Gideon had been accumulating impossible amounts of spiritual Qi in his daily cultivation. All for the objective of refining his Qi into Pure Spiritual Qi.
It was January of the new year and Gideon had set himself to repurpose his accumulated Qi.
Isolating himself to the world and barring any interference, Gideon had made his room a forbidden zone for the duration of his breakthrough.
Without any ceremonies, Gideon sat in the Lotus position and focused his divine sense on the Qi that he's been accumulating and was already threatening to burst. He commanded his Qi to slowly grind itself against its strong and normal current. This seemingly normal process was no simple feat. It needed complete control over oneself and the spirit.
Qi can only be called Qi, when will and spirit are united. And the purest form of Qi brings forth unimaginable miracles upon its utilization. The impossible, becomes incredulously hard and the latter becomes merely difficult. That in itself shows the power of pure Spiritual Qi.
Gideon expertly manipulated the Qi inside his body with precision and almost unbelievable accuracy. In the end, he was successful and a week later, he came out of his seclusion a new man.
When he purified his Qi, his cultivation had rapidly dropped from Transcendence to Nascent, to Core Formation, Foundation Establishment, Tempering, and lastly Qi Gathering. When it reached that point, the accumulation of Qi that had been refined by this process, rushed towards the accupoints and meridians and settled there as if fluids that couldn't extricate themselves unless they were directed properly from the pit that they flowed into.
Gideon's current state was already near godly, because with but a thought, laws of the universe would bend and follow his will. Creating matter out of nowhere was always impossible, however, with Gideon's current energy reserves and the pure Spiritual Qi, this paved the way for Gideon's rise in power. Turning the impossible to close to impossible.
With Pure Spiritual Qi circulating within his body with every breath, and the re-cultivation to Transcendence Realm, his path to Sainthood was but a thought away.
After this breakthrough in quality of Qi, Gideon came out of seclusion again and spent some time with his family. Since their family basically was the most powerful economically on Earth, Gideon treated his family to trips around the world.
Gideon asked Rebecca to arrange the itinerary for their trip, including her.
Gideon wasn't some scum who would not appreciate a beauty who's clearly showing interest and beyond for him. Rebecca had always been the one in his heart since high school. Although it was true that he'd slept with other women in the other world, Gideon knew the reality that he didn't belong to their world. Soon, because his wish had never changed since his summoning, he would return to Earth and leave them. Thus, it was only a chapter in his life.
Rebecca was making it so obvious that if Gideon denied it, he himself would regret for the rest of his long life.
In fact, he'd plan to propose to Rebecca and marry her by the end of this trip. Although he had Rebecca plan the trip with his family, he had also left home with Wilhelm's support. He left Wilhelm with the task of preparing the most extravagant, most beautiful and memorable proposal.
"Leave it to me, sir!" Wilhelm Carter assured.
"Good." Gideon felt at ease.
So, the family went to a trip towards famous vacation spots in the world. They visited Paris and the Eiffel Tower and felt the romance, Japan's Tokyo Tower and the local food and sights, Italy's Venice Grand Canal and the Italian pride for food. Germany and their beer. Switzerland and their chocolate. The places they visited were famous sights that Gideon dreamed of visiting as a student a decade ago with his family.
Gideon felt that although it was slow and mostly peaceful, it was such a precious memory to him. After all, right now, only Gideon and Deborah were long-lived. Their parents were getting in on the years, soon, they would also die, unless he helps them maintain their lives.
However, their parents answered them firmly: "Do not mess with the natural flow of time for us mortals, okay? Just knowing that our children would be okay despite our absence is heartening for us both. Anyway, we'll still stay until Deo finds a daughter-in-law for me and brings into the family my first grandchild!"
Mother had joked about it, but she was determined, just as her husband also is, to see Gideon raise a child with his wife in the future.
In the middle of their vacation in the Alps, out of nowhere, punks surrounded Rebecca who was obviously looking hot for Gideon. She wore a tight-fitting jacket that failed to make her look fat, even after adding the padded layers of the jacket!
In a vacation as well, four young men surrounded her as she left their rented villa. Deborah and the rest were already playing a distance away and did not notice her predicament instantly.
"Miss, come play with us! We're all wealthy people with great backgrounds."
"Play by yourselves, boys. No need to take a lady to a boy's gatherings now is there?"
This sentence of hers enraged one of the boys and wanted to hit her as he raised his hand, open-palmed. Before his swing could fully initialize, a hand had stopped the man's hand from dropping.
"I suggest you leave my people alone, sirs." Gideon wasn't in the mood to deal with punks, obviously spoilt little brats who had money to burn.
"Hah! A punk playing hero? We're just asking her to play with us and she insults us! She has to pay for this insolence!" Barked one of them.
"Becca, apologize to the gentlemen, and let's leave it at that, right?" Gideon winked at her, clearly asking her to do as he said and to trust him. Trusting him, was more of Rebecca's extra interpretation.
"Sigh. I'm sorry for making you feel insulted, gentlemen. My companion is here now, so there's no way for me to accompany you. I apologize again." After saying this, Rebecca looked towards Gideon who nodded. She then turned around to leave.
However, the punks clearly did not want to let her go. Seeing this, Gideon grew annoyed.
"Sirs, I would appreciate if you stop your advance now. We have an S-Class Fighter with us right there. One shout would alert her to your actions. I'm telling you this for your sakes."
Gideon still wanted to resolve this peacefully. Fighting would ruin their vacation mood after all.
"Hah! This punk is scared! You're trying to scare us with S-Class Fighters? Do you think S-Class Fighters are cabbages? Dream on!"
Without waiting for Gideon's answer, one of the them turned to grab Rebecca. However, who was Gideon? Although je wanted to save Earth from ruin, he also wasn't a saintly being who'd forgive no matter what.
"Sigh. Debbie!" He coolly called on Deborah's name and a gust of wind immediately brushed past the faces of the punks.
"These sirs, wanted to 'play' with Rebecca and wouldn't listen to reason. What shall we do?"
"Oh? They wanted to touch my brother's people? Dare to not believe I'm S-Class?"
Feeling slightly enraged, Deborah turned her attention to each of the punks. Then, her pressure appeared and immediately made the four of them kneel.
Feeling regret well up in their souls, the four men prostrated themselves and hurriedly apologized.
"What were your names, again?" Gideon asked. Not as a threat but as a precaution. If they still did things to serve as 'revenge' then he won't hesitate to end their lives economically.
The trip went relatively peaceful after that incident.
…
On the other side of the planet, back home. On a workshop owned and managed by the most sought after producer of Johnsons Enterprise, Jane had completed the enhancement formation enchantment to perfection. She tried it on herself by applying it through a temporary quick-dry ink. Her abilities, regardless of type had all been enhanced by 45% this was the greatest effect of the enhancement formation that Gideon diluted for the Earth. If he introduced the godly formations taught to him by the master, the Earth would be turned upside down.
However, not all happy things happened to Jane. She had been having nightmares recently. The nightmare continued to involve the giant hand that almost caught and successfully kidnapped her. The fear and uncertainty she felt had not sink in right after the incident. It was after she felt the stillness of the world inside her workshop that she suddenly felt the chill.
Clutching her head, she cradled herself low.
"Ah!" A silent scream escaped her mouth. She wanted to call for help, but she remembered that her two best friends left her to have a vacation around the world. She felt bitter. She was the one who refused after all. Her silent cry however, wasn't wasted. As if programmed to react to emotional instability as well, Gideon's formation that he'd impressed a centimeter below her collar let out a dim light as her nightmare seemed to have vanished into a puff of smoke. She was surprised at its sudden lifting, but since she felt better, she just heaved a sigh of relief before returning to whatever she was going to do.
Jane was not supposed to have been left alone, but she insisted on staying. It was not out of shyness, but of a sense of propriety.
She was Deborah's best friend, but that was all the relationship connection she had with her family. Gideon was her boss who had Rebecca as his best friend/lover. So, it was really inappropriate for her to join.
Now though, she regretted not going with.
"Sigh. I'm just their employee, basically. I can't be thick-faced and join in their family outing."
Outside Jane's workshop were hundreds of Musashi Clan fighters. All C-Class with B-Class team leaders and 10 A-Class captains.
They had been entrusted with the security of the workshop and the valuable Miss Jane.
A new shift was going to replace these men, and some black hearted people were planning something in the shadows.
"Once the shift is initiated, there will be a tiny window of a blind spot in their defenses, which means, we'll have only one chance per 12 hours."
"We must infiltrate at once!"
"Sir, yes, sir!"
In the intercom, that was the answer of these soldiers. They were trained to answer with just those words.
Soon, the shift had entered the blind spot and they all started their assault. Their target this time was not to capture… it was to eliminate. This was an assassination order.
They were an elite assassination squad. The only way they can be enticed to take on an operation was if the price was right. They accepted no money, but items, objects, and even companies that are valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Now they have expanded through the wealth they had accumulated through the 7 years they've been in operation in the shadows and yet they were so elusive that only a select few knew of them.
Tonight's operation was only another assignment. They were task to go in and not let anyone out of the workshop.
Soon, they succeeded in infiltrating and entered Jane's room where they did not even bother confirming if she was the target or not. They had no scruples over killing the target. Their leader went on overwatch and his subordinates directly pulled out their silenced guns, modified to the extreme to emit no flash and the gunshot being muffled to mosquito-level noise.
Poof! Poof! Poof!
Three full clips had riddled the blanket full of holes as they confirmed their kill. To their horror, their bullets had gathered at both sides of the target as she slept soundly. There was a barrier, invisibly protecting her while a dim glow of light swirled as if a loading icon on a computer screen. This sight lasted no longer than a moment and the next phase of the formation was activated.
The next phase was marking of threats. It was the kind of mark that attaches to the soul and Gideon would be able to track them down later if need be, that was the primary function of the second phase. Then the final phase was to teleport Jane next to Gideon's location.
The second phase had activated and the assassin squad were assaulted by the light that was too fast which expanded in a wave before disappearing after seemingly identifying the surrounding threats as it reached the leader and disappeared right after. They were unaware that the scope of the wave extended to kilometers. Any that had thoughts to harm Jane in a radius of 100 kilometers had been marked.
On the other side of the planet. Gideon was enjoying the tanning session as he sunbathed. Although the sunlight couldn't possibly tan him, he still enjoyed the act and relaxed. Suddenly, he felt the marking of several people surrounding Jane. He spread his divine sense and found Jane surrounded by cloaked people. In front of Gideon though, nothing could be hidden on Earth.
Jane's formation had just activated and the second phase was triggered and the next phase was coming, so Gideon went to the room and prepared the bed. He knew Jane was sleeping. Her sleeping posture was taken into account before she came, so Gideon prepared everything.
With a spatial fluctuation, Jane appeared mid-air, still protected by a barrier behind Gideon before he turned around and caught her gently, telekinetically.
He let Jane sleep on the bed and walked out to explain the situation to Deborah.
"Squirt, I have some business to attend to. Hold the fort while I'm away. Jane is inside my room, sleeping on the bed. Be there when she wakes up."
"O-Okay." Deborah felt sorry for Jane. After all, this was the second time she was targeted by people with evil intentions.
Deborah developed some kind of sympathy for her best friend and she even considered letting her stay with them as her second sister-in-law. Of course, in her mind, the first sister-in-law had to be Rebecca whom she owed her sanity to way back.
That night on the other part of the globe, Gideon appeared in swimming trunks by simply a thought. This was due to his Pure Spiritual Qi bring manifested in the physical world. A simple thought bends everything accordingly.
The assassination squad had been shocked and surprised and they did not idle at all. As soon as their target disappeared, the leader immediately ordered a full retreat after ordering each one of them to scatter throughout the globe. They had to lay low for a time before they could resume their operations. This would have been quite an effective strategy had it not been that their target was Jane, a person under Gideon's protection.
As soon as he arrived, Gideon locked-in on the 9 assassins and directed them his presence. Just this alone paralyzed them on the spot. Unable to move or breathe.
With a wave of his hand, Gideon pulled all the assassins back to the workshop only to alert the Musashi Clan guards. When they realized these men were wearing cloaked attires, they even more became vigilant. However, as soon as orders to attack them were given from the A-Class Fighter leaders, Gideon appeared behind them and coughed.
"Ahem. Leave them to me."
"S-Sir!"
Everyone of the clan members had to remember Gideon's figure and face. This was an order that could cost their clan membership to the Musashi Clan if violated. So every member had to undergo intensive training in memorizing the face, figure, demeanor of Gideon as much as possible to never mistake him.
"At ease. I'll take these men inside. Whatever you hear, they are simply mosquitos annoyingly droning around you. Understood?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Good."
Gideon 'guided' the assassins inside the workshop and began impressing on them the fear of God. Their screams reached new heights of decibels whenever Gideon put formations on them. He didn't bother putting them in an illusion. He simply engraved the formations on their skin with a well-controlled blowtorch-like emission of fire from his fingertips.
These formations were for pain multiplication by factors of 2. Each time he tapped on the formation, he would send Qi to it and cause the pain to multiply and add an increment of 2 per tap.
Soon, they wailed and begged to be killed. They were unable to die, because even their decisiveness couldn't work in front of Gideon. They had poison hidden in their tooth, a simple forceful pinch of their jaw would break it and kill them in but an instant. However, even after that, Gideon simply waved his hand and their dying selves became fresh as the morning dew.
This was the moment they knew… they effed up.
The leader was much tougher than the others. Instead of begging to die, he started to work his brain through the pain and the fright. He was pinning his hopes on the guess he was having right after almost an hour of torture without even a question being asked. The crucial questions that he would have by now given answers to were not asked.
"Could it be, he wants something more valuable from us than our employer's information?" The leader thought, he was instantly numbed by the shocking 'truth' he'd found out after putting two and two.
"M-M-Master! Please, spare us! We'll do anything to appease your wrath!"
???
Gideon was visibly surprised by this outburst from the toughest of the bunch. He was merely punishing them for the sake of punishing them. Not even having any thoughts at all. He was going to kill them after he gets tired of torturing these killers. He hated people like these the most. When he faced traitors of their own races in the other world, he would unleash the hate of the gods on them for betraying their own kin.
It hasn't changed even after returning to Earth. However, now, a tortured assassin begged to be spared after promising to do anything to appease his wrath.
Looking at the man carefully, he was in fact an S-Class Fighter. A herald connected to Hades of the Greek pantheon. After his Supreme Divinity had formed, he was able to see the ethereal connection between gods and man. He could identify the gods behind each herald with but a glance.
Hades was known for his proficiency in coming in and out of anywhere without being detected. Gideon guessed that this herald had taken advantage of that to perform assassinations silent and traceless.
"You're a herald of Hades… hm. If I kill you, Hades might come after me too. In that case, swear before the gods that you and those under you will work under me as long as I live. If you do, I will pardon you and allow you to live.
"My only condition is, for you to never enter the light, ever again." Gideon seriously added. Hearing him, the leader understood completely what Gideon was talking about. He wanted to bury them into the shadows and never let them walk the day again.
Thus was the fate of these assassins. Their assets were still theirs and their lives were theirs but they would never enter the light again. If they violated this oath, they would die by Gideon's hand after being tortured for millions of years. However, this also birthed the greatest shadow defenders of Earth against hidden threats. Since they were killers, they were tasked to eliminate those that would threaten the unity of humanity in times of great peril.
They were dubbed by those who had caught a glimpse at them, the Shadowless.