New Subordinate

Salomon felt incredibly stupid. Back when Mephisto’s avatar had met him in the school laboratory, the old devil had already revealed his hostility toward Marduk. He had mentioned "Satan’s son" long ago. At the time, the Arcanist had merely put on an act and brushed it aside, with no intention of asking further. He had never imagined that Mephisto’s little scheme included both him and that madman Marduk. No matter who won or lost between him and Marduk, Mephisto would profit without risk. He could even use it to start a war between Hell and the Abyss and solve the inflation problem.

Either way, Mephisto was the winner.

The Arcanist thought it over, trying to find a way out of the old devil’s scheme. Yet Mephisto had left no opening in plain sight. Even if He openly exposed a flaw, Salomon would assume it was merely bait from the old devil. The moment he stepped into the trap, something even worse would happen.

Naturally, no one else knew about his troubles. For Americans at the moment, the greatest problem was undoubtedly the kidnapping of the President of the United States. The phone lines at police stations in every major city were overwhelmed, because the terrorists had released a livestream announcing that the President would soon be burned at the stake. The streets had fallen into chaos, with people constantly spreading doomsday theories and claiming these terrorists were divine punishment—so they were locked up.

Before long, however, they were released, because the temporary holding cells at the police stations could not fit so many people. The jails needed to hold those who had actually committed crimes, and a bunch of idiots who genuinely wanted to go to Hell were nothing more than a nuisance.

NYPD Commissioner George Stacy was undoubtedly the police commissioner with the biggest headache in the entire United States. He would have sworn that he might even be the unluckiest police commissioner in the country. A few days ago, several murders had occurred near an orphanage on Mount Athena. Yet the police had found only bloodstains, not bodies. They had not even found the murder weapon.

Then, the precinct’s records room was burglarized. Every camera had lost power overnight, and none of the locks showed any signs of being forced open. Yet all the files concerning those murders had vanished from the records room, while the computer hard drives had been burned out. The perpetrator had left behind no clues at all, and no one knew how that person had done it.

But just as George Stacy began investigating, the President of the United States was kidnapped. The entire country was thrown into panic—except for the slums, where no one cared who the President was. The police stations received emergency calls every few minutes. Theft was a minor matter now; many shops had been looted clean by inexplicably organized protest groups—human rights organizations, small churches whose members had been brainwashed by religion, racist groups, and even animal protection groups. No one knew what environmental groups had to do with this, but they apparently were protesting the terrorists’ use of burning oil drums as environmental pollution.

All kinds of social organizations seemed to have had a nerve touched at once, taking to the streets in protest. Even the police could not stop them. Left with no choice, George Stacy could only arrange for armed officers to separate the crowds and avoid clashes between protesters from different groups as much as possible.

That was all they could do. NYPD could not spare manpower for other cases. Yet things never went as hoped. Protest groups with opposing views would always end up fighting, and Commissioner George Stacy constantly had to deal with unexpected situations. He also had to drive out those third-rate reporters who could not obtain firsthand information about the President’s kidnapping.

Sixteen hours had passed since the President of the United States was kidnapped. The terrorists sent out a video every so often. In the footage, President Ellis was suspended in midair by two iron chains, with a huge oil drum beneath his feet. When the time came, the drum would be ignited, and the blazing flames would consume everything above it.

Now, there was no quiet place left in peaceful New York City.

"This is certainly lively." The Arcanist stood atop a high-rise building, using binoculars to observe the various protest groups in the city. He extended his free hand to the side, and something warm wrapped in paper was placed in it. "Won’t you take a bite, Maya Hansen?" The Arcanist lowered the binoculars and bit into a Baptized Beef Patty he had bought in Chicago. "I bought several. Chicago-style Beef is a delicacy you simply have to try."

"You don’t need to add a title to my name." Maya Hansen frowned. "You still haven’t told me why you saved me. I should have been dead, but now I don’t even have a scar."

"You need to understand what your future employer does, ma’am." Salomon did not abandon his politeness. "My time is limited, so I cannot learn every kind of knowledge in this world. But I badly need your knowledge of virology, so I found you. Don’t worry, you will be paid. You just need to change your name, because Maya Hansen is already dead, and the military will not let any scapegoat get away."

"What do you want me to do?" Maya Hansen gave a miserable little smile. "Do you want the Extremis Virus too?"

"No, other viruses." Salomon ignored Maya Hansen’s sarcasm. "Diseases caused by viruses, diseases caused by bacteria—I need you to help me induce them. Put simply, what I am doing is no different from Killian’s. I will also create a group of Ability Enhancers. But these people will possess a small amount of magic. They will become my assassins, my shadows. They will gather intelligence for me and assassinate my enemies. What you need to do is induce those illnesses, help my assassins develop immunity, monitor their vital signs, and oversee the entire experiment. My alchemical mutation serum has side effects."

"All right, wizard boss, what is your goal?" Maya Hansen asked boldly. "Ruling the world?"

"I have no interest in that goal right now. My enemies come from the Outer Dimensions beyond the Prime Material Plane, from cults hidden in the gutters, and from Dark Magic Creatures. Devils, Nightmare, beasts—every kind of strange creature capable of threatening humanity is my enemy. I am now facing a war against devils. I need people."

"It sounds noble. Can I know more?"

"You are very curious." Salomon lowered the binoculars and glanced at the disheveled virologist. "But when I opened the portal, you were not surprised in the slightest."

"I should have died long ago. I should have gone to Hell long ago. I know what I did." Maya Hansen shook her head, her face full of disdain. "I thought I was already dead, and that everything I saw was merely a hallucination before death."

"Then you should eat something even more. I spent a great many diamonds to bring you back. You need to make sure there is nothing wrong with your digestive system. Don’t be so upset. You will come into contact with knowledge you have never encountered before, such as alchemy."

"May I ask a question?"

"Please."

"How many people are in your organization?"

"Uh… the organization I belong to has many spellcasters, but the organization you belong to was founded by me, one that deals with mundane society…"

"So?"

"At present… you are the only human."

"What does that mean?"

"There is also an Artificial Human. She is responsible for managing this organization."

"All right." Maya Hansen smiled. "A boss who can return from death, mysterious contracts, and portals that can take me anywhere in the world. What an eventful day."

"There is more to come." The Arcanist tossed away the food wrapper and opened a portal. "Next, you will see an organization that has influenced the course of human history. It has existed for thousands of years, and many famous figures have been its members: Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Tesla, even Howard Stark. Now, this organization’s legacy belongs to me. You may learn all of its knowledge. What I have uncovered so far is merely the tip of the iceberg."