Chapter 350: The Price of Death. [1/2]
It was great if you were the one who got ahead. But for the rest of us? It was the worst. Of course, there was the negative side of connections, the ones who got even worse treatment just because they were connected to someone.
You didn\'t even have to be linked to a person. In fact, this whole premise was the basis of why the world turned to shit. Hate a certain race and you were racist. Hate gays or the alphabet community and you would be called a misogynist or a sexist.
There were as many divisions as there were people. Most of the time it was done with good intentions. Like if I was proud to be an American, the stupid would see it as me hating everyone else.
Religion, political ideology, hell, even what you believed in economics or what movies you watched were the same Connections were so powerful that just being connected to an idea was enough to either build bridges or burn them.
Naturally, Hellsgate was not exempt.
"LIMITLESS! ARE YOUR WORDS EARLIER TRUE! IF SO, LET ME JOIN HELLSEND!"
The Reapers as a whole were pitiful as hell, but the Formless had it the worst. Roland shared that it did not happen by chance, that the Formless were trampled on on purpose. It was supposed to delay the apocalypse.
But that kind of thinking was stupid and short-sighted, sacrificing the many for the few would breed mistrust and malice. It was inevitable. If a king had no loyalty, who would stand by him?
If a ruler could abandon people simply because they were the few, then the many would know that if one day they "became" the few, the same thing would happen.
There were no stories of heroes who sacrificed people, even if they were only a few. However, there were many stories of those who fought, even if it was only for one person.
The Formless, who had been bullied all this time, had only two choices. Suffer in silence or rise up in revolt. The only question was time.
Fortunately for David and his fellow Revenants, I arrived before the Formless began to revolt. Otherwise, things would have gotten ugly.
I was fine leading the Formless, who didn\'t belong anywhere. But what would I do with those who were connected to the Manifested? When I didn\'t bother to turn around, Constance shouted again.
"LIMITLESS! WHY WON\'T YOU ANSWER?! YOU\'RE SUPPOSED TO BE THE SAVIOR OF THE FORMLESS, AREN\'T YOU! THEN FUCKING SAVE ME!!"
The reporter then tried to approach me; the guns aimed at the small woman were not enough to stop her. Liv lowered her 1887 shotgun and physically restrained Constance.
"Enough of your prattling, Wraith! If you want to be saved, ask your husband! You have a powerful Specter at your side, don\'t you?"
"Liv Ivaldi. Fallen Princess of the North. You came here looking for someone to save the North. How are you different from me? Why do you find salvation when I don\'t?"
"W-wha..."
As Liv grew confused, the sound of a loud slap echoed through the air. I turned to see Jo\'s hand outstretched across the reporter\'s cheek.
"Don\'t insult my sister, bitch. I am this close to giving you another hole to breathe through. Your husband is the only reason I haven\'t done it yet!"
"DO IT! THEN MAYBE HE WILL REMEMBER I EXIST!"
This was getting too much for me, I looked over and saw Bella waiting for my instructions. I gave her a nod and my South American lover moved.
"YOU KEEP GOING ON AND ON ABOUT MY AMAZING HUSBAN...Ughk!"
Bella pulled out what looked like a piece of chocolate and shoved it into Constance\'s mouth. She covered the reporter\'s mouth as Constance tried to fight back. Eventually, the reporter was forced to swallow the thing in her mouth.
"What you just ate is a frozen piece of my blood. Use my {Fate} {Connect} and direct it to me."
As Bella spoke to Constance, the Hellsend department heads were still kneeling on the ground. None of them were worried about the reporter as the Sirens were around me.
Lilly approached them and ordered them to prepare for the next round of battles.
"Everyone, the Sirens will prepare another horde like the last one. Phillip, delay answering the adventurers. Van, order Minerva\'s Wizards to analyze the floor with the most undead below floor 25.
"Cynthia, have the Ten Graves complete the collection by priority as we discussed. For everyone else, have your teams work through the mistakes from the last battle and rest. Everyone must replenish their energy with the food from Inari\'s kitchen. We will reconvene in one hour. Dismissed."
"Yes, Lady Ishtar!"
A few steps away, Patrick Steorra was prevented from joining in by Jo, Robyn and Liv.
"My dear ladies, I am willing to waive my share of today\'s battle if just one of you will grace me with a date."
"But you are icky! Who in their right mind would want you?" Jo said with a disgusted look on her face.
"You must be out of your mind, drongo. If I had a gun with two bullets and you, a zombie and a goblin were in front of me, I would shoot you twice! Fuck off, you cunt! I am Possum\'s woman. Nobody else\'s!"
"The fact that you would court someone else\'s harem shows your lack of tact. Demand your payment from Yvonne and begone!
"If you persist, my beloved will surely slay you for your frivolousness. As my sisters said, I would rather die in battle than be touched by you.
"..."
And they said, "The worst thing she could say is no." I couldn\'t get angry with that bastard. In fact, I was amazed. From my point of view, being insulted by my girls did more damage than any beating I could give.
Explore more adventures at m,v l\'e-m|p y r
Still, I had no idea what this bastard\'s {Fate} was, but I would bury him the moment he got frisky. Jas and Aki left my side and surrounded Constance with Bella. None of them underestimated her.
The main problem at the moment was that I had no idea what was going on with Constance. Bella understood that I wanted privacy. It was bad manners to gossip about someone else\'s marital problems in public.
{Connect} would allow us to discuss without words. I tried to look around to see if there was anyone else I didn\'t know. {Gather} had made me extremely good with faces, so even the Adventurer parties were already familiar.
\'Why on earth would this woman not have a single guard with her? Is she really Zach\'s wife? What the hell is going on?\'
[Honey, we are ready. Connect to this link]
[Limitless connected, welcome to meeting room 1!]
[Members online: Minerva (Admin), Satis, Inari, IlovetheNightmare23]
"... How brain-less can this woman be?"
[Minerva: So tell me, why do you want to join our group? Why come to us for help? We are weaker than the Nightmare. Even if we took you in, it would only put us at odds with him. Frankly, no matter what your {Fate} is, you are not worth antagonizing him over.]
[Satis: Does your {Fate} have something to do with why you know Liv\'s background? Or did you pay an information broker? Her records should be under a gag order. Who gave you this information?]
[Inari: Faye-san, do you feel something pressing against your spine? This is a Ruger MK II that shoots .22 Long Rifle rounds. It may be weak, but it\'s enough to destroy your soul gem at close range. If you lie to us, I will kill you.]