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Chapter 120: Queen

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At the mention of the "boss" the flustered Amy just then woke up from her trance and called out to the small happy group.

"Wait. I want to ask your name." she demanded as her gaze locked on to the red haired Red Metal.

Red Metal —with his real name disposed of by the group— was just about to reply when another girl cut in and stepped forth in front of her.

"Hey!" Amy snapped off angrily but the girl did not even look at her when she handed Anthony's little group something akin to sunglasses.

"Wear it. Fast!" she said.

"Eh? Anna?"

"Anna? As in our Anna... the Hawkeye?"

The girls were closer to each other and they were all aware of how each other looked like in the real world and their names. But to the boys, they were relying on their Communicator Device's rendering whose OS was modified so that the ID-tag of the ones on their contact lists will show the name of the person they were talking to.

It was a feature available only to the Asgardians as the OS of their communicators are all upgraded versions that Rex sent to their consoles, just how he did to Matt and the others' Comms devices.

When they saw Anna appear, she was actually with Elsie (or [Agatha] in the game) and both of them were NOT the usual because they acted like some sort of bodyguards with black butterfly masks that served like sunglasses —the same ones they gave to Anthony's group.

"They're here, hurry!" Agatha insisted.

"Wear them fast or you'll go blind!" Anna said.

The ominous words paired by their urgency made the group flustered but knowing that they were all Siva's "comrades" —with the risks being that they should expect shocking things to happen one item after another— they knew that these two's weird actions only meant that something is up with this place. Even Anthony, as reluctant as he was, wore the thing and as soon as everyone was equipped with the black-glasses, Anna declared:

"They're here."

———————HUMMMM—!!

For some reason, a background music rung: it was the kind you'd hear on movies centering on occult phenomena; the sound when angels sing; like the sound of when the protagonist of the movie gets a certain power-up or something.

From the entrance, the two girls' gaze directed at that direction and even Amy and her girl group that unwittingly got caught in the flow of events, gazed over at that same direction.

BOOM!!!

And then... from the crowd around them... many girls screamed: "My eyes!" while the men blocked their visions with their hands, clenching their fists, gritting their teeth, enduring the massive amounts of pheromones radiating off from those two.

Amy, who was directly bombarded by the massive waves of their presence couldn't help but feel the shock as her gaze landed on the bright smile that's plastered on the girl's lips.

"It can't be...!!" she was very shocked.

As for the guy, aye, he wasn't someone handsome to write home about but the "air" around him was the type that you'd only see on someone that got laid —hard— not too long ago... like, just a mere few hours from that moment.

THAT was the air of superiority, the air of one that has ascended from the lower "V" realms and took that step towards true adulthood.

For those who weren't wearing the special glasses that Anna and Elsie gave away, they were blasted away by the two's aura and rendered insignificant as their presences became dim.

And, as for Anthony's group...

...they were rendered speechless by these two.

Anthony, especially, couldn't help but make a flat face as he coldly commented, "Traitor."

"Traitor?" the man spoke in an almighty happiness and seemingly not understanding the message his friend implied. "I don't understand what you're on about, Anthony... hey, thanks for the invitation by the way. It's really a blast."

"Kisama (AN: Jap = you + bastard), and you dare to swag in front of me!"

Matt (or [Volt] in the game) was still oblivious, "I'm really unaware of what you're talking about. But my deepest apologies for being late. Something... ah, hehehe... many rounds, no, many things, actually happened... ehehe..."

BOOM!!!

A massive amount of pheromones exploded from his direction and Kramer laughed, Heller made a chuckle, while Tash Armstrong ([Captain D'Catch] in the game) unrestrainedly laughed out loud with hands on his hips. Only Anthony was frowning and he clenched his fists trying all his best to restrain himself from punching him.

"Come, let's go, Rex is on his way. Hohoho..."

"Let's go. I also want to see what events they have planned for this year's gathering."

The boys led the way while———

*****

———while he was having a blast swagging about his superiority without actually being aware of it, the girl with him, Rio (or [Samara] in the game), is bombarded by weird stares and meaningful smiles from all the ladies of their group.

"Ufufufu... arara... it would seem that we've got a woman in our group now, hm?"

Perhaps the one with the most right to openly say these words was no one else but Phoebe, though, whether she was... cough... cough... is still up for the future chapters.

"A... a... a woman?!" Coralline and Pitou reacted in a flurry and their faces flushed bright in pink.

Rio reddened deeper and lowered her head but she didn't deny anything and covered her masked face with her gloved hands.

"Please don't say it out loud."

Although she was shy, the pheromone assault she unintentionally released still shocked the crowd all around them; Amy and her group, being the ones closest, couldn't help faltering at her might.

And the boys, well, they couldn't help looking right at her —a flower that just bloomed— as it was one of the rarest sights in the universe, to see a pretty girl transcends into womanhood.

The girls laughed and giggled while the young at hearts like Coralline and Pitou couldn't help but be shocked and needed more time to adjust.

Curious they are, yes, but there was still that thing called "propriety" which made them control their burning impulse to ask her their curious questions.

When they saw the boys leading the way towards the inside of the gathering hall, they immediately came to follow, leaving Amy and her group that is still trapped in the battlefield left by Rio's massive pheromone assault.

Only when the group had been totally left behind did Amy recover and she turn her head back in a snap, full of anger and humiliation at what had just happened right now.

She threw the empty glass of wine in his hand to the floor and stomped towards another direction, her girl-group following behind, frantically trying to placate the anger of the [Thorn Princess].

*****

"Ah, it's so god of you to actually appear here like a ghost, Goldwyn. You look like a zombie. Is that a new fashion?"

"Ohohoho... what are you talking about now, you zombie? You're looking as if you haven't aged at all since we last personally saw you walking on two feet a few decades ago."

"That's right, Goldwyn, although there were tubes stuck at your body, you looked as if you're strong enough to play basketball and volleyball. You must be happy with only being able to watch us walk on streets while you're stuck in there, sitting in a dark corner of your room, watching TV and jacking off on some old woman's porn. Hahaha..."

"Ahahaha..."

"Ahahaha... at least even with a mere projection, you still had your glass of wine. Well I guess that's not wine but medicine? Come here, then. Give us old folks a toast."

"And cheers to your old rotting bones."

Friendly? Not on the slightest. Although they were smiling, saying words as if they were old friends in the past generation, they were, indeed and in fact, old rivals —members of the Five Great Clans that fought over resources, power, and influence that moved the world from underneath and above the world majority of the people know of.

Communications Technology, Medicine, Airways, Mining, Energy, Tourism, Space, all type and kinds of ventures humanity had spread into for the sake of both its survival and propagation... these Five Great Clans have been part of it all.

The one called "doorbell" is actually the Head of Campbell Family, leaders in Medicine Tech...

The "kerosene" was the Missilefeller Family Head, Fuel and Space Miners; they owned 30% of the World Government's Moon Base Program...

The "zombie" nickname was for the House of Goldwyn's Head who likes to be called "Father"; a family of innovators in the Energy Industry...

The Thornberry Family of Airways and Tourism, a family of politicians down to their cores; It was said that they are descendants of the inventors of the plane and jet engine technologies...

...and lastly, the House of Abraxas, the leaders in all commercial technologies, with hands on at least 10% of the market on each family's main legacies.

Of the Five Great Clans, the House of Abraxas is the undisputedly oldest existing family. Their roots are deeper than any could imagine and only these Four Clans of the four corners of the world could actually come into awareness of their true power.

Of these Five Great Clans, the Abraxas Dynasty is the only ones you wouldn't see flaunting their coat of power as if they were untouchables.

The Missilefeller Family was business oriented, as was the Campbell Family. They never dwell much in politics and even more so exert their voice in the UNICORN, but they were a part of it, albeit in a much unobtrusive and discreetly influential way.

And there's not much to say about the Thornberry Family as they have always been a noisily admired family of politicians. They've been active since the time of the United Nations and even more so now that it had changed into the existing UNICORN, a [World Government] aiming to stabilize the world and put a stop to the wars, and officially launch the entirety of the Human Race as a unified species.

For the House of Goldwyn, dwellers of the darker side of the world, they're more like the Equalizers of the planet, the grey area, the buffer zone of the realm, where 50% of every underground activity is moderated and handled by their tentacles.

Yet although they have a shady background, their power is definitely second only to the House of Abraxas... for they are innovators of the Energy Industry; the sun of its planets, the High Tech of the current analog world.

Aside from the neutral Thornberry Family's Head, the two families' Heads are unfriendly because of this unsettled contest. They were unhappy, for the House of Goldwyn controls so much space in the underground world while they are also leaders in the Energy Industry that dominates much of the economical and industrial demands of the current generation. In other words, if there is no Abraxas Family, the Goldwyn Family would have been over their heads already.

And that is also why they were happy——

—happy at the fact that the current Head of House of Goldwyn is now a weak old man at the verge of kicking the bucket.

And yet despite this happiness of his looming end, a new and even greater threat is next in line to the House of Goldwyn; Augustus Laniary, his adopted son. He was a genius... and a known monster.

The old monsters of the world had long known of this person's disposition to favour one's own gifts and abilities than actual blood when it comes to the subject of heritage. Augustus Laniary had shown his fangs at the earliest years of his appearance to their world and it only made it more evident when Augustus established his own city in New Zealand.

Said city had a closed independent government as its core and all spies sent into the place did not as much as been able to call for any help as they all disappeared in thin air as if they never came at all.

Even satellite imaging was impossible because AG had his own technologies that was at the World Government's standards. Augustus Laniary, with monstrous skills and planning abilities, is a shadow of the old man as these old coots remembered it.

That place was proof of Augustus' power.

And everyone knows what will happen if Augustus gets to inherit the full power of the Goldwyn Seat in the Five Great Clans. What they feared most is if Augustus would move against their Three Clans and eat them whole.

As much as possible, they didn't want to band up together to dispose of such a threat because they are afraid that one of them would use this chance to actually stab them in the back... for they, at the core of the issue, are still, in the end, nemeses of each other's seats in the realm of the powerful.

Yet this is also one reason why they believed the power of the House of Abraxas. Because Abraxas Family had the most personal military power of all!

As the three —two people and a image— gathered and exchanged jokes and insults in what seem to be a light conversation, a man walked on at their midst wearing a bright red coat and a cape of gold and silver silky cloth that waved with each of his steps. He carried a cane and was also just like any old man, but had a peerless dignity making him an unwitting attention-grabber despite his old and withered age.

When he got close to the group, the three men all both gave him their sincerest greetings.

If Augustus Laniary would have been present, he would have likely recognized him.

He was that very man Old Goldwyn once met in Geneva and talked about Project Salvation in an even more detailed manner than what he saw in his father's old computer. (AN: V6-C116)

"It's always a pleasure to see you all hanging on to life just as I am. I wonder where that Richard is right now. He did not even greet his father in law when he came." The old man's voice was deep in a way that it was also soft and amiable to the ears.

He spoke in a stately manner that you couldn't but help think he's just an ordinary old man with a kind and gentle disposition.

The man's smile was sincere with no traces of his inner thoughts and the old men, including the old bones of the Goldwyn Godfather, could only smile in return to the greetings.

"Richard is busy, as always. But look at you! You don't seem to age in ten years, You Grace."

"As young as a sparrow! Ready to fly. This humble one greets Your Grace a good evening."

Of course, the "Richard" and "son in law" these old man was talking about is none other than the President of the UNICORN, Richard Thornberry.

The three expressed their greetings. It should be noted that for a family such as Abraxas with its all-encompassing deep roots and Military Power, their families, albeit would still deal a huge blow against the Abraxas House, would be decimated if they do launch an al-out war with them.

But that was something out of the question since going on an all-out war that may lead to real death is something these huge families wouldn't risk at all if it's not related to their families' survival. Most of the wars in the present time are made through businesses and not real actual warfare. Besides that, challenging the personal military power of an old monster like the Abraxas Family is just stupid.

Who knows if there are spies inside their family?

"Now, now... enough with the formalities. I can't believe you old fools would actually come here, well, aside from you Goldwyn, you're almost at the end of your rope and I personally am finding your survival until this day something to be happy for."

The other two families also had the same thought in mind, and they didn't even bother thinking why Goldwyn was calling His Grace Chronos Abraxas by his name instead of a title because they knew that Goldwyn had always considered himself as the King of Underworld while Chronos Abraxas is the "King" of the world above.

"It is indeed a special occasion." Said Chronos and he gazed down at their feet, seeing the lively view of the crowd below. As it turns out, they were right above the entire venue and the "children" were all gathered below, not knowing that they were being watched by the bigwigs above. "There are certain people in this year's gathering that gathers much of this old man's attention."

While his voice was soft and seeming to be low in volume, many from the surrounding 200+ Nobles in the vicinity of these old men's group still heard it and they too looked over the lively crowd of young bloods socializing with each other below.

No one knew who Chronos was actually looking at but aside from Godfather Goldwyn, the other two Family Heads from Campbell and Missilefeller are still confused as to the reason why they're actually invited to attend to this place.

Normally, they would have only gone just like how Goldwyn did —via — but they were told that Chronos himself was attending personally so these old men also attended themselves despite the large objections from their family members due primarily to security reasons.

In the end, they brought their own "troops" for the protection of their Family Heads and while they're at it, also brought their "next in lines" so that they, too, could socialize in this grand affair.

Ultimately, the rule [16 to 25 years old] was thrown in the gutter and the event became a formal event for gifted individuals to socialize with the notables of different statuses.

But to these old bones, they knew that the very moment they heard that the event is something NOT arranged by the UNICORN, but the Abraxas Family Head, they immediately knew that there will be something special about it. Just like them, this old man is someone who likes to do things on the whim and so changing the rules of the Conclave a bit has become the casualty.

"Many attendees of this year's event drew my eye and I wanted to personally see how these people would deal with things... and what I saw had totally amazed me."

With Chronos' monologue, the old men, including Goldwyn, couldn't help feeling surprised.

From these words alone, it means that whatever "test" Chronos wanted these people to have already happened and they didn't even know what or who these people are.

—such a waste!

—who might they be?