Stanley explained the situation once again. It was quite annoying to have to do it all over again, but after some proof, Nova believed him. What she was mostly surprised about was the fact that her brother was willing to kill so many people.

An explosion that could level a large section of the city wouldn’t be a weak one. It would kill hundreds of thousands of people easily.

And she understood why he would do that.

"I can’t believe he would use a bomb," she said to Stanley. "Kill so many innocent people. He probably wants to increase his soul powers. Where did he even get the idea?"

"Doesn’t matter," Stanley said. "What we need to worry about now is that if we don’t stop it, hundreds of thousands of people will die. The question is, how can we stop it?"

"Did you know about this?" Nova looked toward the captive Sol. "Were you aware that my brother intended to massacre a city while we played with puny gangs?"

"I had no idea, young miss," Sol said. "I was just made to keep an eye on you."

Nova’s face twisted. "All this time while I thought I was working toward something, you were passing along the information to my brother."

"I did what I was told. Even if I wasn’t, I would’ve still done it. Your life is very important to the master," Sol said.

Nova gave a grin while hiding poison that was ready to spew out as words. "We should leave him in the city. Have him get a taste of his master’s medicine."

"No," Stanley said. "He stays outside. We’re not killing people just because. We’re not your brother."

Nova said nothing.

Fred continued driving the van as they made their way to East Vanli. "So, Sol stays in the Van. Does Vera stay here too?"

"There’s no point in her coming with us," Stanley said.

"Then can I stay here too?" Fred asked.

Stanley looked at him. "I will be honest," he said. "You will be in more danger than you will be of help. But, whatever help you can give will go a long way this time around since I cannot defeat the Lightning Nova on my own."

"Can’t you kill him like you said you had done before?" Fred asked.

"He can’t do it this time," Nova explained. "My brother’s henchmen will be too stubborn to speak, so only my brother can tell us where the bomb is. Without him, we’ll end up searching forever."

"I see," Fred sighed as he spoke. "I suppose we have no choice then."

"We’re getting close to the city," Nova said as she looked ahead. "Place it somewhere outside, and we can go in on foot."

"No," Vera said. "Go all the way in. I’ll drive us out. I will also hack into whatever system the government uses and tell them there is a bomb."

"But it’s dangerous," Nova said as she looked at her in the back.

Vera had a resolute face. "That is the least I could do to help people. Besides, if it does turn out so that you can’t stop the bomb, you’ll be forced to evacuate. You can’t run all the way out on foot. You’ll need a getaway driver."

Stanley looked back in surprise. He had never heard Vera talk this way.

"Thanks," he said. "We definitely will need all the help we can get."

"Alright then," Nova said and looked at the watch. "We should arrive at the plaza by 11. Since the bomb explodes on 1, we’ll have 2 hours to find it, or evacuate the city."

"How do we make them believe though?" Vera asked.

Stanley couldn’t come up with an answer.

Nova thought about something. "I have an idea."

At 11:05, they arrived outside the plaza. Stanley, Fred, and Nova walked out of it, leaving Sol in the car tied up with Vera working to hack into any and all systems in the city.

"It’s emptier than I remember," Stanley said, looking around the outside of the plaza. There were no holograms welcoming anyone and all they could see was a random guy that laid a long strip of something along the side of the plaza, going outward.

Nova looked at the young man and didn’t recognize him. She shook her head at Stanley and they entered, making their way to the kitchen.

"What’s going on? Why is no one here?" Nova asked when they arrived. They knew there would be no cooks here, but neither was Garren.

"Maybe they are some—" Fred quickly brought out his gun and pointed at someone in the distance. The two of them looked at where he was pointing the gun and saw a man with a wide look on his face.

"Princess?" he called out. "You are here."

The man felt a strong gust of air along with a loud bang push him backward as he fell on his butt. He was about to move when a glowing sword arrived on his neck and stopped there.

"Don’t make any quick motions," Stanley’s cold voice drifted into his ear from behind. "Or I will kill you."

The man did nothing.

Nova slowly walked toward him. She recognized the man, but she didn’t know his name. She didn’t know the names of many.

"Where is my brother?" she asked.

"Master is here," the man quickly said. "Let me call him for you."

"No, take us there," Nova said.

As she spoke, Stanley took away the watch on the man’s wrist and found his phone in his pocket.

"I... I... I can’t take you to master," the man said. "He’s busy."

"I don’t care," Nova said, bringing out her multitude of metal threads to string around the man until the ends started poking him in the side. "You have 3 seconds to tell me where my brother is, or I will kill you."

"P-princess!" he panicked.

"1... 2... 3—"

"He’s in the parking lot!" the man shouted. "Below the plaza, he’s in the parking lot."

Stanley flicked the man on the chin and knocked him out.

"Let’s go."