Chapter 286: diana the lone mercenary

A few minutes later, Clark finally drove back to his friend’s mansion. Throughout the journey, none of them spoke as they digested everything that happened in the past hour.

Leaving 2 aging parents devastated was not an experience that Clark wanted to remember, but he knew that what he did was necessary.

Perhaps, because his parents died when he was young, he could not comprehend how the couple felt but he knew that it was painful to lose a loved one.

The money that he sent to the aged couple was an outrageous amount of money for a burial, but he didn’t send the money to them for that.

Seeing how devastated they were, he took it as a responsibility upon himself that he would never live to see the both of them lack anything.

Benny was their one and all, their only child that they directed all their love to. His death was traumatizing enough, he did not want any other suffering to befall the aging couple.

At least, with a million Spartan credits, they could live lavishly for the rest of their lives. Even if that was not enough, he could just hack their accounts and send another one in.

Another reason that prompted him to do this was to make up for his lack of ability then. It was because of his lack of power that enabled Grey Fur to murder his friend, he felt that compensating with money was the best that he could do.

He silently vowed to himself not to ever lose a close one again due to a lack of power. He was a soldier, his friends dying when he was alive was just an abnormality that he was reluctant to accept.

Now, he was sure that this vow was not baseless.

Not only did he have the magical bean quadrant enhancer, he was now a 3rd rank high-grade soldier, and he also had the new self-created technique that he comprehended during his sublimation.

He had not confirmed it yet, but his instinct told him that his new self-created technique had an enormous potential that he could not exhaust in years. He just had to continue getting better with it.

He was sure that with all these, he could protect himself from most dangers. But most was not enough, this was why he was fired up to go to even more extreme means to increase his power base.

When he became a 4th rank high-grade soldier, that would be good, becoming a 5th rank high-grade soldier would be better, but his ultimate goal was to aim for the best which was the Elite-grade realm.

He yearned for the power wielded by Elite Commanders.

With such power, he could right any injustice that he came across. With such power, no one would dare touch his friends. With such power, things would finally be in the hollow of his palms.

He finally turned to face his friend. Leo felt his gaze, so he turned too.

“Greet your wife for me”.

“Ok, bro. Take care”. Leo came down from the car.

“And…, I want to see a little Leo the next time that we meet”.

As soon as he said that, Clark added pressure to the car’s gas pedal and sped away. Despite the sound made by the car, he could still hear Leo’s chuckle from the background.

He smiled before increasing his speed further.

As soon as he hit the highway, his implant notified him of an incoming call. He smiled on seeing the caller. “Hey!”

“Clark, it’s really you?”

“Yes, I survived”. He laughed.

“Let’s meet up. I’m in Delhi city also, give me a sec to send across the location. Done!”

“Ok, I’ll be there in a moment”.

…

15 minutes later, Clark drove his car into the Delhi city central airport. As soon as he drove into the airport, he saw who he was looking for. The lady stood at a distance waving at him.

The breeze blowing across the airport blew at her green hair, allowing it to sway left and right wavily to form a stunning sight.

She was dressed in a black vest, tight skinny trousers, black boots, black eyeglasses, and a small black bag that clung to her back. Her green hair was the only contrast to this color combination.

Clark steered the car in her direction after noticing her, he stopped beside her a moment later. Coming down from the car, he went to her side with a smile on his face.

“Hey, Diana! What’s with the outfit and why did you dye your hair? Are you traveling?”

“Hey!”. Diana waved back while also smiling. “Yes, I’m traveling”.

After a separation of over 4 months where he was constantly worried about her safety, seeing her safe, sound, and healthy brought a relieving feeling to Clark.

“Let’s find a place to sit down and talk”. She suggested.

Clark agreed so they quickly left the open space to a more covered place- the airport restaurant that was nearby to get some time to talk.

After sitting down and ordering a drink, Clark initiated the conversation. “What happened after King came to meet you guys? He told me but it was still vague, I want to hear from the horse’s mouth”.

Diana smiled. “We survived”.

“Yes, I know that you survived or you wouldn’t be here. You know what I mean, I need details”. Clark laughed.

“Ok, if that’s what you want”.

Diana first switched on a jamming device to render any listening or spying device useless. After doing this, she finally opened her mouth to speak.

She started directly from when they got separated after they found the Aragan ruin. She told him all their experiences with exobeasts, the horde of beasts, and the Mocan soldiers.

She told him about all the casualties from the mission, making Clark wince a bit before she entered the part after King left them.

According to her, after they separated with King and Josh, they didn’t leave immediately but decided to contact the Spartan republic first to get instructions.

From the call, the republic knew of their plight and sent a retrieval squad to come help and escort them back. Through that, they were able to return home without suffering any further injuries.

After getting to the republic, they didn’t get to rest as they were all escorted to the Spartan army headquarters that same day.

After giving a full account of everything that happened during the duration of the mission, and presenting the mission target loot that they came back with, they were finally allowed to rest.

Because of the confidentiality of the mission, they didn’t receive any medals or acknowledgment for their efforts but every member of the squad received mouth watery compensation in terms of money and resources.

As a second in command, she received much more than the others but she didn’t go into details about the compensation that she received.

After that, she bid goodbye to the other soldiers of their squad who survived before they went their various ways.

From there, she went back to visit her hometown as she wanted to rest and forget all the stress induced by the horrors of the great Himalayan peaks. This was a mission that she badly wanted to forget.

Just in a span of a few months, she fell in love for the first time and also lost a loved one for the first time. The experience was traumatic.

She said she was keeping a constant tab on any information that was related to him, that was why she was able to discover that he was back.

“You’ve suffered a lot, I’m sorry”. Clark apologized, feeling guilty again.

“It’s ok, Clark, I already got over everything. When I got information that you were back, I contacted the other survivors immediately. We organized a special military honor burial for our dead comrades, and the date is next week”.

“Ok, I understand”. Clark sipped his drink.

“So…, you, what happened?” Diana shifted to sit at a more comfortable angle on her chair before asking.

Seeing Clark’s confused gaze, she repeated for emphasis. “What happened? King said that you were in a coma, the explanations were much but I didn’t believe a thing that he said”.

“Oh, about that, it’s a long story”. Clark cleared his throat before he continued.

“I would have loved to tell you all, but Diana I’m sorry. I encountered a situation that I cannot tell anyone else about, I hope that you understand”.

Diana looked on at him in silence for 10 seconds before replying. “I understand”.

“And by the way, I finally broke through. I’m now a high-grade soldier”.

“Oh, that’s great”. She sighed. “If only it happened a few months earlier”.

Clark kept quiet and slowly allowed her to recover herself. They spent the next few minutes discussing a lot of things before their drinks were finally drained to the last drop.

“You said that you are traveling; won’t you be attending the special honor burial that you organized for our dead comrades?” Recalling this, Clark suddenly asked.

“I won’t be there physically; I will attend as a holographic projection though”.

“After I went back to my hometown, I spent a lot of my time thinking about my next course of action. During this time, I made a decision. I’m no longer a Spartan soldier, I’m now a lone mercenary”.

Clark kept quiet for a moment to digest this shocking information; his face serious. “Do you know what you’re doing?”

“Yes, I do. I thought through it extensively before coming to my decision so don’t try to convince me otherwise”.

Clark sighed. “That’s too dangerous Diana. Do you think that Benny would be happy seeing this? He would…”

“His opinion no longer matters, Clark. I’ve been thought the hard way to face reality. We’re not in a fantasy world Clark, this is the real world, a world that is ruled by the realistic laws of nature”.

“But…”

“It’s ok Clark, don’t waste your strength. Yes, I was in love with Benny, but he is dead. This is a show by nature that I was not designed to love a man, I even think that I indirectly caused his death”.

“To free myself, I want to now embrace my destiny of solitude. Thanks for your concern Clark but it won’t change me, I’ve made my mind”.

“Ok,” Clark finally replied. “I respect your decision”.

“Thanks”. Diana finally smiled again.

“Just know that if you ever need help, I’m always here to lend it to you. Don’t ever hesitate to call me no matter how busy you think I am; I made a vow to Benny that I would protect you till I die”.

“At least, allow me to fulfill this vow”.

“Ok”.

After engaging in that intense conversation, they both felt drained mentally. They sat on their chairs to rest for a few minutes before they stood up to go.

Diana entered the next airplane verified for take-off. As soon as she left, Clark turned back in the direction of the military car. It was time to go back to his mansion, it was time to go back to Vatican City.

[She's going solo.]