The Villain's Story

Chapter 922: Leader of Humanity.

Harrison Soubuelle was a man in his late forties, but looked a bit older due to the fatigue of his work. He stood at an impressive six feet, and wasn’t well built as one expected, opting to be a more ranged, magician type awakened. He had risen to power in his twenties, and since then, had the entire human world in his grasp.

He was the current leader of the association, and quite literally the man at the top of the world. The most surprising thing about Harrison, was, that despite being at the SS-rank, he had the SSS-ranks under his control. All the men of the first generation of awakened, like Arken, Oliver and a few other old monsters all listened to him.

When Daniel Park was rising to power, it was Harrison who had stopped his ascent, bringing peace to the guild world. When any family or organization dealt with the demonic in any capacity, they were annihilated.

In a few days, all members of the family that had relations to the demonic were gone, killed, and dumped in the ocean. It was the same as Lucas’s family, had the Hiddleston heir failed to kill his deranged family, someone from the association would have stepped in and ‘erased’ them. Harrison ruled the world with both a tight iron grip that could also be lax.

His most special feature was that he was able to read people unlike anything ever seen. He was understanding as well, and under his command, the right man was always assigned to the right job. That was partly why the association became so powerful.

In the recent times, the rate of awakened crimes was almost zero. When an individual gains superpowers, they crave to use it upon others, monster or human. Many awakened used to struggle with keeping themselves in line, and awakened crimes were fairly common before Harrison took over.

He singlehandedly restrained the super powered, and ‘ensured’ they would never break the law again. If the crime committed was severe, such as murder of civilians and large scale destruction of property due to malicious intent, they were all killed. At the same time, Harrison had also reduced demonic activity in every area of the World except for Terra Damnum.

Recently, he had also implemented ways for the awakened man to deal with the two most troublesome affinities. A government funded program had been introduced to ‘take care’ of those awakening a Darkness and Chaos affinity. Since these types were more likely to fall under demonic influence, almost everyone was monitored, they were given free therapy lessons, as well as medicine to control their urges. They were also required to take special classes to learn more about their elements. Losing control was something every awakened fear.

The influence of your skills and affinities can not be disregarded, if left alone for too long, they explode, literally. Numerous Fire type awakened have quite literally combusted after trying to restrain their urges. Though most managed to stay alive, the surroundings were heavily damaged.

Everybody both feared and respected him, to an amazing extent. He was just someone that you don’t cross. It was far more beneficial to remain on his good side, and it wasn’t hard to do that.

His ‘understanding’ trait was well known.

“Ahem…”

He coughed into the mic, and Alan watched with a bit confusion. He studied Harrison’s body, trying desperately to see from where he had the sound of ‘gears’ moving. Ultimately, he guessed that it was an enhancement the man had done to his body.

Awakened of the Metal affinity were known to cover parts of their bodies in trinkets and armor all the time, some crazy ones even infused metal into their blood and bones. Alan guessed that was what he heard.

Harrison didn’t go into the details of the conference just yet, instead announced the new S-rank individuals, there were a total of eight.

Alan, Elijah and Ezra were among them, along with others. The most unique one among them was a woman by the name of Amanda Wells, a woman in her early twenties with a [Unique Skill], it was unknown what it was. Supposedly, her unique skill had to do with growth, nourishment, and control, and was what had allowed her to advance so quickly.

Of the people who had already been called to the stage, she was the youngest among them, and it was clear that she held an enormous amount of pride due to it.

She had brown hair, and surprisingly, a golden set of eyes. Alan scanned them and noticed they were additions to her body made due to her unique skills. He didn’t pry into it much, knowing that it would be rude, and also that it would cause a lot of trouble if she or another found out.

The other individuals who had advanced to S-rank were men and women in their late thirties, and they had yet to access their Nascent domain. It wasn’t like they were untalented. They had a great amount of Talent, it was just they were in the presence of freaks like Alan and Elijah, who had many benefits.

They were amazing in their own way, and were veteran awakened that could hold their own.

The next to step onto the stage was Ezra, who had risen to the rank of SS in his mid twenties, and had also completed the formation of his domain. He had a lot of other titles to his name, and Alan paid special attention to this guy in particular.

It was because Ezra had a prominent place in his memories. He was a freak, literally, enough that even James remembered him. Ezra was one of the few people capable of reaching the rank of Divine, and even supremacy according to the Weave. He was someone the Weave placed a lot of importance on.

In one specific iteration that had lasted a long, long time, Ezra had successfully reached the rank of Divine, with the Title of Mirror God. His unique affinity and skill were a pain to deal with. If it weren’t for Aranus or Elijah, Ezra would be the best Earth had to offer.

Everyone paid close attention to Ezra, and it was clear that Logan was immensely proud of his grandson, who he had ‘pushed’ a bit too much to advance. When Ezra received his medal and license, it was Elijah’s turn.

Elijah had already advanced to S-rank, and was at the very top of the rank himself. Although he hadn’t formed a Nascent domain yet, Alan knew his unique skill of ‘Overheat’ placed him well among the strongest on this planet.

[Overheat] was a better [Possession], not only did it allow ‘Ardoris’ to descend on his past body, but it also raised the stats of Elijah to it’s maximum limit. Besides that, he a dozen different special skills from the ‘System’, and also many, many other things to ‘aid’ him.

In theory, Elijah was perhaps the only one who possessed a healing factor better than Alan’s. He could simply spend a few credits to heal himself using the System. While Alan was uncertain how many times this ability could be used in a day, he was still sure it was comparable, or even better in some cases to his regeneration. Something he despised, if he was being honest.

Elijah was the rising star of the association, and it was clear that everyone had high hopes for himself. His special unit that he had made was known for always clearing their missions, and had rendered significant contributions in the exploration of Gigantia.

After Elijah was done, it was the last persons turn. Alan was supposedly the last person to receive his medal and license. It was unknown if it was done on purpose or not, but he didn’t really mind.

If he was being honest, he was thankful to Elijah working really hard, it would divide the attention he would get from the media and other people after this was over. Both were eighteen, and had managed to reach the famous S-rank.

At least, Alan wouldn’t have to deal with all off the craze… Alan walked towards the stage, and his figure drew a gaze from everywhere. It was hard to ignore the tallest person in the room, one that was as built like Alan was almost impossible to notice. Although his steps were light, they exuded a certain kind of… presence.

His unique attire drew a few strange gazes, however, Harrison didn’t mind his attire, and that was enough. Alan heaved a sigh of relief, glad that the organizer wasn’t going to ‘yell’ at him for his choice of comfortable clothing.

He knew the man would understand his special needs! Alan had forcibly cast an illusion on his body to make it appear as if he was sweating, despite the air conditioning, just to sell the act.

As he stepped on the stage and faced the crowd, the screen behind him displayed his accomplishments and stats. Alan’s eyes narrowed as he noticed a widely different reaction than he had expected.

The audience had spat out their drinks… their eyes were bulging out of their sockets, and they were all standing up, aside from Richard and Ezra, staring at the screen with disbelief.

“That’s impossible!”

One commented.

“…?”

Alan glanced at Harrison, who offered him a slight smile. He then turned around, looking at the screen.

“…”

He sighed. His act of trying to keep his real strength a secret had failed…