Seducing the Guideverse With My System — Raising an Anomaly [BL]

Chicago, Illinois

"Ugh. How long will it take that man to drag his bones here?"

"Valentine—"

"No, because it’s no longer funny. I’ve got things to do if anyone cares."

Gabriel and Valentine sat in an outdoor coffee shop, the latter less invested in the black coffee before him. He kept glancing around the nearly empty street, searching for that familiar face and those annoying pair of glasses.

Half of the city was now nothing but a void. Like a 3D painting smudged with black at the centre and many other parts around it. The death toll was still unknown but already estimated to be at the tens of thousands.

Gone.

No struggle. No pain. Barely any panic or time to attempt an escape.

It was almost like they’d never existed to begin with.

This coffee shop was opening for the last time tonight before the owner fled the city as well.

"He’ll be here soon," Gabriel inhaled, adjusting his posture in his seat. "Probably still handling press conferences to assure the media that this isn’t a new national disaster on the loose."

"Even though it very much is." Valentine snorted. "As stupid as humanity can be sometimes, there’s only so much he can say before paranoia spirals into something real. After all... stupidity doesn’t equal blindness."

Gabriel didn’t respond.

The air shifted, his cosmic awareness flickering. A new presence was nearby and approaching. It didn’t take long for Valentine to sense something too.

Both SS-Ranks turned their heads in unison, their eyes pinning on a car pulling to a stop across the street. The front passenger seat door opened— allowing a figure Valentine least expected to step out.

It wasn’t Vice President Hillary like they’d expected. But the President of the Federation himself.

"Of course," Valentine hissed as the bulky man took leisurely strides toward them. "Who else would waste the time of two SS-Ranks if not the supreme overlord himself?"

Gabriel shot him a glare. "Knock it off, dude."

"Don’t ’dude’ me."

President Josiah smiled as he got to their table, the street lights elongating his shadow over them. "Good evening, gentlemen." He kept his arms behind his back. "Forgive the lateness. I—"

"You can save the excuses for someone who actually gives a shit." It never ceased to amaze Valentine how this man always managed to ruin his mood. "The Federation wanted a direct report on the void entity, right?"

Josiah angled his head to him before nodding once. "... Yes."

Valentine gave Gabriel a silent look. "Well, I’ll go first." He cleared his throat. "What would you like to know? Possible power levels—?"

"Start with how it escaped." Josiah’s expression was plain but the implication in those simple words wasn’t lost on Valentine. "You had it cornered, yes?"

"Cornered would be a gross exaggeration." The Necromancer spoke before Gabriel could. "We got to the scene of the attack moments after it happened. Just in time to witness it... hovering. Within the void that it created."

"On a scale of one to ten, how close did you feel to being killed?"

"Well, well, well..." Valentine purred. "What a serious question. If I were to give an estimate... I’d say a solid eight. And it’s less about being ’killed’ and more about being completely erased. Conceptually. Physically. Spiritually—"

"I get it." Josiah blinked once, his eyes sliding to Gabriel. "You?"

Although Valentine mumbled something about how this could’ve been an email, Gabriel managed to answer. "Same opinion as Valentine. I felt like I could escape if I wanted to... but actively facing it?"

The President stayed silent.

Without waiting for the man to find his words, Valentine got to his feet. "Before you ask... that thing is dangerously close to being SSS-Rank. An extinction-level existence. That’s if it hasn’t already crossed that threshold."

He adjusted his coat, preparing to leave.

"I had another reason for coming here myself," Josiah pulled out his phone, scrolling for a few seconds before stopping on something.

A video.

Valentine and Gabriel brought their attention to his screen, silent as they watched the footage. It was a headline taken from a news channel.

"S-Rank Hunter’s Car Destroyed in Broad Daylight."

The faces that the camera panned to were familiar. None other than Devon Ferguson, Ambrose Hale... and a little boy who looked oddly like both.

"Earlier today in Aurelia City." Josiah withdrew his phone, those sharp eyes trailing between them. "Do you know what this tells me?"

Valentine chuckled dryly. "What? That your obsession with this Guide is becoming quite concerning?"

Josiah ignored the remark. "This... C-Rank always seems to be at the centre of something chaotic." He pointed at both of them. "First his entanglement with Devon Ferguson and Viktor Morozov. Then the way you casually picked him to join—"

"I merely did that to test him. He was barely any help in the Echo Rift." Valentine tilted his head. "How many times are you going to ask us about this?"

The President’s grip tightened just slightly around his phone. "If this... Guide was as useless as you say, I doubt even you would be bored enough to drag him into that raid."

Gabriel finally chimed in. "Sir," he placed a hand in front of the President’s chest. "We’re telling you the truth now as we did then. We don’t know if that Guide is more than he says he is."

At this point, Valentine was just about done. He brushed past the President, harrumphing to himself. "Hunter Gabriel... if you’re going to sleep there tonight let me know so I’ll find another means of travel."

After hesitating for a beat, Gabriel scurried after the Necromancer, leaving the Federation’s President standing there. His eyes followed the two men briefly.

Then—they darted back to his phone and the footage he’d been showing them.

Ambrose Hale. Hurdled too close to Devon Ferguson to be anything ’friendly’. And then the little boy between them. Almost imperceptible if all you did was take a glance.

He zoomed into the footage. Stopping when he had a good view of the boy’s face.

A possibility slithered into his mind. One so absurd that under any normal circumstance, he’d have dismissed it instantly.

Yet he couldn’t.

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