"…It's you?" Nathan said, still stumbling on his broken limb, "And…"
The strange lady beside him wore an ordinary tracksuit, that was unlike the clothes of most civilians in the Cyber City and had purple hair tied in a bun with silver eyes. It seems she was one of the few who was still not convinced by the idea of reenactment.
"What… what happened?! Who would dare to attack you the second you left the High Admiral's office?!" Sea-Bird yelled, confused and angered, "Who…"
"It was the Salvation Church." The woman beside him murmured, pointing at the symbol engraved on the left-hand side metal alley wall, "They left their symbol here, seemingly on purpose."
"They… they even left their symbol there?" Nathan half-whispered, "It seems they still want to remain secret, so why would an executive personally come and just wreck my leg like this…"
"An executive? You… you encountered an executive of the Salvation Church, in the city?!" Sea-Bird asked, before shivering, "This is bad. This must mean that the Salvation Church has had a hand in the operation of the few Slave Mines and Slave Trades still happening, alongside the other mysterious forces involved..."
"We can talk about that later." The woman said, moving toward Nathan and extending a hand towards him, "For now, let's assist him in getting up, as we are supposed to do."
<<…>>
Outside the alleyway…
"…This is worse than I expected." Sea-Bird acknowledged, gazing at the scratches and gashes on Nathan's back, "The executive made sure that they weren't fully spotted by anyone else, and seemingly by destroying all of the cameras available in the areas before. If they had gone further and destroyed the eye-linked recording systems through your eyes, there would have been no proof at all."
"This means that the Salvation Church, the organization that believes in the [[Old Gods]], those old myths written in archaic historical records that precede even the founders of the prototype cyborg model, are most likely directly involved in the Slave Mines and everything else."
As Sea-Bird said this, the woman with him tried her best to fix up his leg so that he could reattach it again. Nathan nodded, as he sat on a nearby metal block.
"The executive that I encountered had a Mechanical Full-Body Armour and even had a supercharged serrated blade, which are both very expensive." Nathan asserted, "But, shouldn't you have at least had some suspicions of an executive lurking on your planet somewhere? Even civilians can recognise the Salvation Church's symbol, that's how common they are on this planet, compared to others."
Sea-Bird nodded.
"I suppose we should have… we assumed the members of the Salvation Church were communicating with the executives and higher-ups via phones or other technology. It's a major mistake on our part."
"But, now that we fully know of one of the powers behind the extortion of outer forces from our planet, we'll be sure to deal with them accordingly. An entire force will be sent out to deal with the filth, alongside you."
Something clanged nearby, and the woman who was fixing up his leg was done, mostly.
"Phew… you'll need to get a replacement leg after this. But, I did my best, so you should be able to move with this for about a few weeks before it crumples." She said, turning towards Nathan, "By the way, I'm Sarah! The Vice-Admiral's fiancee!"
She said that with so much enthusiasm that Nathan could immediately tell that they had a happy relationship. Nathan shook her hand and moved around his now fixed-up leg in a circular motion.
"That's pretty good. But, it does feel a bit weaker." Nathan said.
"Well, I suppose that's because it took the brunt of the impact of being punched into a heavy metal building as you said," Sea-Bird replied, "But, how did they manage to injure you so badly anyway? Did you even get the chance to fight back?"
"…No. The executive, in the first place, carried a strange device, what they called a Silver Core, which disrupted my internal systems and my AI. They also surprised-attacked me, so I guess that put me in a defenceless position."
"I see. Regardless, come on, since, in the first place, the High Admiral advised that we were to help you buy a house of your own. For temporary measure, of course."
They gradually walked on, and Nathan followed them to their next destination.
…I've never experienced what it's like on other planets. It seems like most lower-bracket worlds suffer from the cruelty of space factions, which is different from what tyrannical empires like the Kalpas Empire have to experience.
Unfortunately, there are thousands of factions, big and small, like the Salvation Church, not in motives, but in the chaos they bring to the universe. It's almost like we humans want to bring upon ourselves a [[Third Impact]]. Let's just hope I never have to experience something like that ever in my life.
In the serene, calm atmosphere of the currently midnight Cyber City, Nathan could now feel a heavy burden on him, weighing him down with an invisible weight that he didn't even know existed.
My memories are gradually coming back, but they are slower than before. I can't even remember past the time when I was a recruit for the Kalpas Empire. I don't even vaguely remember my mother or father. But, most important of all, that lady in my memories… who exactly is she? Could she be my wife or something?
"Those are subjects I'll have to focus on in the future." Nathan spoke softly, "For now, I have to focus on cleaning up the Slave Mines and Slave Trades, and the future battle with that Salvation Church's executive."
Suddenly, Nathan caught a glance into a wastage drain, used to accumulate all kinds of waste products underground and sort them into various groups to be mainly recycled, like excretion from household pets or wasted bodily components like cirrenite.
For a second, Nathan thought he noticed what seemed to be a critter with greyish-green skin emerging from the waste pipes underneath. One with incredibly sharp claws, and mandibles made of tough steel. But, he looked again, and there was absolutely nothing there.
"…Phew."
"I knew I was imagining things. No way one of those things would be on this planet…" Nathan said, breathing out deeply, "I think I'm too up on my nerves after all that, right Zoom?"
[.…]
"Ah, right, he's currently offline. Anyway, I need to catch up with those two."