by L. M. Kerr
Shigun snatched the man out of the air as he flew, his body moving with grace and strength as he saved his subordinate.
"To think you two really are still alive. My, my, Sophia and… Micheal right?" A voice that was subtly laced with anger rang out as a heavily armored figure emerged from the stairwell, clad in black plate armor and wielding a large, gleaming axe in his hand. The man's armor was steaming. He had clearly been in the stairs when the bomb went off.
The right arm of this fighter, however, was nowhere to be seen, the armor that would normally cover it vanished.
"I'm guessing it's you that killed almost all of the men I brought today. I'll need to pay you back for that and my arm." The Pirate Lord knew Micheal had a penchant for explosives and probably assumed Micheal had set them ahead of time.
As for why Micheal had set them… even if he cursed at Micheal a thousand times, praying for evil gods to strike him down, he still couldn't figure it out.
'Why were there bombs there at all?! Were you going to blow up the team you were trying to ally with, right outside their own territory?! And how are you still alive?!' It made no sense to the Pirate Lord, but there was nothing he could change now, swallowing the bitter loss with rage.
Cain wouldn't have betrayed them after all he'd done and Brandon couldn't think of anyone else that would've been able to. The Black Flag Pirates had inexplicably sustained serious losses before the battle even directly started.
"Lord Brandon. What an unpleasant surprise." Shigun's voice was cold as his men began to fall back, fanning out in a defensive circle.
Without waiting to hear a response, Shigun activated his Type Ability.
Boss Shigun's Type Ability was a unique one.
It was the Red Titan Type, costing 94,000 Points in the Shop. It allowed the man to transform his body into a huge, lumbering red-skinned Titan, growing an entire meter in height and becoming a muscular brute. The Full Transformation Ability greatly boosted one's Strength, Endurance, and Recovery, but penalized the Soul stat. It could also only be maintained for a somewhat limited amount of time, not more than an hour.
Despite that, the sheer power of the Type, along with Shigun's own personal experience, skill, and other Abilities, made him a decently strong A Ranker. He was just slightly weaker than Pirate Lord Brandon in raw power, but had a much higher Recovery stat. In a duel between the two, it would be a tossup as to who would win.
'Well, normally it would be. Now that Brandon has lost an arm…' Micheal suppressed the urge to smile evilly.
Shigun's body expanded, growing in size such that his head almost touched the roof of the ground floor. His pristine suit ripped as his muscles bulged, giving him a ferocious appearance, almost like that of The Hulk. At the same time, the Artifact he wielded, a Thunderbar Cane, expanded with him, growing to fit in his hands like a massive bat.
Almost immediately, the two men charged at each other. Shigun slammed forward with his cane while Brandon cut out with his Returner Axe, both fighters engaging in a brutal clash of strength.
And, as Micheal expected, Brandon fared slightly worse in the exchange. The heavily armored figure was knocked backward a couple of meters as they clashed, sliding back. The loss of an arm had greatly affected his battle prowess.
Shigun was only blasted back around a single meter, his body giving off a feeling of overwhelming might.
"How dare you attack the Boss!" Officer Martin's voice growled in the air as he prepared to charge to Shigun's aid. Before he could move, however…
"Oh, you two are going at it something fierce! Come, Martin, I think you should let them have their fun." A cheery voice echoed out as a few other figures emerged from the same smoldering doorway, drawing a few other shouts from the elite guards.
A handsome asian man wearing a sharp looking suit walked forward, his green eyes clear. He pushed back on his short black hair, wrinkling his nose at the smell of burnt human flesh that was wafting in from the stairwell.
'Pirate Lord Byron is here... as are some of the B Ranked leading warriors of the Black Flag Pirates.' Apart from Byron, there were three other figures there. Not all of the B Ranked members that Micheal was aware of were present, for some reason.
One was a large black skinned man dressed in army fatigues, Ravager Jason, a B Ranker known for tearing his enemies apart with his bear hands, possessing the Arkian Bear Transformation Type.
The second was a petite woman dressed in a black leotard, her pale face partially covered with a black mask. The B Ranked Silent Viper, known for using poisonous knives and her grace thanks to her mastery of her Lesser Vampire Type.
The third was another asian man, one that looked almost like a clone of Lord Byron. He wore the same type of suit, had green eyes, and kept this hair short, as if he was imitating the Pirate Lord. The Winged Wrecker, a B Ranker that had the Iron-Tailed Eagle Wings Ability, a Partial Transformation Ability that allowed him to grow a pair of powerful and tensile wings, able to shoot feathers from them that cut like knives.
"After all, you have quite a bit more to handle now, don't you?" Byron's eyes flashed as he stepped forward. As he moved, his entire body began to glow with light, the Pirate Lord's unique Ability showing through.
The Mana Body Type, an Ability that cost 89,500 Points in the Shop. It greatly enhanced his physical strength, speed, and durability, as well as multiplying his senses, at the cost of rapidly draining his energy.
While all of this was going on, Micheal had motioned for Sophia, having her act as they planned. She continued to control the Morenkai, having them fight amongst themselves. At the same time, she began to shift towards one of the stairwells, one that was across of where all the major figures were at.
'Not yet…' Micheal kept still, watching the massive battle start to unfold with the eyes of a master conductor, his eyes missing nothing,
'I can't jump in yet… Just a little more…'
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Chapter 66: Showtime
Gunfire echoed out as a deluge of bullets flew through the air, the guards from the Godfather Organization unleashing a barrage. Unfortunately, all of the B Ranked warriors and Byron were seemingly immune, either through a collection of Artifacts or Abilities that lessened the power of regular bullets.
Upon seeing this, many of the warriors threw down their guns, drawing blades or axes, preparing to fight to the death. With an unknown number of enemies above them, unless they could confront their attackers here and now, fleeing would only increase the odds of Boss Shigun dying.
Throughout all of this, Micheal kept a steady eye on Cain. A sword had appeared in Micheal's hand at some point, one he pointed directly at the man. Micheal gave off a heavy feeling of danger, killing intent vibrating from his body, keeping the man on edge.
"You all have nothing on us! The Family will stop you!" Cain's voice bristled as he held his arms up, his body gleaming with light as his Steel Body Type took effect. He began to run forward, seemingly intent on aiding Shigun and rushing to his defense.
As Micheal saw this, he prepared to act. The muscles on his arms shivered as he tensed up, his senses tingling. Before he took action, however, he paused, blinking as he sensed something.
Cain's body gleamed as he charged up next to the Boss.
In the instant that he arrived, however, the powerful leader of the Stardust Branch of the Godfather Organization abruptly lashed out, his arm whipping across as he brought his oversized cane smashing into Cain's side.
"Huh?! Ulp!"
Cain was blasted towards the Black Flag Pirates like a rag doll, his steel body flung through the air at a vast speed. The air quaked at the massive impact as Shigun sent him flying into Brandon.
Brandon slammed his arm into Cain, stopping his flight abruptly. Stopping the man caused Brandon to slide back half a meter, his body tensing. Right after, he threw Cain's body away from him, his steel body tossed to the side as if it weighed nothing. Even with only one arm, Brandon's Strength could not be underestimated.<
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While Brandon's actions weren't quite the action of an enemy, neither were they the actions of an ally, leaving some room for ambiguity.
Despite that, Shigun's eyes glared with red light as he stared down at Cain, his bestial face unforgiving.
"I can't believe you betrayed me. Despicable."
'Wow. He picked up on it.' Micheal mentally berated himself for underestimating the Godfather Boss. Just because they were still on the First Layer didn't mean everyone would be guileless.
'My words alone shouldn't have been enough, though. How did he figure it out?'
"Boss, what do you mean? I already tol…" Abruptly, Cain's face twisted with hate, dodging backwards.
Not a moment later, an explosion echoed out as Shigun shot a bolt of energy from his Thunderbar Cane. The energy bolt barely missed Cain as he threw himself down, rolling out of the way.
"You annoying ass rat-bastard." Cain cursed out loud as he got up, glared at Micheal, and then ducked and sprinted over towards the Black Flag Pirates.
"You ruined everything. If it wasn't for you, this would've gone down so much easier." Vitriol spewed from him.
"Whatever, Cain. It is what it is. Prepare to attack." Brandon's voice boomed as he took a step forward, never taking his eyes off of Shigun.
While Cain was speaking and moving, a few warriors began to file in behind Lord Byron, stragglers and survivors from Micheal's bombing attack. Several of them were covered in burns but still battle ready, holding various weapons at the ready.
"Cain?! What?!" Martin sputtered out loud as he saw Cain desert and heard Shigun's words, his voice tinged with disbelief.
"Why, Cain?" Shigun's voice was still somehow calm, the powerful leader looking on silently at his former subordinate.
"I've had enough with living behind the times. This is a new world, where the mighty rule. The Godfather Organization is doomed to fail now that Head Cameron is dying." Bloody Iron Arm Cain shrugged shamelessly,
"Taking care of children, coddling babies… it's a waste of time. I should've realized this when I first arrived." His voice was cruel.
Shigun took the desertion and attack surprisingly well, his body bulging up slightly as he looked at all the enemies he was facing.
"Do you really think you will be able to take all of us on when we are right next to base? When I handed you that phone, Cain, I activated an emergency trigger. More than 200 strong warriors will be here in minutes, armed to the teeth." He sighed,
"Cain, if you had been loyal and called for reinforcements, perhaps we could've parted in peace, even if you did have a hand in the death of the other Team Leaders. Now, though…"
"I will not stop till you're dead."
Micheal blinked as he realized what was up. Shigun must have had some way to determine that Cain wasn't actually calling for reinforcements, despite appearing to do so. Perhaps Cain had set up some type of recording to be played, or some other method.
Boss Shigun didn't get to where he was by being a fool, even if he did miss that Cain had already betrayed him.
"If it were just us, you likely could stall for long enough. But unfortunately for you, it's not." Cain sneered back, without remorse.
As if on cue, a slew of figures emerged from one of the vacant stairwells. Most of them were wearing garments that were singed or burned, a few with visible wounds from Micheal's bomb.
The two at the front, however, were almost completely unscathed.
"Hello Shigun, long time no see!" A tall, red headed man, wearing a set of red pants and a dark red shirt spoke aloud, his voice arrogant. Literal particles of fire flowed around his body, giving him a terrifying appearance.
Next to him was a bulky woman wielding what appeared to be a large, heavy-duty flamethrower. She had a set of glasses on and short black hair, fat jiggling as she brought the weapon to bear.
'Fire Caster Abel and his Lieutenant Black Flamer Chelsea of the Mayoral Alliance, with a few of their elite fighters.' He recognized the duo, unsurprised. His eyes flicked among their fighters, all of them wielding swords or other melee weapons as they prepared to attack, noting that Lana and her team weren't among them.
'Here's hoping they left already.' After today, the Mayoral Alliance was bound to fall into chaos.
'But that's it?' The full force of this attack force had a bit less than 2/3rd the number of elite fighters that it had in his original timeline.
The Black Flag Pirate's first move in the original timeline had been a huge, coordinated ambush to wipe out Boss Shigun and his top warriors. After that, they'd gone on to slaughter most of the strong members of the Godfather Organization, before the Cluster-wide war had broken out. This much he remembered, the war being one of the most impactful events on his life here in the Cluster.
'They moved ahead of schedule to force this ambush and Brandon lost an arm… as a result, the future changed. The Black Flag Pirates lost some of their influence, not everyone they called up joined with them. They don't even have all of their B Ranked members here. This ambush team is significantly weaker than it was in the original timeline!'
Micheal smiled internally as he realized this.
He was successfully changing the future!
"Abel, you bastard. Even with all of you here, do you think you can kill me and escape?" An incredibly dense aura began to form around Boss Shigun, energy visibly fluctuating as he drew fully upon his Red Titan Type Ability.
Officer Martin growled out loud, his body taking on a warm golden glow. While the Officer didn't have a direct Type for some reason, he had a multitude of powerful Abilities that all focused on enhancing his strength. The nickname he received, The Hammer, was not one given by mistake.
The guards of the Godfather Organization spread out. Everything was incredibly tense for a split second.
Micheal smiled.
'Showtime.'
In one smooth motion, he tapped on his Spatial Ring, withdrawing multiple things.
Micheal flicked his wrists, infusing Sword Energy into half a dozen gleaming feathers. These feathers cut through the air in an instant, taking almost everyone by surprise. His casual flicking, combined with the fact that almost no one was paying attention to him, had disguised the motion of his attack.
In a split second, the gleaming feathers flew all the way over towards their target.
One of the 3 elite B Ranked fighters from the Black Flag Pirates, the so-called Winged Wrecker.
"Hup!" The B Ranker lived up to his rank, reacting instinctively. While he wasn't able to move anywhere near fast enough to dodge such an instantaneous attack, he could still activate an Ability with time to spare.
His Iron-Tailed Eagle Wings Ability activated, two large wings made of metallic feathers forming and covering him up, shielding him. The materialization was almost instant, two heavy layers of iron blocking the path of any blow.
When Micheal's feathers slammed into where the wings were blocking, however…
The protective feathers instantly parted, allowing his feathers to move forward. The feathers Micheal had thrown were the exact same type of feathers, Iron-Tailed Eagle feathers. In the original timeline, Micheal had learned that these feathers had a unique interaction when they were energized.
Whenever they came into contact with feathers of the same type, they would part ways, avoiding hitting each other. It was some type of instinctive, magical fail-safe, built so that Iron-Tailed Eagles wouldn't tear themselves to shreds with their own feathers.
It was a minor fact that Micheal had remembered when he'd learned more about the Black Flag Pirates that he would be facing.
A fact that the B Ranked Winged Wrecker seemed woefully uninformed about.
"Arr-huuk!" A strangled gulp echoed out of the Winged Wrecker as he stumbled a couple of steps backwards, his entire body shaking…
And then fell over, three bloody holes bored through his skull, killed instantly.
.
—- Points Obtained —-
&nbs
p; Points: 2,600
.
An abrupt, startled silence overtook the room as everyone paused for a single instant in shock.
Micheal took full advantage of that.
"Sophia, now!" He yelled out loud as he grasped the Remembrance Shield he had pulled out of his Spatial Ring, his body hugging low to the ground as he threw himself towards Fire Caster Abel.
Sophia reacted without hesitating. Her pink eyes flashed as the Morenkai she had been controlling were abruptly sent charging towards the Black Flag Pirates. She released her control of them an instant later, allowing them to attack the humans of their own volition, as she turned her gaze over to the members of the Mayoral Alliance.
The temperature in the room fluctuated as Sophia's eyes zeroed in on the Black Flamer Chelsea, without paying any attention to the leader of the Mayoral Alliance.
She focused all of her attention on Chelsea, her gaze unremitting. Her Fairy Eyes Ability instantly took hold, slamming into Chelsea's mind and stunning her to great effect.
"What t-" Before Abel could finish speaking, he thrust his hands forward, two streams of fire rocketing into the air. His subordinates behind him had no time to react, watching everything that happened with stunned expressions.
Fire Caster Abel's standout Ability was in his nickname. The 'Fire Caster Type,' an Ability that cost 245,000 Points, something he purchased before arriving on the First Layer, as an Irregular. Despite the high Points cost, Abel was still only a strong B Ranker. He stood at the in-between mark between an A Ranker and a B Ranker, not able to face up against people like Brandon or Shigun, but able to take on enemies like Martin or Cain with relative ease.
His Ability allowed him to manipulate and send collections of fire, following certain 'Spell' creations, almost like a Wizard from fantasy. His attacks were potent, able to severely injure and kill normal humans and even harm Morenkai, killing them if he had enough focus.
As the two streams of molten fire shot towards Micheal, he simply held up his Remembrance Shield.
This was a somewhat useful Artifact that he had traded for in the Open Market. In the First Layer, its power and usefulness was quite limited, largely due to the specifics of what it did.
