Chapter 143

R-a Chapter 143 (In editing-v4)

Audible gunshots and the clash of melee weapons sounded off, the echoes of an intense combat ringing in the air. Atop the rooftop of the skyscraper, corpses littered the area as black-garbed figures fought against each other.

Sophia could make out two distinct teams atop the rooftop. One team was clad in full, black armor and used a variety of melee weapons to attack. The other team was a mix of metal and leather-clad figures, using a mix of long-range guns and short-range bladed weapons.

Upon taking in the scene of the ongoing battle, she noted that, for some reason, both sides were fighting rather lethargically. The all-melee group was seriously attacking the mixed group, but both forces weren’t going all out like she would’ve expected.

Shin’s reaction was a bit more prevalent.

“What the hell? That’s not us, right?” His jaw was practically on the floor as he stared at the scene of battle in confusion.

Sophia silently shook her head, unable to come up with a response.

The Nightrunners’ Nest B was guarded in a rather secretive manner. Instead of giving away its location with a huge military force, only the singular skyscraper itself was treated as a protected area.

From the outside, it didn’t seem to be any different than any other storage or guarded skyscraper. Neighboring skyscrapers were still patrolled, but you could find regular humans right next door, hunting Morenkai.

There was even a team of hunters on the skyscraper Sophia and Shin had just crossed onto. The group consisted of 5 men, all wielding swords, with guns strapped to their waists. They were currently watching the ongoing battle that was taking place just 3 skyscrapers away, just like Sophia and Shin.

Security by obscurity, assisted by the fact that it wasn’t as if the Permanent Nest could be moved or, till recently, destroyed, and the fact that this location was already deep within the Nightrunners’ territory. It had worked quite well for the Nightrunners.

In addition, the crowning guard of each Nest had to be the fact that elite members of the Numbers were assigned to help guard the Permanent Nest. Partly because these areas needed to be secure, but partly because they could actively use the Permanent Nest to farm up Points for themselves.

Powerful, Supreme A Rankers that were an army in their own right, they were more than enough to handle any outside threats, for the vast majority of incidents.

Now, however…

The outside guards were clashing with what appeared to be other members of the Nightrunners. Sophia watched the two sides continue to battle, completely confused.

“Let’s just head to the meeting skyscraper. We’ll let the higher-ups figure it out.” After a moment’s thought, she continued to move forward. They moved past the other team atop the skyscraper without issue, both sides ignoring the other.

Shin hesitated for a second before following behind her. The duo crossed from one skyscraper to another, all the way till they reached one specific skyscraper to the north of the Nightrunners’ Nest B. This skyscraper was located two bridges away from the ongoing battle.

They took one last glance at the battle before jogging over to the entry shed and descending. Well, Sophia descended. Shin cheated by teleporting as soon as he got inside.

Soon, they reached the 15th floor of the skyscraper, and walked into a crowded, but rather large lounge.

Dozens of men and women were sitting around tense, many of them with confused expressions on their faces. Discussion was running rampant as people talked about the battle happening at the Nest skyscraper.

“Is it a schism in the group..?”

“Could it be a trap?”

“How could they possibly know we were attacking? We didn’t find out till today!”

“Something must’ve gone wrong. Maybe it has to do with the chaos in what was Arcadia’s territory?”

Various theories clouded the air as Sophia and Shin walked in and found a set of chairs. As soon as they sat down, however, two figures walked up and greeted them.

“Well, well, well, look who finally made it!” The Arabian General Asim’s voice cut through the air as he walked up to Sophia and Shin, waving cheerfully. Behind him, Vladimir followed quietly, giving them a quiet nod.

Shin opened his mouth to reply, his eyes lighting up. Before he could say anything, however…

“We just got here. Do you know what’s going on?” Sophia asked immediately, responding before Shin could say anything. She ignored Shin’s reproachful glare.

Asim shook his head,

“No, all the squads are still filing in. The battle that’s happening up there is out of anyone’s expectations.” A helpless look appeared on his face.

The Godfather Organization had put in all this effort to launch an assault. Despite that, before they even got there, the Nest building was already under attack. It was a little ironic, but not necessarily a negative.

Sophia considered all of this in an instant, her eyes cool as she tried to figure out what the Godfather Organization might do.

Most of all, she tried to figure out how she could use this situation to help Micheal’s plans.

‘All we need to do is prevent the Nest Core from getting destroyed for as long as possible.’ She kept repeating the thought in her head. Their mission was a relatively simple one.

People continued to file into the lounge, gradually filling it up. The full forces of two Executive-led teams were crowding in, making Sophia feel slightly claustrophobic.

Shin and the other two talked casually, much to Sophia’s irritation. They were just about to launch a huge attack to change the future of the human race, and yet the trio were casually talking about whether mayonnaise or honey mustard sauce was a better sauce to put on a burger.

Finally, however, the discussion in the room died down to essentially nothing as two figures swaggered in.

Executive Riana, the leader of their team, and a man that looked to be in his mid-60s, with a bushy grey beard and tanned, weathered skin. He wore a pair of stark white pants, an open white vest, and had, of all things, an enormous metal anchor strapped to his back.

The anchor was so large, in fact, that he couldn't actually fit it through the door into the lounge. He was forced to store it in his Spatial Ring with a rueful shake of his head.

“Admiral!” Shin’s voice broke the silence as he waved in a friendly manner at the old man.

“Ah, Shin, my lad! I didn’t know you were in Ria’s team! Bahaha! Good to see you!” Admiral Cardell’s face lit up when he saw Shin.

The onlooking Sub-Executives and other high-level members of the Godfather Organization looked between the two in surprise. Most of them were aware of the new Sub-Executive, but hadn’t known he had a good relationship with Admiral Cardell, the strongest Executive in the Godfather Organization, and the de-facto Second-in-Command of the Godfather Organization.

“We can greet each other later. Right now, let’s focus on the mission at hand.” Executive Riana cut the two of them off, glaring coldly at both of them in a very no-nonsense manner. Shin ducked his head away from her, but the Admiral simply grinned widely, crossing his arms in a carefree manner.

“Everyone, we’ve gathered some information about the situation up above.” Riana immediately continued, starting the pre-attack meeting without hesitation as she continued to speak,

“The ongoing battle appears to be the results of internal discord among our enemies.”

This sentence elicited a number of responses from the crowd of warriors.

“Internal discord? The Nightrunners really are fighting amongst themselves?” Sophia muttered quietly to herself, her eyes flashing.

“That explains the lack of discipline in their patrols and guards. It must be related to their upper leadership.” She grasped a few things instantly. After working with Micheal for so long, she began to look at situations with a keen, analytical mind. She would no longer take anything at face value, whether it came to trusting allies or fighting enemies.

“Silence!” Executive Riana cut off the discussion with a loud yell as she looked about the room. A heavy air of pressure washed off her, her gaze suddenly filled with terrible power. Everyone instantly quieted.

“While the reasons for the discord are currently unknown, what we do know is that they are currently fighting against each other. This has presented an excellent opportunity for us to launch our own attack.” Executive Riana began to outline their new, adapted plan out loud.

Sophia memorized all of it, paying close attention.

The gist of the plan was simple. They were to monitor the battle using several scouting Abilities, keeping a close track of what was happening. According to Riana, the battle on the rooftop was merely a sham fought out by the weaker, lower-leveled members of the Nightrunners.

The real battle was taking place within the building itself. Powerful Cell-Captains and even elite members of the Nightrunners Numbers were currently duking it out, right now, far down below.

While the exact details were hard to read, they could definitively tell that the battle was still taking place and seemed like it had reached a bit of a standstill. Neither side seemed to be overwhelmingly stronger than the other.

Riana’s plan was to wait for both sides to weaken and tire the other out. When an opportune moment appeared, or when it was unfeasible to wait any longer in enemy territory, their two teams would launch a two-pronged attack, one jumping in from the rooftop and heading downward, while the other invading from the ground level.

Riana’s team, and therefore Sophia and Shin, were assigned to take on the rooftop and head downward. Cardell’s team would blast in from the ground level, using the Admiral’s considerable power to bash aside the mob of Morenkai that had formed on the ground level as a result of all the noise.

All of this was explained in a few scant minutes, just enough time to sort everything out and get people moving. Their planning session was so short it came as a surprise to Sophia. After a moment’s consideration, though, that surprise turned to admiration.

Executive Riana managed to control the situation, take into account all the variables, and come up with a solid plan in just a matter of minutes, all while thinking on the spot. Such talent was rare.

Right after the meeting ended, the two teams promptly split up again. Cardell’s team stayed down below while Riana’s team headed up to the second-highest floor. Sophia’s team members all hid in various bedrooms, waiting tensely for the command to rush up to the rooftop and strike.

Everything felt rushed and frantic to Sophia, but she supposed this was how things went for a mission like this. You had to adapt and act quickly to seize the moment.

In short order, Sophia found herself with Shin, waiting quietly in a disorganized bedroom as the minutes slipped by, first one, then two, then five, and then ten.

This particular bedroom looked as if it had been occupied, though the inhabitants were nowhere to be seen right now. There were a few stray sets of clothes lying on the ground, next to some discarded, broken weapons.

Shin lay on the bed, relaxed languidly. Sophia, conversely, kept looking out the window, craning her head to look off to the north. The room she was in faced the east, meaning she could just barely see to the north if she tried.

She occasionally opened up her phone, checking to see if she had received any new alerts or messages. While the signal here in the Nightrunners’ territory was very poor, it was still possible to load saved posts to check for new comments.

“Sophia, relax. I’m sure our backup is already in position, just waiting for our signal.” Shin didn’t specify exactly who they were talking about, but instead smiled reassuringly.

Sophia nodded back after a moment as she rubbed her forehead. She felt like she understood all the stress Micheal must go through, trying to keep a plan on its path. There were so many variables that Micheal brought up, it was a wonder things were already going as smoothly as they were right now.

Just as she was about to respond, after around 11 minutes of waiting had passed, Executive Riana’s loud voice echoed in the hallway, sliding into their bedroom from behind.

“Everyone, ready up! We attack in 30 seconds!”

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

Meanwhile…

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

Head Cameron knelt down on the skyscraper’s ground floor, resting his hand on the chest of a badly marred corpse. It was the body of a man, covered in dozens of bloody wounds. The man’s skin had a blue tint to it, visible even through the state of his mangled body.

“This is Number 5’s Corpse.” His statement was calm, belying the extreme nature of the revelation.

Number 5 had been a Supreme A Ranker, renowned for his potent ability to regenerate from injuries and his complete control of the elements of ice and water. He was an incredibly fierce warrior that held power that could not be underestimated.

And right now… he was clearly dead.

And he hadn’t been killed by the Godfather Organization.

Around Cameron, a scene of slaughter spread out. Dead Nightrunner guards littered the floor, alongside a veritable mountain of Morenkai corpses. Several elite members of the Godfather Organization could be seen, sifting through the corpses

“Head.” Executive Andrew’s voice rang out as he jogged up to Head Cameron. Behind him, a large, man-sized glowing lizard followed, so large it looked more like a dinosaur than anything else. A couple of other officials accompanied Andrew, waiting to hear Cameron’s orders.

“We’ve cleared the area. There’s no one remaining among the living. Everyone here is dead, with the last killed around fifteen minutes ago.”

Cameron turned to look at him, his eyes cold.

“The Nest?”

Andrew shook his head.

“No signs of it. Someone else already broke it and obtained its boost.”

The Godfather paused for only a couple of seconds, his thoughts unknown to everyone as he looked back at Number 5’s corpse. Right after that, however, a commanding presence burst free from him as he turned away from the dead body.

“Pass my order forward, all forces are to move to Nest B immediately.” His eyes blazed as he stood up and began to walk towards the exit. The officials that had arrived with Andrew immediately set off shouting and spreading his orders to everyone present.

Outside of the skyscraper, several elite Godfather Sub-Executives and officials had formed a small ring, killing a large throng of Morenkai that were trying to invade the bottom floor. Andrew quickly followed the Godfather out, his gaze slightly confused.

“Head, I’m not sure I understand.” Andrew wasn’t exactly a strategist and was better suited to direct confrontation.

Cameron crouched down, preparing to leap up into the air.Before he did anything else, however, he paused as his smartphone vibrated, indicating someone important had sent him a message using his private, and rather costly, long-range line. The sender's ID reflected off the back of his hand as he glanced at the phone, spelling out 'Seer.'

He ignored the message for now as he turned his focus back to Andrew.

“Riana is about to attack Nest B. There appears to be some sort of infighting happening in the Nightrunners, beyond our expectations. If everyone, powerful elites and all, in Nest A just died, that can only mean one thing.” His gaze was calm as prepared to launch himself up,

“The same thing is about to happen to Nest B.”

.