Chapter 23

Harley slowly regained his consciousness. He opened his eyes despite feeling the heaviness of his eyelids.

"Where am I?" he asked in his mind.

His vision was blurry but he could feel the stingy feeling of the tubes around his body. He could also feel the burning sensation scorching his bare skin.

"Octopus has awakened," he heard a voice from a man with grayish hair who's looking up to him.

"Job well done, doctors," another man said.

Harley opened his eyes as wide as he can and not long after, his vision became clearer.

He looked around and saw monitors around the room. There are three men gazing up to his direction, one wearing a formal black suit while the other two are wearing white lab gowns.

"Who are you?" he asked in a whisper.

"He's still weak. His body is trying to cope up with the exousia injected in him," said Dr. Rooney.

"That's fine as long as he gets stronger, I could wait," replied Mr. Ton.

Harley could not understand what they are talking about. He looks at the three men with confusion.

"Who is weak? And exousia? Where did I hear it from? Why does it sound so familiar?" he asked countless questions but not even one answer came to him. "Where are the others? Are they alright?"

As Harley tried to look around, for the very first time, he got so damn scared out of his wits when he saw a woman with three pairs of sharp limbs at her back. She looks familiar but he could not remember where and when he had seen her before.

When his eyes travelled to the person on the woman's left, his heart skipped a beat.

"Is that Gusion?" he panicked as he stares at his new form. His once hazelnut-colored hair became as dark as the night and his armour is like that of a scorpion. Hard. Dangerous. Venomous.

"What's with the tail, Gusion? That is totally not a good fashion," he thought.

The next person on the tube was someone he knew despite her transformation.

"Angela," he thought. "Wings and a sting on your butt? Let me guess, a vespid perhaps? And this woman near me is a spider?"

What shocked him even more is the gigantic tube at the farthest left.

"Whoah! Is that a giant lizard?" he asked. "What did these guys do to us? Wait, where's the Octopus they mentioned earlier?"

Harley looked even further but saw no one else.

"Don't tell me I am octopus?!" he panicked and he looked at his hands if they had become sucking and squishy tentacles. But he managed to feel better when he still has his ten fingers and two hands.

When Dr. Baker looked at him, he tried to speak.

"Why am I here?" he asked but got no response from the doctor who only heard muffled sound.

"He's ready for another set of exousia," said Dr. Baker which gave his co-worker the go signal to inject an exousia on one of the tubes connected to Harley.

"What are you doing?" asked the mage but was only ignored. He saw one man holding an injection that contains something greenish in color and he had injected it to a tube.

At first, it did not hurt him but as time passes by, he started to feel the increase of heat inside his body.

He felt like he is being burned from the inside. He tried to chant some spells to ease the pain but it did not help at all.

Harley screamed at the top of his voice, asking for help, asking for the pain to go away.

It was pure torture. Not just the burning sensation but the feeling of going numb started to scare him.

"I will be back this afternoon," said Mr. Ton before leaving the laboratory.

When he reached Magical City, he saw Princess Odette with five warriors he knew too well.

"Princess," he called out. "Is this a new team you created?"

His tone was mocking, as if telling Odette that she's got no taste in choosing the perfect combination of warriors.

"Mr. Ton, I do not recall having an appointment with you," the princess said with a smile but behind it is an angry Odette trying not to whack the CEO right on his head.

"I get your point, Princess," said Mr. Ton, "Good luck with your team."

He left them and went on his way. Upon reaching his office, his secretary came with her panicking face.

"Sir, Natalia has been brought to the Iga town," she reported but the CEO does not look bothered by it at all.

"She is no longer useful to me. She has brought Nephila, thus, her mission is finally done. Let her face suffer the wrongdoings we had done for us," he stated.

"Mr. Vance is in all-out search for his son. The other kids had been found yet he couldn't find Harley," she reported next.

"Calm down," said the CEO, "The laboratory is not within Mr. Vance's reach. You're dismissed."

When he's finally alone, Mr. Ton looked at the horizon where Land of Dawn is located.

"Just a little bit more and my S.A.B.E.R squad will be found," he thought triumphantly.

Back at the Swan castle, Princess Odette is sending off the five warriors to go to Princess Silvanna's palace.

"You are all trained well and it's time to further enhance your skills. Princess Silvanna is the only one who can help you with that so I do very much hope that you'll respect her as you do to me," the princess announced.

"Tigreal, you are the leader of the team so I expect you to discipline them when needed. Fanny, you know your strength. You shall protect your teammates and be responsible to fight in midair. Alucard, I do understand of your concern when it comes to Miya but I expect you to focus on your training. Miya shall be under my surveillance so be rest assured. Granger, do not work on your own. You have your teammates to rely on. And Harith, I expect you to control your short-temperedness. You're still young so you should maneuver your emotions. The next time we see each other would be on the frontlines of the battlefield," the princess added.

The five warriors bowed before entering their carriage.

Thus, the war only awaits to be commenced. A war for peace. A war against one's own feelings.