[ A Will of the Many ]
— Don't stop when the world tells you to. Going beyond your limits is your second nature.
[ Grade: Evolved Challenger ]
[ Durability: 1/1 ]
The amulet that he was keeping in his heavy bag sent shockwaves in his head, declaring its successful reconstruction.
Even though the description was vague, Noa understood its meaning.
In terms of rarity, the artifact changed from Frail to Challenger.
"Good!" Noa exclaimed, and massaging his temples as the headache subsided, he took the blinking orb.
[ Evolved Challenger Spirit Orb ]
Moments later, when he was shaking off his dust, his phone rang.
Funnily enough, phones were made with Spirit Orbs and they contained magical energy, allowing communication from Velrox to the First Abyss.
But it was finite energy.
'What's going on?' Noa thought, looking at the caller.
"Is everything alright?" he asked Aeris, his heart pounding from worry.
Her voice was shaky, and she was on the verge of tearing up.
"They know. I am watching a live report, and some government officials are announcing that they know who the Deviation is. It's you, right?"
Aeris was crying.
Noa didn't know how, but she knew it was him.
A bobble of emotions choked him.
It took him a second to regain his composure; a plan, a desperate course of action flashed through his mind.
The only possible means of survival.
"Don't worry," he said while trying to talk in the calmest voice he could master. "But you need to listen to me."
Thankfully, the twins were already with her.
"I am going to send a woman. She is rough and maybe scary, but please go with her. I promise she will protect you. I will try to meet you as soon as I can."
Aeris listened carefully, nodding to the phone.
Then he hung up and dialed a new number.
'Fuck. I didn't want to do this.'
But there was no other choice, and when his call was picked up, he sighed before opening his mouth.
"Can I talk to Master Tifa?" he said to the woman he spoke to this morning.
"Sorry, but she is out right now."
The voice repeated the same thing, but Noa knew it only meant that Tifa was in a bad mood and didn't want to talk to anyone.
Noa used his trump card.
"I can't believe the infamous Red Order leader is so busy that she can't talk to me."
He was running this entire time.
There was no time to waste, and he searched for the military base.
His words stunned the woman on the other side, and before she recovered her calmness, he added.
"I know how to save her daughter."
Another silence was born, but it was broken in a moment.
"Who the fuck are you? How do you know about my identity, and most of all, how dare you talk about my daughter?"
The harsh voice reached his ears.
It was the same woman he was speaking to, but her personality completely shifted.
Her condition was… peculiar, as her order members called it, but she had a personality disorder, living under two separate identities.
"I don't have time for explanations. I need your help wi—"
Noa was harshly interrupted.
"Why would I care about that?" Tifa screamed into the phone.
"Because if you don't hurry up, you will lose your only chance to save your daughter. If you still want the reason… You should know that I am the Deviation everyone is talking about, and I am giving you my family."
"What this asshole is talking about?!" Tifa exclaimed, but then it clicked in her head.
She wasn't some dumb NPC who wouldn't guess what Noa wanted, and quickly analyzing the situation, the Red Order's leader understood that it was she who had the upper hand.
"Tell me their location," she said.
After giving her their location and condition, Noa could only hear Tifa's relentless, loud waves of laughter.
Accelerating to his limits, he hung up and destroyed the phone.
'I hope she is the same as the game portrayed.'
And pleading to no one, Noa covered tens of feet with a single step.
Tifa was one of the most beloved characters from the game.
She had a tragic backstory and an interesting, mysterious identity with a cool premise and execution.
If it wasn't enough, she was a mature beauty, collecting fans of any age and gender.
Yet, all Noa could think about was how difficult it would be to deal with her, especially with his whole family in her hands.
The only saving grace was that he knew how to save and cure her daughter.
Finally, after sweating countless buckets, Noa reached the camp.
It was stationed at martial headquarters where the military built a base and employed Embers and soldiers.
'How the fuck did they find out about my identity? I didn't leave a single clue. Was it Arthur who guessed it or that secretive third character?'
With a little plan and a still throbbing heart, Noa was about to perform the greatest spectacle in the planet's history.
He needed attention, which he was sure wouldn't take too much effort.
The exploration and hunting for his head should have already started, but they made a big mistake, revealing that they knew his identity.
'Thanks to them, I got the chance to call her. She would have probably gotten Aeris and the twins by now.'
Tifa was one of the few Eclipsed the world had to offer.
If she couldn't protect his family before anyone else reached them, then no one could.
As for Noa himself, he reached the military gate and screamed.
"Your bounty! Dear Deviation is here. Catch me if you can!"
His roars quickly gained attention.
The troops, officials, and up-and-coming Evolved Embers saw him and immediately recognized him from the pictures.
And the hunt began.
Noa ran, and every Ember in the vicinity ran after him.
Their utmost order was to catch him alive.
Illuminated trees that glimmered with frequent leaves tried to hide his visage in the forest.
It was hard, almost impossible for Noa to flee from their watchful gazes.
Speeding through the forest, the soldiers barked orders to one another—their armor clinked loudly as if announcing their closeness.
"Don't let him escape!"
The sweat dropped to Noa's face, stinging his eyes.
Embers in dark military uniforms circled him, their weapons drawn, threatening to cut his limbs.
There were at least hundreds of them, nearing with practiced precision.
"You can't run away from us!"
'Really?' Noa mulled. 'Let's see what you can do.'
As he was surrounded and almost arrested, Noa had a simple but effective strategy.
He would kill himself.
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A/N: Bonus chapters for every 2 reviews until we reach 10 in total.