Masked Person- Well then, it seems the three of you are done. It’s really good to hear that, things are proceeding smoothly. If this keeps up, next year, maybe even a little bit earlier, the plan will be full on ready to go.

  Code- Oh yeah! Finally! After being so close to the pit of hell itself, I can see my suffering being just a distant memory! Haha! I can hardly contain myself! Nothing can stop us now! I won’t allow it either way!

  Beta- Don’t shout victory before we even try it! And don’t shout, we are right next to you! Damn muscle head! Sigh… do you have anything else for us? Or will we wait for further orders?

  Alpha- Cut him some slack Beta, I can understand his excitement. After all, we all were in the same position as him, so it’s really good to see and know that the future is bright. But before we go, I do have a question for you Beta. It’s about the girl that fought Alice, the one that Code ended up “playing” with. She seems odd, very odd at that, do you have any idea why there isn’t much information about her? In this day and age for someone to be that blank is not normal at all. Everything nowadays and even from a few decades ago, is registered into the government documents, they have everything about a single individual. I don’t believe that she’s like us, that she does not “exist” in this world, in this society.

  Beta- I have no clue why she’s like that. I’ve looked around in the archives and even went as far as into the government archives as you mentioned, all to look for something on her but, I really didn’t find anything at all. The only thing that I can confidently say is that she comes from a remote village far from here and that she got invited here by that pest, but nothing else.

  Code- Pest? Are you talking about the skinny man? Actually, he’s still alive? The last time I saw him he sure looked like something else. Ha, that torture must have been out of this world, now wasn’t it, Alpha?

  Masked Person- She’s referring to Marx Veron, the who you’re thinking of is someone else. Although, he won’t be alive for much longer, and this is a good opportunity to ask for more questions. She’s here because of him, that alone makes him a good subject to question.

  Snap!

  He didn’t say anything, he didn’t even look at Alpha however, he quickly understood what he needed to do. He snaps his fingers loudly and with some force behind it, the moment he does so, a few moments later two young men run up to him, or try to do so as they brought them something that would disgust a normal person upon seeing it, something that would make said normal person throw up as just the mere thought of what said “something” went through to get in that state. Why do I give these people so much leeway? They are villains, nothing more, nothing else. Ones that don’t regard human life as important.

  Code- Oh! You’re talking about him! To be honest if they didn’t bring him here, I wouldn’t had remembered but either way, he looks so pathetic! Mhuahaha! Alpha torture methods sure are something else! Ah, how I would love to hear him scream when your “pets” were torturing him.

  He says this while he looks down at the individual, at Marx Veron. The look of someone does when he stares down at those beneath said individual.

  It’s just as Code said, this old man, easily at the age of retirement, was brought by the two young men as he’s not in a good state at all, ones that once the job was done, they left as quickly as they came. This old man by the name of Marx Veron has been tortured almost to the point of death. He’s lacking an arm; it was cut clean. Almost all the fingernails of his fingers from his hands are gone, you can only see the red bloody meat in those spots. One of his eyes is closed but I would say it’s thanks to the beating he got as his face is swollen in that area. Since those two young men dragged him here, I would say that his legs are nowhere near a decent “walking” state and just by having a quick look I can see that one of his knees is in a position that it shouldn’t be.

  Just how much did this poor old man endured? Why are they doing this to him? Why? This old man was saved by Kiana and that’s why she’s here at the Academy. He was so stunned by her magic abilities that he invited her to the Academy and yet, somehow that decision has brought him a world of suffering. No, of course not, there is more to the story that we don’t know, Kiana just happens to be in the middle of it…

  “Yo-You... What do you want…”

  Drip! Drip!

  He’s breathing heavily as he says this. It’s hard for him to speak, he’s missing several teeth and I also noticed that his tongue has been cut as it has quite the piece missing from it. Blood falls down his face, his nose, his mouth, his ears, everywhere that you can think of, he has several wounds on him, ones that are bleeding and begging for help. The blood falls down to the ground, to the cold and rough concrete. For some reason the roof is tiled but, does that even matter in a situation like this?

  Beta- Kiana Eris, does that name sound familiar to you? Do you remember anything about her? You must remember her, after all, you invited her here. Use that puny brain of yours to its fully extent, tell me, us, something useful so that at the very least I can spit on you once you’ve been killed. You damn waste of air, piece of trash.

  “Gasp... She’s a woman younger than you… Gasp… She’s good at magic…”

  Beta- You, see? He has his mouth tight shut and won’t tell us anything else. To be honest I also doubt that we can get much more from him. Just the fact that he won’t defy us is already good enough in my opinion.

  Masked Person- You’re correct Beta and don’t worry, he will meet his end shortly. Code, from the battle did you pick up on something? Something that made her stand out? Her magic, her skills, anything at all that caught even a glimpse of your interest is already good enough.

  Code- Hmm, she’s just a weakling like Alice however, she’s stronger than her, much more. I would say that she might be at B rank or something like that. At the end of the day she’s a weakling so I really don’t care much about her.

  Alpha- That’s something, but what about her makes you rank her at such a rank? Was it her magic? Her combat abilities? Her skills? Why did you rank her at such a level?

  Code- She was boring so I didn’t pay too much attention to that. Ah! Now that I think about it, I do remember that I messed with her much more than anyone else! Hahaha! She just kept on trying to use magic over and over, so I couldn’t contain myself because of it! Her face was priceless! She looked so pissed and angry! Mhuahaha!

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Beta- You damn muscle head! Can’t you do your job properly!? Did you really think that he sent you there to play around!? You had an objective of trying to create a bad name for Alice and yet, you were more worried about playing around with her! You damn child!

  Code- Huh!? Me, a child!? Do you wanna go, eh!? I will punch you so hard that you will end up like him!

  Alpha- There, there, calm down. She’s right however, she could had been easily hiding her true strength when she was fighting Alice, and as someone as strong as you are, if you were paying attention, you would see that. You’ve failed in that regard.

  Code- Argh… You are exaggerating, she’s nothing special really. If she did have some type of hidden power I would’ve noticed. Seriously.

  “Gasp... Ha… You’re a… muscle head… Gasp…”

  Code- Alright! Oie, boss! Think I can deal with him? He’s starting to annoy me and piss me off at the same time.

  Masked Person- Go ahead, he’s no longer useful to us, although, just try to not make a mess. We can’t leave evidence that we were here.

  Code- Yeah, yeah, whatever…

  Grab!

  He violently grabs Marx and lifts him up. This however, has confirmed what I said before, both of his legs are well gone now, one of his knees is facing the complete direction than it should just like I said before, while the other leg well, it is missing pieces of it, as if something took bites from it. What a despicable sight, the sheer disrespect towards him as Code grabs Marx by the collar of his shirt, one that is covered with blood, tears, sweat and even vomit.

  This is beyond humane.

  Code- Say your goodbyes scum. Pray to whatever god that you might believe in, maybe he can keep you safe in hell. You messed with the wrong people and now, you will suffer the consequences for it.

  “Pierce and rip apart, Stone Edge!”

  Magic noises! Stab!

  It’s not a complex spell or anything like that, it’s a simple one at that. It’s a GEO spell where the user creates sharp spikes made of stone. He can create said spikes using the ground as the base or from the magic circle. In his case, with his empty hand he brings it closer to the chest of Marx and from there, the gruesome scene happens. In a blink of an eye Code blows a hole in Marx's upper body. The spike that he created was as sturdy as metal, as sharp as a blade from a sword, as big as the size of a football ball and as long as a spear, it went right through Marx's upper body, destroying anything that was on its path. All the organs, the bones, muscles, skin, fat, anything that was on his chest was pulverized into nothing. A scene straight from a horror movie from the sheer gore of it.

  Bam!

  Marx falls down into the ground the moment that Code lets go of him, just like dead weight would. Not a single light on his eyes is present, not a single breath is seen, felt or heard. He’s dead, killed, slaughtered like a mere animal before the hunter. To make this even worse, both Beta and Alpha look at him, at Marx's dead body like nothing has happened, as if it is something normal. To maniacs like them I would think so however, this is not the worst part, no, no, what makes it even more diabolic is the fact that Code has a smile on his face. He enjoyed this, he enjoyed murdering someone, someone as defenceless as Marx.

  This is the action of a monster.

  “Sigh… didn’t he tell you to not make a mess? There’s blood everywhere! Hell, there are even pieces of him over there! This is disgusting, couldn’t you had broken his neck or something like that? Dammit, muscle head, do you even think?”

  Alpha- Calm down Beta and don’t worry about it. I will have people clean this up, there won’t be a single drop of blood here. However, we still have the problem with that girl, we still have no clue who she is.

  Code- Argh! Seriously!? Why so much worry about her? I just told you that she’s nothing special and I mean it!

  Beta- Are you dumb, deaf or both!? You also told us that you weren’t paying attention to her! How the hell do you even know that she’s not hiding something?

  “Hmm, yes, there is a chance that she might be the new Hero. They do have the tendency to hide their abilities and strength quite well.”

  The Masked Person says this, he says it calmly but the weight behind his words is something that easily and quickly draws the attention of everyone there towards him. Beta for example, she even has her eyes somewhat widen for brief moments as her brain processes the possibility of what he said.

  Code- She!? The Hero!? Mhuahaha! Someone as weak as her can never be the Hero! That was a funny joke dude! I didn’t know you had it on you to make those!

  Alpha- I agree with Code on this one but, let’s say that it’s true. What about the Demon Lord then? There haven’t been any reports of him, so how can you say that she can be the Hero? It does not make sense…

  Beta- Wait, wait, wait a second! What do you mean by that? Is there any connection between the two of them? That’s the first that I’ve heard that.

  Masked Person- Yes there is, you didn’t know that Beta? I will explain it then, every time a Hero is born, so does the Demon Lord, and the vice versa happens. Two gods overstepped their boundaries and they ended up sending their strongest warrior to conquer the world although, one of them is merely a response to the other. For now, we don’t have much information about her, and while we don’t have any information of the Demon Lord, that does not mean he couldn’t be alive already. As far as we are concerned, she might as well be the next Hero or she’s just a random woman that has a little bit of strength and an odd past. At the end, we have to be prepared for both until we confirm one of them or neither. Beta, keep an eye on her but prioritize this first-

  He gets closer to her at the end and gives her a letter. From it I would say that her next mission is written, as he does the same thing for both Code and Alpha, each one of them also got a letter with their new mission written on it. Quickly but carefully, all of them open the letter and read what’s inside of it. A smile creeps on Code face as he reads the letter, Beta on the other hand, she gets annoyed while Alpha seems neutral.

  “You can go now; I will get in contact later.”

  “Yes!”

  With a loud “Yes!” they have confirmed that they know what to do. At the same time, they know that they have to leave now and get on with their new missions. One of them by using Shadow Movement, she disappears with the shadows leaving nothing but only a few magic residues from using her spell. The other one, his footsteps are as loud as his voice, echoing in the quiet Academy; however, they are heavy and full of confidence at the same time telling anyone that hears said footsteps that, this individual is someone to no mess with. For last, his footsteps resemble his appearance, elegant and noble like, it’s not as loud as the previous one and not silent as the Kunoichi one, no, it’s just the perfect timber from a man of higher status walking into the distance. The Masked Person on the other hand, simply goes back to what he was doing before, starting at the horizon.

  Fwoosh!

  The wind is as strong as before, nothing has changed in that regard. His cape gently flies with it and his bland mask is hit by the soft breeze. The horizon is still the same, the ocean is as blue as the moon allows it to be thanks to the shine from it, but in this precise moment is for the weaker side. The city is as bright as before, as lively as before, the skyscrapers still seem to touch the sky or at the very least, big enough to be consumed by the clouds. The hundreds of thousands of lights are still lit up, the neon lights are still visible as the night is still well and alive. The fog gently covers the “rich” area of the city. Nothing truly has changed in the past half an hour, but the information that he got surely did change the course of the future. Or, as he said, there might be a possibility for that to happen.

  “Have I found you in this Bubble Universe? In each one of them you’re different, your name, you face, your powers, everything about you changes... In some of them, you’re nothing more than a mere ant, a weakling as Code likes to say.”

  Slowly he lifts his right hand until around chest level. From there he opens it up and faces the palm of it towards him, deeply staring at it afterwards. His mind is wandering away into deep thought, but one thought quickly crosses his mind, one that is unable to say inside of it.

  “This time around just how strong are you? Do I have to worry about it? Are you as strong as her? Or only a fraction of her power? How much do you compare to her in this Bubble Universe?”

  “It does not matter, I’m far stronger than I was before, after all, I have been eliminating you throughout the Bubble Universes and getting stronger in the process. This time won’t be any different and once I’m done here, you’re next.”

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