Chapter 358: Cliff’s Miscalculation

There was one grave mistake in the plan that Cliff suggested. The plan was made to cause several rounds of attacks to strike Lanterk. This would push Lanterk to the point of anger that he will utilize more of his technology just as Zeraphine did.

And so the entire plan assumed that Lanterk would get hit by at most, five bullets. And that was already being hopeful. Lanterk was a Top Tiered Presider. It would be very difficult to kill him.

But Cliff and the rest underestimated the effect that Meryl had on Lanterk. The beauty shocked Lanterk so much. It was as if Lanterk fell to the strange phenomenon of having love at first sight.

Because of the amazing scene that he witnessed, Lanterk froze. His thoughts were taken captive by the beautiful figure of Meryl. Meryl also had a rather playful look on her face which weakened and numbed the senses of Lanterk.

And so, what was supposed to be just a few bullets, became a full barrage.

Cliff had been instructing Seeker and Lynd to move randomly and time the evasion of the barrage of bullets when most of the Exoskeletons finished reloading as they had already wasted their entire stock and requested additional refill from their various teams.

More than thirty Exoskeletons shot at Seeker and Lynd, who remained within the line of fire at the last possible moment before evading and causing the rain of bullets to shower Lanterk.

The moment Seeker and Lynd determined that Lanterk couldn't evade the bullets, they immediately moved towards Meryl.

"Meryl! Get out of there!" Seeker shouted.

Meryl acted quickly and swam back even before the suit would reform and cover her. It took some time to drain the water inside, and so Meryl started to charge up the heat in her body to evaporate all heat as she retreated.

TING! TING! TING! TING!

The rain of bullets continued to hit Lanterk's Exoskeleton. The bullets began to pierce through the Exoskeleton armor and should have killed the pilot.

Seeker, Lynd, and Meryl felt it. 

The power to cross dimensions was occurring before them.

The bullets that struck Lanterk's body simply couldn't penetrate it. It wasn't that Lanterk's body was hard or resilient. But it was that his body was made of a different element altogether. It was the metaphysical element that allows Mid-Tier Presiders to begin their search and study to the realms beyond the three.

The bullets faced a strange form of pressure, and they began to disintegrate. Yet regardless of how powerful this pressure was, it still hurt.

The painful sensations that bombarded his entire body awoke him from his trance.

Zeraphine was the first to feel it. Lanterk was about to unleash a terrifying attack that would wipe out all the Exoskeletons in the area.

She moved to stop Lanterk but could sense that the power of Lanterk's Nefilius Body was channeling energy that far eclipsed Zeraphine's strongest attack.

"The Four Horns...!" Zeraphine could see it now. Lanterk was true of that family.

Cliff was petrified in fear. He immediately entered his dream world to think, but when he arrived, he could see it. Cliff's power was something that allowed him to move across certain dimensions. His dreamworld was, in fact, one of the dimensions with the counter-flow and overflow of time. This was how time would stop there.

But when he entered, he witnessed the foreign energy that was befalling the entire location. Only Seeker and Lynd could survive the coming attack. Cliff felt great regret. He made a mistake in his calculation and has doomed Meryl and the many Pangea families in his miscalculation.

Time ran out, and Cliff was leaving his dream world. On the few seconds in the dream world, Cliff could only hope that Seeker could have a counter means to attack him or have Zeraphine intervene. Regardless, the results of this battle would be to the disadvantage of the Unlocked. Even if Meryl lives, the existence and power of Seeker and Lynd would be revealed.

"I'm sorry." Those were the only words Cliff could say to the team. It carried great regret.

Cliff held on to the table and didn't dare look at what would happen.

And then it happened.

A powerful vortex appeared at the bottom of the ocean. Gravity increased greatly that the water was sucked. But when it reached Lanterk, it increased countless times and suddenly pulled Lanterk down.

The shock and surprise of Lanterk stopped him from using the blast to kill everyone and used it to keep him from being thrown down. 

Zeraphine was stunned at the sudden power that brought Lanterk spiraling into the abyss.

In the midst of the strange gravitational pull, Lanterk and Zeraphine could hear a faint whisper.

"Behave, boy." The voice called out. The voice was distorted as if a multitude of people were whispering those words to him.

Lanterk frowned and suddenly stopped his attack. He gazed at the source of the power. 

"Gravity? Which Presider is this? Is this Crostfree?" Lanterk frowned as he quietly allowed the suit to disappear into the abyss of the ocean.

Cliff realized what had happened.

"That was...! Eagle!" Cliff understood.

Deep within one of the underwater facilities of the Everhiss clan... Eagle stood and smiled, rather pleased at the result of his power.

The Emperors watched with great amazement at the sight of Eagle using his powers. It was very strong and very scary. Lanterk was underwater, but it was like he was suddenly falling down from the sky and plummeting to the Earth in great speed for a split second.

The Everhiss Emperors even saw the great anomaly that occurred when Lanterk tried to counter the gravitational pull.

"This Origin is rather helpful." Eagle praised as he turned towards Phoenix, whose mouth was wide open from the terrifying power he saw.

"Seeker... I've done as you've asked. Was that acceptable?"

"More than acceptable! I thought you'd take the waters nearby, but you can already focus such immense gravitational force on a single person!"

"Then I hope you don't need to call me to get back here anymore. It took a bit of an effort to rush back here, you know?" Eagle laughed.

"I hope not. That force should have scared that Presider. He may be assuming that whoever he's up against would be at a level of Top Presiders. He and Zeraphine won't act all rowdy. Thank you, Pastor Eagle."

"See you soon. And I hope you'd put more effort into gathering everyone for that event!"

"I will. The wars all over the world will draw out more of the hidden Overcomers and Heroes. We still have to look for the many Seeds that Progenitor planted under the Earth and even those deep at sea. Once we are confident to have many, we will create the war that leads everyone to the Worlds Helm."

"Thank you. And I really would like it if you three could sing at some of the events in South America. Our ministry leaders are looking for talented and committed singers like you."

"... Alright."

"Thank you! I wish to hear more from The Way, The Truth, and The Bass." Eagle chuckled and disconnected the call.

"Eagle?" Cliff asked.

"Yes. After our meeting, he was already on his way back to the Americas. But I knew that we needed some help when dealing with Presiders. After all, that was a dangerous game. But thank God Eagle was still around." 

"... Did Seeker just says... Thank God?" Lynd wondered.

"...Anyways... In the end, we failed in our mission, and Cliff failed his test." Seeker sighed.

"I told Eagle to get ready and use his powers aided by the Origin energy in this sea. But no sweat! We learn from our mistakes. Cliff is not only to be blamed. We underestimated how beautiful Meryl is. I'll take it from here. All in all, my assessment is that we are ready for the battle in South America. But Cliff, keep in mind, you almost sent Meryl to her death." Seeker warned.

Cliff was quiet. But his heart was in turmoil.

"The purpose of this is for us to have an understanding with each other. When we are around Presiders, we can't communicate with each other with whatever techs that we have. In fact, we won't be using any means of communication at all. That's how we fool the Presiders. They won't find out our means of communication because there are none. We just act in sync with each other." Seeker explained.

"So this test was meant to see how I would do?" Cliff asked.

"Me and Zeek can react adapt to the changes and the plans that will happen when around Presiders. Meryl is beautiful. You can see what this implies from that Presider's stupid dumb daze. Alean has Zone. So you are the only one who might get left out. Learn from this experience Cliff." Lynd added.

With the threat of genocide avoided, the battle was fairly easy to finish. Even Zeraphine retreated, fearing that the Progenitor might lose his temper.

Seeker began to give several commands to close the event and instructed Charles on what to say.

The battle on the sea continued as Lanterk's Exoskeleton was sent down. But a few seconds passed when some of the pilots realized that they had accidentally shot the other Exoskeleton.

It wasn't until Charles announced that the 1 minute was over that most realized they had shot Lanterk.

The horrifying conclusion silenced everyone, and no one dared to move.

"Everyone, relax. Alexander Small Willy isn't in that suit. He is piloting it remotely within the submarine. Although, you may have to repay the Dalisay family for destroying one of their remotely controlled Exoskeleton. It's quite advanced after all." Charles finally revealed.

"We will be checking which Exoskeletons shot that and will be sending the bill to those families to reimburse the Dalisay clan. Anyway, the game is over, and no one managed to hit the three. Please return and get ready for docking. Welcome to the World Governing Trading Hub. Let's have a good time and make great deals!" Charles signed off.

"Um... Lara... About what Meryl said..." Seeker finally approached.

"Meryl! Get over here and apologize!" Seeker suddenly called to Meryl.

"Clarify what you meant, and no more jokes! I'm serious, Meryl!" Seeker warned. Seeker used a strange realm to grip Meryl secretly to make her know that Seeker really meant it.

"Listen here, Miss Lara Diamon. Zeek is my best friend. And I'm not just about to hand him over to some stuck-up rich kid who has the world on her hands. I'd rather that Zeek gets Kristine Sythia or even that Alpha Girl, but you, I don't know you! Just when I turn my back and get sent to the Arctic Nations, I heard rumors of Seeker being forced to marry you for whatever political reason! You don't know what pain, what hardship, what heart-breaking experience Zeek has already experienced! So until you prove to be the right girl for Zeek, I'll watch over you! And if you don't show any growth, I'll team up with those other two and snatch him from you!" Meryl shouted and immediately turned around to leave.

Seeker facepalmed.

"Ly-Lynd. Help me out here!" Seeker called out to his age-old best friend.

Lynd nodded and approached.

And like any best friend who has been with Seeker through the good times and even had their share of bad times, Lynd approached and nodded.

It was then that Seeker felt his heart stop when he saw Lynd draw close.

Although Lynd was wearing an Exoskeleton, through Realm, Seeker could sense that Lynd had a sinister smile.

Seeker then realized that Lynd never really found a way to get back at him for everything he had done. Not to mention the fact that Seeker was in the process of making sure that Lynd doesn't end up with Kristine.

"Seeker's gay. Once you're done with him, give him back to Arthur and me. Like you could ever satisfy him. Hmph! Puuuuu!" Lynd spat out at Lara's direction hatefully. He turned around, and his Exoskeleton erupted with immense power that actually assaulted Lara! 

Lara was frozen stiff from that sight. It wasn't just any playful tease. It was a hateful roar that was akin to an extremely jealous woman talking to her.

Seeker realized that Lynd had copied Dara.

"Nutterballs..." Seeker cursed.