Cornelius Victor Blaze remained a mystery to Roxi. Her great grandfather that had supposedly died, reborn on Planet 2, then managed to get back to Earth. If everything he said was true, and she didn’t doubt his words, then he must be a very powerful person to escape death. She set out to find him, which turned out not too difficult as he had been looking for her as well.

The two of them met in secret away from the prying eyes of any potential spies and enemy informants. His appearance this time was a lot different than the officer uniform he had on last time. Now, he was in a business suit, perfectly groomed, and looked and felt like a powerful person. What ethnicity he was from, Roxi still could not make out.

“You’re one of mine aren’t you?” Cornelius Victor Blaze said as he raised his head to inspect the person that was in front of him.

“I am, and I need your help,” Roxi raised her head as well to match his gaze.

“Very well, seeing as this is a simulation, I don’t have anything to lose. Or gain, for that matter. What do you need?”

“I have prepared a list of items and substances that I will require to build my last resort weapon. I have tried to do it within the simulation’s guidelines, but I will need to break the rules a little to get it done in time.” She handed Cornelius a piece of paper had a few dozen items listed, all of which were extremely rare and dangerous. At this point, Roxi felt her mind going back and forth from consciousness to unconsciousness, just like the last time she met this man. However, she continued.

“Very well. This will be done; I will call in a few favors to have all of these delivered to you as soon as possible. I assume this means that we are on Planet 4?”

“You are not wrong…” Roxi trailed off, still not all there mentally.

“I’m sure you must have a million questions for me, why don’t we start with one?”

“Where were you born? Your facial features don’t give any indication as to where it might be.”

“Modern-day Middle-East. I won’t elaborate but I am a lot older than you realize. Now, you should probably get working on your secret weapon. Your friends are waiting for you aren’t they? Or rather, one of them is, the other one didn’t make it.”

“How did you know that? I only recently got the information myself,” Roxi questioned Cornelius.

“I have information networks all over the globe. Some centuries old. If you are one of mine, I should’ve explained this to you before you died.”

“Well, not everything goes according to plan do they?”

“I suppose not.”

“I understand that you are extremely busy. However, how about we have a proper chat next time, hmm? I’d like to get to know my children better. I’m sure you’d like to know more about my past as well.”

“…I don’t know.”

“Hmm? You’re a member of Blaze. Head high, shoulders up, and confidence in everything we do is what makes us part of Blaze. Among my children, I can tell you that you will be very important in the future.”

“Whatever.”

The pair split up soon after. Once she was no longer in Cornelius’ vicinity, the veil of uncertainty in her mind disappeared. Something about him seemed to mess with her mind. No matter, now was not the time to mull over this matter. Immediately she began to work on her final invention while she was alive. Truth be told, the leaked documents about this weapon had been nothing but an early prototype. Her true final weapon worked on the same principles but was much deadlier.

She didn’t dare test this technology to its fullest potential, but now that there were no other choices, she would test it a bit more boldly. Through her estimates, the full potential lay somewhere between 1 to 5 megatons. For reference, the ones dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were only 15 to 21 kilotons. So anywhere from 50 to 65 times more destructive. The difference was her explosive device ranged anywhere from a small coin to a regular missile for the ones that rivaled nukes in terms of explosive potential.

This invention of hers she hadn’t touched in literally centuries. So, it took a bit of recalculation on her part to mix all the correct concoctions and put it in the right container. If she wanted to be of help, she would need to get it down to a tea and bring it to the Japanese islands herself. There was no way she could afford to go slow now. Day in and day out, night in and night out she worked to perfect her invention.

Many reports came in about the progress on the Japanese front. Jaxon didn’t engage in any battles that would put his life in danger, but that also meant that expansion into their few footholds was going slowly. However, Roxi continued working on it. If she was successful, then just a few of her explosives would end the war in their favor. Going by the more conservative estimates, just one of hers would be able to level a considerable area of the Honshu island. If dropped directly on top of strategic positions simultaneously, then there would be little the Japanese forces could do to turn the tides back to their side.

Her work was not without distraction. Several times, a hail of bullets and explosions rang outside her secret workspace. She found out pretty soon that the force of soldiers her great grandfather had sent to guard her would not be able to protect her forever. Quite a few times men in combat gear had broken in only to get disposed of by Roxi herself. Every time her facility was attacked, they only had a couple of days to move to another location. That was the biggest reason that her work was progressing so slowly.

Eventually, her work concluded and everything she set out to accomplish was finished. She returned to the Japanese front to support Jaxon. The two of them strategized on where they should drop Roxi’s secret weapon. In all, she had created a total of 20 explosives all the size of rocket launcher ammo. Each with the power of double that of the nuclear weapons dropped at Nagasaki and Hiroshima. If even this was not enough, then a quick decisive campaign ought to force the Japanese to surrender.

It took many days of planning and debating which locations to deploy her secret weapons. However, since Jaxon was more familiar with what the enemy had in store, he decided on most of the targets. He hated having to do this. However, there was no other way to win. Not without Baron anyway. Planning something as big as an invasion of Japan was not Roxi nor Jaxon’s strong point. So, they could only settle on going with a flashier strategy.

Major cities, ports, strategic locations around the country where there was a military presence, and even completely unrelated places such as dams were targets of the secret weapon. With Jaxon’s excellent command over aerial planning, they were able to hit all of their targets. The resulting simulation was not much to talk about. Jaxon and Roxi continued with the invasion of the Honshu Island of Japan. Their enemies were in no shape to put up much of a resistance. Even if Yamamoto, Genda, and Tokugawa were exceptional in air, land, and sea warfare, they were dealing with an increasingly unfavorable situation.

Two weeks later, the last stronghold was smashed through and the entirety of the Japanese forces dissolved. They had been stubborn enough to fight down to the last man. It only took two weeks, in part due to the importance that Jaxon and Roxi had put on ending the simulation, so their enemies were not able to pull any last-minute surprises. With the Japanese’s inability to even produce enough food or safe drinking water for their soldiers, much fewer citizens, they were at a complete loss.

The results were set in stone. Jaxon, Roxi, and Baron had won their 4th consecutive match. Once Roxi and Jaxon exited from the simulation, they saw that Baron was sitting and chatting right next to Nicholas Adams. Baron ended his conversation and immediately came over once he saw his teammates.

“Guys, that was amazing. I had my doubts, but you two pulled out a win in that crazy scenario,” Baron said with a slight grin on his face.

“I…I think I need to get my mind clear from that simulation. I’m going to go first.” Jaxon looked like a mix between being disgusted and horrified and quickly left the room.

“I need to sort some stuff out myself, Baron. This simulation has been too much.” Then, Roxi left as well. Leaving Baron unable to get a word in.

Nicholas came up to Baron to continue their conversation. “Baron, don’t let this get to your head. I think that they left quickly because they can finally take a break without worrying. The burden you left them with this time seems to be too much for them to handle for the time being.”

“What are you talking about?” Baron asked, pretty confused as to what Nicholas was implying.

“They have worked hard to correct your mess-up. I can tell by Roxi’s eyes that the secret weapon she had to use took a massive psychological toll on her. Same goes for Jaxon.”

“Nicholas, it’s just a simulation.”

“Baron, I get that you have gone through more simulations than I, and therefore you are desensitized to the stuff the simulation doesn’t highlight. You treat these simulations as if it was nothing more than a board game. If you keep going down this path, it will lead to nothing more than losing your humanity. Those two have not yet been in that many simulations, so the destruction they have caused this time around must sicken them.”

“You’re serious? They have been in battle before, in fact, they have killed more people than I have when they were alive.”

“You’re not getting it, Baron. This time, they had to essentially wipe out the nation of Japan off the map with nukes no less. It’s like the case with the German scientists in World War 2. They had a choice to make. They could make the nukes and possibly win the war, but at a cost of even more bloodshed. Or, they could continue to do what they had been doing and lose the war. They chose the former because they would be directly killing potentially millions of people.”

“I suppose that would be too much for anybody. Ending so many lives, creating so much suffering, so much hatred, so much…destruction.”

“Indeed. Anyway, you already added me on your ID right?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. If Roxi is interested in selling her blueprint for that secret weapon of hers, then give her my ID number.”

“Sure.”

“Excellent. Do you think you lucked out this time around?”

“I know I did. I can’t believe I got so cocky and ended up being flanked on all sides. Not taking any submarines with me that time was also risky.”

“Ha-ha. It’s a learning experience if nothing else.”

“I suppose. It’s quite miraculous that my team has made it this far into the tournament. With all of these high-level strategists, we must be quite lucky.”

“You are indeed. Which is why I am going to give you this blueprint for your next match.” Nicholas fiddled with his ID for a little bit and nodded to Baron.

Baron messed around with his ID device before he managed to finally get the thing to show what Nicholas had just given him. It was something that Baron did not recognize. “What is it?” he asked.

“It is a piece of technology that is very useful for reconnaissance. A robot that can be as small as a butterfly to as big as a cat. Inside is specially fitted with listening devices and a myriad of other incredible things you can use to spy on your enemies. This is my specialty; I pride myself on being one of the leading figures in technological warfare in the US community. Here’s a hint, you’ve seen just how devastating Roxi’s secret weapon is. If you can get her to develop it again but smaller, you can outfit that with this piece of tech I just gave you to silently and in no danger to yourself, kill your enemies.”

“No way, what are you playing at?”

“This is just a loan, but I hope it can be of use to you. Also, there is one more thing that connects us.” He pulled out a piece of paper that had mysterious runes, just like the one that Baron had. It was an invitation to Luca’s challenge.

“You too?”

“Don’t act so surprised. I know you have one as well. We are both one of the best in our respective communities, if not in experience, then in technology.”

“I still have a long way to go.”

“That is true, but you are also one of the best talents in the Chinese community. From what I have seen, it won’t be too long before Roxi, and Jaxon receives one as well.”

This was not something that Baron had considered before. He didn’t know what to feel about this train of thought that Nicholas had revealed. As a friend, he didn’t want them to ever do such a thing. The stories that he had heard had scared him but excited him at the same time. He knew it was only a matter of time before he took up the challenge. It was so mysterious, so enticing, so secretive that it was hard for him to resist. There were real risks associated with this challenge, more than anything else this world had to offer. But what did he feel about his closest friends taking up the challenge?