One second Jean was standing in the SSS, in the City of the Voyagers.

The next moment, she was gone.

Behind her, two Protectors stood quietly.

They have been observing Jean the entire time.

“I don’t understand. I was ordered to approach her and gain her trust, but now we’re convincing her to commit suicide? I don’t mean to intrude, and if necessary, I will obey the orders of the Grand Protector without question, but if I am to act in the ideal way, I need to know the reason behind this decision, Capital Isabella.”

Protector Welch complained as he turned to his comrade/superior. Since he departed with Jean, he has been busy. One of the things he did was alter the Assistant AI of Jean so it would show her a recording where the Reapers dominated the field. The second thing was lowering the price of the Reaper upgrade from 50,000 coins to 25,000 so Jean could afford it.

Captain Isabella waited two seconds, weighing her options, before speaking.

“This Jean Turner, she’s not normal.”

“What do you mean?”

Isabella waved her hand, and all of a sudden, everything around her stopped. Welch frowned. Isabella has placed the entire City of the Voyagers into a time stop. Everything except for the Protectors was frozen. This included Jean, who was in transport.

“What I am about to say is among the most classified information in the Infinite Realms. Only a handful of Protectors know it, including the Grand Protector. Needless to say, it cannot be leaked.”

“I understand.”

“One year ago, ARCADIA intercepted a conspiracy to infiltrate the Voyager program. An ARCADIA Protector squad was sent to investigate. They located a base of operation...in the Core Realms.”

Welch was slightly taken back. Core Realms? The Core Realms was the backyard of the Protectors. It was crawling with countless Protectors, each of whom could sense what was going on across a whole dimension. Some of the realms were sovereign, but that was about it. Hiding something there was like hiding a black car in a white room in front of a crowd of people with their eyes fully functioning.

“The ARCADIA squad attempted to take the base, but they were delayed by a trap. When they finally made it in, the base and all the personnel inside were cleared. They only intercepted some information. Namely, a list of names.”

“One of them was Jean Turner. That was why we sent you to her the moment she arrived in the City of the Voyagers.”

“We don’t know who she is or what she is after, but we do know there are many more of her kind among the Voyagers. The list of names includes Voyagers from over 12 Voyager Corps, and chances are that is not even close to the full list of undercover operatives.”

Welch nodded, but his confusion wasn’t lessened.

“In that case, it is more important that we keep Jean Turner alive. If she dies, then we lose another lead on who they are and what they’re after.”

“That’s correct, which is why she will not die, but that’s aside from the point.” Isabella continued. “You are ordered to lead Jean to become a Reapress. This will set her up to be one of the most powerful individuals in the Infinite Realms. At the same time, this will hopefully give her enough confidence to make a move toward her plan.”

“We can exterminate this entire Voyager Corps and all the other Corps with the identified spies, but we don’t know how far these infiltrators have spread. ARCADIA has captured one of these spies and tried to extract the information from her soul by force, but the attempt failed. Whoever was behind her has implemented failsafe that even the peak of our technology cannot crack.”

“We need to let them proceed with their plan, but these spies are cautious. They will never risk making a move unless they think they have the power to back it up. Our job is to give them the power.”

“As soon as they reveal themselves and make a move, we will crush them.”

Welch nodded again.

“If you don’t have any more questions, I will end the time stop. You will go to the Realm of the Dead and ensure Jean Turner survives the transformation. Death has been very dishonest with the recent transformations.”

Welch was silent initially. Just as Isabella was about to let time run its course, the male Protector suddenly spoke up.

“Another thing.”

“Yes?”

“A foe that can lurk inside the heart of the Protector Corps. They can only be one thing.”

This time, Isabella was silent. She saw where Welch was going.

“The Enemy. It can only be the Enemy.”

Isabella didn't respond to Welch’s suggestion.

During the last days of the Merge, the Protectors weren’t even called the Protectors. They were known by another name. A name that most Protectors have forgotten.

But even before the name change, the Protectors have been at war with other inhabitants of the Core Realms, and they were winning.

One of the last enemies standing during the Merge was known as the Time Council. They were the masters at manipulating time. Pausing time. Slowing time. Accelerating time. Posing a chronic acceleration on a specific area without touching the surrounding and using the difference to destroy entire fleets.

Of course, even they couldn’t master time travel. Protector researches have determined that time travel was impossible.

The Protectors and the Time Council fought viciously, but in the end, the Protectors won out. Legions broke through the last line of defense of the Time Council and slaughtered them to the last. The Grand Protector led the charge as she obliterated stronghold after stronghold. None could stand in her way for more than a brief moment.

Finally, as the last Time Councilman met his end, the Protectors started to count the loot. One of the first places to go to was the Time Library, where the Time Council stored millennials of knowledge.

The first squad of Protectors that entered never came back.

When another legion came to the rescue, not a single one of them returned to explain what happened.

It was when the Grand Protector herself walked into the library did the others knew what happened.

In a dark corner of the Time Library was a memory stone. Memory stones were psychic devices that could store certain memories and let the observers live through those memories. It was an effective mean of communication to the Protectors, but it was what those memories contained that posed a problem.

The memory stone told the tale of an unnamed presence. Known as the ultimate menace of the Infinite Realms, this presence extended its influence throughout every single dimension it came across. Countless civilizations were obliterated without even realizing what happened. Its men bore bright green armors and used strange firearms that could take the shape of any weapon the wielders wished.

This presence had legions of underlings, mercenaries, who used various different powers. They were fearless and endless, looting everything in their path.

One of the Protector vanguards must have turned on the memory stone by accident. The memories inside, along with the infinite fear and fury of the owner of the memories, crept out of the container and into the mind of every single Protector that entered. All the Protectors in the proximity were so consumed by these emotions that they almost lost themselves. If the Grand Protector didn't enter just in time, persist through the storms of memories, and turn off the memory stone, these Protectors would be fully taken over by the memories.

At that point, with the Merge coming to an end, the Protectors were the masters of the Core Realms. As far as they knew, this was it. Anyone who dared stand against them has trembled to their deaths. They have won. The memory stone told a different story. It told them the war was far from over. They haven’t won. There was another enemy out there stronger than anything the Protectors have faced before, and sooner or later, it would come for their world and destroy everything the Protectors hold dear.

At first, some Protectors questioned the choice. The Grand Protector answered by amplifying the signals of the memory stone and broadcasting it to every single member of her kind.

All words of doubt died down.

And so the war continued.

Within merely one year, ARCADIA scientists discovered ways out of the Core Realms and into the endless sea of dimensions known only as the Infinite Realms.

That was the year the Protectors adopted that name.

That was the year when the Grand Protector launched the Infinite March.

The purpose of the Infinite March was simple. Everything the Protectors value, everything they and their ancestors have fought and died for, was at risk, but the Protectors would not fall. They have fought in countless wars against countless mighty enemies, and they have survived through grit, sacrifice, and obedience. They would do the same again.

During the Infinite March, everything would step aside for the final victory. Ethics. Religion. Family. Personal beliefs and personal interests. Anything and everything could be sacrificed for the final victory and survival of the Protectors.

Legions of Protectors were recruited, armed, trained, and sent to the front. Protector armadas were increased tenfold, incorporating any technology inside the Core Realms to amplify its power. Special operation teams were created with the goal of tracking down and improving mystic forces such as magic and gods. Every single world the Protectors came across would be assessed. If it posed a threat to the Protectors, it would be exterminated. Its resources and energy scrapped to enhance the Protectors.

This was a march that would only end by one thing: the total and final destruction of the malicious presence known only as the Enemy.

Twenty years after the launch of the Infinite March, the Voyager program was initiated. In the memory stone, the Enemy had the support of legions of mercenary-like cannon fodders code-named the Brutes by the Grand Protector. The Protectors attempted to achieve the same thing with the Voyagers. In the final battle, the Protectors would face off against the Enemy and the Voyagers would hold off the Brutes.

Elite against elite. Cannon fodder against cannon fodder.

Voyagers were recruited from locals of dimensions the Protectors have conquered. They were thrown into worlds that have not yet been touched by Protectors. After all, the Infinite Realms was, well, infinite. Countless new dimensions were discovered every second. The Protectors could never get to everyone.

These Voyagers were given the chance to gain powers from these dimensions. Of course, the death rate was off the roof, but the Protectors weren’t exactly short on recruits. If out of a hundred recruits, only one could survive, then the Protectors would simply bring in billions and billions of recruits. Sometimes, entire worlds were conscripted into the Voyager Corps.

Ever since the Infinite March, the Protectors have never experienced a real battle with the Enemy, but there have always been subtle signs that constantly reminded the Protectors there was an enemy out there. Sometimes, a Protector suggesting that the actions of the Protector Corps have deviated away from its original cause would be arrested by ARCADIA with clear evidence of serving an alternate master. Sometimes, small squads of Protectors would disappear and never be seen again.

The nature of the Protectors meant it was practically impossible for them to die, so what else could make them disappear without a trace than the ultimate foe of the Infinite March and the Protector Corps?

In this case, the base of operation might not have made Protectors disappear, but that made sense. After all, it was ARCADIA Protectors that went after it. They were some of the strongest entities in the Infinite Realms, with the power to take down even regular Protectors. Still, the base was able to not only hide in plain sight, but when it was finally discovered, it managed to hold the ARCADIA Protectors off long enough to evacuate.

Welch continued.

“Isn’t it obvious? The Enemy has been scouting us for a long time. They realized we have gotten stronger, too strong for them to take us head on, so they tried to cripple the Voyager Corps to weaken us by sending in covert agents.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Isabella finally stated. “Whether Jean Turner is a servant of the Enemy or not, she is ultimately on the other side. What matters now is she doesn’t know we’re onto her, and I want you to keep it that way. We are warriors. Our role is to punch a path through anyone in our way. The Grand Protector and ARCADIA were born in an age of deception and tactics. In this situation, they know what to do. We only have to obey.”

“One more question. Does Jean herself know about who she truly is?”

Isabella shook her head.

“No. The spies themselves don’t know they’re spies, which is what makes identifying them so difficult. The one behind them, possibly the Enemy, uses subtle soul manipulation to make sure they are the ideal soldiers and fighters. Enhanced intelligence. Improved willpower. An endless desire for power that could be stopped only by death. But we can’t use them as tools of identification.”

Welch quietly nodded. Finally, Isabella snapped her finger and canceled the effect of the time stop. The next second, Welch was gone.