[Union headquarters, 120th floor]
Inside a dimly lit room, five of the seven heads of the Union sat on a large round table.
Being some of the most powerful people in the human domain, they were individuals whose decisions could decide the lives of millions. As a result, multiple oppressive auras enveloped the room.
Anyone below <S> rank would simply faint under this pressure.
"I presume you all know why we're meeting right?"
A tall robust man with dirt blond hair spoke up. Just his casual words caused the air around him to crackle as thin lightning bolts revolved around his body.
He was Maximus von Dexteroi, third in the Hero ranking, and one of the seven heads of the Union.
"Hmm, It'd be strange if we didn't. Especially after that rat's betrayal."
A snaked-eyed person replied. He was seventh in the Hero ranking, Ceasar Kuliner.
An extremely famous Hero that was renowned for his dagger techniques that could mutilate opponents with a single look.
"Who would've thought that Tasos was a traitor."
"...Mhm, I guess looks can be deceiving."
Two melodious voices rang inside of the room.
The voices belong to Julia Romantica and Daphne Lawrence, respectively second and ninth in the hero rankings.
Adorned in jewelry and piercings, Daphne was a black woman. As one would expect, she had a wild beauty to her that would make any man grovel at her feet.
On the other hand, sitting next to her was Julia who in contrast to her was tall slim white beauty with white hair and blue eyes. Most frightening about her was her power, as she was only one rank behind the number one spot.
"Quiet, the meeting is about to start."
A soft voice suddenly enveloped the whole room. The moment the voice spoke, everyone subconsciously stopped speaking.
That was because the person who had just spoken was the number one ranked hero in the human domain, 'The sovereign', Octavious Hall.
The most powerful human in existence.
With brown hair and languid eyes that seemed to be devoid of any emotion, an aura of oppression and destruction exuded from his body. Completely suppressing the other auras in the room.
The power radiating from his body was so strong, that with every breath he took, tangible mana appeared in the air.
Closing his eyes, Octavious suddenly waved his hand.
"Let's begin."
The moment he waved his hand, the space in front of him tore apart and a small black void appeared out of thin air.
"Thank you for having me."
An ethereal voice suddenly rang inside of the room.
Not long after, a silhouette stepped out of the void. With ruby-red eyes that glistened underneath the lights of the room, long-cascading black hair, and fair skin, a male figure leisurely walked out of the portal.
<script>ChapterMid();</script>
Stepping out of the void, the man casually looked around and bowed his head slightly.
"Been a while since I last saw you, heads."
Indifferently staring at the man who had just entered the room, Octavious's mouth opened.
"Wahid 'aelah"
"In the flesh."
Also known as the one above all in Arabic, and the head of the Monolith.
Not much was known about him, but what everyone in the room could feel from the faint undulations of magic resonating from his body was that his power was on par with Octavious, if not even stronger.
The room instantly became tense.
"It seems like everyone is here."
Taking a seat all the way over on the other side of the table, Wahid 'aelah propped both of his elbows on the table before supporting his chin with his hands that were interlocked together.
"I'm sure you heads know why I asked to meet, right?"
"You wish to stop the war?"
Maximus coldly spoke from the side.
"Correct."
"Psh, so you want to stop a war you guys started, just like that?"
"You only want to cease the war now that you guys suffered a loss at our hands? Laughable."
"Indeed."
Ceasar mocked from the side. Julia and Daphne joined after him.
In response to their mockery, Wahid 'aelah smiled serenely.
"Is that so? Then what are the seve..scuse me, I meant five heads of the Union gonna do about it?"
Maximus suddenly stood up.
—Kracka! —Kracka!
Purple lightning crackled all over his body as he glared at Wahid 'aelah. Raising his hand, a lightning bolt that was filled with killing intent appeared in his hand, illuminating the whole room.
"I've thought about a better solution. How about I just kill you and stop the wa—"
"Sit."
Cutting Maximus off was Octavious's indifferent voice. Turning his head, Maximus glared at Octavious.
"Don't tell me you're not going to jump at the opportunity presented before you?"
There were five of the strongest humans present in the human domain in the same room. The leader of the Monolith was present in the same room as them.
This was the perfect opportunity for them to get rid of him.
With a face devoid of any emotions, Octavious responded.
"That's not his real body."
"Hmm, you could tell?"
A surprised look appeared on Wahid 'aelah's face.
"And here I thought that I had fooled everyone."
A trace of pity flashed Wahid 'aelah eyes.
"Cut the nonsense, tell us what you want." Ceasar cut in. "I don't have much time to waste on your games."
At Ceasar's words, Wahid 'aelah smiled. He then raised his finger.
"I only demand one thing." Pausing Wahid 'aelah casually looked at everyone in the room, before continuing. "...to be more precise, I want one person."
"A person?"
Waving his hand in the air, black flames appeared on the tip of Wahid 'aelah's fingers. Thereafter, the image of an individual riddled with scars formed in the middle of the flames. Turning his head and looking at the image, Wahid 'aelah spoke.
"Mhm, I want him. Subject 876."
Staring at the picture Daphne muttered out loud.
"...burned face and scars, that seems to fit the descriptions of the person that saved Amon, Monica, and the others."
Having read the reports that came from the survivors of the secret operation, everybody knew that the person that Wahid 'aelah wanted was the same person that had rescued, Monica, Amon, and the others.
As a result of this, everybody frowned.
Not minding the reaction of the others, Wahid 'aelah continued.
"That is correct. Give him to us, and I promise you a truce with the Union. We can sign a contract if you don't believe me. Well, that is as long as you agree to my terms."
"A truce?"
Octavius's voice rang out.
Following his voice, everyone looked at Wahid 'aelah to make sure that they didn't hear wrongly. Being stared at by five of the strongest people in the human domain, Wahid 'aelah's face remained serene.
"Mhm, you did not hear wrong."
Following his words, a look of understanding suddenly appeared on the faces of the people inside of the room.
The truce was the real reason behind the meeting.
876 was merely an excuse used to propose the truce.
With the Union losing two of their heads, including Monica, and the Monolith suffering similar large losses with both Mo Jinhao and Tasos heavily injured from the explosion, the two organizations at the moment couldn't afford to go to war.
This was especially so given the fact that they both lost <S> multiple <S> ranked heroes. If the war continued, then both organizations would be at risk of completely crumbling down.
Simply put, neither party could afford that.
"So, what do you think about my offer?"
The real intent behind the meeting was to buy enough time for both organizations to recuperate.
At least a major part of it was that, however, Wahid 'aelah wasn't lying when he said he wanted 876.
After all, he was the person responsible for injuring his Vice-Leader, as well as Tasos. This was also excluding the many high-leveled individuals that were a part of the Monolith.
Just one person alone had weakened the Monolith so much that they were forced to call out for a truce.
Though Wahid 'aelah was smiling, the rage contained within that smile could vividly be felt by everyone in the room as the air around him thickened up considerably every time he mentioned 876.
"I'll tell you what, I'll make this offer even juicier. From what I've heard, you guys seem to be close to developing portals but can't quite get there yet, right?"
"Right..."
Julia cautiously responded.
Although they had made a breakthrough in portal technology over recent years, they had still not quite perfected it yet. At least not for commerical use.
"Good, how about this, I'll do you one better, in exchange for revealing what you are missing, as well as proposing the truce, I want you guys to help us find 876. How about it? Not a bad deal, right?"
This was merely a customary proposal.
Everyone in the room here knew that humanity was close to developing portals. At most a year or two, and they would achieve it. The only reason Wahid 'aelah proposed such a deal was so that it made it seem as though both parties were on equal footing.
He knew just how prideful the people before him were.
"..."
At his proposal, deathly silence enveloped the room as no one spoke a word.
The silence continued for a while before Octavious finally opened his mouth.
"Let me discuss it with the other heads."
"Go ahead."
Waving his hand in the air, a black barrier formed around the five heads of the Union, completely covering them whole. This was a sound barrier that was made to prevent anyone from overhearing their discussion.
Once the barrier completely enveloped them, the first one to speak was Maximus.
"We should take the deal."
"What!? Why?" Daphne stood and protested. "I've been thinking this for a while, but this offer is ridiculous. Did you guys forget that if not for him both Amon and Monica would've died?"
For the others to think about sacrificing someone who single-handedly dealt so much damage to the Monolith as well as saved the backbone of the Union, Daphne couldn't understand why they were even thinking about going through with the deal.
Coldly looking at Daphne, Maximus spoke up.
"Daphne, let me ask you. What are we supposed to do in our job?"
"Our job? It's to keep as many people as possible safe."
Daphne quickly responded without any hesitation.
Maximus nodded at her answer.
"Correct, our priority is the lives of the citizens. If the war continues, a lot of lives will be lost."
"...so you're implying that we sacrifice the person that saved our members for the sake of stopping the war between us and the Monolith?"
"Correct."
"But..."
"Maximus has a point."
Julia chimed in with a complex look on her face.
She too was uncomfortable with this decision, but at the end of the day, if this was the price to pay in order to stop the war, she was willing to go through with it.
"What, you too?"
A shocked look appeared on Daphne's face.
Casually looking at Daphne who was beside her, Julia sighed.
"Daphne, like Maximus said, our job is to save as many people as possible. Sacrifices will be made in the process, and you should know better than anyone since you are one of the seven heads."
Julia's words hit Daphne like a thunderclap. Every word that she said was right. Daphne knew that, yet she still couldn't come to terms with the decision.
"But...still. I feel that what we're doing is wrong."
"Daphne." Octavious finally spoke up. With every word he spoke, the barrier around them would tremble slightly.
"You are one of the heads of the Union. Sympathy and those types of emotions are unnecessary."
"Our priority is the well beings of humanity. Although I acknowledge the fact that 876 has made great contributions to the Union, from what the reports stated, his power is meaningless, around <D> rank range."
"Saving him would do no good for us, just think of him as a sacrifice for the greater good of humanity."
"..."
Listening to Octavious's words, Daphne bit her lips.
Although she wanted to refute, she knew that in the end, the decision was not up to her.
Furthermore, every word that Octavious held some truth to it.
At the end of the day, they were individuals who needed to make sacrifices for the sake of humanity.
Emotions such as sympathy and the likes were unnecessary for individuals like them.
What they needed to think about was the best course of action to take for the sake of the Union and humanity.
Everything else was secondary.
"Alright, let's vote now. Those in favor of the proposal, raise your hands."
***
[Caissa headquarters.]
"Damnit, what should we do now?"
Pacing around the room, Smallsnake was in a state of panic.
"Calm down Smallsnake, let me think."
Seated on the sofa, I tried to calm Smallsnake down.
Forcefully quelling my rage down, I tried my bests to remain calm. There was no point panicking now. Wouldn't do me any good. Rather, it was better to think about my next course of action with a calm mind.
After a while, turning my head towards Ryan, I asked.
"Ryan, let me ask you something. Do you perhaps have a way to tell if the tracker is functioning or not inside of my head?"
"Are you asking whether I can tell when the tracking function is back on or not?"
"Yes, exactly that."
"Mhhh, give me a second."
Swinging the chair around, Ryan's fingers once again danced on the keyboard in front of him. This continued for the next couple of minutes before he turned around and nodded his head.
"Seems like it. As of right now, there is no connection between the chip and any external source, so I can tell you that no one is tracking you."
"That's good."
Crossing my legs, I started to ponder to myself.
'If Ryan can tell exactly when the connection between the tracking software and the chip is on, then this allows me to know when exactly the hunt for me will start. This is good. At least this way I won't be ambushed out of anywhere.'
The moment my bounty was put out, I knew that I could no longer stay in the human domain. I had to leave.
With my current strength and abilities, I could no longer stay here. It was time for me to start focusing on myself.
Originally I had thought about returning to where I was before, helping Kevin and the others just like before.
But my experience at the Monolith made me change my mind.
I realized that my mentality was wrong.
All I was doing was merely babysitting Kevin and the others. How ironic. Kevin was the protagonist and yet I was babysitting him from behind.
It became apparent to me that Kevin did not need any babysitting. Even though the plotline had changed, he was still the protagonist. He was the one with the system and amazing talent.
What did I need to help him for?
If he couldn't even overcome the challenges that lay ahead of him, then what was the point of him being the protagonist? I was not his babysitter, nor was he someone that needed to be under my watch.
It was time to abandon that mentality and focus on myself.
I needed to become strong.
Stronger.
Strong enough so that the likes of the Union and the Monolith could no longer oppress me.
As my thoughts paused there, lifting my head up and staring at Smallsnake, I resolutely stood up.
"Smallsnake, start making preparations."
"Preparations?"
Walking towards the entrance of the room I nodded my head.
"Yup, we're going on a long trip."
End of volume [2]/Part -1
