Caesar's elbow hit my head and I glared at him.

"Sorry Miss Ava, it's just that, I'm nervous right now," muttered Caesar. "The tension in the air has changed, and of course, not in a good way, sort of."

All of us were inside the palace, specifically the overly bright guest room. Golden trophies, jarring vases that did not complement the orange-painted room, and a few miscellaneous items that Gheele had arranged there.

The unconscious Miranda was lying on the red sofa. Aya and Alicia sat next to each other on a luxurious golden sofa in front of her. Caesar and I were standing beside Gheele, where he had an ebony chair propped up for him to sit.

At that point, I was certain Gheele was too rich for his own good.

"Now, I just want to clear something up," said Gheele. "Relly and that pink slave won't be coming back to your country. I'm taking custody of them."

Alicia gulped. "Why did you bring us here? We're your enemies."

"I thought we have an agreement, hm? I let you, that kid, Miranda, and Alexander to go back to C.U. in exchange for Relly and the pink slave. I have them underground in my underground prison," said Gheele, resting his head on his right hand.

Alicia narrowed her eyes at the orange tiles, refusing to speak another word.

"Or you don't want to go back? I don't mind either way. But, I also have one more condition. When my personal jet brings you to the coast of Nigeria, you are to order the navies to retreat. Your land troops will then follow suit," said Gheele.

"We don't have that authority," retorted Alicia.

"Lies. I'm sure you Aegis Users are at the top of the chain of command. Caesar here had told me that," said Gheele.

Alicia clicked her tongue.

"Even if you didn't want to, there's no way for your military to breach my Aegis defenses. It's up to you actually," continued Gheele.

"We've come this far for nothing. Is that what you're trying to say?" demanded Alicia.

"That's correct. I'm quite sure you're a scientist yourself. Conducting the experiments using Aegis. You're all to blame for creating that weapon. As such, I have that power right now, and there's no one on your side that can defeat me and my country," said Gheele.

"If you're that powerful, why don't you take Sweden for yourself?" prompted Alicia.

"Are you stupid, woman? You're basically asking me to go to to the frontline myself. This time, it's an emergency. I won't be joining the war myself if it happens."

"What?! You're that powerful and yet you refuse to involve yourself. I admit that you're a high caliber Aegis User with the ability to take down almost anyone," said Alicia.

"Almost? That's basically an insult. And to remind you, I have no need to invade your country. I merely want it to be crushed under my feet," said Gheele. "Are you suggesting there's an Aegis User far stronger than me? I'm sure Relly is up there, but he had to overwhelm me with numbers beforehand."

Alicia was silent. There was something in the back of her mind and she brushed it off.

Agatha burst through the bronze door and walked up to Gheele, glancing at Alicia.

She was not any different from before. Her sleek, black jacket adorned her upper body paired with close-fitted blue jeans stretching from her waist. She had tied her dark hair into a ponytail, exposing her brown skin further.

She did not have that bandage around her face anymore. Instead, an ugly scar ran through her left eye.

"Master, the jet has arrived," said Agatha.

"Perfect." Gheele s.h.i.+fted his stare at Aya. "As promised, you three may go. Where's that other guy?"

"Alexander is outside, Master. He's boarding the jet right now," replied Agatha.

"I see. You may go now, dogs of C.U. The next time we meet, you're all corpses," said Gheele.

Alicia proceeded to carry Miranda at her back and walked out of the room, glaring at me as she did.

It was natural since I literally sentenced Bart to a near-death state.

Though he would be dead soon enough.

Aya trotted to me. "Ava."

"I killed Bart. Why're you so nice to me?" I said.

"You have your reasons. In fact, I blame myself for being weak. But I didn't say I forgive you. If we meet again, I'll not hesitate, Ava. I hate to say this but, our friends.h.i.+p..."

"Is still the same. I'll not hurt you even if we meet again. That's my promise to you as a friend," I stated.

Aya sighed. "Then I'll hold onto it. I also wish the same thing but, that would be naive for me. We live in a cruel world, Ava. I'm afraid it will not go as you think it would."

"Oh, I know that, Aya. Believe me, I know."

She hugged me and I returned it.

If we lived in an alternate reality of some sort, I'm sure we would be good friends, without having to encounter violence in our lives.

"Goodbye, Ava."

"Goodbye... Aya."

We waved at each other before Aya's figure disappeared into the corridor.

After we were certain of the jet's departure, Agatha closed the bronze door and looked at me.

"Why are we letting the enemy go just like that? We could have a great advantage," said Agatha.

"Why are you looking at me?" I asked.

Caesar stepped in and shook his head. "No, no, Agatha. This is part of a GRAND PLAN, you see."

"A plan, you say? Then tell me this plan of yours. Letting a scientist like Alicia who holds key information regarding Aegis goes is never a good choice. We could have prevented more Aegis Users from being created," said Agatha.

Caesar shrugged. "Maybe."

"Then--"

"It doesn't have to be Alicia. There are the others inside that underground factory," interjected Caesar.

Agatha bit her lip. "Even so... she could be valuable. A hostage for us to monopolize with."

"I understand, Agatha. Alicia is indeed a piece we could work with. But it's better for us if she remains back at HQ," Caesar said.

Agatha frowned. "Meaning?"

"You see, we need someone to head back to Sweden. Alicia can deliver a message to Melker for us. That it wouldn't be wise to attempt another attack at Neo Africa. That anything he will try to take away from Neo Africa in the future would not be happening," said Caesar.

"But that Alexander is good enough for that, right?" asked Agatha.

I strained my ears when Gheele cleared his throat. Both of them then looked at him.

"Something isn't right about this invasion they're trying to pull off," said Gheele. "You thought so too, isn't it, child?"

I nodded.

"What do you mean, Master?" said Agatha.

"It's weird. No. It's unusually strange for them. Their attempt in this invasion doesn't seem to be in a scale I've expected. You can say it's very... weak."

"Weak?" I muttered.

"Precisely. The C.U could've thrown so much more towards my Neo Africa. And yet, they didn't."

"But your barrier is protecting us, Master. No matter how much military force they have, if they can't break it, there's never going to be a war that..."

"Indeed, Agatha. They should've known of my capabilities. A rough estimation would've sufficed. Tell me, child. Are they going all-out on this?" said Gheele.

I shook my head. "No. I believe they said they're going at a much smaller scale due to the rebellion going all around the world. They can't afford to go all-out."

"Which is the problem they're facing. How can a wise ruler be deploying battalions of troops to invade another country in that pathetic state of a country? If it was me, I would throw all my resources into quelling the rebellions. To top it off, perhaps I can distribute free bags of rice, increases my citizens' minimum wage, and a lot of campaigns here and there to put my citizens at ease," Gheele said.

"In other words, you would try to gain their acceptance," said Agatha. "But Melker is not that kind of a person. He's very straightforward in what he wants to do."

"OH!" Caesar clapped his hands.

"What?" asked Agatha.

"Maybe. Just maybe. Someone else... is running the government right now," said Caesar.

"You don't mean..."

"Yes, Agatha. Melker is not the one really in charge. When you think about it, he's not a person that could run a government for his own good. I'm afraid someone else is pulling the strings. And he's just there as a public figure for the people to fear and loath," said Caesar.

Agatha drew her eyebrows together. "So... this whole invasion thing... is just a cover? They have another objective?"

"That seems to be the case," replied Gheele. "This scale of military force they had deployed to supposedly invade Neo Africa is simply not enough. If they even manage to step on its soil, bloodshed on a whole another level is put into the display. Their higher-ranking officers knew about the Aegis, and yet they deployed that measly squad."

"That means..." I said. "Melker is trying to kill his own men. It's a huge-scale purge. They could've sent their whole Ancile units to partic.i.p.ate in order to further increase their win rate. But they didn't. I a.s.sumed Maltyie, their strategist, is told not to use the Anciles."

"That doesn't make sense, Ava," said Agatha. "Why would..."

"It doesn't have to make sense." Gheele folded his legs and rubbed his hair. "Remember, Melker is not the one in charge. Whoever the ones controlling him in the shadows, he or she is smart. Let's just say, their invasion comes out as a failure, and a lot of soldiers lost their lives. What would you think happened to the citizens?"

"There would be... rebellions unlike we've ever seen," answered Agatha.

Gheele nodded. "The soldiers have families too. Their loved ones would despise the government for their selfish act. It would make that country's collapse imminent in the near future. Unless they have a method ready to be applied when that happens, then that person really is stupid."

Gheele then stared at me, wanting a solution to the problems he had laid out.

Of course, I knew what he was going to say.

The underground factory.

I had not seen what it had in store for that problem. But if my hunch was right, Melker had been secretly creating something at the deepest part of the factory. Or more specifically, that person controlling him.

"A whole new weapon," I muttered. "In case of rebellions cannot be stopped by current means, Melker will deploy a weapon so powerful that will forever engrave fear in the hearts of his citizens. A lot of lives will be lost. And his rule by fear is completed. No one would dare to raise a finger against the government."

"I don't suppose it's a nuclear weapon," implied Caesar.

"That would be stupid. We're not in that pitiful age anymore. Bombing his own country with it is foolish. And nuclear weapons as a whole is abandoned after Aegis is created twenty years ago," said Gheele.

"What about Alicia?" prompted Agatha.

"I need her to be near Melker," said Gheele. "Alexander is on our side, remember? Alicia will spill the beans and hopefully, the information on that new weapon will be in our hands. The Aegis Users do not seem to know about it, and only with Melker revealing it to his trusted Alicia will all of this do us good."

"So, it all comes down to gathering info on the enemies. Letting her go would benefit us in the long run." Agatha nodded.

"Is it clear now?" asked Gheele.

Caesar and I nodded.

"Great. Oh, we'll talk about your Aegis after this, child. I need to help myself with some grape juice--"

A girl pushed open the door with a grave expression on her face. It was Tabetha.

"M-Master!"

"What is it?"

Tabetha hesitated to open her mouth any further and Helena knocked her to the side.

"Master!" yelled Helena.

"Yes, I'm listening."

"T-That guy with the eyepatch. Relly had escaped!"

"Escaped?!" exclaimed Caesar.