[MA] 202. Talking Pig (Patreon)

Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter

[A/N: Chapters this week: 3/3

Late chapters: 3

Next release: Tuesday ]

"There are only two ways this war will end, girl," the Argentinian general said with unhidden spite. The man, wearing an old-school military uniform, was kneeling with bound hands and feet on the ground of Buenos Aires' main square.

Marzia, in a white and golden plate armor designed to awe, was sitting on a throne-like wooden chair she had placed there for the trial. Four D-ranks of her personal guard kept a magic perimeter. Thousands of Argentinians stood around him, watching the proceedings.

"You'll need to kill every last person in this country before we submit," the man continued. "We resisted world powers in the past. Your people will be no different."

The crowd cheered.

Marzia suppressed a sigh. Back in the prison cell, the man had said he would capitulate in exchange for a pardon, but he just wanted to become a martyr in a public execution. She had expected it but hoped for the best.

Unfortunately, now that they had come to this, she would have to give him what he wanted.

The general's martyrdom might become an issue in the future, but Marzia was too close to quelling all of Earth's rebellions to care about it. She had given all world leaders nine months to bend their knees. Unfortunately, her following actions were misguided.

She had established the world government, putting structures in place that helped everyone, including the rebels. Some had taken it as a show of weakness instead of her trying to bridge some strenuous relationships.

Most had learned better after her shows of strength in the past months, but some idiots still refused to see reason.

Well, it was time the cheering people paid for the stupidity of picking—or accepting—the wrong leadership.

"Erasing an entire ethnic group will be unnecessary, General," Marzia said. She had extinguished countries and thus didn't recognize any nationality as more than an ethnic group. Her magic made her voice heard above the cheers. "I henceforth decree D-ranks can hunt for human Bounties in South America's Quadrants 47 to 87."

| Bounty Reward Voidance removed in South America's Quadrants 47 to 87

Bounties were great ways to keep order while letting Guardians train their skills and amass wealth, but the first few to reach D-rank had monopolized them. They had also ignored her order to stop doing it. Things had only changed when she spent Management Points to remove any reward a D-rank might gain from such Bounties. They had gotten very upset, but she survived all attempts—

A message interrupted her train of thought.

| Alicia Winter (D): We have a situation in Australia.

"We are done here," Marzia declared, stood up, stored the chair in her Inventory, and teleported away.  The lying general wouldn't even have the privilege of being executed by her. The D-ranks would take care of him for his Bounty.

The teleportation ended with Marzia in front of a field of cubic pieces of putrid meat. It took her a few moments to realize she was looking at the sliced corpses of hundreds or thousands of individuals.

A simple spell took care of the terrible smell, and she looked at Alicia, who stood beside her. The girl wore her usual set of armor: slightly padded dark grey vests beneath black leather armor. Her hair was tied in a business bun, and her magic glasses gave her a kind of intellectual vibe.

Her team of five E-ranks, all investigators like her, were spread throughout the death field.

"What am I looking at?" Marzia asked her Head Inspector.

"This, Marzia, is what remains of the Tartus ogres that invaded us," Alicia replied while gesturing.

Marzia was surprised, to say the least. The Tartus ogres were supposedly an elite D-rank unit, even in the Alliance. Not the best, but close enough.

Alicia then nodded towards Marzia's back, who turned and saw the remains of a firepit a few feet from her. There were also two or three dead ogres beside it if she went by how many pieces of meat were there.

"The ogre on the right even had a lifesaving treasure," Alicia continued while pointing at some metal shards that had once been part of a metal ball. The opening where the fragments had been taken from looked fresh.

The Head Inspector left unsaid that any lifesaving treasure was at least a C-tier item. Even if it had been a poorly made one, a C-tier treasure should have the energy to protect its subject for years because no one on Earth should be able to break it, regardless of how long they tried to.

Alicia turned back to the field of what Marzia now knew to contain a thousand corpses. That's how many Tartus ogres had invaded Earth.

"The entire group is close enough to evidence they all died almost instantly," she continued the report. "I saw no evidence of anyone moving their corpses post-mortem. Some died a little further than others..." She pointed at them. "...but not by much. That means even those who tried to run away were swiftly dealt with. Worse, the mere existence of runners shows that even if they walked into a trap, they survived long enough to do something about it but tried to escape instead. No one survived regardless."

She waved her hand, and pieces of cut flesh floated toward her. They stopped a few yards away.

"Every single ogre here died the same way. They were cut down with a very, very sharp weapon into five-inch-wide cubes. There are no signs of a proper resistance, so whatever they tried to do to defend themselves was utterly useless."

The ensuing silence marked the end of the report.

Marzia didn't have to think too much to guess what all that meant. "Feng Shen is back." Using the system, she could see he was alive and on Earth, but not find his location. "And he's much stronger than we expected."

She felt conflicted about it. Schneider's death still weighed heavily on her heart, despite her mind telling her it had been a necessary sacrifice. So she just didn't think of it enough to reach a conclusion.

To be honest, Marzia feared what would happen if she moved against Feng Shen.

Alicia nodded. "Either he's back, or there's another person around that can kill us all if they want to." She nodded to the side, where Marzia saw a bunch of stones over a pile of obviously stirred Earth. "The ogres were eating a human corpse. Whoever killed them at least cared enough to bury our dead."

That was good news, but what really mattered here was that the overwhelmingly strong killer clearly didn't want to be found. Therefore, Marzia wasn't about to poke that hornet's nest.

In other words, none of Marzia's plans changed, but maybe she could use this episode to her advantage. "When did it happen? Who else knows this?"

"About three days ago. The corpses were pillaged, but not enough to suggest someone found them, or I doubt so much D-rank equipment would still be around. Some pieces are even D+. The killer took what they could with them before disappearing."

Marzia smiled slightly. "Good. We can use this. I'll collect the equipment and give your unit your share later. Separate the sliced heads and burn the rest. Send for a taxidermist Guardian. If we can make the heads look new, we can use them to convince the local rebels of our might without lifting a finger." And if the killer ever complained about it, she would just say she was sorry and hope for the best.

Marzia didn't have to worry about Alicia's investigators spilling the beans about what had really happened here. They venerated Alicia, and she was the woman Marzia trusted most in the entire world.

She really hoped Feng Shen didn't also take her away from her.

= - = - =

Yinhu Lanfen was beyond Shen's passive energy senses. Yet, she released a natural pressure that he had learned to recognize while in the Eternal Empire.

She was an Ethereal Harmonization cultivator.

The Ethereal Harmonization realm could be entered after touching on a Law, just like the C-rank. Though Shen didn't know the details, he knew the realm had to do with harmonizing with the elements. Simple logic dictated the woman not only had taken a Law into her Path but also became one with it in a more intrinsic way than Guardian C-ranks. After all, Shen had felt nothing similar from the Drow Maiden.

Looking into what might as well pass as a living, moving Law wasn't easy on the mind. Back when Shen had been a mortal, looking at his father gave him a pounding headache unless the man purposefully did something to remove the strain. Now at peak D-rank, he felt a kind of heaviness behind the eyes that wasn't painful but made it clear he was facing something beyond his station.

Proper etiquette required him to bow and present himself. However, the woman's strike had thrown that out of the window.

It didn't take a genius to guess what was going on. She was from the Yinhu Clan, which had replaced the Cai Clan as the Fourth Seat of the Eternal Empire, then moved against Shen's Feng Clan. Now, she was attacking Feng Shen.

Shen didn't know how things had developed after he entered a slumber, but it obviously hadn't been resolved amicably. Her next words all but confirmed it.

"Whoever used the Law of Anihhilation to change your appearance did nothing to remove your dog smell, Feng spawn," Yinhu Lanfen said. Her voice contained the same agelessness as her appearance. "The stink reached as far as my palace."

Even her voice moved faster than Shen and reached him almost instantly. The Drow Maiden also did that whenever Shen was moving. Sound moving faster than the speed of sound went against the very laws of physics, but using the Laws of Reality let someone bend or outright bypass physics, depending on their power.

That she had elected to talk instead of pressing her attack was further evidence of her being alive during the time of the Eternal Empire. Their culture saw value in having a verbal battle before killing someone. It was weird to find it again after dealing with modern humans, but that didn't compare to how wasteful and inefficient that felt to him after the drow training.

Then again, the Eternal Empire had many rules and traditions to keep things honorable and civil, while everything the Drow Maiden had taught Shen was about destroying one's enemies. In the Empire, it had been typical for someone who was about to get attacked to get away because a strong backer arrived during the verbal spar. Giving the enemy this time prevented many battles from escalating into bloodbaths.

Even sneak attacks like the first one were more of a statement than an actual attempt on his life. Yinhu Lanfen hadn't used all her power and might even have missed on purpose. The strike showed she meant serious business.

It also meant there was no talking his way out of this battle.

Shen didn't know whether the Drow Maiden would come for him but wouldn't bet on it. However, he would talk back and take as long as he could to prepare.

He released his aura. Doing so wasn't rude in the Empire. It couldn't pierce her body to let him analyze her better but let him feel no one else was nearby. More importantly, it would let him detect new attacks much better.

Then, he stopped moving, pulled his spear from his spatial ring, and turned to face her.

"I heard rumors about the Yinhu Clan teaching their pigs to talk," he said, "But seeing it in person is something else altogether."

Shen had never received any training or had any experience in this kind of verbal spar. However, one year of verbal abuse made him suck slightly less at it.

The woman tsked. "As expected, no one ever taught a Feng dog not to bark at their betters. Sit, boy. Sit, and I'll give you a treat before I send you to meet your forebears."

The lightning around her expanded to cover a dozen yards around her. It looked like a magic control zone, but Shen's aura let him feel the difference. There was no mana or qi in the bolts. They materialized from the sheer power of her will and her connection with a Law from the Laws of Lightning.

"Ah, a treat," Shen replied. "I see, I see. The Yinhu still can't keep their robes tied." There had been rumors of the Yinhu Clan forcing cultivators to partake in dual cultivation with them against their will. Some even whispered it was to steal their power.

He didn't stop on such a base offense, however. The Drow Maiden had taught him everything could be used as a weapon. His Path agreed. The right words here might help him gain information about his foe.

"Are such wild proclivities the reason you only touched on a single Law despite your advanced age? You just couldn't stop yourself, could you? You gave in to your earthly urges until your Path was so polluted that you couldn't find the way forward anymore."

He had no idea if she really only used a single Law. For all he knew, she just liked that Lightning Law more than any other. As for her activities, forcing sex on others was unspeakably terrible, but sexual freedom didn't bother him as much as it once had. Shen had shed away some of his shame after dealing with modern humans and one year—

His thoughts were interrupted by a powerful roar that shook everything.

The woman was enraged and rushed his way.

It seemed Shen had struck a nerve. Either she only had one Law or was faking her anger to lead him to the wrong conclusion.

Whatever the case, he filled his body and spear with as much qi as possible and prepared for the most challenging fight of his life.

[A/N: I had a change of heart.

The second arc will only finish after Shen is done seeking his clan's artifact. It makes a lot more sense plot-wise. It closes the circle that opened when Shen received his father's message.

Moreover, the battle against the Empress will be incomparably more exciting than the one against the gnoll boss—who is now considered the arc's "middle boss." It will be a better final battle. It also kind of closes a circle that was opened when the empress was first mentioned by the US military.

So... Hype!

P.s.: I removed the author's notes saying the arc would finish from the relevant previous chapters. ]

Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter