Chương 637: Limitless Path Chapter Six Hundred Fifty-Six

Beth Beth was not particularly impressed with the two feuding clans, in particular because of the very reason they had been called in. These two groups had fought before, but this time their members hadn't been content to keep everything within the arena, or just within the arena floor, at some points. The reason it warranted Platinum missions was that the two leaders of the clan were Ascended, and that they also had plenty of connections with other Ascended that they were willing to actually use.

The situation needed a certain amount of delicacy and a certain amount of presented power to handle properly, and a team like Beth's that was looking to move up in the CRA was exactly what the situation called for. A Gold Emblem, or even a provisional Gold Emblem, wouldn't have what it took to handle the mediation, at least, not most of the time.

Considering Beth's team was still at Gold, she thought that her team might be the exception to the rule, but they were what got assigned and they'd finish this up relatively quickly. Beth felt she had already contributed more than plenty; the leaders of the two groups were old enough and powerful enough that they certainly recognized her Ideal for what it was, and displaying that alongside a taste of her full power was enough to more than get them to sit up and take notice.

They were now behaving rather respectfully, even to members of her team, not that Bjorn had really needed it; there was just something about size and raw physicality that still worked on people, no matter the magic or other powers that were present. Bjorn towering over the others when he was seated, even if they were to be standing, sent a message all on its own, and it wasn't like Bjorn didn't have the stats or powers to back up his massive size and intimidation factor.

Having done her duty, as it were, Beth sat back and watch as Bjorn browbeat the two leaders into submission, though with how many glances they stole at Beth over the next hour, she was sure her demonstration was still the foremost thing in their minds. Not that Bjorn was easy to ignore; a man the size of a small battleship, wearing more plate armor than a dreadnought and with a voice that could vibrate one's cells apart with its depth and power made an impression all of his own.

The best was, while the group had been very impressed initially by the others' introductions, they had basically forgotten all about everyone but Bjorn and Beth. That was fine for Sera, and more than fine for Blood, but Beth could just tell that Val was stewing a bit at being relegated to window dressing.

The funniest part of everything was when the parties stuck on giving any concessions to end their feud, especially the amount of time the CRA wanted them to hold to a truce, until Bjorn rested one arm on the table, just the act of doing so causing the table to groan and crack. He hadn't even put any real weight on it, let alone used his strength to push, and the table practically shattered which, considering the mana-soaked materials it was constructed from, was making an awfully big, if unintentional, statement.

That got things moving even faster and Beth was sure the agreement was drawn up and ratified in record time. Of course, once Bjorn had completed what would be by far their fastest and easiest mission of this circuit, everyone wanted to talk, with the whole, but in particular with her. Having flexed her power to move things along much faster, Beth really couldn't blame anyone but herself, and she had the rest of the team to deflect some of the attention.

"Young Miss Bell," said one of the two patriarchs, Beth forgot which one, honestly, as he approached her and bowed, flanked by two strong Enlightened. To anyone else, meeting this man, with his escort, considering his family's skill at combat, would be a harrowing and very nerve-wracking proposition. To Beth, who could wipe the floor with all of them, even if both Ascended teamed up to fight her, it was very much a shoe on the other foot type of situation.

"Mr. Galewind," Beth said with a neutral smile, having her communicator prompt her for the name. She couldn't really imagine what she'd do without the handy device providing so much utility and backing her up so often.

"I just want to say, if you ever need any help in this sector, Galewind Services is more than happy to provide," he said, naming his family's rather blandly label mercenary company.

"I'm honored by the offer, Mr. Galewind, but I think anything I might struggle with might be a little out of your paygrade, no offense," Beth replied with a small smile, trying to keep things diplomatic.

"Ah, but you see, that might not always be true," Mr. Galewind said, a sparkle in his eye.

"You have the quality, of course, but there may be times where you find yourself in need of skilled, knowledgeable fighters to cover a wide are or process a massive number of beasts or people through one method or the other. You have quite a lot of strength, not even counting your full team, but covering vast amounts of ground at once is where companies like ours specialize."

"It's a good pitch, Mr. Galewind, and I'll keep your family in mind," Beth said with a nod, which the other man took for a dismissal. It was still a bit odd to have the old coots eager to bow to her rather than have her bow to them, but she was rapidly getting used to it.

"Senior Bell," the other family leader addressed her, approaching her in almost an identical manner. Beth did find it amusing just how alike the two groups were, which is likely why they constantly butted heads and caused a hassle for the CRA and surrounding cities.

"Mr. Blanque," Beth said, giving him the exact same nod as the first group leader. As much of a hassle as it was, if she signaled either of them differently, the whole thing could get blown out of proportion, and fast. She also wasn't above assuming that these two old coots would be just the kind of men to make a issue of it, if not now, than at some important time down the road.

"Any services you require, including our financial brokers, please don't hesitate to let me know," he said, giving her a warm smile. Beth might even have been fooled by the kindly old grandfather act, if she didn't know what a snake the man was, especially when it came to money. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"I think my investments are doing just fine, Mr. Blanque, but I'll keep you in mind in the future," Beth said, giving the same milquetoast smile she had delivered to the first clan head.

"That's all I can ask," Mr. Blanque said with a small grin, giving her another bow before he and his two Enlightened escorts moved off. Beth wasn't sure what the point of the two henchmen was; she supposed if she was weaker, they would make a very intimidating set of three, and the boss wouldn't get his hands dirty 'taking care' of someone, but if she could beat the boss' ass without issue, the henchmen following along behind weren't going to be any better. The clan heads had to talk to the rest.

Bjorn, obviously, as the one that did the talking, and clearly someone very powerful in his own right. One also didn't have to be a total genius to guess that the man had either giant or titan blood in his veins, though it could be a few other things. Still, if Bjorn was from a beast lineage, some of that should have shown in some ways if he was keeping his height to an exaggerated degree, and none of it did, so it all pointed back to one conclusion.

The giants and titans had been known for their overwhelming strength, but they also were keepers of many lost secrets, and people pursued their remaining descendants, sometimes in negative ways, for a glimpse of hidden knowledge. Sera and Val were also obvious; a chance to meet with not just one but two clan heirs to two of the most powerful clans in the entire galaxy.

Beth very much got the impression both the clan leaders were of the mind 'screw this stupid feud, let's pursue the big, fatty piece of meat tossed right in front of us.' She couldn't blame them, either, as a word from either her wife or Val could move mountains, metaphorically and literally, and cozying up to them, while a bit demeaning, could mean great things for either family.

Beth was also happy that Sera made it crystal clear that she and Beth were a very committed item; of course, the two of them enjoyed more than just each other's company, though that was mainly restricted to Selene and Alex these days, but it was also all for their own personal pleasure. Even hinting at any kind of openness in one of these situations would be bringing politics into it, which made Beth's stomach twist just thinking of it.

The last and, to many in the room, least of them was Blood, which amused Beth even more. The wolf was extremely powerful in her own right, so much so that Beth wasn't sure that anybody on the team apart from Beth herself could beat Blood in a one-on-one, but she flew so far under the radar that most hardly noticed her. Beth understood that was the way Blood liked it, but it was funny, in a universe where power trumped all, to see the second most powerful person in the room get barely a glance.

Part of it, as always, was that Blood really loved her lupine heritage and prominently displayed several parts of it at all times. To most sapient beasts, that was simply crazy talk, and they would do everything in their power to show just how far their humanization had progressed. It wasn't unheard for those like Blood to do similar to her, preferring a certain level of mixed showing for aesthetics and comfort, but most people made assumptions.

The same applied to Sera, as Beth liked her having more dragon-like features than her humanization level would show by far, but Sera's background spoke louder than her apparent lack of skill with one of her core powers. When the impromptu meet-and-greet had finally wrapped up, and everyone was satisfied that they had made a suitably good impression on Beth's team of elites and high society venerables, they were off to the next situation.

This one was a more standard, if tedious, request, and something they had all dealt with several time before: a monster invasion. This was almost a textbook case, very similar to the first one Baelvyr had taken them on, and to one of the ones they had done in their last little Platinum sweep. It was considered a high priority, for pretty obvious reasons, but wasn't an emergency that had them sprinting there first.

Beth knew what to expect by this point, and she was prepared to have the team split up and start massacring beasts, which was usually a good way to get at least one monster to show up. They had no indication, from the briefing at least, that it was suspected to be a group of monsters, but monster behavior was still not perfectly understood and they needed to be prepared to face a group.

Beth's carefully laid plans, such as they were, went out the window when they arrived on the planet, though it wasn't because they were facing catastrophe. Instead, it was quite the opposite, though the timing and coincidence was something that struck her as mighty suspicious. Especially given that there was nothing in the briefing and there had been no word that anything had drastically changed.

When they got on-world, they encountered a rather calm populace, all things considered, and when they investigated their first area of heavy beast activity, the first thick tide to have formed, they started to get some answers as to why.

"There's somebody here," Sera said.

"That's pretty obvious," Beth replied, arms crossed as she surveyed the devastation.

"Somebody that uses a sword," Val commented, wading through the corpses. Despite her prickliness and pristine image, and her prickliness about her pristine image, Val had no issue wading through blood and guts.

"These are definitely marks from a very skilled swordsperson. I can't tell how some of the cuts were made, but I doubt it was with any ancillary skills. I think it was all done purely with the Swords skill and their own experience and knowledge."

"So, we have some mysterious sword user that's not in the brief that decided to take matters into their own hands," Beth said, tapping her chin as she hovered off the ground and surveyed the scene.

"What are the chances it's a local?"

"Vanishingly low," Val replied instantly.

"There's no way that a local has this kind of skill and power and they couldn't handle the monster. It's not supposed to be some Exalted-level threat we're talking about, but something in the lower end of Ascended, no more than thirty or thirty-one rebirths. The kind of cuts and sword skill that caused this is from someone that should be able to handle a monster like that, especially if they're also quite strong outside their sword skill."

"So, we have a wandering Grandmaster that decided to step in and help?" Beth asked with a frown.

"Or we have a wandering Sage that wanted some practice," Val replied.

"You think so?" Beth asked, frown deepening as she examined the corpses. From where she was hovering, it wasn't difficult, with her stats and strong eye power, to see exactly what had happened to many of the beasts.

"We're all Masters, some of us on the line of Grandmaster," Val answered.

"I don't think any of us could do this. Look at how this body far over here is cut. The person who did this wasn't standing anywhere close; there's no indication they stood nearby. That's blade waves, sure, but look at how the body was cut so precisely, and from a slightly obtuse angle. I don't know that even a Grandmaster could do this, not when also fighting a million other ravening beasts.

Maybe if that Grandmaster were an Ascended and weren't worried about getting swarmed by stuff in the three hundreds, but still…"

"Still, we either have a powerful Ascended that's a Grandmaster wandering around we don't know about, or we have someone of some rebirth level that's hit Sage that's wandering around that we don't know about," Beth completed the thought.

"Likely they're friendly, or not openly hostile to most," Val said with a shrug.

"The mood of the city we came in through was pretty positive, so I doubt the person is some psycho or something," Sera added, getting a nod from Val.

"I'm so touched that you have so much faith in me," said a sarcastic voice from behind them.