Once the decision was made, they acted quickly.
Amon’s expedition force launched a direct assault on Neville Pharmaceuticals’ headquarters.
“Don’t worry about the legal stuff! I’ll take care of it, so just deal with those demon bastards!”
With Cassie as their powerful backer, they blew up the front gate of the megacorporation without hesitation.
Boom!
“Are bombs different from before?”
At Amon’s admiration, demolition expert Ogre gave a thumbs-up.
Thanks to Cassie’s funding, the team had been upgraded beyond comparison to their past selves.
Even if they weren’t all at the level of a chief security officer, each of them was close.
As Amon marveled at their growth, a familiar voice echoed in her mind—the silent sniper, speaking for the first time in a while.
[You think we were just lazing around while you were running around outside the company?]
With that familiar, cynical remark, she pulled the trigger.
Ziiing—Boom!
The railgun linked to her spine accelerated a tungsten round.
The bullet pierced straight through the pilot of a tactical exoskeleton without resistance.
Not only the silent sniper but also the rest of the team carried out their roles flawlessly.
Even after a year apart, their bodies still remembered how to fight together.
‘Reinforceable.’
At first, Amon had doubts about Cassie’s decision.
But seeing her teammates’ condition, her was now convinced.
With a lineup where each individual was nearly at the level of a chief security officer, it was clear why Cassie had confidence.
Seizing the momentum, the expedition force advanced smoothly into the company building.
***
As soon as they entered, Amon and Sonia were greeted by a familiar sight—ninjas.
They had encountered them frequently over the past few months, so fighting them wasn’t difficult.
The problem was the sheer endless waves of them, and just thinking about it was exhausting.
At that moment, the hybrid mage made a request to Amon.
“Could you try to subdue a few without killing them and bring them in?”
It wasn’t a difficult task.
He had done worse to demons—dismembering them and roasting them over molten metal.
Stacking up a few ninjas and carrying them over was nothing.
Soon, a pile of ninjas, unable even to take their own lives, was laid before the hybrid mage.
“Protect me for a moment.”
With those words, the mage began examining the ninjas.
They inspected their cells, equipment, and various implants.
After a while, the mage finally spoke.
“These people are all clones.”
“As expected.”
It was what everyone, including Amon, had anticipated.
But the next words were entirely unexpected.
“Oh, I think there’s a misunderstanding. Their cells are all different. Their bodies are different people. But their personalities have been copied.”
“Are you serious?”
Cassie, idly flying a spear with her fingers, asked for confirmation.
The hybrid mage nodded.
“Yes. I’m not sure if you can call them clones in the usual sense. They keep copying and pasting a select few personalities. They abduct suitable bodies, enhance them through procedures, and overwrite them with a company-loyal personality.”
“That method would certainly leave no physical evidence.”
A personality left no traceable evidence.
No matter what crimes these bodies committed, the forensic trail would only point to revenge killings or random violence.
For an organization that thrived on secrecy, it was the optimal ninja-training method.
“And this.”
The hybrid mage stabbed a scalpel into the back of a ninja’s neck.
The blade sliced through skin and skull without resistance.
The mage, wearing gloves, reached into the incision and wiggled their fingers before pulling out a metallic chip from the ninja’s skull.
“This chip inside their heads is the key technology behind their fearless, infinite ninja army.”
Personality copying left no evidence.
But it had a major flaw—there was no feedback loop.
If a ninja failed a mission, a normal successor would attempt a different strategy.
But ninjas created through personality copying had a high chance of repeating their predecessor’s mistakes.
A failed ninja left no report, and the next ninja had the exact same personality as the previous one.
The chip the hybrid mage extracted was a countermeasure for this flaw.
“This chip is used to back up failed ninjas’ experiences.”
If a ninja failed a mission, they would commit suicide using poison.
Even if the poison killed the body, the chip recorded their memories.
A recovery team would later retrieve the chip and use its data to ensure the next ninja wouldn’t repeat the same mistakes, thereby increasing mission success rates.
After hearing the explanation, Amon nodded.
“So that’s why they were so afraid of electrocution.”
Poison-induced suicide allowed their memories to be backed up.
In a true sense, they weren’t actually dying.
But Plan B—death by electric shock—was permanent.
Since electricity fried the chip inside their heads, it was a true death.
Of course, the idea of ninjas fearing death seemed absurd…
“Well, I guess it’s natural in an environment where they don’t actually experience death.”
In an organization where death wasn’t final, it was difficult to be truly fearless of it.
Thanks to the hybrid mage’s insight, Amon’s team had uncovered the secret of the ninja army.
Now that they knew the truth, there was only one thing left to do.
“I traced the backup signal. It’s coming from the underground lab. That’s where they’re producing more ninjas.”
“Then let’s go.”
Following the hybrid mage’s report, the expedition force immediately prepared to move.
“Setting up! Cover me!”
Even without much discussion, Ogre quickly pulled bombs from his bag.
As his teammates covered his back, he planted explosives at strategic points.
Once multiple concentric circles of bombs were set up, the team gathered at the center.
“Detonation!”
Boom!
The outermost bombs exploded.
As planned, the floor collapsed in a circular shape.
At the center of the circle, Amon’s party dropped down to the first underground level.
The moment they landed, Ogre shouted once more.
“Detonation!”
Boom!
Another explosion went off.
The floor sank again, this time forming a slightly smaller circle than before.
Basement Level 2.
“Detonation!”
Basement Level 3.
“Detonation!!!”
Basement Level 4.
With each detonation, the platform Amon’s party stood on grew smaller and smaller.
Finally, on the tenth explosion—
“We’ve arrived!”
They had reached Basement Level 10, where the ninjas were being created.
“Good work, Vox.”
The hybrid mage brushed the dust off Vox’s clothes.
The party, unfazed by their reckless descent, casually dusted themselves off and began exploring the level.
It didn’t take long to find the facility responsible for copying and backing up the ninjas’ personalities.
“No more ninjas.”
With that, Amon headed for the facility’s power supply.
But before he could reach it, someone blocked his path.
Cassie recognized the man in a suit standing before them.
“The Vice Chairman himself? What brings you here?”
The suited man twirled his well-groomed mustache with his fingers and replied.
“Isn’t it natural to protect the company’s most important facility?”
“So this is Neville Pharmaceuticals’ core technology?”
“Of course, Miss Cassie. This cloning technology is as important as your family’s foresight ability.”
At those words, Amon and his companions stiffened.
‘What did that mustached bastard just say?’
But Cassie remained calm and continued the conversation.
“That’s surprising. I thought foresight was your main weapon.”
“Haha! Foresight? What a joke!”
The Vice Chairman laughed heartily and pulled out a monocle from his inner pocket.
As he placed it over his right eye, he smirked.
“Foresight? That’s just a basic skill for us.”
The moment his tone changed, his body began to shift.
Crack—!
Bones twisted, his philtrum elongated, and his trapezius muscles thickened.
When the transformation was complete, his lower half and head had taken on the shape of a horse.
The Vice Chairman spoke.
“Greetings, Amon. I am one of Goetia’s 55 Seats, the Noble of Hell, Orobas. Pleased to meet you.”
Ignoring Cassie, whom he had just been conversing with, Orobas gave Amon a graceful bow.
Amon responded with a middle finger.
Orobas merely laughed.
“Oh dear. I happen to be in charge of dignity and elegance. If you’d like, I could teach you a thing or two?”
“Instead of that, why don’t you try predicting what I’m about to say next?”
“Sorry, but that trick won’t work. I’ve already seen the future through your predecessors’ foresight and reshaped my body accordingly.”
“Tch.”
So much for taking the easy way out.
Orobas snorted like a real horse as he adjusted his monocle.
“Snort. Just out of curiosity, have you considered joining Gaetia?”
Boom!
Amon wordlessly pulled the trigger on his crossbow.
Orobas dodged the arrow in an exaggerated, cartoonish manner.
“What a shame! I thought you’d fit in perfectly with us! Especially since your name—”
“Shut up. My name means ‘love’ and ‘a person you can trust.’ Don’t compare me to filthy demons.”
“Well, the 7th Seat is vacant…”
“Not interested.”
Even as their exchange continued, Amon’s eyes analyzed Orobas for weaknesses.
‘The thyroid cartilage and the right eye…’
But Orobas, knowing his own weaknesses, remained composed and refused to expose any openings.
Then, Cassie interjected.
“Just as I expected. So, you’re planning to abandon Neville Pharmaceuticals?”
“You think I’d answer that?”
“That response is an answer in itself.”
Cassie nodded as if it were a trivial matter.
She didn’t bother asking, ‘Since when have you been in control of the company?’
It was meaningless, and he wouldn’t have answered anyway.
Instead, she deduced their intentions from Neville Pharmaceuticals’ actions.
“How strange. You were willing to start a cold war over that weight-regulating drug. But now, the moment you lose that war, you discard the company? That means you don’t care about money or power… Were you planning to do something with the drug itself?”
There was no response.
But to Cassie, the silence was confirmation.
“So I was right. You were trying to mix something into the drug. A narcotic? A poison? Or maybe something like the ninjas’ copied personalities?”
“You really think I’d answer that?”
“No. I wasn’t expecting you to. But I got your attention.”
“12.”
At that moment, the water buffalo tank suddenly opened his shield.
From behind it, the silent sniper—who had been fully charging her railgun—pulled the trigger.
Boom!
Orobas, distracted by Cassie, failed to react.
The tungsten round pierced through his forehead.
But instead of falling, his body wavered like an illusion and disappeared.
“Tch.”
“Hah. It feels like just yesterday that we demons taught humans the art of deception. I never imagined you’d evolve this far.”
Orobas reappeared in a different spot, looking genuinely impressed.
The silent sniper immediately adjusted her aim to his new position.
But before she could fire, Orobas snapped his fingers.
“This conversation ends here. As much as etiquette calls for diplomacy in a first meeting, it feels like I’m the only one losing out.”
At his signal, someone new entered the underground chamber.
A hulking figure wearing a name tag that read “Chief of Security.”
But none of Amon’s allies expected this so-called ‘chief’ to be human.
As if responding to their unspoken thoughts, the chief tore off his clothes and transformed.
His new form had three canine heads.
The left head exhaled mist, the right head spewed flames, and the center head held blood in its maw.
Looking up at the transformed security chief, Amon muttered.
“Cerberus?”
At his words, all three heads growled in unison.
“How dare you compare me to such a mongrel! My name is Naberius!”
With a thunderous roar, Naberius lunged at the group.
I can only assume that reina is supposed to be amon, but I don’t understand where this name even came from.
Thanks for pointing it out. It’s fixed now.