"Scion, last one," Won said and paralyzed another lobster that was coming right at us with its hopping motions.

We were venturing further inside of the floor and exploring rooms. I had fortunately dodged triggered traps and we also disabled some of them and became more careful with our movements. By the looks of it, this place was once a huge office and manufacturer of big robots base on the electronic documents which were non-functional and robotic parts which were scattered all over the floor. There were fading labels of "Destruction Destruction" all over the place and Hyuk Min proved the existence of such shop to Ki.

I gripped on the handle of the huge sword and tensed my muscles on my shoulders and arms. Once the lobster took another hop with its pincer pointed at my face, I swung my sword and shut my eyes while doing so. The lobster was sliced in half and could not even let out a dying wail. Its fresh corpse dropped down on the floor and I was left with that same disgusted feeling in my ticker with my eyes watering a bit.

Won did circling motions with his staff and green glitters exploded on top of me. My body began to heal with a few of my lacerations closing.

"Let's get moving," Won ushered and moved towards the locked security door.

He started pressing on the buttons beside the door and a harsh sound erupted from it. "We need another keycard for this, let's find it."

My eyes locked on the dead lobster in front of me and Won must have noticed my petrified form because he also stopped moving and stood next to me.

"It was either you or him," Won told me. I looked up to him and he was also staring at the lobster. "You have to choose who you fight for Scion. You can't be on both sides because you won't form any allies that way. You have to give up one thing for another because sacrifice is one thing that a Paragon must embrace for the rest of his life. We sacrifice for the greatest good not just for the greatest glory."

Won's words started to register in my mind however; I still couldn't swallow the bitter taste of truth and reality. Why must all conflicts be settled by killing and hurting one another? The guilt I felt was just far too immense.

"You know Hoets was once like you," Won told me causing me to look at him with interest.

"He might be the biggest narcissist out there but he is the softest guy you'll ever meet. He couldn't make his first kill because he felt really scared of taking a life. One time when he was partnered up with Hyuk Min, this same lobster had Hyuk Min on its reach. Hoets had to make a decision. It was either get Hyuk Min killed or save his friend. Obviously, he weighed the lives in front of him. He manned up."

Won patted my back and turned to the next hallway to the right in hopes of finding the keycard and I was left with the greatest decision of my life. If Won was the one in danger, I would also have no other choice but to choose whose life I'll save. This was the time when I realized that my belief was very wrong. I bent on my knees, letting my sword return to my crate and I whispered to the dead lobster.

"Forgive me for taking your life, I wish you a great afterlife beside Kaisen," I murmured.

I stood up from my place and chased after Won who was already clearing the pathway of lobster strikers. He was already doing well on his own just from using his crossbow. Once he saw me, he shifted back to his staff and nodded at me expectantly. If I was to pick a side now, I will choose Won's and those lobsters that spotted us were now my foes.

We cleared the pathway and entered a small room with a computer and metal cabinets which stored Electronic Documents (ED). Won sat on the chair and flicked a switch on the control desk. A hologram appeared above the desk and the both of us looked at the hologram. So far this was the only computer that functioned. We tried to operate the previous computers but they were busted and just didn't work at all no matter how unflawed they look.

"What's the pass code again?" he asked me.

I brought out a card which we found on a uniform from one of the rooms we visited. The person seemed to be new and didn't have the ability to memorize the long pass code.

"It's MocksiansFartSmellsBadItCouldEraseAllBioFormsPleaseBeCareful98076543211," I dictated. Won swayed his head left and right with an exhausted smile before saying:

"Gets me everytime..." he murmured. The computer gave off a sound of approval and gave us access to its program. "Let's see what they were making here."

Won reached up and pressed the folder named "Annihilator". All of the summarization of the projects related to it showed up on the hologram and Won accessed the main information about it. The description showed up in the whole screen and the computer even projected a full size figure of the annihilator beside the hologram. They were ten feet tall with armored bodies and long and thick blades in each hand. Their faces were helmet-like and they were wide and completely intimidating.

ANNIHILATOR PROJECT

Annihilators are elite automation designed and manufactured by the company "Destruction Destruction" which is owned and ran by the previous president of the Paragons. Its purpose is to serve the child of Ecgtheow during a Necron Invasion and designed with a sensor in order to distinguish an Aechean from the Necron and its Cronies — creatures infected by the disease brought by the Necron. Besides serving the child of Ecgtheow, they are also designed to exterminate the child of Ecgtheow once the plague of Necron disappears. Annihilators are mainly created in order to prevent sacrificing Paragons in the event of executing the crazed child of Ecgtheow.

Activation of-

"So much for that," Won deadpanned and exited the file. Everything from its data disappeared and Won looked for a map. "That's useless information, I'm sure they aren't functioning anymore anyway. It's an abandoned project by now."

"Are you sure that I am- I mean, we are safe?" I asked. I did not feel comfortable knowing that I was in the factory where robots created to exterminate me were made.

Won sleepily hummed and clicked on the blueprint of this floor. "Here we are, now where is the exit...Aha!" he exclaimed, having more energy than usual yet still looking blank. "We are here in the cubicles and if we continue with our path and turn left we will be at the storage area where we can exit."

Storage area...That didn't mean that the droids were stored there right? It just might be a storeroom for equipments and such.

"Should we not look for the others?" I asked him.

"Well we fell here," Won said and pointed at the room where we were from. The hallways laid for us are more complicated than them. Because of our position, we did lots of turns. The others must be waiting for us already."

Won rose from his seat and stretched a little. His eyes looked terribly tired. "Let's go!" he unenthusiastically cheered and weakly raised his arm up.

I let out a sigh and a deep concern filled me. I still did not believe that they were non-functional. Paragons do not create fragile robots. They were made to last for centuries. I just hope that this was not a complete project.

I found several keycards inside the metallic cabinets and we exited the room and headed towards the storage room. I handed Won several keycards to open the security door but each keycard I handed him only made the security door let out a negative sound of response. With the last card in my hand, Won and I looked at each other. His thick lips were already pursed upwards in a funny way and once he swiped the card on the sensor, it finally gave a sound of approval.

"Yes!" Won cheered and raised his arms with his face looking up. His head suddenly fell to the side and let his tongue roll out. "I'm so excited to sleep..."

The door slowly withdrew up and the two of us expected to hear usual quarrels of the team but instead all six of them had their guns pointed at us. When they saw our faces, they relaxed and let out relieved breaths.

"Are those tranquilizers? I don't think I need those," Won said.

"Of course you don't, hitting you with one will put you on permanent arrest," Stugox replied while maintaining a stoic face.

"Ah, it's so nice to see you guys in one piece! Won didn't lose a limb did he?" Hyuk Min asked and hugged me and then Won.

"Did you guys find anything?" Won asked.

Hyuk Min gave us an excited smile and he hauled us inside. My ticker almost dislodged from my chest when I saw them. They were two of them. They were two gigantic annihilators which were even bigger than the hologram we saw. They were silver in color and they stood firmly in place like they have been expecting me all this time.

"Isn't it awesome? They're manufactured by Destruction Destruction! And Ki said that it didn't exist! Take that!" Hyuk Min boasted and brought his tongue out at Ki.

Ki rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "Well you still got the wrong information. They didn't make weapons for Paragons; they made weapons to serve the child of Ecgtheow and at the same time his exterminator. So we still don't get any benefits from this."

"It's still awesome though, don't they look badass Scion?" Hyuk Min asked me.

I gaze up at its head and nodded. Their blades really seemed sharp and deadly. I cannot imagine myself being chopped by them because it would feel very painful even just from the imagination.

Won was correct though. They didn't seem to be functioning anymore. If they did, they could have chased me around by now.

Imsothy and Joe jumped over the annihilators' shoulders and began to play around while Hoets started to annoy Won. Hyuk Min kept on rubbing his hand over the metallic boot of the battle droid and I walked over to him to ask him of something I was curious about.

"Hyuk Min, may I ask you something?"

Hyuk Min's humming stopped and he faced me with a bright smiling face. "Sure!"

I stared up once more at Annie —a nickname that I came up with for the robot since annihilator did not suit it anymore— and gazed back down at him.

"Do you think that the son of Ecgtheow is bad?"

I would like to know if the idea of having such robots for the purpose of slaying me was justified. I did know that I can possibly harm others like my brothers but...seeing such things in person made me upset and sad. I felt inadequate to planet Aecha.

What will happen once I drive away Necron? Will I be deemed useless? Will I be prohibited to see anyone as well as Team Ske?

Hyuk Min looked down in thought before smiling again. "I really don't know because I haven't met him yet!"

I guess to see was to believe in Hyuk Min's point of view.

"Oh but base on the previous children, what can you say?"

Hyuk Min shrugged. "Erm, well you see, I don't believe that everyone was born the same. You could be a child of Ecgtheow and I wouldn't care that much. I'll treat you the same as I treat everyone else and if you are nice then we can get along," he answered before smiling again. "I hope that answered your question!" he laughed. "And if one of my friends is a child of Ecgtheow, I'll still give him..." Hyuk Min prolonged and then lunged at me with wide arms before embracing me. "A biiiiig hug!"

My worries lessened and I felt warm and fuzzy inside. Hyuk Min's opinion was just what I needed to comfort my decreasing belief in myself. 

I embraced Hyuk Min back and we released each other once we heard Stugox calling us. It was time to get out of this place. The others including Hyuk Min ran towards the door going to the exit and I stayed put to gaze at the robots one last time. I placed my hand against its leg and elicited no response from it.

This must really be a failed project. Who knew the Paragons can fail at something? I let my hand slide back down in place and Hyuk Min called me.

"Scion, come on! We can't bring those robots back at the campus! They won't fit in our room unless you kick Ki out!"

"What did you say?!"

"He's a big waste of space!" Hyuk Min laughed before getting tackled down. I chuckled at Hyuk Min's joke and started to jog towards them.

As I ran to them, my hearing picked up a slow rise of energy. My feet anchored to the ground and my teammates' looked equally shocked. Clumsy yet heavy metallic movements of the feet were heard and I turned around finding the droids taking steps to face me. Their bodies emitted a light blue color between the fissures of the points where their parts were supposed to meet.

"Scion, watch out!" Hyuk Min warned me.

I dodged an incoming slash of the droid's sword and once I successfully dodged it, I went straight to the exit. My body was getting weak. They were emitting a signal that was causing an effect on me.

My teammates jumped up and down in place because of anxiety and my ticker spun in great speed. Hyuk Min's arm extended towards me and I reached out to grasp his hand but with just a mere graze to an unforeseen barrier between us, I was sent flying away to the blades of the Annies.

While my body spun in the air, I saw the droids a feet away from me. Their blades were already swung and instinctively, I raised my arms to cover my head in great fear not knowing that I would lose them in just a second of time.

I have never felt such excruciating pain in my entire life.

"Scion no!" I heard Hyuk Min wail in despair.

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OH NOOOOOOOOOOO    

Stay tune for more chapters :D Here's a gif of Hyuk Min and Ki following him.