This saved Lexon a lot of trouble.
Since he had been forced into the role of captain... if teammates had actually arrived, he would have inevitably had to interact with them...
Not having any now certainly spared him the hassle.
Just as Lexon was about to enter the Main God Space and wait for Crane Lady to pull him into One Punch Man, she suddenly called.
It seemed quite urgent.
After all, he usually only exchanged messages with her; she wouldn't call unless it was an emergency.
Lexon answered the phone.
"My Lord, My Lord!"
Crane Lady's voice came through the line, sounding incredibly anxious.
"Speak."
"My Lord... high-ranking members of the Blood Rain Alliance have also obtained special permissions for this world! My position as the lead for this mission has been revoked! Furthermore, because the information you gave me earlier leaked out... Reincarnators from other factions have also designated this world! They will move to secure the things mentioned in that intel!"
Crane Lady was clearly frantic, her voice booming with urgency.
In reality, this was to be expected.
The information Lexon had passed to Crane Lady regarding some of the monsters in the One Punch Man world... though it might have been trivial to Lexon himself...
But...
For Reincarnators, this was specialized information that could help shape the strength of those in the third or fourth stages.
In a Main God Space where Reincarnators were completely in the dark regarding script worlds, information was undoubtedly one of the most vital resources.
Lexon showed no reaction to her words. With a completely level tone, he spoke into the phone he had held slightly away from his ear. "So, can you still designate me as a teammate?"
As if stunned by her master's nonchalant reaction, Crane Lady's frantic tone suddenly stuttered.
"Y-yes... I can..."
She responded haltingly.
She had only been stripped of her overall leadership position; she was still in charge of her own subgroup.
"That's enough then."
With that, Lexon hung up the phone.
He didn't care much about the arrival of high-ranking Blood Rain Alliance members or Reincarnators from other factions.
The information he had provided only concerned a few monsters capable of destroying cities, with combat power roughly at the level of a Super Kage.
The Reincarnators coming in would likely hit a ceiling at the Six Paths level.
He could still handle such Reincarnators with ease.
Not to mention, Lexon intended to seek out that bald man who was invincible in the One Punch world.
There was no need to overthink it; he would treat them as mere entertainment.
Following that, Lexon entered the Main God Space.
The moment he stepped inside, the cold, mechanical voice of the Main God delivered a notification.
[SYSTEM: JEJU TEAM TWO HAS BEEN SELECTED VIA SPECIAL PERMISSION AS THE REINCARNATOR TEAM FOR THE ONE PUNCH MAN WORLD. REINCARNATORS OF JEJU TEAM TWO, PLEASE PREPARE. SCRIPT WORLD TRANSPORTATION WILL COMMENCE IN FIVE MINUTES.]
The Main God only provided five minutes for preparation.
All of Lexon's belongings were already stored in his spatial ring, so there was nothing left to prepare.
"Teleport."
Lexon addressed the Main God directly.
The instant the word left his lips, Lexon's figure suddenly flashed with white light and vanished from the Main God Space.
...
Upon an open plain, numerous figures of varying statures and attire suddenly manifested.
Their numbers were unusually high, exceeding two hundred people.
Every single person present, without exception, was a Reincarnator.
They were all Reincarnators recruited by the Blood Rain Alliance.
It was clear that the Blood Rain Alliance had gone all out for the treasures of this world.
[SYSTEM: MAIN MISSION ISSUED]
[SYSTEM: MAIN MISSION: OBTAIN AN A-RANK HERO TITLE IN THE HERO ASSOCIATION.]
[SYSTEM: REWARD: 50,000 REINCARNATION POINTS.]
[SYSTEM: COMPLETION OF THE MAIN MISSION ALLOWS FOR RETURN.]
[SYSTEM: (TIME LIMIT: ONE YEAR)]
[SYSTEM: SIDE MISSION: ELIMINATE MONSTERS (REINCARNATION POINTS WILL BE AWARDED BASED ON THE MONSTER'S GRADE)]
The Main God's mission announcements echoed in everyone's minds.
Before anyone could process the mission details, Crane Lady stepped to the front and spoke loudly.
"A total of twelve second-stage Reincarnator teams are participating in this operation! Our objective... is to fulfill the alliance's goals on top of completing the main mission! We must successfully complete the side mission for the Giant Injection and claim the rewards! Do you understand?"
"Understood!" the assembled Reincarnators shouted in unison.
"Then disperse for now! Gather information about this world first, and then use the alliance communicators to coordinate our meeting!"
Crane Lady continued her commands.
Among these low-level Reincarnators, she clearly still commanded some respect...
Moreover, these Reincarnators weren't novices at such missions; they knew exactly what was expected of them. Crane Lady's orders were swiftly carried out as they scattered in all directions.
As the low-level Reincarnators faded away, only three people remained on the plain.
Crane Lady, Lexon, and a handsome young man with messy red hair.
"Why haven't you left yet?" the handsome red-haired youth asked, his gaze cold as he looked at Lexon.
"My Lord... he is my teammate. We plan to move together," Crane Lady quickly explained, looking at the red-haired man.
"I wasn't talking to you." The red-haired youth shot a cold glance at Crane Lady. He turned his palm upward, and a cluster of dark-red flames that distorted the air manifested, radiating an intimidating and terrifying aura.
At the sight of those flames, Crane Lady's expression changed instantly.
Panic, fear... a mixture of emotions was written plainly across her face.
Unknowingly, sweat beaded on her forehead, and she stumbled back a few steps.
'This must be one of the high-ranking members of the Blood Rain Alliance...'
'Is he really this terrifying?'
Lexon thought to himself as he watched his disposable subordinate's reaction.
"Why haven't you left?" the red-haired youth asked again, fixing his gaze on Lexon.
His tone grew heavier, and paired with the oppressive dark-red flames in his hand, it exerted an inexplicable pressure.
Yet Lexon remained where he stood, watching the red-haired youth without any reaction.
"My Lord! Please leave quickly! I'll hold him back!" Crane Lady, who had been trembling in fear, seemed to find her resolve. Overcoming her terror, she stepped firmly between Lexon and the red-haired youth.
'Well, this is unexpected...'
Lexon felt no sense of moving gratitude toward the heroic actions of his disposable subordinate.
He understood perfectly well that this was merely the result of Kotoamatsukami's influence.
Before Crane Lady knew the extent of his power, she had tried to use him as a human shield; when that failed, she had spent her time cursing him to die...
Lexon naturally felt no emotional stirrings for actions that weren't born of her own will.
"As expected, there's a problem..." the red-haired youth muttered, a predictable smile forming on his face at Crane Lady's behavior.
"Ever since Ilin and his group met their 'accidental' ends in the Reincarnator Bureau residential area... and you, you bitch, produced information from an unknown source to escape your status as a scapegoat, the higher-ups have been suspicious..."
The red-haired youth spoke, his lips curling into a mocking sneer.
"That's why we decided to let you keep your leadership role, just so you could lead us to the person behind you... and sure enough, a Reincarnator team with no prior contact with the alliance suddenly entered through the permissions... How troublesome..."
His cold gaze flickered between Lexon and Crane Lady.
"I don't believe you'd be foolish enough to expose yourselves so easily... so you must have a trump card up your sleeve. But regardless of what it is... we have come fully prepared! Whatever your goal is, you will not succeed."
"Speak. Who do you work for?"
As his final words landed, the dark-red flames in the red-haired youth's hand suddenly flared intensely.
The surrounding air seemed to ignite, creating an unbearable environment; an ordinary person standing there would feel as if they had been dropped into a furnace, suffering agonizing pain!
'A trump card...'
'Who do I work for...'
Uh... he hadn't really thought about any of that.
Lexon couldn't offer a single word in response.
"Heh... don't want to answer?" Seeing Lexon's silence, veins bulged on the red-haired youth's face. "Regardless of what you say, the end result will be your death!"
"Why?" Lexon asked for the first time, sounding curious.
"Because my name is I-Sou, and the Ilin your side killed... was my brother!" the red-haired youth, I-Sou, growled through gritted teeth. His hair flared wildly as if he were possessed, his handsome face turning hideously distorted. The dark-red flames in his palm erupted into a pillar of fire that shot toward the sky.
"My Lord, run! He's a peak third-stage Reincarnator of the alliance! He's the Flame Demon!!" Crane Lady screamed at Lexon in a panic.
As she yelled, a pink aura emanated from her body, attempting to offer some resistance against their opponent.
But it was like an ant facing an elephant; in an instant, her pink aura was incinerated to nothingness.
"Neither of you is leaving! You're both going to! Die! Right! Here! Hahahaha!!!" I-Sou's frenzied words crashed down along with his laughter.
"Uh..."
In the next instant, his laughter cut off abruptly, and the momentum of the flames dissipated into nothing.
Drip, drop...
The sound of liquid dripping one drop at a time echoed in the silence.
Then...
I-Sou's voice rang out, filled with absolute terror. "You...!! You!! You!"
"How are you still alive?" Lexon asked as he held I-Sou's bodiless head, their eyes meeting.
"I... I... I..." I-Sou's gaze darted back and forth between his own headless corpse slumped on the ground and the indifferent face of the man before him.
"M-My Lord..." Crane Lady's terrified voice drifted over.
"Such tenacious vitality..." Lexon observed the fear still visible on I-Sou's face. A gentle smile touched his lips as he offered a soft compliment.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" I-Sou suddenly shrieked, his voice incredibly shrill. "Just you wait! Our alliance didn't just send me! There are people stronger than me here! They're all around! They'll be here soon and focus their fire to kill you!! They'll kill you!!"
"Oh... do you mean these guys?" Lexon said, raising his other hand.
I-Sou looked over and saw that the other arm was also carrying several heads.
Looking closer...
He realized with horror that they were all the other high-ranking members of the Blood Rain Alliance who had come to this script world with him!
Ice Demon, Snow Queen, Wizard...
Not a single one missing.
Their faces were frozen in deathly stillness.
Clearly, they were as dead as could be.
"Take a look. Did I miss anyone?" Lexon's smile remained gentle, his voice still soft and kind.
But in I-Sou's eyes and ears, this was the posture of something else entirely.
"Demon! Demon! You're a demon!!!" I-Sou's pupils dilated as he screamed in agony.
"Why the name-calling...?" Lexon murmured with a sigh, applying a bit of pressure with his hand.
Splat.
I-Sou's head burst open.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]