Chapter 112 Total Despair

"So what you're saying is... you came all the way here to look for me," Satoshi whispered, pointing at the device that Emma was holding. From what she said, it's some sort of a search-type device that would lead her to the person who could help her. And somehow, that device pointed to Satoshi.

Emma nodded in response.

"And also, you can't tell me why you were looking for me? Why did you come all the way here anyway?" Satoshi asked who knows how many times already but Emma didn't want to answer that. As far as Satoshi knows, Emma came from another country. He has no idea how she got her though.

"Yes... actually no, I'm... I'm actually looking for some aide. And by far, you're the only one who can help me. Are you the strongest around here?" Emma asked, just to confirm that her readings weren't wrong.

"No, why?"

"I see... but why did my device direct me to you? There must be some— how about your parents? Are they stronger than you? Sometimes the readings get affected by the energy surrounding the person so if that were the case, then it's not that inaccurate."

"Yes, why?"

"Where are they now?"

"I... you probably didn't know about this but there's another invasion going on," Satoshi said in a crestfallen manner. "Gates have appeared around the world and my parents were leading a party of superheroes to explore one of them."

"So that's how it is... we also have superheroes in our world." Emma continued. "Well, we don't call ourselves superheroes though, we call ourselves Rankers,"

"Wait... what are you talking about? Your world?"

Emma nodded.

"You're not from this world?!"

Emma nodded.

"You mean... you crossed worlds just to get here?!"

"Well, not exactly. Our world is in the same universe as yours, it's just that I was sent here to help."

The more Satoshi asked questions, the more he got confused. Emma was from another world but she specifically said that she lives in the same universe as theirs...

"Are you an alien?" Satoshi asked. "This is cool, I've never met a human-alien before."

"That's mean but technically yes, I'm an alien. I'm human though so it'd be nice if you don't call me that. Besides, I came here to help you with the Gates,"

"What do you mean? I thought you were looking for help?"

"Yes. What I mean is, I'm looking for someone to help me— as an assistant— so we can go around closing these Gates."

It took a couple of seconds before Satoshi finally grasped the situation. To summarize, Emma was a human alien from another world and she traveled through space to help Earth in clearing these Gates that so suddenly appeared. Satoshi was confused. It's not like alien invasion is new to him. Once or twice a year, an alien invasion happens on earth so it's nothing new. But seeing the Gates was a different topic, then there's the mysterious Emma Leisenberg as well.

Somehow, something was happening behind the scenes and Satoshi was still not aware of it.

"And then my readings pointed me to you! That's how I got here." Emma excitedly whispered back.

Satoshi wasn't really paying attention so he didn't hear what Emma's narration was all about.

"Well, let's leave it for tomorrow, I need to get some sleep," Satoshi said. He didn't want to think about the girl under his sheets anymore, he just wanted to get some shut-eye so he can perform at maximum tomorrow.

"Wait, aren't we going to help your mum and dad?!" Emma asked, surprised. "I mean, they're currently fighting inside one of those Gates, right? Do you know how dangerous those Gates are? I mean, your mom and dad may be on par with S-rankers in our world but they could still die in there, you know."

"We can?!" Satoshi almost lost his composure. Fortunately, he didn't scream out loud.

.....

Meanwhile,

SAO rankings, in the past, were furiously criticized due to how they solely relied on the firepower of a hero. The more powerful your output is, the more you're recognized as one of the top heroes. But after a few years, that ranking became so flawed that people became confused as to what a superhero really is all about. After all, based on the rankings, strength is what defines a hero. How about their ideals? Their cooperation? How they work well in a team? How about their overall strength as an all-rounder?

At first, SAO decided to separate superheroes based on categories. A separate ranking for support heroes and a separate ranking for damage dealers. But after contemplating it, they decided to stick to the past rankings and instead implemented points on every mission or incident solved. With this, any superhero can strive to get number one as long as they work harder than the rest. Even someone without a superhero, like Knighthawk, can climb through the ranks since it didn't really specify that you need a superpower to enable you to do missions. Somehow, the rankings evened out and the complaints lessened.

But now, with the new rankings implemented, anyone can be the number one hero as long as he/she works double-time compared to the top hero. That's how Tatsuki and Ayumu got to the top spot— they were always in the middle of the fray whenever an incident occurs, earning them a lot of points. Those points reset every year though, but somehow, they've always kept the top spot.

Still, Tatsuki and Ayumu were sure that every superhero out there could easily outrank them in no time. It's just that some of them don't really care about rankings so they don't work hard on it. Ironically, those who want to up would always find themselves struggling and those who take it easy would always be involved in trouble, one way or the other. Was it divine punishment? One could only wonder.

But now, those thoughts became a reality for both Tatsuki and Ayumu. Apparently, the Gate Boss— the biggest orc in the group— connected his mind to Warper, causing him to act weirdly in front of his comrades. This allowed him to disregard any safety measures he took so his superpowers won't run amok, enabling him to go beyond his limits and use the full potential of his superpower. And since the mental burden is shared with the huge orc, it wouldn't really cause internal damage to Warper.

It would've been a good thing if the orc was on their side but unfortunately, such wasn't the case. It didn't take long before Warper started his onslaught of attacks that seem to come out of nowhere. His attacks were so erratic that even Ayumu couldn't directly defend against him.

Because Warper broke past his limits under the influence of the orc, his superpower was greatly enhanced, giving him an arsenal of skills that the other superheroes for the first time. He was able to summon more than fifty portals at the same time and every time he punches, the portals move. That's why no one knows who'll get attacked next. Ayumu couldn't really counter Warper's attacks though because, in order to counter someone, she should be expecting the attack to come right at her. If she can't see the attack then it's useless.

And attacking is out of the question either. Somehow, Warper developed a skill that allows him to reflect any attack directed at him. And that attack would be twice as powerful as before. Those type of superpower is a direct counter to Tatsuki's Plunder superpower. Whatever they throw at Warper would simply boomerang towards them with even greater output.

In an instant, Warper became the number one threat amongst the group of orcs that surrounded them.

"We're at an impasse, what do we do now, Plunder?" Life Angel said after suffering a light beam right at the face. He was aiming at Warper with the thought that he won't be able to respond to his attack. Light is faster than sight after all. And yet, somehow, he was able to anticipate his attack and reflect it right at Life Angel, causing him to stage backward as blood escaped his lips. The rest also suffered the same fate, discouraging them from attacking Warper, much less the Gate Boss behind him.

"One way or the other, we have to deal with the boss. Once we defeated him, everything will go back to normal. But it's hard to outmaneuver someone with the warping ability. Sigh~ out of all of us, why was he the one who got the short end of the stick?!" Counter responded, he could feel himself running out of options as seconds passed.

"I... " Fulfiller called everyone's attention by slightly raising her voice. "I... I have a way, but it's a risky one. Eye-Goddess, can you check if it would work?"

Now that Fulfiller mentioned it, Eye-Goddess has been awfully quiet throughout the entire ordeal, which was weird since she would always be the first one to speak up every time they take an action, telling them the end result.

In response, Eye-Goddess just shook her head. "It... it won't work. Unless a miracle happens, we're all going to die here." She simply said before anyone could interrupt her.