Chapter 186: It is Bad Karma
Much like a virus.
Actually, it is a fucking virus. A virus that must be eradicated to the last cell.
This is the very reason to why all research data and information pertaining to the Aces are destroyed, so some idiot somewhere cannot recreate them again for whatever reason.
If someone did, much the world might get infected, causing me to press that huge reset button. It is a metaphorical button. I have pressed it once. I hope that I don\'t have to press again.
Becoming infected is likely what had happened to Mo Shu, considering that he has acted and behaved like Mo Shu half an hour or so ago. It is to the point that I, as Lu Bu, had assumed that he was just one of those abnormal Chimera.
He obviously wasn\'t.
If I have to guess, I think at some point in the past, the real Mo Shu must have come into contact with the Ace of Diamond and gotten himself infected. Just one cell is enough spread throughout his system and take over his body.
This is different from what had happened to Sun Xiao, whose head is crushed by Mo Shu before being consumed.
It is to ensure that Sun Xiao\'s memory does not get absorbed and integrated, but this also means that his experience and combat expertise also didn\'t get absorbed and become of use to Mo Shu.
The only thing that are absorbed is his powers and abilities, if he has any abilities.
Being a false Chimera, I don\'t think Sun Xiao has any special or unique ability like Xi Shi, who can stop me with her almost-invisible silk threads. That is probably due to being part spider. Creepy.
Actually, Sun Xiao did have an ability. The ability to increase his physical strength, not that it helps him against me. It actually makes him a bigger target for me to easily chop him up.
"Who…? No. What are you?"
Mo Shu questions. He is unable to understand what had just happened to the others, but he is aware that I am the one responsible for their instant deaths.
In addition, Mo Shu didn\'t see me use any kind of weapons aside from the katana in my hands.
"I am human."
I answer his question.
It is the truth, at least from a scientific standpoint.
My body, the original body that is resting rather peacefully back at home in New York City, is actually 100% human even with all the fantastical abilities that I am wielding, such as the power to manipulate thermal and matter.
The latter is actually through use of nanomachines.
While those nanomachines are floating around my bloodstream, augmenting my body, they are more or less like a tool instead of actually being part of my genetic makeups.
It is much different than a body composed entirely of biomechanical cells.
"Bullshit. No humans should have that kind of power!"
Mo Shu argues, making me smile under my mask.
That statement is quite ironic, considering that there are human mages capable of the same feat that I had just demonstrated. The feat of wiping out a horde of monsters.
As for time manipulation itself, there is the Black Mage of Azula, who seems to be a human from what I can understand.
Thus, being able to use magic doesn\'t make a person less of a human, as their genetic makeups is still that of a human, comparable to a human from earth.
I have actually checked this with Sapphire Solare, my first and only apprentice thus far.
Oh. I check the other humans who had fallen victims to the golbins.
I am curious to how Sapphire is doing at the moment, but there will be time to check up on her. I also need to check up on Eliana Shadowsong too, just to see whether she has convinced the others to see her way yet.
Elune Whisperwind as well, just to bring her into the fold like Eliana. Not the sexual part. I need her to be a lot more useful than she is now, being more or less a backup anchor to Azula to Eliana. I need at least one of them to summon me if I ever need to return to Azula.
I will have to return there personally, so I can learn magic properly, but learning how to cast magic is not more important than this problem.
"Is that so? Maybe that is true several decades ago, when you were turned into the very abomination that you are now, but it is much different presently. There are quite a number of people who are more than capable of ending you. And they are all human."
I answer Mo Shu. It is not a complete lie.
There are quite a few people inside as well as outside of Hydra who are more than capable of matching an Ace blow for blow. But it is not the same as outright killing an Ace. Doing that will take some effort.
A lot of effort.
For me, it is effortless. Killing an Ace is as easy as snapping my finger, but eradicating one completely is a pain in the ass. A huge pain in the ass, especially when they aren\'t that stupid.
"That is not possible. I am the perfect specimen. Perfect in every way."
Mo Shu retorts, refusing to believe what I had just told him. I am sure that he had been called perfect many times in the past by countless of Hydra scientists, and I do admit that he is perfect as a virus and maybe as a weapon.
But as the next step in human evolution? Not so much.
"Yes. You are perfect in every way. Perfectly dead that is, and I can prove it to you."
I taunt, making him glare at me. I wonder why I am bother taunting him when I could just end his life right now, but I suppose I want to see what he is truly capable of.
More capable than that regeneration ability of his.
"Prove it to me!? I will crush you like an insignificant insect that you are!"
Mo Shu roars as his body ripples.
Huge pulsating veins manifest all over his body before he swells up in size just like Sun Xiao did before, thus making him a lot bulkier.
Also, Mo Shu becomes a bigger target for me just like Sun Xiao before, not that it really matters. While I can carve him up like I did with Sun Xiao, it will just make more of him due to his rapid regeneration.
A fist crashes into where I was standing, shattering the floor and driving up an awful amount of debris, and the follow up smashes through the wall behind me when I evaded.
More destructions afterwards as I leap from spot to spot, dodging his punches.
Despite being a hulk, Mo Shu retains almost the same speed. He is only slower than before due to the air friction against his bigger form, not because of the form itself. It seems like his cells are capable of adapting all kind of abilities, thus making stronger and stronger the more Hybrids he assimilates.
Likely people too.
Just another reason that I must find a way to eradicate him completely. The longer that he is alive, the more of a threat he becomes, not to mention the chance of absorbing an evolved human is significant higher now.
"Stay still, so I can hit you, you damn monkey!"
Mo Shu roars and sends a barrage of punches my way.
I slip through the flurry of fists to slash his tanking body several times and then land behind him. There is a great resistance against my slashes, telling me that his muscles are a lot denser than before.
It is pretty obvious from the amount of power behind each of his punches.
Even so, his huge muscular body is still butter against a hot knife that is my laser katana.
"Even with all of that power, it is pointless if you cannot hit me."
I point out when I turn around to face him.
Having absurd amount of strength is a good thing, but without actual speed to make use of it, it is kind of useless. There is no point if you cannot hit your opponent due to them being way too fast.
That is the reason why many members of Hydra combat divisions place great emphasis on speed. They are so fast that everyone looks like they are standing still.
These members are basically captain-class.
There are several higher ranks than captain-class such as general and commander. I had thought that commander was lower rank than captain, but apparently it is not. Division leader is the highest ranking in all combat division, and they do have the power to match their ranks.
But most division leaders are strategist, staying back to see the bigger picture instead of running about in the battlefield, bulldozing through whatever. The only exception is actually Johnathan himself, who is a hand-on guy.
Honestly, putting Johnathan behind a desk, the next moment, you will be inside the desk. It happened years back. Not me though since I don\'t really assign division leaders.
I could but is there a point to that? I rather spend my time doing something more interesting.
Mo Shu heals the deep wounds on his body while glaring furiously at me, but instead of decreasing in size to increase his speed, he actually becomes bigger. Much bigger than before.
In fact, he is ballooning up, threatening to blow in a display of guts and gores. Is there really a point to that? Unless he has bombs inside his body like me.
I don\'t have a bomb inside my body, but I can wire a Stellar Reactor to go critical. That should take out the planet. Much of the inner solar system as well. That would be overkill.
"Like that is going to work…"
I begin before realizing what he is actually doing. It would be a nightmare to eradicate every single cell if he is everywhere, and if he still has a lot of biomass and energy within him, he could also regenerate more clones.
With a snap of my finger, Mo Shu returns to normal human size.
"What?"
Mo Shu utter, unable to comprehend what had just happen. One moment, he is ready to blow up like sulking Cell, unwilling to admit his defeat the hand of Gohan, the next, he isn\'t anymore.
"I cannot allow you to blow up, Mo Shu, at least not here. Let\'s take this conversation to another place, a place that you cannot escape from."
Once I have said that, I rush towards him and send him flying with a punch right into the spatial portal, and I jump into the portal after him. The portal into my spatial dimension closes afterwards, trapping Mo Shu inside and allowing me to do whatever I need.
The only thing that remains in the room aside from all the debris and blood is a corpse. If Mo Shu could assimilate that corpse like all the other corpses, it wouldn\'t be there anymore.
After a few minutes, the corpse twitches and opens its eyes.
As Lu Bu, I stand up straight and brush down myself. All the deep wounds that I had given myself have disappear like they were an illusion.
I look around before time begins to rewind, returning the room back to its original and prestige state, way before Mo Shu wrecks the place. I didn\'t bring back anyone, however. There is no point in doing that.
Of course, restoring the room and making all signs of battle disappear do not stop the people outside calling the police. It is due to the gunfire and earthquakes. The latter is mostly due to Mo Shu basically going Hulk-mode.
I didn\'t shut down the emergency service since doing that will cause more problem than people calling the police, and besides, people might have real emergency.
This isn\'t like that time I massacre Halle Berry and her homeless family.
In any case, this is a problem that I have to find a solution to, especially when fighting godlike opponent in the prime reality.
I am sure that I will have to fight against someone on par with Zeus and Zephyr one day, and I cannot just reverse time of the entire universe every time that happens.
While I could reverse time for what happened here, doing so would resurrect Mo Shu as well as all the others in the Triad. I rather not, especially when I am trying to start a war between different countries and their Hybrids.
Speaking of others, I have Shield finds where Xi Shi has run off to. She is no longer in the city. She isn\'t even in the state anymore.
Now, that is fast. Xi Shi didn\'t display such speed before, but from the surveillance drones that I have planned on her, I realize that she is in a private jet. Still, Xi Shi managed to get a runway in a very short amount of time.
And a few more minutes, Xi Shi would be over the Atlantic Ocean.
Time to shoot down a plane, I guess. Actually, shooting a private plane over the airspace of the United States might be asking for trouble, so I should wait for her to fly over international water.
As a Chimera, she should survive something like a plane crash, especially when it crashes over sea.
And as for what is happening outside the building with all the police and spectators, I have decided to let them be as the media will make up some imaginative stories for the Chinese to see.
I did leave a katana behind to blame the Japanese. It is just a normal katana. A very finely crafted one, just because. It will take more that to get the Chinese and Japanese to kill each other, so I will need to impersonate a Chinese Chimera to attack a Japanese outpost here in America.
It should be fun.
On the plane, Xi Shi is highly agitated due to the run in with an infector.
While she could probably hold her own against an infector, it is not wise to fight against one, as it can infect another with just a touch alone.
Furthermore, she wouldn\'t know if she has been infected or not until she returns to China.
"How long?"
Xi Shi questions. She needs to be over the Atlantic Ocean to call the Headquarter and informs them of what exactly happen. Doing so in the United States is unwise as there are many people listening in.
"About a few more minutes, young miss. May I ask what happen with the Triad?"
A very well-dressed middle-aged man is sitting across from her. He is her butler of sort, accompanying her to the United States and taking care of whatever menial tasks that she needs.
There is no one else on the private plane asides from them and the pilots.
"The Triad? They are gone. It is because of –
A huge explosion rocks the aircraft as it is hit by several hypersonic missiles. They take out both wings of the aircraft. One of them hit the fuselage, causing flames to fill the room.
Xi Shi shields herself on reflex as the aircraft begins its uncontrollable spiraling descents.
She didn\'t know what happen in the next few minutes as the aircraft crashes violently into the ocean, but as a Chimera, she manages to pull herself out of the blown fuselage of the aircraft to swim to the surface.
The same could not be said with the man accompanying her.
He is likely dead.
Since there is no one for many miles in all directions, she has no choice but to stay afloat until someone come and rescue her, but it is going to take a few hours for someone to show up.
Her people most likely if I have nothing to do with it.
Obviously, I cannot allow her to blab about things that she shouldn\'t blab about, but I did let her swim there for a little, just to make her feel the dread.
"Hello, we have meet again."
I greet her in my Shinobi disguise when I decide that she has practice swimming long enough. She does not have any amphibious animal traits within her genetic makeups. Otherwise, she could actually swim to shore.
It will be one hell of a swim, but it is possible. It is also better than floating here all alone in the coldness of the night, hoping for a ship to drop by to hitch a ride.
Xi Shi is shocked to see me, but not because of my appearance. It is actually because of the fact that I am standing on water like it is solid ground. Also, it is because this is the middle of nowhere. There are no ships or planes in sight, so she must be wondering how I have managed to get here.
"H-how?"
Xi Shi utters. Fear is hinted in her voice. She is finally frightened of me, and that makes me really happy.
"Don\'t you know? A Shinobi should never divulge his secret. It is bad karma."