Seed of Titan-Chapter 222: Clashing Convictions

"Young man," the woman called, "you must be a pretty new recruit, right? Don’t you see how heartless the military is? Just to accomplish their goals, they will gladly sacrifice the lives of the citizens they’re meant to protect."

Drai frowned. "What the hell are you saying? You’re the one threatening to kill them."

The woman chuckled lightly. "Well, I am the bad guy, am I not? It’s perfectly normal if I employ unpleasant means. But what about the military? Are they supposed to dismiss innocent lives so easily? How many people do you think were killed over the years because of their reckless operations and dismissive policies?"

This time Drai couldn’t muster a reply. He knew the woman was provoking him, but he couldn’t help but ponder her words. He remembered that several articles or news clips covering Alancho’s past operations mentioned civilian casualties, which made him wonder if the military did prioritize their mission above all. And upon recalling Frost’s orders before they stormed the caged-children room, he felt there might be some truth to what the woman was saying.

"She’s trying to mislead you, Drai," Frost suddenly said as he patted Drai’s back.

"Do you really think so? Or are you just afraid your clueless subordinate might see your true colors? If the military and government are really serving the people as they always proclaimed, why would there be a large insurgent group in what’s supposed to be a peaceful era? That’s why we long for a monarchy again. In the past, even if power was held by a handful of people, they really strived for the kingdom’s prosperity and cared for their people, unlike the current power holders whose main goal is their own prosperity."

"That’s simply not true," Frost retorted. "Looks like you’ve been completely brainwashed. If your comrades also believe in such lies, then you’ve all been made a fool. Don’t you realize you guys are merely disposable pawns? I highly doubt your leaders and whoever are backing them will keep their words if they actually manage to take over the country."

"An obedient lapdog calling us pawns? Hah! Just like how you have your own convictions, we have ours. You can make fun of us all you want, but we’re the ones that truly see the government for what they are, a bunch of selfish and incompetent turds."

Once again, the woman’s words intrigued Drai. He found that her sentiment was not too different from those of his VV seniors, who often badmouthed government officials due to their tardiness and bureaucratic inefficiency.

Frost shook his head helplessly, knowing there was no use arguing with a brainwashed person. He inadvertently glanced at his comm as he thought of their reinforcements that were supposed to arrive soon.

Unfortunately, his subtle gesture was noticed by the woman, who immediately said, "I knew you weren’t stalling for nothing—you’re actually waiting for backup, huh? Well, I guess I should speed things up."

The woman then lifted her wrist and spoke through her communicator loudly for the squad to hear.

"Men, the army’s coming to wipe us out, and their guy here threatened to harm our families too. I think he was unconvinced by our warning, so how about you cut some necks to prove our point? Maybe he’ll let us go after seeing a few dead kids."

Hearing this, Drai got angry and was about to strike the bubble, but Frost’s hand quickly stopped him.

Shaking his head, Frost pulled Drai closer and whispered, "This works to our advantage, Drai. Rather than letting these guys scatter all over the forest, it’s better if they keep gathering outside so we can round them up in one go."

"B-but the kids—"

"I know, but like I said, we must prioritize our objectives. Besides, I doubt they’ll actually go through with their words. The public will never sympathize with their cause if they start killing civilians left and right." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Just as Drai withdrew his strength, he heard a rowdy commotion. It was a mix of angry barks, frantic shouts and shrieks, and desperate cries. However, the noises didn’t come from outside but from ahead of him.

"I’m not kidding," the woman stated coldly. She had easily guessed what Frost was whispering about, so she decided to put the call on speaker, still attempting to carve a way out of her predicament.

Drai turned nervous as he easily noticed cries of children amid the commotion.

Around him, his squadmates also seemed restless, but none of them dared to do anything without their leader’s command. It also didn’t help that the room was still sealed from the outside by ice too.

"Woman, if you go with this, you’re plunging your comrades into hell," Frost warned.

"You think I care? Our lives have been hellish anyway. We’re not like you sheep who live comfortably under the government’s armpits while sucking their tits, ignorant of all the atrocities happening around the country. If hell must dawn on our Motherland for a radical change to happen, so be it."

The woman then raised her communicator and shouted, "Execute them now!"

Following her command, the cries and shrieks immediately grew louder. Frost was able to remain stoic, but Drai just couldn’t take it anymore.

"Let’s save them," he urged the sergeant, who simply replied with a silent headshake.

Clenching his fists, Drai pressed, "So are we just going to stand idly here while innocent people get killed?"

"The whole thing might actually be a ruse, but if that’s really what it takes for them to stay behind, yes," Frost flatly said.

Drai fell silent, but only for a few seconds, for he muttered shortly, "Sorry, Frost."

Before Frost could respond to the oddly-timed apology, Drai’s fist had already broken through his reactive ice armor and slammed against his arm, sending him smashing onto his own ice wall and knocking him out.

Without anyone to sustain it, the ice encasing the command room rapidly melted into a puddle that covered the entire floor.

At the same time, the woman in the bubble rejoiced, but she kept a stifled expression as she was worried the youngster would change his mind if he saw how elated she truly was by his actions. She didn’t even order her crew to enter the command room despite it now being unobstructed.

Ignoring the woman, Drai sprinted toward the exit. However, a figure suddenly leapt onto his path, stopping him.

"Move, Danny!"

Danny gave a wry smile and shook his head. "I’m sorry, Drai. Even though I agree with your approach, I can’t go as far as disobeying direct orders, so I have no choice but to stop you from jeopardizing our mission and my merit points."

"Are merit points more important than human lives?!"

"You don’t understand, Drai. Unlike you, I’m barely talented and have no background whatsoever. If General Alancho hadn’t picked me up from the streets, I would’ve probably become a gang member or even joined these guys. That’s why I’ll do what I have to climb the ranks fast and join the General’s retinue to repay my debt, especially since I’ve caused a lot of problems already these past years."

Eyeing the metal batons that Danny was now wielding, Drai sighed heavily and muttered, "Then I’ll just have to go through you."

Without further ado, the two clashed, soon filling the command room with deafening booms.

Meanwhile, the rest of the squad watched from the side with mixed expressions, aside from Gramps, who was still perching on the ceiling.

"Sh-Shouldn’t we stop them?" Beachball squeaked.

"Stop them how?" Cubes questioned as she watched the flurry of blows the duo was trading. Danny had better movements and reaction time, so he managed to land a lot of blows. Unfortunately for him, Drai was just too tough and didn’t seem fazed at all by them. But he had a hard time landing a clean hit on Danny, especially since he was holding back his strength. After all, he didn’t want to accidentally punch his squadmate to pulp.

"I know Frost is extremely rational, but I didn’t think he’d be this cold-blooded," Cubes suddenly said.

"Yeah. Honestly, I wanted to go out and save the hostages too..." Beachball chimed in.

"Well, he does have a feud with the insurgents," Mandy mentioned.

"I guess they did nearly kill him with that explosion," Cubes remarked, still watching the fight that was getting more intense by the second.

"Not just that. Do you know that he has a little sister?" Mandy asked.

"Yeah, the one who was admitted to Soluna Academy this year, right?" said Cubes. "I think her name is Irene or something."

"Yeah, Irene. She’s an ice user too. Well, don’t tell anyone else about this, but Frost once told me that she’s actually adopted. Apparently her parents got killed by the insurgents in a similar hostage situation years ago when she was still a toddler," Mandy revealed, surprising both Cubes and Beachball. She then added, "And from the way he spoke of it and how he responded earlier, I guess he took the incident personally."

"But then it doesn’t make sense that he’s allowing it to happen again," Beachball argued.

"Well, like Cubes said, he’s extremely rational, too much for his own good sometimes. There’s a high chance he’ll gladly sacrifice a few people if it means eliminating the source of trouble, which makes sense, but pretty disturbing nonetheless."

As the three watched the fight reach its peak, their visions suddenly blurred slightly, and the pounding sounds were also cut off.

"Fuck!" Cubes cursed upon realizing that she was now trapped in a bubble. She hurriedly looked around and saw that her two squadmates were in similar situations. Beachball was even frantically shouting but without any sound.

Still safely in her bubble, the leader woman nearby glanced at her three captives before looking back at the youngster whose triumph seemed inevitable. She then slowly raised her now silent communicator and whispered, "Cease the culling. A young powerful guest is coming your way. Give him a warm welcome but make sure to keep him alive—I have a feeling that he’ll be extra useful for our cause."