"Playtime is over. Now it's time to come home, An."
Elena's voice drifted over the rolling sea. Her vast golden domain covered several kilometers of water, carrying her words clearly to everyone aboard the speedboat.
Her tone was calm, but she made no attempt to hide the command beneath it.
"..."
Samantha said nothing. She merely stared at the figure ahead of them on the water.
She looked at the face she had once admired beyond measure, a face that now filled her with anger and disappointment.
At last, she laughed, though her voice rang with fury. "Go back? Back where?"
"Back to that 'home' built on lies?"
"Back to the Allied Forces, who sent my brother away as a test subject, fed me lie after lie, and turned me into their war machine?!"
"They do not represent the Allied Forces."
Elena's voice remained as still as water. "Besides, you've executed the person responsible for this tragedy. You've also destroyed a town."
"In my view, that is enough for your revenge, isn't it?"
"No. You're wrong, Lady Elena. It isn't nearly enough!"
Samantha drew a deep breath. Ignoring the repeated looks Anna and Royce sent her, she glared at Elena, her face twisted with rage, and thundered, "I want everyone involved in this dead!"
"The mastermind who proposed the Illusion Project, and every person who took part!"
"Everyone connected to it must pay in blood for what they did!"
"No matter their rank!"
"Blood for blood. That's a rule as old as time, and one you yourself established for the Steel Warband, isn't it?"
Elena did not answer. For the first time in a long while, she fell silent.
In fact, as soon as she learned Samantha had declared her defection, she had gone to the Allied Forces' leadership to