A dozen guards arrived at the scene.
They had come after hearing the alarm.
Neither Zain nor James were there, only the corpses of five guards.
The leader of the guards, a peak Grade 2 metahuman, analyzed the bodies.
"All of them were killed with a single attack. It's almost like the work of a professional," He said.
The guards noticed red mist covering their surroundings.
"Sir, we have a condition!"
"Thick mist is obstructing our vision!"
"Cover your nose and mouth, and stabilize your breathing! Move in groups of three. The escapees are still here!" Sirius ordered his troops.
They were wary of mist. However, they couldn't return without checking the situation.
The mist quickly grew thick, resulting in poor visibility.
Suddenly, the sound of air being torn apart rang.
Swish!
A silver shadow flitted across the mist, followed by groans of guards.
"Ack!"
"Wh...what is that?"
"It's too fast! I can't see it in this mist!"
The order deteriorated.
While no guards were hit fatally, they couldn't locate any escapee in the area.
Yet the presence of the needle and mist made it clear that the enemy was here.
"Pay attention! Search for them!" Sirius gripped his katana.
His voice instilled confidence in the guards and restored order.
A guard ran up to him.
"Sir, I have news!"
"Speak up." Sirius nodded while paying attention to the surroundings.
The guard abruptly pulled out a shortsword and slit Sirius' throat.
Sirius would have dodged the attack normally. But in this situation, he expected an attack from outside, not from one of his own people.
He watched in shock as the guard's appearance morphed, transforming into his spitting image.
"Leader, what was that?" Another guard asked from beyond the mist.
Due to the red mist, they did not see the guard attacking Sirius or his transformation.
The doppelganger grabbed Sirius' jaw, stopped him from talking, and spoke with Sirius' voice, "There is no problem here. Continue the search."
Sirius was horrified when the guards failed to distinguish between his voice and the doppelganger's.
The last thing he saw was the smiling face of the doppelganger.
Zain, who had transformed into Sirius using his Mimicry skill, looked at the remaining guards coldly.
[Mimicry] Lvl.2 – Copy the voice and appearance of those you have killed.
The mist obstructed the guards' vision and slowly poisoned them.
They were like helpless lambs in front of Zain, who could copy the appearance of others.
…
Doll POV
Doll's consciousness was hazy.
Her vision was blurry and her ears continued to ring.
A shadow appeared in front of her
She raised her head in a daze.
William grabbed her chin and forced her to drink from the jar.
"When can we leave?" He asked the guard next to him.
"The preparations should be completed in 5 minutes, sir."
They were inside a massive warehouse.
In the deepest part of the warehouse, Zain and James were being interrogated.
William was near the door. Doll and the other girls were locked inside a metal cage next to him. They were heavily sedated, left in a trance-like state.
Other than the guard, only Hanna was present with William.
A wound-riddled guard returned from the deepest part of the warehouse.
William recognized him. He had left with others to capture James and Zain after the alarm sounded.
The guard lowered his head. His voice shook, "S…sir, the guards were defeated. The enemy overpowered us."
"Then how did you return?" William frowned. He secretly got ready to activate his Mutant ability.
"My brothers helped me to escape. They made sure that I delivered you the news." The guard shivered uncontrollably as if recalling the horrific battle. "The opponent can shapeshift."
He continued, "He cleverly defeated the leader, used his identity to separate us and took us out while we were apart. Fortunately, he is heavily injured. He will need to heal himself before coming here."
William's eyes widened for a moment.
Shapeshifting was an extremely lethal ability.
It lacked direct combat power, but if used properly, it was one of the most dangerous powers.
"Give me proof that you are one of us." William raised his hand, pointing his finger at the guard in the shape of the gun.
Whips of black energy flickered at his fingertip.
"We live to serve the Hungry Prince. We rise to see his glorious return. We die to protect our majesty's honor." The guard repeated the motto of Mythos Cult.
It was a secret phrase known to only Mythos Cult members.
Upon hearing it, William lowered his hand.
"Thank you, sir." The guard finally raised his head. He had a relieved smile when William didn't kill him, thinking he was the enemy shapeshifter.
William wanted to locate the one who killed his people. Enemy shapeshifter or not, he was confident in his victory.
However, they had to hurry and leave.
With only two guards remaining alive, William and Hannah lend a helping hand. They carried the cage to the private jet waiting in the hangar.
After locking the cage in the cargo hold, William started the preparation for takeoff.
"You can stop pretending." Hanna pointed at the guard who had escaped from the shapeshifter.
Zain, who had been impersonating the guard, flinched.
His Eternal Smile stayed when he used Mimicry. It was only a matter of time before he was found out.
Still, he had hoped he could hide until the end.
"How did you find out about our Cult's maximum?" William growled. He was stunned after Hanna's revelation, but he hid his emotions perfectly. "A wretch dare— cough! cough!"
Suddenly, William coughed blood.
"Poison?"
"It was not me." Hanna shook her head.
"I barely made it in time," Zain murmured.
His words relieved William.
William's people had stripped Zain and James of their valuables before capturing them. Right now, Zain had no equipment. The poison had to be his ability.
A Grade 2 metahuman ability wouldn't work perfectly against Grade 3 metahumans and higher. It was basic knowledge.
Grades didn't just represent stat difference.
The wall of skill quality, evolutionary traits, and combat experience divided the gulf of Grades.
William had more than enough time to defeat Zain and force him to give the antidote.
Or so he thought.
His eyelids grew heavy, as if he hadn't slept for months. When he tried to move his limbs a sense of lethargy weighed him down.
"How is this—!?"
Swish!
His body jerked, then fell to the side with a thud. Blood flowed down the carpet from the hole in his neck.
Since the beginning, Zain has been using diluted Puri Puri Mist. The mist was his skill, but the poison didn't belong to him. It could affect William.
William's Talent [Shadow Walker] was difficult to deal with. If Zain could not kill him with a single surprise attack, it would have been Zain's corpse that laid there.
"Why didn't you save him?" Zain raised his head, staring at Hanna.
"How are you still standing?" She asked instead of answering.
The girl never changed her expression. She did not seem worried about the current situation.
Hanna was the source of poison in Zain's blood. Her ability allowed her to use airborne paralyzing poison. The poison worked only on the designated targets.
"Who knows?" Zain shrugged.
Hanna was a peak Grade 3 metahuman, unlike William who was an early Grade 3. The difference between the two was as vast as the sea.
She didn't save William as she was gauging Zain's ability.
But now?
She judged Zain as weaker than her. There was no need to worry.
The gray thread coming from Hanna's finger shone. Its other end was wrapped around Zain's neck.
A simple tug from her would separate his neck from his torso.
Zain eyed the silk wire silently.
"Why aren't you fighting?" Hanna taunted him with a hidden frown. Could it be that he had more tricks up his sleeve?
Zain smiled.
He wasn't confident at all. In a head-on battle, he would never win against William, let alone Hanna.
However, he had done his part.
"I brought more than enough time."
The wall next to them suddenly glowed and exploded. A red figure flew through the hole.
It struck Hanna before she had time to respond, throwing her outside.
Rosella, who was wearing her Valkyrie armor, landed.
The armor had a red, gold, and white paint job done on it in perfect combination. It stuck to her body like a latex suit, highlighting her curves.
The metal suit was Rosella's latest Genius Tech made of cutting-edge nanobot technology. It covered her body perfectly.
Hanna did not return. She turned around to escape. This was a hidden hangar and Zain shouldn't have any device to call for help.
They should've been able to escape without issues.
However, that clearly wasn't the case anymore.
"Go after her." Zain told Rosella, without undoing his Mimicry.
Rosella nodded. She knew he was the one who informed her about Doll's kidnapping.
The armor around her wrist transformed. Millions of nanobots combined into a massive sword.
She swung the blade and cleaved the airship into two halves.
After confirming that there was no hidden enemy, she flew out to catch Hanna. She had to know who dared to kidnap her young miss.
"She is pissed." Zain whistled as he offered a silent prayer for Hanna.
Zain hadn't called the authorities for rescue. Instead, he had called for someone far more reliable. Valkyrie.
He moved towards the cage.
His body was screaming in pain from every little movement.
He hadn't bothered to dodge Hanna's wire attack partially because he couldn't and partially because it hurt him to move.
Zain was at the end of the ropes.
He mustered his remaining strength and cut the metal cage with his cards, before carrying out the girls.
Their condition wasn't good, but Zain was sure that they could be healed.
He shifted his focus to Doll.
She had managed to hold on to a semblance of consciousness.
Zain doubted she could see or hear him. But he hoped she could.
He placed his palm over her stomach.
"They fed you the parasite already?" He sighed, knowing that he was late. "Ask for Ezio's help if you don't want to die. Make sure Rosella or anyone else from the Carnival doesn't know about it."
He dropped Professor James from his Magic Pocket and placed him beside others.
"I guess I can die peacefully now."
He smirked, knowing that he didn't wish to die.
But that wasn't something he could change.