Chapter 497 – Day 1,003 (Part 3) – Assassination Attempt

A woman appeared and I hadn’t sensed her. “Tyrant Michael. You will pay for your crimes. The Council of Shadows will never give in. You destroyed Normandy and you killed the Astrologer. But we will fight to the bitter end.” I blinked at the woman, realizing my voice would still carry out. If she wanted to do this, then fine, we would do this.

“Tyranny? No! Stability! The Astrologer was a terrorist.” That was the name of a man who had tried to Emperor Michael after he had killed the Divine Empress and worked with the enemy of all, the Avatar.

I was about to attack her when she disappeared and the back of the arena burst open as all my level 4 monsters rushed into the arena. They turned towards the crowd and I quickly shouted my next orders.

“Code black! Do not panic! Obey the soldiers!” People were to evacuate the area, while all soldiers were to assist the evacuation and respond to the threat as able. I kicked off the ground, I had to stop the monsters. Several surged up and around towards the stands as people screamed and died.

I was also low on energy. The Cutting Scissors swooped in. I ducked under the attack. Acid Shot. I landed an attack on it in turn. One down, eleven to go. I leapt up into the stands. That was my immediate priority.

Black hands shot towards me. I channeled energy, and slapped them away as I moved towards Summoner Black Hand. At least Michelle had picked the two other summoners earlier. The Mouse Warrior leapt up.

I focused on my Body stat as it stabbed at me, negating its strike at my heart. It only pierced my armor. Acid Shot. It tried to bring up its shield but was too slow. It quickly began to melt as I rushed past it, slapping another black hand out of the way.

The Blade Octopus which had been killing people aggressively, spun towards me, its tentacled blades blocked my path towards Summoner Black Hand. I ducked around the blades. Leaping up, I then delivered a blow with my entire Body stat behind it. My fist impacted the main portion of the Blade Octopus.

I was only fighting hand to hand, since I knew I could take these monsters and I had no energy. I had captured them all, so I knew all their movements. That was another thing I had noticed. They weren’t being controlled. They had been left to rampage. Probably just a general instruction to go wild or kill, since whomever set them free, wasn’t at the level of Michelle in terms of control.

That was a mistake, since I knew their movements and had no problem dodging attacks to keep advancing without fear. I saw people merged into the arena’s seating, while still screaming. The Eye of Merging was rising up into the air. It would soon sweep the entire arena. It was the priority.

“RADIANT BEAM!” Several shouts came out as the beams laced through the sky, impacting the Eye of Merging. It was engulfed in a massive explosion, turning to dust instantly.

“Acid Shot!” Several soldiers raced forward and unleashed the skill at the black hands. More skills followed up. Racing forward the Void Grasping Hand raced in front of me despite its massive size. I didn’t dare touch it as I forced back. Trying to get around it wasn’t possible. Summoner Black Hand was right behind it, unleashing more flying black hands to kill people and annoy me.

I need more energy. “RADIANT BEAM!”The Void Grasping hand left out of the way as a cloud of dust and debris quickly exploded into the air as the attacks struck where it had been. I felt an extreme amount of danger. I quickly let my body go limp.

The dust swirled above me. The Striped Neck Gripper. I quickly kicked off the ground as it tried to get my leg. I burst out of the dust cloud. The Grasping Void Hand leapt after me. I had no leverage in the air! It raced forward and I thrust out my left arm.

The massive car sized hand tried to grip me, but I pushed off it quickly enough that it only grabbed my arm. The Grasping Void Hand slammed forward. I was forcing the curse damage back as it tried to dust my arm. That wasn’t happening. I had lost too many limbs, I was not going to lose another. Small black hands raced in began to grab my body. I was slammed into the ground of the arena.

My Body stat held up, but my left arm was partially crushed. It wasn’t turned into a pulp. A cloud of dust rose up. Shit! The Striped Neck Gripper was going to get me. Just as I was about to rip my arm free from my body. Someone raced in with the beat stick. For a second I thought it was Naran.

“AHHHH!” The blade I had left behind, since I wasn’t really used to fighting with it, slammed into the hand. It jerked as it was massively damaged. I pulled my arm free. A bright red hand jumped into the The Grasping Void Hand. Rays were shot off from another hand. Blowing off the black hands that were gripping me. The curse damage was immense, as I tried to hold it off. Doctor Katz rushed forward and pulled out a flask.

“Drink,” he opened it, stuck a finger in, and then handed it to me. A life potion. I chugged it down. The curse damage was pushed back, and my arm wasn’t a complete mess anymore as it partially recovered after being crushed. I tossed the flask to the ground and kicked off. There!

I landed back on the arena stands. “Acid Shot.” I melted the Striped Neck Gripper and rushed forward. The Black Hand Summoner was not a match for me one on one. I smashed in its skull, quickly turning it to dust.

The screams of the merged and injured people sounded out. Thankfully the total number of casualties appeared to be only around two hundred or so. That wasn’t that bad. The merged people would have to be killed or studied. Too much curse damage. The injured could be fixed up. There was a loud explosion outside the arena.

I quickly kicked off the arena stands and rushed towards the explosion. A follow up attack? A diversion? Were they going for the Avatar? No way was she getting freed and out of the city. I scanned the sky and there was no airship.

Kicking off another building I put on all the speed I could. Three of the five soldiers around Clarissa were dead. There were knives embedded into their heads. A fourth soldier had a knife in his chest and wasn’t looking too good.

Clarissa had her back to a building, while the last soldier had a sword in hand while looking around. Suddenly the woman from before appeared right in front of the last soldiers and stabbed them both in the head at the same time, killing them instantly.

I plummeted for the ground, to save Clarissa. She had been the true target, not me! She couldn’t die. Then I would be stuck with paperwork like the Avatar. Clarissa dodged to the side as the woman stabbed out. Clarissa was incredibly fast, she clearly had invested some stats into Body and Perception to react that quickly.

I had been aiming to land in front of Clarissa and that was where the woman was. I landed directly on her back. I used my Body stat to negate the impact to me and damage her. She was slammed forward into the building wall, right to the side of Clarissa. The woman partially burst apart.

Blood and viscera went flying everywhere covering Clarissa and myself. There was a long moment of silence as I looked at the freshly made corpse and then the blood splattered Clarissa. “You okay?” I asked.

“Yes. There was only one.” I nodded at that.

“The same woman I saw in the arena. Mentioned the Council of Shadows. It appears to be one last gasp of the Astrologer and his harem,” I replied. Clarissa wiped the blood splatter off her face.

“The arena is sorted?” she asked me.

“Yes. All the monsters were handled. They didn’t appear to be controlled either. My guess is she freed them, came out, and then they followed.”

“What a mess. How bad is it?” Clarissa asked me.

“Only two hundred people or so. Some were merged with the arena. Probably kill them or cart them away.” Captain Francis came rushing over along with several of my personal soldiers.

“Emperor Michael! The arena has been secured, the Rods of Taming have been found tucked away into a corner of the arena. No more threats as far as I can tell. General Abdullah is taking control of the local situation to sweep the area for any more threats,” he explained.

“Well, let’s go back. Might as well present a united front, blood and all,” Clarissa said.

“Really?” I asked.

“This was clearly meant to cause chaos and take me out. My first real assassination attempt. I don’t know if I should be honored or concerned,” Clarissa replied.

“Honored. People don’t attempt assassinations on nobodies.” I looked at the bloody corpse of the woman. “Captain Francis, ensure the Avatar is secure. There might be a follow up attempt to free her. She does love her chaotic situations,” I said.

“Yes, sir,” he replied. “You heard the Emperor, let’s go!”

“What a waste. They were being trained up,” Clarissa said while looking at her soldiers.

“Stealth attacks too strong. They had a couple thousand stats each?” I asked.

“About that. I should have invested more. Their loyalty was assured. Trustworthy people are hard to find,” Clarissa replied as we left the blood splattered road and walked back towards the arena together.

“You know, I saw something quite impressive,” I said as we walked. “My future team.”

“Michelle and who else?”

“Some mad lad who jumped into the arena and picked up the Beat Stick. He rushed in swinging it wildly. Also, Doctor Katz. He developed guns. You knew that?” I asked.

“Hand cannons, or one-use pistols. The cost is immense. But they unleash a short narrow ray of annihilation energy per use. Great in emergencies. He has been stressed about the Divine Empress.”

“Anyone would be stressed about her. She manufactured it along with human furniture in her evil empire,” I replied.

“Now we have human furniture,” Clarissa sighed as we came close enough to hear the screams in the arena. People were around. I took a moment to make a large announcement.

“Everyone! The threat is over. The perpetrator has been killed. It was one of the Astrologer’s mistresses. Please return to the arena. There will be another announcement and the injured will need to be seen to. I will be authorizing one thousand points per person seriously injured to help pay for restorations!”

“That should help quite a bit,” Clarissa said quietly to me. She was absolutely right. Never let a good crisis go to waste. I would use this event and try and turn it into something positive. At least my injuries showed I was no Emperor who hid at the back.

I would need to address my appalling failure in security. Also auctioning level 4 monsters didn’t seem such a good idea anymore either, after how hard a fight this was. But one thing was made clear. The days of singular combat by low ranking people in a war were over.

It was the dawn of a new age in the Systemic Lands. While the Ritualist was the herald, it was clear that having teams of monsters, specifically level 4 monsters was completely overpowered. As a level 5 combatant I was pressured.

The only good news was that it took someone much stronger than a monster to capture that level of monster. I just needed to stay ahead of that curve.