Rise Of The Infinite Sovereign-Chapter 390: Trouble Thwarted

"Now, would you mind telling me where the elixir is and how you got it? That’ll make things easier for all of us"

.....

Sidal simply glared at the CEO in response to those words.

"Ah, right. You’re paralyzed"

Taking out a pistol of his own, the CEO fires a red beam at him, undoing the effects of the paralysis ray.

Free to move again, Sidal yelled a curse.

"Jakin, you bastard!"

Clearing out the dirt in his ear with his pinkie finger, the CEO simply smiled.

"You don’t have to be so angry"

At this moment, Sidal’s communicator rang out, showing an incoming call from Ezra, surprising the CEO, Jakin.

"Oh? Did you call for reinforcements?"

Tied in metal binds, Sidal could not answer the call, the call came a second time.

"Get rid of that communicator"

Thus prompting the security guard to snatch the communicator from his wrist and break it.

"No matter who you call" said Jakin, looking at Sidal’s burning eyes. "It’s useless"

Yet at this juncture, Sidal simply nodded, holding back a smile. "We’ll see"

"Yes" Jakin nodded. "We will"

"Sir!"

At this moment, one of the men rummaging through the spaceship called Jakin’s attention.

"I found something"

The guard takes out a small black chest.

"Oh?" Jakin’s voice was filled with elation. "So you did bring it with you? This will make things much easier. Now then, why don’t we have a private chat?"

One security guard held Sidal and trailed behind Jakin, heading towards the entrance.

Other security guards rounded Sidal’s paralyzed security team and cleaned the surroundings to erase evidence of the skirmish.

In the midst of this, there was a sudden twist in space, drawing the attention of the security guards.

Their murmuring easily reached Jakin, forcing to halt as he turned to see twist in space as well.

Just as he was about to say something, Ezra appeared.

Cloaked, Ezra simply lay still.

Because of his sudden appearance, the security guards were lost on what to do, especially since the opponent seemed far stronger than them.

So, in a manner of absurdity, they all lay still as well as though caught in a trance, waiting for a reaction from the mysterious figure.

This is until Jakin let out a guttural shout.

"What are you doing?! Attack!"

Jolted back to their senses, the security guards hastily took out their pistols to open fire.

Before they could complete this range of motion, Ezra vanished from their sights.

Bewildered, the security guards looked left and right to spot him, when a shout erupted behind them.

Turning their heads, they find Jakin dangling, the cloaked figure holding him up by the throat.

Jakin sought to free himself, but for someone who wasn’t even a Transcendent, such efforts could only end in futility.

"Let go of me right now!" he screamed in a very hoarse tone.

"If you don’t stop screaming" Ezra tightened his grip. "I might have to break your neck"

Anger, displeasure, dismay, bewilderness, and finally fear coursed through Jakin’s body one after the other.

He was unwilling, but feeling his neck creak, Jakin uncharacteristically gave up struggling.

"Good" Ezra’s voice resounded. Then he turned to the security guards behind him.

"Put down your weapons and surrender!"

Using energy to amplify his voice, the security guards were overwhelmed.

Adding to the fact that their employer was literally dangling in his arm, they quickly adhered and threw their weapons away.

Having turned the security guard holding Sidal into a block of ice, Ezra broke off the metal binds with relative ease, freeing Sidal.

Freed, Sidal immediately lowered his head. "Thank you Sir"

"You’re welcome" Ezra replied. "Now, would you like to explain what’s going on here?"

Within two minutes, Sidal brought Ezra up to speed.

"So, how do you intend to deal with this?"

While he was a bit cunning, Ezra’s expertise didn’t stretch to deal with things of political implications like this.

Thinking for a bit, Sidal explained his plan to Ezra in a hushed tone.

Listening in, Jakin trembled at what he overheard and started struggling again, forcing Ezra to knock him out.

With the plan explained, Ezra called the security guards to gather, with Sidal freezing his own security guards.

Frightened by the sight of their comrade turned into a block of ice, they obediently gathered.

To which, Sidal went into his spaceship and picked up a spare communicator.

With that done, Ezra then pressured each security guard to make a confession about the attack on Sidal, which Sidal then recorded.

Though they could guess what sort of implications this would have for their employer-what did that matter in comparison to their own lives?

None of them was willing to risk death to protect their employer, especially not with a high ranked Transcendent watching over them.

After all, there was no loyalty in the matter to begin with.

Here, Ezra learns that a majority of the security guards are actually low ranked mercenaries hired by Jakin to capture Sidal upon arrival.

Sidal, being quick witted, was able to easily spot incongruities and tried to leave, thus forcing Jakin out to meet him directly.

Now that the kidnapping attempt had been thwarted, the aftermath had to be properly handled as well.

With Sidal’s expertise at handling messes, he quickly formed a plan that handled in a way that would benefit him.

Done recording the confession of the enemy security guards, Ezra dismissed them.

With due haste, they scattered immediately.

After all, in the face of a Transcendent, who dares mention their commission?

These fellows were simply happy to be alive.

As for the security guard made into an ice cube, Ezra defrosted him and luckily, he was not dead.

Though it would most likely take a week or two before he regained consciousness.

Ezra simply tasked other mercenaries to take him home. What happened beyond that was none of his business.

Then, they made a recording of their own security guards witness statement and made a whole video documenting evidence of the attack.

After this, Ezra slung Jakin over his shoulder and entered the main building with Sidal in tow.

Placing Jakin on a chair, they woke him up.

"Wha-What’s happening?!" Jakin exclaimed.

Giving him a light slap in response, Jakin was dazed.

Staring into nothing, his memories soon came to him.

"Wait, wait, Warrior," Jakin exclaimed. Fidgeting.

"I don’t what this merchant has given you, but I can you twice, no three times the amount if you work for me"

To such a sight, Ezra clicked his tongue.

’Bargaining in this situation. Truly a merchant to the core’

He then responded, shaking his head. "I have no need for a merchant that would stoop to such lows to gain an advantage"

"No, no, no. Wait" Jakin tried to plead his case but-

"I don’t want to hear it" Ezra silenced him.

"Instead" he said. "Do you know why we brought you here?"

Looking around, Jakin had some guesses. "You want to torture me?"

"Wrong, we’re here to offer you a deal" Ezra said, increasing the pressure.

"What deal?"

Here, Sidal stepped in.

"I want you transfer all your shares in the company to me and resign"

"That’s impossible!" Jakin proclaimed, his eyes bulging.

"Nothing’s impossible" Sidal replied. Reaching for his communicator.

"Or would you like me to spread this over the galactic web?"

With that, the recordings of the mercenaries’ confessions were played one by one, and with each one, Jakin’s face darkened.

"Do you understand now?"

"You’re bluffing" said Jakin. "If you do that, it won’t just be me, but the whole company that will be wrecked!"

It was taboo amongst merchants to physically attack each other like Jakin had just done, synonymous to committing murder.

And while it was also true that many flaunt this rule, one could get away with it so long the incident could not be linked back to the merchant in question or at least their involvement was questionable at best.

But in a situation like Jakin’s, where the evidence were clear cut like such, it was literally a death sentence for his career.

If word of his actions got out, he would be unilaterally banned from ever holding a trading license again and because of his position as CEO, AlphaNova would undoubtedly suffer backlash as well.

"And? So what?" Sidal questioned. "Do you think I-someone who can source astral elixirs-will be unable to find a job elsewhere?"

"That..."

"So what will it be?" Sidal cut him off. "Will you step down and remain as an honourable merchant, or have your life and your life’s work destroyed?"

"The other board members won’t let you swallow the seat of CEO just like that" Jakin said, his voice breaking.

"Let me worry about that" Sidal replied. "Now, what is your choice?"

"I-I-I will sign my shares to you"

Sidal tapped his shoulder. "Good choice. So, where should I get the transfer papers?"

"It’s-

"If you lie, prepare to have your limb broken" Ezra interjected, pressuring him even more.

In a low voice similar to that of a dying man, Jakin gave Sidal all the needed instructions and in no time, the transfer papers were placed on his lap, with Sidal’s signature already on it.

"Ah..." Jakin let out an exclamation at the sight.

He had done things like this multiple times in the past, and as such, he had confidence in not getting caught.

Yet...

’To think this would be my end in this company’

Everything had gone wrong the moment Ezra arrived.

He had already established beforehand that Sidal came without any high level personnel, and had secured the route in advance.

Heck, he’d even made sure that no one else was at the headquarters as of this moment in time except for him.

As for his personal involvement, without any eyewitnesses, who would believe Sidal?

In the case of any mishaps, Jakin had all the radars working so he would be alerted to the arrival of any additional party.

This is why he arrived in front of Sidal so fast, he had already seen them approaching.

Then, he made extra sure that no cameras were on throughout the entire base, using paralyzing pistols to make sure no one was killed.

All that planning...

Yet, what was this?

Out of the blue, a high ranked Transcendent showed up and dismantled all his plans.

Jakin let out a sigh. This was the epitome of bad luck.

That a branch manager had made a connection with a Transcendent wasn’t too shocking, because in the end, it would have taken a while for the Transcendent to reach the headquarters.

But how was supposed to have fathomed that this Transcendent in particular would have spatial abilities?!

In the first place, what was such a person doing with a mere branch manager?!

This scenario is just too absurd!

Again he sighed.

"Hey, will you sign the papers already?"

But Ezra’s chilling voice shook him out of his daze.

Terrified, Jakin signed the transfer papers with fast hands and the moment he was done, Sidal snatched it from his grasp.

"Thank you very much for the gift" he said. Flashing a conniving smile, "I will make sure to use it well"

With his face to the floor, Jakin clenched his fist so hard his knuckles turned white.

"But I have a few questions, though" said Sidal.

"What exactly did you intend to do with me?"

"I don’t need to-

"Answer the question" Ezra interrupted.

Gritting his teeth in frustration, Jakin retold his intentions with the two, answering all other questions they had as well.

So, he intended to coerce Sidal into telling him how he had gotten the astral elixir and like others before, remove Sidal from the equation so the profits would go to him.

Additionally, he’d also done things like this more than twelve times in the past.

Not knowing whether it would be fruitful information or not, Sidal requested the names of all those he had done it to.

At the end of his narration, Sidal threw a punch out of anger.

But it was stopped by Ezra.

"Why are you stopping me?!" Sidal asked, his eyes shaking.

"Don’t hit him on the face, it’s too noticeable. We don’t want to draw suspicion" Ezra replied.

Sidal calmed, nodding.

Jakin’s eyes widened in fright, his hopes of being protected ruthlessly shattered, before his sight was subsequently covered with raining punches and occasional curses.

"Bastard!"

After a good three minutes of beating up Jakin, Sidal was done venting and back onto other matters.

He had Jakin register him as his successor in the company database.

Though this didn’t mean Sidal was now the CEO as it was not hereditary, the transferred shares were sure to help him hold his ground as a major contender amongst executives despite being a beginner.

Granted all needed privileges and passes, he then had Jakin take him through the personalities of all the other board members-his new rivals.

A necessary precaution.

In this way, just an hour later after his arrival at the headquarters, Sidal became a proud member of the executive board, his credentials certified.

Whilst not at all in the way he imagined, his goal was now achieved.

Ezra, who stayed behind to stop Jakin getting any ideas, was satisfied as well.

Because with this, the range of business and locations which the exclusive contract was active just expanded multiple times.