Chapter 379: Final step
{Are you sure about it?}
The old man’s excited voice came through the other end, yet Arthur could detect the faint tremor of anxiety beneath it. His excitement was genuine, but so was his unease.
"Yes. But why are you so uncertain about this? The fish has practically landed in the net. And according to everything we’ve found about him, he’s naive."
Arthur had spent the better part of his time investigating the new recruit named Kyle, digging through every record he could access and piecing together whatever fragments of his past remained.
Kyle had grown up in an orphanage that had recently been demolished to make way for a new apartment complex. The building had already been in poor condition, surviving on meager donations for years, so its closure had hardly attracted attention. On the surface, there was nothing unusual about it.
{But isn’t this a little too convenient for us? What are the chances that, just when we thought our best prospect had slipped through our fingers, a young man would suddenly appear with a pair of eyes more useful than Judgment?}
The old man’s suspicion was reasonable. Arthur had asked himself the same questions, and his investigation had uncovered something that made the situation considerably more interesting.
"The orphanage he lived in was taken down by the PSC. That area was isolated and ideally suited for establishing a base. I believe this boy is here for revenge."
{Hmm. Interesting.}
Christopher had the same reaction Arthur had expected. There was a brief pause before he continued.
{Though what are the chances that he’s telling the truth about those eyes? Do you remember who brought him there?}
Arthur’s eyes darkened.
"Veronica."
The name alone was enough to sharpen the tension in the room.
"I know. She’s the only person besides us who knew about the clones. But I don’t believe she was informed about the one thing we were missing, was she?"
{R-Right. I never let her find out. I knew exactly how she’d react, especially since she knows Blake Astortia personally. I’ve kept a tight lid on this matter.}
Arthur hummed thoughtfully and leaned back in his seat, his fingers resting against the armrest as he considered the possibilities.
"Then let’s assume he actually knows what we’re missing. Veronica somehow discovered it, and now she’s using him to lure us into exposing ourselves. But what would she gain from that?"
{Wouldn’t it delay our work if they found out about the clones?}
Arthur sighed.
"This world has already been plunged into madness. Do you really think they would reject an army of killing machines if that army could help humanity preserve lives?"
His voice carried a trace of contempt as he continued.
"Yes, they’re flawed. They can’t distinguish one person from another. But when humanity is forced to face the nightmares, do you honestly believe anyone will care about their imperfections? They would still be an asset. The World Government would gladly embrace them if it meant having more bodies capable of fighting on the front lines."
{Then why not present them as they are? Why risk involving the boy at all?}
Arthur sneered.
"I don’t do anything unless I can do it perfectly. Let me take this one last chance. If it fails, we’ll do it your way."
He fell silent for a moment, his gaze narrowing as the pieces of the puzzle continued to shift in his mind.
"Kyle could be the final step."
His voice dropped to a murmur.
"I have a feeling."
....
It had been two days since that incident, making it three days in total since Kyle had arrived here.
As Arthur had mentioned, Kyle was receiving training separate from everyone else. In fact, calling it training would have been generous. Most of the time, he was thrown into sparring matches or told to deal with sudden ambushes, as though the people in charge were more interested in testing his instincts than actually teaching him anything.
Kyle did not mind. If anything, it made maintaining his act easier. He needed them to believe that he was at least making an effort to improve.
"Where is your focus?!"
A cloud of smoke burst apart, and a fist came hurtling toward his face.
Kyle was tired of pretending to struggle, so he merely tilted his head and let the punch sail past his cheek.
His hand shot forward, aiming to seize the man’s uniform, but the moment his fingers came close, the man’s body dissolved into smoke and slipped away once again.
Kyle’s feet struck the ground as he immediately swept his gaze across the area.
The man was already moving around him, his figure concealed within a thick veil of dark fog that spread across the training grounds.
He was an Elementalist.
Someone who had reached a level of mastery where they could transform their physical body into the very element they had mastered.
’At some point, Ethan should unlock this state as well.’
The thought barely occupied his mind before the fog above him shifted.
Kyle looked up.
The man emerged directly overhead, his right side exposed and his arm raised above his head as he came crashing down with enough force to slam Kyle into the ground.
"Heaaah!"
The man struck nothing but the ground.
Kyle had shifted his feet at the last possible moment, allowing the attack to pass harmlessly beside him.
"Oh."
His balance suddenly disappeared.
The man’s body had already begun dissolving back into smoke, and from that haze, his leg swept toward Kyle’s feet.
Kyle’s eyes narrowed.
Even while falling, he straightened his body, planted both hands against the ground and used the momentum to spring upward. His legs swept over his head as he flipped through the air.
Dhak!
He landed cleanly on his feet.
"Watch out!"
The warning came from somewhere behind him, panic unmistakable in the voice.
’Haah...’
Kyle sighed inwardly.
His vision had already shown him what was coming.
The man had forgotten to remove the camouflage from his weapon. Hidden within the dense smog, three blades suddenly cut through the air toward him, their edges almost impossible to distinguish against the surrounding darkness.
Kyle had barely enough time to react.
He shifted his left foot.
His eyes sharpened, remaining completely unblinking as the blades entered his field of vision.
His right hand moved.
Straight toward the blade at chest height.
Then diagonally to the right, slightly lower.
And finally, parallel beneath the second.
CLANG!
His fingers closed around all three blades.
Not a single one drew blood.
The arena fell silent as Kyle release a short breath and asked, "Is this it?"
Before the man could calm down and answer, there was a sound from behind.
Someone was approaching.
Kyle frowned, he wasn’t expecting this man here.
Turning, he found a tall, bearded man approaching him, his eyes sharp.
This was the first time he was seeing the man in person but he has met all three of his daughters before.
The Savage King, the Predator, and so many titles given to him.
Seraph Klaus has suddenly made an appearance.
°°°°°
A/N:- Thanks for reading. Please leave a comment to motivate and a review to help future readers.