Chapter 51: Ambition
The bright light shattered, and a blonde-haired guy appeared, landing lightly on the ground, his SSS-RANK Aura spreading all over the place. The sheer density of his spirit energy forced the lingering dust back down to the cracked earth, imposing absolute order on the chaotic battlefield.
"...."
He narrowed his eyes, staring at the dead body of the lady lying on the ground, then turned his head to the distance, seeing the bodies of the ten members. The surgical precision of the kills was terrifying; there was no sign of a prolonged struggle, only instant, overwhelming execution.
"An SSS-RANK Awakened, including B-Rank and A-Rank, there are even two S-Ranks, all dead..." He muttered. To wipe out a strike force of this caliber without tearing the entire city block apart required an impossible level of control.
"Seems I am late."
He turned his head to the side, staring at Marianne, who was walking towards him with a smile, her aura spreading out. She moved with the predatory grace of a high-tier Guild Master, entirely unbothered by the carnage around them.
"Oh, it’s Captain Zion, are you also here because of the battle, or the weapon?" She asked with a smirk.
A Mythic Tier weapon was enough to shift the balance of power across the entire nation.
"Ordinary Lives are more important to the association than personal gain." Zion said, moving his gaze from her to the bodies, a subtle reprimand to her blatant opportunism. The Association existed to keep the Awakened from destroying humanity; the Guilds only existed to profit from it.
Marianne moved her gaze around, she could sense many awakened watching them, some drawn here by the commotion, the rest by the mythic weapon. The shadows of the fairground were practically crawling with spies, scavengers, and rival factions, all ready to act.
She looked around again.
She was late... Again. The prize had vanished into thin air.
"This blood is still fresh, the awakened who did this must be close by."
Zion clenched his fist, as a golden bow appeared in his hand. Without hesitation, he aimed it at the sky, as an arrow made from pure, condensed light appeared on the string, illuminating the dark park.
WHOOSH!
He released it into the sky. Marianne watched as the arrow struck sky, and from the point, a white net; invisible to ordinary people dropped, sealing the whole fair in a dome. It was a flawless lockdown, a signature move of the Association’s elites.
"What are you planning?" Marianne asked, crossing her arms on her chest, slightly annoyed by his heavy-handed methods.
"This lady is an SSS-RANK Mage, not only that, those ten are B-Rank to S-Rank awakened, it means the one who killed them is also an SSS-RANK. He or she also has a Mythic Tier weapon. My net dome sealed off the whole fair, leaving only one exit... If they try to force a way out, I will detect it, and leave a mark on him. I am sure they won’t try that, so they’ll move towards the exits." He pulled out his phone and made a call, his voice slipping back into a flat, administrative tone:
"Yeah, dead bodies are here... Come and check it out." He said, walking towards the fair exit, then paused, and looked over his shoulder at Marianne:
"Oh, and don’t mess with the evidence, we might get something from it."
"I know that." Marianne said with an eye roll, offended that he felt the need to treat her like a rookie looter, then paused, staring at the Haunted house. The structure stood out completely.
"Huh? The whole buildings around this place is either destroyed, or scratched, why is this building still standing?" Her instincts flared. An anomaly in a blast zone was never just a coincidence.
She walked towards the door, and stared at the padlock:
"Is it locked?" She raised her hand towards the door, and paused, remembering Zion’s warning. Breaking a lock at a crime scene under the direct gaze of an Association Captain would cause political headaches she didn’t need.
She was the guild leader of the third-strongest guild in Vaeloria, but going against the awakened association wasn’t a good idea.
"Something can’t be inside... Besides, if this Haunted house is active, there should be more people." She sighed, walking away, unaware Kelly was right at the other side, holding her breath just inches from Marianne’s overwhelming aura.
___
[Inside The Haunted House.]
’I think she is gone.’ Kelly thought, slowly moving her ear from the door. She hadn’t panicked, her pulse remaining remarkably steady despite being a powerless human surrounded by gods.
"What happened?"
The sudden voice from behind her jolted her forward, but she didn’t scream, not even a bit, only turned around to Asher, glaring at him. Her terrifying, boardroom-honed composure was in full effect.
"You left me in here." She snapped in a low voice, her eyes demanding an immediate, logical explanation for his disappearance. And added:
"And, how did you get inside? There is only one exit." She added, gesturing to the door over her shoulder with a finger.
"There is another exit on the second floor... Leading to the back, I followed that exit, and locked the door from outside." Asher explained with a smile, smoothly bypassing her interrogation.
When they entered the building, he led Kelly to the hall, while he searched the whole building, his goal was to make sure they were the only ones inside... The exit? He encountered it by chance. Sometimes, surviving in this world wasn’t just about overwhelming power; it was about exploiting blind luck.
"So you locked the door from outside to deceive the Association?" She asked, staring at him in awe, genuinely impressed by what she assumed was a masterclass in psychological misdirection.
’Huh? I just locked it so they won’t get to Kelly... But that seems to work in our favor too.’ He thought, amused by how highly she thought of his intellect, and nodded his head:
"Kinda."
’Well, I should take the credit, I did it after all.’
He took Kelly’s hand, feeling the grounding warmth of her touch, and led her towards the stairs:
"The association already sealed the whole fair, leaving only the entrance, but it’s already guarded by men."
"What? Are you scared?" She asked with a smirk, as they reached the upstairs hallway, staring at the window. She was testing him, probing to see if the powerful man who had just saved her was secretly cowering under the pressure of authority.
"Scared? If the Association catches me, I will be locked up, and even blacklisted from entering any dungeon again, I am not scared, just being careful." He said, walking towards the window, acknowledging the reality of the situation without letting it break his confidence.
"Please, you are a B-Rank, and you have never stepped foot into a dungeon... Don’t you have evolution stones?" She asked.
Asher paused, looking over his shoulder at her: "Evolution stones are good, but you still need some experience... There is a huge difference between those who only rank up with evolution stones from those who fight continuously in dungeons."
He stopped in front of the window, and placed his head out, checking the surroundings.
"You have a point, but you do know there are people who the Association is powerless against." She noted, watching him carefully.
"Only those who are extremely powerful, so powerful that even the Awakened Association won’t mess with them." He said, standing upright, the moonlight catching his eyes. He wasn’t looking at the guards below; he was looking far beyond them. The days of surviving as the Starfire family’s garbage were over.
"After I cure you three, that will be my goal, but not only the Association, the whole world will be below our family."
"...?!"
Kelly stared at him, the weight of his absolute, unyielding conviction washing over her, realizing her husband didn’t just want peace—he wanted a throne.