Chapter 137

"... How could we send ordinary soldiers to fight the demon race's Ghouls..."

"I think so too, so it's Snake Scales... Hmm... I'm starting to understand everything..."

During the conversation, the filthy, crazed Inner Guards charged at Talulah again. The other Inner Guards focused their attention on the Infected had previously worked in the garage and the Sarkaz from the Welfare Department. The outer Snake Scales forces were fighting against Manfred's Sarkaz creations. Rhodes Island's Little Cat, with Tactical Unit, isolated the Inner Guards from the others. Medic, however, was fighting alongside the leaders of those Inner Guards against the Snake Scales Inner Guards who had their eyes on Talulah.

Reunion Movement, Rhodes Island, Ursus Inner Guards, Sarkaz Pursuers, Snake Scales... and agents of the Columbia Security Bureau.

There are more than five factions in the Qi Ling Wu Si Liu Ba Qi Qi Qun, and many people present can play at least two of them. They are willing to go all out, but because of their other identities, it is not necessary. The current chaos stems from this.

However, regardless of one's stance, fighting against each other is a very pure matter.

At Medic's call, the Little Cat, who was confronting the other Inner Guards, released a Tactical Unit. The PRTS system responded and opened the rear hatch again. Talulah restrained inside the vehicle to protect FrostNova, understood the signal. A burst of flames forced the Inner Guards, who seemed to have lost his mind and was looking for death, to the opening door.

Unlike the out-of-control ones, the battle- Inner Guards, even without the Dominion's aura surrounding them, still send chills down your spine with the clanging of their sabers... The Dominion's aura, concealed within the blade, cuts off the opponent's disfigured limbs with a sickening metallic slicing sound. Then, the petite Feline pulls on the wristband, and the tough rope unravels into a nearly transparent thread.

The seasoned Inner Guards, who was confronting his 'out-of-control colleague,' immediately realized what the black-haired Feline was up to and quickly stopped him:

"Don't try to fight him with brute force! You can't beat him in a strength contest!"

Medic did not respond to the suggestion. The barefoot, black-haired girl nimbly leaped and darted through the open first and second-floor corridors of the garage like a real Feline beast. After the girl completed her graceful, dance-like turn and leap, Medic shook the knot in his hand at the winch of the garage door, which was opening behind the Pollution Inner Guards.

Under the illumination of the garage lights, even ordinary the Infected were somewhat dazed about the battle situation noticed the transparent net that seemed to be scattered and hanging down at the car door. When the battle-hardened Inner Guards found themselves enveloped in it, they quickly stepped back.

With no obstruction, the Pollution howled and charged at Talulah, who had drawn her longsword as if waiting, but the fully charged Tactical Unit brought its indisputable howling to an abrupt halt.

The Little Cat didn't do anything special; she simply followed Medic's instructions and fired a Tactical Unit out of the vehicle with maximum force.

The three-ton Tactical Unit hooked onto the knot thrown by Medic at Hiss, and the transparent silk thread connecting the various pulley systems in the garage instantly tightened.

Although constantly becoming illusory, the Pollution's Inner Guards, whose true forms remained solid, were like insects caught in a spider web, amplified by a pulley system and bound tightly by high-strength macromolecular threads with a single diameter measured in micrometers... As the vehicle continued to move forward, a Landship- level cutting and hanging began.

The thin threads tightened and wound, cutting into flesh and bone marrow. Apart from the howling of the Pollution creature, everyone could even hallucinate the crisp sound of a plucked string. The black blood was indistinguishable from human composition or simply Pollution. Whether out of concern for the Pollution or political influence, the veteran Inner Guards' first reaction was to shout an order to stop.

Since the target was under control, Medic allowed PRTS to make an emergency stop, which was quite unusual.

But as the Exploration Vehicle, which wasn't moving very fast, came to a stop, the Pollution Inner Guards, who should have regained his senses, still showed no intention of communicating. He began to struggle again, and the threads that were cutting into his body broke off in large pieces.

Just as Medic drew his night-sky-colored butterfly knife, ready to finish off the enemy if things got out of control, another Inner Guards completed the operation before Medic could.

As the equally restrained saber of the Dominion flashed and fell, the seasoned Inner Guards' breath caught in their throats with excitement. The one who had severed the head of the Pollution was the very man whom the silent Inner Guards had accused of accepting bribes from the Old Nobility Faction, disregarding the emperor's decrees, and allowing northwestern Ursus to nearly break away from the central government.

"You--!!"

"Please don't get agitated, sir. He's already out of control... I know you want all the Inner Guards to return for the next parade to boost the nation's morale, but he's clearly not on the list... Rather than letting Rhodes Island, which carries the Northwest Wanted Organization, suffer like this, it's better to give him a quick death. I don't think we lack that level of mercy."

"... Please don't generalize your personal actions to Rhodes Island... Given the level of Pollution by that Demons, it has already rendered physical attacks in the baseline world to a certain extent. Even using the Exploration Vehicle's power unit only restricts its position and mobility... Your swift and precise decapitation was truly beautiful; you accomplished something we simply couldn't do in an instant."

As he spoke, Medic put away his butterfly knife. He had already made a judgment about the Inner Guards's actions... This guy's actions were undoubtedly aimed at silencing him.

Is he from the Black Snake Faction? Or the Old Nobility Faction? Or is he simply trying to absolve himself of all responsibility and let this guy, whose brain has been fried by Demons, take the blame?

Is he an enemy? Or an ally?

As the Pollution's head and corpse became visibly dislocated from each other by the silk threads, the atmosphere in the garage Exploration Vehicle didn't lighten much; in fact, it seemed to become more tense with the death of an Inner Guards.

The wind and snow kept pouring in, the gray snow was cut in two by sharp threads, then melted and turned black.

Outside the door, the crimson-eyed Snake Scales on the snow fought and retreated against the Ghouls controlled by the Sarkaz. Inside, the people gripped their weapons tightly, and the tacit understanding they had developed when facing the Pollution seemed to have completely vanished.

On the surface, everything seemed legal, and the Imperial Inner Guards were even the Emperor's representatives... but Rhodes Island, which possessed the Emperor's token, was not only teeming with the Infected and suspected of human smuggling, but also had demons mixed in, which made the battle-hardened Inner Guards extremely indignant.

His local colleagues, who were traveling with him, went even further. Did they think they couldn't tell that they were trying to silence him? Or was it simply strange that, for Inner Guards who could control Demons, being controlled by Demons was an extremely peculiar thing?

Most importantly, he was clearly already under control, and Rhodes Island wisely stopped, so how dare you make a move?

Who is behind you? Whose interests are you representing by doing this?

The warriors, seemingly representing the nation, are colluding with the corrupt Old Nobility to plunder the people's wealth, while outsiders promised by the emperor are instilling foreign ideas in the people, corrupting the souls of Ursus... How can Ursus be governed while living among these worms?!

The loyal warrior gripped his weapon tightly, his burning rage permeating the surrounding space, even reviving the previously lifeless the Dominion.

The guy who had just been swaggering and beheaded the 'traitor' took a sheepish step back upon seeing this. He was about to say something when a seasoned Inner Guards suddenly appeared in front of him and punched him in the chin, sending him flying a considerable distance. Even the Inner Guards was confronting the Little Cat couldn't help but turn around.

They seemed completely bewildered, asking, "Boss, what are you up to now?"

"Detain him! Killing a comrade without permission... no, this is silencing a witness! If you don't want him to talk, then go tell His Majesty yourself!"

He turned back in indignation, his eyes flashing again, his anger seemingly materializing. The only remaining shred of reason in his hand was the back of the military knife pointed at Medic's delicate neck.

However, in Medic's hands, the 'letter opener' pointed directly at the neck of the Inner Guards also serves as a reminder.

I don't need to be held accountable to Ursus for killing you.

Instantly, the Inner Guards fell silent. His silent accusation was deafening. He seemed to have thought a lot. His tall frame looked extremely hunched over in front of Medic. As if gritting his teeth, the Inner Guards, whose military overcoat was covered with patches and runic tape, took a deep breath and then used his scarlet eyes to imprint the image of the black-haired Feline into his mind.

"I'll be watching you, you dangerous element!"

"I don't want to see you again. Rhodes Island is an international company. Internal strife and political issues are none of our business. Now... get out of my car."

Facing the Inner Guards without fear, Medic's confidence stemmed from observing from the beginning, but it was Talulah of fire in the confrontation.

Currently, there are five Inner Guards facing off. The strongest one can hold them off, but Talulah and her Reunion Movement, along with the Rhodes Island Operations Team poised to attack, can easily drive them out of the Exploration Vehicle.

After that, it was all the Little Cat's show time. Even though these Inner Guards shamelessly started sabotaging the Exploration Vehicle itself, Jessica was still there to keep Medic in check.

However, if such a thing were to happen, the casualties would be out of control, and it would also mean that the cooperation between Ursus and Rhodes Island would be completely ruined.

Medic didn't want things to turn out this way, just as she didn't want the body of the Inner Guards to be taken away from the car... Foresight had already foreshadowed the painful lessons that would follow.

"... You want to stop a warrior from returning home? Even if he's been manipulated, he's still a hero who fights against Demons for humanity..."

"If you truly wish for him to die as a hero, then you cannot take him away... Otherwise, the Pollution will gradually escalate. Or is Ursus deliberately trying to Pollution the Sami Mountains with the remains of an Inner Guards? Based on your answers, I will publish them in every newspaper across this land!"

The seasoned Inner Guards noticed that he seemed to have a grudge against the man in front of him, Feline.

This person showed absolutely no respect for the Inner Guards, unlike the Ursus people. She seemed to know quite a lot and could even hold her own against an out-of-control Inner Guards... Even though she ultimately controlled the opponent using mechanical power, the battle-hardened Inner Guards could tell that she was really fighting with all her might... The opponent's dark complexion and Inner Guards fact that her the Dominion was even more guarded than the Inner Guards' made them all suffer.

When did such a dangerous person appear on this land?

If it were some strange race, that would be one thing, but it just so happens to be a Feline... which makes him extremely unwilling.

Medic didn't care what the big Inner Guards in front of him said. In his Foresight, this Inner Guards's body would cause a lot of trouble for Sami... as well as for Columbia and Rhodes Island in the future.

So unlike those completely unpredictable futures, this was the reason she sought out Ah Fu to create the Foresight eyes and the Cyclopes magic medium, as part of her work that needed to be reported to Kal'tsit.

Another silent stare ensued, and only when Medic pulled out the letter opener again did the battle- Inner Guards back down once more.

But unlike his initial statement that he wanted to leave, he insisted on seeing how Medic handled the 'Pollution,' saying that if there was any insult to Ursus heroes, he would make Rhodes Island pay dearly.

As a substitute, while the Exploration Vehicle stopped, the Inner Guards were sent out to clear out the Ghouls as they moved the bodies, cleaned the garage, and dismantled the pulley system previously set up by Medic. As for the Ursus people who appeared to be Snake Scales, by the time everyone realized there was such a group, they had already disappeared. Only the corpses scattered on the ground and the blood that stained the mountains red proved that they had indeed existed.

"... What kind of mess is this...?"

Although the presence of the Inner Guards next to her created a strong sense of crisis, FrostNova was prevented from activating Originium Arts and raising Originium Activity several times by Medic holding her hand.

Because the Inner Guards were hostile to both the Reunion Movement and the Sarkaz, apart from a few officers with decent combat capabilities and Rhodes Island's own action team, everyone else was in their positions in the vehicles, ready to flee at any moment.

As the sun gradually sank below the horizon, night fell over the Sami Mountains... Outside the Exploration Vehicle... mainly illuminated by the indicator lights of the turrets, which were hanging but completely unused, the Inner Guards, having cleared out the Ghouls, arrived at the brightly lit 'purification area'.

Seeing that Medic was still holding hands with (two) Ling Wu, Qi Yao, and a Cautus, the crowd on the Inner Guards side snorted coldly:

"Don't tell me you're going to use the sacrificial rituals of the Sami people to quell these restless the Dominion."

Cat glanced at the billowing black mist surrounding the corpse and tilted its head:

"She's my patient, and I brought her along for her treatment and personal safety..."

Otherwise, given FrostNova's status as the biggest hawk in Reunion Movement (excluding Patriot), at least three of you Inner Guards would have to dedicate to suppressing her.

P. S.: The air conditioner exploded... QAQ... My birthday is coming up soon, but everything feels so unlucky. Is it true that if the characters I write are unlucky, I'll inevitably be unlucky too...?

PS2: Meow Meow Cat

4th Crimson Warm Winter: 145 I will not become a memory.

Of course, it's not to say that Reunion Movement from FrostNova, no one in Inner Guards. For example, a certain static beauty, with her identity as both Sarkaz and a member of Reunion Movement, has caused W to step on all the Inner Guards's landmines. If it weren't for the fact that she is Mercenaries and has a basic concept of obeying orders, she would have been in for a lot of trouble with these Inner Guards, who she had heard of but who seemed somewhat different from the legends.

Without the 'legends' and 'fears', the buffs that the Inner Guards can receive from the 'The Dominion' become scarcer, and the factors in battle become more basic.

For example, there's the contest of strength, or the quality of equipment... And when the Sarkaz get serious, Ursus can't be underestimated in any aspect, so it's no wonder that the incursion of the Kazdel army from the south caused the Inner Guards, who were originally investigating the corrupt nobles in the northwest, to immediately change direction and become extremely wary.

Fortunately, Rhodes Island is special after all. Medic's past preparations were not in vain. A suitable token, a just-right identity, and a little bit of strength that makes the other side wary have created the current situation where Rhodes Island's Human Resources Department Action Team is caught red-handed but still manages to stay away from Ursus.

Now, it's the final wrap-up.

Looking at the body of the Inner Guards, whose face had been tidied and whose armor had been hastily repaired, lying under the light... Black Snow spread beneath him. A creature, a person, from birth to death, regardless of his life, this is the transformation from order to formlessness, this is the change of entropy.

But if left unchecked under the Pollution of Demons, it will defy its original will and rise again like a living thing.

This is entropy reversal... Medic's knowledge told her that this is a process similar to the establishment of civilization.

But from another perspective, Demons blurs the lines between life and death, intricately confuses mathematics and physics, renders the structure of society meaningless, and even makes the identification of things itself as shrouded in mist... Demons is entropy itself; it is 'chaos'.

Therefore, regardless of whether this corpse on the ground was once the Emperor's Blades, Ursus's blade, or the Black Snake's blade... if it is not dealt with, it will become the Demons's blade in the future.

'Foresight' thus foreshadows a tragic future where Sami and Ursus suffer heavy losses, and even Rhodes Island is dragged into it.

In the cat's distracted gaze, Kal'tsit, standing on the Sami land, donned a Rhodes Island coat equipped with Originium Dust detection devices. The fluorescent green ribbons fluttered in the black, Pollution rain of wind. A dark green monster, with a bright blue crescent-shaped Halo above its head, traversed the Demons Pollution...

What surprised Medic was what Kal'tsit had told him in her Foresight.

... Forest

"My presence here signifies that things have spiraled out of control. Clearly, you had opportunities to do better, but... why didn't you handle it properly? This is different from how I know the AMa-77 operates... Is it that you too have been 'restricted' regarding that door? Or are you currently in a dream?"

The scene in the Foresight shifted slightly. Medic, guessing it was her future self, tilted her head in confusion, but Kal'tsit remained silently gazing at 'herself'... Through her gaze, Emerald Feline's eyes seemed to traverse time; she was clearly not speaking to her present self, but to the self watching this 'fragment'.

"... The land of Sami is primitive and simple. You can trust Snow Priestess all the warriors fighting against the Demons around him. They, along with Ursus, constructed humanity's northern defenses. The Inner Guards built a cage for the Demons with their own bodies. If Ursus could let go of the late emperor's desire for land, that would be even better... However, hoping that the Ursus people won't clash with the Sami people is like hoping that humanity will always be calm—it's just wishful thinking."

"But we're different, Nana... Even if Erlin Qisi's memories are wiped clean a thousand times, even if our bodies are restarted a thousand times... we can both calmly choose the most correct option."

Even if you sometimes look back and find that the best choice you made then may not have been the right one later, that shouldn't be a reason for you to be afraid to move forward.

As the gale whipped up Kal'tsit's robes, several steel wings left contrails in the sky, flying in a formation resembling geese. Rosemary's unique Originium Arts waveform transformed into a bright star in the sky.

The Ursus Landship, bearing the double-headed eagle insignia, locked its running gear, and its shipborne cannons roared to life.

Five-meter-tall Mechanical Hunter and old-fashioned Victoria steam armor lined up to form a steel wall, armed and awaiting orders.

Wearing a familiar wristwatch, the purple-haired man with dyed Feline. Two steel fighters marked with the Columbia Fleet flew into the other side of the Snowfield, and the TDD identification pattern flashed by.

Following the direction everyone was wary of, Medic saw... an ocean...

It was an ocean that swallowed everything like sludge and a tsunami; it should have been a night sky pouring down... But now, distorted colors were mottled on the pitch-black ink. Apart from the filth and disgusting distortion, Medic could no longer feel anything beautiful in it.

On the dividing line where mud swallowed the Snowfield, more... humanoid machines brandished weapons. Their armor, clearly resembling the armor of the Yan, was distinctive. However, Medic had never heard of any Mechanical Hunter design plans for Great Yan, which relied on the war sorcerer "Celestial Master"... Obviously, this was one of the "variables" of the future.

Kal'tsit seemed to have noticed 'Medic's' novelty towards the outside world. After the dark green monster cleared away the surrounding Pollution, it came to Medic's side, making a sound like the flapping of insect wings.

As the dark green monster gradually turned into specks of light and condensed into green crystals in Kal'tsit's hand, the emerald cat seemed to have made a decision; she placed what the monster had created into Medic's hand:

"It seems I guessed right. If our experiences were just your 'dream,' then I understand why things have deteriorated to this point... Don't worry, it's not your fault. AMa-77's agency in the base space is unique and singular. It is precisely because of this that you were able to meet us here through the Collapse of the Warp... And the ocean of the Warp is a branch that has expanded from multiple choices. The reason this world has developed this way is simply because you are not here with me, which is a good thing... It means that the base world still has better possibilities."

The physical crystal gradually disappeared in her hand. Physically, Medic could clearly sense something entering her body. Her left eye felt slightly hot, indicating that she was experiencing Originium reaction, but given the current situation, she did not resist... Her many experiences of Foresight made her realize that this future exploration was almost over.

But... no... Medical has many problems...

What are these Demons before me? How should I deal with those Inner Guards? How do I use the things Kal'tsit gave me...? After I leave, what will become of those familiar yet unfamiliar people in this future?

There were so many things the black-haired cat wanted to know, but she only had enough time left to say the name of the person in front of her.

"Kal'tsit..."

"... Hmm, this is the first time you've responded to me... Nice to meet you, AMa-77... No, that person prepared a name for you, she said... your name is Nana."

Emerald Feline revealed a smile he had only ever seen when she was alone with Amiya. Then, Medic found his body transforming into Firefly -like 'light' similar to the monster from before.

As the light shone, the nearest Victoria Steam Knight also noticed something was wrong. By the time the others gathered around, Nana, whom Foresight in the distance, had completely turned into a phantom... The last flash of light caused everyone's Pollution detectors to issue a shrill warning.

[Ms. Kal'tsit, we've detected Collapse Reaction similar to the one at the door!]

"Don't panic, this is normal..."

[... So, please at least tell us what... that is?]

"It's hope... I sent hope into the 'past'..."

With a wave of her hand, the light spots gradually disappeared like sparks. For the first time, Medic experienced Foresight that had been prematurely interrupted; she returned to reality before witnessing her own end.

And finally, she heard Kal'tsit's soft whispered words:

"Let us meet again at the edge of the Sea of Solaris... I think your military system has something similar in common parlance?"

May the glory of humanity endure forever.