Chapter 96: The Mad Men Who Intrigue Each Other (Part 2)

Akio: "Holy shit! That is a horrible sight!"

Gawking at the battlefield the city of Kesley has become, he remarks so.

Halogen: "Indeed. I never would have expected this sight to be what would greet me when I reach here."

And even Halogen Dietrich, one of the vilest human beings alive, agrees.

Akio: "Did you know anything about this?"

Akio asks as he turns to their third and oldest party member, who also looks just as shocked as them.

Vaika: "I had no idea at all."

He says simply as his eyes refuse to turn away from that sight.

Vaika: "Who would do this and for what reason?"

Even though he asks so himself, he does not expect to get any answers, not from the two standing beside him and not from anyone else. And why would he anyway? This sight SHOULD be beyond comprehension.

Still,

Akio: "Whenever this happened, why didn't Rosevelt inform us?"

He could have, if he wanted to, tell them everything through telepathy. After all, he told Laurie Brown about it. So then, why didn't he tell them?

Vaika: "I … I don't know."

No one knows.

No one knows what goes on in the head of the Phoenix. And, even if they did know, they won't be able to understand his thought process, causing them only more confusion.

So, whatever may happen, they are going to be questioning it just like they are right now.

And it's not that they don't realize this simple fact, it's just that they can't let it be the end of their queries.

Halogen: "Wait!"

The fake priest says with some discomfort in his voice.

Halogen: "I am sensing someone really powerful in the city, someone who is neither Rosevelt nor Walter but almost on the same level."

Akio: "What! On the same level? Who the hell would that be!?"

Akio fails to think of anyone who can be on the same level as those two, as does Vaika. However, the same cannot be said for the fake priest. He realizes it.

Halogen: "Ha!"

And he scoffs as he realizes it.

Halogen: "The Spectres are here."

Akio: "!!!"

Vaika: "!!!"

Halogen: "And they have come with at least half of their forces, which obviously includes the legend himself."

He says with a smirk, making it obvious who the person emanating that strong aura is.

Akio: "Spectre Dyne is here!?"

Halogen merely nods and the other two look back at the city, also using Aura Reading themselves and sensing the same ridiculously powerful presence.

Spectre Dyne, the leader of the Spectres and an artificially created Ghost, is perhaps the one man every Hellfire would consider a force to be reckoned with. After all, he is someone Walter Schmidt acknowledged as a powerful individual, a person who is leading the strongest army in the world, a person who the Phoenix acknowledged as a powerful individual, a man whose strength is said to surpass Vaika Smith and has recently also become the man who ended Barry's existence, who himself had a big repute in the world of supernaturals.

After all of that, it wouldn't take a genius to figure out that he is someone it would be better not to mess with.

And this man, here in Kesley, is going to fight not just a fellow Hellfire of theirs but a person who has sworn to kill every last one of them. But, this is something that they are yet to find out.

And so, they still have the gall to go into the city.

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Walter: "..."

No words.

The strongest man in the world speaks no words when he witnesses Kesley's current state for the first time.

The fact that this carnage has been caused does not even begin to faze him.

The only things about all this that could faze him would be the fact that this carnage has been caused by none other than Ozyllus himself.

But, he does not know that - not yet.

Walter: "Rosevelt, is this what you meant?"

He asks a man to whom he knows the words won't reach, not without using any abilities, but he asks them anyway, fine with not getting the answer right then.

Or rather, he would prefer to not get the answer right away.

So,

Walter: "Either way, it seems I would need to get back to my research."

Mumbling to himself, he then turns back to the pile of books he needs to finish reading.

These aren't just any books though. They all contain the history of the world, both the history of the supernatural part of the world and non-supernatural part of the world.

Walter is going through them because he thinks he might find answers to the questions he has, or if not, he at least hopes to find some clues leading to those answers.

While the rest of the world engages in battle and the Vampire Kingdom eyes them from hiding, this is what the strongest man in the world decides to do. He decides to find out the root of the problem, something that has gained infinitely more meaning ever since he met Bronzer and was threatened by him, alongside being inferred about something.

However,

Walter: "Damn it!"

Meaningful though it may be, his quest hasn��t led him to any results yet, and there's no indication of things getting any better.

Walter: "I am beginning to think that I'll never find anything meaningful in here."

These books he is reading - obviously he has read them before. But, back when he had read them the first time, he didn't know a lot of the things he does now and he definitely hadn't had that encounter with Bronzer. Back then, he was just going through them for the sake of having gone through them once.

But now, he has a purpose, and he is reading these books with that purpose in mind.

So, away from the battles, the strongest man in the world spends his time in one of the biggest libraries owned by Vermilion, searching through the texts for any semblance of a few select words.

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