🟠 Chapter 50:
🟧 Narrator's POV:
After Haizen fell to the ground from the explosion, Takeru was left alone — and he had no trick up his sleeve against Number Two, who stood before him. Number Two had been waiting to see something interesting from Takeru and Haizen, but he grew bored by their quick defeat.
"This is tedious. You two are boring. I thought you'd show me something spectacular if you made it this far, but it seems your surprises are exhausted. So let's just finish this."
Takeru was in a miserable position — pathetic, really. He tried desperately to strike Number Two in the face, but Number Two grabbed his hand and smashed the middle of Takeru's arm, breaking the bone.
"Aaaagh… ughhh!"
Takeru screamed in agony as his arm was broken. Lying on the ground, he caught sight of what was inside Number Two's black suit.
"Eh… what is this long shoe you're wearing? Even women in heels don't wear ones this tall."
Number Two blushed with embarrassment when Takeru saw what was below, and tried to hide it from him.
"Hey, don't look down — it's not like I'm short," he protested.
He'd just exposed himself — obviously the opposite of what he claimed. Number One chimed in:
"Onder, we all know you're short; you don't need those towering shoes."
Despite the dire situation, Takeru felt the absurdity of it all bubble up a little. Meanwhile Haizen stirred — he'd been down from the previous blast — and his face was twisted with anger.
"Kah — I'm really annoyed."
Seeing Haizen awake, Takeru tried to check on him.
"Oh Haizen, you're alive. I thought you might have died from that explosion."
Haizen spat angrily, "Are you trying to provoke me or what? Do you really think your pathetic weapon could kill me? Don't overestimate yourself."
Takeru, who only wanted to make sure Haizen was okay, didn't like that reply — so he shot back.
"Listen, you stupid swordsman. Your body might be strong but your brain's broken. Let me remind you — I was the one who beat the previous Numbers. Try to be useful."
The tension between them was highly combustible; Haizen fired back.
"You were the one who landed the killing blows? Don't make me laugh. You only delivered the final strike — I did the rest of the work."
They traded barbs back and forth. Elithius, the boss, and Numbers One and Two all watched the bizarre exchange with odd expressions. Number Two started laughing.
"How ironic. I didn't expect them to turn on each other."
Takeru continued his taunts: "You've got to be kidding. The so-called 'work' you did — you were only stabbed and crushed. If you had fought them alone, you'd have been finished by Number Five."
Everyone could see this had reached the point of no return between the two of them. Then, unexpectedly, Haizen pulled a pistol from his pocket and aimed it at Takeru.
"That's enough. Having someone like you with me got me into this mess. I'll finish this right here, right now."
Takeru was shocked to see Haizen holding his pistol.
"Hey — how did you get my pistol? Where did you get that from?"
Haizen laughed mockingly. "Hahahaha — this is funny. Looks like the brainless one took your weapon without you noticing. It'd be fitting for your end to come at the hands of your own pistol."
Takeru had no choice but to respond with another pistol. He drew his own with his good hand and pointed it at Haizen's face.
"You really think I'll die by your hand? You're a terrible shot. I'm the one who's ending your life now."
The tension peaked. Number Two grew excited to see who would strike first.
"This is true suspense. Even if I'm not their target, this is thrilling."
Number One looked slightly uneasy but did not intervene. The boss watched impassively. Finally, the prince Elithius rose from his seat, trying to stop them.
"Please — stop this."
But as soon as Elithius moved to intervene, both of them fired — or so it appeared. A shot detonated in front of each of them, producing thick smoke that hid them both. The prince fell to the ground in shock; he felt guilty, as if he were responsible for what had happened. Numbers One and Two sensed something was off after seeing the bullets' direction.
From the smoke spawned by the blasts, two actual bullets flew — one toward Numbers One and Two, who faced each other — and the other toward the prince. The two Numbers were slow to notice and were hit. Number One then realized the whole thing had been a trick all along; he rushed at the prince's direction where a shot had been fired, but found nothing there. When the smoke cleared, all that remained were the boss, Numbers One and Two, and a small stone.
Number One snapped angrily, "We were deceived."
Number Two and the boss didn't understand at first. Number Two tried to make sense of it.
"What happened, boss? Where did those two and the prince go?"
Number One answered, "That stone — it's a storage stone. It stores objects and people inside it. We can't get them out from here. We have to find the stone that releases them first."
Number Two understood then.
"So those two were only acting earlier. That's right — they didn't actually hit themselves, and obviously they didn't hit the prince. They fired in front of him to confuse us."
Number One said quietly, "Yes, exactly."
Then he moved toward the boss — or rather, lunged — and delivered a powerful punch that sent him flying. The boss's nose and mouth bled from the blow. The boss fell to his knees, begging Number One for mercy.
"I'm sorry, mr Khifi. I tried — I tried to extract as much as I could from the prince's mouth."
Number One wasn't done. He grabbed the boss by his collar and smashed his face. Blood splattered everywhere. Number One — addressed as Khifi — shouted in fury:
"Why did I make such a useless idiot our boss? All this just so you could do one thing: extract that stupid prince's thoughts that I wanted. And you couldn't even do that. Look now — he's been taken from us."
Number Two grabbed Number One's shoulder, trying to stop him from beating the boss to death.
"That's enough, boss. If you continue you'll kill this fake boss."
Number One tried to calm. He let go of the boss's collar; the so-called boss looked like a mere impostor — his face covered in blood and bruises and unconscious.
Number One stood and declared firmly, "Onder, we'll gather all the gang members. The attack on the royal palace will be carried out on the day of the Elite Exam."
It was Number One's announcement: the beginning of a new, final offensive to achieve his aims.