Arc 1 P10 - END

Leroy searched for a bit and found the thing he's looking for. Bones. With how well-maintained this particular area in the whole floor, he expected to find an intact body.

There's a gun nearby. He checked the skull and saw two holes of varying sizes, most probably the entry and exit points.

"Two, do you see something significant?"

"Just files. I'm not reading all that," he said as he quietly pocketed a piece of paper. "I think I found it though."

"Good. Please be careful with that though. I don't know how dangerous that thing is so try not to touch it."

"It's in a box."

Leroy had already opened it before he reported. Inside was a shard of ruby. He angled it towards the light. It's surprisingly non-reflective despite looking so clear and smooth.

A huge sigh of relief came from the communicator. "Great. Return to the extraction, Two. Good work."

As soon as she said that, the whole building shook.

"Wha!? An earthquake? No! Two, get out there. Now!"

"Roger."

Tucking the box, Leroy rushed to the edge of the floor. His decision was spot on. The middle of the building gave away first. Ambrosia had been destroying all the middle supports unconsciously that's why he knew it'd come in handy soon. To be honest, he even thought to use it to the corrupted had the girl not used the staff.

"Two, what're you doing? You'll die if you jump without proper gear!"

He already jumped.

Diving head first, Leroy readied the sword. Once he got close enough to the ground, he focused all his will. Shiska's blood flowing inside him resonated with the relic. With a mighty swing, Leroy used Wahr to do something unthinkable.

Instead of slamming hard into hard ground, his rapid descent turned into a soft landing. As the building crashed behind him, filling him with dust, he raised the box once more and checked the ruby. The afternoon sun still couldn't make it shine.

"Mission complete."

***

Wilhelm rubbed his palms on his face as he read through the compiled reports of his tactical training class. It's always been a lot of work having to manually go through those reports, but he couldn't just let a robot handle the work. He wanted to see for himself if his students were taking it seriously or not.

He took a sip of his herbal tea. The Trasdiva's genetically modified tea leaves truly held up to its legacy of being one, if not the best provider of quality leaves. They've already passed the relic to their daughter Kaya, who should be surprising her family with an improvement to the formula soon.

Now that his nerves calmed down and his focus sharp, he continued reading through the reports.

He reached Valerie's.

***

"Professor, a word, if you may," headmaster Park called Wilhelm before he could leave the office.

"Are you finally telling me the reasoning behind this absurd announcement? If not, I'll show myself out."

"Don't be so hasty, professor," the man said. "While it's true I still can't disclose the general's and my reasons, I needed you to do me a little favor."

He stated his request.

Wilhelm's eyebrows scrunched. "So you want Miss Neue to command these tainted? Is that all?"

"Yes, yes. Oh, and kindly delay your delivery on the latter part of the mission. I want her to be confused."

"Headmaster, with all due respect this is borderline harassment. I cannot, in good conscience, oblige your request."

"It's not out of stupidly, professor. She's a very promising child. I simply wanted her to get that brain of hers up and running at full power soon," the man stood up and turned to the huge window behind him, bathing in the morning sun. "The Academy was built to nurture our future. And by 'our' I meant Chernobyl. In order to do that, I needed someone capable enough to see through the ripples, the flaps of the butterfly's wings. Will you help me… help Chernobyl?"

***

"You seemed troubled, friend."

A handsome man with long, straight blond hair stood by the door. His clothes looked out-of-place in the city. He wore a white doublet and a pair of brown breeches—like an equestrian. While the hobby still existed, only a handful engaged in horseback riding. He's not one of those.

"Can't you at least knock?" Wilhelm couldn't control his temper. He took a swig of the tea hoping it'd cool his head off a bit.

"I'm here on a matter most urgent. Erlingier, the staff of twisted space, was lost."

"Sigh, I know that already."

"I doubt you know the full story though," the man said. Taking up a nearby seat, he narrated, "During the operation of various interests disguised as an exterminator mission, a huge tremor erupted. Hundreds of death row convicts died, unfortunate, but what's the cause? Was it truly the corrupted like the military said?"

"So, what was it?"

He shook his head. "No, friend. It's not a 'what' question anymore. The thing had a name, you see. Even my pronoun is not an 'it' either."

"Adam," Wilhelm sighed in frustration as he managed his temples. "Get straight to the point, please. I've got work to do."

Adam shrugged his shoulders. "It's Mudin. The trap was successful, you see, and Mudin took the bait. He thought the thing we sought would be there but what he got was almost death. He escaped, so that means his plan to attack this city would he held off. It's your win this time."

"You could say it's also your win. Weren't you the only one turning coat on your kind?"

Adam chuckled. "What I desire is not to win, friend. I simply want peace, and peace is something that's achieved once there's no winners and losers."