77th chapter : whom you know .

  As a sudden call notified the ten rankers, including Sam who got dragged by Layla, the ten returned to the council’s headquarters on a short notice. On the same hand, Layla was hardly giving attention to the mission other than things going on for her.

  “Huh?! hai. I won’t be having any other problems so it’s alright, tell master that I got back to the HQ for today” said Sam.

  Right after crossing the portal, Sam got a call, responding to Hana who was quick to call him as soon as she sensed that he wasn’t within the island. Layla looked at Sam grinning after hanging up the phone, acting quite flustered on his own.

  “You seem happy to have her call as soon as you got out, huh” Layla said out of the blue.

  Sam looked at her, tilting his head a little to the left side, looking quite confused by her words since they didn’t really have any proper conversation until now.

  “Ah, she does get carried away with her duty of looking after me as my girl. At this point she does resemble Marco I suppose given the two had lived around each other more than around me”.

  Sam giggled as Layla got flustered by his words, the mention of Marco had her a bit startled, knowing that Sam as his friend would try and fix some problems for him.

  “Y’know, I’m…”.

  Layla spoke up but she instantly got interrupted as a little girl came hugging her from behind.

  “I missed you a lot!! Lu chan!!”.

  A girl named Tia Marebelle, fifth ranked, enthusiastically said as she kept her arms around Layla.

  “Ah Tia!! Been a while!!” Layla hugged her back.

  “Seems like you’re as clingy as you used to be Tia”.

  Reilland Hanford, sixth ranked said, patting her head as he smiled at Layla who felt a little heartwarming by seeing him. The two had quite their fair share of missions together after all.

  Sam looked around as he saw the three having their own moment, although what had brought his attention was that each of them were wearing their own official uniform, something that had somewhat some meaning back in the day for him.

  He sighed then coughed to get their attention there.

  “You sure love them a lot, your comrades I mean. I’ll be going to request my uniform back, see ya later”.

  Sam interrupted Layla’s nostalgic daydreaming.

  “Ah!! sure! Wait let me tag along! At least both could get what we want”.

  She responded as she let go of Tia, getting to stride by Sam’s side while the two were heading out of the meeting room. Reilland and Tia were surprised as they felt a bit awkward to be ignoring him, although the two looked at Sam for a second as others arrived too, feeling that his presence finally got back.

  “You look somehow different, Sam Lockhart”.

  Izere Orage, third ranked said as he stood in Sam’s way.

  The two looked at each other with a calm smile yet a devious one, indicating their own hostility towards each other.

  “oh, Izere san seems like you’re doing good!”.

  Layla tried to act childish to prevent any problems as she already noticed the latter, not only Izere who had that curious hostile gaze but all of the other rankers were looking at Sam with a displeased look on their faces. However Layla got restless for nothing as she saw Sam not bothered by their gazes.

  “Oh! You can tell!! I’m sure that you guys see me as a nuisance, after I went back to red mermaid and all!!”. Sam responded.

  Grinning confidently he looked aside as Layla glared at him with a sigh over the top of her lungs. Leaving it like that the two went on their way so that no problem would arise.

  “Y’know, you should’ve just ignored his question, why did you respond !?” Layla was scolding Sam on their way back to the meeting room.

  “Uhm, I thought it would be fun to make them a little angry, sorry for that. Since the council have failed in giving my rank to a new holder as it seems, they’re still on the search”. Sam said as they reached the meetings’ room.

  His words weren’t exactly heard but he had his own thoughts about the current status of the council and he confirmed that as he looked at them still not over his resignation. He sighed and took his seat with Layla who was facing him on the other side of the table.

  It was the elder of knights, Arnold Optimus, who had gotten everyone’s attention again.

  “Thank you for coming today, on such short notice and all. Mostly, you’ve learned about the kabuki guy. A sudden thread of info has given us the opportunity to seize the kabuki guy’s location upfront”. Arnold said as he was standing ahead of all of them.

  “Does this mean that he doesn’t work on his own? sighssss”

  Layla said, asking as she was looking at the papers, checking for what facts this info concreted for them to move based on it.

  “That is unfortunately true, however his followers aren’t that well structured. We have a chance to learn a lot by catching these men inside their nests”.

  Arnold enthusiastically said as he tried to cheer them up. The ten rankers looked at him as none of them reacted to his words the way he wanted them to do.

  “Ahm!! anyway most of them are outlaws that have gathered by either pure coincidence or got scouted,” he added “For this mission, we don’t need many men as the cheer force is the only thing that is needed. As it is also extremely important to get intel from these thieves”.

  Everyone looked at the window viewer to see ten different locations, supposedly something that worked in their favor too.

  “For the sake of the Tivia mission to success you should go at full strength!” Arnold said, smiling confidently at them.

  The sudden silence that came after his act of cheering, had all of them avert their gazes, trying to act as if they were reading the pages again, that is until Sam had spoken.

  “That’s totally absurd as a name, Tivia mission”.

  Sam broke the silent atmosphere with his comment as they all looked towards him. Tsukihime, second ranked, suddenly replied to Sam as a matter of opposing his words.

  “You sure have gained enough cockiness from the scum of red mermaid!!” announced Tsukihime.

  Sam looked back at her as things became tense. “Hee! You sure run your mouth too, for such a thing Tsukihime!! women sometimes don’t have good taste in words”.

  Sam responded, glaring down at her with a threatening bloodlust for a moment there.

  Within that temper, Tsukihime almost released her serment if it wasn’t for Layla who jumped in at last split second.

  “Ahahaha!! Why don’t we calm down for a little and talk it out everyone!!” Layla growled as she narrowed her gaze towards Sam who stood up.

  “You wanna go for a round, Tsukihime?! I’ll make sure to hold back just for you!”.

  Sam made things worse. The remaining ranked councilors started baring their own hostile animosity too whereas Layla saw Sam enjoying the moment.

  In the middle of that tension, the first ranked, Lex Enadoll responded to Sam’s words instead as he calmed the others too by a simple whip of a euro pressure across the room.

  “It is pleasant to see that a comrade has gained confidence from battle experience, however we are friends not enemies, so Tsukihime just take it easy and remember that Sam is still eighth ranked, we can’t have you killing him now” his words and actions made them take a seat again.

  Although Sam didn’t like the last pretext, he looked at Lex then he sighed a heavy breath.

  “Well, I’m a red mermaid member now, so I’ve come here just as a request from Layla san here. Either way, I’ll take part in this Tivia mission or whatever you wanna call it. How stupid!! We’re going on our own after all” Sam said.

  Layla looked filled with enough exasperation for the day as she heaved a sigh from the top of her lungs while she leaned over her chair.

  “Just wait for the moment when I tell Hana chan about what you did now. I’ll make sure to make her hit you at least once!” Layla tried to threaten him through scolding, not giving any thought that they were still in a meeting.

  “Hana chan?” Tsukihime asked, wondering who Hana was out of pure curiosity.

  Layla threw rationality out of the conversation by now as she saw Sam flinching for a second there. He did try to make her stop, however Layla was already answering their question marks.

  “Sam’s girlfriend!! You heard me Sam!” Layla had a smug face.

  He looked at her then grinned the same smug face whereas it said pretty much the words written on his face, -two can play this game-.

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  “I also can’t wait to see how Marco would react the moment I tell him that you wanna apologize about what you said” Sam said, responding instantly as it made her blush in total red.

  “Marco?” Tia asked this time. Layla was battling her inner thoughts to keep this conversation appropriate.

  “Layla’s boyfriend!! She’s head over heels for my gloomy childhood friend”.

  Sam turned this small back and forth into a charade even harder as everyone looked at Layla almost about to burst from her place. Watching them go at their own pace, completely forgetting what purpose they had in hand, had the elder of knights, Arnold getting grumpy, whereas he coughed again to get their attention.

  “Anyway We really went away from the main point!!” he broke their sudden curiosity down, “The mission starts now!!”.

  He ordered them to stand up as all of them got the necessary items placed by their sides for the mission. Each of the ranked councilors stood up after his order taking upon what they had in front of them. Layla calmed down for a moment there as she met gazes with Sam again while the two were heading out first.

  “You make sure to apologize for him later”.

  Sam said out of the blue as everyone looked at him then at Layla who pouted before heading out right after him. The atmosphere was already quite sour so his words had him go through the location without giving any attention to his surroundings.

  “And so here we are! sighsss! I dunno why the hell did I agree on this mission to begin with”.

  Sam was talking to himself, whilst watching the bandits from afar. His location was an abandoned industry within a nearby island to the continent. The whole area was closed by the council because it had an explosion during one of their experiments, so lots of stuff seemed plausibly suspicious.

  “Seems like there’s a strange interference. Man! Marco sure is lucky to have Yuna san and the other two with him to pass time. anyway,”.

  Sam was yawning as he calmly passed through the front yard of the industry then he met with a horde of bandits, looking ready for a quarrel as if they’re waiting for him especially.

  “Heeh? seems like a good trap for a small assassination”. He smiled before trying to release his serment.

  At that moment, Sam remembered Alex saying that the kabuki guy can seal away the serments at will, so even within given circumstances Sam scoffed at the fact that he can’t even release his own serment while he possibly is standing within the range of that masked man.

  “Seems like it’s the end for you!! Eighth ranked Sam Lockhart!!”.

  The thugs’ leader announced, releasing his serment with a furious afterwave. Its looks were like a sword with a jewel at the centre of the blade whereas it seemed impractical until it burst some flames, coating the entire blade while vanishing after that.

  “You’re the leader I guess,” Sam said, narrowing his gaze towards the guy while studying his foe’s numbers. “Just a correction, I’m a red mermaid member and I’m surprised that you can release your serment. Does this mean that the kabuki guy is around and has spared you from his effect?” Sam’s purpose was collecting information.

  “Gehe!! I’m not as dumb as these men behind me!! Telling you anything about the client will just make it worse, we’re paid to kill you and conserve that body of yours just so you wanna know so bad. Surrender and we will deliver you alive!”.

  The thugs’ leader responded, grinning a smug smile while watching his men raring to go, waiting for that signal to be launched.

  Sam sighed at his own stance, giving a bleak reaction in comparison to their riot of words thrown at him after their leader’s words. Sam took a step to the back whilst cracking his own hands for a moment, taking a deep breath afterwards had him unleash a cold vibe within the air around him. It was then when his words were heard all over the place.

  “Let me tell you something before we start the fight. First there's two sides for the mermaids y’know, the side that most of the girls like as it is that of the fairy tales. The other side is of the folklores and stuff, they’re extremely deadly to men”.

  Following his words, Sam’s bloodlust had the thugs attack him on spot, therefore Sam easily broke their defenses with sheer physical strength, smacking one of them barehanded and crushing the guy’s skull as the afterwaves of Sam’s hit had brushed their lines out of range.

  “One by one in line, gentleman. I’ll make sure to kill you all”.

  On the other ranked councilors’ side.

  “Engaging in the Tivia operation”.

  Tia said, whispering through the com line to report everything firsthand. Her stealth skills were top notch, as she entered the location given to her. Tia was entrusted with an old vast mansion deep in the mountains, nearby the industry on Sam’s track.

  Feeling too concentrated on concealing her own presence, Tia often finds herself quite vulnerable within the blind spot of her own sensory range, that being said she’s in between the top ten when it comes to sensory witchcrafts.

  “Seems like our guest has arrived”.

  A sudden voice broke her momentum as she stopped to see that she was surrounded by holders from all the sides, hidden by mere cloaks of similar witchcrafts to the cord blocks.

  “Huh?! I thought nothing was delivered to either of the ten ranked” mumbling on her own, Tia felt something was off like someone had sold them out after hearing that delivered line. “Bastards sure know how to greet a lady…nothing is coming out?”.

  Tia was getting worried as a sudden order of release wasn’t processed, her own serment bailed on her, or is what she thought at the moment. She realized that it was either the kabuki guy was with them or the witchcraft he uses had been given to these bandits.

  Just a simple quick deduction from looking at her foes.

  “You lot!!” The leader said, grinning mockingly. “Hunt the miss slowly. We need her body at least!!”.

  Tia was frightened, the sudden realization of her own death coming at the front door had her terrified to move, yet her own legs didn’t fail her as she kept looking out for a way to run away.

  At that moment, a sudden impact of a falling object made a commotion that pushed most of the men away before they’d all regroup to see what was within the smoke of that impact.

  “tsk! I didn’t expect this would happen if I put everything in a single go damn it, that seriously hurts”.

  Hearing a familiar voice made Tia exhale a breath of relief out of instinct, therefore she went completely clueless at what’s going on as she saw Sam standing from within the hole he created by landing there.

  “Tia san! I guess I arrived earlier then!” said Sam.

  He smiled at the confused Tia, who didn’t see anything coming her way nor feel anything enter her range. The situation escalated quicker than what she could perceive as Sam’s appearance wasn’t expected on both sides after all.

  “What are you doing here?!?” She eventually asked.

  “I accidently killed all the men in the industry so I came to capture one of them!! They’re using some jewel as an item that forces the seal of the serments, which might be similar to how the cords work on navigators”.

  Sam’s reply has shown that his sudden instantaneous interference wasn’t pure hazard work. It made the thugs in a tight spot as they all attacked him at once, only to be met with a fierce response.

  “Just like the others huh, stand back for a moment, Tia. The leader must be that archer” announced Sam.

  Out of the blue, Sam vanished from their sight as they all saw a splash of blood hit the ground within a split of a second. Right after killing the holder of the item’s witchcraft or what would be called in the reports as the ORB’s witchcrafts, the effects of the witchcrafts get loose and one with high affinity of euro flow control can release their serments again.

  That was the conclusion that Sam reached after finishing off the other thugs, who attacked him, thinking that he’s an easy target, therefore the current Sam can use body enhancing witchcrafts without the need of the councilor’s outfit or the serment finely just like any other red mermaid member.

  And so just by crushing their skulls with overwhelming strength and avoiding their attacks, Sam succeeded in finishing them off in a mere fifteen minutes. However, by announcing that all of his foes got killed, he tricked them, who currently are Tia’s foes into attacking him with the same pattern with a strategy on the table, identifying the true leader before things get dire.

  Killing the archer had given him an opportunity to release his katana and freeze most of them afterwards as he landed right by Tia’s side after.

  “Phew! Tia san! You ok?”.

  Sam asked, seeing that Tia was speechless at his speed and strength alike. She sighed out of exasperation after that sudden realization, shrugging her shoulders up with a scoff before standing up again.

  “Now I understand why you had that confidence, even against Izere san back then. More importantly, we gotta notify the council about this item!!” She was trying to use the communication device.

  “That’s impossible. In the first place, If I’m not wrong and I hope I’m wrong, this is a trap and most of the other ranked councilors are dead. Aside from me and you, that is”.

  Sam was looking at the knocked down thugs while his thoughts ran amok for a moment there.

  “You mean that even Lex, Tsukihime and Izere got killed?!”.

  That idea of standing with the ranks of the strongest was what had Tia moving forward despite the shy and uncompetitive spirit she had.

  “Let alone Lex, the so-called the prince of swords, or Tsukihime who’s a battle fanatic, Izere is the exact opposite of Lu chan’s title, he’s called the demon of the council, with an overwhelming strength he obliterates his foes. if these three are defeated ” she said as they were looking inside the house for more evidence.

  “These three are monsters so I can confirm that they may survive if they have sharp senses when it comes to battle, however…. Tsk”.

  Sam clicked his tongue as soon as he reached to see beneath the top three. Completely overlooking the facts of their own survival, Layla’s state was like a ticking bomb for the whole world, if anything happens to her or she gets captured, an idea that had Sam hoping for a better outcome than the worst case scenario he’d imagined.

  “However what?”.

  Tia didn’t want to say a thing other than that question, given that she barely knew of the current situation around Layla’s companions, and has yet to read the full entire report.

  “Everyone below the top three councilors might be considered as good as dead corpses. Consider yourself lucky for this Tia san, and I guess not just you but Layla san too”.

  His words were followed by an anxious smile, near horrendous that it made Tia get far more worried than what she was a moment ago.

  On Layla’s side,

  “Seems like I got dropped on an island, sighsss, after this mission I’ll make sure that Sam kun regrets exposing Marco to the others” Layla muttered to herself, while walking cautiously to the base of the place.

  Her side was an old island that doesn’t have a lot of people living on it whilst fishermen use it as a resting place during their long trips.

  “I guess releasing my serment before entering the base is a better option. the kabuki guy is capable of sealing off the serments, weirdly or intentionally as my own hax huh”.

  While sitting inside a boat, Layla released her serment as she scanned the area as quick as she could, using the goggled eyes witchcraft, enhanced by one of her extensions, that are equipped in her outfit.

  Thus she got a huge interference on the base’s visual, she took a deep breath then headed inside right away. That small fragment of time was enough for Layla to hear a sudden resonating word

  “Boom!”.

  The huge detonation had left an explosion face to face with Layla who reacted late, but luckily had her coat take the full roasting flames and afterwaves of the impact.

  “cough, cough!! Seems like I got figured out, pretty understandable really” she said, stepping out the smoke as quick as ever while she used the burning coat like a decoy to get to the other side, dashing at full speed.

  “It’s futile!!”.

  The thugs’ leader blocked her way on spot as the thugs circled around her. Layla stopped running, instinctively trying to release her serment again but nothing came to respond.

  Calling it a trauma would be exaggerated, however Layla couldn’t move a millimeter as she hallucinated Olivia’s voice for a split second interval. The thugs’ leader took his chance, hitting Layla hard as his lackeys joined in the combo hit.

  Layla got blown to a wall with several hits that dealt great damage to her. Simply saying the psychological addition of her past experiences, had multiplied her injuries wasn't random as Layla saw her hand letting go of her own serment, she lost the feelings on her knees yet she barely held onto the wall to keep standing.

  “The angel of the council!! You my dear !! you shall die here today!! And we shall successfully celebrate this event across the underground world!!”.

  The thugs’ leader announced as the laughter of his lackeys shrouded Layla’s mind, therefore those laughs faded soon enough because of a simple appearance of something they didn’t know what it was. a sudden portal opened upon the island, followed by an afterwave of global euro pressure for that small momentum.

  Layla was merely able to stay conscious as she saw a familiar figure standing by her front.

  “Who’re you?”.

  A question came with a serment pointed at the man who had come through that portal. No answer came and a sheer silence overcame the island at that moment with a cold vibe around. A single cold unyielded breath had gotten everyone’s attention and a deathly gaze had been narrowed at these thugs where Darkness became their sole surrounding.

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