Chapter 106 The Gate

Ayumu nodded. "All, right. Here we go."

"..."

"..."

"Did you do it?" Tatsuki asked.

Death Angel then extended his hands and a black orb appeared out of them. "Doesn't seem so."

"So you can use the superpowers I plundered but you can't use my ability, huh. I guess that's one way to limit such a powerful superpower. All right, now I'll try it." Tatsuki's eyes narrowed as he stared at Death Angel.

"Plunder."

Suddenly, the black orb on Death Angel's hand disappeared. "Man, your superpower really is scary. It's as if someone turned a switch in my mind. It feels weird having your superpower taken from you."

"Right, now try using Death Angel's superpower— dark matter," Tatsuki told her wife.

She was able to use it just fine. Just like the previous superpowers.

After that, Tatsuki and Ayumu tried if he could use Counter, and sure enough, he was able to use it. All in all, the experiment went well and everyone clapped their hand and patted the three on the back. Miki reddened even more after receiving more praises as well, she could tell that she won't be able to get used to that for as long as she lives.

SLIDE.

"All right everyone!" Someone called up. It was none other than Fury with his bald head and his eyepatch. "I'm sorry I was late, we had a little bit of a mix-up on the way, nothing serious, just a hostage incident. But it was all resolved thanks to the heroes in the scene."

"Now getting to the main point on why you're all called here,"

A light behind fury suddenly turned on, revealing a huge whiteboard where a projector projected an image.

The image was a bit blurry, probably because the person who took it was running away upon seeing such a bizarre sight. It was a picture of what seemed like a wormhole, except it was dyed purple. The wormhole could be seen right behind the Statue of Liberty so everyone had an approximate as to how big it was. Its diameter was much larger than the Statue of Liberty.

"This... this is what appeared in New York Harbor just a few hours ago and experts were already on the scene." Fury recounted. "No one knows why this wormhole appeared there but speculations tell that it is of alien origin and another invasion is bound to occur. As to the identities of the invaders, we could only wonder. It's different from when the Slime Aliens attack since they sent scouts. Right now, we have no knowledge about what these wormholes are."

"However!"

"We did have a big lead."

"A thousand years ago, an ancient text or manuscript was uncovered regarding a certain individual's story. No one knows if it's historical or fiction but! It could lead us to discover what lies behind these wormholes. Those manuscripts have been uploaded on the internet as well but parts of it were missing."

"Anyways, the manuscript talked about an incident called the Gates, and how people with superpowers arose from the scene to stop the beasts that came out of it. Experts say it's just a story but from what we can tell, this incident is happening in our world right now." Fury continued.

"Tomorrow, a team of superheroes will be sent as an exploration team inside these Gates. We don't know what to expect from them but we're expecting the worst... why?"

Fury then snapped his finger and the projector flashed six more images on the screen. " We have one right by Yokohama, which is just a prefecture away. We'll be sending our team of superheroes for exploration as well, hence this meeting."

"Now, if anyone wants to take part in this, raise your hands. No one's going to force you here since there were a lot of you who responded to the summons. But! Bear in mind that going through this exploration might help you climb through the SAO rankings."

Although Fury sounded a bit desperate, at least half of the superheroes who responded to the summons all left before he could finish speaking. Of course, the stakes are high because heaven knows what's behind those gates, but if no one were to act on it, then an invasion is most likely possible.

"I guess that settles it then. Now that I think about it, this is the first time that all the top ten heroes from the SAO rankings are going to join hands. Meet me by the conference room a few minutes from now and we'll discuss our approach."

Upon saying that, Fury left the room. He seemed to be in a hurry but that's just how he usually was. He didn't want to waste any idle time, especially when there are a lot of things to do.

"I guess that's that. Why wouldn't they want to go?" Splatoon, ranked seven, the metal manipulator, asked as he scratched his head. "This is the best chance when it comes to climbing ranks. They might even get to the top 20 if they did their best."

"Too risky" Warper, ranked four, waring ability, said with a sigh. "This is rather exciting though. I don't know if we'll be able to survive this one."

"We're exploring worlds now? Since when did this become a sci-fi novel?" Tatsuki sighed.

As the group discussed what awaited them, unease filled their minds because this may be their most dangerous mission yet. Although they're the most capable superheroes in the whole of Japan, they knew that going into the unknown could lead to possible death because that's how it is.

.....

Presently in America, New York Harbor

The stunning sight of the Gate garnered the attention of the onlookers who were just there to admire a historic relic— the Statue of Liberty. That's why they didn't expect that history will unfold right before their eyes when the Gate seemed to spawn out of nowhere.

Then, it was reported to the American Hero Assocation (AHA for short) where they then sent experts to monitor the Gate. After careful observation, AHA decided to gather a well-balanced team of superheroes they call the Explorers. They did pick from the top fifty superheroes but they made sure not to pick from the top 20. This was because they wanted them to prepare just in case the worst case scenario happens.

Japan had that mindset initially as well, but after contemplating on things, they realized that it would be better to send in the best instead of sending lower rank heroes as fodder. That way, no one needlessly have to die and if the top heroes couldn't stop the threat, then no one can, simple as that. Why prolong the inevitable when you can just dive straight in?

"We sure about this?" Crank Tank, ranked thirty eight, asked, nervously swallowing his saliva after addressing everyone in his team. He was surprised that his voice didn't sound shaky at all, probably because lots of cameras were pointed at him.

"Who knows, but the world is watching so we should put on a great show, at least. It would be bad if we lost without a fighting chance." Knifetongue, ranked forty sixth, mumbled.

"Yeah, we're up against unknown enemies, the only thing we can do is perform the way we do things as heroes. And the next best thing to do is bring forth results. That's all there is to it." Black Bullet, ranked twenty sixth, tipped his hat in order to hid his eyes from the cameras. Fortunately, he was wearing a mask so he didn't have to cover his face as well.

"Leave the healing to me, you know that's the only thing I could do." Clerica, ranked forty-ninth, reassured everyone, waving her small lightweight staff. Of course she was more nervous than the rest but she had to suppress those feelings in front of the masses. Right now, the whole of North America depended on their team. And how would they depend on them when they were unsure if they could be depended to or not as well?

That's why they put up that obvious false bravado in front of the people.

With the next few steps they took, everyone held their breath in anxiety. The world watched expectantly, waiting for something to happen as the group got nearer the Gate. Crank Tank was the first one to step in, then Knifetongue, then Clerica, then Black Bullet, then Resonance (ranked thirty second) who has never spoken during the entire exchange. She was the most nervous out of all of them that's why she couldn't speak at all. This was her time to climb through the rankings and although it was as dangerous as walking on thin ice, she'll take it.

The Gate seem to enalrge when they approached it, and then it felt like it was swallowing the heroes that stepped through. And then...

... they were gone. The Gate returned to how it normally looked. As for Crank Tank and his party, they were thrown into a different world altogether

"Brace yourselves," Crank Tank advised, observing the unfamiliar surroundings.