The moment Arthur crossed the upper boundary of the planet's atmosphere, he was covered with flame as he descended towards the planet, but he barely registered the heat.
But he could already feel the security systems of the planet instantly detected him, and automated defense protocols were already being initiated.
"Oxygen is very thin here," he muttered.
The clouds parted beneath him, torn apart by the shockwave of his descent, revealing a world of layered metallic cities, continent-spanning infrastructure, and defensive structures sprawling across the surface of the planet. Everything about the Chimerian home world felt like a militarized planet more than a livable one.
Arthur slowed midair, his fall halting as though gravity itself had been removed. A few seconds later, he noticed from multiple directions, small shapes detached from hidden launch bays embedded into the planet's upper defense ring. Those sleek, needle-like automated shuttles, which are unmanned, angular, and bristled with weapon ports, burst forward in synchronized arcs and in groups towards him.
They were extremely fast and would reach him within a few seconds but Arthur just watched them approach without stopping them.
He floated there, with his hands relaxed at his sides, as his windbreaker fluttered in the wind. The sound barrier shattered around the incoming shuttles as they closed the distance in seconds, with their weapons already activating.
He tilted his head towards them and with a casual wave of his hand, space was cut apart and all the shuttles split apart. They were perfectly segmented and sliced cleanly into hundreds of pieces. The pieces then rained down towards the planet, burning up in the atmosphere like falling meteors.
Arthur didn't even look at them and waited for the next barrage. And sure enough, more shuttles followed, but this time, he reached out towards them. One of the incoming shuttles jerked violently mid-flight, its engines sputtering as its momentum was forcibly arrested. It hung there, suspended in the air, with its engine trying its best to move it forward.
Arthur glanced at the other shuttles and with another wave of his hand, they were sliced apart just like the previous ones.
The suspended shuttle rattled, its internal systems shrieking as they struggled against an impossible force.
Arthur drifted closer to it, hovering just a few meters away from it. He peered into its armored hull and hacked it, he operated its camera and conveyed a single message to the ones who were currently observing him.
"Bring me your god."
His fingers curled as he destroyed it by applying telekinetic pressure on it. The shuttle got compressed, its entire structure folded inward, until it became a dense, metallic sphere.
Then it dropped from the sky as he watched it fall until it vanished.
…
The planetary defense command center was in chaos at the moment.
Holographic projections filled the massive chamber, each one displaying different angles of Arthur's descent, every feed looping in real time. Tactical overlays scrolled across the air as they showed the current damage sustained by the shuttles.
Every Chimerian present in the command center was frozen somewhere between disbelief and terror.
"How did he destroy them…?" The Director stood at the center of the hall in front of the panicking officers.
He was a tall and broad-shouldered man. His carapace-like armor shone faintly under the command center's lights, and his eyes, which were deep crimson in color, were sharp with intelligence and never left the central hologram.
Arthur hovered in the sky like an immovable force as he destroyed batches after batches of defence drones.
The Director narrowed his gaze. "Who is he?"
An officer beside him who was also his assistant, activated his comms device and began typing frantically with trembling hands.
He was searching through their galactic registry, and cross-referenced them with Arthur's face.
A few seconds later, his eyes widened to their fullest. "Director…"
The Director didn't look away from the hologram. "Speak."
"His name is Arthur Sully."
"…Continue."
The officer swallowed. "He's designated as humanity's strongest combatant. He is the primary reason for our forced retreat from the Milky Way galaxy. Sir… he is capable of killing multiple Champions in a short span of time."
Someone cursed under their breath, "That's impossible…"
The Director finally turned his head. "So that's him."
He studied Arthur's calm posture, and his lack of urgency as he continued to destroy more defence drones.
"…Immediately inform the Apostles," the Director said. "And activate the orbital cannons."
The officers sitting at the consoles nodded and hurried to activate the orbital cannons.
The director thought, 'Humph… who does he think he is, invading our world and demanding out God.'
…
Outside, Arthur sensed a huge amount of energy was gathering in a few places on the surface of the planet, something massive was charging up.
He tilted his head towards his right. "Oh."
The next second the sky split open as a colossal beam of red energy tore through the sky, it was wider than a city block, and punched upwards with enough destructive capability to destroy battleships.
From the surface, it looked like the sky itself was turning red in color. Arthur didn't move as the beam swallowed him. He could have avoided it, but he didn't because he wanted to show the Chimerians that their defences were useless against him.
The beam roared for several seconds, lighting up the clouds in red hue. After a few moments the beam of energy subsided and Arthur appeared without a single wound on his body, not even his clothes were damaged.
Inside the command center, silence reigned. No one was able to understand how a person could tank an orbital cannon without even a single scratch on them.
The Director's eyes widened. "Continue the barrage!" he shouted in panic as he saw the outcome of their attack. He knew the orbital cannon wouldn't be able to kill the intruder as he could kill several champions but coming out of it while being unscathed was what terrified him. "All cannons at full capacity! Don't let him move! Stall him until the Apostles arrive!"
For the next minute Arthur was continuously barraged with the orbital cannons that could obliterate battleships with just a single blast. Beams rained on his body and Arthur was drowned in destructive energy.
But he didn't mind; he just let the attacks land on him and waited for the three strongest life forces on the planet to arrive as he floated there, with his arms folded.
By now his physique was so strong that these orbital cannons couldn't do him any harm, and even while sparring with Steve he was mostly unharmed by his attacks. He could tank the attacks of a Demigod, so these cannons were nothing to him.
Arthur felt the barrages stop as he sensed the three strongest lifeforce on the planet arrive in front of him and opened his eyes.
"…There you are."
Three figures materialized in front of him, not through portals or teleportations. But their speed was so fast it appeared as if they teleported in front of him.
Arthur studied them calmly. They looked similar to the Champions he had fought before, though they possessed the same general shape they appeared much leaner. But that didn't make them look less imposing. Their pitch-black carapace absorbed light, giving them an unsettling, almost hollow presence.
Arthur's gaze sharpened, he sensed they were at least as strong as a Sage rank expert from how strong their life force was.
One of them stepped forward, its voice sounding a bit distorted, as if multiple people were speaking at once.
"Human…" it said slowly, mockingly. "Do you have a death wish?"
Another chuckled softly, but the sound was grating on Arthur's ears. "Haha… You've done us a favor by delivering yourself here."
Arthur didn't pay attention to their mocking and asked flatly, "Where is your god?"
The atmosphere shifted instantly. All three Apostles' eyes narrowed.
The first one's tone dropped. "You are quite audacious to speak of our god so casually, that too while invading our world."
Arthur shrugged. "Well, it was the last option I had," he said. "I tried everything else to find this so-called god of yours."
Their eyes darkened. "What do you mean by that?" one demanded.
Arthur tilted his head slightly and added, "Your god is very good at hiding like a rat."
Their composure cracked, though they didn't know what Arthur was comparing their god with. But from his tone they understood he was insulting him.
"You insolent…!"
They attacked together without warning. As the three fists approached him Arthur stood there casually, the apostles were coming from three directions. He raised both of his hands and caught two apostles and used telekinesis to halt the one who was trying to sneak attack him from behind.
The one, coming from behind, froze mid-lunge. As telekinesis wrapped around its entire body like a vice.
All the Apostles' eyes widened in shock. Even though they weren't using their full strength, to be able to stop all three of them together was a shocking feat.
Arthur's fingers tightened slightly around the two he held. "You guys really need to stop greeting people like that," he said. "It's rude."
They wrenched themselves free and jumped back, backing dozens of meters away.
The third Apostle, however, wasn't able to move. He increased his strength as his muscles bulged, but seeing he was still unable to free himself from whatever Arthur was using to hold him he roared as crimson energy covered his whole body.
The pressure around him skyrocketed as Arthur's windbreaker fluttered violently. Still, the Apostle remained suspended mid air.
"Huh." He tilted his head. "So you get stronger when you become angry."
The trapped Apostle snarled, veins of energy spreading across its body. The two free Apostles finally broke out of their dazed state and lunged forward to help their companion.
***
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