For a long ti since learning of Director-Pri Epsilon, Leon had always wondered what kind of personality the A.I Construct had.
He wondered if A.I Constructs could even have true personalities. Afterall, in the end, they were just A.Is who beca so advanced that they gained sentience, just like Davis was making him feel these days.
He didn’t think about it much then.
But over ti as he learned more about the world, as he got more involved with the big shakers of the world, becoming Ren Nora’s benefactor, Leon could not help but think about this more.
Afterall, it was already set in stone that sooner or later, he was going to clash directly with the Omnicore Federation and in extension Director-Pri Epsilon.
He’d always wondered what kind of man the Director-Pri was.
Afterall, he was the only man in existence who Ren Nora despite the nature of his powers couldn’t understand fully.
He was that mysterious but now, after seeing the multiple structures dominating the skyline of the city, Leon felt like he finally got an initial grasp over Director-Pri Epsilon’s personality.
His initial impression and conclusion was, ’God’.
’He sees himself as a God,’ he thought. ’He’s arrogant, he sees himself as the ruler of the entire world, and he wants to be worshipped’.
’He wants control over everything and everyone in the world’.
Leon froze as he realized what he just did, then he chuckled quietly to himself. ’Since when did I beco a psychologist?’
His lips curled up slightly. ’I guess when you’re facing a truly formidable and mysterious enemy, anxiety will turn you into a psychologist in your quest to decipher your opponent and know all his cards’.
’Well, we do have sothing in common,’ his now brown eyes glead. ’Just like him, I’m a man who like having everything in control’.
’So sooner or later, I’m going to learn everything I need to know about you to at least give myself an advantage before I confront you’.
Leon’s thoughts were interrupted when he noticed the structure depicting the Dragon-like Neon Beast facing Epsilon’s structure change.
’Eh?’
He focused through the footage of the invisible C-5 drone and for a mont, he thought he saw the structure awaken and co to life.
Cold blue energy suddenly coursed through the static beast’s spine, literally as veins of light began threading across its wings. And then from its open maw, a concentrated stream of shimring plasma, real plasma spilled into the air!
It flowed forward in a controlled arc like a weapon held on standby, casting a pale and icy glow over the surrounding district.
And then, the structure depicting Epsilon caught the plasma beam and squeezed, shattering raw plasma energy into scattering sparks that shimred in the night sky like fireworks.
"..." Leon’s eyelids twitched.
He twisted his lips incredulously. ’For real?! So f*cking extravagant!’
He finally snapped his vision away from the ridiculous structures that towered above the city like gods, focusing on the streets below.
Below, the streets are a different world entirely.
The traffic never truly stopped, it only mutated as autonomous trains and trucks glided through public underground passageways, picking up and dropping passengers at each stop.
Above them, layers of transit systems intersected with mag-rails slicing through midair, drone lanes blinking with red navigation lights, and narrow sky-bridges that were packed with people.
Neo Solace was as populated as any other gacity that Leon had been to before, but the people were less joyous and enthusiastic here, aning less activity.
It felt more like he was looking at zombies than real people.
The air made it was as it was thick with humidity, tallic particles and was tinged with ozone.
Every breath carried the scent of machinery and sothing faintly burnt, like circuits that were already pushed past their limits.
Advertisents dominated everything, and in one glance Leon could tell that it was all propaganda in favor of the Omnicore Federation.
Massive holograms towered over intersections, all of them singing praises of how the Director-Pri rallied the world in a unified fight against terrorism after the negligence of the ’Glitch’ in the West resulted in a nuclear disaster.
In one glance, Leon confird the rumors that Omnicore territory is a region where information is tightly monitored and regulated, weaponized even.
People who live here never truly know the truth about the outside world, they only know what the Director-Pri wants to feed to them.
Just like Leviathan Quay, Neo Solace had lower districts in the outer ring.
The light struggled to reach them as the glow from above fractured into thin beams that were swallowed by layers of infrastructure. The streets were drowned in shadow, further reinforcing the feeling of depression and staleness.
Buildings here were packed tight, stacked and restacked over decades, forming a labyrinth of rusted fire escapes, exposed wiring, and leaking pipes.
This was the worst of Neo Solace, a gacity of the Omnicore Federation.
If Leon didn’t know better, he would have thought that the outer ring was a different city entirely from the glittering inner ring of the city.
In that mont, seeing all of this, the only thing he could think of were the words Talia told him when he t her for the first ti about 4 months ago.
’They do live up to their reputation afterall...’ he thought.
’If a part of a major Federation gacity can be like this,’ he smiled darkly. ’Then I was naïve to think they care about the plight of the Wastes Communities who are slaving to death in unconducive environnts’.
Again, Leon felt like he understood the kind of man Epsilon was better.
He didn’t quite rember the mory, but even in his fragnted mories, Epsilon reminded him of a ruler he once knew with a na starting with T and ending with U.
Leon took a deep breath and exhaled. ’One day in the future, I’m definitely going to co for your head’.
He smiled darkly.
’But for now, I have another target to assassinate’.
His target lived in the inner ring of Neo Solace.
...
About 3 minutes later, the truck passed an overhead bridge and with it, Leon and his team seamlessly switched places with 6 F Rank Ascended that Umar already paid ahead of ti to take their places as security guards.
They infiltrated the city like ghosts.
...
[Special Appreciation to Yatekudastop for the Golden Tickets, thanks for the support!]
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