Strongest Superhuman System
Chapter 173: The Beginning Of The End

Arit's eyes widened, and she immediately turned to Mark to ask for an explanation.

Was it Esmeralda who tried to kiss Mark?

Arit felt a great amount of anger surge through her entire body once that thought crossed her mind! If that bitch tried to force herself on Mark, then blood would flow!

Mark raised a brow as he saw Arit staring at his collar and he looked down at his collar. Once he saw the lipstick stain, he immediately understood what was wrong.

"Yeah, some girl tried to jump me for a kiss while I was signing her uniform. I dodged it, but she managed to catch my collar since she was so close. People are crazy."

Arit noticed that Mark did not glance at Esmeralda at all while talking, so she figured that it was probably not Esmeralda who did it. Arit sighed and told Mark that she would clean it out for him when they got home. Mark grinned and thanked her, and Arit just smiled back. Mark asked if anything happened while he wasn't with her. He saw Maria earlier, and Maria looked a little pale.

Arit wondered if she should tell Mark about the conversation she just had with Maria, but she finally decided that she wouldn't. Mark was busy dealing with a killer who was trying to ruin their family. Something this petty shouldn't be on his mind as well. Arit decided at that moment that she was going to be the one to deal with this situation.

She would try her hardest to figure out the best way to handle it without involving Mark.

"It's nothing serious. I just asked her if she found anything about Esmeralda, and she hasn't found anything important yet."

[Styxwatcher Discernment has detected a lie: Maria was able to retrieve important information that explains Esmeralda's recent actions, and she told them to Arit.]

Mark raised a brow in surprise as he saw the message from the system. Arit was lying to him? Mark hummed in curiosity as he wondered what could possibly make Arit lie to him about what Maria found out. Was it something that she didn't think was important enough to tell him, or was she trying to deal with it on her own so that she wouldn't burden him?

Mark appreciated the thought and he decided that if Arit wanted to deal with this on her own, then he was more than happy to allow her to do that.

Mark was too busy dealing with the killer, the guilds, and Salazar, so he just didn't have the time to add Esmeralda and her childish antics into the mix. Besides, the only reason Mark asked Maria to look into Esmeralda was because Arit seemed genuinely worried about it, so he was not bothered that Arit wanted to handle it herself.

Mark knew that if there was ever a serious enough problem, then Arit would tell him about it. He just shrugged as he played along with her words.

"Well, if Maria doesn't have anything, then I'm sure that there is nothing to worry about then. Don't worry too much about it, okay?"

Mark smiled at Arit, and Arit felt her face heating up as she saw the sun shining at her from behind Mark's silhouette. Her heartbeat suddenly sped up as she ducked her head and looked down at her desk while squeezing her hands into fists.

Mark was amazing. He knew everything about her. All her flaws and all her insecurities, and yet he was still with her. Arit knew that Mark could have anyone he wanted. Mark was rich and strong, so he could walk down the street, and a hundred women would throw themselves at him! He could have found anyone better than her, but he chose to be with her!

He chose her! He was the most amazing person in her life!

And that fucking bitch was trying to ruin his life! How can she call Mark a murderer!?

[Kill her! Kill her! Just kill that bitch and everyone she is related to! She doesn't deserve to live after doing something like that! How dare she call Mark a murderer! Mark is KING!

The protector! We must protect the KING!]

"I want to kill her."

Mark suddenly turned as he heard Arit mumble something quietly.

"What? Did you say something?"

Arit sat up quickly in shock and shook her head. She told Mark that it was nothing with a wide smile on her face, and Mark nodded and turned back to the teacher.

"Arit Clayborn."

The teacher called Arit's name from the attendance, and Arit raised her hand and spoke in a soft voice.

"Present."

…

Click! Click! Kacha!

The sound of a gun being loaded with weapons was the only prevalent sound across the empty penthouse on top of a tall skyscraper. The superhuman killer was seated on the floor with his rifle leaning against his shoulder as he loaded it with his special bullets.

His phone was right beside him, and an automated AI voice read out the weather conditions for the day as well as the wind movement.

[Sunny conditions are prevalent across the expanse of the city with a light breeze expected to blow in from the coast due west. There will be a period of cloud coverage for an hour at the peak sun period, but it should clear up before the hour is over.]

At his side, he had a handheld radio that was currently playing out the voice of a member of the Green Hornets guild that was patrolling the area.

[The fifth sector is clear. There was a disaster class here, but we were able to deal with it before any lives were lost. Things should be settling down soon. Did you see that fight between GHOST and that Calamity the other day? I heard Luna showed up in the middle of the fight and dealt with the calamity herself.]

[You know the guild leader was going to try and get GHOST to join us when he was just a vigilante, but he got cold feet after seeing GHOST kill that Calamity class. There's no way GHOST would join a small guild like ours. I heard GHOST is planning to join the Artemis guild soon. There's been a lot of rumors going around the forums - ]

Ring~ Ring~ Ring~ Ring~ Ring~

The phone began to ring as the AI voice was cut off, and the killer answered without bothering to check the caller ID. There was only one person who had this secured number, so he knew who it was already.

[Is everything ready on your end?]

Click! Snap!

Ka-Cha!

The killer closed the ammunition barrel and cocked the rifle.

"Yes. I've confirmed that only B ranks and lower are in the area, and we are close enough to his school, so there will be no option but for him to come in."

The killer stood up and looked out the window at the city below. There were many people walking through the street. Some of them were with their family, and others were just going about their daily life nonchalantly. There was no doubt that most of these people would be caught up in the fight, and many of them - if not all of them - would die. But there was nothing the killer could do about that.

There were only so many people that he could save after all.

There was nothing he could do about those killed by the anima.

"Begin the operation."

A loud whining sound echoed through the area as a plane appeared from the horizon. The people walking on the streets all looked up in shock as they heard the loud sound, but their shock increased even more as a large humanoid payload was released from the back of the plane and began free-falling to the ground!

One of the men on the ground shouted in dread while pointing to the sky!

"It's a fucking Anima!!"

KA-BOOOOMMMMM!!!!

RROOOOOARRRRRRRR!!!