Chapter 45 - After Battle

Expected time passes slowly, but for Siren, time passed faster than expected. Immediately after the semi-finals, the final was set. She wanted to meet James one more time before it started.

However, she couldn't see him anywhere. It was as if the earth had opened up and James had fallen into it and disappeared. She involuntarily worried for her friend's health. When she couldn't find him, she reluctantly made her way to the arena when she was called.

As they made their way through the relatively quiet corridor of the arena, except for the security, Siren asked Xayah in a low voice:

"He probably went to the hospital, right?"

Xayah, on the other hand, was in no way interested in Siren's concern. She had her own thoughts and many more questions. She gave a strange answer that left Siren wondering:

"That freak will take care of himself."

Siren wondered why she said that, but by this time, she was already at the entrance to the arena. She just sighed in curiosity.

And where was James during all this? Of course, he was changing his clothes. After checking his clothes one last time, he looked at the bound, almost naked man behind him. He was naturally filled with guilt.

But then he shook his head from side to side.

"Blame it on your own carelessness, sir, you are incapable of seeing the great crime that is happening in front of you."

This was a crime in what he had done. He knew that, but small evils could be forgiven for his own greater good. After all, the man in front of him hadn't been physically harmed, had he?

James thought to himself and went out. After looking at the door, which locked automatically as he left, he read the inscription and nodded his head in agreement.

Storage.

A place never to be visited unless necessary. Today, James saw the chances of it being visited as so slim that he felt the need to hide it here.

As he walked up the stairs, he checked his badge one last time. He had a weird feeling when he read the inscription on his name badge.

Dave.

It seemed like a made-up name, but he didn't have time to think about it. After making sure he was standing properly, he made his way to what would be his duty station.

This was, of course, the most important part of the controller, the generator that took care of the power distribution. As he made his way there he was met with strange looks. But he kept a straight face. Fortunately, the visor on his helmet prevented his eyes from showing. He was lucky in that respect.

One of the other security guards looked at him and spoke:

"Where have you been, Dave? We thought you fell in the toilet."

James replied with a fake smile:

"Ha ha. I had some 'big' problems. You know what I mean."

In response, the security guard laughed and then asked him to take his seat. With that, James breathed a sigh of relief. He had taken out a security guard who was barely his height. So he was relieved.

Now all he had to do was wait. And of course, intervene…

Time has passed. Siren had a hard time in the final battle, but she managed to win!

She was given a lot of applause and a different device that looked like a small medallion. When this device was touched, it simulated a small cup. Out of this cup came the iconic lights of Darkus and they filled the surroundings with purplish dark lights.

Siren pocketed it. Afterwards, instead of bragging about her victory, she simply said that she hoped everyone enjoyed the tournament as much as she had and left.

It was nice to be in the spotlight. She could have talked more and made fun of everyone else. But her mind was on James right now.

She was worried about him. And now, she was looking for him. Soon, the group matches would start, the one everyone was most looking forward to. Including Siren.

But first, she wanted to find James. After checking the same places one last time, she decided to go to the hospital. Otherwise, she wouldn't feel comfortable. She would have the opportunity to see Vexos again later. They rarely came by, but they did nonetheless. So, now, she had a more important matter.

Siren looked for a moment at an extremely irrelevant place as she made her way towards the exit. The place was crawling with security guards. It was probably an important part of the arena or one of the places where the Vexos were held.

After looking there, she shook her head from side to side and ran towards the exit of the arena...

Siren aside, Ryuu's discomfort was growing as time passed. Everything was going according to plan. Shun and Ace had entered the tournament. Ryuu was just waiting with Dan, Baron, and Mira.

Marucho would open the door for them when the matches of the duo tournament started so they could put their plan into action.

Still, there was an unease inside Ryuu that he couldn't understand. The passage of time was making him more and more restless. Although he tried not to show his discomfort, his eyebrows involuntarily furrowed.

This naturally made him the target of Dan and Mira's gaze. Just as Mira was about to ask something, the door in front of them suddenly opened!

Marucho, standing in front of them, opened the door with a very thoughtful expression on his face. Dan immediately gave Marucho a thumbs up.

"Good job Marucho!"

Marucho nodded. Something was obviously bothering him. His face was lower than usual. Realizing this, Dan immediately asked without giving anyone else a chance to ask:

"What's wrong, Marucho?"

On his device, the Baron opened the three-dimensional sketch of the inside of the arena from the data he had stolen. When he heard what Dan said, he looked at Marucho with concern.

"Are you all right, Master Marucho?"

Marucho took a step back and waved his hands up and down in panic at the succession of questions.

"I-I'm fine, guys! It's okay, let's go!"

With that, he started to run quickly in a panic. Dan was stunned by Marucho's sudden weird behaviour.

"Marucho wait!"

Dan thought in confusion as he tried to catch up with Marucho. He couldn't understand. He could understand feeling bad that he had to lose, but it was as if his best friend was hiding something from him. That's what he inferred from his strange behavior, but why? What could have happened in the waiting room?

Too late to even realize what had happened, Mira and Baron were following Dan. Normally, they would have gone slower, but doing the opposite was a recipe for disaster!

Ryuu, who was at the very back, stopped for a few moments in confusion, then shook his head from side to side and tagged along. His senses, which had so far rarely deceived him, told him that something bad was definitely going to happen.

While running like this, Marucho at the front gradually reduced his speed. What was he doing? Was he trying to bring disaster to his plans? Realizing his stupidity, he slowed down. Dan, who was right behind him, naturally slowed down too, or he would have almost fallen.

As the others slowed down, Dan leaned over and grabbed Marucho's shoulder.

"Are you planning to tell us what happened, Marucho?"

Seeing Dan, who was getting better at reading the scene and questioning more and more, Ryuu felt proud, like a father. But he put that pride aside. He too wondered what had really happened.

After making sure that everyone else was hiding in a corner, Marucho felt even more embarrassed. He finally couldn't resist and asked:

"Guys... I know what we are doing is right, but after we set the bakugans free... what will happen to the others? I'm talking about the ones with bakugans in their houses... Won't there be a big disaster?"

By this time, Dan had removed his hand from his shoulder. Even though they were talking, they had limited time and they had to reach the place. But Marucho's question caused them to freeze momentarily.

Dan paused for a moment to understand what he meant. Before he could answer, though, Drago's stern voice sounded from his pocket on his shoulder:

"My brothers and sisters will protect their partners. There is no need to worry, Marucho."

Marucho glanced up at Drago when he heard his reassuring, if stern, voice. His small yellow horn in the shape of a ball moved with a slight nod of his head. His green eyes gave off a small sparkle of reassurance.

After a glance at him, he sighed and nodded his head.

"I guess you're right. I was just confused by that mysterious man. Like he knew something."

At that moment, Dan and Ryuu asked almost at the same time:

"What mystery man?"

Marucho took a deep breath and began to explain. He started with the awkward question James had asked when he approached him.

He pretended not to understand the question, but James ignored him and continued talking. He asked him if he really insisted on going ahead with something that could threaten the life of a human or many vestals and asked him to think about it.

Other than that, there was nothing else he said. But these words were very striking and harsh. Naturally, they made Marucho think. Were they really going to cause a major disaster?

The underlying problem was the unintentional accident caused by the newly freed bakugan, but if Drago himself thought that this could be avoided, then he had worried for nothing in the first place.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Mira and Ryuu both assumed very serious expressions. Dan nodded his head in understanding.

"It's normal to be confused about that strange man, Marucho, but as Drago said, they are our friends and comrades. They will prevent such things."

Marucho nodded his head in agreement and smiled.

"You're right, Dan."

Mira, meanwhile, was thinking about who could say such a thing. They had seen the Vexos in person. But what Marucho was describing was a man she had never heard of. Maybe this could cause problems with their plan. They had to hurry.

"Guys, we have to hurry. There is someone talking about something strange like this. He might know our plan."

At this, Baron spoke in surprise:

"But how? I am sure that no Bee is listening or following us."

Mira shook her head negatively.

"I don't know, but we need to be careful and fast. Baron, show me the map."

"Understood."

Ryuu gritted his teeth as Baron showed the map again. For the first time, he felt threatened. He had thought he might just be too paranoid, but the thought he couldn't get out of his mind for a while...

...the existence of another reincarnator...

This was real. Indeed, there were others who were reincarnated besides him. He wasn't the only one!

Normally, he should have been excited. But he felt rather threatened. The joy of the idea of being the only omniscient in the universe had until now been over. It meant that there were now different variables that could change everything.

And that made him more nervous than anything else. He cried out in his mind:

'System, can I use any of Leonidas' abilities?'

With that, a gold-framed system window appeared in front of him. The design was exactly the same as the system window James had used. But the content was completely different.

<Leonidas: The Shadowfire ability can be used. However, your body is not capable of using any bakugan ability. Using bakugan's abilities recommended.>

He himself didn't want to unless he had to. But knowing this was a relief. Even if this feature of his system hadn't worked for him before, now that he was going to use it on a human, it should work.

With these thoughts in mind, he remained silent and continued to follow his friends. The steps, though hurried, were careful.

They moved carefully through the clean, bright, metallic white walls. On their way down, they suddenly came to a place with tight security. Immediately, they crouched and huddled.

A gray door, more conspicuous than the others, opened upwards, and out came the Vexos. Myleene, Shadow, a man in a brown jacket, and… him.

He was the man who walked in the front row, who stole the spotlight with his presence. He had blond, spiky, long hair. He wore a leather jacket so flashy that it dwarfed the woman who followed him. It was the color of a fiery red. It was decorated with long black feathers, primarily on the collar. It was easily recognizable.

The jacket reached to his waist, and with these shades and ornaments, he looked like royalty. There was a nobility about him as much as there was an oppression.

Apart from that, the most striking thing about this man was his face. He had a mask covering the upper half of his face. This crimson-colored mask had a single eye socket. This eye socket had a striking design with black lines surrounding it. And in the blackness surrounding the eye socket, the blue iris glowed menacingly, making itself known.

The moment he saw this, Dan stood up as if he had seen his sworn enemy. His teeth were clenched in anger.

"It's Spectra! I'll get my revenge on him! Revenge for humiliating me- Mmm!"

Suddenly, he was silenced by Ryuu. He spoke hoarsely:

"Calm down, Dan. You'll get your chance. We can't throw away our best chance."

Dan struggled helplessly as Ryuu gripped him tightly from behind, restricting his movement. He wanted to go there, to challenge him, to get his revenge. Meanwhile, Drago spoke up:

"He's right, Dan. We will get our chance."

Even though he said that… everyone could feel his reluctance. Drago was similar to Dan in many ways, although he could be more objective.

Ryuu just inhaled the cold air as he looked at Spectra. Could the presence of a human be so uncomfortable?