Dawn arrived painted in shades of blood and ash.
I stood on the northern wall, watching the forest as gray light slowly pushed back the darkness. My Mystic Eyes traced lines across everything in my field of vision, showing me the mortality of trees and stone and the wall itself. All things that could be ended with precise application of force.
Behind me, Sal Viento prepared for war.
Guards took positions along the wall, checking weapons and ammunition with the nervous energy of people who knew violence was imminent. Civilians evacuated to the community center's reinforced basement, carrying what possessions they could. The Rhodes Island operators coordinated final defensive preparations, Czerny's calm professionalism keeping everyone focused despite mounting tension.
Surtr stood apart from everyone, positioned near the gate itself. Her staff rested against her shoulder, flames dancing along its length in anticipation. She looked relaxed, almost bored, but I could feel the heat radiating from her in waves. Power barely contained, waiting to be unleashed.
Marcus approached my position, his face lined with exhaustion and worry.
"All civilians are secured. Guards are in position. Rhodes Island team is ready. We've done everything we can."
He looked out at the forest.
"Now we wait."
"Not for long."
My danger sense was screaming now, a constant pressure against my awareness that confirmed what I already knew. They were out there. Reunion forces, staged and ready, waiting for the signal to attack.
The notification in my vision updated.
[Mission: The Approaching Storm]
[Time until assault: 14 minutes]
[Prepare for combat]
Fourteen minutes. Barely enough time for final checks.
I descended from the wall and found Sussurro organizing medical supplies near the gate. She had transformed the area into a triage station, ready to treat wounded the moment the fighting started.
"You should be in the basement with the other civilians."
I told her.
"I'm a medic. My place is where people get hurt."
She finished organizing bandages and looked at me with forced calm.
"I've treated combat injuries before. I know what's coming."
But her hands shook slightly as she spoke, betraying the fear beneath her professional exterior.
"Stay behind the defensive line. Don't expose yourself unnecessarily."
"Same advice applies to you."
She tried to smile.
"Though I suspect you won't listen any more than I will."
She was right about that.
I returned to the wall just as the sun broke the horizon, golden light spilling across the landscape. For a moment, everything was beautiful. The forest, the settlement, the morning itself.
Then my danger sense exploded with warning.
"They're coming!"
I called out, my voice carrying across the defensive positions.
The forest erupted with movement. Dozens of figures burst from the treeline, running toward the settlement with weapons raised. Reunion soldiers, their mismatched equipment and infected features marking them clearly. They moved with surprising coordination, spreading out to present multiple targets while maintaining formation integrity.
"Open fire!"
Marcus's command echoed along the wall.
Rifles barked, bullets cutting through morning air toward the charging soldiers. Several fell, bodies crumpling mid stride. But the rest kept coming, returning fire with their own weapons. Bullets impacted against the wall, chipping stone and sending fragments flying.
I drew my tanto, my Mystic Eyes activating fully. The world exploded into lines of death, every moving figure traced with glowing pathways that showed exactly where to cut to end them.
More Reunion soldiers emerged from the forest. Not dozens anymore but hundreds, a coordinated assault that dwarfed anything I had anticipated. They had brought significant force, enough to overwhelm the settlement through sheer numbers.
The system's estimate of needing to kill at least ten suddenly seemed optimistic.
"South wall is under attack!"
A guard's voice carried from another section.
"East wall reporting enemy contact!"
Marcus cursed, realizing what I had suspected. This wasn't a focused assault, it was a coordinated attack on multiple vectors designed to split our forces and create gaps in the defense.
"Hold positions!"
He ordered.
"Don't let them breach the walls!"
Easier said than done. Reunion pressed forward with fanatic determination, using their greater numbers to overwhelm defensive fire. Some carried crude shields, others used fallen bodies as cover. They died by dozens but kept advancing, closing the distance meter by meter.
Then the explosives detonated.
The eastern wall erupted in fire and debris, a coordinated blast that punched a massive hole through our defenses. Reunion soldiers poured through immediately, exploiting the breach before we could respond.
"Eastern breach!"
Someone screamed.
"They're inside the settlement!"
Everything started falling apart.
Guards abandoned their positions to respond to the breach, leaving gaps in the defensive line. Reunion soldiers at the northern wall noticed and intensified their assault. More explosions rocked the southern wall, creating additional entry points.
We were being surrounded. Cut off. Overwhelmed.
"Czerny!"
I called out to the Rhodes Island operator.
"Take your team to the eastern breach! Close it before they get too deep!"
He nodded sharply and moved, Bison and Shamare following. Professional soldiers who knew how to respond to changing battlefield conditions.
But that left the northern wall dangerously undermanned.
Reunion soldiers reached the gate, attempting to force it open or plant explosives. Guards fired down at them, killing several, but more kept coming. Too many. Always too many.
I made a decision.
Jumping from the wall, I dropped four meters and landed in a crouch, my body absorbing the impact with Shiki's enhanced physicality. My tanto was already moving as I rose, cutting through the first Reunion soldier before they could react.
The Mystic Eyes showed me everything. Death lines across a dozen targets, intersection points where life could be severed instantly. I moved through them like water, blade finding those points with surgical precision.
Cut here. Turn. Block incoming strike with Knight of Owner, treating the soldier's own weapon as my tool. Disarm. Step inside their guard. Cut there along the line that showed cardiac termination.
They fell around me, death coming so quickly most didn't have time to scream.
But for every one I killed, two more appeared. The sheer mass of Reunion forces was staggering, wave after wave pushing forward with reckless abandon.
"Fall back!"
Marcus ordered from the wall.
"Retreat to secondary positions!"
I ignored the order, pressing deeper into the Reunion formation. My survival instinct screamed warnings but I pushed through, trusting Shiki's combat experience to keep me alive.
A Reunion caster noticed me, raising their staff to launch some kind of Arts attack. I threw my tanto with perfect accuracy, the blade punching through their throat along a death line before they could complete the technique. The tanto embedded in wood behind them, and I was already moving, using Knight of Owner to claim a fallen soldier's sword as my weapon.
The new blade felt perfect in my hands despite having never wielded it before, the Noble Phantasm granting instant mastery. I cut through another soldier, then another, painting the ground red with each precise strike.
Then I felt heat behind me.
Intense heat, like standing next to a star.
"Move."
Surtr's voice carried absolute command.
I dove aside as flames erupted from her position, a torrent of fire that consumed everything in its path. Reunion soldiers screamed as they burned, their bodies reduced to ash in seconds. The temperature was so intense that the air itself ignited, creating a wall of flames that no one could cross.
Surtr walked forward through her own inferno, completely unaffected by heat that would have killed anyone else. Her staff blazed with power, each swing releasing waves of destruction that carved paths through the enemy formation.
"Laevatain!"
She called out, and the flames intensified impossibly further. The northern gate area became an inferno, Reunion soldiers dying by the dozens as Surtr unleashed her full power.
It was magnificent and terrifying in equal measure. Absolute destruction delivered with casual ease, the power gap between her and ordinary fighters made brutally apparent.
But even Surtr's overwhelming force couldn't be everywhere at once.
"Western wall breach!"
Another guard called out.
"They're coming from all sides!"
The situation was deteriorating. Multiple breaches, forces divided, coordination breaking down. Exactly what Reunion wanted, exactly how they won battles against superior defenders.
I needed to change the momentum. Needed to do something that would shift the entire battlefield's dynamic.
The gacha system's interface appeared in my vision, showing my available Noble Phantasms. Gáe Bolg and Rho Aias, spear and shield, offense and defense.
I made my choice.
Summoning Gáe Bolg, I felt the cursed spear materialize in my hands. Red and wicked, vibrating with lethal intent, the weapon of Cú Chulainn himself. Knowledge flooded into me, understanding of its true power and how to unleash it.
A Reunion squad leader was coordinating an assault on the western wall, directing soldiers with obvious tactical training. Killing him would disrupt their coordination, create confusion that could be exploited.
I raised the spear, targeting him across impossible distance. My Mystic Eyes focused, seeing the death lines even from hundreds of meters away.
"Gáe Bolg."
The spear flew, but not in the normal way projectiles moved. It distorted reality itself, reversing cause and effect. The result was determined before the throw, causality bent to ensure the spear pierced his heart.
The squad leader died before he knew he was targeted, Gáe Bolg punching through his chest with absolute certainty. The cursed spear returned to my hand immediately, ready to be thrown again.
I targeted another leader. Another throw. Another guaranteed death as causality bent to fulfill the spear's purpose.
Reunion's coordination wavered. Without their squad leaders, soldiers became confused, uncertain. Their assault lost cohesion, momentum faltering.
"Press the advantage!"
Marcus ordered, recognizing the shift.
"Drive them back!"
Guards rallied, pouring fire into the disorganized Reunion forces. Czerny's team returned from securing the eastern breach, adding their professional skill to the counterattack. Surtr continued her casual genocide at the northern gate, flames consuming everything that approached.
We were winning. Actually winning against overwhelming odds.
Then the real threat arrived.
My danger sense exploded with warning, more intense than anything I had felt before. Something was coming, something that dwarfed the danger of ordinary Reunion soldiers.
A figure emerged from the forest, walking calmly through the chaos. They wore elaborate armor decorated with Reunion symbols, and power radiated from them in visible waves. Not just a soldier but a leader, someone with authority and Arts capability that exceeded normal parameters.
"Attention defenders!"
Their voice carried across the battlefield, magically amplified to be heard by everyone.
"I am Talulah, leader of Reunion! This settlement harbors Rhodes Island agents who perpetuate the oppression of the infected! Surrender them to us and you will be spared! Resist and you will all burn!"
Talulah. Even I recognized that name from conversations in Sal Viento. Reunion's leader, the infected woman who had transformed a civil rights movement into a terrorist organization. One of the most dangerous people on Terra.
And she was here. Personally leading this assault.
The mission notification updated.
[URGENT: Mission Escalation]
[Talulah has joined the battle]
[New Objective: Survive until Talulah retreats]
[Reward increased to 10 Gacha Tickets]
[Bonus Objective: Wound Talulah severely enough to force her retreat]
[Bonus Reward: Legendary Gacha Ticket + Unknown Reward]
Ten tickets for survival. A legendary ticket plus something unknown for actually driving her away.
The god was raising the stakes, testing how far I could be pushed.
Talulah raised her hand, and fire erupted around her. Not Surtr's brutal inferno but something more refined, more controlled. Flames that obeyed her will with absolute precision, shaping themselves into forms and patterns that defied natural physics.
"Rhodes Island!"
She called out.
"Show yourselves! Face me in honorable combat or watch this settlement burn!"
Surtr's laughter echoed from the northern gate.
"Finally. Someone interesting."
She strode forward, flames trailing in her wake, meeting Talulah's challenge with obvious enthusiasm.
Two fire wielders, both possessing power that could level cities. About to clash in the middle of Sal Viento.
This was about to get much worse before it got better.
If it got better at all.
I gripped Gáe Bolg tighter, my Mystic Eyes focused on Talulah's distant form. Death lines traced across her, but they flickered and distorted similar to how Surtr's did. The flames interfered with perception, made reading mortality difficult.
But not impossible.
I could kill her. The Mystic Eyes showed me the path, the precise point where the cursed spear would need to strike to end her existence.
But throwing Gáe Bolg at her would reveal my position, make me a target for someone who could kill me just as easily.
Risk versus reward. Survival versus mission completion.
The settlement's fate hanging in the balance.
Surtr and Talulah began their battle, flames erupting in catastrophic collision. The temperature spiked to unbearable levels, forcing guards to retreat from the walls. Buildings near the northern gate ignited spontaneously, their wooden structures unable to withstand the ambient heat.
And Reunion soldiers continued their assault, using the distraction to press deeper into the settlement.
I made my decision.
Positioning myself for the perfect angle, I raised Gáe Bolg and focused everything into the throw. My Mystic Eyes locked onto Talulah's death lines, finding the one true point that would end her regardless of her power.
"Gáe Bolg."
The cursed spear flew, reality bending to ensure its success.
Talulah turned at the last moment, somehow sensing the attack. Her flames erupted defensively, trying to intercept the spear.
But Gáe Bolg didn't care about defenses. It had already pierced her heart, causality reversed to make the result inevitable.
The spear punched through her flame barrier and buried itself in her chest, exactly where her heart should be.
She staggered, surprise crossing her features. Blood bloomed across her armor, dark and wet.
For a moment, I thought I had actually killed her.
Then she smiled.
"Clever."
She said, pulling the spear from her chest with visible effort.
"Very clever. But I'm harder to kill than that."
The wound was already healing, flames cauterizing flesh and forcing regeneration. She examined the spear with interest before tossing it aside.
"Who throws legendary weapons at people? Show yourself, coward!"
My danger sense screamed as her attention swept across the settlement, searching for me. I had hurt her, damaged her pride, and now she wanted revenge.
Surtr used the distraction to launch her own attack, flames erupting with devastating force. Talulah blocked, and their battle resumed with even greater intensity.
I retrieved Gáe Bolg, the spear returning to my hand across impossible distance. The throw had failed to kill her, but it had wounded her. Slowed her regeneration. Made her mortal in a way she hadn't been moments before.
The bonus objective was still possible.
I just needed to hit her again. And again. Until her regeneration couldn't keep pace with the damage.
But doing so meant revealing myself completely, making myself a target in a battlefield that had become hell incarnate.
The god wanted entertainment. Wanted to watch me struggle at the edge of death.
Fine.
I would give them a show they would never forget.
I charged toward the battle between Surtr and Talulah, Gáe Bolg ready, my Mystic Eyes showing me death with perfect clarity.
Time to end this.
One way or another.
The heat intensified with each step closer to the battle between Surtr and Talulah. Air itself became painful to breathe, my lungs burning despite Shiki's enhanced physiology. The ground beneath my feet was scorched black, glass forming where sand had melted under impossible temperatures.
They moved too fast for normal perception to follow. Surtr's staff traced arcs of destruction, each swing releasing waves of flame that carved trenches through earth and stone. Talulah countered with precision strikes, her fire forming blades and shields that deflected or absorbed the attacks.
It was a battle between equals, neither able to gain decisive advantage.
Until I arrived.
My tanto replaced Gáe Bolg as I closed distance, the shorter blade better suited for the rapid exchanges I needed. My Mystic Eyes tracked both combatants simultaneously, reading their death lines even through the distorting heat.
Talulah noticed me first, her attention pulled from Surtr for a critical moment.
"You."
Recognition and anger mixed in her voice.
"The one who threw that cursed spear."
I didn't respond, simply moved. Shiki's assassination techniques guided my approach, using angles and timing that made me difficult to track. Not invisible, but hard to focus on while also defending against Surtr's overwhelming assault.
Talulah raised her hand, flames gathering for a killing strike aimed directly at me.
Surtr intercepted, her own flames colliding with Talulah's in a detonation that shattered windows across three buildings. The concussive force threw me backwards, rolling across scorched ground before catching myself.
"Don't interfere!"
Surtr shouted, though whether at me or Talulah was unclear.
"This fight is mine!"
"Then fight better."
I responded, already moving again.
Talulah's flames formed a barrier, trying to keep me at distance. But I had Rho Aias, the seven layered shield that could block any projectile attack. Summoning it, I felt the massive shield materialize before me, seven petals of bronze that shimmered with defensive power.
Talulah's flames crashed against Rho Aias and stopped, completely unable to penetrate even the first layer. Her expression shifted from anger to fascination.
"Another Noble Phantasm. You're full of surprises."
She intensified the assault, flames pouring against the shield in continuous stream. The first petal cracked. Then the second. The third held but showed damage.
Three of seven layers breached. The amount of power required for that was staggering, confirmation that Talulah operated on a level far beyond normal fighters.
But it also meant she was fully committed to attacking me, which gave Surtr the opening she needed.
"Laevatain Muspell!"
Surtr's staff erupted with flames that made her previous attacks look like candles. The temperature spiked so dramatically that my danger sense screamed warnings about staying conscious in this heat.
The flames took form, becoming a massive blade of pure destruction that swung toward Talulah with apocalyptic force.
Talulah abandoned her attack on me and turned to defend, but she was a fraction too slow. The flaming blade caught her across the torso, cutting deep despite her attempted block.
She screamed, not in pain but in rage, as the wound refused to heal immediately. Surtr's flames were doing something to her regeneration, interfering with whatever Arts allowed her to recover from normally fatal injuries.
"Enough!"
Talulah's power exploded outward, pushing both Surtr and me back with raw force. Blood stained her armor, her breathing labored. For the first time, she looked genuinely hurt.
"You're stronger than I anticipated."
She admitted, addressing both of us.
"Rhodes Island has interesting tools these days."
Her flames gathered again, but this time forming defensively rather than for attack. She was preparing to retreat, I realized. The wound was too severe, her regeneration too compromised. Staying meant risking actual death.
"This settlement isn't worth dying over."
She continued, her voice carrying across the battlefield.
"But remember this, Rhodes Island. Reunion will return. And next time, I won't be so merciful."
"Running already?"
Surtr taunted, preparing another devastating attack.
"I was just getting started."
"Then chase me if you dare."
Talulah's flames erupted in a blinding flash, and when my vision cleared she was gone. Vanished, leaving only scorched earth and the lingering smell of burning ozone.
The Reunion soldiers noticed their leader's departure immediately. Coordination collapsed as units began retreating independently, some covering their withdrawal while others simply fled into the forest.
"They're retreating!"
Marcus's voice carried across the settlement.
"Push them back! Don't let them regroup!"
Guards and Rhodes Island operators pressed the advantage, driving the disorganized Reunion forces out through the breaches in the walls. The battle that had seemed hopeless minutes ago suddenly shifted to decisive victory.
I stood in the scorched battlefield between the settlement and forest, breathing hard despite not being physically exhausted. The emotional weight of so much death, the constant activation of my Mystic Eyes, the proximity to power that could have killed me at any moment.
It was overwhelming.
Notifications flooded my vision.
[Mission Complete: The Approaching Storm]
[Reunion attack repelled. Talulah forced to retreat.]
[Enemies eliminated: 47]
[Civilian casualties: 0]
[Calculating rewards...]
[Base reward: 10 Gacha Tickets]
[Bonus objective completed: Legendary Gacha Ticket]
[Perfect defense bonus: 3 additional Gacha Tickets]
[Total: 13 Gacha Tickets + 1 Legendary Gacha Ticket]
[Additional Reward Unlocked: Skill Evolution Available]
[You may select one existing ability to evolve to a higher tier]
Fourteen pulls total, plus the ability to upgrade one of my existing skills. The rewards were generous, appropriate for the risk I had taken.
But I couldn't focus on that now. The immediate crisis had passed, but the aftermath demanded attention.
Surtr approached me, her flames dying down to barely visible flickers. She looked at me with an expression I couldn't quite read, something between respect and irritation.
"You interfered with my battle."
"I helped you win."
"Same thing, from my perspective."
She was quiet for a moment, studying me with those burning red eyes.
"You're not just a contractor. Noble Phantasms, combat techniques beyond normal capability, tactical awareness that rivals professional operators. What are you really?"
"Someone who wants to protect people."
"Naive answer. But you backed it up with action, so I'll accept it."
She turned to leave, then paused.
"You have potential. Don't waste it on small settlements and pointless idealism. Rhodes Island could use someone with your capabilities for more important work."
Before I could respond, she walked away, heading back toward the settlement where injured defenders needed assessment.
I dismissed Rho Aias and stood alone in the scorched battlefield, surrounded by the bodies of Reunion soldiers I had killed. The Mystic Eyes showed me their death lines even now, confirmation that ending life was the simplest thing in the world if you knew where to cut.
Forty seven enemies eliminated. Forty seven people who had families, histories, reasons for joining Reunion beyond simple fanaticism. Reduced to corpses because they stood between me and mission completion.
The weight of it settled heavy in my chest.
"Shiki!"
Sussurro's voice called from the settlement entrance.
"We need help with the wounded!"
I pushed the dark thoughts aside and ran toward her voice. The battle was over, but the real work was just beginning.
The next hours blurred together in exhausting routine. Treating injured guards, putting out fires, assessing structural damage to the walls and buildings. Sussurro worked tirelessly, her medical training pushed to the limit by the sheer number of casualties.
Miraculously, no civilians had died. The evacuation procedures had worked perfectly, keeping noncombatants safe in the reinforced basement. Guards had taken casualties, but nothing fatal. Czerny's team had sustained minor injuries but remained combat effective.
It was, by any measure, an overwhelming defensive victory.
But it didn't feel like victory. It felt like survival, temporary reprieve before the next crisis.
Marcus found me as the sun reached its zenith, the morning's battle feeling like it had happened days ago rather than hours.
"I don't know how to thank you."
He said simply.
"You, Surtr, the Rhodes Island team. Without you, Sal Viento would be ashes and corpses."
"Just doing the job."
"No. You went far beyond any job description."
He handed me a small pouch, heavy with coins.
"Five thousand LMD. Combat bonus for exceptional performance. It's not enough, but it's what the settlement can afford."
I accepted it, knowing that refusing would insult him.
"The walls need repair. Reunion will return eventually."
"I know. We're already organizing reconstruction. Rhodes Island has agreed to maintain presence here for the next month, help us build proper defenses."
He looked toward the forest where Reunion had staged their assault.
"Talulah herself came here. That means we're important somehow, or we have something she wants. I need to figure out what before she returns with a larger force."
His tactical thinking was solid. This battle was a temporary setback for Reunion, not a decisive defeat. They would regroup, reassess, and try again with better preparation.
But that was a problem for future me.
I left Marcus to his planning and found a quiet corner of the settlement where I could finally check the system's rewards.
Fourteen gacha pulls waited, plus the skill evolution option.
I started with the regular tickets, watching the golden wheel spin thirteen times. The results appeared in sequence:
[Congratulations! You have received: Kanshou and Bakuya]
[Married twin swords. Noble Phantasms of unknown origin. Ranked C. Paired blades that attract and repel each other, can be thrown and recalled infinitely.]
[Congratulations! You have received: Rule Breaker]
[All Spells Must Be Broken. Noble Phantasm of Medea. Ranked C. Anti-Magecraft dagger that can dispel any magical effect or contract.]
[Congratulations! You have received: Avalon]
[The Everdistant Utopia. Noble Phantasm of King Arthur. Ranked EX. The legendary scabbard that grants accelerated healing and near invulnerability when active.]
The rest of the pulls provided additional weapons and tools, each useful in their own way. But Avalon was the true prize, a defensive Noble Phantasm that would make me exponentially harder to kill.
Finally, I used the Legendary Gacha Ticket.
The wheel spun longer this time, cycling through countless possibilities before finally stopping.
[Congratulations! You have received: Unlimited Blade Works (Degraded)]
[Reality Marble containing infinite blades. Noble Phantasm of Emiya Shirou. Ranked B. You can project and wield any blade you have witnessed. Current limitation: Cannot deploy full Reality Marble, can only project individual weapons.]
Knowledge flooded into my mind, understanding of projection magecraft and the principles behind Unlimited Blade Works. Even degraded, this was incredibly powerful. The ability to copy and create any blade I saw, instantly available for use.
Combined with Knight of Owner, I could turn anything into a weapon and then project infinite copies of it.
The god's gacha system had given me tools that transformed me from dangerous fighter into genuine threat.
Finally, I addressed the skill evolution option.
[Select ability to evolve:]
[A. Mystic Eyes of Death Perception → Mystic Eyes of Death Perception (Harmonized)]
[B. Survival Instinct → Premonition]
[C. Emotional Intelligence → Insight]
I considered each option carefully. Harmonized Mystic Eyes would improve their accuracy and reduce the strain of constant activation. Premonition would extend my danger sense into actual future sight. Insight would let me read deeper truths about people and situations.
All three had merit, but the Mystic Eyes were my most valuable combat tool.
I selected option A.
[Evolution Complete: Mystic Eyes of Death Perception (Harmonized)]
[Your eyes now perceive death with perfect clarity even through interference. Heat, darkness, and magical distortion no longer impair your vision. You can selectively activate the eyes without mental strain. Additionally, you can now perceive the death of concepts and phenomena, not just physical objects.]
The change was immediate. My vision sharpened, the constant pressure of the Mystic Eyes fading to nothing. I could activate and deactivate them at will, with no more effort than blinking. And when active, the lines were clearer, more precise, showing me death in ways I hadn't been able to perceive before.
This was power. Real power that the god had granted through their twisted system.
And I would use it to survive whatever came next.
"Shiki."
Surtr's voice interrupted my contemplation.
I turned to find her standing a few meters away, arms crossed and expression unreadable.
"Rhodes Island is evacuating the medical team tomorrow. Sal Viento is too dangerous to maintain permanent presence right now."
"Makes sense."
"You should come with us. Join Rhodes Island properly instead of wasting yourself on contract work."
The offer hung between us, weight and possibility contained in simple words.
"Why?"
"Because you're strong. Because you have potential that shouldn't be squandered. Because..."
She paused, seeming to struggle with something.
"Because I'm interested in seeing what you become. And that doesn't happen often."
It was probably the closest thing to a compliment Surtr was capable of giving.
"I'll think about it."
"You say that a lot."
"Because I mean it."
Surtr snorted, amusement flickering across her features.
"Fine. When you finish thinking, find me on the Rhodes Island landship. We're heading to the mobile city of Lungmen next. Plenty of interesting work there for someone with your skills."
She walked away, leaving me alone with the offer and all its implications.
Join Rhodes Island. Become part of an organization that fought to help the infected, that stood between innocent people and forces that would destroy them. Work alongside operators like Surtr and Sussurro, people who were genuinely trying to make Terra better.
It was tempting. More tempting than I wanted to admit.
But it also meant questions. Background checks. Explanations I couldn't give about where my power came from or why I was here.
The god wanted entertainment. Wanted to watch me interfere with fate and navigate impossible situations.
Joining Rhodes Island would provide plenty of both.
I looked toward the horizon where the sun was beginning to set, painting the sky in shades of orange and purple. The same colors as this morning's dawn, when everything had hung in the balance.
Sal Viento had survived. The people were safe. The mission was complete.
But my journey in Terra was just beginning.
New notifications appeared.
[Main Quest Updated: The Wandering Assassin]
[You have proven yourself in combat against overwhelming odds. Your reputation spreads across Terra.]
[New Objective: Travel to Lungmen and make contact with key figures in the upcoming crisis]
[Reward: Variable based on actions taken]
[Time Limit: None]
Lungmen. The system was directing me there, same place Surtr had mentioned. Not a coincidence.
The god was guiding my path, steering me toward whatever events would provide maximum entertainment.
Fine.
I would go to Lungmen. Would see what crisis awaited there. Would continue surviving and fighting and making choices that hopefully kept me on the right side of the line between warrior and monster.
The Mystic Eyes of Death Perception showed me mortality in all things.
But I would choose life whenever possible.
That was my promise to myself. My principle in this new existence.
The sun set completely, darkness claiming Sal Viento. Somewhere in that darkness, Talulah was recovering from her wounds and planning revenge. Reunion would regroup and grow stronger.
And I would be ready when they met again.
Because the god wanted entertainment.
And I intended to survive long enough to give them a lifetime of it.