At an unknown place, dark miasma covered the horizon as if nothing was visible in this strange, mysterious place.
However, a couple of a hundred meters deep underground was a humongous space, and in this space was built a metropolis.
In a towering building, a masked woman in a lab coat was standing in front of a glass cell and recording something in a hologram in her hand.
At this moment, an electric voice rang in the lab, "Lord S-0, you have an utmost important call."
S-0 focus was broken with that abrupt notification, and she knew only a single person was capable of triggering this kind of notification.
So, she quickly changed the projection on her wrist and opened the call interface, and when she saw the name, she knew she was right about the identity of the caller. So, she quickly accepted the audio call.
"My Lord…"
"A-0 is dead, and so does the top 100 of A ranks with him!" A ghastly voice rang, cutting S-0 between her sentence.
S-0 eyes instantly widened when she heard the news, and her body trembled as she blurted, "How is that possible?!"
She knew better than anyone just how powerful A-0 was, and he should be able to preserve his life even if he encountered an epic. But his death with the top 100 A ranks was a massive shock to her, and if it was true, then it was an unforgivable blunder!
"You tell me." The ghastly voice coolly replied. The voice may sound indifferent, but there was a clear, frigid intent laced within.
S-0 was lost for words as she herself couldn't wrap her head around this abrupt turn of events.
"M-my Lord, give me some time to investigate. He might've been siege by some hidden enemy, and in the process, his brain chip might've been damaged. So, there's still a chance he's not dead!" S-0 refused to believe that A-0 could die in the rare plains.
"Hehe, do you think I would've called you if I hadn't confirmed it? You know quite well a Skull with the number 0 has a special brain chip implanted in their brains that can send us video feedback for 1 minute before a number 0 dies. So, are you getting retard, or are you suggesting I'm a retard?" The ghastly voice asked in derision.
S-0 instantly kneeled down as her entire body was feeling goosebumps despite the fact that she was only talking with a voice. It was a kind of fear that simmered into her very being.
"I-I didn't dare! It was me who lost my rationality! Please forgive my lord; please forgive me!" She started to plead.
"Enough with this nonsense. Tell me, how are you going to retrieve our 'assets' on A-0 and the data from the cannibal plan?" The ghastly voice sternly questioned.
S-0 quickly replied, "I'll go myself to complete this mission!"
"Humph! I'm giving you one more chance to make everything right. I want the assets and data before the epic trial begins. Or you will be demoted to S-1 rank, and you will have to complete a Dark Skull Mission to make amends!"
Done saying its piece, the voice ended the call without waiting for any reply.
S-0's eyes were filled with despair when she heard the punishment. A few moments later, she finally managed to collect herself.
An eerie voice of teeth grounding rang at this moment in the silence lab before S-0 furiously roared, "Who did this?! Show me A-0 last vision!"
Her eyes were bloodshot as she saw a video appear on her star watch interface and started to play. When she saw how almost all the video was A-0, running for his life, and then he was maimed by some extremely fast projectile towards the end, she was dumbfounded.
But this video was like a normal video as it didn't have a 360-degree feature, and it could only show what A-0 saw before his impending death for up to 1 minute. So, she didn't have any clue what kind of thing hit him that tore apart his leg or how he was wounded before.
"Ahhh…haa… s-stop! Please stop! I-I… why are you attacking me?!"
At this time, Jacob finally landed a few meters in front of A-0, and S-0's eyes instantly widened as she knew who this guy might be.
"Faceless Ancient, but how!?" She blurted in disbelief as she watched with hatred in her eyes.
"Because I like your heart." Jacob dismissively replied before he left an afterimage and appeared right in front of A-0, and his short sword moved, "Wait… I'm D….kikk." this was the end of the video.
"Just how can he be so powerful? Didn't that bastard say the target was only from the common plains, and he was only a rare rank species when he appeared in the rare plains? Then how could he have the strength to corner and kill A-0?!
"Then there is that weapon which maimed A-0 while running. It has to be a gun, but that wasn't a type-2 magic bullet, or his entire torso would've been blown by that shot, not just his leg.
"So, it was not a magic bullet but a mech bullet. The real question is, how in the world did he manage to get his hands on a type-2 gun and its bullets?" S-0 muttered like crazy.
She was still finding it hard to believe that A-0 was killed by a single person, not an entire army, and that person happened to be the one she had sent A-0 to apprehend herself.
In a sense, A-0 was also under S-0's pressure, so he had no choice but to move out himself, but he never thought he could get killed so easily by Jacob.
Now, S-0 was in an even worse situation, and she knew if she didn't do something, she might never be able to enjoy the life of luxury anymore, and her high status would be stripped.
But what she was most afraid of was the Dark Skull Mission, which is a kind of suicide mission that the Killer Skull Society only gives those skulls who were incompetent and had messed up big time.
Now it was a life or death situation for S-0!