"What is that...?"
Adam stared at the Administrator’s outstretched hand, watching the dark shadow writhe between its fingers. The thing looked massive even in miniature—sothing that dwarfed Earth and the other worlds there.
"What—" But before he could make sense of what he was seeing, the shadow vanished. The planets also disappeared. Everything dissolved into nothing.
[The Administrator, Vaydrael, does not have permission to say anything further.]
Vaydrael shrugged, its three pairs of massive wings finally moving along with it. It shook its head slowly, almost apologetically.
"Huh. I guess you’re as trapped as the rest of us." Adam’s sigh reached even the soldiers standing far behind. "You work for a bigger boss?"
Vaydrael tilted its head, its face showing an emotion almost similar to confusion. The gesture looked almost human, which made it worse sohow.
"You—" Adam sighed again. He glanced around, making sure the researchers and soldiers couldn’t hear his next words. Then he stepped closer.
"Then just tell this..." His voice dropped. "Have I t any of you before? What about Laphael?"
Vaydrael opened its mouth. Those needle teeth parted, and for a mont, Adam thought he might finally get an answer.
Then the Administrator... vanished.
No flash of light. No dramatic exit. One second it was there, the next it wasn’t.
Adam looked around, scanning the empty air where Vaydrael had been floating. But then the Do behind him started to ripple. The translucent barrier wavered like water.
He turned and quickly noticed that the large red pillar of light of the Red team’s Spawn Crystal had disappeared.
This Ga was over.
Adam stared blankly at the horizon for a mont, but then suddenly looked up at the empty sky and scread.
"If you’re preparing humanity for another war, then why not just train us instead of letting us kill each other?!"
His voice echoed across the hills. The researchers flinched at his sudden shout, and the soldiers shifted uncomfortably.
But alas, everything was quiet. No more response ca from the Administrators.
"You should at least spare the children!" Adam’s voice cracked. "Or even the babies! Where’s even the sense of involving babies and children in this?! At least spare the children... please! Please!"
"Mr. Adam..."
Each of his words pierced through the ears of everyone listening to him. Dr. Sarah felt it in her stomach—this raw, desperate fury. Even the soldiers behind her straightened, their faces pale. Even Chip, standing by at the side with the Shion, felt his chest tighten.
"At least answer that!"
But once again, silence.
Adam stood there for a long mont, fists clenched, staring at the sky. Then he sighed and shook his head, turning back to the researchers.
"Did you find anything?" he asked them.
But the researchers, well, they could really only stare at him. Dr. Sarah’s mouth hung open. The younger scientists even stuttered and breathed in awe. This went on for a few seconds before Dr. Sarah finally snapped out of her stupor.
"Snap out of it," Dr. Sarah clapped her hands, waking her team. But then she sighed at Adam, pointing at their equipnt. "I’m... afraid everything was blown away when the Administrator... flicked the Do."
The computers were smoking ruins, the monitors were completely shattered, and everything was scattered. Even their notebooks were among the clutter—so of the papers hadn’t even stopped fluttering in the air.
"Oh..." Adam’s shoulders sagged, his breath filled with disappointnt. "That’s... a sha."
"No!" But Dr. Sarah suddenly grabbed both his hands. Her eyes were bright, almost manic.
"Adam, you have no idea how much you just advanced our knowledge about the Ga." Her grip tightened. "You might have just changed everything in that single mont."
"Huh?"
"First, we just confird that sooner or later... we will fight against other species. This is big. This is very big," she said. She let go of Adam and then turned to her team, who also nodded their heads and started talking to each other. "This ans we’re not being killed off, Adam. We are being forced into artificial evolution."
"We’re... not being killed off?"
"That... I didn’t an it like that. Just—what I an is that we’re being prepared for a higher form of war. This changes everything. If—"
"Keep quiet about it."
And before Dr. Sarah’s words could turn into ramblings, a deep and husky voice approached them.
They all turned. And it was the lieutenant who welcod Adam earlier.
"No one must know about this for now. You might be asked to sign NDAs later on," he said.
Adam opened his mouth to protest, then stopped. He thought about it. If people knew about this... it might cause the sa panic and chaos that happened twenty years ago when the first Dos fell.
And so, he just nodded.
For a mont, the lieutenant just stared. Then he snapped to attention and saluted.
"Uh..." Adam blinked. "Why... are you saluting , sir?"
"Lieutenant Chris Bluefield, Sir!" The soldier’s voice was steady. "It’s rare to see a Hero be that passionate about actually wanting to save people. Throughout the years, the term Hero has been drowned out and replaced with sothing else—it is good to be reminded of its aning."
"I..." Adam didn’t know what to say. "It’s normal for to feel and react that way."
Chris lowered his hand and shook his head. "That’s not true at all. No one’s interested in saving the world anymore, Sir."
His eyes found the RLRD emblem on Adam’s suit.
"Of course," Chris muttered. "You’d be working for RLRD. If I ever beca a Hero, I’d join that departnt too. You’re doing god’s work, Sir."
"I’m... not really—" Adam was having a hard ti trying to find the words to respond to Chris’s sudden complints. But then, he didn’t really have to—before he could finish his words, they all heard the quiet screams.
The quiet screams that whispered in the air, through their ears, and to their stomachs.
Even though the sound was distant, so of the researchers covered their ears. The noise carried across the hills, echoing off the empty landscape.
It was the screams of the people who lost the Ga, burning alive.
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