Behind The Mask

Chapter 30: Stronger One

Today, it ends. Everything ends. The battle, the fighting, the lives of the villagers. Today... all wars finally end.

That being said... I can't help but feel concerned that everyone's already celebrating as if we've already won. In the Mother Porkship, spirits seem to be rather high, as all my troops are discussing what they intent to do after this.

Though they certainly deserve a break, I worry this will affect their work. After hearing some of them talk about going to Club Titiboo, I decide to intervene.

"While I appreciate all of your hard work, I will remind you all that our work is not done yet. I still expect nothing but the best from you all. You will all have ample time to celebrate after the job is finished, I assure you that. Back to work." Everyone grumbles, but returns to their posts.

"How far are we to the Needle anyway? Sooner we pull it, the sooner we're done." The Colonel asks.

One of the Pigmasks at the front gives an answer. "Literally a few minutes. Conditions seem good. I'd say nothing can stop us, but you said that as well with the last Needle, ma'am, so I'm not gonna try our luck."

She laughs in good nature, before turning to me. "You sure this is where it is, Commander?"

"It has to be here. The presence of such an important looking and ancient temple, combined with a Magypsy house nearby? I feel completely confident in saying that this is where the Needle will be."

The tracking devices I had placed on the villagers proved to be very useful, for we saw where they went after Tanetane Island. First, they travelled back across the sea... somehow. You can't just swim across an ocean — it's an ocean! And again, they had no flying contraption on them, so that possibility is out as well. I imagine they found some ridiculous means, like... an octopus.

They then returned to their hometown — according to reports I've gotten, Tazmily Village has become barren and empty. Most of the villagers have relocated to New Pork City by now. A fact which is pleasing to hear — this is exactly what we wanted, and finally it's happening. There's only a few stragglers left, including those four.

However, where things get interesting is the path they took next — they traveled through the forest, and then up the mountains. Not Drago Plateau though, a different set of mountains — Argrilla Pass. Immediately, I requested for the Pigmasks in Tazmily to scout these mountains and inform us of anything they found, and they happened to find a temple, along with a Magypsy's house at the top.

Chupichupyoi Temple. A very strange and difficult to pronounce name for a place. That's where we're going and it's obvious that's where they're heading too. The plan is very simple: beat them to the Needle, pull it, then ambush and eliminate them when they arrive. With that, not only will we have secured victory, but they will be dead.

We've spent time preparing this ambush — unlike Fassad, I don't intend to hold back... though that's a matter which still confounds me.

Why didn't Fassad make use of the full extent of his abilities? Why didn't he use his PSI?

I've concluded he wasn't trying to hold back — his anger and rage proves his intent was to kill them. He went into that battle with every intention to walk away with those villagers dead.

Yet, he held back his PSI. It makes no sense.

Perhaps... perhaps I'm looking at it from the wrong angle. I'm trying to answer the question of why Fassad wouldn't try to kill them... but what if Fassad was holding back his PSI for a specific reason? Fassad held back his PSI because he didn't want them to see it... to hide the existence of PSI from them?