Chapter 435: Machines

"Billions of lives will be lost if the Ark goes through that Portal. Just be glad that I still need you, dad…

…or you would have already joined these people."

"..."

Silence and a gulp. Bezios could only take in a small gulp as he saw the look on Van's face. It always seemed to pass his mind that this child-looking individual in front of him was an alien. An alien who had the purpose of preventing their species from moving to their universe.

In technicality– he was stopping the ecological progression. He was here to stop them from taking their resources… and seeing the carnage he had brought in just now, he was more than capable of delaying it.

And so, with that thought surfacing in his mind, Bezios's face once again turned serious.

"Death is not the answer to everything, young man," Bezios then said as he turned towards the groaning mercenaries, "Let me show you something more appealing than staying alive."

"...What are you doing?"

Van could only furrow his eyebrows as he saw Bezios suddenly walking away back to the car, before once again facing the dying mercenaries.

"We all already know that Bishop Job was the one to sent you," he then said; his loud voice, echoing throughout the tunnel, "There's only one person obnoxious enough to think that he could kill me, the richest man in the universe."

"..."

"I also happen to know that most of you are doing this for money– maybe for yourself or for your loved ones," Bezios then cleared his throat before clapping his hand, "So, how about I will let all of you walk away here, with your limbs attached so you can hug your families again."

"You already offered thi–"

"And a billion shekel," Bezios did not let Van finish his words as he raised a finger. And as soon as he declared that; the once lifeless bodies that were groaning on the ground without limbs widened their eyes.

A billion shekels? Even if they had to share it with the rest of their comrades, they would still have enough to live leisurely for more than 3 lifetimes. And as if that wasn't enough–

"A billion shekel for each of you!"

"It's Bishop Job!"

"He contacted us through a 3rd party!"

"We were ordered to stop you from meeting with him since he was sure his board members would agree to be bought out!"

And just like that, Bezios did not even have to ask questions– the answers just dropped like a waterfall, flowing without any barriers as the mercenaries continued to open their mouths, almost as if they weren't bleeding out.

"..."

"...See?" Bezios then let out a small scoff as he looked at Van, "In the end, money outweighs everything."

"And it would seem your life is only worth little," Van also scoffed as he moved near Bezios.

"...Ha?"

"You offered me a billion shekel so I would spare you and your wife earlier," Van muttered, "So you were actually being cheap then?"

"T… that's–"

"How much money do you actually have?" Van said as he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Well… that's… I could," Bezios stuttered as he stuttered, jumbling his words as his eyes strayed away from Van's. But after a few seconds, an awkward laugh escaped from his mouth,

"I…

…I have about 500 trillion… and 30 times more than that invested everywhere."

"..." Van didn't even want to think how much money that is.

And so, with the promise of a mountain of gold, Bishop Bezios practically bought the entire mercenary company, giving them one final mission– testify against Bishop Job.

***

"You… You know you can't get away with this! I have powerful friends!"

"I bought your friends."

It didn't take long for Bishop Job to be arrested by the authorities. It would seem the mercenaries actually recorded the entire scenario– from being hired by Bishop Job, all the way to their assassination attempt and failure.

Van was slightly surprised when the mercenaries' eyes glowed and released a hologram footage of what happened, but of course, he didn't let anyone notice.

And so, with that, Bishop Job had no way to defend himself. One would think that the mercenaries would also be arrested, but no. With Bezios having acquired the entire Vessel, he practically ruled it.

His word is the law.

However, even more than buying the entire Vessel, the people of the Bezios-9, which Bezios renamed it, were focused on one other thing– Bezios's hidden son.

The hologram video that was presented to the court was somewhat leaked to the masses of Bezios-9, allowing the people to see Van.

There were already rumors that Bezios and his wife were hiding a secret child… but to think that the very first time they would be seeing the said child would be him almost massacring an entire company of mercenaries.

Just how much did the family spend to have this kind of offspring?-- They all thought.

And so, with Bezios rising in power, so did Van's popularity. This wasn't part of the plan, of course… if he ever had a plan in the first place. But this shouldn't be a problem; as according to Bezios, the Ark and the other Vessels still on the other side of the Portal were completely unaware and isolated with what is happening here, in other words, they were completely cut off from the main force.

Van was learning more and more information about the enemy, and most importantly– the Holy Grail.

Bezios had told him that it was the source of the Pontiffs' powers– drinking from it would let them inherit the powers of those who came before them.

Judging by the effect of Hermes's body exploding and sending him to the future, then more than a hundred thousand years have passed already.

Van was still unaware of how much time the Systellions have spent in the Olympians' universe, or whether or not they went to another universe before or after that… No, they should be following the Seraphs' traces– so as far as Van knows, this is just the 3rd universe they have been in.

Their original universe, the Olympians', and his.

So if they inherit their powers from the Holy Grail, then they have the power of a hundred thousand– no. From the stories that Evangeline had told him, they have already developed for more than a million years in their own universe.

…So it was possible that the Pontiffs' powers are something that has been collected for a million years. If that is so… then just how strong are they?

Van truly had no idea. After all, ever since he got here, none of the Systellions showed any innate power so far and just used their technology. So just what kind of power are they inheriting ac–

"Cheers!"

"..."

Van could not help but open his eyes as his thoughts were suddenly cut off by the voices that suddenly erupted and echoed in the air. He looked towards the noise, only to see Bezios raising a glass… and more than a hundred people following him as he did so.

"Now that I bought this planet… I will make sure that all of you will have the chance to live in the Ark!"

And with those words echoing like some sort of mantra, all of the people in Bezios's party roared and cheered– filling the entire hall with excitement and almost causing the building they were in to tremble.

"The… Ark?" Van then blinked a couple of times as he also heard Bezios's words. The only reason that Van was not entering that almost galaxy-sized Portal was because he didn't know what was waiting for him on the other side; whether or not he would be shot down as soon as he even showed his nose.

But if Bezios was promising something like this to the people, wouldn't that mean that Bezios could go inside the Ark if he wishes to? If so, as his son, that would be Van's best chance to infiltrate the Ark.

"..." Van's eyes then lit up as he slowly made his way to Bezios. But alas, before he could even take 3 steps, several women… and men suddenly blocked his path.

"Hello, my name is Hanniah."

"I'm Izrail."

"You're Bishop Bezios's son, right? I… watched the video."

"You're so beautiful that I thought you were a girl at first… but I suppose that doesn't matter."

"Do you already have a life partner? Can I ask for your name?"

"Would you like to come inside me– I mean come with me to my resort?"

"..." Van could only blink and step back as several people of somewhat youthful ages approached him.

"I'm… busy," Van said as he decided to push his way through the crowd… only to be welcomed by another group who blocked his path of escape. And like the group before them, they were spouting nonsense.

"..." Van's eyes began to twitch as he saw the smiles on the people's faces. They were here just leisurely having a party and chat, not even caring that they were about to commit genocide.

Should… he really just kill them here? Bezios owns the planet, anyway… and Van basically owns Bezios. So he could just brush it off and–

"Evaniel."

And before a fist could form from his hand, a familiar voice slowly approached Van. He looked, only to see Maria walking towards him.

...Evaniel? Was that supposed to be him?

"Have you tasted the lobster?" Maria then said as he smiled, "That's your favorite, isn't it?"

And with Maria approaching, the people that were surrounding Van all scurried away like roaches exposed to light. However, before they left, some of them tapped their arms on Van's.

"..." Van could only furrow his eyebrows from the act. Just… what exactly were they doing? Did they think they could just touch him because they were the sons and daughters of the rich? Just what kind of--

"They exchanged contacts with you," Maria, as if reading his mind, answered, "So, you don't have cybernetics implanted in your body? I figured your universe will at least have that."

Maria then raised her arm before tapping it, and as she did so, some sort of screen appeared on… in it.

"This is implanted in us at the Tube," Maria said, "Every one of us has it."

Of course– Van thought. He had been wondering what powers the Systellion had when it was right in front of him all this time. The so-called power that their god has gifted them… is technology.

The humans in Vivati's galaxy were no longer able to give birth because of some radiation problem, and Van had assumed that that was also the case for the Systellions… but no.

The Systellions… they were barely humans.