As he stared at the results lying there on the table in the middle of the room, which were the main focus of the intense police operation that he had lead, George couldn't help but clench his teeth.

Looking at the seventeen identical red gems lying there on the table, as well as at the gray haired old man who was currently appraising them, George felt unwilling.

Although the gems looked gorgeous, and were probably incredibly expensive, to obtain them, George had to sacrifice the life of 2 of his subordinates.

Even though this could not be compared to the truly horrific death count the military experienced, as he thought about how he would have to talk to the families of his comrades, George felt sick to his stomach.

At this very moment, though, the George was suddenly taken out of his thoughts, as the gemologist the police had brought in finally finished a preliminary examination of the gems.

"So, what were the results? Sir Thomas?" asked George as he looked at the old man with a slightly respectful look on his face, causing the latter to shake his head.

"4 of the gems are rubies, all of rather high quality, while the other 13 gems are very well-made fakes," said Thomas as he looked at George with a slightly sad expression on his face.

Even though the origin of these gems made Thomas a bit apprehensive, the fact that so many of them were just fakes made him feel quite a bit sad, as he could very much appreciate a good bunch of gems.

Hearing the words of the gemologist in front of him, George, who already expected something like this, couldn't help but shake his head.

Even though the operation was technically a success, as he thought about the true scale of the mining operations going on beneath that mountain, George knew that this was most likely just the tip of the iceberg regarding these gems.

After all, not even mentioning the price for the mining operation itself, as well as the rather intricate escape plan that had been created, just the price of buying such an expensive piece of land and building a hotel on it were far beyond the value of these gems.

Based on George's experience regarding these types of cases, most likely over 99 percent of the gems managed to somehow escape his sight, which made him feel rather irrationally sad.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

...

At the same time, inside of Siberia,

As he looked at the Russian military district, which was getting closer and closer to him with every single second, as the car he was in sped towards it, Kasparov couldn't help but clench his teeth, as the stress of being this close to his target got to even him, who was usually an extremely calm man.

A moment later, an extremely shocked expression appeared on Kasparov's face, causing him to instantly begin looking through his pockets for a few seconds with an increasing look of desperation on his face.

Merely a few moments after he finished looking through his clothes and found nothing, Kasparov finally raised his head, causing him to be able to see the red stone that was clearly secured onto the back of the seat in front of him.

Originally, Kasparov had placed the gem there so that he could have vision of it every single moment.

Sadly, though, it seemed as though the agent lost himself in his thoughts, and completely forgot that anything like this existed in the first place.

After a few moments, though, Kasparov returned to his senses, and was no longer so worried, simply staring at the gemstone in front of him and ignoring everything else.

'It's just an illusion, breathe in, breathe out,' thought Kasparov as he looked at the driver in front of him, trying to ignore the ever gathering feeling of dread that seemed to be suppressing his mind.

Thankfully though, Kasparov was able to show results after around five seconds, when even that feeling disappeared.

Sadly though, Kasparov's car then inexplicably exploded into pieces, smashing both Kasparov's body, and the body of the driver, into tiny pieces.

Although the human body was often unreliable, one should at least pay attention to it, and not let it out of hand.

But as the car that Kasparov was in exploded, sending metal parts, liquids, as well as charred flesh everywhere, it also sent a single object, a tiny red gemstone, flying in a certain direction before landing on the ground.

Just a few moments after the gemstone landed on the ground, a woman with a mask on his face suddenly ran out of a nearby bush and quickly picked it up and retreated, never to be seen again.

...

At the same time, inside the military base,

Uncaring about anything that happened in the outside world, Diana stared at the masked man in front of her with a smile on her face.

Not even an explosion that was then followed by a swift firefight resounding from the outside world seemed to interest Diana at all at the moment, as she simply stared at the man that was kneeling in front of her.

Even though Diana could not see it at the moment, as she stared at the man in front of her, Diana could feel it, the call of a power beyond that of her own, beyond that of anything she had felt or faced.

"Show it to me," said Diana, causing the man to suddenly take out a perfectly red gemstone and place it into his palm before presenting it to Beatrice.

"At first glance, it doesn't seem like anything special..." mumbled Diana as she stared at the gem with a slightly intoxicated look on her face.

As one might expect, Diana was not currently drunk, rather she felt intoxicated from the feeling of touching this rock.

A few moments later, Diana no longer hesitated, causing her to suddenly stretch out her hand and grip the rock in its entirety.