The Extra's Odyssey

While Gwen was lost in her thoughts, the First Councilman received more information from his secretary about the infiltration done by Techno.

Reading through the documents, he spoke in a grave tone.

"Techno has left a note. It says 'If you don't tell the world about Nathan, I will'." Looking up, he stared at each hologram before his eye's rested on Gwen. "With this, it's confirmed. He is targeting Nathan Hunt specifically."

"But why? Other than Mr. Pepe being a possible prophet, does he have anything to warrant Techno's attention?" The 7th Councilman interjected.

"Maybe...." The 6th Councilman rubbed his chin. "...Techno wants to eliminate Mr. Pepe? And he is using us to do his work?"

"If Mr. Pepe is one of the three chosen ones like Techno, then it might be possible that Techno is also a prophet. That would explain why Techno wants to eliminate Mr. Pepe: To remove threats that could endanger him and his plans."

The Councilmen nodded but suddenly the buxom lady, the 5th Councilman, shook her head.

"In that case, we should bring Mr. Pepe under us to fight against Techno? I hope nobody is thinking like that." She pointed at Yggdrasil's hologram. "It is too suspicious that Techno will reveal Mr.Pepe's identity but not the 3rd Prophet's. This might be their plan to infiltrate Gia from inside while we are trying to fight the outside threat, Yggdrasil."

"It might also be possible that Techno isn't aware of the last prophet's identity..."

"Why would he....."

"We should help...."

"No, that..."

"Danger? Earth is..."

A heated debate opened. The Councilmen put their individual thoughts on the matter forward.

A few among them wanted to bring Mr. Pepe under them to fight against Techno. If Mr. Pepe was a prophet as they had predicted, he would be a great help in combating Techno and other future threats.

Others were against protecting Mr. Pepe. It wasn't guaranteed that he would work with them after what he did in the Underworld. Besides, Techno's actions involving Mr. Pepe were ambiguous at best and suspicious at worst. There was no guarantee that Mr.Pepe and Techno weren't working together.

In the midst of the discussion, Gwen didn't speak even once. She was looking back at her actions in the Underworld during the Gladiator Championship.

"I..it can't be Nathan." Repeating to herself, she was regularly shaking her head. "I almost k-killed him back then."

"Stop it."

Suddenly, an authoritative and dignified voice echoed.

"We will have a vote."

Everyone nodded to the 1st Councilman's suggestion. The voting began without a delay.

"I vote for supporting Mr.Pepe."

"I vote against protecting Mr. Pepe."

"I vote in Mr. Pepe's favor."

"I vote against Mr. Pepe."

"I'm against."

"I vote in the support of Mr. Pepe."

From the 2nd to the 7th Councilmen, they voted unhesitatingly. Surprisingly, half of them voted in Nathan's favor. The first Councilman was the only one remaining. He stared at Gwen for a moment and opened his mouth.

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-(Present || Location: Ward)-

Huntress stared at Nathan's previous location. She turned to Shadow. "Where is he?"

"I am...looking...give me...few minutes." Shadow's voice was raspy. It was difficult to judge the shadow's gender from voice alone. Every time Shadow spoke, it was as if hundreds of snakes were hissing together.

The group dispersed, but a snobbish voice held Huntress from leaving. "We hope that the Goliaths won't betray us again, Huntress. Not for personal reasons, this time."

The hint of mocking was apparent in the tone of the speaker. Huntress turned to look at the speaker. It was a man with two great swords on his back. If she wasn't wrong, the man was a high-ranking awakener in Aegis.

"Why aren't you saying – !!!" The man suddenly retreated. He gripped the handle of his sword and spoke with a grim smile. "I was joking, Huntress, no need to get angry."

Her brows furrowed. She didn't understand what the man meant by that and followed his gaze. "Ah!"

She had pulled her bastard sword out of the scabbard without realizing it.

The tense atmosphere took a few moments to dissolve. The man, Armin, walked up to Huntress.

"I'll apologize again. It wasn't my intention to insult you. But it looks like... I'm still bad at opening a conversation." He mumbled the last part to himself.

While they were briefing, the man scanned his surroundings quietly and whispered to her.

"What are Aegis and Gia thinking? Why did they allow an unsolicited awakener into this mission and he is barely Iota-rank."

At the corner, a kid wearing a large robe was standing. Although his features were hidden by the robe, it was easy to determine his age. He was also by far the weakest awakener on the field.

"Don't worry, we won't fail." The answer didn't come from Huntress.

A bright voice directly entered Armin's head. His eyes widened, and he hurriedly looked around.

"Who's there!?"

Huntress stopped him before he created a commotion. "It's Dreamer. He is also present here."

"Dreamer...? The reaper of the Elven frontlines is here...?"

Gulp–

"Yes, he is. But he won't join the battle directly."

"I know about his abilities." A thin line of sweat formed on Armin's forehead. He unconsciously shivered. "It's more terrifying that he isn't going to fight. Doesn't that mean he has already fini-"

"Don't speak unnecessarily."

Dreamers' abilities were kept under tight wraps because of their uncanny yet overwhelming nature. Only the high-ranking awakeners and officers of Gia know of his abilities. But there was one fact that everyone knew.

Dream was a Gamma-rank awakener.

"Hahaha, you were correct. We won't fail." Armin shook his head.

A space lock barrier was deployed alongside all of Ward's security measures. There was 1 Gamma-rank, 3 Hatamoto-rank, and dozens of Tesla and Enma-rank awakeners. It would be a miracle if Mr. Pepe managed to escape.

Armin's confidence shook in the next second, however.

"Huntress, we have a situation!" Knuckle shouted. "Tempo has gone missing!"