"Please show your ID, sir." The guard at the entrance of the military region asked the young man who seemed to be in his late 20s.
Of course, you couldn't guess a person's age by their appearance. For instance, Sovereign Ares also looked to be in his twenties.
"Here." Varian tapped his comm, and an ID popped up.
After a quick scan, the guard saluted and guided him to the core region.
Varian once again entered Valos' military region and noticed the changes.
There were fewer soldiers. Some training facilities which used to be full were now desolate. But unlike simply patrolling, the soldiers now face the real danger in the planetoids.
Somehow, this reminded Varian of the defense academy.
Back there, all he had to do was practice and improve. But once he was out, he had to literally save the world from destruction.
Of course, even if the abyssal's plan succeeded, it'd have taken them anywhere between a few years to at least a decade to completely destroy humanity, provided they paid the corresponding price.
But even if he didn't consider the long-term consequences, he saved half a billion lives in cluster cities, the life of Irene Nial, and consequently, the lives of hundreds of millions of soldiers on planetoids and the lives of everyone on Uranus.
To be honest, it was a weird feeling. Especially to him.
The fact that he failed to save his mother always bothered Varian.
A voice in his mind kept telling him that he could never protect anyone. When the time comes, he'd freeze and watch them die in despair.
It was the reason Varian didn't even try to awaken.
But now, more than a hundred days after awakening, Varian realized he saved far more people than he could've imagined.
That voice in his head still tried to talk him down sometimes, but Varian wasn't swayed by it anymore.
'I saved so many lives and you tell me I'm incompetent and I can't save people? Bitch please!'
Such a thought was impossible for the old Varian to even imagine. But now, he would just grin at the negative voice.
"Sir, ID once again." The guard said and Varian realized it was a new person talking to him, a level 7.
They were in front of the core area already. So, there were more checks.
"Here." Varian swiped his comm and after a few more checks, he was taken to the teleportation formation.
"Um, is this really the thing?" Varian pointed to a vast circular formation filled with various patterns and filled with many materials and asked.
The formation looked as expected, but everyone was cutting the grey building it was in.
Now all that was left of the giant building were two walls.
"Ah-Ahahaha, we're upgrading the facility. Don't mind it." The guard laughed awkwardly.
After knowing Durasium could be used as an explosive by ragnaroks, the army decided to scrap the metal.
…And of course, they decided to use it for explosives. They already started reverse-engineering the bombs.
"Oh." Varian nodded and didn't comment much.
Then after one more check-up from the level 8 guards, Varian finally stood on the teleportation formation.
"Have a safe trip." The guard that guided him waved and the next moment, the formation lit up.
Space twisted and Varian was gone.
*** *** ***
Enigma-tic Solutions to relationship problems: Version 3.17
{101 plans to kill Sarah.
PS: Best friend or Boyfriend, you decide?}
{Tips to winning a man's heart.
PS: Don't dig it out. Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't work.}
{What should you do if your boyfriend suffers from amnesia?
PS: Don't wait for him to recover his memory, make a move already!}
Sia looked at the files on her desk with an expressionless face.
Ka-Kacha!
The hand she was holding the desk exerted too much pressure and almost broke the costly desk.
Glossing over the third file, she commented. "I can't make a move and you perfectly know why."
Then she turned to the second file and her expression darkened. "Enigma, digging hearts isn't a popular belief. If anything, that's organ trafficking."
Then she looked at the first file. With a shivering hand, she reached out to it.
'Open or not open? Open or not open? Open or…' Sia's mind ran faster than light as her mind was thrown into turmoil.
"After what happened, things won't be normal. Even if his mind accepted me, his body would never…" Sia's expression turned complicated.
In the past, she did visit him in disguise. Even though he didn't know it was her, his body reacted to her presence.
His face paled and a "Get away from me" was written all over his face. The longer she stayed with him, the worse his condition got.
She didn't get closer to him after he awakened, but Sia didn't hold any high hopes.
His weird behavior couldn't be explained. How would his body instinctually notice her presence?
He wasn't even an awakener back then, so he didn't have any powers…or did he?
"I'm getting ahead of myself. He'd hate me after he regains his memories." Sia shook her head.
Then she tapped her comm and a hologram of Varian fighting Abrax appeared.
Without knowing it herself, Sia stood up and walked up to him. Stretching her hand, she slowly caressed his face.
"Varian, do you know…I'm very proud of you."
A smile bloomed on her face as she said. "You always said you wanted to save. Now you finally did. You didn't listen to Enigma's threats nor did you agree to my pleas.
Like always, you were stubborn. But you did it.
Are you happy?"
She didn't know why, but her emotions seemed to be in turmoil.
She wanted to hug him hard and tell him it was okay to rest now. He was only sent for a small mission. Yet he took upon himself so much more.
If only she could, she'd share his burden and celebrate his victory.
Sia closed her eyes and muttered. "Sarah…take good care of him or I might really follow Enigma's advice."
*** ***
A/N: Apologies for the late release.