Zeke pinched his temples and paced in front of Veronica as he tried to process everything she had said.

“So, in summation, Azmer joined your little cult then got himself captured by the Department of Defense.”

“That’s the gist of it, yeah.”

Zeke halted his feet and stared at her with narrowed eyes, which made her wryly smile and add,

“I watched your fight against him a couple of weeks ago. I know the history between the two of you.”

“Then, in your infinite wisdom, you decided to come to me for help? Why do you think I would care about Azmer after all he’s done?”

Veronica frowned and, with a slighter higher tone, retorted,

“You’re not a bad person, Zeke. Neither is Azmer. He doesn’t deserve to be locked up there and tortured.”

“He’s got to learn to face the consequences of his mistakes.”

“Yes.” She solemnly replied, “But this is not the way. The things they’ll do to him are beyond your imagination. They won’t care even if he’s William Lorson’s son.”

“...”

After looking at her in silence for a period of time, Zeke sighed and signaled for her to lead the way.

“First, show me this precious shipment of theirs.”

…

To earn his trust, Veronica didn’t hesitate to take him to her team’s hideout. As they went on foot and avoided bustling streets, it took them some time to reach their destination.

The moment Zeke stepped inside the dimly-lit basement, Veronica’s teammates freaked out and took out their weapons.

“Calm down.”

The girl stepped in front of Zeke and raised her hands, motioning for them to not attack.

“What’s the meaning of this?”

Frederic, their leader, glared at his subordinate with his sword raised and ready to strike.

“Since you witless bunch refuse to help, I’ve brought someone capable.”

“Capable?!” Maxwell was the wariest one as, totally surprised to see Zeke’s familiar face.

“You’ve practically doomed all of us by bringing him here. He’s more of a target than us!”

Zeke also recognized Maxwell Lepard, the one behind the dormitory incident. Excluding his different outfit, the youth looked the same, which meant he had used his real face when infiltrating Erys.

“I didn’t come here looking for a fight.” Declared Zeke as he shifted his attention to the so-called shipment. His eyes focused on the cylindric object filled with bubbling water and trapping a curled-up little girl.

“Either lower your weapons or do something. Don’t unnecessarily prolonge this tense atmosphere.”

Her teammates lowered their weapons but they stayed clear of Zeke and kept giving him unwelcome and hostile looks.

“What makes you think he can help?” Asked Bibi as he curiously scrutinized Zeke.

“First and foremost, he’s got the System.”

Zeke already suspected that they knew about it, so apart from grunting in annoyance, he didn’t say anything. After he had tried to kill Olivia in front of so many witnesses, it was to be expected that the many secret organizations would figure out the truth.

The Ivory Oak Order was one of the ‘top’ secret organizations: While, sometimes, their methods left something to be desired, they were still a huge group of capable and strong individuals.

Still, Zeke came here because he was confident in his own abilities. If things were to get complicated, he had the means to escape in an instant, whether by using ‘The Reaper’ or ‘Over-drive’.

‘The Department of Defense is big, so the shipment could be the work of one of the high executives. I don’t think asking Edward for help will change anything… it could even implicate him.’

“Do you know on whose orders was this ‘shipment’ brought to the Sunken Metropolis?”

“Vice-president of the Council. Colonel George, who’s in charge of The Special Disasters and Experimentation sub-department. This is why we can’t return this! It’s a big fish!”

Answered Maxwell as he caressed the surface of the container, sounding both proud and anxious.

“Why don’t we start talking about Azmer? Or do you still want to abandon him?”

Veronica approached Frederic and stared back at him, looking resolute and unwavering.

In the end, the middle-aged man sighed and nodded once.

“He better be worth it. Alright!”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

He glanced at Zeke and waited as if wanting him to propose a method.

“I will obviously need help. I’m sure you have an idea where Azmer is being kept. We will storm in and get him out.”

“That’s it? You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Bibi let out a mocking laugh and shook his head.

“What? Do you have a brilliant plan in mind? They won’t expect us to barge in. Sure, the security will be tight, but we have the element of surprise.”

“...”

Frederic face-palmed himself and looked at Veronica, but she shrugged, seemingly agreeing with her guest.

In fact, Zeke was a bit nervous, but he had already a plan of his own. It was true that, despite their differences, he truly wished to help Azmer. Moreover, he was interested in this shipment. Although it was supposed to be ‘super-important’, Veronica told him that the agents escorting it weren’t particularly strong.

That meant that Vice-president George might be acting alone.

‘Since she hasn’t interfered yet, Katrina must be tailing Rebecca or Beatrice. Still, I don’t have much time until she notices something.’

While the Ivory Oak Order team was arguing about the plan, Zeke took out his phone and sent a short message to Sulong. He didn’t do it stealthily not to arise suspicion, but it was his luck that no one questioned him about it.

…

“We know that you’re from the Ivory Oak Order, Azmer Lorson.”

The female agent who had caught him was sitting across from the blond-haired youth. He was in a dark and cold room, handcuffed to a metal table and to a chair, his eyes hollow and his face pale.

Agent Elizabeth Colton crossed her arms, her expressionless face leaned closer to the tight-mouthed youth.

“I’m giving you a chance to walk out of here. Tell us where your hideout is and I guarantee nothing will happen to you.”

“Government dog.” Spat back Azmer as he moved his arms, trying to break free from the thick cuffs.

“You got involved with bad people, I understand that. It’s not too early to correct this.”

Elizabeth sighed and pointed at the wall-side widow to the side, which hid the high executives watching this investigation.

“If you do not cooperate, there will be no turning back. Not even your father can help then.”

“I don’t need help from anyone.” Retorted Azmer while gritting his teeth.

“....”

Eventually, Elizabeth gave up on convincing him and walked out of the room. Right outside, however, a chubby man with a protruding belly walked to her and gave her a vicious slap.

“Incompetence at its finest! I repeatedly told you to be on high alert and ensure the shipment arrives here safely!”

Vice-president George slapped her a second time before shouting out loud, his spit splashing all over her face.

Still, Elizabeth stood straight and did not retaliate. She didn’t even wipe the blood leaking out of the edge of her bruised lips.

“I’m sorry, sir. I will find the culprits and retrieve back the shipment.”

“Hah! You better hope so!”

He shoved her to the side and signaled the agents behind him.

“I don’t care how you do it. Make him talk!”

“Yes, sir!”

The two agents barged into the investigation room and dragged Azmer to the lower floor.

Elizabeth followed after them but didn’t interfere with their work. She watched as they strapped the youth into a wooden chair and splashed his body with cold water several times.

Then, they pierced his hands with metallic clippers before turning the generator on.

It was a simple yet effective method of torture; The captive would be zapped by a high-voltage electricity.

As electricity invaded his body and brought with it unimaginable agony, Azmer’s body shook and convulsed for a couple of seconds.

“Where’s the hideout?”

“...”

He was electrocuted again for a longer period of time.

“Names of your associates.”

“...”

After merely five minutes, Azmer was bleeding from all of his orifices and barely keeping himself consciousness. Even in this poor state, he kept grinning at the infuriated Vice-president watching this from the side.

“This is going nowhere!”

“Sir, we can use other methods.”

Colonel George let out an unpleasant screech of anger before walking to Azmer and punching him in the face.

Both the student and the chair he was in fell backward, but even after that, the pent-up anger within George had yet to subside.

“He’s a useless piece of shit! I don’t care anymore. Kill him.”

“...”

Elizabeth stared at Azmer for a couple of breaths before sighing and walking away. As an agent, she was made to watch such scenes unfold many a time, but that didn’t make it any better.

She had tried to help Azmer, but he was insufferably stubborn, which ultimately led to his demise. If he had confessed, the Vice-president wouldn’t have cared about his fate, thus allowing Elizabeth to interfere and set him free.

Now, however, there was no way to change anything. Agent Elizabeth Colton was loyal to the Department of Defense and she wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize her position.

As Colonel George stormed out of the torture room, one of his agents pulled his handgun and pointed it at Azmer.

“Sorry, kid.”

“C-can I have a couple of last words?” Said Azmer while panting heavily.

The agent frowned before subtly nodding his head.

“Make it fast.”

Azmer mumbled something in a low voice, but the agent didn’t hear anything.

“What’s that? I can’t hear you.”

“There’s…”

Azmer was somewhat delirious as he shook his head and tried to stay conscious. Seeing the agent getting closer, he kept mumbling under his breath.

When the agent was close enough, one of his Azmer’s hands, which was supposed to be cuffed, was extended toward the enemy and let out a burst of vermillion flames.

The unsuspecting agent was engulfed in fire and started shouting in pain.

The remaining agent in the room immediately pointed at Azmer and shot, but the latter kicked the ground to make himself fall again.

Although he dodged the bullet aimed at his head, it still struck his back. Still, while shouting, he hastily melted the cuffs restricting his other hand before letting out another brighter burst of flames that spread across the whole room.

The whole place turned into a heated furnace as Azmer killed the agent without any shred of hesitation.

As he got to his feet with difficulty, Azmer saw the red light flashing in the corridor as well as a deafening alarm that echoed across the whole underground facility.

He had thought he was the cause, but when he saw the armed agents ignore the room he was in, he was slightly confused.

The only person who came back was agent Elizabeth; With the baton in her hand, she looked at the scorched bodies of the agents before raising her empty hand,

“Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Fuck you.”

He was bleeding from the back and his body was severely weakened. Still, Azmer spared no effort as he used all of his Aether to invoke an unstoppable wave of flames that blasted the whole room and even blew Elizabeth back.