Overwhelming Odds

["Assess"]

A scarlet-haired woman stood proudly with a look of contempt written on her face, wearing the same black suit they all seemed to wear, but having a fur cape hanging from her shoulders.

[Rose] [Level: 60 | Mythical Tamer System]

Standing taller than any human he'd seen, a lanky, pale-skinned man with a suit that had to be tailor fit for him and a tophat atop his head stood with a pale-white mask worn on his face.

[Shen] [Level: 78 | Nightmare Contortionist System]

A blonde-haired man with a fair face and a smile stood, wearing an unorthodox suit that had the signature cape of a superhero flowing off his back.

[Clark] [Level: 80 | Superhero System]

Though he didn't have time to assess all of the Sentinels before him, he got a read on the silver-bearded senior among the group, who despite his age, oozed an imposing aura.

[Elias] [Level: 98 | Command System]

The reason why he didn't have time to read all of their statuses was he was immediately confronted by one of the Sentinels: a dark-skinned man, bald man with tribal tattoos and unique, diamond-shaped irises.

[Jabulani] [Level 58 | Unbreakable System]

The foe threw a heavy blow, slamming his fist into the snow as it missed Noah, sending a tremor through the ground.

"Asiimov was a good man. He had a wife and daughter…I'll make sure you die a painful death," Jabulani said with conviction buried in his irises.

"Try me," Noah challenged, leaping back before dashing forward towards the man.

As he attempted to cleave through the man with Vanta Black, the edge of the sword failed to pierce Jabulani's skin, simply bouncing off as if hitting immutable steel.

["Unbreakable System'], such a name was clear as day witnessing Jabulani's impervious stance after the failed assault.

Still, this didn't deter or bother Noah as his quick-acting mind, still enhanced by ["Accel"], calmly analyzed the fact he'd need to try out further enhancements on his weapon, or perhaps use property-altering spells.

"Noah–!"

Before he could follow through with casting a self-enhancement, he turned around to find the familiar face of Victor, the wielder of the ["Divine Armory System"], fueled by rage that was shown in the trembling eyes behind his glasses.

"You, again? Didn't you learn from last time?" Noah said.

As multiple, exploding projectiles were flung his way, the adolescent blitzed past them in his lightning-shifted form, reappearing beside Victor and kicking him with a sound barrier-shattering impact, knocking him hundreds of meters away.

"Victor!" Jabulani shouted.

"Nrgh! Brat!" Rose yelled, manifesting imposing unicorns to her side that exuded steam from their nostrils.

Multiple Sentinels approached him all at once, to which he simply snapped his fingers in response, enacting ["Absolute Freeze"] as time crept to a halt.

"I was worried at first, but it turns out this is a good opportunity," Noah stated, raising his hand, "I can finish you all at once–here and now."

As he was preparing to activate the same spell that wiped out Asiimov, a chill ran down his spine amidst frozen time as he witnessed something truly unnerving–a feat that surpassed orthodox completely.

The silver-bearded man by the name of "Elias" was silently approaching him, walking past his statuesque colleagues with a stern, stone-like expression.

'He's unaffected?' He realized.

As his hyper-reflexes allowed him to register the fact that Elias was parting his lips, about to emit a word, every instinct in his body, mind, and system yelled at him not to listen to the malediction that would pour from the Sentinel Leader's lips.

'...If I let him speak, it'll be bad!' He thought.

Clapping his hands together, he invoked ["Spatial Warp"], teleporting up into the air as time resumed.

'I'm safe…?' He questioned.

From up above, the Sentinels were still able to be seen, half of which had yet to act as they seemed to have utmost confidence in Elias' abilities.

Elias looked up towards him, speaking a single word that somehow reached Noah's ears as a whisper straight into his canal:

"Fall."

Without any explanation, Noah found himself overpowered by an unknown, unseen force as he was yanked from the sky, brought back down to the ground within moments.

He was on his feet, standing upright, though confusion filled his body as he stood there like a deer in the headlights.

'...What the fuck was that?' He thought, utterly perplexed.

There was something deeply unsettling about Elias; the one-eyed elder looked down at him, resting his hands atop a lion-headed cane forged from what seemed to be Reath. After experiencing the nebulous ability possessed by the man, dread flooded his veins.

Just as he tried to move, Elias stifled any attempt at a counterattack or retreat with another, single word:

"Freeze."

As if stuck in time himself for once, Noah found his entire body paralyzed, unable to twitch his fingertips or blink, though fully conscious.

All he could do was watch as the Sentinels gathered behind Elias before the elder spoke one, last word:

"Explode."

SQUELCH.

Without any way to resist, Noah's entire body swelled up as his complexion shifted to a strained red before he popped like a balloon of flesh, dying the snow in fresh crimson.

"Is it done?...It's hard to believe somebody like that killed Asiimov," a member of the Sentinels with shaggy, hazel hair and a scruffy beard spoke.

[Jiao] [Level 82 | Xianxia System]

"--" Elias stood there silently, looking down at the bloodstain that was all that was left of Noah, "No. It's an illusion."

"What?!" Jabulani reacted.

It was revealed to the Sentinels after Elias said as such: the pool of blood and flesh left in the snow vanished, revealing itself only to be an illusion.

"...Yukio…" Elias muttered, squeezing his cane in anger.