BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM C.825 The headquarters (8)

"Again with this bullshit? I don't care. You have to wait a wee—"

Erik didn't let him finish.

"You know. For a long time, I was scared by you. You seem I was just a small boy, inside a city full of people that could snap my neck with a casual move."

Howell looked at him with a weird look. As much as he knew, Gus was already 50. There was no way he was a young kid when Howell started working for the Crystal Cross Gang.

"What the f—"

Then June moved. Erik gave him the order. He basically appeared behind Howell and grabbed him by the neck.

"I wouldn't move if I were you," he said to the man. Howell, at that point, started getting nervous, but wasn't scared.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he said, looking at Gus, or better, at Erik, in the eyes.

"I did nothing to you to warrant such a reaction from you."

"Ah. Forgive me." It was then that Erik undid his shapeshifting. Slowly, Gus' face transformed to that of Erik Romano. As Howell saw that, he understood what was happening.

"I told you that Erik Romano was in the city, right?"

However, Howell wasn't scared. "Ah. I get it now. Is Gus still alive?"

Erik looked at Howell with cold eyes. "No. But I bet you don't care, do you?"

"No. In fact. But I bet the one I talked to some hours ago was him. This means you killed him less than two hours ago."

Erik then started pacing back and forth. "You know. For a lot of time, I wondered why. Why did you send your men to kidnap me? Of course, then I learned the Blackguards were behind this."

Erik paused mid-pace, the weight of his suspicions momentarily anchoring him to the spot.

His gaze, icy and vengeful, locked onto Howell with an intensity that could have cut through steel.

Howell was surprisingly calm despite being choked by Erik's friend, like he didn't even care about the danger.

"That's the reason Becker never rooted you out, right? You worked for them for a long time," Erik said, his voice as cold as the look in his eyes.

"Well." Howell's head tilted and hands calmly spread, like he was totally cool with everything, even above it.

"If you are here, you must know the truth already. Right?" His voice was smooth, almost disarmingly so, contrasting with the tension that filled the room.

"Just suspicions, at least until now."

Erik couldn't sit still and began pacing like a predator stalking its prey.

The room seemed to contract around them. The air charged with the electric tension that Erik's simmering rage manifested.

Howel was, instead, the picture of composed acceptance, faced Erik, whose every step and stare radiated a cold, calculated vengefulness.

"Now. This is what I really want to know. Who is Shade?"

Howell was left speechless at that, but that only lasted for a fraction of a second.

"Shade? You listened to too many rumors, Erik Romano."

However, Howell's thoughts betrayed him. Shade indeed existed, Erik caught a glimpse of the Crystal Cross Gang's leader thought some hours earlier, and what he thought about just now confirmed it.

The problem was that Howell didn't know who Shade was.

Based on what Howell was thinking, Shade joined the Crystal Cross Gang around the same time he did. While Howell was very good at his job, Shade was even better.

There were many criminal gangs around Frant during that time, and while Shade worked for the Crystal Cross Gang, under the alias of N.H, he went to conquer or dismantle all the other gangs around the country.

Howell always admired him for that kind of dedication and sheer will.

Then it came the time the previous leader of the Crystal Cross Gang died, and Howell took over the mantle.

Though Shade at that point was too powerful. He came back in secret one day and told Howell that the Crystal Cross Gang was going to work for him.

No threats were issued that day. Howell wasn't stupid. If Shade had been able to destroy all the criminal organizations of the country, there was no way he could resist him.

Besides, Shade knew who he was, where he lived, and based on the stories about him, and what he heard about him during their youth, Shade had any means available to kill him with him not even noticing.

It was at that point that the Crystal Cross Gang started working with the Blackguards.

"Where is him?" Erik asked. Howell looked at Erik with defiance. "Are you stupid or deaf? There is no Shade. That's just a myth."

"I'm not that sure about that."

Howell grinned. "Look, kid, I've been in this business for a long time. Even if such a guy would exist, I won't tell anything. Besides, you do really think a couple of questions will make me talk?"

He then laughed.

"It's clear you are an amateur. You see, when you need to make someone talk, you should torture them."

However, when Erik asked that question, there was just one thing Howell thought about. Nokisi Point.

Howell didn't know what the man was doing or where he exactly was, but he was there, in the Band of Giants' city.

"What about Benjamin Kaminski?"

Howell thought about it. The thoughts weren't many, but they were serious. It was almost as if he was more scared by uncle Ben than of shade.

Then the Crystal Cross Gang's leader smirked. "I'll make you a favor, Erik Romano. Never ask about that man to a—"

However, June snapped Howell's neck. Erik gave the order through the Instability Brain Crystal Power.

[FRANK HOWELL KILLED: MANA ABSORBING PROCESS STARTING.]

[0%...1%....5%...30%...70%...100%]

[MANA SUCCESSFULLY ABSORBED, STARTING CONVERTING PROCEDURE.]

[3...2...1...0]

[MANA SUCCESSFULLY CONVERTED INTO EXPERIENCE. 4655 EXPERIENCE POINTS AWARDED TO THE HOST.]

On Erik's face, there was a clear look of shock. What he just read inside Howell's mind was enough to shatter everything he knew about Uncle Benjamin, and the relationship between him and his father.