Chapter 51

A lion’s dual loyalty between God and harmony

-…..-

The members of Strike Team One stare at the frozen dust gently falling down from heaven.

-w,what was that?-

-I can’t believe it, I witnessed the holy magic-

Zim asks before turning to look at Davis along with the rest of the strike team members.

-you know what that was?-

Zeva asks after noticing Davis’s gaze.

While most of the strike team members have gazes filled with shock and fear, there is no fear in Davis’s gaze.

No, there was fear in it but the fear was overshadowed by the reverence and joy filling his eyes.

-I have never seen it before, I only read about it in ancient books but I am certain that was the highest form of water magic, the magic of death, the holy magic of decay, it has been seen for over two thousand years, the last -

-enough Davis, we have no time for you to gush over this, we need to move immediately-

The golden lion cuts Davis off and quickly flies toward the frozen remains of what used to be a mountain a moment ago.

The strike team members quickly fly after the golden lion.

A copy of Ken materializes in front of the strike team members blocking their path.

~where are you going?~

-out of my way Ken, can’t you see I have a bigger issue to deal with?-

The golden lion shouts and flies through the copy of Ken.

~ what the hell are you going to do? if she wanted you dead, you would be dead, no portaling away out of this one~

Ken’s words make the golden lion stop in his tracks.

-she? You know who did this?-

Dots quickly connect in Claus’s mind recalling Davis’s praise for Saiko’s water magic back at the aether port and what he said a moment ago.

The golden lion quickly turns his head to look at the copy of Ken.

-was that Saiko?-

~you don’t have to worry, Unlike me, she is an actual pacifist, this was a mistake and it was partly my fault, if you let this go, I can promise you it won’t happen again, but if you go now and decide to poke the bear while it’s agitated it might happen again~

Claus squints his eyes while looking at Ken from inside Ariel’s helmet.

-do you have any idea how big of an ask you are demanding from me right now?-

Ken nods his head.

~I am aware, but let’s be honest with each other here, you are not as loyal to your mission as you think you are, if you were, you would have tried to kill us, but you didn’t, did you think I wouldn’t notice you have been avoiding lethal force, you want answers right? If you let this go, I will give you the answers you want~

The golden lion turns to face the copy of Ken.

-why would you give me the answers now when you kept it hidden all this time? –

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Ken shakes his head.

~you are mistaken, so let me set the record straight for you, Saiko wanted to keep it hidden from you and she wanted that to keep you safe and to avoid causing chaos in the strike force, and yes I know how crazy it sounds for her to worry about the ones hunting her, it boggles my mind too you know, but it is the truth, I, on the other hand, don’t care, in fact, the more chaos you cause, the better it is for me ~

Claus raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms.

- you have a unique way of asking for favors for sure-

~hey, I am just saying that it benefits me too for you to know the truth especially if you grant me this favor~

-haaa-

Claus lets out a short sigh.

-alright, go on –

Ken’s lips curl up into a satisfied smile.

He recalls the map he had Daxia look at to determine the locations of the living weapons a while back, then, using Celine’s magic as a medium, he projects the map and the coordinates of the living weapon facilities into Claus’s mind.

The golden lion blinks repeatedly as he notices information seemingly downloading into his mind.

-how did you-

~it’s the same thing I have been doing since the beginning~

Ken cuts Claus off and continues.

~from this moment on, you might want to be careful of what you say~

Claus raises an eyebrow at Ken but says nothing.

~ you can visit any of these locations to find the answers you want but before you do that I recommend you secure all those you care about because they will become targets to get you ~

-are you sure you are not just trying to buy time?-

~pffft~

Claus’s question causes Ken to laugh.

~that is a part of it, yeah, but you will regret it if you don’t follow my advice ~

-why not just tell me now? –

~where is the fun in that? Besides you didn’t believe me earlier so you definitely won’t believe me now if you don’t see it with your own eyes, my only regret is I won’t be there to see the look on your face ~

-huh? That again? Is this related to the order of blue phoenix?–

~there is only one way for you to find out ~

Ken says while smiling at the golden lion.

Claus lets out a sigh.

-strike team one we are leaving –

-huh? You are going to listen to him?-

-it’s alright Zim, trust your captain-

Jorden places his arm on Zim’s shoulder to calm him down.

Zim looks at the rest of the strike team members with a confused look, but rather than getting answers his confusion only grows more as they all nod at him seemingly agreeing with Claus.

The golden lion starts to fly away and the spatial prison holding the Bulgasari flies behind him.

The rest of the strike team members follow behind the golden lion.

Except for Zim, they all had no signs of hesitation.

~that’s weird~

Ken watches the strike team members flying away with an unsettled look.

~oh right, I almost forgot~

He turns to the golden lion.

~ can you leave the Bulgasari as a part of the favor?~

-of course, not-

Claus ignores Ken and increases his speed.

~hmmm~

Inside the hole below the Bulgasari’s shell.

The lyrebird lands on Ken’s head and looks down at him.

-why the unsettled look? Even if you lost the Bulgasari, everything mostly worked according to your plan and you got everything you wanted right? -

~huh? Who lost the Bulgasari?~

-what?-

Ken chuckles and then looks at the bird.

~did you know? The real body of the Bulgasari is acutely very small, small enough to fit in my palm acutely, at least when it’s born that is, then it starts absorbing metals and adding them onto its body but you can think of all that massive metallic body as a shell that surrounds the real body and the Bulgasari is not at all harmed by any damage that occurs to the shell, that is part of why it’s very hard to kill~

-what are you saying?-

~I am saying that when the strike team members arrived, I used Celine’s magic to tell the Bulgasari to gather the important parts of royal guards’ armor and weapons and then hide underground~

-then what did the strike team members catch?-

Ken’s lips curl up into a proud smile enjoying the bird’s surprise.

~they caught the shell, I had the Bulgasari move its shell with earth magic as bait~

-then why did you try to stop them?-

~pffft, I was never trying to stop them, it’s called acting mate, I was afraid they might suspect something was off if I didn’t try to stop them ~

Daxia starts to chuckle.

-now that is the Ken I know-

-hold on, hold on, then again, if everything worked as you wanted it to why the unsettled look?-

~it’s the strike team members' reaction~

Celine raises an eyebrow at Ken and asks.

-what was wrong with their reaction?-

~they accepted too quickly, I expected to debate with them more and I had more cards to play but it went a lot smoother than it should have and it’s bothering me, at least more of them should have reacted as the little boy reacted, but the fact that they didn’t, tells me they all know something that he doesn’t know and more importantly that I also don’t know~

The two women and lyrebird stare at Ken in silence.

A blue holographic window opens between them displaying Rin sitting on a large chair sideways.

-now that, that is the Ken I know-

Inside the hideout of the followers of nature.

A young boy's loud laughter can be heard echoing throughout the hideout.

The young boy, Vioarr, lies on his back on the floor.

His eyes sparkled under his hood with excitement, an excitement that he hadn’t felt in ages.

-impressive, very impressive Ken –

Vioarr’s lips curl up into a smile.

-it looks like, I will be visiting you sooner than expected Fritz and I will have three new friends with me, I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do-

Vioarr’s vision shits to that of a small squirrel sitting on a branch of a tree in the garden of the presidential palace.

The squirrel watches President Frederick through a window as he dutifully works as always.

Vioarr’s gaze becomes saddened.

-it’s a shame what you became my friend-