Lloyd looked at Imaez. His eyes widened with shock.
"Wow… THEE Imaez asking ME for advice."
Imaez looked at Lloyd with complete seriousness.
"Ah, you're being serious." Lloyd looked at Imaez. "Listen, to be human is to be unhappy. To be human is to live with grief, hardship, and trials. But through these efforts you get to experience love, compassion, peace. Whatever happened, do not linger, keep moving forward. We push past our fears and we continue moving, in that way we never stop longing for peace and love. Imaez—"
Lloyd looked out the window, watching the wind blow upon the grass, observing the starry sky.
"We all deserve love. The Reaper deserves love, these times with you gave me a new perspective on you. You're human too. Keep searching and keep pushing."
Lloyd had thought about a face— a face of warmth and comfort.
*Right, Mom. We keep moving forward.*
Imaez retained those words in his head.
"Keep pushing." "To be human is to live with grief." He replayed that over and over in his head. Soon— he had fallen asleep.
Marie had smiled at Lloyd— "Didn't think you were capable of that, Big Brother.."
"Maybe the Reaper will continue moving forward. We did promise to see it through right? For the Priest." Lloyd put his eye covers on and went to sleep.
Papers slapped onto the desk—
"Operative Task for you and the RAS."
"Exterminate North City— headed by the Emperor." General Yumin spoke to Aurelian. "Major General Julius will be there to oversee the operation. You will give us the game plan and strategy."
Aurelian looked through the files—
"Mm, I see. Why are we exterminating North City?"
"Follow Lord Emperor's instructions. Only Major General knows." Yumin walked out.
*Follow Lord Emperor's instructions? Doesn't anyone think for themselves now? North City has been untouched for centuries… so why is it relevant now?
Maybe because of their ideals? How they follow the ways of the First Emperor..?*
He sighed— "Whatever, let's just use the super train to get deploy them there."
Aurelian had summoned Julius and the five others to his quarters.
"Welcome. So, you have been informed by General Yumin on what this Operation is." Aurelian pulled a map from a drawer of his desk.
He had looked at the map. Staring at it for a bit— thinking to himself, *What about the civilians…? The history.. no. No. There must be reason.*
"This is the map of North City. X marking the entrance and the circles marking the weakest points of its gates and defenses. North City especially doesn't utilize Pacts and they are more of a traditional, historical city instead of a modern city of Laveton. This operation should be easy."
Julius nodded— "Alright then, I suppose the super train is ready?"
Aurelian nodded and set the five out.
*North City..?* Vinast scratched her head. *Hmm, never heard of it.*
The sounds of a thunderclap.
The super train had departed from the Royal Headquarters, traveling at an insane speed.
*Beauty of Lord Emperor's intelligence..* Julius had thought to himself.
The bullet train within its first ten minutes had already traversed the mountain range that was in the pathway of North City, only being around 10 miles away from the city at this point.
Adam had twiddled his fingers— mumbling to himself.
"Oh Shadow Emperor, Oh Shadow Emperor. Hear the calls of your descendants. Oh Shadow Emperor, Oh Shadow Emperor."
"Hey! Weird shadow guy! What's the Shadow Emperor?" Vinast popped up in front of Adam's face.
"Gah! I was praying… rude." He backed his head away. "Anyway… ask your question again."
"I said what's the Shadow Emperor?" Vinast leaned in closer.
"I guess you don't know personal space.." He pushed her head away. "The Shadow Emperor is was an emperor of Laveton. He ruled in the shadows never making a public appearance and often hid his presence. I descend from his lineage."
"So why is don't we just call him his actual name..?" Vinast asked.
"Because it's Lavetonian tradition to give emperors a title to distinguish them and give them immortalization. For example— Lord Emperor. His name isn't actually Lord Emperor, that's just his title."
"I wouldn't be surprised if he could be the Lord though, the Emperor's might is great." Vanessa interrupted their conversation.
"Enough chit chat… let's exterminate them." Cupiditas licked his lips.
*Imaez.. I feel your familiar pressure. Your void has gotten stronger, hasn't it..? Come. Let me obliterate you..! You can't hide from me for long.. 8 years. 8 years, I've been waiting!!*