The Hidden Ruler sat on his comfortable throne, though it was just an ornate armchair with a high back covered in gilt and gemstones. The cushions were soft enough to ease the burden from his old bones, yet firm enough to give proper support. His days of being in the field were over, long enough that most of his opponents thought he had died or retired, but he knew he could still crush the heroes and villains of today. If he applied himself and if he wanted to sacrifice more of his lifespan by overstraining.

It was why he transitioned from the field to behind a desk, watching over subordinates as they moved to fulfil his purposes.

He leaned back and closed his eyes for a moment. The morning sun shone through the window, and the view of Neo Prism City from more than a hundred storeys above was breathtaking. The Endless Sea was visible and painted the horizon blue, and he could see the darkness of the border storm, lightning flashing across the skies. He thought about staying in Neo Prism, but the conglomerate’s HQ wasn’t there. If not for business and pleasure that had to be conducted yesterday, he wouldn’t have come here at all.

‘And a good thing I did,’ he mused. ‘I didn’t expect to find two hidden gems.’ He smirked at the recollection of his granddaughters’ defiance, one openly so, and the other, hidden behind a mask. ‘Should I bring her back to the fold?’ He wondered but ultimately decided to leave her be. Let her stretch her wings, and once she grew tired of flying against the storm, she would return to hand.

Idly, he opened his laptop computer and browsed the Network. Normally, he would either be looking through paperwork, mostly reports and contracts he needed to sign, or he would be in board meetings. The conglomerate had multiple companies, which meant multiple boards of directors. Even if each board only had a meeting once a cycle, that still meant he needed to be in two such meetings every day. Most were pro forma: meet, go through the agenda, sign off, and done. But some brought up agendas that were crucial to the company’s health. Those, he had to weather through. Even if his children and grandchildren were now taking some of the burden off him, he still couldn’t just leave things be.

Thok thok!

A heavy knock on the oak doors, and they were pushed open even before he acknowledged. A figure that appeared genderless, and made entirely of bronze, rushed in. Its body was square-ish but slender enough to be androgynous. Its glowing green eyes had no pupils. The only thing that disturbed the smoothness of its bald pate was what looked like a topknot, but it effectively acted as some kind of antennae with blueish lights running up and down its length.

“What is it, Steel Hive?” the Hidden Ruler asked, annoyed from being disturbed.

The metal man pointed at the flat screen mounted on the wall, and from the tip of its finger, an HDMI cable popped out and plugged in. “Surveillance subject exhibited unusual power. Request follow-up action.”

Monotone and curt.

The scene shown on the television was of a U-shaped building. His granddaughter’s residence. He shook his head. It was an unworthy place for a Lawson, especially one who Altered into a beauty and vanity power.

He’d seen pride exuding from her, and noted how much she changed. Gone was the plainest daughter of his eldest son. Gone was the timidity, indecisiveness, and weakness of spirit. Pride suffused those bones, and that beauty was unlike any he’d ever seen. So much so that he wondered if she retained any genes from his lineage. The Lawson and Daublins, while generally attractive, were not that kind of beauty. Her looks invited greed and lust.

He saw it in his daughter-in-law, who no doubt wanted to trade Lilibeth away to secure more wealth and support. He saw the lust from his own men, but he didn’t begrudge them of it. Even he, her grandfather, and old enough to shed the excesses of youth, felt the shameful heat of temptation.

The video focused on one of the third-floor windows, which opened, and a figure appeared. It was quite obviously Lilibeth, even through the mediocre costume and mask she put on.

“Doesn’t she care about hiding her identity?” the Hidden Ruler muttered. He had, and he did his best to make sure that the government didn’t know who he was. And those who did took it to the grave. There was much to say about anonymity, especially since some administrations didn’t care to follow basic decency and human rights. “Is it arrogance? What’s she doing?” he blurted out.

“A recording.”

As the steel creature said, the video moved faster than normal speed. Lilibeth jumped out of the window, but instead of falling, it looked like she stepped on solid ground. Her frame was suddenly emitting a golden glow. It was subtle in the morning light, but unmistakable. Then, she floated upwards at a decent clip, moving faster as the seconds ticked past. The camera followed behind her, moving fast enough to maintain distance. Once she was about a thousand paces up, she turned towards the southwest and flew.

“It looks like she’s standing on a platform. No…” he muttered when he focused on her feet.

Her toes were pointed downwards, but she was completely upright rather than horizontal to ease wind resistance. Her arms were folded underneath her bosom and her lustrous golden hair flowed behind her.

This changed a lot of things. She wasn’t just a beauty Altered, but one with flight. How much could she carry with her? How fast could she go? Very few Altered could fly on their own power, notwithstanding those that developed their flight tech. What else did she conceal?

“Action?” Steel Hive asked.

“Test her.”

“Affirmative.”

The camera followed behind Lilibeth for a few minutes. He wasn’t sure where she was headed, but she wasn’t flying fast. Either that was her limit, she was just getting used to it, or she was feeling lazy. “Which is it, I wonder?”

“Three drones arriving. Four more ready. Waves?”

“Just one first. Get more cameras.”

The view on the television split into four, each in a cardinal direction of the ensuing fight.

“Intensity?”

“As much as you can push her,” the Hidden Ruler said, “but do not hurt her.”

“Counterproductive.”

“It would be a shame,” he answered but stopped when Steel Hive’s first drone arrived.

Unlike the drone in front of him, that one was steel grey-coloured. It was practically identical in looks, however. The drone stopped in front of Lilibeth, about ten meters away. The girl stopped in midair, and the camera focused on her face. Her expression—

“She looks bored.” The Hidden Ruler laughed. Her eyebrows weren’t covered by the old scarf she used to hide her features, and one of them was raised.

“What do you want?” she asked. The drone picked up the audio easily despite the harsh winds.

Steel Hive did not respond, instead, its right hand extended out and folded into a gun barrel.

“You fool!” The Hidden Ruler yelled, “Why are you shooting her?”

“Initial threat assessment indicates…”

Both of them fell silent, the Ruler’s mouth agape. Lilibeth rushed towards the drone, and it reacted by shooting her. The bullets bounced off the golden glow. No, they flattened on the glow and fell off. Then, the girl flicked her finger and the gun arm got severed. There was no visible weapon, and she was more than a pace away.

“Divines, what was that?” The Hidden Ruler’s lips spread into a wide grin. “What power…”

The cut arm revealed the robotic insides of the drone, and since the only thing the attack did was disable one limb out of four, the drone rushed Lilibeth, intent on grappling or striking her.

She slipped sideways, and her fingers flicked twice. The drone’s other arm was cut, its torso cleaved diagonally. It fell apart a moment later. The girl visibly sniffed in disdain as she watched the metal bits wall towards the Santana River.

“Send the rest of them. See the limits of her power,” the Hidden Ruler urged.

Six more drones arrived at the scene, while Lilibeth remained where she was. It seemed she detected them and decided to just get things over with. The amusing thing was that she didn’t even bother finding out what the attack was about after the first drone struck. In fact, she didn’t wait for the drones to attack. She rushed them herself.

Bullets flew through the air but her force field and the probable source of her flight power simply stopped the lead from hurting her. It didn’t look like she was affected by the kinetic shock either. Bullets would knock someone flying after hitting them, unlike what was popularised in the movies or shows. Those things were designed to put holes in people, not toss them around. But the way her force field protected her looked like it spread the kinetic force across a wide area. It looked thin, too, so how could it ablate the force?

“She’s tougher than she looks,” he decided.

While Lilibeth was flying around, she also moved quickly. Those finger flicks were blurry even when Steel Hive paused one of the feeds, meaning it moved faster than his camera could capture. He wasn’t sure what the frame rate was but it was enough to show a bullet in flight.

“Yes, definitely superhuman strength and speed. Ah, child, you’re showing your hand too easily.” He pursed his lips, then mumbled, “Unless you’re hiding more than that?” The calm and confident look on her face never changed.

Two minutes was how long it took for the drones to be destroyed.

“What did she use to cut them?”

“Unknown. Sharp and strong enough to cut through my special alloys,” Steel Hive said, for once showing a bit of disgruntlement. The camera feed didn’t stop since the spy hornets were still there.

One of the screens abruptly showed a close-up of the girl, then it shook heavily and the feed focused on her face in an upward angle.

Bzzt.

The feed dissolved into static.

“Hornet came too close,” Steel Hive explained unnecessarily. The other camera feeds weren’t cut off, so he supposed they went undetected.

The Hidden Ruler’s foot tapped excitedly as plans upon plans formed in his head. What possibilities exist for him now? A combination of beauty and power was so rare that there was really only one such Altered in history…

“And she turned out to be a herald of disaster,” he muttered sourly. The potential might be there for Lilibeth, and hopefully, her combination of powers didn’t turn out similar to the calamity.

“How many would look back at history and learn from it?” he murmured.

The girl continued on her way, and when she arrived at the island of Winderfield, she descended from the skies. Or rather, she fell more than flew. The hornets chased after her, but by the time they caught up, she was already walking down the alley. She foolishly removed her mask.

“The Protectorate HQ,” Steel Hive said.

The Hidden Ruler clicked his tongue. The Protectorate! A worthless den of scum and hypocrisy. He couldn’t let this stand. Hopefully, she wasn’t foolish enough to sign a contract with them. I she did, he’d have to buy it from them. Her name meant it might cost millions.

Well, he couldn’t just leave her alone. He had his agents in that place.

“Hive, activate them.”

“Purpose?”

The Hidden Ruler hesitated. Should he attack, distract, or simply bribe? He didn’t want to reveal his presence, and even though Lilibeth had potential, it didn’t do to be careless.

“If she signs, block her application. Delay them and distract them for now.”

The Hidden Ruler leaned back as his head bowed. There would be interesting times ahead.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep