The Path To Perfection

Chapter 43: Talk With Ozia

[The Capital]

A striking skyscraper stood erect for all to see at the very centre of the capital. This skyscraper was the main centre of command for all members of the court, the place of retreat for all Divera clan members and also the office of the current Ruler, Lord Zummi. It was strategically built here in the city next to the most protected waters of the nation.

As of now, Lord Zummi who had been present in the skyscraper when he heard the news of the rampaging founder, in all his wisdom, ordered for every exosuit user to be stationed in his immediate vicinity.

The other politicians and clan members still alive had no desire to wait for death, they all fled to the Divera Tower for safety. Even the military generals ran. When all strategies fail, they must retreat.

No one wanted to die and this place looked to be the safest right now. The generals had tried out their Mechas and had to stop. They only had a limited number and Al'ravee was reaping everything to pieces.

One of the things that were currently on their mind was how to handle a possible revolution if they survived.

On the second highest floor. The throne room.

An average-looking middle-aged man in an all-black royal suit sat on the throne with many officials before him and beside him.

"Why is this happening? Not only is the founder mysteriously still alive, but he is also going around killing the people of his own Dynasty". One of the ministers said with a deathly pale expression.

He had just arrived when he learnt that his former residence in another city had been visited by Al'ravee. If he was a bit slower, he would have been a dead man by now.

"The founder appeared out of the blue with incomprehensible power. There was no mention of him having anything too special in the past. Or are we even dealing with the same founder?". Another minister contributed with a frown.

"It's him alright. The question now is where he got these powers from and how to take them away from him. We need to find out and exploit a weakness". A general still in his military attire spoke out with a cold to my in his eyes.

A Divera clan elder spoke up with a sneer "And how do you plan to go about that?"

The general immediately feigned anger "Don't act like this isn't all you Diveras fault". He shouted out loud causing questions to pop up in the heads of some people present.

Lord Zummi who had been silent all this while, narrowed his eyes dangerously but still kept quiet.

"What are you talking about General Victor?" Another general asked.

The general, not noticing the weird way in which some people looked at him, continued talking. "You guy did the unforgivable crime of offending your ancestors. For what. Greed.

Who knows, maybe founder Ravee felt offended or is just one of those aliens in disguise all this time. Maybe, the aliens gave him his powers. MAYBE! the Divera clan have had alien blood flowing through them all this while..." He talked on, not bothering to hide the sarcasm. He revealed a lot of sensitive info to the people present.

[Silence]

General Victor stopped talking as he realised something. He had assumed that the general didn't know about it and was only taking advantage of the situation. But if he knew, then the other general should know already.

Alas, nobody that could get to his level was dumb, talk less of Lord Zummi.

Looking around, he saw the looks of pity on a lot of his colleagues' faces. But he didn't care.

He had long been fed up with the Divera clan and hoped to overthrow them gradually but it was too hard. All their family members were spread out in different states, oppressing everyone from all angles. They demanded the highest level of respect and it irritated him.

Why can't he be the Ruler, why can't his family's name be synonymous with the Diveras? Even the military had Divera clan members as half of the capable generals.

Each member where thought by their family from a young age that if they lost power, they would be hunted down and killed. So anyone who tried to convince them to betray the clan was just courting death.

As polygamy was introduced into the nation by Al'ravee, all the Rulers' wives were responsible for the needs of the Ruler. All maids were trained from as early as five years old, destined to be the concubine or wife of a low-rank Divera clan member.

A lot of people, both men and women, of all colours and heritage, would gladly drop their family name to get married into the Divera clan. What was their original name doing for them anyway?

The only way General Victor saw the hope of overthrowing them was to take the chance to turn everyone against them by sowing discord and pulling people to his side. He already had some military force loyal to him, he just had to convince the other generals and ministers.

But he had left out one important detail. The Divera clan members knew how to keep secrets too.

The Divera elder and the other general had a cold expression on their face. Clearly, they knew about this man's plans all along and intentionally said words to make him act.

They knew he was planning a rebellion and just needed a push to expose himself.

Lord Zummi needed an excuse to eliminate him and also make an example in front of his subordinates. Luckily, General Victor had presented himself as a scapegoat.

When it came to schemes, Victor was just a child in Zummi's eyes.

General Victor didn't give up though, he had access to classified Man hunters' information and had bribed some of the exosuit users in this building with the temptation of having more time to see their family and other benefits.

Too bad, Lord Zummi had someone who was not only a Divera member but also the secret commander of the Manhunters. He was the one responsible for keeping an eye on the other officials while protecting the lord.

The men and women might have accepted the bribe, but they would still let their captain know about it. What a joke, they all had been trained from childhood and adopted the Divera name as their own.

Asking them to betray the throne, that's like asking them to bite the hand that feeds them, expecting a new hand to continue feeding them.

*CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK...*

Heavy footsteps echoed in the large room as a man clad in a black metallic slim mechanical suit walked out and stood next to Lord Zummi. He had a helmet in his hand that was meant to cover his handsome face. This was Darius in his new and improved exosuit.

Behind him stood four man hunters in their respective blue and white exosuit.

"General Victor, I'm the current commander of the Man hunters present. I'd like to discuss with you about some strategies" That was all he said.

He was the only one able to make that kind of order in front of Zummi.

General Victor sighed in indignation, everyone knew he was about to be disposed of. He couldn't recognise this man, but that was enough. The fact he was here meant that he had fallen into some trap. He would just be one of the people that would fail in usurping the throne.

Just when he turned and was about to follow Darius out, another man in the usual blue-white exosuit rushed in.

"My lord, the founder has been spotted near the vicinity"

*Gasp*

Everyone's face turned sickly, even Lord Zummi who had been quiet all this time could not help but quiver in fear.

The fear he had was enough for him to have ordered nukes a long time ago but Al'ravee was always on the move and he hesitated because of the lives of the people. Now that hesitation might cost him his life.

He only hoped that some miracle will happen and the Man hunters would be able to defeat Al'ravee.

Darius' eyes narrowed in worry. Ignoring everyone including General Victor, he walked out of the throne room, into a hallway and headed for the wide balcony at the end. Lord Zummi and the rest of the figureheads, including General Victor, followed him.

After all, if Lord Zummi had so much confidence in this man to follow him, then it was better to stay by his side... Just in case.

############

"Two percent" Al'ravee whispered as he walked towards the eye-catching skyscraper calmly with his hands behind his back.

The area around the building was devoid of any humans, all chased away by Al'ravees' threatening presence.

He had already noticed the gathering of people wearing exosuits gathering at the entrance and wanted to test out the strength of these suits. 'Ozia's law sure has influenced them well'. He mused to himself.

"Please lord founder, stop this madness or we will be forced to take an aggressive approach". One of the Man hunters shouted out, using the suit to amplify his voice. But Al'ravee did not stop walking.

'Please? This reminds me of back then. *sigh* those were good times...' A smile came on his face.

As he reminisced about his time as master old freak, he divided his attention to count all Man hunters present.

'Ninety-three and more are still coming. These ones would be even more deadly than the regular man hunters I know of'.

He looked up to the open, wide balcony just below the clouds. With his enhanced vision, he could make out the silhouette of a tall black figure surrounded by multiple others.

His smile disappeared from his face. Al'ravee dashed forward and because his body was 2% total transcendent divinity, he appeared to be way faster than normal.

The Manhunters readied their weapons and charged at him without hesitation.

They were a bit shocked though. They had all expected Al'ravee to come at them with unstoppable speed and force, decimating their gathering with little effort. But he was running...

-It seems his mysterious power has temporarily left him, subdue him fast and kill him if possible- Darius spoke through the comm channel.

One of the Man hunters closed in on Al'ravee to throw rapid punches that would have left any kickboxer devastated. Al'ravee used one arm to parry all the attacks and gave him a firm blow to the tummy, sending the man to the ground.

He made a spin with the other hand, breaking the neck of another victim. While fighting, he established a link with Ozia again.

""Ozia, are you seeing this?""

""Certainly, I've had my eye on this area for some time now"" Ozia responded.

""Oh, what do you think about these suits?"" Al'ravee dodged the glowing arm blade of one Man hunter, giving him a fatal knee to the abdomen.

""They are a bit nice and okay. They give these portals the strength and flexibility of a speed or strength-type Esper of F-rank.""

Al'ravee was intrigued ""Is that impressive?"" Al'ravee asked as he got punched on the cheek. The force sent him to the ground. He did a leg sweep, clearing three of the incoming attackers.

""Yes it is. If a powerful Esper community invaded to colonise, they would be able to hold out against the low-level ones. That is if their nukes are strong enough to take out the strong ones. Then again, espers are not barbarians, they would definitely have access to their own level of technology.""

Al'ravee did a sidestep and grabbed the bladed arm of a man, then he drove that arm into the head of a female. He swung the man in a circular motion very hard. Cracking sounds were heard as the man's body slammed multiple times into his colleagues' bodies.

""So are mortals better than these espers in general?""

""Of course not, most espers were once mortals while others were born with the abilities of espers. You can say an Esper is a higher level of evolution""

Three Man hunters aimed their arm blasters at Al'ravee. Al'ravee spread his legs slightly to take on a martial art stance. His torso moved at inhuman speed, dodging all the laser blasts.

Before they had the thought to aim at his legs, Al'ravee leaned to the right and dashed towards them. Reaching the female among the three, he caught the incoming kick boosted by her sole thrusters.

*CRACK*

His elbow slammed into her kneecap, ruthlessly breaking it. He made a spin and slammed her body into the one on the left like a ragdoll. All that happened in a matter of four seconds. This was incredible as the usual teachings were on how to bring down a man in four seconds.

Yet Al'ravee had brought down two in four seconds. And the two were Man hunters, the beings that were almost peak human. Not to mention they were wearing exosuits.

*PEW TITSH!*

The last one fired his arm blaster at Al'ravees' shoulder, blasting off the entire exposed palm. Al'ravee acted like he didn't feel the pain. He sidestepped to the man's side to dodge the laser bolts of the other Manhunters.

This caused the other guy to receive friendly fire from his members but they did not care, they shot on.

Al'ravee caught the dead man before he fell over, still using the body as a shield. He took advantage of the still active arm blaster. With a light squeeze of the wrist, Al'ravee used the arm blaster to start taking out the remaining Man hunters while stepping back.

Al'ravee himself was not unscathed though, some of the laser bolts tore through the body and hit him causing serious pain. Luckily the kaftan he was wearing was very durable and didn't get damaged.

""Are these Espers really that powerful"" He asked another question.

Alravee's marksmanship proved to be superior. The last Man Hunter gritted his teeth and tried to run seeing that nothing he did brought the founder down. Even the arm had already regrown. He activated the turbo thrusters on his boots to create more distance.

Al'ravee just sacrificed a bit of his Divinity to send out an arc of electricity, frying the man.

""Not all are but they tend to be more powerful than the average mortal individually. Espers have different unique abilities that can be used for different situations. They all have a chance to grow stronger and some of them are even born strong. In fact, C-level espers are completely capable of taking on a transcendent god.

Everyone would be acting badass until one muscle-brained maniac shooting laser from his eyes starts flying around. *sigh* Al'ravee, you still have a long way to go.""

""You seem to have some experience with them"" Al'ravee walked towards the skyscraper.

""Naturally, a number of my believers are espers. You'll meet them soon enough Al'ravee, you'll meet them soon".

####################

"His powers seem to be coming back slowly". Lord Zummi said as he put down his binoculars and looked to Darius for answers.

"Yes, if my guess is correct then he lost his powers temporarily and seems to be recovering as time goes by. He refuses to die too. The only option would be to beat him down and suppress him to submission. If not... I wonder if he would remain alive if his head left his body" Darius said, not bothering to hide the killing intent laced in his tone.

Greed flashed through Lord Zummi's eyes again before he suppressed it quickly. 'Yes finally, the answer to immortality is at my fingertips'. He wondered to himself.

Darius put on his helmet, letting the ports click together. This black exosuit was made from the same material as Al'ravees' learning pod so he had a lot of confidence in it.

"Wait for the news milord". And with that, Darius stepped off the balcony and free fell towards his ancestor.

###########