Chapter 139 Duplicator!
"…." Alex was slightly dazed for a few seconds as he stared at Foresight"s elegant appearance.
He only broke out of the daze when he felt Alina"s elbow plowing on his right side, which was coupled with a p.i.s.sed gaze from Alina.
"Behave, hooman." Asteria said as she watched Alex"s discomfort with satisfaction. "Don"t tell me you are into MILFs these days? Because I am sure Foresight is one hot MILF."
"Pfft…" The devilish-looking Guide of the mad scientist giggled a little from hearing Asteria"s joke. "That"s funny." The little devil said as he gave Alina a thumbs-up. "But it will be better if that MILF is THICC…."
This reply prompted Asteria to give an amused smile to the little devil, which the little devil reciprocated with a smile of his own.
"Oh great, now these two are about to be friends." Alex muttered to himself as he decided to keep these two Guides as far away as they can from each other.
Alex then heard some swoos.h.i.+ng sounds above him, as the 4 Pantheon Members descended towards the ground.
Alex watched with curiosity as a Non-Superhuman approached the descending Myth.
The two shook hands with each other, with the Non-Superhuman giving Myth a strained smile.
With his research, Alex knew that this Non-Superhuman was the Head of the SHA Division here in Grand Point City, also called as Division Director Green.
The balding man look certainly stressed as he talked to the Pantheon members, no doubt because of the incoming disaster.
Alex strained his ears as he tried to eavesdrop on the conversation between Myth and Director Green.
"-still a lot of time to prepare for the enemy." Alex heard Myth saying to Director Green as she patted his shoulder. "If we do this right, we can defeat the enemy quickly. But for that to work, everyone here must cooperate with each other, villains and heroes combined."
"Well, the cooperation part will be a difficult one." Director Green replied as he let out an audible sigh. "A lot happened here in the recent days, and I think these happenings could be a detriment to a possible working relations.h.i.+p here."
Alex then saw Director Green glaring at their direction, as if he was blaming him for what had happened.
"Oh great… so this man is now blaming us for our heroic actions? What an a.s.s." Alex muttered to himself as he recognized that look given by Director Green as the blaming kind of look.
To Alex"s amus.e.m.e.nt, Myth seems to have been offended by what the Director said. "I think you are thinking of our Heroes and Villains too lowly. I am sure that with the right words, they can be persuaded to help us out. "
"If only that was the case…" Alex heard Director Green muttering as he put his head down. "There are still a lot of hidden factors here…"
"Hohohoho, so the bald-headed leader of the SHA Division looks kind worried here. I wonder why~" Before Myth and Director Green could continue their conversation, a lively voice suddenly interrupted them. "My, my, why are you wearing a frown in your face, Director? You should always smile!"
Alex looked at the source of the lively voice, and what he saw made him think of one word.
FLAMBOYANT.
The speaker was a man, who was wearing a very form-fitting latex suit. It was so fit that there were some parts of the man"s body that were being outlined prominently much to Alex"s disgust.
He was also wearing a blood-red robe, coupled with a long cape trailing behind him.
The man"s hair was an array of dizzyingly bright colors, which were fanning behind him.
The man"s mask was a perfect fit for his face, only leaving holes for his mouth, eyes, and nose.
Every now and often, this man will a.s.sume some kind of pose, which made his latex-covered body adopting weird and eye-averting positions.
Alex was not sure on what to say about this man, as he could only think of him as extremely flamboyant and lively.
"Oh it"s you, Engorgio." Director Green said as his lips trembled while saying the man"s name. "I never thought that someone like you will be partic.i.p.ating here."
"Well, that was I thought too." Engorgio replied as he made a leaning pose. "But then I saw Mafioso and Glacia coming, here, so I decided to come here, just to complete the Triad."
"Your presence here makes me extremely uncomfortable, but with your help here, facing off against the threat will be a little easier." Director Green replied as he carefully distanced himself away from Engorgio. "Just remember to not show anything inappropriate later. Others might not… like it."
"Oh… so you think that showing my perfectly chiseled body to others will bring adverse effects on them? I feel quite insulted by that." Engorgio replied as he tilted his head.
"Just don"t enlarge what should not be enlarged!" Director Green yelled in anger. "I don"t want anyone seeing your antics here. Do you understand that?"
"Yes…." Engorigio replied as he let out a pout. "I will try my best to not do that, but accidents might happen, you know."
"…."
Alex could not help but facepalm after hearing the conversation between the two. What he heard just cemented Engorgio"s status from the rumors that Alex heard.
From his research, Alex knew that Engorgio was the third Supervillain here in Grand Point City, and was the third member of Triad, along with Glacia and Mafioso.
Engorgio"s Superhuman ability was obviously related to his name.
His name Engorgio, which comes from "engorge", which means to be "to swell", is quite fitting for his power.
Engorgio can increase or decrease the size of his body at whim.
He can reach gigantic sizes, and he can shrink himself up to extremely small sizes.
He can also use this power on other objects. But that object must be a non-living object, which means that Engorgio can enlarge a pencil, but not a dog or another person.
Fortunately, there are still some limitations with his power.
First is that in order for him to shrink or enlarge anything other than himself, he has to touch that object before his power kicks in.
The second limitation was that there is a time constraint with his power.
Making an object double or halve of its size will take a minute, while making an object triple or become one- third of its size will take 2 minutes to work. Making an object quadruple or become one-fourth of its size will take 3 minutes to work.
Quintuple or one-fifth of its size: 4 minutes.
s.e.xtuple or one-sixth of the size: 5 minutes.
This pattern will apply on the other size changes too.
This limitation will mean that the larger or smaller Engorgio wanted an object to be, it will take a longer time for that effect to work.
Dispelling the effect will also take as long as the time needed for the effect to work in the first place.
So, if Engorgio dispels his power on a pen that was doubled in size, will take a minute for that pen to get back on its normal size. 2 minutes if the pen was tripled in size.
Even with these limitations in place, Engorgio was able to place himself as one of the major Supervillains here in Grand Point City with him creatively using his power.
But aside from being a villain, Engorgio was also known from his weird and unique… antics.
Just by looking at Engorgio talking with Director Green was enough to show his weird side.
"…" Alex idly looked at Mafioso and Glacia, who both looked uncomfortable and p.i.s.sed as they looked at Engorgio.
Well, even Alex will feel uncomfortable if he was facing a person whose name connotes something that is not really appropriate for children.
"I think I should steer clear from Engorgio as long as possible." Alex thought to himself as he could only imagine what Asteria would do If she sees Engorgio"s weird activities.
Foresight, who was staying quiet as she landed on the ground, started to speak with that soothing voice of hers.
Her voice echoed all throughout the area, catching everyone"s attention to her.
Alex"s thoughts were broken as he decided to listen to her. copy
"Everyone, stop whatever you are doing now. I am about to tell you all about the abilities of the incoming threat, so all of you have to listen." Foresight said as he eyes narrowed in concentration.
"…" Everyone went quiet after hearing wthat Foresight said, as they listened to what she was about to say.
"For now, we will call the incoming Cla.s.s SSS Threat as Duplicator. Duplicator has the ability to copy a single Superhuman Ability." Foresight said to the crowd. "Once copied, this ability will be used by Duplicator to its maximum level. Duplicator cannot copy more than one Superhuman Ability, hence its designation as a Cla.s.s SSS Threat. "
Foresight then tilted her head as she continued talking.
So, if the Superhuman Ability that Duplicator copies was the ability to create small pebbles, in the hands of Duplicator, this ability will change into creation of gigantic asteroids. If the copied ability was the ability to create small explosions, in the hands of Duplicator, this ability will change into the creation of explosions at the level of nuclear bombs!"
"!!!!" Alex could not help but curse out after hearing what Foresight said.
An enemy that can copy your ability and use it on its maximum level? That is just unfair! Now, Alex can understand why Duplicator was considered a Cla.s.s SSS Threat. If it copies one ability here, then many will surely die as a result!
It was good that Duplicator can only copy one Superhuman Ability. Because of it can copy many, then everyone is doomed already.
Once he reached this thought, Alex suddenly felt confusion as he realized something.
If Duplicator can copy a one Superhuman Ability, then why did the Pantheon allow countless Superhumans to gather on the place where the threat will appear? Won"t that just give Duplicator the chance to get a power?
Other Superhumans seems to have the same thoughts too, as they started giving confused glares to Foresight.
"Hey, if that is Duplicator"s power, then why have you gathered us here?" Mafioso, who was quiet earlier, suddenly said as he tapped his cane on the floor. "And why are you Pantheon members also here? We are doomed if Duplicator copies one of your abilities! Do you really want us all to die?"
"Of course not." Foresight replied as she shook her head lightly. "Actually, having all of us here is better."
"Explain it to us." Mafioso gruffly said as he gnored the hostile gaze coming from Myth. "You have to ensure all of us that we are not heading to a slaughter here."
Foresight did not show any indication that she was p.i.s.sed by what Mafioso said as he began talking.
"The superhuman ability that Duplicator can copy will depend on the nearest superhuman to Duplicator, regardless of the distance. That means that even if there are none of us here when Duplicator arrives later, it can still copy an ability depending on the nearest Superhuman to it, even if that Superhuman was 90 kilometers away from him. Do you understand what that means, right?"
Alex nodded his head after hearing this, understanding what Foresight meant.
Even if all the Superhumans evacuate themselves away from Grand Point City, Duplicator can still copy a superhuman ability on the Superhuman nearest to it.
Even if that Superhuman was 50 or 100 kilometers away from Duplicator, as long as it was the nearest Superhuman to Duplicator, this Superhuman"s ability will still be copied!
"Evacuating is useless, so staying here is better. "Foresight coolly said to Mafioso. "Oh, and once Duplicator arrives here, we will place a Superhuman with the weakest ability next to Duplicator. That way, Duplicator will get the weakest ability, and then all of us will have our fun attacking him."
"That is a great plan." Alex muttered to himself, admiring the plan said by Foresight.
This plan is just like hitting two birds with one stone: Making sure that Duplicator will be weak, and that there is a powerful force ready to repel it.
By placing the Superhuman with the weakest ability next Duplicator later, the ability that Duplicator copies will surely be weak, even if with the amplification status.
All of the Superhumans here can then have their fun attacking Duplicator who copied a weak Superhuman ability.
"…Your logic is sound, and I have no choice but to accept it." Mafioso said as he tapped the ground with his cane.
His displeasure was quite apparent in his face, although he did his best to now show it.
"But… which Superhuman should we place near Duplicator later?" Of course, this question is the elephant in the room.
"Well, any volunteer?" Foresight said as she looked at the crowd. "We will gladly appreciate your help here!"
Seconds later, and n.o.body from the crowd raised their hands.
After all, who among them would want to admit that their ability is weak? Besides that, n.o.body would want to be placed near the Cla.s.s SSS Threat! Even without the copied power, Duplicator"s body will surely be as tough like the other Cla.s.s SSS threats before!
"n.o.body, really?" Although Foresight"s tone seemed to be disappointed, she seemed to be not disappointed at all, as if she had already seen this happening.
Oh right, she surely did see this happening.
"Well, it"s a good thing that I have already seen this happening, so I already had chosen someone who will be the beneficiary of Duplicator"s power!" Foresight cheerfully said as she began to look amongst the crowd.
Everyone in the crowd stiffened, as they realized that Foresight had actually chosen a "sacrifice" amongst them!
Many began to s.h.i.+ver nervously, as they wished that it would not be them.
Being chosen by Foresight will not only damage their pride, but also bring their life in danger.
"Please not me, please not me…" Alex heard these murmurs around him, prompting him to snort in amus.e.m.e.nt
"Okay, who could be the unlucky guy?" Alex thought to himself as he began to feel sorry for the person chosen by Foresight. "I wish you luck, whoever you could be…"