Chapter 13: Secrets Uncovered (Edited)

"What the fuck!! Who does he think he is?! What does he mean by "not feeling like killing today," huh?!"

"...."

"If this was how things would be, why did we even bother contacting them?!"

On the forty-ninth floor of the Metro Heaven hotel, the twin in black, Justin, angrily bellowed as he crushed the telephone with bare hands; he had a dissatisfied and disgruntled face as he murderously stared through the glass window and into the distance. His brother, Joseph, calmly sat not far from him as he sipped from a wine glass, gently sitting the glass on the table, Joseph steadily rose as he walked and stood next to his younger twin, placing his right hand on Justin's left shoulder, Joseph spoke, his words calm and unbothered as if not considering his brother's raging emotion the least.

"Quite a nice view, don't you think- brother?"

"....!"

"That was rhetorical- but the point is, you need not rage about Laniz Blake's disrespectful behavior; I'd rather focus on the so-called "matters," he said, calling for his immediate attention. His "not feeling like killing today" is merely a front to camouflage the actual problem, which is..."

"...The mission failed?!"

"Correct! Somehow, there was an intervention, which caused the entire operation to fail, but as to who it was, I'm left baffled... could it be another guild that is enemies with the Shadow Knights Guild? Or perhaps the government has caught wind of the emerging gate? Or even worse, the W.A.O? Hmm... truly confusing, the orphanage is in too insignificant of a location to draw necessary attention, as we even built our branch office there to hide our secret operations, and the orphanage doesn't seem to be that protected; hell- they couldn't even get a sponsorship from the government. So how did such a place manage to survive today's attack?!..."

Joseph held a thoughtful countenance as he voiced his questioning thoughts. Justin also became serious as he dropped the crushed telephone he spoke.

"If the interfering variable was any of those you called, we are fucked. Because it means more people are now aware of the emerging Gate, and if the government or the W.A.O aren't alerted, it's only a matter of time before they are. And if things escalate, we will be exposed, lose all that we have, or at least what's left of it."

"... We shouldn't worry, brother... why did you think I included a guild? If things ever go south, the primary impact will fall on them, making them take all the blame. And besides, even if there is a new enemy, they would have to deal with it anyways, not us... so I'd best relax and enjoy the view if I were you."

A smirky smile came on both brothers' faces as they exchanged glances; soon, they began drinking and laughing as if they had won the lottery; even women were invited into the room to join them in their merry moods.

____________

Somewhere within the newly emerged B-rank Gate, tens of thousands of human-sized spider-like-monsters scattered all over the scene, covering over ten thousand acres of land, the blue-colored blood of the monsters sprayed in the surroundings, making a river of blood that continuously emitted steam, indicating they had just been exterminated. The spider-like monsters had black scales that covered their entire body, razor-like legs, and red flaming eyes that constantly sparked with flames even after their deaths.

But amidst the chaotic scene of massacred monsters, a silver-haired young man wearing a black battle suit with a golden cube in his left chest sat upright on a mountain of carcasses with relaxed countenance as if the present scene wasn't worth considering the least. In the man's right hand was a black reddish fist-sized rough-shaped crystal, the crystal brimmed with intense Mana energy, making any knowledgable Awakened to go crazy to possess such an item, but in the young man's hands, it was like insignificant object comparable to a rock pebble.

"A race of Dragon Flame Spiders, and SSS rank at that... with this level of Gate beasts, even the U.K and all of Europe would have perished if they got out, let alone Dasia Kingdom or Metro City."

"Yes, Master, the moment you entered the Gate, it was elevated to a Death Gate, the second highest threat level of Gates, a continent-extinction-level threat. And since it was camouflaged as a B-rank Gate, the Awakened humans were destined to lose miserably, followed by a Dimension Break once the one month time limit expires."

Patrick nodded to Grace's words as he bare handedly and effortlessly crushed the SSS rank beast core crystal in his hand.

"... My analysis is complete, I now know information regarding Gates and the origins of Mana, likewise the cause behind the presence of Awakened. Now... lets wrap thing up."

Patrick spoke as he stood, the Symbiotic Adaptation Suit's helmet floating beside him as it pulsated with golden verdant energy. Staring in the distance, Patrick saw tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of the Dragon Flame Spiders visiously charging towards him, their numbers uncountable as they covered the entire horizon. The massive amounts of spider monsters approaching at raging speeds caused the earth to tremble intensely, even forcing it to assume broken line cracks that lenghted for hundreds of miles, the flaming red eyes of the monsters illuminated the scene, causing the scenery to become extremely bright, blinding anyone from properly seeing anything.

"Alpha, be my paparazzo*, will you?"

<< I already am, Sire.>>

At the same time, the Dragon Flame Spiders reached within a hundred meters close to Patrick as tens of thousands of them suddenly leaped in the air, simultaneously, their flaming red eyes intensified and shone brighter as soon later, their eyes released laser flames. The laser flames were so pressurized that they instantly slashed through the earth like hot butter on a knife. Within an instant, the laser flames reached Patrick as they caused the earth around him to instantly vaporize. With an unbothered countenance, Patrick stood unwavered by the monsters' laser attacks, on the contrary, he held a mocking smirk as he spoke.

"Still haven't learned, have you? Your pathetic kitchen flames are incapable of scratching me suit, let alone me."

As Patrick spoke, the descending spider monsters landed at him while continously releasing laser flames. Ten spider monsters coherently landed their razor-sharp legs at Patrick, but with a casual back flip, Patrick evaded the monsters' attacks, but while in the air, Patrick raised his left palm as sparks of electricity and thunder sparkled on it, "Grace!"

Patrick said as countless iron spikes appeared over the bodies of each spider monster, clenching his left fist, the lightning on Patrick's palm instantly sparked and connected with the countless amounts of spikes. "Descend!"

With a passionless tone, Patrick uttered while pointing his left index finger down, simultaneously, the spikes which were now showered with sparks of lightning dangerously descended on the spider monsters, the spike attacks penetrating the dragon-scaled bodies of the spider monsters as lightning spreaded within their bodies, the lightning instantly pulverizing anything it came in contact with, leaving the spaces empty as the spikes were left stuck in the ground. Coutless cracks appeared from the penetrated earth, spreading for hundreds of thousands of miles in the surroundings.

Silence took over the scene, the only background noise being the crackling earth and burning environment, but other than that, the entire scene was rid of any spider monster, or more precisely, the scene was rid of the Dragon Flame Spiders. The previous hundreds of thousands of Dragon Flame Spiders were no more, as they have all been eradicated by one man, and at a time laspe of one second.

Patrick now hovered in the air as he observed the choatic scene, he then steadily placed his arms behind him as a black cape with golden edges steadily materialized and attached to his shoulders, leaving the cape which would stop at his feet to flutter in the wind. The helmet floated next to Patrick as it constantly pulsated with verdant golden energy. Suddenly, Grace spoke.

"Congratulations, Master, you are the first person to clear a Gate within fifteen seconds of entering it, and even more incredible, you are the only person since the existence of Mana and Awakened to enter and clear an SSS rank Gate. Now documenting today's achievements."

"Nothing worth mentioning, Grace. These are merely bugs with kitchen flames, nothing more. But I accept the award none the less."

"I'm eternally blessed for accepting my award, Master..."

"Hmm... it seems I killed the boss monster along with the others, let's change that.

Patrick nonchalantly spoke as time began rewinding, making the scene resemble a movie. Nine seconds later, the scene stopped at the time the monsters were ravenously rushing at Patrick from the horizon. Revisiting the past, Patrick stared in the distance as he saw a spider monster which was fifty feet tall and the size of a house steadily appraoching from within the hundreds of thousands of spider monsters. "There you are!" Patrick spoke while looking at the boss monster.

Suddenly, with a thought from Patrick, the boss monster, which had six pairs of flaming eyes and sixteen razor-sharp legs froze in its location. "The rest of you are useless." Patrick spoke as he lazily waved his right hand, the rest of the spider monsters instantly erasing from the scene, like erasing a black board. Patrick maintained his aloof and elderly pose as his figure zoomed in front of the boss monster, his cape ceaselessly fluttering behind him as it radiated with ambundant energy essence.

Time unfroze, allowing the boss monster to finish its screeching bellow. Suddenly, amidst its bellowing, the boss monster noticed a small but tall figure floating before it, causing it to halt its screeching. But as if being spiked with hatered, the monster had an instant change in emotion as it opened its wide mouth and enclosed it at the hovering person. But contrary to expected opinions, the small figure remained unfazed and didn't budge from his location, he instead held out his arms as he grabbed the two enclosing jaws of the spider, "Weak," the small figure uttered as he pulled the jaws of the monster, ripping them from its body and holding them in his hands.

"SCREECH!!" A loud screeching sound reverberated the scene as the boss monster cried in pain, its blue blood ceaslessly spraying from its face as it staggered around, trying to maintain its balance. But unsympathetic to the monster's pathetic situation, the tall male person used the two jaws in his hands as he heavily impaled them into the monster's closest pairs of flaming eyes. Another wailing cry echoed from the monster, but this time, the remaining five pairs of eyes ceaselessly and subconciously discharged flames aimlessly.

The monster staggered again as it slowly took multiple strides back, as if trying to distance itself from this small yet terrifying figure. But again, the male figure remained unremorseful, instead, he flashed below the monster and with a punch, blasted off one of the monster's legs. Without even allowing the monster to express its pain, the man threw the monster's leg in the air, and while the leg flew up, the man proceeded to another leg, he held the leg with his left hand as he broke it using his right hand, again, the man threw the leg in the air like he did the first.

This same situation occurred for the remaining fourteen legs, as the man proceeded to physically and manually severe all sixteen limbs of the spider monster, and in less than a second at that. Still under the monster's massive body, the man used his right palm as he lightly pushed the spider boss monster upwards, the monster's body instantly getting lifted from the ground as it jolted into the sky like a launched bullet. But then, the small yet terrifying man's figure flashed above the monster, the monster's sixteen legs all flaoting around him as if in his control.

Then, with a palm wave, the sixteen legs of the spider boss monster launched at it as they instantly penetrated the dragon-scaled hard body of the monster, the penetrating force from the legs causing the monster to descend almost simultaneously upon contact. The monster rapidly descended from the sky as its huge body heavily crashed the earth, creating an exaggerated booming sound and causing the already formed cracks on the earth to expand even more.

Despite being penetrated by sixteen razor-sharp objects, the spider still survived, but it lay immobile as it remaining flaming eyes uncontrollably spewed out lava flames as if vomitting.

Suddenly, the small male figure descended to the spider's view as he stared at the pathetic creature with an unsympathetic and expressionless gaze.

"You have come a long way, bug... But I understand, you are merely a victim of someone eles' control, someone more powerful than you, being thrown into a war against your volition and forced to serve your children for slaughter, that's a misery no mother wants to bear. But, I shall do you the favor and end your misery. As for your manipulator, their fate will be ten times worse than yours, that I assure you..."

Patrick spoke as he noticed the expanding cracks on the earth, turning to the spider, he continued. "Now, rest with your children, and on your home planet, for death is a fate more merciful than eternal slavery."

<< Sire, the gravitational fields and Mana presence around this planet have vanished, the planet is now exposed to the chaotic ravagings of the space void, should I perhaps recover it? >>

"No need, a mother would rather perish than watch her children being used as cannon fodder, death is but a reward for her and her children. And what better way to die than being on your home planet and with the things you hold dear and precious?!...

We are leaving."

Patrick spoke as he turned, his figure timely getting enveloped by the same blue energy portal, vanishing from the scene. Since Patrick arrival and departure, it has only been fifty-five seconds.

Not long after Patrick's departure, pillars of lava began erupting from the earth as the mountains and terrains crumbled to dust. Seeing the destruction of her home, the spider boss monster made a last loud cry as the planet exploded, casuing everything that existed on the planet to go extinct, leaving the once home planet of the Dragon Flame Spider race to become nothing but dust particles in the infinite space void.

(Paparazzo: a freelance photographer who pursues celebrities to get photographs of them. In Patrick's case, Alpha is his personal paparazzi.)