Chapter 1338 Exposure Author's Note: Unedited Chapter --------- "...When I sent my men to the crash site that night... Nothing except an empty large crater could be found at the site. After lots of investigation none of the natives around knew anything except for the fact that only one man was said to be there when it happened... You," "And now you want me to tell you everything that happened. There are two issues with that," Old Man Shin held his chin with a reminiscent look. "First, it isn't what you think it is..." Old Man Shin paused after speaking. "What is the second?" Falkorn inquired. "I'll tell you after narrating a little backstory so you can understand," Old Man Shin said with a smile. "Six months ago..." ... "Planet Vespa is in view but with a lot of functions damaged on the ship its going to crash into it..." Within a massive sphere shaped spacecraft with a large silver 'X' design on it, a man with dirty blonde hair and bushy beards could be spotted. He stood in the control room with intense eyes while glaring at the yellow and blue colored planet that seemed to be growing closer in view. ("Finished computing and compressing 99% of your essence into the seed... make sure you plant it the moment you land,") A feminine voice resounded loudly within the control room. "You won't be active till I regain my essence and claim the ancient hourglass right?" The dirty blonde haired man with bushy beards question. ("Yeah, you will also lose majority of your abilities so when you assume a different form, prepare to be stuck with it till you get your essence back,") From outside, the spacecraft had caught on fire since they had just broken through the first layer of the planet's atmosphere. ---sss "What I've been spending time investigating... and the reason I got here late today," Gustav last sentence hinted at the rift that appeared above the arena. Everyone was curious about what happened especially since Gustav couldn't be found on the planet. They were even more curious now since they could see that it was related to Indulus Prime. "I'll tell you guys all about it when I get back," Gustav said to them before ascending into the air. Thoooommmm~ He dissapeared into the distance in the next moment, leaving everyone else to deal with the press and reporters ready to question the winners of today's challenge. As expected, earth representatives and other planets representatives who were all under the red color had been surrounded by reporters and cameras. -"How do you feel after winning!? -"Did you know that Captain Crimson was capable of stealing supernatural abilities? -"Is this performance to be expected at the final challenge?" -"What are earth chances ofwinning IYSOP?" The reporters threw out questions in quick successions. ... Handler One didn't address the arena after the challenge ended unlike how it would usually be today. Everyone felt this must be due to the fact that the next challenge would also be the final challenge. Maybe the Handlers were choosing to not say anything for now to increase the suspense. The spectators on and outside of planet Ozious as well as the participants were extremely excited for what is to come. IYSOP had began with nearly three thousand planets but would be ending with only fifty. One thousand participants representing fifty different planets would be participating in the final challenge that would determine the champion of this IYSOP edition. Nightfall soon arrived and Gustav sat in the main room of the earth's accomodation quarters with the others. Everyone sat still and stared at him with attentive expressions. "So... you were gone for the entire night because you infiltrated Indulus Prime accomodation area?" E.E asked with a look of dumbfoundmemt. "Yes," Gustav answered. "Why did you do that?" Matilda inquired from the side. "You did mention that it was the reason you got to the challenge late..." Angy said with an expression of curiosity. "Indeed... let me tell you guys about how this all started," Gustav went on to narrate how he started suspecting that Indulus Prime members were up to no good since Falco's situation began. He explained that he had been on them for over a month and spent a lot of nights out spying on them. Of course he made sure they were never aware of this. "The Indulus Prime spectators are all puppets... they're not real living beings," Gustav revealed. "What? How is that possible?" Fildhor asked with a look of disbelief. "We'll get to how they pulled that off..." Gustav responded before resuming his narration. He went on to mention how he suspected they might also be linked to Falco due to the similar dark abilities and also suspected that they had ulterior motives since they weren't participating in IYSOP to win. He finally got to the part where after weeks of planning and getting a few tips from Endric about their movement, he infiltrated their accommodation area. Their accomodation area happened to be a dark dimension that existed outside of Planet Ozious which was also why no one was able to sense his presence on the planet. "The darkness eats at your sense of direction and is also a space that repels living creatures. It expands to the wish of the owner who happens to be Captain Irand... or should I say Vikrush Insa," Gustav's narration would occasionally cause their faced to twitch in disbelief and discumbobulation. "It turns out that Falco is some sort of successor in where they originally come from..." Gustav had a troubled look upon getting to this part. "Successor?" "Successor of what?" Aildris and E.E questioned at the same time. "I know this is going to be hard to believe but Falco is not from here..." Gustav revealed. "Not from here? Is he an alien?" "How does he have a bloodline then?" Matilda and Angy inquired in successions. He was no doubt born on earthor at least I think he was... However, his true identity is something different. He is not an alien but hr is not of earth either. He is to succeed a person Captain Irand and the others refer to as The Lord..." Gustav gave a brief explanation. "I don't understand... how can he not be an alien if he is not from here?" E.E asked once again. "I can't explain it either... I didn't get more information. All I know is, Captain Irand is from wherever Falco true origins with the crown lies... I heard them speak about taking him back after achieving their true objective for sending Captain Irand here. They are aware of what he is currently experiencing," Gustav voiced lengthily. "If Falco isn't their true objective, then what is?" Aildris questioned with a calm but curious tone. "Me," Gustav revealed. "Huh?" "Why would they be after you?" Angy questioned with a worried tone. "Because I am the Outworldly. They are after the Outworldly and once they found out it was me, they began to make preparations according to their original plans," Gustav answered. "Outworldly? What the hell is that?" E.E face lit up with confusion. "All I can say about that is, it's some kind of title which threatens their existence..." Gustav replied. "So they sent them here to get rid of you?" Aildris asked. "Something like that... also its not a them, its a single person," Gustav pointed out. "What do you mean?" Matilda eyebrows furrowed. "Indulus Prime members consist of just a single person... Captain Irand," The others had never looked so confused before. Hearing Gustav say this made no sense to them until his next sentence. "All other nineteen Indulus Prime participants are clones of Captain Irand," "What!?" "That is insane!" "I think my brain is falling apart cos I can't wrap my damn head around this," Angy, Matilda and E.E voiced one after the other. Gustav went on to narrate how he discovered this last night since he took the form of one of the clones without realising it was a clone. The one known as Prime Vessel Ji had given it away. He was uncovered very quickly even though he did manage to get some information. The group now understood that they didn't know Gustav was in their midst at first and even after figuring out that there was an infiltration, they still had no idea it was Gustav due to his shape-shifting. Gustav got to the part where he struggled to escape the dark dimension after getting discovered and how he stole memories from one of the clones which in turn helped him in discovering more about their plans. "The real Indulus Prime species were wiped out," Gustav revealed. "They wiped ouf the whole planet just so they could put puppets in place and successfully participate in IYSOP to get to me. The plan was to open a small gateway to their dimension that would suck out my essence as the outworldly so I would no longer be a threat to them. They needed to identify first before they could put their plans in place," Gustav went on to mention the symbols they had drawn all across the arena. The group was still in shock as to how this whole thing was plotted under the nose of the alliance and almost successfully orchestrated. These people had really come close to pulling it off. If Gustav was unable to find his way out of that dimension, who knows what would have happened. "So who exactly are they?" Angy asked. "They call themselves vessels... Captain Irand whose real name is Vikrush Insa answers to someone known as Prime Vessel Ji. There must be an hierarchy of sorts where they all answer to the one they call The Lord... who might also be Falco's true father. According to the memories that person they call The Lord has somehow tampered with this dimension..." Gustav had a look of contemplation as he voiced out. Everything wasn't clear to him either but one thing he knew was, Only the system and Husarius were aware of him being the outworldly. For beings from another dimension to be aware of that term, it could only mean one thing... they were linked to whatever was coming. Maybe it had to do with their Lord. 'I have to question them personally,' Gustav decided. ("Don't... the more you know, the faster it approaches,") The system voiced internally. 'What? So I was right... they are linked to it... why didn't you tell me?' Gustav questioned internally. ("You were supposed to discover it yourself... hence the two weeks quest,") The system responded. Gustav recalled the quest which he did completed successfully but hadn't checked his rewards yet. ("That is as much information as you are supposed to know... for now,") The system added. 'No... I want to know more like why Falco is linked to them...' ("Don't do anything stupid,")