Remembering those horrible memories I had hoped to forget, I wiped Liam’s blood from my spear with a deeply melancholic feeling as I stared at his corpse.

  Then, I turned toward my allies, who were questioning the reasons behind my actions.

  Sighing, I finally answered them in an indifferent tone.

  “You know me too well, Manu.”

  I muttered as I spread the blood from my staff onto the ground.

  Feeling the tension in the room continue to rise, I could only sink deeper into my thoughts. After all, who would have believed it? The two charred corpses I had found weren’t Liam’s and Lia’s… I had been thoroughly deceived.

  That also meant that those I had fought and hunted down weren’t the only ones involved in this affair.

  Fate truly is ironic… In the end, I was the one who killed those I wanted to avenge…

  “Shin… I hope that’s not true…”

  Cynthia asked in disbelief, clearly in shock. Seeing her like that reminded me of everything I had given up to avenge those two children.

  “You bastard! How dare you do this?!”

  Grabbing me by the collar, furious and overflowing with rage, Donavan was about to beat me senseless. But the very moment he grabbed me, I had already begun contaminating him with my corrupted ether. Even if I was normally weaker than him, with my ether weakening him, that was all I needed. I grabbed his wrist and shoved him back, to his great surprise. Even though he was only about ten percent weaker than usual, it was enough to more or less even the fight.

  “Donavan… you, the former bully, dare to speak?”

  I sighed as I pushed him back, thinking that the only reason I hadn’t killed him back then was to allow Manu to overcome his trauma—and because he was useful to Cynthia.

  “You killed her by draining her life force?”

  As always, Manu was sharp. He had quickly understood how Hades Mode worked, and he wasn’t wrong. The moment I saw the scales on Lia’s body, I already knew there probably wouldn’t be a solution. So I contaminated her with my corrupted ether to drain her vitality and kill her painlessly… Of course, I would have saved her with pure ether if an antidote had existed, but fate had decided otherwise.

  “You’ve seen through me, my friend…”

  That’s why I didn’t want to let go of Lia: because I was slowly killing her, to grant her salvation and allow her to live her final moments as a human being… As for Liam, he was doomed from the very beginning. I already knew I would have to kill him, and that burden fell to me alone…

  “Why?”

  Ah… How am I supposed to explain all of this to my dear friends?

  I really don’t want to… To tell them that these were children I took care of, children I even grew attached to—especially since they mysteriously disappeared years ago, and I truly believed they were dead… I struggled endlessly to find those responsible and make them pay, when in reality, all this time, they were imprisoned here, turned into lab rats, while I was already mourning them on my own, promising myself to do everything I could to change this world… Only to find them here in the end, condemned by fate, and be forced to kill them with my own hands…

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  “This doesn’t concern you.”

  Speaking coldly and looking away, I was more than determined not to talk about it—perhaps out of shame, or simply because I needed to protect their memories.

  To my great surprise, consumed by rage, Manu lunged at me and landed a well-placed jab—just like I had taught him—straight to my face, making me stumble backward.

  “By what right did you dare kill those children?! I could have created an antidote to save them! They had the right to live!”

  For the first time, I saw the little Buddha cry, his face twisted with fury.

  “So you’re telling me I should’ve let Lia become a beast? That she should’ve ended up as a stray animal, as she was destined to be? I’ll remind you that you know just as well as I do that it’s incurable.”

  I replied calmly as I wiped the blood running from my nose. He hadn’t missed.

  “You should have let us try!”

  Cynthia complained, weakly hitting my chest while I remained motionless.

  “I think that after watching me play the hero for so long, you’ve forgotten that I’m not one.”

  Coldly pushing Cynthia aside despite myself, I stood in front of Manu, already regretting what I was about to say—even though it was necessary.

  “I’m ready to do anything to achieve my goals, and nothing will stop me. Just follow me. Understood? It’s not like you can separate yourselves from me anyway.”

  Silence once again filled the room. Everyone here had already crossed the point of no return and was forced to follow me. With nothing left to say, they eventually did.

  “You disappoint me, bastard.”

  Manu muttered into the void as we left the basement.

  Disappoint you, huh? I’m sorry… but this whole story only concerns me and those children… and Rubis above all.

  Filled with rage and endless hatred, I moved forward, while Cynthia watched me with a face marked by a strange mixture of emotions: silent fury, deep nostalgia, and overwhelming disappointment.

  “This is Lover. I think Céline is heading toward the warehouse. Leave immediately!”

  The information echoed through everyone’s earpieces, forcing them to cooperate despite their current differences.

  “That doesn’t make sense. She shouldn’t be coming—this base is the only one without an officer guarding it.”

  Manu explained as he checked his data. Indeed, no Rubis officer was supposed to be stationed at this base.

  “The answer is simple. I think she knows we were about to start attacking their bases. She must have come here to warn them, prepare them, and reinforce security.”

  Cynthia deduced while analyzing the situation, before reluctantly adding:

  “So we were right to come today—otherwise, we would’ve walked straight into one of Céline’s traps.”

  “We should leave immediately, then.”

  Donavan added. Everyone unanimously agreed, knowing that a fight against Céline wouldn’t be in their favor—and that they still wanted to keep their trump card, Haru.

  Finally fleeing the base, they went to regroup with Haru, then returned to their quarters after one of the longest and most traumatic nights of their lives.

  …

  Céline had just arrived at the base, only to see her fears realized as she looked at the corpses scattered across the ground.

  “They’re already in motion, huh?”

  Scratching her head, the old woman sighed. She had anticipated this, but she had thought they wouldn’t strike for at least another week.

  “At least it’s only the logistics base and the warehouse. We already moved everything important.”

  Walking through the old base, she observed the extent of the damage and regretted the lack of competent personnel they had left to guard the place.

  “Fortunately, I’ve already prepared countermeasures for next time.”

  The old woman chuckled amid the corpses of her former associates. Twilight had won the battle—but Rubis seemed to have the upper hand in the war.