[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 200 - Apostle

[mini-note]

200th chapter, yay! 🥳

[end of mini-note]

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Freddy paused at the adjudicator’s words. 

Technically, he’d already killed a Lord once. Technically. But that was only possible with an unreasonable number of things lining up perfectly. Sure, he was far stronger now than he’d been back then, but as things stood, most of his real power was locked behind favorable circumstances. 

In a fair one on one duel, most Lords would kick his ass. Hell, even four-stars who hadn’t made Lord, like the adjudicator, would wipe the floor with him. It was, frankly, a bit unreasonable. “This is absurd,” he said. “Is there really no other way?”

The adjudicator scoffed. “There are a million ways to prove your potential, Mr. Stern. But if you want to justify owning a city at the second star, even in a subordinate territory, there needs to be a lot of guarantee that the investment will pay off for the empire. And as it stands, having three spirit abilities is considered a devastating obstacle for progress. Thus, the only way you can justify having the privileges of a Lord is if you’re already able to stand beside them.”

“And what if I can’t do it?” Freddy asked.

“The city might be taken from you,” the adjudicator said. “If there’s anything to even take after this is all done.”

“But it might not?” Freddy noticed. 

The adjudicator hesitated. “The thing is, very few people are even trying to go up a star with three spirit abilities. Most people who take a third spirit ability have completely given up on ever ascending. And those who are trying to ascend consider crippling themselves like that a horrible idea. But…” The man sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Technically, there is no hard evidence that it's impossible. 

“Sure, it might take you something like a century, but if there is any hope of you reaching that kind of level, the empire might want to stay on your good side.”

“So I don’t have to beat a four-star as much as—”

“You have to put up a really, really good fight at the very least. But I’ll also be honest with you. I don’t really know what will happen. The situation is a bit complicated. If the whole Northern Belt is wiped off the map… well… they might consider it water under the bridge. And before you do the usual thing where you assume the worst of me—no, I’m not suggesting we give up the fight.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“But you did think it,” the adjudicator accused, pointing at Freddy.

“Okay, yeah I did,” he admitted.

“Hmph. Anyway, your main problem isn’t the city, per se. The high adjudicators can be a real pain in the ass when they want to, and there is a serious, non-zero chance you might not be allowed back into the empire proper. Remember, people are only allowed back at the peak of the third star.”

Freddy scowled at that, but frankly, he didn’t appear too concerned. After all, if that happened, he always had the choice of—

“And don’t get any funny ideas.” The adjudicator interrupted his thoughts. “Remember, I know your real identity. And I found no record of a Freddy Stern ever legally crossing the border into the Northern Belt.” The man turned to stare directly into Freddy’s eyes. “While I might be tethered to you to some degree, don’t forget who I am. I don’t uphold the law just for convenience, I truly believe in what I do. 

“Imperial policy often encourages… let’s say, closing an eye when it comes to… “victimless crimes” committed by those with potential to serve the cause. But what you’ve done is a crime nonetheless, and should you be shown to be lacking, you might just get in trouble with me.”

Frankly, Freddy was a bit exasperated by the adjudicator’s attitude. The man wasn’t an outright villain, but he wasn’t exactly the morally upright hero of justice he tended to play sometimes. Regardless, he chose to respect the guy and simply nodded. “Understood.”

“All right, then. I won’t keep you any longer.”

Freddy gave the man a polite nod, after which he left the office. 

Bloodshed, he called mentally, focusing on his connection to the skeleton. How’s the form serving you? The form Bloodshed ended up taking grew unstable past a certain size. It was less crazy than it used to be, but two arms on one side and a split leg was still far from optimal. 

It is serving me well, Master, Bloodshed said, punctuating the statement with a loud crashing sound that echoed for miles, likely as it struck down an approaching monster. However, my essence control is quite limited. I can gather blood to maintain my form. But I can do little else.

What about blood mist? Freddy inquired. The more predators you can attract to you, the better.

I can scatter some if I wish, the skeleton said. That much isn’t a problem.

Freddy nodded to himself. He’d decided to summon a giant Bloodshed for two reasons: first, it was a lot more intimidating; and second, the bigger it was, the greater its range of movement would be. 

If it was at its minimum size, the area it could cover would only span a relatively short section of one wall. This way, it had a lot more freedom to roam around, even if it couldn’t reach the south side of the wall.

With many of the elites going away, the structure of the defense was going to change. For starters, there would be no one to fight the bigger threats ahead of time, so they would have to stick much closer to the wall. With that in mind, the structure of Freddy’s party was about to change.

It was time to start taking care of that. 

First, his hired mercenary help—the three-stars who were forced to stay due to being under the direct purview of the adjudicator.

As he walked out and met up with them, the scout and support gave him neutral looks. While they were elites, they weren’t directly involved with the administration of the mercenary group they belonged to.

Thus, Freddy turned to the porter. 

The man gave him a pensive look. “Mr. Cliff…”

“I don’t care,” Freddy said, “about anything you have to say. Not one bit. You and your brother and all those other fuckers who own the other companies know what they did.” Freddy pretended to struggle for a moment. “What was it you said to me when I first met you? I step out of line and you’ll bury me in lawsuits?”

“You should be able to understand,” the man said, “what it means to want to protect your people.”

“Oh, really? Protecting your people, are you? Or are you just protecting your assets?” Freddy asked.

The man’s gaze turned hostile as he took a step forward. “I won’t hear you talk about our men like that!”

Freddy met his charge, bumping chest-first into the man and putting his superior body density on display as he pushed him back. “Don’t you dare give me this self-righteous bullshit! You people sell the service of your help. I paid ahead of time. You’re all too happy to take money when you have nothing to lose, but when it's time to earn that money, you’re nowhere to be seen.” He pulled back, shaking his head. “When this is all done, I’ll sue every single one of you out of existence. Mark my words.”

“You’ll be compensated for all the work we failed to deliver,” the man claimed.

“And I’ll also be compensated for all the damage that lack of help caused,” Freddy asserted, staring at the man and waiting for him to challenge his words. Naturally, he wouldn’t be taking that money for himself. He’d be giving it to the city. Whatever was left of it, at least.

The porter shrank back. “I understand.”

Given that he still needed these people’s help, he decided to throw them a bone. “I do get why you people did this,” Freddy said. He thought of the city, and why he was even still here, still fighting. 

No matter how much he reasoned with himself, ultimately, it wasn’t that complicated. He felt responsible for the lives of the people of Repentawa. Even if it was just a stupid title that might very well be taken away soon, for what it was worth, at that moment, he was the leader of the city. They were his people, and they needed him. That was there was to it.

His expression fell a bit as he hesitated. “Just… Don’t take it personally. You have your tough choices, and I have mine. I’ll do the right thing for the people who make it to the other side of all this. And you three do your part in making sure there’s people left. You’ll be more useful helping the rest of the vanguard. I can handle myself, and I won’t be going far from the city, anyway. 

He looked at the porter. “I’ll still keep my supplies with you and drop by when I need them.” Then, he turned to the support. “As for you, try to keep some essence for an Unholy Blessing in reserve, just in case I need it.” And as for the scout, he gave him an appreciative nod. “Take care of yourself. And good luck.”

They all gave him a respectful nod.

Freddy turned around, leaving them to their work. He looked for Sophia first to consult her on what she’d be doing.

“I’ll keep making more, further out,” she said, not specifying what, just in case someone was listening. 

Freddy nodded, then mouthed, Be as subtle as you can. 

While Bloodshed was going to help a lot, if Freddy was being honest, Sophia could contribute a lot more. 

Ultimately, the biggest threat to them weren’t the few elite monsters that appeared every once in a while. It was the sheer number of the weaker ones. To maximize the odds of success, they had to focus on culling as many as possible. That being said, it was critical for her to stay under the radar. The people might notice the undead, but as long as their source remained a mystery, there should be no problem. 

And if she made them far enough from the city, there was a real possibility nobody would notice them at all. They were quite temporary by design, and might very well be unable to even make it close enough to the city to be discovered.

It would be optimal for the undead to kill a couple dozen monsters each and then simply die off before anyone could notice their presence. “Just be careful,” he said. 

She nodded, turned around, and left.

Drake was nowhere to be seen. While Freddy wanted to inform him that their party was splitting up, he couldn’t afford to waste the time in looking for him, so he hoped he’d figure it out on his own. For what it was worth, Drake had grown a lot. Might even be close to the second star, if he wasn’t already capable of ascending and just holding out for a better talent upgrade. 

Regardless, even at the peak of the first star, he was already a powerful fighter, and someone who could contribute a lot to the defense. 

As for Lily… well, Freddy wished her luck. He didn’t judge her for running away. It was an understandable choice to make, especially given her complicated relationship with Drake. 

Sighing, Freddy turned to the final people of interest.

It wasn’t hard to track down Georgie and Emily. For her part, Emily was giving him a smug, shit-eating grin. “So it’s three spirit abilities, then? Oof, that’s rough,” she said with a chuckle. “Looks like you and I won’t be competition after all.”

Freddy raised an eyebrow at that. “Competition?”

“Nothing for you to worry about anymore,” she said with a self-satisfied smirk. “Maybe when you finally make it to the third star in about a century or two.”

“Okay, then,” he said simply, refusing to bite the bait as he turned to Georgie.

“I must say”—Georgie turned to face Bloodshed, who was in the process of swatting a giant grasshopper-like monster out of the air—”If I found a spirit ability like that, even I would be willing to risk the triple block to have it.”

“Sorry,” Freddy said. “For failing to mention it before, that is.”

The two of them had previously discussed the possibility of forming a new subordinate state in Faralethal, and from what Freddy guessed, the woman had likely expected him to be quite a bit more powerful by the time they started. Still, again, he was confident in himself, but he decided against looking arrogant before the woman. 

She smiled at him. “Don’t be. Even if you get dead stuck at where you are, something like that”—she pointed at Bloodshed again—”would be a huge help with my plan. If anything, I want you even more now.”

“Get a room, you two,” Emily said while making a buzzer sound.

To their credit, both Freddy and Georgie managed to ignore her.

“Anyway,” Freddy said, changing the topic. “We split up and meet if there’s a big threat?”

“It’s worked so far,” Georgie said.

“Might be good to split the cardinal directions,” Emily suggested. “We can have the big fuck-off skeleton stay here, and the rest of us take the other sides of the city.”

“I’ll go South,” Freddy said. “That part isn’t covered by Bloodshed, so I’d like some extra safety there.”

“So it has a name?” Georgie noted. “Bloodshed, huh. Pretty cute.”

“Uhm, excuse me?” Emily glared at him. “If you need extra safety, send me.” Her glare intensified. “Unless you seriously believe you’re actually stronger than I am?” 

Freddy honestly didn’t know whether he was stronger than her. But he was a lot more confident in his combat ability with Bloodshed in play. He pointed at the skeleton. “That thing is my ability, so it triggers my talent with any damage it does. Perhaps I’m not stronger than you, but my survivability has just increased by an order of magnitude. I wouldn’t say I’m quite immortal, but anything short of mushing my brain, and I’ll be fine. 

“If something too strong appears, I’m probably the most likely to survive long enough to call for help.”

Her stare lingered for another moment. “That’s an annoyingly good point. Okay, do whatever you want.”

They arranged some other details, like how they were going to communicate, and what to do with breaks, and then set off to their positions. 

The South part of the wall wasn’t in direct line of the coming invasion, but plenty of monsters were circling around. Perhaps that was a strategic choice by whatever force guided them, or perhaps they were simply scattered enough. Regardless, it was good to keep an eye on it.

Once there, he leaped off the wall and ran past the vanguard, conjuring Sanguine Avenger and starting the fight. There was a long way to go until it was all over. 

***

Meanwhile, in the middle of the city, among the numerous non-combatants and other civilians, there was a small, dilapidated apartment. Within it was a man, his limbs twisted the wrong ways, and his skin littered with aching blotches of sickly colors. 

The doors creaked open, and a woman wearing sunglasses stepped inside. She walked up to him and took a knee, taking her sunglasses off and revealing creepy, square eyes. “Apostle… we have a problem.”