After putting on the new pieces of equipment Hephy gave me, I had quickly gone out of the Wagon House to test the Grappling Gun.

“Hmm….so it goes something like this….”

I aimed the gun towards the roof. But I couldn’t keep it stable. My arm tended to weave around too much. The more I tried to focus all my attention towards my target area, the more I felt myself tremble in place. My breathing grew unsteady as the seconds flew by without me taking the shot.

Calm down, Lars. Breathe. Concentrate. Focus.

I inhaled a deep breath, and pulled the trigger. Gears spun around rapidly as a line of cable shot through the sky, hitting the wall right below the roof. As expected, it was way off target, but not that far.

I guess the point wasn’t really to hit the target, but rather to latch onto something at least.

Now the next step…..release the trigger….

“W-Woaaaaaah!”

I shot up into the air in the blink of an eye, with my grip held onto the gun’s handle.

“This is way too fast!”

R-Release the hook to let go..!

Just as I was about to smash into the wall, the hook detached itself, and I found myself flying mid-air. I tried to grab onto the roof, but my hand slipped.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!”

I screamed as gravity pulled me back down to the ground.

“I got you, Lars!”

Hephy ran over to my landing spot and caught me in her arms.

“Ooof! Such a big boy!”

“T-Thanks.”

I was gently dropped to the floor shortly right after. My body couldn’t get itself to move up from the ground, so I decided to sit in place. It was probably because I had already missed being on the floor in such a short amount of time.

“Sorry, I forgot to warn you about its speed.” Hephy hung her head down.

“I-It’s fine. As long as I’m still alive and well.”

“What are you guys doing over there?”

Spitz came out of the safehouse, probably wondering why we were both seated on the ground. Even with her mask covering her face, I could tell that she felt worried.

“I heard some screaming earlier, did something bad happen?”

“It’s all good, Spitz. I was just practicing this gadget right here.” I waved the gun around.

“I see…Well, since you’re both here, I’d like to make a proposition.” Spitz sat down on the ground with us.

“What is it?”

“I’ll help you save your friend.”

“Really?” Hephy perked up.

“You don’t have to go out of your way to help us….” I said.

Hephy pinched my ear.

“Ouch..”

“We could definitely use the help right now!”

Spitz raised her finger. “But, I’d like to make a request of you too. Will you help me with my errands along the way?”

“Errands…?”

“Mostly involves helping people around Sector 23. Stuff like hunting for food supplies, rescuing slaves and sending them to safehouses, and gathering intel on Dober and Kangal’s activities and whereabouts. So our goals essentially overlap.”

Hephy and I looked at each other.

“Well, we did come here to help Sector 23, so I don’t see why not.” Hephy shrugged.

“Wait.” I interrupted the flow of the conversation. “You said slaves, right? I know a way to get rid of their collars!”

Spitz gasped. “You do?”

“I’ve heard of it.” Hephy crossed her arms. “According to Scarlet, Lars crafted a Defuser that was capable of unlocking the slave collars. After that, he led an uprising that threw Hector off his reign of power…”

“Hector’s been defeated….?” Spitz stared silently into space. I assumed that her jaw opened up in shock. “What about the Midas Hogs?”

“The Midas Hogs are in shambles, and the freed slaves have taken over the Sector,” I said.

“That means no one’s in charge right now. What will the Zodiac Circle do about this…..”

“They can stick it up their ass for all I care!” Hephy grinned. “Anyways, we’re going off-topic. Let’s talk about the Defuser!”

I nodded. “Well, from what I remember, I used a Blue Magium, a Cyan Magium and a Detonator……”

After explaining the mechanics of the Defuser, Hephy gave me a look of approval.

“Looks like you’ve got some talent in tinkering, Lars! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

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“It’s nothing compared to you…..”

“Well, I haven’t thought of making this Defuser before! To think that all you had to do was nullify the Detonator’s effects, why didn’t I think of that sooner?! I’m such an idiot!” Hephy knocked on her head with her fist.

“It’s not like you had actual slave collars to work with, so you wouldn’t have figured it out.”

“I have no excuses!”

I decided not to argue any further with her.

“Well…” Spitz spoke up. “I don’t think we can manufacture any more of these Defusers right now.”

“Hmm? Why?” I asked.

“If I remember correctly, we used to get our Magium supplies from Sector 24 years ago. But ever since the raging war, Sector 24 didn’t want anything to do with us anymore. So as long as the Cerberus Gangs are still around, we won’t be getting anything from them soon. And to top it all off, no one’s managing Sector 24 anymore.”

Well that should have been obvious. No one wants to do business with bad apples. Only madlads like you would run straight through a chaotic place such as this. Any normal person would have stayed away.

Tsk, I guess most people wouldn’t have the guts to send us Magium.

“That means the only way…..would be to stop the war.”

Spitz turned to look at me. I wasn’t sure about it, but her eyes seemed to gaze straight into my facial features.

“Hey….why did you look so serious after saying that?” She then shifted her gaze to Hephy. “Wait a minute, what exactly are you planning to do here?”

“I guess we haven’t made ourselves clear on that part.”

Hephy and I stood up.

“We’re here to defeat Cerberus and save Sector 23 from their reign.”

Spitz flinched from those words. Then she knelt down on her knees and placed her head on the floor.

“W-Wait, what are you doing?” I outreached my hand.

“Please…..spare Cerberus.”

“Spare…Cerberus…?”

“Cerberus wasn’t always like this. We were meant to be the protectors of Sector 23, not its tyrants. We used to be united….as a family. But things fell apart and…”

I knelt down and patted her head.

“Huh…?”

“Please get up.”

She lifted her head up to look at me. For once, the scary dog mask was not so scary anymore. What I saw was just another person underneath. A friend.

I stood up and gave her a hand. She stared at it at first, but she slowly moved to grab hold of it. Spitz got back up again and tilted her head.

“I don’t understand.”

“Spitz.” I placed my hands on her shoulder. “We came here to defeat Cerberus, not kill them.”

“If possible,” Hephy added. “But the main idea is that we’re trying to save Sector 23. Sure, I would have opted for more peaceful measures, but that bastard Kangal took Scarlet. So unless you can find a way to save her from him, I cannot tolerate their actions.”

“So all you want to do is stop the war?”

“Not just that. We also wish to destroy the Zodiac Circle. If we manage to stop the war, Cerberus only has two options. It’s either they disband as a faction, or disassociate themselves from the Zodiac Circle.”

“The Zodiac Circle…” Spitz gulped. “Are you guys seriously planning on going against them? Do you have a death wish?”

“I guess you could say that.” Hephy gave her a wide smile. “So what? What’s important to you is saving Sector 23, right?”

Spitz grasped her fists and fell silent for a moment. After thinking for a while, she took a deep sigh.

“You know what? Let’s have another deal.”

“Another deal?” I questioned.

Spitz extended her hand.

“If you manage to save both Cerberus and Sector 23……I’ll join your cause.”

Hephy’s eyes widened in amusement. A strange sensation surged through my nerves. This feeling…..it was like my insides were tingling all over. This sudden rise of emotions. My face couldn’t show it, but I knew exactly what it was. This feeling…..it was exciting.

If Spitz joins the Wagon House, we’ll be a much more powerful force than ever before!

“Deal!” Hephy shook her head.

She then let go of Spitz’s hand and scurried towards me.

“You know what, Lars? I’m going all in on your idea!” She looked at me with stars in her eyes. “We’re gonna save Scarlet without killing anyone! Let’s make this damn thing work somehow!”

I leaned back. “W-Why the sudden change of heart?”

Hephy tiptoed and reached her lips towards my ears.

“T-This is a golden opportunity! There’s no way I can let a talent like her slide, she’s well within our grasp!”

“What if we fail to save Scarlet?”

Hephy grasped my hands. “We’ll figure it out! We’ll definitely save her! Especially now that we have Spitz on our side!”

“It’s quite rude to talk about other people in front of them, you know?” Spitz leaned her head towards us.

“A-Ah…sorry.” Hephy let out a sheepish smile.

I’ve been mostly quiet this whole time, but I cannot emphasize enough how sweet this deal is for you. If you manage to pull it off, you’ll reap a ton of benefits from this. How-e-veeer…..with greater rewards, come greater hardship. Are you ready for it?

Yeah.

After we had all settled down, Spitz decided that it would be best to speak about our plans of action indoors, so she escorted us into the confines of the tavern. Surprisingly enough, the inside was still warmly illuminated with orange lamps. I quickly assumed that there was a fire user around here somewhere, otherwise, this wouldn’t have been possible without a supply of Magium. As expected, we were greeted by a barstool at the very front, but there was no sign of any alcohol nearby. On the left side were some stairs that probably led to a bunch of rooms, while the right side was where most of the tables and chairs were situated. There was no sign of the children on this floor, perhaps they were resting upstairs. It was mostly just a couple of adults sitting around with gloomy looks on their faces. Understandable, considering they all had slave collars stuck to their necks.

“Don’t mind them, they won’t be bothering us,” Spitz told me.

“That’s not it. These people, they’re all slaves,” I whispered. “Is there anyone out there who isn’t a slave or a warmonger in this Sector?”

Spitz looked down. “Back then, there were still many who didn’t have the collars. But Dober was very ruthless in forcing those things on everyone who wasn’t part of his gang. He said it was to keep people obedient.”

“I don’t understand why he has to make people obey him.”

“He wants to dominate over everyone. Simple as that. Obviously, Kangal didn’t like that, so he rebelled against his authority with his own gang instead. He’d rather be the one to reign supreme in this Sector.”

Seriously….these two for fighting just for the sake of power? Do they not care about the people at all?

“How about you, Spitz?” Hephy asked. “Have you thought about stealing the throne from the both of them?”

Spitz shook her head. “I just want all of this to end.”

“Meaningless bloodshed everywhere,

Thinking it’ll lead them somewhere,

But all this fighting takes us nowhere,

Leaving no innocents to spare."

Everyone here is suffering. And it’s all because of this stupid war. They’ve all probably experienced what I’ve gone through. The loss of someone close to them, the lingering fear of pain and death, the anger from all the injustices of the world, the hopelessness of broken dreams, whatever it was, I understood.

I don’t have a choice anymore. I’m going to end all of this no matter what…no……we.

We’re going to end this war.

We all sat down on a table by the corner and started to formulate our plan for the next few days.