'Greetings, Lord Second.' He mouthed, flashing on a forced smile.

"So you do remember me." Enzo said, his gaze locked at Ryo and his helpless state.

He mimed the words, 'Of course I do. Who wouldn't know you?'

Making sense of what Ryo was mouthing, Enzo let out a quiet laughter, it didn't seem happy, but rather grieving.

However, Ryo instinctively realized that the grieving laugh he had heard was fake. A lie meant to ground him with Ryo. A lie meant to make him seem more 'human,' or 'sympathetic.'

'But, why?'

'Is it because of Ashen? Or, maybe I misread him? Not like I know much about him, except from what I've read in history books.'

'It's also possible that he has simply schemed something for which he needs me. To use me.' Various possibilities formed in his head, all trying to find out why Enzo's voice sounded grieving when he had laughed.

Ryo's expression became dreamy, masking his inner thoughts, and their state.

Seeing this, Enzo turned around and quietly ordered Ashen to leave, leaving him and Ryo alone.

The chilling winds calmed, Ryo felt a sudden chill run down his spine, as though something sudden and wrong was about to happen.

"So, Lux. How does it feel like having your first victory?" His voice expressionless.

The sudden change from the grieving tone, to an expressionless voice made Ryo visibly express his surprise.

'This is... how he is? I thought... that he was supposed to be thoughtful, and... not some twisted, expressionless being.' He shivered.

After a few seconds, he mouthed, 'Very bad.'

Enzo suddenly let out a loud laugh as his face brightened, "I can see."

He flashed a smile, as though his tone hadn't become expressionless just a few moments ago, "And, I'm sorry for asking that."

Ryo wanted to do nothing but follow with the question: 'Why even ask that?!' However, he kept his calm.

Enzo quietly sighed and finally said, "I'll be bringing in the best healers there are. You'll be back to your perfect condition in no time."

After another moment of silence he followed with, "Y'know, when Ashen called I was surprised. He's never asked for a 'favor' but this time he did. And.... I can see why he needed it urgently."

He stood up and looked at Ryo with a solemn, yet soft expression.

"Well then, goodbye Lux. We'll meet again after you're healed back up." He walked out the tent, saying his goodbyes.

'What in the world is he even thinking... I still don't get why he asked such a questi- ' The incoming train of thoughts were cut off as he perked his ears, trying to make sense of the conversation that had begun to take place outside his tent.

---

Enzo was outside. He quietly walked a step or two forward, his gaze looking straight ahead at the chaotic, yet pleasing crowd.

Suddenly he heard footsteps heading towards him. They were heavy and quick.

"Ashen. So you were listening, huh." He said, without even turning to confirm if it was Ashen or not.

But, he was right. It was indeed Ashen.

Ashen took a few steps and stood alongside Enzo now. "I was."

"What was the point of telling you to go outside then?" He playfully asked.

"You can't blame me for that. He is my son after all." He raised his voice, "Anyways, why the fuck did you ask that question?!"

"Tell me something, Ashen. Did you forget that I have eyes and ears everywhere, where the Resistance forces are?" He asked.

'Ah... it's that... He knows about it.' He sighed, "So you know about it. The 'bet.'"

"Of course I do."

'Even so, why in the world would you ask that question such a question to him when he's in such a condition?! He's injured. He can't speak. Barely stand, and then you as ask him that?!' Ashen couldn't dare to yell such a thing at him. So instead, he toned it down.

"Why?" He asked after his spiralling thoughts concluded.

He condensing his thoughts into one simple question, asking for the reason for why he acted in such a way.

Enzo didn't reply initially. He just kept staring ahead.

Finally, "Well. He's growing now, y'know. Lux is now basically a commander now. Once he's fully healed up, he's going to get his Genesis."

"If you want him to be my successor, or want him to learn from me, then you need to stop sheltering him." He added.

"You." He spun around to face Ashen, and bumped him finger onto Ashen's chest. Pointing at him. "You know better than anyone that the injury he's suffering right now is nothing. Nothing when he becomes a commander. He needs to stop being sheltered."

"Or soft." He whispered quietly.

Enzo was in a way indeed correct. Ashen too realized it, making him dazed.

The quiet wind didn't help with lightening the critical mood either.

After a while he replied, "But, I still am his father. What good father wouldn't worry about his son?"

---

'So that's why he asked me that question...' Ryo forcefully gulped down saliva down his epiglottis. 'And... that's what the 'bet' was about. Lux's victory made him the successor of Lord Second. That's why he was so naturally made The Third.'

'Even so, it doesn't make Lord Second any less... colder. I was wrong to judge him as someone to be 'warm,' when all I know about him came from a damn book.' He criticized himself, his mind and ears going back to paying attention to the conversation outside.

---

'A 'good' father, huh. I wouldn't say you're a 'good' father. If you truly were some saint-like father, then... I don't think Lux would be like how he is right now.' He thought, as he once more stared the scene of soldiers partying.

"So. What are you actually here for?" He asked, snapping Enzo's attention back to their conversation.

Enzo gulped and let out a quiet laugh, "Haha... I was trying to figure out how I would ask this... Well, I did come here just to check on you and your son... until I got a call that is."

'For some reason, I don't believe you. Why... would you make time and come here just because of that.' He criticized, thinking it was a lie.

"It... was a call from Remina." He added.

'Remina? The Head of Communications and Informations department? What could it be...' He quickly asked, "What did she say?"

"Kenzel. It's going through a... Grade-P disaster." His voice turned critical, as he further emphasized the urgency, "A Second Degree Grade-P disaster."

'A... Second Degree Grade-P...oh...' Ashen suddenly regretted criticizing Enzo earlier.

'Kenzel is our Capital of Resources... if that collapses then our entire economy will come crashing down!! But... how.' Ashen rubbed his chin as he came to a strange realization.

"But... just two months ago I received a report from there. There were no signs of a disaster coming for the next six months! I personally went through it, I didn't even sleep for a week! There were no signs of a volcanic eruption, an earthquake, a flood, a drought, nothing."

"There were no signs of a calamity incoming!" He couldn't believe it. He thought that maybe Enzo had changed during the time they had been apart and now had learned to play horrible jokes about planetary destruction.

Almost instantly Enzo replied, yelling. "It still happened! It's happening right now, you idiot!!"

Hearing the tone of Enzo's voice, he realized that it wasn't a joke. His eyes widened, his body shivering slightly. His entire demeanor changed.

"Then, what do you want me do?" His voice was serious. As though if he were told to leave for Kenzel, he would do so instantly without a shred of hesitation.

"I need you... to tell me how I can save them. I... We can only send forty-three CCs." He appealed, now looking directly into Ashen's eyes.

"Forty-three CCs?! THAT WON'T EVEN CONTAIN HALF THE PEO- " Before he could finish, Enzo slammed his hand onto Ashen's lips.

"Don't. Shout. I don't want anyone to hear the conversation we're having right now." he whispered.

Little did Enzo know, there actually was someone who was peeping into their secret conversation.

Ryo.

'Kenzel...' Memories flashed inside Ryo's mind. He remembered what he had read about Kenzel, 'The Fallen Capital Of Resources... Whatever 'suggestion' Ashen is about to give... it's... going to be bad.' It was a terrible realization to have. Even more so when he realized that he was simply in a simulation.

It made his chest tighten, and his breath ragged.

No matter what he did, Kenzel would still collapse.

It already had collapsed!

---

"Alright..." Ashen removed the hand covering his mouth, adjusting himself.

"Anyways, Remina said forty-three CCs would only be able to contain sixty-to-seventy percent of Kenzel's population." Enzo said, adjusting the cuffs of his windbreaker.

Hearing this, Ashen's face softened a little. "That... is a bit better."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN A 'BIT BETTER'?!" He had contradicted what he had told Ashen earlier, and shouted with great concern. Realizing this, he lowered his voice and continued. "It still doesn't change the fact that people are going to die, y'know."

"You know me. I don't like it when people die. It... It doesn't matter if I've killed a lot, and seen others being killed a lot."

"This childish feeling of greed just doesn't want to go away." He added.

'Sixty-to-seventy percent of the people does make things better...' Ashen ignored Enzo's shouts. 'Around thirty-percent of the population there are our soldiers. And, almost fifteen-percent of them are Genesis or Lineage wielders. I'd like to save them first.'

'This leaves behind who the remaining eighty-seventy five percent would be... Wherein the real problem lies... Saving the civilians...' He pondered for a while, trying to come up with a sensible plan.

"Enzo..." He spoke after a few minutes, in a very quiet and hesitant tone. "...Listen... I think there's only one way."

"And what is that?"

"We save the soldiers, and leave the common me- " Enzo burst in anger, cutting him off.

"YOU TOO?!"

"It's... the only way."

---

'I see... So that's what he suggested... I guess... it does make sense when one thinks about it.' Memories flashed once again in Ryo's mind. 'There were twenty-six Carrier Crafts sent to Kenzel. Only thirteen returned. The thirteen CC's contained mostly common men, alongside the commanders stationed there.'

'Not a single other person from the Resistance was th- '

blip!

A yellow hologram suddenly appeared in front of Ryo. One that he hadn't seen in a long time. And, one that he was very scared to see.

[Time Left Till Test Scenario Is Finished: 30 Seconds.]

His thoughts strayed away from the conversation of Enzo and Ashen, towards his own condition.

The hologram appeared seemed to have made him even more sensitive and aware, as the pain had increased by a significant amount.

He was scared, his fists repeated clasped the air. Eyes shaking.

'Huff...' His breath became even heavier.

[Time Left Till Test Scenario Is Finished: 10 Seconds.]

"Lord Third." Mori forcefully coughed, "The Second Scenario is about to come to an end."

"Thank you for telling me, since I can't see." Lux said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

[Test Scenario Ended!]