Second Home

He leaned on the side of the ship, surrounded by surviving guards, staff, and his own team. He looked down, filled with anger, sadness, and fear.

The place he lived in his whole life, where his parents sacrificed everything to get him into, in flames.

Zeph and Ella both sat alongside him with different reactions.

"Don't worry, we will return to the city soon, and push the City G forces out." Ella reassured him, patting his back.

Zeph remained silent and stoic, barely showing a reaction and only wiping his blade.

In front of him, Clara talked with crew members of the ship. After a minute, she stopped and turned to the team.

"We will be headed for City I. My home, it will serve as our base of operations and resting place, until we find a suitable combat zone and deal with the attack on City H." She explained.

Their destination interested Jacob. From what he heard, City I was a place of scholars and knowledge, solely focused on information, collecting and discovering new things, some say they were more advanced than other cities and play a major role in the war.

But another detail surprised Jacob, 'Her home?' Up until now, he didn't realize she was from there.

—--

After an hour of flight, the ship finally arrived, landing and opening its doors to a landing pad on City I.

Immediately, a group of scientists and guards rushed up to the ship. Their outfits were far different from City H's. Wearing darker armor and donning robes above their lab coats.

Many held tablets and stared at Jacob, deeply interested.

"Thank the light, the rumored glitch of City H survived. We thought you also perished." One of the scholars spoke.

All at once, they surrounded Jacob, asking a wave of different questions before being moved away by Clara and the guards.

"So this is what City I looks like," Ella commented, standing near the ledge of the helipad and looking down at the city below. Zeph stood with her, looking down as well.

From what else Jacob could remember, many say that City I was filled to the brim with libraries and smaller research areas, all finding information on different parts of life.

'Maybe they have labs for games here as well, maybe gacha or rpgs' He chuckled. Rin slowly walked next to him, physically exhausted and constantly staring at the low energy he had.

"Damn, i was hoping today won't be too energy consuming," He groaned in frustration.

"Don't worry, this place should be safer from them." Jacob reassured.

Clara spoke with the group of scholars, requesting an area to stay in and giving information she and City H scientists managed to gather.

After a while, she called on the team to come to her.

"I managed to convince and make a deal wtih them, we can have a zone for ourselves. But in exchange they wish for more tests to be done on Jacob, since they do not have a glitch yet here." She explained.

'Oh come on not again!' Jacob thought.

"Let's go" With Clara, the team walked towards the building, seeing the beam of light just beyond it.

Next to them, the city guard escorted the surviving soldiers and scientists elsewhere.

"What abilities do you think they use?" Ella asked, looking at the scientists walking ahead.

"Unsure, they keep to themselves apart from selling information and data." Zeph replied.

"Can we buy the information of what ability they use?" Ella responded back.

"No"

—--

Inside the facility, they were greeted by a large hall resembling a library, with scientists walking around with tablets and books, working around the clock. Some carried weapons and gear salvaged from battlefields to study.

As they walked, Clara moved closer to Jacob.

"The tests they wish to perform mostly involve live combat after they heard of your recent performance in the evacuation," She paused for a moment before talking again.

"We are fortunate enough to be granted passage here. Despite being near City G, we did not suffer as much damage or suffered enough attacks. So we sell our services of tactics and information here." She explained.

—---

The elevator opened to the team's floor, it looked similar to the facility before, except it was filled with more screens and rooms for study or data storage.

"The resting quarters will be up ahead, this time, please stay here and don't wander off. I will investigate the bomber and find a combat zone," After talking, Clara walked off, leaving the team in their new but temporary home.

"So, wanna explore here as well?"

"No" Jacob replied.

"Alright then." The team made their way to the resting quarters.

Inside, it looked less like a break room and more of a study room, with tablets and books stacked on shelves.

"This will be comforting," Zeph commented.

"At least it's silent," Rin added.

They quickly started relaxing, calming down from what just happened a few hours ago. Jacob sat to the side with his scythe on the floor, trying to make sense of the attack.

For so long during the war, only the fields were attacked and pillaged while the city mostly remained intact. How did they get in so easily? How long was this planned?

He took a deep breath to calm himself, and felt deeper hatred for City G. First losing his family, now losing the place he was meant to work and accomplish his goal in.

Jacob recalled the man, the one who brought those boxes, was he the main culprit? Or one of many? Whatever the answer is, Jacob wanted to hunt him down for it.

He sighed after thinking on it for a few minutes, wishing to relax and unwind from everything that has happened today.

In front of him, Zeph and Rin both read books from the shelves.

And to his surprise, Ella was reading a tablet quietly, holding her phone in the other hand.

'Must be for her game,' He thought.

'Wish i had my phone right now,'

Out of boredom, Jacob snapped his fingers, and was greeted by another surprise.