44:19

As we were already aware of, CHE5TER has been having this strange arm for some months now, though we don't really know why. And even if it should appear strange to the boy too, it already saw this weird skin of His before. Maybe it explains why it doesn't really seem surprised, but more perplexed, as it stares at that arm.

[General]-...So, what exactly am I suppose to see here?

[CHE5TER]-This... thing. This whole arm. Do you think that it represents my blessing?

[General]-Hard to tell... Now that you mention it, I actually saw this before, right? The first time we met. Yet that time you told me it is a new plague, so how come you say that it should represent your Inhumanity?

[CHE5TER]-Because I don't really know what is it myself. I really don't.

[General]-Okay... Then how did you get it? Or at least do you remember the moment you got it?

[CHE5TER]-It was a few months ago when I was running for my life, up there. I simply found myself in a dead end and the next second, I woke up with this new skin. It healed almost completely my previous injuries and made me reuse my right arm properly again.

[General]-Heal your wounds?

[CHE5TER]-Yes. I had some wounds before that moment which needed some more time to heal.

[General]-Well, it would explain why you can get injured... But how exactly did you get these injuries anyway?

[CHE5TER]-...

And yet again, this question is put into consideration, which makes the ruler go silent. Of course the boy is now confused since it doesn't understand why should it bother Him so much just a memory.

[General]-...What? Why did you shut up all of a sudden?

[CHE5TER]-I simply... don't like to talk about it, alright? It's not a memory I'm proud of. Heck, I don't even talk about it with my own brother by code...

[General]-But you have to tell me so that I can help you, right? I need to know what can cause this condition you are confused of, if it really is related to your Inhumanity.

[CHE5TER]-I don't think it's related anyway.

[General]-How are you so sure?

[CHE5TER]-I... simply know it, okay? I know for sure that it isn't a blessing.

[General]-Why? Maybe it i--

[CHE5TER]- --Because insanity isn't a blessing, alright!?

This subject alone seems to have pissed off the Great Leader for good, even if the people that are trying to find the truth also try to help Him. It gets the boy rather disappointed this anger that was thrown randomly at it, so it begins to move next to the ruler as it stares down and thinks of a way how to calm Him down.

[General]-...You speak about insanity, but you seem pretty healthy to me, CHE5TER.

[CHE5TER]-It's only the appearances. Never heard of not judging people for how they look like?

[General]-Well, if you truly had gone insane, then you weren't able to tell me with such sorrow that you consider yourself unhealthy, right? You seem conscious of what you are doing, you are in control of your own body. Why do you consider that your mind is twisted?

[CHE5TER]-If only you knew...

[General]-*sigh*...You know, compared to you, I might lose it faster than you. I mean, I am in a world unknown to me completely, I don't know anybody from both of these cities besides you and I'm always with my thought that I will never get back to my home. Believe me when I say that if I were alone, I was probably close to starting talking to myself all the time and seeing things that weren't there. Long roads on my own were pretty boring in the past as well...

[CHE5TER]-...

And again, He stays silent. Seconds of waiting for a response and getting nothing in return simply makes the boy understand that it won't succeed in doing anything as it wishes. But before it loses its hope completely, He begins to speak.

[CHE5TER]-General... the problem is that what you've described to me is already happening.

[General]-Hm?

[CHE5TER]-Remember when we've encountered that friendly demon in a cave? When I've started acting a bit... weird?

[General]-I mean, you sure confused me back then, but I thought it's simply 'cause you were tired or something. Also, a creature like that in front of your own eyes which seems friendlier than you knew? Hell, I would've started screaming like a maniac myself...

[CHE5TER]-It's not about the demon, General. It's more about that... something speaks to me and I can't even understand what it is.

[General]-..."Something"?

[CHE5TER]-Yes. Something. It's like a... voice that I can't recognise at all. *sigh* I don't even know how to describe it...

[General]-So that's why you consider yourself insane?

[CHE5TER]-...

[General]-Alright, then... maybe you can tell me when did this voice start talking to you?

[CHE5TER]-I don't... really know. Only recently I was aware of its presence, but it feels like this thing has been with me ever since I came into this world... To be honest now, it is also pretty much responsible of my change anyway.

[General]-Change in what way?

[CHE5TER]-...You sure don't give up, do you?

[General]-No, not really. My people know me to be the toughest opponent from a resistance point of view.

The ruler then stops and stares a bit at that corrupted arm of His, which sure upsets Him the more He thinks about it. He begins to take a deep breath not long after, before finally making peace with His mind and telling the truth.

[CHE5TER]-*sigh* I guess the whole secret behind my wounds is that I was stupid enough to do a mistake in a mission.

[General]-A mission?

[CHE5TER]-Yes. Two years ago, I went with a few colleagues up there in order to find something that I thought my father wished to see and couldn't. We were suppose to find some documents regarding an urgent matter and the mission simply went... horribly wrong.

[General]-Horribly in what way...?

[CHE5TER]-Well...

2 YEARS AGO

06.07.1640

The City of Above

50:04

"...To put it simple, some of my colleagues started being attacked by some enemies of ours and many of them got injured. Because of that, we were obligated to retreat so that we won't lose people because of a simple mission, but the problem was that we've been informed that one of us went missing and we were afraid that we might lose him if we do not try to search for him."

Of course, there are a few holes to this story, but we already know what happened in this part from RY4N. What He tries though is to avoid the truth about Him being the boss of that group, so He misses intentionally some details. But so far, the story remains the same.

"And did you manage to find him?"

"Not before I went myself to search for him and see what was happening since nobody could go back and risk to put even more people in danger. It didn't took me long to find him though, so I simply tied up a few emergency bandages I had on me on some wounds he got when I arrived at him and started looking for an exit to get him out of there."

"...So, since you have wounds yourself, I assume that you two didn't manage to get out?"

"Well, he did. The problem was that... I didn't."

And as He explains, we now go back to that day in which the whole disaster has started and what the people of the Southeast Base call massacre. We can see how the younger Great Leader runs in some hallways, carrying a wounded soldier with Him, and looking for an exit that is at the end of a corridor, with a few more C soldiers waiting for Him.

"...I managed to find a tiny exit in the end, in which I had to struggle to get him through it without affecting his injuries giving that it was so tight and I would've struggle to get through it myself. I passed the wounded to some other colleagues of mine in order to treat him, but before I could've exit the building as well, the enemy was already coming towards me and I knew for sure that if I saved my life there, I put many more at risk. So I simply covered the exit quickly in order for the enemy to not get to them and started looking for another exit on my own."

And He sure did. As He did so, some of the soldiers even screamed at Him to not take such a bold decision and risk to not leave the building ever again, but He didn't listen, as He started running towards door which was leading to something close to an elevator of ours, even if He had to battle some M soldiers on His way there. Then, when the battles stop, He touches an airpod from His right ear in order to speak, but it seems that the device got a bit damaged, so it doesn't really work right.

[CHE5TER]-RY4N? RY4N! I need you to do something for me! RY4N!

No response.

[CHE5TER]-RY4N! Can you hear me??

Still nothing. So, He tries to adjust even a bit His device as fast as possible so that it can function for a few seconds, before He starts speaking again.

[CHE5TER]-RY4N! RY4N, can you hear me!?

[/RY4N]-...Oh, tha^?@$%V4... Yes, I can hear yo*%@$<...

[CHE5TER]-Listen to me! Take the sound bullets and fire towards Floor 10, 35 and 50! Now!!

[/RY4N]-Why? What's happenin&#%*...

[CHE5TER]-JUST DO AS I SAY! NOW!!

RY4N doesn't respond though, but it seems as he obeys to His orders, as He hears one last sentence from His airpod, before it gets broken completely.

[/RY4N]-...Everyone! Cover your ea&@!#<?%... *beep*

So, with that in mind, He continued His running towards that door, opened it quickly with His sword, got in and covered His face with a mask that is part of His armour. But by using this elevator, He seems as His plan included Him getting to the highest level of this building.

"...Giving the whole chaos that was happening there, I had to come up with a quick plan and I thought of it to be like this: I take an elevator to the last floor, from which I will have to make myself an exit, jump from there while being careful to land safely and then run back to my group. The problem was that, even if I created a small distraction by using a few sound bullets which were suppose to confuse the enemy and let me do my plan properly, they already knew my movement ever since they saw me enter the elevator."

The elevator itself though doesn't seem to really have the same mechanism as our elevators. Probably this is how they design theirs: there is only a platform, no cabin in which you go and press a button. The platform itself is moved with the help of a few attachments on the walls from the doors' side and from the opposite side, which allow the elevator to go up and down.

It is something similar to what we have seen when CHE5TER has gone to meet His old master again, but the difference here being that here are two platforms, one that goes up and one that goes down, and each have to go straight up or down until the end, with a few seconds stops at each floor. Once they reach the top or the bottom, they change their course, still going straight with a few stops until they reach the end again. In other words, these elevators go only one direction until the end, before they change it over and over again, not like us when we can change them whenever we want.

When He got on the platform and managed to close the doors, the sound bullets have done their effect, giving the horrible sound that was going for a few seconds. When it was done, He detached His mask and looked around His pockets quickly to find a bag of Verha. Why? Well, there was still a problem with this plan.

Since the alarm of intruders has been activated, all the exists are now blocked, including windows, doors and also elevators. So, as a consequence, the elevators don't function at all, but He already anticipated this problem and thought of a counteraction. In other words, these coins will be His key to freedom.

Knowing that these money can create anything, He can use them to create electric energy which is then used to operate the elevator properly for a few seconds. If He controls the electric energy, it is even better, because He can also control how the elevator works so that it won't make any kind of pauses.

And that's exactly what He does, as He opens a small control panel, destroys a lot of Verha in His hands to generate enough mist which will be used as electric energy, connects the mist to the control panel while He is still in control of it and the elevator finally moves up. There was only one problem remaining: the Verha coins He had on Him weren't enough to go to the last floor, not even to half of the building.

Even so, He goes with positivity forward, continuing His plan...

[CHE5TER]-Come on, come on, come on...

...and simply starting to use from His own energy for it to be enough for His plan, causing some of His colour to vanish while the rest lights up.

"My plan didn't go as smoothly as it should've been, so I thought of something else quickly. Since they were already aware that I wanted to go to the last floor and since I couldn't even do so even if I tried everything possible, a better solution for me would be to take a lower floor so that they won't expect me there. So there I was, at Floor 72, waiting for an opportunity to leave."

And He sure didn't lie, as He now stands in front of the closed doors of the elevator, fixing His sword into the doors to open them a bit, just enough for Him to see through them and analyse what's happening, but also not be too obvious that He is there. So when He was sure that no soldier would see Him, He forced the doors to open again, with His sword, got out of the elevator and went in a room that was facing the side from which RY4N and all the other members could see Him.

"When everything was seeming okay, I ran inside a room that was facing east, perfect position for me to escape, so that if I encounter problems with the enemy, my team could see me easily. But since the alarms were on, the windows of every room were blocked with a heavy wall that I was battling for my life to break it with my weapon. And seconds later, as I was hitting that wall like a maniac, something really caught me off guard. A sound of a gun that was fired towards me, followed then by..."