There was a glisten in Fujimoto's eyes as he nodded towards Jarxen in response to his question. "Second Lieutenant Fujimoto Haruomi. I was in charge of the sub-unit of the Resistance but I got captured during a mission."
"No wonder!" Jarxen exclaimed with a hint of shock on his face.
"You don't look like a lieutenant though, you look like a nerd with an oversized lab coat." Jarxen teased. "In all seriousness though, at least you remember your past. Mine's still hazy from the beginning." He continued
"It will take time. Mine took five years before I could remember something. And recalling memories isn't always pleasant so don't worry about it." Fujimoto cooly said.
Jarxen's mouth curved into a smile. "I'll keep that in mind. Still, it's quite amazing to think that you're part of the Resistance. I wouldn't have guessed." He repeated.
"Why weren't you surprised? I actually prepared myself if ever you were going to flip out. Turns out you didn't. Don't you find the Resistance a bit too much?" Jarxen's curiosity got the better of him. His assumptions were understandable assuming that all of them were on the enemies' side.
"Not really. If I had the chance I would've gotten out of this place and escaped but there's just no way we could do that. Instead, I'd just devote myself to being a block owner in hopes that I get promoted to director in a few years."
"It might take longer than a few years, are you sure you can wait that long? Seems to me you're not really a patient type of guy." Fujimoto joked. He was finally getting tired of standing up for too long so he acquired a chair nearby and positioned it beside Jarxen.
"Well, if the opportunity arises for me to leave, I'll gladly do so. But as I said, trying to escape is useless in the Asterisk. In any case, let's put that aside for now and tell me about the Resistance."
"It is quite a long story. Are you sure you don't mind listening to the ramblings of an old man."
Jarxen caught that as a 'yes'. He didn't waste any time grabbing another chair and seating himself beside Fujimoto. "Oh please, you're older than I am," Jarxen remarked with a sneer.
"Looks like a gossip session is about to start. Mind if I join you?" Julia rejoined the group after getting some more food from the cafeteria.
"Hey Julia, listen... "
.....
The musty air became more evident as the temperature dropped even lower than normal. Chilling winds brushed against the skin of the people who were eagerly waiting outside the crumbling building that Red's group deemed as their 'safe house'
Still, the crowd didn't disperse from their spot, they were like hungry wolves preying on one little gazelle.
The actual time was still a few hours from sunset, except it's an artificial sunset. No one knows what the actual time was but they knew that it would be shown on the ceilings of the Inside, just like the breath-taking night sky that showcased a myriad of stars... except, again, it's all artificial.
"How long do we have to wait?"
"We'll wait here until they come out. We have the whole place surrounded so they can't escape."
"Are you sure about that? Worker zero-seven-zero-three is our target, right? I heard he was able to stand up against three outclass humanoids."
"Have you fought against an outclass humanoid?"
"No."
"Then why are worrying about it? As far as know, they might be considerably weaker than the regular ones. How could a mere brat beat something stronger than the ones we defeat every day?"
"You're right."
A man on his late forties just chuckled at the conversations from the different groups. He had the same tattered clothes as the workers but he had strips of cloth tied around his biceps and calves. He had brown hair, deep black irises and an uneven stubble on his chin. In fact, he looked completely normal compared to the other workers. The only unnoticeable difference was his well-chiseled body underneath his tattered clothes. You could mistake him for a fighter and no one would dispute it. "They're all a bunch of morons." He whispered to himself as he chewed on a half-eaten sausage.
"What's that? What did you say?!" Apparently, the man overheard his indication towards them. "I said, WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!"
"You're all a bunch of morons, and savages if I may add." The man continued munching on his snack as he expressionlessly looked at the wrathful guy that fell for his taunts.
The man cracked his knuckles and did a few shadow-boxing jabs before looking at his subordinates. Well, it was safe to say that he was the alpha of their pack. He nodded towards his men as if to say 'get him' or something to that extent.
A little less than ten men offensively rushed towards the brown-haired man. They were so keen on destroying him that they didn't even notice that he wasn't moving at all.
Technique: Mixed Martial Arts and Taekwondo variant... Analyzing... Analysis complete.
.
The man lashed out his foot on a side sweep, putting enough force to make the 200-pound men take a literal nosedive towards the ground. The alpha of the group couldn't believe his eyes.
How could such a weak kick do that?!
Unsuspectedly, the brown-haired guy just used their weight and vector against them, that's why it was possible for him to do so. If it were a normally miscalculated kick, the men would've had attacked him without even batting an eye.
Adding to that, the brown-haired guy didn't even stand up! He let out a sigh as he rubbed his chin. Then, he raised his other hand and motioned for the group's alpha to come towards him. This made the leader take a step back as he pointed his quivering index finger towards the guy. "W-who are you?!"
"I'm the leader of Block-1 and if you didn't know, we're a testing block as well." The brown-haired guy clicked his tongue in disappointment. "With the way your men fought, I could safely assume that you haven't fought an outclass. Not even once."
For a split second, a strong breeze blew against the leader's face as the brown-haired guy dashed towards him without missing a single beat. One moment he was sitting on his backpack, the next moment, he was standing in front of the group's leader with a swiss knife pointed at his throat. "I'd say, you gotta cool yourself down mate, you're their leader after all." He said in a cold voice that sent chills down the man's spine.
The guy retracted the swiss knife from the man's throat. "The name's Veerius. And also, don't underestimate the Outclass humanoids. Judging from how weak you are, you won't even last a second." With a wave of his hand, the man walked away from the scene with a dignified gait.
As Veerius walked a distance away from the man, the man's feet turned into jelly, making him fall rear side first. He sighed in relief, glad that his life wasn't taken at that moment.
....
"You sure this would work?" Blond asked the second time as he perplexedly looked at Red. The plan in itself wasn't that bad and it wasn't great either... although its procedure was very questionable.
"Of course, you don't have to worry about it." Red patted him on the back.
"Wait, let me ask this again, you're telling us to walk on this thin piece of plywood and cross to the other side which is twenty feet away, and underneath us is a thirty-foot drop?" Blond confirmed. It should be mentioned that Blond already asked the very same question a few times before the current one.
"Yes. Don't worry about it. You won't die if you fall." Red looked down as a cold gust of updraft swept his red hair skyward. "And besides, we've reinforced the bottom part of the wood with a long piece of steel. There's no way it would snap off that easily."
"You go first then." Blond dared Red.
Red didn't need telling twice. He pressed his hands sideways against the concrete floor and cowled as low as a bear-crawl. "Watch."
With a snap of his ankle, Red rushed forward, stepping lightly on the thin bridge that was poorly constructed by yours truly. He only needed to step thrice before arriving on the other end of the stick. "See? It's like walking on a tight rope! You can use those iron rods as a balancer if you need them!"
"Easy for you to say." Blond murmured.
When it comes to mentally exhausting subjects, you could put Blond as a vanguard and it would be a piece of cake for him; but compare that with physically taxing routines, Blond would rather solve an extremely difficult crossword than do it.
Furthermore, it should also be mentioned that Blond is exceedingly acrophobic.