Naley trembled in hesitation. "Do I really have to make a choice?"
"No one is going to make it for you, Naley. Do you want to do it or not?" Aldred asked.
Victor let out a small laugh. "I didn't know that you love me this much, daughter. I am glad that I didn't completely remove my humanity. If not for that, I wouldn't know how to feel to be loved."
"Dad..." Naley approached him. Even though Victor looked like a terrifying terminator right now, to Naley, he was her harmless, loving, and caring father.
Anyone would tremble when hearing his name, not to mention seeing him person. His existence was shrouded with mystery and he achieved it by killing anyone that caught a glimpse of him.
Every criminals knew they would face certain death if they met him.
That was why he was so feared. But Naley had never felt fear towards her father. Even though Victor had destroyed her secret base, he had made precise calculation that it wouldn't harm her in anyway.
And Naley knew that.
"Let me help you to decide." Victor stabbed his own chest with his metallic hand, and then pulled some sort of small, glowing reactor.
"Dad, NO!"
"Take my heart. It's the only thing that I can give you. Use my heart as your paint." The light in his eyes flickered a couple of times before they died.
"DAD!"
Naley hugged her father. His arm still reaching out with the glowing reactor.
As she cried in tears, Aldred and Stella looked eye to eye. Zaxary took a step back, afraid of ruining the moment. Barne did the same thing.
Sofiel also looked at the father and daughter in tears before she began to sing a beautiful song:
"I need someone to keep me sane."
"Pull me from hell, bring me back again. You're the only reason I live."
"I love you, baby. You fill my empty soul."
"I love you, baby. You keep my heart and soul."
Her voice filled the entire room and affected everyone, even Aldred and Stella.
Naley cried out her heart and for some reason Aldred began to see a warm smile on Victor's still face. It was a weird feeling, but he now see through her perspective.
She cried and cried and no one said a thing. Aldred couldn't imagine the feeling of losing his father. He loved his father, mother, and sister too much. Losing any of them was painful enough.
Losing his wives would do the same thing to him. He loved them with all of his heart, and he had shared a lot of moments with them together.
Unforgettable moments.
Full of adventures, colors, laughter, and excitement.
Aldred wondered if Naley experienced the same thing with her father.
His guess was almost correct. Ever since she was born, Victor brought her to all kinds of places and see a lot of things ordinary people couldn't even imagine.
Her live was so full of adventure, love, colors and excitement. She had never lacked love because her father had given everything he had to her.
Which was why when she looked at the state of Duria, she rebelled against her own father, her source of love and colors.
Because she believed that they too deserved to see the things she saw. A world full of colors and excitement.
Victor knew this which was why he said: 'Use my heart as your paint.'
It was Naley's dream to spread the color she had seen to everyone.
She eventually stood up, wiping the tears in her eyes and grabbed the 'heart'.
Right after she did that, Victor's body crumbled into dust.
Naley intently looked at the heart. After a few minutes, she said: "All the knowledge and blueprints my father has is in here. Do you want me to copy them?"
"You can take your time," Aldred said. "I am not in a hurry."
Naley nodded, feeling thankful that Aldred did not hurry her. She wanted to spend some time alone with his father's heart.
Stella noticed that and whispered to Aldred.
"We will be going out to buy some food now. Are you guys all coming?"
"Yeah, yeah, sure."
They all agreed since Aldred had winked at them. So they teleported out of the secret lab, leaving Naley by herself.
Aldred, Stella, Barne, Zaxary, and Sofiel appeared on the street of a particular city in Duria.
They, of course, did not go out for food, but simply to let Naley some time alone to organize her thoughts.
But now that they go out, they might as well grab some food and drinks for real. They visited a nearby shop and ordered.
They chatted together about some things that wasn't really related to what happened the last few days.
If anyone listened to their conversation, they wouldn't know that they were in the presence of an Emperor, a thousand year old Star Magician, a genius weapon engineer, the kid who can control time, and Sofiel the Seraphim Singer (She was in disguise).
No one could have guessed that the five of them could shook the entire nation with their capabilities.
But for now, they were just customers enjoying their time in a cafe.
Stella casted a subtle spell around them, preventing any vital information to leak out. Only then she spoke about their situation.
"So what are we going to do next?"
"I want Duria to open their country and make trade with Ceraisian Empire," Aldred said. "Now that Victor is dead, his army has retreated and Selia seems to have the same intention."
"Who is in control now that Victor is gone?" Stella asked.
"That would be his daughter," Barne said. "She now held Victor's heart. With her skills and my capabilities, we could be powerful enough to prevent chaos in this nation."
"Me too. I want too contribute," Zaxary said.
"Me as well," Sofiel followed.
Aldred smiled. "You all have nothing to worry about. I believe Victor still has a lot of robots left, and knowing Naley, she could probably control all of those robots. And more importantly, no one would dare to create chaos because I will cleanse them for you."
"So the Ceraisian Empire will become a close ally to Duria?" Barne asked.
"Of course, why not. I want technologies in my nation as well. And, I can export magic knowledge to your nation. It's a win-win situation."
"What about Selia?" Barne asked. "I heard they are quite powerful."
"Don't worry about that."
Stella giggled. Only Aldred could be calm when a powerful nation attacked his Empire. He believed he was already the strongest in this continent, so he wasn't worried.
"The first step is to solidify your rule. Let everyone in the underworld know who the boss is, and do it in a spectacular way."
"How are we going to do that?" Zaxary asked.
"Who's the biggest and baddest organization in the underworld currently?"
"That would be the Cult Mechanicum," Zaxary replied.
"Then we destroy them. Swiftly with lightning speed. It will be so fast and so sudden that everyone would be shocked and couldn't react to it.
Zaxary smiled. "They actually have been chasing me for a few years now. I would be glad if you can destroy them."
