Ten minutes ago, on the other side of the globe.
Royal Palace, Atlantis.
Inside the throne room, the representatives from various races observed the projection from Delta City. Everyone was silent, their expressions serious as they waited for live visuals to resume and reveal the conclusion of the battle.
"Is this related to that warning?" A stunning mermaid wondered in her heart.
She remembered how seven to eight months ago, the king summoned them and ordered to not never step towards the land where the city was located.
They were shocked by his order, and when they thought of asking why, he revealed it was on the warning of Holy Seer!
In an impossible situation, they might defy the king’s orders but never the Holy Seer! And how could they?
The Holy Seer was their god!
"From months, we haven’t heard from her," The mermaid thought. "And the king looks troubled."
She shifted her gaze to the dais where Queen Anthea too looked troubled. There was no more joyous mood she was known for. If it was there, it was only in front of her teenage daughter, and the mermaid knew the queen was forcing herself to look joyful.
The mermaid then glanced at the royal throne. The majestic king - Poseidon sat there.
Suddenly, his eyes flickered. The mermaid was alarmed, thinking he noticed her rude actions of observing him.
But to her relief, he lifted his head.
Poseidon looked out of the palace and the layers of water above Atlantis, bringing his vision on the sky.
Through the clouds, gray asteroids came roaring down, carrying boundless energy of sinister death.
Without Poseidon or anyone from Atlantis acting, globes of water burst up from the ocean, transforming into arrows.
The water arrows were like rockets as they shot up, emitting an acidic vibe as if they were made from the water of hell.
In the blink of an eye, they smashed into the asteroids, creating an ear-numbing explosion.
BOOM
Fumes of acidic vapors swept out, destroying the asteroids...
"Your majesty, the visuals have returned!" A hydra informed.
The hydra has also felt the attack just like many in the room, and while he was astonished, he knew the formation protecting Atlantis would be more than enough to handle such attacks.
Poseidon retraced his vision and looked at the projection of Extermination floating above the river.
Seeing no sign of the titan, the result was obvious. Something Poseidon expected even before Extermination brought out the Cosmic Spark.
Reason? Because his body was ominous gray just like the gray matter that stayed in the body of Holy Seer!
Poseidon moved his vision to the screen next to the projection. There stats flashed up, revealing details that only advanced sensors could pick up.
"The readings picked up by the high-tech satellite points his strength to somewhere between mid to peak of Level VIII."
Poseidon thought.
"So he’s strong, very strong... but not to the extent that he could wipe entire Atlantis out of existence! So why would Holy Seer be wary of him?!"
Poseidon felt his blood boil as he recalled how gray matter surged in her body from time to time. It was painful to even look, and he could only imagine what she felt.
"But he did such a thing to her... and that too from the future, when she was only a phantom of the past! So his true strength must far surpass the limitations of Alpha!
"Could he be the legendary Omega?!"
Omega!
A rank that no one knew if it even existed!
Because there was never an existence that attained this rank of power!
To achieve that, one would have to surpass Level IX! Something impossible!
The strongest known existences were Alphas! And they possessed the strength to wipe out the planet!
Of course, since there were multiple Alphas instead of only single Alpha, the planet was safe! The presence of other Alphas ensured that!
It was like nuclear weapons. The presence of more than one weapon acted as deterrence!
.....
At the same time, inside the crystal temple.
The Holy Seer - Rhea- sat frozen on the crystal throne. Her naked body trembled as the gray matter inside her resonated with the attack of asteroids just now.
"The instant those asteroids appeared above the ocean... the gray matter turned violent! It was almost like there was some command coded inside the gray matter... that would be only triggered by the arrival of asteroids!"
The asteroid attack was powerful, but it was easily taken care of.
Not the gray matter though.
Even her strength - which far surpassed the understandings of human compression - couldn’t stop it. Maybe it could have, but since gray matter merged with her out of blue, she never got the opportunity to stop it.
Not now though.
Since the time gray matter merged with her body, it has ensured her powers were suppressed.
What little portion of strength she could use would barely qualify as the peak Beta.
She bitterly smiled at this thought. It has been decades since she used her true powers, and she couldn’t use them when she needed the most.
Ssss
The blue radiance on her body considerably dimmed down as from her heart, the gray matter swept out. It started turning her blood into gray, absorbing her bloodline source.
"Get lost!"
She clenched her teeth and started fighting the gray matter. In response to her fighting spirit, the crystal walls vibrated and emitted streams of energy into her.
It stimulated her suppressed powers.
WHOOSH~!
Waves of temporal power erupted out of her very source of existence, wrapping her body like a maelstrom.
Around her, the time seemed to flow in a reverse manner as the gray matter moved back inside her heart. The gray matter went further back in time, almost to the instant where it was created, its most fragile state!
Just as it was about to fade, the gray matter glowed malevolently and returned back to its original might. It once again attacked her bloodline source.
As this happened, Rhea was shocked. The gray matter was too strong!
Back when she first saw Extermination in the future, she didn’t think he was strong enough to terrify her... but in just the flicker of a second, her opinion had changed.
Something that still remained!
"Could he have been Omega?!"
Rhea wondered as she once again started fighting the gray matter.
Alas, what neither she nor Poseidon knew was that what terrorized her...was not Extermination but someone who impersonated him!
***
Delta City.
Extermination continued to float above the river as three mutants appeared.
Their entries were spectacular and amazing, to the point that the youngsters from the Nine Aristocrat Families became awe-struck.
And how could they not?! The three were Alphas!
Someone whom even the World Government couldn’t afford to offend!
The World Councilmen and every top organization looked at the visuals with full concentration.
They first looked at the man with the facial features of the vicious wolf. His very presence emitted bloodthirsty aura, making the grayish world squirm with a splash of crimson colors.
"The Crimson Wolf!"
"The lone wolf of the south!"
"Supposedly, he was born in a family of mutated wolves... and gained enlightenment! No one knows how many living beings he has torn apart to gain that bloodthirsty aura!"
They then looked at the woman wielding the katana. Dressed in a blue sleeveless tank top and a white scarf draped over her neck, the space around her distorted as if it was continuously stabbed.
"Miria! The Mad Blade!"
"The day she was born, all sharp weapons around the world vibrated! When she lifted her right hand... on the other side of the globe, an ancient katana from World Heritage Museum flew out... landing directly in her hand!"
The youngsters swallowed as they remembered her stories. She was cold and merciless whenever she used her katana.
Calming themselves, they focused on the last mutant. His arrival has brought a row of mountains, dividing the city. He radiated calmness as he played the flute and jumped out of the mountains.
"Maldonado! The Mountain Lord!"
"Decades ago... the northern mountains in the State of Avalon split apart, and a baby flew out! It was him!"
As the top factions stared at the visuals, sharing shocking stories, the three new arrivals stepped towards the river.
Miria opened her lips, and in a cold voice, introduced herself, "My name is Miria."
"I’m nameless as everyone in my race is," Crimson Wolf joined the introduction. "But humans call me Crimson Wolf."
"Maldonado," The third mutant lowered the flute and introduced himself. "That’s what my kind parents named me."
They continued to step forward, unfettered by the chaotic energy in the surrounding. Completing their introduction and still hearing no response from the gray man, Miria asked, "And who are you?"
Extermination looked at her.
In the time he has existed, he has been known by multiple names and titles.
Zed.
Kiba.
Wife Hunter.
Saviour of Women.
Holy Lord.
The Promised Sage.
Messiah.
Dream of Wives.
Living Nightmare of Husbands, among countless other titles.
But he didn’t associate with them, not after getting freedom from his false self.
"Extermination," Extermination replied.
"Well, Extermination, we want you to back off," Crimson Wolf pointed his right claw at him. "And stop the madness that you have unleashed on this world!"
"Madness I have unleashed?" Extermination arched his head back and started laughing like he has heard the funniest joke in the world.
Crimson Wolf narrowed his eyes.
Around Extermination, the grayness expanded like flames of madness, reaching to the skies. The phantoms of ghosts and discarnate souls inside them faded, replaced by scenes from the cities where the asteroids have smashed.
There were thousands and thousands of humans that have survived. Now they ran, stamping on the bodies of others, without showing a little bit of the so-called humanity. Thousands of survivors died under the feet of other survivors...
The scene then changed to the cities near Delta City, which were safe, and yet full of chaos.
The news of events at Delta City became a source of panic and resulted in law and order situation.
Riots broke out and lootings started.
Whether it was normal humans, mutants, or even people from law enforcement agencies, none did what they were supposed to do in the face of extreme adversities!
’If others are rioting and looting, why couldn’t we? No government can punish us all!’
This herd mentality broke what little peace that still remained...
So some run; some enjoyed the new developments with looks of schadenfreude; while the rest participated in breaking the law!
They harassed, murdered, burned the properties of those they disliked, and robbed what they always wanted to possess!
There was the madness of a different nature!
"Adversity does not build character, it only reveals it! And the truth of this double-faced world is only showed in the face of crisis!"
Extermination continued with a smile.
"So don’t blame me for unleashing the madness on this world! I only exposed it!"
The river below him surged up in the form of an enormous gray wave.
"And such a world doesn’t deserve to exist!"
He stretched his hand towards the adjacent city, and the wave charged at it.
Miria lifted her katana and pointed it at the gray wave. She then dragged the katana down in a gentle chopping motion.
Her movements seemed to be very slow and yet, countless afterimages of the katana flashed up.
RIPPPP
By the time one could notice the afterimages, the sound of space ripping apart echoed out. A spatial fissure erupted between the gray wave, revealing the dark outer space.
Whoosh~!
The pressure in the outer space was terrifying, especially the spatial force that could suck anything. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the wave flew between the fissure, arriving directly in the outer space.
"Maybe you are right. Perhaps this world doesn’t deserve to exist," Miria said as the fissure disappeared on its own. "But this is the only world we have! And it is our home!"
"Something we wouldn’t allow to be exterminated!" Maldonado declared as he jumped up.
Dozens of mountains appeared in his other hand. The sight was strange. The mountains were obviously grand and imposing, countless times taller than him, and yet, they were in his hand.
It was a paradoxical scene to behold!