Perhaps it would have worked, and things would have been solved for all of us. Alas! It's not that easy, is it? Those at the top have pride. Pride that doesn't allow them to let anyone lower than them to walk all over them. It is utterly ridiculous, but this is the truth.
Even though you can have the very thing you wanted so desperately by sacrificing a little of the pride you had, you still will have a hard time choosing between your pride and the thing you need.
Well… too bad he has to deal with me this time…
...…..
"Before you make a decision, let me warn you. Let me warn you what is going to happen to you and your daughter if you mess with me…" Zero spoke as his expression changed from serious to angry.
Mark looked at him with a serious face as he heard each and every word Zero spoke carefully, without making a single sound.
Everyone around was carefully watching the whole scene unfold and the more time Zero took to speak, the more suffocating the atmosphere became.
"I will tell them the exact location of you and your daughter, with a list of the weaknesses that could not only fatally but thoroughly destroy you to the core. One wrong step and you can kiss your already dying life goodbye. This is the first and the last warning I am going to give you, Mark Leeway. I am not someone you can even dare to mess with. Whether I be an Angel or a Devil will depend upon how you act, so weigh your options very carefully," Zero spoke with a supreme look on his face as he observed Mark.
Mark… did not utter a single word after Zero spoke. He quietly observed Zero with a calculating look before he spoke,"You have 3 months. 3 Months before I will come for your head. I want my daughter to be happy and healthy before that time expires."
He then looked at the others present in this room and spoke,"your fates depend on this kid's abilities. Also, you better not mention anything that happened right now or else…" Mark simply stopped there before cutting the call off.
A single piece of paper came in front of us out of nowhere with the conversation and the promise that Zero and Mark both made, written on it.
Zero looked at that piece of paper and caught it with his blood-soaked hand. With the red hair and red eyes, he looked like a little red devil who can kill anyone if you approach him carelessly.
As soon as the paper touched Zero's hand, the contract was signed and Zero smiled before looking at the others as he spoke.
"Take care of me after I pass out. Also, make sure nobody knows what happened here. I have exhausted too much of my energy and blood, so I might be unconscious for about a month or two… If it is not too much, get me admitted to Urgent Healer's Hospital, you guys can do that at least, right?"
With Mark Leeway vouching for Zero's life, nobody present here would even dream about making a move on Zero. It wasn't exactly what Zero had in his mind…. But it still worked out fine in the end.
Soon after that, Zero passed out and fell to the ground. However… nobody dared to make a move towards him. Whether it was William, Clair or the saintess… nobody made a move towards him. They were shell shocked with what had just happened to give any reaction at all.
However… someone soon moved… it was the saintess… slowly and slowly she moved towards Zero and chanted,"[Minor Heal]" and started healing with a complicated look on her face.
This boy in front of her was far more complicated than what she had anticipated. Soon the others also snapped out of their daze and began moving towards the saintess. The two other healers urgently began healing Zero, too. Whether it was the fact that this kid was their saviour or it was the fear of Mark Leeway that prompted them to heal the boy, they themselves weren't sure about it.
The others waited for the healers to do the work with a worried expression, as if it was their own life that was being saved there, which was true in its own way.
-Boom
-Thud
-Thud
-Thud
-Thud
"Father!!!" A boy with other people started landing on the ground with tears and fury in their eyes. The boy soon ran towards a certain guy… Claus and hugged him tightly. Claus looked at his son with a dumbfounded face.
"Sir William!!" A butler-like person too came and moved in front of William and kneeled with an ashamed face. William looked at him and the others who were finally reunited with their loved ones here before looking at the unconscious Zero with an even more amazed look.
"What happened?" William asked the man kneeling with a serious face and the man replied," we… all of us received a signal with a location and a letter. It told us that if we didn't hurry up. We might end up losing you and the others tonight."
William looked at his butler with a glare before speaking," It could have as well been a trap, you do know that, don't you Stephan?"
The butler suddenly smiled before speaking," that is why…. all of us brought the full force."
Dumbfounded at his words, William then looked at the top and immediately after that, the land started rapidly rising to the top.
After a few moments of rising, all of them reached the top to the ground and what William saw around made him much more amazed than he was before.
The Holy Church, the strongest guilds, the security department… it was an entire army that had arrived here to save them. William looked at Zero once again…
'So it was already a checkmate for the enemies, way before the game even began, huh? Just what kind of monster did we come across?'
"Who is he?" asked Stephan as he curiously looked at Zero, who was being healed by the Saintess, both the new one and the old one. Looks like watching Sera healing Zero in such a hurried manner made the other Saintess prioritise Zero's healing over other things.
"He is a brave kid. A very very brave kid," William spoke before moving towards Claus, to whom he spoke,"take care of Zero. I will take care of any unnecessary disturbances." Before moving away from there.
Claus looked at William before nodding and looking at Zero and moving towards him.
William looked at Stephan and spoke,"let's go. We have some urgent matters to attend to," and they both vanished from there.
More and more people began crowding at that place as time passed, but Zero was skillfully removed from people's eyesight before they could realise anything. Only those who were inside there knew what had transpired and only a few people like the other Saintess were able to calculate that something big happened in the facility and Zero was one of the key figures related to the incident. However, they too kept quiet and spoke nothing…