Child of Destiny

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Real World.

Eastern Sea Region.

Ace City.

Nathan was currently sitting across a middle-aged man, who was wearing a military uniform. On his shoulders, four-star badges were currently attached, signifying his military ranking.

No one was talking for a few moments until the middle-aged man could no longer endure the silence and was the first to open his mouth. "I must admit that we are wrong to refuse your proposition, so let me apologize for that."

Nathan remained silent and let the middle-aged man continue. And when the latter saw that, he could not help but feel displeased. But he could not do anything about it since they were the ones, who were asking for assistance.

"We are thankful for your achievement as well as the Flying Dragon Corporation on capturing the people of the Hextech Laboratory, who are causing the incident of missing people these past few weeks."

"We also understand that you have to right to take the leading perpetrators captive since you are the ones who captured him. But you must transfer the authority of interrogating the leading figure since the case is originally ours."

Nathan scoffed at those words and calmly replied. "General Herald, you should be aware that what you are saying right now is such a bunch of nonsense. Your position is high, so you must be aware of the rules."

He paused for a moment and crossed his legs while resting his hands on top of his knees before continuing. "In these kinds of cases, we stick on the old rule – finders keepers."

The middle-aged man, who was addressed as General Herald, clenched his fists tightly, trying to hold himself back. He gritted his teeth as he glared at Nathan before saying in a hoarse voice. "Commander Nathan, you should know that we are only asking you this because we respect you and your family."

Nathan flashed a mocking smile as he commented. "More like afraid of us, you say."

The corner of the mouth of the general sitting across him twitched when he heard those words and wore an ugly expression on his face. He wanted to refute it but could not find the right words for it since what Nathan had said was also true.

"D force our hands, Commander Nathan. If you continue to insist on acting this way, then don't blame us for the consequences. We may be wary of your forces, but we are not that weak either."

"If you continued to be hard-headed and don't hand over the captive leader, then blood might be spilled," said the general with cold eyes.

He was not asking politely anymore as he knew that Nathan would continue to refuse. If they could not talk it out peacefully, then it was better to use force.

The smile that Nathan had when he heard those words was quite warm but the tone that he had when he opened his mouth once again was cold. "Can I take that as a threat?"

General Herald smirked before continuing. "We are not the only camp that hates you. There are others as well."

The smile that Nathan had continued to grow larger as he said. "Now, it is a declaration of war."

Right after he said those words, the temperature within the surrounding suddenly turned cold as an intense killing intent suddenly filled the room.

General Herald raised his brows for a moment before snorting. He might not be on the ranking list of global experts, unlike Nathan, but he was still an expert with a similar level of martial attainment.

He released a similarly powerful pressure from his body, fighting the one that Nathan was releasing.

There was a brief deadlock, but it was immediately broken down when Nathan retracted his killing intent and replaced it with a pressure that was coming from his martial attainment.

This time, the temperature within the room did not drop. Instead, it rose drastically, seemingly turning the whole place into a furnace.

When the general realized the change, he quickly increased the pressure, planning to fight back once again. But no matter how much effort he poured into it, it seemed like his pressure was crumbling steadily – it was being melted down by the heat within the room.

Not long after, General Herald was sweating bullets, making his back become drenched with sweat. He was also having a hard time breathing as his throat started to get drier with each passing second.

This continued for a few more minutes before Nathan retracted the pressure. He then watched the general catch his breath before continuing. "We don't care what you think or what you are planning, but make sure that you will be ready to face the consequence if you want to see why we are called the true dragons of the Soaring Continent."

"We will remind everyone of the might of the Springfield Family if they have already forgotten about it," he added as he stood up.

He walked toward the window while saying. "Say this to those people backing you – if they want to 'interrogate' that captive, then they have to wait for their turn."

"You can leave now. I will not be seeing you out," he added as he crossed his arms while looking outside the glass window.

General Herald took some time to be able to recover himself before standing up. He glared at Nathan's back while also carrying a hint of fear in his eyes. He knew that they had become strong, but he seemed like he had gotten even stronger than they had expected.

He then turned around before walking out of the room without turning back. He had to report to the others and make their preparations.

Nathan did not bother to look at the general as he continued to watch the lights outside the glass window. He seemed to be completely unbothered by what happened earlier and not concerned himself about the threats that the general had given him.

In his mind, if they came, then they came. He would not shy about teaching them a lesson if they wanted it.

What he was concerned about was the disharmony that this would give once the conflict between the military forces within the Soaring Continent escalated. He could feel that someone was pulling the strings from the dark but could not properly pinpoint who it was.

They had to hurry and find the snake within the ranks before everything got out of hand.

While he was thinking, his advanced watch suddenly started ringing, drawing him out of his thoughts. And when he looked at the saved ID of the caller, he raised his brows slightly before closing the curtain of the glass window as he answered his call.

He also released a barrier with his Domain Power to make sure that no one would be able to eavesdrop while he was talking with the person on the other side of the line.

Swoosh!

A virtual screen suddenly appeared as Nathan answered the call, projecting Joaquin's huge figure.

"How is it?" asked Nathan immediately right after answering the call.

Joaquin was wearing a dark expression on his face as he answered. "It seems like you are right. There is another force behind the mysterious disappearance of the talented young people aside from the Hextech Laboratory."

"They skillfully disguised the incidents to make sure that the evidence will not point at them – directing the blame to the Hextech Laboratory instead. It will be tricky to find them since they hide their tracks very well."

Nathan raised his brows before asking. "What about the Butcher and Coffin Maker? How are they related."

Joaquin clicked his tongue for a moment before continuing. "It seems like they are freelancers. They are tasked with the kidnapping of certain targets that are tricky to deal with before taking them to the Hextech Laboratory people."

"I thought Coffin Maker is a part of that group?" asked Nathan with a confused look.

"That is what we thought too. But based on the dude that we captured, it seems like he already jumped to another ship a few years ago," said Joaquin before adding. "He kept his close relationship with the organization, though. And helping them from time to time."

"It seems like he is double-crossing the Hextech Laboratory then," commented Nathan after a brief thought.

Joaquin nodded. "That is true. Based on the data that we have gotten from the captured people; it seems like Butcher and Coffin Maker are capturing a few more talented individuals after meeting their quota and taking them somewhere unknown."

"Another thing, Coffin Maker seemed to have stolen quite a lot of data from the organization before disappearing. It happened a few days before their supposedly final operation took place."

Nathan raised his brows even further and looked at Joaquin with inquiring gaze. The latter nodded his head and continued. "Yeah, that is right. It seems like the dude knows that their operation will fail or something and take everything he needs before escaping."

Nathan fell into deep thought before nodding his head. "In the end, we still have to capture those two to solve this problem."

"Tsk! This is not supposedly your job, but given the seriousness of the situation, I understand your decision," said Joaquin.

Nathan was about to end the call when the latter suddenly added. "Oh! Wait! There is another thing."

Nathan halted his actions and looked at Joaquin and waited.

Joaquin, on the other hand, scratched his cheek for a moment before continuing. "It seems like the kids that the other side has sent failed their mission."

"They have lost contact with the guys they are supposedly acting as bait and infiltrating the place where the missing kids are being held. It seems like they have fallen into a trap while they are investigating."

"They have sent a couple of reinforcements to investigate the matter since they now have extra people after having the problem with the Hextech Laboratory is solved. But their losses continue to increase, so they are current in pinch."

Nathan shook his head before commenting. "This is what they get for not following my suggestion. If they accept the ones that I have introduced, then they will have a better result."

Joaquin shook his head before saying. "I've heard that they have sent the elite students, but most of them disappeared instead."

"All of them?" asked Nathan with a deep frown.

"Nah! Most of them," answered Joaquin as he continued. "There are others who managed to escape, but I heard that they are very few. All of them belonged to familiar groups, though."

"Which group?" asked Nathan once again.

"You know it too," replied Joaquin. "Wings of Dawn and Sleeping Dragons."

He paused for a moment before continuing. "There are also others from the new club that your niece has created. Aside from the ones belonging to those groups, the rest were caught and disappeared to who knows where."

"If that is the case, then they may have come in contact with the other organization that is responsible for the mysterious disappearance?" muttered Nathan as he understood what Joaquin was trying to say.

"That is what I think too," said Joaquin while continuing. "From the information that I have gathered, it seems like there is a similar incident where people are mysteriously disappearing in a city near the outskirts of the Eastern Sea Region just recently."

"The students may have followed the clues there as that is where most of them are last spotted before they disappeared."

"The ones from those three groups seem to have gone to that place too. But they somehow survive after an intense battle."

Joaquin thought for a moment as he was trying to see if he did not forget anything before continuing. "That is what I know based on the reports that I have received."

Nathan turned back to the latter before nodding his head. "Alright, I will deal with it and try to get in touch with them to gather information."

"You continue to extract information from the guy while keeping an eye on Butcher and Coffin Maker. I'll handle the rest."

Joaquin nodded. "Alright, see you around!" before ending the call.

Nathan, on the other hand, fell into deep thought before dialing another number.

...…