Chapter LXIX – Day 901 – Caught Out

Chapter LXIX – Day 901 – Caught Out

New information had trickled in. My homunculus had made a move and the city of Esperanza had been wiped somehow. I had missed. That much energy, would have created a Calamity in miniature. An overwhelming surge of energy, which would have killed everyone.

Since it was night, you were either hit and died, or missed it. Especially since I went through a layer. But the slight increase in energy around me, while very subtle, meant that the system was now watching me closely. I technically still had a meta-point, but it was worthless except for using it as a get out of death card with the system.

I wasn’t sure what I had done wrong, but the portals to the more energetic layer, were not precise things. It would be far too easy, to be off in direction or distance. My guess, was that the portal shifted as it collapsed altering the direction.

The fact it had even worked was a bit of a surprise, but it showed those shards of pure energy could be weaponized. But it was too risky to try again. For one there was the system, and it was watching me. As the ultimate power of this place, messing with it too much was a bad idea. Also, those shards were past the Goldburg limit by a large margin.

Whatever that thing was, it was clearly damaged in some way. All those shards floating up in the air, indicated they were part of a larger whole. It was frustrating, but I had no time to contemplate the issue right now.

I needed to think about the newest development. “Get ready, we are going to the plaza,” I told Ruth. She nodded obediently. Chaos would soon erupt. My homunculus would make a play on Michael and I would watch from the sidelines.

“Astral Projection.” I took on the appearance of a younger woman who had been worn down. Someone who looked weak and vulnerable. It was amazing how no one thought I could disguise myself as a woman, but it was incredibly useful to make people overlook me.

I put on actual clothes that had been purchased. I had a couple hundred million points in reserve for medical emergencies. My time as the leader of the UCS had paid off quite well. Anyone who didn’t have at least ten million, was just asking for a horrible death. It was always amusing to watch the surprise on a person’s face when they didn’t have enough and would die soon.

The Avatar had clearly set us on a collision course. My homunculus was getting supplies from her to be a nuisance. I had escaped her notice. Whatever she had planned, would not fall on me. Measure twice, cut once was a way of thought I had lived by. Careful in all things, but when I needed to act, to not hesitate in the slightest.

Michael and the Protector were about to speak to each other, but I was looking around for anything out of the ordinary. I needed to see how the chaos would unfold.

My head snapped in the direction of one of the buildings opposite the plaza from the make shift throne. There were soldiers that were knocked out and several people fathering energy for beam attacks. I readied my defenses. A direct assassination attempt, how bold of whoever was attempting it.

Several soldiers noticed, but they were too late to act as the beam attacks were unleashed. There were ten of them. Five of them struck at Michael, but he dodged at the last moment, his left arm getting damaged. Explosions rippled out from behind him.

The other five beam attacks, struck the Protector and the false corpse. The Astral Projection popped like a bubble and the corpse was incinerated. The Avatar had made a bold move, but she should have aimed everything at Michael. Or it might be the opening prelude to a greater plan. I smiled as people screamed and chaos enveloped the plaza.

Soldiers began to shout and direct people to specific buildings to bunker in as the people who had unleashed the beam attacks retreated and were pursued by a large number of soldiers. That was clever of the Avatar, pulling his support away. Now it would be time for my trap to engage. That would give confidence to the Avatar to enact her next trap, which should be peak chaos and I would move in to capitalize on the situation.

Time to add some party favors to the mix. Two people in the crowd exploded, causing large amounts of injuries and breaking what little order had been established. I had placed myself near one of those explosions and triggered the blood hiding in my Astral Projection, expelling it, making it look like I had been heavily wounded.

Ruth quickly came over to support me as we slowly moved at an angle towards the throne. Michael was calmly looking around, but he was not used to true aerial combat. The first rule is always have the high ground. The second rule was that death comes from above!

I saw my homunculus hiding and floating high up. At least the traces of energy. He swooped down. This was going to be a suicide attack and incredibly hard to block. Let’s see how you handle this, Emperor Michael. I had made a sonic module and quickly activated it. “Zin bin!” The nonsense words echoed across the plaza. Let’s see if you are truly as clever as you claim or if you fall for the first layer of my trap and draw out the Avatar’s next move.