Lesser Anomaly

Magnus stood in place for a few more minutes, trying to replay the chain of events that had just taken place. "That bastard should've learned his lesson by now. Not even Descending could threaten my life." Descending itself only allowed a god to exert a tiny fraction of their true power, since they were vastly limited by the frail body of a mortal. Not to mention the time limit that they had. Which was why, there was no way around defeating Magnus, for now. If they wanted to be able to use more of their power while Descending, they had to wait for a Protagonist to grow a lot, truly a lot stronger. Another option might be to focus on making their Protagonists gather more people, in order to overwhelm Magnus with numbers. But that too, would take time.

In other words, Magnus should have enough time to train his Team and Protagonists and help them get stronger. At least for now. And he could start with that after TJ was done teaching other gods their lessons.

'Oh, look! We got 800 DP!' Magnus 2.0 pointed out. 'Which means…'

'TJ just got his first kill.'

---

A few minutes after Magnus left the house…

"We're back live on SBN News, reporting on the bizarre phenomenon that has just taken place here in downtown Seattle," the news reporter named Rupert Hall spoke in a slightly distressed tone. The guy looked as if he had just been woken up and forced to drive straight to the scene, with his unkempt hair and wrinkled shirt. And under the mask of professionalism, he was clearly freaking out. On the bottom of the screen, there was a headline typed in a big red font that said, 'Strange Tower Appearing Near The Space Needle'.

"A strange-looking tower made of unidentifiable black stones has just erupted from the ground! Right next to the Space Needle! It was—" his speech was cut off by someone speaking behind the camera. "What's that, Timmy?"

"…Angeles, Chicago, even Canada and…" someone's quiet voice was heard as Rupert listened attentively.

After a moment, Rupert looked back to the camera. "Right, everyone who's watching the news right now, let me tell you this. This…" he said, waving behind at the tower that loomed over the city in the background, "whatever this is, the same looking towers have appeared not just here, but everywhere else! So far, we have reports from New York, New Hampshire, Oregon, Illinois, California, and even Canada! There were also talks in social media, before the sites went down, of the same thing happening in cities all across the globe, causing earthquakes of mild to moderate magnitude. We have very strong suspicion it is all related to the holographic screens we received this afternoon. Or should I say, night? Because clearly, the sky above me is dark and full of stars! My goodness! Is the world ending?" Rupert's tone grew more and more frantic the longer he spoke.

The screen suddenly froze with the buffer circle popping up on the center. A finger tapped on it several times out of annoyance. The one who was watching the news then clicked her tongue. "I guess we've lost the internet," she said, putting her phone down on the lap.

"We knew it was gonna happen at some point, Katja," said Garrett from across the room. "At least the power's not out, yet. Though, I heard it's not the same case in some other neighborhood."

After they'd seen Magnus flew away with a stranger in tow, everybody was lost as to what they should do now. Magnus said TJ was on guard duty, which meant he was at least strong enough to protect them from whatever suspicious situation might occur. However, it didn't change the fact that they were all anxious.

TJ had moved to stand by the window to look out for any possible danger, his arms crossed and his expression unreadable. The dim lighting from the outside illuminated his pale face and dark hair, making him look like a vampire king gazing over his kingdom from the castle. He was not the same skinny guy he'd been a year ago, and the cold look in his black eyes exuded a chilling and unapproachable aura.

Leaning against the wall by another window was Summer, the air of concern painted on her face. She was able to glimpse the slight panic on her boyfriend's face right before he turned around to leave. However, she wasn't only worried about him, as now she had a full Team of people whom she was supposed to help and protect. The fact that it was still news to her that she had been chosen as a Protagonist and therefore had the responsibility to lead was already scary enough. She had confidence that she was a level-headed person who was able to face any situation without freaking out too much, but even she had a limit of how much she could take at once. She still needed a little bit of time to process all of this.

A big hand gently tapped on Summer's shoulder; it was her dad's. She looked up and saw a tender and calming smile on his face. "Just because you're appointed as the leader, doesn't mean you have to take on everything alone, my summer sunshine," he said in a soft tone. "We're going to help and support each other, as we're all in this together. Also, you have me. I'll always watch your back, and you can always lean on me, my daughter. Remember that."

Summer nodded slightly and gave her father a thankful smile.

On the other side of the house, gathering around the dining table, was a group of adults.

"I guess the world's officially fucked," Nikolai remarked, leaning back on the chair and propping one leg on the other thigh. On his hand was a phone that was displaying a browser screen that said, 'No internet'. He ran his other hand through his blond hair a few times, clearly showing his uneasiness.

"This all still feels surreal to me," Mei Liu, Matt's mother, said while scrolling through a series of texts from her friends and relatives.

Next to her, Henry Williams was gently stroking his wife's hair, reassuring her that they were going to be alright. Gina seemed to be someone who got easily affected by small things, so she was still in a bit of a denial about everything that had just happened.

On the other side of the table, Victoria Haysmith was also checking up on everyone in her contact list, while her husband occasionally glanced at his son. The man also had the same cold look in his eyes as TJ's, making it clear from whom the teenage boy had got the trait from.

"He's going to be fine, honey," Markus Helvig said to his wife for the umpteenth time while wrapping his arm around her shoulder. Even though the couple now knew their son was capable and experienced enough to face all kinds of danger alone, they'd had never seen him in action. So, it still hadn't truly sunk in how well he could fend for himself against tougher enemies, and more importantly, if he truly was going to be okay.

In the living room, Mrs. Wang was kneeling on the floor, facing her twin daughters who were sitting on the sofa. She was trying to keep them calm and explained to them once again about all the things revealed by Magnus. Both the twelve-year-old girls still weren't clear on what was really going on.

Meanwhile, Matt stood in front of the basement, a dubious expression on his face. "There really is no dead body in there, right?" he muttered to himself.

Suddenly, a distant group of laughter was heard from the street outside. Gradually, the sound was getting closer to the house.

TJ frowned and focused his eyes on the direction the laughter was coming from. With his slightly higher than normal Perception stat, he was able to spot four guys walking on the street toward the house. They were all wearing varsity jackets. Two were armed with baseball bats, one held a knife in his hand, while the last one didn't seem to carry any weapon.

At first, TJ was unsure if they were just going to pass by the house or if his house was their destination. However, just in case, he marched toward the kitchen and grabbed the biggest knife he laid his eyes on. After that, he went back to the window and pulled the curtain shut, leaving only a slight gap for him to peek through. He then gestured for Summer to do the same with the other window.

He waited while occasionally glancing at the gloves he was wearing. 'It's nice that he gave me these, but I wonder if he had any spare weapon in his Inventory I could've used right now,' he thought before the image of his training earth sword popped into his head. However, he figured it wouldn't have been very useful in a real fight.

A minute or two passed before the group of people stopped right in front of the house. A bad premonition came over TJ. He could see one of the guys talking to the biggest one in the group while pointing to the house. His body language made it seem as if he was asking if it was the right house.

The big guy, who TJ assumed to be their leader, glanced away for a second—probably looking at his system screen—before nodding.

The house was no longer protected by Magnus' barrier, so TJ had no other choice but to face the group. He tightened his grip on the knife before resolutely opening the front door, alarming everybody else in the house.

The group was just about to approach the door before they saw it being opened from the inside.

"What do you want?" TJ asked in an unfriendly tone.

While the other guys seemed surprised, the leader was delighted to see TJ. He grinned with a glint of greed flashing in his eyes. "Hey there! The name's Wayde! I've been chosen and told I could get special rewards to empower myself if I could get rid of this person called 'Lesser Anomaly'."

TJ frowned at that response. It seemed this Wayde guy was a Protagonist.

Wayde then pointed his baseball bat at TJ. "Are you perhaps this so-called 'Lesser Anomaly'?"