—Somewhere at Marley country—
–A certain place filled with many big shipping containers–
"Hm~ Hm~ Where are you my friends~ I thought you wanted to play a game~ " grinned a man
This man, wearing a mask, seems to be finding someone.
Few people are hiding around these containers, they seems to be terrified and are hiding.
"Wh-Who is that monsters!? He single handedly wiped out our full squad!"
"Shh! He will he find us!" replied a man in terror in a low voice.
"So you both were hiding here~" said a man with a strange mask.
"C-Crap!"
"P-Please let us go! We will leave Harbinger Syndicate and will even reveal informations if you seek!"
Both men looked terrified of the masked man.
The mask wore by this man is unnaturally wide, its hollow void smile stretching far beyond a human face—so wide that the corners nearly touch where the ears should be. Instead of eyes, there are pair of two hollow, black voids, deep and empty, like tunnels into endless darkness where the eyes are not visible at all. The mask itself is split perfectly down the middle—one side pure white, the other jet black. This mask feels unsettling, as if its frozen grin hides something far more unsettling beneath.
"If I let you live, you may come back again with even more strength, right? Can't risk I am sorry and as for the informations, I bet you don't know much since your squads are low tier levels as far as I can guess." said masked man.
"People simply call me Joker.... Although I don't think I will get much information here, I will simply give you both a painless death. So don't resist~" said Joker.
The two men from Harbinger Syndicate seemed to be terrified even more but they deliberately began to charge at Joker.
"Tch Tch, no manners huh? Well let's end this." said Joker.
Joker brought out his scythe and slashed diagonally on the two opponents, slicing them both in half.
Joker began to laugh in pleasure as he enjoyed the blood spilling over like a rain.
"Joker, is this area cleared?" asked Kale.
Joker turned around and saw Kale standing with his hands stained in blood, he look behind him and found corpse of other members of Harbinger Syndicate.
"Looking at those corpses, seems like we have taken most of them. However...." replied Joker, turning his eyes towards the containers.
"Seems like they have destroyed all the clues or any proof before they died in vain. Did they already knew we are coming?" asked Joker.
"I don't know, but seems like this mission is a failure as well." responded Kale.
"Should we look around central part of Marley? We might be able to destroy their other hideouts or get information or clues even if those aren't main ones." asked Joker.
"Maybe, but can we really find their main hideout like this?" said Kale.
"They aren't leaving any clues or anything at all for us. They may even create new hideout the more we destroy while maintaining their main hideout hidden." continued Kale.
"Seems like we can't find them like this if we stick around and look for port towns blindly. But I am wondering, why we aren't sneaking through at their main area? The official one?"
Joker mentioned they should simply sneak at their area which is under Harbinger Syndicate. They might get some clues for their missions.
"Haven't you heard? The founder is simply playing some cheap tactics, he is making that area look as if it's the main hidden hideout but it is a trap in itself." reasoned Kale.
"Is that so?" asked Joker.
"Yeah, although everything seems official and it is still a hideout at the core. However they are just pretending to make it look like that only to fool their enemies. Founder intentionally stays at the fake main hideout or simply the official looking area he lives nearby a port town." said Kale.
"Maybe we should really look at central parts now as you suggested." said Kale.
"I just hope we don't get caught up in big mess so let's clean every evidence here so the founder won't able to take action against us. After all he is the official mask with influence." responded Joker.
"True. Let's hurry up." replied Kale.
----
Meanwhile at the office room, Kaiser is summoned by the Founder.
"Welcome, I have prepared rooms for you both. Aldo needs some rest, I heard what happened. He will get recovered soon since he has ability to regenerate." Said Frank.
After a little pause, Frank begans to speak.
"Frank, everything is ready and now you with will be under training sessions to learn and adapt the world. You will both have to follow training sessions for few years. And also...."
Frank took out a special advanced level glasses and handed it over to Kaiser.
"What's this?" asked Kaiser, looking at the glasses he just got.
"Give them to Aldo, he needs this." said Frank, not seems to be explaining much.
"Hm.... alright...." said Kaiser, leaving the room.
After closing door and moving toward the hallway, Kaiser muttered "What's the point of this glasses? He didn't explain anything....if something goes wrong, I will make him pay."
"Kaiser?" called Ellie, appeared in front of Kaiser.
"Oh, it's you." replied Kaiser.
"Let me show you your room.." said Ellie.
Both of them began to move forward through the hallway.
"So, can you tell me about yourself? You seem to be some kind of special child according to what I noticed so far." asked Kaiser.
Kaiser had not expected Ellie to speak or give any answer since she is part of the organization but...
"My parents abandoned me, joining Hollow Wolves...I don't know what is going on their mind...." answered Ellie, in a low tone with a dark expression, facing down.
"I...I didn't expect you to answer..." said Kaiser, quite surprised to get answers.
However Kaiser isn't sure whether it's true or just a false information.
"This organization allow us to share informations about our pasts for transparency, I don't think I should anything from you two since you are part of our organization." said Ellie.
" I see..." replied Kaiser.
----
To be continued...