"What brought you two here, my friends?" Noor asked. "And why is Sairi wearing that robe? Someone tried to attack me wearing the same kind of robe."
Sairi replied, giving Keno a look that held many meanings, "It’s a long story, but I stole these clothes from the same group that tried to attack you. Now, what were you two doing inside the tower?"
Keno looked at Noor, hoping he wouldn’t tell the truth, but Noor began to explain the matter to them with complete spontaneity and ease. He told them everything, and he noticed that their facial features had contorted in anger. Ivanov interrupted him when he got to the part about deactivating the shield.
"What did you do?" he said. "My God, we are surely doomed now."
Keno didn’t understand anything and began to ask questions. Ivanov began to tell them everything that had happened to them until they reached them, and the news fell on them like a thunderbolt.
"I’ve been deceived all this time," Keno said to himself, reproaching himself. "No wonder the story of the person on the screen contradicts Leonis’s story. My God, I no longer know where the truth is in all this nonsense and constant deception. Everyone is playing with us like a puppet."
Several short shivers ran through Noor’s body, and he looked at Keno in panic. Keno said in a broken tone, sweat pouring from his forehead, "I really didn’t know this. I was completely deceived, and I think the same thing would have happened to you if you hadn’t been kidnapped. But let’s leave that. I think I can make the shield work again."
Sairi stopped him with his gaze. "Keno, you’re hiding something, aren’t you?"
Keno became nervous and stammered, "What do you mean? I’m not hiding anything!"
"Yes, you are. Something related to the destruction that has befallen this city."
Sairi remembered what he had heard from the Enix member—whom he had killed and taken his clothes from—about Keno and the mistake he had made that had caused the invasion of this city and its destruction by Gaia’s robots. Keno felt he was in a predicament that would make him confess the truth of what had happened here, but fortunately for him, he saw something that surprised him and saved him from this predicament. Leonis was approaching them from among the rubble, waving his hand at Keno. Keno tried to hide his anger and asked the rest of them not to react. He whispered to them that this was the Leonis he had told them about. Leonis approached, smiling an artificial smile, his golden body shining under the sun.
"Have you completed the mission?" he said in his strange electronic tone. "Our army is waiting for the signal to help you."
Keno replied with a well-feigned calmness, "Yes, the mission has been successfully completed."
"Well done, my friend," Leonis said, encouraging Keno. "Now we will crush these Zurix and defeat them soundly."
Leonis turned his gaze to the others and continued, raising his metallic eyebrow, "Are these your companions you were looking for?"
"Yes, they are. I have found them. One more thing, Leonis. Where did you say your army is coming from?"
Leonis pointed to the east, and everyone felt a tremor in their bodies. Keno’s expression changed. "You mean Gaia’s army?"
Leonis stared at him for a long time, then smiled sarcastically. "So you know the truth."
Keno lunged at him and tried to punch him with force, saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."
But Leonis easily caught his fist, pulled him by his hand, and threw him far away. Everyone was surprised by what he had done. Sairi drew his energy sword, and Ivanov turned his hand into metal. They charged toward Leonis, but he produced golden iron wings from his back and flew into the air, moving away as he threatened them, "Don’t rush to your end. It is coming shortly. My master Gaia’s army is now heading here by the thousands and will arrive at any moment, while you and Gladious are done."
Ivanov looked at him with disgust, then turned his gaze to his companions, shouting, "It’s too late! We have to reactivate the shield quickly!"
Everyone agreed with him and ran toward the tower at full speed. But it was too late. They heard a sound from the sky; the sound of wings flapping rapidly. From the horizon, a swarm of bee-like flying machines appeared and began to fire explosive needles from their stingers at them as soon as they saw them. The buildings began to explode around them, and rocks fell.
"It’s too late!" Noor shouted. "We have to escape now and go to our army!"
Ivanov ran toward the car, and everyone followed him. He grabbed the steering wheel and sped off, cutting through the city, avoiding the shots and rubble around him. They felt their end had come. Tonight, humanity would be completely wiped out. It was the end of humanity.
The robotic bees continued to chase them, firing a green substance from their stingers that dissolved everything it touched. Ivanov continued to evade them, while they saw a number of silver robots running at a tremendous speed behind them. Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝓷𝓮𝓽
"My God, they’ll catch up with us soon," Noor said, his jaw dropping at their speed. "Faster, faster! It seems there are no golden and silver robots. Leonis is their leader, and that’s why he has a distinctive color."
Ivanov pressed down hard on the accelerator, and the car shot forward at a terrifying speed, making it difficult to control. But Ivanov managed it with great difficulty as he avoided the robots’ shots and the rubble on the roads in front of him. A bee managed to hit the car with the dissolving liquid, and the car’s roof began to corrode at a terrifying speed. Ivanov slammed on the brakes while everyone clung to their seats until the car stopped.
"Get out of here now!" he said to them in a warning tone. "The car is going to explode!"