When Isaac opened his eyes again in the real world, he was greeted by the familiar darkness of the night. His night vision soon chased it away, but the fact remained that he couldn't have been asleep for long. Otherwise, it would have been daytime already.

Give me the timer, he ordered, sitting up on his makeshift cot.

Round One of Virus Wars shall begin in: <2h:23m:1s>

A bit over three hours, that was how long he had slept. Not even close to enough rest for an ordinary human, but he was far from ordinary at this point, wasn't he? He definitely didn't feel any of the lingering exhaustion from his fight in the Valleys of Whispers. Hell, even his Viron reserves seemed to be mostly recovered.

By the time the timer hit zero, Isaac should be as good as new.

At least that's something, he thought, glancing toward the far side of the room.

The two women were still there, sleeping on a single cot. For a brief moment, he considered waking them up, but then he dismissed the idea. Let them rest. They all had a potentially very long day ahead of them. And it wasn't like they had his regeneration attribute.

With a quiet sigh, Isaac moved to stand. He might as well step outside, breathe some fresh air, and see how many others were already up. Probably quite a few. He would bet more than a handful had trouble sleeping after the broadcast they had all witnessed.

That said, before he could even move toward the door, a notification flared to life before him. This one, he had been waiting for, and was surprised when it didn't appear right after he woke up.

Isaac sat back on his cot and got to reading.

Patron Mission Obtained: Overlord Chaos has given you a special task, one that may help even the odds in the coming Fusion War. Within the first three days of the War, you must find and cross through a Warp Portal. Upon arrival on Reprizem, your objective is simple, but dangerous. Kill at least 100 Zerians and survive until the extraction. Higher kill count may, or may not, affect the quality of your reward.

"There it is…" he mumbled, eyes closed, head bowed.

Even if Rakin hadn't told him about the mission during their conversation, this right here was one of the possibilities that had floated in Isaac's head before. It was so obvious, so… Rakin-like.

And honestly? Isaac had no idea how to really feel about it.

His vow to do whatever was necessary to survive was one thing. But saying the words and going through with them were two very different things.

Yet…

If Rakin was right—if he hadn't lied—and Earth truly couldn't win by just killing monsters alone, then what choice did Isaac and others like him have? Besides, it wasn't like those Zerians would hesitate to kill him or any other humans. Not if they were as war-hardened as the Overlord described.

Isaac snorted. So, pretty much everything comes down to how much I trust Rakin's words.

Or maybe it didn't. Even if his opponents were different, even if Earth's odds were better, would that change anything? Would that change how effective using the Warp Portals could be?

No.

In the end, it was just a matter of morality. Of a block in the human mind that said killing other sapient beings was wrong. But was that a block Isaac still possessed? Did it even apply here, with everything that was at stake?

No. No, it didn't.

Kill or be killed. No other choice, Isaac summed up grimly, dismissing the mission's description. Need to focus on something else or my head will explode.

Before another thought about morality could cross his mind, he summoned a lone item out of his Storage Brand. Warmth bloomed over his open palm as the Fire Stone landed on top of it.

Origin Fusion.

He had a little bit over two hours to kill, and it was high time that he at least started on the process.

Isaac nodded to himself, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. Only the Fire Stone in his hands mattered. Its warmth. Its power. Its Origin. He had no idea how to replicate any of it yet with his own Viron, but he would figure it out. One way or another.

Let's get to work.

Isaac blinked as he felt someone nudge his shoulder. His focus broke, as did the trance he had somehow entered when studying the pulsing Fire Stone in his hands. Just how long had he been sitting like that?

Apparently a while, he realized, spotting the thin rays of sunlight slipping through the gaps in the walls. His gaze drifted to the figure standing beside him.

"Elaine," he muttered, meeting her concern-filled eyes. "Morning?"

A ghost of a smile touched her lips, but it faded quickly.

"Morning," she replied, sitting down next to him. "Sorry for interrupting your… meditation? It's almost time."

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Isaac hummed, glancing at the other cot in the room. It was empty.

"Marie?"

"Already went out," Elaine said. "Somebody has to keep this place from burning down. Her words, not mine."

He chuckled, fighting back a yawn. His meditation session, as Elaine had called it, made him a bit sleepy. Hopefully, it was only temporary. Long day and all that.

"Let's find her then?" he offered, trying to stand up. A hand on his arm stopped him, though. He turned to his friend, a question written all over his face.

"I met my Patron, too," Elaine explained. "She confirmed that my first mission was finished. Gave me my reward. But… she also mentioned who we are up against. That our chances aren't looking too good."

Just like that, Isaac dropped back onto his cot. "Oh…" he muttered. "What exactly did she tell you?"

And so Elaine elaborated, presenting him with all the information he had already gotten from Rakin. When he told her as much, she grimaced and let herself fall back against the wall.

"So they are either working together or it's simply the truth," she said quietly. "And… as much as I hate them, I don't think it's the former."

Isaac just nodded in agreement. Creating a fake story about the Zerians was one thing, but involving more Overlords to sell it was another. He refused to believe that he, Elaine, and potentially other human Hosts were important enough for such a level of manipulation.

"Did she give you a new mission?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

Elaine shook her head. "Not yet. Just told me to stay on the Battleworld. My future missions will apparently be more reactive and time-limited. Still thinking if I should even bother… You?"

A grimace crossed Isaac's face as, for a short second, he considered lying to her. But he didn't, and just read out the description of his mission like a robot. Silence followed.

After over a minute, Elaine broke it.

"So there is no other way?"

Now, it was Isaac's turn to shake his head. Because what else could he do?

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "You d—"

"I'm not," he cut in before she could finish. He already knew what she was going to say, and he didn't want to hear it. His choice was made.

"I will do what I have to," he said, but it still felt like he was trying to convince himself more so than Elaine.

Which was why he almost missed it when she let out a long, quiet, resigned sigh. A moment later, a gentle hand landed on his shoulder.

"Just…" she began, her face scrunching up as if the words were fighting her. "Just be careful. We can all see that you love fighting, and even killing, but please, don't lose yourself. Grandpa wouldn't want that… we wouldn't want that."

If she hadn't mumbled that last part, Isaac would have called her out for using the Old Man. After all, she wasn't much better than he, driven as she was by revenge. With what he heard, though, there was no point in arguing, not when this was just her messy way of saying she cared too.

So he swallowed the mild irritation and gave her a small, crooked smile.

"Don't worry," he said, enjoying how her eyes widened a bit. "I will be fine. It's just what I and plenty of others will have to do if Earth is to survive. These Zarians won't hesitate to slaughter us. We can't hesitate either."

For a minute, maybe two, Elaine held his gaze. Then she nodded, finally looking away.

"Fine," she grumbled, standing up. "Come on. Let's get something to eat before the systems unlock."

After taking a quick glance at the timer—just twenty minutes left—Isaac followed after the woman. This was obviously the end of this conversation. Probably not forever, though. That would have been far too easy.

Elaine took him to the so-called Great Hall of Silent Oasis, which, as he soon realized, was just the renamed Chief's house. Inside, they found over a dozen people, including Marie, who was in the middle of an argument with some random guy.

The moment she saw them?

She waved the man off mid-sentence and walked away, leaving him behind. It was kind of amusing to watch the guy flush with anger and then march out of the building. Marie refused to reveal what that was about. Not that Isaac really cared.

From there, she guided them to a far-off empty table where they again discussed some of the info given to them by the Overlords. Thankfully, aside from just offering them a warm smile and wishing them good luck, the short woman didn't say much else.

That left them with enough time to eat a light breakfast before the timer ran out.

There it goes, Isaac thought, watching the final seconds tick away. A quick glance at his teammates told him they were doing much of the same.

And zero…

Just like that, notifications flooded his vision.

To the Hosts of Earth! The first round of Virus Wars has begun. For the next 39 days and 8 hours, you will face the Hosts of Reprizem in a Fusion War. All systems have now been unlocked.

You may access your assigned Battleworld, as well as Communications, through the nearest Support Nexus.

Good luck. Your fate is now in your hands. Fight or perish.

With the final ominous line, the message ended. Isaac couldn't help but chuckle quietly. Over a month. Over a month of fighting and killing awaited them. And that was just the beginning. The first round of many.

"Holy shit," Marie's voice cut through his thoughts. "We can finally contact the others. Isaac! You should be able to message James."

Huh? Isaac tilted his head in confusion.

"She means the new Communications function," Elaine explained, clearly amused. "Did you even read the message?"

He rolled his eyes. Forgive him for hyper-focusing on the more important part of the notification. Still, he summoned the Nexus menu, and indeed, there they were, two new options. One called Battleworld, the other Communications.

He selected the latter.

[Here you may send messages to a Host of your choosing. As long as you have connected to the Support Nexus they are staying at, your message will be delivered. Otherwise, it will wait in the backlog until this condition is met. All functions are operated mentally.]

Interesting, if a bit limited. At least now I get why I have to be the one to contact James, Isaac mused. Okay… so how do I do this? Nexus? New message, please? To James Harmon?

To his surprise, it worked—sort of.

[James Harmon is in range of your network. The recipient, however, has not connected to the Support Nexus of Silent Oasis and will not be able to reply. Do you wish to proceed anyway?]

Isaac frowned before reading out this notification to his two teammates. They didn't look surprised at all, which was probably because they had already tried to send a message to someone in Galt. He was just slow…

Right… Should probably contact Daryl later. James first.

After giving the Interface an affirmative, an empty window appeared before him. Within seconds, he found out it worked like a text editor, just based on his thoughts. It took him over five minutes to create a message that made sense. It didn't help that Marie often interrupted, telling him what to include and what not.

"And done," he muttered, looking up. "Battleworld next, then?"

No one disagreed.

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