The successful mission.

"What do they want right now?" Gen. Lucas, looking at the transparent screen in front of him, couldn't help frowning.

"Sir, is there any kind of problem?" asked his assistant.

"These bastards from the Federation have called for an emergency meeting."

"But, sir, it's not even time for a monthly meeting."

"You don't think I know that?" General Lucas yelled at his assistant, "If they want to cut the budget again..." He did not finish his speech before turning to his assistant, and said, "Unless I call, let no one come into the room."

His assistant didn't dare ask any more questions and left the room with a bow. Only then did Gen. Lucas take the helmet out of the drawer and put it on his head.

When he opened his eyes again, he stood in a not-so-large room, with one door leading out of the room.

[Gen. Lucas, welcome. Please enter your authorization number.]

After the general did that, the words on the screen changed again.

[Identity confirmed.]

[Take the door in front of you, please. The emergency meeting will start in 3:12 minutes.]

He did as he was told, but it surprised him when he walked into the room. The structure of the meeting room differed from that of the usual meeting room. It had three rows of seats.

"The directors!" There were no nameplates in the last row, but the nine seats in the second row were reserved for the nine directors of the Federation, the nine heads in charge of the Federation.

There were eight seats in the first row, nine seats in the row behind it, and the last row, which was the highest row in the room, was shrouded in darkness. Still, he could see the five silhouettes in the dark.

Even if the directors are the representative of the federation, there is a council which is actually in control of every decision taken by the federation.

"Then the last row must be for the old..." Gen. Lucas couldn't help frowning while thinking about the importance of the meeting. "The council is here, too. What could the meeting have been about?"

"If it wasn't the old Lucas!" An old voice from the first row attracted Lucas's attention. "Come here, your seat is right next to me."

"Oh! Ivan." Lucas looked around the people who were sitting in the first row. Apart from Ivan, there were three more people he could identify.

The young genius of the strongest mage family, the owner of the AI corporation, and one of the leading physicians in mana assisted treatment.

Lucas had no intention of wasting his efforts to greet them and walked towards his old friend, the director of Desert stronghold 3.

After he took his seat, he asked in a hushed tone, "What is this all about?"

"The mission is over." Ivan looked around for a moment and whispered.

"The mission!" It took a moment before he could understand what he meant by the word 'mission'. When he did, he couldn't help but ask, "wasn't it supposed to take ten more days?"

"I don't know." Ivan shook his head and went on, "there are two possibilities. Either they have completed all seven operative missions and five special missions, or..."

"Or they're all dead." Lucas finished his words as Ivan nodded.

"Most likely they've all died," sighed the woman sitting next to Lucas, and said, "There's no way that eight children would have been successful with little military training."

The woman, Sachi, was one of the leading physicians in mana-assisted treatment.

"We have trained them for over 10 years," said Gen. Lucas, with a frown on his face.

"Huh?" Looking at him, the corner of Sachi's lips twitched. She said, "for the first 7 years they were trained to use mana. They've only been doing military training in the last three years."

Before Lucas could say anything, Sachi added, "Even if you send a soldier to an exoplanet, you'll train a veteran soldier for three years, and they're just teenagers. Like they could survive in a place where even veteran soldiers had failed."

Lucas could not say his intended words as the light of the room was further diluted and the giant transparent screen brightened. And there was a man in front of the screen.

"Welcome, everyone. Thank you for joining me on such brief notice at the VR Emergency Meeting. I, Ratic Kaire, Project Leader of the Earth Exploration Mission, EP00."

With a bright smile on his face, he added, "The EP00 mission is an enormous success." Although his words raised eyebrows, the reactions were nowhere near what the host had expected.

"Cough... about three hours ago, we received an automatic transmission from the ship." A list appeared behind him as the man spoke. "As you can see, except for Captain Alex and Second Officer Levi, everyone else is on board."

"What?" Lucas looked at the man who cried from the same row as him. Even if he didn't know the man, the small screen embedded on the table showed the identity of the man, Leonard.

"Then why didn't the ship wait for others to return?" This time it was Eigen, the owner of the AI corporation, who spoke. The host shook his head as the list on the giant screen changed.

[Alex: Ex-captain. -: Deceased.

Lyla. Vice-Captain. Captain: Healthy.

Elijah. First officer. Vice Captain: Healthy.

Levi. Ex-Second Officer. -: Deceased.

Asher. -. -: Healthy.

Aiden. -. First Officer: Injured.

Sara. -. Second officer: Healthy.

Owen. -. -: Healthy .]

"We have also recovered the bodies of the dead." said the host with a pained voice.

"You want to say that these weak bastards have survived while my son is dead." Leonard cried in anger.

'He must be Levi's father.' Lucas thought. As he knew about the relationship between the leader of the mission and the AI corporation, he had no problem identifying Leonard.

"Silence." With the heavy voice, the entire room plunged into silence. There was no name on the small screen on the table, Lucas knew it was one of the councilmen. The host spoke again before anyone else could say anything.

"The ship crossed the boundary of the solar system. Although the signal is still weak, we can connect with the leader. "

As he spoke, the light in front of him twisted, creating a girl's body with red hair. She bowed and said, "Captain Lyla is reporting."

"How did my son die?" It was Leonard who was the first to shout. "Who killed my Levi? "

"The devil. The devil killed him. "Lyla replied without hesitation. As she said those words, the screen behind her showed a picture and the known detail of the devil.

"What about Alex?"

Lyla looked at Eigan and replied, "Aiden killed him."

"What?" Lucas wasn't able to hide his surprise. He knew that everyone in the first row was a representative of eight mission operatives. And as he had accepted Aiden as a captain in his army, that would be his problem, too.

But Eigen did not pursue the matter anymore. However, not everyone was thinking like that. "Submit a full report on the matter." The host can only nod on the order that came from the top row.

"As we can see, you've completed all seven operational missions and six..." One director of the second row was a little confused. "Were there not five special missions? "

"Yes," replied the host, "but depending on the severity of the situation, ESS could start a special mission. The system initiated the mission to save the team."

"But why is there a question mark next to it?" The director frowned. He asked, "It's not just that, there was a similar problem with two more special missions and five operative missions."

"The question marks mean that the mission has been completed, but the operative has chosen not to disclose his or her identity and mission information."

"Huh? Which idiot would do that?"

"It's Aiden," Lyla replied to the director's question. "I am not sure about the other missions, but Aiden had completed the rescue mission."

The whispers resonated through the virtual meeting room. They've all got one question in their minds. "Why? Killing one person and saving another makes little sense."

But before Lyla could answer again, Lyla's body was distorted, and she vanished from the meeting room. After trying for a moment, the host reported that it would be not possible to contact the ship.

"Submit a full report as soon as possible. Ask each of the operatives to submit their report." The order came from the top row. "Hold a press conference. Let the world know that the mission has been a success."

"Yes, sir." The bodies of the councilman vanished from the room as the host spoke, and the director did the same.

'Why did Aiden kill Alex?' That's the question in his mind. Lucas was curious, but he knew that no one could answer him except Aiden. However, he was happy. 'I haven't chosen the wrong person. I won't have any problems attracting sponsors as soon as he joins my army.'

But the person, beside him, wasn't too happy. Looking at Ivan, he couldn't help asking, "What is the problem? Your daughter is still alive."

"That boy wasn't supposed to be alive." Ivan shook his head. But as soon as he realized he wasn't supposed to say that, he left the room in a hurry.

"Who?" Lucas wanted to know, but he didn't get that chance. "But the most important thing is to contact Aiden before it's too late," as soon as he made his mind, he didn't dare to waste any more time and left the room.