Zero to Peak: Ascension Online

"Good, you are ready," the Grimm Reaper's shrill voice escaped from inside the right door's polarised glass window of the MRAP.

In that same instant, Ivan vanished from the battle-scarred and desolate Residential District of Zone Alpha.

Inside Governor Telles' opulent office, the situation was dire. The grand, floor-to-ceiling windows were covered with large sheets of reinforced armour, and the main entrance door was similarly sealed off with a heavy metal plate. The metal sheets seemed to have materialised from thin air. The office had been transformed into a vault.

A swirling portal appeared in the centre of the metal sheet that sealed the door. The portal attempted to grow wider, but a sudden surge of blue energy across the metal sheet restricted its growth. A massive, clawed alien hand forced its way through the portal, only for the resistant blue force to halt its advance. The hand struggled violently against the shimmering resistance, talons scraping uselessly against the invisible barrier.

Raina, Tricia, Norris, and fifteen other officials watched the alien try to breach the office's defences.

Fatima, a cleric knight special character, stood away from the group who were crowded near the centre of the office next to the governor's desk. She was responsible for conjuring the defensive walls and was concentrating all her energy on sustaining them.

A second after the alien's hand retracted, the creature's monstrous head forced its way through the portal instead. Everyone flinched back in terror. The faces of the officials became sick and pale with fear. The alien's vehement struggle to breach the office generated violent bangs that echoed from the metal sheet sealing the door. The alien cackled, a sound like a madman infected with rabies, as it cried out that it was going to consume the humans' flesh.

"Portals cannot pass through this shield!" Fatima declared, her voice filled with conviction.

The blue energy surged at her command, enveloping the alien's head and the portal itself in a brilliant, crackling light.

"What did you just do?" Raina yelled at Fatima, her tone sharp with scrutiny.

Fatima wondered what she had done wrong. "I reinforced the barrier."

"Stupid. That was stupid," Raina snapped. "You should have seized the opportunity and sliced off the idiot's head. We could have had fewer aliens to worry about."

Fatima was not happy that she was being scolded by her boss in this situation. Her boss was always so strict, even at this perilous time. 'Why is she like this?' Fatima mused, annoyed by her superior. 'I get it, I made a mistake, but why is she making such a big deal out of it right now?'

Raina and Fatima were government officials responsible for the governor's security. Raina was the chief security officer in charge of the governor's protection, and she was Fatima's superior.

Raina, a beauty with an olive complexion and delicate, long features, was dressed in a fitted black blazer, a buttoned-up white collared shirt underneath, matching black trousers, and a pair of white trainers. She had suffered a severe injury to her abdomen. At her power rank, the Transcendent rank, she should have healed two hours ago. Unfortunately, it was not a mere injury. She had suffered an attack from an alien that was ranked higher than her. The beamed attack that she had taken head-on was designed to incapacitate repair genes. Fortunately, her high vitality and the white collared shirt, which was a piece of armour in disguise, ensured that she survived the attack.

The region of the shirt that had received the attack was burnt to a crisp, exposing the charred, red, grotesque skin beneath. It was not just the constant, searing pain from the injury that angered Raina. She had been set up and abandoned by the governor, which had directly led to her sustaining the injury.

About three hours ago, when the Unds launched their surprise attack on the Authority Place—Section 1's government building—the security force at the location was overwhelmed by the formidable force the aliens had assembled for the raid. All the soldiers that the Unds had assembled were powered individuals, the bulk of whom were ranked at the Supreme Crusader level, with the rest ranked even higher. The security force at the Authority Place was steamrolled.

The governor had retreated to his office with a group of seventeen powered security personnel. He was going to use a secret escape method to flee the villa. The secret lay in a hidden pocket dimension, sealed away by the eastern wall of his office. Anyone could get the wall to split apart to reveal the hollow doorframe that led to the pocket dimension, but he was the only person who could activate the door and access the pocket dimension itself. For him to have a good head start on his escape, he needed a diversion.

He had planned the diversion himself. He selected his chief security officer as the sacrificial lamb for his escape. She was not aware of this, nor were the others in his entourage. At that moment, Fatima, Norris, Tricia, and the fifteen officials were not present. The reason Governor Telles had selected Raina was that she was the lowest-ranked security officer among the security personnels that were with him. The others were ranked between Gold Transcendent and Awakened Transcendent.

Governor Telles had tricked the unwitting woman into sitting at his desk. He convinced her that this was part of a trap to draw the aliens into a tight area where they could deal with most of them. It was a lie; the office walls were not even reinforced to withstand strikes from a being ranked Supreme Crusader.

Once she was settled in the governor's office seat, the Governor and his security group escaped the villa using a teleportation machine that lay in the pocket dimension. They were teleported to a city on the eastern side of the Hero Zone. The Authority Place was located on the western side of the Hero Zone.

One thing led to another, and a squad of two Supreme Crusader Unds and two Gold Transcendent Unds barged into the office, demanding to presence of the governor. Raina acted cocky, and the situation escalated into a battle. Mid-battle, she realised that she was alone.

Miraculously, she took on the four Unds. How she did it, she could not explain. She fought desperately but with calculated moves. She killed three of the Unds and injured the surviving Gold Transcendent. The Gold Transcendent had to unleash a powerful, final strike for it to escape death at her hands.

The injured Und called on its comrades to get vengeance on its behalf. Raina had to flee, as she was too severely injured to continue fighting. She met Fatima, Norris, Tricia, and the fifteen officials as she was fleeing through the building. They ultimately had to retreat into the governor's office, where Fatima set up the defensive walls.

Ivan appeared outside the main gate of the Authority Place. There were about sixty Supreme Crusader-ranked soldiers stationed outside. They sensed his presence immediately. They turned, gazing at him, but they seemed confused, unsure whether to attack him or not.

He had cast the ability: Serene Presence. It seemed the ability was potent even on this level of alien. In the space of three seconds, the powerful aliens became unwavering puppets under Ivan's complete control.