Marduk Animato 

Born and raised within the Metaverse System, the Returnees, humanity’s new form, were highly empathetic and had gentle dispositions. They were to depart for the physical world and succeed the original human race, but a cruel world awaited to challenge their worldview.

They faced conflict with the Paragons—a race of people created in humanity’s image claiming to be the successors of the earth. Not only had the Paragons seized control of the city controlled by the System, but they killed the Returnees reborn in the physical world.

Unable to turn back from their sin, the Paragons waged war that consumed the entire continent. With war came an unending chain of hatred that robbed both sides. They understood the same language, but their words couldn't reach one another. Their hands should have joined together, but instead reached for weapons.

If the war was to end, one of them had to be completely wiped out.

Fourteen years had already passed since the first of the Returnees were killed in Ionia. The chain of hatred continued, entangled in complex ways and unable to be severed.

The world, the paradise we were promised, wasn’t the one filled with nature and kindness that Anshar and I had dreamed of.

A war with no end in sight. The death toll rising day by day. The harsh reality displayed on the city street monitors was enough to crush our idealistic hearts.

“Who… the fuck do they think they are?”

How could the Paragons destroy so casually? Why had it come to this?

“Hey, Anshar. What are we supposed to do, man?”

“...They think of humanity’s achievements as nothing more than dust in the wind.” 

Anshar spoke dispassionately, his eyes locked on the monitor, but his eyes and tightly clenched fist conveyed his anger. He turned his back on the monitor and headed towards the center of the colony. Beyond that was the central tower, where the city Supervisor resided.

“...Anshar?”

“I’ve made up my mind, Marduk. I can’t keep living here in ‘peace’ while we turn a blind eye and ignore reality.” With that, Anshar continued walking. “I’m volunteering. You’ll stay here.”

“You… can’t be serious?”

“I am. It’s far from the battlefield, and as successor to the Animato name…”

“Unreal. You think you can just say that and I’ll sit here like a dog? As if…” 

I thrust my fist in front of Anshar and continued, “I’m going with you! We’ve stuck together since we were kids in the Garden. You think I’m just gonna let you get into trouble by yourself?”

“...”

“Let me carry that burden with you, man.”

I never took my eyes off of Anshar. If I backed down there, I felt like I would never see him again.

“Well, what do you say?”

“...It’s not like you’ll listen to a word I say now that you’ve made up your mind.”

“Damn right I won’t!”

“Then let's protect this world together.”

We bumped our fists and swore we’d reclaim this land from the Paragons.

“Haah!!”

“G…Ggh!”

As though he could predict the rhythm of my breathing, synchronized slashes rained down on me from both left and right—perfectly timed to land just one beat behind. I just barely managed to parry him, waiting for an opening to counterattack. Just when it seemed my opponent understood my movements down to a science, I felt like I understood him as well.

Come on, just a little longer. He can’t do this forever.

My opponent specialized in attacks that made use of sheer speed. In exchange, very few of those strikes were actually lethal. If my reading was correct, he’d make his move any moment.

“...!”

Boom! That attack from the right is totally a bluff. I’ll counter the real attack on the left before he knows what hit em!

The second my opponent pulled back his left hand, I darted forward and unleashed my attack!

“—Huh?”

I swung my sword as hard as I could, but there was no reaction.

“Too obvious. You should know your eyes give you away.”

Just as I could have sworn I heard a voice sighing behind me, I was sent flying away by a sudden impact.

“Ow!! What the hell, dude!? The match was already over, did you really have to shoot me?”

“You’ll never commit the lesson to memory unless your body does it for you.”

“Are you for real? Doesn’t using a gun count as cheating!?”

“There’s no such thing as ‘winning’ or ‘losing’ during training, and defeat means death on the real battlefield. How many times have I told you that your obsession with swords is going to get you killed?”

Oh great… He switched to lecture mode…

“Guns just aren’t for me. Besides, I wanna see just how far I can go with this sword—just like our ancestors did with their sacred blades!”

“And this sorry display is how you prove yourself? A goal is meaningless if you can’t achieve it.”

“I’m the sword guy, and you’re the gun guy. It’s the perfect combo, right?”

“Get a grip. You can’t protect anyone with just ideals alone.”

“I can. That’s why I want to master this path.”

“That’s obsession.”

“It’s conviction.” 

With those words, I turned to leave the training room. 

“Anyway, I’m gonna go get some fresh hair. Catch ya later!”

“...Good grief.”

I took off, leaving Anshar behind as he projected his training regimen into the air in front of him from the device in his hand. Heading straight down the barracks corridor, I caught a glimpse of something at the far end of the passageway leading outside. Long hair in a pale shade of blue… 

Was that…?

“Yo, Nia, dude! What are you doing here?”

“...!”

Nia jumped, then turned to face me after a brief pause. I could have sworn that her eyes looked just a little red. Nia Judith… Like me and Anshar, she was a “Returnee” dissatisfied with the current state of the world. She had recently volunteered for the front line defense corps at Perses.

“What is it, Marduk?”

“I figured the training was getting to you and you were getting all sentimental. Heh, looks like I hit the nail on the head, huh?”

“...You really don’t have any tact, do you?”

“Eh, better than walking on eggshells, right? Hey, what’s that photo you got there?”

I moved to stand beside Nia. I felt like she was staring daggers at me, but I decided to ignore it. The photo was of Nia, a girl her age wearing an eyepatch, and a woman smiling as she pulled both of them close by the shoulders. Among the group, only Nia wore a vague expression—somewhere between a smile and distress as she looked at the woman in the eyepatch.

“Pft, what a weird face.”

“Just leave me alone.”

“Sorry, sorry, my bad. So is the eyepatch girl like a friend or something?”

“Mithra Tercera, my first friend. Or, well… she was my friend.”

“Was? Did she die?”

“No, we just had a falling out. I don’t care about her anymore, all she ever did was pay lip service.”

The way Nia spoke made it sound like she was trying to convince herself by saying the words outloud. I didn’t buy it.

“Doesn’t sound like you hate her to me, dude.”

“Huh?”

“Your voice got all warm when you started talking about that Mithra chick.”

“...!”

“Heh, you’re blushing! Did I hit a nerve?”

Just as I was about to tease Nia by poking at her bright red cheeks…

—Smack! 

Stars flashed before my eyes. She’d put her entire strength into slapping me right across the face.

“You jerk! You don’t know anything about it!”

Nia turned to head back to the barracks. I reached out to take her hand, hoping to stop her, but she easily dodged my grasp.

“H-Hang on a sec! Did I say something wrong? At least let me apologize.”

“Figure it out on your own. Oh, and another thing.”

“...Yeah?”

“It’s Nia, not ‘dude’.”

“Oh, uh… Sorry.”

“As long as you understand. Oh, one more thing.”

“There’s more?”

“I’m sorry for losing my temper just now… Bye.” Nia spoke in a low voice, with her eyes downcast, and then left.

“Man, I totally screwed that up… I just wanted to make her feel better. Why can’t I ever say anything smart in front of her?”

I stood there, staring blankly until her retreating figure vanished from sight—yet the heat smoldering in my cheeks showed no sign of fading.

“Aw man… Ow…”

While out on patrol duty, Anshar and I received a transmission from Nia and Commander Isaac, who had headed towards the Caspian Rift Valley. It was a request to rescue Nia, as she had been injured during their mission. We went as fast as we could in a high-speed airship, and we couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw the data the commander had left for us.

The projection showed a Returnee woman working together with a group of Paragons, and that Returnee was none other than Mithra Tercera. There was no mistaking it, but why had the friend Nia held so dear turned her bow against her? I didn’t care that the Commander was there, or that Paragons and Returnees were working together. All I cared about was the emotion surging from deep within me—I had to set that Mithra chick straight.

“How… How could she hurt Nia like that?”

“Relax, Marduk.”

“Relax? How can you say that after seeing Nia like this!? Man, don’t you feel anything at all?”

“Restrain yourself. If you let your emotions blind you and jump at only the facts in front of you, you’ll lose sight of what you should have seen in the first place.”

“But…!”

“...U-Ugh……”

“Nia!?”

“I’ll leave her in your care. That should help you calm down a bit.”

“Yeah, you’re right… Nia, just hang on a little longer!”

After returning to Perses, me and the other troops began preparing for the coming war as Nia slept in a medical pod. Apparently, there had been developments on the front lines, and skirmishes had been dragging on. As the war began to flare up, so did the fire in my soul. Entrusted with authority by the commander, Anshar and I prepared to plan our next move—and that’s when Nia, her treatment completed, woke up. I went to meet with her, but she was already gone.

“Hey, do you know where Nia went?”

“She said she had business at the command center.”

“Oh yeah? Thanks!”

I gave my thanks to the Machine in the medical bay and went straight to the command center. Nia was probably trying to report the Paragon and Returnees working together, but our squad was nothing more than an afterthought to Commander Eva. It was easy to imagine exactly what she would say to Nia.

“—Excuse me.”

I met up with Anshar along the way to the command center, just to find Nia leaving just as we arrived. Sure enough, Nia looked restless, and her expression oozed displeasure.

She spotted us, and spoke with an irritated sigh, “...What?”

“Hehe, your face says it all... Right, man?”

“Heh…”

“You didn’t have to point it out!”

“My bad. So, what’s the plan?”

“Naturally, we’ll protect anyone who is led astray. In addition, we eliminate the Paragons currently operating alongside her. Plain and simple.”

“Yeah, now we’re talking!”

“We're a guerrilla squad, first and foremost. In that case…”

Anshar offered me his fist, and I bumped mine against it with a nod. 

“We’re going to the Caspian Rift Valley!”

We led our unit to the desert region near the Caspian Rift Valley and were reunited with Commander Isaac. Through sheer persistence alone, the commander had managed to track down the Paragon Prince, Solo Monia.

And so, our suppression operation began beneath the cover of darkness. We began our assault on the valley floor where Solo was hiding, but we were ambushed by an unknown force the moment we launched our attack.

“Tch… Talk about perfect timing!”

It was like they had been waiting for us to make our move the entire time. They’d gone through the trouble to set up an entire canon in the middle of nowhere. Without a doubt, it had been placed there to destroy the Viamaris’ force field.

“Marduk! The Viamaris..!”

My guess was right on the money—those fuckers knew exactly how to take down the Viamaris. The ship, still piloted by the commander, took a direct hit, plummeting towards the city sitting at the bottom of the valley.

With the Viamaris down, the enemy’s momentum increased. For whatever reason, it seemed like the city’s defense system was cooperating with us, but it was difficult to break through the watchful eye of the artillery fire.

In that case, there was only one thing to do!

“Yo, Anshar!”

“Got it, I’ll take out the turret!”

“Hell yeah!”

—Repelling enemy fire as we emerged from the depths of the ravine, we found ourselves facing a massive cannon, silhouetted against the moonlight. The enemies waiting around the turrets must have noticed us, because they started attacking. It didn’t seem like it was capable of rapid fire, because it hadn’t tried to fire again since the first shot.

“We should flank it, a frontal assault is too risky–”

“Nia’s life is on the line, we can’t waste any time! Pull up!”

“What? You’re not actually–”

At that moment, light began to gather within the turret’s barrel. Almost instantly, that light was unleashed—firing straight down toward the bottom of the valley.

“I’m counting on you, Anshar!”

“...Understood.”

Anshar took the helm, and I headed for the deck as the combat ship ascended. I threw open the hatch and plunged into the darkness, aiming straight for the turret. It was a simple plan—while Anshar took aim, I’d hack straight through it!

Wearing a suit equipped with optical camouflage, I blended into the night sky. I quickly approached the turret, discarded the parachute I had deployed just before landing, and landed on top of the gun barrel. It had begun to glow faintly, seemingly gearing up for its next attack.

Shit– Come on, come on…!

As I drew my sword from my waist, the blade vibrated at high speed and became hot.

“Blade seal… Release!”

“—Activation request approved.”

“HYAAAAAGGH!!!”

There was a blinding flash. It only lasted a few seconds, but time had never moved so slowly in my life. The moment I sheathed my blade, the vehicle supporting the turret was severed in two—as if the very air itself had been torn apart.

“Tch! Now–”

In that instant, a thin beam of light streaked across the ground. The turret was silenced in a single blow, but I couldn't completely stop the final shot.

After taking down the soldiers manning the turrets, we rushed toward the city—only to be met by a desolate scene. It had been reduced to a mere shadow of its former self, entirely stripped of its light. Was the battle already over? Barely any of our allies remained, and it was the same with the Paragon troops.

“...Over there! It’s the Viamaris!”

“Alright, going in for the landing.”

We touched down, following Nia’s signal, only to find that the person waiting for us was a completely different Returnee.

“Uh, who are you?”

The one who tilted her head the moment she saw us was the very woman who had taken down Nia.

“Mithra Tercera!!”

“Hold on, Marduk!”

I shook off Anshar’s attempt to restrain me and sprinted towards Mirthra in a single breath, thrusting my sword before her eyes.

“What have you done with Nia!?”

“Hey, girlie!”

“Mithra!?”

The two Paragons standing behind Mithra reacted to my question. I couldn’t believe she was actually working with them. She had to have known about the kinds of horrific experiments the Paragons were always carrying out.

“What the hell are you doing hanging around Paragons?”

I thrust the tip of my blade even closer in a show of intimidation, but Mithra didn’t seem to care about the sword at all. She carried on as if it was nothing.

“You know Nia!?”

“Huh? I-I’m the one asking questions around here! I mean, I’ve got the sword and everything. Aren't you scared?”

“You weren’t planning on actually hurting me though, right?”

“Uh…?”

“Hehe, now where have I seen this before?”

“Oh, Mithra… I know it just happened, but it still feels weirdly nostalgic.”

Right before my eyes, Mithra and the Paragons were chit-chatting away like they’d been friends forever. I felt like I was caught up in some kind of nightmare.

“—It would seem like she’s too much for you to handle.”

“A-Anshar?”

Muttering “good lord” beforehand, Anshar jumped into the situation with skilled composure, “I am Anshar, a member of the guerilla squadron under Isaac’s command. This is Marduk.”

“Your hair is so long and pretty! Nice to meet the both of you!”

“The pleasure is all mine. Now, while I have my concerns about the Paragons behind you, my main priority at the moment is Nia’s safety. Her signal cut out around this area, is there any chance you would know anything about what might have happened?”

We decided to exchange our information quickly. The Paragon man told us two things. One, Captain Isaac’s unit had engaged in combat with an unidentified force and been destroyed—and two, Nia had been abducted.

“I see. So that ship that attacked us…”

“Shit! Did we go right past them!?”

According to Mithra, it was also likely that Solo Monia—the Paragon prince the Commander had been pursuing, had been kidnapped alongside Nia. There was just one thing I didn’t get. For some reason, their ship had gone east. 

“It’s strange. Why would they head east towards territory under Machine control instead of going west?”

Anshar was right. The territory under Paragon control was west of the Caspian Rift Valley. I couldn’t wrap my head around why they’d risk the danger of going east.

“There’s no point in just standing around talking about it. Let’s go after them!”

“But, without any proof…”

“We’re way past shit like that, bro. Nia’s life is on the line! If what the captain said is true…”

“You’ve got a crush on Nia, don’t you?”

“Wh-What kind of stupid question is that?!”

I shushed Mithra with a dismissive wave, but then the Paragon man decided to heckle me.

“I’d give up now, buddy. Nobody can hide the truth from this girlie.”

“Man, we don’t have time for this right now. Anshar, you’re going after them, right?”

“Hm… I suppose so.”

Anshar placed a hand on his chin, mulling it over before he gave his answer.

“We’ll give chase. They’re flying through Machine controlled territory, so they’ll be forced to proceed with extreme caution unless they have a guide. There’s a good chance we’ll be able to catch up to them.”

“Alright, now we’re talking! Let’s move!”

Anshar and I exchanged a nod and headed towards our ship.

“Let us help!” beaming from ear to ear, a certain someone chimed in.

Before setting off after Nia, I decided to give the ship a quick tune-up. Mithra and the others joined in on the maintenance work, and I was surprised at just how efficient they were. I didn’t know if they usually handled their own repairs, or if they just found themselves in “situations” like this often, but they definitely put their money where their mouth was. We finished the maintenance in no time, and we just had to wait for Anshar to finish checking if any of our owned comrades were still alive.

Restless without anything to do, I couldn’t stop myself from blurting out, “Hey, mind if I help fix up your ship? Since it’s Machine made, I know a lot about it”

Probably not expecting my offer, the Paragon woman named Zephyr’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Huh? But we’re… um, your enemies.”

“You scratched my back, so I’ll scratch yours. I’m not gonna repay your kindness by being an ass. It just feels like the right thing to do.”

“...In that case, I think I’ll take you up on that offer."

“Thanks, Marduk!”

“D-Don’t get the wrong idea, Mithra! Don’t forget we’re still enemies! Once we’ve rescued Nia, you better watch yourself!”

Cutting off Mithra before she could say anything else, I urged them to lead the way to their ship.

“Haha! Looks like you’re just as stubborn as Solo, kiddo.”

“Fuck off!”

“Agree to disagree, then.”

Damn it, were these guys really Paragons? They were so different from the picture that had always been painted for me. I just didn’t get it.

I felt like maybe everything would work out okay if I stuck with these guys.

“Okay, that oughta do it.

I finished up the maintenance in a flash, and we were ready to give chase.

“Thanks for the hand, kiddo.”

“It’s Marduk, not ‘kiddo’.”

“Whoops, my bad,” Joachim said as he offered me his hand.

“...Nah, I’ll pass on that. We’re both only in this to benefit ourselves.”

“Oh, is that right?”

“Yeah.”

I didn’t wanna get that close with them. Watching as he awkwardly pulled back his hand, I offered a silent apology in my mind.

“Anyway, it is a pretty strange combo. A Returnee, a mercenary, and the Paragon prince… does that make Zephyr a princess?”

“Zephyr is Solo’s mom!”

“Yeah… Wait what!?”

“Hehe, I could read you like a book. So you were planning to ditch the battlefield with your kid?”

“Um, no, it’s not like that. Uh, well, I mean we are trying to escape… Oh, goodness! Mithra, why’d you have to surprise me like that?”

“Haha, Zephyr really is like a mom!”

While Mithra and the others were loudly heckling one another, I thought of my distant ancestors. I didn’t know all of the details, but the Animato family had quite a few caretakers of their own.

“I guess people like that still exist even in this day and age.”

Maybe I’d just been refusing to see it until then. The Paragons had people they loved fought to protect. Watching them have their lighthearted conversation didn’t feel bad at all.

“Haha…”

I suddenly realized that I was enjoying the situation.

"Apologies for the delay. Let us depart."

“My bad, dude.”

We returned to our respective ships, and Anshar suddenly spoke up.

“How were they?”

“Hm… Well… I wish I’d met them a lot sooner.”

“Heh, I see.”

Having boarded the ship, we hurried eastward.

Just hold on, Nia. We’re coming to save you!

Following the route my Anshar had devised at full speed, our radar detected a group of ships moving eastward. There were four vessels in total, each one painted red. There was no doubt that these ships belonged to the bastards that kidnapped Nia. Just as Anshar had predicted, the ships were flying low to the ground and hugging the mountain ridges to make sure they stayed out of sight.

The enemy spotted us, moving two ships to intercept us—but they couldn’t stop Mithra from sniping them with her phoneme weapon. We decided to take on one of the enemy vessels ourselves and let Mithra’s ship go on ahead, and we linked back up after we took down the enemy ship.

"Well then, have a nice flight. Bye~byeeee!"

A man’s voice came through the open channel. Checking the monitors, we saw that one of the two ships was pulling away, while the other had stalled and visibility lost altitude.

“What the hell is going on over there? Why aren’t you going after him?”

“...I’m sorry, we can’t. They abandoned the ship with Solo still inside.”

“Wh–”

Zephyr’s anguished voice said it all.

“I see, so that’s how it is.”

“What’s going on, dude?”

“They’re testing us—weighing Solo’s life against Nia’s. They want to see if we’ll give up the chase to save Solo, or abandon him to save Nia.”

“Wh– That sick fucking bastard, what kind of stunt is– Uh what the hell is she doing…?”

“...Is she insane?”

On the monitor screen, we watched Mitra’s ship dive beneath the vessel that was plummeting rapidly from the sky.

“She can’t be serious… She’s gonna try and support that thing!?"

It was a very Mithra-like plan, but attempting to soften a crash landing by pushing back against a ship nearly the same size was totally insane.

“If that doesn’t work—no, even if it does work, there’s no way anyone would survive that!”

Unable to simply stand by, I opened a communication channel.

“Man, are you crazy!? You’re gonna get everyone killed! Do you have any idea what you’re doing!?”

“Yeah, but… I can’t just abandon Solo!”

“We’ll figure it out. You guys go after the Returnee girl!”

“Ggh!”

There wasn’t much time left. The ship dropped lower and lower as we stood around talking.

I… I…!

“—Prove it’s not just an obsession.”

“Huh?”

“Show me your conviction.”

I spoke with them. We worked towards the same goal. I saw Paragons and Returnees laughing together with my very own eyes.

Yeah, that was it. I already… understood them.

In that case—!

“Anshar!”

“It seems you’ve made up your mind.”

“You bet! I’m gonna save the Paragons!”

Anshar had already veered our ship towards the competing vessels, as if he had always known what choice I would make.

“Room for one more?”

“Huh? Y-You… What are you doing!?”

“We’ll talk later! Right now, we gotta save Solo, don’t we?”

“Yes! Let’s do this!”

I focused on the readings and gauges so Anshar could focus on steering, and we pulled up beside Mithra’s ship in no time.

“I’ll shift the axis. You take that side, I’ll take this one!”

“Got it!”

For a split second, the ship’s entire weight jerked toward us, but thanks to Zephyr’s skilled maneuvering, our positions aligned almost instantly. We had done everything we could. All we had to do was get the timing right!

“We’ve only got one shot at this, Zephyr. May our hearts beat as one!”

“Ready whenever you are!”

“Counting down! Three… Two… One. Now!”

　―—

　――――

We had managed to soften the landing and landed the ship, Solo still inside, in the middle of the desert. Thanks to our efforts, the ship somehow managed to stay in one piece.

“We actually did it…” saying that, I looked up to the east.

In the distance, the red ship carrying Nia vanished behind the gray clouds hanging heavy in the sky.

Solo was pulled from the wreckage by Joachim. I had been curious about what kind of person this “prince” was, having been targeted by so many different people—but what I saw with my own eyes was just a small child.

“Solo… Oh thank goodness… You’re safe…”

“Ah… Z… Zeph…yr…?”

Solo acted unusual, but I couldn’t tell if it was from the crash or if he had been drugged. He had to get checked and treated right away, but when I thought about what must be going through Zephyr’s mind—clutching Solo in her arms while shedding tears—I just couldn't bring myself to do something so hasty.

“Man, what the hell are we doing?”

“What’s wrong, Marduk?”

“Look at them. Why are we even fighting?”

Did I… ever really get it? When I was reborn on the surface and volunteered for the military, did I really understand what it meant to take up arms, or was I just riding the high of inheriting the name of a hero?

I never even tried to understand their point of view.

“Do you think we ended up in a relationship so twisted that we can’t turn back?”

“Heh, I’m not sure either.”

“You too? Man, then we’re screwed, aren’t we..?”

“That’s why we have to keep going. The only way to go is forward.”

“I think I get it, but I don’t know…”

At least I finally understood why Mithra was hanging around the Paragons. I think.

“Thank you both for helping Solo.”

Speaking of the devil… Mithra appeared before us.

“You’re really reckless, you know that? It was your idea to use your own ship to cushion the landing, wasn’t it? What exactly was the plan if we hadn’t jumped in to help?”

“Didn’t have one. I knew you would help.”

“Wh–?”

“Heh…”

Nevermind. I didn’t get Mithra at all.

“Well, anyway. We need to plan our next move.”

“Isn’t it obvious? We go after Nia, what else?”

Anshar slowly shook his head, “The situation has changed. We’re abandoning pursuit.”

“Huh…? You’re not actually serious!?”

“I am. We’ve gone as far as we can on our current fuel supply. Surely you understand the consequences of us searching blindly from this point onward?”

“Ggh… But!”

I understood where he was coming from, but if we didn’t do anything, then Nia…!

“Leave Nia to us.”

“Mithra… No, this is our problem. It doesn’t concern you, right?”

“Ain’t no way you’re trying to pull that after you just stuck your neck out for us and saved Solo.”

“...Joachim.”

"Nothing inside that looks like a clue,” Joachim said, exiting the ship and walking towards us. “Anyway, if it’s a matter of trust, how about this? Hire me. Even if it’s just for show, maybe having the formal arrangement will make you feel a little better.”

“Hm…”

“Well, what do you say? I may not look it, but I’m a veteran soldier. I’ve got the skills, and I’m the master of running away!”

As Joachim began his pitch, I silently offered him my hand.

“Oh, so we’ve got a deal?”

“Nah, I don’t need all that. I know I can trust you guys.”

“You…”

“I’m sorry for earlier. I know I’m asking for a lot, but please… I’m begging you, save Nia.”

“Hehe, well how can I say no when you asked so nicely?”

Joachim took my hand and gripped it firmly in return.

“Leave it to us.”

“Okay, but who here knows where Nia is?”

“Hey, come on, girlie! You’re killing the mood we got going here…”

Mithra was right. We couldn’t find any clues at all inside the red ship. We could head east and search all over… but it was just too much ground to cover without any leads.

“I think… I may have an idea.”

A voice called out from behind Joachim. It was Solo, propped up by Zephyr.

“Solo Monia…”

“You okay, kiddo?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about me. You need info on them, right? Does anyone have a map?”

Anshar immediately pulled up his terminal and displayed a map of the entire region east of the Caspian Rift Valley.

“Lotto, the guy with the eyepatch. He had coordinates up on his monitor.”

Solo pointed toward a mountainous area situated to the east, a long way away from where we currently were standing.

“I’m pretty sure it’s around here.”

“Are you absolutely certain? My terminal isn’t showing any records of anything there…”

“I didn’t hear everything they said. If they went anywhere else, I have no idea.”

That was all the info Solo had, but it was better than nothing.

“Do you maybe know something, Joachim?”

“Sorry, I don’t know anything about that area.”

“Sounds like we have no other choice but to go check it out!”

“Then it’s settled.”

Anshar was cut off mid-sentence by his terminal ringing. He excused himself and spoke with whoever was on the other end. His face suddenly went white, and I could tell the exact moment he gasped.

“Is that so? Understood. I’m on my way.”

Anshar, usually the definition of calm, was visibly shaken. There was only one explanation I could think of.

“Don’t tell me…!?”

“Yes, the Paragons have breached our defense line.”

“In that case, we should–”

Anshar held me back as I leapt forward, telling me that a massive mobile weapon had appeared on the battlefield.