New Game+

General Vender Hircok awoke from his sleep. His body continued to have pangs of pain. The trembling in his body was not dying out. As Vender moved, he noticed that things were strangely slow around him.

"What\'s going on?" Vender wondered but noticed that his voice was strange and then suddenly, a ball was floating towards him. It was slow and he grabbed the ball.

"Getting used to it? This is the side-effect of using my new drug. This one is based on the theories I got from those Selective Unlocked. I focused on perception first as it seems to be the most important aspect of the Unlocked." Charles appeared. He motioned to have Vender throw the ball back.

"Mind your strength. Get used to the changes in your body."

Vender looked at his hand and decided to throw the ball.

The ball traveled slowly, but Vender knew that the ball he threw had such force as he exerted more effort than usual.

Charles smiled and caught it with one hand.

"That was a strong throw." Charles laughed.

"Yet it didn\'t even move your hand."

"You are just on the Unbecoming stage. Right between Advent which is the first level of that stage, and Proficient which is the second. I\'m already at the last stage. It\'s nothing special. I also did the same procedure to your wife."

"What? What did you do to my wife?!"

"Relax. I had to do it because I need to see her DNA and cells and study it. It could help me with healing your daughter. And besides, your wife should be stronger now than some regular soldier. I\'ve seen kids take out an army because of the difference in time perception. But even if we don\'t add the time perception in the mix, the change in physical strength, their remolded stamina that could match cheetah is already ubsurd cheats that could make them similar to any cybernetically enhanced or modified humans." Charles laughed.

"What you should focus on, is your perception. You\'re still seeing things slower than it should be. Let me help you… Follow the sound of my voice and adjust your comprehension to the speed of how I talk." Charles started to speak slowly mid-way.

"The trick in time perception is to relax your mind. Stop thinking or focusing. The drug that I gave you will have this side effect of your brain being too tense."

At that point, Vender could see things at the normal speed. The minute hand on the clock seemed to have been moving second by second.

Vender sat back down and noticed that he was in a strange lab.

"Where are we?"

"In a little lab that I brought with me. I had to park the lab further outside the country and could only bring it in today. But now that my devices are here, I can continue with my experiments. I\'m a very busy guy. Aside from the impossible miracles of trying to save your daughter, I have another task to fulfill. And that is the development of the Unlocking. Did you remember our last conversation?"

"Last conversation?! That monologue you had when you were trying to kill me, again and again?"

"Yes."

"Of course I don\'t! How the hell could I -" It was there that Vender realized he recalled everything? The conversation that Vender didn\'t pay mind to as he was trying to escape the nozzle of the rifle and the machine gun that was aimed right in front of him, became instilled in his memory word-by-word.

"Why do I remember? Aliens… Aragarians? The Unlocking? I am an Unlocked?" Vender glanced at his arms.

It was as if Vender recalled and easily committed all that information to memory.

"Optimum time-perception. Advanced Recall also confirmed. Physical strength within acceptable range… Looks good. Congratulations! You\'re the first successful experiment to have crossed the Advent level and reached Proficient of the Unbecoming stage."

Vender understood Charles\' cryptic words as his memories made him recall everything that Charles\' talked about as he was blasting rifles and machineguns several inches from Vender\'s head.

"Of course, I had to make sure that you were already experiencing those states where your brain temporarily moves beyond its normal capacity. With adrenaline and a pseudo-near death state, the drug worked perfectly and enhanced it all."

Vender was silent. But he could feel the miniature changes ongoing in his body.

"I can feel my blood flow…" He could not help but voice out.

"That\'s new. A form Advance Realm Somatotopy... You could even feel your blood, huh? It\'s a good thing my labs here now. We can run more tests."

Vender then realized an important truth he skipped. He looked around the lab to confirm it.

"These are… Non-African techs! How did you manage to move it inside without being detected?"

"The attack helped." Charles smiled smugly.

"The attack?"

"An Australian EMP attack. It exploded right next to your base. Your base wasn\'t the only one attacked. There\'s another attack that was made on Pangea, another one on New Great Britain, and any minute now, the WGP should also be attacked. The world is in chaos now compared to when you were awake three hours ago."

"What happened to the base I was defending?"

"The EMP attack damaged and destroyed most of your weapons. What do you think would happen?"

"The Caliphates army invaded." Vender gripped his fist.

"I suppose this is the price of the choice I make. I didn\'t you would go to those extremes. Was it to hide your existence? Was it to cover my disappearance?" Vender smiled but the pain in his heart caused tears to flood his eyes.

"What are you talking about? The Caliphates army did attack. But the WGP was there. They were so angry that they wiped out the army and even launched an attack at the base as a warning!"

"What?! But but… What about the Australians?"

"The Australians?"

"EMP Tech was theirs wasn\'t it?"

"No. That EMP bomb was one of the many weapons ransacked during the sacking of Australia. Arthur gave me one, knowing that I would need it. But I swam here from Greece to talk with Lowengren first. So he made this plan of faking a Caliphate attack. Of course, we made it look like it was from Australia and attacked several nations. But that EMP was only to give me a chance to send my Lab in. I parked this lab outside of your country, remember? The EMP destroyed the sensors and the battle between the Caliphates and the WGP allowed my safe and silent entry."

"So my base is alright, and my family is safe, and there is hope in saving my daughter?"

"Yes. But don\'t forget. The drawback is that you must admit that you\'ve been having a perverted relationship with the Lieutenant. Don\'t worry. Lowengren already explained things on your behalf. So your wife\'s ok with it. Oh and, you\'re country might go to war with the European Nations or the Caliphates. Depending on the success of the attacks happening in Pangea, Australia, Egypt, and the Ice Nations."

"War?"

"Right. War. One China might go to war with the Caliphates or Russia too."

"What the hell happened when I was asleep?" Vender could not help but curse.

Charles laughed.

"So this is what Seeker felt when he would surprise me! It\'s refreshing! No wonder that brat loved doing this back then! To answer your question, let\'s go to the news. Let\'s start with One China."

The large monitor that was hanging above the room suddenly turned on and the feed changed to show news in One China.

"The attack on these bases could only be from them. We do not know why they attacked but we have already identified the culprits. We have already learned of their route before they landed. So we don\'t have any reason to believe that the Caliphates would attack us. Of course, the Russians do not share our perspective and are even blaming us for faking it. How there they? Fake it? We lost a priceless and strategic base just as they have!" The Chinese official cursed.

"But regardless of the idiotic claims that the Russians are making, we will set aside their complaints about now and focus on the true culprits!"

"The Russian base… A Chinese base? This can\'t be the Middle Earth Triangle? Two bases were destroyed?!" Vender guessed.

"Not destroyed. But you\'re right. It\'s two of the three military bases that guarded the boundaries between the Caliphates, Russia and One China. Although, here\'s a secret. I\'m sure they\'re exaggerating the news. They weren\'t destroyed. Both nations are exaggerating the attack to have more reasons to either attack or force the WGP to allow several war skirmishes. After all, One China is weakened after the Black Dragons\' death. Of course, several important facilities were damaged in their bases."

The information on those two bases being attacked was extremely crucial for a military man like Vender. Ever since the Third World War, those bases had always remained stalwart despite the usage of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

"Why? Why would the Caliphates have attacked them? They have nothing to be gained from attacking two bases at once? Wait! No. This was your plan! You did this?"

"No. How could I do that? I\'m right here!" Charles laughed.

"Your team did it! That was foolish! If you sent an army, those Aragarians you mentioned would easily trace it back! Didn\'t you told me earlier when you were switching from that damned rifle and the perverse handgun that they have connections and technologies that far surpass the World Governing Powers!?"

"Yes. But we won\'t be the ones who will take the blame. Besides… What attacked those bases wasn\'t an army. It was a commando unit." Charles answered mysteriously.

"Then who could it be?! Two bases of such high profile security wouldn\'t even receive damage from an airstrike!"

"We are confident that we have the mastermind. We demand an explanation from the European Nations as to why they attacked us!" The Chinese official continued. His angry voice made Vender hear it clearly and Vender turned his attention back to the news report.

"They have the means and the capability to attack us. They probably hope that we would blame the Caliphate. But of course, the Caliphate could be working together with the EU! So until then, the mastermind of this attack will be continuously tortured until she confesses. I don\'t give a damn about human rights! We lost a General and now we lost a base!"

Vender stared in awe. He felt stupid for blaming Charles and his team for this.

"I see. You weren\'t directly involved. You used people. So it\'s the EU. Then it must be that European Secret Service! The G-7!"

"The who?" Charles was surprised.

"You Pangeans shouldn\'t know of them. But our battles with the EU have thought us many things. The G-7 is a powerful team of seven individuals. They could destroy nations, conquer kings, and kill thousands. They must have sent them! The Gore, the Gentleman, the Grim Reaper! It must be them! But the mastermind was captured? The God was captured. Unbelievable."

The scene on TV then displayed the profile of Amanda Mershalle.

"That\'s the God?" Charles asked with a sarcastic expression. He knew that whoever attacked the bases weren\'t these five gods. Listening to General Hirock reveal his deduction brought such joy to Charles.

"Er... Probably..."

"Who is Amanda Mershalle? And what makes this mastermind of the recent attacks on the bases so peculiar? She is a Caliphate native who eventually moved and resided in the European Nations where she later became a formal citizen. She began her modeling career through various adult entertainment-type shows and was a porn actress for three years."

"Wow. China\'s really pissed at her. They even used the term porn star. Haven\'t heard that term used since ever." Charles gave a surprised whistle.

"A porn star masterminded the attack on those two bases?!" Vender was so shocked that he almost choked from his saliva.

Charles was full of glee. How many times has Seeker done this to him, he wondered.?

"I kinda miss him…" Charles could not help but sigh as he recollected those fun naïve days with the arrogant Seeker Carlean.

"Let\'s head to the news in New Great Britain." Charles ignored Vender and changed the channel once more.

"We believe that these attacks were made with a specific purpose." The Prime Minister of New Great Britain was on the news.

"Wow. They actually used her to deliver the news. Looks like New Great Britain is taking things seriously."

"The attack using EMP technology has been confirmed. Whoever did this know the city well! It damaged most of the power plants causing the city-wide blackout and we\'ve estimated businesses to have lost funds by the billions. The WGP has recently delivered to us an intelligence report indicating that several organizations were tied to Australia. With how Australia has been losing funds, I\'m sure that resorting to establishing trade deals with criminal organizations would be the expected result."

"The EMP attack on New Great Britain. But you did this right?"

"Yes. Our team did do that. I\'m sure it\'s Arthur."

"But who are you going to blame? You told me when we were fighting, that we are trying to hide from those Aragarians! But everything you\'ve been doing is all crazy explosions that making World War 4!"

"Are we? Didn\'t you just hear? The Russians are blaming the Chinese; the Chinese are blaming the European Nations because the mastermind was Amanda."

"How did you make it look like Amanda was trying to attack and damage two strategically important bases by two different countries?" Vender demanded an explanation.

At the silence of Charles\'s refusal to answer Vender\'s question, the high-pitched voice of the Prime Minister of New Great Britain could be heard.

"And so, we concluded that this incident, dubbed as the Naked Assassin is the cause of this attack. Here is the video clip of a naked man, killing several undercover agents in one of the most notorious criminal organizations."

A low-quality clip of a naked man slashing and stabbing several men was seen. Later, an unidentified woman rushed towards the Naked man, and after a few moments, the two were seen leaving the exit.

"A Naked Assassin?!" Vender was so bewildered that he was pulling the hair off his head.