Another month passed quietly.

The atmosphere inside Libria had become increasingly tense during recent weeks. Even hidden bases of the Embers could feel the pressure building from the Capital’s side. Supply routes became harder to maintain, patrol drones appeared more frequently near outer regions, and several independent settlements had already disappeared without explanation.

War was clearly approaching.

On a cold evening near the waterfall hideout, a lone woman slowly walked through the forest.

Her silver hair reflected faintly beneath the artificial moonlights placed around old ruined roads. Even from a distance, she looked strangely elegant and unnatural at the same time.

It was the same silver-skinned woman who had hosted the final rounds of the Capital Games.

Shasha.

The moment she stepped near a certain area of the forest—

Dozens of hidden drones suddenly activated around her.

Mechanical sounds echoed from every direction as gun barrels emerged from trees, rocks, and underground compartments.

Red targeting lasers instantly covered her body.

Yet Shasha didn’t even flinch.

Instead, she calmly looked toward the darkness ahead.

"Sister..." she said softly. "I know you’re already here."

A few seconds later, Ariel slowly stepped out from behind the trees.

Her silver hair moved gently with the wind while several hidden soldiers remained positioned nearby. A little farther away stood a masked soldier quietly holding a rifle aimed toward Shasha.

The atmosphere immediately became tense.

Shasha stared at Ariel for a moment before smiling faintly.

"You have grown up."

Ariel’s expression twitched slightly.

"Shasha, shut up," she replied immediately. "And I’m not your sister."

"Aww..." Shasha smiled teasingly. "You used to call me sister all the time when you were little. At least call me ancestor now."

Ariel ignored the joke completely.

"Why are you here?"

This time, Shasha’s expression became more serious.

"Nobody knows I came here," she said quietly. "Not even the Capital."

Ariel narrowed her eyes slightly but didn’t interrupt.

"You probably already noticed," Shasha continued, "the Capital is preparing for war."

The surrounding forest became quiet.

"The King is furious right now," she added. "If this continues, a lot of people are going to die."

Ariel folded her arms.

"And?"

Shasha looked directly at her.

"I came to ask if you can hand over the two witches."

Ariel immediately laughed softly.

"Heh."

Then she simply turned around as if the conversation was already over.

But before she could leave, Shasha suddenly grabbed her wrist.

"Stop," she said seriously. "I’m not joking this time."

For the first time since arriving, her voice sounded genuinely tense.

"This war will be different."

Ariel slowly looked at the hand holding her wrist.

Then she calmly pulled away.

"Then let it happen," she replied coldly. "The Embers aren’t scared of war."

Her eyes became sharper.

"And honestly? You’re only living peacefully inside the Capital because you brought Carbonyx into this world. If the King loses control completely, he’ll kill even you eventually."

Shasha became silent.

Then suddenly—

"She brought Carbonyx here?"

A new voice interrupted from nearby.

Both women turned instantly.

The masked soldier standing in the distance slowly lowered the rifle.

Ariel’s expression changed slightly.

"Tansy..."

The soldier removed the mask.

As expected, it was Tansy.

Ariel looked slightly worried now. But strangely, Tansy herself remained completely calm.

Meanwhile, Shasha unconsciously took half a step backward.

Her widened eyes clearly showed fear.

After all, people naturally feared things they didn’t understand.

And currently, Rose and Tansy were exactly that.

Unknown beings with impossible abilities inside a world ruled entirely by technology.

Tansy quietly walked closer.

"Actually," she said calmly, "this was something Tyler wanted to know."

Shasha frowned slightly.

"We saw old records from another-world laboratories," Tansy continued. "How exactly did you bring Carbonyx mines into Libria?"

Shasha looked genuinely surprised.

"You went to my world?"

Then she laughed softly in disbelief.

"Wow..."

For a moment, she looked strangely nostalgic.

Finally, she answered honestly.

"Carbonyx isn’t a natural mineral," she said quietly. "It was originally extracted from a living organism."

Even Ariel frowned slightly hearing that.

"After escaping from that world, I placed the remaining material beneath the underground volcanic regions near Sector 11. Over time, the material mutated and spread naturally."

Tansy listened carefully.

"I also taught the King how to extract electricity from it," Shasha admitted. "That’s how I earned citizenship and protection inside the Capital."

Then she glanced toward Ariel.

"She’s one of my descendants. Her family later abandoned the Capital and joined the Embers."

The forest became quiet again.

Tansy nodded slowly.

"Thank you."

Then she looked directly at Shasha.

"It’s probably better if you avoid joining the war," she said calmly. "At this point, the war is unavoidable anyway."

The next moment—

Tansy vanished in a puff of smoke.

Shasha’s eyes widened instantly.

Only then did she realize something else.

Ariel was gone too.

Neither of them had made any movement she could detect.

Shasha slowly looked around the empty forest with a stunned expression.

"That’s definitely magic..." she muttered quietly.

Then after a long silence, she turned around and walked away alone.

After she left, Tansy , Rose and Ariel appeared.

"Will this work?" Ariel asked.

"Lets hope." Tansy replied.

┉┈ ◈ ◉ ◈ ┈┉

Inside the hidden base, dozens of giant humanoid robots stood lined up inside a massive underground hangar.

Some were carrying giant rifles.

Some had laser cannons mounted on their shoulders.

Others carried heavy mechanical swords attached to their backs.

Blue energy lines flowed faintly across their metallic armor while cables connected them to a large central computer system in the middle of the room.

Tyler sat before the control station typing rapidly across multiple holographic screens.

Rows of code continuously moved across the displays.

A second later, every robot inside the hangar activated at once.

The entire underground structure trembled faintly as dozens of mechanical eyes lit up simultaneously.

Then, almost instantly, all of them shut down again.

Tyler frowned slightly while adjusting several lines of code.

Originally, the visor control system and the giant mechs were copied from the same prototype models. Because of that, every mech could technically connect to the same visor controller at the same time.

That was obviously a terrible idea in actual combat.

So Tyler had been rewriting parts of the control system manually for the past few days. He modified the recognition protocols, synchronization signals, and internal lock systems to make sure each visor could only connect to one mech unit at a time.

Otherwise someone could accidentally control another person’s mech in the middle of battle.

Or worse—

Several mechs could respond to a single pilot simultaneously.

Tyler leaned back slightly while checking the updated synchronization results.

This time the system finally looked stable.

"Good enough for now," he muttered quietly.

Meanwhile, somewhere deep inside another hidden section of the base, a meeting of the Council of Elders had already begun.

One after another, holographic projections appeared around the circular meeting table.

This time, however, there was one additional seat occupied.

Tyler.

One elder smiled faintly before speaking.

"Let us welcome our newest member."

"The Tenth Elder of the Council... Tyler."

Several elders lightly clapped their hands.

Of course, not all of them were genuinely happy about it.

In truth, many elders strongly opposed Tyler becoming part of the Council initially. He was too young, too mysterious, and far too dangerous to trust completely.

But everything changed after Alan and Veena demonstrated the mech units personally.

Watching giant humanoid war machines move through the underground testing grounds while controlled through visor systems completely shocked the Council.

And when Tyler casually promised every Elder their own personal mech unit as a "gift," most remaining opposition disappeared almost immediately.

Money, power, and military advantage solved many disagreements surprisingly fast.

Tyler sat calmly in his seat while observing the projections.

Unlike the others, he didn’t bother wearing formal robes or symbolic decorations. He still wore his usual black coat from the laboratory.

"So," Tyler said casually, "let’s keep this meeting simple."

Several elders looked toward him.

"I suggest we prepare for war."

The atmosphere instantly became heavier.

One elder frowned immediately.

"We cannot start a war simply because you say so."

Tyler calmly looked toward him.

Then he looked around the entire room.

"The Capital is already preparing for war," he replied. "They’re just waiting for the right moment."

Nobody interrupted him this time.

Tyler continued calmly.

"I’ll provide five hundred mech units, augmented combat suits, and military-grade hoverboards to every major Embers base."

Several elders unconsciously straightened in their seats.

Even though they already knew Tyler was producing weapons, hearing the actual number still felt ridiculous.

Five hundred units for each base.

That wasn’t support anymore.

That was the beginning of an actual army.

Alan Runner leaned back quietly while hiding his smile.

Meanwhile, Old Lady Veena looked completely relaxed, as if she already expected this.

At this point, both of them had already begun suspecting that Tyler possessed abilities similar to Rose and Tansy.

Because what Tyler created simply didn’t make sense anymore.

The speed of development alone was impossible.

And yet...

The machines existed physically before their eyes.

That was enough.

For the first time in decades, many elders genuinely felt the Embers might actually stand against the Capital directly.

As the meeting continued, discussions quickly shifted toward logistics, supply chains, hidden transport routes, and training schedules for mech pilots.

Then suddenly—

One of the elders visibly froze mid-conversation.

Her projection flickered slightly.

Everyone immediately noticed something was wrong.

The woman slowly looked up with a pale expression.

Then her eyes moved toward Tyler and Veena.

There was grief visible on her face now.

"...I just received emergency news," she said quietly.

The room became silent.

"The entire Sector 11 has been bombed."