The silence that followed Arkas's words was heavy.
No one moved. No one spoke.
A few soldiers whispered in disbelief. I saw Dio staring blankly at the ground. Logan's fists were clenched, knuckles white. Sarah, for once, didn't have a snarky comment. Steve kept glancing at me, waiting for me to say something. But I couldn't.
Because my mind was stuck on one name.
Bruno Harold.
The commander of Unit 77. A Grandmaster.
A single attack. A single Phantom. And everything they'd worked for was erased like it was never there.
What was the point of all this training, all the pushing and fighting, if we could be wiped out just like that? Was this what awaited all of us eventually?
I stared at Arkas.
His voice was calm, but there was something in his eyes. Rage maybe. Or guilt. Maybe all of it. He'd seen this before. He probably knew it was coming. And yet, here we were, hearing it like a cruel surprise.
I exhaled slowly.
So that's how fragile we are. One bad day… and you're just a name in someone else's story.
I felt something stir in my chest.
Resolve.
If I was going to die, it wouldn't be quietly. And it wouldn't be for nothing.
If the world wanted to crush me, it would have to try a hell of a lot harder.
My eyes met Arkas's, and I gave my answer.
"Commander, I don't know if I'll ever grow strong enough to break this cage. But I promise you this— I'll become strong enough to avenge Unit 77. That's where I begin."
Arkas, whose expression had remained serious the entire time, finally grinned.
"Revenge is good. It gives you purpose. Let the fire of vengeance burn within you. Many of you have lost family. To not even have the guts to seek justice for them… that's cowardice."
Arkas took a deep breath and spoke, his voice loud and clear.
"Alright. Because of interference from Billion Ironhart, your raid ended prematurely. So, we'll head out on a new one, this time, in the East Continent."
My eyes narrowed the moment I heard that. Instinctively, I extended my perception and locked it onto King Holt, who stood quietly to the side. I scanned him.
Level 24.
That was surprising. He used to be in the top ten. Now, he was lagging behind, below even some of the soldiers who were not that high leveled during the first month. I wondered what had happened to him.
Arkas kept speaking.
"The region we're going to is cold. The environment is harsh. You'll gain experience operating in extreme conditions, which will make you better fighters."
I almost laughed to myself. That was just Arkas trying to make it sound grand. There were cold and harsh places even here on the Central Continent. He was clearly trying to hype it up.
Then he added.
"This time, we'll move in batches of twenty. First, the top twenty. Then the rest. Your schedule will be given to you by Vice Commander June."
I noticed a few people glance at me when he said top twenty. There was no question I'd be in the first batch.
Suddenly, I heard Arkas's voice in my ear.
'Billion, I'm giving you three days to stir things up with King. Otherwise, we'll have to drop you closer to their hidden base, and that'll look way more suspicious. Don't chicken out now.'
My brows pulled together. I wasn't chickening out. It's just… I'd never played the villain before.
I let out a slow breath, trying to steady myself. If I was going to pull this off, I needed backup, or at least someone to bounce ideas off. And Steve was already neck-deep in this mess with me. So, I decided to have a discussion with him as soon as we went back to the base.
Arkas talked a bit more after that, mostly about how we fought, what went well, what didn't. Then, we were dismissed and returned to the base.
I went straight to my room, washed up, and changed into something comfortable. A soft hoodie and joggers, much better than the stiff academy uniform. Once I was done, I made my way to Steve's room.
To my surprise, he was already freshened up. I had half-expected him to be lying on the bed like a dead body, recovering from the raid with snacks in one hand and complaints in the other.
I grinned.
"Well, well, well… looks like the military's finally having a good influence on you."
He shut the door behind me and flopped down on the couch with a tired groan.
"Not the military," he said. "Just Arkas."
I raised an eyebrow. "How so?"
He let out a breath and leaned his head back.
"He put me through a different kind of training. It broke me down. I actually gave up at one point. And that's when I realized, I've got an ego too. I didn't even know I had it. But it really hated the idea of failing."
I chuckled.
"I'm just glad you came out stronger. If you'd crumbled, my relationship with Arkas would've gone downhill fast."
Steve stared up at the ceiling, then sighed, long and heavy.
"It's not easy for him either, you know. That man's carrying a lot. I could feel it.
After hearing about Unit 77... I don't know, I've been getting this weird feeling like it's somehow my fault. So imagine what he must be feeling, after seeing who knows how many 'Unit 77s' over the years."
I went quiet after that. I hadn't really let myself think about things from Arkas's point of view. I wasn't sure I wanted to. That kind of weight... it'd crush most people.
So I shifted the topic.
"Anyway," I said, "you get what's happening with this new East Continent raid, right? It's just a cover. We're the bait."
Steve's expression turned serious. He nodded slowly.
"Yeah. This is all just a setup to get us captured by the Holts."
"Exactly," I said. "And if we don't make it convincing enough, Arkas said he'll just drop us right on top of their base. So… we need to figure out how to make King take the bait during the raid."
Steve looked at me, dead serious now.
"You realize if we piss him off and actually get captured, they're not gonna welcome us with a fruit basket. It'll be torture. Straight-up hell."
I gave a dry chuckle.
"I know. But I've been thinking. There's got to be easier ways to pull this off, ways that don't involve getting on King's bad side.
But I've got this gut feeling... that Arkas and maybe even Edgar want us to do it this way. Like there's something they're not telling us."
Steve rubbed his chin, thinking.
"Now that you mention it....yeah, it does feel too deliberate. You think this has something to do with King specifically?"
I shrugged.
"I don't know. The chances are low, but not zero. Either way, there's definitely more going on behind the scenes than we've been told.
"Anyway," I said, "we've already beaten him a couple of times. But maybe that's not enough. What should we do next?"
Steve scratched his head, frowning.
"We've already humiliated him in front of everyone, so that part's done. I don't know... do we beat him again? Or, I don't know, parade him around naked or something?"
I shook my head immediately.
"Nope. No naked anything. What if he does the same to us after we get captured? That's a hard no."
I paused, thinking.
"Hmm... maybe we capture him instead. Rough him up a little. Insult his family. If he's really that important among the Holts, that should be enough to get a reaction."
Steve looked at me with a worried face.
"Man, I really don't like this whole thing. I just keep thinking... what's stopping them from killing us on the spot once they have us?"
I shrugged.
"I'm sure Arkas will fill us in before we're actually thrown into the fire."
He let out a long breath.
I did the same.
And then, like the totally responsible soldiers we were, we ordered some food to take our minds off torture and fake villainous behavior. We agreed, tonight, we'd set the plan in motion.