Ch 158

  Matt's puppet looked the horned man over once before patting him on the back and turning his attention towards the others as his cells worked their way into the horned man's body. He could tell that all of them were on edge as he sat down and looked at them as if he was bored already. While his skill had failed to kill the horned man, it had still caused catastrophic damage to his body. Matt suspected that the man's internal organs were all but destroyed, blood vessels rupturing beneath his bronze-tinted skin. Though, it was likely that if the attack hadn't caused him to violently explode, the backlash would have been even less severe. For instance, had it only beheaded him, the horned man would likely be dealing with a slit throat at most. While back on Earth something like that could have been fatal, now, it would be only slightly annoying, like a paper cut to these enhanced beings.

  "You know, he's lucky that he did that to my puppet and not me, as I can only utilize around ten percent of my power in this body," stated Matt's puppet, flexing its small fingers. "You claim that I lack the power to protect what I own. Well, I say that we can either work to find a solution that we can all be happy about, or I can escape today and ensure that you pay in the future."

  "You are just one person," retorted the white-haired woman who had given him the order to surrender. "Even if you reach S rank one day, you can't possibly think that—"

  "I almost single-handedly did the same thing that caused the gate behind you to be rerouted to six more gates in an S-ranked organization's main hub," cut in Matt's puppet. "I think it would be best if you don't assume what I am capable of doing and simply imagine what an ormr would do and act as if that is what you will be dealing with."

  "You make some lofty claims," retorted the hooded man, shadows concealing all but the gleam of his eyes. "Perhaps you should be the one to worry about what an ormr would do!"

  Matt's puppet couldn't help but start laughing as he heard the man's words. He was already well past the point of worrying about such things.

  "You find the thought of an ormr seeking your destruction to be funny?" questioned the hooded man, anger rising in his voice as his fingers curled into fists beneath his sleeves. "I assure you that they are no laughing matter!"

  "Oh, but you see, I already am dealing with two, so why would I care about a third," retorted Matt. "I just spent some time with one who threatened to kill me if I didn't surprise him with the speed of my growth. The depth of my current clone puppet skill is all thanks to that pressure. See, you don't scare me as I already have bigger threats on the horizon, not to mention that you do as well, unless the Mithril Pits were only connected by the gate that I just rerouted. Then, well I suppose that world will wind up being controlled by Godfrey Enterprises, or whoever comes out on top between the organizations I just connected before long."

  It was clear that all those present besides Matt's puppet were taken aback by his claims, and while some seemed ready to call him out on them, a single look at the horned man gave them pause. At first, they had thought that he had been injured and would need a few seconds to recover, but now, it was clear that he was in bad shape as the blue-skinned woman went to work on him, her hands glowing with a soft azure light. This meant that the dark-skinned woman was once more being ignored as she cradled her stump where her forearm and hand should have been, droplets of crimson blood still falling to the floor.

  Deciding that he might as well show both sides of the coin, Matt's puppet made his way over to her and before she could do anything, touched her thigh and healed her. A moment later his size reduced by 25%, and he developed his own bloody stump where his hand had been. It took him a few seconds to heal it completely. This single action caused a whole new wave of questions to cross all of their faces as it was clear they hadn't believed Matt when he said what he could do.

  "What? I said that healing wounds like that are no big deal for me," commented Matt's puppet, flexing his newly regenerated fingers. "Though my puppets have to sacrifice mass to use that ability and well, I think it goes without saying that the drawbacks to that are massive. Now, do any of you want to start our conversation over, or has all of this just been one massive waste of time?"

  As the members of the Interstellar Administration considered their response, things had gotten out of hand back on Godfrey Enterprises' teleportation gate hub. There the swarm had managed to get much further than they had against Rudan and Qudan, as two S-rank insectoids had fortified their position while their chittering soldiers kept pouring out of the shimmering gate. It hadn't helped that there were six other breaches that needed containment as S-ranks were being called in to deal with the issues, and the few that were on hand didn't want to risk their levels to push back the swarm's relentless advance.

  Were it not for the fact that Godfrey Enterprises' S-ranks had chased after Matt's puppets once they started moving, things might have been different. Instead, the same S-rank owl-man who had killed Matt's puppet was only now reaching the scene, his feathered brow furrowed as he considered what to do. Golden eyes scanning the chaos, he could only think of one course of action as he called out an order in a voice that cut through the din of battle.

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  "All those below A-rank evacuate now! All those A-rank and up, it is time for a fighting retreat towards the capital. This hub is done no matter what we do, and the order for each gate to be destroyed is sure to come any minute now. We need to contain the swarm here or every world we are responsible for will fall."

  "Won't that mean we'll be trapped here?" asked an A-rank wolf-man not far from the front lines of the fight, his silver fur matted with insectoid blood.

  "Yes, but someone has to be or the swarm will follow the last one through the gate," replied the owl-man. "However, don't worry. If I am still alive at that point, it will be my role to be left behind."

  "Man, this is a real mess," commented a muscular human man with no shirt on, his torso glistening with sweat despite the cool air. "Not only did I wind up in some random place, but there's a bunch of bugs wanting to claim everything as theirs. At least it should be a nice bit of exercise."

  "Wait right there!" shouted the owl-man, not recognizing the new arrival. "Go back to—"

  "Piss off, weak shit," cut in the man. "There are some bugs to squash and I'm about to take care of it. Just don't close the gate behind me, or my team will be sure to kill every one of you cowards."

  Before the owl-man even finished speaking, the man was already on the front lines, and a second later, the swarm drones were being ripped apart. It didn't make sense. The man was clearly strong, and the drones had been ignoring most individuals in the higher levels, baiting them to lose levels if they wanted to press forward. Yet, they all seemed to lose their minds as they attacked the man with reckless abandon. He walked forward casually, his muscles rippling with each effortless movement, until he reached the two S-rank insectoids. Rather than fight, both fled, their chitinous legs skittering across the floor in panic, and the man gave chase. The owl-man almost ordered the gate closed when he felt a hand on his shoulder, the grip unnaturally cold even through his feathers.

  "Be a good birdy and just sit tight," ordered a human man wearing dark leather armor that seemed to absorb the surrounding light and an aura that reeked of countless murders. "Those insects won't give Vassilis any issues. Even if there are millions of them on the other side of that gate."

  "Who are you?" asked the owl-man, his golden eyes narrowing.

  "That isn't your concern, just know that us being here means that you already have new masters, you just don't know it yet."

  The owl-man wanted to retort that the man didn't know who he was dealing with, but he couldn't. Every fiber of his being was screaming that the man next to him was far beyond what he had ever experienced before. So instead, he just stood still as he wondered just how many monsters they had to worry about dealing with because of that damn human, Matthew Pierce.

  "Care if I ask to pick your brain?" asked one of Matt's raccoon-sized puppets as it strolled up like nothing unusual was happening, its tiny hands swinging casually at its sides.

  "Maybe if you asked with your real body," retorted the man in dark leather armor, his fingers twitching near the hilt of a concealed blade. "If you don't have the courage—"

  "My real body isn't here. It is on one of the worlds that was cut off from this system, as I didn't really think being here for the chaos that is to come was a good idea."

  "I see, then I will grant you one question," the man said with a slight incline of his head.

  "Which do you value more, your skills or your level?"

  "Ha, you do know the right question to ask." The man's lips curled into a predatory smile. "Skills are the true path to power and the reason why this fool here is a sad excuse for an S rank. Too many just follow the path that others have created for them instead of risking everything to find the right path for themselves. Now time for you to share something with me—why are my instincts warning me that attacking you would be a mistake?"

  Matt's puppet held back a chuckle as it responded with a smile, its small eyes glinting with amusement. "One of my skills would see any injury you do to me returned to you, if to a lesser degree, as this is just a puppet and it can't fully utilize my powers."

  "Ha, very good. And may I know the name of a path that would allow one as low level as you to cause such harm to those higher level than you?"

  "Sure, Undying Fate Disruptor is what it's called. And yours?"

  "Hidden Dagger's Shadow," replied the man, running a finger along his dark armor. "I must say that your path is one that I have never heard anything close to. Fate Disruptor is something I heard of once before, and Undying isn't very rare, but together is a first."

  "Yeah, well I have only been integrated for one of my world's years and am about to be forced back there by the system," retorted Matt's puppet. "So, I have no clue how common your path is, though my gut is telling me that none of the words in yours are that uncommon, but most wouldn't go down a path that would have all of them together."

  "My path is actually very common," replied the man in the dark leather, his fingers tracing the hilt of his concealed blade. "It is the skills that I developed for it that aren't common. Being unpredictable in a fight is more important than having the most powerful attacks that everyone expects."

  "Thanks for the advice, but I think you might want to stop the other gates in this hub from closing. I can keep this one company as I have a few words for him anyway."

  "Oh, this whole hub is under our control already," replied the man in the dark leather, his fingers still caressing the hilt of his blade. "As are the areas just past each of the gates. I take it that you're the one behind this chaos, then, as I saw one of your puppets get ripped apart when our gate was rerouted?"

  "Yes, but I am also counting on there not being one faction that easily takes over. If that happens, well, where's a future in trade between organizations to be had then?"

  "Sorry, but the weak are eaten by the strong. That is just how things work, and as long as Vassilis is—"

  The man's words stopped short as the gate Vassilis had rushed through closed with a thunderous boom. He rushed towards it in a panic, his dark armor seeming to ripple like liquid shadow. Matt's puppet just slipped away before he could be asked if he had anything to do with it. Meanwhile, several more gates started to close as panic really set in, and most simply rushed towards the gate closest to their current location, giving up on reaching any given location. The owl-man was no different as he rushed to escape the teleportation hub, his golden eyes wide with fear, determined to shut down whichever gate he made it through.