Pretty flew for a few meters and slammed on the hard wet floor but strangely she was still alive and conscious.

She opened her eyes and she could see smoke all around. She inspected her body and saw that the shrapnels were stopped by a gray film of renisas from getting towards her skin. The gray renisas vanished and the shrapnels toppled on her body.

Someone just made a renisas armor on her.

Dust and smoke bellowed all around her.

Amongst the commotion, a silhouette slowly emerged from the smoke revealing Simon. He strode slowly towards her, only this time, his face was full of malice and contempt.

His expression changed into mild pleasure upon seeing her state. Without any warning he pulled a pistol from his belt and shot it at her.

Searing pain flowed through Pretty’s legs and then before she could breathe, another booming sound of gun was heard and she felt the same pain seared through her right arm. Her back buckled from the pain and she curled her body into the fetal position. Rough boots spread her body wide and Simon shot her at her left arm. Feeling not satisfied, he fired another bullet to her left foot.

He did it a handful of times and as if he was still not satisfied, he went to the metal table near them, manifested a renisas blade and sliced one leg of it like it was made of butter and not of metal. Then he hurled the makeshift metal bat upwards and started smashing it into Pretty’s legs.

Pretty could only brace for a few seconds before a huge force impacted through her leg. Her brain blanked and intense pain coursed through her body. She felt something in her leg break.

She swallowed the scream of pain trying to get out from her mouth but when the metal bat hit her legs again, she couldn’t help releasing a grunt and a groan.

Seeing her resisting, Simon then hit her with more force. She felt blood splatter around her face but she held the pain in. Simon hit her again a couple of times, then he turned to her arm and started hitting it instead.

Pretty had never felt so much pain before. She was in her sensitive state right now where every sensation in her body was magnified including pain. It was unbearable for her and she found herself choking from trying to breathe.

Every second of it she wished she were dead, she wanted to ignore the pain like she used to back when she was sick on her bed, but her mind came back to focus on the pain every time Simon smashed the bat on her.

Despite all of this, whether by stubbornness or pettiness she did not break any sob out of her mouth. She gritted her teeth so hard that it started aching. She only grunted from every impact but she never sob or scream.

After a few smashes, Simon stopped. He knocked his head to the side while his mouth grinded from left to right.

Pretty managed a laugh from the sight, “ Why don’t you just kill me?” she taunted him.

Simon strode towards her and pulled her harshly upwards. Her body dangled above the ground, her arms and feet mangled and unrecognizable beside her. .

She felt another intense pain course through her body but she did not remove the smile on her face.

He leaned towards her head and whispered to her ears “ Don’t worry Pretty. Soon. We needed you alive before,” he flashed her with a wicked smile, “but now…” He did not finish his words and instead chuckled. He remove an auto-injector tube out of his pocket and plunged it into her neck

Pretty felt nothing at first, but moments later her pain started to reduce a portion. Then she felt numb all over and she realized she couldn’t move anymore.

“Do you want to play a little guessing game?” Simon asked. “Let me tell you something — about your body. It produces this compound called Gonilizion-12, in fact— it produces a lot. Unlike other humans, you need it to function but it is toxic to humans normally. But too much of it could kill you. That's why you needed to ingest the Anthoraxum pill— the one your father gives you every month— as it could mitigate the concentration of Goilizon in your body.”

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Simon threw her suddenly on the pile of things below them as if she was just a bag of trash. He continued speaking while looking at her animatedly, “So now — guess what I have injected in you? To make it easier, I’ll give you a clue. You should feel numb right now — right? — and unable to move. So what is it? Is it the Gonilizion-12 or was it the Anthoraxum pill?” Simon asked spiritedly, his eyes creeping at her, waiting for her to answer.

Pretty did not respond and steered her eyes away.

Simon just smiled as if he was amused by her reaction, “I’ll give you another clue. I actually lied to you a while ago, I’m actually not going to kill you. So what could it be?”

Pretty felt weirded out by this Simon. He seemed to be the person she used to know but at the same time he wasn’t. He seemed to be wasting time on her, if he wanted to kill her then he should have done it already. He might still want to keep her alive but his crazy actions just a while ago did not feel like he wanted her alive that much. Regardless if what he injected her was the pill or just a normal sedative. She felt today might be the last day of her life, it does not matter if she answer or not. She already made peace with that when she tried to blow them together.

What’s nagging on her mind was the Simon in front of her and the gray renisas she saw a while ago. The Simon in front of here was weird. She never pegged him to be a joker and talkative but he’s specially like that today. Maybe this was his real self? She just did not know. If she was going to die she at least wanted some answers.

Simon took her intrigued expression as hope, he smiled and delivered bad news at her, “ Wrong, this is — not the Anthoraxum pill, it’s the Gonilizion-12 compound.” Simon snickered. “Don’t worry. This is only for you to live a little. I still want you alive, too bad you can’t take me with you.”

Done with his little fun, Simon picked her up again by the neck and dragged her towards the medhall.

“You are not your father’s real daughter. You know about that right?” Simon asked.

Pretty got caught off guards by his sudden question. She actually already knew about this, but calling her not her father’s daughter would also be inaccurate.

“So what?” she said with a firm voice. “I still came from his own DNA. Even if I did not, I’m still her daughter. And unfortunately your own ugly niece.”

Since she couldn’t move, then she decided it’s better to fished out some answers. “You hated it right?” Pretty taunted him. “That your own ugly niece has more potential to be more powerful than you and your son. Is that the reason why you wanted to marry me and my cousin?”

“Ah… You’re not entirely wrong, but you're completely not right.” Simon said as he entered the Medhall.

The place was a mess and all around Summit soldiers lay unconscious.

Pretty found it weird. The blast was only localized to a certain area and hardly should affect them, she made sure by using a small grenade that had an effective kill radius of three meters.

There was no damage inside the medhall except for some cracked glass walls, but why were they unconscious? There was at least more than thirty meters between them and the detonation zone, the least they could receive was minor injuries and even if it’s critical, they’re at the Medhall, they could be treated easily.

At least, that was what she was thinking when she decided to bomb herself and Simon. She didn’t want to think it’s her fault, but from their bodies, there seemed to be no physical injuries. She’s curious, but with her current situation, she really didn’t care that much. Her attention was caught back towards Simon.

“You see there is a prophecy,” Simon said. “It is made by one of our ancestors who had gotten the ability of Prophecy from the Repository.”

Prophecy? An ancestor with prophetic ability? What’s that going to do with her? But she knew about this ancestor, she was one of the legendary members of the Summit. She was the one who had the ability to see the future, but she went crazy after having the ability. It was speculated that she had seen not just one future but countless future possibilities and it broke her mind.

Simon continued walking to the right wing of the hospital. Nurses and doctors were running around checking on the injured but oddly, they seemed to be ignoring Simon and the mangled thing he was holding “This ancestor,” Simon continued, “ predicted that a child will be born in the Truth’s lineage and that kid will have the key to that Rentom book. “

“Rentom book?” she asked, confused.

As if he did not hear her he continued, “Do you know what else she said? She also said that an artificial kid not made of human inception will be born from the Truth’s lineage in the future and it will have so many abilities. One notable ability of this kid is the ability to hide.” He looked at her pointedly. “He or she was also prophesied to be the answer to the truth of that book. Why do you think we’re called the Truth Holders?”

Pretty was stunned. She never knew about this. She always found the name of the organization tacky, and indeed it came from a tacky origin. But prophecies? A Rentom Book? She had more questions than answers now.

Without her noticing, they had entered a hallway with no one around. Simon stopped at a door. There was a password keypad in it and he toggled a password in it.

“Why do you think we have so many artificial kids made with our own blood?” Simon asked while opening the door. “It’s not because we have nothing better to do. They were made for a reason. You probably have an idea why. But they were all failures, and couldn't even live for a few years. Hundreds of years of research and they were still not ready. We thought we were still early for the prophecy but then one day — you came. Thirteen years ago, out of all the thousands of samples we have, you opened your eyes. Then you cried so loudly — like you just woke up from a bad nightmare. You don’t know how ecstatic we were that time.”