According to what the Emissary had said, the Yellow Ash Mountains was the ideal location due to logistics and other factors like how many dimensional jumps you had to make between their worlds, but Riyala knew that all this was just bullshit. Riyala had still been on the fence about not giving the Machina that land a while ago, but after seeing their reaction to being offered some other piece of land and how adamant they were about taking those mountains, Riyala now knew that there was no way she could allow them to take the Yellow Ash Mountains! There was something there that they wanted, and Riyala would ensure that they never got their hands on it!

——

[Earth]

[Gaia Headquarters in America]

Within a large meeting room in the Gaia headquarters in America, a group of men and women sat around a large table and discussed the situation that they were currently facing. These men and women were the leaders of the various Gaia headquarters from all around the world. They had all been told to fly into America by their leader, Cecil, since this was a situation that could affect the entire world if they didn't handle it as quickly as possible. At the head of the table, Cecil was sitting with a hard look on his face, and he spoke to the gathered group calmly.

"I got reports that the feelers have been dispatched. Did anyone have any run-ins with the Machina yet?"

Cecil looked around the table, and he saw that none of them were raising their hands, but the tension from earlier was still there! The feelers that Cecil was talking about were Gaia's military groups that were dispatched towards regions where Dimensional Tears could be opened to connect Earth to the world of the Machina. After Agiel came back to Earth a few days ago and told Cecil about how much of a failure the entire trial had been, Cecil knew that they would eventually be getting a visit from the Machina. But what Cecil hadn't been prepared for was the other bit of information that he had gotten from Agiel! Apparently, Jason had been branded as a Black Enigma by the Machina, and now he was on the run to try to prove his innocence! This was not at all what Cecil had been hoping to hear, and it opened up a whole new can of worms that Cecil hadn't been planning to get into at all! Jason being branded as an Enigma was bad for him, but it was also terrible for Earth! Over the past few months as a superhuman, Jason had managed to draw Earth into the limelight of the Primordial Expanse!

It was as if every single other-worlder that was captured by Gaia now knew a lot more about Earth, simply because of Jason! But even though this seemed like a bad thing, it had actually been beneficial to them! Jason didn't know this, but his mere presence on Earth had drastically reduced the number of criminals or fugitives that came here to try to escape from the law! Earth was now being treated as a world that shouldn't be crossed because most worlds in this domain knew that Jason was protecting them! But now that Jason was gone, things were slowly returning to how they once were, and Gaia all of a sudden had to deal with many more inter-world travellers!

But that hadn't been the reason why Cecil had sent out the feelers to monitor the various Dimensional Tear Zones. The reason Cecil had done that was simple: they did not know what the Machina were going to do next! Right now, Earth was not only a planet that owed five billion gold coins, but it was also the home world of a Black Enigma! Cecil fully expected the Machina to come here anytime from now to demand payment, or they would do something terrible to them! And even if Cecil wanted to just hand over five billion gold coins, he knew that it wasn't possible. No country in the world had that much gold, and asking them to work together to gather the gold was impossible since they were all trying to protect their own interests! The only option they had was to defend themselves, and Cecil wasn't the sort of person to shy away from conflict.

"We have the new mana-infused nuclear bombs positioned on the satellites. If we have news that there is a conflict with the Machina from any of our feelers, we will do what we must."

Cecil spoke to the room, and he saw one or two of them shifting uncomfortably at his words. A certain woman leaned forward, and Cecil turned to her as she spoke.

"Sir, those bombs, are you sure they are safe to detonate in such areas? Any one of them could take out an entire country with one blow."

Cecil let out a breath and leaned back.

"As much as I hope we never have to use them, they are a precaution that we must have. If the choices are between enslavement and battle, then we must choose battle with overwhelming intensity and show them that we are not going to back down without a proper fight. We will not use the bombs unless they are absolutely necessary and we have exhausted every other avenue of finding a middle ground, but in the event that we have no other choice, then the lives of a few million people are a small price to pay in order to save billions."

——

[The world of Freman]

It was raining. The constant downpour of water blanketed the world of Freman in its embrace and soaked the land! The world was covered in large forests and tall mountains that soared high into the sky! The forests possessed large trees that could cover entire miles with their branches and roots, as well as an extremely diverse ecosystem of animals that thrived along with the dominant species of this world, known as the Fremans. But right now, none of the animals could be seen walking through the forest or enjoying their time in the various ponds and lakes around the world. They were all huddled up inside various trunks or beneath branches and rocks as they tried to stay away from the intense downpour that was soaking everything around them.

Jason and Gina were no different. Inside a cave in a tall mountain that overlooked a beautiful scene of a large forest meeting a flowing river, Gina sat with her back against the cave wall and a smile on her face. Jason and Gina had been travelling together for about five days now, and they had only covered about thirty Dimensional Jumps, so they weren't even halfway to their destination. But even though the past five days had been the tensest moments of Gina's life, with all the times they had to endure attacks from the Machina or when they had to look over their shoulders to make sure that they weren't being followed, Gina also knew that these five days had been the best days of her life! Gina never knew how much she needed something like this. This trip with Jason was allowing Gina to see so much of the world outside of Earth, and the fact that she was seeing all of this with Jason beside her was just a hundred times better! It was almost like they had gone on a honeymoon before their marriage!

Step! Step! Step!

The sound of footsteps echoed from outside the cave, and Gina smiled as she saw Jason's silhouette coming from outside. Jason walked into the cave with two subordinates following behind him. Evon had a large bundle of wet firewood in her hand, and Alpha was carrying a large deer-like creature that they had hunted.

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