“What?!”

Neron jumped to his feet, his eyes widening as soon as he heard Jared’s words.

“H-he knew all along?!”

Sweat began to form on his face as the grin he had been cultivating for a long time slowly dissipated.

‘H-how?!’ As his thoughts attempted to process this, his irises began to shift.

He had made sure to be careful, using inconspicuous nano-bots to achieve his ends. No one also had any knowledge of this, so there shouldn’t have been any information leak.

‘Then how?! How did he know?!’

“Don’t worry, and just sit tight. We’ll be with you soon.” Jared’s words echoed in his ears as he watched his surveillance screen go blank.

‘See me soon? Does that mean they are all aware of this place?’

Neron’s thoughts were a mess, but he did his best to calm himself.

“That’s not possible. Even if by some miracle, they found out I was watching them, they have no way of knowing my location.”

He plopped back to his sofa and crossed his legs, deciding not to fret too much.

‘They’re all very powerful, but this much is impossible…’

Taking a sip of the wine he now had in his hand, Neron smiled and stirred the cup’s contents even more.

‘At this rate, they know too much, though. Should I completely destroy the Headquarters? If that will achieve the purpose of killing all of them, it will be worth it.’

All the information of the Grand Federation had been backed up to this place, so there wasn’t really a problem regarding information.

‘I also have a substantial number of androids, so it won’t be difficult running the activities of the Headquarters from here—at least for the time being.’

The reason the Headquarters was so grand was so people wouldn’t look beyond it. But now, since they knew about his facade, there wasn’t a use anymore.

‘Besides, all of them—including Ciara—have now converged in a single location. I might as well do it now.’

As a wide grin formed on his face, he snapped his fingers, causing a screen to pop open before him.

Please Confirm

Yes No

“Hehe… ye—”

>VWUUUUUUUUSSSHHHHH<

Before he could complete his action, a swirling blue portal suddenly appeared before him, and in that instant, the bright screen in front of him buzzed, as though glitching.

In no time, it completely fritzed out and vanished.

‘No… no way!’ Neron’s eyes widened as his body shook a little.

His gaze directly went for the portal that stood not too far from him. And emerging from it were the people he wanted to see least.

“Well, isn’t this place sleek?” The voice of the obnoxious golden-haired boy he remembered rang out as he stepped into the room.𝒪𝓥𝔩xt.𝗇𝓔t

His smile radiated nothing but sheer confidence and absolute control.

‘Damn you…’

His female associate also appeared, and then two Ciaras emerged. Finally, the one who had uncovered his secret—Jared—proceeded from the portal

The moment he appeared, the portal closed, leaving all of them gathered in the room.

‘How did they get in here?!’

**********

“What do you think, Jared? About this place?” Kuzon grinned, looking around him to observe Neron’s office.

I didn’t know what to tell him in particular.

The office was more akin to a living room, with a very large relaxing spot, where Neron currently sat, cross-legged too.

I could detect other objects around, and the more I expanded my senses, the more I reached out to deeper parts of this fortress of his.

“Well, it’s dark.” I responded half-heartedly.

My current focus was on finding the true meaning behind this base, but it was going very slowly because the dampeners in this place alone were off the charts.

‘They’re actively trying to suppress.my power. No wonder it took a while to create a portal here.’

I was able to pinpoint this area by tracing a faint signal I detected from the device that Neron was using to monitor us.

ƥαṇdαs ηθνε| ‘It led me straight here. To be honest, it isn’t too difficult.’

“The Chariot” I whispered, instantly sending my energy coursing through everything in the room.

>VWUUUUMM<

In a flash, the dampeners ceased their effects, and the lights in the room flashed on, revealing more of it’s splendor.

The purple carpet was woven exquisitely, and the red curtains were also pretty amazing as well.

The pristine furniture that surrounded Neron, along with the state-of the art technology that surrounded him, all screamed of luxury.

‘It’s a shame that they’re no longer in your control, Neron…’

It felt odd calling him.by the name, but I had pretty much gotten accustomed to the weirdness.

“W-why aren’t my automatic defense mechanisms working?” Neron burst out in exasperation, dropping the glass cup he was holding.

His cross legged posture straightened out almost instantly.

“You’re all supposed to be vaporized by now!” He spat, his widened eyes and perspired face depicting nothing short of exasperation.

It kind of made me feel bad for him—enough so that I decided to answer his question.

“That isn’t going to happen for two major reasons, Neron…” I smiled, stepping a little forward.

“First of all, I’ve taken control of all your automated systems and machinery.”

“W-what?!”

“And secondly, even if I hadn’t… I’m sure our defenses are strong enough to withstand anything you can dish out.”

It seemed my words only drove him deeper into the pit he was digging up for himself.

“S-shut up!”

The pit of disbelief.

“Hey, Neron… we meet again.” The main st of the event finally spoke up, after being silent for so long.

“Ciara. You have some nerve to come her.e Have you forgotten what happened the last time you defied me?”

Even though I could sense unease in Neron’s words, he did well in hiding it behind a facade of false confidence.

“Did you forget that I ca—”

“Shut up.” Ciara’s voice echoed, and the room suddenly fell under a pressure.

‘This… I remember it!’

It was the same sensation I felt when I touched Ciara back then. That buzzing feeling that seemed to distort my abilities.

Ciara was now leaking of it, and her widened eyes captured nothing but rage.

“Shut up and suffer, Neron. I’m so going to enjoy this!”

As I watched the Ciara Epilson of this world draw closer to Neron, I couldn’t help but think that we had brought a monster along with us.

‘This should be interesting…’

*

*

*

A

/N

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