12 Entering a Gate (Edited)

"Well done, Mark... not only did you accomplish your task of defending the teachers' quarters, but you also comprehended a fundamental principle of life- Survival Instinct. Now, as per my word, I intend to grant you a weapon, but what use is a weapon to a person whose body itself is already a weapon? How about this, you tell me what you want, and if it's within my capabilities, I shall grant it." 

Patrick spoke as his figure steadily descended, his descent and the constant radiation of golden Mana essence around him making his presence a similar definition of the existence he was, and that was him only using his mortal-created item, the Symbiotic Adaptation Suit.

The Symbiotic Adaptation Suit had truly displayed its capabilities, as Patrick had utilized it to adapt, counter and defeat the C-rank Awakened assassin with ease. Although the suit is equipped with a literal Universe as its energy core, it still only displayed its features at the level it was encoded by Patrick, meaning it would have displayed the same capabilities had it been equipped with the S-rank beast core from Ludwick, the only difference would have been the S-rank beast core will be drained of energy eventually, unlike the Infinite Universe Patrick was currently using as his energy core.

Patrick landed on the ground, the Symbiotic Adaptation Suit fading from his body as if turning invisible as he now stood with his created set of clothes. The constant Mana essence which radiated around him also dissipated into the surroundings. Patrick stood ten feet from Mark as he could see the shocked and reverential gaze this subordinate of his held while looking towards him. 

Patrick's words resounded in Mark's ears as he was still stuck in a stupor; but with a slight old-man cough- returning to his senses, Mark cleared his throat as he realized he was kneeling on both knees. But despite this fact, Mark remained on the ground as he suddenly assumed a serious expression, raising his head to Patrick, he spoke- his words filled with determination and assertiveness.

"Mr. King, I have been meaning to ask you this, but since our relationship has only been employer and employee, I thought it inappropriate and unprofessional. But now, I hope Mr. King  doesn't mind, but I would like to use my request to ask Mr. King to be your servant in perpetuity!"

"...." The scene went silent for ten seconds, the only present sound being the monotone swirling night wind. 

Patrick stood, his face calm, unbothered, and unreactive as he impassively stared at Mark, he then lazily nodded as he uttered, his words not sounding any serious or thought of the least... as if today's event was already predicted.

"You are already my subordinate, Mark... but if you want to sign a lifetime contract, then so be it. From now on, you are no longer a security guard for the orphanage, do you have any comments about that?"

"I wouldn't wish for anything more, Boss. Thank you for accepting me as your lifetime subordinate!"

Mark said excitedly as he bowed his head toward Patrick. He was truly happy, Patrick was a being he had met due to his unfortunate downfall in life, but hidden within his downfall was a destiny and fortune more rewarding than his previous one as an Awakened Gate-Hunter. He had met Patrick and had become his subordinate, but surprisingly, this new Boss of his was far more mysterious and generous than all of his other bosses combined, as not only did he receive huge sums as salary, he even received mysterious treasures and items which can be compared to someone having a second life. Mark had concluded that his new Boss was an existence with a destiny greater than anyone in this world, or more exactly, this blue planet.

If his Boss can create items like the Regeneration Fluid, Presence Erasing Pen, and instant-hacking devices, all while being a mundane human, then how powerful would he be if he was an Awakened? Such questions had plagued Mark's mind for months as he couldn't help but be disappointed at his own lack of imaginative comprehension, his Boss' destiny and future was too enormous and grandiose to think of, let alone fathom. But whatever destiny his Boss will have, Mark understood one thing though, whoever that's in close relation with his Boss was also destined to soar to great heights, even if they were mere house cleaners. 

And if mere cleaners were destined to experience a life of great fortune, then Mark can't even begin to imagine his future now, especially after becoming a servant to this being. Now one can understand Mark's trembling excitement, despite being an old man with half-a-century worth of life experience.

"It's already late, I will see you in the morning, Mark."

Patrick spoke as his figure faded into the surroundings like the wind.

Seeing this, Mark didn't react as he previously did, he understood his Boss- now master, was now Awakened, and he was now capable of exercising powers and abilities which were beyond his comprehension, just like his gadgets when he was a mundane mortal. Mark rose and knelt on one knee and bowed his head as he respectfully replied to Patrick's fading presence. 

"See you in the morning, Sir."

______

At this same time, somewhere on a street in a luxurious location in Metro City, four black vehicles drove in an orderly fashion as if escorting important personals, the first and the last vehicles were trucks that seem to be guarding the two middle luxurious vans; on the roof of the guarding trucks were King-Tech's EDDs, Environmental Detection Device, installed on them, this item which costs 400,000 dollars each, yet there are two of them seen on each truck, this only explains the wealth and level of importance these escorted people held.

A few minutes later, the four vehicles pulled up to a luxurious hotel building with the name of "Metro Heaven," but there was a golden small letter K above the hotel's name... for what reason, no one knows except the higher-ups. Pulling up to the entrance, the four cars stopped as if arrived at their destination. But a group of suit-wearing men and women were already standing before the building's entrance as if waiting on someone or something, the aura around the group was of tension and seriousness, leading the group was a young beautiful woman wearing a black sexy suit and skirt which stopped at her knees, she seems to be in her mid-twenties; she had a slim body, short black hair which hung close to her shoulders, red sexy lips which could cause most men to lose self-control, and was 5' 9" tall. The woman stood while holding an iPad which had a little K designed at the back.

Suddenly, the doors to the first and last trucks opened as ten men, five from each truck, emerged and protectively stood around the two middle luxurious vans, all the men wore black suits and had black glasses with wires connected around their ears, two men from both sides held the doors to the vans as they simultaneously pulled, opening both vans in a timely manner. Suddenly, from the opened vans, two right feet, simultaneously emerged from inside the vans as they stepped on the ground, these two feets landing on the ground in sync as if they were of one mind.

"Welcome! To Metro Heaven! Mr. Halton and Mr. Halton... My name is Julia Arimor, personal assistant to Mr. Blake, Metro Heaven is pleased with your presence."

The sexy woman spoke with an expressionless tone as she looked at two slightly muscular fair-skinned middle-aged men standing at the van's entrance, the two men wore black and blue suits, the left- blue, the right- black. They both had similar facial features, or more precisely, they were twins. They had short grey hair, big eyes, and pointy noses, they stood 6' 1" tall and carried the arrogance of superiority around them.

The two brothers watched the sexy woman in the distance, their gaze unreactive to the woman's beauty as they steadily and coherently walked toward the woman and her group of servicemen. The blue-suit middle-aged man on the left chuckled while looking at the group of escorts as he spoke with indignation.

"Ha! What a flaunty bastard, not only did he book the entire Metro Heaven hotel, but he also sent multiple Awakened to escort us, especially that woman, just what rank is she? She doesn't exude any Mana, yet she holds the most powerful position among the group... Laniz, you really have a way of flaunting your wealth and power- huh?!."

"I hope your trip hasn't spoiled your taste for food, Metro Heaven is rumored to have had the best cuisines in Metro City for the past three years, it would be a shame to at least not try them... If you wouldn't mind, please follow me, Mr. Blake is waiting on the fiftieth floor, I shall personally escort you..."

The sexy woman spoke as she made an 'After you' gesture to the two middle-aged men, but as the two brothers attempted to enter the building, their guards were stopped by the group of Awakened led by Julia Arimor, seeing this, the black-suit Halton brother frowned as he spoke, his voice filled with suspicion and questioning.

"What is the meaning of this, Julia Arimor?  Could it be that your Knights Shadow Guild has a hidden agenda by stopping our guards from entering with us?!"

Silence overtook the scene as two groups of escorts intensively and suspiciously stared at one another, traces of verdant Mana could be seen arising from both sides, some even clenching their fists as if waiting for the slightest sign of battle. The two Halton brothers remained unmoved as if the current situation wasn't even worth mentioning, especially after questioning the integrity of an A-rank guild. But another person that remained unreactive was the sexy lady, rather than expressing rage like her servicemen, she stepped forward as she spoke, her words soft but carrying a chilling message.

"Rest assured, Mr. Halton, there is no hidden agenda... even if you had brought ten times the Awakened escorts, do you truly believe they could have been of any use?! And besides, your death isn't worth all this preparation... I'm sure we both know what I mean by that?"

The woman maintained her impassive expression as she gazed at the black-suited Halton brother. Both brothers exchanged gazes, their airs of superiority slowly reducing as they now thought themselves equal with this woman and her group of servicemen. The blue-suited Halton brother turned his head slightly right as he nodded to his group, commanding them to stay.

The hotel was fifty-five floors tall, and twenty rooms wide. On the fiftieth floor, a golden elevator door opened as the woman, Julia Arimor, and the two Halton brothers stepped out, twenty steps from the elevator was a double door that opened upon detecting human movement; upon entering through the automatic double doors, a man's voice sounded.

"And here I thought I will be stood up... welcome!- Halton brothers. Please have a seat, the long ride must have been boring, especially for an Awakened like you."

A good-looking man, wearing grey pants and an opened-button black t-shirt with a vest underneath stood with open arms as he enthusiastically spoke, his words sounding like a joke yet serious at the same time, he had closed eyes and a casual smile, almost as if about to laugh, this man's face making it almost impossible to decipher his mood, let alone his emotions. The man was 6' 3" tall, slim but physically fit, fair-skinned, and had a red flower tattoo on his left neck, he wore long black socks and grey crocks to match his rather unprofessional attire. Black short hair.

The two Halton brothers exchanged gazes as they couldn't help but feel inferior when staring at this man known as Laniz Blake, they were powerful and influential people who even CEOs have to bow to, but yet before Laniz Blake, they felt like common folk who weren't even taken seriously, as the attires of both parties clearly details who was superior, the two brothers were clearly not worth Laniz Blake wearing a suit to their meeting. 

Julia Arimor began serving wine to Laniz and his clients, Laniz sipped as he spoke while setting the wine glass on the table. " I hope you didn't mind leaving your escorts behind- my guild deals in secrecy, I wouldn't want that reputation compromised, surely for people of your status, you understand."

"... Not at all we don't mind, I believe Miss Arimor made quite the reasonable excuse for their absence, wouldn't you agree- Miss Arimor?!"

The black-suited Halton brother spoke as he switched his gaze to Julia, causing all attention to fall on her, even Laniz Blake gave her a quick stare, but he only smiled and continued talking, ignoring the Halton brother's conversation.

"Anyways... I'm sure you both know what the percentage split is- correct?"

"... Yes, 75-25... is that not what we agreed upon?!"

"Yes... with my connections, I have ensured no news from within a thousand miles of the orphanage leaks out, so the Government or even W.A.O won't be hearing about the destruction of the orphanage anytime soon... but.. because I had to go through all these headaches, I request another ten percent of the split, making it a 65-35 split... I'm sure you both wouldn't mind caring for my headache now- would you?!"

Silence overtook the scene for fifteen seconds as both brothers expressed faces of disgust and contempt, their faces turning completely ugly from their calm and relaxed temperaments earlier, to think that this Laniz Blake was casually and directly bullying them into something by using his well-being as an excuse, truly an action that warrants contempt and disgust. But despite their internal thoughts of disgust, both brothers assumed casual smiles as the blue-suited brother spoke.

"Haha! Of course we wouldn't mind, after all, we are both in favor of the protection of the nation and its citizens from Gates- right!?"... 'What use is there fussing over a mere ten percent of a Gate's resources, as long as we own the majority of the shares, everything's fine! Besides, we don't even know yet what level of Gate it would be, hopefully, a C-rank or even better, a B-rank.' The twin brothers exchanged side glances as they understood each other's thoughts, their faces plastered with fake smiles and insincerities.

"Hmm... that's right! We should always think of the nation when making decisions." Laniz Blake replied to the sarcastic remark of the brothers as he sipped from his wine glass, his eyes fixated on the two brothers as he thought. 'Joseph and Justin Halton, twins, both 35 years old, originally from the western parts of the main kingdom, England. They were once children of a successful family; their father, Julius Halton, was a prosperous and accomplished businessman with a reputable status... their mother, Mariel Halton, was a tailor who made her tailoring business one of the biggest tailoring companies in Europe.

But everything changed when the happy family had another male child,  Julius Halton Jr. He showed more potential than the twins, and at the age of twelve, Halton Jr. organized a business plan which surpassed even the combined ideas of numerous professional experts, this one achievement drawing all the attention from the twins and to Julius Jr, their parents even went as far as declaring him the next successor. Somehow, within that same week, the father, mother, and last child of the Halton family were caught in a serious accident, a brake failure as their driver drove down an edgy hill. 

With the owners and the future inheritor gone, the twins were left to inherit both fortunes of the Halton family, their status instantly shooting to the skies as they were now owners of inter-continental tri-billion pound companies, a currency which is more valuable compared to Dasian dollars. But due to the laziness of the twins, the once inter-continental companies plummeted as their stocks and company value went from within the top 500 in Europe, to not even worth staying in the main kingdom at all... now they reside in the Dasia Kingdom, one of the four merged kingdoms of England. What a shame, to think these two now represent the Halton family, truly a disgrace to their father's legacy.'

A hint of disappointment and disdain flashed Laniz Blake's eyes as he stared at the insincere smiles of the middle-aged twins... at the same moment, Julia Arimor had a face of seriousness as she steadily relaid a message to Laniz Blake's right ear, not long after, a tinge of killing intent appeared in Laniz Blake's eyes as he instantly and unconsciously shattered the wine glass in his hand, but he almost simultaneously reserved his killing intent as he spoke laughingly. "Haha! Apologies, didn't mean to cause a mess, it's just that these cups are too fragile even to be held properly, we might need to upgrade our wine glass-making skills as a nation... But if you gentlemen wouldn't mind, can we call it a night- I have important matters that require my immediate attention, surely you wouldn't mind."

The twins exchanged looks as they nodded, they had felt the killing intent just now, and although faint and not aimed at them, they still felt their blood boiling with fear and panic. With agreeable faces, both brothers exited the room, leaving Laniz Blake and his assistant alone.

"Reach out to 1, see if there is a connection."- "Sir, I already reached out ten times already, the connection is completely shut down, and not even the devices can be tracked. This only means one thing... the mission-

I know what it means, Julia, I am an A-rank Awakened!.. (inhale...exhale) Do you think the twins might have something to do with this?"

"... No, sir, Justin, and Joseph Halton are too stupid and blindly greedy to consider sharing such a piece of information with others, they aren't involved. My best calculation would be the Government, or the W.A.O, as only these two possess resources that rival ours in Metro City. Or maybe a completely different enemy whom we have yet to meet."

"... 1 is a C-rank Awakened with the Wind Transformation ability, speed and escape are his prime traits, so the fact that even he didn't survive means this interloper is an Awakened with capable abilities... Julia, I believe the earphones were equipped with live audio recording- correct?"

"Yes- pulling up the last live recordings right away."

The woman typed some digits on the iPad with an expecting gaze as she hoped to retrieve some information about this new enemy, but Julia only assumed a shocked "Huh?!" as she raised her head and looked at Laniz Blake, she slowly opened her mouth and shockingly spoke.

"Sir... there's nothing- all the live recordings seemed to have been erased from the home drive, how is that even possible?! All our data is protected with thousands of firewalls, it should take them at least a week to fully break through our encryptions, but from the date and time of the deleted files, they seemed to be erased almost instantaneously."

Seeing Julia's shocked and baffled reaction, Laniz Blake frowned annoyedly, his eyes fixated in the distance as he stared through the glass walls as if staring at something. But as if calculated something, Laniz assumed a calm expression as he spoke.

"This is neither the Government nor W.A.O., whoever interfered was thoroughly prepared for our attack tonight. The orphanage is too poor to arise the voracious and hungry gazes from those in the Government, and the W.A.O is too busy with higher-ranking Gates to catch wind of our little charades... then this only means our enemy is an unknown outsider.

Wait for a day to pass, then send multiple C-ranks; I could care less about a mere Gate and its resources, what I cannot bear is watching my reputation crumble to nothing due to some unknown enemy. As for the twins, tell them the mission has been postponed- the reason?: I don't feel like killing today. Now, I must leave for the annual meeting before those bastards and bitches complain about me being late again."

"Don't worry, sir, everything will be taken care of before your return."

"I expect nothing less, Julia."

Laniz Blake spoke as his figure steadily vanished into the glass walls of the building, leaving Julia Arimor with the iPad in her hand as she bowed respectfully.

________

Infinite Realm

Within the spacious godly hall of the Infinite Realm, Patrick sat on his pitch-black throne with a relaxed countenance as he lazily tapped on the armrest of his throne, his eyes pulsating with golden silver sprinkles as the infinity symbols radiated endless brilliance of energy essence.

"Grace, analysis of the accumulating energy in the orphanage..."

"... Master, the surrounding Mana is being corrupted by a Dark energy source, and in two hours, the Mana corruption will be complete, causing the emergence of a Gate, from the level of Dark energy presence, the Gate would be a B-rank Gate."

"So... Gates are formed due to the emergence of the Dark energies, and these Dark energies are like black dots which somehow appear on the planet- releases a wave of Dark essence which corrupts the surrounding Mana, and once the Mana is completely corrupted, it then uses that corrupted Mana to create a transportation portal in the space, making a gateway for the otherwordly creatures to enter this planet,

Hmm... as to where these monsters and creatures originate from... Alpha, give me all research data from the W.A.O about Gates, monsters, and Awakened... let's see how much they know."

<<All done, Sire, all data and information have been collected, including those from the internet.>>

Alpha spoke as countless artificial screens popped into Patrick's view, there were countless videos of people with superpowers fighting, monsters rampaging the city and killing people, and numerous soldiers holding guns and RPGs as they fired at incoming monsters. There were also countless pictures of everything that was related to the requested data Patrick asked for. There was also a video of a tall blonde-haired man standing against hundreds of monsters all by himself.

But Patrick merely gave the countless emerged screens a casual gaze as he spoke. "It seems even the W.A.O has little information about the origin of Gates and monsters, they haven't even solved the question as to why there are Awakened in the first place... truly a bunch of imbeciles. I will have to do it myself then. Grace, haste the time for the Gate's emergence, I will be entering it."

"Already done, Master..."

Grace sounded as Patrick's view changed from within the godly hall to a bushy area within the orphanage, there were ruined buildings and a children's park which seemed to have been abandoned for years. Not far from the ruined structures, a blue-colored circling portal hovered in the center of the bushes as it radiated with immense power and gravitational pressure, there was a hundred-meter-radius cleared space around the swirling portal, and the earth of the hundred-meter-radius had a pressurized dent as if something had punched into it.

"So these are the Gates that Awakened call the dimensions of fortune and death... hmm... somehow there is a shield barrier which prevents the creatures from within, but it doesn't stop the Awakened from entering- almost as if someone is helping the planet. You know Grace...  I had imagined the day I get to enter a Gate, I had expected it to be mind-awakening and exciting, but now, it's not even worth mentioning. Very well then, let's see what these monsters are made up of..."

Patrick spoke as he rose from his pitch-black throne, steadily walked, and stood before the swirling blue portal. He then uttered his last sentence as his figure vanished into the Gate portal.

But not long after Patrick's disappearance into the Gate, a sudden change occurred, the once blue Gate portal suddenly turned to dark red, and it became ten times bigger than its previous size. A huge crack appeared in the surrounding space as if about to shatter like glass.