Last chapter, the perspective changed to that of Head Commander Prósopsi's as he went about his day. After briefly training and meeting with a group of researchers who studied Metallic's origins, he then started his meeting with the Commanders of the Hopian Army (minus Ufisator), as well as a strategist who was present to update Prósopsi on the status of the army's multiple efforts to take on Metallic and co..

The meeting was interrupted however by Prósopsi reaching his breaking point and yelling at Aora, in which he left the meeting room to take a break to re-compose himself.

Head Commander Prósopsi's P.O.V.

"I hate this I hate this I hate this. What an idiot. I bet William was watching through Taylis too somehow- so even he probably thinks I'm incompetent too now. Idiot. Maybe Aora really would do my job better-"

"Hey." Aphrodite says- which snaps me out of the daze I've been in, where I've just been staring at my face in the mirror of a private restroom in this building (that I obviously locked).

"...Has it been ten minutes?" Is all I ask as I slowly turn myself around to look at- or look down at- Aphrodite.

"...Something looks different about her, but I'm not sure what."

Before I can think anymore Aphrodite replies, "It hasn't. But we need to talk anyways, so I'm breaking the 'stay silent and let you mope' rule. You need to treat Aora as a tool from now on- one that can be faulty, but can help you sometimes anyways. Whatever she thinks of you- doesn't matter, she's just a tool. " That kinda annoys me, but before I can argue she continues,

"And in general? You can be the nicest guy in the world, but not everyone's gonna like you or your policies or whatever they're called. You have to accept that you're going to have enemies, and that you'll even have to work with them sometimes too. That's just what it means to be a leader of a bunch of people." Aphrodite finishes as she adjusts her curly brown hair a bit, and so I finally speak up,

"Treating people as 'tools' and not caring about what citizens think, is how we ended up with past Head Commanders that ended up being criminals. ...And that's how the massacre of the Red Fists happened under my watch too..."

Aphrodite rolls her eyes, "I didn't mean to not care at ALL, dumbass. I just mean... I dunno, just try and do whatever you think will objectively benefit the Hopian Territory the most. People are gonna hate you either way- so it's a good idea to just shrug, and do what you think is best anyways while you're in power." She finishes as she crosses her arms.

"...No offense, but you seem to be talking a whole lot about leadership without ever having been a leader yourself." I finally say as I turn back around, then turn on the tap in front of the mirror to start splashing water on my face.

She scoffs, "I was a leader before, excuse you. Really don't like talking about my past but- fine, I'll do it now I guess if you're gonna be this petty." I raise my eyebrows to show my interest as the water drips down my face.

"So. Back when me and the other powerful Greek beings- like Ares and all, were still interacting with the people of our universe- I had around a hundred thousand human's that I watched over. They followed my rules and my ways of living, and in return I protected them from other super-powered assholes who were trying to screw with them. Or even just other humans." She says while floating around the restroom aimlessly,

"And yeah- I tried to be... somewhat decent but, a lot of my people still hated me. Especially the women, since their husbands would often come to me for "relief"- or whatever the stuck-up chicks called it." Aphrodite finishes with a snort which leaves me kinda speechless.

"No way. You used to actually lead that many people? How long ago?" I ask- since yeah, I've always had so many questions about her past which she's always kept a ton of secrets about.

"Couple thousand years ago. Also I'm not saying I was a good leader. I tried but- yeah. I kinda treated my people as play-things at times, which I'm guessing isn't a surprise to you." I force out a small smile at that, just to show her I'm listening.

"Point is though, even for the stuff I think I did do right- some people always hated me. Like one time I tried my best to stop Eris "of discord" from invading one of my people's villages- and I did a pretty sweet job, aside from just four people dying. And even though I put my life on the line and saved thousands- I still had a ton of people pissed off at me for those four deaths..." Aphrodite finishes with a frown, then continues,

"So yeah. Try your best to be likeable I guess but, just know that no matter what- you won't ever be able to please everyone. Not your workers, not your citizens." Aphrodite says, which does actually effect me more than I thought it would.

"Thanks. That helped... put things into perspective, I guess. Of the kind of person I'm trying to be I mean. Can I ask why you eventually left your people though?" I ask, feeling ready to head back to the meeting room now.

"Nah. Or well- if you turn King Metallica into scrap metal, then maybe I'll consider it." Aphrodite says- and still without a smile as she starts floating towards me.

Then surprisingly- she wraps her arms and legs around my chest in a weird floating bear-hug.

"Um. You ok?" Is all I ask.

"You better not give up or die. I'm not joking when I say that you're one of the coolest people I've known, both as a leader and a person. You're the only guy I've met that doesn't see me for my looks- even though you've seen every corner of my body by now. And you can even deal with my personality too, which is... something I doubt I'll find again." Aphrodite says, which doesn't make me teary eyed or anything due to how she's treated me in the past. But still, it's encouraging and does cheer me up a bit.

"I'll try. And thanks for lending me your powers as well, Aphrodite. Our differences aside, I would have died from that stab wound years ago if you didn't help me out. Let alone become Head Commander." I say, which makes Aphrodite let go of me- and that's when I finally see what's different about her. She's wearing clothes for once- more specifically the same outfit that comes with my powers. A white robe with some golden stripes.

"Nice robe by the way, guessing you summoned it? Also... I hope that if anything does happen to me though, that you'll-"

"I know. Don't say it. And yes yes for the robe, you're welcome by the way- I'll try and be more "modest" every so often. More importantly it's been 10 minutes, so you should probably be more worried about scurrying back to your meeting." Aphrodite says which snaps me back to reality- and so I rub the few drops of water that are still on my face off, and head towards the restroom exit.

🌀🌀🌀

"Wait wait wait- she used her fists against that man with the soul-destroying spear?! Insanity!" Fondrayan says right before I open the door to the meeting room.

And the second I walk in, everyone quiets down and their eyes are on me. Except for Aora's- as she's still just leaning against the wall and staring down at her outstretched palm...

Fondrayan is the first one to move as he stands up, "Proposi- Head Commander. I apologize for my laughter. I've just never seen someone so unphased by their leader as Aora is. Ontarus and the other woman here have been telling me stories about her, so now I understand." Fondrayan says- which is a good start at least, pronunciation of my name aside.

"Taylis is my name, in case you forgot." Taylis gently reminds him- didn't even realize he just called her 'woman' there.

"Yes, use Taylis' name when she's next to you please. And apology accepted. I'm sorry for my outburst too- very uncalled for. I still stand by the point that you're on very thin ice here Aora, but we'll talk about that later. Now then. Any last concerns that anyone wanted to bring up before our last interruption?" I ask as I pull a small metal chair out from the tiny table in front of us, and sit down.

No one speaks up for a bit, but I get interrupted by Taylis just before I'm about to speak- "This is far from a guarantee but, I might have a lead on King Metallica's location. Based on the audio and video recordings I've been allowed to access and view with my blessing at least. Iffy though- but in the chance that my suspicions are right? We're gonna need to act ASAP." Taylis says which makes my heart race.

"Good! Good. Ok. Please try and focus on confirming that then, I'll try to involve you in this meeting as little as possible as you... remotely view the footage with your blessing?" I ask, just to confirm how exactly she's even hearing and seeing the audio without a computer right in front of her (even though she IS a computer).

"Yep." Is all she replies, and so I focus on the other people in the room.

"Ok. So- um, strategist- what's your name again?" I ask the odd-one-out in our room who isn't a Commander, and who's been quiet this whole time. Important guy though, since he's kind of the one person that's keeping me updated on all of the different moving pieces we have involved in taking down King Metallica and the others.

"...My name is David." The gray haired man curtly replies with a mean look on his face, that's covered by blue-rimmed sunglasses and a thick mustache. Hard to say if he's mad at me for forgetting his name, or if he just hates me as a Head Commander in general. Can't change that anyways though so I continue,

"Right, David- nice name. So- have all the tools and weapons we planned to use for our hypothetical ambush been prepped?" I ask David while trying to stay positive, even though it feels like his eyes are digging into me like daggers (even if I can't see them).

"Yes. Like you asked, we purchased 30 discounted, off-brand, relatively bullet-proof suits with invisibility capabilities from the Death family. Commander Ufisator has also been modified by our engineering team to have more fail-safe's in case anyone ever tries to hack or shut him down. Like Karia utilizing Elio's blessing, for example... we also have 30 Officers who'll be wearing the bullet proof suits during our "hypothetical ambush"." The man slowly says with a heavy lack of enthusiasm.

Fondrayan scoffs out of nowhere, "You sound like you're half dead, my friend. Cheer up! This is the Head Commander you're speaking to." He then slaps his hand into the back of David's chair, which almost makes the poor but unphased guy slam his face into the table.

"Apologies. A good friend of mine lost their life yesterday. She was a conscript, died trying to take down some gang members." David says as he stares at Fondrayan. THAT explains a lot, and he doesn't even have a speck of hate in his voice which is worse. He just sounds completely defeated, which even seems to make Fondrayan speechless.

I force myself to speak up, "This probably doesn't mean much, but I'm sorr-"

"Just let me do my job. Now, to continue my update... yes, those were the main things I believe. We also have spare defense-bots prepared, which are ready to be dispatched to almost anywhere on the continent within an average of twenty minutes. Of course, though, they'll probably be useless if those criminals can just shut them off." David finishes with a sigh, but continues,

"Lastly, we've prepared protective gear for all of you Commanders- which should cover most of the weapons Quilline may have access to. If our investigative branch did their jobs right when they dug through her records, at least. And when they interrogated some of her past associates as well..." He clears his throat, then continues,

"Next, our recommended plans for dealing with Seric when the upcoming ambush occurs. As a reminder, while the odds of him becoming as dangerous as he was during the massacre of Aprase seem low- those odds are not zero..." David speaks even slower than before, which makes it harder for me to stay awake- but I force myself to due to how important this is. Even if our main plans for Seric are pretty simple- either knock him out, or just kill him in one blow.