Bargaining

Alpha and the others are on the middle of the forest as they're on their way to Laboratory 1718. They are very cautious to their surroundings because they're not on the battlefield. That means there's no spells, no healing, and no revives. If they die, they die for good.

Everyone followed Alpha because he knows where it is.

"There it is."

He points to the bunker. Around it is covered in grass so it'll be invisible to spot it on the upper view. The steel gates were open.

Layla looks disappointed.

"You mean this?"

Fanny answers

"What did you expect? The location of this lab is confidential. Did you try to look at signposts or something as we go here?"

"Wha- I didn't look for it! I swear!" Layla lies proudly.

"The whole place is underground so we should get inside." Alpha said.

"Even if the gates were open, there might be some security measures waiting for us."

Everyone goes inside. As they travel through the corridor, several broken robots were destroyed. Most of them were sliced to pieces.

"What are these things?" Fanny says to Alpha.

"These were the guards in this place. They're weak compared to us but they're hard to fight them because of the numbers, even me and Saber combined."

"And Saber defeats them on his own... Just how strong is he?" Fanny mumbled to herself.

They continued walking.

Angela is on the back, holding her doll. "Hey!! Hurry up or we'll leave you behind!!" Layla shouts to her. Angela is far away from them. "W-wait!!" Angela runs to them. She is scared as she does not like to be in a dark, narrow place.

There are lines of lockers on Angela's sides. She stops as she notices one of the lockers moving. Layla looked back again to see Angela. They noticed Angela stopped moving. Worried, they come back to her.

Angela unknowingly opens the locker.

"Ahhhhh!!!!"

"Wahhhh!!!!"

There's a person hiding on the locker. They both screamed. Angela hits the person with her doll out of fear.

The person groans in pain.

"Wa-wait!! Don't kill me!!"

He is wearing a lab coat. He is one of the mad scientists.

Alpha walks closer to him.

"Who are you?"

"Ahh... Alpha.You're here. Y-you're actually here."

He points the man with his spear. "Who. Are. You?" Alpha said with an interrogative manner.

"I-I am Doctor Burdock. O-one of the s-s-scientists in this f-facility. Alpha... Y-you've actually came back. S-Saber is reasonable, b-b-but you? I c-can't believe this..." He's still talking.

His speech is quite fast and full of broken sentences that they didn't understand the rest of what he just said. "Well... I've got my answer." Alpha then leaves.

"W-wait!! You're h-here for Saber, r-right?"

Alpha stopped.

"I-I know how to beat h-him."

"How should we know if we can tru-" Layla interrupts Alpha

"How?!! How do we beat him?! What are his weaknesses?!!

"W-weakness? ha... HAHA! He has no weakness!"

"WHAT!!" Layla screamed. "Then how should we beat him if he has, like, every hero's abilities?"

"Wait? E-every hero?" Everyone is now confused.

"How about we let you speak first?" Fanny said.

"Alright." Burdock said. "B-but we need to go someplace else f-first. Follow me."

Dr. Burdock leads them to a room filled with scientific equipment. There is a large glass pane on the wall but it is covered.

"Before I t-tell you this, I need t-t-to say something about Saber f-first." Everyone sits as they hear Burdock's explanation. Everyone tries to understand him carefully.

"Saber was c-c-created by the genes of hundreds of s-sword masters of all different r-races, c-combined with our cutting-edge t-technology, making him t-the greatest swordsman i-i-in the land. Saber came for us to gather i-information about himself in exchange of working w-with us. When Saber discovered this, he had a-a-a theory. What if, he puts the genes o-of all heroes in the land of dawn i-in his own body?"

"So he has all of their abilities." Alpha said.

"Well... n-not quite. After inserting a f-few genes, Saber's body has e-e-enlarged. So he is l-limited to four heroes:

Alucard

Argus

Gusion

and Tigreal"

Layla sighs in relief.

"Well at least he only has four of them."

"But he's still strong." Fanny added

"Indeed. In f-fact, he chose these heroes c-correctly. Alucard's lifesteal, Argus' Immunity to d-death, Gusion's speed, a-and Tigreal's defense. As an experienced fighter, he can think of m-m-many ways to use these abilities. T-that's why..."

Burdock pressed one of the buttons in the control panel. The iron doors in the glass pane opens. There's a table in the middle and above it are multiple wires attached into the ceiling

"Alpha. You need to d-d-do the same as your brother did." Burdock holds both of his shoulders.

"Wha-what?" "T-there's no other way." Burdock begs Alpha.

"I have to become a monster like him?" Alpha thinks to himself, as he is in a moral dilemma. If he chooses to get stronger, he might defeat Saber. But that also means he can't be in his allies anymore. Since he's too strong, he can't join into the battlefield with them.

Angela and the others knows this. They try to confront Alpha,

Layla wraps her arm around his shoulder.

"Don't worry, Alpha. Even if you're hella strong, we still friends."

"Well, if you're stronger than me, then I should stop by at your house to learn a thing or two from you" Fanny said as she hides her nice attitude.

"Even if you got stronger, that doesn't mean we can't be together." Angela cheerfully said.

Grock moves towards Alpha to give him a hug.

"O-okay. That's a big hug from a big guy like you." Layla then thought of something.

"Group hug!!" Everyone proceeds to hug Alpha. Alpha didn't think of them as friends at first because he thought they just needed him for the battlefield. But he realized that they think of him not as an ally, but as a friend. Because of that, Alpha has made a decision.

"So, have you made your d-d-decision?"

"Yes. I have."

"Then i-it's settled. I'll start the machine b-but it'll take a few minutes s-so you should wait here."

Alpha is now certain of his decisions. He now thinks that no matter what decision he had made, his friends is there to support him.

Meanwhile, in the land of dawn. Leomord is down on the battlefield, groaning as he's been attacked. "Alpha is nowhere to be found." Saber rests on a wall. "Maybe he is already there." He then stabs leomord, he screams in agony and died.

Saber walks towards the forest. "I wonder how strong you've got, Little Brother."