The Ice-Blue Monster

Time moved steadily onward through people's joy, sorrow, toil, pain, anger, and every other emotion, never delaying by even a second for any reason, rigid to the extreme.

And as time passed, the courses for the "Rookie Agent Reserves" gradually increased in number and grew increasingly brutal. No—it was more accurate to say they were revealing their true face.

At first, it was hand-to-hand combat. With competition and an outlet for pent-up emotions thrown into the mix, conflicts completely erupted between the descendants of Cipher Pol agents and the orphans, between honor students and poor students who despised one another, between those from wealthy or impoverished backgrounds, locals and outsiders... Every time, someone raised their fists in triumph to celebrate victory, and every time, someone ended up battered and bruised, unable to get back up.

Beyond combat training, the instructors began transitioning the fighting techniques they taught into killing techniques, ordering the trainees to personally end lives again and again. Starting with common animals such as snakes, rats, chickens, ducks, cats, and dogs, they gradually moved on to primates with humanlike appearances—monkeys, baboons, gorillas. It was entirely foreseeable that the trainees were not far from truly killing people and shedding blood.

Once the trainees had adapted to ending lives, Bill, the instructor solely responsible for torture and interrogation training, led them in putting into practice the torture and interrogation knowledge that had previously mostly been empty talk. Ending lives had been upgraded to tormenting them.

Unexpectedly, that useless Bill was quite humorous and occasionally came out with startling remarks—

"Torture and interrogation is an art!"

"It is an outstanding means of helping you clearly distinguish the human heart!"

"When you can make a monkey open its mouth and beg for mercy, you'll have graduated from torture and interrogation class! Hahaha~~~ That might be a bit of an exaggeration!"

"..."

In short, the Cipher Pol Agent Academy was methodically erasing the trainees' humanity—or at least weakening it—preparing them for the near future, when they became agents and would be able to strike without hesitation regardless of whether their targets were men, women, the elderly, or children.

Then Bred's black-market shop became more and more prosperous. Bloody reality continuously battered the immature minds of the boys and girls, overturning their unstable beliefs. Only a scant few remained emotionally steady and lived as they always had. Most of them needed "salvation"—snacks and books to distract themselves, nicotine and alcohol to release their troubles, and, in more severe cases, sedatives.

It was not that there were no people capable of remaining emotionally steady while refusing "salvation," but they were either becoming neurotic or awakening a joyful craving for bloodshed, slowly developing in the direction of becoming perverts.

Bred was doing well. He was one of the "scant few who remained emotionally steady and lived as they always had." He continued carrying out his phased plan step by step, forcing himself to endure and wait.

Mid-October.

After the World Conference.

"Hello, children." The priest holding a Bible greeted them kindly.

Bred understood that it was time for the first phase of his plan to be discarded.

"This is one of Cipher Pol's aces, Mr. Alexander Anderson. You may address him as 'Father.'" Gozuki introduced Anderson on behalf of the instructors, then continued, "Each of you has undergone training for anywhere from nearly a hundred days to over a year. We believe you are qualified to come into contact with true power, so we have specially invited elites such as Mr. Anderson to teach in our stead."

"Wow! Awesome!"

"Nen, chakra, Haki! Father, what are you teaching us?"

"Welcome! A warm welcome!"

"..."

The boys and girls cheered excitedly.

"You're all quite lively! And you already know a little about true power. Not bad." Anderson smiled amiably. "Enough chatter. I'll be teaching Nen."

"Scratch, scratch~~~"

"Nen." Anderson wrote the large character for Nen on the blackboard. "What is Nen? Simply put, Nen is a method of freely manipulating the life energy that every person and every living creature possesses from birth, elevating it into offensive and defensive power. Haki and chakra follow the same principle."

"Ding, ding, ding!"

"Glug~"

A cup filled with water was punctured full of holes by Anderson as if by magic. Water streamed out, and he moved so quickly that almost no one could see exactly what he had done.

"This is your current state, and the state of most people in the world! You are all unconsciously leaking the faint life energy you release, yet you do not know it." Anderson said, "How do you sense life energy, then mobilize it and manipulate it freely? After all, the vast majority of people in this world will never touch even the slightest bit of this power sleeping within their bodies throughout their entire lives."

He paused briefly.

Anderson said, "Child with your hand raised, what is your question?"

"Father, I want to see your Nen first, so I can get a direct impression of it." It was Esdeath. Her style had always been swift and decisive.

Anderson's smile did not change. With a flick of his wrist, a sharp gunblade appeared out of thin air in his palm.

"Are my eyes playing tricks on me?"

"That's so cool!"

"A conjured weapon?"

"..."

The trainees whispered among themselves.

Esdeath, however, was deeply disappointed. She said displeasedly, "Please. Something more direct."

"If any man love not the Lord, let him be accursed. The Lord cometh. A~~~men!" With that Bible verse, his gentle smile instantly twisted into a savage grimace. Even more terrifying was the violent aura Anderson unleashed, like raging waves crashing upon them. "Sit properly, children."

In an instant.

The boys and girls fell silent as cicadas in winter, cold sweat streaming down their bodies. An inescapable thought arose in their hearts—if they did not sit properly, they would absolutely be killed!

And Esdeath, who remained standing, felt it most keenly. She bore the brunt of Anderson's focus, yet she did not sit down. Driven by danger, she instinctively retreated swiftly like a leopardess, trying to create distance for a fight. Yes, a fight—she wanted to fight!

But Anderson's aura pursued Esdeath like maggots clinging to bone.

"Those who possess Nen and those who do not are people on entirely different levels. Do you understand now?" Anderson withdrew his aura and returned to his gentle priestly image.

"Whew~"

Everyone let out a breath of relief in unison.

However—

BOOM!!!

Crackle~~~ Snap, crackle, pop~~~

An even more violent, domineering aura than Andresen's erupted around Esdeath. Black-and-red lightning arcs shrieked and leaped, sweeping through the area like a tsunami in an instant.

"What..."

"Hey~"

"..."

Thud, thud, thud!

"..."

The scene descended into chaos. Countless people foamed at the mouth and collapsed unconscious.

"Conqueror's... Haki? This child is a monster!"

"She awakened her hidden, highest-tier talent under extreme pressure?!"

"What a terrifying kid."

"..."

Every instructor was stunned, though their astonishment held even more delight.

"I mean you no harm, child. Calm down." Andresen let out a breath as he looked around at the people who had fainted. "Violence is not permitted against comrades. Violence is permitted only against heretics."

PS: Thank you all for your support.