Reborn: Apocalypse - Volume 2

Behind the duo, the quiet Executive Montecarlo followed, walking in step with Sophia.

It had taken some persuading, but s.h.i.+n had managed to convince them to allow Sophia to come with him. As his teammate and ally, it was imperative that they learn how to work together as a unit, or at least, that was his excuse.

Sophia was well enough to walk, run, and even get in a duel if she needed to. She wasn"t fully recovered, but at least at 60% or 70%.

Executive Andrew had been against it at first. Somewhat unexpectedly, it had been the silent Executive Montecarlo that approved of and allowed her presence. Andrew gave in after he heard that, simply shrugging and accepting it.

"Oh? I wasn"t aware that we had any other new ones apart from me." s.h.i.+n replied, his voice containing a hint of a question.

Andrew shrugged,

"They"re brand new, just like you. Newer, in fact, both personally approved of by the G.o.dfather himself. They pa.s.sed their tests with flying colors and seem to both have extensive combat experience, though they are still gaining experience when it comes to, you know…" The Executive waved his hand in the air, motioning at the world around them.

s.h.i.+n nodded back. The First Layer, and everything that came with it, was pretty freaky in its own right.

"Besides, there is a Contribution Point reward for this mission. I noticed you haven"t really taken any missions yet, so this will be a solid first one to take." Andrew gave him a thumbs up.

They continued up the stairs as a group, leaving the Medical Bay. Outside, the daylight glimmered in the sky above, giving the day a happy edge.

They followed a meandering path across several skysc.r.a.pers, moving towards another location in the inner territory of the G.o.dfather Organization. They walked past a relatively small number of guards, a smaller amount than usual.

When s.h.i.+n asked about this, Andrew replied with a simple explanation.

"Too many people are pa.s.sing through our territory, headed for The Towers. Most of them have middling strength at best, but are determined to move on to the next Layer regardless. Patrolling takes up a huge amount of manpower nowadays." He shook his head,

"With this Wave, people seem to be swarming across the Great Bridges en ma.s.se, overwhelming the Morenkai with numbers." Roughly 20% of the Wave was already within the Main Cl.u.s.ter, while the remaining 80% still occupied the side Cl.u.s.ters. That was a huge sum, one that was increasing every day.

Even if most of the new Chosen were D or C Rankers, with enough numbers, crossing the Great Bridge wouldn"t be an issue. While they wouldn"t be able to cross as speedily as Micheal had, they could still make decent enough time. Many of the new Chosen were led by stronger 3rd or 2nd Wavers, following them as leaders to move forward.

If Micheal had been here, he would"ve nodded silently. This was exactly how things had happened in his previous life. The emergence of the Great Bridge, and the idea that humanity could escape this h.e.l.lish Layer, was a huge motivator for many people.

A short amount of time later, the group arrived at one prestigious looking skysc.r.a.per. This one towered over nearby skysc.r.a.pers, but wasn"t tall enough to be considered a full-fledged Tower. It was colored a pale blue and had several additions to it"s rooftop.

A mult.i.tude of umbrellas, tables, and chairs were set up, as if this was an outside patio restaurant. Several men and women could be seen dining in these chairs, relaxing and talking to their comrades. A few couches were set up near the center of the rooftop, surrounding a large, glowing blue fire.

When Sophia saw all of this, her mouth fell slightly open. This was the nicest, and most Earth-like area, that she had seen yet. s.h.i.+n took it in stride, having already been here before.

"Ah, there they are." Executive Andrew smiled as he waltzed right towards the couches set up in the center of the roof. s.h.i.+n followed quickly behind him.

The bridge they were walking on was a metal one that had guardrails set into it. As Sophia walked from the bridge to the rooftop, she felt herself walk through an invisible membrane of sorts.

It was like walking through a curtain of water, one that she couldn"t see but could feel. It was a cool feeling that startled her as she felt it.

Executive Montecarlo noticed her surprise.

"There"s a barrier set up to block anything that is moving above a certain speed. It"s caused by the Barrier Flame." His voice was quiet and terse, using as few words as possible to make the explanation. As he spoke, he flicked a finger towards the blue fire in the center of the roof.

"Oh? Thank you." Sophia thanked the man, her eyes studying him for a brief moment. The Executive didn"t talk much, but he seemed to have a good heart. The fact that he argued to let her come had greatly raised her opinion of him.

They followed behind Andrew, quickly reaching the center of the rooftop. There were no visible guards on here, but Sophia vaguely got the feeling that she was being watched. She frowned when she felt this.

"If my Soul wasn"t still recovering, I"d probably be able to pinpoint where the guards are hidden with my eyes." She shook the stray thought from her mind as she gazed upon s.h.i.+n"s energetic figure.

"h.e.l.lo, my fellow Sub-Executives! It"s so great to finally meet some of my juniors!" s.h.i.+n"s face had a huge smile on it as he greeted the two men that were sitting on the couch.

The first man had light brown skin and wore a set of loose, white leather pants and a brown vest, with long brown hair that was wrapped up in a bun. In his ears, Sophia noticed a pair of tan hearing aids.

The second was a huge, burly man with short blonde hair. Instead of normal clothes, he wore a full set of dark red armor. Sophia had no idea how he wore it so casually given that it was warm outside. He must"ve been sweating something fierce.

"I"ve heard a lot about you, s.h.i.+n." The big, burly man laughed as he stood up, holding out a hand.

"I"m Vladimir, but you can call me Vlad." s.h.i.+n shook the man"s hand.

"Ah, well, I suppose I should introduce myself too. I am Asim." Asim"s bun s.h.i.+fted slightly as he stood and held out a hand to s.h.i.+n as well.

"Nice to meetcha!" s.h.i.+n replied as he shook Asim"s hand, his eyes lighting up as his voice took on a hint of grandeur,

"This may be our first meeting, my fellow Sub-Executives, but it won"t be our last. Cheers to our new alliance!" s.h.i.+n"s chest puffed up as he enjoyed playing his role.

If Micheal had been here, his jaw would"ve dropped off and fallen to the floor as he saw the two future S Rankers, elite members of historically powerful First Layer forces that greatly affected the history of humanity, roped into becoming Sub-Executives in the G.o.dfather Organization.

"The same, the same." Asim simply smiled in a good-natured way,

"This meeting certainly is going better than Vlad and I"s, eh?" Asim elbowed Vlad in the side and then winced as he bashed against Vlad"s armor.

Vlad snorted.

"Well. At least no one is trying to kill each other yet." He shrugged.

"Oh? Did you two get in a fight?" s.h.i.+n interjected, curious.

"It was something like that, s.h.i.+n-bo." Executive Andrew b.u.t.ted in as he smiled and greeted the two Sub-Executives.

"According to the report we have, the two were about to break out into a fight over a misunderstanding."

"Oi!" Vlad objected, his eyes flas.h.i.+ng,

"I was having a bad day." He finished lamely.

"Hm? So it was a willful misunderstanding, then?" Andrew smiled.

Vlad simply snorted again.

Asim broke in here, bridging the discussion as he explained to s.h.i.+n,

"Before anything happened between us, we actually got attacked by a masked warrior. His actions and words, from what we"ve learned from the G.o.dfather Organization, place him as a member of the Purgatory church, though they"ve denied everything." Asim shrugged nonchalantly, as if it didn"t bother him at all.

Sophia"s eyes flickered when she heard that.

"A masked man attacked them? Micheal..?" She held the thought in her head for a moment before shaking it off as a coincidence.

s.h.i.+n then introduced Sophia, interrupting her thoughts.

The group of Sub-Executives and Sophia talked for a few minutes as they all sat down patiently. The two Executives didn"t sit down, but instead walked a little bit off to the side to talk quietly to each other.

Sophia took the time to learn a bit more about this duo. They didn"t go into any details, but she could vaguely pick up that both of them had experienced some very tragic or traumatic event relatively recently.

The duo didn"t let that drag them down, however, and maintained a pretty positive att.i.tude. They both had a very strong force of will, that much was apparent.

They had ended up joining the G.o.dfather Organization after hearing of its mission in person and being personally recruited by the G.o.dfather himself. Both had originally had thoughts on establis.h.i.+ng their own forces, and were still doing that, but as part of the G.o.dfather Organization instead of being fully independent.

Finally, after several minutes pa.s.sed, the person they were waiting for finally appeared on the rooftops, emerging from the skysc.r.a.per beneath them.

"She"s here." Executive Montecarlo spotted her first.

Hansama Babel, a possessor of the Limited Global Blind Seer Ability, known to many simply as "The Seer," and the creator of the Main Cl.u.s.ter Ranking List.

She had long grey hair that was tied up in an ornate, and rather large, braid. She walked with pristine grace, dressed in a long, blue dress. She looked to be in her late 50s or early 60s, with a lined face that gave off a vaguely grandmotherly feeling.

Her most distinctive feature were her foggy, near completely white eyes.

The Limited Global Blind Seer Ability was a very powerful Ability, but it was one that came with a cost.

Anyone that picked it would become blind.

Of course, for Hansama, that hadn"t been a big issue. She was already blind before arriving in the First Layer due to a genetic defect that caused her to lose her vision in her mid 20s.

Following quickly behind the Seer was a man that instantly reminded s.h.i.+n of the new Sub-Executive he had just met, Vladimir.

It was a man dressed in a full suit of white metal armor. He, just like Vladimir, was a giant of a man, standing a bit more than 2 meters tall. His armor had a vaguely archaic look to it and was covered in fanciful designs. A huge, 3 meter long greatsword was strapped to his back, locked in securely. His face, and his ident.i.ty in general, was hidden beneath the armor.

s.h.i.+n wrinkled his nose slightly when he saw how tall the man was. Why was everyone he was meeting today so tall? Even the Seer herself stood just a hand shorter than he was, well above average for a woman.

Despite being blind, the woman walked right to where they were standing with purpose.

"Hansama! It"s so good to see you again!" Executive Andrew"s voice boomed out as he greeted her energetically.

"Andrew." A confident, strong feminine voice returned as the Seer smiled and nodded at him,

"It"s good to see you as well, young one."

The Seer paused for a moment as she turned and nodded at Executive Montecarlo. He nodded back silently.

She then scanned, somehow, s.h.i.+n, Sophia, and the other two Sub-Executives.

"These are the helpers that you"ve got for me?" She opined, smiling gently at them.

Before Andrew could respond, s.h.i.+n b.u.t.ted in.

"Yes, ma"am! I"m s.h.i.+n, s.h.i.+n Hopefell!" s.h.i.+n walked up and held out a hand, smiling back at her.

The still-blind woman didn"t take his hand and instead replied,

"It"s nice to meet you, young one." Her smile widened a fraction as she nodded her head. A hint of amus.e.m.e.nt could be seen in her lips, easily missed if one didn"t know her well.

s.h.i.+n rather unsmoothly jerked his hand back as he remembered she was blind and brought it up to his hair, acting like he had just been raising it to run through his hair. Sophia rolled her eyes.
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"You"re a Seer, huh? My best friend is a kind of Seer too, ya know!" s.h.i.+n hurriedly changed the subject to cover his embarra.s.sment.

Sophia barely resisted the urge to send a glare over at s.h.i.+n. While it wasn"t unknown that Micheal was a Seer, the G.o.dfather Organization was well aware, it wasn"t the brightest idea to give away information for no reason.

"Oh, really? How interesting. No, I didn"t know that. I don"t believe I"ve met this friend of yours." The Seer"s voice contained a hint of genuine curiosity. She was not the type to loudly project her emotions, Sophia observed.

s.h.i.+n sniffed disapprovingly, as if the woman had failed some unspoken test.

Executive Andrew finally b.u.t.ted back in and seized control of the conversation,

"There will be time enough for introductions in a little bit. First, let me give you all a full explanation of what your mission is for today." The man gestured at the Sub-Executives and continued,

"The Seer will be going around the G.o.dfather Organization"s territory, traveling to pick up, uh, future magic stuff." Executive Andrew"s explanation stuttered to a rather incomplete halt as he gestured vaguely at the Seer.

Hansama came to his rescue, adding her own explanation,

"I must seek the Lines of Fate that guard all beings. The more I can sense, the better the image of the future I can project. Traveling through your territory here will help me to better create an image of the future of the G.o.dfather Organization."

Several minutes pa.s.sed as they began to discuss the details of the mission.

Basically, they were to take her on a very wide tour of their territory. During that time, the G.o.dfather Organization would escort and ensure her safety. Doing so helped build goodwill, continue their established relations, and would also serve as an easy mission to get the new Sub-Executives into their groove.

Sophia noted that Hansama"s mysterious bodyguard was never formally introduced, but didn"t say anything about it. Instead, she silently studied the woman, comparing her to Micheal. Her eyes remained hard, and untrusting, even as their mission explanation finished.

And, just like that, their mission officially began as they all grouped up and began to set off from the rooftop.

.. .. .. .. .. ..

Meanwhile, at the southern border of the G.o.dfather Organization"s territory…

.. .. .. .. .. ..

An obese man wearing a fractured theater mask and a white, bloodstained robe dragged himself across a solid wood bridge, towards a group of quickly advancing guards. This man"s eyes glowed a dull red, his entire body heaving as he forced himself forward.

His robes were torn and stained, but on the front, if one looked closely, the insignia of the Angels Arcadia could just barely be seen.

"Sir! Sir! Are you alright?" The Captain of the approaching G.o.dfather guards, a slightly overweight man with a bushy black beard, yelled aloud as he rushed forward.

The obese man"s body trembled. Through the cracks in his mask, a pale face that was covered in blood could be seen. As the guards reached him, at around the middle of the bridge, the man stopped moving and began to speak.

"Tell the G.o.dfather… He must know… It"s the Nightrunners…" The words wheezed out of his chest slowly and in pieces, as if under great strain,

"The leaders.h.i.+p of the Angels Arcadia… the other Head Emissaries and the Captain-Commander…" The man took one last shuddering breath,

"They have killed us all!"

Head Emissary Candle collapsed, his eyes rolling up into the back of his head as he fell unconscious, leaving behind a very shocked guard Captain, and a message that would change the fate of the First Layer.

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