Chapter 684: Beneath the Mask [Monthly Bonus 3]
The doors to the conference hall opened widely, revealing the bright expansive hall. Embedded into the floor in the centre was a magic projector, and around it were rows of seats arranged in a circular formation, each chair bearing a nametag.
Rachel and the others stepped in, and they immediately noticed the presence of the three Generals in the centre.
A ripple of sharp salutes followed and the Generals returned the salutes with short nods, motioning for the group to find their places. Once they noticed their nametags and settled in, one of the Generals stepped forward and began.
"Good evening, soldiers."
"""Good evening, Lieutenant General!"""
The room echoed, their voices unified as they saluted once more and the General gestured for them to sit.
"At ease. Take your seats."
Once everyone was seated, the Lieutenant General continued speaking.
"I’m sure all of you here recognize the figure projected behind me."
As he spoke, the magic projector activated, casting a vivid, three-dimensional hologram into the air.
The image of a male humanoid appeared—wearing the black Demon Army Uniform with two stars on his shoulders and a face obscured by a black featureless mask.
The instant recognition rippled through the room, and the soldiers responded in perfect unison.
"""Yes, Sir!"""
The Lieutenant General nodded, stepping to the side to give a clearer view of the projection.
"Real Name: Unknown. His epithet is the ’Silver Summoner.’
A General of the Demon Army who wields a Slayer Race ability geared against Divine Factor wielders.
He commands the powers of time, gravity, and destruction, and has an uncanny ability to summon hordes of Hellhounds, Dragons and many other creatures.
He is also the culprit behind the Duskhand Bastille’s destruction, and one of the heads behind the Fall of the Triton’s Ark, all attacks on Plomux and, most recently, the destruction of the Waregough Archipelago.
Besides the fact that he is an alien to Aramis, little is known about his background, and how he came to ally with the Demons.
The most our intelligence has confirmed, is that among the demons, he is referred to as ’General Von’.
Whether that is his first, middle, last name—or even real—is undetermined."
The Lieutenant General paused, exchanging a glance with the other Generals before returning to the soldiers.
"Correction. Was undetermined."
Hearing his words, Rachel’s eyes widened in shock. Everyone present instantly figured out what the General was alluding to.
"Thanks to the heroic actions and sacrifices of many comrades during the Waregough Disaster, we uncovered critical information about this enigma’s identity."
The room tensed as the Lieutenant General swept his gaze across the assembled soldiers, seemingly looking for someone before he continued.
"One brave soldier; the one who put a name to this unknown enigma, allowed us to read his memories—to witness what he saw that day."
Snapping his fingers, the hologram behind him shifted, expanding to fill the central space with vivid, lifelike clarity.
"Without further ado, let us see through his eyes what unfolded on that fateful day."
The projection began, and the hall fell into a tense, expectant silence.
◇ ◇ ◇
Devastation.
Chaos engulfed everything.
Missiles rained from the skies, each impact erupting in an inferno that consumed thousands of soldiers in mere moments.
The soldiers watching this replay in the conference hall sat frozen, their breaths trapped in their throats as they witnessed the hellish landscape unfold.
From the POV of the soldier whose memories they were viewing, an enormous light had emerged from their destination, and for some seconds, the World around them lost colour, draining into a monochrome void where they were immobile.
When colour finally flooded back and the soldier rushed forward, the sight that greeted him froze him in place.
The Silver summoner was firing an energy beam at a Transcendent. Shockingly, the Transcendent dodged like their life depended on it.
Near the Silver summoner was someone else, also wearing the Demon Army uniform but without a rank insignia on his.
The POV soldier, alongside his comrades, quickly moved to encircle the two figures, and one of the Transcendents shouted at the POV Soldier.
[Use that artifact. Find out his skills now!]
Hearing her command, the Silver Summoner only laughed dismissively.
[Ha! Like hell you can find out my skills. Appraisal doesn’t work on me.]
His words were a stark reminder of a well-known fact. None among them reacted with surprise—except one.
Rachel’s brows raised at the sound of the voice.
’Huh? Why does that voice sound familiar...?’
Such thoughts crossed her mind as the video continued. The other ’Demon Soldier’, who teleported right beside the Silver Summoner nodded in agreement as he spoke.
[Yeah, it doesn’t work. I speak from experience, so good luck with that.]
He said it like he was advising them, but the Transcendents paid him no mind.
At that moment, the POV Soldier did something and his field of vision changed. Lights began to swirl around, different colours perpetually shifting and turning.
The world around him faded into insignificance as he focused entirely on the Silver Summoner.
Even as his knees buckled under the crushing weight of the gravity pressing down on him, trembling violently, he persisted, his gaze locked onto the figure before him.
Faint words began to shimmer into view as the ’Artifact’ he had been ordered to use showed its effect.
The glowing text grew clearer, forming a diaphanous status board, though its contents were sparse.
But what little it displayed was enough to send shock rippling through everyone who saw it.
Rachel’s eye itched at that moment, drawing her attention away. She rubbed it absentmindedly, missing the sight entirely.
As such, she didn’t have any reactions like the others; until she heard the words spoken by the POV Soldier, his voice, weak and strained against the oppressive gravity.
[WHAT?! H...HOW... COULD IT... B-BE... YOU...?!]
[R...Rec...cruit... 659... Arth... Arthur... V...Vaughn?]
"...Eh?"
The sound escaped Rachel’s lips involuntarily, her voice barely above a whisper but loud enough to echo in the otherwise silent hall.
Heads turned toward her, including the Lieutenant General’s, but she paid their gazes no mind.
Her head snapped upward to the projection and there, she saw it all.
The sight that the man wielding the Defective Cosmic Lens Replica had seen.
|Name- Arthur Vaughn
Race- Primordial godslayer
Gender- Male
Age- 17
Level- Undefined??
Existence Level– Undefined??
Titles- Progenitor godslayer, Child of Prophecy, Child of Destruction, Prince of Hell’s Devildom, Irregular, Silver Demon Summoner, Grudged by the Divine, SS-Tier Mercenary, Visitor from the Beyond, Terror of Aramis, Divine Demon, Enemy of Aramis, Harbinger of Doom, ’Special’ Lieutenant General of Gozon’s Interstellar Army... [...]
C̶̞͊l̷͉͓̑a̷̩͂̉s̵̻͍̿s̷̜̹̏s̴̳͖̽͋s̴̭̄s̵̘̉͌s̴͙̈́s̸͓̽͂e̸͈͌ê̴̛͇̻è̵̻͜e̸̗͝.̶̳́.̶̬̉.̵̟̪͌̈́.̵̪̽̍.̷̺͒́`̴̲̒̊\̸͐͠ |
The remaining information was a bunch of scrambled symbols, but it didn’t matter.
She’d enough.
Words couldn’t describe what she felt at the sight.
The video projection continued to play, each word collapsing Rachel’s ’world’ bit by bit.
[H...how? Y-you... were... in D-Duskhand? You... disguised... yourself... B-but... the Divinity... no... y-you’re... n-not a... demon!]
The POV Soldier’s mutterings became more erratic, his disbelief bleeding through every word.
Rachel’s head began to shake, her denial manifesting physically as though it could shield her from the reality unfolding before her eyes.
The Silver Summoner turned, his attention drawn by the soldier’s frantic exclamations. The other figure beside him—the ’Masked Rogue Hero,’ turned as well.
Rachel’s breath hitched.
She hadn’t seen an image of the ’Masked Rogue Hero’ before, but she had definitely seen the boy in that projection.
Rachel remembered him as someone introduced to her by a person she could never forget, no matter how hard she tried.
Her thoughts spiralled into chaos. It couldn’t be true. This had to be some elaborate illusion.
But the Silver Summoner’s next words to the POV soldier tore through her denial like a blade, slicing it apart.
[Oh, you’re from Duskhand. The fact that you’re not dead means you must have been in the outer city. Otherwise, I’m pretty sure you would’ve died when I nuked the place.]
Colour drained from Rachel’s face entirely. Her hands trembled uncontrollably, her mind screaming as the cracks in her reality became too wide to ignore.
The ’Masked Rogue Hero’ asked the ’Silver Summoner’ a question, and each word struck Rachel’s heart like an arrow.
[So? How did he find out your name?]
The Silver Summoner’s response wasn’t immediate, but when it came, it shattered the last of Rachel’s composure.
[I’m not one to brag, but I’m pretty good at concealing stuff.
So, for this guy ... ...]
...
The rest of his words faded into oblivion. Rachel’s world had already stopped.
That first line—she had heard it before.
Not just once.
She’d heard it from someone in Duskhand, and once again in Tolgue City, on the day she reunited with him, thinking he’d died.
Her mind replayed the voice over and over, matching it to the face that had been burned into her memory.
In the still-playing video, the ’Silver Summoner’ crouched in front of the POV soldier, his right hand reaching out and the silver bracelet on his wrist caught the light as he grabbed the POV soldier’s eyewear.
Rachel’s heart clenched.
She knew that bracelet.
How could she not? —She had bought it.
It had been a simple gift, something she had picked out for a friend—Arthur.
And now, it adorned the wrist of the figure who had brought so much ruin to Aramis.
The figure whose voice echoed with a phrase she had heard many times from Arthur.
The figure whose name had appeared on the status board was clear and undeniable: Arthur Vaughn.
Her lips quivered as she mouthed silent denials, her mind desperately clawing for any explanation, any thread of hope that could disprove the truth crashing down around her.
’No...i-ttt’s a lie...’
But there was no lie here.
If this was a bad dream, then Rachel wanted to wake up immediately.
Unfortunately, the sting in her clenched fists reminded her that this was reality.
Painfully, pieces began to fall into place.
The ’Silver Summoner’ possessed Divinity, Time, and Gravity Powers. Three powers that Arthur possessed.
The locations of destruction left in the ’Silver Summoner’s’ wake aligned too perfectly with Arthur’s supposed ’Mercenary work’ he’d told her about.
He was in the Duskhand Bastille with her. He mentioned having gone to the Triton’s Ark some days before she heard it had fallen. He also mentioned being on Zefesh during the same time the ’Silver Summoner’ was active there.
Most recently, she met him on Plomux; mere minutes before Duskhand’s Secret Base there was attacked.
Every detail, every connection, every truth screamed in her mind.
There was no denying it now.
No delusions to hide behind.
The ’Silver Summoner’ who had killed Ger and her ’older siblings,’ the one associated with the ’Demon of Light’ who had slain her parents.
Her close friend, ’Arthur,’ was that ’Silver Summoner.’
The moment she arrived at that conclusion that flipped her world upside down, a hand grabbed her with force, jolting her out of her daze.
"Seargent Cassowar."
The room was silent now, the video projection halted. Every soldier’s gaze was fixed on her.
Rachel’s gaze turned towards the General who called her, his voice calm as he continued speaking.
"You seem to have something on your mind. Care to share with us?"
"..."
Silence pervaded the area.
The words were not a question but a quiet demand.
Rachel froze. Her heart raced as her thoughts whirled.
The General’s eyes told her everything she needed to know: They already know.
In that brief moment, Rachel weighed her choices, torn between two sides.
On one hand, he was her friend. On the other, he was the one who had killed those she considered her elder siblings and was closely tied to the one who had murdered her parents.
After a heavy silence that felt endless, Rachel finally spoke, her voice trembling.
"...I...I t-think I know who he is..."
