765 Endnote 1 (2/2)
It was a pitch-black notebook, thick, with a cover like a whirlpool that absorbed the gazes of all living creatures around it.
The woman's long white hair dragged on the floor, scattered all over her. Even if you looked closely, you would not know just how long it was, the strands of long hair tangled and twined together, forming a road behind her like a long train.
She picked up the notebook lightly.
”This is the root to the Fist Saint Garen's martial arts?” she murmured softly, lightly brushing away the bits of dust that had landed on the book.
”I just have to destroy it and critically wound the Fist Saint, then the world will return to its original path…” the woman murmured, a hint of determination in her eyes.
She flipped open the book lightly, and the contents inside presented themselves to her eyes.
They were lines upon lines, and paragraphs upon paragraphs of strange, unknown words. The words seem to have some sort of magic that kept her gaze glued to it, until she could not pull away.
The martial arts contents in there had, in an instant, opened up a path for her that she had never once imagined.
”This-- This is--?!” The woman's expression changed slightly, and she wanted to push the book away, but her hands grabbed it tightly despite herself, keeping it within her line of vision. She suddenly had a feeling that if she could learn all the martial arts recorded here, perhaps she could walk down a brand new, unprecedented path of evolution based on her own current foundations.
All of a sudden, she sensed an unknown gaze land on her head in an instant.
”Satellite tracking?” She frowned slightly, looking up at the sky, then she quickly kept the notebook away, disappearing into the forest of black rocks with a few bounds.
That gaze swept past the island and seemed to find nothing, continuing to sweep on its merry way.
*****************
America, the CIA
”We didn't find anything, perhaps our satellite system is not concise enough yet,” an old admiral said softly in front a giant blue screen. He watched the red dots blinking on the world map on the screen, then he turned his head around to look at the young man dressed in white beside him.
”Thank you for your cooperation, but I can track her myself.” The man had golden hair, but one of his eyes seemed to be slightly rolled back, as though he was blind in one eye. It was Garen, who had come out from the Holy Fist Palace. ”The reason I'm here this time is because I need you to help me gather manpower. I can lead the way to the Lion Mother's old base.”
”Your Excellency the Fist Saint can actually find items that have completely disappeared? What a magical martial arts.” The old admiral looked rather interested.
”You can try to practice it if you're interested.”
”I'll try.” The old man nodded.
He adjusted his earpiece, listening to the collective responses from the outside world through it.
”The fifth fleet is all ready, you can go out to sea with the ship. The fleet commander, Hente, is a fourth-generation disciple of yours, he's training in the White Cloud Secret Technique.”
”In that case, many thanks.” Garen nodded and walked up to the world map, looking at the map on the blue screen. He reached out his hand slowly, and tapped a part of the sea near the North Pole lightly with his finger.
”Over here.”
”You sure she's there? There's nothing on the naval map, it's just sea.” The admiral frowned.
”No, there's a small island there,” Garen replied with certainty.
”Perhaps it's a matter of proportions. Some islands are too small to be seen on the map, we can zoom in and see.” The admiral did not seem to move, but the map on the screen magnified all of a sudden, zooming in from a view of the world to that piece of sea, and soon enough, a black dot the size of a sesame seed appeared on the screen.
”Eh?” The admiral was slightly surprised. ”There really is an island.”
The screen zoomed in some more, and the black dot was instantly magnified, turning from a sesame seed to a small apple, and further, until it was the size of a basin. There was the occasional wisp of the clouds floating past, covering up parts of the island.
From the satellite footage, they could vaguely see that the island was covered with pitch-black rock formations, with no forests or any trace of green.
”This is the biggest we can go. There seems to be something interfering,” the admiral said, frowning.
”This is the place.” Garen looked at the image on the screen carefully. ”Inform the fleet to head straight for this island.”
”Alright, operation codename Lionhunt, commence!” the admiral said solemnly after nodding.
Garen looked at the black pebble island, and smiled strangely.
”I'll give Pentagon a copy of the Lion Mother's knowledge about witchcraft this time, and I'll also retrieve my things. Let's work well together.”
”Of course, let's.” There was a hint of desire and excitement in the admiral's eyes.
Compared to the Holy Fist Fist Technique, he was more interested in the mysterious witchcraft, and the Lion Mother had achieved Death Apostle-levels of strength, she was the ruler of the witches all over the world. If this top-secret mission were to succeed, they would gain knowledge about Death Apostle-level witch's training, that was a temptation beyond imagination.
That was also why, when they found out that Gare was going to attack the ruler of the witches, many factions all gathered up their power to finally mobilize an entire American navy fleet. Under the guise of practice drills, they launched a top-secret assault straight away.
As for the revenge of the witches after this, they knew that even the old secret party's Blood Breeds had all been killed at the height of their power, and many of the light party's Blood Breeds joined the Holy Fist Palace because of Ashen. Among the Blood Breeds, most of the power still rested with the light party, after all, they had been leading the Blood Breeds for far too long.
Most of the light party's Blood Breeds wished for a peaceful human life, that was also why they joined the Holy Fist Palace so quickly.
Just like that, the power of the Lightless Alliance snowballed, growing bigger and stronger. In comparison, the power of the witches was diminishing, and barely worth a mention.
With the situation the way it was, even if the witches retaliated, they would have no effect on the Lightless Alliance at the peak of their power. After all, there were just too few of them.
”Then I'll personally make a trip there.” Garen pulled back the finger he had pressed against the map.”
”Good luck.”
”I never believed in luck,” Garen smiled, and turned to leave the command room.