The plan was soon put into motion. Aristostes first approached the friends and relatives of those his rescue network had helped. Their natural trust in him made them the easiest starting point for winning people over.
The first to be purified was Celerus, the armory's logistics officer. Aristostes had once rescued his wife from a spatial collapse.
"I remember you... you saved my wife." Tears streamed down Celerus's face after he regained consciousness. "I always wanted to thank you, but now look at what I've become."
"It's not too late." Aristostes clasped his hand. "Join us. Help more people break free of their control."
Next came Lia, the spatial technician who controlled the teleportation nodes; Damon, the senior officer responsible for intelligence analysis; and Troy, the archivist with access to core secrets...
Every purification was extremely dangerous, but as the operation progressed, the resistance network quietly grew.
Ten days later, the first group of twelve members had been successfully purified and joined the network. Scattered across key positions in the Alliance, they formed the beginnings of an intelligence and operations system.
In the underground meeting room, Epsilon addressed all the members. "We aren't betraying the Alliance. We're saving it. Our enemy isn't Zeus, or our companions under their control, but the true mastermind manipulating everything from the shadows. Remember that. It will be the moral foundation of everything we do."
Those words deeply moved everyone present. They understood that this was not merely a rebellion, but a mission of redemption.
After the meeting, Aristostes prepared to return to his temporary hideout. Just then, his communication device received an anonymous encrypted message.
Once decrypted, it contained only a brief sentence: "The Third Creator, Gamma, requests a meeting. Alone. Tomorrow. The Old Council Hall."
Aristostes stared at the message, a tangle of