Instead of showing fear, the man on the ground smiled.

“Well well well, I was getting disappointed when you people kept on sending in cannon fodders. Warmongers. Voyagers. But that whole wave of Voyagers you deployed was just a decoy, right? A cover so you can sneak in and catch me by surprise? Then again, it’s all too bad. I was expecting ARCADIA Protectors.”

Joan frowned. She didn't expect this. How did the man know so much about the Protectors? He even knew about ARCADIA! Who the hell was he?

“Who are you? Identify yourself or I will exert deadly force!”

“Deadly force…” The man lowered his head and sighed. “you know, time has already taken its toll on the Protector Corps. From where I was from, in a situation like this, the Protector would have opened fire already. Now, you people are giving threats.”

Suddenly, the man’s wrist flickered. Before Joan knew it, two nails appeared inside her arms. Before she could even put up anything resembling resistance, she felt all the energy in her body and in her soul being sucked into those two nails until, in the end, there was nothing left.

She was defenseless. Well, she still had a physical body that could punch through stars and travel at countless times the speed of light, but the power she gained from the Pact, the power that allowed her to truly reign supreme in the Infinite Realms, was gone.

“Extinguishers.” The man stood up slowly. “Neglects space. Neglects time. Neglects almost all types of attack. Neglects almost all types of defense. Part of the original Ark Project.”

Protector Joan felt like her mind was a ball of tangled strings. First of all, WTF? How was this even possible? She was a Protector! Protector! No weapon could hurt her, much less render her defenseless! Unless…

“You’re also a Protector!” She screamed. “Why are you doing this?”

All factions had traitors, and the Protector Corps was no different, but there were little Protector traitors out in the Infinite Realms. First of all, the chance of someone deciding to abandon the identity as a member of the most powerful faction in the Infinite Realms was abruptly low. The few that did choose to turn had to survive the constant persecution of the ARCADIA Protectors. Adding gas to the fire, the Grand Protector could exclude the rogue Protectors from the Pact with ease.

Protectors outside the Pact would still be at the peak of the Infinite Realms, but they would be at the league of the Aggressors. They could crush most enemies, but against the ARCADIA Protectors trying to bring them back to the Core Realms for a trial, their powers would be useless.

The chances of seeing a rogue Protector was already low. Plus, Joan should be able to outmatch anyone outside the Pact, former Protector or not!

She struggled to fight back, but whatever power she managed to muster ended up dissipating into the nails.

The man watched quietly. His lips were tight.

“You traitor! The Grand Protector will hunt you down!” Finally, Joan decided to take the more direct path. Pulling out a dagger from her dimension watch, she charged forward with all the might in the world.

The man waved his hand. Suddenly, the Voyager disappeared into thin air.

The man sighed before continuing with his walk across the frozen figures. Already, more than half of the Warmongers were gone. The rest had just moments to live as well. Even if they survived this one, unless someone intervened, they would live out their lives as old men and women drained of all life.

Suddenly, the man stopped in front of one particular Voyager.

“This one is a Tier 3 Reapress. Hmmm...I didn't know there are Voyager Reapers. I thought Death killed them all on purpose. Ah well, keep an eye on this one. She can be dangerous.”

The ground shook again as if it was agreeing with the man.

“Wait…” The man was about to move on when he sensed something familiar from the Reapress. “is that…”

The ground shook slightly in curiosity.

“Oh, nothing. Just an old friend. Well, more like the work of an old friend, but you get the jest. Take her to my lab.”

Five tentacles came out of the ground, wrapped themselves around Jean’s limbs and body, and started moving her away slowly.

Jean’s eyes snapped open once again. At this point, even she was a bit confused. One moment, she was trapped on a battlefield of her past. Now, she was sitting in what seemed like a lab.

“You know, I didn't think he would actually go through with this.”

Jean turned around as soon as she heard the voice. The Power of Death poured out into her surrounding, forming a shield around herself. This way, she could attack or retreat at wish.

Across the room, a man was sitting in front of a hologram projector. He tilted his head when he saw the black Power of Death.

“Just to make things easier, attack me with all your power.”

“What?” This was the first time Jean heard such an instruction.

“I said pull out your best trick and use it on me.”

“Well,” Jean suddenly summoned a Sea of Souls from her watch, converted it into billions of wraiths, and sent them flying at the man. All of the souls were upgraded to a point where they would literally burn out by themselves in a minute even if they were just allowed to sit there. “as you wish.”

The flood crossed the air. Just before they could hit the man, a layer of white shield appeared in front of the man and sent any soul that ran into it burning into oblivion. More and more circled around, but the egg-shaped shield held against all attacks with an issue.

In half a second, the billions of souls were gone. The shield? Still standing.

“Now it’s my turn.” The man said before suddenly standing up and walking forward. Jean saw him coming, but when she tried to move, she realized she couldn’t. A device from the shadows froze the space she was standing in.

The man easily strolled in front of Jean and ignited some sort of white blade. Just being close to it made Jean feel like she was about to be erased from existence.

Finally, the man disengaged the weapon and freed Jean.

“What was that?” Jean asked quietly.

“To prove a point. I can kill you with ease, so I have no need to lie to you. Of course, Voyagers like you will immediately jump to all the possible conspiracies, but I urge you not to, for it will be no more than a waste of time.”

Jean disengaged her power as well. If she took action, there was a negligible chance she could catch the man by surprise, but why would she? The man obviously had some use for her, and Jean has learned since a long time ago that being used meant chances for profit.

Her loyalty to the Protector Corps wasn’t enough to prompt her to die for the cause.

“I take it that you are the one behind the disappearance of all the Warmongers and Voyagers.” She spoke fearlessly.

“Indeed. My name is Jared.”

“But what made me different? What prompted you to rescue me from that...hallucination?”

“Oh, you are very different, Voyager. After all, you are a work of art.” The man's actions paused as he looked at her with marveling eyes. “You know, a lot of effort has gone into you, likely without your knowledge. From covert soul modifications to enhancing your calculating and learning capabilities. Changes here and there to make your potentials unlimited. Body adjustments to make you seem as attractive as possible. Most importantly, complete emotion removal. All that done without leaving a trace for the Protectors to find.”

“What do you mean?”

Jean did her best to fake shock as she examined the surrounding closely. An outburst of the Power of Death should break through the space prison. With enough Warden and Purifier cannon fodders, maybe she could break through the man’s shield.

“No need for that caution.” The man sighed. “Trust me, I won’t tell your secret to anyone. All I ask is one thing. An audience.”

Jean tilted her head.

“You have one. What do you know about my creator?”

The man sat back in his seat. Suddenly, he grinned.

“He and I go way back. We were with the Grand Protector before the Protector Corps even existed. We were there when our people were still on Earth. Still...mortals.”

“We watched as the Protector Corps rose from the dirt. We followed the Grand Protector through the countless wars in the Core Realms. We were there when our fleets exterminated the homeworld of the Greed. We were there when the memory stone from the Time Council vault hit the entire Core Realms. We were there when the Grand Protector launched the Infinite March, aimed to purge the Infinite Realms of all threats to the Corps.”

Jean stayed quiet. Sometimes, being an audience meant shutting up and listening. The man might just be reminiscing, but his words contained information Jean couldn’t dream of getting.

“But the path to power has its costs. We both lost people. People we love. Neither the Pact we signed afterward nor the power of the Protectors could bring them back.”

“He and I processed it very differently.”

“I chose the human path. I tried to find a way to go back in time. To save her before she died.”

“But you failed?”

“Depends on your perspective.” The man snickered. “I got close to time travel. So close. But the Grand Protector personally called for the shutdown of my project. Apparently, when you are the master of the world, going back in time and changing things up isn't the most tempting option.”

“So I bailed. I faked my own death, cut off my connection with the Pact, abandoned Godhood, and came here. The Chaos Domain. I knew the Protector Corps wouldn’t launch an assault on the Chaos Domain without the proper justification. As long as she doesn’t learn of my presence, everything will be fine. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than anywhere else.”

“But the loss of resources and assets the Protectors had to offer hit me hard. I have to resort to experimenting on these pesky Chaos Descendants and anyone else that ventures inside my territory.”

He glanced at Jean again.

“Your creator took a different path. His sorrow led him to hold this idea that emotion is the ultimate weakness. He objected to the Protector cause, for as long as the Protectors have feelings, they will never be invincible. World-ending powers and technologies don’t matter because emotions will end up destroying the Corps. If we don’t grow soft from arrogance, then we risk exhausting ourselves by being overcautious. If we don’t turn against each other by being overly aggressive, then we may make no stand at all when true threats present themselves.”

“He proposed the creation of an army made up of altered combatants that are rendered completely emotionless. These warriors will never be corrupted by greed or fear or fury or dread. They will be programmed for one purpose and one purpose alone: protect the Infinite Realms as they see fit.”

“The ultimate protectors, free of the shackle that is human emotion.”

“The Protector Corps had more than the resources to make it happen, but the Grand Protector rejected that idea. She never believed in handing the power over to another entity, and the idea of giving the ultimate power to a bunch of living weapons disgusted her. The fallout that ensued ended with him abandoning the Protector Corps. I have never heard from him again.”

“Until now.” Jean raised her eyebrows.

“Indeed, until now.” The man stared at Jean in amazement. “By the looks of it, he has put things into motion all by himself. He must have hacked the Voyager recruitment system and inserted you and your kind into the system. The modifications he made on your kind ensured that you would prosper in the Voyager Corps more than ordinary recruits. And statistically speaking, since I met you, the number of your kind hiding in the Voyager Corps is probably impressive.”

“He didn't have the resources, so he latched onto the Protector Corps and the Voyager Corps and fed off them.” Jean concluded. “Smart. I feel a constant desire to gain more power. Is that a part of the soul modifications as well?”

“Indeed,” The man continued. “having all of your kind know your goal from the very beginning means you can be rooted out easily via soul searches, but he was smarter than that. He must’ve implanted some sort of desire inside of you, a desire that surpassed any other urges or objectives. That’s why your kind doesn’t just sit back and relax because of your lack of motivation. Instead, you strive forward, seizing power regardless of the consequences.”

“The real objective must be somewhere in your soul, completely hidden from view. I can do a full soul dissection on you, but I doubt that will yield anything.”

“Happy to hear that,” Jean replied quietly. She didn't know what a soul dissection was exactly, but something told her it wouldn't be comfortable.

“No you’re not.” The man slammed her for her lies.

“No I’m not.” Jean Turner admitted.

The man sighed.

“Maybe he’s right. Maybe he’s wrong. But I will never get to find out. One of your fellow Voyagers. She was a Protector in disguise.”

Jean nodded.

“I took care of her, but the Protectors know I’m here. When that Protector doesn’t report back, they will send legions of ARCADIA Protectors. I can’t defeat them. I will probably be dead at the end of the day.”

Usually, this was the part where Jean showed some pity. Not today. She just stood there, quiet as a statue.

“Thank you. You have been quite an audience.” The man finally stood up. He took a glance at the sky before turning back to Jean. “Ah, it seems like my welcoming party is already here. I would urge you to stay here. When the Protectors eventually break through, they will free you. And,” He gave one last glance at Jean. “I wish you good fortune in your journey.”

Before he could leave, Jean asked another question.

“Have you heard about the Book of Graham?”

The man paused and gave Jean a meaningful glance.

“It’s the Chapter of Graham, and yes, it and all of its legends are true.”

With that said, he turned and retreated into the shadows. Another wave of hallucinations consumed her, not necessarily to kill her but rather to conceal her uniqueness.