Let the games begin (2)

Hugo started his real explanation when he saw that the crowd of Skydancers had realized the gravity of the situation.

"During his uninteresting monologue, I managed to pick up a few key points. One, Vector, is part of a group that intends to take over the world for an unknown purpose. Two, he referred to his boss with veneration, which leads us to believe that the man he calls Leader is extremely strong."

"And as you all know, he is able to use the Plague cells to control dead people and even somehow rematerialize their abilities. So that goes without saying, another important thing to take note of is the fact that he tried to recruit my comrade, Hermes mid-battle."

The Skydancers in the room couldn't help but look at each other in fear of encountering this Vector person, and at this moment of fear was when Hugo pulled out another crucial piece of information.

"While Hermes and I were talking, we figured out the weakness of these Plague monsters—flame!"

The people with heat-type awakenings stared at their hands for a minute and each felt a pressure weighing on their bodies.

"That's right, so if any of you are out patrolling or hunting monsters, it is advisable that you go along with some sort of flammable objects or accompany someone with flame or heat-type awakenings."

"And a word of advice, before you go thinking that you're impervious to these creatures, make sure that the flames you are using on them are not low-temperature flames. Plasma flames are advisable."

Flames were not very difficult to generate. All one needed was some flammable gas and a lighter, and since normal flames didn't work on them, a small bottle of fuel would do just fine with the other items.

"And now, moving on. I'll be discussing Vector's personal weakness-"

The door to the living room slammed open, making the Skydancers near it improvise some sort of abrupt protection for themselves or just dodge out of the way entirely.

"Sorry we're late, we ran into some monsters on the way. They were quite high-levelled too."

Alpha2 called out, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment when he noticed all the eyes in the room on him and Hyena.

He for sure had to be the youngest in the room, and if what Hugo was thinking was correct, then Alpha2 was not only the youngest but he was also one of the strongest just based on the attack power he gained using Blink's attack mode.

"Damn, it sure is a party in here. No wonder there was a distinctive lack of any strong scents on the streets, but they all of a sudden converged on your street."

Hyena whistled slowly and crossed the room over to where Ruki and IA V-1 sat close together and just plopped himself right in the middle.

A lot of people looked at the rude fellow and some even spoke up.

"Black Knight, care to explain why there's a B-rank in this meeting?" An A-rank Dancer which he identified as Papa Thunder, protested, his scorning eyes never leaving Hyena even once.

The man with the alias Papa Thunder was a shirtless middle-aged man with striking blue hair. He was also one of the few people who could comfortably sit down. In fact, he even sprawled his leg across several chairs.

"My apologies, the event came up, and before that, I was helping the businessman well known as Hyena by letting him stay here. He's been here for a few days, actually."

Everyone stared at Hyena weirdly when they heard he was a businessman. Luckily, he still had the white suit on, otherwise, they might have taken him for a ruffian with the way he carried himself.

Some people even knew him as a businessman rather than a Skydancer.

'He's that famous one from America, right?'

'Hyena, popular Skydancer-based businessman.'

'Could it be that it was this man alone was responsible for the single-handed creation of that company…'

A lot of people were even genuinely shocked because the company Hyena owned was none other than a Skydancer Academy, and it was one of the more famous ones. That meant Hyena was responsible for the growth of many famous Skydancers!

And he was only in his twenties! But the Skydancers got it all wrong. His parents were actually the creators of the Academy, and he inherited it when they passed on. But he didn't have the qualified skills to lead the school because of his lack of a first Awakening or evolutionary enhancement.

But still, what part of the man even resembled an educator in the slightest?

Hugo coughed twice, making the room full of mental cacophony quiet down.

"Anyway, as I was saying. I managed to pick up a distinct weakness exuded by Vector and his Plague monsters that he may already have noticed himself."

"Just before Alpha2 put an end to them, the monsters had some sort of weird reaction and went completely berserk for the entire period of time that Alpha2 was speaking. So that meant that the monsters had a bit of sentience."

"And as for Vector's flaws. He proved his inexperience with the piloting of the monsters quite clearly. As for how I know, I realized that the movements in the Plague monster's bodies were stiff and they were like puppets attached to a string; unable to do complicated tasks."

"That is all the available information that I gathered. Once you're through digesting. But please make it quick, this issue may be important, but note that your Skydancer duties are yet to be completed on the account that you have other things to do."

That was when the brooding Skydancers remembered their previous engagements before seeing his meeting alert.

"How did Hermes destroy the Plague monsters? If I remember correctly, his ability is Blink without any direct attack power." The first to ask a question was Forest Shadow, who attended the exams with him and the rest.

Hugo looked over to Alpha2, who stood up from where he sat and towards the position where Hugo stood.

"Well, just like Black Knight stated, I obviously used flames to incinerate them, but as for the direct methods, that is a secret."

His answer wasn't satisfactory, but who was the other party to push it. After that, there wasn't anything more to the questions and some of them were even repetitions.

And soon again, the manor regained its almost never-leaving silence.

. . .

A tired group struggled their way through the underground sewage system below City Z, seemingly heading for a particular location.

Most of the people had imposing auras and those without quickly found themselves dead in the sewage.

They wore dark hooded robes and looked in an almost fanatical fashion at the person who was leading them.

Similarly, he also wore a dark robe, but his robe was pitch black as compared to the faded colours of his followers. He sat upon the shoulders of the two largest men in the group and led them towards their destination.

'That Black Knight… Just you wait, I'll get you!'

The man directed the group until they reached their destination. By then, the group had already dwindled to half of their previous number.

'Excellent. Those who managed to survive will be a great help in the development of my new and improved Plague monsters. I can almost taste it!'

The man stared at the large bronze gates before him, his astonishment never faded each time he saw this gate.

'The leader is so amazing, to manifest something like this underground without attracting the attention of anybody. Some day I wish to be like him or maybe just below him…'

Vector felt a creeping chill around his body when he thought along those lines, and he slapped himself on the cheeks multiple times, hoping this would be enough to snap him out of those indulgent thoughts.

'How insolent of me to think those thoughts, and not to mention I only barely passed that mission. If I'm lucky, he won't kill me and only punish me severely.'

It was like Hugo said. The man deeply respected his boss. But this veneration was far from normal respect. It was plain worship!

He knocked on the gate four times and ordered the large men to step away from the gates.

*CREAK!*

Creaking sounds echoed throughout the hollow tubes and the gates followed through, steadily opening and inadvertently revealing its majestic might.

"Stay here, unless you wish to be killed."

Those were Vector's last words to the bunch of people before he passed through the gates. The world after the gates were nothing like the previous world. Inside, various tubes and beakers lay scattered all over and many metallic tables were randomly scattered everywhere.

This was His world. He had total control over the affairs of this world. Life or death, he controlled it all.

"Master, I've returned with the criminals and created fake corpses in the prison!" He knelt down at the center of the room and proclaimed as loud as he could.

There was a weird silence at first, and Vector was almost certain that he'd be killed.

"Is that all… you may leave now!"

An ominous presence arose when that deep voice spoke from nowhere visible. It seemed like it could control the life of whoever had heard it. It was a similar case with Vector.

"Hah." He let out a low breath and scurried out of the domain as fast as he could.

"Hmm. Black Knight, Hermes, and Hyena, another bunch of obstacles. These three look like they'll be a pain in my neck for a while. Still, I didn't expect anyone to have been able to stop Vector. Quite a good bunch the humans have this time around."

The voice went from deep and moving to normal in an instant. The normal voice even seemed tired from the way it spoke.

"Dispatch all the others, place them in their designated locations. Strike when you are given orders and no other time, am I clear!"

The voice was speaking to the only person still within His domain.

"Yes, sir!"

His ominous words echoed through the room as the voice became a deeper and darker tone than it had before.

"Hahaha, let the battle for earth begin!"