Arriving back in the city, Gilius and his men were strangely greeted by their 'fellow' soldiers. Being stationed near the wall, the security was tighter even early in the morning. But that made no difference.

  “Greetings, sir. Welcome back from your mission.” Walking out of the helicopter, Gilius noticed that many of the soldiers who shouldn't be along the wall were here. In fact, there were far more soldiers in this section all of a sudden. They were even holding onto their guns as though they were about to shoot. Gilius and his troops were very aware of that. But they didn’t worry.

  “Yes, it has been a while. How is Commander Lee?”

  “He is fine, he just woke up.”

  “Oh really!!! That’s wonderful!!!” Gilius was perfect in his acting as he actually looked happy with the news. Not even showing a single ounce of concern about being found out. It would have been a problem if he had been back at the base. However, it was unfortunately too late. Everything was already in place. Actually, Gilius was well aware of Lee's suspicion of him. Many times Lee would observe him in the back of the eyes to see if he did anything. Because it was obvious in the way he did it, Lee never noticed that Gilius was doing certain things right in front of his face. That was why even when he had suspicions, he never found proof of Gilius' plot. It was because Lee would sign off on all of them without even noticing. It wasn’t till Lee actually started noticing the mistakes that he started to uncover everything. Too late, as he got shot before he could send his report, as it was also given to Gilius, who had destroyed it.

  “Yes. He wishes to speak with you. I hope you can go visit him right now?” A soldier said as he gestured to him to follow them. Gilius then saw many of them surrounding him, anticipating a good answer as they were a bit trigger-happy.

  “Yes please lead the way.” Gesturing to his soldiers, they didn’t seem to be concerned as they all retreated to base. Yet they were not able to leave unguarded as they were followed by other soldiers as well. Gilius was then nicely nudged by the barrel of a gun as they directed him to an armoured car. Making it obvious that he was to be captured. Though he was supposed to be the one to destroy the gate and take command of the tower. It seems like he would have to change plans. Fortunately, it was a good change of plans as it would assist him to where he actually wanted to go.

  Driving in the large armored car, Gilius seems to be rather relaxed. But the others weren’t, as they all had their guns in full automatic. Everyone was looking at Gilius in alert, making sure that he never left their eye. Gilius was, after all, a talented warrior in his own right. Especially with Gilius seemingly so calm in a tense atmosphere, they have every right to be cautious. “Hmmm, did we take a wrong turn?? I could have sworn that the direction to the hospital was a left turn, not a right one?” Knowing Gilius had found out, it was time to drop the act. Cautioned everyone who pointed the gun at him. “I guess I made the wrong choice.”

  “I’m sorry, but for the act of betrayal, you are to be taken to the intelligence center for interrogation. Failure to comply, we will finish the job.” Wanting things to be peaceful, they thought Gilius would comply. They were all comrades after all, so they didn’t want to be the ones to kill Gilius. However, Gilius wasn't fazed by the offensive stance.

  “So he revealed me the moment he woke up. It seems even after a long rest, he has the strength to even talk. He truly is a soldier who cares about the country.” Hearing that many were prepared.

  “So you admit it? Well don’t move or else..” Jesse then finally said as he was in armored gear, as you couldn’t see his face at all.

  “Or else what?? Kill me?? Well it's too late for that.”

  “And why is that?” The soldier said. Gilius then smiled as the sun soon started to shine.

  “Because I no longer have to act. And at this moment , I’m sorry to say but….” Instantly there was a large explosion.

  BOOOOOOMMMM This then alarmed the soldiers, who looked to see where the explosion came from.

  “What was that!!!”

  “It's an explosion coming from the Communication center. What did you do?!!” They then prepared to fire upon Gilius to warn him. But as they were driving, they soon drove into the dark part of the city where the sun didn’t shine. Now, within the shadows, Gilius smiled as he couldn’t find a better opportunity. Shadow instantly swarmed out as it soon pulled Gilius into its grasp.

  “It's best we keep things in the dark right?” Casually asking.

  “What do you mean?” But as he was looking at Gilius, his other ear was being alarmed as he was hearing comms everywhere.

  “Sir we have a large force heading our way!!! They look to be….. Scavengers!!” pow pow pow immediately reporting there was a gunshot from the other side of the comms.

  “Report!!!! Gilius' troops are firing at us and rel…...bang!!” That was the last thing heard as he got shot. Becoming a rather chaotic noise all the soldiers could understand this was an attack.

  “Wait what are you doing??!!! AAAAAHHH”

  “Why are you firing friendlies??!!”

  “Emergency!!!! The gate is open!!! I repeat the gate is open!! We can’t shut it down!!!! BOOMMM...bang bang.” Like everything was poured down all at once, the soldiers panicked with simultaneous attacks. Then it shut down as the communication center was completely obliterated. Pulling the trigger, they were in the process of shooting him as they had no time to interrogate him. Killing him was faster so they could deal with the new threat appearing. But just as they aimed at him...he was gone.

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  “Where did he go?!!!!” Gilius was just there, chained up as well. How could he have disappeared like that??

  “You know what they say...” Hearing that, they then look to the voice as though Gilius was on the ceiling. It was surprising, like in a horror movie, it was only his head that could be seen. This scared them.

  “Who are you???”

  “The only man you can trust is a dead man.”

  “Fi…….” Sling sling just as they were going to fire on him the entire interior of the car was soon dyed with red. All the soldiers went into shock as they felt something or several things pierce through their body. “Wha…” They looked around as every part of the car was dyed in red and black as swords popped out of nowhere. Jesse looked around to notice all the soldiers were all punctured, causing a pool of blood from their mutilated bodies as they didn’t know what happened. The armour car soon formed into a porcupine as blades were sticking out of the armour car. Sling just like the others, he was also pierce with swords as he choked on his blood as it had no other places to go as he died a slow painful death.

  “Sorry, but Lee was too late. Operation Trojan has just started.” Gilius then, with just his bare hands, destroyed the door.

  Retracting his weapons, the swords vanished back into the shadows as he then exited the vehicle. Walking out, a hundred soldiers were all lined up to be given orders. Armed to the teeth they had the latest weaponry you could find. Machine guns with armour-penetrating bullets. Bulletproof armor equipped with camouflage stealth. To top it off ,goggles with aim assistance and a target identifier. There were so many things the soldiers were armed with that you knew they weren’t playing around. Just a glance, they look like robots rather than anything.

  “Sir the scavengers are coming. We should continue the mission and attain the air base.”

  “No, we need to go to the intelligence center. We need to get as much information as possible. Split into teams, as we will converge there at different times. While the scavengers distract everyone, we will use this time to infiltrate their base.” Though this was different from their original plan, they had to follow the orders. It did leave a question though, as they all recall the intelligence base was Menace duty. Did something happen to him? Nevertheless, since Gilius was their leader, they had to follow.

  “Yes sir!!” The team split up as they began the operation. But as they were about to move out, there was a shadow that was like every normal thing. However, this shadow soon widened his eyes as it saw them leave. Thinking they were hiding in the shadows, they were fooled into realizing that they don’t own such shadows.

  Few minutes ago. Fausto has appeared at the communications tower. Using his shadow, he was able to plant bombs everywhere around the place without anyone noticing. But as he was roaming around, he would see random security guards. Just to make things safe, he quietly knocks a few poor souls who have decided to walk by. But during the time Fausto was looking at what the plan was. It seemed like Faust was very aware of the plan but didn’t want to spoil anything.

  “Ha…..what am I supposed to do after this.. I blow something up...then I just leave??” Using his telescope, he then looked around as everything looked normal. It seems like a quiet morning with nothing particularly noticeable. “I feel like a terrorist...I mean...I kinda am...but still….at least...make me assassinate or some kind….” Fausto was in charge of planting all the bombs in designated areas. Originally this was supposed to be Menace’s or Faust job. However, that was impossible for Faust as he couldn’t do all that in one night. Especially without getting caught. But he took on the job nevertheless, knowing Fausto would do it. It annoyed Fausto as he didn’t want to be part of it. However, he did it anyway. Just like Santa, he did it all in one night.

  “Just shut up. Once we are done, we can go do something about those two. Also, drink the potion. I feel like Arondight has really drained us.” Faust was asking about the potion that he drank. It was a special potion used to help with his diviner's power. With Faust’s condition he needed to drink this. Thankfully, with Leonora around, he never had to as it suppressed all the problems that Faust so he was fine. Unfortunately because of Arondight, Faust's condition seemed to have gone worse. Though Arondight produces its own energy, every time she is used, she requires taking energy. Despite Faust not liking Arondight, Faust ended up playing with Arondight a tad too much today which actually put more strain on his body than usual. He originally wanted to head back to Leonora to get help; however, it was too late as he had turned to Fausto while needing to complete the mission. With no time, he had to worry about it after he came back from the mission. But Arondight didn’t do any favors at all as it didn’t like Fausto either. The ring damaged him the moment he came out. Although it seemed like Arondight didn’t intentionally try to, but its because of the divine energy that it produced naturally harmed Fausto. This further damages him even more. In fact, by the time he turned to Fausto, he started showing cracks on his face like Leonardo.

  “Yeah yeah I know I will do it. But hey, isn’t it your fault that we ended up kicked out?” Fausto said as he was looking at the ring. He tried to store it, but that won’t work at all. Arondight was such a stubborn thing to be honest. Why can’t it move!!” Arondight then got mad as it shot a laser at Fausto's face.

  “Well, how was I supposed to know that it would do that to me? And you saw how I tried to get rid of that masochist sword. But it won’t budge?” The ring then shot multiple times as it could tell what Faust was saying. Fausto, seeing the sun about to rise, was summoning the potion from the shadows as he was drinking it. However despite drinking it, it seemed like his body wasn’t healing from using Arondight for some reason. With greater power came with greater price that seemed like the potion couldn’t pay. It couldn’t come at a worse time as the mission was today. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to have to worry afterwards as he just had to head back after they started the operation. Because if he had to do anything strenuous, it could be dangerous for them.

  “Dam we need to go back to Leonora. She is probably the only one who can help us right now.” Fausto complained as he drank another vial, only to leave disappointed once mor,e feeling nothing. Sensing his body, he felt he had to hurry back to the Lancelot before the battle started. Using his shadow, he already headed back. He checked the timer and the operation should start very soon. “Do you think we would be allowed back? Are they still mad?”

  “Mad, do you think they still be mad?”

  “Yeah I mean look, the two are there right now?” Fausto then pointed at the two girls below as they were driving a car. Going opposite ways, the distance between the four grew, which didn’t matter as Fausto Vision was able to see even that far.

  “They do look mad..wait!! Those two!!!!” Both Fausto and Faust were shocked as to see that Leonora and Karma were outside the house. Not to mention, they were heading towards the outer gate. Why are they there??? Worse, why are they out at this time???

  “What are they doing here??” Fausto said as the two were in such a dangerous situation.

  “We have to get them out of here now?!” Faust's urge as something terrible was about to happen. Fausto then tried to move towards them with his shadow. They were arriving very close to them; however, as they came close, Fausto suddenly came out of his shadow. The sunrise upon the horizon signaled the unfortunate change. The eyes soon changed as Faust came out of his rest, no longer allowing him use Fausto's ability. “Dam!!!” Just as that time...Kaboom!!! Everything was soon blown up in massive proportions which alarmed everyone. The city that was quiet was now going to get its wake-up call.

  “This is bad….”

  “Of course they aren’t supposed to be here!!!” Faust was angered as it was bad timing. Why were they outside of the inner walls? It's too dangerous.

  “There is something else that you should be aware of…..” Fausto, who had reverted back, realised there was something that he hadn’t done right before they changed places.

  “And what would that be!!!” Flustered Faust didn’t want to beat around the bush. He wanted answers as quickly as possible, as there was no time for that at all. He had to find a way to find those two as he was trying to contact them. But his next step made him drop his phone.

  “I tried to heal everything I could; however, it seems like the damage Arondight didn’t heal. That means in your state you are worse off.…..if we don’t meet up with Leonora soon…we might be…” Boiling up his emotions could no longer be controlled as he heard the explosions express his frustration. Boom Boom Booom the explosion rang. He then looked at the city as chaos began to brew. With the city being awake and two sides coming to fight, he would have to be in the middle of it. Soon his face was starting to show small cracks around his face just like when Leonardo started to show during their first battle. It wasn’t a good sign as he could tell that his body was starting to break. Knowing the severity, he could only say these words as their was no answers from the phone.

  “F@##”