Fate Online: Shadow

The following day in the real world.

Michael was just leaving his driveway when he suddenly got a call from someone unexpected, which raised an eyebrow when Michael saw the name on his phone screen.

[Charon...]

"Charon? Why is he calling me? I suddenly don't have a good feeling about this" Michael said as he picked up the call with some hesitation.

"It's me"

[Hahaha, Good morning to you, Mr. Shadow]

A laugher came from the other side of the phone call, causing a twitch on Michael's face.

Michael just rolled his eyes and said, "Well, it was certainly going great earlier until you called, and I feel like something bad is gonna happen with you calling me this early in the morning"

It was answered with a chuckle, as Charon replied saying, [Oh, it's not that bad. We just have another job for you]

"Can I refuse?" Michael said.

Charon chuckled and replied with a blunt tone: [No]

"Hmmp!"

Michael couldn't help but snort hearing that, before sighing in defeat, "Can't you guys give me a break? I just finished one a few days ago, and I have another one already? Anyway, what is it? Give me a rough summary before sending me the full information on my phone later. God, my record must be so clean that you're hounding me like this, Charon"

But Charon's following words shook him as they were words he wasn't expecting to suddenly come up, and he felt like a truck had just rammed him over and sent him over to another world..

[The President of Pearl Nation wants your services]

But Michael quickly regained his senses and said, "A president of a nation? Why me? Shouldn't this kind of client be handed to someone in the upper ranks?"

Charon seemed to like to chuckle on small things, "Zero strongly recommended you when the request came a couple of days ago"

Suddenly losing his temper, Michael couldn't help but let out a shout saying, "What?! He's freaking mad! Is he trying to get me killed or something?!"

Even though Zero is now his superior, he feels incredibly angry and frustrated at the same time because he himself fully knows that there are certain rules that are meant to be followed regarding requests, especially when it comes from high profile individuals, like a nation's president!

These kind of high profile jobs are highly sought after by people in the ranks of One Blade, as it brings them recognition and connections, as money doesn't even matter to them at this point, and Zero recommending this f*cking job to him is literally putting a target on his back for people who are dissatisfied with this stupid decision!

He's not scared, but he knows that he's not at his peak, especially when there are a lot of restrictions around his identity.

Sparring with the others is just spar, it wasn't meant to measure who was better, but it was just a way for them to keep their skills at their tip top condition.

And what Zero did was like a slap at the back of his freaking head!

It came out of nowhere, with not a warning whatsoever!

"He's trying to get me into trouble, doesn't he?" Michael said after a long silence, and he doesn't want to admit but he doesn't like any trouble right now, especially when he's trying to stay under the radar as he goes about his business.

[Oh sir, I'm sure that isn't the case] Charon replied, but deep inside he knew he was lying. He knows that Zero did this on purpose knowing the fact that Michael would at least receive some trouble along the way as this is something he can refuse.

"If I didn't mention it yet, my course has an MT in the next couple days. But anyway, so what's the deal with it?" Michael asked with a scratch of his head, unwilling, but doesn't have much of a choice but to accept it.

[Oh sir, don't worry. You can go there anytime you want, but it should be before the president steps down from his office, or else, it would then become a little troublesome. Anyway, as I was saying earlier, the president of Pearl Nation is hiring your services because he wants you to...]

And so Charon gave him a brief summary of the job, which Michael listened to carefully.

"Wait, what~? Aren't they against each other? What does he mean to help her when they're clearly political rivals?" Michael immediately said after Charon had said his piece.

Charon just laughed and said, "Don't know, you have to ask him yourself"

"F*ck, you're such an as*" Michael cursed and immediately dropped the call, and leaned back on his seat as he stared at the car's ceiling.

"Hahahahaha! F*ck! That Charon is still such a jerk! That Zero too, just what the f*ck is going on in his mind and handed me  this stupid and troublesome job?!"

Michael suddenly started laughing like mad as he didn't think that such a great morning would suddenly be met with such frustrating and unfortunate news.

"Those people really know how to throw their weight around" Michael chuckled as he carefully started the car and slowly backed up from his garage which closed by itself.

"If only It was easy to reach my strength before, then I would have been able to also throw my weight around and doesn't have to get ordered around like some kind of an animal" Michael said, but his smile slowly grew wider before he burst into laughter with tears in his eyes!

"Mwahaha! If I successfully accomplish this, then it would make it easier for me to reach the next rank! By then, I would be just one step away from getting that DNA enhancement one more time! I just need to make sure to keep any pestering bugs away!"

With those positive thoughts, he drove towards his destination with a huge smile on his face.

Over an hour later, Michael arrived at their family gym as today is a weekend.

It's gym day!

Alex, who was spotting someone on the bench press, immediately noticed Michael walking past the entrance, and immediately called out to him with a raised hand.

"Mike! You're here!" Alex said as he assisted the guy below him before making his way over to Michael.

"What's up, Alex?"

Both men clasped their hands together and gave each other a quick bro hug.

"So, you really decided to just come on the weekends, huh?" Alex said with a laugh.

Michael smiled and replied, "Yeah, I'm too busy to come frequently. Anyway, spot for me man, I plan to go past my limits today!"

Slap!

Alex couldn't help but give Michael a large smack on his back and laughed saying, "Hell yeah! Now, that's what I'm talking about!"