GOD OF ALL SYSTEMS
Chapter 20 - 20: King XZ Droids: The Ultimate Bodyguards (New)

Five miles away from the Metro Heaven Hotel

On the rooftop of an office building twenty floors higher than Metro Heaven Hotel, the six masked mercenaries from X-Org stood in a row as they stared down at Metro Heaven Hotel in the distance. The bulky leader stood in the middle with clenched fists, an overbearing demeanor, and intense killing intent radiating from his body.

Suddenly, one of the mercenaries with an X mask spoke, like the others, this person also had a mask covering their entire head and face, making it hard to describe their race or gender, but from the voice, this person was female.

"Target is in the Metro Heaven Hotel, fifty-fifth floor. He seems to be with two other men, a young ordinary man, and the other person... based on his Mana, an Awakened, but his level is merely D-rank. … And down below, there are eighty-seven bodyguards with black face masks, their Awakened levels are... huh?! They aren't radiating any Mana energy, and it also seems they are not humans."

"Hmm... that's strange, why would a wealthy man like Dylan Ludwick not hire Awakened for his protection, and what are those things?!"

Another masked mercenary spoke with a male voice as he voiced his opinions and doubts. But then, another masked mercenary on the bulky man's left side spoke in a male voice.

"Those are likely robots, King Tech is a technological company, as the CEO, having robots as bodyguards shouldn't be much of a surprise. But how can robots compete against the power of us Awakened?! They might be useful when fighting against monsters, but that's because they lack self-awareness and self-thought. But against Awakened, they are no better than scraps of metals waiting to be crushed."

The bulky leader stood silent and with clenched fists as he listened. Keeping his gaze at the Metro Heaven Hotel building, the leader questioned, his question seeming to be directed at the female masked mercenary.

"You said the target was with two other men, a young man, and the other a D-rank Awakened?"

"Yes, Captain."

"What does the young man look like?"

"Reporting, Captain... I can only see the young man's back, but he has silver hair and is dark-skinned. He seems to be in great physical shape with very broad shoulders, I can even see his back muscles through his shirt."

" …, and you are certain he is not an Awakened?!"

"... I don't know... but he is not emitting any Mana, and you know I can detect even the hidden energy from an S-rank. Other than his being physically fit, there is nothing else special about him. I evaluate him as not a threat."

"Hmm! Someone check with HQ for their identities."

….

"Reporting, Captain, from the data we received from HQ, the D-rank Awakened is Mark Willis, a fifty-year-old Awakened who was previously a mercenary captain for a major company in Gate raiding. However, due to his gambling habits, he lost all his wealth, filed for bankruptcy, and was rejected by every major Gate-hunting company in the city.

He was hired at an Orphanage as Security six months ago and has been working there ever since. However, three months ago, his financial status seemed to have had a significant growth; he paid all his debt, which was 1.8 million D$, bought a house, and is now worth almost ten million dollars."

As one of the men reported, an amazed clap came from another of the masked men as he spoke.

"Well, will you look at that, from riches to rags, and from rags to riches, how ironic!"

But the Captain raised his hand, interrupting the man as he inquired.

"And what of the young silver-haired boy?!"

"... About that, HQ said there doesn't seem to be any person with such a description, Captain. According to HQ, there are not any dark-skinned young man with natural silver hair in the Kingdom, let alone in the city, except for those who died their hair, or have some abnormal or unique trait inherited since birth.

But HQ currently has live tracking of all those individuals and none of them seems to be even fifty miles around us."

"...."

The Captain remained silent and unreactive. But one of the masked men spoke with an obvious tone.

"Well, no shit!... Tell HQ... that person exists and we currently have eyes on him!"

The female mercenary suddenly turned to the Captain and spoke.

"What are your orders, Captain?"

The scene went silent as the other team members awaited their leader's response. After a moment of silence, the Captain spoke, his tone heavy and direct.

"We attack from above to avoid the robots, they may not be a threat, but we can't afford to waste time on useless things. Capture Dylan Ludwick, kill the D-rank, and as for the silver-haired boy... capture him. He seems important enough to have a meal with Dylan Ludwick, probably someone who wants to invest in King Tech. But as to why his identity is hidden, we will let HQ have that problem.

Let's go!"

Finished speaking, the leader commanded as his team members began jumping from the building top and disappeared into the distance. Soon later, the leader also vanished from the rooftop.

_______

🎶(Japanese Classical playing)🎶

Patrick, Dylan Ludwick, Mark Willis, and the now 21-year-old-looking young Madam Hanami, sat in the dining hall eating as a Japanese classic played in the background. Madam Hanami, like Ludwick and Mark, had no choice but to join the table, after all, how could she resist the constant insisting of the young master?

Young Madam Hanami sat next to Mark as she ate; she was now as beautiful as the young Japanese woman she once was, with red lips and unwrinkled skin.

But suddenly, as if aware of something, Ludwick expressed a dissatisfied countenance. He immediately stopped eating, sat the utensils on the table, stood up, and turned to Patrick as he spoke with a respectful and apologetic tone.

"Sir, I apologize for the slight discomfort, but there seems to be some annoyance. With your permission, I respectfully request to present the combat capabilities of the "King XZ Droids," which are made with SS-rank materials and are installed with the program you instructed."

Listening to Ludwick, Patrick ate one final fork of raw fish (Japanese cuisine), placed the fork and knife on the table, and wiped his mouth with the cloth. Patrick then relaxed on his seat as he stared at Ludwick, as if contemplating something, Patrick nodded, approving of Ludwick's request.

With his request approved by his boss, Dylan Ludwick assumed a serious countenance as he arranged his suit's coat and tie. It was as if he was about to make a presentation to a King, whereas the slightest mistake would lead to his death; of course, this wasn't the case for Ludwick, but his demeanor resembled someone with such a similar situation.

Ludwick tapped on his wristwatch as a big holographic TV-like screen emerged at the opposite end of Patrick. The screen displayed the current situation happening outside, and currently, all the King XZ Droids were looking up as if detected an enemy.

Outside, all eighty-seven King XZ Droids had their heads staring into the sky with clenched fists. But surprisingly, from among the eighty-seven Droids, only one female Droid began levitating from the ground, not even a single thrust of flame could be seen from underneath the Droid's feet, it was as if it was levitating using anti-gravity suspension.

The Droid steadily rose in the air as it instantly blinked from the scene, vanishing from observable sight.

At the same time in the skies, six figures rapidly descended like falling meteors; if one were calculative enough, they would realize the landing spot for the descending six beings was the Metro Heaven Hotel. These were the six mercenaries. From among the descending mercenaries, one of the male-voiced masked mercenaries who was slightly behind their bulky leader spoke with a suspicious tone.

"Boss, I don't know why, but my Ability is sensing something, something overwhelming and dangerous!"

But unreactive to the male-voiced mercenary, the bulky leader only snorted with ridicule.

"Then perhaps you should reevaluate yourself as a B rank Awakened!- huh?!

But before finishing his words, the bulky leader expressed suspiciously as if detected something. But simultaneously, a black-masked face flashed and appeared directly in the bulky leader's face, the two faces were an inch away from each other, almost as if they were about to kiss. But the current situation was far from romantic.

Expressing with shocked widened eyes, the bulky leader instinctively reacted as he retracted his head backward and flashed away from the suddenly emerged face. The other remaining five mercenaries also reacted accordingly; they exchanged gazes as they could see the shock in each others' eyes.

But they quickly escaped from their stupors and nodded to each other, and as if understanding something, the five descending mercenaries released waves of Mana energies from their bodies, then, one of the mercenaries pulled out a long chain from his back and coated it with energy as he sent it at the female Droid.

The chain instantly wrapped around the Droid, and then with a gesture from the same mercenary, the chain duplicated four more times as they were held by the other four mercenaries.

The Mana-coated long chains tightly wrapped around the female Droid's waist and arms, restricting its movements. With their descending force coupled with their strengths as powerful Awakened, the five mercenaries pulled down with great might as they aimed to bring the Droid down with their combined force.

But contrary to expected results, the five Awakened mercenaries who were in the process of pulling down the Droid felt their bodies suddenly being jacked back by an overwhelming force, and since they were holding on to the Mana-coated chains, the five mercenaries found themselves hanging in mid-air, leaving them to express with shock and doubt. All this time, it has only been two seconds.

The bulky leader, who had distanced himself from the Droid and was hovering in the air using a boot that blasted blue thrust flames underneath, watched as he witnessed the scene of his five teammates losing in a pull stance against one Droid. His eyes expressed shock and suspicion as he stared at the unbelievable scene.

'...?! Those are all B-rank Awakened, with three of them even possessing the strength of an A-rank if they exerted their full strength, plus, the descending force of five B-ranks should be able to even pull back fifty rockets launching at full thrust. But yet this one robot was able to resist all five?- Wait, shouldn't there be more of them?!-'

The leader thought as he looked down to confirm his doubt, his eyes widened, but this time, it wasn't out of surprise, but rather out of panic and dread. As he looked down, the Captain saw that all eighty-five remaining robots had their heads up and were looking at him and his group, his thoughts continued-

'If one robot is strong enough to resist the full force of five B-ranks, then wouldn't their collective strength be even greater?!- But then again, they are only robots, all they possess is strength, how can they compete with us who have powers and abilities?!'

As the leader thought, his panicked eyes relaxed with calm, and then, massive waves of Mana erupted from his body as he flashed and appeared behind the Droid, he held the Droid by the neck with both hands and gave a merciless twist. And as expected, the robot's head twisted as its face turned back. The Captain heaved a grunt of ridicule as he snorted.

"Hmph, pathetic! To think I almost took these scraps seriously-"

But before the mercenary could relish in his three seconds of victory, he watched as the Droid's body turned, matching the head in its proper position. A look of disbelief washed over the leader's masked eyes as he stared at the Droid directly staring at him. But surprisingly, the Droid didn't attack him, or his comrades; instead, it hovered mid-air like a soldier awaiting orders from its commander.

At the same time, in the dining chamber, Ludwick stood next to the holographic display with calm and tranquil expressions as he spoke.

"... The six Awakened are mercenaries from an organization called X-Org, an organization to acquire the Equation of how to integrate modern-day technology with Mana. And since I am the CEO of King Technologies, they assumed I would know the Equation and have made 23 kidnap attempts so far in the last six months.

The leader of the Organization is a young man called Ivan Xidirov, the grandson of a Russian conglomerate. But after investigating the X-Org, I discovered he is just a pawn used by his family and the leaders of the world to get their hands on the Equation.

The world leaders wouldn't dare openly make a move, since that would mean war against King Tech, so they cooperated with the Xidirov family to act in their hidden interests. I have gathered evidence of all those involved and can easily take them down today if you wish, but I have yet to act or retaliate in consideration of your thoughts on the matter, Sir."

Ludwick finished speaking as he waited for Patrick's response.

Patrick sat and relaxed on the chair as he listened to Ludwick relaying information he already knew, but since Ludwick was just performing his duties, Patrick maintained patience and didn't interrupt the other party.

But instead of answering directly, Patrick stood from his chair and steadily walked to the edge of the glass-walled chamber, he then swiped with his left index finger as the glass roof opened like a mechanical sliding door.

Patrick then stared through the opened roof and at the current scene of the six mercenaries trying to get past the female Droid, which seems not to be attacking but rather blocking the group from getting closer to their target. Patrick slightly murmured.

"We give them a hand to eat from, yet they choose to bite it... how humans of them. Grace, since you are omniscient, how would you solve this matter?"

"There are infinite options of how to solve this matter, Master. But the most efficient would be to eradicate all opposing parties, order the absolute submission of all nations, and conquer this planet in a minute. Then, with an infinite army of indestructible Combat Droids and robots, completely wipe out all Gates and the mastermind, ultimately bringing world peace.

But that would have been the case if you were still human with an eight-level intellect. As for now, the options are beyond infinite."

"... A minute huh! That's how long it would have taken me to conquer Earth. Anyways, your plan is indeed efficient, Grace, but I don't intend to be bored of Earth just yet, what is there for me to do other than have fun?!"

Patrick chatted with Grace and asked with an obvious smile. An amused smile appeared on Patrick's face as he turned and spoke to Ludwick.

"The world leaders want to play, right, why don't we be the best players then?!"

Patrick's face then became expressionless as he passionlessly stared at the struggling group of mercenaries in the sky. Opening his lips, Patrick ordered.

"Alpha, activate project XZ!"

<<<< Activating project XZ- activation complete- all features online, Sire. I gave them a few upgrades though. >>>>

______

Thirty seconds ago in the sky, before what was about to come, the six mercenaries flashed at different locations as they aimed to pass the female Droid, but to their dismay, no matter what they did, the mercenaries would find the Droid instantly an inch before them, almost as if about to kiss.

Although the Droid didn't attack, the mercenaries still felt chills running down their spines whenever the Droid flashed in their faces. The Droid was faster than all of them, even when compared to their leader, an A-rank Awakened, as not even he could get past the Droid.

"What the hell, how is this robot so fast, it's even faster than an A-rank Awakened?!"

"And how does it know where we would be before we even go there?!"

"Not only that, it seems immune to physical attacks, even when utilizing my full strength with Mana augmentation. But how does that even make sense, it's just a robot?!

"You guys are focusing on the wrong thing, what worries me is why is it not attacking? We all must already know which speed, it should be able to attack and defeat us with ease. But other than preventing us from going down, it doesn't seem to be hostile. But what happens when it becomes hostile?!"

Chills ran through the bodies of the five mercenaries as they couldn't help but breathe with heavy chests when they listened to their comrade. Even the leader, whose body was radiating with thick verdant Mana, tightly clenched his fists as he thought of his options, which weren't looking bright from either side. Continue their pathetic to capture the target and die once the robot becomes hostile?

Or return empty-handed and alive but lose their livelihoods?!

As High Dimensional Beings, we have the ability and can see through the X masks and the beads of sweat profusely rolling down the leader's face as he stared at the impossible-to-pass Droid in the distance. We all can safely predict things have reached an endpoint for the leader and his team of mercenaries, whether in career or life.

"Why don't we just go all out and destroy it?!"

The female mercenary suggested as she seemed to be in the stance of activating her ability. But suddenly, the leader flashed and appeared next to the woman with his hand raised, stopping her from activating her ability, he then spoke, his tone containing hits of anger and shame.

"We can't afford to exercise our full strength on one robot, and even if we succeed, another would take its place, bringing us to accomplishing nothing but wasting our Mana energy and strength. Let's retreat, obviously, this is a pointless attempt."

The other mercenaries listened to their leader as they also contemplated his words. Their mission has indeed become pointless, after all, they have met an immovable object when they aren't even qualified as the unstoppable force. With a look of acceptance, the other five mercenaries nodded as they began calming their waves of Mana energy.

The mercenary who had his chains out also put away his treasure as he accepted their fruitless struggle would lead them nowhere. All the mercenaries seemed to agree as they all retracted their energies and seemed to be planning to leave the scene. But then, a sound came from the female Droid, which drew the mercenaries' attention, halting them from leaving.

<+ Programme activation initiated. Program activation complete. Initiating all features:

Mana Utilization. Environmental Adaptation. Ability Replication. Network Evolution. Body Manipulation. Tactical Adaptation.

All features are online. +>