by L. M. Kerr
In order for a ‘Seed’ to return to the Vile King, and to give him the memories of its host, it must have to send out a sort of signal. Micheal had seen the remnants of the Vile King’s seed back when he killed the serial killer Xavier Shallot.
And if that was the case, that ‘return signal’ probably relied on the Soul stat of its user to send it back, or an amount of energy it had stored up, something of that nature.
And here, on the First Layer, everyone had a relatively low Soul stat.
The ‘dead zone’ of an overloaded Signal Seer would only last for a couple of minutes. But given how low Cameron’s Soul stat was, in the grand scheme of things, it should be enough to seriously limit his ability to send out signals. While this would impact literally none of Cameron’s Abilities, it should have a sizable impact on the Vile King’s Seed.
Micheal had only planned on this to prevent the Vile King from knowing exactly what happened here. However, an unanticipated side-effect seemed to have taken place.
Cameron managed to briefly shake off the effects of the Vile King’s Seed in the moments of his death.
“Cameron...” Micheal’s hands trembled behind his back when he heard this. The warm taste of blood filled his mouth as he bit on his tongue, forcing himself to stay in control.
“Thank… you…” Cameron’s eyes grew unfocused, but a took on a relaxed edge, as if he had been freed from a heavy burden.
“I am so sorry, Cameron.” Micheal’s voice was small as he replied,
“I did everything I could. I tried-“
Cameron cut him off, grinning even in the face of death as he replied,
“That’s life… lad… sometimes… you fail…” Cameron’s body suddenly began to stiffen,
“You just… gotta… move on…” His words slowly faded out as his body grew still. The light in his eyes faded, the clarity and emotions fleeing as they were replaced by emptiness. The world around him seemed to shiver one last time, as if gravity itself was sending him off.
In the early months of the fourth year of the Apocalypse, the annals of history recorded the death of Cameron Giordano.
An S Ranker.
A hero.
A father.
A man beloved by many, revered by his enemies and allies alike. The changes he wrought upon the First Layer impacted the lives of billions, focused only on making the world a better place.
He was truly a good man.
In the moment of his death, unrecorded in the history of man, a single human stood vigil alone, watching as this great man passed on from life. Watching as a small Seed of darkness rose and then fizzled about in confusion, eventually dissipating into nothingness. Tears of blood spilled from this man’s hands as he held watch, his fists clenched so tight they seemed as if they might break apart.
That vigil quickly came to an end. The lone man that stood guard took one last studied glance at Cameron’s corpse and left, ignoring the Points notification he got. Shortly after that, Executive Andrew of the Godfather Organization arrived, the next human to see what had happened.
Far away from here, Number 1 gradually weakened as his boosted powers fled from his grasp. Tandrum’s attacks were relentless, in conjunction with General Pedro’s aerial strikes. Where Number 1 struck, Tandrum blocked. Where Tandrum struck, Number 1 was forced to dodge.
By the time Number 1’s boosted power had fully fled, the rest of the Godfather Executives, apart from Andrew, had arrived.
Number 1 was left with no path of escape, a plan of doom that he walked into of his own free will. Devious and intrepid, the plan was one with no holes, inescapable.
In the early months of the fourth year of the Apocalypse, Garen Olsteis, Number 1 of the Nightrunner Numbers, died, alongside the rest of the Numbers. The Nightrunners collapsed, their organization falling apart.
Likewise, the Angels Arcadia fell into disarray, their lack of leadership forcing them to break into pieces.
Admiral Cardell went on to seize upon this chance to take over both areas, causing the Godfather Organization to rapidly expand in power and become the dominant power on the First Layer. The powerful warrior quickly became the newest S Ranker, cementing the Godfather Organization’s reign of power for the future.
The Golden Morenkai hunting method and the Dragon Building Liquid method were both freely released to the general public, skyrocketing the fame and prestige of the Godfather Organization to the level of near-worship among the populace of humanity. Its foundations became unshakable, supported by nearly everyone.
The ‘erratic’ Morenkai vanished and even ‘regular’ Morenkai quickly transformed into creatures that would only attack when first attacked themselves. They no longer hunted indiscriminately, but became far more docile. The First Layer was still a dangerous world where death walked, but it was no longer a slaughterhouse.
Moments after Number 1’s defeat, Shin and Sophia collapsed, their reactions to the Bracken Enhancement Fluid oddly making it seem like they had been poisoned, as if someone they trusted had tried to kill them. When the truth of Cameron’s death was revealed, this occurrence took on much more significance, helping free them from suspicion.
Director Prime was never heard from on the First Layer again.
On that fateful day, no one saw as a lone man slipped into one of the many subway entrances that dotted the land of The Towers, slinking underground and sitting down on one of the many empty benches.
No one saw as this man vanished, his body and soul teleported away.
As one story must end, another yet begins.
In the early months of the fourth year of the Apocalypse, Micheal left the First Layer.
.
.
.
.
The end of Volume 2.
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Towers of Heaven
If you've been loving this style of "going back to the past to save the world" with LitRPG themes, one of my fellow authors is writing a different series with a few similar themes.
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