Chapter 50: The Way

Seeker was quickly tailing General Indigo as they walked through the piles of rubble around them.

The battle resulted with their victory. Three of the cities in the South-East Asian regions have been liberated. Soon their attack would finally return to the main Pangean nations.

The appearance of Ranked Hero's shocked the enemy. Soon, more and more cities joined in the revolution.

"So much for Taiwan. You really need to control your attacks, Lynd." Seeker laughed.

Lynd turned at Seeker, he wore an outfit that was similar to him. He gave a confused look at Seeker.

"Zeek. I thought you told me that you have to address me as General when we are around soldiers." Lynd laughed.

"What? But there is no one around!"

"Come on! You really need to train more!" Lynd joked.

Seeker had a confused look.

"Alight. Enough joking around. Sorry. Colonel Irvana. I assume you're here to report." Lynd immediately spoke in a serious tone.

Seeker gave an empty glance at Lynd and suddenly slashed the area to his right even utilizing the fast movements of his Four Force Accelerator.

DING!

A metallic sound echoed as a figure appeared blocking Seeker's attack.

"Colonel Irvana. Why would the Thief in the Night be sneaking around allies?" Seeker stared with a grim expression.

A red-haired woman donning the same synthetic outfit appeared resisting Seeker's blades. She was barely in her twenties and had a white complexion. Her blue eyes continued to give off a cold look at Seeker.

"Colonel Carlean and General Indigo. I'm here to deliver my reports." She stared at Seeker with an angry frowned before turning to Lynd and gave a respectful look.

A bluish glow appeared on Lynd's Thought Transmitter.

"Colonel Carlean, please receive the reports. The General has summoned me." Lynd gave Seeker a light tap and then suddenly disappeared with incredible speed.

"What exactly is the Thief in the Night doing here?" Seeker then removed all formalities as soon as Lynd left.

"I'm surprised that you are this friendly with the General. Considering you have this complicated relationship with-"

"Just give me the damn report, Irvana." Seeker gave an exasperated sigh.

"Well, quite honestly there's nothing much to report other than the casualties of this battle."

"How many?"

"None. General Lynd assisted us in today's battle."

"So you were really just looking for a reason to fawn after him? Please just accept the fact that he's already with someone!" Seeker shook his head.

"This war will kill many. If she dies, I'll be there to swoop him up."

"Right... Good luck with that. Tyrant Empress is also after him you know? And with her around, You'd have a better chance at killing a World Champion Advent before you get to Lynd. If that's all then you should go." Seeker turned around to follow Lynd.

"Wait. There's something else. You're very close to him. Do you know what his Path is?" Irvana asked before Seeker could activate his Four Force Accelerator.

"You know its classified to discuss his Path. Ranked Heroes cannot divulge their paths to another."

She gave an angry stare at Seeker.

"Alright fine. I just think that it would be more beneficial for General Indigo to personally train me. Considering he could do what I could." She turned around angrily.

Seeker laughed.

"Oh. Right. If it's that, then I have permission to talk about it."

"If it's what?" Irvana turned.

"Issues with insecurity. Did he manage to hide his presence better than you can?"

Irvana gave a surprised look.

"He did. He was right next to me and not even my Realm detected him."

"Don't get your panties in a knot. Amongst Champions only the Realm King could clearly detect him."

"What?!" Irvana reacted.

"How is that possible? All World Champions could easily find me! And only the Realm King can detect Lynd?"

"It's simple math really. You walk the path of the wind. When you accelerate at high speed, you are almost undetectable. Unseen, unheard and unknown."

"I know. That's why I have ranked four places above you. What's this got to do with General Indigo's path?" Irvana voiced out impatiently.

"Everything. This is the same reason why he's called the Prophet Elijah. He Who Prepares the Way. He walks several Paths, but then again, he walks one Path. His unlocking is the path of two things. The first is what the Realm King called Incredible Sympathy."

"Sympathy? How's that any helpful?"

"Right. Coming from the woman whose path was formed by hiding herself in different parts of the house so she could hide from her abusive father." Seeker gave a sarcastic smirk.

Irvana glared angrily at Seeker.

"We all know that all Paths, regardless of their apparently worthless use, would result in incredible things. Colonel Meryl would be a good illustration. The General's ability to somehow be able to sympathize with another in terms of emotions and feelings is remarkable. At his level now, he can literally feel the way you feel just by looking at you."

"Wait. You mean… he knows that I like him?" Irvana cried in terror.

Seeker laughed.

"You're such a child. You do realize, that the Realm King is here and he likes to tease his disciples right?"

Irvana almost choked as she forced her breath back down and used her technique. Almost suddenly, she turned invisible.

Seeker shook his head.

"Of course Lynd does. But don't let it bother you. I mean, I'm around him all the time. Imagine how he feels?" Seeker laughed.

Irvana reappeared once again and gave Seeker a strange look.

"Anyway, the second Path that Lynd has, is as annoying as the first. Observation."

"What?"

"Observation. He has a knack for observing things. Back when before we were even Unlocked, he could always beat me after a few rounds of Piercing: Bullet. He could imitate the very skills that I have. It's as if his mirroring me."

A crazed look appeared on Irvana as Seeker explained.

"Looks like you got it. If he can sympathize with your heart and he observes things in a manner that no one else could, what would his path be?" Seeker smiled.

"The path of Imitation! He could imitate all the paths of Ranked Hero's!" Irvana's smile of delight suddenly appeared. Her idolatry and lust towards Lynd skyrocketed to World Champion level.

"Ugh. Sickening." Seeker shook his head.

"But you're wrong."

"He can't copy a Ranked Hero's path?"

"Not just a Ranked Hero. That's why all the World Champions value him. If he breaks through, then theoretically it would be possible to reverse engineer Lynd's path and we could just have the ability to produce several Omni Champions. One who walks all the paths to form-"

"The Way."

"Exactly. That's why we call him the Prophet Elijah. The One Who Prepares the Way." Seeker smiled.

This memory started to fade away as Seeker gripped the steering wheel tighter.

"I messed up." Seeker voiced out unconsciously.

Kristine and Cliff continued to wonder why Seeker acted this way.

Seeker was thoroughly awakened from his recollection of the future as he saw the state of the port.

Kristine and Cliff stared in shock as they saw the port as if it was a war zone.

Seeker frowned.

"I hope Lynd's alright."

"Don't worry. The destruction you are seeing must have been caused by him." Seeker pushed the pedal harder as their car zoomed on.

Meanwhile, at the center of the war zone, Lynd was moving at speeds that couldn't be considered human.

"How's he doing that?" Meryl asked Charles as they just arrived at the port.

"I don't know. He's moving almost exactly like Seeker!"

"But how? Seeker said we can't do that unless-"

"Unless we have the same physical attribute that Seeker has." Alean immediately cut in as she jumped down towards the area Meryl and Charles were heading to.

"Alean!" Charles cried.

"What happened? How did Lynd end up like this?"

"I don't know! He suddenly just went crazy! I tried to stop him but he threw me and attacked the soldiers!"

Another explosion went off and Lynd was seen charging at impossible speeds.

Three soldiers kept shooting at Lynd but Lynd's speed was just too much.

Lynd easily avoided the aim of the soldiers. He could easily map out the area and feel what the soldiers around him were doing through echolocation and his increased perception of time.

The torrential rain of bullets could do nothing to Lynd.

"What did Seeker say?" Alean asked Charles.

"We have to kill everyone first. Seeker will take care of Lynd!"

Lynd hurled himself towards the location of several armed men. Lynd stomped on the head of one of the enemy effectively breaking the neck of the enemy. The neck was bent in a weird way with the head almost touching the back.

Lynd thrust his hand towards the neck of another soldier and his fingers pierced right through the neck. He grabbed the enemy by the spine of the neck and used the dead enemy like a shield. The Kevlar blocked most of the bullets while Lynd evaded the rest.

Lynd tall figure moved with incredible speed despite his large stature and the dead man he carried by the spine.

Meryl, Alean, and Charles were also moving stealthily around the base. The commotion Lynd caused took all the attention of the soldiers. With that, Meryl, Charles, and Alean sneakily killed soldiers that were shooting at Lynd.

Suddenly, a car broke through the ports barrier and went straight to the center of the war zone.

"Cliff, I'll pin Lynd to the ground. When you see him down, throw Kristine towards us. Kristine, try to calm Lynd down." Seeker ordered.

"What?!"

"Just do it. Get ready to jump out of the vehicle and close your eyes for five seconds. Then get ready to throw Kristine."

The two hadn't managed to react when Seeker suddenly turned the wheel and stepped off the car.

The car drifted sideways towards a concrete wall.

Cliff cursed and immediately grabbed Kristine and exited the spinning vehicle. The two jumped off and landed.

Seeker finally brought out a flash bang and tossed it right in the middle of the battlefield.

"MERYL! KILL EVERYONE!" Seeker ordered.

The sudden entrance of this car took the attention of everybody. And while everyone's eyes were fixed at the center…

BANG!

The flashbang exploded. Everybody was blinded. Even Charles and Alean were affected by the flashing light.

Lynd was startled at the sudden brightness and could not see.

Meryl however, took this opportunity and grabbed the gun of a nearby soldier and started shooting all the enemies in the area.

Seeker approached Lynd and delivered a strong punch. Lynd used his human shield to block it but at the last second, Seeker stomped his foot and threw himself sideways. While in midair, he continued his punch and it smacked Lynd right at the jaw.

Seeker took the opportunity to exploit Lynd's groggy state and gave a sweeping kick to make Lynd stumble.

Lynd tried to regain his balance as he stumbled backward but was met with Seeker's elbow strike which pummeled him down to the ground.

Cliff finally tossed Kristine after opening his eyes.

Seeker kicked the dead soldier off of Lynd's hand while punching Lynd right in the chest to keep him down.

Kristine was flying over and Seeker gracefully caught Kristine to lessen the force of her fall while delivering her right on top of Lynd.

Seeker then started to pin Lynd's arms to keep him from hurting Kristine.

"DO IT!"

The staggered state of Kristine was awakened by Seeker shout.

She stared at the angry Lynd and calmly talked to him.

"Hey, hotshot. It's ok. It's just us. You need to calm down. Your friends are here. We're here to help you. It's ok."

Kristine continued to soothe Lynd who was calming down.

Meryl continued to shoot around the base killing off the remaining blind soldiers.

Seeker gave a long look at Lynd and frowned.

"Alean!" Seeker shouted.

"Tell your dad to get his army ready. We need to invade a nearby military base tomorrow."

Alean had a numbing feeling at Seeker's orders.

"Do it." Seeker emphasized.

"Why did I ever try to blackmail him?" Alean sighed as she took out her phone.