His eyes were hollow and passive.

It was strange. I wasn’t sure how to describe it, but it was as if Zero was there but wasn’t actually ‘there.’ It looked as if he was devoid of a conscience, which would make a lot of sense considering I had killed him.

I had seen his head rolling on the ground. So, for him to stand before me meant that something was wrong. Either they had managed to bring him back to life with the help of some unknown power, or the person on the stage wasn’t the Zero that I had killed.

“This is a new experiment that I have been working on with Miss Virdi. We have decided to call it a Super Soldier.”

‘Super Soldier?’

I frowned at those words. I had a vague idea of where they were heading with this, and I didn’t like its sound.

In fact, I despised it.

“Those Super Soldier just like this man right here,” the Elven King said as he started walking around Zero. “Will listen to everything we order them to do, no matter what. They don’t have a conscience of their own.”

It was just like I had guessed.

“Let me demonstrate.”

The Elven King smiled widely and proudly as his chest was bumped up. “I want you to get on your knees and act like a dog.”

Zero’s expression did not change even remotely as he immediately got on his knees and started barking like a dog, just like the king had ordered him.

As he did so, my eyes instinctively found their way toward Laura, who I imagined to be fuming. After all, this was her brother… and he was acting like a dog in front of all of the nobles. It was humiliating.

However, she didn’t have the slightest reaction as she kept looking back into my eyes while all of this was going on.

“The fact that they will listen to everything we say, however, isn’t that great. What’s even better is their resistance to pain. No matter the pain inflicted on them, they will never flinch.”

As the king uttered those words, he pulled out a long sword from his waist and swiftly cut one of Zero’s arms.

Everyone’s eyes widened, shocked by the actions the king was taking.

However, just like he had advertised, Zero did not flinch, nor did he have any reaction.

“And you know the best part about all this?” The Elven King turned around with a smirk. “Well, I’ll just let you watch.”

Seconds passed by, and suddenly, right around the fresh cut, the blood coagulated, and Zero’s arm was slowly regenerating on its own. And within one minute, it looked as if he had never lost it in the first place.

‘They cannot feel pain, they can regenerate limbs… what about their fighting skills?’

That was the last question on my mind. If those Super Soldiers were able to keep a mind for themselves while fighting, then they would be a lot more dangerous than the demonic monsters that I had met over the past months.

“The best thing about the Super Soldiers is that they will keep their skills from when they died. Because, yes, I had not mentioned it. But Super Soldiers are essentially dead. All Laura and I have done is give them a second chance at ‘life.'”

I clenched my teeth. If what Aldin had just revealed was true, then those Super Soldiers would be a lot more troublesome than I had anticipated. If things were as he had said, then I was in danger.

There was no doubt that Laura would try to kill me soon. And if she had the help of her brother, whom I only managed to defeat with the help of Hank, I would certainly die.

“This person you see on the stage was a very powerful being prior to their death, which is why he is the first Super Soldier that we have created. I wanted to show all of you the potential of the Super Soldiers. If we are able to make thousands, then we, the elves, will become unstoppable.”

He was right. The longer this plan would go on, the more at a disadvantage we would find ourselves.

I wouldn’t be able to do this alone any longer. I needed help from as many people as possible. There was only one problem, everyone that I was close with from the war was now living their lives away from the battlefield or any kind of drama.

I also had little means of contacting them.

To summarize everything, I was basically fucked if they actually managed to mass-produce Super Soldiers.

However, the limelight of all this was the fact Super Soldiers seemed to be Undead, and I knew of the perfect person to deal with the undead. I only needed to find her, the person who could talk with the Gods. Someone who had disappeared three years ago from the face of the Earth.

“Zero, please demonstrate one of your skills,” Aldin uttered, his voice echoing through the crowd.

‘Seems like they have decided to call him Zero even now,’ I shook my head. ‘I should have probably revealed some information about his identity back when I exposed the return of the demons. I thought I had gotten rid of him, but it seems he’s still a pain in the ass.’

Suddenly, the sky turned dark, and the lively atmosphere of the forest was gone as darkness reigned over for a few moments. A strong purple light was also emitted from Zero’s hands at this very moment.

‘Aether?’ I frowned. ‘Just what is this skill… and why didn’t he use it against me?’

I was at a loss for words as I continued to observe what was happening.

Then, as Zero had both of his hands in a fist, he opened them wide, lightning striking down from the sky in the middle of the crowd.

Because of my abilities, I could see lightning, and it would hit most of the nobles if nothing was done. And it also seemed like Laura wasn’t planning on doing to stop such an attack.

I clenched my teeth. ‘Should I stop it… After all, the elves have betrayed humanity.’

However, that’s when I realized that my thinking was wrong.

The elves had not betrayed humanity. The king had. It was very different, and it was important to see the difference between the two.

With this in mind, I flew from my original spot toward the lightning that would reach the elves in less than a microsecond. Many of them would die if I didn’t arrive in time.

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I cast as many protective layers onto my body and calculated the trajectory of the lightning so that I could tank it with my body. I knew that this might be a ploy from Laura or the king, but I did not care… I didn’t believe that she would try to kill me right now. She had had the opportunity to do so two times now, and she had not done it.

There was something that was restricting her from doing it. As for what that was, I had no idea.

Nevertheless, casting a layer of protective magic onto my body, I got in the way of the lightning strike, tanking it with my bare body.

-Bzzzt!

As soon as it hit, I could feel my mind going numb as I could barely keep them open. The only thing that I could feel at the moment was a burning sensation in my chest.

This lightning strike wasn’t a normal one, that bastard… he had mixed a lot of Aether within it.

If I had not done anything, almost every noble would have died.

‘Did Aldin really abandon his people to such a degree?’ I asked myself as I could feel my mind getting lighter and lighter. ‘He didn’t side with the demons for his people’s survival but for his own greed?’

I didn’t know what to think anymore… in fact, I could barely even think.

And then, within a few seconds, I lost consciousness.

***

“Ugh… where am I?”

My mind felt heavy and strained.

I tried to raise my back, but I could not; my chest, especially the area around my heart, felt heavy. As I looked at it, my chest was not of my usual color. It was black, and my skin was charred.

“Don’t try to move, Caedrel. You’ll only make things worse,” a distinct voice exclaimed right beside me.

“Argh… what are you talking about. It’s only a lightning strike; I’m fine.”

“It wasn’t only a lightning strike, idiot. It was special. It was unlike any lightning strike that I had ever witnessed. And if you hadn’t done anything to stop it, then most elves would have died right there.”

That was the thing that confused me the most. Why would Aldin attack his very own people? No matter how hard I tried to think of it? There was no logic to his actions.

“Aelua, can you please tell me what happened after I lost consciousness?”

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