Chapter 126 - 126: Turnaround
An attack that seemed to be able to destroy all his bones, and his spinal cord, if he didn't die he would surely become crippled.
But his decision, had been made and it was final, he didn't care what happened to him as long as he gave Eric a chance to live through this, Japan needed him, and the whole planet needed him.
With that thought in mind without caring about the cut in his hands, he grabbed the knife of the blonde-haired lady with every ounce of power he had to stop it on its tracks, as he clenched his teeth for the upcoming attack.
All his resolve and determination seemed to have been for nothing though because the yellow teeth of the nightmarish Python never reached him.
Surprised by this fact, Uncle Satoru turned his head behind him, looking at Old Five stopping the snake on his tracks using only two fingers to grab him by the same yellow canines of the snake.
The snake's deadliest weapon had turned into his biggest inconvenience, as it wasn't able to move from the grab of the old man.
Uncle Satoru wasn't the only one to get shocked by this situation, as even the blonde-haired lady was the same as him.
Uncle Satoru thought that everything was lost, as almost all the enforcements had left the place following behind Kirigaya Endo.
Not to mention that there wasn't any news of someone more powerful than him joining the attack, as Eric had said that they alone were enough to take care of the situation.
Right now though he was so happy to see Old Five standing behind him protecting his back, but that lasted only for a fleeting moment, as he had to concentrate on the knife on his hands.
The blonde-haired lady seemed to have been caught totally by surprise at this moment, everything had changed in just a night, and in just a moment.
Everything she had been able to achieve until now, everything she had worked so hard to manage had been totally blown away.
Her foundation was still safe, even though she had lost her main piece, but right now there was a much bigger problem than the loss of her foundation in front of her, it was her own survival.
Just a moment ago she had thought that it was useless to play the dumb in front of Eric and it was better to silence him, and the old man by his side.
She had total confidence in reaching that, as she ordered even her soul animal to attack at the same time that she did.
She was planning to kill Eric first, and then team up with her soul animal to kill the old man, when she saw the old man offer his life for Eric she was even more excited and happy.
But then in one single moment, only from the presence of a single old man, all her advantage had disappeared, and it had turned into a disadvantage.
Right at this moment, she was screwed, she had no one who could help her get away from her current situation, and all her tramp cards were useless right now.
On the other hand, Eric could finally take a deep breath in this whole situation, and relax his hastily beating heart.
A moment ago he had thought that it might have been his last, as the presence he had felt in this place all the time, didn't seem to be moving, or have any intention of making a move.
But now that this old man had decided to show himself and take action the result was clear. With this thought in mind, he used his fastest speed to remove himself from the action, and said,
"Old man I almost had a heart attack a while back, and I have just passed my 18th birthday. You surely took your time!"
Old Five seemed a bit surprised at how Eric was able to notice that he had been observing, and looking after them all the time.
After all, he was a being far surpassing the like of the SSS beings, he was at a higher realm, something that only a few could reach.
Yet Eric was able to tell that he was inside the hall. It was clearly something that he had never thought possible, but this kid was surprising him more with each meeting.
But he didn't have time to answer as the Python that he was holding with his fingers was trying to do everything he could to release itself from there and escape its fate.
His body was writhing as it started to approach his hand and body in hopes of encircling him, and why not trying to fight to the death with his enemy.
The moment the snake's body approached him though, he released some of his body pressure, which blew him away, while he was still holding him by the canines.
For a moment the people inside the room could even feel something cracking, as it looked like the poor Python's canines wouldn't last long and he would lose its bigger weapon.
But this snake seemed to have truly angered the Old Man as it looked like it had no manners, as he didn't understand the difference between them, and was trying to strangle the old man to death.
To him what the little snake was trying to do was just a child's show and play, but this little kid was trying to strangle and kill him.
But the little snake wasn't the only one he was angered by, as he looked at the blonde-haired lady, and said in a carefree voice,
"Little girl you better stop this as you are only worsening your situation. You better surrender and tell me all you know, in case that you want this to be painless."
The blonde-haired woman seemed to be between a steel block, and a hard place, as she wanted to say something, but she wasn't able to because Eric preceded her as he said,
"Old Man, you think that things are that easy and viable? Her personal opinion, choice, and decision aside, don't you think that the one who has given her what she has, has a safety measure to it?"
Old Five and Uncle Satoru were startled, and also a bit ashamed of how they hadn't thought of this earlier, but the fact was that they had no idea of how to deal with this.
In their opinion, the only problem was whether these moles agreed to tell everything or not, and not the possible problem of a safety measure.
Looking at Eric solemnly Old Five said in a stony voice,
"What do you mean kid!?"
Eric didn't seem affected by the stony voice, and the solemnity of the issue, as he said in a calm voice,
"The most she can live if she says anything related to what she has inside her body is around 10 seconds, at least this was the result of the one we interrogated.
So even if you have her cooperation, I don't think you would be able to get much of her."
Old Five was looking really puzzled, as he asked in confusion,
"Then how should we deal with this?"
Eric seemed to have expected this as he immediately answered,
"Well, while she can't talk about what she has, she can say about who she meets, and what kind of instructions she gets.
Not to mention that she has already given us the best clue and gift she could!"
She said that while showing the ring on his finger, as he took it out and threw it towards Old Five, who captured it with his free hand.
The ring didn't look really special on the outside, and even when he tried to sense it, he could only tell that there was some kind of weird space inside it.
While it was a bit surprising seeing that this could be a space ring, since they were rare and expensive, and even more seeing all these space rings being distributed in one night as gifts.
But still what kind of clue could this be?
Seeing that Old Five hadn't understood his meaning Eric continued,
"Old Man, why do you think that they would be so generous as to give all the guests these pricey space rings?
Clearly, it's not to bribe them, since I don't think they would sell themselves so cheaply. But what if this was some kind of subduing ring!?"
Old Five seemed to get even more confused by what he heard, as Eric continued,
"Let me explain it to you better, what if the root of the problem were these rings?
These rings are what can be called the 'system itself' carrying all the resources, and instructions on what to do inside.
You are holding on your hands the root of all the problems in the future, and you also have in your hands a list of all the possible targets in the near future.
The pieces have started to move, and I think as we are talking right now more and more of these things are being spread around the country and the world.
What we did in here was just proving my claims that this is happening and that we all need to take precautions against this threat in the future.
Even if you try with everything you can and stop this from happening in here, you cant count on the other countries to do the same."
Old Five took a deep breath as he released a sigh, and said,
"Kid letting aside the fact that your claims are true, what do you suggest we do and deal with this situation, you clearly know about this more than us!"
Eric looked at him with a calm light smile, as he said,
"Exactly what you have decided to do Old Man!"