Volume Twenty Four - Subterfuge

## Chapter 277 - The Calm

Jack and Andromeda were walking through the halls of the castle, Jack noticing the figure from before walking somewhere. "Hmm..." Jack remarks, but before he can decide whether or not to follow, the two are called by a familiar voice. "Professor Grant...?" Andromeda questions, as she and Jack walk into what turned out to be Demetrius' room, filled as ever with all sorts of devices, test tubes and screens. "Good to see you two again." Demetrius says. "Arthur wants to see you guys, I'll be here."

They shrug and walk through the lab, seeing Arthur, in the Royal Guard's Attire, sitting at a desk and fiddling with a flask full of some sort of purplish liquid. "Professor?" Jack asks. "Ah, you're here!" Arthur shouts, getting out of the chair to face them. "I am so glad that you heeded my call! I discovered something amazing!" "Like what, exactly?" Andromeda asks, skeptical. "I discovered that all life on Earth is connected to an ancient virus from the past!" Arthur replies. "Uh, what?!" Jack yells, shocked.

"I've been doing all sorts of sequencing, and I've found the DNA of this virus in every type of creature from Earth!" Arthur answers. "Uh huh." Andromeda replies. "Why is this so important?" "Because all life on Earth is connected to one origin! One virus! What if that origin extends to the rest of the galaxy?" "...What are you getting at?" Andromeda asks, wary. "I need a DNA sample from you to confirm my theory." Arthur replies. "No." Andromeda retorts. "No? But why?" Arthur demands.

"I've had enough of mad scientists using me as a lab experiment." Andromeda replies coldly, glaring at Arthur. "Nothing like that! Just a simple syringe!" Arthur shouts. "What?" Andromeda demands, as Arthur takes a syringe out of a pocket. The instant she saw it, she remembered three syringes being stabbed into her arm, and remembered being in immense pain as a bright red light shone above her. "Anne?" Jack asks, as right then, as suddenly as she saw the syringe, Arthur's hand flew off of his arm!

## Chapter 278 - Traumatic

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Arthur screams, holding the stump where his hand used to be in agony. "What happened over there?" Demetrius demands. "Anne, what was that?!" Jack shouts, as Andromeda steps back, trembling. "I-I..." She trails off, looking down at her own shaking hands, remembering cuffs being attached to them as electric currents ran through her body, she heard her own screams, over and over, as she remembered syringes stabbing into her head.

"Well, aren't all of you quite the mess makers." Demetrius groans, tossing a syringe into Arthur's stump, which began to rapidly heal into a normal hand. "Gah..." Arthur breathes, before turning to glare at Andromeda. "What was that for?" He demands. "I-I just..." Andromeda once more trails off, breathing a little heavily. "Let's put this all behind us until after the space dragons, alright?" Demetrius asks. "I don't need this lab being even more torn up." Andromeda bows her head down and closes her eyes.

"I...I'm sorry." Andromeda says weakly, before holding her shaking arm out and closing her eyes, letting Arthur inject the syringe and take a bit of blood as she winces in pain. "Was that so hard?" He asks, before walking back to the desk. "Why did...why did I do..." Andromeda stuttered, looking into Jack's still horrified eyes. "...I...I'm no different than before..." "If you'll all stop throwing a pity party, I wanna show you something concerning." Demetrius says, turning on a screen as they look towards it.

The poster on the screen was orange, and on its cover was a man wearing an all-black leather suit, with a hood over his head and a gas mask on his face, his bright amber eyes shown through the lenses, said man pumping up his fist towards the sky as the words 'The Phantom who Slays Dragons' sat there above him, a vaguely draconic head with a prohibited circle laid on top of it beneath him. "Is this what you wanted to show us?" Jack asks. "No, it's an ad, but it is also concerning." Demetrius answers.

## Chapter 279 - Enigmatic Schematics

When Demetrius clicked the X on the top right of the poster, another poster appeared, and another after that one's X was clicked. "Crap, crap, crap! What the Hell?!" Demetrius demands, continuing to click the X button until the poster moved to the side of what he actually wanted to show. "Finally." Demetrius says, relieved, as he shows the two what he wanted to show. It was schematics, of a cube with a diamond shaped hole on one face. No words accompanied the schematics, which seemed odd.

"What...what is that?" Jack asks, confused. "I have...no idea." Demetrius answers. "All we know is that it's Netraxian, we got it from Lev, apparently he snuck on board a Netraxian ship and stole the schematics." "Lev..." Jack remarks, remembering Lev from Proxima Centauri II. "So is it some kind of super weapon?" He then asks. "What else could it be?" Demetrius replies. "What exactly it does is beyond me, but I have a feeling that we do not want to find out." "It looks ridiculous..." Andromeda remarks.

"So, does King Rosenstock know?" Jack asks. "Yep, he wants me to decipher what it does and when it might be built." Demetrius answers. "I personally don't know why they have the hole unless it's meant to combine with something bigger." "When might it be built?" Jack then asks. "I dunno, however long it takes to build something that I assume is the size of a moon with the crappy tech the Netraxians have, I guess." Demetrius answers. "Which...hmm, would probably take about a hundred or more years."

"Sounds like we don't have to worry." Jack replies. "If they aren't close to finishing and if we win this war soon, yes." Demetrius says. "But after that attack with the robot, the Grand Admiral is dead, and the blockade keeping the Netraxians out is all but gone. We're sending new fleets to go and try to hold them off, but it's not gonna be easy." "...This is bad..." Andromeda remarks. "Ya think?" Demetrius retorts, before looking at the schematics. "Hmm...I do wonder why it's a cube, though." He mutters.

## Chapter 280 - Return to Hell

A space pod flew through the burning winds of Proxima Centauri II, and flew into the Nightmare Division's ship. Lev exits the pod, and walks through the halls of the ship, his expression largely unknowable at the moment, as he sees the door to the ladder of the bridge of the ship, and walks through it to climb the ladder. When he reached the top, he saw Serena sitting there, Rakgu standing beside her. "So, Lev, where have you been?" Serena asks. "Helping the blockade." Lev answers.

"Without first informing me?" Serena demands, still sounding rather calm. "...I...must have forgotten to. I apologize." Lev replies. "Hmph, well, you're late for your own promotion." Serena says. "I'm the Grand Admiral now, so you and Rakgu are Admirals." "...I heard what happened to Sycamore." Lev responds. "Yes...another reason to stab all these scaly beasts in the throats." Serena remarks, Lev silently gulping a bit. "The information you got us about the superweapon is valuable, but how did you get it?"

"...I stole it, during my endeavors." Lev answers. "The Netraxians don't use digital files, their version of the internet is somewhat psionic from what I've heard." Serena replies. "...Only a Netraxian would be able to acquire it." "...I had help from one. I didn't report it because it's unbelievable at the least." Lev says. "That is rather unbelievable, a Netraxian who does good." Serena replies. "Let's say you did have help, how do you know the schematics are real?" "...I don't." Lev answers. "Hmph...dismissed." Serena says.

Lev and Rakgu were walking through the corridors, to where Lev's room is. "You know, Lev, I think I've already got it figured out." Rakgu says. "I think we all do." "...If you know, when why isn't my head resting at Grand Admiral MacDonald's feet?" Lev asks. "Because if you are a spy, then you're not a very good one." Rakgu answers. "I feel like you're on our side, no matter what you are." "...I find it unfortunate that humanity can't coexist with Netraxians. Arcturus ruined everything..." Lev remarks.

## Chapter 281 - Contact

Lev sat on his chair, staring at his screen, as it changed to static, and then to the face of a cruel-looking, golden dragon with red eyes and horns that loosely resembled a crown. "What's your status, Copperscale?" The dragon, Emperor Arcturus, demands. "Please don't call me that." Lev replies. "Grand Admiral MacDonald has become Grand Admiral, Rakgu and I are now Admirals because of this." "Good." Arcturus responds with a dark smile. "Then little is left but assassinating Rakgu and MacDonald."

"Wh..." Lev stops himself from saying what he wanted to, he knew his cover would be blown if he did. "With them gone, you'll be promoted to Grand Admiral, and then you can call off all the blockades to let us in." Arcturus explains. "Yes...I understand that." Lev replies. "...Are you having second thoughts?" Arcturus demands. "N-no...no, Your Majesty." Lev answers. "I just need more time." "You're not getting more time, the Consumer is almost finished." Arcturus retorts. "What?!" Lev shouts.

"...Is there a problem, Copperscale?" Arcturus growls, almost flaming smoke rising from his nostrils. "...No...I just...didn't expect it to be done so soon. I'll need time to get out of here." Lev explains. "...I need you to prove your loyalty to me." Arcturus says. "I need you to kill the Grand Admiral, on this very day." "I-I..." Lev didn't know how to respond. No matter what option he chose, he would lose the unique edge he had in this war. But at least for the time being...he had to say yes. "...It will be done." He says.

"Excellent..." Arcturus replies with a dark, toothy grin. "...And it looks like you'll have your chance now." Lev, shocked, whirls around to see Serena standing there, her hand on the hilt of her saber, glaring viciously at Lev. "I knew it, you traitor!" Serena snarls. "Wait! It's not what it looks like!" Lev shouts. "Kill her, now." Arcturus orders. "You have your gun, use it!" Lev puts his hand on his gun, thinking for a bit, before unholstering it and blasting the screen, destroying it, right as Serena rushes at him!

## Chapter 282 - Skin Shed

Before Lev can do anything else with his gun, his gun arm is stabbed by Serena's sword. "GUH!" Lev roars. "You damn monster! YOU TRAITOR!" Serena bellows. "Please listen!" Lev shouts. "They finished the superweapon! It's ready to deploy! We have to des--" "THERE IS NO WE!" Serena screams, pulling her sword out to slash Lev across the stomach. "GAH!" Lev howls, stumbling back. "Please! If nothing is done humanity will lose this war!" He pleads. "LIKE YOU CARE!" Serena snarls, rushing for another slash.

Lev leaps back to avoid the slash, and begins running as fast as he can towards his pod, knowing Serena was in hot pursuit. "Oh, hey Lev!" Rakgu says, Lev running past him without a word. "Oh...bye Lev." "AFTER HIM!" Serena howls! "HE'S A SPY AND A TRAITOR!" "...Wait, what?" Rakgu asks, as Serena keeps running after Lev, who keeps running towards his pod, breathing heavily as his wounds continued to bleed. He eventually saw it, and, wasting no time, got in to fly away, Serena getting into a pod too,

"EVERYONE, FOCUS YOUR FIRE ON THE POD IN FRONT OF MINE!" Serena roars into the communicator before flying after Lev. "Dammit..." Lev growls, trying to find something to hide behind, the radar blaring to alert him that multiple missiles were rushing at him! "NO!" Lev shouts, trying to weave around to throw the missiles off-course, feeling another pod ram into his own, no doubt a pod Serena was piloting, as more missiles began to hit it! "ARGH!" Lev screams, as the pod crashes into a mountain.

## Chapter 283 - Stealth in Space

Lev's eyes began to slowly open, revealing the slit pupils, as his headset and glasses had been destroyed. His ears were slightly pointed, as were his teeth. His body was burned, but healing, as he groaned, sitting up. It was then that he realized he had been laying on a table made from metallic scales. "It looks like you're finally awake, Copperscale." Growls a Netraxian, one who was mostly red with gold patterns and orange eyes. "Admiral Vermillion..." Lev remarks. "Grand Admiral Vermillion." Vermillion replies.

"What am...I doing here?" Lev asks, holding his head in pain, remembering what had happened. "We found you burning in the wastes of that planet, you truly are defective to not be able to weather that heat." Vermillion answers, Lev closing his eyes. "I am neither Netraxian nor human." He replies. "Then what are you?" Vermillion demands. "You were born a Netraxian and sent to infiltrate the Earth, right? Then you're a Netraxian? Or have you lived among humans so long that you consider yourself one?"

Lev didn't answer, he just tried to get on his feet, groaning in pain more. "You have somewhere to be, don't you?" Vermillion asks. "Perhaps to assassinate Serena MacDonald? We can help you with that." "And how do you expect to help against someone like her? She has no fear, she cuts us down without a second thought." Lev demands. "We don't directly engage her, that's how." Vermillion answers. "We've been collecting the remains of their ships to use as a disguise to get inside their defenses."

"...What...?" Lev breathes. "Will you require anything, Copperscale?" Vermillion asks. "...Is my pistol here?" Lev asks in return. "Why do you need a pistol when you have your natural weaponry?" Vermillion demands. "I have no skill with my natural weaponry." Lev answers, Vermillion rolling his eyes. "The gun's over there, go and get it and get in a pod we've grown." The Admiral answers, Lev walking to get the gun, get inside the pod, and fly out into space. "Tell Emperor Arcturus about his treachery." Vermillion orders.

## Chapter 284 - Nowhere to Belong

Now that Lev knew about the Netraxian Empire's tactics, he knew he had to warn Rosenstock immediately. The Netraxians are shapeshifters! They could become the crew members and infiltrate the castle! If they got in...the war was as good as over, and humankind was as good as dead. He couldn't let that happen, no matter what. He couldn't let one species destroy the other, even if he had to betray both to keep both safe. And with each passing moment, that seemed to become harder and harder.

As he neared New Earth, a number of drones rushed towards him. "Netraxian Engineering detected!" One of the drones shouts over speakers, as Lev grits his teeth, dodging the gunfire from the drones, and taking the lasers head-on as they carved lines into the scales of the pod. As he rushed past the drones, he braced himself for the entering of the atmosphere, knowing the shield would activate soon. If he didn't get through now, then there was no way he could stop this from happening.

The pod managed to get through before the shield was raised, but it soon began to rapidly heat up as it descended. Lev was having a hard time looking for a place to land, feeling himself begin to sweat a bit. There! A runway! He tried to maneuver towards it, as missiles hit the pod, breaking off more and more parts of its body! "NO! GRAH!" Lev roars, letting the pod crash into and slide through the pavement of the runway, the flames being blown away for the most part as it did so, cooling down a bit.

Lev climbed out of the burning pod, now more worse for wear than ever, as he collapsed on his hands and knees, breathing heavily. A few guards approached him, holding rifles, as he turned his head towards them. "Woah! A Netraxian..." One of the guards remarks. "Take me...agh...to the King." Lev groans. "There's not...ugh...much time left..." The guards look at each other for a moment, before nodding and grabbing Lev by the arms, dragging him to a jet to take him to the castle for questioning.

## Chapter 285 - The Interrogation

"What color is my hair?" Buchardt asks. "Dark blue." Lev answers. "Now, what are the Netraxians planning?" Buchardt demands, leaning in a bit. "To shapeshift into members of our military that died, and use our ships that they salvaged to infiltrate the world and assassinate us." Lev answers. "...'Our'?" Buchardt then asks, raising an eyebrow. "Yes, I consider myself a citizen of humanity and a subject of King Rosenstock." Lev replies. "...Either you're a really good liar, or you're telling the truth." Buichardt remarks.

"What I want is for our species to coexist, not for us to keep fighting this pointless war." Lev says. "I didn't ask, and nor do I really care much about your motivations." Buchardt retorts. "Now then...tell us everything you know about the superweapon." "I told you all I knew." Lev replies. "I don't know what it does...except...that it targets stars." "...Tell me more." Buchardt responds. "I just remembered that...it goes after stars for...something..." Lev remarks, trying to remember. "...I must not have been filled in."

"So it targets stars..." Buchardt remarks. "...That to me means it destroys them." "That would be moronic of them, to destroy the worlds they want to inhabit." Lev interjects, as Buchardt raises a finger in a 'quiet' gesture. "They don't care about inhabiting these worlds, they just want to expand their empire, and we're in the way." Buchardt replies. "Arcturus might be using conquering as his public wargoal, but what he really wants is genocide. He wants to get rid of us, that's it."

"But...why destroy star systems...?" Lev remarks. "So they can replace them with new star systems, using their deep space habitats." Buchardt guesses. "You seem to somewhat be a spaceborne people, in terms of those who actually fight space battles." "...I wouldn't know. I was raised here my whole life." Lev replies. Then, they hear the alarm go off! "Wha?!" Lev shouts. "They must be here..." Buchardt remarks, getting out of his chair to walk out the door, shutting it behind himself.

## Chapter 286 - Blood Red Admiral

A number of broken down looking ships had landed in front of the castle, said ships being identical to the ones in the fleet once commanded by Hilbert--because they were the ships once commanded by Hilbert! Serena glared at the ships, as Buchardt looked on, currently frowning a bit. The flagship opens its hatch, as a tall, blood-red and gold Netraxian walks down the ramp, his orange eyes glaring at all of them. "So...you're the ones we have to kill." Vermillion remarks. "Tell Copperscale that he's next."

"Who?" Buchardt asks. "He's talking about Lehrer..." Serena replies. "...He betrayed you, too." "He was never on our side!" Vermillion snarls. "We're going to kill him the same as you." "You're not going to kill us at all!" Serena shouts, drawing her saber to rush at the Admiral. Vermillion blocks the slash with his arm, the armored scales on that arm being cut into but protecting his more fleshy scales. "Grh...you humans are resourceful, I'll give you that." Vermillion growls, slashing at Serena, who leaps up.

Vermillion tilts his head up to blast fire at his opponent, Rakgu tackling Vermillion before he could do so and throwing a punch at him. Vermillion catches the punch and slashes at Rakgu's stomach, Rakgu taking the slash as he kicks Vermillion on the tail. "RAGH!" Vermillion roars, flying back to blast fire at Rakgu, who blocks with his cannon...or was it a machine gun? Both, it seemed. "RAH!" Rakgu bellows, firing a storm of giant bullets at Vermillion, who takes the first few before dodging the rest.

"You creatures are thorns in my side." Vermillion remarks, before flying at Rakgu to grab his face and slam him to the ground. "Gah!" Rakgu shouts, as Vermillion goes to claw into Rakgu's stomach once more, but quickly flies off to avoid a number of bullets from a number of soldiers. The Admiral prepares to blast fire at them, but he narrowly dodges a much closer bullet, one fired from a revolver by Grimwald, who just stares at Vermillion with an odd mix of anger and sadness. "Hmph." Vermillion growls.

## Chapter 287 - Revolvers and Reptiles

"I don't know you, and you don't know me, so let's just get this over with." Grimwald says with a sigh, before firing at Vermillion again, Vermillion dodging the bullet to breathe fire at Grimwald, who vanishes in a blur of motion, Vermillion immediately ducking to avoid Grimwald firing a bullet into the back of his head. "You!" Vermillion roars, swinging his tail at Grimwald, who flies upwards to dodge before firing yet again at Vermillion, who blocks with his forearm before breathing fire once more, Grimwald dodging.

"Not this again!" Vermillion snarls, whirling around to slash...nothing. Grimwald wasn't there! Vermillion quickly rolls to the side to dodge a bullet from above, using a wing to block the next bullet after that. "You're rather tri--" Before Vermillion could finish his sentence, Grimwald had placed his other revolver to Vermillion's eye, and fired. "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Vermillion shrieks, flying back and holding his eye socket in pain, breathing more and more fire at Grimwald, who kept dodging and firing.

Vermillion dodged two more bullets, before ripping a rifle out of a soldier's hand and pointing it like a pistol at Grimwald, who was currently aiming at him. They fire at once, the rifle's bullet piercing through the revolver's, but Grimwald dodges that bullet, appears behind Vermillion and fires at his back, Vermillion flying upwards to breathe fire down at Grimwald, who once again evades to aim down at Vermillion from above, but Vermillion grabs Grimwald's arm right as the trigger is pulled!

Grimwald leaps back, his arm now somewhat mangled, as Vermillion flew backwards, his hand now with a not-bleeding bullet hole in it. "Surprised? You're not doing anything to a beast like myself!" Vermillion roars. "I guess not with my normal way of doing things..." Grimwald replies weakly, taking out an odd-looking gun and pointing it at Vermillion. "But I don't just have that way." Before Vermillion could react, Grimwald appears in front of him, places the gun to his chest, and pulls the trigger.

## Chapter 288 - The Aftermath

The antimatter blast had left a hole in the chest of the Netraxian Grand Admiral, who gasped and wheezed for breath in pain, as his eyes rolled upwards, and he fell to the ground, dead. Grimwald sighs, puts his antimatter pistol back in its holster, and holds his arm in pain, Dione helping him walk to the infirmary as Demetrius tags behind them. All the while, the Sciarhiel army, now using the bullets invented by Fulke, took out the remaining Netraxian forces, who left the area in flames by the end of the fight.

Meanwhile, two figures sneak through a hole that had been blasted through the all, a hole that led to a more remote part of the castle. One figure relatively short or average in height, with white hair, blue skin, grey horns, orangish eyes, and glasses. The other figure was freakishly tall, with very dark blue hair, very light blue skin, pitch black eyes with white pupils, and a black mask on his face. The boy wore his black and red suit, the man wore his purple robes, and both came across a few guards.

"Stop right there!" One of the guards shouts, as they take out their guns and point them at the two. Tsunoi kicks the first guard in the face, slamming him into the wall, cracking his skull, as Cygnus has two of his Psychic Weapons stab through the heads of the other two guards. All three guards were dead before they could pull the triggers of their guns, as Tsunoi and Cygnus walk through the corridors of the area, towards the higher levels of the castle where Jack, Andromeda, Candice and Shunsuke were.

"Jack and Andromeda are mine." Tsunoi says. "Leave both of them to me." "I've been more interested in Distler lately." Cygnus replies. "Especially after hearing about what befell her beloved plaything." "Yeah, whatever. You keep being weird." Tsunoi responds, as they come across a door. "This'll lead to the hallway, which will lead to their rooms, we're splitting up from here." He says. "Stop explaining everything to me as if I am a five year old." Cygnus retorts, as they walk through the door, and split up.