The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 432: To Join or not to Join

A frail old man in a black cloak hurriedly entered the throne room walking with the help of an old cane that struck the ground with a steady beat as he moved forward.

Upon reaching the throne, where the Sun lord rested, he knelt to the ground, carefully noticing the donkey’s head placed on a pedestal. Ah… Right, they called those things elven horses here… The idiots… “Did your lordship call for me?” he asked.

“Yes, I used my domain to lock this damn thing's soul, I want you to extract it for me!” the sun lord spat angrily after a few seconds, it was clear that he was busy healing himself. 

“Ah… My lord… It is an elven horse… What use is it extracting its soul, it is not like it can talk or anything…” the black elder said, secretly noticing that Zendo was severely injured. Who could have done it? The donkey? Did it have anything to do with the chaos in the city?

He pondered if he should take the chance to strike Zendo here and kill him once and for all…. No… It was still a bit early for that, as it would risk ruining all the preparations they did throughout the years!

“JUST DO IT!” Zendo spat. “He is a shapeshifter!” he added in a dangerous voice.

“Oh… Yes my lord…” the old man said, taking a black box from his ring. From within it, he carefully lifted a talisman. It was white with all kinds of red bloody lines on it, forming a strange and ominous network that created symbols in between them.

He carefully put it atop the donkey’s head.

Slowly from the head, wisps of a strange matter began to materialize and enter the talisman. It was the donkey’s soul! The black elder expected the process to take about an hour, but it surprisingly ended in 5 minutes… Was this guy’s soul this feeble?

“Ah… Yes, my lord!”

“You are getting better at this I see…” the sun lord said as he flickered his finger making the talisman fly on its own and reach his hand. “Let’s have a talk!” he said as he closed his eyes, pushing his consciousness inside of the talisman.

“...”

“...”

“FUCK!” he snapped, crushing the talisman with his hand a moment later. “DAMN IT!” he cursed.

“My lord is there anything wrong?” the black elder asked. He didn’t need to, but he felt that he should.

“NOT YOUR FREAKING BUSINESS! LEAVE!” the lord cursed angrily.

“Yes my lord…” the black elder shook as he slowly retreated. Although he seemed scared, he was merely putting on an act as his brain raced thinking of who could hurt Zendo this badly, could it be a new variable? Now? At the end game? Too bad he couldn’t really ask directly.

“WAIT!” the lord stopped him.

“Yes, my lord?” the elder paused, then turned and knelt.

“How is the ritual progressing…” the lord asked, popping two healing pills in his mouth. His injury was clearly very severe.

“As scheduled, my lord… it should be over in 10 years,“ the elder said. That was if nothing went wrong.

“Hasten it! I want that bitch dead as soon as possible…”

“Yes my lord!” the elder nodded. Hell, he was doing it as fast as possible!

“Now go… I need to rest!” the lord hissed.

“Yes, my lord…” the elder retreated again.

…

“Let’s get done with this quickly…” Margret said. She was sitting around a meeting table with Elise, Lin, and Aria for their weekly meeting. This was proposed by Aria who was busy running her runaway husband's business all the time.

“First it is about the connection points Victor asked us to create,” Aria said. “I have already managed to purchase some lands in about 30% of the designated locations, disguising it as movie sets and branch media companies… But that would be the maximum I can do, any more than that might warrant some unnecessary attention!” she explained.

“I got about 10% using private means… Alpha should be able to cover 20% with her ‘massage shop’ network… That would leave about 40%” Margret sighed.

“I suggest we stop for now and solidify our positions…” Elise who sat on the opposite chair and enjoyed her after-dinner ice cream said. “The other positions can be covered by other means… Did you contact your mother?” she turned to Lin and asked.

“Yes, she is in a mess, not knowing what to do after losing contact with the main family!” Lin replied.

“Did you give her Victor’s offer?” Margret asked.

“Not yet, she still holds hope, I just told her that husband would help if she needed it!”

“That’s fine, I guess…” Elise nodded. “Just advise her to try to  grab as much from the family business as possible!”

“I know…” Lin sighed.

“Now, any news regarding Abe?” Margret turned to Lin.

“No, the parasite is still in this world… I can feel it is far north from here, but I can’t locate its exact position without activating our link!”

“Let’s not do that…” Margret sighed. 

“He might die, you know?” Elise asked.

“That would be bad… But at least the world would have one less bad guy!” Margret shrugged. She clearly felt conflicted.

“Oh…” Aria frowned, she clearly didn’t like Margret’s attitude regarding her own family, but again… It was not her business.

“Then what is next…” Margret paused as her new smartphone rang. She frowned looking at the caller’s name, then raising one eyebrow, she accepted the call.

“Hi, sister-in-law…” she said in an enthusiastic voice.

“No, Lily is not here, I don’t know what she is doing…” Margret replied she had some jealousy in her voice.

“What?” 

“Victor? An accident?” Margret asked in shock as she talked on the phone. She was clearly faking it.

“An amnesia? What is this some kind of a B-Movie?” she asked.

“When?” 

“Can we come see him?”

“Oh… I understand… Thanks for telling us…See ya!” she finally said before she hung off.

“What?” Elise asked.

“It’s about Victor… Alice just called to tell me that he had an accident and that he had been hospitalized!…” Margret said. 

“WHAT?” Aria snapped, wasn’t he taking a vacation collecting new girls in another world or something?

“It should be the fake, right?” Lin, who sat next to them, asked.

“Most likely, he has amnesia after all!” Margret shrugged. “Alice didn’t say anything about the accident or on what happened on the island, so most likely they plan to keep it a secret.”

“Oh… What did she say then?” Elise asked.

“She told me that old Theo decided to take him to see a friend to run some additional tests, and if nothing goes wrong, they plan to get here in three to five days!”

“Oh… “ Elise pondered. “Did she use the words ‘additional tests’?” Elise asked.

“Yup… Most likely our father-in-law has more brains than we expected!” Margret nodded. “Hopefully they will not discover the truth, or our husband’s plan will fail!”

“Don’t worry, those guys must have been preparing for this for a long time, they will definitely find a way to trick Father-in-law!” Elise said. “And though they might never be able to really alleviate all of his doubts of there being something wrong, they just need to make sure that he firmly believes that Victor was real!”

“He will most likely run a DNA test and compare it with the one from the family database… After Aria’s incident, all the heirs were required to donate a sample!” Margret added, looking at Aria who was sighing. “I bet those guys had already switched it!”

“Oh…” Lin frowned. “Wouldn’t that require them to have very high access to the Von Weise family’s database?”

“That’s what Victor believes!” Elise said. Victor had already told his girls to act as if the dark Chamber had most likely infiltrated his family to the core.

“Hopefully old Theo will not be too smart and decide to test if the fake is his real son or not,” Margret said, totally disrespecting her father-in-law.

“Yeah…If he were to use some weird artifact or contact a private lab to run the test in secret, it would be very difficult to fake!” Elise sighed. “Regardless, we better prepare for our part of the plan!” she said looking at Margret. “There can be no mistakes!”

“Don’t worry… It will be swift and painless!” Margret said, making a scissors shape with her fingers.

“Painless?” Lin raised one eyebrow. She didn’t believe that one bit!

“Wait… You plan to castrate him?” Aria asked in shock. Ever since she met Victor, she had borne witness to far more castrations than she could have ever imagined. All thanks to Lady Lily of course. “How the hell would he ever accept to work for us after that!” she asked.

“It is not castration!” Lin chuckled. “And it would only happen if he didn’t cooperate!” she added, explaining the plan to Aria who didn’t usually care about such things.

“Then what?” Aria asked, looking at Margret.

“We plan to chemically lobotomize him!” Margret stated directly. “No one would find it strange if he turned into an idiot, he already lost his memory after all… This might even force the ones behind him to show themselves!”

“Oh…” Aria nodded.

“Hopefully, nothing would go wrong…” Elise sighed. Her guts were telling her that something was not right, but she couldn’t tell what.

…

Christopher woke up to the voice of someone shouting like a bitch who wanted her money. 

Frowning, he sat up and began to look around, he found that he was in a lavish hotel bedroom.

Slowly memories of the last few days began to come back to him, but the constant shouting kept interrupting his thoughts.

“Mona! FUCK! You shouldn’t have done that!” someone was yelling from the next room, it was Donald. He could tell from his voice. ”You could have told us at the very least!”

“I did, you guys didn’t believe me! And I bet you were planning to report me to the overseers!” Mona replied. “We had to act!”

Hearing her voice, Christopher angrily jumped out of bed, almost falling down. He was still feeling a little drowsy but he felt he needed to confront that bitch. In the darkness of his cell, more than once he imagined himself, slapping her smug face. He couldn’t believe that he had a crush on her once!

“Regardless… Opal lost one of her legs because of one of the experiences… It could have been worse!” Donald said.

“Look, I can understand your anger, but risks are inevitable when dealing with such situations!” another girl said coldly. “And Ruby had already healed her up! So stop fucking around!”

“I am not talking to you…”

“I wasn’t talking to you either, but to your friends… This was the tax you guys had to pay for all the bad things you did to all those people!”

“Those people were criminals!” Tala interjected.

“So it was ok to torture them? To turn them into monsters and then kill them?” the girl asked. 

“We didn’t know…” opal said with a guilty voice.

“Now you do… You should at least be more grateful we cared to save your sorry lives…”

By this point, Christopher, who had to walk slowly, had already left the bedroom and reached the living space of the hotel suite they were in. The girl who was talking was a totally hot tall girl with long blond hair and an eyepatch, she was the one who tied them up back then!

Beside her, Tala, Opal, Donald, Mona, and her twin sisters were sitting around on couches arguing.

“You want us to be grateful after getting fucked around like that?” Donald snapped, interrupting her.

“It was going to happen sooner or later, and it is your bad luck ending up in a cell full of perverts who liked young men…” the girl with the eyepatch sighed. “You were the one who arrested them doing all kinds of things, you should have castrated them back then!”

“HOW DID YOU KNOW ABOUT…” Donald didn’t continue as he finally noticed Christopher who was leaning on the wall entering the room.

“We do not follow your sick sense of justice!” Christopher finally spat, making everyone else notice his arrival.

“Christopher! Are you ok? It took you so long to wake up..” Tala asked in a clearly worried voice. 

“I am fine… Just a bit drowsy” Christopher said, checking his colleagues before turning to face the bitch. “Mona… I am disappointed…” he said.

“Disappointed?” Mona asked with a frown.

“Yes, I always thought you were an honest person…” he sighed, acting like a leader like he always did. “From today, we are no longer friends! And I want you to kneel in front of all of us and apologize!”

“Is he an idiot?” one of the twins asked the other who shrugged, looking at him with disgust.

“Ah…” Mona hesitated. “Look, I am….”

“Is there anything wrong with your brain? Why should Mona apologize?” the girl with the eyepatch spat, interrupting Mona. 

“WHY? SHE BETRAYED OUR TRUST!” Christopher flared. “THAT’S WHY!”

“No, she didn’t!” Mina, Mona’s sister replied. Christopher could have considered sleeping with her and Mona together at one point, but not anymore.

“I AM NOT TALKING TO YOU, BITCH!” he flared again.

SLAP!

Christopher felt as if his face was hit by a truck as he fell back, falling to the ground. It was the girl with an eye patch, she slapped him with the back of her hand.

“CHRISTOPHER!” Tala ran to his side.

“Use that vulgar language again, and I will break your fucking jaw…” she said. 

“YOU!...”

“Idiot… Do you still think you are the leader of the so-called Justice ring? Do you think you still have all your superpowers and such?” the girl asked. “Right now you're just an insect, and if it were not for our intervention, you would have been a squashed insect!”

“...” Christopher felt very humiliated, but the girl was right!

“What happened was not Mona’s plan, she could only go on with it because we forced her!” she stated as she watched him calm down.

“Yes, she barely slept in the last few days, worried sick about you as she watched through the many spying devices we planted to ensure your safety!” Mana the other twin added.

“Spying devices?” Donald gasped.

“Yup! We planted them on you when we handed you in!” the girl with the eyepatch said. “We saw everything, EVERYTHING…” she stressed that last word. “And if it were not for Mona begging us that it was enough we would have waited a few more days… I really wanted to record the monsterization process entirely!”

“Oh… So you thought that what we have been through during the first few days was ok?” Christopher turned to Mona and asked in a sarcastic voice. They were beaten like they were some kind of animal back then.

“You watched them cut Opal’s leg and did nothing?” Tala asked with hostility, making the silent Opal look at Mona.

Hearing this Christopher frowned and looked at Opal… She had two legs. Was one of them cut off and then grown back? He had no idea… A week ago he would never believe such a thing, but after he witnessed how the overseers turned people into monsters, he no longer felt amazed. 

“NO…. We never expect that to happen… It was too sudden,” Mona said in a flustered tone. “And Alpha assured me that she would be cured… Look, she is fine now…”

“So that was not enough entertainment for you?” Christopher finally asked in disgust. Looking at the one-eyed girl. So… her name was Alpha… Was this some kind of codename? 

“I told you… Mona could do nothing,” the one-eyed girl, Alpha, intervened again. “This operation was not just to discover the secret of the Overseers, but also to test you… We are creating a real vigilante group, one that would fight real monsters, and we want you to be part of the team!”

“WHAT?” Donald asked.

“You expect us to join you after what you did to us?” Tala asked.

“I told you it is a test… The real world is not some kind of a comic book… Not the ones for kids anyways!” Alpha said. “Mona is already part of our team!”

“I am?” Mona asked.

“Yes… Remember the bet…” Alpha said.

“Oh…” Mona sighed nervously as she looked down.

“What bet…” Donald asked.

“I can't tell you anything yet… Not before I get your answer…” Alpha said as she turned to face Christopher and the others. “What you saw is a part of a great conspiracy, something that you can’t even grasp… If you want to know the truth about this world, fight for justice, and grow stronger than you ever imagined, I offer you a chance to join our organization!”

“What?” Donald frowned. 

“So we did pass your supposed test after all?” Christopher asked as he scowled. He really wanted to hit her, but he knew that he had no power.

“No, you failed, but Mona wants you in, and we are short staved…” Alpha said. “I can tell you this though, once you are in, you can never back down!” Alpha said. “And the pay is quite good…”

“And what if we refuse to join?” Christopher asked directly. “You will dispose of us?” he added in a sarcastic voice, unconsciously reaching out for his POWER BELT before retracting his hand. It was no longer there!

“You will have to forget everything about us, what you saw, and your friends who chose to join us… It is for your safety!” she said. Mona who was behind her nodded. 

“Oh… You will make me forget?” Christopher asked.

“I don’t have that power yet… But I will advise you to!” Alpha said, carefully choosing her words.

“Then I refuse… Let’s go…” Christopher said to his friends as he stood up with Tala’s help and turned to the door, he was clearly at a disadvantage here, so he planned to leave and then investigate those guys later.

“Yes… Mona… I am disappointed…” Tala said as she helped Christopher. “Donald… Let’s go…” 

“Ah… If I joined… Would I be able to delete the Spy camera Videos?” Donald asked as he stood his ground.

“The data can not be deleted… We can blur your face…” Alpha replied.

“Blur my entire body, and I will join,” he said after some hesitation.

“Ok!” Alpha nodded. “But if you were to ever betray us, I will make sure that the full uncensored movie would become number 1 on all porn sites!”

“AH! DEAL!” Donald quickly replied.

“A damn weakling…” Christopher who reached the door at this point spat angrily and then frowned. “Opal?” he asked, noticing his other friend who sat on her couch not moving ever since he entered the room.

“I… Think we should consider it…” she said in a little shaken voice. “I…”

“WHAT?” WHAT DO YOU MEAN?” Tala asked. Opal was always subservient to Tala.

“They grew my severed leg again…” Opal said. “If I join… May I use this power freely?”

“...I read your file, don’t worry, although you might not be able to use it yourself, we will do our best to help you…” Alpha told her in a serious voice. She used different tones when talking to girls. This bitch was definitely a man-hater.

“Then I will join…” she said. “Sorry…” she turned to Christopher and Tala then told them

“OPAL! You…” Tala wanted to say something.

“Suit yourself! BITCH!” Christopher interrupted. He might be able to use Opal in the future to get spoken info, the girl was easy to push around. “Let’s go… We no longer need to befriend those guys…” 

“Yes…” Tala said, shooting her past friends a hateful look before walking out with Christopher.

…

“...” Mona sighed watching them leave. She really didn’t want things to end like this. And she really didn’t expect Christopher to act like that.

“It is ok… You guys were always meant to split up, I can see it from your dynamics…” Alpha said. “That Christopher has a mentality wanting to control everything…” she added making Opal to the side frown and then nod.

“Yes… And he clearly has some thoughts about you… How dare he!” Mina said. “You are already our husband’s wife candidate!”

“Yeah…. WHAT? SINCE WHEN?” Mona asked in shock, making Opal and Donald who were waiting to hear about the organization look at her.

“Remember your bet with our husband, the overseers turned out to be evil as he predicted, so now you belong to him… He will be your husband too very soon!” Mina said.

“AHHH…. NO WAY… I ONLY AGREED TO WORK FOR HIM…”

“Come on sis… Don’t play dumb, you already knew what he meant back then,” Mana nudged her. “Ever since Victor knew that we were triplets he had been giving us the cold shoulder… He is very peculiar about the authenticity of things… He would never take anything less than the complete set!” she said with a smile. 

“Do you want us to turn into some kind of abandoned housewives?” Mina added. “You don’t know it… But once you try it… you will be addicted….” she whispered to her.

“Ah…” Mona looked at both of her shameless sisters not knowing what to say. 

Alpha to her side sighed.

“Excuse me… Who is Victor?” Donald asked. From what he just heard, he already likes the guy's mentality!

“Your future boss…” Alpha said. “I think you guys will really like each other…” she added with disgust as she looked out of the window where Christopher and Tala walked out of the hotel, then were quickly kidnapped by Theta and Ruby who were waiting outside.

They need to give them a dose of Soul wine to ask them about their future plans for revenge and maybe wipe their memory about what happened here today.