My Plunderer System

Reading the message, Milo made a face that made Krista curious about what was going on. When she asked, Milo came clean, explaining from the beginning what happened in his meeting with Zenox, and told Krista about the Administrators and their plan. About how they wanted to "reset" the earth, most likely meaning they wanted to wipe out all the planet's lifeforms and restart from scratch.

Like Milo, Krista took some time to digest this news, it was a heavy thing to know about, the idea that there were beings controlling what happened in the universe behind the scenes was something that many people believed in. The idea of a god, but Milo had met one of these so called gods, and not only this, but the gods weren't merciful beings that wanted to save everyone, they simply saw life as some sort of game and when it got boring, they wiped the save file and started over.

After processing the info, she inquired with Milo about it some more, he mentioned that Zenox was the one who had made the system. According to him, the dimensional doors were at first a way for them to begin killing people. Apparently somewhere along the way, the universe decided to balance this out by giving humans abilities to fight against the beasts. To push their agenda even further, one of the Administrators chose to use the Godfather to reach their goals, making him believe that humans were a disease and the dimensional doors were in a sense the planet's way to cure this so-called disease.

"So what are you going to do?" Krista asked Milo.

Milo hadn't thought this far ahead. He knew that he wanted to take revenge on the Fellowship, but just like Zenox had said, he couldn't do it alone. There were too many variables, but above all else, no one had seen the Godfather or his cardinals without their mask. This also led to more decisions Milo would need to make, should he inform others about the system? If so, who should he tell? Who should he ask to help him fight the Fellowship? Among all these questions, Milo was still a student so he would have to return to the Academy in less than a month. For this reason, Milo decided to put it off for now, he would become stronger first, strong enough that no one could stand in his way. He clenched his fist causing his nails to dig into his palms, "for Corinna," he thought. His reason for wanting to get stronger had gained a new aspect, not only was it to protect those he loved and to overcome his former self, but also to get revenge.

Seeing the hardened expression Milo made while thinking about what to do caused Krista to worry, Milo noticed this and put her mind at ease, saying he would have to finish school first anyways so he didn't have to make a decision now. At this moment, a knock was heard at the door.

"Come in," said Milo.

The door opened and two people entered, each wearing black suits. These were most likely the association members Milo thought. They asked if they could talk to Milo in private, and Krista nodded and left the room to sit outside. Once she was gone, the two association members took a seat near Milo's bed and asked him to tell them what he witnessed during the attack on New York.

Milo started from the beginning, retelling what he remembered leading all the way up to him blacking out. Hearing the story being told, the association members showed no emotion, nodding along as he retold the horror he had just lived through. They also asked questions, such as what Milo's ability was, which he answered Ice, what abilities the Fellowship were using, and more. They really wanted to get into the nitty gritty and get all the facts. They were writing everything Milo said on a tablet so that they could get a detailed record to take back to the association.

Eventually the man who was writing everything down turned the tablet towards Milo and showed what seemed to be a mugshot of a man Milo didn't recognize. The man had a hardened look on his face, and the date appeared to be from before the dimensional doors appeared in the world.

"Do you recognize this man?" the man asked Milo.

Milo shook his head as he had never seen the man before.

"His name is Jacques Dubois, he is a French Canadian who, before the dimensional doors appeared was arrested for many crimes; Arson, Armed Robbery, Aggravated Assault, Illegal Firearm Distribution as well as Murder. He was being held in a prison in Toronto until the Fellowship destroyed the city; he was thought to be dead due to the attack." Milo nodded along in understanding, he was a wanted criminal who had been caught, but why were they telling him all this? "The man known as Jacques Dubois also went by another alias… the 5th cardinal, the man you defeated during the attack at Times Square. His ability was dubbed Spiteful Fire, it allowed him to create flames that burned violet and as long as the ability was kept active, they would burn anything in their path. When we took him into custody after finding him unconscious near you following the Incubus Guild's arrival on the scene, we checked him for Magic Power to determine where he would rank among today's gatecrashers as he had never been measured before. This resulted in a very strange discovery." The man paused for a second before continuing. "The reading showed he had no Magic Power, essentially it was a reading that would only occur if we measured someone who didn't have an ability..."

This floored Milo, he obviously remembered the purple flames destroying and burning everything in their path. He had even been burned alive by the flames, there was no way he imagined all of this. The man then swiped on the screen showing the faces of more people Milo couldn't recognize. "All these people that I'm showing you are people who were previously known to have abilities that after being captured no longer had any Magic Power. We are unsure why this is, but we suspect it has something to do with the Godfather, or the Fellowship as a whole."

Hearing all this info caused Milo to think of many different scenarios, the one that stood at the forefront was the strange skill the system used that came up as an error. It gave him Magic Power, but what were the odds that it could completely take away an ability and turn it into Magic Power for him to use. If that was the case, it was another reason he needed to keep his system away from the public eye. Zenox encouraged him to gather allies, but if Milo truly could take away abilities, it may cause too much fear for anyone to join him. Along with this, if the Fellowship learned of this, they may try to exploit Milo for their own gain.

"Do you have any idea what could've caused this phenomenon? We are still investigating what could've caused this, but the Fellowship wiped out all CCTV in the city so we have to go by eye witness reports."

Milo said he had no idea what could've caused it, which was received with a nod of understanding. The association members then told Milo that once he was released from the hospital that they encouraged him to get an evaluation at the association to make sure his ability wasn't missing as well, they also gave him a business card to contact them if he remembered anything else he thought may be important. They thanked him for his time and left as quickly as they had arrived.

Krista entered again with her mother this time bringing snacks and drinks. They talked for a while before visiting hours were set to end, mainly about summer vacation coming to an end. The two then left which allowed Milo to think more about what he should do next, as there was a lot. He had to investigate the system more, he had new abilities to try out, new features to try like the upgrade function on some of his abilities, more skills to unlock through leveling up, practice with the sword more. Overall, the list was long and with the Fellowship's attack and the meeting with Zenox it had just gotten even longer. Milo looked out the window at the sun setting on the skyline of the acropolis. Some of this would have to wait, as in a little over a week it'd be back to school.

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Meanwhile in an unknown location…

"After the failed attack on New York, we must be wary of the hidden strengths of the world."

A table surrounded by 6 people wearing red cloaks could be seen. Each of them donning red masks that were numbered 1 through 7 could be seen, the number 5 was the only one missing. All 6 of them were unique in their own way, both men and women could be seen all of different ages, races and body types. At the head of the table was a person wearing a white robe, unlike the others they wore a black mask adorned with a golden filigree design and on the forehead a golden logo portraying a weeping angel could be seen. It was the symbol of the Fellowship's leader, the Godfather.

"It was a disappointing result to say the least, the loss of number 5 is also an unexpected turn of events as well. Even so, we must continue to strive towards our goal, so that his capture does not end in vain. Only then can we say that his sacrifice towards a better world was worth it," the Godfather said in a deep commanding voice.

After the Godfather spoke, the meeting was concluded and the 6 remaining cardinals returned to their duties.

The Godfather returned to his office, pulling off the mask to reveal a scarred face. He poured a glass of wine and watched the surveillance video taken of a young teen releasing chains from his body after appearing to be burned alive by the 5th cardinal's ability. The chains attacked his soldiers and their commander, causing them to go unconscious before returning to the teen who summoned them. The video was taken from a CCTV in Times Square before they wiped them clean. Unfortunately for him, the quality of the video was too blurry to see the face of the teen clearly.

"Just who in the world are you?" the Godfather said aloud as he sipped from his glass of wine.

End of Arc 1: The School Arc

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Following this chapter's release the novel will go on pause for 3-5 days for me to stockpile some chapters for the next part of the story, thanks for your understanding and thank you for reading. :)

-Kowatch24