Free Web NovelChapter 114: Chapter 113 - Frightening Self-Delusion
Point-of-View: Neo Cronje
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What a mess...I was, admittedly, a bit nervous when the higher ups initially assigned Kechik to this mission, but I honestly never thought it’d end up this badly. Aurora came absurdly close to killing him, and based on what Liling and Inoka told me, he was definitely asking for it.
And Inoka did a really, really half-assed job of healing him too, he did as he said he would and healed all of Kechik’s potentially fatal injuries, but absolutely nothing beyond that.
I asked Liling to heal him a bit more, and even she, of all people, was apprehensive about it. That’s really rare, even if she dislikes someone, she’s usually the type who’d smile and put up with it anyway.
Kechik won’t have any lasting detrimental effects, but his face is bound to be heavily scarred by the time he recovers. And his teeth are in pretty bad shape too, they can be reattached using Healing, but the broken bits can’t be repaired with that technique.
Inoka’s the only one who can fully heal him, but of course, he adamantly refuses to do so. So his only option is to get fillings at the dentist.
Anyway, after we informed the villagers of what had happened and that we were going to keep Beelzebub locked up until his possession ends, I portaled the two Outliers back to the Antarctican base, sent Kechik to a different base with a talented Light Skill user for further healing, and took Liling with me to report what happened to the higher ups.
In her report, she was very clearly vilifying Kechik while painting Aurora in a more sympathetic and positive light. The higher ups weren’t very pleased with us, despite the mission having been a success.
I then chimed in and made it clear to the higher ups that under no circumstances can anyone be allowed to antagonize Aurora. If she’s ever driven to the point where she decides to leave Harmony, we’ll be screwed.
First off, the other Outliers are almost certain to side with her if it ever came to that. And having her as an enemy is an incredibly frightening notion, and a scenario that I’d prefer to avoid at all costs. As a threat, she’d probably be on par with most high level Vampires.
Her immense Aura is just the tip of the iceberg, as Kechik found out the hard way. And he’s no weakling by any stretch of the imagination. He’s been widely considered to be the fastest Meta-Human in the current era, at least in Harmony, with his ability to combine the Physical, Electro and Aero Skills in unison for immense boosts in speed.
And despite that fact, he was absolutely crushed in a drastically one-sided fight in no time. Honestly, calling that a fight feels like a bit of a stretch, it was more like a beatdown...that’s how emphatically he was defeated. freewēbnoveℓ.com
And I sincerely doubt that the Outliers will ever agree to working with him again, especially not Aurora or Inoka. No doubt they’re telling the others about what happened, so the rest would probably disagree too.
Meanwhile, the Monster outbreaks all across the world are finally starting to die down, and the most recent ones were relatively minor outbreaks. But it was just making me all the more nervous...the fact that Chaos are slowing down with triggering Monster outbreaks, could it mean that they’re moving on to a different plan?
There’s also the matter of the island where all those religious fanatics are gathering, it’s been several days already, why hasn’t Dracula attacked them? What’s he waiting for? Just what kind of sinister plan is he cooking up with Chaos...?
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Point-of-View: Anarchy/???
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"Why have we not attacked that island yet? What exactly are we waiting for?" Inquired Dracula with an impatient frown.
"Now, now, relax and be patient, Drac. All in good time...we’re gonna let them gather a bit more, and then let them assume that they’ve scared you off or something. And then, once they let their guards down, boom! We swoop in and massacre them, plunging them into deep despair and panic before killing them!" I surmised with a smirk.
"...are you serious? That is really the reason why we have waited all this time?" He responded incredulously.
"Well, yeah. We’re gonna make as big an impact as possible with this!" I grinned emphatically.
"No."
"Huh? What do you mean, no?"
"I mean that I am done waiting. I insist that we attack them today...otherwise, I see no reason to continue cooperating with you," He remarked icily, as his eyes began glowing.
Yikes...
"Okay, okay, fine! No need to get all testy! How about this...I’ll take you to the island today if, afterwards, you do a little something for me?" I requested with a grin.
"Hm...what do you want?" He replied with narrowed eyes.
"We’re just gonna stir things up with Harmony and make them panic a bit...by portaling you to the base where the Outliers are, and then having you fight them. Oh, but don’t kill them, just beat them up a little bit. Deal?" I offered objectively.
"That sounds like a tiresome and unnecessary thing to do, but very well. You have a deal," He responded with a sigh, after mulling it over.
"Alright, then...how about we head over to the island in, say, two hours from now?" I suggested, after checking the time.
"That is fine by me."
"Cool. So, need any back up or whatnot?" I asked him.
"No. I shall do this myself," He replied firmly, before glancing at the time and waving the back of his hand at me, "Now, leave me. Come back in two hours."
Wow, it’s kinda rude to put it like that, and his hand, it’s like he’s shooing me away. But it’s fine, he’s Dracula, so he gets to be rude...
...
A couple of hours later, I returned with Glenn, Dracula looking up impatiently as we entered.
"Finally...let us go right away," He remarked as he stood up and approached us, his eyes starting to gleam a crimson red.
"Sure thing, my guy!"
"Er, what?"
"But first, check this out," I grinned, as I showed him a live stream from the island.
"Hm? What is this?" He responded curiously.
I then increased the volume...
"I believe we’ve done it! There has been no sign of the one who calls himself Dracula for days, this can only mean one thing...out fervent prayers have been answered, God has struck down that vile monster! Or perhaps the gathering of all of us faithful believers has terrified the pitiful beast!"
"How repulsive," Grimaced Dracula in disgust.
Yeah, can’t argue with that.
"Let’s keep up these efforts for a while yet, and ensure that our prayers eradicate every last trace of that freak!"
"They keep calling me by various insulting names...I shall enjoy killing them all. Still, their level and intensity of self-delusion is rather frightening," He frowned disdainfully.
"Yeah, you got that right. So, now that you’re all nice and fired up, what do you say we go kill them all?" I suggested with a smirk.
"Indeed, but I shall be doing the killing myself, you can stand back and watch from a safe distance."
"Aw, fine, I guess. Ooh, I know, when we portal you there, you should totally be all like ’haha, I killed your God, your prayers were useless!’ or something along those lines?" I proposed with a grin.
"Hm...yes, that could be quite amusing. Perhaps I shall give it a try," He mused in response.
"O-okay, I’m opening the portal...I’ll drop you off at the spot right behind where they’re recording this live stream. Is that okay?" Glenn asked Dracula.
"Yes, that will be perfect, thank you," Nodded Dracula in approval.
For some reason, he seems to like Glenn, while he always looks kinda annoyed when he sees me or some of the other members of Chaos. Oh, and as for the young woman who’d been with him, Camelia, was currently being trained in how to use her newfound powers, as a Vampire Kinsmen of Dracula.
As Glenn then opened up the portal, Dracula walked through it, his expression darkening slightly as he stepped into it, while I kept my eye on the live stream.
"Okay, quick, open up a portal for us to peek through, let’s go for a bird’s eye view!" I exclaimed, as Glenn nodded before opening another portal, and I poked my head through it.
There he is, I see him! Looks like they haven’t noticed him yet, they’re too caught up in their delusions, those religious nutjobs.
Suddenly, cries of pain rang out as several spikes burst out from the ground, skewering through dozens of people in the blink of an eye, as Dracula stepped onto the platform and announced himself, getting everyone’s attention...
"I am Dracula, and I have come here to grant your collective death wish! Remember this when you die...coming to this island was the biggest mistake of your lives..."
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