__________ POV Narration__________
A large explosion happening in the middle of the night wasn't something the residents of the Third City were expecting.
The sound made and impact of the blast created an earthquake that shook the entire city. Even the Second City, which was much further away, felt a bit of that earthquake.
Thankfully, the infrastructure was still new and standing strong. None of the houses or apartment blocks crumbled.
Although some windows broke, leading to quite a few injuries.
The hunters and local soldiers that were acting as guards were left to investigate what exactly had happened in that place.
A scouting party approached the large crater that was once a large mountain in the distance of the city.
They had moved relatively quickly, reaching the site in about 2 hours. And they were quite shocked by what they saw when arriving there.
The heat still radiating off of that large crater was enough to make them all sweat.
The way the forest around the crater was still burning, it was a frightful scene. There were few words they could use to describe it.
But one of them would be 'Hell'. The scorched earth made them fear for their lives. 'What being is capable of such things?' Was the question on everyone's mind.
Botobai, the Dragon of the Zodiacs, also made his way to the site to investigate the situation. His reports were quite concerning for the rest of the Zodiacs.
Such destruction could only be caused by a nuclear weapon. Yet a bombardment of this continent was never announced and would have no rhyme or reason.
The V5 wouldn't have acted this hostile openly after all... So what was this? Was another nation testing out its nuclear arsenal on this continent?
Or was there some beast at fault for this? Was there something strong enough to create such an explosion?
Thankfully, they didn't have to stress themselves for long.
Ashton, our friendly neighbourhood psychopath did eventually remember that such an explosion would cause quite a lot of panic.
He had to call Cheadle and calm her down. The conversation went somewhat along these lines.
"Ashton! You can't comprehend how glad I am to hear from you!" Cheadle's was very relieved to hear from the old scientist.
After all, she knew that Ashton might have some information on what the perpetrator might've been. He did have a way of knowing all of the wildlife on the continent after all...
And, if no such wildlife was present(capable of destruction to this extent) she could safely assume that some other country was involved in the explosion.
After which, she'd be able to contact the V5 without any doubts.
"Yeah... About that..." Ashton's response did catch her off guard though. It was quite rare for the old scientist to show that much uncertainty.
"I may have been responsible for that explosion..." His words made Cheadle do a double-take as she stared at her desk in shock for a few seconds.
"Umm... What?! WHY!? Do you know how difficult it was to stop the ensuing forest fire?!" She immediately started scolding Ashton for his irresponsibility.
Meanwhile, Ashton was just laying on the grass, with the phone a few dozen centimetres from his ear, looking at the sky with a wry smile.
Cheadle kept complaining to Ashton for a while, it was almost as if she had forgotten that he was both monstrously powerful and her elder.
But those things mattered quite little to Ashton at this point. The people he considered friends weren't those he was willing to flaunt his authority and strength towards anymore.
Cheadle was one such person. Even if the same couldn't be said for all of the other members of the Zodiacs. Except for maybe Kanzai, the tiger had left quite a positive impression on the old scientist.
"Well... What actually made you do that? What exactly managed to force your hand to that extent?" Cheadle had finally calmed down and asked a very pertinent question.
She wasn't shocked that Ashton was capable of such a thing. She already knew of his strength. But she needed to know exactly what threat necessitated such swift and decisive action on his part.
"That, my dear Cheadle, is something I might need to inform all of the Zodiacs of. I will send you some notes soon. They should be able to explain everything." Ashton said as he slowly stood up and stretched a bit. Picking up the phone and looking at the screen for a bit.
"For now though, I'll just tell you to pay attention to any strange energy found within others. It has the potential to end humanity, much like any other calamity before it~" Ashton's words rang in Cheadle's ears as her eyes widened in panic.
"Y-You discovered another calamity?! H-How?! Did it take the form of that energy?" Cheadle wanted explanations. The idea of yet another calamity was frightful to her.
It was also bound to plant fear into the members of the V5. They were already struggling to contain the other 5 calamities. Now, a sixth one apparently spurred up, at least by Ashton's words.
"I am quite unsure. I have a lot to look into. I will send you my research papers. For now, just know that it is the perfect counter to Nen. Be cautious of it. You will hear from me soon." Ashton ended the call and put his phone in his pocket.
He quickly sat back down and took out a small booklet. He neatly started numbering the experiments he did on the special energy called Shakti.
How exactly did he conclude that it was a calamity? Well, he didn't really. He wasn't exactly sure.
But he was almost 90% sure that it had something to do with the 'Great Gods' he had seen in the abyss. And the calamities were also technically guardians for the scriptures that said gods left behind.
At least some of them were. Ai and the Zobae disease weren't the same. Ashton didn't even consider them calamities. Although, they were classified as such by mankind.
That was because Ashton had given the calamities his own definition. "Beings that seek to either destroy mankind or protect a 'sacred site' under the command of other beings."
The Zobae disease was just that, a disease. And it didn't seem to be very efficient in hindering humanity. Ai was another thing altogether.
Ashton started seeing Ai as something else entirely. And, due to their child-like nature, he decided to title them 'Infant Gods'. They didn't listen to anyone, they just granted wishes and asked for things in return.
The thing they asked for could get quite morbid. But Ai wasn't really at fault. From Zigg's observations, all the way back when Ashton and his group had met Ai for the first time.
"It seeks to pry deeply into the human psyche, picking and choosing their fears and worries and turns them into a reality." So, the requests of Ai were just the fears of others. Said fears were progressively amplified the greater the last wish had been.
It was a creepy method. But it didn't outright mean to harm humanity.
Now, onto the topic of 'Shakti' and where it originated from... Ashton concluded that the being Zhang Lei considered his Guardian Nen Beast wasn't exactly that. It was likely an impostor.
Giving the weak and greedy a promise of strength. The being preyed on the weak and made them stronger. At a price.
That price seemed to vary per person, but it was paid in flexibility. They would become stronger on paper. But any Nen user worth his money would be able to take most of them down.
The problem was if the Nen user was also infected with Shakti. Ashton had yet to observe the effects that said infection would have on other Nen users or humans in general.
That's why he still had a lot to study.
After noting down all of the things he had theorised and found in that journal, he simply placed it inside his void space. He had a lot of work to do. And time was ticking.
Shakti spreading itself around humanity would mean the end of Nen users everywhere.
And the implications of that were still not known by Ashton. But he knew that it couldn't possibly mean anything good for mankind.
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