For Gemini, in his cleaner disguise, the process of blending in had gone relatively successful, to the point that when the sun had set, he had managed to convince the soldier in charge of him to let him walk around the campgrounds. He’d done so on the grounds of checking out which areas needed the most cleaning tomorrow, and by the time night had fully fallen, Gemini had crossed out seven possible targets.
Of course, he didn’t go so far as to kill them, unlike the gangsters he’d come across earlier in the day. His quest log was apparently capable of pointing out his target once the distance between dropped was less than five meters, and now that he had a pretext to walk around, Gemini was confident that he would soon find the quest target.
But even the best of plans goes awry sometimes, and Gemini’s was no exception. As he moved closer to a whispering pair, hoping to overhear some juicy rumours, an immense cluster of energy shot towards the skies, creating a sonic boom that scattered the pile of dust he’d swept up.
A runic barrier sprang into being immediately, and Gemini watched as it tried to slow the escaping streak of light.
He frowned. Even during the war, the Constellations, as well as the human forces, had rarely encountered barriers like these. Each of these barriers had contributed to immense damage to the invading human forces, as the beastfolk armies moved within the barrier freely and struck at weaker areas of the frontlines, often sending entire segments into a rout.
Such fortresses, defended by a beastfolk Paragon, had required far more manpower investment to take down. It was fortunate that only four enemy Paragons had mobilised, or else these fortresses may have changed the course of war entirely.
What had happened to the other Paragons was a constant debate within the top levels of humanity. The Noble Alliance, a group of highly influential people within the human aristocracy, contended that the unaccounted Paragons were lying in wait to ambush the human forces when they finally occupied the beastfolk’s Ark City. In contrast, the Human Shard, a loose group comprised of military commanders of numerous Southern Continent armies, argued for the occupation of Ark City, citing that the beastfolk here were already leaving en masse and therefore whatever remnants remaining were unable to put up much of a resistance.
The Constellations had their own considerations, as did other small factions. All these, and more, eventually meant that only Gemini and Capricorn were dispatched to oversee the closing battle of the war, as more and more people felt that the Human Shard was correct.
But it seemed to Gemini that the Noble Alliance might be closer to the truth than the others might have expected. If this camp, made to provide a living space for the homeless and the destitute, had such protections, it was entirely possible that there was a similar, but far larger barrier surrounding the whole of Ark City.
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If they activated it when the human forces were inside…well, Gemini could think of a dozen ways to shoot fish in a barrel, not that it would be fun, of course.
Did the Constellation System he had predict this? Was that why Gemini was tasked to avoid a decisive victory?
Questions, questions.
Despite some of his doubts being made clear, new questions were emerging. For one, he had utter confidence that of the twelve Constellations, only his clone — the body he was using right now — was here. None of the human forces were able to mobilise their own Paragons as well. If it was Paragon Ortega, or one of the beastfolk Paragons that hadn’t participated in the war, this reaction was far too realistic for that.
Therefore, who was that person who shot up to the skies, and with such urgency too? He could sense the distinct hallmark of Paragon-class entities — an energy that shook reality itself — in the few moments that the escapee was within his senses.
Gemini bit his lips. A horrifying prospect had appeared in his mind. Surely, the other continents must have heard about the Southern Continent cleaning house, and perhaps some luminary might have predicted that the South would soon bare their fangs at their neighbours. Even worse, the news that the Constellations had been summoned had probably reached their shores too, and it was common knowledge that the Summoned were incredible assets in war.
Therefore, spies might have been inserted into Ark City before the battlefront reached there, and they must have stayed ever since to keep track of what the beastfolk called the Second Extermination. Gemini gritted his teeth as he continued to sweep the ground, shooting the occasional anxious looks at the guards to seem like a frightened civilian. Were they hoping to disrupt the peace process?
He glanced down at his status page, and saw a new quest log in the holographic display.
Weed out any possible Western and Eastern spy in the Ark City refugee camp, Gemini read silently in his heart. His mood did a turn for the worse. He had gotten another quest in this luxury-deprived place, where even basic necessities of modern life like bathing were off the table.
For a moment, he wanted to punch the damned quest screen, but such an action would draw attention…and most importantly, the screen was ethereal anyway. Instead, Gemini kept his head low and swept another small pile of dust as a beastfolk patrol came by.
“Did you hear?” One soldier said. “Supposedly, Gemini of the Constellations was the one that just fled the camp.”
The broom belonging to the person who was just mentioned stopped for a moment.
“Gemini? As in, the Gemini that fought one-on-one against Ortega? What’s he doing here?”
“No one knows,” replied the first soldier. “Maybe he was jerking off while watching some of the female beastfolk bathe, and then fled the way he did when he got discovered.”
“Screw off.”
Gemini looked at the ground, and at the patrolling squad. For a moment, he wanted to commit what was called homicide on Earth. He looked at the quest log again, and the desire to commit murder faded, replaced by one to commit suicide.
I wanna go home…