“Come in! We’ve been expecting you!”

Gaius pushed the door open when he heard Paragon Ying Xin’s voice, revealing ten or so people sitting around a rather large table. The insides of this room, however, seemed at odds with the graffiti that adorned the double doors he’d just seen.

“Something wrong?” Paragon Ying Xin asked, a smirk on her face. “Perhaps we didn’t live up to your expectations?”

“N-no, nothing.” Gaius forced out a smile. “So, what’s with the occasion today? Getting me here and what not.”

“Oh, the Plenum wants to uphold its own side of the deal now,” said the Paragon. “Remember that Engine they promised you? We’ll be passing it to you now.”

“That’s not all, is it? The last time I got them, there was a little ceremony and all, but only you were present. This time, the entire Plenum is here, but there isn’t any ceremony going on. This doesn’t make any sense whatsoever,” Gaius answered.

“You…are a smart one. But we prefer to settle our debts first, before making more requests,” said Paragon Ying Xin. “If the others had their way…never mind. Forget I said that. So, yes, we’ve created a brand-new Engine that’s uniquely suited to your tastes, so it’ll definitely be a substantial upgrade over your current one.”

“That’s nice.”

“Compared to the number of people you managed to save through your involvement in the ongoing war, that’s really nothing much,” said the Paragon. She produced a small aquamarine box from her robes, and with a flick of a hand, it floated over to Gaius, who caught it.

“Take a look,” said the Paragon.

The boy opened it up to reveal a small heptagon of purple crystal. Black, swirling opal enclosed the little Engine, revealing a complex network of little passages within the crystalline body. A small piece of paper on it revealed a myriad of abilities — enough to rival that of the Stellar Core’s own.

“For safety’s sake, I will not disclose the abilities of the Divine Star. You can examine it on your own when you return,” said the Paragon. “You should link with it as soon as possible, in case something happens to it a few minutes down the road.”

She glared at a group of three people sitting together openly, and Gaius narrowed his eyes at her implicit message. It seemed that the group she’d pointed didn’t have any good intentions for Gaius, and that appeared to be just the tip of the iceberg.

“Next,” said Paragon Saito, who was also sitting beside Paragon Ying Xin, “we’ll like to request for your full participation in Operation Spring Fury, which is—”

“Wait.” Gaius held up his hand, and the others frowned. “What do you mean, my full participation? I believe that our deal was that I would participate in this battle up until the deadline looms close. We have two more months before that happens.”

“So…”

“I am naturally participating in Spring Fury,” Gaius replied. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not being altruistic. It’s just that I made a deal, and I intend to see it through to the end.”

“But we’re offering…”

“I think I’ve gained enough from the East,” Gaius replied. “Heaping too much on me would just draw undue jealousy over. I don’t need another ambush when I return back to Mi-Zu.”

The others looked at each other, a complex emotion that Gaius couldn’t pinpoint in their eyes. They began to communicate with each other telepathically, and every so often, their eyes would drift over to the people that Paragon Ying Xin had pointed out to Gaius.

That group indeed doesn’t have good intentions for me, eh? They probably wanted something from me. But with my words, the others appear to have second doubts. Gaius narrowed his eyes slightly, a move that didn’t go unnoticed by the few observing Gaius closely.

A woman, with two pairs of wings extending outwards from her back, laughed.

“Paragon Ming Zhu, is something the matter?” A man dressed in blue from head to toe asked.

“That kid is a lot smarter than everyone here present gives him credit for,” said the winged Paragon. “He’s already figured out why we’re here, and why we’re already in our factions. Right, Knight Gaius?”

Ten pairs of eyeballs swivelled over to look at the boy. Without skipping a beat, Gaius replied, “I wouldn’t say that, Paragon Ming Zhu. After all, everyone here is a senior with extensive life experiences. For me to claim that I know what these esteemed seniors are thinking about is incredibly arrogant.”

“You acclaim my analytical skill, but claim my deduction is inaccurate,” said the Paragon. “Which is it?”

“You’re putting him on the spot, Ming Zhu.” Paragon Ying Xin rolled her eyes and slapped her back lightly. “He doesn’t want to voice his opinion, so leave him out of your detective games.”

She turned to Gaius. “Well, you got something right, at least. In our merry little band here, a few of us want you to divulge a secret or two before you leave. Of course, since we all have our own secrets, this demand was plainly ridiculous, but it is what it is.”

“Demand?” Gaius tapped his feet twice. “What kind of demand are we talking about here?”

“The one where you tell us how to draw the sigils you use to create such attacks,” said a man. He was one of the three people Ying Xin was glaring at earlier, and now that Gaius had directed his attention over to him fully, the boy frowned slightly.

He looked…like a snake. Somehow. Maybe it was his behaviour, or his demeanour in general, but the man somehow reminded him of those shadowy advisors he’d read about in stories back on Earth. It probably didn’t help that he, like the two to his side, was wearing a hood, a mask and his attire was in varying shades of grey.

He was, all things considered, was the epitome of ‘First Bad Impressions Jobseekers Should Avoid’ pamphlets that were handed out when the West entered the Russian market after the end of the Cold War.

Wait, was there such a thing? Gaius devoted a few seconds to wondering if his memories of said pamphlets were real, or if he’d just read yet another book in his later years that had such a plot, before tossing it aside. Focusing on the man once again, Gaius said, “Well, Paragon…”

His voice trailed off — Gaius wasn’t too sure of his name.

“Shizo.”

“Well then, let me give you an answer.”