Chapter 132: Offer

Out from the shadows of the cave exterior, a man with a dark coat appeared. He clapped slowly, intending to compliment Hugh with a sense of disbelief and ridicule.

Hugh squinted his eyes and used his eagle eyes to see better in the dim light. What he saw was a familiar face that he did not want to see, especially since he was caught at a crime scene.

"Ace."

Hugh spoke out of Ace. His heart was pumping with adrenaline as he kept up his guard. He had just dealt with the invader, so he was exhausted beyond belief. However, he would go for round two if he had to.

Ace started to walk around the room with confidence and bravado. He walked around like he owned the room itself. His eyes spread around the room, focusing on the headless body of Marshal.

Hugh knew that he would not be able to provide an excuse for this situation, so he knew that he would have would fight to get out.

Wanting to get ahead of the situation, Hugh activated his armor and dashed towards Ace. He immediately activated his claws as he tried to slash Ace's head away.

Ace smiled as he saw Hugh attacked him. However, there was no such anxiety or trouble in his face. It almost looked like he was having fun seeing Hugh react like this.

Within milliseconds, Hugh was able to reach Ace's body. He sliced his sharp claws towards Ace's throat with the immediate intention of killing him.

If Hugh had his transformation, he would have done it to kill Ace as quickly as possible.

As Hugh slashed Ace's body, he suddenly saw Ace disappear from his sight. What Hugh slashed was empty air, devoid of any semblance of his target.

Hugh stumbled for a few steps before he was able to regain his footing. When he looked around, he saw that Ace had reappeared behind him.

"Is this the strength you have? I do not think that this is enough to kill an invader that used a C-class student."

Ace tilted his head at the mystery. From what he could see, Hugh's strength was not sufficient enough to kill an invader without any scratches on him.

Hugh had no blemishes on his skin or clothes. It almost looked like he had just come home from a spa. There was no indication that he was in a fight.

There were only two possibilities for this to happen — Hugh did not fight the invader or Hugh's powers were strong enough to kill the invader in one attack.

Ace could not figure out which one was the correct one. That was why he wanted to test Hugh's strength.

Hugh immediately turned around and dashed towards Ace again. He used every bit of his strength to try and catch Ace, but he was too fast. Hugh's attack was once again left in the wind.

"Don't get too hasty, Hugh. I am not here to arrest you."

As soon as Ace said that, Hugh stopped in place. Hugh was sure that Ace had come here to put Hugh in prison, but it seemed that there was something more.

Intrigued, Hugh turned towards Ace and let his claws retract in his body. He let his arms down, but he did not forget to be attentive to every detail that Ace does.

"Then why are you here?"

With Hugh's question, Ace put his hands behind his back as he circled Hugh. This left Hugh unnerved as he could not guess what Ace was thinking.

"I was tracking the invader, you see. I was planning to kill it myself, but it seemed that I was a tad bit too late."

Ace once again looked at the headless body of Marshal. Once he paid attention to Marshal's body, he saw that the cut was clean as if a blade had been used.

"Guess my surprise when I saw you here doing my job."

Ace stopped when he reached Marshal's body. He squatted down as he started to inspect the body with much more detail.

Ace started to go through Marshal's pockets as if he were trying to find something. However, his actions were subtle as if he were trying to hide the fact that he was looking for the nucleus.

However, Ace did not know that Hugh already swallowed the nucleus. Ace continued to inspect the area with hidden intentions.

"You had some trouble dealing with him, right? Invulnerable to powers, impervious to pain, almost immortal."

Hugh continued to watch over Ace with his mouth completely shut. He knew that Ace was trying to find the nucleus, so he did not want Ace to find it in his stomach.

"So, how did you kill it?"

Ace got around to the main question. Ace was indirectly asking Hugh where the nucleus was. Of course, Ace did not know if Hugh knew about the nucleus or not, which was why he went about it in such a roundabout way.

"I just beat him up into a pulp."

Hugh lied to Ace since he knew that confirming his knowledge of the nucleus would end up in Ace asking Hugh for it.

"So you did kill it."

Ace nodded as he got Hugh to confess to killing the invader.

"Was there another way of killing it?"

Hugh asked Ace. He was trying to pass off his ignorance of the matter. However, it did not seem to work as Ace suddenly looked at Hugh with suspiciousness in his eyes.

"I think you know what I am talking about."

Hugh's heart beat a thousand times per second at this current moment. He had a deadpan face, but he was anxious at the current moment, evidenced by the amount of sweat that he was producing in his body.

"Okay. I'll admit it. I saw a strange pearl-like thing, so I destroyed it. Luckily it seemed to have been a weakness of Marshal."

Ace quickly stood up as he walked towards Hugh. He had some doubts over Hugh's statement which was why he did not fully believe it.

"Most of your words were true, but you are still hiding something."

Ace stood face to face with Hugh. Ace was a little bit taller than Hugh, so he looked down at him. Hugh was worried that Ace will finally take him down, so he got ready with his claws.

"But that doesn't matter."

Suddenly, Ace turned around and walked away from Hugh. It seemed that Ace was not planning to attack Hugh, so he retracted his claws for the moment.

"Why?"

Hugh did not know what Ace was planning, but Hugh already did not like it. He did not want to be used as a tool by people in the system like Ace.

"Because I want you to work for me."

Ace turned around and faced Hugh. There was a magnanimous smile on his face as if he expected Hugh to be thankful for this opportunity.

Ace was a part of the Student Council, so that meant that Hugh would be working for the council, the very group that was trying to capture him.

Hugh furrowed his eyebrows as he heard Ace's reasoning. He did not want to do it, so he quickly voiced his concerns.

"No. I will not do it."

Ace shook his head as he heard Hugh's rejection. He seemed to be very disappointed that Hugh turned him down, but he was not discouraged.

"You don't have the choice."

Ace shouted louder to Hugh, showing his dominion over the current situation. Ace had all the cards in his hands, and Hugh would be subject to his whims.

Hugh kept quiet as he heard Ace's threat. With Marshal's headless body right beside him, Ace could quickly pin his death to Hugh and arrest him right now.

"You have a very thick folder in the Student Council records. So many unexplained phenomena that seem to have you in the spotlight. You don't want another blemish in your record."

Ace knew that Hugh would not be able to reject his offer once all the cards are on the table, so he pulled out all the stops.

"Work for me, and I will ignore every case you have. Everything. Including the violet incident."

This was the final nail in the coffin as Hugh considered doing what Ace wanted him to do. If Hugh did this, then he would be free from the Student Council's hounds.

It was a very tempting offer, but Hugh still could not decide. He did not know Ace's reason for this offer, so it was risky to accept it without any questions.

"What would I be doing?"

Ace smiled as he knew that the deal was hook, line, and sinker.

"Easy. You will help me deal with extraterrestrial threats."

Sensing Hugh's confusion, Ace explained it better.

"The things that will infiltrate the school that are beyond the barrier. The invaders are just one of the things that will try to invade us."

Hugh put his head down as he tried to digest the information that he was given. It was a hard task to do, but the rewards were very tempting.

"Discretely. We will deny everything if things get out of hand. We will even kill you to hide that fact."