Chapter 111: Quick Dial
Rewinding the tape, an attentive pair of eyes carefully observed the video playing on the large monitor before him. The previously gathered data had already resolved his burning question with a reassuring answer; however, Zeris still needed to see it himself.
After speeding up the video to play at 2.5x speed, Zeris twiddled his thumbs as he sat back in his chair and vigilantly watched the colored tape play. The video belonged to one of his three crows, specifically 1C, and while he was curious to rewatch part of his fight with Armaros, Zeris had his eye out for something else.
Zeris sat in place for hours and watched all of which 1C had cataloged. That included clips from the very first day the trials began, leading all the way up until Zeris commanded 1C to return to base during his fight with Scar. After watching everything 1C had recorded, Zeris took a short break and had some food while he prepared the film from 2C. He then watched all of 2C’s recordings and then, after that, 3C's.
Only after he had finished watching the recordings of all three did he lean back in his chair, drag a hand down his face, and let out a sigh of relief. That sigh then developed into a chuckle, but his chuckle quickly ceased as his mouth drooped into a frown.
“It doesn’t make any damn sense. Why isn’t she watching him more closely?” Zeris muttered to himself, staring at the ceiling.
Sitting up in his chair, Zeris reaches for his glass of water on the table before him. Bringing it to his mouth, he gulps half of it down.
After wiping his mouth with his sleeve, Zeris resumes thinking aloud, “They’ve left me, Armaros, and this entire sector completely alone… unsupervised. I mean... that’s how it should be. Not interfering with the trials is protocol, after all. But I can’t help but feel like something is off. Does the queen already trust me that much?”
After finishing the glass of water, Zeris lets out a quenched gasp and places the empty glass back on the table.
“Or does Divine trust her intuition so much that she’s willing to take such a massive risk? It’s foolish of her to think Armaros will just fall into her lap without at least a little of her involvement… so why isn’t she intervening? There isn’t a single sign that the government has so much as stepped a foot into my sector…”
Zeris grits his teeth together, multiple emotions overlapping, “So why is that bastard still alive?! Why did the queen wipe his memory and place him in the trials as if he were a normal citizen of this kingdom? There’s no mistake here. She knows who he is…! Why leave him alone and caged up in here?!”
Glancing over at his phone, Zeris transitions into a new realm of thought.
There… there’s no way she’s onto us already. It’s impossible… we haven’t made a move significant enough to draw attention! Sure, we’ve been slowly setting things up for years, but there’s no way she or anybody else in the government could know about us!
Reaching for his phone, Zeris dials a trusted friend of his—another one of the founders of Aleyros. After only a single ring, the person on the other side picks up.
“Oh ho ho, look who finally decided to give me a call! Hiya Zeris, whatchu been up to these days? You still playing runner?” voices a female from the other end, her voice smooth and friendly.
“Something like that. Listen… Key, can you do me a favor?” bluntly asks Zeris.
“...Let me get this straight. You’ve been ignoring my messages and calls for months, and then one day… today, you randomly decide to pick up your phone and call me… expecting a favor?”
“Your messages weren’t urgent. I’m on a job Key… an important one. You know I can’t risk anything.”
“Oh, bullshit, I’ve been talking to Leo every few days. You have nothing to worry about. And who says my calls and messages weren’t urgent? How could you possibly know? You didn’t pick up the damn phone!” says Keys, her tone still laid back and casual, but there was a change in her delivery.
Zeris picked up on this subtle difference, and his mouth twitched at the minute flutter in her marginally altered tone.
“Okay… okay, I understand and… I’m sorry for not answering..." says Zeris.
An awkward silence loomed as Zeris awaited Key's ensuing words, but moments later, laughter broke out on the other end.
“Ahahahah, damn Zeris… you sure are extra tense these days, hahaha. Loosen up a little! We are friends, ya know? You’re making it sound like not picking up my calls is gonna cause the end of the world. Maybe take Kane up on that drink he’s been owing ya.”
Zeris uncomfortably taps his finger on the armrest of the chair.
“Key… listen. Armaros, he’s here in my sector.”
The laughing immediately dies down the moment the name ‘Armaros’ leaves Zeris’s lips. The air in the room had suddenly grown drastically heavier.
“Did I just hear you right?”
“Yeah, I think you did.”
“Tch, if this is some kinda joke of yours, Zeris…”
“Have you ever heard me crack a joke? And a shit one at that?”
“I’ve seen you try… you sure it’s him?”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Yeah, there’s no mistake.”
“Then it's my turn to apologize. My calls do seem trivial in comparison to your current circumstances.”
“What were you calling about anyway?”
“Oh… just some stuff about the government, don’t worry about it.”
“No, that’s exactly what I need to talk to you about. I have the assassin responsible for taking our country’s only pure wielder here in my sector, and the government seems to have forgotten about him. You know how they are with these trials… they’re sacred to our civilization and all that, but it’s not unheard of for Divine to step in and intervene every so often. So… what the hell is going on back in Saneth?”
“Yeah… there’s been a lot. It’s unknown to the public so far; the queen has done a good job keeping everything behind closed doors at the palace, but Pola has been eavesdropping. I’m surprised Kane didn’t fill you in when he visited, but he was definitely disturbed about Armaros being in the same sector as his kid.”
“I have it handled, I assure you. And while you’re likely right about Kane, that matter is irrelevant now. Key, please fill me in on what's happening out there.”
“Hm, where should I start... okay, so three representatives from Racafi are here with a list of demands. They’re strong; all three are among the paragons. Pola believes a war may be brewing, and depending on how Divine and the other royals respond… ”
“The six paragons… Racafi’s heroes. Tch,” says Zeris, clicking his tongue. “Heroes, my ass. Maybe one or two are genuine, but the rest are just rebranded criminals who are all being controlled by Stryde. Not sure if he was ever officially a paragon, but I know Armaros once worked for Stryde, too.”
“That’s right. And after Stryde sent their dogs to our kingdom and stole the pure wielder of soma a few years ago, Iasa has fallen off from being one of the greater world powers. On the surface, Stryde might appear as a multi-million dollar industry that generates superheroes, but we know how dangerous they are,” says Key. “Stryde has extensive relationships tied in with the black market and underworld, and they’ll do whatever it takes to continue to climb the ladder. I wouldn’t be surprised if Stryde’s even pulling the strings behind Racafi’s politics, and they know that Iasa cannot put up a fight if a war breaks out.”
“War almost did break out before,” says Zeris. “But ever since they took Marissa two years ago, we’ve been forced to adhere to their demands.”
“Mhm. Racafi has been slowly chipping away at our kingdom’s fortune, and their demands have quickly ramped up from being a little excessive to practically impossible to meet. It’s evident that if Divine doesn’t fork over whatever they're asking for this time… our kingdom will suffer greatly.”
“Heh,” hums Zeris. “I guess that explains why Armaros is no longer tethered to her leash. War is close, and it seems Divine has both hands tied down for once. The current situation would be terrifying for anybody else living here. But for us… things couldn’t be playing out any better.”
“I agree, but we can’t mess up our timing,” says Key, taking a breath. “Well… what was that favor? Based on what you’ve said, I assume I’ve already half-answered whatever you want to know.”
“Yeah, seems you and Pola have already done it. Thanks.”
“Gotcha. Hey, Zeris. Alex, how’s the kid doing?”
“Well… he’s a tough little bastard. Talented too. Can’t say I’m surprised… he does have his ol’ man’s blood flowing through him…” says Zeris, switching the monitor to display the room where Alex is currently training in.
Scattered around the room are three-dimensional projections fabricated to act as training combatants. These fabrications are not real people; they are simply artificial models to resemble how a human may behave and act in battle. Additionally, each model has been armed with a weapon, with no two possessing the same build and weaponry assortment.
And standing in the center of the room… is Alex, surrounded on all sides by dozens of opponents. Through a speaker perched below the ceiling, a generated voice then spoke a singular word.
“Begin,” the voice said, the robotic tone echoing off the room's walls.
Immediately from his left, an adult male was the first to rush Alex, a spear grasped in his right hand. Quickly transferring iris from his core into his hands and feet, Alex swiftly shuffles away from the preemptive attack while simultaneously knocking the spear out of the man’s hands. Zeris thinks.
This risky training program is designed to increase an individual's combat abilities very quickly, very fast. So, when a model is deemed ‘defeated’, it quickly fades away as if it had never existed. Alex has grown used to this and the program after training all day.
As the spear-wielding model vanished into thin air, Alex was already focused on who to take down next.
This training has been proven beneficial in many ways; however, its most integral lesson may be that it forces the participant to learn to adapt. In the heat of battle, a mere slip-up may be the difference between life and death. If a fighter can adapt and learn efficiently or effectively, their odds of succeeding in the fight are substantially higher. The fastest way to become accustomed to using iris so quickly is by facing multiple opponents, but there are risks…
Turning to his left, Alex transfers his iris from his feet into his right fist, a flaming, controlled ball of red and orange enveloping the room of his skin as he strikes down two more opponents. Catching the flight path of an arrow from the corner of his eye, Alex seamlessly transfers his iris into his mouth and blows out a thin stream of compressed air, with bits of flame sparsely appearing and disappearing. The force of this action violently jerked Alex's neck backward, forcing the rest of his body to follow. This swift motion marginally eluded the arrows’ path, which was on course to strike him right through the skull.
His movements aren’t lucky or reckless anymore. They may have once been, but his instincts have been honed and trained over the past few hours. He’s starting to grasp how iris operates.
Not wasting any time, Alex swivels onto his back left foot and channels his iris into his lower right leg. Placing his left hand on the ground for extra stability, Alex sweeps his flaming right leg just above the ground and lashes out a violent wave of flames. The flames inflict damage on roughly a quarter of his opponents, causing them all to vanish a few seconds later, leaving behind a massive unoccupied area in part of the room.
Recognizing this newly open area, Alex quickly repositions himself inside it with his back to the wall, gaining a position where he can see all his opponents. His eyes and tattoos emitting a bright orange hue, Alex’s mind is already thinking up the next best course of action.
Making his mind up, Alex focused most of his available iris into his forearms and hands as tightly concentrated orange flames began to sizzle off his fingertips. Keeping his hands as flat as pancakes, Alex brought together his fingers to where they were all side by side and touching one another.
This ‘sizzling’ technique that Alex had developed is far more advanced than what he should be capable of at his level. These sharp, flame-colored razorblades vibrantly flicker off each of his fingertips, and when his fingers are conjoined, Alex's hands embody the same effect as scorching daggers. I have to say, his creativity speaks to his potential.
Once Alex was satisfied with the texture of this new technique, he glanced back at the crowd of robotically generated opponents slowly creeping toward him. Crossing his arms over his chest, Alex lunged straight toward the closest two models and slashed his arms out to either side, effortlessly cutting through both bodies in a single strike.
Looking at his flame-daggered hands for a moment, Alex pops a smirk.
“Alright, let’s have some fun,” says Alex, holding up his hands as he takes in the sea of opponents approaching him.
His eyes flickering a blazing orange once more, Alex resumes his training with a fearless grin spread eagerly across his face.