The Author's POV

"Here for me?" Joseph questioned. "What do you want from me?"

"…"

—Clank!

Without answering, Ren, who was disguised as Mark, closed the door behind him.

"What are you doing?"

Finally noticing that something was amiss, Joseph took a step back. With his hands behind his back, Joseph tried to take out his communication device. Flipping the communication open, he warned.

"I don't know what's going on, but I suggest you get out right now."

"…"

Joseph's action did not go unnoticed by Ren, whose legs muscles tensed.

—Bam!

Releasing the tension, he quickly appeared before Joseph, startling him.

"Hiiik!"

With a black box in his hands, Joseph tried to dial a number, but before he could get to it, Ren had already appeared before him.

"Huek—W-what are you doing?!"

Grabbing onto Joseph's forearm, Ren clenched his hand. Joseph instantly lost all strength in his hand and the small box fell to the ground. His face paled dramatically.

"I don't know why you're doing this, but I'm warning you to sto—Huek!."

"Shut up."

—Thud!

Ren increased his grip.

Instantly, Joseph fell one knee to the ground. Glaring at Ren, Joseph raised his voice and threatened.

"What do you want from me!? You know if anything happens to me, death would be the easy way out!"

"What I want from you...?" Looking around the room, Ren lowered his head and coldly looked at Joseph. "I want two things."

"What two t—W-wait...this voice?"

Joseph abruptly stopped talking. Lifting his head up, his mouth stammered.

"T-this voice…is that you 876?"

Having spent over two months with 876, how could Joseph not recognize his voice. The color of Joseph's face bleached completely. His eyes trembled uncontrollably.

"I-t can't be? No, I must be imagining things."

"..."

Without saying anything, Ren coldly placed his hand on Joseph's throat.

"Huek!"

Placing his other hand on his face, a blue glow enveloped the room. The moment the glow dimmed down, Joseph's eyes opened widely. The monstrous scar-riddled face, Joseph would never forget such a face. It was 876.

"876!"

Like a goldfish, Joseph's mouth opened and closed repeatedly.

"Eight..eight months…how is this possible? You were faking it for so long?"

Ren silently nodded.

"H-how? It shouldn't be possible" Joseph muttered out loud. No longer caring about the hand that was gripping his throat.

"I'm sure that the serum works how cou—khu"

"Shut up." Cutting Joseph off, Ren tightened the grip of Joseph's throat.

"W-hy...!?"

—Kracka!

The sound of bones breaking resounded, and Joseph crumpled to the ground, with a look of indignation and terror on his face. Before he died, he managed to mutter one last word.

"H-how?"

"..."

Silently staring at Joseph's lifeless body on the ground, Ren bent down.

Bending down, Ren rummaged through his pockets. From his dimensional space to the black box on the ground, Ren took everything. Most importantly, he also took a small black card that hung on Joseph's neck.

It was a free-access pass that allowed access to most of the facilities available on the floor they were in.

Ren's current goal was to disable all of the security cameras and communication devices. He had already planned this beforehand. By disrupting the cameras and communications, he would be able to buy himself enough time to escape.

On another note, that was also the place that Ren could use to disable the tracking device installed in his head. Albeit temporarily.

After taking everything that was on Joseph's body, Ren placed the mask on Josephs's face. A blue glow enveloped the room, and Ren's mana depleted rapidly.

—Gulp!

Chugging a potion down, Ren placed the mask on his face. The moment the mask touched Ren's face, his face distorted continuously. Before long, his facial structure changed and wrinkles appeared on his face. He looked exactly like Joseph.

Taking Joseph's clothes off, Ren replaced his clothes with his.

Once he was done changing, Ren exited the room. On his way out of the room, Ren didn't forget to lock the room.

—Click!

*

Having spent eight months in the facility, Ren more or less knew the ins and outs of the facility he was in. He knew where the lab, canteen, and surveillance room were.

Turning right of a corridor, Ren, who was now disguised as Joseph, met a guard.

The guard nodded his head and greeted Ren.

"Morning professor."

"mhm"

Walking past the guard, Ren nodded back and turned left. Stopping right before a thick metallic door, REn looked towards the side of the door where the words [Surveillance room] were engraved.

—Ding!

Taking out the card that he took from Joseph, Ren swiped it on a small rectangular box on the right. Within seconds a green light flashed and the doors to the surveillance room opened.

Before opening the door, Ren tensed every muscle of his body. He was preparing himself for anything.

—Clank!

The moment the doors opened, Ren saw a large monitor at the very end of the room. On it were over a hundred rectangles displaying different areas of the facility. Below them were three individuals staring intently at the screens.

Besides them were two guards.

"Who are you?"

Taking a step forward, Ren hoarsely said. "It's me."

Squinting his eyes, the guard was instantly able to recognize Joseph.

"Ah, it's professor Joseph."

Putting on a friendly smile and relaxing, he asked.

"What brings your here professor?"

"...I'm just here to check the surveillance cameras."

"Check the surveillance cameras? How come?"

"I can't seem to find some of my files. I have a feeling that someone stole it."

"Stole it?"

A surprised look appeared on the guard's face.

Ren nodded his head.

"Mhm. That's why I would like to check something...Or at least, I want to make sure no one stole anything."

"No problem."

The guard nodded his head and looked towards the other guard.

Giving a silent nod, the other guard walked up to Ren.

"Before that, professor, as per procedures, we need to do a retina and fingerprint check."

"...Check?"

"haha, yeah. It's always been like this. We just need to record whoever comes into the room."

Taking out a small rectangular silver box, the guard walked up to Ren. With a friendly smile, the guard turned on the machine.

"...By the way professor. Are you sick or something? Your voice sounds a littl—Huek!"

—Kracka!

In a lightning-fast manner, Ren's placed both of his hands on the guard's head and twisted. Slumping on the ground, the guard died instantly.

"Hiiik!"

"Ahhhhh!"

Terrified screams rang throughout the room. Ignoring the screams and taking advantage of the chaos, Ren quickly turned his attention towards the other guard.

"You!"

The guard was unable to react in time, and as he fumbled to draw his weapon, Ren had already appeared before him.

Extending his elbow, Ren aimed for his head. Unfortunately, raising his arm, the guard moved right and blocked the attack.

Ren's surprise attack had failed, but Ren remained cool-headed. With the chip in his head running at full throttle, Ren was able to envision and calculate the most probably counterattack measure that the guard would use to fight back.

'A right kick towards the head'

Reading the guard's body language, Ren bent down. A swooshing sound passed by his head. Taking a step forward, Ren extended his hand. In a lightning-fast manner, his hand hit the guard right in the throat.

"Kuak!"

The moment Ren's hand hit the guard's throat, a hoarse sound escaped from the guard's mouth as he fell on the ground. With both hands on his throat, the guard opened his eyes widely.

"Y-ou're not the profess—Huek!"

"No shit."

—Kracka!

Placing both hands on the guard's head, Ren twisted his neck.

Two down.

Turning his attention towards the three remaining individuals, Ren did not waste a single second. Tensing his legs, before they knew it, Ren had already appeared before them.

"Don't get near me!"

"Hiik!"

Taking out a dagger from his dimensional space, Ren slit the throat of two of the three individuals, leaving behind the last one, who was leaning back in absolute terror.

"Stay away!"

With his hand underneath the table, the last individual tried to press the emergency button. This did not go unnoticed by Ren, who quickly shot his way.

Unfortunately, Ren couldn't make it in time.

—WHIIIIIII! —WHIIIIIII!

Before Ren could get to him, the last individual pressed on a button that was underneath the table. Instantly the whole facility turned red as the sirens rang throughout the whole facility.

—Spurt!

Unfazed, Ren quickly killed the last individual. Taking out the mask of Dolos, he placed it on top of one of the guards he had killed. A blue glow enveloped the room. After the glow died down, changing his clothes to that of the guard, he moved towards the monitors and sat down.

Ta.Ta.Ta.

A long string of text appeared before Ren's eyes as the repetitive sound of a key being pressed rang out of the room. Every second that passed, one of the camera views displayed on the large monitor turned black.

Ta.Ta.Ta.

In a minute, more than half of the cameras were shut off. Had it been before, Ren would've never been able to shut down that many cameras at this speed.

However, the current Ren was different.

With the chip on his head quickly processing most of the data for Ren, he quickly navigated through the system and shut down all communications lines, and cameras. He also managed to temporarily disrupt the connection of the tracking device installed in his head.

Ta!

Pressing one final key, the large monitor before Ren turned completely black. At the exact moment he pressed that key, two guards entered the surveillance room. Both of them had a weapon in their hands.

"Stop right there!"

Unfortunately for them, Ren was quick to react. Disappearing from his spot, he arrived before one of the guards. Ducking down and avoiding the attack of one of the guards, Ren moved behind the two guards. Twisting the dagger in his hand, he swung and aimed at one of the guards' heads. Simultaneously, using his free hand, he hooked his arm around the neck of the other guard.

—Spurt!

Blood spilled.

"Huek!"

Letting go of the dagger, Ren tightened his choke and within seconds the other guard's eyes turned white. His breathing stopped.

—Thud!

"Haaa..haaa..."

Breathing heavily, Ren's eyes paused on a small silver object resting on one of the guard's belt. It was a radio transmitter. Bending down, Ren took it and turned it on.

"Reporting."

After a couple of seconds, a voice replied back.

[...What's the situation?]

Moving out of the room, and putting on the mask, Ren spoke.

"Reporting. Target seems to have already left the surveillance room. Surveillance has been breached. Multiple fatalities."

[Have you managed to get a glimpse of how the target looks.]

"Affirmative. Said target seems to be very adept in combat and has a face riddled with scars."

[Scars? How do you know?]

"Affirmative. My colleague and I were able to spot him. We're currently chasing him."

[...I understand, I will quickly replay the situation to the other guards. They will soon come to your aid. Be on alert.]

"Understood."

—Crunch!

Turning off the radio transmitter, Ren tightened the grip of his hand and directly crushed the device.

Tap—! Tap—! Tap—!

Running around the corridor, Ren soon heard the sound of rushed footsteps headed towards his way.

Looking around and spotting a small room, using Joseph's card, Ren unlocked the room and quickly got into the room. The moment he entered the room, the guards quickly appeared on the corridor he was in.

"Over here!"

"According to reports, we're close."

Leaning back on the door of the room, Ren could hear the muffled voices of the guards. Within seconds, the guards quickly passed the area he was in.

—Click!

Carefully opening the door and taking out a small spherical object from his dimensional space, Ren bent down slightly and lightly rolled it towards the group of guards in the distance. The device in his hand was a small bomb that he had gotten from the dimensional space of one of the guards.

The moment he threw the spherical object, instead of moving backward, Ren moved forward. Almost as though he wanted to be blown up alongside the guards.

"Hey!"

He shouted.

The moment Ren shouted, all of the guards stopped moving and turned around.

"Hm?"

"Who are you?"

—BOOOOOM!

Before they knew it, an explosion rang.