Chapter 232: Fate

A Secret Realm on Earth:

It was a small world with abundant aura. It looked like earth but the sky was violet and it was always day.

There were military styled infrastructure forming a spiraling pattern.

At the center of the spiral was a vast building in the shape of a three pointed star, imprinted on the ground.

It was built from three crystals of the respective colors and emitted the corresponding light.

On the roof of the building sat the girl whose hair and pupils were of the same color as the building.

Red. Blue. Green.

A black mask covered most of her face except her brilliant eyes that shone with bone chilling coldness.

The wind gently blew her hair and she gazed at the horizon in silence.

"Enigma, what do you think?" A blue light flashed and Blue Flash appeared behind her.

Enigma did not answer.

She saw the training fields miles away where the Shadow Guardians sweated every day.

To be precise, she was observing a woman who was around 25 years old.

Her parents were killed in a mass shooting by Shadow Order. She was just 14 then.

With grit, she studied for the Earth College Entrance. With her own grit, she went from a nobody to the founder a large company.

She found the love of her life and married the soldier who had reached Level 5.

Shortly after their wedding, he was called to duty.

She waited to surprise him…he was going to be a dad. But all that retured was a coffin covered in the flag of federation.

He was stationed as a border patrol on a planetoid where the strongest was level 7.

He stopped the Abyssals that were sneaking into the territory with the intent to destroy an important mobile base a few dozen miles behind him.

The base recently transferred soldiers and wasn't back to its full strength yet.

Once they breached past him, and reached the base, they would direct the Abyssals on the other side of the border.

What would follow was a quick and targeted blow that destroy the mobile base.

Thus, he had to stop them or hundreds of soldiers would lose their lives.

…He stopped them.

At the cost of his life.

The woman had a miscarriage and shortly after, sold her company.

For the first time in her life, she learnt to fight. She turned into an adventurer and took the harsh life head on.

…A pity.

Her talent was only low level, in Roxana's classification.

Her fate dictated she would never amount to anything greater…unless she found one of those rare fruits to improve her talent.

But with her strength and network, that was impossible.

Even though she toiled everyday, there was a ceiling to her achievements.

"…I hate fate." Enigma muttered. Her voice was soft, yet there was a coldness in it alienating herself from everything.

It was as if she did not belong in this place, even though she was standing there.

"…" Blue Flash opened and closed her mouth. No words came out.

Enigma shook her head and her figure blurred before she disappeared into the distance appearing above the fight.

Yumi crashed to the ground as her opponent punched her in the gut.

"Argh!" Her figure vanished the next moment and she teleported behind the Body Awakener woman that attacked her.

Swish!

The dagger in her arm was blunt, but it aimed for the opponent's neck. Yumi's eyes burnt with resolve.

But…

Clang!

Her opponent caught the dagger without turning back and grasped her neck.

Turning around, her opponent, the giant of a woman, looked at her and shook her head. "Give up. You haven't even advanced to Level 4 yet."

Clang!

The woman warded off Yumi's secret stab and lifted her into the air.

Yumi's face paled. She was quickly losing breath. She tried to teleport, but she didn't have enough space power.

So she solidified the space around her opponent's neck to force her.

Creak!

Like a mirror breaking, the solid space was broken and her opponent punched her again in the gut.

"Guh!" Yumi flayed in mid air as she tried to get rid of the grip on her neck.

"Give up, I am at level 4 already." The woman said, without loosening her grip. "You'll only kill yourself if you join us. Just do some non-combat.."

"Gah!" Covering her mouth in Space Armor, Yumi bit down the woman's hand.

"Argh!" The woman cried out in pain as she saw a piece of missing flesh on her hand.

Instinctively, she punched Yumi.

Crack!

With the sounds of ribs cracking, Yumi was blown away and collapsed onto the ground.

Soon, a puddle of blood was formed under her body.

Her head was dizzy and she was quickly losing focus.

She heard whispers as the medical team arrived to heal her, but unknowingly, tears welled up in her eyes.

She tried her best. She really did.

What she went underwent was the most ruthless training. Her body collapsed more times than she could count, but she persisted.

…But why?

Why can't she still advance?

Was she never going to avenge her parents? Her husband? Her unborn child?

Was this the limit of her life?

"Is this my fate?" As the world blurred into darkness, she muttered in despair.

"Was. Not anymore." A soft but indifferent voice said and before lost consciousness, Yumi felt a warm liquid seeping into her body and a sense of euphoria.

The bottleneck she always felt…loosened!

"…Thank…y." She lost consciousness before she could finish.

Enigma stared at the injured woman for a moment and muttered. "If you can't live up to my expectations, I'll personally kill you."

Whish!

Blue Flash teleported behind Enigma again, and this time, her voice was filled with anxiety.

"Enigma! Dreamer's message…"

"Ignore him. He could very well be one of the Army's members or the Xander's." Enigma shook her head and said indifferently.

"If I contact them, I'd be taking a significant risk of being caught. I can still escape, but what about the Secret Realm?" Enigma paused as she eyed the thousands of members training hard before saying. "The army will slaughter everyone."

"..." Blue Flash's hands were clenched and a sigh escaped her. "A pity."

"A Technocrat Sovereign appearing all of a sudden…it's absurd. Maybe those people are pooling all the technocrats to play a game. The technology for mission purge, they could've gotten it from the ruins anyway and they conspired to create this persona of Dreamer." Enigma said lackadaisically. 

"But…Charles' video is real." Blue Flash muttered in confusion.

"I am surprised, to be honest. He cares about his reputation a lot." Enigma squinted her eyes and then chuckled with cold mockery.

"But again, this is Julius. He can go to any lengths for his goals. Since I am an obstacle to him, sacrificing his eldest son's reputation to bait me out would be a good deal." She waved her hand and Yumi was taken into the ward by the bots.

"…but what if he is like you?" Blue Flash said after taking a deep breath.

She didn't know much, but she did know that Enigma was different. Just her progress was way too fast than anyone she'd seen.

So if Dreamer was also someone like her…

Enigma stiffened for a moment before shaking her head. "Me ending up here is a crazy coincidence. Besides, even if he is a Sovereign Technocrat, without access to weapons from military, what can he help us with? Hacking?"

"...you're irritated today. Did something happen?" Blue Flash asked.

Enigma looked up at the sky and said calmly. "....I remembered Roxana. I regret killing her...I should've kept her alive and tortured her. My bad."

"....I see." Blue Flash nodded. 

In the video Dreamer posted, Charles was shown in Roxana's lab. It triggered Enigma. 

There was no way any sane person would appreciate her existence. But since she had an 'agreement' with Xanders, Enigma refrained from smearing Roxana's name.

Finally, Enigma checked her comm.

To her surprise, just a few minutes ago, Dreamer had a new post under the original.

>> The information is related to Shadow Order. You can end your troubles, once and for all. I swear on Roxana's dead soul.

Enigma's eyes widened.

The army, the prime families, the adventure guild and the trade union were all taken aback.

The Supreme leader of Shadow Order, resting in his head quarters in a secret realm gaped at the message.

Before he knew it, he was already shivering.