“This could have been avoided!” Shaun calmly stood, looking at the guy screaming in anger while trying to prevent his eyes from rolling…

It was the thirty first of December, six days since the attack caused by Wonderland, and things were still not right, and Shaun was being a bit annoyed now in this private meeting.

Really, Clayton sat there looking at Shaun as if saying sorry with his eyes alone… but officially, Clayton should just sit there, otherwise there would be accusations of nepotism.

Not that there weren’t already such accusations being thrown around regarding Clayton appointing Shaun as the Head Guild Master.

Shaun was a retired veteran staying at home and studying when Red Sky Day happened and he was called back in by Clayton, theoretically someone else should have been chosen but instead Shaun was called in.

“Please, explain to me how this could have been avoided, General.” Shaun asked, the older military man glaring at Shaun in unrestrained anger.

“You knew about the existence of this threat, you even faced him, if you had just made everything public instead of keeping quiet-” Shaun slammed a fist on, and through the table, leaving the man’s red face to begin to pale, understandable when he was still a normal human to Shaun’s super powered Adventurer status.

“Going public with this is the last thing we would have wanted five days ago. Before then, if the Adventurer Killer so much as peeped in the direction of the media our country would be gutted!” Shaun shouted, lifting his hand out of the table.

“We could have claimed he was lying, change blame…” the general spoke and Shaun rolled his eyes, looking to Clayton with annoyance.

Clayton shrugged, his hands tied for this meeting while Shaun looked back to the general.

“Are you stupid? Even if we lied, and the majority believed us, there would be sympathizers, and we can’t exactly fake evidence, if anyone looked at Pennhurst today they’d find evidence of people living there about a year back.” Shaun started, the general still confused getting Shaun to groan in annoyance.

“Mourn wouldn’t need to be believed in by everyone, but every person who would believe would be another person on his side. With one interview, Mourn could have polarized this country worse than the political parties ever did.” Shaun pointed out with a curse under his breath.

The general didn’t seem to understand…

Public opinion was powerful, and anyone could believe anything.

If Mourn got even a tenth of America to side with him, to sympathize and advocate for him, the man would gain traction, people who have issues with America would be free to back him as their ‘poster boy’ for proof that America wasn’t the bright beacon of freedom everyone thought it was.

Shaun was under no illusions that America was as amazing as some said.

The ‘land of the free’ had tons of problems, ranging from having the highest incarceration rate, the highest percentage of suicide cases, racism, sexism, the United States wasn’t the squeaky clean place some thought it was, even if these things weren’t common knowledge or seen every day.

Oh it had its perks, Shaun knew, it was actually pretty easy to survive in America, and if you worked you could thrive even, in this regard the United States were among the top countries in the world…

But again, the United States was a massive controversial pool of events and views, and Mourn’s one could mess with everything.

“…What if you had just shared this information with the military, we could have done something.” The general finally added, looking a bit subdued after Shaun’s outburst, and Shaun sighed, realizing that he was starting to get through to the general.

“I highly doubt that, the military is being slow to adopt the idea of going into the Dungeon to become strong, which is understandable but stupid. It would have taken maybe twenty soldiers to kill one of Mourn’s people, and they’d take out those twenty too most likely.” Shaun’s words were the unfortunate proof.

The abilities of Adventurers outside of the Dungeon were weakened, yes, but a level thirty Adventurer could probably lift a car.

Not to mention that Adventurers higher than level one hundred, such as Shaun or Arthur, were even less restricted than they should be.

It probably had to do with, as Arthur claimed, the ‘quality’ of stats increasing with levels.

Like how if two Adventurers had the same Strength stat, but different levels, the higher levelled Adventurer would be stronger than the other.

Regardless, a normal human couldn’t face an Adventurer, and guns only helped so much when Adventurers were used to dodging arrows from Goblins since Area two.

Arrows weren’t nearly as fast as bullets, but you learnt to dodge out of the line of fire early on or die… or get poisoned, either or.

“So you just let innocent people die? Who are you to decide what my soldiers can and can’t do?” the general asked, Shaun giving the man an ‘are you serious’ look.

“I’m a soldier myself, so I know, I’ve experienced it. And even if I told you all, how was I supposed to know Mourn would do this? I knew he was out there, but I didn’t know what he was going to do.” Shaun started, sighing as he ran a hand through his hair… which was getting to be a bit long.

He’d need a cut soon.

“If I told you without any certainty of his actions, it would be pointless. We’d be scrambling to prepare for something but not even know what we were preparing for.” Shaun added with a sigh, Clayton clapping to draw attention from Shaun and the general.

“Good analogy there Shaun, general, yes, you are correct that information should have been shared, but as Shaun stated, it was minimalist information and not actionable.”

Clayton’s words calmed down the left over tension in the room, the two other men sitting down, looking to Clayton for advice.

“Instead of pointing fingers and wondering what we could have done, we need to figure out how to move on from here, and work on recovering from this drastic terrorist act.” Clayton pointed out, getting nods from the two men.

“Wonderland, strange as their name is, is now considered by many to be the most dangerous terrorist group in the world, and they’re public knowledge now… not to mention the video.” Shaun pointed out, reminding Clayton and the general that a video was given to news groups around the world, to be played at once all over the world…

It was a video from Jack Mourn himself.

No matter what the man said now, it would mean next to nothing considering the deaths attributed to his name…

Even if Mourn revealed all of Pennhurst’s secrets, no one would trust him, even if Mourn blamed America for everything…

Okay, hopefully Mourn didn’t do the last bit, but Mourn’s actions afforded him no goodwill all over the world and very few people to no one at all would like him.

“Release a statement immediately. State that Mourn is the result of subversive actions taken within the American Government to undermine the authority of the President.” Shaun clenched his fists at that…

Clayton truly held no blame for Mourn’s situation, having been unaware of it until they were tipped off by the cardinal Guild Master…

But for Clayton to so quickly wash his hands of any involvement, clearly the man was a politician. Not to mention that, by speaking ‘before’ Mourn, Clayton was attempting to make anything Mourn said be ‘retaliatory’.

“As for infrastructure, channel some funds into the relief measures, set aside a portion for funerals and such, let it be known that we’re looking for donations for such things, I’m sure a few celebrities and other people like them would contribute.” Clayton added, and Shaun nodded, knowing he’d be the one sending the information to the vice-president.

“Okay, how has Valhalla been?” Clayton asked now, and that drew an odd look from Shaun.

“Arthur… is alright… people are happy that Arthur fought the leader of the attack and managed to stop it all, yes, but he also revealed that Mourn’s second-in-command is his own elder brother, Eddie Clive. The situation is… complicated, to say the least.” Shaun pointed out, the two other men palming their faces.

“What you’re saying is that Wonderland’s main target is Arthur Clive, and the second command of that terrorist organization is Arthur’s brother, and that Arthur is likely to want his brother to be… left alive and let free after this?” the general asked, getting a shake of the head from Shaun, surprising the president and the general.

“Arthur has stated that he wants his brother to be alive after all is said and done, but he also understands that even he doesn’t have enough leeway to keep his brother out of jail.” Shaun could see the distaste of the idea on Arthur’s face when this was discussed, but Arthur was adamant.

His brother would suffer the consequences of his actions, and Arthur would even be willing to fight his brother, he just didn’t want his brother to die.

“He is pragmatic, that’s a respectable trait… that might get Arthur some annoying press coverage though, if that fact was to come out.” The general spoke, and Clayton hummed in thought.

“Whether it does or not, Arthur won’t lose much of his reputation, he has a good reputation thanks to Arthur’s Tome, and his actions in stopping the events of Christmas.” Shaun pointed out, Clayton clapping his hands.

“Let’s stop discussing that… Arthur, and by extension, Valhalla, will be fine. Let’s get to work; we have things to do before the video is played.” Clayton stood, the two other men in the room standing and following the president out of the room…

At Arthur’s house, at the same time as the meeting was happening, Arthur’s parents sat on the couch, looking up as Arthur paced in front of them.

“I’ve been waiting now for a week, and now I’m expecting an answer.” Arthur said, looking at his parents with confusion in his eyes.

“What were you arguing about with Eddie, the night that he left? Why does he hate you?” Arthur asked, his mother and father looking at each other with sad eyes for a moment.

“Arthur, that’s between Eddie and us-” Markus spoke, trying to prevent this from happening, only for Julia to place a hand on Markus’ own hands, preventing him from continuing.

“Markus… we can’t really keep it a secret… especially not with Mourn out there.” Julia pointed out, and Markus leaned back into the cushioning of his couch, a deep, sorrowful sigh escaping the man…

He looked like he had aged a decade from before Arthur’s questions to now.

“You’re right Julia… I just… I don’t want our mistakes to be pushed in our faces again.” Markus said quietly, Arthur looking at his parents, confused, but willing to wait, seeing that they were getting ready to explain things.

“…Arthur, your problem, R.A.D… you know what is the usual cause of it, right?” Julia asked pointedly, Arthur nodding.

“Of course, usually it has to do with how a child was raised, being moved around between families a lot, neglectful parenting… but, you didn’t do that… right?” Arthur asked with a frown…

Julia didn’t answer, instead looking down at her lap, quietly shedding tears as Markus sat up, hugging Julia to his side.

“Arthur… we never wanted to. The moment we could, we tried to raise you right, but… but we failed you before.” Markus pointed out, Julia looking up to Arthur.

“Arthur… we definitely failed you… and Eddie knew.” Julia said with pauses as she sobbed…

Arthur just looked at his tired father, his crying mother, and felt confused, not knowing why the two were reacting like this…

But even if he was trying to ignore it, even Arthur couldn’t do that… he couldn’t ignore that Eddie had left…

Eddie left their home because he knew, he knew what Julia and Markus Clive had done to Arthur.

“You see… your mother and I, we worked for the government, more specifically the military. We never told you that part, only telling you what we did, that being a psychologist and a physician.” Markus gestured to himself and his wife in turn at the mention of their jobs, Arthur nodding with a confused frown on his face.

“You… you did mention what you did, but not who you worked for… I just assumed it was a hospital.” Arthur’s guess normally wouldn’t be wrong, a medical profession worked in the hospital or in a private practice.

Normally, that was the case.

“And we didn’t say otherwise.” Markus confirmed with a nod, pausing, wondering how to explain this next bit…

“The fact is… we were involved with one of those ‘top secret’ operations you see in the movies these days.” Arthur blinked, wanting to laugh it off but…

Well, Hell invaded, an army of criminals led by a serial killer attacked many major countries all over the world, and one of Arthur’s friends was bulletproof.

And that last bit was the least surprising thing.

“It was… well, has Guild Master Fife spoken to you yet about where Jack is from?” Arthur ran a hand through his hair with a sigh.

“No he hasn’t, even though… wait… I never said Mourn’s first name was Jack.” Arthur bluntly stated, looking at his parents with some heavy suspicion…

Jack Mourn’s full name was not known publicly. Even the video set to be released in an hour or two was only labelled ‘from the leader of Wonderland’. What was released was that the man went by the alias ‘Mourn’ and that was it.

So how did his parents know Jack Mourn’s full name?

“Oh you didn’t need to… we know Jack very well after all. Including you.” Markus said, no longer trying to hide anything, or deliver the blows softly…

Clearly, it wasn’t working so well, so Markus just decided to do as most did with Band-Aid’s… and tear it off quickly.

“…Explain. Clearly.” Arthur said in return, staring at his father with what felt like anger… but like Markus, Arthur decided to stop moving around the issue.

He usually did such things as a courtesy to others anyway.

“Jack Mourn, patient twenty three, was an… asset, to the project we were working on. It was named Project Fool, and it was designed to turn people with an ‘innate disposition of violence’ into weapons against other countries instead of our own.” Markus said, running his hands through his sobbing wife’s hair.

Julia was clearly in no condition to be talking about this, so instead Markus took it upon himself…

Besides, he thought, it would make it easier for Arthur to hate Markus compared to Julia this way… just this once Markus hoped that Arthur ‘shot the messenger’ so to speak.

Julia already felt like breaking down at the mention of Eddie, she wouldn’t be able to handle being hated by another of her children.

“That sounds inhumane.” Arthur pointed out with a bland expression, even if he truly was surprised by the revelation, he just wanted to get to the point, to understand why.

“Oh it was… training the patients in the use of weapons, how to kill efficiently… and torturing them into compliance if they didn’t do it willingly.” Markus admitted, even as Julia went very still in his arms…

She hated being reminded of what they were once a part of, even if the two of them were never directly involved in the torture or training, they were part of the staff.

“You said Mourn was patient twenty three. So there were twenty two others?” Arthur asked, only kept calm by his desire to learn the truth, with a helping of deep breaths.

“That’s not exact… for example, Mourn was patient twenty three out of forty two. And Mourn wasn’t the first patient twenty three.” Markus added on, sighing before continuing.

“Project Fool has actually been in play since the first world war, done in secret from everyone… even the president.” Markus frowned at that bit, Arthur narrowing his eyes.

“But if it was a section of the government in charge of it, wouldn’t the president be let in on it?” That was a valid concern, and Markus nodded in agreement.

“The presidents weren’t all in on it, I’m not sure when the presidents stopped being informed of Project Fool, but I’m certain president Andrews wasn’t involved… I believe the head of Project Fool got a bit… greedy, and hoping that the more peaceful presidents wouldn’t suddenly cut the project, they stopped being informed of anything.” Arthur wanted to deny it, but realized he couldn’t.

Such a project was outlandish enough, but knowing that they tried to subvert the president… well, that wasn’t so farfetched when compared to the rest of the situation…

Maybe the president would have noticed money used to fund an unknown project, but if the person in charge bribed the people watching the flow of money, then it’s a possibility.

It wasn’t like Clayton was an accountant himself.

“Alright, I can believe that. So Mourn was the twenty third patient of the latest iteration… but how am I involved?” Arthur had a sneaking suspicion, but he really didn’t want his suspicions to be confirmed.

“…You see, we worked on the… ‘batch’ of patients before the last one, so we know how Project Fool transitions from one batch to the next… they send out the patients to countries with possible plans against America… even if there is no concrete evidence, just a suspicion.” Markus then sighed, motioning for Julia to sit up.

He truly did want to keep his wife from this... but she’d also want to be involved, if only for her own sense of guilt.

Even if it was just her being here, it was enough.

“Then, after hearing about the results, we change something and gather the next batch, maybe one batch will be only males, the next batch might only be from a certain race, going back a few decades… as for the latest and final batch we worked on before leaving…” Markus sighed, looking at Arthur’s yellow eyes.

He missed his son’s original brown eyes…

“The last batch of patients were to be children. Orphans who no one would miss, dropped into the project and raised to be killers.” Arthur actually managed to feel disgust at the idea, even someone with an ambiguous sense of morals such as he knew that children were to be protected.

Arthur was largely a being of logic, and even logic said that children were to be cared for.

“That makes no sense.” Arthur said finally after schooling his expression back to neutral from his mixture of surprise and disgust, his father nodding.

“That’s what the majority of the staff said, but the director wouldn’t listen, he wanted to use children, and so it would be…” Markus nudged Julia, the woman drying her tears as best as she could before she looked at her second-eldest child, hardening her gaze.

“When we received this order… your father and I refused, threatening the Director with going to the media, the president, anyone that would listen to us.” Julia finally said.

Arthur blinked slowly, processing the words, and then mentally acknowledged that his parents were a part of bad things, but they seemingly did not agree with what was being done…

Seemingly. Before this talk of children being involved, Julia and Markus probably didn’t even care that much.

“We felt that, as parents, we couldn’t just watch as children were forced through what adults cried and screamed at…” Arthur understood the thought, empathy drove the two to act, making the connection with those children and their own, Markus and Julia wouldn’t want their children to go through it, so why should other children go through it?

If there was one thing Arthur liked about his parents, it was that they weren’t hypocrites.

“But I doubt it worked out that well, considering this story doesn’t end with ‘and so the Project was stopped’.” Arthur pointed out, knowing very well that the Pennhurst situation ended on Red Sky Day from Mourn’s own admission.

Arthur could believe that, prisons were hit hard too, and while many criminals were killed during the situation, some probably escaped.

“To put it lightly, it didn’t. We got threatened in turn by the Director for our actions, told in no uncertain terms that if we tried to speak out, well… we would have lost everything, including you and Eddie.” Markus added, and then Julia frowned.

“We were then further threatened… to bring in a child to Project Fool. To bring in either you or Eddie.” Arthur sat back in his chair, feeling a pressing feeling on his chest…

Well, getting the wind knocked out of you probably felt similar, Arthur noted a bit detachedly even as he repeatedly took a few deep breaths…

His mother immediately stood and moved to the kitchen, his father sitting and waiting while Julia went to get a glass of water for Arthur…

He looked like he was hyperventilating, maybe even a panic attack, though Arthur would never admit to anything like that, they’d just treat it like one and get him some water, let him breathe.

After Julia returned with a glass and a jug of water, filling the glass and letting Arthur down the water with a gulp, Julia sat down, waiting for her son to speak.

“…I get the idea.” Arthur finally said, his breathing slowing slightly as he slumped in the chair.

“…Eddie… Eddie was old enough to know that what was happening was bad… but you were too young, unable to understand. The choice wasn’t even really a choice, as Eddie wasn’t part of the right age group for the Project.” Markus said with a sigh, and Arthur very, very carefully, set his glass down before he threw it at something.

Just because he didn’t remember any of this, just because he didn’t know about it before now, did not mean he wouldn’t acknowledge it… he was wronged, and he felt angry about it.

“So… I was a part of Project Fool, you called it. Why don’t I remember?” Arthur asked, trying to keep the anger out of his voice and sadly failing… it was hard to hide it from his parents.

“…Due to the situation, you were raised within Pennhurst, the facility Project Fool was based out of. You were the first confirmed child involved with Project Fool of the new batch, so you were dubbed ‘patient zero one’ and the training began.” Markus started, and Arthur realized it would be another story to explain everything.

Arthur could understand, he quite liked books himself so he knew that background information was needed to make sense of certain things.

“Eventually, the children were gathered and brought in one by one, until one day the twenty second child after you was brought in, patient twenty three.” Arthur nodded, understanding that to be Jack Mourn.

“Now, the training in Pennhurst was relatively simple… train to use weapons, and more importantly, attain the mind-set that others were to be killed.” Markus started, and Julia frowned, looking away.

“You… took to it well. Where the other children cried or complained you simply did as asked, attacking the training dummies as requested, keeping still when physical check-ups were being done… and then you started taking to it a bit too well… you started to actually enjoy it.” Julia added, and Arthur frowned…

He knew he didn’t have the most stable morals, and that he was only really a functioning member of society thanks to being taught right and wrong from his parents…

But it seemed that Arthur was one of those people.

Those people who were a step away from hurting everyone around them, and only kept from doing so by the knowledge that they shouldn’t.

People who are one excuse away from violence. Arthur was one of them… not much of a surprise to Arthur, but knowing that he showed such signs even at such a young age bothered him.

“Then, a bit after the fortieth patient was brought in, you were all finally allowed to interact with one another… by sparring. You were particularly violent with the other children Arthur… and we couldn’t even tell you otherwise, only able to be with you during check-ups… At some point you stopped referring to us as ‘mommy’ or ‘daddy’.” Julia added, her eyes watering a bit and Arthur just listened to this…

Hearing stories about yourself that you don’t know about was odd, but this was messed up.

“At some point, you and patient twenty three were put against one another… and you came out quite victorious, you actually almost, almost killed him, luckily one of the other staff members managed to get him resuscitated after you choked him into unconsciousness.” Arthur made a pained expression at the way his father was speaking…

Then again, this was the simplest, quickest way to let Arthur know the story.

He’d react fully when everything was said and done.

“When he woke up, you went up to him and declared him your friend… it was a bit odd, but from what the doctor stated, you said- I killed him but he got up, so he’s my responsibility. You were an odd one even then.” Markus said with a dry chuckle, and Arthur couldn’t even muster up the ability to do the same in turn.

Arthur now knew well enough that such a child was strange.

“Strangely enough, patient twenty three didn’t mind being your friend, and the Director was willing to let the two of you interact in training beyond spars… he started to call you ‘boss’ after hearing one of the staff referring to the Director as such even.” Now that was a scary thought…

Mourn had all his people refer to him as ‘boss’. He was just bringing what he learnt in Pennhurst out with him… even the violence.

“And then you got a joint check-up with Julia… and she heard you two referring to each other as ‘boss’ and ‘patient twenty three’ and well… Julia got involved.” Julia looked away from Arthur’s imploring gaze at Markus’ words, then looking back again.

“…A name. I told the two of you that names are important, to make one unique. Names can be shared, but a designation was important. It didn’t stick until I mentioned that patient twenty three was not the first one.” Julia added, and Markus nodded, looking to Arthur.

“Jack. You named him that, with a bit of help from your mother. She thought ‘Jackie’ was an odd name unless on an Asian man.” Julia puffed out her cheeks a bit and Arthur chuckled.

His father deserved the punch in the shoulder from Julia after he tattled on her like that.

“To be fair, other than him, I mostly hear it on girls. Shortening it to Jack seemed fine.” Julia added, and Arthur smiled, realizing that this bit of joviality was enough to get him to relax a bit more.

Arthur struggled to understand his own emotions at the best of times, the only ones he identified with any certainty was anger with its various shades from annoyed to murderous, and ironically confusion.

“What about the surname, Mourn?” Arthur asked, and Julia looked over to him, taking her eyes off of Markus for the moment.

“That was a reference to his ‘death’. When someone dies… you mourn them. He died, and so he was ‘mourning’ his own death. He came up with that bit.” Arthur blinked at the explanation…

Clearly, he wasn’t the only odd child in Pennhurst at the time, even if he was the most… eager, for their lessons.

“Anyway, after gifting him a name, you two were still pretty close… you even sparred a few more times after that… and you were beginning to change Arthur. You were becoming more like Jack, less willing to hurt others so easily, at least with Jack.” Markus added on, a frown coming across his face that had his wife nodding.

“On the other hand, Jack was getting a slight bit more violent… not much, but he was improving, even if he disliked going out of his way to fight.” Julia added on, remembering that child…

Jack Mourn, when he was a child at least, hated to fight unless to defend himself.

“Jack was good for you… and then it happened again. You almost killed him, three years into the Project.” Arthur frowned…

“And this time, you fully understood what that meant… and you shut down… again, he was saved, though this time he needed stitches and to make up for the blood loss…” Markus said with a frown, and Arthur blinked, wondering...

“Then, you tried to kill yourself.” Arthur’s eyes widened, with his face paling at that blunt admission…

If he saw Dennis trying to kill himself, Angelica… the picture was just wrong, horribly wrong.

“You managed to miss your heart, nicking your lung… surgery was performed, your heart restarted with an ECG, and you were saved… but the Director refused to have you as part of Project Fool anymore, saying that we, all of us, were free to leave, so long as we never said anything.” Markus said, Julia nodding with watery eyes.

“He, he said that a self-destructing weapon was worthless…” Julia said with clenched fists and a frown on her face, and Arthur couldn’t recall ever seeing his own mother that mad before…

Well, this ‘director’ seemed like someone who needed to be hated… if he wasn’t dead or ‘vanished’ after Red Sky Day.

“When you eventually recovered, and were brought back home… you didn’t remember anything. Eventually we managed to do some research and narrowed it to selective amnesia… anything to do with Pennhurst, Jack, Project Fool, your training, forgotten.” Arthur looked incredulous at this, even if he was aware that he didn’t have those memories…

That seemed a bit contrived.

“I know, we were a bit sceptical as well, amnesia is a real thing but selective amnesia like this was a bit odd so we researched it… Pennhurst as a whole was traumatic, combined with a lack of oxygen to the brain while you were… dying, and then getting shocked with an ECG would induce enough factors to result in a selective amnesia case.” Arthur would check that out himself, just to be certain but…

“So… Jack Mourn and I… we were friends… and I almost killed him, twice… and now he’s trying to kill me… karma huh?” Arthur said self-deprecatingly.

“I’m… I’m going to go to my room… I need a while… a long while to deal with this.” Arthur said, his parents nodding as he poured himself another glass of water, gulping it down.

“…We were always going to need to tell him.” Markus said to Julia as she sighed tiredly…

She was also probably tired from crying… Julia was just a person who cried often, but once she was done, she got to work.

“…Put on the TV. The video’s coming on.” Julia said finally, and Markus just nodded, standing up to go get the remote.

The TV was put on, and the channel changed, the announcer on the news station explaining the source of the video… and then it began to play.

“Hello world… I. Am... Batman.” The figure on the screen said, his voice deep and serious up until the final word, drawing a bout of laughter from the man on the screen as he spun around on a swivel chair.

“Oh, I hope I got the whole world with that one… but in all seriousness. Hi. I’m Jack Mourn, and I, am a serial killer.” The vicious grin on Jack’s face…

Markus and Julia felt sad looking at the boy… remembering a time where that person could smile, and actually mean it.

“Boss… things are going to be big after this.” Eddie said, looking at Mourn’s back while Mourn was looking at the live reactions to the video playing all over the world right now…

In the meeting room for the six members of Wonderland, only Eddie and Mourn sat…

“Of course they are. I was willing to keep things quiet, but then Columbia happened…” Mourn said, standing and stabbing his evolved Anima through the table in anger.

“I will never forgive this country. I will never forgive the government, and I will certainly never forgive that bastard Guild Leader… Shaun Fife.” Mourn cursed…

Eddie saw the good part of this… Arthur wasn’t really hated, even if he was being targeted.

It was an odd quirk of happenstance… Eddie did not know of Pennhurst, only that Arthur was hurt because of his parents.

Arthur did not know of Pennhurst or Jack Mourn because his amnesia.

Jack Mourn did not know the name of his ‘boss’- Arthur Clive.

Through missing information, none of the three knew their connections…

In the end, all that Eddie could do was look at the clock, slowly moving forward towards twelve, and the new year…

Far away, in London, ignoring the television, was a great man, a warrior of legendary proportions, clad in his cardinal suit, he, was-

“Shut up narrative! For I, Hokage George, am here to speak!” There was no noise inside the room, Jade having sunk back into her couch in surprise while Felicity just sighed, placing a cup of tea down.

“Dear, stop arguing with the narrative and get to the point. Jade, you might want to go into another room, you won’t be able to watch that video in here.” Felicity pointed out and Jade just stood, cautiously sliding away from her sister and her… boyfriend.

Crazy Seer…

“Now that she’s gone… let’s talk a bit more naturally.” George said, watching until Jade’s room door closed, George sitting down much more calmly than before, Felicity as well sighing.

“It’s annoying having to act and sound insane in front of others.” Felicity added, and George nodded, removing a small silver flask before taking a gulp of the alcoholic contents.

“You should drink a bit more. Having a mild buzz always lets me get away with it… and if not alcohol, there are alternatives.” George pointed out with a look, getting Felicity to roll her eyes, fixing her glasses slightly.

“I’m not one for smoking. Besides, aren’t we supposed to do our purpose for this point?” Felicity asked with a raised eyebrow, George snapping his fingers and nodding.

“Right, yes, that, will do… ahem, attention, all who look into the mystic space bubbles… yes you, you know who I’m talking about!” George’s shout echoed into Jade’s room, getting the girl to shake her head exasperatingly as she put on a pair of headphones.

“Dear, I think they get it.” Felicity said, calming down the Cardinal Guild Master.

“Just making sure. Ahem, this has been the second instalment from the frustratingly fast fluttering flying fish, and due to the odd nature of the following instalment, it’s apparently necessary to let you all know some things.” George said, still speaking to the air.

“The third instalment is a ‘recap’ of events, it’s important and unavoidable, so unfortunately you’ll have to deal with it.” Felicity added onto George’s incomprehensible statements.

“That being said, this is George and Felicity, letting all of you know that this is the end of the second instalment, we hope you return for more… and if you don’t… are you not entertained!?” George screamed to the sky with his hands clenched into fists.

“Dear, stop the references for a moment and just say the lines.” Felicity brought George back into ‘normality’ for a moment, getting a nod from the frequent fourth wall breaker.

“Alright. With nineteen chapters, plus a prologue, this book is complete, this book is lacking in a deleted scenes chapter, but let’s hope it gets worked on at a later date. And with that bit of information…” George held out a hand to Felicity, the red-head standing easily, keeping their hands together as they reached out to something only they understood.

“We say good bye, and we hope to see you again in book four! In three…”

“It’s the right book number by the way.”

“Two.”

“From our perspective at least.”

“One!”

Arthur Clive

Level: 116 (B-Rank)

Class: Melding Sorcerer- Grants one stat point to Strength and two stat points to Wisdom per level

Gives Soul Melding Skill

Anima

Starving Cutlass

Coat of Recovery

Anima Skills

No Change

Primary Element: Lightning

Other Element(s): Darkness, Mind

Personal Skills

Tactician VI (21/300) - increases Wisdom by 35% (total 150%)

Sword Sage III (264/500)- Any bladed weapon deals 40% extra damage

Soul Sight III (259/500) - Allows insight beyond mortality

Dual Wielding VI (4/300) - Greater use of two weapons

Lightning Elemental IV (251/400) - Use supplementary lightning spells

Quick Reflexes V (224/250)- Increases Dexterity by 30%

Hunter III (73/300) - Increases damage against previously killed enemies.

Regenerator III (6/150)- increases Vitality by 20%

Soul Melding (4%)- Approach Unity

Stats

Strength: 158

Dexterity: 169 (219)

Intelligence: 78

Wisdom: 210 (315)

Endurance: 78

Vitality: 158 (189)