A portal appeared on a farm, and out of the portal walked Myra, holding the unconscious Ryan in his hands. Gonin and Rose were sitting, waiting. On the farm, there was a house which looked empty, and a building that didn’t have a roof. It appeared as if it had been cut in two, if one looked closely.

“What happened?” asked Rose, as she stood up, going to meet him.

Myra remained silent, as he put Ryan on the ground. Gonin rose up and walked up to feel Ryan’s pulse. The good thing was he was breathing, albeit in rapid successive breaths. He was alive, and his life wasn’t in danger…somehow.

“It is over!” replied Myra, as he took a long, deep breath.

“What about the Beast King?” asked Gonin.

“It is no longer around”, spoke Myra after a long deliberation. After hitting the beast with the black hole, its energy had vanished, he made the assumption that it was dead. Anyone would have made that assumption as well.

“I see. What about him? What happened to him?” she asked, with a trace of worry hidden in her voice.

“He was knocked out from an explosion. The animal attacked before he had a chance to follow you in the portal, so I had to pull him back. He got caught up in the fight. However, he is alright.”

Myra carried Ryan into the house, which was deserted. Gonin and Rose looked at each other before following. Before Myra’s arrival, they had been discussing the best way forward. Gonin had made a decision to visit the eastern monasteries. He wanted to train as a disciple of one of the abbots, so that he could revive the monastery that had been destroyed by Cerberus. Rose decided to stick to her main mission, which was protecting Ryan. However, for some reason, this mission seemed a bit too … weird. How was she supposed to protect someone who was a million times stronger than she was?

How was she supposed to protect someone who could run a million times faster than her? Who actually needed protection here? As she thought about it, she realized that trying to protect him was a ridiculous idea altogether! However, as weird as it sounded, she had to carry out her mission. She might not be able to protect him physically, but she had connections. She had people who gave her information. All she could do was giving him information. That was the best way to protect him. And she also would wait until he was awake, so she could hear what he had decided to do.

If he decided to go after Cerberus, she’d help him by providing information. However, if he decided to play it cool and let it go, she’d do her best to protect him from the shadows, whatever that meant. At best, she’d fulfil her promise to Nightingale, his mother. However, from the little interactions she had with him, she knew there was no way he’d let this go. In fact, if Cerberus was a category 5 hurricane, Ryan would still head into it at full speed! She sighed deeply, as she walked into the lounge, where Myra was sitting cross-legged on the wooden floor.

The rain kept pouring, but the soldiers were not bothered at all. They kept running to and fro, cleaning up what remained of the tailed beasts. Some of the soldiers were looking for scrap remains of the robots which had been destroyed during the battle.

“What’s the next step now?” asked the red-brown robot.

The Pirin turned before answering, “Now it’s time to fulfil your end of the bargain.”

The red-brown robot raised up its hands and then gave a subtle signal. In a matter of seconds, the Pirin was surrounded by soldiers, robots and drones. The soldiers pointed their guns at the oval shaped robot.

“Sorry, but we had no intention of negotiating with terrorists from the beginning. Thank you for gifting us with the technology to create immortal soldiers, and to conquer the planet. It was a pleasure doing business with you. However, you killed our people back then. Do you seriously expect us to let you go just like that?” asked the red-brown robot, as its arm transformed into the Rhizen canon once more. “We also realized you were lying about the cooldown time of the canon. You’re not much in control as you thought. Give it up, we’ll take you into custody an--”

The Pirin sighed. No, it tried to. However, it didn’t have a windpipe, so it didn’t work. It knew that, but that didn’t stop it from trying. The result? A horrible sound grating to the ears! That was one feature not built into the robot. The ability to simulate a sigh. That was one feature he would have to put on the list of planned upgrades.

BEEP. BEEP. Warning! Interface System offline! Main Battery Low! Switching to reserve mode! Weapons module disabled!

A number of beeps and sounds echoed from the Pirin, and from the sound of it, nothing good was happening.

“Honestly, is it a bad thing to ask for peace and quiet, better business transactions and lasting friendship?” asked the Pirin.

“Lasting friendship? Better business transactions? Do we have to remind you that you threatened us to participate in this? Did we even have a choice in this?” asked the red-brown robot, its voice apparently getting more angry. “Give up! We’re jamming the signals to prevent you from communicating with any of the robots here!”

“I see. I guess it can’t be helped then”, replied the Pirin, as it raised its hands up, as a sign of giving up.

“Arrest him!” commanded the red-brown robot.

The soldiers rushed to bind the Pirin, and after successfully apprehending it, they dragged it into a large container. However, before they finished sealing it in the container, it powered off. The PI Robotics logo showed on its screen along with the words SHUTTING DOWN…

“This is not good! Jam the signal!” ordered the red-brown robot when it realized what had happened.

However, it was too late! The Pirin powered down successfully, and then in that same moment, all the drones turned on the soldiers and started firing. Before the red-brown robot could respond, another robot crept up from behind it and then pointed a gun to its head!

“Now now, don’t bother. I warned you about double crossing me, didn’t I? Oh well, I guess talk is indeed cheap. Showing you the consequences is the best I can do for you at the moment”, spoke the other robot.

“Y-you!” spoke the red-brown robot, flustered.

The drones proceeded to kill each and every other soldier who was left, before coming back and surrounding the red-brown robot.

“Are you going to kill me? The general of the Tibetan army!”

“Nononono… you have it all wrong. I’m not going to kill you. However, there’s something you can do for me. And you’re going to do it”, replied the other robot.

The president was sitting luxuriously in his office. The atmosphere was quite tense. At least the battle was over, they had won. It was partly thanks to that oval shaped robot. Pity they had to do that, after all the help they had been given. As much as he didn’t want to, he had no option. With a heavy heart, he authorised it. This was justice for all the people the hacker had murdered in the building.

He took the glass of champagne resting on the desk and raised it towards his mouth. Before he could drink the contents of the glass, his phone suddenly rang!

“Yes?” he asked, after picking it up.

“Sir, someone is here to see you. He says he’s the messenger of court”, came a female voice from the other side of the line.

“Send him in”, replied the president, with a soft sigh.

“Okay sir”, was the reply, before the phone hung up.

The door opened and in came a young man, wearing a black suit. The young man walked with small steps, until he was at the president’s desk.

“Mr. President”, he said, as he extended a hand.

The president had risen up from his seat and he shook the hand of the young man, before saying, “What brings you to my office this afternoon?”

“Congress has called for an emergency session. The senators have sent me to fetch you sir”, spoke the young man.

“What’s the agenda for the session?”

“I wasn’t privileged with receiving the knowledge, sir”, replied the young man.

“I see. Let me get ready then”, said the president, as he emptied the glass on his table in one fell swoop. After some preparations, the young man, the president’s bodyguards and his secretary, got into the vehicles, and left the white house along with the president.

He dreaded going to congress. Those damn congressmen always had something up their sleeves. Someone was always aiming for his head, and they always got the chance to show off their skills during these sessions. As he arrived, he felt a deep sense of foreboding which he didn’t know the source. But that didn’t matter. He was the president, the most protected man in the country! If you put aside those billionaires, that was.

They arrived at the building where they held their congress sessions. It was lined up with journalists who were furiously clicking at their cameras while some reporters were trying desperately to shove mics in front of the president. The president ignored the reporters who were being pushed by the security personnel. As he arrived, there was chaos in the house, which might have been a good thing for him, considering he was late.

“How could we have dealt with such a situation like that?” asked one of the politicians.

“What would you have done in that scenario?” asked another, glaring furiously at his counterpart.

As the president sat down, a frightening silence ensued. Everyone turned and started paying attention to him.

“Good aft--”

Crash! Crash!

The president was interrupted by the sound of glass shattering into a million pieces. Immediately after the sound, a lot of drones flew into the building, followed by robots.

“Mr. President, we meet again…” echoed a loud voice, being projected from a red-brown humanoid robot.