House of Cards

Fight Aftermath

“So that was the Hero of the Fallen huh? Doesn’t look grand to me like the elders says he was. He looks more like a weakling to me. What do you think Kristoff?” the man with a deep voice said as he asked his subordinate who brought the injured to the laboratory. “He is stronger than he looks, I never thought a human had that kind of strength. I felt it when I grabbed the chain form his hands.” He looked at his hand before he replied to the person who asked him. “Don’t underestimate that guy, you don’t want to end up like that guy who overestimated himself. If he is able to deal with Kon that easily without any difficulty then he is more dangerous than what the leaders think, so I urge you all to always be on your guard. You never know when he might appear next, thank goodness we got there on time if not then we might have to bury Kon ourselves if we were a little late.” He replied as he clenched his fist. Then a few seconds later after their exchange the doctor went out of the door with an exhausted and dissatisfied look on his face. “Doctor, how badly hurt is he?” one of them asked the instant the doctor got out of the door. It took a little while before the doctor was able to give them a response. “Broken rib, broken spine, internal hemorrhage, dislocated jaw, his belly is swelling like crazy. I think his internal organs that got hit may have suffered huge damage otherwise his abdomen would not swell like that, it was great that you guys brought him here a little fast but to be honest I am seriously surprised that he is still alive despite all of his injuries. What the hell did that guy do to receive such injuries?” the doctor responded with a dismayed tone.

“That information is confidential doctor, I am afraid I can’t disclose that information.” I replied as soon as the doctor asked about what happened. “I understand, I will not pry any more but please do take care of your own bodies. You may be a league stronger than other card holders but you are still humans- sometimes to runaway is wise.” The doctor reminded as he shakes his head in disbelief and left to his office. ‘What the hell? So his injuries are even more compound than we thought?’ I grit my teeth after hearing what the doctor said. “Fxck, I thought Kon was just a little injured but to think that it is that worse.” Nelson muttered in shock. “Thank goodness we did not engage him earlier.” He added as he sat down. “This is why we should not be reckless, seeing how Kon ended up in that state, we need to change our ways. Up until now we have only encountered lower level card holders but not we are facing a high level card holder. We need to step up our game.” I ordered the as I grabbed my stuff and prepared a report to the leader. “You sliced half of his entire hand earlier right? We might not need to step up our game since losing a hand means losing hand means losing half of your effectiveness in battle.” c*****e, the long haired member of the group brought what happened earlier. “Whether he lost a hand or not we must stay vigilant, we must remember what happened to Kon and burn that in our memory.” Gregory supported me as he stood up from his seat. “He might have lost a hand but he is still a lot stronger than any of us.” He added as he followed behind me. “Come, we must report to the leader.” We left the laboratory and went to the tall building beside it.

*BEEP!* *BEEP!* *BEEP!* *BEEP!*

The guard tilted his head and gestured that we are clear to go inside. We hide our identification cards and went straight for the elevator and after a few moments later, we arrived at the door of the leader’s office.

*BAM!* *TREMBLE!* *TREMBLE!*

“Explain what exactly happened to Kon, if I don’t like and don’t understand your explanation then I will twist your heads one by one and hang your heads on hang it on my doorstep for decoration.” The leader said with a really terrorizing tone. “We went to the company that was attacked as per your order but when we got there the entire place was already destroyed and the people are missing. Kon was able to track down a person from our organization who is running away from someone. He told us that he will follow the guy, we did not know what happened after that. We only saw everything when we felt that Kon is taking so long so we ended up following where he was with our tracker and found him being one-sidedly beaten up by that person.” I explained with my head facing the ground. After giving him a vague explanation of what happened from our point of view, I felt the leader’s suffocating aura that even without glancing at the expression that he is wearing I can definitely tell that he is really pissed about what happened. “Someone beat up Kon? The Kon that we know?” the leader said with a terrifyingly calm tone. “Who the hell could beat Kon up without taking an injury back?! The only person that is strong enough is-“ the leader yelled as he slams his hands on his desk but then stopped when he realized who might be the person that defeated Kon. “Yes, it was the Hero of the Fallen, Rain Ambro.” I confirmed immediately without the leader asking who the person was.

*THUD!*

The leader was forced to sit back after hearing what I said. “Now that makes actual sense otherwise I just spent my fortune just to make mediocre card holders.” He sigh in relief as he flash a smile towards us. The others and I looked at each other with a worried expression thinking why the leader would sigh in relief when Kon got owned easily by that person. ‘Should I be worried or glad? There is no way I would be glad if my men got easily taken down after dedicating my life to enhance them.’ I thought to myself as I try not to get the leader angry again while he seems to be in a good mood.

*KSSSHK!*

‘That guy was strong. To think that I myself did not feel my hand got sliced into pieces. He must be crazy strong if he can do that thing with ease. Then that means he has the ability to strengthen himself. That’s one down and four to go.’ I told myself after my hand grew back in one piece. “Thankfully I have a second ability otherwise I’d be dead.” I mutter to myself as I left the alley after harvesting the information from the person who was eliminated by the mysterious group.

*ZZZZZZ!* *ZZZZZZ!*

“Just as I thought, the lower ranks do not have information that a higher ranking person has. If I need to get some useful information then I think I need to take down at least people of their level like that mysterious group or a leader. The information I got so far are the same except for their varying personal activities.” I told myself after our attack succeeded but failed to get the information that we needed.

*BRAKES!* *CAR STOPS*

“There you are you i***t, do you realize that the others have already came back after the attack? Our superiors are waiting eagerly for your report.” Aron said right after he opens the door. “The information is not as satisfying as when the first time we got it. Everything is the same even after extracting from so many people.” I retorted as I entered the car.

*CLOSES DOOR!*

“That sucks, if the information is the same from low level officers then we should at least capture and interrogate someone who has a higher ranking from their organization.” Aron said what I was thinking earlier. “That’s what I thought as well but thankfully I think I know who those person would be.” I flash a faint smile after realizing that I do not need to come and look for them, they will definitely look for me themselves.

“Yes, please do it as fast as possible. Yes, thank you.” I put the phone right after the call ended. I turned my head to the shadow near the door and recognize the person staying in the shadows then I called out his name. “Is eavesdropping to other people’s business and important matters now your hobby Shade? You know I hate it when someone spies on me, what do you want?” I asked as he gets out of the shadow. “I am here to tell you something. My squad made contact with the Hero of the Fallen and it looks like that person is stronger than expected.” He said with a calm tone. “Oh? Didn’t you say that your squad can at least take on that man? Don’t tell me your squad got their asxes kicked and went back to you with their tails between their legs.” I tried to toy with him like he did to me last time but he did not even budge. “Well, it’s a good experience for them but you are wrong about something, only a single squad member got beaten up and the rest are fine.” He retorted with a calm tone. ‘Tch! No fun! How come whenever he does that to me I lost control of myself?!’ I asked myself after seeing that my taunt did not do a thing to hurt his pride when I know that he takes pride in the squad that he formed. “Is that so? Then isn’t that great? Were they savoring that experience that you are talking about?” I responded immediately with an uninterested tone. “They are, they were shocked at how strong that person was that it even fueled them to do better. Now they are at the training facility trying to strengthen themselves as we speak.” He replied with a smile etched on his face. ‘Looks like this bastard is as happy as can be. Is he glad that his squad member got beaten up? Now that I think about it how badly was his dog got injured?’ I thought to myself after I heard what he just said. “Now that I think about it, how badly was he injured? Was it light injuries?” I asked out of curiosity. “Badly, he was even on the verge of death. If the rest of the squad members arrived at the laboratory a little late then I might have lost a squad member a little too early in the game.” He said with a smile on his face.

‘What the hell? One of your men got badly injured and yet you are smiling? This guy must have a few loose screws in his head. I pity those guys, to have a leader as crazy as him.’ I feinted a smile just to show him that I feel the same but in reality I do not. “I already told the other leaders about what happened and now they are assembling their own squads as well. You might want to assemble your own squad as well since they are going to be the key in defeating that man.” He said before he left in the shadows. ‘What are you talking about? I have long formed my squad a long time ago.’

*BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!*