Of course, considering that they were on steel rails, the crew spent a few minutes waiting for some kind of train or metro to show up, yet nothing of the sort was in sight.

Left with no other option, they headed north; considering that the distance they had to travel would be enormous, they instantly began to sprint while caring to not exhaust themselves too much.

Wordlessly the crew moved forward with no indication that they were even heading in the right direction.

Just as slowly doubts began to creep in, Enzo abruptly halted.

"How the hell?" He muttered. With a grimace, he pinched his nose.

"What's the matter?" Michael asked, seeing that Enzo had noticed something was amiss.

"Do you not notice it?" Enzo spat in irritation. "There is… some kind of stench here. I don't know how to properly explain, but one thing I know for certain. Even among the battlefields where millions of human corpses lay scattered throughout the ground, I have never encountered such a strong smell."

Alarmed by Enzo's words, the crew narrowed down their focus on their sense of smell.

"GODS!" Leo suddenly leaned over and began to cough violently.

"It's true. Despite it being faint, I can sense something sinister somewhere ahead of us." The man murmured, his face getting pale.

'I have to admit. Even I can't recognize the nature of the foul stench.' Michael thought with a frown.

"At the very least I can say it's not a poison, nor is it flammable." He addressed his teammates. "Treat it as an unpleasant smell that you can gradually get used to. Let's make haste; regardless of where the smell is coming from, it's clear we are close to something."

Quickly they pushed forward. However, now each member of the crew had irritated expressions that only seemed to deepen the more they traveled.

"It's too much; I can't take it." Enzo shook his head dejectedly. "From now on I will be breathing from my mouth. At least then I won't be disturbed by the foul stench."

Leo seemed to follow his example while the others pushed themselves to ignore the smell. After all, Michael didn't look really affected, so they couldn't be left behind.

Soon, the scenery changed. The steel tracks ended, opening up into a large, open space.

"Thank goodness, it wasn't all for nothing." Ava muttered in awe, clearly struck by the masterful engineering.

[Intruders detected! Eliminate at all cost!]

Sadly, the crew didn't have long to marvel at the sight. Robots and mechas of all kinds suddenly appeared, hellbent on exterminating them.

"Engage!" Michael shouted, propelling himself with the hook of Heaven's Judgment.

Slash!

With Devil's Tongue, he sliced through the head of a tiger-like mecha. It shared some resemblance with Cyberfang, yet at under a meter tall and lacking any real menace, it was clearly inferior.

Swosh!

Bullets and laser beams were immediately fired in an attempt to eliminate Michael, deeming him the biggest threat. Yet, with Dash and Blink, he slipped past the fire completely unscathed.

One laser beam entered his blind spot, about to hit him from the side. But before it could, Michael used Psychokinesis to halt it in the air.

'It takes so much more spiritual energy to stop a moving target than I thought!' Cursing bitterly, he continued his onslaught with his crew by his side.

These metallic machines certainly could endanger the lives of civilians and normal soldiers. However, before the might of Michael and his crew, they crumbled like toys. It didn't take long for every single one of these robots to lie shattered on the ground, incapable of continuing the fight.

'These guys are not smart enough to justify using Bypasser on them.' Michael mused. He was now certain that whatever controlled these robots was very intelligent. Since it gave its subjects the minimal amount of information they needed to accomplish their task and nothing more.

Shifting his gaze to the gates that the mechas had been protecting, he commanded.

"Let's go and see if coming all this way was worth it."

Unfortunately the metal gates were reinforced and needed a special ID to be opened.

However, rather than going on some kind of prolonged quest in search of a key, Michael had other plans in mind. Pushing his body to the limit, he struck the gates and carved a hole; he proceeded to bend them, giving his teammates a clear path.

"We could have helped you, Boss. There was no need to show off." Richard chuckled, throwing a glance at the girls.

'Or perhaps there was…' The Grandmaster mused inwardly.

Certainly the squad was in high spirits.

Sadly, their mood soured and their morale plummeted the second they witnessed what was beyond the gates.

Thud!

"I—I…" Enzo, whose face had begun to turn green, spoke in pure terror.

"Forgive me, I need a few minutes…" He muttered, going back to the mecha graveyard they had left behind.

Wordlessly Leo followed after him, his eyes dark as he stared at the ground.

"God…" Ava was the first one to speak among those that remained.

"W—What kind of monsters could have…?"

Their reaction was perfectly understandable, considering that they had essentially found themselves in an experimentation chamber.

One that experimented on humans, that is…

Countless incubation tanks were scattered around the enormous lab. Tables on which humans lie with their limbs spread apart and their flesh open. The horrifying expressions on some of the faces made it apparent that not everyone had been dead when the robots had initiated their experiments.

'This… This is what has been happening on Venus while I have been blissfully unaware? This and my prior life?' Michael thought as he took a step forward.

The place was truly colossal. If he had to take a guess, it contained more than 10,000 humans.

"Such tragedy…" He muttered, gradually exploring the lab.

Understandably his crew felt reluctant to explore its depths just yet, so he had gone alone.

He couldn't linger in his thoughts for long. He sensed movement up ahead.

'A robot researcher? A mecha tasked with guarding the place? Perhaps the mastermind behind this whole operation?' Countless theories raced in his mind as he prepared for every situation.

Yet what followed suit was something that he had never expected in his life, his two lives even.

Creeping steadily, he moved forward with his soul weapon in hand. Soon after, he caught a glimpse of a silhouette.

"W—What…"

The lighting positioned overhead blinked eerily, illuminating the figure before him.

At first, it appeared human. And Michael could sense immediately that it wasn't an alien in disguise. It was a real member of his kin. After all, he had enough experience to know the difference.

But… there was clearly something wrong.

The human in front of him was female. However, she didn't have ears in the usual place. On the top of her head, two fluffy ears with sharp tips like a cat's sprouted. A tail swayed from side to side behind her. Upon closer inspection, her pupils were altered as well. Rather than circles, they looked elliptical, thin, and vertical due to the brightness that illuminated the surroundings from above.

"!!!"

At that moment the woman realized she had been discovered. She leapt several meters backwards, her tail straightened upright in obvious fear.

For a moment, she and Michael simply stared at each other without a word.

"What have they done?" He murmured barely above a whisper.

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