Killer Seven POV
Hawk returned. He shook his head.
"Dammit," Illusionist ruffled his hair. He shot an angry look at Brawler. "How are you going to take the responsibility!? Your stupid stunt will cost us dearly!"
"I'm quitting the job." Brawler massaged his shoulders.
"…What?" Illusionist wondered if he had heard wrong.
"I'll deal with the guild leader myself. Don't worry. I will take full responsibility for this time's failure." Brawler grinned.
He joined the Bounty Hunters to fight strong opponents. But Brawler didn't feel anything even when they dealt with Grade 4 metahumans.
The true fighting spirit. No one had it.
It was a surprise that he found what he was searching for in a Grade 2 metahuman.
"What do you think you are doing?" Illusionist summoned Illusion Blades, aiming at Brawler.
"I lost. So I'm going back to train for a rematch," Brawler ignored Illusionist's threat.
He turned around to leave. "A word of advice. He tore open the Mirror Dimension with a Genius tech. He must have a big backer to have something like that. You should dip out before something goes wrong."
Illusionist couldn't refute. This mission was suspicious from the beginning. The info on Zain was also wrong.
Ultimately, Illusionist didn't stop Brawler. Sharin followed Brawler and left.
Zain had overestimated Killer Seven's unity. Killer Seven was an elite group of Bounty Hunters. But that was in the future.
Currently, they were an experimental team of talented Bounty Hunters put together by Galaxus Bounty Hunter Guild.
The present Killer Seven had no unity.
"It's just us three now," Illusionist said as he faced Hawk and Dorian. "Sigh, we'll have a vote. Do you think we should continue or give up on the gig?"
…
Alice POV
Fifteen Minutes Ago
Alice rested on the cruise ship. It was a heaven compared to the Academy. She could finally let herself free.
The team task? F*ck it.
Her intercom rang.
[Sender: CreepyGuy]
It was Zain's nickname.
Alice's mood soured. "Tsk, this bastard."
She didn't move an inch from the ship's deck. As much as she wanted to go and clobber Zain, the baldy had told her not to do that.
In return, he would reduce her curfew and let her challenge Zain to a Sacred Duel after they come back to the Academy.
Alice shivered from excitement. She couldn't wait to return the humiliation. If it was a Sacred Duel, she could knock the living daylights of Zain and no one would bat an eye.
"Hey, ladies want to drink with us?" The group of guys approached the girls.
Watching the boys trying to mingle with beautiful girls was nauseating for Alice.
Suddenly, her eyes met with the leader of the group of boys. She unconsciously puffed out her chest, trying to look mature.
The boy blinked, perplexed, and asked, "Why is a child alone here? Is she los—"
Alice stopped Time, pulled his pants down, returned to her original position, and resumed Time.
"Kyaaa!!!"
"What is he doing!?"
"Help! There is an exhibitionist here!"
"Too small!"
The girls reeled back in shock and disgust.
Alice was about to laugh when her intercom rang.
[Sender: CreepyGuy]
She didn't open the message and ignored it.
Her intercom began to ring repeatedly.
[Sender: CreepyGuy] [Sender: CreepyGuy] [Sender: CreepyGuy] [Sender: CreepyGuy] [Sender: CreepyGuy] [Sender: CreepyGuy] [Sender: CreepyGuy]…
The screen was filled with alerts.
"Shit! What does he want?" She opened a random message.
[CreepyGuy: Hey, shorty, don't ignore me. I swear you are so short that half of my messages must've passed over your head. Anyway, I need help. Come to this location.*GPS*]
[CreepyGuy: Oh, Mighty Millimeter, I need urgent help. Please, arrive at this location as soon as possible.*GPS*]
[CreepyGuy: I summon thee, Miss Universe Dwarf. Do you dare accept the challenge? *GPS*]
Alice opened other messages. They were similar.
She burst into laughter. Her giggles overshadowed the girls' shout.
They stared at Alice, slightly creeped out. Alice continued to laugh for a few minutes.
Finally, a girl mustered courage and approached Alice, "Um, are you okay?"
"Ah, yes. My 'friend' just messaged me."
"Oh…" The girl nodded.
"I'm going to kill him."
"Eh?"
Alice ignored the girl.
She left the cruise and reached the location Zain had tagged. The promise with Mr. Walker could eat sh*t. She was going to put Zain 6 feet under, then laugh at him from a higher position.
"This is the place. Where is he?" She muttered.
The road was badly damaged. Metahuman Police had marked the area as a prohibited zone.
When Alice checked again, the GPS location had disappeared.
On the other side, Zain didn't need the rescue anymore. He asked Nutless to remove the live location marker in the SOS.
Alice didn't give up on the search. She decided. Her height was short, temper shorter, but the shortest were Zain's remaining number of days.
…
Metahuman Police Headquarters, Palvos Planet
Two officer-ranked policemen watched the interrogation room with awed expression. They stood on the other side of the one-way mirror.
"Are the rumors true?" One policeman questioned.
"They are true! I can't believe he treated the poison! Our potioneers couldn't even identify the poison in his blood!" The second policeman answered.
"But who poisoned him?" The first policeman asked.
"No idea. The interro—" The second policeman stopped speaking and made a serious expression.
The supreme commander of Palvos Planet's Metahuman Police entered the room.
Carl was only 28. There were rumors that he used his father's influence to climb to the supreme commander's position. But his talent was undeniable. He was Peak Grade 3!
A Grade 3 metahuman was a peak-level overlord for a remote planet like Palvos. Carl was among the strongest on the planet.
"What are they doing?" Carl frowned. On the other side of the glass, Charlotte was feeding Zain. His arms were in plaster cast. "Who gave them food?"
"That… we didn't." The first policeman was troubled about how to break the news. "It's the kid. I think he has access to subspace."
Carl's frown deepened.
Just then, Zain shifted his gaze and stared at Carl. He shouldn't have been able to see through the one-way glass.
But his actions proved otherwise. Zain waved at Carl with a smile.
"The stories about Stellar Academy were true. Their students are monsters." The first policeman said with a shiver.
Out of the top four academies, the Stellar Academy was the most mysterious one. They rarely sent their students out during the four-year course.
This time was a special case as the Academy wanted to suppress the news about the Academic Cell Incident by diverting the attention of people.
"Is Master sure that he is our target?" Nutless questioned Zain while telling him Carl's location. Unlike Zain, Nutless could see through the glass.
Zain nodded. Carl was the Archbishop of the Mythos Cult. The Cult had already infiltrated the government and other offices of the Palvos Planet.
"Can you call him?" Zain faced the interrogator. "The supreme commander, I mean. I can explain what happened back there to him and him only. It's dangerous to let others know."
The interrogator thought for a moment, picked the intercom, and dialed to ask for permission. He believed Zain's words. Zain's identity as a Stellar Academy student acted in his support.
"He is coming."
Zain smiled upon hearing the answer.
Few minutes later, Carl entered the room. He nodded to the previous interrogator and told him to leave.
Carl had reddish skin, four arms, and a lean physique. He radiated an overpowering presence with the slightest of actions.
Charlotte gulped, staying silent. Her memories of the past days were foggy.
"Speak, you have 2 minutes," Carl said with a domineering voice.
"Dalki," said Zain.
Carl flinched. It was slight enough to be overlooked. But Zain saw it clearly.
Dalki was the parasite within Doll. To be exact, it was an egg of an interdimensional eldritch entity – a Celestial's egg.
"Huuu…." Carl exhaled, drumming his fingers on the table.
The orders from the above were to eliminate Hanna and the other Cult spies in the Academy.
They wanted to cut the tail, before the Academy back-tracked the evidence to them. However, Hanna escaped.
Her last known location was the crash site where the Meta Police apprehended Zain and Charlotte.
'Are they working with Hanna?' Carl's mind raced. 'It can't be. Hanna doesn't know the name of the supreme being's egg. Who is this boy?'
Carl made his decision. He told Zain to follow him.
"I'll interrogate him alone." He told the other officers, then took Zain to an isolated bunker beneath the base.
On the way, the system screen popped up before Zain.
[Gained 100 Animosity. Source 'Mike Galdona']
[Gained 100 Animosity. Source 'Eleanor Denshi']
Mike and Eleanor were real names of Illusionist and Sharin from Killer Seven.
Originally, 'Zain' would never leave the Academy at this point in time. It was why Zain forgot that he could be ambushed.
Zain knew the reason behind the Killer Seven attack.
The original Zain was a Returnee. This was why Maestro caught him and why there was a bounty on him. The bounty, however, would disappear within a week by itself.
Kaching!
Carl locked the doors after they entered the bunker.
He messaged someone and faced Zain.
"If I don't leave this room in 10 minutes, my subordinates will believe that I have died, and they'll set off the explosives inside this bunker."
Although Carl didn't think Zain could defeat him, he prepared a safety net.
The ground hummed as gravity warped around Carl. Purple mist encircled his arms. His eyes shone ominously.
"Speak. Why do you know about Dalki?" Carl asked. "You will die if your answer cannot satisfy me."
Zain raised his hands, which were wrapped in cast.
"I'm the Cult's secret insider in the Academy. Only Father knows about me. I have urgent news about Dalki." He answered while retreating.
"Do you take me for a fool?"
Carl smirked. He appeared before Zain like a blur, fist flying at Zain's face.