Chapter 178: Still Powerful
Stormcaller’s gaze flickered around in vigilance. What if there were more of these guys hiding around? Were they all surrounded right now?
The same question seemed to be playing in every faction’s minds as their gazes flitted about. None of them had noticed a thing the whole time... Or had they?
One figure looked totally unmoved by the tuxedo man’s sudden appearance, and that was King Alexei.
He didn’t so much as flinch when the man materialized, as though he had known from the onset that there were several figures hidden in plain sight from the moment he arrived.
Stormcaller, whose gaze had now returned to King Alexei, noticed this fact and knew immediately the gap between them. On paper, King Alexei was only a Level 27 ascender while Stormcaller was a Level 25. Alexei had only moved up one level throughout an entire month and Stormcaller had done the same.
The gap between them was just two levels, but those two levels had never felt so far apart as anything to Stormcaller in that moment.
He gritted his teeth, then with a disgruntled voice, called out to his two women to follow him. He was vacating the lounge for King Alexei.
"What? You mean to leave me here by myself? I need some pleasant company too, don’t you think?" King Alexei grinned.
Stormcaller ground his teeth harder in fury. He didn’t look up at King Alexei, only stopping for a beat as if to calm himself before he continued forward, leaving the lounge and his two women too.
"Sigh. And here I was hoping you’d warm up my muscles a bit. Kick this Summit off to a high start..." King Alexei sighed dramatically, then his face did a 180, a large smile spreading as he headed towards the two pretty ladies.
The gentleman in the tuxedo promptly vacated the lounge without needing to be told and vanished right before everyone’s eyes.
This time they all saw how it happened and knew it was a cloaking device.
"Whew... I thought we were going to see a fight there for a second," Donovan Sr. muttered quietly where he sat with his son and the Alberts. "Things would’ve gotten really rough here..."
Just as they were sighing in relief, the teleportation circles lit up again, this time with seven parties appearing at the same time.
The first was the Castiglione family, led by Isolde Castiglione at the forefront, and several high-level members of her family following right behind her. Her tall, lithe figure, coupled with her dazzling beauty, struck everyone present first, mesmerizing them. Then they felt her dense aura. A Level 24 powerhouse.
Surprisingly, King Alexei did not react much at her arrival; he simply scanned her figure from his lounge with an unreadable glint in his eyes before looking to the next arrival.
These ones were some unknown figures led by a sagely, bald-headed old man clad in a daoist robe. Behind him were six people, three young men who were all bald-headed, and two women, one young and one middle-aged. The last person looked totally different from the rest of the party.
Upon seeing that last person, the representatives of the Free Ascenders’ Guild had their eyes widened slightly.
Antoine Blanc.
He had found his way to the Summit like he had said. But who was the man he had followed, anyway?
They could only wonder and analyze, just as the next figures appeared.
The next three arrivals were inconsequential figures, not immediately recognizable by many. But the last two were different.
The first of the last two was, surprisingly, the La Familia La Suprema. The Vanezzi family had actually decided to come too.
"Wait... aren’t they the ones who raided Uhtred’s territory—?"
"Shh!" Donovan Sr. immediately chided his son. "Lower your voice!"
Of course everyone knew what had gone down between Uhtred and the Vanezzi family. Word was that the Vanezzis had raided his territory, taken over several of his resources, and even controlled his dungeon while he was within the trials. He had come back utterly furious and slaughtered 1000 men that day.
How much of that was true remained unknown. But the fact remained that there was bad blood between Uhtred and the La Familia La Suprema.
No one expected them to come for this Summit at all. Uhtred was going to be here in person, and he sure as hell was going to be seeking blood.
Yet, the head of the Vanezzi mafia family, Don Luciano Vanezzi, didn’t look the slightest bit fazed. He appeared extremely calm and confident as he arrived with several members of the mafia behind him.
His gaze found the Castigliones first, his family’s bitter rival, before he then turned to his right where the last teleportation circle was revealing the last party.
Before the light could even dim, everyone went into alert as roaring sounds could be heard.
Large metal vehicles, jeeps of the pre-integration era, came rolling out of the circle one-by-one. They filed out in a neat formation, the familiar emblem of the new World Government — a replica image of the planet Earth, held up by two hands in a handshake — on each of them.
Twenty jeeps in total poured out of the circle, then stopped under the gazes of everyone.
Simultaneously, their doors opened up and several smart-looking government officials and agents stepped out, giving off a professional and dangerous air.
Unlike with King Alexei, whose presence was domineering because of his singular strength, the arrival of the World Government gave off a different feeling... a familiar feeling. The same feeling the government of the old pre-integration era gave off.
Absolute power.
They moved with an efficiency and coordination that made everyone present feel a gap in terms of "how a major power was supposed to be."
Their arrival in those large vehicles alone was already a form of oppressive superiority by itself.
How they had procured vehicles, manufactured them, and got them functional was a surprising mystery. It had only been two months, but they had gotten back vehicles of the old world. What else had they developed at this point? What else did the World Government have up their sleeves that was unknown to the public?
The major players all had frowns on their faces, King Alexei included. This was basically the World Government telling everyone that they were still very much the same power they were in the old world. That they still had the same means. That they could still do the same things.
In a single move, they had swept up the entire spotlight, becoming the focal point of the Summit. Their officials moved calmly, heading for the lounges as though they had known beforehand that those were the seating areas.
Meanwhile, their agents moved with precision, pushing past the Marina Archipelago guards and lining the pathway to the terraces in their stead.
The hidden Archipelago guards even had to deactivate their cloaking devices and come out to try and take control of the situation. But the World Government was very domineering in their arrival, blocking the Marina Archipelago men from doing anything as their officials climbed up the stairs.
The Summit looked as though it had turned to a World Government show.
But all of a sudden...
Sophie, behind Donovan Jr., was observing the entire spectacle when her eyes suddenly caught something in the far horizon.
She stood up suddenly, then pointed to the sky.
"Wait... What’s that?"