================================

Chapter 073: Preparing For War

================================

As far as he can see in this deal, it was a win-win for the both of them.

The Heavenly Father wants "Siva" dead. Although they and Siva had already had a fall out, there still remains no reason for them to actually focus their sights on eradicating Siva. As such, they still got interest on the prospect of using Siva against the Panorama Corporation... against Terroa, and also towards their own objectives.

With such easy task and an effective bullet to load in their guns, he can't help guessing that this so called Heavenly Father is actually aware of Siva's identity in the real world.

He got curious and asked.

"Yes." The girl said, smiling, "and this vendetta is stretching for years on even before the release of this game in the market."

The elder astutely listened, "I can't tell you all of it, but I can at least assure you that once Siva die in this game, even just once, it would already be enough for us and you may consider one part of this deal complete. Of course, if you put in a lot more peperoni cheese and spices in between, as long as you kill Siva in the end, it's still okay."

In short, they can accept the mission and also still add in more details so that Siva would act for their objectives before killing him.

That is indeed a good proposition.

He then said, "Well, I am already 25% closer to agreeing to your business. But I'm wondering, if the Heavenly Father sees this intel as something very important, why not directly use it against Siva? Or rather... why us? Why not just hire some merc and give this intel to them?"

The girl laughed and got on top of the Elf, locking her hands on his neck on the sofa, "Very simple, Mister Elder. It's because what Siva wants wasn't anywhere else but on our city."

"Ho?"

"Before I tell you the rest of the intel," Kira then pulled out a contract and put it on the table. She stood up and sat down on the opposite side of the table. They already switched places. "sign this first, make the vow, and you can have your way with me as much as you like."

The Seventh Elder watched as Kira charmingly blinked her beautiful eyes at him.

He laughed and checked the contract, signed it, and put down the pen before reaching out for a handshake.

"There. So, to the vow..."

"You don't want the intel first?"

The Elder laughed, "It can wait. Besides, we have been dealing with each other for a time now. You can tell me that while we're talking in the bed..."

Kira giggled sweetly and they did an [Unbreakable Vow] with the Seventh Elder. After that, it purely became a business talk while practicing karate.

When the deed was done, Kira didn't linger on as she made her leave. The Seventh Elder remained in the bed, staring at her departing back.

She opened the door and was just about to go out when she turned to him and said, "By the way, my advice to you is that you finish the job as soon as you can. If you do, then I can even think about a meeting in the real world. Ciao."

The Seventh Elder didn't reply and only smiled.

He stood up and draped over a robe on his body.

Walking over the wide panoramic window, he saw the bustling city below the tall tower. His mind still pondering over the intel she said.

"A kid, eh?" he mused, "And Jack Stone was the one who brought him in? I wonder what Siva's relationship with that kid ...or ......is that kid just an ordinary NPC?"

Everyone knew that those under 13 years of age cannot use the NLD provided by Panorama Corp.

As such, they didn't think that a 3 or 4-year old kid like that was actually capable of accessing a NLD.

What more, nobody would think he was a patient of DNI Therapy. After all, how many people in the world are aware of DNI-Therapy?

And just how many from those who know of the procedure could connect this boy to that very dangerous and unproven medical procedure?

—No.

Rather than that, in the first place, how many people in the world knew about the existence of this boy?

From those who knew of his existence, how many of them could connect him to DNI Therapy?

There was practically none.

So, the possibility of guessing it all correctly was as close to zero as anyone's brows.

*****

"You've also seen the events in Maria. I was busy since yesterday and so I let Siva move on his own and only got to log in today. But as soon as I did, I was met these guys... and you didn't even tell me or warned me about them."

After Siva complained about things, a call with the leader of the Atropos, Stark, was immediately made. After all, they still have some deal to finish.

Siva was still in need of their military assistance as well as their collection of Intels about [Siva].

"Let's just finish it today. I need to go back and attend an event."

"Aarun." Siva cut him. "Let's meet in Aarun."

"I'll call you when I get there. Wait for me."

When the call was cut, Siva heaved a sigh. He had to finish a lot of things before springing himself to an endless task of creating equipments for The Company to sell, as well as upgrading the defenses of Asgard, meet Gaia and receive the agreed five Mana Gathering Spell Formations, and also visit Pistareen and check on his 'charge' in the King Test... Lady Brea.

And those're outside of his major projects back in Asgard which is the Dragon Revitalization Project, as well as build his ambitious universal territorial energy core that he put all of his Tesla Coils into.

—so many things to do with so little time...

Although the calamity was still nine months, who's to say that nothing won't happen within that fairly short time period? After all, within two months, he, Siva, rose into power one event after another.

It has only been six months in the game world but to him, many things had happened that he could not help but get used to it and even presume for the trend to continue.

"If only I could be aware of every little thing that will happen before they happen, I could at least prepare myself on how to deal with it."

[We need to find a stronger Energy Boost for the Liberty Drones. Just as they are, maintaining an area of 40m around you perpetually wouldn't be an issue. But the thing is your enemies can attack you from multiple kilometers away. So we need to find a better Energy Boost than Vajra's Lightning.]

Right, with the Absolute Domain, Cortana can also calculate events ahead of time while gathering all data... that way, it was like predicting everything that will happen within the scope of this domain.

The wider the domain, the wider the scope she is able to calculate.

"Right... I just hope that the territorial energy core prototype can be finished soon so we can test all the theories in this prospect."

As he mused about his problems, Siva called out to another person.

"Where are you?"

{I'm already in the ruins.}

Siva took a step forward and the Mini Realm that Electra carried linked him into it, so he appeared at her side, ignoring the barrier that prevented all teleportation outside of the forest.

In fact, Siva already knew the secret to this place.

The place will not stop anyone to teleport inside of it, but will only stop those who wanted to get out of the forest.

Still, if the 'Level of Space Laws' were higher than the restriction level, the restriction will be ignored and the target can open up a worm hole and then teleport in and out of the place.

He guessed that the restriction level in Anazon Forest is only Tier-1. Since the Inventory Plus Ultra is already [LVL-7] —it means it can bypass any spatial restriction Tier-2 and below so Siva didn't have any problems in breaching the space inside and outside of the forest.

"I need you to call for the leaders. Introduce me as the leader. Can you do that?"

Electra looked at him intently. She'd seen his true strength. He can fight against Priest Levels of the hated Bloody Church, and even killed a Bishop and a Cardinal.

Perhaps he was weaker than any True Elemental Dragon from the Dragon Race, but he was still a lot stronger than any average monster.

That is, if all 'Leader-Class' in Anazon Forest were nothing short of ordinary.

"I don't think they will accept you as their master."

"Why?"

"Because you're a Terran and that these monsters eat Terrans for breakfast. They will look down on you the moment they saw you, if not even attack you to fill their stomachs"

"I see. Then just let them try."

Electra looked at him and spoke no further. She raised a hand in the air and released a lightning bolt into the sky.

The lightning bolt struck an invisible dome and it scattered into tiny arcs of lightning, spreading in all directions of the forest, until they disappeared into the horizon.

"Now we can only wait until they assemble in this place and line up in ranks."

"Are there monsters in need of special mention?"

Electra didn't answer and only said, "Why do you want to be their leader?"

Siva faced her, "Because I need every soldier I can get my hands on against the enemies."

Electra narrowed her eyes. Right now, she wasn't in her 'goddess mode' and so there was a pair of bright electric-blue irises staring at Siva.

"These guys may be strong and a cut above your average monsters, but once they face the might of those two Pontiffs, they could only bow their heads in surrender. When that happens, there will be no one to stop them on attacking you since for these monsters, strength is the only God."

Siva shook his head and corrected her, "I wasn't talking about the Bloody Church."

This surprised her greatly, "Then who?"

"The Demon Armada." He said gravely, "In nine months, a Grand Invasion of Terroa will happen and I need every soldier who can fight to protect Asgard as much as they can."

Electra's breathing shortened in shock. And it was all the more when she processed his words.

"Just... your Asgard?"

"Don't get me wrong. I will protect all the people I can protect as much as I can. And that includes your Horbe. But let's be realistic here, I can't even protect Asgard fully, so in effect, I also can't cover for every place in Terroa. As such, I plan to fully integrate your people into Asgard so that I can put all effort into protecting a single territory as much as I can..."

"..."

Electra didn't say another word.

Siva also didn't say anything but he knew that she understood his standpoint. Since he promised to be a standing 'protector' for the Vajras, he would carry that promise as much as he can.

But what he said was also true, he can't cover for every country and people as he can and so he's gathering as much forces as he can in preparation to this grand invasion.

He didn't even question whether Electra believed him or not, or whether the source of the news is reliable or just a joke to make fun of her.

"How long will it take till everyone gathers here?"

"A day or two if they rush from the very edge of the forest and run without rest; and four or five if the other leaders are away to the mountains or is sleeping or hibernating."

When she spoke, Siva turned his head towards the 'mountains' behind them.

He said, "Then I will come back after three days or so. Make them wait here."

"Where are you going? What should I do for the meantime?"

Siva paused to think and then gave her five empty Mini Realms for 'charging' and then 100 Liberty Drones to be scattered throughout the forest.

"Tell them not to attack these toys of mine."

"Is that all?"

Siva paused and when he met her eyes, he then recalled something.

"Oh, that's right; I need you to baptize me."

Electra blinked, blushed, and then turns sideways to avoid his earnest and expectant gaze.

"I'm sorry. I'm not yet ready for that... yet."

Siva blinked and when he understood what she meant, he cleared his throat and thought just how cute she was just now.

"Ahem. I wasn't talking about that. What I mean is for you to baptize me with your Blood Lightning."

Electra snapped back to look at him and her frown and pouting face was so adorable he couldn't help laughing.

She had no choice and complied.

Although the manner of 'baptism" differed with all the diverse circumstances to receive a Dragon's Blood, the time it takes for the baptism is actually pretty universal. Ten Minutes. What more, if the Dragon Blood received was from the Divine Beast Race, the supplementing Elemental Alignment will be higher by a doubled effect than from just the (Dragonkin) Elemental Dragons.

Siva remained standing there and Electra pinched her index finger, threw the drop of blood at his forehead, and awaited the completion of the rite.

Crackling lightning surrounded Siva's body and for a moment there, his 'curse' seemed to have been lifted as his skin turned white and blue with the lightning, his complexion that of the ones Volt and the rest saw in the dungeon of Apus Epirus in Alexandria. Although it was just short but that Siva back then was the True God of the legends.

As the lightning danced on his body, his stats also grew simultaneously. The speed was so fast that it reached the cap of 900 for each of the stats in no time at all.

In ten minutes, Siva was nine times stronger than any other ordinary man.

What more, there was a 30% Lightning Attribute that appeared on his Player Stat Window when he went on to check.

Also, there was now an "Alignment" stat. It says there that he was aligned with «Black Label».

: «Siva»

: «Apollo»

: «Black Label»

: «X874590XX»

«POWER»: 900

«SPEED»: 900«ENDURANCE»: 900 (+100% END effect)

«DURABILITY»: 900

«CONSTITUTION»: 900

«CHARISMA»: 900

«ENERGY»: 900

«WISDOM»: 900 (temp unable to recover ENE)

«SPIRIT»: 100

:

«30% Lightning»

>>Attribute Effect>>

*Lightning-based damage less 50%

()

"What the fudge... What's with this Black Label?"

Siva's eyes went wide at the sight of an unfamiliar term on his Player Panel.

"Cortana, is that information taken from the official Player Panel?"

[Yes boss.]

"The fudge! Who —wait...... since when did that information appeared on my Player Panel?"

[When I first checked your stats just now, sir.]

"..."

Siva felt that this has something to do with the official release of The Company in Terroa. If so, then he could only question the actual people that had something to do with it.

"Damn it." He kept on cursing in his mind and so lost all sense of calmness as he hurriedly finished his business in Anazon Forest so he can go back to Asgard as soon as he can.

With that said, he took a step and vanished in her vision, appearing next to the BM-Puppets —the ones who were still in the midst of delivering their package into its designated area.

"This place should be enough." Having decided it, Siva pulled out ten more Liberty Drones and also the rest of the first generation Signal Towers, and gave it to the BM-Puppets to use and plant.

From this day forth, they will be the protectors of these signal towers that although they were useless since there was the Liberty Drones, these were all for contingency's sake.

When the Puppets left, it was only the [Destroyer] and the [Smasher] that was there with him.

"You'll be coming with me. I have plans for you."

He put them back into his Inventory and when he took a final glance at his work, he took a step and vanished... appearing next in the skies of the City Lord's Mansion in Maria.

Right now, the aftermath of his actions were still fresh and since he'd already picked up his Space-locking Pillars, there were an endless amount of Union Forces pouring into the city trying to search for Siva, as well as salvaging the resources of this far-offed territory.

Taking out a T-Device he didn't linger on and said the place of his destination. Asgard.

*****

"Welcome back, My Lord."

When he materialized, Akhenaton was already in a poised stance, waiting for him.

His voice rung and Siva was slightly surprised that he almost jolted, "Geezer's Mice, Akhenaton! You are surprisingly creepy sneaking behind me like that... anyways, where are the rest of the team?"

"On official business sir." the Immortal answered him courteously and promptly.

"Specific." He ordered.

"They're currently not in the Asgard sir."

Damn it.

Siva didn't linger on and as he thought of going to the barns, in a flash of light, he was already there.

At the same time, he made a call to Fuma.

The bespectacled researcher answered the call after five rings.

"Don't 'yo' me!" he roared in greeting. "Just what happened to the name of the company? Why is it called Black Label and not Black Sieve Company?"

Fuma's eyes went wide and then his face began to distort as if he was suffering from a stomach pain or something.

"..."

Then the line was cut.

If he was fair-skinned Siva's head would show a lot of his veins popping into reality.

When he tried to call again, Fuma was already not online... he logged off.

"That piece of..."

Siva didn't linger on and dialed Thorn.

"Don't 'yo' me, you.... what the fuck happened to the name of my company?!!"

Thorn showed a look of panic and then he looked up and his face distorted into a look of horror as if there was a meteor falling on his face.

The call was cut.

Siva was astounded, "The mother f***ing..."

He tried to call back but he, too, had logged out.

"YOU ALL——!!"

Siva tried to call Volt but stopped.

He remembered the guy was still sleeping. Then he called the Little Pepper Witch with oversized breasts that're not suitable to her height.

What answered him was a monotone voice of her obviously answering the call herself.

After that, the call was cut. There's the beep thou.

"..."