Chapter 23: Mastermind

"Damn you! I'll kill you slowly and painfully, you insolent cur!"

With a wave of his hand, the king raises thousands of weapons at the same time and sends them forward. Godfrey's eyes widen as he feels a very real sense of danger. Remembering that these weapons could bypass his electric barrier, he elects to avoid them.

He takes to the skies at Mach speeds. He dodges and weaves with an agility that doesn't match his size.

Higher and higher he climbs, so high that he touches the clouds. Godfrey then enters them and the King loses sight of him. The weapons pierce through the clouds but hit nothing.

"Little tricks won't save you! Come face me!!!"

The King waits but there is no answer. He mocks once more

"Is this what heroes do? Hide like COWARDS?!"

At those words, a sonic boom sounds out and the clouds violently part as Godfrey dives down at his top speed.

The King is taken by surprise and tries to raise a hand, but Godfrey reaches him too quickly. Godfrey pulls a hand back and delivers a brutal haymaker towards the King's face. The King only has time to coat the side of his face with Dahl.

Lightning envelops Godfrey's hand as he lets loose a blow that shatters the ground for dozens of meters around.

Dahl weapons and debris are flung out as raging winds blow red dust into the air. Boulders fly away as if they were made of cotton and the earth shakes for what seemed like minutes.

The dust settles and the King is on both knees. His skull is fractured and his face is mangled but he has a feral grin on it. The King looks to his hand holding a Dahl Spear and laughs.

"You are mighty, but you die here today. The rest will follow you."

Godfrey feels pain explode in his chest and throws up some blood.

"Uuurk-bluuurgh"

Godfrey stares at the spear piercing through his chest and curses his carelessness. The spear pierces deeper and Godfrey feels agony.

Then he feels something happening to his body. He feels his control over lightning strengthen slightly. His barrier thickens and repairs itself without his conscious effort.

The King senses something wrong as the spear is slowly being pushed out. He desperately tries to push it further through but is helpless as it gradually leaves Godfrey's body.

Too weak to hold it up, the spear clangs to the ground and the King slumps down in defeat.

Godfrey takes a deep breath and feels himself strengthening at a rapid pace. He uses his Divine Sense and inspects his body.

'46%. It has not moved at all since the last time it improved. It only took getting stabbed through the chest. I feel as though the rest of it will be a gruelling struggle.'

The king looks up and beats his chest.

"Alright then. Do your worst defiler!! Send me unto my gods so that I may see my child. Come on!!"

Tears flow from the King's eyes as he glares with the rage of a mourning father. He looks to the self repairing super suit and scoffs. Godfrey places a hand on his head, and the King is unconscious after a quick burst of lightning.

Godfrey looks around at the battlefield and notes that he is the only one left standing. M'hakians, teachers, and senior students alike lay sprawled on the ground. He makes sure that those who are still breathing, aren't at risk of death then looks to the base.

His senses pick up the sound of screams and the smell of blood. In a burst of motion, he is once more in the air as he flies towards the Mars base.

He enters and what he sees is worrisome. The entire place is in shambles. Fallen buildings, raging fires, and collapsed tunnels decorate the city landscape.

Godfrey rushes to aid as much as he can. With his electric barrier now strengthened, he coats entire buildings with it to make lifting them easier. He scans the interior and makes sure that no one is stuck before he clears them from the road. He helps civilians out from collapsed tunnels, and creates a funnel of air to snuff out the fires.

He manages to clear out most of the streets of fallen buildings, but stops at one of them.

He scans the building and sees a gruesome scene. A family of four, completely crushed. The father lays on top of his wife, who was protecting their 2 babies. He gently digs them out of the rubble and lays them down.

Godfrey looks at one of the babies and sees that their eyes are still open. Their eyes stare deep into Godfrey's own and he can't bear to look anymore. He closes their eyes and moves the family closer together, before flying away and helping some more.

'CAN'T SAVE THE BABIES EITHER HUH? YOUR TRACK RECORD KEEPS GETTING WORSE GODFREY.'

'...'

The more Godfrey clears out, the more bodies he finds. Destruction does not discriminate. It tore the base apart along with countless lives.

After an hour of nonstop heroics, Godfrey places one final building down and sighs as he looks at the survivors. They scramble to find a safe zone but are in dismay when they can't find one.

Godfrey uses his Divine Sense and scans the base. He spots a well fortified bank and senses that its walls are quite powerful. In fact, there are more than a few people already hiding inside. Godfrey claps his hand and thunder sounds out.

The survivors all look to Godfrey in shock and he instructs them to head to the bank. They all nod their thanks and scramble towards its direction.

Godfrey looks to the academy and frowns. There are new students inside being held by teachers. The teachers round them up and take them to the teleportation hub. He zooms towards the school, but keeps his speed low to maximise stealth.

In a few minutes, he arrives to see a teacher raising a hand to hit a student. He rushes towards them and kicks the teacher at the side of the head. They spin through the air and land in a heap, completely unconscious.

Godfrey turns in time to see a claw coming towards his face as a lion beast man tries to gouge his eyes out. Godfrey calmly grabs his arm and tosses him to an elf teacher who was preparing a spell.

An orc combat instructor leaps towards Godfrey with murder in his eyes. He descends with a double hammer blow that Godfrey catches. Godfrey then throws him towards a Cendarian who gets his light bow shattered by the Orc's body.

A hero then comes out from a corner and blitzes him. The number 7 hero of the Aesir Alliance, Blitz, reaches Godfrey within a moment and throws an incredibly fast punch. Unfortunately for Blitz, Godfrey has the electric barrier.

"GAAAAHHHKKK!"

He plops to the ground like a wet noodle and Godfrey makes sure the teachers are all unconscious.

The young man rushes to the inside of the school. He arrives at the teleportation hub and sees a teacher about to transport the students with a purple pass on the terminal.

Godfrey's perception increases and the world slows. He grabs the pass and puts it in his pocket. He grabs the teacher and sends out a shock of lightning, then tosses him to the side. In a flash, he helps the students get off the teleporter and onto the ground.

His senses refocus back to normal and he looks at the pass in his hand.

'I have never seen anyone using these. Focus, check the state of the teleporter.'

Godfrey types in a command to teleport back to earth but the terminal shows a sign of error. He initiates a diagnostics check and finds that the teleporter hub is completely shut down except for a single teleportation channel.

He looks to the pass in his hands and places it on the terminal. The teleporter flashes to life and he steps onto it.

*BWOM-WOOOP*

Godfrey's eyesight adjusts and he finds himself in a massive chamber. He looks around and sees dozens of people dazedly sitting against the walls. Humans, Elves, Cendarian, Orcs, Beast men, and M'hakians.

They all have a vacant look and do not react no matter what Godfrey does. He tries to slap them but they don't even make a sound. Godfrey decides to scan their brains and what he finds is worrying.

It seems as though their brains are completely under the control of the sorcerer. Shocking them would require a higher concentration of lightning. So much so that their brains would melt before Godfrey finishes.

He decides to gather them all up and put them in a corner. Godfrey looks to a heavy door, likely an exit, and feels a heavy sense of danger coming from it. It would ease his mind if the prisoners were safe.

Deciding that subtlety is unneeded. Godfrey unleashes a front kick at the door that sends it flying inside. A dull *bang* is heard, along with an unearthly screech.

"GRIIIIIIIII"

Godfrey looks through the opening and sees the door, along with a glowing figure, rapidly hurtling away.

He exits the chamber and sees that he is in a large cavern. Godfrey then materialises a Greataxe and slashes downwards as the large door comes flying back towards him.

Godfrey looks at his assailant and is confused at what he sees.

A large creature, made of what seems to be burning rocks, stares at Godfrey with malice. It takes a step forward and the cavern trembles.

In an instant, the creature appears in front of Godfrey and throws a colossal hook to his face. Godfrey blocks the blow but is sent skidding to the side. His legs dig deep trenches on the floor as he stops.

The creature presses its attack but Godfrey has had enough. He dodges a blow and delivers a brutal uppercut that crushes the rocks and obliterates half of the creatures body.

Godfrey turns as he senses another presence. A humanoid figure claps as it approaches Godfrey and joyfully speaks.

"Bravo! Bravo! What a good show. You lower class beings are always such a treat to manipulate and slaughter!"

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END