Lyon POV:

I stepped forward and blocked Esmeralda’s attack before pushing her away.

“Lissandra, give me an update on the situation.”

She moved effortlessly as we fought against the hundreds of Blood Hounds that had joined the battle.

“Don’t worry, Leader. They arrived safely at the border.”

Her leg flickered as dozens of Blood Hounds fell around her in an instant.

“Good. Then let’s—”

“LISSANDRA!!”

Solina’s roar shook the air as she finally arrived back on the scene. It was clear that the two of them had bad blood. The Blood Hounds immediately retreated while Solina joined up with Esmeralda and Andre.

We were cornered. Our escape route blocked by a huge pile of debris with Blood Hounds surrounding us from all angles and Solina in front.

She screamed, and the attack began. Lissandra and I stood back to back as we engaged our enemies. Solina's wind-empowered fists were cut down by Lissandra's precise kicks. Whenever Andre tried to seal her movement, we would rotate positions, protecting each other’s backs seamlessly.

Esmeralda failed to take advantage of any proper openings, so her attacks were easily blocked by the two of us. The Blood Hounds jumped in whenever a substantial amount of distance opened up between us and Solina, but our coordination was close to perfection.

“!!”

I ducked down while Lissandra placed her hand on my head as her feet flicked outwards, severing their consciousness. She flipped backwards, her fingers immediately interlocking with mine as we spun together in a circle throwing out kicks.

Blade arcs flashed towards us, and Lissandra pushed me forward in response. I struck Esmeralda’s hand, causing her sword to fall and booted it away. Lissandra pulled me back, and our positions instantly reversed as her heel smashed into Esmeralda’s face.

Solina caught Esmeralda while she simultaneously manipulated the earth to increase Solina's speed. I grabbed Lissandra's hand and pulled her away as my shin crashed into Solina's exposed ribs.

“Keuk!”

She flew backwards, and Lissandra threw a high kick towards Andre's temple that he barely avoided, forcing him to retreat. Our backs tapped against each other as the battle reset. It was time to end this.

“Pantheon Style:...”

“Seung:...”

Our Ki erupted around us, pushing the Blood Hounds back as Solina screamed at them to stop us.

“Omniscient Jeondo.”

A bright golden brown light spread out from us until it covered the whole area. My eyes took on the same colour as the light, and I could grasp everyone's location with pinpoint accuracy. Their breathing, their movements, what they’d do next—I could feel it all on a much higher level than before.

The previously sealed violet paths turned a darker shade as they reappeared, and my vision extended to Lissandra.

My body felt incredibly light while the flexibility and power of my muscles sharply rose as a result of her technique. My speed increased dramatically, and then...

It happened.

Hundreds of different coloured afterimages shot forward. Their precise strikes rattled the brains of the Blood Hounds, disconnecting them from reality in an instant. Solina, Esmeralda and Andre couldn’t react to the sheer speed of the technique, and they too, began to fall from the onslaught of attacks.

The golden brown light flashed and then imploded. Our afterimages faded along with the light as we stood alone, surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of motionless bodies.

Blood poured out of Solina's nose as she glared at the two of us. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she finally passed out.

“Well, that worked out better than I expected.”

Lissandra was overjoyed at the result and couldn’t hide her wide grin. Synchronizing our two styles was something that could only be described as near impossible to do, yet we had a surprisingly strong connection with one another; it came naturally without much effort. Perhaps we had already gone beyond perfection?

The corners of my mouth rose as I walked forward.

“Let’s go home, Lissandra.”

“!”

My feet suddenly grew heavy while the pain I had been ignoring broke through my mental barrier, making me buckle as I almost fell to the ground. Lissandra caught me and wrapped my arm around her shoulder.

“Hmm... I think I have a pretty good chance too actually.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

She chuckled to herself, and I rolled my eyes while smiling.

***

We reached the estate where Edith was staying, and I knocked on the door. It had taken us longer than I would have liked to get here, but it couldn’t be helped. My recovery was slow, and even though Lissandra took care of the sparsely scattered Blood Hounds, I couldn’t rest yet.

“L-Lyon...?”

A faint, soft voice came from the inside. I let out a sigh of relief since it meant that she and the baby were alright.

“That’s right. We’re leaving for District 4 now.”

The door opened slightly, and Edith held the baby close to her chest. He giggled cutely while playing with her long brunette hair that matched her eyes.

They both looked healthy.

“You’re badly injured...”

Her gaze swept over my body, but I waved it off. I would get a chance to rest properly once we reached District 4.

“Let’s go.”

She nodded her head and followed after me. We met up with Lissandra downstairs, and the two of them exchanged greetings.

“Awww! So cute~”

Lissandra was captivated by the cute chubby baby who giggled playfully as he tried to grab her purple bang. I smiled while I watched the three of them interact.

The baby's gaze shifted from Lissandra to me, and he stretched out his small hand as his eyes sparkled. I poked his cheek gently before walking on ahead.

“I didn’t know you were so good with kids, Leader.”

Lissandra caught up to me while keeping an eye on Edith, who stayed close beside us.

“I don’t know if I am, but this baby seems to like me quite a bit.”

“I wonder why...”

Edith chimed in and looked down at the baby, who was giggling at her. Her affectionate gaze made the baby smile as he opened his mouth.

“Ma... ma...”

“!!!”

We stopped walking, and Edith put her hand over her mouth as the dam inside her burst. Tears streamed down her cheeks uncontrollably while she sobbed quietly. Lissandra rubbed her back to comfort her, and I looked away.

District 3 was most likely the worst out of all the other districts in the South. Daily massacres, experimental KEDs, blood rituals and offerings—the place was a mess.

Even in the end, the District Leader had never showed up, and I wondered what impact the results of tonight’s battle would have on the future.

We crossed the border to District 4, and a crowd was waiting for us on the other side while Brunaulf ran forward in a panic.

“L-Leader! Your wounds...”

I clicked my tongue and tapped his shoulder lightly. I looked at all the Vices and Watchers who stood on standby as they bowed their heads one by one.

“Welcome back, Leader!!”

Edith gasped and stared at me wide-eyed while I noticed that Isabelle had stayed behind along with Gia, Cirris and Holder. She dropped to the ground and sobbed loudly.

My lips spread into a warm smile as I walked over and crouched down in front of Isabelle.

“Thank you for trusting me.”

***

*Knock, knock*

“Come in.”

I closed the door behind me and made myself at home on the sofa in front of the desk. Mr Cruiser took out his pipe as his lips curved into a wide smile.

“Well, well, well. The District Leader himself has finally decided to pay me a visit.”

He put his feet up on the desk as a trail of smoke blanketed the ceiling. It had been many months since I had last spoken with him, but no time felt more appropriate than now.

“Copycat. Is he a friend or foe?”

His eyebrows creased together. I pondered over the situation in District 3 while I waited patiently for him to speak. Lissandra had told me that Solina was a direct subordinate of the Ruler. This didn’t surprise me given how strong she was.

The issue I had was that Copycat had rescued Isabelle, the Amplifier, and instead of using her for his own purposes; he wanted me to look after her. This meant that he wasn’t chasing after power—he had other goals in mind.

On the other hand, Gia and Cirris insisted that X wasn’t Copycat, so then who was? Why wasn’t X present when I arrived at the designated location? I had no choice but to concede that Copycat may not actually be my enemy after all.

“You know the story of how Copycat killed innocent civilians and personally killed many of my family members.”

“Right. He disguised himself as the District Leader as well.”

Mr Cruiser got up from the desk and turned his back on me to look out the window.

“...Do you know why Copycat did what he did?”

I raised my eyebrow slightly at his question. I thought the answer was obvious? Mr Cruiser wanted to change the leadership in District 4 in order to get rid of all the corruption happening here.

“You’re wrong, boy.”

He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. He seemed to read my mind and answered my thoughts directly.

“It is because I only cared about this district. I only wanted this place to be safe.”

I got to my feet immediately and stared at Mr Cruiser.

“What are you trying to say?”

He grimaced as he faced the window.

“Before the carnage began, I fought against Copycat. He told me clearly that I am not the one and that someone as selfish as me should stand down. That was his first and last warning.”

He put the pipe to his lips.

“But what can I say? I was a stubborn man, a confident man. I believed I had the power to change this district with or without his permission, and I paid the full price for it.”

He turned around and faced me directly.

“Do you understand what I’m saying, boy? The massacre that took place here was the result of my own selfishness. It was my fault that my beloved wife died in my arms and in order to pay for the sins I committed, I opened up Comfort.”

I clenched my teeth at his response as my eyebrows furrowed.

“That doesn't give him the right to kill innocent people!”

“Exactly, but that’s who he is. You asked me if he’s a friend or foe, but that’s also the wrong question.”

“The wrong question?”

“...You're smart, so you’ll figure it out, boy.”

He sat back down in the chair and placed his feet on the desk. The conversation ended, but I stood there for a few minutes before leaving.

I greeted Ness downstairs and headed to the main base. I went directly to my room, sat on the tall chair and leaned forward.

‘Let's go over everything again.’

I organized the mental notes I had made in my head and tried to make sense of everything.

Firstly, Mr Cruiser. He had ignored Copycat's ultimatum and faced the immediate consequences. These consequences progressively got worse, since he was a stubborn individual, which ultimately led to the death of his wife.

My eyes narrowed as this situation seemed strikingly familiar the more I thought about it.

‘Len and Marina.’

I interlocked my fingers as they rested against my chin. Copycat had forced me to make a decision as well, and if I had ignored him then; they both would have died most likely.

‘You're not the one...’

That’s what he told Mr Cruiser, but what did that mean? Was Copycat looking for someone? To do what and why? Someone as strong as Mr Cruiser didn’t fit his requirements? Why?

‘Someone as selfish as you...’

Mr Cruiser was selfish? It had to be because he only cared about District 4—that was the only logical assumption I could make. If my train of thought was correct, then I was left with one question: What did Copycat want from me?

“...To take over the South.”

Then what would he gain from me taking over the South? My thought process had led me here, but I had no answer to that question. I let out a small sigh as I leaned back in the chair.

I had made progress in figuring out his intentions, but it still felt like I was missing large pieces of the puzzle. Regardless, it seemed as though, for now, Copycat wouldn’t be a threat to me.