***
Ryuk's Perspective:
In a decimated forest, far from the location where Moriarty had started his hunt, in a different section of the Yellow Zone, another fight had just ended.
"Tom Aldric Vance... That is a big name to remember," the young lady, sitting amid the destruction on top of a broken log, stated while reading through a file in her hands.
The young lady appeared to be around seventeen or eighteen years old. She had bright blonde hair, aquamarine eyes, and fair skin.
She wore a sleek black X-20 training suit, designed to regulate her combat abilities and prevent excessive force. It was made of a durable yet flexible material that allowed full mobility while maintaining protection. Built-in power restrictors adjusted automatically to keep her strength in check. Attached to her right wrist was a compact energy handgun, seamlessly integrated into the suit's design, ready to deploy at a moment's notice.
This was Sylvia Krythalon.
"Tell me about it. Thankfully, my mother gave me a short name that's easy to remember, or else I don't know if anyone would even call me by my real name," the young man, tied to a tree with an energy-dampening rope, replied to her.
The young man appeared to be around eighteen or nineteen years old. He had sharp black hair, black eyes, and ivory skin.
He wore a fitted black bodysuit with subtle armor lines running along his frame, giving him a sharp and imposing look. A long, high-collared coat hung over his shoulders, its dark fabric flowing with his movements. Inside, a faint insignia was stitched into the lining. His gloves were sleek and tight against his hands. Every detail of his clothing made him look precise, controlled, and unmistakably dangerous.
However, what bothered Sylvia wasn't his dangerous aura but the fact that he was wearing a black blindfold, even though the file stated he wasn't blind.
"So... Why are you carrying this file around?" Sylvia asked, restraining her curiosity about the blindfold he wore.
"I was trying to judge my strength by fighting those listed in that file before you caught me... That aside, why do you carry around a gun when you didn't even use it in our fight?" Tom asked back.
"It's more of a decoration. Why would I use it when I don't have to? One of my friends asked me the same question many times, actually. I told him that many fights could be stopped if I just had a gun, but then he said that there was only a three percent chance of that happening on Earth and even less on other planets," Sylvia replied as she looked through the file. She then stopped at a page and slowly turned her head towards Tom. "Oh, he's on your— Where did he go?"
To her surprise, Tom had managed to escape somehow without making a single sound! Even the energy-dampening rope was intact. It was as if he had never been there in the first place.
"Sigh... I hate the sneaky ones... I will have to warn him..." Sylvia heaved a sigh as she called out her Codex. "Call, Ray Allen."
***
Ray's Perspective:
"Do you know the reason you all lost to me?" Moriarty asked the young man, whose mouth he held in his right grip while sitting on two corpses he had stacked up. "In situations like this, you need to fight as a team, but you lot fought me individually. You also had other flaws, but if I were to list them all, this day would pass by, and I wouldn't be able to do anything productive."
The battle we had been through didn't satisfy him as much as the last variables we fought. Variables, in general, were supposed to be stronger than the average, but since we broke their morale from the start, they didn't struggle much. Rather than working together, they were more keen on running away or offering the lives of others to save their own.
"Sir, sorry for interrupting your conversation, but you have a call from Miss Sylvia Krythalon," Wally spoke up, transforming into his spider form and projecting a hologram.
"... Why does she have to ruin my fun all the time?" Moriarty asked himself as I took back the vessel from him. Knowing how rude he would be, I couldn't risk her finding out about all these things yet.
"I will answer it," I replied to Wally.
... Ryuk, are we on the— Moriarty tried to say something, but Ryuk continued his sentence for him.
"Same wavelength? Yes, I am getting that as well," Ryuk replied, communicating directly with Moriarty telepathically. "It's not unbelievable since he has been developing emotions for a long time, but I thought you would be first in line."
I could see that Ryuk was moving his beak, but I couldn't hear anything from him. Hearing Moriarty's whispering voice, I concluded that they were having a secret conversation. However, I didn't pay any attention to them, as they fool around most of the time.
That aside, I had transferred my Codex data to Wally so that the Emperor wouldn't be able to spy on me through the Codex, as he was the one who controlled it. This meant the Codex would get my data only when I updated it, and he wouldn't be able to trace my location either.
"Hey—" I tried to greet Sylvia before our conversation began, but she cut me off.
"Sorry, this is an emergency. There's a hunter on your tail, so I thought I'd give you a heads-up... Why does it sound like I hear an orc? Are you in an orc outpost?" Sylvia asked after finishing her warning.
"No, I was just attacked by one. I think I can hear a river nearby, but I have yet to confirm my exact location," I replied, tightening my grip on the mouth of the man that Moriarty had kept alive as he struggled to break free. "And why are you in a panic? If I had a credit point for every time I was targeted or almost assassinated, I would have over a thousand credits by now. That isn't enough to buy anything noteworthy, but it does tell you that I have the means to survive this, doesn't it? How did you come across this information?"
"Apparently, he is trying to judge his own strength by fighting the new generation of metahumans," Sylvia responded. "But he accidentally stumbled upon me before he had a chance to fight the others."
"That's unfortunate indeed... How does he look?" I asked, and she gave me the full description without pause.
"... His name is apparently Tom Aldric Vance. Seems like he's from some ancient lineage," her last words were what caught my attention.
Up until now, I had treated this as a normal assassination attempt, but that name... I didn't want to fight that person yet.
Tom Aldric Vance was the only son of the leader of the League of Hunters. According to my expectations, he should have participated in the previous year's entrance exam.
He was a very dangerous man who wasn't even supposed to be included in the story until the third arc. I couldn't kill him since he was an important character...
I need him on my side. I thought.
"... Why are you so quiet? Did you lose confidence after hearing his name?" Sylvia asked after a long pause.
"Syl, you should know better than anyone that I don't get scared by these... threats. I was just surprised that he is taking the exam this year. Thank you for the information. I will try to find an outpost or a cave to set up a base. If you find John, then take care of him, please," I replied. "And take care of yourself as well."
"You too," Sylvia stated before I cut off the call, and Moriarty took over yet again.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, buddy. Do you know why I kept you alive?" Moriarty asked, looking at the man in his grip.
"Mhm?" The man made a curious sound as he tried to break free yet again.
"It's because you sound like an orc," Moriarty stated before crushing his skull in an instant.