Evolving Infinitely From An E-Class Hero-Chapter 62: Clash Of Egos
Another set of agents rushed over to Tech Armor and lifted him from the ground, placing him in a stretcher and carrying him to an aircraft that touched down.
Just then—
Tap!
Tap!
Tap!
Then—
Bam!
I could feel the presence shift, and I have felt that before; at Ghost Town inside the High Orcs space ship.
He’s here.
Boots touched the ground with a gentle tap, but every agent or soldier in the vicinity immediately stepped aside and/or straightened up as if pushed by an invisible force.
A man in a sleek suit, but not black as before. A white sleek coat and a scar prominent as ever running down his face.
He strode forward after coming off the aircraft, every footstep of his echoed like a commanding reminder of his status.
The Apostle.
"Gentlemen," he began.
"What a charming mess you’ve made... I suggest you applaud yourself..."
Clap
Clap
Clap
He smacked his hands sarcastically, while taking a slow gaze across the landscape and the damage done to it.
Golden Guardian diffused his flickered eyes and lowered his gaze slightly, just for a moment. War Man crossed his arms, I straightened up and winced slightly as my headache grew worse.
This was a turning point for me. Because, The Apostle was a high ranking official at the ISA. The Presidents subordinate, if he said to a fault that I was a threat rather than a hero, I would be stripped of my ISA license and I would be known as an unhinged meta.
He has the power to do that and he could most definitely do that after seeing the wreckage I and Mr. golden fragile ego caused.
The Apostle looked at each of us like a disappointed school teacher.
"Jordan Smith... Golden Guardian..."
"Tsk..."
"Tsk..."
"Tsk..."
He clicked his tongue several times.
"I assume you had your reasons... But you’ll be briefing an incident report detailing why you engaged a fellow hero without going through sanctioned sparring channels."
He didn’t answer.
He shifted his gaze to me. "And you... For someone who is being closely monitored by the ISA for threat levels, you’ve certainly made a name for yourself. No report will be expected form you..."
"We’ll make it look like The Golden Guardian was taking down the Calamity Creature instead and you... So that means on the record, you were never here and the Rank points and Units will go to Mr. Jordan Smith... "
"Tch... I need the Units though... "
"Huh? Unfortunately units aren’t given for free... You should know he would get a huge cheque considering his S-Class status. The more units per save for higher ranked heroes... So you weren’t even going to get much either ways... "
"Tch... Still I needed it..." I said gritting my teeth.
Although the save units wasn’t what I was aiming for when I flew over to the seaport to stop the Calamity Creature, but it was an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone — get stronger and also get paid while doing so.
The Apostle eyed me from head to toe. Their was still blood all over the right side of my face, although their were no physical cuts or bruises.
"... We might need a medical scan though..." He said dryly.
"I’m fine," I muttered.
"You don’t look fine," he replied flatly.
I glanced at War Man who exhaled deeply.
And almost immediately, like out of instinct I subconsciously requested for all the information there was on him.
Tti-ring.
[Information Received]
[Subject: Xavier Cain]
[Alias: War Man]
[S-Class Hero – Rank 4]
[Proceeding with narration...]
[Xavier Cain, heir to Cain Industries, one of the top five global tech conglomerates and the primary arms supplier for the International Security Association (ISA).]
[Born a genius, he built his first combat drone at age 7 and a fully functional exosuit by 14. But brilliance often walks hand-in-hand with arrogance.]
[During a covert ISA-backed mission in Eastern Europa, Xavier was kidnapped by rogue superhuman extremists who wanted him to build a weapon of mass destruction.]
[He complied or at least, they thought he did.]
[He built a weapon.]
[But it wasn’t for them.] 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎
[Using scrap parts, ISA nanite tech fragments, and an unstable Arcium Core salvaged from a destroyed hero mech—he forged his escape.]
[The war began.]
[Enlightenment Event Triggered]
[Subject: Xavier Cain | Status: Synchronized]
[Cause: Neural Sync with Arcium Core – Success Rate: 0.004%]
[Result: Techno-Neural Ascension]
[He didn’t wore the suit.]
[With his vast resources and status, he has the firepower and weapons to take down a large portion of properties all with the push of a button]
[Core Talents Detected:]
– Integrated Arsenal – Micro-missiles, plasma cannons, EM disruptors, gravity anchors. Modular and autonomous.
– Combat A.I. "W.A.R." – (War Adaptive Response) — Predictive algorithm with 12.3-second precog capabilities. Capable of real-time battlefield rewrites.
[Popular Ability Registered: Arcium Overdrive]
Tti-ring.
’I see... He’s a billionaire... ’ I said to myself.
"Why was he attacking me in the first place?" I asked. "You all are going to ignore the fact that your so called Rank mumber 1 assaulted me with no warning whatsoever... Especially when I did nothing wrong!"
The Apostle raised a brow. "That’s precisely why I’m here."
He looked at Golden Guardian again. "We’ll talk later. Right now, the both of you... Stand down."
"I don’t take order from you..." I shot back at The Apostle.
"Neither do I..." Golden Guardian interjected too.
Then a wave of silence hit the scenery.
Whoooooshhhh!
A subtle breeze from the sea blew through everything present in the seaport.
Golden Guardian took a deep breath and finally, finally turned away from me. But not without one last glance, just a flick of the eyes.
I didn’t look away.
Neither did he.
War Man noticed it and stepped between is again.
Bam!
Bam!
His footsteps seemed to sound louder than before.
"If either of you make a move right now, I will send the full force of the Cain Industries on the both of you and I’ll make sure you both will lay flat out!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, threatening.
We both remained still.
"Now, now, now... Xavier..." The Apostle adjusted his dark glasses on his face.
"There’s certainly no need for that. And you’d be doing more harm than good..."
