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

Chapter 333: Date

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

AG laughed and this time, he had let out the very laughter of enjoyment that he had been trying to keep for a very long time.

“Aaaaaaaahahahaha… to think I’d be able to find a person in this world that could actually understand my reasoning for everything.”

“In my time inside, you’d be surprised to learn of how many of them are crazy enough to actually follow me.”

AG laughed again that seemed to be talking to a dear friend he hadn’t seen for a long time.

“Now that’s a story I want to hear.”

“I won’t tell you because they’re all dead. I killed them all.”

“…”

He killed his own followers?

AG’s smile vanished. Rex dismissed it with a wave of a hand while wearing a nonchalant smile.

“Well, I’ve already told you my conditions. In fact, I am looking forward for you messing things up. My other half is asleep right now but you can assure that this is not our last meeting. On the next time, however, that we met, I will look forward to the bad news that you will give me… oh how I love to destroy everything you consider is precious to you… even your memories and your goals… your dreams and your aspirations, your past, all of it… I can destroy it… once you fail to protect Baron… and you can be certain that while I am doing it, what you consider to be your soul will be watching everything happen in hell. Oh, and might I remind you… my Hell Fire really hurts and it persist for a veeeeeeeeery long time.”

With that, Rex pointed a finger at AG and the call ended with a blink.

He leaned back to the sofa and made mental commands… all spying systems connected to the house was severed and everything in the block is now transferred to his control and bidding.

“Now then...” Rex stretched out his fingers and then massaged his eyes and forehead.

He closed his eyes and rested.

After a moment, he gave another batch of mental commands and sent an email to himself.

“Good luck….. brother.”

After murmuring, he leaned back on the chair and fully rested his self for a couple of minutes.

Then…

He swiped the air.

PLINK!! PLINK!! PLINK!! PLINK!! PLINK!! PLINK!!

Panels upon panels showing stocks and statuses displayed itself with graphs and bars, and as well as predictions highlighted one by one in order.

If there is something that is similar to all of these panels, then it’s the fact these stocks are all under or at least part of the umbrella corporations and enterprises controlled by the World Government.

“In my life, I always wanted to play this game.”

Rex, right now, is a free dragon —no, a monster.

And a monster without a leash can do anything he wants without stopping him.

He had just given his collar’s reins to AG but to the guy who received it, it felt more like a bomb’s button than a leash to control a monster.

What more, when it was handed to AG, the button was already pressed. If he let’s go, the bomb will explode.

It was the cruelest mental torture.

“Now then, let’s see what the little guy can do with him not knowing the truth of his freedom.”

As it turns out, [Rex] is a lot worse than AG.

But while he is a painful scourge to those who he had treated as enemy, he was kind to those he cared about and will even choose to instead torture himself and temper it.

Right now, he needed to train the other guy. And he was going to do it while doing preparations on his other plans himself.

“Sigh… mom, dad… I never realized that you two are still alive as well as Samantha. I promise I will revive you guys. I promise. I will make them pay.”

Tears formed and fell in his eyes for a few seconds before he sniffed and used his hands to wipe them away like a real teenager would. This fragile [Rex] right now was different from the one that talked down at AG and it clearly shows how human he was inside his mask of intelligence.

—this task needed money.

—a lot… of money.

When he thought about that, the only way he can think of that can yield a lot of cash in the shortest amount of time was the Stock Market.

His capital will be his incredible computing ability.

“Now then, all we need is time and to make sure that the other side… will be successful.”

Having said that, [Rex] had a look in his eyes that told anyone that will see it that he was planning something nasty… something that will make their blood cringe and hide to their bones.

*****

AG still sat there, a bitter taste in his mouth.

Dante’s [email protected] image walked over and wore the same look of grim on his brows.

“Is it as how you have feared it?”

AG heaved a long sigh. “Yes.” and then looked at the sight of his ‘city’ in New Zealand. “And it’s not even close to how we have predicted it. From the very beginning, before I or anyone else even took their very first step… a God was already walking amongst us.”

Dante swallowed, “Dear God… what have we created…”

Although AG cared little less, it was still a fact that [Rex] exceeded the catastrophic level that he had predicted he would carry.

[Rex] was looking at Earth as just a planet. He did not care if the human race becomes instinct. In fact, based solely on how AG looked at him during their talk, he was sure that [Rex] was even looking forward to him failing to protect Baron.

“He played us for a fool.”

“The worst part is, I hold the reins that’re keeping him from unleashing his monster free.”

Dante looked at him, “Although I could sense the fear in your voice, why am I looking at you as if you’re excited?”

AG was that kind of pervert; someone who enjoys seeing chaos, panic and disorder. And the reason why he is threatened by [Rex] is because while he and [Rex] share the same results, the essence of their goals was fundamentally different.

To AG, without the people, he can’t see chaos.

To [Rex], he wants to stir up chaos to destroy all and everything that was in the world. His end goal is just total annihilation.

He wasn’t a demon or a devil, he just wants to see everything end… and then restart from there.

This is a real [God] in every sense and definition.

—and this is what he feared the most.

—and although Dante feared it as well, despite its repercussions, he could still see AG smiling.

Because in the end, AG was that kind of pervert.

If they consider [Rex] as the God of Destruction, then AG here is the genuine [God of Discord].

The two of them are different.

“Because it’s entertaining. I’ve never felt anything like this before. Being threatened in this degree, with the world at stake, is just too damn exciting!”

“So you’re having hero dreams now?”

“Of course!”

Dante sighed, “And Project Genesis?”

“That’s our Excalibur to defeat the evil drag —no, the Evil God!”

“How?”

“By making Project Genesis a huge success, we will give the people a chance to defend against him, if ever he actually snaps out.”

Dante chuckled and sighed again, “And you, as the one who gave them that power, will be hailed as a hero… and then there will be a fight… and in your comfy couch, you’ll watch everything happen while eating cheese-flavored popcorns.”

AG laughed at it, “That is going to be the best movie ever directed in history! Hahahaha!!”

Dante understood that there is no stopping [Rex] if he snaps out of his own cage. He will kill his way to the people who had caused him misery and suffering.

In the end, the world will still burn. But… while it is still so, his and AG’s “goals” would have all been accomplished first so in the larger picture, it was a win-win situation to the three of them.

AG stopped laughing and his expression turned grim, “But Father will not allow the world to burn and he will control him… while in turn controlling everything in the world.”

“The Grand Families are not sitting idly as well. A large number of items are being purchased in a very large scale in some corners of the world and if what you told me about Pegasus having control of a [Wyvern] is true, then I have enough reason to believe that in the issuing war, only the Father will come out victorious. When that happens, a new World Order will begin.”

“You know how Father is… even at his age, he’s still trapped at his delusion of grandeur, denying death over and over… I already told him that my Project Genesis will help him live longer but he never listened and only stuck to his plans. I never was able to read his actions.”

Dante frowned as well, “I too am unable to predict his plans. Sometimes, he shows us something but often times, we’d just be surprised that something had already transpired.”

“All I know is that he’s looking forward to the birth of a [God] and that based on his personality, he’ll do everything it takes to control that God.”

Dante looked at him, “He doesn’t plan to be a God himself, does he?”

AG shook his head, a look of forlorn resignation reflected on his expression.

“Unfortunately, no.”

“Then that makes it all the more complicatedly dismal. He was never the sort to speak his mind and he built his family solely through mental games and power manipulation. He’s a thousand times scarier than you.”

“I was trained by him.” AG eyed his friend.

“Heh. Don’t worry though; I will record everything, even the moment of your defeat.”

AG laughed and drank the acid-tasting blend on his now cold cup.

“In the end, we’re all up to our own ends.”

“Indeed it is.”

The silence between the two of them was the sign of their mutual understanding. The other one is a pervert who enjoyed inciting and watching the scenes of chaos, the other obsessed with the act of putting everything on record.

If one thing, Dante was the kind of person who wanted to create his own Book of Legends.

*****

Siva had decided to focus his efforts to gaining power and influence here in Terroa.

Point 1: Build a formidable fortress to call a base.

Point 2: Build a powerful organization.

Point 3: Develop a working system to control it.

Point 4: Spread influence and use its power.

Point 5: I have to do this in seven days.

Before, Siva had not finalized these important points on his mission to save Baron. Before, all he had were his goal and he moved like a snake in a forest, unable to determine the exact direction and only went on to go in the flow.

Now, he at least has a guideline.

“They already sent the videos of all their findings and I am now analyzing the contents.”

“Alright. I leave the handling to you according to my desired end product.”

.

.

.

.

“Thorn sent another video and a few snapshots of the end products for dragon materials from the underground markets.”

“Send them a message to ask the details of the processes as well.”

“Done.”

.

.

.

.

“Volt’s crew had finished their canvassing of the parts and locations, manner of transport, and the prices of the items for building a stronger Signal Network… there are around 32 different locations that we have to contract with.”

“Find out their business models’ weaknesses and then arrange their desired grades of products to the average. Since we have no money, we will do a trade.”

“What about quality?”

“The Company does not sell 2nd rate products.”

“Roger that.”

.

.

.

.

“Samara reported a second rate haggler wanting to lie about the prices, what’s you decision?”

“Hmp. Locate his business models’ weakness and then make a move using other franchises. We will crush it take over everything he had through the agreement on that franchise.”

“And the hand we’ll be using?”

“Make them bow their heads to us. We may not have the money but we have the resources and everyone will bow down to the owner of the resources they do not have.”

“What’s your standard price?”

“Less thirty percent to the average prices. We have an abundance of it and so we will drown the market until we are the only ones left.”

“Understood.”

.

.

.

.

From ancient times until now, business is a very brutal battlefield. In the world of business, there are four kinds of important factors that must exist in a business market no matter what.

The first is the [Resource Supplier]; without the source material(s), there is no product.

The second is [Manufacturer]; before the product is even called a product, there must be a creation process and this process is handled by the maker.

The third is [Retailer]; whether it be wholesaler or warehousing… all of it is just part of retailing the product(s) towards the:

Fourth, and most important, [Consumer]; where the product is sold to and used.

Out of all these four parts of a business cycle, an oddity such as Siva is a rarity.

Usually, the [Resource Supplier] is different from the [Manufacturer] and the [Retailer], but in this case, The Company…… or rather, Siva… is all the three combined.

He was an oddity.

Because of the PNF, he can manufacturer rare dragon-grade items and because The Company is also both an Enterprise-type and an Adventure-type of organization, they can also generate cash by selling their manufactured products directly.

What more; not just dragon-materials but because the members of The Company are all pushing the lid into hunting in order to get their rewards, the supply of monster materials are all also continuously pouring in on The Company.

“Cortana, find me a disposable NPC to negotiate for a PNF in the Alliance Store. Most preferably a poor soul who has the ability but doesn’t have any backing whatsoever.”

“Understood.”

With the help of The Alliance, Terroa had also adapted the [Network] of sharing information through their hidden towers.

Aside from the players, everybody else have equal access to all public information.

That’s why there was still the [email protected] function in the game and as well as a *local (*Terroa) internet database that people can spread gossips to.

Information flow in Terroa had adapted the culture of the Modern Earth. It was fast. Any information that happened in Espada can travel to the other continents in but a few seconds. Live coverages of events were also broadcasted to the *local TV channels and be seen by all. Terroa is a magical-imbued version of the real world’s Human Society.

As such, there are bound to be desperates who’ll be posting things in the net, seeking to have luck on their side and grace them mercy to be their backing.

Only a moment passed and Cortana answered him with a beaming smile on her face, “I actually found four of them, boss.”

“Ho? Recruit them and send them the copy of the contract with full wages and support. Interview will happen tonight here in this hotel. Let’s go to the city now and trade off all of the S-Ranked Items we have hoarded from Warjillis to buy all of the things we need.”

Having said that, Siva went into the veranda and dialed a call —or rather, thought of her face and Cortana dialed it: “Mandy.”

[Rex, I thought you logged out?]

“Change of plans. Do you want to go on a walk?”

[Huh? Huuuh?! HUUUUUUHHH?!!]

*****

It wasn’t a video call. It was just a classic audio-only call from the past century. And yet right now, her heart was beating fast… faster than a train.

Looking at her with irritation and envy were the rest of the girls in the room who were having their own girls’ meeting.

In the middle of that meeting, Scion suddenly got up when she received the call.

Of course, this alerted the others, especially the other two ‘competitors’.

The obvious look in their faces said it all.

“A-A-A walk… um… ano…” she was fidgeting and she glanced over FlowerLord asking for help.

“How should I know?!!” —FlowerLord’s “hmp” said it all.

The two other girls either bit the hems of their skirts or handkerchief. They were feeling envious of Scion’s call.

Kathleen Brew, however, had a look on her face that already foretold FlowerLord her plans to spy on this delectable event between the world’s most famous fugitive and the world’s prettiest face in the internet.

“You are going nowhere. Let the girl have respite from the events…” FlowerLord whispered these words to Kathleen but her actions told otherwise.

BlackTech in [Overdrive] surrounded Kathleen like a snake that’s about to eat its food.

“I’m not a prey!”

“Give her some space.”

“I know.”

“Then why did you throw your camera drones in the veranda?” when FlowerLord spoke, a few strands of her Ceres in BlackTech form returned a few different-shaped items beside Kathleen who began to look dejected. “Come on, just give her some space… for now.”

They looked at FlowerLord and saw her face in its ‘unsociable’ character mode.

She has always been against Siva/Rex and so of course, her bestfriend being the guy she hated’s girlfriend would not work well for her temper as well. She had to stop them, or at least try to, or she wouldn’t be able to sleep well at night.

The girls had no choice but to concede this round to Scion who now walked towards the open-air veranda with a hand as if holding a phone to her ear, supporting her hair.

*****

There are anti-gale structural techniques applied to the beams and pillars that projected outside and around the veranda.

Air was supposed to be a bit thin here but for a good reason this was a prime hotel with a very expensive accommodation price, the air in the veranda felt really comfortable that she couldn’t help but inhaling deep and smiling in it.

There was a no-fly regulation around and above the big castle in the distance. Whoever is caught violating this law will be sentenced to death right on the spot.

As such, aside from the 5km-large area around the castle, the city could be seen with many busy and bustling shadows of people and hoverboards and bikes, Cyclones, and creatures flying to and fro in many different directions.

Commercial flights had their own heights to travel but no other flight-capable objects could be seen passing through the sky of the castle.

In this regard, when she saw a shadow coming over to her direction from the castle, her heart felt like skipping beats at this moment.

In there is a gold-white armoured knight with a gently fluttering red cape.

He looked dashing and gallant in that posture and his more streamlined armor look made this unique impression even more evident. As he approached her veranda, he slowly stretched a hand indicating for her to jump down.

Scion was still wearing her wizard robe that was edited to have 5% of Black Ironwood Alloy in it.

Though it was a little heavier than before, it was not to the point that it will max out her [we].

She looked back and saw the girls —none were supporting her.

But she didn’t mind it and only smiled at them, “I’ll be going out for a bit.”

“Huh?”

“What?”

“Are…… are you seriously…”

“Huuuu (T,T)… free me already…”

They weren’t looking at the veranda only seeing her and froze as they saw her readying herself to jump down the veranda.

“Mandy!”

“Hey!”

“What are you…”

“WHOAAAA… SHE JUMPED DOWN!!!”

Of course they followed her but when they saw her slowly falling to her death, they were boggled for a bit before noticing a figure there that’s about to catch her.

They immediately closed their mouths… except for Cassiopeia.

“Masteeeeee~~~rrr!!”

FlowerLord pulled her down before she actually fell to her death. Siva and Scion was already far down away when she screamed.

*****

Side by side, Siva held her hand and they slowly, and just so ever slowly, descended towards the central square in a district somewhere close to the Quad Towers Hotel.

He swiped the air and gave her a mask —one of those masks he spent his last NanoCubes to edit.

It was a classy Domino meant for noblewomen of the classical renaissance era; with bright red gem-looking glittering at the rim of the left eye-socket.

This mask only covered her left eye and a part of her left cheek.

Although it only hid her eye and half of her forehead, it fails to hide the delicate jawline and her attractive nose and kissable pinkish red lips.

Her right side was exposed but because of her own hairstyle and how it dangled freely, it wasn’t something to worry about.

Still, any soul who would see her, despite being masked, would still be captivated by her grace.

Her smiles at him felt like the warmth of the early morning sunshine. Her giggling laughters and her soft touches as she pulled on his arm as they danced while slowly descending gave Siva the sense of warmth and love that he once felt when he was being cared for by his mother.

“Oh how I wish I could be free of my curse so that I can spend the days free with you.”

This statement startled her and she tilted her head to the side as she inquisitively gazed at him.

“Is it really bad for the people to see your curse?”

“Yes. It incites negative emotions, leading to the knight orders and all governments of Terroa to issue a hunt order to kill me right on the spot.”

Scion was surprised and she clung on to him even tighter and looked up to meet his eyes.

“Why would such a curse befall you?”

“This curse is given to the keeper of the Chalice of the Blood Dragon God and is meant to actually kill the keeper. If I want to lift this curse, I must find all the items of the keeper before the time limit of the Blood Dragon God’s awakening. Else, not only this curse will be permanent, everything in Terroa would also burn.”

“So it’s a quest then? And a hard one at that?”

“Really hard.”

Siva’s current armor settings for the BMA was only covering the outer extremities and sides of his torso, the neck, back, hips, and then his hips and his legs… the rest were on his usual white polo shirt.

If he had to call it, it was the “Casual Knight” set.

Because it gave him maximum freedom in terms of movements and he could feel the breeze directly to his skin.

When Scion hugged him, they were already at least 40m away from the ground.

Many people were already noticing them.

One of them, with a timely glance brought plainly by chance, was a gaze belonging to Zelga.

When he saw her, even from afar, there was no doubt that he was immediately captivated.

Her flowing hair waved freely and although all he could see was her masked left side, her smile and her graceful movements were enough to make him aware that she was an extremely beautiful woman.

“I must capture her.” His possessive tendency kicked in. “I must make her mine.”

.

.

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

Trouble brewing in the Capital…!!

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