Third wheel
"I guess they also escaped," Astarte said as she glanced at the spot where Tobias and Gogis had been a few seconds ago.
Although she had largely dominated her fight against Dinos, she had to remain fully focused on him, as things might have taken a different turn if Dinos had assumed his true form. As a result, she didn't know when or how the others had escaped.
'Well, it doesn't matter,' Astarte thought, shoving the concern to the back of her mind.
Killing the members of Night wasn't the reason she was here in the first place.
"Umm, t-thanks for rescuing me, Lady Astarte," Feynor said, his face flushing with embarrassment.
'Ah, I had completely forgotten about him,' Astarte thought. She turned to Feynor and gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't mention it."
"Umm... can we leave now? This place gives me the creeps," Feynor said, glancing nervously around the base.
"Wait for me here, I won't be long," Astarte instructed before taking off toward the immense structure shaped like a fortress.
About thirty minutes later, she emerged from the building with several people trailing behind her.
"Other abductees?" Feynor mused as Astarte landed nearby.
"Mmm," Astarte nodded, about to explain further when she paused.
She pulled out a communication talisman and handed it to Feynor. "Imbue your mana into it."
Feynor followed her instructions, infusing the talisman with his mana before returning it to Astarte.
"Thanks," Astarte said before placing the talisman on her forehead. Immediately, a masculine voice resonated in her mind.
'Done with the Night's base?' the voice inquired.
'Yes, but the supervisor and some of the members escaped,' Astarte explained.
'It doesn't matter... does it?'
'Not really.'
'So, did you get access to their treasury?' the voice asked.
'Yes,' Astarte replied.
'Yes, we are ri-'
'Hold on there, that money isn't ours to spend,' Astarte said, interrupting her excited interlocutor.
'Cough, cough, of course I know,' the voice marked a pause before asking, 'Did you find the-'
'No, it wasn't here.'
'I see... well, it's not that bad, I guess,' the voice responded, 'So, when are you coming back?'
'Give me a few hours,' Astarte replied, removing the talisman from her forehead.
"Gather around here; we are leaving in a few minutes," Astarte announced.
After uttering those words, Astarte set out to search for the monitoring room. Her motive was straightforward: she needed to locate the mechanism responsible for raising the base back up to the surface.
While there was no guarantee that such a mechanism existed, she held onto hope. Luckily, her hopes were not in vain, as she discovered the mechanism within the monitoring room.
However, that mechanism wasn't the only thing she found in the monitoring room; she also found a certain woman named Olga.
She was the very woman who had helped Gogis kidnap Feynor by making the latter fall for her.
At first, she pretended to be an abductee of Night, but the instant Feynor's gaze landed on her when Astarte returned, all her carefully constructed facade crumbled to dust.
"That woman is a member of Night, Lady Astarte," Feynor informed. "In fact, it was because of her that I got kidnapped. That's why I'm asking you, leave her to me!"
Astarte glanced at Olga, then at Feynor before nodding her head.
"Thanks," Feynor bowed to her, then seized Olga by the arm and forcefully pulled her into a house in the town-like base.
Seeing this, Astarte could only shake her head. She had an idea of what was going to happen to Olga, but she didn't stop Feynor nonetheless. Instead, she began directing the base in its ascent to the surface.
An hour later, the base had ascended to the surface and all the abductees had already descended from the base. Feynor and Olga had also descended, the latter wearing a pale expression on her beautiful face.
Astarte spared them a glance before turning to stare at the enormous base in front of her.
"A shame we have to destroy it," she sighed.
Astarte raised her sword, its silver edge glinting in the dim light, and at that moment, the world around her shimmered with an intense purple hue.
Astarte took a deep breath, and with a swift, decisive motion, she unleashed her strike, the blade cutting through the air with a fierce momentum.
At first, nothing happened, but then a fine and sharp line of purple energy materialized, crackling with raw power. As this line neared the base, it began to wildly expand, transforming from a mere crack to a gaping chasm, until it was double the size of the base!
BOOOOOOMMMMM!
As the large slash of purple energy collided with the base, a cataclysmic explosion rippled through the air, sending shockwaves reverberating across the landscape.
Not even waiting to see the full scope of the destruction she had caused, Astarte turned to the people behind her, who all had eyes as widened as moons as they stared in awe at the devastation happening behind her.
"Let's depart."
****
"So that's what happened," Rangyl's god murmured as he dismissed the holographic screen displaying the destruction of the tenth base. "That Astarte, she is rather powerful," he remarked, his hand gently stroking his chin in contemplation.
"Should we send someone to deal with her?" Disyo inquired, his voice tinged with uncertainty.
"No, leave her be," the god answered decisively, his gaze fixed on some distant horizon. "Rather, concentrate on finding the one with the golden power."
"As you wish," Disyo bowed.
Rangyl's god snapped his fingers, and Disyo disappeared from the temple.
"Aura master Astarte," the god mused after Disyo left, "I should find a way to bring her over to work for me."
He paused for a moment and added in a somber tone, "If that isn't possible, then I should get rid of her."
With that, the god closed his eyes and resumed his deep meditation, well he called it meditation; in fact, he was just sleeping.
****
"Prepare the Jaiku #001 to be sent to Imperion," Disyo ordered.
"What? You can't be serious!" A man in a lab coat exclaimed. "The Jaiku #001 is still unstable. We haven't tampered with it enough. We don't know how it will act if we release it into the human world."
"It's the chief's orders; we can't do anything about it," Disyo sighed. "Prepare the Jaiku."
The man in the lab coat felt a surge of frustration and concern, wanting desperately to argue against such a foolish decision. But ultimately, he clenched his jaw and set about executing the orders.
Half an hour later, both Disyo and the man were standing in front of something that looked like an egg but not quite. The object had the general shape of an egg, but its exterior seemed to defy solidity, instead displaying fluid-like properties that danced and shifted with an otherworldly grace.
The egg rested atop a circular pod, emanating an intense black glow.
"Location?" The man in the lab coat inquired.
"The ninth base," Disyo answered.
With a nod, the man activated the pod's mechanisms, sending the liquid egg on its journey to the designated location.
"Done," he informed Disyo.
Disyo glanced at the pod where the egg was placed just a second ago and nodded his head. "Let's hope it won't come back to bite us in the ass."
****
'They look like sisters,' Alex thought with a warm smile as he observed Amelia and Maya chatting and giggling together
They were currently inside the smoke carriage he had created, with him sitting on one side while the two women sat across from him.
Three days had passed since their departure for the Brazen auction house, and in that time, Amelia and Maya had formed a deep bond.
'Well, considering the difference in their ages, it would be more accurate to say that they look like mother and daughter,' Alex chuckled mentally.
Pondering that thought, Alex wondered what would have happened had he not ended his relationship with Amelia. 'Would we have had a daughter of our own?' he mused.
As fucked up as it was to think about having a child with his own sister, Alex couldn't help himself from wondering how many they would have had by now.
One thing both the previous Alex and Jack had in common was their love of children, but while Alex had eight children, Jack didn't have even a single one.
It wasn't because he couldn't have one, but rather because he knew that as a soldier perpetually on the battlefield, his death wasn't far away. He refused to bring a child into the world only to leave it orphaned by his own demise.
Jack did have a girlfriend, though they weren't very close. That's probably why he never bothered to think about her even once.
"Why are you smiling all alone there?" Amelia suddenly asked, her curiosity piqued.
"Hm? Ah, it's nothing," Alex waved his hand dismissively. "Just me feeling like a third wheel."
"What are you on about? Of course you're not a third wheel," Amelia reassured him with a giggle.
She stood up gracefully, crossing the space between them to stand beside Alex. With gentle hands, she cupped his face and pressed her lips against his, right in front of Maya!
****
There's currently a poll to decide whether to change the title of the novel or leave it as it is. Here's the Discord link for those interested in participating:
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