God Of The Omniverse-Chapter 344: It’s All A Game (Part 9)

Arias walked down the hallway, his pace as steady as ever, unfazed by the alarms blaring through the building.

Each step echoed against the polished floors, the overhead lights casting his long shadow ahead of him.

Before he reached the main entrance, he noticed three figures hurriedly coming his way—Dr. October and two other members of staff, both older, dressed in lab coats.

The moment they saw him, their pace slowed, uncertainty flickering in their eyes. Dr. October, however, took the lead, approaching him with a calm urgency.

"Is the city under attack?" she asked, her voice even, though her grip on the tablet she held was just a little too tight.

Arias barely spared her a glance as he answered, "Seems so, but I intend to find out. Why aren't you heading to the bunkers?"

Dr. October gave a brief nod before replying. "Not yet. Some of us are returning to the labs to make sure everything is secured and locked down. The lower labs are just as fortified as the bunkers, if not more. The rest of the staff have gone to the bunkers with the students, while others are making sure none are left behind in the hostels."

Arias gave a slight, understanding nod. "I won't keep you then."

The two other scientists remained silent throughout the exchange, their gazes flitting toward Arias but never holding.

There was a nervous energy to them, a quiet hesitance that was impossible to miss. They weren't incompetent—far from it. But being in his presence was enough to unnerve even the most brilliant minds.

Arias didn't waste time on them. He simply gave them a brief, acknowledging nod before continuing toward the exit.

**Bzzzt**

His phone vibrated in his pocket.

He came to a stop, slipping a hand into his coat and retrieving it. A new message flashed across his screen from Mercy within the Leviathan network.

[ Have you seen this? ]

Attached was a link.

Arias raised a brow and tapped it, the screen immediately shifting to a private video hosting site. The feed loaded in seconds, and the first thing that greeted him was a ruined office space—desks overturned, bullet holes riddling the walls, shattered glass reflecting flickering fluorescent lights.

Then the camera panned. His gaze sharpened.

It was Gotham PD Headquarters.

The video shook slightly, the person holding the camera moving. Then the frame adjusted, revealing a group of armed men in masks. Their gear varied—some in full tactical vests, others in more piecemeal military attire—but all bore the same insignia. The HS group.

Arias watched silently, his expression unreadable.

The camera continued to pan, revealing more and more of the destruction.

Scattered bodies lay in pools of deep red, uniforms stained and ruined. Some officers, still alive, scrambled across the floor, trying to get away, crawling through blood and broken glass. Their breathless pleas filled the background, mixing with the sound of distant gunfire.

One officer, gripping his side, tried to pull himself toward an overturned desk, using it as weak cover.

**BOOM**

But a shotgun blast ripped through him from behind, his chest caving in as he collapsed forward, unmoving.

A woman sobbed hysterically, hands raised as she begged for her life.

**CRACK** But a single bullet silenced her.

Arias remained motionless, watching with the same quiet curiosity he carried for everything else.

This wasn't right.

He had created the HS group. Designed them to be nothing more than a pawn, a disposable entity. Even if the lower ranks had no idea who truly pulled their strings, the leadership did. And nothing—nothing—happened without his knowledge.

Yet here they were, engaging in something he had not sanctioned.

Rogue? No. That was impossible. The group's supply chain, funding, and key resources were all under his control. There was no way they could operate on this scale without massive outside backing.

Which meant...

'Someone is using their name.'

The thought settled in his mind just as the video shifted again.

One of the masked men dragged a police officer into the center of the shot. The officer was barely conscious, his face a swollen mess of blood and dirt. His right leg hung limply, twisted at a sickening angle, bone barely held together by torn muscle.

He gasped, wheezing through wet, labored breaths.

"Please... please, I have a family... I have kids—"

The masked man crouched beside him, gripping his chin and forcing his battered face toward the camera. "Well, that's a damn shame."

The officer whimpered, his body trembling violently.

The masked man turned his attention to the lens.

"But you, them, and everyone in this city can only blame yourselves... for accommodating Arias Markovic and his meta-human agenda."

Arias narrowed his eyes slightly, but otherwise remained still.

"This..." the man gestured around, "this is a product of your choice, Gotham. So watch closely."

The officer sobbed, his body racked with fear.

But the man didn't look at him again.

Instead, he stood up, raised his shotgun—

**BOOM**

The officer's head snapped back violently, the sheer force of the blast turning flesh and bone into something unrecognizable. What remained crumpled to the ground, one hand still twitching, his body slumping over the growing pool of blood.

Blood splattered across the walls, across the gunman's boots.

Arias exhaled slowly through his nose.

He had his answer now.

The masked man chuckled. A low, almost amused sound that built into something more—something full of twisted satisfaction. He stepped toward the camera, boots slick with fresh blood, the shotgun still hanging loosely at his side. ƒгeewebnovёl.com

"You see?" he said, voice brimming with amusement. "These are the consequences of forsaking humanity for some freaks!"

The camera wobbled slightly, the person behind it shifting to keep him in frame.

"Oh, but don't worry," the masked man continued, spreading his arms in mock reassurance. "We haven't forgotten about you people at home. Blackgate Peneteniary and Arkham? Consider them wide open. Right now, countless criminals are walking free—murderers, rapists, lunatics. Let's see how much you love your meta-human freaks and alien scum after they burn your city to the ground."

He grinned beneath his mask, a sick kind of excitement in his stance.

Then, turning back to the officer's mangled corpse, he added, "And don't bother calling the police... as you can see, they're quite busy." Heh.

**BOOM**

The shotgun fired again, blasting another round into the already dead man. The force of it jerked the lifeless body, a grotesque twitch that sent more blood splattering onto the nearby wall.

The masked man laughed, a few of his men chuckling along with him as they pressed forward.

Gunfire crackled in the background.

Screams still rang out.

And the feed continued, broadcasting death and carnage to whoever was watching.

Arias finally frowned.

Not at the violence—he had seen worse. Done worse.

No, his irritation stemmed from the obviousness of the attack. The direction of the message. This wasn't about killing police officers nor was it some random act of terrorism.

This was an attempt to turn the city against him.

His name was now tied to another massacre. His influence over Gotham—over the meta-human population—was being painted as the catalyst for destruction.

Whoever was behind this wasn't just looking to disrupt him. They were looking to destroy him.

Arias slipped his phone back into his pocket, his footsteps steady as he resumed his walk.

He exhaled slowly through his nose again, his mind already shifting gears.

'Whoever it is... they settled on a very drastic move.'

Fine.

'They leave me no choice but to make a drastic move of my own.'