by L. M. Kerr
“I will do what I must.” His words were stoic, just like his personality.
Hansama’s body calmed down as she regained focus, the wily expert quickly controlling her emotions once more as she forced back the feelings that had swarmed her. For a brief moment, she had felt everything Micheal had felt, experiencing the agony, loss, and despair he bore with him every day when he thought about humanity’s loss.
She did not only feel the bad, however. She also felt his determination, an endless, raging river that could not be stopped. A willpower that exceeded anything she had felt before, one guided by a singular mission.
As she felt all of this, Hansama’s blind gaze was now full of respect and a hint of worship. The elderly woman took a deep breath, her body growing still as she considered everything she felt and uttered a single sentence,
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
Micheal smiled, ever so slightly,
“I need a favor.”
.. .. .. .. .. ..
A couple of hours later…
.. .. .. .. .. ..
“We’ve just gotten word.” Shin looked down at his cellphone, and then over at Micheal and Sophia. The trio were sitting in a lounge by themselves. Micheal had been in the middle of instructing Sophia on some of the finer aspects of the Intermediate Tier of Sword Mastery when Shin interrupted them.
Micheal tensed up as he heard this, nodding at Shin to continue.
Shin read from his phone,
“Head Cameron has ordered a full-scale attack on the Nightrunner’s territory.
“The mission goal is to secure the two Permanent Nest and-” Shin paused for a second, looking up from his phone to gaze at Micheal,
“Destroy them.”
.
Chapter 70
“Ready up, men! We leave in T-minus 10!” A boisterous yell shook the air, coming from a rather masculine-looking woman.
She had dark red hair and tanned, leathery skin, with a set of broad shoulders and thick arms that complemented her tall frame. She stood at least an entire hand taller than Micheal, which was saying something, given that Micheal was above average height.
The woman was currently standing atop a rooftop in the territory of the Godfather Organization. Several groups of men and women stood, or in some cases, sat in Shop-purchased chairs, around the rooftop, waiting patiently. All of them were geared up in tactical or magical sets of armor, prepared for war.
Micheal watched Executive Riana, one of the six, now five, leading Executives of the Godfather Organization, and the rest of the groups that were here, his eyes missing nothing as he scanned his surroundings. There were a good 35 people on this rooftop, a motley collection of powerful Ability users assembled under the banner of the Godfather Organization.
He stood off to the side on his own, running through various scenarios in his head. He went over everything he could think of, not wanting to leave anything out.
Not far from him stood Shin, Sophia, and two of the newest Sub-Executives of the Godfather Organization, none other than the Wonder King and the Arabian General themselves. Learning about that strange coincidence had nearly sent him into shock.
After he thought about it, though, it made a bit more sense. If Cameron was having his thoughts altered by the Vile King, it was more than likely that Cameron would’ve picked up one of the man’s habits.
Finding powerful talents and recruiting them.
Given the vast network of information and manpower that the Godfather Organization possessed, as well as a slew of predictive or scanning Ability users, their discovery and recruitment wasn’t too surprising.
His eyes trailed back over to Executive Riana, frowning slightly. In nicer times, Riana would’ve been helping train Sophia, according to what she told him. Riana had a similar, unique Ability that was both activated through her eyes and couldn’t be purchased on the First Layer due to the Points Wall.
Specifically, she had the Vast Gaze Ability, the only one of its kind down here. It allowed her to focus her force of will into her eyes, making her gaze a terrible one to behold. She could stun or shock her enemies with a simple glance, imposing her willpower on others.
It was a very powerful Limited Ability, and one Micheal had on his list of potential Abilities to purchase once he got to the Second Layer. It just depended on his timing. The Ability was a Limited one, which meant it would almost certainly be fully taken by now.
However… when users of a Limited Ability died, their Ability didn’t vanish forever. There was a certain phenomenon that occurred with every new Wave of Chosen, known in history through many names. The Wave Reset, the Cleansing Wave, the Revivance, different groups knew it as different things, but its effects were the same.
Every time a Limited Ability user died or a Limited Artifact broke, there was a chance that that Ability or Artifact would return to the Shop when a new Wave started. The odds of this happening weren’t statistically known, but this was the only way to capture a Limited Ability or Artifact that was taken by someone else.
There was a small caveat. The new Chosen would always be the first to see any open Limited choices, meaning that everyone else couldn’t take a stab at any of them until every single Chosen had arrived in the First Layer.
This meant that, even if a Limited Ability or Artifact did reappear, it was entirely possible one of the new Chosen would’ve already picked it before you even got a chance to obtain it. Since this wasn’t something Micheal could plan for, he stuck most of these Abilities and Artifacts at the back of his list.
Micheal stretched his arms as he shook aside the stray thought, feeling the tight-fitting armor wrap around him. It was the same armor he’d worn while distracting the Monster Class Morenkai, Ivory Skin Leather Armor that he could put on and off with a simple thought.
He glanced to the side after he finished adjusting his armor, crossing gazes with Shin for a split second.
Shin nodded slightly at Micheal before returning to talking to Sophia and the other Sub-Executives, effectively ignoring him. A new addition had made it onto Shin and Sophia's gear, a small white bracelet that both of them wore on their wrists. Micheal glanced down at the matching bracelet he wore, a faint look of regret appearing in his eyes before he shook his head, focusing on their plan.
A conversation that had taken place just a little bit before all of this flashed into his mind.
“They’ve paired me, and y’all by extension, up with Executive Riana.” Shin, Sophia, and Micheal had been sitting in a lounge, waiting to hear what exact orders Shin would be given after they received word that they were going to attack.
In total, all of the remaining 5 Executives were paired up in their own, elite attack teams consisting of 30-50 warriors. Everyone in the team was a powerful A Ranker, able to handle their own and put out a variety of unique attacks.
The Godfather Organization was launching a six-pronged attack on the Nightrunners, with the intentions of taking over both of their Permanent Nests. Two of the teams would focus on drawing attention to themselves and leading the Godfather Organization guards to duke it out with the Nightrunner Cell Captains and elites at the border, while the other four teams would split off and take on the two Permanent Nests.
Once the Nests were secured, Cameron himself would be the one to shatter them.
The plan was more complicated than just that, with several contingency plans, shifting rotations of teams, and a lot of complex, strategic planning put into it. Micheal could appreciate the effort that went into it, understanding just how difficult it was to plan something so complete.
Their particular team was assigned to the northern Nightrunner Permanent Nest, what was termed ‘Nest B.’
Micheal looked away from Shin and took a deep breath. He glanced over at Executive Riana again, waiting patiently as she looked around the rooftop.
The moment she looked away, gazing out across to a neighboring skyscraper, Micheal began to move. He quickly walked towards the shed
atop the roof, making a casual beeline for it. He had positioned himself just a few meters away, inconspicuously standing nearby.
It took him only a scant few seconds to reach it. Once there, he immediately walked inside and went down three floors, hiding away.
This wasn’t just an impromptu action, but rather, the beginning of the final plan he had decided on.
When he and the others had been brainstorming earlier in the morning, Micheal had focused their plans on a single question.
What was the worst possible scenario that could take place?
Everything he threw at Director Prime had fared pretty poorly so far. The man’s freakish intelligence, perseverance, and Ability made it extremely difficult to plan against. Thus, he just decided to plan for everything to go wrong in the worst possible way.
And that was how he arrived here now.
Micheal snuck into a room he had scouted out before, an empty bedroom on the 52nd floor. He quickly shut the door behind him and pulled out a smartphone, navigating over to a specific forum post.
He sat patiently as he stared at the post. Several seconds went by. Those seconds gradually slipped into minutes as he maintained his calm, steady state.
In his younger years, he had always been swarmed by a certain nervous eagerness before any major battle. He’d found, over time, that the only way to not feel that pre-battle unsteadiness was to internalize and focus on what exactly your mission or goal was.
Once again, the trio was splitting up.
Shin and Sophia were heading off under Executive Riana’s command. While it was possible to keep Micheal’s disappearance on the down-low, if Shin vanished too, it would be glaringly obvious. All of the Sub-Executives were expected to be present and would certainly be accounted for.
If Shin got questioned by Riana or anyone with an Ability that could judge for lies, all he had to say was that he wasn’t sure where Micheal was, and that Micheal wasn’t following his orders. All of that was true, since technically, Shin wouldn’t know where exactly Micheal was, not to the exact meter, and Micheal had never followed Shin’s orders.
The first bit was a stretch, but it would still pass as true if tested. Those Abilities focused on literal interpretation, which meant there was a lot of leeway based on how one imagined their words.
While Shin and Sophia were under Riana’s command, their mission was simple. They were to participate in the battle to seize the Permanent Nest, but to focus primarily on their own safety.
And throughout the course of that battle, their mission had a singular goal.
Delay.
They were to prevent the destruction of the Permanent Nest Core as long as possible.
For while they did that… Micheal was off on what was likely his final major mission in the First Layer.
He wasn’t aiming to kill anyone in the Nightrunners, nor was he aiming to shatter either of the Permanent Nest Cores. His goal, this time, was one he thought would take almost everyone by surprise.
He was going to travel to The Towers and destroy the Monster Class Nest.
.
Chapter 71
A cold breeze swept through the air, carrying the sounds of various late-morning activities across the air. The temperature on the First Layer normally didn’t fluctuate by too much, but today was an unusually cool day.
For a brief moment, Sophia felt relaxed as she walked forward, in tune with the world around her.
That moment was promptly broken by a rather braggadocio voice talking from her side.
“Hehehe. Look at these muscles, Sophia. I can see why Micheal said this stuff could be addicting.” Shin grinned as he looked at Sophia, flexing his right arm appreciatively. The arm was lined in muscle and made him look like the type of person that had trained their body for years, focusing on power and strength.
Sophia shook her head at Shin, rolling her eyes out of habit.
Before they left, Micheal had made Shin get several sets of ingredients from the Godfather Organization’s storage units. By this point, Shin actually had to borrow the Contribution Points he needed to get the ingredients, but had managed to get away with it thanks to his status as a Sub-Executive.
They had then pooled their Points together to buy a few missing ingredients, all ones that Micheal combined to make three sets of a potion known as ‘Bracken Enhancement Fluid.’
It tasted awful, and had some rather annoying side-effects that were hard to get past, though Micheal grumbled that his first time had been much worse. Apparently he'd gotten better at balancing the ingredients after some experimentation.
The powerful boost the potion gave, however, was impossible to ignore.
Shin had said his body felt as if it had exploded with power and his senses expanded to a finer degree. He found it much easier to aim his gun and react faster, upping his combat prowess a sizable amount.
Sophia found similar effects. Not only did her physical strength go up a large amount, she felt that her Fairy Eyes seemed to have ascended to the next level. They became more potent and difficult to resist, all while providing less strain on her Soul.
She would never admit it, but she also quite liked the hard, toned look it gave her.
After catching Sophia’s attention, Shin’s smile dimmed as he continued, his gaze turning serious,
“Is it really fine for us to just waltz on by like this?” Shin rubbed his chin as he glanced off behind them.
They were currently walking across a solid, wooden bridge that connected one skyscraper to another. Behind them, six or seven people could be seen on a rooftop, resting and talking. The skyscraper they were moving to was empty, bereft of other people.
Their team had currently split up into a number of small groups. They had all parted ways and were making their way through the territory of the Nightrunners, moving without issue.
It had been surprisingly easy to move within the Nightrunners' territory. No matter how complex the organization was, the territory each of the Big 3 controlled was simply too large to reasonably be locked down. All they had done was walk across a few bridges and they had already entered the general area.
As they walked, Shin truly realized how many people had come to the Main Cluster.
Previously, while it was common to see people out and about, the number of empty skyscrapers he’d pass was overwhelmingly larger than the number of occupied ones.
Now, however…
Shin eyed the empty skyscraper in front of him.
Of the 18 skyscrapers they’d moved across, this was the first one that didn’t have anyone on top of it.
Large groups of people had been present on most of the previous ones, oftentimes making noise or throwing things down below to draw the attention of various Morenkai. The Morenkai would typically climb up once agitated, usually in clumps of 2 or 3, and various fights would break out.
In the background, they could hear a few gunshots echoing out, a noise that was becoming annoyingly common. Not everyone had made the transition to using melee weapons or using guns that were quieter. At least Shin’s own Soul Pistol was a relatively quiet gun. The sniper rifle Micheal had given Shin, on the other hand, was anything but, though it also wasn't his primary weapon.
All of the attacking groups handled the Morenkai with well-practiced ease. Each rooftop had become its own Point farming factory. It was a surreal sight that felt like it belonged in a movie or a video game, not in real life.
Shin, in a fit of curiosity, had teleported down into a skyscraper. He’d found a similar setup down in the lower floors, where a team was drawing out Morenkai and hunting them down.
The sheer number of people actively hunting down Morenkai to grow stronger had reached a huge level.
And, despite all of that, they hadn’t been confronted or attacked. No one had tried to rob them or give them a hard time. It was almost like everyone had become obsessed with quietly growing as strong as possible while avoiding any trouble.
After a moment’s cons
ideration, it made a bit of sense to Shin. Most people were primarily concerned about their own survival. While killing another human could grant a sizable number of Points, it also brought about a large amount of danger.
Killing regular Morenkai, on the other hand, was much safer, as long as you could avoid Abnormals.
It also probably had to do with the rumors of Erratic Morenkai that were running roughshod in the territory of the Angels Arcadia. Their numbers weren’t overwhelming, yet, but they were becoming a notable danger.
“I mean… it’s working, I guess? Let's just focus on reaching the pre-attack meeting point.” Sophia shrugged at Shin’s question, marching forward with determination.
Shin shrugged back after a moment and quickly followed. She had a point.
The guards working for the Nightrunners seemed decidedly… lax, for some reason.
It was true that two of the Godfather Organization's teams had split off and were causing commotions along the western part of their shared border. Shin had spotted several clumps of guards dressed in all black, led by a few strong-looking men and women, race by across nearby skyscrapers, headed vaguely in that direction.
But still, even with that said, it was like the Nightrunners had fallen into some type of mixed disarray. For a member of the Big 3, their current level of security was just awful.
Still, Shin wasn’t going to complain about it.
They continued their journey, following a series of specific directions. 22 skyscrapers this way, 19 skyscrapers that way, a turn here, a few turns there…
In all of that time, not once were they stopped by anyone at all. They passed by several groups of black-garbed guards, the customary outfit of members of the Nightrunners, but most of these forces were simply milling about, not going on patrol or questioning people.
Shin detected a faint hint of confusion present about most of them, as if they weren’t quite sure what they were supposed to be doing.
