by L. M. Kerr
Still…
Shin shrugged.
They couldn't really stop him.
Shin's eyes glazed over slightly as the world before him transformed into a world full of thousands of different glowing lines. He smiled as he felt this strange vision sweep over him, entering into the special state his Warping Phaser Type Ability allowed him to control.
He stretched his hand out as he caressed one line in particular.
This translucent line of energy connected from his left shoulder to the metallic arm that now existed in place of his real arm.
Shin had many guesses as to what exactly these lines were and did. From the knowledge his Ability granted him, he knew the line was an intangible creation that helped hold space, reality itself, together.
But that didn't explain why this particular line had appeared. There were many lines of energy he could see within his own body, several hundred at least. But for some reason, there was only a single line, and an unusually thick one at that, when it came to this Artifact attached to his arm.
His right arm had several dozen different lines of energy in it. His left arm now only had a single, extra-large one.
“I should pay more attention to these lines and see if anyone else has any unique ones." He found it pretty hard to see these lines when they were on a living being. He could only truly see them when he was up close next to someone. However, whenever he was that close to an enemy, he was typically trying to retreat, not staring intently at their body.
Shin shrugged the thoughts away for now. He wasn't about to let something like that bother him. He would tell Micheal about it and let him worry about what they meant, Micheal could probably figure it out.
Instead, Shin looked up and to the right, a smile forming on his face.
A moment later, his figure blurred and vanished as he teleported away.
Right after he vanished, he reappeared in Sophia's room.
He quickly scanned the pink-tinged room, frowning slightly. Sophia was nowhere in sight.
Instead, he found a short, coral-colored dress laid out on her bed, next to a white sports bra and a lacey yellow thong.
He tapped on his Spatial Ring and brought out Micheal's sniper rifle. He then gingerly thrust it forward, poking Sophia's thong.
"Hmm…" He picked it up with the tip of his rifle and examined it with a seasoned scholar's eye.
"I never took her for the type to wear thongs." He felt mildly bad for judging her. She always acted so stiff, it was hard to get a good gauge on her personality.
Now that he knew her a little better, he was aware of her history, how she was on a mission to find her little sister and let nothing get in the way of that goal. Her obsessive personality made a bit more sense in that context.
Abruptly, he spun to his left as he heard a door opening.
"Heyo, Sofanado!" He smiled cheerfully in greeting before he froze, his eyes widening.
Sophia had just emerged from the bathroom, wearing nothing but a damp white towel. Her hair was damp and tied up on her head in a large ponytail and she had on a pair of white shower sandals.
When Sophia saw Shin standing there casually, his rifle tip holding her panties, her jaw dropped.
"SHIN?!" An outraged, feminine voice echoed out from her voice as she glared at him in disbelief. She almost immediately dived backwards into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her.
Shin watched all of this in bemusement. He hadn't heard any water running, so she must've just gotten out of the shower before Shin arrived.
"Heyo, sleeping beauty! Glad to see that you're-" Before he could finish speaking, a second outraged yell cut him off,
"I am NAKED in the SHOWER you MORON! Get outside!" Sophia's voice sounded like she was ready to tear him into pieces with abandon.
"Yeah, er, my bad, Sofaphina, I didn't know that you-" Shin began apologizing as he prepared to leave. He genuinely hadn't known she was showering.
"OUT. SIDE. NOW!" Sophia's voice brooked no argument.
Shin didn't hesitate any further as he teleported away once more.
A few quiet moments passed.
After that, the door to Sophia's bathroom slowly crept open as she emerged from it. Sophia's eyes darted to the left and right suspiciously before she was relaxed, certain that Shin was gone.
She sighed and let her towel slip off as she stalked over to the bed. She quickly snagged her sports bra and put it on, pulling it tightly into place.
She had never been as annoyed at the large size of her breasts as she was down here on the First Layer. They were unwieldy in combat, caused her back to constantly be sore, hurt when she ran too quickly, and in general felt like they were often in the way, even when she wore a sports bra. Her petite frame made it all the more annoying.
The boosts she gained from her Ki Cultivation Ability helped to some degree, but the pain was still there. When she moved her body with superhuman power, she stressed her body to an abnormal degree.
She had even looked into some type of size reduction magic, to see if anything convenient like that existed. To her surprise, she'd found a few posts about the topic on the online forums she'd accessed. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a font of side effects and it was a large waste of Points. Still, she might consider it in the future.
The fantasy novels she'd read back on Earth never mentioned this aspect of going on an adventure. They were all about magical combat, heroic journeys, and amazing experiences. None of them talked about her, and surely other girl's, unreasonable back pain.
Maybe when her Ki Cultivation increased enough it would go away. She could also ask Micheal if he had a solution but, well... she would cross that bridge when she got to it.
After she finished putting the bra on, she frowned as she looked over her bed. She had set aside a cute looking thong she'd purchased from the Shop just for today. Even if she had no plans on looking for a partner, and had no real desire for one as of right now, there was no reason she couldn't dress cute for herself.
"Where did I put it?" She picked up her dress and looked under it, finding nothing. She pulled the bed cover off and then looked on the sides of the bed and under it, her frown deepening.
Abruptly, as she stood back up from the floor, a rather recent memory flashed into her head.
Shin's smiling figure holding a long sniper rifle, of all things. On the end of that sniper rifle, she remembered spotting a flash of lacey yellow cloth…
"SHIIINNN!"
Meanwhile, on the rooftop of the Medical Bay skyscraper…
"Oh, crap." Shin gazed at the end of his sniper rifle, his eyes widening as he realized he had forgotten to return Sophia's thong back to the bed. A cold drop of sweat slid his forehead as he gulped, glancing downward fearfully.
After a moment, he shrugged and wiped the sweat away. She probably wouldn't be too mad, right? After all, it was just an accident. In fact, he'd go return it right now!
Several minutes later…
"I need another day at most and then I'll be well enough to leave." Sophia's face had only a hint of a flush to it as she spoke, cracking her knuckles as she glared over at Shin.
"Oh, that's good to hear! I've heard that injuries to the Soul can be pretty serious!" Shin replied as he nursed a large, red slap mark on his face. He began to whistle nonchalantly to himself when he saw Sophia's glare.
Sophia rolled her eyes.
"Micheal's off doing that mysterious mission for Head Cameron. In the meantime, we should try to gather as much useful intelligence as possible on the people that attacked us." Sophia went on, explaining her goals.
If they used Shin's status to access information, they should be able to gather a great deal of in-depth knowledge, just like they had with finding General Pedro.
As she thought about that, she frowned.
"Have you heard anything about General Pedro?" Micheal hadn't commented on what they should do about him before he left. However, the importance he had placed on the man ha
d never been forgotten by Sophia.
"The last I checked, he's still being treated by his Alliance's medical teams." The Old Army Airwing Alliance was entirely self-sufficient and didn't need help from the Godfather Organization to operate.
"He did send a message to us." Shin nodded as he began to dictate a rough summary of said message,
"He said his injuries aren't that serious despite how they looked and he's recovering well. He apologized for allowing such a shameful attack to take place while we were in his territory."
Sophia's opinion of the General jumped up when she heard that, touched. Despite the fact that it was clear Sophia had been the target, and that she had indirectly caused Pedro's injury, the man was apologizing to her. He was practically a saint.
"Do you have a way to send a message back?" Sophia replied.
Shin nodded.
"Let him know I'm sorry we brought such an incident to his doorstep and that I'm super glad to hear of his recovery." She bit her lip for a moment as she was about to continue, her thoughts suddenly hitting a snag.
She wanted to say that she didn't need any favor anymore, not after all the trouble she brought him. But Micheal had specifically told her how important he was. A string of guilt wormed its way into her heart as she was left without any good response to her own thoughts.
Shin, somehow, seemed to pick up on this as he waved at her, jarring her out of her considerations.
"Ah, he also said the favor he owes us is still valid, the attack notwithstanding, and that he insists on helping us out. Apparently what we did really meant a lot to him. He's a pretty cool guy." Shin's opinion of the man was equally as high as Sophia's.
When Sophia heard that, the guilt in her heart lessened a little bit, but didn't vanish entirely.
She was just about to continue dictating when a loud knocking at her door caused both Shin and Sophia to freeze.
"Err, I'll get it." Shin darted over to the doorway, apparently willing to do anything to escape from Sophia's still burning anger.
He pulled the door open in a flash, the warm smile he'd put on his face freezing as he looked at who was on the other side.
On the other side of the door were two men.
Both were familiar figures to Shin. One was a tan, Asian man wearing a set of white pants, a plain white t-shirt, and a white top hat. The man's hair was, unsurprisingly, white, and he even wore a pair of white-toned contacts. He was really committed to his weird shtick, something that Shin absolutely judged him for.
The other man was Caucasian and dressed in a pair of jeans, cowboy boots, and a plaid button-down shirt with a large cowboy hat. He wore a large belt with a metal buckle that read 'Texas Born' emblazoned proudly. He had short brown hair and cool blue eyes that held a twinkle in them.
The duo were none other than two of the elite, Supreme A-Ranked Executives of the Godfather Organization.
Executive Montecarlo, the White Wizard, ranked 11th on the Main Cluster Ranking List, and Executive Andrew, the Crazed Cowboy, ranked 17th on the Main Cluster Ranking List.
"Ah, see, I told you we'd find him here, Monty." Executive Andrew's voice was warm as he poked the man dressed in all white in the shoulder.
Executive Montecarlo merely sniffed, not replying. Instead, his gaze bored into Shin as he studied the teleporter, his eyes cool.
"Howdy, Shin! Good to see you again, kid!" Andrew turned his focus back to Shin.
"Executive!" Shin saluted, raising his right arm up in a kind of half-hearted attempt at a salute. Executive Andrew was one of the few Executives that had come to meet him after Admiral Cardell brought him in. Shin's unique fighting style had greatly interested Andrew.
Andrew had been a bit of a gun fanatic before the Apocalypse struck and had helped Shin quite a bit when it came to getting better at shooting.
"Pack up, kid. You're gonna have to leave the girl for a bit." Andrew motioned at Sophia while also giving her a friendly wave. Sophia waved back, but slowly, at a bit of a loss. Andrew went on,
"You're posting up on duty with us for the next couple of days. We'll be showing you a bit of the ropes as our newest Sub-Executive, and a future Executive in training!"
"Wait, posting up doing what?" Shin replied slowly, blinking in confusion.
"On guard duty. An important figure is coming to visit and we can't afford to let any accidents happen, especially nowadays where things are so chaotic. And no, before you ask," Executive Andrew held up a hand,
"I have no idea why she is visiting us so abruptly."
"Waaait." Shin glared at Andrew. It almost felt like the man was purposefully answering his questions in as cryptic a manner as possible.
"Who is visiting us?"
"Ah right. It's the woman I told you about before, the one that led the Admiral to you." Andrew shrugged,
"The Seer is coming to visit."
.
Chapter 60
Micheal's eyes were shut tight as he let the lyrics of the song wash over him. The melody ran wild in his heart, one that touched him at a core level.
It brought back memories of times back on Earth, when his worst fears were whether or not he would be accepted into college, or how he would find a new girlfriend. Memories of camping out with his best friend, of climbing trees and crossing rivers.
Micheal took a deep breath, a small smile appearing on his face. Several more seconds passed as he let the music take him away.
A few moments later, he exhaled and opened his eyes, his smile fading.
The previously forlorn rooftop was now swarming with Morenkai.
Dozens of the creatures had burst out from the roof entry shed, drawn by the loud music. As Micheal looked out across the roof, he could also see a few Morenkai reaching over and pulling themselves up from the edge of the skyscraper. These ones must've been in the process of climbing the skyscraper to have reached the roof so quickly.
♫ Soon I will go to free my heart… ♫
Micheal's right hand rested upon his Ashari Blade as he stared down the roughly two dozen or so Morenkai that had rushed onto the roof. All of the creatures had currently just locked their eyes onto him and were standing still.
A single, split-second later, the Morenkai broke into a charge. Their feet pounded on the cement rooftop as they charged at Micheal relentlessly, hurling their bodies forward.
The first wave of Morenkai that had appeared were all regular ones.
As Micheal saw the creatures charging at him, powerful monsters that could shrug off bullets or rip a man in half with their bare hands…
He closed his eyes once more.
♫ To that stage and stone, beneath the stars… ♫
The music serenaded within him.
And as it did, Micheal's senses moved beyond that, powered by his enhanced physique.
The Strength stat of a human being was primarily associated with the brawn a person could display. However, that wasn't the most technically accurate description of the stat.
One's Strength stat influenced the raw power of all of a human being's senses. Not only did it represent the physical strength he held, but it also represented how powerful his senses were. His Soul stat complemented this aspect, boosting how effectively he used his physical senses and how powerful his innate, intangible ability to sense nearby awarenesses with his Soul was.
Even with his eyes shut, Micheal could feel the world around him at an incredibly in-depth level. The music he listened to served as a focal point that helped him zone in on everything that stood out. This was a technique he'd used in his training in the past, many years ago.
To his right, he felt a Morenkai step just a few meters from him. He could hear the sound of its feet clomping on the ground, feel the air shift at its arrival. Its presence in his mind was like a firefly, flickering feebly but still notable.
In his head, he was surrounded by dozens of feeble fireflies, each one headed right towards him. Some of them threw themselves atop of others, all rushing to get at h
im as fast as possible.
And just as these fireflies were about to collide with him…
Micheal's right arm flickered.
He opened his eyes.
All around him… the attacking Morenkai fell apart.
Acidic black blood spattered across the roof as two dozen Morenkai bodies collapsed and fell to pieces, killed instantly. In the span of a second, the initial wave of Morenkai had all reached Micheal.
And every single one fell to pieces.
♫ Clear my mind and float my soul… ♫
Micheal ignored the slew of Points notifications that cropped up as he dodged several showers of Morenkai blood. His Endurance stat had boosted the raw, defensive toughness of his body to a strong level, but there was no reason to potentially damage his suit or skin if he didn't have to.
His attacks had been exacting in their precision. Every move he made, every millimeter he raised his blade, every contraction of his muscles… each and every one was calculated automatically by his intuition and practice, built up over years and years of continuous effort.
He could still feel it.
His body could barely keep up with his demands, but the feeling was still there. His boosted stats were, by the thinnest margin, allowing him to fight like he did in the future, or the past.
Using his powerful body and Soul to sense the enemies around him, his senses expanded to the extreme as he took into full account their every movement, every strike, every technique. It wasn't necessary to shut his eyes to achieve this, but Micheal opted to as a warm-up.
His younger body wasn't used to this style of combat. It was one that was both extremely draining and required an excessively powerful strength of will. Micheal wouldn't be able to keep this form up for long in his current state.
Still, it was indeed a glimpse into his past, and a glimpse into his future. A small glance at the power he used to hold. Power that had found him a nickname he'd built through blood and tears, the name his enemies called him. The first name he earned from the fear others felt when facing him.
Legion.
This was the realm of a Master.
