Hikari: Rise Of The Weapons Master

"So this is the headquarters where all the operations related to Hikari take place…" Zack muttered with an awed expression as he saw the tall skyscraper in front of him.

But the even more surprising thing was the crowd of reporters standing at the entrance of the building.

As Zack and Evangeline walked together on the red carpet, many questions flew their way.

"Who is that Miss Evangeline?"

"Is he your boyfriend?"

"Or is he your fiancée?"

Some of the questions were too absurd and personal but Eva was used to these things. She winked at one of the cameras and gave it a smile that would make the heart of any man in the world beat faster.

"It\'s a secret that I will reveal later on tonight." She said and dragged Zack inside while the reporters were left with a very enticing reveal.

"Reporters really are the worst." Eva sighed while looking at Zack who giving her a handsome smile. "Are you nervous?"

"Somewhat. After all, people will soon know my true face." The teenager replied with a sigh as he could feel his heart beating faster inside his chest.

The event was going to be broadcast across the entire globe on all four of the continents and every person will be able to see it.

This meant that there would be even more enemies that Zack and Hikari might make together. But in the end, it would be interesting to see how things would turn out.

"Evangeline, are the other top five players also coming to the event?" In his previous life, only the top five had been invited and had signed a contract in front of the globe.

The rest had been present through virtual holograms that transmitted everything directly to the place. But one of the most questionable things here was that the four companies had said that all of the players would have to show their faces.

This was a major tactic that would eliminate many players from being completely solo unless they had enough money to compete with what they wanted.

"You are coming to the owner box with me. I wonder if any of those old fools know who you are." Eva said with a grin as she remembered how the news of Zack being missing had spread throughout the entire world.

Many had been thinking that the number one player had been taken captive by someone and was forced to play to earn money for them.

And since they already knew how Zack looked, Eva had asked him to wear a mask that would alter his appearance.

So to any other person, Zack appeared to be a man in his early twenties and that was why the news reporters had asked whether he was Eva\'s boyfriend or something.

After walking up to the Owner\'s box, Zack took off his mask and the event proceeded.

After an hour of introductions, speeches, and some performances, the owners of the four companies were asked to come on the stage. Zack wore his mask but he had disabled the face-altering feature.

Now it only looked like a plain black mask that covered his entire face.

After walking towards the lift, the duo encountered the owners of the three other companies standing there. And two of them had people walking beside them.

"Who are these guys?" Eva asked while raising an eyebrow as the owner of Miscosoft snorted.

"He is the current number seventh-ranked player." The owner was a bald man with a long white beard and looked like someone who had outgrown the age he was supposed to die at.

As for the second person, he was none other than Ninja who had signed a contract with Orange. The owners of the two companies thought that they had made a good decision regarding this but they had no idea how wrong they were.

After going onto the stage, the host announced everything about them before he looked towards Eva.

Eva already had a small microphone in her mouth that was connected with the speakers and it went online the moment the host gave her the signal.

"As all of you guys assembled here now, Hikari has been blowing off the charts. And now, that we have permission from the United Nations," Eva paused and glanced at an old man in his fifties sitting in the crowd. "Money exchange from the game to real-life will go online!"

The entire place broke into cheers and people raised many toasts. After the crowd had calmed down, Eva grinned. It was the time for her to announce one of her biggest achievements.

"And I am proud to announce that one of the top players from Hikari will be joining Doogle!" She pointed towards Zack as he slowly started removing his mask.

\'Who could it be?\' The three other owners and the rest of the people in the room were wondering.

But once the mask was off the face of his facce, the entire place was left stunned.

"Zack, better known as Lin Fan, will be signing a contract with Doogle." Eva had dropped a bomb on the heads of many people and her smile showed how much she enjoyed it.

The owners of Miscosoft and Orange wanted to pull at their hair, except one of them didn\'t have hair so he would have settled for the hair on his arms. The owner of Telsa was the only one who felt happy for Eva and clapped alongside the other people in the room.

He had seen Evangeline growing from a child to a woman and was proud of what she had accomplished. Eva\'s father had guided Telsa\'s owner a little in the past and the man was still thankful because of that.

\'You might have taken him but we will see how things look in the future for you.\' He was sharing this thought with many people, particularly with one person who no one knew was there.

Eva then brought out a bunch of papers and Zack skimmed it quickly to make sure that nothing was changed. After the signing was done, the money was directly transferred to his account.

\'I am a millionaire now.\' He thought while taking a deep breath as Mia\'s operation would be held the next day. While waiting for himself to calm down, Zack learned that none of the top 5 players, except him, had signed a contract.

They hadn\'t even shown up.

And unlike his previous life, it wasn\'t a necessity for people to show their face so many of the people just got the rewards and went away.

"Do I have to stay for the entire party?" The teenager asked Eva as the duo were back in the owner\'s box.

"We will leave in a few minutes. I have to make sure that no one makes a hidden move." Eva replied as she had already talked with the person in charge of her security.

She had to make sure that there were no attempts of people to capture her and Zack and use them for personal benefits.

Fifteen minutes later, Eva got the signal that everything was correct and the duo then left the box.

Zack had wanted to explore the place but everyone, including the owners themselves, were banned from visiting any floor above the 3rd one.

This was to make sure that no information was leaked but if someone asked Zack, it felt like the people were doing something suspicious.

\'But before that, I need to get Mia treated, and then I will go back to Hikari.\' Zack thought with a smile as he and Eva traveled back to the mansion.

But unknown to him, someone had been watching him the entire time.