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Chapter 520: I Am Sorry

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In the real world, RPG: Terroa sparked a lot of fire from different kinds of people in the society.

There are those who supported the breakthrough in technology and there are also those who hated the impact and the changes it brought to the world of the real people.

Many defended the rights of NPCs and many also established their “homes” with NPCs inside.

The PWDs (People With Disabilities), most of all, are the ones very supportive of the Virtual Reality realm that Panorama created… because while in the real world, they were looked down upon, but in here, they were heroes, adventurers, beautiful and handsome, but most of all… in here, they can become what they can’t be in the real world. They have the freedom to decide who and what they’re going to be.

The ‘Bloody Church’ was the culmination of all the good things RPG: Terroa had to offer; from all the best foods one could taste, to the best offers of wealth and pleasures one could only dream, they have it all.

So why wouldn’t the Blue Card Legion not side with them when all the target of all of these things they, and the players of RPG: Terroa, have been doing all these time were for the very sake of all those things they’ve received from them?

And this world being just a mere game… is there something wrong with accepting free gifts?

In the real world, they converted all those Zentra and other treasures they received into U-Credits, and then converted them to genuine businesses and tangible properties to generate more wealth.

They don’t know about how the rest handled their rewards on that day, but for Zaza and Redeye, it’s because they are the ones that took charge of the security of the Merchant Group of The Legion that they at least understood a thing or two about the Cash Cycle and knew that to generate more money, they had to invest.

But that doesn’t change the fact that the priceless Blue Card Merchant Group they’ve struggled to build and protect all this time could just fall in the hands of others just like this.

And so they rushed.

But who would have thought that on the way to the Business HQ, they’d meet someone?

He floated there in the air, red robe and all… and he emitted this baleful presence that the two right on that moment realized he was an enemy.

“Who are you?!!”

“Don’t get in our way!”

The man didn’t reply and just stood there, buying time, making the two later than they already are.

After a few more seconds, the man pulled out the Lancet Imperious since the other Fire Lord Set was worn by Tai Long who was his proxy in the Inner Continent, Laurasia, and spending time with the bored nonsense of Ares.

The man flipped his hand and the surroundings of Zaza and Redeye changed from the cityscape to a world of grey and shifting spatial walls.

It was an eerie sight.

…but all the more an eerie phenomenon.

They were trapped!

Without any word, the red robed man pointed the tip of the sword-lance at them, and then took his step, vanishes, then struck down on Redeye who reacted with a quick guard; pulling out a spear and slanting the body to defend from the attack.

A casual swing that didn’t even look at all that kind of forceful from the momentum and the shifting of the body, and yet the weight of the glum-red body of the sword-lance created a loud impact, bending Redeye’s spear and throwing him back like a kite that lost its string.

Zaza was surprised beyond belief.

Redeye was a warrior like him but he didn’t even last a moment and was thrown back like some sort of baggage, not worthy of anything in the eyes of this attacker. Even more, Redeye was stranger in fights when compared to him so what would his worth be then in front of this red-robed bastard?

Zaza pulled out his communicator and dialed a call but there was nothing. No signal.

“No, it can’t be!” Zaza was beyond shocked.

“You’re wrong. It can be. This is my domain.”

It was a voice full of contempt as well as hate. As Zaza raised his head, the red-robed bastard was already looming over him and with another casual swing of his weapon, although Zaza was able to pull out a shield from his inventory, he was also struck down the same way Redeye had been.

The man flipped his palm and from the “ground limit” of the isolated space, the two ‘teleported’ in front of him, suspended in the air, arms wide on both sides and feet together. It was crucifixion.

Nothing hurts on the two of them since they were still technically in the spatial dominion of Mundus, a safe zone, but they were controlled by the man and so they could feel the fear clinging into their hearts that came from the overwhelming disparity in their personal powers.

Strong. This guy is too strong! Is he an NPC? Is he one of those Named Rankers?

“Who are you?” Redeye asked.

“You don’t know who we are, buddy, you are in a deep trouble messing with us right now.”

While Redeye still retained his cool, Zaza was at the ends of his wits. He wasn’t as flexible as his partner in times like these.

“Oh I perfectly know you two.” The man said and his voice sounded eerily familiar to them now that they heard it. “You’re Redeye and you’re Zaza, members of The Legion.”

The two spatially-crucified men were shocked and they realized that perhaps… this man was the one that perpetrated this attack?

—no, it can’t be!

——just who the hell is this guy?!!

“You don’t have to guess who I am.” The man put his hand on his red-framed faceless mask and he spoke in disdain, “This is not the first meeting we had in recent times.”

The man pulled out his mask and revealed himself as an old friend of theirs.

Zaza and Redeye couldn’t believe what they were seeing. The man in front of them had black smoke skin and red —close to bottomless black— eyes and a waving, shoulder-length long black smoky hair that when viewed was if it was underwater.

There wasn’t much to describe about how he look like because ever since he made his fame, he’d always had this hideous embodiment of a cursed object with arms and legs. The man in front of them was none other than Siva–—

——declared mortal enemy of the Bloody Church!

“There’s no need to extend this so I’ll blunt. I just want the location of your base.”

When Siva declared such, an ice bucket splashed over the souls of the two men. If Siva can actually suppress them this easily, then even Hagrid could not do anything to him in the end.

This was a revenge… they felt it so.

Siva’s grudge with the Blue Card Legion is deep and now he was exacting his revenge. How could he have changed this much in just so little time? A person as powerful like him, world-renowned and publicly accepted fugitive because of the [Grand Quest] he unlocked, fighting the Demon Armada in Jeremiah alone and wining, killing 7,000 of the Allied Defenders in Jeremiah and ultimately taking the spoils of that war… alone…….

There’re almost no ends to his feats and his eyes should be focused elsewhere. And yet, he ended up being in here, an enemy of the Bloody Church and an enemy of their Blue Card Legion.

Is this the end of us?

Redeye and Zaza thought and although they can’t move their bodies, thy can still move their heads.

They exchanged glances and they knew they had the same thoughts in mind.

It’s really the end.

“Siva, please, you don’t have to do this…” Zaza spoke with a pleading tone.

He really didn’t want to lose the Business Group.

“I know I really don’t have to do this. But you are forcing me. You… allying with the church, I could only say that we are meant to be enemies the very moment you became their minions.”

The two’s eyes went wide. How could Siva have known about it?!!

“If you’re thinking how I knew about it… simple. It is because I am deeper in this game’s storyline than all of you are combined. And… my life in the real world also depended on it so how could you even begin to understand?”

“But you are also ruining our lives in the real world by destroying our livelihood!” Redeye remarked in a clear sounding rejection.

Since Siva had revealed himself, there was also a huge chance he was the reason why the Business Group is under attack right now.

After all, it was run by NPCs and like Siva said, he was deeper in this game’s storyline than anyone else combined.

When we joined the Bloody Church, did we really become part of the game’s storyline?

With their experiences and intelligence of RPG: Terroa all these years, it wasn’t so hard to imagine that a simple act can lead to unimaginable link to a main storyline of the game.

As such, Siva’s words aren’t really baseless.

It might actually be true!

Siva kept silent for a moment before speaking in a disdainful and mocking tone.

“Well isn’t that just ironic?”

““…””

“We’re enemies now. You have something I want and I guys have something you want. But in the end, because of our antagonistic roles in this huge Quest, we are enemies no matter what and how you put everything out of place so me being in the role of a demander should be understood, yes?”

Redeye, the calmer of the two, knew Siva’s point and he glared back at him, “Then I will have to say sorry that I will have to disappoint you. You can do whatever you want with this avatar… but you can’t get the coordinates of our base from me.”

Siva snickers a visible grin. Zaza saw it and he felt that something was not right with this reaction to Redeye’s words. Shouldn’t he be trying to force it from us?

“You think I can’t pull it out of your mouth, is it?”

“That’s right.” Redeye seems to not notice Zaza’s stare as he talked back at Siva with bravery, “I am an ex-military and I have experienced torture. My mind is stronger than you think.”

“Perfect!” before Zaza could give his warning, the joyous reaction already came out of Siva. “I was actually beginning to think that there was no one else in this world that could endure my methods of extracting information. I’m actually glad that you said you are stronger than anyone else. We’ll be spending some extended time then.”

The hairs on Redeye’s body felt the creeps from Siva’s words.

It should be remembered that there are so little a ways for Avatars to be tortured. Because not only it breaks ethical game-playing, it also breaks moral values and all humanitarian rights of the [Players].

They recalled then, that so far, there are no true laws that protected the minds of the [Players] in RPG: Terroa and that the best examples of these are the unbiased maltreatment on all women, NPC or not, when they are trapped.

Almost 60% of all the reasons why RPG: Terroa’s Adventurer and Hunter sexual divisions tend to be men-inclined were because of such reasons.

Though there are no lasting physical effects, the memories of their harrowing experiences at times lead to irreversible consequences… like the men and women becoming traumatized, or they were converted into haters, thereby increasing the way the chaotic system diverges from many paths.

Siva, promising the days of torture was natural. If this was the real world, Redeye could have made a smile to the treat. Because nowadays, right after WW3 less than a hundred years ago, right after the dissolution of the useless laws of the United Countries and the rise of the World Government, Human Rights Laws became the new order and it was harder to prosecute someone guilty than to put an innocent man to jail.

But this is NOT the real world.

There are ways unavailable for Siva in the real world that may in fact be available here in Terroa.

For example… [Magic].

As such, Zaza knew that perhaps this is really the end for the Blue Card Legion.

Since they have already invested their money in the real world, the value of losing the Business Group in Mundus might not even reach 30% of their income. It wasn’t hard for Zaza to let it go.

But still, that’s 30%! It was hard to let it go since from the beginning, the Business Group has been the key for success in their lives in the real world.

Redeye saw it like this and so gritted his teeth and threatened Siva.

“Since you already know, then you should cower in fear, Siva. The Bloody Church will not rest until they see you dead.”

Redeye didn’t know about Siva’s circumstances and so said such words. If he did, he may have to change his mind. But alas, it was too late. Siva’s playfulness vanished and right this instant, his ire was summoned and his gaze turned icy as he put the distance between him and Redeye into mere centimeters, nose to nose.

“It was the Bloody Church who crossed the line first. And to tell you honestly, I was going to make it easier for you to endure but I change my mind now… you are going to suffer the same fate that made Gats lose his mind.”

“What?” Zaza and Redeye had the same reaction but before they could react further, they vanished and the next thing they knew, they were already in a cell… in a familiar dungeon in a familiar place.

“This is…”

“Apus Epirus!”

“How did we teleport here from Mundus?!!”

“Is this Siva’s ability?!!”

The two of them were shocked and when they looked around, they saw a ‘corpse’ there on some corner, limbs cut until its elbow and half its thigh; all the torn flesh and removed nails, skin, fingers, and bones, were all around it.

The face of the poor man was unidentifiable from his bent down head, but it was evident just with all these blood around them as well as the amount of flesh involved that he was tortured… severely so.

His body was ‘locked’ by some kind of armor and from there extending to the limbs, the evidence of his distressing torment was clearly visible.

Even the palpable agony he suffered was clearly evident through the smell of urine and feces he excreted during the torturous hours he spent in this god-forsaken place.

Redeye recalled Siva’s words and approached the corpse that doesn’t even smell.

It hasn’t rotten yet.

When he lifted the man’s face, his eyes went as wide as it can and he backed away, startled with what he saw.

“Ah!”

Zaza caught him and asked, “What? Who is it?”

“H-H-H-He…” Redeye’s rattling lips couldn’t even speak the proper words.

Yet before he could even correct himself from his silly stuttering because of his shock, there were three sets of feet that came from the corridor.

Redeye snapped out of his scare and looked at the man while Zaza gazed at the approaching trio.

It was none other than the three advanced AIs responsible for Gats’ excruciating fate.

Since Cortana was here, there was no need for Siva to be physically present. Just one Liberty Drone is enough to connect Cortana’s [Avatar] to his mind, what more is a “network” set up entirely just to cover all perceptible blind spots and flaws in their defenses?

Although he trusted Akhenaton’s [20km Defense Zone], Siva wouldn’t be Siva if he did not enforce his Defense System on top of the already existing one.

Do not underestimate the power of his anxiety!

With a flash of light, Akhenaton also joined them as he swiped the air to confiscate their equipment and items before nodding at Cortana. After his job was done, the Immortal Keeper of Asgard gave a slight nod and vanished as quickly as he came.

With their equipment gone, status changed into a prisoner, the two realized that escaping would be harder than breaking a wall with just their tongue.

Cortana became the representative of the trio.

“So, who’s the one called Redeye?”

“I will tell you the coordinates!”

Before the torture even began, it already ended.

And it was even redeye himself who gave out the reply, “Just please let us go.”

The trio stared at the two. Even Cortana, who shouldn’t have any advanced emotional circuits yet, was staring at the man blankly. Human nature really is a mystery. Seeing the fate of their boss, seeing that their prison cell doesn’t even have a proper door, seeing that they had no choice but to give in or become like that ‘corpse’ which is not actually “yet” a corpse, they chose to compromise.

Because technically, virtually, and in full actual fact alone that Gats, the strongest of them all, even as strong as two Hagrid, couldn’t escape this cell.

What makes them think they can escape here?

“I would like to openly say sorry to Siva. Please relay my message. I am sorry. I will give him what he wants.” Redeye clarified.

“““…””

“Please, I have a family. I am sorry. It’s because of my needs that I accepted the offer but my life is a lot more important than anything. I will tell you all what you need to know.”

After he spoke, Siva, who was watching the scene back in his personal warship in Mundus, jumped the space and arrived inside the cell.

He grabbed Redeye by the collar and forgoes all the words they exchanged earlier, asking, “Where is your headquarters? Who’re your members, and how do you connect with the Bloody Church?”

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The calamity of The Legion continues!!

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