The Path To Perfection

Chapter 32: Darius

Just when he was counting the concepts in his head to confirm their numbers, his focus was broken by a very annoying sound.

*SHIIIIIIIIING!*

Like someone was scraping metal against another metal. Al'ravee was forced to open his eyes and he wasn't even surprised at what he saw.

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*A Few Moments Earlier*

It's been a few weeks since those researchers had discovered the pod and as planned, they managed to make contact with one of the mid-ranking branch family members. But even then, it wasn't easy.

They had to bribe some people to gain access to the man as soon as possible before any other person found out. If not, who knows how ruthless the next people to find it will be. They might even kill them to make sure they get all the benefits.

They only gave out bribes because they were convinced that if their discovery came to light, forget about investment in all those former experiments, the reward money from the Divera family would be enough for them to live comfortably for the rest of their lives. And they were right.

When images of their findings reached the Divera clan members, although skeptical about the authenticity, still got it sent to the branch head.

"Make sure this is kept a secret till further notice. I'll send some Enforcers to confirm and secure the area." That was what the Divera clan member said to them. With his status, he could obviously order the law-keeping Enforcers like they were his dogs.

The news started moving through many sources until it finally got to the eyes and ears of the current sovereign. Soon, this discovery was shared among the higher-ups of the Divera clan and even got leaked to some big-shots court officials who had no business with it.

Lord Zummi, the current ruler of the dynasty, immediately gave orders to the royal guards. All who knew about it had to keep their mouths shut if they wanted to keep their life. After all, the royal guards have been known to rarely do things without the ruler's consent as long as it was in his or her favor.

Lord Zummi himself showed keen interest in the opening of the pod. To him, the reason this ancestor lived so long was because of the pod. As long as he could get the pod, he too could live forever.

As for respect towards the founder of their dynasty, he didn't give a damn.

That series of events led to the bustle happening here today.

Around the metal pod were large white tents with hundreds of personnel wearing yellow safety suits that covered their entire body from head to toe. This was the royal guards undercover.

Among them was the group of researchers and forest rangers who first discovered the pod. They had already received the reward money and an additional silence money. The only reason they were still here was that they were not permitted to leave.

Among all the people present, one of them stood out from the rest. He was a bit tall and the most captivating thing about him was the blue and white exoskeleton mechanical armor he was wearing. Equipped with yellow neon lights in between the joints.

The suit gave him a valiant look, like that of a knight in shining armor, and this caused the passersby to not help but stare a bit longer. Through the face shield, one could see a very handsome face with blonde locks that would have gotten the attention of all the ladies anywhere at any time.

This man was Darius, one of Al'ravee's descendants and also one of the three commanders of the present decade royal guard.

Of course, other descendants wanted to take a look for themselves but Zummi forbade all from going except Darius. It's not like he could force him not to go in the first place plus he needed trusted eyes on the project.

As Darius stood in front of the pod, he had mixed feelings about the current situation. From when he was still a child and handed over to the royal guard training program, he had been taught that he had to be loyal to the Ruler, whoever they were.

It was his loyalty to the throne and his bloodline privilege that got him his position as a commander. To curb feelings of unfairness, the other two commanders were not of royal blood.

As a royal guard commander, Darius had the utmost respect for the founder of the Divera Dynasty and was unsure of who's orders to obey if it came down to it.

Because of the brainwashing, Darius never thought of the third option, which was to obey neither.

Now Darius was a clever person. He could guess the emperor's thought pattern from their video chat and he was left in a dilemma. If both the founder and Zummi chose to clash heads, who would he support?

On one side was the current Ruler, and on the other side was the founding Ruler.

"What am I supposed to say when we wake him up? Umm, hello sir... You have been asleep for more than two centuries and I am your descendant. We would like to welcome you to.. uh...? Does that sound right?" He muttered to himself.

"Sir..." His assistant called him away from his thoughts. " ...They are about to begin the opening of the pod sir," The assistant said with unhidden excitement flashing through his eyes.

Darius hesitated a bit. He and a couple of other special agents were opportune to be here with this expensive super suit. These suits were secret and different from the ones elite soldiers in the military used.

The military version would only have an enhancement in strength and speed but the Man Hunters variant not only gave physical augment, but it also had cool weapons that would make any sci-fi nerd go insane with anxiety.

It was only natural that they come like this with what they knew about Al'ravee.

Regular Martial arts experts of the royal guards were at most capable of dodging ordinary pistol bullets as long as they were in the right environment and state of mind.

But Al'ravee was a completely different case. He had trained hard on every technique they had then. His near-immortal body allowed him to endure more physical stress than others which gave him a flexibility and strength only dreamt of by others.

He was capable of zoning out on different sounds on the battlefield. This easily made him able to predict and dodge sniper shots at a particular range while running fast enough to escape the rapid-fire by mere centimeters.

Videos of his spars still existed in their database and it was said that he had once taken out assassins sent to kill him all on his own during one of his campaigns to conquer the continent.

There was even a rumor that Al'ravee had killed off over a hundred traitors of the original Hidden Gem Temple who had many firearms and deadly melee weapons, all with his bare hands.

No one knew how true this was. After all, history was always written by the winners.

Darius shook his head to eliminate the useless thoughts. He was confident that he alone would be capable of handling any unforeseen events if needed. The mechanical suit wasn't for show.

He was not wrong though, that's if he was referring to the former Al'ravee.

"Let them begin." He ordered as he straightened back and puffed his chest out. The assistant nodded with a bright smile then headed for the team of yellow suits by the side, almost skipping his steps.

Darius took a few steps back as he watched a six-wheeled child-size robot ride over to the pod. Stopping in front of the slightly dented pod, a circular saw assembled out of the robot's side and started trying to cut into the side.

*SHIIIIIIIIING*

They held their breaths in anticipation as the circular saw struggled to cut into the metal side, millimeter by millimeter.

A laser cutter won't be too costly to provide for this bunch but they removed that option. They would rather retrieve the lost Founder of the Divera Dynasty unharmed.

Darius was already thinking about the first thing to say and how to welcome him. Some people were thinking about the pod and the stuff that they could achieve with it. The atmosphere was really tense right now.

And the tension only rose higher with what happened next.

At that moment, everyone felt something shift in the atmosphere. The air was suddenly so hard to breathe in.

Just like the locals said, imagine if you were stared at by hundreds of hungry wolves. That was how they felt, except it wasn't as intense as how the locals felt it.

Subconsciously, the eyes of Darius, the first discoverer, the yellow-suited royal guards, and even tiny insects present fell on the glass panel on the pod where Al'ravee's face was supposed to show a peaceful expression and closed eyes... But his eyes were not closed.

Al'ravee's eyes were wide open and they were staring straight at Darius.