"All units move west! The target is suspected to be in room 26!!" Armed men in black military outfits charged through the corridors.
Their footsteps echoed through the hallway. Their target today was the head of the largest criminal syndicate in the world.
This organization had been responsible for wars in many nations. They had military capabilities on par with some of the strongest countries in the world.
Currently, the entire world had launched a joint war to eliminate the syndicate called D.X. completely.
Most of the members of D.X. were scattered across the world, giving the nations a perfect chance to eliminate their leader, X.
His origins were a mystery.
His name surfaced around five years ago, and the next thing anyone knew was the emergence of D.X. under his rule.
With brilliant strategies and a very high level of intellect, no country could stop him.
With his capabilities, D.X. amassed significant wealth and military assets over the years. The organization was involved in every crime that was carried out throughout the world.
Over time, realizing the threat that he posed to the world, governments across the world decided to start a special operation to completely eradicate this syndicate from the world.
After many battles were fought, the hidden base of X was discovered by the special forces.
An anonymous tip said that X was currently in the building, so to eliminate him, the special forces stormed through the building, killing anyone that got in the way.
"Alpha, this is Eagle! Suspected 10 guards at point 32. Engaging in combat. Seal the escape routes, over!"
The leader of the Eagle squad relayed the request and charged with his teammates. The guards, seeing the intruders charging towards the VIP room, opened fire.
Bullets flew across the hallways. Although the special forces were heavily trained, they couldn't easily overpower the guards.
Each member that was selected to work for D.X. was heavily trained in combat. They were no less powerful than trained soldiers.
The special forces were suffering more casualties.
Just as the team leader thought of calling for more backup, more footsteps could be heard approaching their direction. The situation became so dire that the leader thought it was wise to order a retreat and wait for reinforcements. But suddenly, smoke started to spread in the hallways.
Seeing this, the squad commander became alert.
"Stay close to each other, do not open fire!"
Within a minute, the smoke began to disappear, but along with the smoke, all of the guards had disappeared too.
This surprised the soldiers.
Similar things were happening all around the building. All the guards of D.X. mysteriously disappeared from the building, leaving the special forces confused. The escape routes were blocked; still, the guards had vanished.
More reinforcements entered the building. All squad commanders began discussing the situation with the reinforcements that had arrived.
"Damn, where did the bastards go!"
"Were they scared?"
"No, it didn't look like it. It felt more like a planned thing."
There was panic among the soldiers due to this unexpected situation.
It had to be noted that these soldiers were the best elites in the entire world. Still, the enemy disappeared right under their noses without them understanding a thing.
One of the team leaders stepped forward. "I think it's best to leave the building! I have a very bad feeling about it!"
"But we can't abort the mission!! We need to eliminate their leader if we want to stop these wars!" another chimed in.
"Let's check the building again to see if we missed any hidden escape route," the Eagle squad team leader suggested.
Nodding to his suggestion, the soldiers began searching the building. At present, there were around 150 elite soldiers present in the building. It didn't take them much time to search the entire structure.
"Sir, there's a door leading to a basement here!" one of the Alpha team soldiers shouted.
Everyone arrived at the door. It was a plain wooden door with an iron lock on it. One of the soldiers used a hammer to break the lock.
The team leaders entered the basement.
The place was eerie, to say the least. There was very little light in the room. It smelled like burnt charcoal.
The walls were filled with webs, and it looked more like a storeroom.
As the soldiers moved deeper into the basement, they could hear beeping sounds.
Tick! Tick! Tick!
It didn't take long to discover the source. Highly advanced bombs were placed everywhere around them. The timers showed digits counting down.
And it wasn't a pleasing sight to see.
Cold sweat began to form on their foreheads.
Seeing the time remaining for the bombs to explode, one of the team leaders couldn't help but chuckle in fear.
"We never stood a chance, did we?!"
"Hope it's painless!" another prayed.
On the timers, only ten seconds were left. There was no time to retreat.
Everyone here was an elite of the elites. The only mistake they made was thinking that mere mortals could outsmart the Devil.
From the very beginning, they were the ones dancing in the palm of his hands. They were prey who were made to think themselves predators.
Resigning themselves to fate, everyone closed their eyes.
And...
Boom!!
The entire building exploded in a massive blast that engulfed the skies.
The soldiers that had secured the outer perimeter of the building were also engulfed in the blast.
Dust and smoke smeared the air.
Drones hovering in the area recorded everything.
The operation was being broadcast across the world. The governments wanted to kill X in front of everyone to remove his fear from the minds of the people and destroy the morale of the remaining core members of D.X.
But now, the situation was reversed. What was meant to be a celebration turned into a funeral.
The 150 agents sent on this mission were the best in the world. Such elites couldn't be replaced anytime soon.
And now, all of them were dead.
Reduced to ashes by the very person they were meant to eliminate.
What was meant to solidify the public's trust in the authorities became the very reason for increasing the already existing fear of the Devil.
The name X now became equivalent to death itself. Could mortals really face such a calamity?
Wasn't bowing before such a being a more reasonable choice than opposing him?
Such thoughts ran through the minds of not only civilians but also soldiers who were currently watching the live coverage.
A reporter who was nearby and still alive began reporting the situation with stumbling words.
"A-As you can see, the entire area has been blasted. All the agents sent here m-must surely be dead, and—"
Before he could finish speaking, the camera caught a group of individuals in dark black clothes approaching the building—or what was left of it.
Seeing them, the reporter tried to stop them. "Hey, it's dangerous there, come ba—"
His words died in his mouth.
At the head of the group was a young man in his early twenties, with white hair like snow and ocean-blue eyes.
Those calm blue eyes couldn't be mistaken.
Only one person had such eyes that instilled fear instead of relief.
X, the Devil himself.
Everyone knew his face. How could they forget it?
This same man had been responsible for millions of deaths across the world.
With a cigarette in his mouth, X approached the camera and said in an indifferent voice, "Surprise!"
Although the tone was plain, the atmosphere was not.
People fear many things, but the one thing they feared the most was the unknown.
The operation that was believed to have nearly succeeded turned out to be an illusion crafted by the very man standing there with those ocean-blue eyes.
Fear.
That was the only thing everyone felt.