Chapter 16: Mission Possible

“I’m ready!” (Arthur)

[...You didn’t make a suit? Or at least a mask?]

Seeing Arthur so pumped up with all sorts of gadgets strapped on him, Nightmare frowned.

“Why?” (Arthur)

[...This is an extraction mission, not assassination. Do you want Bartholomew to know who you are so he can come to your doorstep later?]

“Uhh...Is that why you hide your face?” (Arthur)

[Not really. With my power, even if someone comes to my place, I can easily take care of them.]

“Then why?” (Arthur)

[There are reasons. Once you know who I am under this mask, you’ll understand.]

“Will that happen?” (Arthur)

[If you stop asking long enough. Forget it, you can use my spares for now.]

“...You have a spare superhero costume?” (Arthur)

[...]

Actually, Max really have an actual suit and a helmet but most of the times, he uses illusion. However, illusions aren’t perfect and you can’t touch it so it’s still needed to have a real helmet and suit in case Max needs to come in contact with someone.

For example, carrying an injured girl to safety.

Yes, girl, if it’s a man, Max will just use magic to carry them away. This is Max so he simply wants an excuse to grope girls...but you don’t need to know that...

In any case, Max prepared some actual suits and spares. Though, the helmet’s screen display only shows the smiley face.

“Awesome! I am so keeping this! Hey, can I keep it? Pretty please???” (Arthur)

[No, next time, make your own.]

Arthur, upon donning on the Nightmare suit, was excitedly jumping around as if he just got his first birthday gift.

“Do I need to make it like, a motor helmet and suit too or something?” (Arthur)

[No]

“Oh, then what do I call myself? I was thinking...Medusa!” (Arthur)

[You sound like a girl.]

“...True, then. Basilisk!” (Arthur)

[I don’t really care what name you take. Do as you see fit. I’m sending you out now.]

“Wait, can my power even work with the visor?” (Arthur)

[...I’ll remove it.]

Suddenly remembering, Nightmare removed the visor and placed an illusion magic circle to make an illusory visor so Arthur can use his power.

Afterwards, he teleported Arthur in a safe distance from the Bartholomew mansion.

[Mission Start]

* * *

Arthur started to contemplate as he looks at the mansion from a roof of a building a safe distance away while holding a telescope.

“Hmm...I’ve pretty much got their routine...time to move.” (Arthur)

He has been observing the guards around the mansion for an hour to see how they work. After thinking for a while, he simulated in his head all the possible scenarios that may happen and chose the most suitable course of action.

First, he needs to understand the limits of his power, so he jumped across the roofs using a jump enhancer and shock absorber he made on his boots to fill in in his lack of parkour skills.

At first, he tried to use a hover board instead but figured that he doesn’t have much skill in using that as well so jumping was the best way for him.

He moved close to the roof of a building close to the mansion where a sniper was on the lookout. Properly timing, he climbed up the roof and crept closer to the sniper.

[Petrify]!

Suddenly, the sniper’s clothing turned grey, but his whole body was still flesh. The sniper frowned, thinking why his shirt was suddenly so hard.

Seeing this, Arthur understood that only the shirt was petrified because that was the focus of his sight and that the whole person wouldn’t conveniently turn into stone just by looking at them.

Next, he petrified the sniper’s arm as it didn’t have any clothing.

The sniper was shocked to see his arm turn grey like a stone and panicked. However, Arthur frowned as he saw that the sniper was only petrified on his arm and not the whole body. It didn’t even petrify his whole arm.

“So it only works on the area around my sight’s focus?” (Arthur)

“Wha-!? Who!?”

“Oops, my bad.” (Arthur)

This time, Arthur looked at the sniper’s eyes when he turned around subconsciously and used petrify.

“W-what’s happe-...”

“Aha! So their whole body petrifies if I focus on the eyes! Hmm, this will be a challenge. I thought that as long as I look at them, they will instantly be incapacitated.” (Arthur)

Arthur nodded upon seeing the sniper now became a statue.

Suddenly, black mist appeared in front of him which formed into words.

[Don’t talk while wearing my suit. I’ve already established a silent character! Don’t ruin it!]

Arthur blinked and stared at the mist words for a while then laughed.

Turns out, Nightmare can speak but just want to be mysterious.

It seems even Nightmare knows how to be playful.

After calming down, Arthur grabbed his telescope again and switched the infrared vision, briefly checking everyone’s positions to see whether there’s any mishap.

He then moved towards the petrified sniper, disarmed him, gagged his mouth, and found some chain on the roof to tie him up before depetrifying him.

Finally freed, the sniper awoke only to find himself tied up and gagged, making him look at Arthur fearfully.

Arthur motioned a silencing posture to kindly tell the sniper to shut up but the sniper only saw him as some kind of monster and suddenly fainted.

Confused, Arthur tilted his head before shrugging and moving on to his mission.

With the sniper knocked out, a hole in their security appeared and Arthur was able to reach the mansion’s roof.

He scaled the wall and arrived on a window on the top floor.

Remembering the mansion’s structure, he covered a portion of the window glass with his hand and petrified the surrounding glass. This resulted to a hand shape in the middle that was still glass.

Arthur smashed that portion with his fist and as expected, the sound was less noisy compared to the whole window being smashed.

He reached for the window lock and opened the window in order to get in.

Right now, he is in a hallway in the top floor. The target is in the basement and since the mansion is four floors up, he still need to go down five times.

He opened the door near him in panic and sneaked in since he heard footsteps from the right.

Arthur thought he was safe until he looked around the room and saw that he was actually in a wide bedroom...of Bartholomew himself!

He was actually in the middle of doing it with five women on the bed!

Bartholomew was prepared to scold who was rude enough to disturb him when he saw Arthur’s appearance.

For a while, he looked at him dumbfoundedly then decided to shout but...Arthur was quick witted enough and petrify him immediately.

...Actually, Arthur just panicked and used his power unconsciously…

Watching him from far away, Nightmare smacked his head and shook his head.

This guy...what kind of infiltration is this? He actually got found by the boss immediately…Thank god I gave him petrification abilities, otherwise, this would get messy immediately…

Max breathed a sigh of relief and continued watching.

The woman Bartholomew was doing didn’t notice anything was wrong, only that his thing somehow became rock solid and didn’t mind it as she still kept shaking her hips.

However, the other women obviously noticed Arthur and quickly shouted for help. The guards who were patrolling outside heard it but they just shook their head, thinking that their boss is doing a rough play or something.

Never would they imagine that someone sneaked in and petrified their boss. After all, who is Bartholomew? Who dares to disturb the kingpin of crime? Not even Satan has the guts!

The women tried to tell Bartholomew to get rid of Arthur but found that he hasn’t been responding. Looking at him, they were shocked to see him turn into stone while the woman below was still shaking her hips.

The woman was in all fours to begin with so she didn’t see anything weird. Only that she can’t seem to make Bartholomew climax for some reason.

“Haah aah aan, w-what’s wrong? Haan aa- Wh-why are y-you all shouting? Aaaaah.”

“Idiot! Stop that! Look at the boss!”

“Aah ahh...eh?”

After the other women stopped her, only then did she realize what was happening and looked at Arthur while blinking.

“So it was Mr. Nightmare. You...you want to join?”

Behind the helmet, Arthur’s mouth was wide open and stared at them, not knowing what to do.

After petrifying Bartholomew, Arthur was actually stunned to see the woman still doing it and didn’t know how to react. Also, he was shocked to see this fatass actually having five sexy women on his bed.

Only after hearing he was called Nightmare did he snap back to reality.

Arthur wanted to say he’s Basilisk and agree but remembered that he is using Nightmare’s suit and image at the moment so naturally, he has to refuse.

Especially since he knows the real Nightmare is watching them…

Seeing Arthur shake his head, the woman sighed in disappointment.

“Then, are you here to kill Boss? Or us?”

Arthur paused for a while before shaking his head again.

“This guy, with him like this, can he still hear or see?”

Arthur was surprised and was about to shrug since he didn’t know when a mist word appeared in front of him.

[No]

“Oh, then do whatever you want. Meanwhile...this pig’s thing is actually this hard...and he also can’t climax so...I’ll help myself in the meantime~”

“Ah? Isn’t it rough?”

“Not really. It still feels the same, but as hard as a rock!”

“Let me try!”

“Me too!”

Realizing that their lives aren’t in danger, the other women no longer minded Arthur and started to play with the petrified Bartholomew. Usually, it was that pig who would play with them, now, they get to have a chance to pay him back and he won’t even notice.

Not to mention, they knew their place and knew that they’re only sex toys to Bartholomew so why should they spend their effort in catching Arthur?

At most, they only get a bit special treatment in bed but something like that really wouldn’t matter anyway. Later, they can just sleep peacefully and say that they were knocked out.

Seeing these five women in playing with their Boss, Arthur sighed in regret and left.

The guards had already passed by and he was able to reach the stairs.

There, he found a surveillance camera attached to the ceiling so he pulled a portable holo-computer and after a few keystrokes, the footage started to loop itself and he was able to cross it.

He didn’t pay attention to any other floors and directly went to the basement.

Compared to above ground, there were more securities here. And they’re all wearing sunglasses!

Who wears sunglasses inside the house!? And even in the basement!?

Troubled, Arthur leaned from the staircase and observed the guards.

First thing’s first. Remove their weapons.

He petrified the guns on their waists or shoulders before revealing himself.

“Stop! Who are you!?”

“Shit! It’s that freak Nightmare!”

“Shoot! Shoot him!”

Seeing Arthur suddenly appear, they all pulled their guns but found that they can’t even pull the trigger!

Using this opening, Arthur pulled out a handkerchief, rolled it, then petrify it, making a makeshift baton.

He smacked it on the head of the nearest guard. The guard’s sunglasses dropped and Arthur grabbed his head to look at him in the eyes before freezing.

The other guards are still slow to react so Arthur did the same to them but after a while, the experienced fighters decisively dropped their guns and charged at Arthur.

Arthur pulled the carpet below and threw it at the rushing guards who only thought that it was for diversion. They didn’t expect that Arthur would petrify the rug that closely wrapped on a few of them which turned it rock hard.

The guards who were captured by the petrified rug struggled while those behind who were rushing tried to stop but their momentum was already too fast to stop, causing them to crash on the solid carpet wall.

With this, Arthur was able to calmly petrify all of them. He depetrified the carpet and lifted the guard statues to lie down neatly before rolling the carpet to bind them all.

Later, when he’s about to get out, he can depetrify them but not the carpet so they can’t chase after him.

He reached the room where the weapon was kept. After taking care of a few more guards.

When he opened the door, he was surprised to see Nightmare waiting for him there.

“How-...nevermind. So? Did I pass?” (Arthur)

[You still need to leave this place alive. As for this weapon, I’ll take it from here. By chance that you dropped it, even I won’t be able to stop it. Just think how you can leave this place alive.]

“Oh, okay.” (Arthur)

Looking at the weird glowing device Nightmare was holding, Arthur can’t help but gulp. After all, that thing, if he really dropped it carelessly, can level one fourth of America!

Arthur is still unable to take such big responsibility!

In fact, he was thankful that Nightmare would be the one to take it back. This is his first time doing this kind of thing after all and he knew he already made a few mistakes along the way. He didn’t want to accidentally drop that thing...even if the chances are low…

“Ah right. The child...my friend’s son. Do you know where he is!?” (Arthur)

[...If you take him, Bartholomew will come looking for that friend of yours.]

“Th-then I’ll take care of her!” (Arthur)

[And what? Lock her in your house? The moment she steps foot outside, he will know.]

“But...can’t you do something about it?” (Arthur)

[There is a way.]

“What is it!? Tell me what I need to do!” (Arthur)

[Simple. Tell me who she is. I’ll go look for her and see whether she can become like you. By then, she’ll have the power to fight back.]

“T-that...” (Arthur)

Arthur was surprised. He didn’t think that Nightmare would willingly accept another person immediately and bestow her with power as well just for helping him.

[I can also teleport her to another country but then you might never see her again.]

“I-I...” (Arthur)

[Is she really just a friend to you?]

“...Please see if you can accept her and bestow her with power.” (Arthur)

[Fine. She’s your responsibility. I’ll take care of the child after I’ve seen her. So, who is she?]

“Emm, I think her name was Emilia Keys.”

Nightmare nodded disappeared from Arthur’s sight so he also started to leave the mansion.

Of course, he depetrified everyone he petrified after they’re all bounded. As for Bartholomew, when he went back to the bedroom, he saw the five women sleeping peacefully and tired on the bed.

On the face of Bartholomew, there were weird drawings and scribbles.

“These girls actually want all the blame to fall on me...whatever, let’s also draw one.” (Arthur)

Arthur grabbed a pen from the table and wrote on Bartholomew’s back.

Satisfied, he nodded and depetrified Bartholomew.

Finally awoke, he was about to shout at Arthur but he was already prepared and gave his head a good whack, causing him to fall unconscious immediately.

* * *

“WHAT!?” (Bartholomew)

Immediately after Bartholomew woke up, he was greeted with bad news.

“You’re saying that [Mini-Star] has been stolen!?” (Bartholomew)

The [Mini-Star] isn’t the real name of the bomb. It was originally called [WB.23] which means [World Bomb 0.23]. In other words, it’s an experimental bomb that, in it’s fullest form, can destroy an entire planet.

However, this 0.23 model is only capable of destroying one fourth of America and was called the [Mini-Star] in the underground world.

Criminal organizations plant these underneath certain cities to use it as a threat. As long as they comply, they wouldn’t blow up their city, something like that.

In other words, as long as you have one of these, then you can instantly lord over an entire city without any problems.

Making one actually takes a lot of resource so they are considered rare. Which was why such an item can sell for quite a lot of money in return.

The reason why Bartholomew has one is because he is collaborating with the underworld company that makes it. The company makes, he sells. In return, he gains both wealth, power, and connection to all sorts of people.

However, he really didn’t think that someone dared, and succeeded, to rob him!

He turned around and looked outside the window as if he’s looking for something.

“Fuck! That bastard will pay!” (Bartholomew)

[Pay?]

Seeing a black mist form into words in front of him, Bartholomew’s fat face created waves as he shivered.

Feeling death behind him, he didn’t dare to turn back at all. There was no need to! He already knows who’s behind him from the reflection of the window’s glass!

He didn’t even dare imagine what had happened to the bodyguards around him when he didn’t hear a single sound from them!

“W-what do you want!?” (Bartholomew)

[I’m taking this kid. He’s not yours.]

“W-what!? He’s my only living heir!” (Bartholomew)

[I said]

[He]

[Isn’t]

[Yours]

Suddenly, everything around them was engulfed with darkness and occasionally, flashes of white appeared followed by a wail full of despair.

It was as if he’s hearing the screams of the dead he sent in hell.

Each cursing him and screaming at him.

“Don’t worry. I won’t do anything to you as long as you don’t do anything to me. You’ll make a good enemy for my kids.” (Nightmare)

For the first time, Nightmare spoke. However, Bartholomew only felt as if his soul was being drained from the sound of his voice.

This is the voice of death itself!

“Time to wake up from the Nightmare.” (Nightmare)

*BANG*

Immediately after Nightmare’s voice ended, Bartholomew’s body jolted and he collapsed on the floor.

“S-sir!?”

“What happened!?”

Hearing his bodyguards’ voices, Bartholomew found himself back in his bedroom where he was before.

He looked around in panic, searching for Nightmare. Only until he was sure that he isn’t here that he breathed a sigh of relief.

It was as if everything that just happened was a dream...no, it was a nightmare…

But...was it?

“M-my son! Where is my son!?” (Bartholomew)

Bartholomew’s face paled and ran out of the room, searching for his son but...he wasn’t found anywhere…

This could only mean one thing. That was...Nightmare was really here!

Towards this monster, Bartholomew abandoned all signs of taking revenge! He already said that as long as he doesn’t do anything to him, he’ll also ignore him!

The only problem was...he didn’t know who he is!

In the off chance that he offended him without even knowing that it was him...Bartholomew quickly abandoned that thought.

For now, it’s best not to offend anyone!

Author's Mumblings

Sorry for the super late post...real life has been a major pain T_T

There's my intern, school, assignment, 2 projects, presentation, writing, drawing...yeah, draw, I've been working on the cover photo of Back Again and the character designs...nothing's working though...

As for the new hero, the girl mentioned here, no, not part of harem for those who thinks so. Also, I still have no idea what power I should give her, or if I should give her any.

I already have someone in mind for healing and superspeed so if you're suggesting, don't include that.

Well, Max is really OP...guess I should start on making supervillains like mutated thingies or genetically altered thingies or alien thingies or super robot thingies, I dunno.

Also, I guess I'll use Basilisk. And parts of his new suit will be scales. Well, not real ones but you get the point.

Let's meet again in the next chap!