The Author's POV

Kzzzzzzz" Holding onto a cylindrical glass tube, a faint red glow enveloped my hand. The contents inside of the cylindrical glass tube slowly started to boil.
"This should do."
Staring at the gas that was forming in the tube, a satisfied smile appeared on my lips.
Glancing towards my right where one of the guards was dully standing, I
removed the mask that was on my face revealing my burned up face.
"Here put this on."
Walking next to him, grabbing his hand and raising it towards his face, I gave him the mask.
"This should do for now."
Staring at the guard who with his right hand was supporting the mask on his face, my lips smacked together.
Even though he was under the effects of the serum, I couldn't really make him channel mana so this was good enough for now.
Out of the five individuals, his build was the closest to mine, and so he looked like a perfect mannequin of me.
Glancing towards my left and right to make sure that everything was perfect, I lay down beneath his feet with my back facing the door.
'Everything should be ready.'
According to my estimates, within a couple of minutes, a special unit would come to the room. That was the unit designed to hunt me down.
Just like they wanted me gone, I wanted them gone as well. My goal in killing them was so that I could take their commander's badge.
There were multiple gates at the bottom level, and according to my estimates, they were heavily guarded.
...but gates had different grades too, with some gates specifically only accessible to those that were of a higher grade.
Unlike the common gates, they should be less guarded since they required a special badge in order to access, which no one would expect me to have.
Luring the commander to me was the real goal. He was the true key to my escape.
By giving such subtle hints and flaws throughout my escape, I wanted to create a scenario where they would see me moving in accordance with their predictions, whilst in reality, I was masking my true intentions.
They were treating me as though I was a mouse stuck inside of a labyrinth with no escape route when in reality, it was the exact opposite.
The entire time, the one controlling their moves was me.
If there was no escape route, I just merely had to create one.
***
"Vooom! "Vooom! "Vooom!
Appearing inside of a lush green forest, was a small black portal. Emerging from
it were over fifteen individuals, each with a distinctive aura revolving around them.
Stepping out of the portal and putting her hand in front of her forehead whilst gazing at the scenery in front of her, Monica muttered.
"Well, this is not what I expected."
"What did you expect?"Amon asked as he stared at the enormous infrastructure in the distance. "Did you expect to be transported inside of a cave?"
"No" Monica shook her head. Scratching her nose, she said. "I was expecting something along the lines of a blood-red sky, or dark clouds with lightning crackling down from the sky, oh and a black castle too."
"... You watch too many movies." Listening to Monica's words, Amon was left speechless. "You realize we're on earth, right?"
"I know, I know, but a woman can still imagine no?"
"There's a limit to how much someone can imagine."
"What did you sa"""
"Alright, be quiet the both of you." Cutting Monica before she could blow her top off was Tasos. "Don't forget we're here to finish a mission. Bicker later, not now."
"Tsk, fine."
"Right."
At Tasos's words, Amon and Monica begrudgingly nodded their heads.
"So what next?" Amon asked. "What are we supposed to do now that we've infiltrated the place?"
"That is up to Monica." Responding to Amon, Tasos looked at Monica, "If you can please do the honors?"
"Me?"
"Yes, go ahead."
"Hehehe, don't mind if a do." Laughing to herself, Monica unsheathed a thin
silver sword from the side of her waist.
Caressing the body of the sword, she muttered.
"It's about time I try this baby out."
[Dawn of the Avenger], the ranked sword that she had gotten from the auction
almost ten months ago.
Ever since buying it, she had never tried the sword before, but now that the opportunity had presented itself, Monica couldn't help but be excited.
"Tsk, If only I didn't specialize in defense." Staring at Monica's sword, and turning his head to the side whilst clicking his tongue, Amon grumbled to himself. "If only thad at least one offensive ability"
He was called 'The unbreakable shield' for a reason. It was because he could stop the attacks coming from multiple ranked herees at the same time without
dying.
He was a walking fortress, and one of the reasons why he was selected for this mission:
Unfortunately, despite his great defense, he lacked in the offensive department, and even though his personality was that of someone who wanted to destroy things, he could only watch as Monica hogged all of the fun for herself.
"Ah, right, before I forget."
Just when Monica was about to prepare to attack, recalling something, she turned around and looked at the infiltration team.
"The moment my attack will land, that is when you guys go and infiltrate the
facility." A solemn look replaced her usual childish one. "Just like the director said, your goals are the portals, so head there as soon as I create an opening."
"Roger."
The infiltration team solemnly nodded their heads.
Just like Monica said, the goal of the mission was to destroy the portals that were inside of the Monolith. More specifically the core inside of the portals.
Upon cracking the core, they would be able to create a massive explosion that
would destroy a major part of the Monolith as well as kill a lot of their important
figures.
'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth' Monica muttered inside of her mind as she recalled what had happened eight months back at the Lock.
Indeed, Monica had never forgotten the events that took place eight months back
eight months ago.
What she was doing now was essentially the same thing they did back at the
Lock. She wanted to let them know what happens when they cross lines that they should've never crossed.
"Good." With a solemn look, Monica raised her sword and closed her eyes. "I'll
start now."
Channeling her mana, her sword suddenly started to resonate, unleashing an
orange hue. The magic power slowly started to condense into a gigantic magic
sword that levitated in the air.
Slowly, tremendous pressure engulfed the area.
Within a couple of seconds, the mana in the air had thickened up so much that it
started to become tangible.
"Huuuu..."
Exhaling, Monica opened her eyes and took a step forward.
"Alright, I'm going to start. Get ready."
The moment her words fell, she slashed down.
""Vuam!
Slashing down, the world froze and the sword slowly started to move towards the
large infrastructure in the distance.
Thin undulations of magic spread in the air fabricating a scene resembling the
northern lights.
"What's this?!"
Just when the sword energy was about to hit the Monolith, materializing in front
of it was a skinny old man with sunken eyes and cheekbones. With a black
mantle covering his body, the old man held a scythe in his right hand.
Glaring at the sword, he shouted.
"How dare you!"
Waving his hand forward, a translucent green shield appeared in front of him.
Next to him, multiple other individuals appeared.
But it was too late.
"BOOOOOOOM!
The sword came into contact with the shield, and a massive explosion
reverberated throughout the surroundings.
Glasses shattered and the whole building shook.
This was the beginning of the Union's counterattack against the Monolith.
***
Appearing before the dorm room and double-checking with the surveillance department that 876 had not left the room, Luther glanced at the three recruits
that had followed him.
"You guy stay out, I'll scout first."
He warned.
According to his predictions, the moment he would step into the room, the first he should see would be the corpses of the people that used to stay in that room.
He had already asked the surveillance team beforehand so he knew exactly how
the people inside of the room looked like.
Not that it mattered since he was going to incapacitate anyone present in the
room.
The only reason he wanted to go first was that, aside from keeping the recruits safe, he wanted to keep the artifact that could change faces to himself. Having witnessed 876 's journey all the way from the lab, Luther knew about the capabilities of the mask, and without a doubt, it wasn't a simple artifact.
He knew it was a treasure, and he needed to get his hands on it at all costs. The
closer he got to the mask, the greedier he became.
This was one of the side effects of signing a contract with a demon. Their
innermost desires overpowered everything else.
This was the main reason why he didn't directly capture 876 back when he first
saw him. The same could be said about the current situation.
Had it been a more rational person, they would've been able to capture 876 by
now, but Luther was not in a rational state.
All he could think at the moment was the mask.
""Clink!
Taking out a white card and scanning it, the door unlocked.
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Upon unlocking the door, without
wasting time and opening the door to the room, the first thing Luther saw was an individual standing in the middle of the room holding onto a
wooden mask that neared his face. The content is on popsnovel.com! Read the latest chapter there!
With one guard beneath his feet and the others scattered around the room dead,
the person standing in the middle of the room did not move.
"I've got you now, 876."
Staring at the mask, without wasting any time, Luther dashed towards 876.
"Bang!
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Tackling him with his shoulder, 876
crashed against the other side of the wall. The mask fell onto the the floor and
876's back directly smashed against
the wall as dust flew in the air. The content is on popsnovel.com! Read the latest chapter there!
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Briefly glancing in the direction of
where 876 was and making sure he was knocked out, squinting, Luther
lowered his head and stared at the mask that was by the side of his feet. The content is on popsnovel.com! Read the latest chapter there!
Lowering his body, he grabbed the mask and checked its status.
"So this is the artifact that allows you to change faces?" Checking the stats of the mask, a look of amazement appeared on his face. "An