Crossroads: A LitRPG Cultivation Series (Towers & Rifts Book 3)

by Nephilim Night

  “No, no, Sir Viktor, was it?” one of the two remaining men said hurriedly. “We’ll take care of it right away.”

  “See, Kade,” I hissed as I turned to speak to him, “this is why I hate politicians! They force you to become the villain with everything they do! And when you’ve created something so beautiful, they want it for themselves, and if you aren’t willing to let go, they take it by force.”

  “Vik? The woman you spared, she’s the owner of the chocolate factory. We’ll make sure she has her people working on a special line only for the rift. Is that alright?”

  My eyebrows rose in surprise. “Semira was it? I like some alcohol in mine, but my wife likes the softer ones with a mousse filling or… you know those chocolate raisins?”

  “Y—yes, Mr. Viktor. I will have my people prepare thirty different kinds for you to try. Is that alright?” She shook with every word, and I liked it. Not the fact of being a bad guy, no, I disliked it, as I didn’t like picking on the weak, but these bastards hadn’t been out there on the front lines trying to save this world. No, they’d been buying votes and using people.

  “Yes, that’s quite alright, dear. You can have them brought to Linda here, and she’ll take care of the rest. Now, Kade, does any one of the other four deserve death? I’ll do it for you, don’t worry.”

  He nodded at the man who’d been silent all this time. “I can do that myself, thank you.”

  “But not like that,” I interrupted. “Here, a gift.”

  I threw him the gladius and waited for him to speak, but he just stared at the marvelous piece of steel.

  “What is this? Pit boss rank? Where? What?”

  “It’s a rank ten ingredient. I hope you like it.”

  Kade darted over the table, grabbed the man’s collar, and threw him toward the window. His hands trembled with excitement, and when the blade came crashing down against the man’s shield, he laughed. Even more so as blood splattered in all directions. It was only for a brief instant, but I could swear there was a murderous glint in Kade’s eye.

  “Now, where were we?” he asked as he put the blade down on his desk and sat back down. “Ahh, right. Thank you for helping me with this issue. If it had just been me dealing with these bastards, then the backlash would have been too much. But you see, once the public gets wind of this, they will demand punishment.”

  “Then why don’t we show them something interesting? We could have a new round of testing with the press present. What do you think? If we show them just how big a difference there is between us, they can’t blame you.”

  He nodded and tapped his fingers against the desk. “Linda, contact the three news agencies and have them be here within the hour.”

  “Yes, General,” she replied calmly as if nothing had even happened. She picked up her phone and started typing.

  “So, there’s another thing we need to talk about, Kade,” I said and nodded eastwards. “What’s going on with the Green Gate, as they named it? And where’s the prisoner?”

  “I thought you’d never ask!”

  Kade stood from behind the desk and waved the three off. They scurried off past an out-of-breath Melina, who came rushing in through the door.

  “Viktor! What the hell is with the bodies downstairs?”

  “Oh, hey, love! Those were some so-called politicians. You know, they wanted Kade to do their bidding.”

  She closed her eyes and shook her head. “And you just destroyed your public image of being a just man,” she muttered. “Was it really necessary? Couldn’t you have threatened them or something?”

  “No. They would have done anything they could to get rid of us otherwise. Now they can’t anymore, you see?”

  “Melina!” Linda said as she darted from behind her desk. “Long time no see!” The women hugged, and Linda led her out of the room, leaving the two of us behind in stunned silence.

  “Damn, I wish mine were as tactful as yours, Kade. She’s one hell of a woman.”

  “Hah! She’ll give me hell when we’re home, trust me. It’s just that she doesn’t want to tarnish my reputation in front of others.”

  “Melina could use some of that herself,” I muttered. “Can you have someone clean this up? The guy is bleeding, like, everywhere.”

  “Hah, yeah. Do you want to talk to the prisoner first? We can have a bite later.”

  “Yeah, sure. Lead the way.”

  Chapter Seven

  We stood in front of a thick glass window separating our room from the room adjacent to ours. A man, battered and beaten, sat in a chair and was eating something akin to a hamburger. His hands shook with every movement, but I couldn’t find it in me to pity him. He was with the enemy, and if he was among those who were trying to fuck things up for Sylmar, then they had no right to be here again.

  “How long have you been waiting for me to save you?” I asked as we stood there and waited for him to finish eating.

  “Two weeks. And again, thanks for not hurting my people downstairs.”

  I shrugged. “If they had been insolent and tried to attack me, I would have, but seeing as we are all one big happy family, I might as well just scare them a little.”

  “You’re a wicked one, you know that?” Kade chuckled. “I sure wouldn’t want to be your enemy.”

  “Oh, you’d better remember that. So how about we cut this short? I have a deadline that’s approaching, and I only have a single tower.”

  “You do? When did you finish the first one?”

  “Yesterday. It’s… quite insane. Can’t wait to get my hands on another one.”

  “I’d like to see you in action. You even must have changed over the last weeks after… you know?”

  I nodded. “I have, but if I want to keep this world in the game, then I’d better get over killing people quickly and… don’t think about their destroyed worlds.”

  “Shit,” Kade muttered. “I never thought about it like that. Must be quite a burden on you.”

  “It is, but it could be worse.”

  The prisoner finally stopped eating and picked up a wet handkerchief, wiped his mouth and hands off, then gulped down the soda. I bolted towards the door and walked in as if I owned the place. Seeing his surprise, he must have known me. Good.

  “Do you know who I am?” I snapped.

  He nodded. “You’re Sandro’s brother-in-law, right?”

  I slapped him across the face and sent him flying into the wall.

  “Don’t even think of insulting me that way again, you maggot!” I hissed in his ear. “You even think about it, and I’ll bash your brains in!”

  “Sorry! Won’t happen again!” he squealed from the ground. Be it on instinct, but he was in a fetal position and protecting his head above all. He wasn’t so dumb at least.

  “So what are you bunch of human filth up to? Are you trying to storm Sylmar again?”

  He nodded weakly. “We’ve been working nonstop to create the best weapons and armor we can, we upgraded them, and we’re ready to fight. That’s why they keep sending us with improvised bombs to blow the wall up.”

  “And every time it’s a stronger bomb, but not too strong so it caves the whole place in.”

  He nodded. “We wait until we see the result and up it by a notch. The last time we blasted through a part of the wall.”

  “Tell me about the leadership. Are they all alive?”

  He nodded. “Enzo and Anton are still alive and so are a few of his top officers. Anton is the strongest of them and is the boss’s right-hand man.”

  “What are the groups? And how many of you are there?”

  “A little over two thousand? Enzo leads a thousand, and Anton leads five hundred. The other five lead a hundred each.”

  “You’re full of shit,” Kade added as he entered the room. “How come there are so many of you there? I thought only several hundred made it inside.”

  The man shrugged and looked down at his feet. “We managed to conquer a second rift and keep pulling peopl
e in from there.”

  “A rift connected to yours?”

  He nodded. “From another city, not even that far away. They told us that the rift is located in Farz. That’s some four hours by plane.”

  My eyebrows rose. “Kade? Is it possible to have that checked?”

  He nodded and motioned to the door. I held my finger up to ask another question. Or two.

  “Two more things. How strong are they? And what’s the best gear you got?”

  He perked up and sat upright. The man was grinning from ear to ear. “We have a rank eight ax and several rank seven swords!”

  I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Let me show you something.”

  I pulled my halberd from the subspace and handed it to him. “Check it out and hand it back to me slowly if you want to live.”

  His trembling hands reached out to take the weapon from me, but he stopped just as his hand touched the halberd’s shaft. “No, sorry. I—how the hell did you—shit, they’ll all die!”

  “Who will? Enzo?”

  “Yes, and my friends! It’s a shitty place, but the people keep you going!”

  I shrugged and left him sitting there. Kade was already on the phone and talking to someone when I closed the door behind me. He held a finger up as he listened and nodded to himself.

  “Yes, that’s right. Thank you and please give him my regards.” Kade let out a deep sigh and slumped into a chair. “Yeah, he’s right. There’s a way to get there, and from what we’ve heard, the other side isn’t doing good. They’re losing people every day, and it’s all they can do to keep Enzo’s people from using their portal.”

  My heart skipped a beat, and all I could see was red. The red blood that gushed from Anton’s throat when I ripped his head off his body. “I want to—”

  “No, don’t even go there. You’ve got a big task ahead of you, Viktor. The Gods might get angry, and… just leave this to us, alright? I’ll have the spec team go there and help train others. It would help if we had gear.”

  I shook my head. “No, that isn’t how it’s going to be. I’m going back to finish my second tower, as I know where an important ingredient is located, but once I’m done with the tower and have killed another of the survivors, I’m cleaning house. You’d better have everything ready until then.”

  “And what about Melina? Will she come with you? You’ll be away for longer than seven days! What about your inn?”

  “If I can’t get rid of them in five days, I’ll make sure I go back to my place and refresh the timer; then I’m going back again.”

  He snorted but nodded his head appreciatively. “Alright, Viktor. I’ll have everything set up for the moment you arrive. We’ll have a chopper standing by when you come back. It will take you between five and six hours to get there, but it will have enough fuel for another hour just in case.”

  I nodded my thanks and let out a sigh. All of this stuff was becoming tiresome. Still, I needed to maintain good relations with him and the association. And the tower. I hadn’t been there for two weeks, and since no one was strong enough to get to the floor Melina and I had climbed, everyone was stuck. I’d take care of that after the greenies were done for.

  “Do you think you’ll be able to handle the press and the civilians?”

  “Yeah, we will. Thanks to you the overall rank is closer to four than three, while most civilians haven’t even learned how to use crystals yet.”

  His phone rang just then, and he looked worried as he read who it was.

  “General Kade speaking.”

  He listened for several seconds and nodded toward me, as if I had any idea what was going on.

  “Sure, thanks. We’ll be right there.”

  “What is it?” I asked worriedly. “Have they broken through?”

  He shook his head. “No, but we’re on TV. At least the aftermath of what you did earlier. Come, we’ll see for ourselves once we get back to my office.”

  I sat in the same chair when we got back and poured myself a drink from what remained in the bottle while Kade turned the TV on. A young man’s face took up most of the screen as he spoke hurriedly into a microphone.

  “—confirmed that the mayor and his right-hand man have died from a fall. We’re still trying to get more information on the matter, but they’re both dead, and all we know is that they fell from the general’s office. You can see the shattered window over there,” the young man said and pointed upward at the government building. The camera zoomed in, and before I could even think it through, I walked over to the window and waved.

  “The hell, Viktor? What are you doing?” Kade demanded as he glared at me. “We weren’t supposed to take care of it by you showing your face in the open!”

  “Oh, calm down. I’ll just have a short chat with the group downstairs.”

  I climbed through the window and fell down the fifteen or so floors, only to land on my feet with the grace of a cat.

  The various news crews all focused their cameras on me, and several of the reporters ran to be the first to reach me. What idiots. Was this such a big deal? Maybe I wouldn’t have done it in a previous life, but if you didn’t have the power in this world, the one we were living in now, then you had no right to order people around.

  “Sir, who are you, and how are you affiliated with the military?” a woman asked. She was in her late thirties and had glasses sitting on the bridge of her nose. The white top was a bit too tight for my taste when Melina was around, but the black pencil skirt looked killer around the woman’s hips and legs.

  “You, what’s your name?”

  “Elena from the TV station Sylmar 123!” she replied hurriedly.

  “Everyone else move back, or I’ll do it for you. Now!” I growled, and most of them did retreat, including her, but not a young man, the one I saw earlier on TV.

  “We have the right to report! Who are you to order us around?” he demanded. I didn’t argue with him. No, I pulled my bow from my subspace, nocked an arrow, and hit him right in the chest. He flew a good twenty feet before ramming into the side of a van. His body still twitched, but it was clear that he wasn’t going to make it until any kind of help arrived.

  The reporters screamed and ran to hide behind their vans and cars, all but a single cameraman, the one belonging to Sylmar 123.

  “You’re ballsy,” I said calmly. “I like it. Come with me, both you and Elena.”

  I didn’t wait for anyone to say or do anything; the soldiers standing around would take care of it. There were at least several dozen of them, all armed and ready, but they knew who I was and what my name meant in Sylmar.

  We walked into the front lobby of the building and up to the elevator. This time it started without any issues, and the door slammed open, revealing Melina standing there, fuming.

  “What the hell are you doing?” she hissed just as the other two arrived.

  “Cut the feed until I tell you to start filming,” I said and shared a single glance with the cameraman. He nodded and flipped several switches before he placed the camera behind his back.

  “All done, sir,” he replied with a calm voice, or at least as calm as he could be.

  “Now, we’re going to go up to the assessment floor with the orb, Melina, and we’ll have them film us as we have our ranks evaluated. Then we’ll sit down and have a short chat with the two of them before we go back.”

  “Alright,” she muttered. “No more killing, please.”

  I put my hands up and winked. “Sorry, the last one was a twitch. Yeah, my finger twitched and stuff.”

  “It twitched so badly your bow came out by itself?”

  “Hey, it’s not my fault, alright? Sheesh, woman.”

  “Damn it,” she muttered. “And here I thought we’d have a single normal day.”

  The door closed behind us, and we shot upwards to the eleventh floor, if I remembered right. A woman I recognized met us there. It was the one who had escorted us back then from the room Kade had assigned to us. I forgot h
er name, but it didn’t matter. Today might as well have been the last day I ever saw her.

  “Bring us to the orb,” I said and stepped out into the hallway. She bowed low and sped down the corridor with the four of us in tow, only to stop near a set of familiar doors.

  “So how do we start?” I asked once the reporters caught up. They were slightly out of breath, but that happened when you were an ordinary man or woman. If they proved to be professional enough, I wasn’t so far from helping them.

  “We can start with a short interview out here, and then you can take your assessment,” Elena said weakly. I barely understood her, so I put my hand on her shoulder and squeezed just a bit.

  “Don’t worry, I won’t kill you unless you become very impudent and talk shit. Now, why don’t you calm down a bit, and we can make you the hottest journalist duo in the city?”

  Chapter Eight

  “Good afternoon, viewers of Sylmar 123. We’re live with a special broadcast in the government building. Today a series of murders happened when the mayor and his closest associate were thrown out the window, where they fell to their death.”

  She stopped talking for several seconds while the camera switched from her to me and Melina. I waved nonchalantly and put my arm around my woman.

  “Greetings, citizens of Sylmar. It’s a travesty that I’ve been busy with saving this world and the city for too long. I should have shown myself earlier, or the mayor and his cronies wouldn’t have tried taking over.”

  “Thank you for your opening statement. Can we start with the introductions? Can you tell our public who you are and what gave you the right to… deal out punishment without repercussion?”

  “The name is Viktor, and this is my wife, Melina. We’re glad you made some time so we could show you our side of the story.” I stopped for a second so the words could settle in. “As to what gives me the right? The Gods gave me the right to punish the wicked. See, ever since this thing with the tower and rifts happened, we’ve been fighting for this city. I have helped numerous people even before the beginner’s quest ended. Then we helped take the Green Dragon Gang’s headquarters and killed many officers and those who were in charge. Melina and I were instrumental in taking down the gate and the guardian so everyone could start frequenting the tower, and so many other things that I don’t even have the time to explain. That, and so much more, gave me the right, Elena.”