Last chapter, Head Commander Prósopsi and his Commanders arrived at the scene of Quilline and Co's crime. Protests were already erupting outside of the attacked training center due to Quilline somehow getting herself on a news broadcast, and there were far too little soldiers guarding the crime scene so the Commanders were forced to help intervene.

However, Aora was very close to defecting after hearing that conscripts were the victims in Quilline's most recent crime. Prósopsi was able negotiate a crude deal with Aora to keep her on his side however, and reminded her of why he's the leader of the army.

Reinforcements arrived after their argument, and so the Commanders left to continue with their patrols.

4 hours later, after the Prósopsi and his Commanders patrolling...

Prósopsi's P.O.V.

My normally invincible body gets sent spiraling down to the cement of the alleyway I'm in, after Aora's slams her fist into my face. It takes my body a bit to even recognize the pain in my now bloody face,

"HEY, take it easy!" I squeal out in pain in between my tears- I'm SO tempted to just get Aphrodite to power me up again but, no- this needs to happen damn it!

"...I won't butt in but, if you actually decide to smarten up here Prósopsi just let me know." Aphrodite tries to tempt me, she really doesn't understand what's at stake here for me- never has.

Aora chimes in after a second, "Remember this pain the next time you act a fool." She bolts towards me just as I start to sit up, then slows down to make 2 big steps- oh crap, she's getting ready to swing her right leg up at my-

*CRACK!*

OW OW OW, "AH, MOTHERF- ARGH!!" I try to hold back my scream as my head slams into the ground, but I just can't! Aphrodite's robe really does make a huge difference in my personality, how well I tolerate pain included- CRAP THIS IS TOO MUCH!!!

"Imagine how much pain those "soldiers" who were undoubtedly tortured by Quilline felt- and still feel. This is nothing, compared to that... and I'm not even using a fraction of my full strength, here." Aora starts to ramble, but I gasp and can't bring myself to hear what she says after that, after she stomps on my chest which makes it crack.

"S-she's trying to kill me, does she know about my regeneration? She must. Yeah." I think to myself as I'm barely even conscious... oh, she's standing over me agai-

"A-AHHH!! S-ST-" I try to beg for mercy after she punches my face back to reality, but my teeth are so broken that I can't even talk properly.

After a few more punches, Aora seemingly r-relents...

Aora starts to talk, and I hear the words "done" and "heal"... is it finally ove-

"AH!" I gasp and sit up as the pain suddenly goes away, and I can see and hear properly again. I take some more deep breaths and analyze my surroundings. Aora's standing in front of me in her blood stained uniform and glaring down at me with her arms crossed. Meanwhile Aphrodite looks both angry and worried at the same time as she's leaning against the stained brick wall next to me and frowning.

"I'm- you're right, Aora. I messed up, but I'm gonna make this right. I'm going to personally go and apologize to some of the soldiers who got hurt, I-I'm sure that could help! I'll be back soon." I say in between my breaths as I push myself up onto my feet but immediately almost fall over- Aphrodite subtly nudges me to keep me upright thankfully.

"Make it fast- our patrols may have been fruitless so far, but that doesn't mean those monsters may strike before the few day grace period they mentioned." Aora says as Aphrodite's pink energy beam starts to radiate over me, and a second later my blood stained clothes are replaced by my golden and white robe.

"You may have a point Aora, but do NOT forget who's in charge here. Next time you pull something like this, I really will have to fire you." I say with an angry scoff as I send myself flying up onto the air, Aphrodite also gave Aora the finger too which is making me smile a bit.

I suddenly stop my ascent though and put on a stern face after remembering the burning question I have... I'm pretty scared to ask it.

"I don't care, I need to know this."

"Hmmm? What's up?" Aphrodite floats in front of me with a raised eyebrow.

I ignore her for now and hover back down just above the buildings us three were just in between. Then shout down to Aora who's already jogging out of the alleyway while I float in the air high behind her,

"Aora!" She slowly stops, then turns her head a little to show that she's listening I guess.

"How did you figure out the... situation with my robe granting me my powers? This is pretty vital for me to know- since I'd be done for if that was revealed to the public." I note. After all, Aphrodite can't hurt anyone aside from me- and she doesn't have the energy to keep my robe on me 24/7.

Aora doesn't answer right away, but after a few more seconds she turns around and stares up at me with her amber eyes.

"I can assure you that the way I found out is highly unlikely to be replicated by others." Aora avoids the question...

"Come on we don't have time to waste, please tell m-"

"That's all you need to know. So find peace in that your true pathetic self won't be discovered by anyone else, but know that I'll be ready to ruin you myself if you make any mistakes like this again. I'm leaving." Aora runs off after that, I wish I could convince myself she was running out of fear...

"Pfft- did she really just try and blackmail you? What a joke, you could kill that bitch before she could even say a peep to anyone." Aphrodite tries to reassure me... but I know it won't be that easy. Firstly- I would lock her up, not kill her. And secondly, I would need to keep her on 24/7 surveillance if I really wanted to make sure she never says anything...

Great. More anxiety to add into the mix besides the looming threat of my death- now my whole career can probably be ended if Aora thinks I screw up again.

"C'mon. Don't let this get to you, wouldn't you be able to just say she lied anyways? I dunno, like you already did today?" Aphrodite tries to be... weirdly reassuring. She probably wants me to "pleasure" her after this... but regardless, she does have a point.

"Yeah, maybe the people wouldn't believe Aora actually- unless she has evidence. Like my blood... which she has on her clothes. Shoot. Whatever- I don't have anymore time to waste right now." I think to myself with a sigh as I fly high into the air with my arms by my side. Think I know where the nearest hospital is.

🙃🙃🙃

I brush a strand of hair away that got stuck on my forehead after flying, as I walk through the white floored and light blue walled hallways of the hospital I'm in- "Neal Helson". Think it was named after some man who donated a ton of Herin to them...

Gah. Like that matters right now. I can't afford to disassociate here, like Aora said I should be thinking about what pain the victims are going through. On that note, there's also nurses and doctors with stains of multiple colors on their clothes jogging through halls past me and ahead of me. The fact that they aren't even glancing at me goes to show how rough the situation must be in the intensive care rooms we're passing.

"Hey, you sure you'll even be allowed see any of the victims? Seems like a shit-show here, you may just distract the healers and piss them off." Aphrodite asks as she's walking alongside me.

"Mhm." I mumble quietly in response as a man walks past me, and right into the door that leads into the unit I came here for coincidentally- palliative care. The situation should be less active in there and I shouldn't be intruding, or at least that's what I remember learning way back in my teens. In the past palliative care used to mean a death sentence, but with the Hopian Continents current tech- about 53% of the people in there eventually recover. Or so I've heard.

I walk through the doors to the unit, put on a sympathetic smile- and then walk into one of the rooms in the palliative care unit to my left.

After walking in I instantly realize that this is a shared room that's holding six army members in six beds, due to their injuries alone. Some of them have family members sitting by them which is good. And it's also good that I found the right room without having to bug anyone and askz but the army members conditions here are... well pretty rough.

All of them are hooked up to at LEAST one medical device next to their bed, most of them more. Some of them seem to have also lost limbs, and most of them have the majority of their body wrapped in blood stained white cloth. But thankfully, they have some of those micro robot or whatever filled bandages on parts of their body too, which should heal them up.

Besides the extremely traumatic experience and lost bodily functions, they'll probably survive with the Hopian Army's medical tech. Which means that I can afford to talk to them.

"Hi, everyone." I announce with a cough as I walk into the room- but the only reaction I get are some glares, or nothing at all from the people who are unconscious or just don't care... I have to do this regardless.

"I just thought I'd visit and say, I'm sorry- and thank you. You... got stuck in an unfortunate circumstance, that I truly apologize that we couldn't prevent. And thank you- for risking your lives for this territory. Your courage will never be forgotten, and rest assured you will not have to worry about coming back to your duties until you are fully recovered, both mentally and physically." The reactions range from one smile, to the rest being dismissive- but one older guy with an oxygen tube running into his nose actually laughs, then coughs.

"I wasn't trying to be funny, but making someone laugh is a win in my eyes. What's your name?" I ask, ignoring what was probably him making fun of me. Bold kid- wonder if that was just the drugs in his system talking though.

"I was laughing because not all of us are ever gonna recover, dumbass-" He goes into a coughing fit, which eventually leads to him vomiting into a bowl next to him.

I let him continue despite the disrespect, "The docs gave me a- a two day life expectancy, considering how much of the toxic gas Quilline used on us I inhaled." My eyes open wide in shock.

"What? But- with those micro robots, they should be able to save you n- oh. Oh." I internally facepalm as I remember part of what makes Quilline so deadly. Her "killing touch" that makes it so anyone she hurts can't be healed by much of our tech. Only old-school things like medicine and surgical implants can work... damn it.

"Yeah. And considering I'm dead anyways, I'll say what everyone else here is too scared to say. Go to hell, idiot. Do you really think anyone you sent to their deaths wants your condolences?" I frown, no- that isn't true! How was I supposed to expect a random ambush on a base, that was only possible with the Blessing of someone that should have been dead? Before I can defend myself someone else speaks up,

"...You let us down, Prósopsi. So many conscripts never should've been there. My brother got killed RIGHT in front of me, s-so many of my students did. I don't care if you fire me- I'm done working for an institution like this anyways. Might not even be able to work again, anyways .." Another younger woman who's covered in bandages from head to toe says which makes me tear up, she must've been an Officer...

"Please leave." The woman's father asks me meekly as they stare down at the floor.

"Bu-"

"Prósopsi, don't think it's worth it. Take it from me- you can't force people to like you." Aphrodite interrupts me- and... haaaah.

"Never mind. I'm sorry." Is all I say to the people in the room, as I turn around and walk out the door.

"Trying to force my views on people has never worked in the past..."  I remind myself as I look down at the floor and quietly sigh.

"Head Commander?" I snap my head up at a doctor who's in front of me now with glasses and a pony tail.  I nod at her.

"I'm a therapist who specializes in trauma, and some of my patients from the Hopian Army in the room next door overheard your conversation just now. I apologize, but they're adamant on not seeing you. I... I assume that may be the case for most of the victims here. It's just too soon I feel, maybe you can come back lat-" I turn around and speed-walk away before she can even finish talking. My speedwalk turns to a run as I accidentally let out a small sob, and soon enough I push through the front doors of the hospital and onto the dark streets outside.

Then I launch myself into the air as fast as I can to at least 100 stories high, and finally let out the loud cries I was holding in before. I look down at the massive continent below me through my tear filled eyes, and my advanced sight only hurts me even more- as I can see a few hordes of people on different streets protesting at different Hopian Army buildings.

"Who even actually wants me here anymore?" I think to myself, then grit my teeth and fly even further up- until I crash through the artificial dark sky above us, and get blinded by the sun and the real bright blue sky above us.

"DAMN IT!!!" I scream, then raise my hands in the air, blasting out massive torrents of blue flame from my palms that reach out into the sky above us and through the clouds.

I keep blasting them with increasing intensity for 20 more seconds until my body gives out. I let myself fall down onto the gargantuan curved metal of the metal Hopian Dome below me.

I do all I can to let out the pain from then on and just cry. My people and troops are in extreme danger, and all I can do is cry like a baby... maybe they're right to hate me and call me pathetic.

I feel a tap on my head from Aphrodite which makes me glance up, "Hey, ya know I'm super old- right? Like- a few thousand years old? In the prime days of my universe's Earth, when I had followers I mean- saying war was common is a huge understatement. So many nations fell due to a lack of fighters... my point is, don't feel bad about your conscription or whatever you call it. Once you kill King Metallica and the rest of his dickwad minions, then you'll get your praise for being the heroic leader that saved the Hopian Continent." Aphrodite finishes as she sits in front of me cross legged.

"If, not when I kill hi-"

"Nope. When. With the rate your skills are improving from our training, you'll send his ass straight to Habram for good." Aphrodite flicks my forehead.

"W-why are you being so nice lately? If you're thinking that, that it'll get you more sex then, I don't want your "kindness"- I don't have any more time to waste on that." I sniffle.

"Jeez! I mean you'd be a dumbass not to think that but, it kinda hurts that when I'm actually trying to do something good for once- you accuse me of just being horny. I've been easing up on your "payments" for a while now, don't you think I would've just been asking you for more sex if anything by this point then?" Aphrodite says, and I mean... I guess?

"You've gotten my respect now, Prósopsi. I don't see you as that brave but geeky weak teen you were when I first met you. I see you as a leader who's more dedicated to his followers than any of the other Greek "gods" in my universe were. Like the charismatic leaders in all of those over exaggerated cartoons you watch. So recently, I've been trying to see you as... an equal? Hmm, maybe that's a bit much- since I will still be asking for a few massages once this all blows over. Friends with some one sided benefits maybe? I think that's a bit more realistic." Aphrodite says which makes me feel a bit of happiness for the first time hours...

"Thanks. That... that means a lot to me, Aphrodite. But it doesn't change the fact that I'm a piece of shit... I should be devastated after talking to that soldier who only had two days to live, shouldn't I? I'm the one who forced him and the others to join the army after all. And I do feel a bit bad but... I still don't even feel as guilty as I was after the Red Fists were wiped out." I admit as I wipe some tears off of my face and slowly stand up to my feet.

"Because deep down you know that you were right to enforce conscription, dummy. It's smarter that you don't second guess yourself right now anyways, worry about your morals after you save this dumpster fire of a territory hm?" Aphrodite says...

"Y-yeah... yeah. On that note, I've got a lot to do today... checking to see if Taylis caught those monsters running at all on tape, planning the army's next moves, talking with the Hopian Government about getting ready to move the registered citizens away from any danger areas, increasing random citizen stop-"

"Don't tell me about it, just do it." Aphrodite says with a smirk which almost cheers me up a bit. But it doesn't- so I just nod, and hover back over towards the hole I made in the massive Hopian Dome I'm standing on top of...

"I can do this... whatever happens I'll be OK. I'll either be the hero who slayed the horrors of this continent and regain the people's trust, or I'll die as a failure- and this'll be out of my hands." I think to myself... before I couldn't afford to die, since no plans were set up to help protect everyone from being condemned by Habram. But now I have no excuses, the Soul Savers will do the job just fine and keep everyone's souls free from hell. And Hopian too.

I take in a small breath, and jump down through the hole- and back into the literal and metaphorical darkness of the Hopian Continent.