Chapter 210: Creating Spies

The Clown moved so fast that it would have been impossible for a normal man to have noticed it.

The broad ax hacked through and destroyed the upper torso of the Exoskeleton. 

It took a while before the Clown could stop from its rush. Stanley had appeared almost instantly on his sights and daring not to waste any moment. He rushed with his fastest movements and attacked the enemy.

The Clown frowned. His hands had reverted to human arms once more, but it was without any signs of blood.

He turned around to observe the Exoskeleton's upper torso.

His strike struck the upper chest area and hacked through it. The attack was so strong that the head and part of the right shoulder was chopped off. Yet there were blood-stains on his weapon. 

He turned around and found that there was no pilot in the Exoskeleton.

"Is this Automaton? Are we really facing an Emperor?!" The stunned reaction of the Clown made him consider this possibility. The reports everywhere indicated that the enemies could still move even when the Empress used Origin Wave. Upon reforming its body, it immediately sensed the powerful shield that the Empress summoned.

As the Clown was deep in thought, the Elite piloting the Clown sensed an attack but reacted too late.

A sword slashed through its head, cutting through the place where the eyes should be. The top part of the Clown fell on the ground and turned into a liquid metal that tried to reform.

The Clown cursed and released several long limb-like blades that looked like the legs of a spider. He began attacking the area around him.

The Clown then heard several echoing shouts around him. He circled over and began to strike the specific locations as deadly reddish blades appeared on it's back like the arms of a spider. But suddenly, a powerful force struck it and sent it flying. While in midair, various attacks continued to pummel it, making it rotate several times before falling down.

The Clown immediately stood up and frowned. The head and eyes reformed, and he began to look around him.

Stanley had retreated back and used his Unlocking to lower his body temperature. Even his heartbeat stopped as he was trained to do.

"Who are you?" He gave a low whisper that was barely audible. He met everyone in Seeker's team. And he wasn't familiar with this voice. 

Had it not been for this voice, he would have been critically wounded. Although Stanley would have sensed the incoming attack, it would have been almost too late to evade. At most, his evasion would have given him a deep wound in the chest. But a voice warned him beforehand and told him to crouch as low as he can inside the Exoskeleton. Since the suit he was piloting was designed for large soldiers, Stanley's thin and fragile frame allowed him to do it. Stanley withdrew his arms that controlled the Exoskeleton and forced himself as low as possible inside.

The ax nearly wounded Stanley's head. Panicking, in his movements, Stanley attempted to leave the Exoskeleton when strange shockwave erupted on his feet, causing him to bolt like a cannonball out of the Exoskeleton. Yet the forceful ejection mysteriously creates the slightest sound.

It was then that he received the orders to attack the Golem's eyes and gave him the directions of where to retreat. The scene of the Clown suddenly vaulting on its own and being thrown off confused him all the more.

"What was that?!" Stanley was stunned.

"Look's like I was right. I was wondering how it could sense. Making a Golem like this would be difficult. Liquid Metal would have to imitate circuits and all that to allow it to be piloted from a distance. So how can it hear and see? As you can see, it used its eyes to see. This living metal seems to replicate the senses. But since to recreate the eyes and transmit visuals is a taxing to create, those Golems would assume a form where it would see through the eyes like a normal human. Oh. Quickly run to the back. He's coming for you. He can sense you through Origin." The voice ordered.

Stanley panicked and immediately ran.

The Clown rushed towards the area where he could detect Stanley.

"Head towards the region north of here. Now that you're without any ranged attacks, you can't guard this area anyways. Besides, your allies have already fled. Move to the north to aid those rampaging friends of yours. Now, as I was saying… With the previous battles that occurred, I deduced that their hearing isn't localized in the ears. It's through the metal around it. Sounds travel faster through liquids, and even faster through solids. So to blind it, attack any part where you see it having an eye of some sort. But as for hearing… it might be using its entire body to hear."

"Who are you?!" Stanley asked again.

"The proof of my theory was that since you damaged its eyes, it was unable to see and made reckless attacks based on the direction of where he heard my sounds. So it seems that it could use every inch of its body to hear. However, because those piloting it are still human and maybe using something similar to a VR console to pilot it, it will need to see through the eyes. This is very interesting. I'm an ally. Don't worry."

"An ally?"

"It's attacking. Focus on evading." The voice immediately alerted.

Stanley could only contain his frustrations as he detected the incoming attacks from afar.

"Don't you have those gears? Why aren't you using it yet?" The voice asked.

"You know about my equipment?"

"Yes. My boss told me."

"Who is your-"

"Oh, don't go that way. A platoon of Exoskeleton will pass there. Ugh. I can't use my attack yet. I need to recover. Oh right! Your allies!"

Stanley was in between a platoon of Exoskeletons, and behind him was the Clown preparing for a dangerous attack.

The mysterious voice traveled on to another area and called out to Cliff.

"Your allies are in danger!"

"Huh? Who are you?"

"Hurry! That gamer kid, Stanley, is in a fix! Move to your right and over those platforms!"

Cliff followed as he felt a strange familiarity with the voice.

Witnessing the position of Stanley, Cliff immediately used his Dreamworld.

He looked at the position of the enemies. The attack of the Clown would reveal the location of Stanley.

"I guess I have to do that!" Cliff complained.

Cliff quickly relayed his instructions to Roselyn and immediately dashed off towards where Stanley was hiding.

"Help! An enemy over there!" Roselyn shouted in panic.

The Platoons immediately heard Roselyn's pleas and saw the bright red energy at the distance where Roselyn pointed.

"Help! We're with Admiral Shepherd! He killed everyone!"

"Isn't that the Golem?" One of the pilots of the Exoskeleton asked.

Suddenly, Tyler's Exoskeleton appeared behind Roselyn and delivered a punch on Roselyn, which sent her falling from the top of the roof she was standing on.

"More enemies! Cover me!" Tyler called out to the Golem.

Cliff finally got near enough.

"Quick! Do this!" Cliff spoke in their secret voices.

"Shoot the Red Cannon!" Stanley screamed as he retreated from the Exoskeletons.

The Exoskeletons immediately scattered and sent several attacks to the Golem.

The Clown was a distance away and couldn't hear the cries clearly.

"More traitors?" The Clown started attacking the group of Exoskeletons, and a battle began.

A surprised voice echoed around Cliff and Stanley.

"That… That worked? But- but... how?!"

In the gap between Stanley's scream and the sudden evasive maneuvers that the Exoskeleton did in an attempt to evade the possible attacks from the Clown, Tyler and Roselyn had stealthily sneaked away.

The group gathered together, and Cliff handed Stanley a specific pin.

"Wear this. This will allow you two to move within the Kraken without getting detected by the Origin power."

"What? How did you get this?"

"We got them from a soldier we killed on our way here. Anyone wearing this won't be considered an enemy in the Kraken."

"How did you know this would mask us?" Stanley asked in confusion.

"The enemy told us." Cliff shrugged.

"What?"

"Look. You guys have your mission. With everything going around here, you could easily infiltrate the enemies now. I'm sure you noticed it… Roselyn… Stanley. You did it. You actually did it. Arthur was right…" Cliff gave a sigh.

"What?" Roselyn and Stanley asked together.

Going back to the final discussion about the teams to build and their specific requirements, everyone's eyes fell to Lowengren.

But instead of a long list, Lowengren simply said that his team would only need essential gears.

"You won't give them heavy gears or special training?" Seeker frowned as he turned to Lowengren.

"Nope. We all have our means, right? I have to take responsibility for my team and think of ways for them to grow stronger. They can't have faith in you, Zeek. Er... Too soon?" Lowengren laughed at Seeker's expression.

"If it's a hot woman, they get a free pass? Tell me when I can call you that " Lowengren ranted.

"Why is that important? Focus." 

"Fine! My team already has a charismatic, majestic leader. Now, I can't be like Arthur. Although he can provide suitable protection through the overpowered armors of his team, he can still calculate his members' mental and emotional journeys. As such, he can build Heroes out of his team despite their equipment."

"Then what are you planning to do?"

"Lie to them."

Seeker and several others had a weird expression.

"But of course, my lies can't be backed up without any solid truths. My lie has to be believable. And so, they have to go through fights that will challenge them to the extreme. Only then will my lies will become effective."

"You want them to go ungeared and only have your lies? I know that to make a Ranked Hero, they would have to go through hell. But this is too risky." Arthur frowned.

"Besides, they are pro-gamers! Although Generals aren't as high-paced as Piercing, your team has always shown capacity and diversity. Who among your team aren't pro-gamers on other games? Even the timidest member is called Saint Surgeon Stanley for his prudent and methodological ways of dismembering his enemies in almost any fighting game. Their adaptability is so diverse, but they choose Generals as the game to focus their efforts on because it's the highest paying ones."

"I know. But my lies have to be built on truth. I need them to improve, and the only way for them to improve is for them to break their limits."

"What exactly are you training?"

"Spies." Lowengren smirked.

"Spies?"

"Look. Arthur has got his team covered to create specialized soldiers. That's a wonderful standard. I won't dare compete. But in the war that comes, the usefulness of my Path and other similar Paths like Harker's allows us to explore things that we could never make on Seeker's past-future self. If we can create soldiers who can infiltrate the line of battle and cause havoc within, then it would be very advantageous."

"Impossible. With the technologies they have, it's almost impossible to get behind the line of battle. Unless you personally went in." Seeker sighed.

"Unless we can create more Path's like yours, then it's possible."

"What if… A Skill like mine?" A daring grin emerged from Lowengren.

It was as if lightning struck Seeker.

"You mean…"

"Yes. The lies that I planned for them is to push them into creating a Skill like mine. While Arthur decided to utilize his team's strengths to turn them into something beyond Inhuman, then my Path can allow me to create Skills. I believe that creating Unlocked with Skills like mine is better than to create another line of soldiers in between Inhumans and Heroes."

"But how will you do it?"

"I originally had a hard time thinking of a way to make it." Lowengren smiled.

"It's Cliff. He becomes the conduit that can force his men to believe in the lie he wants to create." Arthur explained.

"Cliff?" Lynd and Meryl were surprised.

"If Seeker is correct and Cliff can copy my lies, I can simply design my lies that need others to join in. You see, the issue is, I can't lie to my team. They know me. They know that if I try to tell them that they can imitate my Path, their suspicion of me will hinder this faith. But now… we have Cliff."

"Cliff will lie on your behalf."

"That's right. At the right time… at the proper situation, once Cliff successfully does a secret mission of making my team lie in partnership with him… they will then have the faith and believe that they have a weaker version of my lies. Arthur, what do you think?"

"They have spent years following your commands and seeing how you led the enemies by the nose. You hid it well. The world did not know of your deception. But they always knew you were a liar. If Cliff can emulate your lies and you make a rather convincing one, then the chances of them forming a Skill of lying would be…"

"About seventy percent." Arthur gave his deliberation.

"This is assuming that the situation and threat they faced is believable. The more incidents that Cliff can make this happen, the higher the chances."

"What a strange turn of events. Little Arthy can calculate the future and force his team to develop a Path through inception. At the same time, Lowengren uses his Path to make his team believe that they have a Skill through deception." Richie expressed his observations.

"Inception and Deception. I believe with these two, we can create a powerful army that can finally stand a chance against those Aragarian Principals." Seeker exclaimed in delight.

Cliff didn't know all this. When Lowengren gave his orders, he made it sound like it was a sure hit. And Cliff believed it.

And so, Cliff explained the uniqueness of the two.

"We learned it?" Roselyn asked one more.

"No. Not learn. Acquired. We don't have time for this. The fact that you managed to pull it off earlier… Especially you, Roselyn… It shows you clearly got it. Move. The Empress might still find us even with the pin. Me and Gardo will buy you some time. Complete the mission." Cliff immediately left and rushed off.

"I see… So that's why he didn't tell me about them." A voice echoed in Cliff's mind.

"You must be with Richie." Cliff whispered softly.

"Sammy Theoden. A pleasure to meet you." The voice responded.