’War’. Leon thought with a neutral look on his face.

It was not a concept that he was unfamiliar with.

Afterall, despite his life experiences in this era being just 4 months, well 8 months now after adding the period that he was in a coma, he already experienced his fair share of war in Neo-Tokara.

To him, the fight against terrorists back in Leviathan Quay was war.

The sudden invasion facilitated by the Category 3 Neon Beast Tide was also a different type of war though he didn’t actively participate in it.

Also, through the ChronoSystem and his Trial, he participated in the greatest war of his life more than 132 years ago in Iron Reef, a war that changed history, rewriting its script like the world currently knew it.

Even during his first Trial, by helping the Big Gig Construction Company, indirectly he also helped the Federation Army in preparations for a minor civil war.

Almost everything that he’d involved himself in so far since waking up in this world had an element of war and violence in it.

’War’. Leon thought again.

The reason why he was so fixated in this sensitive word all of a sudden was because of the words that Ren Nora told him and their consequence. There’s war, and there’s war that’s caused because of a single person.

In all the wars that Leon had witnessed and participated in till now since waking up from his stasis tube, one common factor among them all was the fact that he was never the aggressor.

He was always the unfortunate person stuck between other party’s conflicts.

132 years ago, it was Ren Nora. Months ago, it was Lucian and his desire to spread his psychotic beliefs to Leviathan Quay and the rest of the South.

But now, it was because of him.

This time around, Leon was the central figure of this war. Afterall, he was the one seeking ascension to C Rank and was therefore Director-Prime Epsilon’s main target just like Ren Nora was 132 years ago.

And after the events that happened on that night 132 years ago, including his own performance in influencing the outcome, Leon had a hunch that Epsilon won’t take his ascension attempt as trivially as he took Ren Nora.

Ren Nora succeeded only because Epsilon looked down on him.

If the leader of the Omnicore Federation himself had taken action 131 years ago, there would have been no Ren Nora. There would have been no Freegrid Collective, and Leon would have failed his Trial.

Epsilon made a mistake, and Leon didn’t see the leader of the Federation like the kind of man to not learn from his mistakes.

Meaning this time, he was prepared to snuff his rebellion out before it truly ignited, even if this time Leon had a C Rank Ascended that was ready to help him and truly go against the General to stop him.

Leon smiled darkly. ’A war is going to because with me, am I truly ready to live with the burden of such a truth?’

In the little time that he’d spent in this world, Leon had climbed the ladders of power in Neo-Tokara at record speed, wielding inhumane strength in the process as he rose to become a D Rank Warmachine Mechanist, but still...

...still he knew the terrors of war.

Afterall, if things go the way he was suspecting, this was not going to be just any war. This was going to be a war involving the leader of the Freegrid Collective in direct crosshairs against the 3 overlords of the Omnicore Federation.

His smile turned even darker, lacking a single shred of humor.

Back in Leviathan Quay, though the war didn’t last too long due to Lord Zolkan arriving in time, thousands of people still died if not tens of thousands.

And back in Iron Reef 132 years ago, despite all the measures that Ren Nora and his Lieutenants took, including the technology for Purgatory that was far beyond its years then, the casualties still rose to tens of thousands.

But Leon knew that tens of thousands was going to be different from what he was going to experience this time.

With the rank and caliber of people that were going to be involved in this war because of him, the casualties would likely be in the hundreds of thousands or even millions!

His face turned grim.

After hearing the history of the world from Ren Nora, at least the parts of history that were not lost in the annals of time, Leon knew that the world population was diminished significantly after Genesis.

And despite the fact that over 700 years already passed since then, the world population never managed to recover because the new world order didn’t allow it.

The limitation of habitable landmass for survivors after Genesis due to the fact that majority of the world was now just an endless ocean, plus the existence of Neon Beasts roaming about restricted the world population.

From what Leon knew, the population of the entire world currently was less than 200 million people.

He wasn’t sure due to his fragmented memories, but Leon had a hunch that there were billions of humans prowling the world before Genesis.

Of these 200 million people, most lived in the Wastes, barely surviving against the hazards of this world of ADE.

Despite this, there were millions of people still living in the Megacities of the world, and in this upcoming war, it was the Megacities that would be affected more.

’Am I willing to accept the blood of millions of people on my hands?’ Leon closed his eyes. ’All in my quest to become a C Rank Ascended?’

It was a difficult question, an extremely difficult question even. But deep down, Leon knew that he already had his answer.

Because in the end, despite all the good deeds he’d done in this world already since he began climbing the ranks of power, in his core Leon was still a selfish man. A selfish and incomplete man who was yearning to be complete.

Only by reconciling with his past memories would he truly be complete, and for that, Leon was willing to sacrifice anything, even if it was millions of lives.

Did that make him evil? Did that make him a villain?

Maybe it did but Leon didn’t care. For his ultimate goal, he was willing to accept the tag of a villain.

Seeing him close his eyes, Ren Nora sighed and asked. "So, are you still going to fight? Do you still want to kill Bill Zefyr?"

Leon lingered for a few seconds, then he opened his eyes, his onyx black eyes staring at the General’s emerald green eyes with certainty and conviction.

He shrugged, then he said. "The Great Scam must be stopped".

Ren Nora exhaled. "So be it".

Leon looked away, then he asked. "Will you... will you still support me?"

Ren Nora laughed, then he looked outside through the windows of the hospital, observing the bustling streets below.

His voice was soft like velvet when he spoke.

"You always seem to forget but I owe you a debt in blood. A help for a help, a life for a life".

"So worry not my old friend," he smiled darkly.

Leon didn’t say anything else and in the sudden quietness of the hospital room, the 2 friends just observed the bustling streets outside the hospital.