Chapter 28 #3
Only the hands and the smoking head remained.
The body’s treasures, the Soul Stone, and too many monstrous temptations… all gone in the blink of an eye.
And when his interface dinged with the message that he had just received a glorious burst of positive karma with his forbearance and mercy, not to mention successfully avoiding the absolute wrath of the gods, he muted it as he had so many other messages of such things, since starting his last incarnation.
He found it an all-too-painful reminder of the time he had had no karma at all.
Of the precious life and loves he had left behind.
And now a treasured friend, a child under his care… lost as well.
“Why?”
Ya Ling’s voice. Alex didn’t even know what she was asking, but he gave the only answer he could.
“Because if I had taken his soul, countless sleeping giants would have awoken, thirsty for my blood. Had that happened, this city would be just the first to fall under the pounding footsteps of tyrants I swear to the bloody heavens I will one day put down… but not here. Not now. Not when it would make meaningless the sacrifice our beloved Lini just made for the sake of the entire city.”
Ya Ling paled, gazing at Alex with an odd mixture of wonder and horror, before bursting into tears, falling in Alex’s arms as he held her close, kissed her brow, and gave her what comfort he could.
“She’s dead. Lini’s dead!”
Alex shuddered before Ya Ling’s pronouncement.
Proving herself so much braver than he.
He couldn’t even say it. Only swallow the lump in his throat before stumbling back to his feet.
Ya Ling gazed up at him with haunted eyes. “We saved the city.”
“Lini saved the city.”
She choked back a sob and nodded. “Yes. Yes, she did.”
Rachel paled, eyes widening with horror. “Oh no.”
“What?”
“Lord Guo and his sycophants! And Xien Su, the hidden ace Alex dueled once before. None of them took the bait! The second the prismatic field flickered back to life, Lord Guo roared for the heads of the entire royal family and—oh no… Linnea says that hidden agents have slaughtered the gate guards and that they’re now signaling for Dongfang Hong’s men to storm the city! ”
Alex gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, only in this moment daring to open his party link, not trusting himself to speak as his fury ignited the fires of his heart to an unstoppable inferno as he heard the screams of terror and the sobs of fear from friends and acquaintances alike.
While doing all he could to sever himself from any link to Nili whatsoever, lest she sense the horror that had unfolded and be emotionally crippled at just the wrong time.
No. He would bear the weight of her judgment, fury, and contempt when the city was truly safe and all their foes were well and truly dead.
Alex gazed down at his own trembling hands as interface messages made it clear that he had gained immunity to yet another caustic brew and that he had never felt so sharp, clear-headed, or aware of his connection with the world all around him.
A Sage’s Insight.
One that he would squeeze for all it was worth on the epiphanies and potency of every last one of his foes.
“I’m going ahead,” he declared. “Please be safe and be careful.”
“Alex, our foes have already won! What can you do? What can any of us do against an army of thousands? Everything else was a bullshit pretext!” Ya Ling declared in a voice bitter with despair.
“For all we know, they were goading us into revealing our own hidden aces. Because all they had to do was have pawns in place to bribe or poison or outright slaughter the gate guards, and Wanshi falls that fucking easily. Because now Dongfang Hong’s men are charging through already! ”
Rachel swallowed and nodded. “According to Linnea’s panicked party reports, all the city guard officers have been either bribed or butchered.
The enlisted men’s only orders right now are to stand down, get drunk, and stay out of the way of politics that don’t concern them, and they can all go back to guarding Dongfang Hong’s city, just the same as always, come tomorrow.
” Rachel squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head with bitter tears.
“This is so messed up! All our efforts meant nothing! All we did was fortify Wanshi for Dongfang Hong’s pleasure! ”
Alex’s look was harder and colder than the howling winter snows in the doomed rift they had barely left in the nick of time.
“No, Rachel. You’re wrong. This isn’t the part of the story where Dongfang Hong gets to revel in his twisted machinations coming to fruition.”
Ya Ling swallowed, catching his gaze. “Then for heaven’s sake, Alex, tell us what the hell happens now?”
Alex gently brushed Ya Ling’s trembling cheek.
“This is the part where I show our foes exactly what it means to cross WiFu’s Chosen.”
He flashed a bitter smile as he sensed Fate’s dice rattling inside his skull once more. Understanding in that moment that a line had been crossed from which there was no going back.
“This is the part where I say goodbye.”
“Alex!”