Chapter 365 Another cliff coming your way!
"So let me get this straight. You are planning to end the Main Mission today, because you are confident on doing it?" After Alex dropped his special announcement, Professor Frances did not act shocked or even surprised. Instead, she started kneading the bridge of her nose with her eyes closed. "That seems like a tall order in my opinion…"
"…You seem to be not shocked with what I just said." Alex said as he noticed the lack of surprise from the Professor's part. "Are you alright?"
"I'm feeling alright. Thanks for your f**king concern." The professor replied as she continued kneading her forehead. "Okay, I am surprised with what you announced, but knowing that its you were talking about here, I guess that this announcement was something that you might really say…"
"…Familiarity huh. I am not sure if I should be happy that you are already feeling this close to me, Frances." Alex mumbled as he gave the professor a pleased smile. "I thought you were just a frosty b**ch before. But as it turns out, you're actually warm and mellow too…"
"Hmph, my mind just had to take note of your every behavior in order for me to survive longer with your team!" The professor hissed as she glared at Alex. "Don't mistake that for familiarity!"
"Okay, okay. Frances, I accept your tsundere response. There's no need for you to be shy..."
"Tsun- what?"
"Okay, why don't I start answering your questions earlier? Didn't you want to know the reasons for my actions for the past 3 months?" Alex evasively said as he avoided Professor Frances' stare. "We can't waste any more time here after all…"
"Tsk, you know what? We can just cancel my questions for now. Just answer them later." Professor Frances surprisingly said as she put down her hand. "Since you said that we have to finish the main mission today, I think that my questions can be just dealt with later. For now, we can just focus on finishing the mission… But don't forget to answer my questions later!"
"Yes, yes, I will answer them later." Alex replied as he gave the professor an approving smile. "Don't worry about that."
"…Ok. Now, what should we do next?" Since Alex had already declared his intent to finish the main mission today, Professor Frances naturally has decided to go straight on the mission itself. "Will I divert the movements of my monster army, or will they still have to go on their original course?"
"Of course the monster army will have to go their original course! Wasn't that the instruction that I sent through the hair strand earlier?" Alex replied as he tilted his head. "Frances, don't worry about your monster army, their movements are a part of my plan for the main mission. As long as they don't screw up, there will be no problems for all of us."
"Alex, you should know that the monster army you just told me to send out was painstakingly created by me and Queen Mother. They are precious resources that I will naturally not waste. So don't expect them to screw up, for I did not create them to be that useless!" Professor Frances' pride seemed to be riled up by Alex's comments, which led to her almost blowing up on him again. "Hmph, just you wait. After this main mission, my monster army will come back not only complete, but much stronger than ever!"
"Oh really?"
"Yes, they will come back stronger. Actually, they might even get stronger than you, Alex." Professor Frances said as she started taunting Alex. "Hehehe, let's see if you can still stand up to me later, when I have an army that is much stronger than you!"
"You think you can use that army to bully me? Lol, can you state the power levels of the members of your monster army?" Instead of becoming worried from the professor's declaration, Alex seemed to be only amused as a sneer appeared on his face. "I want to know if they really have the power to topple me…"
"Heh, out of the 1,000 Monsters that I created, 10 of them were already Half-Step Sixth Stage Beings. That means that they're already beyond the power of Fifth Stage Beings, and that they only need some push to reach the Sixth Stage!" Professor Frances proudly said, as she waited for the surprise and panic to appear on Alex's face. "I assigned these 10 monsters to become the Squad Leaders of the 10 Monsters Squads, as they are the strongest monsters in my army. Hmph, with their abilities, it will be difficult to find someone that can easily beat them down. Of course Immortals and the strongest TImeMasters will be a different case…"
"…"
"As for the remaining 990 Monsters, all of them are either Intermediate or Peak Fifth Stage Beings. Hehehe… Now, are you still confident on facing them all?" The professor said with schadenfreude as she observed Alex's face. "Hehehe, you know, you can still ask me to be gentle later…'
"Well…. If it were before, I might be slightly worried with what you just said. But now, that army is nothing in front of me." Alex nonchalantly said, which sent the professor frozen. "Even those 10 Half-Step Sixth Stage Beings can't do s**t against me…"
"W-w-what are you talking about? Aren't you just at the peak of Fifth Stage before?" Professor Frances stuttered as she pointed her finger at Alex. "Why are you suddenly this confident, huh?"
"Oi Frances, let me clarify one thing to you first." Alex seemed to have lost his good mood as he sent a frown at the professor's direction. "When I was a Peak Fifth Stage Being before, my power was already enough for me to fight against an Early Sixth Stage Being. I am not your regular fighter, so don't just compare my fighting strength with your creations!"
"Hmph, I know that you have abilities that are way beyond your level, but that does not mean that you are already more powerful than my army!" Professor Frances said as she shook her head. "So what if you were a powerful Peak Fifth Stage Being? I'm sure that once you tried to fight my whole monster army, not even you can win against them easily!"
"Hmm… that will be the case if I am just a Peak Fifth Stage Being. But too bad for you, I had already ascended beyond that Stage." Alex casually said. He sneered once more at the professor, as if he was mocking her brash behavior right now. "You can say that my training before… has reaped me some good fruits…"
"What did you just say?" Professor Frances almost lost her voice, as she was surprised with Alex's reply. "Can you repeat what you just said?"
"I said, I had already ascended beyond the Fifth Stage." Alex replied as he started fixing his rumpled shirt. "Or in simpler terms: I already reached the Sixth Stage."
"…"
"Don't stare at me like I am a monster, Frances. You're the one creating monsters here, right?"
"You…"
"Yes, Frances?"
"You must be kidding me!" Professor Frances shouted out as steam literally came out of her ears. Her eyes began to turn red as blue veins began to bulge on her skin. "You must be playing pranks on me now, right? There's just no way that you can reach the Sixth Stage this quickly!"
"Frances…"
"Even my most powerful monsters will take at least a year before they will even have a chance to reach the Sixth Stage!" Professor Frances continued saying as she ignored Alex's interruptions. "As for you, who had a messy Power System in your body, you should have a higher difficulty on reaching the Sixth Stage! So no, I do not believe what you just said! You're just playing with me now!"
"Sigh, Alina told me that you will act like this, but I did not believe her. I must be getting rusty with my observation skills…" Alex muttered to himself, as he seemed to be not affected by the professor' outburst. "Should I train myself social skills when I get the chance? Yes, I must do it next time…"
"Oi Alex! Don't you ignore me again!" The professor shouted as she pointed her fingers at Alex. "If you really are a Sixth Stage Being, then prove it to me now! If you don't, then you just showed that you are lying!"
"…First is Andrea, and now it's you. Why do the people that I met after my training all doubted my power? Is there something similar with you guys?" Alex muttered in a complaining tone as he shook his head. "You said that you want proof right? Okay then, this is my proof."
"Boom!"
A formless, yet heavy aura was suddenly emitted by Alex's body, which proceed to cover Professor Frances as a whole.
As this heavy aura landed on her body, the professor's body turned rigid, as every part of her began reacting badly at this aura.
Her organs started to malfunction, while her senses became disoriented.
Her whole skin began to sweat as her body refused to move itself.
Right now, the professor did not even think of escaping, as her mind was only occupied with one thing.
"I'M GOING TO DIE!!!" The professor thought to herself as she began to hyperventilate. Fear began to pool in her heart as some of her cells began to breakdown on their own volition.
This was the second time that she felt fear, which was something that she will surely dislike.
But right now, she did not think of becoming ashamed of herself as she only thought of her assured demise.
"I'M GOING TO DIE!!!" I'M GOING TO DIE!!! I'M GOING TO DIE!!! I'M GOING TO DIE!!! I'M GOING TO DIE!!! I'M GOING TO-"
"Okay, I think this is already enough." Alex said, as he cut off the aura that he just emitted. "So what do you think of my power, Frances?"
"Hak, hak, hak, ugh…" At the moment that Alex removed his aura, Professor Frances' body slumped down to the ground as the said woman began to cough with all of her might.
The ground under her began to turn wet, as all of her sweat fell on the soil like raindrops from the sky.
Her whole body was trembling as she continued coughing, as if Alex's actions had really affected her much.
It was only after a few more minutes of coughing that the professor was able to regain her wits. Once she was calm enough, she slowly stood up with shaky legs as she gave Alex a pointed glare.
"You… you really reached that stage." Professor Frances slowly said as she wiped away from saliva that drooled on her chin. "Which power of yours allowed you to reach the Sixth Stage? Was it the Abyss Power? Yes, that must be it…."
"No, it's my Esper Power, you dummy." Alex replied as he shook his head again.
"Your Esper Power? But your Esper Power cannot do something like that!" Professor Frances said, clearly referring to the aura that Alex just released earlier. "Your Esper Power is all about the manipulation of the Four Fundamental Forces of the Universe! What you did earlier… was focused more on making me feel the sensation of death!"
"Well, I don't care if you believe me or not. I really reached the Sixth Stage with my Esper Power, so just accept that as the truth, ok?" Alex replied as he seemed to be not interested on clarifying himself anymore. "Ok, now that I have explained my power, why don't we proceed on the next part of our plan for the Main Mission?"
"We will do the next part of the Main Mission plan already? What the hell will that be?" Seeing that Alex had already changed topics, Professor Frances has no choice but to follow his new 'topic'. "Are we going to fight some people now? Well, with your new power, that will be a good thing to do…"
"No, the fighting will still have to wait. For now, we have to talk with someone special first." Alex replied as he pointed his finger at the space in front of him.
"??? Who are we going to talk to?" Professor Frances asked as she looked at the direction that Alex's finger was pointing. "And why are you pointing your finger there? Are you performing a spell or something?"
"No, I am pointing at this place, because someone will appear here in 10 seconds." Alex said as he started counting down.
"10"
"9"
"So you just knew that someone will come out here? That's really gutsy of you."
"4"
"So who's this mystery visitor? Is this visitor dangerous?"
"0"
After Alex reached the zero mark, the space in front of him started to distort as a figure slowly appeared in front of him.
"…" Professor Frances watched the slow reveal of the newcomer, taking note of the newcomer's formal attire.
"The visitor is a woman?" Professor Frances thought to herself as she realized that the newcomer was wearing a blouse, a tight skirt, and high heels. "Yes, this is definitely a woman...'
10 more seconds passed by before the spatial distortion in front of them stopped.
As the space began to calm down, the new arrival, who donned the appearance of a woman, turned her face to Alex, who seemed to be wary of her.
"Mr. Alex, I'm pleased to see you here." The woman said, with her attention only focused on Alex. " But I hoped that we could have met… in far better circumstances."
"Hmph, is that what should you really say now?" Alex said as he sneered at the woman. "Did you forget that your daughter was kidnapped, and that she was about to be used in a ritual any moment now?"
"Of course I know about that." The woman replied, although not a hint of worry could be seen on her face. "But right now, I have to talk to you first."
"Hmph, Great TimeMaster, why do you want to talk to me?" Alex said, as Professor Frances visibly stiffened from the name that Alex just uttered. "Is there something that you wanted to request from me?"
"…."
"F**k, so Alex has already met the Great TimeMaster? And from the looks of it, they have some kind of close relationship! Damn, this is surprising!" The professor thought to herself, as she waited for the Great TimeMaster to give her reply to Alex. "S**t, and it seems like he had piqued her interest again! Damn… you're really one of a kind, Alex…. I guess I am lucky that I got allied with you…"