New Game+

The moment Richie gave the terrifying shout, the three assassins that were talking to Lynd, Meryl and Cliff were alerted.

"Richie!" Sting shouted with horror.

But before Sting could immediately rush for the door, the masked assassin immediately waved his hands sending out three shurikens that raced towards Meryl.

Shock didn't understand the masked assassin's movement but reacted accordingly.

His arm immediately gave an electric spark and lightning started to arc towards the three.

Lynd, Meryl, and Cliff immediately evaded the lightning sparks by immediately using their boosters the moment the masked assassin threw the shurikens. Cliff revealed a mini cannon and blasted the wall allowing the three to escape through the opening.

As Meryl zoomed towards the hole Cliff created, she slashed the shurikens headed towards her with a glass sword.

The shurikens were cleanly slashed by the sword. However, as it was thrown off by the slash, all three continued to fly towards Meryl's face as if it was being guided.

Meryl gritted her teeth and used the boosters to give her a quick spin. One of the shurikens left a cutting mark on Meryl's cheeks.

The two groups maintained a distance from each other.

Sting who turned his back was unable to aid his two companions from fighting.

"What gave it away?" Meryl asked as she wiped the blood off her cheeks.

"Your reactions. You weren't surprised at Richie's voice. Though your expressions seemed genuine, it's not enough to fool me." The masked man answered coldly.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Typical, Judge and Executioner of the Dragon's Fang."

"You alright?" Lynd gave a worried whisper at Meryl.

"Yeah. Be careful. His weapons aren't ordinary ninja stars."

"You three are quite skilled." Shock admired as he readied his metal arm.

"To be able to live through young masters attack… Arthur's allies are indeed formidable. But you three made a mistake to fight against us." Sting's tone was cold.

"You guys are no average joes yourself. To attack us without hesitation. But next time, please practice some manners. I know it was kind of a split second decision but why did you have to attack the only girl in our team? I mean, Lynd's pretty tall. So he's hard to miss." Cliff joked.

"Manners have no use in assassinations. And I didn't attack the girl by chance. I aimed for her since I deemed her the weakest of you three. She was lucky to damage the homing tech on my shurikens with that strong sword. But that won't happen again. Goodbye, weaklings." Typical waved two of his hands sending eight shurikens flying towards Meryl.

Typical was a master assassin who could easily read emotions. When Richie's voice echoed throughout their base, Typical found the reactions of these three weren't confusion but alertness. And as he threw the next set of shurikens, he did not bother to even glance at Meryl and gazed at the expressions of the other two.

And in their eyes, he saw frustration. Typical was about to smirk at the sight of this then noticed the two men weren't frustrated at him or his attack. They didn't even bother to glance at the shurikens he threw. Why were these two showing the emotions of frustration whilst staring at the girl? And why did this frustrated emotion, look as if the two were annoyed that something troublesome would happen?

Days before the attack on Larson Complex…

"After we meet with the assassins, we'll send a signal if we push through with plan A, or do plan B."

"I have a question!" Meryl raised her hands like an innocent student.

"Why does Plan A have such an unbalanced division?"

"Of the eight of us, you three are the strongest. Since the aim of this attack is to allow us to sharpen our Unlocking, the best way to put our lives on the line is to expose our weaknesses." Arthur explained.

Meryl and Lynd looked at each other with a peculiar gaze.

"Therefore, Lynd has to avoid simulating the two of us. You must not make any plans before the battle or even during. Can you do that?" Arthur warned.

"Wait! Isn't that a part of Lynd's strength?" Cliff argued.

"The problem we face right now is that we are too strong together." Lowengren summarized.

"Every battle you've faced so far had the advantages of information, planning, and readiness. Before Arthur came along, you had Seeker, who is more of a cheat than Arthur. He knows who our enemies are and can generally win the battles by strategies alone. This was why you won against Richie."

"During the battle on the Australian Avarice, you had me and Lowengren to make the plans." Arthur reminded.

"The battle was already half-won with all the traps we've set."

"Traps? Sacrificing those soldiers who reached Unbecoming was just a trap you planned?" Alean interrupted.

"Forgive me for my poor choice of words." Arthur gave an apathetic respond.

"That was the best choice. I had to sacrifice them to hide your existence." Lowengren slowly explained.

Alean remained quiet and gave a soft, bitter sigh.

"No need to apologize or explain. I understand. I know the cost of that war. At least those soldiers were decorated as heroes."

Seeing Alean's silence, Lowengren continued.

"As Arthur already explained, a few Unbecomings can do little to win the war. If we want to make a noticeable difference in the future, we either have to add more Ranked Heroes on our army, or train someone to reach World Champion."

"And that's what we're trying to do. We've always had powerful chess pieces we could use during combat. That is our weakness. As for you three, there was no struggle entailed in your battles as you already knew you would win. What we all need is uncertainty in our fights."

"So we divide brains and brawns…" Alean nodded.

"That's why Lynd shouldn't imitate our planning abilities. What you three need is not the intelligence to face the enemy, but the raw power to break through whatever obstacles you have. I need the Lynd that went berserk in Malay-Pangea." Arthur spoke bluntly.

The entire room fell silent. This was one topic that everyone avoided.

"Look." Lynd hesitated.

"The truth is; I'm terrified of unleashing that… thing."

"I'm right then. You can seal your own skills, right? You've been sealing the abilities you displayed back then."

Everyone was surprised at Arthur's conclusion.

"Sealed?"

"Lynd's path of observation and empathy is very convenient in masking pains. Whenever instances arise where he is reminded of these traumatizing events, he imitates someone else. His Path allows him to draw from someone else experiences."

"What a terrifying path. So that's how you manage to learn the Paths and skills of other people. You actually can experience and go through what they did. That's how you learned Lander's technique." Lowengren rubbed his chin as he pondered.

"In order to survive, you need to unseal it. That anger, that trauma, that deep rage that was accidentally embedded on your soul as you saw the helpless children being mistreated and killed, unseal it."

Lynd remained silent. His hands were visibly trembling.

"You have to do this. Since the Aragarians will be watching, we can't use techs that are too obvious or ones that could pose a threat to them."

"But Arthy! That's a bit too much! Can we even win in that scenario?" Meryl gave a worried cry.

"We have no choice. Through Seeker's efforts, we already had Unlocked ourselves into a realm that is humanly impossible. It shouldn't be easy to reach Inhuman but we already have one now. But this is where it ends. Seeker's training cannot push us further. I don't have time to go over the details as to why I know that to be true, but right now we need real pressure to push us higher."

"But what if we die?" Cliff argued once more. For the first time, a trace of fear was heard in his voice.

"That's exactly why we need to fight this way. You need to go beyond yourselves in the coming battles. You need to break further in your Unlocking. It's not about reaching your potential. It's about increasing your potential."

"Why does it feel that you're pressuring us too much?" Meryl could not help to ask.

"If Plan A pushes through the three of you would be the ones to enter the main building. There is a chance of meeting Meng there. If Meng were to appear then you three have to stop him until he arrives to fight Meng."

"What?!"

"That will give us the highest chances of everyone's survival. But don't worry too much. Whoever they send to accommodate you should be the weaker group as they would treat me as the stronger opponent. So whoever remains inside the building should be easier to deal with the enemies we would face."

"What if the stronger ones are inside?" Meryl asked.

"There's a forty percent chance of that being the case. After all, someone needs to protect the base." Lowengren did not deny the possibility.

"Forty percent? That's a high risk we're taking! You're risking these two? Didn't Seeker tell you not to risk Meryl?" Cliff argued.

"We have our own reasons as to why we're risking you three. And I think it's time to finally address the truth. You probably know this to be true. Lynd, Meryl, you have more potential than Seeker." Arthur finally dropped the bomb.

The two were silent. They did not look too surprised.

"Seeker didn't tell you at first because it might cause your emotional and mental states to be disturbed. But now, you should be very clear of it. You two are stronger than Seeker."

The two remained silent. It seemed as if they already knew about this.

"But, dude, what about me?" Cliff finally erupted.

"Honestly, we don't know. You clearly have the potential to reach Surmounting Inhuman. But you don't seem to have a Path." Lowengren shrugged.

"This is why you have to be placed in such a perilous scenario. If you want to live, you need to make a Path or at least manifest a skill."

"So you're sending me off to die?!" Cliff shouted angrily. A powerful force engulfed everyone. Only the parents who silently listened to the conversation were paralyzed while the rest gave a wary look at Cliff.

"Cliff." Alean began.

"While it might seem that way, if Meng appears earlier than anticipated, then we're all dead. If he does appear, who would you rather be with? Arthur and Lowengren, or Lynd and Meryl?" Alean glared.

The pressure subsided as Cliff realized the truth. With Meryl's Path and Lynd's own strange abilities, they would be more likely to survive.

"It's not as suicidal as it seems. We do have a technology that could greatly help you three." Arthur continued.

"My father was able to develop a unique suit. Inside the suits are nerve connectors which allows you to connect your nerves to the suit itself. While the suit in itself has no functions when it is connected to your nerves, the suit can provide you energy as it is stored with the same nutrients that you use to burn energy."

Arthur handed a suit to Meryl.

"Just by connecting my nerves to the suit? I don't understand."

"You're Believers. Make a miracle out of it." Arthur shrugged.

"Any other helpful advice?" Meryl gave a sarcastic reply.

"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1." Arthur handed Lynd and Cliff the suit with a serious face.

"Gee… Thanks, Pastor." Meryl glared.

Back in the present, the shurikens zoomed towards the three teams while two were aimed at Meryl.

Meryl was extremely angry because of Typical's callous comments. Lynd and Cliff knew it would be dangerous to stand next to Meryl and sprinted as fast as they could.

An unexpected phenomenon occurred when Meryl's nerves bonded with the suit. Arthur expected a Miracle from the Believers, but Arthur vastly underestimated the power of the Unlocking.

A hot yellowish glow surrounded Meryl. Her entire body gave a golden-yellow glow. Lynd and Cliff dashed out of the area as fast as they could.

BOOM!

A miniature sun erupted with Meryl at the center.

"Retreat!" Typical ordered as they dashed out of room destroying the walls near them.

"Who's the weakling now, Typical?"