Reborn: Apocalypse - Volume 2

Director Prime…

This single man had caused Micheal a huge amount of concern .

In the Nightrunners, everyone, even up to Mr 1, was someone Micheal could handle . All of the Numbers members had extraordinary or unusual powers, many of them ones that were unnatural or absurd .

However, with the future knowledge he held and the experience he owned, Micheal was confident that his planning could account for each and every one . Even Mr 1, who, in the future, became the last ranked S Ranker, wasn"t powerful beyond all reason .

Director Prime, however…

He was a problem .

Director Prime was not only a tactical genius that could stop time, but the strongest S Ranker in the Main Cl.u.s.ter .

In fact… he was the strongest human in the entire First Layer .

His strange Ability, the Limited World Matrix Type Ability, sounded extremely impressive . After all, the power to stop time was an incredible power that many would be jealous over .

In actuality, this Ability was considered a middling one at best . In fact, it didn"t even cost 100,000 Points to purchase in the Shop .

Prime had never been an Irregular . He started out with a small number of Points and worked his way up, reaching the position he held today through sheer determination . The man was obsessed with learning, practice, training .

He wasn"t exactly evil . But his obsessions would get the better of him, in the history that Micheal was aware of . He was coldly logical, but also emotional at times .

The World Matrix Type Ability caused time to almost literally freeze . When time was frozen, Prime was physically unable to move .

Instead, the Director experienced a type of magical vision, where the frozen world around him was projected into a mental world .

The Director was free to explore this mental world to his heart"s content, all while time continued to remain in a state of absolute stillness, limited only by the strength of his Soul .

Everything within around 50 meters of the man was perfectly and completely replicated into his mental World Matrix .

In that world, he could do absolutely anything and everything he wanted . He could read a thousand books, go through ten thousand reports, practice his sword technique a thousand times .

He could move forward and examine the movements of his enemies, able to see exactly what they were doing . Nothing could be hidden from his sight, not even the slightest thing .

When time resumed its normal pace, the world around him would be completely unaffected .

The knowledge he gained from that, however, remained as ever .

Even with all of the forces of the Big 3, and the various other powers combined, killing Director Prime had, in the end, come down to something that was close to sheer luck, possible only because of Pedro Almaraz"s unique Limited Type Ability .

Sophia wasn"t aware of all of this . Micheal had purposefully left this information out, partly because he felt if she knew, it would only worry her, but also because knowledge could be a curse . There were many mystical, searching Abilities out there, and her knowing the truth could only put her at unnecessary risk right now .

What she did know was that Pedro Almaraz was extremely important to Micheal . She needed to get him to agree to help them, without question .

"This… this can cure my girls?!" Pedro looked at the leather pouch and the glowing pills within it, his voice full of sheer disbelief .

Advertis.e.m.e.nt"Yes . I can guarantee it . " Sophia replied with a tone that brooked no opposition, her faith in Micheal absolute . If he said it would work, it would work .

The Brigadier General looked at her for a few seconds, the air around him s.h.i.+vering . A tense silence settled as the two stared at each other .

A second later and the moment pa.s.sed .

Pedro stood up, sending his chair flying backwards with the force of his abrupt rise . His hand blurred as it shot out, s.n.a.t.c.hing up the bag of magical pills .

"If . . . if what you say is true, Miss K… then I shall forever be in your debt . Anything you ask of me, as long as it is a just act, I will help you . " A powerful aura of energy burst out around Pedro as the man looked at her with eyes that watered . The man"s right fist was clenched tight, while his left hand delicately held onto the leather bag .

"Yes!" Sophia was ecstatic, but hid her emotions as she calmly smiled back, maintaining her casual disguise .

"What we ask of you will not be unreasonable and definitely just . We just need your help . " She continued, nodding her head sharply .

"We can make contact with you again when you have verified the truth of the medicine offered . How about in-" Before she could finish, the man cut her off .

"We will verify it, and then test it, right now . " General Pedro stood up, his voice suddenly booming out with authority,

"Captain Sheffer!"

"Yes, sir!" Immediately, the Captain returned to the room, standing at attention with a sharp salute as he burst through the door .

"Ready my escort . We are returning to the main base for a brief respite . " The Brigadier General"s voice brooked no argument as he gave his orders .

"Yes, sir!" Captain Sheffer replied again, a hint of excitement in his tone as he quickly left the room . In the background, Sophia could hear him barking orders out, gathering up several squads .

"Um . " Sophia stared at the Brigadier General, slightly in shock at his abrupt actions .

Pedro looked at her, giving her a warm smile .

"Don"t worry . The journey and verification will take a couple of hours at most, we aren"t far from where we need to go . If everything you said is true, I will keep my word . " He walked around his desk, gentlemanly offering a hand to help her up .

"You won"t have any issue traveling with me for that short period, will you?" As Sophia took his hand, she felt the man"s fierce, but gentle grip . There was a subtle hint of danger in the man"s tone, flamed by the man"s obsessive desire to cure his wife and daughter .

"No, of course not!" Internally, Sophia"s heart fluttered .

"What do I tell s.h.i.+n? Wait, how do I even talk to him?! He should know to follow secretly, right . . ?" Her thoughts were a mess as the Brigadier General escorted her from his office to a much larger gathering room .

Inside, she found dozens of warriors putting on various pieces of armor and equipment . When the Old Airwing Military Alliance members went out, no matter what, they went armed to the teeth and prepared for absolutely anything .

True to General Pedro"s word, in just a few short moment, a force of roughly 100 warriors was formed . They all stood on standby as they listened to Captain Sheffler and a couple of other men that Sophia didn"t know bark out orders, preparing to leave immediately .

. . . . . . . . . . . .

"Man, these windows are tough . They sure lookin" h.e.l.la rough . " s.h.i.+n poked the large, gla.s.s window with his finger as he rhymed, eyeing it suspiciously . All the windows on these skysc.r.a.pers looked like regular gla.s.s windows, yet he"d never managed to damage one, even with his expanded bullets .

He was currently standing in a room that actually wasn"t always unoccupied . The closest had several sets of military fatigues and other outfits stuffed into it . It seemed someone was using this room to sleep in while the Old Airwing Military Alliance was in the area .

It made sense, given that he had teleported into the same skysc.r.a.per that Sophia was currently in .

As his grasp of his Limited Phasing Warper Type Ability grew, s.h.i.+n had grown more and more adept at teleportation . It had rapidly become second nature to him, something that was starting to feel as natural as raising his arm .

The tens of thousands of translucent lines of energy that he saw, tiny ropes connecting one place to another, had become a familiar sight to him . These small ropes held s.p.a.ce itself together, keeping reality steady .

With his current experience and familiarity, s.h.i.+n had found that he could teleport roughly 35 meters in any direction .

s.h.i.+n used his skills to his advantage as he warped his way after Sophia, stalking her progress through the skysc.r.a.per all the way till she moved out of sight .

However, she wasn"t truly out of sight to him .

s.h.i.+n"s ability to teleport involved him sending out a line of energy that he warped along, like the tens of thousands of lines of energy he saw thanks to his Ability . His line of energy could connect to anything and anywhere, and he could send multiple lines out if he wished, though they could only last around 35 meters .

He could even, he had discovered, send an energy line out and hook it on to someone . The people he "hooked" as he called it, couldn"t feel his energy line and he couldn"t do anything with that line, not that he could tell .

This line, however, would constantly track the person to anywhere within 35 meters .

s.h.i.+n took full advantage of this as he teleported through various skysc.r.a.pers, keeping Sophia within his range .

He had a couple of close calls as he warped into this new territory, including teleporting into a room while a man was showering next door .

But now, he"d found himself tucked below in a private room that was currently empty, waiting patiently for Sophia to move . She had been led in by some official looking men and he hadn"t directly seen her since .

"Oh?" s.h.i.+n"s eyes widened as he felt Sophia"s energy line begin to move . He walked away from the window, standing next to the doorway as he looked up .

"Woah . " He ducked back against the wall as he heard dozens of men running through the hallway right next to him . He could hear excited shouts and yells as the warriors quickly moved somewhere with purpose .

He sent out several lines of energy and tracked a few of them, curious . He watched as the soldiers he was tracking joined up near where Sophia was at . They stayed there for several moments, causing him to frown slightly .

He then watched in confusion as both Sophia and all of the soldiers began to leave, moving upward in a single group till they reached the roof, stretched to the very edge of s.h.i.+n"s senses .

"What on Earth . . ?" He whispered slowly as he stared at the roof .

A moment later, he let out an abrupt yelp, his eyes widening . Sophia, and the rest of the soldiers, had all shot off towards the side, leaving .

"W-wait for me!" His body s.h.i.+mmered as reality around him distorted and he teleported away, chasing after the fleeing group .

"…"

"…"

"…is someone there?" In the aftermath of s.h.i.+n"s yell, the door to a connecting bathroom gradually crept open, revealing a soldier with his pants around his ankles and a magazine, of all things, in his hands, peeking around the corner .

After a few moments, the soldier shut the door, grumbling to himself about rhyming ghosts…

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Meanwhile, while Sophia was traveling with the General and s.h.i.+n was scrambling behind after them…

Micheal hummed to himself as he sat down on a small, but comfortable, plush bed . Around him, a mid-sized room spread out, with a pair of dressers and a connecting bathroom . The lighting in the room had been dimmed by him, giving it a serene, peaceful appearance .

The spot Micheal had left for was a small, mostly unoccupied skysc.r.a.per that lay within the territory of the G.o.dfather Organization . It wasn"t directly on the way to anyone at all, but a rather out of the way location . It had taken him quite a bit of time to get here, but the journey had been uneventful .

Outside, daylight had fallen away and it was not only well into the evening, but also gradually approaching nighttime .

Before he went anywhere else, whether to check up on s.h.i.+n and Sophia or seek out Head Cameron of the G.o.dfather Organization, Micheal had decided on a single course of action .

It was time to break through to the Earth Tier of Ki Cultivation .

"Status . " He mentally called up his status screen .

— - Status — -

Name: Micheal Care

Points: 31,289

Race: Human

Physique: 1 Star

Soul Quality: 1 Star

Age: 18

- Stats -

Strength - 60

Endurance - 45

Recovery - 43

Soul - 23

Abilities - (5/7)

Life Orb Master

Ki Cultivator (Mortal Tier - Peak)

Grandmaster Sword Mastery (1/5)

Impact Release

Ceaseless Mind

.

His stats and everything were largely identical to the last time he checked it . The only new addition was the Ceaseless Mind Ability he"d added, which didn"t affect his stats, and the sharp decrease in Points as a result of buying that rather expensive Ability . He couldn"t deny its usefulness, however .

Thanks to it, his memories were far clearer, allowing him to make great use of his past, and he could think and plan things with a stronger mind . Micheal was well aware that his strongest power, at the moment, was his foreknowledge .

He sighed as he looked over everything .

It was taking too much time to get powerful .

He"d experienced it personally when he fought against the two geniuses of the future Dawning Six . Both of them had purchased a slew of likely permanent—and sub-optimal beyond the First Layer—Abilities, allowing them to bridge the gap between them and Micheal . Fighting them while trying not to kill or seriously injure, while also hiding his ident.i.ty, had proven extremely difficult .

Those 2 were probably the strongest Fourth Wavers behind Micheal right now . Even with his restricted Ability choices, he highly doubted any current Fourth Wave Chosen would be able to match up with him if he went all out .

His current strength, however, was lacking compared to those that had been here for years . If he wanted to deal with future threats, to stop all the impending disasters, he needed to prepare for them suitably . Increasing his Ki Cultivation was one of the best ways to address that .

Micheal took a deep breath as he relaxed on the bed, feeling the energy in his body flow through his veins . He was at the very Peak of Mortal Tier Ki Cultivation, the absolute highest level he could get without breaking through .

Each Tier of Ki Cultivation was its own beast . Crossing Tiers, in particular, was the most difficult part . One could easily resolve this and skip it entirely if they had the Points, but doing so would have significant effects on one"s development . Future progress would become harder and each step forward would give lesser results .

Breaking through to the Earth Tier of Ki Cultivation could be accomplished in a mult.i.tude of ways . It required one to have been at the Peak of Mortal Tier for several days, stabilizing one"s body, veins, and Soul .

Some people used certain rare or expensive medicines, some directly from the Shop while others formed as a result of intensive research . On the First Layer, most of those methods were held secret in each group, for those that didn"t have the talent to break through on their own .

For those that did hold some basic capacity, through a combination of determination, building a stable foundation, and possessing the knowledge to push forward, it was entirely possible to reach Earth Tier without using outside help at all .

This was exactly Micheal"s goal .

The Ki energy in Micheal"s veins began to pulse as he concentrated on it . The inner energy moved in line with his heartbeat, full of vital power and strength .

Slowly, the intensity of the energy began to increase . It became more and more concentrated, raw power running flush within his veins . Micheal could feel his body begin to tingle, from his toes to his head .

A few minutes pa.s.sed as the energy grew stronger and stronger, pus.h.i.+ng him forward .

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After 15 minutes, as the energy Micheal was focusing in his body grew so powerful it began to hurt, a resonance seemed to shake his Soul .

When he felt that, he smiled .

The process every single time one broke through, from Mortal Tier all the way up to at least King Tier, was close to identical .

One needed to concentrate their Ki to the absolute maximum, reaching the very limit one"s body could safely hold . This was the second most dangerous part of the process, where even the slightest mistake could damage your veins and body, setting you back or even crippling you .

Once one"s Ki reached the point where he could start to break through to the Earth Tier, one"s Soul would fluctuate and a warrior would feel a special resonance .

And at that exact moment, as Micheal felt his body s.h.i.+ver…

The most dangerous and final part of a Ki Tier breakthrough began .

The Heart Trial .

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