Cooperative Project

After Durandal finished speaking, the air grew so thick it felt as though it could be cut with a knife.

Those calm words left the Orb clan representatives, who had been righteously indignant just moments ago, looking as if their spines had been pulled out. They slumped in their chairs, even deliberately softening their breathing.

Standing behind Durandal, Creuset watched the ugly display from Orb's dignitaries, a pleased smile appearing beneath his mask.

Only Uzumi Nara Athha—the man known as the "Lion of Orb"—remained unmoved. He merely stood there in silence, like a stone statue weathered by wind and rain for a thousand years.

Time crawled by, second by second.

At last, an exceedingly soft sigh broke the stagnant silence.

Uzumi slowly sat back down. His hands on the table released their tightly interlocked fingers, his palms opening upward in a gesture of surrender.

"Self-deception—"

"Mr. Chairman, you are right. It truly is—self-deception."

Those words were like a silent command, causing the other Orb dignitaries in the conference room to jerk their heads up.

Their faces were filled with shock and disbelief, their gazes all fixed on Uzumi.

Was this still the Lion who spoke so sharply in parliament and refused to yield even an inch under pressure from the Earth Alliance?

He had simply—admitted it?

"Chief!"

The middle-aged man with the mustache who had slammed the table earlier pleaded, "We—"

He wanted to say something, but Uzumi merely raised a hand and stopped him.

The corner of Rau Le Creuset's mouth curled soundlessly beneath his mask.

The lies woven by the weak for survival were always so fragile before absolute power.

Like a castle built by children from sand—once the waves came, nothing remained.

"To maintain neutrality, one needs military strength greater than either side.

That was something Orb