Chapter 50: The Bus of Shadows
Philip frowned as he sat quietly, the bus rumbling along the road toward Lagos. His senses—now refined to the demigod level—kept whispering that something was off, but he couldn't place it. The air was saturated with mana. That, he had chalked up to his increasing sensitivity. But now… something else tugged at the edge of his awareness.
The man beside him kept talking, revealing truths Philip hadn't expected. But what struck him most wasn't the words—it was the man himself. How had someone like this ended up near him? Philip slowly turned his gaze across the bus. At first, he thought it was the driver. Then the co-passenger who had spoken like a historian in disguise. But as he scanned the rest of the bus, realization struck like lightning.
That's when he realized it.
The passengers around him... they weren't the same people who had boarded with him in the beginning.
His eyes sharpened. His senses surged. A moment later, he understood.
He was surrounded by Legendary-level beings. All of them pretending. Hiding. Veiled even from his demigod-tier senses. It shouldn't have been possible. And yet they had bypassed him completely. Not because they were stronger—but because they had technology. Devices that muted their presence, cloaked their aura, shielded their essence.
He had been watched. Scanned. Approached.
They knew. Since when,
Had they tracked him since he entered Abakaliki. The moment his aura briefly flared there, they had flagged him. And they'd sent this entire setup—a full bus of Legendarys in disguise—to verify who or what he really was.
The man beside him? An agent. Sent to probe him without confrontation.
What Philip didn't know was It all traced back to that message —the one that had shaken the heavens three years ago. The Emperor's candidate announcement. A burst of divine resonance that echoed through dimensions. A flare of power so strong it pulled attention from every realm.
After it vanished, everyone thought the Emperor had died. The tracking devices, once so precise, had lost all trace. But the final blip had pointed to Earth. Not just Earth—Africa.
The church had mobilized. Not just humans, but powerful organizations across planets and planes. Every demigod-level being that stepped foot on Earth was scrutinized. Officially, the mythics claimed there were only seven Mythical-level beings in charge of the continents, and only one demigod-level being left on Earth in charge of the mystical beings and the world as a whole.
But whispers said otherwise.
That dark beings—old ones—were sleeping, deep in mountains, oceans, deserts. Awaiting the perfect moment to ascend into godhood. Beings who stepped out of wordly affairs to gain enlightment.
Then the Visitors came—an advanced civilization offering Earth a gift: to raise mana levels and cleanse pollution from the atmosphere. The price? Free and unlimited access to Africa for their "search." The deal had been made. Africa became a hunted land.
Now, Philip was being assessed.
The team around him thought he was a relic of the past. A demigod who had hidden for centuries. Someone from the age of legends, from a long-forgotten tribe or bloodline. Probably Nigerian. Probably someone who shouldn't exist. They he too had come looking for the emperor candidate like the rest.
And Philip? He played along.
He asked questions.
He feigned ignorance.
The man, thinking Philip had just emerged from deep seclusion, kept talking. Kept sharing secrets, not realizing he was giving more than he received.
And Philip… just smiled.
They're looking for the Emperor, he thought.