The White Hooded Man Alfred

"Ding!"

Suddenly, the system made a clangor, reporting,

[New skills have been unlocked.]

"Wait, what? Does even killing a human unlock skills now? I thought it was only for the monsters in the dungeon or white room."

Ray's voice was filled with confusion as he asked while raising his eyebrows.

[I don't even want to provide you with the skills! Honestly, are you an idiot or what? If it wasn't for recalling Emilie, you'd be trapped in that illusion forever, you know that?!]

The system reprimanded him, surprisingly sounding more humane in its tone.

"Ugh, sorry. But you see how do I ignore my father and others, right? I just can't help it when it comes to my lady and my mother."

Ray sighed as he dashed forward in search of the man who had the device that restrained Erika's power.

"But again, make a mistake once, shame on me; make a mistake twice, shame on you, right? I won't do it again; don't worry."

Later on, he smirked while skillfully dodging the attack from other hooded men on the battlefield.

[You're weird. Anyway, here are the two skills that you've achieved.]

[Cloning—B rank skill.]

[Regression—C rank skill.]

[Remember, your cloning ability is limited to creating only two clones.]

[As for regression, you can only rewind up to five minutes prior, and keep in mind that you can use it in combat only ONCE.]

"Ho~ that's some rather impressive skills you've granted me."

Ray exclaimed with a sense of satisfaction in his voice as he tightened the grip of his blade, cut through the body of a hooded man who was approaching him, and roared with enthusiasm.

"Let's finish this off first!"

***

While the chaos was continuous outside, Oscar, with a calm expression, was sitting on his chair, having a taste of his green tea.

"Ummh~ nothing beats this taste. Marvellous as ever~"

He complimented the tea with a serene smile on his face.

He forwarded the cup towards his mouth to have another ship. However,

"Oscar!"

*Slam!*

"Ack!"

The sudden intrusion transpired when someone slammed the door open, causing Oscar to jolt out of his reverie.

Unfortunately, the cup slipped from his grasp and fell straight to the desk, spilling its warmth all over the files.

"Ah, dang it!"

Oscar exclaimed and extended his right palm towards the desk.

"Clean up."

He commanded as the wind blew out of his palm, vaporizing the whole tea in an instant.

Sigh!

With an exasperated sigh, he sat back on his chair, glancing at the person in front of him.

"At least, don't barge in like this, Vincent," Oscar reproached.

The person who intruded on his peace was none other than the headmaster, Vincent.

"It's not your tea time!"

Vincent exclaimed, rather in a panicked voice, as he walked forward towards Oscar, glaring at him as he asked,

"Why have you stopped our organization from taking any action? They need to support the Elite Dragon, you hear me?"

His voice grew angrier, and his crystal blue eyes started to get sharp.

"My, you're scaring me~"

Seeing Vincent glare, Oscar couldn't help but snicker and rise from his chair.

He turned toward the window, gazing outside at the chaos.

"Why have I stopped them, you ask, right?"

Still having a grin on his face, Oscar asked and gently placed his right palm against the window.

He was looking outside, towards the battlefield, at a certain someone.

"Because…"

Finally, he called out and shifted his purplish gaze at Vincent, replying,

"I don't think it's needed anymore."

"What?"

Vincent's anger flared after finding Oscar's testimony to be utterly ridiculous.

"Why is it unnecessary now? Have you gone insane or something?!"

The situation was getting perilous as time elapsed, but Oscar was just smiling, and gazing outside.

"Answer me, Oscar! What are you planning now?!"

Vincent's anger rose to its pinnacle after noticing Oscar's silence.

Nevertheless, Oscar didn't say anything to him; instead, he called out,

"Raven."

Upon hearing his command, a man in dark clothing emerged from the silhouette and stood beside Vincent.

"You?"

Vincent called out after noticing Raven, then gazed back at Oscar, knowing exactly that he might say something.

While Oscar was still grinning with his hands behind his back as he solicited.

"Explain it to him, Raven. The actual reason why I restrained you from helping them."

"Well," Raven began, reaching his palm into the pocket of his hood and producing a set of documents.

He casually tossed them onto Oscar's desk before continuing, "I've identified two significant reasons for not supporting the Elite Dragon during the current assault."

"And that is?"

Vincent, with an impatient look, asked.

"First," Raven began clarifying, "It appears like there are some otherworldly forces that are supporting the White Devil because the immense boost of powers that they have won't be possible without it."

"Otherworldly forces? What do you mean?"

With a puzzled look now shaping on Vincent's face, he questioned Raven, but to no avail, since Oscar snickered after noticing Vincent's puzzlement, replying with a smug, "You don't need to know everything, Vincent."

He glanced back at the headmaster, adding, "Just know one thing: some forces are still there that don't like the growth of humans and always try their best to subdue us."

"Wait…are you referring to–"

"Yes!" Oscar exclaimed, cutting out Vincent's words as he replied,

"Heaven, of course. What was the name of that realm again, Raven?"

"Land of Honour."

In a shocking turn of events, Raven commented on the exact name of the place, the only realm that Eden loathed from the core of his heart.

"Right~" A dark, menacing grin shaped Oscar's face as he rested his head against the window and said in a rather intimidating voice, "They're testing our limits. Not knowing that for us, there's no god. We, humans, are the dominant ones!"

"...."

Vincent didn't say anything regarding Oscar's testimony but sighed, then shifted his gaze at Raven, confirming,

"So, you rather plan to stop their growth first, am I right?"

"Indeed." With a stoic look, Raven nodded.

Sigh!

Vincent couldn't help but sighed again, and asked,

"And what's the second reason?"

"The second one is because they've already got support."

"What? From whom? Crimson Eagle? Teren Clan? Feat—"

"From none of those."

Again, Oscar interjected, chuckling while stating,

"From someone far better than those."

Completing his remarks, he beckoned Vincent to join him by the window.

Seeing his gesture, Vincent arrived there.

But suddenly, his expression shifted from confusion to bafflement quickly as he witnessed a mystical spectacle taking place on the battlefield.

With his eyes dilated and jaw-dropped, he called out,

"Who…who is this kid?!"

***

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Ray was constantly searching for the person with the device, but so far, he had been unable to locate him.

"Tch. So troublesome."

Out of frustration, he clicked his tongue.

Despite his efforts, he couldn't manage to spot a trace of the device in anyone's hands.

After all, there were more than 10,000 white-hooded men.

It wasn't an easy feat to single out the one with the device.

"Die!!!"

Suddenly, a white-hooded man charged at Ray with his lethal hammer, about to land a blow at him.

"Sorry, I'm not in the mood to die."

Ray replied, still surveying the area as he deftly dodged the hammer swing and swiftly delivered a fierce kick to the man's face, commenting,

"You better be the one to die."

"Aacckk!" The man screamed in agony as he staggered backward, clutching his injured face.

"Hmm?"

Abruptly, Ray's attention shifted to the front as he noticed about five hooded men, with one cruelly kicking the sergeant's face while the rest of them seemed to be just relishing the show.

However, what truly grabbed his attention was the peculiar red cubic device that one of them was holding.

"Hmph!"

He snorted after noticing them, and out of the blue, he vanished into nothingness.

***

"Yo, shitlet! Say something, will ya? Why hasn't Bitch arrived here yet? She's the commander, yeah? Say something, you bastard!"

The hooded man yelled while kicking the sergeant's face, seemingly enjoying it.

"Ugh! Ngh! Gah!"

The sergeant remained tight-lipped, desperately covering his battered face.

His body was covered in blood, and he appeared to be so fragile that he could hardly protect himself.

*Swish!*

"Hmm?" Suddenly, a dark shadow loomed over the hooded man as someone appeared above him, and the hooded man glanced upward.

"Who the—URGH!!!"

He tried to utter something, but before he could even complete his words, Ray, who had appeared above him, seized the man's hood and ruthlessly slammed his face into the ground.

The impact was so severe that the man's face got buried deep within, leaving only a gruesome mess of blood to be seen instead of his face.

"?!"

This horrifying scene sent chills down the spines of the other three, while the one holding the device remained calm and composed.

"You bastard–?"

One of them attempted to yell at Ray, but his voice trailed off as the one holding the cube gave a sign to him to pipe down.

"Go and help the others. I'll deal with him."

The man holding the cube commanded.

"But Alfred—"

"Just do as I command."

Intervening the words of his fellow companion, the man with the device, Alfred, replied in a rather intimidating voice.

"Tch."

His companions clicked their tongues and stormed away, leaving only Alfred, Ray, and the battered sergeant behind.

'He's not dead. Well, it's fine then.'

Ray sighed inwardly in relief after checking the sergeant's pulse and realizing that the sergeant was only unconscious.

"You're quite merciless despite your age, aren't you, brat?"

Alfred commented while stepping forward towards Ray.

"...."

Ray didn't reply, but with his icy gaze, he observed Alfred.

"Hmph."

Noticing his cold gaze, Alfred snorted, concealed the device in his hood, and opened up his left plan as a spear emerged out of thin air, and he clutched it firmly.

"You know where this is going, correct, brat?"

Alfred asked, his lips curling with a hint of a smirk.

"Indeed," Ray nodded, firmly tightened the grip of his blade, and picked up his flintlock with his free left arm.

Pointing the muzzle of his gun at Alfred while holding his blade horizontally, which covered his right eye, Ray exclaimed,

"In the end, I'll be the one who triumphs."