Rumper Karn, one of the founders of NIRV, was also one of the targets for the White Rose. He was their link to taking down the One Gang legally, due to the deals between NIRV and the gang itself. Although the White Rose had been searching the stadium and other areas for him, they had never come across a lead. Most likely, the Altered One Gang’s interference had been stopping them, and due to the situation in the stadium, they didn’t have much time to thoroughly search without causing trouble or suspicion. If the White Rose had started to force their way in, they would have to do so without making a scene. Otherwise, Harvor and Stanley would have known that the White Rose were also in the ring. Regardless, Rickle had a personal reason to be involved in this matter, and he wanted to confirm if there really was something going on. "Come on, Rumper, aren’t you happy to see me? I thought the two of us were friends!" Rickle said, both of his arms wide open. "What are you doing here? How did you even get here?" Rumper shouted back. "Shouldn’t Harvor and his gang be upstairs? What happened, did you kill him too?" Rickle stopped moving forward and was only about five meters away from Rumper. Unlike him, Rumper was just a human—he wasn’t even an Altered. With Rickle’s speed and form, this distance meant he could grab him at any time. "That privilege is being left to someone else," Rickle answered. "I’m here to see you. Like I said before, the two of us, we need to talk. Come on, aren’t the two of us friends? I saved your wife, it wasn’t something just anyone could do, and this is how I get repaid?" Thinking back to that moment, Rickle remembered using a special power he had obtained—the ability of equivalent exchange. It was a power that allowed him to do remarkable things as long as he gave something of equal value in return. It had taken years to figure out how to use it properly. Thankfully, he had the time to develop such skills. It was using this power that he had saved Rumper’s wife, and with it, had gained a loyal friend who helped start NIRV. "Why did you sell the infected solutions to the One Gang?" Rickle raised his voice, but quickly caught himself and calmed down. "I told you the infected solutions were not to be touched. That it would cause us bigger problems than you can ever imagine!" "Was it money, fame, or power? If you had just talked to me, I could have helped you with those things. I thought we were…" "Friends?" Rumper replied, finishing Rickle’s sentence for him. "You’re a madman, Rickle. A madman. The whole Altered project, in the early days, it was torture on the humans that went through it. Multiple people even died." "And I had to bear through that pain during all of that time. Their lives, their screams, lived on in my head and continued to do so. Yes, I’m thankful to you for saving my family, but she couldn’t even deal with the whole situation and left me in the end anyway, because I had gone mad working on the Altered project." "What even is such a project anyway? The reveal of the Dragons? Why would someone work on such a thing, and when they saw failure, release such a thing to the public? Look at the state of the world and how much it’s changed now!" "The Altered has ended up in the hands of several gangs and the general public. If you wanted to do something, you should have just worked with the military." As Rumper spoke, Rickle’s hands were tensing. He was gripping them harder and harder. This wasn’t the first time he had heard those words, and honestly, due to the way he was—due to the way he had been for a long time—he had forgotten the pain that others endured while doing the things he usually did himself. "I’m sorry," Rickle said. "I shouldn’t have put you through that. And the fact that your wife left you because of the things you went through… it does pain me. But there are things in this world that pain me even more." "Things that I have to carry. Not a single day has gone by where I’ve had a good night’s sleep. Lenny Steel, Richard Eno, and Rickle Epman… these mean nothing to you, but they mean a lot to me." "To answer your other question: I already saw what would happen if the military got their hands on this themselves. Humans, and the rest, it’s all the same. To the point that I ask myself, why do I even bother?" "Just once in a while, though, I meet those who make me try again and remember back to those times. This was the only other way. You have no idea what I’ve seen, what I’ve been through in my life." "It takes a lot for a person to think about the larger scale of things rather than themselves. So I don’t blame you. Recreating the dragons was a failure. We couldn’t get the project working, so I had to pivot. I had no choice but to do things the way I’ve done." "WHY?!" Rumper shouted. "Why did you have to do so much to change it like it is now? We’ve done more harm than good! If I can work with Harvor, maybe I can reset it all." Continue your journey on freewebnovel.com "That won’t work," Rickle instantly replied. "This world, the humans… we will all experience it. A war is coming. I don’t know how, I don’t know why, or when, but if we don’t do anything, too many people will die. Knowing this fact is a curse, and I’m not the type of person who sits down and does nothing!" Rickle shouted, moving across, heading straight for Rumper. He had had enough. He needed real answers from Rumper. As Rickle moved with his superior speed, everything around him started to slow down. A dark shadow was rising in his line of sight, encasing him from the corners of the room. He could see a deep smile appear on Rumper’s face. "I’m back," Rumper said, his voice deep and echoing, sending a shiver down Rickle’s spine. **** For updates on MWS and future works, please remember to follow me on my social media below. Instagram: jksmanga When news of MVS, MWS, or any other series comes out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I’m not too busy, I tend to reply back.