Both Sarah and Jack then made the wise decision, calling off the assault, which confused the hell out of the people from New Destiny, who promptly glanced at me, the terrifying deathbringer.

The multiple attackers trying to chase down Hailie, and the two tankers trying to peel her all looked in confusion.

Olga regained her muscles, being the only stubborn one that didn't listen, she started charging with her claymore raised towards Sarah again.

But I threw a health potion at her head, which broke on impact, and dealt damage equal to half my attack stat (improvised attack penalty), it probably didn't get through her defense, but it still made her noticed and stopped.

"What are you doing you bastar-"

"No, you're the bastard!" I yelled, starling Olga, which was unprompted of me, but I was frustrated from technically losing to Valerie, "Everyone back the fuck down! I have friends on both sides and now I'm confused, I need to talk."

"Talk?" Rina still had her bowstrings primed, ready to shoot another arrow, this one with red tip instead of purple, and her hands were glowing from mana, "These people started a guild war! I recognize that guy over there, you're J97! You're currently deemed the second strongest guild in VR, just behind New Destiny."

"And they got people inside New Destiny! Because they deactivated the barrier nexus from the inside!" Mei spoke, her staff still raised ready to smash anyone who intent was to harm her younger yet more mature brother.

"Speaking of inside… Where's Jared?" Olga glanced over at me.

I only can shake my head, assuming he logged out.

"Bloody hell, I knew it, you bastards!" Olga roared, slamming her claymore on the ground to express her anger, "You set that Jared guy up in the cave and got him inside to plan an attack on us! How many people did you buy out?"

Her theory made some sense, so upon hearing it, I widened my eyes in realization… Could Jack really be behind all of this?

But… Their reaction said otherwise.

"Jared… Cave, buy out? What? We don't even know you have a barrier!" J97, or Jack spoke in sheer confusion, glancing back and forth, up (at Pearl) and down.

That sounded so genuine I almost believe it, so, I stepped forward, my sword sheathed to show diplomacy.

"Then explain, how did you know where's the New Destiny hideout and organized a guild-wide attack right when the barrier got shutdown?"

With his sword still raised, probably wary of me.

Then, Sarah chimed in:

"We were told to attack at this hour, and that it'll be the easiest… I didn't know by easiest he meant that the barrier would be down."

"By who? Who's this [he]?" Marc immediately asked.

Both Sarah and Jack glanced back at LyraBell at the backline, who crossed her arms and looked away.

"That's not… Something I could tell you."

She seemed hesitant, quite annoyed in fact, as if she was trying to protect something important… Whoever this "guy" was, he sure knew a lot of stuff he shouldn't.

"Cory…" Olga frowned, "Could that guy they're talking about… Jared? He planned his own capture?"

"No, he couldn't possibly…"

Then, I realized something horrible, as I noticed a pattern.

Ann motherfucking Murphray

Ann gave me information on Jared for me to capture him… Then, she bought the wristwatch from me.

And guess where the wristwatch ended up? Back on LyraBell's wrist, her original owner.

"...Is Ann a part of this?" I asked.

... She widened her eyes, and looked away even further.

If it was a "he", very possible that… It was fucking Tanya who shapeshifted or some dumb shit like that.

"TELL ME NOW OR I WILL HUNT YOU GUYS DOWN AGAIN!"

The entirety of the Lion's Parade reacted to my outburst with hostility and stress… And some from the New Destiny noticed it, too. As Hailie came up and grabbed my arm.

"Cory, you… Um…"

I waved her off,

"Not now, the adult's talking."

Technically the truth since I was two years older than her.

"Fine… I'll tell you, it doesn't even matter." She took a deep breath, "ErikDop. I met him in Bastet when I got news of my wristwatch ending up there, and in exchange for shelter, he give up the information."

"Bastet?"

80% of the people was absolutely confused about the name Bastet, a handful who did knew... Just looked awkward and glanced away.

Someone asked where that was to no avail.

"So it's true…" Mei muttered, "He backstabbed us… Which meant the cave incident…"

"Olga's innocent."

Pearl commented as he finally got down from the nexus, staff in hand despite no barrier were put up, yet, he continued:

"It's very likely that all 7 of the New Destiny members who got killed by Olga… Were actually attacking her, like testified."

"Oh my…" Hailie gasped.

"It was Hailie's testimony that got him running… He couldn't kill her." I gave a comment.

We contemplated for a second, no one really making a move.

"Uh… Guys?" Jack took a step away with his sword pointing downwards in a resting grip, "I don't know whatever is going on over at yours internal affairs department. But we've accomplished our goal of weakening your guild's structure, broke the hideout and rise to the top… Don't take it personally, it's just a game."

"I've told you everything." Lyra finally looked up at me, "I met ErikDop at the Bastet, I gave him shelter by offering him to join the Lion's Parade, and in exchange, he gave us a time window and a location that I gave to Jack."

"You bastards are lying!" Olga yelled, ready to rip their heads out of their spines, "I'm going to brea-"

"Olga, no." I held her back, "They're not lying."

There was just one question at the back of my mind.

If it is to be believed…

Jared was an outsider who got hired by a mysterious third party (possibly Ann) alongside seven other New Destiny members to cause a ruckus from the inside.

Then, she set up for LyraBell and ErikDop to meet by buying my wristwatch which she knew from the start belonged to Lyra…

One needed shelter from his crime, another needed information, so, the talked. And this happened.

WHAT THE FUCK IS SHE GAINING FROM THIS???

There were still holes in the story, like… why did Ann told me to capture Jared?

A theory I came up was she needed to make sure that there were a lot of people at the hideout so the guild war would actually got some kick to it, watching the court case go through… But how does she know we were going to hold a court case at that exact hour despite the information that Lyra received potentailly predate Pearl setting up the court date? I have no fucking idea.

Despite the fact that I still owed her a favor, I wasn't going to sit down and be her fucking pawn… Because her said "favor"? Letting me know where Jared was? Is a fucking bait for me to bite.

I was, very possibly, the one that brought New Destiny to its knee.

And maybe… It just wasn't that strong after Gimsen resigned.

And there was one more question.

"Jack." I muttered.

"CJS69… Or would you prefer Cory?" He answered casually.

"I saw mercenaries down there… Lady_Valerie, the rank #12 All-Time Player…. Along with two others. Did you hire them?"

"..." He shook his head, "There were mercenaries? We don't do that… It's only guild members who were promised guild-related benefits."

I dropped to my knees, sighing.

"Hailie… It's time for dinner, I'm logging off first."

There were too many questions for my mind to comprehend… The questions just stacks, stacks, and stacks.

I'm just going to… Fucking, log off for today.

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