Phantom didn't expect Aaron to tell her the truth directly when she threw out this question.
The two sides had just met. For the other party to be completely honest with her at a time like this...
As an ace spy with plenty of self-awareness, Phantom knew her limits.
Even a woman like Rita, who combined beauty and etiquette, failed to gain any advantage when facing Aaron. How could a woman like Phantom, whose appearance was far inferior to Rita's, make him tell her everything immediately?
But no matter what, taking action never hurt.
After throwing out this question, whether the other party told the truth or lied, she could speculate based on the information revealed in his words.
Whether she could deduce useful intelligence was something she should consider later.
But before that, action must be taken. Only with a 'cause' can there be an 'effect.'
"Hmm... needs. If I have to say, there seems to be only one."
"Screw over the Honkai. That's about it."
Screw over the Honkai?
Isn't that the same goal as our Schicksal?—Phantom wanted to say this.
But considering the other party's incredibly distrustful attitude toward Otto, Phantom felt she needed to carefully consider what to say next.
The vast majority of people in Schicksal actually had the same goal as the man before her.
Regardless of good or evil, everyone was human.
And as humans, after knowing about the phenomenon of [Honkai], basically everyone only wanted to kill the Honkai.
Small-scale Honkai created Zombies and Honkai Beasts; large-scale Honkai created Herrschers.
And these combat assets of the [Honkai] side were harmful to everyone in the human faction.
Schicksal members whose families were still alive worried these Honkai-side assets would harm their families.
And Schicksal members whose families were no longer alive...
Many of these Schicksal members were taken in by Schicksal's rescue agencies after their families died in the Honkai, and joined Schicksal after passing assessments.
There were large numbers of such members in the Valkyrie squads. They almost didn't care about the fact that artificial Stigmata and Honkai energy erosion would shorten their lifespans.
For this group of people who had everything taken away by the Honkai, most only had one thought left in their hearts.
Screw over the Honkai.
However, an organization's course of action depended less on the members' thoughts and more on what their boss thought.
Schicksal's boss, [Overseer] Otto Apocalypse, stated both externally and internally that he also prepared to kill the Honkai.
But the problem lay in... Overseer Otto's credibility...
Well, he didn't tell many lies.
But he did plenty of things where he only told half the truth.
And considering the matter of the Gem of Serenity...
Schicksal members who didn't know the specifics would only think Dr. Magi had a hole in his brain, running off with the gem to join hands with Anti-Entropy, resulting in him dying out there and losing the gem.
But Schicksal members who knew a little about the artificial Herrscher project knew how high Otto's regard for Herrscher Cores was.
Although Dr. Magi was one of the few scientists in Schicksal who could speak before Overseer Otto and held a decent status within Schicksal, no matter how high his status, he couldn't possibly touch the gem.
Unless someone helped him, and this person had to have extremely high status...
Fine, to put it bluntly, unless Overseer Otto tacitly permitted it, how could Dr. Magi, with skills worse than an average person, run that far with the gem?
In this matter, Schicksal seemed to be the victim. But as long as the Herrscher of Death was really created by Cocolia, and Schicksal captured the Herrscher of Death in time, the label of disregarding human life would only be pinned on Anti-Entropy's head by Lord Overseer.
And the actual situation was indeed so.
Anti-Entropy won the honor of [Selling Out Teammates] in this incident, and their reputation was indeed worse than before.
But the Gem of Serenity didn't create a Herrscher of Death; instead, it was taken away.
If not for this man intercepting it, the Herrscher of Death might really have been born in Singapore, and coincidentally blown up ninety-nine percent of the unlucky civilians there.
From this point of view, his line about screwing over the Honkai might be serious.
Interrupting a Fourth Honkai Eruption that should have erupted, indirectly saving millions of Singaporeans.
Considering the impact on the world economy after Singapore went poof, just this action of his could be considered an immense merit.
...What the hell, could he really be telling the truth right upon meeting?
Is this young lad that straightforward?
Realizing the other party actually wasn't playing mind games with her, Phantom felt awkward instead.
She had thought of several ways to fish for words and intelligence, but the result was the other party didn't plan to hide anything at all.
And this goal not only matched his actions, but at least for the current stage, Phantom couldn't find a single fault with it.
"Also, for you two aspirants fighting the Honkai, I personally don't mind making friends with you. Of course, there is a prerequisite."
"If you two don't hinder my actions, I will naturally treat you as friends who can be communicated with. It's just regrettable that this seems to be a little difficult for you two."
"For example, I want to leave here now. Can you two make the Schicksal Mechs and Valkyries outside not pounce on me to stop me here?"
Listening to Aaron's words, Phantom didn't hear a shred of threat in them.
And Aaron, sucking on a lollipop at this moment, not only didn't show a trace of killing intent but gave her a comical feeling because of that lollipop.
However, Rita, beside Phantom, suddenly felt an unconscious desire to step back after hearing Aaron's words.
Although Phantom was an A-rank Valkyrie, she didn't rely on combat power, but on that exquisite disguise and espionage technique.
As one of Schicksal's highest-level combatants, Rita finally confirmed it at this moment.
Less than twelve hours after she parted ways with Aaron, Aaron...
Had undoubtedly become much stronger.
Moreover, the Aaron from before, during his communication with her, had cautiousness mixed with a little unease in the emotions in his eyes.
But now, there was no unease or confusion in this man's eyes.
Compared to the Aaron of twelve hours ago, the current Aaron was not only stronger in power, but even his state of mind had become more confident.
If Rita previously had the thought of calculating 'are these troops enough to suppress Aaron,' now she would no longer have such foolish thoughts.
We can't win.
Even if Lady Durandal used the power of the bubble universe and Bright Knight: Excelsis right now, she couldn't beat this man.
If Lady Theresa was added... No, after Lady Durandal obtained those powerful powers, she hadn't fought in coordination with Lady Theresa many times.
Even if both sides had top-tier power, without training, two people with zero synergy couldn't perfectly exert their strength when facing a top-tier powerhouse.
As for the possibility that 'Aaron is bluffing hard, actually his strength hasn't improved at all,' Rita couldn't even be bothered to consider it.
Although she was humble toward people, she possessed combat power at the forefront of Schicksal.
In battle, underestimating one's own strength excessively was essentially no different from underestimating the opponent's strength excessively; both were irresponsible acts toward oneself and teammates.
And Rita, who knew her own strength very well, could naturally confirm Aaron had become much stronger by comparing her strength against the pressure he gave her now.
Her sudden desire to step back was actually because the invisible pressure emitted by Aaron made her uncontrollably produce this thought.
And the reason Phantom didn't realize this was entirely because Aaron didn't target her.
After all, the strength gap between Aaron and Phantom was simply too great. Rita estimated slightly and found that if Aaron just took out the pressure targeting Rita and aimed it at Phantom, the other party might faint on the spot in this meeting place.
Looking at it this way, Mr. Aaron is still quite gentle.
For such a gentle Mr. Aaron to say such hair-raising words...
What exactly did Overseer Otto do to him to make Mr. Aaron have such big objections and resentment toward Overseer Otto? Sigh.
"...Mr. Aaron worries too much. With your combat power, just us colleagues certainly cannot stop you."
At this moment, after sorting out her inner emotions, Rita immediately curtsied slightly to Aaron and said.
"And this one has also noticed that you have no intention of attacking us. I think, given that you dislike Overseer Otto, it is inevitable for you to have prejudices against us Schicksal members."
"But for the majority of Schicksal members, our goal is also to 'screw over the Honkai.' Please do not have misunderstandings about us on this point."
"Ah, everyone is great. But Rossweisse, I recall I should have said it."
"Even if the members within an organization work hard and are worthy of respect, as long as the person at the helm doesn't intend to let the organization move in the correct direction, this organization isn't worthy of my trust."
"This is the second time I've said this sentence today. I hope you can understand why I say this."
"As for Miss Phantom, you are one of the aces of the Intelligence Department, so naturally, you know better why I say this. When Mr. Otto is still Schicksal's boss, what direction is Schicksal moving in exactly..."
"Hah, if I say any more, you two might be in danger. Let's stop this topic here."
Although Aaron's words were a bit riddling, Rita and Phantom were actually quite grateful that he stopped there.
To Otto, the two of them were indeed handy tools, but the problem was—tools weren't things Otto couldn't discard.
They indeed knew some secret intelligence, but once they touched upon intelligence that Otto deemed 'anyone who knows must die,' Otto absolutely wouldn't spare them on account of their merits.
At that time, taking care of their families slightly after killing them would be considered the utmost benevolence.
The two didn't fear sacrifice, but they certainly didn't want to die for such unclear reasons.
They were warriors fighting the Honkai after all.
Dying on the battlefield against the Honkai counts as dying in the right place, but dying at the hands of one's own boss would be a very dark joke.
Now Phantom finally knew why Rita had displayed an attitude of 'wanting to speak but not daring to say much' earlier.
This man should essentially be a very good person, but he was born incompatible with Overseer Otto.
This was normal, but in that case—their mission couldn't be completed.
Get the Divine Key and Gem back at all costs—this was the mission Overseer Otto gave them.
But the problem was, they couldn't solve the other party's needs for the time being, and couldn't beat the other party.
Soft tactics didn't work, hard tactics worked even less. If they still wanted to court death and be great swindlers to deceive the other party at a time like this...
Uh, under the circumstances where the other party was guarding against their side from the start, telling lies to try and deceive him would only enrage him once he detected it.
And regrettably, they didn't know where Aaron got so much intelligence, but he seemed to know some secrets inside Schicksal like the back of his hand.
There was definitely a mole on their own side. With the mole's cooperation, the probability of Phantom hoodwinking the other party into handing over the gem dropped even further.
Of course, if she had to say, Phantom had actually thought of a condition the other party might accept.
But this condition... Overseer Otto said at all costs, but this condition was too big. She felt Overseer Otto's heart probably couldn't take it either.
And if Overseer Otto felt the price was too high then, she would definitely be the scapegoat. If Aaron discovered Schicksal couldn't fulfill the promise, his anger would likely be directed at her too.
Phantom, caught between a rock and a hard place with a high probability of being driven to death, saw the odds were too high.
"Hmm, this is..."
At this moment, seeing the name displayed on the communication terminal, Phantom froze for a split second before immediately opening the terminal.
"Phantom, I heard the exchange between you and Mr. Aaron. This mission is too difficult for you. Let me chat with him directly."
After saying this, Otto paid no more attention to Phantom and spoke directly to Aaron through the communication terminal.
"Mr. Aaron—it should be fine for me to address you this way, right?"
"Speak if you have something to say—although I won't believe a single word you say, I still want to hear how Mr. Apocalypse intends to hoodwink me."
Hearing the other party's words, Otto knew he couldn't do without using strong medicine.
"It is normal for Your Excellency not to trust me. If you don't want to hand over the Gem of Serenity and the Key of the Void, I won't force it."
"After all, if I really command my subordinates to forcibly fight you, presumably it would only increase casualties in vain."
"Although I'm not exactly a good person, I personally still don't want to see such things."