Chapter 528: Exposed

"Empty husk? What do you mean empty husk?"

The island that Xra and Diana were on was already as quiet as it could be. There was no presence of anything else other than them; but as the tone of Xra's voice started to show her desperation, even the heavy leaves that rustled with the wind seemingly stopped moving.

Even Diana remained quiet; her eyes were still completely calm, watching as Xra's shoulders slowly dropped.

"What are you saying, Caitlain?" Xra approached Diana and placed both her hands on her shoulders. Diana, however, still remained quiet even as Xra looked her directly in the eyes.

Diana didn't need to speak; just by Xra's actions alone, it was clear that she already knew what Diana meant. And so, Diana just returned her gaze.

"No… no," Xra shook her head as her grip on Diana's shoulders tightened, "That's not true, no…"

"..." Diana could really only close her eyes and take in a deep breath; not because she did not want to see Xra crying tears of blood, but because her plan would now most likely fail.

Diana surrendered to the Grand Militia because she could always escape from them no matter what. Attaching the collar on her neck was probably the most idiotic thing they could do, after all—Diana helped in the improvements of the collars, and the reason she surrendered to them blissfully in the first place was to get one.

The collar, after all, is connected like a web of strings. It's connected to other collars, it's connected to each and every device of the Grand Militia, and it's connected directly to the server of the Grand Militia itself.

They just gave Diana free access to completely freeze their entire operation.

And the reason she was digging through the ground…was to access one of her labs that is clearly still not compromised by the planet. What she did not expect, however, was the arrival of an entity that she has not seen for thousands of years.

She could just completely ignore her and tell her what she wants… but Diana was truly curious as to why she said that she and Riley were the same. There was also the fact that Xra can truly help Bernard with absorbing the Guardian Force.

"Please, Caitlain… tell me that's not true."

"..." Diana once again focused on Xra, only to see her face filled with streaks of blood. But finally, after another breath, Diana finally opened her mouth,

"It is, Xra. Even before, the… thing you've been carrying on your ship is nothing but space dust and the dying energy of a fractured dying star."

"No…" Xra shook her head, causing some of the blood on her face to splash away, "He reacts to me, Caitlain. He reacts to me. He's alive… I can feel it, he reaches out to me every single day and—"

"Because you're a conductor, Xra. The energy stretches toward you in an attempt to—"

"No!"

"He's gone, Xra."

"No," Xra forced a chuckle as she once again shook her head, "Then why… why didn't you tell me before? You… you were my friend, Caitlain."

"...Because I needed your help in breaking through the Guardians," Diana sighed and closed her eyes, "I already knew… I knew at first glance that there was nothing in—"

"You… gave me false hope?"

"This false hope is the only thing that kept you going, Xra," Diana looked Xra in the eyes, "You would have just wasted your life away."

"I do not have life, Caitlain!" Xra pushed Diana away as she screamed; wings of blood, instantly emerging from her back, "I do not have life without my Akkamesh!"

"..." Diana could really only look away.

"Akkamesh…Akkamesh," Xra grasped her head as her knees fell to the ground, "My dear Akkamesh… Akkamesh."

"Xra, the Grand Militia is on their way back here because they heard you. You need to go."

"You… you used me," Xra then turned to look at Diana; her red eyes, almost merging with all the blood on her face, "You were my friend, Caitlain."

"..."

"You… you even found my home planet and you didn't tell me. We… we could have found something there to revive Akkamesh."

"There is nothing to revive."

"You… you resurrected Riley's biological mother, didn't you? He told me, he told me how powerful she was. She was more powerful than Akkamesh and you resurrected her."

"..."

"You're just making excuses… excuses… my Akkamesh," Xra then started to chuckle as she stood up, "My Akkamesh should be here… it's your fault… it's your fault."

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"..."

"It's your fau—!!!"

And before Xra could finish her words, Diana suddenly disappeared in front of her; her fingers, already threatening to rip out Xra's face. Xra, however, did not move and just continued to wallow and waste away even as Diana's hand was only an inch away from her.

But then, all of a sudden, Diana's hand slightly moved to the side, brushing past Xra's face and hitting… a fist that wasn't there just a moment ago. Diana only glanced at Xra, before kicking her away and using that momentum to swing her leg straight toward the owner of the fist she was holding.

It was a man from the Grand Militia; and judging by how fast he moved his head back to avoid Diana's foot, he was not just some mere foot soldier. Sadly for him… Diana was also not just some mere normal themarian.

As soon as the soldier blocked her kick, Diana pulled him closer toward her before locking her legs around his arm—and without any hesitation, Diana ripped off his arm. And before anything else could happen, Diana spun her body and slammed the torn-off arm straight toward the face of its owner…shaving half of it completely.

The soldier, however, still stood and just took a step back as his face and arm already started to regenerate. But before his head could close entirely, Diana plunged her hand through it, pulling out his brain and violently slamming it to the ground before stomping on it.

"..." Diana turned to look at the mushed brain, and as soon as she saw it still squirming, she once again stomped on it and ground it until nothing was left,

"I don't really like violence," Diana then sighed before she looked around her, only to see more than a dozen Grand Militia officers surrounding her; their eyes, lighting up all at the same time. Xra, who was weeping on the ground, was also being surrounded by several themarians,

"Xra, if you're done moping around about your dead lover that you've only really been around for less than a week…

…I could use your help to make this easier."

***

"Do we really not have to put up a disguise, Princess Esme?"

"The people of Hel tend to not care about the things that are not happening in their domain, Professor Riley. They also suppress and ignore any information from the outside, even from their infantry force."

"Are they a totalitarian nation?"

"...What's that?"

And while a small war was happening somewhere around the planet, Katherine, Esme, and Riley have just landed on Hel territory. It would seem they were no longer allowed to ride their ship across the border, and would have to proceed by land as Hel has a strict 'No Flying' policy in most of their states—only members of the Grand Militia could freely travel from and to borders.

And as a political entity of the other nation, they would also have to be completely checked.

"Princess Esme, please proceed. We don't have to check your identity."

"Thank you, the people behind me are envoys sent by my father to escort me."

"Of course, Your Highness. We're only checking them for formality. We're told you're here to visit Princess Aerith?"

"Yes. I… would like to see her before her own family abandons and kills her."

"That's… the royal family is fair."

There were probably more than a dozen guards welcoming them there, much more than usual for obvious reasons. Unlike the soldiers and guards of Varoif, Hel's infantry was more armed; wearing some sort of silver armor that only exposed their faces.

"You, please step forward."

"..." Katherine didn't really have any choice but to approach the guards. Esme told them to just relax and calm down… but she was slightly finding that hard to do as several flying orbs started circling around her.

"State your name."

"...Katherine Read."

"Okay, nothing unusual. Please proceed. You, please step forward."

"..." Like with Katherine, several orbs also surrounded Riley as if to scan him. Unlike with Katherine, however, the orbs seemed to be taking longer as they have been circling Riley for several laps now.

"..." Riley then turned to look at Esme, who also had her head tilted to the side and obviously confused as to what was happening. But after a few more seconds, a small beep whispered through the air.

"Oh…" One of the guards then hummed as he looked at Riley,

"You should have just said you're a citizen here. Proceed."

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