Platinum Skies (The Manifests Series #2)

{[42]} Platina

The cold floor was slowly creeping up on Mina's thick boots. Had she not quickly stood up after migthy fall, she might've frozen up fairly quickly.

And what long of a fall that was.

It took her ten seconds to see the ground below her due to the darkness all over. Luckily, she was able to use Empress to dampen the fall.

She gazes around. There were grand blue lights and mechanisms that look too foreign to comprehend. Glass tubes, gigantic cylinders of fiber glass and Koul'in steel were present as well.

This place---the deepest part of Platina's towering fortress--- was a lot colder and darker than anything around this place. It felt like hell froze over.

"I knew when the pearls became mobile on its own, it was you. There was no other explanation for this rather... unusual event." A lady's voice suddenly echoed arcoss the room.

Light slowly flooded the room, revealing a gigantic workshop with lots of tables and desks in a multi-platform level. Many unfinished machineries were on top of them, organized in a way that an artificially intelligent species can process.

In the middle of it all, was Koul'in General Platina.

The third of the Ten Generals.

Mina froze in fear, but she steeled herself to make a passable response.

"You seem to be rather surprised...?" Mina asked in a rather taunting yet shivering tone.

"Hardly, Mina Myoui." Platina replied, walking towards her ever so slowly. "I know sooner or later you'd arrive, guns blazing, just so you can reclaim your Manifest and put a stop to me. I expected it, just like I expected our invasion of Gyeongsan to fail."

"....fail...?" Mina thought, expressing a rather slightly surprised face.

"Judging by your expression, you seemed to be surprised to realize this information. The invasion in Gyeongsan was just a stalling point, most of the facilities were built on cheap, Koul'in steel, and they were only just decoys and traps to lure in unsuspected humans. To make it seem convincing enough, though, I've assigned an army and atleast fifteen subordinates in that city in each facility. So, lets just say you humans were fighting an almost false war."

"...But that is not without consequence, was it? You suffered important casualties in that war... your soldiers. Your subordinates." Mina replied, still in confusion over the conversation.

"Erythos, Kordaine, Lumera and Damascus? Truth be told, they arent my subordinates yet. They were just top-notch candidates... talented scientists highly contributing to my research. And all of them, even the whole of the Cryostine division, know they'd die for this research. My research."

"You're mad if you think your goals matter more than all those lives you took." Mina retorted. "They're... significant losses. They had the potential to grow as thinking individuals. To become something more. Yet you place them in such a predicament wherein they have no choice but to lay down their lives."

"You are concerned so much about them, are you? How kind. But there is no use. All of them have passed knowing full well that their goals are aligned with mine, and if sacrifice is needed to attain such goal, then it must be done." Platina replied.

The Koul'in general walks down the staircase further, and Mina retreats a bit.

"All of the Cryostine Division knows that the outcome of this research is more important than their very lives. They have a commitment to a greater, tangible goal, my goal. Same with the sacrifices you humans made to be a part of my progress: to know there is to know about you and your Manifests, and to better that understanding for many more invasions to come."