The Conquerors Path
chapter-535

"That's nice..."

I spoke as Jacob's humongous hands descended upon me, It being mighty enough to crush anyone at the range of Origin level 5, his current body now bloated up to the size of a titan as his inner strength multiplied at least 3-fold.

Gazing at the fist headed at me, I simply raised my hand and caught it, the sheer pressure from stopping the first producing a huge gust of wind blowing at my dress. My eyes then focused on the surprised eyes of Jacob, but within the second, I caught the first. Amon and Sana appeared beside me, both their daggers aiming at my blind spots.

Not just that, they made sure to arrive at the perfect moment, their coordination perfect as they aimed for spots not easy for me to respond to.

'Looks like all that group practice is paying off.'

To me, their movements were slow as my eyes then gazed at Rina. Her legs tensed, and her eyes laser-focused on me. The moment I defeated Amon and Sara, she would react at lightning speed to get to me. Not just that, Alex stood at the back, his newly gained powerful eyes at full effect and probably aiming to bring me down or even stop me for a second.

Just like Rina, he is just waiting for the perfect time to act. To my left, Mark was already approaching me, his sword shining with a golden hue, as light golden knight armor started to wrap around him. To my back, Mika and Rika gathered, Mika gathering her powers around her, water rising from the ground forming different lances.

While Rika's rapier clutched to her hand, an opaque-colored aura forming around the tip of her rapier, her eyes too focused entirely on me. Then behind them all stood both Zora and Emma, with Zora lightly clutching to some portions, while Emma seemed to be commanding at the back, no doubt calling out some of her familiars to take me down at the moment I relaxed.

'So, shall I show them some despair?'

I mused as time soon regained all around me with Amon and Sara flashing towards me, yet they couldn't even move as their whole body froze, a cold light that left my body soon freezing them in place. With their current powers, they are completely stuck.

Though just as this happened, Rina appeared in front of me, her foot aiming towards my stomach, her speed such that the ground she stood on had cracked. Smirking at it, I easily dodged to the side, her legs going through my side as I got her shoulder and soon did a 360 flip downwards with her, using some of my strength such that it ended up with Rina hitting her head on the ground and quickly losing her consciousness.

But just then, I felt a freeze in my body, no doubt Alex using his eyes to stop me. In just that moment, Rika appeared in front of me, taking away Rina and pushing back, while at my back, Jacob tried to use his humongous body and powers to break the ice holding Sana and Amon but to no avail.

"That's not gonna work..."

Just as I said so, hundreds of water lances appeared all around me as the ground below me started to break, trying to swallow me up. My senses easily picked up some animals burrowing on the ground, I smiled at the attempt as I waved my hand a bit, firepower bursting out from me, such that the entire water attack soon turned to vapor in the blink of an eye.

The ground still tried to trap me as Mark appeared beside me, his sword shining while a great power emanated from him, his attack seemingly focusing all of his energy.

'A good tactic.'

Nodding my head at Mark, I caught his golden-colored sword with my bare hand, nothing happening to me while the ground still tried to swallow me up. The focus of the beasts below trying to throw my balance away.

"Annoying..."

I muttered as I borrowed forth some of the aura of Luna. With our unique shared connection, I am able to use some of her power and access some basic powers impossible to be held by humans. Such for now, I accessed a bit of the unique aura of Luna and released it out of my body. To others, the atmosphere just got heavy, but to the beasts below, I am their king.

The pure aura of the King of destruction and beasts was enough to make any beast tremble in fear. Hence, the moment they felt my presence, they stopped what they were doing, their fear for me easily surpassing their love towards Emma as they disobeyed her command and soon started to correct the ground, fixing everything and making the ground solid, as if even the ground being loose is a disdain to my name.

All of this happened within a second, my hand still holding Mark's sword as I soon stabilized above the ground.

"Darlings?!"

The shocked cry of Emma was heard along with the cracking sound of Mark's armor as my hand hit his face, easily breaking through his bloodline armor, hitting his face, and putting him into a nice good old sleep.

"Is that all you got?"

I asked as I looked at the remaining group, and since I achieved my objective, it was time to put an end to all this. My speed was now double of what they could perceive as I appeared in front of Alex and punched him, putting him out this time. Then with just a wave of my hand, I froze Mika, Rika, and Rina in their positions.

As I appeared before the humongous Jacob and just lightly touched his head, soon knocking him out. With a blur, then I appeared beside Zora and Emma, my hand once again lightly touching those two as they both fell asleep, and This all happened in 2 seconds, though I could have done it faster.

"Is that all?"

I asked as I stood among the wreckage, the eyes of those left open looking at me with sheer incredulity as I smiled at them with a teasing gaze.

....

"You could have punched a bit less."

Alex replied with a grudge-filled tone as he kept rubbing his bloated face, both sides of his face having an enormous bulge as he kept rubbing it.

"It's not my fault, punching you just felt good."

I replied with a cheeky tone as I sat on the ground with the rest of my teammates, all of them up and above as they all kept looking at me with a focused gaze.

"My hero, how did you get control of my cuties?! Right now, they are both trembling in fear and respect, I feel like they will end their own lives if you ask for it!"

Emma screamed as she kept lovingly patting three little cute beasts who were looking at me with a fervent gaze.

"That's a trade secret."

I responded as I placed my hand on my lips in a shushing motion, to which Emma gave me a pout.

"Just how much power did you use to defeat all of us?"

Rina suddenly asked, her gaze hyper-focused on me, and the moment she asked the question, the gaze of the rest became the same. To this, I smiled back at her as I asked in a serious tone.

"Do you really want to know?"

My question created a tense situation around, but Rina didn't back down as she nodded her head.

"Yes," she said, to which I looked at everyone. After which I responded.

"About 2% of my strength... maybe even less."

My words stunned the surroundings, my expression being utmost focused so as to not make fun of the efforts of my friends around me.

"Monster..."

Alex responded as he kept rubbing his cheeks, a disgusted smile trying to fill his face, which only made his face even more disgusting. His words didn't lighten the mood as everyone now seemed to be more down than ever.

"Do you still need us?"

Amon asked his expression a bit taunt.

"I need you guys now and forever..."

My reply was instantaneous without a hint of a lie. This brought out some warmth to the surroundings. Seeing so, I stood up from where I sat, my gaze meeting everyone's as I spoke.

"Take the rest of the day off, sit on everything that happened, and when your minds is cleared lets talk. For I have a very good teacher to increase all your strength and ability. After all, the game for the King of Babylon is slowly approaching."

My words brought a sense of solace as Alex asked.

"And you won't be showing off much?"

"Maybe, maybe not. But there, I want you all to be at your best, cause I don't want you all failing on me."

Saying so, I turned around and began to walk away.

'This will tone them a bit.'

The reason for me doing this is marked by several situations. One, it will keep the fantasy of the rest of the girls at bay, delaying their confessions or anything else till it reaches a time that I will be more stress-free to attend to.

Then this also gives them a push, a silent reminder that they have not reached the top yet and that so if they want to be useful to me, they would then need to step up their game. There are some more undercover reasons too, but those reasons will show up in due time.