Phantom trembled as the man unleashed more of his monstrous aura. It felt like dozens of hands were about to pull him down to the underworld. He hadn't even moved yet nor did he make another circle of those weird swords. Spiritual energy surged into Umbral Step but something was wrong. Every time he triggered the ability he went in the wrong direction. "You said we could win if we worked together. This doesn't fucking look like winning." He barked at Amahle as he raised his twin daggers.

  His hands trembled as he searched for a way to get away or fight this monster. How the hell did he get so strong? Weren't we all in the tutorial? Didn't we all bleed and kill to survive? Why did it feel like we were children? Suddenly a weird purple diamond appeared in the sky. He was about to activate Shadow Blast when the diamond let out a silent pulse. He braced himself for whatever fresh hell the attack would unleash but nothing happened.

  He looked around and saw similar looks of confusion on everyone else's face. Was the skill useless? Or did it make him stronger? No for someone he wasn't moving either. Phantom pushed energy toward the sigil on his left shoulder hoping to take advantage of whatever just happened. Just as the skill reached half its required energy he stopped. What if it wasn't a trick? He was the strongest man in the world there was no way a skill he used would be useless. What if he needs us to attack first? Besides what could Shadow Strike even do?

  It was better to run. No sooner did he make that decision did another thought enter his mind. There was no way he could outrun him. His agility wasn't even above two hundred yet. How the hell could he escape.

  "Where the fuck did this Mist come from?"

  Phantom was pulled from his thoughts only to find the world had been replaced. Replaced by some shit out of "Silent Hill". Panic rose from the pit of his stomach as he searched for anyone else. It was nearly impossible to see further than a few feet in front of him. Once again he attempted to activate Umbral Step only to give up halfway. A scream filled the air and his fear transformed into full-blown panic. "I won't die!" He empowered Shadow Blast with the Tao of Shadows and prepared to blow away the mist. His grip on his spiritual energy waned as the darkness claimed him.

  "Do you think they can win?" Abigail asked for the third time today. Her gaze trained on the large glass window as if the distant skyline would reveal some secret of the battle.

  "The System changed a great many things so it's hard to say." General Williams began. "Group tactics seem useless in the face of raw power but everyone loves an underdog story."

  Abigail scoffed and shook her head. She brought her cup of tea to her lips and drank deeply. "This 'Spiritual energy' is truly wonderful. I feel like I am thirty years younger."

  "If what they said in the tutorial is true then it barely matters. We could end up living thousands of years."

  The pair fell into the comfortable silence of old friends for several minutes before Abigail spoke. "James will never go along with the brat. If we don't do something when and if the time comes he will drag us all down."

  Williams chuckled at that and rubbed his narrow chin. "I am sure that would be considered treasonous to say. Where is your pride as an American."

  She shook her head and took another sip of her tea. "There is pride and then there is reality. Even if we could use that bomb he got what would be the point? He came on his own which means that the people from his city would survive the blast. Even if they killed everyone in the battle we wouldn't gather power fast enough. We would get stuck with another tyrant."

  He sighed and started to pace around the room. "It seems that the new world is built for the young. So it's your opinion that we should surrender when and if he returns?"

  She nodded. "We will have to make some concessions as to appear genuine. We could round up the former chief?"

  "No, no that would be too risky. I will bring a map of the interesting locations our scouts found. If it turns out Maximilian has some secret up his sleeve then nothing is lost."

  She laughed and placed her now empty cup on the desk. "It's almost like the good old days."

  ---

  I ended the last of my spells and surveyed the battle. I managed to spare a few of them. Everyone in the top ten survived which was an acceptable result. The battle was disappointing for lack of a better word. Amahle, Ebony Rose, and Masquerade were the only ones worth fighting. They might have won if I had stuck to facing them barehanded but once my spells were added in they were taken out. It didn't help that the lower-level cultivators were easily swayed by both Manifestation of Perfection and Realm of Consciousness.

  They were forced to fight each other more than me which only guaranteed their deaths. The battle wasn't a complete waste of time though. I got two interesting rewards. The first was a skill advancement. Manifestation of Perfection was now at the Intermediate level. From what I could it came with two changes. The area the diamond could impact was roughly doubled to around two miles. Second, it now restricted the use of movement abilities. At first, I thought it was only an improvement to the doubt effect but it wasn't

  Movement abilities just refused to work and the few that could work would either not take you far. Or the user would get hurt. The second part was much more interesting. It was a new quest, specifically, it was the Road of Kings quest.

  Road of Kings(Unique, Timed): Enter the first trial within a month. Defeat the challenge. Reward: Random Treasure(Quality based on Performance)

  I tried to activate the quest immediately but nothing happened. I made a mental note to ask Desbera about it when I got back to Amara. Now though I needed to decide what to do about the unconscious people in front of me. I was pretty sure they would wake up soon. I also didn't want to risk another fight when they woke up. I thought about it for a few minutes before I decided that it was up to them. I collected them and left them on the upper floor of the tallest building. I then went to the top of the building and blasted my aura at full strength.

  It probably wouldn't keep monsters away forever but it might buy them some time. There was also the fact that they had been trying to kill me not that long ago so I figured we were even. The next question was whether or not I should head back to the UWG. Chances are they weren't going to let this go with just this fight. As much as I want to solve things peacefully it probably wouldn't work without a little force.

  Stolen story; please report.

  Of course, there was still the Commonwealth though they shouldn't have any worth fighting. No the biggest threat to me would The System's Herald. I sighed and activated Apportation. I would hunt him down next. I had to use two portals before I was back at the UWG headquarters. Only the entire city seemed deserted. I searched with my soul sense and was pleased to find that the civilians were all in a few buildings to the north.

  The fact that they set this up already meant they knew I'd win. Or at least they planned for it. "Well, I shouldn't keep them waiting." I walked down the side of the building and prepared myself for another battle. As soon as I was in front of the door another group of soldiers came pouring out. Only a few of them were cultivators and they all had old-world weapons.

  "I am not in the mood to play around. The System has given me a quest for this. This will be the last chance I say it. Lay down your weapons or I am going to level this place." I punctuated my words with the full release of my aura. I kept it contained in this area to not get the civilians. Some of the soldiers swayed on their feet but none collapsed nor did they die which was slightly impressive. When none of them made a move I formed a halo of blades.

  "Hold on, just hold on." A voice called out from behind the group. The soldiers parted and James Maximilian walked toward me. He had a briefcase in one hand and a handgun in the other. "I am prepared to offer you one of the quest rewards we got a short while ago to leave and never come back."

  I stared at him for several seconds not sure what was going on. "Is there a bomb in that case? If there is I am going to kill you and everyone else in the building." I reached out with psychokinesis and levitated the briefcase about ten feet in the air. I waited a full minute before I decided it probably wasn't trapped. I brought the case down and left it on the ground between us.

  "I can see the writing on the wall. I am not sure what the hell this 'System' did to us but I can't win. Instead, I am using that stuff to buy my way into your graces."

  I cocked my head at him half expecting him to pull his gun and try to shoot me. After a few seconds, I realized that wasn't going to happen. I couldn't help but laugh at the old man. "Is it the power? Or is it fear?"

  "Is there a difference between the two?"

  I shrugged and stepped toward him. "Lead me to your System hub." I let the briefcase float behind us mostly to show off. There was a passive sense of nervousness. It wasn't quite dangerous but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. The soldiers settled in behind me and I could tell it wasn't them. Most of them were still pale from my aura and the ones that weren't looked like they were in a funeral procession. It was clear they were willing to give their lives to stop me but that was about it.

  By the time he led me to an elevator, I found two other people in the building. They were also in the same room as the System Hub. I expanded my Tao field but kept it to a few inches away from my skin. Just in case. We stepped out of the elevator and a short while later I was in the room with the hub. The pair that waited for us were older probably in their fifties or sixties. The man and woman stood in front of the System Hub but neither of them seemed too interested in it. I braced myself just in case this was some sort of last-ditch effort to take me out but I didn't need to bother. It turned out I wasn't the only one confused to see the pair already waiting for us.

  "Abigail? Williams? What are you two doing here?" James asked. His hand firmly wrapped around the hilt of his gun.

  "We figured someone needed to be here just in case you decided to do something unwise." The man began.

  "Though it turns out we didn't need to be too worried." She shifted her gaze to me and gave a polite smile. "You are the man who has caused all this commotion. I had heard you were beautiful but the rumors did not do you justice."

  I stood there in stunned silence for several seconds before my brain kicked into gear. "Right, right thank you. I apologize but who are you?"

  The woman laughed and offered me a slight nod of the head. "My name is Abigail. Abigail Taylor, I used to work in the Department of State. This here is General Tyler Williams formerly of the United States Military."

  I raised an eyebrow and slowly nodded. "I suppose that makes sense so it's the three of you that took control of this place?"

  "That would be correct though they are supposed to be with the other civilians." James began. "This is still a danger zone."

  I waved a hand in his direction and stepped up to the Hub. "Alright, so what is it you actually want? Let's just be blunt about it."

  "Let us maintain control over the city. You would be the leader of course but I doubt you have the logistics network to control many cities. The people here already trust us." The General started. "Further we are prepared to share a map of important locations our scouts found recently."

  I locked eyes with the trio and momentarily considered it. Ultimately they weren't wrong. I would need to take over the Commonwealth today as well so it would make things simpler. "And I suppose you are going to tell me just how useful you can be? That I won't be able to do it without your help?"

  Abigail shrugged her shoulders and then looked back at the Hub. "No idea. I imagine that between you and the people you have, you don't have a lot of time. Assuming you can unite the world, beat back whatever monsters are still out there, and do it all before the System's deadline is a gamble. That being said we aren't doing much of anything and we do know a bit about running a city. I can't speak for the others here but I am not interested in living for thousands of years or punching a hole in a mountain. I lived through enough chaos. I will do what I can to bring people a bit of normalcy but after that, it is up to you a lot."

  "You all would still be expected to follow and enforce whatever laws I or my people decide on. I am not going to be happy if I have to come back here. That being said I don't mind your suggestion. I will have some people sent over to review what you all are up to and what you can provide."

  When no one complained I placed my hand on the Hub. It took the System a moment to handle the transfer. As soon as it was done a prompt screen appeared. Based on the looks on everyone else's face they all got something similar. The city was really mine. I made a couple purchases including a teleporter and prepared to leave. "You should make an announcement to everyone. They might panic after receiving that message. I am going to deal with the Commonwealth now."

  With that, I stepped through the portal and returned to Amara. I connected with Christopher and Aaliyah through Ethereal Convocation. I explained everything I could and had them arrange the rest. After that, I decided to head to my cultivation chamber. I hadn't used a lot of energy in the battle but better safe than sorry.

  I cultivated for two hours before I checked the bond with Xerxes. I still couldn't feel anything from him which I hoped was a good thing. It was a bit odd not to have that connection anymore. Not to mention that I don't have him watching my back anymore. With that everything was done so I activated Apportation and left the city. My arrival at the Commonwealth went much the same way as the UWG. Only the city was oddly empty.

  That pervasive sense of worry was still nagging at me. Which only made me more confused. I spread my soul sense as far as I could but there were less than a hundred cultivators. Most of which were under level 15. The defensive array was still up so I was pretty sure they hadn't been killed. I decided to wait a little while just in case everyone was out on some kind of mission. When an hour had passed only two trucks had entered I decided that enough was enough.

  The only way I would get any answers is if I asked and well there was only one way to ask. There was something I wanted to test now that I had reached Advanced proficiency in Apportation. I slowly pushed the Tao of Compression into it. For a moment the sigil resisted the Tao, as if it disliked the idea of anything but spiritual energy going through it. That resistance gave way a moment later and the portal began to form. It took nearly ten seconds for the portal to fully form. It wasn't as stable as usual so I quickly entered and waited for it to reopen. I gave a mental sigh of relief when it reopened and I stepped out on top of a building.

  I hadn't been inside for more than a minute when my danger sense screamed at me. There was an alarm and then the sky darkened as a many spells shot toward me. Despite the numerous attacks I couldn't help but feel excited. I was about to make my move when I caught sight of a trio leaving one of the command tents. When I realized who it was I cocked my head to the side. It was the same group from the last time I was here. A familiar fire sparked in the core of my very being as I locked eyes with each of them and I wondered if I really was going crazy. I pushed that thought to the back of my mind as I activated Psychic Aegis in its wall form and started laughing.