Chapter 407: X [3]

I had been feeling restless lately.

I didn’t know why, but the feeling was growing with each passing day.

It was as if a void had been formed in my heart, that is if I indeed had one.

Stephen was dead, and his death would surely result in events determined by me.

Still... I didn’t quite enjoy the victory.

I... maybe I hadn’t killed anyone in a while, which may have been the reason for my restlessness.

Lately, things were being too easy for me.

My plans were being successful one after the other, and even if there were some deviations in between, they weren’t serious enough to warrant my attention.

Michael had handled everything with perfection, but maybe... it was the perfection that was killing the joy in my victories.

Clank.

Adding a new magazine to the gun, I loaded it a few times, before placing it back on the table before me.

With the chaos around, the opportunities to grow had expanded by a broad margin.

The mighty governments were no longer a threat to me... at least not yet.

I knew that the moment the governments across the world took it upon themselves to eliminate D.X. with determination... there would be a war.

And, even if I had been winning against them for the last year... the same wouldn’t be the case in a head-on conflict, as the governments had something that I seriously lacked.

Manpower.

No matter how many men worked for D.X., in the end, they were negligible in numbers compared to the forces available at the hands of the protectors of justice in the world.

Bang!

Hm?

A single shot had been fired—

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Sigh.

There seemed to have been a traitor within us.

Closing my eyes, I could hear faint screams along with the sound of combat, and soon the music of the assault rifles hit my ears.

Getting up from my seat, I picked up the gun before checking its magazine for the last time.

Ding!

The sound of a notification made me take out my phone, only to see a very familiar name displayed on my screen.

---

Michael: The base has been raided. There are more than a hundred of them, and more reinforcements seem to be on the way. I have cleared the back passage.

You may... leave through it.

---

The message had no hints of panic in it.

As expected of Michael.

He was a good dog, if I had to say.

His loyalty was quite commendable, though in my eyes... I trusted none.

Given the current situation that I was in, for me... everyone was a traitor.

From my analysis of the human named Michael... he would never betray me, but—

I would be foolish to keep a blind faith in a dog that could very well bite his master for the food found elsewhere.

The back passage had been cleared, at least according to the message.

Should I use it?

Placing the gun near to my face, I closed my eyes, while my mind processed all sorts of possibilities.

I didn’t know which country had sent the forces out there, or it could very well be a joint operation headed by some elite amongst the agents.

If they wanted me dead, they could have very well bombed the entire area, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

At least according to what I could see... I was still in reality, and not dead.

The present state of the Earth could have very well been closer to hell, but looking around my room... I didn’t seem to be in actual hell.

I may have been hallucinating, but that seemed to be a far-fetched analysis.

If the authorities didn’t want me dead, then... the options at my hand were quite a few.

Still, I couldn’t help but pity these foolish souls.

They should have killed me while they had the chance.

Did they think arresting me and presenting me in the court of law would help them stabilize the situation around the world?

That the level of crimes would suddenly decrease?

But did they even have the capability to arrest me?

Ignorance... it truly was the height of arrogance.

Walking towards the door, I massaged my neck a bit, before loosening the joints of my wrists.

The magazine currently loaded in the gun had around twenty rounds, and I had a total of ten magazines on me, so the rounds currently available at my disposal were around—

Two hundred, I guess.

More than enough to take out some mere hundred men, if Michael’s estimates could be trusted.

And even if there were more reinforcements, still... the situation seemed under control.

I just had to exchange each bullet in my gun for a walking corpse.

A fair exchange.

Click.

Gently opening the lock, I pushed open the door, before walking out.

From the sound of their footsteps and the silence around, I had assumed there to be no men outside my room... or at least they hadn’t arrived yet.

The hallway which should have normally been busy was dead silent at the moment, though beyond the hallway... the notes of combat reverberated throughout the area.

The intensity of the gunshots had reached a level that it was impossible to predict the flow of the fight merely through its sound effects.

Though I was walking at ease, with my gun pointing downwards... my body was ready to take the shot at a moment’s notice.

The index finger of my right hand brushed against the cold surface of the trigger, as I blinked my eyes twice to lighten the sensation of dizziness in my head.

Thinking about it, I hadn’t slept for the last two days.

It wasn’t due to some illness, but simply the choice of my brain to indulge in activities beyond mortal comforts, though... the decision was now leaning heavily against my life.

I felt like I wasn’t at my peak, but... my current abilities would suffice, given that... there was no army waiting to kill me, just some agents with toys in their hands.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The sound of my footsteps echoed—

My eyes narrowed as I noticed the movement of shadows at the far end of the hallway, just where it split apart into two directions—

"There he is—"

Bang!

Thud!

The first body dropped to the ground, and I moved.

"Sunny, no!"

Bang!

Another man approached near the body, a friend of the dead one maybe... but he was soon gunned down, as I leaned against the corner of the hallway’s end, hearing the footsteps that were quickly moving in my direction.

One.

Two.

Three.

Diving straight to the side—

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

I fired four shots at random, giving me the necessary time to map out the enemies.

"Arrgghh!"

"Take him back!"

"We have found X—"

Bang!

There were six of them, with two having been injured by my earlier shots.

Now... it was three down, plus the two that were dead at the beginning.

So five in total.

I had specifically made the hallways in a way that there was no space for hiding in between, and which was why the agents were caught in a dilemma on how to move around—

Bang!

Bang!

Killing the two that I had injured earlier, I dashed through the hallway, heading straight for the agents that, despite their extensive experience in combat... appeared like rookies before me.

Bang!

Well... they weren’t that stupid, I guess.

One of the agents opened fire on me, before the other one, with the assault rifle, opened his own fire, but—

Swoosh!

I was already upon them.

Closing the last of the remaining distance within a blink of an eye, I threw my body in their direction, before grabbing an agent by his waist and using him as a shield to break the formation of the rest.

The shots weren’t fired anymore—

Fools... the lot of them.

Twisting my body, I kicked the agent in my grip, as his body flew towards his comrades—

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Thud!

A combined thud marked the end of my short combat, as three bodies dropped to the ground—

"Cough... Cough..."

The boy slightly massaged his head, with the dark black hairs falling over his eyes.

"Was it a dream?"

Raising his head, Kael blinked his eyes—