[A/N]: Final chapter for "Book 1". Thank you everyone so much for reading this far.

"And they all just disappeared? Without a trace, correct?"

In an undisclosed location, several hundred metres underground, several dozen individuals gathered around an enormous circular lecture hall. A single dim light was placed in the raised podium in the centre of the room, revealing a single older gentleman dressed in a suit whose value exceeded the average individuals yearly income. An ornate wooden walking stick placed in one of his hands.

The older gentleman received dozens of nods, from individuals all across the hall, frowning deeply as he gazed out towards his audience.

The vast majority of people present kept their expressions reserved, concealing their true thoughts and emotions beneath a façade of cold reservation. A few sent several strange glances towards certain individuals around them, hoping to find some sort of answer to the conundrum that everyone was facing.

"The scale of this incident goes beyond just the influence of a single nation or organization. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of personnel across the globe have been abducted or gone missing over the past twenty-four hours."

"America. China. Russia. India. Britain. Australia. South Korea. Israel. And dozens more nations have all reported unexplained disappearances, each pointing the finger at one another. How are we supposed to figure out who the culprit is, if we continue fighting amongst ourselves, forcing the blame onto one another!"

The older gentleman scrunched up his face in disgust, slamming his walking stick into the ground, the sound reverberating across the lecture hall.

A few of the more influential members of this panel frowned, hearing the words of this older man. Before one of them could retort, the man in question swept his eyes across the crowd, frowning while straightening his posture

"This goes beyond borders. Beyond energy. Beyond ideology. Beyond belief and beyond our political parties! Dozens of athletes, from every sport imaginable have vanished without a trace! Hundreds of the world's greatest minds, gone in an instant! Thousands of military personnel gone in the blink of an eye!"

"Whoever took them did not care about their race. About the colour of their skin. About their beliefs nor about what citizenship they possessed! Someone has taken our best and brightest. Our strongest and most dangerous. Individuals who possess extraordinary physical and mental capabilities."

The older gentleman slammed his walking stick into the ground once more, although with not nearly as much exuberance as it had previously. Taking a deep breath the man spoke once more, his expression obvious for everyone.

"Why?"

One of the individuals sitting closest to the podium frowned, standing up while sending a sweeping glance to everyone around him. Dressed in a similar man, this man was significantly younger than the one standing on the podium albeit one with several streaks of grey running through his beard.

"Do not attempt to subvert this assembly with wild theories and fairy tales, Mr Gratz. This gathering is a platform for nations and states to share what information they have on the disappearances of their citizens."

"Perhaps considering how widespread this phenomenon is, we should look towards organizations capable of executing such an undertaking. Most multi-billion dollar organizations often possess their own small private military force. Might have a coalition of these groups orchestrated this disappearance of our soldiers and citizens?"

Several individuals sitting around this grey-bearded man nodded, whispering amongst themselves and the other people situated around them.

The grey-bearded man flashed a smile towards the older gentleman standing atop the podium, causing the latter to frown before shaking his head from side to side.

"There is no substantial proof that this has occurred! Individuals were taken all at the exact same time, across over a hundred different nations, and five hundred different cities."

"The sheer number of personnel required for such an operation would have been astronomical. Money trails and digital footprints would have been left behind and assets embedded within organizations such as these would have seen the signs long before this plan would have been set in motion!"

"Is it so unbelievable to think that we are facing a threat that seeks to deprive us of our greatest?"

Another individual stood up from across the room. An older woman, with crow's feet around her eyes and shoulder length, brown-coloured hair. Her expression was amused, looking at the gentleman standing on the podium with an almost disappointed look on her face.

"Herbert. What you are proposing is outrageous. While there might not be proof substantiating Mr Kozlov's claims, this assembly gathered here today in order to present a unified response to the public."

"We require action. Not stories we use to coax children to bed."

The older gentleman standing atop the podium frowned, his shoulders slumping almost a fraction of an inch downwards. Although his expression remained unchanged, he could not help but let out a small sigh, closing his eyes for a few moments.

Seeing this action, several other members in the audience broke out into whispers, most at the provocation at one of the two other individuals standing up.

"… it might be that pharmaceutical company…"

"… what about that private firm situated in Morocco…"

"… private military company based out of South Sudan…"

"… the possibility of using shipping companies in order to…"

"… using software designed by a major tech company…"

The older gentleman continued to stand stop the podium, gripping onto his wooden cane as if it was a lifeline. People he once considered allies had turned on him, ignoring the greater picture that he presented to them.

'How they cannot see what is right before them baffles me. Politicians nowadays only care for lining their own pockets, without worrying what plagues their citizens minds.'

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

'The number of vanished personnel is over three million, in just seven hours of the incident being detected. How does something like that happen without anyone even noticing? Over the next twenty-four hours news outlets will get word of the disappearances, and the citizens will start questioning where their friends and families have gone.'

'How are we supposed to say that multi-billion dollar corporations have kidnapped their loved ones, and we the governments of the world were unable to stop them? What sort of message does that say?'

Despite appearing unmoved to those around him and maintaining his quiet but stalwart expression, the grey-haired gentleman could not help but imagine the familiar face of his grandson in his mind.

Marcus Jacob Gratz, the twenty-one-year-old university student that had just come home from a night out on the town with his friends. Herbert had awoken that morning to the sound of his door unlocking, and Marcus stumbling into the kitchen, an enormous family-sized pizza in his hands.

It was not the first time Herbert had caught him coming home at odd hours of the morning. Youths these days often partied for hours on end, without a care in the world of their futures and responsibilities.

Even as Herbert readied himself to give Marcus a firm talking to, the older man could not help but pause, seeing his grandson stand in their kitchen with an additional plate ready, extending it towards him the moment he stepped into the room.

Despite his predilections, Marcus could be quite the perceptive young man when he felt like it.

Letting out a small sigh, Herbert took a single step forward towards his grandson, closing his eyes for a moment and rubbing the sleep out of them before hearing the sound of a plate crashing onto the ground.

The older gentleman had whatever traces of fatigue on his face vanish, the moment he heard the sound of that plate shattering. His eyes turning towards the space where Marcus once stood, seeing not a single trace of his grandson anywhere in the kitchen.

Herbert had his private security scour the grounds for any trace of Marcus, finding no evidence that he had left the area. It was not even an hour later that Herbert had been informed that dozens, if not hundreds of military personnel had vanished from bases all across the country.

Three hours before he found out that this was not a local incident.

That this was happening everywhere, all across the globe.

Herbert glanced upwards, towards the concrete and titanium enclosure that buried them several hundred metres underground. Although Herbert could stare at nothing but a bright white light, his gaze was focused elsewhere, towards some unknown direction.

'Marcus… I swear I will find you…'

Break.

"How the fuck Darwinism could ever account for a creature as stupid as you are, I have no idea", a youthful sounding voice echoed throughout the forest, with no-one but the creature pinned to the tree in front of him around to hear it.

His expression was unimpressed, a hint of disgust flashing through his eyes. Holding an ivory-coloured knife in one hand, a blonde-haired young man gripped the creature in front of him at the throat, watching with an interested expression on his face as it slowly started to choke from his actions.

Chuckling, the young man continued to use his thumb to press down with even more force, the corners of his mouth turning upwards as he observed the reactions of the creature before him.

"Bipedal. Hairless. Four eyes with a musculature reminiscent of a human being. Or perhaps we are reminiscent of you, whatever you are," said the blonde-haired man, shrugging his shoulders while continuing to tighten his grip around the throat of the pale-skinned alien.

"I wonder how old your species must be. I wonder how old you must be. I suppose I might have felt a little uncomfortable if you were considered an infant or child, but given the qualities the System chooses the participants in its Introduction, you must be at least somewhat above average at least?"

"Fragments and Mana Cores. Titles and Wonders. It all seems kind of ridiculous, don't you think?" asked the blonde-haired man.

"I mean, I literally have magical powers. Like Spells and shit. Hell, I just manifested a knife from nothing. Did I just create matter? Or does the System somehow produce this substance and I am merely channelling it through myself?"

"I have so many questions, but no-one to answer them! This stupid status page of mine doesn't tell me much either," the blonde-haired man huffed, rolling his eyes while glancing towards the imaginary screen in the corner of his vision.

Name: Theodore Jeffery Manson Age: 28 Rank: Mortal Tier: Sixth Initiation Title: Murder Of Temperance And Humility

Mana Core(s):

[1]: Knowledge [Fragment Of Devour] [Malignant Knowledge Art; Crunching Information] (Knowledge, Devour, Spell, Ability, Debuff)

[Fragment Of Foresight] [Providence Of The Third Eye] (Knowledge, Foresight, Ability, Self)

[Fragment Of Mind] [Mine Is The Abyss Of Knowledge] (Knowledge, Mind, Passive, Ability, Enhancement, Resistance, Self)

[2]: Blood [Fragment Of Marrow] [Ours Is The Blood That Colours Skies Red] (Blood, Marrow, Mutation, Ability, Enhancement)

[Fragment Of Thirst] [Gluttonous Blood Art; Swallowing Sanguine Stomach] (Blood, Thirst, Spell, Recovery, Debuff)

[Fragment Of Bat] [Itsumade; Quiet Death Of Light And Virtue] (Summon, Blood, Bat, Memento, Silence, Darkness, Spell, Ability, Debuff)

[3]: Knife [Fragment Of Weapon] [Behold Thy Lustrous Knife, Born From Scarlet Death] (Knife, Weapon, Summoning, Spell, Ability, Debuff)

[Fragment Of Slash] [False Knife Art; Vein-Severing Slash] (Knife, Slash, Technique, Ability, Debuff)

[Fragment Of Eradication] [Imperial Knife Art; Heart-Piercing Deliverance] (Knife, Eradication, Technique, Spell, Ability, Debuff)

[4]: Lies [Fragment Of Illusion] [First Lie; Phantom Dream] (Lies, Illusion, Spell, Sensory, Perception, Debuff)

[Fragment Of Aura] [Façade Of The Truth] (Lies, Aura, Technique, Buff, Debuff)

[Fragment Of Imitation] [Second Lie; Smiling Copy] (Lies, Imitation, Spell, Technique, Ability)

[5]: Fire [Fragment Of Knife] [Behold Thy Scorching Knife, Birthed From Rose Light] (Fire, Knife, Summoning, Ability, Weapon, Debuff, Debuff)

[Fragment Of Burst] [False Fire Art; Exploding Flame Pellets] (Fire, Burst, Spell, Debuff)

[Fragment Of Avatar] [With Thou Beside Me, Fire Shall Burn Eternal] (Fire, Avatar, Ability, Technique, Spell, Construct, Buff)

[6]: Life [Fragment Of Curse] [Malignant Life Art; Profane Life Hex] (Life, Curse, Spell, Debuff)

[Fragment Of Aegis] [Behold Thy Virtuous Shield, Delivered From White Purity] (Life, Aegis, Summon, Spell, Defensive, Shield, Buff, Self)

[Fragment Of Evolution] [That Which Evolves Through Life] (Life, Evolution, Ability, Spell, Technique, Enhancement, Buff, Debuff, Self)

Theodore Jeffery Manson scratched the top of his head, ignoring how close his knife approached one of his ears. The twenty-eight-year-old had reached the Sixth Initiation after three months within the System Introduction, having just obtained his eighteen fragment just a few days prior.

Although Theodore had completed one of the mandatory tasks the System had given him, the blonde-haired man did not see the appeal of remaining within one of the System generated Safe Zones. There were no opportunities to obtain more fragments with Safe Zones, even if participants of the System Introduction were safe from the threat of mutated beasts and strange creatures that walked amongst them.

The youthful-looking man flashed a maniacal looking grin has he observed one of his newest abilities. The Fragment Of Imitation that he had obtained several weeks ago had shown its worth over the past few days, perhaps even more so than his Fragment Of Evolution.

Theodore did not even notice the sound of bones cracking as he continued to observe the status page. After a few more minutes of admiring each of his effect descriptions, the blonde-haired human looked down towards the pale-skinned creature in his hand, showing a forlorn expression as he noticed how glassy its eyes had become.

"Ah. I got carried away again."

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