Chapter 139: Chapter 137
Chapter 137
The room went dead silent as every eye fixed on the new interloper.
The guards, however, were already in motion, their bodies tensing as they prepared to rain down punishnt on the boy who had dared to disrupt today’s proceedings.
Throughout the years they had been visiting the Corps, no one had ever managed to compromise their secret etings.
This was largely due to Elysa being incredibly sneaky and thodical, ensuring every track was covered and every loose end was tied to prevent their plans from being ruined.
But today, they had been compromised—not by the high authorities or the General, but by a young boy... a re Aspirant.
Van stood upright in the center of the room, his knuckles white as he gripped the tallic sphere like his life depended on it.
He scanned the periter cautiously, his mind working a mile a minute.
Elysa cast a quick, sideways glance at Bryce and could see the transformation; the man was beyond furious, his face turning a shade of red that rivaled a tomato.
"Van... what have you just gone and done?" Elysa asked, shaking her head in a display of faux disappointnt.
The expression she wore was that of a mother catching her son with sothing forbidden—a look of familiar, weary letdown.
But Van wasn’t buying into that charade anymore. Not today.
"Why did you do all of this? Why did you help him build that nuke? And why did you trick ? Do you even comprehend the consequences of everything you are doing and have already done?!" Van shouted, his voice cracking with the weight of his burning indignation.
He was livid—not just at the plan, but at the fact that despite his high IQ and sharp mind, he had been played like a fiddle.
He had been used as a tool to construct a device ant to extinguish thousands of lives.
"Hm?" Elysa humd, tilting her head with a raised brow.
"You seriously don’t understand why I’m doing all of this?"
She let out a soft, chilling chuckle as she reached into her lab coat pocket and pulled out her smartphone.
With a few quick taps and a flick of her wrist, a holographic display shimred into existence in front of Van, showing him her private financial records.
The balance displayed was clear: 18,000 credits.
"I did it for the dough."
***
Van scowled, his eyes narrowing in irritation as the dark bags beneath them seed to grow even more profound.
"You—you did all of this just for money? For God’s sake, you’re an instructor in the Corps! Don’t you get a salary?!"
Elysa shrugged nonchalantly, as if they were discussing the weather.
"I do get paid. But is it enough to satisfy ? Nope."
Van ground his teeth in fury, but before he could snap back, she continued her explanation.
"Besides, earning 5k a month isn’t nearly enough to support the lifestyle I want. So I figured, why not profit from two fronts?
I collect a paycheck from the Corps while simultaneously stealing the inventions of brilliant Aspirants to sell to Bryce here for a massive lump sum. Anyone who tries to obstruct my path gets eliminated. It’s genius, right?"
Van found himself montarily speechless.
He had witnessed many things in his life, but the idea of systematically harming others solely for financial gain was utterly alien and insane to him.
A sigh escaped the woman’s lips as she shook her head slowly.
"Unfortunately, I believed I had fooled you completely, but it turns out your instincts were sharper than I anticipated.
It’s a sha for you, though; you have no combat ability to speak of. And even if you did, there is absolutely no way you’re leaving this room alive. I an, just look around."
Van didn’t even move. His eyes just darted around the room, calculating the grim odds stacked against him.
The guard who had been knocked aside by the door was already back on his feet, shaking off the impact.
This ant that, unfortunately, he would have to face off against twelve potential ta-humans alone.
To make matters worse, no one even knew whether Bryce possessed an ability or not.
Even with Elysa, he wasn’t entirely sure if she was a ta or just a brilliant, cold-blooded scientist.
The risk was astronomical.
It was as clear as day that he could lose his life in the next few minutes.
Yet, despite the disparity in power, Van remained firm while staring the woman down.
Seeing this strange, sudden confidence, Elysa lifted an eyebrow, her gaze flickering with curiosity.
"Aren’t you scared?"
For the first ti since entering the room, Van’s facial expression shifted.
A soft, weary sigh escaped his lips, and his mouth curled up just a fraction of an inch into a sad, knowing smile.
"All my life, I have always been scared. I’ve always been a burden on those around . For as long as I can rember, I have been this weak coward who couldn’t even fight off a dog if I wanted to.
It was always just
and my tech while I got bullied on the side. I have always been terrified, and I still am right now. Just looking at all of you, I’m actually trembling inwardly, scared for my very life."
He paused, turning his gaze to Bryce, who was still fuming silently—likely annoyed that he had nearly been caught in the blast of the earlier explosion.
"... When I first manifested this ability, I thought it was totally useless for . I wondered what possible help it could be in a battle when my opponents were not only taller than I am, but infinitely more powerful.
That was when Ray told
to find a true use for my seemingly ’useless’ power. And I did."
Elysa lifted an eyebrow, her confusion growing at his words.
’An ability? When did he gain one? What is he talking about?’
Lifting the tallic ball in his hand, Van’s eyes suddenly began to glow a brilliant, electric blue.
Almost instantly, the ball crumbled into a thousand tiny pieces that began crawling up his hand at an impressive, fluid rate.
"Am I scared? Yes. Yes, I’m terrified. I could probably collapse at any mont," Van admitted, even as the shards of tal began to weave themselves around his limb.
That was not all.
Various pieces of technical equipnt scattered throughout the room began to vibrate and slide across the floor, moving toward him at a frantic pace.
The sight took everyone off guard, including Elysa. Her composed facade shattered in an instant, her eyes lighting up with a sudden hint of genuine fear.
"Will I die?" Van continued, his eyes glowing blue with even more intensity.
Soon enough, the tal that had started as a small ball—combined with the spare parts flying from the tables—covered his entire right arm, forming a heavy, intricate gauntlet of so kind.
Lifting the reinforced limb, the internal components began to hum with power, glowing with that sa eerie blue light.
"Yes. I might die. But I’m not going to hell without taking one of you with ."
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