Chapter 201: The Most Powerful Spy Makes a Grand Entrance
A chill ran down Eli's spine.
That familiar, icy sensation began to spread from his back, engulfing his entire body. The peaceful glow from the ceiling lights above flickered erratically.
A pair of arms wrapped around him from behind, making his whole body instantly go rigid.
"Reaper… it's been a long time."
It was always this same creepy entrance—there was no mistaking it, even if he wanted to.
"I didn't expect to find you here."
Ever since the battle over A Baoa Qu, the Reaper had vanished from Eli's side.
Even if he'd wanted to search, Eli hadn't had the slightest clue where to start. Nor could he tell anyone about it.
"So you've attached yourself to this girl now? To Lalah?"
Eli looked up, gazing through the observation window at Lalah, lying peacefully on the bed and hooked up to various life-support systems.
"Well… you could call it a form of atonement. In that battle, I helped you by doing something terrible to this girl. I guess I overdid it a bit."
The Reaper floated directly in front of Eli, blocking his view of Lalah.
"And this is the result—what she's become."
"Is her consciousness… gone?"
Eli stepped closer to the observation window, carefully studying Lalah's tightly shut eyes.
There wasn't the slightest movement—she looked more like a statue than a living person.
"How could I be so cruel? No, her soul seems to have drifted somewhere far away. It just hasn't made it back yet."
What the hell is this… some alternate dimension from one of those classic literary sci-fi stories?
Or maybe she's become a ghost… haunting the void of space?
As he silently complained to himself—"Newtypes are impossible to understand"—the Reaper had already floated over to Lalah's side.
"To make up for what I did to this girl, I've stayed by her side ever since, helping to sustain her presence."
"A Reaper, cherishing life? That's rich."
More Newtype gibberish he didn't understand.
Eli voiced his sarcasm directly this time, though he continued grumbling inwardly.
I'm technically a Newtype too, aren't I?
"If that's the case… what about the man who was with her? What about Char?"
Eli already suspected the answer even as he asked.
Lalah wouldn't have come here alone.
If she was here, that meant Char had already established himself somewhere within Earth's sphere of influence.
That was Eli's conclusion.
"Yes, they've both returned from Axis. Char brought Lalah here on this guy's advice."
Eli looked down at the tablet in his hand, and followed an inner instinct to glance at the person listed as responsible—Blex's name was right there.
AUG…
He tapped the screen lightly, hesitating on whether to take coercive action against Blex.
Even if AUG hadn't yet taken up arms, the fact that it was a faction within the Federation pushing an anti-Federation agenda was reason enough to intervene.
Up until now, Eli had held off for two reasons: first, there was never any solid evidence; second, Blex himself was, to some extent, a well-meaning idealist.
Of course, that was because Eli still didn't know that Blex had, to a certain extent, cooperated with Gato during the Delaz Conflict.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have taken such a lenient stance toward Blex.
For now, Eli made a mental note of the issue, then looked up at the Reaper, who was fiddling uselessly with a lock of Lalah's hair.
"Tell me everything about what happened on Axis."
Eli had long been puzzled by Axis's inconsistent stance during the Delaz Conflict. Now that he finally had a chance to learn the full story, he wasn't about to pass it up.
"Yes, Colonel Eli~"
The Reaper teased what might be the youngest colonel in the Federation and began recounting everything seen and heard on Axis.
More of Zeon's scattered remnants had fled to Axis—that much was expected.
Maharaja and Char had worked together to calm the rising desire among those people to return to Earth. Haman, as usual, clung to Char like a shadow.
By the way, when Haman came to visit Lalah, her own considerable Newtype sensitivity had allowed her to glimpse the hem of the Reaper's cloak.
As a result, she became convinced Lalah was being haunted by something sinister, and did everything she could to stop Char from visiting her.
Which only made Char dislike her more.
The research institute for Newtypes… even the Reaper was repulsed by the experiments there.
Since the Reaper couldn't stray far from Lalah for long, most of the intel came secondhand—from Char sitting at her bedside, weakly venting his grievances.
"He looked just like a child complaining to his mother about being bullied~"
Eli fell silent.
He's made a fool of himself even in ghost circles across the universe.
"Thanks. This intel is extremely valuable to me."
Closing his eyes, Eli absorbed the Reaper's report, forming a rough understanding of the current situation on Axis.
"You're welcome~ After all, it's been a long time since anyone talked to me. But you… you really haven't changed all these years, have you?"
"Well, I've grown a bit taller?"
"...That's not the kind of change I meant."
The Reaper gave him a meaningful look.
Instinctively, Eli avoided it.
"That little girl is interesting."
"Rita? Don't even think about it."
Eli's gaze sharpened with caution.
He didn't need a reminder—Lalah's current state was staring him right in the face.
"Don't worry, I'm not planning anything. I'm just saying—keep an eye on her. Birds tend to fly away if you're not careful."
Ugh, more cryptic Newtype talk…
"I get it."
With that, there was nothing more to be said.
Eli silently watched Lalah, digesting the information he'd just received.
It was becoming clear that Axis had diverged significantly from its original trajectory in the source material, turning into a "Neo Zeon" of a very different sort.
Originally, Char—held up as a paragon of the Zeon cause—had worked with Maharaja to calm the Zeon soldiers and guide them toward building up Axis.
But now, Char had returned to Earth.
And considering the Axis fleet's recent provocations—or outright acts of war—against the Federation…
It was easy to surmise that Haman, who was supposed to inherit the title of "Regent" of Axis after her father Maharaja's death, might have failed to do so.
Maybe Enzo… or Glemmy had prematurely revealed himself as a surviving Zabi heir.
In any case, Haman Karn, though ambitious, was not the type of leader who would so recklessly provoke the Federation's wrath.
Only those fanatics who had Zeon ideology engraved into their very skulls would do something so irresponsibly foolish.
Unless they were preparing to upend the Earth Sphere in one fell swoop, and… dig up King Gihren or something…
Or maybe… helium-3?
"When is Jupitris expected to respond next?"
Eli had a bad feeling.
The current Jupiter Fleet—aboard the Jupitris—did indeed have its own armed forces.
But if…
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