《Atlas Awakens》Chapter 10- The Iron Chains

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Kye was on a plane to the Fulgoth Kingdom, a neighbour to the Kingdom of Speria where he would be meeting with a small group of men that his father introduced him to. These men would be helping Kye find entertainers for his club that would be opening soon in the city of Agartha called The Golden Comfort. The construction was underway and a complimentary dorm room was built for the servants and workers of the club. Kye had already hired several chefs from family businesses that sold out to chain restaurants because of large overhead costs. Kye hired locally in Agartha which was all to try and cut down on the amount of people living in the dorm. Kye was dressed in a smart all black two piece suit with a blood red tie. His ashen hair was slicked back with the ends of his hair remaining rigid to give it a spiky look at the back. He had black framed aviators on which concealed his eyes. Kye was accompanied by Sebastian and a single armed guard who had a hidden pistol in his jacket. A flight attendant walked out from the back of the plane and stopped infront of Kye.

"Would you like anything young master?"

Kye shook his head lightly with a smile.

"No thank you, how long until we arrive?"

The attendant looked at her watch.

"Around 45 minutes sir."

"Thank you, that will be all."

Kye dismissed her with a wave of his hand. Sebastian smiled.

"It seems you haven't grown arrogant in the last four years young master. It pleases this old man to see that you still have that politeness you had when you were a child."

Kye grinned in response.

"You ask some and i'm plenty arrogant. I just don't see a need to skip politeness for the sake of brevity."

Sebastian nodded and went back to his work. He was currently going over the contract Kye had written up to approach and hire the staff of a cabaret club in the inner capital of the Fulgoth Kingdom. The cabaret club had fallen on financial hardship after the Fulgoth Kingdom passed laws restricting the activities of pleasure clubs as there were many instances of workers late to shifts after spending copius amounts of time in the entertainment district. The king understood that completely banning the entertainment industry from their city was not only a breach of free business, but also a great way to lose population. So he ordered an inquiry into the district to find the most problematic businesses and shut down the ones his investigators reported as dangerous to the productivity of the kingdom. Kye personally understood why the king would take such a measure, as the entire economy of the kingdom was supported by their raw industrial power and the dip in productivity would hurt their bottom line. As the Fulgoth Kingdom imported 90% of all its food products from other countries, the kingdom would fall into famine if their industry didn't stay optimal and they would lose their spot in the Kingdoms Alliance. To Kye, this was the perfect opportunity to snatch up talent for his own use.

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Kye began looking through the info he had collected on a tablet he used to read digital books. He had hired several investigators to look into the power dynamics of the streets in the Fulgoth Kingdom and to figure out a rough map of terriroty each gang had and fought over. Like any urban industrial city, those that skirted the law and tried to take local power for themselves were rampant. Kye needed to build up several things for his plan to come to fruition as it was. After some preliminary probing into the Divine Academy, Kye found it unlikely he would be treated with any level of respect or given any leniency while there as he couldn't use his bloodline magic still. The circuits Kye had designed proved to not work with bloodline magic in an active sense but did allow passive effects to manifest.

He currently had the neckchain that helped him channel his [Atlas's Voice] and the gauntlet for his [Atlas's Power]. The neckchain was a tasteful link of dulled bronze-coloured mithril, which gained its uncharacteristic colour as a result of the forging technique used. The gauntlet was an even greater piece of design, with it being a rather hefty gauntlet weighing a solid 14kg. Kye's own strength meant that this was not even a burden on his movement, but what made the gauntlet a marvel of engineering was the feature to retract. The gauntlet was fully retracted into a wide wristband that Kye was wearing on his right arm and when he needed it, he would channel mana through its circuits and it would extend, covering his full fist and forearm. It was made out of a treated orichalcum alloy that Hephaestus used on her masterpieces. It was soaked in hydra acid, which was a black tar-like substance that gave it the dull gunmetal grey look. The magic it could utilise was limited but the innate passive that it brought out from Kye's skill was the ability to make his punches weigh more by increasing the gravity around the fist.

The first time he used it, his fist buried itself into the ground with such force that it dilocated Kye's shoulder and elbow as it dragged him into the earth. He was now better at controlling it and could create a gravity field that would allow him to punch at his normal speed but with increased force. Pushing this to its realistic limit, Kye could punch with a force of roughly 68000 newtons of force at the same speed he would with normal gravity. Maintaining this gravity field didn't take much concentration either and he could easily keep it active for an entire fight. While this was an impressive amount of force, it was only applied to the fist with the gauntlet. Kye's untampered swing could still hit with 12500 newtons of force which was enough to break any bone in the human body. The fact was that, even without a weapon, Kye was a bundle of destruction to any normal person who lacked some kind of body blessing from a god or goddess.

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This strength wasn't enough for the academic council of the Divine Academy however, and without any way to manifest his power tangibly in a fight without the aid of equipment, there was a very high chance Kye would be religated to the normal class of the Divine Academy that could not participate in the Divinity War themselves. People in the normal class needed to be vassalised to someone in the divine class to participate and any achievements you accomplished would not count for anything and instead go to the person who vassalised you. This system was more fair as it allowed those without a blessing to participate in the Divinity War and gain some recognition from someone who was in a position to become a powerful member of society after the Divinity War. Though it would be up to the lord to reward them, there were very few cases of mistreatment as members of the divine class needed vassals to effectively participate in the latter stages of the Divinity War. Kye loathed the idea of becoming a vassal, not because he would be ordered around, but because it would mean accepting the ruling of the academic council that he was somehow inferior to those in the divine class. To that end, Kye needed a power base to weaken the support of the vocal members of the academic council and push for a review of his abilities. His first year at the Divine Academy would likely be a bust from the perspective of getting any form of progress in the Divinty War, but there was likely more people relegated to the normal class that felt they didn't belong that Kye could bring to his side.

As Kye was musing on his plan and looking over the gang information he had received, he spotted a detail that caught his interest in one of the gangs descriptions.

The Iron Chains:

Local gang working around the old entertainment district in the capital of the Fulgoth Kingdom. Have several ties to manufacturing firms with the capability to make guns and ammunition. Estimated that 75-80% of all illegal firearms circulated in the city comes from The Iron Chains. They have few members but are economically rich from their illegal distribution of weapons. Many of the kingdoms nobles turn a blind eye to their activities as it allows them to undercut the gun market and sell their stock at large profits to warring states such as the Lawless Cities.

Kye chuckled to himself lightly.

"Seems i've found my first target Sebastian."

Sebastian lifted his head from the contract to look at the information currently displayed on Kye's tablet.

"It seems you have found exactly what you were looking for here young master. Shall I look into arranging contact with these Iron Chains?"

Kye shook his head.

"No need Sebastian, i'll find them myself. If we're going to be working together, it's only right that I go greet them myself."

Kye put on a rather wicked smile.

"After all, who better tell them that the nobles have been overcharging them for raw materials?"

Sebastian nodded and got back to work looking over the contract, feeling both awed and fightened by Kye's attitude towards the whole situation.

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