Six individuals appeared out of thin air, aiming weapons at the intruding Mr. Park. Not even a second later, two individuals appeared by the imposter’s side, with weapons drawn and aimed at the Mr. Park sitting at the table. The three CEOs exchanged glances with one another, and Mister Hoffman and Big Chief exchanged an additional glance, deciding what to do in an instant. Mr. Park’s men leapt over the round table towards the entrance of the room while the four other bodyguards stayed back.

“Get over here, fakes,” one of Mr. Park’s men said, gesturing for the imposter’s men to step forward.

“You’re fighting, Sam,” Vercedei said. “Disable all six bodyguards.”

Sam had a feeling this would happen. The familiars picked the fight, so why was he the one cleaning up after them? Well, if he wasn’t the one doing it, then Raindu would be responsible for getting rid of the mess, and the black ferret’s solutions were more permanent. Sam didn’t want to waste any time, so he concentrated on his Sahasrara and Manipura, forming connections with the six bodyguards while pumping his aura into theirs, seizing control of their space. With a thought, he lifted them up and brought them together, their heads colliding against each other’s in a certainly unhealthy manner.

As the leader of Carbon Peak, one of the six big companies, Mr. Park had hundreds of capable people working underneath him, and his bodyguards were two of the most incredible people he knew, yet … they were so easily defeated. Mr. Park stood up and stared at his fallen companions; beside them, there were four other people who were likewise on the ground and unconscious. Meanwhile, the imposter’s bodyguards hadn’t even needed to make any moves.

“Hey,” Big Chief said, standing up from his seat at the round table with the lazy Susan atop of it. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

“Do you think someone can become a CEO without at least an S-ranked talent?” Mister Hoffman, the CEO of SAT Group, asked as he rose to his feet and pressed his right hand into his left palm, cracking his knuckles. “We should always let those underneath us fight one another first. Does it feel good bullying people weaker than you?”

Mr. Park sighed as his fellow CEOs blustered about. Since they were taking an offensive stance, if he didn’t take one as well, they might really believe he was the imposter. Speaking of the imposter, he or she hadn’t used a talent to defeat the six bodyguards, besting them through chakra techniques instead. The six bodyguards had their heads grabbed and slammed together by telekinesis, a technique Mr. Park had only seen blue avians perform for combat. Although some humans specialized in the chakras enabling telekinesis, their control was nowhere near the imposter’s strength; regular individuals could use their mind to throw a knife, not physically lift someone to smash them into another object, much less lift six individuals at once.

“Are you the ones responsible for the kidnappings?” Mr. Park asked rather than preparing himself for a fight. “Dozens of our best awakened have vanished, and it’d all make sense if people like you were doing it. With such a perfect disguise technique, and such fine control of telekinesis, it’s hard to believe you aren’t the ones disappearing our people.”

“And what if I am?” the imposter of Mr. Park asked in a perfect copy of his voice and intonation.

“Then, I’m afraid we’ll have to detain you,” Mr. Park said and straightened his back, jutting his chest out.

Sam wasn’t sure what his familiars were trying to do. He thought he was going to have a nice meal, but instead, he was fighting against three of the big six companies’ CEOs, and for what? Because one of his familiars, Vercedei, enjoyed spinning a yarn whenever it had anyone new who was willing to listen to it. Well, Sam supposed that was the price to pay for it coming with another, quieter snake capable of creating crystals strong enough to power a human body.

“Let’s see if you’re capable enough to do that,” Vercedei said out loud before communicating with Sam through his mind. “You’re going to fight three S-ranked humans, some of the strongest ones out there. Are you ready?”

Sam supposed he was as ready as could be. It’d be nice if he had better equipment, maybe some armor or deadly weapons, but Raindu was too busy stealing the food on the table to let Sam access the storage space within its fur. Considering Wendy had once told him Queen Annabeth could manipulate matter within a certain radius around herself with Raindu when the ferret was still a scepter, Sam expected the remaining CEOs to have powers just as ridiculous. Since that was the case, he had to strike first lest they surprise him with a power capable of defeating him in a second.

“Let’s work together,” Mr. Park said. “You two deal with his bodyguards; I’ll take on my imposter.”

Since his bodyguards weren’t actually real, Sam knew he only had an instant before the one-on-one duel against Mr. Park turned into a three-versus-one fight. However, with his mobility severely hampered by Dirt the koala, there weren’t many avenues of attack Sam could take. He focused on his Sahasrara and Manipura, connecting with and manipulating the six unconscious bodyguards on the ground. They were great to use as weapons simply because they were living people the CEOs probably—who knew if they were sociopaths—cared about; blocking telekinetic attacks using humans as projectiles would involve injuring those who were thrown.

Sam couldn’t see, so he wasn’t quite sure how Mr. Park disappeared and reappeared behind him in an instant, but the boom of thunder reverberating through the room gave him a pretty big hint. The electrocuting sensation he felt when Mr. Park’s fist collided against his back confirmed Sam’s guess that the man had transformed into lightning. As the electricity coursed through Sam’s body, he focused on his root chakra, willing for it to take action. His Muladhara pulsed, and a chilling sensation washed over his body, numbing the pain.

The room shook as thunder cracked. Mr. Park struck Sam’s unmoving back repeatedly dozens of times in a single second. Then, the blinding light filling the room vanished as Mr. Park’s body shifted back into one of flesh. Mr. Park frowned and looked down at his fist; despite having landed dozens of solid blows against an unguarded individual’s back, he felt like he was punching the surface of a lake, his strikes only doing superficial damage. Not only did the imposter have a touch physical body, but their aura was condensed to the point of being crystalline as well.

Although Sam could’ve pivoted on his disabled-by-metallic-koala leg and turned around to face Mr. Park, there really wasn’t any need to; it wasn’t like Sam was going to punch someone whose body could transform into lightning. Instead, Sam launched the bodyguards at his opponents, the two unconscious bodyguards from Carbon Peak flying over Sam’s head to strike at Mr. Park. If the CEO of Carbon Peak dodged to avoid the strike, his bodyguards would be driven headfirst into the floor, and was Mr. Park a heartless enough person to allow that to happen?

Mr. Park frowned and pressed his thumb against the green ring on his index finger. His body disintegrated as he transformed into an entity made entirely of air. The two human projectiles struck where Mr. Park had just been standing, but instead of hitting the ground, they stopped, suspended in midair. Then they floated towards Sam as Mr. Park advanced whilst fighting against the force from the imposter’s telekinetic technique trying to manipulate his bodyguards. Mr. Park’s intangible body superimposed itself on top of Sam, and he used his surefire killing technique he aptly named Drain Lungs. By removing the oxygen within his opponent’s body, he could render them unconscious within a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, no matter how hard Mr. Park looked, he couldn’t find the imposter’s lungs. It was almost as if the organs in the imposter’s chest were entirely made of stone, but that didn’t make any sense.

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Mr. Park retreated, still holding onto his bodyguards to prevent them from being used as projectiles, and reassessed the situation. The other two CEOs were presented with the same challenge as Mr. Park, and they were both compassionate enough to save their bodyguards from slamming into the ground headfirst, but that also meant they weren’t dealing with the imposter’s bodyguards … who hadn’t moved an inch. Mr. Park kicked out, his windy leg extending as it swept through the two unmoving individuals.

“They’re not real!” Mr. Park said, his voice permeating the whole room. “His bodyguards are illusionary. Help me protect my underlings while I probe him for weaknesses.”

Sam released his telekinesis, allowing Mr. Park to transfer his two underlings to the other CEOs. Since they were on guard against Sam’s technique, it was a waste of energy for him to keep it going. As for fighting with other methods, it was difficult when Dirt the koala anchored him to one spot. “Can I count on any of you for assistance?” Sam asked his familiars with his mind.

“I’ll help,” Raindu said, poking its head out of Sam’s shirt collar. “Werchbite, hide me while I relocate their equipment.”

Sam was relieved the ferret wasn’t offering to help by murdering the CEOs. If they died, who knew what would happen to their companies? The six big companies were in a tentative balance, and if three of them suddenly lost the people at their helms, then turmoil would soon follow—not that Sam would care too much, but Tom had joined Carbon Peak, and Sam didn’t want the company his brother was in to go under.

Mr. Park shifted his thumb, pressing on the scarlet ring on his middle finger. His skin flushed red, and his flesh transformed into white fire. Fire was rarely ineffective against anything. As long as he burned hot enough, there wasn’t any creature he couldn’t affect, including intangible ones. Mr. Park surged towards the imposter, intent on passing straight through the man. Unfortunately, when Mr. Park reached the imposter’s aura, Mr. Park found he couldn’t get past, stopping several feet away in the air.

“I’ve seen a technique like that before,” Big Chief said. “We’re up against a blue avian.” He turned towards Mister Hoffman, and the two men nodded at each other before placing aside their underlings. They couldn’t afford to protect them whilst fighting against a formidable foe. “I’ll back you up.”

“Don’t hit my back,” Mister Hoffman said and grunted as he reached into his pocket. He grabbed his sphere of solid hematite…, which wasn’t there for some reason. Mister Hoffman looked down and took his hand out of his pocket while flipping the pocket inside out. It was empty, save for a piece a lint. The CEO’s brow furrowed as he mumbled, “Did I not bring my sphere with me? No, I’m sure I had it….”

“What are you doing?” Big Chief asked as a crystalline gun pistol appeared in his hand. “Get your shit together.”

“My equipment set is missing,” Mister Hoffman said as he checked his remaining pockets before sprinting towards the chair he was sitting on. He crouched down low to see if his sphere had rolled underneath the table before standing on his tiptoes to get a better view.

“Missing?” Big Chief asked and turned his attention away from the two Mr. Parks to look at Mister Hoffman. “How is it missing?” Big Chief’s brow furrowed, and his head whipped back around to look at his hand. The crystalline gun he was just holding had vanished. “My gun!”

“Everything’s missing!” Mister Hoffman said, blinking his eyes rapidly. Every time he blinked, something within his vision disappeared. “Even the food is gone!”

Big Chief’s expression darkened as the shirt he was wearing vanished. If the three CEOs worked together, they could probably force the blue avian to retreat, but that was under the assumption they were all at full power. Right now, they were missing their equipment, lacking buffs, and taken off guard. It’d be a miracle if all three of them could escape with their lives. Big Chief’s eyes lit up as if an imaginary lightbulb had appeared over his head. “I got it! Mister Hoffman!”

Mister Hoffman stopped looking at the now-empty table and made eye contact with Big Chief.

“Smash the walls!” Big Chief said.

“You want me to run and call for help?” Mister Hoffman asked, his tone disbelieving.

“Yes!” Big Chief said. “People will definitely notice the signs of a battle, and….” Before he finished speaking, Mister Hoffman had already tackled a wall, shattering a hole in the crystalline material. Big Chief glanced at the unconscious bodyguards before running over to them. He prioritized his underlings first, and dragged them out of the room two at a time.

Meanwhile, Mr. Park increased the intensity of his flames, the light shifting from white to mere shimmers in the air. Even if he couldn’t make contact with the imposter, the heat from the flames would still be enough to roast him.

“You’re really getting up in my personal space,” Vercedei said, “and I don’t like that. Goodbye.”

“Is it over?” Sam asked as Big Fish closed its mouth around him. The illusion of Mr. Park vanished, leaving the real one floating in the air with an unreadable expression—mainly because his face was made of near-invisible fire. Although Sam’s aura had been crystallized, Mr. Park was right; the high temperature of the flames was burning him even with hardened muscles and a calm mind capable of withstanding the pain.

“It’s over,” Vercedei said. “We got what we came here for.”

“Food?” Sam asked, recalling the reason they had entered the restaurant in the first place. “We could’ve gotten that without the huge hassle of fighting three CEOs.”

“Two of them didn’t even fight,” Vercedei said, “so your complaint isn’t valid.”

“It was still more work than necessary,” Sam said.

“No,” Vercedei said, “you needed to see how much you’ve grown over the past decade. Since you’ve been stuck inside Big Fish fighting blue avians, your standards have warped, and with that fight, you now know where you stand amongst humans—at the very top.”

Considering he knew more blue avian techniques than human techniques, and blue avians were to humans as eagles were to mice, Sam agreed with Vercedei’s assessment. As long as he fought like a blue avian against someone who hadn’t unlocked all seven of their mortal chakras, the ones in their body, their chances of winning were abysmal. Even someone like Mr. Park who could shift into different forms of matter by tapping into a crystal’s frequency with his talent couldn’t do anything to grievously harm Sam.

“If you want to influence the direction of humanity, you can,” Vercedei said. “You can create your own company and use a little bit of force to convince the top employees of the six big companies to defect to yours. You can become the seventh big company, or even the top company above all others if you want to go down that route. With the graylings helping you, it won’t even take much effort.”

Whenever Sam’s familiar offered him a suggestion, it usually meant they wanted him to do it for their own amusement or gain. Although Sam didn’t feel any particular need to become the CEO of the company leading humanity, he noticed his familiars seemed to have a goal of collecting species. Birdbrained led the graylings, and Vercedei was leading the Venusians. Now, the twin-headed snake wanted him to lead the humans.

“It was just a suggestion,” Vercedei said and slithered off of Sam’s face.

Green hues entered Sam’s vision as the interior of the whale’s mouth filled his physical vision. He took in a deep breath through his nose and exhaled through his now-free mouth. The ground shifted underneath him, shuttling Sam off into a nearby building reserved for him. He was placed on a chair with a table in front of him. Raindu crawled out of Sam’s shirt and retrieved dish after dish from its fur, setting the table for Sam. Then, it leaned over and grabbed a piece of expensive bacon before retreating back inside of Sam’s shirt.

A golden tapeworm’s head popped out of Sam’s mouth. “Something smells good,” Nwaps said and pointed at the dish it wanted to eat the most. “Get me that one first.”

Sam ignored the writhing in his esophagus as the tapeworm slinked back into his stomach and probably deeper within. From a battle inside a fancy restaurant to a meal by his lonesome within a whale’s mouth, however, Sam wasn’t disappointed. He had dulled his sense of expectation, so when things didn’t go his way, he wouldn’t care because his hopes couldn’t be dashed if he had none. “Are you escaping safely?” Sam asked the green whale with his mind before pulling the dish Nwaps had demanded to eat closer to himself.

“Yes,” Big Fish said. “I’ve shrunk down to a microscopic level. They’re not finding me, but it’s going to take a while to fly out of this building.”

It was enough time to have a meal then. The food on the dish in front of Sam floated up into the air before heading towards Sam’s mouth. He didn’t need utensils to eat, not when he could telekinetically grasp, cut, and tear without getting his hands dirty. Sam chewed and couldn’t help but wonder what the point of being rich was if he was just going to eat stolen meals anyway. It wasn’t like he couldn’t afford to make a reservation at that restaurant, so why did he have to steal someone else’s food?