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Chapter 083: Plight of The Legion

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Surrounded by four unblinking stoic guards that doesn't even reply with any of his attempts for a conversation, Gats was nervous as well as angry at this situation.

He didn't have to imagine to know what kind of consequences will befall him as soon as those investigators Siva relied on to come back.

Death was certain.

...and it wasn't just the sense of a "death" for your Avatar Character, it was also the death of this one particular account itself because of the rule of the game applied to an avatar.

If you die in the field, when you revive using your insurance, you will immediately revive at the last walled city you have visited.

Fields included dungeons and any sealed space of any form and kind... as long as it's natural and wasn't player-made or controlled.

But if you die as a prisoner, you will continue to serve your sentence until indefinitely, or until the "sentence" duration ends, or the jailer or anybody with a power and authority to grant your freedom settle your account and give your freedom back to you. Siva also knows this and that's one reason why Gats was so furious at him right now that he was on the verge of exploding.

Because Siva's sentence duration is 'Unspecified'!

Meaning, it could exist indefinitely... until he was proven innocent and released, or proven guilty and was torn apart and shred to pieces by Galatea who promises to him her wrath. Personally.

If only he could move his fingers freely right now, he would have told The Legion about this secret base owned by Siva, and point their swords at the Humans staying in Misty Plains to demand for his freedom.

The threat of The Legion, although Siva defeated them once, was still great —great to the level of a noble faction in Jeremiah... numbering almost at least ten thousand solid Fighters and Farcasters.

And that was something the Humans who number only ten thousand (adult, crippled, children, and old people counted in) cannot fight back against.

—that is excluding the fact that the wrath of The Legion was sure to bring their warships with them when they attack, multiplying the threat.

SS-Pandora might have been a powerful Warship once in its glorious career, but right now, it was nothing more than a Life Vessel, its armored hull might still be thick but its inner facilities cannot be damaged at the slightest or the Humans will lose their only ticket to coming back to Earth. In short, SS-Pandora's existing cannons and laser turrets are for their final line of desperate defense.

At least, that's what's on Gats' mind at this instant.

He thought that SS-Pandora was still within Misty Peak where he last thought it was hidden. After all, the Quests and Missions related to instituting a closer relationship with the Humans in the game was yet to be publicly announced, because no one in their right mind would publicize the fact that once a [Human-Player] makes contact with the Inner Circle of the Human Government within SS-Pandora, they'd be given a PNF as reward —a PNF that could allow anyone to create their very own Invention without fees and limitations.

Even those with advanced knowledge and access about them in Jeremiah were yet to actually reach Gats' level of attainment in this regard.

Gats was the only one who had made contact with President Higginson Bollard and Maki.

Today, however, was his first contact with Galatea and he grimaced at the warning he received from her beautiful goddess-level pinkish red lips.

It was really heartbreaking to realize that all of his careful preparations for meeting her were thrown into the gutter with his desire to establish a closer relationship with Maki by coming back 'home'.

Who would have thought that Siva was actually already aware of his connections to the Bloody Church and was just waiting to strike at him from an unknown angle?

Yeah, unknown angle...

Nobody would have expected that Siva knew just when he'd 'flash' back in SS-Pandora and would trap him as soon as he had appeared, and without even a tiny extra bit of further deliberation at that.

"Adding Maki's reaction earlier, it means he didn't tell them about it and was the only one who was aware of our connection to the Bloody Church. I was just at the right place at the right time that Siva had been waiting for...damn it!!"

Gats was positive; if he could only get the right timing, he didn't have to resort to threatening the Humans to submit to his control.

Alas, he was too late.

Everything he'd built up now in the Humans is in the brink of ruin because of Siva's perfect timing in trapping him in here.

"If those interrogators of his arrive, I'd be doomed to die in here by Galatea's very own hands...!!"

Not only was he locked and immobilized, he was also unable to freely contact The Legion through emails. If he die here, reviving would be pointless.

Thus... he could only "die" and then tell the rest of them in the real world—and then—make a new account avatar to escape the situation and start all over again as a new player character.

It was the only way.

And the sooner he does that, the better, since he can still go back to The Legion as Gats with a new avatar, than go back as a new avatar "after" their [crime] of siding with the winning side controlled by the Bloody Church who was an ally of the Demon Armada had been publicized.

At least that way, he can still fight back and call it as an open slandering of their dignity, giving them the right to declare war and suppress the Humans to admitting their mistakes, thus breaking all their connections with Siva, thereby making Siva public enemy of the Humans and also of every Terran.

Gats didn't believe that the Terran-Human Alliance was broken. There was no way the Terrans would risk losing the Humans' overwhelming Technology and part with their 'knowledge' on how to counter Demon Technology.

"Should I or should I not...?"

Gats was deliberating it desperately on his mind.

Minutes had already passed and his three hours' time to escape was dwindling down its limited few numbers of seconds.

There are advantages and disadvantages in dying sooner and later... where sooner will allow him to warn The Legion earlier and restart his career and take revenge to the Humans as a new Player; and later, trusting the last bit of hope presented by the system notification about this 'escape mission' and not wasting the life of his [Gats Avatar] and all and everything that he'd built up so far in his career.

So the question is, would the system create for him a "chance" to escape this place; or everything would have to depend on himself and his ability, and not in the existence of luck?

After all, this is not a Chinese Novel where every trouble the MC gets into is resolved by a random "lucky encounter" or a random "lucky guy" giving him the lucky "item" or "legacy" that just happens to be the very thing he needed to escape this iron barred situation.

—No.

Gats was sure that the author of his story was a sadistic bastard who treats his characters, MC or not, with fair logic according to their own abilities and unique circumstances.

He trained his skills and writing ability, and follows the path of sound logic and smart writing, wanting to create an MC and a story that can give readers a sense of thinking, anticipating every event with no clue as to what will happen next... not like the Chinese Novels who are 100% predictable since, after all, their MCs are always lucky in every kind of way and WILL ALWAYS escape situations with a winning advantage, then blame it all in luck.

His was not that kind of story.

"Is this going to be my ending then? Was this even my story or was I the villain of another MC of another story?"

Gats could not help but think over this thought.

He was a modern man, was an employe of a large company, someone at the bottom, feeding off his basic wages enough only for a month's food.

—Was.

After he created his Blue Card Merchant Group in Terroa and established the Blue Card Legion in a secret attempt to take over the Humans, Gats had had a better life.

With all his hardships, was this success, and so he thought that perhaps he was an MC of his own story... but...... if he lose Gats, he'd also lose the Blue Card Merchant Group and the millions of Zentra on [Gats'] Terran Bank Account will be void as it was yet to be converted into real world cash.

And so, with this situation, he couldn't help think of this thought: am I the MC or the Villain?

—if I'm the Villain, then who's the MC?

Looking at his current circumstances, to the four 'jailers' on the four corners of this spacious cell, Gats knew that his ending would be slow and very painful if he doesn't escape sooner.

"Should I really kill myself here?"

There was a way though, even if he can't move his limbs. There was something in him that can kill him without actually moving his own hands, or help him relay the message to The Legion by making it manipulate his player panel on his stead.

But once he does that, however, not only he'd lose everything he'd built up so far, including the rare item treasures he painstakingly collected in all this years, he'd also lose "Gats" who was a Human with immense connections on both sides of RPG: Terroa's storyline.

Thinking about this now, all the more Gats' fury is focused solely on Siva.

Now that Gats had processed everything that had transpired for the last few minutes, especially the part where Galatea threatened him once they've proven his connections to the Demons, his sense of survival kicked in —he can't let them kill him.

But all the more important, he feared Galatea was going to actually tear him apart limb from limb.

After all, amongst Humans, once you get in touch with the Inner Circle of Humans, you'd get a huge intro about its Two Overseers.

Amongst these introductory information, Galatea's hate for the Demon Armada was always stressed.

What to do... what to do...

Desperate to survive, Gats called in, "Vice. I need you to crawl into my right hand and manipulate my Player Panel. Contact The Legion quick. Tell them everything that had happened in here. Tell them that danger is coming into the base."

[Yes sir.]

Gats whispered the command and with a tiny clink sound of something small activating its joints, the tiny spider the size of his pinky nail hiding on his pendant crawled out of his chest into his shoulder and then into his arm.

As soon as it disappeared on his sight, he already lost contact of what's happening into it and was in a waiting mode.

With a sound effect only he could hear, his Player Panel appeared in front of his chest but the tiny spider was on his finger, moving the Player Panel for his sake.

Gats couldn't lower his head to look at what was on the Player Panel on his chest, but he knew that it was only him that could see it... everything that is happening now was according to his memory and how the tiny spider bot manipulated his Player Panel according to his command.

As his head was still being stretched out, he could only see the faint display moving on his chest.

But what he didn't know is that, yes, according to her memory of Siva's own Player Panel, Cortana had already activated Gats' Player Panel to [Public Display Option] and had already "killed" the Battle-AI called [Vice] and was already copying and also sending copies of all of Gats' contacts and all his existing email conversations into a secure server.

Cortana also copied all files; videos, documents, and photos—all possible data that could be of use to Siva—and compiled them for deep analysis in a later time after this.

It all happened in only a matter of minutes.

When she was done, she didn't hide from his eyes and escaped the Mini Realm according to the procedure Siva had intended it to. This Mini Realm, in fact, can even be said to be Cortana's personal item as it was designated for her alone.

"You...!!"

The first to cry out in rage was Maki but before he could even unleash his wrath, Galatea was already a full beat faster than him and was already walking in front of Gats with palpable fury.

"You are a traitor to the Human Race!"

Gats couldn't even refute her words. He can only think "How did they know?!!"

A hand stretched out and grabbed Galatea's left shoulder, stopping her from starting the promise he spoke to Gats. Cortana stepped forth and then allowed Gats to see his Player Panel that was still active and visible.

There was an indicator whether your Player Panel is in Public Display Mode or not...

...on the left upper corner, was a small 'eye'.

And right now, this eye was visible.

Cortana smiled warmly at him like a sister seeing a mischievous child, "Did you truly think you had a chance to escape in the first place?"

While she spoke, Cortana swiped the air and the tiny spider with a dead Battle-AI —or better yet, a hack-dominated Battle-AI— jumped out on Gats' head and manipulated the Player Panel according to her actions.

This made all of Gats' body hairs to stand on end in absolute horror.

Whether it was Siva's command or not, Cortana is like a sadistic "Elder Sister" on his vision now.

"Monster..." Gats only murmured in fright.

"Everybody has their own chance to be a hero but you chose to be a villain instead." Cortana said. "I was ordered by the Boss to make you despair just before your punishment. So now, please enjoy your just rewards."

Gats's mind snapped into place. Escape? There's just no escaping here now. But he could only try his cards, appeal, or desperately fight back, or at least do something else.

He won't fall into ruin this easily!

"I demand a proper trial!" he roared. "I demand a lawyer! I am a Human Being! I have rights!"

Yes, it was on the mission. He had the right to ask for that right... a Proper Trial.

Alas, the one couple who could have granted that right to him were the very people that was now I front of him, with their looming shadows carrying their anger and wrath.

"You've forsaken your rights when you chose to betray your own people!" Maki hissed in fury. "We trusted you, I gave you resources! I was prepared to fight for your innocence until the end but you... you spoke in a straight and dignified face that you weren't one of the traitors... How... why... we are a dying race and yet you chose to betray our own people for the devils who brought our extinction!"

"There is no sense in talking to a dying man." The goddess of beauty beside Maki stated in shrilling acidic speech, "I told you earlier, I will dismember you myself until I make you regret ever living."

Gats' eyes dilated and although this was a game, Galatea's hatred was still palpable to the chilling gaze she gave him.

He knew then that the few minutes of respite Siva gave him earlier was just a display. From the very moment that he was caught, Siva had long known that he was guilty.

How, then, did all of this came to be?

Where'd his misery began?

As Gats wondered this question, he saw Maki's eyes of anger and Gats started to blame his loss to all of this towards the Human Guardian. His voice sounded sharp and full of resentment.

"It's you! You called me! This was all a trap! I was trying to find a better chance for the Human Race to survive this war but you just have to call me and destroy everything I've built for our entire Human species! This is all your fault, Maki... the Humans will die in this incoming war!"

Maki remained glaring at him while Galatea walked in front and grabbed Gats by the hand.

With Cortana's command, Gats's right arm was freed and although Gats tried to fight back against her, Galatea's WhiteTech Clone was still metal and in order to move this Light Metal, it wasn't just hydraulic power that was used —No— in fact, not a single ounce of Hydraulic Power was used. This was a strength purely made by NanoTech.

Metal to metal reaction, with Magnetic Lubrication in between, producing close-to-zero friction, thus creates more power while maximizing material life within the WhiteTech Clone body.

"Sto—STOP! I beg you, STOP IT! Aaaaaarrrghh!!"

The arm gats tried to fight back against is twisted, then it was torn from its elbow socket like slightly heated candle removed from its main shaft. Then, when blood flowed to wet the prison cell, she put her hand into the wound, heated mechanically, and burn the wound into healing, stopping all the bleeding and thereby prolonging his life.

"Don't die. Scream more. It's is your punishment."

For some odd reason, saying these words with a very straight face was horrifying to Gats' senses.

She was like a devil of beauty, straight-faced pure sadist, representing the pain and agony of one's sins as a the bringer of punishment.

His cry of pain echoed in the dungeon. The great and dignified Gats, undefeated in the Player Rank Charts, reduced to a pitiful crying form of his own greed's consequences.

Galatea moved with precision, removing his limbs one join after another.

No anesthesia, not caring for his pleas for help, and no stopping even as he shit and peed himself to nigh-zonking out condition.

When their scanners say that Gats was going to pass out into unconsciousness —or forcefully Logged Out— Galatea would inject adrenaline or caffeine into his blood vessels, thereby making him wake up, contributing to the continuation of his agonizing torture... removal of limb after limb.

Whether it was a gift or a curse, being able to stay awake and become aware of everything even as all of his limbs were removed, Gats felt 50% pain from it all and learned just how it felt like to be put into a torturous situation.

But, as he thought that perhaps he was waiting for being forcefully Logged Out because of mental stress load of the NLD, a blindfolded Priestess suddenly appeared, being guided by Cortana from outside the prison cell.

Gats saw this and he felt despair.

"Heal him. Regenerate his limbs."

"O-O-Okay..."

The girl was blindfolded for her own good. And Galatea plugged Gats's mouth with a bloody hand as he struggled to with an ugly tear-filled face.

"Hmmm! Mmmmnn!!!"

"Ignore it. Just cast your Prayer Magic two meters away from you and then you can go."

The female healer cast her [Prayer Magic] —the only way for severed limbs to be regenerated and repaired— and Gats was then subjected to a very cool and soothing feeling as his body seemed to have been massaged relaxedly by the Prayer.

When his limbs came back, the Sealing Puppet locked him again and the Healer was teleported away by Akhenaton as Galatea continued their session, until Gats couldn't take it any longer and mentally collapsed.

*****

[Everything's done, sir.]

"Good."

Right now, Siva was in Terrafirma, just 20 minutes away from the nearest Walled City in this Terran-only Inner Continent.