Chapter 7 - Escape

The lady looked at the place where Alex's corpse should have been. She knew she had hit him, but felt a slight disturbance in space before the attack took full effect. The swordsman appeared beside her, "You let him escape?" He asked voice filled with skepticism. 

The lady frowned as she stared at the previous position of Alex. The human managed to escape from her, which surprised her. It was like an ant escaping before the pursuit of a bird. 

"You can hide, but for how long?" She asked no one in particular as she struck the space before her gently. A big tear opened as she entered with strong winds coming from it. Strangely, the garden was not affected, as some plants could be seen swaying happily. 

Central city, two years later.

A few kilometers from the base.

A big tear appeared inside an abandoned building as a heavily injured body fell out. The person's aura seemed weak and felt like he was on the brink of death. The face could be seen to be in pain as whatever it was going through was anything but nice.

A green glow appeared around his body, then began healing him. After a few hours, his body condition returned to its peak. The body could be seen breathing regularly as some changes could be seen happening to it, though it slowly happened. 

Unknown time. Unknown location.

A man with flaming hair could be seen flying at a speed that defied logic. He stopped suddenly as he felt his body heat up. The space around the man could be seen tearing and repairing slowly as he stood in space. His face looked exactly like Alex but of a more matured version.

"What could cause this disturbance in time flow?" He asked himself as he rubbed his eyebrows. H seemed to look in the direction of where his other self lay on the ground in an abandoned building. "So, he managed to get the last $#$#$?" His face lit up with a crooked smile. "Even with that stone, you won't be able to do much. Interesting."

Not paying his other self attention anymore, he continued his journey.

Central city, two weeks later.

Alex could be seen checking his body as he had woken up a day earlier. He was now certain that he was back to his peak and more powerful than before. If before, he felt he could go on for a three-day's journey without rest though he would need to constantly consume food. 

If there was one thing he learned, it was that he needed to be cautious to avoid getting pulled into things he cannot handle for now. He knew the lady would soon come for him, as he knew he could not fool her.

He gazed in a certain direction, the core area of the invaders. His felt his gaze tear through space as it landed in the core. Though he felt his eyes burning a little, he chose to endure. His gaze finally reached the core area, then saw the extremely tall tree, but didn't pay any attention to it, or its guardian. He would get them on a later day. He couldn't find the END beast in the core area, so after a few seconds of searching with no results, he gave up.

For his plans to work, he needed to have sufficient influence and authority, and he didn't have the time to play weak. He knows the burden he is bearing and cannot afford to waste time. He had gathered enough information about most things in the city due to the skills he possessed. Now is the time to put the information to use. 

He felt an invisible weight had lifted off him after his encounter with the lady. After feeling the pressure from her and still surviving, he knew that the END beast was just a slightly bigger ant before her. He quickened his pace towards his destination as he estimated it would take him at most two days to get there.

Two days later, a man could be seen on the road leading directly to the city as he stopped a far distance away when a blue light shone on him. The light turned red when it couldn't identify the stranger. 

"Please hold on, you will be attended to shortly!" Alex heard a mechanical voice telling him to wait. He looked into the distance when he saw a flying vehicle approaching rapidly. The vehicle arrived in less than two seconds with a man dressed in a battle suit. His suit was made of entirely thin metals. He was heavily armed, and wore a black helmet.

"State your name and purpose of coming here!" The man asked Alex as he alighted from the vehicle.

"Alex Mercer," he replied softly. 

A screen then appeared before the man as he saw the information about him. He noticed Alex had not been registered in the new country, which left him wondering how he arrived there. Pushing the thought to the back of his mind, he motioned for Alex to get into the vehicle with him. They headed towards the gate. The vehicle stopped before the gate as it awaited permission to go in.

Alex could see many defensive weapons lined up on the wall bordering the gate. The gate opened, showing a large teleportation device, large enough to fit two buses. The vehicle entered it, then after a few seconds, they came out and went to the other end. The sight that appeared before Alex made him surprised as he could see many things that he didn't deem possible.

The man guiding Alex to the registration center was satisfied when he saw the surprise on Alex's face. If only he knew, Alex just decided to pretend to avoid suspicion before he finally registered. The soldier, who was satisfied after seeing Alex, thought he had every reason to do so. He now lived in the third layer of the outer area. He hoped he could get promoted to the highest layer after a few more years.

Finally getting to the registration center, he was asked for the necessary questions and later did his biometric scanning which they added to his previous information. 

"Your residence is in the layer A." Said the lady who registered him. Alex was surprised as he didn't expect them to give him a free pass. But it seems this will make his plan execution faster. He received his tag on his left arm, then went out. Finding the layer labeled A in the outer area wasn't difficult, but now he had a problem. He was penniless. He did not remember to leave a backhand for him to be able to travel, and he could not use the Void breaking skill to go there as he didn't have enough energy to do so. One may think that he should have enough, since he was a little bit stronger, but the crux of the matter is he would end up in a sorry state for a longer period of time. Besides, he was not certain if whatever healed him to his peak would be able to do so again. 

This left him in a dilemma. He could not take from others as the currency was different. Everyone has their account stored on the database here fully secured and any attempt to take it without access will end in failure. He looked in a particular direction and smiled. The easiest way to get money is by being smart, cough! He meant having the right mindset.

Heading towards a tall building, he noticed two people at the entrance. He tried to enter, but they did not allow him.

"Pass, please." Asked one of the men standing before the door. 

Alex did not bother to argue with them as he immediately showed them his left arm which showed the tag of the highest layer. The two men quickly turned respectful as they knew that the person standing before them was not to be offended. 

"We could not recognize your excellency's face. We are sorry for the inconvenience." Pleaded the other man at the door. He looked at his colleague and almost cursed him. They had never seen anyone from A and B, but now someone from the A layer came to visit them, they knew they would get more allocations. 

Alex stepped inside, but stopped at the entrance as if remembering something.

"Can any of you transfer some funds to me? Ended up spending more than I should. Besides, I'll refund you twice."

One of the men quickly asked Alex for his name tag, then after receiving it he transferred the funds to him.

"There's no need to return the fund, sir." The man quickly spoke. He was no fool, he knew Alex was taking revenge. Who is he trying to fool, return his money back and twice the amount? Like anyone could be nice to that extent."

If Alex knew the thought of the man, he would laugh because he did not plan to return it. Every penny counts. 

"Thanks. Will remember you." He entered the building to try out his luck. The building he entered was a fighting arena, where people came to make money. Each layer had a fighting arena that they maintained. Currently, he is in the lowest layer, so he could imagine the living conditions here. Though it looked like everyone had a good life, the truth is usually deeper than what is displayed on the surface. 

He could hear chanting voices, as they encouraged people to fight. He looked ahead at the fighting cage, and saw a bulky man getting overthrown by someone not having the same physique as him. Alex noticed the person who knocked out the bulky man sustained heavy injuries, but since he won, the pay should be enough to treat himself and probably have some leftovers. Alex found himself a place to sit, as he intentionally sat there. He waited patiently for the next round to begin before listening to the crowd's opinion on whom would win the match. After listening, he decided to stake all his funds on the player and waited for his gains.

There was a large floating screen above the stage showing the current amount placed on either of them and the probability winning.