Chương 53: Chapter 50: The Vanishing Deterrent

The amber light of the setting sun bled through the massive, arched windows of the Beacon Headmaster's office, casting long, somber shadows across the polished gearwork of the floor. The room was deathly quiet, save for the low, steady hum of the encrypted holographic projectors resting on the central desk. Headmistress Glynda Goodwitch stood at the head of the table, her riding crop resting flat beneath her perfectly manicured hands.

Floating before her were three distinct holographic screens, forming the most secretive and powerful council on Remnant. On the center screen, broadcasted from a dusty, dimly lit safehouse in Mistral, stood Qrow Branwen next to a fourteen-year-old farm boy who stood with the impossibly rigid, ancient posture of Professor Ozpin. On the left screen, Headmaster Theodore of Shade Academy leaned forward in his office, his second-in-command, Xanthe Rumpole, standing silently behind him.

On the right screen, General James Ironwood sat behind a massive steel desk in Atlas, the cold, blue light of his military command center illuminating his scarred face.

"The creature Mr. Saitama encountered in the Forever Fall forest, the one he so eloquently described to Glynda as a 'floating jellyfish,'" Ozpin's voice resonated smoothly through Oscar's vocal cords, "was a Seer." Headmaster Theodore leaned back, his green eyes narrowing.

"You never mentioned Salem had eyes like that in the field, Oz. A Grimm that acts as a direct surveillance feed?"

"Because they rarely, if ever, leave the absolute heart of her domain," Ozpin replied, the heavy sorrow of centuries bleeding into his tone.

"They are extensions of her will. I never anticipated one operating this close to Vale's borders, nor did I anticipate it being physically captured by our... unique security consultant." Ironwood's jaw tightened, the metallic servos in his arm whirring faintly as he gripped the edge of his desk.

"And he looked directly into its core. He saw her."

"He did," Glynda confirmed, adjusting her glasses as the setting sun reflected off the lenses.

"When he brought the matter to me, he claimed he saw a pale woman with red eyes in a dark room. The connection broke the moment he compressed the entity's head, but the visual link was established. To prevent him from seeking her out for a 'good fight,' I was forced to lie. I informed him that the volatile spores in the Forever Fall forest occasionally cause mild visual hallucinations."

"A necessary, if precarious, deception," Xanthe Rumpole noted from the Vacuo feed, her voice clipped and analytical.

"If the Seer was active, Salem was actively looking through it. The psychological impact of an immortal entity gazing upon an absolute, impenetrable kinetic wall cannot be understated. It is precisely why she has shifted her vanguard entirely to Mistral."

"Which brings us to our secondary asset," Ozpin continued gently, shifting Oscar's posture.

"Qrow and I have thoroughly debriefed Team RWBY and Team JNPR. They now know the true nature of this war. They know about Salem." Ironwood let out a slow, measured breath, a flicker of genuine relief washing over his hardened features.

"And they are remaining cooperative?"

"They were understandably shaken, but their resolve is ironclad," Qrow interjected, taking a slow swig from his silver flask.

"They've sworn absolute secrecy. We made it explicitly clear that this information does not leave our circle. And more importantly, they understand the necessity of keeping Saitama completely in the dark." Glynda's posture softened just a fraction, a rare maternal worry bleeding through her strict exterior.

"They are still just children, stepping into a shadow war against ancient evils. I can only hope they possess the strength to carry such a terrifying burden." Before anyone could reply, a sharp, melodic chime echoed through the Headmaster's office. Glynda's eyes darted toward the elevator doors. The chime indicated students overriding the lobby desk to request an immediate audience.

"Apologies, gentlemen. I have visitors," Glynda said smoothly, her posture instantly shifting back to that of the unyielding Headmistress. She tapped a sequence of keys on her terminal.

"I am pausing the visual and audio feeds. Stand by." The holographic screens instantly collapsed into the projectors. Glynda straightened her posture, cleared her throat, and pressed the intercom button.

"Enter." The heavy brass doors of the elevator hissed open. Four First-Year students stumbled into the office. Toby, Chloe, Marcus, and Lyra the Leopard Faunus, the exact quartet assigned to escort Saitama during his domestic errands, looked as though they were marching toward an execution. Their faces were drained of all blood, replaced by a sickly, translucent pallor. Lyra's tail was tucked firmly between her legs, and Marcus's hands were shaking so violently his glasses were slipping down his nose.

Glynda's brow furrowed into a sharp, severe angle.

"What is the meaning of this interruption? You four look as though you have seen a ghost."

"Um... Professor Glynda, Headmistress..." Marcus gathering the courage to report.

"We, uh..." But Lyra did it instead.

"We... have a situation..."

Thousands of miles away, the holographic projector in the Mistral safehouse flickered, displaying only a 'Standby' icon. Qrow sighed, pulling a whetstone from his pocket and running it lazily along the edge of Harbinger. Oscar stood near the table, allowing Ozpin to maintain control, though the boy's physical exhaustion was evident in the slight sag of his shoulders. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

From the audio feed on Qrow's scroll, Theodore's gruff voice filled the dusty room.

"Are we absolutely sure about this play, Oz?" Theodore asked, the sound of his boots shifting on his desk echoing from Vacuo.

"Lying to the kids is one thing. But lying to the guy who casually rewrites the laws of physics? If Saitama ever finds out we've been hiding the ultimate villain from him just to use him as a guard dog, he might just punch our academies into the ocean out of sheer annoyance."

"It is the only logical course of action, Theodore," Ironwood's voice replied instantly, absolute and unwavering.

"We explicitly prohibited him from leaving Vale for this exact reason. Saitama is a deterrent. If he engages Salem, the collateral damage could crack a continent in half. We need him in Vale to project an aura of absolute invulnerability."

"Speaking of Mistral," Qrow interrupted, looking at the scroll.

"We still need to address Leonardo. He's been completely absent from these channels, and his excuses are fraying."

"Headmaster Lionheart's behavior is deeply concerning," Ozpin noted, his borrowed hazel eyes narrowing.

"He has always been timid, but ignoring direct summons from the inner circle while his Huntsmen vanish indicates a severe compromise."

"If Lionheart has committed treason, we must treat Haven Academy as hostile territory," Ironwood stated coldly.

"We cannot afford blind spots. I am strongly considering sending a surgical extraction team to pull him out by the collar." Before the debate could escalate, the holographic projector on Qrow's table suddenly hummed to life. The screens materialized once more, but the image of Glynda Goodwitch froze every man in the channel. Glynda was completely unraveled. Her perfect, strict posture had collapsed. She was leaning heavily with both hands on her desk, her knuckles stark white.

Her glasses were slightly askew, and her emerald eyes were wide, staring through the camera with a look of absolute, paralyzing horror.

"Glynda?" Ozpin stepped forward, his voice lacing with immediate alarm.

"Good god, woman, you look like you've seen the Brother Gods themselves," Qrow muttered, dropping his whetstone.

"What happened?" Glynda opened her mouth. She closed it. She took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to force the words past the massive, suffocating lump in her throat.

"He is gone." The words hung in the air, echoing through the feeds of three different kingdoms. Ironwood froze.

"Who is gone?" Glynda looked up, her expression a portrait of sheer, administrative despair.

"Saitama... He is gone. He is no longer in Vale." CRASH! On the Atlas feed, Ironwood violently stood up, his metal prosthetic slamming against his steel desk with enough force to dent the alloy.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, GONE?! I placed him under strict quarantine! Was he abducted?! Did Salem deploy a force capable of moving him?! How did he bypass the military cordons?!"

"There was no military engagement, James!" Glynda snapped, her voice pitching into a hysterical, frantic frequency.

"He wasn't abducted! He went grocery shopping!" Theodore blinked, completely derailed.

"I'm sorry, what?" Glynda pulled off her glasses, pinching the bridge of her nose as a migraine of apocalyptic proportions set in.

"The four First-Year students assigned to escort him just confessed everything. Mr. Saitama heard a rumor about a sale on Mistralian bananas. He went to the port market. When the students were distracted by a local bandit attack, he boarded a deep-water commercial cargo ship to purchase fruit directly from a vendor on the ramp."

"You are telling me," Qrow said slowly, his voice flat, "that the most powerful entity in the universe, bypassed a continental military quarantine... for fruit?"

"He didn't realize the ship was departing," Glynda whispered, utterly defeated.

"He thought it was a stationary warehouse. According to the port manifest, that vessel is currently anchoring off the coast of Anima. Saitama is in Mistral."

"THIS IS A DISASTER!" Ironwood roared, his voice echoing through the Atlas command center. He began pacing frantically, his military mind spiraling into worst-case scenarios.

"The entire foundation of our defensive strategy was built on his presence in Vale! If Salem discovers that the 'Hero of Vale' is wandering around the Mistralian countryside, she will realize Vale is completely undefended! She could launch a full-scale assault on Beacon's ruins tonight!"

"Calm down, James," Xanthe Rumpole interjected, though her own brow was slick with sweat.

"Panic serves no one. What is the immediate countermeasure?"

"The countermeasure?!" Ironwood barked.

"The countermeasure is that a man who can break reality with a sneeze is currently lost in a hostile kingdom without any handlers, while Salem's entire inner circle is operating in the exact same sector!"

"James is right to be alarmed," Ozpin said, his voice grave, cutting through the panic with the sheer weight of his ancient authority.

"If he stumbles into Cinder or any of our enemies, the resulting conflict will draw Salem's full, undivided attention to Mistral, and the devastation will be immeasurable."

"So what do we do?" Theodore asked, leaning heavily on his desk.

"Do we announce it? Do we warn the Mistral council?"

"Absolutely not," Ironwood snapped, stopping his pacing. His blue eyes burned with a cold, terrifying resolve.

"If we alert the councils, the media will get hold of it. If the media broadcasts his absence, Salem's Seers will pick it up. We must maintain the illusion. As far as the world is concerned, Saitama is still in Vale."

"How?" Glynda asked.

"He sweeps the courtyards every day. The civilian populace looks for him."

"Confine those four First-Year students to a covert operation," Ironwood ordered immediately.

"Have them buy his usual groceries, walk his patrol routes, and carry his spare suit. Lie to the public. Do whatever it takes to ensure the Vale news network believes he is simply conducting stealth evaluations. The illusion of the deterrent must hold."

"And what about the man himself?" Qrow asked, crossing his arms.

"Mistral is a massive continent. He could be anywhere from the slums to the upper terraces."

"I will handle it," Ironwood stated firmly.

"I am detaching a highly specialized, covert unit to Mistral immediately. They will operate entirely off the grid. Their sole objective is to locate Saitama quietly, secure him, and put him on a stealth transport back to Vale before he accidentally punches a hole in the continent." Ozpin nodded slowly.

"A sound strategy, James. However, there is one final, crucial element to this cover-up." Ozpin looked directly at Qrow.

"We cannot tell Team RWBY and Team JNPR," Ozpin ordered softly. Qrow frowned.

"Oz, they're in Mistral right now. If they know he's there, they could help look for him."

"No," Ozpin shook his head.

"They have just been burdened with the terrifying reality of Salem's existence. They are preparing to face Leonardo Lionheart and secure Haven Academy. If they know their invincible shield is wandering the same kingdom, they will instinctively lower their guard, or worse, they will break their cover to search for him." Ozpin's gaze hardened, carrying the heavy burden of command.

"They must believe they are completely on their own. If they rely on Saitama to save them in Mistral, they will fail their mission." Glynda looked at the holographic faces of her peers, the sheer weight of the secrets they were stacking upon secrets threatening to crush her. But looking at the tactical reality of the board, she knew Ironwood and Ozpin were right.

"Understood," Glynda said, her voice finally steadying into its familiar, authoritative steel.

"Saitama's disappearance remains an absolute secret. May the Gods help us all if he finds a discount supermarket before James's operatives find him."