Chapter 249

Chapter 249

Ilay Carthica.  

He was one of the few men I could call a friend. If I had to say a true equal, then he was the only one.  

Ilay was someone who didn’t need my protection—on the contrary, he had the ability to protect me.  

That meant he could also go against my will. At times, he opposed my opinions and decisions, insisting on his own.  

‘Because he’s a friend, not a subordinate.’  

This was why we couldn’t have many true friends.  

Someone who blindly agreed with me wasn’t a friend. A real friend was someone who could respect me even when our beliefs and convictions clashed.  

‘But…’  

I couldn’t respect Ilay for killing Gilda.  

If I wanted to keep calling him my friend from now on, I had to stop him here. Even if that meant killing him.  

The narrow elevator shaft was a space that worked in my favor. Ilay was facing me in a battlefield where he couldn't fully leverage his specialty.  

Chiik!  

The Firelight Saber cut through the walls of the passage as it slashed past.  

Ilay gripped the wall to evade the trajectory of my blade, lifting his body effortlessly with one hand. It was an acrobatic, impressive move.  

Whoosh!  

I flinched.  

‘Damn it, I hesitated.’  

I could have taken Ilay down midair with Mothblade. But at that moment, the image of him dying flashed through my mind, and my fingers stalled.  

Ilay's movements were complex and rapid—even if I aimed to avoid his brain, I could still hit his head.  

Mothblade was a throwing weapon. Once thrown, I couldn’t stop it.  

‘Idiot, Luka!’  

A silent scream erupted inside me. How long had it been since I vowed to stop him even if I had to kill him?!  

I couldn’t believe how soft I was. No—I knew I was, but today was just ridiculous. Damn it.  

Flinch.  

I wasn’t the only one who hesitated. Ilay must have sensed something off in my movements too.  

He had to have realized, even if only for a split second, that he was on the brink of death. The moment my hand moved toward the inside of my coat, he must have thought, Shit.  

Any first-rate warrior, even without Akies Victima, had that level of danger perception.  

Whirl!  

Ilay, who had been dodging away, suddenly grabbed the wall and twisted his body upside down. Then, he hurled himself at me—headfirst.  

‘That bastard…!’  

I knew what he was doing. He was offering up his head to me.  

With my Firelight Saber, I could easily pierce right through the center of his forehead.  

Ilay was entrusting his life to me in the most blatant way possible.  

Beyond his helmet, it felt like he was smiling.  

Screech!

I didn’t swing my sword. Instead, I grabbed onto the wall and lifted my foot with all my strength.  

Boom!  

Ilay skillfully crossed his arms to block my kick and then shot upward.  

“Step back, Luka. If you want to protect Gilda, you have to be ready to kill me. You’re not fighting with everything you’ve got. If you had truly intended to, the one who defeated Mushir al-Kashura would have already taken my head.”  

Ilay’s voice resonated from within his helmet.  

“You’re not fighting at full strength either. You’re only attacking at a level I can avoid.”  

I replied irritably. The thrill was wearing off. This was a fight between two people who didn’t actually want to kill each other.  

“Of course. Killing you just to kill Gilda would be putting the cart before the horse. If I hadn’t intended to protect you, I wouldn’t have killed Gilda in the first place.”  

Ilay let out a quiet sigh. His eyes gleamed as he continued.  

“Luka, if you had been truly determined to kill me to protect Gilda… then I would have killed her, even if it meant tearing your heart apart. But you—now and always—are a weak-hearted fool. You refuse to let go of anything in your grasp.”  

Ilay casually sheathed his sword at his waist. It was a declaration—he wasn’t going to fight anymore.  

“I haven’t had many things to call my own in life. That’s why I hold on tightly and never let go.”  

I responded indifferently.  

“And that’s what led to your downfall. Don’t act like a child, Luka. We have two hands. If you want to grab something beyond your reach, you have to let go of something else. You know how to seize things, but you don’t know how to let them go. Probably because you’ve never had enough to afford losing anything.”  

Ilay’s words carried weight. They weren’t just philosophy—they came from experience.  

“…I don’t think the things I want are so large that they require sacrificing something else.”  

“No, they’re big enough. You want to escape from the Emperor’s grasp while still holding on to everyone around you? Luka, for the record, I let you get me on purpose. This should be enough to make it look like I lost. The best course of action would have been to kill Gilda, though.”  

Ilay pointed to his side. The inside of his body was scorched black from the Firelight Saber. If not for the highest-grade combat prosthetics, he would have already been incapacitated.  

The heat of battle was fading.  

Somewhere in my chest, I felt a surge of relief. But Ilay’s situation was precarious.  

‘The Emperor isn’t a fool.’  

He wouldn’t cast aside suspicion so easily. Ilay was walking a tightrope within the Empire.

‘Ilay must be endlessly proving his worth to the Emperor. The Emperor, while suspicious of him… is keeping him around because his usefulness outweighs the risk.’  

Hemillas had lived that kind of life too—a figure too dangerous to be left alone, yet too valuable to kill.  

“Leave the Empire, Ilay. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it…? No, you’d just call me an idiot for saying that, wouldn’t you? What do you even want to do by staying in the Empire?”  

Ilay had a purpose. And that purpose wasn’t for the Emperor’s sake.  

He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he fully retracted his folding helmet into the protective collar at the nape of his neck.  

His synthetic face, the expressionless visage of a full-body prosthetic, was revealed. Artificial sweat, a coolant fluid, evaporated in eerie wisps of mist.  

“When my skills and abilities reach their peak, soon… without a doubt, a war will break out. A big one. Not these skirmishes we see now, but a full-scale war between the three nations for control of Planet Novus.”  

A great war within the next few decades—it was something everyone in the upper echelons expected. The Federation’s rush to develop combat MAUs was proof enough of that.  

“And war means chaos. No matter how stable a controlled society seems, it can’t maintain its structure in the turmoil of war. Resources that were once poured into maintaining internal stability will have to be diverted outward. You, more than anyone, know how much the Imperial Court wastes just to maintain its surveillance and control.”  

“…Excessively so.”  

“There’s not much time, so I’ll keep it short, Luka. I’m going to use the war as an opportunity. First, I need to become a war hero. That means I have to keep proving that I’m a promising soldier. And then… I will bring down the Imperial Court and establish a republic.”  

I furrowed my brows in disbelief. He was spewing terrorist nonsense.  

“You really think the Imperial citizens will accept that? Have you lost touch with reality after living so high up?”  

“I’m laying the groundwork carefully. Do you think Francec allowed himself to be placed under house arrest without a reason? In an Empire where the Emperor is seen as sacred, the people won’t accept a republic just because we say so. But if the forsaken Crown Prince, Francec, openly supports it… that changes everything. The inviolable sanctity of the Imperial throne will be voluntarily transferred to the republic through the will of the Imperial bloodline.”  

It was a truly seditious plan.  

At the same time, I tried to gauge whether Ilay was telling the truth or spinning a lie.  

‘If what he’s saying is true…’  

Then Ilay and Francec weren’t just allies—they were co-conspirators, meticulously planning a grand scheme together.  

And suddenly… I felt incredibly small.

Ilay was throwing himself into the heart of the Empire’s maelstrom.  

Meanwhile, I was tearing through Border City, desperately searching for Giselle, all for my own personal desires.  

‘It’s like the difference between an adult and a child.’  

But so what? What was I supposed to do about it? I felt embarrassed for only a moment.  

Not everyone has to live for some grand cause or noble ambition. Maybe that was just my way of justifying myself, but the grand hundred-year plans of the Empire or the Federation… none of it mattered to me.  

“Ha, haha.”  

I laughed. I finally understood what it was that I wanted.  

Peace.  

Let the damned Empire and the wretched Federation fight and burn however they pleased.  

In this entire world, surely there was at least one place where someone like me could live quietly.  

‘…You go ahead and carry your grand causes and become heroes.’  

I had no intention of being a hero.  

If, at the end of my life, the people around me could say, “He had a rough personality, but he was a decent guy,” that would be enough.  

“Luka, why are you laughing?”  

Ilay narrowed his eyes.  

“The Emperor, Ivan Accretia, must be a rational thinker who makes logical decisions. The fact that he keeps you by his side despite his suspicions proves that.”  

“But his obsession with you is sometimes irrational. This whole situation was proof of that.”  

“Even so, he won’t act against the Empire’s best interests. The fact that he withdrew the Shadows as soon as the Federation’s documents were approved proves it. If he had taken a hardline approach there, disregarding diplomatic friction, he might have succeeded in capturing me. When you return to Akbaran… tell the Emperor that I want to talk. A negotiation. Since you say a great war is coming.”  

“A negotiation? Do you even have terms worth negotiating…?”  

I cut off Ilay’s words and answered.  

“I’ll work as a double agent for the Empire. It’s what I specialize in, after all. Tell him I’ll return to Akies Domini.”  

Even I was surprised at how bold and sharp my own idea was.  

Ilay’s full-body prosthetic trembled slightly. Even he must have felt like my brain was about to explode from how much thinking I did in that split second.  

“…That’s quite convincing. For now, we’re out of time. I’ll see you next time, Luka.”  

Ilay muttered and let go of his grip.  

Whooosh!  

He plunged into the darkness below, vanishing into the depths of the passageway.  

*         *         *

“He was a skilled assassin. It could have been orchestrated by those wary of G&G Cybernetics expanding into Border City. There’s also a chance information leaked from within, so it might be good to review your subordinates.”  

I said as I handled the situation, addressing Ismael La.  

He scratched his head with a troubled expression after hearing my report.

‘An assassin appeared at the secret meeting spot designated by Ismael.’  

It was an uncomfortable situation for him. Of course, there were countless possibilities for an information leak. It could have come from within G&G Cybernetics.  

‘But ultimately, the biggest responsibility falls on Ismael. Even if it wasn’t his fault, he’s in a position where he has to take responsibility.’  

Even to me, it felt like an almost unavoidable situation.  

Ilay had likely been tailing Gilda from the moment she left Akbaran, waiting for the perfect opportunity.  

‘He also knew in advance that I would be meeting Gilda.’  

No one could have prevented Ilay’s ambush.  

“You lost the assassin? You, of all people?”  

“I get that you’re flustered, but don’t pin the blame on me. The fact that I stopped him at all was a miracle. I had a bad feeling about it from the start.”  

Even I wouldn’t have been able to react in time if it weren’t for the Android’s Warning.  

“I wasn’t trying to blame you. My apologies. Things are more tangled than I expected.”  

It seemed the thought of reporting to his superiors was already making Ismael sigh.  

“We’ve secured Gilda’s full cooperation. Despite how things turned out, she’s agreed to collaborate with the company designated by the Federation to establish a joint venture.”  

I could sense Ismael’s faint relief. And within that relief, there was also gratitude toward me.  

“…You’re more capable than I expected, Luka.”  

“You’ll be saying that a lot from now on.”  

I spoke indifferently, and Ismael, realizing I wasn’t joking, let out a laugh.  

“I’ll be looking forward to it.”

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