Limitless The Strongest Revenant

As I walked along the stone paths on the way to the villa, I saw pure chaos. Reapers torn apart. Blood spilled so much it turned the ground red. Cries of pain and anguish. Yet none of it mattered.

While I decided not to kill the innocent, we had to kill those who resisted. This was war. And I was not strong enough to enforce complete and total surrender.

"Mistress! Run to the panic room!" "Monster! Unhand me!" "NOO!!!!" "WHO ARE YOU ALL!" "YOU! You are the Soldat Matriarch! You betrayed Africa!" "I CURSE YOU! I CURSE YOU!"

The wolves, much like the Vithriss, fought like shadows. My army stayed quiet, unlike their weapons, which roared like thunder. Like animals, those who resisted were all gunned down.

The Africans, for all their fighting prowess, were helpless in front of the Faker ammunition. Scales, thick hides, tough muscles—it was all the same.

The Shifters, unlike the Reborn, didn't change permanently. When they no longer had souls left, the soulforms ceased, and they became human again. For that reason, Fakers would kill them easily. Yet as they were ignorant, they didn't avoid the dangerous rounds.

As I contemplated, a loud explosion of light erupted! The sound drowned out all the screams and gunfire. I followed the source and saw the roof of the beach house completely destroyed. A powerful figure emerged from the room.

"CORONER! WHY HAVE YOU COME? ARE YOU INTENTIONALLY SEEKING AFRICA'S FALL?!"

A powerful voice resounded; it came from the Specter guarding the place. He wore tribal accessories but had the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a man. His right hand glowed with lightning while his left commanded an army of stone lances.

I then saw Eva Baker leap up from inside the building to the top of a wall. She had blood on her left arm but seemed fine. Her eyes turned into crystals as her limbs were covered in oil-like shadows.

"Yoh birdman, you're still fucking loud as ever. I don't really give a shit about your hellhole, but my lord needs you out." She replied arrogantly.

"HAS YOUR MADNESS FINALLY BROKEN YOUR MIND? YOU SUBORDINATE YOURSELF TO PHANTOMS WHEN YOUR GOAL IS PURE INSANITY! YOUR SON IS DEAD! ACCEPT IT! HE WILL NEVER COME BACK! YOU DON'T EVEN REMEMBER HIM!"

At the birdman's words, Eva flinched. However, even from where I stood, I felt the ground shake. Like a volcano on the verge of eruption, Eva's body began to tremble. If what the African Specter said was true, then Eva had a son; only he was already gone.

"You bird-brained fucker. I am going to kill you!" Eva declared as she vaulted into the sky. The beach house wall she stood on crumbled under her show of force. Parts of the original structure were also destroyed by the tremors.

[My lord, Eva Baker has begun to show signs of a soul collapse. Our targets have barricaded themselves in a Reaper safe room. Neither they nor the Vithriss can open it. How should we proceed?]

"Patch me through to Eva."

I gazed skyward to see Eva throw herself at the birdman. For some reason, he was clawing at his face. When the two collided, my {Vassal} then began raining punches and kicks on the African.

[You are now connected.]

[What do you want, Limitless?! I am busy!]

During someone's rampage, trying to tell them to calm down was fucking stupid. And as I was stupid, I said the opposite.

"Kick his ass before the prince arrives. Whether you kill him or not, I will take responsibility. You have {Rewind}, so go all out. If you think he is going to be a problem, kill him. Just try not to get other people involved. Fight in the sea or something."

Immediately I felt a colossal wave of soul erupt from her. As if she were a deranged dog suddenly freed from her restraints. The resonance coming up from Eva was enough to practically kill an entire city.

[AS EXPECTED OF THE ONE I SERVE! HAHAHA!]

"LET'S GO ON A TRIP, BIRDMAN! {WORLD OF DECAY}!"

At Eva's invocation of her {Fate}, I sensed a domain manifest in the sky. It seemed to overlap with another I barely noticed. All at once, darkness ruled. As if a moon suddenly blotted out the sun. Leaving Eva to her own devices, I walked on.

In the short time since our assault began, all the defenders turned into corpses. Moving closer, I saw that many of them were simply executed. Despite having huge, powerful frames, none of them stood a chance.

Pierre and Zanele, who walked behind me, couldn't help but discuss.

"These are all powerful Phantoms. Why were none of them able to defend against the bullets? Their soul gems are all shattered. My lord, does Hellsend abhor soulgear?"

"It's not that, Pierre. This is the result of using Faker ammunition, {Call my Name} and Exa. As long as Exa doesn't mark a soulgem for retrieval, the Sirens squads must kill Reapers with a hit to their gems."

"But Matriarch, isn't that against the law? I was told that soulgems should be respected both in war and in duels. It is how we return to our ancestors," Pierre said in confusion.

"That's a notion propagated by the royalty. But in terms of efficiency, a blow to the gem is the fastest way to kill someone. Only the truly naive treat soulgems as sacred. Most just create soulgear from them to use or sell."

Hearing the opinions of a bystander like Pierre made me realize Hell's Eden's stance. It was much like punching a dude in the balls. Or betraying one's allies for money. Chivalry and honor will tell you to do the right thing. But in war, none of that mattered.

The Sirens already instructed their squads to behave like scoundrels. My people were not knights. We will kill you with a blow to the gem regardless of how we feel about you. Simple because that was the fastest way. It was evil. It was malicious, but it worked.

'If you were foolish enough to leave your gem out in the open, you have no one to blame but yourself,' I thought.

Even during my seeker war, hiding one's gems was common. It actually showed who was adept at combat. The {Perceive} family was terrifying because it exposed one's soulgem.

With the addition of Fakers and {Call My Name}, not capitalizing on an exposed weak point was stupid. And I found it hard to believe Shifter soulgems would be useful anyway. Unless they were for a powerful beast like Isolde, they clashed with our combat doctrine.

'If we just needed animals to carry shit, we already have the Champions of Nerio's Army. The benefits of beast forms are quite limited if you have tanks and guns.'

I took a look at the fallen soulforms and just sighed. It was a waste of needless life. But I gritted my teeth. I was sure Bella would put these corpses to good use anyway.

Eventually, my group reached the beach house and entered. There was hardly any bullet damage, although there was a lot of blood spilled. I followed the trail of bodies and eventually reached the safe room.

It was a massive block of steel. I tried to scan the insides and noticed that I couldn't. This was a first for me.

"Exa?"

[It seems that a soulgear dedicated to hiding is inside. All our attempts to see what the inside of the sealed space have been unsuccessful.]

The Vithriss and the wolves all stood outside the door. In one swift movement, they all knelt and greeted me with silent salutes. The only exception was Roach. He was swinging his Faker halberd at the thing but could not cut it.

"Can we blow it up?"

[Only if we intend to kill the Reaper family inside.]

"Can we hack it then?"

[There is nothing to hack; there are no cameras or security inside. I believe they are merely using soulgears to keep the occupants alive.]

"Hmm…"

Juno approached me as I contemplated. Her face had a grim expression as if she had been kicked in the gut. Although her human bits would pass her off as human, she was, in fact, among the Reborn.

"My lord, forgive me for our mistake. We weren't expecting them to hide in a safe room like this. I take full ownership of this mistake. I expected them to surrender when their guards were all killed."

I raised my hand to calm her down.

"That is fine, Juno. This is only the first of our assaults on the houses of Specter Princes. We did pretty well considering that this place is the home of a powerhouse. Besides, all is not lost. Do not be so hard on yourself; you all did great."

"Thank you, my lord. The Awakened are honored by your praise," she replied.

Although her voice seemed happier, it was still far from how expressive she normally was. But it could not be helped. Being critical of oneself was actually a good thing if done in moderation. But now was not the time to be thinking about such things.

Normally, things like this would set us back. But due to the {Fates} of my Kindred. There were still many other options to explore.

"Exa, can you guess the width of the walls?"