"OTA-ZS?" spoke Mylhart as he looked through a window, trying to think about this strange name but it was useless, it reminded him of nothing.
'Is it an initial? Are each letters meant to represent a word?' he wondered deeply, ignoring the three otherworlders for a few moments as he thought about it.
'That seems to be something a researcher would call their creation, maybe Willia would know something about this...' he thought before looking back at the unwanteds.
He spoke up, saying something that surprised and disappointed the three men.
"No need to stay anymore, you can keep on skimming through the country to investigate those strange cases if you want" he spoke simply.
"What? Don't you want us to help you deal with OTA-ZS?" exclaimed Aiden, who was the only one to have actually seen this dodgy being.
"There is no need, it will only show itself under certain circumtances..." the general felt silent for second, debating whether he should clue them in on his little theory.
He wasn't one to give a lot of trust in otherworlders but his guts told him that it wouldn't turn out to be a bad idea.
"Listen you three, remember that bag headed man you spoke of? He also had a bunch of letters as a name right? I have never heard of such things, they are most likely linked to one another and if I had to guess, they are subordinates or creations of a single person"
"Considering the mess of strange beings and events that have been plaguing Laparadi for a while now, I would say that they are all linked to each other, Aiden in particular can make sure of that, if you continue to deal with them, I'll be sure to find good rewards for you guys"
"I mostly want you guys to try and find a trail leading to the mastermind of all of this..." the general of the interior spoke seriously and composedly as he picked up a piece of paper and started writing a few things on a piece of paper.
"I gathered some informations for you, make use of this to find whoever is at the head of all of this and don't hesitate to bring them down if the occasion presents itself" he added as he handed them the piece of paper on which he had written many things in an instant.
The general seemed to be already considering their answer to be yes and since he was perfectly right, Grayson nodded his head and walked off immediately after taking the paper, the other two followed suit closely.
They left without closing the door behind them and after a while, the general spoke out loud.
"Good grief, don't you think its better when things go smoothly?" he said out loud, a dark expression appearing on his face as his mouth curved upward.
The opened door was shut close with a loud slam as the being that had been hiding behind it decided to drop the stealth.
The human figure clad in dark raised its head and stared straight at the general, Mylhart saw his own face staring right at him, bearing his most common expression.
"You finally decided to show up" he spoke out loud as he grasped his saber, ready to lash out at any moment.
"Why did you wait so long before showing yourself?" he then asked, he wanted to get as much information out of this thing, even if he wouldn't be able to make use of it.
"You should have kept your mouth shut Mylhart, you went and dug your own grave for me to bury you in" responded the being with a foul imitation of the general's voice.
"You are overreacting, I only made a simple theory but seeing your reaction, I can only guess that I was on the right track" the general didn't show it but something felt deeply amiss here, the thing that wore his face as a mask had already done something.
'What is the point of wearing a mask of my own face? He doesn't match my body sizes or the clothes and the voice is clearly altered...' Mylhart tried to figure out what it was that this thing was all about but he lacked information.
OTA-ZS unsheathed the long cutlass on his back and rushed toward the general.
'He's slow-' the general was perfectly right, in terms of speed, OTA-ZS wasn't much faster than your regular man but it didn't matter.
'So that's what he did!' as he tried to dodge out of the way, expecting to easily outmaneuver the masked attacker and dice him down, only to realise that he was severely slowed down too.
He was instead forced into a struggle with his assailant and pushed back against his desk as OTA-ZS pushed its cutlass down.
With his back against his desk, Mylhart realised that it wasn't just his speed, his strength had also been diminished has he struggled to stop the cutlass from penetrating his face.
He kicked skillfully at the assassin for no success.
"You are a fool! I am One Target Assassin! O T A! The godfather made me to be able to always be able to overpower my target!" OTA-ZS exclaimed with a delightfully mad laughter.
'So that's why he is so sneaky, he wouldn't be able to take on more than one person at once as easily!' thought the general as he did his best to free himself from this deadly position.
His accumulated stats and abilities meant nothing against this guy, he was basically locking away his ability to make use of the system and negating any of his combat experience with an overwhelming strength.
It was simple but incredibly effective, with such an ability, he should be capable of defeating anyone or anything.
'There must be a catch... Such power shouldn't be achievable without a flaw!' the general tried to think as the tip of the blade threatened his face, he could feel the cold steel against his skin already.
However, the fact that OTA-ZS was basically unable to fight any more than one person at the same time.
'But surely, it is not all!' he had an idea and let one of his hands stop trying to stop the blade from piercing him, causing the cutlass to start to carve into his face.
His his free hand, he grabbed the mask the being was wearing and tried to pull it off, immediately, like a cat sprayed by water, OTA-ZS jumped away.
Not losing any more time, Mylhart rolled over his own desk and injected some mana into a device stuck to the underside of it.
He then grabbed a hold of his chair and chucked it right at OTA-ZS, who had already been on his way to to murder him.
He smashed the chair easily but stopped for few moments as well as covering his vision for second, enough time for Mylhart to put his all into pushing his desk across the floor, ramming it into his agressor and pinning him against a wall.
Instead of trying to attack, the general turned back and jumped right through his own window, crashing down lower, stabbing shards of glass and hurting himself in the process as the weakening of OTA-ZS was still in effect.
'I had hoped his ability had a very short range...' he thought as his body ached in a way it hadn't for many years.
The assassin easily pushed the desk away and prepared to jump right after him but hearing the sounds of many footsteps nearing close, he realised that he had missed his chance and instead retreated, he didn't want to have the godfather spend ressources to replace him.
'I won't be able to get close to him again...' he thought as he ran away and disappeared after his mask melded back into its blank state.