CHAPTER 137: CHAPTER 137: YOUR MOVE

"The FBI’s director is handling our case personally, uh oh. The Crystal Warden was right, this was going to be very fun."

While the freshmen were busy with their first official freshman event, someone else was busy too—or perhaps it was better to say something else.

Riley One, or in this case, Darkday One.

He was still wearing the Darkday suit, which was actually also made of flesh and blood due to Riley creating all of him through an entire person’s corpse.

And yes—Riley still hadn’t canceled his existence even after everything was done already, and he even made him the official custodian of the Guesthouse. Riley One wasn’t alone, however, as he had also summoned clones of his own, along with clones that came from Riley, to continue digging and constructing their hideout.

"Haa. This is going to be exciting." Darkday One looked at the other clones, but since they were busy doing their own work, he placed his attention on the person beside him instead.

"Are you not going to eat that? The Darkday Chefs prepared that for you. Your limbs are healing quite nicely, you should be able to eat even through the pain," he said, staring at the untouched plate of food inside the glass cage, Replica Ricky’s glass cage. He also had a bed now, a desk, and a chair so that he would be able to eat or do whatever he wanted, as long as the Guesthouse could accommodate it.

"I know, I admit that the Darkday Chefs are still out of practice—but they’ll get better eventually as soon as the Boss learns how to cook better. I should know, because I suck at cooking. But you should really eat, Replica Ricky...

...or do you want me to shove the food again through your throat?"

"What the fuck are you?" Replica Ricky, surprisingly, was more kempt and clean now than the first time Riley threw him inside the Guesthouse—almost as if reflecting the growing condition of the place. Or... perhaps it was because the Darkday Workers did the irrigation and water system first, allowing him to take a bath.

"You... why do you have my powers now?" Replica Ricky asked, looking at Darkday One as if he were some kind of demon.

"I don’t have your powers, Guest. I merely have the same ability as you now. Plus, of course, my TK. But as to answer your question, well

, I don’t know." Darkday One shrugged. "This is the first time this has actually happened, and the Boss is already very confused. The Warden is also trying to think of several theories as to why this is the case, but she’s also coming up blank."

"Why are you still pretending that you’re not Riley Ross?" Replica Ricky slammed his hand on the crystal cage, and then winced from the pain. But still, he didn’t let up.

"I know it’s you!"

"Let’s not talk about that," Darkday One chuckled, waving his hand—and then at the same time, Replica Ricky’s body also started flying inside the cage and being thrown from one side of the cage to the other. "And please, don’t hit the cage. The Warden did her best to make that. Let’s just talk about something else, since talking to the other clones doesn’t really make sense—your powers are very convenient. It’s... like a satellite."

"Tch..."

"You can create clones throughout the entire country, and it would be like a network serving information in real time. How OP is that?" Darkday One shivered. "...And you chose it to harass and try to find an autistic kid? Oh, monsieur... pathetic."

"Shut the fuck up! You know nothing of—"

Darkday One suddenly leaned closer to the cage, causing Replica Ricky to crawl back from the floor.

"And why do I need to know?" He said. "Why do I need to go through what you went through, what hardships you faced? All of you... you’re all going to end up the same anyway. Either dead...

...or inside our cages."

"I knew it... I knew you were evil from the very first time I saw you!"

"I’ve never once disagreed with you. Anyway, let’s change the topic—did you know who I was just on the phone with? The director of the Superhuman Affairs of the FBI. You should rejoice, if it’s him, there’s a very high chance that they’ll still be able to find you alive."

Darkday One took several steps back, crossing his arms as he looked at the other empty cages.

"And they’ll be able to stop these cages from being filled. He’s a very great detective, Prophet. I know because I’ve met him several times. If there’s someone who can catch me and rescue you, it’s him. Nice, right?"

"I don’t want to be saved... I just want you dead!" Replica Ricky slammed his head on the crystal wall. "I want you dead!"

"But you already did kill me, remember?" Darkday One tilted his head. "And this is not the first time someone was so close to—wait... it did work. You did kill me... and so did she."

Darkday One’s voice suddenly turned quiet. He then motioned his hand down, and Replica Ricky’s entire body dropped to the floor hard enough to cause the crystal cage to tremble. Darkday One didn’t even look to see if he was alright as he turned around and placed a hand on the chin of his helmet.

"Alice Lane..." Darkday One muttered. And since his thoughts were transferring to the rest of the clones, they also stopped working and looked at each other.

"...She did kill the Boss. And she’s a TK. Replica Ricky did kill the Boss... and he can clone himself. Wait a minute..." Darkday One looked at his hands.

"Could it be... TK is not the Boss’s original ability?"

***

[Butcher]

Back in Mega Academy, Butcher’s shiny bald head was floating on a river beneath the bridge where Riley and the others were. His bald head reflected the solid silhouette of the large bridge.

Although Baraka was reluctant to share his knowledge about the test, since it would be incredibly unfair to him, he still did it.

After all, with what had just happened, he already lost the chance of becoming the next member of the Hope Guild in the first place—there was no point in trying to gatekeep anything. And also, he wanted someone to defeat this so-called Riley Ross.

And right now, Butcher was in the water because Baraka told them that they were able to detect him somehow. It could be because of noise, his presence itself, or something else entirely.

Butcher’s solution to that was to swim underneath the bridge.

Well, if you could call what he was doing swimming, anyway.

He looked more like an alligator, almost gliding across the water and not leaving a single ripple at all—no. He was gliding.

He wasn’t even moving his limbs, and his body was completely straight and upright underneath it. His ability allowed him to practically slide through the water.

And now... he had successfully touched the bridge.

He emerged from it, and not even a single drop of water latched onto him or to his uniform at all.

And without even any pause, he placed both his palms on the flat wall of the foundation of the bridge... and started climbing it like some sort of spider.

He was completely stealthy. At this point, he was going to reach the bridge without alerting any—

"Ah! Someone’s climbing!"

Butcher’s eyes widened as he turned his eyes toward the voice, only to see a civilian on the banks of the river pointing at him. It wasn’t even one of the villains. It was a civilian who shouted.

"Oh..." Butcher closed his eyes as he accepted his fate. He knew the freshmen were told to act out their roles... but did they also have to act out the stupidity of the normal citizen?

Butcher climbed to the side, faster now to avoid being seen by one of the hostage takers.

He stopped, however, when he saw a shadow brush past him.

He held his breath and turned toward the shadow, and it wasn’t a villain—no.

It was a hostage. Falling from the bridge.

"...Huh." Butcher pushed himself from the foundation, not hesitating to leap away to catch the hostage in the air at all.

"You’re safe," Butcher whispered, making sure not to wrap his arms too tight as they both fell toward the river—and once again, surprisingly, the two of them didn’t get wet at all or make a splash in the water.

He glided through the river, carefully lifting the hostage on the base of the foundation and laying him down.

"Are you hurt? Please do not worry, I will get you to safety—I just need to check on the situation above and—"

Butcher was about to turn around, but the hostage grabbed him by the arm.

"Please, wait!"

"I am only going to take..." Butcher turned to look at the hostage, only to finally realize how white and pale his skin was—his white hair hidden by the cap he was wearing.

"...Ah." Butcher sighed.

"You’re not a hostage. You’re Riley Ross."

"Fun..." Riley casually pressed a gun right on Butcher’s bald head, "Right?"