WolfWrites

The Calling of Wrath - Chapter 22 - Invaders

Added 2022-07-27 03:14:10 +0000 UTC

The New Earth Alliance Headquarters
Year 819 | Month 1 | Day 14

“On account of losing two of the seven Sins that our Alliance has painstakingly created, Robert Fellhart will henceforth be demoted from his position as one of the four High Generals and placed in a probationary position as a General,” the Chairman of the New Earth Alliance announces while pressing a pure-black button located in front of him, causing the large hall to be split into four sections.

Within the middle section is the center of the room, where the condemned ex-High General is currently being freed from his chains by a pair of soldiers. It also has three different pathways out of the room, each going directly to the edges of the hall.

Meanwhile, the other three sections are made up of the section where the two councilors and the Chairman of the New Earth Alliance judge the condemned from, the section where the high ranking officers of the New Earth Alliance watch the proceedings from, and the section where the press watch and record.

However, this particular session did not have any press.

At the same time, within the section meant for the high ranking officers, the same old man who had saved Cassandra can be seen with a faint smile on his face.

“You’re probably happy about this, High General Chandler,” Albert Kai, one of the other High Generals comments, having noticed the smug look on the old man’s face.

Reynold Chandler glances at the younger looking man and says, “Nonsense. Why would I be pleased to know that a large portion of our preparations were ruined because the newbie couldn’t even guard them?”

Archer Faust – the last of the four, now three, High Generals – sends a suspicious glance towards Reynold before blandly stating, “Yes, and why would he fail to put a guard on two of the most precious subjects in our laboratory?”

The old man simply looks at him with a shrug before starting towards the exit as he says, “I don’t know. You should ask him if you want to know his reasoning for what he does, and not me.”

The two High Generals watch as Reynolds leaves the room before sharing a look.

“He is behind this somehow,” Archer states without any doubt in his voice.

Albert nods his head in agreement with a troubled look on his face.

Meanwhile, Reynold, who is calmly passing through the hallway, thinks, ‘It was certainly a gamble, but it paid off in the end…’

The old man continues walking through hallway after hallway until he reaches his quarters.

Right as he is about to open the door, he pauses as a thought comes to him.

‘I wonder if that girl is still alive?’ he thinks while scratching his chin, only to shake his head. ‘No, I tossed her in one of the most dangerous places on that entire continent. There’s no way she’s still alive.’

Reynold then proceeds to open his door and enters the room.

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Several hours later, back in the laboratory that Cassandra was rescued in, Robert Fellhart walks into the very room that she was being held in and coldly looks at the scientists in the room who are gathered around a red crystal.

“Has the crystal shown any signs of reacting?” he asks, his mood bleeding into his voice to the point of frightening the scientists.

One of the two scientists shakes his head and answers, “No sir, even after we took the crystal around the entire city, it never once gave us a reaction.”

The former High General’s frown deepens at this before he turns to look at the newly repaired container that was holding Cassandra.

“If I’m not mistaken, that crystal only reacts when Wrath is within five kilometers of it,” he states without taking his gaze off of the container. “And that it would shatter completely if the subject were to become deceased.”

“You’re not mistaken, sir,” the scientist says, barely managing to keep himself from shaking.

Robert’s frown grows slightly deeper before he turns around and leaves the room without another word.

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Cassandra

Why hello, good sir…

This thought crosses my mind as I watch a man – an invader by the looks of his armor – fight with a nekotrai in the middle of a clearing.

Or I guess not good sir? If his outfit is anything to go off of.

The man looks to be older than I am, and he is wearing the same armor as those people who originally kidnapped me. Which likely means he’s part of their group.

Although he also doesn’t seem to be faring very well.

The sound of a small roar echoes in the clearing mixed with sparks of electricity, drawing my attention towards the other side of the clearing where another nekotrai is prowling into the clearing, seemingly preparing to join their battle.

Definitely isn’t faring very well.

Which makes me wonder how he ended up in the Dark Forest in the first place.

Out of curiosity, I focus on his armor to identify it.

My eyebrows raise in surprise.

That’s some powerful armor.

Too bad it doesn’t look like it’ll fit me.

I watch the fight for several minutes while debating about whether or not I should help him even if for no other reason than to get information out of him, but as if deciding for me, over a dozen more nekotrai enter the clearing and quickly deal with him.

The man’s screams echo for a little bit before cutting off entirely as his last breath escapes him. Meanwhile I carefully crouch as quietly as I possibly can in the hopes that the kitties don’t notice me.

Fortunately for me, the nekotrai all tear the man apart before leaving as a group.

I let out a sigh of relief once they’re all gone, only to focus on the armor the man is wearing.

Would the armor still give me the boost even if it doesn’t fit?

Several minutes pass and I don’t move from my spot in the hopes that the big electrical kitties don’t come back. But after enough time passes, I feel it’s safe enough to go out and I walk up to the armor before inserting my MP into it to repair and clean it.

Unfortunately, when I attempt to put it on, not only does it probably look completely stupid on me, but it doesn’t actually give me any bonuses.

I look down with a frown before taking the armor off again and instead dumping it into my spatial pouch because why not.

Actually, now that I think about it…

I identify my under armor.

Hmm, I guess it matters that the set fits perfectly. It even has a different name, with the one I’m wearing having an F and the one he has having had an M at the ends of their names. Probably for female and male.

Well, guess it’s not the end of the world that I-

Actually, it might just be the end of the world with this Initialization thing.

Either way, it looks like the rest of the man’s belongings were either eaten – which is gross – or torn apart by the nekotrai.

I look at the invader’s shredded corpse one last time before continuing on my way through the forest.

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Table of Contents

For those of you who can't read the images:

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Nanotech Armor Set M

Description: Locked during initialization phase.

Stat Bonus: +5

Effects: When MP is inserted into the equipment, it will self-repair and self-clean itself, reverting the armor back to perfect condition.