Chapter 496: Combat Power!

Chapter 494

"Vanguards!" Captain Raze shouted sharply at the ten who were about to leave their positions.

Instantly, they froze before slowly turning towards the Captain.

"Your suits... now that you all are officially Vanguards, you need to know what your suits do." Raze began, his eyes gliding from Ray to the others.

"... I’m sure you must have gone through the Order’s forum to understand better, if you are smart enough though."

Ray glanced at his cohort for a moment. None of them looked surprised at the mention of the suits.

Which meant they must have gone through the forum like he did.

Lifting one finger to his ear, Raze pressed against it.

"Begin synchronization of each one of them and bring up how much combat power they have drawn."

Ray cast a worried look at his friends as he prepared himself for what was to come.

Instinctively, the other Vanguards standing a few feet behind them took several steps backward, causing Ray to turn his head in their direction.

’What’s about to happen?’

—Synchronization beginning...!

Hearing the mechanical voice resound around them, Van’s eyes stretched wide for a moment.

"Is-Is that an AI?"

And then—

Their black exo-suits suddenly began glowing with a furious blue light.

The light was so bright that it seemed like lightning was snaking across their bodies, coursing over the suits and wrapping around them like countless glowing vines.

Their muscles, tendons, and every fibre in their bodies tightened as power flooded their entire beings.

All at once, the Vanguards’ eyes gleamed with a strange blue colour for a second before reverting back to normal.

Their muscles bulged beneath the suits for a moment before settling back down.

Then—

The voice rang out once again.

"Vanguard Trisha Hunt, total drawn combat power: forty percent."

Gasps rippled through the older Vanguard members at the back as they stared at the Ice Queen, who looked down at her hands.

— Forty percent? That’s as much power as a Sergeant. The hell?!

"Vanguard Kai Larson, total drawn combat power: fifty percent."

The corner of the Legacy’s lips twitched into a knowing grin as he looked at his hands and squeezed them a couple of times.

The Vanguards and even the Sergeants whispered amongst themselves, looks of disbelief appearing on their faces.

"Vanguard Felix, total drawn combat power: thirty-five percent."

Felix blinked for a second.

"Huh? Thirty what? That has to be a damn mistake!"

Caster chuckled proudly as he glanced at the fuming werewolf before posing, his hands running through his hair while awaiting his own name to be called.

"Vanguard Caster Kyre, total drawn combat power: fifty percent."

"...."

The hall quietened at once as all eyes turned in Caster’s direction.

— Kyre? Did I just hear "Kyre"?

— Fucking hell, he is the son of Jack Kyre?

— A descendant of a Big Four joined the Order? That’s crazy.

— Damn. This is a first in history. Usually, they join their families’ factions. Damn!

Caster paid absolutely no attention to the whispers as he turned towards Felix and gave the fuming werewolf a wink.

"Vanguard Martin, total drawn combat power: twenty percent."

All eyes turned to one of the three other new Vanguards—a young man with spiky yellow hair.

He stood with his arms folded across his chest before scoffing at the number that had been called.

The other two beside him had their numbers called as well.

They had drawn a total of ten and twelve percent respectively.

"Vanguard Chloe, total drawn combat power: twenty percent."

Chloe tightened her hands into fists as she looked at the others around her who had drawn much higher numbers.

She looked slightly disheartened until—

"Cheer up, girl. Your number is actually amazing. In fact, all of you are more amazing than I thought, drawing so much power on your first day." Captain Ella commented, her eyes practically twinkling as she looked at the group.

Then, pointing behind them, she added;

"Look around you, those old folks are visibly jealous of you all. None of you are use—"

"—Vanguard Van, total drawn combat power: two percent."

"...."

"...?!"

"...!!!"

Everybody blinked in confusion.

Even Captain Ella’s words froze in her throat as all eyes drifted towards Van, who stood there awkwardly with his gaze fixed on the ground below.

A stifled chuckle rang out.

Then—

It suddenly erupted into full-blown laughter from the others.

— What the heck?! Tw-Two percent? Oi, Derick, you should be grateful for your five percent because, damn!

— And I always thought I got the short end of the stick? This is fucking hilarious.

— I guess not everybody can be blessed.

Captain Raze looked in Van’s direction for a moment and was about to say something when Ray spun around, his eyes fiercely glaring in the direction of the laughing Vanguards.

"What’s funny?"

"...."

The laughter died down almost immediately as all eyes turned towards Ray.

"I asked a question. What’s funny? Because he got a two percent combat power? This same fellow infiltrated a damn Abberant ship all alone.

Though I have forgotten to scold him, he still did what nobody in history has managed to do before. Not even the Big Four Legacy families.

He did it all alone, fearlessly, and was the first to encounter a Five-Spined Abberant and survive. Whether the Abberant was merciful or not, he still survived despite being weak.

Have any of you achieved these feats? Whosoever has achieved such can continue laughing now. Morons."

"...."

The hall fell almost completely silent for a few moments until a Sergeant in the crowd grew angry.

"Oi! How dare you call us morons? Do you realize that some of us here are older than you, both in age and rank? Just because you are a—"

"—Vanguard Ray Dawson, total drawn combat power: seventy percent."

"...."

The room fell silent like it was a graveyard.

A pin-drop silence settled over the entire hall as all eyes—including those of the Captains—blinked in Ray’s direction.

Until—

— Se-Se-Seventy percent? Bloody hell, that’s the same number as any Captain of the Order!