With guns pointed at their heads, they were stiff.
All three of them were silent, their voices getting caught by the enemy's hostility toward them. However, because of their silence, the general sharpened his gaze as he cleared his voice.
He took a handgun from his side and raised it to the trio before pulling the trigger.
A loud bang rang through the room. Tatiana and Isaac didn't flinch at the shot, although the general took a shot; he had moved it to his shoulder at the last second to convey a warning.
"Speak your identities!"
As the smell of gunpowder entered their nostrils, they knew they needed to speak.
"Internal general, what are you talking about?!"
"You think I'd believe you after I saw you two not even flinch after that shot? The two men I knew never had that resolve."
"Tsk…"
A click came out of Leo's tongue, and along with it, though, was a slight chuckle he couldn't stop from keeping to himself.
"Told you we'd get caught, not that I wanted it, of course."
"So what now? We went here. Now what?"
"Just wait…"
Although they spoke to each other, the slight illusion made by Leo covered their conversation. From the guards' perspective, they were only in place; their expressions tensed as they struggled to speak a single word.
The general's patience was shattered as over two minutes passed, but there was still no response from the other party.
Witnessing their stubbornness, he sighed to himself before raising his hand upward.
The armored guards each readied their firearms, their fingers just hovering over the trigger.
"AGHHHH!!"
A distant guard from the far right screamed in agony, catching all their attention. The soldier slumped to the floor, his body shaking as foam came out of his mask.
"Now!"
By his word, Tatiana held on to Isaac's shoulder, disappearing from their position and transferring to the soldiers' backs.
Now in a safe position, Tatiana acted fast and opened the door just in front of them. Isaac, pulling out one hand, took his short blade from his waist and threw it at the ceiling.
The light above them flickered, transitioning from darkness to light every second. With everything in place, the trio exited the place and shut the door behind them. And for just extra security, Leo welded the door shut with his fire.
Red hues lit up the entire base, alerting every single person within it.
"Run!"
Fortunately, the base was in chaos. Everyone was running around, yelling and shouting, along with the dull sirens. Because of their disguise, no one suspected them of anything.
"Where do we go!?"
Isaac yelled, frowning at the surrounding scene.
"Where? Anywhere, everywhere. Now that everyone's running around, we're free to explore without worry."
"Yeah? Then what about those in the room?"
Tatiana remarked, biting the inside of her lip.
"Don't worry about that; I've got it covered."
"…?"
"… But I'll explain that later. Can we rest? I'm getting tired from using my ability too much."
Cold sweat dripped from Leo's neck; his body was even more slumped and restless than before. It was quite evident on his face that he couldn't even form a proper expression because of how weary he was.
***
Under the flickering lights within the spacious room, many of the soldiers faced the door, banging it repeatedly as a way to emit noise to the outside. Currently, they were trapped in the room with no way out; the internal general was still in the same spot as when the trio had exited.
His expression wasn't panicked like the rest of his soldiers, but a slight, solemn look.
To his right was the corpse of the soldier who had screamed earlier. He had died, and there still wasn't an explanation for how and when he was struck. Beside the corpse were two soldiers inspecting the man, his entire body for any injuries.
One soldier then stood up and hurried toward the general.
"Did you find what caused his death?"
"Yes, sir! But we weren't able to deduce how he died! Although he didn't know how it happened, the soldier was poisoned with a lethal dose."
The general sighed. "Go inspect his body for any more signs. If there's still none, join the rest of the group and search for the impostors once we get out."
The soldier saluted the general, then continued on his inspection.
With the soldier's presence gone, he turned and walked to the other soldiers, focused on exiting the room.
"How's the situation?"
Hearing his commanding voice, all the soldiers occupying the door twisted their necks and fixed their posture toward him.
"We still can't contact anyone from the outside, sir! Although we had barely managed to alarm the outside, after that we could no longer—"
"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Just like the first time they heard the scream, all their gazes turned to the person behind the general.
Near the corpse of the first fallen soldier, another soldier shrieked in pure agony. Color drained from his face, and he was getting paler by the second. Seeing the sight, the other soldier near him tried to inspect what was happening to him.
Unbeknownst to him, just a few seconds after nearing the soldier, he began screaming as well. The soldier ran across the room while clawing his scalp; red, tiny veins appeared on his eyes, and crimson liquid seeped its way out of his sockets.
The sight was undeniably horrid, and the soldiers couldn't help but shiver.
Then another of the soldiers joined the two.
Every flicker, new victims would fall into screams, and whenever they did, they would either collapse in pain or run around in circles.
"What…?"
Words fell from his lips as the general witnessed his underlings succumb to pain.
Hiss…
A hiss rang through the general's ear; his eyes shot upward as he twisted his head in every direction. For a slight moment, he thought there was a snake inside the room with them, but even after searching thoroughly, there was nothing.
Near the corpse of a soldier, black scales shimmered under the flickering lights and disappeared whenever it got dark.
Shivering slightly, the general frowned at the situation at hand, then turned to the corpse that the snake was hovering over.
Eyes were directed at each other, yet the general looked away hurriedly. The general couldn't see the snake.
Hisss…
Slithering its body, the snake drew closer to the wary man and climbed onto his legs, dragging its body until it reached the man's neck.
Two sharp fangs, at least two inches long, appeared when the snake opened its mouth. The snake then lunged its mouth towards the man's neck, hissing as it did.
However, just in time, the general had grabbed the snake by its neck and pinned it to the ground, hissing violently in pain.
Somewhere within the base, Leo, whom Isaac was still carrying, felt a tight pain in his throat, blocking his airway entirely. Worried about the snake, he changed his perspective to what the snake saw.
"A snake… You must belong to those impostors…"
The emerald-green eyes of the snake slowly faded to their original color: dark and obsidian-like.
"To think those two had the boldness to kill my soldiers in such a petty way!" The general muttered.
'…!' Leo's expression darkened by his statement. He clenched his jaw tightly while sharpening his gaze.
The general held the snake in submission, but for some unknown reason, he felt a great sense of uneasiness wash over him. Taking the unsheathed blade from his waist, he lunged it at the snake with significant force.
But he was already a second too late; the snake was already ready to bite his hand.
In that very instant, an immense pain overshadowed his uneasiness, causing him to let go of the venomous reptile. Additionally, unbearable pain made his other hand release the short blade and instinctively caress his bitten hand.
Sweat dripped from his face, his face struggling to remain calm.
The obsidian snake, seeing his weakened state, made the call to retreat through the ventilation system. Then the snake halted and glanced at the man one last time, the general's eyes glaring deeply into the reptilian, before it finally escaped.
***
Icy wind grazed his injuries while he stared glared at Theodor.
"Bastard…"
Hurriedly, he placed his hand underneath his uniform and took out a handie-talkie. On the side was a button that he gladly pressed.
"External general talking, three unidentified people are trespassing on the base's proximity. I am currently holding onto one attacker. Deploy reinforcements immediately!"
"…"
Only pure static sounded through the handie-talkie, with no response coming through.
"I repeat! An unidentified party is trespassing on the base's proximity. Send conformance immediately!"
"Cap—Tain Zeal… Bzt."
The handy-talkie only emitted those few words before it returned to the plain static he originally heard. He could no longer communicate with any of his soldiers. It seems like someone had cut off contact with him and the rest, although he doesn't know how.
Now stranded within the cold forest, he could only rely on himself from now on.
Raising his gaze, he saw the tip of the spear nearing his pupil. Theodor closed in on him when he was distracted.
Instinctively, he stepped to the side, just barely avoiding the spear by a hair's breadth. He wanted to counterattack, but he knew better than to take risks, so instead, he backed away a generous distance and stared at the semi-pure. Taking a deep breath, he contemplated the current situation.
'Communication had stopped. Considering the situation, it doesn't matter whether I win; I need to go back to base and check that everything remains organized.'
Readying himself to retreat, Theodor lunged before he could even leave. Gritting his teeth, Zeal parried the blade and prepared to attack Theodor. With his spear recoiling to the side, Zeal didn't think twice and used the opportunity to escape. With all his might, he sprinted north to lose the adversary in front of him.
Trees rustled in their presence with their chase creating massive winds that shook the snow off multiple leaves.
Sometimes they would clash blades whenever Theodor got close to injuring Zeal, leaving him no choice but to block.
Yet, no matter how far or turns Zeal took, Theodor would always be right behind his tail, following persistently on his tracks.
The chase continued until Theodor had struck the side of Zeal's waist. Limiting part of his movements, allowing the short chase to end. Backed into a corner, there was only one thing left for him to do. Fight until he wins.
In that very instant, Theodor seemed to have become a flash, disappearing as if he were never there to begin with.
Anxiousness enveloped his very being as he scanned everywhere for the young semi-pure. Quickly, Zeal turned his body to his side, with his blade to defend himself.
A metallic cry rang throughout the area, with Zeal just having barely blocked Theodor's slash.
Even though he had blocked the strike from Theodor, the force from it was enough to worsen his wound, making him gush out blood through his mask, tainting the black cloth with a hellish color.
With an opportunity opened for him, Theodor gladly took it and retracted his spear before thrusting it to the side.
Zeal hurriedly placed his blade near the wound, predicting his attack before it even landed. It was only later, when he found out that he wasn't planning on striking the wound, but his shoulder instead.
***
"How exactly does Theodor's ability work?" Isaac said, trying to break the awkward silence.
Leo, who was resting with his back against the wall, didn't respond and only had a grim expression on his face. This had been the first time Isaac saw him in such a bad mood; even when the situation turned tight or when he gushed out a handful of blood, he would only shudder slightly.
"Two conditions must be met before Theodor's ability can be activated." A voice sounded to his other side, to where Tatiana was sitting.
"I only really heard that it was a conditional ability, never really knew what it was in detail. I never really had the time to ask because we were working a lot during our travel here."
Tatiana only nodded, then continued.
"First condition: He must know the opponent's abilities and how it functions."
"…!"
A quiet surprise made Isaac's eyes shake slightly. However, he only nodded and listened to the second condition.
"The second condition: He must know how the opponents fight, how they use their skills and their abilities. When he fulfills both conditions, he'll gain real-time access to the enemy's weaknesses."
Unable to keep his curiosity, he opened his mouth and said: "I have a question…"
"What?"
"What happens if the opponent doesn't have an ability?"