Guild Wars

"Gafum… Let's not worry about such inconsequential things. No matter what, since I was appointed President of such an organization, you can take it that it was for a good reason." The young woman coughed as she calmly dispelled this awkward situation.

"Uh huh… what's your name anyway? I can't keep calling you 'Beautiful President' in my head forever." Cyrus asked plainly as he scratched his cheek.

The President paused, a faint blush emerging on her cheeks, unprepared to this sudden attempt to flirt with the. She smoothed it over with a pleasant smile as she introduced herself again.

"Forgive my lack of clarity. My name is Amelia Rothschild, President of the Superhuman Organization."

Cyrus nodded, thinking that this woman was quite weird. Orochi in his mind snorted and revealed: 'Brat, she thinks you are trying to court her.'

Cyrus froze as he was dumbfounded. 'Me? Court her? Why would I? What did I say that would make her even consider something like that?'

Orochi seemed amused. 'You told her you referred to her as beautiful in your mind. I know this is true because you find her looks to be attractive, but how could she know that you have no real affection for her?'

'After all, your lax nature and your bluntness give credit to your words, making it seem like you were merely speaking your mind instead of using cheap words to sway her, proving that to be what you genuinely thought about her.'

Cyrus still seemed confused. 'I know all that, but how does that have to do with her response?'

Orochi was speechless. 'Well… I guess you can't be faulted for not realizing. Look, anyone can say the same words as you, and in the same manner, but not everyone will receive it positively.'

'Had you been average looking or ugly, she would certainly feel disdain in her heart. However, given that you're one of the Sovereign's descendants, you're naturally very pleasing to the eye for female humans, so your words automatically garnered you her goodwill.'

Hearing this, Cyrus understood. His lips twitched as he accepted that yes, this did seem to be something he vaguely recalled his sisters telling him about one time. Thinking about his deceased family, the young man's expression warped slightly, but the light in his eyes never died.

He refocused on Amelia, who was only getting to her next sentence. After all, mental communication was carried out as fast as thought.

"Cyrus Blood, you have been incarcerated in the Central State Asylum as a mentally insane patient due to the serial murder of your family members, which you and everyone who witnessed it claimed was due to the act of some supernatural effect."

Amelia seemed amused. "In fact, the reason the jury didn't set you for life in prison was because both the on-scene investigation and eyewitness reports state that your family members just… exploded… after they touched you."

"At worst, the jury would have given you a manslaughter charge and at best, acquit you of the charges. However, you kept pleading guilty and acted very unhinged during the course of the trial, showing severe mental instability and erratic behavior."

"The jury was unable to directly send you to an asylum for treatment without a sentence, so you were pronounced 'guilty' and sent here for treatment."

Amelia raised an eyebrow with interest as she read the document before her. "The reason I emphasized guilty is that they only stated that you were present on the scene of the serial murders, never explicitly stating that you were the culprit."

"It's a nice pass-around that allowed them to send you here and possibly resume the case once you recovered." Amelia finished as she put the document down.

Cyrus scratched his nose with mild interest. "I don't remember much of it, to be honest. Most of my memories seem to repressed, I think, so aside from the time I spent in Boundless, I mostly remember some snippets of my upbringing."

"However, isn't this too convoluted? Couldn't they just pronounce me innocent and let me seek help myself?" He asked with confusion.

"No, they still haven't come to a decision about your innocence, but they know for sure that you are not guilty, hence the compromise." Amelia responded with a shake of her head.

"Riiiight… and you're telling me all this because~?" Cyrus finally got down to the important bits of the conversation.

Amelia shuffled her documents gently and smiled towards Cyrus while cupping her fists together.

"From what I can tell, Mr. Blood, you are a man with extraordinary power. Your power seems to allow you to ignore all damage and even reflect some or all of it back."

"Such great power needs to be carefully trained and reined in, lest it cause another disaster. That is why we've reached out to you. Our organization has the knowledge and facilities to help you grow yourself and your new power in safety and without any issues."

"Not to mention, you're currently in imprisonment. Even if your guilty charge is temporary, it will become real if you don't return to your cell. The moment you escape this facility, you become a wanted man all over the country for real."

"However, with our pull, we can make everything disappear. You will be cleaned from the system and become a new man. Cyrus Blood the Genius Researcher… or whatever title you'd like."

Amelia smiled. "Of course, these are only just the introduction to the list of benefits you'd get by joining us. What do you think?"

Cyrus sat there in silence, contemplating her words. For all intents and purposes, her offer was godly. It would resolve his biggest issue, which was getting a clean identity, and also solve his second-biggest issue, understanding the limits of his power.

However, he was sure that this woman had only fed him the good stuff, and he wasn't about to bite the bait if anything. As such, he gazed at her frankly and asked one simple question:

"Who are your enemies?"

Hearing this, the smile on Amelia's face was wiped away. She realized that this fellow was not as simple as she had hoped him to be, and he attacked from a point that she could not easily defend from.

If she lied about their enemies, and he joined, he would later find out and use that as a platform to leave. After all, this was the real world, not Boundless, their organization didn't have any magical contracts or fancy mind control stuff to enslave their people.

They worked just as was seen, through mutual benefits. As such, the only option Amelia had, if she wanted this to succeed, was to be honest. If she really didn't want to answer, she simply had to retract her offer to Cyrus, but he was too good a prospect to let go.

She muttered silently under her breath and decided to reply. "We are a scientific organization established to explore the potential of the human body and how to unlock greater power. You might have heard of the ability called Control? We played a major part in its discovery."

"Hmm… not bad." Was all Cyrus said as he waited for more.

Amelia grudgingly continued, noticing her attempt to shift the conversation failed. "However, in this world exists another faction that seeks to enslave the human race and keep the weak under their thumb."

"They call themselves Supernatural, and they are just that. They are a group of beings that have obtained some unique powers that seemingly have no basis in science, so they oppose us."

"And how strong are they compared to you?" Cyrus dug deeper into the issue.

Amelia's face became ugly, but she still answered after taking a deep breath. "They are stronger than us in all regards except for unity."

"Hehe." Was all Cyrus replied with.

Unity? Not even a starving dog would eat that. What was he supposed to do, sing about how their friendship was strong and use that power of love to defeat their enemies?

Still… Cyrus was a gamer too.

Every gamer loved siding with the underdogs, because it was that much more pleasurable to tear down a stronger power using a weaker force.

Seeing that he wasn't exactly averse to it, Amelia decided to push forward. "Their organization contains the likes of vampires, zombies, werewolves, and such fantasy species. They are also heavily clan and bloodline based, so if your power doesn't align with one of their clans, then you'll always be a Thrall for them, no different from a serf."

"Oh? Bloodline-based you say? Interesting." Cyrus murmured with interest.

Based on his reaction, Amelia realized she had said something she shouldn't have, so she quickly attempted to backtrack.

"No, what I meant was that-" She began, but was cut off by Cyrus.

"I know exactly what you meant. However, I don't have any plans to join their organization, as if what you're saying is true, then your organization is the one for me."

Amelia's eyes brightened. "Then…?"

"Then I'll be going back to my cell to sleep and play games." Cyrus replied tiredly, rising to his feet.

"Ah…?" Amelia, and most of the other silent board members exclaimed.

"Mr. Blood, is there any problem with our offer?" She asked hurriedly.

"Not at all, it seems to be perfect for what I need. But you know what they say about things that seem too good to be true? Anyway, I can't leave here if what you're saying is correct, so I'm going back to my cell to spend time thinking things over." Cyrus explained calmly.

He then turned to face Amelia as he pushed the door to the lounge open. "Surely, such an important offer is not the type where you plan to tell me to 'take it or leave it', right?"

Amelia seemed partially mollified, and mustered a fake smile. "Of course not, feel free to take all the time you desire. Just alert any of the staff in the ward when you want to talk to us, and we can meet again."

Cyrus nodded and left the room, walking back to his cell peacefully. He met the sleeping guards on the way and chuckled as how they were sprawled about.

He carefully observed the hallways for any cameras or recording devices, and when he noticed them, he would maintain his genial smile. The young man eventually entered a side door that led to a bathroom and sat on the seat of one of the stalls.

Cyrus' genial smile crumbled and was left with a solemn grimace.

'What the fuck have I gotten myself into?'

Firstly, his memories were repressed, whether by his own subconscious or external methods, he didn't know. So he could not verify if anything the woman called Amelia said was true.

Secondly, he had enough power to easily escape and avoid the pursuit of the state, but he had a goal, which was to find the Nuwa Inheritor and resurrect his family. Being chased by police and possibly the military would not make that easy.

Thirdly, this place he was incarcerated in was obviously in the pockets of Superhuman if all it took to set up another meeting was to tell any of the staff member. Maybe Amelia didn't realize what her words hinted, or it was more likely that she did, and she was reminding Cyrus that they had him where they wanted him.

Cyrus sighed as Orochi appeared over his shoulder, extending a single head like a certain popular symbiont from a certain popular franchise.

"Hehe, you're in a tight spot. What are you gonna do now?" Orochi laughed malevolently.

"What else? Procrastinate by playing games. If I ignore it long enough, who knows, it might go away.." Cyrus replied casually and rose to his feet to do just that, leaving the God Serpent speechless.