Just minutes before Lin Yun killed Smith and the Black Man, a storm was brewing at the HR Alliance headquarters, far across the globe.
The former European Union Region had become the HR Alliance's core sphere of influence after the Great Nirvana Period. A vast complex, converted from an old military base, stood amid the wilderness. Its high walls, electric fences, patrolling mech warriors, and ubiquitous surveillance equipment made it look like an impregnable fortress.
In a windowless chamber deep within the complex, a gray-haired old man stood before a massive wall of screens.
Clement von Schwartz was a senior councilor of the HR Alliance and one of the de facto controllers of Europe's underworld. His family had been one of Europe's oldest noble houses even before the Great Nirvana Period. Afterward, they had used their immense wealth and advanced technology to rise swiftly from the ruins, becoming a major force within the HR Alliance.
Clement was sixty-seven, but he had taken excellent care of himself and looked barely past fifty. He was tall, with sharply defined features and a pair of keen gray eyes like a hawk's. He wore a well-tailored black suit, with a Golden Badge of the HR Alliance pinned to his chest. His entire bearing radiated the authority of a man long accustomed to being in power.
At that moment, his gaze was fixed on an image on the screen wall.
It was a video, not very clear, apparently being transmitted in real time from some kind of action device. The image shook violently. In the background was a dim cave, littered with blood and rubble. At its center stood a mysterious figure in a black Combat Suit beside two corpses, while twelve silver throwing knives slowly circled around him.
The mysterious figure's face was covered