From his home in the Amazerian Empire, Roland Rothwell applauded as he watched the live broadcast of the Global Federation's national tournament from the safety of his own home.

"As expected of the man I had placed my sights on! You have truly surpa.s.sed all expectations, Richard!"

The crown prince chuckled and clapped for a moment longer before he plucked a bunch of green grapes from a nearby plate and dangled them over his mouth. He chewed on several of them, savoring the sweet taste.

"Heh…is he really that impressive?" Elem asked beside him, lounging lazily on a couch. He glanced at the holographic screen bitterly, and then gave a nonchalant shrug. "Well, he is the person who defeated me, so I'm in no position to criticize his ability."

"But you've improved tremendously recently, haven't you?" Roland lazily turned his head to glance at his lead bodyguard. "If the both of you were to fight now, who do you think will win?"

"Hard to say." Elem frowned as he leaned his head against the headrest of the couch. Despite his lazy posture, Roland was aware that Elem would snap into an offensive stance in a millisecond, his lithe body coiled with latent power. Perhaps that slothful image was to lull his opponents into underestimating him, though the crown prince was sure that Elem wasn't doing it deliberately. Elem, for his part, sniffed. "He seems to have gotten a lot stronger as well since the last time we've fought. That last exchange back then, when he defeated the so-called Sword Saint…he achieved that victory with very little mana left. And I am ashamed to tell you that even if I were to face the Sword Saint, there is no guarantee that I would have won against her…even if I were to fight her at full power."

Roland chuckled. "That's why I said Richard is impressive. He's someone to keep an eye on, yes? Best to be friends with him instead of enemies.'

"I'm surprised." Elem propped himself up to watch his liege curiously. "I thought you would insist on calling him trash, yet waste a ton of resources trying to get rid of him for no reason other than because he's the main character, or because he's close to a girl you have your eyes set on…what was her name? Cecilia Stuart?"

"Nah. I'm not that petty. And don't be ridiculous. Who the h.e.l.l does that in real life? That sounds like the most contrived plot device ever just to force a protagonist-antagonist relations.h.i.+p. Seriously, if you regard someone as 'trash', then treat him as such. Who the f.u.c.k devotes so much resources, money and manpower, and waste so much time trying to make a 'trash's' life miserable? These authors just don't understand how to create a proper story, and they just resort to lazy writing just to force a conflict. These antagonists aren't even 'characters'– calling them characters will be an insult to actual characters and real people. They are just caricatures. I get that some people are stupid, but the level of stupidity is so ridiculous that it feels contrived. Seriously, the guy just beat up a grandmaster in front of you, and you somehow think he won't be a match for this other grandmaster you know? The level of self-delusion and stupidity these caricatures wallow in are beyond anything reality allows for."

"…okay…" Elem looked as if he regretted ever asking Roland that question. he was an idiot if he didn't think Roland would take this chance to rant about the urban cultivation novels that he had been reading recently, only to drop them halfway because of how disgustingly stupid they became.

"Not to mention…even though so many of these stories take place in a 'modern' or contemporary setting, the mindset of the antagonists are astonis.h.i.+ngly juvenile or barbaric. You offend me? Okay, I will kill you. You insulted me? Okay, I will hire an a.s.sa.s.sin to kill you. What the f.u.c.k? Even our Amazerian Empire's royal family don't waste resources and money doing that, and we certainly don't think we're above the law to commit murder so blatantly. Yeah, I admit that there iss probably corruption somewhere, and that several of my relatives have their fingers dipped in illegal businesses, but at least we do our best to cover it! not like the idiots in these urban cultivation stories! Yet these authors have their main characters and antagonists blatantly kill each other or other people in broad daylight and then just brush it off as 'normal'– what are they smoking? Why bother setting the whole thing in a modern, urban location if you're going to have people commit murder in broad daylight without suffering legal repercussions? Oh, they are so powerful that the police, government or authorities can't do anything to them? What is even the point?"

"Wish fulfilment and power fantasies," Elem mumbled, wis.h.i.+ng that his liege would stop rambling already.

"That's right!" Roland was on a roll. "But doesn't it get repet.i.tive after a while…"

Elem sighed and turned toward the screen and waved for the author to move on. "Change the scene. Give the other characters the limelight for now. I don't think the readers want to listen to his highnesss rant forever."

There was a black panel, and then it was replaced by a new panel featuring other people in another place and another place. this happened a week or two ago, before my team's match against Saint Teressa Academy.

"Ugh…" Doctor Dorden stretched his aching back and raised both of his hands to ease the stiffness that had crept up his limbs.

"Are you all right, Doc?" Glacia asked, concerned. He nodded and rubbed at his wrinkled eyes before smiling.

"My dear, I think I've done it."

Glacia's heart skipped a beat and she spun around to stare at the good doctor.

"Are you sure? You did it?"

"Yeah." Dorden typed in several commands in his console, and beyond him the machine whirred as it concocted a new serum. Pus.h.i.+ng his gla.s.ses up his nose, he smiled wearily and waved at a beaming technician. "We've developed what we think is…well, not exactly a cure, but it'll help keep Ana's poisons under control for now."

"Ana Curth will be saved!" another doctor added gleefully. Glacia raised an eyebrow, wondering when Anastasia had obtained a family name. Even if she did, it shouldn't be Curth. Seemed like someone had been reading way too much of Dan Abnett's legendary Gaunt's Ghosts series.

Dorden raised a hand. "The catch is that it will not neutralize and break down all the poisons in her body…so she'll still essentially have that Woeful Poison Body. I'm afraid there's nothing we can do to change that."

"I see."

Glacia felt a little disappointed, but at least it wasn't the end of the world. Anastasia would survive and could still live a normal life. As long as she kept the toxins within her body under control, there should be no problem living normally.

If anything, Anastasia would be happy about this result. Knowing the green-haired former a.s.sa.s.sin, she would insist on keeping her poison magic so that she could continue to fight on the frontlines and a.s.sist the Silver Wolves in combat missions. For her, this was probably the best outcome, even if her comrades preferred her to be free of this poisoned curse.

"But as long as she can keep the toxins in her body under control, she can live a normal life," Dorden declared, repeating out loud what Glacia was thinking. While she already knew that, the blue-haired ice mage was happy to hear an actual doctor make the diagnosis for emphasis and confirmation. It lifted a great weight off their shoulders.

"Great job, Doc," she told Dorden, delighted. All around the laboratory, the doctors and technicians were celebrating, exchanging high fives and cheering vocally. "You guys did great. All of you. The Silver Wolves are very grateful to you all."

"Technically, we're part of the Silver Wolves too," Dorden reminded her with a grin. "We may only be support staff, but we're still members of the Silver Wolves."

"My apologies." Glacia giggled. "Of course. I didn't mean by it. I mean all of Silver Wolves, especially the combat personnel, are grateful to you Silver Wolves…ugh, you know what I mean."

"Yes, we do." Dorden waved her clumsy thanks away.

"So when do you plan to administer the serum?"

"Right away." Dorden plucked out the canister from the machine and then proceeded toward the stasis chamber where Anastasia lay inside. "We'll inject the serum into her right now. No reason to waste time waiting for…what, an order from the top? If Feng Hai was here, he would reprimand us for dilly-dallying."

"You are right. He'll want us to do it immediately." Glacia nodded. "I'll take responsibility. Please go ahead."

"Yup!" Dorden inserted the scanister into the stasis chamber. A machine whirled about, a sterilized needle raising up and entering the pod. It p.r.i.c.ked Anastasia's skin almost gently, and everyone watched with bated breath as the contents of the transparent canister – the yellow serum – slowly emptied out, injected into Anastasia's system. Dorden stepped back and watched his handiwork in satisfaction. "That should do it."

"Vitals stabilizing!" one of the technicians reported, the person responsible for monitoring Ana's life-signs. "Everything looking good!"

"The toxins are under control!" another technician added. "The serum is working! It's suppressing the toxins and keeping them under control!"

"There's no longer any danger of exploding or self-destruction," another doctor agreed as he consulted the diagonistics on a blue-tinted holographic window that displayed the insides and cellular readings of Anastasia. He beamed as he called up more biological information and ran diagnostics on hormonal production and stuff. "We succeeded!"

"YES!"

The medical team erupted into cheers, hugging each other and whooping. Even the elderly Dorden couldn't help but nod in approval.

"We can take her out of stasis and let her recover."

"Let's do that," Glacia agreed. She stepped forward to deactivate the stasis pod. Several nurses rushed over, moving Anastasia's unconscious body into a gurney. She glanced at Dorden. "She still hasn't woken up yet."

"Relax, my dear." Dorden chuckled. "We've just literally administered the serum a minute ago. It'll take her some time to recover. She'll wake up in a day or two. For now, we'll have her hooked up in the infirmary, so that we can monitor her for a few days. Even if she wakes up tomorrow, we'll keep her hospitalized, so that we can run some tests and ensure that nothing is wrong. That there won't be any complications after this."

"Thank you. I'll leave everything to you then." Glacia nodded gratefully. "I really appreciate everything you've done for us, Doc. Everyone in here."

"Just doing our job," Dorden replied smoothly and then patted her shoulder. "Don't forget, every one of us here is a member of Silver Wolves."

That night, the Execution Force attacked, slaughtered their way through a few dozen security staff, abducted Anastasia and left. Fortunately, the medical team had gone home for the night, and even the doctor on duty had wisely stayed out of the way. Not because he was a coward, but he and the nurses on duty knew it would be suicide to challenge five professional a.s.sa.s.sins.

While the Silver Wolves treasured courage, they did not want their members – especially those of their non-combat support staff – to throw their lives away meaninglessly, not when there were other ways they could contribute to the guild.

*

Back in the present…

"Boss, everyone is in position."

Feng Hai nodded when Brent reported to him, his eyes still focused on the building before them. He clenched his fists and scowled murderously.

"Those a.s.sa.s.sin b.a.s.t.a.r.ds…they will pay for messing with us." he then glanced back at Brent. "I heard Jamie's report. They sent a Frenzor a.s.sa.s.sin after the students in the stadium where the tournament is being held?"

"Yes, sir." Brent nodded, and then smiled. "Don't worry, they took care of him."

"I heard that Richard was present to a.s.sist them. He was the one who took down the Frenzor a.s.sa.s.sin, correct?"

"More like froze the guy long enough for Jamie and the others to slay him, but otherwise yes, he played a pivotal role in defeating the berserker."

"That kid…" Feng Hai shook his head with a grin. "He's seriously going to surpa.s.s us all at this rate. As his seniors…as his elders, we can't lose to him. We're going to get Ana back safe and sound."

"Yeah!" Brent thumped his chest. "Leave it to us!"

"So…we've confirmed that Ana is in there?"

"That's right. We're ready to move out the moment you give the signal."

"Gotcha…" Feng Hai paused for a moment, studying the enemy base. As he considered, Redfield burst out of the bushes.

"Boss! Cap! I've got some more news!"

"What is it?" Feng Hai looked annoyed at the breach of discipline, but Redfield didn't seem to care. He opened up a holographic screen.

"Did you not see the latest match? They were featuring Richie on the live broadcast!"

"Of course they would. It's his school's match today, and he's part of their team." Brent seemed just as irritated as Feng Hai.

"Well, yeah, but listen to this! Richie…he…he scored an all-kill! He wiped out Saint Teresa Academy in the individual matches! All of their core members!"

Feng Hai froze for a moment, and then he burst out laughing. Shaking his head, he suppressed his laughter.

"That kid…he never ceases to amaze me…" clearing his throat, he glanced from Brent to Redfield. "All right, people. We can't allow him to keep leaving us in the dust like this! We need to set a good example for him! I promised him that we'll rescue Ana, and we're going to fulfill that promise right now!"

"OOOOH!" the Silver Wolves roared their approval. Feng Hai cast his sharp gaze over them before nodding his approval. Raising his hand, he gave the signal.

"Silver Wolves! Attack! We're going to rescue our comrade! Don't let any of those a.s.sa.s.sins get in our way!"

As one, the top mercenary guild in the Global Federation raced down the slope and flew toward the enemy base. The a.s.sa.s.sins were slow to react, but as professionals they woke up to the threat, and within a few minutes combat erupted across the base.

From a distance, residents of the nearest city woke up and gazed curiously as orange conflagrations blossomed across the forest to their northeast, having no idea what was going on ten miles away from their city.