by L. M. Kerr
"Is this..?"
"Anna." Cameron responded gruffly as he looked at the body of the woman. A few seconds passed in silence. After a moment more, Cameron kneeled down on the ground, ignoring the pool of blood he knelt in as he looked at her corpse quietly.
"She was a brave woman." Micheal replied slowly, keeping his tone at a steady level. From how her body was positioned, and the injuries she took, it was clear that she fought to the death to ward off their attacker.
"The bravest. She was from Russia. Her full name was Anna Vronsky." Cameron's voice sounded odd, displaying emotions that he rarely showed.
"She would tell me all the time about the pair of Siberian puppies she'd had before she was Chosen, back in the same Wave as I. Adorable little mutts that she loved like her children." He raised his hand to her face and slowly closed her now sightless eyes.
"We never could find her children, one of my many failures. She always worried about them, and about how her puppies were doing, back on Earth." The Godfather slowly stood up, his shoulders hunched as he continued,
"She was a good woman."
Micheal watched on silently, making neither comment nor judgement as he let Cameron speak. His words had gradually become filled with intense emotion, as if the pain he felt had taken control.
Cameron walked over to where the silver greatsword and mangled body. The man knelt on the ground again, resting a hand on the large weapon.
"Ha-sun hated violence. He was from Korea and wanted nothing other than to listen to Korean music all day long." He traced his hand along the sword,
"He joined us after witnessing the violence of the First Layer. He wanted to put an end to that, to create a world of peace and happiness." Cameron rested his hand on the hilt of the sword,
"He didn't ask for anything. He was selfless and understood our mission as well as any." After a moment's pause, he stood up once more,
"He was a good man."
Both of them took a few steps back, giving the bodies room.
"They all were."
Micheal and Cameron looked on in silence for several seconds. Neither moved or made any sound as some officials moved forward and began to cover up the remains, taking their retreat as a sign to act.
Finally, Cameron turned to face Micheal,
"Thank you." The Godfather didn't specify why, and Micheal didn't ask. The Head took a deep breath. Gradually, he collected himself, a strong image of the fearsome, powerful S Ranker and elite leader of the Godfather Organization covering up a tired, broken man.
"Andrew." His voice boomed out loud, covering the entire rooftop. Everyone turned to look at the Godfather, stopping in what they were doing.
"Yes, Head!" Executive Andrew stopped talking to a group of guards and faced Cameron, nodding respectfully.
"The Godfather Organization is hereby going into our highest security level. All Executives are to meet at central command in t-minus 2 hours. Any and all intel judged to be of importance or relevance to the events of the past few days is to be immediately passed forward." As Cameron spoke, he also gestured at two of the officers Andrew had been speaking to, as if to convey the command to them as well.
"See that the order is passed along immediately."
"Yes, Head!"
"Yessir!"
"At once!"
Executive Andrew and the two officials next to him, Information Officers that were responsible for spreading and gathering information, gave out a flurry of replies as Cameron took command. All three whipped out smartphones and began to issue orders.
"My men and women died to defend this Permanent Nest Core, and for what? We don't even have the Core anymore, and it was never that important." Cameron sighed again as he lowered his voice, talking almost to himself, as if Micheal wasn't there.
Micheal's eyes widened when he heard that, picking up on the implications. The person that had attacked here hadn't just murdered several guards and elite members of the Godfather Organization, he had also destroyed the Permanent Nest Core.
Micheal's mind was racing ahead of him as he processed everything. A being that could destroy a Nest Core, and a Permanent Nest Core at that, must contain some truly incredible destructive power.
A man, or woman, that was so strong, able to take on the elite guard that was stationed here, including an Executive and Sub-Executive, all in a matter of minutes, before reinforcements could arrive, all while taking extremely serious injuries as if they were nothing…
He could only think of one man that had the potential to do battle like this.
Number 1, of the Nightrunner Numbers.
.. .. .. .. .. ..
In a skyscraper close to the border between the Godfather Organization and the Nightrunners…
.. .. .. .. .. ..
"Hahaha! Victory is at hand, brothers and sisters!" Garen Olsteis laughed out loud as he looked at the various masked figures sitting in the lounge, unable to help himself from smiling.
Number 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12… A multitude of masked figures sat around a large table, many of them joining in laughter. Some of the figures were petite, and small, like Number 10, while others were muscular and large, like Number 12. All of them carried a unique aura about them, that of a powerful expert.
The air was filled with jubilation, a great celebration full of relief and cheer.
"Chaos shall no longer prevail! The power we all have gained…" Garen held up a hand as warm, golden light swarmed around him as he spoke. He became the spitting image of a hero out of legend, a mighty warrior that could never fail.
The light he gave off was qualitatively different than it had been just a few days ago. Its intensity was at an extreme level, so powerful it was visibly affecting the air, causing sparks to appear.
"We will bring peace to this troubled world, whether humanity likes it or not."
A few more cheers spread out as several of the masked figures were swept up by Garen's heroic aura. Only Number 6 seemed to remain unaffected, sitting silently as he watched the proceedings.
Garen began to pontificate more. However, before he could continue for much longer…
The sound of footsteps echoed, coming from the hallway outside.
All of the Numbers, Garen included, glanced towards the doorway of the lounge. Several of them readied weapons in case this was a surprise attack, rather than just someone passing by.
Those footsteps slowed and came to a halt, right outside.
Slowly, the door opened up. The various members of the group all leaned forward, ready to respond to any threat at all. Garen watched on with an amused expression, one that abruptly froze as a familiar man walked into the room.
Mixed looks of sheer, utter horror, terror, and shock flitted beneath the masks of all of the Numbers present as everyone stared at the man that had just walked in. The atmosphere of the lounge froze, all mirth and good cheer vanishing.
Director Prime looked around at the hidden gathering of his own organization, a gathering he had crashed uninvited. His gaze was cool, filled with neither anger nor pleasure. Slowly, after surveilling almost everyone, he turned his eyes to Number 1.
"Garen." Prime looked at Garen for a few moments silently. Garen stared back, the shock in the man's eyes vanishing, replaced by cold darkness that gave off nothing.
"What have you done?"
.
Chapter 68
“2 Supreme A Rankers, 7 regular A Rankers, 22 B Rankers, and 38 C Rankers. Those were the total casualties.”
Micheal watched on silently as a stiff-looking old man read aloud from a sheet of paper.
He was currently standing in a grand meeting room, tucked away in the headquarters of the Godfather Organization. The room was large, with a long, rectangular table dominating the center of it. Around that table, roughly 30 figures sat, listening to the man speak.
He currently sat next to Shin and Sophia, listening patiently. Nearby, various Executives, Sub-Executives, and various high-level Branch Leaders or Guard Captains sat as well. H
ead Cameron sat at the back of the table, facing across it towards the speaker.
One and all, everyone focused upon the speaker quietly as he continued his report.
“The Permanent Nest Core is no longer present, nor could our Communication Teams find anything else. The Research Department teams may have found further results.” The old man finished, his voice going slightly hoarse from all the talking.
According to Shin, this old man was the head of the Communications Department of the Godfather Organization, and the leader of the various Communication Officers.
A few hours had passed since they returned back to the Godfather Organization’s territory. In that time, Micheal had recovered from most of his exhaustion. He still wasn’t at 100%, but he was close enough.
The Seer had gone back to the residence provided to her, protected temporarily here. It was possible that a battle could break out at any moment, and while she was by no means weak, she also wasn’t a creature of war.
“Ah, yes. Thank you, Hank.” A familiar voice caught Micheal’s attention as he glanced back up.
Doctor Isaiah, the Head Researcher of the Hidden Truths Department, had taken front and center as he replaced Officer Hank at the head of the table. The doctor looked exhausted, with baggy line on his cheeks and bloodshot eyes.
When he spoke, however, his voice contained a hint of excitement.
“As requested, our men have looked over the scene of the attack.“ For the first time, Micheal fully realized that Doctor Isaiah had a lot more influence than he had originally thought. It appeared that his ‘Head Researcher’ job wasn’t just for the Hidden Truths Department.
Isaiah continued,
“And in the past few hours, after running multiple extensive tests, we have found out several things.” The man pulled out a large, printed out chart. On it, several images were displayed, as well as several charts full of data.
“The Permanent Nest Core was severely damaged and then taken away.” He pointed to one of the pictures, one that showed a smudge on a concrete floor.
“When the Permanent Nest Core was damaged, it gave off a large amount of energy. This energy possessed mystical properties that are not easily measurable, even using all the tools we have at our disposal.”
Admiral Cardell, one of the sitting Executives present, cut Isaiah off.
“We get that it was damaged. But why was it damaged? What was the purpose?” The man’s voice was gruff, going well with his rather odd image, a muscular man wearing a loose sailor's vest and a huge anchor on his back.
Isaiah nodded and continued, unperturbed, as if he had never been interrupted,
“We believe the reason why the Nest Core was damaged is precisely due to the energy it gave off.” Isaiah pointed to a few more charts of data.
“We managed to gather a substantial amount of abandoned, residue dust from the scene of the battle. From this residue, we were able to trace and computationally track the type of energy released. While we can’t recreate it, we have managed to determine at least some of its properties.”
When Micheal heard this, he couldn't help but exhale slightly.
‘Impressive. Truly impressive.’ It really was. To do so much work in just a few hours, Isaiah and his team of researchers were really something.
“And?” Admiral Cardell waved at him impatiently to continue.
Isaiah simply nodded,
“When it comes to personal effects, the first thing of note is that the energy released by the Permanent Nest Core contains an extremely strong enhancing effect. It’s almost as if some of the power of the First Layer, itself, was imbued into the person that destroyed the Permanent Nest Core. That is the only way I can explain it.”
Grumbles of surprise spread out in the room at that. The surprise faded quickly to worry as people tried to understand Isaiah’s words.
“What else, Doctor?” Head Cameron’s voice boomed out loud, filling the air with his powerful force of presence. Everyone in the room instantly fell silent, not daring to utter a peep.
“The second thing of note has to do with the first thing.” Isaiah brought his hand over to a different part of the large paper, pointing at a graph,
“From what we can tell, the channeled power of the First Layer should dissipate once the person exits the First Layer. But certain residual changes will be permanent, changes that affect the mind and soul. It seems that shattering these Permanent Nest Cores can cause permanent changes to a person’s stats, though we aren’t quite sure how.”
At that line, several more conversations broke out. Something like this was big news, a change in the established norm.
‘Truly a genius at analyzation. I really wonder what his Type Ability is?’ Micheal gazed at the man with a studied glance.
The Permanent Nest Cores likely gave a similar boost to one’s Soul Quality as the Temporary Nest Cores. However, it seemed they also gave something special, some type of Layer-specific boost.
‘Channeling the power of the First Layer, huh?’ It certainly didn’t sound like good news for them right now.
“This channeling power and these permanent residual changes… can they be achieved with Temporary Nest Cores?” The Admiral broke in.
“Yes, that does seem to be the case. Based on a few more rough calculations, from our own base data on Temporary Nest Cores, we were able to create a prediction chart on a few specific ratios.” Isaiah replied swiftly,
“To get the same level of permanent changes as the Permanent Nest, you would need to break 14 Temporary Nest Cores. After that, the energy seems to reach some type of cap that cannot be surpassed on the First Layer. As for channeling the power of the First Layer…” Isaiah scratched his head,
“That seems to be related to the Permanent Nests only.”
More exchanges swarmed the air as the people sitting at the table briefly discussed the new information.
Micheal committed this tidbit to memory, storing it away for later. If what Isaiah said was accurate, then he had found the exact number of Temporary Nests he would need to destroy, as would Sophia and Shin, before they left for the Second Layer.
Isaiah continued after the room settled down,
“However, there is a rather important caveat. To access these powers, you must first be able to destroy a Nest Core in the first place. And I believe we are all very aware of how difficult that truly is.”
It wasn’t as if people had never tried to destroy Temporary Nest Cores. Indeed, these creations were often viewed more as a nuisance than anything else. Their seemingly random appearance, short-lived life, and the havoc they wrought as a result were all well-known facts.
Micheal hesitated for a few seconds before opting to say nothing at all. He glanced at the Godfather before he made this decision, pursing his lips slightly.
There were too many odd things happening in the past few days. Right now, he didn’t want to stand out any more than he had to, not while he was still planning for the future.
He sent a glance over to both Shin and Sophia, indicating for them to say nothing as well.
While he did this, the people sitting at the table had started a loud discussion on how they might be able to shatter a Temporary Nest Core.
“We could use alternating extreme temperature changes. I know we have a Yin-Yang Elemental Type here…”
“What about crushing the Nest Core with overwhelming force? The Admiral’s specialty lies there…”
“We could create a heavy-duty cannon using some of the…”
“How about some Gnomish Explosives…”
The deluge of voices gradually picked up in intensity.
Before it could get too loud, however…
“SILENCE!” Head Cameron’s voice shook the air, instantly forcing everyone to stop talking. The air around him seemed to vibrate with energy as a dreadful aura was unleashed, re-reminding those present of his power. Micheal was the only one unaffected by it, largely because of his Aura Nullification Necklace. It wa
s a rather handy Artifact.
The Head was wearing a full black suit with a sharp black tie. His silly attire of earlier was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a stern, unforgiving visage of authority.
“Isaiah. Continue. You have more to report, yes?” Cameron gazed at the researcher.
“Yes, Head.” Isaiah ducked his head slightly.
“We have detected certain… anomalies that have emerged recently. Anomalies that have started to affect the makeup of the First Layer.” Isaiah put out another large piece of paper. This one was a map of the Main Cluster, with several large, circled areas.
“Recently, various groups of Morenkai have begun to turn rather erratic. They move at their maximum speed, no longer slowly shambling about. This, in turn, has made survival much more difficult for weaker and regular humans.” Isaiah pointed at several different places on the map,
“And from our research… We have determined that the main location where these ‘Erratic Morenkai’ exist centers on the territory of the Angels Arcadia.” Isaiah then began to explain.
The Erratic Morenkai were only erratic when in range of the Angels Arcadia, and a few other smaller powers. Any groups of Erratic Morenkai would revert to normal once they left this territory.
As Isaiah continued, he began to draw several connections between these changes and the various energy signals given off by the Permanent Nest Core. Isaiah publicly shared some of his research, with his own new insights into Permanent Nests.
The most shocking revelation he unveiled would have to be his belief that the Monster Class Nest, the Permanent Nests, and the Temporary Nests were all connected.
The Monster Class Nest transmitted a signal that was received by the Permanent Nests. The Permanent Nests then moderated that signal, and sent it off to the Temporary Nests. These signals controlled the Morenkai, causing them to shamble about and follow certain patterns.
However, according to Isaiah, when the Permanent Nest was destroyed, the signal sent by the Monster Class Nest was interrupted. It transformed into a confusing and haphazard mess that set the Morenkai off, transforming them into ‘Erratic Morenkai.’
