"Azrael, are you accusing my grandfather?" asked Rudra in displeasure, not being able to hide his emotions for a moment.
Azzy then shrugged his shoulders and explained, "If Mavis gets killed, then, there will be a huge investigation but what if he goes missing? Until the day he found, Mr. Xavier will stay as the chairman and enjoy the vast wealth left by his elder brother. I think we should investigate Chairman Xavier. He's the prime suspect."
Naturally, Captain Rudra only got angrier. This time, his feelings were evident on his face for it turned red due to the blood rush. Fortunately, he wasn't consumed by rage or anything, and hence, the third eye on his forehead didn't open and he went on trying to warn, "Azrael, please mind your words. He is my…"
"I agree with him, Captain Rudra," interrupted the masked girl, who came in support of Azzy.
As the others looked at her, Lenore further added, "in fact, as a first cousin of the victim, in fact, you shouldn't have been involved in this mission in the first place. Since you did, you cannot take sides, now. With that said, I request you to give me permission to interrogate Chairman Xavier."
"No…" Rudra instantly rejected her request and opinioned that he will not permit her to the interrogation no matter what, leaving everyone displeased by his act.
Unfortunately, he wasn't done there.
Under the influence of his strong emotions, Rudra went on to say that this mission belongs to Zero Squad, and everyone from the Dragon Corps who accepted this mission only has the right to follow his orders, not question his judgment.
First, everyone was displeased, and now, the rest of them couldn't help but slightly hate this three-eyed fellow for they felt humiliated. But then again, they neither had the power nor the authority to defy his orders. Each member of Zero Squad is elite of the elites and it is considered audacious for others to unnecessarily challenge them.
However, Azzy was different. Not only he was a member of Zero Squad (although new) but he was also stronger than Rudra. He is in a position to express his views and he just did that.
Once again, he went on speaking against his mentor in a calm tone, "Captain Rudra, just a while ago, you were telling me about the heroics of the Supreme Commander of how he slew his aunt and other innocent elves to end a war. Don't you think you are being a hypocrite, now?"
"My grandfather is not a suspect, Azrael, and he can never be," snarled Rudra immediately while trying his best to control his emotions. After taking a deep breath, he further said, "He didn't have much longer to live. For a person who was suffering from terminal cancer, does money even matter? And do you really think I would give permission for someone like her to interrogate him?"
As Rudra pointed his finger at the masked girl, further implying that her methods were too rough for a sickly old man to even bear them, the room once again became quiet for a while.
The other team members felt a bit of pity for the chairman and some of them apologized. However, Azzy wasn't that moved.
Ever since he went through the process of mastering the law of neutrality (back when he was attacked by Barbara), his mind was a lot calmer for other people's sufferings, and only gets riled up when his own family or people he was close to were involved in the matter. As a result, he lacks empathy for the old man.
But then again, he cannot be harsh over some kind of speculation either. So, he stayed silent while the others tried to console him.
And to his surprise, there was one more person who appeared to be feeling along the same lines as him, although for different reasons.
While the rest of her team members asked about the cure or medications or such things, she changed the atmosphere with her statement. She claimed that it is not a big deal to cure the chairman.
Her words instantly attracted the attention of everyone including Azzy and Rudra.
As they looked at her, Lenore fold her hands to her chest and said, "My passive/inborn ability is reconstruction. I can dissemble and reassemble anyone/anything I touch with my hands as long as they fulfill certain conditions. Fortunately for you, Chairman Xavier fulfills them. So, I can entirely remove harmful cancer cells from his body in a matter of minutes. No big deal…"
"Do you think I don't know your ability, Lenore?" Captain Rudra didn't appear to be as impressed or surprised as others. "I even know those conditions too. However, you have yet to master that ability. To achieve success, you would need a tremendous amount of life force during the process as he is too weak, and in the event of failure, my grandfather's body will be destroyed completely. You have killed six individuals like that. If not for the fact that they were criminals and had the support of your commander, you might have faced capital punishment."
Lenore didn't mind his words and calmly counterattacked right away with a fact, although with a poor choice of words, "didn't you say that he doesn't have much longer to live? If he was going to die anyways, why not try it? He has lived for more than 150 years. What's the big deal if he dies now or whether he dies three months later?"
Xavier might be a person A or person B for Lenore but he is grandfather to Rudra and it goes without saying that he doesn't like her statements, especially the tone she was using toward him.
If it is someone else, they might have erupted in anger and even her own teammates thought that she was out of line but thankfully, Rudra was a veteran and he managed to keep his rage in check and sternly spoke, "Don't argue with me, young lady. Just do the job you were assigned to. If you have a problem with the way of things, you can go and lodge a complaint to the higher-ups."
After giving a stern warning, Rudra thought that the matter is settled and he can go on continuing to focus on the investigation. However, he forgot that there was one more person who won't be shutting his mouth any sooner.
Since they were on the topic, Azzy didn't back down and voiced his thoughts one more time, this time with a solid statement, "I can use Gluttony sealing technique to absorb all of those cancer cells. However, in the process, your grandfather will lose his soul energy and become a mortal. If he is willing to sacrifice this, I can save him."
"Hmm?" Rudra abruptly turned his head to look at him in a mix of surprise and confusion. What is this Gluttony seal? He is an advanced-level sealing master but he never heard of this sealing technique in his life.
Should he take a chance? What if doesn't work? Will his grandfather die? He wondered before asking Azzy, "Is it safe?"
In response, Azzy firmly nodded, "I can assure you that you would lose nothing and your grandfather will only become healthier even in the event of failure."
"Hmm..." Rudra fell into deep thinking. He was weighing his options in his mind on whether he should trust Azzy to go for an unknown method, or whether to proceed with Lenore's riskier but known method. Maybe, it is better to give up rather than unnecessarily give false hopes to his grandfather.
Meanwhile, Lenore stared at Azzy, wondering whether this sealing technique is similar to her inborn ability.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢