When I arrived to the gas station, as I boarded the military personnel vehicle, I glanced to my right for a split second at Blake, considering the possibility that he might have done something. However, that possibility was discarded as soon as it was generated. It couldn’t be possible that he was behind all of this. After all, in this timeline, I had him under my control from the moment he was born. For that reason, he wouldn’t betray me easily.
“Do you think their goal was to get us away from the Control Room or send us somewhere else?” Perhaps sensing my gaze, Blake spoke as he sat down in his seat.
“Most likely. As a security measure, the location of each Skull Paladin is revealed to their Centurion every 60 minutes. If Zero left his location after requesting our reinforcements, it means he was looking to guide me to a certain place or get us away from our Control Room. That fact becomes more evident when he changes his location again, but he doesn’t inform me of it. He’s making it so that the only option we have to contact him is by following the traces he leaves behind him every hour.”
The sudden activation of the Extinction Protocol made me think that an enemy agent was involved. However, that hypothesis could be considered impossible, since in this age Skulls Paladins don’t exist. But there was one factor that only I knew about, but Blake was unaware of.
“Are you really going to kill all those people in the hospital?” As my men finished getting into our vehicle and I began my way to the hospital, Blake spoke to me again.
I made sure to properly order the variables of my plan before answering. I had to create an excuse that was logical enough to make sense of our next actions, but without revealing my real purpose.
“Zero has not informed me of his movements or Alan Leigh’s actual whereabouts. In some impossible way, the Extinction Protocol was activated. Zero accepted it, but we don’t know the reason for accepting it. If after that I received a new location from him, it means that he is still alive. In that case, I will have to create a reason to activate the Extinction Protocol myself. The murder of those people will only be an evidence of betrayal.” Blake gave me a questioning look, ignoring the meaning of my words, so I detailed my plan in more depth. “If we become terrorists and risk being discovered, we will also become a threat to the world and that will jeopardize the success of our subsequent mission. The main person responsible for that hypothetical failure would be Zero, for not obeying the orders of his Centurion, which is me. That would be a perfect reason to subject him to the Extinction Protocol. Since Zero has not shown any treason with his actions, we will have to create one ourselves.”
“Are you serious!?” For some unknown reason, Blake was shocked.
“What do you mean?” Not knowing what he meant, I answered with another question.
“You’re talking about ending innocent lives just to enable the possibility of activating the Extinction Protocol.”
A sharp expression formed on my face at those words.
“As you know, the power of a Skull Paladin is invaluable, so if one of my men gets out of control, I will have to eliminate him. But, other than that…” A coldness that was almost physically perceptible accompanied the words I said next. “Blake… Have you forgotten who our enemies are?”
“… You’re right.” I could sense Blake’s anger in his belated response. But Blake couldn’t sense the contempt I felt towards him.
His anger was only a product of my manipulation. It was understandable. Anyone could control someone by manipulating their life from birth. However, even if this man became my greatest ally, trust and camaraderie could never manifest. After all, he was the one who made my life a living hell in my original timeline. His intervention had been insignificant, but were his actions that created the demon that would torment my existence until the day I died.
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In reality, all the words and strategies I told Blake were false. He thought we were in enemy territory, but the truth was that our present was another timeline. He doesn’t know that I came from the future. He also doesn’t know that, in this era, the Skulls Paladins don’t exist. But I know that only a Centurion can activate the Extinction Protocol.
What happened to Zero? The answer is simple: an enemy agent has traveled to this timeline with me and taken control of Zero. The stranger thing is that he has executed the Extinction Protocol, but Zero has not died. So, what is the purpose behind this sequence of actions?
Could it be possible that the Extinction Protocol is not just for eliminating a Skull Paladin? When I probed that question in my mind, I considered one possible option: the Extinction Protocol also allows that the command authority over a Skull Paladin could be transferred from one Centurion to another. A hypothesis that was impossible to verify, but one I could consider, as I was not fully familiar with the Skulls Paladins’ System.
However, there was one variable that made me know something definitively. My EX-MU-DE received the notification that the Extinction Protocol had been executed. And, after that, I received the update of Zero’s new location too. If the transfer of authority had been done after the activation of the Extinction Protocol, but I received the update of Zero’s new location after that, it means that my authority was not affected. Therefore, I still retain my authority over Zero, I am still his Centurion.
Zero became a Skull Paladin serving two Centurions. Such a conclusion might be realistic. That’s why I decided to adopt a strategy that allowed me to determine the existence of an enemy Centurion, verify the continuity of my authority, and eliminate Zero, all at the same time.
I was sure that another Centurion was involved.
Humanity is under the protection of my enemies. Knowing that, I decided to hold the people of this world hostage.
By causing a massacre at the hospital, the enemy Centurion will have to interfere. If he doesn’t, I can simply repeat the process everywhere Zero goes, until I get his attention or until I’m sure the enemy Centurion doesn’t exist. Since Zero’s location updates every 60 minutes, I can do this easily. If the enemy Centurion does exist, he will decide to eliminate me. But the Skulls Paladins in my squad can protect me, and if they choose to do so, the enemy Centurion could use his authority over them when he discovers them. Therefore, when I make contact with the enemy Centurion, I will have to hide my entire squad. Then, if the enemy Centurion tries to kill me, he will discover my biggest secret, and when he does, he will understand that he will not be able to do so.
With all these factors, I could achieve all my goals. If the enemy Centurion was in that hospital, I could eliminate him. If my Skulls Paladins ended up under his control, I could eliminate them by using their alliance with the enemy as the reason for activating the Extinction Protocol. And if I lost my authority over the Skulls Paladins, I could simply take all the people in the world hostage until the enemy Centurion eliminates his Skulls Paladins. Since I cannot die, he’ll have no choice but to obey my demands.
When I had determined everything I had to do, I decided to lie to Blake for obvious reasons. Even though he lived a different life and gained a new identity thanks to my intervention, he was still my enemy. I had to consider the possibility that, at some point, in the shadow of my attention, my enemies had managed to get Blake back. In that scenario, there would be no point in revealing my strategies to a potential double agent. I could only deceive him while hiding him the information I knew, along with the information I didn’t know.
I glanced at Blake for a second as the specters of falsehoods fueled his hatred.
That hatred you feel is nothing more than a side effect of the punishment you received for committing the sin of having transformed my life into hell, Blake. You will never know that your own birth was the price you had to pay to make amends for that sin. The destiny I prepared for you is an additional value of the debt you yourself placed on your life.
Maybe it was those thoughts or maybe it was the confusing situation that had been created around Zero at this moment, but the memories of the day I met Aaron Novoa in this timeline played with vivid precision in my mind.