Chapter 35: Lupus

Octane sprinted out of the room far too quickly for the eye to see, leaving behind nothing but a faint green trail and afterimages of his lightning-fast movement. He breezed past the guards, sending a wave of wind in their direction as they spun around, confused.

"Hey, who's that?!" A gang member yelled, before quickly chasing after Octane.

"Don't know, he's too damn fast!" Another replied, joining the hunt.

"Hurry, block all the exits! We'll surround him from the other side!"

Just like that, all the guards were lured away by Octane, who rounded the corner and disappeared out of sight.

"We should get moving too," Archon said darkly, swiftly heading out of the stairwell and heading directly for the room in the center of the room.

Now that all of the guards were chasing after Octane on the other side of this floor, we were able to make it to the door easily. Archon smashed it open with his warhammer and broke in.

And sitting in a comfortable throne-like chair, there he was — the leader of Alpha Lupi.

"You…!" Archon gritted his teeth as he recognized the man's face, tightening his grip on his warhammer and preparing to lunge towards him.

"Uh-uh," the leader interrupted, holding up something that looked suspiciously like a detonator. "I would think twice before doing that… Archon. Haven't had enough from last time, it seems."

The man appeared to be quite old, even more so than Archon. He had a white mustache and similarly colored hair to match, along with a monocle that resembled Mavrick from the armor shop. He wore a black tux and two white gloves, paired with a black top hat to complete the look of a magician.

It seems he had indeed used mines once again… with a remote detonator too. We couldn't rush in right now, as he would just detonate it and everyone here would die, himself included. Of course, there was the chance that the controller was a fake one, just a bluff, but Finn and the others could not risk it.

"Bastard… always using underhanded methods like this… what do you say we have a proper, one-on-one fight?" Archon challenged, hoping to taunt him into accepting.

But the leader of Alpha Lupi merely laughed. "I'm not stupid, Archon. Good try, but I won't be so easily provoked by those… childish words of yours."

"Tch…" Archon fell silent, but did not cease his battle posture.

"Now now, why don't we have a little talk?" the leader suggested, hand not once leaving the detonator. "It seems you brought a few new friends with you since the last time we met, so perhaps a little self-introduction is necessary."

Archon knew they didn't have the time to be idling around right here, as Octane would quickly run out of energy because of his asthma, but he wasn't in a position to be making demands. This was the worst possible scenario in the original plan, but luckily, they did have a way to deal with it… Octane just needed to hold on for a bit longer while Finn made his move.

"My name is Lupus," the leader of the gang said with a warm smile on his face. "I am the leader of Alpha Lupi, a rogue band of outlaws who… had a little disagreement with the guild."

"A little disagreement?" Archon snarled. "Rather than using the power of Angelicas for its original purpose, you are abusing it to do whatever you like in the public world — and you expect us not to come after you?"

"Ah, but who is to say the original purpose of Angelicas is to slay Ghosts?" Lupus said with a wry smile. "We who have awakened our Angelicas are the chosen ones. In this world, only the strong rule. I cannot stand the thought of keeping all this power we have hidden from the public, forever unappreciated and unremembered. Tell me, Archon — what are we doing all of this for? Killing Ghosts? Protecting the world? Why? What do we get in return?"

"Do you think we Ghost Hunters do it for fame? For glory?" Archon furrowed his brows and drove his warhammer into the ground. "No, Lupus… if that's what you think, you're horribly wrong. We do it for revenge. We do it because we want to. We do it because if we don't, no one else will. The fame, the glory, the money… those are all side bonuses."

"Exactly what I'd expect from a once top-tier Hunter, Archon," Lupus laughed and clapped his hands slowly. "Bravo, bravo… but I wonder, can your strength live up to that integrity? You know, inspirational speeches are nothing but false lies if the sayer does not have experience himself."

While they were busy arguing, Finn discretely stepped away just far enough so that they couldn't hear him whisper, then used the ventriloquist skills his good friend Leo had taught him when they were younger to secretly communicate with their sixth and final trump card.

"Fanatic, Plan B," Finn whispered without opening his mouth. "Do you have a good angle of our current location?"

After some static, Fanatic's voice came through over on the other side. "I do, but the curtains are drawn. I can't see his exact location. If there's any way you can…"

"Copy. Be ready to shoot," Finn replied briskly and didn't say anything further, waiting for the perfect opportunity.

Archon narrowed his eyes at Lupus. "What do you want?"

"I want you to fight one of your friends over there. If you can kill them, I'll accept that your fortitude is truly strong and let you arrest me without any hesitation. How about it?"

"What…?!" Archon's eyes widened in shock at this ridiculous, outright evil demand.

But Lupus was unconcerned and merely chuckled softly, as if this was all an amusing game to him. "Come on, Archon… you already did it once before, no? You can do it again."

Of course, he was referring to how Archon killed his own squadmates with that moment of hesitation before pulling the trigger.

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While they were talking, Finn, in his mind, visualized where Lupus was standing based on the direction of his voice. Because he lost his sight, his other senses had drastically improved — especially his hearing. That was what allowed him to hear those low-frequency sounds emitted by Phantoms that normal people couldn't hear, and also what allowed him to pinpoint Lupus's location.

Once he had done so, Finn realized it was lined up directly with the sound of the rain outside. The walls of this room were thick enough to be soundproof, according to the description of the building Fanatic gave, which naturally meant the sound of pouring rain outside would be most evident in front of a window. That was what led to Finn's conclusion.

"…!" Archon gritted his teeth and clenched his warhammer tightly. His anger was boiling over, but they could not afford to have him lose his cool here. Finn, who had now formulated a plan in his head, decided to step in.

"I'll do it, Archon," he said calmly. "Fight me."

"H-Huh...?!" Iris cried from above him.

"What… Ace…"

"I've always wanted to test my mettle against you," Finn replied calmly. "Now is the perfect opportunity."

"Oh…? Your allies from last time weren't this proactive," Lupus laughed boldly as he watched this scene, still holding the detonator in his hands.

Finn furrowed his brows and passed Iris over to Storm, who caught her in a princess carry and stepped away subconsciously, confused at this sudden turn of events. This was definitely not part of the original plan, but Ghost Hunters needed to know how to adapt and overcome. In Finn's eyes, this was a perfect opportunity to steer the operation back on course and let Fanatic get the window he needed.

The only piece of the puzzle he was missing… was Archon's cooperation.

"H-Hey, Ace! What are you trying to do…!" Iris cried, but Storm wouldn't let her go.

Finn, turning back to Archon, adopted a fighting posture and sent out a challenge.

"Come."

"No… I can't…" Archon shook his head, unable to do this. Finn clenched his fists even tighter, allowing the blades to rise up from his gloves.

"If you can't… I will."

Saying this, Finn made the first move, dashing towards his caretaker with a punch ready. Archon blocked the swing and grabbed Finn's forearms, pushing him backwards.

"Stop… don't…" he continued shaking his head, begging Finn to cease this. But in order for this plan to work, he had to keep going.

Finn slowly paced around, visualizing the room in his head and recalling Lupus's location. Since in a weapon-free boxing match like this one, two fighters would normally move around in a circle so that they would always be directly facing each other, Finn took advantage of this fact and moved left so that his opponent would move left as well. Soon, Archon, Lupus, and himself were lined up directly in a straight line.

This seemed natural in a fight, so Lupus had no idea this was in fact all part of Finn's plan to take him down.

From this position, Finn lunged at Archon once more, this time going for the stomach rather than the head. Archon stopped him using the same strategy and pushed him back once again, practically on the verge of a mental breakdown.

"Please… just stop, Finn… I don't want to have to…!"

Silently, Finn went in for the third time. He wasn't really trying to take Archon down, just provoking him enough to make him fight back. And that, he did.

"I said… STOP!"

Archon grabbed Finn's arm and threw him to the ground, before straddling him to prevent him from getting up. Since it was not a strike attack, the Ability Finn received from the Titan-class Phantom didn't activate.

"Ace… why…"

"Oh ho ho!" Lupus clapped delightfully. "Now this is entertaining! Finish him, Archon!"

All the chess pieces were in place. All that was left was to checkmate the opposing king.

With an expression as neutral as ever, Finn suddenly called upon his real strength and made his move.

"… Sorry, Archon."

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