Will of the Unyielding [LitRPG Apocalypse • Progression]

"The headquarters…" Nova muttered to himself.

His head tilted upward and his neck craned as he looked at the Nemesis Headquarters building.

Its height made it one of, if not the, tallest buildings in Quarath.

It stood right in the middle of the city, surrounded by other core buildings and the residential area for Nemesis's higher-ups.

There was another purpose behind the building besides symbolizing Nemesis, one only the higher-ups knew of.

That was…

The headquarters was the heart of the city's array.

If, for any reason, the building were destroyed, the array protecting the city would quickly dissipate as well, turning the fortress into a defenseless city.

This knowledge, if it fell in the hands of enemies, would spell disaster for Nemesis.

Nova had only ever glanced at the headquarters in passing from the residential area, never giving it much thought.

Now, it was his first time seeing it up close and feeling the full majesty of the sight before him.

'How much did all of this cost?' he thought.

Then, he sighed and stepped toward the entrance, where two guards stood.

He expected to be stopped, but as he passed through the entrance, they didn't even look at him. It made him wonder whether the building was open to everyone, or if they just didn't care. Perhaps they recognized him?

That last thought didn't make it far before he discarded it.

If they had recognized him, they would've greeted him instead of acting so indifferently.

'I hope it's the former,' he thought, 'or they'll be in a lot of trouble later.'

With that, he made his way up the building.

Contrary to what Nova thought, outside, as soon as the two guards saw him disappear, they looked at each other and muttered.

"Was he the one the manager asked us to let in?"

"Must be. He matches the description."

"Mhm. True. I'll report right now."

//////

In the meeting room, the atmosphere was silent.

The seven generals and Cassidy stared at each other with serious expressions as they waited for Nova to arrive.

Buzz!

At that moment, Cassidy's device vibrated.

The generals' heads swiveled toward her, their eyes seeming to say, "What are you waiting for? Pick it up."

Looking at them, she couldn't help but shake her head helplessly. She picked up her device and, after seeing the message, said, "He's here."

The already serious atmosphere grew even heavier.

Inside, Cassidy couldn't help but grumble. If they were half this serious about managing Quarath, I wouldn't need to oversee every single matter.

Click.

Just then, the door to the meeting room opened, and Nova calmly stepped inside.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

All eyes in the room turned to him. The generals' gazes were filled with emotion as they stood from their seats.

While Darius and Nox had seen him before and thus remained composed, for the others, this was the first time in years they had laid eyes on him.

He looked at them, and they looked at him.

Nova was about to open his mouth to speak when…the serious atmosphere burst like a bubble pricked by a needle.

"Bos—"

"BOSS, I MISSED YOU!"

Before Adira could even finish calling out to Nova, she was mercilessly cut off by Malachi, who shouted and threw himself at Nova.

Nova's eyes widened as he suddenly found himself being hugged.

'When did this guy turn into a kid?' he thought in disbelief.

Adira saw this and gritted her teeth. You brownnosing bastard!

The others in the room could only watch the spectacle with twitching lips.

Never in their wildest dreams had they imagined that the first thing they would witness upon their Boss's return would be Malachi launching himself at him.

The same Malachi who, for years, had built a reputation as a ruthless tyrant within his own organization, the Blades of Freedom.

That moniker had soon spread beyond it, earning him the officially unofficial nickname of Tyrant.

He had used every person he could as a pawn to further his schemes. The number of captains and commanders he had gone through, after squeezing out all their worth, was at least double that of all the other organizations combined.

That had left him with only a handful of commanders who managed to survive his relentless screenings.

And, albeit the other generals hated to admit it, that handful of commanders were strong. Truly strong.

Feeling that Malachi had no intention of letting go, Nova murmured softly, "Will you let me go?" His voice was so cold it made the general shiver.

"O-Of course!" Malachi stammered, stepping back to his seat. "My emotions got the best of me."

Cassidy walked up to Nova and adjusted his robe.

Then she said, "Come, take your seat first."

"Mhm." Nova nodded. He threw Malachi a sidelong glance before following her.

She led him to the chair at the head of the table, the one she used to sit on, and motioned for him to sit.

Nova sat down and swept his gaze over his generals, who were still standing.

"Sit. There's something I want to say before we catch up," he said seriously.

The generals nodded and sat back down, their gazes fixed on him. For Nova to sound so serious… what did he want to talk about?

After a brief pause, he continued, "Our original goal was to defeat the Federation and take over Earth, but that's not something I want anymore. At least, it's not something I can do."

Everyone in the room was taken aback, except for one. Cassidy.

While the generals had been working tirelessly to slowly conquer more of the Federation's territories and couldn't fathom why their Boss was suddenly saying this, Cassidy, having already listened to Nova's tale, understood where he was coming from and could guess what had led to this decision.

"During my time in the Purple Portal, I came to a conclusion. I'm not fit to rule over a stable kingdom or empire. I don't want to stay in one place and be confined by duties with no personal freedom. What's the point of ruling over so many when I can't even enjoy my own time?"

His words hung in the air for a moment, making several generals nod thoughtfully while others frowned in confusion.

"What I want," Nova continued, "is an organization that's unseen by the public, one hidden beneath the surface of a kingdom or empire. An organization that doesn't need me to handle every small matter to function but that can quickly gather and strike fiercely any enemy."

Nova took a deep breath and said, "I need to say this now because, after this meeting, I'll be visiting Erevan and you already know about my ten-year agreement with him."

The generals, along with Cassidy, all nodded.

They were aware that Nova and Erevan had come to an agreement long ago: to help each other if possible, or at the very least, not to stand as enemies, before Nova had entered the Purple portal.

"The agreement is due this year," Nova went on, "and I don't know if I'll be back or not, so I must say this now before the situation changes."

He looked at each of them, his eyes gleaming. "You did well to conquer Quarath. Let this be the first of many future bases of Nemesis."

"What I'm aiming for is to covertly spread Nemesis to every corner of the Universe."

The air in the room seemed to form a vacuum as everyone sucked in a deep breath.

"Boss… isn't that a bit too ambitious?" Adira said tentatively. She liked ambition, but this… this was on another level. They didn't even know how the wider Universe worked.

Nova shook his head with a bitter smile. "Indeed, but that's the final goal. Without a big goal to strive for, how are we supposed to put our all into training?"

Malachi laughed. "This is why you're our Boss! I would've never been able to come up with a goal so grand!"

Hector looked at him and scrunched his lips in disapproval. Seeing Malachi act this way while they were of the same rank made Hector wonder how the man had even managed to become a general.

Then he remembered.

Bullshit luck.

Just like the rest of them.

So he could only sigh and avert his gaze.

"Since that's the long-term goal, what's the current one?" Darius asked.

His question prompted the others to stop glancing at Malachi strangely and refocus on their Boss.

Nova replied calmly, "Keep strengthening the soldiers while gradually allowing the commanders to take on more and more responsibilities. When the time comes that people from Earth can travel to other planets, you can start sending them out, along with captains, to settle on various worlds."

"Understood?"

"Yes."

Alaric, Darius, Hector, Nox, Adira, Shira, and Malachi replied in unison, while Cassidy smiled quietly from the side.