The Reason.
The meeting room was silent. Awfully silent. It was the kind of silence that comes after someone says something absurd that should've been fake, but is actually a truth.
Lance, sitting in his chair with perfect etiquette, totally serious. Which Daron wasn't.
"Hey, Lance. Want some cookies?" Daron said while offering a pack of cookies to Lance as he ate some himself.
"Can you shut the fuck up for a second?!" Ariana yelled at Daron, her anger rising with each passing moment.
Lance finally talked. "Daron, sit down. And Ariana, stop being so noisy."
"He's the noisy one here!" Ariana yelled on the top of her lungs.
"Be serious for once." Lance sat up straight and looked at the hologram of Ray in front of him. "Daron. Can you remind me what the bounty is on his head right now?"
"If I remember correctly," Daron thought for a second before talking. "A V.I.P position in the Organization, a whole territory, and two Captains for protection at all times."
"Yes," Lance confirmed Daron's statement." And unlimited supplies for their entire bloodline as long as they don't turn against us. Am I correct?"
"Yeah," Ariana confirmed, suppressing the urge to punch Daron, who was munching on cookies. Her favorite ones at that.
"Then tell me how he's still alive." Lance said, his tone making it clear that he's awfully frustrated.
"Well, apparently he's doing it all for his daughter's sake." Daron said while pointing at the little girl Ray was holding in his arm in the hologram. Lina.
"Why don't we kill her? He'll break down and we can kill him then." Ariana suggested, her face indicating her annoyance towards literally everything. Especially Daron.
"Come on, Ariana. You see that scar on Lance's neck? He got that six years ago when he tried to do just that. He almost died." Daron said as he pointed towards Lance's neck where there was a deep scar across his neck, indicating h almost dies once.
"They way you said it is irritating. But that is correct." Lance confirmed the statement to be true.
"Huh??!!! Lance, you almost died?! You?!" Ariana was shocked because Lance was the second strongest among the three of them.
Lance almost dying was shocking. Even more so because Lance has the Skill: Berserker. Unlike a normal Berserk skill, Lance's skill makes him stronger the longer the fight drags on. But the power he gets during that fight is permanent. Meaning after every fight, he becomes permanently stronger and harder to kill. And he gains partial resistance against the attacks he's already suffered.
"Say, Lance," Daron turned towards Lance curiously. "How did he even manage to almost kill you?
"It's simple." Lance said. "It's because he doesn't have any magical abilities. He's a total failure when it comes to utilizing mana other than creating things with his skill."
"Then wouldn't you have the upper hand?" Ariana asked.
"I thought so too." Lance replied. "But that's the problem. I can't obtain resistance against attacks that do not contain any mana. Meaning he beat me because he's a total failure in mana controlling."
"Just imagine if he ever learned to use mana properly." Daron said as he trembled in fear. He was faking it. "Scary."
"So what do we do now?" Ariana asked Lance.
"Nothing. Let him be." Lance said as he stood up from his chair and started walking away. "If he wants to fight us, he has to get here first. And that's a challenge in itself. If he gets here, I'll kill him myself."
Lance left the meeting room, leaving Daron and Ariana in there alone.
Daron being Daron placed the rest of the cookies in front of Ariana and left. You could hear her screaming in anger in the room even from the end of the hallway.
Now the questions remain:
Will Ray manage to get to the base?
Will Ray manage to defeat these monsters by himself?
Why do they want Ray to die that badly to put such a high bounty on his head?