The moment I stepped into the flames, I could feel the heat from the fire brush past my skin.
Waving my hand forward and channeling the wind psyons in the air, a protective sphere formed around me, redirecting the flames away from me.
With the sphere around me, I moved forward. Towards the sea of flames.
"Khhh..."
A couple of steps into the fire, a small groan escaped from my lips.
Despite the fact that I was diverting the fire away from me, the heat from the fire was no joke. The evidence of this was my skin which was slowly turning red.
"kh..."
Gritting my teeth, and ignoring the pain, I continued moving forward.
"Haaa!"
"Hue!"
Because of the raging flames blocking my vision, I couldn't see where I was going. Even then, I could still hear the agonizing shouts coming from the guards that were being burnt alive.
Focusing on the screams coming from the guards, I quickly headed in their direction.
They were my goal.
"Khh...khhh..help"
Before long, following the nearest scream, I arrived before a guard. Well, what remained of the guard.
With the air barrier revolving around me, arriving before him, I was able to get a quick glimpse of his condition.
The moment my eyes laid on him, all I saw was a charred body. With his hand raised towards my direction, in a groggy, almost inaudible voice, he begged.
"Help...me...ahh'”!"
"Sure."
Lowering my body, I raised my hand and smacked his head, directly killing him in one hit. At this point, even someone came to his aid, he was too far injured to be saved.
"huuu."
Exhaling, my eyes paused towards what seemed to be the hand of the guard. On it, was a small golden ring.
Taking the ring from the guard's hand, I closed my eyes and channeled my mana.
'Great, everything is here.'
Looking through the ring and seeing that everything was still in there, I smiled in satisfaction.
Taking out the ring that was on my finger and replacing it with the one I took from the guard, I put away my old ring.
Once I put the ring on my finger, staring at the corpse of the guard next to me, I moved back, and once again let it be engulfed by the flames.
Turning around, I moved a couple of meters away from the body and sat down.
"huuu."
Taking a deep breath, I knew that I didn't have much time. Closing my eyes, I decreased the radius of the air shield that was revolving around me.
"khh.."
Burn marks started to appear all over my body, but I didn't care. I had to save as much mana as possible.
The flames around me continued to rage wildly around me for the next ten minutes or so, and just when I was about to run out of mana, the flames finally started showing signs of decreasing.
"Over here."
"There is an injured person over here"
Before long I could hear the sound of the rescue team in the distance. Waving my hand, the air shield around me dissipated, and once it disappeared, the flames instantly enveloped my entire body.
Closing my eyes, using the last mana inside of my body, I muttered.
"Monarch's indifference."
***
Inside of a large room lit by a dim lamp, multiple figures sat around a large oval wooden table. At the moment, a heavy atmosphere shrouded the room as everyone's eyes looked towards a man sitting at the head of the table.
Objectively speaking, he was a handsome man. He had sharp, well-defined facial features that shone beautifully under the dim light.
His displeased expression was the reason for the heavy atmosphere.
"So you're telling me that you still can't track 876?"
His deep and cold voice rang across the room. Turning his head, and staring towards a certain individual sitting on the table, his voice grew colder.
"And you're also telling me that a commander like you is incapable of taking care of a single individual despite the fact that you had two units helping you?"
A heavy pressure descended upon the room. Every single individual's breathing became rough, and sweat trickled down the side of their faces.
"..."
Reprimanded, Luther wordlessly raised his head.
The moment he raised his head, and the light shone on his face, a massive burn mark that spread across half of his face became visible for everyone in the room to see.
Clenching his fists underneath the table, Luther did not rebuke and apologize.
"I acknowledge my mistake."
Propping his elbow on the table and resting his cheek on his fist, the handsome man indifferently asked. "Is that all you have to say?"
"No." Luther shook his head, before gritting his teeth, and suddenly standing up. "Please give me another chance, Xavier!"
'”Bang!
Smashing his fist on the table and startling the people around him, Luther raised his voice.
"I swear to you that I will grab that fucker and kill him with my own hands!"
Each and every single word that came out of his mouth was coated with unimaginable amounts of hatred.
Although he did not get any serious injury, fury and humiliation surged within him whenever he thought about the incident that happened not too long ago. Such disgrace was something he had never experienced before, it remained in his mind vividly.
Deeply starting at Luther, Xavier mused.
"So you're saying that you will take responsibility for your failure?"
"Yes."
Luther firmly replied.
"...I see, alright."
"Really?"
At Xavier's agreement, Luther's eyes lit up as the flames of hatred that were flashing across his eyes burned even more fiercely.
"I will not disappoint you!"
"mhm...but, there's one condition."
"One condition?"
Luther's excitement died down, and what replaced it was wariness.
'As expected, there's no free lunch in this world.'
This was how the Monolith operated, Luther knew that there were no such things as favors in the Monolith. There were only deals, and Xavier was just about to propose his deal.
"What's the condition?"
"Don't worry, it's nothing too bad."
Propping his other elbow on the table and interlocking his fingers together, Xavier casually said. "In the process of hunting down 876, I want you to bring a couple of recruits with you."
"A couple of recruits?"
"Mhm, they're fairly young, but I believe in their potential. Let this be a good experience for them."
"...Is that all?"
"Yup" Smiling, he teased. "What, you were expecting something else?"
"No, no, no, I understand."
"Good."
Smiling, and taking his attention away from Luther, Xavier switched the topic.
"Now, onto a different topic. Long story short, we're planning on ambushing Monica Jeffrey."
"What!? Monica Jeffrey?"
"ah?!"
"The sunset witch?"
Gazing at each other, murmurs and whispers instantly swept the room.
Everyone in the room knew who Monica was.
The sunset witch and the next SS ranked hero, a prodigy that had never been seen before, and the Monolith's number one bounty holder.
Propping his head on his hands that were interlocked together, Xavier calmly explained. "The reason why I'm telling you this is because the higher-ups are planning on ambushing her."
Pausing and looking at everyone present in the room, Xavier ordered. "In the meantime, once the higher-ups leave to take care of that pest, it will be your job to ensure everyone's safety. If there is anything big that is happening, it'll be your job to take care of it, understood?"
Listening to Xavier's words, everyone drew a cold breath.
If what Xavier said was true, and the higher-ups actually succeeded in killing Monica Jeffrey, then the war between the Monolith and the Union would escalate even further and reach points where they would start an all-out war.
One that would no longer be hidden in the shadows.
Understanding this, the atmosphere became extremely tense.
Fully aware of what everyone was thinking, Xavier sharply looked at everyone in the room.
"I repeat, did everyone understand what I just said?"
Staring at each other for a brief moment, standing up, everyone unanimously shouted.
"Yes!"
"Good, the meeting is over."
Clapping his hands together and standing up from his seat, Xavier turned around and made his way out of the room.
Once he left the room, following after him, were the rest of the people that had attended the meeting. Luther included.
***
For an unknown amount of time, darkness enveloped my vision.
I didn't know how much time had passed, but eventually, regaining control of my body, I opened my eyes.
The moment I opened my eyes, I was met with an unfamiliar white ceiling.
My mind felt hazy and my vision was foggy.
Did I succeed? Or did I fail?
The boundary between reality and dreams was ambiguous.
My whole body ached and many questions emerged inside of my mind as memories started flooding inside of it.
'Right, the fire.'
It was then that slowly I started remembering what had happened to me moments prior. The pain that was coursing through my body was what really reminded me of what happened.
"Ah."
Slowly lifting my head, a small audible gasp escaped from my lips. Covered from head to toe with bandages, I found myself inside of what seemed to be a hospital room.
Next to me, were other people in a similar state to mine.
"Oh, you're up?"
A soft voice called out for me.
Turning my head, a beautiful young girl with black hair and a nurse gown arrived next to me. In her hand was a small clipboard.
"Are you okay?" She asked whilst unwrapping the bandages that were covering my head. "Your injuries were pretty severe. You've got third-degree burns all over your body. If not for the sedatives and pain killers on you, you'd be passing out from the pain."
Watching her unwrap the bandages on my head, I refrained from speaking.
One, because there was a chance that they could recognize my voice, and two, because my brain was extremely drowsy.
With all of the medications I was on, it became incredibly hard for me to process what was happening around me.
Had it not been for the chip inside of my head, it would've taken way longer for me to realize what was happening.
'...did my plan work?'
Looking around, from the looks of thins, my plan seemed to have worked. Though it resulted in me burning myself once again, somehow, I was able to successfully infiltrate the Monolith.
"Alrighty Matteo, stay still so that I can replace your bandages?"
"Matteo?" I muttered out loud as I wondered inside of my mind. 'Who's Matteo? Never heard of him before, and why did she call me that?' Too distracted by my own thoughts, I was unable to realize the fact that Matteo was the name of the guard that I had swapped rings with during the fire. In it were his belongings and ID card.
That was why she had called me his name.
"Hm? Isn't that your name?" Tilting her head, the nurse lifted her head slightly and looked at her clipboard. "Matteo Monaco? Isn't that you?"
The nurse's words instantly cleared up my drowsy mind.
I then quickly pretended to still be under the effects of the drugs.
"...huuekk, teo teo."
"Hmm, I guess you still can't quite understand what I'm saying."
Fortunately for me, the nurse didn't put much thought into it and continued to replace the bandages in my head.
Realizing that I had managed to somehow bullshit my way out of my blunder, I sighed in relief.
If not for my quick thinking, I might've been in deep trouble.
"Alright, I'm all done." Finished replacing my bandages, the nurse clapped her hands in satisfaction before saying. "Have some rest, I'll come back to check up on you tomorrow."
"Khm, hm, hm."
I replied in a way that made it seem that I was still under the effect of the drugs.
"Alright, now onto the next patient."
Gazing at the back of the nurse, closing my eyes, the gears of my mind started turning.
'I need to get out of here as fast as possible.'
Despite the fact that I had managed to successfully infiltrate the Monolith, I knew that the real trouble was just about to begin.
I was closer to freedom than ever before, yet, it also felt like I was still miles away from my goal.
Still, I wasn't disheartened.
Since I had managed to get to where I was now, nothing could stop me from escaping this hell hole.
Nothing.
'Let's think this through before moving.'
Laying down on the bed, I refrained myself from quickly dashing out of the infirmary. There were still many factors that I needed to take into account before actually moving.
For one, without a doubt, the Monolith was currently looking for me everywhere. I mean, I did kill over a dozen of their soldiers, including their top scientist as well as blew up one of the entrances of the Monolith.
If they weren't looking for me, I'd be very surprised.
'Another thing I have to be careful of is the fact that by now, they should have an idea of the fact that I can change faces. They'd be stupid if they didn't, therefore, I have to be even more careful.'
Out of habit, lifting my hand and placing it on my chin, I started musing to myself.
If there was anyone present in the room, they'd find the scene quite comical.
That aside, my point still stood.
Even if the people hunting me down hadn't figured out that I had something that could help me change faces, by now, they should already have an idea of what I was capable of.
Therefore, I needed to be even more vigilant when moving than before. Couldn't be as reckless.
'...lastly the chip.'
This was the problem that was bugging me the most.
Although I had shut down the connection with my chip, the Monolith without a doubt had some devices that should be capable of locating the chip inside of my head.
Even though it may take time for them to set it up since Joseph was dead, I still needed to take this point into consideration.
The more I pondered about this problem, the more I realized how little time I had at my disposal.
If by the end of the week I was not out of this place, then I could kiss my chances of escaping goodbye.
I needed to get out of this place by the end of the week.
