New Game+

The sudden movements of Dara surprised Gardo and his team.

The elegant movements and precise execution were just perfect.

Dara's armor once more reformed into the thick Exoskeleton. Its body would occasionally brighten as a charge of blue lightning would get emitted.

Her fist held the energy, which brought life to the armor itself. While Harker had long pondered what form of energy Lennox could use, his answer was straightforward. He designed his lightning to be triggered by the Unlocking.

The cells that Seeker discovered was one of the most beneficial things that the past Seeker brought. Seeker knew that his master and Meng longed for Seeker to create a body that could be worthy of carrying the significant burdens of a Hero and a Champion.

Meng was the only Overcomer of the future that could replicate the very life and body of what Champions should have. So, Lennox took on the enormous burden of transforming the Unlocked body to have the raw strength, energy, and composition necessary for an Unlocked to attain mastery over their Paths.

Dara underwent various painful treatments. Seeker's body became the basis, and Meng's body was seen as the advanced form. The cells of Dara battled as more cancer cells were introduced. The harder part was continually being able to command and dictate every single cell that had cancer in Dara's arm. She would always ensure that the cancer would not spread but remain compressed on her arm.

It was a grueling task that Dara had to endure. But it was because of her sufferings that allowed the second phase of her growth.

Her Unlocking was pushed further and further every day as she learned to master every single cell in her right arm. It would have been impossible if not for the fact that Dara's Second Thinking awakened.

The lightning charges that were sent into her brain kept forcing her to see two thought processes. It was as if he was becoming insane. Dara had to go against her human nature to develop the other thought process. Worse, was that Lennox made her go through her ordinary routine of training, fighting others, and even go to school.

The task was grueling. Everyone thought that the talks of the Covenant disbanding had affected Dara, and she even fell unconscious in the middle of the school. But who knew, it was because of her constant efforts of mastering the cells in her right arm.

Slowly and surely, the brain of Dara started to reform. With Lennox sending electrical charges that would force the mind to think, Dara's brain gradually reshaped itself. This was the significant brain development that Lennox had. And as expected, it appeared- Dara's secondary thought process.

She was an Experiment based on two Overcomers. She had the Right hand of Meng and the thought process of Lennox. The battle instinct of a Tank that Meng taught her was being displayed. And the multi-thought process that allowed her to command the metals and have greater awareness in her surroundings also made her attack very successful. 

The three figures were sent flying.

"What happened?" The Lumberjack cursed.

"What happened? You stood there in a daze after those robot parts hit you."

"I lost connection to this Golem for a bit! Careful. The electrical charges of the Exoskeleton affect our synching with these Golems!'

"I'm more worried about that right arm. Did you see the pilot? It's a woman." The Clown replied.

"Did she damage the two of you?" The Businessman asked. He was only struck with a robotic arm and did not receive the punch of the woman.

"There are traces of Eradication in her arm. That punch eradicated several layers of liquid metal." The Clown stated as he pointed to his right cheek.

Underneath the skin, it revealed a metallic silver shine that was slowly changing in color. Soon, the skin returned to normal.

The same thing was happening on the forehead of the Lumberjack.

"Well, that was embarrassing. It's the first time in a long time that an Elite gets to pilot a Golem, and we ended on the poor side of that clash." The Businessman laughed.

"Let's do this seriously. We were caught off guard. Who would have thought that they'd actually make a mix between technology and human modification? I never expected the pilot to reveal herself." The Clown frowned.

"Let's not keep the Empress waiting." The Lumberjack immediately rushed off.

Cliff and the rest went near Dara.

"I heard from Arthur that his father was very impressed with Dara. It looks like you didn't let the boss's dad down" Danny laughed.

"Those guys are robots, alright."

"Liquid metal. But they used Origin technology to give it sentience. It's like Terminator 2!" Gardo added.

"They'll be more serious this time. Get ready." Cliff gave his orders.

"Enemies. They should start attacking us within the next fifteen seconds." Titan estimated.

A troop of Exoskeletons and Armors could be seen heading towards them.

"General. Let the Covenant handle these three." Danny laughed confidently.

"Alright. Gardo. Can your team handle those Exoskeletons?"

"As long as it's not those crazy wind riders." Gardo laughed and immediately signaled his team to move to intercept the enemies.

"Form a perimeter here! Don't let anyone get past us! Those youngsters are going to be dealing with those three. As for this army, let's deal with them."

"Tyler and Roselyn, you're with me. The rest, aid Gardo's team. Stanley, protect the boundary between the two. You're in charge of making sure that no group interferes with the other. Move!" Cliff gave his quick orders as the three strange men were approaching.

"Now." The Clown whispered.

At that split second, when the Clown spoke, Titan also gave his report.

"Get ready! They are about to do something!" Titan urged his team to speak faster.

Hearing this, John immediately closed his left eye.

And with his right eye, he aimed.

When Seeker and his team discussed the many roles of each of their soldiers, the most controversial one was about the sniper.

"Do we even need it?" Meng was the first to ask.

"In the long run, ranged weapons will lose its effectivity. If we get people to Inhuman, the skills needed for targeting and shooting will become basic knowledge. We only need to mass-produce a more superior eye-sight, and it should be enough. That is also considering, that if there were Champions and Heroes in Seeker's future, then I believe that investing too much on this will yield unfruitful gains."

Seeker was silent and did not refute Meng.

Everyone else turned to Seeker to ask for his input.

"Don't look at me, guys. Although that is indeed the case in the future, I can't say that abandoning this will be beneficial for the team. You guys have to sort it out. As Lennox puts it, I'm not the reincarnator with godly, all-knowing abilities. You guys have to sort out which is which." Seeker shrugged.

"At the later levels, everyone will have equal sniping abilities. Those below Ranked Hero will all have it, and can easily acquire it through Advanced or Total Recall. Those at Ranked Hero wouldn't need it either. So why create a sniper?" Meng concluded.

"They can hit a target… Yes. But a sniper should be more than that." Arthur countered.

"What should a sniper be then?"

"It is true that with the Unlocking, shooting will become easier for everyone. But in the game, snipers can hit critical points of a player. As you know, each Piercing characters have a weak point in their offensive or defensive stance. A sniper should have the ability to detect which points are weakest and shoot it."

"Critical points? How can anyone know what the critical points are?"

"I can." Arthur replied.

"My Path is something that is both difficult and easy to acquire. It is a simple calculation. Applied science at its finest. It is simple because it can easily be taught. Difficult because it is hard to be mastered. If I focus my efforts on teaching a specific branch of Chaos Order or find ways to replicate it, it would be possible to do so."

"I see. Snipers armed with a style of Chaos Order… That would be something.’ Seeker was impressed.

"Titan has a part of that ability. He was able to master attack redirection. But that is only suited for an Assassin or Scouts like him. Once we move a Piercing Sniper from the game and create one that can do everything that he can in the real world, he would be deadly. By shooting at the right place, he could delay, cause incredible damage, or even kill an enemy at the right time. Even someone who could pose a threat to Ranked Heroes could be defeated. If his firepower is weak, all he has to do is have the skill to poke, harass, or disable the enemy. His role is to keep his team's momentum up, the enemy's momentum, down."

"But Arthur… Unless you're someone like Cliff, who can remember the exact timing and moment of these attacks, or unless they really can calculate things as you do, they won't be able to do that!" Lynd argued.

"That's why I said that it is difficult to replicate. It would have been impossible at Seeker's future. But now we can. Seeker Explain the importance of Alean."

"Where is she?" Lennox asked Harker.

"She is currently guarding and monitoring the Tyrant Empress. Since Meryl here has been…erm… tainted with the Tyrant Empress's curse. She volunteered to monitor and guard her." Harker explained.

"Can she do that?" Meng frowned.

"My daughter seemed confident," Harker explained.

"She won't be affected. Ignoring the fact that she is a woman, she already has someone in her heart whom she holds dear." Arthur explained.

Lynd blushed and wanted to hide.

"Actually…" Arthur continued.

"Moving on…" Seeker continued and immediately shifted the conversation.

"We don't have time to discuss borderline pedophilia."

Arthur frowned but allowed Seeker to speak.

Alean's Skill is a handy thing. You could say it is one of the vital factors that can bridge the gap between a Ranked Hero and an Overcomer. Now that this Skill appeared, I was able to trace back it's foundations. Her ability of Perfect Momentum is also what allowed Arthur here, to solidify his Pseudo Path and make it a new one."

"Zone." Meng understood.

"My Fang's told me that her ability hindered them."

"Perfect Momentum is the ability to know or make the right moves. If we put it in gaming terms, two players can have the same skill level, but the winning factor is who has the momentum and finds this state. They can always be at their peak. And such is the necessary skills a sniper should have. They don't hesitate, and they don't miss.  The calls he makes, the targets he hits, and the area where he would shoot are made precisely and perfectly."

"So you want Instant Calculation and Perfect Momentum. Do you want fries with that? How do you plan to recreate it? It isn't something that can be surgically applied to another person. Instant Calculation is a mental process. As for Perfect Momentum, it's even more mysterious! I may have acquired it, but it's clear that my Path is even more mysterious than Lynd's! Is it even possible to copy it?"

"Yes." Arthur confidently answered.

Seeker was surprised.

"Seriously? You can?" Seeker asked.

"My Path has solidified. Setting aside that Asterisxxx has been training under my tutelage for years, I can give the most basic training regime. Unlike the rest, which mainly relies on surgeries of forceful application of other Paths like Richie's or my fathers, this one is more of physical training. I will be training his senses to be capable of shooting the enemy at the right place at the right time. I have also calculated the events that allowed Asterisxxx to enter the Zone in our battles and can use those events as reference points."

"I see. You are recreating the events to enter the Zone."

"I don't think that's how it works." Richie frowned.

"It's something you activate at the heat of the moment."

"Big words for a prodigy who's sensing causes him to sense every form of danger around him," Arthur argued.

"Unlike everyone else, we cannot activate it at will. Sometimes an entire game goes by, and that momentum has not appeared."

"So you'll be trying to not only train him to have an instinctive reaction and fighting skills, but you'll also be recreating the events that may have been factors that allowed him to enter the Zone?"

"Exactly."

"This seems like vital info. Mind if you share this detail with Meng and your father?"

"It's still in the experimental stage. I don't have any data to go with now. Frankly, whatever information I have will sound strange and useless."

"Oh, come on. We are Unlocked. We are living miracles and the peak of strangeness. Whatever your theories are, however strange they can be, I'm sure it can benefit everyone else."

Harker nodded at Seeker's statement. If he could make his soldiers be on constant peak-performance, then it would a force to fear.

"Fine. Going by what I've noticed over the years and have learned and demanded them to report every little detail before a match, I conclude that John Octavion III most peak moments were when he has been training for at least thirty-eight hours within three days before the match. He must have no mental or emotional hindrances within seventy-two hours. He must have drunk twice the usual amount of coffee and should have struggled with constipation within the week of the battle."

…

There was silence.

"Yup. I'm out. This is definitely your department, Arthur. So about the instant calculation thing… Wouldn't it be too much of an effort for you? You can't oversee him 24/7. You have to put your efforts on something more than that. Perhaps, the sniper can be trained later."

"No. I don't intend to train him all the time. I will leave him the theories of how to do it. I will also give suggestions to what training regimes he should undergo."

"Will that be enough?"

"He is a pro player. Ever since I became the Covenant team leader, I knew the most important factors in making pros. They don't copy everything to an extreme. Each player has to find his style, his momentum, and discover his talent. I only guide them. Even now, that will be my training. Of course, a part of this training would be to face everyone around here." Arthur explained.

And so it was. John Octavion III fought all Overcomers. Richie was blindfolded and wore noise-canceling headsets to strengthen his control. Meng had worn heavier metals to increase the weight he moved with during battle. This was one of the most ancient and primitive exercises for martial artists. John fought the Fangs, Lynd, Meryl, and Cliff. He fought Lynd, Seeker, and Meryl's parents; he fought everyone who had an Unlocking higher than Advent except Charles and the Tyrant Empress. John had the most diverse experience in battle.

And as was calculated by Arthur, the mystery of forming the Zone was something that John Octavion III managed to tap into time and time again.

This battle was something that he didn't leave to chance. He practiced the exact amount of hours; he did not allow any emotional troubles, pressures, and pain to bother him. He drank too much coffee and had been eating strange cuisines that caused constipation within the week of this mission.

And so, right in that split second of the enemy's sudden movements, John made the decision.

Harnessing Lightning energy was one of Lightning Rod's incredible technology. The sheer power that could be released was fast. It had an impressive firing rate of shooting compressed Light Balls of one attack per centiseconds.

Even for an Unlocked, controlling it or aiming with that rapid firing rate would be difficult. But not for a Pro player as experienced as John.

He was the only Gunner-Sniper Hybrid. He could count and measure the fire of his weapons and make estimations of every trigger his character would have—the single hybrid player who used Piercing Bullet as a ranged and mid-range fighter.

The attack was aimed at the foot of this sprinting enemy. Titan had alerted him, and with his direct experience, he knew that these enemies would suddenly use a blitz attack.

And so the attacks were aimed at their foot.

The sturdy metal that made up the three Golems were hard and would not have been damaged by the attacks. However, the force and impact had altered their steps.

The one straight dash became a staggering movement of chaos.

CRASH!

The force of their sprint was supposed to reach the speed of sound. But as the Golems were about to kick off their feet to vault them forward, the bullets had struck them, and so the three zoomed to random direction hitting the walls nearby.

Only the Clown was able to make a relatively straight move. But Dara was already anticipating it. They had years of teamwork in their belts.

Her armor shot out once more striking the Clown. Each impact reduced the speed of his sudden blitz. And after all the big chunks of Armor flew, Dara readied her fist.

BOOM!

Snipers were the opposite of their Tank comrades. They didn't need to multitask. Even if they had a second thought, that thought would still focus on the enemy. They leave themselves defenseless to maximize their offense. And this would have been dangerous if they did not have the right Tank with them.

"Idiots! Do I have to act?" The Empress howled angrily.

Titan heard the angry growl of the Empress.

"There's someone there! She's cloaked! Even I can't pinpoint where she is!" Titan alerted Cliff immediately.