Chương 608: Limitless Path Chapter Six Hundred Twenty-Seven

"Damn them," Kim muttered, puffing vigorously on his cigar while he composed himself.

"We're going to have to burn the whole operation now. Frank! Shape up man. We're pulling out of Argand! Go start protocol blue for that operation and get the burn system ready. We're done."

"While that's nice," Beth started, watching as the secretary scrambled, "that doesn't really help with our quandary now, does it?"

"That's right, but I don't know that I can do anything for you," Kim said.

"You'll have to sit down with the lawyers and hash that out. In terms of compensation for the operation itself, I'm sure we can find something that will be satisfactory for the CRA."

"I'm more concerned that you've openly admitted that your company funded and masterminded this operation, one that involved the CRA, and we're talking about sitting down with lawyers. That's not necessarily my style," Beth said, giving the man a large grin.

"Nor is it my team's style to just sit politely and negotiate with people. Perhaps you've noticed their rather…destructive tendencies?"

"Yes, yes," he said with a sigh.

"I understand your perspective. However, if you can call off your team, we can have a more productive conversation-" Kim was interrupted by the door opening again, but this time the person that entered was not his secretary, or a secretary at all. This was a person with power, one that was used to having that power and wielding that power.

Beth preferred to keep her power restrained as, even not counting her Ideal, her strength as an Enlightened could create a zone of power around her, something that anyone could feel who was in her physical presence. The person who entered the office was clearly of the opposite camp, displaying his power for all to feel, like a whale swimming into the waters right next to a person, his presence couldn't be ignored, and that was without him using his Presence or other core powers to exert his will on reality.

Without even scanning him, Beth could get a good feel for his power, understanding that he was an Ascended and at least some way beyond rebirth twenty.

"Manager Kim," the man said, striding into the office as if he owned it.

"What is this I hear about the Argand operation? We are canceling all contracts? How has this happened?"

"This young lady here," Kim replied, nodding at Beth, which is the first time the man noticed her, or acknowledged noticing her, continuing, "has brought some unfortunate matters to my attention. The local elements that we provided with some aid have taken operations a bit too far. It's not just time for a reassessment, it's time to renegotiate our entire involvement. I gave the orders for withdrawal of any company assets still deployed while we hold discussions over the matter."

"Do you have the authority to command withdrawal?" the man questioned intently, his emotion causing the space in the room to feel heavy and Manager Kim to start sweating all over again.

"I am operational manger for all Argand activities; it's within my right to change purview and scope and even to entirely redistribute operations as I see fit," Kim answered, mopping his forehead with a kerchief while puffing on his cigar.

"I see," the Ascended said, a frown splitting his handsome face. He turned to Beth then, saying, "And you. Who exactly are you, to think you can walk in here and make demands of Prime Explorers Inc.?" The man was consciously exerting pressure on the room as he looked at her, but Beth just rolled her eyes, feeling no effect from his intimidation.

It might have done something to her, maybe, if she didn't have her Ideal, but she could easily punch up several weight classes with a more complete core power set than her opponents. Despite all the pressure, she hadn't gotten a whiff of Ideal from the man, meaning he was either very good at concealing it, or he was like ninety-nine-point-nine percent of Ascended and hadn't touched upon his Ideal yet.

Given the way he demonstrated his power for everyone to see, like a peacock strutting on a sunny day, Beth doubted he would go out of his way to hide his Ideal. He could be someone that played a deeper game, hiding greater power behind a showing of somewhat weaker power, but Beth just didn't get that read from him.

"Prime Explorers?" Beth asked laconically, raising a brow, seeing the man hesitant for just a fraction of a second at her nonchalance.

"Didn't even know that that was the name of the company, but I don't really care. I was sent here to take care of a situation, a situation your people apparently created, and that's what I intend to do. I do have the authority." Beth made her Emblem appear, which also surprised the man just slightly, and he very clearly scanned the Emblem to assure its authenticity, not just taking her at her word for it.

"Well, this complicates things, but in some ways, it makes it simpler. I assume you've been dispatched to investigate what was happening and handle the problem in an appropriate method?"

"Basically what I just said, sure," Beth said, shrugging.

"Manager Kim has been helpful so far, and I think we can resolve this equitably." The Ascended, who still hadn't given his name, looked over at Kim, making the man sweat all the more, before slowly sliding his gaze back to Beth. He was a stocky individual, a handful of inches shorter than Beth but much broader of frame and more heavily muscled, with a barrel chest supported by thick legs.

He studied her for a few moments, not saying anything to her hopefully rather diplomatic effort, just scanning her in a way that would have made others uncomfortable but Beth just shrugged off. It really looked like he was pondering something for a minute, with Kim remaining quiet, the big man almost trying to shrink behind his desk to escape the notice of the two much more powerful predators in the room. Finally, the Ascended smiled and said, "I think we can solve this problem much more easily."

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"Oh, really? You have something that valuable that you can give me?" Beth replied, intentionally choosing to misinterpret his words. She knew where this was going and she was prepared to see it through, but she wanted him to make the first move.

"I think you're the best they have. Those jokers on Argand had to go crying to headquarters to get anybody even half competent, and they're no use in any of this. Even assuming whoever you've brought with you is almost as strong, I still think it's better we apologize later rather than bow our heads now," he said, turning to fully face her.

"Right," Beth said with sigh, standing up and stretching.

"Before we do this, let me just make one thing clear; if you start it, I will end it."

"I don't think you're one to be making threats," the Ascended said, flaring his power as Kim dove under his desk. Beth matched him power for power, their Presences manifesting at the same time, tearing the space in the office apart, the man's eyes widening slightly at the amount of power Beth's Presence commanded even though it was clear she was only at fourteen rebirths.

One didn't really activate their Mana Physique, at least for most people, so there was nothing to do their, and the man activated some skills to match the ones Beth was activating before he attacked. He was caught absolutely flat-footed when Beth wasn't done with her core powers, activating her Ideal to a massive widening of the Ascended eyes and an attempt to abort his initial rush towards her.

It was an attempt she was only too happy to capitalize on, taking advantage of his staggering state to hammer him into and through the exterior wall of the office, sending him through the steel and concrete and wood next to the window.

"Missed the window. Sorry about that, Kim," she said to the man still under the desk before leaping out the window. She used her Ideal to not just fly but to race forward, rapidly catching up to the Ascended. He hadn't just spun through the air helplessly, however, as he had corrected and now flew back at her. Even without an Ideal, most Ascended had either the raw power to push themselves through the air, or had some kind of skill or equipment that aided them in flying.

Considering the man displayed no outwards signs of a flight skill like wings or such, Beth was guessing he was either using an internal power or it was something with his equipment. She would be able to detect the mana usage if he was just pushing against the ground and the surrounding mana and she didn't feel that sort of push coming from him as he flew to meet her.

They impacted in the air near the edge of the city; Beth's initial kick had sent him rocketing away at most of the speed of sound and by the time he corrected and leveled out, he had already flown far away from the company office in the city center. They came together and the man swung at her with a set of hammers that appeared in his hands, Beth matching him by having her greatsword appear and clash against the hammers.

The impact made a loud ringing sound and created a shock wave powerful enough to disturb people on the ground below them, but they ignored the output as they engaged in a rapid exchange of blows. The man was surprised that Beth was keeping up with him based on his facial expressions, clearly expecting somebody so many rebirths below him to struggle with his speed, especially with him using the faster weapons while Beth swung around a blade as long as she was tall.

The man's Presence was a cloak around his shoulders and upper back, more a stole than a half-cloak, and it had twenty bright stars embroidered into it, signifying his twenty rebirths that meant Ascendancy. Beyond that, there were another six bright dots of light hovering above his shoulders, clearly showing he was at a full twenty-six rebirths, Beth easily able to interpret the signs of his Presence.

He flared power through his Presence, a trick Beth was also able to mimic, though her output was lower, and they slammed into each other again, the man going for an aggressive front kick before switching into a side kick and a rising uppercut with one of his hammers.

Beth met his kicks with knees, putting extra force into her blocks to shove the man off-balance, though that was more about destabilizing his flight considering they weren't standing on the ground, and his uppercut missed with her only leaning back a few inches. They continued the weapon exchange for nearly a minute, Beth clearly holding her own but not able to push into the man even with her aggressive mix of swordplay and unarmed combat.

His skill was equal to or greater than hers, Beth suspecting he was very close to the peak with his Maces skill, likely at rank eight. She wasn't yet able to match that level of skill, but she was able to hold him to a fairly even fight for a while. His skill was higher and his stats were likely superior, though they weren't as far beyond her as they might have been, but his other skills didn't seem to measure up.

Beth was also guessing that she had him beat in terms of Mana Physique, and possibly by two grades, his likely being a Silver Mana Physique while hers was at Platinum. Add on that her Ideal just passively made her more powerful, boasting her strength and speed, and there was far less of a difference between the two of them than one might expect.

It was clearly less of a difference than the Ascended started to expect, as he was really starting to sweat after just two minutes of fighting, and Beth was guessing most of that sweat wasn't due to exertion. She exchanged a few more blow with him before going on the offensive, using a combination of skills to hit him with an insane amount of mana, using the skill of her tyrant class in combination with her spatial manipulation to send a powerful wave of crushing force at him.

Considering they were still in melee range, the attack practically blew up in his face and it clearly rattled him, sending him tumbling back as he tried to shake off the power of the blow. Beth followed up, he sword disappearing as she punch and kicked, sending the man tumbling even further, the air between the two of them igniting from the amount of force she was pumping out, the Ascended only stopping when his form slammed into a mountain with a loud crash.

That started a rock slide that grew as he tore himself free, deciding to give Beth a little taste of her own medicine by revealing some more of his cards, creating a storm around himself as he rose back into the air before sending massive bolts of lightning coursing towards her. Beth hadn't been idle, and she hadn't let the fire fade, taking control of it and building it with her skills and Mana Physique, adding in the power of her Ideal so space in front of her started to burn and annihilate.

She sent a beam of concentrated white fire forward, able to see even from a mile away the look of shock and fear on the Ascended's face as her beam ate his lightning and slammed into the storm cloud around him, sending him flying yet again and destroying much of that protective layer. Beth was going to pursue but stopped, turning halfway back to the city as she felt several presences lock onto her, but nobody made a move to attack.

It was pretty clear that whoever was in charge of the city, and likely whoever was in charge of the local CRA Hall or Annex, were now quite aware that a big event was happening and were starting to stir. She turned back to get a face full of lightning, punching into the blast and using her ability to manipulate and destroy space to greatly blunt the impact, just straight tanking the remainder of the spell as it washed over her.

Her armor was barely singed, of too high a quality to get damaged by that small amount of mana, and her general toughness was so great that, combined with her high resistances, it was going to take a lot more than a few sparks to really injure her. She responded to the attack in the same way, but not just with one beam; instead, she fired off a dozen powerful attacks that burned away the space they traversed, all shot out within a second of each other.

The man was better prepared this time, using his superior mana amount and concentration to block or deflect all of her attacks. He wasn't able to just entirely shrug them off, however, as it was clear he took some damage in doing so. Before they could continue, the watching presences shifted, several people appearing near the two of them. There were four people, with at least two of them being Ascended, and it seemed they were of a mind to interfere.

Beth withdrew and showed her CRA badge before anyone could do anything else, but that didn't deter the people, though it did cause them to split up. A tall woman flew over to Beth while two of the other flew to the man and the final person continued hovering to the side, watching the proceedings.

"Arianna Adech, Hall Master and World Coordinator," the woman introduced herself, showing Beth a Diamond Emblem. World Coordinator meant that she was the Hall Master with overall responsibility for the planet, a designation that was only sometimes used when chain-of-command needed to be absolutely clear.

"What is happening here, that an Enlightened and an Ascended are dueling in our airspace?"

"It's a long story," Beth said, looking over to see the other two people were now interrogating the man.