Chapter 130
Giselle and I made our decision, so there was no hesitation. I would not waver anymore.
"Mother, I will be leaving as well. Something urgent has come up."
I went to Eva and spoke.
As the acting head of the family, if I were to leave, the next person in charge was Eva. She looked at me before nodding.
Eva was not flustered. She merely gazed at me with ice-cold eyes. She carried the dignity befitting the lady of the house.
"I don’t know what it is, but I hope it’s something that will help your father."
I nodded. But even I did not know whom my actions would ultimately help.
"And Giselle will be coming with me. I need her assistance as well."
A brief silence followed. Eva bit her lower lip slightly before speaking.
"…If it’s necessary, then there’s no other choice. No matter what happens, protect that child."
This, I could answer with certainty.
"I intend to. Even if it costs me my life."
Giselle and I left the main house and headed for the airstrip. She had prepared thoroughly as well—her attire was heavy. Beneath her swaying coat, I caught sight of a pistol and personal equipment.
Whooosh!
The wind was fierce, befitting a Storm-class aircraft. Just standing still was enough to make one stagger.
'Juppe?'
Juppe stood in front of the airstrip, facing the wind. Upon spotting us, he braced against the gusts and walked toward us.
"Luka, if there's anything I need to prepare, tell me. If the worst-case scenario happens, what should we do?"
I looked at him in silence.
To be honest, I couldn't trust Juppe. It wasn’t a matter of his character or personality. I simply didn’t rate his abilities highly.
'Could Juppe really handle it if I left it to him?'
But right now, I had no choice but to trust him. At the very least, he was not someone who lacked a sense of responsibility. He would do his best within his capabilities.
"Before the storm ends… if Father and I do not return or fail to make contact, you must prepare for exile, Brother."
From Juppe’s sturdy frame, I could see the signals of his emotions seeping out—his pupils losing focus, the tremble of his fingertips, the slight flinch in his legs, the way he bit his lip in small acts of self-harm. He was terrified.
"If we have to prepare for exile… I see, so that’s what it is. Father never gave me a word of warning until the end. Was I truly a son he could not trust…?"
Hemillas’ judgment was right. Juppe would not be of much help in the current chaos. If anything, there was even a risk of classified information being leaked.
Yeah, the biggest problem was that Hemillas was right. He had made the correct judgment, even at the cost of deeply wounding his own child.
"Go, Luka. If Father needs your help, I'll hold things together here however I can."
Giselle and I nodded before passing by Juppe.
We boarded the air vehicle. Giselle, being skilled with machinery, sat in the driver's seat and operated the controls. The hum of the engine vibrated through the cabin.
"It would've been good if Nikolaos were here at a time like this…"
Giselle muttered. Even she longed for the deceased Nikolaos rather than relying on Juppe, who was still alive.
Nikolaos was a man who could understand and navigate through dark chaos. Even I, who had only recently taken on the Custoria name, felt the void he left behind.
'It's not that Juppe didn't try. Compared to Enrico Lagan, he's an admirable hard worker.'
But Juppe had failed to surpass the wall of reality. I pitied him. And even that pity would likely wound him. So I didn't show it.
The fifteen-year-old Luka never pitied the weak. He scorned and looked down on them.
But the eighteen-year-old Lukaus Custoria understood them. He knew that their pain and failures were not solely their fault.
Between the fifteen-year-old me and the me of today—who was stronger, and who was weaker?
Sometimes, the boy inside me blamed me for becoming weak. That sharp-edged youth sneered at how I had grown dull.
And he was right to. Even if I were sprinting at full speed, it wouldn't be enough. Yet here I was, running back and forth, wasting time meddling. If I stayed like this, I’d lose my head.
The closer the moment of decision came, the more the contradictions within me grew. It was driving me insane. The agony was unbearable. A darkness so deep it felt endless filled me from within.
"Luka…"
Suddenly, Giselle called my name. I must have been sitting there in silence for quite a while. She kept her eyes forward as she spoke.
"…Don't cry."
I hadn't cried. Probably.
* * *
From the first week of Storm-class operations, chaos was stirring like a faint breeze.
In the lower district, muggings and thefts were rampant. Savage shouts and gunshots rang out every few minutes. I gripped Giselle’s wrist tightly as we moved through the lower district.
I deliberately chose a labyrinthine path, weaving our route back and forth to throw off any potential pursuers. My senses remained heightened as I constantly checked my surroundings.
"This is the place."
I came to a stop. A signboard stood in front of us, its neon lights broken.
We had arrived at an illegal clinic at the very bottom of society. If someone asked what kind of procedures were done here, the answer would be everything. From biological modifications to cybernetic enhancements, nervous system adjustments, and full-body prosthetics—nothing was off-limits. Naturally, there was no real expertise involved.
No sane person would entrust their body to a place like this. It was a place for those who had truly hit rock bottom. People came here with only two options in mind: survival or death.
Creak.
We pushed the door open and stepped inside. The four-layer security lock had been completely destroyed. There was no dust on the broken edges, meaning it had been wrecked recently.
Sssss.
Inside, a strange scent filled the air—a mix of chemicals and the stench of blood. In one corner, industrial grease had pooled, making my stomach churn even more.
As the door swung open, a woman sitting on an operating table came into view, playing a holographic game. She was wearing a white coat, and when she saw us, she broke into a wide grin. More precisely, she smiled at Giselle.
"Oh, you're here! Giselle! I missed you so much! It's me, it's me! Barbara!"
The woman, who called herself Barbara, lunged toward Giselle. I raised my standard-issue pistol and aimed it at her, stopping her in her tracks.
“B-Barbara…”
Giselle grimaced at the sight of her.
I, too, struggled to suppress a visceral sense of disgust at Barbara’s appearance. I had known she was insane, but this went beyond mere madness—it was something inhuman.
"You changed bodies again, Barbara."
The full-body prosthetic Barbara was currently using belonged to the clinic's doctor.
'A full-body prosthetic belonging to someone else.'
A full-body prosthetic was far more sophisticated than a simple cybernetic limb. It was designed to completely replicate human biological functions. Only after delicate calibration and grueling rehabilitation would the brain finally recognize the prosthetic as its own.
That’s why using someone else’s full-body prosthetic was utterly insane. The mismatch and disconnect would throw the brain into chaos. In short, it would drive a person completely mad.
And that… I glanced down. That must be Barbara’s previous prosthetic body.
A discarded full-body prosthetic lay sprawled beneath the operating table. It was a male model, with the top of its skull neatly removed—a clear sign of surgical work.
It seemed she had performed the procedure on herself.
"Hiding my identity and avoiding surveillance? There's no better way than this, hehe." Barbara giggled. "Giselle, Giselle! Now you understand, right? I'm not a terrorist—I'm a citizen of the Empire! So there's no reason to be afraid of me anymore."
Barbara pushed up the corners of her lips with her fingers, trying to force a smile. That gesture—it was unmistakably Barbara. Since the prosthetic wasn’t originally hers, it seemed she couldn’t fully control its facial expressions.
"Barbara, don't delude yourself. I'm not afraid of you—I despise and loathe you."
"Aww, empty lies won’t work on me. Besides, fear isn't always a bad thing. A little bit of fear can actually strengthen relationships, don’t you think? Luka?"
This was what made Barbara terrifying. She was insane, yet still capable of rational thought. Worse, she could read people’s emotions, pinpoint their weaknesses, and use them to her advantage.
I ignored her question and got straight to the point.
"Can this facility handle data conversion? And just so you know, if you suggest moving to another location, the negotiation is off."
This place was already dangerous enough. Before coming in, I had thoroughly checked for surveillance and potential ambushes.
"There’s no need to be so on edge. I know your capabilities well, Luka. No matter what kind of trap I set, if it comes down to it, you'll just escape with Giselle. See? It’s all good. I'm just happy to see Giselle, even like this."
Barbara was difficult to read. But unlike Kinuan or Hemillas, it was for an entirely different reason.
Kinuan and Hemillas rarely expressed their emotions, and even when they did, it was often a calculated deception.
Tzzzz.
I narrowed my eyes and focused on Barbara, using every sense I had to read her.
'There are too many emotional signals leaking from her words and actions.'
That was why I couldn’t see through her. It was as if she had wrapped herself in threads of fabricated emotions. By constantly overloading her expressions with excessive emotional signals, she made it impossible to tell what was real.
Clank. Clank.
Barbara pulled out a heavy bag. When she opened it, I saw a portable computer terminal inside. It seemed to be of exceptionally high performance.
"Small as it is, it's on par with the main computer of a decent research lab. Giselle, can you help me? Pull that bundle of wires over here and connect them. We used to do all sorts of things together like this. Ah, I suddenly feel nostalgic."
I moved to take the wires in Giselle’s place.
"I’ll do it. You keep an eye on Barbara."
Giselle stepped forward, cutting me off. I nodded and moved closer to Barbara.
"Barbara, I won’t waste even a second killing you. Don’t try anything. Even a suspicious move, and that brilliant brain of yours will be nothing more than a lump of meat."
"Brutal… thrilling, Luka. This side of you is what I really like."
Barbara shivered slightly, just her shoulders twitching. I knew it, though—threats wouldn’t work on her.
She connected the power cables to the computer. Sparks flew, and the lights in the clinic flickered out.
Chzzzt! Crackle!
The computer was drawing so much power that it temporarily knocked out the clinic’s electricity.
Bzzzzzzzt.
Complex numbers and symbols flashed across the screen. There were dozens of security protocols, but they were bypassed in less than ten seconds.
"You’ve gotten a lot prettier, Giselle. Did you get a boyfriend? Oh, if you did, tell me. I’ll kill him for you."
Barbara spoke while operating the computer.
"A boyfriend? He’s standing right next to you. Go ahead, try killing him."
Giselle checked the voltage meter on the wall, responding indifferently.
Barbara tilted her head and looked at my face. Her fingers, however, never stopped moving.
"Hmm, I do like Luka, but… that’s got to be the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard. He’s a lunatic who prefers fighting over women. You do know how to differentiate aggression from sexual desire, right? I bet they feel like the same color of emotion to you."
Who was calling who a lunatic? Unbelievable.
In any case, Barbara didn’t seem to know the nature of my relationship with Giselle.
…And I made an effort not to let any emotions slip. Barbara’s words were sharp. She jabbed at me in an unexpected way.
Clatter.
I tossed the data restoration chip onto the table.
"Get started, Barbara."
"Luka, just so you know, if you kill me the moment this job is done… something bad will happen. I didn’t come here without a contingency plan."
She didn’t need to say it. I already knew. Barbara was the same kind of person as Kinuan and me—someone who carves out their own space amid chaos.
To be honest, I felt a certain sense of kinship with Barbara.
That was an unpleasant fact.
"I keep my promises."
"That makes two of us. I keep my promises too."
Barbara inserted the chip into the computer.