Chapter 290: an unprecedented decisionplan

After entering his car, Clark did not take a single glance back as he drove out of the government building the next moment. As he drove his veins throbbed repeatedly, making his face seem older but he didn’t seem to notice.

As soon as he stormed out of the conference hall, King quickly followed after him. At such a delicate moment, King was sensitive enough not to irritate him.

Though he was not a Spartan citizen nor a Vatican, watching the recorded footage was still enough to rile him up, making him have strong hatred on sight against the so-called Persian tigers.

If he felt like this and he was unrelated to the casualties, he just could not imagine how Clark felt.

Seeing children being butchered brutally like pigs, old men being kicked to death like stray dogs, couples being shot to death like they mean nothing, he felt a wave of simmering anger engulf his heart.

How can humans be so cruel?

Yes, he was a soldier but such cruelty still exceeded his tolerance range. Of course, he’s also killed a lot. But almost all his kills were exobeasts, only a few were fellow humans and definitely not children.

Holding his anger back to himself, he started thinking about Clark. Stealing a glance at him, his face dropped as he saw how Clark’s face was extremely tightened like he was wrestling an opponent.

Clark’s hand was already frighteningly tight, almost turning to fists like he was wrestling with the steering wheel. He was already starting to turn the steering wheel disorderly.

“Clark”. King called softly but he got no response.

[Ding! Master, your emotions have been detected to be in an extremely disorderly and riled-up state. Advice from experts is that you stop and take a deep breath to rest.]

Clark still did not answer, his emotions became even more unstable.

[Ding! Wrong handling of car has been detected. Master should change the car’s configuration to autopilot or…]

Ahh!!

Clark finally got fed up with the notifications. Screaming, he swiped the car’s steering wheel to the right without much thought as he shimmered with rage.

[Ding! Autopilot has taken effect.]

Even before the car could respond to his reckless steering, it’s A. I took charge immediately as it took over control from him, making it stable again before pressing on the brakes to stop the car.

As soon as the car came to a stop, Clark came down from the car. Slamming the door shut, he stormed off into the distance.

His only saving grace was that this was a fairly deserted road that was surrounded by a small forest reserve, or he would have been surrounded by a mob of excited civilians immediately if they saw their leader.

Despite all the suffering that they experienced, the Vatican citizens still acknowledged the help and convenience that his leadership brought.

Before Clark could storm off completely in rage, King reacted fast. Getting to his side in seconds, he held his hand to stop him.

A fist quickly flew at his face but he already expected it, he ducked and shifted his body to escape Clark’s range.

He glowered. “You’ll beat me too now?”

“Why did you hold me?” Clark raged.

“You have to calm down. You made a decision in front of your commissioners, telling them that you thought about it but is this really thinking about it. Be realistic with yourself”.

Clark was tongue-tied but his fists still tightened aggressively. “Stop it or I’ll punch your face”.

“I’ll call Master if you do that, it seems that you’ve forgotten the rules that he set before we left. I’m the senior student, you have no right to hit me”.

“Do you want me to call him?” King raised his Master’s special communication device threateningly.

Clark glowered, but he deflated the next moment. “Fine!”

Turning his head angrily, he stormed back to the position of his exotic car before leaning on it. A tear dropped from his eye, but it only made him angrier.

Cleaning it from his face, he punched hard on his car’s exotic skin, making pain waves to assault his fist. He did not shout painfully though; he just retrieved his fist silently.

“It’s not your fault Clark”. King finally came back to his side. Feeling Clark’s glare pricking his skin after saying this, he improvised and changed his words.

“It may be your fault”.

“But you know, as your head commissioner said, it’s our ability to learn from mistakes that make us excellent. For me, I think you should just try to make yourself excellent and everything will fall back in place”.

“That’s why I asked that did you think about the decision that you made in front of your commissioners”.

Clark bit his lips; he finally calmed his mind after a few minutes of putting effort. “I did, King. I really thought about it, but I’m just confused by rage now after seeing the number of people that died because of my actions”.

“Good! Clark, forget about all those. If you thought about it as you said, then you just have to make the decision that seems right for you”.

Clark hesitated. “King, do you think that I’m not fit to be a leader?”

King was stunned for a moment, but after understanding, he sighed. “Clark, you’re a good leader. Even your soldiers testified about that in your last mission, give yourself some credit”.

“But almost all of them died because of me”.

“Not all of them, Clark. You did your best, that’s all that matters”.

Clark sniffed, trying hard to hide his embarrassment. “Thanks”.

“Welcome, any time bro”. King bumped fists with him before finally entering the exotic car again.

Clark did not enter immediately; he wiped his face with his hands before resting all his weight on the car with his face facing the sky to think with his eyes shut close.

“484,000 people died because of my actions”. He muttered to himself.

He already read about books where high-grade soldier’s actions decided the fate of a whole nation. Then, he always wondered how it felt, but experiencing it for the first time brought a whole new awful feeling.

Then, he made the decision that he thought was right without thinking about the consequences that may follow. Not that he expected that he would leave for the great Himalayan peaks though.

He wanted to justify his conscience but it just wasn’t working. He was too bothered by the projection footage, it left him feeling stressed out.

He wanted to blame the hidden powers of the Spartan republic who pushed for him to participate in the Everest mission, he wanted to blame the terrorists, he wanted to blame the cities bordering Vatican City.

He wanted to blame a lot of things and people, but he just couldn’t bring himself to believe that.

In the end, he just chuckled to himself mirthfully. It all birthed down to the same problem that he’s faced since the first day that he graduated to become a soldier, he just didn’t have enough power.

If he had enough power, no one would have the authority to include him in a mission without his consent and the terrorists would not have the guts to attack his city also.

This time though, he was right that he didn’t make that decision on impulse. He made it after thinking through the plan, the repercussions, and the procedures extensively.

This time, he would show the whole Spartan republic and the Persian tigers organization that he was no longer the bulliable Clark of yesterday.

Now, he was a 3rd rank high-grade soldier. He had a mercenary group under his name, he had an Elite Commander as his teacher. He fused with the bean quadrant enhancer, and he already went through his sublimation.

This time, he would make sure that the sky rained terrorist blood.

This time, he would make sure that hundreds of thousands of terrorist’s soldier’s blood are spilled to make up for the ones that they took.

This time, he would make sure that Vatican City became terrorist-free. Even if he had to bulldoze his way through impossible obstacles, he would do it to make up for the dead children.

This time, he was ready to break conventions.

After making his conviction, he no longer fretted with the guilt that was aroused after watching the footage.

Quickly entering his car again, he switched on the ignition and sped away at the maximum speed manageable by his exotic car.

…

Back in the conference hall in the main Vatican government building, Head commissioner Patrick and the other commissioners were still left shocked despite Clark already leaving for a few minutes.

The head commissioner turned to face his companions; mouth wide opened in incomprehension. “Did the leader just say that he is now a Captain, or did I hear wrong?”

“He just said that a Captain will speak, he did not say that he is now a Captain”. Commissioner Crook could not help but comment.

The others commented also as the 5 of them started the work of a detective, trying to analyze what their leader said to search for any loopholes.

Despite all their analysis, they didn’t actually care, they knew that their brain already agreed with the notion of their leader now being a 3rd rank high-grade soldier.

“If the leader really broke through…”

“He’s a freak!” The head commissioner exclaimed before Crook could complete his sentence. “He’s a f*cking freak, hahaha!”

The old man became mad with excitement as he got carried away by his belief. He was genuinely shocked and excited, the possibilities that could become available due to having a leader who was a Captain just made him feel giddy.

“We’re blessed! Vatican City is blessed!”

Though the other commissioners still had some doubts, seeing how excited their head was made them reluctantly follow along to please him.

After enjoying the euphoria brought by this big news, they finally calmed down and started analyzing the pros and cons of the decision that their leader made a moment ago.

Commissioner Crook hesitated. “Even if the leader is now a 3rd rank high-grade soldier, his decision still seems a little immature. The Persian tigers is not any petty terrorist organization”.

“You’re right”. Head commissioner Patrick finally deflated. “We have to see his plan first. If it is not feasible, we should just bite the bullet and reject his proposal vehemently”.

As they discussed, the A. I of the government building suddenly shimmered before materializing to existence. It presented them with the detailed documents that Clark just sent across.

They took a few minutes before they were able to go through it all, and for the umpteenth time, they were left shocked.

“The leader wants to uproot every sign of terrorist from the city…, is that even possible?” Of course, the always-talking Crook was the one who said this.

“The plan is not too unrealistic; I think we should put more trust in the leader this time”. The head commissioner finally spoke. “According to him, all we have to do is to organize every matter related to the local policing”.

“And he said the plan’s implementation will start in exactly a month from today. Instead of arguing, let’s go prepare appropriately”.

“This time, I feel that something unprecedented is going to happen”.

[It seems unreal, but here we are, just a few chapters to get to chapter 300. I'm so excited, and yeah I'm feeling fulfilled.]