Chapter 103: He Who Treads in the Counsel of the Wicked

Days before the attack, Arthur and Kristine waited patiently in Arthur's room. Next to them was a large Chamber Capsule that only he and Kristine knew followed them to Hong Kong.

Seeker stood nearby and turned his eyes towards the door.

The door finally opened.

A young teen walked into the room and immediately noticed a third person standing alongside Arthur and Kristine. Of course, Lowengren knew of this man's identity.

"Casual Carlean. We finally meet." Lowengren immediately called out.

"Sebastian Hoross. The Game Transcender." Seeker greeted back with a smile.

"Why have you called me?" Lowengren immediately asked as his face turned serious.

"Ah. Back to game mode, I see? Relax. The fact that I called you here doesn't mean I am going to play around with you or discuss strategies with you which requires your 'other self.'" Seeker stopped and observed Lowengren quietly.

Lowengren's expression slowly relaxed as his breathing changed. And like that, he exited his game mode.

"Unless you merge these modes of yours, you'll never move past Inhuman." Seeker summarized.

"I know about that. I'm trying but it's not as easy as I thought it would be." Lowengren frowned.

"Wait. I don't understand. You're talking about how he switches back and forth from game mode? It's not just him putting on a serious face?" Kristine could not help but ask.

"Yes. It's far more than that. The truth is, Lowengren's a fun-loving, rude and oftentimes cruel kid who loves to play tricks on people. But after what they did to him, this game mode of his is actually a mental state that was forced upon little Sebastian here. And he needs to overcome that. As I recall, the you of the future told me that you were forced by your managers to take acting classes and adopt a new persona. They even used drugs, right?" Seeker asked.

"Drugs?" Kristine was shocked.

"I was right…" Arthur murmured as he gave Lowengren a scrutinizing look.

Lowengren simply nodded.

"Correct. They were using drugs to stimulate me in my acting. After the Cyber Gamer Act banned in-game trash talking in the competitive field, my career was at risk. So my managers wanted Horrorross out and another Arthur in. Thus 'Lowengren' was born."

Kristine couldn't help but gaze weirdly at Lowengren. She had long been aware of Lowengren's trash-talking prowess. But to think that it actually was so ingrained that his managers actually had to use chemical means to remove it? She turned to Arthur and noticed that Arthur's expression revealed that he had known about it.

"Don't worry. You're an Unbecoming now. Whatever damages it did to your brain, it can easily be flushed out." Seeker then revealed a vial with a strange glowing greenish liquid.

"These are cells taken from me. My little retreat has made me discover that my Path is quite strong. If you have the faith a Believer has, and you believe in me, then my cells can help you."

"Are you going to die on a cross for me?" Lowengren smiled.

"Hopefully not. But similarly, you have to believe in me. If you're successful, then you could even awaken your Path."

Lowengren took the vial and started to unceremoniously left the room. A hint of excitement could be seen on his face.

"That's it?" Arthur asked when Lowengren closed the door.

"The more the knowledge, the more the doubts. Leaving things as broad as possible is sometimes better than all the information in this world. Especially if it requires others to have faith. Lowengren understood it. I guess that's why he didn't want me to explain things to him. Sometimes in order to believe something, you need lesser facts. The facts will only limit your thinking." Seeker smiled.

"Do you know what his Path would be?" Kristine inquired.

"No. Even in the future, he didn't even reveal a Skill. Your father took an interest in him and took him up as a disciple though." Seeker laughed.

"My father? Interesting. He must have some sort of potential."

"Not jealous?" Seeker teased.

"No. My father made it clear that I'll have to walk my own road. I want that as well." Arthur calmly replied.

"Oh, you're no fun as always. Anyways, keep an eye out on Lowengren. We need to know whether he will only manifest a Skill or if it's strong enough to be considered a Path. I hope that at the least, he'd be a new Ranked Hero. " Seeker stretched his arms as he walked back into the capsule chamber.

At first, Arthur didn't take Seeker's words seriously. But his unexpected defeat made him obsessed at what Lowengren's Path is.

Arthur's first clue came when he witnessed an impossible but casual event.

Lowengren had managed to infuriate two of the Dragon's Fang. Arthur knew that this was almost impossible to do so. He had been around assassins all his life and One and Force weren't any run-by-the-bill assassins. These were the ones at the peak of this trade.

Was it that easy to infuriate a Dragon's Fang?

But this coincidence wasn't the only time it happened.

The second clue came when Arthur finally defeated Force.

Lowengren had urged Arthur to do his best and not be afraid of attacking and critically wounding either One or Force even at the cost of being immobile.

Arthur disagreed and wanted to explore other strategies but Lowengren was confident. This went on for two hours. There were even moments that One entered their chambers to offer tea as the two continued to debate using figurative terms and phrases. In the end, Arthur had to concede and follow the risky plans of Lowengren.

After the smashing Force, Arthur's body was broken and damaged. He wouldn't be able to fight back. The only thing could do was distract his enemies.

"Quite a disciplined army you have. After everything that we've been doing, they dared not attack me." Arthur bluffed.

"It's already embarrassing that we have to ask help to get them to rescue Force. But this is where the battle ends. You've paid quite a price for that move." One moved towards Arthur.

"It seems that your leg muscles are about to tear. The bones in your arm should almost be fractured." Specter also spoke.

Arthur's heart grew cold at Specter's words. It was just as he feared. Lowengren was confident that they wouldn't attack him but Arthur insisted that they would. 

"If I want to defeat one of you, I'd have to be willing to pay that price." Arthur simply shrugged. Though he remained unmoved on the outward expression, his heart was in turmoil. He had insisted that the Assassins would attack him as they would notice the tearing of muscles and breaking of bones in that attack.

But even then, Arthur didn't blame Lowengren. He was stupid enough to agree to the plan in the first place. Arthur didn't even tremble as no fear was in his heart. He was ready to die.

"Let's just end this. Get ready, Arthur." One readied a stance.

But right before One and Specter could move, Lowengren, who was facing Clutch, gave a light chuckle as he tried to hide a quick glance he made over Arthur.

"Wait!" Clutch immediately cried out as a dread of fear jolted him.

Specter and One stopped their advance and immediately gazed at Clutch.

Lowengren cursed and immediately threw three bombs. This wasteful attack confused the two assassins. They were well aware that Lowengren had barely used his grenades but he was now frantically throwing several of them to attack Clutch.

Specter and One gave each other a meaningful look after seeing the strange reaction of Lowengren and the warning of their fellow assassin.

One finally shook his head at Specter and the two dropped their stance and observed the other battles.

Arthur was stunned at the development. He had just started to see his life flash before him but now he had to cut it short and gave a strange look at Lowengren.

What had just happened was a miracle. A simple chuckle and glance made Clutch, a cold and cruel assassin to feel a sense of danger.

At that moment, Arthur pondered deeply. Has Lowengren never really revealed even a small bit of his Path or Skill? Or was it possible that Lowengren has, and Arthur just didn't notice?

The clues suddenly became more apparent.

The Australian Avarice was a fight they won due to Lowengren's strange strategies.

How did Lowengren manage to confuse Lander and throw a grenade without making Lander realize it? Arthur didn't believe that that tactic would work. But it did.

How was it that Lowengren knew how General Garland would act? Lowengren didn't. He baited and trapped Garland.

"Deception. That's the root of his Path…" Arthur finally understood.

And so, while all eyes were on Alean's battle, Arthur's were on Lowengren's.

Lowengren had been using small bombs which gave of a small blue light throughout his battle. Clutch easily evaded the bombs and even scoffed at Lowengren.

Utilizing a strange technology that generated fog, Clutch easily evaded the Lightning Bombs.

The Fog would take strange shapes, but usually into the shape of a flying hand. Clutch rode the strange fog as it appeared to have the capability of becoming solid.

When the battle between Alean and Lander grew more intense, Clutch finally decided to end the stalemate by attacking in case more of his allies are defeated.

The mist around Clutch started to gather and create a small tornado. A powerful attack was about to be launched.

"Eat this!" Lowengren suddenly screamed as he countered with a powerful toss.

The speed of the thrown grenade was extremely fast. A burst of air made the bomb fly like as fast as a bullet. Yet this speed was still slow in the eyes of any Dragon's Fang.

Clutch made an easy evade as the mist around him carried him sideward.

As Clutch was zooming sideward, his peripheral vision caught sight of several blueish lights approaching him.

The sudden appearance of these lights shocked him as he did not expect Lowengren to be able to throw more bombs at this speed. Clutch evaded it by dashing backward. As he was retreating he noticed several spider mines on the ground behind him. Clutch cursed and frantically used his boosters to propel him upwards to avoid the bombs in front, and the spider mines at the back

Lowengren immediately laughed and called out to Blur on the other side of the battle.

"Wrong move."

A powerful lightning strike enveloped Blur and surprised Clutch who momentarily turned to look.

It was at that moment, that a bomb that did not have the glowing blue lights zapped out lighting right on top of Clutch. Unconsciously, Clutch had actually been looking for these blue lights and a bomb without it hadn't caught his attention. The charging arc of electricity raced downwards as it was attracted to the spider mines below Clutch

BOOM!

Clutch was enveloped in a net of lightning. Clutch didn't even manage to reveal the maximum capacity of his technology. He fell down and appeared in a similar state that as Blur.

Back at the present, the Assassins kept shouting at Lowengren in anger demanding the laughing maniac to answer them. While Blur's defeat was unexpected, the arrogant and disgusting sneer that Lowengren wore had drawn in all the attention. Even his mocking and arrogant tease at Arthur somehow made the Assassins frustrated. They concluded that Arthur wasn't the leader of this group. Lowengren was!

Arthur was now sure. It wasn't just a Skill.

"He fought the battle using unnecessary decorative lights in his bombs. And then he suddenly used a damned flashlight to deceive Clutch into thinking that more bombs were on his way! Because he kept using lighted bombs, he made Clutch forget that he could throw a bomb without that damned blue light!" Arthur thought to himself.

Those deceptive attacks shouldn't have fooled Clutch. Being a poison user, it was obvious that Clutch would be the Assassin who would use the most elusive fighting styles. Yet, he easily fell for Lowengren's lie.

What was deception? Arthur's mind raced.

Why is it that some people find it easy to trick others? Many have made a career out of it and had deceived people. Others would scam through various means with various evidence, but others would only use words and still be successful. Deception through misinformation, manipulation, and misrepresentation. This was Lowengren's path!

"Looks like you've finally figured it out." Lowengren laughed.

"You've awakened it even before we had our little match… I wondered why I trusted your stupid promise at that time..." Arthur glared at Lowengren.

The capability to deceive a potential Ranked Hero so casually, and one with incredible intelligence such as Arthur, this was a Path.

Lowengren revealed another bomb. It was larger than his usual bombs. It gave a peculiar red and white divide.

The Assassins were slowly backing away at the sight of the strange bomb.

"Electrode, I presume?" Arthur almost smiled at the sight.

"I've always known what my Path was. When Seeker offered me his truth, I finally had the faith to live it out." Lowengren arrogantly declared.

"A deceiver of nations? Should I call Satan then?" Arthur frowned.

"No. That would be too anti-religious. If Seeker intends to return theology to its peak, we all must carry Biblical titles."

"Then what should your Path be called?"

"You know what is written. Blessed is the man who stands not in the way of sinners or sits in the seat of mockers. And more blessed is he, who walks not according to my directions… I, who tread in the Counsel of the Wicked."

"Shall we end this?" Lowengren called out to the Assassins.

"Execute the plan! Blow this place up!" Lowengren laughed as he readied to throw the bomb.

The Assassins moved to retreat as far as they could in those quick seconds. They could not afford to stay within range of Lowengren. They could not ascertain how Clutch was defeated so they had to act cautiously.

Arthur knew that this was another ploy made by Lowengren. Their mission was to keep the Assassins busy. Arthur wouldn't be able to help and the energy that Alean and Lander expended in the battle was great. As they didn't have the capability to draw energy from the suits like Seeker and the others, they had to conserve their energy. This deception was the answer.

"Let's do it Electrode!" Lowengren shouted crazily.

A large alarm suddenly trumpeted throughout the base.

"Are you insane?!" One screeched in great fear as he recognized that alarm. The other assassins also reacted in terror at the sight of Lowengren's weapon.

"TIER ONE WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION DETECTED! ALL PERSONNEL, EVACUATE TO THE SHELTERS!"

The alarm caused great panic as the soldiers started to immediately retreat.

Lowengren continued to hold up high the Pangean flashbang. No one among them was more confused, bewildered and worried than he was.