Amon slowly unsealed the envelope, his hands trembling with excitement. Inside were three massive files. Sitting on the bed, he left the records on the side only picking up the first one. At the top was a codename, Stormbringer. From what he had heard, these codenames were passed from one generation of Holy Knights to the next. As such, Stormbringer wasn't the first to bear this name.

Besides the title was a small picture of Stormbringer's face. He appeared to be rather young, with a head full of golden hair and a thin, almost emaciated, visage. Amon committed this face to memory as it was likely they would soon meet, and possible fight to the death. Inside the file was a plethora of information.

First, was a physical description and an account of the several times he had been seen outside of Cairo, and how the Ravens first became aware of this individual. According to this file, Stormbringer was quite active as he was seen acting twenty-seven times over the last twelve years, about ten times as much as any of his colleagues for a similar length of time. This meant he not only had plenty of field experience but he surely had the skills to back it up.

Delving deeper into the file, Amon could now see why. In those twenty-seven missions, he had managed to kill a total of nine Ravens and completely stop their activities in West Africa. He was a high profile target; no wonder the higher-ups were keen on eliminating him, though his track record made Amon somewhat doubtful as to their ability to kill him.

The next section detailed his know augmentations and special talents. Stormbringer, as his name would imply, possessed a rare but deadly nanotechnological implant, one that allowed it's user to conjure electricity. The lightning augmentation as it was commonly called was compatible with only a microscopic fragment of the population, so the Order treated each compatible individual with great care. Stormbringer was described as being zealous, almost to the point of insanity. One anecdote related in the file described a time when he sacrificed a whole company of soldiers to catch a member of the Ravens.

Amon slowly massaged his temple as he felt a headache coming. Dealing with fanatics was always the hardest as they had minimal regard for common sense. However, Amon was confident that as long as he could deal with Stormbringer's ability, he could easily take care of him. The file described Stormbringer as being average in both strength and endurance so if he could neutralize his lightning augmentation; he would stand no chance against Amon's sheer power and skills.

As he was flipping through the pages, absorbing the relevant information, he noticed that Stormbringer had received a formal military education and was described by his teachers as "a genius, if not a little eccentric." He felt this wouldn't be a problem as military strategies wouldn't help the man when he was getting assassinated, but he still thought it might be useful to know.

Feeling like he had seen enough, he tossed Stormbringer's file aside and picked the next one. The record was titled The Lion, and the picture was that of an older man. He had a long mane of white hair as if he was trying to embody his title and a deep scar ran through his left cheek up to his ear.

With the available medical technology, fixing a scar of that size was of no problem at all, especially for the higher-ups in the Order, so the fact he chose to keep it meant it had some significance. Amon flipped the page and was instantly surprised to learn that the man's real age was one hundred and eighty-six years old. Even with humans living up to two-hundred and fifty, it was incredibly rare for someone to still fight at that age. This meant he was an old fox or rather an old lion, and he had to have a few tricks in his bag.

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Amon could barely imagine how good someone might be after practicing swordplay for a century and a half. Since The Lion's augmentation all pertained to strength and endurance, Amon guessed he was a specialist in brute force and head-on combat. Engaging such a foe without proper preparation was foolish and it would him well to think of a way to kill him without a fight. Sadly, very few poisons were effective on augmented humans since their metabolism was too strong; otherwise, it would have been the perfect way to take care of him.

Apart from his age, there seemed to be little about The Lion that made him stand out, so Amon put his file aside and picked up the last one. To his surprise, it was the only document that had no picture, and the title simply stated "The Undying." Such a powerful name! Amon couldn't help but draw a breath as he knew that to be given such a title, the man had to be someone else entirely.

With the advent of advanced medical science, eternal life had been speculated but was never officially proven to be possible, and there was no record of someone living for an ungodly amount of time. The word undying suggested that the Order had either succeeded in making an immortal being or groomed an individual so strong he was untouchable.

Without speculating any further, Amon read the information that was provided to him. It described this Undying person as extremely mysterious, and each encounter the Ravens had with him left them astonished. For every report that he had been killed, there was another one stating that he was seen alive. Each time, The Undying left behind a trail of blood.

Accounts from operatives state that what made him so scary wasn't his strength, as he was rather average in that field, but instead his sheer relentlessness and the little regard he showed for his safety. From the data they had gathered on him, the Ravens thought that his ability to seemingly never die might reside in a freakishly high regenerative capacity.

Amon suddenly felt cold sweats as he read this part of the report. An opponent that never died was honestly the worst nightmare imaginable. He had a high regeneration rate which allowed him to disregard minor injuries, so he understood how useful it could be.

Imagine being on the brink of death one day and fully healed the next. The fear of death guided most actions that humans took in critical situations. This lack of fear meant that he could do away with common sense and act in totally unpredictable ways.

The file suggested a few possible ways to get rid of him. None of those were tested, but from what was known, they were the best guess to solve this problem. The first way to eliminate him would be total extermination. To destroy every single part of his being to ensure that no regeneration would ever be possible. To this effect, a fire would be the most efficient tool.

The second solution suggested that there might be an anti-agent that could temporarily neutralize the regeneration long enough to kill him. The last solution was, in fact, the most simple; if he could not be disposed of, was there a need to kill him? Wouldn't it make more sense to capture him? This solution also presented the obvious perk that if caught, he could be studied and interrogated. This would be the ideal way to deal with things, but the execution could prove tricky.

Amon took the three files and stored them in his luggage. Before he could think of a concrete plan of action, he needed to rendezvous with Bel to make sure everything was alright on his end. They had chosen to stay in different hotels to blur traces that could link them together and to the Ravens. Their rendezvous point was at the Den, the tavern they had been in last night. Amon's hotel was in the seventh district which wasn't all that far from the fifth district, but Bel's hotel was in the first district which was quite farther away. Looking at the clock, he guessed that a little nap wouldn't hurt as it was still quite early and he needed to catch some sleep if he wanted to be in his ideal form.

Amon directly laid on his bed without bothering to change his clothes and before long, he fell into a deep sleep.