11:35PM, present time. Monsieur’s Room.
“W-what did you say?”
Asked the shocked Bloom.
“I said, we've receive reports that D’Arc members are being crushed all over the city.”
Said Chrome
“I can't believe it. How many?”
“Over 200 the last time we checked. And that's just the ones that were found. I believe that they could be more.”
“200?!”
This time the one to be shocked, was Blanche. He probably didn't expect to hear such a big number.
“Jade!”
He shouted.
“I’m already on it.”
Jade took what appeared to be a remote, and pointed it at the wall next to her and pressed a button. The wall then began transforming. The wall divided itself into several rectangles, the rectangles then faded away, and a giant monitor appeared from behind the wall.
Jade then walked up to the monitor, and placed her palm on the screen. The screen then began to display a map, which looked like it was of city. The map had dots on it, that were moving around.
“Let's see…”
Jade began moving her hand over the monitor. She was operating it.
“Huh?!”
After a few seconds, she suddenly exclaimed in shocked.
“What happened?!”
Blanche asked anxiously.
“M-M-Monsieur! We've lost contact with over 500 members in the last 2 hours!”
“500?!”
Blanche lost all the power in his lower body, and fell to his knees.
“Not only that, 2 warehouses have been destroyed along with three of our bases!”
Continued Jade.
Blanche was so shocked that his eyes rolled to the back of his head.
“….Could it be that the syndicate found out about your plan, and is launching an all out attack on D’Arc?”
Seeing Blanche in shock, Bloom spoke her honest thoughts. Her intentions was to help Blanche to figure out the situation, since she herself didn't know what was going on.
“….Syndicate? …..Kei Hanazawa! Could it be that bastard’s doing?!”
And it seemed to have worked somewhat. Blanche's face regained its natural color, and he quickly stood up.
“Jade, check up on the escort car for Kei Hanazawa!”
Blanche gave an order and Jade quietly operated the giant monitor.
“Eh?”
“What is it? Tell me, nothing will surprise me any more at this point.”
Seeing that something had caught her eye, Blanche ordered Jade to speak up.
“The tracking device in the car escorting Kei Hanazawa has been destroyed, and its driver can't be reached….”
“I see. So, that bastard Kei Hanazawa set me up?”
Blanche began to wonder if everything that happened tonight was all according to Hanazawa's plan, and clinched his fists so tight that his hands started to bleed.
“Jade, use our private satellite and show me the car.”
Said Blanche. His voice was, calm but it was clear that he was furious.
“I already did…”
“What's wrong?”
Blanche realized that Jade was hesitating about something.
“It's better for you look for yourself…”
Jade touched a small window at the corner of the screen, and expanded it to full screen.
“Wha?!”
The first one to show their surprise was Bloom.
Blanche just looked at the monitor with his mouth open. His was utterly speechless. He wasn't the only one everyone in the room was shocked.
On the screen, was Kei Hanazawa lodged in a car roof, like beef between a toco shell.
“…Is he dead?”
Blanche hesitantly asked.
“No. Even though it's faints, the satellite can still pick up vital signs.”
Jade answered.
“I see…”
Blanche then began to doubt that Hanazawa was involved in the attack on his organization.
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“So, Kei Hanazawa didn't attack D’Arc…”
Bloom seemed to be thinking the same thing as Blanche.
“Yeah. The fact that he was also attacked proved that he was innocent. Even if it was ploy to trick Monsieur, I don't think he would go so far as to knock on death’s door.”
Said Chrome.
“If you look at the image on the screen, you can see that whoever did this could've kill him, but chose to leave him alive.”
Said Nico.
“It's the same for the other D’Arc members. They were beaten to pulp, but they're all reported alive.”
Said Zetsu.
“Huh? None of the D’Arc members are dead?”
Bloom was surprised to hear such a fact.
“….That means that whoever’s attacking my organization, is purposely letting my men live. What kind of sick joke is that? Are they just fucking with me?!”
Hearing that his men were spared would've been a joyous occasion for some, but for Blanche it was an insult of the highest level.
To him, that meant that he was being looked down upon, and that was what he hated the most in the entire world.
The veins in his head looked like they were going to burst. He gritted his teeth like a wild animal.
“Who….Who is the bastard that's underestimating me?!”
“That would me.”
“!”
Blanche and everyone in the room, were caught off guard when a voice answered to Blanche's roar of frustration.
They frantically looked where the voice came from. It came from behind the door.
“Hey, are you sure this is the right room? If it isn't, I'm going throw you off the building.”
“Y-yes sir! It's the right room, I promise! Didn't you answer him just now?!”
“Shut up. I need to double check. I don't like wasting energy. So, it better be the right room.”
“It is! I promise.”
Blanche and the others heard two voices coming from the hallway.
Blanche recognized one as his employee. The other, he didn't know who it belong to.
He quickly signaled the girls to be on guard, and Bloom did the same with her comrades.
“Hey, I have an idea!”
A new voice was heard. It was of an ambiguous nature but it belonged to a child.
“I'm sure it's just something stupid.”
Said another voice which was obviously that of a girl’s.
“Just tell me the idea Ishma.”
Everything was silent for a bit, and then-
“Oh, that sounds pretty fun.”
“See?”
“Then I'll like to apologize beforehand.”
Said the mystery voice.
“For what?”
Asked the employee.
“This.”
*Bam!*
After the voice said that, the door was suddenly forced open, and a body came flying in. The body bounced a few times before stopping at Blanche’s feet.
“Eh?”
Blanche recognized the unconscious person as one of his employees. Someone had used his body to break down door.
“Um….is Jeane-Pierre Blanche here?”
And then someone casually walked into the room, and asked a question.
“…………”
No one said anything they just stared at the azure haired boy(?) dressed in full black in shock.
Two persons were more shocked than the rest, and they were Bloom and Sapphire.
The azure haired boy ignored the stares, and ask again.
“Is Jeane-Pierre Blanche here?”
“….Yeah. What can I do for you, little girl?”
Miko frowned upon hearing Blanche's question, and looked at him from head to toe. He then said in a slightly irritated tone-
“I need you to die. That's all.”
“!”
Everyone in the room was surprised. But, none more than Blanche.
“Wh-what did you say, you little brat?!”
Blanche roared at the Miko, but Miko ignored his angry expression, and started to walk towards him.
He stretched his hand out towards Blanche, but he wasn't able to touch him.
“….What are you doing? You might die you know?”
The boy said, in a low and intimidating tone.
He was surrounded by 4 girls. It sounded like an envious situation, but these 4 girls were all pointing Tridents at his head.
They were Blanche's personal guards.
“That's our line, little girl”
Said Jade.
“I don't know who sent you, but don't think you can just walk in here and threaten D’Arc’s boss, and leave here alive.”
Added Amber.
The girls formed a square formation around the boy, and were showing obvious killing intent.
The only one who didn't move was Sapphire, who looked like extremely flustered.
‘Why the hell is Miko here?!’
She screamed in her head.
She hasn't seen him in two weeks and now he intrudes on her job, and asked to kill the guy she was spying on.
This was too much, even if he was a king!
She took a glance at Bloom, but Bloom didn't seem to notice, so her attempt to communicate ended in failure.
“………”
Blanche realized that she was acting out of character, but decided to ignore it for now and turned his attention to the Miko in front of him.
“Are you the one attacking all my men?”
Blanche asked.
“That's right.”
Miko answered honestly.
“How many of you are there?”
“Just me.”
Miko had already told Ishma and Regis to stay hidden until he calls for them.
He had no intention of showing off their powers or appearance more than he already have.
“Wha?! You expect me to believe that you alone took down 500 men, and destroyed two warehouses?!”
Blanche roared.
“That's right.”
Miko had a really uninterested look on his face when answering Blanche's questions, which irritated him.
“Don't fuck with me, you brat!”
Blanche roared at him, which caused his expression to suddenly changed from boredom to irritation.
He spoke with a low voice.
“Shut up. Your constant shouting is really annoying.”
He then grabbed Jade, who was on his front left, by the arm and threw her behind him like an old rag.
*Bam!*
She slammed into the wall.
“Wha?!”
The girls were caught off guard by the sudden action.
Miko didn't let that opening go to waste.
He kicked Amber, who was on his back left, and sent her flying out into the hall way.
He then grabbed both Ruby and Gem, who were on his front left and back right respectively, by their collars and slammed them into each other, before throwing them out in the hallway too.
“What?!”
Blanche was surprised to see four of his best subordinates treated like they were rag dolls.
He started to back away from Miko with a frighten expression.
Miko expressionlessly walked towards him.
“Hm?”
But, he was unable to reach Blanche again.
“Please wait!”
This time the one, who stood before Miko to protect Blanche was Sapphire, who was panicking earlier.
‘I can't allow Blanche to die yet!’
She told herself.
She spent the last year and plus working as his subordinate in order to supply her team with valuable information. She's done a lot of things to ensure that her cover wasn't blown, including fighting her own teammates. So she couldn't allow Miko to ruin everything now.
Especially when it seems like Blanche was in the middle of completing a big move. She needed to get more information from him so that her teammates could have an easier time stopping the criminal activities in the city.
She looked at Bloom meaningfully.
When Bloom saw her stop Miko she was able to confirm that Miko was the one who Sapphire was asked to recruit, but he escaped from her.
She wasn't so sure because the age didn't match, but it seemed like he could alter his age freely.
Bloom suddenly became quite interested in this young king.
Miko on the other hand wasn't that surprised to see Sapphire here.
He had detected her scent from the moment he stepped into the hotel.
He quickly deduced that she was uncover for one of the Pillars or it might even be like a part time job for her.
Either way, Miko didn't really care about her situation. He only wanted to hurry up and kill Blanche.
“Move.”
That was all he said, but it was enough to send chills down her spine.
Sapphire had a hard time finding the right words, and decided to simply ask a question.
“C-can you tell me the reason why you're trying to kill Monsieur?”
Seeing a clearly frighten Sapphire, Blanche called out to her.
“Sapphire! That kid doesn't look like the reasoning type! Either fight or run!”
“Ok.”
“Eh!?”
Blanche was shocked to see that miko actually agree to explain his reason for his actions.
He obviously didn't know that Miko and Sapphire were acquaintances.
He especially didn't know that Sapphire was the one who brought him into the city in the first place.
“I have no reason to hide it.”
Even though he didn't care for her enough to stop his killing of Blanche, he still believed that he owed her for bringing him to this city.
Even if it was an order from a superior.
If possible he didn't want to make it too awkward for her, he didn't mind showing a tiny bit of restraint and explain the reasons for his actions.
So while ignoring the speechless Blanche, Miko recalled why he was attacking D’Arc.