3 Warden
The next day, inside the detectives' home.
Liam woke up in bed, looking furious that Selene wasn't by his side.
He refused to allow Selene to work past 5 AM before he went to sleep, but it seemed his wife ignored their arrangement again.
After interrogating the remaining thugs and sending them to prison last night, Liam and Selene immediately went back to their home to get some rest after getting nothing from the thugs.
Christian went on the same dark alley before he utterly vanished in the face of the earth, and it pained the two to know that there were no bystanders to ask when it happened.
Not even CCTVs in the modern-day world had captured what had happened in the dark alley where Christian vanished for some unknown technical errors as if someone corrupted the tapes before they could get their hands on it.
The frustration of her husband compelled Selene to work until morning, solving the puzzle nonstop, hoping that she could surprise her husband with some leads after he woke up even though her husband doesn't like the idea of overexerting herself, especially during her beauty rest time.
Consequently, when Liam woke up, Selene was nowhere to be found as well.
His eyes darted around in their home, and in their secluded office at the house's basement already, but he couldn't find her.
It didn't happen before, so there were unsightly scenarios that had crossed Liam's head already.
CRIIING!!!
CRIIING!!!
CRIIING!!!
His phone finally rang loudly after calling his wife multiple times but got no answer until this moment.
Even though the message received was certainly from his wife, it was a message made in advance and had been set to deliver to the receiver at a specific time by checking the details keenly.
The message contained this,
'By the time you read this, I might be dead. I am sorry. I bit the bait of the unknown enemy and followed the instructions of the invitation. The opponent was a hundred times more powerful than all of our enemies combined. Don't finish the puzzle or else you will die. But I know you could defeat it someday for me. The answer is out of our world and this is not an exaggeration. If you think based on our world's logic, you will fail. Follow your intuition. I could not tell you more than this since this is the only information that could pass through their security system unnoticed for a while. I am crying while typing this. I am truly sorry, my dear husband.'
Instantly, Liam could feel the temperature in his entire body rose rapidly as he did his hardest to hold on to his phone.
Ba-thump, Ba-thump, Ba-thump!
His entire face's color shifted to the color of the leaves of a red maple tree, and his heart pounded like crazy as if there's a horse galloping inside his chest.
Sweats began to drip out of his face uncontrollably, and his veins in the neck throbbed violently.
His not-so-sharp nails wounded his palms because of how hard he clenched his fists as he ground his teeth, staring furiously at the message he just received.
The result of Selene's passion and work ethic last night until morning technically managed to surprise her husband but also made him feel devastated, knowing that his wife might be suffering while he was contemplating the situation, that's... if she's still alive.
It was absolutely unforgivable for his wife to bite the dust at the hands of their enemies, especially fighting alone in an unknown place with no one helping.
No, he doesn't want to think about that yet.
He scowled while holding on to the possibility that she's still alive, fighting desperately for her life while waiting for her husband to come.
Liam hurriedly took a series of deep breaths to toughen his determination, pondering the fastest method he would take.
His wife was right, he would move even the heavens and earth to rescue his lovely wife, the apple of his eye.
Whether it was a group of allied serial killers or a dark syndicate, Liam would definitely solve the case and save his wife, even though the possibility that she was alive was pretty low.
At first, he thought it was because of his negligence, but he quickly removed that from his head since there's no point blaming himself now. He shifted his entire attention to the task at hand, thinking about his next move.
He wasted no more time than what he already wasted and hurriedly ran towards the computer after he miraculously retained his level-headed demeanor after a short period of deep breaths.
Before translating the Morse code in the audio file from the unknown website, Liam called some trusted people he knew in the National Security Agency (NSA) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), impatiently ordering them to trace in the dark web and any private intelligence agencies' files and databases in their radar the dark syndicate that could be behind the anonymous group called Warden 8411.
Out of his desperation, he even told them to work with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and any organization that works with internet privacy and digital rights agencies to check if there was any classified information in Area 51 or somewhere else that correlates in Warden 8411.
His wife told him that the case was solvable if he wouldn't cling to the world's perspective, so he instantly thought that the enemies might be supernatural beings like aliens, like the conspiracies circulating about the mysterious international group.
Right after he submitted the information they gathered so far about the organization, he received a notification on his phone.
It was strange since he has two phones, one for his job and one for personal use.
The phone that rang was the personal phone that was supposed to be a phone he would only use to contact his wife or the other way around.
He hurriedly checked the notification and there was a message that contained this,
'This is interesting. It has been a long time now since another rule breaker appeared. No one had provoked me this much. I told you things would certainly get ugly if you let other people know about this. Anyway, it appears the two of you are not after the prize, unlike most of the candidates. That alone fascinated me. Both of you are very different and are perfect for becoming challengers of the tower. I'll look forward to this. And unfortunately, you won't find any lead about my identity. :))
Warden 8411'
Liam let out a peal of painful, uncontrollable laughter after he had read the message to express his extreme mental suffering as if he was crazy.
As an outstanding detective, he recognized his opponent's talent.
When someone was in a desperate situation, that's the perfect time to attack them mentally as they could not think straight and would easily break down.
He knew that so well since he was the one doing it to the criminals most of the time as if he's toying with them in the palm of his hands.
And exactly because of that, the Warden 8411's message had almost torn Liam's fighting spirit apart, demoralizing him after he tasted his own medicine.
Normally, his thought about it would be, 'It was a deception to buy some time. Maybe the NSA found some leads already about their organization's identity, so they attempted this to cause chaos and escape.'
However, his wife's message caused him to think contrarily.
He knew that his wife's message could be fake, but being long detectives gave them enough time to prepare for this kind of situation and input hints, proofs, or coded messages for identity verification.
Even though he received death threats for most of his life already to remain cool in this kind of situation, the Warden's message somehow still inexplicably frightened Liam.
Even though he's worried about his wife's current well-being, he felt small compared to the Warden's skills that bypassed known logics and technology in the world.
Despite that, he managed to find hope and truly believed that Selene was alive somewhere out there.
She was as tough as nails, admirably one heck of a woman.
If he wanted to find his wife alive, he knew he must act now.
Determinedly, Liam saved the number instead, in an attempt to talk to the person or group behind these crazy puzzles.
But the call could not connect for some reason. He called a special number that could connect him directly to the managerial department of the Service Provider to avoid the long queue on the phone, hoping to learn something about the Warden's identity.
After the call connected, he revealed his identity and asked for all the information he could gather from the number.
Inexplicably, that specific line was canceled several years ago because the previous owner was deceased already and there's no new owner of the number yet.
He explained a message came in just now using that specific number, but they found nothing.
After getting the agent's name, he cursed the useless Service Provider agent out of frustration because of their poor customer service before he abruptly hung up the phone.
Liam's face flushed as his eyes squinted around the room to mull things over before acting again.
He was in a hurry, but he could not afford to make a mistake, especially when his wife's life was on the line.
He immediately called his trusted colleagues in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to further investigate the case as he began translating the message from the Morse code, disregarding the Warden and Selene's warning out of desperation.
After downloading the mp3 file, he sat on a sofa and crossed his legs while keenly listening to the audio message once more from their tablet.
He hurriedly grabbed a pen and paper and translated the entire Morse code at the latter part of the audio message.
The translated message was like this,
'Congratulations! You passed the second test. Please keep on going. You are getting closer to the insane prize that could give you anything you want in this world. No, more than this world could offer. The competition was still tight and there were limited slots only. You are getting there.
We are always observing you, Challenger.
Warden 8411'
As Liam had thoroughly read the message, a hideous being materialized unnoticed out of nowhere behind him, as if the hideous creature's body was constructed from some kind of out-of-this-world blue light technology.
Specifically, a humanoid creature with a severe hunchback covered by a dark, full-body cloak.
It was clad with a circus hat, monocle eyeglass in front of its left eye, and a neatly stitched black lower mask that resembled a beak of a bird.
On top of that, it had an unusually super long katana in one of its hands and a wooden cane in the other hand to support its uncanny scorpion-like body composition's balance.
Liam miraculously felt the bloodlust of the presence behind him and tumbled over the table in front of him, pulling the gun on his waist using his right hand in the process and turning around to point the gun at the uninvited visitor.
KWIIIISK!!!
However, his right arm instantly fell off as blood splattered on the ground after the hideous creature disemboweled it like a chopped burrito.
"UAAACCCKKK!!!?"
Liam screamed and pushed his body away from the creature by kicking the ground as he endured the excruciating pain.
"Would you mind telling me who you are?!" Liam hurriedly asked as he continued distancing himself from the creature.
"I am the Warden of the Mighty Tower. And you... are going to die," The hideous creature answered in its atrocious voice after it swung the unusually super long katana in the air to remove the remains of blood on the blade.
"I let the message pass through the system to see where it is going and it went to the most interesting person in this world, the strongest creature of Planet A-81 in Universe 69. Unfortunately, you made me your enemy when you broke the rules," The Warded added in a monotonous voice.
Liam pensively looked around to examine the situation, finding an opportunity to fight back while he buys some time.
"The strongest creature? Oh, you are talking about me? You should be delighted to have my presence then... unless you are stronger, which I think is the case. The message?! My wife... where is she? This is a secured place and nothing was breached in the security system, so how come you appeared behind me? No, what do you wa–"
KWIIIISK!!!
Before Liam could finish his sentence, the Warden instantly appeared in front of him as if it teleported and abruptly severed both of his legs to stop his maneuverability.
"UUUUUAAAAAAACCCCCKKKK!!!!!!"
Liam let out the loudest scream in his life which was as loud as a horn, echoing in the entire basement as the Warden brutally butchered him alive like an animal.
Tears emerged at the sides of his eyes as he grabbed the gun, using his remaining arm to shoot the Warden.
But it was futile.
The bullets bounced off and couldn't harm its body.
Liam's ability to talk it out in a well-mannered conversation horribly failed as well.
Kling, Klang, Klang!
The sound of the Warden's cane falling on the well-tiled floor resounded the room aside from Liam's loud groans.
'Huh?! Did he preemptively and precisely target my cane, the center of my balance because of my stupid body composition, in that split second with his kick before I successfully sliced it off? Was it luck or... nevermind. He would die anyway,' was what the Warden thought to himself as it retained its balance by shifting the weight in its disgusting ghoulish feet with no footwear.
It narrowed its eyes, glaring at its agonizing victim on the floor that only had a single limb and a body full of holes to maneuver himself on the slippery tiled floor because of its splattered blood.
"I failed you, Fay," Liam whispered in his chapped lips as he stopped moving.
A throbbing ache thumped in his chest as the tears that began welling up in the corners of his eyes earlier finally dripped nonstop on his now wrinkled face.
He lost all hopes of winning in his current state, accepting the inevitable result of his cockiness and failures and waiting for his painful death full of regrets.
As tears streamed nonstop on his face, he thought that if he could turn back time, he would live a peaceful life with his wife and enjoy the world as it was without knowing the dark truth behind it.
Being the best enforcer of justice wasn't fun at all.
Everyone benefited from his dirty works but he gained nothing but worthless fame and recognition that was partnered by innumerable dangers that lurked from the shadows, waiting for their perfect opportunity to assassinate him and his wife.
The life he had lived was nothing but an endless burden.
And the bags he carried in his entire life could not even reward him for something worthy in exchange.
To think that he could not even enjoy his retirement after everything he did for the world, in a peaceful cottage near the ocean he loved so much with his wife depressed him a lot even at the death's door.
In the end, he only wanted to live a joyful life.
'Is this the fruit of my labor? Man, why did this happen now? Exactly after we planned to retire early and have kids. But maybe this was for the best. I'll see you in the azure sky, Fay.'
He closed his eyes and took his last breath as the Warden instantly appeared on top of Liam's body on the floor with its horrifying appearance as if it teleported again.
SWOOSH!
After enjoying its victim's misery, the Warden quickly decapitated Liam, head rolling on the floor like a basketball painted with a contemptuous complexion on his face.
Pain.
