[Grandora City, Medical Hospital]
A week later Richard could be seen looking at the window, as he stayed silent while reminiscing the past amidst all of this. He wondered what would have happened if he refused to join the operation in Bouvet Island, perhaps if he did so, his whole team would have survived and they would still be standing beside him right now.
However blinded by the achievements he could earn by joining the operation, his decision then led to the deaths of his team. As a leader, his insight on the matter was truly lacking, he failed them.
The Bouvet Island operation should have been a success, after all their only enemy was Undead himself and the organization had brought in its armada. But due to the appearance of unknown people, the whole tide was flipped over and the armada itself was decimated.
What's more he learned that the people who is responsible for the deaths of his team had attacked the other bases of the organization and pushed the remaining humans towards Grandora city.
From this news alone, anyone could sum up that this place was the last fortress for the whole humankind and if this place falls, that will be the start of human extinction.
In that moment Sanaguchi then came in to visit Richard as he was surprised to see the person himself standing up while looking at the window with melancholy looks. Upon seeing this, Sanaguchi then placed the briefcase he brought unto the bed as he spoke.
"Your standing up, I believe that your recuperation has been completed?"
"... Why did you come here sir?"
"You know full well why I'm here, we are currently lacking in manpower, we need all the help we could get... so I was wondering if you could help us"
"Help you? On whom? Agaisnt the enemy? I don't think increasing the number of forces you have will be enough to deal with the enemy sir... they are monsters... evil on the skin of a human... if numbers could work against them, then the operation in Bouvet Island wouldn't have failed, nor the other bases would have been destroyed... for them increasing our forces is not a threat, but rather we are just increasing our casualties"
"We are fully aware of that, however we still need to do this... in order to survive, we need to use any means necessary to prepare for the enemy. To be exact there are only a small portion of people that could go toe to toe with the enemy, but even then victory is not assured... we are also preparing on our side like crazy... we are so desperate that we don't even have a choice but to turn to criminals for help"
"!!!"
"..."
"Sir! Did you just say you asked the criminals for help?"
"Its been approved by the head general"
"Thats a risky choice, doing that could put a hole in the operation after all the criminals we have captured don't actually have a good impression of us, so the possibility of betrayal is at hand"
"We know that, but we're hanging on a tight rope here, in order to survive, we need to put our grievances aside and work together"
"... How many have agreed to cooperate?"
"A few annoying but reliable small time crooks"
"Thank goodness"
"???"
"You need to be careful, people who agreed to cooperate with you tends to have ulterior motives... thankfully the ones who did agreed to help are small time crooks cause if those big named criminals agreed to such offer, it is guaranteed that we would take a huge blow if ever they chose to betray us"
"I... I can't deny such possibility"
After that silence permeated the area, as Sanaguchi felt pressured from the eerie silence of the room. What's more Richard seemed out of it even though a lot of days has passed since his team's demise.
Nevertheless he needed to accomplish why he is here in the first place.
"With that Richard you are now going to be relocated under my guidance be part of my group, we need your help Richard, please this place means a lot to your team, don't let this place fall"
After saying all of that Sanaguchi then left, leaving Ruchard in a deep thought about what he said.
Just like what Sanaguchi said, this city is everything for both Markwin and Mike, to them this place is their second home after they lost everything during the first apocalypse. If they were on his shoes, he is confident to say that both of them would have chosen to protect this city without a second thought.
However for Richard it was different. His friends were his second family and home and the fact that they died was similar to him losing his world. He doesn't have a lover, parents, nor siblings. So the fact that his friends were that much important to him and he lost them, was a huge blow on Richard.
After thinking of that Richard then looked at the briefcase that Sanaguchi left behind, as he slowly come over and opened the itself.
After doing that what he the saw was an upgraded version of his original weapon. A dual gunblade. A gunblade is a hybrid weapon that combines elements of a sword and a firearm. The concept usually features a blade with a built-in gun mechanism, allowing the user to employ it as both a melee weapon and a ranged weapon. In most interpretations, the gun aspect doesn't function exactly like a traditional firearm but can deliver explosive bursts or recoil to enhance the effectiveness of the blade during close combat.
What's more the there was a type of scouter beside it. Upon seeing the blade and scouter along his new set of weapon, he couldn't help but be reminded by his dead teammates. It feels like the organization pieced all three of their traits into one set of weapon.
With that he couldn't help but cry as this once more reminded himself of the past.