Beast-Tamer: Limitless Evolution-Chapter 222: Discovered

Discovered

Some moments earlier, within the helicopter transport.

Jane, Simon, Timothy, William, Thompson, and his secretary, Sarah, all sat in silence as the helicopter flew, their expressions unreadable.

Despite being less renowned compared to everyone else there, Sarah didn’t seem scared or nervous. It wasn’t the first time she had to escort Thompson somewhere while in the presence of other high-ranking individuals, and the nature of her job sort of required her to keep her cool in these sorts of situations.

As such, she showed no outward signs of distress.

However, inwardly, she was communicating.

’The target will be arriving shortly.’

’No, there seems to be no indication of him knowing about the plan, but it’s better to be prepared regardless.’

’... About our deal– Yes... Yes, I understand. I’ll carry out my end of the plan.’

Her heart ached slightly, but she still appeared calm on the surface. She absolutely could not give anything away, not when they were so close...

"Sarah." Hearing her name caused her to perk up and look at Thompson.

"Yes, sir?" She asked curiously as she stared at her boss. Seeing him so young was still surreal to her. He’d been old for as long as she could remember, but now, he barely looked to be a few years her senior.

"This will be one of the last trips we make to this place. Are you sure you’ve compiled everything we need?" Hearing this, Sarah smiled calmly, but she felt bitter inwardly.

Of course, she had compiled everything. Why wouldn’t she have? After all, the people she was working for required all their documentation for their inevitable takeover.

"Of course, sir. Everything is in order." She said simply, and Thompson just nodded.

Everything went silent again, and Sarah was just about to let out a breath when Jane suddenly spoke.

"It should be starting now." These words surprised Sarah.

’What should be starting? I wasn’t aware of anything else besides our–’ Before the thought could fully form, she saw it.

Swirling dark clouds that resembled a hurricane in the distance along with numerous tornadoes and lightning strikes appeared in the distance, where they were meant to be heading.

’Wh-What?!’ Sarah’s face paled for two reasons.

First of all, what on Azure Star was that?! An attack? By whom?? A stray beast or a beast tamer? And if it was any of the two, where did they come from? Why didn’t they have any records of such an entity???

Secondly, Sarah knew...

She knew that the terrorists were stationed there. And if they got attacked...

"Sarah." She couldn’t help but flinch as her head snapped to the other people in the helicopter, and her heart sank.

All of them were staring at her with cold expressions, and that’s when she realized.

They knew.

All of them.

She opened her mouth to speak, but Thompson beat her to it.

"Did you honestly think that we wouldn’t find out? That we would just walk into a trap?" He asked, his voice rising slightly.

"S-Sir..." Saraha tried to speak.

"Save it!" Thomspon barked.

"I have had you by my side since you were a child! I raised you! Taught you everything you knew! And this is how you repay me?! This is how you repay your species?!" His voice rose with every word.

"Sir... you don’t understand." Sarah muttered, her voice barely above a whisper.

"... You’re right. I don’t understand." Thompson took a breath and said, his voice frigid.

"I don’t understand how someone can willingly betray their own race. Tell me, when the Skyblight Harbinger and the Abyssal Scrounger appeared, did you feel anything for those they killed? Did you feel any remorse for the soldiers and students who lost their lives? Hm?" The question made Sarah freeze.

She wanted to shoot back, she wanted to retort, she wanted to insult him for insinuating that she didn’t care...

But she kept quiet.

Because it didn’t matter.

She could feel all the remorse in the world, but it wouldn’t matter. Because in the end, she made her choice, and people had lost their lives because of her decisions.

No amount of remorse would change the fact that she knew what she was doing. She chose to do what she did.

That made it even more painful.

She gritted her teeth.

"Don’t you see?!" She finally snapped, her eyes brimming with tears.

"This is our best option! You don’t know the sort of powers that exist beyond our world! Entities that can make even Mythical Rank Beast Tamers look like cannon fodder! The more we resist, the harder we make things for ourselves! This way, at least we can secure our survival." She tried to explain.

"We’d be slaves at best. That’s not surviving." Mrs Jane chimed in calmly.

"Slavery is better than death!" Sarah shot back.

"A certain race before Mana appeared would beg to differ..." Thomas shook his head.

Sarah paused and looked at all of them, and she realized that nothing she would say could change their minds.

"... This is why I did what I did," She whispered. "None of you are willing to see just how outmatched we are... how weak we are... Your pride is what will get us all killed. But...!" She looked up with a sad smile.

"At least, I know I tried to do something... not just sit back and think I stood a chance." With that, she summoned something from her spatial ring.

It was a pitch black dagger with a curved blade. It had no special designs or adornments, and yet, the aura it gave off was extremely dreadful.

However, instead of aiming it at any of them, she turned it on herself. But before she could plunge it into her chest.

SQUELCH

Blood spilled, and Sarah gasped as the dagger slipped from her grasp, clattering on the floor.

She looked down, and a fist-sized hole had appeared in her chest.

No one had moved. No one except Thompson, whose hand was outstretched.

Sarah swayed, then she fell forward, but surprisingly, Thompson moved forward and caught her before she hit the ground.

He cradled her in his arms.

"... You foolish... foolish girl..." He said, but his voice sounded unsteady, a far cry from his usual unshakable demeanor.

"S-Sir..." She managed to get out as blood dripped down her lips.

The others watched silently, no one bothering to interfere. They all knew that this was something Thompson should be left to.

"I... Tried..." Sarah said weakly. "I... Never wanted... anyone to be... harmed..." She held onto his sleeve, her grip tightening briefly, then it went limp.

The light in her eyes died, and her body sagged.

Dead.

...

"Thompson..." Thoman started, but Jane shook her head.

They all knew that Sarah was the closest thing Thompson had to a daughter after his biological daughter passed away. Even if she was a traitor, they allowed the man to grieve.

However, there was still a worry.

What if this incident caused resentment in his heart?

"... None of you need to worry." Thonspon suddenly said, his voice surprisingly calm, but he didn’t turn to face any of them.

"I am angry... very much so. But..." He looked up, his face stained with tears, but the fury was impossible to hide. "I know who exactly to direct my anger at."

***

"Holy shit! I almost died!" Sam fell on her butt and said while panting, and she wasn’t the only one.

The rest were in various states of exhaustion and injury, with Kurt being the most injured, as he looked like he’d just come out of a meat grinder.

But they were all alive.

The same, however, couldn’t be said for their opponents.

The area within the space Spectrum had isolated was completely devastated, and the corpses of the terrorists who had been inside littered the ground.

Remnant energies filled the air, but in the end, the group managed to come out on top.

"... Now I’m just saying, but I think I could have soloed them." Kurt suddenly said.

"BULLSHIT!" Irene barked immediately.

"You say that, but I was still holding back you know! I could have figured it out!" Kurt scoffed.

"Dude, half the fight was spent with us trying to keep YOUR sorry ass alive!" Sam sat up and growled.

"And WHO got the most kills out of everyone here? I could afford to be reckless because I knew that you guys were backing me up. If I were alone, I’d have been a lot more careful, but I would have done it." Kurt defended himself firmly.

"Th-That!" Irene stuttered, because Kurt actually had a good point.

"I agree with Kurt actually." Ellie suddenly said.

"See?!" Kurt laughed when Ellie voiced her agreement.

"But, to be fair." She continued. "If it really came down to it, I think all of us would have managed if we had to do it solo." Hearing this, the rest rolled their eyes.

"Easy for you to say. You held back crazy during that fight. I’m sure you were just itching to let Spectrum go crazy, huh?" Sam scoffed, and Ellie just smiled mysteriously.

"I guess we’ll never know." As she said that, Spectrum dispersed the barrier, and she looked in the direction of the hurricane before whispering.

"Now it’s your turn..."