Chapter 378: To Sell a Lie

The underwater city began to abandon ship and was relentless in accomplishing a full escape.

As the city was falling, it drew the attention of many underwater cities and nations who approached to observe or scavenge the objects they found. But the World Governing Trading Hub was the fastest to send forces to the base.

The Emperors brought an entire army. Several large aircraft zoomed at great speed towards the underwater city.

And the team consisted of Emperors and had over a thousand Exoskeletons and transports. The movement drew international panic as everyone thought that the Emperors had moved out for war.

Without even hiding their signal, a full eight Emperors of the Everhiss clan emerged and even announced not to touch that city. Since the city had no sovereignty and did not belong to the area of responsibilities of many nations, they could not contest any claim.

A Floating Frost city of Canada was closer, but the WGP moved faster and even ordered Canada not to make any unnecessary actions.

"I can't sense Seeker." The Emperor called out. A tall, golden Exoskeleton appeared near Zeraphine. Although Zeraphine had sensed the approach of this cloaking Emperor, she pretended not to have noticed.

"You are Lara Diamon, correct? You're the one that brought Small Willy."

"Emperor! Yes! Seeker told me to stay here. I..."

"We suddenly lost his signal. We thought this was going to be easy, but a strange signature was detected inside." 

"A strange signature?" Lara asked. She was there, and she didn't detect any strange signal even with her technology. Of course, she concluded that the Progenitor must have sensed something.

BOOM!

A huge explosion occurred right in the middle of the underwater city as hundreds of small evacuation ships emerged. The blast was so strong that the shock wave reached Lara.

"Seeker!" Lara shouted and moved.

"Relax. The Progenitor made his move. Seeker and the team should be alive. Those damned Primordials! It was a trap! If Progenitor did not realize it too soon, Seeker would have died!"

"A trap?! What happened?!"

"That's none of your concern. Follow me. We will pick you all up as we eliminate some of those who escaped. We will be headed to South America after this." The Emperor waved his hand, and a Rule appeared near him.

This time, Zeraphine was surprised. Not even she could detect the Rule.

The Rule opened up and became a small transport that could carry the Emperor and Zeraphine.

Zeraphine marveled at the technology. It created a strange hard metal that was based on barrier technology. Only this time, it was more compact and stable. What's more, a strange color appeared and made the supposedly invisible barrier coated in a pitch-black tint.

"Amazing... Just how many techs does this Principal have?!" Zeraphine wondered.

The Rule carried the two and assumed the form of a needle-shaped rocket. It blasted off towards the surface and attacked some of the escape pods. It locked into one, and the Rule rammed one aircraft and penetrated through the ship. The ship tried to activate its breach protocol, but the Rule broke through the many walls of the vessel and damaged it. Water was flooding in on the various chambers. Eventually, the Rule reached and found the passengers of the ship.

"Presider! Save us!"

Without hesitation, the Emperor shot several bullets that were as thin as needles that aimed for the left side of the chest. A single bullet shot these humans and killed them.

Zeraphine pretended not to have seen anything as the dark tint should have prevented her from seeing it. But with her technology, Zeraphine saw all of it and knew that this Emperor shot at the left side to hit the heart of these Aragarians.

"So they are Aragarian defectors!" Zeraphine concluded. But what was alarming was the words that the Aragarian screamed before he died. He was calling out to a 'Presider.'

"Is it a Presider that hid on Earth, or is it one of us?" Zeraphine wondered.

"It's not here." The Emperor cursed and abandoned the ship, which was now drowning and began to be crushed from the deep pressure of the sea.

"We found and rescued Seeker. He's wounded, but he should live. We're heading to South America now." A voice called to the Emperor.

"Good. I got his fiance with me. I'll go ahead. You guys finish up." The Emperor blasted off and rushed for the surface. Various escape pods were being intercepted by Exoskeletons, underwater vessels, and Rules.

"What's going on down there?" Zeraphine couldn't help but wonder. Just what did the Progenitor find in that fort?

"Emperors. Make haste and move. Those that are to deliver Seeker and his team on to the city move fast. We will immediately regroup and launch an attack. The Progenitor found the real base. Act fast. The Progenitor" A voice gave the order to the Emperor. The Emperor was unbothered and looked towards the horizon as he delivered Lara.

Zeraphine was silent and dared not make any attempts to communicate. 

Meanwhile, on another ship, Seeker was with another Emperor.

"Lynd's orders?"

"Yes. Lynd's orders. In case you developed a way to dissolve the radiation and heal your wounds. Meryl also made the arrangements for Alphie and Kristine to go with us. We will be traveling in the Many Mansions that is headed here."

"They really know how to stop me from dating Zeraphine." Seeker chuckled.

"You have brave soldiers." The Emperor praised the old woman standing next to Seeker.

"Those volunteers ought to make it believable." She smiled.

Seeker kept silent. He could only remember the many names of those who died and gave their lives just to sell a lie.

"So... where are we going?" Lourca asked.

"South America. The Everhiss, along with your team, will create a City of Refuge there using the company we've built, Unlocked Industries, as the cover. We've managed to lure several Presiders to take part in a certain gathering. An Underwater City will surface, and that gathering will be made there. With you and the Everhiss secretly creating bases, it will provide a good place to retreat in case things go problematic."

"Oh? What could intrigue several Presiders?"

"Their favorite game."

"Ah. Of course. Even at my age, I still play that. Interesting. To think that a simple game can help us save the world!" Lourca laughed.

"We still have to keep the other Presiders busy. We can't have too many of them. I wonder... What will Lowengren's team do?" Seeker wondered.

Deep in the land of Egypt...

A military base in Gaze emerged from the sand and continued to move from one of the nearby cities to the next. With many wars approaching, these military bases that were always buried and tunneled around the maze within the entire land of Egypt began to make rounds to gather more people.

The reports of the robots from the future continued to appear once in a while on different places in Egypt. 

A bloodshot, tired, and very depressed General of the military fortress emerged from his office.

"This damned war! And now the WGP had moved up north! Just was is going on in this world?!" The General cursed.

"Pioneer! Greetings!" A burly janitor greeted.

"Ah. Finally, some competence! Did you complete the task?"

"Yes. With my suggestion in place, we've seen a thirty percent increase on recruits."

"You're a competent man, mister Lester. As promised, you will be granted the rank of Major since you've fulfilled your task." The General smiled.

"I am very grateful, General."

"No need to be grateful. You are very trustworthy, Lester."

"You seemed rather tired, General. Is there anything I can help you with?" Lester asked.

The General smiled politely and was about to shake his head, but then, a strange thought occurred.

"Lester, are you knowledgeable in logistics and transports for war?"

"I do have experience with it. Why?"

"What do you make of... this?" The General shuffled on his papers and gave one to Lester.

Lester began to go over the classified document.

"Half of these people could double their work and become more efficient if these two people are promoted to become officers. I've seen their work. They are quite good. Also, the arrangement of deployment is very inefficient. I'd do away with the chain of commands that require approval. War is coming. Why are we applying military protocol that was meant for security when we need to arm our forces quickly?" Lester frowned.

"... That's... actually brilliant. Those two people you mentioned... can you vouch for them?"

"With my life."

"Then they should be good people. Here... I am formally giving you the rank of Major now and will process the formality later. But you could take over this command."

"I will need to hire more men."

"Done. I am giving you full authority. Just make sure to increase our speed by two times at a cost-efficient way."

"You have my word, General."

"Good. Since you're in charge of this, take over my office."

"You could go on a nap, General. Since a bulk of your workload is complete, I believe I can finish this task in an hour."

"Oh? Then I'll nap for an hour. I'm expecting good news." The General smiled as he opened his door.

"Use my office. I am also giving you my code to prove to the rest that I trust you."

"Alright, General." Lester nodded.

The General left and went on his way, and Lester entered the room.

Lester's first order of business was to call a specific number.

"Infantry Resource department. What are your orders, General?"

"This is newly promoted, Major Lester. Due to the rising conflicts, General promoted me to cover and help him execute new policies."

"Oh! Lester! I'm sorry, I mean Major. It's about time you got your promotion."

"What do you need?"

"I request that you send two certain newly recruited infantry to my office."

"Oh. Do you mean those two walking computers? Sure. I knew you'd promote them. They told me they were acquainted with you. When I told them that a janitor is doing the job of various officers, they wouldn't believe it at first." The man on the other line laughed.

"That is all."

"Congratulations once more, Major." The man politely answered before hanging up.

Major Lester continued to work and make plans that would reshape the policies and protocols their division implemented.

The door opened, and four people entered.

"Two days... Not bad, Harker." Lowengren laughed.

"You weren't lying when you said you could do that!" Vender was amazed.

"Lying is Lowengren's division. I tell the truth and gain the trust of men. I'd have to say Egypt is quite a masterpiece. Although it could do a bit more tweaking, their military protocols really support the land and technology they have here. Alright, down to business. As far as I can tell, the real base of the Presider has one entry point. The underground base moves just like this base does but does so in a random pattern. It's not even written on paper as to when the next delivery of resources happens, but I live it up to you, Arthur. I'm assigning you to head the entire logistics department."

"That position is taken. Won't you be overstepping your boundaries?" Gardo asked.

"No. He won't. Because I'll be lying to convince everyone the current head is secretly selling illegal drugs in this place." Lowengren smiled.

"We have seventeen hours. We will be moving towards the Suez Canal, and the battle will begin then. You have your orders."