The Almighty Ring

“How long until everyone is within range?” Desir asked.

“It would take up to 10 minutes if you want all the groups. However, I can see that the slower one has gotten much slower. I think they do not want to get closer,” said the woman.

“Fine then. Let them be. Just get the larger ones in and then we can cast the net,” said Desir after thinking for a few seconds. If he decided to wait for the small group to come in, the group that was in the front might notice their plan. It would be better to have everyone inside the range of the trap but one cannot be too greedy.

In no time at all, Desir’s order reached the other Mutants and with a simultaneous rise, all the Mutants that were hiding sprung up and were ready to strike.

“Faster! Do not let the Azure Cloud Clan get all the contribution!”

“Faster! Faster! Faster!”

…

The oblivious Redsands Clan continued to charge faster, not realizing that the Snow Mountain Sect were all slowing down behind them. Before they could realize it, the gates of hell were opened and the nightmare was only going to start.

“Leader, I think something is wrong!” One of the elders of the Azure Cloud Clan said to their clan leader, Ge Hong.

“What is it that seems wrong?” said Ge Hong. The reason they were there because they were chasing after a few Mutants that had appeared. However, when the elder questioned the situation, he noticed that the Mutants that they were chasing were gone.

“I can’t tell…”

“Could it be that your skills are rusty after sitting for too long? Are you scared?” Ge Hong laughed.

“There’s nothing to joke about. Keep quiet and listen. It’s too quiet!”

“Eh?” Ge Hong was thrown. It was as the elder had said. The place was too quiet.

It was the night of early summer. Even though it should be quiet, there should still be sounds made from insects and birds. The eerie silence made his skin crawl.

“Everyone, be vigilant! Keep your eyes open for enemies!” cried Ge Hong.

“Clan leader, the Redsands are here!” said one of his disciples.

“Excellent,” Ge Hong barked. It was good news for him since the Redsands was stronger than Azure Cloud.

“Haha! Old Ge, why are you stopping? Are you getting tired?” said the Redsands Clan leader, Cai Bei.

“Nonsense! The first blood shan’t be drawn by a lowly man such as myself! I’m only leaving the honors to an esteemed man such as yourself!” Ge Hong laughed.

“You praised me too much. Let’s go together, brother!” said Cai Bei.

“After you,” said Ge Hong as he gestured politely to let Cai Bei walk first.

Unlike Ge Hong, Cai Bei did not realize that the situation was aloof. Even though Ge Hong knew that something was wrong, he had the Redsands with him. Together, their total numbers had increased to over 70 fighters. Although it was not much, it was good enough to give him the courage to move forward.

All the martial artists that were present then were the best fighters in all of each sect. The weakest of them was the Beginning stage of Level 3. Anyone that was lower than that were left behind in China. Hence, even though 70 of them was not a large fighting force, it was a formidable one at least.

…

“They’re here,” said the middle-aged woman.

“Good, Shroder, you may commence the plan,” said Desir to a man with flaming-red hair by his side.

“Uhm… Yes, sir!” said Shroder. Although he was unwilling, he had no choice.

Shroder, or the Human Torch, had been saved by Jiang Fei. He was ultimately grateful and saw him as a brother of his own. He did not have a bad impression towards the Chinese martial artists and if could, he would never attack them. Right then, he did not have a choice. As a member of the Mutant Brotherhood, he had to obey the orders of his superior!

Back when Jiang Fei had saved Shroder and Berry, the couple was only a Level 4 Beginning stage. Only after a few months, they had become the Advanced stage of Level 4, one stage behind Pinnacle stage.

Unlike Mutants, martial artists only needed some time to train themselves from Beginning stage to reach Advanced stage. It was nothing too difficult for them. For Mutants, it would be a miracle!

Mutants’ power was born into them, like a gift from God. Once they had reached awakening, they would be stronger than they were before. Awakening was only a one-off thing. After that, their powers would not and could not be upgraded like how martial artists could.

However, after acquiring the Bio-enhancement technology from Japan, the Mutants had finally unlocked the obstacle! Now, a once useless, weak, combat-incapable Level 2 Mutant could be enhanced to reach Level 3 or Level 4! So far, none of the Mutants that underwent the enhancement could breach the mythical Level 5 realm. Even so, they had become much stronger.

With this sudden gain of power, the Mutants had grown greedy. With almost limitless power, they wanted more. They would not have to fear being suppressed by others as they could now be the conquerer!

Shroder and Berry had a different opinion about using their powers. However, when one got involved in that sort of society, there was no way they could keep their hands clean forever. As a member of the Mutant Brotherhood, the two could not disobey orders given to them. As a citizen of the United States of America, they had the obligation to go with the country’s interests!

“Let’s go, Berry. I pray that we do not face Jiang Fei in this fight,” said Shroder.

“The feeling’s mutual,” said Berry as she frowned worriedly.

The two left Desir’s side and headed towards a rendezvous point with the other Mutants. There, there were some 200 Mutants waiting to strike.

“Let’s start…” said Shroder painfully. Dreamweaver, a Mutant with the power of illusion, had cast an illusion over the entire area where the martial artists were gathered then. Even though the martial artists could feel that something was wrong, they had not realized that they were all in a death trap.

“Let’s go!” said Berry as she conjured a spark of electricity from the tip of her fingers.

Bzz… Zap….

She continued to charge her powers and a powerful bolt of lightning was formed in her palm.

“Flame on!” cried Shroder. Fire burst out of his fists and his hair was set aflame.

When the two Advanced stage of Level 4 made their move, the rest of the 200 Mutants charged forward.

Like Shroder and Berry, the rest of the Mutants had energy manipulative type abilities, only in different elements.

Like how Jiang Fei needed to charge up his energy into Origin Force, these Mutants needed to gather their energy before they could manifest their powers. It was akin to a warming-up session which was also their weakest moment. However, since Dreamweaver had already cast an illusion to all the martial artists, they did not need to worry about being attacked! It was a perfect preemptive strike!

When all the martial artists were baffled at what was happening, lighting bolts, razor-sharp gale, hailstorm, water bullets, and many other projectiles bombarded them!

One second ago, everything was quiet. In the next second, chaos ensued.