[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 195 - At the Edge of Ruin

Heavy snowfall fluttered from above, covering the tragedy that had unfolded. The wall breach had taken many victims. Blood and gore was scattered all around the base of the wall, and many were still being dragged away to get help, if they could even be helped at all.

Right beside the base of the newly rebuilt wall stood a small group. They were the elites who were at the forefront of the city defense, surrounding the seemingly almighty four-star adjudicator. 

A bit further away was a small group of stern-looking bodyguards. To most, this group didn’t seem particularly eye-catching, but that was only because most people didn’t realize that every person standing there was a three-star.

From the perspective of most people there, this small gathering was something they would usually never see in their life. And in many ways, it was a sight straight out of a fairy tale. A group of heroes conferring with the local authority on how best to continue, right after having slammed shut the jaws of catastrophe.

Unfortunately, this was no sight from a fairy tale. 

It was a sight straight out of a horror story.

The silence that settled after the adjudicator’s words was so thick one could cut it with a knife. It was a somber moment, one that suddenly changed everything about the crisis they were facing. 

It was one thing for there to be an ether virus spreading from monster to monster. 

It was a different thing altogether for it to affect humans, too.

Suddenly, the risk of staying anywhere near this city went up, drastically. 

Far beyond what most people would be willing to tolerate. 

“That can’t be,” Freddy said. He was looking at the ground, his eyes wide open and bloodshot as he clenched his fists. “That can’t be…”

“I’m afraid it’s the truth,” the adjudicator said again, sighing deeply. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t even extract any information from the culprits. As soon as they were apprehended, they just… shut off. Almost as if someone had pulled their souls out of their bodies. Clearly, this strange influence had total power of them. I just wish we knew how they were infected, but still… regardless of how it happened, it’s not a good look. At all.”

Freddy’s gaze flickered over the faces of the young elites. Even though he knew what he would see, the looks on their faces still made his stomach drop. Emily looked annoyed. Peri looked solemn. Georgie briefly met his gaze and gave him an apologetic smile before awkwardly looking away. “You’re all going to leave, aren’t you?”

Emily scoffed. “I’m not such a coward that something like this would scare me. But I don’t call the shots. If those fogeys want me out, they’ll drag me out.”

“I’m going to stay,” Georgie said, surprising everyone. But even then, she still looked apologetic. “Unlike Miss Umbra, I don’t have a particularly doting father. Mine is more than willing to let me die if I want to. But for everyone else who came with me…”

Freddy groaned. “Shit.”

She gave him a lop-sided smile. “I can’t make their decisions for them. I don’t treat my men like disposable tools. Their contracts allow them to exit in cases of unreasonable risk. This is certainly one such case. While I don’t surround myself with cowards, only fools like myself will choose to stay. And most of my men aren’t fools.” She looked away again. “I’m sorry.”

Freddy’s gaze moved to Peri. He wanted to ask her about the construction workers. But he couldn’t even open his mouth. Those who had blown up the wall had no doubt been part of her company. For them to have access to the inside of the wall, they had to have been important people. 

With this incident, the odds of anyone staying behind to maintain the wall were nonexistent. And there was nothing Freddy could do to change that. Without them around, any further damage would be permanent.

Without them… Just one more incident like this…

Even without words, his gaze conveyed his feelings well enough.

Peri suddenly looked a little ill. The hand holding her staff shook a little as she slowly breathed out. She bowed to the adjudicator. “I am sorry. We’ll run an investigation into what happened. If it was our fault in any way, we’ll compensate you appropriately.”

“Spare your apologies,” the adjudicator said. “It is clear enough already that the fault doesn’t lie with your company. This bizarre influence is simply more dangerous than we anticipated.”

Freddy suddenly stepped in, “Hold up.” He raised his hand. 

If he was being honest, he didn’t even know what to say. But at that moment, he was desperate to change the mood of the conversation. “Something’s wrong here.” Everyone turned to look at him and he continued. “There is no way this ‘ether virus’ can spread to humans. That would violate a fundamental rule of reality.”

Everyone looked at him with complete bewilderment. Emily broke into laughter. “A fundamental rule of reality? Pray tell—what the flying fuck are you talking about?”

He cringed. “I…” He thought back to the vision of the being that Insanity had shown him, and the truth about the world it had enlightened him to. The way the world worked wasn’t fair, but there were some things that were ‘balanced’ so to speak. An ether virus that could take people’s minds over wasn’t something that could exist. It just couldn’t. 

That was simply too ‘unfair,’ for the lack of a better way to put it. 

The only way for this to happen… was if those people had willingly surrendered themselves to its influence. 

But as he stood there, chewing on his words, he realized that no matter what he said, he’d probably just sound like a total lunatic. He gritted his teeth. “Look, it’s hard to explain, but I guarantee you that this influence can’t spread to people without their consent.”

The posture of everyone present shifted. Especially Peri, who was glaring daggers at him. “Are you suggesting my people willingly surrendered themselves to this?”

“No!” he rushed. “Yes, actually—but wait, please! We don’t know the full story of what happened! They could have been coerced somehow! All I’m saying is… we shouldn’t jump to conclusions.”

Georgie suddenly stepped in. “No, he has a point. From what we know about ether, forcefully taking people’s minds over is impossible. Even the dream affinity, which specializes in directly affecting the mind, can’t do that.” 

“Just because we’ve never seen a method that can do it,” Emily rolled her eyes as she pointed out, “doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. We didn’t think ether viruses were a thing, either, but would you look at that!” she said sarcastically. 

“Look,” Freddy cut in again, facing Peri, who was still glaring at him. “I am not suggesting you people are at fault here. I’m just saying we don’t know exactly what happened to them.”

Emily snorted. “Does that really change anything?”

“Yes!” he insisted. “It means that this influence isn’t going to infect you just like that. If that was possible, there would be a number of such cases.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “Again, does that really change anything? Sure, they probably didn’t suddenly decide to accept a mind-controlling virus into their souls, but it got there somehow. That’s all anyone will actually care about.” She stared straight at Freddy. “Flimsy theories about the technicalities of how it works aren’t going to provide any comfort to people who will no longer feel safe behind these walls.”

And for the first time since he’s met the girl, she gave him something akin to a look of sympathy. “Look, I can tell you genuinely care, but you have to learn when to give up. You can choose to stubbornly keep going, but let’s be honest, we all know how things will play out from here on out. Anyone who can leave is going to leave. And those who can’t will die. For your own sake, I say cut your losses and dip.”

Freddy chuckled darkly. “You’re seriously suggesting I just leave all these people to die? If you don’t see any problem with that, then something is seriously wrong with you.”

Her mouth dropped wide open. “Ha! Okay, first of all, fuck right off with that moralizing shit! You have the choice to either leave and let everyone die or stay and watch everyone die. Sorry for not being delusional, I guess. Ugh.” She bared her teeth at him and angrily rolled her eyes.

Freddy ignored her as he turned to the adjudicator. “You have to be able to do something. Is there really no way to evacuate everyone?”

“I’ve already told you—”

“And I told you that’s bullshit!” Freddy shouted. “You say you represent the law, but fucking hell”—he whirled, punching the wall, leaving deep cracks where he struck—”you can’t tell me you don’t see how sick this whole situation is!” He glared at the adjudicator with bloodshot eyes. “Can you really bring yourself to watch it happen?” He took a quivering breath. “Can’t you at least get the children out.” 

The adjudicator’s expression darkened. “I can’t.”

Freddy’s expression grew even darker. “Hey Judge. Are you not here to ensure I stay on the side of the empire?” He stared deep into the adjudicator’s eyes. “Because I’m not feeling very loyal right now.”

The adjudicator’s eyes shifted. “Be careful with your words. One might interpret them as treasonous.” The man groaned as he shook his head. “I’ve already told you that you won’t achieve anything by crying about it. If you don’t like the way the empire runs things, get powerful enough to make the change yourself.”

“But what—” Freddy’s throat seized. He swallowed heavily as he whispered, “What am I supposed to do now…?” His whole body felt numb. He sagged, looking smaller than ever before in his life. His words came out in a tone he didn’t know he was capable of. “If I still can’t do anything but watch… then why did I even bother?” For a long moment, he waited for tears to arrive, but he just felt… hollow. 

The others looked on as he broke apart before them. And in their own eyes, a faint echo of his sentiment flashed for a brief moment. 

He had thought he was ready to fail. Their chances of success hadn’t been very high, to begin with. But without realizing it, he’d built up a delusion that everything would be fine. And things had been going smoothly. It just wasn’t fair. 

The adjudicator sighed deeply as he walked on over and placed a hand on Freddy’s shoulder. “You’re a good kid. And I don’t necessarily disagree with you. The empire is imperfect, and that’s if we’re being generous. But if there’s any one thing I like about the empire, it’s that anyone has the power to change it. And I know, this system isn’t exactly fair. But it's the closest thing to fair that actually works.”

Those words made Freddy’s eyes widen slightly. Those were damn-near the exact words that Insanity had told him. It was at that moment that he realized why the empire had grown so large and powerful when so many other countries had faced near-total ruin. 

It was because they had perfectly adapted to the way the post-Rift world worked. 

But if anything, that realization only made him feel greater despair. 

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Emily piped up, “You know, adjudicator, I do actually wonder why we can’t evacuate the residents.” 

Freddy turned to face her with wide eyes, suddenly feeling more than a little sorry for being rude to her. 

She continued, “I mean, we’re going to pull a whole bunch of people out, anyway. We could probably take half the city with us without much extra cost.”

The adjudicator looked torn at her suggestion. “It’s not a practical thing. It is just that the empire didn’t approve the evacuation.”

“Is it because of the ether virus?” Peri asked next. “If so, that makes no sense. With the nature of the interspace, it will certainly spread everywhere if it can, regardless of whether the refugees bring it with them. And even then, nobody is stopping our people from leaving,” she pointed out. “I have to agree with Mr. Stern and Miss Umbra. An evacuation makes the most sense.”

Georgie didn’t say anything, but she joined in on giving the adjudicator a pressing glare. 

The man looked quite put on the spot, and Freddy swore he could see a faint sheen of sweat break out on the man’s forehead. “You kids are putting me in a rather awkward position here. My job is to enforce the law. If you’re thinking I’m going to suddenly create a miracle, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but that isn’t going to happen.”

“It isn’t exactly a secret that the empire isn’t ruled by saints,” Georgie said with a frown, “but this just seems comically evil, even by their standards.”

“I have to agree,” Emily said, and Peri nodded her agreement. 

He couldn’t say it made him hopeful, but for what it was worth, seeing the young elites take his side filled Freddy with warmth. Shooting them a thankful nod, he joined in on staring at the adjudicator. 

The man finally sighed. “If you’re willing to allow me to use your family names, I might be able to petition the empire for formal approval.”

Freddy’s face lit up, and he gave the others a pleading look. 

Georgie shook her head with a wry grin. “My father will rake me over the coals for this, but sure. You have my consent.”

Emily nodded. “I’m for it.”

Peri nodded as well. 

Groaning, the adjudicator shook his head. “I will have an answer by the end of the day. Don’t get your hopes up.” And with those words, he ran off, leaping up the wall and making his way toward the central tower.

“Thank you,” Freddy said, turning to the others. “I mean it.”

Peri and Georgie gave him a nod while Emily simply scoffed as she ran towards her guards, likely to update them on the situation. 

“She isn’t a bad person,” Peri said. “I just wish she wasn’t so…”

“Annoying?” Georgie suggested with a smirk. “Yeah, me too.” She turned to face Freddy. “I’ll be honest with you, even though I’m planning to stay, I don’t have any hope we can turn things around by ourselves. I’m staying for the sake of pushing myself.”

“I still appreciate it,” Freddy said. 

She nodded at him. “Well then. Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that.” Then, she ran towards her guards, as well. 

Peri gave him a strange look. “Emily is right. It would be better if you left. Watching this whole thing unfold won’t be good for you. If it means anything, I think a two-star like you should have never been put in the position of being responsible for so many people in the first place. You have no moral obligation to do something so unreasonable.”

“I appreciate the advice,” Freddy said. Then suddenly, something within his eyes shifted as he stood a little straighter. “But I’m not going to give up so easily.” 

With a torn look, Peri gave him a curt nod and walked away.

Freddy turned around, looking for the rest of his team. He spotted them not too far away, helping out with keeping the incoming monsters away. There was an ebb in the tide, and not many monsters were coming through, so they weren’t exactly busy; in fact, they didn’t have anything to fight at the moment. 

He went over to them and immediately pulled Sophia aside. He briefly explained the situation to her.

With a sad look on her face, she tried to chuckle, but all it really amounted to was some air blown out her nose. “I had a feeling it would come to this.” She looked him dead in the eye. “Do you want me to make undead to fight back?”

He hesitated. “I’m begging you, Sophia.” He took a shivering breath to calm himself down. “I can summon Bloodshed, and that will make things easier. But regardless of how powerful of a Blood Sacrifice I make, Bloodshed’s range is limited.” He gestured at the wall spreading far in both directions. “It can’t cover everything.”

“I get it,” she said. Her head dropped, and her bangs flowed over her face, covering her eyes. “For a while already, I’ve been watching scared people pour into this city en masse. I’ve already made my decision long ago.” She looked up, revealing a resolved look in her eye. “If this whole thing goes to shit”—she grinned—”it won’t be my fault. I’ll do it.”

He breathed out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.” Anxiously glancing at the mostly empty plains before them, he said, “We don’t really have time to wait around. If we’re gonna do that, we have to get started immediately.”