind it so he forgot all about it. He just watched silently as Luna approached him.
Mark inclined his head slightly as a greeting, and Luna smiled at his silence. So he was not going to respond; that was okay, she could deal with suspicion better than animosity. Luna knew that Mark might not know her, so she was not going to expect him to suddenly greet her in a friendly manner and ept her greeting without some suspicion.
"My name is Luna, the leader of the Moonlight Guild. I was passing through the city and I couldn''t help but notice your fight against the cmity ss. I thought I woulde and help in case you could not defeat it alone, but it turns out that it was not needed after all. A shame."
[Styxwatche''s Discernment has detected a lie: Rose Snow has been in the city for the past week, and she has kept constant vignce on the user throughout that time.]
Mark''s guard was immediately up once more as he saw the message from his system. Mark almost forgot about the Divine skill that Charon gave him. The skill prevented people from lying to him and it was always working since it was a passive skill.
That meant that Luna has been stalking him all this while? That was admittedly creepy. Hold on, does that mean that she is the one that has been giving him that strange feeling all this time? Mark had been feeling like someone was watching him, but no matter how many times he tried to find the person he could never see anyone.
If it is someone like Luna, then Mark knows that it is possible for her to hide her presence from him while watching him.
Mark did not know what to think about her watching him, but the expression on his face changed to a slightly irritated one as he raised a brow at Luna. Was she the sort of person who did not understand the meaning of personal life and didn''t care about imposing on others just to achieve her own aims?
Luna was stunned as she noticed Mark''s expression change. This was new to her, and she did not know what was going through his head that would make him look at her like that. Luna told Mark that she just arrived in the city to make it seem like she was impressed with his ability.
That would allow her to invite him into her guild more fluidly since humans were all more willing to agree to suggestions when they felt like they were being praised.
But Mark''s reaction was something that she could have never expected. Did he notice her watching him the past week? That was the only thing that would make him look at her like that. Luna might be a powerhouse, but she was still a woman and she could understand how creepy it was for someone to stick around watching you secretly for an entire week without any sort of interaction.
If Mark knew that she had been watching him all this time, then she was practically digging a grave for herself in this negotiation.
Luna didn''t show any external reaction, and she simply waited for Mark to say something before talking again. It took some time for Mark to finally talk, but when he spoke, Luna could practically feel a small blush rising on her cheek after she heard his cheeky tone.
"So you''re the one that has been watching me? I thought I felt eyes on the back of my neck. Who would have guessed that the leader of the Moonlight Guild was a stalker."
Luna''s blush increased even more, and she coughed into her palm. How in the world did Mark manage to notice her? She made sure that she was not seen, and she stayed at a reasonable distance every time she followed him on his jogs. Luna could not deny his usation since he seemed certain of what he was saying. Denying it might only make her look worse in his eyes if he has proof.
Since she could no longer deny it now, she was just going to y it off.
"So you noticed me? I suppose I should apologize for that. I was just trying to see if you were a good fit for my guild; I never meant to impose on your daily life. But from what I have seen, I can say that I am impressed. You handle difficult situations far better than most S rank that I know."
"Thank you. But I thought I already sent a message out to all the guilds around that I didn''t want to join ¨C"
"I know."
Luna cut Mark off with a hard look on her face and Mark rose a brow in surprise.
Chapter 147: Let Me Give You The World
Luna was more than aware of the fact that Mark did not want to join any guilds. That was something that her assistant emphasized over and over again when she told her about Mark. Her assistant said that Mark had already turned down offers from the NSA as well as every other guild that came to him.
However, after doing some research, Luna realized that the only guilds that approached Mark were low-ranking guilds whose leaders were not even above S rank. Of course, he would deny them. They did not even have the bare minimum of resources to support someone like Mark. Luna knew of Mark''s background, and she knew that he was notcking money.
Mark''spany was doing very well, and the Vanitas Motors franchise was already muchrger than those small guilds. Why would Mark join a guild that was smaller than his family''spany?
The Moonlight Guild was different because it had more than enough to give him anything that he wanted, and the Moonlight Guild was at least seven timesrger than the Vanitas Motors franchise. They had the money and the prestige to boost someone like Mark to even higher positions.
"I''m not offering what those other guilds offered you. I want you to state your demands. Regardless of what they are, even if it involves me giving you a small ind nation of your own, I am willing to go as far as possible to have you join my guild. All the members of my guild can attest to my generosity. Money is no object to me.
I admit that many of my guild members only joined the guild because they were greedy and wanted to receive as muchpensation as possible for their troubles, but I have also given many of them a ce where they can belong, a ce where they can be with others that are just as strong and driven as they are. If you join me, then I can promise to make you stronger than you could imagine.
Join me, Mark, and I will make sure you are never alone. I''ll protect you."
Mark breathed out a foggy breath as he heard what Luna said. The system didn''t trigger his Styxwatcher skill, so Mark could tell that Luna was telling the truth. Was she really that desperate to have him join her guild?
It was already strange enough that a leader of a guild woulde here on her own just to invite him to the guild, but now she was practically throwing the world at his feet just for him to join.
Mark was ttered. He wouldn''t deny that hearing her desperately asking him to join was enough to move his heart a little. If he were anyone else, then there is no way that he would have refused her offer. But Mark already had other ns.
Mark shook his head.
"I can tell you''re sincere, but ¨C"
Luna quickly cut Mark off again before he could finish his sentence, and Mark frowned as he felt the feeling of annoyance settling in his chest. this was the second time she would be cutting him off before he could say anything and it was starting to get on his nerves. Just let me turn you down in peace!
Luna hated the fact that she didn''t have anything concrete to use in bargaining with Mark, but she just couldn''t find anything that she could use to make him join her. Usually, this is the part where people would bring out some deep secret or force Mark to join them using something dark that he did not want the world to know about, but there wasn''t anything at all!
Mark had to be the cleanest Superhuman that Luna had ever seen. And even if she found some dirt on him, Luna just didn''t have it in her to use it. She was too kind to expose someone''s secrets for her personal gain.
§Ô§Ö!?????&?-!§à§á--?+?-?&¦Å?¦Ñ£¤§ñ@.&?%§à?&
It wasn''t as if Mark was better than the other guild members that Luna already had. In fact, Luna knew that he was not as strong as some of her guild members. But there was just something different about Mark. Luna could sense something different about him that made her desperate to have him. Luna did not want to lose Mark, and she wanted him to join her guild more than anything.
"Don''t deny me. I heard about the issue that you are currently having with the government. They are putting pressure on you because of your involvement in the ind raid. I can make that disappear with only a single phone call. You willck nothing as a member of my guild."
Luna''s expression suddenly changed to a more serious one, and her eyes softened as she gazed at Mark intensely. Mark could feel the change in how she carried herself, and he couldn''t help but feel a little bad about what he was going to say. It wasn''t as though he just didn''t want to join a guild anymore¡
"The truth is that I already joined a guild¡"
"What?"
Luna''s eyes widened in shock, and she felt the surrounding area heating up before the ice that she created burst into millions of pieces and scattered in the wind. Luna turned to the side, and she saw a group of people walking towards her. The person leading them was a woman that anyone would recognize the moment they saw her.
Fiona''s long auburn hair and deep blue eyes drew the gazes of everyone in the area for a moment as he walked towards the talking pair. She was nked by Tylor and other members of her guild, but she was not interested in anything else as her eyes stayed glued on Mark.
She smiled at Mark in that sultry manner that never failed to entice every man she ever met and she felt her smile drop a bit when Mark simply gave her a nod in response.
Fiona frowned in disappointment, but she didn''t allow his reaction to bother her too much as she turned to the side to regard Luna. Luna''s expression darkened for a moment once she saw Fiona before Luna gained her impassive look once more as she faced the iing group.
"Madam Luna, I had no idea that you wereing to City A. Surely, you weren''t trying to sneak in to get an upper hand in recruiting a member of ''my'' guild."
Luna''s eye twitched as she heard the mocking tone in Fiona''s voice, and she spoke up with nk indifference.
"Fiona. As always, you never fail to irritate me with your presence."
Fiona''s smile only widened as she heard what Luna said. Fiona didn''t care if Luna insulted her to hell and back right now. Because at that moment, Fiona felt like she was on top of the world!
Fiona and Luna were two of the most popr female Superhumans in America, so they always had guest appearances and missions that made their paths cross, but everyone could tell that they both hated each other with a passion! Luna was a calm person, so you wouldn''t notice just how strong the animosity was if you were only focusing on her. But Fiona did not hide it one bit!
She openly red and sneered at Luna without restraint!
Chapter 148: You Know I Am Not The Only One.
Fiona and Luna had never seen eye to eye before! Fiona would have ended the quarrel a long time ago by using her ability, but Fiona couldn''t do that because Luna was so fucking strong that Fiona''s powers just bounces off her like it is nothing!. In fact, Fiona has to be careful when she is around Luna to make sure that they don''t get into a physical fight.
Fiona knew that she couldn''t win that in a million years, so she always made sure that their conflicts were only verbal or psychological in nature.
And right now, Fiona felt like she was on top of the world. Fiona heard some of the things that Luna and Mark just spoke about and she knew that Luna was trying to recruit Mark into her guild. The mere fact that Fiona got Mark before Luna could just made everything right in Fiona''s world! Fiona didn''t even care to know why Luna wanted Mark so badly, she just knew that she won!
Fiona turned to Mark and smiled at him in that sultry big sister manner once more, and Mark just raised a questioning brow at her. What the hell was she doing here?
Fiona spoke up kindly as he heard Mark''s question.
"I received a call from one of our members. He said there was a cmity ss in the region and requested help. I figured you would be here and decided toe see you. Aren''t I just the best guild leader?"
"YES, MADAM FIONA!"
The group that was standing behind Fiona all responded together, and Mark just scoffed. He looked towards Tylor, who was standing quietly to the side with his hands folded, and Tylor gave Mark a nod in greeting.
Mark joined the Artemis guild about a week ago. This was actually a n that he and Pat came up with together.
After thewsuits were brought up using Mark of going against the Superhumanws when he went to the ind raid without permission from any governmental personnel, Pat searched for a way for Mark to avoid going to court or showing up in a hearing, and Pat found out that most of the hearings and charges would be suspended if Mark was simply part of a guild.
Mark didn''t want to join any guild; he didn''t like being tied down like that. But Pat told him that it was better to just join a guild and let things cool down before leaving the guild after some time and going independent again. There are nows stating that you have to be a part of one guild forever or that you cannot leave a guild after joining it.
So if Mark leaves the guild after two or three months, then there would be no bacsh at all.
Mark agreed to this since it was a sensible n, and Mark decided that he was going to join a guild that he could be a part of in name only.
So when Mark went to the NSA building to see Szar the other day, he met with Fiona and Tylor in their hospital room and struck a sensible deal with them. Mark would join their guild, but in exchange, Mark would be getting total freedom from all bureaucratic and superhuman responsibilities thate with being in the guild.
The only responsibility that Mark would have is the asional mission that required his attention as the strongest member of the guild. But other than that, Mark would be a free agent.
Usually, a deal like his would be frowned upon. no guild master would want their guild member to be so nonchnt about their responsibilities nad they would definitely not want them to only show up asionally, but not Fiona! Fiona jumped on this opportunity faster than Mark could even get his words out. Fiona knew that it would be a boon to her guild to have Mark as a member.
Not only would the number of missionsing in increase, but the trust that other people have in their guild would go up since they now had a possible S-rank Superhuman in their ranks.
And even if all of these things were not true, Fiona would have still agreed to the offer since both she and Tylor owed their lives to Mark. Without Mark''s help, then Fiona had no doubt that she would have died on that ind raid. There was no way Fiona could have won against that cmity ss after Tyler went down like that.
Mark told Fiona after joining her guild that she should keep the truth under wraps for now since he did not want to be hounded by reporters once more. He wanted to enjoy some free time with Arit before going back into the superhuman world again, so he just wanted everything quiet for some time.
Fiona was not going to say anything about Mark joining her guild until she saw that he was back fighting anima again, so once Fiona noticed that it was Mark the one who fought against the Cmity ss Anima, she knew that he would be fine with her revealing his true affiliations.
Luna didn''t know about the deal that Fiona made with Mark, so she was understandably shocked. She looked towards Mark with narrowed eyes and wondered if what Fiona said was the truth. Did he really join the Artemis guild, or was this just some y that they brought up together to stop the other guilds from trying to recruit him?
Or maybe that wasn''t the case at all.
A small wave of ice started to gather around Luna''s feet as she had a possibility cross her mind. What if Mark was actually under Fiona''s control? Luna knew what Fiona''s abilities were, and she knew that Fiona could even ensnare those who were one rank higher than her. It was possible that Mark was already under Fiona''s control, and he was only joining her guild because she forced him to.
But Mark met Luna''s gaze with his own, and Luna seemed to read something in his eyes that told her that what Fiona just said was not a lie, and worse yet, Mark was not under Fiona''s control. Mark really joined the Artemis guild on his own. Luna closed her eyes for a moment and sighed as the ice around her feet started to melt away into steam.
"How unfortunate. I am aware that amitment to a guild is a big deal, and I would never suggest you look down on themitment that you have made, even though it is to a small guild like the Artemis guild. But I would like you to know that I believe you can do much better. I have a dream that you could be a part of. Something bigger than the both of us.
If you ever wish to be a part of somethingrger, then please don''t hesitate to contact me." story-source-MvLeMpYr
Fiona bit her lip as she felt a surge of anger rising from her chest when she heard Luna call her guild a ''small guild''. Fucking bitch!
Luna turned around to leave without acknowledging anyone else''s presence. She didn''t care for them since they were not worth remembering. They were just mindless fools that Fiona ced under her control.
But just before she left, Luna stopped and turned to nce at Mark as she spoke.
"Oh yes, before I forget. You probably already know this, but I was not the only one watching you these past few days."
Mark''s eyes narrowed in shock. What?
Chapter 149: Dont Do Anything Rash
Mark narrowed his eyes in shock. What?
"There was someone else watching you. I can''t tell you who it was since he was too far away for me to get a good look at him, and I only noticed him because he was watching me too. I don''t know if you are ignoring him because you believe you can defeat him at any time, but I suggest you get rid of him as quickly as possible. Unlike me, I can tell he had far more nefarious intentions.
If you don''t get rid of him soon, then your family could be in danger."
Once she was done saying her piece, Luna left, but Mark was left in shock as he wondered how he could have missed something like this. There was no doubt that the person that was watching him was the superhuman killer. That bastard has been watching from a distance and Mark hasn''t even sensed him once. Doesn''t that mean that he could have attacked him at any moment when he was with Talia or Arit?
Mark wondered why the superhuman killer didn''t attack them.
This also happened before when Mark wasn''t at home and the killer went to visit Arit. Doesn''t that mean that the superhuman killer will not attack unless Mark is alone? Mark looked up at the tall skyscrapers surrounding the city as he wondered which one the superhuman killer could be using as a base.
"Pat, did you get all that?"
Pat''s haughty voice came through Mark''s air pods as the sound of a keyboard clicking echoed across the call.
[I''m already on it. I triangted your location and narrowed down the search for him, but it will take some time to find anything substantial. Don''t do anything rash in the meantime. We can''t let him know that we know about him, he might run if that happens.]
Mark already knew that if they started looking for the superhuman killer aggressively now, there was every possibility that the bastard would just pack up and escape. Mark squeezed his fist in anger as he felt useless in this situation. He wanted to just go and destroy that bastard, but he couldn''t make any rash decision right now so that they don''t lose this advantage.
The superhuman killer knew where Mark was, but Mark didn''t know where the killer was, so he was at arge disadvantage right now. Mark had to just keep doing what he had always been doing and hope that Pat would find something before long.
Fiona watched Luna leave with a sneer on her face, and she clicked her tongue and looked away once Fiona disappeared down the road. She really hated that bitch. How dare Luna look down on her guild like that!? And who the fuck is she calling a small guild!? Luna made it sound like it wasn''t an insult, but Fiona could feel the insult from a mile away! Luna was definitely looking down on her guild! MVLeMpYr-only
Just because Luna is beautiful, she thinks that the world revolves around her!
"Fucking t-chested bitch."
Fiona muttered low enough that only Mark could hear it, and Mark could only wonder what the hell happened between Fiona and Luna that made Fiona hate Luna so much. Mark was curious, but he didn''t care enough to ask, so he just dropped it when Fiona turned to him with a grin.
"Mark, it''s been too long. You really took your sweet time on that break of yours, didn''t you? I was afraid I would have to wait for another month before seeing you in the field again. You know you''re a member of my guild now, so at the very least I need to know how long you''re going to be off duty so I can work around that."
Mark nced down at Fiona for a moment before he spoke.
"That wasn''t our deal. I don''t have to tell you what I''m doing or where I''m doing it, and this partnership isn''t going tost for very long, so you shouldn''t get used to it. If you have a mission that only I can handle, then reach out to me. But other than that, try not to bother me."
Fiona frowned at Mark as she saw him answer her in his usual rude and distant manner. They''ve known each other long enough for them to be friendly with each other, and yet Mark was as distant as ever. It was almost like he put this wall between them and nothing she does could bring it down! Fiona sighed in disappointment and nodded slowly.
"Yes, yes. I was just joking around a bit. There is a missioning up soon, but it will take some time to clear the red tape around it since it is a joint mission with other guilds. I''ll send you the details on theworkter."
Mark nodded at her. He would have stayed to get more details about the missions, but he was not in the mood after hearing what Luna just said. Mark knew that they most likely weren''t in any danger, but he still wanted to check and make sure that Arit and Talia were alright. Mark jumped off the ground and vanished from the area.
Fiona frowned as she watched him go, and she looked around with a sigh. The area was not as bad as it usually would be in a Cmity ss attack, and they had Mark to thank for that since he was able to contain the Cmity ss so easily. But it was still crazy how someone who struggled with a Cmity ss monster only a week ago was able topletely overpower the same ss of monster now.
Isn''t he growing too fast?
"He got stronger again."
Tylor walked up from behind Fiona and spoke up in a contemtive tone. Tylor kept his distance from the talking group out of respect for Mark, but now that Mark was gone, he decided to speak his mind. Fiona hummed as she looked towards the area where Mark just left. Taylor continued.
"I can usually guess my chances of winning against an opponent based on what I see in their movement and stance. But that boy is really something else. I feel like he is apletely different personpared to who I saw the other day. If I tried to attack him, then it wouldn''t even take two seconds before he takes me down. It might be even less than that if he is really trying.
Maybe I should get back to training again."
Tylor only muttered thest part of his sentence, but Fiona easily heard it, and she just scoffed and told Tylor to go and grab the anima corpse so that they could take it with them. They needed to use it to make more weapons for the guild.
It wasn''t that Fiona didn''t think that Tylor could get stronger. It is just that the gap between Tylor and Mark was so great that no amount of training would be able to close it. It was more likely that Tylor would get depressed from not being able to catch up to Mark since Mark was so much stronger than him, and Fiona did not want that.
It was already bad enough that he lost some of his confidence during that ind raid, Fiona would not ept him losing any more of his confidence because of his desperation to be better than Mark.
And from what Fiona noticed during the small conversation that she just had with Mark. There was never going to be a time when Tylor stood a chance against him. Fiona couldn''t believe that Mark didn''t even notice anything during their conversation!
Chapter 150: No Reaction?
Fiona used her blessing multiple times during that conversation with Mark! Usually, there would be some sort of reaction from him whenever she uses her blessing to try and control him! Either he would notice that she used her blessing and ignore it or he would re at her for using it on him and tell her never to use it again! But there was always a reaction from him!
But this time, there was absolutely nothing!
It felt as if Mark did not even notice that she used her blessing on him at all! Every time, she used the blessing while talking, she noticed that there was no reaction from Mark, he just continued talking like nothing happened! Fiona was certain that Mark''s mental fortitude was so strong now that there was just no chance of her blessing reaching him!
Is this not the same thing that happens with the Undefined superhumans?
Whenever Fiona tried to use her blessing on a superhuman that was above S rank, they would not even notice that she activated it, and it always felt like she was using her blessing against a brick wall. That was the same feeling that she got when she used her blessing against Mark just now!
Don''t tell me that Mark was already above S rank. That would be madness. Just how fast is he growing?
¡
"Take it slow and try not to rush it. You don''t have to do it quickly. Just try
doing it once first."
Mark was standing in arge room inside his penthouse and looking down at Arit who was sitting on the floor. Arit was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a tight ck sports bra that helped to carry the weight of her breasts, and Mark watched her breasts rise and fall as she took in deep breaths.
Arit was holding onto two eggs- one in each hand- and they were currently training her on how to control her strength. This was the same method that Mark used to train his strength when he was just a beginning superhuman.
After Mark had his first fight against that Armageddon ss Anima and lost his system a while ago, Mark noticed that he could not control his strength at all and everything that he touched would crumble under his strength because of how weak it was.
So he used eggs to train himself on how not to put too much power into his arms unconsciously. Mark would carry the eggs around with him wherever he went and make sure that he did not clench his hands too tightly or use too much strength in his hands. Mark did this exercise for more than a week before he finally managed to carry the egg around for a whole day without breaking it once.
After that, he used the egg while doing intense exercises. He would hold the egg in one hand and lift weights in the other hand. Or he would punch a punching bag while holding the egg in the other hand; that way he could keep his strength in check and he would not have to worry about unconsciously breaking something, or worse, hurting someone unknowingly.
Mark was using the same training method for Arit now. But there were some changes that he made to the training regime. For Arit, she could already control her strength to a certain degree. Mark noticed that whenever she was in her normal state and her eyes were their normal ck, she had the strength of a normal girl. She couldn''t bring out any of her inner strength once she was in her human state.
But when her eyes turned to the yellow slits that QUEEN had, she could bring out a lot of power.
That meant that Art had to learn to control her strength whenever her eyes were in that form. When Mark first told Arit about all of this, she was shocked to learn that her eyes had a transformation. Arit had never seen the transformation before, so when she finally saw it in the mirror for the first time, she almost passed out on the spot!
Mark managed to calm her down and he told her that she had to learn to control her strength when in this state because she did not know how to fully control her body yet. If she changes into her anima form while in school, then she could unconsciously cause a lot of damage.
Arit agreed, and they started her training. Art would hold two eggs in her hand and she would gradually try to bring out her anima self. Arit was a little scared to even try the exercise at first because it was almost like she was giving control of her body to her alter ego, but Mark told her that it was fine. Her alter ego was still her, so she would have control even if it came out.
That was what Jeanne said and they could trust her.
The first time they tried the exercise, it didn''t even take ten seconds for the egg to break!
Crack!
Art sighed as she heard the sound of the egg cracking in her hands. She opened her eyes and looked towards Mark with her yellow-slitted eyes, and she blushed as Mark smiled at her kindly.
"Sorry."
Arit quickly apologized for not being able to do it properly, and Mark told her that it was fine. He never expected her to get it on her first try. Even he was not able to get it that quickly. After hearing that, Arit gained some more confidence and she began trying again.
She continued the session with Jeanne to help her control QUEEN better, and she was also having her session with Mark that would help her control her strength if she ever brought out QUEEN.
But now, after more than three weeks of going through these exercises, Mark could tell that Arit hade a long way. Mark watched as Arit opened her eyes to show the yellow-slitted eyes. He quickly nced down at her fists and saw that she was still gripping the eggs tightly, but they were not breaking or cracking, and he smiled at her.
"Good work, Arit. Just keep it like that. Are you still hearing the voices?"
Arit frowned and she seemed to be contemting something before she nodded.
"Yes, but they aren''t as loud as before. It''s almost like they are talking from behind a wall. If I concentrate, then I can tune them out or make them go to the back of my mind so I don''t get distracted by them."
Mark nodded in understanding when he heard that. Mark felt extremely proud of how far Arit hade in the past three weeks. She was an extremely fast earner and he was sure that this was the reason why she learned how to do this so quickly. He spoke up while taking a few steps back.
"That''s good. Keep them in check so they don''t distract you and try to keep the egg steady. We are going to test your adaptation."
Art tilted her head in confusion as she heard what Mark said. What did he mean by ''we''?
Woosh!
Art quickly bent her head to the side as she felt something whiz past her cheek! She quickly got to her feet and took arge leap backward as she saw arge teddy bear standing in front of her. Wasn''t that Talia''s bear?
Chapter 151: Passing Grade
Arit quickly got to her feet and took arge leap backward as she saw therge teddy bear standing in front of her. Wasn''t that Talia''s bear?
read-first-on-MVLeMpYr
Arit turned to the side and saw Talia standing by the door with a wide smile on her face. Her hands were folded across her chest as she red at Arit and Arit could almost feel the excitement rolling off Talia''s body as Talia sent the teddy bear in for another attack.
Talia was enjoying this far too much!
Woosh!
Woosh!
Woosh!
Arit took three giant leaps back as she tried to avoid the hits from the teddy bear. The bear was only able to use basic attacks, but from the amount of pressure that Arit could feeling off its punches, she knew that any one of those hits would be enough to break through a wall! Why was Talia using something this strong against her!? Did she want to kill her!?
"Don''t just avoid the hits, attack. Don''t forget you''re stronger than before. The hits won''t kill you."
Mark spoke up from the side, and Arit frowned at him in anger when she saw that he was not even going to do anything about this! She was going to kill Mark! Mark knows that Arit isn''t a fighter! She never even fought a day in her life! How in the world did he expect her to attack the bear!?
[Just tear it to pieces! Use its momentum against it and force it into your strike zone before tearing it apart!]
The voice in Arit''s head suddenly started talking loudly again, but Arit didn''t fight against the voice this time. Jeanne told Arit that the more she fought against the voice, the more likely it was to get louder. Instead, Jeanne told Arit that she should just analyze the suggestions made by the voice and decide on her own if she was going to listen to it or not.
It waspletely up to her to perform the actions that the voice suggested or topletely ignore it.
And this time, she could tell that the suggestion from QUEEN was not so bad. Arit took a step back and allowed the teddy bear to approach her before she quickly stepped within its reach. She dodged the punch that it unleashed before she mmed her feet into the bear and kicked it across the room like a football!
Boom!
"TEDDY!!"
Talia shouted in anger as she saw her teddy bear fly across the room, but Mark easily appeared under the bear and caught it before it could get seriously damaged. He made sure that the teddy bear was alright as Talia ran over to check on the bear as well. Once Mark was sure that the bear was not damaged, he handed the bear to Talia and thanked her for her help while petting her head.
Talia huffed and turned to leave the room and Mark just smiled before he turned to give Arit one of thergest smiles she had ever seen on him before!
"That was awesome, Arit!"
"W-What?"
Arit was still shocked by what she had done. Since when could she do that? Since when could she move that fast? Avoiding the hits was one thing, but that kick that she just delivered was so fast that she almost didn''t even see herself moving. It felt like she was someone else entirely.
Mark came up to Arit and he saw the worry in her eyes as she looked towards the spot where the teddy bear was. Mark touched her cheek and she startled back to reality to look up at him.
Mark spoke up in a worried tone.
"You okay?"
"Y-Yeah, I''m just¡ I didn''t know I could do that."
Mark chuckled.
"Don''t worry about it, it happens to all of us the first time we use our powers. It''s very different from what we''re used to, so we feel like it''s no longer even our body. But that shouldn''t bother you, you''ll get used to it."
Arit''s yellow eyes gazed up at Mark in awe as she listened to him talk and after some time she nodded as he grinned at her. Mark spoke while scratching the back of his head.
"Well then, I suppose that is the end of that. I don''t think I have anything more to teach you about this."
"Eh.. but what about the egg-"
Arit looked down at her hand as he spoke and her eyes widened as she noticed that the eggs were still intact even after the conflict that she just had with that teddy bear. At the start of all this, the egg would break with even the slightest distraction.
There was one time that the eggs broke just because her phone rang and it startled her, but she was able to do all of this without even cracking the eggs once?
"You pass, Arit. I''m really proud of you."
Doesn''t this mean that she could finally get back to school? Arit''s eyes were still wide in shock as she stared at her eggs. She remembered that Mark told her that they could go back to school when she learned this egg exercise and Arit realized that she finally did it! She could go back to school!
Arit felt this bubbly sensation rising in her chest and she couldn''t help the exmation of joy that escaped from deep within her belly! She shouted out happily and wrapped her hands around Mark''s shoulder before kissing him deeply.
"Muah!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
Mark gazed into her yellow eyes and he wondered if she knew that she was still in her QUEEN form. She was already so used to it that she was now able to stay in that form for a long time without even noticing. They would have to do something about that. Maybe they can lie that she was now using contacts or something.
He smiled as she got back to her feet.
"You''re wee. Come on, let''s get cleaned up so you can go for your session with Jeanne. You can tell her the good news."
"Mmhmm!"
Arit nodded and dragged him along so they could go towards the bathroom. Mark wasn''t surprised by Arit''s actions because he knew that Arit was a lot bolder whenever she was in her QUEEN form and he actually liked it.
The gap between her regr shy self and the confident QUEEN that could easily drag him along with her to the bathroom made his head spin half the time, but it also made both personalities sexier than they had any right to be individually.
It was like having two girlfriends in one sexy ass body!
Chapter 152: Wont you Come Back?
Later that night, after Arit was done with her session with Jeanne and she had finallye home, she was lying in Mark''s bed with the nkets syed all over her. She was only wearing very short shorts and a thin spaghetti-strap top that she usually wore to sleep.
She moaned in her sleep as she turned around to wrap her hand around Mark, but she frowned and opened her eyes blearily as she noticed that Mark was not in bed with her.
Arit pushed her upper body off the bed and looked around the room to see if Mark was there, but she was shocked when she noticed that he wasn''t. Where was he?
[And that''s the game folks -]
Click!
[There''s something about this television program that -]
Click!
[Wee to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire -]
Click!
Arit rubbed her eyes sleepily and walked out of the room as she heard the sound of the television channel being changed over and over again. She walked into the main parlor and she stopped as she saw Mark sitting on the couch in front of the television with his back hunched and a frown on his face.
He was staring at the television, but Arit could tell that he was not interested in whatever was being shown. He never even stayed on a station for more than a minute.
"Hey."
Mark paused in the middle of changing a channel and he turned to look at Arit. Mark was only wearing his sweatpants that he used to sleep, but his hair was a little wet, so Arit guessed that he had just taken his bath again. Mark smiled at Arit as she came closer and sat beside him.
He spoke up while watching her put some strands of her hair behind her ear.
"Sorry. Did I wake you?"
Arit nodded as she put her hands between her thighs and looked up at Mark from below while talking softly.
"Mmh. Why aren''t you in bed?"
Mark forced a smile out as he spoke.
"It''s nothing. I just couldn''t sleep. Go get some rest."
Mark turned back to the television to continue changing the channels, but a handnded on his own and stopped him before he could change it. Mark looked towards Arit and saw that she was looking at him with a small frown on his face.
"Don''t say that Mark, I can tell that there''s something wrong. I know you, remember. Please, tell me."
Mark stared at Arit for some time and Arit was afraid that Mark was not going to tell her after all. Arit knew that Mark had been going through a lot for far longer than they had been dating and she did not have a right to know everything about him just because she was his girlfriend now. But she still wanted to help him.
Wasn''t it better to share a problem rather than allowing it to eat you from the inside?
Mark seemed to understand what Arit was thinking as his eyes softened and he hummed while turning back to the television. When he spoke, there was this serious depth in his voice that made Arit shiver as she realized how serious this situation was.
"I was just thinking about the mailman from the other day. I had Pat look into it and it may be more serious than we thought. He could be someone really dangerous."
The results of the facial recognition that Patrick ran before finally came in and Mark couldn''t be more worried by what the results were. It turns out that the man behind the mask was literally a ghost. If Mark and Pat thought that the identity of the mask was strange, then the identity of the man behind the mask was even worse.
There was only one record that showed anything about the man and that was a military record from ten years ago when he registered with a toon, and all they got from there was his picture and field name, nothing else. Pat tried to find anything else that could track the man''s real name or even his base location, but there was nothing at all they could find.
Every turn, every record, every possible file that could contain even a single piece of information on the man had been cleared from the intepletely. It was almost like the man did not even exist.
But after some extensive research and even more searching, Pat was finally able to bring up a recent record that showed a picture of the man as well as an alias that he was currently working with. When Pat told Mark about it, Pat had a look of slight worry in his eyes and Mark was immediately uneasy when he saw this. Anything that could make Pat worried was dangerous enough to put Mark on edge.
The Superhuman Killer.
A mass murderer who had already killed five superhumans in the past four years. It might not seem like a lot, but when you take into ount how strong superhumans are, you understand how difficult it is for anyone to murder a superhuman without alerting every other superhuman and human in the surroundings.
No superhuman would go down without a fight, but the Superhuman Killer was able to kill the superhumans and disappear without a single trace.
This shit ruined Mark''s moodpletely, and Mark was suddenly not in the mood to sleep anymore. He needed toe up with a way to deal with this before Arit or Talia were hurt. He knew that the Superhuman Killer was after him. There is no doubt about it.
discover-MVLeMpYr-novels
If he was after Arit or Talia, then the killer would have killed them when he was pretending to be a mailman and Mark would havee back to find their dead bodies.
Just thinking about it was enough to make a new wave of anger rise inside Mark''s chest.
No, the Superhuman Killer was definitely after him. There is no doubt about it. And that meant that someone put a bounty on his head. Who the fuck could have done that? Was it Szar? That was the only person that Mark could think about right now who would want him gone.
Even though Mark and Szar were not at odds openly, there was definitely enough justification for Szar to want to kill Mark.
Fuck, Mark hated this shit.
With the way things were going, he would just walk into the NSA and kill that bastard.
"Mark¡ please don''t look like that."
Arit gently caressed the back of Mark''s head as she saw his brow furrowing into a mad re that made her chest tighten in slight fear. Mark quickly rxed his expression and turned to give Arit a forced smile. He apologized for scaring her and Arit shook her head.
"No, it''s fine. I¡ I don''t know what happened really, and I know you''re just trying to protect me, but I don''t want you to have to force your smiles when you''re around me. I want to help you get through this."
Mark''s smile disappeared as he leaned back in his seat. Arit was right. He shouldn''t be faking his expressions around her. But he couldn''t tell her about this. It was too dangerous and he didn''t want her to try anything stupid while trying to help him. He would deal with it without involving her or Talia.
"Don''t worry, Arit. Just being here with me is plenty. I''ll handle it and everything will be fine. I promise."
Arit still looked worried as she ran her hand over Mark''s shoulder before moving to give him a hug. Mark was a bit surprised by it at first, but he eventually smiled and epted it. He tightened the hold more than usual and Arit''s eyes changed to yellow as she felt some strain on her body from how tight his hold was. Arit whispered in Mark''s ear as she also tightened her hold on him.
"I''m always here for you. I''ll always be on your side. Even if the whole world is against you or if you have to fight against a god. Just do what you have to do, Mark. But please¡ pleasee back to me. I''m always here, so promise me you''ll alwayse back."
Chapter 153: Nymphomaniac (+18)
"I''m always here, so promise me you''ll alwayse back."
Mark felt his heart swell from what Arit just said, and his hold on Arit loosened as he brought her back so that he could see her eyes. She gazed up at him with her yellow eyes and Mark cupped her cheek gently dan caressed it softly. Arit hummed as she pressed her cheek into Mark''s arm and covered his palm with her own to feel more of him.
She felt Mark run his hand over her scar before he brought her face up as he leaned down.
"Mmmhh~"
Arit moaned into Mark''s mouth as he kissed her softly. This kiss was different from the ones that they usually had. Mark''s kisses were usually dominating and intense, but this one was gentle and soft. Arit loved the way Mark dominated her whenever they kissed, but she decided that she also liked this way of kissing. It was reassuring and it showed that Mark really loved her too.
Arit could feel her head going empty and she felt like she was floating in the air as she held Mark''s arm gently to prevent herself from falling over.
After some time, Mark pulled back.
"I promise."
Arit nodded into Mark''s arm and she did not resist at all as Mark pulled her in and nted another kiss on her lips. Arit moaned into the kiss as she wrapped both hands around Mark''s neck. Mark gently pulled Arit closer until their bodies were pressed together and Arit shivered as she felt his hand traveling lower down her body.
Mark''s palm grazed over her nipple and Arit groaned somewhere deep in her throat as his finger flicked her nipple!
Her top was very thin, so she could feel Mark''s arm on her skin as if she was wearing nothing at all. Mark cupped her breast gently and pinched her nipples together and Arit moaned into his mouth and ran her hand through his hair as the sensation drove her crazy.
"Uhhh~!"
Arit broke the kiss and released a sultry moan as she felt Mark flick her nipple with his thumb again. Her voice came out in a shaky and breathy tone as she whispered into Mark''s ear.
"L-Lower¡ Please."
Mark didn''t need to be told twice as he let go of her breast and traced his hand further down her body. His hand slid into her loose shorts and Arit''s entire body shivered as she felt his hand graze over her clit! Fuck!
"Y-Yes!"
Arit held on tighter to Mark as she felt his hand slide over her pussy before he slowly moved towards her clit and began to slide his finger into her. Arit''s legs were closed tightly, but once she felt Mark touching her down there, she didn''t even know when she started to slowly open her legs to give him more ess to her sensitive parts.
Mark brought his finger out from her shorts and looked at his drenched fingers with a small smirk on his face. He leaned back a bit and Arit was shocked as she felt Mark put his fingers into her mouth!
"Mmh~!"
Arit sucked on Mark''s fingers and tasted herself as the grin on Mark''s face turned savage.
"Look how wet you are already. You''re a little nymphomaniac, aren''t you?"
Pop!
Arit popped her mouth off Mark''s fingers and she blushed as she swallowed and quickly buried her face in her hands.
"D-don''t tease me like that! Don''t you know it''s your fault?"
Mark chuckled low as he pulled Arit''s hands away from her face. He captured her lips and Arit moaned into his mouth as she felt him exploring her mouth with his tongue. Mark could taste every bit of Arit in her mouth and he put his hands into her shorts once more and thrust his fingers into her pussy.
"Hah~! Hah~! Hah~! Hah~!"
Mark fingered her faster and faster as her moans turned louder. He pulled
her hair back and exposed her neck to him as he kissed her on the neck. His kisses were gentle at first, but he slowly became more feral as he bi her hard enough to leave a visible scar! Arit''s eyes were droopy and there was a silly look on her face as she enjoyed the sensation of Mark fingering her. She put her hand on Mark''s head and moaned when she felt him biting her neck!
Arit knew that she would bleed from that bite, but she didn''t even care! She pressed Mark''s head into her neck as she asked him for more as she neared her climax! When Mark noticed that she was already close to cumming, he stopped moving his finger and he could almost feel Arit''s body jolt as she felt something leave her.
"M-Mark, what ¨C"
"Take it off."
Mark pulled Arit''s shorts lower and Arit obediently obeyed as she raised her hips and allowed him to drop it. She was wearing a pair of pinkce underwear and she was surprised when Mark did not even bother taking it off. Mark just grabbed her thigh and lifted her like she weighed nothing before making her sit on hisp.
Arit put her hands on Mark''s shoulders to steady herself and she looked down at Mark as he gazed at her with an expectant look. Arit could understand what Mark was asking for and she swallowed as she leaned down and gently kissed him. Her hand traveled down from his shoulder until they got to his trousers and she slowly started to loosen his sweatpants until she freed his member.
She held the throbbing member in her hand and Mark growled into her mouth before speaking against her lips. discover-stories-MVLeMpYr
"Do it yourself."
Arit felt her core throb as Markmanded her to impale herself. Arit did not know when she started to enjoy doing whatever Mark told her to do. Did this make her some kind of masochist? Or was she just that submissive to Mark? Honestly, she didn''t care. She just knew that she liked it!
Arit sat up and slowly pulled her panties to one side before positioning herself right on top of Mark''s member and she slowly started to impale herself.
"Ohhh~!"
The tip crossed into her pussy and Arit felt it filling her up slowly as she held on tightly to Mark''s shoulder. She felt Mark''s arm on her waist as she took half of him inside and Mark quickly mmed her down on his dick.
"Ugh!! Fuck!"
Arit tightened her hold on Mark''s shoulders as she felt him m into her cervix! Fuck! Did he get bigger!? Mark was definitely bigger than before! Arit felt like she was about to be skewered!
Arit did not curse much, but she couldn''t stop herself from cursing as she felt Mark throbbing inside of her.
"You''re fucking huge, Mark."
Chapter 154: Not Again! (+18)
Mark''s hands were on the back of the couch as he watched Arit struggle to get used to his size. Once she looked like she was okay, hemanded her to start moving. Arit nced at Mark in shock. He wanted her to move? She didn''t even know how to do it properly!
"Don''t make me repeat myself."
Arit felt that shiver in her core again as she heard themanding tone from Mark and she tightened her hands around Mark''s neck and she slowly started to move her hips!
p! p! p! p! p! p!
p!
"Hah~! Hah~! Hah~! Hah~! Hah~!"
Arit went slowly at first, but as time went on, she started to closely increase her pace until the sound of skin pping against skin started to echo throughout the entire parlor! Arit leaned forward and kissed Mark deeply as she started to enjoy the sensation of bouncing on top of him!
She broke the kiss with a breathy moan and used Mark''s shoulder to hold herself up as she mmed herself down even harder with each movement!
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
Bam!
Mark''s mouth was slightly open as he felt Arit trying to milk everything out of him with the way she was moving. He moved his hands to cup her breast and Arit''s entire body started to heat up in excitement as she increased her pace even more!
Bam! Bam! Bam!
"Arit... I''m close."
Mark growled low as he felt himself getting close and Arit nodded as she bit her lip.
"Mmmhmm! Cum inside me! Inside! I-I''m safe, so it''s fine!!"
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
"Nggh!"
Mark growled deep in his throat as he finally released everything inside of Arit and Arit felt her legs shake as she felt him filling her up!
"Fuck! Ugghhhh~!!"
The sensation was too stimting and she couldn''t stop herself from cumming all over Mark''s dick as Mark felt her getting even wetter! Mark grabbed Arit and quickly changed their position so that she was lying face down on the couch with him on top of her!
"W-Wait! Mark, I''m too sensitive! Ughhhhhhh~!"
Mark did not waste any time as he impaled Arit hard and Arit felt her eyes roll to the back of her head as her hands dug into the couch leather! She lost control of her strength at that moment and shepletely ripped through the couch to try and get a good hold of it!
Mark was holding onto Arit''s ass and he swallowed thickly and thanked whatever god there was out there for allowing him to see this beautiful view. Seriously, how can anyone have an ass like this and be considered human!?
Mark wasted no time as he started pounding her like an animal!
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! only-found-at-MVLeMpYr
Bam! Bam! Bam!
"Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!
Ugh!"
Arit felt like she was going to get thrown off the edge of the world with how hard Mark was pounding her! She was holding onto the couch with all her energy, but it still felt like she was going to beunched away by Mark''s intensity!
Arit felt Mark''s dick kissing her cervix every time he entered her! There was a huge blush on her cheek and she had a stupid look on her face as she released a moan with every thrust from Mark!
"Uh! Uh! Uh! Uh! Uh! Uh!"
At this point, Arit waspletely gone and there was nothing anyone could do to get her toe back to reality! It didn''t matter if the world was ending at the moment! The only thing that was on her mind was the sensation of Mark pounding into her like a beast!
Mark tightened his hold on Arit''s waist as he felt himself getting close once more and Arit cried out in ecstasy as Mark mmed into her in one final thrust!
"Moooannnnn~!"
"Ngh!"
Mark grunted as he filled Arit to the brim and he could see some of his cum dripping from her pussy. When he let go of Arit, she fell on the couch like a puppet whose strings were cut and Mark ran a hand through his hair tiredly as he looked down at her. Arit slowly tried to sit up and Mark could see her legs shaking from exertion.
Mark didn''t know if it was because of how sexy she looked at that moment, or if it was because of how defenseless she was, but he couldn''t stop himself from leaning down and kissing her.
Arit felt Mark press her back to the couch as hey down between her legs and she groaned into his mouth as he kissed her deeply.
"Muah. M-Mark¡ please. I¡ I think I''m going to die if you keep going. I''m soreeeee~! Moan!"
Arit moaned as she felt Mark enter her slowly and she put her hands around him and dug her nails into his back as she heard him whisper in her ear.
"I''ll be gentle."
"Please¡T-Thank you. Uh~ Uh~ Uh~ Uh~ Uh~ Uh~ Uh~ Uh~ Uh~ Uh~ Uh~"
Arit''s low moans came out in gentle, sultry intervals as she enjoyed the sensation of Mark entering her over and over again. Arit didn''t know where Mark could get all this energy from. She knows that Mark has more stamina than her, but this is absurd. Even now that she is able to control some of QUEEN''s power, she is still not able to keep up with Mark''s intensity whenever they are having sex.
What would have happened to her if she had done this when she was just a regr human? Wouldn''t she have just died?
"I-I feel something. Please don''t stop. Yes¡ just like that. Right there. Ohhhhh~!"
Arit found Mark''s ear with her teeth and bit down on it as she felt herselfing hard! She felt Mark grunt in her ear as he also came inside her with one final thrust and he finally stopped moving as he just rested on top of her.
"Sigh~"
Arit ran her hand through Mark''s hair gently as she released a sigh of pleasure that showed just how satisfied she was at that moment. Mark was still hard inside of her, but Arit knew that Mark was also satisfied for now as he just rested on top of her.
But all of a sudden, Arit''s eyes shot open as she remembered something!
"Oh my god, we have school tomorrow! What are we doing!?"
Mark grunted something iprehensible as he held on tighter to Arit and Arit struggled to try and get him off her so that they could go back to bed and get some proper rest!
"We can''t sleep here, Mark! We need to rest properly for tomorrow!"
"I like it here. Your boobs are softer than my pillow."
Arit''s face reddened in a blush as she heard what Mark said and she started to hit Mark on the head with her fists.
"You idiotic pervert! Get off me right now! I''m not going to be sleepy in ss tomorrow because of you! Mark!"
Chapter 155: Back To School
Nature Academy was considered to be one of the most prestigious academies in city A. There wasn''t a single person in the school who you can call poor. Either they were from prominent families that had a high standing in the city, or they were from well-off families with enough money to sponsor them in the school.
That is why the students in the school were always seen as stoic and snobbish. They always acted as though they were better than other students, especially whenever they were among students from other schools in the same city. They spoke and moved in a haughty and dismissive way that would make anyone think that they were looking down on them.
But all of that prestige and pride werepletely forgotten this morning! All the students of the school were enraptured and there wasn''t a single one of them that tried to keep up appearances as they went to school! The students of Nature Academy all stood in stunned silence without moving a muscle as they gazed at the boy riding a bike in the middle of the street.
Vroom!
Mark was on his Kawasaki ZX-4RR motorcycle as he weaved his way through traffic while making his way towards school. There was a big smile on his face as hepletely ignored many of the road safety warnings around and went at a speed that was considered dangerous to use onmercial roads.
Arit was on the back of the motorcycle with her hand wrapped tightly around Mark''s back, and she knew that she should be reprimanding him for being this reckless while driving, but she also knew that it would be useless to reprimand him. Why would someone who can take on a cmity ss be afraid of a simple road ident? That was stupid.
The only reason why Arit was always telling Mark to be careful while riding to school was that she thought that he could have an ident and injure himself by riding too fast. But now that she knows how strong he is and how dangerous his day-to-day life is, she was no longer worried about something like this.
Arit held on tighter to Mark and pressed herrge breasts into Mark''s back, and Mark''s grin only grew as he increased his speed even more to get to school as quickly as possible. Every student that he passed on the street could only stop and stare in shock as he sped past them, and many of them realized who he was even though they could not see his face due to his speed.
There was only one person who drove a bike like that to school!
It was GHOST!
"Hurry up! Hurry up! We have to get to school now!"
"GHOST is going to school! What the hell are we still doing here!? Speed up!"
"Run! I want to see GHOST before sses start!"
"Shit! I knew I should have left the house earlier! I''m going to miss GHOST''s entrance!"
Everyone from Nature Academy was immediately trying to speed up their pace as they went to school so that they could get a good look at Mark as he entered the school. Even though they were members of high society, for them, seeing Mark was the same as seeing your favorite celebrity on the street and knowing exactly where they were going! Mark was a superhuman as well as a member of their own school!
Thest time that they saw Mark, he was standing victorious over one of the strongest Anima that the city has ever seen, so he had been immortalized in their heads as some sort of demi-god! It is impossible for you to not want to hurry up so that you could get a better look!
discover-stories-MVLeMpYr
Mark was not conscious of what was happening behind him because of how quickly he was moving. He wouldn''t have even cared if he had known anyway because he already expected something like this to happen. Mark did not regret revealing his identity to the world while fighting that Anima. It wasn''t as if he did it on purpose, so it didn''t matter to him.
But this was the exact reason why Mark did not want to reveal his identity before. He did not want this much attention from those around him.
Superhumans were all treated as superstars in this world and if Mark revealed his identity, then his peaceful student life would have be a lot less peaceful. How the hell was he going to skip ss and y hooky when there were so many people trying desperately to get to him and looking for him everywhere!? It would be a nightmare!
He wouldn''t even be able to hide from Arit anymore because she will always find him by just following the noise! Mark knew that Arit was the only person who usuallyes to look for him when he is ying hooky, so she is the only one that he had to hide from before, but now that everyone knew he was GHOST, he would have to start hiding from all the students in the school at the same time.
Mark sighed tiredly as he swerved around a car that was turning a corner in front of him.
Arit heard the sigh and she wondered what was wrong. She pressed Mark''s waist gently and asked him if he was alright and Mark just turned around with that roguish smile of his that never failed to make Arit blush.
"Wanna y hooky?"
Arit''s brow furrowed in confusion for a moment as she heard what Mark said before she immediately seethed in anger as she tightened her hold on him and her eyes turned yellow immediately!
"Mark! Don''t you dare! I''ll never forgive you if you do this!"
Arit knew that Mark was more than capable of it! She knew that if he wanted, he could simply turn the bike around and start going in a different direction on a whim! That was just the sort of person he was! If he tried it, then Arit would never forgive him! She would make sure that she doesn''t talk to him for at least a week if he makes her miss her first day back in school!
Mark just chuckled when he heard Arit shout at him. He knew that Arit would definitely forgive him, but she was not going to make it easy for him to apologize! She would probably pout and re at him for hours every day until she eventually forgave him. But Mark wasn''t going to do something that cruel on her first day.
Mark knew just how much Arit wanted to go to school on that day, and it would be demonic of him to take that away from her. He would just have to put up with the stares and cheers from his schoolmates for some time for Arit to get what she wants.
Mark grinned as he spoke up.
"You have no idea the sacrifices I make for you!"
Chapter 156: There Was No Reasoning With These Mad People
Arit hit him on the back when she heard what he said! Did he see school as that much of a burden that he was saying something like that!? He has to go to school whether he likes it or not!
"You better not do anything like running away in the middle of ss! I don''t want to have toe look for you when the teacher is around!"
"When have I ever done something like that!?"
Arit''s mouth dropped open in disbelief!
"All the time! You do that all the time! I better not look for you, you hear me!?"
Mark justughed again as he saw the schooling into view and he swerved his bike to the left to enter the school road. Mark slowed his bike down to avoid any idents since there were a lot of students moving down and across the road, and Mark was finally able to get a good look at the effect that his presence was having on all the students in the school.
Their reaction was just as intense as Mark expected it to be. In fact, it was probably even more intense since he could see some of them running towards the road without caring about their well-being just so that they could get a better look at him!
read-first-at-MVLeMpYr
Mark raised a brow in disbelief as one guy almost jumped in front of his bike and was about to be run over, but one of his friends managed to get him out of the way quickly enough to avoid any serious injuries, and Mark just shook his head as he continued going.
At least there wasn''t anyone chanting like ¨C
"GHOST!! Oh my god, it''s GHOST! Mark! I''ve always loved you!"
"GHOST look over here! I''m one of your biggest fans!"
"Mark Vanitas! I want to have your babies!"
"It''s GHOST! I can''t believe that girl got to ride with GHOST! I want to be her!"
"I want to be his underwear!"
"I want him to step on me!" (A/N: the real MVP)
It was like the floodgates opened wide once the first person started, and everyone in the schoolpound immediately joined in on the chanting and shouting as they tried to get Mark''s attention.
Mark was grateful that he was riding his bike so they couldn''t get to him yet, but he knew that once he stopped moving, he was going to be swarmed by the students, and there was no way he would be able to get out of there without injuring someone. Humans are creatures of desire and emotion, and they won''t understand how dangerous what they are doing is until someone gets hurt.
The students were going to swarm nonstop no matter what Mark says.
Arit tightened her hold on Mark''s waist as one of the students shouted out that she was envious of Arit and Mark felt Arit bury her face into his back. He could feel some heat on his back from Arit''s face and Mark immediately knew that Arit was blushing. Was she shy!? That''s cute.
Arit was extremely embarrassed by how much attention they were getting, and she couldn''t even look up to stare at all the students as they gazed at them. Arit knew that things should be different now that people knew that Mark was a superhuman, but this¡ this was absurd! Didn''t they have anything better to do!?
Or is it so interesting to find out that Mark is a superhuman that they are willing to abandon their home training just to get his attention?
If Arit had asked any of the students that question, then they would have dly said yes! They could use their home training at some other time! Right now, all that mattered to them was getting to Mark!
Mark moved towards the area where he would usually park his bike, and he sighed as he finally stopped and parked his bike. He quickly turned and spoke to Arit.
"Hold tight to me."
Arit had no idea what Mark was nning, but she did not bother arguing. She quickly obeyed and wasted no time as she wrapped her hands around Mark''s neck. Mark carried Arit bridal style, and Arit''s eyes widened as she realized what he was about to do!
"Why the fuck are you crouching!? Wait¡ Marrrrrrrrrkk!"
Phwoom!!
Arit shouted in fear as Markunched himself off the ground. She could feel the wind on her face, and she dared to peek one eye open and take a look at what was going on. Her eyes immediately widened in awe as she saw the bright blue sky right in front of her, it was so close!
Arit turned to Mark and she saw a small smile on his face as he literally flew through the air towards the school entrance. The wind was making his hair flutter around, and there was this shine in his eyes that Arit only saw whenever Mark was excited. Arit couldn''t help but blush, and she tightened her hold on Mark''s neck and put her chin on his shoulder.
She heard Mark chuckling deeply, and she had to join in theughter! She couldn''t contain the excitement in her heart at that moment. It was absolutely beautiful up here!
"He''s going towards the entrance! Get the fuck out of my way! I''m going to meet him there!"
"GHOST! I just want your signature!"
"I want to touch his ass! Don''t get in my way!"
"I want your underwear!"
"Please step on me, GHOST!!"
Many of the more overzealous students immediately started to race after the flying Mark as they tried to get to the entrance before him. They didn''t want him to get into the building since they knew that the teachers would try their best to stop them from getting his signature, so they were trying their hardest to get his signature or anything else before he could get into the building.
Marknded right in front of the school building, but he was not able to get very far before he was swarmed by the students who were already waiting for him in front of the building. It was as if the students were some sort of SWAT team trying to capture Mark. They were far too organized for this to be considered normal.
Mark quickly tried to reason with them. "Okay, let''s just try to calm down¡ª"
"Oh my god, GHOST spoke to me!"
"His voice is so deep! My ovaries were literally trembling!"
"Oh gosh, Mark! I''ve always loved you!"
"Bro, just a signature! Just sign my school uniform!"
"GHOST, please! I want your babies!"
There was no reasoning with these mad people.
Mark was cut off before he could even get out a full sentence, and he felt Arit tighten her hold on his arm as she red at some of the girls who were trying toe closer to Mark and touch him. Mark knew that Arit was very protective of him, so it might end badly if the students take this too far and make her lose control.
They just finished training her on how to control the QUEEN and Mark did not want a rpse to happen because of something this stupid.
Mark was about to speak up and tell everyone to fuck off, but another voice echoed through the area before he could speak and everyone immediately shut up as they recognized the voice. They all turned around to face the headmaster of the school.
Chapter 157: The Headmaster
The headmaster was wearing an immacte white suit that blended brilliantly with his white hair, and he stood tall and proud while staring imposingly at the mass of students below him. None dared to meet his eyes as his gaze swept over them, and when he spoke, more than half the students there shivered in fright.
"Deplorable. That is the only word I can use to quantify the actions I have witnessed among the students of this prestigious school this morning alone. You are all high members of society who are looked up to by other schools as the best in the city; is it really that easy for you to lose your senses?"
There was a girl standing behind the headmaster with her head held high, and Mark recognized her as the vice president of the student council, Maria. She was considered one of the most outstanding students in the school as well as the second-highest-ranking student in their grade after Arit. She was a beautiful girl with red hair and ck piercing eyes.
She had a modest bust that pushed against her neatly ironed school uniform tightly, and her skirt stopped just above her knees, leaving her long milky white legs on disy. Her slightly haughty and dismissive attitude made her seem like an Ice Queen, and Mark knew that many students in the school did not like her because she always tried to make sure the school rules were upheld.
She did not mind stepping on toes or reprimanding people openly and embarrassingly just to make sure they did what she thought was the right thing. The only time Mark had seen Maria lose her cool was when the results of their final exams came outst semester and she saw that she lost to Arit.
Arit was just a new transfer student at that time, so it was a shock to Maria that she lost her top-ranking spot.
The scream of shock that Maria released that day could be heard all the way from the other side of the school! Mark was sleeping in the infirmary and hiding from Arit when he heard the shout, and he bolted to his feet thinking that there was an Anima attack in the school! When he heard what happenedter, he couldn''t stop himself fromughing his ass off!
From the way she was standing behind the headmaster, it was obvious to Mark that she was the one who went to call on him and reported what was happening in front of the school. Her eyes turned to catch Mark''s gaze, and Mark gave her a nod in greeting. A small blush crept up her cheek for a moment, but she quickly frowned and killed it before turning away from him with a small huff.
Mark raised a brow at her reaction, but he didn''t let it bother him as he turned back to the headmaster as he continued berating the students with his words.
"Acting like foolish animals in heat who have never seen a member of the opposite sex before is childish and unbing of the members of this school, and every single one of you should be expecting letters written to your parents depicting what you have done here today."
The headmaster nced across the schoolyard for a moment before he quickly shouted in a loud voice,
"And why are you all still standing here!? To ss! Now!"
The students all scrambled away as they quickly cleared out from the courtyard and started making their way back to ss! They all feared the headmaster because of how strict he was! The headmaster was seen as the highest authority in this school, and he had the power to expel students without facing any repercussions, so they knew that they would be in real trouble if they defied him.
Even their parents'' money wouldn''t help them unless they were the children of rich powerhouses like Francis Colton.
Once the students had cleared out enough and there were only a few stragglers left around, the headmaster turned towards Mark with a wide smile on his face as he spoke kindly.
"Mr. Vanitas, it is a pleasure to see you back in school safe and sound. Please, can I have a talk with you? In private."
The headmaster gestured towards his office, and Mark sighed as he turned to Arit and told her that he would be back soon.
"You bettere to ss."
this-chapter-is-NovelFire
Arit red up at Mark as she warned him not to y hooky. She knew that without her there, there was a very high chance that Mark would simply ignore the ss and just find somewhere to flee again. Mark just grinned at her before he leaned down and kissed her on top of her head. Arit''s entire face flushed as she gripped her bag tightly and began to move around the headmaster to get to ss.
"It is a pleasure to see you as well, Miss Arit, and I am eternally grateful for your safe return. But I do hope you kept up with your studies even as you stayed at home to recuperate."
"Y-Yes, headmaster."
Arit nodded and answered in a quiet voice as she passed beside Maria. Arit turned to look at Maria as she felt eyes on her, and she saw Maria ring at her with intense hatred. Arit was already used to this. She knew that Maria hated her for taking the position of top student away from her, but Arit couldn''t care less as she just passed Maria and made her way to ss.
The headmaster turned back to Mark, and he caught Mark staring hard at Arit as she walked away. No, he is not staring at her; he is staring at her behind. How ungentlemanly. The headmaster coughed into his closed fist to get Mark''s attention, and Mark slowly turned away from Arit''s behind and back to the older man.
Mark hummed innocently in response, and the headmaster raised a brow at the sheer audacity of the boy in front of him. He doesn''t even show remorse at being caught? Well, I suppose the rumors about him being hard to deal with have some merit.
"My office, Mr. Vanitas."
Mark nodded and followed the headmaster to his office. The trip to the office was met with varied reactions from the students in the corridors. Many of them were moments away from trying to run and meet Mark, but a simple re from the headmaster forced them to calm down andport themselves. Mark knew that if not for the headmaster, he would have been swarmed by students again.
They reached the headmaster''s office, and the headmaster turned.
"Please wait out here, Maria. Or rather, simply go to ss. I believe we have dealt with the worst that could happen for now. Your aid is much appreciated and it shall be remembered."
Mark turned around to look at the headmaster talking to Maria. Maria had been following after him and the headmaster since they left the entrance, and she nodded to the headmaster''s words when he told her that she was no longer needed. She nced at Mark, and Mark could see some form of longing in her gaze. It seemed like she wanted to say something to him, but she never said it.
Instead, she just left to go to ss as the bell rang to signal the start of the first period.
RINGGGGG!!
"Come along, Mr. Vanitas. I won''t take up too much of your time."
"Oh no, please take as much as possible."
Mark would much rather not go to ss at all, so he didn''t mind if the headmaster took up the entire first period. Although... now that Mark thought about it. It would be just as bad to listen to the headmaster talking for an entire hour. Mark just sighed tiredly in his heart.
Chapter 158: I Will Handle All Issues Personally
The headmaster raised a brow as he settled into his seat and waved Mark over to the opposite seat. The headmaster wondered what Mark meant by what he said, and he smiled as he thought that Mark was just happy to talk to him.
"Well, I am d to speak with you as well, Mr. Vanitas."
Mark nodded. He did not even care what was going through the headmaster''s mind. All he knew was that every moment he spent in here was one less moment he had to be in ss. Arit would kill him if he didn''t go to ss, so he had to at least show up for a while, so he just wanted the headmaster to cut into that time as much as physically possible.
The headmaster''s office was a grand room with mahogany floors and dull brown walls. There were paintings of all the former headmasters hanging on the wall behind the headmaster''s seat, and arge grandfather clock was standing at one corner of the room imposingly. Mark knew that staying in this room at night would be like being in a B-rated horror movie.
Imagine all these old men staring at you in the dark and then hearing the grandfather clock ring just at the wrong moment. Mark chuckled as he imagined Arit''s reaction to something like that. She''d probably scream like a crazy person.
"Mr. Vanitas, I understand that you are going to have to be in ss soon, so I won''t take up much of your time. Firstly, I would like to express my utmost gratitude on behalf of the entire student and staff body of Nature Academy for your constant efforts to protect us from danger.
I did not know anything about the challenges that you faced, and as an educator, I shoulder full responsibility for that oversight. But now that we are aware, we can only thank you for risking your life for our sake."
The headmaster bowed his head slightly in gratitude, and Mark was a little shocked by the amount of sincerity he could sense in his words. The headmaster must be truly grateful if he was going this far. Mark did not like being thanked so much, so he just tried to wave the tense situation away and told the headmaster that everything was alright. see-more-NovelFire
Mark fought because he wanted to, not because he wanted to be thanked.
The headmaster chuckled when he heard Mark say this.
"Yes, I understand that fully. I don''t know if you know this, but you were responsible for saving the life of my daughter once a long time ago. She was twenty years old at that time, and she was unfortunate enough to be caught in an anima attack near her workce. She says she would have been crushed if not for you swooping in to block some falling debris. She has been your biggest fan ever since."
Mark hummed with a nod of recognition. He obviously didn''t remember the fight since it was just one of many that he had been involved in, but he was d that the headmaster''s daughter was alright. The headmaster noticed that Mark was not in the mood for sentiments, and he just cleared his throat and decided to get down to business.
This was the first time that the headmaster was talking to Mark directly since Mark entered this school, and the headmaster has only known Mark to be a troublemaker who skips sses more than he goes to them. If not for the fact that Mark had an above-average grade point average, then the headmaster would have considered holding Mark back for a few years for his horrendous attendance record.
But that was not possible now. Not in a million years. The headmaster couldn''t touch Mark no matter what happens.
"I met with your guardian a few weeks ago, Mr. Vanitas. He was a truly prestigious man. At first, I was afraid that your continued attendance at this school would spell trouble and cause undue stress among the other students, but your guardian assured me that there would be no issues whatsoever, and I was inclined to agree after he made quite a generous point."
The headmaster didn''t need to spell out the meaning of his words at that moment because Mark understood perfectly. Mark wondered just how much that old man must''ve dropped in the headmaster''sp for the headmaster to be this kind and gentle with him.
The headmaster had an image in the school as a very strict person, so for him to be this mellow with Mark meant that Mark''s guardian really threw a lot of money at the headmaster.
The headmaster continued without missing a beat.
"So, in light of that generous conversation that your guardian had with the school board, I have made it my personal duty to ensure that your school life is as stress-free as possible. Should there be any issues, anything at all, please do not hesitate to contact me. I will ensure that any and all resources are properly utilized to rectify the issue. Is that understood?"
The headmaster was looking Mark right in the eye as he said all of this, and Mark could hear another hidden meaning under the headmaster''s words. Mark was a little unnerved by how willing the headmaster was to do anything just to make Mark happy, but Mark didn''t let it show on his face. Mark didn''t really need something like this.
Mark knew that there would be some issues in the school, but it wasn''t like he couldn''t handle them himself. No one would be stupid enough to challenge him since they knew how strong he was anyway. Instead, Mark decided to use this opportunity to cover another issue that could ur.
"Thank you for the offer. I''ll keep it in mind ande to you if I ever have any issues, but I don''t think I will be having issues with the students since most of them know I''m stronger than them. But I''m worried that my friends would have to deal with the anger and threats from other students. This mightpromise their student life and prevent them from being able to study properly.
Perhaps there is something you can do about that."
The headmaster immediately understood what Mark was talking about. When it came down to friends, the only person who could fit that category in this school was Arit. The headmaster knew that what Mark said was right. There were many girls in the school that really liked Mark now that they knew that he was GHOST.
Just from the amount of female screams that the headmaster heard earlier this morning, he knew that more than two-thirds of the female poption would be trying to get Mark''s attention in one way or another.
And women can be terrifyingly scary when they are trying to get a man''s attention.
Chapter 159: The Godfather
Women can be terrifyingly scary when they are trying to get a man''s attention.
The headmaster wouldn''t put it past some of them to try and get rid of Arit just so that they could rece her and make themselves a part of Mark''s life. That would mean that Arit might be in bigger danger than even Mark. The headmaster nodded to Mark, telling him that he understood what he meant.
"Very well then. I shall ensure that any and all issues regarding Miss Arit are well taken care of as well. Her student life will not bepromised in any way."
"Thank you, headmaster."
Mark thanked the headmaster gratefully, but the headmaster just smiled and waved it away.
"Oh no, it is I that should be thanking you. I fear that this much will not be enough to thank you for all that you''ve done for this city. But in my own little way, I hope I have made your life easier in some way. Now¡ would you please sign this?"
The headmaster brought out a ck book that looked like a diary from inside his drawer and Mark raised a brow in surprise as he nced at the empty page and the pen that was being handed to him by the headmaster. What the hell?
The headmaster cleared his throat, and Mark could see a little bit of embarrassment break through the headmaster''s stoic mask as the headmaster avoided Mark''s eyes while speaking.
"It is for my daughter. Once she learned that you attended this school, she made me swear to get your signature the moment you returned to school. I hope you don''t mind."
The headmaster''s granddaughter gave some things to her grandfather the day after Mark fought the cmity ss and she called him every single day to ask him if Mark had signed yet or not. The headmaster felt a little embarrassed to be asking for Mark''s signature like this, but he couldn''t ignore his grandaughter''s demands like this! He had to try!
Mark just sighed as he grabbed the pen. This was his life now, so he better get used to it.
"Where¡ here? Alright."
...
Mark left the headmaster''s office after he was done signing his autograph on the diary. He also signed on a shirt as well as a ck bra, but Mark just put all that out of his mind as he closed the door behind him while getting his phone out to make a call. All of Mark''s school books were in Arit''s bag, so he only had his AirPods and phone with him.
Ring! Ring!
[Hello, Master Mark. It''s been too long.]
Mark smiled as he heard the voice of the aged man through his AirPods. Mark turned to the side to look at the long corridor that would lead him to a secluded area away from the ssroom where he could hide for the rest of the school day, and he sighed as he turned around to start going to ss. Arit would kill him if he didn''t at least show up to ss.
"Hello, Hugo. How are you?"
[Mark¡ Did I not tell you to call me godfather?]
Mark chuckled.
"Right, right. That''s true. Apologies, Godfather."
[Good. Now, how have you been? And to what do I owe the pleasure of this call? Has there been a situation?]
Mark shrugged as he passed beside a ss that was in the middle of a test. One of the students in the ss caught a glimpse of him and screamed in joy as she bolted out of her seat, but the teacher quickly shut her up and told her that he would deduct marks if she didn''t sit down immediately!
Mark continued talking calmly as he heard the girl groan tiredly and sit back down.
"Not really, I just wanted to know how you were doing. I heard that you came to my school. From the way the headmaster has been talking to me, I can tell you must''ve thrown quite a lot of money at him to get him on my side. How much did you set us back?"
Hugoughed on the other end of the call when he heard Mark talking about the money they spent. Was Mark really worried about such a small amount?
-exclusive
[You are very much like your father, do you know that? Just like you, he would also scrutinize every expense made by thepany to make sure there are no negative effects. But you do not need to worry. The money that was spent was from my personal funds. I did not take it out of thepany''s ounting.
This was a personal situation after all, so it is only fair that your godfather handles it personally.]
Mark smiled at Hugo''s fatherly tone.
"Alright, thank you, Hugo."
[Godfather¡]
"Yes, godfather. Thank you."
Hugo went silent on the other end of the phone for a moment before speaking up again.
[You will be turning eighteen soon, won''t you? Do you not think it is time to introduce yourself to the rest of thepany board? Most of them still believe you are nevering back, and there has been talk of appointing a new CEO if you do not take the reins.]
"Anyone that tries to take mypany will disappear. Tell them that. I''lle in when I have time. You know how busy things are now."
[Right, of course. I apologize for my oversight. I watched your¡ battle on the news the other day. You were quite magnificent. Your father would be proud of what you have be. But please, try to be careful out there.
You are thest of the Vanitas name, so you must take care of yourself.]
"Yes, Hugo. Please continue taking care of things over there for now. I''ll be with you soon, I promise. Thank you. Goodbye."
[¡Goodbye, son.]
Click!
Mark turned off the phone once he was done talking to Hector, and he finally reached his ssroom. Mark also wanted to call Pat to talk about the search for the superhuman killer, but he decided that he would take care of thatter.
Ka-Cha!
"¡And during the reconnaissance era, there was a great movement that involved many of the world''s artists. Can you all focus -!"
The homeroom teacher, Linda, was in the middle of a ss when she heard someone walk into the room. She wanted to just ignore the person who came in at first so that she would not lose her flow, but when she noticed that the students in the ss had all turned away from her and were staring at the person who walked in with wide eyes, she couldn''t help but turn around as well.
"Holy shit!"
Linda cursed loudly as she saw Mark at the door, and she almost dropped her book from her hands. She scrambled to grab it and her feet mmed against the edge of the table! Linda was about to fall over, but she felt someone grab her hand before she could fall and stabilize her easily! Linda looked up and saw that Mark was staring at her with a raised brow as he held her hand calmly!
Her entire head started to heat up as she felt a tingling sensation in her entire body from her hand right down to her toes! GHOST was touching her!!
Chapter 160: Its Me! Kevin!
"Are you alright, teacher?"
"Y-Y-Yes. Thank you."
Mark nodded and slowly released her from his grasp as she found her footing once more. Once she was back on her feet, Linda immediately felt embarrassed by her reaction, and she quickly tried to regain herposure.
"Mark, you''rete."
"Sorry, the headmaster wanted to talk with me."
"T-That''s okay then. Please take your seat."
Mark nodded before making his way to his seat and settling down beside Arit. Arit turned to smile at him, and he just smiled back as he took his book and pen from her. The rest of the ss was all staring at Mark like he was some sort of alien, but Mark was just ignoring it expertly.
He looked at Linda and nodded his head at her, and she seemed to also snap out of a daze as she cleared her throat and hit her book on the table twice to get the attention of the other students.
"Please try to pay attention. Let''s continue. The reconnaissance era had many artists that¡"
The rest of the ss was rather uneventful, and Linda could tell that more than half of the ss was no longer listening after Mark came in. They were all ncing at Mark and whispering among themselves, and Linda couldn''t really do anything about it. She couldn''t me them for their reaction since she was also a little flustered by Mark''s presence.
It was like having a movie star walk in and sit down among the other students, they would surely draw a lot of attention.
After some time, Linda left and the next teacher came into the ss. They also had a simr reaction to Linda, and it was only their professionalism that prevented them frompletely losing it.
By the third period, Arit could tell that Mark was already bored with the sses, and she was not surprised when Mark put his head down on the desk and passed out in the middle of the teacher''s exnation of integrals and differentials. Arit elbowed Mark from the side with a frown, but Mark didn''t even budge as he continued sleeping.
Arit sighed tiredly as she knew that there was no way he would be waking up anytime soon, so she just took his book and started copying his notes for him along with hers.
Ring!!
"Alright ss, that will be all for today. Don''t forget to bring your assignments in tomorrow."
The math teacher closed his book once the bell rang to signal the break, and he left the ss quickly. The students in the ss all quickly stood up and started talking animatedly with each other in groups. Arit turned to Mark and smiled as she rested her head on her table while facing him. She poked his cheek and chuckled as he huffed in annoyance and tried to swat her away like a fly.
"Mark, it''s time for lunch. Aren''t you hungry?"
"Did you make anything for me?"
"Of course I did."
Mark slowly sat up and yawned as he stretched. His hair was disheveled, and Arit used her hand to cover the small blush on her face as she saw him look around in slight confusion. He looked like a lost puppy. He turned to her and smiled.
"Thanks."
Arit couldn''t stop her own smile from spreading as she brought out two sks and handed one of them to Mark. Arit made rice and spicy tomato stew for them with fried ntains, and Mark could feel his stomach grumble once he smelt the aroma wafting out from the sk. It was extremely spicy, just the way he liked it.
Mark ate quietly while ignoring the murmurs from the ss as they talked in their groups. He spoke with Arit about some of the things he missed in the previous sses, and he thanked her when she handed him his book that she jotted in for him.
"Hey, Mark. How you doing?"
Silence.
The entire ss went silent as they saw a boy walk up to Mark and greet him in a friendly tone. No one said it, but everyone was watching silently to see what would happen. There was no denying that they all wanted to talk to Mark, but most of the students in the ss were hesitant to walk up to him because they had never spoken to Mark before that day.
They all kept their distance from Mark before finding out that he was a superhuman because they thought that he was a delinquent, but now that they knew it was not true, it was difficult for them to just walk up to Mark and start talking to him like they have always known him.
But some people were more daring than others!
The person that spoke to Mark was one of the most popr boys in the ss. He was handsome with blond hair, bright green eyes, and a nice smile that would make any girl swoon in his presence.
One of his hands was stretched out to Mark for a handshake, but Mark just stared at the hand for a moment before he turned back to the meal and picked out a diced piece of ntain to eat while ignoring the boy.
The blond boy closed his outstretched hand in embarrassment and pulled it back before putting both hands in his pocket. Mark might have ignored him, but he did not allow that to stop him from asking Mark what he wanted to ask him.
"So, I was really impressed when I saw you on TV the other day. That was an amazing fight." experience-NovelFire-content
Mark sighed.
"Do I know you?"
The boy blinked in surprise.
"I''m Kevin¡"
There was no reaction from Mark.
"¡We''ve been in the same ss since middle school! Kevin! Kevin!"
Saying it twice wasn''t going to help anything. Mark''s brow furrowed into a frown as he tried to remember ever knowing a Kevin, but he was not able to remember anyone by that name and he just shrugged.
"Doesn''t ring a bell. What do you want?"
Mark''s frigid tone was not surprising to anyone in the ss. They have always known Mark to be quite antisocial and intense with his words, but Kevin couldn''t help but feel a little put off since this was the first time that he would be talking to Mark directly. He turned to look at his group of friends who were standing at the side, and one of them nodded to Kevin as a form of support.
Kevin cleared his throat as he continued talking to Mark with a smile on his face.
"I and some friends are nning to hang out after ss. I was just wondering if you''d like toe along."
Mark ran a hand through his hair as he took another spoonful of food, and he groaned internally as he felt the spicy food go down. Oh yeah, nothing beats Arit''s food. This amount of pepper would normally be unbearable for a normal person, but for Mark, it was just right. Kevin blinked in surprise, and blinked again after a few moments as he realized that he had beenpletely ignored by Mark!
Kevin turned to see that Arit was reading through the notes that she jotted down from the earlier ss, and Arit jolted as he called her name.
"Arit."
"Eh! Yes, Kevin. Sorry, I wasn''t listening. What is it?"
"Well, I was wondering if you and Mark would want toe out with some friends after school."
Kevin was going to use the age-old tactic that has always worked! If the husband is proving difficult, then just go through the wife and have her convince him instead! Kevin has spoken to Arit once or twice since she was the ss president, so he knew that she was the sort of person who found it hard to say no when you asked for something nicely.
He was certain that she would agree toe and she would try to convince Mark as well.
But he was surprised when she put her hands together with a sheepish smile on her face.
"Sorry, Kevin. Mark is really tired after that Anima fight from a few days ago. I don''t think he has the energy to go out right now."
A sweat traveled down the side of Kevin''s face as he heard that excuse! Kevin was very popr, so he was already knowledgeable of all the sorts of excuses people could give when they were asked to hang out! He has even given many excuses as well before and he knew how to work around most excuses to make sure that he still got what he wanted!
But what the hell can you do when someone gives you an excuse like this!? fighting against a Cmity ss isn''t something that should be spoken about so casually and yet here Arit was, giving it as an excuse as if it was the most normal thing in the world!
Kevin was slowly realising that the Mark he thought he knew and the real Mark werepletely different people! Mark lived in apletely different world from the rest of them!
Chapter 161: From This Moment Forward, Your Name is NPC Kent.
"Oh, yeah, I heard he had another fight against a cmity ss the other day!"
One of the boys from Kevin''s friend group suddenly spoke up loudly as he came closer to Arit and Mark''s table, and Arit forced her smile to stay in ce as the boy continued talking without caring that he was not even invited.
"He ended that fight even faster than the previous ones! Just how strong are you, Mark!? I''m sure you''re stronger than Taylor and Frostknight from the Artemis guild, right!?"
Frostknight was another A-rank from the Artemis guild. His power centered mainly around his ability to create and utilize ice swords in battle, so the inte started calling him Frostknight as a moniker.
Mark was still eating silently as hepletely ignored the boy who came up to them, but Arit was not as cold as Mark. She felt like it would be rude if she didn''t at least give him some attention or answer some of their questions, so Arit took it upon herself to start answering some of the questions that they were asking Mark.
"I-I''m not sure how much stronger he is than ¨C"
Another person cut her off before she could get her words out.
"I''m sure he''s stronger than them. He''s GHOST, after all. Even his fighting style is better than theirs, he uses nothing but his fists but those others all use other weapons or elements in their fights."
This time it was a girl who spoke up as she walked close to the group, and Arit started to feel very ufortable as the rest of Kevin''s friend group started to congregate around their table and continued asking more questions. Arit didn''t mind answering their questions, but she was worried that Mark would be irritated since he was not the sort of person that liked being in a group like this.
Arit started to answer questions with short, clipped answers to try and get this over with as quickly as possible.
"No, I don''t know who his patron god is, you should ask him yourself." your m,vle mpyr source
"What do you mean how big is he? Don''t ask something so stupid."
"He doesn''t use any weapons. He only uses his fists."
"Who is Taylor? Is he also a superhuman? But, no, I don''t know if he is stronger than Taylor."
"His three sizes? ¡Why would you even want that?"
Arit was answering the questions as Mark just kept eating without a care in the world. The group just kept increasing as they started getting more and more daring to be close to Mark, but the entire atmosphere suddenly changed as one of the girls that came close to them dared to sit down on Mark''s table.
Arit had been smiling kindly while answering most of their question. She was the ss representative, so she was already used to dealing with most of them and she also knew how to make sure they did not go out of line and start bothering Mark. But once that girl sat down on Mark''s table, it felt like ice-cold water was poured on Arit and her expression immediately hardened.
Everyone there could sense the change, and the girl who sat at Mark''s table looked at Arit with a sly smile as she leaned down to talk directly in Mark''s ear.
The girl was a gyaru who had a lot of makeup on. Her nails were painted bright pink, and she had a very bountiful chest that bounced as she moved. One of her uniform buttons was opened to reveal just enough cleavage to excite any man, but not enough for it to be considered uneptable by the school! She was an expert at walking the fine line between moral and immoral!
"Hey, Mark. I''ve been dying to talk to you about something really important, but there are a lot of people here and I''m not reallyfortable around crowds. How about we find a more private ce to talk?"
Crack.
The sound of something breaking echoed through the ss and everyone turned to see that it was Arit''s spoon that had snapped in half from the amount of force she was using to hold it. She was now openly ring at the girl on Mark''s table and she spoke in a tone that left no room for argument.
"We are within the school premises and such acts are not permitted among students. Get off. Now."
Mark was sure that there was a ''bitch'' somewhere in Arit''s throat that would havee out at any moment, but he was d that she managed to hold herself back. Arit had a reputation to uphold as the ss president and Mark didn''t want her to tarnish it over something this stupid. This bitch wasn''t worth it.
The girl swallowed as she saw the expression that Arit had, and she slowly inched back until she slid off the table. Mark finally finished his food and he gently closed the te and handed it back to Arit with a smile.
"Thanks, babe. It was great as always."
Arit seemed topletely forget about what just happened as she collected the te from Mark with an excited smile on her face. She told him that he was wee and asked if it wasn''t too spicy. Mark told her that it was just the right amount of spicy.
Mark stood up and put his hands in his pocket before letting his eyes roam over everyone there.
Doon!
The students all seemed to automatically shut up and gaze up at Mark reverently as he towered over everyone in the room. Those who were standing in front of his desk took steps back as his height overshadowed them and made them feel very small.
Mark scratched the back of his head with a dull sigh.
"I''m not interested in going anywhere with anyone, Kent, so stop asking. And I hate crowds, so don''t let something like this repeat itself again. Keep your distance."
Kevin''s brow furrowed as he noticed Mark was staring at him while talking.
"Kent? My name isn''t ¨C "
Mark raised a brow as he dared Kevin toplete that sentence and Kevin swallowed in fear. Mark didn''t even release any pressure at all, but just that small movement from him was enough to make Kevin rethink his words. Kevin just decided that it didn''t matter what Mark called him after all.
"Y-Yeah, sure. I understand."
"Good. I''ll be back soon, Arit, gotta go to the toilet. Move, NPC Kent."
Mark started to walk and everyone there just parted like water for him. Once Mark was gone, Arit smiled shyly as she put his sk back in her bag. She was d that he liked the food. This was the first time that she was trying out one of her mother''s recipes for spicy food and she thought that it would be too spicy for Mark, but she was d that he didn''t evenin once.
She would make another spicy meal for him tomorrow.
A shadow suddenly fell over Arit and she looked up from her food at the person standing in front of her desk. Esmeralda had a nk look on her face as she looked down at Arit with an arrogant expression on her face. Her hand was on her waist and she huffed as she mmed the other hand on Arit''s table while leaning down.
Arit blinked in shock as Esmeralda came down until their noses were almost touching. Esmeralda wasn''t even from this ss, so Arit was wondering what she wanted! Does she also want to know more about Mark? Arit''s brow furrowed as this thought crossed her mind!
Arit was a woman and she can sense when other women are interested in her man. Arit knows that Esmeralda had some sort of crush on Mark, but Arit also knows that Esmeralda looked down on Mark because she thought that he was too poor and low ss for someone like her, so Esmeralda never acted on her feelings.
Chapter 162: Do You Think I Dont Know What You Did?
Is Esmeralda trying to get close to Mark now because everyone knows that Mark is a superhuman? This superficial bitch! Arit felt irritation rising in her chest as she cursed Esmeralda!
"Do you think I don''t know what is going on here?"
Arit was immediately confused once Esmeralda spoke and it showed on her face as her brows furrowed into a frown. She leaned back in shock to put some space between them. What the hell was Esmeralda talking about? Is this some sort of prank?
Esmeralda saw the confusion on Arit''s face, but she did not let that stop her as she just fired on as if everything would clear itself up in the end.
"Tell me, how long have you been nning this? You''ve known for a while, haven''t you? That''s why you''ve been spending so much time with Mark all this while. You''ve known that he was a superhuman since the start and you thought you couldy im to him by spending as much time beside him as possible. People like you disgust me the most.
You''re just using your sultry looks and stupid housewife routine to fool him? Who the fuck brings a meal to school for someone unless they''re trying too hard at the housewife bullshit. You''re nothing but a skank selling your body to Mark because of his power."
''I''m going to kill her.''
This was the first time that Arit was hearing Queen''s voice ever since she learned to control it. Queen hasn''t bothereding out since Arit was already very good at suppressing her, but there was no way that Queen could remain in the background after hearing something like that.
Arit, on the other hand, looked shell-shocked. Her eyes were wide in surprise and she slowly dropped the broken spoon she was holding to prevent herself from doing something she would regret! Arit could already feel her hand shaking, and she knew that if she did not drop that spoon right now, she might use it to stab Esmeralda in the neck!
What did she just say? I''m seducing Mark? Is she mad? Arit was not a hostile person; it was only since Queen appeared that she started having more violent thoughts, but even the calm Arit could not keep her anger down at the usation that she was hearing from Esmeralda. A deep surge of anger was rising from somewhere deep inside her and she was ready to burst at any moment.
"Yeah, I haven''t seen her hang out with anyone but Mark."
"Do you think she knew about Mark before us? That would exin it."
"If I knew about Mark, then I would have done anything to seduce him too. I''m not surprised."
"Wow, I never knew Arit had it in her. She''s a certified Cleopatra."
The students in the ss started to murmur once they heard the usation from Esmeralda, and the girls in the ss were the most vocal as they felt cheated by Arit. They felt like Arit had an unfair advantage since she knew about Mark being a superhuman earlier and that was the only reason why she was able to get so close to him.
If they knew Mark was a superhuman then they would have tried their hardest to be his friend earlier too!
Esmeralda noticed the anger in Arit''s eyes, but she did not care. Instead, she continued talking.
"I''m sure you don''t even care about the rumors that have been spreading around recently. I don''t think the number even matters to you. Tell me... How many people did Mark kill in that fight against the cmity ss?"
m!
Ring!
Arit mmed her hand on the desk and Esmeralda took a step back as she saw yellow sh across Arit''s eyes. But the bell suddenly rang to signify the end of lunch and the start of the next period. Esmeralda blinked and the yellow in Arit''s eyes was gone. What the hell was that!? Esmeralda took a couple more steps back as she saw the cold intensity on Arit''s face.
Arit has always been a mellow person and Esmeralda knew it, but this was different from what she had expected. Esmeralda could almost feel a chill travel through her body from the cold stare that Arit was giving her.
But that was not enough to make Esmeralda stop what she was doing. Esmeralda has nted the seed that she wanted to nt and now she only had to wait and let it grow. Esmeralda turned around to leave as the next teacher came into the ss and told everyone to settle down for ss.
Arit was still staring at Esmeralda with that cold stare, but inside her head, she was fighting a battle unlike any other.
''Kill her! Kill that bitch! She fucking insulted Mark! How dare she!? KILL HER!"
Stop!
Arit had to force Queen to shut up after Queen suddenly came back in full force and started screaming like a banshee inside Arit''s head! Arit put her hand to her head and started doing the calming exercise that Jeanne taught her a while ago. Arit was not going to lose her cool on her first day of school. She worked too hard for that to happen.
But Arit could not deny that she was pissed! Who the fuck did Esmeralda think she was? How dare she talk about Mark like that? She was ming Mark for the people who died in that fight? Is she fucking stupid!? Arit knew that people died in that fight against the Cmity ss a while ago.
There were too many falling buildings and broken homes for people to not have died, but that was not Mark''s fault! Mark saved everyone and this bitch thinks she can me him for something the anima caused?
If not for Mark, then a thousand times more people would have died!
Arit did not even care about the usation that Esmeralda leveled against her. So what if Esmeralda thinks that Arit has been seducing Mark because of his power? Arit didn''t care. Arit didn''t even care if her entire school thought that she was seducing Mark because of his power.
They can say whatever they want about her, she was just going to bear it and let it flow past her, but she was not going to tolerate any bullshit they say about Mark. The next person to call Mark a murderer is going to the hospital.
"Arit, where is GHOST ¨C I mean, where is Mark? I thought I saw him earlier this morning while passing your ss, shouldn''t he be in ss as well?"
The teacher spoke up quickly while bringing out a ck book from his bag and he noticed that Mark was not in ss. If you looked closely, you would see that the book that the teacher brought out was actually his diary, and he was also bringing out a pen that he wanted Mark to use to sign an autograph for him! But not seeing Mark was putting all his ns into disarray!
Arit frowned once her teacher spoke up and she turned to her left in shock as she noticed that the teacher was right! Mark wasn''t there! A sudden realization seemed to dawn on Arit at that moment and she mmed her hands on her desk and stood up with a scowl on her face! Why didn''t she suspect anything when he said he was going to the toilet!? That damn liar!
She should have known that he would try something like this! Arit has gotten sofortable with Mark that shepletely forgot how elusive he can be when he wants to be!
He fucking ran away from ss!
"Permission to go search for Mark, sir!"
"G-Granted."
The teacher was a little put off by Arit''s intensity and he watched in surprise as Arit turned and speed walked out of the ss with that scowl still in ce!
"I''m going to kill him!"
Chapter 163: Ive Always Wanted To Do This In A School Uniform
Somewhere in a secluded part of the school, Mark was lying on the floor with his legs crossed and his hands behind his head. There was a dirty magazine covering his face and a few rays of sunlight filtered through the window at the side, providing just the right amount of warmth to not be considered ufortable.
Mark sighed happily as he felt at peace at that moment. Oh yes, this is the life. I really don''t know how anyone can stay in that ss a day and listen to people drawl nonstop. I''d rather just be fighting an animal instead! Mark felt a little sorry that he just left Arit behind, but he knew that she could handle herself just fine.
Arit is a strong girl, so those idiots in ss couldn''t do anything that would make her lose her cool or hurt her in any way. If anything, Mark was more worried that she would hurt them. But Arit''s training would help with that, so Mark didn''t need to worry too much about that either. He could just rx and get some much-deserved sleep.
"MARK!!!"
Oh shit.
Mark slowly opened his eyes blearily as he heard a loud voice shout from somewhere down the hall. He grabbed the edge of the magazine on his face and pulled it up to get a glimpse of the personing towards him, and he smiled sheepishly as he saw Arit storming down the hallway like a banshee! Mark wouldn''t be surprised if her hair started ming and flying around like Kushina any moment now.
"What do you think you''re doing? This is your first day back and you''re already ying hooky! You idiot! Let''s go back to ss now! You''re making me miss it!"
Mark groaned and flopped on the floor like a dead animal, and Arit felt her eye twitch as she bent down to grab his hand so she could pull him up!
"I saide on ¨C KYA!"
Arit released a cute scream as Mark suddenly pulled her, and she fell off her feet and on top of Mark''s chest. Mark wrapped his hands around her, and Arit blushed crimson as the magazine fell off his face and she saw him smiling at her.
"Did you just say ''kya''?"
"Y-You¡ You brute! Forget about that! You never heard it! Now let go of me!"
Arit quickly tried to get off Mark, but he just held on tighter. Her breasts pressed into his chest and Arit felt something pressing against her thigh from between Mark''s legs. She blushed crimson as she realized what it was and she hit Mark on the chest while whispering in embarrassment!
"You pervert. We''re in school."
Mark grinned.
"And?"
"S-Someone could see us. And we¡ we have to get to ss."
Mark shook his head as he caressed the back of Arit''s head and slowly brought her head down to meet his own.
"Don''t worry, we''re the only ones who know about this ce."
Arit struggled futilely for a few more seconds, but she couldn''t fight it anymore and she just allowed Mark to pull her down and kiss her deeply.
"Mmh~"
Arit tangled her fingers into Mark''s hair and gotfortable on top of him. She straddled him and pressed herself against his crotch as she deepened the kiss. After some time, Mark pulled back and looked into Arit''s eyes as he noticed something.
"What''s wrong? You look like someone pissed you off."
Mark noticed the small furrow in Arit''s brow as if she was thinking deeply about something. Arit was shocked that Mark asked her something like that; she wondered when Mark started being able to read her that easily! She rested her forehead on his own with a small sigh and Mark smiled.
"Come on, beautiful. Tell me who made you mad. I''ll erase them from existence. I''m pretty strong, you know."
Arit chuckled at the joke before she finally relented and told Mark about what happened earlier with Esmeralda. She told Mark what Esmeralda said about her, but she did not talk about it a lot because it didn''t matter to her. Instead, what she focused on more was what Esmeralda said about Mark killing people.
"It''s just so frustrating! Some people are so ungrateful no matter what you do for them! They see all the good that you do, and the only thing that they can think of is to criticize when you didn''t do anything!!"
Arit was genuinely angry about this, and Mark was a little shocked that she would go this far for something so silly. He tightened his hold on her waist and pecked her to make her go silent for a moment.
"Arit, it''s fine. I mean, of course, I killed people. Ites with the job description. But that doesn''t mean I''m a murderer. Sometimes, bad things just happen and there''s nothing you can do to save everyone, no matter how hard you try."
Ari sighed as she saw the sense in what Mark said. your chapter source mv-l,e mp _yr
"I know, it''s just frustrating that the others in the ss were agreeing with her when she called you a murderer."
Mark chuckled and told her not to bother about it anymore. The opinion of a few kids is nothing for his girlfriend to be worrying about. If it bothers you too much, then just tell me and I''ll make them all change schools.
Aritughed when Mark said this as she thought that it was just another joke that he was making, but when she noticed that Mark was notughing at all, she quickly sobered up and realized that he was serious! She pped his chest softly.
"What the hell is wrong with you!? Don''t do that! Why would you want to ruin their school life for something so petty?"
Mark chuckled as he grabbed the back of Arit''s head and crashed her lips into his own for another deep kiss. With how the headmaster worshiped Mark''s godfather, Mark knew that it would not be too difficult to get a few students removed from school for defamation. All it would take was a report from him. But since Arit said it was fine, he wouldn''t do anything.
Arit felt Mark''s hand travel down her body until it got to her ass and she moaned into Mark''s mouth as he grabbed her ass and squeezed.
Mark grinned as he heard her moan.
"You know, I''ve always wanted to do this in school uniform. You looking this sexy in a simple school skirt should be a crime."
"Uhh~You pervert¡ Moan~ Oh god, M-Mark, not here. Not out here. It''s too open."
Arit looked around in worry as she felt ufortable going this far in such an open space. With the way they were going, Arit knew there was no way she could stop Mark from fucking her now since he was already this excited, but she didn''t want to have sex on the school corridor floor. Mark squeezed her ass again and she moaned and tightened he grip on his hair.
"Uhh~ Mark¡ listen to me."
Mark finally chuckled deeply as he realized that Arit was really ufortable. They would have to take this to a more private ce then. Mark leaned close and spoke right into Arit''s ear.
"Alright, I know just the ce. Come on."
Chapter 164: Close The Fucking Door (+18)
"Here?"
this chapter is mv|le|mp|y r
Arit and Mark were in a small space that looked like a closet. It is the storage room that the drama club uses to keep their costumes when they weren''t using them. The room was in a secluded part of the school that was only used whenever the drama club was about to have club activities, so Mark was sure that there wouldn''t be any interruptions while they were there.
Mark first grabbed Arit from behind and pressed himself against her back while sandwiching her against the closet wall.
"Yes, here. There won''t be any interruptions since they don''t have club till after school hours. You don''t have to worry about anyoneing around here."
Mark reached around and grabbed Arit''s breast. He felt the soft sensation on his palm and he squeezed down gently on her nipple. The sound of her mona was like music to his ear and he could feel her nipple getting harder in his hand. Arit might not say it out loud, but Mark could tell that she was enjoying this just as much as he was. Mark squeezed tighter and Arit put her hand over his own quickly.
Arit spoke up in a low breathless tone while holding Mark''s arm.
"Mark, my uniform¡ be careful with my uniform."
Mark grinned, he reached down and hiked Arit''s skirt up and he felt his erection bing painful as he saw her white panties hugging her huge ass like a second skin!
Fuck.
Mark didn''t waste any time as he squeezed Arit''s ass hard! He moved two fingers towards her crotch and pressed her vagina through her panties! He felt a wet sensation against his fingers and he grinned as his hand came back wet.
"Someone''s excited."
Arit''s chest was pressed into the wall of the closet, and Mark could see a blush rising on her cheek in embarrassment. Arit would never say it out loud because of how embarrassing it was, but she had also fantasized about fucking Mark in school. There was just something different about carrying out an immoral act in a ce like school where you are supposed to follow rules and regtions.
And the fact that she was the top student and everyone looked up to her to follow the rules more than anyone else just made the experience ten times more arousing!
Mark pulled Arit''s panties to the side as he pulled his dick free from his trousers. He aligned himself with her and Arit groaned as she felt him slowly entering her from behind!
"Ughhhh~!"
p!
Mark entered Arit all the way to his hilt at once and Arit''s body shivered as she felt him fill her uppletely!
p! p! p! p! p! p!
p! p!
"Uh! Uh! Uh! Uh! Uh! Uh!
Uh!"
Arit pressed her hand into the wall hard as she felt Mark mming into her from behind and she spread her legs apart to give him more ess. Mark groaned deep in his throat as he felt how tight Arit was and he sped up his pace!
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
Arit could feel her orgasm alreadying up from how intensely Mark was holding her and Mark felt electricity travel through his entire body as he tightened his hold on Arit''s waist and increased his pace even more.
"Uhhhhh ¨C Mpphhh!!"
Arit released a loud scream as she felt the orgasm hitting her hard but Mark immediately put his hand over her mouth to muffle the scream and prevent anyone from hearing it as he grunted while releasing his sperm into Arit. Fuck, he didn''t ask Arit if she was in her safe period!
Somewhere in the back of Mark''s mind, Mark knew that he had just fucked up, but he didn''t give a fuck at that moment as he was just enjoying the sensation of releasing into his girlfriend.
"Ugh. Fuck."
Mark finally stopped releasing into Art and pulled out from her. He removed his hand from her mouth to allow her to talk freely again. Arit turned around and Mark saw that her eyes were the poison yellow of QUEEN as she stared up at him lovingly. She kissed Mark deeply and Mark responded in equal measure as he felt her grab his dick in her hand and she began to stroke him softly.
QUEEN kissed very differently from Arit. Arit''s kisses were gentle and a little unsure, almost like she was not confident in her own abilities and she was waiting for Mark to take charge, but when Mark is kissing QUEEN, it feels like she is trying to engulf his tongue and suck everything out of him.
She was forceful and intense, and there was a bit of a challenge in her movement as she dared him to take control from her.
Mark did not resist the kiss, he relished the challenge and responded in kind as he dominated QUEEN. He allowed her to kiss him to her heart''s content before they had to go back to ss.
Ka-Cha!
"Oh my god!"
Mark and Arit both turned to the side in shock as someone suddenly opened the closet door. Mark was stunned for a moment, but he immediately recognized who the person was. It was the vice president from this morning who went to call the headmaster to help Mark.
The vice president, Maria, was standing outside the closet with wide eyes and she looked like she had been petrified to the spot as she stared at something close to Mark''s waist in stunned silence. Mark looked down and saw that she was staring right at his dick that was currently in Arit''s hand.
"W-W-W-W-What are you two¡?"
"Quiet."
Mark''s tone left no room for argument, and Maria immediately shut up as she heard hismanding tone. The intense smell of sex that was leaking out from that closet was enough to make Maria blush up a storm. She did not need to be an adult to understand exactly what had happened inside that room. They fucked like rabbits.
Mark looked outside the hallway, and he was d that Maria was the only person standing there. What the hell was she doing here? Did someone send her out to look for them? Or was she just patrolling the corridor? But this area is usually abandoned, so how did she find them here? Were they too loud?
But that doesn''t matter. At least it wasn''t the entire drama club that found us. I know this ce isn''t used until after school, so there has to be some twisted exnation for all this.
"Why are your eyes yellow, Arit?"
Mark blinked in shock as Maria spoke, and he looked down to see that Arit was openly ring at Maria with her yellow eyes. Normally, Arit would be a blushing mess right now, but since she was in her QUEEN form, she was bolder than before, and instead of feeling shy, she only felt angry that they were interrupted.
"Shut up and close the door, you fucking fool. What do you think you are doing staring at Mark like that? Are you a pervert?"
Maria did not expect the sudden boldness from Arit. Maria has always known Arit to be a mellow person who is very agreeable, so suddenly hearing Arit curse and insulting her was enough to shock the senses out of Maria.
"W-What!? Who the hell are you calling a pervert!? Look at what the both of you are doing in the closet! Just wait until I tell the headmaster about this! He''ll have you expelled!"
"No, you won''t."
Mark finally spoke as he arranged his trousers properly. He kissed Arit on her forehead and told her to fix herself up before shees out. He stepped out from the closet, and Maria took arge step back as she looked up at his imposing figure staring down at her like a mountain.
Was Mark always this fucking tall?
Chapter 165: Your Family. My Family.
Was Mark always this fucking tall?
Mark closed the closet door behind him and he arranged his uniform properly. Maria still couldn''t get the image of what she saw inside there out of her mind, and she looked away with a blush on her face as she saw Mark arranging his trousers. The image of Mark''s dick in Arit''s hand yed in Maria''s head like a movie, and she wondered if a man''s dick was always that big!
She had seen porn before, but none of them matched up to the sheer size of what she just saw!
Maria spoke up while moving her body in a way that would allow her to leave quickly if she needed to.
"What do you want to say to me? Just so you know, intimidation won''t work. Do you think the media will allow you to go if you intimidate a high school girl on your first day back? They''ll have a field day with you!"
"Are you forgetting that I am also a high school student? But I''m not going to intimidate you, Maria. I''m going to warn you. You won''t say a word about what happened in here, and you will take this to the grave with you."
Maria immediately frowned as she took a few more steps back. She was ready to leave this ce, but she felt so intimidated by Mark''s presence that she didn''t want to turn her back to him at all. It is the same feeling you get when you''re in front of a lion, and you know that turning your back on it would mean certain death.
Like a sheep that doesn''t want to lose, its life, so it faces the predator defiantly. Maria just felt like if she turned her back to Mark, he would tear her apart in seconds.
"Why should I stay quiet? You two are fornicating in school, and you want me to keep shut about it? I''m a member of the student council, and it is my job to¨C"
"You''re Maria Triston. Eldest daughter of the Triston transportationpany that specializes in the movement of cargo across the ocean. Your father is Ronald Triston, and his father is Alfred Triston.
You have a younger brother named Hugh Triston who is set to take over thepany when he turns eighteen, but there is currently an internal rift between your father and his brother who is trying to overthrow him. Is that right?"
Maria''s eyes widened as she stumbled away from Mark. What in the world just happened? Where did he get all that information from? Maria had never told anyone in school about her family before, and she sure as hell hadn''t told anyone that her family was currently going through an internal civil war. What the hell is this?
Maria narrowed her eyes at Mark as she heard the closet door opening. Arit stepped out from the closet with her uniform back in its proper ce. She looked as immacte as ever, and her eyes were back to their regr ck as she smiled at Maria kindly. Maria felt more threatened by that smile than ever before.
Was this not the same girl that was just ring at her and telling her to fuck off before?
Mark looked down at Arit as she came to stand beside him and he smiled as he spoke gently.
"Hey babe, you can go back to ss. I''ll just finish talking to Maria here and send her on her way."
Arit simply nodded, and she did not stop Mark from kissing her when he leaned down. She epted the kiss and waved him goodbye as she went back to ss.
"Make sure youe back when you''re done! I''m noting out here to look for you again!"
Arit shouted out to Mark angrily, and Mark just chuckled as he watched her go back to ss. Once she was gone, Mark''s smile vanished as he looked back at Maria.
Maria was now openly ring at Mark as she spoke.
"What are you trying to say by bringing up my family? Who the hell are you?"
Mark shrugged as he heard what she said.
"I know I do not unt my family name around, but it is strange that most of you still do not know who I am. Have you heard of the Vanitas family?"
Maria frowned.
"Of course I have. They are thergest car manufacturingpany in¡ no¡ that''s impossible. You?"
Maria looked Mark over with wide eyes as something seemed to click inside her head when she started talking. She couldn''t believe it. She knew that there was a very high likelihood that it was true, but she just couldn''t believe it. This was the sole heir and next CEO of the Vanitas franchise? Are you fucking kidding!?
Maria was so shocked because she just never imagined someone like Mark to be the heir to anything. Mark was a superhuman, but he was also once a well-known vignte and someone who always skipped school. If you ever thought of who could be the heir to the Vanitas franchise, Mark''s face would never evene to the front of your mind once!
Everyone always thought that the heir to the Vanitas franchise was hiding in a secluded country and learning in secret so that they woulde back and take over, but hearing that it was Mark was just too much.
"Don''t sound so shocked."
Mark frowned in irritation as he heard the shock in Maria''s voice. Was she trying to insult him here? Maria''s frown also deepened.
"I don''t believe you. You''re bluffing."
Mark smiled and ced his hand on Maria''s head. The touch was soft, and Maria barely even felt it, but she couldn''t help but think that Mark''s hand was a guillotine preparing to take her head off at any moment. She didn''t dare to move a muscle as she nced up at him with her eyes narrowed in fake confidence.
"Whether I am bluffing or not is up to you to find out, but you should be more than aware of what my family can do to yours. One call is all it would take for me to retract the business that my family provides yours with, and there will be no more Triston Transportation Company.
your chapter source MVL EMPYR
Be very careful about who you tell what you saw today; it could determine whether or not yourpany sees the light of tomorrow. Because, unlike your uncle who just wants to take over thepany, I''m much more heartless. I will bury your family name, and there is nothing you can do about it."
Once Mark was done saying this, he turned and left down the hall in the same direction that Arit went. He might as well go to ss since he was busted.
Maria was left standing alone in the corridor with a dark cloud over her head as she watched him go. She still didn''t believe it. She knew that there was a small chance that Mark was actually the heir to the Vanitas franchise, but she just didn''t believe it.
The Vanitas Motorspany was one of thergest investors and business ventures that Triston Transportation Company had. Triston Transportation Company was in charge of the transportation and logistics of all Vanitas motors that were being sent overseas. On paper, Vanitas Motors ounted for more than thirty-five percent of Triston''s yearly revenue, but in reality, it was far more than that!
Chapter 166: An Unconventional Reaction (+16)
If the Triston''s lose something like that, then it is only a matter of time before the entirepany plummets into the ground. Losing Vanitas Motors will not only affect their stocks, but it would also affect the trust that their investors have in them and make some of them leave as well.
Maria felt her legs shaking, and she quickly grabbed them in fear as she stumbled back to the wall and leaned against it.
"Hah! Hah! Hah!"
Her breath starteding out in short puffs, and she felt something sticky between her legs as she rubbed them together. Oh god! What was that? Maria swallowed quickly as her mind went back to the moment when Mark was looking down on her. Mark was threatening her like she was nothing, and for some reason¡ she really liked it!
His empty eyes that were staring down at her dominantly made something quiver inside her body.
"Nngh!"
If anyone was in that corridor, they would have recoiled at the intense smell of juices that was filling the entire ce! Maria put her hands between her legs, and she felt how soaked her panties were! She had to calm down! She couldn''t let anyone see her like this!
Maria suddenly remembered the size of Mark''s dick that she saw, and her hand slowly traveled toward her crotch! Something that big, could it even enter her? Maria''s mind conjured up images of Mark pressing her down and mming into her like a piston! Hisrge body covered her own and prevented her from moving as he used her as a cock sleeve and finished inside her like his ve!
Her hand pressed against her clitoris, and Maria groaned as she immediately came hard!
"Ughh! Ohhh~! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Ha!"
Maria started to hyperventte, and she felt like she couldn''t get enough air into her lungs, no matter how hard she tried. She was going to die! She quickly reached into her skirt and pulled out an inhaler to use.
Puff! Puff!
"Hah~! Hah~! Hah~!"
Maria finally managed to calm down a little, and she was no longer shaking as much as before when she used the inhaler. She fell to her ass with her back against the wall and hung her head in dread and arousal. She had to confirm if Mark was really the heir to Vanitas Motors! She couldn''t just use spection to decide what she would do!
She would call as many people as possible and find out who the fuck Mark really was!
...
Later that day, after school was over, Mark and Arit were trying to sneak out from the back of the school to prevent people from swarming them. Mark knew that there would definitely be people waiting by his bike to talk to him, but he already had a n for that as well.
"You look worried. Is this about what happened earlier?"
Mark spoke up as he saw the worried frown on Arit''s face as she left the school building. Arit hadn''t said a word since they left ss, and Mark knew that she was thinking about what happened earlier today. Arit might''ve looked unaffected by it, but it was actually a very big deal that could affect her entire school life if it got out. story at mvle,mp|y|r
She did not want anyone to know that she was having sex in school.
Mark pet Arit''s head kindly as he smiled at her and Arit looked up at him with wide, curious eyes.
"Don''t worry, nothing is going to happen."
Arit''s eyes darkened for a moment as she stopped walking.
"But how can you be sure? She saw us, Mark. I don''t think the school will overlook something like that if they find out about it. We could get expelled, and she even saw my eyes."
"She''s going to be too busy to think about your eyes, don''t worry."
"But-"
"Arit. Trust me."
Mark finally looked serious as he turned to Arit, and Arit was stunned by the amount of certainty in Mark''s voice. She knew that this was a serious situation, but she couldn''t help but trust Mark if he spoke like that. If Mark was this sure that nothing was going to happen, then she would trust him.
Arit nodded, and Mark smiled as he pet her head once more.
"That''s my girl."
"I''M SORRY!!"
Someone suddenly shouted from behind the pair, and they both turned around to see Maria bowing at one eighty degrees with her hand on her knees. Arit''s eyes widened in surprise, and Mark hummed as he saw her sincere apology.
She looked like she had run a marathon before finding them, and Mark knew that she must''vee all the way from the front gate on the opposite side of the school just to catch them before they left.
Mark hummed and spoke with a small smile.
"You did your research."
"I''m so sorry, Mark! I didn''t think before talking earlier! I won''t tell anyone about what I saw, I promise!"
Mark saw Arit ncing from Maria''s back to him in shock, and he could understand her surprise. It''s not every day that you see the haughty Maria Triston being this apologetic towards anyone. Arit came closer to Mark in shock and whispered.
"What did you do to her?"
"I talked."
Arit pouted at Mark''s answer, and Mark leaned down and kissed her pout. She was just too cute.
"Uhm¡"
Mark turned to Maria with a re as she spoke.
"Did I tell you to talk?"
"No! Sorry!"
Maria quickly went back into the bow as she saw Mark ring at her, and she waited for Mark to finally talk to her before she looked up again.
"Who did you call?"
Maria swallowed.
"M-My mother. She once knew your mother personally, so she was able to confirm your identity by calling your godfather. She wishes to apologize personally for any discretion that I might have caused. I swear I did not mean any disrespect, I just didn''t think that¡"
Maria swallowed again as she recalled the conversation that she had with her mother a few hours ago. That conversation would stay with Maria for the rest of her life. Her mother had only shouted at her once before ¨C that was when she lost her top student position to Arit.
But that was nothingpared to the sheer anger that her mother showcased when Maria told her that she was having a conflict with someone iming to be Mark Vanitas.
Their family depended on the Vanitas family for a lot, so messing with the heir to the Vanitas franchise was like putting fuel into a me and thinking it wouldn''t erupt in your face. But worse of all was the fact that Mark was also a superhuman. They couldn''t do anything to him at all, so going against him was just suicide.
"There''s no need for a visit. I have too much to do to bother about something like that. As long as you''ve learned your lesson, then it is fine."
Maria shook her head.
"No, please. Let me apologize properly ¨C"
"I said it''s fine. But if you want to apologize properly, then I need you to do something for me. Esmeralda Fortuna. I want information on her daily activities. Can you do that?"
Maria frowned in surprise. Esmeralda?
Chapter 167: Just As Planned
Esmeralda? Why does Mark want to know anything about Esmeralda?
Maria was surprised by the request. She thought about who Esmeralda was and she remembered that Esmeralda was the daughter of the Fortuna Entertainmentpany, another big name in the city. Esmeralda was very beautiful, but also quite conceited. She was the sort of person that people would describe as a spoiled brat without a second thought. Why would Mark want to know about her?
Maria asked Mark for the reason behind his curiosity, and Mark waved her away as he turned with Arit and started to walk away.
"Don''t ask stupid questions and just do as you''re told. I''ll be expecting something soon."
Maria frowned in annoyance when Mark insulted her, but she couldn''t say anything back. She was trying to get on Mark''s good side and she couldn''t afford to antagonize him any more than she already had! So she could only stay silent and take the insult!
Vroom!
The sound of a car approaching them reached Maria, and she saw a ck Vanitas Avatendoring towards Mark and Arit. A man in a ck outfit stepped out and bowed to Mark before handing him the key. Mark thanked him and gave him a few instructions on how to take care of his bike before allowing the man to leave.
Mark then opened the door for Arit before going over to enter the car and drive off.
Maria knew that her mother would be angry at hr again because she was not able to get the meeting with Mark, but she was just d that she was no longer in his bad books. That would have been a disaster for her family.
"But I wonder why he is interested in Esmeralda."
It wasn''t too hard for Maria to find out what Esmeralda does during the day since Esmeralda had way too many friends. It would be easy to just get a little bit of information from all of them andbine it together to see what was the truth. And since she was a part of the studentmittee, she could use her power to make people tell her what she wanted.
Maria blinked as the word ''power'' passed through her mind, and she immediately felt her thoughts travel back to earlier today when she caught Arit and Mark in the cupboard and what she did after Mark threatened her. Maria''s face grew hotter, and she quickly covered it with a hand as she made her way back into the school.
...
"It failed."
The superhuman killer was currently on the phone as he walked through the park where Mark and Arit usually went with Talia. He was wearing a long ck coat, a white shirt over ck trousers, and running shoes as he looked around at all the people who were enjoying their time with their families.
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The superhuman killer knew that Mark would not being to the park today, so he just felt like taking a walk here by himself. After watching Mark Vanitas and his family spend so much time in this park and have so much fun together, the killer started to feel a small amount of jealousy somewhere in his heart, and he decided that he also wanted toe and see what this park was all about.
Even though the superhuman killer was still in the business of taking lives, he left the army because he wanted to live a normal life! He also wanted a woman to love and a child to take care of! Everything that Mark had was everything he wanted and more and th superhuman killer just wanted to taste a tiny bit of it!
There were so many families moving around and having fun, and the killer knew that this sort of life was something that he could never live. His life was meant for bloodshed and death.But every now and then, even someone as twisted as he was still wanted to enjoy the serenity of a family park.
The person on the other end of the phone grunted in irritation as he heard what the superhuman killer said, and when he spoke up, the superhuman killer could literally hear the annoyance in his voice.
[Yes, just like you nned. I hope you are aware that you will bepensating me for the assets lost. Sending those things out is not cheap, and sending them out in the middle of the city is even more expensive.]
"I understand. You will get a wire soon, just wait. But for now, I need you to send another one out, and I also need you to retract all the superhumans in the area at the same time."
The superhuman killer took a seat on an empty bench on one side of the park and he pulled out a bag of seeds from his pocket and began to throw them towards the many birds that were flocking the bench. His gaze was fixated on the birds and how they were pecking away at the seeds, and for a moment he thought about what it would be like to be a bird.
No stress, noplexities. Just living your life, flying anywhere you wish at any time you wish.
Free.
"I''ll also need the guild schedules."
The superhuman killer continued after some time, and the man on the other end of the call squeezed his face in irritation as he heard the request.
[Do you think this is your fucking military organization? It is not so easy to extract teams from an area without raising unneeded suspicions and causing investigators to start breathing down your neck, and the guild schedules are ssified. You cannot get them.]
"I need them. Without them, I can''t be sure of how the superhumans will move."
[You will have to make do somehow. I cannot give them to you.]
The superhuman killer furrowed his brow in anger as he heard this, and he threw a new batch of seeds towards the birds and watched them pecking away without a care in the world. How enviable.
"Then open a backlink to their radio and give me ess to that instead. I need to know how they are moving to make my ns. If I can finish this as quickly as possible, then I will be out of your hair, and we might not have to see each other for the next few years at least, that is a good enough reason to take the risk is it not?"
The man on the other end of the call was silent for some time as he thought about what the superhuman killer said. It would definitely be beneficial to get rid of the superhuman killer once and for all. If not for the fact that the superhuman killer was very useful right now, then he would have already tried to get rid of him. The superhuman killer was right.
It would be best to just get this over with.
[I''ll open a secure link to the guilds that are present in the city currently, and you can frequency-hop across the connections to get the one you wish for. But that is all I can do for you. How many anima do you need this time?]
"Not too much. Just enough to draw him out. I was able to get rid of Luna using thest attack, so I don''t need two. Just give me a strong one that would be enough to distract him for a few minutes. That should be enough."
The previous anima attack was nothing but a gamble by the killer in the hope that Luna will reveal herself and leave the city after talking to Mark! And the killer was d that his gamble worked! Even though it would cost a lot, it was worth it as far as he was concerned!
But with the way things are going, he is definitely going to ask for more money for this job! The amount that he and the Coltons agreed on was not going to cut it anymore! not only was mark stronger than before, but Mark was also surrounded by some dangerous people that the killer could not overlook! This job was starting to be more trouble than it was worth!
Chapter 168: Are You Alone?
The superhuman killer noticed someone moving from the corner of his eyes, and he turned to the side and blinked in surprise as someone came to sit down right beside him. It was a little girl wearing a long ck gown and carrying a teddy bear in her hands.
Talia Dragonheart.
The superhuman killer felt his heart rate spike for a moment as he thought that Mark would be somewhere around. Did they find out about him ande to apprehend him? Are there any guilds around? He had to find the best way to deal with this. Maybe he should just take the little girl hostage and use her to bargain for-
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"Mister, are you okay? You look pale."
The superhuman killer blinked as Talia suddenly spoke to him kindly. He looked down into her eyes, and he was surprised when he did not see anything in there other than genuine worry. Even though Talia was a superhuman, it was impossible for her to fake emotions like he could. She had never received training for things like that, so he knew that her concern was real.
A small smile spread across the superhuman killer''s face as he realized that his concern was for nothing. Mark was currently in school with Arit. They were not here with Talia, so everything was fine.
"Yes, I''m fine. I just felt sick for a moment there. Thank you."
Talia nodded at him before she turned back around to watch the birds in front of the bench.
[Who the fuck are you talking to?]
The man on the other end of the call asked in an annoyed tone, and the superhuman killer told him that it was nothing. The killer said that a little girl passing by had just spoken to him, so he greeted her back. The man clicked his tongue before he continued the previous conversation.
[I''ll send you one of the strongest cmities we have. It will cause a substantial amount of damage, so it would be sensible for you to keep your distance. If it goes out of control, then it will kill you before you can even get to Mark. Although personally, I wouldn''t be averse to having you both gone. Nothing but trouble, both of you.]
The superhuman killer knew that the man did not like him, so there was no surprise when he said what he just did. The superhuman killer took it in stride and responded professionally.
"I''ll send you the coordinatester."
The superhuman killer cut the phone before the man could give a response, and he sighed as he continued to throw the seeds at the birds. Talia was silent beside him as she watched the birds eating the seeds. A woman jogged past the bench with a man following close behind her, and the superhuman killer was able to catch how the man''s eyes were glued to the woman''srge ass as she jogged.
"Bark!"
A dog barked from a distance, and some of the birds flew away as they heard it, but before long they all came back to continue eating. Both Talia and the killer were silent for a long time and the silence was only interrupted by the asional cooing of the birds eating the seeds! From the expression on her face, The killer could tell that there was a lot on Talia''s mind!
Surprisingly, it was the superhuman killer that spoke up first.
"Are you alone here?"
Talia pouted as she tightened her hold on the teddy bear, and she nodded to him. The superhuman killer hummed. Normally, he would never do something like this, but for some reason, he felt like talking today.
"Why?"
"The big-breasted bimbo forced big brother to go to school."
The superhuman killer blinked in surprise as he heard what Talia said, and he immediately wondered who the ''big-breasted bimbo'' was. That had to be that girl Arit that Mark was dating, right? Yes, I can see why she would be called big-breasted bimbo. Even I can tell that she is quite endowed in the chest region.
"What about you, you don''t want to go to school?"
"Big brother said I''ll start going when my uniform gets here."
Talia looked down sadly as she said this, and the superhuman killer wondered what was wrong. Should he ask? Would that be considered too invasive? What if she suspects something from him asking too many questions? No, that''s not possible. She is just a child, so I have to y the part of the concerned adult.
"Did you leave your house all alone? You shouldn''t do that. It''s dangerous out here."
Talia pouted and huffed.
"Big brother said I can go outside if I take Teddy with me. Teddy will look after me, so I''m not worried."
The killer hummed as he saw the sense in her exnation. It was only sensible that the teddy bear would be seen as a good guardian. There was hardly anything in this region that could pose a threat to an A-rank summoned beast, so Talia would most likely be alright. The only person here who could kill her easily right now was him, and he didn''t kill children. Not after thatst time.
The superhuman killer closed his eyes tightly for a moment as he cleared his mind of some images, and when he opened them, he was giving Talia a kind smile again as if nothing happened.
"You don''t want to go to school?"
"I¡ don''t know anyone there. It''ll be lonely."
"Why don''t you just make new friends?"
"Stupid people are scared of Teddy. Their parents always tell them to stop ying with me because they are scared of Teddy."
The superhuman killer looked at the teddy bear, and his military training immediately jumped to the forefront of his mind as he recalled all the information he had gathered about Talia.
A-rank superhuman with C-rank physical strength. She is a summoner capable of giving life to any inanimate object with only a touch, and each of her inanimate objects possesses enough power to be regarded as an A-rank fighter, so she is an invaluable asset to any guild. Her only limitation is the amount of mana she possesses.
Since she has to share her mana with the inanimate objects to give them life, her summons are limited by how much mana she has. Her grandfather protected her from being forced to join a guild by taking her into the NSA, but now that he is dead, it is only a matter of time before she is poached once more and they try to make her join a guild.
They are probably only holding back because of Mark''s presence. They don''t want to antagonize Mark, so they won''t be forceful about approaching Talia, but once I kill Mark, they will definitely swoop in like ravens to try and im Talia!
"Are you alone, mister?"
The superhuman killer was suddenly brought back to reality as he heard Talia talk to him, and he realized that he had zoned out of the conversationpletely while reading through Talia''s profile. He was not used to talking to people, so he was prone to zoning out unless it was something rted to business. He smiled as he answered Talia kindly.
"Yes, I''m alone... I like being alone."
The superhuman killer paused for a moment in the middle of the sentence, and he only added thatst part as an afterthought, but that was the part that Talia clung to as she tilted her head.
"You like being alone? Don''t you get lonely?"
''Are you happy?''
The superhuman killer stared at Talia in surprise as he saw another image
ovep over her face. The image of a pretty girl with blonde hair and a kind smile. Blood was leaking from the side of the girl''s mouth, but she still managed to keep that smile on her face as her hand gently caressed his cheek.
''You don''t look happy.''
Chapter 169: Ill Keep You Company Since You Look Like Youll Die Alone.
The superhuman killer blinked and he was suddenly back in the real world. Once more, he had zoned out and Talia had that worried look in her eyes as she stared at him. He smiled at Talia to ease her worry.
"Of course, I''m not lonely. I have you here with me, don''t I?"
Talia seemed ufortable with what he said, and the superhuman killer understood that his words could be misinterpreted by Talia. He was basically an old man telling a little girl that she was happy that she was with him even though they had never met before today. Oh yeah, that was definitely the wrong way to say it.
He threw another batch of seeds at the birds and smiled kindly as he stopped ying around.
"No, I don''t get lonely. I have the birds."
The killer gestured towards the birds, and Talia looked down at them in confusion. A particrly stupid bird came up to her and tried to peck at her shoes, but she kicked her leg in annoyance and the bird flew off in fear.
"These are the things keeping youpany?"
Talia asked this question silently as she turned to the superhuman killer, and he shrugged nonchntly while throwing thest batch of seeds.
Talia hopped off the bench and dusted herself off with one hand.
"You need to meet more people, mister. You''re wayyyy older than big brother and he already has that big-breasted bimbo as a girlfriend. I don''t like her, but she makes him happy, so I don''t mind. I feel bad for you since you''re alone all the time. You seem pretty old, and I don''t want you to die alone."
The killer felt a small part of him take offense to what Talia just said. He wasn''t that old, was he? The killer didn''t remember his actual age. Years of training and missions eroded that memory away from his mind and he could be bothered to try and remember how old he was, but from what he understood based on his appearance and fitness level, he was somewhere in histe thirties now.
He was still pretty young! Talia was talking like he was going to drop dead and die any second from now!
Ta continued without noticing the killer''s distress.
"I have to go, big brother should be back now."
Talia started to walk away as she said this, and the superhuman killer spoke up before she could leave. He watched Talia walking away with the teddy bear and he feltpelled to ask.
"Will youe back tomorrow?"
Talia turned and huffed as she eyed him with suspicion.
"Grandfather told me to always stay away from old men trying to get me to go ces alone. You aren''t trying to do anything funny, are you?"
The superhuman killer crossed his heart with that kind smile still on his face.
"I wouldn''t dare do something like that. Cross my heart and hope to die."
"Hmm. Alright, you look like you''ll be alone all your life, so I''lle keep youpany with Teddy tomorrow. I''ll see you here!Bye bye!"
Talia waved goodbye to him as she headed back towards the hotel, and the superhuman killer raised his hand in a wave until Talia vanished from the park. Once she was gone, the superhuman killer''s face finally shifted back to its usual look of nk indifference, and he stared at the birds on the ground as he realized how stupid what he had just done was.
How could he ask her toe back and meet him?
The superhuman killer sighed. He couldn''t allow something as pointless as emotion to affect his decisions. He had to be cold and calcted at every turn or something would go wrong. Something always went wrong. His world doesn''t allow him to express emotions.
The only saving grace was that the superhuman killer was sure that Talia wouldn''te with Mark since Mark had to go to school, but it was still risky to be asking someone from Mark''s family to meet in the park like this.
He squeezed the empty bag of seeds in his hand and threw it into the trash at the side as he stood up and stuffed one hand into his pocket while putting a call out to the man from before.
[Two calls in one day? Are you insane? If you are nning to broadcast your location to the rest of the world, then do not involve me in it. Dig your grave on your own.]
"Sorry, I just had to get to you. Can you get the cmity ready by tomorrow?"
The man on the other end of the call was obviously shocked as he heard what the superhuman killer said. Sending the cmity out tomorrow was not impossible, but it would definitely be difficult to get everything right if you rush it this much.
[Tomorrow? Is that not a bit soon? Are you certain this will not affect the execution?]
"Let me worry about that. Just do it."
[Very well then. I will send you the guild signals tonight and the cmity should go to your specified coordinates at the given time. Do not disappoint me, killer.]
Beep!
The phone went off, and the superhuman killer stuffed it into his pocket with a sigh as he turned around to look at a family in the distance who were tossing a frisbee to each other while their dog bounced around and tried to get it out of the air. He narrowed his eyes at them before he turned away to leave.
"It''s a little lonely, I suppose."
¡
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The next day, Mark decided to go to school using his car rather than the bike. He knew that most of the students in the school didn''t know that he had a car, so it would be better to sneak through with the car and then find their way inside before they got swarmed by the students.
Mark was currently on a call with Patrick with Arit beside him. He had one hand on the wheel and the other one on Art''s exposed thigh.
"Have you found anything yet? Is he that good at staying hidden?"
Mark spoke up as he turned the corner of the street and put the car into gear as he started making his way to school. Arit was looking through some notes in the passenger seat with her legs drawn up so that she was resting her shoulder on Mark''s shoulder.
Mark clicked the gear changer behind the steering, and he felt the ride bing smoother as he zoomed down the empty road. On the other end of the call, Pat sighed in slight irritation as he clicked through various images on hisptop.
[I can''t really exin it. It''s not that he is good at hiding, it is more like he never goes out with the same face or appearance, so I need to deconstruct a new face every time I am trying to pinpoint his location. I was able to narrow down the search region to the space around your hotel since Luna said that he has been watching you, but that does not really make things easy.
There are hundreds of people living in that region.]
Mark could hear the tiredness in Pat''s tone, and Mark knew that Pat had been awake for a long time working on this. Mark didn''t like the fact that the superhuman killer had been watching them from a distance for so long, and he never knew about it, so he was trying to rush Pat a bit to try and get the superhuman''s location.
But that was proving difficult since the superhuman killer had so many looks. He could be anyone.
"Should we bring the Artemis guild into this? Make them set up a perimeter so we can hunt him down? That way, we won''t have to worry about him trying to escape."
Vroom!
Mark sped up and swerved around a ck Toyota before he had to stop his car as he reached a red light. He was still on the call, so he didn''t notice a yellow Lamborghini pulling up right beside him.
[That might not work, even with the Artemis guild helping out - ]
"Shit!"
Mark turned to the side quickly as he heard a voice cure loudly and Mark raised a brow as he didn''t see anyone in the driver''s seat of the yellow Lamborghini. What the hell is that idiot doing? Mark knew that the yellow Lamborghini belonged to Francis. Francis was the only person in the entire school who drove a yellow Lamborghini, so why the hell was he trying to hide from Mark like this?
There was someone else in the passenger seat of the yellow Lamborghini staring right at Mark, and Mark just nced at her for a moment before turning away when she tried to wave at him.
Chapter 170: Arent You Ashamed Of Yourself!?
Esmeralda was in the middle of applying her makeup when she heard Francis curse loudly before falling down in his seat to prevent someone from seeing him.
Esmeralda turned to the side and her eyes widened as she noticed Mark looking right at her! A small smile suddenly spread across Esmeralda''s face as she waved at him, but she was stunned when Markpletely ignored her and turned away to look at the road. Esmeralda brought her hand down in annoyance, and her anger only grew when she noticed someone sitting in the passenger seat of Mark''s car!
Wasn''t that Arit!?
Esmeralda noticed that Arit was leaning against Mark''s shoulder and reading a book calmly, and from how Mark''s hand was positioned, Esmeralda could tell that his other hand was on Arit''s thigh! That fucking bitch! Esmeralda grit her teeth as she felt a surge of anger fill her! Just knowing that Arit was the one in that car instead of her pissed her off!
That bitch is rxing like she is in her parlor! Is she trying to show off!?
Esmeralda looked down at Francis with a re and immediately shouted at him to get up!
"Aren''t you ashamed to be scared of your junior! He is younger than you and you''re the one hiding when you run into him! Get up!"
"Shut up, you bitch! Just tell me if he is gone!"
"Don''t ever call me a bitch! You think you can say that to me just because I refused to sleep with you! You''re not worthy of me, so don''t you dare talk to me like that! Just get up and stop embarrassing me!"
"Shut up!"
Ping!
The traffic light showed green and Mark put his car into gear before zooming off! Esmeralda immediately shouted at Francis that they were gone and he should get the fuck up! Francis peeked up from his window before he sighed in relief as he noticed that Mark was gone. Esmeralda scowled at the pitiful disy before she turned back to finish applying her makeup.
She had to get rid of this useless man and find herself a real man soon. How dare he embarrass her like that!?
"Just you wait. After today, I''ll be the one looking down on you, Mark Vanitas."
Esmeralda blinked in surprise as she heard what he said and she turned to look at him.
"What do you mean?"
Francis put his car into gear and prepared to drive off.
"You said you were only with me for my father''s money, right? Well, you''ll soon understand that there is nothing that money cannot buy!"
Esmeralda grew irritated when she noticed that Francis was just trying to be mysterious by not telling her the whole story, and she pped his shoulder in anger and shouted at him!
"Stop being cryptic and just exin!"
...
In Mark''s car, he already forgot about the encounter with Francis as he went back to the call with Pat. Pat continued talking in that same haughty tone that he always uses, but if you listened closely, you could hear an undertone of tiredness leaking through Pat''s voice. Anyone would be able to tell that PAt was suffering from severe insomnia if they heard him talk! m|vl|e|mp|y|r article
[We can''t bring the Artemis guild in without something concrete. What are you nning to do? Do you want to go from door to door and try tearing everyone''s faces off to see if they are the killer or not? That won''t work.]
Mark sighed in annoyance as he realized Pat was right. Pat continued.
[I think the only way to really draw him out is to set a trap, something he cannot resist. But for something like that to work, you might end up in a dangerous situation, and there is no way you are walking away without an injury. That''s okay, right?]
Mark grunted as he pressed Arit''s soft thigh gently while responding.
"As long as the girls are fine, I don''t mind getting a few scratches."
[Alright, I''ll get back to you after ss. My lecturer is giving me the stink eye.]
[Mr. Patrick! I understand that you might''ve already read through the curriculum, but please try not to bother the other students in ss with your call!]
[Yes, of course, Mr. Taludo, just one moment¡ So, Mark, you need to make sure you''re keeping a lookout for¡]
[Mr. Patrick!!]
[Fuck, fine. Just don''t die, Mark.]
Beep!
Patrick cut off the call once he was done talking and Mark sighed as he decided that he could only wait for some good news from Patrick. Mark moved his hand and wrapped it around Arit''s shoulder and she smiled at him while closing her book.
"Is everything okay? I didn''t want to bother you while you were on the call. It seemed pretty serious."
Mark nodded while entering the school building.
"Everything''s fine. Just a rat that refuses to show itself. We''ll find it soon."
Arit''s face fell as she knew that Mark was not telling her everything. Based on what she caught from that call, Arit could tell that this was a much more serious situation than anything Mark had ever faced before. Even Patrick sounded like he was taking it seriously unlike his usual nonchnt attitude.
"Just don''t do anything too dangerous, alright."
Mark smiled as Arit said this, and he leaned down and kissed her forehead gently to tell her that everything would be alright. Mark was worried for Arit and Talia, but he was not too disturbed because he knew that the real target of this assassination was him, not them, and the killer was not the kind of person to just go around killing indiscriminately.
That meant that if there was ever a situation where he faced off against the killer, he could be certain that Talia and Arit would not be targeted intentionally.
¡
The trip to the school was not as hectic this time as the previous day. Since Mark was driving a car instead of his bike, most of the students did not see him, so they did not swarm him or prevent him from moving because they wanted to get his autograph.
Mark was able to drive the car towards the car park, and it was only after he came out of the car that the students who were close to him eximed in shock as they saw him.
Mark already told Arit to go ahead of him, so Arit quickly made her way through the crowd of people that were gathering and went into the school before they could get too much while Mark stayed behind and gave out as many signatures as he possibly could.
Mark knew that if he kept avoiding them, they would be even more desperate and things would get worse, so he decided that he would take some time every morning and give out the sensible requests that some of them had for him. That way, he could slowly make them be used to his presence and they wouldn''t swarm him like they were doing right now.
Inside the school, Arit made her way towards ss, but she was stopped in the middle of the hallway by Maria. Maria had a contemtive look on her face as she nced behind Arit to search for someone. She furrowed her brow when she didn''t see him and finally frowned at Arit.
"Where''s Mark?"
Chapter 171: What Sort Of Demon Couple Is This!?
Inside the school, Arit made her way towards ss, but she was stopped in the middle of the hallway by Maria. Maria had a contemtive look on her face as she looked behind Arit to search for someone. She furrowed her brow when she didn''t see the person that she was looking for and finally frowned at Arit. Why Mark wasn''t there?
Since Mark wasn''t there, Maria didn''t feel the need to be nice or reasonable with Arit anymore. Maria might be afraid of Mark because of what he can do to her family, but she feels nothing but anger towards Arit. When she spoke, there was a lot of irritation in her tone, and it was obvious that she did not want to be talking to Arit at all!
"I have some information from what Mark asked for yesterday. I thought he would be here with you so I could tell him about it, but if he is not here, then I will juste back some other time and tell him. Make sure you tell him that I came looking for him first thing in the morning so he knows I''m serious."
Arit''s eyes widened as she heard what Maria said. Mark asked Maria to look up information on Esmeralda, but the only reason he asked for it was because of what Arit told him about Esmeralda before. That meant that Arit was the one who really wanted to know about Esmeralda, not Mark. Mark couldn''t care less about that girl.
Once Arit heard that Maria had some information on Esmeralda, she was immediately interested, and she stopped Maria from leaving by grabbing her hand!
Maria immediately tried to recoil in shock.
"Hey! What do you think you are-!?"
Esmeralda stopped talking as she saw the hard look on Arit''s face. The look right now reminded Maria of the look that Arit gave her yesterday when Maria caught Arit and Mark in the closet.
Arit was looking at Maria like Maria was a cockroach that disturbed her by crawling too close!
Maria could never get used to this serious expression no matter how many times she saw it! The only thing that was missing now was the yellow eyes that Arit had yesterday!
"Come with me right now."
Arit dragged Maria through the hallway, and Maria could barely resist as she was shoved into an empty ssroom! Maria fell to the floor in pain, and she cried out softly before she red at Arit in anger! Who the hell does Arit think she is!? How dare she drag her like that!? She thinks she can do whatever she wants just because she has Mark to cover for her!?
Ka-Cha!
Arit turned around after locking the door, and Maria swallowed in fear as she saw Arit''s eyes! They were a poisonous yellow that made Maria''s entire body tremble in fear! Maria shuffled back as Arit stepped closer, and she quickly got to her feet when Arit told her to get the fuck off the floor.
"What did you find?"
Arit''s tone wasmanding, and Maria''s legs quivered as she was reminded of how Mark used a simr tone on her yesterday when he was threatening her to do as she was told! What the hell is wrong with this couple!? Are they both monsters that have been hiding in in sight all this while!? I thought Mark was bad enough, but if Arit is the same, then I might need to move to a different school!
This is too much!
Maria then suddenly remembered what happened to her after Mark used that tone on her yesterday, and she blushed crimson as she recalled how many times she masturbated while thinking of himst night. She practically raped herself with thoughts of him in her head! A small blush rose on Maria''s cheek, and Arit frowned in anger when she did not get a response to her earlier question!
"Wipe that stupid look off your face and give me an answer!"
"I-I-I found something. I found¡"
Maria swallowed as her voice cracked more than ten times in that one sentence, and she had to force herself to calm down before she could speak again.
m!
"Just spit it out!"
"Eek!!"
Maria shrieked in fear as Arit mmed her hand into the table at her side, and she stumbled back from the amount of force behind that hit! The table cracked under Arit''s hand, and Maria stared at it in horror! What was that!? Don''t tell me.. is Arit also a superhuman!? Is that why her eyes turn yellow?
No, if she was a superhuman then she would have been helping Mark against monsters. Or is she hiding her power just like Mark was hiding them?
Maria couldn''t understand what was going on with Arit, but she knew that she did not want to get on Arit''s bad side! She immediately started talking quickly!
"I-I don''t know everything about what happened, but I was able to get an investigator to follow Esmeralda yesterday! She met up with a woman in a caf¨¦ on the other side of the city. The investigator told me that the woman was Linda, the current chairwoman of the PTA!"
Arit frowned as she heard this, and she immediately began to think deeply about what this could mean. Why was Esmeralda meeting with the chairwoman of the PTA? Did they have some kind of connection? Arit did not know much about Esmeralda, but she knew that her family was the leading supplier of entertainment television to most of the city. Was Linda meeting with Esmeralda for some sort of business? Find more at m _v _l _e _mpyr.
No, that wouldn''t make sense. Esmeralda was not the eldest child and she did not have any sort of leeway in thepany. Arit knew that if there was business between Linda and Esmeralda''s family, then Linda would not be meeting with Esmeralda, she would be meeting with Esmeralda''s mother or father, or at least someone higher in thepany.
"T-There''s more..."
Arit snapped her head towards Maria as Maria spoke up, and she immediately told Maria to hurry the hell up! If there is more, then she should have said everything at once! What was she trying to do by holding back information!? Does she think this is a movie where you keep things hidden for cinematic effects?
"Sorry, I just do not know how true the information is. The private investigator did some more research after finding out that Linda was meeting with Esmeralda, and apparently, there was a meeting between the school board members a few weeks ago. Linda was the one that called for the meeting, and he said that the meeting was¡ to decide whether or not Mark should remain as a student in the school."
"What?"
''They were trying to expel Mark! Those ungrateful pieces of shit! They deserve death! All of them!!''
The frown that appeared on Arit''s face made Maria immediately fear for her life, and she took a step back as she saw Arit''s hand tighten against the edge of a table and crack it with raw strength alone!
Crack!
Oh god, I think I''m going to die in here! Maria was so scared that she could feel her knees shaking uncontrobly! Maria had to use another table to hold herself up so she didn''t fall down!
Arit asked Maria how certain she was of the information and Maria nodded to Arit quickly. Yes! Yes, that was what the man said! That was everything!
Chapter 172: What The F*ck Is That?
Arit waited for a few more seconds to make sure that Maria was not keeping anything else from her for cinematic effect before she thanked her and turned to leave. Arit did not have enough information toe to a concrete conclusion, but from what she just heard, she knew that there was definitely a connection between what happened in that meeting and what Esmeralda said yesterday.
If they had a meeting to try and expel Mark, then it was obvious that the meeting did not go Linda''s way since Mark was still in this school. But if Linda was meeting with Esmeralda, then does that mean she was not giving up yet?
Was she trying to use Esmeralda to try and get rid of Mark for some reason?
Arit stopped walking as she reached the door and turned to Maria.
"Is there any rumor that has been going around the school recently?"
Maria''s eyes widened as she heard this and she scratched her cheek timidly while looking away from Arit.
"Eh? Well¡"
Maria was hesitant to talk since she did not know what sort of reaction Arit would have to the information. As a member of the student council, she had a lot of connections in the school, so she knew about everything that happened there. Even the smallest rumors did not escape her attention, and she would know about them before the day was over.
There has been a rumor going around recently that Maria did not want to tell Arit about at all. She knew that Arit would also hear about it eventually, but that did not mean she wanted to be the one to tell Arit about it. She wanted Arit to find out about it from some other unfortunate soul!
"There is something, isn''t there? What is it?"
Arit began walking towards Maria again, and Maria raised her hand in surrender as she noticed Arit balling her hand into a fist.
"Don''t hit me! I didn''t do anything wrong! I''ll say it!"
Maria remembered what Arit did to that table, and she did not want to know what that much strength would do to her skull if Arit hit her with it! Maria was now certain that Arit was a superhuman that has been hiding her powers! Maybe her blessing is just very weak so she cannot fight against Anima, but that does not mean she cannot kill me in seconds if she tries!
Maria would rather have Arit be angry at Esmeralda for the rumor rather than take the punishment from Arit for keeping information from her. Maria started talking quickly before Arit could get too close.
"I heard one of the juniors talking about it in the hall this morning. They said that¡ Mark had the highest amount of property damage and death during his fights because his fighting style focuses more on causing as much damage as possible to the enemy using heavy punches. They called¡ They called Mark a murderer."
''I''m going to kill her!''
Arit''s eyes widened in rage as this thought crossed her mind! This time, it wasn''t QUEEN that spoke up, it was Arit''s authentic voice that shouted angrily and she did not even bother fighting against the voice as she allowed it to fuel her rage!
She was fucking pissed right now and Maria whined somewhere deep inside her throat as she saw a small part of Arit''s neck turning purple! There was a vein bulging out from Arit''s neck as her anger soared, and the skin around the vein was turning purple! Oh god, what has she gotten herself into here!?
She should have just ignored that noise from the cupboard yesterday instead of checking it and finding this couple! If she had ignored it, then she wouldn''t be in this dangerous situation! She mes her fucking curiosity for getting her into this bullshit!
Sigh~
But before things could get out of control, Arit released a sigh and Maria was shocked to see that Arit''s skin turned back to the normal color and even her eyes turned to their regr ck again. What the hell? Arit smiled at Maria and thanked her for her help and Maria was too stunned to even give an answer as she just watched Arit leave the ssroom and close the door behind her.
Maria felt her knees go weak, and she fell to her ass in exhaustion once Arit left.
At that moment, Maria knew that her school life was not going to ever be normal again! This is hell!
...
Arit stepped out of the room and released another sigh as she smiled at someone who waved at her from down the hallway. She waved back gently and the boy blushed up a storm as he started bragging to his friend that Arit waved back to him.
Arit still felt an intense amount of anger inside of her, but she was able to call on the training that Jeanne gave her, and she managed to calm down her other side before it went out of control. Arit knew that if she didn''t calm herself down, then she would have just gone straight to find Esmeralda and done something that she would regret.
If she harms Esmeralda, then that would cause more stress for Mark, and she was not going to be the reason for adding to Mark''s burden.
Ring~! Ring~! Ring~!
Arit made her way to ss as the school bell rang for the first period, and she kept smiling at the many people who greeted her on the way to ss. Ever since Mark came out as a superhuman, there were many people who were trying to be close to her so that they could get close to Mark as well.
Arit knew that they were only greeting her so that they would have a chance to talk to Mark if they were ever together, but she did not care. As far as Arit was concerned, they were just random strangers that she would forget about in a few moments.
Arit got to ss, and she was surprised to see that the teacher was already there. The homeroom teacher, Juliet, was opening up the attendance to start ss, and Juliet blinked in surprise as she saw Ariting into the sste. This was the first time that she would ever see Aritingte to ss.
"Arit, you''rete."
"Yes, sorry ma''am. I had to go to the toilet."
Juliet nodded calmly and turned back to her books.
"Okay, just take your ¨C"
"Hey, move out of the way."
A voice suddenly spoke up from behind Arit and cut Juliet off, and Arit felt her entire body lock up like a jackhammer once she heard the voice.
''KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL HER!! KILL THE FUCKING BITCH RIGHT NOW!!''
Arit turned around to look at Esmeralda with a re, and Esmeralda furrowed her brow in confusion as she saw the look in Arit''s eyes. For a moment there, Esmeralda could have sworn that she saw something yellow sh across Arit''s eyes, but it was gone before long, and Arit just moved away from the door to take her seat.
Arit was trying her hardest at that point not to allow her other side toe out, and she was grateful that she had enough control not to allow it to take control. Arit knew that anything rted to Mark could easily make her other sidee out, so it took a lot more effort to make it calm down in this sort of situation.
"Alright, let''s start taking ¨C"
"Am Ite?"
Another voice spoke up from the door, and Juliet felt her words hang in her throat as she turned to look at Mark. A small blush rose on her cheek, and she forced herself to answer him in a stable tone and told him to take his seat.
"You''re right on time, Mark. Please sit down."
No oneined about the obvious favoritism that Juliet just showed. They were too busy staring at Mark to even bother pointing it out.
Mark thanked her and went to sit down beside Arit. He smiled at Arit as he took his seat and Arit was about to smile back, but Arit''s eyes immediately trailed towards something on Mark''s cor. It was light, but there was a smudge of red lipstick on his cor that was shaped like a pair of lips. Arit''s eyes widened, and she immediately turned to Mark to ask for an exnation.
Chapter 173: The Beginning Of The End
Arit''s eyes widened, and she immediately turned to Mark to ask for an exnation.
Was it Esmeralda who tried to kiss Mark?
Arit felt a great amount of anger surge through her entire body once that thought crossed her mind! If that bitch tried to force herself on Mark, then blood would flow!
Mark raised a brow as he saw Arit staring at his cor and he looked down at his cor. Once he saw the lipstick stain, he immediately understood what was wrong.
"Yeah, some girl tried to jump me for a kiss while I was signing her uniform. I dodged it, but she managed to catch my cor since she was so close. People are crazy."
Arit noticed that Mark did not nce at Esmeralda at all while talking, so she figured that it was probably not Esmeralda who did it. Arit sighed and told Mark that she would clean it out for him when they got home. Mark grinned and thanked her, and Arit just smiled back. Mark asked if anything happened while he wasn''t with her. He saw Maria earlier, and Maria looked a little pale.
Arit wondered if she should tell Mark about the conversation she just had with Maria, but she finally decided that she wouldn''t. Mark was busy dealing with a killer who was trying to ruin their family. Something this petty shouldn''t be on his mind as well. Arit decided at that moment that she was going to be the one to deal with this situation.
She would try her hardest to figure out the best way to handle it without involving Mark.
"It''s nothing serious. I just asked her if she found anything about Esmeralda, and she hasn''t found anything important yet."
[Styxwatcher Discernment has detected a lie: Maria was able to retrieve important information that exins Esmeralda''s recent actions, and she told them to Arit.]
Mark raised a brow in surprise as he saw the message from the system. Arit was lying to him? Mark hummed in curiosity as he wondered what couldpossiblymake Arit lie to him about what Maria found out. Was it something that she didn''t think was important enough to tell him, or was she trying to deal with it on her own so that she wouldn''t burden him?
Mark appreciated the thought and he decided that if Arit wanted to deal with this on her own, then he was more than happy to allow her to do that.
Mark was too busy dealing with the killer, the guilds, and Szar, so he just didn''t have the time to add Esmeralda and her childish antics into the mix. Besides, the only reason Mark asked Maria to look into Esmeralda was because Arit seemed genuinely worried about it, so he was not bothered that Arit wanted to handle it herself.
Mark knew that if there was ever a serious enough problem, then Arit would tell him about it. He just shrugged as he yed along with her words.
"Well, if Maria doesn''t have anything, then I''m sure that there is nothing to worry about then. Don''t worry too much about it, okay?"
Mark smiled at Arit, and Arit felt her face heating up as she saw the sun shining at her from behind Mark''s silhouette. Her heartbeat suddenly sped up as she ducked her head and looked down at her desk while squeezing her hands into fists.
Mark was amazing. He knew everything about her. All her ws and all her insecurities, and yet he was still with her. Arit knew that Mark could have anyone he wanted. Mark was rich and strong, so he could walk down the street, and a hundred women would throw themselves at him! He could have found anyone better than her, but he chose to be with her!
He chose her! He was the most amazing person in her life!
And that fucking bitch was trying to ruin his life! How can she call Mark a murderer!?
[Kill her! Kill her! Just kill that bitch and everyone she is rted to! She doesn''t deserve to live after doing something like that! How dare she call Mark a murderer! Mark is KING!
The protector! We must protect the KING!]
"I want to kill her."
Mark suddenly turned as he heard Arit mumble something quietly.
"What? Did you say something?"
Arit sat up quickly in shock and shook her head. She told Mark that it was nothing with a wide smile on her face, and Mark nodded and turned back to the teacher.
"Arit yborn."
The teacher called Arit''s name from the attendance, and Arit raised her hand and spoke in a soft voice.
"Present."
¡
Click! Click! Kacha!
The sound of a gun being loaded with weapons was the only prevalent sound across the empty penthouse on top of a tall skyscraper. The superhuman killer was seated on the floor with his rifle leaning against his shoulder as he loaded it with his special bullets.
His phone was right beside him, and an automated AI voice read out the weather conditions for the day as well as the wind movement.
[Sunny conditions are prevalent across the expanse of the city with a light breeze expected to blow in from the coast due west. There will be a period of cloud coverage for an hour at the peak sun period, but it should clear up before the hour is over.]
At his side, he had a handheld radio that was currently ying out the voice of a member of the Green Hos guild that was patrolling the area.
[The fifth sector is clear. There was a disaster ss here, but we were able to deal with it before any lives were lost. Things should be settling down soon. Did you see that fight between GHOST and that Cmity the other day? I heard Luna showed up in the middle of the fight and dealt with the cmity herself.]
[You know the guild leader was going to try and get GHOST to join us when he was just a vignte, but he got cold feet after seeing GHOST kill that Cmity ss. There''s no way GHOST would join a small guild like ours. I heard GHOST is nning to join the Artemis guild soon. There''s been a lot of rumors going around the forums - ]
Ring~ Ring~ Ring~ Ring~ Ring~
The phone began to ring as the AI voice was cut off, and the killer answered without bothering to check the caller ID. There was only one person who had this secured number, so he knew who it was already.
[Is everything ready on your end?]
Click! Snap!
Ka-Cha!
The killer closed the ammunition barrel and cocked the rifle.
"Yes. I''ve confirmed that only B ranks and lower are in the area, and we are close enough to his school, so there will be no option but for him toe in."
The killer stood up and looked out the window at the city below.There were many people walkingthrough the street. Some of them were with their family, and others were just going about their daily life nonchntly. There was no doubt that most of these people would be caught up in the fight, and many of them - if not all of them - would die. But there was nothing the killer could do about that.
There were only so many people that he could save after all.
There was nothing he could do about those killed by the anima.
"Begin the operation."
A loud whining sound echoed through the area as a ne appeared from the horizon. The people walking on the streets all looked up in shock as they heard the loud sound, but their shock increased even more as arge humanoid payload was released from the back of the ne and began free-falling to the ground!
One of the men on the ground shouted in dread while pointing to thesky!
"It''s a fucking Anima!!"
KA-BOOOOMMMMM!!!!
RROOOOOARRRRRRRR!!!
Chapter 174: Anima Dont Just Appear Out Of Nowhere, Right?
It was a perfectly normal school day for Mark, and from how well things had been going, it seemed like the day would end with nothing eventful happening just like the previous day. Mark''s head was down on his desk, and he had already dozed off since the start of ss.
Beside him, Arit was busy taking down notes for him and herself while making sure that she did not miss anything that the teacher said.
The teacher, a tallnky man with a receding hairline, was in the middle of exining how to use axioms in an English sentence. The teacher waspletely ignoring Mark as he taught because all the teachers in the school were already used to Mark''s attitude towards school.
Even before they knew that Mark was superhuman, Mark was already known for sleeping throughout ss, and he was someone that everyone decided to just ignore since trying to make him stay awake in the ss was an impossible task. And really, they were all just afraid of him because of how tall and strong he looked. What if they tried to wake him up and he punched them!?
And now that they knew that he was superhuman, the chances of them trying to wake him up were even lower than before, and there was nothing that would make them disturb him when he was in this state.
KA-BOOOOMMMMM!!!!
RROOOOOARRRRRRRR!!!
"Oh my god!"
"Earthquake! it''s an earthquake! Get under your tables!"
"Shut the hell up and look outside, you duffus! There was an explosion!"
"Fucking hell! Don''t tell me that is an anima attack! This close to school!?"
The entire ss shouted out in shock as they felt a massive explosion go off in the distance! The entire room shook and vibrated from the explosion, and the teacher had to hold onto the table in front of him to prevent himself from falling over. Before the explosion even passed, the students all felt fear fill their hearts as they heard a massive roar echo throughout the school region!
That wasdefinitelyan anima roar! Was there ananimaclose to the school!? The roar from the anima sounded like it came from right beside them, and the students all started to get up from their seats to take a look outside the ssroom and see what was going on.
Mark blinked once he heard the explosion in the distance, and he put his hand to his ear as he sat up immediately. He was already wide awake, and there was no residual grogginess from him sleeping at all! If you saw him, you wouldn''t even think that he had been sleeping a few seconds ago!
¡
New Mission:
Defeat the Cmity ss Anima. Civilian Casualties are allowed.
Rewards: +100 stat points, +100 skill points
Failure: -100 stat points from a random stat.
¡
Mark read through his system notification quickly, and he immediately spoke once Patrick picked up his phone on the other end of the call.
"Pat."
[Yeah¡ what is it?]
Mark furrowed his brow in surprise as he noticed the genuine curiosity in Pat''s voice. Don''t tell me Pat doesn''t know about this yet. Pat was usually the one telling Mark about anima attacks before Mark even learned about them, so it was surprising that Pat didn''t know anything about this at all!
"There''s an attack close to my school. Check it out and tell me what it''s all about."
Mark didn''t allow Pat''s confusion to slow him down as he red into the distance to get a good look at what was happening using his enhanced sight. Mark could hear Pat hum in surprise as the sound of clicking echoed through the call once more.
Pat opened the link that he made to the citywide CCTV cameras, and his eyes widened in shock as he saw the giant anima that was in the middle of the city! What the fuck is that thing doing there!? And where the fuck did it evene from!? Pat knew thatanimadon''t just appear out of nowhere! They had to havee from somewhere before they would reach the city!
But there was nothing signifying where this anima came from! There was no path of destruction that would show the direction that it appeared from, nor was there a distinguishing feature like wet skin that would tell Pat that it came from the ocean! It was like the anima just teleported into the middle of the city!
That was why Pat was not able to find out about the anima before Mark called. The anima appeared in City A, but Pat was currently in school in City D, so he couldn''t feel the tremors from the anima. Pat usually relied on the news outlets as well as his camera to tell him if there was an anima attack, but the news outlets were not yet releasing anything since the anima attack was so sudden!
[Mark, yeah there''s an attack. Large rhinoceros-based anima, definitely a Cmity ss, probably high-level. I just looked through the guild patrol logs and there isn''t a single superhuman above B rank in that region. The strongest superhuman is a low-level B rank from the Green Hos guild. They are going to be decimated.
I don''t know where the anima came from,there are no trails showingits initial movement, but we''ll deal with thatter. Go tear this thing apart first.]
Mark didn''t need to hear anything more as he unbuttoned his school uniform quickly!
One of the students who were staring out the window turned around as she saw Mark taking off his school uniform, and she immediately shouted in excitement as she watched him bring out his mask!
"We''re saved! GHOST is on the move!"
"Tear that anima apart GHOST!"
"I can''t believe he doesn''t even take anything with him! Hereallyjust fights like that without any weapons!"
"I''m rooting for you GHOST! You''re the best!"
"YEAH! Go teach that anima a lesson GHOST!"
The entire ss started to chant and hail Mark as they saw him prepare, and Mark just tuned them all out as he turned around and handed his school shirt to Arit. Mark could see the worry in Arit''s gaze, but Arit gave Mark a confident nod and mouthed ''good luck'' to him kindly, and Mark smiled behind his mask as he leaped up to the windowsill and jumped out from the ss and into the air!
"GHOST is on the move!"
"Look up there! GHOST is going to deal with the anima!"
"GHOST! GHOST! GHOST! GHOST!"
"GHOST! GHOST!"
"GHOST! GHOST! GHOST! GHOST!"
After Mark jumped out of the ss, he noticed that his ssmates weren''t the only ones leaning out from their windows to watch the destruction happening in the distance. It felt like every single student in the school was trying to get a glimpse of what was happening.
There hadn''t been an announcement from the public address system yet warning them to go into hiding, so they were using this opportunity to satisfy their curiosity.
But once Mark leaped out from his window, the students couldn''t keep their excitement in check as they all started to chant Mark''s name like they were watching their favorite football team going to win the cup finals!
Chapter 175: Not Worthy
The students in the building were all trying to get Mark''s attention, but Mark was busy thinking about how strange the situation was, so he didn''t bother paying any attention to the people who were chanting. He just spoke up as hended on a roof that was about a kilometer away from the school.
"Pat, I''m close, do you have anything new for me?"
[Nothing, the news outlets are way behind so I can only get the general strength of the anima from what I''ve seen. But I can see the anima and it doesn''t look like it''s going on a rampage yet.In fact,it''s just sitting there.]
Pa''s haughty voice came through thems, but Mark could sense a hint of confusion and unease in there as well as Pat tried to understand what the hell was going on right now. An Anima that wasn''t going on a rampage? What the hell is that? Anima have always been known to be mad creatures that attacked humans on sight!
Woosh!
Mark sped up his sprint as he made his way towards where the Anima was. This wasdefinitelya weird situation no matter how you look at it.In fact,things have been weird ever since that cmity ss appeared on the shore a few months ago.
Not only was this the third major cmity ss anima appearance in the past two months, but there was also nothing to show where the anima even came from this time! It almost felt as if the anima didn''te from anywhere on its own, instead, it dropped into the city through the air!
Mark paused his thinking as this thought crossed his mind.
Or maybe, someone dropped it from a ne?
No, who would do something like that? It made no sense for someone to drop a random anima in the middle of the city for no reason whatsoever.
Mark told Pat about what he was thinking and Pat went silent for some time as he thought about the possibility that someone would drop an anima from the air. What reason would they have for it? Why would they wait until now to do it? Was this¡ some sort of trap?
[I''ll look through city footage and social media to see if I can''t find out anything about that. If it dropped from the sky, then I''m sure there will be videos of the incident circting already. I really don''t want to think that someone would be twisted enough to do something like that, but the possibility is not zero.]
"I see it!"
Mark shouted out to Pat as he caught sight of the anima as he reached the edge of arge business section of the city. Just like Pat said, the anima was arge human-rhinoceros hybrid that had bulging muscles protruding out from every part of its body. It had the body of a man and the head of a rhinoceros, with arge horn on its nose that looked sharp enough to cut through metal!
There were many superhumans surrounding the anima, but Mark could tell that they were all being overwhelmed by the sheer aura of the anima. There wasn''t a single A or S rank in their midst, so it almost looked like a hundred ants were trying to stand against a human!
The anima was currently sitting down in the middle of a giant crater that it created in the ground. It was holding a dead woman and it was slowly eating her without bothering to pay attention to the weaklings surrounding it.
The woman in the anima''s hand was already dead, but from the look of horror on her face and the tears streaming down her cheeks, you could tell that her death was anything but peaceful!
Squelch!
Crunch!
The anima pulled her arm out from the socket and started to eat it from the fingers slowly, and all the B ranks in the area grimaced in anger as they felt useless in that situation! Were they so weak that the anima didn''t consider them a threat at all!? Even though there were so many of them surrounding it, it didn''t bother to stop eating!
The anima wasbasicallytelling them that they weren''t even worth its attention as itpletely ignored them!
"ARGGHHH!!"
A particrly brave B rank ran towards the anima with a scream as he raised his sword in the air for an attack, but the anima did not even bother turning around to face the B rank as the sword mmed into the anima''s skin!
ng!
A sound like metal striking against metal echoed throughout the region, and the B rank''s arm started to vibrate in pain as he felt the recoil from the hiting back at him in waves!
Fucking hell, the anima''s skin is strong as fuck!
The B rank immediately tried to jump back as the anima turned around to look at him, but he was not able to jump far enough before the anima swung its arm around like a bat and smashed it into the man''s side!
m!
The man was thrown across the area like a rag doll! He mmed into the floor and bounced off like a ball before he was thrown into a building on the other side of the clearing!
BOOM!
The building crumbled from the force of the impact and it immediately fell on the man, burying him under tons of debris! No one saw any movement from the man for a long time and the other B ranks wondered if he had already died from that one hit!
Once the anima was sure that there would be no more disturbances, itpletely ignored everyone once more and went back to slowly eating the woman that was in its grasp.
That was like a p to their face, but the B ranks were grateful that the anima was not attacking! Nothing they did could harm a cmity ss, so there was nothing that they could do other than watch the woman get eaten while they watched helplessly!
"We have to do something! This is bullshit! It''s just ignoring us like we''re nothing! It''s fucking annoying!"
"What the fuck can we do about it!? Didn''t you see how that man was killed from one hit!? Do you want to die!? We have to wait for the reinforcements!"
"Let''s just be happy that the anima isn''t going around killing indiscriminately!"
The B ranks all shuffled ufortably as they all agreed with what thatst man said. If the Cmity ss was going around destroying buildings and killing people mindlessly, then there was a chance that they would also be killed in the carnage, and they would not be able to contain it at all since the anima was so much stronger than them.
But since the anima was more interested in eating one person at a time while sitting in one ce, then was that not better for them? It was a twisted way to think about things, but the B ranks were happy that the woman''s sacrifice was saving the lives of many others!
But they were all silenced as they saw the anima suddenly stop what it had been doing! It let go of the woman''s corpse and allowed it to fall from its grasp as it stood up and turned to stare at something in the distance!
The B ranks all started to get into fighting positions as they thought that the anima was finally full and it was about to start attacking them, but they were shocked when the anima continued to ignore them as it roared into the distance in anger!
"ROARRRRR!!!"
"It''s GHOST!"
Mark was standing on top of a building a hundred meters away and watching the anima, but he immediately got into fight mode as he saw that the anima noticed him!
Boom!
The anima wasted no time as it ran across the distance separating it from Mark in less than a second! Mark shot off the roof at the same moment that the anima leaped from the ground, and their fists met in the air in a disy of raw power!
SLAM!!
Boom!
A sonic boom echoed across the area from the impact and Mark grunted as he felt the massive power from the anima! Mark pulled his fist back and grabbed the anima by the arm before body-tossing it toward a building in the distance!
Woosh!
Boom!
The anima crashed through the wall of the skyscraper, and Mark turned to the B ranks who were still watching in stunned silence as hended on the ground!
"What the fuck do you all think you''re doing! Get going right now! Clear out the debris and get as many people as possible out of here! That thing isn''t done yet!"
Roooarrrrr!!!
The sound of the anima''s roar echoed through the air, and Markgrithis teeth as he prepared for another confrontation while shouting at the B ranks again!
"GO!!"
Chapter 176: Is This The Limit To Your Intelligence?
[Mana Cirction] is activated.
[Stat Improvements Due to Application of Mana]
Strength: +20%
Stamina: +15%
Agility: +10%
Durability: +5%
...
The B ranks wasted no time as they immediately obeyed hismands and raced out into the city to try and get as many people out of the fight zone.
They were grateful that the anima was focusing all of its attention on Mark; at least that way, they wouldn''t have to worry about bing coteral damage in the fight, and if Mark could hold the anima back, then they would have enough time to get people out and escape!
The anima pulled itself out from the skyscraper that it was thrown into and Mark narrowed his eyes as he saw the Anima''s muscles bulging and rippling like waves beneath its skin.
This was going to be a difficult fight for Mark. Most of Mark''s battles up to now were against anima that were more focused on using other aspects of their abilities to fight, like the ant anima that used its dexterity, and the monkey that used its intelligence more than its strength. But this anima was different because it focused entirely on raw, uncontroble power. Just like Mark.
Mark didn''t know when a roguish grin slowly started to grow on his face.
[Achilles Heel] has been activated.
Mark''s vision suddenly blurred into varying shades of grey, and he felt the strain on his eyes increase as he stared at the anima. There was hardly any red on its body at all, and the only part of its body that had a light red was its head. Does that mean Mark could win if he focused more on attacking the head? That was doable!
Mark deactivated the skill as he felt the strain on his eyes bing more intense, and he blinked to get his bearings right again!
Boom!
Smash!
The anima wasted no time as it dashed across the distance separating it from Mark with its fist drawn back!
Mark shed forward faster than the anima and met it in the sky! he tackled it out of the air and dragged it towards a different part of the area that had already been evacuated! The B ranks were still clearing out the civilians behind Mark, so Mark knew that fighting in that area would only cause more casualties!
SLAM!!
Boom!
Boom!
The two of them tore through buildings as Mark''s momentum pulled them far away from the others! Once Mark was sure that they were far enough, Mark pulled back as they both crashed into a tall skyscraper! Mark flipped into an upright position and forced himself to a stop as he dug his feet into the ground and crouched!
"ROARRRR!!"
The anima rushed in for a strike, but Mark easily moved to the side to allow the punch to fly harmlessly past his face! He grabbed the anima''s arm before tossing the anima up into the air! The anima roared in pain as it mmed into the ceiling!
Boom!
Mark flew into the air and mmed his fist into the anima''s head! The punch was enough to send the anima through the ceiling and into the top floor and the anima felt its head ringing in pain from the impact, but it didn''t even waste any time to get back on its feet as it charged for Mark again!
Mark appeared from the hole in the ground and electricity danced around his body as he activated the [Lightning Surge] skill
Bzzztt!
Mark dodged under the swipe from the anima and he nted his feet into the ground as he delivered an intense uppercut that was charged with massive torrents of electricity!
[Critical Strike]!
Boom!
The anima was flung back from the punch and crashed through one of the building pirs! It jumped to its feet almost immediately, and Mark was fully prepared for another one of its mad charges, but Mark was surprised as the anima suddenly began to run in the opposite direction. Mark narrowed his eyes as he wondered what the anima was about to do.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The anima began to crash through the pirs that were holding the building up, and a nasty grin grew on Mark''s face as he realized that the anima intended to bury them both under the debris! This was a first for Mark! He has never encountered an anima that was capable of holding back its instinct to attack so that it would make the environment more favorable for it to win!
If Mark was weaker, then the anima would have had the right idea!
But I guess that is the limit to its intelligence.
Does it think that it would win in a battle of attrition against me because I haven''t been using my full strength!? Mark tilted his head to the side as he watched the anima crash through another pir. The anima was smart enough to know that dropping a building on someone would impede them, but it was not smart enough to think about what would happen if its opponent was far stronger!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Woosh!
Mark suddenly dashed towards the anima as he saw that it was almost finished destroying the pirs!! The anima didn''t pay any attention to Mark as it charged at full force towards thest pir and mmed into it with all its strength just before Mark suddenly appeared in front of it with a wide smile on his face!
He grabbed the Anima by its horn and pushed them both toward the center of the building!
"You want a test of strength, dung beetle!? Well, here we go! You better not die on me!"
Crack!
Crack!
Crumble!!
BOOM!
The entire building cracked right down the middle as it lost its support from the pir, and a massive explosion of sand and dust echoed through the area as the building started to copse under the force of itsownweight! This building was a skyscraper with fifty stories.
There were tens of hundreds of tons weighing down on those pirs, and now that they were all gone, the entire building wasing down at once!
Ka-BOOM!!
Back on the outside, a massive dust cloud rose across the entire area as the people evacuating from the buildings around that skyscraper watched with bated breath as it came down! Those who were too close to the falling building doubled their efforts to get away, but not everyone was able to escape, and some of them ended up being crushed.
Crack!
Crack!
Boom!
"ROARRR!!"
The area was quiet for some time, but suddenly a cracking sound began to echo across the region before the rhinoceros burst out from the fallen debris and roared in victory as it emerged as the winner! The rhinoceros cheered for itself! It knew that the puny human would not stand a chance against it! Only its tough skeleton is capable of withstanding such ¨C
m!
But its sense of victory was short-lived as a massive uppercut mmed into its jaw and made it shut up immediately! Its chin caved inically as it was blown back with a massive shockwave!
BOOM!!
"You''re too fucking loud!!"
Mark still had that massive grin on his face as he charged after the Rhinoceros and pummeled it into the wall. The Rhinoceros felt its chest cave in from the punch and Mark wasted no time as he continued the beatdown!
Bam!
Bam!
Bam!
Bam!
Punch after punch rained down on the Rhinoceros relentlessly! Mark never let up and he gave the anima no chance to retaliate at all! Mark grabbed its arm and tossed it over his shoulder before mming it into the ground!
SLAM!
He mmed his foot into its face and grabbed its arm to pull it out! But he was shocked when the anima suddenly flipped around and got to its feet again in an impressive disy of dexterity! It pulled its head back, and Mark did not expect the sudden headbutt that rattled his brain!
m!
Mark took a single step back in pain as he felt something ringing in his ear! He grunted as he struggled to keep his eyes open because he knew that one second without his vision would be the end of him! He saw the anima lower its head and charge forward to try and skewer Mark with its horn, but Mark easily wrapped his hands around the horn and caught it as his senses slowly returned to him!
Crack!
Mark was pushed back as his legs dug into the ground and he growled deep in his throat as he felt anger fill him!
"You fucking dung beetle!!"
Mark''s eyes were bloodshot from anger as he used the horn to lift the anima into the air and mmed it into the ground!
Crash!
Chapter 177: Come With Me
m!
An unexpected headbutt suddenly mmed into Mark''s head and Mark took a single step back in pain as he felt something ringing in his ear! He grunted as he struggled to keep his eyes open because he knew that one second without his vision would be the end of him!
He saw the anima lower its head and charge forward, trying to skewer Mark with its horn, but Mark easily sped his hands around the horn and caught it as his senses slowly returned to him!
"You fucking dung beetle!!"
Mark''s eyes were bloodshot from anger as he used the horn to lift the anima into the air and mmed it into the ground!
Crash!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The anima flew into the ground and then through it, as it went back down to the lower floors! Even though the building had already crumbled on top of them, the floors were sturdily built, so some of the lower floors were able to withstand the damage from the copse, but there wererge holes in the floor, and massive parts of the walls were missing.
Woosh!
Mark ran forward and propelled himself through the hole that the anima created, and he mmed both feet into the anima''s stomach, elerating its velocity before it mmed into the ground!
Doom!
The entire building shook from the sudden pressure, and the anima roared in pain as it felt Mark''s feet dig into its stomach! Mark mmed his fee into the anima''s stomach andunched it like a football towards the other side of the building.
Boom!!
Mark was no longer ying around since he realized that the anima couldn''t do anything to seriously harm or surprise him! The anima was just fucking strong, but it was stillcking in intelligence! Mark just decided to finish this fight as quickly as possible!
"ROARRRR!!!"
The anima roared in anger as it lowered its head and charged for Mark with the intent to skewer him, but Mark easily grabbed it by the horn and mmed his feet into the anima''s shin!
Bam!
Mark let go of the anima''s horn, and then delivered a light punch that lifted the anima into the air!
Woosh!
By the time Mark was done, the anima was floating in the air right in front of Mark, and even with its limited intelligence, the anima knew at that moment that it was a sitting duck as its body floated in the air! Mark wasted no time as he crouched into a proper boxers stance and pulled his fist back with a dark look in his eyes!
Time almost seemed to move in slow motion at that point as the space in front of Mark''s fist distorted and shifted before it suddenly came back into focus all at once, congregating at one point in the center of Mark''s fist!
Twoon!
The skill [Divergent Fist] was not something that Mark could control on his own. Mark knew that, just like the [Critical Hit] skill, the chances of him delivering a divergent fist were very low, and that the skill was entirely up to his luck. But even though that was the case, that did not mean that Mark could not tell when his chances of delivering the fist were at its highest.
After that fight in the underworld where Mark was able to use the [Divergent Fist] more than five times in quick session, Mark was able to gain a sixth sense for the skill.
Mark could tell how his mana moved through his body when he was using the skill, and Mark also knew how space would shift and bend around him at that moment when he was most likely to use the skill.
To be able to notice something like that was not normal for anyone, even if that person is a superhuman; it was only Mark''s insanely high battle senses that gave him the ability to predict something so vague and make it a part of his fighting technique!
And that insanely high battle sense increased his efficiency while delivering a Divergent Fist by leaps and bounds. Now, rather than Mark only having a 0.5% chance of delivering the attack, Mark had a 100% chance of knowing exactly when that attack was definitely going toe. And for Mark, that was more than enough!
[Divergent fist]!
Mark mmed his fist into the anima''s cheek, and he watched as its brain matter and the bones from its skull began to shoot out from the other side of its head all at once!
Crack!
Squelch!
KA-BOOM!!
The anima''s head was blown to pieces as it couldn''t withstand the divergent fist from Mark and a massive shockwave blew it back and threw it across the room like a ragdoll!
TWOOM!
m!
m!
BOOM!
Its body tumbled across the floor for a few meters before it finally mmed into the wall on the other side of the building and it''s headless body slumped against the wall! Mark released a tired breath as he flicked his hand to the side to get rid of the blood and brain matter that still stuck to his fist.
This fight did notst long, but Mark still felt some residual pains in his head from the headbutt that he received from the Cmity ss. If not for Divergent Fist, then this would have gone on for much longer.
Mark looked around him at all the destruction that he caused, and he huffed. The city would handle the insurance, so there was no need for him to bother with this. Mark was currently standing in the car park in the basement of the building, and he noticed that most of the cars down there had been wrecked in one way or another by the fight.
They looked like expensive cars, so Mark could only hope that the owners had insurance.
Well, even if they did, it was going to be hell for the insurancepanies.
¡
"Come with me."
What?
Arit blinked in surprise and looked up from her phone as she heard someone talk from above her. She saw thest person that she wanted to talk to at this moment, looking down at her with a haughty look in her eyes, and Arit''s own eyes immediately darkened as she looked away from Esmeralda.
Esmeralda frowned in irritation once Arit ignored her and she leaned down.
"Did you not hear me? I saide with me. Or do you not want to hear what I have to say?"
Arit was currently surfing through the news to see if any of the news outlets were broadcasting the fight that Mark was having with the anima right now. Arit didn''t know why the news outlets were so slow to broadcast the fight, but she hadn''t been able to see a single one that was showing it yet.
Arit was tempted to call Pat and ask him how the fight was going, but she knew that Pat was always in Mark''s ear during fights, so it would be a distraction to both of them if she was to call Pat and ask him something like that. She had to just trust that Mark knew what he was doing and that he woulde back safely.
"Hey, don''t ignore me when I''m talking to you."
Esmeralda was now seething in anger as she noticed that Arit was really ignoring her! How dare this nerd ignore her!? Esmeralda was the more popr girl in ss, so as far as she was concerned, she was at the top of the food chain and Arit was below her because Arit was less popr. Arit had no right to ignore hermands.
Chapter 178: Youll Bend Over Right Now
Does Arit think that she can now ignore her just because her boyfriend is a superhuman? This opportunistic bitch.
Arit looked up with a re.
"I''m not in the mood right now, Esmeralda. Just leave me alone."
Arit finally spoke up, and Esmeralda blinked in surprise as she noticed that Arit was talking with an intense amount of irritation in her tone. It was almost like Arit was a parent telling her child not to disturb her.
Esmeralda had never heard anyone talk to her like that before, and she also grew annoyed as she heard it. This fucking bitch thinks she can talk to me like this just because she is fucking a superhuman!? Without Mark, who will she be!? Nothing but a bookworm who doesn''t know anything about the real world!
Esmeralda was about to p Arit for her disrespect, but she reigned in her anger as she knew that she would get her chance to do thatter. For now, she just had to get Arit out of the ss and to the location first.
"Are you really going to ignore me? Even after I tell you that your precious murderer boyfriend Mark is in serious danger?"
Doon!
"!"
Arit''s head shot up from her phone when she heard that, and Esmeralda took a step back from the intense movement that Arit just made. Arit stood up and seethed right in Esmeralda''s face! Esmeralda could see some yellow sh across Arit''s eyes, but it was gone before Esmeralda could tell what that was, and Esmeralda just smiled as Arit spoke in a threatening tone.
"What are you talking about? If you do anything to Mark, I swear, I''ll make you regret it for the rest of your life!"
Some of the people around Arit and Esmeralda stopped what they were doing as they the hostilitying off both of them in waves! Are they going to fight!? All the boys were hoping that they would fight! Girl fights are always the most entertaining!
Esmeralda giggled into her hand before she turned around and waved Arit over as she started to leave the ssroom. She told Arit to follow her, and Arit frowned in irritation before she closed her phone and pocketed it while following Esmeralda.
Arit would usually never bother to follow Esmeralda since she knew that this was obviously going to be something stupid, but Arit didn''t have much of a choice now that she knew that it had something to do with Mark.
Arit knows that Esmeralda has been going after Mark since he came back to school, and if there was something that could affect Mark, then Arit was going to find out about it no matter what.
Esmeralda led Arit towards the east side of the school and into a female bathroom that was rarely used. Once there, Arit narrowed her eyes as she noticed that there was already someone else waiting for them.
Francis was leaning against the sink in front of a mirror, and he grinned once he saw Esmeralda and Arit appear from the door. He pushed off the sink and turned to face the both of them.
"I thought you got cold feet and bailed on this. I would have been disappointed if you didn''t show up after all that talking."
"Oh, stuff it up your ass. Who was the scared one earlier today?"
Esmeralda eyed Francis with a sneer, but Francis'' smile only widened as he turned to Arit. There was a newfound confidence in Francis that no one had ever seen there before. It was the sort of confidence that someone could only have after they had won a long drawn-out battle against a formidable opponent. And in Francis'' mind right now, he had won the biggest battle of his life.
"You know, you''re still as beautiful as the day I first saw you so long ago."
Francis spoke up while regarding Arit, and he watched Arit''s face squeeze in disgust as she folded her hand across her chest. Francis'' eyes couldn''t help but travel towards herrge breasts, and he licked his lips while watching her breasts push against her school uniform. What Arit did was perfectly innocent, but Francis saw it as the most seductive thing anyone could ever do!
Francis chuckled in a low tone as he decided that she was definitely worth all the effort.
Arit spoke up while ignoring the looks from Francis.
"What did you have to tell me about Mark?"
Francis chuckled as Esmeralda started to talk.
"Well, I don''t know if you know this, but the superhuman world is a lot more dangerous than you can ever understand. There was something dangerous that happened a few years ago. In fact, it is something that has been going on for quite a few years now. Superhumans have been getting themselves killed without anyone knowing the reason or who was responsible for it. They just ended up dead.
No one could really exin it, but everyone knew that the perpetrator of all of the deaths was only one person. A superhuman killer."
Arit frowned as she wondered why they were telling her about all this. What could they possibly hope to gain by telling her about something that didn''t ¨C
Arit raised her brow as a thought crossed her mind, and she felt her right-hand shake as fear settled in her heart. No.
Francis saw realization dawning on Arit''s expression, and his smile widened as he licked his lips.
"Oh, you seem to have already figured things out. You''re really as smart as everyone says you are. I guess you aren''t the top student of your year for no reason."
Esmeralda stepped closer to Arit and put her hand on her shoulder.
"You see, Francis herees from money. And not just money, hees from the sort of money that is capable of finding and recruiting dangerous people. Just like the superhuman killer himself. And after everything that your dearest Mark has put him through, I''m sure you can already guess what would happen next. But you see, there is another way to get out of this. I pleaded with Francis, you see.
He isn''t a monster, he is just trying to survive in this twisted world. So here''s the deal. Francis will make a single call to the superhuman killer and tell him to call off the mission, but in exchange for that, you will never go near Mark again, and you will leave him for me and me alone, and also¡"
Zip~!
Esmeralda turned around as she heard the sound of a zipper opening, and she smiled as she saw Francis pulling his dick out from his trouser.
"¡You''ll bend over this sink right now, and let Francis have his way with you."
Francis'' smile only widened as he started walking towards Arit, but he stopped in his tracks as he heard something echoing in the bathroom.
"Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die.
Die."
Chapter 179: Yes, that is exactly the position you deserve to die in.
"Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die.
Die."
Arit''s lips were barely moving as she muttered these words over and over, but they echoed in the bathroom like someone was ying them on a loudspeaker! Arit''s eyes were wide as she stared at the empty space in front of her; she couldn''t believe it. She couldn''t believe that there were people like this in the world. Arit knew that the world was a messed-up ce.
She knew that there were evil people out there. But this. This was too much! How dare they!?
Arit didn''t care that they dared to try and ckmail her, and she wouldn''t have cared that much if it was her life that was in danger, but they dared to send a killer after Mark!? They dared to try and take Mark from her!?
''Do you see it now? Do you understand what I have been trying to tell you all this time? This world, these people, they do not deserve our mercy! They are twisted and cruel, and they will stop at nothing to end the life of the man that we love! They will stop at nothing to take the life of our King!! We cannot defeat them with kindness!
To defeat them, we must pay back evil with evil! We must pay back blood with even more blood! We must cause carnage! Murder! Do you see now!? DO YOU SEE NOW!!!?
THIS IS WHAT WE MUST DO TO PROTECT THE KING! DO YOU UNDERSTAND!!!?''
"Yes, I understand."
Woosh!
Squelch!!
Crack!!
St!!
It was like a movie scene ying out in front of Francis'' eyes. At one moment, he was standing there with his dick in his hand while approaching Arit. He had every intention to fuck her, and he was going to go to Mark''s grave after his death and piss on it as the final fuck you to that fucking bastard!
But then Arit moved.
It was nothing serious, just a small movement of her hand across the air, and Francis watched as Esmeralda''s head burst into a million pieces! Her entire skull erupted in a spray of blood and her body flew to the side from the momentum of the hit, sttering against the mirror and breaking it!
The headless body slumped against the sink with its ass sticking out and the many specks of blood and brain matter slowly slid down the mirror as Francis was left in shock, staring at the space where Esmeralda''s head once was!
"You dare."
A hard voice echoed across the bathroom, and Francis slowly moved his head to look at Arit as he felt his heart skip three beats at once. He wished he hadn''t looked. Once Francis saw those yellow eyes, he wished with every fiber of his being that he hadn''t seen it.
Poisonous yellow eyes that were slit like a dragon stared back at him and pierced into his soul! This feeling! Francis would never forget this feeling for the rest of his very short life! This was the same feeling of fear he felt when he found out that Mark was a superhuman for the first time!
It was like staring right in the face of a Cmity ss anima and knowing that there was nothing you could do but die! It was true, unparalleled, unbridled fear!
"You dare, you fucking cockroach!! You dare go after the man I love! You dare go after my KING!!"
''Show them pain! Pain for a thousand years! Pain that will follow them to the underworld and scorch them for all their afterlife!''
Blitz!
m!
Arit blitzed across the bathroom and grabbed Francis by the neck before mming him into the wall of the bathroom! The tile behind Francis'' head cracked, and Francis whimpered in fear as he tried desperately to get Arit off him! Francis was only noticing now that her fingers were no longer their normal length! They had grown out into ws and the skin of her hand was now purple!
Francis looked at her face, he noticed that there was something protruding from her forehead! Are those... horns!!? She was growing horns!
"Call that killer right now! Tell him to call off the mission or I will break your neck into a million pieces."
When Arit spoke, Francis could see that her teeth were also growing into fangs. He didn''t know what was happening here, but he knew that he had to get out immediately! Arit wasn''t human! She is a monster!
Francis choked on air as he felt Arit squeeze down harder on his neck, and he held her hand in fear while forcing words out of his mouth!
"I-I can''t! Grk!! I swear I can''t! It''s only my father that can call it off! I''m sorry! I''m sorry!
Please!"
Arit seethed in anger!
"Useless bastard!"
m!
Arit threw him across the floor, and Francis scrambled to get to his feet! He looked back and saw Arit walking towards him, and he saw her nce down at his trousers. Francis'' dick was still exposed, and he quickly used his hand to cover it up! Even in this state, he feared what Arit could do to his dick!
Arit nced at Francis once more before she turned to the side and looked at the dead body of Esmeralda that was leaning against the sink. Francis crawled back as he saw Arit tilt her head to one side.
"Fuck her."
"W-W-What? What... I should what?"
Francis looked to the side and he saw the dead body of Esmeralda. Her ass was positioned properly, and if not for the fact that she was dead, you would think that she was preparing herself to be fucked!
Arit''s aura intensified as she red at Francis, and Francis almost puked from fear as he held his throat.
"You want to live, don''t you? Then fuck her. Now."
Arit stared down at Francis like an executioner, and Francis knew that if he disobeyed, then he would be killed on the spot! Francis slowly got up, and he took only one step towards Esmeralda before he stopped and puked out everything in his stomach as he saw how gruesome the corpse looked!
Just the sight of Esmeralda''s decapitated body and all the gory parts that were lying around her was enough to make Francis sick to his stomach.
Francis heaved out his food, and when he turned back to Arit, he shrieked in fear as he saw her standing right beside him with her wed hand lifted in the air!
"WW-Wait! Wait! I''ll do it!"
Francis was in a state of perpetual fear, and he knew that any wrong move right now would only lead to his death, but a state of fear allowed a massive amount of blood to flow through his body, allowing his reproductive organ to receive far more blood than ever before.
Basically, Francis was as hard as a rock.
He moved towards Esmeralda and lifted her skirt before he pulled her panties down to her ankles. Francis closed his eyes tightly and he grimaced in disgust as he slowly slid into Esmeralda''s pussy.
p! p! p! p! p!
Francis started to move in and out of her. There was no feeling of her squeezing him, but since his eyes were closed, he still felt that burning sensation in his lower abdomen as he felt his orgasm getting closer.
"Oh¡ oh~!"
Grab!
A hand suddenly grabbed Francis'' head and Francis'' eyes shot open in shock as he saw himself in the mirror. The sight in front of him was something that he would never forget even if he were to be reborn in another world. This would stay with him and scar him forever!
A dead, headless girl lying on a sink with him inside her and a monster holding his head with one hand and looking down at him withplete and utter disgust.
Arit''s yellow eyes narrowed as a disgusted look spread on her face as she spoke.
"Yes, that is exactly the position you deserve to die in."
Squelch!
One squeeze from Arit was enough to burst Francis'' head into pieces and he slumped on top of Esmeralda and died with himself still inside her.
Once Arit was done with that, she immediately pulled out her phone and made a call. Once the call went through, Pat''s haughty voice echoed from the other side in surprise.
[Well, this is a new experience. I don''t think you''ve ever dialed this number before, sister-inw.]
Chapter 180: Having Chronic Bad Luck Should Be Considered A Life Threatening Disease
"Pat, we need to warn Mark. There''s a killer after him! They said they sent him to attack Mark right now, so he is probably already there!"
[What! Wait, Arit, you''re not making any sense. Who are ''they''? How do you know about the killer?]
Arit''s brow furrowed in shock as she heard this. Does that mean that Pat already knows about the killer? Then, doesn''t that mean that Mark should also know? This has to be what they have been trying to solve all this while. That mailman who came to deliver the box must have also been rted to the killer somehow. This made this much easier.
Since she didn''t have to exin who the killer was, then she could simply tell Pat what was about to happen.
"Someone hired the killer to kill Mark during this battle. You need to warn him!"
[Okay, hold on, I''m -]
[Mr. Patrick, please take your seat. This is a ssroom and you are not allowed to receive calls in here.]
[Shut the fuck up, you old maid! I''m talking here!]
[Excuse me!? W-Who are you calling old!? I''m still a youngdy!]
[What the fuck are you trying to defend!? You''re still single ass fuck! And you made a mistake on the fifth line in that algorithm! The fifth function is meant to be differentiated to the twentieth percentile before we can use it in the equation. Your old age is making you lose your mind! Excuse me!]
The teacher who was talking suddenly shut up as she checked the algorithm and realized that Patrick was right. They would have to go back a long way before they can rectify this mistake! She red at Pat as he stood up and left the ss with his AirPods in his ears and hisptop open in one hand while he typed away at it furiously.
[Arit, I need to send a message to Mark. Thanks for the heads-up.]
*Beep!*
Patrick cut the phone call and Arit blinked down at the phone in surprise. She was not used to the way Pat always cuts the phone without even saying anything else; she was just a little pissed that he did that.
Arit thought about leaving the school to go and help Mark, but she knew that it would be a stupid and dangerous idea. Mark has been working hard to make sure that no one finds out about her identity as an Anima hybrid, but if she goes out there then she would just ruin all of his hard work and make it pointless.
Arit would never insult Mark''s efforts like that.
Bam!
"Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit!"
Arit heard the sound of something falling on the floor before she heard someone cursing quietly. She walked up to one of the stalls in the bathroom and she pushed the door open.
*Crack!*
The door was locked, but the lock on the door immediately cracked under her immense strength and made the door swing open. Arit stared down at the person huddled up on top of a toilet with an intense stare.
Inside the stall, Maria was shaking.
Maria was having trouble breathing and her entire body was warning her at that moment to run! Get up and run! Get up and run as far away as possible without looking back! But she couldn''t move! Her body was locked up because she knew that even if she could run, there was nothing that she could do against someone like that.
Arit was staring down at Maria with those poison-yellow eyes of hers, and after some time, Maria saw a smile spark on Arit''s face as if Arit just had the most sinister idea known to mankind. When Arit spoke, every syble sent a shiver down Maria''s spine.
"You saw? That means from now on, you''re an aplice. Congrattions."
*Psssss~*
The smell of urine filled the entire bathroom as Maria couldn''t stop her dder from releasing everything inside it! Tears streamed down her eyes and she sniffled as she started to cry like a baby.
Why did she ever get involved with these people!? Why!?
"I want my mummy~"
¡
Mission [Kill The Cmity ss]
Completed +100 stat points +100 skill points
¡
Mark was looking through his system and allocating the new points that he just got from the system into the skills that he knew needed them. There are some skills that Mark has been using far more than others and he decided that it is those skills that he would improve first.
¡
SUPERHUMAN SYSTEM
Name: Mark Vanitas
Race: Human
Title: [He Who Perseveres Through Hell. [+10% increase to all stats.]] [He Who Defies Destiny]
Rank: S [4380/5000]
Affiliation: True Neutral
Unused Stat Points: 100
Unused Skill Points: 100
¡
Strength: 1880 [+188] [+376]
Stamina: 1350 [+135] [+270]
Agility: 1150 [+115] [+230]
Durability: 1210 [+121]
Mana: 1020 [+102]
¡
Artifacts: [Gloves of the Thunder God - S]
¡
[SKILL TREE]
-> Full Body Constitution: This is a unique skill tree enabling the user to systematically enhance and fortify every aspect of their physical form, elevating strength and resilience to unprecedented levels!
Current Full Body Constitution: Heavenly Lightening God: 0/400
[Heavenly Lightning God: This is a full-body constitution skill that imbues the practitioner with the divine essence of lightning, granting unparalleled agility, strength, and the ability to harness and control lightning energy inbat.]
Effects:
Full Body Augmentation x30
Multiplier [All lightening-based skills will receive a 100% boost]
Discharge [The User can absorb and store up to S rank lightening-based attacks in his body and then discharge them towards the enemy for a devastating counterattack.]
-> Mana Cirction: Mana Cirction is a skill enabling the user to enhance the efficiency of mana distribution throughout their body, optimizing energy flow for heightened senses and greater strength.
Current Mana Cirction: D Rank [0/400]
[Stat Improvements Due to Application of Mana]
Strength: +20%
Stamina: +15%
Agility: +10%
Durability: +5%
-> Taunting: This Skill lures enemies with a lower Rank towards the User, diverting their attention from all distractions and encouraging aggressive engagement!
Current Taunting Variation: Call of the Night Wolves [F Rank [61/100]]
Probability of sessful Taunting Based on Level: 21%
-> Blunt Force Trauma: This skill heightens the probability ofnding a critical hit as the user delivers consecutive sessful punches to the enemy, harnessing the cumtive impact for devastating effectiveness! Critical Attacks deal +100% extra damage to the enemy!
Current Rank: D Rank [102/400]
Probability ofnding a Critical Attack: +10% for every sessful consecutive hit.
Probability ofnding a Divergent Attack [exponential 2.5 per attack]: +0.5% for every sessful consecutive hit.
-> True Sight: This skill grants the user the ability to perceive the stats and skills of others, offering insight into their capabilities with a single nce.
Current True Sight: D rank [1/400]
¡
[DIVINE SKILLS]
-> Styxwatcher''s Discernment: This endows the user with an infallible ability to perceive truth, drawing upon the wisdom of the river Styx to unravel deception and reveal the sincerity of others. Once activated, the user cannot be lied to.
-> Achilles Heel: This skill enables the user to swiftly detect and expose weaknesses and vulnerabilities in opponents or objects, providing a strategic advantage inbat. Vulnerable areas will be exposed using a red hue. The darker the shade of red, the more vulnerable the area is.
-> Ignorance of The Death God: This skill, bestowed by Thanatos, grants the user the ability to instinctively evade one attack from any enemy, even if the user is unaware of the impending danger. This skill is applicable to all attacks, fatal or not, regardless of the attack strength.
¡
[Comment from GoG: Hey, hey, Mark! The gods got into a drinking contest and I had the goddess of life take off some of her clothes! I wasn''t kidding when I said she was hot! She''s smoking fire under that dress! Do you want me to send you images!? Huh!?
Huh!? Oh wait, the goddess is ring at me like she''ll kill me! Bah, I''ll send them anyway! Here you go!]
...
Ping!
Chapter 181: Found You!
Mark read the message from Sozin with a look of disbelief on his face and he blinked hard as some images suddenly filtered into his brain from Sozin. The image was of the body of an extremely endowed woman. Her breasts and crotch were covered with thin clothes, but the rest of her body that was exposed was milky white andabsolutelygorgeous.
Mark couldn''t see her face either since it wasn''t added to the picture, but Mark knew that the face had to be extremely beautiful if she had a body like that!
[Comment from GoG: Eh. Eh. What do you think? She''s smoking hot, isn''t she!? I bet your girl should look like this when she''s a little older, but you just can''t beat that mature boing-boing!! Fucking shit, I gotta go!]
[The Goddess of Life has sent her strongest warriors after the God of Games and demanded his life as punishment for what he did!]
[The Goddess of Life is sending an enormous amount of hostility at the User.]
[The Goddess of Life is contemting erasing the user''s memories of that picture. The erasure will affect the user''s mind and the user will be struck with temporary insanity.]
[Sozin has cut the connection link and prevented all the gods frommunicating with the user.]
Mark coughed into his hand as he refused toment on the picture. That bastard Sozin has got to be one of the most troublesome gods that Mark has ever heard of in his life. He knew that Sozin would get into a lot of trouble for sending him this picture and the rest of the gods were going to give him one hell of a trashing for it, especially the Goddess of Life.
Having Sozin as a fellow god must feel like having a mischievous younger brother who would steal your underwear and hang it in front of the vige gate for everyone to see. An absolute menace!
But Mark couldn''tin at all! Why would hein when he was reaping the benefits of having that menace as a patron god!? Somewhere deep inside his heart, Mark sent a silent prayer of thanks to Sozin as he stored the image somewhere deep in his heart. He would cherish it forever.
Mark then turned his attention back to his system and the skills that he was going to improve. Skills like Taunting that Mark hasn''t used for a long time now would have to be improvedter when Mark has some excess stat points that he could spare for the skill. Instead, Mark decided that he would add the skill points that he got into his most useful skill for him right now.
[Blunt Force Trauma], [True Sight], and [Full Body Augmentation] were skills that wouldn''t improve much if Mark just added in points. Mark knew that these skills needed to be improved in rank before he could see any significant increase in those skills, so adding in these points would be useless.
Instead, Mark decided that he would add the skill points into the [Mana Cirction] skill and he would add the stat points into the Mana stat. No matter how small the points were, Mark knew that he would still see an increase in the percentage boost of his strength from adding the points in.
[Does the user wish to add points to the selected skill? Yes/No]
Mark chose yes and he clenched his fists tightly as he felt a change in the flow of mana in his body.
[Does the user wish to add points to the selected Stat? Yes/No]
Mark clicked yes again, and he grinned as the mana flowing through his body slightly increased in capacity.
¡
Mana: 1120 [+112]
¡
-> Mana Cirction: Mana Cirction is a skill enabling the user to enhance the efficiency of mana distribution throughout their body, optimizing energy flow for heightened senses and greater strength. Current Mana Cirction: D Rank [100/400]
[Stat Improvements Due to Application of Mana]
Strength: +25%
Stamina: +17%
Agility: +10%
Durability: +5%
¡
The only stats that were improved were the strength and stamina stats, but Mark was notining at all. Mark knew that every percentage increase mattered a lot, and having a twenty-five percent boost in your strength just by using Mana was already better than what most S ranks could ever hope to achieve in their lifetime!
Ding!
[Ignorance of The Death God.]
Mark blinked as he felt something shift inside of him. All of a sudden, he was no longer in control of his body and he felt his head shift just a millimeter to the left as something ck whizzed past his head!
Phwip!
m!
KA-BOOM!!!!
The entire area in front of Marksuddenlyexploded in a massive wave of fire and he put his hand up to his face as he felt the fire sting his skin! What the hell!? How can he feel that!?
Mark had a very high constitution, so he knew that he would normally never feel pain from something like that!
But that wasn''t the most important thing right now! Mark turned around and narrowed his eyes with a re on his face as he saw something glint in the distance! A man was holding a gun and pointing it straight at Mark from almost a kilometer away and Mark grinned in excitement as his eyes met with that of the superhuman killer.
"Found you!"
¡
"What?"
The superhuman killer was shocked. No, that was an understatement of what he was feeling right now. The superhuman killer felt like nothing in the world made sense anymore! He had waited for the perfect moment! He had nned every thought out to the veryst microsecond! He made sure that he had a perfect line of fire from the building that he was at!
He made sure that Mark and the cmity ss fought inside of an enclosed building so that he could kill Mark from a distance without any of the other superhumans getting in the way! He even made sure that he properly ounted for Mark''s unknown strength by adding the explosive powder to the bullet to make it explode once it embedded itself in his head! He nned for every inconsistency!
Wind, rain, debris, distance! Everything!
But none of it made sense!!
How did he dodge that!? The superhuman killer knew that Mark did not see him! Mark''s back was turned and he was wide open! There was nothing that could have saved anyone from having a bullet in their head at that moment! So how Mark was still able to dodge it!?
"Is it some sort of hidden blessing that I don''t know about? What the fuck is this kid!?"
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The superhuman killer looked through his scope and his eyes widened as he saw three massive cars flying in his direction! Shit! Mark must''ve thrown those cars to block his vision! That meant that Mark knew where he was! And Mark was more than likely behind those cars anding straight towards him! The cars were flying at him at more than three hundred meters (1000ft) a second!
So the killer knew that it would only take about two seconds before it hit him! He had to think fast!
Chapter 182: Make Sure He Cannot Escape!
The superhuman killer would have tried to shoot again if Mark hadn''t found out his location, but now that Mark knew where he was, the killer had to move!
The killer looked through his scope again as he waited for just the right moment when he knew that Mark would be visible! It was a gamble, but the killer trusted his instincts. If his instincts told him that Mark would be behind those cars, then he knew he would be right -
There!
The superhuman killer saw the three cars shift out of the way and he caught a glimpse of Mark behind the cars as he flew straight at him!
Ka-Cha!
Boom!
Another bullet flew straight for Mark, but the superhuman killer was shocked when Mark threw another car that he had been carrying with him in the path of the bullet!
KA-BOOM!!
The bullet exploded once it made contact with the car and the superhuman killer cursed as he saw Mark fly out from the mes like some sort of demon! Who the fuck is this kid!? Isn''t he just a normal S rank!?
The killer immediately drew back his gun and rolled to the side! He grabbed the bag that was on the floor before he bolted out of the room as Mark crashed through the wall of the building and then through another wall!
Boom!
Boom!
Mark pulled himself out from the wall with a mad look in his eyes! He immediately activated [Achilles Heel] and the entire world blurred into multiple shades of grey as Mark scanned the area! Through the grey, Mark could see a red silhouette running towards the other side of the building!
The Achilles heel skill was built to see weaknesses in enemies, but Mark realized that if he activated it in an enclosed space like this, he could also use it to find enemies that were hiding. That way, he wouldn''t have to waste time searching for them and he could even find out their weakness at the same time.
Mark reached to the side and grabbed a metal support beam that was poking out from the broken wall! He aimed true and released it like a javelin straight at the killer!
Phwoom!
Boom!
The pole broke through the wall of the building and flew straight for the killer! The killer heard something whizzing towards him at high speed and he turned around in shock to see the pole right in front of his face!
Fuck!
The killer immediately dodged to the side and he just barely managed to avoid losing his head to that attack! Instead, he could feel arge cut that was already leaking blood from his forehead and he held it in pain as he tumbled back into the door behind him! He arrived at the emergency staircase and he didn''t waste time as he jumped over the railing and flew down to the lower floors!
[User has suffered massive strain due to repeated prolonged use of the Achilles Heel skill. The user is advised not to use the skill again until at least twenty-four hours have psed.]
Mark had to blink and deactivate the [Achilles Heel] skill as he felt a massive strain on his eyes. He was already bleeding from one eye because of how many times he had used the skill today, but that didn''t matter to him! He raced outfromthe room and looked around at the area where he knew that the superhuman killerwentinto.
There was blood on the floor and Mark realized that the killer must''ve jumped to a lower floor.
Ring~! Ring~! Ring~!
Mark''s phone rang as Mark was about to jump over the railing and he pressed the button on his AirPods to answer it.
"What is it!? I''m busy!"
[Mark! Arit just called! The superhuman killer is there!]
"It''s a littlete for that!"
Mark frowned as he leaped over the railing and began to free-fall to the lower floor! He kept an eye out so that he would not go too far down! The superhuman killer was an elusive bastard, and Mark knew that he wouldn''t want to be out there when there were so many superhumans and policemen around. That means that he will not be going to the lowest floor.
Instead, it was more likely that the superhuman killer would stop at another floor and try to hide and bide his time before escaping when things calmed down!
Mark reached out and caught hold of a railing at the side as he saw a dented railing in front of him and he grinned as he swung himself forward and into that floor!
Boom!
Marknded on the ground and spoke to Pat in a hard tone.
"Building 5A on twelfth Avenue. I need you to call Fiona and station guards all around the building exterior. Call reporters and tell them that there is a massive fight going on in the building, and call the police and tell them that a criminal is trying to escape. Use whatever is necessary, Patrick, just make sure this bastard doesn''t have anywhere to go!"
Pat was already doing what Mark said before Mark even finished talking. It wasn''t difficult for Pat to send out official orders since he was already inside the city system. He sent emails to reporters and direct messages to guilds and police squads to congregate at the building that Mark told him about.
Pat spoke up as he sent out another official email to one of the best reporters in the city.
[And what about you? Are you okay?]
"I''m fine. Don''t bother me for now, Pat. I''m going hunting."
Beep!
This time, it was Mark who cut off the phone before Pat could say anything more. On the other side of the phone, Pat felt slight worry as he heard the tone that Mark was using. Mark sounded like he was focused entirely on catching this man no matter what.
Pat had only seen this kind of single-minded focus when Mark went to that ind to look for Arit before and he knew that Mark was prone to doing dangerous things to achieve his goals when he was in this kind of state!
Pat just hoped that Mark wouldn''t do anything stupid!
...
The superhuman killer was currently inside arge office that covered the entire fifteenth floor of the building. He was leaning against the back of an overturned table with his gun beside him and he was using a bandage to wrap around his head quickly to stop the blood loss.
The blood that he already lost would lead Mark to him and the killer was going to try and throw Mark off his trial once he stopped the bleeding.
The Superhuman kept his ears peeled for any movement from around him! He knew that there was a high chance that Mark could find him soon, so he already made preparations for that!
Boom!
The killer tightened the bandage around his head as he heard a wall breaking behind him and he cut off the end of the bandage and grabbed his gun.
Inhale~
Exhale~
Inhale~
Exhale~
Calm yourself.
Let nothing preupy your thoughts.
Clear your mind of all distractions.
Clear it...
Clear...
''Are you happy?''
Here hees!
KA-BOOM!
Chapter 183: Direct Protection
Here hees!
KA-BOOM!
Mark suddenly appeared through the wall of the office building like a monster, and the killer grit his teeth and fired straight for a canister that was attached to the wall!
m!
Ka-boom!!
A massive explosion rocked the building, and the killerdidn''twaste time as he grabbed a grenade from behind him! He pulled the pin with his teeth and tossed it towards where Mark was before he turned and ran towards the other side of the office!
BOOM!
Another massive explosion rocked the area behind him, and he saw a dust cloud rising from where he had thrown the grenade! The sound of footsteps behind him alerted him toMark''smovement, and the killer immediately brought out a small remote and pressed a button!
The area around the spot that he had been standing in also exploded and sent shrapnel and fire everywhere, and thekiller sted off to keep running as a dust cloud rose from the ground and filled the entire room!
There is no way that Mark would make it out of something like that unscathed! Those explosionswere filledwith the superhumankiller''sspecial bullets. Theyweren''tas strong as the first hat heused to try and kill Mark, but they were still strong enough to kill an A-rankeasilyifthey were hitwith it! There is no way that Mark would ¨C
"Clench your teeth."
What -!!?
BOOM!
A phantom suddenly appeared beside the superhuman killer, and the superhuman killer had never felt as much shock in his life as he did at that moment! The killer lifted his body and positioned itproperlybefore clenching his teeth tightly as Mark pulled his fist back and mmed it into thekiller''srib!
m!
The killer was sentflying out of the office and into the corridor of the building!
Boom!
"GAH!"
A massive wave of pain surged through thekiller''sbody as his back mmed into the wandhe fell to the ground! He pulled his shirt up and sawthat there wasa ck exoskeleton around the area that Markjustpunched, but thatexoskeleton was already cracking and breaking! What sort of monster is this kid!?
The superhuman killer was also a superhuman, but his patron God was someone who was not even worth mentioning. The god did not have a name, and as far as the superhuman killer knew, his god did not have a domain either.The superhuman killer was C-rank, and hisblessing was called [Direct Protection].
The killer could manifest an exoskeleton around his body that would protect him from any external impacts and prevent his body from taking damage. But there were two things that were massively wrong with the blessing that made it almost pointlessto even have it.
The first thing was the fact that the strength of the exoskeleton depended on how much of your body you were covering at any time.If you used the exoskeleton to cover your entire body,thenit would be far lesspowerfulthan if you used ittojustcover a small part of your body.
And the second thing that made it useless was how it received impact. The exoskeleton was only strong against directpression impact.
If the exoskeleton received an impact atexactlyny degrees, then it would be capable of tanking hits from even S ranks, but ifitwasreceiving the hit at any angle other than ny degrees, thenthe strength of the exoskeleton would bepromisedwith the change in angle!
That is why the killer had to position his bodyproperlyat that moment when Mark punched him just now. The killer received that punch at an angle that was close to ny degrees, and that was the only reason why he was able to survive it!
If he had taken that blow at an angle far from ny degreesorif he had used the exoskeleton on his entire body without concentrating it on one spot, then he would surely be dead by now! Mark packed a fucking wallop in his punches!
The killer wasted no time and bolted to his feet as he heard the sound of someone walking out of the office! He crashed through the door at the side that led to the emergency stairwell and jumped over the railing and down to a lower floor!
The superhuman killer was already nning to get out of the building as quickly as possible to blend into the crowd outside andget away. He knew that he would bepromising himself by going out there when there were guild members and other police officers in the area, but hecouldn''tstay in here and risk getting killed by Mark.
He wouldrathergo out there and riskbeing seen, and then he would just take some time off and wait for things to calm down again before he tried to kill Mark for the second time!
But the superhuman killer could see allofhis ns crumbling to dust as voices beganto ythrough his radio.The radio he had was tappedinto the direct feed from police squadsas well asguilds, so hewas able toreceive all of their direct broadcasts through the radio!
[Attention all guild members. We have orders to station around Building 5A at Fifth Avenue. The superhuman killeris believedto be in the building. We have received an image identification, and all guild membersare directedto kill on sight. The mission is directly from the Artemis guild.]
[Police squad moving into Building 5A.]
[Artemis guild snipers, locked on Building 5A. Kill-on-sight orders havebeen received.]
[This is the Metropole Channel reporting live from above Building 5A on FifthAvenuewhere the superhuman GHOST is currentlyin battleagainst whatis believedto be the superhuman responsible for the death of five superhumans over the past four years! On your screens now is an image of the killer, and we will be bringing you -]
Screech!
Bam!
The killer bit his tongue in anger as he reached out and grabbed hold of the railing on the fifth floor! He pulled himself up and onto the floor before bolting through the door to reach a different side of the building!
What the fuck is going on!? How did they find out that he was here!?
The killer knew that he had to stay calm. That was one of the first trainingthat heever received in his military days. No matter the situation, no matter howdifficultor impossible things looked. Stay calm and find an alternative route. There is always a way out.
"We''vefound hi-"
Bang!
Bang!
A policeman suddenly shouted from in front of the killer when he turned around the corner, and the killer wasted no time as he used his revolver to fire two shots! The first one went right into thepoliceman''sforehead, and the second one took out his partner who had been following behind him!
The killer hid behind a depression in the wall as he heard footstepsing closer.
One. Two. Five. No, ten, about ten people.
Their footsteps are light, so they areeither regrhumans,orthey areweak superhumans.Movingin a coordinated group. They have squads.It''sa police toon.
Difficulty: Easy.
Chapter 184: Seriously! What The F*ck Are You!?
The killer put the revolver back in its pouch and bolted out from behind the wall while drawing a submachine gun out from another pouch!
Ratatatatatatatatatata!!
"Ugh!"
"Ugh!"
"Ugh!"
Thepolicemendidn''t even know what hit them as the killer ran into their ranks and began to unload bullets like a madman! He kicked in the chest of the policeman who was trying to get to him, and the policeman died before he even hit the floor! The killer grabbed the hand of another policeman and used him as a shield to block the bullets from two otherpolicementhat came from around the corner!
Ratatatatatatatatatata!
"Arghhhh!
Click!
The killer threw the dead man to the side once he heard the click signifying that their guns were emptyandhe rushed in!
Ratatatatatatatat!
The killer pulled out his submachine gun and unloaded even more bullets on thepolicementhat were remaining! Thepolicementried to shoot at the killer, but they were slow to load theirgunsandby the time theywere doneloading the guns, the killer was already right in front of them!
The angle prevented them from getting him as the killer easily dodged all of their bulletsandhe deflected the ones that were impossible to dodge! The bullets were just regr ammo, so the killer had no trouble deflecting themevenwith his skin!
Ratatatatatatat!
The killer narrowed his eyes as he unloaded bullets into all of themandhesighed as he finally finished killing off most of thepolicemen, and there was only one left. He shed in front of the remaining policeman, tripped him, and pointed his gun at his forehead before he even touched the ground!
Bang!
Squelch!
The body hit the ground like a wet rag, and the killer looked around to make sure that they were all dead.
Ka-Cha!
The killer cocked his gun and released a quiet breath as the hallway went silent.He holstered his gun and brought out his rifleonce more, and he startedto think.He had to find a way out of this.
There were too many squads moving through the building, and ifhe wasted too many bullets, then he would end up having to fight against other superhumans without bullets.He was just d that he thought to bringnormalbulletsas well as the superhuman bullets thathe made.
But he was surprised that thepolicemenwere usingnormalbullets against him. Do they not know that he is a superhuman? Could that work in his favor somehow? He could use that to make them lower their guard and find a way to get out when he overpowers them.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Fuck!
The killer couldn''t believe that he almost forgot! There was more than one problem in this godforsaken ce!Before the police and the other superhuman, he hadtofirstget away from this monsterthat wasafter him!The killer knew that Mark was not going to give up until he was either dead or captured, so he had to deal with Mark first before trying to find a way out of this ce!
Mark sted through the wall and appeared in the hallway where the superhuman killer had just been fighting! He looked around at the carnage caused by the killer and looked away when he did not see the killer anywhere. Mark knew that the killer only had one way to go,and thatwas deeper into the building.
If he goes downward,thenhe would run into more superhumans, andhecouldn''t go up becausehewould have to go through Mark before he could get to the stairway!
Mark immediately picked up his speed and ran after the killer! Mark knew that the killer was good at hiding and blending in, so if he allowed him to have any room right now, there was every possibility that the killer would just find a way to get out of this building without anyone knowing. Mark will not let that bastard escape!
Mark raced down the hallway and looked around for the killer, but he was nowhere to be found, Marknarrowed his eyes in anger as he looked around for him.Mark wascurrentlystanding at the end of a long hallwaythat wasat one end of the building.There was a ss wall on his left side, and hecould seethat there wasanother long hallway on the other side of the sswallseparated by a gap that led into a fall in the middle of the building.
[Achilles Heel] has been activated.
[Achilles Heel] has been deactivated.
[The user is advisedto notuse the skill for the next twenty-four hoursto allow his eyes to heal. Prolonged use might lead to necrosis.]
[Achilles Heel] has been activated.
[Achilles Heel] has been deactivated.
[The user has overridden the failsafe.]
[Achilles Heel] has been forcefully activated.
Mark knewthat itwould be bad for him to use this skill for too long, but he didn''t have a choice. He was only going to use it for a few seconds.Justenough time for him to find that bastard''s location. Mark activated the skill and felt a deep pain somewhere at the back of his brain!
He bore the pain with a grunt and looked around, and his eyes widened as he saw the killer''s silhouette on the other side of the ss wall! He''s in the other hallway!
Mark deactivated the skill as the superhuman killer suddenly dashed out from where he had been hiding! Mark also dashed forward, andthe two of themran down the hallway at immense speed!
Ratatatatatatatatatat!!
The superhuman killer pulled out a gun from his holster and began to unload bullets at Mark with wicked precision. Every bullet was aimed directly at Mark''s head, and Mark had to duck and increase his pace in order to avoid getting hit! Mark didn''t know if those werenormalbullets or if they were the same bullets that the killer used the first time he shot at Mark!
Mark knew that they could actually hurt him, so Mark was not nning to get a headshot from something like that!
But after the bullets embedded themselves in the wall and Mark did not hear an explosion, Mark was sure that these bullets were not the dangerous ones, and hepicked up his pace even more! Mark charged for a spot just ahead of himandhesuddenly dashed to the side and used the wall as aunching pad to st himself out from the hallway and into the next hallway!
The killer grabbed a grenade from behind him, pulled the pin with his teeth, and threw it at Mark in one fluidmotion,and he watched in horror as Mark pulled his hand back for a punch!
[Critical Hit!]
Ka-Boom!
The grenade exploded rightin front ofMark just as Mark unleashed a ruthless punch! The force of Mark''s punch was enough to scatter the shrapnel away from him and extinguish all the fire that would have hurt him at the same time!
What the hell was that!?
That grenade was strong enough to blow an S rank to bitsandhe just waved it away likeit wasa candle fire!? The killer cursed silently as he immediately braced for impact!
"Seriously! What the fuck are you!!?"
Chapter 185: Send Help
"Seriously! What the fuck are you!?"
SLAM!!
Mark mmed into the killer and took them both through the wall behind him and into another room! The killergrithis teeth andunched himself away from Mark; he rolled to a stop and reached behind him to grab more grenades!
There was nothing there.
Fuck.
The killer immediately grabbed two guns from the holsters on his thighs and aimed them at Mark''s head as he watched Mark slowly get to his feet.
The killer was breathing heavily, and there was a bead of sweating down the side of his head, but he was still perfectly calm,andthere was a cold and calctive look in his gaze as he looked around him and tried to find the best possible way to handle this situation!
Mark finally stood up to his full height, and the killer had to admit that Mark had a very impressive build. The killer knew that Mark was only eighteen years old, but his body would fool anyone into thinking that he was a twenty-three year old man. How the fuck is he so tall? Is that a byproduct of his blessing?
And what exactly is his blessing?
The superhuman killer had never been so confused while fighting against someone in his life. At first, everyone thought that GHOST''s blessing was raw strength. He always exhibited an intense amount of raw power during his fights so that was most likely his blessing.
No one knew his patron god since he refused to disclose it, so they could only specte that he might have been blessed by someone like Ares, the god of war. But the killer had to throw that possibility out the window after what happened with that sniper bullet that he shot first. Mark was able to dodge it with such precision that it almost seemed like an automatic reaction or something.
There was no wasted movement when he dodged it, and the killer knew that no amount of training could give you something like that. It had to be the result of a blessing.
The killer thought that Mark''s blessing was advanced instincts after that. Maybe Mark was blessed with good instincts, and he only built up his strength and used his instincts to avoid getting seriously injured in fights. That would mean that Mark was blessed by someone like Artemis, the goddess of the hunt.
All the superhumans that were blessed by Artemis have improved instincts since Artemis was the goddess of hunting.
But then that was dashed away again after the brief confrontation that they just had. Mark was able to find him even when he was hiding perfectly. How was Mark able to do that? Was there something else about his blessing that I don''t know about? Strength, instincts, and another hidden blessing that I cannot even begin to understand.
Just what are you, GHOST?
Can anyone even call you human anymore?
"It''s been a while since I''ve had to chase down someone like this. It almost makes me nostalgic."
Mark suddenly spoke up from the other side of the room, and the killer kept his eyes on him while ncing around to see if there was any escape route that he could take. He could just jump out from the window at the side, but that would only put him into another world of trouble since he would have to fight his way through a swarm of reporters and superhumans.
Even now he could still hear the shouts of the superhumans patrolling the area fromall the wayup here.
"There''s nowhere for you to run, killer. Just give it up. I haven''t killed a person before, not intentionally, at least. But just for you, I''ll make an exception."
The killer seethed once he heard Mark talking about killing him.
"Kids shouldn''t stain their hands with blood. Or at least they shouldn''t n to."
Mark was surprised to hear that, and he crouched into a ready stance while talking with a grin on his face.
"It''s been a while since I heard anyone calling me a kid. Let''s see if you still have that confidence after this!"
Boom!
Mark suddenly charged straight at the killer, and the killer unloaded a barrage of bullets straight at him!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bang! Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Click!
Useless shit!
The killer threw away one of his guns and intercepted a punch from Mark! A ck substance covered his fist, and he contorted his body so that he would receive the punch from Mark at a perfect ny-degree angle!
Boom!
Woosh!
A massive soundwave echoed out from the point of contact of their fists and Mark''s eyes widened slightly when he saw that the killer was able to tank his punch! Even though Mark''s punch was not a critical hit or a divergent fist, it was still extremely strong and Mark knew that the killer should not be able to tank it at all!
The killer took advantage of Mark''s momentary surprise and put the gun right in Mark''s face!
Bang!
Mark''s head shot back, and the killer thought for a moment that he won, but he was shocked as Mark brought his head back with a wide smile! The killer saw the smoking bullet being crushed between Mark''s teeth!
You fucking-!!
Bang!
Bang!
Bam!
Mark and the killer suddenly entered into a fierce fight as they tried to get one up on the other! The killer used everything that he had ever learned to try and get Mark to retreat! He would block using his ck exoskeleton and then release a bullet right at Mark''s face or heart!
Mark, on the other hand, was just railing on the killer with massive punches that would have killed any S rank! Mark was shocked by how well the killer was able to shoot at him while still moving his body around to protect against the punches! Mark knew that the killer did not have a lot of strength.
He was probably only a B rank, but the killer had a perfect understanding of his blessing, and he could use it brilliantly to block all of Mark''s attacks effortlessly!
If they weren''t trying to kill each other, then Mark would have asked how the fuck he was able to do that!
Bam!
Bam!
Bam!
The killer dodged a punch from Mark and raised his gunupto point it at Mark''s chin!
Bang!
Mark barely moved his head back to dodge the bullet before he mmed his foot into the ground and sent a massive swing into the killer''s side! The killer tucked his arm in and coated his bicep in his exoskeleton before he mmed his feet into Mark''s chest and retreated at the same moment that the attack hit!
SLAM!!
In the air, he contorted his body to face Mark and then released another three bullets into Mark''s face!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Mark dodged around the bullets and charged for the killer, but the killer used the moment when Mark dodged to pull out a new cartridge from behind him and rece the empty one in the gun! He then made a call out as he turned and ran!
"I need help! Now!"
On the other end of the call, there was no answer for some time, and the killer thought that the person would not talk at all, but after some time, the person finally spoke up.
[¡ your face is on TV. You''re quite popr now.]
Crash!
The killer crashed through a windowpane andnded in another office in a perfect roll, he got to his feet in one motion and he bolted as he heard Mark break through the wall to chase after him!
Chapter 186: Are You Happy
"Stop with the rubbish and answer me! I need an extraction! I can make it to the roof, but I need you to send a copter for me!"
[I don''t think you understand what I was trying to say here. You see, your face is on the news now. You''re quite popr. And that means that you have beenpromised. I don''t know what you think this partnership was, but I have no use for someone whose identity ispromised. There was only one thing that you were good for, after all.
And now that you can no longer carry out that one task, you are useless to me.]
Beep!
The call cut off as the man finished talking, and the killer cursed as he turned around and aimed right for Mark''s eye! But Mark suddenly disappeared from where he had been standing and appeared right beside the killer with his arm drawn back!
The space in front of Mark''s arm seemed to distort and a massive wave of matter seemed to gather at a single point in front of his fist before exploding as he released the punch!
[Divergent Fist]!!
Boom!
Crack!!
Surprisingly, the killer was still able to activate his exoskeleton in the perfect ce to protect his body from Mark''s punch, but no matter how strong his exoskeleton was, there was nothing that it would do against a punch that had been multiplied exponentially like the Divergent Fist! The killer felt something break inside his body before he wasunched like a rag doll into the air!
Boom!
He mmed into the ceiling of the office before he fell to the ground and skipped across the concrete like a stone on water!
Bam!
Bam!
Bam!
Boom!
He finally stopped moving as his back mmed into the wall on the other side of the office, and Mark brought his fist down and rxed himself slightly. Outside the window at the side, the sun was already setting, and Mark could see many police lights shining through the dark sky as they surrounded the building.
"You''re done, killer. Just give it up."
The killer grunted as he heard what Mark said, and Mark watched apathetically as the killer struggled to get himself to his feet.
"Hnngh~ Fuck."
The killer''s left leg shook as he put weight on it, but he tightened the muscles there and it finally became strong enough to support him. He spat out a wad of blood and stumbled to the side for a moment, but he managed to stop himself from falling as he stood up fully. The killer was still holding onto his gun, and Mark was impressed that he never let go of it in the middle of all that movement.
I guess it''s his training that made him hold it that tightly.
The killer looked to be on hisst leg. He was bleeding from his head again, and there was blood leaking from his mouth. One of his eyes was swollen shut, and he couldn''t feel anything on the right side of his abdomen. It was almost as if that side was paralyzed from the intense pain after that punch.
''Are you happy?''
...
''You don''t look happy?''
The killer chuckled. Why the fuck is thating to him now? He took in a deep breath as he stood tall and faced Mark.
"You know, I don''t think you''re human. I''ve alwayspleted my assignments. All I needed was a bit of research, and I could do it easily. But you, you''re an enigma. I can''t get a read on your abilities at all."
Mark grunted when he heard this, and he spoke with a spiteful tone in his voice.
"Then you shouldn''t have epted this mission at all."
The killer chuckled.
"No, maybe I shouldn''t have. But what can I do? This is all I''m good for, after all."
¡
In the park close to the Red Lotus Hotel, Talia was sitting on the bench with her teddy bear in her hand. She nced up at the sun, and she frowned as she saw that it was already setting. Was that old mister not going toe today? How terrible. He told her toe, and then he just forgot about her the next day. And she was even gracious enough to bring him some seeds for the birds!
Talia huffed as she hopped off the bench to leave. Big Brother would be back from school by now, so she would get in trouble if she stays out toote. She opened her bag of seeds and left it on the bench before turning to leave.
Caw!
Once she was gone, a flock of ravens descended on the seeds.
¡
I''m so tired.
"Sigh~ I suppose you wouldn''t give me the option of simply going to jail."
The killer looked into Mark''s eyes, and he saw cold determination in them. Mark was going to kill him, and there was no alternative as far as Mark was concerned.
"If I spare your life, would you stop?"
The killer grunted as he turned away from Mark They both knew the answer to that question. The killer knew that he would not be going to jail.
"Well, I guess that''s for the best. I''m notreallycut out for jail anyway. It''s no different from the army. All you do is sleep, shit, and suffer. Hey, kid, since I''m going to die, I guess I should give you a heads-up. The person that sent me to you is one of your ssmate''s father."
"Which one?"
"Can''t say. Confidential."
"You''ll be dead."
"Even in death, a man must keep to his honor. Even a killer has honor."
Mark clicked his tongue in irritation, and the killer just smiled.
"You young ones are always so impatient. But I guess I was also like that once."
...
''Are you happy? You don''t look happy.''
The killer shook his head.
"There is a group in Japan, they are called the Syndicate. I don''t know what they all have against you, but you''re a primary target for them. Now that I''m gone, they''ll be sending others, so be prepared. As a clue, they are somehow rted to Szar. Oh, it seems you know him. That''s good.
This should fuck him upreallygood. Give him hell for me, alright kid."
Mark''s eyes widened once the killer mentioned Szar, but Mark controlled his expression again after the killer noticed and spoke up once the killer was done.
"What do you know about Szar?"
The killer coughed up some blood and spat it to the side before he spoke again.
"Cough! Cough! Not enough to be any help to you, kid. He''s a snake, that''s all I can say. Watch out for that one."
Mark could see real hatred for Szar when the killer spoke about him, so Mark knew that he could trust this information. Mark decided that he would look into this Syndicate.
The killer suddenly spoke up again.
"Justin Grant."
"What?"
"My name. My name is Justin Grant. Please remember it."
Mark still looked as apathetic as ever as he shot down the offer.
"I will not."
Justin smiled sadly as he looked down.
"Yeah, maybe it''s for the best that no one remembers."
...
''You don''t look happy.''
I am a killer. I am not meant to be happy.
A beautiful girl with blond hair and bright blue eyes smiled up at Justin. There was blood leaking from the side of the girl''s mouth, but that did not stop her from giving a beautiful kind smile as she caressed Justin''s cheek.
She suddenly grunted as Justin pressed the bloody knife in his hand deeper into her chest. After the pain passed, she spoke up again.
''Everyone deserves to be happy. Especially someone as young as you.''
¡I do not know how to be happy.
''¡Then you are no better than a dead man. Perhaps it will do you some good to leave this life behind and run far away. Maybe in that other life, in some distant future, you will find happiness. Maybe you will learn how to be happy.''
...
Maybe in another life.
Justin sighed as Mark charged for him! Mark shot his hand forward, and Justin didn''t bother bringing up his defenses as he felt Mark''s hand tear into his chest ande out from the other side!
SQUELCH!!
"Urk!!"
Blood dropped to the ground like a river of red!
Chapter 187: The Lady Once known As West.
SQUELCH!!
"Urk!!"
Justin opened his one good eye and he aimed his gun right at Mark''s forehead! Mark red up at Justin with a grin, and Justin looked right into his killer''s eyes with a small smile.
At this distance, there is no way Mark can tank the bullet without suffering some injuries. But Justin knew that he couldn''t do it. Justin had already given up.
Click!
Justin pulled the barrel back and prepared to fire, but he stopped himself at thest moment as the light in his eyes began to dim and his hand slowly lowered back down.
"Yeah," Justin''s smile widened as blood leaked from the side of his mouth, "Maybe in another life."
ng!
The gun dropped to the ground, and Justin finally slumped as his body gave up on him.
¡
[The user haspleted Two Hidden Missions. The rewards will be distributed immediately.]
[Hidden Mission 1: Stop The Superhuman Killer]
[A versatile killer known for his ruthlessness has been tasked with eliminating the User. The user must stop the killer frompleting his assignment and preserve his own life.]
Rewards: +500 stat points +500 skill points
Status: Completed
¡
[Hidden Mission 2: Kill The Superhuman Killer]
[The superhuman Killer is a legend amongst the dark echelon of superhumans. Kill the Superhuman killer and send a message out to everyone who is after you that you are not afraid to take lives to ensure your safety.]
Reward: +500 skill points, You will receive the skill [Demonic Killer''s Aura]
Status: Completed
¡
SUPERHUMAN SYSTEM
Name: Mark Vanitas
Race: Human
Title: [He Who Perseveres Through Hell. [+10% increase to all stats.]] [He Who Defies Destiny]
Rank: S [4740/5000]
Affiliation: Uwful Neutral (A/N: This will be exinedter)
Unused Stat Points: 500
Unused Skill Points: 1000
¡
Demonic killer''s Aura: This skill emanates an oppressive and terrifying aura, instilling profound fear and intimidation in opponents, weakening their resolve, and hindering theirbat effectiveness.
Current Rank: F Rank [0/100]
Effects Due to Current Rank:
50% Chance of instilling [Fear] in weaker opponents
50% Decrease in the fighting abilities of all opponents under [Fear] condition.
¡
The moon shining down from the sky illuminated the streets of Burgundy Estate located deep within the extravagant andvish region of City A. The houses in this region were all exquisitely made with beautifulwns and expensive-looking d¨¦cor around every corner! The houses were sovish that you would think the neighbors were allpeting with each other to see who could outdo the other person!
It was something so petty and stupid that you could only expect it from people who had too much money and did not know what to do with any of it!
It was in a region like this that housewives and stay-at-home moms flourished the most! In a ce like this, they could y andpete to their hearts'' content, partaking in the silent wars between themselves while still smiling in each other''s faces andughing as if they weren''t looking down on everyone else in the area!
And it was here that you would find one of the most well-known bachelorettes in the region, Linda. Linda once bore thest name West, but after she got married too many times and divorced all her husbands no one bothered to call her West anymore and they all just called her Linda without ast name.
That way, they will not have to change thest name when she finds and gets married to her next victim.
Linda''s house was avish two-story apartment painted white with Mahogany wooden pirs positioned at each side of the stairway leading up to the entrance. Inside the house, Linda was sitting inside herrge bathtub while drinking wine. Her pristine body was rxed inside the spiced water, with her bountiful breasts defying the water and trying their best to float on top of it.
She brought out one leg from the water and watched the golden liquid flow down her spotless white skin.
Oh yes, she wasdefinitelya beautiful woman. Even age has done nothing to affect her beauty. If anything, it has only made her more beautiful.
''Isn''t it about time I found myself another husband? That old man that came to the school meeting the other day, Mark''s guardian. Perhaps I should try getting close to him again. He might have ignored me the first time we met, but I am sure that he cannot ignore me a second time. He is an old man, and if a woman like me approaches him, he will fold easily.''
Oh yes, Linda was in the prime of her life and she was enjoying every moment of it.Shknew what she was worth and she was not afraid to use what she had to her advantage.
Crash!
Linda blinked as she heard something breaking outside her bathroom. She narrowed her eyes and gently lowered her legs back into the water while listening intently. There was no sound for some time, and Linda wondered if she was just hearing things. Maybe a wind knocked something over?
Linda decided that she should check it out, and she stood from the bathtub in all her naked glory while dropping her wine ss aside. Linda was already nearing her forties, but her body was not showing any signs of her age since she had taken care of it so well. Her hips were thin and her ass was fat and juicy looking with no stretch marks at all.
She considered her breasts to be the perfect size, not too big that they would be a hindrance, butrge enough to draw a man''s eyes to it like a ck hole.
Linda left her bath and collected her robe from the side before she started to walk out of the bathroom while tying the rope around her waist.
"Ca?"
Linda called out to her maid who would usuallye once a week to clean the house. She thought that if it wasn''t the wind then it had to be her maid that came in and broke something. That stupid woman willdefinitelypay if she breaks something important!
But Linda did not hear anyone responding, and she felt a small thrum of fear in her heart as she reached the stairs leading down to the ground floor. She swallowed and gazed at the empty stairs before she decided to grab a weapon just in case. She found a bat that her son used for baseball practice at the side and she started to go downstairs while holding it up in a tight grip.
"Hello. Is anyone here? Frank, son, is that you?"
There was no answer, and Linda started to feel a bit foolish as she dropped the bat to the ground. She was being paranoid here for no fucking reason. There was no one in the house.
Grab!
"AHHH-Mmh!!"
A hand suddenly grabbed Linda from behind, and she shouted at the top of her lungs in fear, but another hand covered her mouth, and Linda''s voice was muffled as she struggled to calm her beating heart! The hand that was holding her body pinned her two hands to her side, so she couldn''t move.
Chapter 188: Never Touch The King
Linda felt the person lean in close to her ear. Linda tried to move to get a good look at the person''s face, but there was nothing that she could do at all because of how unbelievably strong the person was!
The person''s nails were digging into Linda''s cheek from how much strength they were using to hold her, and Linda couldliterallyfeel her cheek being shed because of how sharp their nails were.
When the person finally spoke, Linda immediately knew that this was a woman.
"You know, there are many things that I can forgive in this world. I know I am too kind for myowngood, he always told me that. But when dealing with people like you, forgiveness is the furthest thing from my mind. How dare you try to hurt my KING?"
King? What the fuck was this bitch talking about!?
Linda was confused and lost as she tried to understand! She didn''t know what to do, and she didn''t understand what the girl was talking about! What king! Who was her king!? Is she fucking crazy!?
"Mmhp! Mmmhhpph!"
Linda tried to talk, but the hand around her mouth never loosened.
"I won''t kill you; you should count yourself lucky for that. But I will make sure you never have the chance to hurt my KING ever again. No one touches the KING. No one."
The girl''s hands dug into Linda''s face, and Linda''s eyes widened as she realized what was about to happen!
"Wai-!"
SLASH!!
"AHHHHHHH!!!!"
Linda screamed in pain as she held her face with both hands and fell to her knees! Her scream was so loud that it woke up half the block, and guard dogs outside started to bark in agitation as they thought they were under attack!
Bam!
"Linda!"
A man who lived beside Linda came barging into the house as they thought that Linda was in danger, and they saw her holding her face and screaming like a banshee as blood dripped from between her fingers! The man immediately ran up to her.
"Linda! Linda, are you okay!?"
"Do I fucking look okay!!?"
Linda''s hand came off her face as she screamed at him, and the man''s eyes widened in shock as he got a full view of her scarred and deformed face! There was blood leaking from everywhere, and it mixed with the tears to make her already deformed face look even worse!
"Jesus Christ!"
The man recoiled in fear and fell to his ass. He started to look around to see who could be responsible for this, but there was no one in the room. He immediately brought out his phone to call an ambnce for Linda.
The man was a family man with a wife and two kids, but he had always admired Linda, and he knew that if she ever came onto him before, he would have divorced his wife and abandoned his family immediately just to be with her! Linda was a thousand times sexier than his wife, and from the rumors that he had heard about her, he knew that Linda was also an absolute vixen in bed.
She could ride you like a cowgirl before she sucks your soul out from your dick with nothing but her mouth!
But now¡
The man grimaced and turned away so that he wouldn''t have to look at her. Jesus Christ. Who in the world would do such a thing?
¡
"Reportsing in recently are stating that the criminal known to the rest of the world as the Superhuman Killer was actually on a mission to end the life of Mark Vanitas, a popr superhuman who once acted as a vignte under the moniker GHOST. The Superhuman Killer was in the process ofpleting his mission when he was discovered and confronted by GHOST.
They entered into a battle, and ording to active reporters on the scene, the superhuman killer was eventually defeated and killed by GHOST after a drawn-out battle that imed the lives of multiple police officers.
This ''murder'' has been recorded as an act of self-defense by the American government, and as far as we know, GHOST will not be facing charges for the ''murder'' of the Superhuman Killer. GHOST wasst seen leaving the scene and heading towards the direction of Nature Academy.
"There has been an uproar from many members of the public who do not condone GHOST''s actions and wish to see him face stricter punishment for the ''murder'' of the superhuman killer, and many more people are reevaluating the decision of Nature Academy to not remove GHOST as a member of the school.
They fear that he is too dangerous of an individual and will eventually put both the school itself, as well as everyone in it, inseriousdanger.
"In other news, the bodies of two high school students have been discovered within one of the Nature Academy bathrooms. The uing pictures are graphic and unsuitable for younger viewers. Viewer discretion is advised."
The image of the woman on the screen changed, and another one appeared. Most of the people watching the news immediately used one hand to cover the eyes of their children while putting their other hand over their mouths in shock, and many others immediately changed the channels as they felt themselves getting sick!
There was nothing anyone could say as they took in the gruesome sight in front of them!
The picture showed a girl leaning over a sink with a boy resting on top of her. They were both missing their heads and from the position that they were in, you could tell that they were in the middle of having sex when they were killed! There was blood sttered all over the mirror in front of the sink, and the floor of the bathroom was drenched in blood.
The angle of the camera gave the people watching a clear view of the wounds reflected through the mirror, but the news channels blurred out the wounds as they thought it was too gruesome to show on national television.
The image cut back out and was reced by the female reporter once more.
"That image was gotten from an anonymous insider who happened toe upon the bodies before the police officials could quarantine the area. The two high school students have been identified as Esmeralda Fortuna, the youngest daughter of the Fortuna mediapany, and Francis Colton, the only son and heir to the Colton dynasty.
The school has refused to give any statements with regards to the incident, and there have been no leads as to who the perpetrator of the crime might be. Some believe that the crime was carried out by a superhuman due to the sheer strength needed to kill someone in such a way.
Mark Vanitas has been ruled out as a suspect due to him not being in the school at the time of the murder, but the police are still carrying out an investigation and we will try to get more information to you as quickly as we receive them.
"In light of this incident, we wish to send out heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased, and the general public has been warned to respect the families'' privacyin order togive them proper time to mourn their losses. This has been Rachel Fox reporting live from Metropole News.
Chapter 189: Dont Lie To Me
Mark was leaning his back against his car and staring up into the night sky as he waited for Arit toe out from the school building. It was already veryte, but he was surprised when Arit called him and told him that she had been waiting for him in school all this while.
He thought that she would simply go home, but he guessed that she was worried about him and didn''t want him to go home alone after what happened.
But right now, Mark''s mind wasn''t on Arit. Instead, Mark was thinking about what he just heard on the news a few seconds ago. Francis was dead. That was a shock to Mark. Mark was not an idiot, so he knew that there was only one personthat couldhave given that superhuman killer the mission to kill him.
The superhuman killer said that a ssmate''s father was responsible for what happened, and as far as Mark knew, Francis was the only person in the schoolthat hehad enough bad bloodwithto warrant something like this.
And worst of all is the fact that Francis had the resources as well as the cowardly nature to go ahead with such a fucking stupid n. What the hell was Francis thinking? Did he think that Mark wouldrealle after him now that everyone knew Mark was a superhuman? Mark had been ignoring Francis all this time, so why would Francis go this far once Mark''s identity was revealed?
Was he really that scared of Mark?
Mark frowned as he realized that Francis was really that scared of him. That fucking pussy.
But now Francis was dead. And it wasn''t just him that died, Francis died with Esmeralda in one of the most embarrassing ways that anyone would ever want to die. In the middle of sex. That was something that their parents would never forgive. Mark was sure that both Francis and Esmeralda''s parents would hunt down whoever did this until the end of the earth if they had to.
"Sigh~ Why does everything have to be soplicated?"
"Mark! You''re here!"
Mark looked back down, and he smiled softly as he saw Arit running towards him excitedly. She was carrying both their bags and his school shirt, and once she was close enough, she leaned up and kissed him softly with her hands on his chest. Therewasstill some specks of blood on Mark''s singlet, but Arit didn''t even seem to care as she gazed into his eyes.
"I''m d you''re safe, Mark."
Mark smiled at her and leaned down for one more kiss. Arit moaned into the kiss and arge blush spread on her face when they separated. She looked into Mark''s eyes, and she saw how tired he was at that moment. Arit knew that Mark must be exhausted from that fight with the superhuman killer, so she suggested that they leave and go get some rest.
Mark shook his head and told her that he was not tired.
"I just got off the phone with Pat a while ago. He said that you were the one who warned him about the killer."
Arit''s eyes widened by a millimeter, but she was able to get it back under control quickly. But Mark still caught it. Arit spoke up while nodding.
"O-Oh, yeah. I did. I spoke to Esmeralda, and she said that they were trying to use the killer to get rid of you, so I called Pat..."
"¡"
"¡ W-Why are you looking at me like that?"
Mark was looking down at Arit with an empty gaze, and Arit felt like Mark was gazing directly into her soul! She took a step back and averted her eyes from his own as she couldn''t handle the intensity of that stare. When Mark spoke, Arit felt her heart squeeze.
"Why did you kill them, Arit?"
Arit was still averting her eyes.
"W-What are you talking ¨C"
"Don''t lie to me!"
Arit''s entire body shook in shock as she heard Mark shout at her for the first time in her life! The school bags dropped to the ground, and she joined her hands together in front of her chest nervously as she stared at her feet. Arit realized that Mark was not going to forgive her if she lied to him right now, and she was conflicted about what to do.
Mark had put a lot of effort into trying to teach her to control the QUEEN, so if he learns that she gave in and did what the QUEEN told her to do, would he not be disappointed in her? Wouldn''t it be as if she spat on all his hard work? Would he forgive her for this?
At this moment, Arit felt like she was stuck between a rock and a hard ce. She felt like she would lose Mark no matter what she said.
Mark continued.
"I don''t care if you lie to everyone else, Arit. But not me. Don''t lie to me. Just tell it to me straight, did you do it?"
Arit sniffled as she felt a tear dropping from her eyes. Arit could face anything in this world, but she couldn''t face Mark''s disappointment. She didn''t want Mark to be angry at her, and she never wanted them to fight, but Arit knew that if she lied at this moment, she would tear their rtionship apart.
Arit did everything to try and hide what she had done. She cleaned all the blood from her body and her school uniform, and she made sure that Maria would never talk about what happened. She even fabricated a lie about where she had been around the time that Esmeralda and Francis died, and spread it around school discreetly to hide her involvement.
Some people saw her leave the ss with Esmeralda, but Maria lied that Arit was with her during the time that Esmeralda died, so no one would ever suspect her.
But Arit couldn''t lie to Mark. Not when he was looking at her like that! Arit nodded her head once, and she heard Mark sigh. Arit quickly looked up and started to exin loudly!
"I-I did it, but I didn''t have a choice! They sent a killer after you, and they were trying to make me have sex with Francis! The two of them are nothing but scum! They''re trash! I just couldn''t forgive them! They deserved death for doing something like that to you!
What if they hadreallykilled you!"
Arit''s eyes had turned yellow somewhere in the middle of her rant, and Mark sighed again as he saw the genuine anger in her eyes. He couldn''t me her for what she did because he knew that he would have done the same thing if someone tried to send a killer after Arit. Mark was just d that Arit did not lie to him anymore.
Mark opened his arms, and Arit felt all the fight inside her body evaporate as she saw the invitation! Arit quickly used the back of her hand to clean some of her tears before she ran into Mark''s arms and pressed her face into his chest!
Poomf!
Chapter 190: Things Are Going To Be Hectic For A While
Poomf!
Mark hugged Arit tightly and leaned down to whisper in her ear. Mark could feel some wetness on his shirt, and he held her tighter as her tears increased.
"I''m not angry that you killed them, Arit. Just don''t lie to me again. Even if the entire world is against you, you can trust that I''ll be on your side. I''ll protect you no matter what because I know everything you do is to protect me. You can trust me."
"Waaa! I *sniff!* I''m sorry for lying! *sniff!* I''m sorry!"
Mark sighed as he felt his heart squeeze as he heard Arit crying. She was such a crybaby.
Arit bawled her eyes out into Mark''s chest, and Mark just pet her head gently as he told her that everything was going to be fine.
Mark red into the distance as he began to think about what the future would be like. He couldn''t allow anyone to find out that Arit was the one who killed those two. As of right now, the only people that knew about Arit were the siblings, Patrick and Jeanne, and since they were both fucking smart, it was impossible that they would not figure out that Arit was the reason for the deaths.
Mark had to talk to Jeanne and make her keep this to herself. Mark knew that Pat was on his side, so Pat wouldn''t reveal the information even at gunpoint, but would Jeanne do the same thing? Mark had to make sure.
If Jeanne was going to be a problem, then Markwas going tohave to find a way to deal with hertoo. But even that was nothingpared to what Markwas nningto do to the Coltons and Szar. Even though Francis was dead, it was his father that sent the superhuman killer after Mark. Mark does not forgive such transgressions easily, and he would deal with the Coltons properly.
And as for Szar...
Well, they were all killers now. So Szar had better get ready.
...
The next day, Mark and Arit could not go to school since the school closed its doors to allow the police to carry out a proper investigation regarding the deaths of Esmeralda and Francis. Mark knew that they would not find anything that would implicate Arit, so he was not bothered about what they would do to the bodies.
Instead, Mark was using that free time to look into Szar andfind outas much as possible about that man.
Mark always knew that Szar was somehow involved with the superhuman killer, even though the superhuman killer was not hired by Szar.Mark could tell that Szar was responsible for most of the information that the superhuman got about Mark.Mark wasjustthankful that he did not revealtoomuch about his abilities to anyone.That prevented anyone frombeing able to pinpointexactlywhat he was capable of, and it made the superhuman killer easy to deal with.
Mark knew that if the superhuman killer knew how versatile Mark''s blessing was, then there was no way that he would try to use a single sniper bullet to kill Mark. The killer would have covered at least two city blocks with explosions and unloaded massive torrents of bullets on Mark just to ount for every possible defense that Mark might have.
But he didn''t know anything, and that was what caused him to lose in the end.
But now that the killer was dead, Mark needed to start thinking about handling events that were going to being for him.Right now,there were three categories of people thatMark had to deal with.
The first category are the Coltons and the Fortunas. These two were part of arge family, and Mark knew that they would not stay silent after their son and daughterwere killed. Even though Mark did not have any issues with the Fortunas or Esmeralda openly, he knew that the Coltons would see him as the prime suspect for Francis'' death, regardless of if Mark was at the scene or not.
The Coltons knew that Mark and Francis were at odds, so they would pin this on Mark, and if they are pinning it on him, then they will try and drag the Fortunas into it as well.
But that was good for Mark. Mark was already looking for a good reason to deal with those families, and oncethey show any open hostility, he would have found a justifiable reason to end them. But Mark knew that he could not handle this as a superhuman. Using his excessive strength tohandlethe Coltons and Fortunas would only make him more enemies.
The one thing that humans hate is watching someone use physical strength to destroy people who cannot fight back. Instead, the world would much rather see you beat up someone who knows how to fight a little, even if that person is much weaker than you.
No, Mark was not going to use his physical strength for the Coltons andFortuna''s. He would go back to his roots and drag the Vanitas Company under his control once more to use it in dealing with this issue.
The second category of people that Mark has to deal with is Szar, the NSA, and the government.Mark knewthatSzar was rotten, butjusthow deep does that rot go?There is no way that Szar was the onlymember of the governmentthat was rotten! If Szar wasbad, then there had to be one or two people in the NSA and government that are helping him with his fucking ns.
Mark was going to have to weed out these people. Mark knew that he couldn''t just go and kill Szar now, not after what the killer told him. The killer said something about a syndicate,and that showedMark that Szar was not working alone. There would probably be someone else who would rece Szar the moment that he is gone.
But even though that was the case, Mark still wanted to wring that bastard''s neck. If things start getting out of control, Mark decided that he would damn the consequences and just kill Szar. Even if someone else takes over from where Szar stopped, then he would deal with those consequences as well.
The third thing that Mark had to deal with wasactuallythe most mysterious oneyet.The Syndicate. A mysterious group in Japan that was responsible for backing Szar and his ns. Before the killer said the name of this mysterious group to Mark, Mark had never even heard about them before.
Mark sent all the information that he got from the killer to Pat and told Pat to try his best to find out anything about the syndicate, but Patwas not very confident that he could find out anything about them.
From what Pat heard over the ear pods in Mark''s conversation with the killer, Pat knew that the syndicate was probably a group that ran deep into the Japanese cultural heritage. They would not have much of an online presence, and ifthey did, then at best, they would have an ultra-private Local Area Network that they use only formunication amongst members.
It would be like trying to find a needle in a field of hay.
Chapter 191: Primordial Anatomy
The Syndicate would not have much of an online presence, and if they did, then at best, they would have an ultra-private Local Area Network that they use only formunication amongst members. It would be like trying to find a needle in a field of hay.
But still, Mark told Pat to try. They couldn''t just give up on trying because it seemed impossible. Mark would also do his best on his end, but he had faith that Pat could find something if he searched deep enough.
[I''ll try to scrape what I can from the dark web without alerting anyone that I am searching for them, maybe I can pose as a member and infiltrate thework. But I''m not making any promises. If people like these exist, then I don''t think we should be getting involved with them. They seem dangerous. Far more dangerous than some Anima that we can just kill by hitting them hard enough.
These guys are the kind of people that have webs everywhere.]
This was the response that Pat gave Mark to try and get Mark to not look for the syndicate, but that was not enough to stop Mark and Mark just told him to push forward. ording to what the killer said, the syndicate was after Mark for some reason. Mark was not going to sit on his hands and wait for them toe and try to kill him.
As for why they wanted to kill him, Mark could only guess that it was because he was KING and they somehow knew about that. Maybe they saw him fighting the Armageddon four years ago? Mark didn''t know for sure.
[Does the user wish to send the stat points to the selected stats? Yes/ No]
Mark was currently sitting on his bed inside his room and looking through his system to put his stat and skill points in the proper ces. Mark was d that he got some rewards from that fight against the superhuman killer, and Mark wondered if the system knew that the killer was after him before Mark even found out about it.
[Yes, I did.]
Mark blinked in surprise as a message from the system answered his question and Mark finally furrowed his brow and leaned back. Was this the system talking, or was it...
"Sozin?"
[Comment from GoG: Hehe~! You got me! I thought you would start talking to the system so I can get some juicy information!]
"What sort of juicy information could you possibly want!? You can read my fucking thoughts!"
[Comment from GoG: Yeah, yeah, don''t get your panties in a bunch. It''s not like people always think about the same thing while conversing with different people. Your thought process changes from person to person, so I figured it would be nice to see what you are thinking about while talking to the system. But about your question, yeah, I knew about the killer.]
"Why didn''t you tell me? It would have been far easier to deal with all this if I had some help from you."
Mark chose yes on the system prompt that asked about the distribution of stat points and he watched and felt his conditions changing while still talking to Sozin. Mark decided that since he only had a small amount of stat points as a reward from that mission, he would spread them out among his stats to get a more bnced power system.
¡
[The User has added +200 points to Strength]
[The User has added +50 points to Stamina]
[The User has added +100 points to Agility]
[The User has added +50 points to Durability]
[The User has added +100 points to Mana]
¡
Well, maybe not so bnced. His strength was still much higher than the other stats, but Mark was fine with that. He needed strength above everything else for his fighting style, so he could slowly build the others while keeping strength as his ultimate focus.
[Comment from GoG: If I had to help you out with something as basic as that killer, then what would have been the point of all the blessings that I gave you? Someone like that is not worth being worried over, I knew that you could handle it, so there was no need for me to intervene.]
Mark hummed as he heard what Sozin said and he watched the system bringing up his new stats. Mark was convinced that Sozin had very high expectations of him and that is why he did not help him, but that does not mean that Mark would not have appreciated a heads-up. This crazy bastard probably just wanted to watch Mark fight the killer since he thought it was entertaining.
[Comment from GoG: You hurt me with yourck of trust in me.]
Mark scoffed.
¡
SUPERHUMAN SYSTEM
Name: Mark Vanitas
Race: Human
Title: [He Who Perseveres Through Hell. [+10% increase to all stats.]] [He Who Defies Destiny]
Rank: S [4730/5000]
Affiliation: Uwful Neutral
Unused Stat Points: 0
Unused Skill Points: 1000
¡
Strength: 2080 [+208] [+516]
Stamina: 1400 [+140] [+350]
Agility: 1250 [+125] [+125]
Durability: 1260 [+126] [+63]
Mana: 1220 [+122]
¡
[Stat Improvements Due to Application of Mana]
Strength: +26%
Stamina: +15%
Agility: +12%
Durability: +5%
¡
Mark read through the tabs from his system and he hummed as his eyes trailed towards his affiliation. Mark startedoffas True Good before going to True Neutral, but now his affiliation is Uwful Neutral. Mark didn''t know what sort of measure the system used to create these affiliations, but Mark knew that he got the Uwful tag because he killed the superhuman killer and his Arit''s crimes.
Well, Mark wasn''treallybothered about it at all, so he didn''t let it upy his thoughts for too long.
"Sozin, do you know anything about the Syndicate?"
Mark suddenly spoke up as he started allocating points to his skills and he waited patiently as Sozin went silent. Mark wondered if Sozin would even bother to help him out at all. Sozin has always been adamant that Mark should deal with situations on his own, so Mark knew that there was a high chance that Sozin would simply tell him to deal with this alone as well.
But surprisingly, Sozin didn''t do that.
[Comment from GoG: Those fossils? They''re a pretty old group. They''ve been around since humans first started to walk on two feet.]
Mark blinked and he had to pause what he was doing once he read through thement. Did Sozin just say that the Syndicate has been around since humans first evolved? And he called them fossils? Doesn''t that mean that they have been around before even Sozin was born?
[Comment from GoG: You wouldn''t understand primordial anatomy even if I started giving you a crash course in it for the next hundred years, so don''t try to analyze what I said like that. Just keep in mind that they have been in existence long before this version of my psyche was made conscious of itsowngodhood. My main consciousness is older than your universe.]
What the hell?
[Comment from GoG: Yeah, that''s why I said you wouldn''t get it. But you should look out for those fossils though. They are the quintessential definition of what extremists are, and now that they have their focus on you. Well¡ haha, things should be quite interesting moving forward.]
Chapter 192: Stat Distribution
Mark felt a headacheing as he heard Sozinugh. Mark just knew that this entire thing was going to be a pain in the ass for him. For Sozin, it was just another source of entertainment, but Mark was going to have to fight tooth and nail to figure out how to survive through this.
[Comment from GoG: As my champion, being able to handle this is the bare minimum I expect from you. Make me proud, Mark. I have ced all my hope in you, so do not fail me.]
Mark grinned as he finally finished cing his skill points where he wanted them to go.
"I''ll try my fucking best not to."
[Does the user wish to transfer skill points to the chosen skill? Yes/No]
The system brought up the prompt for Mark to add the skill points to his chosen skills and Mark clicked the Yes option and watched as the skills moved to the chosen areas. Mark decided that he was going to focus more on developing his most used skills ¨C just like before. But he was also going to try and improve his most recent skill as well.
The Demonic Killer''s aura was an amazing skill and Mark knew that it would help a lot when he is fighting against weaker opponents that he does not wish to strain himself against too much. Fighting a Disaster or Cmity ss would be much easier if Mark just used the Demonic Killer''s aura on them and then destroyed them when they were too afraid to attack.
But the skill was too low level right now. There was only a fifty percent chance of Mark getting the skill to work, and Mark did not like those chances. It was like tossing a coin and hoping that it wouldnd on heads every time! Mark wasn''t a fan of gambling in the middle of fights. He would rather control the situation as much as possible to have the most favorable oue.
¡
[The User has added +300 skill points to Demonic Killer''s Aura]
[The User has added +300 skill points to Blunt Force Trauma]
[The User has added +200 skill points to Full Body Constitution]
[The User has added +100 skill points to Mana Cirction]
[The User has added +100 skill points to True Sight]
¡
[SKILL TREE]
-> Full Body Constitution: This is a unique skill tree enabling the user to systematically enhance and fortify every aspect of their physical form, elevating strength and resilience to unprecedented levels!
Current Full Body Constitution: Heavenly Lightning God: 200/400
[Heavenly Lightning God: This is a full-body constitution skill that imbues the practitioner with the divine essence of lightning, granting unparalleled agility, strength, and the ability to harness and control lightning energy inbat.]
Effects:
Full Body Augmentation x30
Multiplier [All lightning-based skills will receive a 100% boost]
Discharge [The User can absorb and store up to S rank lightning-based attacks in his body and then discharge them toward the enemy for a devastating counterattack.]
-> Mana Cirction: Mana Cirction is a skill enabling the user to enhance the efficiency of mana distribution throughout their body, optimizing energy flow for heightened senses and greater strength.
Current Mana Cirction: D Rank [200/400]
[Stat Improvements Due to Application of Mana]
Strength: +26%
Stamina: +15%
Agility: +12%
Durability: +5%
-> Taunting: This Skill lures enemies with a lower Rank towards the User, diverting their attention from all distractions and encouraging aggressive engagement!
Current Taunting Variation: Call of the Night Wolves [F Rank [61/100]]
Probability of sessful Taunting Based on Level: 21%
-> Blunt Force Trauma: This skill heightens the probability ofnding a critical hit as the user delivers consecutive sessful punches to the enemy, harnessing the cumtive impact for devastating effectiveness! Critical Attacks deal +100% extra damage to the enemy!
Current Rank: C Rank [2/800]
Probability ofnding a Critical Attack: +15% for every sessful consecutive hit.
Probability ofnding a Divergent Attack [exponential 2.5 per attack]: +1% for every sessful consecutive hit.
-> True Sight: This skill grants the user the ability to perceive the stats and skills of others, offering insight into their capabilities with a single nce.
Current True Sight: D rank [101/400]
-> Demonic Killer''s Aura: This skill emanates an oppressive and terrifying aura, instilling profound fear and intimidation in opponents, weakening their resolve and hindering theirbat effectiveness.
Current Rank: D Rank [0/400]
Effects Due to Current Rank:
80% Chance of instilling [Fear] in weaker opponents
60% Decrease in the fighting abilities of all opponents under [Fear] condition.
¡
[DIVINE SKILLS]
-> Styxwatcher''s Discernment: This endows the user with an infallible ability to perceive truth, drawing upon the wisdom of the river Styx to unravel deception and reveal the sincerity of others. Once activated, the user cannot be lied to.
-> Achilles Heel: This skill enables the user to swiftly detect and expose weaknesses and vulnerabilities in opponents or objects, providing a strategic advantage inbat. Vulnerable areas will be exposed using a red hue. The darker the shade of red, the more vulnerable the area is.
-> Ignorance of The Death God: This skill, bestowed by Thanatos, grants the user the ability to instinctively evade one attack from any enemy, even if the user is unaware of the impending danger. This skill is applicable to all attacks, fatal or not, regardless of the attack strength.
¡
Mark clenched and unclenched his fists as he finally finished sending the skill points to the skills he wanted to improve! The surge of power from every part of his body made Mark smile as he realized how much he was improving. If Mark had topare, he would say that he was at 70% of the strength that he used when he fought against that Armageddon as King before!
Just a bit more and he would be back at that level!
Mark knew that he was neglecting the Taunting skill a bit, but that skill was only going to be useful when fighting against weaker Anima, and with how strong Mark was, he didn''t need to Taunt the weaker Anima to make theme to him. Nowadays, Anima were always drawn to him regardless of if he uses Taunting or not, so he would be okay even if he doesn''t improve it for now.
"Mark, breakfast is ready! Come get it before it gets cold!"
Mark heard Arit speak up from the kitchen and he sighed as he realized how hungry he was. He hadn''t eaten anything sincest night since he was so busy making sure that there was no connection between Arit and the bodies that were found in the school bathroom. Mark hasn''t spoken to Pat or Jeanne about the killings yet, but he could already see how their next conversation would go.
They willdefinitelyconfront Mark about what happened. Mark decided that he would deal with that situation depending on how itpresentsitself.
Chapter 193: When Did You Get So Big?
Mark decided that he would deal with that situation depending on how it presented itself. Mark couldn''t lie to Pat for too long; Pat was too smart for that, but that doesn''t mean that Mark was going to allow Pat to reveal Arit''s real identity either. And Mark knew that if Pat asked his sister to keep Arit''s role in those deaths a secret, then she would most likely agree.
Mark just had to y his cards right!
Mark yawned as he left his room and slowly went towards the kitchen. Talia had been sitting on the kitchen counter and watching Arit as she cooked, but once Mark stepped into the kitchen, Talia jumped down from the counter and ran towards him! Mark grinned and easily caught her when she jumped at him before raising herupinto the air!
"Big Brother!"
"Hey, Talia. I feel like I haven''t seen you in years! You''ve grown so big!"
Talia chuckled cutely!
"You dummy! You saw me two days ago!"
Mark gaspedsarcastically,as if he couldn''t believe that she had grown thisrge in one day!
"Maybe we should start looking for universities for you! At this rate, you''ll be too big to go to elementary school! You''re growing far too quickly!"
Mark started to tickle Talia and Taliaughed loudly as she tightened her hold around Mark''s neck! She begged Mark for mercy, but Mark wasn''t having any of that as he continued to tickle her until she was breathless and blushing furiously! Mark just chuckled as she slumped against him like a dead body!
Mark looked up to see Arit staring at the two of them with a small smile on her face, and he raised a curious brow as he saw Arit holding her stomach with one hand. What do we have here?
"Don''t tell me you want some of this too."
Arit''s eyes widened in shock as she saw the mischievous glint in Mark''s eye, and she immediately moved to ce the table between the two of them!
"W-What? Mark, don''t even think about it! Wait, Mark, wait!!"
Mark dropped Talia gently on a chair at his side, and Arit''s eyes widened as she realized that he wasactuallyserious! This maniac! Aren''t they too old for this!?
Whoosh!
Even with her newfound superhuman abilities, Arit was still unable to even see Mark move! Mark moved too quickly for her to even know what had happened, and the next thing she knew, she was being held from behind as he tickled her mercilessly!
"Hahahahahahah! M-Mercy! Mark! Hahahahah! Mark ¨C aahahaha! - the food!
It''s going to get ¨C Hahahaha! ¨C cold!"
Mark finally stopped tickling Arit when he noticed that she was about to pass out and showed her some mercy as he chuckled gently. He wrapped his hands around Arit''s waist and gently kissed the back of her neck.
"How are you feeling?"
Arit asked Mark about his health as she tried to get her breath back, and Mark hummed as he told her that he was fine. Mark was more worried about her actually, but he knew that Arit was fine. Even after doing something as gruesome as what they did yesterday, the couple were still able tough and smile like it was nothing.
If it was anyone else, they would be feeling guilty for taking lives, but both Mark and Arit did it for a good reason, so as far as they were concerned, they did nothing wrong.
After Arit and Queen started to meld together, Arit no longer got tired and she was hardly ever scared of violence. Arit was already good at handling blood and gore since she was aiming to be a doctor, but now that she had a psychotic yandere inside her, she was a lot better at dealing with it than before.
Arit held Mark''s hands tightly as she spoke up in a mellow tone.
"I''m d you''re fine. When I heard that the Superhuman killer was after you, I didn''t know what to do. I didn''t want to reveal myself toe and warn you because I knew it would be too dangerous. I felt so useless."
Mark smiled against Arit''s neck and his lips grazed her skin as he spoke, and she felt a shiver travel down her entire body as she felt it.
"You called Pat and warned him about it as soon as you realized that I was in danger. That was the best choice you could''ve made at that point. Youreallyhelped me, Arit, so don''t feel like you didn''t do anything."
Mark squeezed Arit''s waist tight before he loosened his hold slightly to allow Arit to turn around and face him. Arit knew that shereallydidn''t do anything to help Mark against the killer; Mark was just trying to make her feel better, and sheabsolutelyloved him for it. Arit leaned up and kissed him with her hands around his neck.
"Muah~ Thank you foring back, Mark."
Mark grinned.
"Always."
"Blergh."
Talia suddenly made a barfing sound from the side as she saw Mark and Arit kissing. Talia was still a child, so she didn''t enjoy seeing things like that yet. Mark snorted as his hand traveled down and squeezed Arit''s ass, and Arit frowned up at him in anger! Mark grinned yfully and squeezed her ass one more time beforegiving Arit a kiss.
Arit just shook her head at him, and she patted his chest gently while moving towards the food that was still steaming.
"Alright, go get a seat, I need to bring the food out before it gets ruined."
Mark left Arit and went to grab Talia before carrying up her bridal style! Talia cheered happily as she was carried by Mark, and the both of them went to the dining room to wait for Arit. Arit brought out therge pot of smoking spaghetti and meatballsandced it in the middle of the table and served it before she also took a seat.
As they ate, Mark asked Arit about what she did with Maria. Maria was the only witness who saw whatreallyhappened in that bathroom,that meantthat she was a weak link who could expose what they were trying to hide. Arit smiled, and Mark could see a sinister aura in that smile.
"Don''t worry, she won''t be saying anything to anyone. She knows what can happen to her if anyone ever finds out about what I did, so she is actively helping me to cover up the tracks. She''s afraid of you because of what you can do to her family if she ever opens her mouth, and she is afraid that I will kill her if anyone finds out about it. So, she will keep the secret."
Mark nodded as he ate a meatball. He knew that Arit must''ve scared the hell out of Maria, so it was unlikely that Maria would say anything to anyone for now, but fear can only hold someone hostage for so long. In time, Maria would try to reveal the secret if she thought that it was going to help her get out of Arit''s hold.
Mark had to make sure that he trapped Maria properly in a web so that she did not have any choice but to keep this secret, and Mark had the perfect method to do that. Maria''s familypany, Triston Transportation, was currently going through a small internal civil war, and if Mark chose the right side and supported that side, then he could control the entirepany in the aftermath of the war.
Chapter 194: Trip To The Company
If Maria knew that Mark had herpany in the palm of his hand, then she wouldn''t dare to step out of line. Since Maria didn''t have anything incriminating on Mark, she couldn''t do anything to get him arrested, so she would be caught in a dilemma.
If she exposes Arit and Arit is arrested, then Mark will only need to push a button for her familypany to go down, and she will be on the street in less than a week.
Mark didn''t have any need for Triston Transportation, so most of the shareholders in hispany would see this as a frivolous and bad investment, but he would deal with that when the time came.
"I need to go to the office to meet with my godfather since we have a break from school. I need to check out something at thepany."
Arit looked up in surprise as she heard Mark talking about hispany. Arit knew that Mark was the heir to a bigpany, but this was the first time that shewashearing him talking about going to thepany to do anything, so it was very shocking for her.
Sometimes, Mark was so nonchnt about his family''s multibillion-dorpany that Arit would forget that he was a second-generation young master. It was like that whish you get when you realize someone normal wasn''t normal at all after knowing them for a long time. Arit always felt like that when Mark talked about hispany.
Arit asked Mark if everything was alright. Did something happen at thepany that needed him to go there?
Mark waved away Arit''s concern and told her that everything was fine. It was just something political that he had to deal with before it got out of hand. Some of the shareholders were getting too confident in theirownsecurity, and they were beginning to question his right to thepany, so it was time to cut them out.
Arit''s brow furrowed as she heard what Mark said. Thatdefinitelysounded like something serious! Why was Mark talking about it like it was nothing atall!They were trying to take hispany away from him!
''Those fools think they can steal from the KING! We should find them and bury them in moltenva! Tear their hands off and shove it up their asses!"
Keep quiet.
Aritdidn''t react to QUEEN externally, and she just continued to eat as the voice stopped talking after she ordered it to calm down.
Arit realized that the issue with hispany mightactuallybe nothing at all to Mark. Since Mark has been dealing with Anima all this while, he must not see human issues as a threat anymore, and he just deals with them in the same manner no matter what it is. Arit sighed.
"Okay, but be careful. I also need to go out today; there is someone that I need to see."
Mark hummed curiously as he looked at Arit. She was going to see someone? That was news to him.
"Is it something important?"
Arit quickly waved her hand.
"No! No! it''s nothing like that! I just¡ want to meet with a few friends."
She was obviously lying.
Even before the system could bring up the prompt telling Mark that Arit was lying, he could already tell that she was lying. Arit had this strange quirk that she always exhibited whenever she was lying.Aritcouldn''t look Mark in the eye, and there was a small blush that appeared on her face as she looked away.
This was the same kind of look that a child would have when they were trying to hide something obvious from their parents! The blush was so small that Arit probably didn''t even know that she had it right now, but to Mark, it was as clear as day, and he felt his heart soften at how innocent Arit was. She was just too cute. She couldn''t even lie properly.
Arit couldactuallylie normally when she is talking to others, and she only behaves like this when she knows she is lying to Mark. Arit hates lying to Mark, and her subconscious automatically makes her feel so guilty that she can''t even look him in the eyes if she is lying to him!
Mark read through what the system wrote out for him, and he hummed internally before a small smile spread across his face once he realized what Arit was going to do.
"Alright, have fun."
Arit turned to Mark with a glowing face, and she nodded with a wide smile as they continued to eat.
¡
Mark was sitting at the back of a long Vanitas Limousine as he stared out the window at the passing scenery. Mark was wearing a ck suit and tie that fit his form perfectly, and he had on a pair of sunsses. There was a small frown on his face as he waited for them to reach hispany, and he remembered the conversation that he had with his godfather earlier about thepany.
It appears thatin order tokeep up appearances, Mark has to arrivein a grand mannerand show everyone that he is the one with the power in thepany.
Hugo already called a meeting of all the major shareholders of thepany, but Hugo did not tell them what the meeting was going to be about to make sure that Mark''s arrival would be a shock to them. Mark wasn''t a fan of all the pomp and pageantry that Hugo was putting into this just for his arrival, but since Hugo thought that it was a necessity, Mark was going to go along with it for now.
"Sir, here are the documents you asked me to gather. I ced the information about Triston Transportation in there as well for you to review."
There was someone else sitting in the car with Mark. She was a mature woman that looked to be in her early forties. She wore ck-rimmed sses and had her ck hair tied in a ponytail behind her. Her ck skirt suit showed off her modest figure, and she had an air of professionalism around her that matched the best secretaries in the world.
Her name was Jane Kirsten, and she was the personal secretary that Hugo sent to retrieve Mark from his house. Mark was a little skeptical at first when Hugo told him that someone was going toe and get him from his house. Mark knows that people always had very intense reactions whenever they were near him since they knew that he was a superhuman.
Mark did not want to know what sort of reaction they would have if they knew that he was the heir to the Vanitas Motors Franchise as well.
If women were throwing themselves at Mark now, they would start falling off buildings just to get a glimpse at him if they found out about that.
No,really,Mark had once seen a woman jump up a building just to touch an S-rank superhuman that was passing through the city. It was one of the funniest shit that Mark had ever seen in his life.
Chapter 195: Inconsistent Data
If women were throwing themselves at Mark now, they would start falling off buildings just to get a glimpse of him if they found out about that. No,really,Mark had once seen a woman jump up a building just to touch an S-rank superhuman that was passing through the city. It was one of the funniest shits that Mark had ever seen in his life.
But, surprisingly, that was not the case at all with Jane Kirsten. When Jane arrived to pick Mark up from his hotel, Jane had an extremely professional look as she came out from the limousine and bowed once Mark came out of the hotel doors. She did not look nervous and she did not say anything inappropriate or misleading! In fact, Mark hadn''t even seen her smile once since they met.
Mark could tell that she had been trained for this from a very young age and she was already used to meeting important people, so she knew how to act when they were in her presence.
Mark collected the documents that he asked for from Jane and started to look through them. Mark first looked through the shareholder documents to get as much information as possible about them. Since he was going to be meeting with them soon, he needed to know who was on his side and who was trying to take hispany from him. That way, it would be easier to cut the rotten trees from the forest.
Mark saw some of the shareholders that he recognized, as well as some new ones that came to join the board of directors in thest four years. Mark focused mainly on one man who had very little information written down.
Sinir Dante.
For some reason, Mark felt that this man would be a problem and Mark trusted that instinct. Mark closed Sinir''s document and opened another document that showed the recent performance of thepany over the past few years. There was a steady incline in the business graph, but Mark narrowed his eyes as he began to carry out some mental arithmetic.
Even though Mark was not the smartest student in his school, he was still one of the best at mathematics since he had been learning business and economics from his parents from a very young age.
Mark always had above-average grades in all his subjects even though he never studied for any exams, and if he really put his mind to it, he could probably beat every other student in the school to take the top spot in mathematics.
Mark knew he would probably lose out to Arit in the other subjects, but he wouldn''t lose to anyone in maths. And from what Mark was seeing on the paper, there was something wrong.
"Jane, what was the intion rate for thest three years?"
Jane immediately sat up as Mark called her name and she gave him an answer in moments.
"Fifty-five percent increase in intion, sir. It spiked due to the sudden appearance of the anima."
I was right. Mark thought that his numbers were wrong, but it turned out that they weren''t. But that was not a good thing at all; if his numbers were right, then that brought a whole new host of problems.
Mark immediately put his AirPod in his ear and put out a call to Patrick. The phone barely rang before Pat picked up.
[Mark...]
"I need you to do something for me."
Pat went silent on the other side of the phone as he raised a brow. Pat had actually been waiting for Mark to call him for a while now. Pat knew that he and Mark needed to have a long talk about the series of events that just happened, and even Mark knew that they needed to talk. But now, Mark was calling him to ask for a favor without even bringing up the past events.
Pat couldn''t help but scoff as he realized that he shouldn''t have expected anything less from Mark.
Pat has known Mark long enough to know that Mark didn''t care about what people thought was the normal way of doing things. Mark just did whatever he wanted.
[Your nerves are probably made from steel. What do you need?]
"There''s something wrong with the data from mypany. I need you to look into it. It''s a little basic, so you should understand what the issue is once you get a look at the graphs. I''ll send you the information right now."
Mark turned to Jane and told her to send the information to a particr email, and Jane blinked in surprise at the order.
"Sir, are you sure you can trust ¨C"
"Just send it."
Mark cut Jane off immediately as she tried to ask him if he could trust Pat, and Jane knew that she had crossed the line at that moment. She immediately bowed her head in silent apology and she brought out her phone and sent the information to Pat.
[Got it. I''ll look through it. Hold on, no need to look through it, I got the issue. Man, yourpany is fucked. I''m guessing that this is not normal for Fortune 500s.]
Mark shrugged as he looked out the window to the side.
"It''s not, previous years were better. Help me trace any irregrities in thepany; focus more on the finances. I''ll wait."
[Yeah, no problem. I''ll get to you in about five minutes. Shouldn''t be that hard. And Mark, you know we have to have that conversation eventually.]
Mark hummed quietly as he heard Pat finally address the most important issue. It was very rare to hear such a serious tone from Pat. Most times, Pat was dismissive and nonchntly rude in his tone of talking, but this time, Mark could tell that Pat was dead serious. Mark spoke calmly.
"We will. Later."
[Later.]
Beep.
Once Mark was done with the talk, he cut the phone and then turned his attention to the Triston Transportationpany document. Mark could see Jane nce at him for a moment when he started looking through that document, and he hummed at her.
"You have something to say?"
Jane blinked in surprise as she noticed that he was referring to her. She kept her professional image in ce as she turned to Mark. She did her best not to bring up the conversation that Mark just had as she spoke about something else instead.
"No, Mr. Vanitas. I was just curious as to why you are interested in the Triston Transportationpany. ording to reports gotten from recent dealings, there have been no issues regarding thepany''s services."
Chapter 196: Are You Afraid Of Me?
Mark hummed again and continued reading through the document. Mark was not surprised that she would think everything was fine with the Triston Transportationpany. Jane was an insider in Vanitas Motors, but she wasn''t involved with Triston Transportation, so she would not know anything about the internal civil war that was happening in the transportationpany.
And since Vanitas Motors was Triston Transportation''s biggest customer, Mark knew that they would not allow their internal civil war to affect their transportation of the Vanitas cars.
No matter who wins that civil war, both sides would still want to keep Vanitas Motors, so Mark was certain that they were doing everything in their power to transport all the Vanitas cars properly while also hiding the internal war.
But that was not enough to stop Mark from finding out about it easily. Hugo had insiders in every majorpany that the Vanitas franchise deals with, and those insiders give monthly reports of thepany''s condition to make sure that the Vanitas business is not affected in any way.
Hugo was able to find out about the internal civil war the moment it began, but they haven''t done anything about it up to this moment because it hasn''t affected their business yet.
But Mark couldn''t stay silent anymore. Mark now had a reason to speak up and choose a side.
Whatever side Mark chooses will gain the upper hand in the war, and if Mark goes one step further and threatens the right people at just the right time, then he is sure that he would easily win the war. All Mark had to do was strike at the right time.
Jane was still looking at Mark expectantly and Mark decided to finally respond.
"I''m thinking of buying out the Triston Company."
Jane''s eyes widened minutely as she heard this, but her facial expression remained as stoic as ever as she nodded. She had no right to question the decision made by the future head of the Vanitas Motors franchise, so she just kept her opinions to herself no matter how unprofessional she felt the decision was.
Jane knew that it would not be difficult to buy out the Tristonpany, but buying them would add a whole host of new costs to the Vanitaspany and add difficulties that simply should not exist. They will have added tax costs, and higher assessment and maintenance costs in their Transportation sector if they add apany asrge as Triston.
But Jane was certain that Mark had his reasons for what he was doing, so she simply nodded her head once and went silent. The ride was quiet for a while after that short conversation that they had, but after some time, Mark spoke up again as he asked a question.
"What is the ambiance like in the office?"
"Sir? I don''t seem to understand the question."
Mark nced up from the papers and looked at Jane over his sunsses. Jane managed to keep eye contact with him for some time, but after a few moments, she couldn''t help but shuffle around in her seat as she felt a little ufortable. No matter how trained she was, there was arge difference between a human and a superhuman''s aura.
If it was a regr human who was looking at Jane with such intensity, then Jane would have held their eyes for as long as she wanted without even breaking a sweat! But Mark was not a normal person. Jane could feel a slight sweat travel down the back of her neck unconsciously and she was extremely d that Mark finally spoke up after a few seconds as he exined what he meant.
"I''m sure you''ve gotten the news about what I recently did in myst fight. I killed someone. He might have been a criminal, but that does not mean he was not a human. For all intents and purposes, the majority of the world sees me as a murderer. Are you afraid of me?"
Jane''s heart shook as she heard Mark say that he was a murderer and she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. As she opened them again, Mark could see a strong resolve in there.
"Your actions have been cleared by thew as self-defense. I do not see you as a criminal, Mr. Vanitas. I apologize if I am stepping out of bounds, but I have known you since before your parents'' deaths. I watched you grow and I am aware of the sort of principles your father and mother instilled in you from a young age.
I do not believe you will take a life without good reason and I believe that you are wise enough to choose what is right and what is wrong. That is my opinion."
Mark hummed as he heard all this. He was d that there were still some people in thepany who hadmon sense and knew that he would not just start taking lives without a good reason. Sometimes, Mark felt disappointed by how easy it is to sway people''s opinions by a single action.
The same people who used to call him a hero and praise him all the time were now trying their best to get him convicted for killing a criminal!
Mark wasn''t affected by their actions because he has seen the public turn against their former heroes far too many times already, but that does not mean it was not an irritating situation.
Mark read through a use in the Triston document that stipted the necessary actions needed to be the majority stakeholder and Mark frowned as he turned the page while talking to Jane.
"And do the rest of the staff members share your sentiments?"
Jane remained silent as she tried to organize a proper response in her mind. Jane was no fool, she knew that there were members of the staff who did not appreciate what Mark did against the superhuman killer, and she also knew that they would not be pleased to find out that Mark wasing to the office after something like that happened.
If Mark were to go back, there would be whispers and rumors among the staff who are not on his side.
But that does not mean that they are all against him. Humans have been known to choose sides, so there are those who actually support what he did just like her.
"There will surely be some bacsh, Mr. Vanitas, and from my knowledge, there is a high likelihood that the shareholders will try to use this opportunity to make you seem even more unfavorable in the eye of the staff and other investors. But that is only a small portion of the staff members. A majority of us support you wholeheartedly.
I believe you can rest assured that we will not doubt your integrity."
Mark took in a deep breath and sighed as he stared out from the car. It was reassuring that they still supported him. Mark knew that there would be those who did not like what he did, but he didn''t care about that. He did what he did to protect those around him and he was not going to regret it.
Mark already figured out a way to deal with the difficult shareholders once and for all, but it was going to take quite some time.
With how hectic things already were, Mark just knew that it was going to be a long day.
Chapter 197: What Is This Power?
The long limousine arrived at the front of the tall skyscraper that served as the Vanitas Company Headquarters in America. The building had the symbol of the Vanitas Family, arge silver V with golden wings circling it like an angel and most of the building exterior was made from ss.
It was located in City C, so it took quite some time for them to arrive, but Mark could see that there was a long line of staff members standing on either side of a long red carpet in front of the building and waiting for him before he even arrived. They were all standing with their hands at their sides, and as Mark stepped out of the car, they bowed to him reverently.
Mark eyed the long line of people, and he could see some of them shifting nervously. Anyone else would have failed to notice these small movements, but Mark noticed how some of the staff were shuffling and clenching their fists gently due to his enhanced senses. They were tense. Were they nervous about meeting him, or did it have something to do with what happened with the killer?
Mark ignored them after some time and looked down the line at the entrance of the building. Hugo was standing there with a man and a woman standing to either side of him. Hugo was smiling widely as he waited for Mark, and Mark couldn''t stop hisownsmile from spreading as he walked down the line to meet his godfather.
"Mark, you''re even taller than thest time I met you."
Hugo spread his arms wide and hugged Mark happily as Mark approached him. Mark epted the hug and patted Hugo on the back gently.
"Godfather, it''s been a while. I thought I told you not to take things too far. I won''t be staying for long; is all thisreallynecessary?"
"Of course, it is. They are watching, so we have to let them know who is in charge here."
Hugo nced up to the left, and Mark also nced in that direction at a certain window in the skyscraper. There was a man standing at the window with his hands behind his back, gazing straight at Mark with a narrowed re. Mark held the man''s stare for a few moments before he finally turned back to Hugo.
That man was one of the shareholders of thepany and the person who was the most vocal about not wanting Mark to take over thepany. He was known as Dante Sinir, and after Mark, he was the highest shareholder in thepany.
That was the same man that Mark read about in thepany files earlier. Mark already figured that Sinir was someone he needed to take care of and now Hugo was just confirming it for him.
Mark spoke up while turning to Hugo.
"Let''s get started."
Hugo nodded as he introduced the people who were with him. The man on Hugo''s left was Hugo''s personal secretary, who was in charge of handling all the political tasks that Hugo himself was not able to carry out.
Hugo was an old man, so he was not able to be everywhere he needed to be, and the man was in charge of standing in for Hugo whenever there was something thatreallyneeded his attention and he could not go. His name was Ryan, and he was the man that Hugo trusted the most out of everyone in thepany.
Mark nodded to Ryan, and Ryan gave Mark a respectful nod in return.
Hugo then introduced the other person there. She was a woman wearing a ck trouser suit, and she had her hair cut into a short bob. Just from the aura alone that she was releasing while standing there, Mark could already tell that this woman was a superhuman. He was able to sense it the moment heid eyes on her, and from his deduction, he knew that she was probably an A or B rank.
¡
Name: Joy Frida
Race: Human
Title: Weapons Mistress
Rank: A
Potential: A
Description: A superhuman blessed by the goddess of darkness Nyx, she is capable of erasing her presence and moving through the shadows, making her the perfect assassin. She has mastered more than twenty different types of weapons and is proficient in ten forms of hand-to-handbat. She is currently working as the main bodyguard for the acting CEO of Vanitas Motors, Hugo.
Affiliation: Lawful Neutral
¡
Mark was internally surprised as he saw Frida''s tab through True Sight, and he listened half-heartedly as Hugo went ahead to introduce Frida.
"This here is Joy, she is the head of my guards. I don''t go anywhere without her there to take care of anything dangerous, and she has been a great help, especially during uneventful negotiations."
The world of business and politics were always intersecting, and there were a lot of dangerous people in both of these worlds who would do anything for their own gain. There have been many attempts on Hugo''s life by those who wished to take the Vanitas Company for themselves, but Frida was able to handle all of those and protect Hugo''s life, so Hugo owed her a huge debt.
Mark gave Frida a nod as well, but he noticed that Frida hesitated for a moment before nodding back at him. Her expression was extremely stoic, but there was something in her eyes that told Mark that they would not be able to get along. Was she one of the people who didn''t approve of his actions against the killer?
Frida stared at Mark, and she couldn''t help but tighten her hand unconsciously as she tried her best to keep her cool. Mark was actually wrong about Frida not being in support of what he had done against the killer before. Frida didn''t care that Mark killed someone. She didn''t even give a damn since she knew that the superhuman killer was a criminal.
In fact, Frida understood that Mark had to kill that killer, and if she was in his position, she would have done theexactsame thing against that killer since she had been a bodyguard all her life. The reason why Frida was ufortable around Mark was actually because of his aura.
Frida did not know if it was just an extra part of her blessing that she did not know how to control, but ever since she got her blessing, she could always read a person''s strength level by simply looking at them. This is something that has proved very useful for her in the political world.
She could tell if someone was bluffing their strength or if her client was really in trouble by simply ncing at her opponent. But there was no way that her eyes were telling her the truth right now. What the hell could have this much power?
Boom!
Mark''s power was phenomenal! It was like an endless storm of darkness and death was surrounding him at all times and warning her of her demise if she dared to go against him! It took all of her willpower to just stand there and not react when Mark came close to her.
Chapter 198: The Bulldozer
Frida could read a person''s power by seeing an aura around them. It was almost like an outline that showed how much pressure that person was exerting from their power. But when she looked at Mark, Frida felt like she was about to be crushed just by being in his presence!
His power level was so great and immeasurable that there was a constant blue storm of powering off his body in waves like a raging ocean! She had only seen such power once before, and that was when she and Hugo met with an Undefined superhuman who was nning to buy a fleet of cars from thepany for their guild. Frieda thinks that the superhuman was named Gunter or something.
She left the meeting that they had with the undefined too quickly and afterward, she was too preupied with scoping the area to care about their name.
But even without fighting him, Frida knew that she would die in seconds if she faced off against Gunter, and now she was feeling the same thing against Mark.
Could she even run from a person like this? No, that wouldn''t be possible! Frida knew that if it ever came down to a contest of strength or if she was in a position where she had to protect her client against someone like Mark, the best she could do was to grab her client and run, and she knew that even that would not be enough! They wouldn''t stand a damn chance against him!
But how is Mark already an Undefined? I thought he was an S ss! That was madness! I heard that he was struggling against Disaster sses a few months ago! How did he already be strong enough to have the same aura as an Undefined!?
Frida looked towards Mark again, and she saw that Mark was still looking at her! She quickly averted her eyes, and she was d that she managed to keep her stoic look on her face! She knew that she didn''t have a choice but to be close to Mark since she was Hugo''s bodyguard, but she didn''t want to be anywhere near that aura for more than she had to be, so she would rather just avoid him for now!
Mark noticed Frida looking away again when their eyes met, and he decided that shereallyjust didn''t like him! That was fine by him, though! He didn''treallygive a damn about what people thought about him, so he just ignored her and started moving deeper into the building.
The inside of the Vanitas Motors building was extremelyrge with many people standing around and watching Mark move through the grounds with varying expressions on their faces.
"Is that him? That''s GHOST, right? What is he doing here?"
"Are you stupid? Didn''t you get the memo that he wasing to visit thepany today? He''s the son of the former president!"
"Eh!?"
"Shhh~! Are you insane!? Shut up!"
"I can''t believe they''re allowing him toe in here after what he did the other day. That man is a murderer."
"Man? That ''man'' is barely eighteen. He''s young."
"Eh? Really? Holy shit. What are kids eating these days?"
"It''s nothing like that, he''s just too fucking tall for his age. But still, to think that he is both GHOST as well as the heir to the Vanitas Franchise. That is probably the one person that you do not want to go against in this city. It doesn''t matter what you do, you willdefinitelylose against him. It''s a bit scary that one person has this much power."
"And he''s a murderer to boot. It would be terrifying doing business against someone like this!"
"Maybe this will be good for thepany. Ourpetitors won''t dare to mess with us if they know Mark is the one at the top."
"Or maybe it will make our customers leave us because they don''t like Mark. Who knows."
Mark ignored the voices of some of the staff that were standing around and walked towards where he knew the shareholder''s meeting room was.
They took an elevator up to the top floor of the building, and they were about to make their way to the meeting room, but Mark raised a brow as a group ofrge men suddenly appeared from the hallway on one side and obstructed him from moving forward towards the meeting room! Well, this is getting interesting.
From what Mark could feel, he knew that every one of these men was a superhuman. There were mostly A and B ranks, but there was one S rank among them that stood in front of the rest of them. The men were all wearing ck suits and sunsses with earpieces in their ears. They looked like professional bodyguards and carried themselves with confidence as they stared Mark down.
"What is the meaning of this? Move out of the way this instant!"
Hugh shouted from behind Mark as hemanded the guards to get out of the way, but they did not budge. The S-rank that was in front of them was arge man who filled out his suitpletely. He was even taller than Mark, and he was able to look Mark right in the eye as he blocked his path.
¡
Name: Ian Jake
Race: Human
Title: BULLDOZER
Rank: S
Potential: A
Description: A powerful man blessed by the demigod Hercules. He possesses extraordinary physical strength and can stand toe to toe with high-level Cmity sses in terms of power alone. Before bing a superhuman, he was a UFC fighter and three-time champion.
Affiliation: Uwful Neutral
¡
Mark read through the man''s tab and he couldn''t help but be slightly impressed! So he wasn''t just tall for nothing; he wasactuallystrong! Mark knew that it was difficult to find people who could stand toe to toe with Cmity sses in terms of power, so the fact that Jake could do that was very impressive! But that was not something that Mark cared about!
Even if the man was an S-rank, Mark knew that he could handle him easily! But what was even more impressive was the fact that Jake was taller than Mark. This was a first for Mark.
Mark looked up at Jake, and Jake nced back at Mark with a nk look on his face.
Doom!
The two superhumans stared each other down with intensity, and the others in the room started to sweat as they felt the intense pressure that they were both releasing from their aura! Mark and Jake were both power types that used strength to fight, so there was no telling what would happen if one of them threw a punch!
At best, the entire area would be destroyed, and everyone there would end up as coteral damage! Mark had a small grin on his face as his pressure increased, but Jake managed to keep his face perfectly stoic as he joined his hands in front of him.
Mark suddenly lost his excitement as Jake concealed his pressure and rxed his re before bowing his head slightly! Mark narrowed his eyes at Jake.
How boring.
Chapter 199: This Is Why I Hate Business
How boring.
Markactuallyhoped for a moment that Jake would attack him. it''s been a while since Mark smacked another superhuman around.
Jake spoke up in a respectful tone while bringing his head up after a few seconds.
"My apologies, but the meeting room is currently being used by the shareholders for an important meeting and it is off-limits to anyone else."
Mark tilted his head to one side with a re as he also reduced his pressure, and his aura calmed down.
"You''re telling me an area is off-limits in my own building? Are you trying to insult me right now or are you trying to say that you just don''t know who I am? just know that regardlessfowhat answerougive, you will still be the one in the wrong. Do you think I couldn''t get rid of you easily if I wanted to?"
Mark did not want to use his Killer''s Aura skill here because he knew that it would be too much to start having a contest of power when they were trying to have a civil conversation. But Mark''s regr Aura as he narrowed his eyes was already enough to make some of the B and A ranks behind Jake start to sweat. Jake managed to stand his ground as he continued talking.
"The shareholders have instructed me to keep all non-shareholders from joining the meeting. Mr. Hugo is permitted to enter the room since he is currently the acting CEO of thepany, but you do not have the necessary clearance."
Hugo immediately felt extreme anger fill his entire body as he heard what the guard said! How dare someone make such an order!
"And who made such a stupid order?"
"Mr. Sinir passed the order."
Hugo''s brow twitched as he heard that name, and he tightened his hands into fists. Sinir was the person backed by the other shareholders in thepany to take over as the next CEO. Sinir has been the rising star of thepany for a long time now, and he has risen high in thepany.
It would be difficult to get rid of someone like that because he was backed by many shareholders, so he was using that to his advantage and doing whatever he wanted. That bastard.
Jake was adamant that Mark would not be getting past him, and Mark flexed his fists tightly as he was one moment away from mming Jake into the next building, but a hand suddenly touched Mark on the shoulder, and Mark turned around to look at Hugo. Hugo shook his head and spoke gently.
"Please wait in the room at the side. I will talk to the shareholders and make things clear. Joy, Ryan, please remain behind with Mark and make sure that no one approaches him while I am gone."
Hugo knew that the guards might try to provoke Mark even more when he left, so it would be best if those two stayed with Mark to prevent anyone from getting close to him. Hugo didn''t want Mark to fight on his first day back at the office. Ryan and Frieda nodded to Hugo in agreement, and Hugo finally turned to Mark expectantly.
Hugo and Mark stared at each other for some time and Mak tried to understand what the hell Hugo was thinking. Why the hell was he going along with this bullshit from the shareholders? Mark couldn''t get anything from Hugo''s stare and Mark finally sighed and walked to the side with his hands in his pockets. He would wait for some time and see if Hugo could handle this.
If he could not, then Mark was going to handle it himself.
Joy and Ryan followed Mark into the waiting room. They remained standing, and Mark settled down on a couch inside thevish waiting room with a sigh as he loosened his tie slightly. Mark looked around the room, and he began to get shbacks of when he was a little boy and he woulde with his dad to thepany building.
Whenever his dad was having a meeting on this floor, this is where Mark would wait for him. It was probably the mostfortable ce in this entire office.
Ring~!
Mark heard his phone go off, and he immediately picked up and spoke into his AirPods.
"Pat, what do you have for me?"
Pat''s nonchnt voice came through the phone and spoke quickly. Mark could still hear the sound of keyboard keys in the background, and from how frequently Pat was pressing the keys, Mark knew that Pat was most likely ying an online game.
[Good news, or maybe bad news. Depends on how you look at it, I suppose. This is why I never wanted to be part of yourpany, the business world is messy as fuck. You fucking NPC, get the fuck out of my way! I''ll send the data to your phone, and you can take a look at it.]
The sound of machine guns was also echoing through theairpodsand Pat shouted at eh screen again as arge explosion went off.
Mark got a ping on his phone, and he thanked Pat before clicking off the phone and taking a look at what Pat sent. Mark read through everything quickly, and both Frieda and Ryan were stunned to see the deep frown that appeared on Mark''s face!
Mark''s aura red for a moment as a great amount of anger surged in his chest, and Frieda''s arm tensed as her fight-or-flight response was about to kick in at any second. But Mark was able to rein in his anger before things went too far, and he took a calming breath as his aura rxed once more.
Mark nced at Frieda, and she quickly looked away and stared at the wall stoically! Her face was perfectly nk, but inside her mind, she was shouting in dread as she hoped that Mark wouldn''t talk to her! She didn''t want to be close to him at all!
It was already bad enough that they were in the same room like this; she was one second away from simply bolting out of there from the pressure that he was releasing!
''Don''t talk to me. Please don''t talk to me. Please don''t talk to me! Please don''t talk to me!''
"Frieda."
''Fuck!''
Frieda cursed in her mind as she turned to Mark gently and gave him a nod in response. Mark tapped his finger against the hand of the couch as he asked her an important question.
"How normal is something like this in thepany? Is itmon for a mere shareholder to tell the acting CEO what to do, and does Hugo go along with it often?"
Frieda was silent as she heard what Mark said; she knew that how she answered here was important! Mark wasbasicallyasking her if Hugo was losing power in thepany! Even though Mark was the son of the former CEO, she did not have any loyalty to Mark! Hugo was her employer, and Hugo was the one that she needed to protect!
Frieda was about to speak up and say that it was not amon urrence, but she was beaten to it by someone else.
Chapter 200: He Is A Coward
Ryan spoke up before Frieda could get a word out.
"We cannot say how often it urs, but to my knowledge, the CEO has never fought against a decision made by Mr. Sinir unless it was directly rted to your family or the well-being of thepany."
Frieda turned to Ryan with a re, and Ryan did his best not to look at her! Ryan was just a normal human, so he knew that Frieda could easily overpower and beat the shit out of him if she wanted to, so he didn''t bother ncing at her or knowing how angry she was! Even if she wanted to protect Hugo, there was a limit!
They couldn''t keep overlooking Hugo''s faults even though it was directly affecting thepany!
Ryan knew that he owed a lot to Hugo for all that he had done for him, but that was exactly why Ryan felt like he had to do this. He couldn''t allow Hugo to let those bastards walk over him all the time like this.
Ryan stepped forward as hepletely ignored Frieda.
"Mr. Vanitas, if I may be so bold, I would like to tell you about the shorings I have noticed in Mr. Hugo recently ¨C"
"Ryan!"
Frieda shouted Ryan''s name angrily, and Ryan''s entire body locked up in fear as he felt her re increase. Frieda dared Ryan to continue talking! Is he a fool!? Is this really how he was going to repay Hugo''s kindness all this time!? Hugo has paid them well and taken care of them if they ever need anything; how dare he do this to their benefactor!
Ryan could hear the anger in Frieda''s voice, but he refused to turn and look at her! There was nothing that would stop him from talking now that he had the chance to do so, and he was not going to allow her anger to scare him!
Ryan wasactuallyterrified! But he trusted that as long as he did not look in her eyes, he could keep going! He was not going to look at her no matter what! She was just too scary to face directly! And besides, Ryan knew that since Mark was here, nothing could happen to him!
Frieda took a step towards Ryan, but Mark raised his hand and spoke up.
"No, stop. I want to hear about this, Frieda. Ryan, go on."
Frieda was immediately silenced as she heard Mark speak up. She turned to Mark and saw that he was not even looking at her. Mark was staring at Ryan with a contemtive gaze, and she knew that nothing she did right now would stop Mark from hearing what Ryan had to say. Frieda bit her inner lip angrily and shifted back.
She was not happy with the situation, but there was nothing that she could do against Mark''s power in thispany. She had no choice but to listen to him.
Ryan cleaned some of the sweat that umted on his brow when he noticed that Frieda was walking towards him! Ah~! That was terrifying! Was Friedareallygoing to attack him back then!? He is a normal human, you know. If she attacks him, then he isdefinitelygoing to die!
That crazy bitch didn''t even care about his life!
Mark waved his hand in a ''go on'' gesture, and Ryan took that as his signal to continue talking.
"Mr. Vanitas, I am one of the closest liaisons to Mr. Hugo, and I can say withplete assurance that Mr. Hugo loves thispany and your family more than anything. If there were ever a situation where Mr. Hugo had toy down his life in exchange for you or thispany, then he would dly do it a hundred times over.
But that being said, Mr. Hugo is not without his faults. Forck of a better word, I can only say that Mr. Hugo is a coward when facing off against the shareholders and investors."
Mark narrowed his eyes when Ryan said this, and Ryan swallowed as he tried to continue without being affected by Mark''s reaction.
"Mr. Hugo loves thispany too much, and his love for thispany and your family has prevented him from making decisions that would be seen as risky or forward-thinking in the fear that he would damage something unretrievable in thepany. Everypany requires a critical thinker as its leader.
Someone who is not scared to make difficult or dangerous decisions that may seem destructive in the short runin order toimprove thepany in the long run. That person is not Mr. Hugo. He does notck vision; in fact, I have never seen a more capable man in terms of forward-thinking and decision-making than Mr.
Hugo, but hecks the courage to implement his ns because he fears that it would eventually affect your family negatively. Mr. Hugo loves your family, but that love itself is a shackle that has prevented him from doing what is necessary."
Ryan finally went silent as he finished giving his talk to Mark, and Mark was left in a contemtive mood as he considered what Ryan just said. So, this is the real face of Hugo. Mark was greatly appreciative of what Hugo had done as the CEO of hispany.
Mark knew that the Vanitaspany was still as strong as it was when his father died, and that wassomething that wasvery difficult for most people to aplish.
But that was also an issue. It has already been four years since Mark''s father died, and thepany was still in the same ce that it was for those four years.
This was something that confused Mark when he was reading through the document that Jane gave him when they were together in the limousine earlier. One of the documents held the data from thepany''s expenses and revenue, as well as their gross and profit margins over the recent years.
Mark learned everything that he needed to learn from his father at a young age, and he was able to deduce that when he ounts for intion in the profit margins, therereallyhas been no significant growth in thepany. Thepany was simply in the same state that it had been when his father died four years ago.
So, Hugo was the reason for this. Mark hummed, and he finally noticed the intense re that Frieda was giving Ryan from behind. Frieda was seething as she red at Ryan, and Mark could see Ryan sweating bullets as he tried his best to maintain hisposure. Mark finally spoke to Frieda in an attempt to dispel the tension.
"If you have something to say to me, then say it. Ryan spoke his mind, and I respect that; do not just hold your contempt inside you; speak up and prove why you think your point is more valid."
"!"
Chapter 201: The Dante Family
"If you have something to say to me, then say it. Ryan spoke his mind, and I respect that. Do not just hold your contempt inside you; speak up and prove why you think your point is more valid."
"!"
Frieda was stunned to hear Mark talking to her, and she waspletely unprepared for him to suddenly ask her to talk! Frieda immediately stopped ring at Ryan as she turned to Mark, and Mark leaned back on the couch calmly as he waited for her to start talking.
Frieda tried her best to ignore the intense aura that wasing from Mark as she organized her mind. Frieda knew that she was much older than Mark. She was twenty-six, so she was at least eight years his senior, but she couldn''t help but feel so small at that moment. Right now, she felt like a student giving a presentation in front of her school teacher!
"Well, in Mr. Hugo''s defense, I think Ryan is being unnecessarily harsh in his analysis. I know that there were times when Mr. Hugo made decisions that I would consider cowardly, but that is only because at that time there was nothing that he could do. Mr. Hugo has thepany''s best interest at heart, and he has made it his mission to leave behind a legacy that he can be proud of for you to inherit.
Mr. Hugo has helped save the jobs of many employees and has given struggling subsidiaries a lot of opportunities and chances to redeem themselves. As far as I am concerned, Mr. Hugo''s method of leading thispany is what is best for the people in thepany."
Frieda finally finished herownspeech, and Mark looked away from them both as he leaned his head back on the couch backrest to stare at the ceiling. There was a heavy debate going on in his heart at the moment, and in a way, Mark already knew which side would win.
Hugo was doing great work here. He was looking out for the employees and making sure that no one wasid off by giving them a chance. That was something that Mark''s father was very focused on in his lifetime, so Mark could understand it.
Mark was sure that Hugo was also trying to make sure that the shareholders didn''t cut off many of the subsidiaries, and that is the reason why Hugo didn''t have much of a say in many of the other decisions in thepany.
To secure the future growth of thepany or to secure the future of the people working in thepany.
That was the choice that Hugo had to face any time he was trying tomake a decisionfor thepany. Hugo cared about the people and didn''t mind being in this stagnant position for the next ten years if it meant that he could provide a stable life for all the people that he was looking over.
Although it was an admirable thing to do, that was not what was best for thepany. As far as Mark was concerned, he cared more about growth than anything else. What is the point of looking over the employees if there is no growth in thepany?
Marks knows that the employees are important, but keeping thepany stagnant like this will make them irrelevant in the market in the future and then none of them will have a job anymore.
Alright, Mark decided that he could use this to his advantage. Mark had no idea that something like this was going on in the office, but now that he had found out about it, he only needed to make a few adjustments to his initial n and he would be able to kill two birds with one stone.
"Fiona, call the police."
¡
Bam!
"Sinir, what is the meaning of this!?"
Hugo barged into the meeting room for the shareholders with a deep re on his face. There were twenty people in the room currently seated around arge oval table in the center of therge white room. There was an aura of seriousness that covered the whole ce as they all looked toward the man who was seated at one end of the table with his legs crossed and a contemtive look on his face.
The man had ck hair with white streaks that fell over his left eye. His red eyes were narrowed in a permanent look of contemtion that showed just how much he was always thinking. He wore a pure white suit with a ck inner shirt and a red tie that matched his appearance splendidly.
This man was Dante Sinir, the first son of the Dante Enterprise and one of the major shareholders in the Vanitas enterprise. The Dante family was a very secretive family of moguls.
Their entire family ran a hedge fundpany called The Vault that traded multiple billions in the stock market every day, and they were responsible for growing the wealth of more than one-third of the richest men and women in the American Federation.
Dante''s family was extremely rich because of the man who founded the Vault and made their family into the global trading entity that they were at that time. Sinir''s grandfather Keith was the one who built thepany up from nothing in the early seventies, and he took them even higher when he began to purchase other hedge funds that were going under during the great depression.
This allowed theirpany to absorb many rich men and women who were a part of those other hedge funds, and they became a household name and powerhouse on Wall Street after the Depression.
The Dante family owned arge portion of every major business in America. Most people didn''t know it, but the Dante family was so deeply rooted in the economy of America that they could be considered an essential nervous system that would cripple the economy if they were ever taken out. The Dantes made it their mission to gain as much money and power as possible while staying in the shadows.
They did not involve themselves in the businesses that they invested in. The Dante only invested in top businesses and would go back into hiding after the investment and just allow their money to grow and add to their already enormous wealth while they stayed in the shadow, but the Vanitas franchise was different.
The Dantes invested in the Vanitas business a long time ago when Mark''s grandfather was still alive, and back then they were content with just hiding in the shadows and allowing the Vanitas franchise to grow and make them more money. But after the Armageddon attack happened and Mark''s grandfather and mother were both killed, the Dantes saw an opportunity.
The Vanitas franchise was thergestpany under their portfolio. It had seen significant growth in recent years, and from how things were looking, they knew that thepany was only going to keep growing.
And now, the CEO and founder were dead and his son was too young to take over thepany. Wasn''t this the perfect time for a hostile takeover?
Chapter 202: You Think That Man Is A Child?
The Dantes would usually never involve themselves with anotherpany, but they were also smart enough to recognize fresh meat dangling in front of their face like this. They knew that it would be stupid to just allow thepany to go to Mark Vanitas when they could take over and reap even more benefits from it.
So, the Dantes sent their eldest son, Sinir, into thepany. Sinir had only one mission. Bring as many shareholders as possible over to his side and make them appoint him as the next CEO instead of Mark. If Sinir bes the next CEO, then taking over thepany from the inside would be a piece of cake for the Dantes!
Sinir was a brilliant man who made his decisions based on a massive amount of umted data and intense initial contemtion. His mind worked like a V12 engine at all times, calcting and parsing any information that reached him before using it in a way that would be beneficial to him and his family.
But he couldn''t have anticipated something like this would happen so quickly. Sinir red at Hugo from the head of the table, and he almost felt like stabbing a knife through this old fool''s head. How dare he bring that foolish boy to thepany without informing anybody?
Sinir has always known Hugo to be mellow and agreeable. Hugo is brilliant, but his cowardice prevents him from going against many of the decisions that the board makes, so Hugo is never seen as the true leader of thepany. The only times that Hugo would speak up was when it was to protect thepany employees or subsidiaries.
So why was the fool suddenly acting up and trying to disrupt everything by bringing that boy here?
Sinir was not happy that Mark was here, but he would not let that phase him. Instead, he took it in stride and began to make new ns that would ount for this irregrity.
"Sinir, what is the meaning of this? Did you send guards to prevent Mark froming into this meeting room?"
Sinir raised a confused brow as he leaned back in the head seat calmly. Now, when the hell did he ever do something like that? Was Hugo trying to use him of something that he never even did? That could end badly for you, old man. I don''t take kindly to false usations.
"Mr. Hugo, I have no idea what you''re talking about. I told my bodyguards not to allow anyone who wasn''t a part of the board of directors into the meeting.
You know more than anyone else that even though Mark Vanitas owned arge percentage of thispany, he is still not suitable to sit in this meeting due to his prolonged absence from previous meetings, paired with the fact that he is not even an adult yet. For all intents and purposes, he is a shareholder in nothing but name alone."
Sinir was pulling shit right out of his ass as he spoke to Hugo, and Hugo knew it! Sinir was trying to use that part of thew that says a person must be voted in by at least 60% of thepany''s shareholders before they can be regarded as a member of the board. But Hugo also knew that aw like that did not apply to the owner of thepany.
The owner of thepany was allowed to be at every board meeting and they could even be absent from board meetings for as long as they wanted without facing any form of repercussion whatsoever!
Sinir was trying to use the fact that Mark was not yet recognized as the owner of thepany by the board to drive the board to agree to not allow Mark into the meeting. Hugo gritted his teeth in irritation as he heard Sinir say this, and he had to force himself to calm down a bit before speaking again.
"You know exactly why Mark Vanitas was absent from those meetings. He was in mourning for his parent''s death, and he was not ready toe back into the business world yet. Why would you hold something so vague against a child?"
Sinir immediately raised a brow in disbelief when he heard Hugo call Mark a child.
"Child?"
Sinir couldn''t believe that Hugo was trying to do something like this. You mean to tell me that you looked at that boy ¨C no, that man that came into this building, and you still have the gall to refer to him as a child? That monster that was capable of destroying buildings and breaking through metal like paper is who you are calling a child?
Sinir put his face in his hand and chuckled deeply.
"Child? Youreallyhave the gall to refer to someone like that as a child. No, that is not a child. That is a man who was blessed with immense power and someone who decided to misuse that power and be a vignte. So is thatreallythe sort of person you wish to see as the face of ourpany?
Do you want the Vanitas Motors franchise to be spearheaded by a former vignte who once had awsuit opened against him by the government? If he was so interested ining back then he should have thought more about his image, and he should not have done something as foolish as bing a vignte!"
m!
Sinir mmed his palm into the table once he finished talking, and Hugo could see genuine anger and disappointment in Sinir''s eyes. All around the table, Hugo watched as most of the members of the board also started to nod their heads along as they saw the sense in what Sinir was saying!
They knew that it would be difficult to speak up against Hugo individually, so most of them were relying on Sinir to speak their minds. Hugo could immediately tell that most of the board of directors were also a part of this.
Even though Sinir was currently trying to take over thepany, that does not mean he did not care about the Vanitas name. Sinir needed the Vanitas name to be clean, and he also needed the public to look favorably at them so that he wouldn''t have an issue with trying to expand thepany in the future. Right now, Mark''s presence was like a joker card.
There were those who loved Mark for all that he had done in the city, and there were also those who saw Mark as nothing but a murderer. How can they improve thepany if the public sentiment was this vague?
Chapter 203: A Rumbunctious Entrance
Sinir needed the Vanitas name to be clean, and he also needed the public to look favorably at thepany so that he wouldn''t have an issue with trying to expand thepany in the future. Right now, Mark''s presence was like a poker card. There were those who loved Mark for all that he had done in the city, and there were also those who saw Mark as nothing but a murderer.
How can they improve thepany if the public sentiment was this vague?
Sinir was a businessman, and he knew how important public sentiment and your image in the eyes of others was. The mere fact that Mark was willing to go out into the public as a vignte without caring about what sort of message that would pass on to those who invested in hispany proved to Sinir that Mark did not have what it takes to oversee thispany.
Sinir saw Mark as nothing but a battle maniac who would do anythingin order toenjoy the thrill of a good fight. That is not someone that deserved to be the CEO!
One of the members of the board, a middle-aged woman who had a mean look on her face and wore ck-rimmed sses with silver handles, spoke up. She had a high pitch to her voice that made everyone turn to her immediately she started talking, but she was not paying attention to anyone but Hugo as she said what was on her mind.
"That boy should be sent back to business school so that he may learn how to act in public as the heir to apany asrge as this. After four years, maybe he will learn enough to finallye and sit down at this table, but until then, he does not deserve to be here."
The woman was one of the major shareholders in Vanitas Motors, and she had sent a lot of her children to business school so that they would learn how to take care of a business as well as how to act in public so that they do not tarnish the image of their business. As far as she was concerned, all this happened because Mark did not know how to act in public!
They never gave Mark the proper education, so they were partly at fault for him acting in th way that he was!
Another man who was already balding in the middle of his head spoke up while ring at Hugo and leaning forward over the table.
"And isn''t there another issue that recently happened with that Mark boy? He killed someone, and the public is not fully in his favor because of it. What sort of person would do something like that just moments beforeing back to his father''spany? Forget him being the head of thepany, just the mere fact that he is in here is already affecting our image in the eyes of most of the civilians.
Are you that desperate to see our stocks plummet? You want to see a murderer as the head of ourpany?"
The board of directors suddenly started to be more and more vocal as they all agreed with what the other two were saying. They knew that it would be a bad idea to let Mark be the CEO, but it was also true that just allowing Mark into the building was already enough to affect them negatively!
They wouldn''t be surprised if their stocks plummeted the moment it got out that Mark was in the building!
Hugo was dumbstruck in the face of all the usations that were being thrown around. What is this? Why were they all so against Mark like this!?
Hugo would understand if it was one or two people who were against Mark being here since Hug knew that many of them were in Sinir''s circle and they preferred Sinir to Mark as the next CEO, but it was almost everyone that was speaking up and they were all on the same page! It almost seemed like they had already nned this earlier before Mark even came here.
But I am sure that no one knew that Mark wasing, so how was Sinir able to find out about this?
Hugo red at Sinir in anger, and Sinir just leaned back and smiled as he watched the other members of the board making his points for him. Sinir knew that he had Hugo in a chokehold right now and that there was nothing that Hugo could do.
If there was one thing that Sinir had learned about Hugo in the few years that they have worked together, it is the fact that Hugocked a backbone when it came down to decisions made by the board. When the board was in general agreement like this about something that could affect thepany, it was fucking easy to make Hugo fold and agree to whatever they were saying.
Right now, Sinir knew that Hugo would be in a very tough position. So, tell me, what exactly are you going to do? Are you going to ignore the warnings of the board and bring that boy in here against better judgment, or are you going to listen to us and get rid of that boy before he can cause even more trouble than he already has?
Sinir waited patiently for what Hugo was going to do, and he leaned forward as he saw that Hugo was ready to talk -
m!
A body suddenly mmed into the door leading to the room and threw it open before they mmed into the wall on the other side of the room, and the person slumped against the wall. Sinir blinked twice in surprise as he saw the person who was currently unconscious on the ground. Isn''t that my bodyguard? Wait, did Mark beat my bodyguard!?
"Ah, this is so annoying. You old people shouldreallyknow how to pick your battles better. Aren''t you ashamed that you''re saying all this about someone less than half your age?"
Everyone in the room immediately went silent as they turned to look at the door leading into the room, and they saw Mark Vantas entering it. He had one hand in his pocket and the other was around the back of his neck as he turned his neck from side to side. Mark took a punch from the bodyguard earlier, and it made a small tension form in his neck.
Crack!
Mark twisted his neck to one side, and the tension cracked out of ce. He then sighed as he entered the room and looked around at the people at the table. This was quite the gathering. Mark remembered most of these people from four years ago when he was still just a kid, and he couldn''t help but smile a bit as he looked around the table.
Chapter 204: Love Me, Hate Me, It Matters Little
"It''s been a while, hasn''t it? I''m sorry my entrance was so chaotic. It seems that someone ced guards in front of my meeting room to stop me from getting here. I didn''t have the easiest time, so I had to make do with what I had. Hopefully, you all don''t mind. Frieda, please take the body."
Frieda appeared from outside the room, and she walked over to take the unconscious body of Jake with her before she left. Ryan also came into the room and closed the door behind him as he went to stand behind Mark.
Mark smiled kindly at all the people in the room. The silence from them was intense. Most of them were just staring at Mark with wide eyes as they tried toprehend the feeling of awe that filled their hearts the moment they saw Mark. Even though this was a board meeting, that does not mean that Mark did not have any fans in the room.
But the rest of them were too busy ring at Mark, and they were practically trying to fry Mark into nothing with their eyes alone!
"Mark, what are you doing here? I told you to wait for me to handle this, and I''ll call you once I''m done."
Hugo immediately walked up to Mark, and Mark just raised his hand to tell Hugo not to bother. Mark already got the basic gist of everything that was happening from Ryan, and he knew that he could not trust Hugo to go against the board of directors in a situation like this.
Mark did not want to believe Ryan at first, but after listening in on this meeting using his enhanced hearing and seeing how things were going, Mark couldn''t help but face the fact that Ryan was telling the truth. With the way things have been going, Mark knew that it was only a matter of time before the board strong-armed Hugo into seeing things their way.
"This is mypany, and I don''t need someone else togrant me permissionbefore I can enter it. If something like this ever happens again, I''ll dissolve the board and get myself a new board of directors. Hugo, please have a seat."
Mark turned to Hugo, and Hugo saw that Mark was not joking around right now. Mark was dead serious, and Hugo immediately went towards one of the seats at the side and sat down quietly. Mark put his hands in his pockets and walked to the head of the table opposite where Sinir was seated, and he calmly sat down while his hard gaze was fixed on Sinir.
The two men were caught in an intense staredown. Sinir had a furrow in his brow, and he grit his teeth discreetly as he felt the intense pressure of Mark''s natural aura pressing down on him. Mark was staring at Sinir with a nk face without showing any emotion whatsoever, but just that was enough to make a bead of sweat start moving down Sinir''s forehead.
"Ah-hem!"
After some time, Sinir finally cleared his throat, and he stood up as calmly as possible before moving to a seat at the side. Sinir tried to make sure he didn''t show how embarrassed he was by this situation on his face, but everyone knew that Sinir felt very humiliated by the loss.
But even though they knew, they couldn''t hold it against Sinir since no one in the room would be able to withstand the pressure if he were in Sinir''s position.
If he kept sitting at the head seat, Sinir knew that he would not be able to think calmly throughout this meeting. Mark''s aura was just too imposing, and Sinir had no chance of thinking clearly while someone like Mark was staring him down. Sinir allowed Mark to win this round, but he swore that he would never forget this humiliation.
Mark leaned back calmly after Sinir left his seat, and he allowed his gaze to sweep over everyone who was gathered there. Most of them weren''t able to meet his eyes, and those who were able to meet his eyes either looked at him in hatred or with admiration.
"It''s been a while since I''ve been in this office. I''m surprised to see that things are very much the same as they were four years ago."
"What are you doing here, Mark?"
Mark turned as he heard someone talking, and he saw that it was one of the oldest shareholders on the board that spoke. She was an old woman with white hair and thin sses hanging on her nose. Her entire demeanor released an aura of motherly calmness and gentleness that would make anyone respect her the moment theyid eyes on her.
Mark knew her very well. Her name was Kate Friday, and she had interacted with Mark many times when he was still just a child. Back then, Kate always smiled at Mark, and she would always have a sweet in her pocket to give him while pinching his cheeks kindly. But that familiarity was no longer there now. Instead, Kate was openly frowning as she gave Mark a hard stare.
Kate was one of the people that managed to meet Mark''s eyes. Even though Mark''s aura was imposing, Kate knew Mark enough to know that he would not harm her.
Mark could see the intense disappointment in Kate''s gaze as he spoke.
"I never thought I would need a reason toe to my ownpany. You of all people should never be asking me something like that."
Kate narrowed her eyes.
"You disappeared from the public eye for a long time, and you stayed under the radarin order tolive the life that you wanted. I never said anything about this because I believed you to be a smart boy. I thought you were simply trying to enjoy the pleasures of youth beforeing into the world of adults and taking up your father''s mantle.
But to think that you not only became a vignte but also a murderer in the space of those four years. How can you allow your re-introduction to the world to be ruined by such infamy?"
Mark hummed as he heard everything that Kate had to say, and the next word that came out of his mouth made Kate''s eyes widen in shock!
"And?"
Mark''s nonchnce was so shocking that most of the people in the room began to shift around in their seats due to the shock that they felt. Even Hugo couldn''t believe how unaffected Mark was, and it was only the fact that Hugo knew how strong-willed Mark was that he did not feel as shocked as the others.
Seeing Mark reacting like he had done nothing wrong even after his crimes were ced right in front of him shocked them. They were not dealing with that child that they knew from so long ago. This was a man that was rooted deep in his own beliefs.
This was all just pointless to Mark. Mark did what he did because he believed that it was the right thing to do. Even as a child, Mark''s parents taught him two things. The first was that he should always do what he believed was right.
Even if the rest of the world was against it, or if there was no one on his side, he should never budge, and the second was that he should always protect those who would stand with him even when the rest of the world was against him.
Mark internalized those teachings, and he has lived by them all his life.
"I did what I did because I believed it was the right thing to do. Love me, hate me, those things do not matter to me. As the future leader of thispany, it would be immature of me to allow public sentiment to sway my resolve. This is something that my father lived by, and I shall remain the same. But that is not what I came here today to discuss with you all.
You see, I am disappointed in all of you."
Chapter 205: What Was The NPLA?
"I am disappointed in all of you."
m!
One of the board members mmed his hand on the table and stood up in anger as he heard Mark say that he was disappointed in them! Who did this boy think he was talking to!? A mere boy was telling them that he was disappointed in them like they were his children. How dare he!?
"If you came here to insult the members of this board, then I will not sit here and take it from the likes of you! I have served thispany with my lifeblood in your father''s absence, and rather than thanking us, you are trying to make us look like fools!"
The man who spoke was a middle-aged man. He had a bit of white hair on the side of his head, but the hair at the center of his head was so ck that it was obvious to everyone that he had been dyeing it.
The man was named Vincent, and he was one of the most vocal supporters of Sinir in thepany.In fact,this man was the one that Sinir used to put forward the motion that Sinir should take over as the next CEO instead of Mark.
If Sinir put forward the motion on his own, then the members of the board would have thought that he was power-hungry, so Sinir told Vincent about his n, and Vincent decided that he would be the one to speak about it first instead.
Immediately after Vincent spoke, Sinir also spoke up while leaning back in his seat calmly.
"I suppose we shouldn''t have expected much from someone who only knows how to use violence to solve problems. I ced my guards out there and told them to be as respectful as possible since you were the son of the former CEO, and yet you injured my headguard so much? That is quite disappointing.Really,I expected much more from that man''s son."
"Hey, Sinir¡"
Sinir''s eyes widened as Mark suddenly tilted his head to the side and nced at him with a narrowed gaze. Sinir swallowed quietly, and he felt his heart rate spike as Mark spoke calmly.
"Don''t you ever talk about my father again, do you understand?"
Sinir looked away from Mark without giving an answer, but Mark made sure that Sinir got the message before he turned his gaze to Vincent.
"Sit down, Vincent."
"You have no right to do this!"
"I said, Sit. Down."
Vincent bit his tongue as he realized that Mark was no longer joking around! From the amount of veins popping out from Vincent''s forehead, everyone knew that Vincent was extremely angry at that moment! Some of them even thought that Vincent would pop a vein with how angry he looked!
Poof!
Vincent sat down forcefully and folded his hands as he red at the space in front of him, and Mark finally turned back to look at the old woman who first spoke up. Kate was looking at Mark as well, and even though there was still a bit of disappointment in her gaze, Mark could also see some approval there. Mark had always known Kate to be his father''s greatest supporter.
She was like a mother to Mark''s father, and she always cared about the Vanitas family as if they were her own family. Kate''s concerns and disappointment didn''t juste about because she wanted to take Mark''s power away from him. It was the sort of disappointment that a mother would feel if they heard that their child fought in school against another child.
If the situation had allowed it, then maybe Mark would have tried to exin things to Kate and tell her whatreallyhappened. He might''ve even invited her over to have a meal in his house. But things were different now. Mark did not have time for things like that; he was in this forest to tear down rotten trees.
"Now, let''sreallyget down to business. Like I said before, I''mreallydisappointed in all of you. It''s been four years. Four very long years since my father and mother passed away. Now, I won''t say that things have been good throughout those four years. The entire world has been through a lot, and thispany is no different.
But that is still no excuse for something like this. Can anyone tell me, what was the NPLA three years ago?"
The Net Profit and Loss Analysis? Most of the shareholders started to look amongst themselves in surprise as they heard Mark ask for something like this. Mark looked from one person to the other, and he waited for someone to speak up. Finally, after some time, Hugo spoke up.
"On average, we saw an increase of thirty percent in our stocks. The sales that year were greatly affected by the destroyed roads. Most people saw no point in purchasing cars as they would not be able to drive them."
Mark nodded as he reached his hand to the side. Ryan had been standing at Mark''s side since Mark came into the room, and he handed Mark a folder. Mark opened it and brought out a piece of paper.
"And when we ount for the intion that year, what would be the NPLA?"
This time, it was Kate who spoke up.
"Twenty-five percent increase on average across all four quarters."
Mark threw the paper from his folder on the table, and the person nearest to it picked it up and began to read through it. The paper was a graph showing the movement of the stocks for that year as well as theparison of the stocks with previous years.
Just like Hugo said, the stocks did not perform that well that yearpared to other years, but it was understandable, and no one would everin about it. They did very well for a bad year.
"Now, who can tell me the NPLA forst two years?"
"I don''t see the point in all of this. What are you trying to prove?"
Sinir spoke up with a sneer as he heard Mark ask another question, and Mark just turned his gaze to him as he picked up a new paper from the folder.
"I said, what was the NPLA? As a prestigious member of the board, I''m sure something like that would be easy for you to remember."
Sinir narrowed his eyes at Mark in irritation before he spoke up.
"Fifty-five percent on average across all four quarters."
Mark nodded.
"Now, when we ount for the intion for that year, what would be the new NPLA?"
"I don''t¡ª"
Mark narrowed his eyes.
"Answer me, Sinir."
Sinirgrithis teeth angrily before he spoke up.
"Twenty-eight percent increase on average across all four quarters."
Mark hummed sarcastically while saying.
"Wow, would you look at that. Therereallyweren''t any changes at all."
Chapter 206: Is This What My Father Built?
Mark threw the second paper on the table, and they all saw that it was another graph showing the performance of their stocks. This time, the stocks did not have much of a divergence from the previous graph.In fact,if you ignored some of the excesses, the stocks had an almost exact graph of performancepared to the previous year.
Some of the people at the table began to shift ufortably, and Mark waved his hand in the air dismissively while nodding.
"But I''m sure that this is just a coincidence. I was in the middle of the situation two years ago, and I know that many things became much more expensive due to how dangerous it was for tradingpanies and salesmen to carry out their business. Our transportation of cars overseas was especially affected since it wasmon for ships to be attacked by sea-basedanima. It''s fine~"
But although Mark was sounding calm and collected, everyone in the room could feel that Mark had still not reduced his aura and the tension in the room was just as thick as ever. Mark brought out a third paper.
"So then, can anyone tell me the NPLA forst year?"
Kate covered her face with her hand and spoke up.
"Mark, I understand your frustration, but you cannote here and begin to berate the members of this board without knowing how difficult things have been recently. The unsure nature of our business is not something that can be quantified by using just the NPLA."
"That is not the answer I was looking for, Kate. But if no one wishes to answer, I''ll give it to you myself. It was fifty-seven percent, and after ounting for the intion, the average NLA across all four quarters came down to a measly twenty-six percent."
Mark threw the third paper on the table. This one showed the graph of the previous year, and everyone could see that it was an identical graph to the previous two that they had just seen.
"It''s funny, isn''t it? I know I said that I was surprised that there haven''t been many changes in my absence, but do not for a moment believe that I see that as a good thing. It pisses me off. Every single thing that remained stagnant in thispany pisses me off something fierce."
Mark grabbed thest paper in the file and threw it on the table. The paper showed a graph of the stock''s performance since the current year started, and with how it was going, everyone knew that it was only going to end up like the previous three.
"So, then, is someone going to exin to me what is the meaning of this? I don''treallycare for your excuses. I want to know why thepany that my father has grown for thest forty-five years is suddenly experiencing the most stagnant four years of its history. We sell cars, and I know how many cars get destroyed in Anima fights every single day. Our business should be flourishing.
There should be an immense demand for cars and car parts by every single insurancepany out there. And yet, we are stagnant. Please, I would like to hear your reasoning."
The room was as silent as a graveyard. There wasn''t a single person in that room who could exin what went wrong or where it had gone wrong. They all knew that Mark had found the worst topic to bring up at this moment. Everyone noticed the stagnation of thepany. Everyone in this room was a capable mathematician because of how deeply rooted they were in business.
They knew that Mark was right, and there was nothing they could say that would counter his argument. The business had been performingterriblyrecently. Not only have they been in the same ce for the past four years, but they have not been able toe up with a good reason why it was happening at all.
Mark eyed the people at the table closely, and he realized that none of them could meet his eyes. Is thisreallythe same board of directors that his father had been so proud of once upon a time? Mark couldn''t help but be even more disappointed.
"So, in my father''s absence, not only did you allow hispany to fall into such a state, but you also started to plot a hostile takeover with the Dante family. Did you think that it would be better to give thepany over to the Dantes because of how it has been performing recently? You all got desperate and decided to just jump ship?"
No one spoke up for a while, but after some time, Mark noticed that Kate was about to say something. He turned to her as she started talking.
"This and that have nothing to do with each other, Mark. I am not going to give excuses for thepany''s recent slump. There has been no progress, and that is all as a result of our inability. But that is also why we need a capable CEO who can take the mantle. Theck of a definite leader will leave any business in disarray. Of course, I am not trying to undermine Hugo''s contribution to thepany.
He has given his best as the acting CEO, and we appreciate him for that, but that is all that he is, an acting CEO. Competitors do not see that position as something to respect, and thepany cannot be run properly since Hugo does not possess the full range of abilities required for the position of the leader."
Mark turned his attention to Hugo, and he saw Hugo closing his eyes tightly and biting his bottom lip in silent anger. Hugo knew that Kate was right, so there was nothing that he could say to counter her argument, but the mere fact that Kate was saying all these things in front of Mark was making his heart harden in anger. Mark leaned back in his seat.
"Hugo, what is the average sry increase for members of thispany?"
Hugo looked up at Mark, surprised, and he quickly answered that the staff were given a ten to thirty percent annual raise based on their level of contribution and the executives were given bonuses based on how well thepany did in the previous years. That wasmon forrgepanies. Mark nodded, and he put his hand to the side to collect another folder from Ryan.
Mark threw the folder on the table, and the contents of the folder spilled on the table. The papers showed arge database of numbers dating all the way back to thest four years. These were the average sries as well as the increase in sries for every single member of thepany.
Mark had looked through everything that Pat sent to him earlier, and he was able to figure out something interesting about it.
"There hasn''t been much of an increase in the sry of our staff even though the rate of intion has made the cost of living skyrocket. But even though this is abnormal, it is something that can be overlooked as simple mismanagement due to the underperformance of our stocks. But what cannot be overlooked is the vortex that exists right in the middle of thepany''s finances."
The tension in the room increased so much that it could be cut by a knife! Mark leaned forward and brought out a single paper as he looked towards his left side and the man who was currently sweating bullets in his seat.
"So, why don''t you look me in the eyes and tell me yourself. Why have you been stealing from mypany, Vincent?"
Everyone in the room immediately looked towards Vincent, and Vincent tightened his hand into fists and mmed it on the table as he stood up!
m!
"What sort of nder is this!?"
Chapter 207: It Was Him, Him, Him, and Her
"So, why don''t you look me in the eyes and tell me yourself. Why have you been stealing from mypany, Vincent?"
Everyone in the room immediately looked toward Vincent, and he tightened his hand into fists and mmed it on the table as he stood up!
m!
"What sort of nder is this!? Do you have any proof!? Do you have any justifiable reason foring in here and using me so tantly!? I''ll have you sued for this! You think you''re above thew just because you''re a superhuman!? You''ll be spending the rest of your life in the Forte after I''m done with you!"
Mark slowly stood from his seat and fixed up his tie gently before he began to move around the table. Vincent''s hands were shaking as he watched Marking towards him, but he stood his ground and decided that he would not run! He was not going to give anyone here any reason to doubt him no matter what! How dare this boy try to nder him in front of the other members of the board!?
"!"
Finally, Mark was standing in front of Vincent, and Vincent could swear at that moment that he had never felt more like a child in his life! It wasn''t just about Mark''s height! There was no denying that Mark was tall, far taller than he had any right to be at that age, but it was also because of how Mark was looking down at him.
His gaze was nerve-wracking, and it reminded Vincent of the look his father would give him whenever he did something silly as a little boy.
Mark was standing right in front of Vincent, and the other people in the room all watched in surprise as Mark leaned down to speak directly into Vincent''s ear. No one could hear what Mark was saying, but they could see the changing expression on Vincent''s face.
His eyes widened briefly as a look of distress appeared on his brow before his expression began to change from distress, to anger, to despair, and finally intoplete and utter hopelessness.
Vincent tightened his hands into fists as he growled somewhere deep in his throat. Mark leaned back and gave Vincent a cold stare. AMrk spoke while putting his hands into his pockets.
"Do you understand what I trying to say?"
Vincent nodded his head once, and Mark spoke calmly as he started walking back to his seat.
"Point them out."
Vincent raised his hand and pointed to a woman sitting opposite him. The woman''s eyes widened as she saw Vincent point at her, and she looked around in shock while raising her hands.
"W-What? What is it?"
Vincent pointed to another person sitting beside the woman before pointing out three other board members in the room. Each of them was stunned by what was happening since they didn''t understand at all, but they all finally understood once Vincent spoke.
"They''re the ones that I was working with."
"What!?"
One of the board members that Vincent pointed at immediately shot to his feet and shouted in anger as he heard what Vincent said! A great wave of anger filled his heart as he heard Vincent using him of being an aplice!
"What sort of nonsense is this!? I didn''t do anything! I didn''t even see any money! If you want to point at someone, then point at Ruby, the stupid bitch! She''s the one who suddenly started swimming in money four years ago! If anyone is stealing from thepany then it''s her!"
"Shut the fuck up, you fucking idiot!"
Ruby immediately stood up once she heard her name being called. She was a middle-aged woman with modest makeup on her face, and she had a deep scowl marring her face as she red at the man who called her name!
"Just because I have more money than you does not mean I stole it! You''re always looking down on me because I''m a woman! I didn''t do anything wrong!"
Vincent''s loud voice suddenly echoed over everyone else!
"You all took bribes from me to hide the fact that I stole money from thepany. The NPLA only dropped because we manipted the books and made away with hundreds of billions! Each of you is an aplice!"
Vincent joined in on the rant as the others began to stand up and rage amongst themselves. Mark watched the carnage happening with a small smile on his face, but he was not looking at any of the people shouting; no, instead, he was staring straight at Sinir. Mark did not hate how things went here.In fact,they went far better than he thought they would go.
But the one person that Mark thought he would catch was the one person that he was not able to get anything on at all.
Sinir was the cleanest bastard that Mark had ever seen.
Sinir had a small smile on his face as well as he looked right into Mark''s eyes. Mark knew that this wasn''t checkmate just yet, but as far as the possibility of bing the CEO went, Sinir was no longer in the picture at all.
Even though no one said it out loud, it was obvious that most of the people standing were those who were in Sinir''s circle. They were the ones who had been supporting Sinir in his ambitious n to be the next CEO. ording to Pat, Sinir was clean, or at least there were no digital traces of corruption as far as Sinir was concerned.
In all of the research that Pat did, he didn''t find a single thing about Sinir being involved in any dirty or illegal activities, but that does not mean that Sinir was clean. It only meant that he was damn good at covering his tracks.
In truth, Sinir wasactuallythe one who made Vincent take the funds out of thepany finances to make sure that thepany did not grow properly. Sinir did notreallyhave to do much; he just made sure that he gave Vincent the right hints at the right times without allowing Vincent to think he was telling him to do anything.
Sinir was just expressing his worry about some insecurities in thepany''s finances, he never explicitly told Vincent to do anything illegal.
Sinir just trusted that Vincent''s corrupt nature would drive him to be greedy, and he would take the money without Sinir having to move a finger, and just like Sinir thought, Vincent took out as much money as possible. Sinir did everything he could to make sure that nothing Vincent was doing could be traced back to him.
Although the money that the members of Sinir''s circle were embezzling waspletely ignored by Sinir. Sinir figured that so long as he kept the people in his circle happy, they would never have a reason to not make him the CEO. It was a perfect n, and Sinir knew that he would have gotten away with this if not for Mark.
Ka-Cha!
The door of the room opened, and Frieda came inside with a squad of police officers. Mark was leaning back in his chair and staring at the ceiling as he heard the people that Vincent pointed at being taken into custody.
"Sinir! You can''t possibly allow something like this to happen! Why are you just sitting there!? Help us! I didn''t even take much money! Thepany finances were already fucked before I even touched anything!"
Chapter 208: Do I Know You?
The person who spoke up was Ruby; she looked on the verge of tears as she cried for Sinir to help them. Ruby had given Sinir a lot of support in recent months after he said that he wanted to be the next CEO.
The amount of money that she had poured into supporting him was not small, and she was sure that he would not just allow them to be taken away like this, but the cold look that she saw in Sinir''s eyes as he turned to her froze her to the bone.
Sinir''s gaze would have been enough to freeze fire itself.
"Huh¡ Do I know you?"
Ruby''s shock was too much, and she couldn''t even mutter another word as a female police officer came and put her in cuffs. They would all be tried for fraud and embezzlement, and Mark knew that they would be spending quite a lot of time away.
Once they were gone, the meeting continued as Mark tapped his fingers on the table and drew attention back to him.
"Now that we''re done with that, we should finish up what we started. The recent chain of events in thepany has led me to realize the ipetence of the board, and I am dissolving the board of directors from this moment onwards."
Kate leaned forward.
"Mark, that is going too far. Just because some of usmitted a crime ¨C"
"And why weren''t you able to realize that they weremitting this crime even though you were right there with them? If not for the fact that I trust you, I would have believed that every single person here was also working with Vincent and arrested you as well."
Kate had to sit back down as she heard the genuine anger in Mark''s voice, and she realized that he was not wrong. They were so blinded by the power struggle that they were not able to notice the tant theft that was going on right in front of them. That was an oversight that cannot be easily forgiven.
Mark continued.
"I knew that Vincent and the other members who stole from thepany were not working alone. They were able to take too much money in a very short time, and that is impossible unless they have someone deep within thepany. That means that for now, I cannot trust any of you until we have found out who that person is.
All decisions about thepany''s activities or major finances will be passed through me before it is vetoed, and no one is allowed to make anysting decisions without my go-ahead. If I hear that a single penny goes missing from mypany again, I will have you all indicted without batting an eye. Do not fuck with me."
Sinir scoffed as he finally had enough of Mark''s bullshit, and he spoke up.
"You have no right to do something like that.In fact,you have no right to do anything in thispany. You aren''t a member of the board and you aren''t the CEO. What are you then? A child swinging his arms around like a fool. Your words have no weight in the four walls of this room."
"They do if I have anything to say about it."
Hugo finally spoke up for the first time since Mark started throwing usations around. Mark could see that there was a deep well of anger inside of Hugo that was threatening to burst at any moment, and Hugo was only managing to hold himself back through sheer force of will alone.
Hugo stood up and went to stand behind Mark.
"As the acting guardian of Mark Vanitas as well as the acting CEO of thispany, with my support, all of his decisions arew. And he has my full support."
Sinir still had a smile on his face, but on the inside, he felt his heart shake in distress as he looked into Hugo''s eyes and saw the intense determination in them. Hugo has been insulted many times in this meeting, and it was obvious to Sinir that Hugo was going to start trying to prove himself once more by standing against anyone who opposed Mark.
Things could get difficult if Hugo suddenly starts acting like a real CEO.
Mark leaned forward and nced at everyone there stoically while making sure that they all saw just how serious he was. Mark was pissed that the board was not able to see something so obvious happening right in front of them, and as far as he was concerned, if they were not able to see it, then they were not suitable to be members of the board in the first ce.
"In due time, a new board of directors will be chosen by Hugo, and from this moment onwards, all executive decisions about thepany will be passed to him so that I can veto them. If there is anything that you feel requires my input, you will go through Hugo to get it to me, and I will be happy to sign it if it makes any sense.
Thispany is going to recover from this slump whether we like it or not, and it is going to go back to its former glory. If there is anyone that does not agree with my decision, then please speak up now."
There were no hands, and no one was willing to stand against Mark and Hugo as they knew that they had lost this round. The members of the board could appeal this decision ina court, but they knew that that would also be a bad idea since Mark had a very good reason for dissolving them. They were more than likely going to lose any case that they opened against Mark.
"Well, since there is no one, I will be taking my leave."
Bzzttt!!
"Awnn~ You''re leaving already?"
"!"
Mark''s eyes narrowed in shock as someone suddenly appeared in the room! The person was sitting in the middle of the table with a small smile on her face as she leaned on her elbow on her knee and her cheek on her closed fist. She was wearing shredded dark blue jeans and a ck leather jacket over a white shirt.
She had bright yellow hair that was cut into a short bob cut to frame her beautiful oval face, and eyes that were lightning blue! Her grin was wide and yful, and there was this electric feeling that surrounded her and piqued Mark''s interest as she gazed right into his eyes.
"I just got here."
Chapter 209: Child of Zeus
"Who the hell are you!? What are you doing here!? Guards! Guards!"
One of the people sitting at the table immediately stood up and shouted angrily. He was shocked by the sudden appearance because he didn''t even see the girl move! The man just saw a sh of lightning before there was someone sitting on top of their table, and that freaked the hell out of him!
He called for the guards outside toe and get rid of the girl, but he remembered that Mark had beaten the shit out of them beforeing in here, and he just decided that it would be better to take a few more steps back.
They didn''t pay him enough to deal with this much shit. First, he was removed as a member of the board, and now this? If this is how things are going to be when Mark takes over thepany, then maybe it is better for him to just leave thepany on his own. He is just a normal human, so he can''t deal with all his superhuman nonsense!
Mark and the girlpletely ignored everyone else in the room as they just stared right at each other. The girl still had that grin on her face, and Mark was staring up at her stoically without giving away anything from his expression.
Mark knew that this girl was a superhuman. And she wasn''t just a superhuman, she was strong. The girl looked to be around his age, but from the way that she carried herself and from the amount of power that he could feeling off her in waves, Mark could tell that she was at least an S-rank superhuman.
"You know, if you keep staring at me like that, I''m going to start thinking you''ve fallen in love with me at first sight, GHOST."
The girl''s infectious grin only grew as she continued staring right into Mark''s eyes, and Mark narrowed his eyes at her as hisowngrin also started to grow on his face. He didn''t know why, but he just knew that someone like this would be difficult to talk to. She seemed like the kind of person who only appreciated violence.
Mark finally spoke up.
"What do you want?"
Bzzt!
Lightning started to dance on the girl''s skin, and all the other people in the room immediately took steps away from her as they were terrified of what the lightning could do to them if it touched their skin. Mark never lost that grin on his face as he stood up calmly. He gently took off his outer jacket and handed it to Ryan at the side before he began to loosen his tie.
The girl was only getting more and more excited as she watched Mark, and Mark was certain that this could only end one way.
"Well, you see, the lightning never lies to me. Right now, the lightning is telling me that you''re the strongest I''ve ever seen. I want to see if that''s true for myself!"
"Is that so? Well, fuck your stupid lightning ande over here so I can pound you!!"
Ping!
Mark''s system suddenly pinged a new mission for him, and he barely caught a nce of it from the corner of his eye!
¡
New Mission: Defeat the child of Zeus
A child of Zeus wishes to test your power for herownamusement and has tracked you down. Fighting her is inevitable. Defeat her and show her that you are superior.
Sess:
+100 skill points
You will gain a loyal subordinate
Failure:
Nil.
¡
Bzzt!
Crash!
"!?"
Mark blinked as he suddenly saw himself flying out from the window of the meeting room with the girl straddling his chest and her hands on his shoulders. She had thrown them both out of the building in that split second that Mark looked away!? Mark didn''t even know how it had happened!
All he knew was that one moment he had been talking to the girl, and the next moment, they were flying out from the hundredth floor of the building!
There was a wide smile on the girl''s face as she screamed right in Mark''s face!
"Do you think you have the time to look away from me like that!? Give me your full attention, GHOST! I demand it!"
Her face was barely a millimeter away from Mark''s face, and Mark couldliterallysee the way her eyeballs were shaking in excitement from the promise of the fight toe! Mark''s face split into a mad grin as he suddenly started tough loudly! She was fucking fast!
"Hahahahaha!!! I like you!"
Grab!
Mark grabbed the girl by the hair, and she was not prepared for the unbelievable amount of strength that Mark used as he spun around and tossed her toward a forest on the other side of the city!
Woosh!
"Let''s take this somewhere else!"
[The system has noticed an anomaly in the user''s strength.]
[Calibrating Changes¡]
[Calibrating changes¡]
[Calibrating Changes¡]
[The user has subconsciously reduced hisownstrength based on the perceived level of his opponent.]
[The user has subconsciously limited hisownpower output to 60%] (A/N: Please don''t bring the pitchforks out just yet. I''ll talk about this in the author''sment below.)
...
Mark was not going to involve the regr citizens living in the city in his fight, so he decided to use the forest for the fight since there would be no one in there.
Zoom!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The girl broke through multiple buildings before she reached the forest!
SLAM!!
She tore through more than fifteen trees, and she even dug a deep hole into the side of a small mountain as she was passing it before she managed to stop herself as she held onto a tree behind her. But she didn''t have time to rest as Mark was right in front of her once more with his arm drawn back and a wide smile on his face! The girl blinked in shock!
How the hell did he cover that distance in that time!? I flew more than a hundred kilometers!
BOOM!
She managed to duck to the side just as Mark released a life-ending punch that would havedefinitelytaken her head off, and she whistled as she saw an entire row of trees get obliteratedfromMark''s punch.
Mark had rolled up his sleeves, and his tie was loose around his neck with a few buttons undone, so he had a lot more freedom to move aroundpared to when he was still wearing the full suit! Immediately after Mark saw that she dodged the punch, he blitzed toward her and grabbed her by the back of her head!
m!
Mark mmed her face into a tree in front of him with intense force before he brought her back and tossed her like a ragdoll toward anotherrge tree!
m!
Her back mmed into the tree, and Mark calmed down a bit to watch her as he hadn''t seen her move for some time. He loosened his tie a bit more so that it was barely hanging over his neck, and he opened one more button on his shirt to give himself more breathing space.
"Hehehehehe. You''rereallyjust as strong as everyone says you are. I don''t think I''ve taken this kind of punishment in a long time."
Mark was surprised when he suddenly saw the girl getting up from the floor. She had this look of excitement on her face that troubled Mark just a little for some reason. It wasn''t that he was scared, but he just didn''t think that a look like that was normal for someone who just had their face pummeled against a tree.
There was blood leaking from her nose, and she brought her tongue out and licked it happily with a smile still on her face. From how she was looking at Mark, he could swear that she looked like she was about to eat him.
Chapter 210: Let Me Show You Mine
Mark ignored the look and watched as she raised her hand in the air.
"Well, now that you''ve shown me yours, don''t you think it''s only fair that I show you mine?"
Thaamount of sexual innuendoes in that one sentence was insane.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
The sky started to echo thunder as lightning danced around the air. The atmosphere around Mark turned electric, and he could feel the hair on his hands standing up as goosebumps traveled down his entire arm in response to the amount of static in the air! What the hell was she about to do? Don''t tell me she is about to release an entire storm of lightning on me!
Does she want to burn down this fucking forest?
"Don''t you fucking die on me!! Kaminari!!!"
BZZZTTTTT!!
The sky rumbled like an angered god as storm clouds formed over the area! They swirled in the sky and formed a vortex that blocked out the sun above them! The girl summoned so much lightning that Mark was sure he would not be able to dodge it in time! It was like an angry god sending down divine retribution!
BOOM!!
The entire area was covered in blue as lightning struck down on top of Mark. The girl watched in satisfaction and glee as the lightning tore into the area, leveling trees and causing deep craters to form in any area where arge amount of lightning gathered!
She was expecting to see a burnt and scorched Mark when the lightning finally receded. The girl knew that this much power was not enough to kill Mark.
She had seen Mark fighting against Cmity ss monsters, and she knew that someone who could tank a hit from a Cmity ss like Mark would not die to this much lightning, but that does not mean that they would walk away from it without serious injuries! Mark was going to be scarred for a long time!
"Is thisreallythe best attack you have?"
"!"
The girl''s eyes widened in shock as she heard Mark talking from inside her lightning! The lightning died out, and she was forced to take a step back as she saw Mark standing in the same position that he had been standing without a single injury on him! Even his shirt and trousers were still perfectly intact! What the fuck is this!?
There is no way that he managed to block all that lightning without taking a single bit of damage! Is this some sort of joke!?
Mark was now wearing a pair of ck gloves on his hands, and the girl felt a sudden surge of anger rise in her chest the moment that she saw those gloves. Those didn''t belong to Mark. Those gloves are meant to belong to someone else. Someone like her.
"Why do you have those? I can tell that they do not belong to you."
Mark looked at the girl in surprise for a moment before he blinked down at his ck gloves curiously.
"Oh, right. You''re one of Zeus'' children. That would exin all the lightning. Well, I''m not going to go around saying something stupid like I won it fair and square. Truth be told, my patron god stole it from right under your patron god''s nose. The bastard never even saw iting."
Mark crouched into a fighting pose, and the girl took another step back as she felt something oppressive filling the air around her.
[Demonic Killer''s Aura] had been activated.
Doom!
The girl felt a cold chill travel down her spine once Mark activated that skill, but instead of her to take even more steps back, she seemed to get even more excited as she took steps toward Mark! She wasbasicallywalking right towards him with no fear in her eyes!
"Kaminari!"
Bzzt!
Another wave of lightning drove from the sky, but this time it dropped on top of the girl! By the time that lightning died down, Mark was surprised to see that she was wearing something different over her regr outfit. It was an armor made from lightning. There were shoulder pads and a chest te along with a metal-looking girdle that protected her gut.
Her feet were covered in armor-like lightning shoes, and in her hand, she held a blue sword made entirely from lightning.
[Fear] condition did not affect the opponent.
Mark grinned as he saw that she was still prepared to fight even though she was obviously at a disadvantage. Her skill didn''t work on Mark at all, but she didn''t care about that and she was still moving towards Mark without a hint of fear in her eyes! This was his type of woman!
"Now, what was it that you said to me before!? Don''t die on me!"
Boom!
Mark suddenly shot off the ground towards the girl, and the girl raised her sword and brought it down in a downward swing that was so fast that itbasicallyripped the air molecules apart and boiled the subatomic particles in the air as the smell of ozone filled the entire region!
Bzzt!
ng!
Bam!
Mark used the back of his fist to m into the side of the sword and redirected it to the ground before he sent a punch straight into the girl''s stomach and threw her into the air! The girl sent a sh towards Mark with her sword, and her grin only grew as she saw Mark tank the blow without taking any damage whatsoever!
Mark wasted no time and followed after her, and the two of them tore up the sky as they exchanged blow after blow in the air!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The people living around the forest all came out and looked up at the fight happening in the sky in shock as they wondered if they were under attack from another anima. The shes of blue lightning and explosive sound waves were putting fear into their hearts, and most of them decided that they would move to another area for now until the fight was over.
The girl was trying her best to get Mark off her, but it was proving impossible as she noticed that Mark was always right there no matter where she went! How in the world was Mark keeping up with her in this form!? This was her fastest form! She could travel at speeds that were multiple times the speed of sound in this armor, and yet, Mark was able to keep up with her!? Why!?
Bam!
Mark suddenly appeared over her, and she quickly raised her sword to block her face as Mark released a devastating punch that sent her flying back to the ground like a rocket!
BOOM!
She mmed into the ground, but she didn''t bother staying down for long as she raised her hand into the air for another attack.
"KAMINARI!!!"
What?
I didn''t say that.
The girl was stunned as she watched Mark raise his gloved hand into the air and shout out herownskill. She didn''t want to believe it. There was no way that Mark was going to be able to replicate her skill!
But there was no way she could deny the facts that were staring her right in the face as she saw a surge of lightning that was twice asrge as her own appear from the sky and descend on her like a vindictive god!
BZZZZZTTTT!!!
KA-BOOMMMM!!
¡
Discharge [The User can absorb and store up to S rank lightning-based attacks in his body and then discharge them toward the enemy for a devastating counterattack.]
Multiplier [All lightning-based skills will receive a 100% boost]
Chapter 211: Dont Disappoint Me
Discharge [The User can absorb and store up to S-rank lightning-based attacks in his body and then discharge them towards the enemy for a devastating counterattack.]
Multiplier [All lightning-based skills will receive a 100% boost]
...
"Cough~! Cough~!"
There was a lot of dust and debris blown up by the kaminari striking the groundandthe girl coughed to get rid of the worstof it. She was currently staying out of Mark''s sight while trying to get her bearings backso that she couldgo back into the fight. She still doesn''t know what that was all about. Since when could Mark use lightning-based skills?
That was something that no one ever told her about. They only said that he was good at tanking blows and dishing them out. No one has ever seen him use any magic-type attack.
Does that mean that he lied about his skills? No, we cannot be sure that he lied, maybehejustdidn''t tell thefulltruth about it. Then, is it the gloves? Mark wasexceptionally strong, therewas no doubt about it. The girl could feel her chest hurting from the massive punches that Mark gave her, and she knew that it would bruise tomorrow.
"Ah~!"
No, focus.
The only thing that could be responsible for Mark being able to use her lightning skills is probably those gloves. The girl felt a massive amount of anger the moment she saw Mark wearing those gloves, and she knew that Mark was not the ownerof those gloves. Were the glovesactuallysomethingreally impressive? I want it!
Crunch!
The sound of sand crunching under someone''s feet gave away Mark''s position, and the girl wasted no time as she turned around and shed her sword across the space in front of her!
Woosh!
Everysingletree in the vicinity was cut downas she tried to get to Mark, and the girl looked around to see if she managed to injure Mark in thattussle. There were no signs of Mark, and shestarted to think thatmaybe she heard wrong. Maybe there was an animal that moved, and she wasjustacting rashly! She had to calm herself. She was faster than Mark in a straight sprint.
The only time that Mark managed to keep up with her was when they were moving in different directions.His ability to change direction was just as good as hers, or maybeit waseven better, butin a straight blitz, she wasdefinitelyfaster.Shejusthad to pick the right moment to outpace him and finish this in one attack.
''But what if he tanks it like all the others?''
The girl bit her tongue as this thought came to mindandshe was distracted for one second as doubt crept into her heart!
"You should care more about the nts."
"!"
The girl turned around quickly as she heard Mark''s voice from behind her, but she was not fast enough to stop the massive body shot that mmed into her ribs!
Bam!
"Grk!"
She gritted her teeth in painas she tried her bestto absorb the hit!What the fuck is that power!? This one was much stronger than the previous punches! Don''t tell me he has been holding back on me all this time!
The only thing that allowed the girl to stay on her feet was her armor that covered her midsection! It managed to absorb some of the energy from Mark''s punch, and that prevented her from getting knocked out from the punch!
But evenin the midst ofall that pain! Even though she felt like her stomach was about to tear apart from the sheer force of Mark''s punches! There was still a silly, stupid smile on her face! She grabbed Mark by the arm and flipped her body so that she was above him before she brought her knee down in a swing and she tried to m it into his face!
Bam!
Mark brought his hand up and blocked the hit before he held her thigh and mmed her back against a tree!
Boom!
He threw her to the ground before he grabbed her hand and tossed her into another tree in the distance!
"RARGH!"
BOOM!
Crack!
The tree broke from the force of the hit, and shewas throwninto a different tree behind the first one!Mark startedto walktowards her slowly, but he felt asmallsting somewhere on his armandhelooked down to see some ck soot on the back of his wrist.There was a small depression in the skin there and Mark realised that it was from the girl''s sword.
She was able to try and cut me in that short time when shetriedto kick meandI didn''t even notice! If not for his higher constitution, Mark understood that her sword would have cut into his bodyandhe would''ve been bleeding all over the forest floor by now!
"Hahahahahah!"
Mark looked up as the girl''sugh echoed through the entire forest! He watchedas lightning gatheredin the airabovethemanda massive storm began to brew as wind echoed through the region! What the fuck is she thinking of now?
"I don''t care anymore! Nothing hurts you, you fucking beast, so I don''t care anymore! I''ve cut you, hit you, thrown fucking lightning at you, and yet here you are! So I''m just going to go all out! I was saving this for someone special, and I don''t thinkI''m ever going tosee anyone as special as you are! Youdefinitelydeserve everything that I have!"
The world quaked and echoed the massive power brewing over it as Mark felt the ground shaking from thefury of the storm. Trees were getting uprooted, and there wasa massiveroar from somewhere deep in the storm!It almost sounded like the stormitselfwas something living and conscious as it raged aroundbothMark and the girl!
The girl had her hand in the air, and Mark could see a determination in her eyes as she prepared to unleash her skill. She was bleeding from above her brow, and the blood was leaking down her face as she looked at Mark with an intense re! Her armor disappeared into the wind, and Mark could sense the shift in the mana of the atmosphere.
She got rid of the armorso that she wouldhave enough mana to carry the skillproperly.
Sweat was pouring from her brow, and her hand was shaking from exertion, Mark realized that this skill must bereally hardfor her to handle. Mark should have stopped her right there, but he didn''t want to. Mark wanted to see what she had to give. He wanted toseeif she was capable of giving him one good fight or not. Although Mark did not know anything about her.
He didn''t even know her fucking name because he didn''t feel like using the [True Sight] skill yet. Mark could still tell that she was not an evil person. She was just someone like him, someone who loved the thrill of the battle a little too much!
"Come on then, child of Zeus! Let me see what you''ve got!!"
Chapter 212: Celestial Fury
The girl''s smileonlywidened even more as she heard Mark saying thisandshughedloudlyas she felt dness in her heart for the first time since she gained her powers!Thiswas it! He wasdefinitelythe hat shehad been looking for all this time! He was the one who would give her everything she ever wanted!
"Please don''t disappoint me, GHOST! Give me everything you promised me and more! Don''t you dare chicken out from my passion! CELESTIAL FURY!!"
It was as though Zeus himself had descended upon thend of mortals! There was a brief moment when everything went silent. The entire world quieteddownas a vacuum of ck matter encased the world in its embrace, but it wasn''t long before thetrueskill struck!
WOOOOSHHHH!!!
KA-BOOOMMMM!!!
A massive explosion that destroyed the entire forest and evaporated all the moisture in the airat the same timeechoed through the area. Blue lightning streaked from the skyin continuous intervals, destroying the spot where Mark had been standing over and over again, reducing the ground there to nothing but dust, soot, and ss!
And in the middle of all this, Mark stood! The girl knew that Mark was in there! She could see him standing in the middle of her lightningandshe sent even more of it towards him as she destroyed the area where he was standingpletely!
BOOOM!
A massive explosion rocked that areaandthe girl finally brought her hand down as she didn''t see any movement from inside therge dust cloud that had risen from those explosions. Did she win? Was it over? The girl had a frown on her face as she stared at the spot where Mark had been standing. There was a deep sea of anticipation in her heart as she watched to see if Marksurvivedthat skillor not.
But the anticipation was slowly extinguished as shedidn''t see anymovement from the dust cloud. Don''t tell me that hereallydied. Is thisreallyall he had? Sadness began to bloom inside of her as she felt disappointed.
WOOSH!
But all of a sudden, her eyes widened as she saw Mark crouching in front of her! What! Where did hee from!? How did he get here!? I didn''t even see him move!!
Mark was holding his fist back, andhis head was loweredas he stared straight at the girl''s midsection! The girl immediately tried to jump back to get away from whatever Mark was nning to do, but shecouldn''t even try to get away fast enough as Mark nted his feet and tookina deep breath as he released his punch!
Phwoom!
The critical hit skill was something that Mark had already mastered. Even though Mark couldn''t forcefully raise the percentage of him getting the hit every time, he was capable of knowing exactly whenthe skill would be activatedandhecould n his fight around that knowledge and make his enemy let down their guard before he released the skill.
But now, after feelingthe speed that this girl had, Mark had be capable of taking that ability one step further.The critical hit skill always required contact with a solid objectin order forit to be activated. The skill could onlybe activatedaftera number ofconsecutive hits havebeen carried out.
But while fighting against this girl and moving so fast that it almost seemed like they were flying through the air, Mark was able to figure out the precise speed neededin order forhim topress the air in front of his fist and fool his system into thinking that he had struck a solid object.
So now, not only could Marksimplystrike the air fast enough to make it seem like he was striking something solid, but he could fool his system into thinking that he had struck something solid and increase how quicklythe critical hit skill would be activated.
This new technique was born from Mark''sowningenuity, and he decidedthat he wouldcall it [Sonic Impact].
The girl''s eyes were wide in shock as she almost seemed to be jumping back in slow motion, and Mark smiled roguishly. Mark couldn''t help but be grateful to her. It was a fucking good fight.
[Sonic Impact]!!
[Critical Hit]!!
Mark''s fistshed out at lightning speed and mmed into the girl''s stomach!
"HHNNGGHHH!!!"
A massive wave of wind blew out from the space behind the girl''s back as the trees and forest remaining after the CELESTIAL FURY were obliterated and sent flying into the ocean on the other side of the forest!
The girl''s eyes widened in shock and pain as Mark''s punch threw all the wind right out of her lungs! Once Mark drew back his hand, she immediately fell to her knees and puked arge pool of blood on the floor!
"Blergh!! Hah~! Hah~!"
Mark watched her for a few moments and he figured that she would be fine. Mark didn''treallyhit her with his Critical Hit. He was able to strike the air just a few millimeters away from her stomach, so it only looked like he hit her. That was why she didn''t fly away after the punch hit; most of it was diverted to the side and away from her so she wouldn''t die.
The only thing thatreallyhit her was the air pressure from his strike and nothing else.
"Hah~! Hah~! Hah~! Hah~!"
The girl started to breatheheavilyas she cleaned her mouth of the blood, and Mark finally decided to check her profile using his True Sight skill. Her energy waspletely spent, so she was unlikely to attack Mark again.She was probably out of mana, sothere was no need for himto keep fighting her.That wouldjustbe bullying at this point.
¡
Mission sess:Defeat the child of Zeus.
Reward:
+100 skill points
You have gained one loyal subordinate.
¡
Immediately after the fight ended and before Mark could even check her profile, Mark got his rewards from the system mission that appeared earlier. He looked through it curiously and wondered why they said that he now had a loyal subordinate. Does this mean that the girl is loyal to him now, or is there another subordinatethat Markwould get as a reward?
There is no way that this girl would want anything to do with him after everything that he just put her through. Hepummeledher like she was ananimaandthey are sayingthat shewould be loyal to him now?
For some reason, Mark could feelhimself gettingworried the more he thought about it.
Chapter 213: I Want A Man That Would Honestly Just Kill Me
Name: Tina Fey
Race: Human
Title: Storm Bringer
Rank: S
Potential: S
Description: She is a battle maniac blessed by the God of lightning and the storm, Zeus. Even though she is very young, she possesses an absurdly high battle IQ, and she is capable of learning on the fly so that things do not work against her more than once.
People believe she enjoys fighting just because of the thrill, but the truth is that she is simply an irredeemable masochist who enjoys the feeling of having someone else pummel her to the ground. She has been searching for the perfect fighting partner who possesses the same zeal for battle that she does. And now that she has found the user, she has fallen in love.
Affiliation: Chaotic Good
¡
Mark blinked, and he blinked again just to make sure that what he saw the first time wasactuallystill there. Yup, it''s there. What the actual fuck?
"Hehehehehehehhe~ Hahahahahaha~!! You''re perfect, GHOST! You''re everything I want in a man!"
Woosh!
Tina shed quickly toward Mark at lightning speed! She straddled his waist and wrapped her hand around his neck as she leaned down to kiss him, and Mark immediately put his hand up to her face and grabbed her before mming her into the ground!
BOOM!
"Ahn~!"
What the actual fuck!? Did this fucking masochist just moan!?
Mark stood back up calmly and put his hands in his pocket while taking a step back. He looked down at Tina withplete and utter disgust as he watched her get up, and Tina felt her entire body shiver once she saw that look in his eyes. It was like he was looking at a piece of shit on the side of the road! That was exactly what she liked in her man!
"Y-Yes, that''s it. More. Look down on me even more. I want you to trash me! I want you to pummel me until I can''t stand!"
Stomp!
Mark stomped on Tina''s back, and Tina moaned again as she was pummeled back into the ground!!
Stomp!
Stomp!
Stomp!
Stomp!
"Yes! Yes! Yes! More~! More~!"
The look on Mark''s face turned sour as he heard her moaning even in the middle of him stomping her. This was going nowhere. Mark mmed his feet into Tina onest time before he stepped back. Even though they had just finished a serious fight, Mark still looked as immacte as ever. There were only a few stains on his shirt, but his ck trousers were still perfect.
Tina, on the other hand, looked like she had juste out from a warzone. Her jacket was torn and shredded, and her jeans were even more shredded than they were at the start of the fight and her hair was stained in multiple ces with ck soot.
Tina crawled over to Mark, and Mark looked on in disgust as she grabbed his feet and tried to raise herself up.
"Y-You know¡ you''re everything I wanted. I like a man that would honestly just kill me."
"Get the fuck off me, you damn pervert."
m!
"Moan~!"
Mark kicked Tina back, and she moaned as she was thrown into a tree! She slid down the tree and tucked her knees up to her chest while putting a hand up to her mouth with a huge blush on her face.
"Y-Yes, just like that~ I want more of that~"
Mark''s disgust was in as day, and he just shook his head as he turned in another direction to the east.
"Can youe out here and get this thing away from me?"
Immediately after Mark spoke up, he saw someone appear from behind one of the few trees left standing in the area. It was a boy with blond hair and blue eyes that looked almost identical to Tina. Even without the True Eyes skill, Mark could tell that this boy was probably Tina''s twin. Or at least her sibling.
"Ah, Turner. You''re here. You''re so damn slow. Come help your big sister up and greet your brother-inw. I found the man of my dreams, Turner."
Tina waved the neer over while raising her hand for him to help her stand up, and the boy sighed as he made his way over to her.
¡
Name: Turner Fey
Race: Human
Title: The Creator
Rank: A
Potential: S
Description: He is a highly intellectual individual blessed by the god of the Forge, Hephaestus. He is the twin brother of Tina Fey, and although he does not have as much battle IQ as her, he still possesses enough skill to defeat Cmity ss monsters on his own even as an A rank.
As Tina''s twin brother, he made it his mission to make sure that Tina did not cause too much trouble with her love of battle. He usually ends up apologizing a lot for Tina''s bullshit.
Affiliation: True Good
¡
"Tina, you''ve got to stop running around on your own like this. You know I''m not fast enough to keep up. It''s starting to get really annoying. Sorry, did she cause too much trouble? Well, I''m sure she did. Sorry about that."
Turner turned to Mark and apologized with a bow after he carried Tina up, but Tina waved Turner''s apology away as she was the one who got hit the most.
"There''s no need for that. We had fun pummeling each other. Turner, get me my phone. I need to get his number. He''s everything I want."
Mark frowned in disgust.
"I''m not giving my number to a pervert like you."
"Ahn~! Of course. I don''t deserve your number. I''m nothing to you, nothing but a lowly sow for your pummeling pleasure! Maybe we can meet upter! You can show me your stuff, and I''ll show you mine!"
m!
Mark suddenly blitzed across the area and mmed the bottom of his foot into Tina''s face! She flew across the forest and mmed into a tree with a loud moan!
"AHHN~!"
"Will you shut the fuck up already! What the fuck is wrong with that girl!?"
Mark turned to Turner with an angry look on his face, and Turner raised his hands in surrender while taking a step back as he saw the mad look in Mark''s eyes. Don''t look at me like that! I didn''t even do anything!
"They said she was dropped on her head as a kid, alright! She''s just crazy!"
"Then take her to a fucking asylum! Don''t let her mix with normal people!"
Tina groaned from beside Mark. She already managed to crawl to him and she grabbed his feet in a tight grip as she hugged his leg tightly. Mark dragged his leg forcefully from her grip and mmed his feet into her back! Tina moaned loudly, and Mark looked at her in shocking disbelief! This bitch was crazy! Mark turned to Turner, and Turner sighed as he looked down with his hand over his face.
"Don''t look at me. Please, don''t look at me."
Chapter 214: No One Will Find Out
Mark could see that Turner was also going through it at that moment! Tina only started acting this way with him now, but Turner must''ve been dealing with it right from the moment that they were born! This poor fucker! If Mark was stuck with someone like this all his life, then he would have lost his mind as well!
Mark put his hand on Turner''s shoulder and Turner looked up at Mark in surprise. He saw Mark smiling sadly at him as Mark nodded his head in understanding.
"You''ve really been through a lot, haven''t you?"
Sunlight filtered through the clouds and illuminated Mark in a stunning silhouette! At the moment, Mark looked like an angel to Turner! A kindred spirit that truly understood what Turner had been going through all his life! Tears came to the edge of Turner''s eyes and he quickly tried to clean them using the back of his arm! He nodded his head to Mark and sniffled.
"Yes. Yes, I have."
Mark nodded in understanding and then he brought forth the most sensible solution.
"Let''s kill her."
Turner glitched!
"What?"
"I said let''s kill -"
"I heard you the first time! Are you insane!?"
"No one will know! We''ll just hide her fucking body in the forest!"
"I''ll know! And that''s my fucking sister! Of course I''m not going to kill her!"
Tina suddenly shouted from her ce under Mark''s feet!
"Don''t you dare try to stop him, Turner! Kill me if it makes you happy! Kill me, Mark!"
Stomp!
"Ahn~! Yes~!"
"Shut the fuck up!"
"Please shut the fuck up!"
Mark mmed his feet on Tina''s back in anger, and both Mark and Turner shouted angrily at her as they heard her fucking moan! This bitch didn''t know how to read the situation at all!
Mark sighed and looked into the sky with a tired expression on his face as Turner continued trying to get Tina to stop trying to lick Mark''s leg. God help him. What the hell has he gotten himself into?
Rustle!
Rustle!
Rustle!
There was some rustling from the entrance to the forest and Mark turned to see Hugoing into the clearing. Frieda and Ryan were also with him along with some members of the police and some of the superhuman bodyguards that they had in the office.
Hugo was worried about Mark the moment that he saw both Mark and that girl jump out of the building, and he immediately called for all the guards and policemen in the office toe with him in case Mark needed their help.
But once Hugo got to the clearing where the fight happened, he couldn''t even do anything as he stood in ce and looked around in awe and shock. There was a strange feeling of hopelessness that filled his chest as he realized how useless he would have been if he hade here earlier. How would he have helped someone who was capable of causing damage on this level with anything?
The clearing that had once been a forest was basically a in now, and it would take a very long time for the forest to recover at all! Is this what Mark is always running into without a second thought? He knows that the people he fights against are strong enough to do things like this and he still goes to fight without caring for his own wellbeing?
The world of superhumans was really beyond Hugo''sprehension.
"Hugo. What the hell are you doing here?"
Mark suddenly spoke up and snapped Hugo out of his trance. Hugo turned to Mark in surprise and moved a little closer into the clearing while telling Mark that he thought he woulde to help him out. Mark just waved Hugo away calmly as he kicked Tina away from him when she tried to snake her arm up into his trousers.
"There''s no need for that, I handled it. Just apologize to the people around the forest for the noise and promise them that the government willpensate them for any damages that their property might have sustained because of the fight. Is that right, Turner?"
Turner was stunned when Mark looked at him expectantly. How the hell did Mark know that they were from the government? No, that was not important. Maybe someone warned him about using before we got here. Turner nodded to Hugo.
"Of course, the Superhuman Alliance would be happy topensate everyone affected by my sister''s stupidity."
Hugo''s eyes widened as he heard that Turner was from the Superhuman Alliance. The Superhuman Alliance was a government body just like the NSA, but they were alsopletely different from the NSA. Every country in the world had an NSA that was responsible for handling all superhuman-rted incidents in the country.
Their jurisdiction only starts and stops within the borders of the country and they were not allowed to do anything outside of the country.
However, the Superhuman Alliance was different from the National Superhuman Association. The Superhuman Alliance was a global body that epassed every single country in the world. They were like the World Health Organization but for superhumans instead of Health.
They handled international superhuman incidents and they were also responsible for registering and recording the power and skill of every single superhuman that existed in a country.
Basically, they were the most powerful superhuman Organization in the world. Hugo was stunned that these two kids were actually a part of that powerful organization. Was this how the superhuman world worked? It didn''t matter your age or your status, the only thing that qualified you to be a part of something so important was the amount of power that you had? That was quite the brutal world.
Hugo finally nodded his thanks to Turner and told the policemen and guards that they could return. Hugo asked Mark if he would be returning to finish the meeting, but Mark just shook his head as he put his hands in his pocket while looking in the direction of the office building.
"Nah, I''m done with them for now. I only came here because I wanted to see how things were being run and I''ve got a general idea of it from what I''ve seen. You should have said something if you were having a hard time handling the board."
Hugo couldn''t say anything in response to that and he just allowed Mark to continue. He would understand if Mark wanted to appoint a new acting CEO.
"I won''t appoint a new CEO, Hugo. I know it seems like I''m doing this for you, but I''m not. Honestly, after everything I found out, I can''t say I''m not disappointed in you. But I also know that you can do a good job. You have what it takes to be a good leader, you just need to know when to shut people up and do whatever the fuck you want sometimes.
That is the responsibility that you must carry as the leader. Win or fail, it''s on you, so you should do whatever is necessary. You have a responsibility to the entirepany, not just the people in it.
"There''ll be a new board appointed eventually, but for now, I need you to handle things around here on your own. If you ever need my permission for anything important, then just call. I''m trusting you once more, Godfather. Don''t let me down.
"Oh, and about Triston Transportation, there are some changes that I want to make regarding that subsidiary, so I''ll be in contact with you soon."
Chapter 215: The False King
Mark took off his gloves and they vanished into thin air before he put his hands back in his pocket. No one said anything about the strange urrence! Honestly, all of them have seen weirder shit than a vanishing pair of gloves!
"There are some changes that I want to make regarding our subsidiaries, so I''ll be in contact with you too."
Hugo''s teeth were clenched tightly inside his mouth, and Mark could see a single tear that was about to fall from the side of Hugo''s eyes! Is this old man actually going to cry!? Don''t start crying all of a sudden, I don''t know how to handle that!
Hugo was just too ovee with emotion knowing that Mark still trusted him to continue leading after everything that had been said about him! Hugo knew that Mark had every right to just toss him away from the position of the acting CEO and give it to someone who seemed more capable, but Mark wasn''t doing that! Hugo decided at that moment that he would do his best to not let Mark down!
"Of course, Mark. I''ll keep all you''ve said in mind. And I''ll be waiting for your call."
Mark smiled and waved goodbye to Hugo calmly as he started walking towards where his car was parked! Mark looked at the two siblings that were also waiting for him and he sighed while scratching the back of his head!
"Well,e on then, you perverted siblings. Let''s get going."
Mark knew that the Superhuman Alliance would eventuallye for him. It''s already been two months since Mark was summoned, so the timeline was pretty urate. Even though he was no longer being sued by the government since he was already part of a guild, he still had to go to the headquarters to record his power level for the database.
Turner yelled in indignation as he heard Mark calling him a pervert.
"EH!? I''m not a pervert! It''s just her!"
"Ahn~ He called me a pervert!"
¡
Andscape of fire and brimstone falling covered the vision of every living thing! mes and ck soot poured from the sky like rain, filling her vision with scenes of the apocalypse! For as far as the eyes could see, there was nothing but destruction. Broken homes, destroyedndscapes, and ring storms of fire decorated thend.
From the safety of her prison cell, the little girl huddled herself up tightly as she hid from the scary world. She did not have anyone. The only person she once had was gone, and now she was alone. She was more than prepared to die in this spot; she would cease to exist and there would be no more pain. She would no longer be alone.
Crash!
Boom!
"YOU FUCKING BASTARD! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS FUCKING SHITTY PIECE OF CRAP MADE OF!?"
But then he crashed into her world, cursing like a sailor.
¡
"Madam Luna, the council is ready for you."
Luna blinked multiple times to get herself back to the present as she heard someone talking to her from the side. She looked away from the statue of KING that was positioned in front of the Superhuman Alliance building. The Statue was not an urate one. No one knew what KING looked like, so the person who made the statue had done his best to depict KING as a true hero without showing his face.
KING was wearing a long hood that covered most of his face, but his physique and heroic posture were more than enough to make everyone look up in awe as they passed his statue.
But Luna knew that the statue was wrong. Everyone was wrong about KING. She knew that no matter how well they tried to craft a likeness to fit KING, they would never be able to do it. Because contrary to what everyone in the world was thinking about the man who saved their lives, KING was no man! The person who saved their lives four years ago was a little boy no older than fifteen!
"The council has prepared the room for your report. They are willing to hear you out now if you are ready. I can call another guild member to go up if you do not wish to speak to them at this moment."
The woman who was standing beside Luna spoke gently with a lot of respect in her tone and posture! Her hands were joined in front of her and she never looked Luna in the eye for longer than necessary.
The woman noticed how Luna was spacing out while staring at the Statue of King and she could understand. Every superhuman thates to the Superhuman Alliance building is always in awe as they stare at that statue. That statue was more than just a simple statue of a man to them; it was a representation of an ideal. An impossible goal that they could never reach. Something to look up to.
People have always spected how strong King would have been if he were alive today. There were MeTube videos and even serious analyses that had been done by real experts. If KING was capable of handling an Armageddon ss immediately after gaining his blessing, just how powerful would he have been if he was still alive today, four yearster?
Some people say that he would be strong enough to carry the world on his shoulders, while others say that he would no longer be considered a human. Maybe he would have even attracted the attention of the gods and he would be made into a god himself!
Today, in the Federation of America, there are only five known individuals who possess enough strength to be considered as undefined. These five individuals were all blessed by major gods, and it is said that each of them possesses enough strength to handle the Armageddon that KING had fought against in the very beginning.
Simply having that much power made everyone see them as the next Kings that would protect the world if another Armageddon were to appear, and the people of America all referred to them as the Five SOVERIGNS. Some people say that the SOVERIGNS are only as strong as KING was at the beginning, while others say that they are stronger than KING was.
But no one could really predict it since they had no way to really measure the power of the SOVERIGNS and no one really knew just how strong KING really was. Everyone just saw it as something that would always be debated.
The woman waiting for Luna was an A-rank that was capable of handling low-level Cmity sses easily, but she still gazed at Luna with reverence as she waited for Luna to regard her fully. The woman was an Agent from the Superhuman Alliance and she knew that the council wouldn''t mind waiting if Luna wanted to waste some more time!
As one of the SOVERIGNS who is said to be on par with the power that KING possessed, Luna had every right to waste as much time as she wanted!
Luna finally looked away from the statue of KING, and the woman who had been waiting for her almost lost her breath as she saw Luna''s face in all its beautiful glory when Luan turned to her! It was radiant!
It wasn''t that the woman was attracted to Luna in any way, but her reaction was something that she couldn''t stop even if she wanted to! Seeing someone like Luna up close would be like seeing an Angel in the flesh! You can''t help but lose your breath!
Chapter 216: Superhuman Alliance
Luna was beautiful. She was so beautiful that it almost looked like someone out there took decades of their time just so that they would craft Luna as perfectly as possible! The woman couldn''t help but be in awe of the beauty!
But the woman could see a shadow of sadness sh across Luna''s face as she began to move into the building. The woman did not know what that meant, but no matter how curious she was to find out about it, she would not pry into the business of one of the SOVERIGNS! She simply followed behind Luna calmly as they made their way toward the council meeting room!
The Superhuman Alliance building was argepound built in the center of thergest city that was in the center of the Federal Republic of America, City S. Thepound was very simr to the White House in design and architecture mainly because it was a student of the person who built that White House that built the Alliance building.
Every superhuman in America knew about the building, and this building was the only ce in America that was open to superhumans of any rank and guild, at all times of the day, every day of the year!
There were always superhumans ready to help other superhumans within this building, and any superhuman looking to begin their journey as a fighter would first have toe here and register before they are allowed to go and fight against Anima as they pleased.
This building is also where guild masters gather once a month to give reports of their guild activities as well as to request forrger jurisdiction or more authority in the country. The guilds in America are ssified in the same way that superhumans are ssified.
F Rank guild -> S Rank guild.
There are also guilds with the Undefined Rank, but there has not been a single guild in the entire country that entered this category. In order for a guild to be ssified as a rank, they must possess at least three members that are in that rank! An S rank guild must have three S ranks inthem,andan A rank guild must have three A ranks, and so on.
However, the five SOVERIGNS who were seen as the strongest in America all preferred to create theirownguilds instead of working together under one guild. This meant that therehasnever been more than one undefined superhuman in one guild before, so there has never been an undefined guild.
Guilds could also get a higher ranking based on the Anima corpse that they bring into the Alliance. Anima corpses are seen as some of the most preciousmodities by weapon and armor makers in the world. The weapons and armor made from Anima skin could sell for anything between one million dors to a billion dors depending on the sort of Anima that the weapon and armor were made from.
Armor made from the skin of Disaster sses are the mostmon, and the skin of a very strong disaster ss could sell for almost twenty million dors in the Superhuman Alliance and if you were to sell that same skin in the ck market, you would be making almost three times that amount easily.
Superhumans in the underground ck market were willing to spend a lot more on armor since they depended on it more than superhumans who were working in the Alliance and who were part of guilds.
But that is nothingpared to the amount of money that could be gotten from selling Anima bones. Anima bones are seen as one of the most preciousmodities in the entire world. You could kill an Anima anpletelydestroy its skin, but as long as most of its bones are intact, you can make almost the same amount of money from that Anima that you would have made if it waspletely intact.
A full skeleton of a low-level Disaster ss Anima sells for more than two hundred million dors in the Superhuman Alliance and about three hundred million in the ck market. The reason for this extreme price was because of how many things Anima bones could be used to produce.
Anima bones are used to create weapons, anima-proof cars,armor, and some superhumans even put it in their food because they believe that bones have healing and rejuvenating properties that would help them to be stronger.
Pound for pound, Anima bone is the most preciousmodity in the world! Even more precious than diamond, gold, and rubybined!
But there are also a lot ofws restricting the sale of Anima bones anywhere outside the Alliance because of how some people have begun to abuse the substance that is found in the bones. Anima bone marrow possesses more hallucinogens than cannabis and it is a more potent drug than both Heroine and Cocaine put together.
Just a single syringe of liquid Anima bone marrow injected into your body can give you a high that wouldst for at least twenty-four hours straight!
There were a lot of people trying to get the authorities to stop collectingAnimabones and to destroy them immediately after a superhuman kills the Anima so that the bone marrow would be eradicated from the market, but that wouldn''t be possible because of how precious the bones are. Having that drug spread in the market is a small price to pay in exchange for getting the skeleton itself.
And besides, even the superhumans that killthe Animawere also gaining a lot of money from selling the bones and skin from their kills to the government. The government does not even need the superhumans to do anything after they kill the Anima.
Since there are cameras everywhere, the government knows which superhuman killed which Anima, and after collecting the Anima''s corpse, the government willpensate the superhuman appropriately depending on how much the Anima''s corpse was sold for.
Today was the day when most of the guild masters woulde to the guild to give reports of their guild activities over the past month, and it was one of the busiest days for the entire Superhuman Alliance since they had to deal with all the guild masters and make sure that every one of them was taken care of.
Luna walked towards the Superhuman Alliance building with a calm look on her face. As she walked, there were people standing around who would stop and just stare at her. Many of them did it because they recognized her and they were in awe of her, but there were a lot more that did it because of how fucking beautiful she was.
There was this air of beautiful solitude that always surrounded Luna, like she was someone that lived in another world that no one could ever go into! And from how unapproachable she seemed, it was obvious to everyone that she was more than happy just staying in that world all alone without anyone ever joining her in there!
Chapter 217: Gunter Jake
Luna''s footsteps left small traces of ice on the floor, and the air around her was so cold that people could see the icy mist wafting off her skin as she entered the building. This prevented anyone from getting too close to her unless they wanted to have their skin frozen off their bodies.
"Am I the only one left to give my report?"
Luna suddenly spoke up as she entered the building, and the woman following behind Luna quickened her pace so that she would be able to speak while walking right behind Luna.
"No, ma''am, the rest of the SOVEREIGNS are also in the building, and some of them are scheduled to give their reports sometime after you give yours."
Luna had no reaction when the woman said that the rest of the undefined superhumans were also in the building. Even though everyone else in America thought that the SOVEREIGNS were a tight group that knew each other and kept tabs on the other SOVEREIGNS, that was not the case at all.
Luna did not know when people started calling her one of the SOVEREIGNS, and she was not interested in knowing what sort of responsibility they were cing on her for being a part of that group. Luna wouldn''t deny that she wanted to have stronger people in her guild.
Her Moonlight guild already had a lot of S ranks in it, but they were still only an S rank group since she was the only undefined superhuman in the entire guild.
It woulddefinitelybe a great boost to their ranking if they had at least two more undefined superhumans who were willing to join and boost their guild ranking to Undefined. But Luna never even bothered to ask any of the SOVEREIGNS to join her guild. The reason for this was simple.
"Luna, baby! Look at you! You''ve grown even more beautiful since thest time I saw you! If I didn''t know any better, I would think that you were doing stic surgery just to maintain that beautiful fa?ade of yours or something! Hahahahaha! Come give Daddy a hug!"
Luna hated most of those bastards.
The person who just spoke was arge man who was almost twice as tall as Luna. He hadrge hairy arms and a very heavy build that made him seem more like a giant than an ordinary man. His blond hair was cut like a lion''s mane, and he left it to flow freely down his back, giving him an extremely wild and dangerous look.
But even with all this intense muscle and the intimidating height difference between him and everyone else around him, there was an air of calmness and happiness surrounding him and making him seem like a very epting person. The man was wearing a pair of shorts and a Hawaiian-style top that he left unbuttoned at the top, showing off his hairy chest.
He took off his sunsses, and some of the women around the area they were standing in felt their ovaries shake as they saw the intense look in his golden eyes! Even though he was smiling, there was nothing that could hide the fire burning in his gaze! It was obvious that he was already prepared for a fight no matter the situation.
The man was named Gunter Jake, and he was one of the five Undefined Superhumans living in the Federation of America, and the only superhuman who refused to ever start a guild or join a guild. Gunter was an anomaly to almost everyone in America. He was an extremely powerful man blessed by the God of War, Ares, and he could decimate Cmity and Eldritch ss anima like they were nothing to him!
But he refused to be a part of any guild because he believed that he could fight better if he was fighting on his own.
But that did not stop the American Federation from putting sanctions on him. Gunter was too powerful to leave on his own, so the American Federation dered that Gunter himself was a guild all on his own, and they demanded that hee into the Federation once a month to give an ount of his recent activities because of how dangerous it was to leave someone like him to his devices.
Gunter did not agree to this at first. There was hardly anyone who would have been happy toe to the American Federation to tell strangers about what they''d been doing for the past month, but the American Federation struck a secret deal with Gunter, and that was the only reason why Gunter began to do as he was told.
No one knew what the deal was or what sort of reward they were giving him for staying in line, but everyone knew that it was not something insignificant at all if it was able to keep someone as uncontroble as Gunter in check.
Luna looked up at the much taller man with a cold gaze, and Gunter stepped even closer to her as he entered the range of her ice wave. Gunter''s skin immediately began to fight against the ice as fire came out from some of his pores and danced around his body like snakes while beating back the ice from Luna''s ice aura. Luna red harder, and Gunter smiled as she spoke.
"I remember telling you never to call me baby again, didn''t I? The next time this happens, you and I will have more than just words."
Gunter waved the threat away like it was nothing. Everyone in the area could feel a deep chill entering their bodies as Luna''s aura became more intense, but Gunter was able to withstand it easily as the snakes of fire on his skin battled them off and prevented him from feeling anything.
"Oh,e on, Luna, try to loosen up a little. This is exactly why you''re still single. That stick up your ass will probably drive any man away from being with someone like you. But you know, I wouldn''t mind taking you off the market if you want. It''s going to be a hassle to take you, but who''s to say I wouldn''t enjoy the challenge? That is the most fun about women like you.
You might be ice cold, but you have a fire that is unmatched by anyone else. I just love it."
Luna''s eyes narrowed even more, and she finally looked away from Gunter before she started to walk away whilepletely ignoring him. Gunter watched Luna go with a small smile on his face, and he whistled wistfully as he watched the skin that was exposed on Luna''s back and the curve of her back leading down to her ass swaying as she walked away.
Gunter wouldn''t call Luna the most endowed woman in the world because she wasn''t. She did not have thergest breasts or the biggest ass that he had ever seen, but there was just something different about her body. Her aura, her gaze, her power, her beauty. Her fucking beauty. There was nothing that could rival that beauty.
It was almost celestialin nature, and Gunter decided that he wanted that beauty all for himself.
Chapter 218: You Bitch!
Gunter was someone who always got what he wanted, and he would get Luna too whether she liked it or not. Gunter knew that Lunahaveignored advances from many men. Luna was just too beautiful, and there had been so many suitors that have tried to court her that you could fill an entire country''s registry with their names and there would still be more, but Gunter was different from those weaklings.
Gunter believed that he had the power needed to subdue the fire inside of Luna.
"And it helps that you''re strong. It''ll be one hell of a battle in bed when I start fucking the shit out of you."
Gunter grinned sardonically as he put on his sunsses after saying this and began to walk away. He had hisownmeeting to get to, so he couldn''t waste too much time appreciating Luna''s backside as he walked away.
Gunter suddenly remembered that there was also once a woman who tried to court Luna, and he started tough loudly as he remembered how Luna broke the woman''s skull in anger when the woman tried to kiss her.
Oh yes, it wasdefinitelygoing to be fun taming that woman.
¡
Luna was making her way over to the council room when another voice suddenly spoke up from behind her. Luna immediately recognized that voice, and there was a wave of anger that filled her heart as she turned around and stared at the cocky face of Fiona.
"Luna, darling, it''s been too long. When was it that west met again? Oh yes, when you were trying to poach one of my guild members. I can''t believe the great Luna would stoop so low. Trying to poach guild members from a guild below your ranking."
Fiona put her fan up to cover her lower face and eyed Luna from above the edge of the fan mockingly.
Luna''s eye twitched, and she immediately noticed that Fiona was also there with a Superhuman Association Agent.the Agentbowed respectfully to Luna and Luna just ignored him with a frown. Oh right, Fiona was here to give herownreport as well. It was understandable that the leader of a guild with a potential S rank in it woulde to give a report as well.
But why the hell would Fiona be giving her report in the same area that Luna was giving hers? Was it just pure bad luck, or did they do this even after knowing how much Luna despised this woman?
It was no secret to anyone that Luna and Fiona never saw eye to eye, so Luna could only wonder what they were thinking when they put Luna in the same time slot as Fiona for their reports. Luna took an unnoticeable calming breath to calm herself before she spoke up in a calm tone that betrayed nothing of the anger she was feeling on the inside.
"How is Mark Vanitas doing?"
It was Fiona''s turn to feel angry as she noticed Lunapletely ignored everything that she said. Fiona closed her fan and put it into the arm of her long dress as she told Luna that how Mark was doing was none of her business. She did not have any rtionship with Mark Vanitas, so why did she want to know how Mark was doing?
Luna looked at Fiona closely, and Luna could feel some anger rising from her chest when she was about to talk. But she tried her best to take it down so that she would remain perfectly calm.
"I heard what happened with the superhuman killer earlier and the public reception that came about due to that event. Normally, wouldn''t it be the guild''s job to make sure that something like that never gets to the ears of the public? But due to your ipetence as a guild master, you were unable to protect a member of your guild that was depending on your ability to cover for him.
This is exactly why I told you both that this will only end badly for your guild. Mark Vanitas is not someone that a guild like yours can handle. His power is beyond your ability to manage, and you should settle for knowing that he was ever willing to join you. Give him to my guild and let me take proper care of him."
Fionagrither teeth angrily inside her mouth, and she almost bit her tongue in anger! She couldobviouslysee the sense in what Luna just said. Fiona knew that the fact that the media got wind of Mark killing someone was an oversight on her end, and she should not have allowed it to get out at all. It was a mistake that Fiona would never make again.
But it just pissed her off that Luna was talking to her like this! Luna was talking to her like she was a child being reprimanded by her parent! This -
"Fucking bitch!"
Fiona finally couldn''t hold it in anymore, and she took a step towards Luna with the full intention of pulling her hair out from her scalp! The two agents who were standing at the side were immediately snapped out of the trance they had been in for a long time as they attempted to try and calm Fiona down.
Even though Fiona was not as beautiful as Luna, she had the blessing that prevented anyone from being able to resist her allure. Being in the same space as both Luna and Fiona at the same time was too much for anyone weaker to withstand, and they couldn''t help but be caught in a trance as they watched the two women!
The agents quickly moved to prevent the impending fight, but they didn''t need to go far before things were easily settled.
Luna just raised a single delicate brow that immediately stopped Fiona in her tracks as Fiona''s teeth clenched tightly! Fiona closed her eyes and had to sigh in anger as she realized exactly how stupid what she was about to do was. She already knew how this was going to end! She would bepletely decimated by Luna!
It did not matter how much Fiona tried to fight against Luna, in a fight where the two of them were ced on opposing sides, Luna would alwayse out on top, and Fiona would be dead since she could not even use her blessing against Luna.
Fuck!
Fiona couldn''t help but think that this world was so unfair! What was Fiona supposed to do with all that anger in her heart!? She hated the fact that she was so weak! If she had a little more strength then she would have pummeled the face of this bitch into the ground! Fiona just hated everything about Luna!
Right from her beautiful face to that look in her eyes that always made it seem like she was looking down on everyone around her! All of it pissed Fiona off!
Step! Step! Step!
The sound of footsteps echoed from down the hallway, and both Luna and Fiona turned as they heard some voicesing from down the hallway.
"I want to fight with you again! Just once! Just fight me once! I swear, I won''t make it weird! I won''t even let you hit me on purpose! I''ll take it seriously!"
"You''re already making it weird! Get away from me, you crazy woman! And stop trying to hang off my leg!"
Smack!
A loud sound of someone getting hit echoedfromdown the hallway, and a loud moan followed the sound, making both Luna and Fiona recoil in surprise! What the hell was that!? Did someone just moan after getting hit!?
Chapter 219: Why Now!?
Step! Step! Step!
The sound of footsteps echoed from down the hallway, and both Luna and Fiona turned as they heard voicesing from that direction.
"I want to fight with you again! Just once! Just fight me once! I swear, I won''t make it weird! I won''t even let you hit me on purpose! I''ll take it seriously!"
"You''re already making it weird! Get away from me, you crazy woman! And stop trying to hang off my leg!"
Smack!
A loud sound of someone getting hit echoed from down the hallway, and a loud moan followed the sound, making both Luna and Fiona recoil in surprise! What the hell was that!? Did someone just moan after getting hit!?
Fiona shook her head to get rid of the shock, and her face brightened up in glee as she immediately recognized the second voice that spoke up! That was definitely Mark, right?! That had to be Mark! Fiona didn''t recognize the first voice, but she could tell it was a female.
Fiona saw Luna turning away from her to greet Mark, and Fiona immediately took a few steps past Luna so that she would be the first person that Mark would see once he turned the corner of the corridor. Fiona turned to Luna with that same smug grin that she always had, and Luna just ignored her calmly as she waited for Mark to turn the corner.
Mark finally turned the corner after a few seconds, and Fiona immediately raised a brow in surprise as she noticed the look ofplete irritation on Mark''s face as he walked down the hall. There were two peopleing behind him. One of them was a boy with a tired look on his face andrge ck circles under his eyes, and the other person was a girl who was holding her head in pain.
Mark saw Fiona and Luna, raised a brow in surprise, and began to walk towards them.
There were many others walking through the hallway, but everyone did their best not to disturb the group that was forming. The Superhuman Alliance was made up entirely of superhumans, and everyone there knew what it felt like to be in the presence of extremely strong individuals, so they did not act like the humans who would stand and stare for a long time.
Instead, they just looked for a while before leaving to go and do whatever it was that they had been doing at first.
Mark reached Fiona and Luna, and he saw that Fiona was already spreading her hands out for a hug. Mark gave her a hard stare, and Fiona pouted in annoyance as she brought her hand back and epted the handshake that Mark gave her. Mark asked them what they were doing there, and Fiona told him that she was there for her monthly report.
"The real question is, what are you doing here? I didn''t think that you would evere to the Superhuman Alliance alone."
Fiona was genuinely curious why Mark was in the alliance building. She didn''t remember Mark ever having any business here. Thewsuit that they tried to pin against him was dissolved when he joined her guild, and the recent incident with the superhuman killer was taken as self-defense, so there was no need for Mark to be here.
Mark told Fiona that he was here for his superhuman assessment, and Fiona''s eyes widened in shock as she looked at the twins who were walking behind Mark.
"What is the meaning of this? Howe I was never told about something like a superhuman assessment for one of myownguild members? Are you trying to look down on my position as his guild master?"
Tina frowned slightly in confusion as she heard what Fiona said. Tina remembered that they sent the memo to Fiona before they even left to go and meet Mark, so there was no way that Fiona should not have gotten the message.
"We sent you a message a few hours ago. Did you really not receive anything?"
"A few hours ago? That was just before I came to the alliance building! Why did you send it at a time when you knew that I would not be in the guild headquarters? You should have sent it a few days ago so that I would have time to prepare for this properly."
Fiona was justifiably angry, and it was obvious that she was about tosh out since it seemed like they had been looking down on her and her guild. Fiona was already upset because of what Luna just did to her, so hearing that Mark was about to go through an assessment without her was too much and she refused to ept the alliance looking down on her like this!
Mark watched the back and forth between Tina and Fiona for a few seconds with a bored look in his eyes. His eyesnded on Tina, and he saw how she was no longer acting like an idiot. This woman was acting like a perfectly normal person all of a sudden. Was she some sort of bipr asylum patient? How the hell did they allow someone like this out of the hospital?
"I refuse to allow the assessment to happen since you did not go through the official route of asking the guild master before taking a member of their guild to do the assessment. Mark, do you understand?"
Fiona turned to Mark with an angry look on her face, and Mark just rolled his eyes tiredly as he scratched the back of his head while talking in a calm voice.
"Look, they said that they sent it, isn''t that enough? I''m here already, so I should just do it. It''s a bit tiring to go back and forth when they send the letter."
Fiona blinked in surprise, and she pouted angrily as she noticed that Mark was not agreeing with her! If not for the fact that she was a grown woman, Mark was sure that Fiona would be busy stomping her foot in anger like a child. Fiona seemed to be thinking about it for a few seconds as she looked down with her fan over her face.
Her brow was furrowed in thought, and she had her other hand on her waist as she adopted a pensive pose.
After a few moments, she finally nodded and looked up before pointing her finger at both Turner and Tina.
"I''m going to be having talks with your superiors about this oversight, but for today, I will overlook it. No matter what happens, you cannot start the assessment without my attendance, so let''s go."
Fiona was not going to allow them to just overlook her authority like this! Especially now that she was in front of Luna. Truthfully, Fiona was not really angry with the twins about their slight oversight. Fiona knew that it could happen and she would have been content with their exnation if this was any other time.
But not now! Not after the conversation that she just had with Luna and not when she knew that Luna was watching everything that was happening with rapt attention! Even now, she could feel Luna''s eyes on the back of her head as she listened to everything that they were saying! Fiona was sure that Luna was justughing her ass off inside her head as she watched the exchange!
There was no way that Fiona would lose!
Fiona clicked her tongue in annoyance and spoke up.
"Well, let''s get going then¡ª"
Ka-Cha!
"Madam Fiona, the council will see you now."
"What the fuck!? Why now!?"
Chapter 220: Can I Join You?
Fiona turned around in anger as someone opened the door to the council room where the guild leaders gave their reports. Fiona red at the person there in anger, and the man immediately took a step back in shock as he faced the full brunt of Fiona''s anger all of a sudden! Why was she so angry at him!? He didn''t even do anything!? Did hee at a bad time or something!?
Fiona red at the man for a few more moments before turning to Turner and asking him at what time the assessment would begin. Turner raised his hand to look at the time on his watch before shaking his head from side to side.
"Not till about ten minutes. We need to prepare some things now that we know Mark is stronger than we initially assumed, so it will take us some time for that."
"Great, that means you can wait for me to finish before you start. Don''t you dare start without me. I''ll finish talking to those old men beforeing to join you in the assessment room."
Fiona closed her fan with a click before she started to make her way into the council room to give her report. As she passed Luna, Fiona gave her a sideways re that would have been enough to freeze fire, but Luna just ignored her as she continued looking straight at Mark. Luna had been waiting for Mark to finish talking with Fiona before she woulde to talk to him.
Luna thought that Fiona was acting childish and she refused to bring herself down to such a level just because of this.
Once Fiona was inside the room, Luna turned to the Superhuman Alliance agent who brought her there.
"How long will it be before I can go inside?"
The woman bowed.
"My apologies, but you can go inside once Madam Fiona is finished with her report. I think they are leaving you forst since your report will take longer than Madam Fiona''s. Your guild is muchrger after all."
Luna waved the woman''s apology away as she finally walked up to Mark. Mark was leaning against the wall with his hands folded and his eyes closed when Luna came up to him. Mark''s eyes opened slightly as he noticed the moisture that suddenly filled the air around him once Luna came close enough.
Luna was not even using her blessing actively, but the water vapor around her was immediately liquefying just by being in her presence.
Mark nodded at Luna, and Luna smiled slightly at him in greeting.
"Mark, it''s been a while since we met."
"Not that long. A few weeks at most. How have you been, Luna?"
Luna felt a small wave of happiness in her heart as she heard Mark speaking to her normally. Luna thought that Mark would be pissed at her because of the incident that they had before. Luna might not like thinking about it, but there was no doubt that Luna had been stalking Mark for a long time and Mark found out about it.
If Mark hadpletely ignored her, then Luna would have no reason toin.
She was d that Mark was not going to allow that incident to affect their professional rtionship.
"I''ve been very well. I''m d to see you doing fine after hearing what happened with the superhuman killer. Many people thought you would have sustained at least an injury since he is known to be so thorough, but you came out unfazed just as I expected."
Mark just shrugged at her in response, and Luna smiled once more. Turner had been taking a call at the side after Fiona went into the room, and he came towards the talking pair once he dropped the call.
"It seems Fiona was right about not getting the letter. It showed up at her office a few minutes after she left toe here. Do you mind waiting for a few minutes for her to finish up her meeting? It would also give us time toplete our preparations. There is a waiting room where you can rx while we prepare everything."
Mark sighed as he thought about it for a few moments. He knew that he didn''t have to give Fiona the respect that a real guild master deserved since he was just an add-on member who was a part of her guild only for the sake of getting the government off his back for some time.
He won''t even be with the Artemis guild for a long time, and he was already thinking of leaving the guild in a few more weeks. But since he was a part of the guild right now, he decided that he didn''t want to make Fiona lose face in front of the other members of the Superhuman Alliance.
She was kind enough to allow him to join her guild when he needed help, so the least that he could do was to make her seem better in front of other guild masters.
"Okay then, let''s go. Where is the waiting room?"
"Actually,do you mind if I joined you?"
Luna suddenly spoke up from the side, and Mark turned to her in surprise as he saw her smiling at him while raising her hand. Mark didn''treallymind her joining him, but he was surprised that she would even ask.
Luna continued.
"I have a few minutes before I meet with the council, so you and I are in the same boat more or less. I wouldn''t want to be stuck out here doing nothing while waiting, so I figured we could wait together. Is that fine by you?"
Mark shrugged as he started walking down the hallway, and he spoke up in a nonchnt tone that betrayed how apathetic he was about this entire situation.
"Sure, knock yourself out."
¡
The waiting room that Mark and Luna were led to was a fairlyrge room with enough space to fit multiple tables and chairs that were arranged on either side of the tables. The tables were there so that different groups could all use the room at the same time without having to worry about conversing with any other group.
Normally, at this time of the month when there were many guild masters around trying to carry out their guild reports and waiting to be let into the council rooms, there would be a lot of people in the waiting rooms waiting for their turns, but right now, the room was perfectly empty.
Most of the guild masters had already given their reports, and there was barely anyone left in the Superhuman Alliance building other than the guild masters who were giving theirst-minute reports.
Chapter 221: Just A Regular Lovers Quarrel
Mark and Luna were sitting at one of the tables in the waiting room, facing each other with barely anything being said. Tina and Turner left a while ago to go and get everything ready in the assessment room. Mark was leaning back in his seat with his hand folded and his eyes closed. After some time, his phone pinged in his pocket and he brought it out and saw that it was a message from Arit.
[Hey, Mark. I''m done with what I had to do and I''m on my way home. Do you want me to make anything for dinner?]
Mark smiled as he saw the message and sent back that he did not want anything specific. Whatever she makes would be fine.
[Eh¡ you always say that! You know you can make any request you want! I''ll make it for you!]
Mark told her that it wasreallyfine and Mark could almost hear the sigh on the other end of the phone as Arit epted Mark''s choice and sent in another message.
[I''ll make fried rice and vegetables then. It''s been a while since we had that. Oh yeah, and Dad said he wants to send some money over for a new cooker and oven. I think I''ll use it to buy just the cooker and send the rest back since we already have an oven in the hotel.]
Mark grinned as he remembered how good Arit''s fried rice was. Arit''s fried rice could raise someone from the dead with how good it was! But Mark was stunned that Arit had still not told her father that they were no longer living in the former house. What the hell would happen if he wanted toe visit and he went to that former house?
The man might have a heart attack thinking that we eloped or something. Mark decided that he would call Arit''s fatherter and tell him about it himself. Mark was the one who took Arit away from that house, so it was only right that he took care of this as well.
But Mark didn''t like the fact that Arit was still relying on the little money that her father sent them to buy things. This was not the first time that Mark would feel like this. Mark has tried to give Arit money many times, but she was always adamant that she had enough and that she did not need more money. So Mark decided that he would just stop asking and he opened his CoinApp.
[You have sent $3,500,000 to Arit yborne.]
Mark sent a message to Arit telling her to use some of that to buy meat for the fried rice and he was surprised when he didn''t get a response from Arit for a long time. Mark raised a brow in surprise as he waited for Arit to say something back, and it was only after a few minutes that he got multiple back-to-back messages from Arit like a tsunami!
Arit was sitting on an empty bench on the train with her phone in herp and her head hunched down as she typed furiously while trying to understand what the hell just entered her ount! This was not normal money! This was too much!
Ping! Ping! Ping!
[Mark! Mark, what is this!? I think you made a mistake! There are five more zeros than what I need for the meat!! What are you thinking!? Take it back!
I''ll send it back!]
Ping! Ping! Ping!
[I dropped my phone once I saw it! What the hell am I doing with this kind of money? Thank god no one saw that alert! I would have been robbed at gunpoint!]
[Mark, why can''t I send you money!? Did you block me on CoinApp? Mark! Answer me! Mark!]
Ring~! Ring~! Ring~! Ring~!
Mark''s phone immediately began to ring, and he put the phone away from his face as he started to see more and more messages from Arit when he didn''t pick up the phone!
[Mark, please! I don''t know what to do with this much money! I feel restless just looking at it! It''s too much! How can you even send this much money at once!? I didn''t know CoinApp could take this much money!
Isn''t this enough to buy a new house!?]
[Mark!!! Pick up the phone!]
Mark finally sighed as he picked up Arit''s call when it came through again. She wasreallydistressed, and he figured he might as well talk to her and calm her down.
[Mark, when are you thinking!? Three million -]
Arit''s voice quickly came down as she realized that she almost blurted out the amount that Mark sent. She was currently on a train going back home, and there were people all around her and looking at her curiously. Arit didn''t want anyone to know what Mark just sent to her. She put her hand up to the mouthpiece of her phone and spoke in an angry whisper.
[Three million dors! Are you mental!?]
"It''s nothing, Arit. I just figured that it was better to give you that much so you don''t have to worry about anything for some time. I''ll send you more if it''s not enough."
[You know that''s not the issue here!]
Mark chuckled as he imagined the angry blush on Arit''s face as she was saying that and Arit''s blush deepened as she heard himughing at her! This bastard was always getting on her nerves! She told him that she did not need this money, but he just wasn''t listening to her!
[Unblock me on your CoinApp so I can send this back! I''m scared to even look at this kind of money! It''s too much!]
"Arit, calm down. This is nothing to me, so you shouldn''t see it as a big deal. You''re my girlfriend, and it''s going to be strange for you to constantly ask me for money whenever you want to do anything at all. Besides, don''t you think it will be good for you to have ransom money in case I was ever kidnapped?"
[Don''t joke about something so serious! This is not ransom money; this is the kind of money they murder people in cold blood for. Let me send it back, please.]
"Who the hell could even murder you in cold blood?"
Mark stopped himself from saying anything more as he knew that Luna was hearing everything that he and Arit were saying. Even though she wasn''t doing it intentionally, it was obvious that she could hear them since she was so close. Mark didn''t want Luna to know that Arit was already as strong as an S-rank.
Even if Arit were to get targeted by a small-time crook who had identally seen the money in her CoinApp, there was no way that they could do anything to her since she would easily destroy them without any effort.
Chapter 222: So Youre A Neet
Arit put her hand to her face and tried to get her breathing under control again as she realized that she would not be able to convince Mark to let her send the money back. This brute was going to give her a heart attack one of these days, she was sure of it!
She just wanted to make fried rice, and she already had the money for all of the things that she would need for the meal, so why the hell did he send her so much money!?
[Fine, I''ll hold onto it until you get home. You better be ready because this isn''t over yet! When you get home, I''m confiscating your phone and sending this back!]
Mark chuckled at Arit''s response, and he hung up the phone after telling her that he loved her.
On the train, Arit''s face blew up in a red blush as she heard Mark saying this, and she had to cover her face so that no one would see her expression! She had a small happy smile growing as she patted her cheeks in glee and stomped her feet on the ground to try and release some of the happiness in her body! She always loves it when Mark tells her that he loves her.
Mark doesn''t say it often, so she relishes it every time he says it.
Arit knew that Mark was only using this as a tactic to distract her this time, and it wasdefinitelyworking! She wasdefinitelygoing to get Mark back for this!
Mark put his phone away after hanging up and sighed as he leaned back in his seat. He checked his watch and saw that it had only been about five minutes since Fiona entered the council room for her report. Why the hell was time moving so slowly?
"Was that your girlfriend, Arit?"
Mark looked up as he heard Luna talking to him. He did not expect her to talk to him so suddenly, but he didn''t allow his surprise to show on his face for long as he wondered how the hell Luna knew who Arit was. Was she ¨C
"Oh, right, for a second there, I forgot that you were a stalker."
Luna''s cheeks turned a light shade of red as she heard Mark saying this, and she coughed into her closed fist and turned to the side.
"I already apologized for that, didn''t I? I would appreciate it if we didn''t talk about it."
"Uh-huh. I''m sure you would. But yeah, you''re right, that was my girlfriend. She wants to go buy something to cook dinner."
Luna''s eyes lit up.
"She cooks for you? I heard that most girls don''t like doing that anymore since they think it is demeaning. That is very nice."
Mark scrunched up his face in confusion.
"Demeaning? What the hell are you talking about? I have no idea what I''d do if she didn''t handle my food. I''m shit at cooking for myself."
Luna couldn''t help butugh a bit at the self-deprecating tone that Mark used. Luna could imagine Mark living alone and having tons of ramen and snacks in his house as meals every day. Most single men that she knew either ate out all the time or just cooked quick meals that weren''t very serious at home to get by, so she was sure that Mark would be no different.
That would not affect Mark''s health at all since he was a superhuman, but it was not a good image to have at all. Luna herself loved to cook since she was always indoors, so she knew how to cook very well.
"I''m happy that both of you are so close. I don''t think I''ve seen many young couples staying loyal to each other the way both of you have been. It''smendable. I envy that."
Luna said thest part very quietly, but Mark was still able to catch it, and he hummed while putting his hands behind his head and looking up at the ceiling while rxing back in his seat.
"Don''t you have someone?"
Luna frowned at Mark''s words.
"I have no need for such things. I am not short on suitors, but they are all the same. I can tell what they want before they even open their mouths to speak to me. If it''s not about my beauty, then it''s about my power or about the prestige thates with being identified as the partner of one of the SOVEREIGN. It is suffocating being around people like that."
Mark shrugged his shoulders. He didn''t understand what she was talking about, but he was sure that it was one of those things that he couldn''t understand because he was not a woman. Something that only beautiful women went through simply because they were beautiful.
Most people would think that Luna calling herself beautiful was some sort of narcissistic show of pride, but Mark knew that that wasn''t the case at all because of how Luna said it. Luna said it in a way that was just normal. The sun rises in the east, gravity brings things down to the ground, andLuna is one of the most beautiful women in the world. Perfectly normal.
Luna would be a fool if she did not know how beautiful she was. Just ncing at her was enough to give any sane man a tremor in his heart, and Mark would not be able to understand the problems that came with being that attractive.
But still¡
"You''re not getting any younger though, maybe you should try looking for someone instead of having theme to you. Isn''t it boring being alone all the time?"
Mark leaned his cheek on his closed fist as he spoke up with a small grin on his face, and Luna immediately took offense at what Mark said! She red at Mark in annoyance, and Mark couldn''t believe how she was able to make such an angry look still look beautiful.
"Are you trying to call me old right now!? I''ll have you know, I''m barely twenty-three! I have more than enough time before I should even start thinking about these things! And I''m more than capable of being alone all the time!"
Mark raised a brow at her defensive tone before a small smile started to grow on his face as he leaned forward on the table.
"You''re a neet, aren''t you?"
Luna''s face reddened as she leaned away from Mark''s grinning face! W-What!? How did he find out!?
Luna was the sort of person that could be referred to as a shut-in. Whenever she was not with her guild or on a mission, she was always inside readingics and manga in her pajamas. She could stay like that for hours on end, and she wouldn''t even bother going out until the next mission. That was just how she liked to spend her days!
But how did Mark find out about it!?
"I-I don''t know what the hell you are talking about! Get back."
Luna waved her open palm in front of her to try and push Mark back. Mark just chuckled as he leaned back and gave her some space. He knew that Luna was the sort of person who liked to be alone, so he just guessed that she was a shut-in, but her reaction right now confirmed it for him and made him know that she wasdefinitelya shut-in!
Mark hummed and nodded in understanding after some time.
"Well, I guess it''s not the worst way to spend your free time. Sometimes, people just like being alone."
Chapter 223: Why Are You Holding Back?
Mark hummed and nodded in understanding after some time.
"Well, I guess it''s not the worst way to spend your free time. Sometimes, people just like being alone."
Mark did not expect the look on Luna''s face to suddenly change from her blushing embarrassment to a contemtive look that made her appear very downcast. Her eyes clouded over, and a mask of sadness appeared on her face as she was transported to another ce inside her head. Mark leaned forward and called her name, but she did not answer him the first few times.
"Luna!"
"Huh?"
Mark finally shouted her name loudly, and Luna seemed to snap out of whatever trance she had gone into as she looked up at Mark in shock. She saw the worried expression on his face, and she smiled.
"Oh, sorry, I¡ I must''ve zoned out for a moment there. I just remembered something from before, and I couldn''t get it out of my head. About what you said: I don''t think anyone wants to be alone. I just think they haven''t found someone they are willing to let into their space yet. There are scary things that can only get to you when you are alone.
No matter how much of a neet I might be sometimes, I always think that it''s better to be with others."
Mark could see the sincerity in Luna''s tone as she spoke about what she was thinking, and Mark knew at that moment that this was the way Luna lived her life. Is that why she was so desperate to have so many people in her guild? Is she afraid to be alone? Mark had no idea who Luna had been before she became Luna.
The system gave Luna the name Rose Snow, so Mark knew that she was someone else before bing a superhuman and taking on the name Luna, but he did not know anything more than that. There was one more thing that Mark figured out from seeing her status in the system earlier.
"Is that why you are trying your best to hold back your power?"
Luna''s eyes widened in shock as she heard Mark say this. She was in the middle of putting her hair behind her ear when Mark spoke, and she immediately paused and dropped her hair back to leave it hanging as she turned to Mark with wide eyes.
"What?"
"Your power. I felt it the other day when you were trying to get me to join your guild. I don''t know if it''s just instinct or a result of me feeling your power head-on for the first time, but I could tell that you were holding back. And you weren''t just holding back your power output; you were holding back your potential.
You are consciously making it so that you grow at a slower pace than others around you. Is that some sort of pity y on your part? You feel sorry for the other superhumans, so you don''t want to grow too fast so that they don''t feel bad too. That''s pretty stupid, and honestly, it''s eventually going to cost you-"
Freeze!
The spot where Luna kept her hand on the table quickly froze over, and Mark raised a brow as it slowly came towards his hand. He tapped his finger on the table once the ice was about to reach him, and some lightning raced across the table and evaporated the ice into steam in seconds.
Luna was shocked to see the lightning, and if she was in a better state of mind, she would have asked Mark how he was able to use lightning-based attacks at all. But she was not in the right state of mind right now, so she was only focused on trying to get Mark to back off from her personal life.
"Do not talk like you know anything about me. I have great respect for you, Mark Vanitas, but if you ever try to analyze me like that again, it will be thest time you make the mistake. My power is mine to do with as I wish, and no one has a right to tell me how strong I should or should not be. Do you understand?"
Mark couldn''t help but smile a little as he saw the fire burning in Luna''s eyes. He felt she looked very beautiful. Mark leaned back and sighed to the side as he realized that he might have taken things too far. How she uses her power isher business and no one else''s, but Mark just felt like she was wasting her talents by not utilizing her full potential.
At this rate, won''t she just be doing herself a disservice?
Mark looked back into Luna''s eyes and spoke up.
"I don''t know why you feel like you have to hold back, but I just think you''re going to regret it. There might be a situation where you have to protect others, and you won''t be able to because youck the power you need. Or you might be under attack, and you lose your life because you are holding back. No matter how much power you have, it never hurts to have a little bit more."
"You would know all about that, wouldn''t you? I can tell you enjoy fighting. You don''t care how strong or how weak the opponent is; you just want to fight like a fucking diator with no reasoning. Don''t you think that will eventually put you in trouble?"
This was the first time that Mark was ever going to hear Luna cursing, and it lit a fire in his heart that he had never felt for her before. He grinned at her in pride.
"Trouble? I don''t care what sort of troublees. I''m only going to keep getting stronger. No matter how strong the opponent is or how impossible it might seem for me to win. I''ll keep moving forward until I win. As far as I am concerned, there is no alternative.
Either I get stronger, or I force myself to be stronger. I love the thrill of battle. The feeling of blood pumping through your veins as you exchange blows with an opponent and the ecstasy of figuring out an opponent''s weakness in the midst of battle. There isreallynothing more exhrating."
A small smile tugged at the edge of Luna''s face for a moment as she heard Mark''s response, and she finally rxed back in her seat with a sigh as she was unable to form an argument against what Mark just said. What can you possibly say to someone who is as deeply rooted in their beliefs as Mark?
"You''re nothing but a brute through and through. There is nothing that can be done about that. Maybe you are a stronger person than I am in that regard. But I cannot let go of what I believe in either. Tell me, why did you join the Artemis guild?"
Mark raised a brow.
"That is only temporary."
"Temporary, yes, I know. But it is dangerous."
Chapter 224: Lets Agree To Disagree
"It might be temporary, but that does not make it any less dangerous. I can feel your power, Mark. I can tell that you are only a step below what I am. You are almost an undefined, but there is a wall that you are currently about to climb over, and once you do climb past that wall, you will enter the realm of the Inhumans. You will be an existence that cannot be regarded as mortal anymore.
Tell me, what do you think will happen to you once that happens? You will be targeted by everyone. You will be the center of scrutiny, and every step you take, every move you make will be looked upon with fear and awe. If you think things are bad now, then you do not even want to know how feared you will be once you be an official member of the SOVEREIGN.
You will be targeted by those who fear your power and those who wish to use your power for their gain, and no amount of power will be able to keep them from hurting those you love.
"And then what will happen to the Artemis guild? What will they do when they are faced with an opponent that they cannot even begin to imagine at their level? They will be decimated for no reason other than the fact that they were rted to you for a few short months. It does not matter how strong you are, Mark. You of all people should know you cannot be everywhere at once.
That is why you need strong people around you. That is why you should never involve yourself with those who cannot take care of themselves."
Mark''s brow was already rising the more he listened to Luna talk, and by the time she was finished, Mark wasreallyintrigued by what she was saying, and the look of surprise on his face was obvious. Mark knew that there were a lot of things that he did not know about in this world, but what Luna just saidreallyresonated with him.
This was the same situation that he went through with the superhuman killer and it was likely that he would go through the same thing with the syndicate very soon if care was not taken. Mark decided that he would give what she said some thought.
"I wonder if that is why you don''t take anyone lower than S rank into your guild. You only want strong people around you. That''s pretty self-preservative of you. But in a way, aren''t you just afraid of responsibility?"
Luna red at Mark as he brought up her personal life again, and she finally sighed as she noticed that Mark was not looking away from her. Mark was also standing steadfast in his beliefs, just like her, so she couldn''t get angry at him for doing what he was doing. She might not like his way of doing things, but she could respect his resolve.
"I suppose we will have to agree to disagree."
Luna stood up from her seat, and the door to the room opened at theexactsame moment.
Ka-Cha!
"Marky~! I''m back~!"
Tina ran into the room once the door opened, and she was about to jump into Mark''sp, but at thest moment, she changed her posture and attempted to deliver a flying drop kick that would have taken off the head of someone weaker.
Catch!
Mark caught her by the leg and twisted it backward! Tina yelled in pain as she was thrown to the ground, and Mark stepped on her spine while holding her leg upwards! In the position that she was in, Tina almost looked like she was going to get folded in half, but instead of feeling pain like a normal person, the crazy bitch moaned!
"AHH~!"
Mark clicked his tongue in irritation once he heard that, and even Luna couldn''t help but look at Tina in shock and confusion when she heard her reaction! She knew that Tina wasn''treallyhurt by the position that she was in since superhumans could take a lot more punishment, but it was still weird to see someone reacting like this when they were in such a weird position.
Luna turned to Mark with a small frown of confusion.
"Friend of yours?"
Mark shook his head.
"Long story. Just ignore her. She''s nothing but a pervert."
"Ah~! Yes~! Insult me more~!"
Mark''s eyes twitched, and he pulled her leg hard while holding her down with his leg!
"Shut the fuck up, you crazy bitch! And who the hell are you calling ''Marky''!?"
Crack! Crack! Crack!
"Ah! M-My back! It''s going to break! It''s really going to break!"
"Maybe I should break it so you stop following me around! You''re nothing but a fucking nuisance!"
"Ah~!"
At the entrance, Turner was watching the scene unfold with his hand on his face and a tired look in his eyes. Somehow, the bags under his eyes seemedrger than they were just a few minutes ago. Turner was fucking tired.
He just wanted a normal day for once in his life; he has been with Tina all his life, and there hasn''t been a single day where he didn''t have to deal with some of her bullshit! Either she was getting into a fight with people that she should not be getting into a fight with in the first ce, or she was enjoying some fucked-up shit like this!
Mark finally let go of Tina and turned to her brother as she flopped on the ground like a wet rag before she curled in on herself and arge blush spread on her face as she enjoyed the aftereffects of the pain that she had just gone through.
"Are they ready?"
Turner looked up in surprise as Mark spoke to him, and he nodded to tell Mark that the assessment room was ready for him. He moved to the side, and Mark saw that Fiona was also at the door waiting for them along with one of the agents from the Superhuman Alliance. Fiona was frowning as she stared at Luna, but she ignored Luna after some time and turned back to Mark.
"Hello, Mark. I hope you didn''t miss me too much. Staying with that one must''ve been a hassle, but there''s no need to worry since the council will get her out of your hair soon."
Mark scoffed at her obvious jabs at Luna. He still didn''t know what the hell happened between the two of them that made them hate each other so much, but Mark knew that it was too deep and dramatic for him to get involved in it. He would rather just let them handle it on their own since it seemed like too much drama.
The agent that came with Fiona spoke up as she faced Luna.
"Madam Luna, the council is willing to see you now. They are waiting for your report."
Chapter 225: The Assessment Room
"Madam Luna, the council is willing to see you now. They are awaiting your report."
Luna hummed as she heard what the agent said, but Mark was surprised when Luna didn''t walk away after a few moments. Instead, Mark noticed that she was looking straight at him, and he raised a brow when she stepped closer to him and leaned closer to whisper something in his ear. Mark was shocked by what she told him, but he just shrugged and turned to start walking out of the room.
Luna smiled a little and spoke to the agent kindly.
"Please tell the council to wait for me. I wish to view the assessment."
"WHAT!?"
Fiona wasobviouslynot happy to hear that and she shouted in anger as she heard Luna say that she wanted to go and view Mark''s assessment! Why the heck would Luna want to go there? What sort of rtionship could she possibly have with Mark that would make her want toe in and view his assessment!?
"No! I forbid it! You cane to see the result after the assessment is done! You are not allowed!"
Fiona was finally at the end of her ropes as she shouted right in Luna''s face angrily! She was not going to take this insult right in front of a member of her guild! How dare Luna try to bypass her and ask Mark directly! Does she think that she can do whatever she wants just because she is on talking terms with Mark?
But Fiona''s sails were immediately clipped as she heard Mark talking from behind her.
"It''s fine Fiona, let''s just go get this done with. I''m having fried rice tonight and I don''t want it to get cold."
Fiona turned to Mark in shock! Is hereallygoing to allow this!?
"Mark! We can''t just let anyonee into the viewing room! There are ¨C"
"Fiona. That''s enough."
Mark''s tone was suddenly hard and Fiona felt her words die in her throat as she heard him telling her off. She knew that she didn''t have any real authority over Mark in this ce, she had just hoped that Mark would listen to her to allow her to save face in front of the superhuman Alliance agents. But Fiona realized that she had taken it too far and she had annoyed Mark into disagreeing with her.
Fiona was allowing her hate for Luna to cloud her judgment and that was preventing her from acting rationally.
Fiona opened her fan calmly as she immediately gained an impassive look on her face and she held her head high as she began to walk out of the room without ncing at anyone at all. She stopped when she was standing right beside Mark and spoke calmly.
"Very well then, if that is what you wish for, I have no right to argue against it. But sometimes, I wish you would take my side for once. I will be waiting in the observation room."
Fiona walked past without giving Mark a chance to say anything in return and he just told Tyler to lead the way. Luna fell into step behind Mark, and the agent who was meant to bring Luna to the council meeting room sighed tiredly as she realized that she would have to start exining what had happened here to all those old men.
It wasn''t like they could force Luna to give her report if she didn''t want to. Luna could simply go home and tell them that she woulde tomorrow to give them the report and there was nothing that they could do about it. The SOVEREIGN were just that powerful. No one could make them do something unless they willingly agreed to do it.
The council would just have to wait for Luna to finish what she was doing before they get their report.
...
"Right through here, Mark."
The group reached arge door with a glowing red bulb above it. There was a sign on the door that read ''Assessment Room. Authorized Personnel Only.'' And the entire room gave off a feel of something grand and unapproachable. Mark looked up at the top of the door and he let out a gentle whistle as he felt impressed by the sheer size of it. Why did they make a simple door sorge?
Is it some sort of scare tactic?
Click!
The door leading to the room clicked open and Mark saw someone stepping out from the room with a file in his hand. He had a hand over his mouth as he read through the file and he barely even noticed anyone there as he muttered ''D rank'' over and over again like it was some sort of spell.
That man was someone that just finished his assessment and the rank given to him by the Association was D rank. It was obvious to everyone that he was disappointed by the ranking, but there was nothing that he could do about it now since the Association''s decisions were final. He would have a chance to contest the decision after a year, but till then, everyone would see him as nothing but a D rank.
They entered the room and Mark saw multiple people waiting in the room. Men and women were standing on the sidelines while waiting to be called up for their tests. The room was arge hall with an examiner''s booth high above, where Mark could see someone watching the examinees on the grounds.
The hall itself was perfectly smooth and tidy and there was nothing there that suggested that it was an assessment area at all. Mark expected to see some sort of obstacle course or maybe a fighting arena where he would have to fight off against something to get his rating, but this just seemed like an empty hall with no function at all.
"Hey, isn''t that the Vanitas guy? GHOST."
"What? Where? Holy shit, it is. Did hee here for his evaluation? That''s crazy. What is someone like that evaluating himself for?
He''s definitely an S rank."
"He''s going to be worth watching."
Many of the people standing around immediately recognized Mark and Mark could hear the murmurs pick up once he entered the hall. The rest of the examinees in the room were all wearing jumpers or sports outfits that would help them to move around easily.
They figured that they would have to either do some sort of physical evaluation or a fight and they wore clothes that would help them to move around easier.
Mark, on the other hand, didn''t bother with changing out from his shirt and trousers. He was still wearing his ck cks and his white shirt from earlier. The only thing that he got rid of was his tie and the outer jacket of his suit. The first two buttons on his shirt were open and his shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbow.
Anyone who saw him would immediately know that he wasing from a formal event.
Chapter 226: Three In One day?
"Did hee here from some sort of meeting? Why''s he dressed like that?"
"What did I tell you? This is a waste of time for him. Everyone knows how strong he is, so I''m sure he is just here to get his ranking done with so he can move on. He doesn''t need to take this seriously."
"But even though he doesn''t need to take this seriously. Isn''t this too much? I feel like he''s insulting everyone here wearing something like that."
The people in the room were not happy that Mark was not taking the test seriously at all.
Even though they knew that Mark was strong, every single one of them here worked extremely hard to improve so that they woulde here to test themselves at their very best, and most of them were nervous that they would not get a good ranking or they would not be able to pass the test as well as they hoped to.
For Mark to just walk in there like he owned the ce while wearing formal cks was too much for them!
But the people there had no idea what they were about to bear witness to.
Mark walked to the center of the room before he looked up at the examiner''s booth and he saw that Fiona was standing there with her fan covering her face. When their eyes met, Fiona huffed and turned away from him and Mark could almost hear the pout on her face from the way that she was moving.
"Mark Vanitas. Superhuman moniker: GHOST. That is you, right?"
A man suddenly appeared from nowhere and Mark blinked as he saw the man standing in front of him. Mark furrowed his brow as he wondered how the heck the man was able to get in front of him that quickly without him noticing.
...
Name: Alec Ben
Race: Human
Title: The Phantom
Rank: EPIC Rank I
Potential: S
Description: A superhuman blessed by Hermes, the god of speed. He possesses the greatest potential for speed amongst all those blessed by Hermes and he can move at speeds surpassing the speed of sound easily. At full speed, he is capable of reaching and exceeding MACH 5.
His innate blessing from Hermes prevents him from experiencing sonic booms, so his movement is unnoticeable and more sudden than expected. He is someone who holds thew above everything else, so he looks at everyone equally, regardless of who they are.
Affiliation: Lawful Good.
...
Mark immediately read through Alec''s stats and he was not surprised that Alec was an undefined as well. It was expected since Alec could move at a speed that even Mark could barely notice. But MACH 5 was a crazy amount of speed. And the fact that he had a blessing that prevented him from experiencing Sonic Booms only made it better!
That means that he only had to worry about the air pressure and if he can deal with that then he could potentially move at supersonic speed perpetually! Crazy!
"I asked you a question. Are you Mark Vanitas?"
Alec suddenly spoke up when Mark did not answer his initial question and Mark nodded while putting his hands on his waist.
"Yeah, that''s me. Mark Vanitas."
Alec looked back at his notepad and checked something off before looking back at Mark. He nced at Mark from head to toe and he frowned.
"You want to go in looking like that? Do you wish to get changed first?"
"No need. This won''t take long."
"You seem confident."
"Hmm."
Mark hummed in response to the question and Alec just shrugged as he finished writing on his pad. Once he was done, he dropped his hand and spoke directly to Mark.
"My name is Alec Ben. I''m an undefined rank superhuman and the head of the superhuman registration division of the superhuman alliance. I was the one that sent those two to you to ''remind'' you about your assessment. I hope they did not cause you too much trouble."
Alec pointed at Tina and Turner and Turner sighed tiredly while Tina waved at Mark happily with a wide smile on her face. Mark sighed as well before he just shrugged. He was not going to say too much about how annoying Tina was since he was sure that Alec must already know something about that. That was not his problem to deal with.
"They''re alright, I guess."
Alec nodded before he asked if anyone exined the basics of the assessment to him. Mark told him that they did not and Alec nodded again before he started exining.
"This room has been augmented using the blessing of one of the strongest undefined superhumans in the American Federation. When it is activated, you will be transported to an alternate world. There, you will face off against multiple monsters that are summoned using that superhuman''s blessing. The strength and number will steadily increase until you can no longer go on.
The moment you throw in the towel, the test will end and your score will be calcted. Do you understand?"
Mark tilted his head from side to side. The rules seemed pretty simple.
"Is there a starting benchmark based on perceived strength or do we all have to start from the same number of monsters?"
Alec answered calmly.
"There is a set benchmark that everyone starts with ¨C"
"Do wereallyneed to do something like that for someone like this?"
Another voice suddenly spoke up from the examiner''s booth and everyone immediately began to murmur in shock as they heard that voice.
"It''s her!"
"I know that voice! Sheactuallycame to see GHOST''s assessment!?"
"What the heck is going on here!? Three members of the SOVEREIGN at the same time for one person!?"
Mark looked up and he saw a woman leaning over the railing from up in the examiner''s booth. She jumped over the railing andnded on the ground in a perfectly straight pose without even making a sound. She gave Mark a coy smile from under her red-hot hair as she noticed his yes trailing down to her breast beforeing back to her eyes.
She was wearing a pair of ripped blue jeans and a ck long-sleeve off-shoulder crop top that revealed her toned stomach. She had a modest bust that held up the crop top without losing out to gravity at all and there wasn''t a single man there who didn''t follow the jiggle of her boobs when shended on the ground!
Her figure was a perfect eight and if not for the amount of raw power that was radiating off her, Mark would have thought that she was a model or something.
There was no doubt about it; this woman was one of the undefined as well. What the hell is going on in this ce? What are the chances that I would meet three of the undefined on the same day?
Chapter 227: The Warden
Name: Sasha Palmer
Race: Human
Title: The Warden
Rank: EPIC Rank I
Potential: S
Description: An entric woman blessed by As, the guardian and bearer of the world. She possesses the rare ability to store creatures she has defeated in her special world and she can summon and use them in battle whenever she wishes.
Although she is not a part of any organization in America, she has been known to help out the NSA during very dangerous missions that involve monsters above cmity ss.
Affiliation: Uwful Neutral.
¡
Mark read through her stats and he was impressed when he saw that she was also in the EPIC Rank I. Well, it was understandable since she was also one of the SOVERIGN. Mark was still on the lookout for anyone that was already at EPIC Rank II.
I don''t think there can be anyone who has already gotten to EPIC Rank II because of how high the requirements are. You would have to be an insane fighter to get there this quickly.
Mark was not even considering his own progress at that moment. Moving from Rank A to almost an EPIC Rank I in less than six months was already extremely impressive and at the rate he was going, if he didn''t die to a monster during any of his fights, he would get to EPIC Rank II before the year was over.
But as for EPIC Rank I, such a level was not far from his reach anymore.
"So you''re the infamous GHOST. Strange, I thought you would be more¡ imposing. I''m a bit underwhelmed."
The woman walked up to Mark, put her hands behind her back, and leaned forward as she gazed up at him curiously. Mark tilted his head to one side and nced down at her with a nonchnt gaze.
"I didn''t think your opinion about how I appear matters at all. What are you doing right now?"
Sasha grinned and took a step back from Mark while looking to Alec at the side.
"I''m Sasha Palmer. My blessing is what makes all this possible. Hey, Alec, let me handle this one."
Sasha had a blessing that gave her control over her own dimension. She could trap any anima that she kills in that parallel world and summon them whenever she wanted to use them to fight. It was her blessing that allowed the Superhuman Alliance to constantly summon anima in this test room for the examinees to fight.
Alec frowned as he brought his notepad up.
"This will mess up my schedule, Sasha. I nned to finish up this test and immediately move towards another assessment. Can''t you see that many others are waiting to have their turn?"
Sasha waved Alec away like he was talking nonsense and she stared up at Mark with that wide smile still on her face.
"It''s rare for the head of the superhuman registration department to carry out an assessment himself, isn''t it? Admit it, you were also curious about Mark Vanitas. You want to know what the hype was all about. So if we''re going to do it, isn''t it only right that we do it in the right way? There''s no need to take things easy with this one. He seems sturdy."
Alec frowned at Sasha, but he didn''t argue against what she said. Alec only came here for this test because GHOST was the one being tested. Normally, Alec would never involve himself in the test for superhumans since there were many other officials in the Superhuman Alliance who could handle it. Honestly, Alec was extremely curious to see how strong GHOST really was.
There was a brief moment when Sasha turned and caught sight of Luna standing at the side and waiting for Mark. Sasha raised a brow as she realized that there were currently three undefined standing in a room for the first time in a long while. What the hell was going on here? Three undefined standing by just to see the assessment of this one boy?
"There''s three of us here just for you? Aren''t you the important one? I guess I''m not the only one thinking about what sort of potential you possess."
Mark raised a curious brow and Sasha waved Mark''s curiosity away as she told Mark to forget about it. She still had that coy smile on her face as she leaned back and took a few steps away from Mark, and Mark just watched her as he wondered what the hell was on this woman''s mind.
Normally, it would be extremely difficult to have three of the SOVERIGN in one room at the same time. But there were three of them right here, and it was all because Mark was about to take his assessment. Sasha had been in the middle of giving her report when she was told that Mark was about to do his test.
Even though she was not part of a guild, Sasha was still required toe and give her report since she was just too strong to be left alone without the government knowing what she was up to.
Once she heard that Mark was doing his test, Sasha immediately left in the middle of her report and came here. She had heard too much about Mark for her to not be curious about what his ranking would be.
From the amount of power that she could feel from Mark, Sasha knew that there was no way that Mark would not be an S rank.
But would he be able to be an undefined?
That was the question on everyone''s mind.
"Sigh~! Fine, I''ll allow you to handle things here. I''m only giving you ten minutes though, so you better finish it as quickly as possible. If you surpass the time, then you are going to start paying for my time out of your pocket."
Sasha grinned at theme joke that Alec made and Alec didn''t bother to wait for her response as he shed across the room in a burst of speed that waspletely unnoticeable by anyone. But this time, Mark was able et get a better look as Alec moved, and Mark realized that Alec was just walking at super speed to get to the other side of the room.
He was only walking and he could already move that fast!? What would happen if he was running!?
Mark knew that was one hell of a broken ability. Can anyone beat someone who could move at nearly five times the speed of sound? Before you can even try toe up with a n of attack, he would have already blitz you and the fight would be over in seconds.
''Well, if I use the True Sight, I should be able to see him move, but just barely. And if I add in the Demonic Killer''s aura, it might slow him down even more. No, the Demonic Killer''s Aura wouldn''t work. It would be more sensible to just boost my own speed to the max using Mana. That might be the only way I can keep up with that speed. Ah, I want to fight him.''
"-taking this somewhere else. Are you zoning out on me?"
Sasha spoke up when she noticed that Mark was no longer listening to what she had been saying. Mark looked down at the shorter woman calmly and he did not quell under the force of her stare. Mark had totally zoned out, but he just raised a brow at her and she narrowed her eyes at him as she repeated herself.
"Don''t get disoriented. I''m taking this somewhere else."
Phwoom!
Mark was curious about what she meant by that, but his questions were immediately answered as a wide magic circle opened under his feet. Mark blinked once and the next time he opened his eyes, he was no longer in therge hall.
Mark was standing in the middle of an empty road.
''No, not a road. This is a bridge.''
Chapter 228: The ALTERWORLD
Mark could see a drop on either side of the bridge and the bridge stretched far into the horizon both in front and behind him. Above Mark, there was another overpass that curved down to the ground. Mark walked over to the edge of the bridge and looked down to see that it was a very long drop, but Mark could still see the ground down there.
Did she create another dimension using her blessing?
[The user has been transported into a parallel dimension by the blessing of Sasha Palmer. The system has detected the presence of multiple Anima. Calibrating¡]
[Calibrating¡]
[Calibrating¡]
[Calibrating¡]
[The system has sessfully calibrated the strength of the surrounding Anima and an adequate mission will be given to the host.]
¡
New Mission: Defeat the Attacking Anima
There are currently multiple anima surrounding the user. Defeat all the attacking anima andplete the test to gain your ranking.
Reward:
Low-Level Disaster ss: +50 stat points
High-Level Disaster ss: +50 skill points
Low-Level Cmity ss: +50 stat points +50 skill points
High-Level Cmity ss: +100 stat points +100 skill points
Failure:
-500 stat points from a random stat
-500 skill points from a random skill
¡
"You''re in my ALTERWORLD. It''s quite handy, don''t you think? This is where all my monsterse from."
Mark heard a voiceing from all around him and he frowned as he looked into the horizon. He couldn''t pinpoint Sasha''s location using his normal senses, so he immediately activated Achellies Heel and the world blurred into grey. Mark couldn''t see Sasha at all for some time, but he finally looked at the area north and he caught sight of two red dots. Are those Sasha''s eyes?
Sasha''s eyes narrowed as she noticed that Mark was looking right at her. Can he see me from that far away? There is no way his blessing is allowing him to do that. I know his blessing has something to do with physical strength, so why can he see this far? Does it have something to do with a hunting-based blessing?
Sasha was currently sitting on top of arge teau more than a hundred kilometers away and overlooking Mark on the ground. Her legs were crossed under her as she leaned forward and continued talking.
"No need to go looking for me. You should be more worried about yourself. We''re going to start off the test with Disaster sses. We''ll gradually move it upwards until you can''t go on anymore. They say that the threshold for an A rank is a high-level Disaster ss, right? Well then, let''s start off with a few of those."
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Before Mark could even give a response, ten Disaster sses fell from the sky above him and mmed into the ground all around him! The monsters were of varying sizes; some of them had humanoid figures with animal heads or features, while others were more animal than human!
They surrounded Mark from all sides and charged straight for him without wasting any time!
¡
"Hey, hey, they''re starting with ten!? That''s crazy!"
One of the men standing in the assessment room shouted as he saw what was happening on arge screen in front of them. The ALTERWORLD that Sasha was in charge of allowed her to bring anything into it, so she took in a few drones with her to show the test to the real world for proper documentation.
The test was being shown on arge screen for everyone in the room to see, and they were a;; shocked as they saw that ten high-level Disaster sses were being sent after one person.
A high-level Disaster ss was as strong as an A rank and sending ten of them after one S rank would be like sending ten A ranks after him! Did they want to kill him!?
Luna was sitting on a high chair as she watched the viewing and she just leaned back calmly as she knew that there was no way Mark would be hurt by something like this. Ten Disaster sses? You might as well send ten children after him!
BOOM!!
A loud sound echoed through the assessment room and the image on the screen cracked for a moment as arge dust cloud rose over the entire region! The people in the room were silenced as they watched the show with rapt attention and they were all stunned as the dust cleared out to reveal that Mark hadpletely decimated the bridge along with all ten of the Disaster sses at the same time!
"What the hell was that!? Did you see him move!? Did you see what happened!?"
"Of course not! Shut up and watch! I can''t hear anything over your shouting!"
"He moved so fast that he destroyed all of them in one hit."
Thest person that spoke up was Turner. He was standing beside Luna''s chair with Tina at his side and he was watching the showing with narrowed eyes to try and get as much information out of it as possible. He couldn''t believe what he had just seen. Mark barely moved at all, but he was able to destroy all ten of those monsters with nothing but the wind pressure that came from his punch.
All Mark did was shift his body into a position that would allow him to face all ten of the Anima at the same time before attacking.
His battle instinct is absurd.
"Go Marky~!"
Tina pumped her fist in joy as she cheered for Mark and Turner just ignored his sister while focusing on the screen.
¡
[The User has killed 3 Low-Level Disaster sses: + 150 stat points]
[The User has killed 7 High-Level Disaster sses: + 350 skill points]
[Current Power Output: 30%]
Mark flexed his hands a bit after decimating the ten Disaster sses. He looked up at where he knew Sasha was sitting and raised a brow in curiosity as he wondered what she was thinking by sending Disaster sses after him. Did she not hear about what he did on that ind a while ago? He fought against multiple Cmity sses and came out with barely any injuries.
"If you''re only going to be sending fodder after me, then maybe I should just fight you instead for this test."
Mark spoke up while putting his hands back in his pocket and Sasha''s brow twitched in irritation as she leaned forward.
"Fine then! Let''sreallyget into it!"
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Threerge monsters that were all three timesrger than Mark suddenly dropped from the sky, cracking the ground and destroyingrge sections of the bridge effortlessly!
Chapter 229: Is This All Youve Got?
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Threerge monsters, each three timesrger than Mark, suddenly dropped from the sky and destroyedrge sections of the bridge uponnding. Mark put his hand up to his face as one of them¡ªarge lion-human hybrid with the head of a lion and the body of a human¡ªopened its mouth and roared angrily at Mark!
ROARRR!!
The other two monsters were also human hybrids, one with vinesing out from all its limbs and the third with a lizard head, crawling on the ground on all fours.
''All Cmity sses. The lion is the strongest.''
Mark immediately took arge step back as he felt the lion gathering power in its mouth. It opened its mouth, and a thunderous roar echoed out, creating a sonic boom that destroyed the spot where Mark had been standing. Mark was already in the air before the attack could hit!
SCREEEECHH!!
BOOM!
''Sonic st. High damage, low radius. Not bad. Its range is probably much further than this, so the anima is smart enough to gauge distance and change its power output based on that distance."
Mark stopped himself from moving back as he caught hold of one of the bridge suspenders and he sted forward as he headed straight for the lion! The anima with vinesing out from all its limbs shot one of its arm-vines at Mark, but Mark didn''t bother to stop as he grabbed the vine! He pulled hard and jumped over the lion-headed anima while wrapping the vine around its head!
ROAR!
The lion-headed anima roared in anger as it grabbed the vine and tried to pull it off, but the anima with vine limbs roared in pain as it felt its vines getting pulled and ran toward the lion-headed anima in anger! Mark grinned, and his hands started to spark as he activated his lightning skill.
[Lightning Surge]!!
A massive wave of lightning exploded out from Mark''s arm and traveled through the vine! It mmed into the lion-headed anima before coursing through the vine and electrocuting the vine-limbed anima as well!
HISS!
The anima with the lizard head suddenly charged straight for Mark, and Mark wasted no time as he pulled hard on the vine! He dragged both anima toward him and ced them right in the path of the lizard anima as they all collided with each other and were sent flying back from the force of the lizard-headed anima''s charge!
But that was not enough to take them out, and Mark could see them getting back on their feet as they prepared to charge at him again!
"Hng!"
ROAR!
Mark pulled on the vine and dragged the vine-based anima toward him! He let go of the vine and pulled back his fist before delivering a devastating blow that eviscerated the anima''s stomachpletely!
BOOM!
The entire section of the anima disappeared as Mark''s punch tore a hole right through it! The anima wasn''t even allowed to fall before Mark grabbed it and used it to m into the lion anima that was trying to attack Mark from behind!
The anima was thrown back, and Mark focused his attention on the lizard anima!
HISS!!
The lizard anima charged for Mark in anger as it tried to take a bite out of him! Mark grabbed it by its mouth, and it didn''t even have a chance to fight back before its mouth was torn open in one pull!
SQUELCH!
Green blood spilled everywhere, and Mark held the two halves of the cmity ss in his hands as he turned around and stared at the lion-based anima that was behind him. The lion anima now seemed to be a little more cautious as it moved around Mark from a distance.
After seeing Mark tear one of its kin apart like nothing, the lion anima was wary of Mark''s power, and it was trying to think of a new way to attack.
Mark didn''t even bother watching the anima as he dropped the two halves of the lizard anima to the ground. A pair of ck gloves appeared in Mark''s arms, and he began to put them on as he started walking toward the lion anima calmly.
The lion-based anima took a single step back as it noticed Mark walking toward it, and it began to feel the first traces of fear in its heart as it realized that it was probably not going to be able to win against Mark. Should it run? No, that was cowardly. The lion anima was still a lion, and it was as prideful as any other lion in the world. It would fight back until it couldn''t fight anymore.
"You know, I won''t chase after you if you run. You aren''t worth the trouble."
Mark was talking calmly as he approached the lion anima, but the lion anima was not able to understand what Mark was saying. All the lion anima saw was someone challenging it, and it roared in anger as it decided that it was going to fight no matter what!
"Well, I suppose you wouldn''t understand what I''m saying anyway!"
[Sonic st!]
ROAR!
The lion anima charged for Mark while unleashing its sonic st, and Mark pulled back his fist.
[Current power output: 40%]
[Critical Strike]!
¡
TWOOOOMMM!!!
It was like the entire ALTERWORLD shook from that one punch! Everyone watching the scene between Mark and the three cmity sses could only stare in shock as they saw Mark release a punch thatliterallydestroyed the sound barrier!
The cameras shook, and some of them went offline as they couldn''t withstand the wind pressure from Mark''s punch, and the bridge that Mark was standing on was destroyed even more by that one punch!
"My god. Isn''t this too much? Those are Cmity sses, you know."
"They are low-level cmities. It''s not like he did anything special."
"So, can you kill a single low-level cmity without taking a single injury?"
"¡"
"Yeah, that''s what I thought. It''s crazy that he can do that."
The people around the room were all talking about Mark''s disy of power, and many of them were trying to understand just how strong Markreallywas. From what they had seen, there was no doubt that Mark was at least an S rank.
Even though a high-level A rank like Tylor could kill the Disaster sses that appeared in the first test, there was no way that an A rank would be able to handle three Cmity sses at the same time. That would take at least an S rank. So now they were sure that Mark was an S rank.
But that was all that they were sure about.
From how easily Mark just handled those monsters, they all knew that Mark could handle a lot more. He didn''t sustain a single injury from those monsters, so does that mean that he could handle high-level Cmities as well!?
Luna was watching the test with a narrowed gaze as she tried to understand something about what Mark had been doing all this while. Luna was not surprised that Mark went against the cmities. As far as Luna knew, Mark was already an undefined in her eyes, so she was sure that he would be able to defeat a lot more than what they were dishing out.
''But how is he able to use lightning?''
Chapter 230: Yes, I Can Copy Your Skills. What Are You Going To Do About It?
''But how is he able to use lightning? This isn''t the first time that I have seen him using it. He used it in that interrogation room as well to melt my ice. Is it some side effect of his blessing? Or is it rted to his blessing at all? Who the hell are you really, Mark Vanitas?''
"I wonder if he has always been able to use that lightning."
Luna turned to the side as she heard Tina speaking up. Luna''s assessment of Tina as a person was already very low because of how she saw Tina acting earlier with Mark. But right now, Tina looked very serious and she was talking calmly, so Luna figured that she would listen to what Tina had to say.
"What do you mean? Have you seen him using lightning before?"
Luna asked Tina this question, and Tina looked towards Luna in surprise before she nodded and answered in the positive.
"Yup, when we fought earlier. He was able to withstand arge bolt of my lightning and he even dished out a simr lightning skill to attack me. But that does not mean he is blessed by Zeus though, I know what you''re thinking. If he was blessed by my patron God, then I would know. I can feel it in my gut when I''m close to another child of Zeus and I know for sure that he isn''t one of us.
I don''t know how he does it, but it was unbelievable."
''So he can also absorb lightning?''
Luna did not know what to think about that, so she just figured she would ask Mark about itter if she ever got the chance. There was hardly anything known about Mark''s real abilities and Luna realized that she wanted to know more about Mark.
¡
[User has killed three low-level Cmity ss: +150 Stat points +150 skill points]
Inside the ALTERWORLD, Mark flicked his hand to the side to get rid of some green blood as he looked at where Sasha was sitting with a raised brow of disappointment. His look was basically saying; ''Is that all you''ve got?'' and Sasha gritted her teeth in irritation as she saw it. As far as she knew, Mark was mocking her!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Mark quickly got into a ready stance as monsters started to fall from the sky once more, and the people who were watching from the assessment room all widened their eyes in shock as they saw the number of monsters that Sasha was sending after Mark. Isn''t this too much to send all at once?
There were Disaster sses as well as Cmity sses in there, and they were all zoned in on Mark as they got ready to attack!
Alec had been standing by inside of the ALTERWORLD all this time and he did not intend to interfere in the test at all since Sasha said that she wanted to handle it herself, but once he saw what was happening, he immediately nned to move forward and stop Sasha from bringing out all those monsters!
He dashed to Sasha''s side and he was about to tell her to stop when he heard thest thing that he ever thought that he would hear at that moment.
m!
"Hahah!!"
m!
"Hahahahahahahahah!!!"
m!
m! m!
Alec looked back at the scene in front of him with wide, disbelieving eyes. Is Markactuallughing?
¡
Boom! Boom!
Squelch!
[User has killed three High-Level Disaster sses: +150 Skill points]
[User has killed five Low-Level Disaster sses: +250 stat points]
"Hahahahahah!!"
Mark wasughing like a madman! There was a wide, bloodthirsty smile on his face as blood sprayed out from every punch that he delivered, sttering him with different shades of red and green!
This was it!?
Was thisreallyall that they could give him!? Mark raced across the ground and mmed his fist into the head of thergest Anima who was standing there!
m!
The anima stumbled back and fell to its ass, crushing another small anima under it! Many of theanimastarted to try and pile on Mark, but Mark began to destroy them with a punch each!
Boom!
[User has killed +3 Low-Level Cmity sses: +150 stat points +150 skill points]
[Critical Hit]!
Boom!
[User has killed +2 High-Level Cmity sses: +200 stat points +200 skill points]
[Critical Hit]!!
Boom!
Boom!
Each punch left a massive sonic boom in its wake! Each movement was precise! The people watching all thought that Mark was at a disadvantage when they saw all the anima that were called for him to fight against, but they had no idea that it wasactuallythe other way around! The anima were the ones at the disadvantage!
[Current Power Output: 60%]
Mark grabbed a snake anima by its tail and used it as a whip to m into a bear anima that was trying to charge for him!
[Lightning Surge]!
A bolt of lightning shed out from Mark''s glove and raced through the Snake anima, cooking it from the inside as it conducted the electricity and electrocuted the bear anima, as well as multiple other anima in its path!
[User has killed +4 Low-Level Cmity sses: +200 stat points +200 skill points]
m!
All of a sudden, Mark felt a massive weight m into his back and he was thrown across the bridge by the force! The anima that hit him was a bison-headed anima withrge muscles that rippled under its skin and made it look like a bodybuilder on steroids. Mark rolled to a stop and he was immediately dogpiled by multiple anima that all rushed at him!
The force of their charge sent all of them over the edge of the bridge with Mark, and many people watching put their hands up to their mouths in shock as they thought that Mark was going to get injured by that fall.
"Hahaha!"
"Hahahahahahah!"
But theughing never ceased! It was surreal for them to see something like this! Someone being attacked by this many anima all at the same time was taking such pleasure in it! It was almost like Mark had gone mad!
Mark mmed his fist into the anima right on top of him! He grabbed another anima and used it as a baseball bat to m into the anima that would have fallen on top of him when they got to the ground. Mark then turned his body around and positioned the anima in his hand right under him so that it would hit the ground first!
KA-BOOM!!
The mass of anima all mmed into the ground at the same time and Mark immediately put his hand up without wasting a second.
"CELESTIAL FURY!!"
¡
"What!?"
Tina was shaken!
Chapter 231: I Thought That Would Hurt
"CELESTIAL FURY!!"
¡
"What!?"
Tina stepped forward in shock as she saw Mark calling out her skill and saw that the skill wasactuallyactivating! How in the world is he able to do that!? I thought he could only redirect a skill that was used against him! Don''t tell me he canactuallycopy skills! Is that even possible!?
Luna looked up at Tina, and she realized that Mark had done something new that even Tina didn''t know about. No matter how many times Luna sees Mark doing these things, she can never figure out what his true power is. And now, the one person who seemed to know a little bit about Mark''s true power was also at a loss.
Luna smiled unconsciously as she realized that it would be very interesting to find out more about Mark in the future.
¡
Rumble! Rumble!
The sky above them darkened as clouds gathered from the horizon before a massive bolt of lightning struck down on the ground like the vengeful wrath of an evil god!
BZZZZZZZTTTTT!!
BOOM!!
The lightning caused a massive explosion as it struck the ground, and the people watching all kept their eyes glued to the screen in rapt attention! Most of them couldn''t believe what they were witnessing, and they knew that even if they told the stories of this to anyone who did not watch it, they would probably never be believed!
[User has killed +7 High-Level Disaster sses: +350 stat points]
[User has killed +2 High-Level Cmity sses: +200 stat points +200 skill points]
[User has killed +5 Low-Level Cmity sses: +250 stat points +250 skill points]
Arge fire was raging in the area, and Mark calmly walked out from the me while dragging the bison Anima that had attacked him by the horn. Mark still had that wide smile on his face as he faced off against the remaining Anima, but the Anima were not even daring to go near him as they all feared for their lives!
''I won''t be able to use it again.''
Mark knew that now that he used the Celestial Fury skill that he absorbed, he wouldn''t be able to use it again unless he absorbed it for a second time. Mark''s constitution gave him the ability to absorb and use any lightning-based skill that was used against him, but he could only use it once before he would have to reabsorb it again.
That meant that now that he had used the Celestial Fury, he would not be able to use it again.
But the Anima did not know that.
The Anima thought that Mark was able to use lightning freely, so they were all terrified to even go near him. This was exactly what Mark had nned. Even though Anima were creatures of mass destruction, they were still strangely normal in the fact that they were terrified of those who were stronger than them.
Once you show that you have enough power to destroy an Anima, it would feel some fear when facing off against you, and that fear would be enough to disorient the Anima and make it make bad decisions in the middle of the fight!
"Come on, you fucking pieces of shit! You wanted a piece of me, didn''t you!? You came looking for this fight! So why are you running!?"
Mark threw the body of the bison Anima to the side like trash as he grabbed his shirt and tore it off, leaving him in only his singlet and trousers with his gloves!
[Current Power Output: 75%]
"FIGHT ME!!"
ROARRRR!!
WHIIIINNNNEEEE!!
A loud sound like a rocket engine roaring to life suddenly began to echo through the area, and Mark turned around to see that it was a veryrge Cmity ss that was leaning over the edge of the bridge. The Cmity ss had the body of an alligator, and itsrge mouth was open as it gathered energy in front of it!
Is it going to shoot that at me!?
"What the fuck!?"
TWOON!!
The st flew towards Mark like a rocket, and Mark immediately jumped back to avoid it, but his eyes widened as he saw the st shift its trajectory to follow him, and he immediately knew that he would not be able to dodge it for a second time!
Mark crossed his arms in an X to protect himself, and he received the impact!
BOOOM!!
The Anima all around immediately charged for Mark! They knew that the st would not be enough to stop Mark, but they hoped that it would be enough to slow him down for them to get a chance to attack!
"Hahahahah!! You weak bitch! I thought that wouldactuallyhurt!"
"!"
All the Anima stopped in their tracks as they heard theugh that promised death, but it was toote for them as they were already too close to Mark! The dust cleared to reveal Mark in a ready position to throw a punch! His hands were pulled back, and they all wondered how Mark was going to attack from all the way over there.
[User has sent Mana to his hands and feet]
[Mana: 650/1220]
[Sonic Impact]!!
[Divergent Fist]!!
The ALTERWORLD vibrated right down to its core, and for a moment, Sasha realized that she had lost control over herownworld! The air around Mark gathered in front of him as space dted and formed a vortex of ck matter! And as Mark sent his fist forward, the vortex dissipated, and the world imploded!
BOOOOMMMMMM!!!
¡
Bzzt! Bzzzt!
Whinnnnnneeee!
Skreeechhhhhhh!!
The sound of digital static filled the viewing room. The cameras that had been showing the fight on the screen suddenly began to malfunction as the st from Mark''s divergent fist sent most of them flying away due to the intense aftershock! Most of them werepletely destroyed and only showed static, while others took a long time before they came back online to show what had happened.
"Hey, hey, are you for real right now? What the hell is this kid?"
"Is this really that same GHOST I saw fighting against Disaster sses on MeTube?"
The bystanders couldn''t believe their eyes as they took in the sight of therge crater that had formed in front of Mark from his st. The crater looked like something an asteroid falling through the atmosphere would make after sliding into the floor for miles!
The entire crater was deep and red-hot. It releasedrge plumes of smoke as Mark''s punch had boiled all of the rocks and turned most of them into magma. All the Anima that were standing in front of Mark never even stood a chance as they werepletely eviscerated by that punch; there wasn''t even a bone or skin to show that they were once there!
"Weren''t there High-Level Cmities in that bunch of Anima? Hereallydid all that to Cmity sses?"
Chapter 232: I Want Him
"Wait, don''t tell me. Is he going to be the sixth? There''s no way, right? He can''t possibly be undefined."
The man who spoke slid down the wall that he was leaning against as he watched the showing with wide, unblinking eyes. He didn''t want to miss a moment of what he was seeing. This is the sort of thing that you tell your grandchildren in years toe and he was realizing how fortunate he was to be seeing it!
"Is he really going to be a SOVERIGN? I mean, that''s not possible, right? I can swear he was struggling against disaster sses just a few months ago. What sort of absurd growth rate is this?"
No one could answer his question, and they just had to keep their eyes glued to the screen to keep watching. They knew that from the disy that Mark was giving right now, there was a very high chance that they were witnessing the birth of the sixth SOVEREIGN.
¡
"Move, girl."
Up in the examiner''s booth, Fiona had been watching the fight with a small smile on her face as she saw Mark''s power on full disy. She knew that this was only going to boost the standing of herownguild, so she couldn''t help but be excited, but she blinked in surprise as she heard someone talking from behind her.
When she heard the person call her a ''girl'', she frowned in anger, and she was about to turn around andmand the person to jump off the edge of the railing.
But her words died in her throat as she came face to face with a literal giant. Fiona looked up, and she swallowed heavily as she faced off against the second-strongest SOVEREIGN in the American Federation, Gunter. Fiona knew that Gunter had no right to call her a little girl. If it was anyone else, Fiona would have taken control of their mind immediately.
But there was nothing that Fiona could do against someone like this!
Just the aura he was releasing was enough to make Fiona realize that she was way out of her depth here! Gunter could fold her like paper and throw her across this room, and no one would even bat an eye at him since he was just that powerful!
Gunter was not like Luna at all. Fiona could have a feud with Luna because Fiona knew that Luna was not someone who would immediately resort to violence at the slightest show of disrespect. But Gunter was different. Gunter would not hold back from punching her in the face if she said anything except what he wanted to hear.
There was once an incident where Gunter backhanded a disrespectful journalist in the face because of the sort of questions that she had been asking. That journalist was pulverized to paste and she died on the spot! But other than a few sanctions, a few fees, and a month of house arrest, Ghunter went scot-free. He was just that influential.
Fiona slowly took a few steps to her side while giving Gunter a short greeting out of respect, and Gunter only looked at her for a few more seconds before he turned away to look at the screen in front of him.
Gunter''s eyes narrowed as he took in the sight of therge crater that Mark formed from his punch. This was impressive. Gunter has had his eyes on Mark for a while now. At first, when Gunter heard about Mark, he disregarded him as unimportant.
Mark was able to kill a cmity ss monster in a fight as only an A rank, but it wasn''t as though Mark was the only A rank that could do that, so Gunter just ignored him.
Besides, why would Gunter care about someone who can only kill a cmity?
But after hearing that Mark went to the ind raid with the NSA and came back with barely any injuries, Gunter started to get more and more interested in Mark. He watched Mark for a while, and he realized something very interesting about him, Mark was growing. And it wasn''t just a simple speed of growth either. Mark was growing so fast that it almost looked like some joke!
Mark went from struggling against a cmity ss to being able to handle a high-level cmity in less than two months.
''And now he can handle multiple cmity sses easily?''
"How many has he killed?"
Gunter turned to one of the superhuman alliance Agents that was standing at the side, and the man immediately brought up his tablet and started reading out the numbers.
"The current examinee has killed thirteen high-level Cmity sses and sixteen low-level cmity sses without taking into consideration the current crowd that was killed. Along with this, he has also killed eleven low-level disaster ¨C"
Gunter raised his hand.
"Don''t bore me with the disaster sses. Do you have a score for him already?"
There was a score that was recorded for every Superhuman that came to take this test. The score was calcted based on the number of monsters that you kill as well as how long it takes you to kill them. Gunter figured that this much might already be enough to tell them how strong Mark was.
The Agent started to scroll through the tablet and tapped on a few numbers before he swallowed and stammered out an answer.
"B-Based on his recent performance and the speed at which he dealt with the monsters. His current score is 3500 points."
Gunter''s eyes widened in shock, and even Fiona looked stunned by what she heard as they both turned to the agent to confirm that they weren''t hearing things. It only took a moment for Gunter to ept that hereallyheard properly, and he immediately began tough in excitement.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
All the people in the room looked up at the examiner''s booth as they heard the loudugh, and they wondered what was making someoneugh that loudly! Gunter couldn''t believe what he was hearing! So there was going to be another one of them already? The score limit that would make someone undefined was only 2000.
Anything above 2000 was considered an undefined Rank and they would be taken as a member of the SOVEREIGN immediately.
Mark was able to grow so much that he easily broke through the limits and entered the realm of the undefined!
A cruel smile grew on Gunter''s face as he looked at Mark with a fire behind his eyes.
"I want him."
Fiona''s eyes narrowed into slits once she heard that and her hand tightened into fists, but she didn''t dare to say anything in response as she knew that it would be stupid to mention that Mark was currently a part of her guild. She knew what sort of person Gunter was, and it would not end well for her if he decided to force her to give Mark to him.
Chapter 233: I Wont Take This Embarrassment Lying Down
"I want him."
Fiona''s eyes narrowed into slits once she heard that and her hand tightened into fists, but she didn''t dare to say anything in response as she knew that it would be stupid to mention that Mark was currently a part of her guild. She knew what sort of person Gunter was, and it would not end well for her if he decided to force her to give Mark to him.
Mark wasn''t even a permanent part of Fiona''s guild. ording to the deal they made before, Fiona was only going to retain Mark until he was no longer interested in staying in her guild, and then he could leave anytime he wanted. Fiona couldn''t stop Mark from leaving if hereallywanted to. All Fiona could do was hope that Mark would not leave her guild just yet.
Now that Mark was going to be a member of the SOVEREIGN, Fiona knew that it would be a great boost for the guild, so Fiona wanted to retain Mark for a little while longer.
...
[user has killed +3 High-Level Cmity sses: +300 stat points +300 skill points]
[user has killed +5 Low-Level Cmity sses: +250 stat points +250 skill points]
[user has killed +6 High-Level Disaster sses: +300 stat points]
[user has killed +5 Low-Level Disaster sses: +250 skill points]
Mark read through all the rewards from his system quickly before he waved them aside. He looked around him and saw the destruction that his fight had caused, and he couldn''t help but be pleased with himself. Mark was currently sitting on top of the Alligator-headed anima that shot theser beam at him.
There was a long pipe sticking through the alligator''s head, and both its eyes had been gouged out and were dripping red blood.
Mark looked up at the spot where he knew Sasha was watching from, and he couldn''t help but click his tongue in disappointment as he looked away.
"I really shouldn''t have expected much."
...
Sasha''s hands were shaking in anger. There was a line of blood falling from her chin as she bit her lower lip and she squeezed her palms into fists while watching Mark destroy thest cmity ss that she summoned to defeat him. What the hell is this? Is this boy even human? I knew he was strong, but this was beyond what I thought he would be able to do!
The only people who should be able to do what he just did are the SOVEREIGNS themselves. Does that mean ¨C Sasha bit down harder on her lip as she stopped herself from finishing that thought?
Sasha had many other cmity sses that she could summon right now to fight against Mark. They were all strong, and if it was an A rank or even an S rank, then they would have easily fallen to the cmity sses. But Sasha also knew exactly how that fight was going to go.
From what she just saw, Mark was barely putting any effort into fighting off these cmities. His mana is probably still very high, and he will only have to preserve it until Sasha herself runs out of mana. Sasha looked within herself and her heart thrummed in anxiousness as she felt how low her mana level was. She was down to less than half.
Sasha was justing from a mission where she used a lot of energy, so she wasn''t at her full strength when she began this test. But that was no excuse as far as Sasha was concerned. Mark was just a fledgling who shouldn''t be pushing Sasha this far. This was fucking embarrassing!
Sasha never thought that she would need to go this far when testing Mark. Even when she was testing some of the other SOVEREIGNS, did they ever push her this far? Did they ever make her use up this many of her monsters? No, none of them ever pushed her this far.
"Sasha, I think it is best for us to end the test here. We''ve gotten enough data to be able to score Mark based on what he has done. If you can just ¨C"
"Fuck it."
Alec turned to the side in shock as he heard Sasha curse, and he saw her eyes glowing as she gathered arge amount of mana around her.
Woosh!
"Sasha! What the hell are you doing!?"
Sasha didn''t bother stopping as she put her hand on the ground beside her with a wide smile on her face.
"Let''s see if hereallyhas what it takes to be a SOVEREIGN! You think killing cmities is what makes you strong! You have no idea the monsters that exist out there in the real world! You don''t know what it means to face off against death itself! To be stared down by an unfathomable creature!"
DOON!!
RUMBLE!
RUMBLE!
RUMBLE!
The ground under Mark began to shake, and Mark blinked in surprise as he saw arge shadow fall over his head. Mark looked up in shock, and his eyes widened as he saw an anima the size of a skyscraper falling right on top of him!
"What the fuck!?"
BOOM!
Mark barely managed to dodge and roll to the side as he avoided the impact! He took many giant leaps back, and he raised a handupto clean a bead of sweat that he didn''t even know had gathered on his forehead. There was a great tension that filled the entire region as Mark watched the anima closely, and his heart rate spiked as the anima slowly slithered to its feet and towered over Mark!
For the first time since the fight started, Mark hesitated.
It was a giant centipede that had hundreds of giant legs on each side of its body. Its mouth had tworge pincers that opened and closed in intervals as it tried to get its own body under control. It rolled its body around like a snake while its legs mmed into the ground, breaking through concrete and grabbing a hold of everything around it to anchor itself in ce.
The centipede was extremely imposing, but that was not what was making Mark hesitate. Mark could feel it. Just like everyone else in the ALTERWORLD, as well as those who were watching from the real world, could feel it. There was an aura that surrounded this monster. Something otherworldly that made it seempletely different from the monsters that Mark had been facing up to this point.
A purple outline of raw mana surrounded the monster, and even with his normal eyes, Mark could tell that this beast was no Cmity!
Luna stood up from her seat as she saw therge centipede, and she tightened her hands into fists as a wave of deep anger filled her heart at the moment! What the hell was Sasha thinking!? Sasha wants to use something like this to test Mark!?
Luna wanted to enter the ALTERWORLD and stop this nonsense, but there was nothing that she could do since Sasha was the only one who could open a gate to the ALTERWORLD.
Chapter 234: An Eldritch!
Turner used a hand to clean his eyes in shock, and even Tina was shell-shocked as she saw what was on the screen.
"Hey, isn''t that an ¨C"
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
A loudugh suddenly interrupted whatever Tina was about to say as Gunter leaned forward over the railing and shouted at the screen in uncontroble excitement!
"Don''t tell me you''re freezing up now, boy!! Are you freezing up in front of an ELDRITCH!!? Is this the limit of your resolve!?"
The monster that had justnded in front of Mark was something that no one below the SOVEREIGNS could even dream about getting close to. Just being close to a monster like that was enough to crush you by its aura alone, and trying to fight it would be like an ant trying to destroy an elephant!
Luna clicked her tongue as she heard Gunter shouting. Doesn''t that fool know that they cannot hear us through the screen? Stop bothering people with your stupid shouting and let me watch in peace. Luna turned back to the screen, and she felt worry settling in her heart. She hoped that Mark would be alright.
The difference between an Eldritch and a cmity was like night and day. Just the same way S ranks are nothing whenpared to the Undefined. Cmities are nothing whenpared to Eldritch ss monsters. Was Mark going to be fine?
"Sasha! Get rid of that thing right now! He is not ready for an Eldritch!"
Alec shouted at Sasha in anger when he saw that she summoned one of the Eldritch ss monsters that she recently killed. Did she want to kill the boy? How can she call something like this for a mere assessment!?
Sasha rolled her eyes in annoyance as she heard Alec shouting at her. She didn''t want to call the monsters back, but now that her head was a little calmer, she realized that she might have gone a bit overboard by calling an Eldritch ss monster for a mere assessment. Ah~ She was going to get sanctioned like crazy for this!
Sasha immediately put her hand to the ground to call her monster back into her prison, but she was stunned when she noticed something! What the fuck is that boy doing!?
Mark could feel it right down to his very bones! Every muscle in his body was screaming at him! Shouting at him like an endless siren! But they weren''t telling Mark to run! No, they were telling Mark to charge! Mark could feel his entire body shaking in excitement as he tried his best to calm his beating heart!
''This fucker couldreallykill me.''
How long has it been since Mark faced off against something that could kill him? How long has it been since Mark faced off against something that he knew he couldn''t hold back against!? How long has it been since Mark wanted a real challenge!? A wide grin burst to life on Mark''s face!
"This is what I''m talking about!!"
BOOM!
Mark sted off the ground like a rocket as he made his way towards the monster, and all the people watching immediately leaned forward as they didn''t want to miss a moment of what was about to happen.
Luna felt her heart squeeze in fear as she saw that Mark was not running away, and she immediately folded her hands across her chest as she feared that her heart would burst out from her chest with how hard it was beating!
Gunter looked like a child looking at his favorite morning time TV show as he watched Mark charging for the monster, and Fiona could only stare at the screen with wide eyes.
Boom!
ROARRRR!
Markunched himself forward with a massive sonic st, and that made the centipede notice him immediately! It roared in anger as it skittered across the ground! The simple movement that it made destroyed more than one-third of the region, and Mark just dashed to the side as the centipede mmed its body into the spot where Mark had been standing!
BOOM!
The impact made the grounds rumble as arge cloud of dust and rocks flew into the air. The dust cloud covered the area, and Mark used that as cover to move towards the other end of the clearing. The centipede roared again in anger as it skittered around and tried to find Mark.
Mark used the cover of the dust to maneuver around the centipede, and he immediately activated his True Sight skill so that he could see where the weakest part of the centipede''s body was.
[Achellies Heel] has been activated
[Achellies Heel has been deactivated
[The opponent is too strong. Using the Achellies Heel skill will put major strain on the user.]
[Achellies Heel] has been activated
[Achellies Heel] has been deactivated
[The opponent is too strong. Using the Achellies Heel skill will put major strain on the user.]
[Achellies Heel] has been activated
[Achellies Heel] has been deactivated
[The opponent is too strong. Using the Achellies Heel skill will put major strain on the user.]
"Come the fuck on!!"
[Achellies Heel] has been forcefully activated!
Spurt!
Mark became pissed as the system constantly turned off the skill he needed to activate, and he bypassed the system warning and forced the skill to turn on. But immediately the skill turned on, Mark''s vision turned red as a massive amount of blood spurted out from his eyeballs!
"Fuck!"
Mark cursed in annoyance as he jumped far back to avoid getting hit by the centipede that was swinging its body erratically! Don''t tell me that the centipede was so strong that the True Sight skill couldn''t even be on for more than one second! That was madness!
Mark was only able to catch a glimpse of the centipede for one second before everything turned red, and he knew that if he left that skill on any longer, he could really lose his eyes! Mark turned off the Achellies Heel skill and used the back of his arms to clean the blood that had leaked out from his eye sockets.
"At least it wasn''tpletely useless."
Even though the skill was not active for a long time, that one second where Mark activated the skill gave him enough time to see through the dust cloud, and he was able to catch a glimpse of the weakest spot on the centipede''s body! Mark''s mouth split into a grin as he crouched low and raced straight towards the centipede!
The centipede was still swinging its body around trying to find Mark, but Mark was sure that the centipede would not be able to find him. ording to what Mark learned in school about centipedes, they all had bad vision, and they were only able to find their prey using their antennae. That is why Mark made the centipede raise this much dust and soot into the air.
It would be hard for the centipede to find him in the middle of this storm since it would interfere with its antennae.
But Mark did not take into ount the fact that this centipede was nothing like the ones that he learned about in school. Even though it was a centipede, it was also a monster of epic proportions. An Eldritch ss monster!
There were no weaknesses that it did not already ount for!
Chapter 235: Barrage
There were no weaknesses that it did not already ount for!
POOFFFF!
Mark put his hand up to his face as he felt a massive amount of gas leaving all the pores on the centipede''s body! The centipede poured out the gas from its body and used it as a fan to get rid of the dust and soot in the atmosphere, and by the time it was done, there was nothing around it anymore to prevent it from seeing exactly where Mark was!
But Mark was already on his way to the weak spot that he had seen, so he didn''t bother stopping! Mark jumped up to the centipede''s back and bolted straight for the third segment of the centipede''s body. There was a red spot just below that segment that Mark had seen when his True Sight skill was active, and Mark knew that this segment was the weakest out of all the others.
If Mark could get a clean hit on this part of the body, then the centipede would lose a significant amount of strength!
"RARRRGHH!"
Mark pulled his fist back and yelled in exertion as he jumped into the air! His arm glowed from the massive amount of mana that poured into it, and when he got to the segment, he immediately unleashed a massive blow!
[Critical Hit]!!
Ka-Boom!!
The impact was so intense that it sent Mark flying back from the air pressure alone! Mark tumbled on the ground and rolled for a few meters beforeing to a stop, and he immediately sat up and looked to see what sort of damage his attack had caused to the centipede. But Mark''s joy was short-lived and his eyes widened in shock as he saw the centipede looking right at him!
There was no sign of damage on its body, and its many legs were scratching against the ground as the centipede prepared itself to grab a hold of Mark!
Mark chuckled low in distress as he slowly shuffled back.
"You''ve got to be fucking with me, right?"
ROARRRRRR!!
Mark realized at that moment that his critical hit did nothing but piss the centipede off!
Mark immediately bolted off the ground as the centipede dropped its entire body weight on top of where Mark had been sitting! The ground shook, and Mark was thrown across the clearing from the wind pressure as he couldn''t get away quickly enough! He tumbled for a few hundred meters before he forced himself to get back to his feet! And he turned around!
"!"
But Mark was stunned when he saw the centipede right there once more. The centipede was not giving Mark any room for breathing as it tried to m into him a second time! Mark narrowly dodged the hit again, but he could see hisownstamina dropping like crazy as he tried to keep up with the centipede. Mark shouted out to the system.
"What is my current power output!?"
[Current Power Output: 80%]
"Why!?"
Mark was pissed immediately! Why the fuck was the system holding him back? But the system spoke up and exined what was happening.
[The power output is a result of the user''sownsubconscious mind releasing the amount of power it believes is necessary for defeating the opponent. The system has no control over the amount of power that the user releases, so the system cannot increase or decrease it.]
''So it''s my fault!?"
Mark cursed angrily as he realized that he was holding himself back. Mark was not surprised about it though. Ever since Mark started to fight against Anima when he got back his system, Mark realized that he was getting too powerful. Mark was getting so strong that he was no longer seeing anything as a challenge.
All the Anima and superhumans that he faced off against were so weak that he was able to destroy them in barely any time at all.
Is that why his subconscious was holding back his power?
Mark loved the thrill of the fight. When he was fighting as the Vignte Ghost. Every single battle was a fight with his life on the line so he had to bring out a hundred percent no matter what. But now that he had his system back, it felt like he was just gliding through life easily. Mark hated that on a deep subconscious level. He hated how easy it was to win fights.
''I need to use a hundred percent. If I don''t use everything that I know for surethat Iwon''t win against this monster.''
Mark dodged around another body m from the centipede and he jumped far away to give himself some breathing room. Mark turned around to see how far away the centipede was and he was d when he saw that the centipede was no longer chasing after him. It was now a fair distance away, and it was looking down at the ground while its body wiggled around in a weird dance.
"What the hell is it doing?"
"MARK! DON''T LET IT HIT YOU!!"
Mark suddenly heard a loud shout echo across the entire region, and he realized that it was Alec who had shouted! Mark wondered what Alec meant by that, but he didn''t have to wonder for long as he saw the Anima open its mouth wide and shoot out a storm of sharp rocks!
Ratatatatatatata!
It was like a machine gun on steroids suddenly came to life from theanima''smouth, and the anima wasted no time as it peppered the region that Mark had been standing in with its stone bullets! Each bullet was as long as a car and as wide as a human body with sharp edges that embedded them into the ground!
Mark was barely able to get away from there by applying mana to his legs and flying back with all his force to prevent getting hit! The force of his movement was so intense that his shoes were shredded to bits, and he was left in nothing but his torn singlet and his trousers!
''Is that why it has been hitting the ground at this time? It wasn''t trying to get me; it was swallowing rocks to gather ammunition!''
Mark was stunned by the ingenuity of the centipede. Is thisreallythe gap between Eldritch and Cmity ss monsters? If it was a cmity that was trying to do something like that, Mark would have found out about it in a split second.
But the Eldritch was so strong, and Mark was so focused on not getting killed by any of those hits that he just didn''t notice that there was an ulterior motive behind its movement!
Mark had to attack! Staying at a distance would only give the centipede more room to shoot those stone bullets at him! Mark had to get close to attack the centipede so that it wouldn''t have enough room to counter!
Ratatatatatatatatatatata!
Chapter 236: Armor of Ares
Another massive dust cloud rose from the ground as a barrage of bullets struck the area where Mark was standing! Mark dug his toes into the ground and bolted forward once he heard the bullets stop! There was a small gap between when the centipede threw the first barrage and when it threw the second one, so Mark could only hope that the centipede needed some time to rest between barrages!
Mark raced towards the centipede''s stomach, and the centipede roared in anger as it immediately dropped its body forward to try and crush Mark under its weight!
Zoom!
But Mark was already expecting that, and he applied a massive amount of mana to his legs and dashed to the side! Mark sted off the ground at the same moment that the centipede mmed its body into the floor, and Mark used that opportunity to twist himself and position his body right over the spot where the centipede''s third segment was located.
''Come on! Come on! Come on! If I don''t use everything, I''mreallygoing to die here!''
[Current Power Output: 100%]
[Critical Hit]!!!
BOOMMMM!!
[Mana: 200/1220]
The ground quaked uncontrobly as Mark delivered a massive punch right into the centipede''s weak spot, and the centipede roared in anger as it shook its body around and threw Mark off it. But underneath all that anger, Mark could also hear a little bit of pain echoing through!
The first punch that Mark delivered didn''treallydo much damage at all, but that does not mean that it had no effects on the centipede. It softened up that area enough that Mark was able to deliver a much deeper punch with his second blow!
The centipede rolled its body around erratically before it suddenly started to dig its way underground! Marknded on the ground and put his hands on his knees to catch his breath as he watched the centipedeliterallybury itself inside the ground! There was a hundred-meter diameter hole in the ground where the centipede went into, and when Mark looked down at the hole, he saw nothing but darkness.
It was not yet over.
"Mark, we can end the test here - !"
"Don''t you fucking dare!"
Mark''s stern tone cut Alec off before Alec could say much, and the man was forced to keep quiet as Mark looked around for any signs that the Anima would being up again. Mark hasn''t had a fight like this since he fought against that Cerberus that almost ended his life in the underworld, and Mark was not going to give this up for anything.
As far as Mark was concerned, he was going to kill this fucking bug if it was thest thing he did!
The people watching from the assessment room were practically holding their breaths in anticipation to see how things would go. Luna and Gunter were the ones who understood what was happening the most since they had also faced off against Eldritch Anima before. They knew just how easy it would be for the Eldritch to kill Mark if he let down his guard for even a second!
Luna wanted Mark to end the test immediately, but when she heard Mark telling Alec to not end the test, she knew that nothing would stop Mark from fighting.
Tremble!
Tremble!
Boom!
The ground under Mark''s feet exploded, and Mark was thrown into the air as the massive centipede roared its way out from underground! The centipede rose to its full height, taller than a skyscraper with a mouthrge enough to swallow a car in one gulp! Its mouth was open wide right under Mark, and Mark immediately knew that he was about to get shot!
Ratatatatatatatata!!
The centipede unloaded on Mark like a machine gun, and Mark''s mouth split into a grin as he slowly lost control over his own body! His body shifted to the left as he spun around the bullets and appeared right over the weak spot that he had already weakened with two blows!
[Death God''s Ignorance] has been activated.
You thought that Mark had been running all this while for no reason?
Of course not! Mark had been running for this exact moment! Mark wanted to lure the centipede into a false sense of security! He tried his best to make sure that he didn''t activate the death god''s ignorance while also making sure that the centipede thought that its next attack would end him! That way, the centipede wouldn''t think twice about putting all of its effort into its next attack!
And the fucker fell for it, hook, line, and sinker!
[Current Power Output: 100%]
The world around Mark dted into monochrome as space seemed to gather in front of his fist! Arge bubble of ck covered the world before it concentrated right in front of Mark as he unleashed his most powerful punch on the centipede!
[Divergent Fist]!
[Lightening Surge]!!
m!
SQUELCH!!
BOOOMMM!!
[Mana: 10/1220]
The impact of Mark''s one hundred percent divergent fist was so intense that his fist tore a hole right through the segment of the centipede, sending Mark crashing into the ground like a rocket! The ALTERWORLD shook from the impact, and everyone watching could only hold their breaths in shock as they watched the great Eldritch ss monster fall to the ground!
BOOM!
Mark pulled himself off the ground after the monster fell, and he sat down and rested his back against the monster''s carcass as he sighed a breath of relief and a wide smile grew on his face. He looked at his mana gauge, and he realized that he would have been dead meat if thatst attack hadn''t ended the anima when it did.
If theanimasurvived that attack, then Mark wouldn''t have any more mana tounch another attack of that scale.
Mark couldn''t help but chuckle deep in his throat as he put a hand over his eyes and sighed.
"That was fun."
¡
[Hidden Mission Passed]
The user haspleted the hidden mission [Defeat the Low-Level Eldritch ss Monster]
The rewards will be distributed immediately.
Rewards: +500 Stat Points +500 Skill Points
The user has gained a new Artifact [Armor of Ares - S]
[Armor of Ares: The Armor of Ares, stolen from Ares by the god of games, Sozin, grants the user a 50% resistance to all physical attacks below EPIC Rank.]
[Effects]
-50% Damage from all Physical Attacks Below EPIC Rank.
- 10% reduction in the user''s Agility
The armor of Ares is capable of morphing into any shape desired by the user but must be worn over the chest in order to fully activate it.
¡
Mark read through all the rewards he got for killing his first Eldritch ss monster, and he couldn''t help but be pleased with himself as he saw how many points he got from just taking down this one monster. But Mark couldn''t believe that this was just a low-ranked Eldritch ss monster.
Chapter 237: Join The Ravagers
Mark couldn''t believe that this was just a low-ranked Eldritch-ss monster. Mark put his hand to his head as he remembered how powerful that Armageddon-ss monster he fought before was.
It was stupidly strong, but it would be crazy if that Armageddon was only a low-level Armageddon and there were stronger ones out there. And with what Sozin told Mark about the dangerous things out in the world, Mark wouldn''t be surprised if that was only a low-level Armageddon. mark just shook his head and decided to think about it some other time.
The Armour of Ares that Mark got was probably the best reward that he had gotten in a while. Armor that could reduce the damage of any attack was very hard toe by, and Mark was not going to overlook its usefulness.
But Mark was just worried about how things would end up for him if Sozin kept stealing these things from the gods. Zeus was already pissed at Mark for the gloves that Sozin stole, and now Sozin went and stole Armor from Ares. Is Markreallygoing to be okay if the gods get their hands on him?
[Comment from GoG: Nah, you''ll probably get jumped by the gods if I wasn''t there for you.]
Mark gained a tick mark on his forehead when he read Sozin''s message, but he just decided to let it go.
''Meh, I''ll deal with thatter.''
If there was something that Mark learned from Sozin, it was how to bullshit your way through problems like a boss. If Mark ever got into a dangerous situation like that, he would find a way out.
"He did it¡ heactuallydid it!? What the actual fuck!?"
"YARGHHH!!"
"GO GHOST! Show that Eldritch who''s boss!"
The people who had been watching the fight hadpletely forgotten about the analysis they were supposed to be doing, and they couldn''t help but start cheering once they saw that Markactuallywon!
"I can''t believe it! He killed an Eldritch ss!"
"He''sdefinitelyundefined! He''s one of the SOVEREIGN!"
"The sixth SOVEREIGN! He''s just a kid!"
"GHOST! GHOST! GHOST! GHOST! GHOST!"
The people began to chant Mark''s name loudly! None of them could fight against the infectious exhration that filled their hearts when they watched the end of that fight! No matter who it was, they couldn''t help but enjoy watching someone beat the crap out of such a monster with nothing but their fists, and all their excitement poured out of them in waves!
Everyone there was suddenly feeling energized as they couldn''t wait for theirownassessments to start! Watching Mark tear into that Eldritch like that motivated them and made them feel like they could do anything, and now they also wanted to fight and win against monsters!
A bright light shone in the middle of the assessment area, and three people suddenly appeared in the middle of the room. Sasha was standing with her hands folded across her chest and a pout on her face as Alec put his hand on her shoulder and spoke to her sternly about what she had done.
They both knew that Mark could have died in there if he was not strong enough to handle the monster, and the council was going to be sanctioning Sasha seriously for what she did.
Mark looked a little worse for wear, with his clothespletely battered and gone. He was only wearing his long in trousers and gloves; his singlet, shirt, and shoes were all gone.
"GHOST! That was awesome! You''ve gotta teach me that!"
"How can you fight against monsters like that!? What school did you learn from!?"
"That was some wicked movements, GHOST!"
Many people immediately started to swarm around Mark as they tried to talk to him and get close to him. At first, they did not see Mark as anything important because they thought that Mark was just biting off more than he could chew by going into that test without any preparation, but now that they knew that he was strong enough to be one of the SOVEREIGN, everyone wanted to be close to him!
But they were all stopped in their tracks as someone jumped down from the examiners'' booth above them and mmed into the ground right in front of Mark!
BOOM!
Gunter stood up to his full height, and even Mark was dwarfed by the tall man as he took off his sunsses with a wide smile on his face. Everyone immediately kept their distance, and the noise in the room died down as the two behemoths faced off against each other.
Gunter put his hand on Mark''s shoulder, and Mark raised a brow as he looked at the offending appendage.
"That was quite the showing, GHOST. I''m very impressed. Tell me, are you interested in joining a guild?"
Gunter''s first words immediately shocked everyone in the room! For as long as they had known Gunter, no one had ever seen Gunter ask someone to apply for his guild before. Usually, a superhuman can only join Gunter''s guild by applying and praying that he would choose you among the hundreds of other applicants who apply to his guild every year.
Even S ranks that wanted to join his guild were all told to apply like regr people. That is one reason why Gunter has one of the most influential guilds in the world.
The number of people applying for it every year numbered in the hundreds, but Gunter only picked out five of the most promising people every year to join his guild. It was like superhuman Russian roulette!
But for the first time since its inception, Gunter was about to invite someone to join his RAVAGER guild!
People waited with bated breath as they watched the scene in front of them and anticipated Mark''s response, but no one was as tense as Fiona as she watched what was happening below her. There was nothing that Fiona could do, even if Fiona hated what was happening. She had no hold on Mark. Mark could leave her guild at any moment, and there would be nothing that she could do.
And besides, why would Mark choose her guild over the RAVAGERS? The RAVAGERS were a group of extremely powerful superhumans. They were even more powerful than Luna''s Moonlight Guild who also wanted Mark to join them. In the face of such superpowers, was Fiona even fit to speak up?
She tightened her hand into a fist and turned around as she prepared to leave. She would wish Mark the best and forget about him while trying to build her own guild. She didn''t have a right to try to hold Mark back when he was already this powerful.
But a loud gasp filled the room and made Fiona turn around in shock to see what had happened.
Fiona saw Gunter leaning to one side, and she realized that Mark had pushed Gunter''s arm off his shoulder! What the fuck was Mark doing?
Chapter 238: An Act of Goodwill
Fiona noticed Mark looking up at her, and her heart skipped a beat as he grinned at her discreetly before speaking up calmly.
"Firstly, I don''t like people touching me without permission, you''re not my girlfriend. Secondly, I''m already a part of a guild. Fiona over there is my guild master, so if you want to borrow me for a mission then you can talk to her."
The whispers and murmurs in the room increased as Mark said this, and almost everyone in the room turned to look at Fiona in shock!
"GHOST is a part of the Artemis Guild!? That''s news to me!"
"Why would GHOST join a guild as weak as that!? Does he not know that they cannot do anything for him!?"
"The Artemis Guild are really smart! They were able to scout GHOST before he became strong, and now he will boost their prestige!"
Fiona could feel an uncontroble feeling of joy swelling inside her body from her toes right up to the tip of her hair, and arge blush bloomed on her face as she saw Mark turn to her and give her a small smirk! This damn Casanova! What did he think he was doing right now? Is this his way of apologizing for not taking my side the other time!?
Fiona couldn''t stop her lips from splitting into a smile even if she wanted to, and she could only bring up her fan and cover her face to hide her embarrassment a little. She stood straight and made sure that no one could tell that she was affected in any way as she gave them all a nk look while reveling in the attention.
She winked back at Mark, and Mark just scoffed as he turned to look at Gunter again.
"Well, there you have it. I can''t join you. I''ll be on my way now."
Gunter tilted his head to one side in surprise as he heard what Mark said. On the outside, Gunter looked unaffected by what Mark did, but on the inside, there was a deep well of anger that was being filled by raw spite! He nced up at Fiona in the examiner''s deck before looking back at Mark.
"Are you sure you don''t want to be a part of somethingrger than what the Artemis Guild can give you? When wepare the reach of the two guilds, the Artemis Guild is not even a footnote in the Ravager''s book."
Mark shrugged.
"And yet, that is the guild I''m a part of. You''ll just have to live with it. Now you''ll have to excuse me. I need to freshen up."
Mark stared right up at Gunter with an emotionless gaze as the tension in the room seemed to almost triple in an instant! Mark might have spoken politely to Gunter, but everyone there could immediately tell the hidden meaning behind Mark''s words.
''Get the fuck out of my way.''
That was basically what everyone heard, and the tension that was brought into the room from those words felt like it could be cut by a knife! No one spoke, no one moved! It even seemed like no one dared to breathe for a moment! They were all waiting to see what Gunter would do.
They all knew how hot-tempered the taller hunter was, and they knew that if Gunter wasreallypushed, he would not hesitate tosh out. There was a high chance that they would all be coteral damage at a moment''s notice!
BAM!
"What''s this I hear about an ELDRITCH CLASS!!?"
Someone suddenly barged into the room with gusto, and the tension in the room seemed to immediately die away as the person entered. The man who entered was a chubby-looking man who was extremely short. At his full height, he was barely up to Mark''s chest; he worerge ck-rimmed sses and a fresh and clean suit that made him look very presentable.
His name was George Tanner, and he was the Deputy Director of the Superhuman Association who was in charge of overseeing all the activities that happened within the association.
George wasactuallya normal human who had no blessing at all, but his inquisitive mind and his connections with the superhuman world made him rise through the ranks quickly and put him in the position of Deputy Director right below the strongest superhuman in the American Government.
Once George heard in his office that there was an assessment going on for Ghost, he was immediately curious and told his assistant to constantly update him about it so that he would know what was going on.
His assistant, a tall beautiful woman with blond hair, arge bust, and long legs that were covered with ck socks under her pencil skirt suit, was constantly overseeing the exam, and once she saw that the Eldritch ss monster was summoned, she went and called the Deputy Director.
George was pissed. It didn''t matter if there were no casualties! It was against the code for anyone to be given an ELDRITCH ss monster as an assessment without that person signing off a contract that would absolve the government of all responsibility in case they died!
Mark did not sign anything, so if he had died in that test, then the government would have been the one to bear all the consequences! What the hell did Sasha think she was doing!?
"SASHA!!"
"Ah~! You''re going to make me deaf, shorty! Stop shouting, I''m right here!"
Sasha was fidgeting her hands and looking away in annoyance as George got to her and started shouting at her angrily! He barely got up to Sasha''s shoulder, so it was extremelyical to see him shouting at her and making her look away in guilt like that!
"We are going to have a lot of words, youngdy! A lot of words! You need to learn restraint! You''ll be getting a veryrge sanction for this! What would you have done if he had died in there!?"
"He didn''t die, so everything is fine! Why are you getting so worked up?"
"That is not the point! The point is that you shouldn''t have done it at all! You know the rules better than anyone, so you should know better!"
The Deputy Director looked like he was about to have a heart attack with how much he was shouting. His face was red, and he was breathing heavily from the exertion! He put his hand to the side, and his tall secretary immediately bent down low to hand him an inhaler that he used to calm himself down.
Almost every man in the room couldn''t stop their eyes from trailing towards the tall secretary''s ass as she bent down. Her ass tightened against her pencil skirt and stretched it to the max, and some of her skin became exposed in the space between her shirt and her socks!
Damn, talk about an ass!
Even Mark couldn''t help but admit that her ass was an absolute work of art!
It was round and shaped like a peach, and from how it tightened against the skirt, you knew that your hands would immediately sink into her skin if you touch that ass! It was just that soft!
But even though it was good, Mark knew that Arit''s was better.
George turned away from Sasha after he was done shouting at her, and he put his hands together and smiled whileing towards Mark.
Chapter 239: Dangerous Thoughts
George turned away from Sasha after he was done shouting at her and he put his hands together and smiled whileing towards Mark. Mark was already tensed from the fight and the confrontation with Gunter, but for some reason, when he looked down at the little man, Mark could feel all his tension disappearing immediately.
The man was just so small and he had no danger in his presence at all, so it was impossible to be on guard around him.
"GH ¨C I mean, Mark Vanitas. I''m very d to see that you are safe and sound. It was truly magnificent to watch you tear down such a beast. Your power speaks of your great potential. Your scoring will soon be done, and you can view it at your convenience. Would you like to wait for it here, or would you want to be taken back home in one of the cars?
Whatever you want, we can cater to it with immediate effect."
The deputy director was kissing Mark''s ass like mad at this point!
George knew that if Mark wanted to press charges against them for giving him an ELDRITCH ss monster to fight in a simple assessment, then they would lose! The deputy director did not want this to reach the ears of the director at all, so he just wanted to handle everything here once and for all!
"Hey, shorty, can''t you see that we''re talking here?"
"Eek!"
George suddenly shrieked in fear as he noticed that Gunter was in the room. Gunter leaned down and looked right at George, and George almost had a heart attack at that moment! He stumbled back in fear and was about to fall over, but his secretary reacted quickly and caught him before he could fall before putting him back on his feet like nothing happened! Mark was impressed by her speed.
With how fast she reacted, she is probably an A rank.
"G-Gunter, apologies. I didn''t see you there. You''re just so tall, I could barely see your body at all."
A chokedugh got caught in Mark''s throat when he heard George say that, and he had to cough to the side to prevent it froming out. He noticed Luna staring at him disapprovingly, and he just gave her a smile that made her smile as well. Luna mouthed a silent ''Great job'' to him, and Mark nodded in thanks as he watched her turn and leave the room quietly.
Gunter looked down at the much smaller man, and he felt all the fight leave his body at that moment. George was just so small that it didn''t feel right to do anything violent in front of the tiny man. He was just so unassuming.
Gunter spoke up to Mark just before leaving.
"I''ll leave the invitation open for you to join my guild. If you ever change your mind and you want to join a guild that canreallyhelp you, then the RAVAGERS will be waiting for you."
Gunter turned to the side to look at the examiner''s booth, and Fiona felt her entire body lock up in fear as she felt the full force of Gunter''s attention pressing down on her. She had one hand behind her back, and she tightened that hand into a fist so hard that her nails dug into her palm, and she started to bleed. She couldn''t show any weakness here.
Not after Mark had given her an opportunity to raise the status of her guild! She had to stand strong and prove to everyone that she deserved to have someone like Mark in her guild! She would not back down now that she had someone like Mark in her guild!
After a few moments without seeing a reaction from Fiona, Gunter just clicked his tongue and turned away from her to leave the room. What a fucking annoyance.
"Do you have a bath here?"
Mark suddenly spoke up, and George smiled as he turned to his secretary.
"Mary, please show him to the best room we have."
Mary nodded gently before she began to lead Mark out of the room. Mark and Mary walked for a while before they got to a lobby that would lead them to the elevators on the other side of the building. They were about to start moving towards the elevators, but a voice stopped Mark in his tracks and made him turn around immediately.
"Well, well, if it isn''t the one and only Mark Vanitas. It''s been quite a while since west met. How have you been?"
A great tension formed in Mark''s right arm, and he had to tighten it immediately to prevent himself fromshing out with the right hook that he had already executed in his head. Mark turned around and stared right into the eyes of the man he wanted to kill more than anyone in the world.
"Szar."
"Mark, you don''t look very happy to see me."
Szar smiled at Mark jovially while stretching his hand out for a handshake, but Mark remained perfectly still while ignoring the offered hand. Szar retracted his hand after he realized that Mark was not going to give him that handshake. Szar only smiled wider.
"I heard you came here for your assessment, and I hoped that we would run into each other since it has been so long. From the buzz I can feel in the air, your assessment must''ve gone very well. Tell me, how strong are you now?"
Mark''s face was perfectly stoic, but his mind was racing.
There are too many people in here. Three bodyguards behind Szar from the NSA, Mary, as well as multiple agents from the Superhuman Alliance loitering around. From my estimation, it will take about five minutes for me to kill Szar. That amount of time is too short. The superhumans in here can stop me in less than three minutes since most of them are A ranks and above.
There is an exit right behind Szar. If he runs through it, then I will be restrained and sentenced for attacking him without provocation, and I still won''t get to kill him. I don''t know why he is here or theyout of this building. It will be hard for me to wait for him in a secluded ce and attack him then. Maybe outside? He will be unguarded, and he might even let his guard down temporarily.
I have to wait.
Patience is the key.
Patience.
''I want to fucking wring his neck like a washcloth.''
Mark spoke up emotionlessly.
"It was nice to meet you, but I have to be on my way. Excuse me."
Mark turned to walk away, but he was stopped once more as he heard Szar speak up.
"I also heard that you were attacked by the Superhuman killer, but you ended up killing him instead. Truly, your good luck just seems to keep piling up these days. I hope it doesn''t run out anytime soon. That would be unfortunate."
Mark didn''t bother giving him a response as he continued making his way to the elevators.
"Mary."
"Yes, sir?"
"Do you have a gym I can use here?"
Ding!
The elevator opened and Mary scrunched up her face in confusion at the weird question as the both of them entered the elevator, but she still answered calmly.
"Of course, sir. May I ask why? I thought you would want to rest after going through your assessment."
Mark growled somewhere deep in his throat, and Mary felt her core tremble as she heard the sound. She managed to keep her face stoic and to control herself to not show any reaction as Mark spoke up with a sneer on his face.
"I need to let off some steam."
Mary swallowed at his dangerous tone and a small blush appeared on her face as she spoke up. No matter how stoic she was, she was still a woman. She couldn''t help but be affected by how Mark was talking right now. There was a dangerous undertone in his voice that just excited her subconsciously.
"Of course, sir. I know just the ce."
Chapter 240: The Calm Before The Storm
"Hey, did you hear the news? There''s a new SOVERIGN?"
"What? That''s impossible. Aren''t you being fooled by those fake blogs? Everyone thinks that they''ve found the next SOVEREIGN once someone defeats a cmity! They even said Taylor was going to be the next SOVERIGN."
"No, this time I''m not kidding. I''m dead serious. The news said itthemselves! They found the sixth SOVERIGN!"
"Alright, I''ll bite, who is it?"
"They say it''s GHOST. That new kid vignte that recently killed a cmity ss. I haven''t gotten the exact score yet, but they say that he killed an ELDRITCH during his assessment, and he woulddefinitelybe an Undefined."
"Eh?? That''s impossible. Are you sure you aren''t smoking again? I told you to stay off those things, they''re messing with your damn head. You just said he killed a cmity the other day, and now you say he killed an ELDRITCH? Are you mental?"
"Seriously! I''m not kidding!"
"Miss me with the bullshit! You''re always lying!"
"You just never believe me!"
¡
"Hey, there''s a new SOVERIGN. They say it''s that new kid, GHOST."
"Yeah, I''ve heard about that too. They said he killed an ELDRITCH!"
"Fucking hell, man, are we going to see another guild war? All the guilds are gonna want a piece of him!"
"Nah, they say he already joined the Artemis guild."
"Artemis? What guild is that?"
¡
"Hey, have you heard about the new kid GHOST? They say he''s going to be the next SOVERIGN!"
"Wait, GHOST. Do you mean Mark Vanitas? I go to school with that dude!"
"Shit, really? Bro, you''re gonna have a fucking SOVERIGN in your school!"
¡
"Ah! Ah! Yeah, right here, baby. Don''t stop! Don''t stop."
Slurp! Slurp! Pop!
"Holy shit! An Eldritch!"
The woman lying in bed immediately stopped moaning as her husband came out from under the sheets with his phone in his ear while talking to someone. The husband turned to her with a look of shock on his face.
"There''s a sixthSOVERIGN, honey! They say that Mark Vanitas defeated an ELDRITCH!"
m!
A pillow immediately mmed into the man''s face as the woman shouted angrily at him!
"What the hell are you doing while you''re in bed with me!? You were answering your phone under the covers!? You bastard!"
"Shit! Honey! Honey, wait up! I''m sorry!"
¡
"And in other news, it appeared that there is a new powerhouse roaming the streets of America. The superhuman Mark Vanitas, known poprly as GHOST is rumored to have surpassed all expectations during his assessment and is being hailed as the sixth SOVERIGN¡"
"Big Sis Arit! Big Bro is on TV!!"
A loud voice echoed through Mark''s penthouse, and Arit quickly came out from the kitchen while drying her hands with an apron as she heard that Mark was on television. She smiled at Talia as Talia pointed to the television in excitement and turned to see the news anchor talking about Mark''s recent assessment.
There was an image beside the woman speaking of Mark standing on top of a building from when he fought against the Cmity ss monster a long time ago.
The newscaster continued.
"Rumors have suggested that the superhuman GHOST fought against and defeated an ELDRITCH rank monster in his assessment, and although his actual score is unknown for now, there is a high likelihood that he will be the sixth undefined."
Talia immediately jumped up on the couch and smiled up at Arit!
"Big Broreallywon against an Eldritch ss monster! I''ve only heard about that kind of monster in stories! He''s awesome!"
Arit smiled at the little girl and pet her head gently. Talia was so happy that Mark won against such a strong monster that she didn''t even try to stop Arit from petting her head. She just epted the action before turning back to the TV to continue watching.
Once Arit was sure that Talia was properly distracted,Aritimmediately reached for her phone and called Mark as she gained a worried expression on her face. Arit had never seen or heard about what an ELDRITCH ss could do before, but from how they were talking about it, she knew that it must have been something really dangerous!
Arit hoped that Mark was not injured!
Ring~! Ring~! Ring~!
The phone rang for a while without an answer, and Arit''s worry grew when the voice of the call center echoed that there was no answer. She quickly called again, and this time, Mark picked up on the second ring.
[Babe, what''s up?]
"Mark, oh thank god. I heard about what happened on TV. I was worried. Are you alright?"
Mark released a deep breath over the phone. Mark was currently in the gym pummeling a punching bag to oblivion, and he cleaned the sweat that umted on his neck while answering that he was fine, he didn''t get injured at all during the fight. Mark went to sit down on a bench at the side and collected the water that Mary handed him with a quiet thank you.
Mark smiled at him beautifully, but Mark ignored her and focused on Arit as she started talking again.
"I''m d. You know, when you told me that you were going to the office, I didn''t think you would be getting into any fights there."
Mark chuckled at Arit''s joke, and Arit couldn''t help but smile as well as she started walking towards the kitchen to check on the food.
"Are you going to be back soon?"
[Yeah, just need to stay for my final score. I''ll see you soon, babe.]
"Alright. I-I love you."
Mark smiled as he heard the crack in Arit''s voice as she talked. Even after all this time, she was still shy about things like this. This girl wasreallysomething else!
Arit had a huge blush on her face as she waited for a response from Mark. Her hand was holding her apron tightly, and she was one second away from cutting the phone in embarrassment when Mark finally spoke up.
[I love you too, babe.]
"Eep!"
Beep!
Arit quickly cut the phone when she heard that, and she bent down while holding the edge of the counter tightly! She put a hand over her face, and she could feel how hot it was because of the heavy blush that was growing on her cheeks!
''I can''t believe I said that! I told him I love him! Ah! This is so embarrassing! Can I even face him when hees back home!?''
Whineeeeee~!
The cooker started to whine loudly, and Arit quickly forgot about her embarrassment as she rushed to finish the meal.
Chapter 241: Demonic Void Apostle
[Does the user wish to send points to the selected skills? Yes/No]
Mark currently looked through his system tab to try and put his points into the ces where he wanted them to be. Mark got more than three thousand points for both stats and skills after the fights he had with Tina as well as the assessment, and Mark knew that he didn''treallyhave to think too hard about where to put the points since he had too much of them.
Mark could improve many of his skills to the max, and he could also use the points to finally improve his ranking to the next stage. For the skills that he would improve, Mark was still going to focus the most on the skills that he was consistently using in battle.
Those skills were the most useful to him, so he would add the most points to them first, and then he would add the extra points to the other remaining skills so that he would not leave them behind. Mark never knew when he would need the other skills, so it was best to not let them be useless.
Mark chose yes on the system tab, and he watched the points go towards the skills that he had chosen.
¡
[The User has added +500 Points to True Sight]
Current True Sight: C rank [201/800]
¡
[The User has added +800 points to Blunt Force Trauma]
Current Rank: B Rank [2/1600]
Probability ofnding a Critical Attack: +30% for every sessful consecutive hit.
Probability ofnding a Divergent Attack [exponential 2.5 per attack]: +5% for every sessful consecutive hit.
¡
[The User has added +200 points to Full Body Constitution]
Current Full Body Constitution: Demonic Void Apostle: 0/800
[Demonic Void Apostle: The constitution of a Demonic Void Apostle grants the ability to wield the unique technique, Void sh, triggered after marking an opponent whose Mana Level is 50% lower than the user''s own, unleashing razor-sharp waves of void energy to devastate adversaries.]
Effects:
Full Body Augmentation: 50%
Multiplier: All Demon-Based Skills Will Receive A 100% Boost.
Retention: The User Will Retain the Abilities of His Previous Constitution [Heavenly Lightning God]
Void sh: The Unique Skill Void sh Can Be Used to Eradicate Enemies Whose Mana Level Is 50% of the User. The User must have Marked the Enemy Before the Void sh Can Be Used Against Them.
¡
[The User has added 300 points to Taunting]
Current Taunting Variation: Web of Deceit [D Rank [61/400]]
Probability of sessful Taunting Based on Level: 40%
¡
[The User has added 500 points to Demonic Killer''s Aura]
Current Rank: C Rank [100/800]
Effects Due to Current Rank:
100% Chance of instilling [Fear] in weaker opponents
10% Chance of instilling [Fear] in Stronger opponents
50% Decrease in the fighting abilities of all opponents under [Fear] condition.
[This skill will receive a hundred percent boost upon use due to the effects of the Demonic Void Apostle Constitution]
¡
[The User has added 800 points to Mana Cirction]
Current Mana Cirction: C Rank [600/800]
[Stat Improvements Due to Application of Mana]
Strength: +30%
Stamina: +20%
Agility: +15%
Durability: +10%
¡
Mark clenched and unclenched his fists while reading through the new skills that he had, and he couldn''t help but focus on two skills specifically. The first one was the new Full Body Constitution that he had. Mark knew that he had been relying on his previous Full Body Constitution a lot.
The lightning-based abilities that he had in that assessment were asa result of the Full Body Constitution [Heavenly Lightning God].
Mark was a little worried about what sort of Full Body Constitution he would get if he upgraded it, and he wondered if it would be as useful as the previous one that he had, but Mark was immediately d when he saw that the new Full Body Constitution allowed him to keep the attribute that he received from the Heavenly Lightning God.
Not only did it allow him to keep the attribute, but the new Full Body Constitution wasactuallypretty impressive.
Void sh.
That sounds like something Mark was going to abuse in the future. Mark read through the criteria that he needed to fulfillin order toactivate that skill, and he was not disappointed at all. So he only needed to bring an opponent''s mana down to half his own before hecanuse it. That shouldn''t be too hard.
The only time that would be hard is if Mark is fighting against other humans who are more focused on improving their mana than their strength.
People like Luna, who was a mage type fighter, were more focused on their mana than anything else, and Mark knew that her mana would be many times higher than his own, so it would be difficult for him to bring her mana down to the level where he could use the Void sh against her.
If he was ever in a situation where he had to fight someone like Luna, it would be more sensible to just fight using his regr strength and other skills. But the Anima that he fought against didn''treallyhave much mana to begin with. The first Armageddon ss anima that Mark fought with had arge amount of mana, and then the Eldritch ss from recently... they were the exception.
Every other Anima that Mark has fought against has been more focused on their physical attributes than their mana, so it would be easy to get rid of fodder now.
Mark didn''t want to add too many points to his Full Body Constitution because he knew that he did not need to put that much focus into it to get a lot of benefits from it. The Full Body Constitution skill was something that only fortified his body and made sure that his power did not break his body into bits whenever he used it.
Mark didn''t need to waste points that he could be using on other skills that werecking to improve the Full Body Constitution. Mark knew that even if he had kept the Heavenly Lightning God constitution for a longer time, he would have been fine and he wouldn''t need to improve it for a long while.
But Mark wanted to just improve it now since he was going to be ranking up soon and he didn''t want any unfortunate surprises.
The next skill that caught Mark''s attention was the Demonic Killer''s Aura. Mark knew that this skill would be really important to him soon. Mark hadn''t been using ittely because the buffs that it gave were just not that useful at first. It only worked on weaker opponents, and the chances of it working were not that high either.
When Mark used it against Tina earlier, it didn''t work because herownmental fortitude was pretty high and she was not able to feel too much [Fear] because of that. But now that Mark saw that it could also work on stronger opponents, Mark was more determined to improve the skill as much as possible.
If Mark could raise this skill to a level where it would work on his opponent one hundred percent of the time, then it would be perfect!
Chapter 242: ELITE Rank I
Now that Mark was done with his skills, it was time for him to focus on his stats. Mark gained a small grin on his face as he looked through his stats and began to add the points that he wanted to add. It''s been a long time since Markst ranked up, and it was time for him to finally go past the S rank!
[Does the user wish to add points to the selected stats? Yes/No]
Mark chose yes, and the system immediately began to shift his stats to the areas where Mark selected. Mark couldliterallyfeel the power surging through his body as he felt all his stats improving, and he clenched his hands once more while reading through the system tabs.
¡
The User had added +800 points to Strength
The User has added +950 points to Mana
The User has added +500 points to Stamina
The user had added +500 Points to Agility
The User has added +500 points to Durability
¡
It was like that thing that they usually say. You don''t know what you have until you need it, or something like that. Mark knows that he has neglected his mana far more than most of his other stats. Why wouldn''t he? Mark wasn''t built for using mana much. Mark''s fighting style was more of the good old - get in their face and smash it in until they drop dead.
Mark didn''t have any fancy ice or fire skills that he needed to use. But now that Mark had a skill that required him to have as much mana as possible, Mark decided that it was time for him to stop beating around the bush and focus more on improving his mana along with his strength.
Mark decided that his goal for now should be to have at least five thousand points in his mana before he reaches the EPIC Rank II. The Void sh skill that came with his most recent Constitution would only work if his opponent had less than fifty percent of his mana. That meant that the more mana Mark had, the more likely it was for his opponent to have less mana than him.
That way, Mark could decrease the time it would take before he could use that skill. Mark''s skill tab now looked something like this.
¡
SUPERHUMAN SYSTEM
Name: Mark Vanitas
Race: Human
Title: [He Who Perseveres Through Hell. [+10% increase to all stats.]] [He Who Defies Destiny]
Rank: EPIC RANK I [7050/10000]
Affiliation: Uwful Neutral
Unused Stat Points: 0
Unused Skill Points: 50
¡
Strength: 2880 [+288] [+746]
Stamina: 1900 [+190] [+380]
Agility: 1750 [+175] [+250]
Durability: 1760 [+176] [+176]
Mana: 2170 [+217]
¡
Artifacts: [Gloves of the Thunder God - S] [Armor of Ares - S]
¡
[SKILL TREE]
-> Full Body Constitution: This is a unique skill tree enabling the user to systematically enhance and fortify every aspect of their physical form, elevating strength and resilience to unprecedented levels!
Current Full Body Constitution: Demonic Void Apostle: 0/800
[Demonic Void Apostle: The constitution of a Demonic Void Apostle grants the ability to wield the unique technique, Void sh, triggered after marking an opponent whose Mana Level is 50% lower than the user''s own, unleashing razor-sharp waves of void energy to devastate adversaries.]
Effects:
Full Body Augmentation: 50%
Multiplier: AllDemon BasedAbilities Will Receive A 100% Boost.
Retention: The User Will Retain the Abilities of His Previous Constitution [Heavenly Lightning God]
Void sh: The Unique Skill Void sh Can Be Used to Eradicate Enemies Whose Mana Level Is 50% of theUser''s. The User must have Marked the Enemy Before the Void sh Can Be Used Against Them.
-> Mana Cirction: Mana Cirction is a skill enabling the user to enhance the efficiency of mana distribution throughout their body, optimizing energy flow for heightened senses and greater strength.
Current Mana Cirction: C Rank [600/800]
[Stat Improvements Due to Application of Mana]
Strength: +30%
Stamina: +20%
Agility: +15%
Durability: +10%
-> Taunting: This Skill lures enemies with a lower Rank towards the User, diverting their attention from all distractions and encouraging aggressive engagement!
Current Taunting Variation: Web of Deceit [D Rank [61/400]]
Probability of sessful Taunting Based on Level: 40%
-> Blunt Force Trauma: This skill heightens the probability ofnding a critical hit as the user delivers consecutive sessful punches to the enemy, harnessing the cumtive impact for devastating effectiveness! Critical Attacks deal +100% extra damage to the enemy!
Current Rank: B Rank [2/1600]
Probability ofnding a Critical Attack: +30% for every sessful consecutive hit.
Probability ofnding a Divergent Attack [exponential 2.5 per attack]: +5% for every sessful consecutive hit.
-> True Sight: This skill grants the user the ability to perceive the stats and skills of others, offering insight into their capabilities with a single nce.
Current True Sight: C rank [201/800]
-> Demonic Killer''s Aura: This skill emanates an oppressive and terrifying aura, instilling profound fear and intimidation in opponents, weakening their resolve and hindering theirbat effectiveness.
Current Rank: C Rank [100/800]
Effects Due to Current Rank:
100% Chance of instilling [Fear] in weaker opponents
10% Chance of instilling [Fear] in Stronger opponents
50% Decrease in the fighting abilities of all opponents under [Fear] condition.
[This skill will receive a hundred percent boost upon use due to the effects of the Demonic Void Apostle Constitution]
¡
[DIVINE SKILLS]
-> Styxwatcher''s Discernment: This endows the user with an infallible ability to perceive truth, drawing upon the wisdom of the river Styx to unravel deception and reveal the sincerity of others. Once activated, the user cannot be lied to.
-> Achilles Heel: This skill enables the user to swiftly detect and expose weaknesses and vulnerabilities in opponents or objects, providing a strategic advantage inbat. Vulnerable areas will be exposed using a red hue. The darker the shade of red, the more vulnerable the area is.
-> Ignorance of The Death God: This skill, bestowed by Thanatos, grants the user the ability to instinctively evade one attack from any enemy, even if the user is unaware of the impending danger. This skill is applicable to all attacks, fatal or not, regardless of the attack strength.
¡
[Comment from GoG: Hey, Mark, be careful in the next trial! I think I messed up a bit. but I''m sure you''ll be able to handle it since it''s you. You''ve dealt with worse before.]
¡
Eh?
What the fuck was Sozin talking about?
Chapter 243: Cursed Item:
Eh?
What the fuck was Sozin talking about?
Mark read through Sozin''s message again and frowned in annoyance as he knew that this was going to be another pain in the ass. What the fuck did Sozin mean he messed up? Exin it to me better than that, you damn bastard!
[Comment from GoG: I said it''ll be fine. You should be happy right now! You finally ranked up! Yay~!]
''Don''t change the fucking topic!''
Mark put his hand on his head as he tried to stop the headachethat heknew wasing. Sometimes, having Sozin as a patron god was like havinga powerfulfigure to look up to, but atother times, it was like having a troublesome alcoholic father who onlyspendshis life doing stupid shit! Markjustknew that whatever Sozin did would make the gods even more angry at him!
''And how the fuck do you keep stealing from the gods?I''m notining, but aren''t there rules against itor something?''
[Comment from GoG: Rules? No such thing exists here. In this world, you are only asrightas your power saysyou are. None of those old fogies can touch me, so they are wrong. I did nothing wrong.]
Mark couldn''t stop the chuckle that escaped his lips once he read through that message. That was the most childish thing Mark had ever heard anyone say in his life. Sozin wasbasicallythe school bully who would seal your lunch and then punch you for saying that he stole your lunch.
I didn''t steal it. We''re just sharing as friends, aren''t we?
But Mark decided that he was not going toin about it. Why would hein when he was benefiting from it a lot?He wouldjustoverlook it and hopethat itreallywasn''t a big deal.
Ping!
A new notification appeared at the edge of Mark''s vision, and his brow furrowed in concentration as he read through it.Thisis what Mark had been waiting for all this time. The gift thates whenever he advances in rank.
¡
The user has advanced in Rank from S -> EPIC RANK I
Congrattions! This is an amazing feat that most people will never achieve in their lifetime!
The User has gained a new Cursed Item [Ticket to The Game of Gods]
[Cursed Item [Ticket to The Game of Gods]: A ticket granted to the user by Ares, the god of war. It will transport the user into Ares'' domain, and the user will partake in a game of Ares'' choosing.The rules and criteria for victory in the game have been withheld by Ares, and they will be broadcast to the user once the user activates the ticket.]
¡
An item suddenly appeared in Mark''s palm, and Mark looked down at it in surprise before bringing it up to eye level.Mark thoughtthathe would be getting a key just like thest time he got a cursed item, but it turns out thatthis time it was different.Mark was holding a piece of paper that looked like a movie ticket.It was ck with purple lines running all around it, andthere wasan image of a chess piece on the paper.
"Is that a pawn?"
Mark raised a brow at the paper curiouslyas he wondered what it couldpossiblymean.The system message said that this was a ticket tosomesort ofGame of Gods, but it didn''t say anything more than that, so Mark was just left confused as he wondered what it could mean.
Don''t tell me that Ihave togo inside the game before I can tell what''s going on likest time. Mark remembered that thest time he got a cursed item, he didn''t get any extra information about whathewould be walking into untilhewas already in there, so he wasbasicallygoing in blind.
Wait... now that Mark thought about it, wasn''t the armorthat hegot also from Ares? Didn''t Sozin steal that shit from Ares recently? So, that meant Mark was going into a game created by the god that his patron god just stole from? That fucking¡
[Comment from GoG: Hehehe~ My bad.]
Mark put his hand to his head as he felt his headaching back.
"Mmh~ Mark. You''re still awake?"
Mark turned to the side as he heard Arit waking up from sleep. Arit shifted under the covers, and Mark could see how her wide hips andrge breasts made the covers gather towards her side. She brought out an arm to touch Mark on the back, and Mark caught a glimpse of her pink singlet that was low enough to show off some of her milky white cleavage.
Under the cover, Aritwas only wearingthat pink singlet and a pair of white panties. Mark could feel himself getting excited as he stared at her figure, but hehad to stop himself from getting too excited as he remembered that Arit was currently on her period. They couldn''t do anything for now.
Mark was sitting down at the edge of his bed in his ck joggers and ck singlet while looking through his system, and he smiled as he leaned down and kissed Arit gently. Arit''s chest heaved under the sheets, and her nipples pushed up tiny tents in the covers that drew Mark''s eyes to them like a ma! Mark shook his head and kissed Arit again.
Arit was too sleepy, so she did not notice that Mark was also wearinga pair ofck running shoes. Instead, she smiled into the kiss and touched Mark''s arm happily as he spoke.
"Go to sleep. I''ll be in bed soon."
"Aren''t you tired?"
Arit caressed Mark''s arm gently as she looked at him with half-lidded eyes that were very sleepy. Arit knew that Mark had been through a lot today, so shewas worried thathe was pushing himself too far without resting. He should get some rest since they wouldbe going backto school soon.
Aritherself wasreallysleepy after the work that she did today, so shewasn''t even able tokeep her eyes open for long as she waited for Mark''s response.
Mark just shook his head and caressed Arit''s head gently while telling her to go back to sleep. He would join her once hewas done. Arit hummedsleepilyas she obeyed and closed her eyes to go back to sleep. Shewasn''t going toforce Mark to sleep if he didn''t want to go to bed yet.
"Come to bed soon, okay?"
Mark caressed Arit''s head once more as he whispered gently.
"Sure thing, babe."
Arit smiled happily in her sleep, and Mark waited till he heard her breathing even out to make sure that she was asleep before he tightened the ticket in his fist.
"Send me in."
[Does the user wish to use the Cursed Item [Ticket to The Game of Gods]? Yes/No]
Immediately, Mark selectedyes,he felt his eyes droop closed, and his body fell back into the bed.
Chapter 244: The Game of Gods
Gasp!
Mark gasped in shock as he felt a new wave of fresh air entering his lungs, and he looked around him in shock at the new schat hewas surrounded by. Mark was inside an abandoned building that had seen far better days. The roofwas broken, sothere was some moonlightfiltering into the building.The walls on one side had arge holein it, and the other sideswere crackedin many ces.
There was debris and broken furniture all around the house, and the sound of crows and ravens was the only thing prevalent in the house.
[Wee to the Game of Gods. Please read through the instructions very carefully.]
[You are currently within an alternate dimension''s Tokyo, Japan. This dimension has never gone through the same terrors that Earth went through, sothe inhabitantsck all knowledge about the existence of anima or superhumans. You are present in this dimensionalongwith five other participants. Each participant hasbeen granteda Ticket with the image of a chess piece printed on it.
The chess piece depicts the user''s status in this gameand canbe used to either boost or debuff their powers depending on how they use their piece''s capabilities.]
[Each participant in the Game of Gods hasbeen giventhe title of Servant, and in order for them to betrueparticipants in the game, they will have a master chosen for them at random based on theirpatibilities with a randomly selected group. These Masters are the true purpose of this game, and each Servantis taskedwith protecting their master until the gameis concluded.]
[How to y]
i. Each participant must possess a Ticket
ii. Each Participant will be granted a Master to protect throughout the duration of the game
iii. If a participant''s Master dies, the participant has a twenty-four-hour period to form a new contract with a new master before the game is forfeited.
iv. If a participant dies, their masteris allowed toform a contract with a new servant before a twenty-four-hour period pses. After this period pses, the master automatically forfeits the game.
v. Forfeiting the game means immediate death.
vi. Each participant is granted buffs and debuffs based on the chess piece present on their Ticket at the time of summoning.
...
[The User possesses the PAWN ticket. Rejoice, user, this is the most versatile ticket out of the six avable tickets. You havevery goodluck!]
[Benefits]
i. The PAWN is the most versatile ticket out of the six avable tickets.
ii. The PAWN''s master will receive three absolutemands.
iii. Allmands issued by the PAWN''s master are absolute and MUST be aplished
iv. The PAWNis capable of advancinginto a higher piece if they are present within the territory of another Ticket holder.
v. The PAWN possesses a familiar thatcan be usedto spy on other participants in the game.
vi. The PAWN will gain a 10% boost to all stats when fighting against the QUEEN due to their high ipatibility.
[Debuffs]
i. The PAWN must obey allmands issued by their master
ii. The PAWNis immediately debuffedonce they leave the territory of the rival ticket holder, andall the properties copied by the PAWN will be stripped away.
iii. The PAWN will receive nomajorstat boost at the start of the game.
...
[At the end of the game, whoever is left standing along with their master shall be granted the favor of Aresthegod of war, and the master-servant pair will alsobegrantedone wish of their choice that is within reason.Although,the concept of reason issomethingabstract for the gods, so whatever wish the master-servant pair requests might be granted regardless.]
Mark read through everything that this system gave him quickly, and he couldn''t stop his brow from squeezing together in confusion as he saw the part about him being a pawn.Mark did not know how to feel about being called a pawn,neither did he know how tofebout doing everythingthathis master told him to do.
But the system said that it would choose a master for him at random.
Why wouldn''t they give him the chance tochoosefor himself?If he wasgoing to beobeying someone''smands for the entire duration of this game, then he at least wanted it to be somehathe could tolerate.Mark did not know how he would feel ifit was someone like Szar whowas chosen from his world.He would probably just kill that bastard himself in anger.
No, the system wouldn''t do that.Theysaidtheywould choose someonehewas highlypatible with. So it''s more likely that it wouldchoosesomeone likeArit,or maybe even Pat. Yeah, Ijusthave to hopethat itdoesn''tchooseanyone stupid.
Mark was sitting on some broken rocks and leaning back on a broken b of rock that had cracked off from the ceiling and embedded itself in the ground. His hands were resting on another broken piece of rock on the side.
Mark scrolled through the many rules and regtions,andhewondered what sort of buffs the other chess pieces received.
Assuming this twisted game wasactuallyfollowing the rulesand ithadn''t introduced new chess pieces that didn''t exist back on Earth, Mark could only assume that the other chess pieces were the king, queen, rook, knight, and bishop. What sort of boosts did these other pieces receive, and whatsortofdebuffs did they get in exchange? Mark wished he could get those from his system.
In his debuffs, the system said that Mark was not getting anymajorboosts to his stats. Does that meanthat theother pieces received somesort ofboost to their stats? That was so fucking unfair. Here I have to listen to everything some random motherfucker says, and the others are enjoying themselves with no forcedmands as well as boosts from their chess sses.
Isn''t this somesort ofglitch in the game!?
Thisisbasicallyvery! Give me booststoo!
[No.]
Mark rolled his eyes at the cheeky attitude from his system and just went back to the tabs that were open in front of him. The best thing about his ss was the familiar that he gained. Mark hummed as he thought about how he should call on his familiar. Should hejustsay ¨C
"Familiar."
Whip!
p! p! p!
"Wiik! Wiik! Wiik!"
Mark tilted his head to the side as a strange bat-looking creature suddenly appearedin front ofhim.
Chapter 245: The Master Candidate
"Familiar."
Whip!
p! p! p!
"Wiik! Wiik! Wiik!"
Mark tilted his head to the side curiously as a strange bat-looking creature suddenly appeared in front of him. He put his hand out, and the bat creaturended on his palm and continued making that strange noise.
"Wiik! Wiik!"
Mark called it a bat, but the creature was more like arge eyeball with bat wings. It was purple all over, and most of its body was just arge eyeball. It had a pair of bat wings attached to its back, a pair of antennae on its forehead, and two stubby legs that it used to wobble around like a drunk sailor.
Mark flicked his hand, and the creature pped its wings once more as it rose into the air.
What the hell can this thing do?
[Wiik-Bat Familiar: This is the familiar granted to the Pawn piece in the game of gods. It is a monster brought from the depths of Tartarus to aid the user, therefore it is immortal and indestructible. No attack sent by other participants is capable of harming it in any way.]
[Properties of the Wiik-Bat.]
i. Indestructibility and immortality.
ii. Low magic resistance.
iii. Sonic-level speeds that allow it to keep up with even the fastest Servants.
iv. Cuteness.
Mark scoffed as he read through thest property on the list. He looked at the giant flying eyeball with a raised brow. This fucker was cute? You''ve got to be kidding me.
"Wiik! Wiik! Wiik!"
The bat seemed to have read what Mark was thinking as it flew close to him angrily and started to p its wings in his face! Mark just waved his hands in front of him in disinterest to get the Wiik-Bat away from him.
"Yeah, yeah, you''re cute. Whatever."
"Wiik!"
The Wiik-Bat pped its wings in joy as Mark finally called it cute, and Mark rolled his eyes as a small grin grew on his face. He could get used to this stupid eyeball. It was pretty useful, so Mark didn''t mind it. But whoever gave this thing its name did not do it any favors at all. What sort ofzy-ass naming was Wiik-Bat?
It felt like Thanatos just grew tired of hearing this fucker make that noise, that he couldn''t be bothered to waste energy thinking of another name and just decided to name it after the noise it makes.
Mark decided to forget all about the bat for now as he focused on a new message that his system sent to him. Mark''s heart skipped a beat as he read through it, and he immediately grew a bit anxious as his brow furrowed.
[The system will now pick out a Master that ispatible with the User.]
[Searching¡]
[Searching¡]
[Searching¡]
[Searching¡]
[Searching¡]
[Searching¡]
[Searching¡]
[The System has found a match. Calibrating Master''s identity. Reconstructing the master''s genome to match the game requirements. The master will be under the protection of the user, therefore the master is not allowed to be on the battlefront. Calibrating user''s abilities to match game requirements.]
[Calibration Complete.]
A bright light shone in front of Mark, and Mark put his hand up to his eyes to avoid it from hitting them directly. The light slowly died down, and Mark put his hand down as he anxiously anticipated who the system would pick out for him.
"Wha-? Where am I?"
There was an angel sprawled on the floor. An angel with glowing silver hair and the most perfect face that Mark had ever seen.
No, Mark shook his head as he got his sense back in order. It wasn''t an angel.
"Luna?"
Luna looked up in shock as she heard someone call her name, and her eyes widened as she noticed that the person was Mark. What was Mark doing here? What was she doing here? What the hell was going on?
Luna had many questions on the tip of her tongue, but none of them even came out as she realized that she had been sleeping just before she was spirited away! She had been sleeping in her blue bunny pajamas that she always wore to bed, and she was currently still wearing them!
"Ahh!"
A huge blush grew on Luna''s face as Mark got a full view of her in her bunny pajamas, and she immediately shouted at him to look away while crossing her hands across her chest!
"Don''t look at me! Where am I!? What sort of ce is this!? Are you the one that called me here!?"
Mark immediately put his hands up in surrender, but Luna growled at Mark as she realized that Mark had a small grin on his face while looking at her from head to toe! Was hereallughing at her right now!?
Mark chuckled as he heard her growl.
"Sorry, sorry. I''m just as confused as you are since I was also brought here. It seems we''re part of some game, and we have topete against others for a reward before we can go home¡ Nice PJs by the way."
Luna red at Mark for hisst statement.
"If you ever talk about this to anyone, I''ll kill you."
Mark just chuckled again before he finally became serious. He leaned forward and asked Luna if she was given any information about this game. Mark knew that there was no way the game would just bring Luna in here without telling her what she needed to do. That would be too disadvantageous.
Luna gained a confused look on her face as she wondered what Mark was talking about. She didn''t receive any information about any game. But she hadn''t even said a word before she suddenly held her head in pain and grunted as an entire catalog of information was dumped inside her head, detailing everything that she would need to know about the game and what it entails.
Luna''s brow furrowed in shock before a worried expression appeared on her face! She immediately stood up and put her hand out to activate her magic, and she was stunned when nothing happened! Luna closed her eyes and concentrated on the mana inside of her. She could feel her mana moving, and she could feel that she still had all the power that she had when she was back in her world.
She tried to bring that power out and she put her hand out again to control the water in the atmosphere, but once more nothing happened.
"What happened to my powers!?"
Luna''s voice was low, and Mark could notice a hint of fear within her tone as she spoke. Mark knew that it would be too much for her to ept all at once, so he didn''t say a word and he just gave Luna the time she needed toe to terms with everything.
Chapter 246: Its So Cute!
Mark knew that Luna''s powers would be restricted in the battle, but he didn''t think it would be this extreme. The game told him that the masters needed to rely on their servants during the battle, and that meant the master wouldn''t be allowed to have powers to fight with. The game must''ve restricted Luna''s powers in order to make sure that she was a proper master candidate.
"What is going on? I know I have my mana, I can feel it. So why can''t I bring it out? What is a master? Why are they telling me that you''re my servant? This makes no sense.
I never signed up for something like this. Why was I chosen for this?"
Luna suddenly turned to Mark with a lot of questions, and Mark leaned back as he told Luna to calm down. He didn''t have anything to do with her being chosen. It was a random draw that just sucked her in without his consent.
"I wouldn''t have chosen you if I had a choice in the matter. I didn''t have a say either."
For some reason, Mark saying that one sentence made Luna''s heart squeeze in pain, but she ignored it and just focused on what was happening in front of her. She needed to find a way to get out of this game. Or, if she couldn''t get out, then she needed to find a way to get her power back.
Luna looked at the back of her hand and she frowned as she saw the three ck lines painted across the back of her palm. Is this for the three orders? Luna understood that she could give three absolute orders to Mark as his master and he would have to obey them no matter what, but Luna was notreallyinterested in thinking about that right now.
Luna was more worried about trying to get her mana to work again!
Mark could understand Luna''s confusion at the moment, and he just waited as she tried toe to terms with everything that was happening around her. Mark had no idea that the system would just go and pluck some random person like that. Was this how powerful the gods are?
They can take us away from our dimension and into their own dimension in the blink of an eye, and they can even suppress the powers that they gave us so that we are rendered powerless.
Mark frowned in annoyance as he thought about the gods suppressing his abilities and making him powerless. That was thest thing that Mark wanted, and he decided at that moment that he had to find a way to prevent something like that from happening in the future. Just how strong do I need to get before the gods can no longer do anything to me?
"So you''re my servant?"
Luna finally spoke up, and Mark was snapped out of his thoughts as he turned to her. He noticed that Luna was no longer as distressed as before, and she was sitting calmly on the floor with her legs joined in front of her and her hands wrapped around her knees. Did she alreadye to terms with this? That was quick!
Mark nodded to her and told her that he was her servant. The game chose someone of highpatibility, and it turned out that Luna was the one chosen for some reason.
Luna asked Mark about what it meant for him to be her servant, and Mark exined to her that this was a game of sorts. The game was designed to have master-servant pairs fighting against each other, and the winning pair would get a wish from Ares, the god of war.
Mark then started to exin the basic mechanics of the game and how it was meant to be yed. Mark told Luna that each servant in the war was categorized as one of the six pieces in a chess game. There was a king, a queen, a bishop, a rook, a knight, and a pawn. Mark was the pawn, and there were buffs and debuffs that were attached to each of the pieces.
Luna nodded along slowly as she tried to assimte everything at once. She already had some information about what the game of gods was, but Mark''s exnation was a lot more detailed, so she tried to get everything from him as well.
When she noticed that Mark was done listing out the buffs and debuffs that he would get from being a pawn, Luna finally addressed the one thing that had been bothering her this whole time.
"What is that thing?"
Luna pointed up at therge flying eyeball with bat wings that was floating about yfully in the airabovethem, and the creature immediately made a loud noise as it flew down to Luna!
"Wiik!!"
Bam!
"Oof!"
The creature tackled Luna to the ground with a lot of force, and Luna was stunned when sheactuallyfelt some pain from its charge. She grabbed it and raised it into the air with a furrowed brow, and the creature didn''t even waste any time as it rose its two bat wings in the air happily!
"Wiik!!"
Luna blinked once, then she blinked again before a huge blush rose on her cheeks as she brought the Wiik-Bat to her chest and hugged it tightly!
"It''s so cute!!"
"Heh?"
Mark was shocked by her reaction, and he could only watch in silence as Luna hugged the Wiik-Bat to her breasts and started to roll about on the ground like a little kid who found a new ything! There is no way that Lunaactuallythought that thing was cute.
That flying eyeball was the ugliest motherfucker that Mark had ever seen, but for somereasonLuna was treating it like the cutest puppy in the world. Mark just sighed and decided that he would never understand a woman''s mind.
"That''s a Wiik-Bat. It''s for reconnaissance and surveince. I''m going to send it out to try finding the other game participants."
Lunaoh''das she heard what Mark said.
"That is a pretty useful ability. Is this also one of the buffs that the game gives to the pawn?"
Mark nodded while calling the Wiik-Bat to him.
"Yeah, but I don''t know if it isreallya good buff or not. I still can''t tell what the buffs of the other chess pieces are, so I might be getting the short end of the stick with my abilities. I just have to hope that they don''t get buffs that are too much stronger than mine. That would be unfortunate."
Mark spoke to the Wiik-Bat and told it that he needed it to go out and do some surveince for him. The Wiik-Bat listened to everything that Mark told it attentively, but once Mark was done, it didn''t move and just turned its face away while folding its bat wings across its front like a petnt child. Mark felt his eyes twitch.
"Oi, bastard. What the hell are you doing?"
"Wiik!"
You don''t think I''m cute!
For some reason, Mark could easily guess what the idiot was saying and he grabbed it by the wings and pulled!
"You fucking idiot! Do you think this is the time for your nonsense!? Who do you think you''re giving sass!?"
"Wiik! Wiik! Wiik! Wiik!"
The wiik-bat cried out in pain as Mark almost pulled its wings out!
Chapter 247: Is This Legal?
"You fucking idiot! Do you think this is the time for your nonsense!? Who do you think you''re giving sass!?"
"Wiik! Wiik! Wiik! Wiik!"
The wiik-bat cried out in pain as Mark almost pulled its wings out!
Luna quickly ran up to the bat and collected it from Mark with a frown. She held it close to her chest while ring at him.
"What do you think you''re doing!? You want to hurt it!?"
Mark clicked his tongue and leaned back.
"It''s indestructible, so it''s not going to get hurt. The bastard just needs a good beating to know its ce. Ignoring my orders ''cause I don''t think you''re cute ¨C what sort of nonsense is that?"
Luna just shook her head at Mark in disappointment before she petted the Wiik-bat gently on the head while squeezing it into her breast.
"You''re very cute, forget what that brute has to say. He''s just jealous of you. Now you need to go out and help us find the others, okay? When youe back, I''ll give you plenty more hugs!"
"Wiik!"
The Wiik-bat suddenly became motivated to work and Mark felt his eyes twitch as he looked at it rubbing itself against Luna''s chest. That fucker was a pervert. There is no way anyone can change my mind. It''s nothing but a giant-eyed pervert.
p! p! p!
The Wiik-bat finally took off and left the hideout, and Mark could see a new tab appear at the edge of his vision. Mark saw that the tab was a video feed from the Wiik-bat. The outside world was very peaceful since it was nighttime.
Multiple lights from buildings and skyscrapers littered thendscape. The sound of cars and trucks traveling through the roads echoed in the night, polluting the beautiful scene with the shouts of angry drivers who were being held back by traffic; and airnes shed in and out of existence as they passed overhead.
There were scenes and areas that Mark did not recognize at all. They were currently in an alternate Tokyo, so Mark knew that he wouldn''t be able to tell where anything was in this ce. At best, he would know where the Tokyo Tower was because of how often he had seen it in anime, but other than that, there was nothing.
"What''s wrong?"
Luna finally asked Mark a question when she noticed that he had a frown on his face. Mark asked Luna if she had ever been to Tokyo before and Luna shook her head.
"I only went to Kyoto for a conference once. I haven''t been to Tokyo before. Are you getting a feed from the Wiik-bat? You don''t recognize anything, right?"
"It''s useless. I don''t know if we can pinpoint anyone''s location like this without knowing anything about thendscape ¨C wait."
All of a sudden, there was a change in Mark''s demeanor as his frown deepened. Luna folded her hands across her chest anxiously and she asked Mark what was wrong while wondering what could have happened. Did something attack the Wiik-bat? Luna did not like how she did not know what was happening.
Luna was the leader of herownguild, so she was already used to getting the full picture of what was happening even before it could happen from her guild members. Right now, she hated how powerless she felt.
"Alright, I think it was a false rm. I thought I saw something. We should make a n for how we will move and where we will stay. I don''t think this is a good ce to choose as our territory."
There was a prompt that appeared on Mark''s tab a long time ago and he didn''t bother responding to it yet since he did not want to choose this as his territory.
[Each participant in the game of gods is capable of choosing a territory for themselves.]
[Benefits of having a territory.]
i. The participant will gain an immediate 10% boost to all stats in their territory.
ii. All Mana-based attacks will be 10% stronger within the participant''s territory.
iii. Opponents that enter the participant''s territory will experience a 10% debuff to all stats.
[All game servant-master pairs must im a territory before they are allowed to participate in the game. The sole exception to this is the PAWN piece which is allowed to make his territory at any time duringthe course ofthe game.]
[Does the user wish to choose Rundown House as his territory? Yes/No]
Yeah, never gonna happen.
Mark was not going to choose this fucking ce as his territory. He wasn''t stupid. Not only was this ce in the middle of the city, but it was also too exposed and anyone could drop a spell on him from far away at any moment.
Choosing a ce like this as his territory would be the worst decision he could ever make.
"So, what is the n? You do have one, right?"
Luna was sitting on the floor again as she looked at Mark curiously and Mark came out from his thoughts to look at her. Mark could see the expectation in her gaze, but he didn''t even have a n yet since he just got here as well. How can he have a n when he doesn''t even know anything about the other participants in the game? Mark told Luna that he hadn''te up with one yet.
Wouldn''t it be better if they both came up with a n together?
Luna nodded.
"That makes sense. Since there are five other chess pieces, we can assume that we are going up against ten other people. We don''t know if any of them have something like the Wiik-bat that can find us, so we have to keep our guard up at all times. We are in the middle of the city, right? Do you think the gods will be angry if people are killed in the middle of a battle?"
Mark immediately understood what Luna was trying to get at and he shook his head.
"No, they probably won''t care about that.In fact,knowing what I know about them, they''ll probably encourage us to cause as much damage as possible. That means that the other participants will also not care about it. We should be prepared to fight even if we are in the middle of arge crowd. Without caring about the lives we take."
Luna hung her head silently as she contemted what Mark just said. Luna was not a fan of taking lives. She was not naive and she knew that she had killed people unconsciously during her battles against anima, but she had only consciously killed a person once before, so she did not know how to feel about the fact that they might take a lot of lives in theing fights.
Chapter 248: Battle Plans
"Then we should find a hideout that doesn''t have too many residents around it. Maybe somewhere outside the city where we can fight without having to worry about the people there. Can the Wiik-bat find anything like that?"
Mark nodded as he began to give some instructions to the Wiik-bat. Mark could send signals to the Wiik-bat without having to talk, so it was easy for him to just tell the Wiik-bat to look for a secluded area that had a wide space and a good hiding spot where they could use as their territory. The Wiik-bat epted the order and Mark cut the link after telling it to be careful not to be seen.
Mark turned back to Luna and noticed that Luna was not paying attention to him, she was staring at the wall in front of her and thinking deeply about something. Mark watched her curiously and wondered what was going through her mind.
Luna was thinking about how she could be of help now that her powers were sealed the way they were. She couldn''t manipte water like before, so she wasbasicallyjust deadweight in this situation. Could she be reconnaissance like the Wiik-bat? No, that would be dangerous since she was the most important thing here.
If she went out without Mark, then it was almost certain that one of the other participants would look for her and kill her.
But the biggest question on her mind.
"What will happen to me on Earth if I die here¡?"
Luna was most curious about this. The game said that forfeiting the game meant immediate death, but it never said what would happen to her on Earth. Will she be sent back to her real world or will her existence be erased? This thought put a bit of distress in Luna''s heart as she wondered what would happen to her guild and everything that she built on Earth.
It took her a long time and a lot of effort for her to get to the point where she was on Earth and now she was risking losing everything over a game that she never even wanted to be a part of.
Was she going to lose everything because of some game that some god started on a whim?
Just thinking about it made Luna tighten her hands into fists in anger. This entire situation was bing more disagreeable for her the more she thought about it. Why did she have to do what Ares wanted? Why did she have to agree to participate in this stupid game? Why does she have to listen to some god that wasn''t even her patron god? Was Neptune going to just overlook this?
[All the gods have given their permission for their children to be used in this game. Participants are chosen randomly from various worlds based on theirpatibility.]
Mark blinked in slight surprise as he saw this message appear on the edge of his vision and he wondered when he ever asked something like this.
"That''s just bullshit."
Luna suddenly cursed and Mark realized that Luna also got the same message in her head. But from the way she was ring at the ground, Mark knew that she did not get a system prompt like him. Was the message put inside her head directly? That''s convenient.
"Luna, we need toe up with a n."
Mark finally spoke up and drew Luna''s attention back to him, and Luna sighed as she turned to him with a small frown on her face. It was obvious that she was not happy to be there. Mark waited patiently for her to get herself back in order before he started to talk.
"What sort of abilities do you think the other chess pieces will have? Personally, I think the most difficult to fight against will be the queen piece. If this game is based on the game of chess, then they will be the piece with the most freedom and their power will be no joke. The rook willdefinitelyhave a high defense and the knight might have a high attack or movement ability.
I don''t really know what sort of ability the king would have since he doesn''treallydo much on the gameboard, but the bishop might have something to do with holy magic. What do you think?"
"The king might be the most difficult to handle in his territory."
Mark gained a contemtive look and hummed. That was possible. The king mightactuallyhave something like that. Luna continued.
"Since the king doesn''t do much, his power might be like a necromancer. I have a member in my guild who can control dead anima to fight for him and with his high mana output, he could even be considered to be on the level of an undefined if the conditions are right. The king could be someone like that.
Knowing the qualities of the chess king, it is more likely that he would hide in his territory and wait for us toe to him."
Mark saw the sense in what Luna said and he took note of everything before he brought up something new.
"If that is the case, then it might be best to let the rooke to us. His defenses woulddefinitelybe highest in his territory and it might be debuffed when hees out of his territory. The knight and the queen are the same. They would be too strong to handle in their territory. We need to pick out a territory as quickly as possible.
Fighting out here in the open is just making us sitting ducks for anyone that catches us off guard."
Luna stood up and stretched tiredly and Mark couldn''t stop a small smile from forming on his face as he watched her body contort in the bunny suit. That had to be the cutest thing he had ever seen in his life. Luna noticed Mark looking at her and she frowned at him in annoyance.
"What are you looking at?"
"Do you always wear that to sleep?"
A small blush crept up on Luna''s face, but she squashed it immediately as she answered back in a haughty tone.
"And so what if I do? Do you think it''s unbing of the leader of the Moonlight Guild to wear something like this? It''s too bad that I don''t care what you think."
Mark chuckled as he realized that Luna was getting defensive.
"I didn''t mean it like that at all. It''s cute."
Luna''s blush increased immediately as she heard Mark call her cute. Luna was no stranger to people thinking she was pretty. She has been called a million varieties of beautiful by a million different people and all of them have be somon to her that they weren''t anything special anymore. But for some reason, it was different when Mark said it.
He didn''t call her beautiful, pretty, or even stunning. He just called her cute. Like he was talking to any random girl on the street. There was no hidden motive, no strange looks, nothing at all. It was just Mark.
Luna shook her head to clear her thoughts and she red at Mark.
"Don''t be stupid and stop making fun of me. Do you have anything I can change into? I need to get out of these clothes."
Chapter 249: The First Servant
Luna red at Mark.
"Don''t be stupid and stop making fun of me. Do you have anything I can change into? I need to change out of these clothes."
Mark shrugged.
"We can steal something from the residents. One sec. I''ll head out ande back in a few seconds."
Luna immediately put her hands up as she noticed Mark getting up to head out.
"No, no, that isn''t necessary! You don''t need to leave!"
Mark was stunned by her immediate refusal. Was she not the one that wanted to change just a moment ago? It wouldn''t even take thirty seconds for him to head out and find something that she could wear.
Luna shook her head when Mark tried to leave again, and this time she took a step towards him with a deep, intense look in her eyes. She held him by the hand firmly.
"Please... Just, don''t go. I-I think it''s best we stay together. They might attack me if you leave and that will be the end of the game. I don''t mind wearing the outfit for a while until we can find a territory to stay in."
Luna''s exnation was sound, but it was not enough reason for her to try and stop Mark as intensely as she was. The system never brought up the prompt saying that Luna was lying, so Mark knew that she was telling the truth about why she did not want him to go. But Mark also knew that there was a lot more that Luna was not telling him about why she did not want him to leave.
But he just decided that he would stay since she was happy enough staying in the bunny outfit.
"Alright, if you''re okay with it, we can just ¨C"
Mark suddenly stopped what he had been saying and Luna looked at him in surprise as she saw his brow furrow. Mark was staring at something in front of him with intensity and in the next moment, Luna shrieked as Mark dashed towards her and grabbed her in a princess carry!
"Hold on!"
Mark dashed towards the other side of the building and flew out from a hole that was there, and Luna wrapped her hand around Mark''s neck tightly and held on like he said as she wondered what the hell was going on! Were they under attack? Is there someone out there?
Shiink!
All of a sudden Luna''s eyes widened as she saw the entire sky above the house turn into a golden yellow as a massive magic circle the size of a football field appeared over it! Mark didn''t even bother turning around to take a look at the magic circle since he already knew it was up there! Mark just focused on getting as far away from this ce as possible with Luna!
The magic circle in the sky shone a bright golden hue and Luna couldn''t stop staring at it in shock as she wondered who could make something like this. Luna was also a magic user and she was used to creating some magic circles when using her magic, but this was beyond anything Luna had ever seen before. The intricacy. The depth of the magic. The amount of mana inside of it.
It almost felt like watching a master at work.
"Explosio Arcanum." (A/N: Arcane st)
Doon!
Suddenly, the spell caster''s voice echoed through the region and a wave of magic burst out from their body before arge fireball the size of a building dropped from the magic circle in the air and filled Luna''s vision with gold as she watched it falling towards the ground!
The building that Mark and Luna were staying in was surrounded by many other residential buildings; there were family houses as well as some roads and offices around the building.
"Hey, what the hell is that? Is that fire!?"
"It''s a fucking ball of fire! Is this the apocalypse!?"
"Mom, look! It''s a giant ball of fire!"
"Come back here, baby! We need to run!"
People all over were shouting and screaming as they saw the fireball and many of them tried to run away to avoid it. But the person that cast the spell didn''t even care about any of that as the fireball mmed into them all and destroyed an area that was equivalent to a football pitch, killing everyone around and sending them off to the underworld!
BOOM!!!
Luna closed her eyes and buried her face in Mark''s shoulder to avoid the extreme heat that rose from that explosion. She wished she could drown out the sound of the people screaming and shouting in fear as they were burnt alive by the giant fireball.
Mark suddenly stopped on top of a skyscraper a few kilometers away and turned around to face whoever was responsible for the explosion. On the other side of the city, standing on arge signal tower, a man in a long robe was carrying a stick that reminded Mark too much of a magic staff.
He had a smile on his face and he seemed jovial and rxed even though his magic was still burning hundreds of people right below him.
The man had white hair with red streaks in different areas and he looked to be about the same age as Luna. Beside him stood a woman who was openly ring at everything around her. Her hair was ck, her clothes were ck and she had ck eyes. But her figure wasabsolutelybreathtaking with wide hips and arge bust that rivaled even Arit''s breast size.
Her hands were folded across her chest and Mark could immediately tell that this woman was the man''s master. But who are they? Are they from a different world? I know I haven''t seen anyone dressed like that on Earth before.
"Wiik! Wiik!"
The wiik-bat suddenly came back to Mark and Mark reached out mentally and thanked the bat for its warning. It was thewiik-batthat first noticed the magic in the air and sent a warning straight to Mark that there was another servant in the area and that was the only reason why Mark was able to get out of there as quickly as he did.
On the other side, the man and woman that had attacked Mark were talking casually between themselves.
"I told you that I wanted to be the servant, didn''t I, Merlin?"
The woman frowned at the man in annoyance and the man just hummed a jovial tune while tilting his head from side to side.
"Don''t be such a stickler. The gods choose who will be the servants based on achievements. Perhaps if you had done more in your life rather than justzing around."
The woman growled in anger when she heard him say that and the man just smiled wider and continued.
"Come now, Morgana. Don''t be angry over something this small. You''re my master and you possess some power over me. Isn''t that what you''ve always wanted? We''ve been doing long enough for me to know that much."
Chapter 250: Speedrun
Morgana frowned and clicked her tongue as she saw her servant beginning a new sequence of spells to start an attack. Morgana came here because she was curious about this Mark Vanitas that all the gods seemed to be interested in, and now that she had seen him, she was already bored of all this.
If she had been the servant instead of the master, then she would have had all the fun she wanted, but as the master she was just a regr human! It was honestly irritating!
"You just better not lose."
Merlin chuckled somewhere deep in his throat when he heard the reluctant eptance in Morgana''s voice.
"Darling, have you ever known me to lose?"
Morgana smiled in a twisted way.
"You lost to me, idiot."
"That one time was a fluke and you know it. You fucking poisoned me!"
"Excuses, excuses."
Merlin just frowned as he heard the smile in Morgana''s voice, but he just ignored her since nothing he said here would get through to her. He poured out his magic as magic circles began to form in the sky, bending magic to his will.
Shiink! Shiink! Shiink! Shiink!
The entire sky was painted an iridescent blue and Mark quickly activated his True Sight to get a look at what he was up against.
...
Name: Merlin
Role: Servant Bishop
Game Rank: EPIC Rank I
True Rank: --
Potential: --
Description: The master of magic and the sorcerer king loved by mana. He possesses the highest affinity with magic that has ever been seen or will ever be seen by a single being. Do not be fooled by his jovial attitude and easygoing nature; he is a ruthless and dangerous person who wouldn''t mind erasing an entire world from existence for hisownamusement.
He joined the game of gods of his own free will.
Affiliation: Chaotic Neutral
...
Name: Morgana
Role: Master of Bishop
Game Rank: Regr Human
True Rank: --
Potential: --
Description: The mistress of dark magic, hated by the light. Morgana is known to possess thergest catalog of dark magic spells and curses known to humanity, evenrger and more expansive than those owned by Merlin. Morgana is the rival and lover of Merlin who was once the one prophesied to bring forth the end of magic in the world.
She has aplicated rtionship with Merlin, and although they are lovers, she has been known to plot against him multiple times. She was forced to join the game of gods by Merlin.
Affiliation: Chaotic Evil
...
Mark narrowed his eyes and took in a deep breath as his mind ran at a mile a minute trying to figure out how to handle this. This was getting way out of hand! Merlin and Morgana!? They were practically legends back on Earth and the system put the two of them on the same team for him to fight against? What sort of bullshit is this!?
Mark knew that it would be impossible for him to beat Merlin in a straight fight right now. Merlin was always known to possess arge amount of magic, so Merlin could probably spam these spells over and over again like a fucking video game character! Mark wouldn''t be surprised if Merlin had ten thousand points of mana or even more!
If he tried to fight Merlin straight-out in these sorts of conditions, then there was no doubt that Mark wasdefinitelygoing to lose. He had to level the ying field. Mark thought about a way to do that, and his eyes lit up as he realized that there was a way!
He needed to get Luna somewhere safe first. No, he couldn''t do that. They don''t have a territory yet, so it would be dangerous for him to just drop her off anywhere and hope that no other participant finds her. He would have to bring her along with him.
Luna started to tap Mark''s chest in distress as she saw the magic circles that were forming in the sky.
"We need to move! We need to move now!"
What? Mark looked down at Luna in surprise as he saw the distress on her face. What was wrong?
"I recognize that spell! It''s an ice spell! He''s going to freeze everything!"
Fuck! First fire, and now ice? Isn''t there a limit to the kind of magic that he can use? Mark immediately shouted to Luna while turning around and crouching into a runner''s stance.
"I''m going to need you to hold on very tightly! Don''t let go no matter what, do you understand!?"
Luna tightened her hold around Mark''s neck and buried her face into his cor, and Mark''s feet dug into the ground as the muscles on his legs tensed to breaking limit! His eyes glowed a deep ck and narrowed into a re as heunched himself off the building!
BOOOM!
Mark dashed off the top of the building in a sh of ck and arge crack tore the building in half just from the force of his movement as he dashed across the city! Luna gasped in shock as she felt all the air leave her lungs at once! The city lights were blurring past her in an unrecognizable sh and she could almost feel the wind slicing her skin from how fast they were going!
Luna was not a superhuman whose strength was focused on physical abilities. Even though she was regarded as an undefined and seen as one of the strongest superhumans in America, that was only because of how powerful her blessing was and how good she was at using it.
In terms of physical strength, Luna was only as strong as a High-Ranking Cmity ss Anima and she might even lose out against high-level S ranks if they fought without the use of magic.
Twoom!!
Mark broke through the sound barrier and used his hand to protect Luna''s head and make sure that the aftershock didn''t affect her.
This was the first time that Luna was experiencing such high speeds in her life! She had never had to go this fast since she was a ranged fighter who mostly stayed in one ce and destroyed enemies at a distance, so it was almost surreal to know that there were superhumans out there that couldactuallymove as fast as Mark was moving with nothing but their physical power alone!
What the hell was this unreal speed? It almost felt like they were flying!
Mark dashed over a building and his body flew towards the next one! The next building was too high and Mark was going too fast for him to try and get over it, so he simply tucked himself in and tightened his hold on Luna to make sure that she wouldn''t be hurt by the impact before they smashed into the building window!
Crash!
Mark turned to his side and stretched out his hand as protection for Luna as he broke through three walls before smashing through the other side of the building and continuing on his way! But even after they had gone far enough that the two attackers were only a speck on the horizon, they could still hear a calm voice speak up as arge magic circle filled the sky.
"Gelu Nova." (A/N: Frost Nova)
Chiink!
A loud sound like ice breaking echoed through the area before the ice suddenly began to spread at an astounding pace! It covered everything that it touched! From people to buildings and even the very air itself was frozen stiff from Merlin''s chant!
Chapter 251: Bad Habits
"Gelu Nova." (A/N: Frost Nova)
Chiink!
A loud sound like ice breaking echoed through the area before the ice suddenly began to spread at an astounding pace! It covered everything that it touched! From people to buildings, and even the very air itself was frozen stiff!
Hundreds of people were trying their best to run away from the frost spell, but they were not able to run fast enough as they were immediately frozen in ce, stuck with a look of terror on their faces. The entire city looked like a scene out of an apocalypse as the cars and buildings were all frozen, with many people trying to run out of them also frozen in ce.
The ice raced across the ground like a vindictive spirit as it chased after Mark and Luna. Mark was moving at a speed almost twice the speed of sound, but he was still not able to outrun the ice as he could slowly feel the chill in the air catching up to him.
Mark knew that at this pace, he would get trapped in the ice as well, and he quickly called the Wiik-bat that had been following them all this time.
Mark gave it some instructions and the Wiik-bat immediately let out a loudwiikin response as it shed past Mark and began to fly ahead of him. The Wiik-bat could move at speeds that were much higher than what Mark was moving at, so it easily passed him and went to do what Mark told it to!
"Mark, the ice! It''s almost here!"
Luna shouted as she raised her head and saw that the ice was right behind them! There was arge wave of ice encroaching over the ground and Mark didn''t waste any time as he threw Luna into the air!
"Ahhhhhh!!"
Luna screamed in fear as she flew more than two hundred meters in the air and Mark turned around and pulled back his hand!
[Sonic impact]!
Bam!
Bam!
Bam!
[Critical Hit]!
BOOM!!
Enjoy stories on m_v lemp-yr
Mark used his sonic impact skill to force out a critical hit. He struck the air more than three times in less than a second before using a critical hit to send out a massive sonic wave that countered the ice! The area in front of Mark was immediately eviscerated! Everything was torn to pieces and the ice waspletely evaporated as it couldn''t withstand the counter force from the critical hit!
"Ahhhhhh ¨C Oof!"
Mark put out his hand and Lunanded softly in his arms! He looked down at her to make sure that she was okay before he looked out again to see what Merlin was up to.
p!
p!
Luna suddenly hit Mark twice on the chest in anger as she shouted at him loudly!
"What the hell were you thinking!? Don''t ever do something like that without telling me!!"
Throwing her into the air like that was thest thing that Luna expected him to do and her heart almost dropped from the shock that she felt!
Mark just ignored her! He could understand that she was angry but she was the least of his concerns right now! Mark immediately activated the [Achilles Heel] skill and he used it as a radar to find where Merlin was.
''There!''
Mark''s eyes widened in surprise as he saw someone flying through the sky with a small red hue painted over his chest. From the silhouette, Mark could tell that it was only Merlin that wasing. Morgana wasn''t with him. Did he hide her somewhere else beforeing to confront me? That smart bastard!
Mark looked down at Luna and he knew that he had to get her somewhere safe as soon as possible! This entire fight depended on her safety!
...
Merlin was sting through the air at extremely high speeds while ignoring the many dead people that littered the ground like ice sculptures! Merlin was impressed that Mark survived something like this! Merlin knew just how fast his Gelu Nova skill could travel!
It could get up to two hundred meters every second,pletely covered in ice, and no known human should be able to fight against it if they were only seeing it for the first time.
"And yet that boy was fast enough to outrun it on foot? That was quite the disy of physical prowess."
''Oh, shut up.''
Morgana spoke up from inside Merlin''s mind and Merlin just smiled as he continued talking as if he never heard it.
"I did not see him activate any speed spells and there are no visible glyphs on his body. It is most likely that he was able to move that fast based only on his physique. I wouldn''t mind dissecting him and seeing what sort of structure his body has taken after being exposed to so much magic and stress."
''You and your useless hobby for magic analysis. You should just get yourself a pet like other normal husbands. You keep bringing back these useless magic creatures and stinking up our house with them.''
"Haha, you still love me anyway."
There was no response from Morgana and Merlin just chuckled again as he swiveled to the left to avoid a skyscraper. Merlin cornered Mark with this surprise attack, so he knew that there was nowhere for Mark to run. And since he had already sent Morgana back to their territory, he did not need to be careful in theing fight!
He can go as fast or as slow as he wants and there was nothing anyone could do to stop him!
Merlin decided that he would have to thank Ares for that tip that he received earlier! During the introduction of the game, Merlin got a message from Ares telling Merlin that a boy named Mark Vanitas was the main focus of this game, and if Merlin hurried, he could easily find Mark.
Ares knew that Merlin had a habit of seeking out interesting opponents and fighting them, so he knew that he did not need to do anything after telling Merlin about Mark.
Merlin immediately searched for Mark using one of his homing spells and attacked without preamble! But the first shot that was supposed to have ended Markpletely, ended up failing badly due to that pesky familiar that noticed Merlin before he could sneak up on Mark!
Merlin attacked the Wiik-bat and he was stunned when there was no damage at all to the pesky little thing! Merlin could tell that the Wiik-bat did not have any attack spells! It only had an extremely high defense that it used to protect itself! Merlin wanted to dissect the Wiik-bat as well!
Woosh!
Merlin''s eyes widened in shock as he saw arge car flying towards him! He swerved to the side to avoid the projectile and he had to stop flying as he saw three other cars flying at him as well! Was thisreallyMark''s n? He wanted to use the cars as a form of distraction or something.
"Ventus Sectura!" (A/N: Wind sh)
sh! sh! sh! sh! sh!
Merlin put out his staff and uttered a wind spell that sent massive des of wind flying through the air to intercept the cars that wereing to him! The des tore the cars into pieces and all the pieces simply fell to the side like trash! Merlin started to look around for Mark once more. Hmm? Where could he have possibly gone!?
Chapter 252: Youre A Void
Mark was nowhere to be found anymore. That small moment of distraction where Merlin focused on the cars was enough for Mark to disappear from Merlin''s sight!
''I can''t believe you lost a kid like that. You''re truly an ipetent servant. You better watch how you''re throwing those spells around. Remember, you don''t have as much mana as you used to.''
"Please, darling. Don''t patronize me."
Merlin ignored his master as he activated the magic array that he used to find Mark in the first ce. Merlin would just have to find the pawn once more and continue the battle!
¡
In a hidden building a few hundred meters away from Merlin, Mark hid behind arge rock b with Luna still in his hands. He was holding her tightly and she put her hands on his chest to brace herself as she waited for any sign of movement from the enemy!
"Do you know who that is?"
Luna suddenly whispered to Mark in curiosity and Mark nodded as he told her what his system told him about both Merlin and Morgana. Luna''s eyes widened in shock as she told Mark to repeat that! Did he just say Merlin!? As in the Merlin of legend who was loved by mana and had more than a hundred thousand spells in his arsenal!?
"That Merlin!?"
"Shh! Stay quiet. Yeah, it''s that Merlin."
They were fucked. Luna didn''t know how they would be able to fight against someone like Merlin the way they were now! Even if they were at their best, there was no way that they could beat someone as dangerous as Merlin!
Mark suddenly spoke up again and drew Luna out of her defeatist monologue!
"I don''t think this Merlin is as strong as the one of legend though. This Merlin is only as strong as you would have been if you had your magic and you could use mana. I think the game is trying to make the ying field as even as possible by reducing the power level of those that are too strong."
"Really?"
Luna was stunned by the new revtion! That meant that they still had a chance! Luna thought that they were fucked because of how strong she knew Merlin was, but now that Mark was telling her this, she knew they had a small chance. They could fight against Merlin if he was weakened to her level!
But Luna did not know if Mark could defeat her if they fought. Mark only just became an undefined and she has been honing her skills for a long time before he even came out as a superhuman! Luna knew that it would take some time before Mark was ready to fight against her and that meant it would also take time for him to fight against Merlin!
Mark also whispered to Luna that Merlin was the bishop of this game, which meant that Merlin likely had a lot more magic power than anyone else. Merlin''sownmagic power wasobviouslyhigh, but the game probably multiplied it many times over because of his ss!
Things were starting to seem more and more hopeless to Luna and she could only wrap her hands around Mark tightly as her face dropped! Would they be able to win something like this!? Even if they found a way to escape, would they be okay fighting against the next opponent that would show up!? This was just too much! The gods shouldn''t be bringing people of legend to a game like this!
"Don''t make a face like that. We''re not giving up, Luna. We''re going to win this whether the gods like it or not! Are you with me?"
Mark saw the look that Luna was getting on her face and he immediately knew that Luna was already about to start giving up! He tightened his hold on her shoulder as he spoke up to her and Luna looked up at him in surprise as she heard what he said! Luna knew that it was stupid!
They were going up against someone who had been fighting for far longer than they have been alive and they did not know if they would face off against any more of these legends in the future! They were definitely the underdogs in this fight!
But the mere fact that Mark refused to give up made her heart flutter in a way that gave her hope and courage! Luna''s face hardened as she squeezed Mark''s neck gently and nodded her head.
"I''m with you."
Mark grinned and Luna''s face gained a small blush as she smiled at his confidence. Luna was going to put her all into this so that they could both go home.
Luna''s mind started to race like a rocket ship! They had a chance of winning. It was a small chance, but it was a gamble that Mark and she would have to take!
Mark was probably already thinking the same thing, and if they are able to get it in motion without Merlin finding out where they are, then they will most likely be able to even the ying field or maybe they will gain the upper hand in the fight!
Mark had to get to the bishop''s territory!
Luna knew that this was the only way for Mark to gain the power he needed to fight against Merlin. If Mark goes to the bishop territory, then Mark would be promoted to a bishop and that would increase his stats exponentially and ce him in the same boat as Merlin.
But Luna wondered how Merlin was able to find them in the first ce. Mark was a pawn and he had the Wiik-bat, so there was no surprise that Mark was able to find out that Merlin was after him! But how was Merlin able to find out that Mark was hiding in that abandoned house!?
Luna did not see any familiar, and since she could still get a good feel for magic even though she couldn''t use it, she knew that there were only two people around her!
Wait¡
There were only two people around her?
Luna looked at Mark strangely as she tried her best to get a feel for his magic! It took some time and she had toreallyfocus before she could get her magic to focus in the way that she wanted it to, but even after focusing so much, there was still nothing! Luna frowned and she spoke up to Mark in a whisper.
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"Mark, do you have a lot of mana?"
"What? Yeah, I think I do."
Mark was stunned by the sudden question and he turned to Luna with a frown on his face, only for him to see that she was also frowning while staring at him strangely! Mark raised a brow at her and wondered what she could be getting at.
"You have a lot of mana, but I can''t feel anything from you. It doesn''t feel like you have any mana at all. It almost feels like you''re nothing. A void."
"What?"
Chapter 253: How Can You Do That With Your Mana?
"You''re a void."
What the fuck?
Mark could only scrunch up his face in confusion as he tried to understand what Luna was getting at. Mark knew he was not the one who controlled his mana movement fully. His system was the one in charge of moving his mana to the ce where Mark wanted it to be. Does that mean that the system was making it so that no one would be able to notice Mark''s mana if he was not using it?
"But isn''t that a good thing? It prevents people from seeing me."
Luna shook her head.
"No, it doesn''t. You''re literally the only living thing in the world that I have seen using mana like this. Everything has mana; the people, the nts, and even the animals have some mana. This means that no matter where I am, I can get a feel for what''s around me at all times. But for you, it''s different. Not only are you manaless right now, but you also appear on my radar as an anomaly.
A void of nothingness in the middle of a stream of mana that should exist. I think that is how Merlin was able to find you the first time around. He noticed that void as well and figured out that you were hiding your mana too well. He might not be able to find you as quickly as before because we are together.
Me being this close to you will fill up your void partly and prevent him from seeing your silhouette, but it is only a matter of time before someone as good as him can differentiate between my mana and your own."
You have got to be kidding me. So there was a downside to being too good at using mana? Mark immediately asked the system if this was true!
[The system prevented the flow of mana to improve the growth of the user''s strength as well as the efficiency of the mana skills that the user possessed. Theck of mana flowing in the user''s body grants a much higher growth index to the user, and once mana is applied to the user''s body, the increase in power is exponentially higher than it would have been if mana flowed freely through the body.]
''So, the answer is yes!?''
[¡Yes, what Luna said is most definitely correct.]
''Then just say so next time!''
[¡]
Mark groaned in annoyance as he realized how irritating this situation was. How the hell was he supposed to know that being too good at controlling your mana would be a bad thing?
''I need you to give me ess to my mana again. Can you control it in a way that it would seem normal so that Merlin won''t be able to tell the difference between me and anyone else?''
[Doing this will reduce mana efficiency by 5% and will consume mana points. Does the user still wish to carry out this augmentation?]
''Just do it. It''s better to lose 5% efficiency than to lose my life.''
[Very well. Augmenting Mana Flow.]
[¡Augmenting Mana Flow]
[¡Augmenting Mana Flow]
[¡Augmenting Mana Flow]
[5 Point(s) of Mana have been permanently consumed]
[Mana flow has been properly augmented. For the period of augmentation, all mana-based skills will be 5% more inefficient than previously stated on the system tabs. If the user wishes to return to his original mana control, please inform the system and have your mana augmented once more.] Your source is m-vl|em|p,yr
''So I lost five points of mana permanently. Well, I can always get it back in no time, so it''s fine.''
Mark turned to Luna once he was done augmenting his mana.
"How about now, how does my mana look?"
"W-What did you just do?"
Luna was visibly stunned as she stared at Mark''s body. Just a moment ago, Luna couldn''t even feel any mana from Mark! There was nothing that could tell that Mark was beside her if you were trying to find him using only his mana, but now, it seemed like Mark was perfectly sending mana through his body just like her! That was impossible!
How was he able to start moving mana like that without any practice or learning time!? Luna just saw Mark close his eyes for a few seconds and in the next moment, his mana was coursing through his body just like her own!
Luna still remembered how hard it was for her to learn how to use her mana when she was just starting out on mana control! It took her more than a week before she could even get her mana to move in the way that she wanted and it took another month before she could do it subconsciously! Mark just did all of that in a few seconds!
"Mark, what exactly is your blessing?"
Luna frowned in seriousness as she asked this question with a hard tone. She was confused and lost about what sort of blessing Mark actually had! Was Mark really just someone who was extremely strong? There were too many inconsistencies with Mark''s blessing that told Luna that there was a lot more to his power than just that!
Mark did not give Luna an answer to her question and she frowned at his constant evasion! There wasn''t a single person in the world that knew Mark''s abilities! It was almost like he was intentionally hiding it for some reason! Would it be so bad for her to know!?
Luna looked at the marks on the back of her hand and she actually contemted using one of her absolute orders to force Mark to tell her what his powers were. Luna knew that Mark would not be able to disobey her since it was an absolute order and she would definitely get to know his blessing! But she also knew that this would ruin their rtionship!
If Luna wanted to survive in this ce, then she needed to be on the same page as Mark at all times so that they could help each other. She wasn''t willing to ruin their rtionship over something like this.
"Fine, don''t tell me, but we need to move again!"
"Hmm? Why? Isn''t it okay now that my mana is like yours?"
"No, it isn''t. Your mana suddenly came out from nowhere and that is an issue! It''s like a bucket holding water suddenly doubling in content without any warning! Merlin will definitely notice this! We need to go now!"
BOOM!
A massive explosion rocked the roof of the building they were hiding in and Mark wasted no time and bolted off the ground as he saw a massive piece of the roof falling on them! Mark slid to a stop a few meters away from the falling debris and he looked up to see Merlin smiling down at him from the roof with his staff held high in the air!
Merlin rotated his staff once and the sky began to swirl about angrily as a massive storm gathered in the air.
Seriously. Fire, water, and now air? What the fuck is this guy not able to do? And why are they all high-level spells!?
Chapter 254: Welcome To Saitama
The sky began to form a vortex at the center where a massive amount of electricity was gathering before Merlin brought his staff down in a simple swipe while uttering his incantation.
"Fulmen Fulgar." (A/N: Lightning Bolt)
BZZZZZZZTTTT!!!
A massive bolt of lightning flew down to the ground and Mark jumped away as it struck the spot where he had been standing! Luna grunted as she felt some of the electricity lick her skin and her hair immediately rose on her hands and feet as goosebumps traveled through her entire body! Even though they weren''t hit directly she was still not able to withstand the static in the air!
Mark tightened his leg muscles once more as he started to jump around the area while trying his best to get as far away from Merlin as possible! The lightning from Merlin''s magic was relentless as it followed after Mark, breaking through walls and searing thendscape into pieces as it tried to strike him!
Luna was holding Mark as a lifeline as she watched his back and told him what direction to jump in so that the lightning wouldn''t get him.
"Mark, can''t you use your mana like before!? He''s going to kill us at this rate!"
Luna remembered how Mark was able to use mana in his fight against a cmity ss to boost his strength and she wanted Mark to use his mana to improve his strength here as well!
Mark grunted while dodging around a massive bolt of lightning that would''ve torn them apart!!
"Not yet."
What? Luna was stunned by Mark''s answer. They were already in such a serious situation and he was saying not yet! What the hell is wrong with him!?
Mark had a look of seriousness as he raced through the city and Merlin had a wide smile on his face. He seemed like he was having too much fun with the situation, but things changed when Merlin noticed Mark slowing down.
Mark suddenly slowed down as he got a message from his wiik-bat and a wide grin spread on his lips as he spoke to Luna.
"If you let go of me, you''ll die. Hold on as if your life depends on it."
"W-What!? What the hell do you think you''re dooooooiiiinnnngggg!!!!?"
Luna suddenly shouted loudly as Mark applied mana to his legs and sted off the ground! Luna always knew that Mark was fast and she got proof of it when he was escaping that ice, but this...this couldn''t even be called running anymore!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Mark broke through the sound barrier three times in less than three seconds as he raced through thend. Luna couldn''t even raise her head as she just held on and tried to not get thrown off Mark from the massive wind pressure that was developing around him.
Thankfully, Luna''s magic was still actively helping her to maintain her body, so she didn''t have to worry about being crushed by the wind pressure.
Merlin was shocked by the sudden increase in speed! His lightning could not even keep up as he saw Mark sh away from him like a phantom! Merlin narrowed his eyes at Mark while wondering what Mark was ying at, but his eyes widened as he looked behind him and saw the position that he was in!
He was standing towards the southern border of Tokyo and Mark was going away from him, which meant that Mark was running towards the Saitama prefecture at the northern border!
"He found my territory!?" Your next adventure is on m_v_l_e_mpyr
¡
Mark did not dare to slow down. Not even after he knew that Merlin had figured out his n, he still kept running at top speed to get to Merlin''s territory!
Mark''s only chance of winning this was for him to get to Saitama and enter the bishop''s territory so that he would be able to rank up to a bishop!
All over Tokyo, people were already stopping and staring at the massive explosions and ice storms that were happening in the center of the city, but no one was ready for the gust of wind that blew past them as Mark raced through the city to get to Saitama!
WOOSH!
Boom!
Mark''s aftershock was intense enough to remove the roofs off of buildings and throw cars into the air and into other cars! People who were just standing at the side of the road were absolutely disoriented as they flew back with intense force and crashed into the pavement from the wind pressure! Mark was sting through the city like a jet engine!
But even though he was moving fast, Mark could feel Merlin was right on his tail!
"Terrae Motus!!" (A/N: Earthquake)
Merlin rose his staff into the air and the ground all around him began to crumble as a massive earthquake echoed through the center of Tokyo! Bridges began to shake and tremble and buildings started to crack down the middle and fall in Mark''s path as a magnitude 9 earthquake shook the entire region!
Merlin knew that at Mark''s pace, he would not be able to catch up with him, so Merlin decided that he would slow Mark down using his magic instead!
The earthquake chased Mark, tearing through the roads and breaking down houses, and Merlin did not waste any time as he immediately pointed his staff toward Mark and activated another spell!
"Sagitta Steta!" (A/N: Ster Arrow)
A giant magic circle burst to life in front of Merlin. A swirl of green magic fog appeared around the magic circle before a loud howl echoed through the sky!
PHWOOM!
A hundred green, two-meter-long arrows shot out from Merlin''s magic circle and all of them immediately honed in on Mark and sted in his direction! Mark could feel the danger approaching him even before he knew that there were arrowsing straight at him!
Ratatatattatatatata!
The magic arrows started to m into the ground all around Mark and Mark tried his best to avoid all of them while still running! The arrows were the same size as a full-grown man, so every single one of them had the potential to skewer Mark through and pin him to the ground if they hit!
"Wiik! Wiik!"
The sound of the wiik-bat shouting made Mark look up quickly and his mouth split into a grin as he jumped up to the top of a skyscraper to avoid the rest of the arrows!
[User has applied Mana to his legs.]
Boom!
Markunched off the skyscraper and he had to really push himself to the limit while using as little mana as possible as he finally felt his body change once he passed a certain border dividing Tokyo from Saitama.
[The User has entered the territory of The Bishop. The User has sessfully Ranked up and he has been granted all the properties of The Bishop.]
Chapter 255: Anything For you, Master.
[The User has entered the territory of The Bishop. The User has sessfully Ranked up and has been granted all the properties of The Bishop.]
...
[The Bishop is the most magically gifted piece, as well as the piece with the lowest defense among all the chess pieces.]
[Benefits]
i. The Bishop will be granted a 200% boost to their current magic capacity.
ii. The Bishop is allowed to use all attacking and defensive spells in their arsenal.
iii. The Bishop''s master is allowed to share their mana with the Bishop to boost the Bishop''s mana capacity.
iv. The Bishop is allowed to mark one area within his territory to transport himself or his master once a day.
[Debuffs]
i. All defensive spells, skills, or abilities will only function at 50% of their full capacity.
ii. Once outside their territory, The Bishop will receive a 10% reduction in all abilities.
...
Mark could feel a massive amount of mana surging to life inside him as his mana doubled in size and capacity. All of his fatigue seemed to immediately vanish, and he felt like he could fight for years on end without ever feeling tired! Mark was currently going through a mana high that wouldst for a few minutes until he got used to the feeling of suddenly having this much mana in his system.
Marknded on top of a skyscraper and gently tried to drop Luna to the ground, but Luna refused toe down as she tightened her hand around Mark''s neck. Her eyes were tightly closed, and her face was buried in Mark''s cor as she held him like a ko!
"Luna, you need toe down."
"Are you done running?"
Mark hummed in the affirmative, and Luna finally started to open her eyes slowly. She looked around and saw that they were standing on top of a skyscraper in the middle of argemercial area. There were hundreds of lights around them, and the city was on fire, with screams and shouts echoing through the night from the injured people on the ground.
Luna was about to turn to Mark and reprimand him for moving that quickly without warning her, but she stopped as she noticed that Mark had a hard look on his face as he faced off against someone in the distance.
Mark was staring directly at Morgana, who was sitting on top of a building a few hundred meters away from him. She was sitting right on the edge of the building with her legs crossed over the edge, and there was a sinister frown on her face as she red right at Mark with ck, piercing eyes.
Morgana was very simr to Arit physically, but that was where the simrities ended. That look in Morgana''s eyes. That was something that not even Arit''s alter ego, Queen, could replicate. It was a sinister look that promised a thousand different types of deaths! Mark knew that Morgana was only a simple human right now, but he could feel an unbelievable amount of power somewhere deep inside her.
Just like Merlin, there was just too much mana inside Morgana for the game to be able to hide her true threat level.
"I knew that stupid Merlin couldn''t do anything right."
Morgana muttered in a low tone as she saw Mark staring at her, and in the next moment, Merlinnded beside her from the sky. Morgana looked up at Merlin with a re, and Merlin smiled sheepishly at her. He knew that he had messed up in allowing Mark to get all the way over here, but there was nothing that he could do against speed like that. Mark was just too fast for Merlin to keep up with.
And besides, Merlin was very restricted in this game. His strength and his mana were both limited, so he wasn''t used to gauging his own strength yet.
Merlin didn''t even bother trying to exin any of this to Morgana since he knew that it would fly over her head as excuses. She was pissed, and nothing he did could stop that.
"I need you to let go, Luna."
Mark finally spoke up as he told Luna toe down, and Luna nodded as she put her feet to the ground gently and released Mark''s neck!
"Ugh!"
Luna immediately fell to her knees as she lost all the feeling in her legs. Her entire body was vibrating from shock, and she knew that it would take some time for her to get the feeling back in her legs. Mark bent down and put his hand over Luna''s chest.
A blush appeared on Luna''s cheeks as she felt Mark touching her breast, but the embarrassment immediately turned to shock as she saw something appear over her chest.
[Armor of Ares] has been activated.
The Armor of Ares took on the form of a military bulletproof jacket. It was ck with a few straps over the shoulder and around the waist, and Luna couldn''t understand the feeling of safety that surrounded her once it appeared on her.
"Stay behind me, alright."
Mark spoke up, and Luna looked up as he walked past her and stood in front of her. At that moment, Luna felt her mind travel back four years into the past when someone else stood in front of her in the exact same way. Mark''s wide back and strong stance reminded her of that boy a little too much, and Luna closed her eyes tightly as she tried her best not to think about him.
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KING was dead, and there was nothing that could bring him back.
Luna opened her eyes again, and this time, she had a strong resolve in them as she red at Merlin.
"Kick his fucking ass."
Mark grinned and tilted his head to the side while cracking his glove-d knuckles.
"Your wish is mymand, master."
[User has sent mana to his legs.]
Mark shed across the roof faster than anyone could follow, and Morgana''s eyes widened as she saw a hand appear right in front of her face! What!? He was aiming for me!? Morgana didn''t think that Mark woulde directly for her, and even Merlin waspletely caught off guard as he watched Mark appear in front of Morgana!
Morgana immediately started to lean back in shock, but Mark grabbed her before she could go far, and his mouth split into a grin as he activated his Lightning Surge!
WOOSH!
A massive gale of wind suddenly blew out from a magic circle beside Mark and threw him away from Morgana before he could do anything! Merlin put his staff forward and activated an explosive spell as both of them raced into the city to start their battle!
Chapter 256: Carry The World On Your Shoulders
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BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
It was as though the apocalypse had descended upon the people of Saitama. The air boiled from the massive amounts of mana being poured around. Thend quaked from the intense earthquake that rendered it to dust and soot! The waters all over the city boiled from the heat and massive explosions that echoed through the city!
And in the middle of all this, Mark and Merlin were going at it like madmen!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Merlin was throwing around spells like he had no reservations at all! It didn''t matter what sort of spell it was! It didn''t matter what the element was, and it didn''t matter what the hell was needed in order to activate the spell! Magic itself bent to Merlin''s will and activated for him! Mana came out from every pore in his body and crafted his will into physical form!
Everything came to him easily, and he was able to cast spells back to back like they were a joke! The only limitation was his imagination!
DOOM!
A hundred magic circles appeared in the sky above Saitama, lighting up the entire prefecture in a hue of yellow! The circles began to shoot projectiles out at an astonishing pace that rendered the ground to pieces! One of the projectiles stabbed into a passerby that was hiding behind a car and the man was immediately incinerated to dust as the projectilebusted him in seconds!
And on the opposing side of all these spells, Mark was moving!
Mark was running through attacks and breaking through buildings as he tried his best to make his way closer to Merlin. Mark knew that now that he was a bishop, he had a lot more mana than before, so he did not need to be as conservative as he was before, but Mark was still holding back because he was waiting for something.
He knew that it was only a matter of time before he had his chance, and he would not waste it!
Mark dodged around a massive arrow that tried to skewer him, and he dodged into a building as a massive torrent of fire almost scorched him! He could feel the entire building heating up, and Mark burst through the wall of the house just as the entire building blew up in a massive explosion!
KA-BOOM!!
"Hahahaha! Come on, Mark Vanitas! Stop running and show me what you''re made of! Is this the limit to what the gods spoke so much about!?"
Merlin was obviously enjoying himself as he threw all those spells around, and Mark couldn''t help but gain a small grin on his face as he felt Merlin''s excitement to be infectious! Mark grabbed a car from behind him and chucked it at Merlin like a javelin, and a massive de of wind appeared in between and destroyed the car before it could get close to Merlin.
But Mark was right behind the car as he drew his hand back and unleashed a blow!
[Divergent Fist]!
BOOM!
A massive sonic boom echoed through the air, and Merlin had to put his hand up to his face to block the blowback! He felt the wind pressure blow him backward as a huge hole was torn into the clouds in the sky! Merlin shook his head and quickly pointed his staff at Mark with that smile still on his face.
"Not bad! Not bad at all! Your power is really beyond anything I''ve seen from a mortal before! But is that all you have!? You''re going to have to try a bit harder than that!"
Merlin activated a giant magic circle below him that covered up more than half of the prefecture, and Morgana put her hand to her face and groaned in tired annoyance as she saw Merlin activating one of his most tasking spells! This idiot was going to use a spell like this for something this small!?
The truth is that Merlin was excited. He was far too excited at this moment, and he was not thinking very clearly. Merlin chose to join the game of gods of his own free will because of how boring his life had been for a long time now. Merlin and Morgana were destined to be rivals for eternity, and they would always exist until magic itself no longer existed.
They have lived through hundreds of lifetimes and have seen hundreds of thousands of people die in their time.
When Merlin learned that the game was going to happen, he immediately volunteered to join it because he was interested in fighting again. And now that Merlin had seen the kind of power that Mark had, Merlin just lost it! Merlin knew that it would be impossible to fight Mark with small spells since Mark was too fast. Mark would be able to easily dodge it, and that would make it useless.
That meant that the only way to really fight Mark was by using one of the best spells in his arsenal to crush him once and for all.
And since Mark has been so kind to show Merlin all this power, it was only right that Merlin would show Mark the extent of his own power as well! Merlin unconsciously called on one of the greatest physical skills in his arsenal.
"Asteroidis." [A/N: This one should be obvious.]
Luna was standing on the edge of a skyscraper a few kilometers away to watch the fight that was happening, and she immediately put her hand to her mouth in shock as she saw what was falling on top of Mark.
"Isn''t that an asteroid!?"
DOOM!!
A massive asteroid the size of a small ind was falling out from the magic circle in the sky, and Mark couldn''t even move two steps before it was right on top of him! Mark knew that no matter how fast he bolted at that moment, he would still be hit by the asteroid, so he had to tank the blow!
''100 percent!! Now!!''
Mark shouted to his system as he pulled his arm back, and the system immediately sent out a prompt.
[The user has been at 100% output since the start of the fight.]
"Fuck!"
[Yes, fuck indeed.]
[Critical Hit]!!
BOOM!
Mark mmed his fist into the bottom of the falling asteroid, and a massive crack formed on the surface of the asteroid! But it was not enough to destroy it, and Mark had to put both hands on the asteroid and hold it with all his power as it fell on top of him!
CRACK!
Arge crater formed on the ground as he was immediately pushed into the ground!
DOOM!
Luna leaned off the edge of the railing of the skyscraper as she tried to get a good look at what was happening. The asteroid was still falling at the same pace as before, and Luna could feel a lot of distress forming in her heart as she didn''t see any reaction from Mark! Was he dead!? No, there was no way that he would die! He couldn''t die!
"RARGGGHH!"
A loud shout echoed out from under the asteroid, and to everyone''s shock, the asteroid started to slow down as Mark tried his best to hold on. Luna leaned forward even more as she saw the asteroid slowing down, and she had to hold onto the railing tighter as she felt the ground under her feet shaking!
Chapter 257: Demonic Void Apostle
"Wiik! Wiik!"
The wiik-bat came towards Luna and started to p around her, and she raised her hand to try and get it away. She was trying to focus on Mark! Get away!
"Wiik! Wiik!"
The wiik-bat was relentless as it tried to get Luna''s attention, and Luna had to turn to it and shout at it to leave her alone. But after the bat refused to leave and started to grab her hand, Luna finally noticed that it was trying to tell her something. It was constantly touching the marks on her hand!
Luna looked back at Mark and knew he was the one who sent the wiik-bat to talk to her! But, would something like that work? It was a gamble that might not even work if they tried it, and they could be wasting valuablemands.
But if it worked, then Mark would win!
Luna tightened her hands around the railing and she shouted out an order. It was better to try and fail than for her not to try at all.
"Mark!! Imand you to not lose against Merlin!!"
[The master of PAWN has given an absolute order. The order is ambiguous and cannot bepleted directly. The game is recalibrating the order for possible reinterpretations. The game has converted ''Do not lose to Merlin'' to ''Do everything within your power to defeat Merlin''. The recalibration shall consume an extramand seal.]
[The master of PAWN has issued an absolute order. This order cannot be disobeyed. The system shall do everything in its power to support the user. Pain receptors have been turned off. Mental limiters have been disconnected. The user''s body might experience major difort after the battle.]
Two of the magic lines on the back of Luna''s hand turned white and she looked at it in shock as she realized that she must''ve made a mistake while giving her order! Did the system take an extra seal to correct her mistake?
Luna did not get any of the messages that the system just sent to Mark, so she was just hoping that her order would be epted! She was just d that the game did not reject her order because of how ambiguous it was!
Mark felt his entire body filling up with power as the system started to augment his muscles and mana flow to make his body go far beyond his limits.
[Mana Flow has been optimized.]
[Fear Index has been eliminated.]
[Current power output: 100%]
[Current power output: 120%]
[Current power output: 140%]
[Current power output: 170%]
[Time before temporary system shutdown: 5 mins]
"RARGGGHHHH!!"
Mark felt like he was high on cocaine!
It was the only way that Mark could exin what he was currently feeling in that moment! He could feel a massive well of power surging from somewhere inside him and he started to push back against the asteroid that was trying to crush him! The asteroid slowly came to a stop and Mark roared even louder as he pushed back against it and raised it slightly in the air!
Mark then used that small space between him and the asteroid to pull back his fist!
[Critical -]
[System Probability index maximized]
[Divergent Fist]!!
KA-BOOM!
The asteroid never stood a chance against the superpower punch from Mark. The crack that had appeared in it suddenly widened exponentially before the entire asteroid shattered into a million pieces and scattered in every direction!
Woosh!
Merlin''s eyes widened as he saw Mark appear right beside him in a sh! His hand was outstretched towards Merlin''s face and Merlin immediately tried to bring up a defense to block it.
[Demonic Killer''s Aura] has been activated!
Ba-Dump!
[[Demonic Killer''s Aura] activation sessful.]
[The opponent will be under the [Fear] condition for one minute.]
''What?''
Merlin''s eyes widened as he felt his heart shake in slight fear! This was the first time that something like this would be happening to Merlin in a very long time. Was he feeling afraid right now!? Merlin couldn''t understand what was happening and that prevented him from reacting quickly enough to stop Mark from grabbing his face!
Mark pulled Merlin forward before mming him through a building and sending them both through it!
Boom!
They crashed through the building and Mark mmed Merlin into the ground before tossing him like a ragdoll towards another building!
Boom!
Merlin flipped himself upright as he mmed into the building and quickly activated one of his best defensive spells as he saw Mark right in front of him! Is he trying to barrage me with attacks without giving me a chance to counter!? Doesn''t he know that won''t work against someone like me!?
PHWOOM!
A massive windde appeared in the air beside Mark and Mark used his momentum to grab Merlin once more before mming both feet into Merlin''s chest and pushing them apart! The windde flew between them and mmed into the building at the side harmlessly before Mark rushed back in for another attack.
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"Enough!!"
Merlin was no longer smiling now! He pulled himself out from the building that Mark just pushed him through and shouted angrily as he activated a wide array of spells all at the same time. But it was at that moment that he truly messed up.
Mark has been saving his mana for a long time now. Mark knew that with the addition of mana, he would be a lot stronger than he was, but Mark didn''t even try to use his mana. The [Demonic Void Apostle] constitution gave Mark an innate skill that would work against anyone regardless of who they were, so long as they only had half of his mana.
Merlin had both his mana as well as Morgana''s mana, and knowing how in tune with magic those two were, Mark knew that it would be impossible to try and bring Merlin''s mana down to half of his own. But now that Mark was a bishop, not only did he have twice as much mana as before, but he also had a master whose mana he could draw from.
And thebination of all these conditions gave Mark the upper hand in terms of mana.
[The opponent''s mana had dropped to half the user''s current mana capacity. [Demonic Void Apostle]''s innate spell has been activated.]
¡
i. The Bishop will be granted a 200% boost to their current magic capacity.
ii. The Bishop''s master is allowed to share their mana with the bishop to boost the Bishop''s mana capacity.
¡
Mark pulled on Luna''s mana and Luna felt a massive drain as her mana obeyed Mark. She grabbed her chest as a strange feeling erupted from her chest and spread across her whole body. What was happening?
Mark was standing on a skyscraper opposite Merlin ¨C who was floating in the air and activating his magic spells once more. There was a line of blood leaking from the side of Mark''s head and his singlet waspletely shredded, but he stood tall with a nasty grin on his face. This fight was over.
Chapter 258: So That Is Your Endgame?
Merlin was also battered and bruised from the scuffle that he had with Mark. Even though Merlin had very high defensive magic, his trait as a bishop prevented him from using them properly, so he got some injuries from Mark''s physical attacks! Merlin decided that he would not let that happen again! He would have to keep Mark at a distance from now on!
Mark put his hand out and he didn''t even try to hide the smug look on his face as he activated his innate spell.
[Void sh]!
SPLURT!!
Merlin was immediately thrown back from the sh!
''Huh¡ So that''s what my blood looks like now.''
Merlin''s eyes were wide as he watched his green blood ssh across the air from arge cut that suddenly appeared on his body. The cut ran from his right shoulder down to his left hip. From how much blood was in the air, it was obvious that it was very deep!
How did he hit me? I have enough defensive spells over my body to block even the attack from a minor god. There shouldn''t be any magic spell that can get through my passive defense. No, that isn''t true. He didn''t get through my passive defense, he ignored my passive defense! It''s almost like that attack doesn''t recognize mana as a proper form of defense!
It just bulldozed through and attacked my main body with the sh!
A physical attack that ignores all forms of magic.
"Truly fearsome."
SLAM!
Mark kicked Merlin in the stomach and Merlin flew through the air before he mmed into a building on the other side of the prefecture! Mark appeared there as well and he put his hand forward for a second time.
[Void sh]!
[Void sh]!
[Void sh]!
Two more shes appeared across Merlin''s chest and a third one cut across his shoulder, almost severing his arm from his body as a massive amount of green blood sshed into the air from the attack! Mark grabbed Merlin by the face and he threw him into the air before appearing above him and mming a piledriver into Merlin''s back!
BOOM!
Merlin was sent reeling down to the ground and he mmed into a building and then through it as the entire building came crashing down on him at once!
¡
Luna was smiling widely as she saw that Mark was winning against Merlin. She could feel her heart rate spiking at every second and she knew that if Mark didn''t end this soon, she might have a heart attack from the tension she was feeling!
"Your idiot fights well."
But a voice from behind her suddenly spoke up and Luna turned around in shock as she saw Morgana standing there. Luna blinked and looked towards the other building that was on the other side of the prefecture. How did Morgana get across? Don''t tell me she actually walked through that battle just to get here!?
Luna was immediately on the defense! There was no rule that a master couldn''t kill another master, so Luna knew that she had fucked up by not paying attention to what Morgana was doing. But Morgana just waved her away calmly when she noticed that Luna was being defensive. If I wanted to kill you, you would already be dead.
"I''m not going to attack you. I''m just here to tell you something before I go. Your idiot fights well, but you shouldn''t try what you just did ever again. Those things on your hands, they aremand seals, right?"
Luna''s face scrunched up in confusion. Idiot? Was she talking about Mark? Why was she calling Mark her idiot!?
Wait, does Morgana think that I''m in a rtionship with Mark!? A small blush rose on Luna''s cheeks but she tried her best to ignore the happy feeling in her chest as she eyed Morgana in distrust! After a while, she hesitantly nodded and Morgana continued.
"You should be careful of how you use them to pass around your orders. Those aren''t just tools for telling your idiot what to do; they are mythic codes that can rewrite the world''s natural order to achieve a goal. Your idiot was able to survive yourst order because the game saw yourmand as rectifiable.
But if you give such an ambiguous order again, you could cause serious damage to both of you. Imagine you give an order for your idiot to not have any injuries from an attack that Merlin dishes out. Instead of simply blocking the attack, the game could transfer all the damage to you instead, and that would be the end for both of you. Do you understand?"
Luna looked down at her hand in shock as she understood what Morgana said. That was something that Luna never even thought about! She thought that themand seals could just give orders regardless of what they were and the game would ept it! She had to be more careful when using them.
Luna looked back at Morgana cautiously.
"Why are you helping me¡?"
Morgana scoffed at her before looking back at the fight that was happening between Merlin and Mark. Morgana''s eyes stayed on Merlin for some time before they softened.
"Your idiot isn''t going to kill my idiot. He would have done it already if that was his end goal. And besides, I''m tired of this whole shit and I want to go home, but my idiot doesn''t."
Morgana''s lips curled into a small smile.
"And I love my idiot, so I figured I would lend a helping hand."
Mark tossed Merlin towards the roof and Merlinnded harshly before rolling to a stop beside Morgana. Morgana only gave him a side nce before turning away while clicking her tongue at him. Marknded beside Luna and he used the back of his hand to clean the blood that had sshed on his face during the fight.
Luna gave Mark a worried look, but Mark just smiled at her to tell her not to worry about him.
"Groan~" Stay tuned to m v l e m p y r
Merlin groaned in annoyance as he flipped himself over and sat up calmly. There was a pool of blood staining the ground under him and Mark noticed that there was far more blood than any one person should have in their body. Merlin had already lost a lot of blood and he still had this much. What the hell is this freak of nature?
Merlin held his head tiredly before he put his hand on his raised knee with a tired look on his face. He looked up at Mark and saw the fire that was still burning in Mark''s eyes and Merlin knew at that moment that he had lost fair and square. If the fight went on, they would only be postponing the inevitable.
"Alright, I concede. This one just wasn''t right for me. Damn, you hit like a runaway truck."
Mark put his hand forward and activated Void sh and Merlin waited for the finishing blow to hit him. But a ck mark suddenly glowed on Morgana''s face!
[Void sh]!
SPLURT!
Merlin felt blood hit the side of his face and he rose a brow as he noticed that it wasn''t green blood. It was red. Merlin turned and saw Morgana with arge gash running across her body.
Huh, so that was his endgame?
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continue reading tomorrow, everyone!
Chapter 259: Be Gentle In Your Approach
SPLURT!
Merlin felt blood hit the side of his face and he raised a brow as he noticed that it wasn''t green. It was red. Merlin turned to the side and saw Morgana with arge gash running across her body.
Huh.
That''s interesting.
The glow on Morgana''s face vanished and Luna wondered what that was. Luna noticed that the mark glowed just before the Mark''s skill activated. Was it some sort of prerequisite that had to be fulfilled before the skill could activate, or was it something that automatically appeared on the face of anyone the skill was being used again?
No, that''s not even the most important question right now. Since when could Mark use a ranged spell like this? Luna didn''t think she had ever seen Mark use a ranged spell before. The closest Mark ever came to a ranged spell was the lightning skill that he used in the assessment yesterday. So how is it that he can suddenly use such a powerful ranged spell!?
It was bing harder and harder for Luna to just ept Mark''s silence about his abilities. Mark''s powers were too unpredictable and Luna hated not knowing what exactly his powers were. Luna was going to ask Mark again and see if she could drag it out of him.
Morgana fell gently to her knees with her gown pooling around her like a waterfall and sighed as she turned to Merlin with a look of anger in her eyes.
"I will be waiting for you in the cycle when you die, you useless idiot. And when we get to the other side, I am going to kill you all over again for this nonsense. I already knew you would fuck this up, but this is beyond disappointing. Next time, you better make me the servant, idiot."
Merlin smiled she[ishly and Morgana couldn''t stop herself from smiling as well.
Morgana thought that Merlin looked very cool when throwing all those spells around, but she would never say it. Morgana had always been jealous of Merlin''s connection to magic and she knew that if she had been the one with the power Merlin had, she would not be able to cast that many spells with such a limited amount of mana. Merlin had fought like a warrior, and Morgana was proud of him.
But she would never tell him that. He was an idiot as far as she was concerned.
Merlin flopped back with his hands spread as he watched Morgana turn into golden light and vanish from the rooftop.
"Ah, she''s really pissed."
[This is a broadcast to all participants in the Game of Gods.]
[The master of servant BISHOP [Morgana] has been eliminated from the game by Servant PAWN. Servant PAWN has gained a twelve-hour non-aggression benefit. No servant-master pair is allowed to approach or attack Servant PAWN during the non-aggression period. Servant PAWN is not allowed to approach or attack a servant-master pair anytime during the non-aggression period.
If Servant PAWN attacks another servant-master pair during this period, the non-aggression benefit is revoked.]
[Servant Bishop is free of a master and now has twenty-four hours before he will be eliminated from the game. If he can find a new master within that period, his elimination will be revoked.]
[Servant Bishop''s territory has been confiscated from him and will be passed on to the servant PAWN as a spoil-of-war. The territory will remain as the BISHOP territory even after the exchange.]
¡
"Uhm, can you carry me normally?"
"Shut up."
Mark was dragging Merlin by his arm as they walked through the hallway of a hotel located in Saitama. Merlin was still tired from his fight and he told Mark that he couldn''t walk yet, so Mark just grabbed Merlin and started to drag him across the floor like a sack.
The hotel was one of thest buildings left standing after the fight that Mark and Merlin just finished and Mark was surprised that this hotel was even left standing at all.
Mark looked to the left and he saw two children huddled in the corner of the hallway. They were holding each other tightly and there was blood all over their bodies as they watched Mark with fear in their eyes. Mark only looked at them for a few seconds before he turned away and continued to walk down another hallway. They weren''t his concern.
"Hey, are you here alone? Where''s your mama and papa?"
Mark heard Luna''s voice from behind him and he turned around to see her talking to the two little kids. She was smiling at them kindly and the kids were absolutely stunned by her beauty.
They looked at her with stars in their eyes and listened attentively to everything she said, and they didn''t even suspect her for a moment when she told them to head down to the ground floor where they would meet some nice policemen who were rescuing civilians.
Even though it looked funny for her to be talking to kids while wearing a bunny outfit and a bulletproof vest, her beauty was so stunning that it made her outfit irrelevant.
"Arigatou beautiful Onee-Sama!"
The two children were smiling widely as they ran down the hall after Luna was done talking to them and Mark just shook his head at the innocence of children. Did they forget that they were scared just a moment ago?
Luna waved to the children kindly. She could understand and speak the basics of Japanese from her time in Kyoto as well as all the anime that she has watched in her life, so she answered back that they were wee in Japanese.
"You didn''t have to help them. This isn''t our world, so it doesn''t concern us."
Mark spoke to Luna as he continued walking again and Luna came to walk beside him with her hands held behind her. She smiled at him and spoke kindly.
"Does it matter what world we''re in? They looked lonely, so I helped them. That is all there is to it."
Mark gave Luna a curious side nce before he turned the corner of the hallway.
"You have a thing for strays, don''t you?"
Luna smiled.
"Maybe I do."
He finally reached what looked like a residential room and he opened it to reveal arge penthouse that was mostly untouched by the carnage from outside. There were only a few broken tables and vases that fell to the ground during the earthquakes. For the most part, the house looked fine.
"We''re staying here. Come on."
Mark dragged Merlin into the room and threw him to the couch in the middle of the room. There was a dining table beside the sitting room and Mark went over and sat down on a chair there while taking off his singlet. Luna saw Mark undressing and a blush appeared on her face as she immediately took a step back from him.
"What are you doing here!?"
Mark rolled his shoulder while raising his brow at her.
"My singlet is shredded. I need to get something new to wear."
"O-Oh, yes, that''s right. I also need something new. I''ll go see if I can find something to wear inside. There should be some clothes left here by the hotel."
Luna was about to walk into the inner room, but Mark suddenly got up and obstructed her way and Luna''s heart skipped three beats as she looked up at him. Her blush deepened as she saw him staring down at her.
"What is it? What now?"
"Stay still, I need to take off that vest."
Mark put his hand on Luna''s chest to deactivate the [Armour of Ares] and Luna immediately shuffled back and crossed her arms across her chest.
"Wait! We need to talk about this! I know you don''t mean anything by it, but it''s rude to just touch a woman''s chest like that! At least don''t just reach for it like a brute! Be more gentle, alright!"
"I was gentle."
"W-What? That isn''t what I was talking about! Your hands might be gentle, but your approach wasn''t!"
Chapter 260: I Havent Caught Anything
Mark just sighed to the side and scratched the back of his head. Mark didn''t know why Luna was so worked up, so he just figured it was one of those ''women'' things that Arit says he can never understand. Mark didn''t have the time or patience to deal with all this right now, so he just decided to go along with Luna''s demands.
"Alright,e here."
Mark finally spoke up and Luna narrowed her eyes at him for a moment before she went towards him slowly and uncrossed her arms. Mark ced his palm on her chest gently and Luna prayed to all the gods that Mark couldn''t feel the way that simple gesture made her heart start pounding uncontrobly!
This was the first time that any man had touched Luna like this. Even though she was very beautiful and had many men surrounding her at all times, she was terribly inexperienced in love and intimacy! The closest she had evere to real physical contact with a man was her father years ago.
Her father who did unspeakable things to her.
Ever since that time, Luna had been repulsed by physical contact from any man.
Luna thought that she would hate Mark''s touch immediately. She expected a revolting feeling to fill her chest at any moment once Mark touched her. But it never came. Instead, a warm feeling spread across her entire body and made her heart swell in joy. Luna raised her hand to hold Mark''s forearm.
[Armor of Ares] deactivated!
The system sent a prompt to Mark as the Armor vanished from Luna''s chest and Mark was about to pull back his hand, but Luna suddenly stopped him from taking it away as she held it in ce. Mark looked down at her curiously and saw that she was ncing down at her feet while holding his hand.
"What''s wrong, Luna?"
Mark spoke up worriedly as he thought that there was something Luna wanted to say. Luna was about to speak, but another voice suddenly spoke up and beat her to it.
"Haba haba, it''s getting hot in here~ Do you two need the room to yourselves? I won''t mind leaving for a few minutes if you want~ I mean, I also understand the impulse to shag after a good fight. Morgana loves doing that whenever we fight."
Mark and Luna turned to the side to see Merlin leaning off the back of the couch that Mark had thrown him into. There was a perverted smile on his face as he watched the two of them and Luna immediately grew embarrassed as she pulled back from Mark and spoke up while walking into the inner room.
"I''ll find something for you ande back after changing."
Merlin chuckled as he watched Luna running away.
"Ah, she''s a shy one, eh? You''ve caught yourself quite the looker, Mark boy."
"Shut up. I haven''t caught anything."
Mark sat down at the dining room table once more and sighed while leaning back in the seat. His body hurt everywhere and he could already feel the effects of pushing himself too far. He was going to need at least five hours of sleep before he could get back on his feet.
"You want me to sign a contract with her, don''t you?"
Mark opened one eye and nced at Merlin as Merlin spoke. Did this idiot say ''want''?
"I don''t think you understand. I don''t want you to sign the contract. You''re going to sign it whether you like it or not. I''ll beat your ass a second time if you don''t."
Merlin chuckled.
"You know, you''ll get along well with Morgana. You''re feisty like her. But what''s stopping me from just killing myself and disappearing right now? I don''t really have to worry about dying like the rest of you. I''m something more than a mere mortal."
"Then do it. Do it and go back to the fucking cycle of rebirth where nothing happens. You joined this game because you wanted to fight, didn''t you? They didn''t force you in. You came in because you liked the concept of it. Do you really want that to end after just one battle where I kicked your ass?"
The two men were left staring each other down with intensity after Mark''s statement. Mark knew that he was making a gamble here. Merlin was right. He could just kill himself and go back into the cycle of rebirth to be reborn with Morgana. But Mark was betting on the fact that Merlin liked this! Merlin joined this game of his own free will, so Mark knew that Merlin wouldn''t want to leave just like that.
He would want to fight at least one more person.
Finally, after what felt like hours, Merlin blew a raspberry and spoke in a childish, whiny tone.
"Alright, alright, you win~ I''ll sign the damn contract."
Mark sighed tiredly as he finally rxed in his seat and threw his head back while closing his eyes. That was one down, four more to go. I have to finish this shit soon. It''s bad enough that Merlin was summoned, who knows what sort of beasts were summoned in the other categories.
Mark was not expecting someone like Merlin to be in this game and he just knew that the other pieces would also be seriously dangerous people. If not for the fact that Merlin was such a careless fighter, Mark would have definitely lost that fight. Merlin was good at magic, but his fighting instincts weren''t the best.
If Merlin had trapped Mark in a secluded area and used arge enough attack before Mark got to his territory, then there was no doubt that Mark would have lost that fight.
Merlin sighed as he realized that Morgana already knew this would happen. No wonder she didn''t seem to be angry about me losing, she was only angry that she was made the servant. But Merlin wanted to enjoy a bit more before going back, so he wasn''t in a hurry to return to the cycle just yet.
And besides, Merlin knew that Morgana would be waiting for him over there, so he was nning on wasting as much time as possible to prolong the inevitable. She would probably try to kill him again in their next reincarnation.
"Mark, what''s your size!?"
Luna''s voice reached Mark from the other room and Merlin immediately chuckled at her strange wording, Mark eyed Merlin weirdly and Merlin just waved Mark''s confusion away and told him to answer his woman. Mark shook his head and told Luna his size.
Luna came out from the inner room with a shirt in her hand.
"This one should do it. I don''t know if you''d like the designs though."
The shirt that Luna brought with her was arge Hawaiian shirt with many floral designs all over the fabric. Mark took one look at it and he felt disgust rise from somewhere deep inside his belly. Mark would normally never be caught dead wearing something like this. Luna noticed his reaction and sighed.
"That''s the best I could find in a dark color. All the others are too bright and I know you''ll hate them."
Chapter 261: Master-Servant Contract
"That''s the best I could find in a dark color. All the others are too bright, and I know you''ll hate them."
Mark just decided to bite the bullet and wear the shirt Luna brought for him. It was better than nothing. Luna was wearing a pair of tight blue jeans that did wonderful things for her ass and an off-shoulder shirt that was one size toorge for her.
She tied the lower part of the loose shirt around her waist to prevent it from flowing around excessively, but it just made her look even sexier as it hugged her body and made her breasts protrude from the fabric perfectly.
"Pfft!"
Mark put on the shirt that Luna found, and Luna put a hand to her mouth to stop theugh that wanted toe out as she saw him re down at the shirt in irritation. She walked up to him and started to help him with the buttons while chuckling at his difort.
"Don''t look so downcast. I think you wear it very well. You look very handsome in grey and red."
"I feel like a sick unicorn barfed on me."
Luna could no longer hold herugh in, and she put her hand to her stomach as sheughed while turning away from Mark. Herugh was like a melody, and Mark couldn''t stop the small smile that tugged at the side of his mouth as he watched her trying to hold herughter back.
"You¡ haha¡ you really hate bright colors, don''t you?"
Luna tried her best to stop herughter and she cleaned her eye with the back of her hand as she finally started to calm down. Mark just felt his eyes twitch before he sighed to the side with a small smile on his face. He wasn''t going to spend the whole timeining, so he decided that he would just bear with this outfit for now.
"You know, you two look very close from where I''m sitting. Are you sure you haven''t caught anything, boy?"
Luna stoppedughing and looked at Merlin in confusion as she heard what he said, and Mark just shrugged as he dragged his seat closer and sat backward in it to face Merlin. Merlin gave Mark a coy look and wiggled his eyebrow suggestively, and Mark ignored the idiot as he turned to Luna and told her to sit down as well.
Luna leaned against the couch that Merlin was in and Mark faced the both of them seriously.
"We need a n of action going forward. We have half a day right now because of the non-aggression pact from the system, so we can use some of that to rest. But after the twelve hours are over, there will definitely be another participanting for us."
"But isn''t it fine now? You should be able to recover by the time the twelve hours are up, and Merlin''s injuries shouldn''t be that serious by tomorrow."
Luna spoke up as she analyzed the situation, and she turned around when she heard Merlin hum from behind her.
"My injuries are already healed."
Luna was surprised and she leaned back to get a better look at Merlin. Her eyes immediately widened as she saw Merlin''s injuries had all been perfectly healed. There was still some green blood on the seat, but that was all. Merlin himself looked fine.
Merlin shrugged when Luna cast a questioning gaze at him.
"Don''t look at me like I''m some freak of nature. My injuries always heal once I recover enough mana, and I have the highest mana recovery rate known to any world as far as I know. If not for the restrictions ced on me by this game, I would''ve been healing my injuries the moment I got them. Wait, can''t you do this?"
Luna immediately shook her head as she knew there was no way in the world her mana would be able to heal something like what Merlin went through as quickly as Merlin was healing them. Merlin hummed before he just shrugged.
"Well, it''s understandable. Your magic is more specifically utilized than mine, so there won''t be any room for mana regen in there either."
Mark suddenly chimed into the conversation.
"While we''re at it, let''s sign the contract."
Merlin sighed at Mark''s pushy attitude before he just put his hand out to Luna. Luna looked down at Merlin''s hand in distrust as she wondered what was going on. She looked at Merlin and asked what contract he was talking about and Mark told her that Merlin would join them and sign a contract with her. That way, she would have two servants in the next fight.
Luna quickly understood what Mark was talking about and she wasted no time before taking Merlin''s hand.
[The Servant BISHOP is attempting to sign a Servant-Master contract with the Master of PAWN.]
[If this contract is signed, the Master of PAWN will be the master of PAWN and BISHOP and all the attributes held by the Master of BISHOP shall be passed on to the Master of PAWN.]
[Does the Master of PAWN ept the Servant BISHOP''s offer?]
Luna heard all of this inside her own head and she just nodded her head to give her consent for the transfer, and she was immediately stunned by the new amount of information that flooded her brain.
...
[The Bishop is the most magically gifted piece, as well as the piece with the lowest defense among all the chess pieces.]
[Benefits]
i. The Bishop will be granted a 200% boost to their current magic capacity.
ii. The Bishop is allowed to use all attacking and defensive spells in their arsenal.
iii. The Bishop''s master is allowed to share their mana with the bishop to boost the Bishop''s mana capacity.
iv. The Bishop is allowed to mark one area within his territory to transport himself or his master once every day.
[Debuffs]
i. All defensive spells, skills, or abilities will only function at 50% of their full capacity.
ii. Once outside their territory, the Bishop will receive a 10% reduction in all abilities.
...
Luna was immediately shocked by the buffs and debuffs that she saw the bishop had. So that is why Luna felt such a massive drain on her mana when Mark entered the bishop''s territory. When Mark drew on her mana, he was using the bishop''s authority.
Merlin, meanwhile, whistled as he felt Luna''s mana for the first time. He knew that Luna''s mana couldn''tpare to his or Morgana''s by a long shot. Not only was it not as pure, but it was also far lower in quantity. But that did not mean that it was bad. It was only because Merlin and Morgana had such superior mana that Luna''s mana seemed subpar.
In truth, after taking into consideration all the restrictions that were ced on him by this game, Merlin could tell that Luna had more mana than he did right now.
Chapter 262: An Unexpected Broadcast
"You have quite a lot of mana, little missy. I don''t think I''ve seen anyone at your level with this quantity of mana. If you use it well enough, I think you should be able to manipte your mana to heal yourself in the future, the quality is good enough for it.
You see, where Ie from, magicians whose mana is specific in their functions are usually very good at learning how to manipte their mana. I''ll teach you one or two things if we have the time."
Luna was stunned by the offer. The Merlin was offering to teach her himself! That was an amazing offer.
"R-Really? Thank you! I''ll dly learn anything you can teach me!"
"Good, you should listen to anything I say. I''ve been told many times that I''m the greatest teacher that ever -"
"Alright, that''s enough of that. We are going way off-topic here. Since we have the advantage of numbers right now, we should try to find out more about the other servants."
Mark suddenly cut Merlin off, and Merlin just sighed on the couch as he got interrupted. He was about to go into a long drawn-out exnation about his origin and how he became who he was, but it seems Mark just didn''t give a damn.
Mark continued.
"If you''re the bishop, then we can be sure that the other pieces are also pretty dangerous. Right now, I''m most worried about the queen. The game probably gave the queen a lot of power as well as high mobility, so they could be anywhere at any time, and we would be caught off guard if we don''t prepare for it. Another difficult piece is the king.
We don''t know what sort of buff the system gave the king, but from what I remember about chess, it is likely that the king will possess an army."
"Actually, I know who the king is."
"Hah¡?"
Merlin suddenly spoke up, and Mark turned to him in surprise as he heard what Merlin said. Merlin knew who the king was all this time? That changed everything! Why the hell was Merlin keeping something like this a secret!? He should have said something from the start!
"Well, who is it!?"
Merlin waved Mark down as he told him to calm himself. He was going to tell them anyway, so Mark didn''t need to shout.
"It''s someone you should know about. Have you ever heard of Joan of Arc? The mistress that was killed by fire after she was used of being a witch."
Mark''s eyes widened in surprise. He definitely knew about Joan of Arc. Joan d''Arc was a woman who lived in France during the early fifteenth century. She was seen as a prophet and seer since she imed to be hearing the voice of the divine.
The history books say that during the Hundred Years'' War against the English army, she led the French army into war, and many viges and cities surrendered to her without even putting up a fight, leading to everyone in France revering her as a true saint.
But that did notst for very long as the French parliament eventually started to doubt the legitimacy of her ims to be a saint. The French parliament took Joan to trial, and she was eventually found guilty of heresy and sacrilege before being burned at the pyre for her crimes. That was a story that Mark learned about early on because of how impactful it was.
It was so impactful that Mark did not even bother falling asleep during the ss that it was told. He actually managed to stay awake for it.
"So she is the king. This could be problematic. Do you know what sort of buffs or disadvantages the game gave her?"
Merlin shook his head.
"Nothing like that. I only found out about her because I was looking for you. I had no interest in her, and from the way she ignored me when I was searching for you, I can tell that she has no interest in me as well. But her territory is pretty secure. She made her territory in the Tokyo Art Museum in Shibuya, some kilometers away from where we had our battle.
There were many shadows moving around the museum, and I could feel eyes on me from a distance even though I never got very close. She''ll know you''reing if you get near that museum."
She was that close?
Mark scratched the back of his head as he realized that Joan was right on top of them during their battle, and yet she did not get involved in it. Was that some sort of strategy that she was using? Why wouldn''t she attack when we were both distracted trying to kill each other? Or wait, maybe it is not a strategy at all.
Maybe it is some form of disadvantage that she cannot leave her territory or something. Knowing what the king is like in chess, that is a very high possibility. The king in chess is the most important piece, so it would make sense if the game put a penalty on her that reduced her power or the power of her soldiers if she leaves the territory.
But then, that means her territory will be the hardest to get into. Should we deal with the other servants first?
Luna suddenly spoke up when she saw how hard Mark was thinking about the king.
"I think it will be good for us to deal with the other servants first. Since we know that the king and queen will be the most difficult to handle, we can leave them forst. Right now, we have an advantage since we have two servants instead of one. They don''t know where we are, but we can find them using the wiik-bat and then ambush them."
Mark gave Luna a look when he heard her n. It was a lot more cynical than Mark thought it would be, but it was also the perfect n right now. Leaving the king and queen alone might not be ideal, but it was definitely beneficial. They could simply get rid of the other pieces and then they could focus on the king and queen.
[This is a broadcast to all participants in the Game of Gods.]
[The master of Servant QUEEN [Julius Caesar], as well as Servant QUEEN [Cleopatra], has been eliminated from the game by Servant KNIGHT. Servant KNIGHT has gained a twenty-four-hour non-aggression benefit. No servant-master pair is allowed to approach or attack Servant KNIGHT during the non-aggression period.
Servant KNIGHT is not allowed to approach or attack a servant-master pair anytime during the non-aggression period. If Servant KNIGHT attacks another servant-master pair during this period, the non-aggression benefit is revoked.]
[Servant QUEEN''s territory has been confiscated from her and will be passed on to the Servant KNIGHT as a spoil-of-war. The territory will remain as the QUEEN territory even after the exchange.]
[Due to the nature of the KNIGHT ss, Servant KNIGHT is allowed to merge his territories into one. Merged territories will retain the properties of both the QUEEN territory and the KNIGHT territory.]
[Servant KNIGHT has merged the QUEEN territory with the KNIGHT territory, and all properties of the QUEEN territory have been passed on to the KNIGHT territory.]
"What the fuck?"
Chapter 263: You Should Get Some Sleep
"What the fuck?"
Mark couldn''t me Luna for cursing at that moment as they read what the game sent to them. So, it turns out they weren''t the only ones working hard in this game. There was someone else actively fighting against the other servants and killing them too. Mark was stunned by how quickly the KNIGHT was able to kill the QUEEN and her master, especially after reading who they were.
Cleopatra and Julius Caesar were seen as two of the greatest strategists and nners in the world. They hardly went into a battle without knowing what their opponent was capable of and how to defeat them.
So how was the KNIGHT able to defeat both of them at the same time like this? Was it dumb luck, or was the knight just so strong that their ns all failed in front of his strength? If it was thetter, then Mark knew they would have to go forward without a n. When faced with overwhelming strength, sometimes, it was best to just attack blindly so the opponent does not know how to respond.
Mark could feel his heart rate spiking as he thought about this and he realized with mild shock that he was excited. He wanted to meet the knight. No, not meet. He wanted to fight the knight. Fuck, why the hell am I like this?
A small grin began to spread on Mark''s face.
I feel like jumping out there and finding that fucking knight right now.
"And the stupid game didn''t even tell us who the KNIGHT is after all those messages. This is going to be difficult."
Luna was frowning in annoyance as she read through the message again and realized that the game never mentioned the KNIGHT''s name or the name of his master. That meant that they would have to go into the battle without knowing anything about their opponent.
Mark also read through the messages while thinking out loud.
"I think it might be best for us to scout the power of the Knight and Rook first before we go ahead and try to attack them. The knight is probably very strong and the rook could be just as strong. I''ll send the wiik-bat out to scout them so that we cane up with a proper n."
"Wiik! Wiik!"
The wiik-bat suddenly appeared once Mark called its name and it flew around the room excitedly before finallynding in Luna''s outstretched arm. Luna cooed at the adorable creature before she hugged it tightly as it pped its wings cutely at her.
"Aww, you''re just the cutest little monster, aren''t you~? Oh yes, you are~! Oh yes, you are~!"
"Wiik! Wiik!"
The wiik-bat cozied into Luna''s breast and even Merlin couldn''t stop the coy grin that appeared on his face as he saw the little thing. That bat was the prime example of an opportunistic pervert.
"You''re really enjoying yourself in there, aren''t you?"
Merlin whispered to the wiik-bat and the wiik-bat released another cute sound while pressing deeper into Luna''s breast. Of course, it was enjoying it!
Mark suddenly stood up and grabbed the wiik-bat by one of its wings.
"Wiik!"
Luna reached out in worry.
"Be gentle with it, Mark!"
Mark just waved her away while ring at the fucking pervert.
"It''s immortal for a reason, nothing''s going to happen to it. Now, you damn pervert, you have a job to do. You''re going to go to the knight and rook territories and find out whatever you can about them. Send the information to me before morning, do you understand?"
"Wiik! Wiik!"
p! p! p! p!
The wiik-bat was pping its one free wing desperately as it tried to get back to Luna! Itpletely ignored what Mark told it, and when Mark tried to talk to it again, it huffed and increased its efforts to get away from him. Mark red at it in annoyance.
[Demonic Killer''s Aura] has been activated.
"I said, do you understand?"
[The opponent has been inflicted with [Fear]]
The wiik-bat saluted!
"WIIK!!"
Mark deadpanned at the bastard. It only agreed to do what I say when I scare it, but it acts like Luna is the most precious thing in the world since water.
This damn pervert.
Mark walked up to the window there, opened it, and tossed the wiik-bat out like trash before closing the window in its face.
"Don''te back until you find something meaningful! Get out!"
"Wiik! Wiik!"
Mark couldn''t understand what the wiik-bat was saying, but he could tell that it was insulting him in some stupid way. Mark red at it and the wiik-bat red right back and used its wings to flip Mark off before it turned and flew off quickly when it noticed that Mark was about to open the window.
"Tch¡ You''re lucky I can''t fly."
¡
[8 hours before the end of the Non-Aggression period]
That night, after the three of them said their goodnights and separated into different parts of the penthouse to get some rest, Luna was curled up in the living room with the television on. She was sitting on the couch with her hands wrapped around her knees and even though the television was on silent, she was watching it with rapt attention without even blinking once.
Anyone who looked at her would immediately know that she was no longer in the present moment. She was lost in thought as she just watched the colors on the television moving.
"Luna. What the hell are you doing awake at this time?"
Luna blinked in surprise as she heard her name being called and she turned around to see Mark standing beside her. Mark was still wearing his Hawaiian shirt along with his joggers and shoes. There was a cup of water in his hand and he drank it all down while waiting for her to give him a response.
They all decided to sleep in their battle-ready outfits so that they could move quickly in case of an emergency. Luna smiled at Mark and Mark raised a brow at the hollow reaction while dropping his cup to the side.
"I tried to sleep but I couldn''t. I don''t know why I''m suddenly like this. It''s been a while since I felt like this."
Luna finally spoke up and Mark scratched the back of his head in worry as he realised that something was wrong. He couldn''t have his master being this distracted before their next fight. It could end badly if Luna was distracted and they ended up killing her. Mark sat down beside Luna and spoke to her.
"Is it because you don''t have your powers anymore? Are you scared?"
Luna blinked in surprise as everything seemed to be clear in her head. She looked down at herp for a few seconds before she finally looked at him in realization.
"Yes, I think that is it. I''m just scared. Wow, I almost forgot what this felt like, it''s a surreal feeling."
It had been years since Luna felt the sensation of fear. Ever since she got her powers, she has never had a reason to be afraid of anyone or anything, she was the predator, and everyone around her were just herbivores as far as she was concerned. But now that she no longer had her powers, she was no longer a predator. She was just a normal human. a herbivorous that could be killed at any moment.
Chapter 264: Scared of The Monsters Lurking In The Dark
They went silent again, but after a few seconds, Mark tried to change the subject.
"How did your lessons with Merlin go?"
Luna''s smile was small and subdued. Like she was happy and sad at the same time.
"It went well, really well. I don''t think there are any words I can use to exin what Merlin could do with magic. When I watch him, I feel like a child who is only learning about mana for the first time in her life. In a way, I think I understand why Morgana hated Merlin so much in all the stories. Any mage would hate him if they saw the sort of things he could do so easily with mana.
Complex magical theories are like a joke to him."
Mark chuckled at her monologue. He was d that Merlin was willing to teach Luna some things. In a small way, Mark felt guilty that Luna was pulled into this game against her will. She did not want to be here and it was only because of him that she had to face all these dangerous people without any powers of her own.
Mark finally leaned back with a sigh.
"You don''t have to be scared, I''ll make sure nothing happens to you."
Luna smiled and used her shoulder to gently bump Mark with a chuckle.
"Like my knight in shining armor?"
Mark scoffed.
"Sure, whatever you want."
Lunaughed at his dry response, but she finally stoppedughing after some time and said something that shook Mark to the core.
"I used to be a ve once. It was a long time ago and I barely remember it, but I know that I once lived in a basement under a small house. It was always dark and there was never any hope of me getting out. I''d get a meal once a day and I''de out once a week to make a video for my father to sell on the inte. It was... It was hell.
I was so lonely. I didn''t know what to do. I couldn''t even talk to anyone for more than ten years. After I got out, I swore that I would never allow myself to be powerless again. That is why I hate this feeling of powerlessness. I hate it so much.
When I go to my room to try and sleep, I feel like I''m back in that basement again. I feel all alone in the dark. I feel scared."
Luna''s hands were digging into her legs now as she hugged her knees even tighter and Mark could see the tears gathering in her eyes as she spoke to him about her past. Luna was looking at the television, but her eyes had a faraway look in them that showed she was seeing someonepletely different in front of her.
Mark was shocked by her revtion. That was thest thing that Mark ever expected someone like her to go through, especially with how beautiful she was. Mark now understood why Luna didn''t want him to leave her earlier when they were about to fight Merlin. She was scared that she would be alone without any powers to protect herself.
Mark started to get some images in his head from four years ago. Wasn''t there someone simr he met four years ago? Someone trapped in a dark room who was scared to be alone?
But that was four years ago, and Mark couldn''t catch the memory because of how fleeting it was. He and Luna stayed in silence for some time as he digested all that Luna had said. After Mark got himself back, he finally sighed while speaking gently.
"Well, I guess it''s not so bad sleeping here. It''ll keep us on our toes in case the wiik-bates back."
Mark closed his eyes and folded his arms as he leaned back on the couch to sleep and Luna turned to him in surprise once she heard his reaction. Luna has never told anyone her story before. This was something that she always held close to her heart without allowing anyone to even catch a glimpse of it. But for some reason, she felt like Mark was someone that would understand.
All the conversations that they have had ended in them disagreeing on one thing or the other, but Luna has never seen anyone who understood her as much as Mark. If it was him, Luna was sure that she could tell her story without fearing a misunderstanding.
Luna thought that Mark would try to cheer her up, or maybe he would even try to make her get over it herself. Luna would have felt even worse if Mark told her that she was being silly and she would have hated it if he tried to pity her, but Mark wasn''t doing any of that.
Luna watched Mark lean back in the seat with his arms folded before he closed his eyes to sleep and she couldn''t help butugh quietly while cleaning the tears that had gathered at the edge of her eyes. Why the hell was she so surprised? It was Mark she was talking to here. Of course, he wouldn''t have the same reaction as anyone else.
Luna would usually prefer to be alone at moments like this. She didn''t want anyone to see her in such a weak state. But her heart couldn''t stop thumping heavily as she realized that she actually preferred staying with Mark. She felt safer with him there.
Luna leaned into Mark''s side and put her head on Mark''s shoulder gently while watching the shing colors on the silent screen.
Luna liked being alone, but this wasn''t so bad either.
¡
The next morning, Merlin came out from the inner room where he had been sleeping to see that Mark and Luna were already awake and moving around the kitchen together. Luna was cooking something on the stove and Mark was making coffee. The both of them were talking about something, and Luna was quietlyughing at something Mark told her as she checked the boiled rice.
Once he saw them, Merlin immediately knew that something had happened between themst night. For some reason, they were closer than they had been yesterday. Did he really have to be here? He was only going to be a third wheel at this point.
Merlin rolled his eyes and walked into the room and Luna immediately greeted him with a smile once she saw him. Merlin waved at her before giving Mark a knowing smile that Mark returned with a nk look of confusion.
Mark asked Merlin if he wanted a cup of coffee and Merlin thanked him as he took his seat at the dining table. There was a tablet open on the table and Merlin took it to read through the news page that was loaded there.
It turns out that the Japanese government hasbeled the explosions yesterday as the work of a terrorist organization and they are doing everything in their power to find and detain the culprits.
Merlin scoffed and thanked Mark as Mark put a cup in front of him.
Chapter 265 : The Issue With The Rook
The Japanese governmentbeled the explosions yesterday as the work of a terrorist organization and they are doing everything in their power to find and detain the culprits.
Merlin scoffed after reading the article on the tablet in front of him and thanked Mark as Mark put a cup of coffee on the table.
"Mark, can I get a hand here?"
Merlin turned to the side as Luna called on Mark to help her with the tes. Mark went to grab a few of the tes and Merlin raised a brow as he watched Luna lean very close to Mark while talking to him about something regarding the meal. From the angle that she was leaning from, Merlin could tell that her breasts were definitely pressing into Mark''s back.
Well, isn''t this interesting?
Mark didn''t seem to even notice that she was leaning too close. He just moved out of the way a little while giving his opinion about what Luna said and Merlin''s other brow rose as he saw a wide smile bloom on Luna''s face. Luna tucked her hair behind her ear and looked up at Mark with a blush and Merlin could almost taste her excitement in the air from just those few words that
Mark said. Merlin knew that look very well, he had seen it on the faces of many women in his life. It was no ordinary look. That was the look of a maiden in love.
What the hell happened between these twost night?
Luna and Mark brought the food to the table and Merlin spent almost the entire meal watching them closely. He was too interested now to not know what was going on! Luna sat down right beside Mark at the table, even though there were two other seats that were free, and when she saw that she had excess onions in her food, she asked Mark if he wanted them.
"Aren''t you the one that cooked the meal? Shouldn''t you make it so that you can eat it?" Don''t miss out on m-vl-em-pyr
Mark spoke up in annoyance as he raised a brow at Luna, and Luna justughed gently.
"You said you liked it in your meals, so I made it that way. Come on, just take it."
Merlin was just going through the various stages of emotional confusion as he watched Luna put some of her vegetables in Mark''s food. That small blush was still on her face and Merlin decided to try something out.
"I also like onions, I don''t mind taking some."
"Oh, that''s nice. There are some onions on the kitchen table, you can cut and add them in if you want."
Luna didn''t even look at him when she spoke. She just kept putting her onions into Mark''s te without giving a damn about him.
Merlin realized that he had effectively been transformed into a third wheel unknowingly. Did they get together after he went to sleepst night? No, I doubt I would sleep through them having sex, and from how nonchnt Mark is, I can tell that it is only Luna who had a major change. Did Mark help her with something?
Merlin shook his head.
''Mark, you coy bastard.''
---
In a dim room, somewhere deep in the suburban region of Tokyo, arge man stalked down a beautiful woman with slow deliberate steps as she tried desperately to crawl away from him. The man was tall and endowed with muscles, his every movement sent the muscles rippling across his skin and there was a scowl etched on his face as he followed after the woman.
The woman would have been called beautiful if not for the blood matting her face and the deep grimace that twisted her face into something fueled by anger. Her legs were broken, so she had been reduced to crawling to try and get away from the man following her.
"Wait, it was a mistake! I was just trying to get you to rx!"
The woman raised her hand defensively and spoke up with a conviction that betrayed the fear she felt on the inside. She was only wearing a thin nightgown and as she turned around, her shapely breast and perfect figure became visible through the dim sunlight shining through the curtain in the room.
The man never bothered to stop walking towards her with that same look of apathetic anger on his face. He was only wearing boxer shorts, so he was shirtless, and it seemed like he had just woken up from his sleep.
He finally got to the woman and crouched while tilting his head to one side dangerously.
"You tried to control my mind and you called it a mistake? Do you think I am a fool who cannot recognize the smell of cognitive magic?"
The woman swallowed nervously as she shuffled away from the man. The man reached his hand out and grabbed her head and she whimpered as she felt pressure pressing down against her skull.
"You know, when you were summoned beside me, I had great hopes for you. Perhaps you would be a bit different from the woman that I knew so long ago. That conniving bitch who only knew how to use others to achieve her twisted goals. But if this is the level that the great Circe has fallen to, then I have no need for you."
"W-Wait! Wait, just let me exin-"
CRACK!
SQUELCH!
---
Mark suddenly looked up and narrowed his eyes at something in front of him. Merlin immediately knew that something had happened. He asked what it was and Mark raised a finger to tell him to hold on. After some time, Mark hummed while resting his cheek on his closed fist curiously. This was definitely the strangest thing he had seen in a long time.
"I just got a message from the game. The master of Rook is dead."
Luna''s eyes widened.
"What? Who killed them? Was it the knight again?"
The knight just killed the queen and her master and now he was going to the next person already? Is he not tired from thest fight? Or was the fight so easy that he didn''t even need to rest at all before going to the next one?
But Mark shook his head at her question and told her that it was not the knight that killed the master of rook, it was the rook.
[The Master of ROOK has been eliminated from the game and the servant ROOK is now a free piece. The Servant Rook has twenty-four hours to form a new contract with a master before he will also be eliminated from the game in ordance with the rules.]
[The Servant Rook has eliminated a master from the game and has now gained a twelve-hour non-aggression period. No servant is allowed to attack the servant ROOK until the non-aggression period isplete. Servant ROOK is not allowed to attack any master-servant pair until the non-aggression period isplete.
If Servant ROOK attacks any servant during this period, the non-aggression act is revoked.]
Chapter 266 : The Issue With The Knight
Merlin narrowed his eyes disbelievingly as the game finally sent out the message to both him and Luna. How interesting. What could have possibly caused a Servant to kill their own Master? Was it a sh of ideals? Maybe the rook wanted to do one thing and the master wanted to do something else? Or is the rook just the sort of person who would enjoy killing another person for the sake of it?
Well, there is no rule saying that a servant cannot kill their own master. I am sure the game left that out because it is justmon sense that a servant shouldn''t want to kill their master, but the game must have failed to ount for a situation where the Servant really kills their master and we are left with quite the dilemma.
So now, the Servant rook has twenty-four hours to find a new master or he dies, but he also has twelve hours where no one can touch him. This has to be the most interesting situation I''ve seen in a long time.
Mark seemed to be deep in thought as he considered the possible repercussions that coulde from the rook''s master being killed like this. Doesn''t this mean that the rook is going to start looking for another master more aggressively now? I have about four hours before my non-aggression pact ends, so it is obvious that I am most likely the next target.
The rook will probably try to kill me so that they can make a deal with Luna.
No, that would be suicide for anyone. The rook should know that Merlin is also contracted to Luna, so he would be outnumbered if he attacked us. It will turn to a two-on-one, and no matter how strong he is, he will definitely lose.
Mark was not happy that the non-aggression period wasing to an end so quickly, so he knew that he had to form a n quickly before things spiraled out of his control. But before he could even finish that thought, another message appeared from the game. Mark read through the new message and he immediately sat up in shock! What the fuck was that Knight thinking!?
How did he even get this information!?
Mark looked around him and tried to see if there was any familiar like the wiik-bat that was spying on them. He narrowed his eyes in irritation and scratched his head in annoyance when he did not notice anything.
"What is it?"
Luna noticed the look of annoyance on Mark''s face and Mark realized that she and Merlin did not get a message. He was the only one here that the game sent the message to. Does that mean that the game only sent the message out to the Servants? I didn''t know that you would even send messages like this in the game. I didn''t see any feature like that when reading through the rules for the game.
Is it something only the knight can do?
"The knight sent out a message to all the other participants saying he wishes to sit down and have a drink with us."
Luna blinked in surprise and Merlin hummed curiously as they heard what Mark said. Why would he be inviting them for a drink?
Merlin was the first to speak up. He didn''t think it was possible that the knight was actually inviting them to have a drink. Maybe there was a different meaning to it where the knight was from.
"Is that a fancy way of challenging people to a fight where he came from?"
"No, I don''t think so. I think he''s legitimately inviting us for a drink. The same message was sent to the knight and king, but I don''t know if they are going to answer the call or not. But it is very likely that they will. There is something that he added to the message that will make them want to answer."
Merlin raised a curious brow.
"What is it? Some sort of threat?"
Mark shook his head.
"It would''ve been a lot better if it was just a threat. He somehow found out where our territories are and sent out the position of all the servants."
"What!?"
Luna immediately shouted in anger and she told Mark to read out what was sent!
[The PAWN resides in the prefecture of Saitama, off the border of Shibuya. The ROOK resides in the Shinjuku Hotel, close to the Tokyo River. The King resides in the Toneri Oak Museum in Adachi city.]
Mark paused.
[I am already aware of all your locations and I could haveunched attacks on every one of you at any time I wished, but I chose not to. I currently reside a reasonable distance from my territory, on the coast of the Arakawa River, right beneath the overhead carapace of Tokyo Bay, within a solitary dome. Thisnd is my home, these people are my people. This river, is my source of life.
I do not wish to bring death and destruction upon it needlessly. Therefore, I wish to invite you for a drink. Let us sit, as men, and discuss theing battle. Let us see if we cane to a conclusion that may favor not only us but the people of the city in which we find ourselves. If, during our meeting, a final resolution cannot be reached, then we shall begin the battle then and there.
Come and find me within the day, I am waiting.]
Once Mark finished reading out the message, Merlin grunted. That was the most cheeky move that Merlin had ever seen. Merlin was now very curious to know who this Knight was. He sounds like someone who has been through many wars and is ustomed to having bureaucratic conversations between generals in order to reduce the number of casualties in the war.
The Knight could have attacked at any time that he wanted, but instead, he was telling them toe and meet him on equal ground so they would talk and if they didn''t reach amon conclusion while talking, then he was going to start attacking people left and right like a mad man.
"But the king will be at a disadvantage if they go. All three of the other participants have their non-aggression period active, even though Mark''s period is almost over. The king is the only one who will not have any form of protection from the system. I doubt the king will agree toe at all."
Merlin exined his thoughts calmly as he realized the king would likely note. It would be dangerous to just step into an invitation like this. Even if the knight is telling the truth and he is not in his territory, I''m sure he is close to his territory so he can easily reach it if a fight breaks out.
But it was also good because at least now they had the general location of the Knight''s territory. He was located in Tokyo Bay along the Arakawa River, so his territory had to be close to the River as well.
Merlin turned to Mark with a question.
"Was the wiik-bat able to find the knight''s territory? If it did, then we can use this to our advantage."
Chapter 267: Marks Desire
"Was the wiik-bat able to find the knight''s territory? if it did, then we could use this to our advantage. If the knight is inviting us so graciously, then we should attack him and be done with it."
Mark spoke with the wiik-bat and it sent back a message that it already found the knight''s territory. The knight''s territory was only a few kilometers away from Tokyo Bay, along the Arakawa River. It was a stone''s throw from the ce where the knight wanted to have the meeting.
Once Mark told this to Merlin, Merlin nodded and then gave his own opinion about the situation. It was going to be easy to simplyunch a powerful enough attack from far away to take the knight out at once. They knew where the knight was, and they knew he was not in his territory. That was enough information tounch a preemptive attack.
Merlin said this to Mark and was stunned when Mark did not respond for some time. Mark looked to be deep in thought and after some time, Mark looked towards Luna.
"I want to go and meet the knight."
"What? Why!?"
Merlin suddenly shouted in annoyance. He was not having any of it! Why would Mark want to risk his life like that when he could justunch an attack from far away and deal with the knight without putting themselves in danger at all? Luna also seemed to be having the same thought as she calmly asked Mark why he wanted to meet with the knight.
Mark exined his thought process.
"I want to hear what he has to say. Since we are all going to be outside our territories, it is at least going to be a fair conversation. Besides, if a fight were to break out, I would be close to the territory of both the knight and the queen. I don''t think I can have a better advantage than that."
Merlin and Luna both gained looks of realization as they saw the sense of what Mark was saying. Since the queen and knight territories were merged, that means that Mark will have the power of both the queen and the knight if he goes into the knight''s territory.
Mark continued.
"I don''t think the other fighters know that I can take on the attributes of the other pieces when I am in their territory. If he knew, then the knight would never invite me like this. I should be able to handle anything they throw at me, but if I can''t then I can just make my way to the knight''s territory and gain an advantage.
And since I also know the Rook''s territory, I can drag the fight in whatever direction I want."
What a selfish reason to do something so dangerous. This was the only thought that Merlin had at that moment as he stared at Mark in disbelief. Mark was willing to drag them into enemy territory because he didn''t feel like denying the invitation. Was that a good enough reason to do anything?
But Merlin couldn''t say that out loud because he knew how hypocritical it would sound. Merlin came into this game simply because he wanted to fight. He was someone who also chose to do something dangerous just because he felt like it, and he even dragged Morgana into it against her will. He would be the biggest hypocrite if he condemned Mark for this.
Besides, this was just the sort of person Mark was. He was someone who would prefer to face an adversary head-on rather than use some underhanded trick tounch a surprise attack. It was the same mindset that made him King. He was not the sort of person to bend his ideals for the sake of an easy win.
If Merlin and Luna still refused after everything Mark said, Mark was willing to just go ahead with their n. He would not like it, but he would do it because he was not the only one affected by the decision they made here.
But there was no denying the fact that if it was up to Mark alone, he would go to the meeting.
"What if this is a trap?"
Luna finally spoke up after thinking for some time and Mark looked up at Merlin with a small smile on his face. Merlin immediately understood Mark''s reasoning and sighed while putting his head in his hand. He was not in agreement, but he didn''t want to fight against Mark since he had already made up his mind.
"Well, I guess I can stay on the lookout and make sure you don''t get caught off guard by any traps."
Merlin said this with a sigh and Luna smiled at Merlin in gratitude as she finally stood up and gave Mark a grin of approval. Luna was not interested in honoring the message. She did not understand why Mark wanted it and she knew that Merlin''s n to just throw a massive spell on them was probably the safer n out of the two, but she was not going to deny Mark''s desires.
Who''s to say the other servants can''t avoid a massive fireball the same way Mark was able to? If they attacked the other servants and they evaded it, then the other servants would join forces and make things more difficult. It was better to just hear what the knight had to say while preparing for a fight.
Mark was the one fighting for them, so it was only right that she paid attention to his requests. Since he wanted it, she was going to give it to him.
"Alright, we can go, but we need toe up with a n. In case things go south, how are we going to deal with the master of the knight?"
¡
Vroom!
A police car zoomed down the road with its siren ring and the woman driving the car could feel sweat traveling down the side of her neck as her hands tightened on the wheel.
"You shouldn''t honor that invitation. It''ll be a waste of time since they are probably nning to attack you."
"You know nothing of true honor, girl, do not speak to me about such a thing if you wish to continue talking. Warriors do not lie."
"Hrk¡ Alright fine, but you know this could be a trap! What happens if they attack you in the middle of the meeting!?"
"If such a thing happens, then it happens. We are meeting for the sake of our individual desires, so a sh is imminent. This Knight is a man willing to look into the eyes of his enemies, that is someone I can respect. Now, stop talking and focus on the road. I did not hire you to talk."
"Hire me!? I''m a police officer and you''re forcing me to drive you to Tokyo Bay like a damn taxi driver for some meeting that I don''t even want anything to do with! This is forced coercion! It''s kidnapping! If you let me go now, then I won''t call the rest of the forces! Just let me go!"
Chapter 268: The Servants Arrive
"I thought that was the expression normally used to make workers stay silent in this world, I suppose I used it in the wrong context. Now, focus on the road unless you want me to pop your head like a balloon. I have no interest in hearing you scream at me for the next hour, so stay silent."
"Uek¡"
The woman immediately shut up as she realized that she had gone too far. She still remembered how she got roped into this in the first ce. She and her partner were patrolling the streette at night, trying to make sure that the area was safe, but all of a sudden, they saw this huge man walking out from one of the hotels in the area.
They would have ignored it and continued moving, if not for the fact that there were some specks of blood on his feet and face.
The woman and her partner immediately came down from the car and pointed a gun at the Herculean man, warning him not to move forward andmanding him to get down on his knees slowly. But the man just kept walking towards them. The woman''s partner finally grew cautious enough and shot at the man, but the way the bullet bounced off the man''s skin was not even funny!
It was almostical and if not for how serious the situation was, she would have startedughing her ass off right there!
The herculean man stared down at his chest curiously and just kept walking towards her partner. Her partner called for her help as he began to unload his bullets and she began to shoot at the man as well. But no matter how many bullets they shot, it was futile. They weren''t even making a dent in the man''s stride. It was as if he was being hit with popcorn kernels rather than bullets!
The man grabbed her partner''s head and mmed it into the car and she was sure she heard something crack inside of his head as he slumped to the ground like a rag doll. The man then told her to get into the car with a re and she obeyed faster than she had ever obeyed an order in her life!
The man got in the back andmanded her to take him to Tokyo Bay and that was how they ended up on the road together.
A policewoman driving a criminal around like a chauffeur. If she gets out of this alive, she is never going to live it down.
She has been trying to keep the man talking for some time now and she was able to find out that he was a part of some super-secret game that involved some other superpowered beings like himself. They were all having a meeting and he decided to go because he felt like it.
"You know ¨C"
The woman was about to speak again, but the man just groaned in irritation. Content source m-vl|em|p,yr
"By Zeus, can you not stay silent even for a moment?"
"¡"
The woman immediately shut up and the man leaned back with a grunt.
"Much better."
The man looked out the window at his side from the back of the speeding car and he appreciated the lights that were zooming past him. They were moving so fast that he could barely catch a glimpse of them, but he had never felt more alive than he did at that moment.
So this is what it feels like to be alive again?
¡
Tokyo Bay was a stunning picturesque view of water, isted from the Pacific Ocean on one side and bordered on the other side by Chiba and Yokohama.
Merlin couldn''t help but appreciate the beautiful view of the city lights below him as he stood on top of the miniature Statue of Liberty at the base of the bay. Merlin couldn''t believe that they were doing this.
He didn''t really have anything against it anymore since he was sure that Mark and Luna would be fine, but it was absurd to think that they were just going to have a drink with one of their opponents like it was nothing. There had to be some sort of rule against this.
Merlin watched Mark and Luna entering the dome-shaped building a short distance away and he twirled his staff and stabbed it into the statue below him before leaning on it calmly. He would watch and see how things go for now. If anything seemed off, he was dropping an asteroid on the building regardless.
¡
Mark and Luna entered the dome and Luna was immediately stunned by the beautiful interior of the building. It had an extremely high ceiling with beautiful lights shining across the entire ceiling like stars. There was arge chandelier hanging from the roof''s center and ityered the surrounding in a stunning yellow glow that made it look like the sun was setting inside the building.
In the middle of the room was a table with a man sitting there. There were no chairs, so the man was sitting on one of the five cushions around the table. A woman was kneeling beside the man. She was wearing traditional Japanese attire with a weird pair of wooden sandals on her feet while pouring him a cup of green tea calmly.
The outfit that the woman wore was the traditional outfit that all Japanese housewives would wear during the Edo period of Japanese samurais, but neither Luna nor Mark could tell.
The man himself was just as imposing as Luna expected a SERVANT to be. He was arge man, almost as tall as Mark, but his build waspletely different from Mark''s build. Mark had the build of a brawler, but Luna could tell that this man was someone who used weapons because of his slim build.
He had long ck hair that was tied behind his head with a few stubborn strands scattered around aimlessly and he wore a long kimono that made him look very regal. If Luna had to guess what sort of person this was, she would immediately say that it was a samurai. But Luna couldn''t see a Katana anywhere, so she was left wondering if this was the knight or not.
The man took his cup after the maid finished pouring him a drink and he took a sip from it before sighing happily.
"I did not think you would honor my invitation."
The man finally spoke up and Luna was shocked when she realized that he was not speaking English. He spoke in some othernguage, but hisnguage was somehow tranted inside of her head and she could understand what he was saying without needing to do anything. From the way they were dressed and how he carried himself, Luna knew that the man was speaking Japanese.
Was this something that the game did for them?
Mark was still wearing the Hawaiian shirt and joggers that he had on this morning. He put his gloved hands inside of his pockets and responded calmly while walking towards the man.
"Your invitation seemed rather interesting. Do you have anything stronger?"
Luna immediately gave Mark a disapproving look. He was still underage, so she was not in support of him drinking yet. Mark just ignored her as he stopped at the table, in front of the man.
The man smiled as he looked up at Mark.
"I am honored to host you, servant pawn and master of pawn. Won''t you sit?"
Chapter 269: Are You Perhaps, My Cousin?
Name: Miyamoto Musashi
Role: Servant Knight
Game Rank: EPIC Rank I
True Rank: S Rank
Potential: A Rank
Description: The man hailed as the strongest Ronin ever to exist. His entire life has been dedicated to the sword and learning how to be one with it. He is a well-known philosopher who exalts peace of mind and detests anything that would cause him to lose his calm.
During his life, he fought and won against more than fifty opposing swordsmen, cementing his ce as one of the strongest samurai to ever live. He is an honorable man who can always be trusted to keep his word.
Affiliation: True Neutral.
¡
Name: Miyamoto Otsu
Role: Master of
Game Rank: Regr Human
True Rank: D Rank
Potential: F Rank
Description: The wife of a variant version of Musashi Miyamoto with no connection whatsoever to the real Musashi Miyamoto. She was summoned during the game due to theck of interpersonal rtionships between the real Miyamoto and anyone in his life. She has no memories of her past life and believes herself to be the true wife of the real Musashi Miyamoto.
Musashi knows this is a lie but does nothing to correct her misconception.
Affiliation: True Neutral.
¡
No way. Is this the actual thing? The authentic samurai from more than five centuries ago? Mark was someone who read a lot of philosophy and stoicism during his training because of how much it helped to clear his mind - and because Raven just had too many stoicism books lying around her gym.
Miyamoto Musashi was someone who came up a lot in the philosophy books. Many of the things that Miyamoto said in his book showed Mark just how calm Miyamoto was and how well he thought things through before doing them. Mark couldn''t believe that the authentic Miyamoto Musashi was right in front of him right now.
The woman, Miyamoto Otsu, came around and knelt beside one of the cushions on the ground with her teapot ready to pour a cup of tea for Mark. Did they not hear him say he wanted something stronger?
Musashi Miyamoto seemed to know what Mark was thinking and he spoke up calmly.
"It is best we keep a clear mind, lest our enemies choose to attack in our vulnerable moments."
Musashi took another drink from his cup and Mark just sighed as he guided Luna to a seat before he took a seat beside her. Miyamoto Musashi spoke in this deep philosophical way that just made you want to listen to him. It made it seem like he had a thousand words of wisdom to pass on and you would be foolish not to pay attention to his words.
"This should be the ce. You said it was a dome, right? This is the only dome-like structure around Tokyo Bay, it should be the ce."
"Yes, I heard you the first time."
Luna turned to the side to see a man walking into the dome with a woman beside him. The woman was wearing a police outfit and she had a toned and tall body that showed she was someone who regrly exercised, but even though she was almost six feet tall, she was dwarfed by the sheer size of the man beside her. The man was so tall that the woman barely reached his chest!
The man reminded Luna a little too much of Gunter from the Superhuman Alliance. The only major difference being their hair. Gunter had long blond hair, but this man had short brown hair that was cut into a fringe. He wore a loose t-shirt and a pair of jeans that were ripped around the knees, and he had sunsses covering his eyes.
The policewoman beside him suddenly spoke up.
"Now that I brought you here, can I¡ª"
Flick!
The man didn''t even bother turning to regard the woman. He just flicked her on the side of the head with minimum effort and the woman''s eyes rolled to the back of her head immediately as she dropped to the ground like a ragdoll with its strings cut!
Luna frowned in irritation at the man''s action, but she didn''t say anything. The man grunted as he took off his sunsses and continued walking up to the table calmly while tossing the sses aside.
"Fucking annoying woman."
The man grinned as he neared the table. There was no reaction from Miyamoto Musashi as he continued to drink his tea, and Mark was preupied with watching Miyamoto Otsu as she poured their drink to make sure that she didn''t slip anything into it. But Luna was openly ring at the tall man and the man seemed a bit taken aback as he saw her.
His eyes narrowed before a look of realization dawned on him. He immediately took a few steps closer and fell to a knee right in front of Luna with a hand stretched out to her.
"Truly, I do not believe I have ever seen one more beautiful than you in all my life. Tell me, are you one of the children of Aphrodite, a demi-god like myself? If so, then we are cousins. Tell me whose partner you are and I shall do battle for your hand."
Luna scrunched her face up in irritation and leaned away from the man. Mark finally turned to regard the taller man and spoke in a threatening tone.
"Unless you want to start the fight right now, I suggest you go sit down."
The man turned to re at Mark, but Mark did not back down as his own re intensified.
¡
Name: Hercules
Role: Servant Rook
Game Rank: EPIC Rank I
True Rank: --
Potential: --
Description: The errant and powerful son of Zeus, the demi-god Hercules holds the highest authority amongst all demi-gods and is regarded as a pseudo-god for his aplishments during his life as a human. He is desperate to win the Game of Gods and will go to any length to get the gift from Ares that was promised to the winner.
Affiliation: True Neutral.
¡
Hercules? Seriously, did they just call on all the strongest people from each timeline for me to fight? What is the meaning of this shit?
Mark was a bit disturbed by the fact that the person standing in front of him was the literal Hercules from myth and legend, but he did not reduce his re one bit as he dared Hercules to touch Luna. If Hercules went any further right now, Mark was going to forget about the meeting and they would begin fighting immediately.
"Servant ROOK, please take your seat. You came here to speak and listen to the opinions of others, did you not? Let us not ruin our gathering even before it starts."
Miyamoto Musashi spoke up while taking another drink from his cup and Hercules finally gruffed before getting off his knee and walking towards the cushion that was next to Mark. Hercules sat down cross-legged and Miyamoto Otsu came up to him and gently poured him a cup.
Hercules stared at the strange green liquid in the cup distastefully.
"What is this? When I heard that we would be having a drink, I thought it would be something a little stronger. This¡ is this green water?"
"Green tea."
Miyamoto Otsu spoke up as she gently stood from her crouched position beside Hercules. Even though she spoke gently and with a lot of poise, everyone could tell that she was a little annoyed by the fact that Hercules called the drink green water. She had a lot of pride in her culture and she felt insulted by Hercules'' remark.
Chapter 270: Tough Shit
Miyamoto Otsu bowed to Hercules after getting up before gliding back to her husband''s side gently. Miyamoto Musashi spoke up again.
"As I told the Servant PAWN, I believe tea is best for a conversation between warriors. Tempers would rise, minds would cloud, and reason would degrade if we subjected ourselves to the liquid poison that is alcohol. So, perhaps some other time, in a less important gathering."
Hercules released a deep gruff at what Miyamoto Musashi said before he looked down at the cup of steaming green liquid. He just pushed it away and crossed his arms.
"So what is it you called us here for? I''m not really interested in talking, but I decided toe due to the circumstances. None of us here can attack the other without revoking our nonaggression agreement, therefore leaving you open to attacks from the others. If you waste my time, then this truce is over."
Musashi smiled.
"I hold no authority over your conscious interpretation of what I say. But before we begin, since we are not having any more attending, I believe introductions are in order. My name is Miyamoto Musashi. I am a samurai and thest remaining Ronin from my n. Behind me is Miyamoto Otsu, mypanion."
Eh¡?
Luna felt her eyes widen as she heard the man introduce himself. She looked at Mark in shock, but she was surprised when Mark did not show any form of reaction to Miyamoto Musashi''s introduction! Did Mark not just hear him!? This man was the Miyamoto Musashi! The legend!
Miyamoto Otsu bowed respectfully to everyone in greeting.
"I am Miyamoto Otsu."
"I am Hercules, son of Zeus."
"Hah~?"
Luna released a silent sigh that no one else heard except for Mark once she heard Hercules'' introduction. It was only her natural elegance that prevented her mouth from dropping open in shock! She was already shocked enough by the whole Miyamoto thing, and now this guy was saying he was the son of Zeus!? What the hell did they get involved in!? Why are there so many legends in a simple game!?
Merlin, Joan of Arc, Miyamoto Musashi, and now Hercules!?
"Mark Vanitas, servant pawn."
Mark seemed unfazed by it and Luna did not understand why, but she also tried her best to not act too surprised as she introduced herself calmly.
"I am Luna, master of pawn."
Once the introductions were done, Miyamoto got right down to business.
"I called on this meeting because of my own selfishness, and you both answered because of your selfishness. That is all there is to it."
Miyamoto took another sip of his tea calmly.
"I love thisnd, these people, these sights. They are new and unfathomable to me, but they still possess the same spirit I left behind more than five centuries ago. I do not want to destroy my own people''snd over a squabble without meaning. I wish to understand what your intentions are in this battle, what is it that you wish to gain from going through with this?"
Hercules grunted at Miyamoto before speaking.
"So you are just afraid of what our battle will do to your people''snd? Howe you did not have the same reservation when fighting against the Queen and her master?"
Musashi frowned in annoyance as he was reminded of Cleopatra and Caesar and he almost seemed to spit his next words out in distaste.
"That woman and her master do not know the meaning of the word honor. They were scum and it was my duty to eradicate such beings before they could corrupt the verynd I strive to protect."
Mark wondered what the hell happened for Musashi to hate those two so much, but he was not going to think about it too much. All that mattered was that Musashi was strong enough to handle both the Queen and her master with minimal injuries to himself or his master. That showed that Musashi was strong.
Musashi Miyamoto continued.
"But, do not misunderstand. I surely do not want any damage toe upon thisnd, but that does not mean I will stay my sword-arm. I am willing to go to the extreme regardless of coteral damage. My people have been through worse and they will recover. But if I am going to hurt thend so, I wish for it to be meaningful.
As we are now, a battle will be no different from squabbling women screaming meaninglessly. I shall only point my sword towards an honorable opponent."
Luna looked slightly irritated by what Miyamoto Musashi said about women, but she could not really be angry since he was only saying what was natural to him. She understood that there was a wide cultural difference between his time and the current time, so she could not hold it against him. In Miyamoto''s time, it was only natural for him to say what he just said because it was true.
Hercules continued.
"I see no reason why I have to exin myself to you. I have something worth fighting for and that is enough reason for me to fight. What more is there to it?"
"Is it so shameful that you cannot speak of it? I intend to use my wish to bring myself back to life. I shall live in this world, with these people. They shall be my subject and I their sword. That is what I wish to retain from this battle."
Hercules scoffed at Musashi before he went silent for a few moments. After a short while, Hercules finally spoke up.
"I wish to have the same. I am... bored of the afterlife. Sex, stale wine, and boring women, that is all there is over there. There is nothing more worth doing on the other side of the veil, so I shall bring myself back to life again and live here. They have good wine."
Mark threw his tea back and dropped the empty cup back on the table and the other two turned to him. There was a small smile on his face as he chuckled slightly.
"Bullshit."
Luna had been silent all this time as she listened to what Hercules and Miyamoto were saying. When Mark spoke, she thought that he was going to also give his reason for fighting. She was genuinely interested to know what his reasons would be. But she never thought that he would say something like that! Luna''s eyes widened as she turned to look at Mark in surprise.
Mark looked up and stared the two men down.
"You want to live again? Just how greedy can you get? Just how dissatisfied with your life were you that you would want to live it all over again? Where Ie from, your stories are told as legends. You were both strong during your lives. No one could challenge you.
I am sure you could have done whatever you wanted with that strength. It''s no one''s fault but your own if you didn''t do just that. That wish belongs to us. You want to live again? Tough shit. You already had your chance and you''re not getting a second one."
p!
Luna facepalmed so hard that it echoed through the entire dome!
''Mark, what the hell are you thinking!?''
Luna knew that Mark was fearless, but this was just suicide! Did he not hear the names that they called during their introductions!? These guys are legends! People that lived through hundreds of fights and came out on top! Why would he insult their resolve like that!?
And he was not just insulting their resolve, he was calling it stupid!
Chapter 271 : Luna and Otsu - ThePrologue
"Boy, you should learn the proper way to speak to your elders."
Hercules was openly ring at Mark and the tension in the room became visibly heightened as Hercules tightened his hand into a fist in preparation for an attack. Mark just red right back at him fearlessly.
"Why don''t you try to teach me, old man."
Miyamoto Musashi was still drinking his tea calmly as he watched the two of them ring each other down. Miyamoto Otsu offered to pour him another drink, but Musashi simply raised his hand to tell her not to bother. There was no need for that.
"Please try to calm yourselves. The conversation is not over yet¡ª"
"Isn''t it?"
Mark cut Musashi off without taking his eyes off Hercules. Musashi turned to Mark curiously, and Mark continued.
"I came here because of how honorable your message sounded. I thought I would meet someone respectable with something sensible to say. Instead, I came here to see two cowards who were so afraid of death that they would do anything to escape from it. I already told you what I think about your wish. Tough shit. This meeting is over."
The tension between Mark and Hercules was steadily building, and everyone there was sitting on needles as they waited to see who would move first. Musashi calmly finished off the tea in his cup and gently put the cup down while speaking.
"Well, it appears we have reached the end of this conversation. I would have liked it tost longer than it did. Perhaps in another world."
"To hell with all that!"
m!
BOOM!
Hercules mmed his hand into the table, and it broke into a million pieces that all flew into the air from the massive blow! Luna leaned back from the table, and the next few moments seemed to happen in slow motion as she saw everybody around the table move at the same time!
[Servant KNIGHT has revoked his non-aggression pact.]
[Servant PAWN has revoked his non-aggression pact.]
[Servant ROOK has revoked his non-aggression pact.]
Shink!
A sword appeared from inside Musashi''s kimono as he leaned forward to sh Luna in half! Hercules shot off the ground to reach for Mark, and Mark already flipped off the ground with his feet rising to intercept Hercules as well as Musashi''s sword. Luna knew that if Musashi''s sword got to her, she would be dead meat!
But just before Musashi could cut her, Mark mmed his leg into the t edge of the de and redirected it up.
Luna immediately shouted.
"Merlin, the meeting is fucked!"
Phwoom!
A magic circle appeared in front of Musashi, and he was immediately thrown back as a massive gale of wind blew out from the circle! He flipped through the air andnded on his feet before sliding backward and flicking his sword once!
Shink!
Musashi''s sword was a 1.5-meter-long katana with intricate carvings decorating the edge of the de. The hilt and guard were matte-ck, and Musashi held it with both hands to his side in the traditional samurai stance as he faced off against Merlin.
m!
Hercules broke through the center table and aimed for Mark, but before he could even get to Mark, Mark was already on the move as he flipped off the floor! Mark was nning to hit both Hercules and Musashi at the same time, but once Merlin showed up, Mark changed his target and focused entirely on Hercules!
[Critical Hit]!
Boom!
Mark delivered a massive kick to the chest that sent Hercules flying! Hercules flew into the wall of the dome, and Mark had to immediately put up his guard as Hercules shot back out from the wall and delivered a punch into Mark''s crossed arms!
Boom!
''Fuck!''
Mark cursed internally as he felt the bones in his hands rattle from the punch! What was that!? Hercules suddenly shot forward far faster than Mark could follow! Is it some sort of skill from the Rook, or is it just something that Hercules could do with mana? Mark did not know the answer to this question, but he was smart enough to jump back to reduce the punch''s impact!
Mark was thrown back, and Hercules followed after him as they crashed through the wall of the dome and into the open city.
Luna tried her best to stay out of the way as the two of them were tussling, but once they crashed through the wall, she calmed down a little to catch her breath. She was no longer able to augment her strength using mana, so she only had the strength of a regr human here. She could tire out very easily!
Luna gained her breath back, and she turned around to find where the master of the knight was. If she could take out the Master of Knight, then it would make things much easier for them!
Killing the Master of Knight would practically make her the only essible master, and none of the other servants would think about killing her because they would all want to sign contracts with her to remain in the game somehow.
Shink!
Woosh!
Luna''s heightened senses were the only thing that saved her at that moment! She fell to the ground as something passed overhead, and she heard the sound of a knife stabbing into the far wall!
Luna turned around to see who was responsible for it, and her eyes widened as she saw Miyamoto Otsu holding arge knife in her hand as she ran towards Luna like a bat out of hell!
There was this dead, empty look in Otsu''s eyes that terrified Luna down to the bone! Luna shivered as she knew that she could not let Otsu get too close! Luna immediately turned and grabbed a sharp piece of wood that had broken off from the table before throwing it at Otsu!
m!
Otsu mmed her fist into the board and destroyed it without stopping her stride. Luna had to rush back up to her feet as she faced off against the dangerous woman!
sh!
sh!
Luna jumped back twice to dodge two shes that would have cut through her belly and spilled her guts! She sidestepped a sh from Otsu before catching the outstretched arm! Otsu quickly reversed her de before grabbing the hilt with her other hand and shing Luna with it!
Luna grit her teeth to hold in a scream as a shallow cut dug into her shoulder! She quickly tried to m her knee into Otsu''s elbow to break it!
Stab!
Otsu brought the de down and stabbed Luna in the thigh, digging deep into Luna''s skin and forcing Luna to let go of Otsu''s hand with a scream! Otsu shed Luna again, but this time, Luna used Otsu''s momentum to trap the hand under her armpit before Luna delivered a massive elbow to Otsu''s nose!
m!
Crack!
The sound of bone cracking under her elbow was like music to Luna''s ears, but Luna couldn''t really enjoy the small victory as Otsu immediately reared her head back and mmed her forehead into Luna''s jaw!
m!
Luna saw stars on the edge of her vision, and she backtracked multiple times while trying her best to stay on her feet! The blow was devastating, but Luna could not feel anything broken, and she thanked her god for the small mercies as she shook her head to gain back her senses and raised her hands into a proper fighting stance.
Chapter 272 : Luna and Otsu - TheEpilogue
There was a throbbing sensation on Luna''s right leg, and the pain there prevented her from putting a lot of pressure on the leg, but the adrenaline coursing through Luna''s veins prevented her from checking the wound to see how bad it was.
Luna knew that one mistake on her part would give Otsu the opening she had been looking for, and that would be the end. Otsu was standing calmly with her knife held in a reverse grip, and she ran her hand across her face and looked down at the blood that was leaking from her nose. She clicked her tongue in irritation and spun the knife around while crouching into a ready stance.
"I will gut you like a squid."
''What the actual fuck?''
Luna was still a bit disoriented, but she managed to keep her guard up even with the pain in her leg and shoulder. Luna was not a novice in hand-to-handbat. Luna learned hand-to-handbat from some of the best specialists in the world. She knew that there could always be a time when her opponent could get close enough to engage her in close-quarterbat, and so she prepared against it.
But all of the moves that she learned were meant to be augmented with mana in order to deliver as much damage as possible. Luna was a master at manipting mana, so even the smallest application of mana would make her simple moves seem like bone-breaking attacks.
As she is now, Luna is not capable of putting power into her punches and kicks because she does not have any control over her mana anymore.
Otsu rushed at Luna, and Luna immediately countered the sh that Otsu released with a kick that pushed Otsu back. Luna grimaced as her leg throbbed, but she still rushed forward and mmed her fist into Otsu''s shoulder before dodging as Otsu tried to sh her with her knife again! Luna dodged to the opposite side and punched Otsu in the stomach!
Otsu mmed her elbow into Luna''s shoulder before sending a knee into Luna''s stomach which made Luna lose all the breath in her lungs! Luna grit her teeth and tackled Otsu off her feet to make her fall back before she grabbed Otsu''s head and mmed it into the floor while Luna drove her forehead into Otsu''s nose!
Crack!
Another loud crack echoed through the region, and Otsu yelled in pained fury as she shed wildly with her knife while holding her nose in pain! Luna jumped back to get some breathing room before she rushed forward again before Otsu could get her bearings! She grabbed the wrist of Otsu''s knife hand as Otsu tried to sh her, and she mmed her elbow into Otsu''s elbow!
Crack!
Otsu cried out in pain before she mmed her foot into Luna''s thigh, making Luna let go of her as the pain in her leg became unbearable! Otsu went low and her hand shot forward as she stabbed her knife into Luna''s side!
Luna barely moved her body away so she only got a scratch on her side instead of being stabbed through the liver! Luna was forced to retreat, and she dodged a stab from Otsu and redirected her knife to the side before mming her fist into Otsu''s jaw!
m!
Luna hoped that the punch would knock Otsu out. Luna put all her weight into that punch, and she really thought that Otsu would go down, but she did not expect the punch that Otsu countered with!
Boom!
The punch mmed into her stomach, and she was almost carried off her feet by the force! The two women stumbled back to catch their breath, and Luna coughed in pain as she finally got a chance to nce at her leg. Luna grimaced as she saw therge red stain on her jeans. That was definitely going to be an issue.
But really, where the hell did all thise from!? Luna thought Otsu was a gentle woman! Luna had been watching Otsu since the meeting started, and she thought that Otsu would be an easy opponent because of how mellow Otsu was. She thought that Otsu was just a kind woman who liked to serve tea! Where the hell did those attackse from!?
Luna suddenly remembered that Otsu lived in the age of samurai where even the smallest child had to learn how to wield a knife to survive. It was only natural that even the women would know how to fight in case they were ever attacked by rival ns. Sometimes, they learned how to handle a knife so that they would be able to kill themselves if they were ever captured, but it was all the same.
Otsu was already back on her feet, and she cleaned a small line of blood that was leaking from the side of her chin. Her right hand was hanging limply from her shoulder - Luna had dislocated it with that elbow strike - but that was not enough to make Otsu back down. In fact, it only lit a fire inside Otsu that fueled her fighting spirit even more.
There was no emotion on her face, and her eyes had this demonic, empty look that made Luna''s entire body shiver. Even though Otsu''s nose was red and bloody, she didn''t look bothered at all as she red straight at Luna fearlessly.
When Luna looked into those eyes, Luna knew that she was not going to win.
It didn''t matter how long they fought for or how much effort Luna put into the battle, there was nothing that Luna could do against Otsu without her mana! Oh well, it was time for her to get out of here.
Mark told her that she didn''t need to fight, but she just thought that she should at least try to win against Otsu since she was here. But now that she knew she couldn''t win, she was out.
"Wiik-Bat!"
"Wiik! Wiik!"
The Wiik-Bat appeared from the side as Luna called on it, and it chirped in joy as it pped around her. Luna immediately told it to send a message to Mark, and the Wiik-Bat wasted no time as it sent the message immediately.
SLAM!
The roof of the building suddenly crashed in as Mark tackled Hercules through the ss roof of the dome. His face was twisted into an angry grimace as he mmed Hercules into the ground, but Hercules didn''t stay down for long as he kicked Mark off him!
Bam!
Mark was sent reeling back, but he managed to stop himself from flying further back as he prepared to go into the fight again. But the Wiik-Bat suddenly came up to him and told him what Luna had told it, and Mark immediately changed direction as he bolted towards Luna!
Chapter 273: Unparalleled Defense
The wiik-bat suddenly flew to Mark and told him what Luna had told it and Mark immediately changed direction as he bolted towards Luna!
Otsu Miyamoto noticed what was going on a moment before Mark moved and she immediately raced towards Luna with her knife ready to sh through her stomach, but just before she got to Luna, Mark reached Luna first and grabbed her from the side.
Luna held Mark tight and Mark saw Luna''s face twist into a grimace as her wounds were disturbed. He growled in anger at the amount of injuries on her. He knew he shouldn''t have let her fight.
Mark leaned down and whispered in her ear.
"Stop the bleeding first and wait for me. I won''t take long."
Luna nodded and she heard Mark speak up again.
"Transport."
Luna quickly vanished in a ray of light as she was teleported away from the scene and Otsu red in anger as she saw her prey getting away. Mark suddenly shed forward andshed out to grab Otsu by the hand and Otsu cried out in pain as she felt her bone crack from Mark''s insane strength!
Mark was about to punch Otsu in the face and Otsu''s eyes widened in shock as she saw deathing straight for her!
But Hercules appeared from Mark''s blind side and mmed into Mark before he could hit Otsu.
Bam!
Hercules knew that it would be dangerous to kill Otsu now since he still needed to sign a contract with a master. With the wounds that he saw on Luna, there was a high likelihood that Luna wouldn''t make it due to the amount of blood she was losing, so Hercules had to protect Otsu and sign a contract with her after the Knight died.
Otsu didn''t waste time watching the two monsters shing. Instead, she turned and ran towards a secluded part of the dome while holding her hand in pain! Hercules headbutted Mark back before kicking him out of the dome to continue their fight.
¡
Luna appeared in an apartment building inside the bishop''s territory and she groaned as she grabbed the cab beside her to hold herself up! After the knight broadcasted the positions of all the servants, Mark decided that they had to leave the hotel and move to another hideout that would be harder to find.
The new hideout was still in the bishop''s territory, but it was a far distance away from the former hotel with many tall buildings surrounding it and preventing anyone from easily locating them.
"Argh!"
Luna''s leg was throbbing in pain and when Luna looked down, she saw that the deep wound there was constantly bleeding. She had to get it cauterized! If she doesn''t treat it now, she is going to bleed out.
''Why the hell did I think I could handle that?''
Luna groaned again as she felt her leg throb and she started to wobble towards the bathroom where the first aid kit was. When they agreed to go to the meeting, Mark told Luna that if a fight ever broke out, he would transport her back to the territory using the authority of the bishop that he gained when he got the bishop''s territory.
But Luna told Mark that she would try and take care of a master before she goes. She wanted to help out a little, instead of just being protected all the time. But Luna now knew that she bit off far more than she could chew. If Mark didn''t get her out of there when he did, then she would have really died while fighting against Otsu.
Luna finally got to the bathroom and she limped towards the cab and found the first aid kit.
"Ugh!"
Crash!
Luna reached for it, but she was not able to grab a hold of the sink and she fell to the ground with the contents of the first aid kit pouring to the ground around her. Luna sighed as she leaned back against the bathtub and started to pick out the things she would need to stop the bleeding.
She grabbed arge cloth and pressed it against the wound before looking at the gauze that had rolled all the way over to the other side of the bathroom.
Luna sighed again.
"I hate this fucking game."
¡
[The yer has two allies fighting beside him, the effects of [He Who Defies Destiny] have been activated. The User has gained a 20% boost to all stats. All allies have gained a twenty percent increase in their abilities.]
[One of the user''s allies has been removed from the fight, and the user''s stats have dropped by 10%.]
m!
m!
m!
Mark grabbed Hercules by the shirt and headbutted him three times before spinning him around and tossing him into a building in the distance with a shout!
"Rargh!"
BOOM!
Hercules broke through that building and into the skyscraper beside it before he started to crash down through the floors and got to the ground floor. Mark watched from the top of a high skyscraper as many of the people around the building ran away in fear as the skyscraper lost its rigidity and started toe down on them.
Hercules walked out from inside the rubble while rolling his shoulder. There was no injury on him at all and he didn''t even look like he took any damage from that attack.
[Achilles Heel] has been activated!
Mark quickly activated the Achilles Heel skill to try and see if there were any weak spots that it could exploit in Hercules'' defenses, but once Mark activated it, everything around Hercules blurred into grey. There were no red spots at all! The defenses around Hercules were so strong that there wasn''t a single vulnerable spot in his entire body!
It almost seemed like the very air around Hercules was acting like a deterrent that prevented Mark from being able to hurt him. Mark realized how useless it was going to be to keep attacking him in the same way as he deactivated his Achilles Heel to preserve mana.
''I guess I was right. His defense is no joke!''
Mark already knew that the Rook would have high defenses, but this was crazy. Mark had punched, thrown, and kicked Hercules more times than he could count and Hercules still lookedpletely unharmed.
Mark quickly put his hand out and summoned his [Armour of Ares]. He put the box on his chest and it transformed into a bulletproof vest that covered his body snugly. He was going to be fighting against a physical opponent, so the vest woulde in handy.
Hercules pointed a finger at Mark and Mark wondered what he was about to do. But he never expected Hercules to suddenly vanish from the ground! Mark felt a presence behind him and he turned around in shock and crossed his hands!
BOOM!
Hercules mmed his fist into Mark''s crossed arms and Mark was thrown across the city! Hercules followed after Mark and grabbed him by the shirt before mming his fist into his face over and over again!
Bam!
Bam!
Bam!
Bam!
Mark blocked most of the punches, but he grew too angry from the attacks and immediately grabbed Hercules''s arm and activated [Lightning Surge]!
Chapter 274: Your Bullshit Mana Control
BBZZT!!
A wave of lightning arched around Mark andshed out angrily at Hercules, and Hercules was forced to let go of Mark as the lightning skill sent a jolt of electricity through the area Mark was touching! Mark mmed his fist into Hercules'' face and he expected Hercules to be thrown back from the punch, but Hercules easily tanked the punch without being thrown back!
Hercules raised his hands into the air and delivered a piledriver into Mark''s chest and threw him back to the ground!
BOOM!
Mark crashed to the ground and he barely got his senses back when Hercules crashed into him again with another blow!
BOOM!
The ground shook and many of the houses around them started to crumble from the force of the blow! Mark raised his hand and tried his best to block as Hercules constantly rained on him with earth-shattering punches, but Mark was not fazed as he redirected one of the punches and used his elbow as a baseball bat, swinging it into the side of Hercules'' face and throwing him off!
Mark got to his feet and the two monsters began to rail into each other, neither of them was willing to step back. Instead, they simply tanked each other''s punches while unleashing their own blows!
Hercules grit his teeth and pushed himself to the extreme as he tried to inflict as much damage as possible on Mark. Hercules knew that his power was not at the level it was supposed to be at. He was one of the strongest men in the world, and if he was at his full strength, he would definitely have already won this fight.
But his power was drastically reduced from this game and he couldn''t use his full strength against Mark. He had to finish this as quickly as possible.
Hercules didn''t care if he was not at his full strength, he was still going to win! Mark was a child who didn''t understand anything about how dangerous the real world was. He was not going to lose against a cocky brat that only just started to live!
Hercules unleashed a heavy punch towards Mark''s shoulder and Mark stepped into Hercules'' punch and used that opportunity to drive a haymaker into Hercules'' jaw!
BOOM!
Hercules mmed his fist into the side of Mark''s head and Mark spun around and sent a kick into Hercules'' temple, sending him down to the ground!
Crack!
The ground underHercules cracked from the impact and Mark watched Hercules bounce off the ground with a wide grin on his face!
Mark finally figured it out.
After exchanging so many blows with Hercules, Mark was finally able to understand what the rook was all about. Even though the rook had one of the best defenses in the entire game, that did not trante into their attack power. In fact, Mark was shocked by how well he was able to tank the punches that Hercules was throwing at him.
Was Hercules not meant to be the strongest man that ever lived? Then why were his punches so light? It almost felt like Mark was hitting a mountain when he hit Hercules, but when Hercules hit him back, it was far lighter than Mark expected it to be! There was obviously something wrong here.
Mark''s only exnation for this was that the system gave the rook high defenses, but in exchange for that, the game took away some strength and made their attacks weaker!
Mark looked down at the left side of his tab and he clicked his tongue in annoyance as he saw that it was not time to use the Void sh. He would have to tire Hercules out a bit more before he could use the Demonic Void Apostle technique.
SLAM!
"Do you think you have time to look away from me, boy!?"
Hercules mmed his fist into Mark''s face once he saw Mark look away and Mark was forced to get his head back in the game as he blocked another punch from Hercules. He grabbed Hercules by the arm after dodging the next punch and delivered a beautiful shoulder flip that Raven would have been proud of as he sent Hercules into the ground!
BOOM!
Mark heard a massive explosion go off in the distance and knew that it was Merlin and Musashi fighting over there. Mark would have wanted to go help Merlin since he did not know how strong Musashi was. Since Musashi was able to handle both the Queen and her master at the same time, Mark knew that he would definitely be too much for Merlin to handle.
Mark sensed a massive amount of mana being gathered in Hercules'' body and he quickly jumped back as he prepared for what Hercules was about to do! Hercules suddenly shot forward faster than Mark could follow and Mark was not able to dodge quickly enough as Hercules mmed into his midsection, throwing him back into a building!
Mark broke through multiple walls before mming his feet on the ground to stop himself! He looked up to see where Hercules was, but a fist mmed into his face and threw him back again as Hercules followed after Mark. Hercules kept on following Mark as he pummeled him into building after building and Mark was not able to react quickly enough.
The skill that Hercules was using was an innate skill that the game gave to the Rook. It gave theRook the ability to empower their forward charge and made it impossible for anyone in the game to dodge or block it!
A loudugh escaped Hercules'' mouth as he followed after Mark with another punch, sending him through buildings and beating the shit out of him, but as Herculesughed, he heard another sound echo through the punches!
"Hahahahahahaha!"
Mark wasughing as well! And it was not a simpleugh that could just be seen as false confidence, it was a madugh that made Mark seem like a demon! Hercules gritted his teeth as he sent another punch into Mark''s chin, but this time, Mark easily deflected the punch! He flipped around and brought his heel down in a wicked dropkick!
[Critical Hit]!
BOOM!
The entire building shook as Mark mmed his feet into the floor, sending both him and Hercules through the ground as they fell to a lower floor! Hercules reached out to grab a hold of Mark but Mark easily dodged!
[User has sent Mana to his hands.]
"You never learned it, did you!?"
Mark unleashed a punch that mmed into Hercules'' jaw and Hercules was thrown back into the far wall! Hercules rushed out from the wall for another attack since he was not injured, but Mark mmed his knees into Hercules'' chest, sending him back through the wall and into the street!
[User has sent mana to his feet.]
Hercules stumbled across the floor and flipped to his feet before sliding to a stop.
He red as he saw the smile on Mark''s face as Mark emerged from the copsing building. Mark was walking towards Hercules calmly, like he didn''t have a single care in the world. For some reason, that pissed Hercules off more than the fight itself.
Mark continued talking with that grin still on his face.
"You never learned it, did you? You are using it, but you never learned how to use it! You don''t even know what it fucking is! It''s just a toy to you!"
"What the hell are you talking about, boy!?"
Hercules was finally curious enough to ask, and Mark just grinned wider.
"Mana, you fucking fossil. I''m talking about your bullshit mana control."
Chapter 275: Void Slash: Lightening
"Mana. I''m talking about your bullshit mana control."
Mark couldn''t believe that he hadn''t noticed this earlier. Hercules was a behemoth with defenses that were impossible to prate, but after the fight they just had, Mark realized that this was really all there was to it. There was nothing that Hercules had in terms of mana control.
Hercules was using his mana in such a sloppy and pointless way that Mark initially thought there was some form of trick behind it. Was Hercules trying to lure Mark in, or was Hercules just making it seem like he was sloppy so that Mark would not notice that Hercules was doing something else? But that was not it at all. Hercules was not even trying to preserve his mana.
Hercules was just throwing it around like water!
This made Mark realize that Hercules had never actually learned mana control before, and it made sense. Hercules was blessed by Zeus to have superhuman strength, but that does not mean that Hercules ever had to learn to control that strength. He must have been born with perfect or near-perfect control, so he didn''t need to do anything with his mana to make it work for him.
But this game is outside of the rules of the gods. The mana that is coursing through Hercules now is obeying the rules of the game, and if Hercules does not use it well, it depletes like crazy!
Hercules was stunned when he heard Mark say that he wasn''t controlling his mana. Hercules was a proud man, and he hated being looked down on by anyone, and worst of all if Hercules was being looked down on by someone like Mark who was basically still a child to Hercules! Hercules shouted angrily!
"Shut your mouth, boy, or I will shut it for you! I have perfect control¡ª"
[User has applied mana to his legs]
Phwoosh!
Mark suddenly appeared beside Hercules at a speed that was higher than before! Mark grabbed Hercules by the face and spoke with that grin still on his face.
"So, did you see thating with your perfect control?"
BOOM!
Mark mmed Hercules'' head into the ground and Hercules was stunned as he watched Mark raise his feet. What was that speed!? Hercules was sure that Mark was not that fast before! Howe Mark could suddenly move this fast!?
[User has applied mana to his legs]
SLAM!
Hercules was able to get out of the way before Mark mmed his foot into the ground, and Mark watched calmly as Hercules used the vertical movement skill and dashed to the other side of the street quickly.
Mark rose to his full height confidently while talking to Hercules.
"You should stop using that attack. It''s only going to make it easier for me to win."
That straight charge that Hercules was using was the most predictable thing that Mark had ever seen. Mark was not able to dodge it the first few times because Mark never expected it to be that fast, but now that he knows that Hercules can use it, Mark was not going to fall for it again.
Hercules growled as he stood back up to his full height and got into a fighting stance.
"You fell for it two times already, boy. I know you are trying to get in my head, but you are going to have to try harder than that."
Hercules thought that Mark was just trash-talking and trying to get him to stop using the skill by making it seem like the skill was not going to work anymore. He was not going to fall for such a stupid tactic! Mark thinks that he would just stop using his most powerful charge because Mark said it was predictable. Did Mark think Hercules was a fool?
Hercules immediately gathered mana in his body, and Mark raised a surprised brow as he realized that Hercules did not listen to him. Mark''s grin widened as Hercules suddenly disappeared into that sh and appeared in front of him! This was only going to make it easier for Mar to win!
Boom!
Hercules mmed his fist into Mark''s chest, but Mark was able to bring his hands up into a cross quickly enough to block the punch, and he slid along the ground for a few meters before looking back up as Hercules charged his mana for another attack!
Hercules was nning on putting everything into this blow! He knew that his attacks were not really affecting Mark, so Hercules sent a massive amount of mana to his hands and prepared to strengthen his fist to the max so that it would tear right through Mark!
This time, Mark stood still without bothering to block as Hercules charged towards him! Just as Hercules was about to m his fist into Mark''s stomach, Mark suddenly dived to the side!
[Ignorance of The Death God] has been activated!
Mark put his hand forward and Hercules was suddenly assaulted with a feeling of dread that was telling him to dodge like his life depended on it! He was going to die!
Hercules didn''t know how to exin the feeling, all Hercules knew was that if he did not dodge at that moment, he was going to lose this fight. But what could he do now!? Hercules was already at full sprint and it was impossible for him to change directions when using this skill!Hercules was moving too fast for him to be able to change directions!
The world seemed to be going in slow motion as Hercules felt something against his back!
Mark was right. Hercules didn''t know how to control mana or how to properly preserve it in a fight. Hercules has never had to deal with mana before. He was not a magician like Merlin who knew how to properly utilize mana in the middle of battle. Hercules just used mana like a brute, forcing it out of his body to use it in any way that he wanted.
All of this added to the restrictions that the game ced on all the servants. it was obvious that Hercules was at a major disadvantage against someone like Mark who had almost perfect mana control.
And that was what allowed Mark to do what he was about to do without worrying about Hercules figuring it out. If Hercules was not even capable of measuring his own mana capacity, then there was no way Hercules would know that Mark had been preserving his mana like crazy since the start of the fight!
A mark on Hercules'' chest glowed with a dull ck light before Mark''s voice reached his ears.
"Void sh: Lightning."
Bzzt!
sh!
Spurt!
Boom!
The buildings in the area suddenly started to crumble as the void sh traveled past Hercules and mmed into them, splitting all of the buildings in two and making them copse under their weight.
Hercules became aware of the fact that he was falling. Hercules blinked his eyes in surprise as he felt himself getting closer to the ground, and he wondered what was going on. Hercules had been running just a moment ago, so why was he going down all of a sudden?
''Ah, I see. I already lost.''
Chapter 276: How Are You Able To Do That?
The top of Hercules'' body fell to the ground, but Hercules'' legs kept running until they were more than five hundred meters away before they finally fell to the ground as well.
Mark grimaced as he saw some of the buildings fall on some of the civilians who were trying to get out from the carnage. There were many people around who were trying to get away from the fight, but they were not able to run away quickly enough before the buildings came down. That was going to hurt.
Mark couldn''t really save every one of them, and he didn''t care enough to try, so he just walked over to Hercules.
Mark''s hand twitched and he flexed his fingers and grinned as he saw some lightning dance across his finger. Mark really didn''t know if he would be able to infuse lightning into the void sh like that. He thought that the two skills would interfere destructively and prevent him from doing what he did.
But Mark remembered that the void sh skill allowed him to use all his previous constitution skills, so he just figured that it would also allow him tobine them.
When Mark sent out that void sh, he also sent out a massive wave of lightning with it. Lightning is known to be very good at piercing and cutting, so he hoped that it would augment the void sh and make it stronger, and it turned out to actually do just that.
"I guess I created a new skill. I better go help Merlin."
[This is a broadcast to all participants in the Game of Gods.]
[The servant ROOK [Hercules] has been eliminated from the game by Servant PAWN. Servant PAWN has gained a twelve-hour non-aggression benefit. No servant-master pair is allowed to approach or attack Servant PAWN during the non-aggression period. Servant PAWN is not allowed to approach or attack a servant-master pair anytime during the non-aggression period.
If Servant PAWN attacks another servant-master pair during this period, the non-aggression benefit is revoked.]
[The territory of servant ROOK has been confiscated and will be passed on to servant PAWN.]
Mark ignored the broadcast from the system since he already knew what it was about, and he jumped up to a high building to look into the horizon to find out where the fight between Musashi and Merlin was happening. But before he could find out where it was, there was another broadcast.
[This is a broadcast to all participants in the Game of Gods.]
[The servant BISHOP [Merlin] has been eliminated from the game by Servant KNIGHT. Servant KNIGHT has gained a twelve-hour non-aggression benefit. No servant-master pair is allowed to approach or attack Servant KNIGHT during the non-aggression time period. Servant KNIGHT is not allowed to approach or attack a servant-master pair anytime during the non-aggression time period.
If Servant KNIGHT attacks another servant-master pair during this time period, the non-aggression benefit is revoked.]
[The territory of servant BISHOP already belongs to another servant and cannot be passed down to servant KNIGHT.]
What the fuck? Mark''s brow furrowed in a frown of irritation. Merlin already lost?
¡
[With Musashi and Merlin: Ten minutes ago]
Musashi jumped back as multiple ice shards mmed into the ground around him! Heshed out with his sword and shed three ice shards into pieces before they could get to him, and he waited with his senses on high alert as he watched Merlin charging up a new spell!
Various magic circles opened around Merlin and Merlin prepared to fire a massive fireball at Musashi. Merlin knew that he couldn''t use any of Luna''s mana in this fight since Mark was the only one allowed to use it, so Merlin had to be careful of how he used mana.
He was only going to use non-intensive spells that could be ignited using the atmosphere so that he could preserve his mana as much as possible.
Musashi suddenly charged forward!
Boom!
Before Merlin could finish creating the spell, he saw Musashi crouch low before charging straight at him! Merlin was a bit shocked by this, but he did not allow it to stop him from charging his spell. Instead, he simply started to dual-cast spells. He continued his fireball spell while also creating multiple magic circles on the ground around him!
Hundreds of wild vines shot out from the magic circles and flew towards Musashi to intercept him!
Musashi brought his sword forward and it blurred into action as he started to cut the vines down expertly! There were no wasted movements from him! Every action was perfectly calcted, every flip, every step, every sh! He was like a machine born only for swinging the sword in the most efficient way possible!
Merlin might be a mage, but even he could appreciate just how beautiful Musashi''s swordsmanship was! It was beyond anything that Merlin had ever seen! Even King Arthur didn''t have this level of skill with a sword!
Shink!
Shink!
Shink!
Musashi was about to get to Merlin, but luckily for Merlin, his magic was alreadyplete!
"Let''s see if you can cut this down, swordsman! Ignis Sphaera."
The wave of magic coalesced into a swirling ball of yellow mes that gathered into a condensed region before increasing in density and mass, forming a giant fireball that was taller than both menbined!
The fireball shot towards Musashi and Merlin expected to see it implode against him, but what happened next waspletely unexpected!
SLASH!
BOOM!
Merlin''s eyes widened as he saw a massive sh appear in the air and tear through the middle of the fireball before the entire thing seemed to split in two and fly past Musashi!
Ka-Boom!!
The two halves of the fireball imploded against a building in the distance, but Merlin''s eyes were glued on Musashi''s sword which was glowing with a dull blue light.
''He infused his sword with mana? How is he able to do that? I thought he was just an ordinary swordsman. I am sure there was no magic in thend during the time he was alive, so how is he this good at manipting mana?''
Musashi stood up to his full height and looked down at his sword with a dull gaze before he began to speak.
"I did not think I would need to use it so soon, but you are a truly fearsome opponent, magician."
Merlin narrowed his eyes.
"I believe you are from the time of samurai when there was no magic in thend. How are you able to infuse your sword with magic? Is it something given to your ss by the game, or did you learn it beforeing to this fight?"
The technique that Musashi was using is something that not even some of the best magicians are capable of learning for years. It takes a very good magician at least a year of understanding the intricate nature of a tool before they can infuse magic into that tool. The fact that Musashi was able to infuse his sword with magic could only mean one of two things.
Either the game was helping him to do it, and this was just another one of the things that a Knight could do because of their ss, or he was able to learn how to infuse his sword with magic in less than two days.
The second option was close to impossible.
Musashi looked down at the mana swirling around his sword wistfully.
"This mana thing, it is truly fascinating. I have never felt it before, but it seems as though the world would be a much better ce if everyone had it. My battles in my previous life would have been a lot more fulfilling had there been something like this in the mix. But for your question, I have no obligation to answer you. If you wish to know how I did this, then defeat me.
I shall tell it to you with my dying breath."
Chapter 277: Quadruple Casting!
The mana around Musashi''s sword suddenly began to move, spinning around the de like the de of a chainsaw and increasing in speed until it created a white-hot barrier, coating the entire de in mana. Merlin knew it would be best not to allow that to touch him, so he put up his hand and prepared for another spell.
Woosh!
Merlin''s eyes widened as he saw Musashi vanish before appearing in front of him, his de positioned to slice off Merlin''s neck. Merlin was shocked and started to fall back as his mind raced like crazy. Did Musashi also infuse mana into his legs? What is this man?
"Tarrae motus! Infernum Sacrum!"
Merlin cast two spells simultaneously, and Musashi felt the ground under his feet shift to the left as a massive earthquake raged across the area. The first spell that Merlin cast was the earthquake spell to unbnce Musashi and make him retreat, and the second spell was a fire-based spell that could be interpreted as Sacred Inferno.
Phwoom!
A massive fire surged to life between the twobatants, and Musashi was forced to retreat as he couldn''t get through the mes. Musashi ran to the side to nk Merlin, and Merlin put his staff out and started to unleash shards of ice as he tried to skewer Musashi with them. He was going to kill this man and learn about his magic!
sh! sh! sh! Shnk!
Musashi suddenly changed direction as he started running towards Merlin! He cut through three of the ice shards before deflecting ast one and getting in close enough to send a sh toward Merlin''s chest.
A magic circle appeared in front of Merlin and blocked the sh before Merlin stabbed the ground with the end of his staff and twisted it to the left.
"Flumen Mysticorum!"
WOOSH!!
A massive torrent of wind blew from around Merlin, and Musashi was not able to get away quickly enough as he was suddenly tossed into the air! The wind pressure increased in intensity, and Musashi was thrown around as the wind started to form into a massive tornado with Merlin in the middle. Merlin raised his hand and shouted out another spell!
"Impetus Tempestatum!"
mes sparked to life on the edge of his staff, and the tornado suddenly burst into an inferno! Everything around Merlin was burning, and Merlin knew that the amount of mana he would consume right now was going to be massive, but he couldn''t allow Musashi any time to rest.
If someone had good enough mana control, they would be able to get out of this without much damage, and Merlin knew that with the amount of control Musashi had, nothing was stopping Musashi from simply tanking this as well.
So Merlin decided that he would go one step further! Merlin hasn''t tried tricasting a spell in a very long time. It was something that no magician could do except for him. Moving your magic inside your body in a way that would allow you to cast three different types of magic simultaneously was seen as impossible by some and as madness by others.
Even Morgana with all her skill could only dual cast at any one time. Merlin was the only mage in known history capable of activating three spells at the same time.
A massive magic circle opened in the sky above the ming tornado as Merlin drained even more of his mana. The magic circle covered the entire region around their fight, and if you look closely enough, you will see that it was the same magic circle that Merlin used against Mark during their fight!
"Lactus Astroidis!"
The asteroid strike spell came to life, and Merlin deactivated the spell and jumped back at the same time to get out of the range of the spell.
Musashi dropped to the ground and breathed heavily as he tried to get his senses back. His clothes were singed and smoking and his hair was no longer tied in its rubberband as it fell all around him. Musashi used a lot of effort to avoid getting hurt by the mes that Merlin sent through the tornado. Discover stories with m,v l''e-NovelBin
Musashi took one more deep breath and coughed before he slowly got up to his feet and looked in the air to see the giant asteroid that was falling from the sky. He brought his sword up and began his preparation.
Merlin watched from a good distance away as Musashi reactivated the mana that was swirling around his sword. The mana sped up until it was white-hot and formed a de of mana around Musashi''s de.
Musashi''s face turned serious as he got into the perfect sword stance.
"I don''t think I can thank the gods enough for this opportunity. In all my time, I have never faced off against something like this before."
Musashi raised his sword into the air, and Merlin''s eyes widened as he realized what Musashi was about to do. Was he really going to try and cut the asteroid?
Musashi closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. Everything around him vanished into silence as he felt for the mana inside him. The mana swirled and gathered into a massive de that added even more fuel to his already surging mana, and the de in his hands elongated until it was more than a hundred feet long!
Two microseconds!
Musashi''s next series of movements werepleted in only two microseconds. He mmed his feet into the ground, crouched, and shed downwards in one fluid movement!
SHINK!
There was silence in the region for a long time, and nothing seemed to have the audacity to move. But before long, the sky itself split in half!
SHINK!
RUMBLE!
The ground under Merlin''s feet shook as a massive cut appeared across the ground! The clouds in the sky were rendered in half, and the buildings in the distance immediately began to break apart as they were all cut in half.
The asteroid that had been falling from the sky was suddenly falling in two distinct pieces, and Musashi brought his sword to his hip and sheathed it as the asteroid fell on both sides of him.
Musashi breathed a sigh of relief to calm himself, but he never expected the next attack that suddenly mmed into him from the sky!
SLASH!
A massive wind de mmed into his left side, taking his arm away and leaving him with only a stump. Musashi''s eyes widened in shock as he looked at it. What? Why was he not able to see the spelling? He didn''t even notice anything! Don''t tell me it was hiding behind the asteroid.
Then that meant he wasn''t casting only three spells! He cast four spells at the same time! This monster!
Chapter 278: No Need For Words
Musashi gritted his teeth and tightened the muscles on his shoulder to prevent the wound from bleeding out anymore. Otsu suddenly appeared from the side with a cloth, and she ran up to her husband with a look of worry on her face as she started to tie his shoulder with the cloth.
Musashi nced at her broken nose in anger, but he decided to ignore it for now as he thanked her quietly.
"Arigatou."
Musashi was toocent. He was so focused on the asteroid that he did not notice that there was another spell hiding behind that one.
Musashi might be a master at controlling mana, but he was still only a novice in the world of magic. He did not know how to distinguish the mana from one spell from that of another spell. If he had another day to really learn how mana worked, he might not have fallen for the trick, but Merlin learned from his fight with Mark and he put a countermeasure just in case the asteroid did not work.
Musashi finally looked towards where Merlin had been standing, and his eyes softened gently as he saw Merlin with his staff stretched out towards Musashi. Musashi brought his hand to his side and bowed to Merlin.
"It was a good fight, magician. You were strong till your dying breath."
The body of Merlin had been standing in the same spot since Musashi shed the air along with the asteroid, and after some time, a spray of blood burst out from the middle of Merlin''s body, right from his head all the way down to his feet before his body began to split apart and fell to opposite sides as he was cut in half.
Merlin''s body turned into golden dust before vanishing into the air to return to the cycle of rebirth.
"Darling, please stay still. I am trying to stop the bleeding, but your movement is making it hard."
Otsu spoke up as she wrapped the cloth around Musashi''s arm, and Musashi nodded as he stood still and allowed her to wrap it. Musashi knew that it would be difficult for him to fight against Mark with this sort of injury, so he decided that he would retreat for now and heal up first.
After healing, he cane back and get rid of the pawn before finding the king and getting rid of them as well. Musashi looked at the injury on Otsu''s nose, and his eyes narrowed into a re as he felt some anger rise inside of him.
Musashi knew that this woman was not really his wife. He had never met her in his life beforeing into this game, and he did not know why she was so adamant that they were married. But even though he did not know her, she was loyal to him and he couldn''t bear to see her hurt so much.
[This is a broadcast to all participants in the Game of Gods.]
[The servant BISHOP [Merlin] has been eliminated from the game by Servant KNIGHT. Servant KNIGHT has gained a twelve-hour non-aggression benefit. No servant-master pair is allowed to approach or attack Servant KNIGHT during the non-aggression period. Servant KNIGHT is not allowed to approach or attack a servant-master pair anytime during the non-aggression period.
If Servant KNIGHT attacks another servant-master pair during this period, the non-aggression benefit is revoked.]
...
[The servant ROOK [Hercules] has been eliminated from the game by Servant PAWN. Servant PAWN has gained a twelve-hour non-aggression benefit.]
[The territory of servant ROOK has been confiscated and will be passed on to servant PAWN]
¡
So Mark defeated Hercules? It was expected. Musashi could tell that Hercules did not have the same level of skill that Mark had. This game is more dependent on skill and magic than on power, and in terms of skill and magic, Mark was far more advanced than Hercules.
Musashi spoke to Otsu quietly.
"We will look after your injury once we are safe. First, we must retreat and find a ce to rest. We cannot fight in this state."
Otsu looked up at Musashi in surprise for a moment. She didn''t think that Musashi would care about her enough to say something like that. She blushed heavily as she thought that Musashi really loved her before she nodded her head in agreement.
[Servant PAWN has revoked his non-aggression pact]
A ck mark suddenly glowed on Otsu''s arm.
[Void sh: Lightning]
sh!
SPURT!
Musashi''s eyes widened in shock as he heard the sound of a de sh across the air! Otsu''s eyes widened in pain as she felt something sharp pass through her waist. She held onto Musashi''s shoulder tightly and Musashi quickly tried to grab her by the waist to hold her up, but his hand only touched air and blood!
Musashi looked down and noticed that Otsu''s lower body had already been split from her upper body! The lower body fell to the ground with a wet thump and Otsu''s blood rained to the ground like a waterfall.
"M-Musashi..."
Otsu called his name onest time and Musashi made sure to keep his eyes locked on her own as her eyes clouded over and she lost her grip on him. The top part of her body fell from his shoulder and dropped to the ground.
[The Master of KNIGHT [Otsu Miyamoto] has been eliminated from the game by Servant PAWN. Servant PAWN has gained a twelve-hour non-aggression benefit. No servant-master pair is allowed to approach or attack Servant PAWN during the non-aggression time period. Servant PAWN is not allowed to approach or attack a servant-master pair anytime during the non-aggression time period.
If Servant PAWN attacks another servant-master pair during this time period, the non-aggression benefit is revoked.]
Musashi''s hand tightened around his de as his teeth clenched until they creaked! There was a deep, intense anger surging through his body and he felt like killing something at that moment! A tear tried escaping from his eyes, but Musashi easily killed it as his eyes started to turn red instead. Musashi turned to his right and red at the man crouching on top of a building in the distance.
Mark was crouched on a skyscraper and looking down at Musashi with an impassive gaze that showed how little he cared about the woman he just killed. Did Musashi actually think that Mark would let her live after what she did to Luna? That was some bullshit.
Mark already knew he was going to kill her no matter what, and it was only Musashi''s bad luck that allowed him to be right beside her when she died.
Shink!
Mark tightened his gloves properly as Musashi drew his sword, allowing it to echo through the burning city. There was no need for conversation between the two men. They understood that the only way to end this was for one of them to die.
Otsu''s death was not like Morgana''s death which was temporary. Otsu wasn''t an immortal mage that had been in the cycle of reincarnation for centuries. Now that Otsu was dead, she was nevering back and Mark knew that it was likely that Musashi would never see her again. That is why Mark was not going to bother asking Musashi to join him and Luna.
Mark was able to get Merlin to join because Merlin knew that Morgana was not really gone, but Musashi was too angry and there was nothing that would make him agree to join hands with the people that killed his ''wife''.
Mark stood up to his full height and the two of them suddenly vanished from where they had been standing!
ng!
Chapter 279: No Wonder Merlin Lost
Mark stood up to his full height and the two men suddenly vanished!
ng!
The sound of metal striking metal rang through the region as they reappeared in the air! Musashi leaned down hard on his sword as he struck Mark''s closed fist! Mark was using the Glove of the Thunder God to hold back the de and he grinned at Musashi as he redirected the de to the side and mmed his feet into Musashi''s stomach!
Musashi was thrown back by the force, but he wasted no time as he got to his feet and dashed towards Mark! He delivered three more blows, but Mark easily parried all of them! Musashi was greatly limited since he had already lost an arm, so the amount of power he could put into his strikes was only half as strong as it should be!
Musashi shed through the air with his sword and Mark was about to dodge, but he noticed a massive amount of mana gathering at the sword a moment toote as Musashi augmented his sword with magic! This was nothing like the paltry control that Hercules had! Mark noticed that Musashi''s control over his magic was leaps and bounds above what was normal!
Mark was not even able to notice that Musashi was using mana until the veryst moment!
[Ignorance of The Death God] has been activated!
Mark suddenly twisted his body to the side as Musashi sent a wave of mana across the space where Mark had been! The wave traveled through the air and mmed through three buildings, splitting them in half with minimal effort and making them crumble to the ground from the force of the attack!
This bastard was really about to kill him!
Mark was stunned by the attack, but there was a grin on his face as he quickly dashed forward, sending mana to his feet! He rolled under another sh from Musashi and Musashi was forced to draw his de back and block a kick that would have broken his neck!
m!
m!
ng!
ng!
The two of them started to rail into each other with ferocity! Exchanging blows that would split mountains and destroy entire regions in the city!
"Rargh!"
Bam!
Mark finally found an opening in Musashi''s defense and he mmed his feet into Musashi''s midsection!
Ssh!
Musashi sshed into the Asakawa River and Musashi rushed to send mana to his legs. Musashi was a master at controlling mana, so it was no surprise when he was able to gather mana in such a precise quantity in his feet, that theynded on the water and stuck to the surface of the water, preventing him from sinking in.
Musashi skid backwards across the river like he was skating on ice and he narrowed his eyes as he saw Mark following after him on the bridge overhead! Mark jumped off the bridge and fell down to the river with a massive ssh that threw water everywhere!
Ssh!
[User has sent mana to his feet]!
Mark suddenly shot out from the water as he used the water surface as a ledge and Musashi brought his sword down in a lightning-fast sh as he tried to take Mark''s head off! Mark easily dodged backward to avoid the sh, but he was shocked to see a small cut appear on his cheek from the de!
Musashi did it again. He augmented his sword with magic and made it longer than normal. I can''t really judge the length of the de using my eyes since he makes it longer using mana!
Musashi lunged forward for another strike, but Mark parried the de to the side and grabbed Musashi''s arm before jumping up to deliver a massive kick that struck Musashi in the nose!
[Critical Hit]!
m!
Mark did not let up! He twisted around Musashi and threw Musashi''s hand up before mming his hand into Musashi''s stomach and throwing the swordsman across the river and into the distance!
[Lightning Surge]!
Bzzt!
"Argh!"
Musashi shouted in pain as he felt a bolt of lightning travel through his body. He skipped over the water like a stone before he finally sshed into the water. He bit down on his sword and rushed to climb out from the water, but Mark was right there beside him again with his legs drawn back like a footballer about to take a free kick!
BOOM!
Mark did not hold back at all as he delivered a massive kick to Musashi''s face and Musashi was thrown back again! Mark looked down at his feet and he saw a small cut there with blood leaking from it. That kick felt off. Mark looked at Musashi and he saw Musashi getting up from the water to stand on it.
There was arge bruise forming on Musashi''s forehead, but it was not as deep as Mark thought it would be.
''Oh, he must have blocked the kick using his hand while adjusting the de so that it would cut me once I touched him. This guy is almost as versatile as Merlin. No wonder Merlin lost.''
If Musashi was able to do all of this with only one hand, Mark could only wonder how strong the man was with both his hands.
Musashi was breathing heavily with his sword in his hand. The stump of his missing hand was bleeding again since he had moved it too much and he was bleeding from the bruise on his forehead.
Musashi took in a single calming breath and his breathing evened out as he calmed himself. He was not going to lose his calm in this situation. He had to think rationally and handle this fight once and for all.
Musashi knew that the only way to win this would be to draw Mark in and then ce Mark in a position where he couldn''t block at all before using his mana-based sword attack to finish the fight.
''But drawing him in close is the issue. This boy is a master at close-quarterbat. He shows no fear at all.''
Musashi would never say that he was a fearful man, but just looking at Mark rushing towards him for an attack would be enough to put fear into the hearts of even the most hardened veteran. Mark was fearless in close quarters and it was obvious that Mark relished the feeling of exchanging blows with his opponent.
Musashi bit down on his sword again and wrapped the cloth around his stump tighter before grabbing his sword and crouching low. Musashi didn''t know it, but there was a small smile appearing on his lips as he faced off against Mark. In his lifetime, Musashi was known for being one of the most celebrated fighters. He has fought against more than sixty samurai and defeated them all.
There was no way he was not enjoying exchanging blows with someone as skilled as Mark!
Mark noticed that Musashi was ready to go again and he dashed in for another round!
Mana [1020/2165]
Mark only had about half his mana remaining, but that was not a problem for him. Mark knew that even though Musashi looked fine, he was already on hisst legs and there was only onest big attack left before Musashi would be finished. Merlin might have lost that fight, but he did not go down without a good fight.
Chapter 280: You F*cking Liar
Mark reached Musashi and ducked under the wide swipe from Musashi. Musashi dodged the punch from Mark and used his feet to block a leg swipe that would have taken him into the water! Mark reached for Musashi''s head to m it into his knee, but Musashi held his head back and prevented Mark from bringing him down!
Musashi rotated his sword in his hand and thrust it forward to stab Mark in the stomach and Mark was forced to step back to avoid it!
Musashi dashed forward to pressure Mark, but Mark was no longer stepping back! Mark stepped forward and Musashi grinned as he kicked his leg into the water below them!
SPLASH!
The water sshed into the air, blocking Mark''s vision for a moment and Musashi used that moment to charge forward and drive a knee into Mark''s sr plexus! He kicked Mark in the kidney and finally flipped and drove Mark into the air with a perfectly timed kick to the jaw!
Bam!
Musashi wasted no time as he immediately activated the mana surge around his de once more. His mana gathered around the de and began to spin until it turned white-hot! Musashi raised his sword into the air with a dark look in his eyes and he waited for just the right moment for Mark to look at him!
But once Mark turned to him, he didn''t see the surprise that he thought he would see there. Instead, he saw a smug look that made him hesitate for a second.
[Demonic Killer''s Aura] has been activated!
Ba-Dump!
[The effects of [Fear] have been applied to the opponent.]
[The opponent will experience the effects of Fear for thirty seconds.]
What is this feeling?
There was a trembling in his chest.
Musashi couldn''t exin it, but he could feel something tremble inside of him. Almost like his heart wanted to leap out from his chest. This sensation. Don''t tell me. Am I afraid? Me?
Miyamoto Musashi!?
"Who are you to make me fear you!?"
Mark flipped around and mmed his fist into Musashi''s face!
[Divergent Fist]!
Boom!
Musashi flew back from the unexpected attack and Mark put his hand forward and aimed for Musashi. The grin on Mark''s face was downright disrespectful!
"I''m just Mark, motherfucker."
[Void sh: Lightning]!
Bzzt!
Five des of wind and lightning materialized from the manifestation of Mark''s mana and shed across the area before mming into Musashi''s defenseless body! Musashi''s body split into multiple pieces, and Mark watched as he fell into the ocean and slowly sank to the bottom.
Mark looked up at the sky as the system sent the message detailing his victory, and he only spared the rampaged city onest nce before leaping into the air and vanishing!
Inside the dome where the meeting was first held, the policewoman who brought Hercules to the meeting finally started to wake up from her unconscious state. She put her hand to her head in pain as a headache assaulted her and closed her eyes tightly to try and get the screams echoing in her mind to quiet down.
''Wait¡ screams?''
The woman opened her eyes, and her eyes widened in shock as she finally got a good look at what was in front of her. The city was on fire. Everything was burning, and there were broken buildings and crushed civilians all around her.
Helicopters in the air were trying their best to put out the fire with water from the river, and the sounds of ambnces and firemen screaming at each other were the only things echoing over the screams of pain from the people caught in the crisis.
She slowly got to her feet as she tried to understand what the fuck was happening in front of her.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Her phone began to ring, and she picked up absentmindedly.
"Hello."
"Yuna, I''ve been trying to reach you! Where are you!? Did you arrest that man that hit me!?"
Her partner that was beaten up by Hercules was on the other end of the phone, and he sounded pissed as he asked her if she managed to arrest Hercules. She almost felt likeughing, but she couldn''t evenugh as she shook her head and cut the phone without saying anything to him. She looked out into the city once more.
"What the hell happened here?"
¡
"What will you do if you get out of this alive? Are you going to keep fighting? Do you want to rest?"
Luna was sitting on the floor. The head of a young boy was in herp, and she gently caressed his forehead with a nk look. She watched his face scrunch up in thought. He had multiple injuries around his body, but Luna could see the injuries healing right in front of her eyes, and she knew that it would not be long before he waspletely healed.
It wouldn''t be long before he goes out there to continue the battle.
The boy grunted.
"I don''t know. My parents are dead, and all I want for now is revenge. Everything else is an afterthought."
"Oh, you are an orphan? I suppose we are alike then. But humor me, what will you want to do with all this power? After your revenge isplete, have you thought about what you will do?"
The boy was silent for a while longer, and the only thing that filled up the silence between them was the sounds of explosions and screamsing from outside the building. But neither of them bothered moving from their position on the floor, regardless of how loud the screams were.
After some time, the boy finally spoke.
"I''ll probably keep fighting. I like it."
Luna''s eyes widened in mild shock.
"Really? I didn''t think you would choose that. I''m a coward, so I''d probably go hide in my room if I were you. I wouldn''t want anything to do with the outside world anymore. It''s too scary for my liking. The people, the monsters, friends, family.
Everything is so scary."
The boy hummed as he finally sat up from herp. Luna immediately reached out to hold him¡ªshe did not want him to go¡ªbut he didn''t bother stopping as he stood fully. His injuries were already fully healed, and when he stood to his full height, it was obvious that he was preparing to go back into the fray.
The boy stood with his back to Luna and looked back at her.
"Staying all alone sounds pretty boring. I don''t know what happened to you, but I think you should give the world a second chance. It''s not all scary. And if you ever think that it''s too much, thene find me, I''ll protect you."
Luna gazed up at her savior with reverence, and after some time she nodded.
¡
Inside the hideout in the Bishop''s territory, Luna groaned in her sleep.
"You fucking liar."
Chapter 281: Just Forget About It
Luna shifted her leg into a morefortable position. Luna was currently leaning against the bathtub inside of the bathroom. There was a cloth tied around her leg, and she had tried her best to stop the bleeding by herself, but the fabric was already dyed red, and it was obvious that she did not do a very good job.
Luna had slowly lost strength while trying to prevent the wound from bleeding, and before she knew it, she was already drowsy and sleeping off from the blood loss.
Her breathing wasbored, and she was trying her best not to move too much so that she wouldn''t worsen the injuries.
"Luna. Luna, can you hear me?"
A faint voice spoke up from somewhere distant, and Luna''s eyes cracked open slightly as she tried to see what was in front of her. Her vision was blurry, and all that she could see was ck hair and a well-muscled body.
"KING? Is... Is that you?"
Mark frowned as he examined the wound on Luna''s leg.
"Luna, get yourself together. It''s Mark. Can you move?"
Mark put his hand on her forehead and saw that Luna was heating up. Mark knew a bit of first aid from all his time getting injured as GHOST, so he knew that he would be able to patch Luna up just fine. But they needed to move first before he could do that. She had to get off the hard floor and on the bed so that it would be easier for the both of them.
"M-Mark?"
Mark put his hand under Luna''s leg and shoulder and carried her bridal style while talking. Luna immediately groaned in pain as her wounds were shifted when Mark carried her.
"Yeah, it''s Mark. Just hold on. I''ll get you patched up."
Luna held onto Mark''s shirt tightly as he carried her and buried her face into his neck. She mumbled quietly, and even though Mark found it a bit difficult to understand her because of how sloppy her words were, he could get the general meaning of what she was saying.
"I''m sorry I''m holding you back."
Mark grunted.
"Save your strength. You''re delirious."
Luna chuckled.
"You always know just what to say, don''t you? I can never understand you half the time... but I can''t take my eyes off you. You''re the most interesting person I''ve ever seen since King."
Mark narrowed his eyes as he heard her say that, but he decided that now was not the time to ask anything about it. Instead, he just took her to a room andy her on the bed before getting a first aid box to start working. Mark first fixed up the wound on her leg. It was pretty deep, so Mark had to disinfect it and sew it up before wrapping a bandage around it.
After that one was patched up, Mark then got to work on her shoulder.
He was finishing up her shoulder when Luna groaned and sat up in the bed. She looked around, and Mark cut off the thread as he finished sewing up her shoulder.
"Mark. W-What happened?"
"I found you in the bathroom knocked out. Good job getting the bleeding to slow down before passing out. I''m proud of you."
Luna blushed as she heard the proud tone that Mark spoke to her in, and she grimaced as a wave of pain passed through her leg. She looked down and noticed that she was only wearing her underwear in bed! She quickly grabbed the nket and covered herself with a huge blush before she red at Mark!
"Y-You¡ You¡ I don''t even know what to say to you!"
Mark grinned.
"If it''s any constion, I didn''t cop a feel while you were sleeping."
Luna''s blush deepened, and she thought about hitting Mark on the head, but just thinking about moving her left arm was enough to send a shot of pain through her shoulder, and she was immediately groaning.
Mark told Luna to lie back down, but Luna shook her head.
"What happened in the fight?"
"I won. Merlin died fighting against Musashi, but he was able to injure him enough that it wasn''t difficult for me to put him down, and I beat Hercules on my own. The n went off without any issues. Now rest."
Luna smiled as she heard that Mark won against the two other servants. She was really worried that Mark would not be able to handle them because of how legendary they were, but she shouldn''t have been worried. She should have known that Mark would find a way out.
"Alright, you really need to lie down now. You aren''t going to ruin all my hard work with your stubbornness."
Mark was gently trying to talk Luna back into bed while closing up the first aid kit and cleaning his hands using a white cloth, but Luna''s eyes were fixated on Mark''s face. She saw the way his brow creased in worry for her, the way he frowned when staring at her injuries, the specks of blood on his face which showed that he had not even cleaned himself since he came back from the fight.
Did hee to help me immediately after killing the other servants? Luna felt something warm in her chest knowing that Mark was immediately thinking about her the moment after the fight.
She would me that warm feelingter on. She would me the warm feeling and the adrenaline for everything.
Because she knew that it was wrong, but at that moment, she didn''t care.
Luna reached out and touched Mark''s cheek when Mark was distracted with the first aid box and once he turned around, she leaned forward and kissed him.
Mark''s eyes widened in shock for a moment as he felt wet lips on his own. He was too stunned to even move for a few seconds, and this allowed Luna to capture one of his lips in her own and suck it gently once before she finally broke the kiss. Luna leaned back after the kiss with a blush on her face. She looked into his eyes and saw the shock in them.
But she did not see disgust or hatred, so she decided that maybe it was okay.
Luna''s hand trailed down from Mark''s cheek to his neck as she leaned in for another kiss, but she was shocked when she felt handsnd on her shoulders.
When Luna looked into Mark''s eyes again, there was a cold wave of anger surging in them that immediately froze Luna down to her bones. Luna was not a shy woman. She has never been a shy woman and nothing has managed to make her feel fear in nearly five years. But at that moment, Luna couldn''t help but feel afraid as she saw those empty eyes.
Mark closed his eyes for a moment and took in a deep breath. When he opened them again, his eyes were clear. He did not smile, he did not shout. He spoke with an unnatural calmness that did not reflect the amount of anger Luna could see in his eyes.
"I will forget that happened. Try to get some rest, you will need it to heal quickly."
Luna did not even know when Mark stood up from the bed. She only heard the sound of the door closing. After a few moments, Luna quietly grabbed the nket to cover her head, and she curled in on herself as shame threatened to overwhelm her.
"What the hell did I just do?"
Chapter 282: The Aftermath
That evening, Mark was sitting in the parlor with the television ying the news in front of him when Luna came out of her room quietly. The lights were off, but the television provided enough light to illuminate the parlor for her to move around.
She was wearing a pair of joggers and arge t-shirt that once belonged to the owners of this house, and she held the nket around her body tightly as she limped her way into the parlor.
When Mark left the room, Luna was gued with a lot of questions. She knew that she had done something wrong, but she had doubts about why Mark rejected her. Luna was beautiful, she knew that and everyone always said it to her, so there was no doubt in her mind. Did Mark not think that she was beautiful enough? Did he hate her because she kissed him first? Did she act too impulsively?
But after she finally calmed down, Luna almost facepalmed as she remembered something major that she seemed to havepletely forgotten. Arit. Mark had a girlfriend named Arit. How could she have forgotten about that?
Luna knew that she had to apologize.
Mark was the first person that Luna felt close to in more than four years. He was the only man that she felt like she could really talk to, someone who wouldn''t judge her even though their opinions differed. After everything that they had been through together, she saw him as the closest thing that she could ever call a friend. She couldn''t ruin all that just because of a momentary impulse.
Luna won''t deny that she liked Mark and wanted to take their rtionship further, but it was not enough reason for her to do what she did.
"Hey."
Luna spoke up from behind Mark and Mark turned around to regard her with a raised brow. He looked down at her leg and then at her shoulder before he turned back to the television.
"You should be in bed. You''ll ruin my stitches and make me do it all over again."
Luna smiled sheepishly at the veiled warning, and she limped around to sit down beside him on the couch while talking.
"Sorry, I couldn''t sleep. I just wanted to talk. Do you mind?"
Mark shrugged, and Luna put her hands between her legs while staring at her knees.
"Uhm¡ about earlier. I¡ I don''t really know what to say about it."
"I said I would forget about it ¨C"
"I know you did, but that doesn''t excuse what I did. I was wrong to try and force that on you when you already have someone else. I''m sorry."
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Mark hummed and switched the channels on the television to the Cartoon Networkg. Mark furrowed his brow as he didn''t recognize the cartoon that was ying. Mark has watched almost every cartoon on CN, so there was no way he wouldn''t recognize a cartoon ying on this channel. But he then remembered that he was in an alternate dimension. This was probably something that was never made on his earth.
Luna got more and more nervous as Mark didn''t say anything after everything she said, and that nervousness suddenly burst out of her in a shout as she stomped her uninjured leg.
"Say something already, this silence is killing me! That was my first kiss, you know! It''s bad enough that I have to apologize for it!"
Mark''s brows raised high into his forehead. What the fuck?
"That was your first kiss?"
Luna''s blush deepened even more and she frowned at Mark as she heard something sounding like a chuckleing from him! Was he actuallyughing at her!? This bastard!
"Don''t you dareugh at me!"
Mark couldn''t hold himself back and he immediately burst out inughter as he saw the look on her face. He covered his face with a hand and bent over as he tried to get hisughs under control and Luna just red at him in anger! If she had her powers, she would have frozen his leg forughing at her like this! She was here apologizing, and Mark was busyughing his ass off!
But after some time, even Luna couldn''t help it as she also startedughing. She chuckled while holding her nket tighter and sighed as Mark finally came down from hisughing fit.
"I can''t believe that was your first kiss."
Luna hissed at Mark like an angry cat and Mark raised his hand.
"Alright, alright, I forgive you. Just, don''t do that again. You''re a beautiful woman, Luna, but I love Arit more than anything, so I can''t return your feelings. I hope you understand."
"Y-Yeah, that''s fine ¨C That''s fine. So¡ uhm, are we okay?"
"Yes, Luna, we''re okay. Now go rest before you pop a blood vessel."
Luna smiled and stood to limp back to her room so that she could finally get some rest. She knew that things would be weird between her and Mark for some time, but now that she had spoken to him, she hoped that they would be fine.
¡
"The string of recent disappearances in and around Shibuya has raised concerns among residents. The city governor released a statement issuing a curfew on the citizens in order to try and reduce the number of casualties being recorded. As of now, a record 500 people have been reported missing, their whereabouts and state fully unknown."
Mark narrowed his eyes from the kitchen as he watched the beautiful newscaster on television talking about the recent disappearances in Shibuya that started a few days ago. It had been three days since Luna got injured during the fight against the Knight''s master, and even though she was not yet fully healed, she could already move around with minimal effort.
The government was still trying to salvage the Arakawa incident that happened a while back. The fight that the servants had there destroyed more than half of the residential area and killed almost as many people as the fight between Merlin and Mark.
Piiiiiii~!
The sound of the kettle going off alerted Mark to what he had been doing, and he took the kettle off and finished making his coffee. He poured a second cup for Luna, put stirring spoons in the cups, and took both cups to the dining table.
"Do you think the king is responsible for the killings?"
Luna spoke up as she thanked Mark for the coffee. She took a sip and grimaced a little as she felt the strong vor of Mark''s coffee, but after some time, her expression leveled out as she took another sip calmly. She had gotten used to Mark''s strong coffee after drinking it for three days straight.
There was no sugar in the house and she was not going to make Mark go out there just so that she could get some sugar, so she had to get used to the coffee whether she liked it or not.
And besides, Mark made it for her, so she didn''t care how bitter it was. She was going to drink all of it.
Mark nodded his head at her question while taking a seat beside her.
"Yes, it''s definitely the king. I don''t know what she is trying to do though. Why would she kill five hundred people? Is there some sort of condition she is trying to fulfill for the game?"
Chapter 283: The Right Way To Use Mana
"Yeah, it''s probably the king. I don''t know what she is trying to do though. Why would she kill five hundred people? Is there some type of condition she is trying to fulfill for the game?"
Luna looked at the screen again as she also wondered what the king was trying to do. They already knew that the king was in the Tokyo museum as Merlin said, but there hadn''t been any movement from the king since the fight between the Pawn, Rook, and Knight ended. There has only been a continuous string of killings that left everybody in Shibuya puzzled.
Mark shrugged while taking another sip of coffee. He couldn''t really say anything about the king since he didn''t understand what she was doing either. Mark even sent out the wiik-bat for surveince, but it had yet to find anything substantial. The king''s territory was protected by strong magic, so the wiik-bat was not able to go very far into the territory since it was weak against magic.
All Mark had seen was arge number of people standing perfectly still outside the king''s territory. They were almost like guard dogs, but there were no signs of movement from them at all. They stood still regardless of the weather or time of day, just like zombies.
Is the king creating an army?
That was the only conclusion that Mark coulde to about this situation. If the king was creating an army, then he would have to attack before she could make it toorge.
"How are your injuries? You said they were healing faster than before, right? Do you think you''ll be able to get on your feet again soon?"
Mark changed the topic and Luna nodded as she grabbed her shoulder and pressed down on it a little. Her injuries were healing at a much faster pace than any human''s injuries should heal, and Luna just guessed that it was due to the presence of her mana in her body. Luna still couldn''t use mana in the game, but that did not mean that she did not have her mana.
Her mana was there, but she just couldn''t bring it out.
But after she learned how to properly move mana through her body from Merlin, she could tell that her mana was working a lot more efficiently now.
"Your mana control has gotten better too. Is it because of what Merlin taught you?"
Luna nodded as she eyed Mark curiously. How could Mark tell that her mana control got better? As far as Luna knew, Mark was not the best at sensing mana at all. Mark was not able to sense his own mana just a few days ago, and now he could tell her how her mana was flowing through her body?
"Can you feel my mana?"
Mark took another drink of coffee and nodded absentmindedly.
"Yeah, I can see the highlight of it. It''s almost like a white vein traveling across your entire body and sending mana through you. It used to be a single core in the middle of your body pouring mana into every part of you, so I think it changed because of what Merlin taught you."
Luna was stunned. Mark was already capable of seeing how she sent mana through her body. Since when? Luna asked Mark how long it had been since he could do this and Mark just told her that it hadn''t been that long.
Ever since she told him about how to make mana flow through his body properly, he has been feeling for his mana and the mana of the people around him, and it was a lot easier for him to sense mana now.
Mark used to depend on the system for everything concerning mana, so now that he was finally doing some of it himself, it was as if all the mana around him was open for him to see whenever he wanted.
Luna was dumbfounded. Mark did not understand why this was such a big deal, but Luna knew that this was something that no normal person should be capable of. To be able to start sensing mana only four days after learning how to spread mana in your body was not only absurd, it was freakish. Normal superhumans all start off the same way that Mark started.
They would not be able to control the mana in their body for some time, but after learning how to control the mana, they will be able to sense the mana of the things around them, and then they will start sensing the mana of the people around them. The transition from being able to control your mana to being able to sense the mana of other superhumans would usually take at least three months.
Luna only took three weeks and she was already considered a prodigy. But Mark was able to do all that in four days?
"You don''t understand how impressive that is, do you? You''re not even a magic-type fighter."
Mark seemed a little confused by what she said, but he eventually disregarded it as he grabbed the cups from the table and took them to the kitchen. Luna kept talking as Mark washed the cups.
"Merlin taught me that the mana in the body shouldn''t be a single entity. It should be split up into many parts and then those parts should be taught how to carry out certain functions. Like how his mana heals him once it is up to a certain level. He has a fixed amount of mana that handles only healing him and nothing else. He also has a portion of mana set out for defense, attack, and even flight.
All the mana for these things are split up. I''m trying to do the same thing, but it is taking some time because my mana is already used to doing everything at once. If I can get it to split up properly and train the individual parts to do what they need to do, the potency of my mana should increase."
Mark hummed in understanding. He got the basic gist of it, but wouldn''t that reduce the amount of mana you can use for other things? Separating a part of your mana for one thing would reduce the amount of mana you can use for something else. And if you have too many things to use mana for, then you can only use a little bit for everything at a time.
Mark asked this to Luna and Luna nodded.
"Yes, it reduces the amount of mana I can use for one thing at a time, but it is still more efficient. Healing mana is healing mana and it will always be more efficient at healing than attack mana. That way, I can gain more while using up less mana. I might only be able to use less mana for something, but that does not mean it will be weaker at all.
You know, if you want, I could teach you how to use it too. I''m strong enough to have a few lessons now."
Luna blushed slightly as she said thest part. Her head was turned away from Mark and she tried to make her voice sound as casual as possible while waiting for Mark''s response. Mark smiled as he came back to the table while cleaning his hands with a towel.
"Really? That''s nice. I think I''ll take you up on that offer."
Chapter 284: Joan, Gilles and The Reason For Irrational Murder
"Really? That''s nice. I think I''ll take you up on that offer. I''m not really a mana freak like you, but there is something that I want to use mana for in my fighting style and it sucks up an enormous amount of mana, so I want to learn how to use it more efficiently."
Luna frowned.
"I''m not a mana freak."
"Luna, you have more mana in your arms than I have in my entire body. You are a mana freak."
Luna blushed at the lopsidedpliment and she huffed and turned away from him to look at the television again so he wouldn''t see how his words affected her. Luna didn''t know why she was like this whenever Mark said anything nice to her.
She already told Mark that she was sorry for kissing him and the both of them had gone back to normal since then, but for some reason, she couldn''t look Mark in the eyes whenever he spoke to her like this. She would turn into a blushing mess and it irritated her that she couldn''t do anything about it.
Luna sighed. If only he wasn''t in a rtionship already.
Luna stole a nce at Mark and saw that he was looking away from her and watching the news again. Her eyes roamed over his body and she couldn''t help but notice everything. She noticed the way the muscles on his arms twitched at regr intervals ¨C a warning to anyone that he was always ready to move at any moment.
She noticed how his angr face glowed in the sunlighting from the window and she swallowed as she watched his chest tighten against his shirt with every breath he took in.
Oh god, she was going to have a heart attack.
Luna had to look away from Mark and put her hand to her chest as she felt her heart rate spike! Her cheeks were burning and Luna struggled to stop the blush she could feel rising on her cheeks.
What is wrong with her!? She only looked at him and she was already like this!? This was getting out of hand!
" ¨C sneak into the king''s territory."
Luna suddenly caught the ending part of something Mark said and she blinked in surprise as she realized that she had nked out and missed what Mark was saying. She quickly tried to get back into the conversation.
"S-Sorry, what was that?"
Mark rose a brow at Luna as he noticed that she did not hear him. He saw her holding her chest and he narrowed his eyes in worry while asking if there was something wrong.
"Is your wound acting up? Maybe I should take a look at it again. You might have moved something when you got up this morning."
Luna waved her hands.
"N-No, it''s nothing like that. I just wanted to hold my chest."
Wow, that''s really smooth, Luna.
Luna almost felt like sinking into the ground from embarrassment when she noticed the confused look Mark gave her. But after some time, Mark turned away and she sighed as he started to repeat what he had said.
"I said I think I should sneak into the king''s territory to find out what they are up to. It''s been three days already and I am notfortable with their silence. The wiik-bat cannot get too close because of the protections around the territory. It''s really weak to mana, so getting through the mana defenses is difficult."
"But isn''t that dangerous? You won''t have anyone backing you up if you go in there. It could end badly."
"I''m still going to fight her anyway, so I need to see what the king is doing. If I go in there, I will get the abilities of the king as well. I should be fine even if they try to do anything, and if it''s too dangerous, I''ll just use the bishop''s authority to get back here."
Luna sighed and nced at her shoulder in irritation. She hated how weak she was here. She knew that she could trust Mark to take care of himself, but she did not want him to go in there alone. He needed someone backing him up, someone strong.
"Alright, you can go, but if I sense anything is wrong and I don''t see you, I''m using amand seal to bring you back here."
Mark nodded before he got up and went to get ready to leave.
¡
"Just a while longer, Joan. Just a little while longer and we will have everything that we need. I shall bring you back to all your former glory." Discover more stories at m,v l''e-NovelBin
An old man with white hair and a wrinkly appearance was kneeling gently in front of a girl. The girl was tied to a long post that had been stabbed into the ground. Her clothes were tattered and burnt and there was arge bruise that spread across both her feet, deforming the skin there with ck scars and burn marks.
The girl tied to the post was named Joan d''Arc, the woman sentenced to death by fire during the Hundred Years'' War between the French and the English five hundred years ago. Her head was bowed and there was no movement from her at all other than quiet muttering that echoed through the museum eerily.
Joan d''Arc had been summoned to this game from the pyre where she had been sentenced to burn to death. Ares grabbed her body from that pyre and ced her in the game.
Why?
Because Ares thought her mindset right now was the most entertaining out of all her versions. Joan was once a faithful servant of the gods who would do anything they wanted, but right now Joan was filled with hatred for the gods as well as humans and Ares knew that putting her into the game while she was in her worst state of mind would provide him with the most entertainment.
Joan, meanwhile, was having an internal crisis as her mind raced. What did she do to deserve this? Why were her people turning on her like this after everything she did for them?
Did she not win the war for them? Did she not tell them the words of the gods? Did she not fight for them?
She fought for them and this was how they repaid her?
"Hurry up, Gilles. Hurry up and finish the ritual. We don''t have much time."
Joan muttered in a spiteful voice that showed just how angry she was, and the old man standing at her side bowed reverently.
"Yes, my Lady. I shall fulfill your requests to my dying breath. I shall bring you forth once more to lead the people to prosperity. I shall kill and kill until you are satisfied with the blood pooling at your feet!"
The old man stood up and turned around to look at the hundreds of humans hanging by their necks from ropes on the ceiling all around him.
The humans who were hanging from the ceiling had all been bled dry and their blood was pooling on the floor around Joan. The old man smiled and took in a deep breath as he enjoyed the smell of fresh blood in the morning. This was the definition of true ecstasy.
Chapter 285: Would You Kill Thousands In Exchange For Power?
The old man was named Gilles de Rais. He had once been the bodyguard and closepanion of Joan during her journey as the warrior maiden, but he had lost his life to the French council just before Joan was sentenced to die. He was summoned into this game to serve as Joan''s master.
Gilles knew that the gods could not be trusted. Was it not the gods that promised them victory with one hand and then led Joan to the pyre to be burned with the other? No, Gilles refuses to trust the gods for anything ever again. Instead, Gilles would perform a ritual for Joan to live again in this world. He would give her a second chance at life, away from the machinations of the gods.
For the ritual to be sessful, Gilles needed to kill a thousand humans and use their blood as a catalyst to allow Joan to regain her former strength. Once the ritual was over, she would have enough strength to destroy all their enemies.
Gilles walked out into the pool of blood and scooped out a bowl of blood, carrying it over to one of the walls of the museum. That wall was covered from top to bottom in various shapes and circles drawn using blood.
"We shall bring the fight to the gods and erase them. They will pay for what they have put us through."
Gilles whispered with a small smile on his face as he continued drawing on the wall. The museum was slowly filled with the morning sunlight, illuminating him and showing the truly grotesque scene all around the art museum. His body was bony and malnourished because he hadn''t eaten in thest four days, but that was of little matter to him.
The bodies hanging from the ceiling filled the room with a deep, pungent scent of blood that would make any normal person heave in disgust. The priceless paintings and sculptures in the museum had all been dyed red with blood, and there wasn''t a single part of the room that hadn''t been covered in red.
"Gilles. Gilles, water."
"Oh, my mistress! At once!"
Gilles heard Joan speak up quietly and he quickly turned around and threw the bowl to the ground! He ran up to her and took a bottle of water from the side. Gilles did not understand much of this world, but he had to admit that it was much easier to get food and water here than it was in his time.
Gilles brought the water to Joan''s mouth and made her drink, ensuring that she was satisfied before bringing the water down slowly. Joan coughed once and Gilles quickly brought up a cloth and cleaned her mouth. Once he was done, Joan spoke quietly.
"Thank you, Gilles. You are truly my most loyal retainer."
"Please, Lady Joan, you exalt me far more than I deserve. I do this only for the love I have for you, for my own selfishness."
Joan did not say anymore as she just let her head fall. She could feel the presence of all the people she had taken control of around her, and she felt safe knowing that thest remaining servant would not be able toe close without her knowing.
Mark Vanitas.
That was the name that the gods spoke of the most. They spoke of him as though he were a pest that they could never get rid of no matter how hard they tried. Who is he? Why was I brought here just to kill him? Is he an enemy of the heavens?
No, I know what this is.
This is a test. The gods are testing us. They put me against him to see if he is worthy of their blessing. To see if he can take control of the gift they had once bestowed upon me. They want to rece me like trash. Do they think I''ll take this lying down?
Do they think they can toss me aside and I''ll roll over like a dog? I''ll kill them. I''ll kill them all! Everyone that ever hurt me! I''ll kill them!
Joan''s teeth were clenched so tightly that she was afraid she would break a tooth, but after some time, she finally calmed herself and sighed as she hung her head.
"How much longer before the ritual isplete? I grow weary of staying in such a position for so long."
Gilles quickly sloshed across the blood pooling on the ground and grabbed the bowl of blood while talking.
"Not long now, mydy! Not long! You shall possess the strength of a thousand men once the ritual is finished! You shall possess all the power you need to do battle against the gods themselves!"
Joan gave no response, but Gilles knew that she had heard him. Gilles was about to continue working, but he suddenly heard Joan speak up from behind him.
"There is someone here. It is him, Mark Vanitas."
Gilles felt fury surge through his body as he heard that! Mark Vanitas was here! It was time for them to end this! He had to finish him off once and for all! Gilles felt his entire body vibrate in anticipation as he nned to go out there and kill Mark!
"Stay here, mydy! I shall go and bring you his head!"
"No, Gilles, wait! Do not be foolish, you don''t stand a chance against him. Bring him to me, I wish to talk to him."
Gilles was already halfway out the door by the time he heard what Joan said, and he forced himself to calm down as he turned to her.
"Mydy?"
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Joan was obviously struggling to speak, but she tried her best to exin after catching her breath.
"Maybe he will understand and we cane to an agreement. He is strong, the gods would not want him otherwise. He will be a good ally to have in our war against the gods. Bring him to me."
It was obvious that Gilles did not agree with this. He looked a little offended by the fact that Joan would want to speak to Mark at all. It was as though Joan was saying that he was not enough support for her and she needed someone new. But Gilles did not dare to speak up against Joan.
Gilles bowed in reluctant agreement and went off to meet Mark.
Outside the museum, Mark was standing on top of a tall pir east of the building as he surveyed the region. There were a lot of people around the building, but Mark could already tell that these people were not normal. None of them were moving; they all stood perfectly still like statues guarding the entrance to the building.
Chapter 286: Honor? Whats That?
"Wiik! Wiik!"
The wiik-bat suddenly appeared from the side and pped around Mark excitedly. It flew around him a few times before itnded on his shoulder and made an apologetic noise at the back of its throat. The wiik-bat had been trying for almost five hours to get into the museum, but it couldn''t because of the high magical defenses around.
Mark smiled as he gently scratched the wiik-bat in the space between its antennae.
"You useless bastard. You couldn''t get through and now you''re acting all cute."
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''I''m sorry.''
The wiik-bat apologized again and Mark just chuckled. Mark knew that it would be hard for the wiik-bat to get inside because of the high magical defenses, so he was not angry.
"It''s fine, you can go meet Luna and rest. You know where she is, right? I''ll be fine, so -"
"Wiik! Wiik!"
The wiik-bat did not even wait for Mark to finish what he had been saying as it pped its wings in excitement and jumped off Mark''s shoulder to go and meet Luna. It was no longer apologetic at all and it abandoned Mark once it heard Luna''s name. Mark watched the wiik-bat fly away with an irritated look on his face.
"The bastard really gets on my nerves."
Mark shook his head and forgot about the damn traitor as he focused back on the building in front of him. Mark wasn''t the best sensor, but even he could tell that there was a ton of magic surrounding this building, and all of it was focused on preventing anything from getting in without permission.
Mark could try to force his way in, but he didn''t know if there were any other traps or deterrents that they put in ce for situations like that. Imagine trying to break in and suddenly you''re skewered by magic arrows. Knowing the sort of monsters that were summoned in this game, I wouldn''t be surprised if the king could do something like that.
But Mark was surprised when he suddenly saw someone walking out of the museum. The person who walked out was an old, decrepit man who looked like he was made of bones. He was so thin that Mark almost thought that this was a zombie! But the man had a frown on his face and he walked with a tight gait that showed there was more power in those bones.
He looked around curiously and Mark could tell the man was looking for something. Did the mane out here for me?
"Mark Vanitas! I know you''re out there! I havee with an offer from mydy! Will youe in and hear us out!?"
Well, isn''t this interesting?
Of all the things that could have happened, this was thest thing that Mark thought would happen. Was this a trap? Are they trying to lure me into their territory where they will find it easier to kill me? Or are they really trying to bring me over to their side? What purpose would that serve?
Mark was immediately curious about what the old man had to say. But no matter how curious he was, Mark knew better than to just walk into enemy territory because they asked nicely.
"Mydy is just and honorable, do not fear an attack from a simple invitation. She simply wishes to speak to you regarding your ce in this war and what it could mean for us all."
"Fuck her honor, and yours too. If she wishes to meet me, tell her toe out here."
Mark finally spoke up and the old man looked up in shock as he heard Mark''s voice. Mark was standing on a tall pir right in front of the rising sun, so it was difficult for the man to look right at him. Gilles squinted as the morning sun almost blinded him and he had to look away after a moment.
"Mydy cannote out here. She wishes to talk to you inside."
"Then, unfortunately for you, I will have to decline. I know better than to walk into enemy territory."
"We will bring you no harm."
"Only a fool would believe that."
The old man grit his teeth in anger as Mark refused to listen to him. Joan was giving him such a precious invitation and he was spitting on her kindness by refusing in such a brazen manner!? This fucking bastard! Who does he think he is!?
Gilles suddenly shouted at Mark in anger.
"Stop fucking around, little boy! Who do you think you are!? The great Lady Joan has invited you to speak and you are to insult her by refusing! I will cut you down like you are nothing!"
"Gilles, that is enough."
A voice suddenly spoke up from behind Gilles and the man turned around to see a woman standing behind him. Mark also looked behind Gilles and he saw that there was a civilian standing there. She was obviously not the king.
She was wearing modern-day clothing, with brown hair and a kind smile but she had an empty look in her eyes that made her seem like she was looking at something far away from the present. She was just one of the puppets that had been standing around the building earlier.
"Lady Joan, you should not be exerting yourself so much."
Gilles suddenly spoke up in worry as he saw the woman and Mark raised a brow. So Joan possessed a body to talk to him? How did that work? Was that one of the skills given to the king or is it something she can do normally?
The woman raised her hand and told Gilles to calm down before turning to look at Mark. The sun shining in her eyes did not even bother her and she made sure to make eye contact with Mark before she started talking.
"So you are the one chosen by the gods over me. It is a surreal feeling, standing before your recement."
Mark did not react to her words and Joan just smiled.
"I understand that you possess power beyond what I did in my time. But I don''t think you really know what you are getting yourself into. Tell me, do you think the gods really care about us? All this, the powers, the games, the fights, what do you think they are for? Do you think the gods did this for us? No, they did not.
They did all this for themselves. To them, we are nothing but entertainment to be discarded whenever they wish. But I have a n. I will cut my connection to the gods and I will gain power. And when the time is right, I will kill the gods."
Joan raised her hands to her sides as she spoke dramatically and Gilles looked like he just heard the messiah''s final speech as he listened raptly. He fell to his knees and bowed to Joan reverently and Mark almost chuckled at theedic disy.
Chapter 287: You Disgust Me
Joan ignored Gilles and stretched her hand out to Mark.
"I wish for you to join me. Help me in my fight against the gods and I will grant you all the wishes you could ever want. Together, let us bring forth a new age¡ªthe age of mortals."
Her outstretched hand beckoned to Mark invitingly, but from the way Mark was looking down at her like she was nothing but trash, Joan could tell what woulde out of his mouth even before he spoke.
"Are you a fool?"
Joan''s eyes narrowed in anger and she dropped her hand as she heard Mark talk. She did not bother to say anything as Mark continued.
"You want to fight against the gods? Do you have any idea what it means for you to do something like that? Do you know how powerful the gods are? Do you think overthrowing the gods is something you can n and achieve just because of that?
"It''s not like I''m friends with the gods. I am not someone who wille and tell you that the gods are the most just bunch. But the one thing I know about them, the only thing I can respect, is that the gods are stronger than you can ever imagine. They will destroy you before you can make it to their gates. They will erase your existence with a sneeze. You wish to kill the gods?
You wish to usher in the age of mortals? Don''t make meugh. You''re only making a fool of yourself."
"You BASTARD!!"
Shink!
Gilles was already on his feet with his knife drawn, but Joan raised her hand as she saw Mark''s eyes narrow into a re. Joan knew that Gilles couldn''t do anything to Mark. Just because Mark refused toe into her territory did not mean that he was afraid; it only meant that he was cautious. His power is nothing to scoff at.
Once Joan was sure that Gilles was not going to attack, she turned back to Mark.
"Are you sure you do not wish to join me? I can offer you far more than the gods ever did."
Mark scoffed.
"Don''t delude yourself. I only swore my allegiance to one god. All the others can die for all I care. But you couldn''t offer me water in the middle of an ocean. That is how powerless you are. Now, let''s focus on why I came here today."
[Demonic Killer''s Aura] has been activated.
Experience more tales on m v|l e''-NovelBin
"!"
Joan suddenly felt like she was going to die! Her avatar took a step back and held onto her chest in pain before she started to puke out blood on the floor! Gilles shouted out for Joan in fear, but he could not move as his entire body locked up from the oppressive feeling of death that filled the entire region! It felt like a demon was standing right in front of him!
Mark walked to the edge of the pir he had been standing on and stared down his nose at Gilles and Joan.
"You see, I am not someone that cares too much about strangers. I don''t mind killing and the idea of a person dying does nothing to move my heart. But regardless of how cruel I am, even I believe that you have gone too far."
Joan red at Mark as she felt the massive pressure pressing down on her. What is this power? Was this his aura? Joan was right to have been cautious of Mark. He was unbelievably powerful.
"I don''t understand why you are angry. What is the difference between what I am doing and what you did in your fights against the other servants? I saw the scene of your fight after it ended, you took more lives in a night than I did in more than four days!"
Mark tilted his head to one side.
"That is that and this is this. Their death was inevitable and there was nothing I could do about it for my own safety. But you''re consciously seeking out and killing people for your own gain. I feel disgusted by your existence."
[The opponent has been inflicted with [Fear]]
Joan suddenly felt all the strength in the body she was controlling leave and she shouted while separating herself from the body!
"Gilles! Get out of there!"
Gilles was petrified down to his bones and it was impossible for him to move out of the way before Mark charged straight at him! Mark raised his hand to grab Gilles'' face, and Gilles put out his hand to protect himself.
Slush!
Arge wave of blood surged out from his wrist and spread out in front of him to act as protection.
m!
Mark''s fist struck against the blood shield and Mark was stunned when he did not immediately break through the shield. Mark did not use his full strength for that punch, but that does not mean that Mark did not put any power behind it. That punch would have been enough to bring down a building.
"Gilles! Get inside! Now!"
Joan''s voice echoed through the area and Mark saw Gilles rush to his feet and run into the museum to hide. Mark put his hand out as Gilles was rushing through the entrance.
[Void sh]!
The Void sh flew towards Gilles before bending around him and going towards the building! It mmed into the entrance pirs and took out most of the front wall.
SLASH!
Rumble!
Gilles stumbled as he heard the entire building beginning to rumble and he looked up to see many rocks falling from the roof.
"M-Mydy ¨C"
BOOM!
Gilles couldn''t get out of the way quickly enough and the rocks mmed into him, crushing him under their weight. Mark watched curiously as the blood that spilled from Gilles was suddenly carried out from the rubble and flew into the building. A magic circle appeared on the floor around the building and all the defenses cast on the building suddenly vanished.
So Gilles was the one who cast all the defenses? They were all tied to him, so once he died, the defenses were immediately brought down.
Mark didn''t rush into the building since he was still a little cautious. He walked up to the building calmly, but he stopped as the people that had been under Joan''s control started to run towards him! Mark narrowed his eyes in annoyance. Was she trying to stop him with something like this?
Mark put his hand out and activated [Lightning Surge]!
Bzzt!
A massive wave of lightning flew out from Mark''s hand and spread through the atmosphere, and Mark watched as all the people in front of him groaned in pain as they were electrocuted! Many of them were thrown back and the rest simply slumped to the ground, incapable of moving!
The Lightning Surge was an S-rank skill, so Mark reduced the output of his lightning surge so that the people wouldn''t die. No human would be able to live if they were hit with an S-rank lightning skill. They were going to be experiencing phantom pains for the rest of their lives and some of them might even have some nerve damage.
But as far as Mark was concerned, it was fine as long as they weren''t dead.
Chapter 288: The Blood Maiden
Inside the building, Joan used up arge portion of her strength to control as many people as possible while ring at the door in front of her. Joan was not very good at drawing magic circles; it was Gilles who knew a lot about it. But since Gilles was dead now, Joan had to do the best she could to finish the ritual as quickly as possible.
Five tall men under Joan''s control were drawing on the wall of the building very quickly. Joan was splitting her consciousness between the five of them and making them draw the magic circles on the wall.
Controlling these many people at the same time was making her grow extremely weak, but Joan tried her best to power through the process because she knew that if she did not do something now, she was going to die here.
The ritual that Gilles had been preparing was something that would give Joan more power. It would allow Joan to act outside of the game''s control. Giles would have needed another day or two toplete it, but Joan knew that she did not have that sort of time. There was a literal monster at her door, so she had to hurry up and finish the ritual as quickly as possible before Mark could get in.
It didn''t matter if she did everything perfectly or not. As long as she was able to move about well again, that was all that mattered to her. She was not going to die a second time without getting her revenge!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The sound of the entrance being mmed into made the entire building shake, and Joan urged her minions to hurry up! Joan groaned as she felt a massive amount of her strength leaving her and waited with bated breath as her minions finally finished off thest of the magic circles!
Immediately they were done, she shouted at the top of her lungs, "T¨¦n¨¨bres et vilenie, conformez-vous ¨¤ mes ordres et ordez-moi le pouvoir de r¨¦sister aux dieux!"
(A/N: Roughtly trantes to; Blood and Darkness, answer mymand!)
Her words were said in French with a deep, rumbling undertone that made everything in the room shake!
[Sonic Impact]!
Boom!
The minions that were drawing on the wall were immediately thrown back by a massive explosion that blew up the entrance of the museum. Mark waved his hand to get rid of the dust as he walked into the room. He looked around him curiously until his eyes finallynded on Joan in the middle of the room. Her head was bowed, and he raised his brow in surprise as he saw her tied to the post.
Mark was about to take a step toward her, but he had to stop as he felt a massive amount of mana filling the entire room. Joan raised her head with a wide smile on her face, and Mark cursed and jumped back as the mana in the room spiked!
KA-BOOM!
The entire museum exploded in a massive fireball, and Mark jumped out from the smoke with his hand up to his face. Mark waved his hand to the side to get rid of the smoke once he was out of the fire, and he red around him to see what was happening.
The entire building was destroyed, and all the bodies inside were scattered around the museum grounds.
''That''s a lot of bodies. She wouldn''t just blow herself up after all that talk. What the hell is she up to?''
Does it have something to do with how she was tied to that post before? Maybe she was summoned with a disadvantage and she was trying to get rid of it by using all these people. Then what is with the explosion?
Mark was actually right. The king was summoned as a silent observer. The king is not meant to be in the middle of the battle, and the game was designed so that the king would have a lot of minions and send them out to do the fighting so that the king itself would always be safe. That is why Joan was summoned without any power of her own.
But even though she was summoned without any power, she was summoned with more than enough mana to be able to control all of the minions that she had. Her entire fighting style was supposed to be focused on sending out her minions and having them fight for her, but Joan did not want that. She did not want to be a part of the game, and she did not care about sending her minions out.
Mark looked up into the sky as a massive amount of blood started to rise from the ground all around him. All of the blood that had been in the museum was being dragged off the ground, and they were all flying into the air.
The long exposure to air would have made the blood coagte already, but the presence of mana in the blood as well as the fact that Gilles used that magic ritual to preserve the blood in its optimal state prevented it from coagting.
Boom!
A massive explosion went off, and Mark looked up to Joan fly out from the rubble and float into the air. The blood followed after her as she raised her hand calmly and gathered around her body like a wave of red armor.
Joan smiled. This is what she had been looking for all this time - the feeling of freedom.
Joan''s body was no longer burnt, and the pole that she had been tied to waspletely destroyed. Her clothes were still shredded, but there were no scars or injuries on her as far as Mark could see.
''She did something to heal herself? And she can control blood as well. This is going to be a messy fight.''
Mark''s mind was already racing as he tried to find a way to win this fight. The only thing that Mark knew about blood was that it coagtes if it leaves the body for a long time and it clots when it leaves the body for a long time. But that wouldn''t be possible now since Mark knew that Joan had done something to preserve the blood and prevent it from clotting.
Another possibility was freezing it. Would blood even freeze?
Mark''s lips started to stretch into a grin as he pieced together the various possibilities and tried toe up with a solution. But as time went on, his smile slowly started to die out and turn stale as if something didn''t sit well with him.
He frowned at Joan.
''What is this feeling?''
Mark asked himself this question, but there was no immediate answer to it. He had to push the feeling aside as he saw Joan getting ready for another attack.
"You have refused my offer of partnership, and now you will be nothing but a footnote in my memoir after I have fought my way through the gods and won. It is too bad that you will not be here to see it."
SLOSH!!
Mark immediately jumped back as he saw even more blood being dragged into the air! The blood was swirling and spinning around itself, and Mark could feel his stomach churn in difort as he watched it.
"That''s a fucking disgusting way to gain power."
Joan raised her hand and the blood stopped spinning before most of it broke off and started to form giant spikes in the air that were all pointed straight at Mark. Mark dashed to the side as Joan released the spikes and they all flew straight for him!
Woosh!
Chapter 289: The Raid
[We recently got reports the recent terrorist attacks that decimatedrge portions of the city are close to being resolved as the terrorists have been tracked down to a remote region of Saitama. The police and otherw enforcement agencies have urged civilians in the area to follow theirmands and stay put until they arrive on the scene.]
Luna was about to change the channel on the television, but Luna paused as she heard what the newscaster said. Luna heard the sound of sirens outside and she quickly stood up and limped over to the window to get a look at what was happening outside. The sirens were wailing through the entire city. Luna could tell that the police cars were far away, but they were still very loud.
''That means there are a lot of them. What the hell are they doing?''
Luna was confused as she turned back to the television and heard the newscaster introduce someone else.
[On the scene is Lieutenant Kirishima who will tell us more about the situation.]
Another man appeared on the screen and started to speak once he was introduced. The man was wearing the uniform of a police officer and had many badges on his chest that showed just how high-ranked he was.
[We implore all citizens of Saitama and the surrounding environs to remain indoors and not be rmed. Various police squadrons have been sent out to the different Saitama sectors in a joint operation that will cover the entire region. So long as you are not one of the terrorists, you have nothing to fear.]
The lieutenant was speaking calmly and there was even a bit of constion in his tone that would make anyone think that he cared a lot about the people and was worried that they would be harmed from the raid. But Luna knew better. Ever since the broadcast started, Luna could see that neither the lieutenant nor the female reporter was normal.
"They aren''t blinking properly."
The two people that Luna saw on the screen were blinking in a way that was abnormal to Luna. Normally, a human did not have set intervals between blinks. A normal human blinked at least once every five seconds, but Luna could tell that the two people on the screen were timing their blinks right down to thest microsecond.
1. 2. Blink.
1. 2. Blink.
1. 2. Blink.
It was like clockwork and Luna was only able to pick up on it with her keen senses. It was likely that no one else would even notice something so inconsequential.
There was something wrong. Those people aren''t normal, which meant that this raid wasn''t normal either. This has to be the work of the king. Was this the king''s power? Earlier, Luna predicted that the king would be able to control others with their power, but she did not know that she hit the nail on the head that precisely.
If this was a normal raid, then Luna would have simply blended into the crowd and gone along with whatever they wanted her to do. Luna might be a mage back on Earth, but she is a normal human right now. She couldn''t even think about fighting against anyone, especially since she was injured, so the best that she could do was to blend in and hope that they did not pick her out.
But now that Luna knew that these two were not normal, could she risk something like that?
[The identity of the terrorists is still unknown, so all the citizens will be temporarily confined and eventually released after a thorough investigation is carried out. We ask that you cooperate with us and allow us toplete our duties without issues. Thank you.]
Lieutenant Kirishima finally finished what he had been saying and Luna was able to breathe freely as she finally heard the one thing that she needed to hear. They did not know who she was.
Luna immediately limped towards the room to get ready.
Bam!
"Jellybeans!"
Luna cursed as her leg mmed into the table at the side, but she ignored the sharp pain that shot up her spine as she continued towards the room. Once she got to the room, she threw off the singlet and trousers that she had slept in, leaving herself in only her underwear before she found a track pant and a hoodie that would be veryrge on her and threw them on.
She then raised the hood to cover her face.
WheeWhoo! WheeWhoo! WheeWhoo! WheeWhoo!
The sound of police vehicles was getting louder and Luna quickly limped over to the kitchen and found anything that she could use as a weapon. There was arge butcher''s knife in one of the cupboards and a smaller knife that would be good for throwing in another one. Luna took them both and stuffed them into her hoodie before she wobbled over to the exit and opened the door.
"Ugh, sunlight." (A/N: My honest reaction anytime I go outside.)
Luna groaned as she felt the bright sun smack her in the face and she had to wait for a few moments for her eyes to readjust to the change. Once she was readjusted, she opened her eyes and saw that she was not the only one outside. Every person living around that area hade out of their houses. Many of them looked very scared and surprised as they waited for the policemen toe.
They were all standing in secluded groups with other people that they trusted, and there was no conversation between the strangers. No one knew who the terrorists looked like, so they were all cautious and made sure that they did not somehow get involved with the terrorists unknowingly.
Once Luna came out, it almost seemed like cold water was poured on the face of every single man there. Each and every single one of them was mesmerized as they stared at the beautiful woman in front of them. Even though Luna was wearing very baggy clothes, her face was not covered, so they couldn''t take their eyes off her! It was like taking a Bugatti and covering half of it in a dirty tarp.
No matter how much you try, everyone will still know that it is a beautiful supercar!
"Hello, I couldn''t help but notice that you''re limping. Are you injured? Do you need any help?"
"She''s injured? How could something like this happen? She needs help."
"Forget about this whole raid, she needs to be treated at once. Let''s call an ambnce."
Luna looked around as many of the men around her started toe towards her in worry and asked her if she was okay. Luna did her best to smile at them and tell them that she was fine, but she was not even paying any attention to them as she looked at where the policemen wereing from. She hoped that this wouldn''t cause them to pay too much attention to her.
Chapter 290: Police Vs Terrorists
The sirens got even louder, and Luna and the other residents watched as multiple police cars parked in front of the houses. People all had to move away from the roads as some of the cars almost hit them, and the mothers in the crowd shouted at the police in anger as their children were almost run over!
Luna limped forward and stood in front of the house, away from some of the men who were trying their best to get her attention. She watched the police officerse out of the cars. Luna watched them closely and didn''t take her eyes off them as she started to count.
1.2. Blink.
1.2. Blink.
1.2. Blink.
So they were under the King''s control as well.
Luna kept her head down as the police officers came around and started talking to the crowd calmly. The officers tried their best to calm their nerves and told them to gather at the center of the street in one straight line.
"Adults with children, line up first. Those without children, follow after them and put your hands behind your head. This is all procedure to ensure we find the terrorists as quickly as possible. Please do not resist."
Police officers went into every house on the street and started to search to see if there was anyone left inside. Luna didn''t stop them from going inside her house. There was nothing that could incriminate her there. They already got rid of all the bloody sheets, and she cleaned out the bathroom well to get rid of all the blood on the floor, so she knew that she was safe.
Luna put her hands behind her head and limped over to the straight line and lined up with the others in the middle of the road. There was a deep silence that filled the entire area which made Luna''s ears whine slightly. She nced around and she could see that every person there was scared.
For some reason, even though the officers were telling them not to be worried, every police officer had a submachine gun with them.
How the hell would anyone be calm if you brought them out of their houses and lined them up in the middle of the road while carrying submachine guns?
As they were lining up, Luna noticed one of the policemen looking at her and she felt a cold shiver trail down her spine as she tried her best to keep moving calmly. The police officer walked a little closer to her, and Luna had to try hard not to run. She didn''t know if he recognized her. He was probably just worried that she was limping.
The police officer finally stood in front of Luna, and Luna looked up at him curiously as she swallowed discreetly. The police officer blinked multiple times in a few seconds and a small blush rose on his cheek as he gazed down at Luna.
"Your name is¡?"
"Luna¡ sir."
Luna reluctantly added the "sir" at the end to make herself seem more agreeable, and the police officer seemed to turn redder as he heard her voice.
"Like the moon? You are truly beautiful."
"Officer Shiho? What are you doing over there?"
Another police officer suddenly spoke up from the side and the officer in front of Luna seemed to snap out of his haze as his eyes zed over again. He started to blink in the same way as the rest of the officers, and Luna breathed a sigh of relief as Officer Shiho answered that it was nothing and moved out of the way.
Thank Neptune that nothing happened.
Luna finally went and joined the others in the middle of the road, and one police officer who looked like the leader of the squad suddenly walked up to the crowd once they were properly lined up. He spoke up loud enough for everyone to hear him.
"Get on your knees."
The civilians were shocked.
"What? You want us to kneel? What is this? Is this what the police are meant to be doing!?"
One of the women at the front who was holding onto two children beside her suddenly spoke up in anger as she heard the policeman''s order! How dare they tell them to kneel down like animals! This was not right! She was willing to obey them because she thought that this was best for her children''s safety, but this was no longer looking like something normal!
Once she spoke up, everyone else suddenly gained their voices as well as they spoke up loudly!
"Yeah, this isn''t right! Why are you punishing us? We aren''t the terrorists!"
"You came to our houses and dragged us out without our consent and now you want us to kneel!?"
"You should do your job better! Don''t make us kneel for no reason!"
"Are you trying to make us into the enemy!?"
The people were not happy that the officer was making them kneel and they all started to shout loudly while raising their hands to the officers, but what happened next immediately made everyone there shut up as the entire region drowned in silence.
BANG!
The leader of the police officers aimed his shotgun at the first woman who spoke and fired. Her eyes widened in shock as she was blown back by the force of the shotgun! Her lifeless body mmed into the ground and a woman at the side screamed loudly in shock!
"AHHHHHH!!"
Everyone went mental as they started trying to run away from the area, but the police officers all around raised their guns into the air and started to fire bullets into the air!
"Ratatatatatataata!"
"Ratatatatatataata!"
"Ratatatatatataata!"
The police officers did not shoot anyone else, but everyone started to move backward to try and avoid the police officers as they were packed into a circle and surrounded. The crowd went silent and watched the police officers closely as the police officers pointed their guns at them.
"Waaa~! Mama! Mama, wake up!!"
The two children that the woman had been holding were kneeling beside her downed body and the older girl was desperately trying to wake her mother up by shaking her. The police officers did not even spare them a second nce, but Luna couldn''t help but look at them sadly as she felt a pang of pity in her chest for them. This was her fault.
The officer in charge spoke up again.
"I have deduced that this woman is a terrorist and she was preventing us from carrying out our task properly, therefore, I have disposed of her. I did not do anything against thew. If you do not wish to join her, then please follow my simple instructions. Kneel."
There were no more arguments as every person there immediately fell to their knees at once! No one was willing to risk their lives because they were notfortable with what was happening. They would rather do as they were told and hope that the policemen would not shoot instead of running and being shot in the back.
Luna was also on her knees with her hands behind her head and she kept her head down while looking away from any officer to make sure no one noticed her.
"Wiik! Wiik!"
Luna''s ear pricked as she heard the sound of the wiik-bating from the distance and she gritted her teeth and hoped that it would note to her. If the wiik-bat came down there, then Luna could be exposed.
Chapter 291: Ill Do Anything To Win
"Wiik!"
The wiik-bat was high in the sky and it tilted its head to the side curiously as it wondered what was going on. It could see its kind master down there and she was being held hostage by some other humans! The wiik-bat was confused for a few seconds before it realized that the humans holding its kind master hostage felt the same as the humans that surrounded the territory of the King!
These are the King''s minions!
This was bad! It had to send a message to that wicked master Mark!
The wiik-bat was about to send a message out to Mark, but it noticed that the police officers were pointing their guns at the crowd of people. The people in the crowd started to shout out in fear, but the police officers did not even give a damn as they started to fire!
"Ratatatatatataata!"
"Ratatatatatataata!"
"Argh! They''ve gone mad! Run! Run!"
"No! don''t kill my baby! We aren''t terrorists!"
"Give me your hand! We need to run! Agh!"
All over Saitama, the same scene was ying out as the police killed hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians on the King''s orders. They did not know who the master of Pawn was, but Joan figured that if she simply killed everyone in Saitama, then she would eventually kill the master of Pawn as well.
"Ratatatatatataata!"
"Ratatatatatataata!"
The wiik-bat immediately flew down to the ground as it heard the sound of bullets being fired!
Luna was in the middle of the crowd, so she had not been hit by a bullet yet, and with the number of men running towards her to protect her from the bullets, she hadn''t even had to move since they started shooting, but the wiik-bat knew that it was only a matter of time before she got hit by a stray bullet!
The wiik-bat mmed into the police officer closest to Luna and knocked him out from the force of the impact! It screamed out its signature sound to Luna, telling her to run, and it quickly sent a message to Mark to tell him what was happening!
¡
Mark was dodging hundreds of blood spikesing at him from every direction! He had a look of intense concentration on his face as he watched Joan floating in the sky and sending the spikes at him, and he tried his best to think of a way to defeat her.
''Should I just try to bring her mana down to half of mine? No, that would take too long. She has at least three times as much mana as me. Trying to bring it down will take too long.''
That meant that Mark had to use physical force against her. Mark just had to beat the shit out of her until she could no longer attack him!
Mark felt his hand twitch as he thought about attacking immediately, but the smile that started growing on his face suddenly died again as he narrowed his eyes at Joan.
''There''s that feeling again. What is this shit?''
Mark felt that feeling inside him again as he red at Joan. For some reason, Mark just couldn''t get into the mood. Normally, at a time like this, Mark would be really getting into the fight. Even if the fight was dangerous and he could lose his life, Mark would be feeling excited at the mere thought of going up against an opponent.
But Mark just couldn''t get into the mood here. It was something that Mark was not used to feeling and he decided that he would just ignore the feeling for now and focus on the fight. There was no need for him to allow something like that to stop him from winning a fight.
Mark changed his direction of movement and he suddenly started to rush towards Joan! Joan was a little surprised by the sudden charge, but she did not let that stop her from attacking with even more fervor! The blood in the air gathered around her and she sent it at Mark like a battering ram! Mark easily dodged around it and it mmed into the ground with enough force to leave a deep crater!
Mark ducked into a building at the side as the blood formed into a sharp pole and flew straight at him! The pole broke through the building wall and Mark used the back of his glove to redirect it as it was about to m into him!
CLANG!
The pole flew to the side and mmed into another wall and Mark dashed out from the building as many more of the blood-poles mmed through the roof and obliterated the building!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Mark was about tounch himself off the ground to meet Joan in the air, but he stopped as he got a message from the wiik-bat.
The wiik-bat transmitted a feed of what was happening in Saitama back to Mark and Mark''s eyes widened in shock as he saw Luna being shot at by a police officer. She was hiding behind a car as the bullets flew everywhere and Mark felt a massive wave of anger rising from inside him once he saw it!
Joan continued controlling the blood around her with a calm look on her face as she prepared to send another wave of attacks at Mark, but she stopped what she was about to do as she noticed Mark was no longer looking at her. His gaze was focused on something in front of him and his brow was furrowed in anger as his hands tightened into fists.
Joan did not know what Mark was looking at, but she could only guess that Mark saw what she was doing in Saitama somehow. She smiled and raised her hand to gather a blood arrow in front of her!
¡
Name: Joan d''Arc
Role: Servant King
Game Rank: EPIC Rank I
True Rank: B Rank
Potential: B Rank
Description: The visionary seer who was once a major leader during the hundred-year war between France and Ennd. She was once heralded as the voice of the gods and her visions led the people of France to many victories against the English, but as time passed, she was used of witchcraft and burned at the pyre for her crimes.
She holds a deep resentment for the gods for allowing her to be killed and there is no love left in her heart for humans, so she feels nothing even after killing thousands.
Affiliation: True Evil
¡
Joan thought that Mark would get angry or perhaps rush at her once he saw what she was doing. Joan did not know what Luna looked like, but from what she could see, she knew that she was close to killing Luna. If she allowed her minions to keep shooting for a while longer, she would eventually get Luna as well.
[Demonic Killer''s Aura] has been activated!
[The opponent has been inflicted with [Fear]]
[All the opponent''s skills will temporarily receive a 50% reduction in strength.]
"!"
A great surge of fear suddenly filled Joan''s entire body as she felt something creep over her. She immediately backpedaled in fear as she thought that she was under attack, but she saw that Mark had still not moved from his spot. What the hell was that feeling? It felt like something was squeezing her heart in a vice grip!
Joan immediately brought up her hand to attack Mark, but Mark vanished as he dashed to the side! He shed over the ground beforeunching himself up to reach Joan faster than she could keep up with!
Chapter 292: You Cannot Even Defeat A Mortal
Mark pulled back his fist, and Joan quickly prepared to create a shield around herself to prevent his punch fromnding. But Mark suddenly changed his attack and grabbed Joan by the face as he spoke.
"Transport."
Phwoom!
Mark and Joan were suddenly teleported back to the bishop''s territory where he and Luna had been hiding. Mark turned andunched Joan into the ground with all his strength!
BOOM!
The ground splintered and broke from the force of the impact, and Joan immediately put her hand up as she summoned more blood to her. Half of the policemen in the area stopped shooting as they began to scream in agony!
Their blood squeezed out of their system and flew into the air as it gathered around Joan. Joan turned to Mark and smirked as she realized that Mark had transported them to his territory. That meant that the master of Pawn was here!
Joanmanded her remaining soldiers to continue killing Everyone and Mark dashed past all the soldiers and mmed into Joan! Joan sent a blood-spike to try and skewer him, but Mark easily dodged around it as he grabbed Joan again and mmed her into the ground!
BOOM!
Mark pulled back his fist and Joan raised her hand into the air with a look of fear in her eyes as she gathered the blood around her and used it to block the massive punch that would have hit her. What the hell was this? Joan thought that Mark would at least leave her alone to go and protect his master. He was acting as if he didn''t give a damn about her at all.
Joan''s eyes widened as she saw Mark pull back his fist!
[Critical Hit]!
Boom!
Joan felt the world spin for a moment! Even with the high amount of defense that the blood provided for her, she could still feel the impact from that punch almost tearing her breath away from her. Was she really going to lose here? To this mortal!?
Joan didn''t know that she was still under the influence of Mark''s Fear skill, so her abilities were being reduced by the system.
Bam!
Bam!
Bam!
[Critical Hit]!
BOOM!
Mark was relentless in his attack! His eyes were zed over in anger, and his mouth was set in a deep snarl as he tried his best to break Joan into pieces! His punches were getting heavier and heavier with each repetition, and Joan knew that she had to get out from under him unless she wanted to lose this fight!
Mark looked like he was in a different zone. He finally understood why he just couldn''t get into the mood. What Joan just did with those humans, the way she killed more than a hundred people just to achieve her goals, reminded Mark too much of the sort of things Szar did. Mark just couldn''t get excited when fighting someone like this.
The only thought in Mark''s mind was causing as much damage as possible in the worst way possible!
SLAM!
Joan immediately sent a massive amount of blood at Mark and used it to wrap around his head! Mark immediately grabbed her head and mmed it into the ground, and Joan gasped in shock as she felt something crack inside her skull!
Joan temporarily lost control of her blood, and Mark was able to get the blood around his head away! He pulled Joan up and tossed her like a rag doll into the distance!
m!
She mmed back into a car and crumpled it into nothing as she slid backward for hundreds of meters.
Joan raised her head with a grimace as she saw Mark walking towards her with a look of intense anger in his eyes. All the policemen around him started to shoot at Mark with their submachine guns, but Mark did not even bother paying them any mind as the bullets bounced off his skin.
A policeman ran up to Mark with a knife, but Mark just swung his hand to the side, and the policeman was thrown into the building beside Mark as he passed out immediately!
Mark had to use a lot of strength to hold himself back from just killing that police officer. Mark was so angry that he just felt like killing something, but he had enough restraint to hold back against normal humans.
Mark stopped in front of Joan, and Joan stared up at Mark with deep fear in her eyes. Right now, Mark looked like an executioner staring down at their next victim.
When Mark spoke, it sent a rumbling feeling of fear through Joan''s body.
"So you only have this much power. Even after killing that many people, you were only able to umte this much, and you say you want to fight the gods? I have seen many fools in my life. Idiots that think that they are the center of the universe, but out of all of them, I think you are the biggest fool of all."
Mark reached down and grabbed Joan by the shirt cor before bringing her up to eye level. Joan raised her hand and summoned more blood from the people around her, but Mark quickly grabbed her hand and squeezed down hard!
Crack!
"AHHH!"
A massive cry escaped from her mouth as she felt the bone in her hand break! She immediately grabbed Mark''s arm in distress, and Mark could literally see how fear slowly filled her eyes.
"Forget fighting against the gods; with what you have, you wouldn''t even be seen as a living organism in front of them."
Mark threw Joan into the air and pulled his hand back as everything seemed to move in slow motion for him! Joan saw the sun slowly reaching its peak, and she could onlyugh slightly in disappointment. She said that she would fight against the gods, but she was not even able to fight against Mark for a full day before he beat her.
[Divergent Fist]!
BOOM!
Mark mmed his fist into Joan''s stomach with enough force to erase a cmity-ss monster from existence, and Joan felt her insides rupture and implode from the force of the punch!
Joan was thrown back, and she bounced on the ground like a rag doll before her body finally came to a stop a few hundred meters away. Mark stood up calmly and looked around as he noticed that the police officers were no longer shooting at him.
The police officers slowly started to look down at their guns before they looked around at everything around them in shock. Their eyes widened, and some of them even fell to their knees as they saw the dead bodies of civilians all around them. They wereing out of Joan''s control, and they couldn''t remember everything that they had done.
Many of the police officers had also been killed by Joan''s blood-sucking skill, so the remaining police officers were trying their best to understand what just happened here.
Mark ignored all of them and quickly went towards the car where he knew Luna was hiding. Luna had her head down, and she was hunched over tightly as she used her hands to protect her head. Her eyes were closed, and she was not moving even though the shooting had already stopped.
Chapter 293: Completing The Game of Gods
Mark knew that Luna did not even notice that he had won. She was probably too focused on trying to hide, and she didn''t pay any attention to what was happening around her. Mark went down to a knee and touched Luna, and she jolted as if she was electrocuted with a thousand volts!
She quicklyshed out with her hand to hit whoever was in front of her, but Mark caught her hand easily and held it gently while talking.
"Hey, it''s fine now. Everything''s fine."
Luna''s eyes were wide, and there was a deep re on her face that showed she was ready to fight for her life. Her breaths wereing out in deep puffs as the adrenaline surging through her body threatened to overwhelm her. But once she saw that it was Mark, her gaze softened, and she deted as all the tension left her body before she fell forward into his chest.
Luna breathed out a sigh of relief as she felt her heartbeat threatening to tear her chest apart. That was the most terrified Luna had been in a long time.
She hit Mark on the chest with her closed fist as she spoke in a hard tone.
"I told you not to leave me, Mark. I told you it was a bad idea. Do you see what happens when you don''t listen to me? I need you to stay with me."
Mark nodded and patted Luna on the head gently. He didn''t think that the king would go this far, and he was just d that Luna was alright. Even though Luna was talking harshly, Mark could feel Luna''s hand trembling against his chest. She had been terrified of dying, so Mark could understand.
They still didn''t know what would happen to her if she died in this game. Would she have died in the real world as well, or would she simply be transported back to Earth at the moment that she was taken from?
There was a fifty-fifty chance that either one could happen, and knowing how frivolous the gods could be with their decisions, they might just kill Luna because they felt like it was the fair thing to do.
A prompt came up, and Mark nced at the screen in front of him and exhaled in exhaustion. It was finally over.
...
[The User has sessfullypleted the Game of Gods.]
[Congrattions, the user has emerged victorious in the Game of Gods. The user has achieved a great feat. For this aplishment, the user has been granted a new title by the system.]
[The User has gained the title [Mortal Legend]]
[Mortal Legend: This skill bestows the user with a 1% increase in all stats for every 1 million supporters you gain. As the user''s following grows, so too does the user''s strength on the battlefield]
...
Mark read through the new title and he didn''t know if he should be disappointed or not. Mark knew that it was a good title to have. Superhumans are very popr on Earth and it was not going to be difficult for Mark to rack up a lot of followers, especially with how well he has been performing against Anima recently.
But Mark was not the sort of person to go looking for fans. Most superhumans gained fans by being active on social media and other channels. It was very easy for an A-rank superhuman to have more fans than one of the Sovereign simply because the A-rank was more active on social media than the Sovereign. Mark was not going to do any such thing.
Mark was not even that active on social media as a child, so it was impossible for him to suddenly get into it now that he was a teenager with bigger fish to fry.
''I guess I''ll just have to leave this one up to my aplishments.''
Mark would try to gain fans by simply killing many Anima. That should be enough for him to gain as many fans as possible.
[The User currently possesses 2.1 million fans in the world. All stats have been increased by 2%]
''Hmm¡?''
Mark was stunned as he read through the new message. 2.1 million? Was he really that popr? He thought it would be a lot less than that. Mark wasn''t even on any social media tform, so how the hell did he rack up that many fans already?
After the impressive disy that Mark showed against the Eldritch ss monster, as well as all the times that he has saved people as Ghost, Mark gained a very significant following both on social media and offline. Even though Mark himself was not interested in social media, there were many people who created fan ounts and MeTube channels dedicated to Mark and his achievements.
These people have racked up a significant number of followers and they were all hardcore fans of Ghost.
[The User haspleted the game and will now be transported into the domain of Ares, the god of war. Please prepare for transportation.]
Continue your adventure at m|v-l''e -NovelBin
Mark slowly felt himself fading away and saw that Luna was also fading away. Luna looked down at her hands in shock and Mark could see a look of fear appearing in her eyes as she didn''t understand what was going on. But Mark smiled at her and muttered gently that everything would be alright.
Just that one sentence allowed Luna to calm down and she nodded to him with a harder gaze before they both vanished from the game.
When Mark opened his eyes again, he was immediately assaulted with a loud voice.
"Boy!! That was amazing!"
Mark winced as he heard the voice talking from right beside him. He turned to the side and he saw a man sitting on top of a barrel. The room that they were in was very simr to an old bar. There were many barrels behind the counter with some seats in front of it. The counter had some beer sses on it that were half-filled, but there was no one there to drink them.
The man that spoke was a middle-aged man wearing a tank top and long jean trousers. His entire body was well-toned and he had a full Viking-type beard on his chin. He was holding a beer mug in his hand and he drank it all down heartily beforeughing even louder as he threw it to the ground and broke it!
Smash!
"The way you handled those servants! Absolutely splendid! Your fighting technique is rough around the edges and you depend too much on your skills to fight, but that is something that can still be worked on! You are a diamond in the rough, it is only proper that you will be rough around the edges!!"
The man looked like he was having way too much fun and Mark had to nce around calmly to try and gauge his environment. The bar was empty, but there were seats on the floor and a few rags were on the counter showing that there were people there just a few seconds ago. The man must''ve cleared out the bar.
Mark turned back to the man and immediately asked what happened to Luna.
Chapter 294: According To Biology, A Man Must Like Beer
Mark became slightly worried as he didn''t see Luna anywhere around. He turned to Ares to ask about it, but Ares waved it away.
"Yourss is somewhere else being taken care of by one of my minions. She''s a tough one, that child of Neptune. I''m impressed that she didn''t go crazy during the game. She won''t have any memories of the game after this, so you don''t need to worry about her. Just focus on your reward instead."
So she was going to forget everything that happened? Mark did not know if he liked that. He forged a good friendship with Luna in the few days that they fought together and he didn''t want it all to just disappear like that. But he couldn''tin since she was pulled into the game without her permission.
Erasing her memories of the game might be the best thing for her.
Ares spoke up again.
"So I promised to have a wish granted to the winners of the game. I initially nned to give you a skill and hand the wish over to your master. I only promised one wish, so it is up to you to decide now. Do you want to use the wish for yourself and hand the skill over to her, or do you want to give her the wish and keep the skill for yourself?"
Mark frowned at Ares. This cheap bastard. Why the hell did he only promise a single wish? Didn''t he make us into pairs in the game? The least he could have done was give us each a wish. Ares could almost hear Mark''s thoughts loudly from the looks that Mark was giving him, and Ares just shrugged with a grin.
"It''s my game and I can do whatever I want with it. I could have simply gone ahead with my initial n without bothering to give you a choice, so you should be grateful. Now make your choice, boy. I don''t have all day." Stay connected through m-v l|e''-NovelBin
Mark sighed and scratched his hair while asking a question.
"What exactly can I do with the wish?"
"You can''t make a wish that affects your current blessing; that will betray the whole point of the game. I can grant you anything your heart desires, but keep in mind that the wish is very limited. Although the skill is going to be up to my discretion, I think the smarter choice is to go for that one. You understand what I am talking about, right?"
Mark had so many possibilities for what sort of things he could ask for. Mark couldn''t ask to be stronger and he couldn''t ask to be faster since that would affect his blessing, but he could ask for a lot more money. But he did not need all that; Mark already had a lot of money and he knew that he could get stronger and faster with his blessing easily.
[Comment from GoG: I''d suggest you go with the skill as well, Mark. Nothing you wish for can match up with a gift given by a god. It''s the smarter choice.]
Well, if even Sozin was saying this, then Mark really didn''t see an issue anymore. Honestly, Mark was not interested in using the wish at all. He would rather take the skill and hand the wish over to Luna. Mark finally told Ares what he wanted, and Ares nodded calmly as he waved his hand once and made it so.
Mark activated [True Sight]
...
Error
...
Oh¡ that''s new. This was the first time that the system would give an error like that without even bringing up the True Sight temte at all. Was this something that Ares did, or was it because Ares was just that much stronger than Mark?
"There''s no need to use your skill on me like that, boy. I am a god, so it could scramble your brain if you try to understand my powers with such a weak skill. I suppose I shouldn''t hold your apprehension against you. Your image of the gods has been skewed by Hades and that joker Sozin. Come, we have a lot to talk about."
Ares stood up from the barrel, and Mark was surprised to notice that he was taller than the god of war. Ares wasn''t short at all, but Mark just didn''t think that Ares would be shorter than him.
Ares came over and put his hand around Mark''s shoulder. It was a littleical to see someone shorter putting his hand over the shoulder of someone taller, but Mark''s eyes widened in shock once he felt Ares'' hand on his shoulder! Mark stumbled forward as he felt the weight of an entire mountain suddenlynding on him!
Ares was obviously not trying at all to put any weight on Mark, but just putting his hand around Mark''s shoulder was enough to make Mark stumble!
"Hmm? Was that too much? Maybe I didn''t reduce my power enough. Sorry about that. I can never tell how weak you mortals really are."
Ares apologized calmly as he watched Mark get back to his feet. Mark noticed that the weight on his shoulder did not reduce, but after some time, he got used to the weight of the mountain and eventually stood straight again. Ares grinned as he pulled Mark towards the bar and made him sit on one of the chairs there. Ares went behind the counter and poured two cups for them.
He dropped one in front of Mark, and Mark looked down warily at the foaming cup of beer.
"I can''t drink."
Ares nced at Mark once he heard him say that. What? Was there something wrong with the beer?
"You don''t like beer, boy? Every man should like beer; it is ingrained in biology. Maybe your tongue has been soiled by the bad alcohol you mortals make. This here was brewed by Dionysus himself! Take a sip and tell me what you think."
Mark was obviously still very reserved as he nced around the bar once more without touching the ss on the table.
"It''s aw from my world. I can''t drink till I''m eighteen. I''m underage."
You could hear a pin drop in the room before Ares suddenlyughed heartily as he held his stomach! Ares couldn''t believe what he just heard! Underaged! Someone capable of such feats of raw power still held himself back because of something like age!?
It wasn''t that Mark cared about his age, it was just that he didn''t trust Ares enough to take anything edible from him and Mark just used his age as an excuse.
Once Ares was finishedughing, he downed his ss before also drinking the beer that he poured for Mark! He then mmed his hand on the table with a smile on his face.
"How did you enjoy using my armor, boy?"
Mark couldn''t stop his hand from twitching. Ares easily noticed that Mark was now guarded, and he grinned wider.
"Don''t be so tense, boy. I am not the first god that pesky Sozin has stolen from, and I surely won''t be thest. I simply wish to know if you enjoyed using my armor. It is one of a kind and I at least want it to be put to good use."
Mark nodded.
"It is very useful."
Ares pped his hand on the table heartily as heughed again.
"Yes, it is! It can change into any shape you want it to, so it is the perfect camouge armor. It is too bad that I have no use for it since it is so weak. I would''ve killed you to get it back had it been more useful."
Mark squeezed his hand into a fist as he tried not to be affected by the casual threat from Ares. Hearing someone else say something like that would usually not affect Mark at all, but hearing it from a literal god of war was enough to put fear into his heart. After some time, Ares suddenly turned serious as he leaned forward on the table.
"So, boy, tell me the truth, are you happy with that joker Sozin?"
Mark''s eyes narrowed.
Chapter 295: Do We Have A Problem?
"I don''t understand your question."
"It''s a simple question, boy. Sozin grabbed you up from right under our noses before anyone else could do anything about it and gave you some power, but are you happy with the sort of power he gave you? Doesn''t it feel like party trickspared to what the other superhumans can do? Don''t you want to have some real power behind those punches of yours?"
Mark stayed silent as he listened to what Ares was saying. He did not know what Ares was trying to get at, but Ares could tell that Mark was slowly getting the picture from his words.
Ares put his hand on Mark''s shoulder again, and this time, Mark only grunted in slight exertion as he felt the mountainnd on him once again, but he did not stumble. He kept his eyes locked on Ares'' eyes and waited for Ares to finally say what he wanted to say.
"I won''t skim words here, boy. Abandon Sozin ande over to my side."
Mark''s eyes narrowed.
"What?"
Was something like that even possible? Could a superhuman just abandon their patron god and move to another one like that? Ares saw the confusion in Mark''s eyes, and he pped Mark on the shoulder with a grin. Mark felt his heart leave his body immediately and he had to struggle to not wheeze in pain!
What is it with this bastard and hitting me!?
"You heard me, boy. Abandon that pesky rascal ande over to a true god. I hate to blow my own trumpet, but I am one of the true gods of Olympus, one of the great seven. I have more than enough power to grant you the very world that you live in. There is nothing Sozin can give you that I can''t, so won''t you just leave him and join me?
And don''t think this is a test, or maybe even some sarcastic joke meant to test your allegiance. I have no need for something like true allegiance; I simply love people who have power. I wouldn''t even mind throwing away some of my children and granting you their powers since they are not using them properly."
Ares was dead serious. After watching Mark in the game, Ares could tell that Mark had unbelievable potential. His learning rate and use of strength were beyond anything a normal human could do. Even if Mark did not have his system, Ares still had no doubt that Mark would be able to win against those servants. That was how impressed Ares was. Ares wanted Mark on his side.
Ares already had a lot of children and he had some really strong superhumans that he blessed, but he knew that it was only a matter of time before Mark surpassed all of them and became the strongest. Why would Ares allow Sozin to hold onto someone like Mark? No, Sozin did not deserve Mark. Mark needed a true god as his patron.
"I''ll have to say no."
Ares'' eyes narrowed as he heard the quick answer from Mark.
"And why not?"
Mark''s eyes were staring right into Ares'' eyes with an unbelievable amount of resolve. Ares could tell that Mark was feeling the strain from his hand on his shoulder, but Mark was trying his best not to let it show at all. Mark''s answer was unprecedented.
"Because unlike you, I care about allegiance. I already have a god I swore my allegiance to, and even though he can be a bastard at times, I kinda like him. Besides, I wouldn''t bother joining a god that could abandon me at any point because they are unhappy with something I did."
Ares tightened his hold on Mark''s shoulder as the first traces of anger started to appear in his eyes.
"You little brat. You think I am giving you a¡ª"
Woosh!
All of a sudden, Ares was no longer in front of Mark. Ares blinked in shock as he noticed that he was standing in the sky with a wide blue horizon in front of him. The air was calm and tranquil, but Ares could feel that there was something here.
Something dangerous.
Ares felt his hands tighten involuntarily as he craned his neck around to look at the boy sitting cross-legged in the air behind him. Sozin looked like a demon.
"Oi, Ares, are we going to have a problem?"
Ares grit his teeth as he half-turned to look at Sozin. Sozin was smiling widely, but there was an empty look in his eyes that made him look like a demon! Ares waved his hand calmly to try and calm the god of games.
"Now, why would we have a problem? I''m just talking to a mortal. Should you be this concerned about that?"
Sozin floated closer to Ares, to the point that the two of them were face to face. Sozin was still in his child-like appearance and it was almost funny to see the child-like body staring down the muchrger and tougher-looking Ares, but from the look of apprehension on Ares'' face, you could tell that he was prepared for the worst.
Right now, something like this shouldn''t be possible at all. For a god to take someone into their domain, they would need to be stronger than that person and it took a great amount of power to keep the other party in their domain since they were basically encroaching on reality with their own dimension.
But pulling another god into your domain was something that even the most powerful gods found hard. It was difficult because of the amount of power you would need to use to pull them in.
But right now, Sozin did something even more unbelievable. Not only did Sozin pull Ares into his domain, Sozin pulled Ares out of his own domain as well. That is the reason why Ares was immediately on guard.
Ares knew that Sozin had been growing exponentially since the start of the technological age and he had a lot of power because of how quickly technology became the center of attention in the world. But he never thought that the difference in their power would be this much!
Ares suddenly realized that it would be a bad idea to leave Sozin to keep doing whatever he wanted from this point forward. He was growing too quickly. Wasn''t it just a matter of time before he was more powerful than all the other gods?
Sozin came really close until he was basically ring down at Ares and he spoke with a yful tone in his voice!
"If you touch him again, I''ll erase you~"
Woosh!
Ares shook his head and he was suddenly back in his own domain. Mark was still ring at him and they were still in the same position that they were in just before he left. Ares looked at the hand that was on Mark''s shoulder and he closed his eyes and sighed as he slowly took it off Mark''s shoulder and folded it across his chest.
Well, I guess that''s enough for now.
Mark raised a brow curiously as he wondered what happened. To Mark, Ares suddenly changed his entire demeanor. Mark didn''t know anything about what just happened between Ares and Sozin.
Ares nced down at Mark curiously and sighed before talking proudly.
"We are done here, boy. Get out."
Ares wished that he was the one that found Mark before Sozin, but now that Sozin had his ws in Mark, there was no other god that could get him out. If Sozin was a weaker god, then Ares would have simply taken Mark without caring about what Sozin thought, but Ares had to be careful around Sozin.
Mark was stunned by the sudden dismissal and he didn''t even get to say anything before he was suddenly thrown back from his chair and out of Ares'' domain!
[The User has been granted a blessing by Ares the god of war]
[The user has gained the [Aegis of Ares]]
Chapter 296: Try To Be Careful (+18)
(A/N: Sorry for not stating earlier that this was +18. I''ve corrected that. P.S. The AN shouldn''t affect the pricing of the chapter much... I hope.)
GASP!
Mark suddenly sat up in bed as he returned to the real world. He looked down at his hand and narrowed his eyes in anger as he tightened them. He hated how all the gods were always looking down on him. He knew that they were stronger than him and that there was nothing he could do about it now, but that did not mean he had to like it.
''I''m going to kill that bastard one day.''
[The User has been granted a blessing by Ares the god of war]
[The user has gained the [Aegis of Ares]]
[Aegis of Ares: Thepleted version of the Armor of Ares that the User possesses. This grants the user a protective shield thatpletely blocks magical and physical attacks from enemies in exchange for mana, allowing them to withstand even the fiercest assaults. When activated, the shield emanates a crimson glow, symbolizing the war god''s favor.
The system advises the user to use the Aegis sparingly since it depletes a significant amount of mana when activated.]
[Mana Usage during activation: 200 mana points per second]
What the fuck?
Mark immediately cursed internally as he read the amount of mana that the new gift he received used every second. Two hundred? Mark only had about two thousand mana points, so that meant he could only use the Aegis for ten seconds before he waspletely drained of all mana. That was some bullshit!
Didn''t Sozin say that the gods had to give a useful gift in exchange for passing their challenges? This won''t be useful if it takes up this much mana with every use.
[Comment from GoG: Ah, don''t be such a crybaby. The Aegis is extremely useful, you just haven''t discovered everything that it can do yet. At its strongest state, it''s strong enough to even stop an attack from a god, so it''s basically impossible for anyone on Earth to break through it. Taking only that much mana to start with should be expected.]
Mark hummed. So, it''s that strong?
But what Sozin just said meant that the Aegis had a stronger state that would take up even more mana than it was taking now. Mark realized that he really had to bring up his mana as quickly as possible. If he didn''t, then he was going to have a lot of useful skills and artifacts that he couldn''t use at all because of his owncking abilities.
Hold on, Sozin said that it could stop an attack from a god¡
''Does that mean it can stop an attack from you?''
[Comment from GoG: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!]
Sozin never even bothered responding as he just startedughing his ass off. Mark gained a small tick mark on his forehead as he heard the condescending tone in thatughter and he took that to mean that there was no way the shield would stop an attack from Sozin. Mark just closed down the tab in his system.
"Mark, are you okay? What happened?"
Arit spoke up from behind Mark and he turned around to see that she was sitting up in bed with a worried look on her face. AMrk''s gasp from before shocked Arit awake, so Arit was immediately worried about him. She thought he might''ve had a nightmare or maybe an injury from the Eldritch ss was acting up.
Mark shook his head and climbed into the bed with Arit.
"I''m fine. Come on, let''s get some sleep."
Mark reached out to Arit to bring her down to bed and Arit gently crawled towards Mark andy down right on his chest. Her breasts pressed into Mark''s chest and she put her chin on Mark''s shoulder as she wrapped her hands around him. Arit still looked very worried as she ran her hand through Mark''s hair.
"Are you sure you''re okay? Is there an injury somewhere? Maybe I can give you a massage or something."
Mark grunted with a small smile.
"You don''t need to do that. Besides, I don''t think we should go that far. You''re in that time of the month, aren''t you? I don''t want to do something we''re not ready for."
Arit blushed and tightened her hold on Mark.
"W-Well, it''s not like we can''t do it. I just¡ have to be careful. I think we can ¨C if you want."
Arit was already moving closer to Mark as she spoke and she gently kissed Mark. She felt Mark''s hand trace down her body and she shivered as he grabbed a handful of her ass and squeezed down hard.
"Uhhh~!"
Arit moaned into Mark''s mouth as she ran her hand through his hair. She was extremely sensitive since it was her time of the month and every little thing that Mark did to her affected her so much that it almost drove her mad! Arit moved so that she was lying on top of Mark with her legs on either side of him and she sat up and put her hands on Mark''s chest.
Mark''s hands were on Arit''s ass and he looked up at her in awe as she sat up on hisp. She had a huge blush on her face and every breath that she took made herrge breasts bounce in her thin singlet. Mark had never seen a more erotic sight in his life and he had never been more excited than at that moment!
People say that after going through life-or-death situations, most men immediately feel like procreating with a woman because their minds tell them that they have to create heirs as quickly as possible. Mark could finally agree that what they said was correct!
Just looking at Arit right now was enough to make him rock hard!
Arit felt Mark''s dick against her ass and she bit her lip while looking down at Mark seductively. Her breaths came out in short puffs as she gently started to rub her ass back and forth on his dick, slowly rubbing herself off on him as her crotch pressed against his dick! She felt Mark getting even harder and she moaned louder as one of Mark''s hands came to the front and cupped her breast.
"Moan~! Y-Yes, more."
Mark squeezed down on Arit''s breast hard and Arit moaned louder as she felt electricity pass through her entire body! Arit pushed out her breasts to give Mark more ess to them and Mark snaked his hand into Arit''s thin top and put his hand on top of Arit''s naked breast. Mark found her nipple and pressed it hard and he felt a wetness soaking his trousers!
"Nnngh!"
Arit had a miniature orgasm almost immediately as she tightened her fists against Mark''s singlet! Arit was only wearing a very thin pair of shorts to sleep, so as she came, all her juices immediately poured out from the shorts and stained Mark''s trousers!
Arit blushed crimson as she felt her hands failing her and she fell on Mark.
"Did you juste from me touching your nipples? You''re going topletely ruin the bed if I fuck you right now, aren''t you?"
Arit swallowed hard.
"S-Sorry, I didn''t know it would feel that good."
Mark grinned and squeezed down harder on Arit''s ass.
"You say that, but you''re still moving your hips. You want it that badly?"
"Hah~! Yes, I want it."
"You want what?"
"I want you¡ to fuck me. I want you to fuck me till I break."
Mark didn''t need to be told twice! He told Arit to stand up and Arit stood over him and slowly took off her shorts. She was not wearing any underwear, so Mark got a full view of her wet crotch as she stepped out from them and threw them to one side. She then took off her singlet and gently knelt back down.
Mark used his legs to take off his joggers and he saw Arit swallow desperately as she nced at the tent in his boxers. She reached down and freed it and Mark sucked in a breath as her cold hand touched him down there. Arit gently stroked Mark a few times to warm him up before she positioned him in the right ce and started to bring herself down.
There was no need for forey or anything like that. Mark and Arit knew exactly what they wanted right now.
"Haaaah~!"
Arit suddenly released a soft moan as Mark started to prate her. Mark reached over and grabbed her ass as he guided her down and Arit held onto his shoulders tightly! Her nails pressed against his skin hard as she felt him wrap his hand around her waist, and even though she was expecting it, Arit still jolted like a jackhammer when Mark finally mmed up into her!
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BAM!
"Ugh!"
Oh yes, this was the feeling she had been waiting for!
Chapter 297: Just Damn The Consequences (+18)
Arit felt filled to the brim! Mark was literally kissing her womb with his dick and any small movement from him would make her entire body vibrate! Arit held on tighter to Mark as she felt him start moving!
"Uh! Uh! Uh! Uh! Uh! Uh!
Uh! Uh!"
m! m! m! m! m! m!
m! m! m!
Arit felt like she would be pushed off the bed from the force alone, but Mark was holding her tight around the waist, so she was feeling the full force of his thrust without even moving a single inch! Mark grit his teeth tightly as he started to increase his pace even more! Mark didn''t know why, but he felt like breeding Arit!
He wasn''t thinking clearly and after this was over, he was going to realize how crazy he was acting right now, because, at this moment, Mark wanted Arit to get pregnant.
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
Bam!
"Y-Yes! Yes! Mark! Right there!"
Arit was closing her eyes and biting her lip in ecstasy as she enjoyed the feeling of Mark banging into her over and over again. She felt Mark touch her face and allowed him to bring her down for a kiss.
"Ugh!!"
Arit suddenly groaned as Mark hit a sensitive spot inside her, and she felt her entire body start to vibrate as an intense orgasm hit her hard. Arit''s eyes immediately turned to poison yellow as she braced herself against Mark''s shoulder and tried to hold on for dear life.
She bit down hard on Mark''s lips, but thankfully Mark was too tough for her to break his skin, so no matter how hard she bit him, there was no injury.
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
Bam!
Mark never stopped moving as Arit came hard. Instead, he increased his pace even more and started to m into Arit like a madman. Mark saw the way Arit''s breaths wereing in short puffs, the way sweat shone on her skin, and the softness of her breasts against his chest.
Mark just wanted to fucking breed her.
"Fuck, I''m close."
Arit knew that it was dangerous for Mark to cum inside her, but she was too far gone to say anything about it. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Arit also wanted Mark to cum inside her, and it was that small part that won over the others.
"Inside! Fuckk, juste inside me, please!"
Mark mmed into Arit once more before he grunted as he released everything inside her. Arit groaned and wrapped her hands around Mark''s neck as she felt the warm sensation of his seed filling her womb. Oh, god, this was the best feeling in the world!
Arit felt Mark pumping slowly inside her as he released string after string of semen and Mark grunted onest time as he finished. Arit thought that Mark was finally done, but Mark suddenly sat up, and Arit was shocked when he dragged her along with him. Mark brought Arit to the table beside their bed and took off his singlet as he nodded his chin toward the table.
"Bend over."
Oh, god.
Arit felt something primal travel across her entire body as Markmanded her right there, and she could swear she just had an orgasm on the spot. She did not even bother arguing against him and went over to the table and put her hands on it. There was arge mirror on the table, and Arit could see Mark run his hand through his hair as he came to stand behind her.
p!
Mark pped her ass, and Arit bit her lip so that she didn''t release the moan that was right on her tongue. Mark positioned her properly, and Arit spread her legs wider to give Mark enough room to use her however he wanted.
Mark put both hands on Arit''s hips and mmed into her once again.
"Ugh~!"
Arit groaned in pleasure from the intense thrust and couldn''t stop the moan that came out from her mouth even if she wanted to!
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
Bam!
Mark started out slowly, but after some time, he started pounding into Arit with even more force than before. The table they were using was very well-built! It had some of the strongest wood that money could buy, and there were strong nuts and bolts holding it in ce. But with every thrust that Mark pounded into Arit, she could feel the table creak!
The intensity was so high that Arit knew the table was going to break very soon if they kept going like that!
Arit braced herself against the table and held on like her life depended on it as Mark continued pounding her! She was standing on her toes, and she could feel that she was digging holes into the tiled floor with how much force she was using to hold on! For a moment, Arit dared to look at herself in the mirror, and she would never forget the sight that she saw. She looked like a bitch in heat.
Her face was flushed, and her blond hair was scattered andpletely disheveled. Her tongue was sticking out from her open mouth, and there was some drool dripping from the side of her mouth while her eyes were droopy and zed. Mark was standing over her with a wicked grin on his face, and Arit fell even more in love with him right there as she knew that he was the one who did this to her.
He was the only one who could do this to her!
m! m! m! m! m! m!
Mark reached around and grabbed one of Arit''s breasts as he leaned over her and continued pounding into her with fervor, and Arit felt her legs shaking as another orgasm started toe to her.
Arit heard Mark grunt from somewhere above her, and she knew that Mark was also close toing. Arit immediately tried her best to hold back her orgasm! Arit wanted them toe together!
Mark suddenly grabbed Arit''s neck from behind with his other hand! He pulled her head upwards and forced her back to bend into an arc as he started to pound up into her, almost forcing her body to lift off the ground from the force alone!
Arit didn''t even know that Mark knew a position like this! Her back was arched, and it was almost like Mark wanted to fold her in two! Arit felt a jolt of ecstasy pass through her body as Mark started to hit a new point inside of her! She reached back and held onto Mark''s shoulder with one hand while using the other one to brace herself on the table! She couldn''t hold it in anymore.
"M-Mark, I''ming! I''ming! Please don''t stop! Please! Ah! Ah!
Ah! Ah! Nnggghhhh~"
Arit''s orgasm hit her like a runaway truck, and she groaned even deeper as her eyes slowly began to droop shut. She heard Mark grunt in exertion as a warm feeling started to spread inside of her! The mere thought that Mark wasing inside her at the same time made Arit feel even more excited, and her eyes rolled to the back of her head as her legs vibrated uncontrobly!
"Nngh~!"
It was only Mark''s hand around her neck that prevented her from dropping to the ground like a dead animal, and Mark made sure to hold her tight as she rode out her orgasm.
Chapter 298: You Need To Learn Restraint
By the time Arit came down from her orgasm, she was lying on her back on the edge of the bed with her legs spread wide. Mark was standing over her with an intense look in his eyes, and Arit could feel her core tremble in anticipation as she saw the fierce lust in his eyes. But she couldn''t do it. Not after the session they just had! Does Mark want to kill her!?
"M-Mark. Wait. I just... I just came twice, I can''t go again. You''re going to kill me."
Arit couldn''t form a long sentence without losing her breath, so she tried her best to talk with short sentences. But from the way Mark was still ncing down at her with that look on his face, Arit knew it was pointless!
Mark''s eyes were locked on Arit''s body. From the way her breasts jiggled with every breath she took, to the way her body shone from the sweat on her skin. Mark couldn''t hold himself back. If he tried to hold back, he would go fucking mad.
Mark climbed on top of Arit and Arit didn''t stop him as she happily kissed him when he came in for one. Arit wrapped her hand around Mark''s back and rubbed her palms on his muscles as she felt her own excitement building.
"Can you go again?"
Mark''s deep voice rumbled against Arit''s chest as he spoke and Arit felt her legs curl into the bedsheet as she bit her lip. Arit knew she would regret this in the morning. She might not be able to walk at all and her hips would be killing her once she wakes up. But at this moment, she couldn''t deny the man she loved. Not when he was looking at her like that.
Arit''s poison yellow eyes gazed deep into Mark''s eyes and spoke in a low, sultry tone.
"Fuck me till I break."
Mark''s mouth split into a dangerous grin. He immediately positioned himself properly and slid into Arit for the third time!
"Oooohhhhhh~! Yes~!"
Arit moaned as Mark entered her and Mark grunted as he braced himself against the bed and started to move!
m! m! m! m! m!
Arit put one hand behind her to hold onto the bedsheet while grabbing Mark''s shoulder with the other one once Mark started to move. She hoped she survived tonight because she knew it was going to be impossible for her to move tomorrow!
...
Mark''s eyes opened suddenly and he nced around the room sharply as he wondered where he was. He wasn''t in his hideout anymore. Did another servant kidnap him? Where is Luna?
Wait...
''Oh right, I''m back home.''
Mark sighed and put his hand on his face as he tried to calm himself. Mark was still notpletely free from the tension he always felt in that other world where he could get attacked by a servant at any time. It would take some time for him toe back to normal.
Mark looked around the room and a smile formed on his face as he saw Arit sleeping on the bed beside him. The nket was wrapped around her loosely and her blond hair was scattered on the pillow. She had a small blush across her cheeks as she slept on her front.
Mark reached out and rubbed her cheek softly and Arit moaned in her sleep as a small smile spread across her face.
"Morning~"
Mark chuckled at her cute greeting and leaned down to kiss her forehead.
"Morning."
Arit snuggled deeper into the bed and somehow fell asleep again and Mark just smiled as he stood up from the bed. The room waspletely destroyed from the previous night. The mirror on the table was cracked from when they did it on the table again.
The chair had a broken leg from when they did it there and there were clothes and feathers spread all around the room from when Arit tore a pillow in the middle of a round.
They''re going to have to call room service for this.
Mark grabbed a pair of boxer shorts from the wardrobe and put on a pair of joggers before making his way out of the room. He first went to take a bath, and when he came out, he saw Talia walking out of her room with her teddy in her hand. Once Talia saw Mark, her eyes lit up and she ran towards him and hugged his leg.
"Big brother!"
Markughed and raised Talia up happily. He tickled her for a few seconds and sheughed before hugging him tightly and speaking animatedly with a wide smile on her face.
"I saw you on the news yesterday! You fought an Eldritch!"
Mark nodded sagely.
"Yup, big brother is strong. If anyone messes with you, juste tell Big Brother, and I''ll take care of them."
Talia giggled and hugged Mark even tighter as Mark started walking towards the kitchen. Talia suddenly frowned as she noticed that Arit was not there. Where was the big-breasted bimbo? Wasn''t she always awake at this time? Talia had be so used to seeing Arit awake before anyone else, that not seeing her was weird.
"Big brother, where is the big-breasted ¨C I mean, big sister Arit? Is she not yet awake?"
Mark chuckled at the little slip-up from Talia. Mark had no idea why Arit earned the name big-breasted bimbo, but he was just d that Talia and Arit were somehow getting along.
"Big sister Arit is still sleeping. She worked really hardst night, so she is tired. Do you want to help me make something for her to eat when she wakes up? She is going to be hungry when she gets up, so let''s make something for her, okay?"
"Yay! I''m cooking with Big Brother!"
Talia didn''t even care that they were making the food for Arit! She only heard that she would be cooking with Mark and she immediately agreed to it! She was just happy to be spending time with Mark!
An hourter, Arit walked out from inside the room with a confused expression on her face. Arit woke up about ten minutes earlier and the first thing she immediately thought about doing was taking a bath. She didn''t see Mark beside her, so she was a little disappointed that she couldn''t take a bath with him, but she just went and took her bath quickly.
She slept in, so she was alreadyte in making breakfast. She had to get breakfast ready quickly before Mark got too hungry.
Arit was wearing a pair of shorts and one of Mark''s shirts that she stole a while ago while heading to the kitchen, but Arit was stunned when she walked out from her room with a small limp and she immediately caught a whiff of bacon and heard the sound ofughtering from the kitchen. The first thing she thought was that Talia was ying with the kitchen.
Arit had been teaching Talia how to cook for some time now, so she knew that Talia could handle basic food, but she didn''t think that Talia was ready to cook a full breakfast yet, so she nned to go in there and help Talia finish off the breakfast.
As Arit walked to the kitchen, she grimaced a little beforeughing quietly while holding her lower stomach. Every step that she took made a sharp ache shoot through her crotch and she knew that it was because of how much sex she hadst night. Mark had to learn restraint. He was going to break her waist one of these days.
Chapter 299: Im The Best - And Dont You Forget It
Arit finally made it to the kitchen after a lot of limping and the sight that greeted her was something that she was never going to forget in her entire life.
Mark was standing shirtless in front of the stove with Talia sitting on his shoulder andughing at something that he said. Mark was holding a spat in one hand and he used it to flip the bacon in the pan before going to grab the toast as it came out from the toaster.
"So, where does Arit keep the butter?"
Mark asked with a small grin and Talia grabbed a fistful of Mark''s hair with both hands and turned his head in the direction that he was supposed to go!
"Over there. Big sister Arit likes to keep things high up so that she can reach them easily. She also does it so that I can''t reach it, but she doesn''t know that I have big brother! Humph!"
Mark obeyed her like a robot and went to the cupboard while chuckling at what she said, he could only guess that Arit put the butter there because Talia liked taking it. Mark spread butter on the toast and put them on a te before turning around to put it on the table.
"Hey, Arit, you''re up?"
"Big sister! We''re making breakfast! Big brother is making breakfast!"
Mark wasn''t surprised to see Arit since he heard hering even before she left the room. Arit was still standing in the doorway with a look of surprise on her face as she saw everything cooking in the kitchen. There was bacon, toast, coffee, pancakes, and even some juice with fruits. She didn''t expect this.
"I figured you''d be tired, so I decided to make breakfast. Come on, I''m almost done."
Mark turned back to the stove to finish off the bacon and he was a little shocked as he felt Arit wrap her hands around him from behind and put her forehead on his back. There was a wide smile on Arit''s face as she squeezed him into a hug.
Mark chuckled as he finally put the fire off and took the bacon off the stove. He turned around and kissed Arit softly.
"Uergh!"
Talia got a front-row seat to watch the kiss and both Mark and Arit chuckled as she made a disgusted sound. Arit smiled up at Mark with pure love in her eyes.
"You''re the best boyfriend in the world."
Mark winked at Arit and grinned coyly.
"That''s right, I''m freaking awesome. Now,e on, go grab a seat before our ratatouille gets too mad at us."
Mark pped Arit on the ass as he guided her towards the table, and Arit smiled as she went to sit down. Talia still had a look of disgust on her face and she shook her head as she grabbed hold of Mark''s hair again and turned him around to finish off breakfast.
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...
Arit tilted her head while talking.
"You want to go see Pat?"
Arit was rubbing some more butter on her toast when she heard Mark say that he wanted to go and meet with Pat. Arit was obviously surprised. Mark nodded, took a bite of his pancake, and swallowed before answering.
"Yeah, there''s something we need to talk about. I don''t think I can push it back anymore."
''They want to talk about us.''
Arit heard the voice of the queen echo in her head and she closed her eyes and sighed internally, knowing that she had caused Mark even more trouble.
''We should kill Pat. He might try to make Mark leave us.''
Arit told the queen to shut up, Pat wouldn''t do that. If Pat says anything about them, then it is the truth, after all, they were the ones who killed Francis and Esmeralda without thinking about the consequences. Besides, Arit is sure that no matter what Pat says Mark won''t leave them. Mark loves her.
But even though Arit wouldn''t deny that she made a mistake, there was still part of her that wanted to talk to Pat and see if he was on her side or not. Would Pat really tell Mark to leave her?
She smiled at Mark while taking a bite of her toast.
"Maybe I cane along? I have work today, but I can leave if it''s something serious."
"Nah, it''s nothing serious. I just need to see him before he starts spamming me with messages. You know how he gets when I ignore him."
Arit chuckled. Mark and Pat had a weird friendship. They hardly spoke to each other, but whenever they did, they talked like they had been seeing each other every day for the past few years.
And if Pat ever called Mark and Mark didn''t pick up, Pat would get really worried and start spamming Mark''s phone with calls and messages before just tracking him down like some sort of stalker and pinpointing his position.
If Pat was a girl, Arit would have been very worried that Pat was in love with Mark. She was just d that Mark''s best friend was a guy. Arit finally nodded and asked Mark if he could drop her off before he went to see Pat, and Mark agreed as they went back to eating.
...
Vroom!
Mark''s Kawasaki motorcycle stopped in front of a restaurant and Arit came down from the bike gently. Arit was wearing a pair of blue faded jeans that did wonderful things to her ass and a white t-shirt that hung loosely off one of her shoulders. She took off her helmet and most of the men around immediately turned in her direction to see her face.
The people on the streets were all staring at the pair in shock. Many of them recognized Mark as GHOST, and the recent news that Mark had recently be an Undefined superhuman had increased his poprity so much that there wasn''t a single person around who didn''t know about him.
"Isn''t that GHOST?"
"Holy shit, who''s that girl beside him? She''s smoking hot!"
"Haven''t you heard? That''s GHOST''s girlfriend, Arit. Social media has been going crazy about her for some time now."
"They say she''s the sexiest of the BAGS."
"The BAGS? What the hell are the BAGS?"
"Yo, are you for real right now? Have you been living under a rock? It''s obviously Boyfriends and Girlfriends of Superhumans. They even have their own reality TV show. It''s crazy good."
A girl showed A man a MeTube page dedicated to the BAGS and the man deadpanned.
"What the fuck? People actually sit down to watch this?"
"Dude, you need to keep up with social life. Anyway, I hear Arit''s just a high school girl. Imagine a high school girl having a body like that."
"Only someone like GHOST can get a girl like that. We normies ain''t got a chance. Should we go ask for an autograph? We might not see GHOST here again for some time."
"Haha¡ I don''t think so. Remember what happened with Ghunter and that reporter that time? He killed her and they swept it under the rug like it was nothing. I don''t want to be some statistic. Just leave him alone."
Mark took the helmet that Arit handed him and nced at the restaurant curiously, wondering why Arit had been working so hard here for the past few weeks.
"You''re still not going to tell me what you''re doing this for, are you?"
Arit smiled and hugged Mark before giving him a small peck.
"Sorry, I''ll tell you about it when I''m done, okay? It''s a surprise."
Mark just smiled at her as she gave him another kiss and he told her that he would pick her upter before he drove off to go see Pat. Arit watched Mark go with a happy smile on her face and waved at him one more time before she turned to enter the restaurant.
Chapter 300: Patrick Grey
"We have an order for three burgers and four drinks! Bring the special around and don''t forget that table three made an order as well! Where is everyone? Oh, Arit, you''re finally here, grab an apron and go back to help Mario!"
A woman was shouting out orders from behind a counter as she smiled at some customers waiting for their food. Once the woman saw Arit, she told her to go to the back and Arit nodded as she dropped her bag in the employee locker and went to grab her apron. She tied it behind her as she made her way to the back and greeted the man standing in front of the grill.
"Hey, Mario. Florence seems really pissed today."
"Bah! The woman keeps screaming like witch! Acting like it will make the grill faster! If she wants more food, she should buy more grills! This single grill is a travesty for a chef!"
Mario was a short, chubby Mexican man with some tattoos on his arm and a teardrop tattoo under his left eye. He had a toothpick in his mouth that he rolled around with his tongue as if it were a cigar, and he had an intense look in his eyes as he watched the burgers sizzling on the grill.
Arit chuckled at what Mario said and went to start working on the fries. She noticed eyes on her back and turned around to see Mario looking at her weirdly. She raised a brow and asked him what the matter was. Discover exclusive tales on m,v l''e-NovelBin
Mario chuckled knowingly.
"Nothing, you just seem different today! You have been smiling like an idiot and your skin is glowing like sun. My madam used to have the same look when I gave her a good spanking! Can tell you had a very good night!"
Arit blushed at Mario''s bluntness and waved him away.
"Stop saying nonsense."
Mario chuckled again as he turned some of the burgers on the grill.
"I envy you, Arit. Youth is a time to enjoy good moments with loved ones. I can tell you are using it to its fullest. I was a fool as a youth and made many mistakes that made me lose a lot of time with my madam, and now that I am getting life on track, she is no longer with me. She has moved on due to my foolishness. Do not make the same mistakes I made, Arit.
Hold tight to your lover and never betray the love you have for him. That is the true meaning of life and love."
Arit gained a small smile on her face when she heard Mario talk, but before she could say anything back, the voice of Florence from the front counter echoed through the kitchen again.
"Where are those three burgers I asked for!? Mario, don''t let me catch you ckingin there again! Bring the burgers out now!"
"Okay! Okay! Just wait, you witch! Arit, help me with the grill, I need to package fries and burgers before the witch tries to cast a spell on me!"
Mario quickly started to wrap the burgers into the packaging and Arit hurried to take his ce at the grill as he left to hand them to Florence. Mario cussed under his breath as he came back and went to grab the fries for the customers.
---
The Federation of America went through a lot of drastic changes ever since the Armageddon Anima attacked four years ago, but thergest change that it went through was the introduction of a letter-based city system that was used to designate all the cities in the federation.
Mark and Arit lived in City A. This was the secondrgest city in America, only dwarfed by the muchrger City S that was the main headquarters for the Superhuman Association.
But when it came down to education and learning, there was only one city in the federation that could im to have the highest academic index amongst all the other cities. This city was City D. City D housed more than ten universities and twenty high schools, all of which were some of the best in the entire country.
And in such an academically gifted city like City D, there was always a lot ofpetition between the schools to see which of them was the very best.
Every school there held a lot of pride in their students and they wanted to show that their students were the best in the country, so they would regrly have a nationwidepetition twice every year that was used to determine the very best school in the country.
It was called the Academics Championship.
It didn''t matter what your course of choice was, neither did it matter what year you were in university or high school, thepetition was open to everyone and the only things that would be tested were arithmetic, linguistic, and general knowledge.
The students that were entered into thispetition ranged from high school students to finalists in universities who believed they possessed the most knowledge out of all the students, and the winner of thepetition would not only bring fame to their school, but to themselves.
They would be seen as a legend among students and they would be considered the very best in everything academically rted.
Every year, more than ten thousand students would enter thepetition. They were all there fighting to bring fame and glory to themselves and everyone supporting them.
But all that changed three years ago, when Patrick Grey entered the academic scene for the first time.
As a child, Patrick''s family had always known he was special. He did not cry when other children cried, he did notugh when other childrenughed. There was always a cold detachment in his eyes that showed he was analyzing everything around him like a robot. Cold and unfeeling.
Patrick''s parents were terrified of him. They were so scared of him that they did not want to send him to regr school like other children because they were afraid of how different he was. They home-schooled him for a long time, and they sent Patrick''s sister away from home and made her study in a boarding school so she wouldn''t interact with him much.
Patrick was always alone and it wasn''t until he was old enough to go to middle school that Patrick met Mark.
Patrick''s parents ran a paint shop for automobiles and Patrick was taken along when they went to make a deal with the Vanitaspany. Patrick was made to stay in the waiting room and that was where he met Mark for the first time.
Even as a child, Mark was very blunt and his blunt attitude did not mix well with Patrick''s rude attitude. There were a lot of res and shouting between the two children when they met for the first time since they couldn''t see eye to eye on many matters.
But as time went on and they kept seeing each other after Patrick''s parents got the contract to supply a portion of the paint for Vanitas Motors, they eventually realized that they had a lot more inmon than they initially thought. They became friends.
Chapter 301: Yeah, I think Im Real
Somehow during the course of their friendship. Mark managed to convince Patrick''s parents to send him to middle school. It helped that Mark''s parents were literally their superiors and that Mark promised to look out for Pat while in school.
It was Mark who stood up for Patrick when many of the children in the school ridiculed Patrick for his empty eyes and rude personality and it was Mark who defended Pat when a teacher tried to beat Pat after Pat corrected her in the middle of ss. Mark became Patrick''s best friend.
But after the Anima attack imed the lives of their parents, there was something that changed inside of Patrick. Jeanne, Patrick''s sister, took some time before she really noticed the change, but Mark was the first person to notice it. It was the eyes. Those eyes that seemed to be able to see through everything and everyone so easily.
Eyes that could break apart any problem andy it bare in the simplest form. Just staring into those eyes was enough to make even the most intelligent man feel like a fool. Mark could tell that something changed in Patrick after the Anima attack, but there was nothing that Mark could do about it.
After his parents died, Patrick tried his best to distance himself from the real world and Mark thought for sure that Patrick would be a neet for the rest of his life. But, Patrick suddenly told Mark that he was going to get a schrship to study physics at United Alliance University, the best university in America.
It was shocking to Mark, and Mark didn''t know what caused the sudden change in Patrick. Mark had no idea that he was the one that actually caused the change. He was the one that made Patrick want to be better.
Patrick knew that Mark was going to go far. The moment Patrick heard Mark say that he was a superhuman and saw the look in Mark''s eyes; that hunger for battle, Patrick knew that if he did not do something with his life, Mark was going to leave him behind. Patrick did not want his best friend to leave him behind.
So, since Mark was going to be the strongest and there was nothing Patrick could do topete with that, Patrick decided that he was going to be the smartest.
That was the deration that brought tears to the eyes of thousands every year.
---
Four-time Academics Championship winner.
Three-time winner of the best student award in the UA physics department.
Three-time winner of the UA best student award.
Three-time winner of the Dean''s award for best student in UA.
Three-time winner of the Student''s Prize for major breakthroughs in the field of physics and astronomy.
---
It was like a monster was released into the world, and there was nothing that could stop him.
Patrick kept on winning no matter what hepeted in. His knowledge and mental capacity were unmatched by anyone in the country. This simple fact made him untouchable at UA University. He was so untouchable that he could go to school whenever he wanted or miss out on as many sses as he wished to and the administration would let him off with only a slight warning.
Because even the administration knew Patrick was someone who did not lose to anyone academically. He only entered the school three years ago, and since then, he has won every singlepetition that he entered. It was like that academic joke that people said a lot but never really meant.
You got a ny on your test because that was all you could get, but he got a hundred because that was all there was to get.
Patrick was the personification of that ideal.
In the physics department of UA University, Pat''s name was uttered in hushed whispers no matter where you went. Most of the juniors referred to him as ''that senior,'' and many of the seniors didn''t even dare to say his name when they talked about him. Everyone just knew who they were talking about.
"I heard that senior is in school today. You know they reprimanded him for shouting at a teacher the other time, but the teacher quit after a few days saying that she needed to go back and study again."
"I heard that too. He solved something unbelievable in seconds."
"That senior''s really something else. Do you think he is a superhuman? Maybe he is blessed by the god of knowledge or something."
"I have no idea."
"Hey, this is the physics building, right? Do you guys know a Patrick Grey?"
The three female students who had been talking in hushed whispers suddenly jolted in shock as they heard someone talk from behind them! Someone actually dared to say that senior''s name!? They turned around quickly, and they all froze in ce as they looked up at the tall man standing in front of them.
Mark was holding a bag in one hand and his other hand was in his pocket as he looked down at the three university students in front of him. He was wearing a pair of ck trousers and a ck T-shirt under a ck biker''s jacket that made him seem a lot more mature. Anyone who saw him would immediately think that he was a grown man instead of a high school student who was barely eighteen!
He had a ck face mask covering the lower part of his face, but from how popr he was, Mark knew that the face mask wasn''t going to do too much to protect his identity.
"G-G-G-Gh¡"
One of the girls, a blonde with quite the impressive ''personality'' on her chest, pointed up at Ghost with a zed, faraway look in her eyes. She was repeating ''G'' over and over again, and Mark wondered for a moment if she had gone crazy. He looked at the other two standing beside her and noticed that they weren''t any better off. They were also staring at him like he was a ghost.
Oh, that means the mask didn''t do anything.
"I guess there''s no need for this."
Mark took off his mask, and the blonde girl who had been pointing at him immediately screamed in joy as she saw his sharp features! Her scream was so loud that even Mark took a step back in surprise, but at the next moment, she fell back to the ground and passed out immediately!
Mark blinked as he saw her fall, and he turned to look down the long hallway that they were standing in as one of the blonde girl''s friends shouted her name and knelt down to check her head for any bleeding. Thankfully, there weren''t any other peopleing down the hallway, and only the four of them were there so, at least he wasn''t going to get swarmed by people.
Mark turned back to the unconscious girl with a look of disbelief.
''Now, what the fuck am I going to do with you?''
...
"Oi, you okay? Wake up. Come on, wake up already."
"Mmh, just five more minutes, daddy."
"I''m not your father. Get up."
The blonde girl''s eyes suddenly flickered open as she heard a deep voice talking to her in a disappointed tone. Oh yeah, she had been sleeping, and she dreamt about something absurd. She thought she saw GHOST in her school, and he even spoke to her. That was crazy.
The girl chuckled and finally cleaned her eyes to see where she was. Her eyes widened.
Mark waved at her.
"Yo."
"Oh my god, GHOST!! You''re real!!" Discover hidden content at m,v l''e-NovelBin
The girl shouted again, and Mark shrugged. He was real thest time he checked.
Chapter 302: You Should Have A Little Shame
"You''re friends were worried about you."
Mark pointed to the two girls standing at the side. They were also sending discrete nces at GHOST, but he could tell they were worried from the looks they were giving her. A huge blush formed on her face as she immediately realized that she had just passed out in front of GHOST. I''m such an idiot! How could I embarrass myself like that in front of him!?
"Can you stand?"
Mark reached out a hand for her to take and the girl stared at his hand like it was a piece of gold for a moment before hesitantly reaching out and grabbing hold of it. Mark pulled her to her feet easily and spoke kindly.
"I heard you guys talking about a student who shouted at a teacher earlier. Is that student Patrick Grey?"
One of the blonde''s friends, a petite girl with brte hair that seemed to have a permanent blush on her fair face, spoke up.
"Y-Yes, that''s¡ª"
"Yes, that''s him! Do you want to see him?"
The blonde suddenly cut her friend off as she stepped closer to Mark. The brte frowned as she was cut off, but the blonde didn''t even seem to care as she looked up at Mark with stars in her eyes and a wide smile on her face. It was obvious that the blonde did not want to give her friends any chance to talk to Mark.
Mark just smiled down at her.
"Yeah, I want to surprise him, but I don''t know where he is."
The blonde was shocked. That senior was friends with GHOST? This was the first time she was hearing something like that! Who would have thought someone as reclusive and antisocial as that senior would be friends with GHOST? But she didn''t care too much about how the two of them became friends. She immediately reached out for Mark''s hand and tried to pull him forward while talking.
"I-I can take you! He is not having sses now! He is in theb with some other seniors working on an experiment! I can take you there if you want!"
The blonde was really enthusiastic and Mark could tell that she was trying her best to make up for passing out earlier. She must feel embarrassed about it, so she was trying to show her good side to him. Mark gently pulled his arm back from her grip and the blonde looked up at him sadly as she thought he was going to tell her no.
But Mark just smiled again.
"I''m not fond of strangers touching me. You can go ahead, I''ll follow behind you."
The blonde blushed again as she realized how forward she had been just now. She nodded and started to guide him.
"O-Okay, follow me! It''s not far!"
The blonde walked ahead and Mark followed after her at a more sedate pace while looking around the school. There were some sses going on behind a few doors, but Mark passed too quickly for any of them to notice him. Mark could tell that the school was very academically inclined.
Almost all the sses were packed with students, and they all had very serious faces as they discussed some prettyplicated stuff that flew right over Mark''s head.
Mark looked back in front and he noticed that the blonde guiding him was smiling back at him. He gave her a polite smile and she turned back around and started walking a little slower. This time, there was a swing in her hip and Mark could tell that she was trying hard to draw his attention down to her ass. Mark sighed as he followed after her. He really couldn''t get used to how easy some women were.
The two of them finally reached a door and the blonde turned around with her hands behind her back as she smiled up at Mark and told him that they had arrived. Mark thanked her for her help, but he noticed that she had still not moved from her spot.
"Is something wrong?"
Mark raised a brow at her and a blush spread on her cheeks as she brought out a phone.
"C-Can I get your number?"
You''ve got to be fucking with me.
Mark felt like telling her to stop fucking around, but he knew that it would be too much. She helped him to find theb, so the least he could do was let her down politely.
"Sorry, but I have a girlfriend. I don''t think she''ll like that very much. Thanks for helping me find theb."
The blonde''s eyes widened and her blush increased as she stepped closer to Mark, almost pushing her breast into him.
"I-I don''t think she''ll mind! University girls don''t really mind our boyfriends giving out their numbers! If she minds then she''s just being childish! M-Maybe you should look for someone more mature to be with."
She was obviously lying and Mark could feel his patience wearing thin as he gave her a disgusted look. Mark just shook his head before walking past her.
"Have a little shame, senior."
The girl was left standing there with her phone outstretched as Mark entered the room and shut the door behind him.
Inside the room was aical sight as ten graduate students who all looked well above twenty-five years old were gathered around a single second-year student who barely looked twenty.
Patrick was wearing a pair of loose joggers and a loose shirt with a whiteb coat over it as he spoke to some graduate students about the experiment they were doing while writing out someplex calctions on a whiteboard.
"The atomic molecules here are going to undergo some spontaneousbustion, so we are going to add in a catalyst to slow it down so that it doesn''t affect the other nuclear reactions. If we can reduce the entropy and increase the enthalpy at the same time, then we can say the experiment is a sess.
Just be careful while working with the atoms, their energy level is high, so they react easily with air. Work in the vacuum boxes only and make sure to exceed their valence limit¡ª"
Ka-Cha!
The sound of the door opening and closing made everyone turn around and Pat immediately frowned as he noticed who it was that entered the room.
Mark grinned.
"Damn, that sounds fuckingplicated, Pat."
"Holy shit, it''s GHOST!"
"GHOST! What is GHOST doing here!? And he knows Patrick!?"
"GHOST! I love you!"
Patrick felt his eye twitch as he saw the students abandon the experiment as they turned to Mark. Seriously, what the fuck was that bastard doing here?
Mark walked past the graduate students that were trying to swarm him and he leaned on the table beside Pat.
"You don''t look happy to see me."
"I''m not, you bastard. Can''t you see I''m fucking busy?"
Mark put his hand on his chest in mock hurt.
"You wound me. And after I went out of my way to grab something to eat."
Patrick eyed the bag that Mark was carrying wearily before he sighed and finally decided to let the interruption go. He spoke up to the graduate students.
"Can you guys excuse us?"
One of the graduate students, a woman who looked to be at least ten years older than both Pat and Mark, immediately walked forward.
"Uh, what about the experiment? Are we not going to¡ª"
"I told you all to get the fuck out."
Chapter 303: What Is An Accident?
"I told you all to get the fuck out."
Pat suddenly red at everyone there and they all felt a shiver pass through their bodies as they saw how serious he was. Even as a second year, Patrick had more sway in the university than even some of the professors.
Thisb was given to him by the school to carry out any experiment he wanted after he won the second Students Science Prize for breakthroughs in physics, and he could do whatever he wanted here, so it was suicide for anyone to try and argue with him.
They immediately started to pack their things and filtered out of the room.
Once they were gone, Mark stood up and punched Pat lightly on the shoulder.
"Ow! What the fuck was that for!?"
"You''re still terrible at talking with others. You didn''t have to kick them out like that. Nowe on, smile a little, your best friend is here and he brings good tidings. Aren''t I just the fucking best?"
Pat scoffed, but a small smile slowly appeared on his face as he followed Mark to take a seat on one of the chairs in the middle of the room. Mark brought out some takeaway tes with spaghetti inside and Pat eyed the food curiously as Mark handed him his portion. Pat looked at the te curiously and he knew that Mark didn''t buy this from any of the restaurants in the area.
There was no wrapping on the spoon, so that meant Mark didn''t buy it from City A either. Is this homemade?
"Stop looking at the food like it''s some sort of bomb and eat it. Arit made it yesterday and we couldn''t finish all of it, so I bought some for you."
"Arit made it?"
Pat sounded skeptical and Mark raised his hand to punch Pat again, but Pat easily dodged it and chuckled as he epted the food.
"Alright, I''ll eat, just stop hitting me. You know, you and my sister are going to kill me one day with the way you''re always hitting me."
Mark scoffed.
"Stop acting like a dick and maybe we''ll stop hitting you. This is exactly why you can''t get a fucking girlfriend. So what the hell is this? You have your ownb or something?"
Pat sighed. He couldn''t say anything to counter the girlfriend jab that Mark just threw, so he just decided to let it pass.
"Yeah, something like that. I got it as an award for some science prize. I think the school was just skimping and they gave me this because they didn''t have enough money to pay for my research anymore. Now, they only have to give me some equipment and a little research funding. The rest of the funds have toe from my pocket. They''re fucking cheap.
But I guess it''s not so bad having my own space."
Mark looked around therge, well-lit room. Mark had never been in here before and this was the first time that he woulde visit Pat in the university. Honestly, Mark always thought that Pat would be hopeless without him. He thought Pat was going to be a NEET forever and hide in his room all the time, so it was a pleasant surprise to realize that Pat was actually doing alright for himself.
"Oi, I can tell you''re thinking about something stupid right now. Why the fuck are you looking around like some proud parent."
Mark cleaned a fake tear from the edge of his eye.
"You have no idea how proud I am. All those years raising you, they were truly worth it."
Mark chuckled, and Pat scoffed.
"Fucking bastard."
They went silent and continued eating. After they were done, Mark just leaned back and waited for it to begin. Pat knew that this was the first time he and Mark would be eating together like this in almost two years. They had both been so busy that they just hadn''t had the time to meet up and eat like this.
If the situation was any different, Pat knew he would have preferred to just keep hanging out happily without bringing up anything serious, but things weren''t different. There was something that Pat had to know.
"Did she kill those students?"
Pat didn''t beat around the bush. He knew that Mark knew exactly what he wanted to know, so Pat simply went straight to the point and asked the most serious question. Mark frowned as he dropped his empty te and folded his hands. Mark would have liked it if Pat asked some follow-up questions first, but since Pat was going straight to the point, Mark had to do the same.
"Yes, she did."
The tension in the room seemed to rise with those few words. Pat picked up a napkin and cleaned the oil from his lips before dropping it and the te to the side as he asked another question.
"Why?"
"It was an ident."
"What... An ident? An ident!?"
Pat was immediately on his feet, and Mark could see genuine anger in Pat''s eyes as he seethed. Mark used his thumb to clean the edge of his lips with a sigh.
"No, Mark, an ident is burning your finger on the stove or shutting the door on your foot! That is an ident! This is murder! Don''t give me that shit about an ident! You swore to me that you would look after her! You told me she would be okay!
So why did she do it!?"
Mark weathered the storm of Pat''s anger calmly. The room they were in was ab, so Mark was sure it would be soundproof so no one outside would hear what they were talking about. Mark leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees.
"Sit down, Pat. Let''s talk."
Pat narrowed his eyes at Mark angrily, but he did not fight again. He gently sat back down and leaned forward in his own seat. Mark sighed as he started to exin.
"I didn''t call it an ident because I don''t think it was bad. I said it that way because it was my fault. I didn''t notice how badly she was affected by the things around her, and I blindly thought she would be fine even though I saw some signs. Look, I don''t know how to exin this to you properly, so just bear with me. You see, I think Arit is obsessed with me."
Pat scoffed.
"Wow, I''m so shocked."
Mark did not smile at the sarcasticment, and Pat narrowed his eyes as he noticed that Mark was dead serious.
"You don''t get it, Pat. I''m not joking here. I think Arit is very obsessed with me. So far, everything that has happened around Arit has somehow been rted to me. Esmeralda, Francis, the queen going out of control, that was all me. It was my fault.
Arit is so obsessed with me that I don''t believe she has any restraints when ites to me. She is willing to go to any lengths to protect me or my name."
Pat put a hand to his chin and adopted a thinking pose.
"So, you''re saying that Arit killed those people because of you? Did you ever see her behaving hostile towards them before?"
"No, not until the queen arrived. I''ve always had issues with Francis and Arit has been neutral, but after the queen bonded with her, it feels like she couldn''t hold back the anger inside her anymore. So don''t me her for this. I know she killed those people, but in arge way, I believe it is my fault."
Chapter 304: I Want You To Work With Me
Pat sighed as he saw the sincerity in Mark''s eyes. Mark was not ying around and Patrick couldn''t get angry if Mark was saying things so inly.
"Look, I get what you''re trying to say, but fucking killed people, Mark. Children who had their whole lives in front of them were fucking murdered like chickens. ming yourself is not going to make me let it go. You might have been the catalyst that started her down that path, but she was the one who walked it. The blood is on her hands, not yours."
Mark ran a hand over his face and used his thumb to poke his brow twice before he sighed. Sometimes, he forgets just how much of a humanitarian Pat could be. Even though Pat was someone who hated being around people for a long time, that did not mean that Pat didn''t care for humans.
Mark knew that he wouldn''t be bothered by a few deaths in a fight and if he saw some monster that was killing people indiscriminately, he wouldn''t be too affected by it. But Pat was different. Pat wanted to save everyone. He was the kind of person who believed human life was precious and shouldn''t be wasted. That is one of the reasons Pat was always watching out for Mark during their fights.
He always sent Mark to ces with the least amount of civilians.
Pat cared about people a lot more than Mark.
"I am not going to sit here and promise that nothing like this is ever going to happen again, but I can promise you that I won''t force her into a situation like that again. The only reason why she did what she did was because of my negligence. It was my fault that she killed those two, and it''s not going to happen again."
"So what will you fucking do? You''ll cut off all ties with humans because of her? You''ll cut off ties with me? What happens if she thinks of me as a threat suddenly and decides that I should die too? What then?"
"I''ll save you both."
"Don''t you fucking y around, you bastard. This is serious. She''s a monster on steroids released in the world with no leash. What are you going to do if you have to choose between saving her and saving someone she wants to kill?"
Mark''s gaze never wavered and he stared right at Pat with all seriousness.
"Then I''ll save everyone. I don''t care what happens, or how it happens. If it''s you, then I''ll save you, and if it''s anyone else, then I''ll save them too. But I''ll always be there for her, no matter what. I love her, Pat, and I''ll be by her side, even if the world stands against her."
Pat closed his eyes tightly to look away from the unwavering resolve he could see behind Mark''s gaze. It was almost blinding in its intensity. Pat grit his teeth and ran his hand over his face before groaning. What a fucking mess. This is why I hate lovers so much; they''re always doing stupid shit for each other without thinking of the consequences.
After some time, Pat finally spoke up.
"Look, if you''re going to do shit like this, then at least think about how it affects me too. Do you think I''ll just fucking abandon you? If she''s killing people, then it affects me too! Ah, fuck! Fine! Do whatever the fuck you want.
Stand by her or whatever! But if this shit hits the fan, I''ll be right there to tell you I told you so!"
Mark grinned.
"At least you''ll be on my side."
Pat clicked his tongue in irritation.
"You fucking lovers are always annoying. But I hate this. She shouldn''t be allowed to roam about the way she is. What happens if people find out what she is? That will be the end for you as well. You''ll be an aplice and I''ll have to be a fugitive.
I get that you''re strong, but just keep in mind that not everyone is as strong as you."
Mark nodded. He was d that Pat finally agreed, and he knew that allowing Arit to move freely was a risk, but Mark knew that Arit could be trusted with her power. She was only obsessed with him, so at the very least she wasn''t killing indiscriminately.
The issue with the school was just an unfortunate ident, and Mark knew that the likelihood of something like that ever happening again was practically zero. They would be fine.
Pat stood up and walked over to the fridge that was pushed up against the wall on one side of theb. He took out two cans of soda and threw one to Mark before popping the other one open while talking.
"She should go back and see my sister again. Jeanne''s been asking about her a lot recently, but I don''t think she knows yet that Arit killed some people. It''ll turn into an even bigger mess if she finds out about it, and I don''t want to be the one to tell her. I''ll tell Jeanne that Arit started hearing the voices again, so send her in for another session."
Mark nodded and took a drink from his can. He turned to the side and looked out into the school grounds. This part of the school was secluded from the mainpounds since it was ab that needed privacy, but there were still many students who followed the grounds to move from one ss to another. Mark took another drink and spoke up.
"What do you n to do when you''re done here?"
Pat raised a brow.
"You mean done with school? I don''t know yet. I''m thinking of just opening a school of my own for my research. I have enough money for it, but it could be a hassle with all the people I have to deal with."
Mark chuckled at the typical answer, and when he spoke again, it was with a very serious tone.
"I''m nning to start a guild."
Pat was in the middle of reaching for another soda when Mark said this, and once he heard it, he paused before changing his direction and grabbing a bottle of water instead. What the fuck was Mark talking about?
"A guild? You?"
"Yeah, a guild."
"Why?"
"I know you''ve noticed it too, but I''m not a fan of any of the guilds around. There''s too much bureaucracy and politics involved. I don''t like that."
"So you want to create a guild that doesn''t listen to thew. That''s encouraging. I''m sure the government will fucking love that."
Pat shut the fridge and leaned against it before taking a drink from the water. He eyed Mark closely for some time. Mark was still looking out the window wistfully and Pat spoke up.
"You''re doing it for her, aren''t you?"
Mark chuckled.
"Can''t get anything past you, can I?"
Pat shrugged.
"It was a little obvious."
"Yeah, I guess. But it''s not just her. I''m not a fan of following other people''s ns. I have my own ns and I can''t do that if I''m a part of some other guild. I want a ce where Arit will be safe. As a member of my guild, I can look after her.
But I''m not doing it just for her. Even before she became queen, I always wanted to create a guild."
Chapter 305: The Origin of Vanguard
"And now that you''re a SOVEREIGN, it''s the perfect time for it. By the time you turn eighteen, there''ll be nothing stopping you from doing just that. You really surprise me sometimes, Mark. This was thest thing I expected us to be talking about today."
Mark smiled.
Normally, Mark didn''t think that he would be talking about this today either. After losing his powers before, Mark felt that he would never get to create his own guild. But ever since Mark got his powers back, creating this guild has been at the back of his mind almost every day.
Pat crossed over to the chairs and sat down.
"So, you want me to leave everything and join your guild?"
"Yeah. If I''m going to do this, then I really need you there. Who else is going to keep me out of trouble?"
Pat grinned. He was not against the idea of a guild at all. If Mark hadn''t said anything about it, then Pat would have eventually brought up the idea instead. Having a guild was the best way to get out of the government''s control in this country. There are a lot of ''questionable'' things that the government simply overlooks because it was a guild that did it.
And if it was a guild with someone as powerful as Mark leading it, it was even more difficult for the government to touch them.
And besides, it wasn''t like theycked the money. Creating a guild was almost the same as creating a mini-country. But with enough money, even creating a mini country was a piece of cake.
"Vice-captain Patrick. I like the sound of that But you know, my sister will kill me if she ever hears that I''m joining a guild without any powers."
Mark gave Pat an incredulous look. When did Mark ever say that Pat would be the vice-captain? This bastard was just taking positions for himself.
Pat almost seemed to be able to read what was on Mark''s mind and he grinned at Mark with a shrug. They both knew there was no one else Mark trusted enough to take on a position like that.
Mark chuckled before answering Pat''s question.
"If your sister is that worried then bring her along. We''re going to need a healer anyway."
Pat shivered.
"No. Please, just no. I won''t survive a day with that crazy woman in the same guild as me."
Markughed at Pat''s difort. After some time, Pat finally asked.
"So, what do you n to name it?" Discover stories with m,v l''e-NovelBin
"Well, it''s still a work in progress, but I was thinking Vanguard."
Pat smiled and raised his bottle for another drink.
"Not bad."
¡
[One Week Later - Monday]
"Mark! Mark, are you done getting ready!?"
Arit''s voice echoed through the house as she shouted from the kitchen and Mark groaned as he rolled over in his bed and opened his eyes calmly. He looked to the side and watched the lighting through the window for some time before he finally forced himself to sit up.
Today was Monday, and it was also the day Nature Academy was opening its doors to the students once more since Esmeralda and Francis died. The truth is that Mark was hoping it would take a little longer before he had to go back to school. Thest week had been spent fighting against anima and training, and Mark hadn''t had a better time in a long while.
He could just rx without having to worry about his grades or attendance.
"Ah, fuck this."
Mark suddenly cursed as he fell back into bed, but Arit''s loud voice suddenly echoed through the house again. "Mark! You promised!"
Arit came through the door of the room and frowned as she saw Mark was still lying in bed. Arit was already dressed for school and she had an apron over her school uniform with adle in her other hand. Arit told Mark to get ready before she was done making breakfast, but Mark had still not moved at all since then!
Mark promised her that he was going to take school a little more seriously, but it was obvious that he was not going to be keeping that promise!
Mark groaned and raised a cating hand as he finally got up from the bed and started to walk to the bathroom. As he passed Arit, he bent down to kiss her and Arit pecked him on the cheek after the kiss and poked his chest softly. "Don''t make me wait long."
Mark nodded with a tired yawn and Arit smiled at his antics before going back to continue making breakfast.
Mark finished freshening up quickly and before even twenty minutes had passed, he had dressed up and was walking out of the room with a few books in his hand. Mark dropped the books on the table ¨C he was going to put them in Arit''s bagter ¨C and he immediately stalked towards Talia who was sitting on a chair with her back to him!
"EEK!"
Talia suddenly screeched in fright as Mark grabbed her by the waist and raised her up.
"Look at you, Talia! You look so beautiful!"
Talia giggled as Mark brought her to his chest and tickled her gently while hugging her and she breathlessly told him to let her go while iling around helplessly.
"You''ll ruin my uniform, big brother! Big sister will shout at you again if she catches you!"
Markughed as he finally dropped Talia back on the chair and helped her to straighten out her uniform. The uniform Talia was wearing was for a popr superhuman elementary school that was in charge of taking care of young superhumans as well as children of superhumans who didn''t have the time to always look after their wards.
The school was popr for having superhuman teachers who were capable of handling the students and taking care of any issues that may arise due to them not being able to control their strength. The school was freaking expensive, but Mark chose this school because he knew that it was the best ce for Talia to get a proper education while also being safe.
It would be bad if he sent Talia to a normal school and she made a mistake that would make her ostracized from the other students. At least, if Talia was in this school, Mark could have peace of mind that nothing bad would happen to her.
"Mark, you''re going to ruin all my hard work."
Arit walked out of the kitchen with arge te of pancakes and Mark just chuckled as he saw the frown on her face. Mark was slowly realizing that he did not know how to arrange this uniform at all. How the hell did Arit even make this thing look presentable? It was so confusing. There were folds and silk frills in the weirdest ces.
Arit dropped the te on the table and she finally came and showed Mark how to handle it. Once they were done with the uniform, Arit went to grab the rest of the food and Mark took Talia to the table for breakfast.
Neither of them noticed Talia''s sad frown as she followed behind Mark.
Chapter 306: They Grow Up So Fast
The small family made their way down to the hotel lobby, and Mark could see many people stopping what they were doing as they saw himing out from the elevator.
"That''s GHOST, right? The SOVEREIGN?"
"Yeah, I still can''t wrap my head around the fact that he''s a high school student! It makes no sense!"
"Look at that girl. It''s GHOST''s girlfriend, Arit. What did I tell you before? Her chest is an absolute work of art."
"Hah~, I want a high school girlfriend too."
"Do you want to go to prison?"
It was no longer news that Mark was the newest member of the SOVEREIGN, and ever since that news came out, it seemed that everyone around him started to exercise a lot more restraint. They were still gawking and staring, but they were no longer running up to him and asking for autographs at every turn. The reason for this was simple.
The American government warned all the citizens in the country regrly not to approach any member of the SOVEREIGN if they valued their lives. The incident between Gunter and the reporter was always used as an example of what could happen to a regr person if a SOVEREIGN was sufficiently annoyed.
And since the government was never going to imprison a SOVEREIGN that could be useful on the battlefield against Anima, the people were just going to be statistics while the SOVEREIGN would easily get away with the murder.
Although this memo was released long before Mark became a SOVEREIGN, and the people knew that Mark was the weakest of the SOVEREIGNs, it was already ingrained in the minds of almost every civilian that they shouldn''t approach any SOVEREIGN, so they did not bother trying to approach Mark either.
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Mark made it out of the hotel and thanked the valet as he took his car key from him. Arit went around to the passenger seat, and Mark helped Talia into the back with her teddy before they went off to school.
As Mark drove through the city on his way to school, he couldn''t help but notice Talia looking a little sad in the back seat. He asked her what was wrong, and Talia shrugged.
"What if the kids at school don''t like me?"
Mark chuckled.
"You''re a ray of sunshine, I don''t think there''s anyone that won''t like you."
Talia tightened her hold on her teddy as she frowned.
"The kids at myst school didn''t like me. The cowards were all scared of Teddy."
Mark hummed gently. He could understand where Talia wasing from, and in a small way, he med James for that issue. James was trying too hard to treat her like a normal girl by sending her to a normal elementary school. Sending her to a superhuman-based elementary school was obviously the smarter choice.
"Don''t worry, Talia. Everyone in your new school is strong; they won''t be scared of Teddy."
"Really?"
Mark nodded.
"Really, just give them a chance, okay?"
Talia buried her face into Teddy before she finally nodded in agreement. Mark turned to look at Arit and saw that she was giving him a worried nce. Mark smiled at her and told her that it would be fine. Kids could be mean sometimes, but Mark knew that Talia could handle anything the new school threw at her without bending or breaking. If it ever got out of hand, then they would intervene.
Mark stopped his car along the road in front of apound with many other cars. There were parents guiding their children into the school, as well as some more mature students who were entering the school on their own. Mark came down with Arit and opened the door for Talia toe down gently.
She had a lunch box in one hand and her teddy in the other with her backpack on her back. Her hair was tied up into two ponytails with pink ribbons that matched well with her blue and white uniform. Mark thought she looked adorable.
The school that they were standing in front of was named Light Elementary, and it was built by a privatepany a long time ago to take care of superhuman children. Mark saw some superhumans that he recognized from battles bringing their children to the school as well, and most of them immediately stopped what they were doing as they saw Mark standing in front of his ck Vanitas Aventador.
Arit bent down gently and helped Talia to straighten out the ribbon on her cor.
"Don''t worry, okay, Talia. You look beautiful. I''m sure you''ll make a lot of friends."
Talia still looked a little down, but she managed a small smile as she hugged Arit. Arit smiled and kissed Talia on the side of her head before she stood and straightened out her skirt. Mark was leaning on the car, and he made sure to re at anyone who was trying toe closer to make sure they didn''t dare.
Although civilians were a lot more reserved now that Mark was a SOVEREIGN, it was the exact opposite for superhumans. Now that Mark was seen as one of the very best, almost every single superhuman wanted toe and greet him. They all wanted to be acquainted with him because they knew that it would help them out in the long run.
Some of them were even going to try and recruit Mark into their guild since they did not think Mark could be happy being in a mediocre guild like the Artemis Guild.
Mark had to constantly scare away most of the superhumans who were trying to get too close. He didn''t want them to get in their way. After he was sure that no one would try toe kiss his ass, Mark turned to Talia.
"You want us to walk you inside?"
Talia''s eyes widened as a look of horror appeared on her face! Walking her inside! No way! That would be social suicide!
"No! Big brother, I''m fine! I can handle it!"
Mark immediately knew that Talia just didn''t want to be seen as a little kid by the others in the school. Having your parent walk you into the school would be the same as saying you were nervous to be there alone, so the other kids might look down on you as a crybaby. Mark couldn''t stop the small smile that appeared on his face.
He felt proud that she was prepared to go in alone even though she was actually nervous.
Mark bent to a knee and brought Talia closer before kissing her forehead.
"I know you''ll do great. Go get ''em, tiger."
Talia blushed as she kissed Mark on the cheek, and Mark stood up and leaned on his car beside Arit as they watched Talia cross the road and enter the school gates alone. Just before she entered the main building, she turned around and dropped her lunchbox before waving at them.
"Bye-bye!"
Mark raised his hand with a smile, and Arit raised both hands into the air and waved them with a wide smile on her face. Talia then picked up her lunchbox again and disappeared into the school.
"Sniffle~!"
Once she was gone, Mark was stunned to hear the sound of sniffling from beside him, and he turned to see Arit with her hand covering her mouth and tears in her eyes.
Oh,e on, seriously?
Mark gave Arit an incredulous look of pure disbelief, and Arit waved him away as she tried to clean her tears.
"She is growing up so fast. Sniffle~! I''m so proud of her."
Chapter 307: Rizz
Mark chuckled before he leaned down and kissed Arit on the top of her head while Arit tried to clean her tears. All his girls were such a handful. Mark told Arit to get in the car so they could leave, and Arit nodded as she went to the passenger seat.
"Excuse me, Mark Vantas. My name is Tucker, and I''m the head of the Feline Guild. I think you might know me more by my superhuman name, Catman ¨C"
"Nope, this is not happening. And you''ve gotta change that stupid superhuman name, what the hell is a Catman?"
Mark got into his car without even giving Catman a moment of his time and drove off.
---
[The NSA Building. Szar''s Office]
Knock! Knock!
A knock on the door made a white-haired man hum as he spoke up in a gruff voice. Experience more content on m v|l e''-NovelBin
"Come."
Ka-Cha!
The door opened, and a shapely woman walked in with a stack of papers in her hand. She wore a pencil skirt suit that hugged her body in all the right ces, making her modest bust and shapely ass stand out. She walked up to the man''s table and greeted him respectfully.
"Mr. Szar, I have the documents you asked me for. Shall I put them here?"
Szar pointed his pen to the side, and the woman nodded before dropping them. Szar was looking down at a document on the table, and he was not paying any attention to the woman in front of him. But when Szar did not hear the sound of the door closing again, he finally looked up and saw the woman was still standing in front of him. Szar frowned.
"What is it, Milicent?"
Milicent quickly spoke up as she noticed that Szar was not in a good mood.
"Sir, the target went to school today. I''m wondering if you wanted us to begin the operation, or do you wish for us to wait? Given the current state of the country, there are a lot of eyes focused on him, so I believe it might be too soon for the attack."
Szar''s eyes widened minutely before a snake-like smile spread across his face.
"So they finally went back to school, they took their precious time. Is our agent on the ground?"
"Yes, sir. He is already active and ready to move once you give the order."
Szar hummed and turned around to look outside the window. He knew that it was going to be good to attack right now since he would have the element of surprise, but should he wait a little longer and look for a better opportunity? Yes, that might be better.
The entire city is on high alert from that stupid superhuman killer''s mistake, so attacking now might not be the best option.
"Tell the agent not to act out and to wait for my orders. We''ll find a better moment to attack. In the meantime, begin the auxiliary n."
Milicent nodded her agreement, and Szar sighed as he dropped his pen and started to loosen his tie. When next he spoke, there was a mellow tone in his voice that showed just how tired he was.
"Ensure no one can trace any of this back to us until we are ready. Make sure you are as discreet as possible. Use only disposable agents who you feel are trustworthy. Everything else, other than the parts handled by the agents, should be handled directly by you. Do not pass it on to anyone else. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir. Everything is in ce already. I''m making sure that nothing can be traced back to us for now."
He stared at Milicent with an intense gaze to ensure that she fully understood the gravity of the situation. If she gave this task to anyone else, it would be a weak link in the n that could be exposed in the future. Szar was making sure that the circle of people who knew anything about the full n was as small as possible.
After some time, Szar''s gaze reduced in intensity as he was satisfied with Milicent''s conviction. His eyes still lingered on Milicent''s body, and she shuffled slightly, growing nervous from the way Szar''s eyes roamed over her. Milicent swallowed as Szar''s eyes finally lingered on her breasts. He leaned back in his seat before speaking.
"I need to release some steam. Lock the door ande get on your knees."
Milicent went to lock the door and started to unbutton her shirt while walking towards Szar. She knelt between his legs and took off her shirt, exposing her pink bra. Szar turned to look outside the window with a sigh as he felt her loosening his belt and finally opening his trouser buttons.
She engulfed him, and he grunted with a sadistic smile.
It would all start soon, and once it began, he would not stop until it was finished. It was only a matter of time now.
---
[Nature Academy]
Arge crowd of students were making their way to school while talking amongst each other excitedly. Many of the students looked happy to finally be going back to school, but some of them had looks of apprehension on their faces as they knew they were going back to a school where two students had been murdered only recently.
But none of the students could hide their excitement as they gawked at the various superhumans walking around the school building.
"Isn''t that Tilda? It is, that''s the Yellow Phantom! I thought she only worked in city C!"
"And that''s Lightning Rider! They''re from the same guild in city C! They were with GHOST when he was fighting against the Cmity ss!"
"Hey look, even Blue Bird ster is here! They really brought the big guns today!"
"Hey, did you see the news this morning? They said a superhuman vanished suddenly from his hotel and he hasn''t been seen since."
"Man, what the hell are you talking about?"
"No really, I saw it. They said it was someone from the Green Ho guild that vanished. There was no sign of fighting at all. It''s like he just ran away."
"He probably just went on vacation or something. Stop bothering me, I''m trying to rizz up Yellow Phantom! I think she looked at me twice so I''m gonna go talk to her!"
"Your ugly ass doesn''t stand a chance! You''ll have more luck having sex with a hole in a tree! Now look at what I''m showing you."
"Bruh, that... that was mean. I don''t even wanna look anymore."
After the incidents that happened in the school, the administrative body of Nature Academy knew that they had to find a way to ease the minds of the parents who would be leaving their children in the school''s care.
No parent would send their child back to a school where two students were recently murdered without there being some serious precautions put in ce by the school to protect the students from any harm, and the only way that the school could think of protecting the students and reassuring the parents now was by hiring as many superhumans as possible to guard the school.
Chapter 308: How Did You Get This Strong?
The superhumans hired by Nature Academy were from A and B-rank guilds all over the country. Many of them would normally never take a job like this from a high school. No matter how rich Nature Academy was, they did not have the money necessary to hire superhumans who were used to making millions on a monthly or weekly basis just from fighting a few disaster sses.
But there was one variable that immediately changed everything.
Mark Vanitas.
Vroom!
A ck Vanitas Avatendor revved its engine as it began to pull into the school, and every single student moved out of the way and stared in awe as they immediately knew who it was. Many of them pulled out their phones and started recording, while the more daring ones began to follow after the car in the hope that they would get a chance to talk to Mark.
"Holy shit, it''s GHOST. Didn''t think he would evere back to school after that assessment."
"A SOVEREIGN in the same building as me. I didn''t think stuff like this was possible, man!"
"Should we try talking to him too? Maybe we can even get an autograph! I hear some people sold his autographs online for thousands!"
"Bro, I dunno. Remember Gunter and the reporter?"
"Oh right, shit. But Mark ain''t the same! I''m sure he''ll talk to us. He seems like a nice guy."
"Hey look! All the superhumans are going to Mark!"
The two boys who were talking were suddenly interrupted by a girl who shouted out loudly. They turned and saw that most of the superhumans in the schoolpound were converging towards where Mark''s car was parked.
The students that had been going towards the car were all forced to stop their advance as they saw the superhumans, and most of them just turned and walked away as they didn''t dare to try getting in between all the superhumans.
Mark finally parked his car in the parking lot, and he turned and received the kiss that Arit gave him with a grin before she waved at him and opened the car door.
Arit and Mark could see the group of peopleing towards the car long before they parked, so Mark knew that he was going to get swarmed by the crowd once he stopped. He told Arit to go ahead without him, and that he would join her in ss once he was done.
Arit leaned in through the passenger window after closing the car door.
"Make sure youe to ss!"
Mark chuckled at Arit''s stern tone while taking off his seatbelt and promising toe to ss. He was only going to say hello to some people and tell the rest of them to fuck off. Nothing serious.
Arit smiled and waved at him once more before she started to leave. Arit walked with a straight gait that gave her a prim and proper appearance to everyone standing around the car. Almost everyone in America now recognized Arit simply because she was Mark''s girlfriend. They had been seen together so much that she was already a regr topic on many of the MeTube videos that were talking about Mark.
Some of the superhumans who were approaching the car tried to talk to Arit, but they felt eyes on them from the front, and they all immediately stopped what they were about to do as they saw Mark climbing out from his car. His eyes were narrowed into a re as he dared them to even take a step towards her.
The superhumans got the message clearly, and they all backed off from Arit and allowed her to pass without issue. She waved back at some of them who waved at her and smiled at the students around who greeted her kindly before finally entering the school building.
"You''ve be something real scary, you know that."
Mark turned and saw Lightning Rider standing behind him. The man was wearing his usual ck attire with a long polearm across his back. His hands were folded over his chest, and there was a frown on his face. Mark lost his frown as he extended his hand to the man.
"It''s been a while. Didn''t think I would see you again after that fight."
Lightning Rider looked at the hand for a moment before sighing with a smile and taking it in a handshake. He responded to Mark''s greeting and finally folded his hands again.
"I didn''t think you would even remember me."
Mark shrugged. Discover exclusive tales at m,v--NovelBin
"I hardly forget people who fight beside me. Is Tilda here as well?"
"Asking about me already, GHOST? And here I thought you were heartless. No calls, no texts, nothing at all. Do you know how much that broke my heart?"
Mark turned to the side and saw Tilda standing there with her hands on her waist. She was resting her weight on one leg and giving Mark a coy look. Mark just grinned.
"You know, in my defense, I haven''t had much free time since then."
Tilda gave Mark her number after their fight with the cmity ss and told him to keep her updated about anything that happened, but Mark hadn''t had the time to do anything like that since then. In fact, Markpletely forgot that he even had her number until this moment.
"Well, it''s not like I was waiting for your call, I just hoped you would text after that raid to tell me you were fine since I couldn''t go with you to the ind. I had to find out about the raid on TV."
"It''s a good thing you didn''te along. All the monsters were killed, but I wouldn''t call it a sessful raid by any measure."
Mark still remembered the stats that his system gave him during that ind raid. More than seventy percent of the superhumans that went to that ind died in the fight, and the remaining superhumans that came back were either traumatized beyond repair or injured to the point where they could never work at the same level they used to. That raid was not what anyone expected it to be.
Tilda didn''t know how lucky she was that she couldn''t go on that raid. With how easily people were dying there, there was every possibility that she would have been killed before she could do anything at all. Tilda saw the serious look in Mark''s eye, and she knew that she had hit a nerve that she shouldn''t have. Tilda looked like she was going to say something else, but Lightning Rider cut in.
"There''s no need to beat around the bush like that, Tilda. Mark, how in the world did you get this strong so quickly?"
Chapter 309: Do You Need Money?
Both Tilda and Mark were stunned by the sudden question. That had to be the most direct question Mark had heard in a long time. Tilda frowned at Lightening Rider in anger for how forward he was, but she did not try to take back the question. She gazed at Mark expectantly as she was also curious to hear what he had to say.
They were all there when Mark fought against that cmity ss. Tilda knew that at the start of the fight, Mark couldn''t even hold his own against that monster at all. He was just as weak as they were, but then, all of a sudden, Mark''s power skyrocketed in the middle of the fight, and he gained the strength to win against the cmity.
That was barely six months ago, and now he was fighting against Eldritch ss monsters? There had to be something going on here.
Mark shrugged and smiled.
"I can''t really exin it even if I wanted to. My blessing finally kicked in properly, I guess."
What a fucking cop-out.
Both Tilda and Lightning Rider immediately knew that Mark was just telling them to mind their own business. Lightning Rider thought that he would be able to get a straight answer from Mark if he asked a straight question, but it was obvious that Mark just didn''t want to tell them about his blessing. Well, in that case, there was nothing he could do.
The duo didn''t know that Mark was actually telling them the truth. The only reason why he was able to get this strong so quickly was because his blessing finally kicked in properly. If not for that happening, Mark would have died in that building against the ant-headed cmity ss.
Lightning Rider just scoffed and turned away while muttering a goodbye, and Tilda grinned at Mark before going to pull Lightning Rider away. Lightning Rider was just salty because he was being left behind by someone far younger than him, especially after everything he said to Mark during the fight against the cmity ss, but Tilda knew that there was nothing he could do about it.
Mark just had so much more potential, and there was no way they could hope to keep up.
"Alright Mr. Sovereign, we just came around to say hello. We need to finish off our patrol before leaving. Oh yeah, the headmaster said he wanted to speak to you. He said you shoulde to his office before going to ss."
Mark thanked Tilda with a nod and watched them walk off. Once they were gone, many other superhumans started to approach Mark.
"Mr. Mark Vanitas, my name is Tucker and I am the head of the Feline Guild! We just met at Life Academy! If I could have a moment of your time!"
Mark was stunned as he stared at the man who he just left behind a few minutes ago.Catman was smiling up at him and stretching out a card with his guild logo on it and Mark just had to ask.
"How the fuck did you get here before me?"
¡
After managing to get away from the crowd of superhumans who were all trying to recruit him into their guild, Mark was finally making his way to the principal''s office. It turned out that many of the guilds in the country did not see the Artemis Guild aspetition, so they didn''t have any reservations about approaching Mark to ask him to join their guild instead.
If Mark was part of a much stronger guild like the Ravagers or even the Moonlight Guild, those other guilds would never dare toe near him. They would have been too scared of the repercussions from therge guilds to try and recruit him. But the Artemis Guild was only an A-rank guild, and they didn''t have to fear much from them.
The Artemis Guild was already growing at an rming pace because of his presence. Many strong superhumans were willing to join the Artemis Guild just because they knew it had a Sovereign in its ranks, but they were still a long way from bing an S-rank guild.
''And I might be gone long before that happens. I need to start the paperwork for my new guild soon.''
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Mark knew that he was helping Fiona grow the Artemis Guild right now, but that did not mean he owed her anything. Once he could do it, Mark was going to tell her that he was leaving to start his guild.
Mark finally reached the door leading to the principal''s office and knocked. He heard someone speak up from inside, telling him toe in, and he opened the door.
"Oh, Mr. Vanitas! It''s been too long! Come,e, please take a seat!"
He''s a little too excited, isn''t he?
Mark watched the principal as the man stood up from his seat and stretched his hand out towards the chair opposite the table. The principal was smiling widely at Mark and Mark could almost feel the excitement pouring off the man like a physical thing. What the hell is up with that?
Mark had no idea why he was summoned here and he was expecting anything from a plea for help to a warning to make sure he didn''t do anything rash from the principal.
The principal was a strict man and after everything that had happened, Mark expected the principal to tell him to be careful around the other students and not to do anything that would put them at risk.
But this was thest thing Mark expected.
"Mr. Vanitas. Tell me, how was your break? I know the circumstances leading to the break were unfortunate, but I hope you were at least able to use the free time to recuperate from your battles. I watched the fight you had against the monster on television and I must say, you have only grown stronger with time. It is unbelievable how powerful you are."
Mark nodded calmly and told the principal that he was fine. The break wasn''t as long as he hoped it would be, but that wasn''t important. The principal chuckled at Mark''s words, but after some time, he sobered up and leaned back in his seat.
"In light of the recent incidents that urred before the break, the government has mandated that we put aside a significant amount of money for the hiring and retainment of some superhumans for the protection of the students. We haven''t been able to put forward any leads regarding the whereabouts of the killer who took the lives of Miss Esmeralda and Mr.
Colton, but that is no reason for us to stop our activities. It would be paramount to allowing the killer to win."
Mark frowned slightly as he tilted his head to one side. After hearing all of that, he thought he finally got to the bottom of why he was called here. Did the principal call him here because they didn''t have enough money to retain the superhumans? Mark would understand if that was the reason why he was summoned.
Superhumans weren''t cheap, and from the number of people Mark saw outside, he knew that it must cost millions to retain all of them.
"Does the school need an investment?"
The principal''s eyes widened.
"What? No, no! We have received way too much from your family already! I couldn''t possibly ask you to bring out even more money for our sake!"
Mark waved away thepliments.
"If you need money, then say so. I understand how expensive it is to hire superhumans, and I''m impressed that you''re putting this much effort into it, so I don''t mind."
The principal smiled.
Chapter 310: What Did You Do?
"Thank you for the offer, Mr. Vanitas. I shall hold you to that, perhaps for another matter, but for this one, I assure you that we do not require financial aid. In fact, I called you here for a different reason entirely. You see, the government has been adamant about finding the killer, so they have dispatched a small group of superhumans who will be responsible for the investigation.
The superhumans you see outside were only hired part-time and they will only be responsible for patrolling the school at random times of the day to reassure both parents and students, but the superhumans dispatched for the investigation will blend into the student and administration body and try to find the killer in that way."
Mark was visibly stunned that the government was willing to go that far. A small feeling of anxiety grew inside Mark as he realized that they were really going all out on this matter. Mark thought that the government would throw this under the carpet just like many other issues that have happened with superhumans before.
Most times, the government would try not to make a superhuman case a big deal so that it wouldn''t affect people''s trust in superhumans. If people see superhumansmitting crimes like this and the government makes it into a big deal, then people will be more likely to fear and scorn every superhuman. But it was obvious that the government wasn''t letting this one go.
Is it because I am in this school?
Mark asked the principal why he was telling him all this, and the principal smiled.
"Actually, one of the superhumans asked to meet with you. The leader of the group that will be staying with us for some time arrived early and wanted to have a word with you. The superhumans dispatched by the government are all brilliant, and I''m sure you''ll be surprised once you meet her!"
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Oh, that should be her! Pleasee in!"
The door to the office opened and Mark turned around to see a goddess standing at the door. Mark blinked and narrowed his eyes at thest person he expected to see here.
"Luna?"
The principal was smiling from ear to ear when next he spoke. Mark couldn''t really tell, but there was an obvious increase in the principal''s enthusiasm once he saw Luna standing at the door. Even someone as level-headed as the principal wasn''t impervious to her beauty.
"Yes, I was sure you would know each other! Madam Luna here volunteered out of the goodness of her heart to help out the government team with any issues that they might face during their investigation. She is not a permanent member of the staff, but she has been added to the administrative list and she will being to aid the school whenever she is free!
I couldn''t believe it either when I got the news! We will have two Sovereign-level superhumans protecting the school! There is nothing more reassuring than this!"
Luna was standing at the doorway and she was looking directly at Mark with a kind smile on her face. She was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and a white off-shoulder top that stopped around her waist to reveal her toned stomach. her hair was braided beautifully behind her head and a few strands were left to fall gently down her left shoulder.
She was carrying a sky-blue purse and she held it behind her with both hands in a way that pushed her chest out and made it stretch her shirt in an innocently seductive manner. The principal might be an old man, but even he couldn''t stop his gaze from traveling towards Luna''s stomach to take a look at the skin there.
And Mark couldn''t even me the man, because even Mark had to admit that Luna looked stunning. But Mark didn''t bother greeting Luna, and the nk look on his face remained in ce even when Luna smiled at him kindly.
The two superhumans kept staring at each other and the principal became a little bit ufortable as he noticed that they were not saying anything to each other at all. They werepletely ignoring him and staring right at each other, but neither one had said a word since he introduced them!
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Don''t tell me that there is bad blood between them. That would be bad. Having two Sovereigns protecting the school is an amazing benefit, but if they hate each other and a fight breaks out, then the school would disappear from the map.
The principal quickly spoke up.
"Mark, perhaps you should get going. ss is about to start."
"Please, could you excuse us?"
Luna suddenly spoke. She was still staring at Mark, but the principal immediately knew that she was talking to him. The principal was the highest authority in the school. There was very little that he could not do in the school with only a few words, and there was no one who would ever dare to question his final decisions.
But none of that mattered at that moment. It didn''t matter if you are the principal, the head of administration, or even the owner of the whole damn school. When a Sovereign tells you to get out, you have no choice but to get out.
The principal quietly realized that there was something going on here that he had no right to intrude on, and he simply cleared his throat, stood from his chair, and left the office with his dignity intact.
Ka-Cha!
Once he was gone, the tension in the air almost seemed to evaporate into nothing as Luna stepped closer to Mark. Mark stood from his seat and looked down at her, and she smiled up at him.
Mark couldn''t believe it. He knew that there was something wrong the moment he saw Luna. He knew that it shouldn''t be possible because Ares said it was not possible, but it was staring Mark right in the face. Luna remembers.
"What the hell is going on here? How do you remember? What did you do?"
Luna almost burst outughing as she saw the re on Mark''s face increase in intensity. The both of them were standing very close to each other and Luna had to crane her neck up to get a good look at Mark''s face. She grinned as Mark''s eyes narrowed.
"Come on, Mark. Is this how you want to greet your master after all this time? I feel like I haven''t seen you in years."
Luna expected Mark to at least chuckle at her joke, but her smile slowly reduced as she saw that Mark was not smiling.
"I said; what did you do?"
Luna dropped her purse on the table beside her and sighed as she stepped even closer to Mark, almost pushing her breasts into his body.
"You know exactly what I did."
Mark grabbed Luna by her shoulders and Luna felt a jolt of electricity travel through her entire body as Mark brought his face down to her own. He red at her with a look of pure rage as a small blush spread across Luna''s cheeks.
"You wasted a wish from the gods on this fucking bullshit!?"
Luna''s face twisted in surprise for a moment, but it wasn''t long before she red at Mark. She leaned closer and seethed right back at him.
"I think I have a right to decide what''s important to me or not! You might think it is bullshit, but to me, it was everything! I was never going to let you go!"
Chapter 311: I Dont Remember What I Forgot
Mark was furious! He knew that Luna was right, she had every right to do whatever she wanted with her wish, but he was fucking pissed at what she did!
Luna used her wish to remember everything that happened during the Game of Gods.
Mark couldn''t understand how anyone would do something like that. You have a wish from a god that you can use to gain anything you want and you decide to use it on something as pointless as this! What purpose does it serve!?
"You just wanted to remember!? You wasted your wish on that! What will that do for you!? You know what we went through to get that wish and you wasted it! What is wrong with you!?"
Luna brought her face so close to Mark''s face that she could count theshes on his brow and Luna snarled beautifully.
"I did it because of you!"
Mark narrowed his eyes as Luna continued.
"I''m never going to go back to who I used to be. In that short time when I was with you, I found happiness. I found someone I could talk to. Someone I could share my feelings with. You gave me more in those few days than I have ever received from anyone in my entire life. I was not going to give that up for some fucking wish from some bullshit god!
The gods can go fuck themselves for all I care! I did what I wanted because of you!"
Mark could feel all of the anger inside of him slowly calming down as he heard what Luna said. He was still pissed at her, but there was nothing that he could do since she had already used the wish however she wanted. But Mark was not going to recognize this as a smart choice.
Even though Luna saw the memories from that game as something invaluable, to him it would have been worth forgetting all of that if it meant he got something that would help him grow stronger in the future.
But Luna didn''t care about any of that. Luna went through a lot in that game, and she could have died more than once, but if she was sent back and asked to do everything over again, she wouldn''t change a thing because that game allowed her to find Mark. It gave her someone that she could rely on and to her, that was more valuable than a wish from the gods.
Mark finally released Luna''s shoulders and Luna''s face showed some disappointment as he leaned away from her and put his hands in his pockets. He took a nice, long look at her and Luna felt her heart rate speed up as she felt Mark''s heavy gaze roam over her body before Mark finally sighed and looked away.
"Fine, do whatever you want. It''s not like I can control you or anything. It was your wish."
Mark sat back down in the office chair as he said all of this and folded his hands while leaning back in the seat. Luna grinned in joy and Mark rolled his eyes as Luna leaned against the table beside him. She smiled and Mark rose a brow at her.
"What is it?"
Luna shook her head.
"It''s just a little surreal. I almost forgot you were a high school student. In that game, you seemed a lot older than your actual age."
Mark shrugged. He was already used to people thinking he shouldn''t be in high school, so it was no surprise to him that Luna would also say the same thing. This misconception about his age was something that Mark always used to his advantage when he was a vignte fighting as GHOST.
No one would ever think to look for someone who looked like him in high school, so no one ever suspected that he was actually GHOST.
Luna smiled as she watched Mark from the side. He was not looking at her, and she took that moment to really take in his features. Mark was a handsome man, there was no denying that. No matter how much she stared at him, Luna couldn''t imagine someone like him being in high school. Maybe it was a side effect of his blessing that made his body grow faster than it needed to.
Luna shook her head as she tried to get rid of all those thoughts. It wasn''t important now. What was really important was that she was here right now, with him. That was what was important.
Luna still remembered how lost and confused she was after that game ended. Immediately after Mark killed the king, a message was sent to her telling her that she had won the game and would be transported to another dimension to receive her gift for winning.
After she was transported, Luna found herself in arge room with a single white light illuminating everything. The floor was tiled and the ceiling and walls were made from concrete, but that was all. There was nothing else in the room.
Luna immediately knew that something was wrong. She thought about it deeply for a long time. But no matter how much she tried to think about it, nothing wasing to the front of her mind.
She couldn''t remember.
That was the only thing that yed in her head over and over again. No matter how much she tried to remember what she had forgotten, it was almost like there was a hole somewhere in her brain whose contents had been taken out by someone. She just couldn''t seem to bring anything up from that hole. She didn''t know what she had been doing.
She didn''t know who she had been doing it with, and she had no idea how she arrived in this room.
"Rose Snow, that is you, right? No need to answer, I do not get my information wrong. You have won the game of gods orchestrated by Ares, the god of war. Congrattions. You will be given a gift, but you will have to wait a moment for someone else to choose what gift you will receive."
Luna turned around sharply as she heard a voice from behind her. The person who spoke was a short, chubby man wearing a pure white outfit with a gold pin attached to his left breast pocket. He had a chart in his hand that he was constantly looking at, and anytime he looked up to nce at her, he would frown and then nce back down at the chart.
Luna immediately spoke up.
"Who are you? What is this ce?"
The man blinked before he nodded in understanding.
"Ah, yes, the penalty. You don''t remember. I thought it would be a little longer before it came into effect. This is the waiting room. It is the passageway between dimensions. I am sure your god Neptune has taken you to one of these ces before.
This is the one belonging to Ares, the god of war. As for me, I am an attendant. The attendant to the war god. Julius is the name. It is a pleasure."
Julius bowed and Luna couldn''t stop herself from giving him a small bow in response to his greeting. She was still confused, but once she heard that this man was an attendant to a god, she knew she had to remain polite.
Chapter 312: I Was Worried About You
"How did I get here?"
"I brought you here. You were part of something, and now you will receive a reward for winning."
"But I... I don''t remember being a part of anything. I don''t remember anyone promising me a gift."
Julius nodded in understanding.
"You do not need to remember. You only need to wait for your gift. The god of war has dictated that this is how it should be, and so it shall be."
Luna was even more confused than she was at the start, but at least there were a few things she now knew. She was part of something, and she somehow won. There was someone else involved in all of this, and that person would be the one in charge of giving her the gift. Lastly, her memories of what she had done in that game were all erased by the decree of the god of war, Ares. Luna did not like this.
She wanted to remember. She really wanted to remember.
She didn''t know why, but there was something important that she just couldn''t forget, no matter what. It was a face, someone''s face.
''Why can''t I remember?''
Luna held her hand up to her head in annoyance as she gritted her teeth. She didn''t care if she forgot everything else, but she didn''t want to forget that face!
Julius spoke up without bothering to look up from his board.
"Do not bother trying to bring back the memories. They have been erased from your mind."
Luna gritted her teeth. She knew that the words of the gods were absolute. She had learned as much in her time as Neptune''s champion, but this was something she could not ept. Luna asked another question.
"You said I won something. What exactly did I win?"
Julius raised an eyebrow at her and was silent for some time. Julius knew that it was not exactly against the rules to tell her about this. Her memories were gone, and telling her about the reward was unlikely to change that. He decided he would tell her.
"The first reward is a skill from the god Ares, something that transcends mortal understanding, and the second reward is one wish. A wish that is capable of twisting reality itself to the wisher''s needs. The other candidate will first choose one of these two rewards, and whichever one remains will be passed on to you."
Luna was stunned. Those were some amazing gifts. What sort of game did she participate in for a god to be giving them something like this? It was beyond abnormal! Even Neptune was not this generous to her! Or maybe, is it because of the other candidate?
Maybe we are getting gifts like these because of who the other candidate is. If that is the case, then that other candidate should be the key. If I can know who they are, then maybe I can remember the face that I forgot!
"You said there was someone else. Please, what is their name?"
"I cannot divulge that information."
Luna squeezed her hands into fists.
"Please, I have to know. Just their name, please."
"I already said I cannot divulge that information. Are you perhaps deaf? Or is there some shred of stupidity dwelling somewhere inside your head that bares its fangs upon your intelligence at strange intervals?"
Luna''s eyes widened as she took a step back at the intense tongueshing. What the fuck?
Julius looked away from her again, and this time, Luna decided that she would not talk to him anymore. She was not going to get anything out of him, so it was useless to try. Instead, Luna looked at the options that she had. Luna knew that the skill would be useful. Getting a gift that transcends mortal understanding would be the same as having an entirely new blessing from a different god!
It was an amazing gift, but Luna knew that it would be useless.
As she was now, Luna was going to live her entire life hoping that she would get a glimpse of that face again. She would keep searching for something that she could never find, and it would eat her up from the inside.
So Luna put her hands together and prayed. She prayed to every god out there, every being that would listen to her. She didn''t want too much at all, all she wanted was a chance to remember that face.
She wanted that wish.
"¡"
"¡"
"¡ Oh, it seems he has chosen. Well then, Miss Snow, make your wish. But just so you know, there are limitations to the wish. If you go beyond the threshold of what is allowed, I will be forced to cancel your wish and have you make another one."
Luna''s eyes snapped open in shock, and a wide smile appeared on her face as she immediately knew what she wanted. She could have asked for anything at that moment: power, money, influence, but none of that mattered to her.
As far as Luna was concerned, she could get all of those things on her own without the help of any god, but that face was something that she couldn''t get no matter how much she tried. It was something just outside her reach that would always elude her.
She didn''t even waste a second as she immediately spoke up.
"I want to remember everything that happened in the game of gods."
And that was how Luna got her memory back. To her, there was nothing that she wanted more at that moment than to get her memories back.
"So you came here just to talk to me?"
Mark rested his cheek on his closed fist while giving Luna a curious look, and Luna snapped herself back to reality as she realized that she had been staring at him all this while. A small blush rose on her cheek, and she nodded.
"Well, yes, for the most part, I did. I wanted to know how you were doing and make sure you were okay after that fight."
"We didn''t bring any of our injuries back into the real world. Or wait, were you still injured?"
Luna shook her head.
"No, I wasn''t. but that didn''t mean I wasn''t worried about you. You''re my first friend, you know, I had to make sure you were alright."
Mark gave Luna another curious look. Mark couldn''t remember ever bing so close with Luna. He knew that he influenced her a lot during that game, but he never thought that it was to this extent. Well, it was better to have more friends, and someone as powerful as Luna was a good ally to have.
Luna continued.
"I also came because I wanted to find the killer that murdered those two students."
"Did their parents ask for a favor?"
Mark wouldn''t be surprised if the Coltons or the Fortunas asked Luna to help catch the culprit so that they could get their revenge, but Luna just frowned.
"No, they don''t have the money needed to afford someone like me, even if I was interested in their money. But just knowing that another superhuman is running wild in the space you are learning is enough to piss me off. There is someone here who thinks they can just do whatever they want, and I can''t allow that, can I?"
Chapter 313: New Intakes
[Styxwatcher''s Discernment has detected a lie: Rose Snow took on the job to prevent the government from meddling in the user''s life.]
Mark blinked in shock.
"Wait, you came here because you want to protect me?"
The way Mark said it made it sound very intimate, and Luna''s eyes widened slightly in surprise as Markid out her intentions in such a casual way. She couldn''t stop her blush as she looked away.
"W-what are you talking about? I never said that¡ but w-well, we''re friends, aren''t we? I wasn''t able to do anything for you in that game, and you ended up protecting me from everything. It''s only right that friends look out for each other."
Cute.
Mark gained a smile on his face as he saw how shy Luna was about saying her true intentions. Mark was no fool. He knew that this was more than just friendship for Luna. It was a lot more than that. So, either she liked him a lot, or she was in love with him. Honestly, both options were only going to lead to a headache for Mark.
This could be a hassle that leads to manyplications down the road, but it could also be very useful.
''This is getting tooplicated though. A woman who likes me is an investigator trying to catch my girlfriend for murder. I could write a novel about this.''
Mark finally stood up and put his hands in his pockets while talking.
"Alright, you go have fun doing that. I have to go to ss soon before Arites out here looking for me. They probably started already."
The mere mention of Arit''s name was enough to put a frown on Luna''s face.
"You have to go already? Staying a bit won''t hurt. I can vouch for you."
"Sorry, I can''t. I don''t know how she does it, but Arit has some sort of Mark radar that she uses to find me no matter what. It''ll just be better to go to ss. It was nice seeing you again, Luna, let''s hang out sometime if we''re both free."
Mark grinned at Luna. Even though he did not approve of her wish and he didn''t like theplications that would arise from her being in that school, he was not going to just forget everything they went through together. They fought for their lives in that game, and even though she did not have any powers, she was a big help to him. To Mark, Luna was a good friend.
Luna gazed up at Mark in wonder before slowly turning her face away in embarrassment while muttering.
"T-Thanks. I''d like that too."
Mark was about to leave the room, but Luna suddenly reached out, and Mark turned around as she grabbed his hand. She still had that blush, and Mark raised a brow as she mumbled something incoherent.
"What was that?"
Mark asked curiously and Luna mumbled again as her blush increased. Mark still couldn''t hear her and Mark turned around to face her fully as he told her to speak up. What the hell was she trying to say?
Luna used her other hand to cover her face and cursed internally.
"To hell with it."
Luna stood up, and before Mark could react, she wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed. Mark was left standing there inplete surprise as Luna hugged him tightly. She buried her face in his chest and took in a good, long breath before sighing.
"I know you said we should be just friends, and I know you have someone your heart is set on, but... I''m not giving up on this."
Luna took a step back and put her hands behind her while walking backward towards the door.
"That girlfriend of yours had better watch out. If she isn''t careful, I''ll make you fall in love with me in no time."
Luna still had her blush, but it did nothing to reduce the glow on her face as she smiled at Mark happily. Mark could only gape at her as she opened the door and rushed out.
Mark brought one hand out of his pocket and massaged his temple gently while gritting his teeth in frustration. He tried his best to hold it in for a long time, but after a while, he couldn''t hold it anymore, and a small chuckle escaped from his mouth.
"Ah, fuck, that was kinda cute. I really need to find a way to get rid of her; she could be a real pain if she gets too involved with me and Arit."
Mark sighed as he finally opened the door and left for ss.
...
[ss 2A]
"ss, today we are going to be having two new transfers."
Arit was in her seat, and she frowned as she looked at the empty seat to her left. Mark was not yet in ss, and Arit began to wonder if everything was alright. Did Mark get held up by the superhumans outside? Maybe I should call him and remind him toe to ss.
No, Mark isn''t the sort to get held up like that. He would end the conversation as quickly as possible. That means he is either doing something else or he is just ying hooky again.
Arit was going to have a migraine because of her stupid boyfriend. Why can''t he juste to ss like a normal student?
''Because he isn''t a normal student, he is KING.''
Shut up.
''We should go look for him. This ss isn''t as important as the KING.''
No, the ss hasn''t started yet. And I trust him. He said he woulde to ss, so I know he will. Mark wouldn''t lie to me.
''What if it''s another woman trying to seduce the KING? You know how many foolish women have been trying their best to take him from us all this while. The KING is strong, and those sluts are cunning; they will try to lure him in and give themselves to his power. You can''t trust anyone.''
Arit swallowed as she felt her hands tightening into fists. Maybe she should go look for Mark.
Arit was so immersed in her conversation with the Queen that shepletely missed the announcement the teacher made in front of the ss. It wasn''t until she heard the murmurs from the other students that she realized something important was happening.
"We are getting transfers? But it''s thest term of the year. What the hell are they going to do?"
"I hear the girl''s hot as fuck! She''s got that bad girl vibe and everything!"
"Do you know if they are superhumans or not? I think they are! They looked familiar from the glimpse that I caught!"
"I hear they''re siblings!"
"Can you all shut up, they''reing! You''re gonna make us look like kids!"
The door to the ssroom opened, and in walked two people that made every single person in the room gasp in shock.
Chapter 314: Tina and TunTun
The door to the ssroom opened and in walked two people that made every single person in the room gasp in shock. There was one male and one female, they were the same height and they both had yellow hair and sharp blue eyes. If not for the sharp features on the boy''s face and the delicate curves on the girl''s body, anyone would think that they were the same person.
The girl had a mad grin on her face as she walked in with confidence and the boy had dark circles under his eyes as he strutted in calmly behind his sister.
"It''s the superhuman twins!"
Someone in the ss finally shouted in tion as he stood up, and everyone in the ss suddenly started to p in excitement as they saw who their two new ssmates were. Arit waspletely confused as she watched the two new students standing in front of the ss.
The boy had a stoic look on his face as he gazed over the crowd of students with sleepy eyes, but the girl''s eyes were basically dancing with electricity as she smiled and waved out to the apuding ss.
For a moment, the blond girl met Arit''s gaze and it almost seemed like she grinned at Arit for some reason. Arit narrowed her eyes as the girl looked away.
"Okay, okay, that''s enough. I understand that you are all excited, but please try not to act out so rashly. Let the new students introduce themselves."
The ss finally calmed down when the teacher spoke up and the girl immediately stepped forward and waved excitedly to the ss.
"My name is Tina Fey, but you can all just call me Tina. You might know me better by my superhuman name, Storm Knight! I like fighting and strong men who wouldn''t hesitate to kill me. If anyone wishes to fight me, then please just attack me!"
The entire ss was deathly silent after hearing that introduction and there was only one thought on the minds of every one of them. Is she insane? Tina grinned and she quickly gestured to her brother with a flourish!
"And this here is Turner Fey! Y''all can call him TunTun! He''s my twin and partner in crime. You might know him better by his superhuman name, The Creator! If you have any broken phones or pencils, you cane to him and he''ll remake it for you in a sh!"
Turner gained arge tick mark on his forehead.
"I can introduce myself perfectly well, you idiot! Sigh~ I''m Turner Fey, call me Turner. Anyone who calls me TunTun is going to die. Secondly, don''t bring your broken shit to me. I''ll just shove it up your ass."
"¡"
"¡"
"¡"
The ss did not even know how to respond to that either. It was almost like Tina and Turner were from a world outside of the understanding of normal students! The teacher finally came up and pped awkwardly.
"P-Please give a round of apuse for our new students."
A slow, lukewarm apuse started to echo around the room and the students tried their best to p even though most of them still lookedpletely baffled by the introductions. Arit was already bored with the new students and she was about to ask the teacher for permission to leave the ss and look for Mark.
She would rather be out there looking for Mark than in here listening to the new students.
Ka-Cha!
"Hope I''m notte ¨C Oh, what the hell are you guys doing here?"
It was like something electric passed through the entire ssroom at that moment! Every single person there felt their hair stand on edge as a massive lightning aura came to life around Tina immediately when she saw who opened the door!
"MARKY~!!"
Phwooom!
Tina moved faster than the speed of sound as she bolted towards Mark! She jumped to give him a hug, but her form immediately changed as she transitioned into a roundhouse kick that would have decapitated Mark immediately!
BOOM!
Mark caught her leg and pulled back before tossing her across the ss and through the window on the other side of the room!
Crash!!
"Kyaa!"
"Fuck, he threw her out the window!"
"This is the third floor!"
All the students near that window immediately ducked to avoid getting hit by debris and the teacher stumbled back and fell to her ass as she watched her new student flying out from the window like a rocket. Turner put his hand on his forehead and sighed tiredly as he felt a headacheing.
But no one was worried about Tina at all because even with the brutal exit, everyone could still hear herughing!
"Hahahahahahah~ That''s the man I love! You''re perfect!"
Ka-Cha!
Mark calmly closed the door and everyone turned back to Mark as he put his hand in his pocket and frowned at Turner. Turner turned away from the scrutinizing look to see how far Tina had gone. Damn, Mark threw her like a fucking javelin.
"So you guys are the investigators, eh?"
Turner sighed.
"Yeah, I guess we are."
Arit waspletely confused as she watched Mark walk to his seat with a tired look on his face. So Mark knew the twins? Where did he meet them? And what was this Mark said about an investigator? Mark smiled at her and she tried her best to smile back at him. She handed him his books and Mark thanked her before leaning back in his seat to listen to the teacher.
''Wait... What is that smell?''
Arit was able to catch a whiff of Mark''s cologne when he took the books from her. but the smell she got wasn''t what she expected at all. There was another scent mixed in with Mark''s cologne. Something fruity. Is that the smell of a woman''s cologne!?
''Someone touched the KING! Someone put their dirty, disgusting, stupid hands on our KING! We need to hunt down this bitch and kill her!!''
Arit put her hand to her head and tried to calm down as she felt her hand tensing in response to the Queen''s anger. No, she shouldn''t blow this out of proportion. Arit knew that Mark hated people touching him, so she was sure that there was some perfectly reasonable exnation for all of this. Maybe Mark ran into someone and that person just happened to touch him.
Some bitch out there with too much cologne must have just gotten her dirty, disgusting, repulsive, disease-ridden hands on Mark.
...
Somewhere in the administrative block of the school, Luna felt a chill go down her spine. Your adventure continues at mvl
...
"I''ll wash your uniform for you when we get back."
Arit suddenly spoke up to Mark and Mark rose a brow as he eyed her curiously. What the hell did she mean? Mark brought up his hand to smell his uniform in case he already smelled bad, but he didn''t smell anything wrong and he started to wonder if Arit could smell something that he couldn''t. Was this one of those things women did that men just could never understand?
Arit was still giving Mark a hard stare and Mark finally nodded to tell her that she could do whatever she wanted.
Chapter 315: Playing Hard To Get
Now that Arit was done with that, she focused instead on the twins and what Mark said about them being investigators. Arit seemed perfectly calm on the outside, but on the inside, her mind was racing as she conversed with the Queen.
''So the both of them are investigators? Investigators for what? Wait, is it because of what we did? The investigators came here to find out who killed those fools. We need to get rid of them. We can''t let them run around asking questions.''
But won''t that make things worse for us?
''No, it will make things harder for the KING if those investigators keep running around. And you heard what that girl said. We both heard it. Doesn''t it just make your blood boil? Isn''t it maddening! How dare she dere any form of love for our KING!?''
Arit''s hands tightened into fists and she red at the front of the ss as Tina finally opened the door and entered as if nothing ever happened. Her uniform was as perfect as it was before she was thrown out and there was a wide smile on her face as she started to make her way towards the back of the ss.
Tina stopped in front of Arit''s seat and grinned down at her before turning to Mark with a pout.
"That wasn''t very nice, Marky."
"Shut up, and don''t call me that shitty nickname. Next time you try something like that, I''ll crack your skull."
Tina shivered in excitement and Arit''s nose twitched as she smelt the distinct scent of arousal on Tina. Wait, was she turned on by Mark insulting her? A sh of yellow crossed Arit''s eyes for a moment, but it disappeared too quickly for anyone to notice and Arit red up at Tina with enough hatred to make anyone flinch.
''This fucking bitch!''
Tina''s smile widened as she turned back to Arit.
"That''s a good look in your eyes. If only you were a superhuman, I would have enjoyed fighting you. I want to sit down here. Fuck off."
Arit''s eyes narrowed as her anger became something physical in her chest, almost choking her with its intensity! When she spoke, her voice seemed to echo in the ss.
"Go fuck yourself."
"Gasp~!"
More than half the ss gasped in shock as they heard Arit curse for the first time in their lives. Arit was the perfect student in the school and everyone saw her as the ideal person that would never be caught cursing or acting rashly, so it was a shock to all of them that the model student couldsh out like this!
Tina almost seemed excited by Arit''s response as she reached out to touch Arit''s cheek.
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A hand suddenly grabbed her by the forearm and Tina''s face twisted in pain as she felt the bones in her forearm crack from the force behind that hold! She turned to the side and her smile withered as she saw the nk look of anger on Mark''s face.
"Watch yourself."
Tina swallowed. Even someone as masochistic as her could understand what it meant for a SOVEREIGN to give you that sort of look. She had gone too far. Tina pulled her hand back, but Mark''s grip did not loosen at all as he kept looking right at her. Finally, Tina sighed.
"Fine, fine, I won''t touch her. She''s too boring anyway, you''re the one I really want."
Tina grinned at Mark and Mark narrowed his eyes for a moment before he finally released her and let her go. Tina put her hand behind her and gave Arit onest nce with a smile before going to the seat behind Mark and ring at the boy sitting there.
"Fuck off."
Crash!
The boy immediately tried to scramble to his feet as he grabbed his things, but he was moving so quickly that he missed his step and fell to the ground! Tina looked down at him in irritation and the boy quickly rushed to get to his feet and leave! Once he was gone, Tina sat down on the seat and rested her chin on her palm with a sigh while gazing at Mark from behind.
Arit watched all of this happen with her hands still tightened into fists, and as time went on, the anger inside her started to grow even more, until finally, Queen reached a conclusion.
''We''re going to kill her.''
At the side, Turner''s curious gaze never strayed from Arit. He nced down at her tightened fist before watching to see how her face twisted in anger. Turner hummed at Arit''s reactions before he turned to continue listening to the teacher.
"Interesting."
...
Ring~!
The bell for lunch rang and the teacher started to put away her things while giving the students instructions to finish off their work before the next ss. The teacher kept stealing nces at where Mark, Tina, and Turner were seated, and it was obvious that she was hesitating to leave because she wanted to talk to at least one of them.
But after some time, she finally decided that she should keep her dignity as a teacher in front of her students, and she just packed up her things and left the ss.
Once she left, the students started to get off their seats and congregate into their cliques. Some of them left the ss to go and eat in the cafeteria, but some of them just sat in their groups, talking among themselves while stealing nces at Mark and the other two superhumans in their ss.
There were even some students from other sses who were passing by while stealing nces inside the ss. The news of the new superhumans joining the school had spread like wildfire, and it seemed that everyone was either talking about it or they were curious toe and confirm it for themselves.
But no one was confident enough yet to actually enter the ss to talk to the superhumans. No matter how curious they got, they weren''t bold enough to walk up to people who were basically celebrities.
Mark was sleeping with his head down on his desk, and once the teacher left the ss, Arit reached into her bag and brought out the box of food that she made for him. She ced the hot container on his cheek, and Mark blinked slowly before opening his eyes. Arit smiled at his droopy expression for a moment before putting the box on the table and putting her hand on his cheek softly.
She shifted some of his stray hair behind his ear.
"You need a haircut. It''s already getting too long."
Arit watched Mark as she ran a hand through his hair, and a small blush rose on her cheek as she saw his full face illuminated by the light from the window. Arit actually liked Mark''s hair when it was a little long; it gave him a dangerous look like he was some protagonist from a shoujo manga. But she also knew that it would only get in his way during fights, so it was best for him to keep it short.
"Alright, when we get home, let''s do it."
Mark nodded calmly while sitting up and cracking his neck, and Arit smiled. Arit was the one that always helped Mark cut his hair when it got too long. For her, it was a way for them to get closer, and she enjoyed it a lot.
Even before Arit knew that Mark was a superhuman and she thought that he was just a member of a gang, she was helping him cut his hair because she thought that it would allow him to fight easily against other gang members.
"Eh? You guys live together? That has to be against some sort of school rule. Don''t tell me you''re doing immoral things at your young age! Let me join!"
Arit felt her eye twitch as Tina''s voice suddenly echoed from behind Mark. She turned around to re at Tina, and Tina just grinned at her while reaching out and putting her hands on Mark''s shoulder.
"Hey, Marky, gimme a bite of your food. I didn''t bring any."
Mark stabbed Tina''s hand with a fork, and Tinaughed while retracting her hands immediately!
"You love ying hard to get, don''t ya?"
"Shut up. Don''t talk to me while I''m eating."
Tina grinned.
"So it''s fine while you''re not eating? Okay, I''ll be waiting."
Mark sighed internally as he heard Tina say this. He already knew that Tina was not the sort of person to take no for an answer, and it would be hell to make her back off, so he decided that he would just ignore her antics as much as possible.
Chapter 316: The Honey Badger
Mark sighed internally as he heard Tina say this. He already knew that Tina was not the sort of person to take no for an answer and it would be hell to make her back off, so he decided to ignore her antics as much as possible. Mark stole a nce at Arit and saw that she was still ring at Tina. He dropped his spoon before flicking her forehead.
"Ow!"
Arit held her forehead in pain and red at Mark. Mark grinned at her before picking his spoon back up and pointing it at her while telling her to rx. He asked her if she was okay and Arit just shrugged before turning to her own food. She was not happy at all, and Mark could understand why.
Tina was a pain in the ass to everyone, but it must be even worse for Arit since Tina was always hanging off him. Mark knew that Arit was obsessed with him, so it would not end well if Arit was pushed too far and she ended up doing something that would expose them. Mark needed to talk to her and make sure she didn''t do anything rash while Tina and Turner were in the school.
If she tries anything, it won''t turn out the same way it turned out with Francis and Esmeralda. Things would be a lot more difficult.
"Hello, my name is Kevin, but you can call me Ken! My friends and I were just thinking about going to get something to eat together and we were wondering if you wanted to join us!"
It is said that in every environment, there is at least one organism that possesses no natural predators. This organism has lived at the top of its own food chain for so long that it no longer possesses the natural fear of predators that most other creatures possess. In the wild savannahs, the organism that possesses this trait is the Honey Badger.
The Honey Badger was an animal as small as a roon, but that bastard had the balls of a fucking dinosaur! Its natural fearlessness allowed it to pull up to lions, cheetahs, and even alligators without fear, bite their tails, rough around with them, and then smack them in the face before walking away just because it felt like it!
Mark watched NPC Kent standing in front of Tina''s seat with a wide, inviting grin, and Mark knew that in this school, NPC Kent had to be the embodiment of the Honey Badger itself! If he wasn''t, there is no way the idiot would have the courage necessary to walk up to an S-ss superhuman and say something so idiotic! Especially after everything that had happened with Tina just this morning!
''NPC Kent is a lot more courageous than I thought.''
Mark still remembers how NPC Kent came to talk to him after his identity was exposed, and Mark thought that it was just a spur-of-the-moment thing. But it seems that NPC Kent wasn''t just trying his luck before; this was just the sort of person he was. He was someone who wasn''t afraid to walk up to someone as crazy as Tina and ask her to have lunch with him.
Tina looked up at the blond-haired boy standing in front of her seat with a nk look on her face. Even someone as crazy as Tina knew just how insane this was. It was like a lion in the wild that suddenly had a honey badger walk up to it fearlessly. Even the lion wouldn''t know what to do at first!
Tina''s brow furrowed before she finally spoke.
"Haah~! What the fuck are you talking about?"
NPC Kent blinked in surprise at the crude response before he gained his smile back. This time, there was a small amount of nervousness in his tone as he could see that Tina was going to be very difficult to talk to.
"W-Well, we were just wondering if you wanted to join us for ¨C"
"I''m busy right now, so why don''t you and your friends fuck off. Unless you want to fight me, then don''t even ¨C"
Tina cut off NPC Kent before he could finish his sentence, and she was about to verbally assault him and send him away crying before she was also interrupted by someone. Explore more adventures at mvl
"Actually, that''s not such a bad idea."
Turner suddenly appeared from the side, and both NPC Kent and Tina turned to him. Tina red at her brother and Turner just grinned at NPC Kent kindly.
"You see, we''re new, so it would be nice to talk to the other students and get to know you all. What do you say, Tina, let''s do it."
"I''d rather eat my own shoe."
Turner walked up to Tina and leaned down to talk to her in harsh whispers before she could go too far. No one in the ss could hear what they were saying, but Mark was able to catch some of it due to his enhanced hearing.
"We need to investigate the students, so we should mix in with them. Remember we came here for a job."
"I don''t give a fuck about that. I want to stay here with Mark. I can investigate from right here."
Turner grit his teeth angrily at his sister.
"You eithere with me, or I tell Luna about this."
Tina''s eyes showed a glint of fear for a moment before she red at Turner in anger. That was a low blow and Turner knew that Tina was going to get back at him for thatter, but he had to do it. Tina was a wild card that never agrees to anything he says, so he was not above resorting to such low tactics to get her to behave.
Luna was the one overseeing this investigation, and both Tina and Turner were warned before they began that they would answer to her if she heard about them doing anything that wasn''t meant to help them find the killer.
And since Luna was one of the few people that Tina was always careful not to offend, Turner knew that she would be in serious trouble if Luna found out that she was refusing to investigate.
Tina clicked her tongue.
"You''re a fucking rat and I''ll get you for this. When you wake up with a hundred roaches on your bed, just know that you brought it on yourself."
Turner shivered internally as he felt goosebumps travel across his skin. Knowing the sort of person Tina was, Turner knew that she was capable of something so heinous. She knew he was terrified of roaches and yet she was saying something so dangerous? His sister should have been kept in a psych ward once she was born.
Chapter 317: Marias Life Is Not A Normal One
Turner was not interested in joining NPC Kent to eat at all, but he knew that if they wanted to get the best results, then they needed to mingle with the students as much as possible. Children are more willing to tell secrets to their friends than to people who are ostracized or loners.
So if they became friends with one of the top cliques in the school, then they would be one step closer to closing this case.
Turner turned to NPC Kent.
"Sorry about my sister, Kevin. She''s in that time of the month ¨C Mmph!"
Turner groaned as Tina stepped on his foot hard, but he managed to give NPC Kent a pained smile as he continued speaking.
"Please. Lead the way."
Kevin smiled happily as Turner finally agreed, and he immediately called his friends over as many of them left the ss along with Tina and Turner. Most of the ss also left with them as they were more interested in just watching Tina and Turner than they were in their food.
Now that NPC Kent managed to invite the twins to eat, not only was NPC Kent their friend, but the twins now looked a lot more approachable and everyone wanted to talk to them. If NPC Kent had failed, then the ss would have started treating the twins the same way that they treated Mark.
They were terrified to talk to him, so they were more than satisfied with just watching him from a distance like some sort of exotic animal.
Mark took a bite of his sausage nonchntly while watching the live show in front of him. There was a lot less tension in the air than there was a minute ago, and he thanked Sozin that the ss was no longer focusing all their attention on him. Mark was tired of being stared at.
But it seems that Turner was really serious about finding out who the killer was. Tina didn''t even look like she cared, but Turner was different. He was actively searching for the killer. Among the two of them, Turner was probably going to be the more troublesome one to deal with.
''And I had no idea Luna was that scary. I wonder what she did to Tina for her to be this wary of her.''
Arit spoke up as she closed her te.
"Mark, I''ll be back. I have to go to the toilet."
Mark hummed calmly and watched Arit as she stood up and left. His eyes were glued to her ass, and Arit turned her head to re at him as she noticed his eyes on her. Mark grinned shamelessly, and Arit gained a small blush before she quickly left the ss.
"Freaking pervert."
¡
[The Girl''s Bathroom]
Arit went to the bathroom and she was in the middle of washing her hands when she heard someone mumbling to themselves inside one of the stalls. The stall was locked, but Arit could still hear the mumbles clearly since the bathrooms were open at the top. Arit narrowed her eyes and walked closer to the stall when she noticed that the voice sounded familiar. Was this¡?
"Maria?"
"Jesus!"
The sound of someone falling off the toilet made Arit grimace, and she waited patiently as the person pulled themselves up from the floor. Arit put her hands on her waist and looked at the door calmly as the lock clicked open. The person on the other side opened the door gently, and Maria peered out like a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
When Maria spoke, there was a great amount of nervousness in her tone.
"A-Arit. I-It''s been a while. I uh¡ I haven''t seen you in forever. Haha¡ you look amazing."
Maria didn''t add that it hadn''t nearly been long enough since shest saw Arit, and she wished the time was even longer. However, Arit could see it in the way Maria refused to look at her. Arit said nothing in response, but Maria could hear Arit''s silentmand: Get the fuck out of there.
Maria gently opened the door and stepped out before smoothing her uniform to get rid of the rumples. Maria was immactely dressed ¨C just like a member of the student council should be ¨C and there was a healthy glow in her skin that showed she had really enjoyed the holiday.
Maria and her family went on a trip to City S during the holiday, and she tried her best topletely forget everything about Mark, Arit, and this godforsaken school on that trip. She enjoyed herself so much that life almost seemed normal for her. She could just pretend she was a normal girl with a normal family living a normal life.
But once the school sent out the news stating that students would be expected back, her entire fa?ade came crashing down, and she remembered that she wasn''t a normal girl. She was an aplice to a murder.
Her family was being threatened by a superhuman capable of destroying entire countries with his power, and the girlfriend of said superhuman was some sort of anima-human hybrid who could tear her apart in seconds if she spoke about anything she had seen.
No, there was nothing normal about her life at all!
Discover stories with mvl
"Stop spacing out. What are you doing mumbling in the bathroom? You sound like a crazy person."
Maria red at Arit once Arit insulted her, but Arit only raised a brow, and Maria fearfully shifted her eyes from Arit''s gaze. Maria still had some of her pride, but it was not enough for her to talk back to Arit. Instead, she answered the question.
"I uh¡ I was trying to get myself back. It''s been a tough morning."
Arit narrowed her eyes.
"Why, what happened?"
Oh, where the hell should Maria even start? Was it the superhumans that were patrolling the school? When Maria saw those superhumans, she thought the gig was up and she was about to be arrested. The way her heart spiked on her way to school must''ve been some sort of world record!
Or maybe it was because there was a SOVEREIGN in the school now, going around checking the crime scene to see if there were any clues left behind! Or maybe it was the fucking superhuman that joined the school and was now questioning people about where they were during the killing!
Maria said all of this in a sarcastic way that made her look like she had gonepletely mad, and at the end of it all, she was breathing heavily and ring at the floor in anger. Arit''s brows were furrowed in shock as she heard what Maria said, and she immediately looked around her. Arit could hear some voicesing towards the bathroom, and she knew it would be difficult for them to talk there.
"Come with me."
Arit started to speed walk out of the bathroom, and Maria red at Arit''s back for a moment as she thought about just running away from her. But she knew it would be stupid to do that, so she just sighed in defeat as she followed behind Arit.
The two of them made their way to the secluded part of the school, and Arit looked around to make sure there were no students around before she pushed Maria into a ssroom that was no longer in use. Maria stumbled for a few steps before falling to her knees on the floor and turning to re at Arit.
"Don''t push me!"
Arit ignored her.
"Which sovereign were you talking about?"
Chapter 318: Dont Even Speak His Name
"Which sovereign were you talking about?"
Arit ignored Maria''sint and went straight to business. Maria sighed once more before getting herself off her knees and dusting off her skirt while exining. Find adventures at mvl
"It''s Luna, the goddess of moonlight. She''s the head of the Moonlight Guild, and I heard that she usually ignores anything that has to do with the government. But for some reason, she agreed to join this investigation, and I have no idea why."
Arit bit her thumbnail in frustration as she tried to think of what a SOVEREIGN could be looking for in this school. No matter how serious the situation seemed, there was no reason for a SOVEREIGN to involve themselves like this. A murder in a random school should be the least of their concern.
''Is it because Mark is here? Maybe the government still suspects him, and they sent the sovereign in case Mark was the killer and they need to subdue him? No, they wouldn''t allow Mark to roam freely if they still suspected him that much.
What is the point of endangering the lives of all the students in the school by allowing two sovereigns to move around freely in the same space when they could have just apprehended Mark at an earlier time without allowing him toe to school? I''m sure the government has written Mark off.''
Arit was thinking so hard that Maria could almost see the gears moving in her head. Arit started to run through all the possible reasons for Luna being here, but no matter how many scenarios she ran through, she couldn''te up with any usible exnation. In fact, the only exnation she could think of seemed so far-fetched that it was just not possible.
But with the way things were now, Arit couldn''t write anything off as impossible. There was only one possible exnation.
''Luna was here for personal reasons.''
A shadow of anger started to rise from somewhere deep inside Arit''s chest as she thought about this. There was only one person who could draw someone like Luna to this school. Was Luna here because she wanted to get closer to Mark?
''If it is anything like that, then we are going to kill that bitch!''
Shut up, Queen. I''m trying to think.
Arit angrily shook her head as she tried to get the Queen to stay quiet, but the anger inside of her refused to calm down as the mere thought of Luna going after Mark made her heart beat furiously.
Maria gently raised her hand and spoke softly while slowly inching towards the door.
"Uh, if we are done here, can I get back to ss? The bell will go off soon."
Arit red at Maria.
"Shut the fuck up and sit down."
Maria immediately sat down on a chair obediently as Arit walked closer and stared down at her.
"Who was asking questions? Was it one of the twins?"
Maria nodded as her worry slowly started to show on her face.
"Yeah. It was that handsome boy, Turner. He cornered me in the student council office before I even knew what was going on and he started asking a lot of crazy questions."
"What sort of questions?"
"Well, he started off with simple things. Where I was that day, what I was doing, how I managed to not hear anything about the killing until muchter. But then he started to ask me about more particr things. Like what I thought about some students and which students I have seen acting abnormal. He also..."
Maria paused nervously and averted her eyes for a moment and Arit leaned in curiously.
"What is it? He also what?"
Maria swallowed.
"He was also really interested in you for some reason. I know we already practiced our cover story, but I don''t know if he even listened to anything else I said once I told him that I was with you that day. He just kept asking about you. What you were doing with me. How long you were with me. Everything.
I think... I think he suspects something."
Arit shook her head. There was no way he suspected something. Wasn''t it too soon for him to suspect anything about her? He hasn''t even spoken to her once since he came here. He hasn''t even known her for up to a day. No, he was probably only interested in her because she was Mark''s girlfriend.
Maria noticed the confusion on Arit''s face and immediately knew that even Arit did not know what Turner was really up to. Doesn''t that mean that Turner could really be on to them? If he suspects Arit, that could easily lead back to Maria since Maria was the one who covered up most of Arit''s involvement in the killing. Fuck, fuck, fuck! This was bad!
"Are we going to jail, Arit? I... I don''t want him to find out about what happened¨C"
Arit quickly cut Maria off before she could say something stupid.
"He''s not going to find out."
"But what if he does! If he finds out that you were the one that killed those two, then it coulde back to me! I''ll lose everything, and even my family will get involved! They could arrest me for being an aplice and you could be sentenced to death! Hell, even Mark would also face consequences for being a part of this¨CUrk!"
Maria suddenly choked as Arit''s handshed out and grabbed her by the throat! Maria felt her entire body shiver in terror as Arit''s slit, poison-yellow eyes stared deep into her soul! Arit was holding her throat with so much force that Maria found it hard to take in any air at all!
"Grk! Arit!"
Maria grabbed Arit''s arm and tried to pull her off, but there was nothing she could do as Arit''s grip was like a metal bar! Arit''s nails were digging into the side of Maria''s neck and Maria felt one of the nails break the skin and draw blood. Arit brought Maria close so that their faces were almost touching and she seethed at her angrily.
"If you ever mention the KING''s name again, I''ll fucking kill you. I don''t care what happens to me. I could go to prison, or even die. Your entire family could drown in the ocean and I wouldn''t care; but if I hear you mention my King again, if I hear Mark''s name from your mouth again, even if by ident, then thew will be the very least of your problems. Do you understand?"
"Grk!"
Maria tried to talk, but Arit''s grip on her throat was too tight and she had to settle for forcing out a nod in desperation! Arit held Maria close for a few more seconds before she finally threw her back and Maria fell to the ground and started to cough loudly! She held her throat in pain and sucked in deep breaths to calm her racing heart!
''Oh god, she was really going to kill me! I can''t breathe! I can''t breathe!''
Maria quickly pulled out her inhaler from her skirt and tried to take in air, but she was too nervous, so her hands were shaking uncontrobly and the inhaler fell from her grasp and ttered to the floor. She tried reaching for it, but she couldn''t get to it because of how much she was shaking.
Maria thought she was going to pass out right there, but she was shocked when Arit bent down and grabbed the inhaler before putting it in her mouth. Maria looked up at Arit and saw that Arit''s eyes had gone back to normal. They were now their regr ck again and Arit had a look of genuine worry on her face as she spoke up quickly.
"Breathe. Come on, please; just try to take a deep breath."
Chapter 319: Bring Her Out
Maria didn''t need to be told twice and she took in a deep breath as Arit pressed the inhaler for her. Arit gave her another dosage when she noticed that Maria was not yet breathing well and it wasn''t until she gave three doses that Maria finally nodded and started to breathe on her own.
Arit was on her knees and she looked at Maria closely with that look of worry still on her face. Maria leaned against the table behind her and held her throat in pain as she watched Arit with a deep fear in her eyes. She didn''t understand what the hell just happened, but she knew that Arit was just about to kill her. Why the hell did she help her?
Arit dropped the inhaler on the ground and Maria almost flinched back from her as she thought that Arit was about to hit her. Arit frowned and sighed before getting back up.
"Sorry. I sometimes lose it when I hear anyone talk about Mark like that. Just, please don''t involve him in this. It was my mistake and I won''t let him face any consequences for it. If you even mention his name around the investigator, then I don''t know what I will do to you."
Yeah, never again! Never in my life!
Maria nodded faster than she had ever nodded in her life! She didn''t know what the hell just happened, but she decided that she was never going to speak Mark''s name again in her entire life! Maria once had a small crush on Mark and if the situation were different, then she might have even pursued Mark and tried to steal him from Arit.
But after what just happened, she would find it difficult to even look Mark in the eyes ever again!
Arit was happy when Maria nodded and she smiled for a moment before she decided to get back to business. The break was almost over and they had to figure out what they would do about the twins. Was there any way to deal with a situation like this? The twins were far stronger than her and they also had Luna backing them up. Trying to get rid of them could end badly.
''But it is worth the risk. We have to protect the King.''
Mark will be sad if I get hurt. We should tell him about this ande up with a n together. It''ll be safer with the woof us working together, right?
''No. If we involve the kings, then the King could be exposed. We have to cut off all possible chances of that happening. I say we kill the girl. She is the only weak link that exists right now. Killing her will ensure no harmes to the King.''
Arit''s eyes trailed towards Maria as she heard what the queen said and Maria slowly reached back and grabbed a hold of the table when she saw the contemtive look in Arit''s eyes. Maria''s heart rate spiked and she suddenly felt the instinctive fear that rats feel when they are being stared down by cats.
The queen was right. Maria was literally the only person alive other than Arit and Mark who knew what happened that day.
Should I just kill her?
Arit quickly shook her head to get rid of that thought. No, that might end badly. We are trying to cover up murders. Killing another person will only make the government pay more attention to the school and things will get harder for Mark. Arit sighed and looked away from Maria and Maria felt her heart rate calm down a bit.
Maria would never know how close she came to being murdered at that moment.
Arit was still trying to think of something to do about this when she suddenly heard the doorknob rattling. Arit''s head snapped to the door and she quickly told Maria to get the fuck off the floor and clean her neck! There was an injury on Maria''s neck with a bit of blood leaking from it and anyone would be suspicious if they saw it.
Maria rushed to get up obediently and sat down on the seat she had been in before while cleaning her neck roughly and they both waited with bated breath as the door opened.
Ka-Cha!
"What the hell are you doing all the way over here?"
Arit felt her heart soar in joy as she heard Mark''s voice echo from the door and she quickly went up to him happily.
"Mark, you came to get me?"
Mark hummed in confirmation while looking around the room. His eyesnded on Maria and he raised a brow when Maria immediately looked away from him and stared down at her feet. Mark''s keen eyes caught a glimpse of the injury on Maria''s neck and the fresh line of blood that was leaking from the wound. He frowned.
"What the fuck happened here?"
Arit swallowed slightly as she heard the anger in Mark''s tone. She quickly tried to exin.
"T-The queen got out of control, sorry. I just¡ couldn''t control it."
Mark red at the wound on Maria''s neck in irritation. He then closed his eyes and sighed to calm himself before opening them again and speaking to Maria.
"Can you drive?"
Maria looked up at Mark in confusion and Mark frowned at the stunned look on her face. Did he fucking stutter!?
"I asked you a fucking question."
Maria quickly nodded once she noticed that Mark was not in a good mood.
"Y-Yes, I can! I can drive!"
Mark took out his car key and threw it at her. Maria stumbled to catch it and she finally brought it to her chest while looking up at Mark in confusion.
"Get the fuck out of here. Take my car and go home for the day, I''ll tell the principal you were sick. There''s a first aid kit in the car so use a bandaid to close that fucking injury."
"W-What¡ but what about school?"
"Don''t make me fucking repeat myself!"
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"Y-Yes!"
Maria quickly got up and rushed out of the room and Mark shut the door behind her and locked it with a click. Once they were alone, Mark turned to Arit. Arit was staring at her feet while hugging her hands across her stomach. She looked like she really regretted what she had done and she knew that she deserved Mark''s anger. But she never expected what Mark told her to do next.
"Bring her out."
Arit looked up at Mark in confusion and Mark started walking towards her while talking. Arit backpedaled.
"Bring the queen out right now. You said you could control it, didn''t you? So you don''t need any trigger. Bring her out this instant!"
Arit''s face twisted in shock for a moment before it slowly started to rx into a calm look as her mouth slid into a grin! Arit''s poison-yellow eyes looked up Mark seductively and she stepped forward with a wide smile!
"Hello, my King."
m!
Mark grabbed Arit by the shoulder and mmed her into the wall and the queen grunted in pain! His forearm pressed her against the wall and he leaned down to face her with a re as she slowly smiled up at him.
"King, I know you''re angry, but I can exin. She would have exposed us if we let her go without scaring her. She dared to bring up your name without thinking and I didn''t want her making that same mistake again. She is weak, so she was going to talk sooner orter. I had to make sure she didn''t say anything about you."
Chapter 320: Dont Do Anything (+18)
"King, I know you''re angry, but I can exin. That bitch would have exposed us if we let her go without scaring her. She is weak, so she was going to talk sooner orter. I had to make sure she didn''t say anything about you."
Arit quickly tried to exin what had happened, but Mark was not having any of it.
"Didn''t I tell you to be careful in school? The only reason we are in this mess right now is because you cannot control yourself. What would you have done if you killed her?"
"I wouldn''t have killed her."
"Maybe Arit wouldn''t have killed her, but you would, wouldn''t you, Queen? You would do it for me."
Arit stayed silent, but the smile on her face only widened as she gazed up at Mark lovingly. Arit had already promised Mark that she was never going to lie to him again, so Arit didn''t dare to deny Mark''s usation. Mark was right. The Queen would kill Maria without a second thought just to protect him.
"I would do anything for you, my King. What is one life in the face of my devotion? What are a hundred lives? They are nothing. For you, I would watch the world burn."
Mark grit his teeth and leaned down even further until he was almost kissing Arit. His eyes red into her own and he spoke in a low, rumbling tone that sent a shiver down Arit''s spine.
"From now on, you''re not going to do anything. I don''t need you to protect me in that way. If you want to do something for me, then do nothing at all. No threats, no ns, no killing. I''m not fucking ying with you, Queen. Don''t fucking kill anybody.
Do you understand me?"
Mark pressed Arit harder against the wall and Arit gasped as she looked up at Mark seductively. She slowly traced her hand up Mark''s body as she felt something trembling in her core every time Markmanded her. If it was Mark telling her to do something, then how could she refuse? She was born for him. She only lived for him.
Everything she did, everything she was, everything she aplished, was for him. There was only one way she could respond.
"Anything for you, my King~ I''ll back off and do nothing, I promise."
Mark kept his gaze locked on hers for some time to make sure that she really understood what he was telling her.
The tension between the both of them was intense and Arit''s hand pressed against Mark''s chest as her eyes trailed down to his lips. She pushed her chest out and bit her lip seductively.
Mark could feel his whole body heating up as Arit''s hand trailed down his body until she grabbed his belt and pulled him close assertively.
Before long, neither of them could resist anymore and they both crashed their lips together in a heated kiss that almost drove Arit through the wall! Arit grabbed a fistful of Mark''s hair and pulled him close, and she gasped as Mark reached around and grabbed her ass!
"Oh~! Fuck~"
Arit cursed as Mark suddenly broke the kiss and bit her neck hard! That was definitely going to bruiseter! She wrapped her hands around his neck as he carried her off the ground! She wrapped her legs around Mark''s waist and grunted as Mark dropped her on the teacher''s table in front of the ss.
Arit quickly started to take off Mark''s shirt and Mark reached forward and began unbuttoning her shirt as well. They both had to be careful because they knew that they still had to wear the uniformster, but it took them less than three seconds to get all the buttons off before they leaned in again for another heated kiss.
"Hah~ Hah~ Hah~ Yes~"
Arit was breathing heavily from the exertion. Mark traced his hand down her bra and she felt goosebumps travel through her entire body. Mark''s hand moved across her toned stomach before he finally reached her skirt and hiked it up.
"Careful. My uniform will get rumpled ¨C"
"Shut up."
Mark growled against Arit''s lips and his voice rumbled in Arit''s throat as hemanded her to shut up! Arit shivered as she felt electricity travel through her entire body and she groaned! Was she cumming from only that? Fuck!
Arit couldn''t believe she woulde from Markmanding her like that and she had to hold him tight as she felt Mark''s hand trace her panties and push them to one side.
Arit''s hand went down to Mark''s trousers and she quickly loosened his belt and opened his zip before bringing out Mark''s member.
Continue your journey with §Þ??
There was no need for any forey between the two of them right now. They both knew exactly what they wanted and they weren''t going to waste any time ying around! With how heated they were right now, they both just wanted to fuck like rabbits!
Mark immediately positioned himself properly and prated Arit in one quick motion!
Bam!
"Ugh~!"
Arit groaned loudly and she had to put her hand up to her mouth as she felt Mark fill her uppletely! If she made too much noise, someone could catch them, so she tried her best to reduce her moans as much as possible! But once Mark started moving, she knew that it would be impossible to stop the sounds!
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
Bam! Bam!
It felt like the entire world was shaking around Arit! She was lying down on the table and Mark put his hand on her stomach and rose her legs up to his shoulder as he started to m into her like a fucking piston! Every time he went inside her, Arit could feel him mming against her womb and she had to use both hands to cover her mouth to reduce her voice!
m! m! m! m! m!
"Mmph~! Mmph~! Mmph~! Mmph~! Mmph~! Mmph~!"
Oh god, he''s going to break me!
Arit felt shivers going through her entire body and she realized with shock that she was already cumming again! Her orgasm hit her like a fucking truck and she had to hold onto the edge of the table to ground herself! She felt Mark''s hand cover her mouth and she didn''t know that she had been screaming loudly!
She immediately bit down on Mark''s hand and she felt Mark increase his speed as her orgasm hit her a second time!
m! m! m! m! m! m!
m! m!
"Uh~! Uh~! Uh~! Uh~! Uh~! Uh~!
Uh~! Fuck! Fuck! I''ming! Oh, Mark! Mark!
Mark!"
Mark felt his own orgasm reaching the climax as he heard Arit calling his name. At that critical moment, most men would bepletely lost in the pleasure, but Mark was able to think a little bit and he knew that he couldn''t risk ejacting inside Arit a second time. It was already bad enough that he did it yesterday. Trying to do it twice would be like testing fate.
Mark didn''t want to take that risk yet!
Mark mmed into Arit onest time before he finally pulled out and released to the side. He couldn''t do it on Arit since it would ruin her uniform.
The both of them were breathing heavily and Arit looked like she just went through a hurricane with how drooped and lost she looked. There was a silly smile on her face and her yellow eyes were staring at nothing in the distance.
Chapter 321: Whats That Smell?
Experience tales with §Þ??
Mark chuckled and came around to kiss Arit.
"You okay?"
"Mmmhmm."
Arit mumbled something incoherent and Mark frowned in worry before kissing her again. He fixed her hair behind her ear and smiled at her.
"Hey,e on, I know you''re okay. Don''t tell me the great Queen can''t even take that much."
Arit slowly blinked her eyes a few times before she groaned while sitting up. She held her head and used her other hand to massage her stomach just above her crotch. Mark was going to kill her one day with how intense he was.
Mark came close and kissed Arit gently and Arit moaned into the kiss as she tangled her fingers into Mark''s hair. After some time, Mark pulled back and looked her in the eye.
"Don''t forget what we spoke about. I don''t care if you''re Queen or Arit. I love you and I don''t want you to be putting yourself in danger like that. I can take care of myself, so don''t try to do anything dangerous for my sake. Lay low for now and don''t draw any attention to yourself, do you understand?"
Arit saw the genuine worry in Mark''s eyes and she couldn''t help the blush that rose on her cheek. Mark was really worried that she would get in trouble if she continued and Arit felt butterflies in her stomach just knowing how much Mark cared about her.
Arit still wanted to help Mark, but she couldn''t go against Mark like this.
''I still want to get rid of that Turner, but the King has spoken. I wish we could protect him, but if he thinks we do not need to act, then we won''t. But we should keep our eyes open in case anything happens. You never know how things will go with these superhumans.''
For once, even the Queen was on the same page and Arit finally agreed that she would not try to do anything dangerous. Arit wrapped her hands around Mark''s neck and pecked him on the lips with a nod. Mark was standing between Arit''s legs and she gently wrapped her legs around him to hold him in ce while talking.
"Since you don''t want me to, I won''t do anything, King. But try to be careful. That boy - Turner - has been going around asking questions about what happened. I think he might be suspicious of me for some reason. I don''t know what he is going to do next."
Mark frowned in worry as he heard this. He didn''t think that Turner would start his investigation that aggressively. Mark would have to find a way to throw him off their trail.
"Don''t worry, I will deal with it. There isn''t any evidence pointing him to us, so at best he is only specting for now. If we can find a way to make him stop suspecting us, then we should be fine. Tina doesn''t even suspect us at all, so she is not an issue. We just have to make sure Turner gets off the trail."
Once Tina''s name was mentioned, Mark could literally sense the change in Arit''s expression. Arit frowned and her hold around his neck tightened as she held him closer. Mark raised a brow and asked her what was wrong and Arit''s frown deepened.
"I don''t like his sister. That Tina girl. She is always hanging off you and trying to get into your personal space. Anytime I hear her calling you that stupid nickname, I want to gouge her eyes out."
Mark chuckled at Arit''s behavior and held her closer while kissing her neck gently. Mark knew that Arit would be affected by that, but there was nothing for her to worry about. Tina was like a pest to him - a pest that he just couldn''t get rid of for now. She was only doing all that because she lost to him in a fight.
Mark was sure that she would eventually give up when she saw that he wasn''t giving her any attention.
Mark wondered who would win if Arit fought against Tina. They were both S ss and they both had that aggressive streak that would allow them to fight at their very best. If they were to fight, it would probably be very close, or maybe Tina would win. Tina has been in more fights and she has also experienced fighting against stronger opponents before. She would likely beat Arit because of that.
But knowing how aggressive Arit could be right off the bat, Arit might manage to catch Tina off guard if Tina underestimates her even a little.
Mark sighed and kissed Arit on the neck once more.
"You don''t need to worry about her. Just ignore her for now and keepying low. I don''t think the government will keep them here if they cannot find anything, so they will be leaving soon. Even if you think they are an annoyance, bear with it, okay?"
Arit put her face into Mark''s neck and finally nodded. Mark smiled as he told her to get dressed so they could get back to ss. Arit nodded and she slowly started to put her panties and skirt back in their proper position while Mark arranged his trousers properly. Arit knew that Mark was right about Tina.
From the reactions that Mark had to her, Arit could tell that Tina was just an annoyance that refused to leave Mark alone.
Arit decided that she would ignore Tina for now. Since this was a delicate time and it was her fault that Tina and Turner came here in the first ce, she wasn''t going to do anything about Tina. But if Tina goes too far and tries to get any closer to Mark than this, then all bets are off.
...
After Mark and Arit made it back to ss, Mark noticed that Turner and Tina were already there. Turner was sitting in his seat and there were a lot of girls around him talking about one thing or another. Mark hummed as he realized that Turner was actually the sort of person to be quite popr with the girls.
Even though he was very uptight, Turner was handsome and he had this way of talking that made him seem more mature than his age. Mark wasn''t surprised that Turner would be popr with the girls in ss.
Tina, on the other hand, was sitting down on top of Mark''s desk with her legs crossed. Tina was busy ying a game on her phone with a frown on her face and she had this aura of unapproachability that made everyone stay away from her. Unlike her brother, Tina didn''t have an interest in talking with anyone in the ss.
Even though Tina had a pretty face and Mark could see many of the boys in the ss stealing longing nces at her, there was no way anyone could approach her if she had such a tough exterior.
"Marky~!!"
Tina suddenly shouted loudly as she saw Mark enter the ss and she got off his table and came closer to him. She noticed Arit was ring at her from Mark''s right-hand side and Tina frowned right back at her as she wrinkled her nose curiously.
What was that smell?
Chapter 322: Talias First Day
Tina wriggled her nose curiously.
What was that smell?
Tina suddenly stepped into Arit''s personal space, and Arit red up at the taller girl as she refused to take a step back. Arit knew exactly what Tina was smelling, and Arit smirked at Tina when she saw the look of realization appear on Tina''s face.
That''s right. He fucked me. What are you going to do about it, bitch? He is mine and there is no space for you between us.
That was exactly what Arit was saying with her look, and Tina could easily understand what Arit''s expression was saying. Tina also grinned slightly as she saw the challenge on Arit''s face, and she finally took a step away from Arit with a challenging gaze.
"And here I thought you were a useless trophy I didn''t have to worry about. I guess I was wrong. I''ll take this as you challenging me, so you better be ready."
Tina''s gaze turned predatory as some of her aura started to leak from her body. The air in the ssroom was bing electrified, and Mark noticed that the hair of some of the students was starting to float from how much static was moving around the room.
Smack!
Mark smacked Tina on the back of her head, and she immediately stumbled forward and held her head in pain as she looked up at Mark with tears in her eyes. What the hell was that for!?
"Don''t start something stupid now. Go to your fucking seat."
Mark got to his seat and went back to his regr position: his head on the desk and ready to sleep through the next ss. Arit ignored Tina as well as she went to sit down beside Mark and brought out her books to start taking notes as the teacher entered the ss.
Tina chuckled at Mark''s attitude, and she went to take her own seat. Tina watched Mark sleeping and a perverted smile appeared on her face. Tina had been sitting on Mark''s table since he left the ss, and Mark was putting his face right on the same spot her ass had been! As far as she was concerned, even though Arit might have won today, that did not mean that Tina lost either.
¡
After school that day, Mark made a call to his godfather whileing out from the principal''s office. He went to tell the principal about Maria leaving for a medical emergency, and the principal was more than happy to give her a pass for the day since Mark was the one who came to tell him.
Arit was following behind Mark while holding his free arm, and as they came outside, a new Vanitas Aventador screeched to a halt right in front of them. Mark thanked his godfather over the phone and cut the call. The man driving came down and bowed.
"Your car, Mr. Vanitas. Your godfather, Mr. Hector, instructed me to tell you that this is thetest model S that has not been released to the public yet. If you do not like it, then we can make any modifications that you want and bring a new one to you by tomorrow. Do you wish for me to go and retrieve your other car?"
Mark waved him away and told him that he did not need to do that. Mark was going to leave the car with Maria. He knew that it was Arit''s fault that Maria got injured, so it was only right that he gave her something as an apology. That car should be enough for an apology.
Mark asked the man if he had a way to get back, and the man nodded as another lower-ss Vanitas car came in to pick him up. Mark thanked the man, and the man bowed respectfully before leaving in the lower-ss car.
Mark and Arit got into the car and drove off, but they never noticed Turner looking at them from the other side of the parking lot where he and Tina were getting into their own red Vanitas car. Turner narrowed his eyes at the new model Vanitas and wondered what happened. That wasn''t the car that Mark came to school with this morning.
Enjoy new adventures from §Þ??
"Hey, get in. I want to go get some sleep. This is not what I thought we would go through when they said we had to start investigating in a school; being a student is fucking tiring."
Tina groaned as she entered the driver''s seat, and Turner hummed as he opened the passenger seat and entered. Turner slowly tuned Tina out as he heard her constantlyining about how irritating school was and how it was a waste of social funds, and a new thought suddenly came to his mind and his eyes narrowed.
I didn''t see that Maria girl after school anymore. Where the hell did she go?
¡
Mark parked his new car in front of the Light Academy building and watched as Talia came towards the car from across the street. Mark narrowed his eyes as he noticed that Talia was no longer wearing the ribbons that Arit put in her hair. Talia''s head was bowed and she had an obvious frown on her face as she opened the car door and entered.
She dropped her teddy to the side with a huff before turning to look out the window.
Mark raised a brow and turned to give Arit a curious look. Arit was also confused and she shook her head as she turned around to look at Talia.
"Hey, Talia. How was school today?"
Talia huffed but stayed silent, and Mark immediately became more worried as his eyes narrowed into a re. If someone did something to Talia, someone was going to get fired. Mark finally spoke up.
"Talia. Tell me what happened."
Talia looked like she still didn''t want to talk, but Mark''s tone did not leave any room for argument, and she slowly turned around and pouted at Mark and Arit while telling them about what happened in school that day.
After Mark and Arit left the school earlier, Talia was able to get to ss easily, and she was introduced to the rest of the ss as a new student by a nice female teacher who was always smiling. The students all seemed nice at first, and Talia almost made a friend in ss. A girl sitting next to her was really nice to her.
But during recess, another group of girls came up to Talia and started picking on her for no reason. They said that it was childish to be carrying a teddy around and they called her a baby for having ribbons on her hair.
Talia told them to go away! Her teddy wasn''t childish! But the girls seemed to be having fun calling Talia a baby. To them, they were just having fun, but Talia felt very angry anytime someone insulted her teddy, so she was not enjoying it at all!
"Hey, stop picking on her. Do you think it''s funny?"
Another person suddenly spoke up and came towards them. It was a boy with white hair and red eyes that reminded Talia a lot of the viins in the anime she always watches. He was trying to stand up for her, but Talia didn''t even hear anything that he was saying. Talia was already too far gone in her anger. She thought that this school would be different.
She thought that since all of them had powers, she would be able to make some friends and hang out with them.
Even the girl that was sitting beside Talia before was no longer looking at her. The girl was looking away like a coward and leaving Talia at the mercy of the bad girls who came after her.
Chapter 323: Are You Sure?
Talia immediately decided that enough was enough. She wasn''t going to allow some stupid kids to ruin her time in school!
"Ohh, James, are you standing up for her? Is she your girlfriend~!"
One of the girls that was bullying Talia started to taunt the boy who came around to help her, but before the boy could even open his mouth to respond, a massive teddy bear mmed into all of them.
"Argh!"
The boy shouted as the teddy bear pushed him to the ground along with all the other girls, and he raised his head to look at the terrifying bear that was ring down at them. Talia was standing with her head bowed as she red at her feet, and the boy immediately shouted at her in anger as he realized that she was also attacking him!
Did this idiot not know that he was just trying to help her!?
"Shut up! Sniff~! All of you should just shut up!"
James immediately stopped trying to reprimand her as he saw that she was crying. He dropped the fist that he had raised and watched with a look of confusion on his face as she roughly cleaned her eyes while walking away.
Talia escaped to the bathroom on her own and buried her face into her knees while sitting on the floor. Why was she crying? She thought she was already over her grandfather''s death!
Immediately that girl called that boy James, Talia couldn''t hold back her tears anymore as she suddenly remembered that her grandfather was no longer with her and she started crying.
''Why does that stupid boy have the same name as grandfather?''
Talia reached up to her ribbon and pulled it off in anger before stuffing it in her pocket. Stupid ribbon! Stupid ssmates! Stupid school! She hated all of it!
Mark was still staring straight ahead as he listened attentively to what Talia was saying.
After recess was ended, Talia''s teacher came around and coaxed her out of the bathroom. The teacher helped her to clean her tears and made sure that she was okay before she apologised for what happened. But the teacher also told her that she should not have attacked the students like that.
She made the girls apologize to Talia and also made Talia apologize to the students that she attacked with Teddy.
The boy, James, was frowning as he looked away from Talia, and even when Talia apologized to him, he still refused to look at her. Instead, he huffed and turned away. Talia red at him for ignoring her apology and threw a book at his head, and the boy immediately went mental as he tried to attack Talia himself!
It was a very interesting first day.
Mark didn''t even know how to react to all that. He knew that the girls were the ones who caused all the problems in the first ce, but Talia was also at fault for attacking them with her teddy for something trivial. Her teddy was an A-rank superhuman and it could have really hurt those kids if they weren''t able to handle it. But the person that Mark was most disappointed in was the teacher.
What the hell were they doing? Aren''t the teachers meant to look out for the students and make sure things like these don''t happen? Especially since they all had powers that could harm others seriously?
Talia could see the slight disappointment in Mark''s expression and she thought that Mark was disappointed in her. Was Mark going to pull her out of school just because of this? She didn''t want to leave school. Even though it was not the best first day, she still had fun in ss.
"I''m sorry."
Talia cleaned her eyes with the back of her hand as tears fell, and she apologized through the sniffs and hups that came out. Mark''s eyes widened as he realized that she thought he was angry at her. Fuck, was his face that readable?
"Oh, no, no, Big Brother isn''t disappointed in you. You don''t need to apologize."
Arit immediately climbed into the back seat to sit with Talia. She brought Talia to her chest and Talia buried her face in Arit''s chest as she cried a little. Arit held Talia close and made sure that she had stopped crying before she brought her away from her chest and helped her to clean her cheeks. Talia pouted as Arit pinched her cheek and she shook her head at Arit.
Arit smiled down at her and spoke.
"We aren''t disappointed in you Talia. It was your first day, so we knew it would be difficult. You should have seen Mark''s first day in our ss. He almost got into three fights on the same day. I''m sure it will get a lot better."
"Oi, who got into fights? Those guys just kept trying to mess with me cause they thought it made them look cool. I can''t really call that a fight."
Talia chuckled as she heard Arit throwing Mark under the bus and Markshing back with a sound of betrayal. Talia turned to look at Mark and she saw Mark smiling at her.
"You did good, Talia. I''m proud of you."
A small blush rose on Talia''s cheek and she pressed her face into Arit''s chest to hide it from Mark. Arit chuckled at Talia''s shyness while petting her head gently. Arit turned to the front and she saw that the smile on Mark''s face was gone. Instead, it was reced with a look of cold fury. It was obvious that a teacher from the school was going to be getting a visit from Mark very soon.
And they were not going to like it.
...
On the other side of the parking lot, a white car parked in front of the school and waited as a boy came out from the school and entered the passenger seat of the car. The boy had a frown on his face and the man in the driver''s seat immediately noticed it.
The man driving had ck hair and eyes. He was Greg, the superhuman from the NSA that James asked to take care of Talia if he could. Greg looked at his son curiously, and when he noticed that the boy was not going to tell him what happened, he decided to ask.
"What happened, James? You look like someone put their hand in your lunch."
James huffed at his father.
"That was a terrible joke, Dad. And it wasn''t anything like that. There was this new girl in ss that was getting picked on. I tried to help her out, but she ended up attacking me together with the bullies without even thinking. Girls are so stupid! And she didn''t even apologize herself!
She only apologized because the teacher told her to!"
Greg''s brow rose as he saw that this was a serious issue. What the hell were the teachers doing in that school? They should have cut this in the bud before it got this far out of hand. Greg asked James what the girl''s name was and he was immediately shocked when he heard her name.
"Talia? As in Talia Dragonheart? Are you sure that was her name?"
Chapter 324: Living On The Edge
"Talia? Talia Dragonheart? Are you sure that was her name?"
James noticed his father''s sudden seriousness and he turned to his father and nodded his head. James wondered what was making his father take this so seriously.
Normally, his father would just tell a terrible joke at a time like this and James would be forced to tell his father how terrible his jokes were, but right now, Greg looked like he was about to head into battle with the sort of expression he had.
After some time, Greg spoke up with that same serious expression on his face.
"I need you to look after that girl for me, James. Make sure she doesn''t have any issues in school and treat her like family, do you understand?"
James was visibly stunned by the request and his mind raced as he tried to understand what his father was asking him. It wasn''t normal for his father to ask him something like this. Why should he look after a brat like that? She was a crybaby who didn''t even know how to separate her friends from her enemies! She just attacked all of them blindly! He wasn''t going to look after her!
James told this to his father and his father hit him on the head with a sigh.
"Just listen to me, James, and do as you''re told. I''ll ask you about her tomorrow as well. I need you to look after her, alright?"
James gave his father a side nce for a moment before he narrowed his eyes in suspicion and said something that almost made Greg choke on air!
"What the hell, Dad? Is she your illegitimate child or something? You''re trying to make your real son look after your illegitimate daughter? You creep. I''m going to tell Mom."
Greg red down at his son and pulled his ear hard, and James yelled in pain as he was almost raised off his seat from the pain! He red at his father with tears at the edge of his eyes and Greg gave James a look of disappointment as he shook his head.
James was proud of his son for standing up for Talia earlier. James had enough power to be a B rank superhuman, but even with all that power, James was still a good kid and he had a sense of responsibility that was difficult to find in children his age. But no matter how good of a kid James was, sometimes, James would reveal his real age by saying some unnecessary things!
It was impossible not to get pissed whenever he said things like that.
"Cheeky brat."
...
[The Next Day ¨C Nature Academy]
Maria''s family car arrived at the entrance of the school and she came down from the back seat with a gracefulness that could only belong to a member of high society. Her hair was let down and she was carrying her school briefcase in both hands as she thanked the driver for bringing her to school. The driver nodded respectfully in response and drove off from the entrance.
"It''s the vice-president. I heard she left school early yesterday. She looks fine."
"I guess you can do anything you want as long as you''re a member of the student council."
"But man, I wouldn''t mind joining the student council to be around someone like that."
"Shut up, idiot. Did you see the news this morning? The one about the superhumans that went missing?"
"Who watches the news?"
"My dad always puts it on before school, so I couldn''t help but listen. They said more superhumans just went missing without a trace. You think it''s rted to what happened before?"
"Bro, I have no idea. They''re superhumans, so I''m sure they''re fine. There''s no need to worry about them. Who the hell is going to mess with a superhuman?"
Many students around the school couldn''t help but stop to stare at Maria as she walked into the school and she held her head high and kept moving forward while ignoring their gazes.
Even though Maria was not superhuman and she wasn''t dating someone like Mark, many of the students still gave her a lot of attention because she was one of the top members of the school as well as a head of the student council. She was basically a minor celebrity in the school.
Maria made her way past the school doors and waited until she was out of the view of most students before she released a tired sigh and her entire body deted like all the energy inside her had been drained out. She quickly made her way to the girls'' bathroom, went in front of the mirror, and raised her long hair out of the way to reveal the bandage underneath.
"I hope this heals soon. I don''t want that Turner to see it. Mark won''t be happy about that."
Maria quickly took off the bandage and started to use makeup to cover up the injury. Maria still remembers how worried her parents were when she came home yesterday and showed them the cut on her neck. Maria told her parents that it was from a door nail that scratched her and her mother immediately called a doctor to check if she had tetanus.
Then they gave her medicine, bandaged it up, and told her to get some rest.
If not for the fact that Maria had some say in the house, they would have tried to make her stay at home for the wound to heal. But even though Maria would have preferred to stay at home, she knew that would only raise more suspicions with Turner, so Maria had to be in school.
The worst thing that happened yesterday was when Maria''s mother found out who owned the car that Maria drove home. When Maria told her that it belonged to Mark Vanitas, the young scion of the Vanitas Family, her mother almost had a heart attack on the spot!
Her mother still remembered how Maria pissed Mark off the first time they met, so her mother was shocked that Mark would give Maria his car to go home.
Maria was also shocked that Mark would give her something like a car. And when she sent a message to Aritter yesterday asking when she should drop the car off, she was even more shocked when Arit told her not to worry about returning it. Mark was giving it to her as an apology for what happened. What the fuck!? A car that was worth hundreds of thousands of dors!?
Maria knew that her family was also rich, but she couldn''t even dream about giving out a car like the Vanitas Avatendor like it was nothing! And Mark was giving it out for a simple injury to the neck!? What will he do if I break a bone? Will he buy me a mansion!?
Sometimes, Maria didn''t know if she should be thankful that she caught Arit and Mark having sex that day or if she should curse that day to her dying breath!
Chapter 325: Exercise Restraint
"Oh! Is it like one of those situations? Enemies to lovers?"
Maria''s mother suddenly said something very dangerous and this time it was Maria''s turn to almost have a heart attack. Immediately her mother mentioned lovers, Maria felt the phantom pain of Arit''s hand around her neck threatening to kill her if she even mentioned Mark''s name again, and Maria held her heart in shock as she had to sit down. Was her mother mad!?
Maria couldn''t even think of going after Mark! Not when that crazy bitch was his girlfriend!
Now that Maria was in school, she didn''t want the bandage to draw attention so she covered it up with her hair at first. But since she knew that the hair wouldn''t be enough to stop someone like Turner from seeing that she was hiding something, she decided that she would take off the bandage and cover the injury with makeup instead.
"That... should do it. Right? Hah~! I always thought the first thing I would be covering on my neck is a hickey from a man, not an injury from a yandere."
Maria sighed at how sad her life was and she closed up her makeup and left the bathroom. Maria watched to make sure that there weren''t any superhumans around before she started to rush to the students'' council room.
"Maria. You''re Maria, right?"
Maria suddenly stopped in her tracks as she heard her name being called and she turned around to see an extremely beautiful woman standing behind her. Oh my god, can anyone even be this beautiful!?
Maria wasn''t someone who followed superhumans a lot, so she didn''t know the identity of all the superhumans, but it didn''t take her long to recognize the person standing in front of her since she was one of the most popr superhumans alive! Luna, the leader of the Moonlight Guild!
"L-Luna. I mean - Madam Luna, what are you doing here?"
Luna was wearing a pair of tight sky-blue jeans and a loose white t-shirt thatplimented her hair perfectly. She was getting off the phone with one of her vice-leaders from her guild when she noticed Maria walking down the corridor and she recognized her from the catalog of students that she read up on. This was the student council vice president.
"I just wanted toe say hello. I am going to be a part of the school administration for some time, so I mighte to you for information on some students or just to talk about things I notice in the school. I hope you don''t mind. I intended to talk to you yesterday, but the principal said you left early because you weren''t feeling alright. Are you feeling better now?"
How polite.
Maria waspletely enraptured by Luna''s personality and beauty. Luna had every right to be as rude as she wanted with those looks, but Maria couldn''t even hear the smallest bit of misced pride in Luna''s tone. Luna sounded like a kind big sister that you wouldn''t mind going to tell all of your troubles if you were ever in a bad spot.
Maria gained a blush on her face as she nodded.
"Y-Yes, I''m feeling much better after getting some rest yesterday. I will help you anytime you want me to."
Luna nodded before adding,
"Oh, and I am also part of the team carrying out the investigations for the recent incident. I think you''ve met one of the other investigators, Turner Fey."
Maria''s body locked up tight! Just that one word ''investigator'' was enough to put the fear of death into Maria and she had to use every single bit of her acting abilities to nod as calmly as possible. She was so stupid. She should have known that Luna wouldn''te here to just keep an eye on Mark! Luna was also here for the investigations!
That meant that if Turner suspected anything, he would have told Luna about it! Did Lunae here to also interrogate me!? Have I been found out?
"Hey, are you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost. Maybe your fever is still acting up. Do you need to lie down?"
Luna became genuinely worried as she saw the ghostly look on Maria''s face and she leaned closer and asked if she was alright. Maria had to force herself to nod calmly again as she saw the look of genuine worry on Luna''s face.
''Yeah, there was no way Luna would have found anything out yet. I''m sure she just came to talk to me because I am the head of the student council.''
Once Luna was sure that Maria was fine, she smiled.
"Alright, just try to get some rest if you''re still feeling under the weather. I''lle find youter. Oh, and I think you messed up your makeup a little. There''s some on your neck."
Maria''s entire body shivered as Luna whispered thatst part so that only Maria would hear it and Maria forced out a thank you while rushing to the student council room. Fuck, Maria couldn''t let her guard down around superhumans at all! A normal person would never be able to tell that this was makeup and yet Luna was able to tell just like that!? I really need to find a better way to hide this!
¡
"Marky~! I''m back~! Did you miss me!?"
Tina rushed into the ss and she announced her presence as loudly as possible while looking toward Mark''s seat. Mark''s head was down on his desk and he didn''t even bother raising it to give Tina a response.
Turner just ignored his sister and greeted some of the friends he made yesterday while going to sit down beside Arit.
Tina pouted and walked towards Mark''s seat and started poking him.
"Marky~ Marky~! Marky~! You''re ignoring me, aren''t you!? I''ll y a trick on you if you don''t answer me~"
"Can you sit down? You''re bothering the rest of the ss."
Tina turned and smiled at the re on Arit''s face. Arit was reading through a textbook for their next ss and Tina noticed that Arit was far ahead of the ss already in the textbook. So the rumors about her being the top student in this grade weren''t a lie. She''s pretty smart.
Tina leaned against Mark''s table and she saw Arit''s eye twitch in annoyance before Arit red harder at her.
"Are you going to try and pick a fight with me first thing in the morning? The teacher isn''t even here yet, so what''s the problem?"
Arit''s hand twitched as she felt like strangling something.
''Kill her! Kill the bitch!? Who the fuck does she think she is!? How dare she lean on Mark''s table!''
No, I promised Mark. We promised Mark.
''ARGGHHH!!''
Queen groaned loudly as it tried its best to reduce its killing intent. Arit knew that even though Queen wanted to kill Tina more than anything right now, it valued its promise to Mark more than its desire to stab Tina in the eye.
Arit finally calmed herself and turned away from Tina. Tina was surprised by theck of a reaction from Arit and she was about to say something more, but a hand suddenly pushed her from behind and she fell off the table and stumbled forward! Tina looked behind and saw Mark sitting up while running his hand through his hair and yawning.
Chapter 326: Black
A hand suddenly pushed Tina from behind, and she fell off Mark''s table and stumbled forward! Tina looked back and saw Mark sitting up while running his hand through his hair and yawning.
"Didn''t I tell you not to fucking call me that? Where did that name evene from?"
Mark had no idea why Tina started calling him Marky all of a sudden. It didn''t bother him enough for him to be really angry about it, but it was just strange that she would start calling him a nickname when they weren''t even that close!
Tina smiled happily once she saw that Mark was no longer ignoring her and immediately jumped to hug Mark!
"Marky is awake!!"
Mark dodged the hug, and Tina was sent sprawling to the ground as she hugged air. Mark looked down at her and hummed as he saw her skirt rise a bit to expose her underwear.
''ck, eh? Not bad.''
Tina chuckled with a sly smile as she got up and arranged her skirt back so she wasn''t shing Mark anymore.
"Pervert Marky."
The bell signalling the start of ss finally rang and everyone stayed moving towards their seats as the teacher entered the room with a smile.
"Alright ss, settle down, let''s start with roll call ¨C"
Ring~ Ring~ Ring~
Mark''s phone suddenly rang, and he brought out his AirPods as he stopped listening to the teacher. The teacher didn''t bother trying to caution Mark for picking up the call in the middle of ss since she knew it could be something superhuman rted.
He put it in his ear, and Pat''s haughty voice came through the AirPod quickly.
[Anima attack near you. Two cmities heading due east. There are some superhumans on hand, but none that can handle something like this. I don''t know where these ones came from just like the others. There aren''t any trails; it''s like they just appeared from nowhere. Something about this seems fishy, so be careful.]
BOOM!
"Ahhh!!"
"What the fuck!?"
The entire ss suddenly shouted in shock as a massive explosion went off on the horizon! Most of the students went under their tables in case there were any falling debris, but some of the more courageous ones ran up to the window immediately to try and get a look at what was happening!
"There''s smoke! I think it''s an Anima attack!"
"Holy shit, a building is falling! Do you think it''s a cmity! What the hell are the superhumans doing!?"
"GHOST is on the move!"
Mark was not even bothering to listen to anything that the students were saying. He had already taken off his shirt and handed it to Arit and told her that he would be back soon. Arit nodded and whispered to him to be careful, and Mark grinned as he put on his gloves.
Mark thought about using the Armor of Ares, but he decided that since these were just cmity ss monsters, he didn''t need to go that far. He would only use it if it turned out that this was a bigger deal than he initially thought.
"Hey, Marky! Let''s go!"
Mark turned to the window and saw that Tina was already waiting for him there. She was still wearing her school uniform, but she had a sweater covering her shirt and she changed out her shoes for a pair of trainers that allowed her to move around more freely. Turner was sitting in his chair without even bothering to move, and Mark knew that Tina was the only one that woulde with him.
Mark didn''t really care about who came with him or not. As far as Mark was concerned, as long as Tina was useful, he wouldn''t mind using her in the battle. Mark jumped to the window beside the one Tina was hanging from, and Tina''s grin widened as she and Mark both jumped out of the ss in a sh of lightning!
BZZT!
"The superhumans are on the move!"
"Show those Anima who''s boss! Give them hell!"
"Bring me back a souvenir!"
"I love you, Mark!"
"Oh shit, I saw Tina''s underwear! It''s ck!"
"YARGGGGGHHHHH!"
There were multiple students hanging out from their windows and cheering for Mark and Tina as they went off to fight. Mark was ignoring them for the most part, but he couldn''t help but chuckle at thatst statement as he heard one boy shouting that he saw Tina''s underwear.
Immediately after the boy said that, all the other boys roared loudly in perverted excitement as they started to chant for Tina like madmen.
Tina seemed perfectly unaffected by this, and Mark just wondered what the hell was wrong with this girl. Doesn''t she understand anything about modesty?
BOOM!
Another massive explosion echoed through the city as Mark and Tinanded on top of a building a few kilometers away from the school. Mark put his hand up to his AirPod and spoke to Pat.
"There was a second explosion in a different location. Did something happen?"
Pat sounded like he was going through an existential crisis. His voice was still as haughty as ever, but his hands were blurring across the keyboard at a mad pace, and he had this tense, desperate tone in his voice.
[I don''t know what just happened. Another one joined the fight! Now there are three cmity sses. And this one appeared just like the others. There was no warning; it just came out of nowhere. I can''t even exin what I''m seeing!]
Mark tried his best to calm Pat down. Mark knew that this was new to Pat. Even though Mark was used to seeing and fighting against multiple cmity ss monsters, Pat was not used to seeing this many cmity sses popping up at the same time. It must be a shock to him. Mark spoke in a way that would calm Pat''s nervousness.
"Alright, just rx. Tell me their location. Which one is close enough for me to get to first?"
[You''re acting like this is normal! There are three cmity sses in the city and they are tearing everything apart! I don''t know if anything can faze you fucking superhuman monsters. One second... I''ve almost got it! Alright, I triangted the location of all three monsters.
They might being from different directions, but from how they are moving, their paths will eventually cross at the Fifth Avenue intersection. Go there and you will run into all three of them at the same time. I''ve already sent out a warning to that area for the citizens to evacuate, so you can go crazy.]
Mark grinned in excitement. That was what he liked to hear! Mark turned and told Tina to keep up with him!
Chapter 327: Theres Three Of Them!?
Tina didn''t even know what was happening, but her entire body seemed to be vibrating in excitement as she prepared to run towards the position where they heard the explosion.
But once she heard Mark tell her that they were going somewhere else, she frowned in disappointment.
"The Anima will show up there. Just follow me."
Mark and Tina shed off the rooftop, and they started to run towards the Fifth Avenue intersection that Pat pointed out. The location was about fifty kilometers away from the school, and they hadn''t even gotten all the way there before a massive monster broke through a building right in front of them!
BOOM!
The monsters had an appearance that was very simr to a grizzly bear. It had brown fur, and there was a mad look in its eyes and it snarled at Mark and Tina. On its arms and joints, sharp bone-like des were growing out in a way that would allow it to use them as weapons. From its appearance, Mark was able to gauge the power level and possible fighting abilities of the monster. Mark frowned.
No, not worth it.
"Tina."
"Yes, Marky!!"
SLAM!
Tina suddenly appeared from behind Mark as she mmed into the monster''s midsection with a lightning charge that drove them both to the ground! The ground shook under the force of Tina''s charge, and the bear roared angrily as it tried to grab Tina and throw her off, but Tina just jumped back and avoided its paw before her whole body started to get covered in lightning.
Mark turned away from the fight. He knew that the monster was not enough to give Tina any trouble, so he decided that he would just focus on the next ones that wereing.
BOOM!
Another massive explosion echoed through the area, and Marknded on the ground and turned towards the explosion while tightening his gloves. Mark was standing in the middle of the open street, and he looked around and made sure that there were no humans before turning back to face whatever wasing.
Mark saw something that looked like a humanoid octopus breaking through houses while running towards him. The creature had the body of a human, but its head waspletely covered in tentacles that were wiggling around like worms. Its skin was purple, and there was a strange oily liquid covering its entire body and making it seem like it was shining under the sunlight.
Honestly, it was a little disgusting.
But no matter how disgusting it seemed, Mark could tell that this was the one he should be fighting. The bear Anima looked strong, but Mark knew that it was only a low-level cmity. This one, on the other hand, was a high-level cmity. Mark kept his eyes peeled for signs of the final cmity ss that Pat said he saw, but no matter how he looked around, there was no sign of it.
Were the other superhumans holding it back?
"GHOST, you''re here!"
Three superhumans, two women and a man, suddenly appeared from the air andnded close to GHOST. They were breathing heavily, and some of them had injuries on their bodies, so it was obvious that they had been fighting against the Anima and they were already getting tired. Mark didn''t see any injuries on the Anima at all, so that meant the superhumans were not able to even hurt it once.
They would only get in his way.
"Stand down."
Mark gave a simple order, and the woman who looked like the de facto leader of the group frowned as she walked forward and said that they could help in the fight.
"We''ve been chasing the monster for a while now. Just a little more and we would have won."
Does that thing look like it is in any pain at all?
Mark gave the superhumans a curious stare while asking them this, and none of them could deny that they hadn''t done much damage to the anima at all as they looked away.
Mark knew the Anima did note here because it was running from them. It was just ying with them. Mark ignored the woman and turned to face the monster.
"I don''t care if you think you would''ve won. If you want to make yourselves useful, then go out and find the third Anima that attacked. Hold that one back until I finish this one quickly ande to help out."
Is he looking down on us?
That was the thought that went through the leader''s mind. She was obviously not happy that Mark was taking her prey for himself. But the others in her group were different. They didn''t care that Mark wanted to take over the fight because both of them knew that there was no way they would win against that monster!
They had been fighting and chasing it for more than two minutes now and it still looked as fresh as the moment it appeared! Meanwhile, they looked like they just ran through a warzone! It was obvious that they were going to lose!
The woman in the lead was still not happy, but she let go of her anger and decided that she would just listen to Mark since Mark was the highest-ranked person there. Mark was a Sovereign and she was only an A rank, so there was nothing she could do about Mark wanting to take over.
"Okay, you can take over, just try not to¡ª"
"Hmm."
BOOM!
Mark didn''t bother waiting for her to finish her sentence as he shot off towards the monster! Once the monster saw that Mark was rushing towards it, it recognized the danger that Mark posed and roared in anger as it tried to assert dominance!
¡
[New Mission: Defeat the Anima Lord.]
A new variant of Anima known as the Anima Lord has appeared in the region. Find and destroy this Anima and hand it over to someone who can find out what created this anima.
Rewards:
+200 skill points
+200 stat points
+100 skill points and +100 stat points for every extra Anima defeated.
Failure:
-500 skill points from a random skill
-500 stat points from a random stat
¡
[The effects of [He Who Defies Destiny] have been activated.]
[The User currently has (3) allies fighting at his side. All stats will receive a 30% boost.]
¡
Mark raised a brow in surprise once he saw what the system sent to him. What the hell was an Anima Lord?
"ROARRRRRRR!!!!"
Mark was not able to think much about the mission from the system as he had to focus back on the Anima in front of him.
The octopus-headed Anima roared loudly as it charged for Mark and used the momentary distraction to charge into him and st him into a building on the opposite side of the road!
SLAM!!
Mark was thrown through the building and the Anima immediately charged into the building as it attempted to deliver a barrage of attacks without giving Mark a chance to rest.
The superhumans that Mark had ordered to go find thest Anima were immediately worried when they saw Mark getting blown away.
"Shit, even Ghost can''t handle this Anima!"
"Should we go help him?"
The female leader shook her head and told the superhumans behind her to go and do as Ghost ordered. It would be bad for them to be caught off guard by the third Anima because they were busy watching the fight.
The Anima charged toward the building in the distance and sted through it as it disappeared from the sight of the superhumans. The female leader narrowed her eyes as she waited for something to happen. This woman was only an A rank and she knew that she and the rest of the superhumans there did not stand a chance against the Anima.
But Mark was a Sovereign, wasn''t he? There is no way Mark would also struggle against something like this.
Chapter 328: Thats Perfect
Even though many people have always been talking about how powerful the SOVEREIGN were, many of them have not seen one fighting firsthand and they do not know if the rumors were exaggerated or not. They only heard rumors of the strength of a SOVEREIGN from members of their guild or on the news whenever they were talking about their recent achievements or fights!
BOOM!
A massive explosion suddenly went off and the superhumans all ducked as the front of the building that Mark flew into was blown to pieces! A body was thrown out of the building and they all saw that it was the octopus-based anima that had attacked Mark. It mmed into the ground and slid back for a few meters before it flipped itself over to stop itself.
The anima was breathing heavily and the female superhuman couldn''t help but notice something unbelievable when she saw the look on its face. Was it¡ scared?
"Don''t tell me you''re running already? I didn''t even hit you yet. Get back here, you bastard."
A calm voice echoed out from inside the building and Mark was seen walking out while cracking his neck calmly. One of his hands was in his pocket and the other one was behind his head as he scratched his head with a bored sigh.
[Current power output: 15%]
Mark came to a stop about fifty meters away from the anima and he raised a brow as the anima took a step back. Mark couldn''t me the anima for being afraid. What just happened inside that building would be enough to put the fear of God into even the most inhuman creatures, so Mark wasn''t surprised.
After the anima sent Mark into the building and jumped after him, it suddenly started railing into Mark with the intention of overwhelming him! Its punches were like a Gatling gun that destroyedrge portions of the building as it mmed into Mark over and over!
But Mark didn''t even bother to counter its attacks.
Instead, he almost seemed bored as the light of excitement that was once shining in his eyes slowly started to die out until it waspletely gone. Mark blocked a punch that the anima overextended and stepped into the anima''s range. Mark reached up and grabbed the anima by one of the tentacles on its face and dragged its face down so that it was staring him right in the eye.
Mark gave it a nk-faced look that showed the anima just how pointless all of its attacks had been. And when Mark spoke, it was almost like a father telling his son that he was a disappointment.
"Why are you so fucking weak?"
And at that moment, the anima felt fear for the first time in its life! It released a loud scream and shot a massive st of ck ink into Mark''s face. Mark was forced to let go of its tentacle. He ducked low to avoid the ink before jumping back calmly as the ground started to shift under his feet.
''Hmm. What is going on now?''
Another monster suddenly sted out from underground and Mark dodged to the side as it tried to grab him using itsrge pincers. The new monster was a cockroach-like anima withrge wings on its back. It had the body and head of a cockroach andrge pincers on its mouth that looked sharp enough to tear through steel!
SCREECH!
The cockroach screeched loudly at Mark as it charged towards him together with the other octopus anima! Mark crouched low and avoided the cockroach''s wide swing before shooting upward faster than either of them could follow and delivering a devastating blow into the cockroach''s midsection!
[Critical Hit]!
BOOM!
The force of Mark''s punch was so intense that itpletely pulverized the cockroach at once, rendering it to nothing as its blood sshed against the rubble behind it!
St!!
Mark''s face was still apathetic, but inside his mind, he was thinking quickly about what just happened. These monsters just tried to gang up on him, didn''t they? This wasn''t something new to Mark, but the only time that Mark had seen monsters acting this way was on that ind when they were following the orders of the ant anima or inside the ALTERWORLD when he was carrying out his assessment.
Basically,
anima only act like this when they are following the orders of something that they see as their leader.
Are the anima evolving or something? Or is there an anima here that can control them? Is it because of the anima lord that the system spoke about?
The octopus-based anima couldn''t believe how easily Mark killed itsrade and it realized at that moment that it didn''t stand a chance against Mark! It immediately jumped out from the building in shock ns tried to put as much distance between it and Mrk as possible. The only thought in its head right now was escaping from here quickly! Mark calmly walked out of the copsing building.
Throughout all of this, Mark''s left hand never left his pocket.
"So, tell me, can you talk? A few of the previous ones I fought could talk. Are you smart enough for something like that?"
The anima seemed to understand what Mark was saying, but it made no move to respond and Mark clicked his tongue in irritation as he concluded that it could understand him but it couldn''t respond. That was useless. He couldn''t have a conversation with something like this.
Mark took a step forward and narrowed his eyes at the anima once he saw it take a step back in response. Mark suddenly brought his hand out from his pocket and raised them with a small smile.
"Alright, alright. Maybe I was too harsh. I''ll give you one chance to run. If you can run far enough then maybe I won''t be able to catch you. I''m a good person, aren''t I?"
Mark suddenly said something crazy and both the female superhuman that was watching from the side with wide eyes as well as the anima were stunned by it. The anima turned to look at the female superhuman with an inquisitive look. It almost seemed like the anima was asking her if it was really okay to believe Mark or not.
The woman was surprised by the anima''s sudden closeness to her as she took a defensive step back. She couldn''t let her guard down in front of a monster like this. Even if Mark was treating this like a joke, this monster was still a cmity that would kill her in seconds if she was not careful.
Mark spoke up like he was talking to a child.
"Hey, hey, she isn''t a part of this. It''s just you and me, kid. Come on now, I don''t bite. Run. Run. Run~"
The monster seemed to finallye to a conclusion as it took a step back experimentally as if it was testing to see if Mark would really attack it or not. Mark dropped his hands with a smile and when the anima saw that Mark was not moving to attack, it finally turned around and bolted!
Hahahaha! Stupid human! The anima almostughed loudly as it picked up speed! It was going to run far away from here and cause destruction somewhere else! The human does not know that it was one of the fastest creatures among all the anima! Its slippery body and natural agility allowed it to surpass any other anima in its rank both onnd and in the water!
It would never be caught!
A ck mark glowed on the anima''s tentacle.
sh!
Eh?
The look of shock on the anima''s face would have beenical if it wasn''t so ugly. The anima could only stare at its missing right arm in shock as it wondered what just happened.
Chapter 329: That Is Disgusting
Back on the ground, Mark had one eye closed with his two fingers pointed towards the anima like a gun.
"That''s a good angle right there. Stay juuust like that."
Mark activated the [Demonic Void Apostle] constitution as he saw the anima hanging in the air. It was at the perfect angle for a clean cut and Mark wasted no time to start slicing it.
[Void sh]!!
sh!
sh!
sh!
sh!
More and more shes suddenly shed across the air and decimated the anima! Tearing it apart and splitting its body into more than twenty pieces before its body parts fell to the ground. Mark dropped his hand after he was done and he turned around with a bored look in his eyes. That was too quick.
Mark didn''t even have to put any effort into that fight and he couldn''t help but think it was too boring.
The female superhuman who had been watching the fight was wide-eyed as she saw Markpletely obliterate the anima in seconds. Her mouth was ajar and she could feel sweat dripping down the back of her neck. So this was the power of the SOVEREIGN. No wonder they are seen as forces of nature! Mark killed that Cmity like it was nothing! He even yed with the cmity like it was a child!
Is this really the same monster that would have killed all of them in seconds?
Mark turned to the area where Tina was fighting against the low-level cmity and he saw that she was just about done with it. The anima was trying to get close to her, but she was keeping her distance using her flight skill and sending massive lightning bolts towards the anima to slow it down.
Tina finally used her Celestial Fury skill to strike the anima and a massive hole was torn through its body as it flew into a building behind it.
Tina turned off her skills and swung around to see that Mark was watching her. She waved happily and flew over to him like a puppying to its owner.
"Marky~! Marky~! Did you see that!? I fried it like a chicken! I did good, right!? Right!?"
Mark gave Tina a small smile, but Tina immediately noticed the bored look on Mark''s face and she calmed down a little while getting closer to Mark. It was obvious that he did not have as much fun fighting against his anima as she did.
She looked around the fight scene to see how Mark''s fight went and she was surprised when she did not see any damage to the area other than a small building that had been destroyed. Where the hell is the anima?
Wait¡ what are those body parts over there? Don''t tell me those belonged to the anima. What the hell did Mark do to it?
Did he cut it with a sword? No, Mark doesn''t use any weapons. Then what the hell did he use to fight against it? Tina turned to Mark and asked him how he killed the anima and Mark just shrugged as he turned away and started walking away.
All he said was¡
"I cut it."
Mark knew that it was a good thing that he ended the fight this quickly. It reduced the casualties and prevented any excess damage to the surroundings, but he couldn''t stop the slight feeling of disappointment that filled him. Mark loved a good fight.
"Hey! There is an anima on its way! We have no idea what it is!"
"I think it''s a cmity! We need help!"
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
There was a massive shout from some of the other superhumans in the area, and Mark immediately jumped up to a building to get a better look at what was happening. Tina and the A-rank female superhuman followed after him, and all three of them looked into the distance to see what was causing the rampage.
"My god. What the hell is that thing? Ugh~ I think I''m going to be sick."
The A-rank female put her hand up to her mouth as she felt her stomach twisting around. Mark couldn''t me her as he saw what was rampaging through the city. The creature was at least twice as tall as Mark, but he couldn''t even begin to describe it using any known creature out there.
It had multiple long arms poking out from a bulbous body and three massive legs that were all fighting for control of the body as they tried running in different directions. There was a head with two faces on it, one in front and another one behind like some ugly representation of Voldemort. The faces were contorted in a permanent look of misery as they looked to be in great pain.
Mark frowned curiously as he started walking forward while giving out orders.
"Tina, use your lightning to immobilize it. Keep it within a small perimeter and make sure it doesn''t hit any buildings. You, go help out the superhumans that are trapped in its vicinity. Evacuate the injured and tell the rest of them to retreat. Go."
"Yes, Marky~!"
Tina wasted no time as she immediately went to do as Mark told her, but the A-rank woman was a little more reluctant. She was not a part of Mark''s guild and she did not know why Mark would be ordering her around so casually since she was obviously older than him. It felt slightly demeaning to be taking orders from someone who was almost half her age.
But Mark''s order was the best course of action to take right now. And since Mark was obviously the strongest person here, it was only sensible that she does as she was told for now. She reluctantly nodded and called the other two superhumans she had been with to follow her as she jumped off the building to go and help out the injured superhumans.
As long as she was not going anywhere near that thing, she didn''t mind doing as she was told.
Mark stood on the roofs edge for some time, just watching the monster dance around like a drunken beast and he wondered if that was the Anima Lord that the system told him about. If it was, then what the hell was it supposed to be? There was no way an Anima could look like that. Aren''t anima creatures that evolved from animals that lost their reasoning? What sort of beast could look like this?
No, this thing is not natural. I really don''t want to admit it, but those faces don''t look like any animal I know. They almost look like human faces.
Mark''s eyes narrowed as this thought passed through his mind and he grit his teeth in irritation. Mark had a feeling this would be rted to what happened to Arit somehow, and he did not like it.
But first, how in the world did it get here?
"Hey, Pat, are you seeing this?"
Mark spoke into his airpod, and Pat''s haughty voice came back to him, but this time, it sounded sick. Like Pat just finished puking his stomach out.
[Ugh, fucking hell. I shouldn''t have eaten that burger while looking at the satellite images. What the fuck is that thing? It looks like a scientific experiment gone wrong.]
Mark nodded and told Pat that he had no idea either.
"It definitely doesn''t look natural. Is there any way you can track where it came from? Maybe a path of destruction or even an aircraft that might have dropped it from above?"
Chapter 330: This Was Done By A Superhuman?
"It doesn''t look natural. Is there any way you can track where it came from? Maybe a path of destruction it followed to get here or even an aircraft that might have dropped it from above?"
On the other side of the phone, Pat frowned while looking through the satellite images on his system.
[Nothing. The anima suddenly appeared from inside a building in that area. There are no sewers or underground tunnels where it could have followed out of sight, and it wasn''t dropped off by any aircraft. Honestly, this looks like the work of some sort of teleportation skill. That''s the only way that thing could''ve appeared in the middle of the city suddenly without anyone noticing.]
Mark frowned. Teleportation?
"Then, wouldn''t that mean a superhuman dropped this thing off here?"
[Yeah, that''s the most likely scenario. A superhuman dropped that thing there using their blessing. I don''t know who or why, but it''s probably not anything good.]
Mark tightened his gloves while thinking about who could have done this. The only two things that came to his mind at that moment were Szar and the Syndicate. Did Szar drop this thing off here? But why? And what in the world even is this thing?
"Alright. Let me just finish this thing off. We''ll figure out what happened once I''m done."
Mark cut off the call once he was done talking.
Tina was already using her lightning to iste the anima from the surrounding buildings and civilians. From how well the anima was holding up against her lightning, Mark could tell that it was definitely a high-level cmity.
"I think 20% should be enough. What do you think?"
Mark suddenly spoke to his system, and the system''s monotonous voice responded.
[The system does not possess control over the amount of power released by the user.]
"Yeah, yeah, you said that already. Just answer me. What do you think?"
Mark knew that his system was sentient - it wouldn''t be able to respond the way it was responding if it didn''t have knowledge of its own existence. That means his system should also have an opinion on how best Mark can utilize his strength.
Although Mark releases power based on his own analysis of the enemy, he doesn''t mind getting inputs from the system since it knows his body almost better than he does.
The system was silent for a few seconds before finally responding.
[...The system agrees that this level of power will be sufficient.]
Mark grinned and crouched into a running stance while aiming his body straight at the anima. His eyes shed with lightning as he tensed his legs and suddenly sted off the building!
KA-BOOM!
Mark''s movement released a sonic boom that echoed around the area, drawing everyone''s attention to him! Tina noticed that Mark was alreadying and she immediately stopped sending her attacks and flew off as she knew that Mark''s attack would be enough to disorient her if she remained anywhere near it!
Whoom!
Mark was moving so fast that he got to the anima in less than two seconds! Just as he was right in front of the anima, he mmed his feet into the ground and suddenly transferred all of his momentum into his legs, through his back, and finally into his arm.
[Critical Hit]!
[Sonic Impact]!
BOOOOMM!!!
¡
[Nature Academy]
Rumble~ Rumble~
A small tremor traveled through the entire school and most of the students eximed in awe as they watched Mark''s attack on their phone screens.
"Hello. Do you mind if we talk?"
Arit looked up from the news channel broadcasting the video of Mark''s fight against the anima and she was surprised to see Turner standing beside her seat. He had on a kind, disarming smile as he looked at her and she wondered what he was doing right now.
"You¡ want to talk to me?"
Turner nodded at Arit''s question and Arit furrowed her brow as she gave the phone onest nce. From what she had seen, the anima that Mark was fighting didn''t even stand a chance against him, so she could spare a few moments for Turner. Arit dropped her phone and gave Turner a nod while asking him what he wanted to talk about.
Turner looked around the ss and noticed all of the students who were discreetly stealing nces at him and her.
"Well, I don''t think it is possible for us to talk here since it is so crowded. Shall we go somewhere else? Somewhere more private?"
Arit was immediately on guard and Turner could sense the change in her demeanor. But even though he knew she was now more guarded, he did not back down and he waited patiently for her to give him an answer.
Finally, after a few seconds, Arit nodded and stood from her seat. Turner smiled before turning around and walking out of the ss with her following behind him.
The both of them left the ss under the curious gazes of some of the students. They moved towards a room in the administrative section of the school and Turner opened the door and beckoned Arit to enter. Arit was still cautious as she stepped into the room. The room was an office with a single table and two chairs in the center.
There was a couch pressed up against the wall on the right side of the room and Arit saw a pack of chips and a can of coke on it.
Turner sighed as he entered the room and went to take the pack and can to the waste bin.
"Sorry about that. Tina can be a messy eater. Please take a seat over there."
Arit went and sat down on one side of the table and Turner also came to sit down when he was done taking care of the mess. He stapled his hands together and gave Arit an easygoing smile.
"You seem tense. You don''t need to be tense. I know this looks serious, but it''s just procedure. The school brought us in for an investigation about what happened before and I was tasked with questioning most of the students."
Arit''s face was still nk as she looked around the room. No matter how easygoing Turner was being, Arit couldn''t get rid of the tense feeling in her body. She knew what this was. It was an interrogation. Turner was already suspicious about her and he was using Mark''s absence as an avenue to investigate her. This could be problematic.
"Is there something you want to say?"
Turner asked Arit a question to try and make her rx, but he did not expect Arit to suddenly speak up harshly.
"It''s very convenient to interview me at the same time that Mark is busy with an attack. Is that why you didn''t go along with Mark and Tina? You were waiting for me to be alone?"
Turner shrugged. He wasn''t going to deny it.
"Mark is undeniably powerful. It''s obvious that I wouldn''t be able to get a private interview with you unless he was busy with something else. Don''t think that I am doing this just because I''m trying to catch you off guard or anything like that. I''m just trying to make sure all the interviews are as unbiased as possible."
"Of course. I wasn''t insinuating anything. What do you want to know?"
Chapter 331: This Is An Interrogation, Isnt It?
Turner nodded at her eptance and he brought out a book and started flipping through it while talking.
"I had an interview with the vice-president of the student council yesterday, uh... was her name Maria? Yes, I think it was. She stated during the interview that she was with you during the time of the incident. Can you confirm if this is true or not?"
Why was he acting as if he didn''t remember Maria''s name? Arit knew that Turner remembered Maria''s name perfectly. Was he trying to make it seem like he just spoke with Maria in passing? He was trying to make her lower her guard by pretending that he didn''t have a serious conversation with Maria about her.
Arit nodded her head at Turner''s question.
"Yes, I was with her."
"Can you tell me what you were doing with her?"
"She needed my help with the uing school festival. I''m supposed to be part of the student panel of judges for the quizpetition. She wanted to ask me who else would be a good fit for it."
Turner checked something on the paper.
"I''m not going to question if you were really with her or not, but I understand that before Francis and Esmeralda were killed, they werest seen leaving their ssroom with you. Can you rify what happened after you three left the ss?"
Arit first made sure that she was calm before she started to lie through her teeth.
"After leaving the ss, they took me to the corridor and threatened me to stay away from Mark. Esmeralda wanted me gone so that she would be Mark''s girlfriend and Francis was trying to use Esmeralda as a shield to protect himself from Mark.
I refused, and they were about to use violence, but Maria showed up before they could do anything and she told me toe with her to talk about the school festival. I don''t know what happened to them after that."
Turner hmmed and checked something off in his book again. He continued to ask questions like this and Arit kept answering. Every time she answered something, he would check something in his book and then ask something else. Arit couldn''t get a good look at what he was checking, but she could only assume that it was points from the conversation that Turner had with Maria.
Arit and Maria had already prepared a good cover story that they would use in case they were ever questioned like this, so Arit was able to easily answer all of the questions that Turner wasing up with. She remained calm and made sure she continued making eye contact with him so there would not be any reason for him to suspect her at all.
After some time, Turner sighed as he stared down at his book. All of the points that he had in his book had been checked out except for one. And from how easily Arit answered all the other questions, he knew that this one would also check out. That was supposed to be a good thing; it meant that Arit was not involved in the killing at all.
But that just opened up a whole new world of problems since he had to start looking for another lead from a different angle now. Turner couldn''t even say why he had suspected Arit in the first ce. She didn''t have the alibi for a crime like this and her records were perfectly clean. There wasn''t even a single report of her ever showing aggression towards Esmeralda or Francis.
It would be silly for her to suddenlysh out and kill two people that she did not have any hatred towards.
Honestly, if not for the fact that she was thest person seen with either of them, he would''ve never even nced in her direction.
"Okay, I suppose you and Maria were really together during that time. Everything checks out. But did you two talk about anything else when you were together?"
Arit pretended as if she was thinking about it before she answered.
"Oh yeah, she wanted me to help her with tutoring some students who were finding it difficult to keep up in science ss. The science ss has a lot of students below the average, so she was asking me to fill in and help tutor them."
Turner''s hand paused over his book and Arit could immediately see his brow furrow in confusion. Arit''s eyes narrowed and her hand tightened into a fist on top of herp. What the fuck was going on? Wasn''t that the story that she and Maria worked on? I''m sure I made her memorize this story perfectly. I even asked her about it over the phone before school started.
Did Maria make a mistake in the story?
Arit could feel her heart rate rise slightly and she waited for Turner to say something. She knew that she promised Mark not to do anything violent while in school, but she could feel the Queen stirring as the tension in her body threatened to drive her insane.
''Should we kill him? He is an A rank. We might be able to kill him if we take him off guard.''
Shut up. Remember what Mark said. No fighting, no killing. I am not going against Mark''s order.
''The king will understand if we kill one person.''
Our situation is bad enough already. I am not doing anything. If Turner figures something out then I will deny it. Just stick to the n.
The Queen quieted down and Arit took in a breath to try and calm herself. She forced her expression to calm down before she raised a delicate brow and spoke up.
"Is something wrong?"
Turner blinked up at Arit curiously before he finally smiled apologetically and shook his head.
"No, no. I was just thinking about something."
Turner finally checked thest thing in his book and closed it with a nod.
"That''s it, I guess we''re done here. Sorry it had to be this way. I would have done it differently if I had a choice."
Arit shook her head.
"There''s no need to apologize. I can understand if you''re afraid of Mark. But next time, you don''t have to worry about his reaction. Mark won''t hurt you just because you want to ask a few questions."
Turner chuckled. Arit could say something like that just because she was his girlfriend. Mark would never hurt her. For others who were barely acquaintances of Mark, it was necessary to walk on eggshells around him. Mark might be the weakest SOVEREIGN, but he was still a SOVEREIGN, even superhumans could be easily sent to the hospital if they got on Mark''s wrong side.
Turner told Arit that she was free to leave and he sat back calmly as Arit stood and left the room. Once Arit clicked the door closed, Turner looked back down at his note and tapped his finger on thest line over and over again.
"Science, eh?"
That was something that Maria never said to him during their interview. When Turner asked what subject Arit was supposed to handle, Maria said she left it up to Arit to decide on her own. Maybe it is just a misunderstanding? But if it was a misunderstanding, which of them was making the mistake? They both sounded so sure of themselves during the interview.
Turner sighed as he finally closed his book and stood up to go back to ss.
Chapter Find:
"Maybe it really is a misunderstanding."
Turner left the room and he was surprised when he saw Arit was still standing outside the room. But she was not alone. She was standing there with Luna and the both of them seemed to be talking about something before he came out. Once Turner saw Luna, he cursed internally as he saw the look of disapproval in her eyes. He was busted.
Chapter 332: Arit And The Other Woman
Once Turner saw Luna, he cursed internally as he saw the look of disapproval in her eyes. He was busted.
"Turner, what did I tell you about having interviews with students?"
Luna had told Turner a while back not to carry out these interviews with the students because it would only make the students tense. If Turner wanted to carry out any interview, then he had to ask her first and get her permission before going ahead.
Turner was about to straight-up lie about the interrogation, but he knew that it would be pointless. Instead, he simply shrugged. This timing was too perfect for it to be a simple coincidence. Was Luna waiting out here for me to finish with Arit?
Turner was sure that Luna didn''t have any business on this side of the school at this time, so hering to this side of the school had to be because of him.
Luna was the leader of the investigation, so whatever she said wasw as far as the investigation was concerned. Him going behind her back for this interrogation was like undermining her authority.
Turner quickly spoke up.
"You weren''t avable, and I felt having the interview as soon as possible was important, so I made do. Sorry."
"An apology is not enough, Turner. This is not how we are carrying out the investigation. You had an interview yesterday without my consent, and I overlooked it because I understand you are desperate to prove yourself, but this will be thest time. Is that understood?"
Turner was surprised that Luna knew about the interview he had with Maria yesterday. The truth was that Maria and Arit were the only two students that Turner had interviewed in the school. They were the only ones that provided any significant leads in the investigation.
Arit was thest person who was seen with the two victims before they were killed, and Maria said that she was with Arit during the time of the killing. It was very important to have an interview with both of them.
But now that he had already done what he wanted, he didn''t mind being locked down by Luna. Turner was the sort of person who always did what was necessary to achieve his goals. He had a very high sense of responsibility since he and his sister were very little.
Due to Tina''s entric attitude, Turner had to mature very fast in order topensate for her childish nature and cover for her whenever she did something stupid. This made him seem overbearing to some people because of how hard he tried his best to aplish any task given to him.
But since he was still so young, he wasn''t able to see the big picture in some situations, and his attempts to present himself as a responsible person would sometimes only make him seem more childish.
"Yes, I understand. Sorry for going against your orders."
Luna sensed the sincerity from Turner and finally told him to get back to ss, and Turner left the two women in the corridor alone. Once they were alone, Arit turned to look at the older woman standing beside her. There was a deep, inquisitive look in Luna''s eyes that made Arit feel like she was being judged by Luna. Why was Luna looking at her like that?
Luna, meanwhile, was no longer thinking about what Turner did. Instead, Luna realized that she was standing here with the woman who was her rival for Mark and Luna unconsciously began to assess Arit to try and understand what it was that Mark saw in Arit. Arit was the only thing standing between Luna and Mark, and Mark was unwilling to ever give Luna a chance so long as he was together with Arit.
Why did Mark prefer her over me? I''m more beautiful than she is, and I have more power. I even have more of a presence than her. So why?
Is it because her breasts are bigger than mine?
Luna couldn''t deny that Arit''s breasts were a work of art. Even at the tender age of seventeen, Arit had arger bust and smaller hip size than the twenty-three-year-old Luna. Luna could only wonder if Mark was the sort of person who liked his woman to have more flesh on her. Luna was not small by any measure.
Her bust and hip were very well proportioned, and she could give many women a run for their money in that category alone. But Arit? Arit was in another world of her own. There was nopeting with proportions like that.
"Is there something you wanted from me?"
Arit was growing ufortable with Luna''s staring, and Luna realized that she must''vee off as a strange person by staring for that long. Luna finally brought herself back to reality. Even if Arit was her rival for Mark, Arit herself didn''t know it, and Luna wouldn''t allow something as petty as jealousy to affect how she interacted with students.
"No, there isn''t. I just want to apologize for the interview. Turner can be a bit too responsible sometimes, so he tends to go out of his way to do things like this. I hope he didn''t give you too much trouble?"
Arit shook her head.
"No, he didn''t do anything bad. It was just some questions, so it''s fine." Chapter Continue:
Luna nodded, and the both of them descended into silence as Luna tried to think about something to say. Luna was not a shy person, but she just felt ufortable talking to Arit after everything that she had done with Mark. Did Mark tell Arit that I kissed him? No, she doesn''t look like she recognizes me at all. I don''t think Mark told her.
Or maybe Mark told her about the kiss but she just doesn''t know that I am the woman he told her about?
Luna eventually decided that she would ask Arit about something she was genuinely interested in knowing about.
"So, I hear you are Mark Vanitas'' girlfriend."
Arit''s eyes narrowed defensively.
"Yes, I am. Is there an issue with that?"
Luna shook her head. Arit response threw Luna off guard a little, but Luna just guessed that Arit was used to people asking about Mark, and she was now guarded against those questions. But even though Arit was guarded, that did not warrant the amount of hostility that Arit was currently showing to Luna.
Arit was hostile to Luna for a different reason entirely. Ever since Arit ran into Luna in the hallway, Arit was able to immediately tell that Luna was the one that she smelled on Mark the previous day The repulsive female smell that Mark had on his uniform was an exact match for the cologne that Luna used. That meant that Luna was the one who touched Mark.
And now Luna was also asking about Mark? Arit couldn''t hide her hostility even if she tried!
Chapter 333: Animan
"No, there isn''t anything wrong with that. I was just curious about Mark. Actually, the real reason why I came to this school was because the government wanted to have someone keep an eye on Mark. His growth in thest few months has been unprecedented, and the government is reasonably curious about why."
"Are you asking me to give you information about my boyfriend? Do you think I''m the sort of person to do something like that?"
Luna could almost see Arit''s anger growing as Arit red up at her. Luna was surprised that Arit even had the confidence to stand up to her. Luna was a SOVEREIGN, and most people would never even dare to look her in the eye. Yet, Arit seemed unaffected by Luna''s presence.
''Is it because she is used to staying around Mark? Mark''s presence should be as dominating as my own, so she must''ve gotten used to it after being with him for so long.''
Luna realized that maybe she shouldn''t have phrased her sentence in the way that she did, and she apologized.
"Sorry, maybe I didn''t word my intentions properly. The government was curious about Mark, and they wanted to send someone to carry out this investigation. The original investigator would have been a lot more intrusive in Mark''s personal life but I was able to get them to back off and took the responsibility on myself.
I''m not going to force you to tell me anything about Mark, but even though I am not doing the government''s bidding, that does not mean I am not curious about what makes Mark so powerful. We''ve fought together before, and I can only say that he is the most interesting superhuman I have ever met."
Arit wasn''t happy at all to hear that Mark fought beside Luna. Luna was a beautiful woman, even Arit could see that, so hearing that Mark was fighting beside someone like this made Arit feel slightly jealous. And Luna might not have meant anything by it, but there was something about the way Luna said that sentence that just pissed Arit off.
Call it a woman''s intuition, but Arit could tell that there was some hidden meaning in there.
"You can ask Mark about anything you want to know. I don''t know you and I don''t trust you enough to tell you anything about my boyfriend. Sorry, but I have to get back to ss now."
The first strings of jealousy began to sprout from Arit''s heart, and Arit could hear the queen threatening death and destruction upon Luna for even mentioning Mark''s name, but Arit managed to keep herself calm as she walked past Luna.
Luna frowned as she stole a nce at Arit''s figure from behind as Arit passed her before looking down at herself and realizing that she had lost in that department too.
"Is that girl really just a high schooler?"
---
Ratatatataatt!
The sound of a helicopter arriving over city A echoed through the air, and Mark looked up at it calmly while waiting for it tond. Mark was standing beside the corpse of the anima he killed, and there were many superhuman agents from the superhuman alliance moving around him and gathering the remains of the bear and octopus-headed anima from before.
After killing the anima that appeared out of nowhere, the superhuman alliance agents appeared and prepared to take the bodies away. Mark allowed them to take the octopus and bear-based anima, but told them not to touch the grotesque anima that he killedst.
Mark already told Pat to send someone who would be able to find out exactly what was wrong with the anima, and that person would be there soon. The agents were reluctant to agree at first, but they eventually had to consent because of Mark''s position in the superhuman hierarchy.
You''d be surprised how many things you are allowed to do just because you are a SOVEREIGN.
The helicopter finallynded a few meters away from Mark, and Mark saw a red-headed woman alight from the helicopter. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a ck shirt with ab coat over it. She took off her sunsses and smiled as she approached Mark.
"Mark, it''s been a while."
Mark grinned.
"Hey, Jeanne. How you doing?"
Jeanne waved her glove-d hand around to signify that things had been so-so. Jeanne had been traveling around the country helping out victims of anima attacks with her powers, but for her, this was just normal stuff. She still had a calm, detached look on her face, but she seemed a lot less hostile than she was when she and Mark first met.
After all the times that she and Mark had met whenever Arit was doing her sessions, they had formed a sort of friendship.
"So, is that it?"
Jeanne nodded her chin towards the monster, and Mark nodded while turning to the grotesque-looking thing. Jeanne frowned in irritation as she began walking towards the dead anima while slowly taking off one of her gloves.
Jeanne noticed that the anima was still mostly intact, but there was a deeppression on its stomach that was obviously the result of a massive punch. Was Mark the one that did that? How was he able to cause damage like that withoutpletely destroying the anima?
Jeanne asked Mark this question, and Mark just told her that it was part of his blessing. Jeanne knew that there was a lot more to it than that, but she decided not to pry since Mark was not interested in telling her. Jeanne went to one knee beside the anima and touched it.
Mark waited patiently as he watched Jeanne working. When Pat told Mark that he was sending someone out to examine the body, Mark didn''t expect it to be Pat''s sister. But Mark should have expected it. Jeanne''s power was perfect for something like this since she had the ability to analyze bodies by simply touching them.
It wasn''t surprising that she would be able to tell what exactly was wrong with this anima with just a touch.
Jeanne stayed on her knees for a long time, and her expression seemed to be getting more and more tense as time went on. Finally, after a while, she pulled her hand back from the anima as if she had been burned and immediately got to her feet while stepping away from the anima.
She frowned as she turned to Mark with a look of shock on her face, and Mark stepped closer while asking her what was wrong.
Jeanne immediately told the superhuman agent at her side to give her a wipe, and she collected it and started cleaning her hand furiously. Anyone who saw her would think she just dipped her hand into the toilet!
Jeanne told Mark toe with her, and she led him away from the other agents so that no one would overhear her. She leaned in close, and Mark looked down at her curiously. What she said next shocked him to the bone.
"Mark, that is no anima. That thing is made up of three people who were mutated into one blob of mutted flesh and bone. It''s people."
Mark''s brow furrowed in disgust.
"What?"
¡
Missionpleted: Defeat the Anima Lord
Reward: +200 stat points +200 skill points
Extra Rewards for Anima Defeated: +200 stat points +200 skill points
...
[Your Poprity has Increased. Effects of [Mortal Legend] has been activated.]
[+3% Boost To All Stats.]
Chapter 334: I Dont Like This Plan
Mark was not even interested in reading through what his systems sent to him. What Jeanne just told him made his stomach squeeze in disgust, and when he turned to look at the dead anima, he looked at it from a different perspective. No wonder Mark thought it looked so human-like. It was made up of humans mashed together. Who would do something like that?
"Patrick, did you get all that?"
Mark spoke into his AirPods, and the sound of retching reached him first before Patrick grunted in the affirmative. Patrick spat something out and used the back of his hand to clean his mouth before he finally spoke up.
[Fuck this. That''s the second burger I''m puking today.]
"I need you to find out anything you can about this. Look through news outlets and missing person reports that spread around recently. There should be news about this if this many people go missing. Maybe we can get the general location of the person responsible."
[Yeah, I already did that. There''s something that''s been happening recently, but I didn''t pay it any mind. I thought it was just another random superhuman situation that didn''t mean much. Some superhumans have been going missing around City A.
They were all in the lower power spectrum, around F rank to C rank, so it was just swept under the rug by most news outlets since word about your promotion to SOVEREIGN is still hot in the news. From what Jeanne said, it might not be far-fetched to think the worst happened to them. Do you think this is the same as what happened with Arit? Except, well... worse.]
Mark turned around to look at the pile of mutted humans again. Mark also thought that it was possible this was the same thing that happened with Arit. Arit was mutated into some human-anima hybrid using a special technique that Mark didn''t know enough about.
The NSA took over the investigation of the ind once the raid was done, and since Mark already got Arit, he didn''t care what the NSA did with the ind.
But maybe it would have been more sensible to have given Pat that pod to carry out some tests on it before giving it to the NSA. Mark felt like smacking his past self in the back of his head now that he was thinking about it! He basically handed a biological weapon to the government! That was so fucking stupid!
In Mark''s defense, he did not know that Szar was the bastard that he was when he went on that ind raid. Mark thought the NSA was a good, clean organization that just wanted to help the country. How the hell was he supposed to know that a snake was in charge of running it?
From everything that was happening now, Mark couldn''t help but think that Szar was part of it somehow. The coincidence was too uncanny. Don''t tell me Szar is trying to use that pod to create another human-anima hybrid. If he''s trying to replicate what happened to Arit, I''ll fucking annihte that bastard.
"Pat, the NSA took the pod that the ant-headed anima was using to create Queen. If anyone is responsible for this, then it''s most likely them."
Pat hummed knowingly. His haughty voice was a lot more subdued as he spoke, and the sound of keyboard keys cking echoed through the call.
[You really thought it was a good idea to hand over something like that to the government? You didn''t think they would ever abuse it?]
Pat''s sarcasm was like a physical sword stabbing Mark''s chest, and it just made Mark frown in irritation! Yeah, I know I fucking messed up.
"Get off my fucking case. I didn''t think that far ahead back then. I was more concerned with Arit than anything else on that ind. I''ll go handle it. If I find anything, then I can just destroy it right there."
[No, not you.]
Mark''s brow furrowed.
"What? Why not?"
Pat shook his head on the other side of the call while opening up a map of the NSA building. He easily memorized the blueprint of the building before moving on to an inner schematic and memorizing that too.
[Mark, you''re a force of nature. The entire world has its eyes on you now because you are a SOVEREIGN. I understand that you want to just get this over with once and for all, but we can''t allow the NSA to know that we know about them being involved in this.
They are getting bolder, and if you are seen going into the building to apprehend them, then it is likely they will elerate their n and blow things out of proportion. That could make a lot more people lose their lives. And besides, everything we''ve said till now has been nothing but spection. We don''t know if they are really involved in all this or not. We need a stealth mission.
In and out with enough proof to prove that the NSA is involved.]
Mark could see the sense in what Pat was saying, but he was obviously not happy about it. Mark frowned in annoyance while putting his hands in his pocket. Mark knew bing known world-wide would be an annoyance eventually. Opposite him, Jeanne was wondering what was making him so annoyed.
"So what do you want me to do? Do you want me to sit on my hands and just wait for someone else to tell me that it''s okay to move? What the fuck is that?"
[Mark, let me handle this.]
"You?"
[Yes, me. I''ll put together a team and send them in. We''ll get what we need and we''ll get out. You said you wanted to build a guild, didn''t you? Well, this is what guilds do. The various members handle what they can do best for the sake of the mission.
This is what I do best, so let me handle it. In the meantime, I''m going to need you to act normal.]
"Pat, I do not like this n."
[You need to learn to trust others, Mark. You''ve been working alone for so long that it''s be normal for you to do everything yourself. This is a request from your future vice-captain. Trust me with this.]
Mark closed his eyes and scratched the back of his head in irritation as he heard what Pat was saying. This was really not what Mark would do if he was handling things. Wouldn''t it be easier to just go in and find what they need?
But Pat was also right. If Mark acted rashly, then whoever was responsible for this would likely elerate what they were nning, and things would blow out of proportion. The amount of property and human life lost in the ensuing battle wouldn''t be worth the end result.
It was going to be more sensible to first carry out a covert operation and find out as much as possible about the NSA before going in. That way, it would be easier to get the help of other superhumans as well as the government in evacuating citizens and apprehending whoever was responsible.
"I don''t like this n."
Chapter 335: Talia and James
[You already said that. And you don''t have to like it. But, it''s the only n with the least amount of risk and the highest chance of sess. I know it''ll work, but I''m going to need you to agree before we move forward, captain.]
Mark looked at Jeanne who was still standing in front of him, and he could see the confusion on her face as she waited for him to finish his call with her brother. Mark could almost see Pat''s expectant face ovepping on top of her own, and he finally nodded and told Pat to go ahead.
"In and out, nothing else. We don''t know what''s in there, so don''t send in anyone that can''t protect themselves. Keep me updated on the mission no matter what happens. Do you understand?"
[You got it, captain.]
Pat cut off the phone once he was done talking, and Mark turned back to Jeanne and thanked her for her help.
"I have to get back to ss."
Jeanne raised a surprised brow as she looked from Mark over to the blob of mutted bodies before ncing back at Mark. He was just going to ignore that thing?
"Aren''t you going to do something about that?"
"Your brother is working on it."
Jeanne''s eyes widened.
"Pat? He volunteered to do something about this!? Don''t tell me he''s thinking of putting himself in danger! I''ll smack that idiot if he tries anything stupid!"
Jeanne knew that Pat was a reliable person, but this was not something that she wanted him to have any part in. The world of superhumans did not care about how smart you were. The only thing that mattered here was raw power. Pat did not have enough strength to do anything substantial here by himself.
"Yeah, he volunteered, but I don''t think he''s going to get into any trouble. He''s smarter than that. I have toy low for now since all eyes are on me. It''ll be hard for us to find out what happened with the humans that were mutted if I put the ones responsible for it on high alert. You work in the NSA building, don''t you?"
Jeanne nodded.
"Yeah, why?"
"For now, you should be careful around that building, especially a man named Szar. We have a very short list of the possible culprits responsible for this, and Szar is really high up on that list. If possible, take an extended leave or something. Just try to stay away until we''re sure of what Szar is up to."
Jeanne''s eyes widened in shock, and she couldn''t even say anything in return as her eyes trailed towards the dead anima and her mind raced. The NSA might be involved in this? That was crazy. If it was anyone else telling her this, then Jeanne would never even give it a second thought. The NSA has only helped people for a very long time.
They have spared no expense to make sure that superhumans and civilians didn''t get hurt by any anima disaster around the Federation of America.
But since it was Mark and Pat saying it to her, Jeanne couldn''t help but think deeply about it. It didn''t matter how much Jeanne trusted the NSA. She trusted her brother more. If her brother suspects the NSA, then there had to be a good reason for it.
Mark waved to Jeanne as he turned to leave.
"I have to get back to ss. Go check up on Pat for me if you can, you know how he can get when he''s busy. Make sure the bastard eats something other than junk food at least."
Jeanne nodded her agreement and she put on her gloves as she watched Mark jump up to a building to leave the scene with Tina following behind him.
"What the hell is that idiot doing? Doesn''t that girl know I can see her underwear?"
Jeanne was shocked when Tina jumped up and suddenly shed every person in the area and Jeanne immediately concluded that Tina must be an idiot. Jeanne gave the mass of mutted bodies onest nce before she shook her head and walked over to her helicopter to leave. She had to go see Pat.
¡
[Life Academy] (A/N: Talia''s School.)
"Did you hear? There was another anima attack close to Nature Academy. They said it was three cmities this time. GHOST came to the scene himself and absolutely destroyed all of them in no time at all!"
"Three? Hasn''t the frequency been increasing since that cmity appeared from the ocean and GHOST was exposed? It''s almost every week now."
"Yeah, you think they''re attacking more frequently because of him?"
Some female teachers were walking down the academy hallway while talking to themselves about the recent anima attack, but they didn''t notice the little girl who was passing beside them as she came out of the bathroom and made her way back to the ss. Talia frowned as she heard that there was an anima attack near her big brother''s school.
Was big brother and that big-breasted bimbo okay?
If they are after big brother, then I''m sure he will be fine. But that big-breasted bimbo is not that strong, so she might not be able to win. I wish I was with big brother instead of being here.
Talia huffed as she entered the ss and she immediately eximed in annoyance as she saw someone touching her teddy.
"What do you think you are doing to Teddy, you idiot!"
James immediately recoiled like he had been burned and turned around in shock, but once he saw that it was only Talia at the door, he sighed and frowned.
"Why are you screaming so loud? I was only touching it."
"You don''t touch Teddy no matter what!"
Talia immediately stormed over to him and grabbed her teddy away from the wall. She hugged the enormous teddy close to her chest and red at James in annoyance. James could not understand why Talia was so angry. It was just a teddy bear.
James had no idea that the teddy bear was thest thing that Talia''s grandfather James gave to her, so she loved that teddy bear more than anything in this world!
Well, the teddy bear and her big brother.
Talia finally huffed and turned away from James. She went to her seat and sat down alone while facing the board. The other kids in ss had all gone out for recess, so Talia was the only one in the ss right now. She would have gone out with them as well, but after the fight that she had with those bullies before, she decided that it was best if she didn''t interact much with the others.
They would only annoy her.
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
Talia''s brow twitched.
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
"Will you stop doing that! Why are you even here!? Go away!"
James recoiled in surprise at Talia''s sudden outburst and he finally stopped tapping his finger on the desk. James frowned and told her that it was none of her business what he was doing there and Talia red at him for another moment before turning away again and facing the board. The both of them stayed like that for a few moments before James finally spoke up.
"So uh¡"
Chapter 336: I Really Dont Want To Do This
"So, uh¡ my old man said you were once in the NSA. How''d you manage that?"
Talia gave a dismissive sound at the back of her throat, and for a few seconds, it almost seemed like she was not going to respond to James at all. But after a while, she spoke up.
"My grandad used to be the chairman of the NSA."
James'' eyes lit up!
"Oh, that''s cool! Why aren''t you still over there? It''s gotta be more fun than being in this stupid school!"
Talia felt a jolt of sadness pass through her heart once James asked her that question. She gritted her teeth tightly while squeezing her school uniform to prevent the tears that she knew wanted toe out. Once she was sure that she wasn''t going to cry, she answered in a hard voice that took all the wind out of James''s sails.
"My grandfather died. An anima killed him."
"O-Oh¡ sorry about that."
James could feel the ufortable tension in the air rising again as both of them went silent once more. James scratched the back of his head in irritation and sighed internally as he tried to think of something to say to fill the silence. Why the hell did his dad tell him to do this?
He didn''t even want to get close to Talia in the first ce and he was only doing it because his father told him to, and now things were bing ufortable because he said something unnecessary.
James was about to leave the ss and join the other students at recess, but Talia spoke up before he could go far.
"Thank you for before, when you helped me stop that girl. I shouldn''t have treated you like that. I was just angry because of how she treated Teddy. It was a gift from my grandfather, so it''s important to me. Thank you for trying to help me, and sorry."
James stopped in his tracks and turned around with a look of shock on his face as he saw Talia looking at him with a small pout on her face. She looked like she wasn''tpletely happy about what she was saying, but James could still feel the sincerity in her words. He felt a small blush rising on his cheek and used a finger to scratch the side of his nose while averting his eyes.
James chuckled.
"Well, it was nothing. It''s what the greatest hero does, y''know. I''ve gotta look out for those in trouble."
Talia deadpanned at James. Was he some sort of delusional hero?
"You''re nowhere close to the greatest hero! The greatest hero is my big brother!"
"Eh!? No way! I''m gonna be the greatest hero in the world, you just watch! I''m gonna be just like KING!"
Talia folded her hands with a proud smirk on her face as she looked down at James.
"Heh, a little kid like you could never be the greatest hero! My big brother is GHOST! He just killed an Eldritch ss monster the other day!"
James''s eyes widened in shock!
"Really! GHOST is your big brother! Aw, man, that''s awesome! He''s someone I''m nning to surpass too! Just you watch! I''ll be the greatest hero in the world and everyone will acknowledge me!"
James raised his hand into the air and struck a heroic pose while pointing at Talia. Talia could see the way James'' eyes hardened with resolve when he spoke. She could see it in there. James was dead serious about wanting to be a hero.
A moment passed in silence before Talia suddenly doubled over and started tough! She held her stomach in exertion and put a hand to her mouth while chuckling loudly!
James immediately blushed in embarrassment as he saw herughing at him and he red in anger!
"Don''tugh at me, you jerk! I''m serious!"
"Hahahahahahaha! You want to be the greatest hero!? You''re such a kid!"
"What!? You can''t say that! You''re a kid too!"
Talia would not stopughing even after James red at her for a long time, and after a while, even James couldn''t stop himself from chuckling along with her. By the time Talia came down from herughing fit, she was breathless and her face was flushed. She looked at James softly and smiled.
"If you want to be the greatest hero, then try your best to surpass my big brother. I''ll be watching you."
Ba-Dump!
James swallowed hard as he felt a tremor in his chest. James put a hand to his face while looking away from Talia''s smile.
''Oh god, what was that? Am I having a fever? My face feels hot.''
James didn''t understand what that feeling in his chest was, so he shook his head to clear it and tried his best to push it to the back of his mind before smiling back at Talia.
"You better keep watching because I''m gonna be the greatest someday! It''s a promise!"
Talia chuckled again and James frowned before he smiled. James reached into his pocket and brought out some cards that he had been saving to show his friends. He looked from Talia to the cards and then back again before he shrugged.
"Hey, do you watch Pok¨¦mon? I''ve got some super rare cards. Look, it''s Charizard!"
Talia''s eyes lit up.
"Really!? You have a Charizard card!? That''s awesome!"
¡
[Two Days Later.]
Ring~! Ring~! Ring~!
Mark blinked and opened his eyes as he heard the sound of his phone going off. He quickly turned around in bed and reached out to grab his phone from the tabletop beside him. Arit was no longer in bed and Mark just guessed that she had already woken up to make breakfast. Mark sat up once he saw that the caller ID was a familiar one.
"Hector. What is it? Did something happen?"
On the other end of the call, Hector frowned.
"Godfather. I told you to call me godfather."
Mark nodded sleepily while cleaning his eyes with the back of his hand. If Hector had enough energy to joke around like that, then it was definitely nothing serious.
"What is it, godfather?"
On the other end of the call, Hector went silent as he heard the nonchnt tone that Mark was using. Hector couldn''t believe it.
"You actually forgot, didn''t you? I thought you would forget, but it''s a little surprising that you did."
Mark frowned in irritation as he stood up and yawned. He didn''t have time for Hector''s riddles. Mark walked over to the room window and looked out at the dark clouds flying overhead. It would rain soon.
Mark told Hector to get to the point already. He had to go to school soon. Hector sighed over the phone, but Mark could hear the smile in Hector''s voice when he next spoke.
"Happy birthday, son."
Chapter 337: I Totally Forgot
Mark blinked in surprise and then chuckled. Oh yeah, that was today, wasn''t it? Things have been so hectic recently that Mark just didn''t give a damn about his birthday at all.
"I totally forgot, honestly. Thanks, Hector, it means a lot."
"You''re always wee, Mark. You can forget all you want, but I''m surely never going to. You''ll see your present in the hotel garage. It''s the new model V Avatendor with modifications made for driving onmercial streets. I know you''ll like it."
"Thanks, Hector. How are things at thepany?"
"A lot better after you dealt with the embezzlers. Sinir is keeping a low profile, but I can tell he has not given up on the CEO position yet. I''m still keeping an eye on him and his family, and I''ll let you know if anything changes."
"Okay, just keep me posted. Thanks again."
Beep.
Mark turned off the call once he was done talking and he raised a brow as he saw that he had a few messages from people.
[Raven: Happy birthday, brat. Drop by the gym when you''re free, I got you something.]
[Jeanne: Pat said it was your birthday today. Happy birthday.]
[Tina: Marky! I stole your data from the superhumans alliance and it''s your birthday, isn''t it!? I want toe to your house! If you don''t respond to this message then I''ll take that as a yes!]
"How the fuck did she get my number?"
Mark quickly sent out a no to Tina and blocked her before he moved on to the remaining messages. Mark had no idea how Tina got his number, but Mark knew that it must''ve involved a lot of ckmail and probably a bribe or two. Mark still didn''t know how the hell Turner could deal with this girl in his life.
[Pat: Yo, happy birthday or whatever. I got you something.]
[Image attached]
Mark raised a brow curiously and opened the image from Pat and he was immediately shocked as he saw the giant yacht resting at a pier with the name ''The Vanitas'' written boldly across the body. What the fuck? Pat got him a yacht!? Just how rich is this bastard!?
The yacht was pure white with a few ck and gold stripes going along the side. The interior looked veryvish and from howrge it looked in the picture, Mark could tell that it would easily carry ten people.
Mark sent out a thank you message to the few people who messaged him and told Pat that the yacht was cool while sending a thank you message as well. Once he was done with that, he threw his phone on the bed and started walking out of the room. Mark didn''t really care that much for his birthday. To him, it was just another day like all the others. But that didn''t mean he wasn''t happy today.
He was finally eighteen. And since he was an adult now, that opened up a lot of doors for him that were closed before. The first thing that came to Mark''s mind was the fact that he could now create his own guild. It was impossible for Mark to create a guild before because he was underage. But now that he was a legal adult, he could create his own guild and the government could do nothing about it.
Mark decided that he would send out the message to Fiona, telling her that he was leaving the Artemis guildter that day.
Also, now that he was a legal adult, Mark could finally be the CEO of Vanitas Motors. Mark was surprised when Hector didn''t say anything about it during their call. Hector had been hammering on the fact that Mark was supposed to seed the role of CEO once he became an adult for a long time now, and Mark thought Hector would bring it up the moment he became an adult.
But for some reason, Hector didn''t even mention it to Mark during their conversation.
''Maybe he knows I''m busy with other things right now. I''m too busy to even think about thepany.''
Mark was more than happy to just leave thepany in Hector''s hands until things settled down. If Mark tried to take on the responsibility of CEO while also handling the superhuman responsibilities that he had, he would not perform at his best in either one of them.
''I can also get married now.''
An errant thought suddenly appeared in Mark''s mind, and Mark blinked in surprise as it came and went very quickly. He scoffed at the strange thought while entering the kitchen. Where the hell did thate from?
Pop!
"Happy Birthday!!"
The sound of a confetti thrower being popped echoed through the kitchen, and Mark stopped in his tracks as he looked ahead of him to see Arit and Talia standing beside the dining table. There was arge birthday cake with twoyers on the table and eighteen candles burning on top of it.
Many of Mark''s favorite dishes were spread out around the cake, and there was one box wrapped up and ced at the side. Mark felt a feeling of happiness spreading from his chest as he saw his two girls smiling up at him.
Mark chuckled and walked into the kitchen quickly before grabbing Talia happily and raising her up to give her a kiss on the cheek. Taliaughed happily as she wrapped her hand around Mark''s neck, and Mark held her with one hand while stretching his hand out to Arit with his other hand invitingly.
Arit wasted no time and immediately came to him, and he gave her a deep kiss on the lips before muttering a quiet ''thank you'' to her. Arit blushed under the intense gaze from Mark and gave him a peck in return.
"E! Big brother, stop kissing ande see! Big sister Arit made a big cake! She was awake all night making the food and cake!"
Mark raised a brow in surprise. Really? That was shocking. He looked down at Arit and saw that she was looking away in embarrassment. Now that Mark was looking closely, he could see that there were some dark circles around her eyes, which showed that she hadn''t slept sincest night. No wonder Arit slept in her own room.
She was trying to make sure I wouldn''t wake up when she sneaks out to start cooking.
Mark felt a new wave of gratitude wash over him, and he squeezed Arit tighter against his body.
"Thank you. This means a lot to me."
"I-It was nothing. I just... wanted to say thank you. For everything."
Arit was so shy that she felt like melting right there. Mark was holding her tight, and she had nowhere to look but up at him as he beamed down at her. Arit had actually started working on the food the minute she came back from school the previous day.
She tried her best to hide it from Mark, and she even told Mark that she needed to do homework so she would be staying in her own room so that she could finish the food and cake in time. Explore more stories at M-V-L
Arit was happy that Mark liked it. Arit put her head on Mark''s chest and sighed happily, and she would have been content just staying like this for a very long time, enjoying Mark''s embrace and knowing that he was grateful for something that she did for him.
But Talia was not as patient as Arit.
"Big brother,e cut the cake! I''m hungry!"
Chapter 338: You Arent GHOST Without A Mask
"Big Brother,e cut the cake! I''m hungry!"
Arit and Mark both chuckled at Talia''s childish rant before they made their way to the table. Mark blew out the candle in one puff of wind while making sure to hold back significantly so the cake didn''t get blown away as well. He cut the cake, and the girls cheered for him as he finally finished off the necessities.
Once he was done, he put a piece on a te and handed it to Talia after only taking a bite. Mark did all that just to give Talia some cake. He wasn''t that hungry, so he would eatter.
"What''s this?"
Mark reached out for the box on the table, and Arit smiled with a small blush as she told him that it was a present from her and Talia.
"You can open it and have a look."
Talia excitedly spoke up.
"I picked the color all by myself! Open it! Open it!"
Mark tore the wrapping off the box and opened it to see that it only held a single rectangr object inside. The object was only asrge as an iPhone, and there was arge V engraved into one side of the object. There was a small button on the side that fit perfectly under Mark''s finger. Hmm?
Mark was a bit confused about what the item was, and he decided to just press the button.
Phwip!
The rectangr object suddenly transformed. It expanded on both sides and spread out like wings before forming a face mask. Mark was stunned as he stared at the facemask. It had the shape of his face perfectly molded into it. It was pure ck on the outside, but the inside had a golden V etched into it.
"You lost thest one in that fight, and I could tell you liked wearing it a lot, so I had Pat make a new one for you. This one should be a lot better than the other one."
Arit spoke up with a smile as she saw the surprise on Mark''s face, and she smiled when she saw Mark grin and bring the mask up to his face.
Click!
The sound of a mechanical click came from the mask as it fit perfectly over the lower part of Mark''s face, protecting his nose and mouth from view and giving him a mysterious appearance. Mark pulled on the mask, and he was surprised when the mask didn''te off. Arit directed him to click a small button on the side of the mask, and he was able to remove the mask easily as it popped off his face.
Arit exined how the mask worked.
"It uses suction to stick to your face and filters the airing in so that you can still breathe fine. Pat said it should be able to withstand attacks up to B rank, so you can use it in any fight as long as you don''t take a hit with your face."
Mark chuckled and stood up to hug Arit. He thanked her for the present, and she wrapped her hands around him and nodded into his chest.
"Big Brother! I was the one that picked the color!"
Talia was feeling left out as she saw Mark hugging Arit, and Mark grinned as he went and grabbed her off the chair and lifted her into the air!
"And I love it! How did you know I liked ck!"
"Hahaha! It''s a secret!"
Talia''s smug face just made Mark grin even wider. He turned to Arit, and Arit just shrugged while looking away from him. Mark was sure that Arit was the one who told Talia that Mark really liked ck. His girls were too cute.
"Alright,e on, let''s eat before the food gets cold. And don''t we have school today?"
Mark spoke up will dropping Talia back on her chair and Arit scratched her chin.
"Well, I don''t think it would be so bad if we missed the day. It''s Friday, so they won''t mind too much, right?"
Mark almost had a heart attack!
Arit was willingly missing a day of school!? Mark looked out the window to see if the world was ending! He never thought something like this would ever happen! Arit willingly missing a day of school was the same as if the sun suddenly started moving around the moon! Mark grinned as he leaned in close to Arit.
"So you''re ying hooky now. I''m finally rubbing off on you, eh?"
Arit blushed and leaned in close so that only Mark could hear her.
Continue your journey at M-V-L
"Maybe you are. I wouldn''t mind you rubbing off on me in other ways either."
A jolt of lightning passed through Mark''s body, and Mark''s grin widened. He was tempted to forget everything and just take Arit to the room right now, but he knew that he had to hold himself back.
Mark growled.
"We''ll continue thister."
Mark''s tone held a promise of things toe, and Arit felt her core tremble as the Queen inside her head began to rave like a horny animal.
''We want to fuck! We want it! We want it right now! Impregnate us, KING!''
Arit didn''t even have it in her to tell the Queen to shut up because Arit knew that she wanted it too.
"Big sister! Tell Big Brother about the other present!"
"Eh?"
Arit was suddenly snapped out of her perverted thoughts as she heard Talia shouting again. Talia was looking up at her in expectation, and Arit finally smiled as she nodded. Mark was surprised that there was more they hadn''t shown him yet. They already gave him plenty.
Arit walked over to the other end of the kitchen while talking.
"I actually wanted to give this to you yesterday, but I was so busy that I forgot. There was a trip that Talia and I saw on television a month ago. A Japanese-themed festival trip that was supposed tost three nights."
Arit reached up to the cab and brought out the three tickets inside beforeing back and smiling up at Mark while holding them.
"You''ve done a lot for me in the past few months. You''ve saved my life and then changed my life over and over again. I didn''t know how to say thank you because it felt like anything I did would be too small. But I had to do it somehow, so here. I didn''t get this with your money, I swear. It''s not enough to even start saying thank you, but I hope it''s a start.
Will youe with me?"
Mark grabbed the tickets from Arit and looked them over to see that they were tickets for the ''Tokyo Majin Festival'' held in City F. City F was an ind that broke off from the South American continent four years ago. It was regarded by many as the most beautiful city in the entire American Federation, and the themed festival held there was something people always wanted to go to.
The city had a different theme for its festival every year, and it was seen as the highlight of the year for City F.
Although City F was far away from most cities, and those living on the maind would have to cross over the sea to get there, people still went there every year for the festival because they knew it was worth it. But City F was not that far from City A since City A was right on the coast of the American Continent.
Is this why Arit has been working so hard this past month?
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continue reading tomorrow, everyone!
Chapter 339: Tokyo Majin Festival
Mark knew that Arit was working hard for something important, but this was thest thing he expected. These tickets must have cost thousands of dors.
"Y-You don''t want to go?"
Arit stared up at him expectantly, and Mark didn''t even know how to react at first. Mark knew that he could get these tickets easily. In fact, he could buy out the entire festival if he really wanted to since he was just that rich, but the mere fact that Arit worked hard every day just to get him this instead of simply using his money for it made it a thousand times more precious to him.
Mark gently wrapped Arit in a hug and smiled as he felt her stiffen in his arms.
"Of course I like it. Thank you."
Arit blushed and wrapped her hand around Mark''s back as she buried her face into his chest. It was very hard for her to work all those part-time jobs because she had never done them before. But for Arit, it was more than worth it for this one moment.
Mark finally disconnected from Arit while looking down at the ticket and reading the dates.
"The festival is on Sunday, so if we go on the trip today, we should be back by Monday night. It''s perfect."
Mark was a little hesitant to just pack up and leave for the festival, but he decided that he would go for it. There haven''t been any anima attacks in the past two days, and it was unlikely that anything serious would happen in just two days.
Arit was surprised that Mark wanted to leave right now. She was thinking of leaving tomorrow and getting back by Tuesday. The ne tickets that she bought were for Saturday.
Mark just grinned as he asked her if she couldn''t get a refund for the ne tickets.
"Well, I can¡"
"Good, get the refund. I have a better way of getting there."
...
[Nature Academy.]
"Tina, Turner, what are you two doing here?"
Luna opened the door of Turner and Tina''s office as she saw the door was unlocked. She nced between the two of them curiously while wondering why they weren''t in ss. Turner scratched the back of his head while looking through some documents on the table, and Tina waved at Luna whilezing about on the couch.
"Luna, we''re ying hooky!"
"Tina, don''t just say that!"
Turner was exasperated by his sister, and he sighed before turning to Luna calmly and telling her that they were trying to catalog everything they found out this week. Since it was Friday, they weren''t doing much in ss, so it was fine. Luna raised a disbelieving brow at Turner, but she decided to let it go since she knew that neither of them needed to be in school anyway.
"Have either of you seen Mark Vantias today? I didn''t notice himing to school."
Turner shook his head.
"Nope, I don''t think he and Arit came to school today. I heard someone from ss saying something about a birthday."
"Birthday?"
Luna was stunned that she was just hearing about this. Whose birthday!? Hold on! Don''t tell me it''s Mark''s birthday! Why didn''t he say anything to me?
Luna tried to remain as calm as possible as she asked if it was Mark''s birthday and Tina immediately raised her hand with a wide grin!
"Yeah, it is! I sent him a message this morning to surprise him and he blocked me! I''m gonna go find him once school ends! I know where he lives!"
Turner sighed because he knew that he would be dragged along for this mission, but Luna was not having any of it. She immediately shot them down.
"If Mark doesn''t want to be disturbed today, then you are going to respect his decision. I don''t want to hear that you went to his ce, do you understand?"
"Aww~! But that bimbo is going to have him all to herself!"
Luna felt a stab in her heart as she was reminded of Arit. Luna knew that Tina was right about Arit getting Mark all to herself during this period, but Luna refused to be the sort of person to impose on Mark on a day like today. Luna gave Tina a hard stare and Tina finally bowed down as she realized that Luna was not kidding around.
Luna sighed as she brought out something from her pocket and threw it on the table.
"Some of my guild members are going to a festivalter in city F, and since it is the weekend, I decided to bring you two along if you want toe."
"Oh, yeah, it''s the Tokyo Majin Festival, right!? I''ve been hearing about it from the guys at the Superhuman Alliance!"
Tina reached over and grabbed one of the tickets on the table, but Turner only gave the ticket a side nce before turning away as he continued writing something in his book. He didn''t really feel like going, but he knew that he didn''t have a choice either since Tina sounded interested. Luna waved to them as she left.
She initially intended to give those tickets to Mark, but since he was not around, she decided that she would just use them to get closer to her subordinates.
"If you want toe, then head to the airport by eight tomorrow. The festival and ne tickets are already paid for, so you only need to show up."
Tina grinned.
"Thanks, Water Queen!"
Luna shook her head tiredly at Tina and headed out the door.
"Oof!"
Only for her to run into a student who was passing by. It was NPC Kent from Mark''s ss and he fell to the ground and dropped some books as Luna''s strength threw him off his feet effortlessly.
NPC Kent quickly knelt down to start gathering the books and Luna only nced at him for a moment before she bent to pick up a book that was close to her feet. She handed it to him as he stood up.
"You should be more careful. Sorry about that."
NPC Kent stood mesmerized as he stared at Luna. He tried to speak, but his words failed him at that moment, so he just gave a single, stiff nod in response. When Luna smiled at him, his entire face suddenly grew red as he lowered the books to hide something that was growing in his pants. NPC Kent knew who Luna was.
Everyone in America knew who Luna was, and they all knew she was one of the most beautiful women in the world.
NPC Kent had seen many pictures of her before but none of thempared to seeing her in the flesh. This was unreal! How can anyone be this beautiful!?
"You''re from Mark''s ss, aren''t you? What is your name?"
"¡uhm. K-K-K-Kent. I mean Kevin! My name is Kevin!"
Luna smiled at his nervousness. "I''ll remember the name. Take care."
NPC Kent gave another stiff nod as he watched Luna leave and he immediately turned and headed towards the boys'' toilet! He needed to take care of something quickly.
Chapter 340: Flattery Will Get You Far
"This is reckless."
"No, it isn''t. It''s the only chance we have."
"That does not mean it is not reckless."
Pat and Jeanne were sitting inside Pat''srge gaming room as they spoke about Pat''s recent n concerning the NSA. Patrick shook his head as his sister shot down many of his ns, and he stood up, walked over to hisputer, and clicked the spacebar to turn on the monitor. The screen came to life, and Jeanne grunted in pain as the bright screen threatened to blind her.
Jeanne didn''t know how Pat could see anything when he was staring at this screen all day every day. It was far too bright.
The screen showed a blueprint of the NSA building with Szar''s office highlighted in yellow. All the exits and entrances were glowing a dim green, and the spots that did not have any online pictures that Pat could find were highlighted white.
"More than half of this building ispletely unexplored by anyone other than those who belong to the organization, and even you haven''t been to those ces before."
"That''s only because I never had a reason to go there. Most of my work is done outside the building since I move from hospital to hospital a lot. Those could just be offices or storage rooms."
"I doubt that. Don''t tell me that you''ve never felt something was off with the NSA in all the time you''ve been there. I know you''re not that na?ve."
Jeanne clicked her tongue at her brother''s cheeky attitude but couldn''t say anything back as she knew that Pat was right. The only reason why Jeanne started working in the NSA in the first ce was because of James. Jeanne trusted James, and she knew that he was someone who really wanted the best for the country.
That was why even when she said she would still be working as a free agent, he was more than happy to agree to it.
But ever since James died, things have seemed different in the NSA. For one, Jeanne did not trust Szar. That man was more like a snake than a human. Even before Mark and Pat pointed out that Szar could be the one responsible for the recent anima attacks, Jeane already had her own doubts about him.
Although Szar had never done anything to make Jeanne distrust him, Jeanne always felt very ufortable around Szar. As if her instincts were screaming at her not to turn her back to him or she would be stabbed in the back.
"Szar has been trying to limit my movement out of the NSA more and more recently."
Pat rose a brow once his sister said this. This was news to him.
"How?"
"It''s nothing serious. Sometimes, he just says the NSA can''t afford to have me go out to help some patient in other cities, and at other times, he tells me that if I go to help, it could cause an international incident since the Superhuman Alliance was already handling the issue. It''s mainly bullshit, and I never let it stop me, but it''s bing more stifling.
I can tell he is not happy with my freedom."
Pat hummed and looked at the blueprint on the screen for a moment before he nodded. If it was this, then he might be able to work with it.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Someone knocked on Pat''s door, and Pat quickly pressed a button, and the door opened to let the person in. Jeanne hummed in surprise when she saw the person that came in.
Fiona was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a ck jacket over a ck T-shirt. Behind her, Tyler strutted into the room with a frown on his face, and he went to lean against the far wall with his hands folded across his chest.
It was obvious that he did not want to be here, and although Fiona felt the same way, she managed to keep her irritation off her face as she walked to the center of the room and looked around calmly.
"Fiona. You actually came?"
Fiona huffed as she folded her hands and gave Jeanne and Pat an expectant look. She only came here because Jeanne was the one who personally asked her toe. Fiona owed Jeanne for her help in their recovery after the ind raid, so this was her way of repaying the debt.
"This had better be worth my time, girl. Who is the child?"
Fiona gave Pat a curious nce, and Pat introduced himself as Mark''s friend. Fiona was a lot more interested all of a sudden, and she turned to Jeanne for confirmation. Once Jeanne said that it was true, Fiona hummed.
"So you are the one in his ear during his fights. I always wondered who it was. I surely never expected it to be a child. What did you call me here for?"
Pat nodded and sat down.
"I want to carry out a covert operation on the NSA building. There was a recent Anima attack, and I think we all know what that anima looked like. Mark and I believe that the anima was a result of experimentation carried out on superhumans'' bodies by the NSA, but we don''t have any proof.
The government ¨C specifically the superhumans alliance ¨C wouldn''t go in to investigate the NSA without substantial proof, so Mark and I came up with a n. Since Mark is the focus of the world right now, he can''t make any rash moves without alerting the enemies that we are on to them, so I brought you all together to help me sneak into the NSA and get what we need."
Fiona narrowed her eyes at Pat. She already heard about the Anima that Mark caught a few days ago. ording to the news, that anima looked like a mutted mass of multiple people joined together and mutated into something disgusting. It was the only thing that the inte was talking about right now and everyone was specting where an anima like that could havee from.
So the NSA was involved in that? In some way, Fiona wasn''t surprised.
"But what can I do about it? I am not a part of the NSA, am I? This girl here would be more useful in that regard."
Pat nodded at Fiona''s statement. He knew that she was not someone who went to the NSA building often, so it would be hard for her to go to that building without drawing attention to herself, but that did not mean she could not do it.
"Even though you are not a part of the NSA, your blessing is the most useful in covert operations. It is impossible for anyone below S rank to avoid or fight against the effects of your blessing, so you can get in and get out of certain situations without drawing attention to you. You''re perfect."
Fiona smiled.
"ttery will get you very far, boy. But you are not my type."
Pat blinked in surprise at her statement before he shook his head and refocused on what he was saying.
"You and Jeanne are the best shot we have at getting into the building unnoticed, so I''m going to need your help."
Chapter 341: At The Very Least, I Will Listen To You Once
Fiona turned to Jeanne curiously and wondered why Jeanne was even helping them out. Fiona didn''t remember Jeanne ever having a close rtionship with Mark before.
"She is my sister."
Pat suddenly spoke up as if he could hear Fiona''s thoughts, and Fiona''s eyes widened slightly before she nodded calmly. That would exin it.
"Be that as it may, I still don''t see a reason to take part in this expedition. After all, Mark is no longer a part of my guild, is he? Don''t be surprised that I know about him leaving. He already told me that he was only going to use us till he reached adulthood, and today is his birthday. He is officially an adult and no longer needs to be a part of my guild. Do I still have a reason to help?"
"And how many times has Mark helped you?"
Pat red up at Fiona, and Fiona red right back.
"Many times. And I am grateful for it. If he was the one asking me for help directly, then I would never turn him away, but I do not have any reason to take part in a mission given to me by Mark''sckey."
Pat stood in anger.
"You fucking bitc¨C"
Fiona''s eyes glowed with power as her blessing threatened to surge to life and Tylor''s hand twitched from his ce in the shadows.
"Finish that statement, boy. I dare you."
"Alright, that''s enough of that."
Jeanne immediately came forward and stood between the two of them. Jeanne knew how difficult both of these people could be. Pat had a very rough personality, and Fiona wasn''t any better at all. It was obvious that they wouldn''t see eye to eye.
And with how rude Pat could be sometimes, Jeanne wouldn''t be surprised if Pat said something that would make Fiona just break his head in anger. She was definitely powerful enough to do it.
Fiona threw her hair over her shoulder and turned dismissively as she spoke.
"I don''t have to be here any longer. All I see here is a child who knows nothing of the real world dreaming of grandeur. The superhuman world is not kind to people who aren''t capable of epting the reality of their own weakness. Come, Tylor, let''s leave the child to his fantasies."
Fiona was about to leave the room, and Jeanne reached out to try and stop her, but she was surprised when Pat suddenly spoke up.
"Wait, Madam Fiona. Sorry, I was rude to you."
Fiona turned around with a hum as she heard Pat apologize, and she raised a brow as she saw the tension on his face. It was obvious that he did not like what wasing out of his mouth, but he didn''t stop.
"This is important. A lot more important than anything I have ever done before. Mark trusted me to carry out this mission. He told me that he wanted to be a part of it, but I knew that it would not go smoothly with him here, which is why I reached out to you. I don''t have the power that I need for something like this.
I assessed myself and thought of all the possibilities, and I always found myselfcking the power to carry out my ns. That is why I am trying to help in any way I can. Please, I''m not asking you to do this for me or even for Mark. This mission could save the lives of millions. I need your strength."
Fiona saw the sincerity in Pat''s gaze, and she thought about things once more. She did not trust Pat because she did not know him. She did not know anything about Pat''s achievements, and she didn''t know why Jeanne or even Mark would trust him at all.
This was the first time that they were meeting, and if not for the fact that Jeanne asked her to be there, she would have never evene to this meeting. But no matter how hard-hearted she was, even Fiona couldn''t ignore Pat''s plea when he phrased it like that. The idea of millions dying because of her pride made her hesitate. Fiona finally turned and walked back into the room.
"Very well, I shall give you one chance. Tell me this n of yours, and I will listen. If I do not like what I hear, then I will leave immediately."
Pat sighed gratefully before he turned and clicked a button to open up a 3D view of the internal structure of the NSA building that he created using the blueprint.
"So, this is what I came up with¡"
¡
"Since when do you have a yacht?"
Arit was leaning against the railing on one end of the yacht. Her back was facing the ocean, and she was smiling at Mark as he carried Talia and raised her to his neck so that she could get a good view of the ocean from the deck. Mark smiled at Arit and told her it was a gift from Pat.
"Pat goes overboard sometimes, but this is nice. This is the first time I''m using it too."
Arit smiled as Mark came closer to her and wrapped his hand around her waist. All of them were dressed very lightly. Mark was wearing shorts and a thin t-shirt, and Talia was wearing a light gown that fluttered with the wind.
Arit was wearing a short skirt that stopped halfway down her thigh and hugged her body criminally with one of Mark''s t-shirts that was two sizes too big for her, so she had to tie it around her waist, exposing part of her toned stomach.
That small bit of exposed skin did unexinable things to Mark. Mark almost went mad when he saw her outfit for the first time, and if not for his high mental fortitude, he would''ve already taken her twice on this boat. The shirt material was very light, so the way she tied it around her body made it look more like a bra rather than a shirt. Her breasts were just that phenomenal!
Mark was able to find a certified sailor to get them to the ind through his godfather Hector, and with how fast the boat was going, Mark knew that it wouldn''t even be another hour before they got to the ind.
Rumble~!
A quiet rumble came from the side, and Mark turned his gaze towards the left and red at the ocean. The rumbling sound was so low that Mark was sure no one else would have heard it, but he heard it loud and clear. He watched that spot for a few more seconds before he concluded that whatever made that sound wasn''t going to show itself.
Arit saw where Mark''s gaze was fixed, and she leaned forward a bit to see what he was looking at. When she saw that there was nothing there, she asked him if everything was alright. Mark hummed with a calm nod before he turned back to stare ahead of him.
Arit felt Mark''s hand traveling down her thin waist before slowly gliding over her hip and reaching her ass. Mark grabbed a handful of her soft ass and squeezed, and Arit jolted in shock before blush rose on Arit''s cheek. Arit turned to re up at Mark with a pout on her face.
Mark grinned down at her calmly before squeezing her soft ass a second time. This time, he heard Arit speak up.
"Mark. What are you doing?"
"Trying to regain some energy."
Arit folded her hands and raised a disbelieving brow at her boyfriend. If she started tapping her feet, then Mark knew that she would look just like a teacher reprimanding a naughty student. That image did even more damage to Mark''s fragile self-control and he had to force himself to calm down before he went too far.
Arit spoke up without knowing what her actions were doing to her boyfriend.
"What the hell do you mean by regaining energy? How is this giving you any energy?"
Chapter 342: The Splendor Of City F
"What do you mean you''re trying to gain energy? How is this giving you any energy?"
Mark chuckled and told Arit that she would find outter before he squeezed her ass again. Arit blushed at his tone and she looked away shyly once she saw the devilish grin that he gave her. Mark''s hand finally went back up to her waist and he smiled as Arit hugged him sideways and put her head on his shoulder.
"Mr. Vanitas, we are twenty minutes out from the ind. Please prepare for docking."
Mark turned around when he heard a female voice and saw that it was the sailor that his godfather found for him. She had light skin and her eyes were naturally narrowed with her dark hair tied in a bun behind her head. There was this exotic beauty in her features that showed she was not a hundred percent American. Mark could only guess that she was half-American and half Asian.
Mark thanked the woman and she bowed to him before turning to leave the dock.
The boat reached the dock without any incidents, but Mark could still feel that rumbling sound echoing from the ocean. Mark guessed that it was an anima making that sound, but he didn''t think it was anything to be worried about. Sea-based anima were amon urrence ever since anima started first appearing and most of them were harmless so long as there was someone stronger than them on the beat.
Once the anima senses that there is a superhuman on the vessel that it couldn''t beat, they would most likely leave the vessel alone. This is why most ships and cargo vessels employ high-ranking superhumans to follow them on the journey for very high prices.
So if the anima refused toe out of the ocean when they were in it, that meant that it was being cautious because of Mark''s presence.
There were various superhumans at the dock where the boat stopped, so Mark knew that even if the anima showed itself here, it would be easily defeated before it could cause any serious damage.
Mark took out a regr ck face mask and a ck baseball cap and put them on to hide his identity as they came down from the boat and prepared to enter the crowd.
"Thanks for the ride. You''ll be fine on your own, right?"
Mark turned to the sailor and spoke to her and she nodded while descending from the ramp on the side of the yacht.
"I am meeting my husband and son here for the festival, but please do not hesitate to call me once you are finished with your trip. I will be ready to go whenever you wish to leave."
Mark gave her a polite nod before waving as he left with Arit and Talia. The roads of city F were packed with people. Hundreds of people who came here for the festival were walking down the road and talking among themselves, making the road congested and impossible for any car to pass through. Mark decided that it would be best to just walk to the next street and then take a cab from there.
The small group of three only had onerge bag with them and Mark was carrying it with one hand while holding Arit''s hand with the other. Talia was still on Mark''s neck and from how she was leaning forward slightly, Mark could only guess that she was falling asleep up there.
It took about thirty minutes for them to get out of therge crowd of people and reach an intersection that wasn''t as packed as the others. Cabs were waiting for the tourists and many cab drivers were trying to get customers by calling out to people. Although, with how many people there were around, the cab drivers didn''t need to wait long before they got a new customer.
Mark hailed a cab and put the bag in the trunk before he entered the cab with Talia and Arit.
"Where to, boss?"
The driver was a middle-aged man who had a permanent smile on his face as he looked at Mark through the rearview mirror. Mark turned to Arit and Arit told the driver that they were going to the Tokyo Majin Festival Hotel.
The hotel was pretty popr with the cab drivers here since it was built specifically for those who were going to being for the festival, so the driver immediately knew where it was.
"Of course, madam! I know that ce! Just sit back and enjoy the ride! I''ll get you there in less than an hour at least!"
The driver started to move and Mark looked outside the window to stare at the sights passing by. Talia was sleeping on Arit''sp and Arit was gently caressing Talia''s hair as she rested her head on Mark''s shoulder. Arit''s hand that was petting Talia''s head started to slow down as the cab ride became smoother and more rxing until Mark noticed that she had also fallen asleep.
After the cab had been moving for about twenty minutes, Mark frowned as he spoke up.
"Focus on the road before Ie over there and smack you."
The driver in the front seat was suddenly shocked as he heard Mark speak up and Mark turned to re at him. Arit and Talia were both asleep so it was just the both of them talking.
"You''ve been staring at her for quite a long time now. Is there something interesting on her chest that you''re trying to find?"
"S-Sorry, boss. My bad."
The driver quickly apologized and started to drive to the hotel properly. The cab driver had been stealing nces at Arit''s breasts and exposed stomach since he started the ride and Mark became irritated once he noticed it. But the cab driver couldn''t really help himself.
He hadn''t seen a girl so youthful-looking with those kinds of assets before and it was impossible for him to not be affected by it at all! But since Mark was terrifying, the cab driver had no choice but to obey! Even though the cab driver didn''t recognize Mark as GHOST, Mark still looked like he could break him in two with barely any effort!
It was obvious that stealing nces at Arit was not worth losing his head.
As they moved through the ind, Mark nced out at all the passing scenes and he couldn''t help but be impressed. The entire ind had been fashioned into an almost identical replica of a traditional Japanese festival. There were Japanesenterns hanging from various trees, Sakura trees had been nted and Mark could even see some people walking around in traditional Japanese kimonos.
All the stores around the ind had their names written in Japanese with an English trantion underneath. There was even a replica of the Tokyo Tower towering over the entire ind.
Do they do this every year? It was impossible for the ind to have done all of this in a short time, so that meant that they chose their theme early in the year and then started doing all of their preparations very early so that by the time the next year came about they would have transformed the ind into something else.
Doesn''t that mean they already chose the theme for next year? That''s possible.
Chapter 343: Tokyo Majin Hotel
''I heard a privatepany bought this ind and carried out these festivals, I wonder how much money they must be making from it for them to be going this far. I should tell Hector to look into it. Maybe we should also invest in the next festival.''
The Japanese-styled scenes slowly changed to forestry as the taxi driver got off the road and was followed by a few other taxis. He started to move up a slope and traveled through a winding road. He then circled up a cliffside before finally reaching level ground on top of arge teau. The taxi came to a stop in front of arge double gate crafted from wood.
Looking down on the structure from above, you would see that it covered five hundred square meters ofnd, stretching from one end of the teau to the other. The front of the building was facing the road as well as arge carpark where most of the hotel guests were received by some women dressed in traditional kimonos and the rear side of the building was bordered by arge forest.
There were no extra floors to increase the vertical height¨C like most traditional Japanese houses ¨C but that only added to the impressiveness of it. There was an area in the center of the structure that was not roofed. Instead, you could see white smoke snaking out of that hole from a hot spring bath in the center of the building.
Once their cab stopped, Mark turned around and touched Arit''s cheek gently. Arit hummed in her sleep but didn''t wake up and Mark smiled as he held her shoulder and shook her slightly.
"Wazza?"
Arit sat up slowly while rubbing her eyes as Mark shook her and she looked around to see that they were back at the hotel. Arit blushed in embarrassment as she realized that she had fallen asleep and she quickly asked Mark why he didn''t wake her up. She wanted to look at the festival too!
Mark chuckled as he opened the door.
"You looked cute while sleeping. I couldn''t bring myself to disturb you."
Arit blushed even more and she huffed at Mark before trying to wake Talia. Talia mumbled something incoherent and Arit realized that Talia was not going to wake up anytime soon so she just carried Talia in her arms and got out of the car.
Mark got their bags and paid the cab driver, and the three of them stood in front of the resort and looked up at the enormous Japanese-styled gate in front of them. Mark couldn''t help but be impressed.
"It''s a lot bigger from this angle." (A/N: That''s what she said.)
Arit smiled happily as she held Talia in a way that would allow Talia to rest her head on her shoulder. Arit grabbed Mark with her other hand and dragged him forward.
"Come on,e on, let''s go! I want you to see our room!"
Mark followed behind Arit and allowed her to drag him through the group of other tourists who were also entering the resort. The inside of the resort was decorated with red glowingnterns hanging from the ceiling and Japanese katakana and Kanji written on various walls and banners around.
It was veryrge, with a long cab on one end of the room with many receptionists attending to the various travelers.
Mark and Arit walked up to the line that seemed shortest and after some time they finally got to the receptionist. Arit spoke up excitedly.
"I have a reservation for Arit yborne."
The receptionist nodded as she began to look through her records. Mark could see the receptionist stealing nces at him asionally, but he was relieved when she did not seem to recognize him since he was wearing a disguise. Maybe she was just intimidated by his height.
The receptionist eventually found the reservation and smiled while bringing out a key.
"Oh yes, it is right here. Room 122. Arit yborne and Mark V-Vanitas. Mark Vanitas!?"
The receptionist looked up at Mark in shock, and Mark gave her his hardest nk stare. He brought a finger up calmly to his mouth, telling her to keep quiet. From the way he was dressed, he knew she would understand that he didn''t want the attention right now, so she should try her best to remain professional.
The receptionist was excited to even be standing in front of Mark Vanitas, but she could see the hidden meaning in his stare and decided to control herself. It wouldn''t be good for her job if she disrupted the entire festival because of her excitement. She would go to Markter for an autograph.
She handed the key to Arit with a smile and bowed.
"Please enjoy your stay at the Tokyo Majin Hotel."
Arit thanked her enthusiastically, and she started dragging Mark along again as they made their way to the room. The rooms in the hotel were arranged in a long line down a hallway. Each door was reasonably spaced, showing that there was more than enough room in a singlepartment to house at least five people.
The walls were made from traditional y, and the doors had been crafted using Japanese paper and bamboo. Thankfully, the door was opaque enough to prevent anyone from seeing inside, but from how thin it was, Mark wondered if it could keep out any sound at all.
"This is it."
Arit put the key into the keyhole on a door and wrapped it open to unveil their room. Mark hummed in approval. The hotel was really pushing the whole Japanese folklore theme to the max! The room was like a traditional Japanese bedroom. There were tatami matsyered on the floor with a paper wall separating the rooms. The main room was more like a parlor and that was the first ce they entered.
It had a round table in the middle of the room with a flowerpot on it and some pillows for sitting down.
The far wall had three doors. The first and second ones led to bedrooms that had the same tatami floors and two futons each. There were Japanesenterns illuminating the bedrooms and making it a lot more subdued and homely than it had any right to be.
Thest door led to a small bathroom with a bathtub, a chair for washing yourself, and a toilet. Mark couldn''t see a kitchen, so he guessed that they would have to go outside and get something to eat if they were hungry. That was a nice tactic to make people leave their room sooner and start spending more money. The more Mark analyzed everything here, the more he wanted to be a part of it.
Can they make a car-themed festival for next year? Maybe something German-styled or Form One? It would be nice to invest in something like that.
"Oh look, there are tiny cookies in the rooms! And the toilet has rubber ducks! Thenterns are made from paper too! Wait, that can''t be safe at all."
Arit was moving around and touching everything happily. She had already dropped Talia in one of the rooms, so she was free to move around however she wanted. Mark chuckled at her enthusiasm andmented about how well-made the room was. They could stay here without any trouble for the next few days, but they shouldn''t make too much noise because it might not be soundproof.
"Oh, they said something about that. It''s soundproof. One of the superhumans working here used their blessing on the room. We can make loud noises and no one outside the room will hear us."
Mark raised an impressed brow. So they even had superhumans working here? Well, it was understandable. Things would be a lot easier and the constructions and decorations could bepleted in a much shorter time if superhumans were also part of it.
Chapter 344: The Thing About Japanese Futons (+18)
Mark entered the free room and dropped their bags in the corner. He bent down and opened the bag to bring out some of the toiletries so that they could take a bath.
Rap!
The sound of the door closing behind him echoed through the room, and Mark hummed as he felt a hand touching his shoulder. Slender hands wrapped around his neck, and a face pressed into his back before Arit''s mncholic voice flowed softly into Mark''s ear.
"Hey, aren''t you happy to be here? You haven''t been saying much since we came."
Mark half-turned in surprise. Why the hell would she think he wasn''t happy?
"You look worried about something."
Mark sighed internally as he realized that he must''ve allowed his worry to bleed through. The truth is that Mark was worried about what he gave Patrick to do. The mission that Pat was handling was not a small one, and one mistake from Pat could lead to much bigger repercussions down the road.
Mark knew that hising here was abrupt and it would likely not cause many issues, but that didn''t mean he wasn''t still worried.
Mark shook his head. He couldn''t allow something like this to ruin his holiday. He decided right there that he was going to forget everything about the things happening on the maind while he was here with Arit. She brought him here so he could get away from all that, so he was going to give her his undivided attention until they got back.
Mark turned around and wrapped his arms around Arit. He was sitting on the floor and shefortably got into hisp while still wrapping her hands around his neck.
Mark smiled down at her.
"I''m not worried about anything, and I love it here. I promise."
"Really? You can tell me about it. If¡ If you want to go back to the maind, then maybe we can just go ¨C Mmph!"
Mark leaned down and kissed Arit before she could even finish that sentence. Arit''s eyes widened in shock as she was almost thrown back from the kiss. After a moment, she closed her eyes and melted into Mark''s arms. Mark grinned after separating from her.
He looked down at her flushed, breathless face and spoke kindly.
"There''s nowhere I''d rather be now than right here with you. I don''t care about what''s happening on the maind. This is where I want to be."
Arit''s blush could have lit up a room with how intense it was, and since the room they were in was dimly lit, it was trying its best to do just that. Mark grinned as she shyly looked away from his eyes and he used two fingers to bring her chin up again.
"You know, I''ve heard great things about Japanese futons. They say you can go at it for hours and never get tired. How about we find out if they are true or not?"
Mark''s hand trailed down Arit''s body until they were over her ass again, and Arit mewled as Mark grabbed her ass and squeezed. She breathlessly sighed while tilting her head back, and Mark wasted no time as he leaned down and attacked her neck with his teeth.
"Mmh~!"
Arit ran her hand through Mark''s hair, and she felt Mark loosen the shirt she tied around her waist. The shirt pooled around her as it came loose, and Mark''s hand snaked inside and grabbed her bra. Mark frowned against her neck, and Arit chuckled internally as she noticed his frustration. It was obvious that he hated that bra.
Arit reached back and helped Mark take it off, and she was rewarded with a searing jolt of electricity that passed through her entire body as Mark grabbed her nipple between two fingers and pressed!
Arit started to grind on Mark excitedly and brought his head up for another kiss as she felt his erection pressing into her ass. She ran her hand down Mark''s body, and Mark grunted as he felt her ass grind against his dick especially hard. Arit broke their kiss and pecked Mark once while gazing deep into his eyes.
She pushed Mark back gently, and Mark allowed her to control him as he rested his back against the wall behind him. Arit knelt between Mark''s legs and reached down to unbutton his trousers. She zipped down and pulled his boxers!
p!
Arit could still never get used to the size of Mark''s dick, and she was once again surprised by it as it flew out and pped her nose. Mark stared down at her with a smoldering gaze, and Arit looked up at him while grabbing him by his shaft. She pumped him a few times, and she felt Mark''s member twitch in excitement before she finally engulfed him.
"Ngh!"
Mark grunted and put his hand on Arit''s head as he felt the warmth of her
mouth, and he grinned as he felt her slowly starting to move. Arit''s technique was still not the best since it hadn''t been that long since she started doing this for Mark, but Mark could tell that she was a lot better than thest time. She was engulfing Mark halfway beforeing back up to the tip and rolling her tongue around Mark''s member.
She tried her best not to use her teeth, and Mark only felt the soft, warm sensation of Arit as she sucked him off enthusiastically.
Slurp! Slurp! Slurp! Slurp! Slurp! Slurp!
Arit was still wearing her shirt and skirt, and the view of Arit''s ass protruding through that short skirt with her back arching inwards like a feline would have been enough to drive any sane man mad! Mark was no exception as he could feel his hand twitching to grab that ass. Why the fuck are human hands so short?
Mark settled for putting both hands on the back of Arit''s head, and he threw his head back against the wall as he felt his orgasm reaching the climax!
"Fuck, I''m cumming!"
Arit did not dare to pull back when Mark said that. She remembered how much Mark came thest time they were together, and she knew that pulling back would spill everywhere. Instead, she sped up her sucking and used one hand to grab Mark''s balls and massaged it until Mark felt his dick bulge in her mouth!
"Ugh!"
Mark''s orgasm hit him hard, and he identally used too much force to push Arit''s head down to his dick! The force was so intense that Arit almost swallowed all of Mark''s dick at once, and her eyes widened in shock as she felt her throat widen to amodate the member!
Gulp~! Gulp~!
Arit swallowed twice before she tapped Mark on the thigh repeatedly as she started to suffocate, and Mark finally loosened his grip on her head and allowed Arit to pull back!
"Cough! Cough! Cough!"
Arit coughed a few times to get her breath back, and she then swallowed a third time as she felt some of Mark''s cum in her mouth. She turned to give Mark a re, but therge blush on her face showed that she enjoyed what Mark did just as much as he did.
Arit had no idea that being so restricted would feel that nice. If not for the fact that she felt like she was going to die, Arit wouldn''t have minded staying like that a little longer.
Chapter 345: Exercise Reason (+18)
Mark grinned at Arit, and Arit yelped as Mark suddenly shot forward and grabbed her! Theynded on the futon, and Mark wasted no time attacking her neck once more. Arit groaned as she pressed her hand against Mark''s chest. Mark reached down under her skirt, and Arit jolted as she felt Mark press his hand against her clitoris through her underwear.
"M-Mark. We should use protection."
Mark growled in anger andpletely ignored her statement while pushing her panties to the side and inserting two fingers in her. Arit moaned, and Mark growled in her ear.
"I''ll be careful."
Arit knew that she should stop Mark and make him use protection. No matter how careful Mark is, there is no way they canpletely avoid getting her pregnant, but Arit felt too good to stop Mark right now. She widened her legs to give Mark more ess down there and kissed Mark hard enough to bruise a normal person!
Clothes were thrown off faster than either of them could remember, and before long, they were both naked. Mark aligned himself with Arit and started to enter her, and Arit groaned as she felt her eyes roll to the back of her head slowly. The futon under her made the sensationpletely different from when they were doing it on a bed.
It felt like Mark was using even more force to enter her than normal!
"Fuck, you''re tight."
Mark grunted at the back of his throat before he increased his force and mmed into Arit in one move!
m!
"Mmph~! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!
Ugh!"
Mark wasted no time as he started to m into Arit like a piston, almost driving her into the ground with the force of every thrust! Arit''s hands were wrapped around Mark''s shoulders, and she could feel her eyes tumbling to the back of her head every time Mark entered her!
His dick was hitting her cervix over and over again, but she didn''t even register the slight pain from that as it waspletely drowned out by the pleasure she was feeling.
"Faster~ Faster~!"
m! m! m! m! m! m!
m! m! m!
Arit''s head was thrown back, and she could feel her orgasm shooting through her every time Mark mmed into her. After a few more times, Arit eventually lost all control over her legs as her orgasm hit her hard!
"NNGH!"
Arit''s legs shot into the air, and her toes curled inwards as she opened her mouth wide with a groan! Her eyes finally rolled to the back of her head, and she felt every nerve in her body screaming in ecstasy as a massive orgasm hit her like a truck! Arit didn''t even realize when she was about to pass out, and the next time she opened her eyes, they were poison yellow!
Mark was still moving even in the middle of her orgasm and Arit grabbed Mark''s shoulders tightly as she felt him mming into her like a piston!
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck me, Mark! Fuck me!"
"Open your fucking legs for me."
Mark grabbed Arit, turned her over, and pressed her head into the pillow while her ass shot up towards him. He held her head down with one hand and put the other hand on her lower waist as he knelt between her legs. Arit widened her legs obediently while breathing heavily and groaned as Mark began to m into her with even more force than before!
m! m! m! m! m!
Arit was holding on to the pillow like her life depended on it! She couldn''t move at all because of how Mark was holding her down, so she had to receive the full force of Mark''s thrusts every time! She could feel a new orgasm getting close and knew that if she wasn''t careful, she was really going to pass out this time!
Mark suddenly shifted a little, and Arit''s eyes widened as she felt him hitting a sensitive spot inside her again and again!
"AH! AH! AH! Fuck! FUUUUCK!"
Arit buried her face in the pillow and screamed as she felt another orgasm hit her immediately, and her toes curled upwards as she felt Mark still hitting that sensitive spot! It was like Arit was a waterfall, and she just kept cumming hard every time Mark hit her there!
Mark continued his movements until he also felt his orgasming, and he groaned as he pulled out quickly before releasing on Arit''s back! He squeezed Arit''s ass around his dick and used it to get himself off, and he felt a small pang of disappointment somewhere inside him because he couldn''t release inside her. He couldn''t wait until she was in her safe period again.
He would fill her up like a fucking balloon.
After some time, Mark noticed that Arit was no longer moving, and he tilted his head to one side while ncing down at her. She was still awake, but there was a lopsided smile on her face and a huge blush across her cheeks as she stared into nothing. Mark leaned down and covered Arit''s body with his own, and Arit reached out to hold his bicep softly as she heard him whisper in her ear.
"Don''t tell me you''re already tired. We just started."
Arit felt her core shiver as she heard Mark''s deep voice, and she swallowed while praying for strength as she felt him entering inside her again. Arit was slowly realizing with growing horror that she couldn''t handle Mark''s libido on her own.
...
Thirty minutes and no less than ten orgasmster, Arit was on top of Mark, slowly bouncing up and down as she impaled herself on his dick over and over again. Mark was sitting up and hugging Arit tightly against his body, and Arit''s hands were on his shoulders as she felt her pussy stretching to the limit every time she went down on Mark.
Squelch! Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!
Her pussy made a wet, sloppy sound every time she moved as a result of how wet she was, and Arit found it easy to slide down on Mark because of this.
Anyone who entered her room at this moment would recoil from the intense, smoldering smell of sex that had permeated the entire room. There wasn''t a single part of the room that didn''t have Arit''s juices on it, and Arit could feel tiredness starting to creep in. Even though Arit had enough stamina to be regarded as an S rank, she still couldn''t keep up with Mark.
Mark looked like he hadn''t even broken a sweat. That sadistic grin was still on his face, and when Arit looked down at him, she could see in his eyes that he was still rearing to go for another round.
Mark reached out and grabbed Arit''s breasts in his mouth, and Arit moaned his name breathlessly while she sped up her movements. Mark''s hands went to her ass and made her speed up even more, and Arit bit her bottom lip while pressing her chest into Mark''s mouth.
Mark pulled back and grunted.
"Fuck, I''m close."
Arit felt Mark growing bigger inside her, and in the heat of the moment, she said something insane.
"Inside~ Do it inside, Mark. Fucking breed me."
It was like a switch was flipped inside Mark''s mind.
Chapter 346: Lunas Arrival (+18)
"Inside. Do it inside, Mark. Fucking breed me."
It was like a switch was flipped inside Mark''s mind. Mark knew that sometimes he allowed his libido to get the better of him, and he tried his best to hold back a lot because of how hard it was for him to be satisfied during sex. But no matter how much restraint Mark had, it didn''t fucking matter at that moment.
Mark couldn''t think after hearing his girlfriend say something like that in his ear with such a sultry voice. He suddenly pushed her to the ground while getting on top of her!
Arit yelped as she felt Mark hold her two hands above her head with one hand and groaned as Mark suddenly started to m into her with renewed vigor!
m! m! m! m! m! m!
"Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!
M-Mark! Slow down! Please!"
Arit felt like she was going to break from Mark''s intensity, and after some time, she felt Mark bulge inside her again as he groaned and came hard!
"Ngh! Fuck, Arit."
"Oooooohhh~!"
A warm sensation filled Arit''s stomach and Arit felt her toes curl on the futon as she moaned in ecstasy. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head as her own orgasm hit her, and before she knew it, she was out like a light.
...
Later that night, Mark went out of the room in a simple ck kimono that the hotel left in their rooms for them and a pair of wooden slippers that were morefortable than he thought they would be. He wasn''t wearing his disguise anymore because he was no longer in a crowd, and since it waste at night, there was hardly anyone in the corridors.
Mark made his way to the cafeteria and saw that this was also shaped like a traditional Japanese eatery. There were long tables arranged in rows along the room and arge table arranged perpendicrly at the end of the row with a professional Japanese chef handling his knives like a master.
Once Mark stepped into the room, everywhere fell silent as the few people in the room turned to look at him in shock.
"Hey, that''s GHOST, right? It''s him, right!?"
"Shit, there''s a SOVEREIGN here? I''ve gotta tweet this on Y. How the hell did we not know about this?"
"I want to go up to him."
Mark turned a nk re to the person who just spoke and the woman immediately felt all her confidence wilt away. The man beside her spoke up while turning back to his meal.
"Maybe that''s not such a good idea."
"Y-Yeah, he''s on vacation. Let''s just give him some space."
Mark made his way to the chef at the other end of the room and looked through the many variations of dishes that were lined up on a long tray in front of him. Mark didn''t recognize up to half of them, but there were some familiar-looking tters that he could recognize from anime that he had watched before.
Things like Takoyaki, Sashimi, Sushi, and Curry.
"What shall it be today, young one?"
The chef spoke calmly and without a trace of fear even though it was obvious that he recognized Mark. Mark only gave the man a nce before he knew that the man was also a superhuman. Mark could almost see the power radiating off the man.
''He''s probably an A or B rank. Strange to see a superhuman as a chef.''
"Do not presume that everyone with power wishes to be on the front lines like you do. Many of us simply are not meant for that life."
The chef seemed to have read what Mark was saying and Mark raised a brow as the man suddenly said something strangely deep. Mark knew that the man was right, so he didn''t bother to say anything in response. Mark looked down at the selections again and he hummed internally while trying to pick something.
Mark had never eaten any of these before, so he decided to go with the safest choices: Sushi with some Curry and rice.
Mark passed on his order and told the man to make enough for six people. Mark usually ate a lot, so buying the normal portion wouldn''t be wise. The man nodded and told Mark to drop his room number. The food would be delivered directly to his room.
"And if you wish to order next time, there is a phone in your room you can use if you do not wish toe out here personally. Based on the reactions from these young ones, I think it might be better if you used it next time."
The murmuring in the restaurant was already beginning to increase in intensity and Mark knew that it would only be a matter of time before someone gained enough confidence to walk up to him. Mark nodded to thank the man for his advice before turning to leave. The food arrived in their room just a few minutes after Mark.
...
[City F Airport ¨C The next morning.]
"Ohayo, Tokyo Majin!"
Tina''s loud voice drew the attention of many travelers as they all turned to look at the small grouping out from the airport. Turner was following behind Tina while dragging their luggage behind him and Luna was following behind Turner with sunsses and a face cap. Luna had one hand in her pocket and was making a call with the other.
The three of them were dressed very lightly since the weather was hot. Tina was wearing a pair of short jean shorts that showed off her long, toned legs along with a white tank top that made her blonde hair stand out more.
Turner was wearing shorts and a simple t-shirt he just picked out from his wardrobe this morning while Luna was wearing a pair of loose white joggers and a white cropped top that showed off her toned stomach.
Thebination of Luna''s white clothing and the pure white hair that she had tied into a ponytail behind her gave her an ethereal and otherworldly appearance that drew the eyes of many people who were passing. Luna already knew that it would be useless for her to try and hide her appearance, so she just decided to ignore the stares of all the people around her.
"Yeah, you can just go to the hotel first. The twins and I will meet you thereter."
[Yes, ma''am. We''ll inform the hotel that you are on your way.]
"Thank you."
Luna dropped her call once she was done talking with her secretary and turned to the twins while pocketing the phone.
"We can take a taxi from here. It''ll be difficult to get a private car since it''s the festive period. After we get to the hotel, you can go do whatever you want till the festival starts. I''d like it if we went to some of the stalls together."
Tina saluted!
"Yes, Ice Queen! We''ll be on our best behavior - Oh, Turner, look at that! There''s a parade!"
Tina seemed to have immediately forgotten everything that Luna said as she bolted away once she saw a group of people dancing down the street on the other side of the airport! Turner growled.
"Tina! What the hell are you doing!? Get back here! Sorry, Madam Luna, we''ll meet you at the hotel! I have to make sure she doesn''t do anything stupid! Tina, get back here!"
Chapter 347: Trying To Blend In - And Failing
"Tina! What the hell are you doing!? Get back here! Sorry, Madam Luna, we''ll meet you at the hotel! I have to make sure she doesn''t do anything stupid! Tina, get back here!"
Turner shouted out to Tina angrily as he also sped down the street and Luna blinked in surprise as she was suddenly left all alone. She looked at where the twins ran off to before looking back curiously at the luggage that they left behind.
"Do they expect me to carry this for them?"
Luna couldn''t believe that those two were this nonchnt about their luggage. If Luna was a more heartless person she would have just ignored the luggage and kept going to the hotel on her own, but Luna wasn''t like that.
Luna sighed as she grabbed the luggage handle and began dragging it towards the taxi stop. She was sure the twins could take care of themselves.
...
The Tokyo Majin festival was one of the unique festivals held every year in City F during this period. City F was run by a private organization that bought out the ind after it separated itself from the maind four years ago during the fight between KING and the Armageddon.
In that time, they have transformed the ind from what it was to one of the most sought-after holiday destinations in the entire Federation of America.
The true allure of the festivals held here every year is the fact that each and every single one of these festivals is unique. The festival held this year has never been held before, so the peopleing here are assured that they will be gaining a brand new experience that has never and will never be repeated.
Tokyo Majin - which literally meant Tokyo Demon - was a festival celebrating the rich culture of the Japanese as well as the various folktales and stories that enrich the history of Japan.
And on a night like tonight, when the festival was at its very peak, the streets of City F were packed!
"Come test your skills with the shooting game! The gifts are perfect for your loved ones!"
"Do you want to win a little fish? Come try scooping it out!"
"Horses! Come test your riding skills with these live horses!"
"I will give a hundred dors to anyone that can beat me in an arm-wrestling contest! Only ten dors to register! Come show off your power to your beautiful woman!"
"Archery! Come try out your skills in the archery range! Ex-boyfriends, ex-girlfriends, even your boss at work, if you have a picture we''ll put it up for you and you can shoot them to your heart''s content!"
The shouts of the vendors trying to get customers drowned out the excited chatter of festival-goers who were moving around the stalls and trying their best to try out as many games as possible. Although the streets were packed, there was still enough space for people to move around freely, so no one was afraid of getting trampled on. They just moved about excitedly without a fear in the world.
The majority of people were dressed in the traditional kimonos and yukatas that were given to them when they registered for the festival. Even though some of them weren''t wearing it properly, you could hardly see a single person who wasn''t wearing the Japanese outfit.
Within this massive crowd, a group of three walked from stall to stall.
Mark was wearing a ck kimono that he bought at the hotel for the festival. It reminded him too much of the kimono that Musashi Miyamoto wore in that Game of Gods, but Mark didn''t care too much about that since Arit said she liked it. He had a ck sash tied around his waist, and one of his hands was inside the kimono, resting on top of the sashzily.
He turned his eyes to his left and had to hold back a sigh as he forced himself to rx. Arit looked beautiful, she looked so beautiful that it was almost criminal. Arit was wearing a beautiful red kimono that came all the way down to her ankles. The woman that sold the kimono to them said that it was a Komon kimono and it was usually worn by unmarried women in Japan.
The kimono had a beautiful flower pattern, and there was a white sash tied around her waist.
It was that sash that was the cause of all the problems. It made Arit''s hugged Arit''s body so perfectly that her breasts stood out like water in a fucking oasis. Arit was already very busty.
Even when she was wearing her normal uniform or regr clothes, you could tell that her breasts and ass were works of art, but with the kimono sash hugging her body like that, it made her breasts and ass shoot out perfectly and drew the attention of nearly every man in the area.
Mark wasn''t a jealous person by nature, but he couldn''t help but frown in irritation when he noticed some of the men staring at Arit for longer than was appropriate.
Once the men noticed that Mark was walking beside her, they would immediately look away from his re and try to look as innocent as possible. Arit herself was innocently unaware of the storm her figure was causing in this festival. Mark knew that he was drawing attention with his presence alone, but thebination of the two of them was enough to turn the head of anyone they passed.
"Big brother! There''s a horse! I want to ride it!"
And then there was little Talia who was just the cutest little thing in her beautiful yellow kimono and wooden slippers. After sleeping for so long, Talia now had a lot of energy, and it was almost impossible for Mark and Arit to keep up with her excitement as she moved from stall to stall.
Talia grabbed Arit''s hand and dragged her towards the stall, and Aritughed while telling Talia to calm down. They would fall if they ran too fast. Mark followed behind them calmly, and the three of them walked towards the man advertising the horse rides. Mark gave the man a hard stare when the man almost choked when he saw Arit.
The man quickly organized himself and pointed to the horses.
"You want a ride? Only five dors for ten minutes! You can have one of my majestic horses all to yourself!"
Mark looked down and saw that Talia had literal stars in her eyes as she looked up at him. He smiled and told her to go pick out a horse with Arit. Talia squealed and dragged Arit to a horse, and Mark paid the man ten dors while going to the stalls.
The man brought out a beautiful white horse and put a chair beside it for Arit and Talia to climb. Arit climbed it first and sat down sideways on the horse before she reached down and helped Talia up to sit down sideways in front of her. Talia almost fell over, but she reached out and wrapped her hands around the horse''s neck before chuckling when the horse moved its neck around yfully.
"She really likes you, little missus! This one is named Be! Come give it a go! I''m sure you''ll love it!"
Chapter 348: Black Devil
"She really likes you, little missus! This one is named Be!"
The man guided the horse forward, and Talia waved at Mark happily.
"Come on, big brother! Join us."
Mark felt a little skeptical about that. No matter how strong that horse looked, it was impossible for it to carry three of them together. Instead, Mark decided to take another horse. Mark looked around the stall with a dull gaze and noticed that all the horses seemed to be moving away from his sight once he looked at them. Were they scared of him?
One of the helpers around the stall tried to bring out a horse for Mark, but the horse nted its feet on the ground and refused to budge while giving Mark a fearful look. It was almost like their animalistic instincts were telling them not to go near Mark.
Mark didn''t know this, but after gaining the Demonic Void Apostle constitution and using Fear so many times, he was now releasing a constant wave of bloodlust that most animals could sense with their animalistic instincts. This made the horses fear him.
Mark turned away from the horses and almost gave up until he saw a particr horse that was segregated from the others. It was in a cage and had a chain holding it down to the ground. Its coat was pure ck and it had ring red eyes. This horse was obviously different from the others, and when Mark stared into its eyes, he raised a brow when it stared right back.
The stall helper came out and spoke to Mark quietly.
"Oh, not that one, Mark Vanitas. We brought it here thinking it would behave, but it injured thest person who rode it and has beenshing out against the other horses for a while now. We''re going to send it back to be re-tamed soon."
Mark hummed.
"I''ll take it."
"But¡"
"Do you think it will injure me?"
Mark gave the stall helper a look and the man suddenly seemed to remember who he was talking to. He quickly shook his head and told someone to open the gate. Mark walked forward as the gate clicked open. He kept his eyes right on those of the horse.
The horse huffed aggressively and stamped its hoof against the ground multiple times in an effort to intimidate Mark, but the nk gaze never left Mark''s eyes until he was right in front of the horse.
When Mark finally stood before the horse, the horse seemed to calm down a bit. It sniffed Mark a few times and prodded him with its hoof calmly before eventually bowing its head in front of Mark submissively.
Mark finally smiled and patted the horse on the side of its head.
"That''s a good boy."
The horse whinnied and Mark grabbed the reins of the horse and climbed up to the saddle easily. He took a few seconds to get used to the feeling of being up there before he patted the horse on the side and it gently walked out from the cage.
"Ah, a ck horsey!"
Talia patted the ck horse on the head once it came close enough and the horse huffed in annoyance while shaking her hand off its head. Mark frowned and hit the horse on the head and the horse whined before it bowed its head as Talia patted it again.
"Good horsey!"
Mark chuckled while reaching out to give Arit a small kiss when she wasn''t expecting it. Arit blushed at the act and red at Mark, and Mark grinned.
"Come on, I think this one can take the three of us."
Mark lifted Arit off the white horse like she weighed nothing before dropping her in front of him on the ck horse. The horse barely registered the increase in weight as it huffed and Arit justughed happily as she reached out and took Talia into her arms.
Mark held the two of them securely and made sure they wouldn''t fall before he started to walk the horse down theid-out path. Talia had stars in her eyes as she waved at some of the people who were stopping to wave or take pictures of them. Arit had a wide smile on her face as she held Talia to make sure that she didn''t fall, and Mark leaned down and kissed Arit on the forehead with a small smile.
When Arit looked up at him, he whispered to her.
"Hold on tight."
Now that Mark was used to the feeling, he guessed he could go a little faster.
"Hiyaaahh!"
"Kyaaaaaa!"
"Yayyy!"
Arit screamed in fear as Mark suddenly made the horse speed up and Talia shouted happily while raising her hand into the air in joy! The ck demon of a horse sped forward like a jet! It released a puff of smoke from its nose as it suddenly sted into a straight run that would have blown anyone else off its back, but Mark held on as he leaned forward while holding Arit tight!
Arit was holding Talia with both arms as tightly as possible to make sure the little girl didn''t fall! She wanted to scream at Mark to slow down, but she was too busy trying not to pass out from fear at that moment! They were going way too fast!
All the other riders that were on the track as well were rushing off the track to prevent an ident as the speeding horse shed past!
"Hurdle! Mark, there''s a hurdle! Mark!"
Arit closed her eyes tight as she saw a hurdleing up on the track and she could feel her heart rate spike in fear as she thought that they were going to crash! But there was a sudden jolt as the horse lifted off the ground and the sudden feeling of flying filled her entire body! Arit''s eyes opened in wonder as she felt all the air leave her lungs!
''We''re flying.''
Boom!
The horsended back on the ground like aet and Arit felt her entire body shake as she lurched forward! It was only Mark''s grip around her that prevented her from falling and she held on tight to Talia to make sure the little girl was also not going to fall!
They finally started to slow down as they came back to the start of the running course and Arit put her hand to her chest to catch her breath as she heard Mark and Taliaughing happily. Talia wanted to go again and Arit immediately red at Mark to make sure he didn''t agree! She would die if they did that a second time!
Mark just chuckled at her reaction and pecked her on the forehead once more before telling Talia that they had a lot more stalls to see.
"Let''s find another fun one, alright? Big sister Arit might have a heart attack."
Talia turned to Arit and stuck out her tongue at her.
"You''re just a scaredy-cat."
Arit blushed at the jab and she tickled Talia until Talia wasughing breathlessly!
The three of them finally decided that they had enough of the horses and left to do something else.
The stall owner immediately came over to the stall handler who gave Mark the horse and told him to put the horse up for sale while showing him a picture that was taken when the three of them were riding.
"The demon horse that was tamed by GHOST himself! We''re going to make thousands off this horse! Hahahahaha!!"
"Holy shit, we''re rich!"
The ck horse just deadpanned in disappointment as it went back to its cell while shaking its head at their foolishness. Later, the tabloids would talk about the demon horse tamed by GHOST that refused to be ridden by anyone else ever again.
Chapter 349: Meeting The Keiths
Mark and his small family kept going from stall to stall as Talia dragged them about in her boundless excitement. Mark saw Talia eyeing a shooting gallery that was showcasing real guns for shooting practice, and he was about to take her there when he heard a voice speak up from the front.
"Mark Vanitas, is that you?"
Mark turned around, and he raised a brow when he saw that it was Greg. Greg was also wearing a kimono, and he had a woman at his side with a young boy standing beside her. It was the woman that shocked Mark the most.
"Captain Kelly? So you two are married. That''s surprising."
The woman beside Greg was the same sailor who brought Mark to the ind. His captain, Kelly. Kelly bowed respectfully once she saw Mark and greeted him with a smile.
"It''s a pleasure to see you again, Mr. Vanitas. I can see you are enjoying your time with your family."
Mark shrugged with a small smile. Mark didn''t need to introduce anyone since both Arit and Talia knew the two adults, so Mark''s eyes went down to the little boy who was standing beside Kelly.
"And who''s the little guy?"
"You''re here too!?"
Talia called out to James happily once she saw him, but James didn''t bother responding to anyone. James was in a different world. His eyes were fixed up at Arit and zed over like he was trapped under some sort of spell, and everyone there wondered what was happening to him.
If anyone there could read minds, they would hear only one word repeating over and over again in James'' mind.
Boobs!
Glorious, Glorious boobs!
James was still a child and he wouldn''t be able to fully understand what was happening to him. Butter on in life, James would look back on this moment and he would know that this was when he first discovered that he was a boobs man!
James'' eyes were fixed on Arit''s breasts like fucking glue!
Arit looked down at the little boy staring at her, and she could only guess that he was nervous about meeting strangers. Arit was a nice person, and since she wanted to be a doctor, she knew that it would be her job to help people rx around her so they would be able to talk to her easily, so she decided that she would help James. Arit smiled before walking over to him.
She crouched down gently so that she was on the same level as James, and James felt a massive blush growing on his face as he came face to face with Arit.
"Hi, what''s your name?"
Arit''s voice was so soft that James felt it could whisper him to sleep. His eyes trailed from Arit''s face to her boobs and then back to her face again. He couldn''t deny that Arit was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life!
James tried his best to stand his ground, but he was too embarrassed by his blush, and he just ended up hiding behind his mother''s legs while using one hand to hold his mother''s kimono shyly.
"J-James."
James just managed to whisper his name to Arit and Arit smiled at him while reaching out and patting his head.
"That''s a nice name."
"Mmh."
James hid his face in his mother''s kimono as he thought he would faint from his blush and his mother chuckled as she knew exactly what was happening to her son. Kelly just reached down and ruffled James'' head.
"Come on, James, Your friend is waiting for you. Don''t you want to greet her?"
James seemed to blink out of a trance as he turned to look at Talia. He almost forgot that she was there! James called out to her but Talia didn''t even answer him, instead, Talia was staring at Arit like she was her mortal enemy! If res could kill, Talia would have murdered Arit a hundred times already!
Arit stood up and went back to Mark''s side and Talia red at Arit''s breasts angrily before huffing in irritation. James couldn''t stop his eyes from following Arit as Arit stood and James would have kept staring if he didn''t notice that there was someone else looking at him.
Mark''s nk gaze pierced into James and James felt his heart drop into his stomach in fear once he looked into Mark''s eyes. Mark gave James a terrifying grin.
"Boo."
"Ah!"
James backpedaled and almost fell on his ass if not for his mother reaching down to hold him up with a small chuckle.
"Sorry about my son. He is just excited to be at the festival. I''ll discipline himter."
Greg apologized to Mark while ring at James, and Mark just shrugged nonchntly. Kids would be kids. Mark asked the small family where they were headed, and Kelly spoke up.
"We''re going back to the hotel, Mr. Vanitas. The festival is already dying down, so we want to y some games in themon area before people get too drunk."
"Eh? Games!?"
Arit was immediately interested as she joined her hands together and leaned forward curiously. She heard that there would be a lot of games in the hotel, and she had been looking forward to them for a long time. Kelly nodded with a smile. James had also been talking about the games that the hotel advertised for a long time, so she could understand Arit''s excitement.
Mark noticed that Kelly was right about it gettingte, so he decided that they should be getting back to the hotel as well.
"How about we go together? The more the merrier."
Greg suddenly spoke up and invited Mark toe with them. Mark nced at Arit and saw that she was already talking excitedly with Kelly about the games. Talia was ring at James and ignoring his attempts to talk to her with a pout, and Mark didn''t see any reason to refuse since they all seemed to be getting along.
The small group went back to themon area together, and Kelly led them towards the receptionist and asked for a game room. The receptionist happily nodded and asked Kelly to sign for the room before giving them a card.
Mark thought that they would be going into a traditional gaming room with a table surrounded by chairs where they could y some sort of traditional Japanese games. Maybe something like shogi.
His assumptions turned out to be terribly wrong.
"Is that a yStation Ultra?"
The group entered a thirty-meter square cubic room with many couches arranged in front of arge table. The entire room was brightly lit with overhead lights, and there were up to six game controllers arranged neatly in front of arge fifty-inch 4K resolution television. The games arranged in a pile looked to be older makes from 2010 and up.
Are these the games that are popr in Japan or something?
Mark did not expect the game room to be so modern. After seeing all of the traditional Japanese aesthetics around, it was like a break in the matrix for him.
"Let''s y Blur!"
Chapter 350: This F*cking Game Is Rigged!
"Let''s y Blur!"
Kelly spoke up excitedly with a smile as she saw the popr racing game in the pile and picked it up happily, but James eximed in shock as he heard her.
"No, we have to y Call of Duty! Blur is boring!"
Kelly gasped in horror before pulling her son''s ear.
"Shut your mouth, you brat! You don''t know anything about games! You''re ten years too young to start badmouthing ssics that are older than you!"
"Ow, you old hag! Lemme go!"
Greg chopped his son over the head when he insulted his mother and Mark just deadpanned at the weird family dynamics as James red up at his father with tears in his eyes while trying to get his mother''s hand off his ear.
Arit finally decided to intervene and told them that they had to y something everyone could join in on.
"Let''s just y Blur, okay?"
Arit smiled at James kindly while saying this and James lost all the fight in his body as he blushed and looked away before nodding. Talia red at Arit in anger once she saw this and she proudly dered with a flourish!
"I''ll defeat you a hundred times in Blur, big-breasted bimbo! Get ready!"
Arit grabbed a controller with a smile and happily epted the challenge from Talia as the rest of the adults joined in for the split-screen gaming session. Mark grabbed a controller as well and joined in, but it didn''t take him long to realize that he was severely outssed.
[You have been defeated: You ced 5th]
[You have been defeated: You ced 6th]
[You have been defeated: You ced 4th]
[You have been defeated: You ced 6th]
What the fuck?
"Yattaaa!!"
Kelly raised her controller in the air excitedly as she ced first for the fifth time and Mark stared at his sixth-ce trophy with a re. This fucking game was rigged.
Greg patted Mark on the shoulder and Mark turned to see the man shaking his head at him.
"There''s no winning against her, trust me. She''s a monster at games."
Greg himself had ced fourth and he had been consistently staying above fourth since the game started. Talia was ring at Arit as she lost for the fourth time. Talia ced third and Arit actually ced second. Arit had a smug smile as she nced down at Talia and Mark knew that if Talia hadser eyes, she would have burned Arit to ashes already!
"This game is stupid!"
James was about to throw the controller to the floor in anger, but Mark caught his hand before he could do it and sighed while standing up. They needed some air.
He and James had been losing since the game started and he could understand his frustration. But that was no reason for James to break something that didn''t belong to him.
"Alright, we''ll be back soon. Come on, James, let''s go get drinks for everyone."
Mark patted James on the shoulder and told him toe along. James was a little frightened when Mark caught his hand and when Mark patted him, James could feel an unbelievable amount of force behind it.
Normally, James would have never agreed to go anywhere with Mark since James was obviously frightened of him, but at that moment James decided that it would be better to leave than to keep losing here. James grumbled in annoyance as he stood up and followed Mark as they left the room.
"Mark, can you get me a c!?"
Arit called out to Mark and Mark waved back with a smile while leaving the room.
"Sure thing, babe."
"I won''t lose to you again, big-breasted bimbo! I''ll blur you to pieces!"
Talia''s deration echoed even from outside the game room and Mark smiled as he heard Aritughing as a new game started.
¡
"Hey¡ is it true that you''re the strongest superhuman?"
Mark was busy paying for the drinks when James suddenly asked this out of nowhere. Mark raised a brow and asked James where he heard that from. James shrugged.
"Talia told me you''re the strongest. I was just wondering."
"Why does it matter if I''m the strongest or not?"
James gained a smug look and grinned while looking up at Mark proudly.
"Cause I''m gonna be the strongest hero in the future! I''ve gotta know who mypetition is!"
Mark gave the little boy a coy look before a small smile spread across his face. James reminded Mark a lot of the cartoons that he watched as a kid and the main characters who were always shouting about how they wanted to be a hero. Mark grabbed one of the cans of coke from the cab in front of him and put it on James'' forehead! The cold immediately made James shriek in shock!
"Eek! What the hell are you doing!?"
Markughed as James red at him.
"I don''t know if I''m the strongest yet, but good luck with that, hero."
James blushed in embarrassment when Mark called him a hero and folded his hand with a huff while turning away. Mark smiled while activating his True Sight.
¡
Name: James Keith
Race: Human
Rank: B
Potential: S
Description: The enigmatic and brash child of Hades. He possesses the heart of a hero and his dream is to be recognized by the world as the greatest hero to ever live just like KING. He is a superhuman blessed by Thanatos the god of death and ruler of the underworld, and he has the unique ability to make contracts with ghosts and demons to allow them to aid him with their power in battle.
At this point, he does not have any knowledge of his true power, and although he can see ghosts, he has refused to make contracts with them. He is currently hiding his abilities from everyone around him because he thinks his power is not fit for a hero.
Affiliation: True Good
¡
Mark was shocked when he read through James'' profile. How in the world is this kid in B rank if he has an S rank potential? That was nearly impossible! Having an S-rank potential would be the same as having a cheat in a video game! Even if you''re doing the bare minimum, you will still be able to get strong very quickly! James should be at least an A rank already!
Is it because he is hiding his powers? James doesn''t like the fact that he can see ghosts, so he is hiding it from his parents and doesn''t use it for anything. He is basically wasting his potential.
Mark smiled as he ruffled James'' hair. Mark knew that if he had a power like what James had he wouldn''t think twice about using it, but he couldn''t project his own perspective on others, especially a child like this. To a kid like James, seeing ghosts might be the worst thing that ever happened to him. I wonder how James dealt with his powers the first time he saw a ghost.
He was probably more terrified than he had ever been before.
James reached up and tried to p Mark''s hand away with a pout but Mark easily dodged the swipe before putting his hand back on James'' head. James red in anger and Mark just smiled while speaking.
"You brat. How exactly do you want to be the strongest? There are a lot of strong people around, even your dad is stronger than you."
James huffed and stared down at the floor.
"All Dad does is work at the NSA every day without training. I''m gonna train like crazy and I''ll be the strongest in no time! Just you watch, I''ll surpass you as the strongest hero before you know it."
"I''m not a hero."
"Doesn''t matter! I''ll still surpass you!"
Markughed and thanked the woman behind the counter for the drinks as he collected them and started walking.
Chapter 351: A Neet In Tokyo
Mark knew that James was a good kid. He was trying to gain power without using his blessing because he thought it was evil. But the truth is that James was just misguided. He only looked at things in a one-dimensional way and his perspective on what was good and what was bad was too narrow. So, it was up to Mark to teach him that there was no such thing as good or bad.
Everything depends on how you use it.
"You know, if it was that easy, then anyone out there would be the strongest. There are a lot of people that work hard every day and they all try their best to get stronger, but it''s not enough to just work hard. It''s about how you use what you have. No matter what it is. If you can learn to use your blessing properly, then maybe you can be the second strongest."
The best example of this in Mark''s books was Raven and how she was able to be B rank even though she only had F rank potential. Raven worked hard every day, but she also used her blessing in a way that made her a lot more dangerous than she had any right to be with such a low potential. If Raven had not incorporated her blessing into her fighting, she would have never even passed D rank.
James was listening closely to everything that Mark was saying. James didn''t know that Mark knew about his blessing, but Mark''s words were hitting too close to home and it was making James rethink everything that he thought he knew about good and bad at that moment but once Mark said thest sentence, James'' eyes widened in shock and he stopped walking.
"Second? Who''s the first!?"
Mark turned around and raised a coy brow at James and James couldn''t stop theugh that bubbled up from his stomach as he realized what Mark meant! He ran to catch up to Mark while dering!
"No way! I''m gonna be the first! I''m going to beat you and be the strongest!"
Mark chuckled at James'' enthusiasm and he ruffled the little boy''s hair again. This time, James didn''t try to stop Mark from doing it. James now thought Mark was really cool, so he didn''t mind Mark ruffling his hair at all!
The hall that they were walking through was filled with random tourists who were also enjoying the festival. There was argemon area with many couches and arge round table in the middle where some of the tourists were hanging out and talking with each other. Mark raised a brow in surprise as his eyes caught a sh of white somewhere in the crowd.
Mark stopped walking and James looked up in surprise as he saw Mark change his direction towards themon area.
"Hey beautiful, are you here alone? How about I buy you a drink? Come on, I don''t bite. Just one drink. Give me a chance to talk to you."
Mark didn''t recognize the person he saw at first, but once he was close enough, Mark immediately knew that the woman he saw was Luna. She was wearing a long white kimono with blue flower patterns that ented her figure and made her white hair all the more beautiful along with a pair of ck sunsses.
Luna was currently looking down at her phone calmly while ignoring the man who was talking in front of her. Mark walked up from behind her calmly and he was surprised to see that Luna was reading a manga on her phone.
''She really is a neet. How can you be in a ce like this and be reading manga instead of enjoying the festival? You''re already in Japan, woman.''
There was a man standing close to Luna, and from the way he was talking, it was obvious that the man did not recognize who Luna was. He would never be so disrespectful if he knew who she was. The man looked like a foreigner, so Mark could only guess that the man was from another country and he only came to the festival on vacation.
The man was rather handsome and he carried himself with the confidence of someone who was used to talking to beautiful women, but he did not expect Luna topletely ignore him as she continued reading the manga on her phone.
The man was about to say something more, but the moment he caught sight of Mark behind Luna, the man''s eyes widened and he backpedaled as if he had just been struck. He looked up into Mark''s imposing gaze and he suddenly felt very small.
Mark calmly nodded his head to one side, telling the man to leave and the man coughed into his hand as he felt everyone turn their eyes to him and quickly left in embarrassment without daring to look back.
Luna hummed once she saw the man leaving, and she finally noticed that the person standing behind her was responsible for it. Luna leaned back onto the couch and bent her head back on the backrest so that she could see who was standing there, and she saw Mark''s upside-down face smiling down at her calmly.
"Why the fuck are you reading a manga when you''re literally in Tokyo? Just go outside."
Luna felt a small blush rising on her cheek as she saw Mark standing there with a smile, and she couldn''t stop her lips from splitting into a smile as well when she heard what Mark said.
"It''s nice to see you too, Mark. What the hell are you doing here?"
Luna did not think she would ever see Mark in a ce like this. He didn''t seem like the sort of person to enjoy going to festivals. Mark shrugged and mentioned that Arit brought him here for his birthday yesterday.
"She already paid for it, so I didn''t want to waste her hard-earned money. I figured I''d enjoy it for once."
Mark didn''t expect Luna to react much to his words, but the way she quickly stood up once he mentioned that it was his birthday shocked him. Luna took off her sunsses and Mark could hear some of the men in themon area gasp in awe.
Luna spoke up in shock.
"Oh yeah, it was your birthday, wasn''t it!? Why didn''t you tell me!? You didn''t even say anything!"
Mark rose a brow at Luna''s outburst. He was surprised that Luna was so shocked. Did she really think he would ever say anything about his birthday? Mark didn''t even remember that yesterday was his birthday until his godfather called him. If not for all the people around him constantly telling him that it was his birthday, Mark didn''t think he would ever celebrate a birthday in his life.
Mark asked Luna if she really thought he was the sort of person to talk about things like birthdays, and Luna ran a hand through her hair while shaking her head.
Yeah, Mark was right. She should know him enough to not expect something like that from him. Mark was thest person Luna expected to celebrate his birthday.
But even still, Luna was not happy that she was just learning about Mark''s birthday. She didn''t get to wish him a happy birthday at all, and if not for the fact that they ran into each other here, she would have missed his birthdaypletely. Luna sighed as she nced up at Mark with a small smile.
"Fine, I forgive you for not telling me about it. Happy birthday in arrears, Mark. I''ll get you a presentter."
Luna decided that since she did not wish Mark early enough, she had to give him something worthwhile as a present. Maybe she should buy him a new house? She had a few that she wasn''t doing anything with right now. She could just refurbish it and give it to him as a present. That might be a good idea.
Chapter 352: Unexpected Guests
Luna decided that she would refurbish a house and give it to Mark as a present. That might be a good idea.
Mark smiled.
"Thanks. You don''t need to worry about a gift, though. It''s too much of a hassle. So, did youe alone?"
Luna shook her head and mentioned that she came here with some of her guild members. Mark raised a brow while looking around to see if he would see anyone. But there were no superhumans in themon area other than the three of them, so Mark asked Luna where the guild members were. Luna blushed.
"They went to the festival. I already yed some of the games at the stalls and I grew bored, so I decided to juste hang out here instead."
Mark felt like facepalming. So she left thepany of her guild members and all the games outside so that she could be alone in themon room and read manga on her phone? Who the hell does that!? Luna was the quintessential definition of an introvert!
Imagine spending all that money toe to a Japanese-themed festival and the only thing you want to do is sit on a couch and read Japanese-themed manga! You might as well have just stayed at home!
Mark shook his head in disbelief and looked down as he felt someone pull his kimono. Oh, he almost forgot about the kid.
James was holding onto Mark''s kimono tightly while hiding behind his leg, but there was nothing that could hide the awe in the little boy''s eyes as he stared up at Luna. James looked like a man who died and was greeted at the gates of heaven by an angel. Mark pat James on the head while talking to Luna.
"This here is James, he''s a friend''s kid. James, this is my friend, Luna."
Mark introduced Luan, but James just nodded his head shyly without saying anything. Mark tapped James on the head a little.
"Come on, James, what do you say when you meet someone?"
James swallowed.
"H-Hello."
His voice was so low that any normal person would havepletely missed it, but both Mark and Luna were able to catch it with their enhanced hearing. Luna smiled at James in greeting and James'' face grew impossibly hot as he hid behind Mark''s kimono in embarrassment.
Even as a child, James couldn''t believe how beautiful Luna was! Was this normal? She was like the angels he usually saw in hisics!
Mark saw James hide behind him and he smiled while turning to Luna jokingly.
"You''re scaring little kids now. Shame on you."
"Shut up, you fiend. You scare way more children than I do."
Markughed and Luna grinned as she enjoyed the small banter she had with Mark. Moments like this reminded her of the Game of Gods and all the time they spent together in their hideout. It was nice to be like this again, but it wasn''t going tost long as Mark suddenly spoke up.
"Well, I''ve gotta go. Arit and the rest are waiting for us. They''ll get worried if we''rete."
Luna''s expression visibly dropped as she heard this and she tried to quickly think of a way to make Mark stay.
"Uhm, what are you guys doing?"
"Gaming. There''s this room where you can y games in groups. It''s pretty nice. They''re kicking my ass in Blur, but I have to admit it''s fun."
Oh, Blur? Luna knew Blur! She could y Blur very well!
Luna yed a lot of games in her time alone. She yed Mario and Zelda, and she even yed Tetris until she saw bricks in her dreams. Right now, Luna was trying to get past Malenia in Elden Ring, but it was extremely difficult.
Blur was one of those games that she heard about and decided to try on a whim, but it ended up being one of her favorite games. She managed to clear the entire game in less than two days!
Luna started to speak up, but there was an obvious hesitation in her tone as she spoke.
"Can I¡ Can Ie with you?"
Luna felt her cheeks heat up when she finally managed to say those words and she had to avert her eyes from Mark''s piercing gaze when he raised a brow at her in curiosity. Luna knew that she was just imposing on Mark right now. She didn''te with him to the festival and trying to join him in the gaming room might make things ufortable for the others.
But she didn''t want to just end this conversation like this. She wanted to keep talking to him. She didn''t care what they spoke about. She just wanted to talk to him.
If Mark told her that she couldn''t join them, then she would just ept it. She would die of embarrassment first, and she would probably just go back to her room and hide again, but she would still ept it. Luna wasn''t the sort of person to try and impose on someone else when they didn''t want it.
But Luna was stunned when Mark just shrugged nonchntly while turning around and waving her on.
"The more the merrier, I guess. Come on."
"Really!? I mean¡ okay, yeah. One moment."
Luna quickly came around the couch to meet Mark and had to struggle to hide therge smile she could feeling to her face. Her chest felt light and there was a wave of excitement threatening to burst out from her at that moment. She was going to y games with Mark!
They were about to leave themon area, but a loud voice and a flying girl suddenly appeared like a Pikachu!
"Marky!!"
m!
Mark calmly dodged to the side and Tina flew past him and mmed into a wall beside him, creating arge dent where shended. Luna facepalmed in annoyance as everyone in themon area immediately stopped what they were doing and turned to Tina in shock. Mark looked at the girl with a look of disbelief on his face before calmly speaking to Luna.
"I''m guessing she''s one of yours?"
Luna nodded while running her hand through her hair apologetically.
"Yeah, sorry. I totally forgot I brought her for the festival."
"Tina, what the hell are you doing!? You''re embarrassing me in front of everyone! Get out of the damn wall!"
Turner ran into themon area with a look of embarrassment on his face as he shouted at Tina and Mark could tell that Turner was really ufortable with all the stares that they were getting from the civilians around. Maybe they should put a leash and bell on her or something. Tina was getting out of hand.
Turner finally noticed Mark and his eyes widened.
"Mark? What the hell are you doing here?"
Mark sighed as he turned to start walking back to the gaming room. Mark knew at that moment that his holiday was practically ruined. He answered Turner''s questions with the tone of a man who was tired of everything in life.
"I''m regretting some of my life choices."
¡
Ka-Cha!
"We''re back."
"Mark, you took a long¡ time?"
Arit turned around with a smile once Mark entered the room, but she was stunned once she saw all the people who were following Mark and James. Luna was standing beside Mark with a smile on her face while waving at Arit gently and Turner was grinning down at his unconscious sister while holding the bag of drinks that Mark bought.
Tina, meanwhile, was being dragged along by the back of her kimono by Mark. Her hands and feet had been tied using a chain and there was a gag over her mouth that prevented her from talking. From the way she was currently slumped over, Arit could tell that Tina had been knocked out.
Chapter 353: Never Challenge A Neet In Their Domain!
''It''s the bitch that is trying to seduce our KING! Kill her! Kill her! How dare she get near the KING!?''
The queen went crazy in Arit''s head as it tried to make Arit kill Tina immediately! But Arit was able to calm her down a little while using the technique that Jeanne taught her. Arit took in a deep breath discretely before turning back to Mark.
What the hell happened out there?
Arit asked Mark this question curiously and Mark just shook his head as he dumped Tina in the corner of the room.
"It''s a long story. Anyway, I met Luna out in themon area and invited her to y. She''s really good at games."
Mark introduced Luna to the small group, but he didn''t really need to do that since everyone already knew her. Greg''s eyes were wide in shock as he stared at Luna and he turned to his equally shocked wife as they quickly tried to make space for Luna to sit down.
Luna was a legend in the superhuman world, and even though Mark was always treating her like a normal person since he didn''t keep up with the news of other superhumans, most of the superhumans and regr humans revered her as a literal goddess!
Luna thanked them and she sat down beside Talia as Talia continued ring at the screen that showed that she had lost another game.
"That big-breasted bimbo and her stupid big breasts. How is she this good?"
It turns out that Arit has been consistently keeping up with Kelly as they both steamrolled through the other yers since the start of the gaming session. Arit might not be used to ying games, but she was extremely smart and that allowed her to learn the mechanics of Blur as well as how to attack the other yers and improve her own position in the game very quickly.
It was almost like she had been ying the game all her life.
"Hi, I''m Luna. What''s your name?"
Luna spoke up when she noticed that Talia was not going to say anything. Talia turned to her in surprise as she hadn''t even seen Luna enter the room. Once she saw Luna, Talia''s eyes widened in shock and she leaned back in awe of Luna''s beauty. Even Talia couldn''tpletely resist the intense aura that Luna''s beauty carried.
But Talia''s shock did notst as she suddenly noticed that Mark was also back and she eximed angrily while running up to him!
"Big brother! The big-breasted¡ªI mean, big sister Arit! She beat me again! Come beat her for me!"
Mark chuckled at Talia''s childish rant while crouching to face her. Talia pouted, and Mark rubbed his hand on her chubby cheek, wiping away the small tears on the edge of her eyes.
"Sorry, Talia, big brother is going to sit this one out. Big sister Arit is just too good, so she''ll definitely kick my ass. But you know who can help you? Luna over there. She says she''s a great gamer. Go say hello."
Talia finally turned to Luna, who waved at her with a nervous smile on her face. Luna wasn''t very good with children since most of them tended to hide from her the moment they met her, so she didn''t know if Talia would agree to ept her help or not. Talia gave Mark a curious look, and Mark nodded while urging her forward. Talia walked up to Luna and pouted up at her.
"Hello L-Luna, my name is Talia. Big brother says you can help me get revenge."
Luna almost cooed from how cute Talia was.
"If it''s revenge you want then I''ll try my best. Come on, do you want to sit on myp?"
Talia nodded and climbed up to Luna''sp, and Luna petted her head kindly. Luna turned to Arit and saw that Arit was looking at her curiously. Arit was trying to understand what Luna and the twins were doing here. Arit already knew that Luna and Mark knew each other, but were they this close?
Luna smiled at Arit and greeted her, and Arit almost didn''t smile back. Arit was not happy that Luna was here. Luna met Mark outside, and she was close enough to Mark that Mark invited her in for a gaming session? That was not something that any girlfriend would be happy about. But Arit also knew that it would be silly to get angry now, especially since they were here to just have fun.
Luna hadn''t done anything wrong to her, so Arit didn''t see any reason to be angry at Luna right now.
Arit eventually greeted Luna back before she spoke up in a fake haughty tone while giving Talia a condescending look.
"So you think getting help is going to make you win? You can''t beat me in a million years, little girl!"
Talia felt her blood boil in anger.
"Beat her, Luna! Beat her ass!"
"Language."
Mark gave Talia a warning look when he heard Talia say "ass," and Talia muttered a quiet apology before Luna chuckled. Mark moved over to sit down, and Luna was ready to make space for him so that he could sit beside her, but Mark already moved toward where Arit was seated and sat down beside her.
Arit smiled at Mark happily, and Mark kissed her softly before he leaned back and told her to do her best.
"I''ll be rooting for you."
Luna felt a new surge ofpetitiveness burning in her chest as her eyes narrowed at the screen. Arit noticed the sudden intensity that Luna was showing, and she didn''t allow it to get to her as she also narrowed her eyes at the screen.
They all grabbed their controllers and everyone got down for a new game.
¡
"That was awesome!"
Talia cried in excitement while kicking her legs back and forth on the porch of their room overlooking the festival going on below. The four of them were sitting outside the back of the hotel close to their rooms. There was a gentle slope right in front of them that allowed them to see the lights and colors of all the people that were still moving around the festival grounds.
The gaming session had already ended, and their group had separated since it was gettingte. It turned out that Greg and his family were staying a few doors down from Mark and Arit, so they went off to their rooms after James fell asleep. Turner carried Tina off with an apology and a promise to pay for the wall that Tina broke. So now it was only the four of them.
Mark thought back to what happened in the gaming session after Luna came, and he couldn''t help but agree with Talia that it was very awesome.
Turns out Luna wasn''t a neet for nothing. Immediately the game started, everyone in the gaming room couldn''t hide their awe as they watched Luna absolutely decimate every other yer. It was like Luna''s hands was one with the force or something. She knew what button to press, when to turn, when to slow down. Even when to allow herself to die so that she could respawn faster.
Watching her was like watching a master at work.
Chapter 354: Are You In Love With Him?
When ying the game, Luna knew what buttons to press, when to turn, and when to slow down. Even when to allow herself to die so that she could respawn faster.
Watching her was like watching a master at work.
The game started with Arit leading Talia by ten wins to nothing, but after Luna came, Arit only managed to beat Luna once. Luna came out of the gaming session with nine straight wins after she got used to the game again. Arit won by eleven to nine, but everyone knew that if not for the fact that they were all getting tired, Luna would have taken home the win.
"That was actually really impressive. I didn¡¯t even know you could do some of those moves in the game. I didn¡¯t see anything like that in the tutorial."
Luna was sitting beside Arit, and Luna felt her cheeks heating up in embarrassment at all the praise she was getting from everyone. She was not used to showing her gaming skills so much, so hearing people praise her for it like this was a bit embarrassing. Luna nodded to Arit and exined that some of the moves were hidden.
"They don¡¯t show everything in the tutorial, so you have to go online to learn some moves. They¡¯re really useful."
Arit chuckled.
"No wonder. I couldn¡¯t believe that spinning backflip that you did at the end of the second game. It seemed illegal somehow."
Luna joined Arit inughing, and Mark couldn¡¯t help but smile as the two women seemed to be getting along at that moment. During the gaming session, Mark could tell that Arit was not happy that Luna was there at first.
Arit had this look of intense anger in her eyes the moment she saw Luna joining them in the gaming session, but as the game progressed, the two of them started to mellow down, and Arit somehow ended up bing closer to Luna than before.
Mark couldn¡¯t say that they were friends, but Arit was close enough to Luna that she wasn¡¯t even angry that Luna was here with them.
Mark went to check on Talia when he noticed that she was no longer making any noise, and he chuckled once he saw that she had somehow fallen asleep halfway through her rant. Mark told the girls that he would take Talia back to her room, and he carried her off while leaving Luna and Arit alone on the porch.
Once Mark left, the tension in the air seemed to grow a little. Somehow, both Luna and Arit were no longer asfortable as they were when Mark was there. Mark was the one acting as a buffer for them. So now that he was gone, it felt like a wall dropped between them, and they were facing each other directly again.
Honestly, Luna didn¡¯t have anything against Arit anymore. Luna initially wanted to beat Arit and somehow find a way to get rid of Arit so that she could be alone with Mark, but throughout that gaming session, Luna wasn¡¯t able to find a single fault with the girl. Arit was polite, smart, and kind in a way that was just impossible to hate.
It felt like Arit was the quintessential wife that every man was looking for, and Luna couldn¡¯t find anything that Aritcked at all. It grated on Luna¡¯s nerves, but Luna couldn¡¯t deny that Arit was a good match for Mark.
They were something like friends now, but that does not mean that Luna was happy about it.
"So, uhm, how long have you known Mark? You met him out in the hall, and he invited you in for the games, right? Doesn¡¯t that mean you two must know each other really well?"
Arit suddenly spoke up, catching Lunapletely off guard, and Luna turned to her in surprise. How long have I known Mark? Luna sighed. Where the hell do I start?
Luna knew that it would be a bad idea to say anything about what she and Mark went through in the Game of Gods to Arit. Since Mark hasn¡¯t said anything to his girlfriend, Luna didn¡¯t feel like she had a right to say anything either. And in some small part of her heart, Luna had this feeling that what she and Mark went through in that game was special.
She didn¡¯t want anyone else knowing about it because she wanted it to be something that she and Mark had alone. A secret that was just for the two of them.
"Well, I met him when he was being chased by that superhuman killer and again when he was doing his assessment. We spoke a lot during our meetings, mostly about you."
"Really? Mark talks about me? What does he say? He¡ doesn¡¯t talk much about his feelings, so it¡¯s a little hard to know what¡¯s going on in his head sometimes. I¡¯m just curious."
Luna chuckled.
"Yeah, I can get that. Whenever we talk, I feel like he is the silent, brooding type that always shoulders things without showing it on the outside."
Arit couldn¡¯t stop herself fromughing as well, as she knew that this was the exact description she would use to exin Mark¡¯s personality. Mark was strong and reliable, and he was the sort of person that never really showed his feelings that much. He was more than willing to just shoulder everything to protect the people around him.
Arit liked everything about Mark, and she wouldn¡¯t want to change him for the world, but sometimes, she wished that he would share some of his problems with her. Even if she couldn¡¯t really help him, she was willing to listen.
Luna saw Arit¡¯s face drop sadly as the silence stretched on, and Luna suddenly felt like she had to say something to bring up the yful atmosphere again. She leaned a little towards Arit and spoke conspiratorially.
"Alright, don¡¯t tell him I told you this, but when he was talking to me, he was always talking about how much you mean to him. One time, he even stopped in the middle of our conversation just to call you. I think¡ No, I know he really loves you a lot."
Arit blushed andughed.
"R-Really?"
Luna nodded.
"I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen any man talk about a woman the way he talks about you. He might not express himself a lot, but you don¡¯t need to doubt the fact that he cares about you. Honestly¡ I can¡¯t help but envy you."
Luna added thest part in a low voice, but Arit still caught it. Arit felt her body tense up once Luna said that, and Arit suddenly asked a question.
"Are you in love with Mark?"
Eh?
Luna turned to look at Arit in shock. The question caught her so off guard that she couldn¡¯t stop her mouth from dropping open. Arit was staring right at Luna with a hard gaze while leaning back on her hands, and Luna could see the seriousness on Arit¡¯s face. Why the hell was she asking something like that!?
Arit asked the question because she just wanted to know once and for all. Ever since the two of them spoke in the school corridor, Arit has been feeling this intensepetitiveness from Luna, as if Luna was trying to be better than her somehow. Arit couldn¡¯t think of any reason why Luna was doing this other than the fact that Luna might be trying to take Mark from her.
Chapter 355: Were You Talking About Me?
Luna herself didn¡¯t really express that she waspeting with Arit, so it was too subtle for Arit to point it out. So instead of beating around the bush, Arit decided that she would just ask the most important question. Luna¡¯s answer here would determine whether or not Arit could be friends with her.
Luna turned away from Arit, and at that moment, she allowed her nervousness to get the better of her. Normally, in a situation like this, Luna would be bold about her desires and she woulde out and say exactly what she wanted. Luna knew that she liked Mark, and even though she wouldn¡¯t call it love yet, she knew that it would get there with time.
But the way she was put on the spot like this, as well as the fact that it was Mark¡¯s girlfriend asking her the question, made her nervous.
It didn¡¯t matter how physically powerful Luna was. Physical strength did not always trante to emotional strength. And right now, Luna was emotionally weak. She shook her head while waving her hand.
"N-No, no, where did you get an idea like that from? I¡¯m not. I just really respect him. You know I¡¯m an adult and he¡¯s just a high schooler. T-There¡¯s like five years between us. A rtionship between the both of us wouldn¡¯t even work out.
The tabloids would nder us to hell and back for it. Me and Mark. That¡ that¡¯s too oundish."
Arit kept her hard gaze on Luna for a while longer as she saw Luna chuckling nervously while trying her best to deny the usation. Arit thought that Luna was denying it a bit too much, but she just guessed that Luna was nervous to be put on the spot like that. Arit¡¯s gaze softened, and she smiled apologetically.
"Really? Sorry I was so forward. I haven¡¯t been dating Mark for that long, so sometimes I get jealous when I see some other girls around him. He¡¯s a very desirable person, especially since he is a superhuman as well. I know it¡¯s not his fault that the girls are flocking to him, but sometimes, it makes me jealous."
"I-Is that so? Well, I understand since I also have a lot of men fawning around me. They don¡¯t even know who I am, so I barely give them the time of day. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s the same thing for Mark. There might be a lot of women, but he isn¡¯t going to bother looking at any of them since he knows exactly what they want from him. They don¡¯t see him, they only see his money and power."
Arit smiled while wrapping her hands around her knees.
"I guess you¡¯re right, but men and women aren¡¯t the same. What if someone more beautiful than mees along and Mark grows tired of me? I mean, I have this scar and all the issues and I¡ sorry, I shouldn¡¯t be saying this."
Arit shook her head as she realized she said something stupid. She put her hand over her scar to cover it up and looked away to watch the festival-goers below. Arit hadn¡¯t felt conscious about her scar for a long time now, but she couldn¡¯t help but go back to how shy she was in the past when talking to Luna about her feelings. The scar was a soft spot for Arit.
Luna¡¯s eyes narrowed in irritation once she heard what Arit said. For some reason, hearing Arit talk like this pissed her off. Is that the sort of person she sees Mark as?
Luna spoke up angrily and Arit turned to her when she noticed the heat in her voice.
"You should have more faith in Mark. I know he is a very stoic person and he might not express himself much, but Mark loves you more than the world itself. If you keep acting like this, then you¡¯re eventually going to lose him all by yourself. The most beautiful woman in the world could kiss that man, and he would punch her in the face for trying it."
Trust me, I know.
Luna turned away from Arit as she remembered the game of gods and how things went between her and Mark that night. It was that night that Luna really realized that Mark loved Arit a lot. If someone as beautiful as her is incapable of seducing Mark, then no one would be able to do it.
Arit was stunned for a moment as she just stared at Luna. What Luna said really resonated with Arit and the way Luna said it was so assuring that Arit couldn¡¯t even think of an argument in response. It was obvious that what Luna said was correct. A small smile spread across Arit¡¯s lips as she thought about how much Mark had been taking care of her up till now.
Even now that she was feeling vulnerable, just thinking about Mark and hearing someone talk about him was enough to bring her out of her slump. But after a moment, Arit couldn¡¯t stop herself from chuckling slightly.
Luna turned to Arit curiously and asked her what was so funny. Arit put her hands on her reddening cheeks and smiled while talking.
"Haha! I can imagine Mark punching someone with that stoic face he has when he¡¯s annoyed. He hates it when people even touch him without his permission."
Luna chuckled.
"That¡¯s true. You should have seen him during the assessment. He almost punched a SOVEREIGN just because the man touched his shoulder."
The two womenughed at the image of that, and Arit held her legs closer to her while smiling. Now that Arit was sure that Luna wasn¡¯t after Mark, Arit felt a lot calmer around her. Arit has never had another female friend before. Most of the girls in school only tried to get close to Arit because they wanted to meet Mark, and the others ignored Arit because they were scared of Mark.
It felt nice talking to another woman without the pressure of trying to please them or them constantly asking about Mark every second. Arit was happy to have a friend.
Luna felt like a fraud.
Luna could see the happiness in Arit¡¯s gaze. She knew that Arit was happy to be talking to her, but Luna knew that all of that was built on lies. Luna¡¯s main priority here wasn¡¯t to befriend Arit. Just like all those other girls, Luna also wanted Mark to herself.
"Hey, I dropped Talia off with Greg and Kelly. They said they wouldn¡¯t mind watching her for the night, so I put her with James. What are you guys talking about?"
Mark finally came back to the porch with a calm smile on his face, and the girls turned around in shock when they heard his voice. Mark rose an eyebrow as he noticed that both of them were blushing slightly, and Mark smiled yfully.
"Were you talking about me?"
Both women turned to look at each other for a moment before they began tough, and Mark was a bit confused at first, but after some time, he just chuckled as he shook his head and went to sit down beside Arit. Arit leaned her head on his shoulder and hugged Mark tightly, and Luna only nced at the pair of them with some longing in her eyes before turning back to watch the festival below.
Luna still wanted to be with Mark, but now that she was closer to Arit, she didn¡¯t know how to approach her feelings anymore. Luna didn¡¯t want to betray the trust that Arit had in her, even though it was built on a lie, but Luna also knew that she wanted to face her own feelings.
Chapter 356: The Facility Under The NSA
"I can get you in as far as the elevator, but from there you are on your own. I''ll go to Szar''s office for our meeting and try to keep him there as long as possible."
Jeanne and Fiona got out of Fiona''s car and calmly gazed at the NSA building while talking in hushed whispers. Fiona wore a pair of jeans and a fashionable t-shirt, while Jeanne wore her doctor''sb coat over jeans and a white button-up shirt.
After the meeting Patrick had with Fiona, Taylor, and James before, Patrick managed to convince them that something shady was happening in the NSA building. At first, Fiona was very skeptical about Patrick''s ability to bring up anything substantial to her. Patrick was just a seventeen-year-old and not even a superhuman. Fiona didn''t think Patrick could convince her of anything at all.
But the more Fiona listened to Patrick, the more concerned she became as she heard all the points Patrick was bringing up. The first thing that made Fiona question the possibility that Patrick might be correct was how Pat connected the death of James to Szar.
Pat exined how some of the information about the raid was falsified and that a lot more data should have been released to the superhumans going on the raid that was hidden in a secure server. Fiona knew that this was probably the truth since she experienced it firsthand. Fiona only heard from the NSA that there were a few Disaster ss monsters on that ind with barely any Cmity sses.
But the truth was very different. The monsters there would have killed them all if not for Mark stepping in, so Fiona knew that there was something shady about that.
Another point Pat brought up was how the NSA never spoke about the raid after itspletion. They never even disclosed the truth about it to the government and instead told the government that the ind was cleared out after a miscalction led to the death of many superhumans.
What happened to the corpse of that ant-headed animal that almost eradicated all of them? What happened to the pod that Greg said was under the ind?
Fiona was able to get the information about what happened in the ind raid from Greg since Greg was the only one who followed Mark all the way to the end, so she knew that there was a giant pod that the anima were using for some sort of ritual.
But this was not the part that disturbed Fiona the most.
What disturbed her the most was the analysis that Jeanne carried out on the cmity ss that Mark killed a few days ago. It was a mass of mutted bodies mashed together and mutated into an anima corpse. If Fiona was a weaker woman, she would have vomited at the sight of the anima.
Fiona frowned in disgust just thinking about the legs and arms sticking out from the purple, multi-headed grotesque-looking thing.
Fiona was suddenly curious about the NSA and she wanted to find out for herself if what Patrick was saying was true or not. Was the NSA using superhumans to create anima?
Fiona first intended to just walk right into the NSA and demand to know the truth from Szar using her blessing, but Patrick pointed out that Szar could most likely shrug off Fiona''s blessing. No one has seen Szar''s true power, and even his blessing was very vague.
It was written in the database that he had an ability rted to the mind, but what his blessing could really do was never specified. So it would be dangerous to go in and try to control him. It would be easier for them to just sneak into the NSA and get proof of Szar''s guilt. That way, the entire country would be against him, not just them.
"Fiona, did you get all that?"
Jeanne spoke up to make sure that Fiona heard everything she said and Fiona just waved her away nonchntly while ring at the NSA building. Jeanne and Pat were taking this very seriously, but as far as Fiona was concerned, this was just a small issue.
Fiona knew that there wasn''t anyone in the NSA building capable of withstanding her blessing, so finding out what was happening here should be easy.
Jeanne sighed once she saw Fiona wave her away and she heard Pat''s voice echo from them hidden in her ear.
[Tylor is standing by for support in case things get out of control. All three of you going in at the same time will surely alert Szar that there is something going on, so it is best if he remains outside. Do you remember theyout of the building, Fiona?]
"Yes, child. I do."
Fiona spoke up exasperatedly as she heard Pat asking her the same question again. Theyout of the NSA building was something that they covered extensivelyst night. This was actually another reason why Fiona decided to check out the building rather than just confronting Szar.
It turns out that there is a bottomyer to the building that was not specified on the blueprints released to the public.
Pat was able to hack into the NSA satellite a long time ago, and even though he is no longer in the system, he left a backdoor that he easily used to piggyback off the satellite before entering the server to get the blueprints andyout of the building.
Afterparing the blueprints that were released to the public to the blueprint that the NSA had on their server, Pat found that there was a single corridor that cut off into empty space in the NSA building. The building blueprint was sorge that any normal person would have missed something like that, but it was easy for Pat to find it once hepared the two blueprints.
Pat hacked into a satellite imaging system on the satellite andyered his own infrared diffuser on top of it in order to see just howrge the NSA building really was and he saw that there was arge area of concreteyered under the main building. The concrete showed up as apletely blue structure on the infrared diffuser, which meant it was at least a hundred meters thick.
This couldn''t be the foundation of the building, so it had to be the roof of an underground facility that the building was built on top of.
This was the facility that Fiona was going to try and infiltrate.
Chapter 357: A Sudden Encounter With a Snake
Fiona reached up and touched her earring with a frown and she asked Pat if he could see fine.
[The images are clear. Try not to touch it too much so it doesn''t get smudged.]
Fiona clicked her tongue. She wasn''t used to wearing such shabby earrings, but for the sake of the mission, she decided to just go ahead with it for now. Jeanne was also wearing the same pair of earrings as her and all four pieces were transmitting a clear image of everything the women were seeing back to Pat.
The two women discreetly nodded to each other before they moved towards the building.
"Oh, Madam Jeanne, Madam Fiona! It''s a pleasure to see you."
Immediately after they entered the building, it didn''t take long before someone recognized them and greeted them enthusiastically. Jeanne waved to the person calmly while Fionapletely ignored them as they moved towards the elevator.
Ding!
The elevator opened and the women stopped in their tracks as they saw another womane out. It was Szar''s secretary, Milicent. She was wearing a short skirt that barely reached her lower thigh and a suit jacket over a white top while carrying a stack of papers in her hands.
As she came out of the elevator, Milicent had a blush on her face as she hastily pulled down her skirt and organized her shirt properly. Fiona frowned in disgust while looking her over. It was obvious that Milicent just finished doing something sexual. Did she masturbate in the elevator?
"Oh, if it isn''t Jeanne. I didn''t think I would see you here so soon. And is that the leader of the Artemis guild herself? Fiona, it''s been too long."
A smooth voice glided through the air and right into the ears of the two women, and they both blinked in surprise as Szar appeared from behind Milicent like a phantom. They hadn''t even noticed that he was there. Szar smiled at them and Fiona felt a shiver go down her spine as she suddenly saw the image of a snake ovepping over Szar''s face.
Fiona has never liked Szar, but she never focused on her dislike for him since she didn''t like a lot of people. She thought that he was just one of those people that she could never get along with.
But after hearing everything that Pat and Jeanne said about Szar as well as seeing the grotesque anima that Jeanne said was made from humans, Fiona''s dislike for Szar was suddenly like an open wound that itched and wouldn''t let her forget about it. It made everything Szar did even more despicable in her eyes.
And right now, Fiona couldn''t help but think of a snake once she saw Szar.
"I told your secretary that we would have the meeting today, didn''t I? You''re the one that wanted to have one with me."
Jeanne managed to keep her cool even in the sudden situation and Szar''s attention was drawn towards her as she spoke up. Szar hummed while turning to his secretary curiously and Milicent nodded while bringing out Szar''s schedule.
"Yes sir, you have an appointment with Madam Jeanne for one-thirty. That is in ten minutes."
Szar nodded in eptance as he thanked Milicent for her input, but his eyes then went to Fiona and he asked what she was doing there.
"Is that any of your business, Szar?"
Fiona was not backing down a bit as she gave Szar a hard look and Pat quickly spoke up and told Fiona to rx a bit. If she was this hostile, Szar would definitely suspect something from her. Fiona wanted to tell Pat to shut up, but she knew that he was not wrong and she finally rxed her re.
Szar was not put off by Fiona''s re and he just thought that it was a byproduct of Fiona''s difficult attitude.
"Well, I am the chairman of this building. It is only right I know of the things happening within it. Especially when it involves the leader of an A-rank guild, Madam Fiona."
Fiona said nothing as she and Szar were engaged in a heated stare-down, and in that small moment, Fiona knew that Patrick was right. If Fiona had simply confronted Szar and tried to take over his mind, then it would have most likely failed. Fiona could feel the same restriction that she always felt in the minds of those that she couldn''t control in Szar''s mind as well.
Her blessing could not work on him.
Fiona wondered right then just how powerful Szar really was. Fiona''s blessing could work on even low-level S ranks, but it was the high-level ones that she had a problem with. Was Szar really that close to bing a Sovereign, or was it some sort of destructive interference from his blessing that made it difficult to control him?
When Jeanne realized that Fiona was not going to say anything to Szar, she decided to speak up instead.
"She has an appointment with me. I''m not going to tell you the specifics, but Fiona came here today to meet with me. I hope the chairman doesn''t mind if she waits for me in my office while I speak with you."
Szar''s snake-like eyes drifted smoothly from Fiona back to Jeanne as he heard her talk and he smiled again.
"Of course not. You''re free to take on any patient you wish to after all. Just try not to carry out your personal business in the NSA building next time without telling me beforehand. I was on the way to assess the progress of the research facility, but I suppose that can wait a few more minutes. Fiona, would you like someone to apany you to Jeanne''s office?"
Fiona''s frown never left her face as she refused while folding her hands across her chest.
"I think I''ll be fine on my own."
Szar hummed before he finally nodded.
"Very well, then. Please, Jeanne,e along."
Szar entered the elevator with Milicent and Jeanne gave Fiona a discrete look before entering the elevator with them. Fiona''s hard gaze stayed on Szar for a long time and he stared right back at her with a snake-like smile until the elevator door closed with another ding.
Fiona felt her skin crawl. There was definitely something wrong with that man.
Pat''s hard tone came through thems.
[We need to move. Their meeting won''tst long.]
"You don''t need to tell me that. Guide me."
Fiona started to walk toward another elevator on the other side of the building while following Pat''s instructions. Fiona could have used the elevator that Szar just used but she couldn''t risk using that elevator since she knew that Szar would be watching it now.
[Go down the hallway and turn left at the next corner. There is an elevator there fitted between two offices on the right side of the hallway. Wait, don''t use that one. I just saw that there''s a camera inside it. Instead, follow the narrow hallway on the left of the next corridor.]
Fiona followed Pat''s instructions perfectly as she passed the elevator that Pat told her not to use. She went down the narrow corridor and finally saw another elevator on the opposite side of the hallway. There were two men in suits standing in front of the elevator and Fiona snapped her finger with a smirk while watching in satisfaction as their eyes zed over.
Fiona started moving towards the elevator but stopped as Pat''s voice came through thems.
[Wait. I just caught something in your peripheral. You''re being followed.]
Chapter 358: What Will You Have?
[Wait. I just caught something in your peripheral. You''re being followed.]
Fiona''s eyes narrowed in annoyance once she heard Pat say this. Since Pat had cameras in both of her earrings, his field of view was a lot wider than Fiona''s, so she wasn''t even able to catch the person with her eyes. She knew that Szar wouldn''t just let things rest like that! So he sent someone to tail her?
"How far are they?"
[They''ll turn the corner in three¡ two¡ one¡]
Fionashed out and grabbed the man who turned the corner. Her eyes gazed into his surprised ones and she grinned.
"Send a message back to Szar. You found nothing unusual, and I went to Jeanne''s office to wait for her."
The man''s eyes zed over as Fiona''s blessing immediately took control
of him and he nodded in eptance of hermand. He clicked hisms and spoke into it.
"Sir, Madam Fiona has entered Madam Jeanne''s office. She did not make any detours."
[¡ Very well. You may return to your post.]
The man looked to Fiona for more instructions. Fiona nodded her chin towards the corridor to tell the man to leave and he finally epted themand and left. Once he was gone, Fiona turned back to the guards that were under her control.
"Take me to the lowest floor."
The man on the right nodded before taking a keycard out of his pocket and slotting it into an almost invisible slot in the wall. The elevator light glowed a dim red before finally opening and allowing Fiona to step inside.
"Return to your posts and act like thest three minutes never happened."
Fiona spoke up just as the elevator door closed and the two men under her control suddenly returned to normal and went back to their positions as if nothing had happened.
¡
Ding!
The sound of the elevator door opening made Fiona narrow her eyes seriously as she gazed into the narrow hallway in front of her. Fiona looked towards the dial on the side of the elevator and noticed that none of the lights were lit up. That meant this floor wasn''t even avable as a button on the elevator. What the hell is going on in this building?
[Try to find another elevator that can take you further down. It should be somewhere close by. What do you see?]
"Not much. It''s dark. There''s a corridor and a few fluorescent lights. I think the elevator might be somewhere else."
Fiona started going through the corridor and she turned the corner before she noticed an elevator on the other end of the hallway. Pat was right.
She moved down to the elevator but frowned once she noticed that there were no buttons or levers to make the elevator move. There was only a strange square embedded into the wall that looked like a scanner.
Ding!
The sound of the elevator door opening made Fiona smile as she put her hands on her hips and waited patiently.
"Szar wants the samples disposed of to make space for the new intakes. He says there''s a new sampleing tomorrow, so we should prepare for it."
"There hasn''t been a breakthrough with any sample for a while now. What will new samples do for us? Thest major breakthrough we had was the one that GHOST killed the other day. If Szar is just going to keep killing the samples, then what''s the point of even doing this?"
"Just do as you''re told. Szar has a n, we just have to follow it ¨C Eh?"
The men who had been talking in the elevator suddenly paused as they saw Fiona standing in front of them. Both of them were wearing doctor''sb coats and they had an ID card hanging on their neck with a small stack of papers in their hands.
They seemed shell-shocked to see her there and their eyes widened in surprise as they immediately noticed who she was!
"Fiona ¨C"
"Shut up."
Their eyes suddenly zed over as Fionamanded them and their hands dropped to their sides and scattered the papers to the floor as they fell under her blessing. Fiona entered the elevator with them andmanded them to take her to wherever they wereing from. The man on the left took his ID card and scanned it on the blue box inside the elevator.
Ding!
¡
"Please, take a seat. Do you wish to have something to drink? Juice? Water?"
Szar spoke up as he and Jeanne entered his office. Szar moved towards his seat behind his desk while gesturing to the seat in front of him, and Jeanne went to sit down calmly. Jeanne tried to make sure her expression was as nk and stoic as usual, but on the inside, she still felt the tension building because of the mission that they were carrying out.
She could hear everything that Pat and Fiona were saying over thems, so she knew that Fiona was only just entering the main part of the underground floor.
Jeanne was about to refuse Szar''s offer for a drink, but she remembered that she was meant to waste as much time as possible, so she epted the offer and asked for some water. Szar''s brow raised in surprise as he sat down slowly.
"Oh? I didn''t think you would ept. That is a pleasant surprise. Millicent, go bring us some water. Oh, and, please tell him to ensure everything is progressing nicely."
Szar didn''t specify who this ''him'' was, but from Millicent''s reaction, Jeanne could tell that she got the message. Millicent nodded and left the office, and Szar leaned forward and stapled his hands under his chin while smiling at Jeanne.
Jeanne frowned.
"Is there something happening in the building I should know about?"
Szar waved away her concerns.
"Oh no, nothing like that. I was on my way somewhere before I ran into you and your¡ patient. It''s nothing to worry about. So, shall we get down to business?"
Jeanne was still worried about what exactly Szar was nning right now, but she decided that it would be better for her to just stick to the n and keep stalling here. If there is an issue, then Fiona can take care of it.
"Shouldn''t we wait for the water? It wouldn''t be good to stop in the middle because of some interruptions."
[Don''ty it on too thick. He''ll suspect something.]
Pat''s voice came through thems, telling Jeanne not to be so obvious. Anyone would think she was trying to waste time if she kept acting like this. Jeanne told Pat to shut up in her head. She wasn''t a freaking spy, so how the hell is she supposed to know that she was overdoing it or not. He told her to buy them some time and that is what she was doing!
Szar''s smile widened.
"True, very true indeed. Then let us wait. In the meantime, shall we talk about more mundane things? I hear you have a brother, was his name Patrick?"
Chapter 359: Implant
"I hear you have a brother. Was his name Patrick? Yes, I think that was it. An absolutely brilliant boy in my humble opinion. I did some background research and I can''t help but be impressed with his mental capacity and his achievements in the field of research. Tell me, how is he doing?
Have you perhaps thought about bringing him into the NSA? We could always use someone as brilliant as him in our ranks."
Jeanne felt her pupils dte in anger as her folded hands tightened into fists. She took in a discreet breath and sighed to release the rage that she knew was about to burst out from her and finally rxed.
"I''d appreciate it if you didn''t bring my family into business conversations. It''s unprofessional."
Szar raised his hands with a snake-like smile on full disy.
"Yes, of course, it was bad manners. I apologize."
...
Ding!
The sound of the elevator opening revealed Fiona''s tense face as she stepped out into a new hallway. This hallway was circr in design. It curved into the distance, circling into another part of the structure and preventing you from seeing the end of it. It had metallic walls and floors, and every single step she took reverberated off the walls in a deep echo.
The air down there was stale and extremely cold, but Fiona didn''t feel it much even though she was only wearing a T-shirt.
Once Fiona stepped out, she waved to the scientists behind her and told them to lead the way. The two scientists started to walk down the hallway and Fiona followed behind them while ncing around at the fluorescent bulbs that were dimly lighting the way.
The hallway was eerily quiet, and other than the sound of their footsteps echoing through the area, there wasn''t a single sound to be heard anywhere.
They walked down the hallway for a while and made two turns at strange-angled corners that were leading deeper into the circle''s center until Fiona finally stopped when she heard a lot of voicesing from around the next corner.
"Have them prepared for the next batch."
"There should be at least one A rank in the next batch. These C and B ranks are useless fodder."
"I heard there''s going to be an A rank for sure. Someone that can be of use in controlling the other Anima."
"Hey, what are you two still doing here?"
There were many scientists standing in front of a double door and talking about the experiments while smoking andughing, but they stopped what they were doing once they saw the two scientists walking up to them. One of the men who was smoking and seemed like the one in charge frowned as he spoke up to the two scientists who were walking up to them.
"Didn''t we tell you to report our progress to Szar? What are you still doing down here? Do you want all our heads to roll?"
There were five scientists in all and Fiona knew that she wouldn''t be able to get them all under her control at the same time if she just went alone, so she decided to use the scientists that were already under her control as bait!
Once the scientists were all distracted, Fiona dashed out from the corner and shed towards them faster than they could react! The first scientist to see her was a woman with chestnut hair and a small face. She was about to scream in fear, but Fiona''s hand grabbed her by the face and her entire body slumped as she was put under Fiona''s control.
The scientist furthest away from Fiona was about to turn around and run back through the double door, but now that Fiona was right in their midst, she quickly released her mana out of her body while activating her blessing and all the other scientists slumped as their eyes zed over.
Fionanded on the floor quietly and spoke up to her minions.
"What were you all talking about just now?"
The leader who had been smoking spoke up.
"Szar''s secret experiments ¨C"
Boom!
Fiona blinked in shock as a small explosion suddenly went off in the man''s head, sting his brain matter out from the side of his head and sending him crashing to the floor in a bloody mess. That... was unexpected.
What the hell?
Fiona nced at all the other scientists and she noticed that none of them suffered from the same fate. What did that mean? Did they all have bombs in their heads or something? What triggered it? My questions?
The scientists that brought Fiona down here didn''t explode, so Fiona could only guess that the trigger for the bomb going off was them saying something about the experiment.
[Mark doesn''t pay me enough to see shit like this every day.]
Pat''s groggy voice came through thes again and Fiona felt a little bad for him as she knew that he just got a front-row view of a man''s head exploding. That would be enough to traumatize most normal people.
"I don''t think I can ask them about the experiments without them blowing up. And I don''t want to enter this room without knowing what''s on the other side."
Fiona turned to therge double door beside her and shook her head. She might be a superhuman but that did not mean she was immortal. If there was something on the other side of that door that could hurt her, then she wanted to know about it and prepare herself before entering.
Pat groaned for a moment as he put his hand on his forehead before speaking up in a groggy, irritated tone.
[They should have some things that they can talk about and things they can''t. They were just talking to each other about Anima and superhumans, so maybe the trigger was him talking about certain people or mentioning the experiments in a certain way. Try to ask some follow-up questions first. That should give you ayout of what you can ask for.]
Fiona nodded at the suggestion and turned to the woman there.
"What can I ask you about without triggering the explosive in your head?"
Fiona would have asked if there was an explosive in all their heads, but she didn''t know if that was something that they couldn''t talk about. If it was, then the person she asked would definitely die once they answered.
The woman quickly started to rattle out a long list of things.
"¡My birthday. The name of my children. My first kiss. The first time I touched myself. My ¨C "
"Stop, stop. Only things rted to the experiment."
Fiona med herself for that one. The question was too vague. But at least from this, Fiona was able to deduce that they could only talk about their personal life without triggering the explosive. The woman stopped talking and she quickly answered that they could only talk about the current state of the test subjects as well as the potential tests that are to be carried out.
Anything rted to the person in charge of the experiment as well as those involved in the experiment is forbidden.
[If that''s the case, then we should just stick to yes/no questions then. I''m going to give you a list of specific questions. Ask them and tell them to only answer by shaking their heads.]
Fiona ryed this instruction to the scientists and they nodded their heads before Fiona told Pat to begin.
Chapter 360 Time To Play Twenty Questions
Fiona ryed Pat''s instructions to the scientists and nodded before telling Pat to begin.
[Are there more scientists behind those doors?]
Yes
[Is their number above fifty?]
No.
[Above twenty?]
Yes.
[Are there superhumans behind those doors?]
Yes
[Is their number above twenty?]
No.
[Above ten?]
Yes.
[Are any of the superhumans above A rank?]
No
[Is this where the superhuman experiments are being carried out?]
Yes
[Is there any anima behind those doors?]
Yes
[Are their numbers above twenty?]
Yes
[Are their numbers above fifty?]
Yes.
[Holy shit.]
Fiona frowned when she heard Patrick curse. She could understand why he was shocked but they did not have time for that. Fiona spoke up calmly.
"Focus, child."
[Yeah, yeah. Right. Is their number above seventy?]
No.
[That means there should be about sixty of them. Is there any anima above cmity ss?]
No.
[Are there any moreboratories like this one down here?]
No answer.
Fiona frowned as the scientists didn''t give an answer and she told Pat that his question was not specific enough. Pat frowned and then changed the questions.
[Is this the only ce where scientists can gather down here?]
Yes.
[Is there an rm in case of emergencies?]
Yes.
[Good. Last question. Is there any way to contact Szar or any other superhumans from the upper floors?]
No.
Pat nodded and finished organizing a n in his head while the cking of his keyboard reverberated through thems. Fiona asked Pat if he was finished with his questions and Pat told her he was.
"So, now what?"
[I have a n. It''s basic, but it should work. I already guessed they couldn''t contact Szar earlier when those two scientists said they were going to meet him. That means this ce ispletely cut off from the NSA building above. It also means that the rm doesn''t alert anyone, instead, it shuts down the facility. Continue reading on empire
Can you control that many people and anima all at the same time with your blessing?]
Fiona frowned at Pat''s question. Normally, Fiona would be very confident in herself at a time like this. She knew that she was capable of handling cmities and since all the superhumans were below A rank she should be able to handle them easily. But that cmity ss ant-headed anima from the ind raid before made her realize her own limitations.
She knew that she wouldn''t be able to do it if an anima like that was inside that room.
"No. I can''t."
[Then we need to get in there while making sure they don''t activate the rm.]
"Alright, that''s nice to know. Give me a damn n."
Pat''s answer was immediate.
[You need to let them capture you.]
Fiona was able to get the full picture of what Pat meant from only those few words and she couldn''t help but sigh at the stupidly brilliant n.
"This had better fucking work."
...
"You know, I miss James. It hasn''t been that long since he died, so sometimes, when I sit at this table, I can still feel him in the office, watching over me."
That''s creepy.
Jeanne frowned in difort as she fingered the ss of water that Szar''s secretary brought for her while listening to Szar talk about his misery. Jeanne felt her agitation rising even more when she heard Pat''s n for getting into theb over thems. She wondered if Fiona would be okay.
"Jeanne, I understand that you had a deal with James that allowed you to handle any medical situation that you wanted so long as you joined the NSA. Am I right?"
Jeanne nodded while folding her hands. The deal that Jeanne made with the NSA a long time ago allowed her to go anywhere and do whatever she wanted whenever there wasn''t an emergency. But the moment the NSA called on her, she was meant toe back and help out.
"That was what I demanded for in my contract, yes. Is there an issue with it?"
"Oh, not at all. It''s just¡ one little thing. You see, things have been difficult in the country recently. I''m sure you''ve already noticed the recent increase in the number of anima that have been appearing in the city. All of them have been rather strong and the number of casualties from these appearances are quite significant."
Jeanne knew that there had been a rise in the anima appearances. The amount of work on her shoulders has almost doubled from what it once was and the only reason why she wasn''t helping out at a medical center right now was because Pat asked for her help.
Szar continued.
"But the civilians aren''t the only ones that have been suffering from this increase. The superhumans in the NSA that are constantly called on for aid have also seen a massive increase in workload and many of them have lost their lives. Morale had never been as low in this agency as it is at this moment. And that is why I have called on you today.
I believe that you signed a deal with the NSA not just because you want to help people, but because you believe that the NSA was best equipped to help you help others.
"Well, the NSA is now asking for your help. We need to bolster our forces as well as increase the morale of the people that have ced their faith in us. And nothing boosts faith more than a miracle can. Jeanne the Miracle Healer. We need you."
Jeanne narrowed her eyes at Szar while trying to understand what he was trying to say here. They needed her for what?
Wait, don''t tell me he''s saying what I think he''s saying.
"You want me to abandon my personal mission and return to a permanent position in the NSA?"
Szar scrunched his face up in distaste.
"Well, I wouldn''t put it that way, exactly. You make it seem far worse than it is. We simply want you¡ªtemporarily¡ªto return to the NSA and aid us in healing and boosting the morale of our own superhumans. Not only will this help us in boosting the morale of the superhumans in the NSA, it will also bring many more superhumans from other parts of the country into our ranks, bolstering us even more.
It''s a win-win as far as the country is concerned."
"Don''t you mean as far as you are concerned? Is this the fucking bullshit you called me here for today? I don''t have to sit here and¡ª"
[Jeanne, calm down and stall him. Fiona is not out yet.]
Jeanne sucked in a harsh breath and sighed as her brother''s voice came through thems. She hated this fucking spy nonsense.
Szar noticed Jeanne''s hesitation and he took that to mean that she was thinking, he decided to say something more.
"I can assure you that we will bring as many superhumans to you as we can. You won''t even feel the reduction in your workload when you are in the building. You will still be helping people every day."
Jeanne scoffed.
"You''ll only bring the superhumans that you think are worth saving. That is the problem I have with your organization, you start off on the right path but in time your bias begins to bleed through. What will happen to the injured from other guilds who are incapable of healing themselves? What will you do for them?"
Chapter 361 The NSA Auxiliary Initiative? Sounds Like Bullshit
"What will happen to the injured from other guilds who are incapable of healing themselves? What will you do for them?"
Szar reached out to Milicent at the side and Milicent handed him a pamphlet that he passed on to Jeanne.
"We will grant them a chance to be healed."
Jeanne looked through the pamphlet with scrutiny and she couldn''t stop the sigh of disappointment that came from deep within her soul.
The NSA Auxiliary Initiative.
That was the title of the pamphlet and its description was simple. It was a form that a guild would use to register in order to be an auxiliary branch of the NSA. Every guild that registers to be a branch of the NSA would be granted some benefits that other guilds wouldn''t have. And at the top of those benefits was the chance for their injured members to be healed by Jeanne.
Jeanne has seen her fair share of nonsense in her time, but this was definitely the worst one yet. Trying to force guilds toe under you just for the sake of receiving medical attention had to be the most militaristic thing ever.
Jeanne already knew she didn''t want any part in this, but she still had to stall, so she asked a question curiously.
"So, what will the NSA gain from this Auxiliary Initiative?"
Szar shrugged.
"Barely anything, truth be told. This is not a means for us to extort guilds, we will simply be receiving a pre-stated monthly payment from the guild based on their guild ranking. It will be a reasonable price, so you don''t need to worry. The NSA is moving into a new phase¡ªno, the world is moving into a new phase, and I wish for you to be at the center of this movement.
I think this is the next step for us. It will allow us to not only hold a muchrger force that can be sent out in case of emergencies, but it will also give us a much richer informationwork between all of our auxiliary guilds. It will be the perfect defense against the anima."
Or a perfect weapon against anyone who opposes you.
Jeanne didn''t say her thoughts out loud, but Szar could read on her face that she wasn''t buying into his ns. Herck of trust in him was as clear as day. Szar eyed the water that Jeanne had not touched yet and asked if she wouldn''t like to take a drink to calm down. Jeanne frowned while flipping through the pamphlet.
"I''m no longer thirsty."
¡
It turns out that Pat''s n for getting into theboratory was simple. First, they hid the body of the man who died and tried their best to clean the blood on the floor, next Fiona sent one of her minions into theb and told him to call out the highest-ranked person with an excuse that they had something important to talk about.
The man went inside and came out a few minutester with a bespectacled woman. She was rather short, barely reaching up to the man''s shoulder. She wore a pair of sweatpants and a loose t-shirt with ab coat over it all. There were freckles on her fair cheeks andrge eyebags under her eyes showed just how hard she worked day and night.
As she came out of the room, she was looking down at a chart in her hand while talking.
"What is so important that we can''t talk about it in front of the others? Just so you know, I''m not interested in going out with you in case that''s what you''re going to ask. I''m too busy working for any sort of rtionship right ¨C Fiona?"
The moment the door closed behind the woman, Fiona revealed herself from the crowd of scientists and the woman''s eyes widened in shock. Her mind worked at a frightening pace as she tried to decipher what was going on, and in less than 0.2 seconds, she was able to figure out exactly what was about to happen.
Fiona''s blessing was the ability to put others under her control. And these scientists all had a dazed look on their faces. They are waiting out here, so that means they are cautious about entering theb. The woman immediately realized that Fiona was trying to sneak into theb for some reason, and she was trying to use her to get in!
The woman quickly reached into herb coat to pull out a clicker that would activate the emergency lockdown, but before she could even move, Fiona''s blessing filled the room.
"Don''t be so hasty."
The woman''s eyes zed over as she fell under Fiona''s blessing and Fiona gently reached over, took the clicker away from her pocket, and crushed it between her fingers.
[That was dangerous. You could''ve triggered the lockdown identally.]
Fiona shrugged and told Pat that he was worrying too much. Nothing happened, right? So it''s fine.
"Let''s go in."
¡
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Ding!
The door leading into the undergroundb opened and revealed a wide circr room with multiple scientists wearingb coats. There was a feeling of urgency in the air as all the scientists were either conversing or moving around inspecting the many ss pods in the room.
Each of the ss pods held a grotesque-looking monster that was very simr to the one that Mark fought against a few days ago. Multiple legs, multiple arms, and two or three heads with many faces on each one attached to a bulbous body that would make anyone vomit from how ugly it looked.
Once the door to the room opened, almost all the scientists looked up and they were shell-shocked once the scientists who were smoking outside carried someone into the room, followed closely behind by the bespectacled woman. Fiona''s hands were slung over the shoulders of two tall men and they dragged her into the room unceremoniously.
"Isn''t that Fiona? The A rank?"
"It is. How the hell did she get captured? I thought we couldn''t get any A ranks because of how strong they are."
"I didn''t hear anything about this either. We were just about to ask Szar for more superhumans. Did Szar capture her today?"
"Madam Uriel, what is the meaning of this? How did we capture Fiona so quickly?"
Thest person that spoke up was a tall woman with a pretty face named Martha. She was also carrying a pad like everyone else, but her figure was so perfect that you would never think someone like her was also a scientist. She had wide hips and a pair of breasts that threatened to tear her shirt buttons apart.
Martha walked closer to Uriel and the shorter woman nodded while handing some papers to Martha.
"Szar just sent her in as the newest sample. Almost in perfect condition. I have no idea how in the world he managed to capture her, but I am not going toin when it helps our research."
Martha frowned at the crude exnation. She didn''t think Szar was the sort of person to do something so rash. Was Szar getting desperate because of the timeline? Working in desperation is bound to lead to mistakes. If someone finds out that Fiona is missing before they can finish their research, then they could be in trouble.
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Chapter 362 Everything That Could Possibly Go Wrong
Martha knew that working in desperation is bound to lead to mistakes. If someone finds out that Fiona is missing before they can finish their research, then they could be in trouble.
Martha used her pen to raise Fiona''s chin and hummed before she finally nodded.
"Well, if Szar says that it is fine, then we don''t have any right to question him. Shall we carry her to the holding room? We are expecting a new intake of samples, but there should be some space for her."
Uriel waved Martha''s suggestion away.
"No need for that. I''ll handle her personally. You may go back to your research."
Uriel beckoned the men carrying Fiona to follow her and Martha watched them go with a small frown of confusion on her face. Martha didn''t fully understand what Szar was trying to do, but she did not have any right to question Uriel''s orders, so Martha just sighed and went back to her experiment.
Once they were inside Uriel''s office, Fiona''s eyes shot open and she took in a deep breath as she told the men to set her down. Fiona had been leveling out her breathing since they came into theb to make it seem like she was knocked out, so she felt breathless. One of the men went to close the door behind them and once Fiona was calm, she heard Pat''s voicee through thems.
[You need to get the information quickly. Tell her to enter all the information avable in the database into the drive that I gave you.]
Fiona brought out a small thumb drive that had a fingerprint scanner on one side. She put her finger on the scanner and the drive glowed a dull blue before exposing a USB stick from one side. Fiona handed the drive to Uriel and told her to put everything inside the database in there.
Uriel nced at the drive.
"There are terabytes of data avable on the database. I don''t think all of it will fit inside such a small drive."
[It''ll be fine, I''m collecting the data in real-time, so the size of the drive doesn''t matter. It''s only acting as a conduit for the transfer.]
Pat''s answer assured Fiona and she told Uriel to just begin sending the data. Uriel nodded as she put the drive into aputer on her desk before she started to send the data that Fiona asked for. Time passed slowly as the transfer started and Fiona began to tap her feet against the ground in irritation as she became a bit restless.
"Can''t this move any faster? It''s been five minutes already."
Fiona frowned and asked Uriel to move faster, but Uriel shook her head with an apology as she told Fiona that the data was being transferred as quickly as possible.
"There are terabytes of data, madam. I can''t transfer it any faster."
[We''re almost done, Fiona. Just a few more minutes.]n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om
Fiona frowned when Pat also tried to reassure her. Fiona knew that they were almost done, but she also knew that this was the most delicate moment. It''s at times like these that shit usually hits the fan hard. Fiona was an avid movie watcher and in her free time, she would usually just rx in her home theater and watch movies from a few decades ago.
In all the movies that she watched, she knew that at the most critical moment, when no one believed anything could possibly go wrong, that was when things always ended up getting moreplicated. Fiona knew that there was arge difference between real life and the movies. There is no way you can use movies to predict what would happen in the real world.
But that doesn''t mean Fiona wasn''t anxious. Fiona couldn''t help but feel more agitated the longer this dragged on.
Fiona took in a deep breath and went to lean against the table in the office. She knew that she was just being paranoid right now, so she tried to calm herself down and take her mind off her agitation. I mean, I''m almost done with the mission already. What''s the worst that¡ª
[Fiona. I don''t know if this is important right now, but I think you should know that one of the SOVEREIGN just entered the NSA building.]
"What?"
Fiona was immediately shocked as she stood from the table. A SOVEREIGN? What the hell is a SOVEREIGN doing in the NSA building? Fiona quickly asked Pat who it was and Pat''s answer made Fiona''s blood run cold.
[Gunter Jake.]
A shiver traveled from Fiona''s head all the way down to her toes! No matter how much time passes, Fiona will never forget that indescribable feeling of fear that engulfed her during Mark''s assessment in the Superhuman Alliance building a few days ago. When she and Gunter were in the same room, it almost felt like a physical weight was pressing down on her and she couldn''t even breathe.
What in the world was Gunter Jake doing here!? Is it somehow rted to this!?
No, let''s be rational here. I''m sure there is a reasonable exnation for this. Superhumanse to the NSA building all the time, so there is no reason why Gunter''s presence here should be an issue at all. And besides, I don''t think I''ve ever seen Gunter and Szar being on good terms before. If Gunter was somehow rted to this, then shouldn''t he and Szar at least be on talking terms?
Fiona tried to reassure herself like this, but somewhere in the back of her mind, Fiona also knew that she was just drawing at straws here. If Fiona was being realistic, Fiona knew that Szar and Gunter being strangers was actually the best course of action that Szar could have possibly taken.
Who would suspect that they are working together if they never spoke to each other? That would make it harder for anyone to trace anything Szar does back to Gunter and vice versa.
Fiona felt her heart rate spike as a feeling of fear settled in her heart. She tightened her hands into fists and folded them across her chest to try and calm herself.
"How much longer before the transfer is done?"
[Two minutes.]
Pat''s answer reassured Fiona that they were almost done and she quickly spoke up again while running a hand through her hair.
"Tell Tylor to get ready for my extraction in case things don''t go as nned. I¡ I don''t know if Gunter''s presence here is an issue or not. But I just want to make sure nothing surprises us."
Pat grew worried when he heard the nervous way Fiona''s voice broke in the middle of her sentence. Pat has only known Fioan to be confident and bold in her statements, so hearing her sound nervous was enough to make him worried. Pat did not think that Gunter''s presence here would be an issue, but he decided to tell Fiona about it just in case she ran into him when she was leaving the building.
But from how Fiona was talking, it was obvious that Fiona thought differently.
[You think Gunter and Szar are working together¡?]
"It doesn''t matter what I think. All that matters is that Gunter came here at the same moment when Szar saw me roaming free inside the building. It''s too much of a coincidence. If they are working together, then we will need an alternate escape¡ª"
Ka-Cha!
"Madam Uriel, are you busy? I wanted to talk - Gasp!"
A gasp from the door alerted Fiona to someone standing there and she turned to the side in shock to see Martha, the scientist from before, staring into the room with wide, disbelieving eyes. Fiona cursed in anger once she saw Martha! Why didn''t these fools lock the fucking door!?
Chapter 363 Human Nature
Martha hade to Uriel''s office because she still wasn''t convinced of everything that Uriel had said earlier. Things just didn''t add up and Martha came so that Uriel would exin it a bit more to her and clear things up, but Martha never expected to see Fiona standing there without any restraints on her! It was obvious that Fiona was never captured at all!
Martha''s eyes took in everything that was happening inside the room quickly before she finally locked eyes with Fiona. Fiona was too stunned by the interruption and in that moment, she hesitated for one second. That one second was all that Martha needed! Martha already knew what sort of power Fiona had, so Martha turned her eyes away from Fiona''s own quickly before she turned and bolted! Fiona cursed!
"No!"
[Get her! She''s going to press the emergency button!]
Fiona shot out from the room faster than anyone could follow! Fiona noticed that the other scientists in Uriel''s office had stopped what they were doing to look at themotion and she turned around and shouted at them.
"Don''t stop that transfer! Keep going!"
Uriel nodded in obedience and continued doing what she had been doing and Fiona quickly ran out to the corridor connecting Uriel''s office to the mainb. Fiona saw Martha running towards the other side of theb and she knew that she had to get her before she could press that button! Fiona looked around for something that she could use as a weapon!
Going out into the mainb would mess up the n because it would alert everyone to the fact that she was not actually captured! She had to deal with Martha from a distance!
Fiona looked around for something to use and her eyes locked onto a pen that was lying on the floor beside her. Martha had dropped the pen in her rush to get out of the office and Fiona quickly grabbed it and drew her hand back.
Fiona was an A-rank superhuman, and even though she was not the most physically gifted A-rank and she did not have the insane destructive power that someone like Tylor had, that does not mean that she was weak physically. Fiona still had enough power in her body to destroy a building if she tried hard enough.
So when Fiona drew back her hand and threw that pen towards Martha''s head, it was almost like a crossbow releasing an arrow with unbelievable force!
Bang!
The pen flew through the air like a bullet, and just before Martha could get to the button, it mmed into the back of her head, rattling her brain like a basketball. Martha was already passing out before she even knew she had been hit!
But, unfortunately for Fiona, things just didn''t seem to want to go her way at all because, at that moment, Martha had gotten close enough to the button already, and when Martha passed out, she fell forward, right on top of the emergency button!
m!
WeeWoo! WeeWoo! WeeWoo! WeeWoo!
[Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert! Initiating lockdown sequence! All scientists are advised to move to the bunker at once. I repeat, all scientists are advised to move to the bunker at once.
Initiating lockdown sequence in ten seconds!]
"What the hell just happened!? Who pressed the button!?"
"There''s an intruder in theb!?"
"No, I don''t think so! Martha passed out and pressed it by mistake!?"
"Shit! We have to go to the bunker! We''ll die if we stay here!"
"Leave everything and run to the bunker! We can deal with everythingter!"N?v(el)B\\jnn
The scientists on the ground didn''t waste any time as they quickly started to run to the bunker! Fiona felt a surge of anger rising from her belly as she saw that her efforts had been in vain, and she cursed before turning to run back to Uriel''s office!
[Eight¡ Seven¡ Six¡]
"Is it finished!? Tell me that it''s fucking finished!"
Uriel nodded as she brought out the sh and handed it back to Fiona. Fiona collected the sh and stored it in her back pocket beforemanding them to lead her to the bunker. Fiona didn''t know what the lockdown sequence was, but for some reason, she didn''t want to be out here when it started!
Thisb was meant to hold superhumans and Anima, so the lockdown sequence was definitely going to be something strong enough to deal with superhuman intruders!
[Fiona! Get out of there now!]
"Shut up! What do you think I''m trying to do!?"
[Four¡ Three¡]
Uriel quickly led Fiona out of the office and into the mainb. There was a door on the other side of theb that led to the bunker, and Uriel started running there, but Fiona grabbed Uriel and the other scientists around her by their shirts before she sted off the ground and shot towards the door!
Boom!
[Two¡ One. Lockdown sequence initiated.]
"Fuck!"
Fiona cursed in anger as she heard the automated voice announcing the lockdown sequence all around theb! She continued moving towards the door without stopping, but before she could get to the door, a massive force mmed into her from the side and took all the air from her lungs in one hit!
BOOM!
Fiona was flung away from the door! She turned around while in the air and saw that it was one of the Anima that had been inside the pods that hit her! The pods were all opening up, and the grotesque-looking Anima that the scientists had been working on were awake and climbing out of them!
These fucking bastards are trying to use the Anima to clean theb!? Have they gone mad!? What will they do if the Anima manages to get to the surface!? Everyone in this building would die!
Woosh!
The sound of air pressure being released made Fiona turn back to the bunker door, and she saw that a giant metal barrier was slowly being lowered to prevent the Anima from getting into the bunker! Fiona red down at the humans she was carrying with her.
She knew that they were all useless scum who had done terrible things to other superhumans, and if Fiona was a more heartless person, she would have left them to their fate.
But Fiona was not a more heartless person. No matter how much of a tough act Fiona puts on, she is still a woman who cares about others to arge extent. And she cared about the people under her control more than she would ever dare to admit!
Fiona mmed her feet into the ground and shouted in exertion as she swung the people in her hand around and tossed them through the air!
They mmed into the ground a few meters away from the closing metal door, and Fiona shouted out to them when she saw that they were turning towards her in worry.
"Run, you fools!"
Chapter 364 We Cant Have You Feeling Disappointed, Can We?
"Run, you fools!"
The scientists quickly got off their asses as Fiona''s blessing took control of them again and forced them to start moving! They ran to the door before it could close! Most of them quickly slid under the door and managed to get to the other side. Only Uriel and one other scientist were remaining to pass through.
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ROARRR!!
But before they could get through, an anima suddenly appeared from the side and mmed into them! Uriel screamed in pain as the anima carried her and the other scientist into the air, and Fiona grimaced as she watched the anima eat the two scientists!
The many heads and faces of the anima all fought for various parts of the scientists, and it turned into a bloody scene much faster than anyone could have predicted.
Doon!
The metal door finally closed, and Fiona turned around to look at the many anima that had surrounded her from all sides.
[Fiona, Tyler is on his way! Do you think you can hold out until he gets here!?]
Pat''s voice echoed through thems, and Fiona felt annoyance rising from her stomach as she heard the worry in his tone. Did he really think that she was going to die here? Her?
ROARRR!
An anima suddenly roared as it ran towards Fiona in anger! It jumped towards her with one of its mouths ready to devour her, but before it could get close, a second anima suddenly mmed into the first, sending both of them crashing into the ground! The sound of fighting and grunts of pain echoed through theb as a small smile spread across Fiona''s face.
"Do I think I can hold out? You should be asking how many I can kill before he gets here. Tell Tyler I''m giving him exactly two minutes to get down here. If hees even one secondter, then he''s not getting paid for the next five months."
Fiona''s eyes shed as her blessing roared to life.
"Now, you disgusting creatures. Entertain me."
The anima around her all roared in agitation as they began to attack each other! An anima grabbed another one by the head and ripped it in two! It ate the two halves of the head before another anima snuck up from behind it and speared it into the ground!
A fourth anima appeared and stabbed its hand through the three of them before carrying them up and throwing them into arge crowd of anima that were trying their best to tear each other to pieces!
Fiona just stood in the middle of the storm calmly as she held her blessing at its maximum output. She nced around the room at all the anima attacking each other and hoped that she would be able to hold out until Tyler got there.
A line of blood fell from Fiona''s nose, and she quickly used the back of her hand to clean it before she focused again. She was not going to fall here! Not like this!! Fiona''s blessing allowed her to control many creatures all at once. But even for someone as talented as her, controlling these many cmity sses was very taxing on her brain.
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
Boom!
A loud sound echoed through the entireb as spiderweb cracks traveled across the roof! Fiona looked up quickly once she heard the sound and a small smile spread on her face as she realized that it must be Tyler. That idiot! He took longer than two minutes, so there''s no pay for him!
A shadowed figure fell from the roof and crashed into the ground, throwingrge amounts of dust everywhere. It was tall and muscr with masculine features that looked just like Tylor. Fiona waved her hand in front of her face to get rid of the dust that umted around her before smiling.
"You''ve really outdone yourself this time, Tyler. Allowing me to wait for you for this long. I''m very disappointed in you."
Fiona might''ve sounded disappointed, but there was no hiding the smile on her face as she spoke. Fiona was obviously happy that Tylor was here to help her out. She didn''t know how long she would have been able to keep holding all these anima under her control like this. A tall figure stood from the dust cloud, and an amused voice echoed through theb.
"Oh? Are you disappointed? Well, now, we can''t have that, can we? I''ll try my best to make it up to you."
Fiona''s entire body locked up in shock once she heard that voice, and goosebumps traveled from the very soles of her feet right up to her scalp as fear filled her heart!
That voice. It wasn''t Tyler.
It was definitely not Tylor!
Bright yellow hair that looked like a lion''s mane. Large arms with ck tattoos covering one of them. A Hawaiian shirt, casual shorts, and a pair of sandals that betrayed the sinister bloodlust leaking from every part of his body.
"Well, well, well, if it isn''t the little SOVEREIGN''s guild leader. How unlucky of you to run into me twice in the same week. You must''vemitted some sort of heinous crime in your past life for you to have this amount of bad luck."
Only one voice could put so much fear into Fiona''s body, and Fiona felt her heart rate spike once the man appeared from within the dust. The leader of the RAVAGERS guild and the most sinister member of the SOVEREIGN. Gunter Jake.
Run. Run.
Run!
Run!!
You need to move!
Fiona''s body refused to listen to her! Her legs were like lead, stuck in the ground, and no matter what she did, she couldn''t move them! Fiona couldn''t even fucking blink!! It was like she was a deer caught in headlights, just waiting for the car to reach her! Fiona had never felt this before in her life! Normally, Fiona would never be afraid of anyone.
Even those that were much stronger than her would only make her angry instead of afraid.
But when faced with the full force of a SOVEREIGN''s bloodlust, it didn''t matter how strong your pride or ego was. It didn''t matter how strong you thought you were. There is only one thing that passes through your entire body at that moment.
Fear.
Pure, uncontroble, unbearable Fear!N?v(el)B\\jnn
[FIONA! WAKE THE FUCK UP AND RUN!!]
Fiona jolted like a rabbit once Pat''s loud voice echoed in her head, and she was able to use that as an anchor toe back to reality! She focused on Pat''s voice, and that gave her a single moment when she wasn''t focused on her fear, and she quickly jumped back far from Gunter!
"Get him!"
Fiona turned to the side and ran like a bat out of hell as she shouted out to the room, and Gunter hummed curiously as he watched her running. Who was she talking to?
ROARRR!!
The anima in the room all raced towards Gunter with the intention of tearing him apart, and Gunter hummed again in realization. So that''s what she meant. She was trying to use the anima as her attack force.
A chuckle bubbled up from Gunter''s chest. It began small and almost inaudible, but over time, it started growing louder until he wasughing his ass off like a madman!
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! When Szar told me there was something wrong! I thought it was that Mark boy! I thought maybe I would get a real challenge! But is this really the best his guild leader can do!? These ants!
You are trying to use ants against me, woman!? ME!!"
Chapter 365 Phoenix Fire
PHWOOOMMM!!
Fiona''s eyes widened in shock as she felt the temperature in the room surge to an unbearable level! The cement floor began to break apart as the heat tore their molecr structure into pieces, and the ss and metal in the room began to melt!
Fiona turned around to see what was causing it, and she cursed in her head as she saw a golden hue surrounding Gunter! Gunter brought out one hand from his pocket and raised a finger as he smiled at Fiona.
"Rising Phoenix."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om
BOOOOOM!!!
A massive explosion rocked the entireb, and Fiona was thrown into the far wall from the force! She quickly rushed to her feet without wasting time, and it was only that quick movement that allowed her to avoid the punch that would have obliterated her head!
BOOM!
Gunter''s fist mmed into the wall behind Fiona, and Fiona''s adrenaline burst to life in her veins as she roared in anger! An anima charged for Gunter and mmed into the bigger man, throwing him away from Fiona! Ten more anima quickly ran towards Gunter, and they all dogpiled him to give Fiona some room to breathe!
Fiona''s heart was beating like a drum in her chest. Her hands were mmy, and it was difficult for her to take in any breath because the air in the room was too hot. When the air molecules are heated up to such an intense degree, the lungs literally reject the oxygen being taken into the body! It''s like your body tries its best not to ingest something that will cause it harm!
But Fiona wondered what the hell those golden mes were! It was nothing like Tyler''s me! It''s too hot! Did he say that it was Phoenix fire!? I need to get out of here before he uses it again!
Fiona knew that there was nothing she could really do against someone like Gunter in a straight fight like this, it didn''t matter how many minions Fiona had or how strong they were. Fiona''s mana couldn''t keep up with the sheer power that Gunter had.
Even now, Fiona could feel her mana reserves plummeting from controlling these many anima at the same time. The only thing that she could do right now was to run as far as possible and hope to find an exit!
Fiona raced to Uriel''s office, and she tried to smash through the wall on the other side of the room! If she could get out of there, then she could make her way to the corridor that she used to enter theb. From there, she could easily get to the elevator and escape!
CLANG!
Fiona cursed loudly as her hand mmed into a metal wall that was blocking the other side of the wall! The metal wall bent under the force of her punch, but it did not break, and Fiona was left wondering what the hell that wall was made of! A metal wall that she couldn''t break through was something she had never experienced before!
Fiona could feel her connections to some of the anima in the previous room getting cut at a rapid pace and she knew it was because Gunter was killing them very quickly. Fiona cleaned a line of blood that was dripping from her nose and drew her hand back for another punch!
"Damn rats just won''t get off me! Come back here, girl!"
Gunter''s loud voice echoed from the other room, and before Fiona had a chance to move out of the way, she was suddenly sent crashing through the metal wall as Gunter''s body mmed into her! Fiona tumbled on the ground for many meters and finally slid to a stop a few meters away!
Fiona coughed and let out a shuddering breath as she felt something shift inside of her. She moved her waist slightly and grimaced as a sharp pain shot through her body.
I definitely broke something. My third rib? No, the second one. I hope it didn''t pierce anything.
Fiona reached out for her blessing again and felt her connection to her anima minions all around her. She immediately pulled on that connection and dragged them to her!
Boom!
Splurt!
The anima all came crashing through the walls of theb with loud roars of anger, and at the same time, Fiona felt a massive amount of blood gush out from her nose and eyes! She was using her blessing too many times and for too long, so her brain couldn''t withstand the strain of controlling this many creatures all at once.
And worst of all, since all of the anima in thisb were cmity sses, Fiona was trying to control creatures that were all stronger than her. It was like Fiona was trying to hold up a mountain with only her shoulders! It didn''t matter how powerful she was; in time, she would start to feel the effect heavily on her.
Gunter grunted in irritation as the anima came through the wall and attacked him. He cracked his neck before raising his finger again as a smile started to spread across his face.
"I love feisty women the most! You excite me even more when you don''t know your ce!"
Phwoom!
A surge of golden fire burst to life on Gunter''s hand, and he shed it across the air in front of him! All the anima running at him were immediately split in half before they burst into a beautiful golden me!
BOOM!
The st threw Fiona back and she mmed into the far wall with a grunt of pain before sliding down to the ground slowly. Gunter flicked his hand to the side nonchntly with a confident smile on his face to extinguish the residual fire on his finger.
"Phoenix sh."
Gunter called out the name of the technique before putting his hand back in his pocket and walking up to Fiona. He looked down at her with a condescending frown. Why was Szar so adamant about getting rid of this woman? If it was the Vanitas boy, then maybe it would have been worth calling me here, but calling someone like me to handle someone this weak is a waste of my time.
Gunter watched Fiona for a few seconds. Fiona was still bleeding from her nose, and she coughed a few times as she tasted iron in her mouth. After she was sure that she was not going to cough up blood, she dared to look up and stared right into Gunter''s eyes defiantly. Was she really going to die here?
Gunter reached down and grabbed her by the neck, and Fiona groaned in pain as she felt her broken rib shift around when Gunter lifted her off the ground.
"Hey, who are you working with? I remember you from that assessment that the Mark boy had. Is he here with you? Did he send you here to get information? Call him up so I can have some fun with him too. There''s no way you''re the strongest person around."
Fiona red at Gunter in pain as she tried her best to get his hands off her! But no matter how much she struggled, Gunter''s grip was like a metal rod tightened around her neck! Gunter looked into Fiona''s eyes, and he saw a great amount of defiance in there that was only overshadowed by the intense fear she felt.
A smile stretched across Gunter''s lips and he watched Fiona struggle for a few more seconds before he chuckled deeply. Stay connected via empire
"Oh yes, I really like them feisty."
"Grk!"
Gunter started to squeeze down slowly, and Fiona felt her throat growing tighter the more she tried to breathe!
Chapter 366 The Loyal Knight
"Oh yes, I really like them feisty."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
"Grk!"
Gunter started to squeeze down slowly, and Fiona felt her throat growing tighter the more she tried to breathe! There was less and less air going to her lungs, and the pain in her rib was increasing by the second! Fiona started to kick at Gunter''s body desperately to try and gain some space, but no matter how much force she used, she couldn''t get him to release her.
After some time, Gunter finally loosened his hands a bit to give Fiona some space to talk.
"Are you ready to tell me what I want to know now? I could keep going if you need more time to think. I could do this all day."
"GASP!"
Fiona took in a deep breath as she felt air finally enter her lungs again, she inhaled deeply a few times to fill her lungs up again before she grinned tiredly.
"You''re not getting paid for a year for this bullshit!"
PHWOOMM!!!
BOOM!!
Tylor suddenly mmed through the wall, and Gunter turned to the side in surprise as he felt an intense amount of bloodlust aimed straight at him. Before he could even get a word out, a stunning dropkick mmed into his face!
BAM!
Gunter was sent flying through the air and into the far wall, and Tylor caught Fiona and gently allowed her to stand. Fiona grunted as Tylor touched her broken rib, and Tylor frowned as he saw the amount of blood that Fiona had already lost.
Fiona was no longer using the full extent of her blessing to control the anima in the room since their number had been seriously reduced by Gunter so she was able to sense Tyloring from the side with her blessing!
Fiona knew that if Gunter was more alert, he would have definitely sensed Tylor as well, so she tried her best to buy as much time as possible by making Gunter focus all his attention on her! She just never thought that it would be such a fucking pain!
[Fiona, I''ve opened up an alert at the Superhuman Alliance and called other members from your guild. They will be there in three minutes. You and Tylor should try to hold out for just three minutes!]
"Can you still fight, Fiona?"
Tylor''s worry bled through in his voice as he looked at his guild leader, and Fiona told him to stop worrying about her; they had bigger fish to fry here.
"I can''t do much, but I''ll provide support. I''m going to turn off your pain receptors and limiter. Do you think you can get through him?"
Fiona was capable of altering a person''s brain to a veryplex level if she and the person had a lot of trust in each other. Since Fiona and Tylor have been fighting together for a very long time, she was able to alter Tylor''s brain much easier than anyone else.
Tylor nodded as he stood in front of Fiona and red at the wall in front of them.
"Ah~ This is getting interesting. A feistydy tries her best to survive in this cutthroat world while using a knight in shining armor as her shield. It''s a story good enough for a fucking movie. But you know, people like you are the ones that don''t survive very long. Those who use others as shields while cowering in fear. You''re too dependent."
Fiona red at Gunter in anger at his jab, and Gunter''s grin just widened as he knew he got under her skin. Tylor walked up to block Fiona from Gunter''s view, and the two men sized each other up calmly. Gunter''s hands were in the pockets of his shorts as he hummed while assessing Tylor.
"You seem like a brawler, you have a good stance. And you have a good look in your eyes. Bloodthirsty. I like it. But you can''t hide that fear from me. I can smell iting off you like skunk juice.
You''re not even an S rank, are you? A little boy trying to stand up to his father. Feels like a family reunion. Too bad for you, I killed my family."
PHWOOM!!
Gunter suddenly released an intense wave of mes that engulfed the entire room in golden fire, and Tylor poured out his own mes in equal measure as his red fire surged to life and battled against Gunter''s mes!
Gunterughed at Tylor''s attempts to challenge him and th golden me suddenly increased in intensity!
Tylor felt Fiona put her hand on his shoulder as he narrowed his eyes at the fire all around her. Fiona said something to Tylor quietly, and in the next moment, Tylor''s fire surged to life with a renewed intensity that shocked Gunter! The red mes almost blinded everyone as they poured out of Tylor like a typhoon, and Gunter''s mouth split into a grin.
"Alright, son. Let''s see what you''ve got!"
BOOM!
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The two superhumans suddenly sted toward each other, and Tylor mmed his fist into Gunter''s face. Gunter flipped with the punch, and in the next moment, Tylor saw the floor approaching his face at maximum speed.
What did he get flipped over!?
SLAM!
Tylor was mmed into the ground, and the floor of the room suddenly broke into pieces and shattered, sending everyone plummeting into the floor below!
Tylor struggled in Gunter''s grip for a moment and finally kicked himself away from Gunter! He searched around for Fiona desperately, and he was d when he saw that she was being carried by one of the anima under her control that had fallen with them! Fiona gave Tylor a hard re as she used her blessing to make him focus!
Three anima suddenly burst through the ceiling from the upper room and grabbed one of Gunter''s limbs, and Tylor didn''t waste the opportunity as he coated his hand in mes and roared in exertion while sending a punch right into Gunter''s midsection!
BOOM!
The punch sent Gunter flying back through the air, but Tylor knew that this wouldn''t be enough to take Gunter out ofmission! Tylor''s feet exploded in fire as he propelled himself toward Gunter! He flipped around once he was on top of Gunter and delivered a massive dropkick that mmed into Gunter''s shoulder!
KA-BOOM!
The dropkick had been powered by Tylor''s mes, so it sounded just like an explosion had gone off in the tiny room, tearing the wall behind them apart in a shower of dust and soot! Right now, Tylor was fighting at a level that was far higher than any A rank should be. Normally, an A rank shouldn''t even be able to touch a SOVEREIGN, much less injure them or take them out ofmission at all!
But because of how Fiona''s blessing worked, Tylor''s brain had turned off the limiters that prevented him from using all of his strength. This allowed Tylor to exert strength that was two times higher than what he would normally be able to use, taking him from a high-level A rank up to an S rank.
But, just like all things, this immense boost in power did note without its risks. Not only was Tylor burning through his mana reserves at an insane pace, but he was also burning through his own body. Tylor''s cells were working at a level that was much higher than what they were used to or even what were ever supposed to be used for.
What Tylor was doing was just like putting fuel for a Form One race car into an SUV and expecting it to run like a race car! It was madness!
Chapter 367 Moment Of Clarity
Tylor''sst attack had blown arge amount of dust into the air, so he used a moment to watch and see if there would be any movement. If there wasn''t, then he was going to get Fiona and bolt out of there. But he was shocked when he felt Fiona''s blessingmanding him to duck!
"Phoenix sh."
Tylor''s head dropped faster than the speed of light as he felt a massive amount of heat rising above him! Tylor quickly ignited mes on his legs once more as he felt the Phoenix sh travel past him and m into the walls of the room, tearing them perfectly in two and continuing on its way! Tylor sted towards Gunter and roared as his entire body was engulfed in red fire!
"ARGGHHHHH!!"
BOOOM!!
An explosionrger than anything Tylor had ever created before suddenly shook the entire room! Fiona was still being carried by one of the anima, and she quickly tried to use her blessing to see if her link with Tylor was still intact! She breathed a sigh of relief when she felt that the link was still there, but she felt a tremor down to her core when she heard aughing from the smoke.
"Hahahahaha! This one is feisty too! You''ve grown, haven''t you, kid!? To think you''re capable ofsting this long against me!"
The smoke finally cleared, and Fiona saw Gunter holding Tylor up by his arm. Tylor was a veryrge man, but with the way Gunter was holding him up, you would think that Tylor was a fucking child! Tylor red at Gunter, and Gunter''s grin only widened as he drew his arm back.
Golden fire burst to life on his fist.
"Let me show you what a real punch looks like." Experience new stories on empire
WOOSH!
KA-TWOOM!!
Like a fucking implosion at the center of a sun, everything faded into gold! Gunter''s punch was so intense that Fiona didn''t even see it happen! She only felt the initial heat from the fire, and immediately after, she and all the anima around were blown back from the shockwave!
BOOM!
Fiona tumbled to the ground and mmed into the wall of the room far away from the fight. Foian felt a sharp pain in her rib again, but she ignored it as she scrambled to her feet and turned to Tylor in worry! She immediately tried to feel for the connection through her blessing, and Fiona felt fear fill her heart when she did not feel it at all! Her connection with Tylor was gone!
"Ah, yes, that was a good warm-up. Sometimes, you need to really beat manners into little kids before they know their ce."
Gunter walked out from the smoke around him while cracking his neck with one hand. His other hand was still in his pocket, and he gave Fiona a grin as he calmly got closer. There wasn''t a single burn on his body even after the intense battle he had just gone through, and Fiona knew that this was it for her. If everything Tylor did was useless, then there was nothing she could do.
Grab!
"Eh? So you''re not dead yet?"
A hand suddenlytched onto Gunter from behind, and Gunter raised a brow as he felt someone wrap their hands and legs around him. Fiona was shocked to see Tylor moving at all, and she tried to see if she could get a connection with him again. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn''t connect her blessing.
Right now, Tylor''s mind was as clear as it had ever been. Fiona''s blessing no longer had a hold of his mind and Tyor felt like he was in control of his own body and mind for the first time in forever. Tylor''s dark eyes stared straight into Fiona''s blue eyes, and in there, Fiona saw both anger as well as a devotion that she had never seen before, all directed at her!
Tylor''s body began to glow a dark red, and Gunter clicked his tongue in irritation as he reached back to grab Tylor off him. But before Gunter could do anything, Tylor''s mana surged out from his body in waves as he activated the most devastating attack in his arsenal!
Kamikaze.
Fiona immediately raised her hand up to her face as every single anima remaining under her control ran towards her to protect her from theing explosion, and the NSA building shook!
KA-BOOOOM!!!
¡
Rumble! Rumble!
Jeanne stood from her chair once she felt the tremors traveling through the building! She looked towards Szar and saw that he still had that smile on his face as he stood up from his chair as well. The entire building was shaking under their feet, and Jeanne decided that it was time for her to go.
Ring~! Ring~!
Milicent''s phone suddenly rang, and Milicent picked it up and listened for a few seconds before she spoke to Szar.
"Sir, the undergroundb was broken into. Gunter has moved to apprehend the intruders."
Szar gave Jeanne a curious look before he smiled again.
"It seems things have escted already. We''re not going to be able to continue this conversation. I apologize."
Jeanne slowly backed up towards the door and she heard Pat''s voice suddenlye through thems.
[Jeanne. Get out of there now. I can''t reach Fiona or Tylor anymore.]
Jeanne didn''t need to hear anything more than that! She turned around and bolted towards the door, and Milicent immediately stepped in Jeanne''s path to block her. Milicent was a B-rank superhuman, and since she knew Jeanne wasn''t a superhuman focused on physical abilities, she was more than confident in her abilities to stop Jeanne in a head-on fight!
But even though Jeanne was only a B-rank physically, her blessing was still far stronger than anything Milicent could keep up with. Jeanne dodged around an initial punch from Milicent and ducked low before shooting up and mming the heel of her palm into Milicent''s jaw while activating her touch of death.
The touch of death allowed Jeanne to heal someone in exchange for their life force. Jeanne was always careful while using this skill because she knew that it would kill anyone that she used it indiscriminately on. But right now, Jeanne didn''t bother holding back at all as she released the full potential of her blessing on Milicent!
"Ahh¡ Ah¡!"
Milicent''s eyes started to blur as her hair grew white. Her skin began to wrinkle, and she eventually grew extremely old before falling to the ground in a boneless heap! All of this happened in less than three seconds, and Jeanne mmed through the door of the office and bolted out without bothering to see whether Szar was chasing her or not.
Back in the office, Szar gazed down at the aged body of his secretary calmly before stepping over her and following behind Jeanne. Szar spoke gently while walking and his voice carried through the hallway and reached Jeanne.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
"The elevators won''t work, Jeanne. I had hoped you were sensible enough to join me, but I suppose you already picked a side. This world is moving into a new phase, Jeanne, and you''re going to be a part of it whether you like it or not. I''m sure you''re already aware of what I can do to you if you refuse, so don''t make this any harder than it needs to be."
Chapter 368 Raiding The NSA Building
"I''m sure you''re already aware of what I can do, Jeanne. Don''t make this any harder than it needs to be."
Jeanne realized that Szar was right about the elevator not working. It seemed the explosion had disabled the building''s electricity. Jeanne wasted no time and smashed her fist into the wall beside the elevator, exposing the shaft that the elevator normally traveled through. She looked behind her to see that Szar was turning the corner.
The moment Szar saw her, he frowned and increased his pace.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Jeanne jumped into the shaft, grabbed a hold of the wall, and jumped on top of the elevator. Jeanne grabbed the cords holding up the elevator and used all her strength to snap all of them at the same time.
SNAP!
PHWOOM!
The elevator suddenly plummeted more than ten floors, and Szar looked down at the empty shaft in irritation. He weighed his next actions, and when he heard the loud sound of police sirens and superhumans shouting outside the NSA building, he decided that chasing Jeanne was not worth the trouble. He had more important things to handle right now.
...
The front lobby of the NSA was a hive of activity as superhumans swarmed into the building. The information that Pat sent to the Superhuman Alliance contained everything they needed to find out about Szar''s activities.
Since Pat got the information from the drive directly onto his server, he transferred the map of the undergroundb, its capacity, and Szar''s involvement directly to the Superhuman Alliance. It didn''t take more than five minutes before the NSA was swarmed by Superhuman Alliance agents who came to arrest everyone there.
Everyone was being taken away and they would all be detained and interrogated to see who was a part of this and who was innocent.
"I don''t know what''s going on! I swear, I''m innocent!"
"What do you mean I''m under arrest? I work for the fucking government! You can''t arrest me!"
"I was about to get a damn promotion! We''re the NSA! Let me go!"
PHWOOM!
BOOM!
"Holy shit!"
"Is it another explosion!?"
A loud sound suddenly echoed from the elevator shaft and everyone turned towards it in surprise, waiting to see what was happening.
Creak!
The elevator door was slowly forced open to reveal Jeanne standing calmly in the ruined elevator. Jeanne sighed as she stood straight and put on her ck gloves. She looked around the room at all the NSA agents being arrested and walked out from the elevator under the scrutinizing nces of the Superhuman Alliance agents.
Continue reading on empire
Jeanne walked up to one of the Superhuman Alliance agents there and put her hands out.
"Are we doing this or not?"
The agent wasted no time as he put the superhuman detaining cuffs on her and took her out with the other NSA agents. Since Jeanne was also one of those working for the NSA¡ªat least on paper¡ªshe had to be detained as well.
Jeanne looked behind her to make sure that Szar didn''t follow after her before she spoke into thems.
"Pat, what about Fiona and Tyler? Anything yet?"
[Shit, shit, shit. The agents found Tyler''s body, he was burnt and depleted of mana, but they said he was still alive. But there was no sign of Fiona! The tracker in herms is offline and they didn''t find her body at all! I don''t know what to do! I can''t find her.]
"Pat, rx."
[No, Jeanne! You don''t get it! She might be dead! I''m the one that brought her into this and she might be dead! Fuck, I shouldn''t have told Mark to stay out of this! He would''ve found a way out of this!]
Jeanne cursed internally as she was forced into a transport vehicle by the Superhuman Alliance agent. Sometimes, Jeanne forgot that her brother was still just a kid who wasn''t used to situations like this. Pat might be bloody brilliant academically and a master at high-level thinking, but he wasn''t very good at handling stressful situations like this one.
Unlike when Mark was involved, Pat was basically the leader of this operation, so he felt very responsible for everything that happened.
"Pat, listen to me. Fiona is going to be fine. Just rx and keep looking. Panicking isn''t going to help anyone."
[I already know that! I''m still looking. Fuck. I''ll send information about your innocence to the Superhuman Alliance so they can release you soon and I''ll keep an eye on Szar as well. When you get out,e back home.]
"Pat¡ maybe you should call Mark."
[¡]
"He won''t be disappointed in you, Pat. No one could have predicted Gunter being there."
[I''ll call him when things settle down. It''s not like he can do much right now. I''ll talk to youter.]
Pat went off thems and Jeanne sighed at her brother''s stubbornness. Jeanne also knew that calling Mark wouldn''t solve anything now since the Superhuman Alliance was involved, but she also knew that Mark would be able to help Pat get his head on straight to find a solution. Jeanne decided that once she was free, she would call Mark herself.
...
[City F ¨C The Port.]
"Ehhh~? The NSA is being raided? Already? That was quick."
A beautiful woman wearing a pair of very short shorts and a crop top was lying down on her back on top of arge cargo container. She had a lollipop in her mouth and moved it about yfully while looking up at the news on her phone. The woman had ck hair and eyes, and there wererge dark circles under her eyelids.
Her attire was pure ck and she had a tattoo on one of her arms, which gave her a very gothic appearance.
Beside her, a man with bright blond hair and green eyes clicked his tongue and blew out a puff of smoke. He flicked his cigarette before throwing it down and crushing it on the container''s surface to extinguish it. The man was the pr opposite of the woman. He had on blue jeans and a bright red top that would draw anyone''s attention to him.
When he spoke, there was a yful undertone to it that betrayed the serious look in his eyes.
"It''s probably stupid Szar messing up too quickly. I told him not to put the stupidb under the building. It''s a ssic viin move that always ends in failure. Well, if it''s him, I''m sure he has a n for that as well. He never tells us anything anyway. Forget all about that nonsense, Selina.
Come on, what do you say the two of us go on a date to the festival? I hear there''s a ck horse there that no one can tame. I''ll tame it for you~!"
The man brought his face very close to the woman''s face with his mouth puckered for a kiss and the woman just put her hand out and pushed the man''s face away without bothering to look at him.
"We just had sex, so you should be okay for a while. Stay away from me, you deviant."
"Ah, but it wasn''t enough, Selina-chan~! I love you so much~ I want to have sex with you for a hundred years~!"
A small blush crept up on the woman''s face once the man said that before a tick mark rose on her forehead and she red at the man.
"Stop shouting nonsense like that so nonchntly! People will think we''re together!"
The man sighed.
"You always y hard to get~ Even though you can''t resist my manly charm~ Hehehe~ I''ll make you say you love me one of these days."
Chapter 369 George-kun And Selina-chan
The woman scoffed before scrolling through more news on her phone. She saw that the Superhuman Alliance had alreadybeled Szar as a fugitive and she hummed while responding to the man.
"I''ll only love you if you have a billion dors in your bank ount. Love is money and money is love. Everything else is nonsense brought about by your hormones acting up in times of weakness."
"Ah, Selina-chan. You say some hurtful things, you know. You''re saying my love means nothing to you? Ah, my heart can''t take it~! I think I''m dying!"
Selina''s eyes twitched.
"What''s with this ''chan'' nonsense?"
"Oh, don''t you know!? We''re in the Tokyo Majin Festival, right!? It''s like they say! When in Rome, you have to act like an Egyptian!"
"That''s not how the saying goes! And don''t call me ''chan''! It''s cringe!"
"Oh, you''re being tsundere! You actually love it, don''t you!? Selina-chan is so cute~! Come on,e on, call me George-kun~ Say George-kun, I love you~!"
The man suddenly reached out to Selina and Selina''s face blew up in an angry blushas he started touching her!
"Hey wait, don''t touch me there! Let go of my breasts! Don''t put your hand inside my shorts! Nngh~! Fuck! Y-Yes!"
George put his hands inside Selina''s shorts and he immediately thrust a finger inside her pussy and Seline felt electricity travel through her entire body as she thrust her hip up to meet George''s finger! Selina spread her legs slightly to give him more ess.
Selina was about to just stop resisting and allow George do what he wanted, but she seemed toe back to her senses suddenly and she growled angrily as a tick mark appeared on her forehead!
"I said get away from me, you bastard!"
Smack!
"Ah~ Selina-chan hit me~!"
"That''s because you''re an idiot!"
Ring! Ring! Ring!
The man''s phone suddenly went off and his expression quickly shifted from yful and easy-going to a hard look that made the woman sober up as well. He picked up the call and answered in a hard tone.
"What is it?"
"Begin the n, George. Everything is in position."
George nced at Selina and she nodded to tell him that it was okay before looking through her phone again. George spoke up to the person on the phone.
"Alright, we''ll start now. Did you get the room number?"
"The informant said Room 122. While you''re there, try to get a hold of the little package along with therger one. If you can''t, then prioritize therger one. She is more important for the n. The little one is simply a contingency."
"Aye Aye, captain."
The call was clicked off after George''s response and he stood up and stretched before putting his hand out to help Selina up. Selina looked at the hand for a second before ring at him, and George just smiled at her. Selina finally sighed and took his hand to stand up.
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"I guess we better start. It''s going to get really loud very soon. You have the map, right?" George said this while finishing off his stretches, and he turned to Selina when she started to look through her bag for the pocket with the map. She spoke up once she found it.
"Yeah, yeah, I have it. I can''t believe they are going through this much trouble just for a newbie SOVEREIGN. He doesn''t even have his training wheels off yet and they''re treating him like the end of the world or something. It took more than a year to train those anima, especially the Eldritch, and they''re already using them before the n even starts."
George pointed at himself and then to Selina.
"Well, we''re only S rank. He''d kick both our asses in a straight fight."
A tick mark appeared on Selina''s head before she growled at George.
"This is exactly why I can''t fall in love with you! You''re supposed to be saying, ''No one can win against me'' or ''I''ll protect you'' at a time like this, aren''t you!? How can you say you''re in love with me if you can''t even say that much!? You spineless bastard!"
"Ehh? But it''s just the truth! Why would I lie like that!? If I try to protect you against someone like Mark, I''ll die!"
Selina growled in irritation before she just told him to start moving! She jumped off the crate, and George sighed as he followed behind her whiel licking the finger he had put inside her.
"I wish we could have done it one more time."
¡
The Tokyo Majin festival was still going on at the base of the mountain. Mark, Arit, and Luna were watching the festival from the back porch of the hotel. Even though there were now fewer people than there had been at the start of the evening, Mark could still see a significant number of people walking around the festival streets and trying out the games.
Even though it was nearing midnight, it seemed some people were not yet satisfied.N?v(el)B\\jnn
But Mark could feel that something was wrong. Mark couldn''t exactly pinpoint the reason behind this feeling, but it was the same feeling that Mark had earlier today when they wereing to the festival. A feeling like someone was watching them.
Luna was the first to notice Mark''s tense expression, and she asked him if there was something wrong. Arit had dozed off on Mark''s shoulder, and Luna had been looking for a way to talk more with Mark since it was just the both of them. Once she noticed that Mark was no longer calm, she immediately spoke up.
Mark''s eyes narrowed as he red at the ocean in the distance.
"Something''sing."
Luna blinked in surprise as she turned to the ocean as well. What in the world was Mark talking about? Luna spread out her senses to see if she could feel what Mark felt, and at first, she didn''t sense anything. But after a few seconds, Luna''s eyes widened in shock!
"An anima."
BOOOOOMMMMM!!
The sound of an explosion made Arit shoot up from her sleep in shock! She started to look around, wondering what was going on, and it didn''t take long for her to see exactly what happened.
The festival was on fire.
A massive explosion had gone off under some of the festival stalls, and now there was a raging fire burning in the center of therge festival, and people were running away from the mes in fear. The sound of nes passing overhead made all three of them look up, and Mark already started to take off his kimono as he knew exactly what was going to happen. He turned to Luna with a shout!
"Luna, do you have any ranged spells!? I need you to shoot those nes down! Now!"
Luna''s attention snapped back to Mark once she heard him shout, and she immediately nodded. Mark pointed to the nes in the sky and told her to aim directly for the cockpit so that the spell would hit the pilot!
Luna was stunned by the order, but she knew that Mark wouldn''t just attack that ne for no reason. If he was asking her to kill the pilots, then there had to be a good reason for it! She would ask him for an exnationter!
Luna raised her hand, and grabbed a hold of the moisture in the air all around them! The moisture began to gather together and solidify until they formed three long icicles with pointed ends that were more than three meters long! Luna aimed them toward the nes before firing!
THWOOM!
The icicles flew towards the nes, but just before they could hit, the cargo hold of the nes opened up and released their cargo! Arit''s eyes widened as she saw something that she never thought she would see in her life.
"Are those¡ anima?"
Chapter 370 Dont F*cking Talk To Me!
"Are those¡ anima?"
Mark could hear the sheer disbelief in Arit''s voice and he couldn''t me her. Even Mark was shocked by the sheer number of Anima that was being dropped from the nes.
The nes flying over the festival were dropping hordes of anima from their cargo hold. Each of the nes held about fifteen anima. So right now, there were forty-five anima free-falling from the sky anding right toward the ind!
SLAM!
BOOM!
The icicles mmed into the nes, and the nes blew up in a fiery explosion from the force of the impact, but that didn''t matter anymore since the pilots had already dropped off their cargo! The anima continued their freefall and the people on the ind all stopped and turned to look up in fear and awe at the sheer number of monstersing towards them.
But even in the midst of theing carnage, Mark could still feel that tense sensation somewhere deep inside him. The feeling that there was still something elseing. Something that a ne couldn''t carry even if it wanted to.
Mark''s eyes moved towards the docks where many boats and ships were floating in the water, and his hand tensed as he saw the waves slowly smashing against the pier. The water level started to rise sharply, and the boats that were docked there all began to fall over and sink from the intense waves as something huge began to emerge from the water.
Mark turned to his system immediately.
[Does the User wish to send Stat points to the specified Stat? Yes/No]
[Does the User wish to send Skill points to the specified Skill? Yes/No]
Mark chose "yes" in both options and watched as his system sent the remaining stat and skill points he had to what he chose.
¡
The user has added 250 Stat points to Mana.
The user has added 200 Stat points to Strength.
¡
The user has added 200 Skill points to Mana Cirction
Current Mana Cirction: B Rank [0/1600]n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
[Stat Improvements Due to Application of Mana]
Strength: +34%
Stamina: +30%
Agility: +20%
Durability: +20%
¡
SUPERHUMAN SYSTEM
Name: Mark Vanitas
Race: Human
Title: [He Who Perseveres Through Hell. [+10% increase to all stats.]] [He Who Defies Destiny] [Mortal Legend [3%]]
Rank: EPIC RANK I [7395/10000]
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Affiliation: Uwful Neutral
Unused Stat Points: 0
Unused Skill Points: 300
¡
Strength: 3080 [+308] [+756] [+90]
Stamina: 1900 [+190] [+380] [+57]
Agility: 1750 [+175] [+250] [+53]
Durability: 1760 [+176] [+176] [+53]
Mana: 2415 [+241] [+72]
¡
Mark still had some unused skill points that he could add to any of the skills, but he knew that it would be useless since the number of points needed to make any of his skills level up right now was all higher than three hundred.
It would be more sensible for Mark to wait a bit so that he could get more points from killing anima and then add the points to the skill that he wanted to level upter.
Mark narrowed his eyes as he tossed his kimono aside. He was wearing a singlet and a pair of ck joggers underneath, and he immediately summoned the Armor of Ares and put it on his chest, allowing it to expand into the military vest that protected his chest and shoulders.
Arit turned to Mark when she saw him toss his kimono away and she felt fear fill her heart when she followed his eyes and noticed what he had been looking at all this time. Mark wasn''t even giving the anima dropping from the sky a second nce! Instead, he was watching the giant bulge in the ocean that was slowly growing bigger and bigger!
The bulge already lookedrge enough to be a sunken ship rising from the water, but it was still growing!
[Alert! Alert! This is a public announcement from the City F Superhuman Agency! Multiple anima have been spotted in the airspace above the city! The time of impact is predicted to be in twenty seconds! All festival goers and citizens are urged to return to their hotels bunkers or ask the staff stationed around the festival for directions to the nearest bunker!
This is not a drill! All citizens and festival goers are advised to return to their hotels -]
BOOOOOMMMMM!!!!
ROARRRRRRR!!
The sound of a massive implosion from the ocean cut off what the announcer was about to say on the public announcement system, and Mark cursed as he finally saw what wasing. That was definitely not a Cmity.
"An Elder Eldritch."
Luna''s eyes were wide in shock as she looked at the giant anima that had emerged from the ocean. This anima was different from the one that Mark fought in the assessment previously! The anima was tall enough to reach the top of a skyrise building andrge enough to cover an entire football field with its body!
It had a simr appearance to an octopus, with eight tentacles swaying around it agitatedly and arge bowling ball-like head! When it lifted its body off the ground, it revealed arge mouth lined with multiple rows of ragged teeth, and its two red eyes red out at everything beneath it through slit holes. It was like a monster straight out of a Lovecraft novel.
[Oh my god! W-What the hell is that!? An anima just came from the fucking ocean! Run! Everybody close to the docks is going to die! Run away from there!
Please, if there is anyone that can fight an Eldritch! We need help at the docks!]
The public announcer wasn''t even trying to be professional anymore as she shouted at the top of her lungs for everybody to run! Mark saw multiple superhumans running towards the festival to intercept the anima, and Mark quickly turned to Arit.
"Go and make sure Talia is fine. Find the bunker, and both of you should stay in it until I get back."
Arit was not happy about this at all!
"Wait! You want to go and fight that monster!? It''s huge!"
Arit knew what Mark wanted to do and she hated the fact that she couldn''t do anything to help Mark at all! Arit already knew that there was no one else on this ind that could fight against that Eldritch except for Mark, but that does not mean that Arit wanted him to go and risk his life against something like that!
Arit had already gotten used to Mark leaving her behind to go and fight against monsters, but she has never seen a monster that was on the same level as that Eldritch! Honestly, Arit just felt useless right now.
Arit wanted to make sure that Mark would be alright by being there with him, but she also knew that she couldn''t do that because of how much effort they were putting into making sure that her secret wasn''t exposed. If Arit tried to run into battle with Mark, then all their hard work would be wasted!
"I''m with him, so nothing bad will happen. I''ll watch his back, don''t worry."
Luna suddenly spoke up from behind Arit while giving Mark a nod with a serious look on her face. Luna had already thrown her kimono to the side as well. On the inside, she wore a white and ck Calvin Klein sports bra and a pair of running pants that hugged her body criminally, showing off her long legs.
Even though Luna had been enjoying the festival, she was still conscious enough of any possible danger to wear an outfit that would allow her to jump into a fight whenever she needed to.
Arit turned to re at Luna in anger once she heard her talk! Arit didn''t want to hear that some other woman would be beside Mark right now!
"I wasn''t fucking talking to you!"
Luna recoiled in shock as she saw Arit''s poison-yellow eyes ring into her soul!
Chapter 371 The Advent Of Carnage
What the hell is that!? It was only thanks to Luna''s calm demeanor that she didn''tsh out at Arit in instinctual defense! Once Luna saw those eyes, Luna almost attacked Arit on reflex! Arit''s eyes were just like anima''s eyes!
Arit was not happy at all that Luna was going to be with Mark! Why does Arit have to go into hiding while Luna stays with Mark!? It wasn''t right!
Mark quickly turned Arit back to him and held her shoulders to make sure she was paying attention to what he was saying.
"Arit, I''m trusting you with this! Find Talia, take her to the bunker, protect her! I don''t know where the bunker is, so you have to find Talia and get there right now, do you understand!?"
Arit was obviously still not happy, but when she looked up at MArk''s serious gaze, she bit her lip hard enough to draw blood before she looked away and eventually nodded in agreement. Since Mark was trusting her with this, Arit decided that she was going to do it. Arit turned to the hotel and, after giving Mark onest nce, she ran in to find Talia.
Once Arit left, Mark narrowed his eyes at the giant Eldritch ss anima on the horizon. It looked massive even from this far away, and Mark knew it would be evenrger once he got closer. Mark could only imagine how much damage something like that could do. They had to get over there as quickly as possible.
Slowly, Mark''s mouth began to split into a grin as he felt his heart rate increasing.
"We need to call for reinforcements. This isn''t something that the two of us can handle on our own."
Luna suddenly spoke up, and Mark turned to her in surprise when he heard the cautious tone she was using. Mark didn''t think someone like Luna would be afraid of a mere Eldritch ss. Wasn''t she used to fighting things like this already? She had been a Sovereign for almost two years now, so she should have fought something thisrge at least once before.
Luna could almost hear Mark''s thoughts just from the expression on his face and she shook her head.
"A high Eldritch is nothing like what you fought in that assessment. It is in an entirely different ss of its own and seeing one thisrge is next to impossible. This is a first for me. I have only fought a high Eldritch smaller than this one when my guild was working together with the government. Alec Ben was with us, and we still suffered heavy casualties just to bring it down.
Although that was a year ago and I am stronger than I was back then, I don''t know if we can handle this monster on our own without any help. This is a monster that can destroy the entire continent if it is left unchecked. If we are reckless and end up getting defeated, this entire ind would sink in less than an hour."
So even that speedster SOVERIGN being there wasn''t enough to take down the Eldritch without casualties? Was it really that strong?
Mark didn''t like being afraid of a monster before even facing it, but he couldn''t just disregard Luna''s opinions either. If she thought that the Eldritch was dangerous enough that they would need reinforcements, then he didn''t mind her calling for more help.
KA-BOOM!!
BOOM!
ROARRRRRRR!!!
The sound of a massive explosion resounded across the ind once more as the Elder Eldritch continued its destructive march forward. Mark shook his head and spoke up while crouching.
"We can call for reinforcements on the way. Let''s first get over there. The monster is going to keep moving regardless of what we do, so we have to at least stop it from getting to the festival."
Mark understood that they might be walking into a fight that was far above their abilities, but he decided not to think too much about it as he and Luna shed towards the festival faster than the speed of sound!
BOOM!
He and Luna were the only things standing between this ind andplete annihtion, so he would do what he had to do to protect the ind till the end!
---
New Mission Alert: Defeat the Invading Anima
The ind of City F has been invaded by arge number of anima. Join the other superhumans on the ind and deal with the invading anima.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Rewards:
+50 Stat points +50 skill points for every low-level Cmity ss killed
+150 Stat points +150 skill points for every high-level Cmity ss killed
...
Extra Mission Parameters:
There is currently an Eldritch ss anima attacking the ind. The system has deduced that the User is still not capable of winning against the Eldritch ss Anima alone, so the User will be rewarded points based on his contribution to the subjugation of this anima.
...
[The Effects of [He Who Defies Destiny] have been Activated]
[The User currently has (1) ally fighting at his side. All stats will receive a 10% boost. The stats of all allies fighting alongside the user will receive a 20% boost.]
...
[The Effects of Mortal Legend have been activated]
[The User currently has 2 million fans. All stats will receive a 2% boost]
...
[On The City Streets]
"All civilians need to get to the hotels! Move! Move!"
BOOM!
"What the fuck is that thing! Is that an anima? It has a human face!"
"It doesn''t matter! Just keep it here while the civilians are evacuating! It''s a cmity! If it gets past us, then they''re all dead!" Continue your adventure with empire
"Mummy! I can''t find my mummy!"
"Shit,e on kid! We''ll find your mummyter!"
KA-BOOM!
A loud explosion resounded across the area as one of the superhumans used her blessing to blow up the ground in front of the anima, pushing it back when it tried to take a step forward! The anima roared in anger as it fell back on its ass!
It swung its arm in a wide arc to try and grab the superhumans near it, but they quickly jumped back to avoid the arm while activating their most destructive spell!
Even though they were all attacking at the same time with their strongest spells, the most they could do was to hold the anima back. Their spells weren''t strong enough for them to seriously injure it.
"Keep the anima here! Don''t let it get to the forest!"
"There''s another one in the forest! The civilians are going right towards it!"
"There''s an S rank there! They can take care of it before the civilians get there. We need to focus on this one!"
It was absolute carnage on the festival grounds as superhumans tried their best to deal with the many anima that dropped from the sky! The superhumans present at the festival were mainly B and C ranks, so it took many of them to handle even one of the anima that dropped.
As time went on, the superhumans began to realize that they didn''t have the power necessary to handle something like this on their own!
There were only forty superhumans in the region with more than thirty anima, and since many of them were B and C ranked with only seven A ranks and a single S rank, they needed to team up to handle even one of the anima. This meant that there were many anima that were allowed to roam freely without any superhumans there to keep them in check or kill them!
Chapter 372 The Struggles Of The Weak
One of the superhumans on the ground, a man who came for the festival with his family and had toe out to help the civilians once the announcement was made, grunted as he raised his hand to bring up a mass of earth, protecting some civilians that were about to be crushed by the anima.
He was an A-rank superhuman with a minor blessing from Gaia, the goddess of the earth, that allowed him to control rocks to a certain degree.
"Go! Run to the hotel! Follow the C-rank superhumans evacuating people! Don''t go towards the S-rank battling the anima in the forest! Run in the other direction! I''ll try to hold it off here!"
The man shouted to the civilians once he was sure that other superhumans were drawing the anima''s attention, and the civilians shouted their thanks before they started running. The man turned back to the giant anima with a grimace on his face as he erected another barrier in front of him to prevent the anima from crushing a B-rank that got too close.
What the fuck was going on right now? What the hell are these things? The man had never seen anima that looked like these before. Each head on the anima looked like a human head, and the anima also had multiple hands and legs that were struggling for control over therger body!
If not for the fact that they were acting like anima, the man would have thought that this was some sort of prank that was being yed on them!
There were also normal-looking anima among the horde. A giant crab-based anima that was trying to use its giant pincers to tear a woman in two was running towards the forest, and another small snake-like anima with two heads was spitting venom at an A-rank who was protecting himself using a wind-based blessing. But the majority of the anima in the horde were human-anima hybrids!
BOOM!
"Shit! West, we need protection over here!"
West quickly poured out mana and erected a giant earth-based shield to protect one of the superhumans who were about to be crushed! He ran towards where the superhuman was and created a giant earthnce that he shot at the anima with intense force!
Squelch!
"Rarrrgh!"
Thence mmed into one of the anima''s heads, and it roared in anger as it began to thrash around in pain! This gave them enough time to move away from the anima''s range of attack and retreat so they could regroup and make a new n for attacking!
This was fucking useless!
"We''re not going to do anything to it at this rate! We''re only stalling it without causing any real damage!"
"That''s the best we can do! This is a cmity! We have to wait for an S-rank or one of the higher-ranked A-ranks toe here! They''re the only ones that can kill it!"
West grit his teeth in anger as he looked around to see if there was anything they could do! He refused to just stand here like a victim and allow this thing to kill them! What happens if the S-ranks and A-ranks don''te!? They would just be waiting for the anima to kill them!
West raised his hand and prepared to send another spike at the anima, but he was cut off by a calm voice before he could activate the skill.
"Watch out behind you."
"What!?"
West turned around in fear, expecting to see another anima there, but instead, he saw a sea of blue icences shing through the air! Hundreds of ice spikes sharpened to a point and longer than West was tall, flew past him as they descended upon the battlefield!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The spikes mmed into the anima around West, stabbing through each of them and impaling them to the ground easily! West''s eyes widened as he saw who created the ice. It was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life. Her white hair was tied behind her head in a ponytail that flowed in the wind,plementing her fair skin and deep blue eyes perfectly.
The woman was standing on a branch of a tree in the distance, but West could easily see her eyes glowing a powerful blue as massive amounts of mana flowed from her in waves. She released a calm sigh, and a puff of visible cold air wafted from her mouth and into the surroundings. West had never been more attracted to anyone in his life.
"It''s Luna! A SOVEREIGN is here! We''re saved!"
"Luna of the Moonlight Guild!? You''re right, it''s her!"N?v(el)B\\jnn
"Yes!! We made it!"
The superhumans all started to shout in joy as they recognized who it was. It was Luna, the leader of the Moonlight Guild! They all knew her, so they knew that there was no way the anima stood a chance now that a SOVEREIGN was here with them!
Luna surveyed the battlefield quickly from her vantage point, and her eyes narrowed as she saw that the anima were all spread out in a very random way. She wouldn''t be able to get all of them at the same time if they were scattered like this.
[Madam Luna, do you need aid? We are currently engaging a group of cmity sses on the other side of the festival grounds, but we cane to you in a moment if you need us there.]
A voice suddenly sounded from Luna''sms, and Luna immediately recognized who it was. It was one of her vice-captains who came to the festival with her. The vice-captain and some of the other members of Luna''s guild were at the other end of the festival when the animas attacked, so they were currently trying to help out over there.
Luna put her hand to her ear and responded to her vice-captain calmly.
"I don''t need help, just make sure that no one dies. Are Tina and Turner with you?"
[Yes, ma''am. Tina tried to run to your location to meet up with GHOST, but we managed to subdue her and make her help out. They are both providing support for the weaker superhumans.]
Luna hummed in understanding as she created an icence and sent it toward an anima that was about to kill one of the superhumans. The anima was pierced through the head and died on the spot! Luna knew that it was difficult to handle Tina, so she was happy that her vice-captain was able to do it.
"I''m currently handling the anima on the east face of the mountain with GHOST. Once we are done here, we''ll make our way to the Eldritch that appeared. If you finish off the anima on that side quickly enough, then those without injuries can join us at the pier and help in evacuating the survivors."
[Yes, ma''am. I''ll pass on the orders.]
The vice-captain responded respectfully before clicking off the call, and Luna eyed the anima below her once more.
Chapter 373 Web Of Deciet
Luna suddenly caught sight of something on the edge of her vision, and Luna turned to her side in surprise to see that Mark was already crouching on the branch beside her. When did he get here?
Mark had been helping out an S-rank in the forest who was fighting a high-level cmity. There were a lot of civilians moving towards the hotel, so Mark had to help the S-rank to make sure that the cmity was killed as quickly as possible so the civilians wouldn''t be harmed while moving through the forest.
Luna noticed that Mark was now wearing a face mask that she had never seen him wear before. It was made from a ck carbon-fiber hybrid material with a metallic gleam, and there were two circr filters on each side of the mask that released a puff of white air every time Mark released a deep breath.
Luna thought itplimented Mark''s sharp gaze perfectly and allowed him to look even more imposing than normal. Since his hair was now a little longer than before, Mark''s hair came down the side of his face and only made Mark more mysterious with his ck eyes standing out even more sharply than they usually did! Luna almost felt like reaching out to touch his face.
"What are you doing? Why haven''t you killed them already?"
Luna was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts as Mark spoke up in a gruff voice. He turned his sharp gaze towards Luna, and Luna realized that she had been spacing out pointlessly in the middle of a fight. She had to get her mind back into focus.
Luna turned to the fight again and told Mark what she was worried about. She wouldn''t be able to kill all the anima in one go since they were spread out so randomly. If she just tried to attack pointlessly, then she might hit some of the superhumans.
Normally, her guild members would be responsible for rounding up the anima before allowing her to kill all of them, but right now, she had to think of another way to draw the anima together.
Mark thought about it for a moment, and he was able toe up with a solution rather quickly.
"I''ll act as bait and draw as many as possible towards me. Use that chance to snipe them."
Mark only said this before he shed away from the branch they had been standing on and reappeared in the middle of the battlefield! Luna was stunned by Mark''s statement; she had no idea how Mark wanted to draw their attention to him, but she decided that she would trust him since he sounded so sure of himself.
Luna raised her hand in the air, and a massive blue light shone above her as she poured mana out from her body. After the lessons that Luna had with Merlin, Luna''s mana control and output were now much higher than they once were. Luna had repurposed her mana so that it worked in a different way from before.
Now, instead of her just using all of her mana for anything, Luna could use parts of her mana for different magical tasks. This allowed Luna''s mana that had been repurposed for her to use for magic spells to be almost twice as potent as it once was!
The superhumans who were close to Luna were all stunned by the iridescent blue glow that appeared in the air above her! They looked up to see what Luna was about to do, and theypletely missed the moment Mark appeared in their midst in a sh of lightning!
Mark looked around at all the anima that were remaining and he activated a skill.
[Taunting [Web of Deceit]] has been activated.
[Due to its low level, only 25% of the monsters in the area have been affected.]
ROARR!
RARRHHH!!
GRAHH!
Loud roars echoed through the region as the anima influenced by the spell all turned their attention to Mark and started running toward him with reckless abandon! Their eyes were red and bloodshot as they ignored all the other superhumans and started running at Mark.N?v(el)B\\jnn
The superhumans who had been fighting those anima were shocked when the anima suddenly started to leave, but Mark ignored the anima and humans as he turned off the skill and activated it again.
[Taunting [Web of Deceit]] has been activated.
[Due to its low level, only 55% of the monsters in the area have been affected.]
The skill turned on for a second time, and this time more monsters were affected by the skill. They all started to run toward Mark as well, and Mark raised his hand and activated [Lightning Surge] when a vicious anima tried to m into him! The anima was electrocuted by hundreds of thousands of volts and it recoiled in pain and mmed into another anima behind it.
Mark quickly deactivated his skill and reactivated it again.
[User has killed [3] High-Level Cmity.]
The anima that Mark electrocuted was immediately fried from the massive amount of electricity. Since Mark had already killed two anima beforeing to this main street, that meant he didn''t kill the second anima he hit with the electrocuted one. Mark decided to just ignore that anima and turned his attention back to using his skill.
[Taunting [Web of Deceit]] has been activated.
[Due to its low level, only 65% of the monsters in the area have been affected.]
This should be enough.
There were about twenty anima still alive in the area, and now Mark had summoned more than two-thirds of them. Mark deactivated his skill and jumped out from their midst as the anima tried to dogpile him in the middle. There were still some anima left that didn''t fall for Mark''s taunting skill, but now that they had been reduced this much, it would be far easier for Mark to handle them!
Mark could have just gone around killing all the anima on his own, but he knew that it would be dangerous to do that while all the superhumans were getting attacked. The time it would take him to kill the anima could result in the death of a few people, and Mark didn''t want to take the risk.
Mark''s eyes shed with blue lightning as he suddenly sted off toward the nearest anima! He grabbed it by the face and activated [Lightning Surge], frying its brain as he carried it along toward the next anima! This anima was fighting against a female superhuman that looked to be on herst leg.
Her shoulder had been broken and there was blood leaking from her forehead as she tried her best to hold off the cmity!
Mark suddenly appeared from nowhere and mmed the anima he was carrying into the head of the second anima! The anima roared in pain as they collided, and Mark drew back his hand like a de and shot it forward to pierce through both their heads at the same time!
SQUELCH!
The sound of their skulls being pierced was enough to make the female superhuman shiver in fear! She was already on the grass, breathing heavily while staring up at Mark in awe. The woman had been fighting against that monster for almost ten minutes without ever feeling like she would win.
She thought she was already dead when her shoulder broke, but Mark was able to handle the monsters so brutally in seconds.
Mark turned around to look at the woman for a second and her breath hitched when Mark spoke to her through his mask.
"Are you okay?"
The woman nodded quickly as a small blush crept up her face.
Chapter 374 Divide And Conquer
"Are you okay?"
The woman nodded quickly as a small blush crept up her face.
Mark didn''t say anything more before he disappeared toward the next anima that was attacking a superhuman!
"So GHOST is really a SOVEREIGN. Seriously, I''ve been fighting as a superhuman for years, and he surpassed me so easily. I''m pathetic."
The woman sighed depressingly as she watched Mark tearing apart the anima that attacked him before using some strange skill to cut another anima in half. The woman had been an A rank for more than two years now and she knew that there was nothing that she could do to improve her rank anymore, so seeing Mark grow in strength so quickly was making herment about her own life.
The woman had to turn away from Mark after a while when the sky glowed with an iridescent blue light!
Once Mark finished rounding up the anima at the center of the battlefield, Luna wasted no time activating her mana! The water moisture in the air in front of her rotated into a brilliant elliptical pattern that glowed a bright blue with the amount of mana that she was putting into it.
There were about twenty anima all gathered together in one spot, so Luna gauged just how much power she would need to kill all of them at once, and she unleashed her spell once she was sure that no superhumans were in the area anymore.N?v(el)B\\jnn
"Ice Lance!"
PHWOOM!!
RATATATATATATATATATA!
More than fiftynces create from ice shot out of the air and at the anima, tearing into them and nailing some of them into the ground before they were decimated! Luna''s face remained impassive as she focused on making sure all of the anima were properly killed!
Once she was sure that they were dead, she turned her attention back to where Mark was to see how he was doing against the remaining anima, and she smiled when she saw him standing on top of a pile of corpses while looking at her expectantly.
Mark had just finished killing thest anima, and now his kill count had reached ten.
[User has killed [4] High-level Cmity ss Anima [+600 Stat points +600 Skill points]]
[User has killed [6] Low-Level Cmity ss Anima [+300 Stat points +300 Skill points]]
Mark was only waiting for Luan to finish her own part, and once he saw that she was done, Mark nodded his head toward the giant monster in the distance to tell Luna that they had to go there right away. The time from when they started fighting the anima hadn''t even been five minutes, but Mark knew that the giant anima must''ve already done a lot of damage in only that short time.
[Does the user wish to send stat points to the selected stats? (Yes/No)]
[Does the user wish to send skill points to the selected skills? (Yes/No)]
Mark chose yes to both prompts as he and Luna started making their way to the pier, and the system sent the points to the stats and skills that he chose.
¡
[User has sent 300 points to Strength]
[User has sent 200 points to Mana]
[User has sent 200 points to Stamina]
[User has sent 100 points to Agility]
[User has sent 100 points to Durability]
¡
SUPERHUMAN SYSTEM
Name: Mark Vanitas
Race: Human
Title: [He Who Perseveres Through Hell. [+10% increase to all stats.]] [He Who Defies Destiny] [Mortal Legend]
Rank: EPIC RANK I [8095/10000]
Affiliation: Uwful Neutral
Unused Stat Points: 0
Unused Skill Points: 0
Strength: 3380 [+338] [+1352] [+56]
Stamina: 2100 [+210] [+735] [+38]
Agility: 1850 [+185] [+370] [+36]
Durability: 1860 [+186] [+372] [+36]
Mana: 2615 [+261] [+44]
¡
[User has sent 300 skill points to Mana Cirction]
Current Mana Cirction: B Rank [300/1600]
[Stat Improvements Due to Application of Mana]
Strength: +40%
Stamina: +35%
Agility: +20%
Durability: +20%
¡
[User has sent 300 skill points to Blunt Force Trauma]
Current Rank: B Rank [302/1600]
Probability ofnding a Critical Attack: +32% for every sessful consecutive hit.
Probability ofnding a Divergent Attack [exponential 2.5 per attack]: +6% for every sessful consecutive hit.
¡ Explore more stories at empire
[User has sent 300 skill points to Full Body Constitution]
Current full Body Constitution: Demonic Void Apostle: 300/800
¡
[User has sent 300 skill points to Demonic Killer''s Aura]
Current Rank: C Rank [400/800]
Effects Due to Current Rank:
100% Chance of instilling [Fear] in weaker opponents
13% Chance of instilling [Fear] in Stronger opponents
50% Decrease in the fighting abilities of all opponents under [Fear] condition.
[This skill will receive a hundred percent boost upon use due to the effects of the Demonic Void Apostle Constitution]
¡
In the forest surrounding the hotel, two figures raced through the grounds, swerving around the trees effortlessly while heading towards the hotel in the distance. As the two figures got closer, they stopped just at the edge of the forest and watched the many civilians that were running into the building like a herd of sheep.
The two people were George and Selina, the mysterious superhumans who snuck onto the ind just before the Eldritch ss monster attacked. Selina brought out her phone from her pocket and began to scroll through it with a small frown on her face. On her back, she carried a long ck bag that looked very heavy. George watched Selina working with a calm expression.
Even though George was a very entric person who liked to y around a lot when he and Selina were together, he knew that a job was a job, so he tried his best to reign in his yful nature so that they could finish the job without issues.
After some time, Selina nodded and pocketed her phone again.
"It''s been confirmed, GHOST is on the move towards the docks, and he is with the other SOVEREIGN, Luna. The hotel is unprotected. How are we going to do this? Do you think they will be in the same ce?"
Selina looked towards George curiously, and George hummed while tilting his head. He put his hand on his chin and thought for a few seconds before a silly smile appeared on his face. Selina narrowed her eyes at that smile, and George realized that he had unconsciously gone back to his silly ways before schooling his features again.
"Arit doesn''t have any powers as far as we know, but we should still be careful. They told us that she was with the anima on the ind for a while before she was rescued, so they could''ve done something to her. The little girl, Talia, is going to be more of an issue. Her power is too versatile since she is a summoner type. I think we should join the crowd and get close to them first.
If they''re together, then we can just take them both, but if they aren''t, then we might have to split up and find the missing one."
Selina nodded her agreement to the n, and she started to look around for a good ce where they could join the crowd. George noticed that Selina wasn''t going to say anything about his brilliant n, and he pouted and folded his arms while giving Selina a dirty look. Once Selina saw the look on his face, she almost burst outughing from how ugly it was! What the hell was wrong with him!?
Chapter 375 In The Middle Of A Crowd, The Strongest Lung Is King
"W-Why the hell do you look like that? What are you doing?"
"Selina-chan didn''t praise me! I brought up a good n, didn''t I!? Praise me!"
Bam!
"Holy Fuck! What the fuck, Selina!?"
Selina immediately kicked George''s shin when he started shouting, and George yelled as he felt a sharp pain shoot up through his leg and into his brain! That fucking hurt!
Selina red at George in embarrassment while talking.
"Stop calling me that ''chan'' nonsense, you idiot! It''s embarrassing!! And you''re a grown man, why do I need to praise you for being able to think of a good n like a man should!? Shut up and let''s go, you big baby!"
Selina quickly started moving towards a crowd that was making its way into the hotel, but just before she turned away, George was able to catch a small blush that was on her face, and he chuckled in satisfaction while stretching his leg to try and relieve the pain. Selina was such a tsundere.
"Wait for me, Selina-chan~!"
George followed behind Selina with a silly look on his face, and Selina tried her best to ignore him as they easily merged into the crowd of people moving to the hotel.
Inside the hotel, Arit was trying her best to find where Talia was. In the midst of all the hustle and bustle, Arit forgot that Mark hadn''t put Talia in their room to rest. Mark said that he put Talia with Greg and his family, but Arit hadpletely forgotten about that and she ended up going to their room first to see if Talia was there.
Once Arit didn''t see her there, she remembered that Talia was with Greg''s family, and she started to move towards Greg''s room. But, unfortunately, Arit had already wasted a substantial amount of time by going to their room first, and by the time Arit made it to Greg''s room, Greg had already taken his family and left with Talia.
Arit was sure that they were going towards the bunker with all the other hotel guests, so she was currently on her way to the bunker to see if she could find Talia there.
[Please maintain orderly conduct while making your way to the bunker. There is more than enough space for every guest. Keep an eye on your family members. Parents should please hold on to their children, and all children without their guardians should go to any superhumans present in the bunker for aid. Please maintain orderly conduct while making your way to the bunker.
There is more than enough space for...]
Arit tuned out the announcement that was being repeated through the public announcement system while keeping an eye out for Talia and Greg. Every now and then she would call out their names to try and get their attention in case she missed them.
"Talia! Talia, where are you? Greg!"
"Robin! George!"
"Helga! I''m over here! Helga!"
"Meth! Get over here right now!"
But a lot of people in the hotel were also calling out loudly for their family members and this was drowning out Arit''s voice. Since there were so many people moving towards the bunker at the same time, it was inevitable that some people would get lost in the crowd, so they were all trying to find family members.
Arit knew that there was no way she would be able to locate Talia in this mess of people, so she decided to make her way to the bunker first. If she got there and didn''t find Talia, then she was going to break her way out and keep looking.
Arit went through thergemon area with hundreds of other guests who were all trying their best to move to the bunkers. The guests were pushing and shoving each other so much that it was impossible for Arit to take a single step without someone touching her.
Thankfully, Arit was strong enough to withstand their shoves, and some of them even fell over when they ran into her because of how much stronger she was than them.
"Talia, James, let''s go this way! We need to get to the bunker quickly!"
"Wait, big brother isn''t here yet!"
"Mark is probably out there fighting! He''lle back once he''s finished, I promise!"
Arit''s head suddenly snapped to the side when she heard a loud voice shouting from the crowd. That was Talia and Greg! She was sure of it! Arit looked around for a while, trying to pinpoint the exact location of the two of them, and her eyes lit up as she saw a group of four people walking down a small corridor with few people in it.
The corridor was on the other side of thergemon area, and Arit had to start shoving her way through people to try and get to that spot!n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om
"Talia! Talia, wait there, I''ming! Talia! Greg!"
Arit tried shouting over the crowd, but it almost seemed like the people around her were consciously trying to shout over her voice! Every time Arit raised her voice, they would also raise theirs, drowning out her shouts!
"Hugo! Where are you? Come to mommy!"
"Ryan! George!"
"Hey, no pushing! There are kids here!"
"What the hell are you doing!? You''re going to hurt someone!"
Arit began to push people out of the way as she made her way to the corridor. Greg and Talia were already disappearing around the corner, and she didn''t want to lose sight of them, so she constantly apologized to anyone she pushed while making her way through. Finally, after a few seconds, she managed to get through therge crowd and made her way to the corridor.
"Talia! Greg!"
Arit called out for both of them, and she smiled happily when Greg turned around to look at her with recognition in his eyes. Talia also saw her, and Talia raised her hand happily with a shout.
"Big Sister, Arit!"
BOOM!
The side of the corridor suddenly exploded just before Arit could get to Talia, and Arit was thrown into the wall of the corridor with intense force!
Bam!
Arit mmed hard against the wall, creating arge dent where she hit. She grunted in pain as she felt her skin scalding from the intense heat of the mes, and she crumpled to the ground. Enjoy exclusive adventures from empire
"An explosion! It''s an anima! It got into the hotel!"
"Run, we have to get to the bunker before it closes!"
The people in the corridor all started to run away, thinking there was an anima attacking them! There were no superhumans around, so the citizens knew that an anima attack now would lead to an absolute massacre. They ran in Greg''s direction, bumping into him and trying to shove him aside as they made their way to the bunker.
Greg tried his best to get past the crowd and reach Arit. Arit had taken the full impact of the explosion, so Greg was sure she would be seriously injured. But Greg couldn''t get far because of all the people bumping into him. If he used too much strength, Greg knew he could seriously hurt the citizens, so he was just slowly inching his way forward through the crowd.
But he didn''t get far before two shadows appeared from within the dust cloud. They stepped through the hole in the wall and stopped between Greg''s family and Arit.
Chapter 376 Youre Better With Crowds
Two people stepped through the hole in the wall and stopped between Greg''s family and Arit. Arit groaned as she slowly sat up from the floor, and Greg released a small sigh of relief when he saw that she wasn''t dead. Any normal person would have died or at least been knocked out from that kind of explosion, so Arit being conscious was a good sign.
Although Greg wondered how Arit was able to stay conscious after taking an explosion like that head-on, he didn''t have time to pay much attention to her as he felt a massive amount of pressureing from the people who had just walked through the hole in the wall.
Greg cautiously reached out for his wife''s hand and drew her close so that he was covering her with his body. Talia and James were hidden behind him as well, and Greg tried to calm his racing heart as his senses screamed about the danger in front of him.
Two people walked through the hole in the wall. The man had bright blond hair and wide green eyes that made him seem very nonchnt and harmless, meanwhile, the woman looked like the perfect description of a goth girl. She had ck hair and ck eyes that were lined with ck eyeliner and dark circles.
There was a lollipop in her mouth that she yed with constantly, and she carried arge ck bag on her back. In her right hand, there was a Glock 19 handgun that she was fiddling with. She brought out the cartridge and threw it behind her while ncing around.
Greg knew once he saw them that these weren''t normal people. They seemedid back and easygoing, but there was no doubt that these were extremely powerful superhumans! The pressure that they were releasing had to be at least S rank! It''s the same thing I felt when I was with Mark on that ind! Are they as strong as Mark was back then?
"Would you look at that, Selina~? They actually gathered together just for us~ I''m touched."
George hummed a nice tune under his breath as he put his hands in his pockets and let his eyes travel from Greg''s family over to Arit. Behind him, Selina was loading up the Glock 19. She clicked a new magazine into the gun and cocked it before using the butt of the gun to tap her temple in irritation.
"Let''s just get this over with. It''s gettingte and we haven''t even made it off the ind yet. They said they would dock our pay the longer we take, and I''m not going to lose money because of these idiots."
Arit was standing to their right, and to their left, Greg and his family were standing with Talia. George did not think it would be this easy to find them. He thought they would have to go around for a few hours or maybe even sneak into the bunker before they could get them.
It was only through sheer luck that George heard Arit shouting in that crowd earlier, and he told Selina that they should forget about trying to find Talia by themselves. Instead, they would allow Arit to find Talia first before they came in and grabbed both of them at the same time.
A foolproof n.
Selina knew that George''s n was actually brilliant and it saved them a lot of time and energy. If not for this n, then they might''ve had to fight through a lot of superhumans to get in and out of the bunker. But Selina was never going to tell George that. His head was big enough as it was, so Selina knew that praising him would be the worst thing she could do.
It would only make him more insufferable.
Selina suddenly spoke up while pointing her gun at Arit.
"Be careful of that one, she''s a superhuman as well. People don''t just walk away from my explosions if they''re normal. She even made a dent in the wall. I wonder what sort of blessing she has."
Selina knew that her explosions would have knocked out any normal person, so the fact that Arit was still conscious was enough proof that Arit was not a normal human.
George pped with a smile while pointing a hand toward Greg and his family.
"I''ll take care of her, Selina-chan. You''ve always been better with kids, so you take the group over there. Kill the parents, get rid of the boy, we only need the little girl."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om
Selina clicked her tongue.
"You just want to fight her because she''s a cute girl, don''t you?"
"Ah~ You wound me with your usations, Selina-chan. You know you''re the only one for me. I could never look at another beautiful, sexy woman with breasts like a goddess of lust! Holy shit, is this girl really a high schooler? Look at those breasts! Ahem ¨C I mean, I just think you are better at handlingrger groups than I am, Selina-chan~!"
Selina red at George in anger and thought for a moment about shooting him in the head for his stupidity, but she decided that she would have enough time to beat the shit out of himter. Instead, she followed his order and changed targets as she pointed her gun at Greg. Greg was standing in front of his family with a hard look on his face.
From the little that they heard, Greg could tell that they were here for Talia. Greg eyed the two superhumans warily.
Greg knew that he could try and outrun them. He was a child of Hermes, so he was faster than most superhumans, but he couldn''t abandon his family. Carrying all of them and running would slow him down and the S ranks would definitely catch up to him in no time. Maybe he should carry his wife and tell the kids to follow behind him? No, that wouldn''t work.
They might be superhumans, but they aren''t physically gifted like me. Talia''s power is focused on her high mana capacity and Greg still doesn''t know how to use his mana properly.
Think. Think. Think. What can I do to get us out of this?
Selina''s monotone voice rang out before Greg could even finish thinking.
"Hand over the girl and no one gets hurt. I''m a lot saner than that maniac over there, so I''m not going to kill you just for the fun of it. But that doesn''t mean I won''t kill you. So just do as I say and we''ll be on our way."
Greg slowly moved to cover Talia even more once he heard that and he started to look around while talking calmly.
"What do you want with her?"
"None of your business. Don''t make me fucking repeat myself."
Chapter 377 Are You Really A High Schooler? II
''We should have escaped with the crowd earlier.''
Greg thought this as he cursed internally. There was arge crowd of people running towards the bunker earlier, and Greg only stayed behind because he wanted to check up on Arit. If they had run with those people, then they wouldn''t be in this situation.
Selina pointed her gun at Greg''s forehead and Greg felt sweat gather on his neck as he wondered what sort of gun that was. A normal bullet would never hurt him, but with how confident Selina looked while holding it, it was obvious that the gun was not normal. Was it a part of her blessing?
Selina''s hand hovered over the trigger threateningly.
"I''m going to count to three and if you still don''tply, I''m going to start dropping bodies. One... Two..."
"Run!"
Greg shouted out to his wife as he dashed towards Selina at full speed! His wife wasted no time as she reached down to carry Talia and George followed behind her as they turned to run in the opposite direction! Greg knew that he couldn''t do much against Selina since she was obviously stronger than him, but that did not mean he would just stand by and allow his family to be hurt!
The only thing that Greg was confident in was his speed, so if he could get to Selina faster than she could react, then he might have a chance to catch her off guard and give his wife enough time to get away!
But Greg seriously underestimated the abilities of an S rank! Selina''s eyes easily followed Greg''s movement and she frowned in irritation as she moved her gun away from him and fired!
Bang!
Greg''s eyes widened in shock and he felt dread fill his entire body once he noticed that the bullet wasn''t headed for him! With how fast he was moving, it was almost like the bullet was moving in slow motion and his eyes followed the bullet''s trajectory as it passed him and raced for the person behind him! It was going to hit his wife!
Crack!
The ground under Greg''s feet cracked as Greg suddenly forced himself to stop! Greg turned quickly and poured all of his power into his legs as he sted off the ground faster than the bullet! Everything seemed to still be moving in slow motion for Greg as he reached his hand out desperately to his wife!
His face was contorted in fear and his vision was so focused on his wife that he didn''t even notice when he overshot the bullet easily! Greg closed the distance to his wife in less than 0.2 seconds, but with how quickly the bullet was moving, the only thing that he could do was grab her in a hug as the bullet struck him in the back!
KA-BOOM!N?v(el)B\\jnn
A massive explosion echoed through the hallway! James and Talia were thrown to the ground and blood sprayed through the corridor as the explosion propelled Greg''s body through a new hole on the other side of the hallway, exposing the forest behind the hotel.
"MUM! DAD!!"
James rushed to his feet as his parents were both thrown through the building wall and out into the forest. He was about to run after them, but Selina suddenly began walking towards him and Talia while checking her gun. James was torn between leaving to check on his parents and protecting Talia.
Talia was looking up at Selina in fear, and James knew that if he left now, Talia wouldn''t stand a chance against Selina on her own.
James bit his lip and stood his ground as his eyes narrowed into a nervous re. He desperately wanted to go and check on his parents, but his dad would be disappointed in him if he abandoned Talia. Talia looked up at James in shock and asked him what he was doing. Although James''s entire body was screaming at him to run, he still managed to give her a shaky smile.
"I told you I was going to be a hero, didn''t I? Mom and Dad will be okay, I know they will. So I''ll protect you."
Selina walked forward calmly while checking her gun to make sure there were no jammed bullets. Selina knew that firing at Greg wouldn''t work. He moved too fast, so it would be easy for him to dodge the bullet if she fired directly at him. But since he was willing to sacrifice himself for his family, it would be difficult for him to ignore a family member in danger.
Selina couldn''t fire at Talia because she needed her alive, and even though she was not the kindest person in the world, she still found it hard to shoot at children, so she fired at Greg''s wife instead. That way, she would be able to get rid of both Greg and his wife at the same time. Selina looked down and saw James ring up at her and she clicked her tongue in irritation as she ignored him.
She could tell that he was a superhuman, but he wasn''t anything worth worrying about.
Instead, she turned to Talia and spoke in a hard tone.
"Alright, kid, we''re gonna go on an excursion. Don''t be a pain in the ass and just follow me quietly."
...
Name: Selina Herald
Race: Human
Rank: S
Potential: A
Description: A superhuman blessed by Ares, the god of war and destruction. She possesses the unique ability to detonate her mana once it has been ejected from her body. This detonation ispletely automatic and urs the moment her manaes in contact with a foreign object.
Her fighting style involves the infusion of her mana into bullets, grenades, and other military weapons, which she can use to create extremely destructive attacks when unleashed. She was once a member of the army, but she did not see much of a future for herself in the army and left after gaining her powers in order to make more money.
Affiliation: Uwful Evil.
...
Talia was kneeling behind James, and she was also ring at Selina in anger as she refused to move! Selina raised an eyebrow as she saw this and sighed internally, knowing that Talia was going to make things difficult. She just wanted to get in and out of here without any stress. Just one job where everything went the way she wanted it to; was that so hard to ask for?
"Kid, you eithere with me yourself, or I''ll tie you up and drag you along. It''s your choice."
Talia still didn''t move. But even though no one could tell, Talia''s mana was currently pouring out from her body in a very thin wave that was traveling through the hotel. Talia knew that there was only one chance for her to get out of there, and that was if she could get to Teddy. James wouldn''t be able to hold Selina back for even a few seconds, but Teddy would be able to put up a good fight.
Teddy was on the other side of the hotel currently, and Talia could only barely feel its connection to her through her mana. If she could just send out a message, then Talia was sure it woulde and save them!
On the other side of the hallway, Arit stood opposite George while breathing heavily. George''s eyes trailed down Arit''s body, and he grinned and whistled.
"That GHOST really knows how to pick his girls. I mean, seventeen''s a bit too young for me, but I would''ve never been able to tell your age without reading your records. Your body is positively banging."
Chapter 378 Unexpected Reaction
"That GHOST really knows how to pick his girls. I mean, you''re too young for me, but I would''ve never been able to tell without reading your records."
Arit''s re hardened, and George chuckled. He was currently very rxed, and normally, Arit would''ve used a chance like this to quickly attack him and try to catch him off guard, but she knew she couldn''t do anything rash in front of this man.
Ever since she became an anima, Arit had be a lot better at telling how weak or strong a person was just by being near them. It was like a beast in the wild that could gauge another beast''s strength with just a single nce. And from what Arit could see, she knew that this man was dangerous.
He wasn''t even using anything to try and intimidate her, but Arit could just sense his pressure pressing down on her like a physical thing! Arit couldn''t do anything reckless right now.
She had to get over to the other side and help Talia get away from here, but Arit also knew that George was just waiting for her to make a wrong move so he could capitalize on it and catch her off guard!
Greg and his wife had been put out ofmission by the woman, and now Talia and James were alone! What could she do in a situation like this? Arit had to get to Talia and protect her! That was the only thing that mattered right now.
Arit had never been in a situation like this, facing off against enemies who were not only stronger than her but also willing to kill her. In response to the almost foreign situation, Arit reverted to the one thing she was most confident in: her ability to think.
Arit''s mind tried toe up with a way to get past these two superhumans, but no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn''t think of any way for them to win here!
But suddenly, a voice shouted in her head!
''Duck!''
"!"
Arit''s entire body vibrated as her instincts screamed at her about an iing danger! Arit jumped forward into a roll just in time to avoid a long object that shed across the hallway where she had been standing!
PHWOOSH!
The de cut through the wall of the hotel like it was made of butter and split the hallway clean in half. Arit turned her head to look at George in surprise! If she had remained where she was, she would have lost an arm!
What was that? A de!? Why did a de suddenly appear from nowhere!? And where did it go? Is it his blessing that did it?
George didn''t even seem to be paying attention to Arit as his right hand came up and he shed two fingers through the air.
''Stop thinking, you foolish girl! Stop thinking and move!''
Arit''s body suddenly jolted as a massive surge of adrenaline flowed through her veins! Arit''s eyes changed to poison yellow and her fingernails grew as a purple color began to spread on her neck! George''s eyes widened in surprise as he saw the transformation that was happening, and he couldn''t stop himself from taking a step back to try and put some distance between him and Arit.
What the hell was that!?
Arit herself didn''t know what was happening to her right now. Usually, whenever Arit transforms, she would be in control of it. Ever since she had the session with Jeanne that helped her to control the Queen, Arit has never transformed unless she was the one who consciously triggered it. But this time, it felt like Arit was not in control of her own body at all!
She could feel the Queen forcefully bringing itself out in desperation! Almost like it was doing everything possible in order to preserve its own life!
Arit dropped to the ground as a sharp object cut horizontally through the hallway, dividing the already split hallway into four parts!
sh!
Stone and debris started to fall from the ceiling and Selina suddenly shouted from the other side of the hallway.
"What the hell are you doing, you idiot!? You''ll ruin my clothes with your stupid tricks! Don''t bring the building down on us, just capture her already!"
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Georgeughed and apologized while scratching the back of his head nervously. He knew he was currently just ying around like an idiot, but he had been trying to see just how strong Arit was so he wouldn''t be caught off guard while capturing her. That transformation that she did just made himsh out unconsciously.
"You were right, Selina. She really is a superhuman. A strong one too. She avoided my shes twice like some sort of ninja. Her instincts are off the charts."
George said this with a yful tone as he kept his eyes glued on Arit. The report that George and Selina got on Arit didn''t say anything about her being a superhuman, but it did say that she was trapped with the Anima for some time before she was captured! Does that mean that she was experimented on and gained powers because of that!? That was actually fucking hrious!
This meant that Arit was a walking science experiment! George felt likeughing his ass off right there but he just settled for snickering! He raised his hand and prepared for another attack. George was done trying to find out how strong Arit was!
Boom!n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
But before George could unleash his final attack, a loud sound suddenly echoed through the area repeatedly! George furrowed his brow in confusion as he could hear the sound getting closer! What the hell was that? Arit was also surprised by the sound as she tried to figure out what it was! It sounded like something was breaking through walls and running at them at very high speed! Was it an anima!?
If it''s an anima, then maybe she could use this as a chance to escape!
Talia was ring at Selina in anger while Arit was already preparing a n in her head for how to get out of there. But Arit''s eyes suddenlynded on Talia and she noticed something that she hadn''t noticed since the beginning of this fight. Where was Teddy?
BOOM!
The inner wall of the hallway was suddenly broken to pieces as arge teddy bear mmed through it! George and Selina turned to look at what had happened in surprise and they couldn''t believe their eyes as they saw the teddy bear running towards Selina at full speed!
No matter how strong or rational you are, anyone would be stunned if they saw a giant animated teddy bear suddenly appearing from nowhere and charging at them like a bull on steroids!
The only people who weren''t surprised by the sudden appearance of the teddy bear were Talia and Arit! Arit managed to use the brief moment of distraction and charged straight for George in a desperate attempt to catch him off guard!
George caught Arit''s movement from the corner of his eye and immediately turned around and brought his hand up to send another attack at her, but it was already toote as Arit mmed her entire body into his midsection, spearing him off his feet and onto the ground!
BOOM!
Chapter 379 What Would Mark Do?
Teddy charged towards Selina in a mad dash and Selina immediately broke herself out from her shock and brought up her gun to fire at it!
SLAM!
But in the brief moment that Selina turned away from James and Talia, James ran towards her at full sprint and mmed his shoulder into Selina''s back, throwing her off bnce and making her miss her shot as the bullet flew towards the middle of the hallway!
BANG!
KA-BOOM!
The entire hallway imploded in a fiery explosion and a great dust cloud rose from the burning wood! Talia shouted in surprise as she was thrown back from the shockwave of the explosion and ended up flying out of the hotel! James immediately charged after her and grabbed her as they both disappeared into the forest!
Teddy reached Selina less than a secondter and suddenly tackled her to the ground!
m!
It mmed its fist into her face and Selina grunted as she actually felt some pain from that hit! What the hell? Why is a teddy bear so fucking strong!? It has to be at least as strong as a high-level A-rank superhuman!
Was it because of that girl''s powers? They said she could give life to inanimate objects, right? No wonder she is an A rank!
Selina swiped her hand to the side angrily and managed to throw Teddy off her! She aimed her gun at the bear and fired off a round that mmed into its body and exploded!
BOOM!
Selina didn''t see any movement from the teddy bear and immediately turned away from it to look out into the forest! Fuck! The kids were getting away! What the hell is this shit! I thought the mission was already over! Selina wasted no time as she charged out from the hotel and into the forest as well!
She couldn''t allow Talia to get away!
Meanwhile, Arit and George were trying their best to beat the shit out of each other! Arit was currently on top of George. She mmed a fist into George''s face to disorient him before she brought her fingers together like a knife and her nails grew to twice their length!
STAB!
Arit''s hand came down in a blur of motion that would have stabbed George straight through the neck, but just before she could stab him, Arit felt something tie around her wrist as her hand moved to the side, making her miss George''s neck and stab into the ground instead!
Arit used her other hand to try and stab George as well, but he grabbed her by the shirt and threw her off him in one move! Arit rolled to a stop a few meters away from George and immediately charged at him again!
Boom!
Arit wanted to finish this fight as quickly as possible so that she could go and help Talia! Now that Arit only had to deal with George, she could see herself winning this fight. Once she was done here, Arit would go help Talia and James with Selina.
George rushed to his feet once Arit was off him and ducked down immediately to dodge a lightning-fast strike that would have punctured his throat! George grit his teeth in annoyance as he realized that Arit was legitimately trying to kill him right now! Arit was only attacking in a way that would end his life!
What sort of girl would be willing to kill another human being without even thinking about it twice?
George flipped onto his hands and performed a perfect roundhouse kick that mmed into Arit''s stomach, sending her back into the wall on the other side of the building!
Bam!
Arit grunted as she hit the wall hard and was about to rush for George again, but she was caught off guard as George rushed for her instead and delivered another kick!
BAM!
This time, Arit was thrown through the building wall and into the room on the other side! Arit flipped backward andnded in a crouch! George raised his hand, and his mana suddenly surged to life as Arit felt his pressure pressing down on her! Arit didn''t know what George was trying to do, but it didn''t take long for her to feel something tie itself to her wrist!
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It felt like a metal cord, and Arit was so stunned by it that she didn''t even have a chance to try and cut it before she was dragged to the side!
Woosh!
Bam!
Bam!
Bam!
Arit mmed into the wall of the room before swerving forward and mming against the bedroom door and breaking through it! George swayed his hand to the opposite side, and Arit was thrown through the wall separating this room from the next one, and then she finally broke into the toilet wall!
Arit gritted her teeth in anger as she struggled to grab hold of the tied hand. Her nails grew longer and sharper, and she immediately used them to cut whatever was holding her hostage!
Twang!
The sound of a metal string being cut reached Arit before she dropped to the ground with a grunt and coughed to clear her lungs from all the dust around. Arit felt her senses suddenly go off, and she jumped to the side as an invisible de suddenly shed across the spot where she had been crouching!
sh!
The floor split in two, and Arit wasted no time as she started running through the room to evade even more shes! George was on the opposite side of the room, and Arit tried to think of a way to attack him without getting hit by the strings.
What would Mark do in a situation like this? Mark might lead him into a smaller space to prevent him from using his weapon.
But if I move too close, then he might use the strings to trap me again. But if I stay far away, then he will be able to keep attacking me from a distance. I don''t know how long he can do this for. Should I wait for him to tire himself out? No, that won''t work. He''s an S rank.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
He probably has enough mana to keep this up for a very long time!
Arit jumped up and nted her two feet on a wall before using it as a springboard to st to the other side of the room! A de shed through the wall that she jumped from, and Arit flipped in the air and rolled to a stop a few meters away. Arit looked around the room, trying to find a solution to the problem she was currently facing, but a loud voice suddenly shouted in her head.
''Stop thinking!!''
What?
Chapter 380 Stop Thinking
Arit was shocked by Queen''s shout and she jumped back to avoid another sh that would have taken off her left arm! What the hell does Queen mean by "stop thinking"? That didn''t make any sense!
''You''re going to get us killed with that stupid brain of yours! Stop thinking and just move! You don''t have the brains for thinking in the middle of a battle!''
Arit narrowed her eyes in anger as Queen insulted her! Arit was trying toe up with a way to win this, and Queen was talking like she was just wasting time! An invisible sh tore through the ground in front of Arit, traveling toward her at a frightening pace, and Arit reached back and grabbed hold of the kitchen door!
Crash!n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om
One pull from her was enough to tear it right off, and she threw it at George like a baseball! George was forced to take a step to the side to avoid getting hit by the door, and this made his attack divert to the side as well and miss Arit!
Arit decided that she would just do as Queen said, and she changed her trajectory and bolted straight for George with her hands held beside her like knives! Maybe Queen was right about her thinking too much! If she just attacked, then she could catch him by surprise!
George raised his hand once he saw Arit charge at him, and his mana surged to life once more! Arit felt something wrapping around her ankle, and she immediately jumped in order to avoid it! She knew that it was another one of those invisible ropes, so she just did it on instinct, but Arit had no idea that this was exactly what George hoped would happen!
Immediately after Arit jumped into the air, she felt even more strings wra[ around her body from all around the room! Arit''s hands were grabbed by two strings, and she yelled in shock as she was flung across the room like a ragdoll!
m!
Arit mmed into a wall and broke it to pieces before she was brought up and mmed into the ground again!
Her body created arge crater on the floor, and she grit her teeth and ignored the dust that flew into the air as she tried to use her nails to tear the string apart, but she was suddenly hoisted into the air by the strings and more strings suddenly appeared from all around the room and began to wrap around Arit!
They secured her hands to her body before tying her legs together and preventing her from moving at all!
Multiple strings wrapped around her body,pletely encasing her from neck to toe in the silvery material, and Arit released a scream in anger as she felt all the strings tighten around her body until she couldn''t even move a single finger!
"FUCK! Get this shit off me!"
In the heat of the moment, Arit couldn''t help but curse in anger as she tried to move her body but couldn''t! What the hell was this!? It was so strong!
Arit was hanging from the ceiling of the room like a pinata with her entire body tied up in a cocoon of strings. Now that there were so many of them, Arit could finally get a good look at what was holding her up. It was a thin metal-like string with a silvery luster that made it almost invisible.
It was very strong, and no matter how much Arit tried to break the strings, it felt like a human trying to tear barbed wire with their bare hands! It was impossible!
George''s hands were still in the air as he waited to see if Arit would do anything new to try and get out of the trap. There was a bit of sweat on his forehead, and even though he was trying hard not to show it, Arit could tell that he was straining himself by restraining her like this.
George walked up to Arit and spoke with some exhaustion in his voice.
"I don''t know what the fuck you are, but you''re pissing me off with this bullshit. Selina is going toe back soon with those kids, and if I''m not done here, then she''s never going to let me live it down. Honestly, you high school kids are always the most irritating jobs to handle. I should''ve left you for Selina instead."
George stopped a few meters away from her with a cold look in his eyes. Arit red down at him in anger, and George couldn''t help but feel a little unnerved by the intense look in her yellow eyes. He didn''t understand what the hell Arit was. ording to the report that they got, Arit wasn''t a superhuman, so what could have given her this much power?
I can restrain most S ranks with my strings, but just holding her up is making me sweat. She is definitely going to be troublesome to transport. Should I just knock her out?
...
Name: George Vince
Race: Human
Rank: S
Potential: A
Description: A superhuman blessed by the goddess of weaving and fashion. He is capable of creating various forms of string using his mana, and he can change the strength and length of the string however he wishes so long as he still possesses a sufficient amount of mana. His fighting style involves the use of strings to incapacitate the enemy before pummeling them into submission.
He was once a fashion model who featured in various fashion magazines and a few reality shows, but he gave up that life after he had a chance encounter with Selina during one of her missions to kill a movie producer. He fell in love with her at first sight and gave up everything to follow her into the superhuman underworld.
Affiliation: Chaotic Neutral
...
Arit groaned as she tried to free herself! She bit the inside of her cheek and tried to force the strings apart, but the only thing she seeded in doing was to make herself bleed! Arit released another annoyed shout as she cursed loudly! She knew she shouldn''t have listened to that fucking advice from Queen!
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Why the hell did you tell me to rush in? If I had thought a little more, then I wouldn''t be in this situation!
Arit shouted at Queen as she felt hopelessness filling her body, and it didn''t even take a second before Queen shot right back at Arit.
''You''re ming me!? The only thing you would have seeded in doing with your n was to waste more time! You''re a fool if you think thinking in the middle of a battle is the key to winning! An idiot!''
Shut up! If I die here, I swear, I''ll haunt you! We need to get out of this and find Talia! I can''t let them take us away from Mark!
''You''ll haunt me!? That''s if I don''t kill you in the afterlife first! The KING is out there waiting for us, and the only thing you thought of was to think when facing off against such a powerful opponent! Who do you think you are!?''
Chapter 381 You Are Not The KING!
''You''ll hunt me? That''s if I don''t kill you in the afterlife first! The KING is out there waiting for us, and the only thing you could think of was to think when facing such a powerful opponent! Who do you think you are!? You think that just because you''ve fought the KING a few times when he went easy on you, you have what it takes to act so cocky in the middle of a battle!? You''re a fool!
A fool who is only going to get us killed! I wish I had a real body so I could just stab you in the fucking neck myself!''
Queen''s rant made Arit''s entire body shake in shock. What the hell was Queen talking about? What does she mean by acting cocky? If I don''t think in the middle of a fight, then how am I going to know how strong the opponent is? How am I going to be able to figure out his attack patterns and how he uses his blessing if I don''t think? It doesn''t make any sense!
''Stop fooling yourself, girl. All these things you think you are trying to do are nothing but a pathetic attempt to emte the KING''s fighting style! The KING is a calm fighter. He thinks rationally before going into battle, and even in the middle of a fight, he can calm the tempo so that he can incorporate something new into his fighting style based on his enemy''s powers¡ª''
"Then why are you saying I can''t do the same!?"
''BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT THE KING!!''
George was stunned when he suddenly heard Arit shout out loud. He was on the phone calling Selina to see if she was done taking care of the children when Arit suddenly shouted, and he wondered what the hell was wrong with her. Was this girl mad?
Arit, meanwhile, was also stunned as the Queen screamed at her angrily. What did the Queen mean by that?n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
''The King can do what he does because he possesses the strength and mental resolve to act in such a risky manner! Do you think being smart is the only thing needed to win a fight? The King does not fight with only intelligence! His body moves on autopilot when he needs it to, and he controls it when necessary!
He uses his mind when he needs to, and he allows his mind to run free and calcte things when necessary! That is something you will never be able to do because you do not possess the same battle instinct that the KING possesses! You are nothing but a fool! A fool that doesn''t know the first thing about how to fight! Before me, you didn''t even know what it meant to receive a punch to the face!''
Arit gritted her teeth in anger, and her head fell in desperation. Queen''s words were making her grow angrier as time went on, but Arit couldn''t deny that the Queen was right. Mark could do what he did because of his unrealistically absurd battle instincts.
She was trying her best to emte Mark''s fighting style, but she couldn''t do it because of how her body just didn''t move in the same way that Mark''s body moves. Trying to think while also moving, dodging, and watching the enemy at the same time was just too much for her to assimte all at once.
So what should she do then? Should she just give up?
''Stupid girl! When did I ever say that you should give up!? If you allow them to take us from the KING, I will end you myself! You need to embrace what you are. You are still holding on pointlessly to the person you once were! You aren''t a human fighting a human right now!
You are an Anima! The Queen of Anima! The one standing at the very top of the Anima hierarchy! You are a creature of carnage and destruction who derives great pleasure from seeing your enemies crawl at your feet! Your very instincts scream at you to dominate! Your very essencepels you to stand above others!
You don''t need to think! You don''t need to analyze! Just follow your instincts to the depths of hell! It will never steer you wrong! FOLLOW IT!''
Ba-Dump!
It was like the air inside the hotel room suddenly grew heavier! George was not a religious man. He was someone who followed his heart at all times and had no belief in heaven, hell, or the spiritual world. But at that moment, if George were asked to describe what he felt, he would only be able to describe it in one way: It was as though the devil itself was behind him.
George felt like a low-level Eldritch was standing right over his shoulder and baring down on his neck.
"Jesus."
DOON!
A massive pressure suddenly pressed down on the room, and George''s instincts screamed at him to turn around! George turned around slowly, with his cell phone still up to his ear as it rang.
[Sorry, the number you are trying to call is not¡ª]
Click!
George clicked the phone off when Selina didn''t pick up the call and dropped his hand slowly as his heart rate began to rise. George didn''t dare to make any rash movements right then. He felt as if moving at all would break the standstill that they were currently in.
"Ah~ So that is how it is~"
Arit moved her head from side to side as her mouth slowly started to split into an amused grin.
George watched cautiously as Arit''s entire demeanor seemed to change almost instantly. There was no longer any sign of the frantic, desperate girl that he had fought just a few seconds ago; instead, there was a dangerous woman.
Arit''s entire body seemed to be screaming at her as they shook for release. Every cell in her body wanted to be free, and Arit didn''t hold them back anymore. She released them. It began from her eyes. Her poison-yellow eyes suddenly seemed to grow even more intense. They narrowed down until they were staring at George with the most condescending look he had ever seen.
Her skin changed to purple, the color traveling down from her head to her neck and then into her dress, and two sharp antennae began to grow out from Arit''s forehead. Arit smiled, and George took a step back as her sharp canines peeked through her mouth.
George didn''t understand what the hell was going on here, but he knew that it was not something he should allow to happen! The amount of pressure he could feeling from Arit was insane! George had fought against many humans and Anima before, and he could easily differentiate between the pressure a human would give off and the one an Anima would create.
Right now, George couldn''t see any difference between the pressure that Arit was releasing and the pressure from Anima!
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George raised his hand in the air and prepared to end Arit right there! Fuck the mission! If Arit was allowed to continue what she was doing, then she might end up killing him instead! George decided that he would just bring her corpse back and exin that it was an ident!
Hundreds of strings suddenly flew out from George''s body and formed a massive circle that began to rotate like a saw!
Vroom!
Chapter 382 Accept What You Are
They shredded the ground into pieces as the saw flew straight for Arit, intending to split her in two! Arit''s hands and legs were tied, so George knew that there was no way she would be able to¡ª
Arit''s mouth opened wide just as the de reached her, and she turned her head perpendicr to the saw de and bit down hard! Ants are known to possess a bite force that is almost five hundred times their body weight, and when youbine this impressive force with the power of an anima, there is hardly anything that can withstand it!
ng!
A sound like metal striking metal rang out through the room as Arit used her bite force to stop the rotating strings! The strings disassembled into their individual pieces as they lost their momentum, and Arit threw them to the side like trash! George''s eyes widened in shock as he saw this, and Arit used that chance to move her shoulder around a bit.
Twang! Twang! Twang!
The strings that had been holding Arit down all began to tear, and George cursed as he turned to run out of the door as he saw tworge purple wings growing out from behind Arit and tearing the strings to pieces all at once! George decided right then that he was done with this! He didn''t get paid enough for this shit! No one told him that she was a freaking monster!
The wings on Arit''s back had ck veins covering them, and every movement that Arit made caused the wings to flutter and shimmer in the dim moonlight from the window!
Arit flexed her wings once and every string holding her tore into pieces at the same time and a massive gust of wind blew through the room! Arit sted forward immediately! George was already at the door, ready to tear it open, but before he could even touch it, a force greater than anything that had ever hit him before mmed into his back!
BOOM!!
"GAH!!"
George shouted in pain as he was thrown into and then through the door. He broke through to the next room before mming through the wall on the other side of the room and breaking into the room after that one as well! He continued to tear through walls and doors until he reached arge room on the other side of the hotel!
m!
His back mmed into the far wall of the room, and George groaned as he held his head in both hands. He brought his hands down when he felt some wetness on his forehead, and his eyes widened when the moonlight illuminated the red liquid covering his hands. He was bleeding?
''I can bleed?''
The room was dark, and only the moonlight filtering through from the windows on the side provided any light. George couldn''t believe how heavy that hit was! He must have been knocked through at least ten rooms at once! What the fuck happened to Arit?
Crunch~! Crunch~!
Footsteps echoed from the far wall, and George''s heartbeat sped up as he turned his gaze in that direction. Arit stepped barefoot through the hole with a bloodthirsty smile on her face. Arit was still wearing her kimono, but it had torn down her left side, exposing most of her leg to give her more freedom to move.
One of the kimono''s arms was ripped, and the neckline had dropped to reveal a generous amount of cleavage. Her skin was now dark purple, with tworge horns jutting out from her forehead and peeking through her light purple hair, and herrge wings were folded behind her, making her look like a demon straight out of hell.
George cursed himself internally as he found his eyes trailing over her body. Even with the purple skin and horns, how the hell could she still be this hot!? George slowly got up from the ground and ran a hand over his forehead to clean the blood leaking into his eye as he spoke tiredly.
"I don''t suppose you''re willing to call this a draw and let''s both go our separate ways."
Arit''s wings spread, and her bloodthirsty smile turned murderous.
"I''m going to take your head to the KING."
¡
Name: Arit yborn Continue your journey on empire
Race: Human-Anima Hybrid
Title: QUEEN
Rank: S
Potential: ELITE Rank I
Description: The first-ever human-anima hybrid and the dethroned ruler of the anima. Arit possesses the innate ability to draw on the strength of her anima alter ego whenever she requires it. This gives her super strength, speed, and instincts.
After being defeated and tamed by Mark, Arit''s alter ego ¨C Queen ¨C began to disy an extreme obsession and love for Mark, leading Arit to fall deeper in love with him. This obsession has erased much of Arit''s conscience and morality, and she is now willing to go to any extent to help Mark achieve his goals.
Her gic traits suggest that Arit should possess a special ability, but she has yet to discover this ability due to ack of experience in battle.
Affiliation: Chaotic Evil.
¡
James was running through the forest like a bat out of hell! James'' face was contorted in anxiety as his little legs tried their best to carry him as quickly as possible. In his hands, Talia had a look of intense concentration as she reached out to the side and allowed her hand to touch one of the trees they ran past.
When they first entered the forest, James was trying to look around and see if he could find his parents. James didn''t care if Selina wasing after them or not; he just wanted to make sure that his mom and dad were fine. But Talia was dragging James forward desperately, telling him that they had to get out of there! Selina was right behind them!
Talia couldn''t feel Teddy''s life force anymore, and that could only mean that Selina was able to defeat Teddy easily! They couldn''t stay there, so they had to make their way into the forest and try to find another superhuman that could help them!
"But what about Mum and Dad!?"
James was frantic! There was blood on the floor, and some of the trees had been broken, but he couldn''t find his parents! A small part of him began to think that maybe his parents had been eaten by an anima! That can''t be! His dad was fast, so there was no way they would get eaten!
But James remembered the intense injury that his dad had just before getting blown out of the building, and he felt his anxiety reach new levels. Can anyone walk away from something like that? His dad''s entire shoulder was blown apart. That definitely hurt! James had to find his father no matter what!N?v(el)B\\jnn
"James! We need to run! James! Listen to me!"
Talia was desperately pulling James forward as she felt a presence getting closer. At this rate, Talia knew that Selina would reach them before they could go anywhere! They had to get out of here! Talia was also worried about Arit since Talia didn''t know if Arit could win against George, but Talia was not capable of doing any heroic act right now.
The only thing on her mind was that there was a dangerous woman after them and Teddy was dead! They had to get out of here!
Chapter 383 Weapons Mistress
The only thing on Talia''s mind was that there was a dangerous woman after them, and Teddy was dead! They had to get out of there!
James turned to look at Talia with desperation in his eyes, and Talia pulled him along, urging him toe with her. James followed reluctantly while asking where they would go. They didn''t know if there were any superhumans in the forest and if they were just running to a dead end!
Talia shook her head and told him it was better than staying here. Her grandfather always told her that the best way to escape from danger was to run to a popted area. Since there were no people around, the best bet she had now was to run into the forest!
"Juste with me! We can figure out what to do once we get away from here!"
James seemed skeptical, but he finally nodded and allowed Talia to pull him along as they felt Selina''s presence getting closer! The two of them ran through the forest frantically, looking around to make sure they weren''t being followed. As they ran, James noticed that Talia was constantly touching the trees beside her, brushing her hand against each one before moving on.
James wanted to ask what she was doing, but there was no opportunity since they were both running right now.
But as they ran, James could see Talia getting visibly weaker. Her breath was bing morebored, and her steps were heavier than before. She was exhausted! James heard a massive explosion behind them and didn''t waste any time; he scooped Talia into his arms and bolted!
"Ah!"
Talia was shocked by the sudden movement and was about to tell James to put her down immediately, but once she saw the intense look on his face, she knew she couldn''t. They were trying to survive, so her embarrassment didn''t matter at all. Talia fought down the blush on her face and put her arm around James'' neck as she felt the forest blurring past them!
Since Talia was not a physical-type superhuman, James was much faster than her, and even while carrying her, he was still able to move at a much higher speed than when she was running!
Zoom!
Talia held on tighter as James increased his speed, but even with the increase, Talia could still sense Selina getting closer to them! Talia knew there was no way James could get away from Selina since Selina was an S-rank and he was only a B-rank! But it didn''t matter since Talia was already well-prepared for Selina!n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om
Selina was running after the kids through the forest! She could see them in the distance. The boy was carrying the girl, and they were trying to get to the festival grounds, but there was no way she would let them escape after that stupid Teddy bear distracted her! Selina raised her Glock and aimed right beside the spot where James would be in a moment!
BANG!
The bullet flew true, but all of a sudden, a branch appeared from nowhere and blocked the bullet''s path, causing it to impact prematurely!
KA-BOOM!
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What? What the hell was that!?
Selina was stunned by the movement! She knew she aimed that bullet perfectly so it wouldn''t hit any branches! So where the hell did the branche from!? Selina looked around as she heard a deep groan echo through the forest and couldn''t believe it when the trees slowly started to move!
They first moved slowly, swaying from side to side as their branches wiggled around, but soon, the trees were actively removing themselves from the ground. Their roots were being dragged out from underground, and they were using the roots as legs as they rose higher and higher into the air.
Selina cursed internally as she eyed the trees with a narrowed gaze. She rearranged the bag on her back so that it was more secure and reached back to pull out a new cartridge. She threw out the empty cartridge from her Glock and reloaded it with the new one before reaching back again and pulling out a second Glock from a holster. Selina didn''t need to be a genius to know exactly who caused this.
She knew that Talia would be a fucking problem. But this was just fucking absurd. Just how much mana does that little girl have!?
"I fucking hate summoners."
Click! Click!
"ROARRRR!!"
Selina loaded both guns and at the same moment, the entire forest came to life with action as the trees charged at her in one unified front! Selina dashed to the side to avoid a tree trunk and aimed at the center of two trees!
Bang! Bang!
BOOM!
A massive explosion resounded across the forest as both trees were immediately obliterated! Selina dashed forward, jumped over a root that tried to grab her by the feet, and mmed her feet into the trunk of arge tree! She used that as a springboard tounch herself into the air and flipped through the air as she aimed her gun below her!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
KA-BOOM!
Massive explosions resounded across the forest as everything below her was destroyed by her bullets! Selina continued to fire,nding on the ground a few meters away from the fire! A tree shed at her with its root, but Selina easily flipped back, allowing the root to fly over her face by just a few meters! She screeched to a halt and aimed her Glock at therge tree!
Click!
"Fuck!"
Selina cursed as she threw the empty gun away and pointed the other gun at the monster!
Bang!
BOOM!
A massive explosion destroyed the tree and propelled it into another tree at the side that also caught on fire! Selina checked the ammo in her remaining Glock as she began to run again and clicked her tongue when she noticed they were all gone. She threw that gun to the side as well before reaching behind her and bringing her ck bag forward!
"!"
SLAM!
Selina rolled to the side as she felt her instincts scream at her and she barely managed to avoid an entire tree mming down on the spot she had been in! She jumped up as she saw another treeing for her and raced through the forest once more, avoiding most of the trunks and branches that were trying to incapacitate her.
Selina narrowed her eyes to see what was ahead of her and caught sight of a small ridge in the road that could act as cover. She reached behind her and pulled out a grenade!
Click!
Selina pulled the pin with her teeth just as she jumped over the ridge and tossed it behind her as she fell behind the cover. In the next moment, a massive explosion much more intense than anything a grenade should be capable of rang through the forest!
BOOM!
Selina had added her own mana into the grenade to improve its effectiveness, which allowed the grenade to possess three times the firepower of a normal grenade. Selina would have added even more mana to the grenade, but that would have made it unstable, and it might have imploded at any random moment, so she could only add a certain amount of mana to it!
Chapter 384 Down To The Last Clip
Selina ducked below the ridge as she frantically searched through her bag. From behind her, Selina could still hear the sound of the trees groaning and roaring as they slowly advanced forward. This was Selina''s issue with summoners. With a normal person, when they get hurt to such an extent, they would never keeping forward.
Who the hell would continue attacking after getting pummeled by so many explosive bullets along with a fucking grenade!? But it was different with summoned monsters. These fucking bastards didn''t feel anything, so it didn''t matter how much you hurt them or hit them. They will keep moving forward no matter what! The only thing that can be done about a summoned beast is to truly incapacitate it!
Make it so the beast ispletely incapable of moving, and that would get them off your ass!
Selina pulled out two guns from her bag and cocked them expertly.
Click! Click!
Selina wore her bag back around her shoulder as she heard the trees right on top of her and stood up, raising both hands with two MP5 nine-millimeters locked and loaded. Selina smiled roguishly and unleashed hell upon them!
Ratatataatatatatatatatatatatatat!!
KA-BOOOOOM!!!
¡
KA-BOOOOOM!!!
In the distance, Talia felt her entire body shake as a massive number of her summoned beasts were killed in a very short time! James looked down at Talia in worry as he wondered what was going on. James could hear the explosions in the distance, and he knew that it was Talia''s summons causing Selina to put that much effort into the fight, but he didn''t know how it was going. Were they winning?
James refocused on the road ahead as he began weaving around trees and trying his best to move towards any area where he could hear a lot of shouting. If there was shouting, there would probably be another superhuman in that area fighting against an enemy!
"!"
James suddenly felt ''something'' whisper in his ear, warning him of impending danger, and he dodged to the side as he heard a ''Woosh'' sh past his ear!
Thud!
BOOM!
A bullet struck a tree in the distance before a massive explosion rang out through the forest! Talia and James were thrown to the ground! James turned around quickly, and his eyes widened as he saw Selina in the air more than five hundred meters away! She was holding a sniper rifle and staring through the scope while falling gently in a perfect arc!
The sniper rifle had been modified and retrofitted with a mag that would allow Selina to fire multiple times without needing to reload. Normally, a feature like that would end up destroying the shoulder of anyone who tried to use the gun, but since Selina was a superhuman, she didn''t have to care about such nonsense!
Phwip!
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Another bullet was released, and James shouted out to Talia as he grabbed her quickly! At this time, the bullet struck the ground right in front of James and Talia, and they were thrown back from the intense force!
Thud!
BOOM!
James mmed into a tree behind him and broke through it before hitting his head on another tree behind that one! Talia tumbled on the ground for a few meters before she stopped! She quickly rose her head and shouted out in fear as she saw the tree that James had broken through falling on him!
"James! Watch out!"
James'' eyes shot open in shock once he heard Talia shout, but there was nothing that he could do as he saw the giant treeing down on him from above. Somewhere in the back of his mind, James thought he was really going to die!
BOOM!
The tree mmed down on James, and Talia shouted again as she scrambled to get to her feet! If she could touch the tree, then she would be able to get it off of James! Talia had already used a lot of her mana while creating all those summons behind her, but she didn''t care about anything like that! She had to help James!
Phwip!
Thud!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Talia''s eyes widened as a sniper bullet suddenly whizzed past her head, passing her before she could even see what it was! It mmed into the tree holding James down, and the explosion that followed was devastating in its intensity!
KA-BOOM!!
"Ahhh!"
Talia was thrown back from the force, and she mmed into the ground almost a hundred meters away! Her head banged against the ground, and she screamed out in pain as she felt something crack in her shoulder! Talia tried to sit up and look at what happened to James, but a sharp pain in her shoulder made her scream out again, and she held it tightly as she rolled around on the ground! It hurts!
It hurts so much! Talia wasn''t sure what happened to her shoulder, but every time she tried to move it, she felt a searing pain shoot through it!
Talia''s shoulder had fractured from the force of the impact. Talia wasn''t a physical type of superhuman, so even though she had a massive amount of mana, she didn''t have the physical attributes that would allow her to withstand explosions like that.
Step!
Step!
Step!
Footsteps echoed from the forest in front of Talia, and Talia turned to see Selina stalking out from the ming forest. Selina held an MK 13 sniper rifle in her right hand, and in her left, she held one of her nine-millimeter submachine guns. She was ring at Talia with intense anger in her eyes as she walked closer.
There were burn marks on Selina''s clothes and some blood leaking from a cut on her left leg.
When this mission started out, Selina never thought that it would be this troublesome. She knew that Talia was a strong summoner, but she never thought that Talia would be this strong. The number of monsters that Talia summoned with her mana was almost too much for Selina to handle using only the ammo she brought. Now, Selina was down to herst clip on these two guns.
"Get up, you stupid bitch."
Selina cursed at Talia while ring down at her once she came close enough, and Talia grit her teeth as she scooted back away from Selina. Selina felt anger surge out from her chest as she reached down and grabbed Talia''s arm!
"I said get up, you idiot! You''reing with me right now, and if you give me any trouble, I''ll fucking kill you myself!"
"AHHH!"
Talia shouted in pain as Selina shook her injured shoulder, and Selina raised a brow in surprise when Talia shouted. Tears welled up in Talia''s eyes, and Selina felt some guilt filling her as she realized that she might have gone too far with the kid. Fuck, she was just too pissed off!
"Alright, kid. Sorry, sorry. Your shoulder hurts, right? I''ll look at it before I take you... just rx."
Chapter 385 Demon Summoner
Tears welled up in Talia''s eyes, and Selina felt a pang of guilt as she realized she might have gone too far with the kid.
"Alright, kid. Sorry, sorry. Your shoulder hurts, right? I''ll look at it before I take you... just rx."
Selina tried to take a look at the shoulder. Meanwhile, on the other side of the small clearing, James was still trapped under the burning tree. His eyes fluttered open as he felt heat on his face, and his eyes widened when he saw the fire burning beside him. James reached up to try and move the tree, but there was barely any strength left in his arms.
He managed to lift the tree slightly, but after some time, his hands gave out, and the tree dropped on him again.
"Gah!"
James cried out in pain as he looked to the side. There, he saw Talia being manhandled by Selina as Selina tried to check the shoulder, and he knew that if he didn''t get out now, Selina would take Talia!
Come on, you have to get up!
James tried to lift the tree again, but the same thing happened. He was utterly spent.
''Use us.''
A voice whispered into James'' ear, and he shook his head in anger, ignoring the voice and trying to lift the tree again.
''You know you can easily do that. Just use us.''
I won''t! I''m going to be a hero! I don''t need you!
Around James, apparitions and ghosts began to materialize as ethereal beings made from a white fog. The entire clearing filled with them as they floated closer to James, speaking in unison.
''You are only weak because you refuse to use your mana. Use us, and you will be stronger. You could be the strongest in the world! Stronger than any hero!''
"Heroes don''t make contracts with demons!"
James suddenly shouted angrily at the apparitions. He wasn''t surprised by the appearance of the ghosts. This was normal to him. Ever since he received his blessing from Thanatos, he had been able to see ghosts and apparitions. They followed him around, spoke to him, and even tried to teach him sometimes. But that would have been okay if it was the only thing happening.
Besides the ghosts, there were seven other beings that sometimes tried to speak with James. These were the seven deadly demons, each representing an aspect of sin. They were meant to be James'' contractors, who would help him be stronger.
James was a summoner-type superhuman ¡ª just like Talia ¡ª and these demons and ghosts were the entities he could summon. But James didn''t like his power. He didn''t see it as something hero-like and hated that his power only made him see demons. So James swore he would never make a contract with any of those demons.
He was going to be a hero using only his own power and would be better than any other superhumans out there!
But reality was not kind to James. Without making a contract with a demon, James was incapable of bing stronger. His mana was locked away inside his body, and he could only use his physical strength to a limited level. Without that mana, James only had the stamina and durability of a regr B-ss. Read new chapters at empire
His strength, agility, and durability were greatly reduced, and there was no chance he would ever be the hero he wanted to be.
''Your powers are a gift from our lord Thanatos. He has granted you the seven sins to do with as you wish. Why do you refuse them?''
"I don''t want them! Help me take this log off me! I need to save Talia!"
James tried to lift the log again, but once more, he failed. The ghosts floating around him continued to talk in unison as they berated him.
''You are weak without our power. Use it.''
''Give it a chance; you never know if you might like it.''
''The seven have been waiting for you. Should you not give them a chance?''
''Why would you want to be a hero when you can possess the power of hell itself? Heroes are old-fashioned.''
''ept us! ept us! ept us! ept us!''
The apparitions all began to chant together, floating around James. Their chant became louder and louder, echoing in therge forest and sinking deep into James'' mind with every iteration. James felt overwhelmed by their screams, and he turned to look at Talia again as he felt his resolve breaking.
Can he even be a hero if he can''t save one person?
"ept us! ept us! ept us!"
"FINE!"
The apparitions all stopped their chanting as James suddenly shouted. They stared down at James, wondering if they heard right, and James turned to them with a hard look in his eyes!
"I''ll take the contract! So help me! I need you to get this log off me!"
"Begone, fools. Do not sully my eyes with your presence."
A deep voice suddenly spoke up, and all the ghosts and apparitions screamed in horror as they floated away from the clearing, disappearing in no time at all as a new being appeared from the darkness of the abyss. James felt a great pressure pressing down on him as he saw the neer.N?v(el)B\\jnn
It was a muscr man, his skin looked like it was carved from grey metal and he had intimidating ck eyes and a chiseled chin. He was naked, but there were no genitalia on his body. Instead, he wore a proud smile on his face.
"Pride?"
James recognized the demon immediately and called its name, and the demon''s proud smile widened.
"Yes, mortal, you are in the presence of Pride. Rejoice, for there is now some meaning to your worthless existence."
Therge man spoke as he allowed his eyes to roam over James'' body before looking at the log that was on him.
"You foolish mortal, to allow something this trivial to hold you down. Have you no pride as a man?"
James stared up at the demon with wide-eyed confusion, and the demon only chuckled.
"Oh yes, I suppose a child like you would not understand the splendor of my words. You are forgiven this once. Tell me, do you still hold onto that foolish delusion of heroism?"
James looked away. The mes from the fire licked at his skin, and he scooted a little bit to try and get away from it. It didn''t really help, but it managed to buy him a few more seconds. James spoke up angrily, but he couldn''t look the demon in the eyes since he knew he needed the demon''s help right now.
"Being a hero isn''t foolish! I''m going to be greater than KING!"
Pride burst outughing once he heard James say that. The boy wanted to be a hero! He wanted to be greater than KING!?
"Stupid boy! Why be a king when you can be a god? I fail to see a child assimting the full meaning behind my grand words but try your hardest."
Chapter 386 The Sin of Pride
"Being a hero is not by virtue of your power; it is by virtue of how you use it. Kill, maim, rule, save¡ªI care not what you use my power to aplish, but I swear to you this: I shall abandon you in a moment should you fail to live up to my expectation. I shall consume your soul and drag you down to the Styx myself should you attempt to fool me. Do you still wish to have my help?"N?v(el)B\\jnn
James swallowed in fear as he turned to Talia and Selina. Pride had seen right through James. James nned to just use the demon to his advantage once. He would make the contract and use it to save Talia, and once that was done, James was going to abandon it again so that he would still be a hero. James didn''t want to make this contract, but if he didn''t, then Talia would be taken.
At that moment, Mark''s words from earlier came back to James: It doesn''t matter how hard you worked; you''ll never be able to be a hero if you don''t use what you have properly.
James knew that using his blessing was the only way he could be stronger.
"I''ll do it!"
Pride stared down at James contemtively, and James could tell that Pride was judging him to see if James was worthy of the power or not. But after some time, Pride put out his hand.
"Very well then. Take my hand, James. I shall grant you my power."
James grabbed the demon''s hand with his one free hand and immediately felt a massive amount of power surge through his body. James didn''t recognize the feeling at first, but after a moment, he could tell that this was his mana.
BOOM!
Both Selina and Talia turned around when they heard the sound of something being thrown into the distance. Selina''s eyes widened for a moment before narrowing, and she clicked her tongue while turning around and pulling out her SMG. This was going to be a hassle. Since when were kids this damn strong?
James stood in the middle of the mes defiantly. His clothes were tattered and dirty, but there were no injuries on his body. The contract that James made with Pride gave him far more than just mana. After making that contract, Pride embodied James, giving him some of his power and allowing James to fight in a way he would normally never be able to.
Therefore, James also took on some of Pride''s personality in the exchange. Now, instead of the furious desperation James disyed at the start of the fight, there was only a calm, prideful smile stretched across his face.
In his right hand, there was a bo staff that glowed with a ck hue, crafted from his mana. This was the weapon given to him by Pride after they signed the contract, and James could somehow feel that he knew how to use it.
Even though he had never touched a bo staff before¡ªJames believed that a hero only uses a sword, after all¡ªhe felt like the staff was an extension of himself that he already knew how to wield.
The clearing was silent for a few seconds until, all of a sudden, James exploded forward! He raced towards Selina like a bat out of hell, and Selina brought up her SMG and pointed it at James. She was about to open fire, but she cursed as she remembered that she didn''t have many bullets left. She had to preserve what she had!
She reached behind her, pulled out a grenade, and then used her teeth to drag out the pin before tossing it at James!
Clink!
Boom!
The grenade exploded right beside James, but it didn''t stop him as he ran right through the mes and reached Selina in less than a second! James spun his staff around andshed out at Selina''s stomach! Selina grabbed Talia by the shirt and jumped back before James could hit her, and James threw the staff like a javelin!
WOOSH!
Selina contorted her body perfectly before she kicked the staff away, and it flew to the other side of the clearing. James continued to run towards Selina without a weapon, and Selina pointed her gun at him at point-nk range!
Even while staring down the gun''s barrel, James never stopped. With his mana flowing through him like this, James felt like he could do anything! This was so different from when he was fighting without his mana! It was almost like he could fly!
"Why do you keeping back!? Just die already, you damn cockroach!"
Bang!
The smile on James''s face never faded as he reached out to the side, and his bo staff rematerialized in his hand. The staff was a construct of his mana, so no matter how many times he lost it, he could always call it back as long as he had mana. James twirled the staff around, and a ''clink!'' resounded through the area as he managed to deflect the bullet to the side!
BOOM!
"Fuck!"
Selina cursed as the bullet exploded beside her throwing both her and the two children away. Selina''s grip on Talia loosened, and Talia used that opportunity to grab Selina''s hand, bring it to her mouth, and bite down hard!
"MOTHERFUCKER!!"
Selina screamed in pain and drew her hand back, allowing Talia to get out of Selina''s grasp and run towards the side of the clearing where James had gone! She was holding her fractured shoulder in pain, but the pain was only an afterthought as her worry for James showed on her face.
"James! James, are you okay!? You were under the log for so long! Did you get burned? What happened to you!?"
James stood up calmly and put the staff on his shoulder as he turned to Talia proudly.
"I don''t need you to worry about me, girl. If you have that much time on your hands, use it to preserve your own paltry existence instead."
...
Name: James Keith
Race: Human
Rank: A
Potential: S
Affiliation: Chaotic Good
...
Name: Talia Dragonheart
Race: Human
Rank: A
Potential: S
Affiliation: True Good
...
Arge question mark appeared over Talia''s head as if most of the words James just used werepletely unknown to her. What in the world was he talking about? James saw the look of confusion on Talia''s face and clicked his tongue at her condescendingly.
"Are you going to keep standing there uselessly?"
"Eh?"
What in the world happened to James? Talia couldn''t even begin to understand why James was standing and talking like that. He seemed so proud of himself for some reason, and Talia felt like this was theplete opposite of his usual personality.
James frowned.
"Did you not hear what I said? Make yourself useful and provide support for my brilliance, this fight is not over just yet."
An angry blush rose on Talia''s face as she heard James speaking to her in such a pompous manner, and she couldn''t stop her hand fromshing out angrily and smacking James on the back of the head!
Smack!
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"OW!"
"Who are you talking to like that, you idiot!"
Talia screamed at James angrily and James roared in anger as he felt his head throbbing. This midget! What the hell is wrong with her!? James red at Talia, and Talia didn''t back down as she red at James as well!
"I''ll smack you again if you talk to me like that!"
Talia shouted up at James in annoyance, and James thought about exining to Talia that this was happening because of his blessing, but he decided it wasn''t worth the trouble of exining anything to Talia right now. He frowned in irritation and turned away while telling her to get ready.
"Here shees."
Chapter 387 Can This Be Called Child Abuse?
"Here shees."
Ka-Cha!
"It seems I''ve been too lenient with you kids until recently. I''ve been trying to hold back since I know you are just snot-nosed brats, but you''ve managed to piss me off enough that none of that matters anymore. I''m going to beat the shit out of you both."
Doon!
Both James and Talia felt their entire bodies shiver as a massive pressure fell upon the clearing. James grit his teeth as goosebumps traveled down his neck and into his arms. Was this her mana? Then what the hell have we been feeling all this time? She wasn''t even taking us seriously!
Selina''s eyes were narrowed into a re as she slowly walked towards the kids. Her sniper rifle was still strapped to her back and in her right hand, she had her SMG. She reached behind her with her left hand and pulled out abat knife that she held in a vice grip as she red down at James imposingly.
"Get over here, you bastard. I''m going to start with you first."
James crouched into a ready stance and he felt Talia put her hand on his back reassuringly to tell James that she had his back before she crouched and stabbed her good hand into the ground! James grinned.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om
"I do not need the likes of you to watch over my greatness, but if you wish to do so, then I will not turn you away. Don''t you dare miss a moment of my Eminence!"
Boom!
James sted off the ground and he raced towards Selina! Selina brought up her gun and began to unload on James. James swerved to the side, dodging most of the bullets and allowing them to strike the ground!
Boom! Boom!
Boom! Boom!
Explosions went off continuously as every bullet detonated on impact and James barely managed to stay out of the range of the bullets as he finally got to Selina and mmed his polearm down on her!
m!
Selina brought up her gun to defend against the strike and her knife blurred into action as she prepared to take out one of James'' eyes!
Grab!
But before she could do that, a long vine reached out from the ground and grabbed onto her arm, securing it in ce and preventing her from moving!
Selina looked behind James to see Talia with her hands buried in the ground. There was a look of determination on Talia''s face as she poured her mana out in waves. Although Talia had already used a lot of mana earlier to try to slow Selina down, she still had enough to create a few more summons! Selina couldn''t believe that Talia still had any mana at all.
Even someone like Selina would have already run out of mana if she had called as many summons as Talia created in this fight alone.
James dislodged himself from Selina and flipped in the air before sending a kick into Selina''s face!
Bam!
The kick mmed against Selina''s cheek and Selina growled as she dragged her arm forward with intense force, pulling it out of the vine immediately! She deflected the second strike from James and got into his space! James sent a strike to her temple, but she grabbed his weapon under her arm and brought her gun forward for another shot!
Woosh!
The polearm suddenly vanished and James spun in the air as it reappeared in his arm and he sent a strike to Selina''s temple again! Selina had already brought her hand up to defend against it, but at that moment, another vineshed out and grabbed her arm, dragging it away from her face and giving James a clean shot!
SLAM!
The blow drove Selina''s head to the side and Selina grit her teeth in anger as she was almost thrown off her feet! James grinned in excitement once he saw Selina stumble, but his excitement was short-lived as Selina found her footing again the next moment! She grabbed James by the shirt and pulled him close while driving her forehead into his own!
SLAM!
James'' world quaked as his vision swam with pain and Selina used that opportunity to throw James far away into the tree in the distance! James mmed into the tree and Selina pointed her gun at him!
Ratatatat!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
A flurry of explosions went off, but when the dust cleared Selina saw that arge amount of vines had covered James, preventing the explosions from getting to him!
That girl was getting on her fucking nerves!
Selina turned her attention to Talia as she pointed her gun at her instead! If she could get rid of Talia, then it would be far easier to deal with this idiot!
Selina was about to fire at Talia, but she caught movement in the corner of her eyes and she turned to see James running at her like a fucking demon! James had a wide smile on his face and he jumped from more than ten meters away with his staff raised for an attack!
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Selina knew that it would be impossible for her to defend against the attackpletely since it was so sudden, so she brought up her knife in a sloppy defense and allowed the staff to strike her before she grabbed it and used it to pull James closer before James could get rid of it!
Selina threw her gun in the air, pulled back her fist, and delivered a punch that James would remember for the rest of his life!
SLAM!
James'' entire body screamed in agony as intense pain shot through his stomach! He bounced off the ground like a basketball and Selina wasted no time as she mmed her boot into his midsection like he was a football, throwing him into the air! Selina reached back and pulled up her sniper rifle in one smooth move! She cocked the gun, locked onto James, and fired!
Phwip!
KA-BOOM!!!
"James!"
A massive explosion painted the sky in yellow and Talia shouted out in fear as she didn''t see James moving out of the way! James really got hit! But Talia didn''t have time to worry about James as Selina shifted her focus to Talia and aimed the sniper rifle at her!
Phwip!
BOOOM!!
Talia poured her mana into the ground and the trees all around her came to life as they moved to intercept the bullet and protect Talia from the explosion! Talia could feel her mana dwindling into nothing. These trees that she created were probably thest ones that she could make with the mana that she had. She wouldn''t be able to defend herself against another one of those bullets.
There were about ten trees currently surrounding Talia protectively and Talia sent five of them out to intercept Selina.
Selina dashed forward as the trees charged at her and she dodged around their trunks as they tried to hit her. She ducked under a death charge from one of the trees and slid to the ground as she bnced the gun on one knee and targeted a small space between two trees!
Phwip!
The bullet flew through the slim gap and mmed into the ground between the trees before exploding in an enormous st that sent the trees flying to the side! Talia began to feel her eyes drooping and she could see some dark dots on the edge of her vision gettingrger as the fight dragged on. She was running out of stamina.
Chapter 388 The Sin of Lust
"Hey, beautiful! Don''t you dare close those pretty eyes! Don''t take this moment away from me!"
Talia''s eyes shot open as she heard James suddenly shouting from somewhere above her. Jamesnded on the ground in front of her, but Talia was stunned when she saw how James'' eyes were roaming over her body greedily! It was like James was trying to eat her with his gaze alone. James bent and grabbed a lock of Talia''s hair in his hands before bringing it up to his nose and taking in a deep breath.
James let out a pleasant sigh as he spoke lovingly.
"Ahhh~ The scent of a beautiful woman is like a warm autumn day. Refreshing beyond all measure. If you were a flower, you would be the most beautiful one standing out proudly in a garden. An alluring symbol of purity."
"E-Eh? Eh! EEH!!"
Talia''s cheeks started to heat up as James pouredpliments on her constantly. Even though they were in the middle of a fight!? What was James doing!? Talia could no longer see that proud, intense look that James had before; instead, it was reced by a deep loving gaze that made her heart flutter in a strange way.
Talia could only wonder what sort of blessing James had that allowed him to act like this.
James smiled as he saw Talia''s flustered state and his eyes finally trailed down to her chest and Talia saw a frown form on James'' face before James hummed.
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"Now, if only you had bigger boobs."
A tick mark appeared over Talia''s head and she immediately kicked James''s leg in anger, making him stumble forward with a smallugh.
''Make good use of my contract, boy. Let your lust run through you and embrace it to the fullest. Pride is nothing but a brute. I shall show you how to win both this fight as well as a woman''s heart.''
James smiled as the voice of Lust rang through his head. James no longer had the staff in his hand. Instead, his hands were covered with two gauntlets that had sharp retractable des protruding out from his knuckles. Lust did not like to use ranged weapons because you must get close to your lover in order to seduce them. It is the same in a fight.
You must get close to your enemy in order to defeat them.
James gave Talia another roguish grin and Talia''s blush spread even more as she told James to focus!
"I-I have a n! I think she is almost out of bullets, but I need to be sure before I can carry out the n. If you can make her run out, then I can capture her using thest of my mana. I can''t help you a lot right now since I need to preserve mana. Can you do it?"
James took another deep breath before he sighed and stood up. He gave Talia a loving smile.
"Anything for you, my love."
"Uhh!"
Talia shook her head quickly. Her face was very hot as she felt the full force of James'' flirting pouring on her, and she had to struggle not to let it affect her as she turned to watch Selina. James turned as well and gave Selina a longing stare while bowing to her.
"A woman as beautiful as you is more deserving of love than any other being in this world and the world after. As the champion of lust, it will be my greatest honor to bestow true love upon you. After all, the greatest form of love is suffering."
James started to walk forward confidently as he felt a new wave of mana flowing through his body. After he got hit with the explosion from that sniper bullet, he ran out of mana from his contract with Pride, and the contract was temporarily cut off.
Pride was obviously not impressed by James'' performance, but Pride still praised James and told him that he would not mind making another contract with him in the future. Once Pride left, another demon appeared; this time, it was Lust, a feminine demon that embodied the very essence of sexuality.
After he made the contract with her, James also gained a new surge of mana that allowed him to continue fighting as if he had never gotten injured in the first ce.
Two of Talia''s summons nked James on the sides, and Selina prepared her knife and gun as she red at them. James grinned as he sted forward to face her once more and Selina brought up her rifle and aimed at him!
Selina couldn''t believe just how far these kids were pushing her. Selina already knew that Talia would be an issue if they ever fought. Videos of Talia using her blessing to save people from Anima attacks were all over the inte, so Selina knew that Talia had an immense amount of potential, but it would have been easy to handle Talia if she was alone. The real issue was James.
Selina didn''t think that James would suddenly gain such a massive power boost, and she had no idea how it happened. And now that they were fighting against her together, it was as if she was fighting against another S-rank superhuman. They were covering each other''s faults, and their teamwork was unbelievable for kids their age.
''If these two be a team in the future, they would make a dangerous pair.''
James was right on top of Selina, and Selina fired off her gun at point-nk range, hoping to kill James right there!
BOOM!
Arge trunk appeared from the side, blocking the mes from reaching James, and Jamesughed loudly as he spun in the air and mmed his fist into Selina''s face!
ng!
Selina allowed the punch to hit while using the knife her knife to prevent the knife protruding out of James''s gauntlet from cutting her! She pushed him back before jumping back as well to avoid a hit from one of Talia''s summons!
Selina aimed her gun at the tree in front of her and unleashed another bullet, and this time, the explosion blew a hole straight through the tree, and the tree groaned as it started to fall over. Talia grunted from behind as she squeezed out even more mana, trying her hardest to create even more summons to help out! Just a little more time! Talia was sure that Selina was almost out of mana!
Selina watched the tree fall, but she didn''t have time to focus too much on it as more vines shot out from the ground and started to attack her as well! Theyshed out at her with their sharp ends, trying to skewer her, but Selina easily used herbat knife to slice through most of them!
She cut one that was trying to stab through her arm, and another one that tried to wrap around her wrist ended up getting torn in half as Selina dragged her arm back with force! Selina cut through another three vines before a thought finally seemed to pop into her mind.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om
''Where the fuck is that little boy!?''
Chapter 389 Their First Victory
''Where the fuck is that little boy!?''
A loudugh echoed from above the clearing, and Selina looked up in shock as she saw James falling through the air! James raised his joined hands above his head before delivering a wicked hammer blow that mmed into Selina''s head.
BAM!
"Gah!"
James used the opening he just created, spun around, and mmed his knee into Selina''s temple. He grabbed her long hair and pulled it back as he drove his other knee forward with a wide smile on his face.
"Can you feel it!? That is the impact of my love! I brought all of it just for you!"
SLAM!
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James'' knee mmed into Selina''s nose, and she saw stars on the edge of her vision as she swiped her hand around to try and get James away from her. Selina felt her entire head ringing in pain from the consecutive hits, but she bit the inside of her cheek and brought herself back to reality by force as she saw Jamesing towards her for another attack.
Selina dodged James'' kick and mmed her fist into his stomach with a shout.
"Don''t fuck with me, you bastard!!"
Selina has been through hell and back with these two kids! She was bleeding from her shoulder, her back, and her nose because of these bastards! Selina didn''t even remember thest time anyone made her bleed! She wasn''t going to allow this to go on! Selina pointed her gun at James to blow him away, but the sound that came out was thest thing she wanted to hear.
Click!
''Fuck! It''s empty!''
BAM!
The tree behind Selina mmed into her back with force, throwing her forward and making her m against another tree! She got to her feet quickly and used her knife to cut some vines that were trying to wrap themselves around her. She didn''t care if her guns were gone! She was still going to gut that boy even if it was thest thing she did!
Selina looked around for James and she grit her teeth in annoyance when she didn''t see him anymore! Where the hell did he run off to!?
"Can you feel my love!?"
Selina looked up again as she heard that shout and she saw James with his hand drawn back, dropping from a tree above her! Selina prepared her knife to intercept the attack, but before she could do that, something grabbed her from behind! It was soft and fluffy and Selina didn''t need to think long before she knew exactly what it was!
"TEDDY!"
Talia shouted out in excitement as Teddy appeared once more. It was torn and shredded in many ces and one of its eyes waspletely destroyed, but the teddy bear held on tight with all its strength! Selina reached back to throw it off, but more vines grew from the ground and wrapped around her, trapping her hand to her body and preventing her from moving!
This amount of force would normally not be enough to hold Selina down, but after all the punishment she already endured from the two kids, she didn''t have the strength to throw the summoned beasts off in time! Selina looked up with wide eyes, and thest thing she heard was James'' loudugh as he proimed his love for her!
"Feel my love!!"
SLAM!!
The gauntlet mmed into Selina''s head like an anvil, rattling her brain and knocking her out cold! James knew that this punch would be enough to knock Selina out, so he tried his best not to stab her with his knife.
Once Selina was out cold, Jamesnded on the ground beside her. He took a step back and fell to his ass with a loud sigh of tiredness. The gauntlets disappeared from his hands and he could hear Lust whispering approvingly in his ear. His entire body was vibrating from the adrenaline and he felt like he just finished eating ten scoops of ice cream all at once!
"We actually did it!"
Thud!
The sound of something dropping to the ground made James turn around, and his eyes widened when he saw that it was Talia who had dropped!
"Talia!"
James shot off the ground in worry as he raced to Talia! He slid to a stop on his knees beside her and grabbed her by the shoulder before bringing her up.
"Talia. Talia. Can you hear me? Are you okay? Talia,e on, talk to me. Talia?"
James became worried when he didn''t feel any movement from Talia for a moment. He thought that she had died right then, and the amount of anguish that filled him when that thought entered his head would have been enough to plunge him into depression immediately! But after a few seconds, Talia raised a hand and gave James a small pat on the chest.
"Don''t worry about me. I just ran out of mana. I need to rest."
James breathed out a sigh of relief as he heard that, and he tightened his hold on Talia as he looked around the clearing. James couldn''t believe they actually won. They beat an S-rank.
Talia spoke up tiredly when she saw the look of wonderment on James'' face. She knew what that look was and if not for the fact that she was dead tired, she would have had the exact same look.
"You can''t believe it either, right? We actually did it. We beat an S-rank! Just wait till I tell Big Brother about this. He''s going to be so proud¡ of¡ me."
Talia''s eyes slowly closed and James quickly put his head on her chest to make sure that her heart was still beating. Once James was sure that Talia was only sleeping, he breathed out a sigh in relief, but he suddenly drew his head back when he realized what he had just done! He blushed a little while looking at Talia''s chest before shaking his head and trying to get up.
If Talia was conscious, she would have smacked him for doing that.
James still had to find his parents and they had to check and make sure that Arit was okay. They couldn''t waste time here.
"Oof!"
James tried to get up, but he couldn''t even take a step forward before he fell back on his ass. He couldn''t feel his legs and his entire body was shouting at him to just rest. James decided that he could spare a few minutes.
He looked at Talia''s summons that were still surrounding them, and the summons seemed to understand what he was trying to say as they formed a protective circle around the both of them. Jamesid Talia down under the shade of a tree and he sat down against the tree trunk and closed his eyes to finally rest.
...
A step to the left.
Another step to the right.
Duck.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om
There''s a stringing from the right, the best option is to grab it. Drag the wire forward and force him to move to the left so he misses his attack from the right.
Another step to the right.
Arit could see all of it. Arit could see every pathway that the strings were nning to take. Arit could feel George''s killing intent telling her exactly where he nned to attack. Arit knew that this was not something normal. This was the result of her transformation. Was this how Anima felt all the time?
Could all Anima use these sorts of instincts to automatically evade any attack even though they can''t see it? This is amazing.
Chapter 390 An Animas Instincts
''Don''tpare what we can do to the abilities of those lower-ss Anima. We possess a much higher instinct than they ever will. A level of instinct that can almost be ssified as seeing into the future, as well as inhuman reflexes that allow you to keep up with those instincts. When we pair these things together, we are unstoppable.''
Arit dodged a string that tried to cut her shoulder by a hair''s breadth before raising her hand and using her sharp nails to cut through another string that tried to cut through her neck.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om
I see.
So these are the instincts Queen was talking about. A feeling that could onlye when Arit fully epted her Anima side. Arit felt as though she had gained an extra eye all of a sudden. Some sort of sixth sense. She could see things that she normally would not be able to. She didn''t even need to think or analyze anything!
Arit''s mind easily processed what was happening around her and guided her on the best possible action at the moment. It was like a child learning to walk for the first time. Arit''s mouth split into a small smile as she continued to walk forward. There was a new surge of confidence in Arit''s movement, and she decided that it was time for her to end this fight.
George was having the biggest crisis of his life. The fight between him and Arit had been going on for only two minutes, but right from the beginning, George could feel the fight slipping through his hands. George has been the one attacking Arit with his strings and des for a while now. But there was something very wrong here. Why wasn''t he touching Arit!?
It wasn''t as though George was missing his attacks! George knew exactly where Arit was, and he even had enough mana to send as many strings as he wanted at her! But for some reason, George just couldn''t touch Arit!?
Arit would move out of the way of George''s attacks at just the right moment, barely evading it by a hair''s breadth as she made her way towards him. The room that they were in waspletely filled with George''s strings; every wall had a string tied to it, and the space in between was like a maze of strings that formed a protective matrix around George.
George watched as Arit used her long nails to tear through anotheryer of his strings before continuing her way to him.
George thought about running away from Arit, but for some reason, when he looked into Arit''s yellow eyes that were glued to his own, George knew that running would be impossible. From the small confrontation that they had, George could tell that Arit was stronger than him; and since she also had the ability to fly, George couldn''t escape!
It was obvious that George was going to have to pull out all the stops if he wanted to stand a chance against Arit. George only hoped that Selina was having a much easier time than this!
George poured his mana out of his body and Arit stopped advancing as she saw strings being created at a rapid pace. George rolled the strings together and twisted them into two long rope-like whips that he grabbed in each hand. Since Arit was so good at dodging the strings he sent out, George decided that it was time he handled attacking by himself!
Whip!
George cracked the whip in his right hand and he spoke up.
"I thought you were just a normal girl, but it seems you''re more of an anima than you are a human. Well, if it''s animas, then I''m used to handling them. I''ll tame you right here."
Arit felt a deep surge of anger growing out of her once George said this! Who the fuck is this vermin talking to like that!? But instead of allowing the anger to blind her into attacking senselessly, she internalized the anger and allowed it to fuel her determination as she prepared for whatever George was going to do!
Arit wanted to rush in, but her instincts were telling her to calm down and see exactly what George was capable of before counterattacking.
Crack!
Georgeshed out with his string and Arit immediately bolted forward as she dashed away from the spot where he attacked! The whip mmed into the ground and broke through the concrete before George pulled it back and sent the other whip at Arit!
Arit spread her wings out and used them to fly over the whip before she tucked the wings back in and fell to the ground as George sent out another cracking attack at her!
Crack!
The whip struck the far wall of the room and the entire wall crumbled to dust as the force from the whip obliterated it! George wasted no time as he started moving around slowly while continuously attacking Arit! He was shifting his position to more favorable spots and sending out fast and hard strikes that would incapacitate Arit if they hit, and Arit was constantly dodging around them easily.
There was a small smile on her face as she evaded the whips and George grew more and more frantic as he sent out more strikes to try and throw Arit off!
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Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
Each strike released a loud sound as it struck nothing but air and Arit''s bloodthirsty smile only widened as she dashed to the side before shing forward to attack George! George cursed and called on a lot of string to form a shield in front of him, but he was shocked when Arit spun in the air and used her nails to cut through the strings like they were nothing!
Arit was right in front of George now and she crouched down as George took arge leap back to try and put some space between them! Arit sprang off her feet andshed out with her nails and George brought both hands up to try and protect himself!
Arit stopped her movement in thest second, spun around, and unleashed a kick into George''s unprotected stomach, sending him through the wall and into the next room! George gasped in pain as he felt all the air leave his lungs, but he didn''t have any time to rx as Arit was right there again!
She appeared in front of him with her wings spread out and both legs raised in the air before she delivered a dropkick into George''s stomach, driving him deep into the ground!
BOOM!
The force of the kick shook the entire hotel down to its foundation and George felt a few bones break in his chest! Arit got off him and reached down to grab him and George raised a single hand desperately to try and keep her away from him.
"W-Wait.. please."
George begged for mercy and Arit red at him before she brought him closer.
"Tell me who sent you."
Chapter 391 They Call Themselves S
"Tell me who sent you."
George choked on some blood and coughed. Arit tightened her hand even more, and George held her hand tiredly while talking.
"I-I don''t know, I don''t know who sent me. I just got a message, and they told us to get you and that little girl. Please."
Arit felt irritated once she heard George say this. Arit hoped that she would at least be able to get the name of his employer from him. From everything that they had been saying, Arit knew that George and Selina were just mercenaries, so that meant there had to be someone else helping them behind the scenes.
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"What about Mark? What are you all nning for him?"
"I-I don''t know ¨C grk!"
Arit tightened her hand even more, and George almost died right there as he felt his windpipe being squeezed shut! He immediately shouted out loudly!
"They sent the anima here! They were the ones that sent the anima! I-I don''t have any names, but I have a group. I know the name of the group! Let me go, and I''ll tell you!"
Arit red at George as her pressure pressed down on him.
"Tell me the name, and I''ll think about letting you go."
George was breathing heavily, and he looked down into Arit''s eyes to see if he could trust her words. George knew that Arit could kill him with just a single squeeze right now, so he had to preserve his life any way he could. But when he looked into Arit''s eyes, he didn''t see anything there. Her eyes were still narrowed, and there was nothing there but pure anger.
George couldn''t guess what was going through Arit''s mind at that moment, so he just swallowed and decided to bite the bullet.
"They call themselves S. That is what they called themselves."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, that is what I heard them calling themselves. S. T-They never told us much, but the only thing I know is that they were obsessed with some KING! They kept talking about killing him! I don''t know anything more than that! I swear!"
An intense rage shed across Arit''s eyes once she heard him mention the KING, and Arit growled in anger! Who the hell do they think they are!? They were going after the king!? She would kill each and every one of them! Arit''s hands tightened into fists unconsciously as her anger grew!
CRACK!
Arit suddenly paused as she heard a loud crack, and she blinked in surprise when she saw that she had identally killed George. Oh, that wasn''t what she wanted to do at all. She was actually nning to torture him before killing him.
Arit frowned in annoyance as she just threw George to the side, and his lifeless bodynded in a heap at the corner. Arit spread her wings out and pped them once as she sted through the roof of the building to get a good look at the surroundingnd.
Arit knew that she had to warn Mark about what was happening. Arit couldn''t be sure if Mark knew about this S or not, but she just wanted to make sure Mark was okay. Arit was about to fly off to find Mark immediately, but at thest moment, she suddenly remembered Talia and she stopped. She had to go and make sure that Talia was fine.
Talia and James were probably somewhere in the forest, so Arit had to make sure that they were fine before she could go to Mark. Arit frowned slightly as she thought about just going to Mark without bothering to look for Talia. Arit wanted to be with Mark as quickly as possible! But Arit couldn''t do that.
Mark would be mad at her if she didn''t take care of Talia first.
Arit turned to the forest and allowed her eyes to scan over it calmly as she searched for Talia. There were some fights still taking ce in the forest. An S-rank was fighting against a low-level cmity towards the east of the forest, and from what Arit could see, he would win against it soon. There was a small group of humans being led through the thicker part of the forest by two A-ranks.
They were probably going to the bunker. Arit knew they would not be able to make it into the bunker since it was already closed, but she didn''t pay them much mind as she turned away from them uninterestedly.
Finally, after searching for a while, Arit caught sight of Talia close to the west side of the forest. Arit was resting under a tree along with James, and there were various animated trees standing around them protectively. Were they Talia''s summons? That''s good. At least they were protecting her.
Arit flew down to the forest to make her way to Talia, but on her way there, she stopped as she saw something hidden inside the bushes. Isn''t that Greg and his wife?
...
In the clearing, James heard something moving from the side, and he opened one of his eyes blearily to see what was there. Even though James was tired, he was still on high alert after the fight that they just had, and he gave the part of the forest that he heard the noise from a narrowed re.
"Growl~!"
James felt his entire body lock up as he heard a deep growl from that side of the forest. That was an anima, wasn''t it? It was definitely an anima!
''What is an anima doing here? I thought there were superhumans taking care of them!''
James put his hand out protectively to try and drag Talia closer to him when he saw the foliage clearing out to reveal the most disgusting thing that James had ever seen in his life. A two-headed, multi-armed freak of nature that towered over them like some sort of alien species.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
The anima in front of James had bloated purple skin and tworge stump-like legs that barely managed to carry it forward.
The anima hade from the western side of the forest, so it had missed the superhumans that were supposed to make sure that it didn''te this close to the hotel. Once the anima got into the clearing, it looked around with its four eyes, scanning the surroundings curiously until its gazended on James and Talia.
A nasty growl left the anima''s throat, and it began to move toward them threateningly.
The trees around James and Talia prepared for an attack, but James could tell just from looking at the anima in front of him that they wouldn''t stand a chance against it. They had already exhausted most of their mana when fighting against Selina, so they were just running on fumes right now!
Doon!
All of a sudden, the anima stopped as it felt something oppressive pressing down on it! The anima felt a shiver go down its spine as it turned its heads around to look at the surrounding forest, trying to see where that feeling came from!
Chapter 392 Dog-Eat-Dog World
James narrowed his eyes in confusion as he wondered what was going on with the anima.
"Growl~!"
The anima released another growl, but this time, it was a subdued thing that made it sound more like a wounded animal than an anima. Its eyes locked on a particr direction in the forest, and James turned there as well, wondering what was in there! Don''t tell me that there was an even bigger animaing! We already have a hard time dealing with this one!
If there''s another anima out there that can scare this one, then we won''t stand a chance!
Within the forest, Arit''s nk eyes red at the cmity ss from a distance. Arit was still in her anima form, but she was hidden within the thick trees and bushes out of sight of James and Talia as she released her pressure on the approaching anima.
The anima was both confused and terrified! Normally, the anima would never be afraid of a human ring at it! Anima were humans'' natural predators, so they didn''t feel much fear at all when facing off against a human, but this was the first time that the anima was experiencing something like this! Was it a human? Was it an anima? Arit''s nature was so confusing to the anima!
The anima didn''t know where to ssify Arit at all! But the one thing that the anima knew at that moment was that this was not an anima that it could go against! Although it was a high-level Cmity, Arit''s pressure was still enough to send shivers through its entire body!
The anima automatically began to think that the two children there were Arit''s prey and Arit was angry at it because it was trying to take her prey away.
The anima thought about whether or not it should fight for the prey, but it eventually decided that it was not worth it since there was plenty more prey out there for it to take. It would leave these ones to the stronger anima.
The anima turned around and trekked back into the forest, and James looked on in shock as he watched it go. What the hell just happened!? James didn''t understand anything at all! It was too shocking to see an anima leaving without attacking humans!
James turned back to the area where the anima had been looking, and he narrowed his eyes at that spot in fear, waiting for whatever was there to show itself. He pulled Talia closer and held her tight against his chest. If the thing that came out from there was too dangerous, then he would tell one of the trees to take them and run.
"James, are you okay? Oh my goodness, what happened to Talia!?"
A voice suddenly came from the other side of the clearing, and James turned to it in shock. His eyes lit up in happiness as he saw Arit running towards him with a worried look on her face. James looked back at the forest to see if any anima would show itself, and when he was sure that whatever was there wasn''t going toe out, he sighed in relief.
"What are you looking at? Is there something over there? Is it an anima?"
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Arit spoke up in a way that made her sound genuinely worried, and James just shook his head as he told Arit that it was nothing. He thought there was something there, but it was probably gone now. Arit nodded as she turned to look at Talia. She asked James what happened to Talia, and James frowned as he told Arit the basics of what he and Talia went through.
Selina was still tied up with a lot of vines, and she was out cold from James'' punch. Arit narrowed her eyes when she turned to look at Selina.
Just knowing that Selina came here as part of the group that was plotting to take down the king was enough to make Arit''s anger resurface! A small part of Arit''s skin began to turn purple again as her eyes shed a dangerous yellow, but James suddenly spoke up and snapped Arit out of her anger.
"My parents. I haven''t been able to find them since. Please, are they okay? Did you see them at all? I need to find them."
Arit smiled at James, and she put her hand on his head kindly while telling him to calm down. His parents were safe.
"Your father is injured, and I don''t know how bad it is, and your mother was knocked out. But they are both alive. I found them whileing here and I took them to a superhuman where they would be safe. Don''t worry about them, okay?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Tears welled up at the corner of James'' eyes, and he brought his hand up to try and clean it quickly. He didn''t want Arit to see him as a crybaby, but James just couldn''t hold back his happiness as he heard that his parents were alive. He really thought that they had been eaten by an anima.
Arit smiled at James'' attempt to hide his tears and she stood up and spoke to the trees around James and Talia, telling them to carry them back to the hotel. She then gave directions for the path to follow so they didn''t run into any anima.
James was shocked by her order, and he asked if she would be alright. Wasn''t sheing with them? Arit smiled at James and pat his head again with a smile.
"I''ll follow right behind you. Don''t worry about me."
James felt a blush rising on his cheeks as he saw Arit''s smile down at him, and he ducked his head shyly with a nod and allowed the tree to take him up. Arit watched them go for a few moments to make sure that no anima came near them. Since most of the anima were terrified of Arit, they wouldn''t try attacking as long as Arit was there.
But first, Arit thought, as she turned to Selina and a surge of anger shot through her entire body, she was going to deal with this piece of shit.
...
The city F coast looked like a scene straight out of a Godzi movie. People were running fearfully from the port as they tried their best to get away from the monster that spawned from the ocean! The port wasrge with many ships and boats docked there. There were containers on the port grounds that had been brought in by cargo ships earlier.
But right now, more than half of them had been destroyed by the mere appearance of therge Eldritch anima!
One of the superhumans on the ground was a short woman who looked to be in herte thirties. She wore a pair of shorts and had on a Sailor Moon t-shirt that she had bought when she was at the festival. She had been busy enjoying the festival when the announcement for this emergency rang out, and she didn''t have any time to change out of her outfit before she had toe and help.
"We need to form a perimeter around the port. Make sure the monster can''t make it to the festival! It''ll kill everyone!"
Chapter 393 What Was Once The Neptune Guild
"We need to form a perimeter around this port. The monster can''t make it back to the festival! It''ll kill everyone!"
The woman shouted out to some of the superhumans standing around the port. The superhumans there were mainly A and B ranks, while the woman was an S rank. Her name was Jane, and she was a member of the A-rank guild, GForce. Jane hade to this ind on vacation to get away from all the fighting that had been happening on the maind ever since GHOST showed himself.
Most guilds haven''t had any time to rest since that first cmity ss showed up because of the sudden spike in how many anima were showing up every day now. They have had to increase their work hours by a lot to ount for the increase in anima appearances.
Jane racked up a lot of holiday time in her guild, and she decided she would use some of it toe for this festival. It was just her bad luck that Jane ended up right in the middle of another anima attack while on holiday!
Jane turned to look at the monster in the distance, and she felt a shiver go down her back as she watched it. That thing didn''t deserve to be called a monster. That sort of name was an insult to such a beast. You could call Cmity and Disaster ss anima monsters, but not this thing. This thing is an abomination of nature.
Eight long tentacles that it swung around like battering rams were attached to arge bulbous head of an octopus. The monster had two red eyes that peered out from slits in its head, and when it opened its mouth, there were rows upon rows of jagged teeth that would put the fear of God into anyone!
ROARRR!
The monster roared in anger at all of the humans beneath it, and Jane had to fight to prevent herself from running away along with the other humans. The other superhumans in the area all looked just as terrified as her, and Jane knew that if someone didn''t step forward, they would all break formation and run! Jane had to stay here to make sure they didn''t just run away!
"What are you all doing!? We need to keep formation! Remember, we are thest line between that thing and the people at the festival! Come on!"
The superhumans in the area were all reluctant to listen to Jane, but they still followed after her as they raced forward to protect the citizens who were running away from the monster.
Thankfully, there were no disaster or cmity ss monsters around here yet, so they didn''t have to worry about them as well, and they only had to make sure that the monster didn''t crush any of the humans while swinging its tentacles around!
BOOM!
The monster mmed its tentacle down on one of the containers sitting on the port and the metal crumpled under the force! The Eldritch grabbed it up easily before throwing it like a baseball at some of the humans that were running away! Jane put her hand out, and a massive torrent of water surged out from the ocean and flew toward the container!
"AHH!!"
The container was about to crush a man and his daughter, but the water managed to grab it at thest minute, and Jane gritted her teeth as she forced the container to stop its momentum before she squeezed her hand and swung it to the side, making the water toss the container to the side so it didn''t hit the humans!
Jane was a superhuman blessed by Neptune ¨C just like Luna. But unlike Luna, Jane didn''t have the ability to control water down to the molecr level. Jane could only use water that was already in the liquid form and control it to do whatever she wanted.
Jane and Luna actually started off as a part of the same guild during their first year as superhumans. In that first year, Jane and Luna were part of a guild called the Neptune Guild that consisted of only superhumans blessed by Neptune. It was made by a man who believed himself to be the strongest, and he was assembling all the children of Neptune together in order to create his own army.
Back then, Jane believed that her power was superior to Luna''s. Jane could already control water even though it was only her first year as a superhuman, but Luna couldn''t yet control any water since Luna had to learn how to control water from the molecr level.
This prevented Luna from being able to use her blessing properly from the start, and everyone there just thought that Luna was weak since she didn''t have as much control as they did.
But as time went on, things started to change. Jane was one of the first people to notice since she was always working closely with Luna. Luna first learned how to control the air moisture in a room, then she learned how to change that moisture to water, and then she learned how to create steam from that moisture, and then she learned how to freeze it.
It was almost surreal to watch what was happening to Luna in real-time. Luna''s growth rate was something that terrified Jane, and before Jane even knew what had happened, Luna had not only caught up to her, she had surpassed her easily!
Jane didn''t understand how it was possible! What was she doing wrong? Why was Luna getting so much stronger while she was still this weak? Jane had no idea that Luna''s potential was far higher than her own. Luna had an ELITE Rank II potential, and Jane only had an A rank potential! It was like trying topare the heavens to the earth!
Once Luna crossed over that first threshold of being able to control the moisture in the air, everything else just started to fall into ce for her. She became stronger and stronger, and before long, she was already stronger than the guild leader. Obviously, this did not go down well with the leader. He believed himself to be the strongest, and he couldn''t have anyone undermining his authority.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
There was a long period of espionage, and the guild leader schemed against Luna many times. Luna was only a neen-year-old then, so they thought she was just a child that they could manipte anyhow they wanted.
But one day, during a mission where they had to fight against a high-level cmity that appeared in what was once Texas, Luna ended up getting hurt by one of the guild leader''s schemes.
Chapter 394 Can A Human Fight Against Something Like This!?
The guild leader did not give Luna the proper information about the monster''s strength, and she was almost overwhelmed by their number and strength. That was thest straw for Luna. Before long, Luna left the Neptune guild and decided to form her own guild.
When Jane asked her about it, Luna said that she was tired of the bullshit they were trying to do, and she would rather be in her own group that she could control. The guild leader was not happy about this, and he tried to make Lunae back to the guild. There were rumors that he even challenged her to a fight where she would have to remain in the guild if she lost.
No one knows exactly how that fight went, but Jane knew that after that fight, the guild leader was never the same again. The Neptune guild eventually dissolved into nothing, and Jane left to join the GForce guild instead.
Honestly, Jane couldn''t me the guild leader for his actions. At least, notpletely. Jane knew that if she was in his shoes, she would also hate Luna. Even now, four yearster, Jane still hated Luna a little. It was Luna that destroyed Jane''s delusions that she was a powerful superhuman, and it was Luna that made Jane feel inadequate no matter what she aplished.
Luna was stronger, Luna grew faster, and Luna was more beautiful. Meanwhile, Jane cursed her own weakness every day as she saw her progress slowing down more and more.
But it was also Luna that made Jane train more than anyone else! Jane was a B-ss superhuman four years ago. With an A-rank potential, she was seeing considerable progress in her training. No matter what she did, she was capable of it because of how high her potential was. But as time went on, she started to see less and less progress.
With only an A-rank potential, it became difficult for her to handle more tasking techniques with her mana. But she did not stop! Whenever Jane thought about stopping, she would remember Luna and how Luna was growing faster than her! How Luna was able to do anything she put her mind to easily! Jane refused to give up just out of pure, unbearable spite!
"Look! There are some people in that ship!"
Jane turned to where a superhuman was pointing, and her eyes widened when she saw that there were multiple people inside a ship. They were standing on the ship''s deck! The people were all wearing bikinis and trunks, so it was obvious that they had been on a cruise before the Eldritch attacked!
SPLASH!
Arge wave suddenly shook the ship, and most of them fell on their asses while others grabbed hold of the railing to try and steady themselves so they wouldn''t fall over!
The Eldritch was almost out of the water, but a few of its tentacles were still inside the water, and only that was enough to cause massive waves in the ocean that shook all of the ships like they were being attacked by a tsunami!
"There''s no way we can get over there! The anima will kill us before we even get to them!"
"Isn''t there any SOVEREIGN on the ind!? I heard Luna was seen at the airport! She should be at the festival, right!? Why is she not here yet!?"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om
"What!? Luna was seen!? I only heard about GHOST! I heard someone say that he came here with his family!"
Jane felt her eyes twitch once someone mentioned Luna. Jane knows that she shouldn''t be annoyed by this! She has no right to be angry since Lunaing here would be a great help to all of them! But Jane couldn''t help the anger that surged out from inside her once she heard them talking about Luna!
The people on the boat started to scream and shout again as they got their feet back under them, and Jane knew that it wouldn''t be long before they were thrown overboard by the waves! And if they weren''t killed by that, then they would end up getting killed by the Eldritch on ident!
ROARRRR!
The Eldritch ss suddenly roared as it was attracted to the boat behind it by the screams of the people! It turned its head to take a look at them, and the people on the boat started to scream even louder as they saw the monster focusing its attention on them!
The Eldritch ss swung itsrge tentacle towards them, attempting to destroy the boat along with all of them, but arge pir of water suddenly sted out from the water!
PHWOOM!
The water grabbed hold of the tentacle, and the Eldritch was stunned for a few seconds as it stared at the water that was holding its tentacle in ce! Jane ran across the water, her feet mming on solid water that didn''t sink because of how much control she had over it! One of her hands was stretched out towards the Eldritch, and her eyes were focused on the boat as she grit her teeth angrily!
Jane refuses to wait for Luna for anything! It didn''t matter if Luna was here or not, she was going to do what she could! Jane raced towards the boat, but from the strained look on her face, it was obvious that she was using a lot of strength to just hold that Eldritch ss monster''s tentacle! Jane couldn''t believe how strong the monster was!
The monster wasn''t even moving, but she could feel a lot of strain pushing down on her from the monster''s weight alone! Jane had to deal with this as quickly as possible before the monster came out from its shock!
Jane reached the boat and she got ready to tell the people there to jump into the water! She was controlling the water, so they could all step on the water around her easily without sinking into the ocean!
"Jump down! I''ll catch you!"
Jane shouted out to them, but none of them bothered to jump! Instead, they were all pointing at something above her while waving their hands toward her desperately and yelling for he rot watch out! Jane turned her head around in shock as she finally realized what they were trying to tell her, and she cursed internally as she saw another tentacleing down on her!
Arge pir of water appeared just under Jane''s feet, and Jane used that to propel herself away from the spot she had been standing and up to the boat! Shended on the deck with a grunt and shouted out to the people there anxiously!
"Brace for impact!"
PWOTHOOOOOMMM!!!
The tentacle mmed against the water heavily, and the entire ship started to rock uncontrobly as the water churned under it! Jane put her hand on the deck of the boat and held on to the water particles there to brace herself, but she could see that some of the people didn''t manage to hold on to anything and they were being thrown about by the force!
Jane put a hand up and summoned a small volume of water to catch a man who would have gotten thrown overboard, and she brought him back and put him close to the railing so that he would be able to hold on to it.
The Eldritch raised its tentacle into the air again for another attack, and Jane looked up in fear as she felt her heart rate spike! She was going to die here! What the hell was this monster!? There is no way a human can fight against something like this!
"Help us! Please!"
Chapter 395 The Biggest Hater
"Help us! Please!"
One of the women holding the railing started to cry as she begged Jane to do something, but Jane''s confidence was already dwindling as she got a full look at the monsters in front of her. Jane ran in here thinking she was going to be the hero and save them, but faced with the reality of how strong the monster she was facing was, she almost froze up!
But Luna''s face passed across Jane''s mind again, and Jane felt an unbearable amount of anger fill her up as she realized that Luna wouldn''t freeze up. Luna would charge forward with that stupid stoic look she always had!
ROARRRR!
Jane put her hand up as the Eldritch roared and she called on all the water she could! The water in the ocean immediately responded to her call as it surged towards the boat! It grabbed the people leaning against the railing and brought them close to Jane before the water surrounded all of them in a cocoon that swirled and flowed constantly!
Jane grit her teeth and forced her hands together, and the water ball started to reduce in size as the water inside it was forcefullypressed!
Water was not meant to bepressed, and any scientist out there would tell you that water was an ipressible form of matter. But Jane found out that water was capable ofpression as long as you did not give it any other choice. Normal methods were not capable of forcing water topress itself, but magic was.
With her mana infused in the water, Jane forced the water toe together and fill in whatever gaps it could find, forming a super-hard ball of water around them that blocked out anything from entering! And at the next moment, the Eldritch struck!
KA-BOOM!!!
"Kya!"
"Ah!"
"SHIT!"
The people in the water ball were all thrown about as the Eldritch mmed its hand into the boat and sunk it into the ocean! They plunged underwater, but Jane''s water ball held strong, preventing any water from getting through the wall!
The Eldritch noticed that Jane and the humans were unharmed inside the ball, and it roared in anger once more as it reached out with a tentacle and grabbed the water ball! Jane grunted as she felt the immense pressure squeezing down on her, and she had to brace herself as the Eldritch reached back with its tentacle and mmed the ball into the ocean again!
BOOM!
At the speed they were traveling, it almost felt like the Eldritch just mmed them into concrete! Jane felt a line of blood leaking from her nose as she struggled to keep the ball intact! If she drops this ball or releases the pressure holding it together, then they were all going to die to that Eldritch!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The people in the ball were screaming as the Eldritch continued mming them into the water over and over again! But Jane just tuned them out as she tried her best to stay strong! Her eyes were bloodshot, and her teeth were almost chipping from how much force she was exerting just to keep that ball intact!
Luna wouldn''t feel the strain here.
Luna would be able to keep this ball intact.
Luna would be able to win against this monster.
Like hell am I going to give up here! I''m not going to lose to that fucking bitch!
Jane''s mind was a tsunami of thoughts as she boosted her own confidence with her words! Jane could feel her mana slipping. She barely had any at all, and the only thing keeping her standing was her stamina and her sheer stubbornness! But then, Jane''s eyes widened as she felt the Eldritch stop its attacks.
It brought them up and close to its eyes, and Jane''s heartbeat elerated to an unhealthy pace as she looked into the red, ring eyes of the Eldritch ss monster. Jane''s water ball twitched as some of her confidence started to run away from her.
The eldritch opened its mouth to reveal the multiple rows of jagged teeth everyone in the ball started to shout as they knew what was about to happen!
"It''s going to eat us!"
"No! I don''t wanna die! No!"
"Help! Somebody help us!"
Jane''s eyes were wide as she stared down into the wide, jagged mouth of the Eldritch ss monster. Was it really going to eat them? Was this really it? All that hard work. All that stress. For what?
Just to get eaten by an Eldritch ss monster?
Enjoy new tales from empire
I¡ I don''t even have a family. I''ve been so focused on surpassing Luna that I haven''t even gotten a fucking boyfriend yet! I don''t want to die! I don''t want to die here! A red line of tears fell from Jane''s bloodshot eyes. Please...
somebody save me.
The Eldritch ss monster released its tentacle and allowed the ball to fall freely into its mouth, and Jane felt herself giving up all hope as she thought this was the end, but at the next moment, her control over her water ball was forcefully stolen away from her as the waterball strengthened!
"What?"
Jane was shocked when she felt the water under her control getting yanked away from her! It was like she was a child whose candy was just taken away, and she stared down at her hand in shock as she wondered what just happened! The water all around them suddenly solidified into a much stronger ball as the bond between the molecules of the water was strengthened to an almost ungodly level!
One side of the ball froze up into solid ice, and the other side began to release smoke as the water there started to evaporate!
Jane''s eyes widened as she saw the impossible feat! What the hell was this? Someone was making water freeze and boil at the same time? Jane didn''t need to think long before she knew exactly who it was that was doing this! There was only one person who could handle water to this degree!
Luna is here!
Someone shouted in fear from behind Jane as the side of the ball that was boiling suddenly started releasingrge jets of steam until it transformed into a propulsion system that sted the ball away from the Eldritch!
PHWOOM!
SLAM!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
The Eldritch mmed its mouth closed, but the ball just managed to clear away from its range at thest moment, and it was sted towards the beach! It mmed into the ground with intense force and the side of the ball that was frozen absorbed most of the impact, and protected the people inside from dying from the force!
The water ball broke, and all the people inside fell to the ground in pain and relief as they cried out happily! They couldn''t believe they made it out alive! They really thought they were going to die!
Jane didn''t care to cry out at all. She was on her hands and knees, and she coughed a few times and cleaned the blood on her nose before she looked up to try and find Luna. Jane knew that Luna was the only one that could have done this! No one else had this level ofmand over water!
And Jane didn''t have to look far before she saw her standing there. The goddess of moonlight looked as beautiful as ever. With her white hair tied into a ponytail at the back of her head and her slightly narrowed eyes staring at everyone as though they were beneath her. Luna turned to look at Jane when she noticed Jane staring at her, and Jane could immediately see it in Luna''s eyes.
From the way Luna was looking at her, Jane knew that Luna didn''t recognize her. Jane was painfully reminded at that moment just how much she hated Luna.
Chapter 396 You Fucking Sushi!
"It''s going to crush us!"
A superhuman pointed up while screaming, and the superhumans all turned up to see that the Eldritch was aiming two of its tentacles at them and was trying to crush all of them at the same time. Jane tried to get to her feet so that she could help out. Jane knew that Luna would be able to handle something about this, but Jane was not going to allow Luna to take all the credit here!
Jane was going to y a part in killing that Eldritch no matter what!
But Jane was stunned when Luna didn''t even move. Luna was just staring up at the tentacles with that same condescending look in her eyes, waiting for it to crush all of them. And was she smiling!?
"What do you think you''re doing!? it''s going to crush us!"
Jane didn''t understand what the hell was going on in Luna''s mind! What was she smiling about!? They were going to die!
BOOM!
A loud sound from behind her suddenly made Jane turn around, and her eyes widened in surprise when she saw a masked man flying toward the tentacles. The person had sted off the ground from behind them, so he was moving at an insane speed towards therge monster! Isn''t that GHOST!?
"Come to Daddy, you fucking sushi!!"
[Current Power Output: 80%]
[Divergent Fist]!!
The entire world seemed to shift into greyscale as a massive force congregated at the center of Mark''s fist. At that moment, it seemed as though all the humans on the held their breaths as one, plunging the world into a deafening state of suspended silence!
And once Mark unleashed his punch, a sound like deafening thunder echoed through the horizon of humanity, and the world rumbled back into existence!
KA-BOOM!!!!
WOOOOSHHH!
The superhumans standing at the pier all had to hold onto something as the wind pressure from the punch almost threatened to throw them off their feet! Jane was thrown back from the force. She was too weak after all the punishment she had just received in that ball, so she couldn''t stay on her feet at all, but a water pir formed behind her and caught her before she couldnd on the ground.
Jane turned to Luna to tell her that she didn''t need her help, but she saw that Luna wasn''t even looking at her at all. Instead, Luna was staring at GHOST intensely. As though he was the only thing that existed in the world at that moment.
Jane could immediately recognize what that look on Luna''s face meant. It was the same look she had seen on the faces of many of her friends who had gotten married and had families of their own. Luna was in love.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
ROARRR!!
The Eldritch-ss animal roared in anger as it felt its tentacles throbbing in pain from Mark''s punch. It retreated back into the ocean and gave the superhumans some room to breathe as Marknded on the beach a few hundred meters away from it.
"It''s GHOST! GHOST and Luna are here! We''re saved!"
"Fucking hell! I thought I was going to die! Thank god!"
"We need to provide backup! Evacuate as many people as possible so they can fight!"
The superhumans started to clear out the civilians that were still remaining in the area in a hurry. Many of them were ncing at Mark and Luna reverently as they passed, but neither Mark nor Luna paid them any attention. Luna walked up to Mark calmly while tying her long ponytail into a bun behind her head. She stopped beside Mark and Mark turned to look down at her calmly.
Luna smiled up at Mark, but Luna''s smile died once she saw that there was a small wrinkle in Mark''s brow. Luna finished tying her hair as she frowned. There was something wrong.
"What is it?"
Luna asked Mark this question as the both of them watched the giant monster roaring in anger, and Mark''s frown only deepened when he spoke.
"You were right about how strong it is. I thought that punch would tear off that tentacle, but this fucker is acting like it just stubbed its toe or something."
Luna turned to look at the monster and she could see that Mark was right. The monster''s reaction wasn''t as extreme as she expected it to be. Luna had seen firsthand just how destructive any of Mark''s punches could be, so for the monster to be reacting in such a way to one of his more intense punches was very worrying.
Luna already expected this much, but seeing it firsthand just put it into perspective that they were fighting way above their weight ss here. They had to clear this ce out as quickly as possible!
ROOOOAAAARRR!
Zoom!
The monster suddenly roared very loudly and both Mark and Luna suddenly vanished from where they had been standing! They grabbed a hold of all the people that were in the monster''s strike zone and dashed out of the way as the monster raised its tentacle in the air and mmed it into the spot where they had been standing!
BOOM!!
Mark slid to a stop almost five hundred meters away and he dropped three women and a man to the ground before giving out instructions quickly to one of the superhumans that was standing around!
"Get to a bunker now! Those above A rank should take those below so they don''t slow you down! Anyone with a speed-based blessing should carry as many people as possible! We''ll hold off the monster and cover your retreat, but we can''t fight properly with you here! Move!"
The people all started to run once they heard Mark''s angry tone. Luna had been carrying four people in her arms and she dropped them all and allowed them to scurry away as she turned to look at Mark. Mark was watching the monster as it rose its tentacle for another hit, and Luna gave it a side nce while asking Mark what the n was.
The sides of Mark''s lip rose slightly as he spoke. Mark could see how the monster was writhing and swinging its tentacles about and Mark knew that even though he didn''t cause any serious damage with his punch, he did enough to piss it off! Mark spread his legs, put his hand on his knees and stretched confidently as his grin grew wider!
Find adventures on empire
"I''m gonna give it something to really bitch about. I''m going to go all out, think you can keep up?"
Luna stretched her hands above her head to loosen her body while standing on her toes. She was barefoot, just like Mark, but that did nothing to hinder her movement. Luna smiled as her eyes glowed blue with power. She was tempted to tell Mark to try keeping up with her instead, but she knew that it would be better to allow Mark to take the lead and support him from behind.
Luna''s power was more suited for support since she could cover veryrge areas at the same time, so if Mark was attacking in close quarters and she was attacking from a distance, then they would stand a much better chance.
The air around Luna started to crystallize into ice and Luna spoke with confidence.
"If we win here, promise me you''ll have dinner with me."
"Eh?"
Chapter 397 These Skills Wont Cut It
"If we win here, promise me you''ll have dinner with me."
Eh?
Mark turned around to Luna with a raised brow, and Luna smiled at him while repeating herself. Mark was stunned by her forwardness, but he didn''t allow it to bother him too much. Mark had already told Luna that he didn''t want to do anything that would hurt Arit, so he knew that she wouldn''t push too much if he declined, but Luna already told Mark that she was not giving up on him.
This was probably just another one of her attempts to get closer to him.
But who the hell would start asking for a date in the middle of a damn battle?
Mark chuckled at how easygoing Luna was right now, and he turned back to the battle as the monster roared again.
"I don''t know about dinner, but maybe we could get a McRonalds to celebrate! Let''s beat the shit out of this bastard!"
BOOM!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
A loud sound echoed through the air as the eldritch sent a tentacle into the ground and mmed it into the spot where Luna and Mark were standing! Luna and Mark both shed away from that spot faster than anyone could follow, and suddenly Mark was running up its tentacle!
The eldritch roared in anger as it saw this, and it sent another tentacle at Mark, trying to throw him off its body, but an icence suddenly appeared from a distance and mmed into its tentacle!
BOOM!
SHATTER!
Luna clicked her tongue in annoyance as she ran across the pier! The icence was only able to divert the hit away from Mark, but she wasn''t able to puncture the Eldritch''s skin even with that much power. It was as if her icence was only a piece of chalk that broke once it mmed against the eldritch''s thick skin!
Mark immediately tried to activate his [Achilles Heel]!
[Achielles Heel] has been activated!
[Achielles Heel] has been forcefully deactivated!
[User does not possess sufficient stamina or durability to withstand this skill]
[Rmended Stats: Stamina > 5000, Durability > 4000]
[If the user activates the skill using his current stats, the user will lose his eyesight for [10] seconds. Does the user still wish to activate this skill?]
What the fuck is wrong with this shit!?
Mark was pissed off once he saw that message! What kind of skill doesn''t even allow him to use it!? Although ten seconds might not seem like that long, in a fight like this, losing your eyesight for ten seconds was one of the worst things that could happen! You were basically signing your death warrant if you allowed that to happen!
There was no way Mark would survive against this anima if he couldn''t see for ten seconds!
Since Mark just used up most of his stat points beforeing here, he didn''t have any points to add to his stamina and durability. Even if he did, why the fuck does Mark have to add that many points to stamina and durability!? In order to get his points up to the level that the system wanted him to, Mark would have to use up almost five thousand stat points on stamina and durability alone!
Where the hell does the system want him to get points like that from!?
''I''ve been so focused on strength and mana that Ipletely neglected stamina and durability recently! Maybe I should have put some more points in there!''
Mark knew that he had been neglecting his stamina and durability stats a lot. Mark hadn''t run into any situation that would require him to improve those two, so he didn''t think they needed improving for now. Mark had all the stamina that he would ever want.
He hadn''t run out of breath in a fight for a very long time, and whenever he gets hit by attacks during a fight, he barely ever feels any pain from anything lower than a high-level cmity. As far as Mark was concerned, that had been enough for him, so he didn''t think he needed to add even more points to those two stats.
Mark realized that he would have to finish this battle without using the [Achilles Heel] on the eldritch monster. Either that or Mark could put Luna on the front line for a few seconds and just activate the skill while damning the consequences. No, that wouldn''t do. Luna isn''t a front-line fighter.
Making her switch to the front right now when the monster was still at its strongest was like sending her out to die. I''ll weaken the monsters a little first, and then if I still can''t find out its weakness, I''ll put Luna up front so I can use the Achilles Heel!
Mark immediately forgot about trying to find the weakness of the monster for now and focused on trying to use another skill to get an upper hand against the anima.
[Demonic Killer''s Aura] has been activated!
[Due to the vast difference in strength, [Demonic Killer''s Aura] had failed to inflict fear on the opponent.]
[Void sh]!
[Demonic Void Apostle''s innate skill [Void sh] cannot be activated because the opponent possesses more than 50% of the user''s mana]
Mark was stunned by this message, and he immediately asked the system how much mana the Eldritch had. The system responded immediately.
[The opponent possesses 500% of the user''s mana.]
Five hundred!? This fucker has more mana than Luna!
What the hell is up with that? Are anima meant to have this much mana?
Mark was still racing up the eldritch''s tentacle, and the eldritch rose that tentacle into the air! It was going to m it into the ground to try and crush Mark, but Mark had already predicted this, so he picked up the pace and jumped just as the monster was about to drop its arm! Enjoy exclusive content from empire
Mark couldn''t believe how much mana that monster had! Even after using all those skill points and stat points to boost his properties, he still didn''t have enough mana to use the Demonic Voice Apostle. If Mark knew that this was how it was going to be, then he would have used those stat points on stamina and durability instead. At least that way he would be able to use the Achilles Heel right now.
But it''s just like they say: hindsight is twenty-twenty.
Mark decided at that moment that he was going to start keeping points in reserve so that he could use them during fights in case of moments like these. If Mark had reserve points that he could use in a fight saved up, then he would have just used them to boost his stamina and durability right now!
ROARRR!
A loud roar from the Eldritch drew Mark''s attention back to the fight in front of him and Mark shook his head as he decided to forget all about the skills he couldn''t activate and he came up with a new n on the spot!
Chapter 398 Cut This Bastard!
Mark shook his head as he decided to forget all about the skills he couldn''t activate and he came up with a new n on the spot!
Mark was flying through the air right in front of the monster, and the monster raised two of its tentacles, intending to swat Mark out of the sky like a fly, but a whip made out of water shot out from the ocean and grabbed hold of the tentacle!
Luna was standing on top of a container, and her hands were in front of her as though she was holding the reins of a horse while she leaned back with an intense frown on her face! The force from the eldritch''s tentacles was so intense that Luna felt like her mana was getting sucked out of her! She could literally feel her stamina dropping just from having to hold on to the whip!
The eldritch roared as it pulled its tentacles back to free them, but two more whips appeared from the water and Luna used them to hold onto the tentacles tighter and gave Mark the opportunity to freefall right onto the monster''s head! Mark pulled back his fist and roared in anger as he unleashed a massive blow to the center of the monster''s head!
[Critical Hit]!!
BOOOOMMM!
The entire pier shook from the force of the punch and the sound of containers toppling over and concrete cracking echoed through the pier. But Mark''s face never rxed as he saw something unbelievable! This fucker didn''t feel any pain!
ROARRRRR!
The eldritch roared in anger as it finally broke free from Luna''s whip and mmed its tentacle into the spot where Mark was! Mark flipped his body back and allowed himself to freefall quickly enough for the first tentacle to miss, but Mark was not able to move fast enough to avoid the second tentacle that mmed into his side!
m!
Mark was thrown through the air and he skipped across the ocean for two hundred meters before he finally sshed into the water!
Mark raised his head in anger as he emerged from the water, and he was already thinking of new ways to get to the eldritch for another attack when he felt the water under his feet grow cold before he was lifted up by a block of ice so that he was standing above the water surface.
Mark turned to Luna and he saw her focusing on the eldritch and trying to make sure it didn''t start moving towards the roads and he grinned!
"Thanks!"
Mark shouted his thanks through thems as he started to run towards the eldritch again, but Luna didn''t respond as she was too focused on trying to hold the anima back! Mark put his hand up to hisms and clicked it to try and contact Pat again.
"Pat, you there!? I need eyes in the sky, Pat!"
[Receiver Unavable]
Mark cursed and clicked off the call! Earlier, Mark tried to call Pat, but for some reason, Pat wasn''t responding to his calls. Mark would have called Jeanne to ask about what happened to Pat, but Mark didn''t have time for that right now. When there was no response for a second time, Mark just decided to forget about it and he refocused on the fight!
As Mark ran, the ice under his feet extended further across the ocean and led him straight toward the anima''s unprotected back! The eldritch was already moving toward Luna''s position and it rose a tentacle into the air with another roar to m it down on Luna! Luna jumped out of the way and ran to the pier while stretching her hand out to the ocean.
The water in the ocean suddenly surged out, and Luna swung her arm above her head in a circle before bringing her hand down to her side! The water slowly started to rotate in the air, going faster and faster until it froze over into a perfect disk and began spinning like a helicopter de!
Luna nted her feet and forced the de forward with a shout, and it sliced across the ground while traveling straight to the anima!
The eldritch recoiled once it saw the ded weaponing towards it, and Luna watched in shock as it brought up two tentacles for protection and allowed the de to cut deep into it!
KRAAAAAAAAA!!
The sound of the de shearing against a metallic material echoed through the pier, and before long, the de stopped in its tracks as it couldn''t bite into the monster''s skin anymore! The eldritch mmed the de on the ground and broke the ice into a million pieces before it rose another tentacle to m it down on Luna!
Luna realized that she wouldn''t be able to dodge the tentacle in time and she drew water from the ocean and used it to form a shield above her head as the tentacle mmed down on her hard!
SLAM!
"Ugh!" Your next chapter is on empire
Luna grunted under the immense strain and waited for the monster to raise its tentacles so that she could get out from under the shield, but before that could happen, Mark appeared from behind the anima and mmed his leg into its back!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
SLAM!
The force of the kick drove the anima forward, forcing it to take its attention off of Luna! Mark flipped under a swipe from the anima and dodged a tentacle that tried to grab him! Mark raced across the anima''s body and grabbed hold of one of the injured tentacles before it was able to retract it!
There was a loud groan from the anima as it felt a surge of pain pass through its tentacle and Mark held the tentacle tightly as he waited for the anima to attack!
The tentacle closest to the one that Mark grabbed was the second one that Luna injured and the anima didn''t think about what it was doing when it reflexivelyshed out with that tentacle to try and hit Mark! Mark grit his teeth and rose his hand to catch the second one!
BAM!
Mark had all the wind knocked out of him once the tentacle hit his ribs, but he managed to stand his ground and held both tentacles under his arm before jumping back with a loud shout!
"Luna! Cut this fucking bastard!"
Luna immediately understood what Mark was trying to say. Mark was currently stretching out the two injured tentacles to give Luna a clean shot at them and Luna knew better than to waste such a perfect opportunity! She raised her hand and formed a second water disk before letting it loose!
Phwoosh!
The de cut through the air perfectly and mmed into the tentacles in Mark''s arms! The anima roared in anger as it brought up two more tentacles to try and hit Mark, but Mark jumped further back, helping the de to cut deeper into the anima''s skin!
Just like thest time, the des were finding it hard to cut through the tentacles because of how hard the anima''s skin was! Almost like trying to cut through metal with a saw!
But with help from Mark as well as the previous injuries on the tentacles, the de finally sheared through the first tentacle! The anima roared in pain as ck blood surged out from its wound and sprayed Mark''s body in the ck liquid and Mark roared as he dragged the second tentacle back for the de to cut through that one as well!
SQUELCH!
Chapter 399 The Reinforcements
SQUELCH!
Mark finally felt the tentacles give under the pressure and let out a tired breath as he heaved the tentacle to the side. He jumped up to the top of a container as the anima started to dance around while roaring in pain and watched with narrowed eyes for another opening.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
ck blood sshed all over the pier from the injury, and Mark used the back of his hand to clean some of the blood that had sshed on his face. His body was covered in the ck liquid, and he silently thanked Arit once more for the mask. At least none of the blood got in his nose and mouth.
[Mark, are you okay? I saw the tentacle hit you! Are you hurt!?]
Luna''s worried voice came through thems, and Mark grunted as he nodded at her from a distance. Luna was on the other side of the pier, but he knew she could still see him perfectly fine from there. She didn''t need to worry about him. She should just focus on the monster.
Mark said this to Luna, and Luna nodded back in relief as she turned to watch the monster while Mark spoke up.
"I think we should use more ded weapons! It works better than blunt force trauma!"
Luna immediately agreed.
[Yeah, I think you''re right! I can create some ds, but I''ll need a clear shot on it or it''ll just end up likest time! The tentacles are stronger than my constructs!]
Mark could see from his recent attacks that blunt attacks didn''t work that well against the anima. In fact, blunt attacks almost didn''t work at all. Even though Mark hit the anima twice with almost his full strength, it barely felt anything at all.
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It was as though its skin was made from some sort of shock-absorbing material that reduced the impact damage from his punches. But once Luna used that ded disk, Mark could almost taste the anima''s fear in the air. The anima recoiled back once it saw that the weapon was sharp, so that could only mean that it knew how vulnerable it was to ded weapons.
But that was exactly the issue. Mark was not someone who used weapons. Mark didn''t even remember thest time he used a weapon that wasn''t something blunt. Using des and knives just didn''t give him the same satisfaction in a fight that using his fists did. But Mark couldn''t be picky right now, especially since he was fighting with someone else.
If Mark was fighting alone, then maybe he could just keep pummeling the monster until it died, but he had to consider Luna as well in this fight. That meant he had to end it as quickly as possible!
"Come on, Denearys! We have to go!"
"Don''t look back! The SOVEREIGNS are taking care of the anima, so all civilians should just run to the hotel! The superhumans will make sure you''re safe!"
"That''s a big anima, Mommy!"
"Run, baby, just keep running! Don''t look back!"
Mark turned to the sound of people shouting and saw that there were still a few civilians evacuating from the area. Superhumans were trying their best to take all the humans to the bunker, but they were finding it hard since there were some anima on the roads leading to the hotel.
Although Mark and Luna killed a lot of the anima on their way here, there were still some left roaming about, so the superhumans had to be careful about where they were leading the regr civilians.
Ratatatatatatata!
''What the fuck?''
Mark looked up to the sky, and he couldn''t believe what he saw up there. Are these motherfuckers crazy!? What are helicopters doing here!?
Several helicopters were currently hovering in the sky and making their way to the ind! They were all flying over the giant anima, but Mark immediately noticed in irritation that there was one of the helicopters that was flying too close to the anima, almost like it was trying its best to get right above it.
There were six helicoptersing towards the ind, five of them were white and they each carried five people. The white helicopters all had a giant S logo painted on their side.
These helicopters were carrying the reinforcements from the superhuman alliance, and some of the superhumans inside the helicopters leaned out from the side to take a look at the giant Eldritch as they passed by. Once the superhuman alliance heard about the anima attacks and the number of anima that had appeared in City F, they sent out reinforcements to try and support the superhumans there.
Normally, it would be the NSA that sends out the reinforcements, but since the NSA was currently under investigation, the superhuman alliance decided to send their own forces to support them since it was obvious that the superhumans wouldn''t be able to handle such arge number of cmity-ss anima on their own.
There weren''t any SOVEREIGNS in the helicopters, but there were three S ranks and many high-level A ranks. The superhuman alliance knew that Mark and Luna were on the ind, so they didn''t think it was necessary to send any more SOVEREIGNS out to handle the monsters.
But out of all the helicopters, there was one that was obviously different from the others. The sixth helicopter was ck, and it had the logo of the City A news channel painted on its side. It was this helicopter that Mark noticed was flying far too close to the Eldritch.
Inside the helicopter, a beautiful woman with dark red hair and ck eyes spoke while hanging from the edge of the door. Her cameraman was interchanging his camera focus, moving from her to the anima on the ground and then back to her again when necessary.
[This is Jane Scarlette reporting live from the scenes out on the coast of City F where arge octopus-based anima has been seen terrorizing the popce. There are also reports of various cmity-ss anima attacking the festival going on below us, and the superhumans are trying their best to keep the citizens safe while eliminating the anima!
ording to ongoing talks online, we have been led to believe that the anima attacking the festival were dropped from an unidentified aircraft, and spections about a single group being responsible for this have be rampant! As of now, we have reports that two SOVEREIGNS, GHOST and Luna of the Moonlight Guild, are on the scene and have confronted the Eldritch-ss anima!
But even with their intervention, the death toll continues to rise as the once festive asion has now be a festering ground for the monsters.]
The news was being broadcast to every tuned-in television set in the country, and all over the world, many more people were watching the broadcast live on MeTube from their phones. The people couldn''t believe howrge the anima was! This wasn''t the first time they were seeing arge anima, but none of the anima that appeared after the Armageddon four years ago was asrge as this one!
Chapter 400 Reporting Live From The Scene Of The Anima Attack
This was something that put a lot of fear into the hearts of the people. The fact that an anima like this had been hiding in the ocean all this time and wasing out now meant that there could be evenrger ones hiding in there! Ever since that cmity came from the ocean, there have been more and more anima appearing, and all of them have been exceptionally strong.
And now that an upper-rank Eldritch was showing itself like this, doesn''t that mean that there was a possibility that an Armageddon-ss anima would soon show itself as well!?
The newscaster in the helicopter continued talking while leaning out of the helicopter to look at the anima.
[The octopus-based anima seems to have been injured by GHOST and Luna, but we don''t know the extent of the injuries from this distance. We are going to try to get you a better view now!]
The woman turned to the man flying the helicopter and told him to move closer, and the man shouted back that it wasn''t possible!
"Any closer than this and we might get into its range! That thing can take us out in a second!"
The man shouted at the woman loudly, and she growled at the back of her throat as she covered her mic with her cloth so that no one would hear her!
"I said take this fucking helicopter to that anima right now! My promotion is riding on this bit, and I''m going to give the performance of my fucking life! If I tell you that we need to get closer, then you get closer! If you don''t do what I say right now, I''m going to make sure you don''t get another job for the next ten years!"
The woman shouted loudly in anger, and the pilot frowned in irritation as he felt torn on the inside! He didn''t want to go closer to the anima, but he also knew that disobeying the reporter would only end up with him jobless!
She was higher than him in the hierarchy of the media world and she had a lot of connections with other news channels, so if she wanted to, she could actually make it difficult for him to get a job just like she said!
The man turned to the side and looked down at the anima. They weren''t that close to it, and it wasn''t paying any attention to them at all. Maybe they could actually get a little closer. It wouldn''t be dangerous if they moved down a few meters and got a better look.
He would just do a quick flyby and allow them to get a better look, then he would get out of there once the anima looked like it was going to attack!
"Fine, I''ll get closer! But I can''t stay there for long, or else the anima is going to get us! I can''t risk my life for this fucking shit!"
The pilot was obviously not happy, and the cameraman suddenly spoke up to try and make the journalist get back to her senses.
"Madam Jane¡ M-Maybe we should stay back here. That anima looks very dangerous."
The woman growled at the cameraman!
"Shut the fuck up, Henry! Unless you never want to be a journalist, then you better just hold the fucking camera and do as I fucking tell you! If you ever speak against me again you''re going to be a cameraman all your life! And you! You call yourself a man!? How can you be more scared than a woman!?
You''re going to go down and stay down for as long as I fucking want! GO!"
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Once she was done reprimanding the men, the reporter turned to the camera once more and started talking while ignoring the furious look that the pilot shot at her.
[The helicopter is going to move in close to try and give you all a better look at the fight going on below now. Stay tuned as we bring you all the action live! This is Jane Scarlette reporting!]
The helicopter panned to the side as the pilot started to maneuver around to make a quick swoop to the ground! Mark was watching the helicopter all this time and he already couldn''t believe that they were even there in the first ce. Flying over a fight like this was like begging the Grim Reaper toe take you! But once Mark saw that helicopter panning to the side he almost lost his fucking mind!
These fools were going to do a fucking drive-by!?
Mark shook his head at the stupid disy and decided that he didn''t care at all anymore! If they wanted to get themselves killed, then that wasn''t his problem! Mark spoke to Luna through hisms quickly.
"Luna, create a perimeter around us so that it can''t go any further towards the festival! There are some people trying to evacuate behind me and they''ll get caught up in the fight if the anima keeps moving! I''m going to go in and distract it from you."
On the other side of the call, Luna nced around at therge pier curiously while thinking about the best way to create the perimeter and it didn''t take long for her to realize what she had to do.
[Perimeter. Right, you got it. I''ll make an ice wall about a kilometer out from where we''re standing! I''ll need about three¡ no, two minutes to make it. Can you hold the anima off for that long?]
"No problem!"
Mark sted off the container to go and confront the anima and Luna raised her hand in the air as she began to create the ice wall. The very atmosphere seemed to bend to her will as all the air around her began to grow cold.
She grabbed hold of all the moisture in the air around her and supplemented it with her mana before dragging water out from the ocean and forcing it into a circle that covered more than a kilometer in diameter around the anima!
Woosh!n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om
An ice wall began to rise from the ground up and Mark released a small grunt as he saw the impressive feat. He didn''t get to see much of Luna''s abilities in that game of gods because of the penalties that were put on her, so this was the first time he was really seeing her go all out like this. He couldn''t help but be impressed!
ROARRRR!
The anima roared in anger as it saw what was happening and it began to swing its tentacles around angrily, destroying the ice wall faster than it was forming! Mark flipped in the air, dodging around one of the anima''s tentacles that was going to identally hit him as the anima swung it erratically and he pulled his fist back at the same moment that he reached the anima''s head!
[Critical Hit]!
[Sonic Impact: Lightning]!!!
BOOM!!
Mark''s punch sent a massive shockwave through the air, causing the anima''s entire body to ripple like water as it tried to absorb the intense force! Marktched onto the anima tightly and he immediately activated [Lightning Surge] and a st of lightning came to life from Mark''s gloves before it raced through the anima''s entire body!
BZZTT!
ROARRRR!
Chapter 401 I Thought I Was Going To Die!
Mark activated [Lightning Surge], and a st of lightning erupted from his gloves and raced through the anima''s entire body!
BZZTT!
ROARRRR!
The anima roared in pain from the attack and a wave of anger grew from inside it. It tried to shake Mark off, but Mark held on tight, grabbing a hold of the anima''s skin. The anima''s body was rubbery and very strong, but Mark forced his fingers into its rubbery flesh and got a good grip so he wouldn''t fall off.
He pulled his other hand back, formed a w, and in the next moment, he drove it into the anima''s eyes!
SQUELCH!
RARRRRRRRRRR!!
The anima screamed in pain as Mark''s hand dug deep into its eye, and its tentacles started to wriggle madly in the air.
Ratatatatatatata!
Mark''s eyes widened in shock as he noticed what was happening, and he turned to the sky immediately to see the helicopter right above the anima! Those fucking idiots!
The helicopter news crew had been flying towards the anima to try and get a better shot. They were already about a hundred meters above the monster when they stopped. The newscaster in the helicopter smiled, seeing they were getting a good view of the anima, and started her usualmentary on the situation.
[It appears that Madam Lua has begun to create a perimeter around the anima! I think they''re doing this to keep other anima from getting involved in the fight while protecting the civilians! How thoughtful! But the anima isn''t stopping its erratic attack! It''s trying to stop Madam Luna from caging it in! Oh goodness, GHOST justunched himself towards the anima!
He''s going to protect Madam Luna! These two SOVEREIGNS have formed a perfect team to protect the entire ind! Have we ever seen two SOVEREIGNS working in tandem as well as these two!? Wait¡ oh god¡]
The reporter''s eyes widened in shock as she saw the anima suddenly raise all of its tentacles and start swinging them in the air erratically! Throughout the fight, the anima had never fully extended its tentacles, so none of them had properly gauged just how far its reach was. They all thought they were out of its range!
But when the anima raised its tentacles, they were stunned as it reached more than two hundred meters into the air! It was humongous!
The helicopter was suddenly flying in the middle of sixrge tentacles that were swinging around it like giant whips! The pilot started to swerve the aircraft around the tentacles, trying his best to keep it under control!
"Get us out of here! Get us out of here now! It''s going to kill us!"
The reporter didn''t even bother to cover her microphone as she started shouting at the pilot in fear! All over the world, people sat on the edge of their seats as they watched the intense scene, knowing this wasn''t going to end well! Parents started to cover the eyes of their children, and some people even turned off their television sets, convinced those reporters were going to die.
"I can''t get out of it! They''re everywhere! Just hold on! I''m going to try and fly to the pier, maybe we cannd in the shallow water!"
The pilot did his best to swerve around the tentacles while shouting! He knew this was all that fucking woman''s fault, but at that moment, he didn''t give a shit about that! He was just trying his best to survive! But this was thest time he was ever going to listen to a woman when she told him to do something stupid!
The pilot swerved around a tentacle and had to swerve to the other side quickly as the same tentacle came back and almost hit them again! He moved forward, trying to get out of the swarm of snake-like tentacles and head toward the pier, but he wasn''t able to move out of the way of one of the tentacles that was moving very quickly. Before he knew it, it mmed into the propeller!
BOOM!
The top engine was blown off, and everyone in the helicopter screamed as another tentacle appeared from the side and mmed into the back of the helicopter, destroying the propeller there as well and sending the helicopter into a dead drop!
Mark growled in anger as he saw what was happening! Mark knew this was all their fucking fault, but he wasn''t going to just let them die like that! He wasn''t that petty!
"Luna! I need a tform!"
Mark shouted out to Luna and pointed to a space in front of him. Luna immediately understood what Mark was saying, and she let go of the wall she was creating for a moment and focused on the spot Mark had pointed to. Mark sted off the anima''s body and made an arc in the air as he started to drop, only for his leg to m into an ice tform that Luna created from the air''s moisture.
He used it as leverage tounch himself towards the helicopter!
BOOM!
The ice tform broke under the intensity of Mark''s movement, but that didn''t matter as Mark was able to use the momentum to move towards the spot where he knew the helicopter would be at the exact moment he reached it! Mark arrived just as the helicopter was falling through, and he reached out and caught hold of the helicopter''snding gear!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
The helicopter was dropping at a rate of twenty meters a second, and it was only three hundred meters above the ground. To get everyone out, Mark would have to move them all in fifteen seconds or less. Thankfully, Mark could do a lot in fifteen seconds!
Mark flipped himself up into the helicopter in one fluid movement! He grabbed the reporter and her cameraman in one hand, reached out to grab the pilot by his shirt, and dragged all three of them along as he sted off the falling helicopter!
BOOOM!
SLAM!
KA-BOOOM!!
Mark''s leap elerated the speed of the fall, and the helicopter mmed into the ground and exploded on impact! Marknded a good distance away from the fight and dropped all three of them on top of a cargo container there. Once he dropped them, the pilot immediately doubled over and started to puke his guts out! The pilot couldn''t believe he was alive! He thought he was going to die there!
The female reporter looked up at Mark reverently! Her hair waspletely disheveled, and she was breathing heavily, but she was a lot better off than the pilot. She couldn''t believe she was in the presence of a SOVEREIGN! This was the perfect opportunity for an interview! If she asked him for one, would he agree to say a few words!?
The cameraman seemed to be the only one still unaffected by everything that had happened. Somehow, the cameraman managed to save his camera as well, and he was now pointing it at Mark and capturing everything. Even if it was stupid, Mark had to admit that the man was dedicated to his craft.
"T-Thank you so much. I thought I was going to die."
The pilot suddenly spoke up while cleaning his mouth of vomit. He turned to Mark and immediately stopped what he was about to say when he saw the angry look on Mark''s face.
Chapter 402 Its Not My Job To Save Idiots
Mark thought about asking the pilot what the hell he thought he was doing flying over the anima like that, but Mark knew it would be a waste of time since he still had to go back into the fight. So instead, Mark shook his head and turned around to leave while saying only a few words.
"I''m going to leave you to die if you try something like that again. It''s not my job to bail out idiots."
[The Effect of Mortal Legend has been activated: the user has gained approximately 1 million fans.]
[Total Number of Fans: 3 million (+3% boost to all stats)]
Mark felt a surge of power flow out from his body once he got the message from his system. An extra 1% increase in power wasn''t going to change much in this fight, but it was still enough to give Mark a new boost in energy that would allow him to keep fighting for longer.
The pilot dropped his head in embarrassment once he heard what Mark said. It felt like Mark was reprimanding him, and the fact that he was being cautioned by a boy who wasn''t even past high school yet was enough to deal a serious blow to his pride. The female journalist who caused all this looked away from the scene guiltily.
She knew she was at fault for this entire mess, but she didn''t want Mark''s anger directed at her, so she just allowed the pilot to bear the full brunt of it while making herself as invisible as possible.
Mark crouched and sted off the container, and all three of them held on tightly so they wouldn''t get blown away by the intense wind pressure that Mark released!
WOOSH!
The journalist quickly scrambled to get her microphone once she saw Mark leave, but before she could get it, the pilot suddenly grabbed hold of it and pulled it out of her reach. The journalist turned to the man in shock and asked him what he was doing! She had to continue the broadcast!
"You almost got us fucking killed! You don''t have a right to continue this broadcast. You, you''re a journalist too, aren''t you? Can you do the broadcast?"
The pilot turned to the cameraman as he asked thest question, and the cameraman blinked in shock as he tried to understand what was going on! The cameraman pointed to himself curiously, and the pilot nodded quickly and told him to hand him the camera.
"I heard from the crazy woman here that you want to be a journalist as well! I''d rather have you talking than hearing the voice of this crazy bitch in front of the camera! Come on!"
"O-Okay! I''ll do it! I''ll do it!"
The cameraman quickly handed the camera to the pilot and told him where to press to begin recording and how to move it before he took the microphone from the man. The female reporter at his side immediately shouted out in anger as she saw what was happening!
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"What the fuck do you think you''re doing, Henry!? Give me that microphone!"
The cameraman flinched back from the woman as she shouted at him, and he almost caved right there and handed her back the microphone. The cameraman was used to always following her orders. She was his superior, and he had followed her around for a long time as a cameraman to try and learn a few tricks of the trade from her.
But the cameraman looked at the pilot, and the pilot gave him a hard gaze that strengthened the resolve inside of him.
The cameraman immediately knew that if he gave the microphone up now, it would be the end of his dreams. He grit his teeth angrily and pulled back from the woman''s grip. The female reporter looked up at the cameraman in shock, and the cameraman gave her a defiant look before turning to the camera and speaking quickly!
[This is Henry Bolt reporting live from the scene of the anima attack! As you can see behind me, GHOST has returned to the fight, and he is currently engaging the anima once more! Luna is trying her best to create a wall out of ice, and I believe it is an effort to try and iste the anima from the escaping civilians¡]
¡
Luna poured out even more mana as she tried her best to iste the anima from the surroundings! The anima was still writhing in pain as it tried to stop the bleeding from its punctured eye and Luna noticed that the anima was rubbing its tentacles against its eyes and ignoring her.
Luna couldn''t let the opportunity to attack slip past! Luna stopped forming the wall, and she raised her hand into the air, and summoned a massive volume of water from the ocean.
The water traveled into the sky above the Eldritch, and it began to solidify into a long, sword-like shape that was fifty meters in length and ten meters wide! The structure was thin, and it had a sharpened edge that Luna wanted to use to pierce down on the Eldritch like a sword.
Luna''s power over water allowed her to control the water that was all around her. If Luna had been in an area that didn''t have water, then she would have been exerting a lot of stamina to create the liquid water from the molecules of water moisture in the air.N?v(el)B\\jnn
But since Luna had all the water she could ever want around her right now, she didn''t have to sacrifice stamina in order to create the water from moisture. But even though she had that advantage, that did not mean that Luna could create water and ice structures indefinitely and control them with ease.
The issue with creatingrge constructs using your blessing is the fact that moving a construct created by mana requires the use of mana and stamina. This means that therger a construct is, the harder it is for you to move that construct using your mana and stamina, and the more tired you will be after moving the construct.
Moving a construct that was asrge as a house would definitely be much harder than moving a construct that was only asrge as a car. That is why, in that game of gods, Merlin always createdrge constructs that would be able to move on their own using only the force of gravity!
Merlin used boulders and asteroids to fight, but it was always done in a way that would allow gravity to aid him in moving the construct so that he could preserve mana and stamina.
That is why Luna decided to take a page out of Merlin''s book and allow gravity to aid her construct. Luna would be wasting a lot of mana to try and move a sword like this one, so once she was done creating it, she just released her hold on it and only guided it using her mana while allowing it to fall with gravity!
WOOSH!
[Luna! Behind you!]
Luna suddenly jolted as she heard Mark shout her name through thems! Luna turned around sharply, and her eyes widened in shock as she saw arge mouth open right behind her! What the fuck!?
Chapter 403 So This Much Weight Is Nothing!?
Luna turned around sharply, her eyes widening in shock as she saw arge mouth open right in front of her!
What the fuck!?
Luna had been so focused on the anima in front of her that she didn''t notice another oneing from the ocean behind her! Luna immediately raised her hand to summon another icence.
Normally, stragglers like these would have been taken care of by the other fighters in Luna''s guild, but now that Luna didn''t have her guild members to take care of the weaker anima, she had let her guard down too much!
Luna turned away from the Eldritch, gathering mana in her hand before swinging it in an arc toward the monster behind her.
SLASH!
SQUELCH!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
A de of water suddenly grew out from the tip of Luna''s hand, formed from the moisture in the air! It blindsided the monster from its left, shing through its body easily and severing its head in one move!
The anima, arge piranha with many rows of sharp teeth, was already ready to tear Luna''s head from her body, but it was only a low-level cmity ss, so it didn''t stand a chance against Luna''s attack and it died on the spot!
But the moment Luna took her attention off her construct, the giant sword lost a substantial amount of its momentum. The Eldritch raised its tentacles just as the sword was about to pierce its body and mmed them into the side of the de, throwing it off course and making it fly to the side!
Luna cursed as she prepared to create another de. There was nothing she could do about the first one since it was already beyond her control now! Although Luna knew she wasted a ton of mana just to create that de, she couldn''t make something thatrge move without wasting a lot more of her mana and stamina, so she decided it would be better to just create a new one.
ZOOM!!
Explore hidden tales at empire
A ck blur suddenly jumped over therge ice wall surrounding the fight, and Luna turned as she saw Mark racing toward the falling sword like a rocket! What the hell was Mark nning to do!?
ROARR!!
BOOM!
The Eldritch noticed Mark approaching and roared in agitation, throwing its tentacle out at him! Mark dodged to the side, letting the tentacle strike the ground beside him, before sliding under another tentacle that was about to take his head off! Mark picked up speed,pletely ignoring the Eldritch as he raced to try and get the de before it hit the ground!
The tip of therge de mmed into the ground, and Mark jumped over it to reach the other side! The de looked just like a sword that had its handle broken off, so Luna wondered what Mark was trying to do when she saw him running to the other end! Is Mark really going to grab it from the side like that!?
Luna knew the de she created weighed more than a four hundred tons, so trying to lift it off the ground without any support like a handle was going to be almost impossible! But she was stunned when she saw Mark doing just that! Mark grabbed hold of it from the side, mmed his feet into the ground, and gritted his teeth as he heaved therge de up!
The construct Luna created from ice was made from solidified water. In its solid form, ice weighed about one kilogram per cubic meter. That meant this block of ice that was fifty meters by ten meters with a thickness of about one meter, weighed close to five hundred thousand kilograms!
And that weight was only amplified by the fact that Mark was lifting it from one end, far away from the center of mass. That was the same as trying to lift four residential buildings using a very long stick!
Mark lifted the sword like it was his bitch!
"RARRRRGGH!"
[Lightning Surge has been activated!]
BZZT!
Lightning danced across the entire sword from Mark''s gloves, sharpening the de even further as the veins on Mark''s neck bulged from the exertion! Mark''s feet dug into the ground, and everyone looked on in shock as he lifted therge de of ice!
The Eldritch roared in anger as it tried to m Mark into the ground once more, but Mark didn''t even give it time to recover as he moved his body to the side and swung the giant de!
WOOSH!
SQUELCH!
ROOARRRRRR!!!
Once Mark swung the de, it cut through the air before slicing into the Eldritch''s body, severing another tentacle and tearing off arge portion of its body! The weight of the de was so immense that the moment Mark reached the apex of his swing, the entire de tore itself out from his grip and flew to the side!
It flipped through the air for a few hundred meters, traveling closer and closer to the pier! A woman who had been standing on top of a cargo container and recording the fight with wide-eyed awe could only watch in dread as the giant sword raced toward her like an executioner''s axe!
Her entire life shed before her eyes as the de came closer and closer, and it was as if her legs were glued to the ground as she couldn''t even move to get out of the way!
"S-Save me¡"
BOOM!
The sword stabbed into the ground right in front of the container, sending a tremor through the ground and causing a mini earthquake to race across the entire coast. The woman''s legs went weak as she fell to her knees and she put her hand to her chest and tried to calm her racing heart! She thought she was going to die right there!
[Holy shit! Did you see that!? That was awesome! For those of you watching at home, GHOST just used an enormous de crafted by Luna to cut off arge part of the Eldritch monster! That ice must have weighed over four hundred tons! How did he even lift that!?]
Henry, the reporter on another cargo container at the side was shouting in excitement once he saw what GHOST did! He couldn''t believe that GHOST could even lift something that heavy, let alone swing it around like a real sword! The female reporter and the cameraman were also stunned, and none of them could even say a word as they just watched the fight unfolding!
The female reporter was still angry that Henry was the one handling the report instead of her, but she knew that she couldn''t do anything right now because of the way she put them in danger before. She lost her right to boss them around after doing something like this.
She turned to watch Henry as he gave his report and she bit her bottom lip slightly when she saw the way his face was glowing in happiness.
Henry was doing surprisingly well for his first time, especially since it was in such a difficult and sudden situation. Maybe she should finally give him a chance to be a reporter.
...
ROARRRRR!!
The Eldritch monster released another roar of pain, and Mark prepared himself tounch another attack. The monster was at a disadvantage right now, and if they took advantage of this moment, they would be able to kill it once and for all.
Chapter 404 Freeze The Ocean!
Lunanded on the container beside Mark with a smile, and Mark was already thinking up a new n to finally finish the fight when the Eldritch suddenly released a loud scream like a siren that echoed through the coast!
PIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!
The sound was so loud that even Mark had to put his hand up to his ear as he felt a sharp pain in his eardrums! What the hell was that anima doing!?
All the people at the pier were crouching over and covering their ears in pain as the sound threatened to deafen them! Even the anima that had been attacking the humans suddenly stopped what they were doing as they heard that sound, and before anyone knew what was going on, they abandoned the fight and started to run toward the pier!
The Eldritch recognized that it was at a disadvantage right now. It could see the danger that Mark posed and knew that if it allowed this fight to go on, it would eventually be killed by thebined efforts of Mark and Luna. The monster refused to let that happen! It continued to release the loud scream as it called on all the anima in the region to aid it!
Mark noticed that the anima was calling for reinforcements as all the remaining anima started to run toward the pier, but before they could get far, arge group of Superhumans appeared and engaged the anima, preventing them from getting too close to the fight! Mark didn''t recognize any of them, but Luna did. She put her hand up to her ear and spoke to her vice-captain.
"Lead the anima toward the other side of the ind. There aren''t many people there, so it''ll be easier to use your blessing over there."
[Yes, ma''am. Do you require any reinforcements? We can still spare some fighters and send them over to help you out.]
Luna raised a brow in surprise. She turned to nce at Mark before shaking her head.
"No need to bother. I have all the reinforcement I need here. Just focus on trying to save as many people as possible."
[I understand, ma''am. We''ll be on standby should you still need us.]
DOON!
Mark and Luna looked back at the Eldritch, and Mark activated [Achilles'' Heel] as he felt something shaking from under his feet! The entire ocean started to churn and turn over, and before long, arge tsunami wasing toward the coast! Once Mark activated his eyes, he made sure not to focus on the Eldritch so that he wouldn''t lose his sight.
Instead, he focused on the ocean, and Mark''s eyes narrowed at what he saw! There was arge horde of anima painting the ocean red as they raced toward the shore!
There was arge space somewhere in the middle of the horde where Mark couldn''t get any information with his Achilles'' Heel. It was just meant to be an empty space, but when Mark tried to focus on that space, he got the same message he got when he tried to scan the octopus-based Eldritch!
[Achilles'' Heel has been forcefully deactivated]
[User does not possess sufficient stamina to withstand the analysis.]
[Rmended Stats in order to activate this skill: Stamina > 4000 Durability > 3000]
[If the user activates this skill, they will lose their eyesight for 5 seconds. Does the user still wish to activate it?]
Mark immediately knew this was another Eldritch!
"Luna! Freeze the ocean! Spread it out for a kilometer starting from the edge of the pier! It doesn''t matter if anything''s in the way, just freeze it too!"
Mark suddenly shouted to Luna before he turned and crouched, ring at the octopus-based Eldritch. He had to stop it from calling for help! Fighting one Eldritch was already bad enough! Having two of them here at the same time would be impossible to handle!
Luna was stunned when she heard Mark''s order and she put her hand out to do as she was told while asking him what was going on. Luna could see the tsunami rising from the horizon, but she thought it was just a result of the tremors that were shaking the ground. If Mark was asking her to freeze the ocean, doesn''t that mean something ising!?
"What happened!? Did you see something!?"
"An Eldritch ising! It''s almost as strong as this one! We need to freeze the ocean! Just freeze everything!"
Luna''s eyes widened when she heard Mark say this. Luna didn''t know how Mark was able to tell that an Eldritch wasing in the first ce. How did he manage to notice it when she wasn''t able to? But Luna wasn''t going to question Mark when he looked that serious.
Mark had never asked her to do something that wasn''t necessary, so she put her trust in him and poured her mana out from her body as she started to freeze the ocean. The top of the ocean began to solidify as the ice spread out for more than a kilometer past the coast.
Due to the unique property of ice that makes it less dense than water, all the ice that Luna was creating was surging to the top of the water, forcing her to freeze the pier from the top to the bottom. Luna tried her best to force the water to freeze quicker, and she was able to form more than ten meters of thick ice over the water in less than three seconds!
The ships and boats that had been floating on the ocean all began to freeze over and crack as Luna''s ice started to weaken their structural integrity!
DOON!
Crack!
A massive force mmed against the bottom of the ice, and arge crack formed across the frozen ocean! Luna frowned as she used her mana to try and fix the cracks! She poured out even more mana and used it to continue increasing the thickness of the ice while fixing the cracks at the same time!
DOON!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Crack!
Another hit from beneath the ice echoed across the area and new cracks started to form as Luna shouted to Mark!
"I don''t know if I can hold it for long! If you''re going to do something, then do it now!!"
It was a testament to her insane control over water that Luna was still managing to hold onto the ice at all right now! Every time the ice cracked, Luna grabbed the pieces with her blessing and forced the molecules between the cracks to bond together and then re-solidify into a new block! Luna was converting water to ice while also holding together the molecr bonds of the ice itself!
This was only possible due to how Luna partitioned her mana in her body using what Merlin had taught her. She could use a part of her mana to hold the ice together while using another part to create the ice!
BOOM!
Mark sted off the container and shed toward the Eldritch! The giant anima was still releasing that loud, siren-like scream, and Mark knew that all the anima around were only congregating because of it!
BZZT!
Blue electricity came to life all around Mark''s body as he activated his lightning surge! He flipped his body over and pulled his leg back as he activated another skill!
[Mana Cirction has been activated.]
[The user has sent mana to his legs.]
BAM!
BAM!
BAM!
Chapter 405 This Is More Important!
[Mana Cirction] has been activated.
[The User has sent mana to his legs]!
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Mark sent three intense kicks into the monster''s body, throwing thousands of volts through it and sending it crashing to the side in pain! It tumbled to the ground and mmed into the ice wall surrounding the fight scene. Mark felt his eardrums rxing as the siren finally died down and Mark shook his head and sighed in relief as he could finally hear himself think again. This fucker could scream!
Mark thought that now that the siren was no longer ring, the monsters that had been heading for the ocean would calm down and return to wherever they came from.
CRACK!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
But suddenly, a loud crack echoed from the ice covering the ocean, and therge anima that Luna had been holding back finally broke free from the ice!
ROARRRRRR!!!!
A giant shark-based anima surged up from the ocean! Its body was asrge as a small ship, with many rows of sharp teeth revealed as the monster roared! It was a giant great white that had mutated into an anima. The great white shook its head a few times to get rid of the ice chunks that had stuck to its body when it broke free. Then, three spikes began to poke through its body from both sides!
The spikes grew longer and longer until they shot out from its body, revealing six long crab legs! The anima mmed its two front legs into the pier and roared out in dominance as it started to make its way ontond!
Roarrr!
Roarrr!
Rarrrrr!
Roarrr!
All around therge shark anima, tens of smaller sea-based anima started to run onto thend. They were all mutated forms of crustaceans and amphibians that allowed the fishes to survive both onnd and in water. Compared to the giant shark anima, they looked small, but each of them possessed enough strength to be ssified as a low-level cmity at least!
Mark cursed silently as he saw the new horde running toward the shore! Luna was crouched over on one knee on top of a container, and Mark knew that holding the anima back for that long must have really drained her stamina! He had to get her out of here and regroup! But would that even be possible with a horde like thising toward them?
Retreating now would just invite the anima to starting ind, which would endanger the lives of all the civilians who had retreated earlier.
[Comment from GoG: Mark! Mark! Which one do you think is better, a bikini or a thong!?]
"What the fuck are you talking about right now! Can''t you see I''m fucking busy!"
Mark was shocked when a prompt suddenly appeared in his notification tab from Sozin. Mark couldn''t believe that Sozin would even be asking a question like this when he was in the middle of a battle! Did this bastard want him to die!?
[Comment from GoG: Oh,e on, I know you''ll be fine! This isn''t a monster that can kill you with your power! This is far more important! It''s a matter of life and death! I made a bet with Nyx! She said you couldn''t win against that monster, and I told her that if you do, she has to wear whatever I tell her to!
Don''t you fucking tell me that it''s not important!]
Mark felt his eye twitch in irritation as he thought about cursing Sozin to death! This bastard really didn''t know how to read the mood!
ROARRR!
A loud roar suddenly drew Mark''s attention back to the Eldritch Octopus, and he was shocked to see itsrge gaping mouth open right beside him! The Eldritch had used the moment of distraction that the other anima caused to charge toward Mark, and Mark totally missed it because of the messages from Sozin! That bastard god was really going to get him killed one day!
Mark thought the Eldritch was nning to swallow him, and he was already nning to activate his lightning surge to electrocute the anima once it engulfed him, but that was not what happened. Instead, a dark substance started to leak from the side of the monster''s mouth, and every instinct inside Mark''s body told him to dodge immediately!
Mark angled his body down and allowed himself to drop freely to the ground! Thankfully, Mark was already close to the ground, so it didn''t take long for his feet to meet solid cement! Almost immediately after, a jet of ck liquid flew out from the monster''s mouth!
SPLASH!!!
The liquid shot out like water from a fire hose, spraying over the entire region and covering everything in the vicinity in ck! Once the liquid sshed on the ground, the concrete floor immediately began to dissolve into goo that flowed like a liquid!
Mark had already jumped to the side the moment the Eldritch released the attack, but he was not able to get very far due to the sheer speed at which the ink was moving. And since he was in the air without any footholds, he knew that the liquid would reach him before he could get far enough!
Mark immediately activated his divine blessing, [Aegis of Ares]!
[Aegis of Ares] has been activated!
An iridescent golden shield suddenly bloomed to life all around Mark, covering him in a cocoon of yellow light that prevented anything from harming him! The acidic liquid sshed against the shield harmlessly and slid off it without even making a dent in its defenses.
Mark was d for the protection, but he could feel the price of that protection draining out of him in real-time! Once the shield activated, the skill immediately began to drain Mark''s mana like a faucet!
[Mana: 2020/2615]
[Mana: 1820/2615]
[Mana: 1620/2615]
[Mana: 1420/2615]
The shield was only active for four seconds, but in those four seconds, Mark''s mana went down to almost half of what he had! Thankfully, in those four seconds, Mark was able to get another foothold, and he was now on the other side of the pier, where the acidic liquid couldn''t reach him. Everywhere that the ck liquid touched started to melt, from the concrete to the metallic crates.
The liquid sshed against therge wall of ice that Luna created, and it immediately started to melt, creating holes that allowed many anima to start running into the fight scene through them! Even the puddles of water that the inknded in began to steam as they evaporated immediately!
What the fuck is that thing!?
[Comment from GoG: Mark! This is important! I''m in the middle of a dilemma, and you''re not taking it seriously! I need to pick one of these two to put Nyx in, and I need a second opinion! The thong bra would be nice, but the bikini would also show off a side of her that no one else has ever seen before!]
Sozin shouted in Mark''s mind again, and Mark frowned as he shouted right back!
''I don''t even know who the fuck Nyx is!''
Chapter 406 Arent Those My Skills?
Suddenly, a picture of an extremely pale woman wearing a long gown made from the darkest ck material that Mark had ever seen popped into his mind. She was extraordinarily beautiful, with an allure that would make even the most strong-willed man swallow in desire.
One side of her gown had a slit in it that showed off her extremely long pale leg, and even though her gown was covering herpletely all the way to her neck, it was obvious that she was well-endowed in the chest region. She had a condescending frown on her face and held a ck staff in her hand with a dark ball rotating at the tip of it.
Mark felt his resolve shake. That was a hot goddess.
[Comment from GoG: Haha! Now you see what I''m talking about!? How can I decide what to put on someone like this without outside help!?]
Mark shook his head once Sozin sent another message, and he kept one eye on the Eldritch while answering quickly.
''I''ll give an answer, but I want an image of it when you do it.''
[Comment from GoG: Deal. But only if I like your response.]
''Give her the bikini. The thong and bra would be sexy, but it would show off too much. Nothing to leave to the imagination. The bikini shows off just the right amount. But make sure it''s one of those string bikinis though!''
Mark could almost feel Sozin''s grin through his system!
[Comment from GoG: Now, that''s what I''m talking about! Great minds do think alike! I was thinking the same thing! I just wanted some confirmation because the temptation to put her in that thong was too much! I''ll send you the picture if she doesn''t kill me first!]
Sozin cut the link between them, and Mark had to fight down the smile that was threatening to appear on his face. Mark could never get used to how entric his patron god was. But even though he was a pain in the ass most of the time, he was still the best god Mark could ever ask for!
Sozin''s distraction allowed Mark to clear his head and now he was able to think a little more easily since the pressure on him had reduced.
''You better send me that fucking picture before you die!''
Thankfully, not much time had passed in the time it took Mark to talk to Sozin. Mark turned back to the Eldritch and narrowed his eyes as he watched the steam rising from where its ink touched the ground. It looks like ink, but I don''t think octopi are supposed to have ink like this.
Mark wasn''t really the most attentive student in ss, and when they had the ss where they spoke about octopuses, Mark was sure he slept through almost half of it and only copied Arti''s notester. And even if octopuses do have ink, should it be acidic?
Mark couldn''t think of any reason behind the strange power that the octopus suddenly revealed, but he couldn''t deny that it was effective in creating some distance between them! Mark didn''t want to be anywhere near the octopus while it was releasing that thing.N?v(el)B\\jnn
From the small interaction that he just had, Mark was sure that the ink could easily melt through his skin if itnded on him, so it was going to be wise to stay clear of it. But if it could create this ink, why didn''t it do it before? Is it something that it can''t do constantly?
Maybe it needs some time to charge, or maybe it had a limited amount of it and only decided to use it now because it was about to die? I have to find out how often it can use that ink so I''ll know if I can get close or not!
"ROARRR!"
Mark shot his hand to the side nonchntly as a cmity suddenly jumped at him from his blind spot! It was arge crab-based anima with massive pincers that it tried to use and crush Mark, but Mark easily caught the pincer in his hand and squeezed!
Boom!
The shell shattered under the pressure of Mark''s hold, and Mark dragged the crab forward and threw it away from him! Another anima suddenly reced that one and attacked Mark, forcing him to move further away as more and more of them started to appear, trying their best to kill him!
All the anima were mutations of sea creatures, and they didn''t care for their own well-being as they attacked Mark with reckless abandon! Mark grabbed the tentacle of an octopus-based cmity and pulled it towards him before swinging it into a salmon that was walking on what looked like human legs!
Mark jumped up as he felt tremors under his feet and barely managed to dodge a stingray that tried to strike him with its needle-like tail! Mark kicked the tail to the side and backhanded arge tuna that wanted to bite off his arm!
Mark continued to dance around the anima, destroying each of them quickly while trying to get past them to reach the Eldritch again!
On the other side of the pier, Luna was being attacked by the shark-based Eldritch! The moment the shark Eldritch emerged from the ice, Luna noticed that it didn''t even bother trying to attack Mark! It sent all of its minions after him, but the Eldritch itself came after Luna as if it were honing in on her!
Luna turned and ran as the Eldritch mmed three of its crab legs on the container where Luna had been resting!
She summoned some water from the ocean and used it to form a de that she sent back at the Eldritch, trying to sever its legs from its body, but the Eldritch roared as it also summoned some water from the ocean and used it to form a wall of ice in front of it that blocked the de and shattered it into a million pieces!
Luna was shocked, and it was only her natural instincts that prevented her from dying as the Eldritch suddenly summoned more water and formed three des of ice, sending them at Luna while charging forward!
Luna flipped over one of the des, allowing it to miss her by mere millimeters before she used her blessing to grab hold of the next two des, forcing them to dissolve into mist and scatter into the air!
Luna slid to a stop a few meters away from the anima. She was breathing heavily, but her mind was racing as she tried to understand how the anima was able to do what it just did. Those were her skills, weren''t they? That ice wall that it created. Wasn''t that the same as the ice wall I used to cover the ocean? And it was also able to replicate my de?
How is it able to do that? Luna was trying toe up with an answer to these questions, but she had to quickly dodge out of the way as the anima suddenly charged at her again in anger, and she started to run to try and get some distance between them!
Chapter 407 Enhanced Healing
Luna dodged out of the way as the anima suddenly charged at her again in anger and she started to run to try to get some distance between them.
Meanwhile, the octopus-based anima used the distraction provided by the other anima to extend its tentacles to the side and grab hold of the severed tentacles that Luna had previously cut off. It brought them up to its mouth, opened wide, and swallowed the tentacles whole. Immediately after, its injuries slowly started to heal.
Naturally, all octopi have a very high healing factor that allows them to regrow body parts and severed tentacles easily with time. This ability developed as a survival tactic that they used to escape from predators by severing their own tentacles and regrowing themter.
But after mutation, the anima had gained an even higher rate of regeneration that allowed it to regenerate body parts as long as it had the stamina for it. It didn''t need to consume the tentacles that had been cut off to grow them back, but consuming the tentacles allowed it to regain some of its lost stamina, thereby increasing its already absurd rate of regeneration.
The anima''s severed tentacles started to grow back at a visibly noticeable rate, the wound Makr inflicted with that icede began to close up and its punctured eye also began to regenerate!
It turned its attention to where Luna was being attacked by the giant shark-based anima, and it only watched for a few seconds before shifting its focus back to Mark. Mark was its mission, not Luna. The only reason the anima was struggling before was because Luna was there to support Mark. Now that Luna was out of the way, it could finally focus on Mark properly and finish him off!
Through the haze of monsters flying around him, Mark noticed what was happening with the octopus-based anima. He saw how it was regrowing its limbs and healing its injuries, and Mark knew that the Eldritch had nned this all out from the very start!
The Eldritch knew that it couldn''t handle both Mark and Luna together, so it called on reinforcements from the ocean to support it. And once the reinforcements arrived, the Eldritch sent all of the small anima after Mark while making Luna fight against the other Eldritch. The Eldritch must''ve noticed that all the ded weapons that hurt it were created by Luna.
That meant the octopus would have a harder time fighting against Luna than it would against Mark!
If it wasn''t for the fact that it was a monster doing all this, Mark would''ve been fucking impressed! Most humans couldn''t even think this well!
''So this is the difference between an Elder Eldritch and a regr anima. These things have very high intelligence.''
Mark thought this while punching a hole through the shell of a giant snapping turtle that charged at him recklessly!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
[Critical Hit]!
BOOM!
The blow immediately killed the snapping turtle, and Mark jumped back, putting his hand forward while activating his full-body constitution. Mark had managed to touch almost all the monsters in front of him during the fight, so once he activated the Void sh skill, all the anima he touched were sliced perfectly in two!
[Void sh]!
SHINK!!
[User has killed 12 Low-Level Cmities +600 Stat points +600 Skill points.]
[User has killed 7 High-Level Cmities +1050 Stat points +1050 Skill points.]
Blood sshed across the ground and all over the containers beside Mark as the body parts of many of the anima were thrown around like trash!
Mark didn''t waste any time and immediately activated his system once he saw that he got some rewards for killing the monsters.
[Does the user wish to send Stat points to the selected stats? Yes/No]
Mark immediately picked yes, and the system sent him another message confirming that the points had been sent to the selected stats.
¡
[The User has sent 1000 stat points to Durability]
[The User has sent 650 stat points to Stamina]
¡
Stamina: 2750 [+275] [+550] [+38]
Durability: 2860 [+286] [+572] [+36]
¡
Mark saw the durability and stamina stats increase, and he felt his energy being rejuvenated back to what it was when he had just started fighting. Now that those two stats were higher, Mark was sure that he would have an easier time using the Achilles Heel skill, but Mark knew that this would not be enough to allow him to use this skill on the Eldritch.
The system said that Mark had to have about five thousand stamina points and four thousand durability points before he could use the Achilles Heel skill without causing damage to his body. But that does not mean that he had to have that exact amount of points before he could activate it. It only meant that the system rmended he have those amounts of points.
If Mark activated the skill with a lower number of durability and stamina points, then he would only suffer some damage to his body that would healter on. Mark was trying his best right now to get the minimum number of points that would allow him to not lose his eyesight. If he could do that, then he didn''t care if he bled from the eyes or anything!
Mark turned to the Eldritch and activated the skill!
[Achelies Heel] had been activated
[Achelies Heel] has been forcefully deactivated
[The User does not possess sufficient Stamina and Durability to withstand this skill.]
[Rmended Stat points for Activation: Stamina > 5000 Durability > 4000]
[If the skill is activated forcefully, upon activation, the user will lose eyesight for [4] seconds. Does the user still wish to activate this skill?]
Alright, there''s progress! Mark grinned as he saw the number of seconds change on the system tab. Now the number of seconds had gone down to four from the ten that it was before. That meant that just adding in a sufficient number of points would be enough to activate the skill without him losing his sight at all. Even if the number wasn''t up to the rmended amount, it would still work.
It was the same as a game that had a rmended requirement as well as the minimum requirements before it could be yed on a system. The rmended requirements just meant that the game would work without any issues at all. The minimum requirements would still carry out the operation, but it might have some issues along the way!
For Mark, that issue might include some splitting headache and bleeding, but that was fine! A true gamer didn''t care about stuff like that! As long as you met the minimum requirements, who cared about a little bleeding!?
Mark turned to the horde of anima that were chasing after him and prepared to kill a few more so that he could get points for his system! When Mark used the Void sh before, the anima that wasn''t affected by the Void sh were stunned as they saw their brethren getting shed by an invisible force!
They started to wonder what that was, and many of them even began to feel some fear in their hearts as they looked at Mark and saw him in a new light. Mark used this moment of uncertainty that they had to activate a new skill.
Chapter 408 How Dare You Run From A Human!?
[Demonic Killer''s Aura] has been activated!
DOON!
An oppressive feeling of dread spread across the battlefield as Mark''s skilltched onto the fear that the anima were feeling, fueling it and increasing its potency a hundredfold! At first, the anima were only slightly afraid of Mark and were reluctant to fight him, but once Mark activated the Killer''s Aura, all the anima became downright terrified of him!
[User has sessfully Inflicted [Fear] on the opponents]
[The abilities of all opponents under [Fear] have all been reduced by 50%]
The anima that were inflicted with the fear condition felt their entire bodies growing weaker just from standing in front of Mark, and it didn''t take long before some of them turned tail and started to run away! They knew that they couldn''t win against Mark in a straight fight, so their natural instincts told them to get as far away from Mark as possible.
They were all running towards the Octopus-headed Eldritch in the hopes that it would be able to protect them!
The Eldritch saw what was happening, and it roared in anger as it saw the small cmity ss running away from an opponent! How dare they run away in front of a human!? Don''t they have any shame! The Eldritch brought its tentacle down on top of the Cmities that were running close to it!
SLAM!
All the Cmities under the Eldritch''s tentacle were immediately crushed into paste as they couldn''t withstand the full force of the impact, and the Eldritch roared out to the other cmities,manding them to turn around and fight to the death! It didn''t matter if the human was stronger than them or not! A human is still a human, and they were never going to run away from a human!
ROARRR!!
Mark was crushing the body of a giant electric eel when he noticed that the anima that had been running away from him were suddenlying back! The electric eel in his hand released arge jolt of electricity, but Mark just gave it an irritated side nce as his gloves absorbed the electricity from the eel and stored it so Mark could use itter.
[The Opponents have dispelled the effects of [Fear]]
[The opponents have entered into a Frenzy and now possess 120% of their abilities.]
[All rewards from the system for killing the opponents will receive a 20% boost due to the increase in strength of the opponents.]
"You''ve got to be fucking with me."
Mark frowned in irritation as he prepared himself for the attack from the anima! Mark grabbed the electric eel by its tail and sent a massive jolt of electricity through it at the same moment that arge crab-based anima ran towards him!
m!
Mark used the eel as a whip, mming it into the crab and sending thousands of jolts through its body! The anima immediately convulsed and died on the spot, and Mark moved on to the next one, using the eel as a whip over and over again to strike down the many cmity sses that wereing after him!
m!
m!
m!
m!
The eel was a cmity ss, as well as an electricity-based anima, so it was able to withstand arge amount of electric current surging through it at once! But no matter how much resistance it had to the electric current, that didn''t mean it could withstand the intense force that Mark was using to m it into its brothers!
After the third swing from Mark, the eel finally passed away, and Mark got a notification from his system that he had killed another cmity. But Mark didn''t bother to stop; he used the dead body of the eel and continued to m it into the anima all around him!
BAM!
Suddenly, Mark was blindsided from behind by an intense blow, and he cursed as he actually felt pain from the hit! Mark was wearing the Armor of Ares, so all physical attacks he received from creatures below EPIC rank were reduced by half, yet Mark was still able to feel pain from that blow! Just what the hell hit him!?
Mark turned around, and his brows rose in surprise as he saw a giant shrimp standing there with its hands drawn back like a boxer. Mark didn''t know it, but he was looking at a Mantis Shrimp that was said to possess the highest punch force in the animal kingdom.
When you take that into ount, along with the fact that it was much stronger as an anima, you have one of the most physically gifted anima in the ocean!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Mark waved from side to side, allowing three sharp punches to just sail past his ear each time! Mark knew that the Armor of Ares would protect him from the worst of the blows, but he wasn''t going to take his chances by allowing a punch like that to hit his head!n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om
BZZT!
Mark shot a massive jolt of electricity through the electric eel in his hand and threw it towards the mantis shrimp, forcing it to look away from Mark and punch the eel before itnded on him!
TWOOM!
The punchpletely eviscerated the body of the eel, tearing it to pieces easily! Mark used the momentary distraction from the eel and stepped into the mantis shrimp''s space! He brought his hands up like a boxer and squared up! The mantis shrimp tried to punch Mark in the head again, but Mark dodged by leaning to one side and immediately unleashed a perfectly ced punch into the mantis'' stomach!
[Divergent Fist]!!
BOOM!
The shrimp''s body caved in on itself as it was thrown back from the punch! Mark followed after it, mming another three punches into its midsection before grabbing its arms and dragging them out of its body easily! The shrimp cried out in pain, and Mark smacked it across the face to shut it up before putting his hand out and using [Void sh] to cut it in half!
Mark had been training with Raven for more than four years now, so he was an expert at fistfights. In a straight boxing match, the shrimp didn''t stand a chance against Mark!
[The User has killed 3 High-Level Cmity ss Anima [+450 Stat points +450 Skill Points]]
[The User has killed 3 Low-Level Cmity ss Anima [+150 Stat points +150 Skill Points]]
Mark wasted no time and immediately sent an order to the system.
[Does the user wish to send Stat Points to the selected Stats? Yes/No?]
"Yes! Yes! Just fucking do it already!"
...
[User has sent 600 points to Stamina]
Stamina: 3350 [+330] [+670] [+167]
...
The Octopus Eldritch finally finished its healing and turned towards Mark with its mouth wide open, and Mark''s instincts screamed at him to dodge!
Woosh!
The Eldritch released another massive st of acidic ck ink, and Mark suddenly picked up the pace as the ck ink mmed into the ground behind him, liquefying it and destroying everything that it touched! The Eldritch didn''t care what it hit with its attack!
Some of the cmity ss monsters around it weren''t able to get out of the way quickly enough, and they were also covered by the acid and melted into liquid!
Chapter 409 Your Ass Is Mine!
Some of the Cmity-ss monsters around the Eldritch weren''t able to get out of the way quickly enough, and they were also covered by the acid and melted into liquid!
In the distance, some superhumans were standing on top of some containers to watch the fight that was happening. They were members of the Moonlight Guild and other superhumans from other guilds. They were all worried about the appearance of the new Eldritch, and they wondered if they should jump in to try and help.
But the caliber of this fight was something that they didn''t see themselves walking away from alive. If they got involved in any of the fights here, then they would surely die!
"What do we do? We can''t even get close to either one of those fights. How can we help Madam Luna?"
The person who spoke was someone from Luna''s Moonlight Guild, and they were talking to one of the squad captains of the Moonlight Guild¡ªa tall man with blue hair and ck eyes who had a blessing from Zeus that allowed him to control and manipte air currents. The man frowned in frustration as he looked at the massive battle going on around them.
They had taken care of all the civilians, so there was no risk of them getting hurt anymore, and they had also killed most of the anima that were at the festival. But even though they did all this, there was nothing that they could do to help out in this fight.
The man looked towards the other side of the pier, where Luna and the shark-based Eldritch were engaged in a battle of ice and steam that was threatening to reshape the entire region, and he knew that they were way out of their depth.
Usually, whenever the Moonlight Guild was going in for a battle, Luna would pick out the best superhumans for that fight based on their abilities, and they would work around her to try and aid her in isting the monster so she could finish it off. But since the battle was already raging, the squad captain knew that going in now would only distract Luna and make her lose focus.
The squad captain shook his head.
"No, let''s stay on standby. If we see that they need help, then we can go in to extract them. For now, let''s just believe that they can handle things on their own."
¡
''Okay, now it has to work! Don''t you fucking y with me!''
Mark thought this angrily as he turned towards the Eldritch and activated his [Achilles Heel] once more. Mark''s stats weren''t up to the rmended points, but if you added up the extra points that Mark got as bonuses from his different skills as well as from his title, then Mark was very close! Mark was sure that the skill would work!
[Achilles Heel] has been activated!
[Achilles Heel] has been deactivated!
[Achilles Heel] has been forcefully activated!
Mark''s eyes immediately turned red from the strain as blood rushed through the veins there, but Mark was grateful when he didn''t feel any blood leaking from his sockets! He gazed at the Eldritch, and he was immediately excited when he saw the world blur into various shades of grey to show that the skill worked!
But a frown formed on his face when he saw threerge red dots arranged in a triangle in the center of the octopus''s body. What the hell are those? The three dots were constantly expanding and contracting at regr intervals, and it didn''t take long for Mark to realize that they were beating!
Wait. I know this! I fucking know this! Mark felt like a kid who was figuring out the answer to an exam in the middle of a test!
During one of the sses that Mark was sleeping through, he remembered that Arit woke him up in the middle of the ss and forced him to listen to a part that the teacher said would be on a testter. The teacher was talking about sea creatures and their internal organs, and there was one thing that stuck with Mark during that talk because of how absurdly insane it sounded.
The teacher only said it in passing because it wasn''t even on the curriculum, but Mark could never forget it!
Octopuses all have three hearts!
"HahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAH!!"
A chuckle escaped from Mark''s mouth as he recalled this memory, and it didn''t take long before Mark started tough like a madman! Mark was going to buy Arit whatever she wanted after this fight! He fucking loved that girl! This was everything he needed!N?v(el)B\\jnn
Mark found it hard to fight against the octopus all this time because of how well it absorbed impact force and because of how thick its skin was. All of Mark''s punches were easily absorbed by the skin. But now that Mark knew exactly where to hit, he didn''t need to worry about that anymore because Mark had a skill that wouldpletely ignore the octopus''s invulnerability!
"Your fucking ass is mine!!"
Mark shouted at the top of his lungs as he changed direction and suddenly started to run towards the Eldritch! The monster was stunned by this and immediately roared in defiance as it thought Mark was challenging it. It rose all of its tentacles in the air and began tosh out at Mark with reckless abandon, intending to crush Mark once and for all!
Mark''s grin only widened when he noticed that the Eldritch didn''t use the ink attack anymore. It seems I was right. It can''t use the ink attack too many times before it runs out. It has to rest and replenish the ink before it can use it again!
Mark dodged under a tentacle andshed his hand out to grab hold of another one as it passed by! He was lifted into the air, and he quickly let go of the tentacle in the middle of its flight so that he wouldn''t be flung away!
He put his hand out and flowed around another tentacle that tried to hit him out of the air, flipping over it at just the right time to allow it to lift him even higher as he got closer and closer to the Eldritch! The Eldritch roared in irritation as Mark was right on top of it, and it opened its mouth wide, trying to consume Mark whole!
Markshed out and suddenly grabbed hold of a passing tentacle, and he used it to lift himself away from the mouth and toward the Eldritch''s head! Mark pulled back his fist, and lightning danced across his arm as three skills came to life at the same time!
[Divergent Fist]!
[Lihgtening Surge]!!
[Sonic Impact: Lightning]!
BOOOOMMM!!!
Mark''s fist mmed into the spot where he knew the first heart was located, and just like he expected, the anima''s body rippled with the punch, easily absorbing all the damage that would have normally torn the skin to shreds.
But the real attack traveled past the surface, shooting a surge of lightning into the body of the Eldritch and piercing a hole through its heart that immediately erupted from the attack!
BURST!
The scream that the Eldritch released was like music to Mark''s ears!
ROARRRRRRR!!!!
¡
Luna dodged to the side to avoid a massive icicle that was shot at her! Arge geyser of water burst out from the ocean beside her and then shot towards her like an arrow, intending to pierce her! Luna put her hand out and grabbed control of the water molecules in the air to form a wall that stopped the water in its tracks!
BLAST!
The water mmed against the wall, and the wall held strong and prevented any of the water from even touching Luna!
ROARRRRRRR!!!!
A loud roar from the side drew Luna''s attention towards Mark''s fight against the octopus-based Eldritch.
Chapter 410 We Are True Denizens Of The Ocean!
ROARRRRRRR!!!!
A loud roar from the side drew Luna''s attention towards Mark''s fight against the octopus-based Eldritch. The shout that Luna just heard was definitely from the Eldritch, but it was much louder than anything she had ever heard from it before. There was an undertone of extreme pain in that roar, and Luna knew that something must have really hurt that anima.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om
''Did Mark manage to hurt the Eldritch? How did he do it? I thought his fighting style was weak against that anima.''
Luna had been worried about Mark, and she was initially trying her best to finish this fight as quickly as possible so that she could go and help him in his own fight. But now that she was hearing that roar, she didn''t think she needed to go and help him anymore.
RARGH!
Luna immediately had to jump back as the shark anima charged at her and tried to stab her with itsrge crab leg! It jumped at her once it noticed that she dodged and tried to take a bite out of her with itsrge teeth, but Luna immediately shot out a st of water that surrounded it and froze in ce, suspending it in the air like a trophy!
A surge of steam sted out from the shark''s skin, and before long, the water holding it up immediately vaporized, and the shark was free once more! Luna cursed as she tried to create some more space between the two of them. This was turning into a very annoying fight for Luna! Luna had never seen an anima that had this level of control over water before.
Not only was it able to withstand almost all of the attacks that Luna threw at it, but it also had the ability to copy anything Luan did with water! It could create water constructs just the same way that Luna could, and the speed at which it could do it was almost like whish! For the first time in her life, Luna felt like she was being outmatched in her own element!
"Foolish human. You dare stand in the way of the sea? We came here to destroy the KING once and for all, do not stand in our way! We are true denizens of the sea, creatures born from the ocean. You can never hope topare with your basic tricks."
This was something else that Luna just couldn''t seem to get used to. The anima could talk. And not only was it talking, it was talking fluently, as if it possessed a high level of intelligence. Luna had no idea that there were even anima that could talk!
Mark was the only one who heard the anima talking on the ind raid a long time ago, and he never told anyone about the fact that the anima could talk, so this came as a real shock to Luna.
Luna wondered what the anima was talking about when it mentioned the KING. Luna didn''t know if the anima was talking about the same KING that she knew. There was no way that was possible.
KING is dead.
He died four years ago. Why would the animae here looking for someone who was already dead? Luna didn''t have much time to think about it at all because the anima suddenly charged straight for her with its jaw wide open for another attack!
Luna put her hands together as she started preparing another attack. Luna felt for her mana levels and grimaced when she noticed that her mana was already down to half of what it was. She would have to be careful how she was throwing her magic around from now on. It would be bad if she ran out of mana in the middle of a fight like this.
Arge pir of water was summoned from the ocean by the shark, and it sent it towards Luna! Luna dodged the water, and it mmed into the ground, creating a deep trench that traveled for more than a hundred meters!
Luna pulled water and transformed it into ice, shooting it at the shark before pulling even more water from the atmosphere, forming whips thatshed out and grabbed the shark by its legs to hold it in ce! The shark roared in anger, and the water around its legs vaporized before it easily dodged around the projectiles.
"Weak! Humans are so weak! Is this the level that the KING''s subjects are at!? You don''t even possess the strength to rival the weakest of our forces!"
The shark raised its legs to stab down on Luna, and Luna immediately summoned a vast volume of water and poured her mana into it before boiling the water into a superheated phase quickly!
PHWOOM!
All the water suddenly vaporized, creating a massive plume of smoke and fog that covered the entire region in seconds! Luna pulled water from the ocean once more and used it to create an ice tform under her feet that allowed her to skate out of the way of the anima''s attack!
She was barefoot, but the ice did nothing to hinder her movement as she controlled the ice while keeping an eye on the giant shark! The shark roared and charged at her again, breaking the ice under its ws easily as it tried to skewer her, and Luna quickly turned the ice in the region back to water and forced it to wrap around the shark!
The shark was immediately cocooned in a ball of water, and Luna grit her teeth as she started topress her hands together and began topress the space that the water upied while keeping the volume constant! Since regr water was ipressible, what Luna was doing rapidly increased the internal pressure of the water as Luna tried to crush the anima inside the ball!
SWOOSH!
"W-What?"
Luna''s eyes widened as her control over the ball started to slip from her hands, and she felt the water expanding in the other direction before it suddenly burst out and freed the shark!
"Weak! You act as though water is your tool! Nothing but a weapon! How dare you treat the gift of nature in such a way!? This is why humans disgust me! You only take and take and take, trying to use everything around you like you own it!
Water is my ally! The ally of the anima! I bid it to act, and it aids me; you are nothing in front of me!"
The shark continued its taunts as it grabbed control of the water from Luna andunched another attack at her! The water froze over and turned into thousands of spikes that shot at Luna, and Luna put her hand up in a sloppy defense that only managed to block some of the spikes!
Some got through and stabbed Luna through the shoulder and thigh, but Luna grit her teeth and immediately made the ice vaporize before it could get too deep! Luna''s mana quickly got to work healing her injuries! Since Luna had partitioned her mana, she could heal her injuries while still fighting without any worries, so she just turned back to focus on the fight!
"Hahaha. Weak human. You fight like a little fledgling!"
Chapter 411 Lunas Resolve
Luna tried her best to tune out the anima''s taunts as she stared at it wearily. Luna had been listening to the anima''s taunts all this while, and even though she tried her best not to let it get to her, she couldn''t help the feelings of anger that the words brought from inside her! How dare a mere anima tell her that she was weak!?
It was nothing but an abomination, and Luna would never ept that an anima had more control over water than she did!
But then how could Luna exin losing control over her constructs? Luna couldn''t believe she lost control of her constructs that easily! Luna was the best water maniptor in the entire world as far as she was concerned. She knew that there was no one that could challenge her in that!
So what was this!? Why was the anima able to take over her constructs so easily!?
''Am I¡ weaker than it?''
This thought crossed through Luna''s mind, and she immediately tried to shake her head to get rid of it! Luna knew how dangerous a thought like that could be, and she refused to allow it to take root in her head! But once the thought entered, it refused to leave. It was like a virus that infected her every thought and poisoned her confidence!N?v(el)B\\jnn
Luna created construct after construct, attacking the anima in a haze of rapid fire that tore the surroundings asunder! But it was not enough. It was never enough. No matter how fast Luna created the constructs, the anima was able to deconstruct them even faster! No matter what Luna attacked it with, the anima was able to deal with it!
Luna was slowly feeling her confidence chipping away the longer this went on! Luna was thinking up n after n again and again, and the Eldritch was just tearing it apart with raw strength!
''You''ve been holding yourself back, haven''t you? Not just your power, you''ve been holding your potential back as well. Are you so scared to go all out because you are afraid that you''ll get left behind? Or maybe, are you afraid that you''ll leave everyone behind and be left alone?''
A thought from Luna''s conversation with Mark long ago suddenly passed through Luna''s mind, and Luna felt her heart shake as she realized with growing horror that Mark had been right.
''What have I been doing all this time? Mark was right. I should''ve done more. I should''ve tried to get more power instead of just beingfortable with the amount of strength that I had. Why was I so scared of being alone? If I had trained for even one more month, even one more day, would I have easily beaten this anima?''
Luna put her hand up, trying desperately to stop a barrage of ice and water that mmed into her side! She felt something stab through her leg, and her mana immediately got to work on healing it! She poured her mana out again and created more mist to try and block the monster''s vision!
As she fought, images of the past ran through Luna''s mind. The reason why she didn''t want to be alone again. Luna had been alone for a very long time. Right from the start, Luna''s mother didn''t want her. Luna was abandoned at her father''s doorstep as a baby by her mother, and Luna never got to even know what her mother looked like.
Luna''s father was an alcoholic and a recluse who refused to go out at all. Her father only liked to stay inside and y games.
It didn''t take long for her father to realize that the only way to make money was by creating a Twitch ount and ying games in front of it with Luna sitting beside him. Luna was extremely beautiful, so if she was near him, people would be more willing to watch and support him! It was a foolproof n as far as he was concerned, and unsurprisingly, it worked!
Luna was just too beautiful, and no one would just scroll past a page that had such a stunning girl in it without stopping to give it a nce! Her father''s Twitch page became very popr, and he was makingrge sums every day just from showing off his daughter.
Luna was kept in a small room and fed just enough so that she wouldn''t look too malnourished. Luna was only let out of the room whenever her father wanted to stream, and he would force her to smile andugh at his jokes while threatening her that if she didn''t do it, she wouldn''t get a meal at all the next day.
Luna was just a child then, so she didn''t know how to stand up for herself, and she just did whatever her father asked her to do. Luna smiled,ughed, and waved at the camera whenever her father asked her to do it.
It wasn''t until the Armageddon attacked that Luna was able to finally walk out from that underground basement on her own for the first time in her life. Luna looked around her ruined apartment, and she saw that most of the house had broken and copsed. There were signs of rushing all around the house.
Clothes were thrown about, and some dor bills were spread out on the ground from when her father must have been trying to gather them. But when Luna looked towards the door that led out of the building, she could see arge pile of stones that had fallen from the ceiling during the tremors, and a hand sticking out from under the stones.
Luna immediately understood that her father was reaching out for some of the money that fell from his hand when the rocks fell and crushed him. Luna didn''t even feel anything when she realized what had happened. She didn''t feel happy, and she didn''t feel sad either. Her father had beenmanding her emotions for so long now that Luna had already forgotten how to feel anything.
Then there was KING. KING crashed into her life like aet, and in the short time that they spent together, he saved her. He made her feel something for the first time, and she figured out what she wanted to do with her life. KING was the one who saved Luna. But even KING ended up leaving her behind. He went back to battle and died to the Armageddon in order to save everyone.
Luna hated it. She hated feeling alone, and she hated being abandoned over and over again. When Luna first discovered her power, she did everything she could to make sure she was not alone. She joined the Neptune guild, tried to make friends, and even tried to help people. But that feeling of loneliness remained. Luna could see how much stronger she was than everyone else.
No matter how fast people tried to catch up to her, Luna just grew even faster. This ostracized her in the Neptune guild and made the other guild members angry at her, like it was somehow her fault that she was growing faster than them.
''Was it at this moment? Yes, when I was neen in the Neptune guild.''
That was when Luna started to hinder her own growth. That was when Luna realized that no matter what she did, she was going to be alone because of her strength, and she started to make herself grow slower subconsciously! Even after she formed her own guild and started to train more to improve her strength, Luna was still holding back.
She was always afraid that the members of her guild would see her as a freak just like her former guild. Luna was afraid that they would leave her just like KING and her mother.
Chapter 412 Superheated Ice Bomb
Luna grit her teeth in anger and dashed to the side to try and nk the shark on the other side while under the cover of the mist. But the anima easily decreased the temperature of the environment, turning the mist into dew and making it all clear up! Luna grabbed hold of some water nearby and used it to create an ice shield as the anima charged at her.
BAM!
The anima bodymmed her and Luna felt her body shake as she was thrown to the ground from the charge! Luna held the shield above her as the shark mmed a leg on it and leaned in close!
"You humans are an abomination of nature! Mother Nature''s biggest mistake was creating you monsters! You do nothing but plunder and ruin the beauty of the world in your quest to fulfill your pointless ambitions! We, the anima, shall rid the world of that abomination! Starting with you, weak girl!"
The shark opened its jaw wide, and a ball of water started to form in front of its mouth! The ball grewrger andrger until it was almost asrge as the anima itself. The ball started to swirl, and Luna''s eyes widened when she noticed the temperature in the area suddenly rising! The anima was heating the moisture in the air!? No, that isn''t it! It''s heating the ball!
If I can feel it from behind the ice, then it must be unbelievably hot!
Superheated ice! It''s making a bomb!
Luna quickly tried to get away from the anima, but the anima grabbed hold of her shield and tore its control away from her, melting it to vapor in an instant as it leaped back, leaving Luna alone with the superheated ball of vapor!
When ice is suddenly heated above its boiling point and into the superheated phase, it skips all the phase changes that it is supposed to experience and transitions rapidly and explosively from ice into steam.
The steam produced from water using such a process is so hot, and the molecules are moving so fast, that carrying out this sort of experiment using only a liter of water creates an explosionparable to unleashing a st from a stick of TNT! The volume of water that the shark just superheated was almost a thousand liters, and the st it unleashed on Luna was phenomenal!n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om
KA-BOOOOMMM!!!
Wind geysers sted across the coast, throwing cargo containers and small ships away from the wind pressure alone! Even the superhumans that had been standing on top of a container more than a kilometer away had to hold on tight as they felt the wind threatening to throw them back!
The st was so intense that the plume of dust and steam could be seen for more than a kilometer from every direction! Every single person on the ind stopped what they had been doing to stare at the explosion, wondering what could be happening!
Even the people at home, who were watching the fight through the cameras of the journalists that came around, were dead silent as they thought that this would be the end for Luna! The explosion was massive, and they didn''t believe that anything could survive through something like that!
The journalists covering the fight had nothing to say as they just watched and waited to see what was going to happen! Luna was one of the most popr superhumans in the world, and a lot of people had been saved by her! No one wanted her to get hurt in this fight, and they were all terrified when they didn''t see any movement from the site for some time! Was Luna dead? No, that isn''t possible!
There is no way Luna would die like this! The journalist grit his teeth in anger as this thought crossed his mind! Luna couldn''t die in a ce like this! Not like this!
He knew that it was his job to report everything that happened in a fight, but he didn''t want to even mention the possibility of Luna dying! He was going to hold on to everyst shred of hope until the very end!
Within therge plume of smoke, Luna was lying on her back and staring up at the misty sky. There was a look of resignation behind her gaze as she seemed to just ept her fate at that moment. And why shouldn''t she? This was her own fault. If she had tried just a little harder, then she would have been able to handle this easily, but she didn''t try.
Is Mark going to be sad if I die?
This thought crossed through Luna''s mind, and she couldn''t stop the feeling of disgust that passed through her body at her own weakness. Even now, in the end, she was still desperate to not be alone. Luna knew that she had a dependency problem. Even though she hated talking about it, she knew that the fear of being alone was something that she had never been able to get rid of.
She depended far too much on others and hated to be left on her own.
But she never thought that it was so intense that she would be thinking about something like this even at the end. But Luna couldn''t help it. She was tired of being alone. In a way, Luna would rather die and let Mark miss her than lose Mark while she was still alive. Luna didn''t know if she could survive if Mark was taken from her after everything that she had already gone through.
Luna moved her body around, and she expected that there would be a lot of pain, but surprisingly, all she felt was a numbness that managed to block out all the pain that the explosion should have brought. There was nothing protecting her from that explosion, so Luna was sure that it hit her head-on.
But something wasn''t right. As time went on, Luna still couldn''t feel any pain, and she slowly started to realize that the pain just wasn''t going toe! There wasn''t any pain at all. When the explosion happened, Luna thought that she would use up a lot of mana to heal herself, but Luna couldn''t feel her mana working at all. There were only two possible exnations for this.
Either she was fresh out of mana, or she waspletely uninjured.
"You know, I didn''t think I would have to rush in to help you out like this. What the hell do you think you''re doing, Luna? Were you about to let an explosion take you out like that? Don''t tell me you were actually nning to lose to this sushi."
Luna''s eyes widened in shock as she sat up slowly to see Mark standing with his back to her. There was a golden glow slowly dying out all around him, and Luna knew that Mark had used some sort of skill to protect her just now.
[Aegis of Ares] has been deactivated
[Mana: 950/2615]
Mark deactivated his [Aegis of Ares] and narrowed his eyes at the notification that the system brought up. Mark activated the Aegis of Ares for about two seconds to protect Luna, so he lost four hundred mana points in that time. Mark felt frustrated at hisck of mana, and he swore that he was going to find a way to get more points in the future.
Mark couldn''t allow something as simple as this to prevent him from using such a useful skill!
Chapter 413 So Youre The One?
ROARRR!
There was still arge cloud of smoke and steam covering Mark and Luna, but Mark could hear the shark anima roaring loudly in victory as it thought that Luna died in the attack. Mark clicked his tongue in irritation and decided to stay hidden for a few more seconds to give Luna some time to get back on her feet.
Mark had been keeping an eye on the fight since it started, and Mark knew that Luna was seriously outmatched by the Elder Eldritch. Luna told him that she would normally fight a monster like this with the help of her other guild members, so Mark wasn''t too surprised. But honestly, Mark was disappointed. He thought that Luna would be able to handle a monster like this easily.N?v(el)B\\jnn
Even though it was an Elder Eldritch, the anima was something that Luna shouldn''t be struggling against this much. Mark knew that the only reason why Luna was struggling this much was because of how she was always holding herself back, but that was something she did on her own, so it was no fucking excuse!
Mark turned his head around to give Luna a look, and once Luna saw the look of disappointment in his eyes, she looked away from him in embarrassment. Luna couldn''t bear to see that amount of disappointment in Mark''s eyes, and she knew that he was only disappointed because he expected her to be able to handle this monster. Luna couldn''t believe she made Marke all the way here to protect her.
There was a part of Luna that felt happy that Mark came here just to protect her, but Luna killed that part of her quickly as it was reced with anger at herself! Luna shouldn''t have needed Mark toe here at all!
Mark noticed the internal dilemma going on with Luna, and he sighed in irritation while running a hand through his hair roughly. Mark wasn''t going to try and make Luna change who she was, but Mark knew that with the way things were going, Luna was only going to end up getting herself killed before long. Mark spoke up calmly.
"If you keep holding yourself back like this, then you''re only going to end up dead before long. I won''t say I know enough about you to tell you to change, but I can at least tell you that much. Well, I guess it doesn''t matter. If you don''t want to change, then it''s fine. You can stay right where you are. I''ll protect you for as long as you need me to."
Luna''s eyes widened in shock, and she looked up at Mark immediately when she heard thosest words! What was that!? Luna''s mind traveled back in time to a long time ago when someone else said those exact same words to her. When KING said those same words to her.
Slowly, Luna''s mind started to race as it pieced together the inconsistencies that she had been noticing around Mark all this time. From the way Mark''s fighting style was so simr to KING''s, to the way Mark was always being targeted by anima no matter where he went! Even the anima that Luna had just been fighting said it was here to find and kill KING.
Luna felt hope growing in her heart, and she didn''t want it to get too strong before she actually found out the truth. Luna spoke up curiously.
"Mark. Was it you?"
Mark raised a curious brow when he heard what Luna said, wondering what the hell she was talking about. Luna saw the confusion on his face and slowly stood up as she exined.
"That day when the Armageddon attacked. KING broke into a house in the lower districts of City D. He broke into my house, and we talked. When he was leaving, KING told me those same words. He said the same thing you just said to me. It was you, wasn''t it?
You''re KING."
How the hell did Lunae to that conclusion from what he just said? Mark was obviously confused, his face scrunching up in thought for a few seconds as he tried to remember what happened on the day he fought the Armageddon. He went through so much that day that it was almost impossible for him to search through all the memories at once!
But then, Mark seemed to recall something from that day, and his other brow raised in realization before he chuckled in amusement. Oh, so it was her!? That girl who took care of me when I was tired from fighting the Armageddon. I broke into a house to rest and met a young girl with white hair there! How the hell could I have forgotten that?
"So you''re the one I met in that basement that day? I was wondering where I''d met you before, but I just couldn''t remember it. Now I get why you seemed familiar when I first met you. Well, I guess I wouldn''t have recognized you without some sort of lead. You''ve changed a lot since then¡ªyou used to be so thin."
Mark didn''t need to say anything more for Luna to realize she was right! Luna couldn''t believe it right now! He was right in front of her all this time! Luna had mourned KING''s death just like everyone else! She told herself that she was going to get over his death and tried her best to do just that because she knew there was no way he wasing back!
But she couldn''t believe that KING had been standing right in front of her all this time! He had always been here!
Luna felt all the energy in her body immediately vanish as a smallugh escaped her lips. What the hell had she been doing!? What kind of cruel trick was life ying on her!? Luna felt a surge of anger she hadn''t felt before pouring out of her!
Luna had so much she wanted to say to KING! So much she wanted to tell him after that day! But she held everything back and told herself she would never be able to because KING was dead! Luna couldn''t believe how stupid she was! How didn''t she see it!?
"M-Mark¡"
Luna reached out and tried to talk to Mark, but Mark shook his head while turning back around to face off against the monsters in front of him. The octopus-based Eldritch had chased Mark here, and now it was moving towards them quickly while the shark was still roaring in victory. Mark knew Luna wanted to talk to him about everything that had happened, but now wasn''t the time for that.
"If you''re out of mana, you can stay back and rest. I figured out a way to deal with the anima, so it shouldn''t take too long to finish off that first one. I''ll handle the second one once I''m done with that."
[A/N: Had to drop this here for those of you that don''t read authors note. The next few chapters are going to be very science oriented. If there''s any confusion then feel free to ask in thements, or you could just ignore it and think ''Oh they did a lot of science stuff here''. I wont get mad, I promise.]
Chapter 414 How Do I Get Stronger?
"If you''re out of mana, you can stay back and rest. I figured out a way to deal with the anima, so I shouldn''t take too long to finish off the first one. I''ll handle the second one once I''m done with that."
Mark dismissed Luna brutally as he started to walk away from her, and Luna felt her heart breaking once she saw Mark turn away to leave. Her face fell as her outstretched hand slowly fell to her side. This was just like that day all over again. She was still the same as before, standing in one ce as KING walked away from her.
Was she really going to let things end like this?
Luna didn''t know why, but she just felt like this moment was a turning point in her life. Luna could simply do as Mark said and allow him to handle the Eldritch. Since Mark said he could handle them both, she didn''t have to do anything right now. But if she did that, Luna knew that it would be thest time she ever got to stand beside him.
Just like before, when KING left her to fight against the Armageddon all on his own, Luna knew that if Mark left now, she would be standing in the same ce for the rest of her life.
"No."
Luna said one word, and Mark looked back curiously as he saw Luna walking up to him with a furious look on her face. Luna red at the Eldritch in front of her with hatred as she stood beside Mark before she turned to look at him.
"I''ll fight too. I won''t hold you back, I promise."
Mark looked Luna over critically, trying to see if she was serious or not. Mark was tempted to just tell her to sit this one out because of her nasty habit of holding herself back, but for some reason, Mark felt like he shouldn''t tell her to leave. The look in her eyes was telling Mark that Luna was fucking serious about fighting properly this time.N?v(el)B\\jnn
Luna gazed up at Mark and met his gaze evenly and even though there were thousands of things she wanted to say at that moment, she held back and made sure that he could see her resolve. This was not going to be like thest time. He wasn''t going to leave her behind again.
Mark grinned while tightening his gloves.
"You better keep up."
Luna nodded as she raised her hand, and Mark crouched before sting off the ground!
BOOM!
Luna immediately grabbed hold of all the moisture in the air and threw her hand down, forcing all of it to immediately fall to the ground, clearing therge plume of smoke that had been covering them! The Shark and Octopus Eldritch both noticed them at the same time, roaring in agitation as they started to move toward them!
Mark was racing towards the two monsters, and he was stunned when he saw Luna running right beside him! What the hell is she doing? Luna would normally stay back and provide support, so Mark was wondering what Luna was thinking by moving forward!
"I''ll handle the shark! You can take the other one!"
Luna shouted this to Mark, and Mark grinned and nodded once before crouching down and shing toward the Octopus! The Eldritch mmed its tentacle into the ground, trying to crush Mark, but Mark easily dodged around it and continued running towards therge monster!
The Octopus opened its mouth wide, and Mark already knew what was about to happen as he changed his direction and started to run to the opposite side at the same moment that the octopus unleashed a stream of acidic ink!
BLAST!
The ink mmed into the ground, and Mark managed to easily avoid all of it! He ran around the octopus and kept his eyes out for the perfect tentacle to use in lifting himself up!
''There!''
Grab!
Mark immediatelyshed out as a tentacle passed him, and he grabbed hold of the appendage, allowing it to lift him into the air and toward the octopus! Mark held on until the tentacle was at the peak of its flight before he let go at the perfect moment and started to freefall toward the octopus! Mark was falling right towards the second red spot where he knew the octopus''s heart was!
The wind sted across his face, and Mark narrowed his eyes to keep his focus sharp! A tentacle came from the side, trying to m him out of the air, and Mark wisely used the wind pressure to slow himself down at the right moment, allowing the tentacle to pass by before he continued to fall!
ROARRRR!
On the other side of the clearing, Luna was doing her best to hold back the shark! Luna''s heart was beating a mile a minute, and the amount of adrenaline currently flowing through her veins was immense! She felt like she was floating in the air!
''He''s alive. He''s alive. He''s alive! He''s ALIVE!''
This thought just kept running through Luna''s mind over and over again! Luna couldn''t believe that KING was alive! Luna couldn''t believe that Mark was KING! Luna dodged under an icicle created by the shark anima and rolled forward as the shark tried to stab her with one of its legs! Luna didn''t know it, but a smile was already starting to spread across her face in the middle of the fight!
Just the mere thought of Mark was enough to make her forget about the tense situation she was in! Even the shark was shocked as it saw Luna''s smile!
Luna grabbed hold of the water from the side and formed arge spike from it that she threw at the shark, but Luna felt her smile die down as the shark grabbed hold of the spike and easily turned it into mist, destroying her construct once more!
Luna frowned in anger as she created another one, trying to slice the shark in half, but the shark took control of this one too, and turned it on her, forcing Luna to move out of the way unless she wanted to be cut in half!
Even though Luna now had a ton of energy due to the adrenaline running through her veins, that did not mean she was suddenly stronger. In fact, Luna was even weaker than she had been at the start of this fight.
Luna did not have as much mana as she did before, and the amount of punishment that Luna had endured at the hands of the anima was so much that her stamina was practically less than half of what it should be!
Luna''s mind started to race as she finally started to think for the first time in a long time about how she could get stronger.
Luna knew that she didn''t have enough mana. And that she also didn''t have enough stamina. If she tried to create anything, the shark could easily take control of it and turn it against her. What was she doing wrong?
Chapter 415 Isotope
Mark said that she could be stronger, right? Doesn''t that mean there is a way for me to defeat this thing? Mark trusted me with this a second time. I''m not going to let him down!
''How do I get stronger?''
Ratatatatatatata!
Luna dashed across the clearing as she avoided another rain of ice shards that almost skewered her! She used her blessing to form a st of superheated water that she shot at the Eldritch, and the Eldritch formed an ice wall to stop it!
BOOM!
''The main issue is that it can take control of my constructs. I need to find a way to prevent it from doing that. Wait... how do I even form constructs?''
It was an absolutely senseless question that suddenly passed through Luna''s mind, but for some reason, this question was like a reality check for Luna. When thinking about forming constructs, Luna had never really had to try anything special before. Usually, once Luna thinks about making something, anything at all, that thing easily forms itself in the way she wants it to be formed.
It was as though the water in the environment just obeyed her without her ever needing to beat it into submission.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om
Luna immediately recognized this as a w.
Was that why it was so easy for the shark to take control of my constructs? Is it because I am making it in the most basic manner possible? That means the shark is also controlling water in the same way, so it''s easy for the shark to recognize and gain control of Luna''s constructs!
''But what can I do about it? It''s not like there are different kinds of water. There is only one type, and the process of making the different phases and controlling it is set in stone. There''s nothing that I can do differently... no, I''m sure there''s something! There''s definitely something!
Come on, Luna, think! Think! Think! What can you do differently!? You need to make sure you don''t disappoint Mark! Changing one or two things about the way you control water shouldn''t be that hard!
Wait... Hard?''
Luna was screaming inside her own head while trying to avoid some of the shark''s attacks, but once she said thatst word, her eyes widened as something crossed her mind. Luna remembered back in her early days of being a superhuman when she did more research and training!
Back then, Luna was eager to improve because she thought it would make her more friends, so she learned many things about water and how to use it. Most of the things that Luna learned weren''t useful because of how easy it was for her to just bypass them, so Luna forgot most of them once she started her own guild. But there was one thing that Luna suddenly remembered.
Aren''t there three types of water?
BOOM!
A massive force mmed into the ground right beside Luna, and Luna put her hand up to her head to prevent any debris from hitting her! Luna red at the shark and sent another st of steam at it to stop it from distracting her! She was on a roll here! She was about to figure out something big!
Water was formed using molecules of hydrogen and oxygen. This was something that would never change. But there was something else that could change in that mixture. Hydrogen! Hydrogen has three states of existence: Protium, Deuterium, and Tritium! These three were called isotopes, and the main difference between them was the number of neutrons in their nucleus!
Normal water was always formed from the Protium isotope of hydrogen, but that does not mean that Deuterium and Tritium couldn''t form water as well! The water formed from Deuterium and Tritium was heavy water and superheavy water! They don''t ur naturally, so if I am able to make them, doesn''t that mean the shark won''t be able to control it?
Luna felt her heartbeat increasing even more as adrenaline pumped through her veins. A crazy thought crossed her mind! Was it even possible? It wasn''t something that sounded possible at all, and there was a very high likelihood that Luna would not even be able to do it!
''But what if I could do it? Isn''t it only because I never tried that I think I can''t do it? Mark said I could do more with my powers! What if this is what he meant by that!?''
Luna decided that she didn''t have anything to lose at all if she tried, so she decided to just push forward! She narrowed her eyes as she grabbed ahold of the moisture in the air and tried to do something that had never been tried before! Luna was going to try and manipte the atomic structure of hydrogen!
Luna felt around for the hydrogen in the water! She went deeper than the molecules she had always been controlling, and she was shocked when she was able to feel it! She could see the bond of hydrogen and oxygen in her mind''s eye, and Luna grit her teeth and pushed even deeper to try and feel for the nucleus inside the atom of hydrogen!
If she could manipte that, then she would be able to change the hydrogen isotope that was present in the water!
"Come on,e on,e on. Where are you?"
Luna mumbled quietly while probing the molecules with her powers, trying desperately to find where the atomic nucleus was. If any other water maniptor saw what Luna was trying to do right now, they would think she was out of her mind.
It was already difficult for anyone to try and control water at the molecr level using their powers, but to even attempt to look for the atomic nucleus and try to manipte it was madness!
But those people didn''t have the potential that Luna had. Your potential is more than just a measure of how strong you can grow or how quickly you can gain strength; it is also a measure of how much you can manipte your element using your blessing! And with the potential of ELITE Rank II, Luna was the strongest water maniptor on Earth!
"I found it!"
Luna shouted out in glee as she felt something in the hydrogen atom! It was small, and there were strange charges orbiting it! That had to be the nucleus with the electrons orbiting it! Luna didn''t waste any time and immediately tried to manipte it! The center of the nucleus contained a single substance, and Luna deduced that this was the proton.
It was positively charged, so in order to change this hydrogen atom to another isotope, Luna had to somehow add in a neutron that was neutrally charged! And thankfully, Luna had an abundance of neutrons in the oxygen that was also present in the molecules of water!
Since she already knew how to ess the nucleus of the molecules under her control, she only had to take some of the neutrons from the oxygen nucleus and fuse them to the nucleus of the hydrogen!
Luna immediately tried to do just that! She reached out with her mana to grab hold of a neutron from the oxygen nucleus and tried to add it to the hydrogen, but she was shocked when she felt her mana suddenly drop at an insane pace!
"Wha¡?"
[A/N: For those of you wondering, I fucking hated chemistry in high school. My favourite subjet was physics.]
Chapter 416 Get Back Here!
"Wha¡?"
Shink!
Another ice shard from the shark shot towards Luna. Luna was so focused on trying to understand what made her mana drop so quickly that she didn''t see the shard until thest moment! Luna put up her hand to shield herself, and the ice stabbed deep into her hand before it stopped!
She yanked it out with a shout and threw it back at the shark with all her strength, forcing the shark to skitter out of the way to avoid getting hit! The shark raced towards her again, and Luna shouted angrily as it kept distracting her.
"I don''t have time for this! I''m trying to figure something out!"
The shark roared back in defiance, but both of them were pulled out from their fight as they heard a loud roar echo from the side where Mark was battling against the octopus.
BOOM!
TWOOM!
ROARRRRR!!
A massive explosion echoed through the battlefield, and the octopus released a roar of pain as another one of its hearts was destroyed by Mark! Mark was in the air, freefalling back to the ground while avoiding the tentacles that the octopus was shaking around frantically, trying to endure the pain of losing a heart. Luna smiled as she saw that Mark had really found a way to hurt the octopus.N?v(el)B\\jnn
She was worried before that Mark wouldn''t be able to cause significant damage to the octopus since it could absorb impacts, but from the sound she was hearing, Luna was now certain that Mark had found a way!
"The KING dares to stand against us! I must end him before he regains his former strength!"
Suddenly, the shark began to gather water from the surroundings and formed arge spike that it aimed straight at Mark! Luna''s eyes widened once she saw this, and she shouted in anger as she realized what it was about to do! It wanted to shoot Mark out of the air when he was defenseless!
It would be difficult for Mark to avoid the spike while he was in the air, so Luna was sure that the spike would at least injure him!
Luna immediately raced towards the shark, but it was already toote as the shark released its construct and shot it forward!
WOOSH!
The construct sped forward like a bullet, gathering momentum as it raced towards Mark! Luna immediately put her hand out and willed all her mana totch onto the construct. Luna''s face twisted in concentration and anger as she focused with deadly intensity! She was never going to let that hit Mark! Who the fuck did this bastard think it was!?
She had only just gotten KING back, and it was trying to hurt him again right in front of her! Never! It was never going to happen! She would never let anyone who went after Mark go!
Something inside Luna raged in anger as her entire body raced with adrenaline, almost making her eyes bleed from how much pressure she was putting on her own body! She would destroy everything that dared to stand against him! She would erase this bastard from existence!
Luna reached out to the construct that was flying towards Mark! Luna''s mana strained as she poured it out, and she could feel that she didn''t have much mana left, but she didn''t care! Luna used whatever mana she could muster and reached out to grab the construct!
Mark was falling through the air with a look of satisfaction on his face as he watched the octopus writhing in pain. He had already destroyed two of its hearts, so Mark knew he only needed to destroy one more before it would go down! But suddenly, Mark''s instincts screamed at him, and he immediately noticed that he was in danger!
He looked to the side and saw arge ice spike flying towards him at breakneck speed, intending to skewer him in the middle of his descent!
Mark knew he couldn''t dodge the attack since he was in the air, but that did not mean he waspletely defenseless! Mark felt his system jolt to life immediately as it noticed that Mark was in danger that he couldn''t avoid and his divine skill activated!
[Ignorance of the Death God] has been ¨C
Suddenly, the skill stopped its activation as it noticed that Mark was no longer in danger!
Mark''s brows rose in shock as he saw this and he wondered what the fuck was going on! Why did it stop!? Mark''s mind had already started thinking up a new method of dodging the spike since the skill was not going to activate, but he didn''t need to do that as the spike that had been flying towards Mark immediately stopped in its tracks.
Mark managed to catch a glimpse of Luna at the side, reaching out to the spike with a serious look on her face and Markughed loudly, knowing that she was the one who protected him! He allowed himself to fall the rest of the way to the ground before immediately running back to the octopus to continue his fight!
The shark on the other side of the clearing roared in anger as it saw its construct being stopped in the air, and it ignored Luna as it started running towards Mark with the intention of killing him! The shark knew that the octopus was not in the best state right now, and leaving it alone with the KING would definitely result in its death! It couldn''t let the KING kill one of them!
"I''m not fucking done with you! Get back here!"
STAB!
SQUELCH!
ROARRRR!
Luna''s loud voice suddenly echoed through the clearing before she stabbed an ice dagger into the monster''s back, and a massive jolt of pain shot through the shark''s entire body! The shark roared in anger and pain as it stopped running at Mark and began shaking around as it tried to get rid of whatever had stabbed it in the back!
The Eldritch shook its body desperately, but Luna held on tight with a look of intense fury in her eyes as she stabbed her ice dagger deeper into the Eldritch''s back, forcing more blood to leak and making the Eldritch roar in pain once more! She was not going to let this bastard kill Mark! Nobody would hurt Mark! Nobody!
Suddenly, Luna''s dagger was yanked away from her control, and she felt the water melt as the shark shook its body and forced Luna to fall off! Luna thought that the Eldritch would turn around to attack her again. At least that would allow Mark to fight the octopus without any interruption and he could defeat it quickly.
But the sharkpletely ignored Luna as it continued running forward towards Mark!
Chapter 417 Crafting Atoms
The shark didn''t care that Luna was trying to stop it! As long as it could get to the octopus and help it out in dealing with Mark, then Luna wouldn''t be a problem at all! After all, Luna hasn''t even been able to make a single construct that it couldn''t take control of! The most important issue right now was KING! If they got rid of KING, then they wouldn''t have any issue dealing with Luna!
Luna realized that she was running out of ideas on how to stop the shark! The shark was already far from her, and it was heading straight for Mark! Even if she ran right now, she wouldn''t be able to get to it! Luna had to do something! She had to make a new construct! A construct that the shark couldn''t take control of!
Luna delved back into the water molecules in her mind desperately and tried her best to grab a hold of a neutron from oxygen to transfer it into the hydrogen nucleus once more, but Luna felt that massive drain in her mana for a second time, and she stumbled as she was almost drained right there! Luna cursed as she focused! Mark said she could do this!
If Mark said I can do something, then I''m going to do it! I''ll move the fucking world if it means I get to be with Mark! This is nothing!
Luna immediately broke the mana control that Merlin taught her and forced every singlest bit of mana she had into creating the construct! Luna usually separated her mana into healing, attacking, and defending-based mana. This allowed her mana to be more efficient and stronger, but right now, Luna didn''t give a fuck about that at all!
She just needed to use everyst bit of mana she had to do this!
The reason why it was so hard for Luna to transfer the nucleus from oxygen to hydrogen was because of the atomic bond that the elements had and how she was trying to destroy that bond using her mana. The amount of mana that was required to ovee that bond was immense because the scale that Luna was trying to do it on was too high.
But after putting so much mana into it and bombarding the bond with the full force of her potent mana, Luna felt the first shake from the neutron as it started to vibrate! Luna immediately held onto that vibration, and she forced it to start moving from the oxygen atom! A sweat broke out on Luna''s forehead, and she gritted her teeth as she felt a massive headache threatening to split her head open!
But Luna didn''t care if she fell down and died right then and there! She would keep going until herst drop of mana just to protect Mark! Luna kept pushing and pushing until she knew that she should be dried out of mana, but somehow, Luna felt that she had some extra mana at that moment that she was able to use!
Luna had no idea where that mana came from, but she didn''t dare question it as she pushed even harder with that mana!
Luna didn''t know it, but that mana she was now using was the mana from the 20% boost that Mark''s skill [He Who Defies Destiny] provided! This skill gave a twenty percent boost to every ally fighting beside Mark! And since Luna was currently fighting alongside Mark, she had a little bit more mana that she was capable of using!
Finally, after what felt like hours but was only a few seconds, Luna''s eyes widened as she felt the nucleus shoot out from the center of the oxygen atom and travel toward the hydrogen atom. Once that first neutron moved, it was like the floodgates were opened for Luna, and all the other neutrons that she had been controlling immediately started to move towards the electrons she was directing!
Luna felt a massive amount of joy rising from inside her heart as she grinned like a crazy person and raised her hand towards the shark, creating a construct!
The shark had been running towards Mark after it left Luna, and it managed to reach him, chasing after Mark as he ran towards the Octopus to try and get the final hit in! Mark looked back in surprise when he felt the shark right behind him. He narrowed his eyes in irritation and picked up speed before leaping off the ground towards the Octopus!
"You are not getting away from me, KING! This is where you die!"
The shark shouted out in anger as it created a chain of ice from the moisture and shot it at Mark! Mark felt the ice wrap around his leg, and he was suddenly yanked to the side by an intense force!
ROAR!N?v(el)B\\jnn
At the same time, the Octopusunched an attack at Mark, trying to kill him now that it had some help! Its tentacle flew straight towards Mark, and Mark used the momentum that the chain provided to move his body around! He grabbed the chain of ice and brought it into the path of the tentacle, forcing the attack to strike the ice and break it into pieces!
The shark immediately gathered water from the ocean and shot it at Mark! Even if Mark was able to dodge the ice, there was no way he would be able to dodge the water!
Mark was already preparing for his system to kick in with the Ignorance of the Death God skill again. If it kicked in, he would use the moment of shock to get rid of the Octopus first. It was obvious that the shark was a lot more energetic, so Mark decided that he would kill it after he was done with the Octopus!
But before the system could activate the skill, Mark suddenly felt a tform under his feet! Mark was stunned by this, if only for a moment, before his eyes narrowed, and he took advantage of the tform,unching himself into the air and away from the st of water that destroyed the tform as it passed!
Another tform appeared under Mark''s feet, and Mark crouched down in one fluid motion before sting towards the Octopus!
BOOM!
A massive shockwave echoed through the area as Mark shed across the sky. The Octopus saw the threat and responded as any other creature would! It started trying to defend itself desperately! Earlier in the fight, the Octopus thought that Mark wouldn''t be much of a threat.
Mark''s attacks weren''t causing it serious harm, and Mark was only able to cause injuries that it knew it could heal easily by using its mana. But all that changed once Mark started targeting its hearts! The Octopus had no idea how Mark knew where its hearts were!
It never even showed any sort of weakness and didn''t hide their location intentionally so that it wouldn''t draw attention to them since they were inside. Those hearts were the only thing that Eldrich couldn''t heal like the rest of its body! If Mark managed to destroy all three of them, then that would be the end of it! It couldn''t let things end like this!
It came here to kill KING, and it would do that even if it was thest thing it did!
The Eldrich immediately rose its body up using its tentacles and pointed itsrge mouth at Mark, intending to shoot out itsrgest st of acidic ink yet! It gathered up arge amount of air, and its body seemed to bulge under the sheer effort before ck ink suddenly shot out of it like a geyser!
BOOM!
Chapter 418 Youre Next
The Eldritch gathered arge amount of air, its body seeming to bulge under the sheer effort before ck ink suddenly shot out of it like a geyser!
BOOM!
The Eldritch knew that Mark couldn''t dodge in the air! Mark was flying toward it at breakneck speed, and the ink was flying toward him even faster, so the Eldritch was sure that Mark would not be able to dodge! This was checkmate, you bastard KING!
[Ignorance of the Death God] has been activated!
Mark suddenly felt like his body was no longer under his control, and his body shifted in a way that didn''t seem humanly possible! It swerved to the side in an impossible move that went against all thews of physics and biology that existed in the world, dodging around the ink and allowing Mark to continue on his path freely!
Mark gritted his teeth as he felt himself regaining control over his body again, and he sent mana to his hands as he approached thest red spot on the Eldritch''s body!
The Eldritch was stunned beyond belief as it saw Mark dodge its ink! It was so stunned that its eyes actually widened, and its jaw dropped open in a way that was almost human! If not for how serious the situation was, Mark would haveughed his ass off because of the look on its face!
Mark pulled back his fist as he got to the Eldritch and shouted in exertion as he poured a massive amount of mana into his right hand and mmed it into the Eldritch''s body!
[Sonic Impact: Lightning]!!
BOOM!
Mark wasn''t able to get a Critical Hit or a Divergent Fist, but that did not mean that Mark didn''t destroy the heartpletely!
The force of Mark''s mana-fueled punch, as well as the intense lightning that shot through his body, was far too much for the Eldritch''s body to bear, and its heart immediately swelled up to more than three times its size before exploding in a massive st that sent a shock through the Eldritch''s entire body!
DOOM!
The Eldritch''s eyes opened wide in shock for a second as it felt its entire body shutting down from the shock, and before long, its body started to topple over slowly as the Eldritch lost control over all its functions. Its eyes closed slowly, and its tentacles fell to the ground lifelessly as they were also rendered useless!
BOOM!
A massive dust cloud rose from where the Eldritch mmed into the ground, and Marknded on top of the monster and took a calming breath as he enjoyed the brief moment of peace from killing the Eldritch. Immediately after taking that breath, Mark turned his head around and gave the shark-based anima a dangerous look!
You''re next.
[Demonic Killer''s Aura] has been activated!
The shark suddenly felt its entire body shiver in fear as it stared into Mark''s piercing gaze! Normally, the Eldritch would have been able to shrug off Mark''s skill easily because of how strong it was. The chances of it falling under the Fear condition were just so low that it was almost impossible! But all the things that just happened right now were too much for the shark to evenprehend!
From Mark being able to dodge its chain to Mark somehow dodging that acid attack that the Octopus threw at him in a way that was almost inhuman! How was Mark able to do that? What sort of monstrous human would be capable of dodging something like that!?
The shark was so confused at the moment that its muddled mind was easily caught by the skill, and it fell under the Fear condition!
[The opponent has been inflicted with [Fear]]
[All opponents under the [Fear] condition receive a 50% reduction in their fighting abilities]!
Zoom!
Mark wasted no time as he immediately turned toward the shark and dashed toward it! The shark''s eyes widened in shock once it saw Mark running at it, and it started to backpedal in fear as it tried to get some space between the both of them! It couldn''t face the KING! Not when it was alone! It had to get out of here and try to get some reinforcement to handle this!
Yes, that was the best choice right now! I''m not afraid! I''m just trying to make sure Iplete my mission in the most sensible way! If I die here, then this would have all been for nothing!
The shark tried to justify its current situation in its mind! Feeling any form of fear in front of a human was a great shame that it could never live down, but it just couldn''t help the fear that was coursing through its entire body at that moment! So it was just trying to preserve some of its dignity by lying to itself!
The shark turned and started to run, but it was suddenly stopped in its tracks as it saw a massive ice spike flying toward it!
This foolish girl again! Get the hell out of my way!
The shark immediately tried to grab hold of the ice spike that was flying at it! It was easy for it to take control of all of Luna''s other constructs, so even while it was afraid, it still hadplete confidence that it could take control of this one as well, but it was shocked when the ice spike didn''t stop flying toward it! Its eyes widened in fear as it almost stumbled in its stride!
What the hell was going on!?
PHWOOSH!
The shark immediately dashed to the side to avoid the ice spike as it flew past it! The spike sliced across its left side, leaving a deep wound that would have been fatal if the shark had hesitated for even another second longer! Why couldn''t it take control of that ice spike!? Wasn''t that the same construct that it just took control of a few moments ago?
It was easy for it to take control of the girl''s constructs, so why was it now impossible!?N?v(el)B\\jnn
The shark had no idea what Luna went through to create a new type of water. The water that Luna used to create the ice spike was water made from Deuterium. Heavy Water. The shark could never even dream about being able to understand what had just happened, so the only thing that filled it at that moment was confusion!
And whenbined with the fear that was already present in its mind, the shark was a sitting duck for the two superhumans!
Mark suddenly leaped off the ground and aimed his leg at the shark''s unprotected back before delivering a massive double kick that threw the shark straight to the ground!
SLAM!
ROAAARRRR!!
The shark cried out in pain as it was thrown back from the hit, and its vision blurred as it lost its sight for a few seconds! Mark grinned when he noticed that the shark roaring in pain, and he immediately ran in and grabbed one of the shark''s crab-like legs before dragging it to the side!
The shark felt its body leaning to one side, and it immediately roared in anger as it tried tosh out at Mark with its other legs!
Chapter 419 I Am Not Going Down Alone!
If it was going to go down, then it was going to go down with a fight! There was no way it would be killed like this! The KING would never hear it beg for mercy!
But before the shark could stab Mark, many chains sprung out from the water all around them and suddenly grabbed hold of the shark from all sides, forcing its body into submission as it was wrapped in a cocoon! The shark tried to take control of the constructs once more, and it roared loudly in anger as it felt that it was impossible! The water felt so foreign to it!
Like it was something that the shark had never seen before in its life! Was this really water!? Why was it so difficult to even feel any connection to it at all!?
The shark''s confusion only grew, but it was suddenly thrust back to reality as a sharp pain shot through its right side as Mark nted his leg and pulled the shark''s pincer with all his strength!
SQUELCH!
ROARRRR!!
The anima roared in pain as its leg was dragged out, and red blood shot through the fight scene, covering everything in crimson as the shark started to shake in pain! It tried its best to break out of the chains that were holding it down, but it found it hard because of the penalty that the system imposed on it when it went under the Fear condition!
It struggled even more, and it finally managed to break the chains apart as its legs stretched out! It immediately started to run toward Luna, trying to get some sort of revenge on one of the two superhumans before it died! It knew that it couldn''t handle Mark at all right now, so it decided that it would try and kill Luna before it died!
The shark grabbed hold of some water from the ocean and formed argence out of it, trying to shoot it at Luna to pierce her. But before the shark could even finish creating thence, its eyes widened as it felt thence transforming into steam!
Luna had taken control of the construct before the shark could even finish making it! Luna stood calmly in the middle of the clearing with her hands raised! Even though Luna was low on mana and stamina right now, for some reason, Luna felt like she was more in tune with her magic than she had ever been before.
All the water around her, every single atom of it, seemed to sing to her in a way they never did before. Was this what Mark was talking about when he said she could do more? This feeling of omnipotence?
Luna cursed her past self for not listening to Mark before. If she had listened, then she could have felt this feeling even sooner! Luna felt like a drug addict high on Mana.
Luna looked at Mark from over the Eldritch''s shoulder, and she saw Mark look back at her with a yful grin on his face, and a small blush started to rise on Luna''s cheek as she felt her mana sing in response to her joy. At this moment, Luna knew she could do anything as long as Mark was by her side. Luna could do anything for Mark!
GRAB!
A hand suddenly grabbed the Shark''s tail from behind, and the Shark fell forward in shock as it was stopped dead in its tracks! The Shark felt like the freaking Titanic was suddenly tied to it, and it was trying to pull it forward! What the hell was holding it back!?
The Shark looked back to see what was holding its tail, and its heart rate sped up in fear as it saw Mark holding it in ce! A massive volume of water suddenly flowed out from the ocean, and began to spin in the air to form a de that spun like a saw!
The Shark knew that it was impossible to control this construct either, but that did not stop it from desperately trying to take control of the de until thest moment when it dropped!
SLASH!
SQUELCH!!
ROARRR!
The Shark roared in pain as the de cut off all three of its legs on the left side, and a massive volume of blood sprayed out from there, drenching the ground in red! Mark let go of the Shark''s tail, and the Shark slowly started to crawl forward, trying its best to get away from the two superhumans!
Even in this pitiful state, it was still trying its best to save itself!
Many ice chains suddenly sted out from the water around the clearing and wrapped around the Shark, stopping it in ce and forcing it to finally fall to the ground limply as the light in its eyes dimmed until it was only a shadow of what it once was.
Mark took in a deep breath and sighed tiredly as he eyed the Shark and the octopus corpse lying on the ground at the side. He felt his adrenaline finally calming down slowly as his thirst for a good fight felt filled for the first time in a long while. Mark was d that Luna understood his intention with the Shark even before he said anything.
Mark didn''t want to kill the Shark because this is exactly what he has been looking for for a long time now. Finding an anima that spoke like that ant-headed anima on the ind was almost impossible, and now that Mark finally found this one, he wasn''t going to let it die so easily since he had a few questions for it.
Mark looked around at all the destruction that the anima had caused to the surroundings, and he couldn''t help the smile that slowly started to spread across his face as he thought about the fight he just had.
''So that''s what an Elder Eldritch is like. They''re damn good fighters, maybe even smarter than that fucking ant cmity. If I didn''t have Luna here with me, then I might''ve ended up having to retreat or wait for reinforcements. This was pretty fun.''
...
Mission Completed
Defeat the Invading Anima.
The user has contributed significantly to the mission parameters. All rewards will receive a slight boost due to this feat.
The rewards shall be distributed immediately!
[The User''s Patron god, Sozin,ughs proudly at the user''s aplishments and promises to send the user a lot of good pictures of the goddess Nyxter.]
...n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om
The User made significant contributions to the subjugation of the Elder Eldritch [Carnage Octopus]. The user has gained a new EPIC Artifact.
...
The User made significant contributions to the subjugation of the Elder Eldritch [Aqua Shark]. The user has gained a new skill.
...
Due to the user''s efforts in defeating the invading anima, [The User has gained a new title].
...
Mark grinned once he saw all the notifications opening in front of him nad he didn''t waste any time as he opened them to take a look at the rewards he gained for the mission.
Chapter 420 The System Rewards
Due to the User''s efforts in defeating the Elder Eldritch [Carnage Octopus], the user has gained a new Artifact: [Fangs That Link the Heavens ¨C EPIC].
[Fangs That Link The Heavens: This is an ancient artifact, manifesting as an ethereal, unbreakable chain, capable ofshing out to strike or bind enemies using lightning-based attacks. The fangs were created by the god of the forge, Hephaestus, for his father, Zeus, as a sign of filial love.
But after a family quarrel that led to Hephaestus being cast out from Olympus, he held onto the chain, refusing to hand it over to his father. The chain was kept in a secure dimension on the other side of the universe, but Sozin broke through Hephaestus'' dimensional gate and stole the fangs for himself.
The fangs manifest themselves as links of god metal that are only visible to the user as well as other children of Hephaestus. Although Hephaestus has now found out about the theft carried out by Sozin, Hephaestus has decided not to do anything about it since he has not had a use for the fangs for a very long time.]
[Effects of Fangs That Link The Heavens]:
- All lightning-based skills receive a 40% Boost.
- Continuous Growth: The Fangs grow alongside the user, manifesting more of their power as the user bes stronger.
- Godlike Charisma: Due to its invisible nature, the fangs provide a boost in charisma to the user and inflict fear upon enemies. All fear-based skills receive a 20% boost. All allies that follow the user reverently gain a 20% boost in their abilities.
¡
[The god of lightning and the heavens, Zeus, res down at the user in anger as he contemtes killing the user for the chains.]
[The god of the forge, Hephaestus, is demanding payment for the chain from the user''s patron god, Sozin.]
[Sozinughs and runs away from the gods once more.]
¡
Mark almost deadpanned at his patron god''s reaction to the anger of the other gods. Those were dimension-hopping, world-destroying beings, and Sozin was treating them like old men and women that he could just y with any time he wanted. Mark knew that with the way things were going, he was definitely going to have a problem with one of the gods eventually, but Mark decided that he didn''t care.
Mark was Sozin''s child, so no matter what the gods sent after him, Sozin would be there to intercept it until Mark was ready to handle things on his own.
''And even if Sozin wasn''t there, I''d still be able to handle some of the minor gods. It''s the bigger ones that pose a real problem. They are too strong, so I won''t be able to put up a fight before they just crush me. I need to get stronger faster.''
Mark turned back to his system once he looked at the rewards again. The Fangs that Link the Heavens. That was an awesome name, and Mark couldn''t believe how useful it was. Just from the description alone, Mark could already think of more than ten different ways to use the chains!
A weapon like this would help Mark a lot when he was facing off against multiple weaker opponents like the cmities from before. Mark called out the Fangs, and he saw a long blue chain shoot out from the ground! The chain was made from the purest silver, and it had an ethereal appearance with a blue hue covering its entire body.
''So this is god metal?''
Every other second, a charge of lightning would shoot across the chain link, telling Mark that it was highly electric! Mark reached out his hand and summoned the chain to him with a thought, and the chain snaked around before approaching Mark''s gloved hand gently. Just one of the chain links wasrge enough to cover Mark''s hand.
Mark grinned when he felt more of the chain just waiting for his instructions to appear. There was only one chain, but it was exceptionally long.
Mark could feel his excitement shooting through the roof, and he was already desperate to try out the chain, but he decided to hold himself back. He would have time for thatter.
Mark sent the chain back, and it vanished into blue dust before Mark turned back to his system.
¡
[The User has gained a new title: Child of the Rogue God]
[Child of the Rogue God: The User''s patron god has made enemies with more than 50% of the mythological gods. This is a feat never done before by any of the gods. The User shall receive a 10% boost to all stats when fighting against any god or a direct descendant of a mythological god.
If the user ever enters a contract with an enemy of his patron god, the user shall receive a 50% reduction in all stats.]
¡
The User made significant contributions to the subjugation of the Elder Eldritch [Aqua Shark]. Due to the user''s efforts, the user has gained a new skill: [Healing Aura].
[Healing Aura: This skill envelops the user in a soothing, radiant energy, converting the user''s mana into restorative power that gradually heals wounds and rejuvenates the user''s vitality. At higher levels, the user will be capable of using the skill to heal allies in the immediate vicinity.]
Current Rank: F Rank [0/100]
[Effects Due To Current Rank]:
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- Mana Consumption To Heal Injuries Inflicted On The User: 100MP/sec
- Mana Consumption To Heal Injuries Inflicted On The User''s Allies: [Not Yet Avable Due To Low Level]
- Radius of Effect: 0 Meters
¡
Mark hummed curiously as he saw the new skill he got. That was actually very useful. Mark knew that he had a very high healing factor already. Even if he got a very serious injury that would normally take months for a normal person to heal, Mark could heal from it in just a few days, and he would be fine. But that was not enough as far as Mark was concerned.
Having to heal injuries like that meant that Mark would have to fight with those injuries if he was ever in the middle of battle when he got them.
But now that there was a skill for healing, Mark could get rid of the more serious injuries using his mana and just leave the injuries that didn''t need to be healed at that moment for his body to deal with on its own. The only downside was the fact that it was so fucking inefficient! Taking a hundred mana points per second for healing injuries was insane!
That was half of what the Aegis of Ares took for activation, and Mark already knew that these two skills were going to piss him off like crazy if he didn''t increase his mana capacity as soon as possible!
With the way things were going, Mark might have to make his mana even higher than his strength just to be able to keep up with the demands of these skills. Mark''s strength was already really high, so even if he made his mana higher than his strength, it wouldn''t affect his fighting style too much.
In fact, it would only make him stronger since it would help to improve his mana cirction skills as well.
Mark thought that this was the end of the rewards from the system, but he was shocked when another notification tab suddenly popped up in front of him.
¡n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om
The User has contributed significantly in ensuring there were minimal casualties in the anima attacks. The system has calcted the user''s contribution and converted them into points. The points gained are disyed below.
+5000 Skill points
+5000 Stat points.
¡
Damn!
Mark was stunned by the final reward he got from the system! Mark didn''t think that he would be getting points on top of all the skills and artifacts that he had! Did he get the points because there was no points system stated at the start of the battle against the Elder Eldritch?
The system only said that it would calcte Mark''s contributions at the end, so Mark was sure that this was the reason why he got these many points.
Mark immediately opened up his system tab, and he was about to start putting points in the various skills and stats that he got. The one stat that Mark was going to increase a lot was Mana. He would have to add at least a thousand points to that one. But that does not mean that Mark was going to neglect any of the other stats either.
Mark learned his lesson in this recent fight that he just finished.
Chapter 421 Can You Choose Me Too?
Neglecting any of his stats would end up with Mark needing to go out of his way to start gaining more if he ever needed to improve a stat in the middle of a fight. That meant that Mark also needed to start stocking up on some points so that he would always have some in reserve during a fight.
Mark put his hand on his chin and hummed in thought while trying to think of the best way to distribute all of his points when he suddenly felt someone touch his back.
Mark''s muscles twitched instinctively as he felt the touch, but he rxed when he noticed that it was just Luna.
Luna walked even closer and touched her forehead to his back gently. Mark could feel some wetness on his back, and he immediately knew that Luan was crying.
"Luna¡?"
Mark called on Luna, and Luna''s hand pressed against Mark''s back as she swallowed nervously. When she spoke, there was a crack in her voice that showed just how emotionally unstable she was at that moment.
"I-It''s you, right? I''m not just dreaming this right now. I''m not just assuming something that I want to be true. Please, Mark. I want you to say it. I want you to tell me."
Mark tilted his head to one side with his eyes closed before he sighed and spoke up calmly.
"Yes, Luna. I''m KING."
A choked sob broke out from Luna''s throat, and she stepped closer to Mark and started to talk again. There were so many things that Luna had wanted to say to KING for so long, so many things that she had dreamed about telling him. And now that Luna knew that Mark was KING, it was as if all those things just poured out from her nonstop.
"I never got to thank you for that day. I felt trapped for a long time before you came to me. You saved me from something that would''ve been the end of my life. Thank you for everything that you did for me. I''m grateful to you, KING. I love you."
Mark tightened his hands into fists when he heard Luna say this and told her that they had already spoken about this before.
"Luna, I''m sorry, but¡ª"
"No¡ please. Just... just listen to me. Please."
Luna''s broken plea forced Mark to stop what he was saying. And when Mark didn''t say anything for a few seconds, Luna took that as a sign to continue talking.
"I''ve loved you since before I even knew what that word love really meant. When you came crashing into that house that day, I fell in love with you for who you were. I fell in love with KING, and I held on to this love for so long. Even after I heard that you died. After everyone buried you and the entire world mourned, I was still in love with you.
But then I thought that I had gotten over it when I met you, Mark. You were like a light that gave me new hope. I thought¡ I thought that if it was you, if I could be with you, I could finally forget KING and move on from him. I fell in love with you, Mark. I fell in love with you before I could stop myself. And now¡"
A brokenugh escaped from Luna''s mouth, and Mark grimaced at how twisted it sounded. Mark could feel the intensity of Luna''s emotions threatening to overwhelm her, and he just stood calmly and waited for her to finish whatever she wanted to say to him. Even though Mark had already said that he had Arit, he couldn''t stop Luna. Not when she was pouring her heart out to him like this.
"It''s like the world loves ying around with my emotions. Like fate itself despises me and continues to throw me around like a child ying with a toy. But I don''t care about fate, and the world can go fuck itself. I don''t care, Mark. I don''t care anymore. I know you have Arit.
I know you said you love her more than anything. But I love you. I love you more than anything in this world. I love you more than everything in this world.
"Even if I never get to have you to myself, or I have to share you with her. Even¡ even if I have to be the second wife. Please, Mark. Please don''t turn me away. Just give me a chance. I''ll follow you to the end of the world and back a million times.
Your word will be my gospel; your wish will be my life''s mission. I''ll love you till my dying breath, Mark. So, please¡ please say yes. Please give me a chance."
Mark grit his teeth as he ran a hand through his hair. He couldn''t even begin to respond to what Luna was asking him right now. What man could hear something like this from a woman and have an immediate response? Can anyone really hear such a deration of love without feeling anything? No one could do such a thing.
Every word that Luna spoke was right from her heart, and Mark could tell that she meant it! This was literally Luna''s soulid out for him! Mark loved Arit to death, but at that moment, Mark could feel a small part of him reacting to Luna''s deration of love.
It was a small part, and at the end of the day, it was nothingpared to what he felt for Arit, but that small part was enough to make Mark hesitate.
Mark and Luna stood in that position for a few seconds without saying anything. Only the sound of the ocean smashing against the shore and the screams of joy from some of the other superhumans watching the fight echoed through the area. But after a few seconds, Mark finally spoke up.
"Luna¡ª"
"Rose."
Luna suddenly cut Mark off as she called her real name. She shook her head as she told Mark her real name. She was okay with him knowing it.
"My name is Rose Snow. Please, call me Rose."
Mark was surprised that Luna was willing to tell him her name that easily. It wasn''t as though Mark didn''t already know her real name, but he also knew she kept it hidden for a reason. Was she really okay with him knowing it just because she loved him? Mark ran a hand through his hair again.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om
"Okay, okay. Rose. I understand how you feel. But I have to tell you this now. I love Arit, and nothing is going to change that."
Luna''s nodded against Mark''s back, and she grit her teeth. Luna hated this feeling of anger that filled her heart. She came first! Luna came first! She knew Mark long before Mark ever met Arit, so why should Arit have a chance before her? Luna wanted to be angry and shout out in fury, but she couldn''t be angry because she knew she had no right to be.
So, Luna nodded against Mark''s back in eptance and spoke desperately.
"I love you, Mark."
Mark nodded in understanding.
"I know."
"I''ll always love you."
"¡I believe you." Find exclusive stories on empire
"I don''t mind if you also choose Arit, Mark. I¡ I won''t be happy not to have you to myself, but I''d rather have you with me even if there''s someone else. I''d prefer to share you than not have you with me. Please."
Luna''s desperate voice cracked as she tightened her hand against Mark''s shirt even more. Mark nodded again, and the next words he spoke broke Luna''s heart.
"I know, Rose, and I''m sorry. You''re an amazing person. One of the most amazing I''ve ever met. Maybe¡ maybe if you were the one I got to know better first. Maybe if we had stayed together before I met Arit, I could have fallen in love with you¡ªno, I''m sure I would''ve fallen in love with you. But you weren''t the one I stayed with.
Arit was the one that was there for me. So, no matter what happens, I won''t do anything to hurt her."
Luna felt her tears start to fall.
(A/N: I swear I didn''t try to make this as emotional or dramatic as it turned out to be. It literally just wrote itself that way. This will probably be the only chapter that feels this raw, so please let me know what you think in thements.)
Chapter 422 Damage Control
The clearing where Mark and Luna had been fighting waspletely destroyed, and there was arge area in the center of the clearing where nothing had survived. There were dead anima corpses as well as multiple dead people lying around the area. And around that, there were overturned ships and broken cargo containers scattered across the ground, littering the pier.
After the fight ended, many superhumans finally came closer to the pier to take a good look at the result of the battle. They all knew the battle was too intense for them to take part in, so they didn''t dare to get too close to Luna or Mark while they were fighting the Eldritch ss. But now that the fighting was over, they were no longer scared and wanted to see how the fight ended.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om
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But all the superhumans who came to the scene of the battle were shocked when they saw the position that Luna and Mark were in¡ªLuna pressed against Mark''s back, her forehead on his shoulder as they spoke in hushed whispers amidst a sea of dead anima.
The superhumans started to have many theories about what could be happening, but there was one thing that all of them immediately thought when they saw the two of them: They looked like lovers.
This was something anyone would think if they saw the intimate position that Luna and Mark were in. The members of Luna''s guild, who were the first to arrive at the scene, were all stunned when they saw Mark and Luna. They all knew Luna to be a very introverted person whenever it didn''t involve fighting, so they never thought they would see their guild leader acting like this.
The vice-captain of Luna''s guild quickly came to the conclusion that this was not something they wanted everyone to see. Their guild leader had a reputation to uphold, and if they allowed anyone to see her in such an intimate position with someone obviously younger than her, it would reflect badly on the Moonlight guild.
"Moonlight Guild! Form a perimeter around the area! Don''t allow anyone through, and make sure all the superhumans around are taking care of the stray anima that might still be attacking! Go!"
The vice-captain shouted out an order, and all the members of the guild quickly went to do as they were told, as they also understood what the vice-captain was trying to do.
The superhumans there were immediately made to move back from the fight scene, and the reporters standing on top of another container and recording the scene were immediately blindsided by more than three superhumans who grabbed them and took them away, telling them it was for their own protection!
"The surrounding area is dangerous, and we don''t know what sort of damage the anima attack might have caused to the air. There could be toxins all around us right now that would seriously harm anyone who inhales them. Please retreat so we can ensure your safety."
One of the superhumans from the Moonlight Guild quickly spoke up as she tried to make the reporters go back, but the reporter was not having any of it, shouting back that they were infringing on the public''s right to know what was going on!
"I don''t care about the fucking gas in the air! This is more important!"
The reporter kept trying to get a video of what was going on, but they couldn''t really do anything against the superhumans as they were forced back slowly until Mark and Luna were out of sight.
"Please move back. This area is off-limits until we can be sure there''s nothing dangerous in the surrounding air."
The woman didn''t even listen to the reporter as she kept pushing them away. But even though the reporters were no longer able to get videos of what was happening, the reporter had more than enough footage, along with an active imagination, and there was no doubt they would use it!
¡
The next day, news channels all over the world showed the same scene of an attack that devastated the port of City F. One of the news channels from City A had a pretty reporter with blonde hair and sharp yellow eyes reading out the news with a picture of the Octopus-based Elder Eldritch anima disyed on a mini screen beside her.
"A recent attack on the ports of City F has been recorded by the government as an act of terrorism that has shaken the very foundation of the country. At 11:57 p.m.test night, festival-goers at the Tokyo Majin Festival, held in City F, reported sighting a suspicious group of aircraft passing over the ind.
The aircraft was shot down by unknown superhumans, but not before they were able to release their cargo upon the ind. At 11:59 p.m., more than fifty disaster-ss and cmity-ss anima hadnded on the ind. Shortly after, another incident urred at the ind port where some sailors reported a bulge in the ocean that was¡ªand I quote¡ª''bigger than a goddamn skyscraper.''"
The image of the octopus on the screen changed to show a blurry picture taken by one of the sailors of therge bulge that the octopus made before it revealed itself. The image was tilted to one side, and there was a man shown at the edge of the image with his hands on his head and his mouth wide open in shock as he stared up at the bulge.
"This disturbance in the water turned out to be arge Eldritch-ss monster that the locals are now referring to as ''Cthulhu.'' Thankfully, multiple superhumans were on the ground and capable of subduing many of the anima before too many lives were lost.
Along with them were two SOVEREIGNS, the most recently promoted GHOST, and the veteran Luna of the Moonlight Guild, who quickly responded to the cry for help andunched an all-out assault on the Eldritch."
The image on the screen changed again, this time showing a graph of the number of attendees at the festival and the number of those who could be rescued.
"But even with their quick and heroic acts, the superhumans were only able to save eighty percent of the festival-goers, with a gut-wrenching seven hundred people dead or presumed dead due to ack of evidence. A majority of the deaths were reported to have urred during the short period when the superhumans were not avable on the festival grounds after the anima dropped from the aircraft.
The American government has quarantined the ind of City F, and they are currently trying their best to uncover the truth of this incident. Our most heartfelt condolences go out to the family members and friends of all those whose lives were lost during this attack.
We implore all citizens, as well as fellow reporters, to respect the privacy of the grieving family members during these trying times."
The image on the screen beside the woman suddenly changed again. This time, it showed the NSA logo along with the words "National Superhuman Agency ¨C American Branch." The entire picture had arge red X drawn over it, making it obvious to anyone watching that the NSA was not being shown in a good light at all.
The woman picked up a new stack of papers at her side, arranged them properly, and then turned back to the camera to continue talking.
Chapter 423 The Worlds Reaction
"And now, onto rted news. The National Superhuman Agency is currently facing a massive amount of bacsh after its president¡ªnow former¡ªwas exposed to be involved in malicious experiments that went against the ethical and moral rights of superhumans. Please note that the following images are too graphic for younger audiences; parents and guardians should ensure no child is present."
The image on the screen beside the woman suddenly changed again, and this time it showed the bodies of the experimental anima that were being created under the NSA building. Bodies with multiple heads and numerous arms sticking out of bulbous torsos that looked like some sort of ogre.
Some of the faces that were shown looked to be in great pain, while others were smiling so wide that their mouths were almost tearing at the sides. All the dead anima had been piled into arge heap on one side of the NSA building, and the entire area had been closed off from the public to ensure no one went near the heap.
Another video appeared after the pictures were done. The video showed some superhumans being led out from arge underground facility that looked like ab. The superhumans were all naked, and they had a dead look in their eyes, as though they had seen horror and been put through hell itself in the short time they were in thatb.
The final image that appeared was of Szar being led out of the building in superhuman-suppressing cuffs. There were more than ten Superhuman Agency officers all around him, and an S-rank superhuman was the one holding him down and leading him toward a van that was parked in front of the building.
Szar was looking right at the camera with a sharp, piercing gaze, and even through all this, there was still a smile on his face.
People all over the country felt their stomachs turn once they saw the bodies of the anima that had been created using superhumans, and others were stunned when they recognized people they knew as one of the superhumans being led out from the undergroundb! A lot of people that were presumed dead or missing had been taken to that undergroundb, so anyone could have been down there!
The newscaster started talking again, but it was obvious that she had been affected by the images of the anima that were shown on the television. She put her hand to her mouth for a moment and tried her best not to puke like she wanted to before she swallowed and continued talking.
"I apologize. I just¡ Sorry about that. I can never get used to seeing those images. Uhmm¡ The bodies of multiple experimental anima as well as superhumans were recovered from the site, and all active members of the NSA have been arrested and confined in superhuman prisons in preparation for arge-scale trial that is predicted to be the most controversial in the country''s history.
This incident has sparked furious debate online about the validity of government agencies as well as the rights of superhumans that have been trampled on. People are wondering if any government agency can be trusted if such a gruesome act can be carried out right under their nose for so long."
The image ofrge groups carrying ques and banners that read things like ''Boycott the NSA'' and ''Dissolve All Superhuman Agencies'' was shown beside the woman before she continued.
"The government''s stance on the NSA is as of yet unknown, but a statement has been released by the superhuman alliance announcing that they will be treating Szar as an international criminal, and he will stand trial for murder and infringement of human rights. If he is found guilty of these crimes, there is no doubt that he will face the death penalty.
If this trial yields such results, it will be a first in superhuman history, and people predict that it will most likely lead to a new era in America where superhumans no longer possess the freedom and leeway that they once did.
Along with Szar''s crimes, it has also been reported that the SOVEREIGN superhuman, Gunther Jake, is also involved in the uwful crimes, and although his location is as of now not yet known, the government has ssified him as an international criminal, and has released a bounty on him with a reward of up to ten million dors for any useful information on his whereabouts."
The image beside the woman finally changed again, and this time, the woman no longer held the solemn, pained expression that she had when she was talking about the deaths of the superhumans or the attack on the ind of City F.
Instead, she smiled slightly as she dropped her papers to the side and stapled her hands in front of her as if she was about to talk about something that she didn''t need any pointers for.
The image on the screen was now showing the scene of the Eldritch fight after Mark and Luna killed the beasts. Mark was standing in the middle of the fight scene with Luna leaning against his back and her forehead on his shoulder.
The reporter smiled like a woman who was about to drop a bit of gossip.
"And in even more rted news, superhumans and reporters at the scene of the fight between the two SOVEREIGNS, GHOST and Luna of the Moonlight Guild, against the Eldritch-ss anima, reported an interesting sight that sparked many controversial conversations online once they surfaced.
As you can see on the screen to the right, the two superhumans won their fight without any grievous injuries to either of them, but it was their act after the fight was finished that sparked controversy, with people wondering what could have caused them to move into such a¡promising position.
The more enigmatic articles and blogs online are iming that this act was a predetermined one by the pair in order to publicize their budding rtionship to the world, while others im that this was an act solely initiated by Luna of the Moonlight Guild, and they wonder about the ethical implications of Luna holding a high school student in such a manner.
"But regardless of the reasoning behind the act, it is clear to everyone that Luna and GHOST have been gaining more fans and supporters since their show of obvious affection, and they have now be one of the hottest topics on the inte.
It was believed that GHOST was already in a steady rtionship and has been shown to be affectionate to a young girl named Arit yborn on many asions in public."
A picture appeared at the side of the screen with Mark sitting on his bike giving Arit a passionate kiss as she stood beside the bike. Mark used one hand to hold the side of Arit''s neck softly while Arit was using both hands to hold a sweater in front of her. From the blush on Arit''s face, everyone could tell that she was really enjoying the kiss.N?v(el)B\\jnn
"With the many instances of their rtionship on full disy, there is no doubt in our minds that they are in amitted rtionship. But the one question that everyone has been asking so far is this: Can any woman reallypare to the unmatched beauty of Luna of the Moonlight Guild?
And does this new development mean that we are about to see the first SOVEREIGN couple emerge in this superhuman era? We will be sure to keep you up to date on everything as it unfolds. Until then, this is Gretha Windslow, signing out."
Click!
Chapter 424 The Directors Office
Click!
Mark clicked off the television once he was done watching the news, and his eyes narrowed in annoyance as he thought back to everything that had happened over thest day. After the incident on the ind finally died down, many rescue aircraft came in from the Superhuman Alliance and helped the remaining civilians move over the ocean toward the maind.
Some ships also came to carry civilians across the ocean, but people were too afraid to use the ocean after the Eldritch emerged from it, so they all decided to use the aircraft instead.
When Mark finished fighting the Eldritch and went to find Talia and Arit, he heard from Arit that they had been attacked by two superhumans who were there to kidnap them. Talia''s shoulder had been fractured, and she fell asleep from exhaustion caused by mana depletion. Mark had to be careful carrying her to make sure nothing woke her up.
Mark grit his teeth just thinking about all the injuries he saw on Arit, as well as Talia''s broken shoulder.
Mark immediately asked Arit where the two assassins were, and Arit told him they were dead. Arit handled one of them, while Talia and James dealt with the other one, but it was Arit who killed them both. Mark was a little relieved that Talia didn''t have to kill someone this early in her life.
Mark asked Arit if she managed to get any information about who sent them. Mark already had an idea, but he just wanted to make sure. Arit told him that she managed to get some information out of the woman. The man told Arit that the person who sent them was a group she only knew as S.
Mark didn''t bother asking Arit how she managed to get that information out of the man, but a small part of him wished he had been there to see it.
Mark already suspected that Szar would be part of this. But what was this S that the woman spoke about? Could it be the Syndicate that the superhuman killer spoke about before? Mark and Pat have been trying to find out more about the Syndicate for a long time now, but it was almost impossible to uncover anything about them. Were the Syndicate finally revealing themselves?
Mark shook his head and decided not to focus on that right now. While Mark had been fighting, he could''ve easily lost either Arit or Talia because of that fucking bastard Szar, and now that same bastard was in a ce where Mark couldn''t touch him.
Just thinking about that twisted something inside Mark, and if not for the fact that Mark was busy taking care of the two of them, Mark would have definitely broken something just to try and get that anger out of him.
Mark didn''t know if getting captured was part of Szar''s n or if Szar never expected to be captured, but the mere fact that Szar was taken into custody meant that Szar was somehow safe from Mark right now. Mark wanted to hunt Szar down and kill him with his own hands. He didn''t want Szar to have a trial. Someone like that does not deserve such an honor.
Mark called his godfather to send a helicopter from thepany to take them back. Instead of going back to their house, Mark went with Arit and Talia, as well as Greg and his family, to the Superhuman Alliance building.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om
Mark called Jeanne while on the ind, and she told him that she was at the Superhuman Alliance building, so he was going there to have her look everyone over and make sure there were no serious injuries.
Greg''s shoulder had been blown out by Sasha''s bullet, but thankfully, a superhuman found him and his wife unconscious in the forest before they could get eaten by anima and helped Greg with first aid for his shoulder. Now, the bleeding had stopped, and they only had to go to Jeanne to see if she needed to heal it or if they could just leave it to heal on its own.
Throughout the journey, Mark was silent as his mind raced. Arit was sleeping against his shoulder while holding his hand tightly, and Talia was seated on hisp, sleeping with her head on his chest.
Mark knew that if things had gone wrong, just a little¡ªmaybe if Arit and Talia weren''t superhuman, or if Greg and his family weren''t there with them¡ªthey would have been having a very different conversation right now and he might''ve been holding dead bodies rather than living ones.
There was nothing Mark could''ve done to help since they were so far away from him, but he still felt somehow responsible for this. It was obvious that the only reason the Syndicate and Szar were after Arit and Talia was because of him. This wasn''t the first time that Mark would be leaving Arit or Talia on their own, and he knew that he couldn''t protect them all the time.
That was the entire reason why Mark made sure to train Arit and Talia so they wouldn''t be defenseless in a situation like this.
But that did not mean that Mark was not fucking pissed off.
Once they got to the Superhuman Alliance building, Mark made sure that Arit and Talia were with Jeanne in the hospital wing before he made his way to the office of the deputy director of the Superhuman Alliance. Jeanne told Mark that she wanted to talk to him about Pat, but Mark was not in the mood at the moment and told her that they would talk about itter.
Mark walked through the hallway of the Superhuman Alliance building, and all of the superhumans around couldn''t help but stare at him, wondering what he was doing there. News articles and blogs about his fight against the Elder Eldritch had already surfaced online, so many of the superhumans knew that he wasing straight from a bloody battle that would have killed anyone else easily.
"What is GHOST doing here? Shouldn''t he be resting after that fight? I heard he fought against an Elder Eldritch."
"What''s all that ck stuff on his hands?"
"It looks like monster blood. It''s probably from the Eldritch."
"He doesn''t even look tired; he just looks pissed. Do you think something happened?"
"I don''t know, but I don''t want to be in his way when he''s like that. He looks like he''ll kill anyone that pisses him off right now."
"You."
"Eek!"
Mark suddenly called out to one of the women standing at the side, and she couldn''t help the shocked sound that escaped from her mouth once she saw Mark turn his full attention to her. She quickly stammered out a greeting and asked Mark what he needed.
"The deputy director. Where is his office?"
"Uh¡ Deputy Director George? Uhm, d-down the hall to your right. There''s an elevator leading to the seventh floor. His door is on the left once youe out of the elevator."
The woman quickly gave Mark what he needed when she saw the impatient look on his face, and Mark turned away and moved in the direction she had given. Mark turned the corner, took the elevator up, and finally arrived at the door. He opened it to reveal arge reception area with the director''s secretary, Mary, sitting at a desk on one end of the room.
There was another door on the other end of the room, and Mark figured that this was the door leading to the director''s actual office. He started walking towards the door without bothering to even look at Mary.
Mary was shocked when she saw Marke through the first door, and she immediately stood up when she noticed him going to the director''s office.
"M-Mr. Vanitas. Wait. The director is in a meeting right now; I have to announce your¡ª"
"Save it."
Mark growled out in irritation when Mary started walking towards him, and she stopped in her tracks as fear coursed through her body from the look in Mark''s eyes. Her base instincts told her at that moment that she shouldn''t even try to stop Mark from going to see the director. Trying to stop him could end very badly for her! But even though she was scared, she still had to follow protocol.
No one was allowed to go into the office when the deputy director was having a meeting!
Chapter 425 Pound of Flesh
Mark grabbed the handle, and he heard it rattle as he tried to open it. It was locked.
Crack!
The lock suddenly cracked under Mark''s grip, and he opened the door calmly and entered. Inside the room, there were two people sitting at the table. One of them was the short deputy director of the Superhuman Alliance, George, and the other was an older man whose hair was already graying at the scalp.
The both of them had been in the middle of a conversation when Mark walked in, and they both stopped what they had been saying and turned to face Mark.
Mark looked between them both before walking into the room and standing in front of the desk to stare down at the deputy director.
"We need to talk."
Mary came into the room shortly after Mark and started apologizing immediately.
"I''m so sorry, sir, I couldn''t stop him from¡ª"
The old man raised his hand with a smile.
"It''s fine, Mary. You can go. I don''t think anyone can me you for not being able to stop Mr. Vanitas here."
Mark turned to give the old man a stare, and the old man just smiled back. Mark immediately activated his True Sight.
¡
Name: Henry Ford
Race: Human
Rank: EPIC Rank II
Potential: EPIC Rank I
Description: ???
Affiliation: ???
¡
Mark raised a brow in surprise once he saw the rank of the person sitting in front of him. He''s an EPIC Rank II? That means he''s as strong as me. Mark knew that the old man was a superhuman, but the man looked soidback and normal that no one would have guessed he was that strong.
Mark frowned when he saw that he couldn''t see the man''s description or affiliation, and he realized it was because his True Sight skill wasn''t leveled up enough. Mark didn''t know if a chance like this to see the man''s description woulde again, so he decided to just send skill points and improve the skill right there.
[Does the user wish to send skill points to the selected skill? Yes/No]
Mark chose yes, and the system sent the points to his True Sight skill.
¡
The user has sent 600 points to True Sight.
Current True Sight: B rank [1/1600]
¡
Once Mark was sure that the points were transferred, he used the skill on Henry again.
¡
Name: Henry Ford
Race: Human
Rank: EPIC Rank II
Potential: EPIC Rank I
Description: The enigmatic and free-spirited director of the Superhuman Alliance American Branch. He is a superhuman with a major blessing from Zeus, the god of lightning and the sky, that gives him full control over all forms of electricity, as well as partial control over the weather and the ability to create lightning bolts.
Although he is the director of the Superhuman Alliance, he mostly stays in the background and leaves all the official and formal work to George, the deputy director, and only shows himself when a serious event requiring his attention urs.
Affiliation: Chaotic Good
¡
''So he''s the director of the Superhuman Alliance?''
There were currently six SOVEREIGNS in the Federation of America: Gunter Jake, Sasha Palmer, Luna, Alec Ben, and Mark became the sixth after his assessment a few weeks ago. But the strongest SOVEREIGN was someone who never really showed himself, and Mark didn''t think he would be running into the man like this. Henry Ford was an enigma that most people in America didn''t know about.
Everyone thought that Gunter was the strongest SOVEREIGN, but only those with the necessary clearance or those who really needed to know were aware that this was not true. Henry Ford was the strongest superhuman in America, as well as the leader of the Superhuman Alliance in America. This was akin to being the ambassador of the UN for America.
Mary nodded her head when Henry told her to leave, and she gently tried to close the door as she walked out, but the door swung open again as the broken lock refused to click into ce. A bead of sweat dripped down the back of Mary''s neck as she nervously tried to close it over and over again.
"S-Sorry, sir. I¡ I think it''s broken¡"
Henry smiled and spoke up.
"It''s fine, Mary. Leave it."
"S-Sorry."
Mary nervously apologized before she left the room, and the door slowly swung back open. Throughout all this, Mark kept his eyes locked on George with a furious look on his face. Once they were alone, Mark spoke up before anyone else.
"Where is Szar?"
George gave Mark a shaky smile as he felt sweat building on his forehead. He brought out a handkerchief and started to clean it nervously.
"W-Well, we can''t really tell you about that, Mr. Vanitas. It''s an international secret involving many government agencies. But if you wait for some time¡ª"
Mark''s hands tightened into fists.
"Look me in the fucking eye, George. Do I look like I''m fucking ying with you? You don''t know how much I want to kill that bastard, but I''m trying very hard to hold myself back right now. Where the fuck is Szar?"
George felt his heart race in fear as sweat pooled on his back. Mark''s re made it hard for George to even think straight, and the short man looked away while trying to repeat what he had said before. They really couldn''t tell Mark about it since he didn''t have the necessary clearance. This was an international secret that only a few people knew about.
Henry noticed George''s nervousness and finally spoke up while raising a hand. He knew that if he didn''t intervene, George might just have a heart attack.
"How about reducing that pressure of yours first, Mr. Vanitas? George here is a normal human, and it''s going to end up killing him if you aren''t careful."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Mark finally turned to re at the older man, and Henry frowned seriously while waiting for Mark to do as he said. Mark decided to release a breath and reduced the intensity of his stare, and he could literally see George''s breath calming down as George released a relieved sigh. Mark turned away from George and spoke to Henry.
"You''re the director of the Superhuman Alliance, aren''t you?"
The older man raised a brow.
"My, my, I don''t think I''ve ever told anyone about that before. How did youe to that conclusion?"
"Call it a lucky guess. I want to see Szar."
Henryughed and folded his hands while leaning back in his seat.
"And what, pray tell, would you want to see an international criminal for?"
"That bastard sent assassins after my family. I want my pound of flesh."
Mark''s eyes radiated pure murder, and George swallowed hard as he leaned away from Mark a little. Henry, meanwhile, just raised a brow.
"You do know that you''re not the only one with a vendetta against Szar. He affected many families and killed too many people for him to be the enemy of just one person. I can''t just hand him over to you without everyone else wanting a piece of him as well. Our method is the best."
Ding!
Suddenly, Mark''s system brought up a prompt that appeared on a tab in front of him as his divine skill activated.
[Styxwater''s Discernment] has detected a lie!
Chapter 426 Destroying One For The Sake of Another
[Styxwater''s Discernment] has detected a lie!
[The Superhuman Alliance is not keeping Szar alive to ensure thew is passed; they are keeping him alive for their own personal gains.]
Mark felt a surge of anger rise from inside him once he saw this prompt. He stepped towards Henry and spat out his next words in disgust.
"What fucking bullshit are you trying to say to me right now? You want justice to be served? Do you think I don''t know how fucking twisted the government is? You don''t give a fuck about the people that were hurt. You only care about how this affects you."
Henry''s eyes narrowed for a second once he heard Mark say this, but it wasn''t long before Henry''s stare softened, and his usual smile returned as he spoke up.
"Why, I have no idea what you''re talking about, Mr. Vanitas. I''m sure you''ll learn eventually that everything we do is for the betterment of the nation atrge. Whether it involves getting rid of criminal organizations or ensuring that those same organizations face the proper punishment for their crimes."
Mark red at Henry when he heard this. He was pissed that they were trying to use this whole thing for their own personal gains, but something Henry just said stuck with him. Henry said "criminal organizations" instead of "criminals", as if he was talking about the NSA as a whole. Mark frowned in realization.
"You''re using this as a publicity stunt, aren''t you? You want to use the NSA''s crimes to paint yourselves as heroes. Throwing one government agency under the bus for the sake of another. Aren''t you fucking ashamed of yourself, you old bastard?"N?v(el)B\\jnn
Henry''s smile finally died out as his eyes narrowed dangerously. He stood up and fixed his suit jacket before putting his hands behind him and standing right in front of Mark. Henry was extremely tall, but Mark did not lose out to him in height, and both of them were left ring at each other without either one gaining the upper hand.
Henry spoke calmly, but there was an undertone of spiteced in his words.
"And what if we are using this to our advantage? What of it?"
Henry would never say it to Mark, but Mark was right. The recent actions of the NSA painted the government in a very bad light, and they couldn''t leave their image in such a bad state when they knew it could lead to more trouble down the line. So, in order to make themselves seem more diplomatic, they were going to make a show out of all this.
The people loved having a viin, and if the government left things as they were now, that viin was going to be the government itself.
But if the government stretched this out for a few days, or maybe even a month, they could change the public''s viewpoint and paint Szar as the viin, pinning all the public hate and anger on him.
That way, the moment they killed Szar, they would be killing all the hate directed at him along with him, and once they disband the American branch of the NSA, the people''s anger would be mostly diffused. It sounded twisted and maniptive, but it was just the way the government did its dirty work to control public opinion.
Mark''s hand twitched, and he caught Henry''s shoulder tensing in response. Both of them were ready to throw down at any moment, but they were both holding back because they knew that a single move from either of them would reduce the entire building to dust.
After a while, Henry finally sighed and put his hand on his forehead to massage it. He put one hand in his pocket and pointed a finger at Mark.
"This is pointless. Think what you want, Mark Vanitas, but I stand by my point. We are trying our best to do what is right for this nation atrge. Whether that paints us in a better light should not be a concern of yours. And I think you should consider your current position before barging into the office of the deputy director of the association presiding over you.
With what Szar and Gunter just did, every superhuman, especially the SOVERIGN, is on thin ice. People look very negatively at anything we do now because they no longer trust us. And yet, here you are, throwing your power around like a madman.
"You see, I don''t like your attitude, Mark Vanitas. You believe that having some power is enough reason for you to act any way you wish. You had better delude yourself of that presumption. Szar is an international criminal, and so he shall be tried and sentenced as such. You have no say over how the Superhuman Alliance runs its affairs. That will be all, Mark Vanitas."
Mark red at Henry in anger, and he was about to say more, but he stopped himself with a lot of effort. Mark knew that saying anything here would be useless. It was obvious that Henry did not want to touch Szar until they were done parading him for their own gains. Mark took a step closer to Henry and seethed in his face angrily.
"You better hope to God that this doesn''t end up going south. Because if I hear, even by ident, that you end up giving that bastard anything less than the death penalty, he''ll be the very least of your problems."
With his piece said, Mark turned to leave the office, but George spoke up and stopped him.
"Uh... Mr. Vanitas. A-About that Eldritch that you captured. The Shark has been kept in solitary confinement like you asked, but we won''t be able to hold onto it for very long before killing it for its parts. I hope you''ll be able to conclude whatever business you have with it before long."
Mark frowned as he heard this. The Shark that he and Luna defeated was still alive when they finished that fight, and Mark gave the Shark to the Superhuman Alliance along with the Octopus.
The Superhuman Alliance wouldpensate both Mark and Luna for their efforts in defeating the monster, and they would also get paid after the SA finished selling the parts from the monster''s corpse, but Mark told them to hold up on dismantling the Shark because he wanted to talk with it.
Mark wanted to see if he could reason with the Shark and find out more about the anima and why they were all after him. A talking anima was very rare, and Mark didn''t want to lose an opportunity like this.
"I''lle around to talk to it before long, just hold onto it for me. If handling an anima thatrge is too taxing on your finances, then send me the bill for whatever you need to get."
George nodded gratefully. He was thankful that Mark understood the real issue here. Keeping the anima wasn''t the problem since the Superhuman Alliance had more than enough space, but the amount of money they would need to secure a living Elder Eldritch was just too much.
They would spend millions every day just to keep that thing alive and also to make sure it doesn''t break out from the underground facility. Mark helping out with the finances would allow them to hold onto it for as long as he wanted.
Chapter 427 Can We Really Depend On Them?
Once Mark was gone, Henry sat back down and sighed while folding his hands. George cleaned a bit of sweat that had umted on his brow while swallowing nervously. That moment when Henry and Mark were staring each other down was the most tense moment that George had ever felt in his life.
He felt like he was standing in the middle of two giant mountains, and any risky movement from him would make them both fall on top of him. George was just grateful that Henry and Mark didn''t resort to more violent actions.
Once George was sure that Mark was no longer within earshot, he spoke up.
"Uhm¡ sir. I think... I think we should have maybe allowed Mark to see Szar at least. Right now, things are not looking good for the Superhuman Alliance. Especially with the recent disappearance of some SOVERIGNs and the public view of us. Luna has been radio silent since her fight against the Eldritch.
Gunter and Sasha have also gone missing. The only other SOVERIGN we can contact at all is Alec Ben. Shouldn''t we try to keep Mark on our good side?"
Henry frowned once George said this, and George waited patiently to see what Henry would say. George knew that Henry was a rational person, so he was certain that Henry didn''t just deny Mark for no reason.
After a while, Henry said something shocking.
"I can''t trust him."
George frowned in return, and his confusion was obvious. Henry shook his head and sighed while rubbing his chin.
"The SOVERIGNs have been a very sore spot for the Superhuman Alliance for a long time now. From Gunter''s violent tendencies to Luna''s nonchnt attitude towards political and government matters, to Sasha''s erratic nature, there hasn''t been a single SOVERIGN other than Alec Ben that we could trust or control.
And we allowed that to happen because we thought that leaving them to their own devices was worth whatever trouble they brewed. So long as they provided results, we didn''t do anything to sanction or control them. But that was a mistake on our part. We really should have tried harder to keep some sort of leash on them."
George stapled his hand on the table and looked down at his desk solemnly. He knew that Henry was right, so he couldn''t argue against what he said.
"So, why does that make you not trust Mark?"
"After Gunter and Sasha disappeared, I made it a rule not to put too much faith in the SOVEREIGN. I''m not going to cast them out, but we''re also not going to continue depending on them for everything like we used to. Out of all the SOVEREIGN, Mark is the one we know the least about. I want to look into him a little more and find out who he really is.
Until I have substantial evidence that Mark isn''t another Gunter Jake waiting to happen, I won''t be bringing him into government business."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om
George''s frown deepened when he heard this. From what Henry just said, it almost sounded like Henry was trying to change the very structure of the system. Henry was talking as if he had been thinking about this for far longer than just the past few days.
"You already have something nned, don''t you? You''ve started putting things in ce for a long while now to make sure that we aren''t too dependent on the SOVEREIGN. Some sort of Elite Force? Or maybe¡ weapons? Are you creating new weapons?"
Henry''s smile was a little strained.
"I sometimes forget how smart you are."
George stayed silent, and Henry continued in a cryptic manner.
"Anima bones and organs have proven to be very effective weapons against other anima in the hands of superhumans, but as the level of the anima increases, the amount of firepower and mana needed tounch a sessful attack also increases exponentially.
With what we had in our possession, our military of A and B ranks would only be able to handle one or maybe two Elder Eldritch anima before they would be wiped out. If an Armageddon attack urs, we would have no choice but to rely on the SOVEREIGN and guilds for aid. But all that is about to change.
The recent surge in cmity ss attacks has provided us with more than enough research material, and our scientists have found a way to improve the strength of a superhuman to almost godly levels."
George''s eyes widened.
"Wait¡ are you really talking about that!? That project that we scrapped years ago!? I thought that was scrapped after so many people died! They were¡ª"
George stopped shouting as he realized that the door to the office was still open, and Mary was looking toward the office curiously. Once Mary met George''s eyes, she looked away again and pretended like she hadn''t been eavesdropping. George settled down and reduced his voice so that she wouldn''t hear what he said next.
"They were injecting anima blood into people. We had fifty-five casualties! I thought we agreed never to talk about this again."
Henry just frowned as he remembered the number of people that died in that experiment. It was never meant to go that way, and since superhumans had just gained their powers back then, they were practically walking blind and trying to see if anything would work. But things were different now.
"Our scientists have had a breakthrough, and they''ve done it."
"A breakthrough? They''ve been stuck for more than two years. Howe they suddenly had a breakthrough? Wait, no, that isn''t possible. That means something happened recently that gave them something new."
George''s eyes widened, and his next words wereced with pure terror.
"It was the mutted corpses found in the NSA, wasn''t it? Y-You used it. You used those corpses!?"
Henry nodded his head unashamedly. There was nothing that they could do for the mutted corpses that were found, but at the very least, those lives helped them figure out something that they had been trying to crack for more than two years.
"They broke the DNA down and used it in the tests, and it worked."
"It worked? That means there''s one right now. We''ve created it?"
Henry smiled.
"Yes, we have. We''ve created the first Artificially Augmented Superhuman. The First Super Soldier."
...
That had been earlier this morning, and Mark came back home immediately after Arit and Talia were done having their bodies checked by Jeanne. Jeanne came back with them as well since she didn''t feel safe staying in the Superhuman Alliance building alone when Gunter was still on the loose, and she took up one of the spare rooms in the house for now until she decided what she will do going forward.
Now, the sun had set, and Mark was sitting in the dark sitting room tiredly.
[Does the User Wish to Send Stat Points to the Selected Stats? Yes/No]
Mark calmly picked ''Yes,'' and the system brought up a tab showing how Mark had distributed his stat points. Mark had over five thousand stat points and over seven thousand skill points after that fight with the Eldritch, and since Mark had been so busy, he hadn''t really had time to do anything with them. So Mark decided to just get it out of the way now that he had some free time.
Chapter 428 Tweaking The System
The most important stat right now, as far as Mark was concerned, was Mana. Mark had to raise this stat to keep up with the higher demands of the skills he was acquiring. After this, Mark would raise his Strength and then his Agility so that it would keep up with his Stamina and Durability when he added points to them as well.
Mark also didn''t want something like what happened with the Eldritch to happen again, so he was going to keep a thousand stat points in reserve for whenever he found himself in a tight spot.
...
[The User has sent +2000 points to Mana]
[The User has sent +800 points to Strength]
[The User has sent +800 points to Agility]
[The User has sent +600 points to Stamina]
[The User has sent +400 points to Durability]
...
SUPERHUMAN SYSTEM
Name: Mark Vanitas
Race: Human
Title: [He Who Perseveres Through Hell. [+10% increase to all stats.]] [He Who Defies Destiny] [Mortal Legend [5%]] [Child of The Rogue God [+10% boosts Against Demigods]]
Rank: EPIC RANK II [12755/15000]
Affiliation: Uwful Neutral
Unused Stat Points: 1000
Unused Skill Points: 6850
Strength: 4180 [+418] [+1672] [+209]
Stamina: 3350 [+335] [+1173] [+168]
Agility: 2650 [+265] [+530] [+133]
Durability: 4060 [+406] [+812] [+203]
Mana: 4515 [+451] [+226]
...
[Congrattions! The User has surpassed EPIC RANK I. The User has gained one-third of the ''Key of Immortal Love'': The Cradle of Fertility]
[Key of Immortal Love: This is the Key to the dimension created by Freya, the Norse goddess of fertility and love. Although most of the Norse gods were reluctant to involve themselves in the game created by Sozin, Freya and Odin were not and dly set up worthy tests for the User.
The Key has been divided into three parts, and Freya urges the User to earn the remaining two keys in order to begin her trial.]
[To earn the remaining two Keys, the User must achieve PHANTASMAL RANK I]
...
The tip of a key suddenly appeared in Mark''s hand, and he raised it up curiously to take a good look at it. The key was green with a few leaves branching around and growing out of holes in its metal structure. It looked like something you would find in the middle of a forest. Mark was a bit disappointed that he wasn''t going to be getting a new test for passing EPIC Rank I.
Mark would have gotten another Divine Skill or even a Divine Artifact if he passed another test, but Mark wasn''t going toin since he was sure that the reward for the next trial would be much more impressive if it required him to pass three Rank stages just to get the full Key.
''I wonder why Freya wants me to get it quickly though? What sort of trial does she have set up for me if she''s this eager?''
Mark decided that he wouldn''t think about that too much. It was better not to start imagining the crazy things going through the minds of the gods. Mark willed the key away, and it vanished before he continued manipting his system.
[Does The User Wish To Send Skill Points To The Selected Skills? Yes/No]
Mark chose "yes," and the system sent the points to the skills he chose. Mark had a lot more skill points, over seven thousand of them, so he didn''t have to hold back at all in improving his skills.
''Oh, right, I used some of my points earlier for True Sight, didn''t I?''
Mark suddenly remembered that he used about six hundred points for his True Sight when he met the director of the Superhuman Alliance earlier today so that left Mark with just over six thousand. That was still a lot, so Mark would work with it.
Mark decided that he would first improve his Healing Aura skill to a point where he could use it to at least heal the allies that were in the vicinity around him. That way, Mark wouldn''t have to worry about protecting any injured fighter in the middle of battle, and they could just get up and move out of the way after some healing.
After that, Mark was going to boost his full-body constitution to the next level. Honestly, even though the Demonic Void Apostle was a very useful skill, Mark realized its limitations when he was fighting that Eldritch. It was hard to use the innate skill of the constitution when he was fighting against something that had a lot more mana than him.
Even when that Eldritch octopus finally died, Mark knew that it still had about twice as much mana as him. That meant that even if they had kept fighting for another hour, Mark would still not have been able to use his Void sh at all.
After these two, Mark would then improve his Mana Cirction, Blunt Force Trauma, and Demonic Killer''s Aura. Mark didn''t need to add points to his True Sight since he already added points before, and he also didn''t need to add more points to his Taunting since it was working just fine the way it was for now.
...
[User has added +500 Skill Points To Full Body Constitution]n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Current Full Body Constitution: Ruler of The Null World [Reversal of Causality]: 0/1600
[Ruler of the Null World: This is a powerful full-body constitution that grants the User the innate skill ''Reversal of Causality''. This allows the User to negate any iing magical attack by channeling half the mana used by the caster, effectively nullifying spells and rendering the User impervious to damage from magic attacks.]
Effects:
Full Body Augmentation: 65%
Negation: The User is capable of nullifying magic spells by countering them using half of the base mana that the caster used in creating the attack. This only applies to magic attacks that are directly sent at the User and are noticed by the User. AOE and Defensive spells do not apply.
Retention: The User will retain the abilities of his previous constitution [Demonic Void Apostle]. The Innate skill [Void sh] will receive a modification in order for the User to continue using it without the [Demonic Void Apostle] constitution.
[Void sh Mana Consumption: 50 MP/sh]
[The User is advised to work towards raising his mana levels even more to ensure this skill can be properly used in battle]
...
Mark had to sit up immediately when this showed up on his notification tab. That was freaking amazing! Mark had been thinking of a way to deal with magic attacks for a long time now. He thought that he might have to ask Sozin for an artifact or maybe buy something from the Superhuman Alliance because of how vulnerable he was to magic attacks. But this made everything so much easier!
''I can negate any attack as long as I have the mana for it. And I don''t even have to use all the mana that they used to create it. I only need to use half to negate it.''
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