The Turks were an internal organization within the Shinra Electric Power Company.
Their official name was the General Affairs Department Investigative Division, an elite unit attached to the Public Security Division.
On the surface, their duties were intelligence gathering and selecting promising candidates for SOLDIER. In reality, the organization functioned as an elite force responsible for recruitment, abduction, assassination, and all manner of other corporate black operations.
The director of this department was a man named Tseng.
He had known Aerith since more than ten years ago, and ever since then, he had been the one in charge of monitoring her.
Shinra wanted to use Aerith, who carried the bloodline of the Ancients, to find the legendary Promised Land—the fabled paradise of the Ancients.
According to legend, all of the Ancients' knowledge and technology existed there, along with an endless supply of mako energy.
The reason Shinra had not captured Aerith and locked her away after she escaped was because they were afraid she might be pushed to extremes. If she died, the Ancients would truly be gone.
So Shinra had adopted a policy of protecting her while keeping her under surveillance.
However, waiting so long for Aerith to cooperate had dragged on far too long.
Recently, some people had begun to lose patience with the decision to leave Aerith at large.
Among them was Hojo, the head of Shinra's Science Department. He had become increasingly determined to drag Aerith back and use her for human experimentation.
It was impossible to imagine what kind of inhuman research Hojo, a man who would treat even human lives as experimental material for the sake of his studies, would conduct on Aerith.
That man had also proposed actions Tseng found revolting: forcing Aerith to act as a mother body for breeding experiments. Worse, those experiments might involve all kinds of extreme methods.
Hojo's madness could no longer be described with a word as simple as inhumane.
And today, something had gone wrong in that man's laboratory again. A figure resembling Sephiroth had appeared. It should have been a copy Hojo had created, and from the look of it, the copy was out of control and had forcefully escaped from the facility.
Immediately afterward, Tseng received a report that Aerith and a woman were trying to shake off the personnel monitoring them.
These two incidents had happened almost at the same time. There had to be some connection.
Not long after Shinra's surveillance team lost track of Aerith, they discovered her trail again.
And not only Aerith. They also found Sephiroth, who appeared to be pursuing her.
When Shinra's people caught up to Aerith, they discovered Sephiroth fighting a man clad in full-body metal armor.
The clash between the two stirred up a storm so violent that no one could see the situation clearly.
But something deeply bizarre had happened there.
To everyone else, the battle between the two had thrown up a massive cloud of dust, forming a huge vortex-like storm that made it impossible to make out the combatants.
But what Tseng saw was a swarm of strange figures assisting Sephiroth in attacking the mysterious man.
If not for those strange figures joining the battle, Sephiroth would not have been that man's opponent at all.
However, after Sephiroth and those strange figures seemingly forced the man out of his armor—at least by the time Tseng could see him clearly, the mysterious man was no longer wearing it—the man revealed his true appearance and immediately displayed a shocking power.
Those strange figures turned to ash and vanished the moment they came into contact with him.
Sephiroth, who had originally held the advantage, was quickly overwhelmed.
In the end, something seemed to happen on Aerith's side, and the man stopped fighting Sephiroth and rushed over instead.
Tseng did not know what happened after that. Shinra's surveillance personnel on-site did not dare get too close. They could only maintain a certain distance and transmit the images back through their equipment.
Once everything quieted down, they went to look at the place where Sephiroth had disappeared, only to find a steel pipe embedded in a wall, stained with fresh red blood.
Fortunately, fifteen minutes later, they found Aerith again.
The surveillance team still did not dare approach, because that mysterious man was standing right beside her.
No matter who he was, Shinra could not sit by and watch an existence beyond its control move freely.
Aerith, in particular, absolutely could not be lost.
And if they wanted to take Aerith away, they would need preparation. They would need to dispatch an elite force strong enough to deal with that mysterious man.
Once everything was ready and the elite troops had moved out, the operation was broadcast live back here.
The result was—
"T-this man… We must find a way to capture him! Capture him at any cost! He actually possesses power like this! If we can study it, we can absolutely create a specimen even stronger than Sephiroth!"
Hojo, who had also been watching the operation, shouted with ravenous excitement. He looked as if he wanted nothing more than to drag that mysterious man onto an operating table and begin dissecting him immediately.
Because the operation to take Aerith away had failed.
And it had failed so quickly that no one could have anticipated it.
In just three minutes, the elite unit had been wiped out, destroyed by the man with what looked like effortless ease.
Every single one of his attacks struck true, clean and decisive. At least one member went down with every blow.
The elite soldiers deployed for the operation even included members of SOLDIER.
SOLDIER was divided into three ranks: 1st Class, 2nd Class, and 3rd Class.
Although the gap between 3rd Class, 2nd Class, and 1st Class was enormous, the difference here was almost absurd. None of them could withstand even a single move from him.
Even the helicopters in the air were no exception. He could step on the air and approach at high speed, evade machine-gun fire, and then use some incredible—or rather, invisible—force to make the helicopters crash as if they had struck something.
Even the real Sephiroth would not be able to deal with a force like this so quickly. He might even have to pay some kind of price and sustain injuries.
But this man had not.
Clearly, when this man had first fought the Sephiroth copy, he had not been showing his true ability at all.
"…Could this man also possess the bloodline of the Ancients? Or is he an Ancient himself?"
Scarlet, the head of the Weapons Development Department, voiced her suspicion about the man's origins.
"Whether he is or not, we'll know once you capture him and send him to me."
Hojo pushed up his glasses as he spoke.
Tseng noticed the eyes beneath those lenses. They were filled with madness.
Most likely, this man was already preparing some private operation, unable to wait before getting his hands on the target.
"Hojo. Heidegger. I don't care what methods you use. Aerith must not be lost, and that man must be captured!"
The low voice made everyone look toward the only person seated in the room.
He was Shinra's president.
Shinra's ruler.
The ruler of the world.
"No matter what methods we use, you say, Mr. President?"
Hojo sought confirmation once more, then let out an eerie laugh. The sound made Tseng deeply uncomfortable.
"Correct."
"Good. Good. Heh, heh…"
Having received permission, Hojo revealed an especially sinister smile.
With that, Tseng could not imagine what this madman might do.
And this time, if Aerith was captured, there would be no returning to the old policy of leaving her at large.
Most likely, she would be subjected to all manner of experiments, just like her mother had been.
(End of Chapter)
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