Simple man with his Chapter 13: An example

Chapter 13: An example

Four weeks have passed since Elysium ca to Lutah. On the 30th day, Lud asked Li to co to his office and ask him "Why did Sarah beco a raid boss?" To which Li says "Because the real masters willed it so."

Then Lud says "That’s not what I ant. I ant in lore wise." And Li replied "I believe it is better for you to not know."

Then Lud asks "What if it is an order?" To which Li answers "I will ignore it or nullify the contract if need be."

Then Lud asks "Why are you so insistent to keep it hidden?" To which Li answers "To make sure you don’t slip up."

Lud asks "Am I that loose lipped?" And Li answers "No my lord: I just think that the less people know, the lower the chance for her finding out will be."

Lud asks "You are afraid that she will turn to her raid form." To which Li says "I cannot dismiss the possibility."

Lud thinks for a mont and then asks "Can you at least give

a hint?" To which Li answers "If our truest truth is shattered, then what will be left is only shards for collecting. Sotis, those shards will beco enraged by the absence of the truest truth, and so the fla will burn our emotions and we beco that much lesser."

Lud says "You have been cooking that for a while, haven’t you?" To which Li says "Just ca up with it." And Lud responded "Liar."

Then it was Li’s turn to ask "Is sothing bothering you, my lord?" And Lud asks back "You can tell?" To which Li says "Yes. You wouldn’t be asking these kinds of things if everything was ok."

Lud leans his forehead to his palms and sighs. Then he says "I’m unsure if we should go through with the plan that was discussed." Li gave comforting words that said "When two sides et and conflict arises, there is bound to be doubts and regrets. Even still, you mustn’t let those things cloud you or those things will only multiply. What I’m saying is that you must do what you must, my lord. I’ll stand by you and I’m sure most of your people will do the sa even if you didn’t ask them to."

Lud says "Thanks. War huh... Never in my thirty years of life would I have thought that I would end up in an actual war." Li says "I can relate to so extent. Just know that we got your back, my lord."

Liz and Zenith ca to Luds side to stand by him. This made Lud take a deep breath, sit upright and then say "Everyone. The kingdom of Elysium will not falter. Let us show that we are here to stay." This ssage was heard by everyone involved in the battle ahead. Though it wasn’t much of a speech, the people in the front lines felt that their king was serious, so they oughta do the sa.

Since Elysium was in the end of the forest of Lostwood, the Rucksta’s army had to go through a whole lot of the forest before even setting foot on Elysium’s territory. This wasn’t an issue to the Rucksta’s aerial units, who were soldiers riding griffins. But Elysium had the second battalion to deal with them.

Little before this in Gendarville, three sword-saints are having a conversion about the mission. They are Michaela the 7th sword-saint, Raphaela Illititi the 6th sword-saint and Leon Ruckit the 5thsword-saint.

Raphaela, a cat-like beastkin with blonde curly hair says "It isn’t often that we see this many sword-saints gather together in a mission. Those humans must feel honored that we were dispatched." To this, Leon, also a cat-like beastkin with long dark hair, responds with a short "Agreed."

Michaela, who was once beaten by Lych, says in a much worried tone "Are you sure that this will be enough? I an I know they are led by a human scum, but there are a lot of other races as well."

Raphaela laughs and says "You think that those with the kind of intellect that would bow down to a human would have any chance against us?! This is so hilarious I’m about to cry!" To this, Leon just nods in agreent.

Michaela says "I’ve fought one of them before, so I know that they can be formidable. If nothing else, you should proceed with at least little caution." Raphaela laughs so more and says "You... You think that we should... give a human led "army"... the kind of attention that we would need... to have when facing an actual army... lead by competent people?! Stop Michi... you are hurting !"

Then Soramaja cos to the room and says quite arrogantly "What’s the hold up?! Why haven’t we gone to kill those scumbags yet when the sun is still up?!"

Raphaela, while laughing, says "You... You see... Michi here... thought that we should have a eting... about how to deal with... with these insects!" And she continues to laugh while Lean just nods in agreent.

Soramaja also starts to laugh so, until eventually he gathers himself to the point where he can say clearly "Let us not waste any more ti. The sooner we deal with these low born, the better. Just make sure to tell the soldiers to capture so humans for

while we are there. I’d like so new toys with

and I think this settlent should hold just what I like."

And anwhile in the capital, Marco was waiting in line to get to the city gate together with Sarah and Bai. Sarah whines "Hey lil Marco... Why don’t we just pass all these guys when we are going to fight anyway?" Marco says "Co now Sarah. We must show them proper etiquette before we cause trouble by following the rules at least a little."

Sarah says "But we are at war against these guys, right? So why not just..." Sarah does so shadow boxing moves as she continues to say "Go straight to the gate and get the strong people to co to us right away?"

Marco says "Well... our intelligence seems to suggest that they haven’t announced a "war" against us precisely. They call this an... extermination mission." Sarah stops shadow boxing and continues to whine "But isn’t that basically declaring a war against us?" To which Marco says "They seem to think that "To go against war with them would an we recognise them as a country." or sothing along those lines. And when we do end up fighting them soon, they probably spread the words "They started it" around the globe."

Sarah scratches her hair furiously and says "Damn, why do people have to be so damn annoying?!! They push us and push us, but when we retaliate, then WE are the aggressors! Fucking cowards I tell you!" Bai, who is lazing on her back on her flying swords, says "Don’t worry Sarah. These fuck bois will get what’s coming for them soon. Also don’t worry about you not understanding much of it. Marci doesn’t understand half of it herself and is just reciting what was said to her to sound smarter than she is. She does this to get my homie’s attention."

Marco gets flustered and says "You... I do not!... I just... And who are you calling your "homie"? Don’t tell

that you are referring to our lord." Sarah says "And what of it? The guy told

that I can call him whatever I feel like. We are close like that, you know."

Marco gets even more flustered and says "You... you and our lord... in a... that... that kind of... relationship..." To this, Sarah interrupts by saying "Don’t worry lil Marco. Lil Bai doesn’t see him like that. She has her eye on soone else."

Marco sighs with relief for a mont and then asks "You have soone who you are interested in Bai?" To which Bai says "Yeah... Lych has the kind of vibe I would be cool with." Marco says "I see. So Lych is your type of guy."

Then Sarah says "Lych is her second choice. There is a guy who she has a waaay bigger crush on." To this Marco says "I see, I see. Your comnt on this Bai?" To which Bai says "Since you know so much about

MISS Sarah, why don’t you ALL about it?" After which Marco turns to Sarah, who then says "It’s the old man Li. She has special encrypted files with all the information about him on her head and in her backup."

Bai gets actually surprised by how much Sarah knows and asks "How... How do you know about my secret files?" To which Sarah says "Xu told ." Bai clicks her tongue and says "That old bag of bolts... When did he tell you?" And Sarah answers "Just now. He says it’s "To show her daughter the way of the gentleman by making her face what they wish would never see the light of day" or sothing." Bai comnts "Sounds about right."

There is a pause in the conversation. And then Sarah shouts "There’s STILL so many people in front of us! When will this end?!" So Bai comnts "My estimate is about 12 minutes if nothing unexpected happens."

Xu gives Lud a ssage saying "My daughters are ready for the enemy to approach." To which Lud responds by saying "Good... That’s... good."

Xu asks "My lord, is everything alright?" To which Lud answers "I’m fine... Just... Focus on incapacitating, not eliminating." And Xu responds "Yes, my lord."

Lud takes a deep breath and mutters to himself quietly "So... so people are going to die... by my command. It is... inevitable. Just rember Lud... This is still a big ga. They are not real."

Then the words of that ghostly man co to Lud’s mind. Those words asking him "Is everything that I rember true? And if it is true, then why all this?" Lud can’t shake those thoughts from his mind at the mont.

Then suddenly, one mory from his past starts to co to mind like it ca to rescue him. A man is shouting while furiously thrusting his hips back and forth "Focus Lud! Focus! You are still inside that box! You only need to go outside of it! Do you understand?!" In the mory, Lud answers "Yes Mr. Tod! I’m trying my best!"

Tod shouts in this mory "You aren’t trying hard enough boy! You need to go outside the box! Go outside the box and then what do you need to do?!" Lud shouts in the mory "I don’t know Mr. Tod! I don’t know!"

Tod shouts in the mory "That is correct boy! You don’t know because you are still inside that box! What you need to do once you are outside that box is to fuck that box so that it may never attempt to contain what was once inside! Yes! Thrust those hips! Thrust! Beco superior! Shower your enemies with dominance! Shower your enemies with what remains of the box that once contained you! Yes! What will you do now Lud?!" Lud in the mory answers "I keep trying to get out the box that contains my greatness, Mr. Tod!" To which Tod says in the mory "You fool! You still are unable to go outside the box because you think like that! You still! Are! Inside! The box!"

Then a thud is heard in the mory and Tod goes to it and says "Illi Tipten! Why are you on the ground?! You still have 623 thrust to go!" In the mory, Illi answers in an exhausted tone "I... I can’t Grand Master Tod... I... I just can’t."

Tod thrusts his hips in the mory more vigorously than he did before as he says to Lud "You see that Lud?!!! That is called "Giving up" from where I’m from! Only quitters do this "give up" thing whenever the mood suits them! Are you one of these quitters Lud?! Answer !"

Lud in the mory tries to say sothing, but he is interrupted by Tod who’s still shouting "Why have your thrusts weakened Lud?! Don’t tell

you are quitter! What do we say to quitters, Lud?! What do we say?!"

Lud in the mory tries to answer, but he is interrupted again by Tod who shouts "That’s right Lud! Now you are getting it! We show them our mighty thrusts and give them a big FUCK YOU whenever they guestion our thods! Now why aren’t you yet fucking the box, Lud?! Why aren’t you doing what I tell you?! Answer

Lud!"

In the mory, Tina cos and says "Can you let the poor boy rest a mont? You know that your thods fall outside the norm when it cos to training inside the ga. Also, why do you have to do all this inside my smithy?"

The mory of Tod says to Lud "You hear this shit, my dear Lud?! The trans woman is trying to assert their dominance over us! What do we..." Tina throws a hamr at Tod, but Tod dodges it and it ends up hitting Lud. Then Tina shouts "I’m not a trans woman! I never had a dick in the first place!"

Then in the mory, Tod cos to the side of fallen Lud while still thrusting his hips. Tod says in that mory "You see this shit Lud?! Our female friend here can’t handle the heat when soone questions their sexual orientation! That’s because she is still limited by that box I told you about! Do not be like Tina! Do not stay inside that box! Break through that box and think outside of it! Think! Think!! Think!!! And when you have the ti I ask you "What do we do with the box private Lud?!" So what do we do, Lud?!"

Lud answers in the mory while exhausted "We... Fuck that box..." Tod in the mory responds with "You are still inside the box, Lud! By now we would have already fucked the box! Fucked it so badly that it could never contain you in the future! But you fail to get out of it enough to achieve this! Are you an ant, dog or a wolf, Lud?! Which are you Lud?! Answer

Lud!"

Lud answers in the mory "I’m... a wolf!" To which Tod says in the mory "By god Lud! You still fail to grasp it! Rise up and begin your thrusting set again! Only if you are a wolf that can speak human tongue and have sohow got recognized by the system as a human in order to make a playable character, then, and only then, can you call yourself a wolf in this mont. But the correct answer was human! You fail, Lud! You fail! Now show

those thrust sets again! Show it to ! Show it! In the na of my six different ethnicities, SHOW IT TO !!!"

Lud then cos back to reality with sweat running through his whole body. The mory felt too real to him. The thods of that Tod were too far for mortal entities to comprehend.

Lud asked Xu "How far are the enemies Xu?" To which, Xu answered "Yes. The closest enemy group around An Liushiqi and Wushi’er are 223 ters away. The closest group around Jiushiliu and Qishiliu are 328 ters away. And the closest group around Sishijiu and Tuzi Liushijiu are 521 ters away. No one around other pairs are detected, so it seems that they have separated into three groups if we are not including the sky."

Lud says "I see. When they get close enough, feel free to engage." And Xu answers "Yes, my lord. We’ll handle things from here."

Then Lud sighs and says "I hope that all will go well." To which Liz says "Don’t worry my lord. I’m sure everything will be alright." And Zenith says "I agree. The Fingers won’t lose to the likes of them."

Lud says "I’m not worried whether our defenses fail. I’m worried because soon people will be t face to face with death and that I’ll soon have to talk to their king." To this, Zenith asks "Speaking of which, how are those three faring, Li?" To which Li answers "For what I gather, they are... waiting in line as we speak."

Lud asks "Waiting in line? For what?" To which Li says "Ms. Marchosias seems to think that we should follow certain etiquette. Hence, waiting in line before they talk to the guards."

Lud just comnts "I can’t bla Marco for doing what she does, but don’t you think that it is a bit weird?" To which Liz answers "It is, but she has good intentions by doing so." Zenith nods in agreent.

Then Xu informs Lud that "It has begun." To which Lud says to him "Keep

inford if anything out of the ordinary arises." To which Xu says "Acknowledged."

anwhile inside the forest, An is waiting calmly at the enemy approaching. She is wearing sothing similar that Chinese emperors wore once upon a ti, but edited enough to look a bit feminine and be easy to move in. She is holding a fan with her left arm and a golden blade on her right. She had the appearance of a human, but her right ear was clearly chanical. She kept her eyes closed almost all the ti.

The group that was led by Michaela saw her and readied their weapons. To this, An said "How uncouth. To not even try to exchange formalities. No matter. Wushi’er." After which a punk looking girl ca like a teor in front of Michaela’s group. Other than looking like a punk, she had her blonde hair in a ponytail. She also had cat ears and two tails on her that matched her hair color.

Wushi’er smiled while holding a giant sword that was basically twenty swords attached to each other. This terrified the soldiers a little, but Michaela gathered the courage to make the first attack.

The attack landed, but it did no damage to Wushi’er. Wushi’er’s smile started to have a hint of evil in it as she swung her giant sword in the direction of Michaela’s subordinates. The shockwave made the soldiers fly towards the trees whilst breaking bones as they crashed. And since Wushi’er’s sword was so big, she ended up cutting a few trees during her first swing.

Michaela was terrified that soone could cut those enchanted trees just like that, but her thoughts were stopped by An who said "I will be your opponent this ti." After which Michaela had to block an incoming attack that was An’s flying blade.

Michaela managed to block the first blade and An said "Good. It seems that your reflexes are enough to withstand that level of an attack. Then how about these?"

An sent a set of blades flying towards Michaela, who just barely could block and dodge them. Michaela decided to try and attack An, so she ran towards her and Liushiqi had to raise her golden blade to block her upcoming attack.

An blocked Michaela’s attacks effortlessly and comnted "Your speed and strength need so work, but your techniques aren’t half bad. Let

teach you a little."

Around the sa ti, Jiushiliu, a girl with generally a big body, a decent sized breasts and long black hair that also covered her eyes said to Qishiliu, a gremlin of a girl with short blue hair and fox ears and tail "D-D-D-Do you think that those are the people we are supposed to fight, si-sister?"

Qishiliu answered to her nervous sister "If they aren’t then I’ll have to say sorry for what I’m about to do. No, wait, no I won’t, because they ca to the wrong place at the wrong ti, so it’s their fault, aint it."

Qishiliu jumps down from the trees and in a blink of a mont, makes several cuts to cut off the legs of her enemies. This included Raphaela.

Raphaela started shouting in pain "WHAAA! What is going on?! Why am I on the ground?! Where are my legs?! Soone help !" To this, Jiushiliu started to apologize profusely "I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! She thought that you were our enemies from Rucksta, so she attacked without thinking! I’m so, so sorry!"

Raphaela shouts "Help , human! Now is your chance to help soone of higher caliber than your disgusting self!" To this, Jiushiliu’s submissive personality couldn’t help but agree. She said "Right away! I’ll carry you all to Elysium to get treated!"

Jiushiliu started using her switching ability to send the enemy straight to Elysium. Both the clinic and the enemy were confused, but soon after the enemy was sent to Elysium, other stand-by Fingers ca to apprehend them. And anwhile QIshiliu was laughing her butt off whilst not stopping to cut the enemy’s legs as she went.

And about the sa ti, Tuzi and Sishijiu were watching the enemy pass by. Sishijiu, who wore a typical female-ninja attire, asked "Are you sure it’s okay to let them pass Tuzi? Aren’t we supposed to deal with them?" To which Tuzi, who was wearing a bunny girl outfit, having long snow white hair and red eyes whilst actually having real bunny ears and puff, answered "Give it a minute."

Sishijiu, while confused, decided to wait for Tuzi to do sothing. The mont she took her eyes off Tuzi, she saw all of the soldiers, as well as Leon’s, hands and knees cut off in a blink of an eye. The group had around 149 people, so this level of precision and speed was sothing that Sishijiu had hard ti to process. She just comnted "Leave it to a finger who has a last na."

anwhile Michaela is sending An to a corner. Michaela is feeling confident about herself, until she hears a bell ring, and she is standing at the sa place where the two began their fight.

Confused, Michaela asks "What’s going on? Why are we back here?" To which An gave an answer "The first test is to best . The second test is to figure out what the nature of my trick is. The third test is to figure out a way to go against that trick. And the fourth is only revealed when you have passed the three previous tests."

An begins to fight Michaela again to the point where An appears to be beaten, but then she is back to square one. This happens multiple cycles and Michaela starts to lose focus of everything, making her unable to pass even the first test.

After An has taken Michaela’s sleeping body to Elysium’s prison, Wushi’er says to her "I never got the hang of that technique. What was it again? Qian Jian 57th form ummm... What was it again?" To which An says "It is Qian Jian 67th form. Lull. To put it simply, you form a connection between you and your enemy’s consciousness and you lock them in a dream-like state. Making them unable to leave by themselves unless they can defeat the wielder whilst holding a perfectly calm mind."

Wushi’er says "I still don’t quite get it. What’s the fun in defeating your opponent without having any emotion about it?" To which An states "It has sothing to do with overpowering your opponent flawlessly. The technique can also be modified to fit a different criteria if need be. I can help you figure it out later, if you like?" to this Wushi’er says "Hmmm... Nah, I’ll stick with good old bashing."

Then An says "At least try to use the 1st form properly." To which Wushi’er says "Yeah yeah. I’ll get right on that. But say, did we have to do anything else after capturing the enemy forces?"

An thinks "Changing the topic, as usual." And then says "We are to keep an eye on them for the ti being." And to this, Wushi’er complains "But don’t we have that shadowy fella from the special squad? Tak, was it?" To which An replies "The short of his na was Tuk, but if we rely on him too much, he might end up in the clinic again."

Wushi’er whines "Yeah, I guess. But doesn’t Yanjing also have free ti on her hands?" To which An says "Who do you think is taking care that no one slips by under our noses? Seriously, we have to add so things to your training as well."

Wushi’er says "Oh crap. I made the drill sergeant appear again. I’ll keep a watch on them okay. You don’t need to put

through more training." An just responds "That’s 10 hours more training per week for you Wushi’er." Wushi’er is defeated by this, but ends up doing her job diligently while An is there.

anwhile in the Rucksta’s capital. It has been over 30 minutes since the last ti we saw the trio stand in the line and they still had so people in front of them. Sarah is getting more and more frustrated by the second as she shouts "It was only supposed to be 12 minutes Bai! Why are there still people in front of us?!" To which Bai answers "I didn’t expect a big group of nobles would be coming to the capital, so of course it is going to take a little more ti."

Sarah is whining constantly like a child. While she is doing that, Marco asks Bai "Have you done what we asked you to do Bai?" To which Bai responded with "Got an eye on the king inside the castle and the prince sowhere in the forest of Lostwood’s skies. Ready whenever."

Marco thinks for a mont, until she says "It seems that the front lines of the enemy have more or less been dealt with, so it appears we have to change up the schedule." Bai then asks "So I got a green light from my homie?" To which Marco says "You got the green light."

Then Bai disappears and in her place is left a single flying sword. Sarah notices this and whines to Marco "Since she can just do that, what is the point in us being here?" To which Marco says "Due to unforeseen circumstances, things have changed. It would have been great if we could have done our part before Bai’s part, but these things can happen sotis."

Sarah just comnts "We wouldn’t have had that if we would just skipped the line and gone straight to the gate guards." To which Marco says "We still have to..." And Sarah cuts her off by finishing what Marco was saying "Follow the etiquette. Yeah, I get it. I’m sure Faust is super proud of you right now."

Marco sighs and says "Fine, I get your point. You may go to the guards if you wish." Sarah brightens up and starts happily skipping the line, until one of the guards cos to her and says "Hey missy. Go wait in the line like everyone else unless you don’t have a noble’s permit."

Sarah then smiled happily and said "Oh, I’m not necessarily here to enter the city. I’m here to fight strong people who are willing to fight for their king. So go and fetch those for

will you."

The guard pauses for a mont, until he begins to laugh so hard it gains others attention. Then the sa guard says "Look kid. You better grow a bit taller before you can make those kinds of claims. Go to the back of the line like a good girl and once you get inside, go talk to the adventurer’s guild if you wanna have a fight or sothing. Now shoo."

Sarah then asks "So you aren’t going to do what I say then?" To which the guard says "No. Now go to the back of the line like a good girl. Or do you need an old man like

to guide you there?"

Then Sarah sighs and asks "Can I go touch the wall for a second?" To which the guard says "Sure, go ahead. As long as you don’t draw on it, you can touch it as much as you want. Just don’t expect touching it will get you inside any earlier." To which Sarah puts out a comnt in passing "Oh I won’t be needing to go inside now." The guard is surprised by what Sarah said, but doesn’t comnt on it.

Then Sarah touches the wall a little and asks one of the guards "So you aren’t going to tell powerful people to co to , right?" The guard that spoke to Sarah earlier whispers sothing to the other guards and they start to chuckle a little.

Then Sarah asks "So..." And then puts so force towards the wall, making it crack loudly. This gathered the guards’ attention and one of them shouted "What did you do young lady?!" To which Sarah answered "If you don’t send people who are willing to die for their king willingly, I’ll make sure that your little wall here feels much less secure when I’m done with it. During the next hours or so, if I have to go through three minutes without fighting, then I’ll start tearing the wall like it was a piece of paper."

The guards were visibly scared and people that were waiting in line were starting to leave the place. Then Sarah continued by saying "That being said, I’m not very good at counting, so it would be for your best interest to send out the word at your earliest convenience."

One of the guards shouted to get reinforcents from the city and to even put out an ergency request in the adventurers guild. So guards readied their weapons to fight Sarah, and this put a smile on Sarah’s face as she said "Yes... YES. That’s it... Let’s begin our little spout and get the ssage across on who’s the top dog here."

Then in a blink of an eye, Sarah appears behind one of the guards, grabs their armor and swings them towards the wall. Once the guard makes contact with the wall, their blood scatters like it were a water balloon. One of the guards tries to attack Sarah with their sword, but Sarah cuts the sword cleanly in half, making the guards stubble to the ground. Sarah proceeds to kick the guard to the wall, and while the top had the sa fate as the previous guard, this one’s lower body was left to the ground.

Sarah smiles and breathes heavily "Yes, yes. This is it. The blood of the battle. More, more, more." Then she starts to laugh like a psycho.

Marco looks from the sidelines and sighs as she says "Our lord instructed to avoid killing, but I suppose it is too late to stop her now. Worst cos to worst, if Sarah starts killing civilians, then I’ll have to slow her down before Tear can co and handle the rest. There is also an argunt that I should go and incapacitate enemies before Sarah cos to them and kills them, but that runs the risk of her getting bored of the people who can at least attempt to put out a fight."

Sarah walks toward guards who are clearly frightened, barely able to point a sword against Sarah. Sarah just asks them innocently "Hey hey. Can I ask you three a question? If you are willing to put your life at stake to protect your king, then why are you hesitating now? Do tell , why is this? Tell , oh tell ." The guards were too afraid to ask, so Sarah ca to one of the guards and used her palm to make a hole inside the guard’s body. Sarah was unable to hold back her power, so all that ended up staying was arms, legs and the head.

This terrified the other two remaining guards even more, and one of them started to beg "Please, I have two sons, a daughter and a wife. I can’t leave them like this." To which Sarah responded by picking the guards by the head and saying "Bargaining. I heard of this before. Five stages of grief or sothing. Which one was bargaining in again? Hmmm... No matter. Just die." Sarah tries to throw the guards high up in the air, but the guard’s neck ends up breaking before it gets much air ti. Leaving only a torso that flew a few ters. The guard’s head was flying to sowhere distant.

Then Sarah starts to walk toward the last guard that is remaining and asks "Say, is miss sword saint in the city by any chance?" To which the guard answered "Ye-yes. A-a-a-a sword saint is indeed in the city. Sh-sh-sh-she is the first sword-saint, we-we-we-we-we-Weiss."

Sarah then says "I see. So she is here. Hehehe. I get to fight her today. Hehehe. But what a sha. She had so much potential, but she seems like a loyal type, so she’ll probably fight till her dying breath. Oh well. More blood to the blood mill I suppose."

The guard asks "Ca-ca-ca-can I g-g-g-go?" To which Sarah ponders for a mont, but Marco cos to interrupt her and says "Yes. You can go for now." After which the guard leaves in a hurry while leaving their weapon behind.

Sarah asks Marco in a sinister child-like manner "Heyyy lil Marco. Who did you make them leave? I thought that I was making the decisions here. Or was I mistaken. Say. Lil Marco." And the last sentence is said with malicious intent.

Then Marco says "I simply feel like it would suit your taste better if you fought those who still had fight left in them rather than those who don’t have it." Sarah stares at Marco’s eyes for a brief mont, until she says "I suppose you are right. After all..." Then many people co from the gate to face Sarah and she says "I now can feel the fighting spirit coming from them, so it might have been worth the wait." Sarah charges at the group of people who ca to fight her and you could hear her laughing maniacally as people get massacred by her.

anwhile in the castle of Rucksta, Jeremaja hears that there is a girl causing havoc at the east gate. Jeremaja says "Deal with her sohow." To which the person informing him leaves.

Then suddenly a sword flies to the room shortly after, and in the next mont, Bai is switched to the sword’s place. Jeremaja remains unfazed, but the guards next to him shout "Who are you to dare break into our king’s throne room?! Speak girl!" To which Bai just says "I ca to take this country’s king to Elysium to face his punishnt for his cris against humanity. Or sothing along those lines, I didn’t pay too much attention." That was a lie since Li was the one to give those orders.

The guard shouts "Our king hasn’t done any cris of that kind! After all, there is no law for humanity in the middle realm! You can still leave peacefully if you beg for our majesty’s forgiveness."

Bai sighs and starts to casually just walk towards the king, to which the guards tried to stop by words at first, but resorted to try and use force. Bai blocked their attacks effortlessly and eventually grabbed the king, who was still unfazed by all of this. Then in the next mont, Bai and Jeremaja were switched with a single blade owned by Bai.

Bai brought Jeremaja to the throne room of Elysium, where Lud was sitting on the throne. Jeremaja just scoffed and said "For a human to inconvenience

this much, I must say my people are rather incompetent. Still, I didn’t think I could travel such a distance in such a short of a ti. Fascinating. Human, I order you to hand over everything you own. This is an order from the king of Elysium, so you best feel honored and cause

no more inconvenience."

Lud says "You have been brought here to face the cris against humanity. Do you plead guilty?" Jeremaja scoffs and says "You also are spouting such nonsense. There is no such thing as "Cris against humanity". Humans aren’t protected by laws, hence, there are no cris that target humans. No stop inconveniencing

and give

the crown already, human."

Lud says "So you don’t claim to feel any guilt for letting... No, making humans suffer in the middle realm, is what I’m hearing. As you feel no guilt, there is no point in punishing you with the intent of rehabilitation. So if you do not wish to suffer, you can sign a contract that gives humans in Rucksta the sa rights as any other person in the middle realm as well as agreeing to a non aggression pact. This contract will be watched over by the god of contracts ridiem. Do you accept this opportunity?"

Then Jeremaja scoffs again and starts walking towards Lud while saying "Your voice is rotting my ears, human. Get off that thing you call a throne at once and I give you a rciful death." As Jeremaja takes one step in the stairs that lead to the throne, Jeremaja suddenly falls over for reasons he doesn’t first understand. He feels so pain in his right leg and looks at it. Then he sees that there is a lot of blood coming from where there used to be his right leg.

Jeremaja begins to shout "AAAHH!!! What have you done to ?!! You dare to cause harm to your king! Everyone who wishes to remain unpunished, kill the one who dared to humiliate

in this way!"

Then Liz kicks Jeremaja’s pretty face as she says "Your disgusting sweat and blood is tarnishing the cloth that is cleaned by our staff. You should feel ashad to call yourself a king. Or perhaps, you fancy yourself a king of rats."

Jeremaja shouts "YOU!!! You dare to do all these to ?! You dimwits who follow a human scum better be hanged as soon as my army arrives here!"

Then the next thing Jeremaja hears is the voice of his son saying "What are you doing to

scum?! Let

go!" Jeremaja looks at Soramaja and says "What are you doing here son? Aren’t you supposed to be leading the griffin unit?" To which Soramaja says "Father? What are you doing all the way here? No matter. We must kill these scum imdiately! They dare to use the mythical beasts to burn our prized griffins to ash!"

Liz then asks "Don’t you two see the situation you are in? We have most of the people you sent here in prison, one of our own is causing havoc in the capital and we managed to bring you to the heart of enemy territory. Do you think you have any leverage to negotiate with us?"

Soramaja shouts "It is because you used such vile thods to gain power! No place led by human scum could ever have this much power if they didn’t use vile thods to obtain it!" Jeremaja also shouts "That is right! Once our people hear that their king and prince are held captive by a human led faction, then I’m sure people will rally to crush your puny existence. Just you wait!"

Lud looks at Li and nods, after which Li goes over to Jeremaja and says "Do you know what Turris Sepulcrorum is?" Jeremaja is confused and says "I have never heard of such a thing."

The Li says "It is a place where people would co to challenge all the 500 layers of the tower, each layer benign its own little world that is allowed to exist thanks to the tower’s reality bending power. The higher you go inside the tower, the tougher the enemies are. And at the 500th layer, there is , the guardian of the tower and the final challenge."

Soramaja asks "What does any of that have to do with the current situation?!" To which Li answers "I can modify the tower in several ways. Since anyone whose body doesn’t reject ana doesn’t die inside the island, there is no need to modify that. One way is to never allow the challenger to leave until they beat the final challenge. Second way is that in response to dying, you would start at the lowest level accessible to you. Third way is to make sure that during each death, the challenger will lose access to the lowest level accessible to you after dying. Making it harder in each run to accumulate experience. And fourth is that we will livestream...well, show an image or a vision of the challenger around them in screens that we spread around the world. Leaving no room for privacy."

Jeremaja asks "You still haven’t explained what all of this has to do with us?! Don’t waste ti and heal my leg!" Li says "The leg will be healed soon. But what I want you to understand is that you, Jeremaja Von Lerailu Tuck Rucksta the III, will be one of those challengers. You will have to fight inside the tower until you or your son accepts the contract we discussed previously. In the anti, your son will be the de facto leader of Rucksta until you or your son agree to sign the contract as the representative of the Rucksta nation."

Jeremaja starts to get a little pale, be it from blood loss or by the realization of what is happening, probably the forr. So Li opens a magical door and throws Jeremaja in. Soramaja shouts "What are you doing to my father?!" To which Li says "It is as I said. He will beco a challenger until he or you sign a contract. The contract will be sent to the Rucksta’s capital, or wherever you will be staying at for the foreseeable future. Now then Ms. Song, if you could." Soramaja tries to shout sothing inside the throne room of Elysium, but he suddenly appears in his own kingdom’s throne room. The guards are surprised by Soramaja’s appearance and ask for Jeremaja’s well being, until suddenly a screen appears in the throne room, showing Jeremaja’s current condition.

A video image of Jeremaja is running away from so beasts and there is a text explaining everything that was told to Jeremaja and Soramaja. Sa kinds of screens appear in different places around the middle realm, and thanks to the help of so gods, even in the lower and the higher realms.

anwhile around the wall that protects the Rucksta’s capital, Sarah and Weiss are currently exchanging blows. Sarah is on cloud nine and Weiss is being heavily injured by Sarah.

Sarah keeps rambling "Miss sword saint, miss sword saint. Show

more. Show

more. Show! ! More!"

Weiss is pushed against the wall and she sohow manages to survive. Then Sarah readies the first spell she has ever since starting that chaos, and it is a huge and powerful one. Weiss can sense that if she doesn’t do anything, half of the capital and the civilians inside it will vanish. Sarah is smiling ear to ear as she is in a trance like state where all she can think of is fighting.

Weiss is unable to move from the wall she was thrown in as many of her bones have been broken and her being lodged deep inside the wall. Sarah says as if saying goodbye "Here is one of my most devastating attack spells "Ruina Hellvetta Flama O Extinctiona" As she releases it, Weiss already accepts her fate with the thought "While I wanted to dance with you more, I was unable to keep in you pace. So if we ever et again thanks to so miracle, I hope that you give

the chance to try again. May the person who saved you, the person who you hold most dear to you, accept those feelings. Goodbye... Sarah sothing sothing Livendig."

Just as the spell is about to hit Weiss, Bai appears in between them and makes a shield out of 97 swords and enhances them with a huge amount of magic to protect the city from devastation. Sarah notices this and starts to pour more mana into her attack, causing Bai’s swords to crack.

Bai then says "Too bad for you Sarah." Then a sword appears behind Sarah and soon in its place Tear appears, who places her hand on Sarah’s temple and does sothing that makes Sarah unconscious. Soon after, the spell that Sarah casted starts to disappear. Weiss passes out sowhere along the way and wakes up in Elysium’s clinic.

When Sarah was notified that Weiss had woken up, she ran as fast as she could (causing so damage along the way) and ca to hug Weiss whilst apologizing profusely.

anwhile Lud has a mory of him standing before the gravestone of Adam right after his funeral service. He stood watching it as a tall man wearing a basket on his head ca to him and said "It is a sha that he had the bad draw of the genetic lottery. Truly a sha."

Lud rembers that that man didn’t match anyone in the invites they sent, but stayed quiet as he gained so joy on his brother having so people coming to his funeral in the first place, albeit uninvited.

The man then says "The words that I have to say to Adam doesn’t matter much anymore. The words that matter now are to you, Lud." Lud still stayed quiet.

Then the man said "I have no doubt in my mind that if there exists multiverses, you belong to one of those that was the best brother that Adam could have hoped for. And even if you made a mistake or two, I doubt that Adam in this multiverse would have minded." Lud still stayed quiet.

Then the man said "When I heard about Adam’s condition, I spent nights where I did not rest to find a solution to his condition. But alas, I did not find it. Nevertheless, I doubt that he would bla

for my failure."

Lud then said "You... You are the mad man nad Tod... Aren’t you?" To which the man said "As much as I want to make you do so thrusts, I doubt that they will help your ntal state at the mont. Nevertheless, I must state that you should try to do so when tis are rough."

Lud then asks in the mory "If I could have seen outside the box, would I have been able to do more with Adam?" To which Tod answers "Even if you have reached that point, I doubt that there is any world where you would have found the path where Adam would have existed much longer. Nevertheless, I also doubt that your efforts wouldn’t have been unheard."

Tod said "Look, sotis life sucks ass, but that shouldn’t dictate how we should move forwards. As I have said before, thrust your way to the future and show no rcy. You might end up in the wanted list by the end of it, but you also might end up in the history books as a hero who found the way to go against the odds. Your odds, being very unfavorable, by the way." Lud stays silent again.

Then Tod places his hand on Lud’s shoulder and says "Look... No matter what you do, life will go on... Even if our being is so computer program in so alien computer, what matters to us is true. No matter what those aliens say, those thoughts are real to US. And as they are real, our feelings can push through the pain we feel at one point or another."

Lud stayed silent even still, but Tod said "I cannot take away the pain you feel, but as soone who once lost his brother to an illness I can tell you... I’m sure that even though it feels painful... Even though you want to give up... that the ones you have lost along the way want you to move forward. Continue looking to the future. And to that my teachings to you co to light. Thrust. Thrust your way to the future. Thrust and you may find the truth that you have sought for so long."

Then Tod takes his hand off Lud’s shoulder, Turns to face Lud and places a paper onto Lud’s hand as he says "Here’s my contact info. If you ever feel like talking your heart out to soone, I’ll be at the phone’s reach. Adam gave

your number a while ago and as I have morized it, I’ll be sure to pick up your call as soon as I can when I see it. All of my doctorates might not give you the answers you seek, but know that all you need to do is to call and friend will talk to you when you need it."

A mont passes by as Tod holds the paper slip in Lud’s hand, but then Tod passes on a comnt "Even though I have a doctorate in psychology, I won’t charge a penny if you seek my counsel. In fact, any services that you may need and I can offer, I’ll pay the sum. All you need to do is ask."

Then Tod lets go of Lud’s hand, turns to face the door behind Lud, places his other hand at Lud’s shoulder and says "You are not alone, Ludwig Freigner. Rember that there are people who care for your well being. Don’t go and end it all in a mont of weakness like a coward who can’t see outside the proverbial box. The box that holds... your... might."

Then the Tod leaves in the mory and Lud stands by the gravestone for a while longer.

Then back in reality, Lud says absentmindedly "Perhaps I should have called you back then." And after saying it, Lud questions "Why did I say that? Have I... truly forgotten sothing important?"

Li is whistling away whilst walking in the halls of Elysium’s castle. Whilst doing so, he bumps into Tear who has a furious look on her face when she sees Li. Li tries to just casually excuse himself, but Tear stops him by saying "I heard that you were the one who ca up with the idea to send Sarah to Rucksta’s capital without

being present." Li says "That is correct, and?"

Tear says "You knew very well that Sarah would lose control in that kind of mission, so why did you tell our lord that I was not needed this ti?" To this, Li says "I thought that it would show most promising results if we do it like that."

Then Tear shouts "Didn’t you see the look on Faust’s face when he realized that Sarah was out of control?! He was mortified by the news when he realized that innocent civilians were at risk, he was nearly having a panic attack! Don’t you think you should apologize to lot of people?!"

Li says calmly "My my, Ms. Ti. For soone who wrote the first judgnt against the middle realm, you sure bear a lot of sympathy towards the people in the middle realm." Tear shouts "It isn’t the civilians that I’m worried about, I made my bed when I wrote that piece! I’m worried about Faust’s well being! Don’t tell

that you haven’t noticed! You are plotting sothing, aren’t you?! Tell

what it is!"

Li keeps his calm deanor and says "Our lord is too naive to last in this world. He thinks that he can solve the problems that are brewing inside the middle realm simply because he thinks of all of this as a ga that he is ant to beat. He hasn’t co to accept us as real people either, or at least not fully. His current mindset needs to be broken in order for him to realize that the winning scenario isn’t achieved without sacrifices in this world. Will he suffer? Of course he will, because that is life. Sure, gas can make you sympathize with the characters in it, but it is only when you are able to fully think of it as reality that you can feel the true aning of those stories. GFOO was a fantasy ga where the real ones didn’t have to worry about death, but in this world, there are no second chances for him. When he dies, it is over."

Tear says "And you think that making Faust think that he killed real people is the way to go about it? I thought of you as a smart man, but it seems that I have been mistaken." To this, Li states "In my ti as player’s guide, I have co to understand that to the real ones, trauma imprints the deepest mories. So if you sohow can use those traumas to teach sothing, then it will last for a long ti in their psyche. Granted, lowering it down to just painful mories is more humane, but that was Tod’s thoughts about the subject. Granted, he didn’t want to cause suffering to others, or at least not in that kind of way that would make everlasting painful mories, but when he tried to teach our lord about things, it had the undertone of going through hell with Tod’s usual antics. But still, I may be very old, but age doesn’t necessarily an that you beco smarter."

Then Tear asks "So what is your ga plan here? What is it that you are really after?" To which Li ponders "What am I really after? A good question, but it is sothing that I cannot allow you to gain access to. But to make it very easy to understand, I don’t want to be left alone again. That’s it. There was a mont when I was alone at the beginning of the rell, there was a mont where I was alone when all the rell except

were gone, and then there was one person who I was willing to die for, but she also left

alone. I want to..."

And Tear says "You want to make sure that there will be people waiting for you to co ho. Like a father coming ho to his loving family." Li imagines this for a mont, then gives a smile and says "Yes. I like the way you put it. Simply father... coming ho to his loving family."

Then Tear says "This is changing to beco sothing wholeso, so I’ll get back on track and say that I still don’t agree with your thods and I will make sure that Faust is protected." Li looks at Tear for a mont and says "Faust Ilumnos, yes..." Then turns around and drops "But what about Ludwig Freigner?" Tear is confused by this. Not because she doesn’t know Lud’s real na, but why Li separates the two. She tries to stop Li, but Li just waves the back of his hand to Tear as if to say that the conversation has finished.

Li’s Little corner here again.

Only a few thighs this ti that won’t take too much of your ti. What? Am I dodging questions about my interaction with Ms. Ti? No, you must be imagining things. There is nothing noteworthy about it to ntion here, so let’s get to the topics that we need this ti’s corner eting for.

Interestingly enough, both matters are concerning Xu’s Fingers.

The first thing is the fingers numbers to those who are either too lazy to check or unable to figure it out.

96th Jiushiliu

76th Qishiliu

69th Tuzi Liushijiu

67th An Liushiqi

52th Wushi’er

49th Sishijiu

The second matter is about how Tear can switch places with a sword without Bai’s interaction or any other Finger’s. To put it simply, because Bai is the best of her kind and Tear is smart. Tear’s skill set also has a weight in it, but most is based on what they are. Also it could be that we are in a different world now, so that can be a factor also. Other than that, I’m out of ideas.

This was this Chapter’s corner eting. I hope you all have pleasant dreams tonight.

A banshee is crying inside a forest. Crying in horrifying tones like their throat is mangled by a wire, turned 180 degrees, burned and drowned. Still it manages to make ear shattering sounds that are hard to decipher. The banshee cries "Where are my sons, papa dearest? Where are my sons? You promised that I could see them again if I do good, so where are they? Oh papa dearest, oh papa dearest, give

my long awaited reward and let

see my sons again. I promise that I’ll give that man an opportunity to see them also, so please papa dearest, please let

see them again. Oh please papa dearest. Papa dearest oh please."

anwhile in the abyss. Maumar feels a disturbance in the forces while he is doing his grave business, so he says "Soone is cooking sothing in the middle realm. Could it be Razzter? No, too subtle for their antics. Leviathan? No, it is happening in the land. Maybe an oripleater? Hmmm... no, I don’t feel that the aetherlines have been tampered with. Or it could be lemunians? Hmmm... On second thought, they tend to cause a different kind of disturbance. How about an rockster? No, I don’t think that the ore veins in the middle realm are the kind that they fancy. It couldn’t be Zolotifa, could it? Let

check if she is in the abyss or has any tethers in the three realms.

Maumar goes to a place where he expects Zolotifa to be, and sees that she is doing sothing, but not in the middle realm. Then he thinks "While I’m at it, I might as well." Then he walks to Zolotifa and says "Hey daughter. Papa has co to visit you." To this Zolotifa says from the darkness "Go away Maumar. I’m busy."

Maumar then says "Papa was just wondering if you could finally call him papa." Then he opens his arms as if expecting a hug. To this, Zolotifa reacts by saying "Why would I give you what you want when I haven’t gotten the reward that I was promised all those millennia ago?"

Maumar then says "Co on now, my child. You know that your reward will co in ti. So why don’t you give your papa a sincere "papa" treatnt, hmmm?" And Zolotifa responds with "Old man. Would you please go and die?"

Maumar then places his hand to his ear as if he isn’t hearing correctly. Then he says "What was that? Papa didn’t quite hear what his little mystic horror was saying." And Zolotifa says "Go. Fuck. Your. Self. Old. Man."

Then Maumar takes two signs that have "pa" in both of them and starts waving them while chanting with his monotone voice "Go go, Zolotifa. Go go go. Who is your papa? I am you papa. So say it with

p-a-p-a... paaapa. Paaapa. Paaapa." Zolotifa just stays silent, which makes Maumar feel the heaviness of the "air" around them.

Then Maumar says "Please... my child... don’t leave your papa hanging." Zolotifa stays silent for a while longer, until she says to him "You attached the signs upside down, shit face." Maumar lowers the signs, sees that she was correct and so he says casually "So it would seem."

Maumar stares at the signs for a solid minute in contemplation, until he has a sudden realization and says as excitedly as he can in his monotone voice "I changed my mind. Call

dada." Zolotifa shouts at "the top of her longues" "FUCK OFF!!!"

And so Maumar leaves the room and wonders "Why did I go see her again?" He stares at the ceiling for a solid minute in contemplation, and then cos to the conclusion "Well... At least she called

her old man this ti, so let’s call this ti a victory for team papa." He starts to walk sowhere as he speaks to himself "I better go brag about it to... um... I suppose Li Last will do." The ntion of Li Last makes him pause for another solid minute. Then he repeats "Li Last... Li Last... Li... Last... LiLast..." Then he changes his face to the most surprised face that he can muster, which isn’t much of a change, and says "So the disturbance was him." He walks so more, then pauses for a couple seconds this ti and asks "Why was it so important?"

Then, like in sothing that is shown in a kindergarten TV is shown:

"Today, Maumar-kun learned a valuable lesson. "Sotis if you try to search for sothing too hard, you lose the very aning of what was important." So rember kids be like Maumar-kun and just accept your losses if you can’t rember sothing."

Maumar closes the TV and says "A valuable lesson indeed." Then so text starts to run down the screen reminding that if you start to have too many issues regarding your mory, you should...

But then Maumar shuts down a TV and says while looking away "I doubt that you didn’t expect this... but I can actually smi...!"

Maumar shuts down another tv and says to the filming crew "I think it should be pretty clear by now, but I cannot actually smile. But I can bend reality quite easily in the abyss, so this is why I can do..."

Then another TV shuts down and Maumar looks at the cara with a thumb up "This..." Then Maumar walks to a mirror as a narrator starts to speak saying "Have you ever thought that sotis, jokes go so long that they end up not being funny anymore? Have you ever thought that word is fully dood by brain rot? Well look no further as we have a solution for you! Here... plastic!" Maumar receives a cheese wrapped in plastic and asks "What do I do with this?" To which the narrator says "You eat it, of course!" Maumar tries to say "But there’s no way that it’s..." The narrator interrupts him and says "Of course it’s safe! Just look at all those seagulls! Not suffering from any brain rot now! And what did they need to do?! Eat plastic! Yes! Eat plastic! A whole lot of...!"

Then another TV shuts down and Maumar looks at the filming crew and says "We all know that this is just a joke, right? There aren’t really people who take advice from a not so popular novel which has an author clearly having a few screws loose, right? Especially when they are making a cody bit about one of their most powerful character’s ability to warp things to his liking as long as they are inside the abyss, right?" Maumar hears a lot of "Pip pip. Pip pip-pip. Pip-pip pip-pip-pip. Pip pip." And other noises that a regular human wouldn’t understand. Then text starts to roll that says to the audience that it is important to converse with your crew about all kinds of matters. Especially those that involve the work in any shape or form. Because a good work environnt is one where workers can talk freely about their lives without being made fun of. Being able to make criticism about the work itself can also bring along ideas on how to improve the work environnt or the very work that you do. Just rember, when a client is in an ear shot, avoid...

And another TV shuts down as Maumar says "I think that should cover..." But then a shadowy figure opens the door that leads to Zolotifa’s room. Zolotifa walks towards Maumar and asks sincerely "Old man, could you please not do this in front of my room? Your shenanigans are making

lose focus on what I’m doing, so could you do this sowhere else?" Then Maumar says "My child. Of course I’ll listen to your request. I wouldn’t dare to cause discomfort to my very own flesh and blood."

Zolotifa says "Thanks old man... I..." But then Maumar says "All you need to do is call

papa with sincerity, and we are all good." Zolotifa is speechless for a while. She breaths deep in... and out... in... and out...

Then Maumar says "I see that you have been working on your anger issues my child. Your papa is very proud of you. While we are at it, let’s try to think of so things that we are happy about. I’m happy to have such an amazing daughter in my life. Now your turn, daughter." Zolotifa answers "I... I’m glad that you aren’t able to make any facial expressions. Because if you had that ability, I’m sure I would have punched the stupid smirk off your face by now." Maumar says "Zolotifa... I..." Then Maumar looks at the cara and says "And that is how you make up with your daughter..." Zolotifa says "Wait..." And Maumar says "This has been Maumar and Zolotifa. Signing out." Zolotifa shouts while trying to attack Maumar "DON’T YOU FUCKING DA...!!!"

Then Maumar shuts down another TV and says "I think it’s about ti I leave for real before..." Then Zolotifa’s room’s door opens and all Maumar can hear is "MAUMAAARRR!!!"