Chapter 185: The Admiral Is Dying

"Three days?"

Ares repeated the words as though they were absurd, because he had never expected this.

When he arrived, he had been thinking only about bringing the pod back, so he hadn’t considered that Aisha might refuse, much less that she would admit to lending it to someone for money.

For the first time, the image he had formed of her changed. Before, he had thought she was a quiet and somewhat mysterious young Guide whom Zeke had taken an unusual interest in.

Ares could not shake the feeling that something about her explanation was incomplete. He had dealt with people who tried to conceal their intentions, and her calmness made him suspicious.

But now, standing in front of him while refusing to return an essential piece of equipment during the Admiral’s crisis, she suddenly looked very different.

Ares found himself staring at her with a strange mixture of disappointment and confusion, because surely she knew what condition Zeke was in and surely she had seen the news. How could she hear that the Admiral had suffered major miasmic corruption and still decide that money was more important than returning the pod?

"Aisha," Ares said, his voice lower now, "you know what that equipment is for."

"I know."

"And you know the Admiral is currently in danger."

"I know that too," Aisha replied, the words coming out almost mechanically. There were no other words she could think of that would better explain the situation to them. She could only admit that she knew how terrible the situation was right now.

The calmness of her response only made Ares’s expression darker because he hadn’t expected her to sound so composed and indifferent.

One of the two Sentinels behind him finally lost patience.

"If you know all of that, how can you still refuse to return it?" he demanded, his face tightening with frustration. "The Admiral could lose control of his spiritual energy before the corruption is contained."

Aisha looked at him.

She could see the anger in his face, but instead of responding to it, she turned her attention back to Ares.

"How much do you think the pod will actually help him?"

That question stopped him.

Ares stared at her in slight surprise.

Aisha’s expression remained serious as she asked, "You just told me you need it to suppress the miasma. It doesn’t purify the corruption, does it?"

Ares’s jaw tightened.

"No," he admitted.

"Then a Guide capable of purifying the miasma would be far more useful," Aisha said.

For a moment, Ares simply looked at her.

Then something close to disbelief crossed his face as he asked, "Do you think we didn’t think of that?"

His voice wasn’t loud, but it made the frustration within him even more pronounced.

Ares had been holding himself together since leaving the medical division, but the memory of the past several hours remained too fresh, and the sight of Zeke lying unconscious, the dark corruption spreading beneath his skin, the unstable fluctuations in his psychic energy, and the frantic efforts of the Association’s medical staff all came rushing back into his mind at once.

"We did," he said, and there was no patience left in his voice. "The Chief Master and I have already done everything available to us. We used every piece of equipment in the Association that could help him, and we brought in high-ranking Guides who were available and asked them to attempt purification."

His fingers slowly curled against his palm.

"They couldn’t do anything."

Aisha’s expression shifted slightly as Ares continued, his eyes hardening with the memory. "The moment they sensed the amount of miasma in the Admiral’s body, most of them refused to get any closer. They said the corruption was too concentrated, and they were afraid that if they tried to purify it directly, the miasma would spread into their own bodies and corrupt them as well."

One of the Sentinels behind him clenched his fists.

Ares gave a bitter laugh that held no amusement. "They weren’t entirely wrong to be afraid because what we saw inside the Admiral wasn’t normal contamination anymore."

His eyes dropped briefly.

The worst image still remained the same.

Zeke in his unconscious state as his power was active on autopilot to protect him.

He, who had always remained calm even when facing death, was unable to suppress the violent corruption moving through his body. Yet, he fought fiercely against the remaining monster horde surrounding him like a tomb. No one should have been able to survive that.

Only he could.

But that made this even worse.

Ares wished he had been there instead and that he had been stronger than he currently was. Then Zeke wouldn’t have had to fight alone.

"We even contacted the Federation," Ares continued. "We asked whether they had any high-ranking Guides with the ability to handle the situation."

Aisha’s gaze sharpened.

"And?"

"They rejected the request."

The answer surprised her because she hadn’t expected that.

Ares noticed the change in her expression and nodded once. "Their response came quickly and justifiably. One of the Federation’s high-ranking Guides died inside the same contaminated zone where the Admiral was injured, so they don’t want to send another Guide into a situation they believe could result in the same outcome."

The first Sentinel let out a harsh breath through his nose.

"They’re out of their minds."

His voice carried genuine anger as he continued, "They know Sentinels exist to deal with monsters and contaminated zones, but the moment one of us is dying, they suddenly decide their lives are more important than ours?"

The second Sentinel’s expression was equally dark as he looked away and said, "They’ve forgotten what we are. We’re humans too, not disposable shields for Guides."

His jaw tightened as he continued, "It wasn’t enough that we have to fight monsters inside those zones while protecting them. Now, when one of our strongest Sentinels is dying, they don’t even want to get close."

Ares didn’t interrupt them.