Reborn: Apocalypse

'42,000 Points? It's smaller than I thought I'd get. Did they bring fewer men than in the first timeline?' The thought flashed through his mind in an instant.

The explosion took almost everyone by surprise.

The combination of ingredients that Micheal had concocted was known to some as Concentrated Burn Liquid, a well-known concoction that he'd made quite a few times in his original timeline, for situations where brute strength wouldn't suffice and a little heat could prove useful.

In terms of overall explosiveness, it was one of the best explosives that could be created on the First Layer, and a powerful and useful explosive on later Layers. While its ingredients weren't exactly cheap, they were reliable and as long as the liquid wasn't kept exposed to heat or light, it wouldn't explode on its own.

The Concentrated Burn Liquid was especially effective in enclosed places. It relied upon searing the air and setting it literally aflame. In an open area like the rooftops, its effects would fizzle out shortly after activation.

While it could set off a small chain reaction, the large amount of air would spread the liquid too thin for it to sustain itself for longer than a second or two.

In an enclosed space, however, where air couldn't easily rush in, its overall power was much higher. It had more time to fully spread, maintaining its coherency for longer. It was an excellent tool that didn't have too many negatives when used indoors.

BOOOOM

The flames didn't do much damage to the building itself, only leaving some burn marks in the stairwells. The unnaturally resilient buildings of the First Layer stayed true to their magical reputation, remaining virtually unharmed.

"Woah?!"

"What the hell!"

"Is it part of their attack?"

The guards from the Godfather Organization yelped in surprise, a few mutterings spreading out. They maintained their intense awareness, however, their gaze never straying from their assigned doors.

"This was your doing?" Shigun stared at Micheal, his eyes wide in shock. Micheal had finally managed to change his expressionless appearance.

"Yes, my sight as a Seer clued me in to their attack, but I couldn't be certain. I made some preparations ahead of time." He replied steadily, his voice projecting absolute confidence.

"What if we had men up there?! You could've killed all of us! This is insane!" Officer Cain broke in, glaring at Micheal in rebuke. He was clearly an inch from jumping to attack, but restrained himself, instead glancing at Boss Shigun.

"You didn't, though, did you?" Micheal blinked, his face giving away nothing. Internally, he rolled his eyes, seeing right through Cain's act.

"But what if we had?! This man's clearly a maniac, Shigun, just let me-"

"If you had men up there, I would've adapted my plan." Micheal cut in,

"And it's not like you would care much, traitor." He hammered home his point as he crossed his arms.


"Again, why would I want to betray anyone?" Cain adamantly denied everything.

Shigun, throughout this, stared back and forth between Cain and Micheal, his eyes gleaming.

Micheal was well aware that it would be almost impossible for Shigun to make a decision here. Micheal's actions, so far, had been almost entirely in good faith. If what he said was true, and Cain really was a traitor, then everything would make sense.

On the other hand, Cain had served with him for more than a year. Shigun was extremely reluctant to cast his hand against his trusted Officer, not without solid proof. All of his deliberations were exacerbated by the fact that they were currently under attack.

"We've got movement from the corridors!"

One of Shigun's men broke the verbal stalemate between Micheal and Cain, his voice echoing. Micheal glanced at him, his eyes narrowed. The man appeared to have some type of sensory Ability, letting him detect that people were coming.

"Hug the walls, prepare to defend! Squads 1 and 4, focus half your fire on the incoming Morenkai!" Martin took charge as Shigun, Micheal, and Cain continued to face off, commanding,

"Kill anyone that walks through those doorways."

The explosions had been anything but quiet, but due to their enclosed nature, they weren't too loud either. A small number of Morenkai had started to swarm their building, enough to prove worrisome but nothing overwhelming.

BANG

BANG

A few gunshots rang out as some of the guards took shots at the Morenkai.

"Sophia." Micheal waved his hand at her. Immediately, she expanded her Fairy Eyes to swoop in on several other Morenkai. She then manipulated what they saw until they viewed other Morenkai as humans and began to fight among each other.

Due to the small number of investigating Morenkai, her actions were enough to tie the rest of them up for now. That would only last briefly, however. The rising commotion would draw more and more Morenkai in, in just a short period of time.

"Taking control of this situation is simple, Boss Shigun." Micheal began, his voice booming as he offered a plan. The Godfather Boss had seemed content allowing Offensive Team Leader Martin to command his men, keeping his focus on Micheal and Cain as he tried to understand the situation.

"We just have to seize one of the stairwells. Right now, the majority of the enemy forces are in shock. We just need to get off of the ground floor and we'll be fine, able to wait for reinforcements." Micheal's eyes flashed as he looked at Cain,

"That is, if your Officer actually called men in."

Cain's eyes blazed as he glared back at Micheal. Without hesitation, the man picked up the clunky phone that Shigun had tossed him,

"I repeat, send reinforcements to our sector immediately. Our location is…" Micheal watched as the man called for reinforcements, clearly and convincingly. Micheal had forced him into a corner, forcing his hand.

"There. Without a doubt, there can be no suspicions of me now. I have no reason to betray the Family." Cain threw the phone back to Shigun, ignoring Micheal as he cracked his knuckles.

"We need to prepa-" Before he could say anything further, Cain was cut off as a series of gunshots rang out.

BANG

BANG

"Fall back!"

"Retreat!"

The elite guards of the Godfather Organization all retreated from one of the stairwells, backing up quickly. One of the men was too slow, a blurred fist knocking into his back and sending him flying half a dozen meters through the air.

Shigun snatched the man out of the air as he flew, his body moving with grace and strength as he saved his subordinate.

"To think you two really are still alive. My, my, Sophia and… Micheal right?" A voice that was subtly laced with anger rang out as a heavily armored figure emerged from the stairwell, clad in black plate armor and wielding a large, gleaming axe in his right arm. The man's armor was steaming. He had clearly been in the stairs when the bomb went off.

The right arm of this fighter, however, was nowhere to be seen, the armor that would normally cover it vanished.

"I'm guessing it's you that killed almost all of the men I brought today. I'll need to pay you back for that and my arm." The Pirate Lord knew Micheal had a penchant for explosives and probably assumed Micheal had set them ahead of time.

As for why Micheal had set them… even if he cursed at Micheal a thousand times, praying for evil gods to strike him down, he still couldn't figure it out.

'Why were there bombs there at all?! Were you going to blow up the team you were trying to ally with, right outside their own territory?! And how are you still alive?!' It made no sense to the Pirate Lord, but there was nothing he could change now, swallowing the bitter loss with rage.

Cain wouldn't have betrayed them after all he'd done and Brandon couldn't think of anyone else that would've been able to. The Black Flag Pirates had inexplicably sustained serious losses before the battle even directly started.

"Lord Brandon. What an unpleasant surprise." Shigun's voice was cold as his men began to fall back, fanning out in a defensive circle.

WHOOSH

Without waiting to hear a response, Shigun activated his Type Ability.

Boss Shigun's Type Ability was a unique one.

It was the Red Titan Type, costing 94,000 Points in the Shop. It allowed the man to transform his body into a huge, lumbering red-skinned Titan, growing an entire meter in height and becoming a muscular brute. The Full Transformation Ability greatly boosted one's Strength, Endurance, and Recovery, but penalized the Soul stat. It could also only be maintained for a somewhat limited amount of time, not more than an hour.

Despite that, the sheer power of the Type, along with Shigun's own personal experience, skill, and other Abilities, made him a decently strong A Ranker. He was just slightly weaker than Pirate Lord Brandon in raw power, but had a much higher Recovery stat. In a duel between the two, it would be a tossup as to who would win.

'Well, normally it would be. Now that Brandon has lost an arm…' Micheal suppressed the urge to smile evilly.

Shigun's body expanded, growing in size such that his head almost touched the roof of the ground floor. His pristine suit ripped as his muscles bulged, giving him a ferocious appearance, almost like that of The Hulk. At the same time, the Artifact he wielded, a Thunderbar Cane, expanded with him, growing to fit in his hands like a massive bat.

BOOM

Almost immediately, the two men charged at each other. Shigun slammed forward with his cane while Brandon cut out with his Returner Axe, both fighters engaging in a brutal clash of strength.

And, as Micheal expected, Brandon fared slightly worse in the exchange. The heavily armored figure was knocked backward a couple of meters as they clashed, sliding back. The loss of an arm had greatly affected his battle prowess.

Shigun was only blasted back around a single meter, his body giving off a feeling of overwhelming might.

"How dare you attack the Boss!" Officer Martin's voice growled in the air as he prepared to charge to Shigun's aid. Before he could move, however…

"Oh, you two are going at it something fierce! Come, Martin, I think you should let them have their fun." A cheery voice echoed out as a few other figures emerged from the same smoldering doorway, drawing a few other shouts from the elite guards.

A handsome asian man wearing a sharp looking suit walked forward, his green eyes clear. He pushed back on his short black hair, wrinkling his nose at the smell of burnt human flesh that was wafting in from the stairwell.

'Pirate Lord Byron is here... as are some of the B Ranked leading warriors of the Black Flag Pirates.' Apart from Byron, there were three other figures there. Not all of the B Ranked members that Micheal was aware of were present, for some reason.

One was a large black skinned man dressed in army fatigues, Ravager Jason, a B Ranker known for tearing his enemies apart with his bear hands, possessing the Arkian Bear Transformation Type.

The second was a petite woman dressed in a black leotard, her pale face partially covered with a black mask. The B Ranked Silent Viper, known for using poisonous knives and her grace thanks to her mastery of her Lesser Vampire Type.

The third was another asian man, one that looked almost like a clone of Lord Byron. He wore the same type of suit, had green eyes, and kept this hair short, as if he was imitating the Pirate Lord. The Winged Wrecker, a B Ranker that had the Iron-Tailed Eagle Wings Ability, a Partial Transformation Ability that allowed him to grow a pair of powerful and tensile wings, able to shoot feathers from them that cut like knives.

"After all, you have quite a bit more to handle now, don't you?" Byron's eyes flashed as he stepped forward. As he moved, his entire body began to glow with light, the Pirate Lord's unique Ability showing through.

The Mana Body Type, an Ability that cost 89,500 Points in the Shop. It greatly enhanced his physical strength, speed, and durability, as well as multiplying his senses, at the cost of rapidly draining his energy.

While all of this was going on, Micheal had motioned for Sophia, having her act as they planned. She continued to control the Morenkai, having them fight amongst themselves. At the same time, she began to shift towards one of the stairwells, one that was across of where all the major figures were at.

'Not yet…' Micheal kept still, watching the massive battle start to unfold with the eyes of a master conductor, his eyes missing nothing,

'I can't jump in yet… Just a little more…'

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