"So do you want to know my reason to be the sole leader of the Hero League? Haven't I told you about it at the meeting?"
Heero replied before he brought the noodles into his mouth. He was having a bowl of spicy noodles for his lunch.
Three old men were sitting on the opposite while Bai Xin Yue sat next to him.
The three old men did not respond to Heero's answer.
"Huh, you didn't believe me!?" Heero blinked his eyes a few times.
He thought the three old men, no, Kim Jung-Mun and Bai Xian Ming already knew about the Goun. The Intelligence Team was given to him by them, after all. He thought they should have known everything that happened in SES.
'Huhu… It seems Team Leader Luo has not told them about that yet, '
Heero was quite happy as he made a wide grin, "It seems I obtained a loyal follower, "
The three old men exchanged a glance and did not understand what Heero was talking about.
Heero did not bother to explain it as he unlocked his smartwatch. He tapped it for a few times then…
Brrt! Brrt! Brrt!
Bai Xian Ming and Kim Jung-Mun's smartwatch vibrated.
The two old men looked down. It was Heero who sent them a video.
"Watch the video!" He motioned his left hand to them while using his right hand to use the chopstick to deliver the noodles into his mouth.
Bai Xian Ming played the video and Wu Shitian came closer to watch too. It was a video captured through satellite, a battle between Musashi Hirata and Sun Zhou Yi against the Goun.
They were pretty amazed by how Heero's two disciples handled the Goun. When they thought the two guys were about to kill the goat-headed creature a twist occurred.
The goat-headed creature suddenly shrunk in size. All previous injuries were healed and… The goat-headed creature defeated the two rising Emperor Class Heroes swiftly.
"Huh!?" The three men were left flabbergasted by how the battle ended. The creature left after that and the video was over.
The three old men looked up, they were asking Heero what was the meaning of showing this video to them.
"That creature in the video was Level 7 Specter. We, Dramonian usually call it the Emperor Level Specter. It's only a level below the one I said this morning, the Specter God!"
He delivered the bowl to finish the soup and drank a glass of lemonade before he continued.
"Even though it's only one level difference, God is certainly far stronger than a mere Emperor. You can see it in the video, the big size creature is at Emperor Level while the shrunk size creature has ascended to God!"
Blinking, the three old men kept blinking their eyes. It was hard to believe akin to a fairy tale. Yes, Heero's words were just like a fairy tale to them.
"And the one who we will fight, The Specter God. One of twelve Specter Gods, God Horas. His men were behind everything that happened until now, the attack on the city, the attack on the kingdom, and we don't know what they will do next!"
"That's why I want to lead the Hero League myself. That's why I want to reform the Hero League. I have a grudge against this God Horas hence I will participate actively in this war, an Eternal War between humanity and the specters!"
Heero's voice echoed through the empty shop. Yes, Musashi Hirata who stood next to his mother chased all customers away when he found his Master wanted a space to talk. Of course, it was under Lady Yuka's consent.
The three old men did not know how to respond to this. Wu Shitian was still looking at Heero suspiciously. The silence lasted for quite a while.
"How strong this God Horas is?" Kim Jung-Mun broke the silence with a question.
"The Goun, the goat-headed creature in the video could not be compared to this God Horas! The Goun just ascended to the realm of God while God Horas has become God for a long time!"
"The Goun!? It's the name of that goat-headed creature?" Bai Xian Ming opened his mouth.
"No, Goun is the name of a race!" Heero shook his head as he took another sip of lemonade.
"You! How confident are you to kill this God Horas?" Kim Jung-Mun asked again.
"70! That's my chance if we fight one vs one, but if that God Horas has his minions help him, 50 or maybe 40! I don't have that big assurance if it's me alone to fight his whole army!" Heero answered truthfully.
In fact, he was unsure if he could win against God Horas. However, the five years of training in the isolated space at the peak of Nebraska Mountain was the one that boosted his confidence.
"That's why I need the Hero League to fight them. I need to reform the current Hero League that is just an insect to God Horas. At least, reform the league to be a cat!?"
'Urgh!?' Heero's standardization for the Hero League was quite something. But compared to Heero, most of the heroes were 'insects' in the term of strength. It was an undeniable fact they realized after watching the Regal Kingdom's battle footage.
A fact was a fact, but that was a fact that should not be spoken like that. Wu Shitian was offended by the words.
"Huh, say someone who wants to use the league for his selfish desire! At the end of the day, it's about your personal grudge against this God Horas and you want to use the Hero League to help you! You are putting many lives in stake for your personal grudge," Old Man Wu sneered at Heero.
'Here we go again, the childish Wu Shitian, ' Heero, Bai Xian Ming, and Kim Jung-Min had the same thought.
"Indeed, it's my selfishness that pushes me to use the Hero League as a 'tool' for my gain. However, my selfishness does not bring any harm to the people but benefits! A reform that will make heroes stronger to protect the people from the harm, especially from the specters that will target us!" Heero admitted right away.
Give and take, it was what he learned during his stay in this city.
"Then why do you want to be the sole leader? Why don't you work together with the twelve major forces?" Wu Shitian would not let this matter rest just like that.
"Working together is fine, no, in fact, we are still working together even with the reform. It's not like I am kicking the twelve major forces out of the Hero League! Why do I want to be the sole leader because these twelve major forces are the biggest hindrance to reform!"
Just as Wu Shitian was about to refute, Heero spoke first, "It's hard to win an argument with a smart person, but it's near impossible to win an argument with a kid, a spoiled kid especially!"
Only Bai Xin Yue in that room knew the truth that even her grandpa was just a snotty brat in front of Heero.
"Joking!" Heero grinned at Old Man Wu and went on, "Alright, Old Man Wu, if you don't agree or you guys don't want to support the reform, it's okay! Just don't try to find fault at what I am going to do, you are wasting my time with this useless argument!"
"As I said in the morning, it's fine even without the reform. But I will quit the Hero League to establish my force to fight God Horas! I am not threatening you, I am serious with my words!"
He took one big gulp of the lemonade and put the glass down. After that, he stood and left the three old men while beckoning his hand toward Musashi Hirata.
Heero was serious with his words. He planned to establish a new force to fight the specter if his proposal was rejected. As for why he insisted on the Hero League, it was because the Hero League was a shortcut to build a big force in a short time.
Heero then left the shop with Musashi Hirata. Bai Xin Yue did not follow Heero. She looked at her grandpa, "You should not doubt him, Grandpa!"
There were three grandpas in front of her, but of course, her words directed to her biological grandpa. As someone who knew the back story, she could not help but be slightly angry.
"You should have asked Grandpa Dazekh remembering your close ties with him. He must know something about this Specter God. You could find the truth from him, "
She approached her grandpa and kissed his left cheek, "I am off to academy, Grandpa! Let's have dinner together later!"
"Sigh, a girl that has been married off will always be on her husband's side. I miss my past Granddaughter when they always clung onto me, " Bai Xian Ming lamented as he looked at his Granddaughter's back.
"But she said something right! We can ask Dazekh, he's from the dungeon as well, he might know something about this god thing!" Kim Jung-Mun said with a pondering expression plastered on his face.
Bai Xian Ming looked down at his smartwatch. It was 12:48…
"It's about to start, the Squad War! Let's head to Dazekh place. We have to kill more people in the Squad War so we can raise our squad ranking!" Bai Xian Ming stood up.
Kim Jung-Mun looked at his smartwatch as well and nodded. Wu Shitian felt being left out alone as he did not understand what his two friends talked about.
"Where are you going?" Wu Shitian asked.
"It's gaming time, so of course, I am going to play!" Kim Jung-Mun replied naturally.
"Do you want to try? WarZone? It's quite fun!"
'Huh!? Gaming time? WarZone?' Wu Shitian was flabbergasted.
*** ***
Meanwhile, Heero was leading Musashi Hirata outside the city. To the place where they usually train.
"Are you going to teach me a new secret technique, Master?" Musashi Hirata was quite excited as he asked.
But then, there was something missing. Butcher Wang and Sun Zhou Yi, they three usually would learn the new secret technique together but he was alone now.
'Does the Master need my help?'
"I have heard it, your loss against the Goun!" Heero turned around to face Hirata as he spoke.
He looked at his disciple's expression which immediately turned gloomy. His disciple was quite frustrated in his first loss.
"More beasts or specters as strong as Goun will appear soon. More and more dungeons will appear and so I decided to push it earlier, teaching you the core Musashi Clan's sword art! Are you ready for it?" Heero grinned at his disciple.
Musashi Hirata's face instantly brightened. Finally, his Master finally would teach him this, the core Musashi Clan's sword art.
"Yes, I am!!!" For the first time after a long time, Musashi Hirata screamed in excitement.