Kana teleported to the top of the long staircase leading up to the Cathedral of Cordis. Her magnificent dress lay in tatters.
"That was the same boy... He'll pay for destroying my palace," she muttered to herself. "I lost my Android too, but I still have Project Despair."
She touched the fabric of her gown with two fingers and it folded back into place, as good as new.
"How convenient!"
She pushed open the cathedral's heavy doors without knocking and stepped inside. Waiting for her were the two girls who had served as the General's bodyguards since before she became Governor.
"Yuki, Aria—long time," Kana greeted. The two looked at her with cold, unreadable faces.
"The General is waiting for you on the first floor," said Yuki. "This way." The older sister led the way while the younger trailed a few paces behind Kana.
The thirteen great statues that represented the members of the old Aegir still stood in the center of the ground floor. In the middle was the statue of old Hono, the former Number One and, according to some rumors, the creator of the Espers.
Kana studied their stone faces carefully but didn't recognize all of them. Some had been killed; others, like Kyorano, had created the Libertas. Number Seven, General Ryser, was carved with his real face—before he took on the appearance of a little girl. The General wasn't so bad back then, she thought. Yuki and Aria said nothing.
The three of them climbed the stairs to the upper floors. The sisters opened the door to the first floor and stepped aside.
Just as the thirteen members of Aegir symbolized the elements the Espers could command, the first–floor hall was decorated for the element of fire.
"Aren't you coming in?" Kana asked.
"The General wants to speak with you alone," Yuki replied.
When Kana entered the vast hall she suddenly realized her legs were trembling with fear.
"Welcome, Kana," said the girl standing in the center of the room. She wore a long black tunic that left her bare feet exposed. Her long, straight blond hair fell past her shoulders. In some way the General had halted his bodily growth, trapping himself in that child's form for years.
Kana looked down. "General, I—"
He silenced her with a raised hand.
From the moment she had arrived she had known the General had summoned her specifically because of the secret project only the two of them knew about, but now, with Esios on the verge of falling, she began to fear for her life.
Before the General could speak, she threw herself at his feet. "Please, General, give me one last chance. I'll wipe out those Libertas Espers for good and take back Esios..."
"It doesn't matter," he said.
Kana froze.
He turned to the other side and began to admire the panels that portrayed Hono wreathed in flames. Even though the members of the old Aegir had been enemies of the Kingdom, the General had refused to erase their traces from the Cathedral.
"You can relax. I don't care about your latest failure."
Kana remained frozen on the floor.
"One of the Espers who attacked you is the same one who killed Raxis," he continued.
"Yes, I recognized him," she answered, full of shame.
"That boy has been giving our soldiers—and even the Governors—a lot of trouble lately. Nomurath claims to have seen him fighting Lionhart, and Yuki told me she saw him when I sent her to eliminate Garga and Gorga. All coincidences?"
Kana didn't know what to say; she'd never paid much attention to her enemies so long as she could eliminate them. "No doubt his strength has grown a lot since he killed Raxis," she admitted.
"Exactly," the General confirmed. "He appears to be from Reeda, a small village at the far eastern edge of Harthland, on the kingdom's border."
Kana was losing the thread of the conversation. More than the boy's origins, she wanted to know what her punishment would be.
"Raxis killed his parents, and he took his revenge," the General continued without turning to look at her. "But what I discovered is that those were not his real parents." He paused briefly, then turned, and Kana found herself looking into his black eyes again. "Rumor says his adoptive family weren't from those parts. I believe that man was Soshiro, Hono's lieutenant."
Those words seized Kana's full attention. Could that boy be connected to the old Aegir leader? That would explain the rapid growth of his powers.
"Digging through the Cathedral archives, I found that Soshiro never returned from his last mission—we all believed him dead long before I rose to power. But what if he never died? What if he stayed hidden in that little village with his wife and that child?"
"The boy… who were his real parents?" Kana asked.
"Going deeper, I found he had a sister, but there was nothing else about her—every record in the archives had been deleted or destroyed. If Hono kept these records in the Cathedral, it means this boy is hiding something important, and the same goes for his sister, if she's still alive. Ironically, I thought I knew everything about the Espers back then. I was wrong. Only after Hono's death did I learn the truth. Maybe I should attack the Legion and force them to tell me."
"The Legion? I've never heard of them… what are they?" Kana asked.
"A sizable independent group of elite soldiers, commanded by fifteen of Hono's most loyal. They were charged with guarding the secret of the Espers' origin from any curious eyes. They don't care about this war; they protect something—something I want at any cost. Among the commanders are Hono's brother and his daughter. Attacking them now, with the war against the Libertas ongoing, would be madness. We can't underestimate them. They're formidable opponents—some as strong as I am."
The General reached the far end of the room and stroked the wall where a map of Anima had been painted; seven large X's were marked on it, each circled—except the one at the eastern edge of Harthland.
He opened his hand and toyed with six small colored objects. By their shapes, they looked like gemstones.
"Kana, you'll remain here at the Cathedral for now. The other Governors will arrive soon with their troops. You'll wait here for my return. I feel like going to speak with Yuu." A smile touched the General's lips.
"But Project Despair?" Kana asked.
"I don't care anymore. I have other matters to attend to," he said curtly. "You can keep them locked in that imaginary world of yours, or finish them and use them however you please."
Kana wanted to call him a child who discarded an old toy for a new one, but even the thought frightened her.
After all the funds and labor it had taken, was she supposed to abandon Project Despair? The General was losing his mind—his obsession with that boy was driving him paranoid—but she refused to give up this chance. She would keep working on it alone.
"Now I'll make my move, Hono. Let's see how your successors react."
The General left the hall laughing, and Kana was left alone.