Chapter 230: Face to Face (1/2)
”Even the military is behind me on this one, I am just the victim of an unfortunate coincidence, my student's safety is always my top priority. This is the first time that any such thing happened in my many years of being general. If I don't show you proper evidence in a week I am fully accepting jail time or execution,”
The smile on the general's face was calm yet from knowing Ryker all these years, Mason could also sense a hint of madness in his words.
”So be it! You will have a week before your execution! Savour it well! In the meantime, I'll be taking my daughter back home until all of this is settled!”
With a mixture of heavy emotions, Mason scoffed at the general before turning around, his blueish shadowy aura of death expanding across the entire room as he walked away, making the crowd part once more.
”Hold on sir Griffith, but I am sorry to say that your request will not be possible…”
Slowly, Mason turned around with heavy killing intent that consumed all in its path, staring cold, shadowy daggers at Ryker's eyes who still seemed rather calm, handling the heavy killing intent that sucked the air out of the many silent spectators rather well. If it were anyone else in his situation, they would have wished they were turned to dust, piss their pants before fainting or even dying from the shock.
”What did you say… Explain yourself now before I snap your neck…”
Mason's voice was low yet powerful, sending waves of energy in all directions around the room, papers flying everywhere.
”Well, I don't want any students to leave the premises, the ones that were outside before are now required to come back in. Today, we will continue our investigation and analysis on the crime scene and tomorrow every single student in the school will be questioned using a lie detector. Letting students outside could lead to some unwanted variables so this is the decision that we came up with. If you are concerned about safety don't be, we have upped the camera counts all around the school and increased security 10 fold, I'm sure you noticed it on your way here… I know that the extra cameras and monitoring is completely against normal guidelines that were put in place so we respect student privacy and so we don't gather intel from students about their families but this is an emergency situation so it had to be done, at least 24/7 tracking and listening is not in place. And, If you want to call your children it will have to be heavily monitored for safety reasons,”
Mason's eyes grew wide, everyone else in the room following his lead. He gritted his teeth and clenched his hands into a bloody fist. He wanted to do nothing more than to kill Ryker right then and there, grabbing his daughter and leaving the premises, but he knew all too well that it was not possible to do such a thing even with his authority.
The military seemed to be backing Ryker on this one, going against the entire military would mark the end for both him, his daughter, and his entire family, so for now, he had to deal with and abide by the rules.
”So be it! For your own sake and everything that me and you have been through, I hope you aren't bullshiting me… I'm leaving!”
Mason spoke once again, his shadow gaze and cold killing intent fixated on the calm, smiling Ryker, opening his now bloody palms before walking away, everyone making space for him instinctively, not even daring to look in his direction as they still found it extremely hard to breathe in his presence.
”Okay! Now, all of you should follow his lead. The school will open to students in a few minutes and you all are not even allowed on the premises when that happens. You should be lucky that I even allowed for this meeting to happen in the first place… Now, goodbye!”
The crowd still in complete shock and silence from the previous display of power and how Ryker was unaffected. Out of instinct, they followed orders without a single word, some of them with a heavy look of pure sadness or disgust on their faces as they exited the room knowing full well they could not do anything about it.
”Nurse Joi, could you please be so kind as to close the door for me?”
With a nod, the nurse responded and did as she was told before turning around to face the general as they were the only 2 people in the room.
”So, how has the analysis of the battlefield been going?” He spoke, sitting back in his seat confortably with his hands clasped against each other planted firmly on his empty desk.
”Well sir, we found no bodies at all, no DNA evidence of anything, only a single footprint on the ground and a few on trees of some sort of unknown armour. There was also clear tampering in the battlefield to hide evidence, maybe some sort of dimensional ability or device involved. Cameras from outside of the school managed to witness 2 flying figures fighting, but they were so far away that nothing but specs of dust were seen. Everything is indeed quite mysterious but we have found no evidence suggesting it being the work of a shalker… Sir… Lying to the masses like this is very wrong and lying and faking evidence to the military higher-ups is probably even worse… If word got out then you're finished… ” The nurse responded with a heavy voice.
”Nurse, think about it like this, if I said nothing then I would have died or been ruined anyway, this was the only choice I had left. And besides… I'm not even lying! The evidence will show up eventually I'm sure of it… If not today when we do a more thorough investigation with a bigger team but tomorrow when we question all staff and students… I'm just sure of it…”
The smile on Ryker's face was something all too obscure to her, nothing like the Ryker that she used to know and love as she could not help but stare at his smile in silence, clear concern on her face for both his health and sanity as she knew he did not deserve any of what he was receiving.
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The secretary that was accompanying Mason Griffith stood outside of the general's office playing with her fingers, hoping that all was alright when suddenly,
*Thud* *Thud* *Thud*
She was able to hear loud footsteps coming her way in such a pattern that was all too familiar to her, not being able to forget in a million years from how long she had worked under that man, looking up to see exactly who she expected, the shadow aura exuding from him and the look of pure anger on his face somehow even greater than when he had walked in.
”My lord… How did it go? Is everything okay?” She asked, now walking directly to his side.
Mason took a quick glance at her, slightly calming his nerves and aura, sighing before responding.
*Sigh*
”Yes, I'm fine… I apologize for my previous outburst, it was just uncalled for. As for what happened inside… All that you need to know is I'll do what I have to do to keep my daughter safe, even if it means I have to slightly bend the military's rules to my will…”