SIS B4: Chapter 116: Worry and War Gains

"Stop, that," Madison ordered her.

Rose glanced down and noticed that she had subconsciously begun biting on her fingernails in worry.

Who could blame her? Her idiot of a brother had just entered the mythical city of the Truthians with nothing but a Star of Eternity and Rimmy by his side.

Logic would dictate that he should already be a cold corpse on the ground, dead at the hands of those cardinals but he had somehow avoided death numerous times even despite having the system ripped away from him.

Rose couldn't explain how he had done that and her guesses had proofed fruitless, so she was beset with apprehension and concern over how he had done that and how he was faring in the mythical city.

"Sorry," Rose replied. "It's just nerve-wracking. I have no idea how he plans to survive an explosion that could easily destroy our entire planet if not for it being in a trial phase. The cardinals in one thing, but a Star of Eternity is something else entirely."

Madison used her Ember of Expression to arch her eyebrows up in disapproval. "Have, faith. It, Daz."

Vanessa, who was also present, nodded. "Right? I mean, that fight was insane! He beat five cardinals at once. At once!" The German teen sighed. "I doubt I could win against even a single one even if I had access to the system."

"I'm sure you could. You're... amazing," Rose replied instinctively before immediately refusing to meet her eyes with the older girl.

"Thanks! That's sweet of you. By the way, that thing you were worried about?" Vanessa asked as she gestured to her phone. "It's fine. Barely anyone is criticising Daz online. They're more mad at the Truthians than anything for not taking his warnings seriously. Of course, some people think he was needlessly cruel but they're a minority. Hate for Truthians is pretty universal... Ah, uh, there are some concerns about Crusher though..."

Madison nodded. "Strong. Very, strong. Maybe, more, Daz. Concerns, of, dissent?"

"More or less," Vanessa laughed awkwardly.

Rose shook her head. "Not a genuine concern since she'll be pushed out of Earth in a month and if my idiot brother actually is immortal or something, he could, in theory, beat her in a fight if it came down to it. She's wild but she is loyal."

"Right? It's so weird no one trusts her," Vanessa complained. "She's a fun person to talk to. I like her nicknaming habit."

Rose scowled. "I don'-"

A defeating boom interrupted her as the windows shattered and the building they were in began to quake with a fury that of the tales of Ragnarok.

Rose silently cursed herself mentally for likening what was likely an incredibly serious event with some fictitious. 'Then again, Asgard, Helheim, Valhalla, Jotunheim, all of those places could actually be mythical cities...'

Vanessa quickly grabbed Rose's wheelchair to keep her stable while Madison unsheathed Family and scanned their surroundings.

As quickly as the boom had arrived, it vanished along with the shaking though the damage had already been done.

Rose quickly tapped away at her laptop. "That... That was Daz."

Madison turned to face her. "What?"

"That... explosion... Holy fuck. The sound and the earthquake? The entire planet both heard and felt that. We're lucky we have such a robust construction industry. Some cities around the world had entire complexes collapse," Rose explained as the ringing in her ears began to die down a bit.

Vanessa spun her and her chair around to face her. She brought her hands up to Rose's face and stared into her eyes.

"W-What?" Rose stuttered as her face flushed.

The bright blue eyes of the girl she was convinced she loved made her heart pound and her palms clam up as they gazed right into her soul.

Vanessa grinned sweetly. "Good, you're okay. I'm gonna go make sure no one got hurt by the windows shattering. You'll be fine with the recording of Daz and the media attention this is gonna get, right?"

Rose nodded mutely.

Vanessa bopped her on the nose before jumping onto the window frame. "That's my Rose. Seeya later."

"..." Madison stared at Rose and she could tell her mother-figure was just exuding joy from the way her eyes looked.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," she replied to the loud silence with a sigh.

"You, two, cute," Madison chuckled.

"Whatever. You aren't going to go check on the city too?" Rose asked, keen to get rid of her.

Madison shook her head. "Keep, you, safe."

She then pointed at the baby dragon that was sleeping in the corner of the room. It had jolted awake during the explosion but apparently it's sleep was too important to not immediately return to after confirming nothing was wrong.

"Lazy. Growing, can't, protect, you. Truthians, maybe, still, hiding, somewhere. Me, Mr, Barrier, keep, safe," Madison explained.

Mr Barrier also chimed in with one of those odd purrs of his.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Fine, just, no more teasing about Vanessa, okay? I get enough of that from Daz as is... I have to confess to now since I've confirmed he's alive and speeding back here with Crusher in tow..."

"No, promises," Madison answered.

"Ha-ah... Whatever. I need to see if Daz's camera is still even in one piece, let alone working. Today's gonna only get more stressful," she said more to herself than to Madison.

***

A few minutes earlier, in Massachusetts, Daz found himself to be surrounded by complete darkness. He also couldn't move his body.

'I feel... incorporeal,' he noted mentally when a message popped into his mind.

[Do you wish to die?]

'No,' he answered.

[Then persist in loneliness.]

Intense pain assaulted his mind as he felt his body being reconstructed cell by cell. The process took what felt like aeons but was likely only seconds or minutes by Daz's estimates.

Once he was whole again, he could see that while he was still mostly surrounded by darkness, there was light pouring in from above.

Thankfully, his armour had survived, even if only barely. He replaced his clothes and let the equipment repair itself while he took stock of his surroundings.

"I'm in the hole Crusher made, aren't I? That or a new one but the explosion shouldn't have escaped the mythical city," he observed aloud.

A flood of messages and notifications from the system made themselves apparent, seemingly having waited for both access to the system to be restored and for him to gather his bearings.

[Congratulations! You have successfully fulfilled your set requirements to win [The 7-day War for Religious Freedom].]

[Rewards
The state of Wisconsin now belongs to New Earth.
The state of Iowa now belongs to New Earth.
The state of Missouri now belongs to New Earth.
The state of Arkansas now belongs to New Earth.
The state of Louisiana now belongs to New Earth.
The state of Illinois now belongs to New Earth.
The state of Michigan now belongs to New Earth.
The state of Indiana now belongs to New Earth.
The state of Kentucky now belongs to New Earth.
The state of Tennessee now belongs to New Earth.
The state of Mississippi now belongs to New Earth.
The state of Alamaba now belongs to New Earth.
The state of Ohio now belongs to New Earth.
The state of Georgia now belongs to New Earth.
The state of Florida now belongs to New Earth.
The state of Maine now belongs to New Earth.
The state of New York now belongs to New Earth.
The state of New Hampshire now belongs to New Earth.
The state of Massachusetts now belongs to New Earth.
The state of Rhode Island now belongs to New Earth.
The state of Connecticut now belongs to New Earth.
The state of New Jersey now belongs to New Earth.
The state of Delaware now belongs to New Earth.
The state of Maryland now belongs to New Earth.
The state of Virginia now belongs to New Earth.
The state of West Virginia now belongs to New Earth.
The state of North Carolina now belongs to New Earth.
The state of South Carolina now belongs to New Earth.]

'So the Truthians impossible to convert or convince to surrender were all inside the cathedral? That means any remaining Truthians can be reasoned with if the need arrives. Still, this victory also means Danielle was killed in both body and soul... That seems unlikely given her final statements...' Daz had no answer for this issue.

All he could do for now was continued to read the system messages.

[Congratulations! The host has successfully become the sole ruler of 68% of [The United States of America]'s citizens, making the host the majority ruler. In the next 24-hours, all remaining rulers in [The United States of America] shall be given the chance to dispute your greater rule. Disputes can be handled either with political or military means. Once all disputes are resolved or if the 24-hour time period expires, then the host shall become the uncontested ruler of all of [The United States of America].

Dispute List:
Empty]

'I expect the esper family still lingering will contest to this, as will Larry Billard. Maybe even the politicians holing up in Washington state,' Daz thought as he moved on.

[Congratulations! The host has earned a new title. Due to surviving the force of a Star of Eternity being shattered, the host has gained the [Wasteful Survivor] title.]     

[Title: Wasteful Survivor
Every time you destroy something highly dangerous, highly valuable, and highly volatile, there is a 1% chance you will retain the object being destroyed. This percentage chance cannot be influenced by fate, luck, or other such methods of manipulation.]

"Interesting. Not that I have any more stars to make go boom, but that's still a somewhat useful title despite the specificity and the low odds," Daz commented as he summoned Hamson and stood atop it.

As he ascended the large chasm, he looked over the last of his messages all at once.

[Ember of Empathy [Entry-level] initial mastery increased to 20%.]
[Ember of Empathy [Entry-level] initial mastery increased to 21%.]

'Not an unexpected gain considering I truly tried to understand Mother Danielle's reasoning,' Daz thought.

[Ember of Endurance [Entry-level] initial mastery increased to 98%.]
[Ember of Endurance [Entry-level] initial mastery increased to 99%.]
[Ember of Endurance [Entry-level] initial mastery increased to 100%.]

[Congratulations! The host has gained complete mastery of the entry-level state of the [Ember of Endurance]. The host now has a rudimentary understanding of the beginner-level state of the [Ember of Endurance].]

[Ember of Endurance [Beginner-level] initial mastery increased to 1%.]
[Ember of Endurance [Beginner-level] initial mastery increased to 2%.]
[Ember of Endurance [Beginner-level] initial mastery increased to 3%.]
[Ember of Endurance [Beginner-level] initial mastery increased to 4%.]
[Ember of Endurance [Beginner-level] initial mastery increased to 5%.]
[Ember of Endurance [Beginner-level] initial mastery increased to 6%.]
[Ember of Endurance [Beginner-level] initial mastery increased to 7%.]

Daz nodded though he didn't smile. He wasn't in the mood for joy.

'I need to test my passive durability now along with my endurance when utilising the Ember's energy. Crusher's likely the best person to use for that when we have some free time,' Daz thought as he finally exiting the massive hole.

What met his eyes was an empty expanse with cracks in the earth all around him. "Fantastic. While it didn't blow up the planet, it seems it did have a massive effect on the surrounding area. I was a fool to expect anything less."

Daz wondered how far-reaching these effects were. He was about to pull out his earpiece from his Industrial Item Box to contact Rose when Crusher floated into view, mounted on her hammer in a similar way as him on his shovel.

"Yo. Quite the explosion, huh? Good job on winnin'. Got a system notif that the kingdom wasn't at war anymore. Was wonderin' How ya did it," she said with a big grin spread across her lips.

"I'll explain in a public press conference. I don't really have the energy to do so now," Daz replied coldly. "We need to return to Fort Home and see if these cracks are localised."

Crusher chuckled. "They ain't. I already got a call from Hotwheels. Whole world's got these big ol' ravines in 'em. Lot of people are dead or displaced."

Daz slowly inclined his head back and exhaled deeply. "I see."

His trust in the system's power and abilities had once again been deeply shaken. He had little faith in it to begin with but for it to be unable to contain the effects of his actions today despite claiming it could?

He knew what he had done was insane, of course. He had used a distorted fragment of reality itself to blow up a mythical city. Naturally, Daz knew that came with risks.

However, the system clearly was desperate to add Earth into its fold for whatever reason. He had even checked personally and it had said the damage of the explosion would be minimal-to-null when being detonated within a mythical city.

"I need more," Daz said aloud.

"More what? Ravines? I mean, I don't use a bladed weapon but I could figure somethin' out if that was a re-"

Daz stopped her with a raised palm. "I appreciate the enthusiasm, but no. I wasn't talking about the ravines."

No. He was talking about the Star of Eternity. The only way he could stop relying on the system even for background things like protecting Earth from his actions during its trial phase, was to make all of its granted strength his own.

"Let's go back. I need to own up to this and make promises to fix it. I also need to reveal you to the world so we don't look vulnerable after having endured a war. It'll also help us to more simply annex the rest of the nations and kingdoms out there," Daz explained as he began moving.

Crusher flew by his side and roared with laughter. "Never thought I'd be critical in a plan for world domination, but here I am!"

"Indeed, here you are," Daz answered plainly.