Joachim collapsed to the floor, clutching the space where his arm had been, his scream echoing through the facility. Crystalline scales began to surface across his face.

Julius stepped forward and planted his heel against Joachim's stomach. The blade stopped just inches from his throat.

"Now tell me," Julius said. "What were you planning to do with those monsters?"

"Khh… Mikhailov…" Joachim gasped. "Don't tell me you're—"

"It doesn't matter who I am," Julius cut in. "I'm the one asking the questions."

"Haha… how blind I was…" Joachim let out a hoarse chuckle. "To think you were a German spy all along—Akh!"

Julius pressed his heel down harder against Joachim's stomach. The breath was forced out of him.

"You're even more psychotic than I am, you bastard," Joachim spat. "How long did you stay here, just to get close to me?"

"What are those creatures for?"

Joachim laughed again.

"Let me guess. A Directorate dog sent after me after I escaped that camp. I was wondering why Germany wasn't making a big deal out of it…"

He coughed, blood staining his teeth.

"Well, never mind. Germans like to keep things behind closed doors even more than the Soviets…"

Julius pressed the blade closer to Joachim's throat. Blood welled and slid down the steel.

"Okay. Okay…" Joachim rasped. "What are they for? Analysis. What else?"

"Analysis for what?"

"For Glasshearts. What else, you idiot?"

Julius didn't react to the insult.

"What for?" he asked. "To see how your kind reacts when pushed to the limit? Or to find out what Glasshearts are truly capable of?"

Glasshearts.

They were the descendants of miners forced into labor, condemned to excavate Glass Shards for generations.

The shards were toxic. They seeped into flesh, into blood, and into bone. Over countless generations, mutation and adaptation followed.

And what emerged were Glasshearts.

Glass Shards were, in every sense of the word, mana made solid.

Which meant Glasshearts were living proof of mana given human form.

That was why they were oppressed.

That was why they were feared.

Because if allowed to grow unchecked, they had the potential to surpass humanity entirely.

"For power," Joachim said. "Trial and error. Again and again. The research I've gathered on Glasshearts is worth more than Germany's entire fortune could ever hope to afford."

"...."

Julius paused. The blood clinging to his blade began to crystallize, creeping along the metal.

Crack——

In the next instant, the blade shattered.

Julius stepped back.

Joachim rose to his feet. The wound at his throat hardened as crystalline growths sealed it shut.

"This wasn't the outcome I wanted," Joachim said calmly. "But it's acceptable. The data is still valuable to him."

"Him?"

"A secret friend."

Julius's eyes narrowed. "Let me guess. The Second Painter."

Joachim laughed. "Bingo! You're more knowledgeable than you let on, Mikhailov. If that even is your real name."

He turned away and leaned against the railing, gazing down at the Knightframe below. Crystalline fractures continued to spread across his body, reforming him piece by piece.

"That man's ambitions are far grander than anything I attempted here," Joachim continued. "Even I know my place. I'm merely a means to an end."

"And yet you still helped him."

"I want to see it realized."

"Realized how?"

Joachim glanced back. "I suppose I can tell you. You won't be leaving this place alive anyway."

Julius shifted his stance. "And what makes you so certain I can't cut you down right now?"

Joachim's severed arm regenerated before his eyes. It mirrored the very anomalies they had dissected.

"I won't allow it," Joachim replied.

"...."

"Tell me," Joachim said, spreading his arms slightly. "What do you think humanity has always dreamed of?"

"Wealth. Power. Knowledge?"

Joachim shook his head. "Wrong. It's the heavens."

He met Julius's gaze.

"Humanity was born bound to the ground. Even after amassing wealth and power, it always wanted more. Because humanity is greed itself. It will never stop until everything is under its control."

"...."

"Even now," Joachim continued, "after planes, after ships, after reaching the edges of the solar system, humanity still hasn't left the Milky Way."

His smile widened.

"And that," he said, "is the true failure he intends to correct."

"...."

Julius froze.

For reasons he couldn't immediately explain, that grand ideal sounded uncomfortably familiar.

No. It was eerily similar to nonsense he himself had once spouted as a child.

——One day, I'll build a spaceship that can cross other galaxies. I'll be the first to discover everything! Haha!

——But Big Brother Julius, how would you even get past the moon blocking the solar system?

And that was the problem.

In the 22nd century, new moons had appeared. Sometimes visible in daylight. Sometimes hanging in the night sky as multiple satellites.

Their irregular orbits warped gravitational fields to such a degree that conventional launches became nearly impossible.

One space company had already tried.

The result was catastrophic. The astronauts never returned. €400,000,000 worth of investment went down the drain along with the vessel.

——Eh… Uh… Stop questioning me, ■ ■ ■ ■ ■.

"Ukh…!"

Julius clutched his head as a sharp migraine pierced through his skull.

"Who…?"

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember the boy's name. The face remained blank, erased as if it had never existed.

——If I can't fulfill my dream, will you guys do it for me?

——You can count on me, Big Brother!

——Yes! You can count on us!

That ragtag group of children. Julius could only remember that much. Kids who had followed him devotedly during his time in Colors.

———!

Crystalline fragments erupted from the floor, spearing upward like protruding spikes. Julius launched himself aside as shards cut through the space he had occupied only a moment earlier.

He rolled, caught his footing, and looked up.

Joachim was already moving toward the Knightframe.

"Ah, fuck."

Julius lunged forward.

Steel flashed as he cut down, but the strike met crystals immediately, bursting apart in his wake and reforming almost instantly as layered barriers.

Shards exploded outward, forcing him to move aside as fragments grazed past his coat.

Joachim laughed hoarsely from ahead.

The floor groaned. More crystalline growths surged up, interlocking like living walls, slowing Julius's advance one step at a time.

Shatter! Shatter! Shatter!

"No, you don't!"

The hatch slid open with a hiss. Joachim was already halfway inside the pod when Julius slashed forward.

The blade tore through crystal and flesh alike, grazing Joachim's side. Blood splattered across the pod's rim as Joachim cried out and tumbled fully inside.

The hatch began to close.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.