—East District, Dotun City; Lanima Region
"You're aware of Rea's Reign, right?" Ayer asked Stacia.
"Controlling reality," Stacia said.
"This token houses a spec of Rea's abilities, her ability to mind control, after you and Wey requested us to take you in, this is what binds you to our group, this gives me an absolute authority over you, even though I can only do one order to you, it's still an absolute order, Wey's token is with me, it's separate from this, of course," Ayer explained, showing the token to Stacia.
Rea's Reality Control Reign is complex, she can not only control Reality, but also use Thought Empowerment, and control minds using Reality, binding to her ability to use Thought Empowerment.
"I forgot about that token, sht! I should've just let him take me in without anything in return when he offered it to me, I'm so stubborn!" Stacia thought, regretting her past decisions.
Because Stacia was in a bind spot 3 years ago, even though Ayer was willing to take her in his group without any sort of fee, Stacia was insistent on having one because Ayer was able to help her out of her miserable situation 3 years ago.
Stacia is slowly backing up. "What are you asking for, Ayer, showing me that?" She asked him.
"I just said it, kill Alex, if you decline that mission, I will have to use this. That said, if you did accept that mission, I'll snap this in half after you're done, rendering it useless, though I'm not expecting you'll succeed because you're his friend. But I have a plan for you. Use that friendship you have," Ayer explained, answering Stacia's question.
"Use our friendship? I don't understand," Stacia said, confused by what he deemed as a plan.
"Stacia, I'm old enough to have experienced many things, getting stabbed in the back by a close friend is one of them. Get close to him long enough to stab him in the back as well, use that friendship, use that trust, is that too much to ask so that this token is broken?" Ayer said, clarifying to her as he sits down on his chair.
"Do I really want to betray Alex for this thing? What would he have done in this kind of situation?" Stacia thought.
"What if I also failed that?" Stacia asked Ayer.
"Why? Does Alex have more skills you know of that we don't yet?" Ayer asked Stacia first.
"I… I don't know, he isn't telling me everything before he left early morning, I couldn't even see him off," Stacia said, half lying to Ayer.
"Where do you think he's going? He didn't really tell us about that," Ayer asked Stacia.
"I know where, I'll now accept this mission because I have no choice, if you don't snap that thing in half once I'm done, I'll snap that myself," Stacia said, suddenly becoming confident as she turns around to leave.
"Wait, where is he going, Stacia?" Ayer asked her.
"You're gonna have to use that token for me to answer you, Ayer," Stacia said, answering his question coldly.
"That's what you get for making me do this," Stacia thought, she then left Ayer's office.
"She's such a handful, I guess I need to have her followed as well, Rea and Wey are already following Alex so I'll have to rely on other Reign users here instead," Ayer thought.
Right as he was about to leave his office to look for Reigners, Rea and Wey entered his office.
"Rea! Wey! I thought I told you to follow Alex," Ayer said, surprised to see them quickly.
"Well, we couldn't," Wey said, he then went inside his office and sat down on his sofa.
"The city is big, Ayer, when he noticed us, he blew himself up with a bomb, and when that bomb dispersed, he was gone, I tried to locate him with my Reign but it was in vain," Rea said to him as she enters his office.
"That's impossible, you're our navigator and everything, literally," Ayer said.
"It's true, even I rampaged around where he was gone, nobody came out, either he's smart or tough enough to withstand my rampage," Wey said, relaxed on the sofa.
"Okay, Stacia just left, she knows where he will be going, she just told me before she left, go follow her, if she fails to kill him, you two go in and kill him," Ayer said.
Wey stood up from the Sofa. "You ordered her to kill him and accepted? How's that possible? I thought they were friends," he asked him.
"Well, she declined the mission, I forced her that I'd use the Token if she declines and she accepted afterward, do you remember that Token, Wey?" Ayer asked him after answering his question.
"Oh, that?" Wey thought, asking himself.
"I know that, for sure, why didn't you just use it on the spot?" Wey asked him.
"Because we still need her to trust us, I will, of course, break that Token once she's finished, or if she somehow failed—she who's one of the best warriors of this group with 3 years of experience," Ayer said, answering Wey's question.
"Let's go, Wey," Rea said.
They then left Ayer's office afterward.
"How are we taking down this Alex, Rea? Do we beat him up senselessly like others?" Wey asked her enthusiastically as they leave the headquarters.
"I'm glad you're still enthused about this because I'm not, there's a high chance Stacia will betray us, and I don't want to fight Stacia as much as possible," Rea said.
"Even though we've never established a social relationship, whenever we're fighting together, we have this sort of connection. We always fight perfectly together, whether against giant monsters or other Reign users," Rea thought, worried about fighting Stacia mentally.
"Are you sure? Aren't you a little too worried?" Wey asked Rea, confused by her words.
"Have you not pieced it together, Wey? She's friends with this Alex and he's the only one we know of that made Stacia tour him around the headquarters, invited him to our group, and let him stay in her house," Rea asked him, giving him pointers.
"Hmm?" Wey thought.
"That does make sense, we will need 2 plans, one for Alex alone, and another for when both of them worked together," Wey said, realizing after hearing Rea's words.
"You caught up quickly," Rea said.
"Of course!" Wey shouted enthusiastically.
The two of them then left Masters of Reigns' headquarters.
Ayer then went to the podium of the headquarters where many Reigners of their group are currently gathering, Ayer informed the group he has an announcement to say.
Ayer went to the microphone of the podium. "Reign users of our esteemed group, Masters of Reigns, I have a mission to give you…"
The Reigners all immediately flocked in front of the podium to listen to Ayer's words because he rarely goes there, it's even rarer for him to announce a mission himself.
"A mission!?"
"Who could it be?"
"Is there a Reign user he wants?"
Ayer continued his announcement. "…there is an URU roaming around the city, a new one, he has a Unique Reign that allows him to use more than one Reign, multiple Reigns…"
"URU?"
"That means Unique Reign user, dumba*s,"
"URUs like Ms. Thiwang, Ms. Wirklichkeit, and Sir Wey,"
Ayer continues. "…his name is Alexander Hugo, he wears a Scope jacket, tagged removed, he also has cyborg right body. He poses a great threat to us because we don't know if he's a spy, we don't know if he intends to destroy this empire we've built here,
Whoever brings him to me, dead or alive, will be given a seat to the URU of this group, one of us, Grand Masters of Reigns," he explains, giving every Reigner a mission, a bounty mission.
The Reigners of the group all scrambled, they stopped what they were doing, stopped doing their current missions, to look for Alex, look for a way to find and kill Alex. Because they know killing is easier than bringing a bounty alive.
"The hunt begins," Ayer thought, he then left the podium.
—West District, Dotun City; Lanima Region
"I feel like I'm not making any progress at all, I can last under here for a while with my strong lungs but I need to check where I am so that I don't get in trouble too much, either against Reigners or giant monsters," Alex thought, stopping his Earth tunneling.
He then opened a tunnel upwards with his Earth control to check where he is.
"Okay, I'm still in the West District, though I'm so close to the entrance, it's exactly where I wanted to go to but it's walled up underground, I'm not very hopeful my Earth Control can budge that thing, I'm going to need a lot of space to do so—and time," Alex whispered to himself as he plans where to go.
"There are Reigners over there, I can feel the ground shaking, meaning there will be a giant monster here later or something like that," Alex thought, assessing the area while burrowed down on the ground, peeking through the area.
He then went underground after and looked for the giant monster. When he found it, he triggered it with Earth Control to have it appear and create chaos for the other Reigners.
*ROAR*
*rumble* *boom*
"A giant monster!"
"Take it down before it destroys the walls!"
"Alright, that's the distractions taken care of, I will have to open this wall for me to enter," Alex thought.
Alex then used Earth Control to weaken the walls by softening their insides.
"Let's try this Exploding Hands, I hope it doesn't explode in my hand," Alex said to himself.
"Hey! Who are you!?"
Someone spotted Alex, luckily he has his hoodie on. They then charged at him.
"Better take care of this quickly," Alex thought.
He then activated the Exploding Hands and destroys a portion of the walls.
*BOOM*
Opening a hole, big enough for him…
But he didn't realize… because these walls are 3 years old, destroying a portion of the wall can create a domino effect. Completely bulldozing the entire walls of the section they're in.
*rumble*
*BOOM*
"What?!"
"How did it get destroyed!?"
After that commotion, a few giant monsters were awakened and started rampaging.
"Okay, time to go," Alex thought, he then left the area.
He then enters the Northwest District.
—Northwest District, Dotun City; Lanima Region
He stopped in his tracks after seeing the area of Northwest District, a few minutes after just entering the district.
"It's also in shambles, this is like a homeland for me. I need to go find the house, let's see if I can still remember the way." Alex thought.
He then heads to the streets where his house is but there are Reigners on the way.
"You! You're Alexander Hugo! Where do you think you're going?"
"Who are these guys?!" Alex thought, stopping his running.
"That's none of your business, how do you know who I am?" Alex said, asking them how they know him.
"You have a bounty in Masters. It's a pretty high price, from their leader himself,"
"Masters? The Masters of Reigns? They put a bounty on me?! I guess my offer of helping them whenever they need it is out of the box now," Alex thought.
Alex slouched down, ready to fight back. "I don't want to fight you and I don't want to trouble you," he said.
"Trouble us? We're 4 against you, one, no matter how tough you are, you just arrived at the scene of the Reign users, we have 3 years of headstart compared to yours, what can you do against us?"
After they said that, someone from above a ruined building jumped down at them, taking down their party's leader in one drop.
"Stacia?!" Alex shouted, asking as he was confused why she is here.
"Ms. Thiwang!"
Stacia then went up to the other 3 Reigners and beat them down easily.
"Is she helping me or does she want a piece of that bounty as well? Because I assume she's fully aware of the bounty on my head in their group," Alex thought.
"Alex," Stacia called.
"Stacia, why are you here?" Alex asked her.
"I don't want to do this but Alex has fast regeneration, I can fight him without worry. I just wish it can last long against my skills, which I hope doesn't have a limit because if it does have one, I will end up killing him," Stacia thought, still having doubts whether or not to fight Alex.
"You're now a Rogue Unique Reigner, Alex, you are either our ally… or a threat to our group," Stacia said.