There are always people who are at the top of the chain. Whether it is in terms of power, influence or money, as long as even a person exists, the top will exist.
On Planet Vermilion, there exist people with power strong enough to topple cities with their full power. Their systems are special and most of the time unknown even to their close ones.
Currently, there are 12 Humans with 3 SSS classes and 9 SS classes reigning at the top. Out of them, only 5 are known to the public. Even among those 5, only 3 usually come to the outside world and show their faces; the other two are more of a myth to the average person.
One of the three, Mark Leeway, was now standing in front of all of us.
...
'Well, I knew that he was controlling the facility. After all, he was one of my bosses before Lucia brutally killed him after the first Cataclysm… but to think I would be seeing him this early,' Zero thought as he looked at Mark with a serious expression.
"I wonder what is going on here," Mark spoke as he looked at the people around.
To the public, it became a known fact that to be standing against Mark Leeway, either directly or indirectly, is a spell to your own doom.
Anyone who goes against him is bound to lose everything in the most cruel way possible.
Mark Leeway is a cruel, cunning, scheming and selfish person. If he wants something, he will take it at any price and nobody, except the other SS classes, could do anything about it.
Zero looked around to find either a look of despair or fury on people around him. It was more or less obvious that he was the one behind the imprisonment of the people present here and the experiments that were going on here.
"Claus, throw me that baton of yours," Zero spoke and everyone looked at him with a slightly confused look. Claus hesitated as he looked between Zero and Mark. His eyesight then reached William, who seemed to be slowly nodding at him.
After looking at William, Claus couldn't help but gulp before throwing his baton towards Zero.
-Catch
Zero catches the baton and then proceeds to move towards the already dying Puppeteer of Death.
-Step
-Step
-Step
-Step
With each step echoing in the silent hallway, everyone looked at Zero with a slightly astonished yet worried face.
Zero stopped right before he reached in front of the body of the Puppeteer of Death, who looked like he was still conscious despite being heavily slashed from both sides.
Zero raised the baton up in the air before proceeding to hit the Puppeteer of Death and the others couldn't help widen their eyes as they looked at him.
"Boy. Do you not know who I am-"
-Clank
Zero hits Puppeteer of Death with all his might, producing a loud sound that cuts off Mark's words.
"Mark Leeway, the brutal SS class Copy System user," Zero spoke before moving for another hit without even sparing a glance at Mark.
-Clank
Mark looked at Zero with a slightly ashen face as he spoke,"How do you kn-"
-Clank
"How do I know about your system that nobody else knows about?"
-Clank
"You should be asking how I know about…"
-Clank
"Your curse that blocks you from using your system for every other hour"
-Clank
"Your limit of using only one system at a time"
-Clank
"Your deteriorating health condition because of the injury that guy gave you"
-Clank
"Your daughter's injury's antidote that you are frantically searching for."
-Clank
After hitting the already dead Puppeteer of Death several times, Zero looked at Mark with an unempathetic look.
A hard to describe expression appeared on Mark's face as he looked at Zero. It looked like he wanted to know about everything and capture Zero at once, but the fact he had no idea about who Zero was or what his background was made him think more than he should.
"For someone who can't even save himself, let alone his daughter. You have quite the guts to look down on someone like me," Zero spoke with dominance once again before pretending to think about something and then continuing,
"All right. I will get directly to the point. I need you to stop whatever the fuck you are doing with the experiments right now and keep calm while focusing on healing. You might be wondering who am I to order you and I guess, I can't really give you my real identity but… I can give you a reason to do so."
Zero then took a step back and then looked around at Claus before he started walking and continued speaking with a thoughtful expression," A black tulip found growing on the edge of the fallen lake is said to have a sure proof effect of killing the most dangerous organism. A white swan which flies on the seventh mountain of Dia whose tears can purify even the most dangerous poisons. If you combine the tears of the white swan with the black tulip and then add another healing spell known as [Foundation of Healing] to the mixture, you might get an antidote that will ease the pain of your daughter. On normal people, it will have a heavenly effect and they might get addicted to it, so be careful with that."
Zero reached Claus and passed the baton back to him, then looked at Mark as he spoke," you can always check for its effect since the disease's spread. Now, why am I telling this to you? It's simple. I want to make a deal. I know the exact antidote to the curse your daughter is put under as well… However, I need time and place before I can strike a deal with you on that matter. Forget what happened here and don't mention it to anyone and I will save your daughter. This isn't exactly what I planned, but for now, we both shall be satisfied with this. We can even forge a mana contract right here and right now…"
Everyone looked at Zero with an amazed expression as they all wondered who he was…