The figure stepped out from and with a single wave from her hand, the dust cleared away and unveiled herself.

“Sherry?” muttered Alastor. “You weren’t supposed to be here.”

“Fill me in,” said Cid.

“Long story short, someone else helped us to escape in exchange to give the child prisoners shelter. They were supposed to go in Anargond to meet Henrick.” Alastor explained quickly.

“Now I finally get it.” Said Cid.

Cid was supposed to greet her but Alastor stopped him from getting closer.

“What?”

“There’s something wrong with her.”

Alastor’s skeptic eyes scanned Sherry’s stature and noticed the violet pulsating on her chest. Her soulless eyes reckon murderous intention.

“A little bit judge-e, don’t you think?” asked Cid. Alastor shook his head. “She must be tired. Women can be a little bit grumpy when they’re hungry. So, I think you should pack up the saddle and chill the eff out.”

Alastor sighed and allowed Cid to make contact with her. He doesn’t know if it's just his or Sherry’s hands twitch and fist as Cid gets close to her. Sherry was steady on her position, not until Cid came.

The moment that Sherry’s pulsating light stopped from flickering, Alastor's head began to throb, pounding hard, sharp, and heavy as a boulder. It felt as if everything was being blended by grey and distorted into madness.

His hands tried to reached Cid.

“Cid… no…”

Cid heard his faint voice and just as he looked behind, Sherry swings her fist. Cid was dumb but not that dumb not to realize the sudden change in atmosphere. He sprung and rolled over to evade and pull a distance between him and Sherry. Cid quickly got up before Sherry could land a hit on him.

“Oh, so you’re hitting on me, eh,” Cid smirked. “Can’t pass to that, but I’ll have to pass with you. You’re going to end me up with a broken jaw.”

With great effort, Alastor put himself together, and eventually, the headache subsided. He observed her and saw the possible cause of the outrageous attack.

“That thing,” said Alastor, pointing the light in her chest. “That’s the reason why she’s not on herself.”

“Hemil Klust.” Murmured Cid.

“That’s right.”

“What should we do?”

“I don’t know anything about it.” Said Alastor, still trying to figure out what’s the next step. “Should we take her out?” He asked.

“No.” disagreed Cid. “I’m going to try something.”

Sherry leaped and outflank him over his back and delivered a round-house kick to Cid. He flew over the wall. Alastor sheathes his sword and proceeds with hand-to-hand combat.

This is the first time he saw Sherry show a masterful counterflow against his attacks. From blocking his right swing to synchronizing his kicks, Sherry was gaining the upper hand over time. Sherry blocked Alastor’s fist by catching it and headbutted him. Alastor was stammered and tried to counter her, but she was quick and before he could land an attack, Sherry already lunges at his guts. Alastor puked saliva and kneeled in awe.

Alastor remained shocked at what she had performed. He had never seen anyone like her ability to master hand-to-hand combat for a very short time. There must be an explanation behind all of this.

“Sherry.” Said Cid. Sherry looked back at him. “Look at me.”

“She is looking at you, dumbass.”

“Look at my handsome face.”

Alastor put his palm on his face. His face animates distress.

Cid’s goal did not go well at his end, instead, Sherry remained furious and became more vicious and apparent to attack Cid.

“Shit.” Swore Cid. “Did you just hold a grudge on me?”

Sherry stride almost running until she finally made a sprint towards him. Her fist raised and jump over Cid. With precision, Cid sidesteps and allowed her fist past through and was stuck on the wall.

“How come a woman holds a grudge on me?!” Cid asked Alastor.

“I don’t know!” He shouted back. “Maybe, it is because you have a spunk of attitude that correlates to trash.”

“Dude!”

Water sprouted out of the hole and showered Sherry. Her power emerges and shoots out, but they easily avoided it and were prepared for her next attack.

“For your information, I did not intend to sneak on your room. Secondly, forgive me what I am about to do to you.”

For a brief moment, there was a spark on Cid’s snapped fingers. Without intending to back down, Cid conjures lightning magic that shocked Sherry and had her crippled and knocked her out. It was quick, yet violent and unforgiving. Cid catches her before she fell to the ground.

“Whew, that was quick.” He said, “From a hundred to zero.”

Alastor stands and observed her. The strong malevolent sensation was finally subsided.

“Impressive.” Commended Alastor.

“I know. I find it hard myself to believe that I’m a damn genius.” Cid smiled.

“Now I regret saying that.” He whispered to himself, “What a total dumbass.”

Since Sherry is knocked out, she was taken first priority and had her ride on Liber, while Cid and Alastor walk over and follow the path they’ve taken. They shared their stories on what had happened for the past days and began to stitch the stories to create speculation about the objective Theo.

“You said weapons like nukes were being transported over the Vesoga Plain?” Alastor asked.

“Ah-huh. It seems that they have a hideout in there. They appear to sell weapons all over the city, they could also export all of those weapons all over the region and the only god knows what are those.”

“How can you tell?”

“I have never seen those nukes that my informant said to me, but I saw dozens of craters and weapons being stock and put on the cargo.”

Alastor fell silent and trapped in his thoughts.

“What are you thinking?” asked Cid.

“There’s a lot of variables to see, but I don’t think he only wants to gain profits out of smuggling,” Alastor explains.

“What’re you suggesting? Like he wants people to go against each other and had to supply them with weapons?”

“Exactly,” Alastor said with a certainty in his eyes. “Come to think of it, he rarely appeared in public and have his so-to-be vice president always handle public information dissemination.”

“I still don’t get how it connects to getting people to kill each other.”

“You’ve said before, Don Trifalgo is busy transporting and have his men export those weapons across different places?”

“So?”

“So, we could concur that Theo is the only one who handles transactions and negotiations with different kinds of people.”

“That wouldn’t make sense. He has his minions.” Cid said.

“Not if you’re a cynic. I would do that if I want to know who I’m dealing with, to ensure the flow of negotiation.”

“Hmm.”

“Simple to speak, Theo wants to incite a geopolitical economy war.”

“That’s insane!” Cid shouted and held firmly Alastor’s shoulder. “It’s like he’s asking for another god-forsaken war.”

“Not all of us wants to see the world in peace, some men want to see it in chaos.”

Alastor annoyingly removed his hand from his shoulder and stand back away from him.

“Are you sure of what you’re saying?”

“No. I don’t have any evidence, but his activities are provoking this kind of catastrophe. He’s a threat that needed to be dealt with.”

“I believe you, but we need to tell this to Linda and ask Rod for instruction.”

Alastor nodded. “We need to get back in the headquarter.”

“About that…”

“What about what?”

“The building got destroyed.”

“Well, we have an underground base. We’ll just have to cross the abandoned train station and go for another trip in a sewer.”

“What about Liber?” asked Cid.

Alastor looked at Liber. “You’re right. I guess we’ll stay in the sewer then.”

Cid’s eyes caught a shadow moving. His hands flickered in lightning. Alastor saw it and nodded.

“Before that,” said Cid. “We must take care of the pest problem.”

“I agree.”

With a quick movement, Alastor’s sword cuts the shadowy enemy in half and leaves Cid to cover Liber with his protection magic, and throws a lightning bolt at the enemy.