Varian woke up in a daze.
He looked around and saw the familiar blue interior of the spaceship.
His hologram was displayed in front as Boo seemed to run a diagnosis.
"Master! What happened?!" Boo rushed in front of him and asked in anxiety.
Varian opened his mouth but couldn't find any words.
Except "I'm fine," nothing came out.
"You were unconscious for five minutes. No abnormalities detected. Your brain was under high stress, however.." Boo reported.
Varian slowly stood up and glanced outside.
His heart ached as he muttered her name. "Sia."
With each dream, his memories of her increased.
Her laughter, her triumph, her tempers, her tears—an entirely different memory seemed to be created. No. It felt like the memories were returning.
Varian closed his eyes.
He could distinctly and vividly recall holding her in his arms. Her body started to quickly turn cold.
He could remember warmth of her when she hugged him. The wetness of her tears as she cried in his chest.
"Boo," His voice shook. "Search for a girl named Sia. Filters are she must be related to me. She is a mind awakener."
He had already done this after returning to earth. The results were—
"None, sir. There is no record of a girl named Sia having any relationship with you across the metanet."
Varian took a deep breath. "Hack the database of Imperial Defense Academy. Search for the cadet named Sia in the past 5 years."
Boo nodded and the spaceship fell silent.
Varian prayed.
He didn't know why, but he wanted to see her.
"Save Sia."
What danger was she in?
Varian grew nervous realizing he missed a year in trying to save her.
He wanted revenge for his mother, but at the same time, he realized he couldn't give up searching for Sia.
At this point, even if it was not his mother's last wish, he'd still search for her.
Boo continued to announce the results of the hacking process.
"Academy's firewall breached."
"First firewall of cadet database is breached."
"Second firewall of cadet database is breached."
Varian clenched his fist in excitement.
"...Hacking failed."
"What?!" Varian turned to Boo in shock.
Wasn't Boo an advanced AI? How could it fail?
Boo manifested in front of him. It glanced down in shame and said. "There are three Level 9 Technocrats guarding the database. If I was at my peak, I could bypass them. But now, my limit is two. I'm terribly sorry, master."
Varian sighed.
In the back of his mind, he somehow knew this. But facing the reality was different.
He slumped onto the couch and cursed the Technocrats.
Mind Path (L1-3) —> Telepath (L4-6) —> Technocrat (L7-9).
Technocrats were pretty much living AIs. They could operate weapons from another continent, protect databases and of course, hack them.
"Boo, can a technocrat hack you?" He asked in worry.
Earlier, he thought using Boo, he could hack any database he wanted. Now, it seemed like he needed to be cautious as well.
Boo shook its head. "My defenses are much better. Not even a Sovereign Technocrat can hack me, not to mention there is none. But my offensive capabilities are not up to the mark."
Varian glanced at the depressed ghost and patted its head. "It's alright. If I can't hack my way in, I can go through the front door."
The front door was asking for Sia's information through merit points.
Varian showed his comm and asked. "Can you hack the merit points?"
Boo nodded, then shook its head. "I can hack this, but there is a server in sync. There is also four separate technocrats overseeing the merit points. Any outside changes would be known."
"Great." Varian sighed.
Somehow, his rage calmed down.
Of course, he still wanted to end Xanders. But that was not the only thing he'd be driven by.
He also had to find Sia. Their relationship. The problems with his memory, which at this point, he was convinced a high awakener manipulated.
But he would take it slow. He needed to return to the academy first.
"Boo, let's return to the acad—." He paused. "Let's see what's the Astor's meeting was about."
To be honest, he was curious.
The ghostship dived down at a high speed.
Varian's eyes widened as he saw mushrooms of dust and fire rising into the air.
The once lush fields were destroyed. The ground was filled with potholes.
Hills were levelled. Lakes were evaporated.
The air was blasted and the shockwaves destroyed everything within dozens of miles.
Even from high above, Varian's palms sweated. "Who the fuck is fighting?"
Ghostship penetrated Astor Clan's defensive barrier.
A huge hologram was projected depicting a few hundred miles.
Varian saw the intense battle.
No.
It was the ending.
A woman in black floated high in the air. Her sword was stained with red and green blood.
A black mask covered her face except her eyes and hair.
Her hair and eyes were both a beautiful blend of three colors. Yellow. Red. Blue.
Like a war goddess, she looked down at the corpses of both humans and Abyssals.
He knew her.
Enigma!
Varian held his breath and saw her raising her sword once more.
The last being surviving other than her, a female Abyssal kneeled below her.
With Boo's help, he was able to hear her words.
"You came despite knowing this meeting was a trap. And killed thirty Level 8s." The female Abyssal spoke as she coughed out the green blood.
Varian saw the entire heart area of the female Abyssal was hollow.
Her heart was gone!
Yet she was still able to talk, although by the looks of it, she was at her end.
"Enigma, you're the only human I admire. But you cannot win our Emperor. His strength is beyond your imagination." Her voice was weak, but her conviction was anything but weak.
"Even though I don't know how you managed to crack our hideouts, that's only a small part of our plans. Join us and be his concubine. This race is doomed from the start." The female Abyssal collapsed on the ground.
She was going to die, yet her eyes stared at Enigma for answers.
Enigma sighed and glanced at the human corpses. Her eyes were still indifferent, but one could tell she was lamenting killing them.
"Humans are indeed doomed." Enigma's voice was cold. "Not because they are inferior to Abyssals, but because these trashes are in power."
The female Abyssal's eyes glowed. Did she succeed?
Enigma's sword glowed once again.
The female Abyssal didn't care as the sword light started to slice her apart and asked. "Are you joining us?"
"No."
"With your talent, you can have freedom, happiness. Anything you want!"
Enigma's sword slashed her into pieces and she muttered something in an incredibly low voice.
"-nner"
"Boo, amplify."
Her voice sounded clearly this time. "I deserve none of those."
Varian couldn't comprehend her words, like her actions. He could only watch a light flash as Enigma vanished.
"Well, go back to acad—Wait!" Varian raised his hand suddenly.
Boo rolled its eyes. "Master, what is it again?"
Varian pointed to an edge of the hologram. A girl around the age of 20 walked out of a building on fire. Following her was a middle aged woman in maid dress.
The girl snapped and a private space shuttle appeared in front of them. They boarded it and took off.
"Sarah. What is she doing here?" Varian wondered.
"Follow her."
"Like, stalk her?"
"...no, we are collecting intelligence." Varian rolled his eyes.
"Hai~" Boo kneeled at his answer and the ghostship tailed them.
Sarah's space shuttle had stealth feature. But of course, nothing like ghostship.
As they reached the barrier, Varian saw a blue light flash from the ship and the barrier in front of them break.
"Wow." Varian admired the captain's capability.
A few minutes passed, and the crossed clusters before finally reaching Pearl City— Varian's city.
'She's not a native. But wait, why did she not reply to my message?' He wondered.
Sarah's space shuttle descended in a cemetery.
'She's mourning for the loss of her family members?' He thought.
Sarah got down from the shuttle while the maid followed. She reached a tomb and put a flower bouquet with a complicated face.
"Damn. Those flowers are all precious." Varian felt strangely envious of the dead guy.
He was pretty sure if he died, Kyle would give him a few dried leaves as mourning flowers.
Then he shook his head.
Being alive was way, way better than being dead and receiving the most precious mourning flowers.
Still, he was kinda curious.
Even though this cemetery was costly, for someone of Sarah's status, this was beneath her.
And more importantly, this was not a military cemetery. That meant the dead person was not her family member.
"Boo, zoom in on the tomb. Let's see who's the lucky dead guy who is making the captain cry."
Sarah was indeed crying as she showed a storage to the tomb.
Varian's eyes widened and his jaw dropped open as he saw name on the tomb.
Combat madman. Caring friend. A great human.
Those were alright. But the last line—
Died single. Still a virgin.
"KYLE!!!"