39 Chapter 87 - Breakthrough

When Micheal saw this, his eyes flashed darkly.

A Tower.

Towers were unusual skyscrapers that were far larger than normal ones. They only appeared in the Main Cluster and were very rare to see. Each Tower was typically occupied by a major power or group of some sort.

Towers had several advantages over regular skyscrapers. Each Tower was huge, boasting a large number of rooms. The insides of Towers were unique. Some had internal parks with actual trees and grass, an extraordinarily rare sight to see naturally here in the First Layer. Still others had large pools and slides, recreational areas, while others had wide, empty stages or theaters.

Apart from their unique large rooms, and plethora of unique smaller rooms, Towers also had one other unique point.

There were only 8 entrances to the entire, massive building.

Four on the top and four on the bottom.

Unlike regular skyscrapers, there were no side entrances or things of that nature. Instead, the walls were made of the same seemingly invincible glass and steel, creating a massive, heavily fortified fortress.

Of course, while Towers were extremely rare in the Main Cluster, there was one place where they were extremely common.

The center of the Main Cluster, where a huge collection of Towers existed, nestled together and controlled by no one. The place known simply as 'The Towers' by most.

The place where one could leave the First Layer and move onward to the Second Layer.

'Focus.' He tossed the irrelevant thoughts from his mind, scanning the Tower as he and the rest of Ayer's team approached.

A long, metal bridge connected upward, towards the roof of the large Tower. This bridge had inlined sets of stairs, making it possible to scale all the way to the advanced height of the large building.

"Enforcer Team, Ayer's Squad, reporting in!" Ayer's voice boomed as he stepped onto the bridge. His words warbled oddly off the metal edifice, echoing. As he spoke, he held up his Arcadia Emblem, waiting patiently.

"Acknowledged. Come on up." After a few seconds, a figure appeared standing at the end of the bridge path. The speaker was a woman wearing a set of white leather armor, with a pair of maces strapped to her waist. Her short brown hair was tied up in a tight ponytail, keeping it out of her pale blue eyes. She cut an athletic, if meaty figure, like a weightlifter.

Micheal narrowed his eyes slightly as he saw her, assessing her strength. She seemed like one of the B Rankers among the guards, one of the stronger ones.

Micheal and Ayer's team quickly made their way up the metal steps. Sunlight beat down on their necks, the noon light overhead shining mercilessly, not a cloud in sight.

In just a few short moments, they arrived on the rooftop. Micheal got a good look around, taking it all in.

Micheal could see groups of guards looking bored as they stood at each of the four bridges. They were all talking in a relaxed manner to each other, with guns and weapons slung over their backs. A rather lax defensive force, but it wasn't really surprising. Very few people would openly attack a fortress like this.

Standing right in front of them was the woman that had called them up. A few other guards stood near her, men and women that glanced over their party.

"Kathleen." Ayer spoke first, nodding at the apparent leader of this bridge's guard. Ayer continued,

"We're bringing in a criminal. Case number 8220." He cut right to the chase, not mincing words.

"Oh, it's her?" When Kathleen saw the prisoner Ayer had brought along with them, her eyes narrowed. The woman's hands had been locked together and restraints were placed on her arms and legs, preventing her from being a threat.

Their journey through the Main Cluster had only been marginally slowed by traveling with the prisoner. She didn't cause any trouble throughout the trip, even when the Abnormal struck.

"Tayron! Aijo!" The woman turned around, yelling to some of the other guards. Two of them stepped forward attentively, a rather tall asian man and a caucasian with a huge machete on his back.

"Take her down to the Waiting Cell. Tell the Warden she's a captured target, with a danger rating of B." The woman's voice was authoritative as she barked out orders, her entire personality very domineering.

"Yes, madam!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

The two guards immediately stepped forward and took the captured prisoner. The chained woman didn't even bother to struggle, simply following the guards as she was led mutely away.

"You must be Emissary Heron. We received word that you would be arriving today." After handling that, Kathleen's face became all smiles as she turned to look at Micheal. Her body language shifted, conveying polite disinterest, her domineering nature barely restrained.

Micheal stared back, the mask on his face giving him a rather impassive appearance.

"That is me." He nodded his head cooly.

"The Iron Eye Branch welcomes you, but I'm not sure if we have anything here that would interest you." The woman stared at Micheal, her eyes boring into him.

He stared back in mild amusement. She appeared to be dismissing him, of all things.

"Uh, ah- that is to say. Emissary Heron, I failed to properly inform them of your arrival." Before the situation could go any further, Enforcer Ayer stepped forward and broke into the conversation, giving Micheal a nervous smile.

Kathleen frowned as she saw this, staring at him askance. She let him continue, however, instead of rudely interrupting, her caution winning through.

"Cough- Meeting a powerful A Ranked Emissary like yourself is a rare occurrence for us." Ayer seemed to writhe slightly under Kathleen's gaze. It appeared the woman held quite some influence, more so than just being the guard in charge of this bridge like Micheal had initially thought.

Kathleen's eyes widened for a fraction of a second as she looked from Micheal over to Ayer, and then back to Micheal. She recovered quickly, coughing lightly as she spoke up,

"Oh? A powerful A Ranked Emissary? Well, my apologies, Emissary Heron. Commander Hunter is out, but will return tomorrow morning, if you wish to speak with him." Her body language changed to one of respect and attention, a rather jarring jump.

"The information we had was incomplete." Her words contained the slightest hint of venom as she glanced aside at Ayer, a tone that vanished completely right after.

"I am Sub-Commander Kathleen, one of the 2 Sub-Commanders in the Iron Eye Branch." She gave him a slow nod, her voice apologetic as she introduced herself.

Micheal couldn't blame her. Emissaries wore masks for a good reason. They were the hitmen of the Angels Arcadia, the killers that take out targets that need to be taken out. No one would want to be around them if possible, most were rather dangerous people that were no strangers to murder.

All that changed, of course, when faced with raw power. No matter how much she disliked being around an Emissary… no one would dare to disrespect someone that was an A Ranker, even a Sub-Commander of a Tower stronghold. Ayer wouldn't joke around over something like that, and thus she had no choice but to change her stance.

'The Branch Commander is out?' When Micheal heard this, he didn't react. Outwardly, he looked the same as usual, a cool, calm, and collected Emissary.

Inwardly, he couldn't help but celebrate.

'Not bad timing, not bad timing at all!' He smiled. The Branch Commander was bound to be an A Ranker, and likely a strong one. A Rankers like Boss Shigun or Pirate Lord Brandon were strong when compared to B Rankers, but nowhere near the level of the elites in the Main Cluster.

Most of the truly powerful warriors either lived in the Main Cluster or had already moved on to the Second Layer.

None of the A Rankers back in the Stardust Cluster would've made the Top 10,000 in the Main Cluster Ranking List. There were tens of millions of people living in the Main Cluster, and the top 10,000 among those tens of millions were bound to be quite strong.

'Branch Commanders like him likely leave on missions not uncommonly. Few people would willingly antagonize the Angels Arcadia, incidents probably happen quite rarely here.' The timing was lucky, but the situation itself likely wasn't all that rare.

'With the only strong A Ranker out of the picture till tomorrow morning, there's no reason to hesitate. The Sub-Commanders are very strong B Rankers at the weakest, weak to above-average A Rankers at the strongest. This will be my best opportunity.' As all of these thoughts raced through Micheal's head, he spoke out loud,

"A pleasure to meet you, Sub-Commander Kathleen. I'm Heron, as you are aware." He continued,

"The Branch Commander is out? Ah, that's unfortunate, but I can wait. There are a few things I'd like to talk to him about, pertaining to my mission." His voice was magnanimous, full of confidence and quiet determination.

"Of course, sir Emissary." Kathleen's face grew pale as she heard that a powerful Emissary had some questions for her boss, stuttering slightly.

"Nothing too worrisome, don't fret." Micheal reassured her, his voice warm.

"Just about a target I'm looking for."

A few more moments passed as Micheal talked with Kathleen, creating an image of a powerful Emissary that was hunting down a dangerous criminal and wanted to talk to her Commander. With Ayer's avowed confirmation of his strength, his image in Kathleen's eyes solidified.

Shortly after, Ayer and his men parted ways. The Enforcer enthusiastically shook Micheal's hand and bid him a warm farewell, wishing him luck with his mission. Micheal watched the squad leave, silently thanking the man for his unknowing assistance.

Kathleen then led him down into the Tower.

The insides of it seemed initially the same as any other skyscraper. The stairwells were well lit, but relatively small, opening up into multiple hallways.

She began to introduce him around the area, treating him like a valued guest as she showed him a selection of different or unique rooms. At the same time, she explained a bit about herself and the Iron Eye Branch.

She seemed to be trying to make up for her earlier behavior. Such a lapse was a serious error on her part, a reminder that she shouldn't assume things or be rude to people without being absolutely certain of their status.

Of course, if she had known Micheal wasn't even a member of Arcadia, she would've reacted quite differently.

According to Kathleen, when the Commander left, both Sub-Commanders were required to stay within the bounds of the Tower until he returned. This left her with a great deal of free time, time she used to avoid any and all paperwork she needed to file.

Some things never truly changed. Even in this apocalyptic world, paperwork still existed, the strict and orderly organization of the Angels Arcadia necessitating it.

Normally, the Sub-Commander could be found out hunting, amassing Points to use to buy Artifacts or to work towards powerful Abilities she wished to gain, or helping train others.

"Of the major rooms that can be found in our Tower, there is the large, Amphitheater Room one that connects to the unique Pillar Room." Kathleen's voice slid into Micheal's ears as she led him into a large, mostly empty room set with several dozen sets of seats. A large, curtain-covered stage was visible at the end of the room.

It had already been twenty five minutes and they had only covered a tenth of the huge Tower's rooms, and that was including skipping many floors that were privy to Branch personnel only. The tour Kathleen was giving was engaging, moving them along speedily. By this point, the two had had an amiable, calm conversation, soothing the Sub-Commander's worries and helping her loosen up. She now went about the tour with genuine enthusiasm.

As Micheal glanced around, a room that connected off to the side of the Amphitheater Room caught his gaze. When Kathleen saw that, she immediately jumped to an explanation,

"That is the Directive Storage Room. Sub-Commander Borial practically lives there, guarding and going over the huge amount of information there. Most of it's boring historical orders and transfer records, but, well, it has to go somewhere. It's off limits to all personnel save the Sub-Commanders and Commander." She finished, slightly apologetic.

Kathleen continued to give him a tour, showing him around. As an ostensible highly ranked Emissary, it would be impolite and irregular for her to do anything else for him. The Angels Arcadia took their Ranking hierarchy very seriously.

Internally, while Kathleen went on, Micheal was smiling.

'That's what I'm looking for.' He took mental note of the exact location of the Directive Storage Room, memorizing it.

'Information. If I'm going to find the Supreme A Ranker 'Leila Almawt,' I'll need a huge amount of intel.' The knowledge he had of the future was specific for some things, but very vague for others. He had no idea where she was stationed or worked from.

'Alright. First, I'll break through to the Peak of Mortal Tier Ki Cultivation. Right after that, we break in and steal the info we need.' With the strongest member of their team gone, this was an ideal opportunity for him.

Micheal turned over towards Kathleen, giving her a winning smile before he remembered he was still wearing a mask and she couldn't see it.

"Ah, it's been a busy day full of travel." He broke in as they were exiting the Amphitheater room, giving her a nod.

"I think I shall retire for lunch and then focus on my Ki Cultivation for the rest of the day, to stay out of your hair. I'll wait to meet the Commander in the morning. Would you mind escorting me to my room?" His words and tone were eminently polite.

"Ah, yes, of course!" Kathleen gave him a warm smile, her impression of him improving quite a bit.

"Right this way!"

Just a few minutes later, Micheal found himself alone in a large, luxurious suite. A grey colored carpet covered the floor, while a fancy, modern-style bedroom spread out around him. A large, black marble desk, a set of oak chairs, a fine, plush white bed, with a large window that opened out onto a magnificent view of the skyscrapers around them.

It was one of the best VIP rooms in the Tower, one that was located near the middle of the building, extremely secure. It also happened to be extremely difficult to escape from undetected, as a result. They believed his credentials, but clearly didn't trust him, not that he could blame them. It would be foolish to think otherwise.

Micheal ignored all of that as he folded his legs under him and sat down on the plush bed, concentrating.

'Well, I'm here now. No reason to delay.'

Just moments after he arrived…

He immediately stopped holding back and almost instantaneously began to break through his Mortal Tier Ki Cultivation to the final, Mortal Tier Peak Stage.