Chapter 298: No other choice [1/2]
If you told people that someone they loved was going to end the world, most people would react in three predictable outcomes.
First, there would be those who believed in the greater good. These were the ones who were so caught up in the society that they would stone their own children if society said so. I call them the sheep.
Then you had the group that would try to investigate further. These people would believe in the judicial system or the authorities as the ultimate decision maker.
They might choose to either listen to the decision or reject it, but they would usually follow the truth. To me, they would be called the common men.
Finally, there was the group that would never take the words of another over their loved one. These people were the crazy ones who could not be reasoned with.
If their loved one told them that the church or the state was evil, it was only this group that had no qualms about murdering every single member of both. This group would be called the lunatics.
I already knew. Just from the battle earlier in the night, the Sirens and I were part of the lunatics. No matter what the world told me, I would never forsake the Sirens. And they likewise would never abandon me.
I reached out and pulled Bella into my arms. If I had originally thought of her as nothing more than a walking armory, in the short time we had, she has become irreplaceable to me.
This woman, while a known terrorist to the world, was nothing other than my devoted spouse. In the face of such loyalty, no man could remain unmoved.
After a brief and passionate kiss, I asked my South American lover as I licked her neck. "Mrs. Code, honey, can you please tell me what Zack told you?"
"Ah. Um. Ah," Bella moaned seductively.
"Master, I think you are favoring Bella-san a little too much," Aki complained with a pout.
Finding her jealously adorable, I teased Aki and the rest of the Sirens, "Is that so? Then I will spoil the first one who tells me."
"{KNEEL}!"
A sudden death resonance caused the entire room to kneel. In the midst of our confusion, a blonde Italian woman quickly approached me and sat on my knee.
"How incorrigible." "That is dirty Josephine-san." "Jo, you are going too far." "Well played." "Get stuffed, slag!" "Fucking nut job!"
As if gloating over her victory, Jo wrapped her arms around my neck and took my lips. Her passion, as expected from the land of lovers, was intense. After satisfying her desire, she abruptly pulled away, leaving me wanting more.
"Darling, Zach said you would bring about the apocalypse. He said you would leave the world a wasteland with nothing but a mountain of corpses."
{Thou art a blinking idiot, despite all thine sacrifice none rememberth thee. Time after time thou aimed to try the impossible.}
Zach's words reminded me of the dreams I had seen, the seven men all had different environments, but in all of them the only thing present was... the dead beyond number.
"..."
"He said that at first you would fight the undead, but eventually you would turn against the living. Destroying everything until nothing would remain."
{Unprevailing it haply thou continue to fight. Not one of thy so-called allies remain. They all fell, betrayed or deserted thou!}
"And that if we had truly loved you, we should leave you before the Seeker's war. According to him, by staying with you, we would give you nothing but misery."
{E'en thy beloved kindred are no more! No matter which life, thou hast failed to save any of 'em! Forbear thy resistance! What more could thou even hope to achieve?!}
"John Smith. I will ask one last time. It is impossible for you to come out of this unscathed. If you join the war, you can never go back. You will have to give up something to protect, as well as kill."
Was I thinking too much? It felt like Zach's warnings, like Roland's, were saying the same thing as the serpent.
"Darling?"
Jo then gently lifted my face to hers. Her eyes seemed sad.
"Darling, are you okay? Did Liv hit you too hard?"
Hearing her cute concern, I invoked my own resonance and broke Jo's command over me and the rest of the Sirens. Then I wrapped my arms around her slender waist and buried my face in her abundant bosom.
"Kya, darling, your breath tickles!"
"Thank you for telling me, Jo. Everyone, do you mind if we stretch our legs now?" I appealed to my wives.
"Hmm. There are only three hours left before the night is over. I don't mind, dear."
The other Sirens all accepted my suggestion and we left the meeting room. Many things had already happened that night.
First, the Sirens and I were ambushed, which ended with the Sirens killing them all. Lilly also quit her job and fully joined my side.
Then the Sirens proceeded to beat up the 2nd Amendment, Golden Wick, and then Golden Wick's rapists. Jo eventually created Vela's Wolves as my third squad.
Bella on the other hand started to manage the LLG. The meetings ended with Aki, Jas, and Robyn making requests for their squads. Lilly also had Addison make something for her.
Not a minute later, I was kidnapped by Roland and had a fight with Raymond and Xander. Then they shared the effects of my actions with me.
I came back here and comforted the Sirens, who had also been beaten by Zach. Then I had to pamper the girls to calm them down.
There was barely three hours left before the night ended. While Phantoms could stay longer, the girls and I had not had any sleep at all since yesterday.
In truth, the reason I wanted to stretch my legs was that I needed to clear my head.
The whole thing with the Serpent was starting to get on my nerves. I didn't want to tell the Sirens until I knew what the fuck these dreams were. How could I tell them that I saw visions of them cosplaying and dying horribly.
As if that were not enough, Roland and Zach's warnings felt dangerous. Everything they said up to this point indicated that the turning point would be my Seeker War. Whether it was the wars or the floor breaks that would naturally follow, it made me hesitant.
Of course, I have no intention of just letting Robert take my head. But when you knew that your next actions would affect and possibly destroy the world, it was human nature to pause.
I told Roland that I would continue to kill the undead even if I lost the Sirens. But of course, there was a big difference between being ignorant and knowing when and how I would lose them.
'Roland was right, unlike when I was alive, I have much to lose now.'
As if sensing my troubled mind, the Sirens remained silent and walked with me. After leaving the meeting rooms, we unknowingly ended up at the dispatch office. Hundreds of Reapers were lined up in front of the clerks looking for jobs.
However, the moment the people looked in our direction, the sounds suddenly stopped. There was an eerie silence as we crossed the lines. The people acted as if they saw a pack of wolves passing by.
I looked back and saw my girls all covered in blood with fierce expressions.
'What the hell? My girls are scary as fuck!'