There was the unlikely duo of the mecha and the human that had roughed up Carter at their feet.
"So there really is, or seemingly was at least, an actual Southern Guardian for this area after all," the mecha said.
"They do not look that tough, and is that one next to them supposed to be their subordinate? Interesting that there is only one here; maybe they are really not that strong," the human said.
"They have the same vibe as a Guardian—at least the one on the throne does," the mecha said.
They had come across one of the other Guardians up close before, and at that time, the vibe they gave off was the same as what they were feeling now. It was hard to describe just what the vibe was exactly, but it was clearly similar. They made a critical mistake in thinking that because what they felt was a more refined and directed version, the raw and unfiltered version was weaker in comparison, when really they were just incapable of noticing how much stronger the Southern Guardian's vibe was compared to the Guardian they had encountered up close in the past.
"If they look this weak, then maybe you can just off them now. Become the Southern Guardian your..." the human said, though trailing off.
For the female mecha standing by the one on the throne was now missing, as she was no longer there.
"What did you just say?" a voice from behind them said.
Shocking them all, standing menacingly behind the human was the female mecha, all gray in coloring. Something that was actually unheard of, as no mecha was known to be gray at all.
"What did you say about that weakling over there again?" the gray mecha asked.
"Hey, what are you..." the mecha demanded.
As they rushed towards their partner, however, once they got close enough, they felt a hand being placed upon their chest. More like they were placing themselves upon the hand as they ran into it, not the other way around. Once they came into contact with that hand, they instantly collapsed to the floor, their eyes nothing more than a pair of black orbs.
"You ran out of power? But how is that even possible? You should not have done anything that would have caused that," their human companion said.
Realizing whatever had happened did so the moment they came in contact with the gray mecha's hand. Now that same hand was coming towards them as well, with a consuming fear as it did so. They did not understand what had just happened, but if she was capable of doing that with just her hand being touched, what could she do to a human body?
"Answer me. Why was that weakling so confident in their... huh?" she asked, looking at them confused.
The gray mecha girl poked the human's forehead with her finger, and immediately they seemingly died. Their eyes rolled up into their head as all life signs vanished in an instant, leaving her looking at the lifeless body standing there before her.
"This is the power of our Lord's subordinate," Page said, amazed.
"Subordinate? Lord?" the gray mecha asked, looking confused.
"You must be the subordinate of our Lord. Why else would you have been standing next to them?" Page asked.
Carter, collecting himself as he got up off the floor, noticed that when the gray mecha touched the other one, they just instantly went offline. When she touched the human partner, it seemed they instantly died from merely having her finger poke their forehead. However, Page was fine despite having come into direct contact with her. Then Carter realized the difference: there was no bare skin contact when it came to Page compared to the other two. She did not get touched, nor did she touch the gray mecha directly without something being in between them.
"Our Lord... Me... Their subordinate..." she said, seemingly confused about something.
"Yup, as you must be. Why else would you be here?" Page said, looking at her.
The gray mecha closed her eyes as she seemingly processed something. Then she opened them again and no longer seemed confused, now confident in her role.
"I am Cami, the subordinate of our Lord, just like you claimed I am," she said.
There was a fuzziness in her memories, something on the verge of being realized, but what Page told her threw her off enough that it was forgotten and, not just that, erased from her mind completely. From this moment on, she was the subordinate of the Southern Guardian. That was her role and purpose, though how she was going to go about doing that was a different story. As for what that fuzziness Cami was feeling was, it happened to be the very last resistance she had against what was done to her all those years ago by Reva, the Southern Guardian. If someone lucky enough was not on Reva's side for the sheer sake that he was the Southern Guardian alone, and if the human and the mecha had made the choice they had just now, then there was a possibility they could have made it so Cami at the very least turned on Reva or at least not confirmed herself to be his subordinate at all. The confusion in Cami's head at the time would have allowed her to go down two different paths, but in the end, she was convinced she was indeed Reva's subordinate by Page.
Page and Cami seemed unaware of this fact, but Carter, though far more aware of things than those two, was not fully aware of the reasoning why that was. As for the why and how Page and Carter were able to do and know the things they do, that is something to look into later on.
For now, Page just wanted to get back to the village and show off Cami to everyone. This was proof that the Southern Guardian did exist at least. Not realizing at the time that this would not prove why they were able to live in the area just in a sense how they were able to live in the area only