Chapter 181: Silencing All Factions
As he said those words, he stopped walking and raised an arm.
Immediately, everyone readied themselves, including those not within the World Government party. No one knew exactly what a Level 36 Nascent Realm powerhouse like Uhtred was capable of. They didn’t want to end up catching some stray attack out of nowhere.
"Jolene Okafor, will you stand by and watch this happen?!" Glorious Eagle Vance bellowed where he stood, utterly furious that Uhtred was doing as he pleased. "You’re simply going to allow a brawl to happen on your land?!"
Jolene Okafor remained quiet, an unfazed expression on her face.
Uhtred’s raised hand suddenly moved, and every Government agent and official braced for an imminent impact... but instead of the attack they thought was coming at them, Uhtred turned his outstretched arm to the side, close to where the jets were.
In an instant, a flash of multiple elements materialized. Fire, air, water, ice, earth, metal... for a split second everyone felt each element distinctly. Then all of a sudden, they didn’t. The separate elements seemed to turn into something that was neither any of those elements, yet at the same time, all of them.
The result was a compacted, utter black orb of raw chaos that ate away at its immediate surroundings, compounding and growing larger as it whizzed through the air in a blur.
"Vivianne!" Glorious Eagle Vance roared in fury, leaping into the air with a powerful lunge. He soared over the rows of agents lining the way down the stairs to the terrace he was atop. His eyes were locked onto an open space near the jets where Uhtred had sent his attack.
There, a figure materialized, screaming at the top of her lungs in terror as Uhtred’s unified elemental spell bore down on her.
It was the female agent whose ear Glorious Eagle Vance had whispered some words into during Uhtred’s arrival. She had disappeared at that point. King Alexei and the four Shadow Brokerage representatives had seen it, but right after that, her presence could no longer be felt.
Even King Alexei had subtly been trying to pinpoint her location to no avail. The four Shadow Brokerage representatives might have still been able to sense her — that was their expertise, after all — but one couldn’t be sure about them.
Regardless, the fact remained that the female agent called "Vivianne" seemed to be extremely adept at masking her presence. Glorious Eagle Vance had given her an instruction to do something — perhaps get close to Uhtred unnoticed. Or maybe their aircraft to see what they were made of more clearly.
However, they had severely underestimated how perceptive someone at Uhtred’s level was. Right from the onset, even with how good she was, he had sensed the disturbance of her presence and knew someone was trying to slip by him.
Just to be sure which party this person belonged to, he moved closer to the World Government party, saying those domineering words that were enough to make any of the agents and representatives affronted. Then, he sensed her stop as if she was shocked by his abrupt move.
But what truly gave her away was the slight turmoil of her emotions. There was a change to her demeanor that was reflected in the near-imperceptible essence disturbance around her shrouded figure. Uhtred had sensed that and figured out all he needed to know.
He released his unified elemental spell at her, carving a path of destruction that spread for nearly half a mile before dissipating.
Once the dust settled, and everyone finally saw the result of Uhtred’s casual attack, they were all utterly shaken.
"T—There’s nothing left of her at all..." someone whispered.
It had happened so fast, but everyone who was powerful enough to pick up what happened in those split seconds, knew that a woman had appeared, tried to move out of the way, then, realizing the spell’s span had grown too wide to evade, tried to defend herself with a barrier device and her own body enhancement... yet all had failed uselessly.
One had to know that several people had sensed her power level from that attempt to save herself. She was at least a Level 20 or even a Level 21 ascender. Not among the most powerful here, but still enough to have a say — she was even more powerful than any mid-tier faction head present, for sure.
Yet, she was deleted from existence in an instant. And the crazy part was that Uhtred didn’t seem to have exerted any effort at all. Just a casual hand raise...
Was this the gap between the number one ranker and everyone here? Was this how powerful a Level 36 ascender was?
"Just what kind of spell was that—"
"I seemed to have sensed some fire element for a brief second—"
"Huh? I felt the same... but Earth element instead of fire—"
People began to mutter disbelieving statements, wondering exactly what Uhtred had done there. Dual-elementals and even triple-elementals present had felt their various different elements in that spell.
Very quickly, someone tallied the number of different elements people had claimed to sense in the spell.
"Are you telling me he controls seven elements?! What does one even call that? A septa-elemental? A hepta-elemental?"
"That’s just sweating the small details," another person cut in. "Does anyone know what spell he used to combine them like that...?"
Murmurs were rising from the terraces, and even King Alexei’s competitive air had dulled slightly. He was very likely thinking of how he would react to such an attack if he had been at the brunt of it, and he didn’t like the results he was coming up with.
Glorious Eagle Vance, who had leapt into the air in a fit, had quietened. His expression was torn and forlorn. Whoever the female agent, Vivianne, was to him, she was clearly important. He bit his lip hard, blood trailing down the edges of his mouth. It was very obvious he wanted to yell, roar, rage at Uhtred. But the cold logical part of him as a General was keeping him in place.
He had seen how easily Uhtred obliterated a peak Level 20 ascender in seconds. Never would he have thought something like that was possible. He had believed he would reach her in time... that she would be able to hold on for a bit before he, with his Level 24 strength, would step in to help parry Uhtred’s attack. But it had all been over in a heartbeat.
That reality told him everything he needed to know. Uhtred was not an entity on their level at all. It wasn’t just a numbers difference. There was definitely a vast qualitative gap with every one of his Nascent Realm levels compared to their Mortal realm levels.
Glorious Eagle Vance was currently the strongest ascender on the side of the World Government. Antoine Blanc, a Level 25 Nascent Realm powerhouse, who could’ve been another major force in their ranks, was no longer with them. If the General chose to be rash and act on the anger in his heart right now, he was definitely going to die here for no logical reason at all.
The World Government, at that point, would simply be a force without any major power of note.
It was for this reason he swallowed his anger and rage. He let out several shaky breaths to calm himself, then raised his head and stared at Uhtred with cold, calm eyes.
Uhtred met his stare flatly. No flicker of change whatsoever.
Sheesh. What deep hatred, he mused internally, then cracked a smile at the General.
"Good. I like that look in your eyes. No more bullshit. The moment is now pure..."
Uhtred spread his arms, then faced all factions present.
"Now then, shall we begin the Summit?"