Once the night was over, the soldiers were awakened by the sun rays.

"Good morning, Ava, I hope that you slept great." He greeted her with a warm smile.

She looked at him with tired eyes.

"You… Because of you I barely managed to get a wink of sleep!" She pouted, stomping her leg in a cute manner.

"Hm? But I didn't do anything? If you wanted me to do something, you should have just told me." He tilted his head to the side, his smile not leaving his face.

Ava quickly looked away to hide her blush. 'I am certain now! He is definitely doing this on purpose!'

Seeing that Michael was continuing to feign ignorance, she sighed before dismissing the matter. Whatever the case, she had dragged him into her tent to keep watch over him. It had been her fault she hoped for something more to happen.

'Not to forget, he was in the middle of the enemy ranks not too long ago, only to be stabbed before even managing to rest.' Ava felt guilt washing over her heart.

'Even if he didn't show it, he must have been under extreme pressure. He just must be great at hiding his true thoughts.'

"I am sorry." She blurted out before bowing, puzzling Michael with her strange actions.

'I never even bothered to ask what you want. How stupid can I be…' She couldn't help but blame herself.

"Why are you apologizing?" Michael asked, raising an eyebrow. "You know that there is no need to."

Ava shook her head. "I guess I just felt guilty for not being close to you when someone attempted to take your life."

Michael felt like there was more to the matter, but if Ava didn't want to share, he wasn't going to budge.

Shortly after, the two joined the others of the Indomitable Alliance before departing with the rest of the army. Since the threat on base #56 had been dealt with, they had to continue their march to the other side of Triton, where the command alien ship was still raging.

Like before, Michael and his squad were stationed near Victoria, ready to act should disaster strike.

Wanting to be ready in case danger suddenly came, he summoned his soul weapon.

'You dense fucking imbecile! At this point, I feel like you are doing everything in your power to piss me off!' Since the Devil's Tongue only cared about killing and profanation, it was understandable it would get upset after being denied one.

'I'd say that taking care of the danger that threatens the existence of humanity as a whole should be my number one priority, no?' Michael replied casually.

'Do you think I give a single fuck if your race perishes? All I am seeing is you angering me on purpose! This has to be because of the numerous perverted comments I made before, right?! You must want to punish me, right?! Okay, even if I won't apologize, I promise I won't do them anymore!'

Michael shook his head slowly. 'Annoying you is just a bonus. That was never my intention. But since you're just a sword and haven't been around as long as I have, you don't truly understand what I want. It'll take you some time to figure it out.'

Still in the middle of his chat with the weapon, Victoria called out to him.

"Seeing you so often stare at your sword, I remembered that soul weapons can communicate with their owners. What do yours usually say?" Since she had never wielded a soul weapon despite being a Master, she was curious how it felt.

Michael blinked a few times before glancing at Devil's Tongue, wanting to hear its opinion.

'I call bullshit! She doesn't care about me at all! She just wants to strike up a conversation. I'm telling you, strike while the iron is hot—'

Before the sword could continue, Michael cut it off with a warm smile. "It depends on the mood, I guess. But it seems to be greatly interested in the way humans and life work in general."

He didn't want to mention the perverted comments nor the weapon's constant nagging for blood, so he chose to present the truth in a more favorable way.

"Is that so…" Victoria mumbled in genuine curiosity before shifting her attention to another matter.

With the conversation over, Michael called his sister. He didn't want a repeat of last time when he forgot to call her for an extended period of time.

"Thank God you are alive! It's like the more I watched the news, the more hopeless I got when seeing the kinds of aliens you were fighting." A hologram image of Scarlett appeared.

His sister went on her long tangent, and him liking the sound of her voice didn't interrupt her.

"But anyway, the money we received recently is much more than the standard cadet salary. Did you do something outrageous again?" She asked.

Michael puffed his chest in pride. "Well, apparently I am so awesome that I was promoted to a captain recently. Pretty amazing, right?"

Scarlett looked at him in silence for a few moments before shouting in her living room.

"Mom! Michael has gone insane!"

Instantly, once she mentioned his name, a woman looking exactly like Scarlett, albeit with aging skin, appeared on the hologram. Her name was Isabella, Michael and Scarlett's mother.

"Didn't I tell you that he must be busy? Why did you bother your brother by calling him?"

Before the two could start to argue, Michael intervened.

"It's the other way around, Mom. I am the one that called." Of course, he masterfully hid his emotions of seeing his mother again after so long.

"Forget about that! Listen, he apparently became a captain!" Scarlett said, causing Isabella's eyes to narrow to the size of needles.

"WHAT?!"

Not being in a rush, Michael talked with them for more than an hour, recalling most of the things that he had done, making sure to downplay them by a lot unless he wanted to worry them needlessly.

But sadly, the good times didn't last long as Victoria's voice drifted through the whole vehicle.

"We have a situation, and I require the presence of all captains on board."

"Call you later." Wrapping up the call, Michael gathered with the other captains, wondering what kind of trouble was brewing next.

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