Online Game: Starting With SSS-Ranked Summons-Chapter 267: Visiting Charlotte (2)

Dr. Mendez hesitated. "We are doing our best, although her condition is critical, she is responding to the treatment. We can't give you any certain answer."

The reason Arthur had asked wasn't because he wanted the military to treat her, but it was becuse he wanted to know how much he had left before he could find a cure, or even just get her out of this prison.

"We're doing everything we can, Mr. Chen. The experimental treatments—"

"How long?" he repeated, harder this time.

"We really can't give you an accurate answer."

A tear slipped down Arthur's cheek before he could stop it. He wiped it away quickly, not wanting to show weakness, but another followed, and another. Not because of the doctor's words, but because of the his sister's sight infront of him.

On the bed, Charlotte's fingers twitched. A small, involuntary movement that somehow broke Arthur more than anything else. Even unconscious, in pain, fighting a war within her own body, some part of her was still fighting. Still refusing to surrender.

"Can I..." His voice broke. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Can I touch her? Just once?"

Dr. Mendez's expression softened slightly. "I'm sorry. Infection risk is too high with her compromised immune system."

Arthur nodded.

Arthur did not fail to see the doctor's expression despite his emotional state, but he scoffed internally.

'Acting like you care, huh?'

'Acting like you are empathetic, huh?'

'Just you wait. I will make every single one you suffer.' He thought, as the hatred seed that the world planted in his heart slowly sprouted.

Through the glass, he studied his sister's face, memorizing every detail. The curve of her nose. The shape of her lips. The tiny scar above her eyebrow from when she'd fallen from a tree at age eight. Even ravaged by illness, Charlotte was beautiful. She had always been the stronger one.

'I should have protected you. I should have been more careful, never let them take you away. It was might fault.'

On the bed, Charlotte's eyelids fluttered, as if fighting against the heavy sedation. For one brief, heart-stopping moment, they opened—just a fraction. Her gaze, clouded with drugs but still unmistakably Charlotte, seemed to find his through the glass.

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Her lips parted slightly, forming a word with no sound.

"Brother."

Then her eyes closed again, the effort too much for her weakened state.

"Did she just...?" Arthur turned to Dr. Mendez.

"Involuntary muscle movements," the doctor explained quickly. "It happens with this medication. She's not conscious."

But Arthur knew better. Somewhere in that broken body, his sister was still there. Still fighting. Still waiting for him to fulfill his promise: that he would never abandon her.

"I'm out of time, aren't I?" he asked, feeling the guard's presence at the door.

Dr. Mendez nodded. "I'm afraid so. The visit was only approved for fifteen minutes."

Arthur took one last, lingering look at Charlotte. 'I'll be back,' he promised in his heart.

As the guard escorted him back through the labyrinthine hallways, Arthur's grief hardened into something else. Something colder.

They had taken Charlotte from him. They had imprisoned her, experimented on her, and left her to waste away in this remote facility. They had stolen precious time they could have spent together.

And for that, there would be a reckoning.

The blindfold came back on for the journey home, but in the darkness, Arthur's body was boiling for his sister.

'They'll pay. Every single one of them.'

Arthur's thoughts raced with violent precision. Names and faces flashed through his memory, whether it was security personnel, doctors, soldiers. All complicit. All deserving of what was coming.

'I'll burn their entire operation to the ground,' he promised himself.

The merge was coming. Soon he'd have his Armageddon abilities in the real world.

'I'll make them suffer,' he swore silently. 'Not quick deaths. They'll experience every second of pain they've inflicted on Charlotte.'

Every researcher who'd poked and prodded her. Every guard who'd kept her imprisoned. Every executive who'd signed off on her "treatment."

A hit list formed in his mind, organized by priority, by access, by culpability.

And at the top: Donald.

'Just hold on, Charlotte. Your brother is coming to save you.'

Arthur couldn't wait to reach his room to log into Armageddon, to get stronger and find a cure for his sister. The ride back felt like torture—each minute trapped in the car was a minute wasted, a minute Charlotte didn't have.

Upon arriving at the base, Donald was waiting for him. He was the first person Arthur saw as the blindfold came off.

"Welcome back," Donald said, his smile not reaching his eyes. "How was the visit?"

Arthur didn't lose his composure. The long trip had given him time to calm his nerves, to hide his rage beneath a mask of resigned acceptance. No sense alerting his enemies to what was coming.

"It was... difficult," Arthur replied, the understatement of the century. "But thank you for arranging it."

The night had fallen completely, a crescent moon adorning the sky alongside scattered stars.

"Walk with me," Donald said, gesturing toward the garden path.

Arthur fell into step beside him, every muscle tense despite his casual posture. Being alone with Donald usually meant bad news or more manipulation.

"I understand how hard this must be for you," Donald said after a moment of silence. His tone was sympathetic, practiced. "Seeing your sister in that condition."

"You just need to to have patience."

Arthur nodded.

'Ohh, i'm patient. I can't wait to rip your filthy mouth apart. Just you wait.' He thought inwardly.