The doors to the commanding center of the navy fortress opened, and a disgruntled-looking man strode in, his uniform askew and a scowl on his face.
He looked like he'd just woken up, as his hair was a mess, his uniform wrinkled, and his shirt not even buttoned all the way.
The navy soldiers saluted.
It was total chaos as the alarms were blaring throughout the fortress, and the monitor screens kept flashing red with warnings and alerts.
The radar showed a red dot heading away from Letzer Island, followed by two blue dots that belonged to the navy.
"What the hell is going on?" Marshall asked in annoyance. "How in the hell did one of our ships get stolen?!"
"W-We called everyone to scourge the island, which included the ship's guards. N-none of us expected them to get stolen!"
"Idiots!" Marshall shouted. "I heard about the tree. Do we think the thieves are responsible for it?"
"Who do we have leading the chase?" Marshall asked.
When he asked, there was unsettling silence in the commanding room. It looked like none of the navy soldiers wanted to speak out.
"Well?" Marshall's face turned red. "Who?!"
"N-no one, sir. We didn't want the thieves to get away, so we just ordered whoever was the nearest to head to the ship and start chasing.
"Which is why the number of our soldiers in the ships is not that much, and most are just greenhorns who haven't experienced a single naval battle yet.
"All the commanding officers were at the fortress during the time of the robbery, so there isn't anyone actually leading them.
"We do have a direct communication link to their ships, but no one will be there to bark orders to them."
Marshall gritted his teeth and finished buttoning his shirt.
At that moment, the doors once again swung open, and a few navy officers came in with a not-so-well-looking navy soldier, who looked like he had just woken up from a nap.
"Rear Admiral Marshall, we have someone you might want to speak to!" The officers said.
"Who is he?" Marshall looked at the navy soldier with a raised eyebrow.
"We found him in an alleyway, completely passed out, and we saw some signs of a possible struggle. I think he might've seen the culprit of the tree blasphemy and robbery!"
"Oh? Then who is it, boy?" Marshall crossed his arms and asked.
"Uh…" the navy soldier touched his painful head. "It's really hard to remember. I don't know what happened. I don't remember anything!"
"Huh? What the hell is this?" Marshall asked.
"It looks like he has some kind of amnesia, sir," one of the navy officers said. "I saw a wound at the back of his head. He might've hit his head on something."
"Amnesia? Fuck," Marshall rubbed his forehead. "Do we have to call Mindbreaker to search his memories or what?"
"What is the last thing you remember?" A navy officer asked.
The navy soldier hesitated.
"Yesterday evening, pretty much. I remember I finished my patrol, and my feet were killing me. It felt like they were on fire, y'know, I guess that's what five hours of nonstop walking does to a man.
"Anyways, I was just thinking about the dinner and then going straight to bed. I didn't want to do anything else besides rest my sore feet.
He snapped his fingers,
"Darkness. I then felt a hand on my shoulder, and these two shook me awake. For some reason, I was in the alleyway, and I didn't remember anything that happened in the past 24 hours."
Marshall frowned and thought about what could cause such a thing. The memories don't just disappear just like that.
"I-I have a theory…" a navy officer said with a pale face. "What if one of the thieves is Mindbreaker? Getting rid of one's memories is exactly what Mindbreakers specialize in!"
"Shit…" Marshall's expression looked ugly.
It was something he considered as well.
All the martial ability types have some kind of base ability associated with them. Every user of that type has that same base ability.
Then, including that base ability, they also receive their own unique abilities that no one else had.
Mindbreaker's base ability was memory manipulation. It was possible for them to erase memories, and the stronger Mindbreakers can change memories entirely.
"We can't deal with Mindbreaker!" Another navy officer exclaimed. "We would need Vice Admiral straight from the headquarters to deal with one!"
'If the thief is really Mindbreaker, he is at least Martial King. No, I think he is Martial King. If one was Martial Legend, they could alter people's memories.
'Instead of leaving this boy with no memories at all, he would've most likely planted some fake memories and wouldn't have left such obvious clues about his identity, unless he can't alter memories because of his lack of martial rank.
'Mindbreakers are the trickiest people among the human race, and they're all usually very intelligent.'
Marshall turned to the radar. Their navy ships were approaching the robbed ship at decent speed.
"What is the overall rank of our soldiers that is currently on the chase?"
"Martial Fighters and Champions. I think a few Martial Masters."
"They will be slaughtered," a navy officer said with a serious tone.
Marshall formed fists with his hands and then made the final, difficult order.
"Abandon the chase. Return to base immediately."
The navy soldiers looked surprised, but then nodded with understanding. This was Mindbreaker they were talking about.
Without further ado, they contacted the two navy ships.
"Contact the navy headquarters. Tell them to bring Martial Legend-ranked Mindbreaker. I want to know what memories he lost!"
Marshall pointed straight at the navy soldier.
The navy officers saluted and immediately left to make a very important phone call straight to the navy headquarters.
They rarely contacted the navy headquarters, as only the big shots lived there, and none of them really wanted to bother them.
However, they had a hunch that an incident would also pique their interest.