Then I got a reply from Bella.
[Are you okay, Honey? What on earth are you talking about? This battle is a piece of cake, why should it be more important than you? Hang on.]
Then I felt a surge of souls beside . A {Portal} opened and out stepped arguably the most important mber of this battle.
"Hello, Mr. Code. Did you miss ?"
"I did. It's incredibly good to see you," I replied imdiately.
"W-ha..." Probably not expecting my answer, Bella quickly covered her mouth. Her cheeks were flushed and her body trembled.
I was amused by her reaction and let go of my two weapons. They disappeared in the sa mont as I reached for Bella and took her lips. After we parted, I smiled as she looked even more surprised.
"I'm so lucky to have you, Honey. Here we are fighting thousands and you made it so relaxing."
It was true that there were thousands of zombies, but hardly any of them managed to harm Hellsend. Sabel herded the Normies around like a sheepdog. The 2nd Andnt just kept shooting at the corpses as they trudged along.
The only big problem was when the soulgears needed to be resupplied. Sabel would take them to Bella or the other Sirens to be reactivated with soul. The cool-down ti was quite short, but for Rank F's it was more than enough.
"Honey, while I am quite happy with your praise, you are misunderstanding sothing."
"Hmm?"
"This battle is not relaxing because of . It is because of you. This kind of battle is only possible because you exist. Any of the Sirens could be replaced, but you cannot."
"What do you an? I'm just a guy who shoots zombies and makes crappy speeches."
Bella let out an exaggerated sigh and face pald in irritation.
"Honey, I know you rarely do things for the English to see, but co on! You are being extrely too hard on yourself."
When she noticed my confused face, she clarified.
"I ant you didn't do it to show off. Sorry, my brain is wired in Portuguese. Anyway. Mr. Code, objectively speaking, what do you think is the most important component of this battle? The one thing we cannot do without?"
"The guns?"
"Close, but try again."
"The {Honey Trap} soulgear?"
"No. And before you answer anything else, it is not , the other Sirens, or the Sacred."
"Then..."
"It's you, honey. Your {Fates} to a lesser extent."
"..."
"Honey, the weapons allow us to fight safely. But only until we have bullets. Without bullets, the guns are just crappy sticks. There are other transport {Fates} besides Lilly. There are plenty of bait type {Soulgear}."
She then took my hands in hers and placed them on her chest.
"Mr. Code. Believe when I say this. This plan is only possible because of {Rewind}. We are not running out of ammo or supplies. Stamina is another matter, but you even solved that.
You are a commander's worst nightmare."
"Worst nightmare?"
"By a fucking wide margin, Honey. I would rather fight all the Sirens than you. Mr. Code, do you realize that technically you can fight forever? Your only limitation is your mind. And on top of that, you have the ability to draw people to you."
"..."
It wasn't that I didn't understand Bella's words, but it felt like too much credit. Wouldn't the Sirens be better than ?
"It seems you don't understand, so let's make this simple. Take Alfonso for example. How many undead do you think he can kill in an hour?"
"I don't know, a thousand?"
"Close enough, he killed over 800 in the last hour alone. When do you think he would stop moving?"
"When he runs out of gas? And bullets?"
"Correct. And if he encountered a rank E, it would also be a close fight. But for 25 souls, I can rearm him to full capacity. For 50 souls, I can restore him to perfect condition, no matter how broken he is. 800 Rank F's is 16,000 souls. Now tell ?
How would you stop him?"
"I would take you out," I replied.
"Correct. And if I wasn't on the battlefield?"
"I don't think I could."
"Correct. You can't. It is impossible. Even if you use a damn nuke, Alfonso will only return unhard for 50 souls, so long as I am alive. Honey, this is what {Rewind} is doing to everyone here."
"..."
"There are nurous problems with being too relaxed. But none of us here are afraid. The Sirens know this. So instead, everyone is using this important ti to refine their techniques."
While I understood Bella, I found it untrue. I used {Rewind}. No matter how good you were, the ntal anguish from the pain could drive people insane. Then I felt a hand gently touch my cheek.
"Honey, {Rewind} is not without its flaws, I know. But I am telling you. In the hands of anyone else, it would be useless. But because of who you are, {Rewind} is absolutely terrifying to face."
Bella's words were incredibly emotional. As if I were her son that she had raised over the years. A motherly tone full of pride.
"Mr. Code, have I ever told you? I was ready to die during the enlistnt. Even if I survived the night. I had no idea how I would make it in Hellsgate. I might have decided to sell myself just to pay the tax.
"But the heavens allowed to et you. And like the sun, your light gave hope. And when you loved , I wanted to live. Not just survive. I am sure that is true for the rest of the Sirens, but that is why we fell in love with you."
I was embarrassed by Bella's passionate speech. But I continued to listen.
"Honey, if {Rewind} ended up in the hands of people like Robert Acwellan, he would just beco a more psychotic bastard. If it ended up in the hands of a coward. No one would even know it existed. You shower the girls and with praise, but you are greater than all of us put together.
"Every facet of Hellsend, the 2nd Andnt, or the Sirens. They were all created by you. If you chose to be selfish, corrupt, or tyrannical, none of us would help you. If you took advantage of the people, few would rally to your call. But the people here see you as a true hero, and soon. The whole world, too."
I brought her hands to my lips and kissed them.
"It would be incredibly uncool of to go against the words of Minerva. After all, you are our goddess of wisdom. Thank you, Bella."
"Anyti, Mr. Code. And in truth, the Sirens are competing for the right to be at your side in battle."
"Oh? And you won?"
"No, I showed them your ssage and they allowed to co first."
"First?"
"Honey, you have no idea how much the Sirens adore you. Nothing else can be more important to us than you. Speaking of which, to answer your question earlier. The Sirens and I have linked this entire floor."
"Huh?"
"The Sirens spamd [Beacon] and {Portal}. We each created six portals in six zones. There are only 28 zones on a single floor. We opened 36 portals with [Beacon] connecting them all."
"Bella..."
"What Hellsend is fighting now is the combined undead forces of an entire floor."
"W-what?"
Bella touched her glasses and frowned.
"FUCK! I said I know already! I was just getting to the good part! [Beacon]."
Six portals ford and the rest of my harem ca out.
"Darling! The battle is about to end! Let's go!"
Speechless, I couldn't even answer. My mind struggled to understand what the hell was going on.
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