Somewhere in the southwestern part of Nuwesca City, there stood a towering building many stories high. Inside one of its highest floors, a man with pale white skin, dark hair, and pitch-black eyes overlooked the entirety of the city, with a grin creeping up on their face.
Inside the room full of splendor and wealth, five different figures wearing dark cloaks covering their faces approached him and exhibited obedient behavior as if they were afraid of the thought of even offending the man.
Not bothering to turn around, the man directly spoke, “Prepare for tonight.”
Although his words were simple and concise, they carried a lot of weight. His eyes glowed with a terrifying intensity, with the air around him seemingly turning a darker shade as gales blew across the whole room.
The five cloaked figures nodded their heads, and in the blink of an eye, they disappeared from the room.
As the dark winds slowly dissipated from sight, various traces of dark splotches remained on the room’s furniture whenever the dark wind came into contact with anything, causing some form of withering to occur.
“Soon, I’ll transform my dark winds into a catastrophic disaster!” he mumbled and continued staring at the city, and vividly imagined a scene where the whole city has deteriorated into nothing but ashes and dust, with dark winds covering the whole sky in its inky bleakness.
…
A few days had already passed since Braun received his first-ever artifact, Clockwork Watch, and he had made considerable progress since then. Besides developing his threads, his Ghost superpower was just one step away from reaching Level 2, and the temporal dilation of the Clockwork Watch had been increased to increments of 4.
If not for putting more focus on developing the power of his artifact, then Ghost would have reached Level 2 already, but considering the sheer vastness of the concept of time, Braun decided to invest more in something that would reap him greater gains in the short-term.
Ghost was definitely an ability with lots of potential, and could evolve into many different paths in the future. Perhaps he could become a Soul Monarch, holding dominion over spiritual creatures, or he can focus on one of its aspects like spiritual energy manipulation, and push it to its limits, controlling reality with only his soul.
If things go as planned, he would simply elevate Clockwork Watch to the peak of Level 2 which should push it to increments of ten, and then focus on developing his Ghost ability to the peak of Level 2, before he would then consider breaking through and leveling up his threads to Level 3.
Once he did so, he would have a comprehensive list of abilities from attack, mobility, and defense, and his body’s inherent regeneration speed would serve as his regenerative ability. If he were to also dilate time, then his regeneration speed would speed up by an increment of 4!
That, however, were just mere plans.
On one random night, just as Braun was preparing to continue augmenting his artifact so that when he extracted its crystal, he would receive a peak Level 2 ability in an instant, an incredibly loud alarm abruptly rang in his ears.
“LEVEL 4 DEMIGOD DETECTED! FOUR LEVEL 3 SUPERS DETECTED! TWENTY LEVEL 2 SUPERS DETECTED!”
When he heard the series of announcements from the speaker, Braun was at first stunned and was then horrified by the implications.
A Level 4 Demigod was launching an attack on the city!
…
On the surface of the city, as the sun fell and the moon hung high in the sky, the clouds dispersed as dark winds converged high in the sky, blending in with the backdrop darkness of the night.
Floating amidst a vortex of dark winds, a hooded man grinned maniacally as his plans were finally going to begin. After painstaking plotting and scheming, pouring a ton of resources into developing his own minions, he could finally begin his operation, all in the hopes of stealing a mere Level 3 Artifact from the incredibly powerful organization known as Aegis.
“Solar Spear should be acting already,” he mumbled as he gazed out into the far distance.
Just like he guessed, when he looked in the direction where the nearest city away from Nuwesca City was located, he saw a burst of solar light abruptly gather in the sky, illuminating the night and shining the light of day.
When he saw that, his grin deepened, and said in a mocking tone, “What are you going to do now, Abbie King? Even if you want to receive reinforcements, it would still take a few minutes to set up a portal strong enough to support the transportation of a Regional Director like you to a different region entirely!”
…
As Abbie King, the Regional Director of both Civer City and Nuwesca City received the barrage of notifications that entailed two demigods attacking two different cities at once, she couldn’t help but frown and felt her blood boil with rage.
“Those rats dare do this under my nose?” She said with gritted teeth but quickly calmed down.
She received news that all of the branches operated according to the procedure in case a situation similar to the one happening right now would happen, and nodded her head.
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Two supers would remain in the base, while sixty percent of each branch’s combat professionals would help out. The remaining combat support in the branch would act as a final line of defense in case those invaders decided to ransack the insides of the base.
“Give the captains permission to use the artifacts within their branch as they please! Arm each combat group with at least three artifacts! Give those invaders hell!” Abbie King ordered with a tyrannical aura.
Although the attack launched by the two demigods is indeed overwhelming, totaling up to eight Level 3 supers being used as pawns, Abbie King wasn’t fazed.
Aegis wielded a considerable number of artifacts and had access to highly advanced technology. This was unlike the day when humans, back in the Age of Gods, were powerless without any sort of superpowers supporting themselves.
Technology has developed by leaps and bounds, and granted even normal humans the power to rival superhumans!
As she relayed her orders one by one in rapid succession, Christopher, who was quietly standing by her side, couldn’t help but frown as he inspected the information given.
“This… I might be wrong, but Solar Spear and the attack on Civer City should just be a diversion to further hide Dark Wind’s true intentions,” Christopher hurriedly said.
“What makes you say so?” Abbie King asked, but she didn’t pause in giving her orders.
“Dark Wind is by no means stupid and he shouldn’t be launching an attack on two different cities at once for the sake of mere destruction—however, he could be doing so for the sake of advancement!”
“His ability, his withering Dark Wind, represents a facet of the concept of destruction. He might be launching an attack on the two cities to further his comprehension and ascend in one go to Level 5!”
“Moreover, Solar Spear is famously known as a Demigod mercenary that you could hire for a sizeable sum of money! He obviously wouldn’t accept a task that would truly endanger his life, but if it’s only for the sake of stalling a lone Regional Director like you by forcing you to deal with two demigods at once…” Christopher didn’t have to say more to explain his intent.
“The only strange thing is how will he advance? Comprehension is necessary, but the crystal foundation still remains an issue…”
“We don’t have to answer those questions.” Abbie King snorted as her hair grew out wildly. “We just need to know that we currently have two demigods attacking our home turf with nefarious intentions.”
“Since Dark Wind is the mastermind here, I’ll deal with him myself! You, on the other hand!” Abbie King grinned at Christopher. “Use this as an opportunity to understand what it’s like to fight against a genuine Demigod expert like Solar Spear!”
“Don’t worry about him killing you. He’s just a hired merc, he’s not willing to truly offend a behemoth like Aegis for the sake of money!” Abbie King paused and then added. “However, we should give the same treatment to him.”
“If you overwhelm him, don’t injure him too much. Give him the chance to escape. He’s a mercenary at heart, so if Aegis ever needs to hire a demigod, we’d have him as an option.”
Christopher inwardly sighed but nodded his head.
Even if Solar Spear was a ruthless man that killed innumerable innocents already, his status as a demigod made Aegis give him preferential treatment, showing that, although Aegis was fighting for humanity, it wouldn’t hesitate to dip its toes in some dark ink for the sake of overall stability.
Before, he would have retorted and killed him for the sake of justice and whatnot, but with constant exposure to the heavy burden weighed upon Abbie King, a regional director of Aegis, Christopher’s worldview had radically changed and he silently accepted that there were some necessary evils that had to be done for the sake of the greater good.
A few humans dying is acceptable as long as humanity can survive in the end.
However, deep inside, Christopher knew that if he had absolute strength, then such injustices wouldn’t be overlooked.
Power… Power that could overthrow the rules of this world. His fleeting thoughts quickly disappeared as a blue portal opened up in front of him, and he stepped through it.
Reappearing in the sky of Civer City where a man clad in solar flames quietly waited, Christopher took a deep breath and prepared to fight.
Although surprised by the new demigod’s sudden appearance, Solar Flame, an experienced demigod who had gone through numerous life-and-death situations, remained calm and simply said, “No hard feelings.”
Christopher nodded his head and said, “No hard feelings.”
Gravity warped, and solar flames surged.
The two began to fight, illuminating the night sky of Civer City with warped gravity and burning solar flames.
…
Inside Nuwesca City, destructive flames, freezing ice, and massive roots sprawled throughout the entirety of the city. Supers and normal men fought in an all-out war, disrupting the peace of the city and causing untold destruction.
Blood covered the ground, with flames burning brightly in the dark.
Atop everyone else, Dark Wind, who was constantly sending out withering torrents of wind to the buildings in the city, paused as he stared to the side with slight surprise.
A blue portal cracked open and a tall muscular woman walked through.
She had wildly flowing blond hair and predatory yellow eyes. Her muscles pulsated with strength, which rapidly increased in size, causing her originally tall frame to grow bigger.
The black bodysuit she wore tore into pieces as her energy overflowed. Light yellow fur formed on her bare skin while her hair turned more beastly, appearing just like a lion’s mane.
Stepping into the air, the brown leather boots she wore twinkled with a green light, allowing her to step on the air like it was solid ground.
“Abbie King, the Herculean Lion of Aegis,” Dark Wind mumbled.
“Dark Wind, the leader of Night Storm,” Abbie King said with a smirk.
The two demigods stared at each other in silence, observing one another with piercing eyes. Although it only lasted for a second, it allowed the two experienced supers to discern a lot about the other.
Dark Wind raised his arms and inky wind gathered around him, forming a spherical protective barrier.
Abbie King roared as she finished her partial transformation. Her nails grew out in size while an illusory lion released its mighty presence behind her.
Withering winds and the herculean strength of a lion clashed in one go, causing a loud bang to resound across the entire city.
With the scheming of one man who desired great power, two different cities were embroiled in the conflict of numerous supers and four different demigods, unleashing a great disaster upon the country of Dela.
While this all happened, Braun remained safe inside the Central Hub, with Nora and four of her clones standing beside him.
As he stared off into the distance, illusory green threads pierced through layers of walls and rocks, reaching the surface. His vision connected with one of his numerous flies, allowing him to view the events unfolding outside.
So this is the power of Demigods…
His eyes gleamed with an intense green light, with his desire for power deepening.
Although nothing much was happening to him right now, he intuitively felt that an opportunity was waiting for him just right around the corner, and if he were to successfully grab it, his strength would once again achieve a qualitative leap!
As his thoughts whirled, both Braun and Nora froze in their tracks as they heard a sudden alarm.
“Attention to all personnel! One Level Three and two Level 2 has infiltrated the branch!”