In a very secluded secret realm near Uranus, there was a scientific facility.
Men and women clad in white coats move around as they worked at an insane speed.
Whenever they completed an observation or verified a test, their gaze would return towards the item floating in the middle of the lab—a black disk.
The disk was continuously scanned as the inputs were given and readings were taken.
From time to time, there would be gasps as the researchers continued to be surprised.
"What do you think?" Sovereign Irene strolled in the small garden outside the facility as she asked an elderly man. He had a baby face and a white beard.
Yang glanced back at the facility and saw the large holograms displaying the readings.
Taking a deep breath, he rubbed his sweaty palms and answered. "I-It's true. It's capable of blocking the messages sent from the solar system. Not only that, it can also intercept the messages coming from outside."
Sovereign Irene's brows furrowed as she bit her lip. "A single device can cover the entire solar system?"
If it was really the case, then what chance did humans have against the abyssals?
Yang shook his head confidently. "A single device won't do."
"Then?"
"It's a part of a group. These devices function as a single entity." Yang said and went into technical details.
"…Since this device is taken out, can our messages now reach beyond the Solar System?" Irene asked with a strange expression.
"…" Yang paused for a moment as he considered the question.
Irene didn't pressure him and slowly walked through the garden.
This was where Billy used to play. Irene gently caressed a blue flower and recalled his bright smile when he gifted it to her.
"Mom! This is for you! You are the kindest and mos beautifu—"
Yang's voice suddenly snapped her out of her trance.
"I don't think it's possible. The remaining devices can still function, albeit with a greater workload. We can't overwrite them having spares either." Yang stroked his white beard and said.
Irene took a deep breath and adjusted her emotions before asking the most important question.
"So, is everything about Enigma fake?"
"…"
"…"
The air stilled and the wind itself stopped blowing. The birds that were chirping moments ago were silent. Even light itself seemed to bend as everything dimmed.
Yang calmed his racing heart and looked at Irene Nial. What he felt towards her wasn't what other top scientists felt towards Sovereigns—it wasn't deference, but reverence.
Before being a Sovereign, she was a good human being.
If the other Sovereigns were the type to kill a hundred to save a million without much remorse, Irene was the type to try her best to find ways to save those hundred. If the need really arose, she'd throw herself in to save them.
There was a mixed public opinion on her behavior, but to Yang, she was an exemplary leader.
That's why, despite personally hating aliens to his bones, he answered her with only the truth.
"Yes. Enigma can't contact anyone."
Irene's face visibly eased before she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth.
"S-Sovereign Irene?" Yang called her with a concerned expression.
Irene opened her eyes and looked at him with a wry smile on her pale face. "Shadow Guardians…they died for this accusation."
Her voice was bleak and with every word she said, it felt like someone was piercing her heart.
Irene recalled the horrifying scenes of their destruction and bit her lip. As she started to bleed, she lowered her head.
"Yang…I failed to protect them. We all failed to protect our heroes. We called them terrorists."
"I—" Yang wanted to say something, but the words were stuck in his throat.
In the end, he too lowered his head and said in a weak voice. "I'm sorry."
Irene shook her head and said in a weak voice. "…I'll ask you again, can Enigma contact her race, cause extermination to humankind so that we need to hunt her down and kill everyone related to her?"
Yang felt a huge weight on his chest. He spearheaded the moment in Uranus and called for a complete hunt of Enigma.
While he opposed Shadow Guardians' destruction, he was mostly concerned about Enigma.
But it turned out that everything was fake.
They thought they outsmarted abyssals in cluster cities'. Not even a month passed, and abyssals convinced them to kill their own people and allies.
"The abyssals are fully capable of stopping her messages. They used us to hunt her down. It's all our fault." Yang recalled the shadow guardians who died and guilt overwhelmed him.
*** *** ***
"Did you verify?" Dreamer asked Sovereign Irene's hologram.
She nodded lightly and pointed to an old man beside her. "Dr. Yang personally verified it."
Yang looked at Dreamer with a complicated expression and said. "Whatever you said was all true. We now have concrete evidence and are ready to publicize it."
Dreamer raised his hand. "Now is not the right time."
Irene and Yang didn't understand, but they didn't question him. They were still feeling the shocks from the realization.
"Dreamer, can I talk to her?" Sovereign Irene asked with a pale face.
Dreamer paused for a moment and looked at Enigma.
She was standing by the large glass window and staring out into space. It was as if the world had abandoned her…which it did and it did so in the most brutal way possible.
Varian shook his head and called. "Enigma. Sovereign Irene wants to talk."
The hologram reached her and Enigma glanced at Sovereign Irene with a neutral gaze.
"I'm ashamed and sorry for what happened to you." Irene bowed deeply and said in a remorseful tone.
Varian, Yang, and even Enigma were taken aback. A Sovereign apologizing so humbly was unheard of.
Yet, here she was…
"I know nothing I say can erase the pain burning your heart." Irene smiled bitterly.
"Losing everyone you love…I lived through pain." She sighed and looked at Enigma.
Enigma tilted her head and said in an icy voice. "And you were hunted by every being in the solar system? Including the very race, you fought to protect?"
"…" Irene fell silent and shook her head. "What happened with you is terrible. I know the trust we have is broken. I know you won't trust my race…"
Enigma clenched her fists and looked into Irene's eyes. "I can fully understand your fears in trying to kill me."
"Huh?" Irene, Yang, and even Varian gasped in surprise.
"You see me as a threat who can call another race like abyssals and bring extinction to the human race," Enigma said with an indifferent voice.
"If it was before this incident," She raised her sword. "If I find out that an alien was residing in the solar system, I'd have killed the alien myself."
Varian looked at her with a complicated expression and sighed inwardly.
'She was trying so hard to protect us and what did she get in return?'
"As I said, I can understand why you fear me…but what I absolutely loath is you killing people who have nothing to do with his." Enigma's voice was raised as she nearly yelled at Irene.
"Shadow Guardians are brutally massacred! You had the power to stop it, Sovereign Irene! You could've! Any Sovereign could've! What did do you? Why did you kill them?"
Enigma's eyes slowly reddened as her body started to tremble.
Apart from the one time she cried after hearing their death, this was the second time Varian saw her emotional.
Perhaps she was holding it in all this time.
Varian couldn't bear to see a strong woman who always faced her challenges bravely break down.
He turned away from her, but his heightened senses could hear drops of water…her tears splattering on the ground.
Her voice that was filled with grief echoed in the ghost ship.
"Shadow Guardians…the innocents you killed are normal people…they are the ones who sacrificed risked their own lives so that others can live in peace.
Sovereign Irene, forget opposing the massacre, couldn't you have at least demanded a proper investigation?"
"…"
Except for Enigma's rough breath, there was a deathly silence.
Finally, Sovereign Irene's voice sounded, filled with deep guilt and regret.
"I was wrong. I'll support you in seeking justice for them." She declared and her voice turned incomparably solemn.
"Even if I have to oppose every other Sovereign, I'll get them justice."